Bill's Dad

Uh, they are, they are Jesus.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, I think. I'm just watching it because she's been peeing on the floor all morning. Oh, good. Yeah. Actually, last night was good. She got up at 2 o'clock. She did her business, went back to bed, woke me up at 7.30. She's only 10 weeks old. Sounds great. Yeah. I mean... Like you said, my wife Molly can bring the puppy when she's 10 years old to the nursing home to visit.

It's gonna work out great.

A couple things. It's the best team I've seen all year come into the Garden in person. And they seem to have 20 players that they just rotated in and out. I didn't know half the names of the players on the team. They just came in. They played great defense, whoever it was. They got rebounds. They passed well. They didn't settle for the three.

They only took the three when it was open and they had no lane to the basket. But they went to the basket a lot. I don't know if you saw the free throw disparity there. They had over 30 free throws left yesterday. And they earned them. They went to the basket. They were physical. Meanwhile, we were terrible. We just settled for three-point shot after three-point shot.

Nobody wanted to go to the basket. Jalen Brown had one of those horrific games that he occasionally has. Fouled out, which is so unusual. But he made dumb fouls. And on top of it, it was my least favorite referee crew. So when I saw who the refs were, I was thinking, you know, this is a big game for the NBA. You know, do you think they could have brought in a good crew? And...

Yeah, it couldn't have just been me. The whole game, the Celtics were complaining. I know we complain a lot. The Celtics complain a lot on the floor. But there were some really horrendous calls last night. And the disparity. You're the home team. Even though you're not going to the basket, you should get a few calls, right?

Yeah, it was so ironic after watching what a good job Brown did in the previous game on defense. And in this game, he not only did a poor job on defense, Dorff killed him. He's built like a linebacker. He really out-muscled him. I know everybody's talked about what great shape Jalen Brown is in from working out all summer. He is a pretty big guy, but Dorff made him look small.

It was a frustrating game for everybody.

This is my 51st year.

Yeah. He's, he's in the top 10, obviously. Um, I've not seen him in person because I didn't go to the game last year against OKC. He was unstoppable. And also, he's fluid. He goes to the basket, looks like he's going to be contained, and gets the shot up somehow. He has a lot of tricky shots, too. And they all go in. If I'm a defender, I'm really frustrated trying to guard that guy.

He was really good. I already mentioned that he has my MVP vote.

I thought because I was in the documentary, I got a vote this year.

Well, I will have a caveat though. He goes to the basket frequently. I mean, he has a very nice, obviously a good outside shot, made a couple of threes, but his game is going to the basket.

Yeah. Porzingis would have made a difference in the middle. We got... out-remounded, out-hustled. They played a two-big lineup, and our two bigs were Horford and... Yeah, Luke Cornett. Luke Cornett, and we just didn't match up very well. But it wasn't just that. They're a driving team, and they had a lot of layups. And I know Porzingis would have made a difference out there.

I agree. I was just reading. He's missed seven of the last eight games. And the one game he did play, he was limited minutes. And it's very mysterious. He has this virus that they can't find out what it is. He was at the game last night, all dressed up, sitting on the bench. He looked great, but he wasn't playing the game.

Too many threes. They get three happy at home. They don't seem to. That's one thing. They don't go to the basket as much. The other thing that I've noticed is that they always start slow. It's like they didn't wake up yet. Last night was a prime example. It was 9-0, and they took a timeout. Now you have nine points you have to make up. And what did we lose by? I think we lost by seven or eight.

I don't know why the slow starts. I don't know whether... I don't know what's going on there. You know, if you noticed last night, our first 10 shots were three-point shots. If they're not going in, that leads to a defensive rebound, a fast break by the other team, and suddenly they're scoring. And we don't work the ball inside when Porzingis isn't there.

The guy in front of me, Mike, said to me, it was almost the end of the first quarter, he said, you know, we haven't taken or made a two-point shot yet. Every shot was a free or a free throw. you can't win against a team like OKC playing that kind of basketball. It's, you know, it's hit or miss.

I feel I agree with you. He's gone up a notch. It's the best season he's had that I've seen him play. He's he's like a general out there. He controls all of our offensive action. You know, it's every game he takes three or four shots. You kind of wish you didn't take that maybe. And I don't know whether. You know, too many times going to the basket, you know, you don't want to be hit.

every time you go in there, but it seems like every time he goes to the basket, he can score.

