QBs Under Pressure (Hour 1)

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Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. Live from the play show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of the Infinity Sports Network. This is a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, channel 158, that free Odyssey app, and of course streaming live on YouTube. 855-212-4227 is the number to jump on in. And as always, you can get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Rocking and rolling all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific today. Coming up hour 20 from now, we'll do a little college football fix with the head coach at South Carolina in Shane Beamer, as we'll preview the Gamecock season.

And then at 5 20 p.m. Eastern, 2 20 p.m. Pacific. The man that was on the sidelines last night for the very entertaining game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jared Greenberg, NBA on TNT, will join us as well. But we start the show today with some football, and we were on the air yesterday when we got the breaking news in the final hour of the show that the inevitable Jared Goff extension, basically $53 million a year, got paid and got handed out and got agreed upon yesterday. And I gave you my thoughts on it, where the Lions had to do it. The Lions are in a spot where for the first time in like forever, they walk into a season with a legitimate chance to win a Super Bowl. That trade with the Rams and the Lions was a win-win all around, and that is a rarity in sports. But when you go through that trade, which was originally Jared Goff going to the Lions along with two first round picks and a third round pick for Matthew Stafford, you got to give credit to the Lions front office because they turned those three picks into actually six players through other deals.

We know how good Sam Laporta has been, Jamir Gibbs, you have Jamison Williams, and we'll see guys like Brojekt Martin, Josh Pascal, and Afatou Malafonwu if they could break out as well. But those were the six players in addition to Goff that the Lions were able to get for trading Matthew Stafford to the Rams. And the Rams, they won their Super Bowl.

So that's worth it, 10 times out of 10. And now for the Lions, it's their turn to take the baton and it's their turn to make that dash to the Lombardi Trophy. And we'll see if they could do that. But with having a guy like Jared Goff, who is a good quarterback and who has been to Super Bowl before, has been to another NFC title game now in two different stops, the Super Bowl in LA, and then the NFC title game in Detroit, this is a move where when you have a guy that's good, and yes, you're overpaying him and you're giving him great money, it's a move you have to do because what else were the Lions going to do? And quite frankly, Jared Goff deserved the contract. Like the Lions to get a guy like Goff and to have the success that they've had the last two years and be on the verge of being a team that is a legitimate Super Bowl contender, and they enter the season as a Super Bowl contender, you don't mess around with that. You don't play around with that and you don't want the contract lingering over the organization. Like this is different than Dak Prescott in Dallas.

This is different than Tuatunga Vailoa in Miami. The relationship may have ran its course in Dallas, and maybe Dak wants out. Maybe he doesn't.

I don't know. But Dak has a no trade clause or no tag clause in his contract. So if he wants to get to free agencies, he's had enough with Jerry Jones, he has the power to do that. And for someone like Tua, because I know people say, but Zach, you just said Jared Goff's a good quarterback, not a great quarterback.

He already got paid. Why aren't you saying that Tuatunga Vailoa should have already been paid by Stephen Ross? Because I haven't seen it enough yet consistently from Tuatunga Vailoa. Sure, Tua registered as a top five quarterback last year from a statistical standpoint. Did anyone actually think Tuatunga Vailoa was a top five quarterback in the league though last year?

No. Because any time he went up against good teams, he held his team back. Whether it was Kansas City twice, whether it was the Buffalo Bills at the end of the season, I didn't see a rush or a need to rush to pay Tuatunga Vailoa. And all I'm asking before you give him the big bag, all I'm asking for is that he replicates a success from a year ago and improves off of it. And if Tuatunga Vailoa is in the same ballpark as he was a year ago in 2024, you know inevitably he's going to get that deal. Goff's time was now, Tua's time should be probably next off season, and Dak, I think the ball is in his court this time, you know, a little bit, you know, not necessarily this time, but like a month or two before this time next year. Because for Dak, it comes down to, we know him and Jerry Jones aren't getting a deal done this off season.

So will you get it done next off season or do you want to go elsewhere? But we enter this NFL season as it's only May 14th in the year of 2024, where quarterbacks are always the big talk. And you really look at it the last few years, we've seen some big trades go down, we've seen some big quarterbacks leave via free agency.

