Don’t Get Fooled by the Internet

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

We're internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS. Welcome to a Wednesday drive. It is WSJS, NewsTalk Sports for the Triad, where morale is high in the studio right now. Not just because we did a little bit of redecorating around here, but opening day is tomorrow, as is the start of the Sweet 16 in college basketball. Plus, we heard from the Carolina Panthers Brain Trust of Dan Morgan and Brant Tillis today.

We have fun. And on that latter point, when Brant Tillis was brought in from the Kansas City Chiefs to become the assistant GM for the Panthers, he was tasked with running the cap. And when it comes to extending players, in a sport that's as violent as football can be, and injuries obviously play such a big factor, and obviously you have that cap, what you have to do financially, there's a betting element to things. You're betting on which guy is going to be good. You're establishing value.

There's a lot of risk assessment that goes into this. Just listen to the way Brant today described giving J.C. Horne the contract extension Carolina awarded him a few weeks ago. We got to a point internally where we said, okay, here's a player who worked his tail off to be healthy for most of the season, got a little unlucky towards the end, was able to play in the Pro Bowl, and how do we want to go about this?

Like this is a core player for us. Are we going to bet on J.C. or bet against him? And so we elected to bet on him, and we're extremely excited to have him here for the next five years. That's exactly what Brant Tillis did. He sent him that Cash App family to the tune of $100 million as a corner. At the time, the largest contract a corner had been handed out until a week later. Which then brings us to Bryce Young, where Brant Tillis didn't intend to make news today when asked a question about the contracts they were handed out by the athletics Joe Person and noticing that a lot of the contracts were three-year deals and the third year didn't have guaranteed money. And Joe asked if that had anything to do with that being about the time you'd want to give Bryce Young a contract extension.

Here's how Brant responded. The contracts that we did, we actually didn't think too much about Bryce and where he is. I think that's still TBD. We're super excited about Bryce, but for us it was just about doing market deals. We're super excited about Bryce, but that's still, to quote Brant Tillis, TBD. Which brings up the question, as we're sitting here in March, months before this season is set to start, is Bryce Young a safe bet to get that long-term contract extension when the type comes? Is that a safe bet?

Because what it sounds like there is, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I say it's not a safe bet dot dot dot just yet. It's not alarming, by the way, to defend Tillis that he said that. For one, the cap two years from now is going to be so much different than the cap today and the quarterback market's going to get reset several times between now and when Bryce Young is set to get his payday, assuming he does. Also, we're talking about two years. That's after his fourth season in the league, before the fifth year of his rookie deal. That's when you're going to want to pay Bryce Young.

So it's still a long way out. Don't read too much into what Brant Tillis said, but Brant, he does have a habit of saying very true things. This is why he doesn't talk a lot, probably.

And when he does, you should listen. Saying Bryce's TBD, it's a true statement. It's not a sure thing. We still have to remember that the sample of Bryce being a consistent, solid player is ten games. That's the sample that we have. Ten games. And that is such a small sample, especially when you put it side by side with how bad his first 18 starts were. Does that mean he's likely to revert back to rookie year, Bryce? No, absolutely not. Not with this staff, which was a lot better than the staff that he had.

The Avengers, where you had seven cooks telling you different things. Also, more experience is a helpful thing. This offensive line's a lot better than the offensive line he had as a rookie. So this is not a knock on Bryce Young. Because even as somebody who has never bailed on Bryce, WD can back me up on this. Since when it was the easiest to bail on Bryce. How about this time a year ago?

This is true. Were we bailing? Were we selling stock? No. Were we even acknowledging that he was not as good as CJ Stroud in this class? We wouldn't even concede that point. No. And we have not.

But even being that person, the expectations are getting a little out of hand. They won five games last year. Which seems great because you won less than five the year before that.

You won two games, right? That seems like a great jump and it shouldn't be minimized. Going from awful, laughing stock of the league, to being mediocre.

That is a jump and it should be recognized. But it's a lot harder to go from being mediocre to being good. And it seems there are a lot of people out there saying based on these ten games, Pro Bowl Bryce. Pro Bowl Bryce. Panthers win the division. Panthers make the playoffs.