It's been unstoppable the last month or so, but he doesn't do it that often. He'll more often settle, he'll be out three-point line, and all of a sudden I look up and the shot clock's at six seconds, five seconds, and he takes that fall-away shot

pretty long three-point shot and it's hit or miss he doesn't have a good percentage on that yeah i'm not i'd love to see him go to the basket more you know maybe if porzingis was out there opening the lane up a little bit uh okc really clogged the lane with their bigs there wasn't a lot of room to drive which i understand from you know why they took so many threes but

You would have been frustrated sitting at that game.

There's a couple of other trends that I noticed. It was the fourth quarter, middle of the fourth quarter, and Jalen Grant had four points and five fouls. That's your highest paid player. You can't get that out of that guy. You trying to light a fire under Jalen Brown right now? I didn't understand his game last night. The other thing, you and I have talked about it. Their bench.

OKC's bench was terrific. Our bench wasn't. I know when you have a starter out, everybody moves up a little bit, but I love Pritchard and I love Hauser, but in really big games against really good teams who have a good defense, they shut him down.

OKC did something else that the teams that are beating us seem to be doing. They're picking us up almost at half court.

Yeah, and pushing us out, pushing us out further and making us... And by doing that, when you look up at the shot clock, it's 10 seconds to go.

Yeah, that's why Brown was so effective against Luka, against the Lakers. Brown was on Alexander last night quite a bit. But he's a different kind of player than Luca.

In person, he's very slight. You don't expect... him to be, you know, he gets a lot of rebounds. He's, he, he slid it slowly through the lane. Like very few players I've seen. Um, and Brown couldn't stop him.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right now I would. Yeah, I would too. Well, for kind of a different reason. I know that OKC, the Williams kid didn't play last night, but Cleveland is 100% healthy usually this year. And you and I talked about it. I thought they made a couple of great additions for their bench. Yeah, we like Hunter. I always loved Hunter. And I always, when Jerome was on OKC,

I thought he's a great guy off the bench. Yeah. So who gets them both? Cleveland. Right. I know they had cap room, but, and that's like you said earlier, that's where we have a difficulty when our six players make so much money at the top.

Well, I think people like the additions.

With the exception of, why haven't we signed a receiver and why haven't we signed an offensive tackle? And, uh, like the paper today that Cam, I don't, I can't say I've ever seen Cam Robinson play, except he is a left tackle and maybe a plug him in for a year.

All right. 20 million. Let's give him a chance. Yeah. A Cooper cup from, uh, The Rams? Do you think he's done?

I agree with you. It seems like there's two sure things, Hunter and Carter. And it would be fabulous to have Carter on a defensive line with the additions we've made. Otherwise, trade back.

Trade back. And maybe take one of the other tackles at 10 or 11 or somewhere in there.

And there's two quarterbacks sitting there. I'm not going to be at all surprised if we don't see the Giants take the quarterback. They have no quarterback.

Yeah. I hate the way the Bruins... let our 16-year veteran captain of the team just walk away somewhere else, especially to an archenemy team, the Panthers.

Well, the other thing is they gave a crazy amount of money to Lindholm. Yeah. The forward or center forward. And he's terrible. So we know Marchand gives 110%. Yeah. He's our second leading scorer. Was our second leading scorer. Pony up some money.

It's the part of sports that I hate.

Well, it's not even a first. It's a second round.

Yeah. I just think that Marchand was not the guy you traded. you, you work it out or you let them, you let them stay here until the end of the year. We're not, we're not going anywhere. Um, his cousin, Brian.

The irony is I think within the two weeks that they traded Marchand, they identified next year's ticket prices, which they raised quite a bit. So the timing was terrible. Don't you think that Neely and Sweeney are on thin ice in terms of where we're headed and the moves we've made over the last five years?

Right.

For me, it was two dogs ago.

The four left. Yeah.

When they looked at a lengthy write-up in the Boston Globe about that, it doesn't look like anybody has the means to pay for this team without a lot of backup support.

And it's a building that's going to be 30 years old soon.

I remember almost 30 years ago after we'd had our tickets in the old garden, 20 years plus. them taking me into this new garden to pick a seat 30 years ago now. And I know they've done as much as they could refreshing it, but it is what it is. It's not like the new arena. Like you've been talking about the Clippers place, how spectacular it is.

But you know Boston as well as I do. There's no land.

Yeah, and that really worries me. It's like the year John Y. Brown came in from Kentucky. People come in outside of Massachusetts. They come in with different ideas.

Well, the other thing we've talked about it, if they don't have deep enough pockets, um, Brown's probably on his way out the door.

It is crazy.