Brady going to the Bucks, right? Leaving New England, that started it all. You had Russell Wilson, I know that was a short tenure, but that was a big deal at the time. He got traded to the Denver Broncos. Aaron Rodgers getting traded to the Jets from the Green Bay Packers. Deshaun Watson getting traded from the Texans, going to the Cleveland Browns.

Matthew Stafford, as we talked about, getting dealt from the Lions and going to the LA Rams. So we've seen a lot of quarterback movement with big quarterback names. And entering this season, it's time for the payoff on a lot of these quarterbacks. Like there's pressure on Tua going into this season. I know Jared Goff just got paid, so there's not financial pressure, but there's pressure to deliver the Lions a championship. There's pressure on Dak this off this upcoming season. There's pressure on Lamar Jackson because you keep on getting close, but yet so far.

Same thing with Josh Allen. There's pressure on Aaron Rodgers. Heck, now there's pressure on Kirk Cousins. I didn't think there was any pressure on Kirk Cousins, but when you give a guy $100 million guaranteed and a four-year contract and then you draft his replacement and you don't even let him breathe and enjoy the first season, there's immediate pressure for Kirk Cousins to succeed because if you don't succeed, you know what's happening.

Those Falcons fans are going to eventually be begging to see Michael Penix Jr. get on the field, the eighth overall pick. But through all those quarterbacks and there's different degrees of pressure, there's pressure to win a championship. There's pressure to keep your job. Like the word pressure is very ambiguous and the way you define pressure and how you view the pressure on someone can impact the question I'm going to ask in terms of which quarterback is under the most pressure this season.

Because the guy that I'm going to give is not under pressure financially. Like he's not on the verge of losing his job because of how much money they did commit to him and how many years they did commit to him with the contract being fully guaranteed. Cough, cough, it's Deshaun Watson. But there is now pressure on Deshaun Watson to make those payments on the field for what they're paying you to do and you got to step up and deliver.

And I know it's complicated with Deshaun Watson because of what he was accused of off the field and how scary and how frightening that was. But as we've seen in sports before, if you're not sitting in a jail cell, if one team moves on from you, especially when you have talent, there will be at least one team that will be willing to go on above and beyond to get your services. And that's what the Cleveland Browns did. They traded a king's ransom of assets to the Texans and it's worked out for the Texans, obviously, to go get Deshaun Watson. And then they doubled down and gave them a fully guaranteed contract. So the Browns last year with Deshaun Watson getting hurt and you had an abundance of quarterbacks get on the field and you know Joe Flacco ended up winning comeback player of the year.

He was on the couch. He gets into that organization and they end up getting to the postseason where they did lose to the Houston Texans. But that was a team that exceeded expectations last year once you had the quarterback get hurt. And Kevin Stefanski is now a two-time coach of the year award winner. And I thought last year that Stefanski and Watson were going to butt heads and there was going to be a power play that was won by Deshaun Watson. If let's say the Browns regress this year and let's just say Deshaun Watson does not perform to the level that he is capable of on the field. I don't want to hear the criticism about Kevin Stefanski because Kevin Stefanski won a coach of the year and led the Browns to the playoffs and won them a playoff game. I know he had COVID and he wasn't technically on the field for that playoff game but Baker Mayfield does his quarterback. Kevin Stefanski with far removed elite Joe Flacco in his later part of his career for Joe Flacco when his career looked like it was over he got that team he got that quarterback play out of Joe Flacco to get the Browns to the playoffs a year ago. So don't give me this nonsense if Watson doesn't perform well that now all of a sudden we have to question Kevin Stefanski. Kevin Stefanski is the right man for the job for the Cleveland Browns and if you disagree and we know how many coaches the Browns have had through the last 20 years tell me the last Browns coach that has got that team to the playoffs twice and has also won two coach of the year awards.

