Celtics Stink in Game 7 (Hour 1)

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Additional terms apply. Live from the play show, you head out over the ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS, number to jump on in.

855-212-4227, you can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straightflexinter via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter. At Zach Gelb, that's C-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Our Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals are set as the Boston Celtics fail to show up in a Game 7 last night. Miami is off to the NBA Finals that will commence on Thursday in Denver up against the Denver Nuggets and in the Stanley Cup Final. We know the Florida Panthers have been in for quite some time after quickly sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes. They now have their matchup in Vegas as that will get underway on Saturday up against the Vegas Golden Knights who have been in the league for six years. Have been to four conference finals slash semi-finals because that one year in the bubble they had realignment. And then they have now punched their ticket to their second ever Stanley Cup Finals. So we are starting to see how the trophies are going to be handed out. We're going to know the two teams in the NBA, the two teams in the National Hockey League and we'll see who will hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy and also Lord Stanley Cup coming up sooner rather than later. So a whole lot to do today producing this extravaganza is no other than hot take kicky.

I don't know about that hot take kicky. Let's start off with last night. Well really let's go back to Saturday. Saturday was one of the great sports moments that you'll see. And then with the follow up on Saturday or on Monday it kind of takes the air out of all the hype around that Derek White tip in and that fantastic shot that we got to witness on Saturday night. That was a wild game where it looked like Boston was the better team and then within a blink of an eye Miami takes the lead and you go how the heck did this just happen. And then when Marcus Smart misses that shot everyone thinks the game's over.

Give credit. It was an all time great hustle play by Derek White but an equally all time lazy play by the Miami Heat who just did not defend White who was inbounding the basketball once he did throw the basketball in and Smart just misses it. And on the right side you had Jason Tatum on the left side you had Derek White and Derek White puts that ball in and for about 10 seconds no one had any clue what the heck just happened where you knew what the results were going to be. Either Miami avoided a potential choke and punched their ticket to the NBA Finals in six or Boston just found a way to get a victory in just what is ridiculous all time fashion. And in those 10 seconds you're waiting you're waiting you're waiting you're waiting and finally you see the replay and you go wow he got that off with one tenth of a second. Now I know after the game everyone made a big deal because I don't get how the officials where Butler steals the ball and you see that still shot with three seconds before he gets fouled even though I thought he traveled but they called it a foul.

I don't get how they put three seconds back on the clock from originally I think it was 2.1 that it was marked. But if you throw that out the window when White hits that shot I think everyone on Saturday night thought the series is over and Boston oh they're going to find a way to win that seventh game they're going back to their home building. I know they've not been great at home. But when you win a game like that when on paper you are the more talented team than the Miami Heat and you're in a 3 0 hole and you win three in a row and you win it in just that exuberant fashion. Yeah I can understand why almost everybody in America in the moment at that time on Saturday night thought the Boston Celtics were going to win the game.

But then you follow that up with the performance last night on Monday night by Boston. And first off let me congratulate the Miami Heat. They are one of the classiest organizations in sports. They're one of the more well run organizations in sports with Pat Riley our exposure and they don't have a roster that's filled with talent that you go.

Okay this should be an NBA Finals team. And they were in the playing tournament. They lose the first game.

They're down late in the second playing tournament game. They go on to quickly dispose of Milwaukee in five when Milwaukee was a one seed and they're in eight. Then they beat the Knicks.

And then to follow it up in this series and the roller coaster of emotions. I don't know who to be if I'm more impressed with Miami if I'm more disappointed in Boston. Because when Miami comes out swinging at 3-0 everyone in America thought this series was over. And the fact that we even had a game seven last night was absolute mayhem.

But really when you look back at that from Miami perspective then we'll just shred Boston in a moment. Caleb Martin being the Heat's best player last night really speaks to everything that Miami is about. Because Caleb Martin who should have won the Easter Conference Finals MVP the Larry Bird Trophy or whatever they call it. He should have won the MVP. He's the reason they won that game. Caleb Martin's heroics 11-16 from the field 4-6 from 3.

