Which Teams Can Win NBA Title? (Hour 3)

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AutoTrader. Hour number three of our radio program. That's right.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. So the big news of the day is that Paul George is off to Philadelphia, and Klay Thompson, it's not totally figured out yet, but he is planning on signing with the Dallas Mavericks. It's a three-year deal worth $50 million, I guess.

According to Anthony Irwin, the Lakers were willing to offer up to four years, $80 million for Klay Thompson, but he didn't elect to go to Los Angeles with the Lakers. Now I'm seeing LeBron is going to want to max on his extension. So, Stu, so much for LeBron James taking less money.

You know, go allocate those resources somewhere else. The moment that doesn't happen, yep. LeBron James, go cash in, and he's going to get himself one last big, fat deal. But I think the Sixers story is juicier. I do, because the Mavericks were just in the finals this past season. The Sixers were kind of going down that road of it looked like they missed their window with Joel Embiid. And you look at Klay going to Dallas, it's a good move. It makes sense for Klay. It makes sense for the Mavericks.

I personally would have liked to have seen him gone to the Denver Nuggets. But Paul George makes you look at the Sixers differently. Because if you go through the Sixers' history of trying to find Embiid, that next guy, and find that guy to pair him with, they tried Markelle Foltz was a disaster. They tried Ben Simmons was a disaster. Jimmy Butler was there. Jimmy Butler wasn't Jimmy Butler when he was in Philadelphia. Like, he was a good player. You know, he was, but then Jimmy Butler got taken to a different level, getting to the two championships, you know, the two NBA Finals appearances with the Miami Heat.

Like, Jimmy was a good player, but not perceived the way that we perceive Jimmy Butler today while he was in Philadelphia. And now the Sixers, not only did they find Tyrese Maxey, and Tyrese Maxey has showed he has star potential. But they also brought in Paul George, who for all of his playoff shortcomings, you know, where was Paul George going to go if he elected to go back to the Clippers?

Did nothing for me. You want to tell me that Paul, and Stu, that's my favorite thing. I think Stu's favorite thing that I said today.

It's 100% right, Stu. I know that you are a Lakers fan and you can't stand the Clippers, but Stu, hop on mic for a second. Like, the Clippers, I know they're bringing back Harden.

Kawhi, it stinks to see what happens to him, but anytime he's on an injury report, I just expect that we're not going to see him for the rest of the season. But if they would have kept Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden, does it change any view of the Los Angeles Clippers? Like, you can't stand the Clippers because, right, it's that big brother, little brother thing, you being the big, bad Laker fan, even though your team's like a disgrace right now.

But that doesn't accomplish anything. It's just another wasted kind of final few years for Paul George in the league if he stays with the Clippers. Yeah, they weren't going anywhere. I think that's pretty clear.

I mean, like, okay, they're better than the Lakers, so they're maybe, what, the fifth best team in the West. But what does that catch you? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And that's the thing to me. It amazes me.

And maybe you could explain a little bit better. The Clippers, even though they started to become relevant, right? You know, they got Kawhi. They got Paul George.

You know, they've been talked about. Why do you hate, why do you despise the Clippers so much? Like, they've done nothing to you. No, it's just one of those things when they signed those two guys, it was like, they're going to win all these championships. They're going to pick over LA. It's just like, they did absolutely nothing. But the Clippers are going to go win three championships in a row. They're not taking over.

Oh, I understand. And that's kind of like the point. Like, there's nothing they could really do to take over LA. And everyone was just like, oh my god, Kawhi and Paul George, they're going to be so great together. They're going to win, you know, they're going to win a championship and do all these great things.

And they did nothing. They annoy me. They just annoy me. That's all it is. But it's amazing that they, because what they are, and I say this respectfully, the Clippers are like a little fly to the Lakers.

A little gnat. Don't get me wrong, that could be annoying and you don't want to fly in your face, but you have a flyswatter, you just want them away, except you allow them to just sit right in front of you and really annoy the crap out of you. You should be annoyed with a bunch of other things as a Lakers fan. It is funny, though, to me, if I talked about teams that you hate, Stu, I know you hate the Red Sox.

Yes. Um, football. Who's the team you hate the most? Chiefs, yeah.

Chiefs or Chargers, probably, yeah. But when it comes to the Lakers, I know you hate Boston the most, the Celtics, but after that, it's the Clippers and that's kind of surreal to me. Yeah, Clippers are second, just because of the annoyance. Again, there's no rivalry, really, like there's no big, there hasn't been a big playoff series.

Like Lakers have had plenty of playoff series, you know, Kings, Spurs, Blazers, Suns, Nuggets, like all these teams they've had over the years, but they've never played the Clippers in the playoffs. I would actually like to see the Clippers and Lakers play each other. I would too. And I'd actually like to see the Clippers win just to see how you handle it. I would not handle that well.

You think I would, no, I would not handle that well. Yeah, I saw you at a regular season baseball game when the Mets were beating the Yankees. You look like... Wow, that was miserable. You're about to cry. I mean, the game was fun, but like the actual game was not good for me.

It just, maybe I just don't understand it. But what, there's like eight people on Twitter saying the Clippers are going to take over L.A.? No, in 2019, there were a lot more people than that. Fine. That was like everyone in the national media was praising the Clippers and how great they were going to be. And that really annoys you?

Yes. See, that's the part of my fandom that I just can't wrap my head around it. I just can't, that part of fandom, like the only, maybe a little bit with the Patriots. I experienced that a little bit. Like when people would go after Brady and things and just say stupid things like Nick Wright would have a, and Rob Parker would say a stupid thing every other day. It was like they would flip flop. One would take Monday, one would take Tuesday, one would take Wednesday, one would take Thursday, one would take Friday, one would take Saturday. They probably both shared Sundays, honestly.

Like that maybe annoyed me. But just the Clippers getting two players that you know are injury prone. And some people say they were going to take over L.A. That's what really gets at you. Well, now the Clippers are basically dead anyway because they're moving that new stadium. That's the new stadium open this year? It does, yes. And now they have Kawhi, who you can't rely on, and James Harden coming back.

Yeah. And maybe Russell Westbrook could have tried to trade. We'll see if anyone takes him.

I wonder where he goes. But it's like the Clippers story losing Paul George. If he would have gone back, that would have done nothing for me. You know, I wanted to see Paul George go like Orlando. They didn't need him.

And I don't know if you agree with this, though. I thought Orlando made a smart decision not to go get him. I don't know if they could have actually got him. But Orlando is a team with the good young core. Like, they have Paulo Bancaro. Orlando should kind of take the Knicks approach, where you don't just have to strike on the first big name you could get.

You got to get the right big name. And I know it's tough to be as selective as the Knicks were maybe for the Magic. I can understand that. If Paul George wanted to go there, fine. I don't think, though, it's a tremendous loss for the Magic that they didn't get Paul George. I think they still have a bright future and they could wait with some of the youngsters that they have.

I agree. And I kind of like the fact they signed KCP. It's kind of like... Good veteran player. Yeah, and he's just a role player. He's going to fit in. Like, it's not like Paul George who needs the ball and is going to, you know, kind of command the ball and he's going to have to have the ball in his hand and score a lot.

KCP will just stand in the corner, shoot threes, defend well. Like, they probably gave him a little more money than I thought he would have gone. But I think that's a good signing and I think they're better off without George.

And now I look at it. All right, so we know Paul George is going to Philly. But I wanted to see Paul George go to either Golden State or Philadelphia. Because Paul George with Steph would have at least reinvigorated a little life, right? Would have made you think that the Warriors have some life again. But now what it's done, it's given Sixers fans hope again. Like, I have a lot of friends that are Sixers fans.

They're as excited as they've been in quite some time. And they know Paul George injury history. They know some of his playoff shortcomings outside the year he got to the Conference Finals with the Clippers and he stepped up. Like, they know what they're getting in Paul George. But the problem with Philly for years, it was always, who's the running mate to Embiid? Now they kind of have two running mates to Embiid. Because Maxie, this will not stunt his development.

He's a tremendous young player. And now you bring in Paul George and it's like, okay, this is the last hurrah for Paul George. I think you'll see a little extra motivated Paul George. And also, it extends the thought of Embiid's championship window. Because I think a lot of Sixers fans are at the point where they said, okay, they missed the window to go win a championship with Embiid. But now, it opens back up another two to three years. Because Embiid's still going to be an elite player for two to three years.

And then eventually, I do think all these injuries catch up to him. But they have finally put a formidable product on the court that gives you an actual reason to believe it. Which you haven't had in quite some time with Philadelphia. And not only does this move of Paul George going to Philly, it changed the landscape of the East.

But Stu, can you make the case? Like if I asked you right now, which conference is deeper? Is it the East or the West?

Which one would you say? I think it's the East. So do I. Yeah. There are a lot of, I think, especially the bottom half of the playoff. Like the, let's say the five through eight or nine, I think is better in the East. And the East has the best team in the league in the Celtics. So the Celtics just won a championship. They're the best team in the league. They're the best team in the league. The Knicks are a championship contender now with Mikel Bridges, even though they lost Hardenstein.

Looks like they're going to keep Randall and Mitchell Robinson. The Bucks, I think people are sleeping on Milwaukee because everyone's out on Dock Rivers. They're going to be better than last year. But as long as Giannis and Dame are healthy, that's a formidable team.

Very formidable team. The Cavs, they're just a good solid team. And Donovan Mitchell stay in there. But I don't think they're going to win a championship. The Magic are young, up and coming. And they took a good step last year. The Pacers are a gritty team. The Sixers are now a championship contending team, which I would not have called them that this time last year. And Miami, like I don't love Jimmy Butler playing out this season without a contract for the future. And it's the final year. And I'm always skeptical of how Jimmy's going to handle that. And when will he turn to Miami? But you do have Jimmy and Bam still together.

And Bam, I guess, just got a new three-year deal going back to last week. So right there, that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight teams that are really good. And I would like, would you throw any of those eight teams? I think the four championship contenders are the Celtics, the Knicks, the Bucks and the Sixers. Is there another team that you think is a championship contender in the Easter Conference? I would draw the line in the sand at four for yours truly.

Yeah, it's four. I don't see anyone else contending for a title. No, Pacers are interesting.

Like they're young enough and they can get a little better. But I probably want to put them in there. Sam, do you have a team you want to throw in there? Uh, not necessarily the Cavs or the Magic, but I'm not sold on the Knicks yet.

I know Randall's back. I just, I'm not sold on the Knicks. Why? I don't know.

Well, you can't just say you're not sold and just go, I don't know. No, it's just, I look at the raw, listen, I like Jalen Brunson. I think Jalen Brunson's a tier two kind of guy.

I don't, but if you're number, if your top player is a tier two guy, then you're not winning a title. Well, how many, Jalen Brunson. He's a good player. He's not, he's not a guy that's going to conference finals if he didn't have the hand injury and he's playing hurt throughout that entire series. He's a national player of the year in college basketball. So is Joe Smith and Marcus Canby. Like, don't give me this. You know, he was a national player of the year in college, in college.

I don't care about that. He's a nice player. I think he's a nice player. You're making out like he's an average player. No, he's a top 20 kind of guy. Maybe top 25 kind of guy. Yeah, top 20, top 25.

He can't be more off on this. He's easily a top 15 player in the league. I disagree.

I think he had a really good year. You cannot name 20 players better than Jalen Brunson. You just can't.

I mean, you want to start going through it? No, no, I'm not going to insult their listening audience on that. But the East is now, I think, better than the West. You look at the West, the Thunder are very good. Denver's very good, even though they lost some key pieces. But you still got Murray and you still got the Joker. The Timberwolves are a very good team.

Maverick's very good. But after that, I have no hope in the Clippers, no hope in the Suns, no hope in the Lakers. They got big names, but it seems like KD is setting up his departure. LeBron doesn't have enough around him. I know AD was healthy this year. That means he'll be hurt next year.

Sorry, Stu. And the Clippers, they can't expect anything out of Kawhi. I want to see the Kings look more like the Kings from two years ago.

You know, maybe Memphis could pop back up if John Morant's not on Instagram Live. And he's also able to stay healthy. And I know Chris Paul's landing with the Spurs, but I still think the Spurs are very far away. But there's the appeal with Wembley. From top to bottom, the East right now is just a better conference.

But you've not been able to say that in quite some time. You know, Stu, who are your four champions? Like in the East, we went to the four championship contenders. And the West, what? It's the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Timberwolves. And then the Mavericks would probably be the four?

Those would be the four, yeah. The only thing I would say about the West is I feel like the teams, like the bottom four to five teams in the East are a lot worse. Like in the West, you have, OK, the Spurs are kind of rebuilding.

But after that, there's not a lot of horrible team. Like these might have like five of the six worst teams in the league at the bottom. That's the only fair argument I would say for the West being better. But I think in terms of the playoff team, playoff teams, I think the East has that. The East has that. So I think the West.

Here's what I'll say about the West. Is eye candy the right term here? There's some like eye candy teams in the Western Conference. Like you look at the Lakers, you're like, oh, they got LeBron. You look at the Clippers, they're like, oh, they got Kawhi. You look at the Pelicans. Oh, they got Zion. You look at the Warriors. Oh, they got Steph. But those teams just they're not good. Like, I know the Clippers won 51 games.

Tyler's the heck of a coach. I don't think the Clippers are this this championship team. The Suns. Oh, yeah, they got Kevin Durant, but they're all on the verge of killing one another. The Lakers and I said what I said about Anthony Davis, he's healthy this year.

That means he's going to be hurt next year. Like, even Zion had a good year. It looks like Ingram is going to be gone, but, you know, Zion even had a good year.

He was barely even talked about. And the Warriors, they're wasting Steph's final few years in the league right now. It feels to me like you look at the top of the East. The Celtics were the best team all year long, record wise, and in the playoffs. After that, the Knicks were the second best team with 50 wins, right?

You look at the West. The Thunder, 57. Nuggets, 57. Timberwolves, 56. Clippers, 51. Mavs, 50. Suns, 49. The Pelicans had 49 wins. The 10th place team, the Warriors, had 46 wins. The Warriors would have basically been fighting for the four seed, the three seed in the East if they were in the East. They probably would have gotten the three or the two seed in the East if they were in the East. The West is just deeper. And at the top, there's more really good teams. Like we talked about the Knicks. But I don't think it's one through eight deeper now.

I don't. Like, if you want to tell me teams that miss out in the playoffs, OK, fine. But I'm talking about from one through eight potentially playoff teams, the East is just better now.

I'm still not there yet. They're catching up, but they're not better. Well, there's just so many incomplete teams in the West.

Like, put it this way. I don't think the Cavs ever win a championship. I don't think the Pacers win a championship. I don't think the Heat win a championship. But they're good, gritty teams.

They are. And that's half the battle in the NBA. Which teams are going to show up and actually compete?

That's an enormous part. So I ask this poll question right now. After the Celtics, who is the team to beat in the Eastern Conference? The Bucks, the Knicks, the Sixers or other? Right now, I'm saying it's still the Bucks. But 38.3%, we know one of them is in Samter with the Knicks. 28.1% are both with the Bucks and the Sixers.

And 5.5% are with other right now. What say you? 8-5-5-2-1-2, 42-27, 8-5-5-2-1-2, 42-27. We'll take a break. We'll come on back. Samter's got some questions. I'll give you some answers.

We'll get to on-site, off-site next. Alrighty, I'm not a soccer guy. I'm not going to pretend to be one. I know that Samter and Stu, they watch soccer as if they get paid to actually watch soccer with how much they watch. They watch it religiously.

What's going on? Everyone's freaking out about Ronaldo right now. Yeah, so Portugal's playing Slovenia. It's an extra time, which is like a 30-minute period to see whoever can score goals. I know it's called extra time, but I feel I love Stu's soccer fandom. I feel like a lot of people don't know what extra time is. It's overtime. Yeah, but I love Stu's soccer fandom because if sources are correct here, like five years ago you didn't give a rat's ass and now you know everything about soccer. Well, I don't know if I know everything, but yeah, I really enjoyed the game a lot more the past like five or six years. Yeah.

Okay, so continue the explanation here. So Portugal gets a penalty. Ronaldo is their penalty kick taker because he's Ronaldo and he missed it. Now, it wasn't a horrible kick. Like he didn't miss the whole net. The goalie made a really nice save. Oblak, who's one of the better goalies in the world, but missing a penalty is pretty rough at this point because this match is probably at this point going to go to penalty kicks in about 10 minutes. Okay.

So, I mean, he'll probably have a chance to redeem himself, but that was a big missed opportunity for Portugal. Oh, I didn't even realize. This is on the TV screen when I look up right now in front of me. How about that? It was on the whole time. You have soccer on. How about that? Look at you. Yeah, you know, I definitely did that intentionally.

I definitely put that on Fox, I believe is where it's on right now. So do you actually care who wins this? Like, is this does this impact you with your fandom or anything like that? No, I mean, the winner of this game would play France and probably lose to France. And who are you polling for? I would like to see England win. Okay. They're probably not going to win.

And Samter, did you have any preference here rooting preference? Oh, yeah, 100% England. Why are you guys so big on England? I mean, I'm part English. Oh, gotcha.

And also part of it. I mean, I lived in England, I worked for a British soccer team. And then, you know, but you worked for a British soccer team. I did. Who? I worked for a British soccer team who at the time was in Division two, which is now called League one.

And all the names. When did you work for them? How did you work for them? In 2001, I did a study abroad program for my school and I got an internship working for Brentford Football Club. Brentford at the time was Division two, which is now League one, which is two levels down below the Premier League. And now they're in the Premier League and they almost got relegated this year. But they did not. And they're very good. They're in the Premier League now, which is awesome. So basically you left and they almost got relegated. No, no, no. I was there.

And no, no. I mean, I left 23 years ago. I don't need facts here. You just tried to claim Jalen Brunson wasn't a top 20 player in the league. And then no facts to back it up. So why did we have facts now? I was going to go into facts. You said no.

Well, yeah, because they would have been a lot of fake news. If Jason Tatum to me is the eighth or ninth best player in the NBA, I don't think Jalen Brunson's even close to his level. Okay. You still can't name 20 players better than him.

But for the sake of the show, I'm not going to go down this road. So still, I have a very important question to ask you. Sure. Ronaldo's 39, right?

Yes, 38 or 39. Is he washed up? Oh, yeah. No, yeah, he is.

He's been playing Saudi Arabia the past two years. And it's just it's a mess. Okay. So this is a big deal that he missed this. What was it? A penalty kick?

Penalty kick. Yeah, he's going to if they lose this match, he's going to get, you know, pretty heavily criticized. Did something, by the way, happen with this coach of Uruguay?

Yeah, Bielsa. Yeah. What do you know what happened? So I didn't it was at the match I was actually at. I guess that was Thursday. That was at MetLife.

It was at MetLife. Yeah. So apparently he... This happened at that match?

Yes. Apparently he didn't have the team ready to go to come back on the pitch either to start the game or after halftime. So it was delayed a few minutes. And I didn't realize, like, I'm just there waiting for the second half to start it. He didn't have the team ready to go like they weren't fired up to play for it?

No, they weren't like they weren't physically like out on the field yet. Huh? Yeah.

So he got suspended a match for that, which is pretty absurd. Wow. So there's this big board to the right of me. That's why I brought it up.

I saw it. I don't pretend to know things that I don't know, but there's a big board and it's like it says Pete's mad. So I'm assuming that's Pete, the body, Baladi.

Can't you just write everything in life? Pete is usually someone that is very mad about everything. He's not nearly as mad these days as he was years ago. He is a much more jovial, happy, pleasant human being.

You know, marriage and kids will do that to a guy. But I worked with Baladi for a very long time. This is by the way, Santa saying that someone's not mad at everything is the pot calling the kettle black here. No, I'm not mad at everything. I get angry at things, but I'm a jovial, enjoyable person.

I enjoy life. Baladi just hated everything. Baladi hated the world, but he's lightened up.

He's a sweeter, nicer, kinder gentleman at this time. So it says Pete's mad. Hawk to a merchandise. So I guess he's mad that the Hawk to a girl is selling merchandise, which I saw an interview that the Hawk to a girl did with Brianna Chicken Fry. And they were basically asking who she would Hawk to with. And there was a bunch of different names there. Donald Trump, Zach Brian, who's dating Brianna Chicken Fry, Dave Portnoy.

There was a lot of names. Yeah, she didn't want to Hawk to a Dave Portnoy. She didn't know who he was now. And then they showed a picture and she goes. And then she didn't want to Hawk to Antonio Brown either, but she didn't know who he was either. Yeah, so I guess she's selling a bunch of merchandise.

Good for her. Gunnar Henderson. I don't know why Pete's mad at him. Then he's mad at the suspension of the coach from Uruguay. He's mad at Zach Wilson's engagement.

That's not nice. What, that it's getting covered and talked about or that the guy got engaged? Because that would be pretty morbid if Pete was like, oh, I'm mad that this guy got engaged. Should we call Pete again like we did last week?

No, cell phone. Sucks, I don't want to hear him again. And then to Rod Taylor as a landlord, I don't know what that's about. And then I added something on this board, so they're going to walk in tomorrow and they're going to see just on this board, Pete's mad, Perloff thinking he's Juju Smith-Schuster at a kickball event, and I hashtagged it all about social media.

I can't kid you here on this. Perloff was a social media whore at the Deon Dawkins charity kickball tournament. He walks in with those breakaway pants.

He couldn't like unsnap them. So like, I thought it was a bit at first, but he was being serious. And then once EJ tears his patella tendon and Deon Dawkins comes over and having a nice moment with EJ and all of us talking, Perloff's like, oh, I'm going to be a big fan of this. Perloff's like, oh, we got to get a photo in the middle when Deon's giving words of encouragement to EJ. Hey, Santa, you'll understand this scene.

Remember my best friend? He hit me up for Radio Row and he's like, hey, can you get my dad, my friend's dad and his two brothers into Radio Row? And one of them, who was Uncle Sheldon, was like a fat kid in a candy store. And any time we were done interviewing someone, he's like, oh, can I get a picture? That was basically Perloff with Deon Dawkins. And Deon was going to take the photo anyway. But you have this nice, genuine moment of Deon caring for EJ after EJ is stealing third base at a charity kickball event tournament and he wipes out non-contact injury, patella tendon tear and the next thing you know, Perloff's like, oh, yeah, we need a group photo in the middle of like Deon being so nice to EJ. If Perloff was planning his exit, he was trying to get the heck out of there. He was trying to make three o'clock.

He's like, damn, my producer, damn injuries, damn your financial responsibilities here. I got to hop on a train. So it was just wild.

So I added some stuff to the point. Now, is there a picture floating around of an injured EJ? Um, I mean, not that I want to get any joy out of seeing EJ injured, but I'm sure there should be.

Sounds like you do. No, I'm sure there had to have been like an interesting, funny picture of like EJ smiling on the ground while you guys were attending to him. Oh no, there was no smiling. Like I was in the third base dugout and I think I was already up and then I saw EJ get to the oh no, EJ was on base and EJ was stealing third and I just saw him go down. And when they went down at first, I thought he just slid.

That's what I thought. And then I heard him scream, oh bleep. And then I ran over to him and I helped carried him off the field. But he even like an hour after it happened, he stayed there for an hour and he was waiting for someone to pick him up to then take him to the hospital. Even an hour, like I had to then carry him to the car an hour late.

Like he could not walk on that one leg. That's how I guess my point is after an hour at some point, you know, maybe someone makes a joke and you're smiling. All right, let's get to make a joke. Yeah, so like, well, I have to now hear this job. EJ got engaged. EJ went to London, what, three weeks ago for the Mets Phillies game and they went to Paris. He got engaged and then he did like a whole world tour pretty much. Yeah, there's some great pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower guys.

Eiffel Tower. Good for him. So that's how you do it. So I said, oh, I said, you got that on one knee. And like I made like some like stupid joke, like at least it happened then. And, you know, not now or something like that. Like, you know, at least you didn't at least you don't need that knee for anything else. I think, you know, I said that, you know, you got the good part out of the way. I'm just disappointed that, you know, after an hour of him sitting there that no one just like took, you know, there is there's a photo of EJ sitting next to Deon Dawkins and Deon Dawkins is touching EJ's leg, basically blessing it. How beautiful.

And healing him, healing him back. I enjoy that. But Perloff only cared about the social media post. It's one of the most selfish things I've ever seen. EJ having a very nice moment with Deon.

Hey, we need a photo. Like cut off Deon. And you're right. You're exactly right why Perloff did it.

He had to go catch a train. But Perloff, man, this was the other part, too, Santer. I had to issue the lineup. So I was going to put Perloff at the top of the lineup. So I'm reading off.

I think it was like Maggie and then Perloff. And then he goes, no, no, no. I want to be at the bottom of the lineup.

And I'm like, why do you want to be the bottom line? He's like, fewer at bats. He goes, less running for me. I thought Perloff was somewhat of an athlete like this big wig basketball player and all that. I think Perloff is past his athletic prime.

I think he's cooked. You know, Ronaldo missed that penalty shot. Perloff basically missed every penalty shot he took. But I will tell you what the toughest part was with this kickball tournament.

The speed and how many bounces people were throwing this kickball. I will admit, right? I did swing and miss once.

What? Bro, Santer, you would not have got a base hit. Like, I'm not trying to be a douche here, but I'm being serious.

I'm being serious. I ended up getting a base hit after I did swing and miss. It was tougher than what it looked because the ball was not very far away from the pitcher and the ball was coming in quick and very bouncy. So it wasn't impossible to swing and miss.

But I'm comfortable in my own skin to admit that I did swing and miss in a charity kickball tournament. But anyway, it is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. We will come on back. Sam just got some questions. I'll give him some answers. We'll do on-site and off-site as we do this each and every Monday and Friday. Update time. Zach, you interested in maybe doing the kickball next year?

I think I'm going to pass after EJ's injury. I'm significantly older. Yeah, here's the thing.

I think it's now... So I'm going to do the event next year. Good for you.

But I think I have to register a team outside of the company. You need some insurance. I think Maggie and Perloff are scarred for life. EJ, I can't go back to the wall next year and be like, hey, you want to come back to the scene of the crime. You know, it's funny because I've just been thinking about it.

And I was like, you know, it's been close to 50 years since I played. Yeah, Boyle and Hickey are frauds. They didn't even show up. Oh, that's bad.

Well, Hickey's in Ireland, isn't he? We don't need logic here. He told me where he was going. But, you know, and I was like, it'd be really cool. But, you know, it's one of those things. And I was in a softball league several years ago and I was like, and like, as it feels like a good idea. Yeah, and I remember from playing softball, like my mind flashed back to when I was 15.

My body doesn't move the same way. Well, Mayor Nick only played two games and Mayor Nick comes up to me and he's like, I am so sore today. It takes a lot of stretching. Like six innings, Dave. Come on. Yeah, that's sore after six innings. At least go play five, six games and then be sore. Hey, you know, it's muscles you haven't used in years.

No, yeah, for sure. So we'll take a time out. It is that Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We will do onside offside when we come on back. I had one more line that I wanted to say from this whole charity kickball tournament. But it's slipped away from me. You two are good. Alrighty.

Wrap it up shop on a Monday. This is Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. So our pal EJ unfortunately did tear his patella tendon in the charity kickball event that we were participating in as a radio network. Can I just throw something out there? This is a conspiracy theory. So this is not me throwing out this conspiracy theory.

This is something that I've read. So I guess EJ lost the bet on the Maggie and Perloff show where he does not have to eat tuna, lime, jello, whatever that concoction was that was disgusting. I almost vomited just watching the video.

Yeah, it was grotesque. Or does not have to drive to San Antonio like Perloff has to. But I don't know what EJ lost the bet for, but he has to run gassers. And he has not paid off that bet yet. So there's a conspiracy theory out there that EJ went down in the charity kickball game and then went to the hospital on his own and claimed he has a torn patella tendon.

And that's just everyone believing his work, because who would lie about that? So that I think he gets the sympathy part in paying off the bet. And maybe Maggie and Perloff be like, oh, you tore your patella tendon in a charity kickball game. So now you don't have to run the gassers.

That's just a conspiracy theory that I've seen people in the Maggie calls in the weedo in the purple drankers. Just throw out there. I will say this in order if you tore your patella, he's going to likely have to wear a cast, potentially even have surgery, likely have crutches and or one of those little scooter things. If he does that for weeks and weeks on end while he heals just to avoid paying off a bet, let him have it. Well, EJ is a wrestling fan. So if you want to commit to the bit or commit to something fake, well, that's going to annoy Pete.

They're going to add that to the board. Then I would think that's like the ultimate wrestling kind of move. You know what, though? If he was really pulling a bit, he would have had somebody filming his injury. Somebody would have been out there filming him getting hurt.

The fact that there's no footage of him crumpling down like a sack of potatoes and injuring his leg in a charity kickball game. You're sick. You really want to see the guy get hurt? No, you want to see the video of it.

You do. Yes, you're sick. Yes, but that's because I love watching injury videos. What?

Oh, yeah. When Kevin Ware's leg popped out of his, you know, bone chopped, popped out of his leg. I watched that a dozen times. I love watching.

You are a bizarre human being. It starts out as a curiosity. It starts as morbid curiosity, wanting to see what happened. And then I have to watch like six or seven times just to kind of get every angle of it. I know it's sick, but I'm at a loss for words. There's a lot of people out there like me.

They enjoy watching the injury. Okay. What are you saying, Stu? Sorry. Just give it a thumbs up.

I'm the same way. When these injuries happen, I go on Twitter and I seek them out and I watch them. Immediately. That's disgusting.

It is. I sit there and I scream when I see those injuries and I can't watch a replay. I scream. But like, it's almost like you're like, Oh, this guy just blew out his leg. Yeah.

No, no, no, no. I scream out of like, oh my God, I got to shoot it again. Hit onside off. Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside defense number 69.

It's onsides offsides with Zach Gelb. All right, it's time to answer our Ask the Pros question of the day. It's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Mike in Sickoville has a question for me.

He'll read it for you in just a second. It's about the Chicago Bears and Roma Dunze. You can submit a question by tweeting out of INF Sportsnet or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag Ask the Pros. Think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs. Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Mike in Sickoville, go ahead. What's your question?

Living here since day one. We've joked this offseason about exaggerated reports of Justin Fields returning kicks. But his former team might have a surprise returner themselves this year. According to Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, 9th overall pick Roma Dunze quote, is an every down player.

He had three returns on the books and one of those was a house call. He's in contention for the returner job. Onside offside, the Bears should use a Dunze to return kicks if he's their best option. Yeah, I don't have a problem with this one.

When you asked me about Fields, I was like, that would be dumb. This I'm fine with because he is good enough to be an eventual number one wide receiver. But right now, right, there's going to be a lot of reps thrown to the direction of DJ Moore and Keenan Allen. I'm OK while he's younger using him for returns here. So the Bears should use a Dunze for returns if he's their best returner.

I'd be fine with that onside. Now, the Pistons surprised many by firing Monty Williams and not hiring a new coach before the draft. However, the team just hired former Grizzlies and Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff after James Berega removed his name from the search over the weekend.

The team then gave former number one overall pick Kane Cunningham a max extension before signing Tobias Harris from the Sixers. So onside offside, Detroit will make the playoffs this season. Playoffs, playoffs? You serious? Playoffs?

You kidding me? I just hope they could win a game. This team stunk last year. And the East got better. They won 14 games. 14 games. Even if they double their win total, they won't even be a playoff team.

So no, they're not making the playoffs. And also, how about the recycling of head coaches? Monty Williams doesn't work. Who do we hire?

J.B. Bickerstaff. Now, he should have got canned in Cleveland to be fair. But I'm telling you, NBA NHL coaches, it's literally like a whorehouse. They just go from team to team to team to team to team. It's wild.

All right, next one. In a surprise move, future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul has agreed to join Victor Wambunyama in San Antonio. CP3 obviously chased the ring in one unsuccessful season with the Warriors and will now join a team that, as we know, is nowhere close to contending for a title, at least not yet. Onside, offside, even without a title, Chris Paul is a top five point guard of all time. Magic, Oscar Robertson, Steph, Isaiah, Jerry West, John Stockton, Steve Nash even. Can you talk about Jason Kidd?

Like, there's a lot. Like, don't get me wrong. Chris Paul's a Hall of Famer. Chris Paul's a sensational player. But great top five point guard of all time going offside on that one.

Offside. I think that ship sailed when he got to the NBA Finals, right? With the Suns, and then they didn't get the job done.

So, yeah, I think that ship has sailed. Now, as free agents sign around the league, one star could be on the move via trade is Pelicans Brandon Ingram. One to report out of Sacramento says the Kings are planning to heavily pursue Ingram to join with De'Aaron Fox and De'Monte Sabonis. So, onside, offside, a trio of Fox, Sabonis and Ingram would be a title contender in the West. Be a very good team. I'm very fascinated to see what the Kings do.

Two years ago, I was bought in. I was disappointed with them this past season. And a title contender that that would be to me the third or the fourth best team right in the West.

I don't think that'd be the case. So, I'm going to go offside. Now, another week, another impressive display by rivals, Kaitlyn Clark and Angel Reese. Yesterday, Clark missed a triple double by one rebound as she led the Fever to an impressive win over Diana Taurasi and Phoenix. Meanwhile, Reese set the single season, not just rookie, but single season WNBA record with her 10th consecutive double-double. Clark is averaging 16 points, 7 assists and 6 boards, while Reese is dropping in 13 points and 11 boards a game. So, onside, offside, Angel Reese is actually having a better rookie season than Kaitlyn Clark.

I think she is. There's a chance she could win Rookie of the Year over Kaitlyn Clark. I talk more about Kaitlyn Clark. I'm more intrigued by Kaitlyn Clark just because what she could do from the style of play where she hits the ball from three and I want to see her shoot the ball more. Uh, the assists are incredible for Kaitlyn Clark and she has more points, but points of Angel Reese a walking double-double. So, I'm going to say right now onside, Angel Reese actually having a better rookie season than Clark.

I don't think that's a hot take either. Now, it's so interesting. Now, once again, baseball is tinkering with the home run derby, adding a cap to the number of pitches a batter can face in the first round rather than allowing as many swings as possible in the allotted time. MLB is also changing the first round from a head-to-head battle to the top four finishers advancing to the second round. Onside, offside, the home run derby is the best all-star activity in all of the major sports. I'm going to go offside here.

What do you think I'm going to say? Just wondering. Three-point contest. It is a three-point contest. Especially what they did this past year, uh, where that was with Sabrina Nescu going up against Steph Curry. That was awesome. And I think that should continue.

I want to see Dame added to that fold next year and also, uh, Kaitlin Clark as well. I used to love the NHL skills competition. That's fun, too. The fastest skater around the rink, the Al Iafrati and the slap shots. I love that stuff.

Yeah, no, that's pretty damn cool, too. But the home run derby, I don't know. Without, uh, Chris Berman, he's kind of lost a lot of luster. He'd be like, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, gone. Now you got, like, Robot Ravitch there, Karl Ravitch, who just can't improvise.

He's just the home run derby's not made for Karl Ravitch. I just don't understand how they still have kids shagging those balls in the outfield. Like we saw a couple of them get pinged this year. It's like eventually someone's going to get really hurt.

Those balls are coming in hot. Maybe we put you on the outfield this year. Guaranteed injury.

Guaranteed coming back with the welto for my left eye. DJ Torn Patel attended playing kickball. Santa, how'd you get hit?

Uh, you know, I was going to say Yossi El Puig. Why was I throwing his name? I don't know why.

Show me how Tawny hit Santa right in the face with a dinger to left. Alrighty. Fun show today. Cheo Sun and thanks so much for dropping by, each and every one of you. We'll talk with you out, everybody, at 3 p.m. Eastern, New Pacific. We out.

Bye-bye. Peace. Look around. What do you see? Cars?

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