They've already, we just got our packages a couple of weeks ago for season tickets for next year. Significant increase in ticket prices.

Yeah. And I understand, you know, maybe to wire you some money. I just wanted to mention it. All right, I'll flag it. I'll talk to my guy. I read online yesterday that you signed a new contract.

Uh, it's a good, each seating area has a different percentage, but, uh, I just wanted to mention it, you know, as long as we're talking.

$4.

Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah, so there's no one price for the seat for one game. You come in and you see Dallas now, one of the terrible teams, or New Orleans. It's a totally different price than the Lakers, for example.

It's understandable that they raised the prices. On the Bruins' end, it's not understandable for the product they're putting out and the fact that they let their captain go.

Yeah.

Yeah. Big bird with the sun. Yeah. All the regular Mary in front of us, all the regulars. There's a new group of very nice people. Yeah. It's a different group. There's still some old timers there though. Yeah, there are.

Yeah.

Well, they mistakenly say that this season took a hold of his tickets 55 years, but he got them from his brother who passed away.

Yeah. I mean, I consider that the same way the Lakers count the Minnesota titles. Yeah. Right. It's the same thing.

They're not going to say that. Yeah, I think it's crazy. I guess, were they the Minnesota Lakers? Minneapolis Lakers. Minneapolis Lakers. So that's what they hang their hat on, I guess. You live out there. I mean, you should have an argument with some people about, they probably have 12 titles.

So when Zoe's date shows up at the front door with a Luca Jersey on it,

Okay.

I still can't, I still haven't hired an agent.

Okay.

He's actually been putting up stats lately and it doesn't seem to. He's perfectly fine. Right. Exactly. They're three and seven over the last 10. And he's in all of those games. So, you know.

Let's look at this real quick. So where they're sitting right now is they're in the nine hole. Yeah. And so let's see who they have to climb over.

I like this. Let's fire on it. Let's take a break in this podcast so I can get this down.

Well, I totally agree with the way that you're approaching this, and I also want to get down on this, a sizable number, because I don't see Oklahoma City backing up. I'm all knock on wood. I mean, it would have to be some kind of crazy injury situation. I mean, wait till Chet comes back, right? Wait till they really have their... whole team.

The reason that I think it's especially compelling with SGA is because it addresses the thing that you and I talked about over the last couple weeks, which is this transition moment for the league. The league really needs to start marketing the new class of stars that it has, and SGA should be a face of the league. He should be one of those guys. People need to see him.

There needs to be some marketing around his campaign here. He's winning the All-Star vote right now, which I thought was a good sign.

I'll put $10 on it just to like, you know, they have to win 50 some games.

I thought, did you see Tom Haberstroh's breakdown just in the last 24, 48 hours of ED? It's very good. There's a bunch of clips. With the numbers, the plus-minus numbers for ED have been outstanding, and there's a lot of good evidence about him, how active he is, and how he's very quietly really propelling that team. And if Memphis, over this stretch of jobbing week to week,

If they're sort of able to kind of tread water for a bit, I think in the Edie's minutes are still a relevant part of it. I think that's a pretty good bet at this stage. The plus 120, it's kind of got my attention, to be honest with you.

Uh, the Oklahoma city over 62 and a half.

Well, and we've seen it. We keep watching. That offense has been dragging. They just can't score. And, you know, Schrags included some of the stats for Kyra Williams. That dude needs a break. Give him a rest. It is a curious kind of decision out of the Rams, except for that's what they do. Sean McVay has done this before.

So, you know, and whichever of the teams between Detroit and Minnesota that they get will indeed be banged up. I mean, just in terms of battle scars from the game this coming Sunday night that will decide the one seed in the NFC. The loser of that game.

Well, there is some Geno Smith motivation. He's one of those guys with a bunch of incentives. He's 186 yards. There's a basket of achievements for him that'll get him an extra $3 million this year. And I think the team will know that, understand it. Mike McDonald is motivated to beat McVay in his first season. They lost in overtime in Seattle. So I think there's plenty of motivation for Seattle.

I'm just not laying six and a half. No, because unless the Rams, the way that the rosters work right now, they have to play some of their good guys on defense. They can't sit their entire defense. And the defense has been the thing that's kept them. The defense propelled them into the playoffs.

The way that the defense played over this past month, they saved the game against the Cardinals on Saturday with an interception in the end zone, right? I mean, you know, the defense is the key. So I think – and Seattle's offense has been fits and starts. There is a difference for Seattle. Their splits when they play on turf and domes, they've been very good.