26 points and 10 rebounds. That is as big of a reason compared to the Jalen Brown no-show why Miami is going to the NBA Finals. But that's what Miami does. They bring in players that usually no one is talking about. When you look at this roster they're littered with them. Gabe Vincent, Max Schreus, Caleb Martin. You know Highsmith even made some plays last night.

Duncan Robinson. You go up and down that roster these are guys that have played imperative minutes on a team in a game seven that get to the NBA Finals last night. And as much as we praise them right now they were almost on the verge of really like losing it all. Like they'll always be in the mix. But when you talk about it it took so long for people to call Jimmy Butler great and Eric Spulcher great and recognize their greatness that usually creates people being very stubborn.

And then the moment you face some adversity and the moment you struggle and if you do fall then people want to take that greatness tag back. And that was on the line last night because Spulcher is a phenomenal coach. Butler is a phenomenal player.

But I think there would have been a very critical conversation about how great are they really? And can Butler win a championship on his own? Can Eric Spulcher win a championship without LeBron James and Dwyane Wade? Those conversations would have happened today if you would have had a historical collapse by the Miami Heat who were up 3-0 and would have been the first team ever in NBA history to blow a 3-0 lead and lose that game seven. That's what's on the line. And Miami last night not only stepped up and delivered they stepped up and they didn't even make that a game in the fourth quarter.

You could have played that Peppa song in the fourth quarter if you wanted to with about eight minutes to go. So congratulations to Miami. The fact they're off to the NBA Finals is just unbelievable.

They'll go up against Denver. But the biggest takeaway from last night, it's not Joe Mazzola. And I love TNT. I love Inside the NBA.

It's the best studio show of all time. But the conversation after the game shouldn't have been, is Joe Mazzola coming back? It shouldn't have been. There is a conversation to be had about Joe Mazzola, but that's not the number one talking point from the Boston side of the game last night. The number one talking point from the Boston side of the game last night is the epic no-show by Jaylen Brown. Where early in the game, right off the bat, Jason Tatum rolls his ankle. And we all know Jason Tatum is the best player for the Boston Celtics and clearly that did impact his performance last night as he was grimacing in pain all throughout the game. And coming out of halftime with that rest, I thought he looked worse. But you needed Jaylen Brown, who we hear the rumors he wants to be the number one guy.

Maybe he doesn't want to be in Boston anymore. Well, if you want to be the number one guy, go show your worth last night. I know you're eligible making the All-NBA Second Team for a five-year, $295 million extension, but prove your worth last night. And in the biggest stage at home with the season on the line, on the verge of making history, Jaylen Brown was just flat-out pathetic. Eight turnovers when you needed to rise up to the occasion. Anytime you asked him to go left, he turned over the basketball. And he was just an anemic eight of 23, shooting the basketball from the field, one of nine from three. And Boston lives and dies off the three ball. They were horrible right out of the gate, and it lasted all night long as they were nine of 42 from three. But the conversation last night shouldn't be, should Joe Mazzola be brought back?

Yeah, you have to eventually get into that conversation. The conversation is, what the heck does Boston do with Jaylen Brown? Who has one year left in his contract, eligible for the big extension, lucrative extension, as I just mentioned, but here's what I got to know from Jaylen Brown. Do you want to be back with the Boston Celtics? Because if you don't want to be back with the Boston Celtics, it's up to Brad Stevens to get rid of you this offseason. And I've seen all the speculation and all the trade conversations, Dame for Brown. Do you do the number three pick in Anferdi Simons that you would get back from the Portland Trailblazers?

