Heat-Nuggets Game 1 Preview (Hour 1)

Live from the play show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor, 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app.

You can always get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flexin' or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb, that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Mike Norvell gonna join us coming up an hour from now for a little college football fix. Before that, at 6.20 PM Eastern, which would be 3.20 PM Pacific, Alejandro Solana from the Heat Radio Network, pre and post will join us.

And then coming up later on in the evening at 8 PM Eastern, 5 Pacific, we'll talk to Rick Kamlaw, who does a great job for Sirius XM, NBA Radio. But first up, producing this extravaganza first is no other than Hot Take Kiki. Hot Take Kiki. You know, I don't like to vacation shame, because I feel like that happens a lot in our industry, Hickey, so I'll preface my comments by saying this, before we delve into Game 1 of the NBA Finals that does commence tonight between Nicole Jokic and Jimmy Butler, and I do feel like in our business, when you take a day off or you take a few days off, usually that does become a story, like where'd you go on vacation? Was it worthy to use a bunch of off days? Like, Hickey's entitled to a certain amount of days. Now, I didn't want to bring this up, but sometimes I feel compelled to bring something up when a lot of people are bringing it to my attention. Now, I didn't think this was a big deal, Hickey, but the streets are talking around here at CBS Sports Radio, where some people are wondering where your priorities are at when it comes to this show that you produce in the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Because last night, I had quite a few people behind the scenes, and then a few people text me as well, Hickey burns an off day to go to an irrelevant baseball game on a Wednesday evening? Mets and Phillies? And I didn't think much of it, but one person in particular, who I do respect, said to me, yeah, if Hickey has his own show, Hickey putting out all these videos on Twitter, Hickey going to these lacrosse games, pumping out videos as well, and they're wondering if his priorities are still in check and still in line with the Zach Gelb show, your main source of income, which you do a great job, I may add, producing, if the Zach Gelb show is still your number one priority.

Because you blew up the show last night to go to a Mets Phillies game. Now, I didn't have a problem with it, let me be clear, but a few people did bring that to my attention, and I wonder if it makes you think differently on how you will use your off days in the future when you use it to go to some irrelevant baseball game. Now, let me just be clear one more time, I did not have a problem with it, but a few people brought it to my attention in the last 24 hours.

Can we name any names here? Who's saying it? I don't want to reveal my sources on this one, because I don't think these people would not say it to your face, but since they haven't... Seemingly they did not, I didn't hear about this until right now. I don't want anyone to get annoyed and mad at me, because once again, I don't think it's a big issue, but as you know, we have a very gossiping network here, and a network that loves to gossip, and when people aren't here, I feel as if that's when a lot of the bleep talking does go down. Classic, of course, most people talk... No one brought this up to you at all today?

...crap behind people's backs, I did not hear about this, this is the first time... No one made like a comment here or there? No, whoever said that is an idiot. Multiple people?

Multiple people, they're all idiots. I had a great time yesterday, I would do it again, my friend is a Phillies fan, me and my other friends are big Mets fans, you look at the schedule, the Phillies come this week, they don't come again until the end of the season, literally like the last weekend of the year. It's football season, I'm not going to a Mets Phillies game on September 28th, when Penn State's playing and when the Colts are playing.

Well, you have quite a few off days actually in football season, you're missing quite a few football Fridays. Well, unfortunately that's out of my control with weddings and such, where... Those are for weddings? Yes, yes, so I do have a lot of responsibilities there. You have a lot of weddings I will say. Yes, three weddings and a lot of them are during the week as well.

September 8th is a wedding? No, it's Penn State Delaware. You're going to Penn State Delaware? My girlfriend went to Delaware, all our friends are Blue Hens, that's where we're going to go, it's going to be a little... That one I will give you a pass.

A little rivalry. I will say this, I would have put my foot down if you were like, oh it's just me and my buddies going to Penn State Delaware. The fact that you're going with your girlfriend, because that is the first football Friday of the year in the NFL regular season, that's a pretty big day to miss. But, I can't really crush you for it because you're going away with your girlfriend who you've been dating for what, like five or six years now anyway. It's been a very, very long time.

