Lillard Leaving Portland? (Hour 4)

All right, he's at Kelp Show CBS Sports Radio. I've reached a point of frustration here, Hickey, and I actually got to commend you for something.

I'm going to give you a compliment. You were dead on when talking about Damian Lillard. We have reached a point where Damian Lillard plays both sides of the fence here, where he dangles out the carrot of, oh, there's a chance I'm going to get traded, but keeps on going back to Portland has a chance to keep me, Portland's got to do this, Portland's got to do that, and there's nothing more, and I actually do believe him on this part, that he wants to do than win a championship in Portland. But we have now had this conversation for three years, three years full on, are you going to leave Portland or not?

Like, think about it, Hickey. From your standpoint, you have gone from just becoming the producer to this show, to then just starting to get some fill-in shifts, to then them giving you your own show and filling in a bunch on this show, and nothing has changed with Damian Lillard. Because I remember the first time you filled it on this show, there was some story out there about Damian Lillard, and the phone lines were jammed all from Portland, Oregon, and it was, I would be fine with Damian Lillard leaving the organization because the organization hasn't done right by him. And three years later, nothing has changed. And in a bizarre world now, where we get used to so many stars leaving via free agency, or forcing themselves out via trade, Damian Lillard keeps on telling you he's loyal to Portland, he wants to stay in Portland, and so far, he keeps on giving the Portland Trailblazers the benefit of the doubt.

And it's the definition of insanity. Now, I understand, I guess he had a good relationship with Chauncey Billups, and he wanted to give Chauncey Billups a shot, but Chauncey Billups has now been there for a few years. So at this rate, if you want to win a championship, what are they going to do with the third overall pick? Whether it's them taking a player or trading that pick, even in a league now with Dynamic Duos, where in return, you're going to get someone that thinks you're going to be able to go out there and contend for a championship. And I know that's very loose with players, where it doesn't take much for players to think they have a shot with how much they believe in themselves to go contend for a championship, but this is now a league of Dynamic Duos, and the Western Conference has some good teams.

There's not a lot of great teams, though, in the Western Conference. So I don't get what Lillard's trying to do at this point, and for a while, it was crush the Portland Trailblazers and feel bad for Damian Lillard, and I love Damian Lillard. If you listen to the show, Damian Lillard for years has been my favorite player in the NBA, but now at this point, I just don't care about the conversation, and I don't feel bad for Damian Lillard anymore because he can't have it both ways. You know, in the bottom of your heart, you're not going to win a championship in Portland, but you want to win a championship in Portland, and you keep on giving them chance after chance after chance, and they don't do anything for you.

So at this point, stop with, oh, I'd be interested in Miami, or, oh, I'd be interested in Brooklyn, or, oh, I'm still interested in staying in Portland. Make a final bleeping decision. This is coming from a Dame fan, and I'm tired of, I'll stay, but if they don't do this, then I'll leave, then I'll stay, then I'll leave. It's been the same song and dance for three years, and I can't sit here and predict how this is going to go on out because even if, let's say, they keep the third overall pick and that doesn't make Dame happy, is Dame going to force his way out?

Because they keep on doing the wrong thing and you keep on staying. So I truly have no clue which way this is going to go, Hanky. I share in your frustration because right now it's three years of the same old, same old, and I hope this is not the case.

I'm not saying it is the case, but I am openly wondering now if this is starting to be the case. I'm starting to at least believe, I think Dame is scared. I think he's truly scared to go to a contender and fail, to be honest with you, because it's not only been three years now, him flirting with it and not doing it.

We have some sound now. He did not include this because it's kind of like a little bit of a, he was rambling, but he's basically talking about if I get traded to a contender, it's no guarantee. There's no such thing as a guarantee. Who knows if everyone's going to be healthy by the time the playoffs come and it's like, yeah, obviously if you, let's just say, get traded to the Sixers, let's just say, there's no guarantee that Embiid's going to be healthy or that your third best player is going to be healthy. Things in the playoffs happen. We've seen injuries impact the postseason.

