AFC QB Rankings (Hour 2)

Our number two of our radio program last night in the NBA, the Lakers just served Golden State Warriors. They take game one between LeBron and Steph. Also the Knicks even up the series before this game, if you can believe it or not, or this series if you can believe it or not, shifts to Florida on Saturday. But the Knicks did tie things up with their 111-105 victory, and we'll get you set for a little Sixers and Celtics coming up later this evening.

Now let's go out to the hotline right now. I'm welcoming a man that was the court side reporter last night at Madison Square Garden. Does a great job, NBA on TNT, and that's our pal Jared Greenberg. Jared, how you been? Zach, man, how you doing?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. So I want to start you off with Julius Randle because it's a very turbulent relationship, I sense, with Knicks fans and Julius Randle, but he showed last night how he's so important if they want to find a way to win three more games in this series. Oh, no doubt about it, and you know, I think I had done some reporting and chatting with Julius earlier this season how he really got into the right headspace this year, and then, you know, things went a little sideways at different points towards the end of the season, and it felt like he regressed to some of the, as you said, you know, turbulent issues with the fans or with the media by walking out and not talking to the media, and, you know, if he's healthy, you saw how aggressive and how effective he could be, and there's no question, you know, he's their best offensive threat in their front line. What Jalen Brunson has done in New York is really special. We know how close he is with Leon Rose and the entire Rose family, so that's a big reason he's there, but you've seen now what the Mavericks have become without Jalen Brunson, what the Knicks have become with him.

It's one of the better stories in the league. No question, and I think, you know, a lot of the success that Julius Randle had, particularly earlier this year, the credit should go to Jalen Brunson for the type of leader he is. I just think he brings so many intangibles, and we knew those intangibles existed. I just don't know that we recognized as, you know, observers of basketball how good he really is.

I still don't know if he's the best player on a championship level team. I would tend to give some pause before making that statement, but I think he's a really good player on a really good team, and, you know, what he's playing through now, I don't know if you saw the interview I did with him after the game, but he's dealing with some sort of ankle issue that popped up out of nowhere, and it has given him a lot of issues and something that we could be tracking throughout the rest of the series, but the fact he was able to play through it last night and have that fourth quarter that he did says something about his grit and his determination and his toughness. Talking about injuries, were you surprised last night when you were reporting about the Jimmy Butler situation, how he did not play in game two?

Yeah, I really was. I had heard reports earlier in the day that he looked fairly good in walkthrough earlier in the morning on the MSG court, and, you know, Jimmy was walking around MSG, had his camera crew film him, putting him on social media the day before, and, you know, if you know anything about Jimmy Butler, you know that he loves a bit of the theatrics, and I think on that stage of Madison Square Garden, it would not have surprised me. In fact, I anticipated him being out there on the court and, you know, showing people that he could tough it out, but, you know, I think the overwhelming factor, and while the Heat would never say this publicly, I think the overwhelming factor here is, number one, they didn't want to risk making the injury any worse, but they had a 1-0 lead and they had the opportunity to get Jimmy Butler five days off between when he got injured in game one and when game three is, and not till Saturday, so I think they recognized they had a real good opportunity to go home at the very worst with the series tied at one. And you're exactly right, I know the team's not going to say it, that's why Jared Greenberg, I'm a little bit surprised already having a 1-0 lead, why Embiid is expected to play tonight.