I can't believe people are giving me a hard time. I'm taking the days when I want to take them. I'm obligated to take as many, well I'm obligated to take the days that I'm allotted. Well not as many days as you want, that's been made clear by management. I can use them however I feel. If I wanted to, yesterday, for no other reason, just say, you know what, I don't want to work today, I'm going to take off and just sit on the couch all day.

I have the right to do that. No one should be vacation shaming or saying I'm, quote unquote, wasting a day going to a baseball game. That's not how it always was though. That is idiotic. That's not how it always was. When I was first starting off here, I was, when I would, anytime I would try to request vacation, it ended up like, do you really have to take that day?

Do you really, like what are you doing? So, I don't know. October 13th, is that a wedding? Yes. And October 20th, is that a wedding? Two Friday weddings back to back in October, not ideal. We better have Connor Green in those days, okay?

Better make sure we have Connor Green in those days. I mean, it's not up to me, but I can throw the zero weight I have around here. I'll throw it around for no one to listen. Yeah, so you don't think that's a big deal that you used that vacation day last night to go to some irrelevant baseball game the day before the NBA Finals did start? Not at all. I truly do not see the issues whatsoever. Let me ask you a question.

People are idiotic if they think that that's actually an issue. If you were asked to host last night, would you have gone to the baseball game if you were asked to host? Uh, well like, like last minute? Yeah, last minute. Let's say yesterday at, I don't know, 9 a.m., Zach has food poisoning.

He called out sick. See, now I'm sounding like you with this food poisoning that you had right before the Super Bowl. Would you blow off the Mets game to host? Probably not. Probably not, but that wasn't all that convincing. Probably not.

That's why I think some people are starting to wonder where your priorities are at right now. Well, guess what? If I don't use the vacation days, I don't get the money back. The company just gets to, they basically just go away.

So, they give them to me, I'm taking them. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will see if we can get through the rest of the show. Once again, I'm not mad at Hot Take Hickey, but others are talking behind the scenes as they thought it was pretty lame that Hickey burned a vacation day to go to a Mets game. And some people are questioning his priorities here at CBS Sports Radio and how much he still values the show that he does produce.

Let me just ask an elder statesman here. I see Michael Samter is back. Congratulations, by the way, to Michael Samter, who's already leaving the studio right now. I've got to ask you a question real quickly. I know you've got to run.

I know you've got a kid at home. A brand new, beautiful baby girl, but I just have a quick question to ask Michael Samter. Is Samter running into this side of the studio?

He is? Look at this. Welcome back, Samter. You're looking like Steve from Blue's Clues right now in that green shirt that you're wearing. I get that a lot with this shirt.

I've gotten a younger Freddy Krueger also maybe. Okay, who told you that? Your wife? No, no, no. Much meaner people than that. Gotcha. So you're an elder statesman around here.

Sure. Where I think people respect you around here. Some people may be afraid of you because you're very opinionated. Opinionated and I'm also very mean. I am quite mean. And you don't take any crap.

This is very true. Now, there's been some people that are talking that they brought up to my attention. I didn't really have a big deal with it, that Hickey took off yesterday to go to a regular season Mets Phillies game. And people are wondering where his priorities are at when it comes to this show. You being someone that Hickey should kind of look up to. And someone that has done a very good job around here since the inception of the network, right? Yeah, been here since day one. What's your thoughts on that?

If you were the program director, what would you say? It depends on the reason for going to the game, right? If it's... Close friend Hickey, right? Is just the Phillies fan? Close friend is a Phillies fan. Does he live in the city or is this friend coming from out of town?

Lives in the city. No, I mean, for me, that's not acceptable. Like if it's your wife's birthday or girlfriend's birthday, Father's Day type of thing. But like a friend in town, wait till the weekend. You don't take off a day to hang out with your buddy to go to a Mets game. It's because they're playing the Phillies, that's why. And especially not a Mets game in the middle of May or June. Like maybe if this is September, October, you can maybe pull that off. But like a May, June, midweek Mets game because your buddy's in town?

Hickey, I expect much, much better from you. How about that? I get two chances a week to go to a game with this schedule, Saturday and Sunday. The Mets do not play the Phillies on the weekend until the end of the year in football season when my main job is to watch the games in order to make sure that I know what the hell is going on.