But pause real quick because I heard that clip that he was saying. He was talking, he used Russell Westbrook as that example. What I think the difference would be here is everyone knew when Russell Westbrook got dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers that it was not a fit and it didn't work. I think in most of the places where people are talking about Damian Loehr going to, which Miami has been the most popular one, who's going to look at that and say, oh, that's not a fit. Because the Heat, even though they're in the NBA Finals right now and they have a chance to win this series, even though a lot of people, including yours, truly think Denver is going to win it all. We have seen Miami now get the two NBA Finals with Jimmy Butler and you still feel as if they could go add another star.

Now, I don't know how they get that deal done and Bam has been really damn good for them this postseason. But I would think for the most part that a Dame gets traded somewhere, it would be met with an entirely different reaction than the Russell Westbrook trade. Because for most parts, you need a Dame to win in this league. And Dame fits in a lot of these places that we keep on speculating about. Well, there's no, like Russell Westbrook, the example he used is very poor because Russell Westbrook is a terrible fit and he referred to it as a Hall of Famer without actually recognizing the fit on the team and where his game's at right now.

Coming off the bench and all that, yeah. But you know what he kind of sounded like to me? Again, when he's talking about, oh, there's no guarantee, which yes, he's right.

No one's saying you're guaranteed to win a championship if you go to Miami or Philly or wherever, Brooklyn. But he kind of sounded like someone who is in a relationship with someone and all they do is talk about, oh man, I can't wait to be single. Or if I was single, I would go talk to that girl and go bring her home with me, no doubt about it. And you always keep talking about, I wish I was single, I can't wait to be single. But you never actually make the move, you never actually break up with your significant other. Because deep down you know, if I was single, I'm not confident I could seal the deal. And for Damian Lillard, now three years in a row, talk about it and flirt with all, I'd love to be traded to Miami. I would let, you know, Mike L. Bridges is my guy.

I'd love to go to Brooklyn, maybe, you know, maybe Philly. He always flirts with that idea and then anytime there's a real chance to do action, it never happens. That's the vibe I'm starting to get. I don't think though, where you're directing what he's afraid of is in the right place. But I do think he's afraid and I think he's afraid of, and I've said this for years, of being viewed as the bad guy. Because no one would actually view him as the bad guy, but he has seen so many superstars in the NBA leave and then become that quote-unquote villain and be viewed as that bad guy. And right, the term has been thrown out there, oh that guy took the easy way out of winning a championship. That's what's been thrown out there for so many stars in the NBA. And here's what I think sometimes any athlete does, not just NBA players, but any athlete does. I think when they see a reaction be a bad reaction to someone that's a star in the sport like a Kevin Durant, what he did years ago.

I think they believe, you know, that that's going to happen to them. But that's not what the reality would suggest in this situation because everyone would understand and would applaud you finally saying I want to go to a different team and the time is now to do so because he's been as loyal as anybody here. He's been loyal to pass a point where no one would be mad if he would actually leave in a world where there are people that get mad when you leave a current team to go somewhere else. I hope you're wrong just on this fact that he has awful self-awareness then. Like if he can't realize and recognize the difference of him leaving compared to Kevin Durant joining the Warriors after his team blew a 3-1 lead to the Western Conference Finals.

There's a lot of reasons why. So it's like you leaving would not be recognized in a negative way whatsoever. And if you can't read that or can't even understand the feelings of your own fan base and how they would feel, you've been there forever.

What are you doing then? How do you not read the room and say if I was to go to wherever, Philly, Brooklyn, Miami, you name it. People are excited and applauding more than calling you a traitor and a sellout. And you see what CJ McCollum said by the way today on first take?

No. CJ McCollum thinks that he's going to be done in Portland. That's what CJ McCollum said.

And they had a relationship for a while before you did see CJ McCollum ended up getting dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans. So he said the market will dictate what happens here. If I was a betting man, I would say this is the last that we've seen of him in Portland. That's what he said today with Stephen A. Smith and Christopher Mad Dog Russo. Let's hear from Damian Lillard.