You call up the Hornets who had the second pick and try to get the number two pick to maybe go draft Brandon Miller. You could talk about all these trade scenarios until we're blue in the face, but I need to know right now, does Jaylen Brown want to be back? And if Jaylen Brown can't give me a yes and can't fully commit to saying he wants to be at the Boston Celtics, you have to trade in this offseason. But if he does want to come back and there's a lot of reasons and a lot of millions that even want to come back as you make more money with the Celtics, then do you want to pay him that five year $295 million contract? Because last night he didn't look anywhere close to being a top 20 player in the league, which you know he is, or someone that you want to give $295 million to over five years. And if he doesn't want to come back, you have to trade him.

But if he says he wants to come back, that makes that discussion a lot more complicated. Because it's what can you get back for Jaylen Brown? Jaylen Brown is a really, really good player. I can't call him great.

Don't get me wrong. He shows signs of greatness, but a great player last night, who all you hear has potential desires to be a number one or another team, he needed to step up to the occasion. When Jason Tatum is playing in that game with an apparent and obvious ankle injury, Jaylen Brown couldn't no-show last night and he absolutely no-showed it a big way.

You're better off just slapping his face on a milk carton and saying he's gone missing. And it's not like Miami, even though their effort was really impressive, it's not like Miami was unbeatable last night. I know what the score says, 103 to 84. I know they hit 14 threes. But you let Caleb Martin be the best player in a game seven.

And that is a brutal look on Jaylen Brown. I know you can sit here and tell me the coach isn't over his head, you don't like his interviews, the team is missing Emay Udonka all throughout the year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Stop it.

Just stop it. I don't care who the coach was last night. It doesn't matter who the coach was last night. If Jaylen Brown played the way that he did last night, they had no shot to win the game the moment when Jason Tatum's ankle rolled. And Jaylen Brown, that was horrible. That was horrific. That was abysmal. And he is the number one main reason why the Boston Celtics did not complete and make history last night.

Because he was brutal. Once again, eight of 23 from the field, one of nine from three, an extremely empty 19 points. And he had eight turnovers.

And you saw last year in the finals, you saw this year again, when he has to dribble to the left, when you have to make him go left, he is just a walking turnover. And I can't wait to see what happens this offseason because it's not an easy decision. We know he's a top 20 player in the sport and this group has been together for a long time and they're extremely young. Like they still have a window. They still have a window to go win a championship. But is this the right pairing? And last night, it does leave you with that feeling.

Maybe the timing is just right to have a divorce and break up this duo. Tatum's not going anywhere. He is their best player. And the odd man out would be Jaylen Brown. But you just can't give Jaylen Brown away for nothing. And if you want to go tie your fortunes to a second or third overall pick, OK, I can understand that. You want to get the number three overall pick in Anthony Simons?

OK, fine. But I look at Damian Lillard, even though he's older, even though he has a shorter window, I would roll the dice if I'm Boston and trade in Jaylen Brown and bring it in Dane Lillard. And you have Tatum and Brown together for probably three more years of Dame being really damn good. And seeing if that's the missing piece to going on out there and getting an NBA championship. And I know Dame has never won an NBA championship. He's never really been on a team that you looked at and you said, OK, they're going to go to an NBA championship.

His apex in Portland was getting to the Western Conference Finals a few years ago. But, Hickey, I got to think last night, Dame Lillard, if he was on that Celtics team, plays 100 percent better than what you saw for Jaylen Brown. That is how bad Jaylen Brown was.

Like, I'm watching that game. My thoughts aren't praise the Heat. My thoughts aren't Joe Mazzola's got to go. Yeah, sure, Caleb Martin was so impressive. But when you watch that game last night, if you are human without a dog in the fight, like if you're not a Miami Heat fan, if you're not a Boston Celtics fan, if you were just impartial and you were watching that game last night, the glaring problem, the glaring storyline from the game was just the incompetence, the incompetence and the awful performance by one Jaylen Brown.