So the only other time the Phillies will be in the building is at the end of the season. It's during the week, I got two days to try to make it happen here. I took an off day, so I really, this is the least controversial thing I think I've ever seen in history.

Alright, so you think it's least controversial. I have a few other questions to ask you. So, new father, first off, how's the baby girl? She is fantastic, she's way too cute, and there's no chance that I had anything to do with this. So I'm very skeptical and suspicious of my wife because this baby is way too adorable. Sleeping with a milkman? Something. Yeah, I mean, luckily we don't have a milkman anymore, but maybe the Amazon delivery guy?

Because we literally get like 27 Amazon packages a day. When I was 11, when people would say, how are you so tall and your parents are so short, I always say, oh, my mom must have slept with the milkman. I was at 11.

Well, so at 11, that makes sense. And listen, you probably drank a lot of milk, you're a big growing boy. Oh, this is actually a question that's been in the news lately. Who was it? Who was the Nick?

Josh Hart, the Knicks player. He asked, have you tried your wife's breast milk, is the question. That's been the topic of conversation. I have not tried it. I'm surprised by that.

I thought you would. There is a level of curiosity. Oddly enough, I have a dog and I've tried many of my dog's treats and food just to test it out. Wait, you try your dog's treats? Because some of them smell really good. And some of these dog treats are made, basically they're just like cakes just without flour and sugar. They're delicious. Some of these things are actually really good. So I've done that.

So I did think I would try it. But when it's in front of you, it just, there's something to it that just feels wrong about it. Even though it's coming from my wife and not like another person.

So there is, there's just something, and just the look of it also, the smell and the look of it, it's just, it's not appealing. What did your wife think about this, by the way? She was very happy. Did she see the Josh Hart tweet at all? No, she doesn't pay attention to any of that stuff. This hasn't been a discussion in the Samter household.

It hasn't. But we do use formula as well, and I have tried the formula. And the formula is disgusting. So I have not tried the breast milk, and I will never try the breast milk. Well, I am filling in on Maggie and Perloff tomorrow from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern. I'll be right here with you, baby. If we want to get those YouTube subscribers up instead of getting rid of the Carson Wentz poster, maybe you bring in some milk tomorrow and you try it.

Well, I'll try it. When I come home after the show, my wife will not be there if I try that. Could you imagine, cancer goes to his wife tonight, honey, we need you to pump out a little extra milk.

Zach Galvin and I have to try it tomorrow, along with Stu. I would be fine if your wife just punched you right across the face in that moment. Punch me?

No, no, no. She's coming in here and punching you. Although she's very short. She'll probably punch you like in the hip or like the left elbow.

I've met your wife before in one of the Superballs. Very nice lady. She is very nice, but she also doesn't put up with nonsense.

Just like me, which is why we get along so well. So she wears the pants in that relationship is what you're saying. If I came to her and say Zach Galvin is telling me I should go and bring some breast milk from you to the show, she will come in here and there will be a major boat whooping. Okay, gotcha. So she won't be providing any milk for my cereal for tomorrow is what you're saying.

That is absolutely not going to happen. Come on. Oh, no. Last thing I'll say to you, I have to congratulate you.

On? You're a trendsetter here at CBS Sports Radio. Oh, geez, what'd I do? It doesn't sound like a good thing.

No, no, this is actually a very good thing. You had a kid and then shortly after that on, I believe, back to back to back days. Marco Belletti's wife had their, they had their welcome to their third children. Pete the Body Bellotti welcomed in their second child and DA and his wife welcomed in their first child, the baby boy.

So I think everyone was trying to be like Sam. There was a back to back to back. Yeah, it was on back to back to back days.

The physical birth, I believe. Wow, that is impressive. I knew about two of them. I didn't actually know about all three of them.

That is amazing. Now the timing may not work out because eight to nine months have to go by and I don't, I think already, I don't think everyone knew when Samter was actually, you know, him and his wife were all welcoming in a baby girl. But I'm going to give you credit for all the babies and the baby boom around here.

Well, I think basically what happened was everybody saw what we were doing because we film everything and we post it online and we do very, you know, inappropriate things. And inspired some bam chicka wildland time. I think everybody just saw like, man, Samter's got the right idea. There's a joke to be made here, but I'm going to be nice here. Maybe not. First time anyone ever looked up to Samter, honestly.

