Cowboys Courting CJ? (Hour 3)

Our number three of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gelb Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. And the Drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys are bein' the Drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys.

And I absolutely love it. They're stirrin' up the drama pot and they're gettin' us really excited for this NFL draft. Because there was a report the other day, and this is not from some known name, some ball sack sports writer, this is not an onion piece. This is an actual report from a credible journalist who has been workin' in the Dallas area for a long time and Mike Fisher. And he said, a source told him, I don't know the how, but Dallas is absolutely intrigued by Ohio State's quarterback in CJ Stroud.

That to me is a bombshell, that to me is a whoa, what a report that is. And if you read the report, and once again, it says I don't know the how, but Dallas is absolutely intrigued by CJ Stroud. I think that is some in the Cowboys organization showing and voicing frustration with Dak Prescott, the way that the season has ended the last two years, and tryin' to send a little message, Dak, even though we just paid you, I know you got two years left in the contract, we're gonna put on the front like no one is safe, and we're gonna make you sweat a little bit. Let me be clear, I don't think they're tradin' for CJ Stroud.

I don't think they're moving up from their current draft position to pull off this deal to go get CJ Stroud. But this more to me is about the messaging and the thought and this story being out there, and it shows, regardless of what the Cowboys have said the last few weeks, how much they love Dak and the contract extension, and how he's the quarterback for the next decade, and he could absolutely win the Super Bowl, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No one actually believes that, because Dak Prescott is a good quarterback. He's not a great quarterback.

He's not a superstar. He's not a quarterback that I look at and say, oh, they're gonna win the Super Bowl with, because they didn't win the division this year. I know Philadelphia had a ridiculous team. Dak Prescott once again, unfortunately, got hurt, missed some games. The backup quarterback did more than a fine job.

I'm not saying, hey, but Cooper rushing over Dak Prescott, that would just be stupidity. But Dak Prescott, the last two years in big moments, failed. Last game of the season, playoffs two years ago against the Niners. Couldn't even get the ball snap in the final 14 seconds.

And then this year, I guess we could throw a party, pop champagne, celebrate for beating a below 500 team in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But the next week, against the same team that he lost to a year ago, that game was winnable. That game was right there for the taking. The defense did its job.

The defense showed it's ready to go take this the next step further. And Dak Prescott, I know he lost Tony Pollard in the game. But if you're a franchise quarterback, if you're a great quarterback, you find a way to win with less. And Dak Prescott couldn't do that.

And Jerry Jones, breaking news, he's not Kenan any younger. And I believe there's a lot of people in that Cowboys organization that are starting to say we have a guy, not the guy. And a lot of other teams would like to have Dak Prescott. But is Dak going anywhere and winning a Super Bowl in this league? Because the roster in Dallas is good.

Like you got C.D. Lamb. I know you had Gallup coming off the injury. You got Tony Pollard, you got Ezekiel Elliott. Like there's enough pieces there, especially when you have a defense that under Dan Quinn has done a really good job the last two years. And Dak has not been able to I'm not even talking about Super Bowl.

Right. Like that hasn't been able to get to the NFC title game. When one year he was at home, lost in the wildcard round to Jimmy Garoppolo. And then last year or this past season, I know he's on the road in San Francisco, but you're going up against Brock Purdy. So it's like you can't get the job done. I know San Francisco has a phenomenal defense, but that's why you pay a quarterback 40 million something dollars a year. And now that price tag, like a year or two from now, could look like a bargain with the way that the prices are going to keep on going up and up and up.

But eventually you have to uphold your own end of the bargain. And so far, Dak has had some good regular seasons this year. His numbers down the stretch are bad. He had some putrid moments for the Dallas Cowboys this season. But in the postseason, that's something that sticks out in your brain.

And you're going to remember until he finds a way to climb to the top of the mountain. And as good as Dak is, as much as and this is not against Dak, the person I love Dak, the person, but Dak, the quarterback, he just leaves me wanting more. I feel like there's a lot more to Dak Prescott and he's got to dig deep and find it.

But the last two years, really discouraging. And I know right, everyone goes and blames Mike McCarthy first and foremost. But you look at what the real root of the problem is, you're paying for great production out of Dak Prescott.

And so far in the biggest moments where the quarterbacks go earn that cash, he has not performed to the level that he's paid to perform in the postseason. So this is Jerry and Stephen and whoever else. They're dangling a little carrot out there. They're giving us something to chew on this offseason and they could say how much they love Dak and how much they want to see Dak end his career as a Dallas Cowboy. And they could tell you that he's going to go win a Super Bowl one day. Once again, this is not just some no name guy that we've never heard of covering the team. It's not someone just looking for clicks or looking for social media fame. Mike Fisher's job does not depend and his livelihood does not depend on this story.

This guy's been around for a very long time. And for him to be told, I don't know the how, but Dallas is absolutely intrigued by Stroud from a source. That is pretty damaging and probably some buyer's remorse that the Cowboys have to the contract that they gave Dak Prescott.

And I'll just simply ask you this. He has two years left on the deal. Do you think Dak's got another long term extension with the Cowboys?

Because if I'm a better man today, I would say no. Because if you don't find the way to drastically improve in the postseason this upcoming year in the NFL, what's making you run and go commit another four or five years when the price tag could be like 50 million dollars a year, a year from now, after Herbert gets taken care of, after Burrow gets taken care of. And, you know, the Lamar contract gets figured out whether it's in Baltimore or not. I look at Dak. He's a good quarterback. Very good.

Not great. And that's the biggest problem these days in the NFL. How many good quarterbacks are very good quarterbacks get paid like they're great quarterbacks? And when you allocate that much money, I know the salary cap is very fugazi and you could move it around and, you know, defer years and all that stuff and lower the cap hit. But when you're paying a guy that much money, you have to take other areas away from the team, regardless of how phony we look at the salary cap from time to time. But I need my quarterback to be reliable. I need my quarterback when you're paying him 40 something million dollars not to be a concern. And as I sit here right now on the 21st day of February in the year of 2023, Dak is a concern. Now, he's not the biggest concern, but my concern is I just don't know what to expect out of him in a big spot. Now, how plausible is it that they go up and trade for CJ Stroud?

It's not impossible. But I don't think it's likely like we've seen teams before move up in the draft like the Bills to go get Josh Allen. They went from twenty two to twelve and then twelve to seven when the Chiefs went up to go get Mahomes, they went directly from twenty seven to ten. The Bears two years ago when they got Justin Fields, they went from twenty to eleven. The Eagles, when they acquired Carson Wentz, which is an area you probably want to forget about, they went from thirteen to eight and then eight to two.

The Cowboys sit in here at twenty seven. And I think it's safe to say that CJ Stroud is either going to be the first or second quarterback taken off the board. I think Bryce Young is a better quarterback. CJ Stroud, though, I do think is going to be a really good quarterback in this league. And I was so impressed by the way that he extended the plays with his legs in that semifinal game up against Georgia. And he told me at the Heisman, he goes, I'm more athletic than what I'm giving credit for it. I hope to put that on display soon.

And he showed you that he could be a great player in that semifinal game. I think those shroud is going to go in the top five, like the Texans need a quarterback, the Colts need a quarterback. Both those teams right now are in the top five. So do I think it's likely that the Cowboys trade up from twenty seven to maybe like three? Let's say Houston takes Bryce Young and then the Cowboys move up past Indy to go get CJ Stroud. I don't think so, because the Cowboys, even though they're frustrated, I think with Dak, you still talk yourself into, OK, maybe one day Dak could be the guy. And he's got two years left on the deal.

I don't think they have to make this move right now. But I really think, Kiki, this is more about the messaging to Dak Prescott, where I'm not saying he got complacent because no one should question Dak Prescott's work ethic. But when you get paid that money, yeah, you get the money.

But I need to see results. And I want to win a championship if I'm Jerry Jones. And a lot of times, right, I say it sometimes in jest.

I then also say it in seriousness as well. The drama Dallas Choking Cowboys. It appears that the Cowboys are always more focused on the drama that comes with them. So this would go in line with that. But in this case, I actually think this is a calculated play. Let's throw something out there that is, oh, we don't know how this is going to happen because it's very unlikely that it does happen. But it gets people talking about this and it starts to drive the message.

Hmm. Maybe the Cowboys don't actually believe as much as they say in Dak Prescott. So this is a message that the Cowboys are sending to Dak Prescott. And I'm very curious to see how he's going to respond to it.

I would agree. I think this is a message right across the bow at Dak. I think it's so to get him to sign a long term deal. Jerry Jones has talked about it. Stephen Jones has talked about it in this offseason. They need him to take a lower cap. They want to keep him around for the long term. We talk about Jerry Jones.

We talked about this before, I think a few weeks ago, a month ago. We presume or the assumption is Jerry Jones is someone who is, you know, kind of George Simon ready to fire someone that drop a hat and wants to win a Super Bowl. No matter what, he'll do whatever it takes. But the reality is, he's not quick on the trigger to fire people, to release people, to trade people. He likes who he likes. Jason Garrett, the clapper. Right. Mike McCarthy, we talked about his job security now for a little bit.

He likes Mike McCarthy. It's only two years, though, and they had a great slumber party, if you remember. They did have a great slumber party.

Yeah, absolutely they did. But it's like you look, they like Dak a lot. You had Stephen Jones say, we want Dak to be here for the next 10 years. I think this is them trying to say, hey, look, Dak, we want you to take a contract extension. He probably doesn't want to because he realizes he can get more money in the open market in two years than he would take an extension now.

I think this is, okay, fine. You don't want to take the extension. You don't want to talk to us.

You know what? We're just not obsessed with you. We're not just going to settle with you as our quarterback. We'll look elsewhere. Maybe we'll be interested in CJ Stroud. Maybe we'll take a look at, I don't know, Lamar Jackson, let's just say, have that report come out a few weeks later. I think it's them just trying to throw different seeds. I would sign up for that in a second. I would much rather have Lamar Jackson than Dak Prescott.

Agreed. I just think they're trying to throw different seeds to kind of scare Dak into a corner of signing a long-term deal that they want. Well, if I'm Dak, why would I care what the Cowboys say? Because, like, he went through this a few years ago where they waited, waited, waited.

He had a gruesome injury and they still gave him the contract. So if I'm Dak, I'm calling their bluff. I'm saying I got two more years. You don't want to sign me? You want to make me go on the franchise tag for two more years?

Okay, I'll take the money. And then someone else will take me, because even though Dak, to me, leaves a lot to be desired, and I feel like there's a lot more that there's untapped potential still in his game and he could get to an even better level, that you see how many teams overpay for a good quarterback. Like, there's a ton that overpay for a good quarterback. Heck, Carson Wentz isn't even a good quarterback.

Look what the commanders gave up for him. And that wasn't just after Philly. That was after Philly and Indianapolis. But here's, like, the better part of this conversation. Let's just entertain this. If we're if let's say we're in Kansas City and we're at the draft and we get that breaking news alert. The Cowboys have traded up. And with the fourth pick, they select C.J.

Stroud. That would be the biggest story in the draft. I don't care what else happens. That would be huge because it's not only the Cowboys, but it's replacing a quarterback. Even if they keep back on the roster for another year and tell C.J.

Stroud to sit for a year or two, that's a big time move. Who are some other teams that have a quarterback right now? Whether you believe in that quarterback or not, that could maybe take a C.J. Stroud or an Anthony Richardson or Will Levis. I don't think Bryce Jones is going to fall in this draft.

And I've come up with four teams. I know there's been some talks about a potential Kirk Cousins extension. I've seen enough of Kirk Cousins. He's really good.

He ain't great. I don't think you win with Kirk Cousins. The Vikings are at 24. Let's just say if Anthony Richardson or Will Levis go earlier than we expect and one guy falls and that guy C.J. Stroud and he's still sitting there at 10 or 11. If you're the Vikings. I think you got to trade up from 24 to go get Stroud if he's available. And it's not impossible because we just talked about it, how the Bears went from 20 to 11 to go get Justin Fields. And you could sit Stroud for a year, let Kirk Cousins play out the final year of his deal, and then he just walks after that. And you have your guy potentially for the future in C.J.

Stroud. The Lions are also a team that fascinates me. Maybe not at six. And I know they have Jared Goff and they're optimistic about Jared Goff after the really good season he just had. But they have another pick at 18. It's Stroud or Richardson if they really like him or Levis, whoever it is. I don't think Bryce Young is going to fall.

If they start to still be available at 12 or 13, you got to move up from 18. And here's actually one that may top the Cowboys, Hickey. What about the Ravens? Imagine if the Ravens move up from 23, don't have a deal done with Lamar Jackson, and they go move up from 23 to let's say like 10 or 9 and they draft C.J.

Stroud. Then there's another domino that falls. Like if the Cowboys and the Ravens do it, it's what the heck do they do with Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott? Because even though you could say, oh, you keep him for another year, I think then Lamar's done. Dak maybe sticks around another year, but it just behooves you to get rid of him now in case of an injury happens. Yeah, I don't think this would be like the Packers where you sit that quarterback for a year, two years, three years, and keep your current guy around. That is one of those earth-shattering moves that I will see movement if the Cowboys, let's say in this world, or the Ravens make a move. I think we'd say goodbye to their starting quarterback. Or what happens if the Seahawks do a short deal with Geno Smith?

They're sitting in a 5 and 20. Maybe they move up from that 20th pick of one of those quarterback falls. You always got to think about the future in the NFL. And you got some guys there like Kirk Cousins is fine, Goff's fine, Lamar's great, Geno Smith is still an unknown. Even though they're on your roster, it doesn't mean that you can't eventually be placed, even if you think it makes sense or it doesn't. And you look at this Cowboys story about how they don't know the how a source said, but Dallas is absolutely intrigued by Stroud.

How many teams would maybe move up and eventually replace the guy that they have by drafting someone on draft night in a few months? I think it's fascinating 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. We'll take a break when we come on back. We'll date you on the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio.

We call that segment the news brief. Alrighty, let's start things off with AJ Brown, the star wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles and a close personal friend to one Jalen hurts. AJ Brown on the raw room podcast says the Eagles should trade him if they don't pay Jalen hurts this offseason. This I love food and I'm about what I'm about to say. You do not pay these man. Just shoot me off.

Well, we finna go. Listen, so you talk about present how we get it done. I love that from AJ Brown, but here here's the one problem with it. It makes you wonder if the Eagles have any doubts about paying Jalen hurts if the star wide receiver feels compelled to say if you don't pay Jalen hurts that I'm out. I think it was met with good intentions, but I wonder if people are going to say always that AJ Brown doubting if how he Roseman is actually going to pay Jalen hurts. I don't have any reason to believe that's the case.

But I bet you the some people will run with that way. But Hickey like there's no doubt to me that they're going to get a long term deal done with Jalen hurts. The dude right now is the face of the NFC and we all think Roger, he had traded this offseason. He just got this team to the Super Bowl and in the Super Bowl. He had three rushing touchdowns 70 rushing yards and not only that through for 300 plus yards and a passing touchdown and Travis Kelsey said he was the best player on the field. You can you could have made the case that he should have got the Super Bowl MVP. Now we know losing players not going to get the Super Bowl MVP, especially when my homes is on the other sideline. But the facts are, even though he didn't win Jalen hurts had a better Super Bowl than Patrick my homes.

He should absolutely get paid. He was dynamic he was explosive this year. He was awesome. And he's the face and the leader and the heartbeat of that team.

I totally agree. With that said, I can't wait for them to draft Hendon hooker in round two. You know, you're a real Jack quarterback factory.

You know what, you know why you make me sick? Because I don't like this stain that you constantly have for Philly. And you know, Philly to me, it's like a second home. I went to school there. I lived there three years afterwards, have a lot of close personal friends in Philadelphia. And you just love the misery that sometimes they have to deal with.

Well, well, sometimes I hope all the time. Yes, I do not like Philly, but I just more of a joke out of discussion that is a slam dunk. It's obvious they're going to pay him. They should pay him. But just kind of, you know, going back to their history.

That would be par for the course, wouldn't it? Well, there was reasons to doubt Carson Wentz. There's no reason to doubt Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts is the complete antithesis both on and off the field compared to Carson Wentz, who is so sensitive.

So egotistical and doesn't know how to be a leader and does not know how to be a good teammate. Jalen Hurts, three years into the league, has won over everyone in that locker room. You have guys like Jason Kelce well respected. Fletcher Cox well respected. Brandon Graham, a Super Bowl hero that have passed the baton to Jalen Hurts and say this is your team now.

All right, let's go to David Zeigler, the general manager of the Raiders, on his plan to replace Derek Carr this offseason, this courtesy of Bussin with the boys. I'm in charge of myself and, you know, our group. We're in charge of filling the most important position on the team. And so, yeah, there's some, you know, there's there's some there's some pressure that comes along with that. And and however we fill it, it doesn't mean we're going to have an immediate answer, you know, this year. You know what I mean? And so but at the end of the day, we have to have an answer.

Right. You know, in some form or fashion, you know. And so, yeah, there's pressure that comes along with it. And again, that's also part of the excitement, too, is that pressure is finding that guy. I know a lot of times when these general managers and coaches speak, they give you basically nothing.

You could still show symptoms of having verbal diarrhea when you speak, even when you're trying to give nothing. And that is a man that has zero understanding about how livid his fan base is currently with their regime and who his best friend is in Josh McDaniels. And they don't want to have a lot of patience. Maybe Mark Davis has patience with potentially now embracing the bald life. And I don't even know if that's actually true.

That could have been photoshopped. Maybe Mark Davis has patience, but that fan base doesn't have patience because that was the team that went to the playoffs before you got there under terrible circumstances. Still found the way to get to the playoffs.

And last year, you didn't only regress, you fell flat on your face. I'm not saying Derek Carr is all that. I'm not a big believer in Derek Carr. But as the GM of the team, you can't say, hey, we may not get the answer long term this offseason. You're getting rid of Derek Carr.

That was your choice. I'm okay with that. You have to bring in someone that's going to make the fan base pop off and get excited about the Raiders again. And there's only one man available that could do that.

That I think will be realistic. And that is Aaron Rodgers. You get Jimmy G. Come on. I don't even know if that's an upgrade compared to Derek Carr. I don't think Lamar is going to get traded to the Raiders.

If the Ravens trade him, it would be to the NFC. But he's basically Hickey preaching patience to that fan base. And if I'm a Raiders fan right now and you're probably eating this up because you can't stand McDaniels.

I don't want to hear about patience. You got to go all in this offseason and you got to get this team bare minimum back to the postseason. Or you guys should all be out of jobs.

And they should have been out of a job after year one. But I guess what I'll say is what else is supposed I think is right. Because outside of Lamar Jackson, outside of Aaron Rodgers, you're not getting an upgrade this year.

It doesn't matter. You can't say that this early in the offseason. It's going to be a regression. It hasn't even officially started yet. You can't say that right now.

You can't. I mean what else? What are you going to say? We're going to get the answer and then all of a sudden you're sitting here with Jimmy G and then you said this two months ago that you're going to get the guy. Everyone's going to fall in love and then you end up with Jimmy Grappolo. Even though it would be boring to put me to sleep, we're going to do our best to go find the best available guy to lead the Raiders in 2023 and after that.

Simple done. End of story. It doesn't open it up to, oh we may not find the guy this offseason. That answer may not come this offseason. Wait like four more years and then we'll find the guy.

If you're waiting and waiting in this league, you'll be out of a job sooner rather than later. Let's go to David Carr, the brother of Derek Carr. He details Derek's meeting with the Jets via the NFL Network. Derek had a great trip so he went there to get a feel for how they work from the top down and everyone he met and we knew he would love Robert Salah. I've known Robert for a while. MJ knows Robert. He's fantastic and they hit it off and they would love to work together.

But there's a lot of questions that have to be asked. He has to find out how the inner workings of obviously the front office works. But then also I think the most important thing for him as a veteran quarterback, what is it going to be like as an offensive play caller and a quarterback in that relationship? Todd Downing is there. He has a relationship with Todd. Nathaniel Hackett is also there.

So how does all that work? And they had a good chat. They talked about a lot of different things. And obviously the team is just in need of quarterbacks and some stability there. They have a lot of good components. There's a lot of things that are very positive about the Jets. He had a great trip so it's honestly going to be a long process though. He really only has the Saints, the Raiders and the Jets to kind of compare those three places. And so he wants to do his due diligence and see as many places as he can to get a feel for what the best place for him will be.

A few things from that and I'm cognizant of the fact that this is his brother so he's not going to ask this question. But Hickey I did find it a little bit interesting that he needed to find out all these answers about the Jets. I think the Jets need to find out a lot of answers about Derek Carr. Because Derek Carr may just be a solid quarterback. He hasn't shown me that he's a winning quarterback in this league. I know you could talk about some fourth quarter comebacks but the guys never won a playoff game.

And I know he did a remarkable job two years ago through all those horrible circumstances. But if I'm the Jets do I view Derek Carr as the guy or just a guy? And if you sign him just viewing him as a guy, oh he'll manage the game for us and then we'll be okay. That's not a formula to win a Super Bowl. You got to go have an elite quarterback nine times out of ten to win or play like an elite quarterback nine times out of ten to win a Super Bowl in this league. And I know people are going to start calling up, oh what about Trent Dilfer? You know Nick Foles didn't really do anything outside of that two game run in that one season when he had 27 touchdowns, two interceptions.

Those things don't usually happen. You know people are going to say Brad Johnson. Go look at the quarterbacks that have won the last 20 years for the most part. Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger.

Like you go down the list, you need most of the times a great quarterback. And I just wonder what the Jets are asking Carr to kind of figure out what he actually is. Because there are some people that could say the Raiders are this dysfunctional organization. We haven't seen the best of Derek Carr, but I got to figure out why I actually believe that in my conversation with him. I think you're right.

I think both sides have to figure out is this the right partnership. And if you're also, you're the Jets again. You chase Aaron Rodgers and it sounds like that is priority one, rightfully so. You want to inquire about Lamar Jackson, okay fine.

You swing and miss on those two. I think Derek Carr is a really good third option, a great third option for you for next year. Also, I know he's going to say they need to go through this due diligence and it's going to be this patient process.

I don't buy that. Carr actually may be the first quarterback to decide what he's going to do. Because you hear Carr, David Carr, talk about the patients and the process. And then only mention three teams that are potentially interested in him. If I'm Derek Carr, I do those three interviews and identify what team I want to go to. Let's just say it's the Jets. I go to the Jets and I say let's get a deal done. And let's see how long the Jets are willing to wait for Aaron Rodgers to emerge out of this cave or wherever he is on this darkness retreat.

And then how much drama he's going to then put on the table before the Packers and him eventually elect to make a deal. And say okay, we're going to find a way to trade you this offseason. So if I'm Carr, I identify that destination and I try to force the hand of the team that I go to. And then the question for that team is, how long are you willing to wait?

Because what happens if you wait? Carr then says okay Jets, you don't really love me, I'm going to the Saints. I'll sign there, I'll reunite with Dennis Allen and then you don't get Aaron Rodgers if you're the Jets.

Then it's a disaster of an offseason. New Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Tom Monken says he hasn't talked with Lamar Jackson yet. I really haven't had a chance to talk to any of the players. You know, yet really just getting here last Wednesday, just trying to get my feet wet, working through a lot of things that come from staff.

What we're going to do moving forward, all that, just trying to figure out where I'm headed when I drive to the facility. So that's a little bit of a misleading headline and I've seen that's the way they blasted it out today. That's the first time I heard that audio. He didn't talk to any of the players yet, which I don't know what you're allowed to do and what you can't do with the CBA. But you saw that video of Jonathan Gannon, even if it was cringeworthy as he got announced as the head football coach of the Cardinals. Dapping up players and basically sounding like he was Michael Scott.

That was very weird, so it is bizarre. Not that I expect him and Lamar to have a ton of conversations. We don't even know what Lamar's role was with the conflicting reports in the hiring process. But to not talk to any players, I think that's the bigger story than he hasn't talked to Lamar Jackson.

But I get the world that we live in. Right now it's what's going to happen with Lamar and the Ravens. And then you find out the new OC hasn't talked to Lamar yet, that does not make you feel good and comfortable and confident they're going to get a deal done.

If you are a fan of the Baltimore Ravens because you know the way it's going to be talked about is the new offensive coordinator hasn't talked to Lamar Jackson. And finally, this is via Nick Bromberg who says the Tuscaloosa Police testified Tuesday that star Alabama freshman player Brandon Miller delivered the gun used in a shooting that killed Jameah Harris on January 15th. And this goes back to the story from a little while ago that former Alabama player Darius Miles and another man Michael Davis are facing capital murder charges for the shooting. Miles was removed from the team after he was arrested and Davis is accused of shooting Harris while Miles is admitted in court records to giving Davis the gun for the shooting. So Miller here, Brandon Miller who is the star player, the leading scorer, has not been charged with the crime for allegedly bringing Miles the gun. So Nate Oates had an opportunity to address this story today about his star player in Brandon Miller providing the gun for Darius Miles and this is how the coach of Alabama elected to respond to that.

So I understand when you say you can't control what your players do away from the facility but you can't just chalk this up to, college kids being college kids and he's at the wrong place at the wrong time. If that's true, he brought the gun. So it's like, what do you mean he's at the wrong place at the wrong time? So I asked our Odyssey legal insider Amy Dash because I didn't get how if Miller brought the gun to Darius Miles, why didn't he get arrested? And Amy said, hate to oversimplify it but the best way I can explain is maybe he didn't know, so no intent technically by Brandon Miller and also she believes Amy that he's probably cooperating with law enforcement. So it's a bad job by Nate Oates. Wrong place at the wrong time.

College kids being college kids. Bad look there for Alabama basketball. Alright, that's a news brief. When we come on back, I gotta confront hot take hickey about a take that he had yesterday when he was filling in for me and I need to get some clarity before we pounce on this take but I got a lot of tweets about it yesterday and also, my favorite player in the NBA for years has been Damian Lillard.

I still love Dame dollar time but I may have a new favorite player in the NBA we will discuss that next. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So I was perusing Twitter last night and earlier this morning when I was off yesterday.

And I got a lot of tweets about our guy hot take hickey, who I thought was or hoping was doing an admirable job filling in here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, and a lot of the tweets were like what a horrible take by hot take you got to go listen to what an awful take by hot take hickey. And then I'm starting to piece it together and I think I know what you were saying or what the gist of your take is but I want to give you an opportunity to explain it to me. Were you advocating yesterday, this is what I pieced together through the crazy puzzle that is Twitter and the cesspool that is Twitter, that you were advocating to move the NBA all star game to after the conference finals, and before the NBA finals. Is that what you were advocating for yesterday.

That's right. Bitching about the all star game and the lack of effort. And when I came to surmise is this, why were players not trying. It's not for lack of motivation, it's for fear of injury. They don't want to get hurt their main motivation coming out of all star weekend with the home stretch of the regular season left and go into playoffs is to get out of there unscathed. So, my thinking is, okay, their main motivation is to not get hurt, put the all star game in a timing situation where 28 of the 30 teams seasons are over, and you don't have to worry about getting hurt because the postseason your season is already done. But you could still get hurt in the all star game and blowing an ACL even if you move it out a few months and then that could impact your next season. Yeah, possibly could.

Yeah. Not saying it's bulletproof but I think it's definitely get more players involved playing harder and getting them in the skills competition, more than what we see right now. Yeah, but here's the problem with that. You can't have players show up and play in regular season games. If my seasons over, and let's just say I'm a player that didn't make the playoffs. And I have to wait like a month, a month and a half to go play in the all star game. Why am I wasting my time on a vacation if like I'm in Cancun or somewhere to go to all star weekend. Like why would I care at that point to come back and play and give it my all.

And also like that would be interrupted my off season. Here's the thing with the all star game that everyone doesn't understand. And I get it we all want to see people play hard, we wish it was a more competitive game and last few years I know with the change in format people gave it more praise and they thought it was better and then this year, it was a disaster. Now, I thought the slam dunk contest was good I thought the three point contest was was okay.

So and my expectations are really low for that and then the game, it seemed like it was a disaster I can't tell you I was locked in the entire way but I just didn't really have a care for it. The all star game is about making the league money. The league always makes money, each and every year and a ton of it at the all star game, that's an event to overtake weekend in the middle of the season. I don't think the, the NBA.

Now, Adam so we can tell you whatever he wants publicly. They don't care what it looks like just as long as it keeps on making money, and it always makes money. You go look at the numbers on Cleveland last year or two years ago whenever the all star game was there. That brought so much money to the city and also so much money to the NBA. So I don't get why we would then move it to after the Western Conference Finals because imagine if, like let's say you're the Lakers, you know as LeBron, if they missed the playoffs this year. Is he showing up to the all star game after basically sitting on the, you know, sitting out of the playoff picture for a month and a half. Now maybe LeBron's different because he's the biggest star in the sport, but I think it would even give people more of a reason to say yeah I'm gonna pass on that. One thing we're talking about superstars not talking about you know bench guys or just okay players it's like the biggest names the biggest name so it's like you're in the middle of your offseason.

Well if you have a month off right well you okay you got your month off just go back for one weekend kind of celebrate your regular season celebrate your accomplishment song you go back to also game. And it's this grind of a weekend where no one's singing your praises and no one's praising you for how great you are this season it's, it's a love fest, I don't think I think it would do zero change and have zero impact on the actual quality Now, I will tell you this. Here's one guy that I wish every NBA player operated this way. This is Anthony Edwards on what he would fix with the NBA, and as much as I love Damian Lillard and Damian Lillard has been my favorite player in the NBA for let's say the last five years.

I think Anthony Edwards is now in the number one spot. Probably just all the guys sitting resting. That's the only thing I probably don't like just play man if you if you if you if you 80% said you got to play I don't, I don't like all the sitting missing games and stuff like these people. These people might have enough money to come to one game, and I'm saying, and it might be the game they come to and then you sit now, and I'm saying so I take pride in trying to play every game because I don't know it might be one fan has never seen me play and I'm trying to play so I don't that's the only thing I don't like guys just sitting out.

I'm getting off my large butt right now, and I'm giving a standing ovation to Anthony Edwards, and it's not just that quote hickey. He is always trying to stir up rivalries is starting to try to bring a little animosity back to the NBA because right now, the NBA is like the buddy buddy league. No one plays in the regular season, the regular seasons basically irrelevant you can wake me up in the postseason, and then guys start to actually give her ass ass, but all these players are too friendly. Like I miss rivalries in the NBA, and as much as I love LeBron James as a basketball player. The one thing that I can't stand about LeBron I know it's giving other people shine and their credit it's nicer him to use his platform that way, LeBron tries to be a friend with everyone, not to get into a LeBron Michael Jordan debate because I hate that stuff, but Michael would do anything it took to go through people, and also did not care about being friends with people. I'm not questioning will bronze competitive nature and his desire, but that's the one thing that I can't stand about LeBron.

He just tries to be like best friends with everybody. I like a guy like Anthony Edwards has a chip on his shoulder tells you he's the best even though you don't believe it yet is trying to create rivalries in the NBA and calls out the NBA his biggest problem. You don't know when guys are going to show up and every player, obviously remembers Kobe Bryant, and talks about the influence that Kobe Bryant had in their life, especially the younger players in the league now. And let me just go back to Kobe Bryant quote on load management.

This is in 2019, you got a lot of people paying the harder money to watch you perform. It's your job to be in shape it's your job to perform at that level, every single night, and as a competitor, I'm not ducking bleep. He also went on to say that the only time he missed the game was when he couldn't walk. That's what Anthony Edwards is doing is really honoring Kobe Bryant, and I understand if you're hurt you're hurt. But how many times does the player just take off just for the sake of taking off, and I never know what to expect night in and night out with the NBA, and the regular season in the NBA. It's just boring right now. The players don't care.

It seems like so why should I care? I think there's a lot of people now, and I'll watch obviously because it's part of my job, but there's a lot of people now that I think just tune in for the postseason. And we need more players with the mentality of Anthony Edwards. If you're healthy, you play. And I think that the NBA a lot of players have lost sight of the fan too because if you're just playing to get a night off if you're not playing just because you're getting a night off and you're not actually hurt. I know if you win a championship at the end of the day you'll say oh, it doesn't matter it was worth it. But I don't like how in the NBA it seems like the fans really don't matter, and you just have players just taking a night off just take a night off. I wish more people had the mentality of a Kobe Bryant. I wish more people had the mentality on the court obviously of an Anthony Edwards as well. Because the NBA would be better for it because that's a big problem in the NBA. You never know when guys are actually going to play. Like you could buy tickets excited to see someone come to town it's actually hurt to actually hurt but if it's just to get the guy a night off. That's a joke.