Take a breath. If they win... Was having this conversation with a Panther fan last week. Said they might be disappointed if they only win seven games last year. Or next year. That's the problem to me, Will. The problem to me is the fan that tells me that they'd be disappointed with the seven win season this year. That's the problem.

Because, again, that's still... Going in the right direction is where you want it. You're going in the right direction. When you set these expectations in crazy places, then you're only setting yourself up for disappointment. When you say, oh, we should win the division. Oh, the expectations is first to make the playoffs. And then you win seven and you're mad. Because of where people, fans, said that you were going to be or where they wanted you to be or where they expected you to be. And it's unrealistic. That's the issue. I mean, listen, I think you can set an expectation of winning the division and then not be mad if they don't and then they have a seven game. Two things can exist at the same time. This is where you get to.

Where you have this comment here. I think if our defense was better, we would have had seven or eight wins. That's just the thing. Your defense wasn't good. How about, what do you look at on this defense right now that makes you think this defense is going to be a lot better than what it was last year? Other than Derek Brown being healthy and not much, I mean, yet we don't, we got to wait for the draft. Yeah, we do.

But again, let's try to stay on planet earth here and acknowledge progress and understand it might not happen as quickly as some want it to be, including with Bryce. This guy, oh, he's a lock. Oh, this guy's a hall of famer. Oh, this guy's a Super Bowl winning quarterback. Why?

Because AI said so. I don't know if it's a safe bet yet, but it's worth, worth exploring the space about where things stand a few years out from when the contract needs to be signed. On X at Josh Graham show at WSJS radio, Will Dalton joining us. We have a huge, he's the executive producer of this show. How's this for a guest list? We've got Ariel Epstein previewing the MLB season in less than 10 minutes, in about five minutes actually. We got the sixth man of Tar Heel basketball, B.Dot, and speaking of the sixth man of Tar Heel basketball, or just the Tar Heels in general, Tar Heel national champion from the 05 team, David Noel, who's on the Greensboro Swarm staff going to join us as well. I don't think it gets much better than that. Pretty good.

Yeah. Shifting it to college basketball. All four one seeds got through the first weekend. Everyone's saying this is a tournament of chalk, but which one seed is in the most danger this week?

There is an obvious answer. Houston, we've got a problem. The Cougars, they are the one seed with the most danger around them. They call a bad break geographically.

Did you catch this, Will? Houston is facing Purdue in Indianapolis. That is an hour away from Purdue's campus.

Yikes. And if they win, you get either Kentucky or Tennessee. Kentucky is 100 miles, Lexington is 100 miles away from Indianapolis. Tennessee is less than a four or five hour drive, driving distance. And you got to deal with this.

This is a weekend after. You had to face Gonzaga in round two. Houston got screwed by those seeding this tournament.

There's no doubt. And speaking of Tennessee and Kentucky, that is the only 2-3 matchup in the Sweet 16. For all this talk about chalk, this is the only 2-3 that we're seeing in the Sweet 16. You have a two facing a six in Newark and in Atlanta.

You have a three facing a 10 in San Francisco. 2-3, you're guaranteed to get a two seed or a three seed if you win. If you're the Houston Cougars. And volunteers, they might be the worst matchup among the twos because, hey, they play a similar style that you do, Houston. They are just as tough as you are. And related to that, the Cougars, they have the most vulnerable style to their play. Most vulnerable style. They take a lot of tough shots.

They go long stretches without scoring. So when you look at the one seed that might be in the most danger, it's the Houston Cougars. Next up, probably Florida against Maryland just because we saw Florida have problems and Maryland has the best player on the court and Derek Queen at least the best NBA prospect out there. Duke, good draw. Great geographically.

Think in Atlanta, Auburn a really good draw as well. Houston's the one that you circle. Can you get to the next round?