Physically, yes, but not figuratively. I'm a very powerful and important person. Well, I'm looking forward to working with you tomorrow. I'll be filling in for Maggie and Perloff and you could catch that show obviously right before us, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern. We've got to take a break, but congratulations once again. When we come on back, Alejandro Solana from the Heat Radio Network pre and post will join us and maybe Samter will bring us in some some breast milk tomorrow. You never know what it is.

We'll be back in five. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Hickey, nothing against this song, but we bring on my next guest. I feel like we got to play PEPAs for him and that of course is Alejandro Solana, who is the pre and post hosts for the Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat across the Heat Radio Network. And he's kind enough to join us right now. Alejandro, what's happening?

PEPAs would have been good, but I'll feel better if we're hearing PEPAs tonight on my postgame show. That's the goal tonight. So the Heat being here, when did you realize that this Heat team had something special in them? Was it just right after that Bucks series when they found a way to eliminate the one seed in five games?

I think that's exactly what it was, right? Because let's not forget, they lose the first playing game and then they're playing the Chicago Bulls two days later, second playing game. And they were down five points in the fourth quarter at one point, and with three minutes to go, they were down three at home. And I think a lot of people forget that, how close this Heat team was to not making the postseason.

And everybody knows right now, the Miami Heat ended up as the eighth seed. And it was mostly because up and down all season long, their three-point shooting was towards the bottom part of the league. And the play we've seen from Jimmy Butler in the postseason wasn't exactly the play you saw from him during the regular season.

It was actually Bam Adebayo as the team's lone All-Star. And this idea of the Miami Heat buying into and kind of running back their roster from last year, it was predicated on a lot of the role players that you are seeing now, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, taking that next step. And through an 82-plus two-game sample size, that never seemed to take place. But something clicked for this team versus that Bucs series, and it's hard not to point to them overcoming a 16-point deficit in Game 5 on the road with Giannis on to the kumpo back, forcing overtime with Jimmy Butler heroics, and then winning that series in overtime in five in Milwaukee. That was the team with one of the best net ratings throughout the regular season. I know Giannis missed two games, and he really missed most of the first game.

So you can kind of chalk it up to three games. But overall, that was still one of the better teams in the NBA with Giannis or not. And the Miami Heat on their home floor blew them out in Game 3.

Jimmy Butler heroics again in Game 4, and something seemed to click there. And I think that's when Heat fans realized, and I think that the team itself realized that they could put some special run together. I think they felt really confident against the Knicks. I thought they matched up very well against the Knicks. And most people would say Boston was a more talented team.

I'm not certain I necessarily disagree with that, but there is something to be said about the better overall team coming together. And I think that's what you're seeing right now en route to their seventh ever NBA Finals appearance. When you look back at this run, clearly everyone was shocked, and no one gave them a chance up against Milwaukee. The Knicks, I thought that, at least I believed, that the Heat were going to win that series.

The Celtics, yeah, obviously everyone did pick the Celtics. Now, headed into this one, I feel as if people respect Miami, where they're saying, you know they're going to be a tough team. But no one's really given them a shot in this series up against Denver. Has that been a major storyline the last few days when you get ready to dissect this matchup? Or is it just, hey, no one's really been giving them much of a shot the entire postseason, so it just feels normal? Nah, I think people in Miami, they harp on that a lot. They go back to the 3% chance from the four-letter network analytics team versus Boston, and everybody was just chomping at the bit to find out what the percentage chance Miami would get against Denver.

And it was 11%, so I think that's a little bump up from 3%, Zach. But, I mean, people care about that stuff down here. They like the idea that we're underdogs. I think the whole city of Miami, you can go back to the Hurricanes football program, when they were at the height of what they were doing. And Sports Illustrated wrote a column, and I'm talking years ago, right?

I was a baby. I was in diapers when this was written about how the Miami Hurricanes football program should be shut down. And I think the city of Miami really does rally around being the underdogs. But I think this team does as well. They like the fact that people aren't picking them.