That was brutal, Hickey, last night. It was brutal, but to me it goes even more of just beyond him because, like, this is a Celtics team issue that's been happening now for years on end. It's not a one-year thing where it's just a Joe Mazzola coaching problem. This Celtics team has been up and down, has been very bad at some of the most important parts of the postseason now consistently for the last three, four, five years. Like, this is a core issue, and Jaylen Brown's obviously a big reason for that because of his inconsistency, because now his defense has fallen off, because he's a turnover machine, because even though he's supposed to be a co-star, but when your main star, Jason Tatum, goes down seconds into Game 7, you need your second best player to really step up and play well. And instead, he was a detriment and he was a net negative to what the Celtics were looking to do here. It's a bad day for the Celtics, but it's also the same time with how they've been, not a surprising one.

This is who they are. I can't go back that many years because I think people now do revisionist history. When they went to all those conference finals, it's not like they were ever really expected to be there, and it's not like you looked at that team right away and said, okay, you believed that they were going to win the NBA Finals. You know, once they went into 2020, 2021, and they had that disappointment of losing in the first round, I believe to Brooklyn, and then Brad Stevens started to say, okay, I probably got to go upstairs, or Rick Grossbeck, whoever you believe said to him, you should go upstairs, we need a coaching change. It was then last year where they get to the Finals, and yes, they had their shortcomings in the Finals up against the Golden State Warriors, but heading into this year, it's really the last two years where they've come up short. All the years before that, outside of 2020, 2021, when they were going far in the playoffs, it's not like, to me at least, I viewed them as a championship team. But in the last two years, those were kind of the championship or bus years, and they failed.

It's kind of like Buffalo, like when you look at the Buffalo Bills in football. When they were consistently getting to the playoffs, you didn't really think they had a chance to go to the Super Bowl, even when they made that AFC Championship game and lost to Kansas City. But it was really last year was the first year where you said with the Buffalo Bills, it's championship or bust, and kind of with the Boston Celtics, even last year, you get there, you got to win it, but no one knew what that team was going to do with Imbeu Doka, and heading into this year, coming off that Finals appearance, even though they lost to Doka, this was championship or bust, and they failed.

They failed to capture that title. So I can't say it's like, oh, the last four years, oh, it's the last five years, and I'm not saying that this group can never get the job done because they're still incredibly young. But last night, when you're not going up against an immortal team, you're going up against a team that is a team that gives the toughest effort out of anybody in the league, and they're just a gritty team. Just having Jason Tatum, I'm not trying to underestimate the importance of Jason Tatum, but just having him roll his ankle, that shouldn't be why you lose the game. Because if Tatum can't be 100%, Brown is supposed to step up, and Brown not stepping up last night is really, to me, that glaring sign of he's just not ready right now to give you that effort if it's required to go win a championship. And that's why I am intrigued to see what is out there, what can you get for Jalen Brown, but if I'm a team trying to trade for him, do I feel good about him being my number one player on a team? I would not.

That's just me, though, Icky. I mean, regular season-wise, yes, he's a very good player, but obviously you're trading for him to have him be your centerpiece or co-star to win a championship, and right now, in the postseason, he's not been that player consistently. I'm not talking about expectations for the Celtics in terms of this being the fourth or fifth year of not getting a championship being a failure. I'm more talking about this is the fourth or fifth year in a row of this core where they are still inconsistent, where they are consistently being inconsistent, where they will have some great games and some stinkers, mostly one right after another, and you never know on any given night what Celtics team is going to show up, even though they have now, especially the last two years, the talent advantage in almost any single series they're playing. Like, even look at this year. Hawks, Sixers, Heat, easily, all three of those series had the talent advantage. Those first two series were pathetic, and then they were down 3-0, and that was pathetic, too.

You don't know what Celtics team is going to show up. Up to this point, they've gotten, for the most part, they've bailed out. I would argue they maybe should have won the finals last year, but, okay, fine, you lose to the Warriors, okay. Up to this point, they've not gotten burned.

This is where they do, but this is who they've been. They've gotten out of it, but this is who they've been with this Tatum and Brown core, very inconsistent all throughout the postseason. This is the wake-up call, because if you would have said heading into this postseason, who's the teams that go into the NBA Finals? It was only two answers.

If you were being honest with yourself, it's two answers. It was Milwaukee or Boston. And to have Milwaukee lose in the first round, and you can't get there, and you allow Caleb Martin, God bless him, to be the deciding factor in a Game 7, that is just brutal. And it totally eliminates all the euphoria from the all-time great moment on Saturday night of the Derek White shot.

Like, you'll remember that. Like, we're Mets fans. We all remember Andy Chavez's catch. I can't stand when they still play that catch, because they didn't win the series. I know the White play led to a win, but it followed it up with the loss, and you didn't get the job done.

And it's one of those plays that you'll always talk about, then you're going to have to say, but in Game 7, Derek White showed up, Jaylen Brown did not. And Jaylen Brown is the number one reason today why the Boston Celtics aren't getting ready to go up against the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals. And it's the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. So Tom Brady is set to become the minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, as Mark Davis said that last week. So TB12 is going to be in the Vegas ownership group in some capacity.

We don't know exactly what he's going to do day to day, but he's set to become minority owner. Now over the weekend, we found out through Mike Flory, who obtained a version of Jimmy G's contract, because Jimmy G is not available for the start of OTAs with that foot injury that we found out he needed off-season surgery for. It was the same foot injury that he suffered that allowed Brock Purdy to get onto the field for the 49ers and rock out with this Brock out and look pretty awesome as the 49ers made it all the way to the NFC title game before Brock Purdy got hurt in South Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. Now I remember, and I was wondering what the heck happened, and I even said it in the moment, the Raiders can't even do an introductory press conference right, when they were getting ready for the introductory press conference with Jimmy Garoppolo, and then there was some hiccup that delayed it, but everyone said in hot take hickey fashion, no big deal, nothing to see here. So that's what they told you, and then a few days later they introduced Jimmy Garoppolo. Well Jimmy Garoppolo couldn't pass a physical, according to Mike Florio, with the Las Vegas Raiders. So they had to put this addendum G in this contract, which takes a signing bonus away until he can pass a physical, then I think it converts it into a salary for all this year, but really that addendum G gave the Raiders a right, long story short, you know I don't want to get caught up too much in the boring details of the contract, that if he can't pass a physical, and if he is even on the field for a game, and then suffers an additional injury because of this foot injury, they could get out of this contract for nothing.

But if Jimmy G is on the field this year for one game, gets through the game, no additional injury, then you can't get rid of him for nothing is pretty much my understanding of this situation. So Hickey, through all that language of the contract, the big conversation this weekend was, is Tom Brady on the verge of being a minority owner for the Las Vegas Raiders and also playing quarterback for them? And I get it, that's low hanging fruit, Brady probably didn't really want to retire, you know he always wants to play, you have Josh McDaniels, his guy out there in Las Vegas, you have Devante Adams there, and a few other wide receivers too, you know maybe Brady does Josh a favor, and also kind of stick it right in the back of Jimmy G again, whatever happened in that end in New England when Jimmy G and Belichick, or more so Belichick was trying to get Jimmy G to replace Tom Brady, even though we've seen Brady and Jimmy G hang out before, but who knows where their relationship is at.

So I understand why that conversation pops up, but it's not going to happen. Because if you go back to the entire tampering situation with the Miami Dolphins, the Dolphins plan was to have Brady with Stephen Ross as a Michigan man, be a minority owner of the Miami Dolphins, get Sean Payton there, and then Brady would eventually play quarterback for the Miami Dolphins. And Florio said this at the time, it's either Brady didn't know this, the Dolphins didn't know this, or they were foolish enough to think they would get approval. If you're an owner in any capacity and you want to play, from my understanding with the way that Florio pointed this out, the Dolphins would have needed 32 teams, all 32 teams, to give it a thumbs up. So that still applies, assuming this Brady ownership goes through, and I don't see why it wouldn't, if Brady wants to then play for the Raiders, according to Florio, you will need all 32 teams to give the thumbs up. Now you know the Raiders would give the thumbs up, but am I going to sit here and assume and be the biggest dope idiot moron and fool on the planet that all 31 other teams will say, oh it's good for the league to have Tom Brady back and playing football? Absolutely not. You know, bare minimum, there would be at least one team that would say, no thanks.

And I'm sure there would be several more. So this idea and this jackassery that Brady's going to be the minority owner of the Raiders, and is also going to play quarterback if Jimmy G can't stay healthy, is a bunch of garbage and hogwash. Because there's no way the other teams are going to say, when you need unanimous, it has to be all 32 teams, they're going to say, yeah, let's get the greatest quarterback of all time, even though he's getting up there in age, and he's tormented teams the last 20 years. Yeah, once he gets out of the sport, let's bring him back into the sport and play on the field. There is no way, no shot, Brady is going to be a minority owner for the Raiders, and also playing quarterback for them this upcoming year, Hickey.

Oh yeah, I'm with him, no way. So it's a fun conversation, it's a fun thought of let's connect the dots of, oh, he's already about to be a part of the organization, he's still coming off a year in which, you know, he's starting to slow down, but it's nowhere near the drop-off we've seen so many other players have, Jimmy G is hurt again, what a shock, he can't play. Let's just make the smooth transition from Jimmy G to Brady, can't happen, cool fantasy story, won't happen. If I was an owner though, I know why you would probably vote no, because you could manipulate the salary cap if the guy is a minority owner in the team, who knows what his cut is, who knows what he's actually getting, but he could take a lower salary and then get promised things other ways behind the scenes, yada yada yada. So that's why you would vote no, but it would be pretty cool, even though it won't happen if you had Brady be a minority owner and then when he wants to just say, yeah, you know what, bleep it, I'm going to go play for the Las Vegas Raiders. Even though there's been a part of me as a big-time Brady fan and a Brady hunk that has said I don't want him to play football anymore, that would be neat if he was a minority owner and if all the teams said, you know what, we'll give you the thumbs up, we'll let you play, and then Brady is there to save Josh McDaniel's ass once again, because if it wasn't for Brady, even though Josh McDaniel is a good offensive mind, there is no way Josh McDaniel would be a head coach in the NFL. Well, it would also be interesting to see how much say he's got if a player runs the wrong route, boom, you're cut.

And now I'm basically the partner and I can do that. McDaniel's, I don't like it, boom, you're out. And all of a sudden now he's wielding power and firing guys at halftime. Could you imagine if at halftime, Josh, love you, we've had a great run together for 20-something years, didn't like that play call on third down that you had, your ass is in the jackpot, you're at it, you're fired. We'll have someone else be the coach of the Raiders next week. If I'm an owner, I'm approving that.

That is reality TV at its finest, I'm in, let's just see it happen. Now, I also wonder what Brady's role is going to be as minority owner, because Jeter was a part of that ownership group in Miami before he left, and he was basically running the team and making the day-to-day decisions. I wonder how much involvement Brady's actually going to have in Las Vegas. And you would imagine, now maybe Brady is getting involved just to have that opportunity and have that outlet, but you would think Brady would be heavily involved if he's jumping this, you know, into a role like this, this quickly since walking away. It's almost like an addiction part, that he feels like he has to have some sort of impact in the game even if he's not playing on the field.

I would look at this more as an investment, more than control. Like he's going to be the president of the team? I don't think he's going to be a GM, I don't think, you know, maybe Mark Davis will call him on a few questions, but I bet you still a majority of the decisions will be mostly Mark Davis made. You know how Kraft used to call, or still does call, Belichick, Tommy?

You know Mark Davis is on the phone with Brady every day. Tommy, what do you think we should do with this? Tommy, what do you think we should do with that?

Etcetera, etcetera. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break. Another team is now being mentioned in the DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes. We'll tell you which team that is, and a pretty big name player is already making the recruiting pitch for DeAndre Hopkins.