There's only been a handful of those games this year, but they've scored – prolifically. So that would be part of why you might be concerned. They can win by margin. Um, if the Rams like, you know, start pulling guys, but I, I, I like the Rams to be live here.

I wouldn't lay the 10 and a half and I'll be glad to grab the 14 and a half if that's what you're offering me in this four-point tease. The Chiefs are not An F around team. They have been in this circumstance four times over the last sort of five, six years or so. And they tend to cover and they tend to win outright.

I think they're they've covered three out of the four of these situations and they've won outright at least a couple of times. They are not to be trifled with. And this is still yet Denver. on a losing streak with their rookie quarterback in his highest leverage game of his entire career. And he's capable of throwing some picks.

I mean, the Chiefs' calling card has been their defense all season long. Now their secondary is vulnerable. But let's, you know, before we get super excited about Bo Nix in a must-win playoff kind of situation, I mean, 10 and a half, come on.

Is Drake May really playing? Are they just saying that because... Maybe he plays one quarter and leaves or... It really makes no sense whatsoever. None. The only person that it makes sense for is Gerard Mayo. Is he in charge of the fucking football team?

A week 18 win over the Bills who said everybody is really going to change the career trajectory of Jared Mayo. He stunk all season long. We've had 17 games of evidence. Like, you know, the past... to be fair, are exactly where they should be. It's what the market anticipated. It's why they had the lowest forecasted win total of the year. And here we are. Congratulations on getting it done.

But the twists and turns have been bizarre. And it does make you wonder who's in charge. And I think this coming Sunday game, the crafts better step in. What's the GM's name? Van Pelt? Is that the guy?

It's franchise-altering leverage. And when you weigh the risk, when you weigh the cost-benefit of a Week 18 win versus the trajectory for your effing franchise going forward, you have the cornerstone quarterback. The thing that you need to do now is get other good players on the effing football team. And the only way to do that, the

Fastest way to do that is by doing the thing you're sitting and looking at right this second, which is to lose the mother effing game and get as much as you can in terms of capital. This is like very basic business building proposition shit right here.

I totally agree.

Oh, I feel bad. Sorry, Browns fans, you know it's true. Yeah, I mean, Cleveland writ large did get LeBron, so we can't, you know, Cleveland's had some good fortune over the last 30 years. 21 years ago, and he left. I'm just saying, but, you know, he brought him a title. Over the last 30 years, we don't have to say that Cleveland's, you know. Well, then they got the Kyrie.

In any event, the guys on the Action Network that call the Titans the point shavers, which I think is fantastic and I totally agree with. What are they, 2-14 against the spread? Yes, the worst. They have locked in the worst.

They've already done, they're already at the worst, but if they lose this week against the spread as well, then they are historically the worst against the spread in the history of the NFL.

They got swept by Jacksonville. It's an organizational disaster. I couldn't believe with my own eyes. I had gambled on them when they came to Washington, and they had just beaten Houston, and Washington was laying six and a half. And the Titans at that point had some advanced analytics that said their defense was good. They are, they suck to high heaven.

I think Washington had 200 yards rushing in the first half. They're abysmal organizationally. So yeah, let's go easy to go against the Titans.

Yeah, you and I are seeing this exactly eye to eye. And I think it's important to continue to emphasize that the perception of the Steelers, because of this three-game stretch, this three-game slide, which was always circled in bright red as being an impossible task at the end of a season going up against Georgia, the three best teams in the NFL by, you know, a lot of ways you want to assess it.

Yes. Detroit and Minnesota, but this is without their best receiver and offense that needs that receiver that needs that over the top option and the perception of, of who the Bengals have become because they had a luck win against the Cowboys, a special teams luck win against the Cowboys and, And then they beat the Titans and then they beat the Browns.

And then they held on against the Broncos at home. And what was for them a playoff game? Because if they lost, there was no playoff possibility whatsoever. It was not exactly a cover in glory moment for the Bengals. Their defense absolutely positively was right there trying to give up that game.

Absolutely. Positively right. And remember that the Bengals last loss was to the Steelers in Cincinnati, where the Steelers had 530 yards of offense. I think they have it dialed. I think they understand how to exploit the Cincinnati defense, and it feels like a tremendous opportunity to grab the Steelers here, getting points at home. It's like classic Tomlin moment. So disrespectful.

The defense has been bad all season. You can't count on that defense. The defense doesn't get stops when they need to. That's not who this team is.