Yeah, well, I mean, I think, you know, there's different levels of, you know, the types of injuries and whether the risk factor and, you know, hearing that Embiid is going to wear some sort of brace, you know, we'll see how difficult that is for him to move, you know, you typically see that in football with offensive linemen. But yeah, I just think that there's different attitudes, and listen, the Heat led by Eric Spulcher and Pat Riley too, you know, like, they're not having the attitude of being satisfied with 1-1, I think that they're a little disappointed and they felt like they had an opportunity with arguably the MVP of the playoffs so far to win that game last night. So, you know, again, you don't have to change the topic, but I think, you know, we need to address the greatness of Eric Spulcher and what he has done with this roster, you know, talking to a lot of people around the league, it feels like it's almost unanimous that he is the best tactician in all of the NBA right now. No doubt about it, and also, I walked away from that game last night without Jimmy Butler, it was a close game, I thought the Heat were going to win this series going in Jared Greenberg, but I do feel better about them with how close of a game it was last night without their best player. Yeah, and again, Bam Adebayo still not being the dominant guy that I think he's capable of being too, right? Like, I think, and it's been all season where it's just like you're waiting for him to kind of just rev his engines and get going, so you're thinking, if you're a Heat fan, you're hoping that he's going to have one of these breakout games at some point in the series on top of which Jimmy Butler's capable of doing. Yeah, the Heat team, uh, you know, Eudonis Haslam told me I covered their play-in game against Atlanta, which they lost, and people have to recognize, you know, they had to play their way in, and not only play their way in, but they lost the play-in game, and then had to win a game in the final few moments against Chicago just to get into the first round of the playoffs, so I spoke to Eudonis Haslam before that first playoff game, and he said to me, he goes, listen, I know this team, I know this roster, it's virtually the same team that was the number one seed a year ago, we had all these injuries, we're as healthy as we've been all season right now, and he said, we're a dangerous team once we get in, we just have to be able to get in, and they took the hard route, but right now, um, you know, they're a team that's playing their best basketball at the right time of the year.

NBA on TNT, Jared Greenberg here with us on the Zach Gelb show. I expected Embiid to win the MVP award, I was surprised how lopsided it was, 73 first place votes for Embiid, only 15 for the Joker, 915 total points for Embiid, only 674 for Nikola Jokic. With how lopsided it was, did that catch you by a little bit of surprise? Um, a little bit, you know, I get the honor every year of being able to vote on this, and um, you know, I don't remember a year in my six or seven years that I've had the privilege to vote where I've changed my mind so frequently throughout the course of the season. Um, you know, for most of the middle portion of the year, I thought it would be Jokic, and then towards the end there was just, there was just something about a dominant factor for me, and I think that the voters acknowledged that, and there were just so many big game performances. I think, you know, when you look at Jokic, um, and this stinks for him, but he's already won two MVPs, is that, you know, the things he does aren't necessarily flashy, and, and I think, um, that shouldn't go against him, but I think what, what helped Embiid, and not necessarily hurt Jokic, but helped Embiid, was that on the big stage there was just a couple of really, really important games where, where it felt like, you know, Embiid put his, uh, put his, you know, fifth down and said, I'm gonna win this award, and I think those moments sway voters. So you went Embiid 1, Joker 2, how'd you vote the rest of the MVP if you don't mind? Yeah, I went, um, when Jokic, I'm sorry, Embiid 1, Jokic 2, Janus 3, um, then I think I went Tatum 4 and Shay Gilders Alexander 5. Good, I'm proud of you, here's why. There's one voter that didn't put Nicole Jokic in the top five, and I just want to know who that is. Well, we'll, we'll find out.

They'll release those votes here in the next few days or weeks, and you'll be able to look at all that. I can't wait for my Twitter mentions to get all fired up for how people are mad at me. Jared Greenberg here with us. Lakers-Warriors last night, were you okay with the Jordan Pool shot late? I am, you know, I think people got a record, like, I get the heater that Steph Curry's on, and, and you want him to take that shot, but I think the way the Warriors have found success over the years is they make the right basketball play, and you had a guy who was shooting the ball well. Draymond got on the ball, you know, would you have liked him to be a little closer into the basket? Yeah, but he's made those shots, and it's not, it's not like their season was on the line, right?

It was just one game. It's a big game, but, you know, I think the Warriors are going to need Jordan Pool at some point this postseason. He has not been good, but let's call a spade a spade, at least in terms of living up to the expectations they had for him of being, you know, almost a third member of the Splash Brothers, like he was at times last year during his spectacular playoff run that got him that massive contract, and I think they recognize they're going to need him, so you've got to show him the confidence. I love that Draymond came out last night and said, I have no problem in that shot too, right?