We'll get into that on the other side. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. When I was watching Inside the NBA last night, and I don't know how I didn't realize this throughout the entirety of the postseason, but Hickey, I did think to myself, Charles Barkley is looking a bit slimmer. Now I just saw that Ryan Glassbeagle from the New York Post, he wrote an article on Barkley. How much weight do you think Charles Barkley has lost?

This is in, I believe, the last six months. How much weight do you think he's down? I will say 40 pounds.

You're close. He's down 62 pounds. Wow.

That's crazy. Like, 40 is a big number. And I've lost 70 pounds in the last three years. To lose, though, 62 pounds in, I think this is the last six months, where he started taking this drug called Mongero, I don't know if I just said that correctly, but it's some weight loss drug, and he's lost 62 pounds because of it. He was at 352. He's now down to 290. And his doctor said, there's a lot of young fat people, there aren't a lot of old fat people, they're all dead. That's what the doctor said to Chuck, and that's when Chuck realized, okay, you got to lose some weight. And Chuck's doctor said that this pill, I guess, with the way that they're studying the progress, is going to get him down to 270. Now, I'm always skeptical about weight loss pills, because as quickly as you lose it, as quickly as you could gain it back, when I lost, what, 70 pounds the last three years, I didn't take any weight loss pill, I just started to move my ass more, eliminate or reduce the booze, and then really just eat healthier. And for the most part, I've been able to keep that off, like some weeks you'll skyrocket up like five to ten pounds or something like that, and then you just get back to your routine, and you start to lose that five to ten pounds that you gain. It's crazy how much you could gain and lose in a week after you lose that much weight, and there's always moments like, I started to lose a pretty decent amount of weight right before the start of the pandemic, and then the pandemic hit, and we were all inside, and I went right back up and I said, okay, I did some good work, let's not lose, and I started working out more, ordered an elliptical that I got shipped to the house during the start of the pandemic, and then boom, there you go. But how about that for the Chuckster, down 62 pounds. You know, also looks like he keeps on losing weight, and I know he had some doctor that did some method with him, Dana White. That dude's looking at as skinny as skinny could be these days, and you know he eats, because I follow him on Instagram, everywhere he goes it's some fine Italian restaurant. So good stuff there by the Chuckster.