But I think this is a little different. We saw them take the Boston Celtics last year to within a shot of beating them in a seven-game series. And, you know, the Denver Nuggets, they've played the Heat really well. I don't think you can focus on the two matchups this season too much because in the second matchup, if you go back, I mean, Jamari Boullier and Orlando Robinson played big minutes for the Heat off the bench. I don't expect you to know who those two guys are. I don't expect any of your audience to know who those two guys are either because they don't even play for the team anymore.

They're on two-way deals. So I don't look too much at the actual matchups from earlier this season. But overall, the Denver Nuggets have been the best team in the postseason. They swept the Lakers. And they have the two-time MVP who probably should have been the three-time MVP this year as well. So I think it's fair that Denver is the heavy favorite. They have home court advantage. But I also think that, again, there is something to be said.

I don't want to keep going back to it. But there is something to be said about this Heat team knowing that they can accomplish another big hurdle. They're just the third team in the last 35 seasons to be underdogs in all three series that they won going into the NBA Finals.

Only one team was an underdog all the way through the NBA Finals, the Houston Rockets, and ended up winning it. I think Miami is trying to become just the second team in the past 35 years. But again, this is the best team they're going to have faced in the playoffs. And that's having played the Celtics and the Bucks and probably going up against the best player they've gone up against in the NBA playoffs thus far. And that's including Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jason Tatum as well.

Alejandro Solana here with us. When you look at the Heat, we all know their best player is Jimmy Butler. But would you agree for them to win this series, their most important player has to be Bam Adebayo?

I do agree. And a lot of people now have seen Caleb Martin kind of take on a much larger role with this team. I think part of that has to do with the fact that Tyler Hero hasn't been a member of this postseason run because of injury.

He broke his hand in that first game versus Milwaukee. So more scoring opportunities have been there. And he's really relished in that role. He's flourished now on the biggest stage and arguably should have been Eastern Conference Finals MVP.

He got several votes, but Jimmy Butler ended up winning it. But look, Bam Adebayo, a lot of people in Miami were very frustrated with his offensive efforts. And kind of the storyline down here, especially amongst fans who are very critical of Bam, is that he kind of shrinks offensively in the postseason. I don't necessarily think that's fair, but there is a large enough sample size now going back to last year's postseason that his offensive game just doesn't translate as well to the postseason. When possessions get harder, the defense is more likely to collapse on you. And teams have more time to be able to adjust their coverage from a game-to-game basis and really fixate on what works for them defensively.

And Bam's had a tough time overcoming it. But on the defensive end specifically, there's nobody in my mind that's more important in this series just because Bam Adebayo is one of the most unique defenders in the league. He can cover one through five, but in this series, do you want him covering one through five, right? Or do you want him just spending time on Jokic? And I think that's going to determine if the Heat can win four games. If they can go in today and steal one, is if he's able to impact the game on literally every single possession.

Think about that. Jokic is probably going to touch the ball on almost 90% of Denver's possessions. The only time he's not is when they're on a fast break and he kind of just hangs out back there because he's too lazy to run up the court. And it works for him.

That's no shade at him. Bam Adebayo is going to have to be the focal point for what Miami does defensively. He always has been, but now to an even greater degree, he's going to have to insert himself on every single possession defensively, and he's not going to be able to switch as much because that's what Denver is going to be looking for.

It's going to be very difficult for him to adjust to that just because he's so used to switching on to a point guard, switching on to a wing player and being able to slide his feet enough because of how versatile he is. And in this series, Miami doesn't want him to. They want him to stay on Jokic. They want him to obviously help on the weak side when other players are driving to the rim. But if he leaves Jokic open, I mean, this guy has a game from the outside to the mid-range and obviously can put the ball on the floor. And if it's anybody but Bam Adebayo on him, that's a win for Denver. Alejandro Solana, just in terms of what they did for the Heat, not what they've done in other places, where does Jimmy Butler rank in terms of the greatest Miami Heat players of all time?

So I love this question, and I'll pull the curtain back. You had texted me about it yesterday, and I'm going to give credit to one of the podcast hosts down here. He hosts the Miami Heat Beat Podcast. It's one of the more popular Heat Podcasts down here.