That's been the tale for the Vikings all season long. You look at their resume, you're going to see a slew of one score games. They are one score games because they were beating the crap out of teams and then teams came back on them. I mean, Jordan loved these nuts, did it twice. He came back, you know, and made the game inside of a one score game. Uh, and you know, this was very quick aside.

Jordan loved these nuts. They need to handle their business against Chicago. Um, cause I think Washington, this game will be going on simultaneously. I like Washington, but Washington Dallas is always. Oh, it's a walker. Yes, you do not, like, say, oh, yeah, Washington should walk over. So I think – and the Packers need to, like, you know, show something. They got their ass beat.

That was a physical – they got out-physicaled. Their defensive line got out-physicaled by the Minnesota front. So Jordan loved these nuts, and the Packers better show up and show out. But for the Vikings – I have one way that I want to play this. And I really, I'm not convinced to move too far beyond the way that I want to play it. What's here? I love them as a teaser leg.

I think it's an incredible teaser leg. Taking them as two and a half point dogs and pushing them up to eight and a half. The Lions are not in any kind of way, shape, or form in a position to win by margin. And they can't win by margin because their defense is so... To protect the lead when they're up 14 in the fourth quarter. They can't do it.

And I respect the Lions so much, but look... They could have and should have lost that game against San Francisco. I mean, the Niners had a million chances. Yeah. Missed field goals. Pretty overthrowing guys. Both of his interceptions to Kirby were grotesque overthrows. They were both directly on Brock.

Yeah. So, uh, uh, I mean, and, and so you, I don't think Minnesota is going to aid and abet its own demise the way that the Niners did. Um, but this game to me is like, you know, razor thin. Um, I have tons of respect for the Vikings and everything they've done. This is like for, it's such a good matchup, Dan Campbell and, and KOC like, uh, um,

really good coaching matchup and, you know, home team. The line seems right to me. Two and a half seems fair. I just love the idea of the Vikings getting more than a touchdown.

Yes, yes. I was nervous about the game. What they did against the Eagles, that comeback against a division rival and everything they put out, and then for them to bounce back and show up and take care of business against the Falcons... Again, in the most dramatic fashion possible at some point, like the cumulative effect of that, this is a storybook season for Washington.

They, they lead the league in come from behind victories. They lead the league in terms of scoring inside the last minute. They lead the league in fourth down conversions. Like there's a whole bunch of stuff. It would be a rightful capper for this Washington team to beat Dallas in week 18, push themselves into the sixth seed. That is an absolute, unbelievable miracle for the franchise.

But man, the last 25 years, you must take recognition and take note. That's all. So you're rooting for Trey Lance? I am definitely not. Under no circumstances. I hate Dallas. No, no, I'm saying you're rooting for Trey Lance to be named starter for this game.

Their performance in the playoffs. I mean, this is exactly why the Knicks are ahead of them. We watch these two teams. slightly different composition, but Cleveland, you know, largely the same team as last year perform in the, in the most recent playoffs and Cleveland didn't knock anybody's socks off. And the Knicks were unbelievable. They, they were,

Because he's not a professional quarterback. He is not. Oh, thank God. Yeah. If he's the quarterback, I'm really rooting for him.

I like the tees better because I do think the resourcefulness of Detroit and their incredible backbone over the course of this entire season, even in the face of all that bad injury luck, they just keep coming out. I love so much the Campbells. No Montgomery too. Yeah, I know. I mean, look, it's just, they're decimated. It's a bummer. I hate it.

I hate the injury luck for them, but they're badasses. I just want to tip my hat to them.

The Steelers can lose. I mean, you're saying individually just play the separate money line? Yeah, separate money lines.

Okay, fine. Great. I get what you're saying.

Oh, I love that. Because the tees are like, for the Steelers, it's tremendous as well. From one and a half up to seven and a half. Love that.

If you want to do that four-point tease, I kind of loved it. Tease the Rams up to 10.5 and tease the Chiefs up to 14.5. Kind of loved the sound of it.

Don't bet anything meaningful. We pulled everything out of our ass last week. The only thing that was a step back in any way, shape, or form was the stupid Colts.

Hilariously, Atlanta is in the exact same spot right now. Atlanta is laying seven and a half, just the exact same way the Colts were laying seven and a half. Atlanta is laying seven and a half to Carolina, you know, who's been spunky. I'm doing that.

an injury issue away from being in the Eastern Conference Finals, it felt like, the Knicks.

Great. No argument.

I don't want to see it.

I mean, I don't want to... That Saturday night game. Let's not talk about it. It's just too rich of a possibility. Let's just humbly acknowledge to the football guys there is some possibility if everything went the way the universe worked out.