This is on the last stand pod. Damian Lillard says he still wants to try to win in Portland. I think I've made it clear, you know, what my wishes are. You know, I want to do it. I want to have opportunity to win in Portland. And, you know, right now we got the we got an opportunity asset wise to to build our team that that can build a team that can compete. You know, that would be the number one thing. But if we can't do that, then, you know, obviously, like I said, you know, for months now, like, then there's a separate conversation that we would have to have.

Let me ask you this, Hickey. He's not getting any younger. When you look at Damian Lillard. How quickly, even if they find a way and he's 32 turns 33 coming up next month. So what, two to three more years, probably three more years, we could go play really high level basketball before you start to slow down.

What is Portland going to be able to do in two to three years where you not only go from a team that isn't a championship contender to just then making yourself a championship contender? Like Avery Simon's a good young player in this league. But with the third overall pick, I would imagine Brandon Miller's going two.

So is Henderson then going to go three? And then we see this all the time with young players that are highly thought of. Just look at the the draft from a few years ago. I know Simon Williamson's been in the news today for a bunch of different reasons, but Simon Williamson so far has been a disaster. John Moran's been a really good young player, just one, two, three in that draft. John Moran's been a really good young player, but we don't know what's going on with him off the court.

And then three RJ Barrett, he's been fine. No, he's been solid, but I wouldn't say that he's someone that you look at as a top two player in a team that could go win a championship. He's probably a three at best on a championship team. So like just because you have a high draft pick doesn't doesn't mean that that's going to turn out to be anything. And how long does it take for that player to develop and go to be a player that you could trust to go win a championship as well? That's why I don't really think there's anything that Portland could do this off season that if you're being logical that makes Dame say, okay, I can see the vision of this franchise. And the only road that it would go down is if you trade that number three pick to go get an established player.

And what's the deal that you're getting done? You know, Luka Doncic is not forcing himself out of Dallas yet. LeBron James is I think he's going to stay with Los Angeles Lakers. So it's like Steph Curry's not going anywhere Golden State. So who's out there where that player is going to get moved and it's going to really move the needle where you think you go win a championship?

I don't see it. Unless the reverse happens and the Sixers say, you know what? We're going to blow it up. We'll trade and bead. Like I don't see that happening, but it's like, yeah, well, that won't happen outside of that.

I don't really know a lot of moves. I mean, you hope that the number three pick hits hits big time and in two years is at the level where you can truly when he's like 35 compete in the West, like for John Moran. It took three years for the Grizzlies to be like, be like a legitimate threat in the West. I think they got the two seed last year. They were improving the entire time. So it's like, so John Moran got to the level in three years where, okay, you could say this team can compete for a title. Obviously you have one piece there in Dame Lillard, but do you have three years for that player to again, get to championship level play.

You have to hit on the pick. That's the biggest part. Hit and then have them develop fast enough where they could play at a number two or be a number two in a championship team again within three years.

It's unlikely. So they, I agree. Portland, I mean, at this point, probably better off trading team, right?

Yeah. And you have every Simon's their young player. You get another get some package back and then you could get some capital back for, for Damian Lillard as well.

Let's get one more in here. This is what frustrates me because he says he wants to stay. And then you start to speculate on teams. You're playing both sides of the fence here, Damian Lillard on which teams he would want to get traded to this off season. This courtesy once again, the last stand pod, everybody keeps saying Damian Lillard is going to be traded to the Knicks. Damian Lillard is going to be traded to the heat. Damian Lillard should be traded to the Celtics.

Damian Lillard is going to be traded to the nets. If one of those trades with went through out of those teams, which one will you be like, that's not too bad. Miami, obviously. Miami is the obvious one. And Bam is my dog.

Bam is my dog for real. But I mean, I think Miami, the obvious one. Brooklyn is obvious.

One is another obvious one. Cause McHale bridges is my dog too. Here's the thing though. I don't see how Miami gets the deal done. And I know Brooklyn got picked back from the Durant deal. But if I'm Portland, wouldn't you want McHale bridges if you're giving up Dame Lillard? And I don't think Brooklyn's trading McHale bridges just to get Dame Lillard, who's an older player. So I don't really see those two being likely destinations.

That could be another part of this. Damian said he wants to stay in Portland, Dame said he wants to stay in Portland, then he started out destinations. Are any of those destinations really realistic? You know, the one that may be the most realistic is New York. With the Knicks, you team up him and Jalen Brunson, you throw RJ Barrett and picks. You kind of, you know, similar package to what you offer that got rejected for Donovan Mitchell last summer, the Utah Jazz.

And you try to make a deal done that way and get a deal done there. That's probably the most, the New York Knicks are probably the most realistic destination out of the three that he just mentioned. Not the best destination, but because the best one would be Miami, but the most realistic destination with those three teams and realize he didn't mention anything about the Knicks when it was starting out there.

He talked about Brooklyn, he talked about Miami. I, yeah, no, as an ex fan, it'd be fun. But again, also too, like it's, I'm just sick of this. Again, it's three years now.

He flirts with all these teams either to put nicely, pee or get off the pot. One or the other. And if you want to stay in Portland, fine, like you want to stay in Portland and just play your entire career there? No problem. No problem whatsoever. You want to get traded?

Also, no problem. But it's this constant dipping of the toe of, oh, maybe I'll get traded. Oh, who knows where would I love to play?

Well, Miami, you know, I do love Miami. When you're home, by the way, and you get, when you get mad and you get really frustrated, what does that look like? Do you ever like punch a hole in the wall or punch a hole in the wall or something? No, no, no, no. Cause that would probably break my hand. So who was that?

Amari Stoudemire with the fire extinguisher years ago. Yes. Right through the glass.

I would not do that. I like to actually, well, I like pound my, it depends what's giving me trouble. I like punch something.

If it's like, punch your pillow, stuck, punch that like, but never punch a hole through the wall. You'd be like that little kid Sheldon in that show. To see, I've never seen young, young Sheldon. So my apologies there, young Sheldon, Mr. Sheldon, but does he, he looks like a high pitch voice, nicely a nerd.

He can't do any damage. That's what I was kind of saying. I thought you were gonna say he punches holes through walls. I could see you just like high pitch screaming.

No, no, no. And then like just punch in a pillow or punch expletives. And usually I like to thrash it and not to punch, like to throw things, stomping the feet. I feel like you're a big stomp in the feet, dragging the feet type of guy.

No, not stopping to see again, more throw, like whatever they're like, the remote has given me trouble more than like, yeah, more than stopping my feet or punching a wall. You know what we should do? We should go to a rage room one day. You ever, you ever want to go to a rage room? I would love that. Oh my goodness.

Some computer monitors, some laptops. I would love to see how you would operate in a rage room. Cause I don't really see the rage with you. Oh, I think I'd have some fun. You would? I would love to do it. So don't be afraid.

I hurt myself one Saturday, New York city. We find a local rage room. We get some good show content there. Sure. You guys cameras are, yeah.

Cameras are allowed. And yeah, let's do it. Let's put protection on. All right. I'll be swinging for the fences.

And I'm not liable if a computer monitor that I just crushed goes 40 feet. We'd have to bring one of the guys from, from, uh, the, the digital side of things. Oh, that's okay. So if Anthony Gallo's coming to watch out, I may hit him. Well, that wouldn't be nice. Then you get fired.

No, I mean, I'm off duty. That actually could work for us. We get Hickey fired. Cause he, and then we could sue Hickey too. Cause you take a run at Gallo.

That would be nice. Well, I would delete this audio, but I would just claim it's an accident. Cause I'm in the rage room and I'm rage.

I didn't see him there. I'm going to text Gallo. I'm going to ask Gallo, would you want to go to a rage room with us one day and film it for content and see what he says. I love that. Love that. I mean, Hickey, let me know when Hickey being mad, man.

That's not actually a thing. That guy can't get mad or anything. He'll be mad about his cult.

So I'm in, I'm in, let's make fun of his cults. I'll say Andrew Luck. I'll just say Andrew Luck and I'll throw a temper tantrum. Anthony Gallo. One of my favorite people here at this building. Very nice guy. Despite what we just said, I would never hit Anthony Gallo. I do love him. Great guy. And again, these tapes are going to be deleted. So whatever I just said two minutes ago, I don't remember.

You got it. You know, Hickey's a mush. Hickey's a mush.

That's my favorite part with Gallo. He, he loves the Hickey hex cause he gets mad. Cause I, he was the original mush and he used to get mad at me for like a year.

I just, anytime he said something. You're still my material, bro. You're the real mush. He is the real mush.

You call me one. Again, I say it's more coincidence. He, that guy, truly the mush.

That's not true. I've heard you be a lot more wrong than he's ever been. Zach Gelb's Show, CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. All righty Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio, Denver's up 41 to 37 right now. Game three of the NBA Finals.

This series all tied up at one a piece with five 20 to go in the first half. I did see a photo today of Damar Hamlin, who practice in Bill's team drills during OTAs. And that's still unreal to me.

It really is. I'll never forget that when we were on the air, we're watching the game, Buffalo and Cincinnati, and you see a player go down. And I hate to say that it's, it's normal now, but you see a stretcher come out and you think that you'll see a player just give a thumbs up and go right into the ambulance and off to the hospital.

But while we were on the air on that, we were doing our news brief segment. I remember like it was yesterday and they kept on showing the field, then taking a commercial, showing the field, taking a commercial. And I go, man, this is pretty long for a player that you're assuming to get carried off in a stretcher. And then you saw how just crazy the look was and the sense of just fear and shock by all the players and how many tears were on the field. And then you knew, okay, this is something that's really serious. And when you saw the, the shots of the players and their reaction, and our players were huddling up so that you couldn't see DeMar Hamlin lie on the field when you know he was getting resuscitated on the field. And you had players that were moving away and had to turn their head because they could only take so much.

I think everyone's mind went to the direction. Did we just see a player die on the field? And at the time, I remember being on the air, you're thinking that, but you know, you can't say that. Like I wasn't going to be the person that said that on the radio. And it would have been totally reckless if you did, but everyone is thinking that at that time. And then in the aftermath, I remember the game did not go on.

You could not play that game. And you had Stefan Diggs who Uber his way to the hospital and then talked his way through security to get inside the hospital. And there were moments where you thought he just was never going to wake up.

And then slowly you kept on getting better news, better news, better news. And then I'll never forget the press conference where you had the doctor say DeMar Hamlin woke up and he asked, you know, he wrote it out. Did we like win the game or something like DeMar, you won life.

You won the game of life. And then eventually to see him get transported back to Buffalo. And then we saw him at the Bills playoff game as well. And you start to see him go to all these different sporting events and get honored and get talked about, which is just unbelievable and great. And you hear him give interviews and things like that. It's still such a surreal story because once again, what we witnessed on that Monday Night Football game, there was no doubt in my mind that this was not going to have a good ending, whether he died on the field or you thought that he was eventually going to unfortunately pass away in the hospital.

That's where everyone was thinking. And now today to see him on a football field, I know we got cleared a little while back and we talked about that when Brandon Bean made the announcement. But to actually see him with the helmet on, on a football field, it's one of the great comebacks ever. And it is just remarkable that we're at this point. And to think where we were a few months ago to where you are now, it's, I'll say it again, it is just simply unbelievable when you go back and look back at that.

It is. And you give him a lot of credit for, again, wanting to get back on the horse. You would not have, you know, it would have been honestly, maybe the smart thing to do.

Just say, you know what? That was maybe a sign I'll move on and now play this dangerous game. And it's to be back this fast too. And be on track to play week one after that happened. So late in the season, like the was I think the second to last week of the regular season in early January, it's truly amazing. It's a great triumph for the human spirit. And it's fair to say this point, probably know the comeback play of the years.

Be a great story. Great way to kind of cap off that, that finale. Hopefully if he does play in the regular season, I didn't even think about the award because it just like that award usually doesn't mean much to me. You know, most sports awards, I don't really care for them, but you're absolutely right. Like it's no bigger comeback than that. Alex Smith was tremendous, but this is nowhere in the same ballpark.

Yeah. And Alex Smith almost right. Had his leg amputated and him just getting back onto a football field was insane and actually playing. And anytime Alex Smith got back on a football field and he took a hit, just what we saw, it was like, Oh, I don't even want to see him playing. And I'm sure there still will be that a little bit when you see Damar Hamlin play as well. But you're absolutely right without a doubt Hillwind comeback play of the year. And also that medical staff, Denny Kellington, and what he did on the field with CPR clearly saved the Damar Hamlin's life.

It's, it's so wild that we're able to talk about this story in a positive way. Cause I always thought this story was just going to be the NFL's worst nightmare playing on out, having a player die on the field. And that's that night.

You were not human. If you were watching that game and you didn't think that we just saw a player potentially pass away on the field, but no one wanted to say it because no one obviously wanted it to happen, but you were thinking the worst and you were just waiting for good news and how quickly we were able to eventually get good news throughout this. It was just one of those things. It was, it was, it was truly a miracle. It really was truly a miracle because I thought that was going to be a night that we always look back on. And it was just going to be filled with, with pain and sorrow and, and remembrance. And now it's one of those nights that you look back on and it was a horrific night, obviously, but to see this comeback journey, just the fact whether he plays this year or not, but he's cleared to play and he's on a football field in, in practice, that's something I never thought that we would see. Cause I thought it was going to be in a life and death situation, the worst outcome.

And especially too, like we've obviously never, thankfully really seen something that's happened before. So you also don't know what the recovery time is. Like if he was out for whole of the year, it would make sense to be like, it's one of those things where it's all you tear an ACL.

Okay. This is the timetable and you have a hamstring strain, you know, it's one of those things where everything was progressing well, but I still didn't really think that maybe it was, there was a chance he's going to play this year just because again, of how serious it was, the nature of, again, almost dying on the field and how physical the game is. And also the mental side of this too. It's amazing how, and I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but publicly how positive he's been able to be.

And you said it earlier and I'll say it again. I would not have the guts or the courage to get back onto a football field after going through that and being able to survive and get cleared. I know athletes have a different mentality and that's why we're sitting here talking and they're doing the playing, but from a mental side of it, like how many times you talk about with an ACL, it really takes a quarterback. Yeah, they get back on the field in less than a year physically, but mentally you don't really see them at their best until a full year removed from coming back and playing. And then the season after that, when you take a look from the DeMar Hamlin side, this is totally different than any other thing that we've ever seen.

And there's going to be mental hurdles, but with how quickly he's been able to get back on to the field, I'm not trying to diminish still the importance of that, but it shows, or at least gives off the feeling that mentally he's has to be in a tremendous spot that you're even, I know it's OTAs that you're even able to put on a helmet and get on to that practice field. You think about it. If anything in life, you did something that nearly cost your life. The odds of you doing that again are basically zero. Like, why would I put myself in jeopardy of, I got lucky one time I'm still alive. I'm not going to go back and do that same activity. And then also it's like, how many things do you do in life to try to like make a comparison to this, which you really can't compare anything to that, like one thing happens and you never want to do that thing again in life, just because it brings back like a bad memory or something. When you're on a football field or in a football locker room or anything associated with football, it has to bring back up what happened to you. And I guess he's trying to make what was at the time, something that was awful to see somehow into a positive. And I guess that's the way that he's approaching it. And it's really admirable that he could even have the courage. It's one thing to get cleared, obviously, that's from a physical standpoint, the most important thing, but then to have the mental courage to get onto the field, that is just, I tip my cap then. Cause I don't think I'd have the guts to do it. I actually, I know I would not have the guts to do it. Truly nothing short of amazing.

It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. Come on back to the closing bell. Mountain Dew Zero Sugar asked, ever wonder what it would be like to live in an alternate universe? Well, friends, welcome to the alternate universe of Mountain Dew Zero Sugar. Because even though it says zero sugar right there on the bottle, when you crack one open and try it, the taste is nothing less than outrageously delicious. Hey, transport yourself to an alternate universe with Mountain Dew Zero Sugar. Zero sugar, all dew. Quit your Thursday quality mart today where you can get two 20 ounce ice cold Mountain Dew's for only $3.50.

Mountain Dew and Quality Mart, do the dew. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Another day is in the books and we're taking stock of the sports world. It's time to find out who's up and who's down.

Let's end the day right and hit the closing bell. Only on the Zach Gelb show. We were just talking about this in the last segment. Damar Hamlin practiced with the Bills, had a helmet on in team drills. Truly one of the great comebacks that you will ever see. And just a story that is remarkable. That's really all you could say about it. That we're even in this position with what we thought we saw on the field and what did happen on that field on Monday night up against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The fact that he's able to continue his career. It's just something I never thought we would ever see. So give a big fat stock up to Damar Hamlin.

I feel like this should actually be a stock down hickey, but I'm going to give it a stock up. The process is beginning for DeAndre Hopkins. He's going to make his first visit reportedly Sunday with the Tennessee Titans, but I don't know if your first visit is Tennessee hickey. That screams to me as a market that is not really that robust because the salary cap is going to play a big role in this. This is like the first time in a while where we actually had to worry about the NFL salary cap because usually really fake. But with how late it is in the off season and how he wants the Odell Beckham deal where it's going to get $15 million guaranteed and then some incentives.

Money does matter here where in most cases hickey money usually does not matter when it comes to NFL players. I guess the only thing I would say about the Titans being first and I don't think any of the other scheduled visits if he even has any have been released yet. I guess maybe he's trying to use the Titans to get an offer on the table and then go to your Patriots go to the Browns and say hey Tennessee's willing to pay me 15.

What can you do to beat it and I'm your sort of thing. Outside of that I don't know how going to Tennessee makes much sense. Do you think Tennessee will not let him out of the building though?

That's it isn't that more so that's what I would say more of a Hopkins decision right? Like you don't want to be there. I mean what are they what can they really offer you? Well if I offer you let's say $15 million guaranteed you could make up to $20 million. If I'm Hopkins I would leave because I would feel pretty confident you can get that somewhere else.

Here's the other question here. What's the salary cap space for for Tennessee? I'm gonna look that up real quickly because we know Kansas City and Buffalo were the teams that were talked about a lot but then both of them they had like under two million dollars in cap space. Tennessee has only $7.9 million. I feel like you can find a way to make it work in that case but $7.9 is not what he's looking for. It's not 20 million dollars where you are you know the numbers can kind of be free flowing and you can really you know make your marketing get it going in the right direction.

You're right that does come off that he's trying to use them. That's the only thing that makes sense right? Like you go through this I'll give you the teams that have at least 14 million dollars in cap space available. Bears, Panthers, Cardinals, Jets, Lions, Colts, Cowboys, Texans, Packers, Browns, Steelers, Bengals, Patriots, Saints. Right away I go to Browns and I go to Patriots but I still don't get why the Jets aren't gonna get involved in this and Robert Salas said yeah I know we uh basically wine didn't die in Odell but this is different.

Why? DeAndre Hopkins is a better football player than Odell Beckham Jr. I don't get that from the Jets side of things. And if you're the Jets again it's Super Bowl or bust. You have a 39 year old quarterback you're going for it.

Give yourself the best chance to succeed. Are the Jets though just trying to appease Aaron Rogers? Were they not really interested in Odell Beckham Jr. and they were just trying to appease him? Is that what that was?

I mean maybe but also like at that like. Why'd you bring your Rogers then? They haven't won a Super Bowl since 1969.

They are not once a picky here. We're too good for Odell. We're too good for DeHop. You made your bet on Aaron Rogers. He calls the shots.

If he wants DeHop which I don't know why he wouldn't. What are you like what are you doing? Honestly what are you doing?

I'm going to give a stock up to DeAndre Hopkins just because the process is starting. Let's listen up to some verbal diarrhea from Jay Monahan who responds to 9-11 victims that are upset with the merger of live golf for the PGA Tour. Once again this is courtesy of The Golf Channel. I you know obviously acknowledge her loss and completely understand her position. And to the question that you were just asking you know I wish I think about the fact that I allowed confidentiality to prevail here. And in allowing confidentiality to prevail I did not communicate to very important constituents including the families of 9-11. And I regret that. I really do. But as we sit here today you know I think I think it's important to you know to reiterate that I feel like the move that we've made and how we move forward is in the best interest of our sport.

We've eliminated those fractures. But for any difficulties I've caused on that front again I have to own that as well and that comes back to communication. He's in a no-win situation here because there's no good answer there. Because the fact is he used 9-11 to try to prevent players from joining live golf because of the Saudi backing. But then when the money and the piece of the pie was there for him in the PGA Tour it was up.

Basically forget about 9-11. That is what Jay Monahan should have just said. He should have just said I'm a hypocritical fraud I'm a douche and there's nothing I'm going to be able to say here that's going to make me look good. I'd respect him more if he did that. But whatever that rambling was for a minute and give me an aspirin because that just gave me a headache.

So give a stock down to Jay Monahan. And then Bryson DeChambeau responds to also criticism that he's supporting a group that assisted with 9-11 this courtesy of CNN. Well I think we'll never be able to repay the families back for what exactly happened just over 20 years ago and what happened was is definitely horrible and I think as time has gone on 20 years has passed and we're in a place now where it's time to start trying to work together to make things better together as a whole. I have deep sympathy. I don't know exactly what they're feeling. I can't ever know what they feel but I have a huge amount of respect for their position and what they believe.

Nor do I ever want anything like that to ever occur again. I think as we move forward from that we've got to look towards the pathway to peace especially and forgiveness especially if we're trying to mend the world and make it a better place. I think this is what they're trying to accomplish. Liv is trying to accomplish. The PIF is trying to accomplish. We're all trying to accomplish as a better world for everybody and a way to provide great entertainment for everybody around the world.

Yeah I don't care how many years go on there's no way to forgive what happened on 9-11. And here's what I don't get about this. Bryson DeChambeau won. He got paid and then two years later a year later PGA did what he did. So I don't even get hickey why Bryson DeChambeau's doing this interview. Why would you do this interview where you know CNN's gonna ask you a question in regards to 9-11? Why would you even do the interview? You just won. You got paid and now you're gonna get your tour card back. What's the benefit to try to answer that question where there's no answer that you could give and him thinking golf's gonna bring the world to get like what are you talking about?

I don't get why he did that interview hickey. On a channel that knows that like they're gonna hit you with facts about the dirty details of the money you're getting. They're not asking about the format or joining a tour again they don't care about that. This is an ESPN.

They know where they want to know about the money and why are you okay with taking it from taking it from where it comes from and like I said there's no answer you could give that could justify it. Yeah. I don't know who his PR rep is. I don't know if this is a live thing or he's just a dope which could be and they might have to be fired.

That was terrible. Give a stock down to Bryson DeChambeau. And then Zion Williamson we talked about this enough but he's in some hot water today sleeping around with a lot of people.

Congratulations to him and not his wife whoever the girlfriend I don't even know what that what's going on but they announced that they're going to be having a baby and then someone else came on out and said he was sleeping with me I thought I was moving right next to him or or in uh in with him and there was a lot of uh nasty messages let's say that were just released so stock down to Zion Williamson. I'm fading hickey finally in the betting world. I need Jamal Murray and Jimmy Butler each to go over 24 and a half points at the end of the first half.

Butler with 14 Murray with 20. We'll talk to you tomorrow everybody. We out. Bye bye. Peace.