Is Erik Spoelstra The Best Coach in the NBA? (Hour 3)

Out number three of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Let's update you on some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. Let's get to the news brief. Time for your daily news brief.

We get you caught up on the rumors, reports, and reconnaissance from the day in sports. So yesterday we found out that Houston's men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson did an interview with the Milwaukee Bucks. Now when he was away from the college game after the whole debacle that now isn't viewed as a debacle because the NIL did happen in his departure with Indiana, he was an assistant in Milwaukee with the Bucks and then also in Houston with the Rockets before getting back into the college game and going on a pretty special run with the Houston Cougars and for now he's still their head coach.

So let's listen to Kelvin Sampson. He was warming up. I don't know what he was doing. I guess this maybe at a at a baseball game but he had his baseball glove on.

He was having a catch and he caught up with Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston. Do you believe you'll be signing something? Would you have a new contract here pretty soon? I don't know.

Depends on them. Do you hope to? Yeah, do you want to? Is that what your hope is? Yeah, absolutely.

Not real convincing there, Hickey. No, sounds like a guy who's annoyed with the offer. Now let me give you a little context here because I'm reading this via CBS that right after you had this report come out that he was interviewing with the Bucks. Kelvin Sampson said to multiple media outlets, can't wait to compete in the Big 12 next season.

Go Cougs. And according to the Houston Chronicle, at some point over the last two weeks, they did offer him a revised contract and the contract would push Sampson's salary to a level placing him among the top 15 coaches in the sport. And the Chronicle reported that Sampson is scheduled to make $3.4 million next season. So clearly he got a raise and that was offered to him, but it sounds like at least from that answer that he wants more. Now the question becomes, are the Bucks actually going to hire you?

Did you take an interview for negotiation power? And if the Bucks offer you the job, would you actually leave? Would you go back to Houston and say, okay, you got to give me X, Y, and Z? It is not that, I don't even want to say, I was about to say it's interesting that he immediately after the interview news came out said, can't wait to compete in the Big 12 next season.

Go Cougs. But really, Hickey, every time I feel as if a coach is getting rumored for another job or interviews for another job, they always in the college game release some sort of statement or make some sort of mark that makes it seem as if they're staying there forever when most times it doesn't happen. Right, because as you know, you got to keep the recruiting base strong and you cannot give recruits a reason to leave. So if that job does not come through, you don't be sitting there then without a NBA job and then without some of the best recruits that you got that go elsewhere because they think you're leaving. I don't think he's going to get offered the Bucks job. I would agree.

I don't think that they're going to go in that direction. But he seemed really annoyed and really salty with whatever this offer was that was going to make him a top 15 coach in the sport too. I mean, if you're Houston, what's your leverage? You know, you just got a number one seed. He's been very successful there.

Like you can't basically say this is the offer, you know, take it or leave it. Now again, the Bucks may not, you know, hire him. So it's like he has other places to go, but he'll be made a final four to leave. Yeah, he's been successful as a coach. So I don't think the Cougs are exactly in a situation where they can be sticking to that, let's say reportedly low number and expect that he'll sign it. He's a hothead by the way, Kelvin Sampson.

I feel like most coaches are, but yes, he is. I don't mean that in a negative like, but I was once at a Temple Houston basketball game in Philadelphia. Okay. And let's say I had a few brewskis in the system. Oh, okay. Now, now we're talking.

All right. Yeah. Did you try to fight him?

No, I was sitting about three rows behind him. This popped up on my Snapchat memories a few days ago and he was freaking out. I think they were undefeated at the time. This was a few years ago.

This was before COVID. They were undefeated at the time and he was not happy with the referees and he unloosened his tie. And then at the end of the game, I want to say that there was a Phantom call, if you want to say, and he dropped down on all floors. And when he was arguing with the rest, you just hear loud Zach Gelb in the background, tee him up, tee him up.

And then eventually when he fell down, I was like, get up, Calvin, no one's believing this act. Get your sorry ass off the court. So I was heckling Kelvin Sampson in Philadelphia at a Temple Owls game.

Owls won that game. Wow. Look at maybe because of the heckling got into Kelvin Sampson's head. Did you know he was 67 by the way? I don't think there's a 67 year old on this planet.