Like, you've got to back those guys up because you can't just rely on Curry and, and, and Klay every single night. Outside of the health of Embiid and how effective he'll be tonight, what else do you look for in Sixers and Celtics, Jagger Greenberg? Well, you know, Marcus Smart's going to play, and that chest injury on top of the fact that he's dealing with a back injury is something to watch too, but, you know, talk about dominance and, and, you know, getting a stranglehold on things. I'm just waiting for, for Tatum to kind of take over a game. This is, this is an opportunity for him where he has done, you know, talked about Jalen Brunson's leadership. Tatum has really risen to that superstar role where when they lose, he takes ownership and he puts it on his own shoulders and then goes out the next game and has them asking the aim.

I would look for Tatum to have one of those MVP type performances tonight. The Nuggets already up 2-0 against the Suns, even in the first series for the Suns up against the Clippers, I've not been impressed. What has it been with Phoenix? They haven't had enough time to gel, or you seen something else with them?

You know, I think it's not enough time. And that's one of the things that we always thought, like think about all these superstar teams that, that have been tried, that they've tried to put together over the last few years that just don't magically work. The other thing too, and I know this necessarily wasn't the case in game two the other night, but it just feels like they don't do enough to get Kevin Durant in spots where he is successful, which is not hard to find because he could score from every level and he's arguably the most, or the best pure offensive player this game has ever seen.

I would just like to, and again, I realized they did this the other night, but I would just love to see them run the offense through him a little more and that could potentially free up Booker to do the special things he could do. But they also just don't have the supporting cast. They don't have the defense.

And now without Chris Paul for a while, you know, you're relying on campaign. I would imagine they put the ball in Booker and Kevin Durant's hand to run a little bit more of the point guard position. But that's, it's hard to get those guys the ball when, or free them up for good looks when they're initiating offense. So it'll be something to watch here because they gave up an awful lot. Like, boy, you'd love to have, you know, you love to have a Cam Johnson that's wide open when the defense is paying attention to Booker and Durant. You'd love to have a Mikel Bridges who could be a stopper on the defensive end. I'm not saying you wouldn't give up those guys for Kevin Durant.

We just have to recognize what you lost in order to get that massive game. Two more with Jared Greenberg before we let him run. Does a great job. NBA on TNT was inside MSG last night as the court side reporter. How did you describe that environment last night? We always know the big stars come out to the garden, especially now with the Knicks back in the playoffs, but it looked like it was a zoo out there last night. Yeah, it was electric in the building last night. You get goosebumps as a kid who grew up not too far away from Madison Square Garden. It's a pinch myself type of moment being in that building. And then just the celebrities, like I've done Knicks games before when there have been celebrities. I don't recall a time where there have been, at least in my dozen years covering the league. And granted, the Knicks have not been very good in those dozen years, but I don't remember that many A-list celebrities like there were some like really notable celebrities that weren't even sitting court side like they had to like put them in the second or third row, which, you know, you think is taboo for for a big Hollywood star or whatever.

But to see the the depth, you know, of stars there was quite amazing. Who is the oh my goodness gracious. I can't believe they're sitting court side. Well, I mean, my wife's listening, but I have no problem saying Jessica Alba.

Good job. And that was that was quite the scene last night at the Garden. Of course, you never know. Some people these days in New York would say it's Aaron Rodgers over Jessica Alba. Yeah. I mean, I've covered sports for all these years. I, you know, athletes don't impress me anymore.

Absolutely love that last one before we let your own Jared Greenberg. So Anthony Davis was dominant last night. Yeah.

What do you expect out of him? The rest of the series, because he's healthy. We know he's capable of doing this night in and night out.

Yeah. I mean, people have to recognize, like, if you want to throw, you know, water, cold water on the 82 game regular season, you know, my argument is always that large of a sample size shows you what is an indicator of what's the comp like. There is a reason why the Lakers had to go through the play and to make the playoffs. It's because Anthony Davis on a regular basis on top of all of his injuries and all that is that he doesn't do that consistently. He had like a two month span. I think it was December into January where he looked like he might be able to enter into the MVP conversation. And then February and March on top of the injuries, he just wasn't that guy who was as aggressive. If if you see Anthony Davis put that together again in game two, then I say to you, here's a team that, you know, we could start talking about coming out of the Western Conference because he's now doing it consistently. The issue is we've seen it too many times this season where he has a great game and then he disappears for a couple of games and then he has a great game.