Starting at 352 is now down to 290. By the way, we were talking about some of the potential destinations for DeAndre Hopkins when that news did come out last week, and the five destinations that I listed, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Jets, and the New England Patriots, where all five I think could use DeAndre Hopkins, and then all five there could be some potential interest in DeAndre Hopkins. This is one destination that I did not think about, but it would make a lot of sense, and it already has one former teammate of DeAndre Hopkins talking, and that is Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who said today that he would love to have his former Houston wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins join him in Cleveland, and Hickey, we talk about how lethal that AFC North could be when you take a glance, and you know that right now it's dominated by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Ravens paid Lamar this offseason and brought him in some wide receivers as well. I think Pittsburgh is going to be better, as I like what they have on the defensive side of the ball, and I do like some of their pieces on the offensive side of the ball. Cleveland's a team that is loaded, absolutely loaded with talent, but they always have that yeah, but, because whenever you start to believe in Cleveland, something wrong it feels like does happen, but you look at that team, just on the offensive side of the ball, they have Nick Chubb. Well, first off, they have one of the best offensive lines in the league, but they have Nick Chubb, you have Amari Cooper, one of the more underrated wide receivers in the league, you got Elijah Moore, Donovan People-Jones is a solid wide receiver, I like David Bell out of Purdue, I know he didn't do much in his first year, but we'll see what happens in year number two, but you have a pretty damn good team, and you look at the defensive side of the ball, you know you have Denzel Ward in the back end, Miles Garrett up front, you have a pretty talented roster, now there's only seven spots in the AFC, and probably Cincinnati as long as Burrow stays healthy is going to win that division, and you have three other divisions, so there's really three spots that Cleveland's going to be fighting for, and you got to think bare minimum two teams from the AFC East get in, and bare minimum two teams from the AFC North get in, and then probably that last spot, wild card wise, I would say is for the Chargers, now could you have multiple teams get in the AFC West and that trims from the East and the North? Yeah, I guess that's potential, but right now I'd feel pretty confident in saying that the Bills are in, the Jets are in, the Bengals are in, the Jaguars are in, the Chiefs are in, and the Chargers are in, like those are six teams I would be surprised if one of those six are in the playoffs, and that just leaves one spot open, and we all know Miami's really talented, the concern is just as to we're talking about Logan to be healthy, we know how good the Ravens could be if Lamar can stay healthy, we talked about the Steelers and Browns, you look at the West, to the Broncos, they got to find a way to turn it around after what was a brutal season last year, now you have Sean Payton in, but you look at this Browns team, I feel like the Browns are lost in the conversation, and it could be for a multitude of reasons, just because every time the last few years you expect them to be good, they're just so up and down, also I'm sure there's a ton of people, and deservedly so, rooting against a Sean Watson, and when you're rooting against someone, and everyone has a right to root against a Sean Watson, I don't need to see him do any good in the NFL with what he was accused of off the field, so sometimes when you're rooting against someone, you kind of forget about them when they were a bad football team last year, and there's a lot of rust to knock off for Deshaun Watson too, and we don't know how much he's lost to knock off, but if you could go line up with that offensive line, and a receiving core, with the three names of DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, with Chubb out of the backfield, Deshaun Watson throwing the ball, who knows, I still think Kareem Hunt hasn't signed anywhere, so maybe he winds up back in Cleveland, that enhances your chances, especially if you could take him away from the Ravens, where you know that Lamar Jackson wants DeAndre Hopkins, and you have that pre-existing relationship with Deshaun Watson, so it's not like that's a name that you bring in, and it's, oh you need so much time for the quarterback and wide receiver to create chemistry, they already have the chemistry, even though it's been a few years, but they were a wonderful duo together with the Houston Texans, with Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins, so I don't know if that gives them a leg up in this conversation, but already having that pre-existing relationship doesn't hurt, but I go back to this, I don't know what DeAndre Hopkins wants, he says he wants to win, but are you willing to take a pay cut to go win somewhere, like if I look at Cleveland, I think there's better places to go to give you a chance to win, and I'm talking about winning a Super Bowl, but how does he define winning, is that just getting back to the playoffs, is that just getting to an AFC title game, you know, is he okay with maybe getting fewer reps, like that's dependent on some of these situations, and I don't know what he's going to prioritize, is it as much money as he can in one year, is it who the quarterback is, is it who gives him the best chance to win, is he okay in being in a crowded wide receiver room, or does he want to go to a place where he'll definitely be the number one guy, those are all things that no one has a damn clue how they're going to factor and how they're going to rank in his decision and his decision-making process, but yeah, you hear the Browns, that is a team that I wouldn't say right away, oh, I can't see it happening, and that puts the Browns kind of in that conversation of teams that probably think they have a realistic chance to get DeAndre Hopkins, and that's a team that could actually use him as well, and it's not just an added luxury for that roster. I mean, we are changing the way we talk about the Browns, not maybe big time, but they're definitely, like I said, a player and way more on the radar. It makes you more aware about them.

Right, compared to where they are basically right now, where it's kind of out of sight, out of mind a little bit. Like, nothing against Elijah Moore, but they made that move, it's like, okay, nice move, solid move, but you make the move for DeAndre Hopkins, who missed games at the end of the year, missed the first six games to start the season because the suspension was averaging over 11 yards per catch, that's how you go, whoa, nice job by Cleveland, and then every talk show in America would start to say, should we consider Cleveland to be a playoff team this year, right? I can hear it now on the weekends on CBS Sports Radio. Give us a call, 855-212-4CBS. Zach Gilshaw, CBS Sports Radio. 20 percent off Grammarly Premium when you're ready to upgrade. That's Grammarly.com slash podcast.