I would want to fight less than Kelvin Sampson. Yeah. Now I feel like a douche when you say that, cause he's in, even though he wasn't 67 at that time, this is a few years ago.

What was he? 63, 64. So I was heckling to 63, 65 year old man.

You love your and respect your elders. Huh? Good to see.

Yeah. Well, he was being disrespectful. He was being disrespectful in Kelvin Sampson.

It wasn't nice. The dramatic drop to all fours. I'm sure whatever that call was like when the coaches collapsed, he fell down. It was the funniest thing. That's you just got to laugh at that one. You're the ref.

You got to be just looking over like, look at this clown. And they didn't tee him up. I don't think, I don't think they teed him up if memory serves me right. All right, let's go back to game one last night.

He'd go into Boston. They opened up a can of whoop ass in the third quarter, Jimmy Butler, who had six steals in the contest and scored 30 plus points in the key to taking game one. We're just playing a really good basketball more than anything. We're staying together through the good and through the bad. It is a game of runs and we can talk to one another.

I think that's what ultimately makes me smile is the fact that when things aren't going our ways, we can look at each other eye to eye and knowing somebody's messing around and we can fix it. Let's go to Jimmy Butler. And if he thought the heat would be in this position three wins away from the NBA finals. Damn right. I did.

Damn right. We did. And the best part about it is we still don't care what none of y'all think, honestly speaking. We don't care if you pick us to win. We never have.

We never will. We know the group of guys we have in this locker room. We know that Coach Bo puts so much confidence and belief in each and every one of us.

Coach Pat as well. And so our circle is small, but the circle got so much love for one another. We pump constant confidence into everybody. And we go out there and we hoop.

We play basketball the right way, knowing that we always got a chance. And Hickey in a bizarre way, because we kind of just accept that this is the norm for the Miami Heat. I think people forget that it wasn't that long ago that not only they were in the play-in tournament, but they were in the second play-in tournament game because they lost the first one. And in the second one, they were moments away from being eliminated, not even invited to the actual postseason. It's like a third play-in is like a four minutes left in that fourth quarter of that play-in tournament game.

The second one, they were down. They were down by a few points. And here they are now three wins away from the NBA Finals. Even though I still think the Celtics are going to win this series, I would not be surprised at all because Miami is a pain in the ass. I would not be surprised Miami goes out there and gets three more games, even though I'm picking Boston. But it is wild to see how this team was talked about throughout the year and how they just never clicked.

They weren't healthy. And they almost didn't even get out of the play-in tournament. They take down the Bucks. They quickly dispose of the New York Knicks. And now three wins away from the NBA Finals.

It is a wild, wild story. That play-in performance makes their run like in a way frustrating. Because we have seen plenty of times where teams start off slow or get hot late in the year, and then they just take off. And obviously, we've seen plenty of championships or runs of the championship when teams get hot late.

But for the Heat, they scuffled around the entire regular season. Then like I said, they're at home in the play-in. You lose to the Hawks. And you are then down against the Bulls.

And it's like, it makes no sense. It makes zero sense how you can play that poorly in games when your season is on the line and then go out there and beat the Bucks. And then go out there and beat the Knicks. And then go out there and win game one on the road against Boston.

It doesn't, in a weird way, it's like that play-in performance almost makes this run frustrating because it's like inexplicable. And remember when I told you a few weeks ago that no division championship is more relevant than the division championship in basketball? They won their division this year. They won the Southeast this year. And in a normal year, they would have been as the seventh seed. But because they lost that first play-in game, and then they won the second play-in game, they were the eighth seed.

But they did win that Southeast division. And they needed the second play-in game to get in. And I don't know how you think about this because I hear a lot of people say, oh, the play-in tournament is good for the sport. It's been good because the stars have been in it. If you didn't have the star power in it, I don't think a lot of people are looking back at this play-in tournament so fondly.

And it was used to try to eliminate tanking in the sport. And look what happened with Dallas, where they just waved the white flag at the end of the season so they could try to get better odds in the draft lottery instead of making the play-in tournament originally. But you kind of look at this play-in tournament, it allows a team like Miami, even though they would have made the playoffs anyway as a seven in a normal year, but it allows a team like Miami to kind of dog the regular season. And they know that they're going to find a way, even if it's a little tougher road, to still be able to fight and just get into the postseason. They don't go all out until the postseason. And they kind of look at the regular season as irrelevant. So I could just easily argue that the other way on why this play-in tournament isn't good for the sport.