And one of their hosts, his name is Alf, and he's on Twitter, Alf954. He tweeted a couple months ago or maybe just about a month ago after Jimmy Butler was just doing some crazy stuff in the playoffs. You remember the 50-plus point game and then that game five. He tweeted out something along the lines of, LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal are the two greatest players to ever wear a Miami Heat jersey. And I don't think anybody would disagree with that. Just individual talent, those are the two best players to ever suit up for the Miami Heat. But Dwyane Wade and then Jimmy Butler are the two greatest players in Miami Heat franchise history, just in terms of what they've been able to accomplish for the franchise.

And I happen to agree with that. I think it's Dwyane Wade one, and now I think it's Jimmy Butler number two. And that's not taken away from LeBron. I think a lot of people think Heat fans are petty with LeBron James.

It's really not the case, for the most part. You'll find a couple Heat fans who are still salty LeBron James left, but for the most part. But LeBron won two championships for the franchise.

As much as Jimmy Butler has been great, he hasn't won a championship yet. Yeah, but I feel like LeBron James was here for four years and then he left. And he was never really considered a Miami Heat player. When he retires and he goes to the Hall of Fame, he's going to be remembered as a Cleveland Cavalier. So I think it's just a little different mentality where you know Dwyane Wade is known as a Miami Heat player. And Jimmy Butler, I know he's had a couple other stops along the way before he got here, but he wanted to be here. He wanted to come to Miami. And now that he's been here in four seasons, two Finals appearances, three Eastern Conference Finals appearances, and he's been everything and more that they can ask for.

But you know how we all buy into this Heat culture aspect and maybe it gets overplayed a little bit too much. But right now, I think it's at the forefront of how this run was possible. And Jimmy Butler embodies that to a T. He was doubted coming out of college. He was the 30th overall pick in the first round. His story getting to the NBA and growing up is one that we would need a lot more time to go over. But for those who haven't read about Jimmy Butler's story, it's a remarkable journey for him. Just the fact that he had the opportunity to play in the NBA and then, you know, having to work for these opportunities. You know, he wasn't just naturally gifted.

He truly had to put in the work behind the scenes. And I think, you know, top down from Pat Riley all the way to Eric Spulcher, that's what this Heat team loves. Players like that who fit into their culture, who fit in.

And not everybody does. And I think Jimmy Butler, he wanted to be that. He wanted to embrace it.

And it's worked out for him probably better than anybody could have expected. I know certainly outside of South Florida, nobody expected this type of run from the Miami Heat when Jimmy Butler joined here. So for that simple fact, in my opinion, he's already on the Mount Rushmore of Miami Heat players.

And I know he doesn't want to ring yet. And LeBron James won two again. I'm not throwing any shade at those four years during the Big Three era. LeBron James, easily the greatest player to ever put on a Miami Heat jersey. And I would never debate that. But he left this organization and it never really felt like he wanted to embrace this organization. Jimmy Butler is the antithesis of that. He wanted to be here. He's embraced it.

And he's become the face of this organization. And you couldn't ask for a successor to Dwyane Wade better than Jimmy Butler. Last thing I'll ask you, not that I'm a big Mount Rushmore guy, but since you brought it up, just players. Who were the four players then for you on the Miami Heat Mount Rushmore? Oh man, you want me to give you the real one or the troll one? Because I'll give you a Mario Chalmers every time. Mario Chalmers, okay. Give me the real one.

Let's get the authentic Alejandro Solano. Yeah, so I think it's Dwyane Wade. I think it's Jimmy Butler. I think it's LeBron James.

And then the fourth one, you could go several which ways. You could go Chris Bosh, everything he meant to this organization. Over Alonzo Mourning. Right, and then I think some people would argue that it would be Chris Bosh over Alonzo Mourning. Just strictly based on the fact that he won two titles and though he won one. But let's not forget, Alonzo Mourning didn't win a title in his initial Heat run in that first stint with the team. He came back after having to leave the game because of a medical issue and joined forces with Shaq. And Dwyane Wade was actually a big part of that team off the bench.

But also another player that you have to at least mention, and this is my fourth. Yudonis Haslam. There is not a single era of Heat basketball that won championships. And no one would mess with those sculptures by the way if Yudonis Haslam's on him.

Because he's the enforcer. Yeah, that Yudonis Haslam was not a part of. Every single era of Heat basketball now going back to 2006.

The most NBA Finals appearances out of any organization since the 06 season is this Miami Heat franchise. And Yudonis Haslam has been a part of it throughout the entire way. I'm really happy for him by the way that he gets to on his last year go to an NBA Finals.