And it's this cycle that just frustrates the heck out of Laker fans. Jared Greenberg, appreciate the time as always. Thanks so much. You got it back. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate you calling me. Thanks so much. There he is.

Jared Greenberg does a great job. NBA on TNT was courtside last night with all the stars at the world's most famous arena. I was wondering if he was going to say Jessica Alba because I knew he was a married man, but you could look just as long as you don't touch if you are a married man.

And that was definitely the right choice. Did you see the story that sauce? Gardner didn't even who went to the game last night with Aaron Rodgers? Didn't even know Jessica Alba was.

You know, can I say something? You're defending sauce Gardner for that. Not that she looked a lot different.

What do you mean? She looked a lot different yesterday than she has, let's say in our heyday. And so I could understand someone of sauce, Gardner statue, not recognizing her right away and saying, Oh, that's just Alba. He doesn't, he didn't know who Jessica Alba was like there. It's Jessica Alba. He's like, who's that?

And what are you? She looked gorgeous last night. What are you talking about?

She lost her fastball. What are you talking about? Yeah. Do me a favor. You need to go get your eyes checked. No, I trust you. You're wearing glasses right now.

You need, you need more glasses. I'm taking a break. I don't need you to say something stupid here and get us fired or get me associated just with your stupidity. You have said a lot of dumb things on the radio that is by far and away, the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say, you should be honored to sit next to Jessica Alba.

And you're going to say she lost her fastball. Oh, I want to punch you in the face. That's the worst take you've ever had.

Zach Gelb show, CBS sports radio. Yeah. I'm looking for a new producer now. That is that bad of a take.

I cannot align myself with someone like you that is saying that Jessica Alba is pastor prime. That is the dumbest, the dumbest thing I've ever heard. We've had a lot of dumb takes here on CBS sports radio. There is no take. You line everybody up.

There is no take worse than the one that you just had. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Zach Gelb shows CBS sports radio. So we had Kyle brand from the NFL network put out his AFC quarterback top tier lists. Tier one was Patrick Mahomes, tier two, Joe burrow and Josh Allen, tier three, Aaron Rogers, Lamar Jackson, and Justin Herbert, tier four, Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson, tier five, Jimmy Garoppolo, tier six, Kenny picket, Mac Jones to a tongue of Iowa and Trevor Lawrence and tier seven, CJ shroud, Anthony Richardson and will Levis.

There's a lot of things that jump out to me here, Hickey, but the first thing that jumps out to me, Trevor Lawrence in his first year in the NFL with actual coaching and not being in a cluster, you know what he took the Jaguars to the second round of the playoffs. If you have seven tiers, how can you put Trevor Lawrence in tier six in the same class as Mac Jones, Kenny picket and to a tongue of Iowa? Like Trevor Lawrence is better than Jimmy G right now. Trevor Lawrence right now is better than Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson just for starters.

It's like bare minimum, he has to be in tier four bare minimum. I don't get that one and I love Kyle Brandt. He does a great job of the NFL network. He's fun.

He's entertaining, but that really made me scratch my head there. Especially when you look at him being all the way Trevor Lawrence that is in tier six and Justin Herbert being in tier three, despite the fact that Justin Herbert lost to Trevor Lawrence. I know it's one game in the playoffs.

I get it. And Herbert's had three great years in the NFL the regular season, but we've also seen, I mean, you mentioned in 2021 that doesn't even count, frankly, like Trevor Lawrence's rookie year was last year with Doug Peterson. We had a competent coach and you went to the second round of the playoffs. You played well in an elimination game. Basically, you know, the week 18 to get into the playoffs had a great second half played solid against the chiefs in arrowhead.

Like I think he's done a lot more to be on the same platform right now going to 2023 as Justin Herbert. So let me just give you a branch one more time and I put together my tiers here and you tell me if you think this is right. So Kyle Brandt's groupings, tier one Mahomes, tier two Burrow and Josh Allen, tier three Rogers Lamar Herbert, tier four Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson, tier five Jimmy G, tier six Kenny Pickett, Mack, Tua, Trevor Lawrence, tier seven the rookie CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis.