Well, I mean, also in that sense, I guess you could say the Heat were like four minutes away from their season ending and never being here. So it's like you take it seriously, get the six seed and you avoid that and you guarantee your season will continue in the playoffs rather than not take a chance and having, you know, you miss it altogether. I just never have understood this love for the play-in tournament. I haven't.

Let me try to explain. I don't think it's the, it's not the games. No, I don't think anyone cares about the actual games themselves, the play-in games. I think it's the race to be in the top six. It's the race to see who's in, who's out the warriors, the Lakers, like, especially in the West, we've seen a lot of jumbling where a lot of teams are close together.

And each day, the last month of the season, it's okay. Who's in who's out. You know, wants to be in the play-in and those games are not exactly exhilarating or thrilling, but it's just like, it's, it's more to, to see who can guarantee to get a top six birth and just keeps teams in the middle more involved and more juice than it normally would. Yeah. But to reward a team that's like 40 and 42 does nothing for me.

Never have, never will. Let's go to Eric Spolster, the best coach of the NBA right now, and what led to the massive third quarter by his heat team? Games are long. So it's not like, you know, there's any kind of speech or anything at halftime.

There was actually not a whole lot to be said. Our guys knew, you know, playing against a very good basketball team. And in the first half, you know, they, we had 11 turnovers and they had 40 in the paint.

I can't say that that's just all us. I mean, that's, that's what they're capable of doing. If we're not really on top of our game. I thought it was interesting what Ira Winderman said with us in the last hour hickey, where I asked him what happened to the third quarter. And he said it was just a team that didn't take the heat seriously. And it was the arrogance of the Boston Celtics. And I'm not saying he's wrong, but I do feel as if the Celtics exhaled at halftime because how much of the conversation was, Oh, what is Boston going to do in the first half? Like we were talking about that extensively yesterday after their great game seven, what were they going to show in the first half? And when they went into halftime with the lead, it's almost as if they said, okay, we know we're better than this team. We're going to exhale and this is going to be easy. And part of that is arrogance as well, but it's kind of, I don't even want to say stunning that they exhale because they've been doing it all post season where they don't really treat the other team seriously.

And then they put their backs up against the wall and they find a way to scratch and claw their way out of it. But it's weird that they gave you that effort in the first half and the third quarter after a little break, they fall right flat on their face. Their hubris is just, I mean, as big as possibly it could be just because it's two post-seasons in our own.

Now it's the same thing. It doesn't matter who they're playing. Bucks, sixers, like they go into this lull for, it doesn't make any sense. Then it could be a quarter, it could be an entire game. They do it every single series from multiple times.

And it does not seem to be getting fixed whatsoever. And it still seems like it's going to be good enough to find a way to get to the NBA finals. I know we disagree on that and you think the heat are going to win this series. And I think a big reason why you're picking the heat to win this series isn't because you think they're better. I just think you're frustrated with the Boston Celtics playing with fire and you eventually think they're going to get burned. Exactly right. Yeah.

I don't think the heat are better, but they will take advantage in a way right now teams have not been able to. So this is a frustration pick out of you. That's what I'm gathering. Not even frustration.

I would say it's more reality. Just like when you do this, you're going to get burned. I think this is the time to get burned. Jason Tatum and what led to his fourth quarter turnovers? I turned the ball over, threw it to Jimmy. That was on me. And on the shot fake, I just got sped up a little bit.

So I just got to slow down a little bit in those moments. Let's keep it rolling. Let's go to Joe Missoula on the Celtics saying they weren't unprepared to face the Heat. We were prepared. We played harder than them in the first half and then they outplayed us for one quarter. So we were prepared for it. We had the right mindset heading into the game. We had the right mindset heading into the game. We played harder than they did and we were prepared and we did a great job. Third quarter made all the difference. It did, but we were prepared and then we let go of the rope.

And so there's two storylines here. It's one, we were ready to play and we had a great job executing on both ends of the floor in the first half. And it's about the consistency of they're going to continue to play. And so we have to be prepared for when we do outplay them, that they're going to respond and we have to respond. And so we were prepared.