Can you survive and advance two more times? That's going to be really difficult to do so. Ariel Epstein, her specialty is baseball and specifically baseball betting. With the opening day extravaganza coming tomorrow, she's going to give us three futures, three future bets for the 2025 Major League Baseball season in best bets next. It's exciting. Opening days tomorrow. We've got Ariel Epstein, the propqueen.com.

Follow her on X, why don't you at arielleepstein because she'll have a new show that's streaming starting on Friday that we can't wait for arielle opening day. Great timing for that baseball, your first love and passion. So let's get into it.

Why don't we? How big of a favorite do you view the Dodgers to be after this off season? And because of that big off season and the fact they won the title last year, have we reached the point where the Dodgers have become villains in baseball first, thanks for having me on, Josh, the most exciting week of the year for me. I love opening day.

It's an absolute holiday for me. When it comes to the Dodgers, yes, they are the reigning champs. The Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series.

I have a friend who runs the Westgate Superbook in Vegas, his name's John Murray. He goes, if I was rich, I would love to just put money down on the Dodgers to win the National League West, sit on it, ride it out till September and enjoy my life. I was like, you know what?

That sounds great. If I was rich too, let's just lay the money on the Dodgers because yeah, they're probably going to win the division. Now, when it comes to World Series hangovers, I get nervous to bet any team to get back to the World Series again, if they were in it last year, the Dodgers just have no value. I say it about the Yankees too. Any big market team, very rarely, Josh has value and the Dodgers, yeah, it's all sucked out. Do you want, you're telling me and I didn't want to learn it ahead of time. I want to learn it as the audience does. You have a sleeper World Series pick.

What is that? I told you, I won't bet any kind of like short favorites to win a World Series. I go for 10 to one or longer. That's your Orioles, Josh. The Orioles are 16 to one. If you get them into the World Series, even if you get to the ALCS- I almost spit out my water for real. The Orioles have what it takes if they can go and get someone at the trade deadline. The Orioles are going to be very much in the mix. The Orioles lineup, it's great and their rookies are now sophomores, juniors essentially in the league where they've been one to two years in. Look back at two years ago.

So at first I was like everybody else. When Corbin Burns went to the DBACs, I said the Orioles now lost their shot. All the Orioles needed to be a World Series contender was a number two behind Burns.

So at first I was really upset. Now I look back at two years ago, the Orioles didn't have Burns two years ago. They had 103 wins. They had the AL East. They had the number one seed in the American league.

The Orioles didn't need an ace to get there. What they need is another solid pitcher in that starting rotation. What I know is that the lineup gets you through the regular season. The Orioles lineup is going to keep the Orioles in the race come trade deadline. They have a new owner now and I know it's only his second year in the league. He may be willing to spend that money on somebody to come over who's not named Trevor Rogers or Jack Flaherty.

Maybe we'll get a better option, but yeah, 16 to one, Josh, if this Orioles team takes off in a wide open AL East with Garret Cole now out for the season for the Yankees, then I have faith in the Orioles to keep the pace. Wow. Just, I wasn't ready for that. I'm blushing. I don't know how to feel. I don't know what to do with my hands. At first you had my curiosity.

Now you have my attention. Who needs championships when you can look at birds? That's right, Coach K. We're talking about birds. Okay, let's get into your bets now and we have an intro for this best bets for today with Arielle Epstein, the prop queen. I'm not a betting duck. Care to make it interesting?

You know you do. You're on. Call me in on this. Your best bet. But my money from the other team. This is Josh's best bet.

These are the types of things you can find at thepropqueen.com and on Arielle Epstein's show that starts on Friday. We got three futures here since the season starts tomorrow. Arielle, what's the first one? The Tigers to win their division.

So that's around plus 270. I love great bullpens and that's exactly what the Detroit Tigers had. They added Jack Flaherty, so that is a nice one-two punch to Scubel. I know I've mentioned him before with the Orioles.

It was just a bad fit, but Flaherty had a good comeback here last year. The Tigers are a young team. They swept the Astros in the wild card. They took the Guardians to a game five in the ALDS, so this young Tigers team has confidence. They've got the manager experience. They've got the manager edge amongst probably 85 percent of the league with A.J. Hinge.