This is how I'm going to do this. Tier one Patrick Mahomes, tier one A Joe Burrow. Like Joe Burrow is right on the line of kind of being in the same area code as Patrick Mahomes. Let's just say now we know Mahomes has two MVPs.

He has two Super Bowl MVPs as well. Burrow did beat his team three times in a row and just lost this year in the ASC championship game. So I do feel like we're all chasing Patrick Mahomes right now, but I don't think it's right to then say Burrow with what he's done last with what he's done the last two years is in tier two. So I make the distinction hickey out of the gate before I get to tier two. Tier one is Patrick Mahomes. He is the best quarterback in the league and then I go tier one A Joe Burrow.

That's the only time that I just didn't go from one number to the next and I just put a letter in there. What do you think about that? It's fine. I think to me that the biggest thing is just having Mahomes by himself because I think what he's accomplished, two MVPs, two Super Bowls. I don't think right now he deserves to be in a class with anyone else but himself. Okay, tier two. So tier one is Mahomes, tier one A Joe Burrow. Tier two, I have Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers.

That's it. Then I go tier three, Trevor Lawrence, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert. Trevor Lawrence, the reason why I could put him in the same category as Lamar and Justin Herbert. Got that big postseason win last year in his first time in the playoffs. Had a great regular season. Lamar has won a unanimous MVP before. Has not had the postseason success. Justin Herbert has played great in the regular season. Only been to one postseason so far.

Doesn't have that great success. Are you okay with my grouping of tier three right there? Trevor Lawrence, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert. Yes, I have one thought but I want to save it till I want to hear the rest of the quarterbacks and I kind of want to bring it back.

So I'll put a little note to circle back but so far so good. Okay, tier four. It's Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson. Guys that have been great but last year we saw a decline in Russell Wilson's play in a new home and for Deshaun Watson we just basically have not seen him on the field for the last two years. So tier four, I put Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson. Tier five, Hickey, I go Jimmy Garoppolo and Tua Tungovailoa. Jimmy G has won a lot of games.

I don't think you look at Jimmy G as having more upside than Tua Tungovailoa but Jimmy G's always hurt and Tua, we saw what he could do last year but unfortunately he's maybe one concussion away from his career being over. Then tier six for me is Kenny Pickett and Mac Jones, right? Kenny Pickett had a solid rookie year.

We'll see what he does in year number two. Mac Jones had a solid rookie year and then in year number two just got no coaching and then tier seven, it's the unknown because they're new guys in CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Leviss. So those are my tiers one through seven with just one AB and Joe Burrow because I think he's a little bit now above Allen and Rodgers.

Very random here. Do you have a problem with Ryan Tannehill not being included? Kyle Brant opted for Will Leviss over Ryan Tannehill. Okay, so I'll put Ryan Tannehill in there.

I didn't even think about that. It shows you kind of how like Tannehill, he's someone that no one expected him to be on this roster and then midway through the off-season or like mid-point through like when you went through, okay is the guy gonna get traded? Is this guy gonna get released? It was, oh he's actually going to be on this roster because they weren't gonna make a move anywhere else and maybe they go get someone in a draft. Tannehill's gonna start the year. I would be surprised though if he's finishing at the end of the year for Tennessee but if I had to put him in a grouping right now, I guess it would be tier five. Like it would be that Jimmy G into a kind of tier right now. You could maybe say it's Kenny Pickett or Mack but if Tannehill is there, he's either tier five or tier six.

Nothing more than that. I would agree. I just find that more interesting because at least I mean when you talk about the onsides offsides of Will Leviss starting 10 games and you and offsides out agree with that so I just I was under the assumption that Tannehill would start most of not all of the year and Will Leviss would not get much playing time but at least Brand is, I don't know if it's just an exercise or whatever. Where would you put Tannehill on those seven tiers?

