Super Team Era Good or Bad for NBA (Hour 3)

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Gear imported by Crown Lake Port, Chicago, Illinois. Alrighty, rock and roll on our number three of our radio program. You know, I'm curious what people think about this. And let me preface it by saying, I'm not anti-Super Team. I thought the Super Team era has produced a lot of memorable NBA moments. Whether it was the big three in Boston with Paul Pierce, the big ticket in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

Then we know the big three in Miami that won two championships with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh. When it got to the Warriors, that's when I think people were really out on Super Teams. Because the Warriors were already a team that, yes, they blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. But they had the most wins in NBA regular season history. They didn't need Kevin Durant. But getting Kevin Durant, he then became their best player in that run.

He won two more championships and two more Finals MVPs. And it felt like you knew what the story was each and every year with the NBA. It was just the Warriors were going to win. But since that group did break up, and since Kevin Durant, right, elected to go to Brooklyn and recover from the injury and now be in Phoenix. And the Warriors Super Team was no longer.

And then yesterday you find out Klay Thompson, who's past his prime, but he's going over to the Dallas Mavericks, that it made me just elicit this thought. You know, actually the NBA is at a better spot right now without the Super Teams than with them. Because yes, the Super Team gave you a villain.

The Super Team gave you someone to root against. And sure, when Boston was a Super Team, they only won one championship. The Heat, heck, they won two championships. They were talking about winning like 7, 10, 14, 103. They lost two other championships to the Spurs and to the Oklahoma City Thunder. But the Warriors version of the Super Team, even though they were fun to watch because of the Splash Brothers and you had Durant and you knew they could make a shot anywhere on the court. You knew how the season was going to end.

Now, I wish we could get the best of both worlds. You know, not talk about the Super Team, but have this non-Super Team era where everyone's going all out in the regular season. And that would make for a great NBA product, but I'm realistic.

I know with load management and when you have to put a rule in place to meet 65 games to be eligible for awards, the regular season product's never going to be what it probably should be. But you enter this upcoming NBA season, and even if you see it in the aftermath of the Warriors breaking up, like we saw the Lakers win that championship with LeBron and A.D. We saw the Bucs, who were close eventually, punch through, win a championship with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Chris Middleton and Drew Holliday. We saw Denver with the Koliokic, who's already a three-time MVP, or now three-time MVP, who's two-time MVP when he won his first finals.

That was fun. And then this past year, the Boston Celtics, they finally got through as well. You know, it's fun when you go into a season, even though the Celtics were the best team from start to finish, but truly not knowing who the champion's going to be. And now entering this season in just the East, you got Boston the reigning champs, you got the Knicks, who were able to add Mikhail Bridges. The Bucs, I gotta think they bounced back with Giannis Antetokounmpo and also Damian Lillard. Donovan Mitchell, surprising everybody, elects to sign a new contract with the Cavs. The Magic are young, up and coming.

I like them with Paulo Benquero. Pacers were a gritty team last year. The Sixers just added Paul George. The Heat still have Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo for now. Like, that's eight teams right there in the East that are going to be fun to watch.

And that's not always the case. And then in the West, I know we talked about how I think the East has been in the West now. But the Thunder? You know, that may be the next team that I'm hoping wins a championship.

Because I love watching Shay Gilders Alexander. And Stu, I actually think you like the Thunder too. Even though the Thunder win it means your Lakers did squat. But with how much you hate the Clippers, you gotta be very happy that in that Thunder trade for Paul George and Doc Rivers, he was saying, SGA is great, SGA is great, that's what he claims, and they knew that he was going to be a stud. But now to see what the Thunder ended up getting from that deal. With all those picks, they get SGA, and now Paul George is out of the Clippers. For someone like Stu who loves to stomp on the Clippers, which I don't even get why, but it's that big brother, little brother kind of relationship, Lakers and Clippers, which I think is a bunch of nonsense. You even gotta be pulling a little bit for the Thunder as well, right?

Yeah, I like SGA. I think he's a very good player. You almost forget he was a Clipper. It's crazy.

It's been so long already. I also don't fault the Clippers for doing that because you were getting at the time two of the best, I don't know, seven, eight players in the league. I don't know if you asked Sam today, maybe like 60 and 73 in terms of those two guys in the league.

You never know. But yeah, it's hard to fault the Clippers for doing that. I think almost any team would have done that. They gave up a ton. Sure, I'm not disagreeing with you, but the way that it aged.

It did not age well for them at all. Kawhi's not healthy and Paul George isn't on the team anymore. Yeah, the Thunder have already had almost as much success as they've had just with getting to the playoffs this year and being, what were they, a one or two seed I believe?

One. And I'll tell you this, if I'm buying stock in the East and the West, the two teams that I hope, no one's ever said this on a national radio show before. If you tell me in like two or three years from now, we have an NBA Finals featuring the Thunder and the Orlando Magic, I'll be like a fat kid in a candy store.

I love Paulo Bancaro and I'm not ready to say that the Magic are going to be great. And that's probably more so a product of just the compete level in the NBA regular season and they are going all out because they're a young team. But what they did this year going 47 and 35, they were fun, fun to watch. But in the West, like we just did, we went through the East, now you go through the West, like the Thunder, Nuggets, Timberwolves, you know, the Clippers, I think everyone's out on them now. Like Kawhi's got to stay healthy and Paul George isn't there, you know, the fact they bring back James Harden, there's no intrigue there.

The Mavericks have intrigue, the Suns have intrigue because it's like the Real Housewives of Phoenix now with Durant and Booker and Beal and that thing has soured very quickly. You know, LeBron and AD, they're probably a playing tournament team. Pelicans, we'll see.

Kings, can you bounce back? But like you go into this year, if I had to ask you guys this right now, and this is the point, who gets to the NBA Finals? Who's coming out of the East? Who's coming out of the West?

Stu, let's go around the room here. Stu, who comes out of the East? Just right now with the teams, the way that they're constructed. I still think the Celtics do. You still think it's the Celtics?

Yeah. Sampthor, who would be your answer there? Who comes out of the East? Celtics or Bucs? I'm going Celtics. You're going to go Celtics. I'd go, I'd probably go Milwaukee right now. I would take the Bucs, Giannis and Dame, bounce them back.

You know, I'm telling you, if it's a major if, if Georgia and B could stay healthy, they built a very good team in Philadelphia. And the Knicks are going to be a heck of a lot of fun, too. I think the Knicks, though, I think more Conference Finals than NBA Finals, though, right now.

And then in the West, if you had to pick a team to go to the Finals. Is it the Timberwolves? Is it the Nuggets? Is it the Mavericks? I mean, you don't think Bronny James is leading the Lakers? Just answer them.

Can you just answer the question? I'm probably going Timberwolves. I could go, I'm going T-Wolves over Nuggets. Okay.

I am also going with the Timberwolves. I think they are. I am, yeah. He are.

I am. I'm going Denver. I think Denver bounces back. And if it's not Denver, I'll say OKC makes that next step. Eyes between OKC and the Timberwolves.

So even if we had some of the same answers, then they were different, depending on the conference. It makes you think about it, though. It's tough. Like the Celtics, because of the defending champs, naturally everyone's going to gravitate towards them. But it's not a lot that they get back to the NBA Finals in the East. You know, everyone just crushed them for four, for like three, four years about coming up short. And yeah, they got through. They won the championship.

But it doesn't make it a lot to get back there next year. Now they, you'll see Porzingis heals, but they've been able to keep that team intact. You know, with the deals that they've got done and the way that those players are locked up in the contract. You see their owners now selling the team with Grossbeck.

I think he plans to remain in control, kind of like a Cuban deal, to like 2028 or something like that. But how about that move by Wick? You pay out all those contracts, and now you're selling the team. Well, you know, it's like the opposite of the T-Wolves in a sense. He's selling high, whereas the T-Wolves were selling low, and then they got good so that, you know, Glen Taylor pulled back.

It's brilliant. I mean, they just won a title. I was very surprised, though, to read that yesterday, that Wick Grossbeck is selling the team. He probably wanted to sell for a while, but just wanted to get that title. And then once they won it, it was like, it was time.

I don't... I can't imagine it's a split second, like, hey, we won the title, let me sell. He was probably like, I want to sell, but I need to at least get a title.

I need to get a ring as the owner before I could sell. Is it because of the contracts, though, now? Like, the Celtics, what, he's going to sell them for like, what, five or six billion dollars, probably? You know, whatever, you know, anywhere between four to six billion, he's going to sell them for?

So... The contracts, I mean, listen, I know they're paying a luxury tax offer, but for billionaires, that kind of luxury tax money is like a drop in the bucket. You're not selling a team because of luxury tax contract money.

It's 63, but for an owner that's pretty damn young. Yeah, but listen, if you can make five, six billion off the sale of a team, you know, buy an extra island or... Well, quick prospects, you know what, this is just from sporting news. This can't be true. Wait, it says, wick gross specs net worth is only 400 million. I say only, like to us, we'd love to have a net worth of like six million or whatever, but gross specs net worth, according to sporting news, only is estimated 400 million. It's kind of, you would think it's more than that. Now, another website said it was a billion in 2024. Now, there is a one website that claims my net worth is like six, that it says I make like six million dollars a year, which I don't even... Congrats, that's great. Yeah, right.

And I would love to know where my name was and where I was when I signed that contract. Now, there might be some confusion. He bought the team for about 400 million. According to Forbes, he's at about 2 billion, 1.8 to 2 billion. And so he bought the team for 360 million, you said? Yes. And now he could sell them for like, I don't know, between four to six billion.

Yes. Jeez. But these articles that just came up, this is from 13 hours ago, Wick Grossbeck has an estimated net worth of 1 billion in 2024. And this article, Sporting News, says 400 million. And then another one says a billion. And you're saying it was what, 2 billion? So I think a lot of net worth is based off of assets and debt and this and that.

When you know that you're selling a team that probably increases your net value. And also he has an estate and he has like all these different kinds of charitable organizations and family different holdings. It says his father's net worth is 1.8 billion. Yeah, so he's probably closer to the 1 billion range would be my guess. Yeah, I guess so.

Not bad. So like, for example, Mark Cuban's estimated net worth is 5.4 billion. So like when he sold the Celtics, it's like, whoa, didn't see that one coming. I mean, the Mavericks.

I was like, Mark Cuban owned the Celtics? I don't remember that. Like, we didn't see that one coming.

But with Grossberg, I didn't see it either. But I guess the further you delve into, it's more so like, OK, you know, if you're only 1 or 2 billion, you know, you go make 4 or 6 billion. But is that ever going to really go down?

I don't think so. Yeah, I mean, generally the operating income of most of these teams is so high anyway. You're making so much money every year as an owner and obviously you're making a significant amount of money once you sell as well. I don't think a lot of these guys, these billionaires are making decisions based off of financial reasons. You know, like they're so rich anyway, like selling the team for 5 billion is nice, but when you're worth a billion, like, what's the difference?

Yeah, no, for sure. So I think I misspoke, by the way, earlier when we were talking about LeBron and the super teams. I think I said that they lost the finals to the Thunder and the Spurs.

It was the Mavs and the Spurs, just to correct myself on that. But anyway, to the bigger point here, do you miss the super teams at all? Stu, do you miss the super team era? Get him back into that conversation.

I don't. I definitely don't because I think it's now, we were at a point where it wasn't guaranteeing a title for the super teams, but it almost felt that way. Like the fact that the Warriors didn't win all those titles every year, it was like pretty shocking.

Injuries derailed them. But even going into like those heat years, like it was just too much at a point where you knew that team was going to contend. Now, like we kind of talked about earlier, there's six, seven, eight teams that you could legitimately say could be in the NBA finals next year. I don't miss the super team era with the Warriors.

I do a little bit, a little bit. I still like how it is now, not knowing who's going to get there. The Celtics only won one championship. They lost the finals to the Lakers.

The Heat, right? You go back, they lost the first year to the Mavs. They beat the Thunder. They beat the Spurs and they lose to the Spurs.

So it was a lock that they would get there. But it wasn't a lock that they would win it. Like if you tell me we have more Celtics and Heat teams in the super team era, I'm okay with that. But if it's the Warriors and I'm talking about the Warriors with KD, then it's like, why are we even playing? Because you knew who was going to win that championship just as long as everybody was healthy. But I will, I do lean more your way, Stu, where I think now these last three, four years of not truly knowing who's going to win, if the regular season is going to be dog crap either way, at least let me go into a postseason not knowing who's going to win the championship.

So that's why I lean more with Stu. Samter, are you missing any of these super teams or no? I prefer this, but there is some part of the super team that you miss. Like sports, we like greatness, right? We like watching repeats and three-peat. We like watching teams dominate, players dominate. And then we like to see someone else take them over. We want to see greatness in sports.

So seeing, you know, this partisan kind of very level playing field, it's exciting, but it's also not like, it's not as... There's no hatred in the NBA right now. Like when, for example, when the Celtics formed that super team, when, and you saw it more so with the Heat and the Warriors, when they formed those super teams, like it was clear that there's a villain. The NBA, this is, this would play into why some people may miss the super teams and right there's good and bad.

At least we don't know who's going to win the championship each and every year. But who's the villain right now in the NBA? I don't think the NBA has a villain right now.

Draymond? But he's not a great player anymore. Like Draymond to me, he's relevant, but he's irrelevant if you know what I'm saying.

And what I mean by that is like, he's relevant because he does stupid things. But if Draymond didn't do stupid things at a basketball court, we're just saying, oh, that was a player that was once very good, you know, going to be a Hall of Famer and now like his career is just coming to a close. Is Kyrie still a villain?

Or are we buying that he's changed? I feel like Kyrie's a villain. I think Kyrie's just an ass. Yeah, he's kind of villainous and like, you know, the way he kind of antagonized... Oh, I'm past the whole thing with the Celtics and the fans. And he's a liar. And he antagonized them.

No, but he looked like a fool. Because he didn't antagonize them, you know, in the NBA Finals. He tried to tell you that everything was all good and the Celtics own real estate in his head. And the fan base owns real estate in his head. You know, if you want to tell me KD's still a villain, sure. But like part of being a villain, that's part of being a villain, you also have to throw it back in people's faces. Like KD right now with the Suns, what are they doing?

Nothing the last two years. So that's the thing, you need a villain that also is in the NBA Finals and can win. Like KD right now is not winning anything. So there's really no villain in the NBA right now.

That's the only part that I miss about it. Because you'd walk into yours saying, oh, I hate Kevin Durant with the Warriors. Or I hate LeBron with the Miami Heat. You know, it was polarizing.

And I'm not saying it was a 50-50 split because I think more people dislike the Superteans than not. But I was kind of on the island where I was like, who gives a rat's ass if LeBron goes to Miami Heat? I didn't like the way how he did it. But you know, him going there, he has the right to choose. I didn't like how KD did it, but he has the right to choose.

I respected that. I think part of it is, we might enjoy the moment of it now because there's uncertainty. But when we look back, we're going to remember this era of just being kind of good basketball. We think about the 90s. It was the Bulls for six titles, the Rockets for two.

We think about the 2000s. The Lakers dynasty, the Spurs dynasty. That's how you remember sports. You remember the dynasty. The Yankees in the 90s.

You remember the Steelers in the 70s. We're not going to have any of that right now. For the next five or six years, it feels like it's just going to be every year a new team. Which is great for the viewing experience and the moment. But we're going to look back at this time being like, it was kind of a downtime in basketball.

I would disagree with the way that you ended that. Just because everyone keeps on telling you the big guy is going away. Like the big man?

Yeah, like a lot of people say, oh, like the big guy isn't what it once used to be. Three out of the top five players in the league are big guys right now. Yeah, but they're big guys with outside game.

Sure. Now it's a different standard of a big. But like, Nikola Jokic, big guy. Giannis Antetokounmpo, big guy.

Joel Embiid, big guy. But here's the thing, they might be the three best players in the NBA, but big guys aren't nearly as interesting. Like Shaq was interesting. You don't think Embiid's interesting? He is, but like, would you like... You don't think Giannis is interesting? No, but we're talking about like who you're wanting to watch. Nikola Jokic has a personality of a dub, but I love watching Nikola Jokic.

It's interesting to watch. I'm talking about Embiid's funny behind the mic, all that. But like, you're telling me you'd rather watch Embiid or Anthony Edwards or LeBron or, you know, whatever. You know, like Michael, we remember like Michael Jordan, Kobe, there were a few like big guys that we really loved watching. Shaq was one of them, right? Hakeem, maybe.

But like, we don't remember the big guys. Kareem, Bill Russell. Yeah, but even Kareem, like as good as Kareem was, like people didn't love watching Kareem.

You know what I mean? Like people love watching Bird and Magic. Because it's more fun. Steph Curry, it's fun. Big guys aren't as fun to watch. The game is changing because the guard is usually where the scoring comes from. Now your big guy can knock down threes. Like Victor Wenbinyama, you look at him, you're like, oh, he's got to play, like he'll be an elite, he's an elite rim protector and he could also, you know, through time as, you know, the handles and the shot range.

That's just what it is now. Big guys are now stretch big guys where they got to have an outside game too. Now it will infuriate you sometimes when like Embiid is just hitting three after, or trying to hit three after three after three and he'll go cold. But then he could definitely hit him. And then sometimes you want to see him go down low more. So that's really how I think, like these last few years, and that's what I think you were saying, Samta, like these last three, four, five years, I think they're really defined by the range of the big fella.

That's how I'm going to look back at this era. But you're not wrong when you are a guard like Steph and you could do what Steph could do shooting the basketball. That is more entertaining.

Like watching Steph Curry and what he was able to do at the range, shoot the three-point shots, even though how awesome Nicole Jokic and Giannis and Embiid are, I do find from a watching standpoint, yes, it is more entertaining to watch Steph Curry. All right. This is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. We will come on back. Horns down. Is it going to be allowed this year? We'll discuss next.

All right. This is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. A few things in college football. Let me start off with the Utah State story. So earlier this morning, I saw a very ambiguous tweet and it didn't make any sense, especially with how close to the start of the season. You could only think something ominous had to happen, but Blake Anderson, who I guess that you could say was the coach of Utah State, he was placed on administrative leave. And then Pete Thamel comes out and says it's expected for him not to return as the next football coach, but they didn't give a reason, you know, back as the football coach, but they didn't give a reason why.

So I'm reading that and I'm like, huh, something's up here. Now, if you're not familiar with Blake Anderson, his wife passed away a few years ago from cancer and not that long ago as well, his son committed suicide. So at first I'm thinking like maybe something happened personally and, you know, Blake Anderson just needs his space because he's obviously been through a lot more than anyone could imagine. And then I went to his Twitter and like a few days ago, I guess he's remarried.

He had another child who was born prematurely. So I'm like sitting there and I'm trying to think, you know, maybe something happened in his personal life and then it comes out and this is from Utah State. The decision to put him on administrative leave comes after a thorough external review of alleged noncompliance with university policies that implement Title IX, which require full and timely reporting of disclosures of sexual misconduct, including domestic violence and prohibit employees from investigating disclosures of sexual misconduct themselves.

So that's pretty much the main part of the statement. They also said as leaders, we are responsible for ensuring allegations of Utah State University policy violations are investigated. Today's actions are the result of a thorough external investigation and we believe the evidence demands immediate action. Our job is to fearlessly hold ourselves and others accountable for their conduct and to make sure that for the sake of our students and our community, we are living in the values of our university.

While recognizing the impact of these decisions on our student athletes and football program, we will continue to take the steps necessary to deliver a respectful, transparent and winning culture at Utah State University. So that's all we know from this situation. So I thought first maybe it was a personal thing with Blake Anderson and now it's something where, according to the statement, it goes back to something in regards to the reporting and the investigation of, you know, something that happened in sexual misconduct or domestic violence. I did read as well because I was just very intrigued by this because like this came out of nowhere in terms of him being placed on administrative leave. And then, you know, terrible things that have happened to Blake Anderson. And if you're placed on administrative leave, like usually right away, there's a reason.

And since they didn't give a reason right away and how we're in this immediate society, like my brain starts spinning a thousand miles an hour. And it also then later came out, and not that I'm sitting here following Utah State religiously, that, you know, three players were arrested throughout the last few years for sexual assault. So I'm assuming this has to be linked going back to the players that were arrested and it sparked some investigation. And then whatever they found out in the investigation, I'm just going to go out on a limb here, obviously was not good enough, you know, for a look in terms of saying Blake Anderson did nothing wrong.

I don't know what he did to be fair, but whatever occurred here was obviously enough to then place him on administrative leave, not give a reason at first, and then basically tell every reporter it's not expected that he's going to come back and then later still vague things, but at least point you in the direction of what could have transpired there. So that's the Utah State story. Kyle Whittingham, he's not retiring, but they have named a coach in waiting for him at Utah. Now, when we started the college football fix back in March, one of the first guests we had on was Kyle Whittingham, and I just naturally asked him, we have that audio?

Oh, well, instead of me explaining it, let's just play it right now. Here's Kyle Whittingham with us back in March when I was talking to him about his future. I love the college game. I love, you know, what I'm doing. The path and the energy that I have at work each day is, you know, has not changed at all through the years. I can say that the new talent of going to the Big 12 is, it's almost like getting a new job. I mean, it's, you know, a whole different set of opportunities and new challenges on the horizon and rejuvenation of sorts.

But, yeah, NIL has certainly put a different spin on things, the transfer portal, but that's okay with me. You just keep moving and changing and adapting, and even as challenging as it can be, that wouldn't be the primary thing that would drive me into retirement. I'm getting up there, but I still feel like I have a few good years left. And they named his defensive coordinator who's been in it with him since like 2006 as the coach-in-waiting. But, Samtar, when I go back to that answer, that was a big buildup, and trying to talk yourself into that he still loves college football, to then say at the end, you know, I'm not going anywhere just yet.

Like, I'm not that far away, but I still got some good years left. It's almost like a guy that's been wrestling with knowing the decision that's at hand. Like, you don't want to walk away. And I don't think coaches should be bitching about, you know, NIL and the transfer portal, but it does make it more difficult on them. And you got a guy like Whittingham who's been a coaching lifer and could have left Utah years ago to get a bigger job, but he stayed. And it kind of seems like that's a decision that's right in front of him. Now you're at a point you either retire or you keep on coaching, and you probably don't want to give up coaching just yet, but when you put a coach-in-waiting and name that coach, you know, I'm not saying that you got to get replaced right away. Like, it was Mike Hopkins who was at Syracuse that was named the coach-in-waiting, and Boeheim was a stubborn-to-stubborn could be and never elected to hang him up, and then he ended up getting the Washington job, and now he's no longer the coach there.

But whenever you name a coach-in-waiting, it doesn't always go as smoothly, but this puts the clock at, you know, really starts to tick on Kyle Whittingham's time at Utah. And honestly, when I first heard the clip that we played, I didn't really make much of it, but like you said, towards the end, he just said, I'm getting up there, I still have a few more years left. It didn't really hit the finality of that, but a couple more years, a few more years, feels like two, three max. So like, he said that earlier this offseason, maybe this is his last year, maybe he has two more after this or one more after this.

I would say two max. Yeah, I think he's got this year, maybe one more year after that. When I first heard that, I'm like, maybe a coach for three to five more years.

Maybe he wants to get to 70, he turned 65 in November, something like that. But now that they named the coach-in-waiting, coach-in-waiting, you don't wait for five years, especially if you're doing well, and Utah has been a good program, and his DC is going to get opportunities, so you only sign a coach-in-waiting if you legitimately think that you're probably there in like two or three years. And also, Kyle Whittingham has probably maxed out what he's been able to do at Utah. Like, this is now another time they're changing conferences, he won two Pac-12 championships, right, he went back-to-back years winning the Pac-12. He owes it to Cam Rising, because Rising is still there. It would not shock me if at the end of this year, Whittingham says, alright, that's it. Which, every time you talk to him, you can still tell he loves football, he still sounds young, like I always enjoy my conversations with him throughout the years. But Kyle Whittingham, and Ack, you probably know this a little bit doing eye-on college football for all those years, like there's some coaches that really lay into the brand and the rah-rah of college football, like Kyle Whittingham isn't a rah-rah drama kind of guy, I don't think he's going to be one of these guys that drags it out and makes it a year-to-year thing, are you going to retire, are you going to retire, are you going to retire? It would not stump me if this is final season.

Definitely not. I agree with you. He's football, and if he doesn't have it in the tank, he's not going to do it. He is one of those guys, you know where you stand with him. There's no bluster, there's no, as you said, drama, there's no salesman there, he is who he is, and he is a football coach, and if he doesn't feel he has it, he's not going to stay longer than he wants to. He's 64, I don't know when he turns 65, so he'll be 65, he's had a great run, and people don't realize this, I just remember, I go back to when he first took over for Urban Meyer, I mean think of the tenure that he's had there.

And he didn't leave. He didn't leave, and I go back, I think it was 2008, they played Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and they annihilated them, I mean it wasn't even close, and Alabama came in with Nick Saban, and maybe they were a little upset that they didn't get a bigger bowl date or something like that, but Utah just took it right to them and dominated that game. You know what I'll kind of equate this to? It's like when a, let's just say a father and a son, right, they're working for the same company, right, they own like, I don't know, let's say like an electrical company or something like that, and you know Kyle Whittingham, right, is the dad that built up the company, and I'm not saying that the coach waiting is necessarily his son, but for the analogy, the guy's been there forever, and there's a difference in working with your dad, and then having your son eventually take over the company, and there's like some, there's some things at the end that you got to cross the T's and dot the I's, this is that step where he's going to hand it over to his guy, and it's whether, is it a year or two from now that I think that that actually goes down. Yeah, I just don't see, you know, you can't have the coach stay too long, because then it becomes, again, and I don't... Used against your recruiting too. Yeah, and, but I don't need to make this about drama, but it's like, well how long is he going to stay? So if it's like one year, maybe two, that's one, but if it's like, if it goes beyond that, you know, Will Muschamp was another coach in waiting, and he ultimately left, it didn't exactly turn out well, but that's besides the point, but I just felt... Josh McDaniels was supposedly the coach in waiting in New England, and he got a job somewhere else, how'd it go, Stu? Yeah, I just don't see this as a long term, I don't see him being on the job for that much longer, but that's just my gut feeling more than anything else.

Yeah, like, for example, Boeheim, you knew, was going to have to be forced out before he walked away. Whittingham, I don't think it's going to be... They'll let him coach until he no longer wants to, but I don't think he's going to be...

He doesn't have the ego, everyone has ego, but for coaching, Kyle Whittingham, it feels, in the coaching standard, doesn't have that ego, and I don't think it's going to make it like, me, me, me, me, me. He'll enjoy skiing. Yeah. That's Kyle Whittingham.

Football and skiing. 100%. 100%. Alrighty, we'll take a break, we'll come on back, we will get into this horn down whole situation. Are they going to allow that in the SEC this year?

Update time, here's the act man, Rich Ackerman. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. You know, Stu, I really do think the Los Angeles Lakers, they have the media just by the balls.

I really do think so. It's like two days ago, everyone was telling you, oh, Klay's going to wind up with the Los Angeles Lakers. Yesterday, when I was leaving the studio, it felt like we were going to have DeMar DeRozan, who's been trying to go to the Lakers for years, and they picked Russell Westbrook over him, that DeMar DeRozan was going to go back to the Lakers. That's what we were thinking. And now, according to Chris Haynes, DeMar DeRozan has zero interest in taking the MLE, the mid-level exception, for $30 million per Chris Haynes.

Teams like the Lakers and Heat would have to get creative to create cap space or work out a sign and trade. So, that's that right now. That's just, that's amazing. It really is. That really is something. So, I'm getting a kick out of this right now.

I know if you're listening to the radio, you have no clue what's going on. But on the YouTube stream, did I just see Tiki Barber pop up from down the hall? Someone on the YouTube stream, did someone down the hall, they were pressing with a few buttons, and then Tiki pops up?

That's crazy. I just thought, out of nowhere, I see Tiki just sitting in the studio. There must have been a commercial break. Thankfully, it wasn't doing anything embarrassing.

But there might have been a slight misclick on our end here. Oh, it was on you guys? I'm not going to blame anyone down the hall. So, it was the guy standing behind you, Nico?

It was a team collaborative effort. It's fine. It's all right. You got one mistake. Next mistake, send you back down to Double A. Forget Triple A. Send it back down to Double A. It should have been sent down a long time ago. You know, Santa, let me tell you.

They're doing this show with you for three hours, and I think that was the best thing you said. Better than the Brunson take, I'll tell you that. Or your Derek Carr take. How's that poll going, by the way? Yeah, it's not going in favor of Santa. That's why he didn't talk about it.

But I'll tell you this, if it was going in favor of Santa, he'd be getting his two cents in before the end of this show today. I don't know what you guys are talking about. I don't know what you guys were saying. I was saying Baker Mayfield over Carr every day.

Yeah, sure you were. So, Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, was asked, with now Texas being a part of the SEC, because in the Big 12, they would do anything, whatever Texas wanted, they would do. If you did a Horns Down celebration, you would get penalized. Here is Greg Sankey getting asked if there will be a penalty in the SEC if an opposing player does the Horns Down to kind of mock Texas. There's been a lot of talk in the past about the Horns Down gesture. Do you expect that to – can you confirm whether or not that will be a penalty moving forward? Yeah, I'm not going to talk about football penalties on July 1st. I'll let my football coordinator deal with that.

I think we've used the word seamless. The creativity of our fan base on social media is on full display today, and I think that Oklahoma and Texas are being treated as our past 14 members, and you'll see both the warm and the cold embrace that can be present. Huh? Well, what is he talking about, Santer? There was a whole two-minute long question about incorporating Oklahoma and Texas into the SEC, and then he asked at the end, like he has this whole long, you know, whatever, and then he just asked about the Horns Down. So I think the end of Sankey's – yes, I think the end of Sankey's answer was kind of more the meandering question about incorporating OU and Texas into the SEC, but still all around the Horns Down and how the fan base and how the conference is going to handle bringing those teams into the conference. I don't understand why Texas fans – you know, it's not even Texas fans. Rodney Terry, the basketball coach, lost his mind over this. I don't get why Texas players, coaches actually get upset with the Horns Down. If you don't want the Horns Down to happen, don't let the other teams score, or don't lose the game.

It was like the Sean Marriman lights out dance, which I loved, but then the Patriots threw it back in their face after they beat the Chargers, and LT was crying at the podium with Danny and Tomlinson. Oh, the Patriots are classless, and it starts with their coach. But he's not wrong. Enough of you today, all right?

Let me just make them – I think we've passed the quota. Yes, I need load management from Samter, all right? Samter's got too much game time today. But, for example, we had Bijan Robinson on at the Super Bowl, and I asked him why Texas – people that attended Texas that are Longhorns, why they get so offended with Horns Down. Here is Bijan Robinson on why Texas hates the Horns Down symbol. Why are you guys so sensitive with the Horns Down thing?

We just have pride in our school, man. I mean, Horns Down, it's just not a good look. When someone goes like this, your eyes just lit up. You actually get disrespected by it. It's like, why did you have to do that? You could have done anything else but that. So you'd rather have someone give you the middle finger than Horns Down.

I would love that. Or like a thumbs down or something like that. But it's just like the Horns Down, it's just like, you know, it's obviously the sign of disrespect for Texas. Is it really disrespectful? You guys are no for Horns Up, Hook'em, right?

I have no disdain for Texas whatsoever. But, like Brian Jones punched me at the Super Bowl, you know, in a playful way. But I knew he would get annoyed if I did Horns Down, so I did Horns Down to him and he like shoved me.

And even Bijan Robinson, you heard in the clip, like his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. The moment when I did the Horns Down symbol in front of him. I don't get why this rubs Texas fans to a point where I get it. When it happens to you, it means you lost. Are you allowed a big play to happen? But don't allow them the big play of the loss to happen.

I don't get the bitching on the Horns Down, I really don't. The only question I have is, is there any other team in any sport that you can think of that has a specific gesture against them that is specific to them, right? Like, you know, you could do... Florida State with the chop? No, but that's their positive chop. No, but I'm saying, like, when you beat them, people will be like, oh, oh, oh. Right, but you don't do like a reverse oh, oh, oh.

Oh, okay, like, no, oh, oh. Yeah, is there any other team, program, franchise, anything in sport where they have a signature move, hand gesture, whatever, and then there's a specific anti-gesture to go along with that? I think this is the only one that I can think of is the Horns Down. So maybe that's why, because, like, Horns Up is a big deal to them and Horns Down is kind of insulting. No other team gets that.

Brian makes a good point. It's not different than baseball fans saying Yankees suck. Like, seriously, that's what Horns Down is. They're saying, like, screw you, Texas. That's what's really going to make you lose your mind?

They're different to not liking it. But Texas fans literally lose their mind whenever you do Horns Down and also their basketball coach Rodney Terry did as well. Fun show today. Big thanks to Stu Samp for each and every one of you. We will be back tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. We out. Bye-bye. Peace!

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