I know he doesn't play and people kind of just think of him as a coach on the sideline which at this point he is. But that dude was a baller. He locked up Dirk Nowitzki in the 06 NBA Finals. For those young NBA fans who don't remember go look it up on YouTube.

There's actually a lot of great stuff Yudonis Haslam did. And during the Big 3 run D-Wade convinced Lebron and Bosh and himself to take less money to keep UD from going to either Dallas or Denver. Because that's how big of a part of that championship core Wade knew he would be. And he ended up being a big part of it as well. So to me the Mount Rushmore, Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Lebron James and Yudonis Haslam. And you could interchange Haslam with Alonzo Mourning or Chris Bosh any day.

And I wouldn't have any issues with it. Alejandro Solana pre and post for the Easter Conference Champion Miami Heat Radio Network. Enjoy these next few weeks and appreciate you doing this as always. Anytime, Zach. Appreciate you, man. Thank you. The stream on YouTube.

So how about that, Hickey? We didn't even know we were on YouTube until a few people. One being MoistPork, who is a big listener to CBS Sports Radio. I did see one of his tweets and quite a few others saying, you know, you guys are on YouTube right now. Well, I was on YouTube. For some reason, they don't have the producer cameras for the Maggie and Perloff show hooked up with the YouTube stream.

So no one saw you. They just ended up seeing me and a vacant chair, which is Maggie's chair. And right behind Maggie's chair, I never realized this. There's a Jim Kelly autographed football in here. I know when Tiki was here, he had a bunch of his like game balls in the studio and things like that. I never realized that there was a autographed Jim Kelly football in here.

And it makes sense because Maggie is a big time Buffalo Bills fan. I don't know if this is true, but I saw it on Twitter. So I'll preface my statement by that.

Especially in this new era of Twitter. Is that right? That Josh Allen is going to dawn the cover for Madden this upcoming season. Did you did you at all see that? I did see that. And I can't confirm either. But yes, I believe that is going to be the case for 2020.

Was that because it was due to your head, right? Just mad in 2024. I think you're right.

I think it's 2024. He will be on the cover. So Bills fans do that with what you will. Is that still a big deal? The Madden curse? I know when we were growing up, it seemed as if you were on the cover of Madden. You'd always either ended up just having a massive fall from grace on the field or you ended up getting hurt.

Has that been a thing as of late? I think was it Mahomes last year was on the Madden cover. So that would be an obvious no because Patrick Mahomes ended up winning another Super Bowl and another Super Bowl MVP.

But is that still a big thing? The Madden cover curse? So last year was John Madden for his passing. Two years before that, I'm just looking right now, I believe it was Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady for 2022. Which I think is after the 2021 year, which was the year that the Bucks won the Super Bowl.

So it was coming off of that. That's Super Bowl. Tom Brady had a down year and Mahomes lost to the Bengals in the AFC title game. Well no, Brady didn't have a down year then. That year he led the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns. Oh, they lost to the Rams. Sorry, I was thinking about this past year.

The year ahead is really screwed with my thought process here. Lamar Jackson was for the 2021 season. So that was after his MVP season.

No, his MVP season was 2019. Mahomes was on it for the 2020 season, which they made to the Super Bowl. Antonio Brown, oof.

Yeah, I guess the Madden curse is alive and well. Did you see AB is trying to offer Cam Newton $150,000 to play in one game for whatever team? I think he's owning like an arena football league team or something like that right now. If I'm Cam, first off, when Cam says he's still a top 32 quarterback in this league, he can't be taking $150,000 to go play in a gimmick for Antonio Brown, but also you'll never see any of that $150,000. If, if, if, if you're going to take that money, you need it given to you in cash before the game is even played.

I was just about to say, if you're Cam, I would not go on the word of AB that, I'll pay you, just come play and we'll figure out the money later because that's a guy who has routinely, let's say, not paid his debts. So you had Brady in 2018, then it was Gronk in 2017, Odell in 2016, Richard Sherman in 2015, Madden 25, that was the 25th anniversary in 2014, it was Adrian Peterson. I don't even remember half these guys being on the cover. Calvin Johnson, 2013, I actually, the last cover I remember was 2012, which was Peyton Hillis.