I think it's fair. I would probably say five because I think he's a little bit better than Mack Jones. He's more accomplished than what Kenny Pickett's had but he's in that category of Tua and Jimmy G where solid you know playoff caliber team-ish but also cancer healthy as well. And out of the three between Jimmy G, Ryan Tannehill and Tua, Tua has the most upside. Tua would probably be further up this list. He just can't get through an entire season.

Healthier having a coach that actually rocks with him. Right. So what was your other than problem, the thought that you were holding? So can I guess here? Sure. I feel like it has to do something with Lamar Jackson or Justin Herbert. You are correct on one of the two. I'm gonna say Justin Herbert.

No. Oh so it's Lamar. It's a question about Lamar Jackson. Jimmy G and Tua are in the same tier. Why would you put them in the same tier?

Because they can't stay healthy. Why is Lamar then in that category? Because Lamar's won a unanimous MVP. And Lamar, even if he's not healthy, he still plays a lot better than Jimmy G and Tua Tonga by love. My argument I guess to putting Lamar in that same category as Jimmy G and Tua is the fact that all three quarterbacks are quarterbacking playoff caliber teams. Yes but Lamar Jackson is an elite player. We've never seen Jimmy G be an elite player and for a long stretch, an entire season, we've never seen Tua be an elite player. We've seen that with Lamar Jackson when he's healthy. I think out of the three, he's absolutely the best player without it. I'm not trying to make an argument that either are better than Lamar Jackson.

That's stupidity. If you were going to tell me you're going to drop Lamar down, I wouldn't drop him down to tier five. I'd drop him down to tier four just because it's an unknown like Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson. I just look at the similarities of good team when healthy, playoff team when healthy, but can't say healthy. Yes but once again we're ranking these quarterbacks based off tiers.

Also their individual ability factors in. It's like if I put Jimmy G, Tua, and Lamar Jackson, which one doesn't belong? It's clearly Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson's significantly better than both those quarterbacks.

He's better but again like by how much in terms of the injuries as well. It's a similar theme where it's like you know again Jimmy G has led teams to you know playoff wins which Lamar has not done. Tua has led the Dolphins to the playoffs.

Could not play but hurt. Has Jimmy G really led his team to playoff wins or has he been the quarterback of the teams that have won games because he has a great team around him? Like if I put Lamar Jackson on the 49ers, I know that the the Niners haven't won a Super Bowl yet and they've been in that NFC title game almost each and every year.

I bet you they would be a better team don't you think? I would think so but we're going to find out this year with Jimmy G and the Raiders. Not that they're going to be a playoff team but how you know how much was Jimmy contributing?

I think there's a fair we're going to put it this way but he's had a lot more success than the Mars in the playoffs. Being a Patriot fan when my team moved on from Tom Brady there was talk about Jimmy G maybe winding up there. I wanted nothing to do with Jimmy G because Jimmy G is like a game manager slightly above a game manager that wins games. I never looked at him as he's a great quarterback, a quarterback that in the Patriot system you were going to win a Super Bowl with. When Lamar Jackson was available this offseason you asked me would I be fine if my team pursued him? I said absolutely I would love to have Lamar Jackson in Foxborough. So I don't even think you could even come close to comparing outside of the injuries Jimmy G and Lamar Jackson. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

You can think around the auto parts where your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I just saw something during the break Kiki. Step in if you saw it. Did you see how Charles Barkley cleans his phone? Just wondering?

Unfortunately I did. That's disgusting. So I was going to ask you a multiple choice question if you didn't see it like how does Charles Barkley clean his phone?

I'll do it to listening audience and they want to play along here. Sanitizer wipes, licking his phone, putting his phone in the dishwasher, or using a toothbrush with water on it. It is licking his phone.

That's disgusting. So they showed him during break licking his phone like the back of the phone and then rubbing it on his suit jacket or a suit pants. I don't know about you but the phone has to be one of the dirtiest things that we possess. Like think about the places where you put your phone. On the counter, like in your bed, on the floor, like the phone goes everywhere with you and you're constantly touching it. Who knows where your hands have been and when you put it down on the surface like right now I'm in a radio studio. My phone is sitting on our studio desk.