I'll wait. So this Browns team going into this year is under an enormous amount of pressure because number one you're playing the toughest conference right AFC's toughest conference you're playing the toughest division that's the AFC North and you have a roster that is well rounded. This is a damn good roster on the offensive and defensive side of the ball and we have not seen Deshaun Watson who was on the trajectory of being an elite quarterback who was a top seven quarterback in the NFL we have not seen that top seven version out of him since 2020. That's a long long time he sat out all of 2021 because before we found out some of the allegations off the field he was done with the Texans either way then 2022 he served the suspension only played in six games and last year he got hurt and only played in six games. The last time we saw Deshaun Watson at elite level on the verge of being elite quarterback was 2020. He I know the team stunk but he had a 70.2 completion percentage through for 4,823 yards and at 33 touchdowns to seven interceptions and those are 33 passing touchdowns.

He also had three rushing touchdowns that year. I need to see Deshaun Watson this year get close to being that quarterback again and I don't think Deshaun Watson will ever be viewed as an elite top seven quarterback again in this league. I think the days of Deshaun Watson being thought of potentially being a great quarterback are behind us but now his ceiling could still be a very good quarterback and he needs to show me that he could still be a good or very good or very good quarterback again and we haven't seen that through his own stupidity through injuries as well in a very long time. So I enter this football season with all the names that we could discuss and I think the quarterback under the most pressure with the contract that was given to him with the last two years him basically being a non-factor I need to see Deshaun Watson capitalize. I need to see him be a good a very good quarterback once again and there's no other place to point the finger to now.

Stefanski two-time coach of the year. Andrew Berry has done a really good job as the general manager of this team and this is a well-rounded football team with let me add one of the better rosters in the entire NFL. No more excuses for Deshaun Watson. He's the quarterback under the most pressure entering this upcoming season.

Stu we'll open this up to everybody else at eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Pressure is very ambiguous. Pressure to lose your job, pressure to win a championship, pressure to succeed.

There's many ways that you could define pressure when we enter this season. Who is the quarterback in the NFL under the most pressure for you and why? For me it's Dak Prescott and it's someone who is playing for a contract extension.

So it could be you know he could be heading towards the end of his time at the Cowboys. He's playing for the job of Mike McCarthy. They need to get done in the playoffs. Dak now two and five in the playoffs to put up a shut up time. They've surrounded him with talent.

They brought back McCarthy for one more year. Dak needs to you know try to get that extension. I think Dak is the one who and they also play in a conference.

They play in the easier conference and there's the playoff spot. I know the Eagles are good but they should be a wildcard team at the least and they should make a deep playoff run if he's a franchise quarterback like some think he is. Yeah so here's my problem with Dak. I've seen this story too many times. I think we all know with Dak and I'm not saying there isn't pressure on Dak because that would be extremely hypocritical of me when we talk about Dak.

September, October, November, December doing a national show. The thing though with Dak is I want to know what he wants. I want to know if Dak wants to stay in Dallas or if Dak is already thinking I got one foot in Dallas but my next foot is out the door and I could find a way to hit free agency this offseason guaranteed because I have that no tag clause in that contract and I'm not saying that people look to make excuses for the Cowboys because we don't trust me. We blast the Cowboys enough referring to them as the drama Dallas choking Cowboys on this show but there are some excuses that can be made for Dak this year. You got a lame duck coach. You don't have clarity on your contract and honestly Jerry Jones said that they were all in.