Oh, no, we wouldn't consider it. We're going. And I already know who we're going to sit with. I mean, you know, we've got Washington fans in Los Angeles. The ownership of Washington would be so thrilled to see some of us. I think, you know, I think we'd have a tremendous time. Rooting for it. Well, you'll see us there.

Thank you. I mean, you know.

Yes, we would.

Happy New Year. Great to see you as well. Let's go.

Well, part of the thing with Cleveland, I think they're the only team in the NBA that is undefeated against teams that are 500 or worse, which is exactly what you want, right? That's a hallmark benchmark kind of level of achievement when you play regular season. They're worse than you in the regular season. You're supposed to beat their ass.

And that's how you build up a great regular season record. And that's how you put yourself in a driver's seat in terms of a home court advantage throughout the playoffs. I just think it's fair where these odds are because... When do we get to see some of the true sort of leverage moments this team put under stress and duress?

Now, the thing that could, if you wanted to talk yourself into the value proposition, Kenny Atkinson has all the chops. He has the pedigree with the Warriors being, you know, along for that ride. Yeah. He knows exactly how a good organization. He took, you know, the Nets and was really competitive with the Nets before he fell out of favor.

Yeah. But I mean that that team overachieved that Nets team. And so, you know, he was he we in our analysis of how this Cavalier season might go when we were together in October, thought that he more than any other element to that team could be a real elevating force. And that's exactly what's happened.

The one that caught my attention, and I mean, all due respect to the Clippers. Great job by them. and I know this is going to run contrary to, um, some action that we got down last week, Minnesota at 30 to one that we're finally at a number for them where it's like, wait a minute.

I mean, they, that team was in the Western conference finals last year and, and they have a super duper star on their team. This first, you know, stretch of games, the first third of the season for them, um, you know, 17 and 15 through 32 games. Um, Not up to the level that we might have anticipated. To say the least. Well, we thought there would be some depth that was added.

The Carl Anthony Towns piece, we were saying, well, maybe it won't really affect the defense that much. And what they get in terms of offensive versatility. Yeah, maybe their shooting won't go down.

Well, people I've talked to this week are furious that Mayo is thinking of even starting May. I mean, he almost had concussions in two games now. And... He led us to believe in a press conference over the weekend that he was going to start the other rookie and give him a shot. And now all of a sudden they interviewed him last night. And it's typical of what he's done all year, flip-flops.

You know, it seems like he changes his mind or listens to different people. And now he says, well, May's healthy. You know, we want to give him a chance. Nobody wants to give him a chance. We want to shut him down.

In every which way, having said all of that, I mean, 30 to one, they're they're they still have Anthony Edwards.

It's apparent, at least that's the scuttlebutt if you listen to talk radio here, that Mayo thinks if he wins this last game, he shows ownership that he's got the team back on track. Meanwhile, if I'm ownership, I'm surprised they haven't suggested to him very strongly that shut May down. Gonzalez didn't practice all week. He had a concussion the last game. Shut him down.

He's probably shut down anyway. And play all the reserves. Yeah, let's see what we got with Joe Milton. Yeah, I'd love to watch Joe Milton, actually. They say he's got a rocket of an arm. I'd love to see him out there. Now, if he played too well, I'd be upset. But... You know, we're in line for that number one draft pick. We've had a terrible season.

Don't let the coach think that he can save his job by winning a meaningless game.

Well, this year I've only seen him at one game and. He wasn't even recognized on the Jumbotron. He was sitting next to the owner. So I knew he was there, but they didn't recognize him. And the same is true when Belichick used to come to the games. He'd get a standing ovation. He hasn't come this year.

Which I guess makes sense. He's probably... Well, he's got eight jobs. Yeah, he's got a lot of jobs elsewhere. Yeah. And he has to satisfy his young girlfriend. But, you know, the Kraft thing is interesting. I bet there's a piece of Bob Kraft that doesn't want to finish as the number one worst team in the league. There's an ego thing maybe for the owner, too. I mean, do you think so?

I hope you're not right. I hope I'm not right. But I mean, to have the worst team in the league, that takes an ego hit for the owner of the team too.

I agree. It's a good comparison because Remember, though, that Celtic team still achieved pretty highly.

No, I'm not defending Missoula. I think he has learned a lot over the two years, now three years. You promoted him. He's first row Joe for you now. He's just Joe Missoula, the coach. Yeah, we like Joe Missoula. Mayo's a lot, he's a different case. His press conferences or even when he gets interviewed by a journalist, he's all over the place. I don't think he really has an idea.

what he has in mind for this team.