If you look around this place I don't think hygiene is the number one priority. So how many people come in here and they touch the desk or they eat something or you know put their feet up when they're watching a game and my phone is sitting on this desk right now. And he, think about, Hickey where's your phone right now? Is it in your pocket?

Where is it? Not on the desk. Oh it's on the desk and Hickey has a board in front of him where people are constantly touching all the buttons on that board. If you look at your phone right now, like I pick up my phone I have a case on it. I see all the fingerprints on the back pretty much. Could you ever think about licking the back of your phone?

No. Like I'm looking at my phone right now even if I wanted to lick the back of my phone I couldn't even do it. My body just like wouldn't let me because it's absolutely repulsive. But that's how Charles Barkley cleans his phone.

He's got to be maybe the most interesting person I've ever encountered there. Hot take Hickey. Like that's we've learned about Barkley wasn't March Madness he was saying that he would take a shower with his uniform on if they had to catch a flight the next day because when he was playing that was the only way that you could clean your uniform when you when you had to get on a plane the next day you wouldn't give it to someone who then go wash it which would make sense. He went into the shower, soap everything and that's how he would wash his uniform with his jersey on while showering. And now we have the whole licking of the phone incident as well. That's just the last few months. His immune system must be the strongest immune system I've ever seen because yeah you're touching the screen your finger like I go to the gym I'm touching weights the first thing I do when I leave the gym is go grab a wipe and wipe my phone down because the last thing I want to do is after leaving the gym bring any of the gym with me going on the subway touching the railings as soon as I touch my phone immediately then I'm like okay I gotta find a wipe I gotta wipe wipe this bad boy down and then to see him lick the screen and then wipe it off I just think of all like I said the places your phone has been the places your fingers have been it is easily the dirtiest thing we've put this thing we possess and it is I mean there are yeah there's not many things I would lick over a phone that's for sure by the way I when I go to the gym and I'm a big elliptical guy there's a holster to put your phone there's also like a resting place um when you're pressing like what kind of workout that you want to do on the elliptical as well I refuse to put my phone in the holster or even on like the resting area just with how many people go into that gym and just directly probably sweat in those areas as well so I'm always a big listen to music kind of guy in the gym and keep the phone in my pocket very rarely will I watch something like a tv show or something at the gym because then I have to hold the phone up because I will not put it on the on the resting area because I think it's disgusting you don't get worried about your phone falling out of your pocket no I don't in my pocket when I'm on the elliptical no and you're running and you're running that motion oh that would drive me crazy no the thing I'm actually most concerned about is my air pod just falling out of my ears because that's happened in mid elliptical ride where the air pod has fallen into the machine and then I have to get off the machine you only get 30 seconds until it restarts your workout which I hate because I try to keep track of how many calories you burn and how many levels you've gone on the elliptical and then I have to like pick up the machine put things up and I put them down and then find the air pod that's the most difficult part is my air pod staying in my ear you don't knock them out they just they fall out out of your ear they just fall out wow I've hated the the earbuds forever and I've hated the air pods I'm finally starting to get used to them they're just for the longest time they were just not compatible with my ears not gonna go headphones then like oh the big big headphones yeah nah it's a workout that's uh then I'm just sweating directly with like that the the uh the strap that goes over your head I'm sweating on it things that stink no way and then also when I'm on the subway if I have to touch the the rail or the pole in the subway I'm a big use my sleeve guy like if you look at me right now I have my sweatshirt I cover my hand on the subway with the sweatshirt of the shirt so I don't touch that disgusting subway pole I'm a little bit of a germaphobe in the sense that like I would do that and then still my god then the germs are still on me it's on my sweatshirt which is right next to my hand I'm like oh this is disgusting so I'd rather just fall down contact then hold on to the subway railing you'd rather fall down it's truly disgusting so I cannot imagine holding the railing and then licking basically my hand that's the equivalent of what Charles Barkley did to clean his phone and then being okay with it it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio let's play Antonio Daniels he was on with this yesterday there's been some conversation that if Steph Curry beats LeBron James in this postseason series then Steph's had a better