We just let go of the rope. He's not wrong. They were prepared, but what's the point in saying that you started the first 50% of the assignment with a hundred percent effort and then the last 50% of the assignment you dogged it.

So you didn't actually complete the assignment. Honestly, I don't usually say this about coaches because you always want to hear from them. It would almost be better when they lose if this guy doesn't talk. He has been that bad and he has such a temper when they lose. And then I forget which game it was in the playoffs, but I think it was in the first series that when they won a game, he basically had a mic drop type of moment to the media. He was going after what someone said lead into that. It seems as if this is a guy that it's his first year as a head coach, which it is, and he doesn't know how to ignore the noise and looks at these press conferences as they have to be very contentious, especially when they lose the game.

Clearly he's over his head and you can't get mad at him for that aspect because I mean, look, what was it? I forgot the exact date, but it was like, let's just say three weeks for the season, a month for the season when the Emei Doka stuff broke and he was suspended. He wasn't ready to be head coach. I believe even last year was not even like the top assistant head coach. So it was one of those things where he just kind of thrown into the fire on a team that had championship or bust expectations. And then you're starting to see the pressure get to him a little bit in a position where he wasn't exactly ready or fully prepared to take over.

And on the other side, you have the most cool, calm guy in the sport right now in our exposure. Finally, Alex Smith on Sirius XM NFL Radio says defensive coordinators have a tougher time developing young QBs. There is a different mentality for my career. When you play for an offensive head coach that wants to light up the scoreboard and outscore the opponent, there's a different mentality you have, especially as a young quarterback versus a defensive head coach. When really the mentality is, hey, don't screw up, don't turn the ball over, don't put us in a bad situation. And I can't tell you as a young QB playing in the bright lights, that's a huge difference in a mentality and a mindset for a young quarterback, especially if it's a bit rocky to start.

So I think certainly when you look at CJ Stroud and Bryce Young, those two situations couldn't be more different for these two young players. The only thing that I'll say about that is when you look at a head coach, a head coach, if he's on the defensive side of the ball, let's just say with the example he was using, he can't alienate the offensive side of the ball. You still have to find a way to make an impact as the head coach on the offensive side of the ball. And I do think the defensive-minded head coach could help out a young quarterback because he knows everything that the defense is going to throw at that young quarterback.

So you still have meetings, and I think that's still very essential, where you look at a guy like Rex Ryan, by the way, and I know Mark Sanchez may not be the best guy to put out there, but Rex didn't do anything with the offensive side of the ball. But then you look at a guy like Pete Carroll, who's the defensive-minded head coach, he gets no credit for developing Russell Wilson. He was Russell Wilson's biggest supporter. Look at Bill Belichick.

Brady talks about all those times, the meetings he had with Bill, how beneficial they were because of what Bill knows what's coming Brady's way from the defensive side of the ball. Sean McDermott, he hired the right guys to make sure that Josh Allen would develop. And I know Harbaugh wasn't a defensive-minded coach, but he was really more of an expert on special teams. He did a pretty damn good job with Lamar Jackson. So it's not impossible to basically not be an offensive-minded head coach and still create that connection and develop a young quarterback. You just need to make sure that you're having some input on the offensive side of the ball, which a lot of coaches that are defense, defense, defense, they fail to create those connections on the offensive side of the ball.

It's the same thing. It's like how many young offensive coordinators come into this league and they're disastrous as head coaches because you're a leader in that locker room and you're the leader of grown men and you're the voice for those grown men and you can't just alienate the other side of the ball, Hickey. No, you're harmlessly right.

It has to be a balance. I think what Alex said, the saying in a way is right in this, like if you have that mentality and he's not saying like, I don't think every defensive-minded head coach has this mentality of, hey kid, don't go out there and just don't screw it up for us. The defense is where it's going to win us games and you just basically stay out of the way. I don't think every defensive coordinator is like that or defensive-minded head coach, but the ones that are, I absolutely see what Alex Smith is saying, where you're just basically taught in fear of don't make a mistake, don't make a mistake. And now we see like interceptions, look, obviously they are important, don't get me wrong, but it's like now when you see so many quarterbacks, like lighting up, passing the ball, like interception totals are going to be higher, but you're scoring more touchdowns and you're, you know, producing more offense in the air, then you're going to live with it. And to kind of be afraid of the interception and therefore not take a risk and therefore play safe on offense, that's not how you win in this, this game.