Once A.J. Hinge got the Astros going in Houston, that team was tough to deal with. If you want to take a shot at someone who had decent odds, it's the Tigers to win the division. While everyone Josh's on the Royals, I'm going a different direction. Jack Flaherty started last season with the Tigers before being traded to the Dodgers, now reunited with last year's AL Cy Young winner, Tariq Scubel. What is the next future from Ariel Epstein? The Arizona Diamondbacks to make the playoffs.

I got it at minus 110. They have the best one-two punch in baseball. I hate to bring it up again, Josh, Corbin Burns, Zach Gallin.

How do you get through that? They missed the playoffs last year. The Diamondbacks were World Series runners up a couple of years ago.

It's very usual that we see some kind of World Series hangover. You added power to the lineup, too, in Arizona with Josh Naylor. Corbin Carroll had a down year. Let's not forget Corbin Carroll in 2023 hit.285 with 54 stolen bases.

It's El Marte also had the best season of his career last year. The only thing I'm nervous about with the D-backs is their bullpen. Maybe they add a piece come trade deadline. At least they get into the playoffs. I am never betting on the Padres again after they've stolen all my money the last three years. Somebody else has to come out of that really, really tough National League West that's not the Dodgers. Obviously, the Dodgers will probably win the division, but somebody else is going to make the wildcard spot there. I'm giving it to the D-backs. Love that. Love that pick. And when you get to the playoffs, that's one of those teams that when your rotations compress, oh, the Dodgers have this great starting five. You only need three in the playoffs, and I'll take those top two with the D-backs over most any other team in baseball. Okay, last future from Ariel Epstein, the prop queen.

This one just got brought to my attention, actually, by my friend John Murray over at the Westgate Superbook in Vegas. He mentioned the Cincinnati Reds. A lot of his sharps are on the Reds over their win total. The Reds won 77 games last year. Their win totals at 78 and a half, so the books are already a little higher on them than last year. The Reds had a lot of injuries last season, including their second baseman, Matt McClain. Cincinnati has a huge upgrade. I can't use the word huge enough.

That sounds terrible. Okay, I'm going to stop there. But Tito, Tito is back, and he's going to be the manager of this really young and fun Reds team. You've got speed on the bases with Elie De La Cruz. You've got Hunter Green coming into himself. It's been a few years in the league.

We finally saw Hunter Green be more reliable last year. He's going to be the mainstay of this rotation. The Reds to go over their win total, they look better, they're healthier, they have a better manager, they got better than last year where they had 77 wins, so take the win total over 78 and a half.

Love that as well. So Tigers to win the Central, the D-backs to make the playoffs, the Reds over on their win total. Those are futures from Ariel Epstein and, oh yeah, Baltimore Orioles maybe sprinkle on the World Series.

Sprinkle on that World Series. Yeah, we'll do that. Ariel Epstein, can't wait for the show on Friday. We can find it on X. Where else might we find this show? Check it out on X at my Twitter, or X, Ariel Epstein or Prop Queen Sports, YouTube, it's also going to be streaming, and Twitch. I just started on Twitch, so that's going to be interesting to see how I work Twitch.

I know it's the thing of the Gen Z kids, I'm a millennial, Gen Z kids, they love that stuff. We're on Twitch too, according to Will Dalton, even though I don't know how any of that works. Ariel Epstein, thepropqueen.com, at ariellepstein on X.

Thank you for making the time for us, as always. Thanks Josh Graham. Was never voted most likely to succeed. You're such a loser. But then again, were you?

The very concept is unimaginable. You're on The Drive with Josh Graham. There's a lot shaking on the college basketball coaching carousel.

More on that in just a little bit. Because focusing our attention on the NFL again, Dan Morgan met with the media today. The GM of the Panthers post this first flurry of free agency about a month away from the NFL draft, until we hear those glorious chimes on NFL Network and on ESPN, oh yes. And he used his normal line, Dan did, when talking about the draft and the type of player that they will want to draft with the number 8 pick. Like I said to you guys before, we're going to take the best players. So however that ends up on the board when it comes to pick 8, if pick 8's an offensive guy or a defensive guy, we're just going to draft the best player that we feel is going to help our team, help our organization moving forward. And we're really not going to box ourselves in with any position or any need.

I think that's when you get yourself in trouble is when you do those type of things. This is when he was asked if he would specifically take a wide receiver with one of his top draft choices. And another reporter asked him whether or not they were going to be in the mix for a top wide receiver too, now that Stephon Diggs is Drake May's top target in New England.

Am I missing something? Why do the Carolina Panthers need to get a top wide receiver? Now, W.D., let the people know behind the scenes just my view on wide receivers in general, even though I am a beloved call voter, best wide receiver in college football, so I do pay attention to receivers closely. Yeah, I had to get that out there. They don't move the needle.

Not as much as a lot of people seem to think they do. Like I told you earlier, like, hey, Stephon Diggs, Drake May got him a new target. And you go, who cares? I was having deja vu because I remember you doing the arms outstretched thing where the Houston Texans got Stephon Diggs.

And I said the same thing, oh, cool, doesn't move the needle all that much. Is your row line good? Is the quarterback good? Then fine, whoever you're throwing it to. You get in trouble when you have to pay them a ton of money, especially if you're paying the quarterback as well.

That's when you face problems. And while the Panthers could probably afford a wide receiver, they have so many needs in other places, talking about a wide receiver, when you took a wide receiver in the first round last year and he was pretty good, and you had an undrafted rookie who was pretty good, and you got Adam Thielen, who's pretty good, and you have tight ends that you like, and you still have a ton of draft picks that you could take outside of the first pick. The idea that you need to go trade for DK Metcalf or get a top receiver, it's making my head hurt.

Don't understand it. So to get into Carolina at number eight, it's time for this week's Panthers Mock Draft. I don't think the Panthers are going to take an offensive player number eight.

And I think Dan Morgan could get away with what he said there. We're just going to take the best player in the draft and say that you're going to be taking a defensive player, but if those things can be true, because WD, the best players in this draft are on defense. Like you look at the big board that anybody has out there, like Cam Ward might go number one just because of the position that he plays, but the top three players in this draft are defensive players. The true blue chippers are Abdul Carter, it's Travis Hunter who's listed as a corner, Mason Graham from Michigan. Those are the three guys that are going to be studs with little doubt about it. But if you even extrapolate that further, Jalen Walker, the other edge from Georgia, Mikel Williams, Will Johnson from Michigan. The top players in this draft are on the defensive side. I think most people assume that they're going to take an edge rusher at number eight. It's probably going to be Jalen Walker or Mikel Williams unless Mason Graham falls like Daniel Jeremiah projected last week. But what if they don't go there? What is the most likely position that they go if it's not one of those edge guys?

I think the answer might surprise you. I think it's safety. Because if you want to talk about the biggest holes, offensive defense on the depth chart, it is at safety. Just listen to Dan Morgan today talking about the lack of depth they have at that position. I mean, they still don't know who the starters are going to be at those spots. Yeah, you know, there's obviously you guys saw that we bought in a few veterans. You know, there's a few guys on the street that we like that we think can help us. We'll see what happens there in the draft.

I think there's a good crop of safeties there, too. So you know, we know that that's a position that, you know, we need to address. The numbers aren't aren't where they need to be there. But we'll get there. And, you know, we just got to stay patient, stay with the plan and let it happen. How would you feel if the Panthers, you hear the sweet chimes, the picks in number eight pick in the draft, says out of the University of Georgia and the name that Roger Goodell reads is neither Mikel Williams nor Jaylen Walker and is instead Malachi Starks?

How would that hit you? I mean, I wouldn't love it just because I really think they need the edge rusher. I think they need that.

But pick the best player. They also need a safety. They need a safety.

There's a little question about that. The problem is that he played a lot. He played some nickel. This is he's really good close to the line of scrimmage and you just brought in a safety who does a lot of those things.

Talking about. More rig, Trevon, more rig that they brought in. That's kind of what I mean, Malachi Starks did a lot of that at Georgia. I think it's going to be a rusher.

I do, because I don't think I think it's a lot harder to find that on the market than it is to find a safety. Hence the veterans that they're bringing in, but if it's not an edge, I think that's the next position group you look at. There are some guys in the secondary that are out there and it might be a bit of a reach, but I'll just limit it to secondary.

We won't even talk about specifically Starks. I mean, Will Johnson, maybe he thought that that guy could be a top five pick before we got into the combine and for some reason his stock has been falling in a lot of the places. So if it's not edge, watch out for the secondary. That is this week's Panthers mock draft. As mentioned, the college basketball coaching carousel, it's spinning. There are going to be two Pitino's in the Big East now. You got Rick with St. John's and now Richard, Richard Pitino, who leaves New Mexico to become the next coach at Xavier. Big jump for him makes sense. Pitino's name was thrown around at NC State in Virginia.

You kind of had the sense that he was looking around trying to make that jump. It might be a little awkward being in the same conference with your dad, but still a really neat story. North Texas head coach, Ross Hodge, who's in the NIT right now, I think his team won last night. Do we have any ACC teams left in the NIT?

I haven't been following that closely. No Georgia Tech loss the first night, SMU and Stanford won their first game at home. Don't know the current standing of the NIT, but West Virginia's new coach is Ross Hodge. We do not have any ACC schools left in the NIT.

What a bummer. A couple days ago, a lot of Wake fans were concerned, heard rumors that Steve Forbes was going to leave West Virginia or leave Wake Forest to become the coach at West Virginia. That was the rumor. What I was told by sources that I trust, very good sources, was that he told West Virginia he wasn't interested. Does that mean he was offered the job?

Don't know. But he said he wasn't interested. So whether it's declining an offer or just telling him before he got an offer that he wasn't interested, that's ultimately what happened there. There was the story that players in that locker room told me that Steve, I mean West Virginia, this is the second straight year they were looking for a coach. And last year, replacing Bob Huggins, they bring DeVries in, who right now is the Indiana coach, there was a West Virginia fan or a donor that sent Steve Forbes a suit and said he'd look great wearing this as the head coach of the Mountaineers, and apparently he showed it to the entire team and mocked it, saying, I'd never be caught dead living in the state of West Virginia.

So that remains true. I will put this word of advice out there to folks in the media, to listeners, to fans, don't get fooled by the internet. Yeah, don't do that. There are a lot of tricky folks out there that are tripping up media people, getting them to retweet that certain coaches have taken jobs. Parity accounts. There was a funny one today that tripped up some reporters that Danny Manning had accepted the Villanova job.

Just be diligent, be vigilant on that front and recognize your source. We've been doing weekly Greensboro Swarm interviews all season long. And with the regular season ending this week, today, our last one, and we've saved perhaps the best for last, getting ready for the postseason. Yes, we're those types of optimists in College Park this week. It is Swarm assistant and Tar Heel national champion David Noel that is joining us, especially this time of year. I feel obligated to throw that last piece in there.

And let's actually start with this. David, between you and Sean May and Wes Miller and even Bobby Frazier, how cool is it to see several of your teammates in college currently in the coaching ranks? And I love it. It just goes to show you that guys were students of the game. And we love the tutelage that we had at the University of North Carolina through Coach Williams. And for us, it's just trying to just pass down what we've learned over our careers and to continue to inspire our youth and younger guys and even older men nowadays, especially in my league, to just continue to play the game the right way and continue to move forward in their journey. Roy has told us before, back when he was the coach, that he had opportunities to go to the NBA. He said he was approached by the Boston Celtics, notably one time, and that it happened close to 20 times in his time as Kansas and North Carolina's coach. Wes said that he would always spend time helping former players if they wanted to get into the coaching ranks. Is there anything that Roy Williams has taught you that applies even as you coach in the G-League?

Oh, absolutely. I was watching something the other day where Joel Berry was speaking and he talked about a quote that Coach Williams used pretty much for every first practice and it was, you can't control the wind, but you can adjust. And I literally live by that. Like again, you can control what you can control, the other things you can't.

I call it, I've adopted it now and I call it 80-20 to where it's like 80 percent of the stuff that we can control, let's live in that area. The other 20 percent that we can't, we've just got to let it go and kind of, but Coach Williams instilled that into us while we were at Carolina and I've used it in my coaching ever since day one since I stepped on the floor to be a coach. David Noel with us here.

Before we get into your opportunity with the Swarm and just because it's March, one more on your playing days here. Wes and Sean Miller or Sean, excuse me, Sean May and Wes Miller want to get into the particulars with us about the celebration in New York on draft night, but they describe that as being epic. This spring marks 20 years since you cut down the Nets in St. Louis. What do you most remember about the aftermath that night after cutting down Nets? Honestly, honestly, I don't remember a lot because we had a lot of fun, I know that. The most, the part that I remember the most was getting back to the hotel though. After the game, getting back to the hotel, all of the fans, family and all that kind of stuff. That was the part that I remember the most, but everything after that, yeah, it was kind of a blur.

There was so much stuff going on, but it was definitely an epic night and it was fun. Twenty years, crazy. The Swarm getting set to face College Park this week, looking to make the postseason a big deal for this organization. And getting to your current gig, as a kid from Durham that was coaching high school ball just a few years ago, how special is it to be in pro basketball right down the road from your home with the Greensboro Swarm? It's been incredible, it's been an incredible journey for me, like you said, starting off at Southern Durham, my alma mater, going back there and being able to jump right into coaching as a head coach. I learned a lot there and honestly, the plan was to stay for a really long time, but the ultimate goal for me was to try to get into college and when the G-League opportunity presented itself, I thought that that could possibly help me get into college a little bit quicker. Now, fast forward six more years, I'm still a G-League coach, but part of it is because I love it so much, like I do enjoy this level of competition, I enjoy working with hungry guys that haven't quite made it yet, and so I think that's the driving force behind staying in the G-League, but it's been, and to fast forward now to be in my home state, right up the road from my hometown, just a quick commute from where I live in Bevin, it's really been fun to be able to do what I love and also be around family at the same time because I spent so much of my career traveling and all that kind of stuff and away from family, so this has been super special this year. On the note of those hungry guys trying to make it, we've seen a lot of neat development stories in Greensboro this year, Musa Diabate comes to mind, also both the draft picks have had their moments with the NBA Club in Charlotte, what's been a cool highlight for you from a development standpoint of somebody that we've seen make that jump or somebody that might soon make that jump? Honestly, man, it's been a joy working with everybody, but as an assistant coach we also have particular players that we work with, and I work with Jalen Simms and Joel Soriano to watch the growth. One, I'll start with Joel, just to watch his growth from coming in, from being a rookie to understanding being injured, coming in, getting back healthy, understanding what he needed to do in order to get his body where it needed to be for the grind of the season, to watch him work and be able to navigate this level of basketball has been super incredible.

I tell him every day that I'm never going to lie to you, I'm always going to keep it 100 with you, and he's done a great job of handling everything that's been thrown at him. And then for Jalen Simms, he's just a pro's pro, he's super professional, on and off the court, and he became the Swarm's all-time leading scorer this year, so it was super special to just kind of continue to watch him develop and watch him grow and hopefully get an opportunity down the road somewhere to be either a two-way or a 10-day call-up. I know we've still got time, so those things are definitely in the future for him, I think, just because of the way that he works and the way that he approaches the game. We have a ton of guys on our team that are super special. Marcus Garrett comes to mind as well. I've dubbed him from day one to be our defensive player of the year, and he stuck to that and he got rewarded with a call-up with 10-day with the Hornets, which just ended. So super excited and proud of a lot of our guys, but those three come to mind for sure. David Noel, it's good to hear your voice. Thanks for spending the time. I hope we can cross paths sometime soon, and go punch that ticket to the postseason this weekend.

Why don't you? Absolutely. We definitely got to get it done. We're going to have a lot to play for this weekend.