And even as evidenced this whole week, is he going to play May? Is he not going to play May? Does he want to win this game? Well, he got interviewed the other day. He said, you know, he wants to win. He's not interested in draft placement. The fans are. Yeah. I mean, we are.

Yeah, put the draft pick aside. I don't want May to get hurt. We might have the worst offensive line in the league.

That I can remember. The worst for the Patriot team. I don't trust that he won't get hurt with this offensive line unable to protect him. He shouldn't be out there. Now, I guess that begs the question, Any quarterback to put out there is vulnerable, but you can't put out the franchise quarterback.

Yeah. He probably has had more than five, but, uh, I can't say the fan base here has any trust in his ability to be a head coach. It's interesting. For the two years before Belichick left, Mayo was on TV, like a pregame show or aftergame show. He discussed the game and the defense, and he was very eloquent. He knew his business. It's a lot different, though, stepping into the head coaching job.

You and I talk a lot about assistant superintendents or assistant coaches. And sometimes you're meant to stay in the assistant role and do a great job. Right.

I just think he's in over his head and he's overwhelmed. It just seems like he's overwhelmed.

It's possible Mayo would have been helped if he had picked the right defensive coordinator or picked a different offensive coordinator. Well, obviously Van Pelt was the 12th pick. Others turned it down. The defensive coordinator that he picked was a line coach. That guy is not staying.

Lots of teams have a philosophy of bringing in... Actually, the Celtics did it this year and a little bit last year as well. Missoula got the opportunity to bring in his own coaches. Now, who did he bring in? He brought in veteran coaches. He brought in guys like Cassell, who have been around the league a long time and can help him as he's learning over the two and a half years on the job.

The Patriots didn't do any of that. Their offensive coordinator certainly has experience, but I've never seen that he's successful where he's been. So they brought in a guy who hasn't been successful from Cleveland and elsewhere.

I wonder, though, if you're bringing up what's part of the problem. Kraft handpicked Belichick's successor. It makes him look bad if the guy gets fired after one year.

Yeah, I'm not sure at Bob Craft's age that that's the route he's going to take. He could make him vice president of the paper company. Just move him over to the- We could have co-GMs. Yeah. I mean, he wouldn't do a worse job as a GM than Elliot Wolfe did in the spring. That's the whole other issue of the GM. Wow. You look at our draft from last April. It's horrendous. Now, they had to take May.

He fell on their lap. Yeah. They couldn't not take May in the first round. You look at the picks after that. That's why I'm a little worried. Yeah, you know, even if we finish with the worst team in the league and we get this big package from the Giants or somebody, Oakland or Las Vegas, excuse me, are you confident that we're going to make good draft picks?

I think, you know, that's a good point. For some reason, despite finishing with the third-worst team last year, we had one of the toughest schedules in the league. I know. Now, some of those teams didn't pan out as well as projected, but it does seem like we have an easier schedule next year. And you're right. Teams turn around in the NFL, but they typically turn around because...

the whole administrative structure, coach, GM, whatever has been turned around.

Nobody expected... I mean, you expect him with the coaching change.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, last year, we won an inexplicable game that we shouldn't have Broncos game. Yeah. And it cost us the same kind of draft.

Defense. Defensive energy, defensive effort. It's inconsistent. It's like they try to turn it on, usually in the fourth quarter. It's helped them at times to win games that it looked like they were going to lose. And then other times they just haven't been able to come back. The other thing I've noticed, and this is obvious, we're getting the best effort from every team that comes in here.

Yeah, the bullseye games. Yeah. I think we've lost six home games already. We only lost four last year. Some of them have been close. A couple of them have been crazy games that we weren't even in the game. Yeah. I could say it's been injuries, but a lot of teams have had injuries this year.

The Porzingis thing, you and I, when they traded for Porzingis, we liked the trade, with one caveat, his injury history. He got through almost all of last year into the playoffs pretty healthy, and now we're seeing little things happen. And then the other guy, Holliday, a terrific addition, great veteran on the team, but missing some games. And he's a good example of the three-point shooting.

I think he was 40-something percent last year, he's 34% this year, pushing us the same thing. And Hauser's down too. Hauser's down too. I mean, the only guy who's really up is Pritchard. It's inconsistency and the defensive effort is not always there. And I don't know if it's lack of effort or they just think they can turn it on when they need to.

or it's the injuries, or a combination of all of that. And then on top of that, every team that comes in here wants to beat the champions. You can see it. When Philly came in Christmas Day, That's the best game Philly played all year.