career than LeBron and some after that great game seven performance which you've never seen someone in a game seven score 50 points who are now claiming that Steph Curry is better than Magic Johnson when it comes to the point guard position this is Antonio Daniels and if Steph Curry has surpassed LeBron James of the all-time rankings and also Magic Johnson as well this is a prisoner of the moment culture that's what we do so you think about how impactful Steph Curry's game seven was Zach because it started conversations after that game and the next morning that wouldn't be had that wouldn't be had otherwise and I'm sorry I can't change my whole thought process around the player for one day Steph was great against the Sacramento Kings in game seven but understand that was the first round that was the first round we're not talking about game seven of the NBA Finals that you're putting another ring on the finger that was the first round and for that first round game seven performance now people are saying he's the greatest point guard ever so the question that I would ask let's hypothetically say Steph Curry didn't go for 50 and he went for 30 and they won but we still be having that conversation no we live in such a prisoner of the moment culture where it's almost like after every big game there's a quick overreaction there's a quick and I am I am a huge Steph Curry fan huge Steph Curry fan it's going to take a lot more than him performing in a game seven of the first round of the playoffs for me to change and say okay now I put Steph here even though I had him here 24 hours ago I agree with what Antonio Daniels had to say and I love love Steph Curry if you listen to this show you know how much I love Steph Curry I look at Steph though as a guard where it was the greatest point guard of all time which has been brought up and Frank Isola made that argument as well but when it comes to LeBron because if you want to have the argument about Magic Johnson and Steph Curry be my guest but when it comes to LeBron this is what I don't get for the last 15 years we've we've had people try to make the case and it's like the number one if you want to do lazy radio and get phone calls 855-2124 CBS who's the better player is it LeBron or is it Michael and I hate that conversation and I remember once you were out Hickey and Shep was in and it was when Shep was helping out producing this show and he brought it up and the next thing you know we had an hour worth of phone calls and I hated it because you get Michael Jordan fans that call up that just dump on LeBron James and then you get LeBron James fans that call up and just slam Michael Jordan like there's no conversation you try to make the other all-time great player as if he was a bum so we basically now have that conversation for pretty much the last 10 years or so and now after one game and Steph historically is an all-time great he's top 10 player of all time Steph Curry has four rings he's a finals MVP there's kids that go into a gym kind of like what you did with Kobe when you're growing up as a kid and you would crumble up a piece of paper and you'd be like Kobe when you would shoot now kids go to the gym and they take these ridiculous three-point shots pretending to be like Steph Curry but after that game seven and just let's say if Steph beats LeBron in this series it's all of a sudden Steph's move past LeBron like that part doesn't add up to me and also I know they're the same amount of championships LeBron has been in more finals so I just don't get it and I and I think well I actually do get it because Antonio Daniels is right where we're like a prisoner of the moment where now someone has a great game and it's is this guy an all-time great like that's what the media has become or this guy's better than that guy I don't see how you could argue and I'm not saying it's by like leaps and bounds because Steph is still a top 10 player of all time but I don't say you could now argue that if Steph wins this series Steph's had a better career as a better player than LeBron James Hickey I'm 100% with you makes no sense and look if you want to talk about arguments I thought that would be a very hot take kicky kind of take no it's so stupid it's so stupid the the simplest way I'll put is this let's go back two years ago in the plane game when LeBron James and Steph Curry faced off at 2021 not that I'm not using that game as the decider but LeBron won the Lakers got in the plane and Steph and the Warriors went home the reason why I bring that up is because Steph was the only one playing Clay was hurt Draymond was not there it was Steph Curry by himself he couldn't get the Warriors into the playoffs LeBron James has taken some of the worst teams we've ever seen to the finals it's two different things that first LeBron has carried so many bad teams to the finals whereas Steph has had the luxury of playing with great players around him now to be fair though now I'm not making the argument last year's Warriors team was not a great team and Steph did a wonderful job in that game four and in that series but you are right some of those Cavs teams even when he went back to second time like Matthew Dela Vadova is one player that comes to mind Kyrie hurt Kevin Lovett hurt as well it's a good point that you make right there Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio