NBA MVP Race (Hour 3)

Did you know Instacart delivers more than groceries? You can get tech, beauty, office supplies, sporting goods, and more. All delivered right to your door in as fast as an hour. So whether you're cooking dinner or your phone charger is cooked, you can save yourself multiple trips by shopping over 1000 stores in the Instacart app. Visit Instacart.com or download the app to get free delivery on your first order. Offer valid for a limited time.

Minimum order $10. Additional terms apply. Welcome to the show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. Second half of the NBA season is underway. So let's go out to the guest line right now and welcome in a man that does a great job for Sirius XM's NBA radio. And I also found out he is the dear, close, personal friend of one J.J. Redick's, and that is Justin Termini. Justin, how are you?

No, I don't know about that. I'm not sure how happy J.J. is with me right now, but I'm just presenting the question. That's all I'm doing. It's the legends that are not happy with J.J., not me. Well, is he happy with anyone, J.J. Redick? Because he does a really good job on TV, but I never feel like he's happy.

He always seems miserable when he's on TV. Yeah, I mean, usually that's what miserable people do is insult others. And like, even today he came out and he mischaracterized the question that I gave to Dominique, but he also came out and he's like, I haven't disrespected anybody.

Well, when you're referring to the competition of Bob Cousy as fireman and plumber, you're disrespecting the entire generation. And then he's going on like, I respect Larry Bird, I respect Jerry West, I respect Bill Russell and Will Chamberlain and Dolph Shays and his 38% two-handed chest shot. Well, like even in saying you're not disrespecting anybody, you're disrespecting somebody in Dolph Shays and his generation with your apology or your explanation. So I just don't understand it. But again, let him keep doing it. I'm not the one that's upset with him.

It's past generations. Oh, so you're not upset with him at all? Because like, I know I said that in Jess when the conversation started that like you're his dear close personal friend, but just following it on Twitter, I feel like you don't like him. Well, I think the stuff that he says is stupid. And I think when somebody that's got a platform like that uses it to spread misinformation about the laughable idea that the, you know, the 80s were less physical than the game is today. I mean, I think it does a disservice to the younger generation who then are miseducated about it.

You call up people like you and I and don't know the history of the sport because they're saying, well, J.J. Redick told me this. So I you know, I think it's not good. I don't like it. I don't think he's like, for example, I think he's good on the games. I think he's good in the studio. I think he does an excellent job of his podcast. I don't think that he should be on first take arguing about stuff that he knows nothing about.

Don't talk about past generations. Break down the pick and roll. Interview your current your current players and leave it at that. He's stepping into waters. He has no clue about. And that's essentially the same thing Kevin McHale said to me yesterday. He was listening to the show, heard the comments from Dominique, heard him for Redick and called in and said that Redick's talking about a lot of stuff and subject matter that he has no clue about. Have you ever interviewed J.J. Redick?

Just wonder. We're trying to get him on right now. So the producer is reaching out to him. See if he will come on and I'll pass along that information once I once I know. Yeah, that would be a good interview because I don't know J.J. personally, but I feel like he doesn't back down from anything. I think the two of you would have just a good time on the air and it would create some compelling radio. Yeah, so I'm hoping that he says yes.

We'll see. And he should. Justin Termini here with us. So Giannis is back for the Bucks in their game right now up against the Heat. If Giannis wins, and I know sometimes we don't like when we compare athletes to athletes in other sports, but it would be very Mahomes-like if Giannis finds a way to get another championship this year with the start that he's been off to in his career.

Yeah, I mean it's too bad that he's got hurt here a little bit with the rest and is banged up because I think he's reached that point where maybe he's missed a couple too many games to win the MVP. And you know, Jokic and Tatum are guys that really haven't even missed 10 games yet. Luca and Embiid and Giannis are treading into that dangerous territory. But if you line everybody up, you say who's the best player in the NBA? I'm still going with Giannis at this point. My MVP vote would go to Jokic, but who's the best player in the game?

That's Giannis still to me. Why would the MVP vote go to Nicole Jokic right now? I think he's got the best numbers, he's got the best team in the Western Conference, he's remained relatively healthy whereas a lot of these other guys have missed double-digit games. The only guys to miss double-digit games and win the MVP in the history of the award are Allen Iverson in 2021 who missed just 10 games and then Bill Walton who missed I believe 24 back in 1978. I factor that into the MVP as well as not missing a lot of games. Jokic hasn't done that.

And again, the numbers just from day to day are absurd. And I also just think that he makes his teammates better more than anybody in the sport. I love watching him play. How much pressure is on Denver? Because we know that now you get Jamal Murray back and I know there's still been injury issues for that team. But they're the best team in the West right now by six games. They have a six-game lead over the Grizzlies. Do you sense a lot of conversation about pressure being on the Nuggets? Well, there's a lot of people that are saying there's pressure on Jokic and here's where I stopped doing the whole pressure on an individual player is when LeBron made his decision in 2010 to go to the Miami Heat.

And now all of a sudden it's become a thing where I'll put pressure on you and have expectations for you and grill your feet. If one, you've picked your own team, right? Because then it's like you picked this situation, you thought you could win in it.

And if you can't, that's got to be a checkmark against you. Like with Durant going to Brooklyn, I think that counts against him. Jokic hasn't picked his teammates. So it's like, all right, well, Jokic is great, but he could easily go to Miami and play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and win. Would that get the pressure off of Nikola Jokic? Or if he went to Golden State, played with Stephen Clay and Draymond, are you kidding me?

They would win just like they did with Durant. And then I'm supposed to go, there's no more pressure on Jokic? So I'm not going to put pressure on Jokic until he builds like some type of super team and loses under those circumstances. And also, even with how great that they've been this year in the regular season, and we're going to see if they'll have that postseason success, with Durant going to the Suns, we now know that that's the team that's under the most pressure is the Suns.

Oh, of course, yes. Durant's under pressure because of the failure there in Brooklyn. You can't have two super teams fail like that. And then Chris Paul's running out of time. Like Jokic's still 26, 27 years of age. He's got time to like, all right, I'm going to team up with Luca and I'll win titles with him. Chris Paul's 37, 38.

I'll be 38 in May. And if he doesn't win, all right, when's he going to win? And the other thing that's funny, like I know I made some news there with the Dominique comments on Reddit earlier this week, but Dominique's the guy that can say, you know what, I just didn't play with teammates, right? It's not my fault that he won a championship, not my fault that he didn't get out of the second round.

I just didn't play with teammates. And I'm playing in the era of Bird in the Eastern Conference and, you know, the Pistons in the Eastern Conference and the Knicks and eventually the Bulls, like great teams. Chris Paul can't say that. He played with James Harden. He's an MVP. He played with the Clippers teams that were favored to get out of the Western Conference back when they had Blake and DeAndre Jordan, who made an all-MBA first team, and Jamal Crawford is the sixth man of the year, and J.J. Redick, who was his, you know, his other guard there, like that was a good team. And now he's playing with another great team with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. So he can, at the end of the day, say, you know what, I didn't win a championship, but I didn't have good team. No, he had good teammates. Up to this point, he's just failed to capitalize on that.

Justin Termini here with us. If I tell you that the Nuggets and Suns don't get to the NBA Finals, who would you then pick coming out of the West? I guess it would be the Clippers, and that's who I picked at the beginning of the year, but I have real hesitancy there just because they don't play enough games together. I think continuity is something that's important when you get into a close game. They're also 9-19 against teams with winning records this year, above.500, and that's the worst record of any team that's qualified right now for the postseason. So they've got to learn to win away on the road. And I just don't also understand the addition of Russell Westbrook, who doesn't do anything they need, and gets in the way and takes the ball out of the hands of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. They're 10-4 their last 14 games.

They have the best offense during that time frame. Why would you then insert a ball-dominant guard into that situation where it can mess up the offense? And also, lack of continuity, you've got to get some reps under your belt, and here's a team that never plays, in Kawhi and Paul George, and a teammate that's very difficult to learn to play with in Russell Westbrook. It's not like Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant who can fit into any offense. He's a difficult guy to get used to playing with, so they've got to worry about that over the last 20 games, just getting some continuity.

Justin Termini here with Dust. I want to just get expectations that you have for two teams the rest of the way. I'll start you off with the Golden State Warriors.

To me it looks like it's done, unfortunately. Their starting lineup is good. I still think it's near the top in regards to plus-minus when they're out there as a five-man unit. The problem is Wiggins hasn't been the same as he was in past years. Klay's starting to play a little bit better right now, but their bench is just atrocious.

They failed to capitalize on Wiseman last year when they could have dealt them for something good, and then essentially admitted that it was a busted draft pick here just a couple of weeks ago. Gary Payton doesn't even look like he's going to be fully healthy after that trade. I see them probably getting into the top ten as long as Steph comes back relatively soon. I know he's going to be out at least the next three games, but as far as doing any damage in the postseason, I don't see it happening. Do the Lakers even make the play in?

I think they do, and they've got no excuse not to now. They're 3-1 since the deadline. They won last night despite LeBron going 5-20, scored just 13 points, him and Davis combining for just 25 points. In the past, they've never won a game like that.

The good thing about it, though, is now Rob Palenka has done his job. They're just a game and a half out of the ten spot. If they don't make it, you can't really point to Palenka right now. You can point to LeBron, you can point to Davis, you can point to the coaching staff. They've got more than enough to make it, and on top of that, if they do qualify for the postseason part of it, not just the play, I think they give a team at the top a scare, especially a team like Memphis, who right now just looks absolutely horrible. When you look at the future of Anthony Davis, is this his final few months with the Lakers in your opinion?

I don't think so. I think if he was unhappy, and maybe he is, it'd be his final few months at another location, but I think maybe he might be more concerned with living in Los Angeles than, all right, I can go back and live in Chicago or I'm freezing my butt off, and I don't have that fame maybe that comes along with being a Laker. I think it's very difficult to judge guys who go to the Lakers, because outside of Dwight Howard, who really gets there and then leaves?

So if it is, I don't think it's of his own choice. I think it would be on the organization that maybe made that decision. Wrap it up with Justin Turman, he does a great job, Sirius XM, NBA, radio. The Sixers, tremendous effort last night in the final eight minutes of play. Is there any reason, though, to believe in Philly this year, because we've seen this the last few years, whoever they bring in to compliment him, we know forever it was Simmons, now it's James Harden, but James Harden doesn't really make a big shot.

I know Maxie's a good player. Are you believing in Philly? Do you think it's going to be another one of those years where they don't get out of the second round or, at best, just get to the third round? Yeah, I think it's going to be tough for them.

Now, I think they're really good. Would I be shocked to see them in the NBA Finals? Can they win a title? I wouldn't be shocked, but I think they're slightly worse than Boston or Milwaukee, and I think the most interesting storyline the rest of the way, like a lot of people might say Jokic, Chase, and the MVP.

How do Kyrie and Luka fit in next to each other? Can the Lakers make the postseason? Could Golden State? I think it's who's the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, because the team that gets the number one slot only has to face one of the other two teams once, right? So Philadelphia, Boston, and Milwaukee, if you get the one seed, you only face one of those teams.

If you're the two or the three, you have to face both of them. Philadelphia right now would be the third seed. That means you're asking them to win a series without one court advantage against the Bucks, then do the same thing against the Celtics. That might be too far to overcome if they end up in the three spot where they are right now. What has impressed you the most this year about Joe Mazzullo with the Celtics?

Just that he was able to transition without any distractions. At the outset, I thought they'd be the third seed. My co-host, Eddie Johnson, thought they'd be the fifth seed, just because no Robert Williams. Then you're bringing in a new head coach right prior to the start of the season.

So I think just coming in and gaining the respect of all these guys, especially as a guy that never played at the NBA level, that's the thing that sticks out the most. We know what Quinton Snyder is thought out to be as a coach. We know he's on the sidelines this year after the split with Utah. Now it looks like he's getting back into the game with the Hawks. Do you think that's the right job, or did he make a move too quickly?

Well, I just don't understand. First of all, I think he'd have other jobs open up for him in the offseason. He's probably the most respected guy right now without one. And then secondly, I thought he left Utah, and I said this yesterday, because he didn't want to rebuild. And then he goes down to Atlanta. And honestly, if you line these two teams up, I would say Utah is the better situation. I like Lowry Markanen maybe as a centerpiece more than I like Trae Young, who is inefficient and is ball-dominant, and Markanen is not that.

He works within the system, and they're about the same age. So I like the centerpiece more in Utah. I like all the draft picks that we have in the future there with the Jazz, unlike Atlanta, who got rid of a bunch of draft picks to build around Dejounte Murray and Trae in the backcourt. And then I also have more faith in Danny Ainge build to the team than who I think is one of the two or three best GMs in the sport versus Landry Fields, who's doing this for the first time.

So it's weird to me that Quinn Snyder leaves Utah, which is a better situation, because reportedly he doesn't want to rebuild, goes to Atlanta, where I think it's going to be a little tougher there than it was with the Jazz. Two more for Justin Termini. The All-Star game. Everyone tries to give a take this week. How do you fix the All-Star game?

What is there to do? What do you say to that? I think that, one, it's the best player in the sport, buses, but everybody else will follow. And I think that LeBron's the best player in the sport. He set the tone. Just like when he left for Miami, OK, LeBron, the best player is team jumping.

Now we're going to follow suit. So you see that with Anthony Davis, you see it with Kevin Durant, you see it with Jimmy Butler, so on and so forth. And if the best player plays hard and says it's important to do so in the All-Star game, everybody else will follow. To me, that's the only way that you do it. I don't want to hear about incentivizing with $2 million.

Have some pride. And I think that starts with the best players. They set the tone. Everybody else will follow.

That's the easiest way to fix it. But again, I don't know if that's something that these guys have in their DNA, like they did maybe 20, 30 years ago, including, by the way, let me just say this. Kobe Bryant, who did bust his butt in All-Star games, did not load manage.

Yet you get everybody in the league today. I mean, you hear mumble mentality. You're like, I grew up idolizing this guy. Then they don't follow in his footsteps.

Like, don't say that you follow in his footsteps and you idolize the guy, and then you don't do the same stuff he was doing. I find that to be hysterical. Anthony Edwards.

That's what you need. Oh, I love Anthony Edwards. And we sat down with him out at the All-Star game in Salt Lake City as well.

That kid is so refreshing. I'd love to see him be the face of the league. Like, it's funny because when he came into the league a couple of years ago, I'm sure you remember. People say, well, the knock against Anthony Edwards is he doesn't love the game.

This guy loves the game, and he's the perfect representative for the league. I wish we would get more quotes from guys like him instead of quotes from Kyrie Irving. Last thing I'll ask you, just because you bring up Kyrie, how does that end in Dallas? Like, two, three years from now, how do you think we talk about Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving? Well, maybe no Luka Doncic in Dallas anymore as a result of making this decision. And that's why you don't feel bad for, like, Nico Harris and Mark Cuban if it blows up in their face, because, you know, what is it? You fool me once, shame on you.

You fool me twice, like, shame on me. Well, now we're getting to the point where it's like, fool me like four times, because I had an issue with Boston going out and getting him because I had heard such bad things in Cleveland. Then he goes to Boston. It's why I don't feel bad for Kevin Durant. Is Kevin Durant going to hitch his wagon to Kyrie Irving? And now Mark Cuban is going to do it out there, so they're taking a big gamble. My guess, I mean, I'll go with, you know, you judge the future based off what we've seen in the past.

So my prediction is that it's going to be an absolute train wreck. Good stuff, Justin Termini. We appreciate the time. Thank you. All right, Zach. Appreciate it, buddy. There you go. Good stuff with Justin Termini.

Always love his energy, his insight, and then also his takes as well. We'll take a break. New Netflix doc coming about. Three quarterbacks are going to be involved.

We'll have a little discussion on that next. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. Any big plans this Friday night, Hickey? Just wondering, what are you doing after the show? Getting ready to host my show.

Oh, that's right. So what do you do from then until 2 to 6 a.m. Eastern? Like, you're not preparing the entire time. That's too much preparation.

I mean, almost. I don't really do much before during the week. Four hours of prep? Well, it's important to allow the time to go by faster than it does. Otherwise, yeah, it gets pretty boring. I get pretty tired of sitting here at 1230 at night.

I got nothing to do. I'm like, geez. That's the toughest part of that shift is because just naturally you get in earlier because, well, you're here, so you're not leaving. But like when I did that shift, I would just drive in. You never want to be late or anything like that. And then when you're a little bit younger doing that shift, you're like, oh, I got to prepare. I got to prepare. I got to prepare. And by the time you get on the air, it's like, oh, I've been up for like five, six hours just preparing for the show. The show's only four hours. You just get tired as you inch closer and closer to 6 a.m. So what I learned from that show is not that you should not prepare at all.

That's not what I'm saying. But sometimes too much preparation could be a bad thing. But anyway, for me, like Fridays are always weird. Like sometimes I'll be like a big push to go do something after the show. And I could still get involved because it's only 10 p.m. Eastern. But like tonight, I have no plans. So I already watched Real Housewives of New Jersey this week.

So that's out the window. I have to watch last night's Jersey Shore because I did not do that this morning. And you know what I'm also going to watch? I'm going to.

Have you heard about the Netflix full swing whole PGA kind of documentary that's been out there in the middle of it? Oh, great. Oh, you have.

Oh, yeah. OK. You like it so far? Love it. I watched the first. Yes. What do you mean? Love it.

Oh, yeah. It's pretty good. I wouldn't say like it's the best thing I've ever seen, but it's pretty good. I think it's a good job showcasing the personality of the golfers.

And it gives you the behind the scenes kind of kind of look to it. I watched the first episode of it. So I think tonight this will be my TV priority order.

One Jersey Shore to I will then watch the next episode of Full Swing. But I read this the other day that Netflix has announced this on NFL dot com. Its first partnership with the NFL quarterback, a new docu series that will take a unique look at each season told through the lens of NFL quarterbacks. This year, the series features exclusive unprecedented access to Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota from the beginning of the twenty twenty two season to its conclusion, following them on and off the field from inside the huddle with teammates inside their homes with their families. It will premiere in the summer of twenty twenty three.