They have not been all in. This roster got worse from where it was a year ago and I'm not saying Dak isn't under pressure because Dak is always under pressure but I'm just at the point where when I look at Dak I know what's gonna happen. Like maybe they regress this year and they don't win as many games as they've done the last three years 12 wins in every game of the regular season you know 12 wins 12 wins 12 wins the last three years but even if the Cowboys have this good regular season and Dak looks like an MVP which some people thought last year it will be just wait just wait to the playoffs but I think it's a good one it's just one for me that it's like watching the same movie over and over again you sit on the edge of your seat you make yourself a big bag a big bowl of popcorn and and you're licking your fingers with the butter filled all over them from the popcorn and you're drinking a soda or something you go oh I wonder if the movie's gonna change this time around hey dummy the movie's already produced it's gonna be the same outcome year in and year out. Carlos who's your quarterback under the most pressure entering this season? All right do me a favor yeah can you just grab that microphone and bring it down and drop you sit so low to the ground that that microphone is so far away from your mouth or I'll get a taller chair who knows maybe things will happen during the break here I'm gonna go with a guy you briefly mentioned Russell Wilson now no financial pressure because he's getting paid out the wazoo from Denver. Denver said forget it go away or he's on a tremendous amount of pressure because this is going to be a make it or break it year in terms of the rest of his career being a starter if he flails in Pittsburgh not only does he have to look over his shoulder at Justin Fields who the Steelers also picked up and Justin Fields is going to be chomping at the bit to be a star starter. Think according to some teammates they may have him returning kicks the moment you have Justin Fields returning kicks that means he's not your quarterback. That doesn't make any sense to me but Fields at least he has his years ahead of him he's going to have another opportunity somewhere down the road whether it's Pittsburgh or somewhere else Russell Wilson he might be looking at the backup route for the rest of his career if he flails out here um yeah I know he's only making 100 I know he's only making a million with the Steelers but this is it I don't think teams are going to be willing to pony up any real money for him to be a starter if he if he actually absolutely stinks well not only that he could be playing himself out of the hall of fame this is a legacy play for sure like Russell Wilson I think he's made you know nine pro bowls or something like that and maybe it may be 10 but Russell Wilson um was on that path of being a hall of fame nine pro bowls for Russell Wilson and no one really had a negative word to say about Russ but it's kind of tough to make the hall of fame where even though he won a Super Bowl in Seattle he was not the first guy you thought of for that Super Bowl he thought of the LOB first he thought of Pete Carroll second and Marshawn Lynch third and then you throw an interception at the goal line to lose the Super Bowl the next year and then once you got out of Seattle you weren't just bad in Denver you were a disaster and I'm just starting to wonder like if he can't go have another good season like he was fine last year but if you can't have a good season in an environment that is set up to win like the sales made the playoffs last year with no quarterback with uh Mason Rudolph and and uh and Kenny Pickett like PU but if you can't just be like above average I think a lot of people remember things that happened recently rather than earlier in time and I think it could complicate the chances of Russell Wilson getting into the hall of fame yeah and even when he was good with the 10 years of Seattle never won MVP no so I don't think he ever got a vote until maybe like the last year or something like really late into his career so his legacy is on the line here people are gonna like you said recency biased they're gonna remember him stinking essentially if he rather than all the good in Seattle if he doesn't absolutely light it up in Pittsburgh. Who's a quarterback under pressure entering this season? Stu goes Dak, Carlos goes Russell Wilson and I go with Deshaun Watson 8-5-5 2-1-2 42-27. LeBron showed up to Cleveland last night sitting court side what does that mean for the future of LeBron James we discuss next.