It's just funny with the two quarterbacks that he mentioned, Bryce Young and CJ shroud, you look at Frank Reich coach on the sideline. I'm just talking about the way he conducts himself on the sideline. He's very mild manner.

He's very calm. Where D'Amico Ryans gives you the celebrations, he's in your face. You would think D'Amico Ryans is not going to go tell CJ Strad, oh, just manage the game. I think he's going to be an aggressive head coach. If it fits his personality, the way that he coached up that defense where Frank Reich, it was kind of very few adjustments we saw last of the last two years in Indianapolis.

And he was very calm. Now we all know what Frank Reich is, is an offensive minded coach. He was a tremendous offensive coordinator in Philadelphia, but it's funny, the example that he used, Frank Reich comes off to me as more of a calm coach where D'Amico Ryans, I could see going up to CJ Strad and say, sling that bleeping ball all around the field. Well, Frank is calm demeanor, but he's an aggressive coach. He'll go for it. He'll push the envelope like he is, especially play calling and philosophy, very aggressive. So I think Bryce will come out and have a lot of success. And again, we'll see, we have no idea what D'Amico's style is as a head coach, obviously defensively.

Hopefully he is more of the aggressive offensive mindset or has that same aggression, I should say, on the offensive side of the ball, but we don't know until we see it. Frank, even though he's aggressive in his play calling, he may need to be more aggressive in his pregame speeches because the Colts did not win a single first half last year. His teams, who hickey, they were horrendous right out of the gate. They were pathetic. Jeff Saturday came in and they won a first half in his first game.

They were absolutely brutal after that. We got to get a little bit fire, a little, a little fire from, from Frank Reich in those pregame speeches. Maybe we'll talk to Boomer and see if he can get through to his guy in Frank Reich. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. You do have game one of the Easter conference finals right now between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers. No score about 10 minutes into that game. And we are waiting for game number two in the Western conference finals in the association to tip off as Denver is home getting set for game two with the Joker to Cole Jokic up against LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers.

Hickey, we were talking about this briefly earlier in the show. When you look at Eric Spoelstra right now, if he wins a championship, now this is a guy that already is going to the hall of fame. He has two championships as a head coach, but if he wins a championship this year, it would be the most important championship to his career because he doesn't have LeBron James. He doesn't have Dwayne Wade. He doesn't have Chris Bosh because when he was there as the head coach of the big three originally, LeBron wanted him fired. LeBron wanted Pat Riley to come up from the luxury box upstairs or a few rows back and join him courtside and be the coach of this team.

And he wanted to come out of retirement like he did, not retirement, but from his role of running the team like he did when the Heat won that championship up against the Dallas Mavericks. So you'll look at a guy like Eric Spoelstra, who I always wondered how great of a coach he was, but in the last few years he's displayed that. When you look at this Heat roster, and this is no disrespect to Miami, it's not a great roster. It's not even a really good roster. You have a great player in Jimmy Butler and a player that has been up and down, but when he's on like he's been the last few games and bam out of bio, he's a really damn good player in the NBA, but you even just got to witness what happened last night.

Look at the diversity. Look at the way that they spread the basketball around in Boston for the Miami Heat last night, where you have Butler gets you 35 and seals the ball six time. Bam out of bio, Cooley goes for 20, but Gabe Vincent with 15, Max Schreus with 15, Martin with 15, Kyle Lowry with 15 as well. They really did spread that ball around, and this is all without Tyler Hero. I thought what they did a few years ago is really impressive getting to the NBA Finals, and Jimmy Butler was just a force to be reckoned with in that bubble, but this run, even though they're not in the finals, it's been more impressive because this team was was in the play in the second playing game after losing the first one, and they were down with the few moments to go, and here we are where they take down Milwaukee easily, who was the number one seed and was projected to go to the finals. I didn't think the Knicks were a better team than Miami, and Miami showed that, and here you are.

It's not surprising. It was actually kind of stunning how high the odds were last night for Miami to win this game. I think it was like plus two something or three something just to win the game on the money line, but this is what Miami does. They take, even though they may not win every series, they take control of the series on the road in game one, and it's worth the first two series of this postseason, and Miami has no pressure on them. They have no, if they lose this series, no one's gonna say, ah, missed opportunity for the Miami Heat. Oh, terrible job by the Miami Heat, because this team wasn't expected to be here. Boston is playing with all the pressure on them, and heading into the playoffs, we could really only envision two teams out of the Eastern Conference get into the finals, and that was Milwaukee and Boston, and that pressure on Boston just intensified the moment when Miami eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks, and Boston, sloppy effort in the second round. They were still able to find a way to prevail when they were down 3-2, heading to game six.

Tatum woke up in game six in the fourth quarter, and then he just had a sensational game seven, but you look at the big difference with this team. Sure, you could point to the talent of the roster, and this is not a knock on Joe Mazzola, because he was thrown into the position and wasn't supposed to be the head coach, but Eric Spulcher has seen everything. Eric Spulcher has coached the biggest stars, and Eric Spulcher knows how to get the most, even when he doesn't have even close to the most talented roster, and he is just a phenomenal coach, and it's good for me where he had that tag for so many years of, all right, yeah, he's a good coach, but how much was it LeBron?

How much was Dwayne Wade? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and now, even without winning a championship, just getting to that finals a few years ago, it kind of cemented his legacy as, okay, you should give him a little bit of that credit, and you should give him more credit for winning with the big three, even though it was a foregone conclusion they were going to win multiple championships when those guys didn't get there. Well, make Spulcher such a good coach, and what makes the Heat such a tough out is that they don't have the names, right, outside of Jimmy Butler, but every piece they have fits perfectly with what they are trying to accomplish. You mentioned all the undrafted players that all scored 15 points last night. It wasn't like all of a sudden Gabe Vincent played out of his mind, and this was just an uncharacteristic big game, and, okay, that helped the Heat. Heat did exactly what he was capable of doing, and then what they asked him, hit a few threes when you're open.

Same thing with Max Drew, same thing with Kyle Lyra. They have Kevin Love in a certain role. They have Bam Adebayo in a certain role. It's almost in a less sexier way, similar to the Warriors because the Warriors obviously have so much talent. They also have a team that fits really well where, obviously, Steph has his role, Klay has his role, but Draymond has a very important role. Kavon Looney has a very important role, and those guys play their role to the best of their ability, and that's what makes, obviously, the Warriors, you know, four-time champions, that's what makes in the Heat right now such a tough out is it's not sexy. It's not captivating at times with a lot of big names, but every single player on the roster fits in a certain area, and they are right now excelling in that certain area and what they're able to, you know, being asked to do. That's what also makes Eric Spulso such a great coach is he isn't asking these guys to do more than they're capable of.

He's putting them in a position to succeed, and the guys are executing. It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a break when we come on back. CBS has some early NFL predictions.

We'll get to that on the other side. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. Lakers up 5-0 right out of the gate. The starters for the Nuggets, no changes. Contavious Caldwell Pope, Jamal Murray, Nicole Jokic, Michael Porter Jr., and Aaron Gordon. And for the Lakers, you get one change.

It is Reeves, Russell, LeBron, Vanderbilt, and then also Anthony Davis. All right, Hickey, so Will Brinson from CBS, he put together some predictions for this upcoming season, run by the predictions, division by division, and I'll give you my reaction to them. Division and playoff predictions, a star in the AFC East. No surprise, he has the Bills winning the division at 12-5, followed by the Jets at 10-7. Has them going as a wild-card team, and surprising here, Dolphins fourth place in the AFC East at 8-9. When he had the Patriots as? 9-8. So you guys know me, I'm a Patriot fan, the Patriots will finish in fourth place this year. The only way that that could be remotely true is if Tua gets hurt, and I would assume that was part of his reasoning, but that seems low. Like even last year, and I know it's not a sustainable formula, but that team almost won that playoff game up against the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo with Skylar Thompson as their quarterback. And I'm usually down in Miami. I wasn't believing into this Mike McDaniel hype last year, and he frustrates the heck out of me with some of his press conferences.

I feel like everyone thinks he's funny, I just don't think he's funny. But I would not expect the Dolphins to finish in fourth. If you ask me, is it more like the Dolphins win the division or finish in fourth, I think it's more likely they win the division. And I'm not picking them to win the division, I just think it's clear the Patriots will finish in fourth this year. AFC North, Bengals 13-4, they are your division winner. That sounds right. The Ravens, what was that?

I said that sounds right. Oh sorry, Ravens 12-5 wild-card team, Steelers 9-8, and how about the Browns with $230 million forward back to Sean Watson. Will Brinson has them going 7-10 last place. Yeah, I'm not saying they're gonna be as bad as 7-10, but if you tell me that they're gonna miss the playoffs, I would believe that more than making the case that they're gonna get into the postseason. And I do think the Steelers are gonna be a scrappy team this year.

But the order of that sounds right to me. AFC South, no doubt here, it's the Jaguars 11-6, they win the division. So yeah, the Titans, Colts, and Texans throw their teams.

Who do you think Will predicted to go second? Second, I am going to say, well if you're asking me that, then it's not Tennessee. Huh, this does seem like you're trying to push some Colts propaganda. I'll go the Texans. 7-10, Houston Texans. Wow, that would be a big season for the Texans.

That is very high. Yeah. Titans 6-11, Colts 4-13. Say that again, 3-4? Titans 6-11, Colts 4-13. Well, who was the fourth place team?

Sorry, you're breaking up. Oh, the Colts. What was the record? He has it at 4-13 as a projection. You said 13-4 or 4-13? 4-13.

Oh, okay, gotcha. Man, that means Marvin Harrison Jr., baby, come on down. Wait, wait, wait, wait, weren't you the Jackass that recommended that if they have the number one overall pick next year, that they're gonna go get Caleb Williams after drafting Anthony Richardson a year ago, and they'll trade Anthony Richardson?

100%, I'm in on that. I just don't think 4-13 is gonna be good enough. I think the Cardinals will be worse, unfortunately. 4 wins puts you right in the hopper there for the number one overall pick.

If they're number one, I'm taking Williams, without a doubt. Okay. Moving on, that's for sure. But fingers crossed, fingers crossed, we'll say that. All right, so not much in the AC South, AFC West. But Anthony Richardson, according to Hickey, if he puts everything together, he could be the best quarterback in football, and you're already looking to replace him. I think both things can be true.

It's a long road for him to go, to put it all together. I have the more guarantee, but hey, you see it out, I think it could work well. AFC West, Chiefs, 14-3, division winner there. Denver Broncos, second place, 9-8, wild card, according to Will Brinson. Chargers, 8-9, Raiders, 7-10. The only thing realistic on that list is the Chiefs winning the division and most likely the Raiders finishing in fourth.

The Broncos are not going to be better than the Chargers this year. So division winners, according to Will Brinson, AFC. Bills, AFC East. You have the Bengals, AFC North. Jaguars, AFC South. Chiefs, AFC West.

Three AFC wild cards, according to Will Brinson. Ravens, Jets, Broncos. The only one that I disagree with is Denver. I think Miami, there's a better case to be made for the Miami Dolphins. I would trust the Steelers more than the Denver Broncos, but that's just me. And those are, wait, he didn't have the Chargers, right?

Nope, 8-9. And the Chargers, clearly. Those are three teams that I have to put in front of Denver. NFC, the East. Dallas Cowboys winning the division at 10-7. Eagles with the same record, losing out in the tiebreaker. They're in second place.

Can I tell you what that is? Sure. That's a May article and I don't know if Will goes this way, but that's a May article trying to get a rise out of the Eagles fans. He can't tell me the Cowboys are winning that division. I would agree. Eagles do have a tough schedule, but I would still pick the Eagles.

Okay. They have the Giants at 9-8 also making the wild card. How much different is the Cowboys schedule compared to the Eagles schedule?

Well, first place compared to second place. Yeah, but they play the same divisions. For the rest of the NFC, you played the team that finished in the same place as you. I'm well aware, but you look at the Cowboys schedule compared to the Eagles schedule, just real quickly. Giants, Jets, Cardinals, Patriots, 49ers, Chargers, Rams, Eagles, Giants, Carolina, Washington, Seattle, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Miami, Detroit, and Washington. That's the Cowboys schedule. And the Eagles schedule. Patriots, Minnesota, Tampa, Washington, Rams, Jets, Dolphins, Commanders, Dallas, Kansas City, Buffalo, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, New York, Arizona, and then New York again.

I don't trust Dak Prescott to stay healthy, but continue. So three playoff teams in the NFC East, Cowboys division winners, Eagles, Giants, Commanders, 6 and 11. The North did Detroit Lions break them up now 10 and 7, NFC North division winners according to Will Brinson, Vikings 8 and 9, Bears 6 and 11, Packers 6 and 11. I wonder why he has the Vikings falling off that much. I'm not telling you that the Vikings are to be a great team and they're probably going to lose Daven Cook as well. They've already took him off the team's header photo on Twitter, but he said 8 and 9 for Minnesota?

8 and 9. I would go Detroit though to win that division, but 8 and 9 seems a little light there for Minnesota. Do you believe in the luck factor in the sense that they won a lot of one score games last year? I think they were undefeated. It was like 11 and 0 in one score games. Yeah, they were impressive in their one score games. They won 13 games last year.

The fall down to 8 is a lot. If you tell me 9, they're still going to be an above 500 football team as long as Kirk Cousins is healthy. NFC South, speaking of teams that are abundantly over 500, just kidding, Falcons division winner.

Do you want to take a guess at what Will Brinson has the Falcons winning the NFC South with their record is going to be in 2023? 8 and 9? 10 and 7. Panthers in second place at 8 and 9. Saints with Derek Carr at 7 and 10, and the Bucks with Baker Mayfield 5 and 12.

You can give me whatever order you want for this division, but Atlanta going 10 and 7? 10 and 7. Okay, 10 and 7. 10 and 7.

That brings us to the... You know, this article has more personality than any postgame press conference that Arthur Smith has ever given. What have we done? Atlanta, you want to tell me about the division? Fine. 10 and 7.

Give me a break. 10 and 7. Will is high on the Falcons. NFC West, 49ers 12 and 5 division winner. Seahawks, 9 and 8 wild card. Rams, 9 and 8 miss out on the tiebreaker. 9 and 8 for the Rams.

9 and 8. And the Cardinals, 3 and 14. Rough year run for Jonathan Gannon, that's for sure.

All that tampering to go get him really didn't pay off. And then the wildcards in the NFC, Eagles after missing out on the tiebreaker. Give me the division winners first.

Just tell the division winners. Division winners, Cowboys in the East, Lions in the North, Falcons in the South, 49ers in the West, three wildcard teams, Eagles, Giants, Seahawks. So I would swap out Eagles and Cowboys. Cowboys would be wildcard, Eagles would be the division winner. I would not put the Falcons in the playoffs. I would put the Saints in the playoffs for now. The wildcard teams, I think he is right though. Seahawks will get in. Whoever comes in second in the NFC East will get in. I was trying to, I was thinking about this the other day. I was trying to put the Giants out of the playoffs because I don't think the roster is really all that talented.

It was a great coaching job last year though by Brian Deball. But I was looking around, I was like, who's the other team that you're going to believe in? You know, you could tell me Minnesota potentially.

That's fair. No one else in the NFC South. I'm not a believer in the Rams.

If you want to tell me that Sam Howell goes and has a successful season, be my guest. I was trying to make the case yesterday, Hickey, to keep the Giants out of the playoffs. And it seems like if I'm going to make that case, I really have to hitch my wagon to both the Vikings and Lions getting into the Seahawks, continuing their success from a year ago to keep the Giants on the outside looking in.

Yeah, it's really tough. I'm with you. I would have thought on the surface, probably Giants missed the playoffs to kind of take a little bit of a setback. But the NFC, you can't see six, even seven teams better than the Giants right now. Who do you like in this Lakers game, by the way? It's 20 to 16 right now, Denver. Even though I have the Nuggets winning the series, I do think the Lakers even it up tonight at 1-1. And I have Denver winning the series. And if you would ask me earlier this morning, I probably would have taken the Lakers. But in the last break, I laid the five and a half with the Denver Nuggets. So let's go Nuggets by six tonight.