I wonder when in twenty twenty three this does come out. Because if it's in line with Hard Knocks, maybe this could be like the I don't want to say the new Hard Knocks is Hard Knocks isn't going anyway, anywhere. But Hard Knocks to me has become a little stale.

Let's just say Hickey. So this is kind of the same time when Hard Knocks is out. Then I would kind of be more inclined to watch this than Hard Knocks. I thought Hard Knocks really the last two years has just been bad. I know people like they're like, oh, the Lions was great.

And Hutchinson saying, Billie Jean, like I thought Hard Knocks was good on social media, like good Twitter clips. But if you sat down and watched the entire hour, it was not that entertaining. And that's what the team that on paper was entertaining in the lines with all their personalities that they have. And the year before that, the the Cowboys was awful. Like the highlights from that was Dakar Zeke wrapping a gift for one another, which was just so boring.

And then Jerry Jones putting too much salt on his McDonald's sandwich in the morning, his breakfast sandwich. Yeah, I mean, I still watch Hard Knocks. It's I mean, it's tougher just because it's definitely more watered down. But I do think there's a portion of people like you that are just like right suckers for football content. I think we all are suckers for football content where you're going to watch it. That's just because what you do, you watch Hard Knocks each and every year. But it doesn't mean that that it's good, you know?

Yeah. I mean, I didn't finish Cowboys two years ago. Like you said, it was just so bad.

It's basically one big infomercial for Jerry and his team, whereas insufferable. But did you dig? Definitely needs a little reboot. Did you dig the I know the culture on it two years ago. This past year was the Cardinals.

I remember that was something we were like, oh, yeah, that's going to be cool to watch. And I don't really remember watching the Cardinals in season Hard Knocks this year. I definitely season a lot better. I mean, it's obviously easier because the storylines are right there in front of it. Because of the games are going on where it's not just, you know, practice squad guys that were kind of clamoring to see if they can make the team or not. I like it.

I definitely like it. And now, again, they don't show everything like, you know, when the whole controversy when the Cardinals were in Mexico and their coach got fired. Did you see anything?

Obviously not. They barely addressed. Did they? They barely acknowledge it was at the end of the episode. Actually, after the trip, you know, Cliff Kingsbury announced that a line coach has been fired.

It was pretty I was kind of excited to see what's going to happen now. Correct me if I'm wrong. Did it? That guy that got fired said like his identity was confused with someone else. Well, yeah, the GM Steve, kind of suing the team. Right. One of the two, because he's saying that basically he's being framed by Steve.

Steve Keim, who is the one who committed these infractions that led to him getting fired, not the O-line coach himself. So that's that's a pretty big take. I mean, look, they I will say, well, I'll send the courthouse of that. They do look alike.

They do. I remember the picture. Bald man. I think they both have goatees with not mistaken, at least definitely some chin music on both.

I mean, I don't I have no idea. I was hoping hard knocks was going to, you know, maybe cover it, you know, give us some details. But no, they would probably say the two most controversial hard knocks moments that I could remember was Hugh Jackson with Todd Haley. And then also, I thought another controversial moment was when Brandon Marshall got cut. Oh, no, it's Chad Ochocinco who got cut. And I think Chad Ochocinco may or may not have done something off the field. It was so many years ago, but he got cut and Joe Philbin was just so awkward because he knew he was cutting a player that was going to be seen by so many people.

Like, I feel like that now. If that was filmed in 2022 or what is now 2023. I don't know if the teams would would grant that and allow that to happen. A coach cutting a player for something that was like, you know, I think something happened off the field in that room. Like, clearly, Joe Philbin did not want to be on camera there. Yeah, I I've you don't remember that.

Not really, to be honest. Is that what the Dolphins I guess? Yeah, it was with the Dolphins. Remember, they sat down Reggie Bush at one point. I can't really remember to say that Ochocinco getting cut is a big memory from that, to be honest. That was also quite a decade ago at this point, even. Well, it's a long time ago. It's a very long time ago.

He was at the Dolphins just in the off season of 2012. So, yeah. So just about 10 years ago. Wow. Yeah.

Let me just see here real quickly. Yeah. He got arrested. Oh, and they released him following the arrest. And then it says right here, Joe Philbin notified Jonathan released from the Dolphins was shown in the episode of Hard Knocks that originally aired on on August 14th. I don't remember what he was arrested for.

It doesn't say it in this thing that I was reading. Yeah. Anyway, to get back to the the point of this conversation, the three quarterbacks that they picked the most intriguing is probably the guy that you least expected to be the most intriguing. And that's Marcus Mariota, because Marcus Mariota, from all that we know, quit on the team. If you're doing an actual documentary and a docu series from this past year, we will see how good this will be just based off how they cover the entire reason why Marcus Mariota left the Atlanta Falcons. If they softball that, then this docu series is just an absolute waste of time. I hope. I mean, look, so far, listen, you know, some of the other documents, documentaries or documentaries, geez, docuseries they've done with tennis and golf.

They've not hid from controversy. And obviously this is a little different when you have a player quit on a team. I'm with you. I hope they don't. Otherwise it's you lose any luster had like Kirk Cousins. I'm sure it'll be funny, but I don't think there's going to be anything that's going to be so memorable from this. And Patrick Mahomes, unless he just starts going off on like his brother and his and his wife and tell him to, like, just calm down with all the social media antics.

And I don't think there's going to be anything there that you're going to be like, oh, wow, that was really neat. Other than they're following this guy as he wins a Super Bowl and, you know, was on this quest to be one of the all time greats. But I can't imagine that Patrick Mahomes is going to get to give you any must see kind of television moments. Could you imagine, like, they're in training camp and they film Patrick Holmes sitting down with his wife and his brother outlined basically, this is what you're not going to do this year.

You are not going to make us look bad. Yeah. That now now I'm in. And I just think pretty Mahomes, I don't know when she gave birth to their second child. I think they have a son now. Yes. I think it was like December or something like that is sort of recent.

It was in the season in season, I believe. Yeah. So also like when your wife's pregnant, I don't think you're going to have those conversations with her. Well, I'm just going to go on a limb. I don't get to say after, honey, stay off social media a little bit. Shut up.

I'm carrying your child like, OK, I don't think you have any like to stand on there, even if you're the great Patrick Mahomes. I don't know. Maybe we'll find out. You mean you don't know.

Maybe we'll find out. I don't think I'll say I don't think that message has come from Patrick Mahomes. A message coming from way above. Yeah. When she's pregnant, I don't think that message is is going there.

Well, it was received. They definitely were almost irrelevant. And I talk about them at all.

Sit down. Do we talk about them at all? Outside of like the week before the playoffs. Yeah. They were they were M.I.A.

for the entire year, which is not the case last year whatsoever. Yeah. If you if you want to die on that that hill of that, someone told Brittany Mahomes to to pipe down as she was pregnant for trying to like embarrass Patrick Mahomes with all the social media comments. You could do that content.

You could do that. I don't think Mahomes ever had that conversation with Brittany Mahomes. That was brother.

That could be different. But then yet again, when the brother. But you see, I actually kind of give credit to the brother a little bit because when Patrick Mahomes wins that second Super Bowl, you see Jackson Mahomes is in the background. So he puts himself in the proper positioning. He knows how to how to place the product of himself right behind his his brother always whenever his brother is on camera. Oh, he's a dummy. Yes. No dummy whatsoever.

He knows what he's doing. So who are the quarterbacks that you would actually like to see for this thing? I have three that I would have loved to have seen from this past season or maybe just going into this season to a tongue of Iloa. It would have been fascinating and probably would have been very tough to take and cringe worthy with all the concussions and just figure out what was actually true. Because they told you that one was a back injury when we all thought it was a concussion.

So two is definitely on my list. Lamar, because it seems like the Ravens don't want any part of him and he doesn't want any part of the Ravens. And the other one is Russell Wilson, whether that would be his relationship with Daniel Hackett and the Broncos and how ugly it was in the locker room, his office being on the second floor and all that. Or if you do it this year, just how does he rebound? How does he try to win those teammates back and how does he handle the coaching of Sean Payton?

So those would be my three that I would like to see from either last year or moving forward even into this NFL season. I got one for you. Go ahead. If you'd like. Off the radar. Can I take a guess?

Sure. I don't think you'll guess it. AFC or NFC? NFC.

NFC? Off the radar? Geno Smith?

No. Way off the radar. I think he would be a media darling. I think the entire country would love him. Okay, so it can't be anyone in the NFC South because there's no quarterbacks in the NFC South. That is correct. Cross them all off. It's definitely not Kyler Murray. He's on my list of three, but he's not the guy I'm talking about. It's definitely not Matthew Stafford. He's too well known of a name.

I'm trying to think. Oh, well, no. I already said no in the NFC South. Oh, well, Baker's now. Is it Baker Mayfield? No, sir. Jared Goff? No.

Even way off the radar. Way off. Sam Howell? No.

Alright, go ahead. Gardner Minshew. For a backup quarterback?

Gardner Minshew has an electric personality. I think as a backup he has time. What are you covering, though? His life. I mean, you're covering his life, right?

How much do you think of this series? Are we actually going to see games of Kirk Cousins, Patrick Holmes, and Marcus Mariota? Who cares about Mariota playing, to be honest, frankly? Sure.

I don't even get why they selected Mariota to begin with. I'd agree. Don't you want a centric personality, see what someone's like? If Moshe was going to be at home... I think we know everything there is to know so far about Gardner Minshew. I think he would just give you some good quotes. I'm not saying you're wrong in terms of that he would give you good quotes. He's a great interview. He's a great quote.

He has a tremendous personality. But what am I watching for, then? I'm watching this backup quarterback and the jokes he makes during practice to his teammates and the way that he prepares for a scout team.

So you can build up to, you know, the Eagles playing well. There's Minshew holding them. So who would be your three? I'll put Gardner Minshew in there. I just gave you my three. Tua, Lamar, and Russ. I will go Gardner Minshew.

Definitely Kyle and Marcus. I gotta see what the hell this guy's doing outside the facility. He gives you nothing. Like, I agree with you. The story would be intriguing, but he's going to give you nothing.

That's fine. I want to see what he does. Is he studying? Is he playing video games with the film on on the side?

So it's like registering as he's watching it, but he's not watching whatsoever. And the third, a man of mystery, Joe Burrow. A lot of people like him.

I think a lot of people gravitate towards him. Burrow would be good. Do we know a lot about Joe Burrow? Not really.

Burrow would be good. Alrighty. This is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break. Come on back with a news brief.

Alrighty, let's start it off. Ty Dunn. He thinks Jordan Love is better right now than Aaron Rodgers. Was this Meraz filling in for DA on the DA show? Alright, you can play it.

I think Jordan Love right now is better than Jordan Love. Alright, actually cut it off. Cut it off. Cut it off, Vicki. I heard Meraz did that with my audio earlier in the week, where he was Crystal Presti, who played a clip that we had with Joe Cleco, and then was like, Oh, Gelb got our sloppy seconds because we had them on earlier in the day.

And then they didn't end up playing the clip. But anyway, I'm not trying to be a big bully, like Shawna Meraz was or Meraz, whatever you want to call him. So once again, here is Ty Dunn thinking Jordan Love is better right now than Aaron Rodgers. DA show. I think Jordan Love right now is better than Aaron Rodgers right now. Physically, athletically.

Just look back at these games with Aaron Rodgers when he was at his best. You know, he's just surrounded, you know, like those scenes on a kill bill. He's got people all around him. He finds a way out, makes the play. You know, when he had people around him, you almost got excited. If you were a Packer fan, you knew a touchdown was, was Bruin. He just couldn't really escape those, those jams this season.

He didn't have his legs. So yeah, they like those reports from Pellissero and Darlington. That's probably true. Like we, we want you bought in, like we want you to care so you physically, you can make the plays you used to make. But I think a lot of that probably is age.

You wonder, can he just snap out of that and do it? He didn't really see the field like he used to. He wasn't really willing to work with those young players at all in the off season and early in the year, you know, he's publicly, you know, advocating for their benching. So all of that is kind of mixed in there, but yeah, I think, I think Jordan Love is, is where Aaron Rodgers was.

Do you agree with that, Hickey? Right now, no, because I've not seen enough of Jordan Love to make that assertion. Now, like the Packers should know what they think Jordan Love is because A, they drafted him and B, he's been in the facility the last two, three years. You know what you have, but we haven't seen enough of him on the football field.

But then yet again, I think it goes back to this. They had three straight years of 13 and three didn't win a Super Bowl. And this year there was regression with Aaron Rodgers. Would it surprise me if Aaron Rodgers next year bounces back and has super duper success?

No. But even if he has this great success, is it going to translate into a Super Bowl championship for the Packers? I would say no, even in an open NFC. So just because you're making the move to go to Jordan Love doesn't mean that you think Jordan Love is instantly going to be better than Aaron Rodgers. I think that's crazy for almost anyone walking into that situation, other than like a few quarterbacks that would never walk into that situation that are currently playing in other teams in Green Bay just because of what Rodgers has done for so many years at an elite level. Not only just with Green Bay, but just at that position right at the forefront. So that's where I kind of sit on that. And it's just time.

Like that's what I kept going back to. It's just time to move on and go to the next chapter of Packers football. Let's go to John Schneider of the Seahawks. He discussed that the Seahawks would be interested in re-signing Bobby Wagner, this courtesy of Seattle Sports 710.

Obviously an amazing player, icon, Hall of Famer, all that. He's not officially released yet, so he's not on the waivers. So congratulations to whoever scooped that, but he's technically still on their roster, so we won't be able to speak to his agent for a minute or two, which is actually himself.

Here's the other thing. Was that interview done today? Earlier this morning? I believe so. Yesterday, either yesterday or today.

Okay. I think the timing of that is fascinating because then I just wonder if they were able to bring up this whole report that Russell Wilson wanted John Schneider and also Pete Carroll fired. But it seems like that interview was done before that because I would imagine there would be viral quotes about that if John Schneider, even if he didn't give an answer, just responded to it. And said nothing.

It would still be all over the place. Trae Young! I gotta hear this one. He says he was shocked that Nate McMillan was fired? It's not the last time me and him are going to talk to all my coaches that I've played for, so that's what I was expressing to him. I appreciated him for being part of that run that took us in this franchise further than it's been.

So you should get a lot of love for that alone. What he's done for us and this team and this organization. So I got nothing but love for him.

It's a tough situation, but it's part of this league, but I got nothing but love for him. I don't remember, Hickey, when you had Kliff Kingsbury get fired if Kyler Murray ever said anything about him. But that's what it would be like if Kyler Murray came out and said like, oh I was shocked that Kliff Kingsbury got fired and I have nothing but all the respect in the world.

When everyone knows that it's been documented that you guys have been fighting with Nate McMillan and Trae Young and when it comes down to player and coach, unless you're the Seattle Seahawks nine times out of ten, the player usually wins that battle. And I give him credit because obviously this is an audio format. You can't see his face video-wise, but in the video he has a pretty straight face. It wasn't like one of those like, he's like laughing and I can't believe it. I can't believe they fired him.

He at least probably rehearsed that a few times. And now Quinn Snyder is going to be the next head coach of the Alliance of the Hawks. I'm surprised that's the landing spot for Quinn Snyder.

You know, outside of us getting clarity on what actually happened with Imeo Doka out of all the realistic candidates that are available. And assuming we don't get clarity on Imeo Doka, like Quinn Snyder is the best one that's available. And you settle for the Hawks job. I know they have Murray there. I know they got Trae Young, but it seems like you're probably, it would have behooved you to wait until the off-season and just see where you would have landed. Like, I don't know if the Hawks were not going to be interested in you in the off-season and would have hired someone else.

I know there was other names that were out there, but I kind of feel like this is a little bit of a rush job there by Quinn Snyder. Especially considering it's in-season. Like, they're going to be either in the playing or the playoffs. And it's like you're going to join with 20 games left?

Like, you can't do anything. Yeah, you never know. Like, he could draw up some schemes and stuff, but it's like, you can't shift the roster, obviously. Who I think is a good coach. Like, maybe just getting McMillan out there.

Like, you never know, right? There's always that interim coach that goes in. It seems like there's a jump from teams in other sports. Now, this is different because it's a permanent, full-time head coach, but the whole thing's bizarre. Well, like from Quinn Snyder's perspective, like, if you're going to take the Hawks' job, it's one thing. But at least wait until the off-season.

At least you can, when you go in there, have a chance to retool the roster. Let's go to Russell Westbrook. He says he'll do whatever it takes to win.

Now joining the Los Angeles Clippers. For me, it's just finding my way to be able to help other guys is something I truly embrace. And, you know, that's what I want to do. Make sure I can make the game easy for all these guys that are here.

Find out their spots, what they like, what they don't like. And that's going to be a process for me. But I'm ready for the challenge and looking forward to it. How many times has Russell Westbrook had to answer this question? I feel like we could just replay his answer over and over again, Hickey. Because ever since leaving the Thunder, it's been the Rockets, the Wizards, the Lakers, and the Clippers. And that's all since 2019.

That's impressive. This is his fourth different rodeo. Sports different go around with trying to convince people that it's going to be different. Like after the Rockets, I think you knew what you were getting. And even though Russell Westbrook is a great player, it doesn't seem like he's a fit really anywhere. I don't get how him and Kyrie continue to get opportunities. I guess you could say Kyrie's talent. But again, we've seen that talent be out shadowed every time by off the field issues. And Russell Westbrook plays hard to his credit, but is never a fit for any team he's with.

No, because they're great players. That's why they keep on getting opportunities. But it's the same thing over and over again. Whoever assigns him, it's, oh, Kyrie's going to go to this city, or this city. It's going to be different. And it's not.

And Russell Westbrook's going to go to this team. It's going to be different. It means they've got to fit in there. It doesn't.

And it's like I said, you have four or five teams for each. Desperation. That's what it is. When people are desperate, they do crazy things. This is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. Five questions, five answers on the other side. Onside's offside. We do it every Monday and Friday right here on CBS Sports Radio.