The wait is over that's right season five of the Kardashians is here just when you thought life couldn't get any faster they're punching it into overdrive Chris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie are back and continue to defy expectations in all their endeavors so get ready to go behind the glitz and glamour of the most iconic family on television the all-new season of the Kardashians premieres May 23rd streaming on Hulu. Worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect impress them on the third date guacamole well good thing instacart shoppers are as picky as you are they find ripe avocados like it's their guac on the line they are milk expiration date detectives they bag eggs like the 12 precious pieces of cargo they are so let instacart shoppers overthink your groceries so that you can overthink what you'll wear on that third date download the instacart app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last minimum ten dollar per order additional term supply you could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever or you could conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe visit hundayusa.com for more details Hyundai there's joy in every journey all right it is the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network who is a QB that's under the most pressure entering this season I go to Sean Watson, Stu Head, Dak Prescott and Carlos with the K does go with Russell Wilson let's hear from you 855-212-4227 we go to Joe in Pennsylvania first up on the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network Joe what's happening how you doing bud doing great Joe what do you got cooking for us today hey uh you're talking about quarterbacks under pressure how about that Kyler Murray it's a great one uh especially because they ended up getting him and thanks for the phone call uh Marvin Harrison Jr in the draft and for Kyler Murray see I think Kyler Murray because he was hurt is kind of out of sight out of mind and you walked into last season looking at the Cardinals as a team that was going to be tanking and maybe drafting the replacement for Kyler Murray and I know they ended up being the fourth overall pick so I wouldn't suggest that they had a great season but for the little assets that the Cardinals had Cardinals actually had a solid season last year they played tough for Jonathan Gannon, Monty Austin Fort made that big trade we're sure they got the Texans first round pick and you thought that was going to be a top five pick but it didn't end up being that it was in the 20s because how good the Texans were but that's an organization that I think they're on the right track they're in a tough division where right now you're trying to figure out what the future of the Seahawks will be with the new coach coming in Mike McDonald replacing Pete Carroll but then you also look at the other two teams the 49ers right now are the standard in that division the Rams are still a heck of a team even though they just lost Aaron Donald to retirement but for Kyler Murray this is the year where I look at Kyler and I'm gonna find out if he is really the quarterback that is going to be the QB for this team led by Monty Austin Fort and led by Jonathan Gannon and Murray has been a good QB in the NFL the injury with how it happened so late two seasons ago and wiped out most of his season this past year is unfortunate but for someone like Kyler Murray he has been a great quarterback in most places he's gone going back to high school in college and in the NFL he got off to a fine start he had a terrible end to the season and he's dealt with some injuries and you saw that relationship just uh run run its course with Cliff Kingsbury but now this is kind of the decision-making time where the dead cap goes from 111 million dollars this year down to 63 million dollars and even though that's still an enormous amount of money we've seen teams move on from quarterbacks even if they still have in a tremendous amount of dead cap and now I gotta see if Murray could get back to form in that trajectory where he was heading on before the injury even though there were some questions before because they gave him the money when quite frankly the Cardinals didn't need to give him the money and you look back at that regime they gave Kyme and Kingsbury the extension when they were not deserving of it and if you were telling me at the time I know they've since moved on that you believe in the quarterback or it should be you believe in the the GM and you believe in the coach well then you had to pay the quarterback as well and that's when Kyler Murray got all of his leverage but now you have the money Kyler Murray you have to go on the field and not even be great like I don't think anyone looks at this Cardinals team this year and they expect playoffs but it's like Arizona somehow went nine and eight this year is anyone gonna be shocked if they find the way to back their way into the postseason or weekend and see in a wildcard spot I wouldn't but for like Kyler Murray this year he needs to walk away you know take away the team success I need you time together but you got to look at Kyler Murray this year even with the roster that's still not great and say okay there's signs that this dude could still be the guy and if they don't feel that way maybe they give him another year because of the finances but there are no attachments outside of money there's no emotional attachment for a guy like Monte Austin Fort or Jonathan Gannon and you know this in this sport a lot of times people want to get their own guys in and Kyler Murray is not a Monte Austin Fort guy Kyler Murray is not a Jonathan Gannon guy and there's a lot of intrigue surrounding Kyler Murray even though we haven't talked about him a lot within the last year because he was coming back from him back from that injury before returning in last season so let me just spend a moment or two talking about LeBron here is the latest on LeBron James Borrego is in the mix for the coaching search JJ Redick is and then Sam Cassell the former guard who has been on an assistant for a while and he is not gonna head coaching job I was reading via Shams today that those are the three finalists I guess for the job or the three candidates that are getting the most serious consideration and I also heard from Shams Sharania that Coach K is is being used as a reference here and kind of as a someone that's guiding this coaching search so Stu out of those options Borrego, Redick and Sam Cassell how do you rank those three on who you would want to see as the next head coach of your Los Angeles Lakers? So Redick is definitely third on that list I would you know what Sam Cassell has been a guy who's been on the radar for a while now really hasn't gotten an opportunity I wouldn't mind Borrego but I'm kind of intrigued by Cassell so if I had the choice of those three I'd go Cassell one, Borrego two, Redick three. I'm in the same line of thinking as you and I also just read during the break that Jason Lloyd who covers the NBA and covers the Cavs he said the Lakers are expected to be at the front of the line to acquire Donovan Mitchell this summer. If Mitchell doesn't sign an extension with Cleveland this summer the Cavs will have to explore trade options and one of the teams standing at the front of the line will be the Lakers. It's possible given Mitchell's current condition with his calf that he has already played his final game in a Cavs jersey. So I would picks you would be giving up to get Donovan Mitchell from the Lakers because I don't think any of those players are really assets that they want. Austin East probably would be the main piece but yeah right three first round picks. So you could have LeBron AD and Mitchell next season Mitchell dealing with the calf right now.

LeBron ever since getting to the Lakers has had injury problems and we know like just like how every day ends and why that Anthony Davis also every year has an injury as well. So that would be a fine team like right you go get Donovan Mitchell that I think it reignites your excitement a little bit. I don't think you're winning a championship but that's a group that would be fun to watch at least. It excites me more but the concern I have is again it's the same thing when they traded for Russell Westbrook. They're depleting their bench so much that they're going to be those three guys in no bench. It turns into the Suns where exactly what Carlos has said. It would be a better big three than what the Suns have with Durant and Booker and Beal because if you look at that third piece I'd much rather had Donovan Mitchell than Bradley Beal at both of their stages of their career but the Suns had no chance a because Durant hates I guess I hated Frank Vogel hated everyone else in the locker room too and just wanted to be like by himself because that's Kevin Durant and you looked at the rest of that team even when those guys were healthy which was like never they didn't have much else to offer. I thought it was weird last night. I know LeBron was home for Mother's Day I read and that's why he was he was in Cleveland and they ended up getting invited to the game by Dan Gilbert the owner of the Cavs and we know LeBron obviously had two stints in Cleveland but seeing him court side I was like that's a good move by LeBron because LeBron is all about the drama this offseason to improve the stock of Bronnie and get people to operate under this belief that if you draft Bronnie LeBron's going to join you when in all likelihood LeBron probably comes back to the Lakers but I do think there's a contingent of us that we want to see LeBron go elsewhere because this relationship with the Lakers have has really run its course and I don't want to see the last year or two of LeBron's career not giving him a legitimate chance to win a championship so I would like to see him go elsewhere but even though I don't think he's going back to Cleveland it does make people get nostalgic and go oh could you imagine if you know he goes home for a third time and and he ends up going back to Cleveland so that was a smart way of LeBron who you remember earlier this year he did that interview walking out of the garden with the Knicks towel and then all and hey LeBron and Leon Rose used to be very close LeBron's agent was Leon Rose and then right Rich Paul learned from Leon Rose and then they broke off and they formed Clutch Sports but that's one of those things where LeBron is in a dummy LeBron knows how to keep his name in the news where we probably shouldn't be talking about LeBron outside of his future right now we we end up talking about LeBron and also his future because of the fact that he's sitting at the Cavs game last night and it's kind of funny how he just like walked out so nonchalantly just walking out onto the court with his wife and he sits down and when they they did a video I think to well everyone gets a video these days but he's actually deserving of the video and they did a video for him I I don't know maybe it was just a bad video that I saw on Twitter I thought there'd be a lot more of a thunderous reaction to LeBron coming back because he did deliver the Cavs a championship and we know he's one of the greatest players of all time anyway 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27 Marco Belletti is here and Marco we were talking about who could be the next Lakers coach I heard you were sitting next to to Shep and also on Bart Winkler's show and Shep thought he could be a great coach for the Los Angeles Lakers X's and O's JV basketball yeah my favorite part about that and I could tell your disgust with it because whenever Marco just goes what are we doing here that's when I know Marco is infuriated with the topic and my the funniest part about the whole thing is because he had I guess some level of success as a JV coach in high school that he thinks he could do a better job than a guy that was an assistant for 10 damn years won an NBA championship as assistant coach in Darvin Ham and now he's out of a job but Shep thinks he could do a better job than Darvin Ham look I I just struggle with anybody with anything when they're talking about doing things on a professional level and they really have no reason to believe it and again it's not a knock on Shep because I did it in front of his face I don't care I believe that he's a good coach I believe and I know he knows basketball but there's a different coaching JV in the NBA there's a respect level that you must have in a locker room yeah that's my problem it's not the X's and O's I'm not concerned with whether or not you can draw up a good pick and roll I'm concerned with you walk in the locker room and everybody looks at you goes who the hell are you that's my concern that's the stuff that people don't realize when they go I can do this you can't do this because as soon as you walk in the room everybody goes who are you and why the hell are you here those are the things that people forget that's the part that I think we gloss over when it comes to professional sports they're human but they're really freaking good at what they do you have to have a modicum of respect to walk in the room to be able to speak to them on their level and you have to earn that it doesn't come from just osmosis I'm sorry what could you imagine Jeff's first like pep talk to the team I can't because that's not about knowing basketball hey guys I coached a Carmelo Anthony's kid at a at a JV school so I'll draw up the play and we'll be looking like the showtime like yeah again X's and O's is not why you know like you could roll up around it you could know it you could honestly truly look at it and and be able to dissect it that doesn't mean that you walk in the room and Anthony Davis is going to hand you a clipboard and say sure coach like that's just not how it works hey LeBron look up at the rafters you want to be having your number retired next to all those great players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when did she become chamberlain Muhammad Ali did I miss something well he thinks it could be Tyson and if I all right the only reason why the chef's voice sounds like that to me is when I did the weekend overnights the show at the time that would follow me was was John Kincaid and uh John would always be like he would always imitate Shep he'd be like hey JK hey JK it's Shep here we're talking basketball on on at the time CBS Sports Radio anyway we'll take a time out I'll let Marco get to his update we'll talk about Jay Jill just Alexander's dominance when we return under the thunder getting disrespected update time first here he is Marco Belletti the defensive player of the week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly serves the armed forces DoD veterans and their families their members are the mission learn more at navyfederal.org this week's player is thunder big man Chet Holmgren last night's 100 to 96 victory over the Mavs Chet had four blocks one steal and helped hold Luka Doncic to just six of 20 shooting you know I went into that series thinking I want the Mavericks to win and I wanted the Mavericks to win because now we're in an era of dynamic duos and because Kyrie's actually on the court I wanted to see Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving advance to the Western Conference Finals but the more and more this series plays out and it started with the Thunder going up 1-0 and people are questioning Luka Doncic because of the knee sprain and then the Mavs win game two the Mavs win game three and in all likelihood the Mavericks were looking like they were going to win the game last night and then in the final six or seven minutes and he was phenomenal throughout the game but you really got to see the brilliance of a guy that should have won the MVP either him or Jaylen Brunson in Shay Gilgis Alexander because what he did last night it wasn't just from a scoring perspective but how many passes he made to make others around him better and now with that series all tied up at two games apiece I actually want to see the Thunder win this series because we are now in an era of dynamic duos but we are also now in an era where we start to think about the future with LeBron not in the playoffs any longer KD eliminated Steph Curry didn't even get out of the play-in tournament where we're trying to figure out who are the future faces of the league and we know how great Nikola Jokic is we know Giannis Antetokounmpo already got eliminated the Knicks have been filled with injuries but Jaylen Brunson has been such a sensational story Indiana is a gritty team you know the Celtics are trying to win a championship with Jason Tatum and this core Anthony Edwards was on the path of stealing the postseason and now the Nuggets got two games and we'll see who's gonna win game five so there's a lot of openness when it comes to the future of the NBA and Jay Gilgis Alexander has been phenomenal and not only has he been phenomenal and we all know he's a great player I feel like the love for OKC has not been there because this has been a team that they committed to the rebuild they had a great turnaround they were the number one overall seed in the Western Conference and most of us have just been talking about oh when are they gonna get eliminated from the playoffs but what he was able to do last night SGA it's nothing new it's nothing foreign he's been doing this his entire damn career and he just keeps on getting better and better and he has now turned into a top five player in the league and he had his moment last night where you tie that series up where you tie that series up at two apiece so I think and let me run this by you Stu when you look at the thunder I feel like there's been a level of disrespect and I feel like they have not garnered the same respect and attention that a number one overall seed usually gets with a player that was in the MVP conversation and and I'm trying to figure out why that disrespect is there maybe because their success is newer is it because of the fact that you know we look at this Nuggets timbrel series and it feels like that's a Western Conference finals but we don't even know who's going to prevail from that and the winner of that will be the favorite up against either Dallas or Oklahoma City but what Jay Gilges Alexander is doing I would have no problem if he's the team that's the last man standing in the Western Conference and they're in the NBA finals because individually and their team's so damn good but from an individual standpoint SGA has been great he has been great and really fun to watch. Yeah I think it's kind of the inexperienced thing like you said and combined with the fact that like okay you have say you say Gilges Alexander who is a great player MVP candidate Chet Holmgren a lot of people know who is a former near top draft pick but after that you look at their roster you know Jalen Williams, Luke Dore, Josh Giddey, Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe just not a lot of household names a lot of young guys a lot of guys that maybe the the NBA fan that parachutes in around this time of year they don't know who any of these players are so I think that's a big part of it that there aren't these veterans that the you know not die-hard NBA fan knows. Billy Wake's a great point everyone hates OKC because they're sick and tired of that what a pro wants what a pro needs commercial which I do agree with Billy not necessarily that's why everyone hates OKC or they're not giving OKC the respect but after the NCAA tournament if that commercial did go away I would have no problem the fact that that commercial is still there maybe that's what makes it a good commercial because you remember it I you know I don't even know the product that they're promoting to be fair I just know from which maybe makes it a bad commercial all I can we find out what the product is that they're promoting it's AT&T yeah it's AT&T because the only time I really had just can recall that commercials when you had that bad singing what a pro wants what a pro needs and it's just over and over and over again non-stop so the Oklahoma City Thunderman what happened last night it's two things one it's the night of the postseason where they get their respect and that shot that SGA hit to tie up the game was just crazy he couldn't even see the rim he was behind the the the backboard it was crazy from the corner and he any he has that shot get hit but you know what also I'm a little tired of Luka Doncic and the reason why everyone's hurt this time of the year he has a legitimate knee sprain I fully comprehend that but anytime they don't play well remember when Urban Meyer anytime things didn't go his way he would like fall on the floor and he would like grab his chest and grab like put his hands over his heart and you thought like Urban Meyer was gonna die on the field that's Luka Doncic every time something doesn't go his way he's falling on the floor and he's grabbing his knee just the antics of it and I'm not saying he's not hurt because he's legitimately hurt but whenever something doesn't go your way that's when the pain just all the sudden pops up and like last night it wasn't because your knee was hurting you that when you got to the charity stripe with the chance to tie the game you missed the free throw so I thought last night like remember how after game two with Jamal Murray throwing the heating pad and throwing the towel we talked about how Denver for the first time in this run became unlikable I thought the antics of Luka Doncic last night made him unlikable that's not gonna be the way that I look at his career the dudes a phenomenal player the dudes a top five top seven player top eight player in the sport but last night I was annoyed I was annoyed with seeing Luka Doncic kind of use the injury as an excuse when he's like falling on the court all over the place when he was not playing a good game so fun game last night as OKC I don't know if we consider that one snatching victory from the jaws of defeat but it did feel like for most of the game that the Mavs are gonna win and then when the game was up in the air in the final six minutes just the brilliance of SGA and the lack of ability to hit a free throw for the Dallas Mavericks just absolutely killed him in that one so we'll see now in a best of three who's gonna find the way to win that series all right he's at kelp show on the infinity sports network we got a busy hour number two when we come on back the Bills have signed Marcos Valdez Scantling who is a team in the NFL people are sleeping on this year as a lot of people are out on the Buffalo Bills we'll do some college football with Shane Beamer the head football coach at South Carolina and also still to come today at 5 20 p.m. Eastern to 20 p.m. Pacific Jared Greenberg the phenomenal NBA on TNT reporter he's gonna stop by he's been manning the sidelines in that Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder series so we'll get his thoughts not only on that series but the rest of the big playoff series that are underway and still going in the second round of the NBA we're coming on back in five minutes that kelp show infinity sports network okay picture this it's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you I 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