I was a little about to say the same thing, that's the one that stuck out because it's Peyton Hillis. And also that's when we were actually playing the video game. Like don't get me wrong, I'll still play Madden a few times a year, but I was religiously playing the video game back then. You have a gaming console right now in your apartment? I have a PlayStation 5, but I barely use it. It's more so just for like watching things. And I'll play a little bit of one of the golf video games here and there.

I haven't used this in a few months. And it'll be the show when the season starts, you'll play like a few games here and there. But I'm not a big video game guy these days. Same, I don't have a console, but I think that will change next year. College Football is coming back, that's when I will go and dive in on a PS4 or whatever.

Yeah, whatever it is now. I have a suggestion, by the way, for the cover. Of College Football next year? When it comes back in 2024.

Let's hear it. Now, I know he's not going to be on the cover, but Mark Sanchez put out a photo. I don't know if he was on a cover in years past, but Mark Sanchez put himself on the cover wearing his six USC jersey. I responded to that tweet, it would be great if they put Reggie Bush on it holding the Heisman Trophy.

Because it is absolutely absurd. And I'm saying this as a Heisman Trophy voter. How Reggie Bush is not even honored anymore by the Heisman Trust. They had to take away his trophy. I know the Heisman has said that's a College Football issue.

And that's not a them issue, which I don't even really get how that makes sense. But that's what I would do if, I think it's EA, right? EA Sports.

What's in the game? I would, that's what I would do if I was running EA. I don't know if it would make the folks in College Football that happy. But I would put Reggie Bush holding the Heisman Trophy. Like when he got the Heisman Trophy on the cover.

That to me would be fun. They do have to, I think, I gotta double check. I think it was Denard Robinson was the last cover. Because it went away like a decade ago. I believe it was him.

I gotta double check that, but I think that you have to go big here with your first cover back after. It feels like, I mean, at least a decade. Well let me ask you this. How much is NIL going to play a role in this? Is it going to be an active player?

Because now you could pay players and you could use their name, image, and likeness. Is that going to be Caleb Williams a year from now? I know he'll be off to the NFL. But would that be a player actively in College Football? Someone that just got out of it? Do you go with a legend of the past? Like someone like a Reggie Bush?

I'm really curious. And I think Reggie Bush was on the cover once. I remember I had a PSP, which was a PlayStation Portable.

Those things were great. Give the kid the PSP and just have him shut up when you guys were out for dinner and all that stuff. And mom and dad would go out for dinner and bring the kids.

And you didn't want any fighting to happen. And I'm pretty sure Reggie Bush, I want to say 2005, which would make sense, was on the cover. But that's what I would do. But I would imagine that would be a current player, right? Because of name, image, and likeness, I would think.

Absolutely. Which probably, like you said, would put Caleb Williams out of it. You know who it probably will be?

Who's that? Arch Manning. The tough part is, assuming Quinn Ewers doesn't get hurt, he's not going to play this year.

The game's not this year, it's 2024. I know, but I'm saying you're going to put a guy on the cover that's never taken a college snap? Is there going to be a bigger talking point in 2024 for college football right now when I ask you that question than the debut of Arch Manning? At that point, assuming everything goes well, Caleb Williams will be in the NFL. You will have Drake May in the NFL as well. Marvin Harrison Jr. will be in the NFL. Give me a bigger name that people will be talking about and just having the last name Manning and then also being at Texas. Right now, without doing a deep dive on every potential storyline and giving you a hot take, see I'm taking the role of you today, I would say that that's going to be the biggest name from a coverage standpoint in college football entering 2024. It's going to be interesting if anyone breaks out and maybe Caleb Williams shocks the world and says, I'm not going to go to the Cardinals. I'll come back to USC with my $10 million NIL deal. I take the number one overall, I'll keep playing. I know it was like when Sam Bradford got drafted, but it's still pretty damn lucrative.

Well, you're right about that. It is the Zach Kilb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break. When we come on back, Mike Norvell will join us. The head football coach at Florida State coming off a 10-win season. Year 3 was a super-duper success. We'll see what year 4 has in store. We'll come on back with a little college football fix right here on the Zach Kilb show on CBS Sports Radio.