I went to the game.

Yes.

Well, they did start off, I think they were 16-3, the first 19 games. But you've seen the month of December was a disaster. I think they were 7-6. And again, a lot of them were home losses where I walked out of there saying, how did we lose that game? Or how did that team beat us? Because the talent levels weren't equal. There's one thing, though, that's pretty consistent happening now.

It's happened the whole month. Other teams are killing us in the paint. And with Porzingis healthy, that wasn't happening. It's happening now because he's not out there. On top of the fact that I love Al Horford, but he's lost a step. Oh, you just don't think he's playing too much? Well, he has to play so many more minutes with Porzingis out. His three-point shooting has been horrendous.

I think it might have been the case. I mean, he loves playing and the crowd loves him. I like him a lot. I just think that with Porzingis not out there, they don't seem to have any confidence in Tillman. So they're playing Keita and they're playing Cornette. Well, Keita gives them at least the rim protection.

But he's playing different minutes because last year, he was coming off the bench and playing against other teams, second team. Now he's starting. And he's not as effective. Obviously, the stats show that as well.

I agree. And defensively, he's played very well. Unfortunately, though, there's a piece with Porzingis being out. Oftentimes, you'll see Tatum trying to guard the center on the other team. A good example was not the most recent game, but the previous game when we played Toronto. And Portals, the center for Toronto, I think he had 32 points against us. He hasn't had a game like that in his life.

But we have no rim protection with Porzingis out.

Again, as you said, these are Western Division teams. They're only going to see them once on the road. If I'm Minnesota... Is that what they're playing tonight?

It's quite a four-game road trip. You also have the Houston piece with the coach. Going into Houston, they're playing really well.

Well, we haven't talked about that. They're averaging over 50 threes a game compared to 42 a game last year.

Some of that's Pritchard because he's playing more.

But yeah.

Half game back.

It did matter, but I don't think they're going to catch Cleveland. But again, it's January 2nd. Everybody knows, what's your health look like in April and May? And if they're purposely keeping Porzingis out because he rolled the ankle of the leg that he got injured last year.

As a big guy, maybe it does happen more frequently, but I'm okay if they hold him out until he's 100%.

If he can ever be 100% again, I guess he can. They're not saying anything about him. Holiday is a different case. He got a shoulder impingement on his screen.

And he's older. And he did say that it's never going to be 100%. I hate to hear a basketball player say that. I want him to be healthy in April, I guess. And I think the Knicks are going to pass us. Our schedule looks terrible. Really hard.

Yeah, I'd say so. I'd say so.

I mean, one of the articles in the Sunday paper said they hope to have all the bids in and some decisions made by the end of January.

What do you think it is?

It's that there is some possibility, I guess, that the market thinks that there's a trade for them yet to come. It's going to be really hard. It is a hard under for me.

I think that's part of it. We, I think after having so many years of Brady and, Maybe we never thought we'd see a franchise quarterback again, that we'd be a team living with presets for the next 10 years. That's probably part of it. And I think the other thing is everybody sees his potential. You know, you watch other quarterbacks who have time because their offensive line gives them time.

And those quarterbacks play very differently and are much more successful. May has no time. He's running for his life every play. You can kind of envision his talent behind a good offensive line, having time, and hitting receiver after receiver.

Tatum is still my favorite athlete. That's not how you ask the question, but you ask what the buzz in Boston.

Yeah. I think people are so desperate to have a franchise quarterback.

That's probably true too. Although you wouldn't know it by the half empty stadium numbers. that the Patriots play in right now.

It's what I grew up with for the most part. This last home game of the year, Sunday, it's 40 mile an hour winds here. It's about 25 degrees or something. I don't know who's going to go to that game, particularly if Buffalo doesn't show up. Right. Are you going to go to root for your home team to win? It's an odd situation.

Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately, I can't think of a Red Sox that gets into the action. I can't think of a Bruin that gets into the action for basketball. Yeah, so you have the two teams to look at right now, Patriots and Celtics.

Somebody reminded me the other day of when we made the trade for sale, when we gave up our two prize prospects, Moncada and Copacabana. And look what happened. Neither one of them ever panned out. So you just don't, you don't know with prospects. You never know. Yeah. But it can be helpful.

I think I have to go to church on Sunday. I'm not going to be able to make the Patriot game. Are you excited to get your granddaughter back soon? Very excited, actually. We talked with her boyfriend today. He called Molly to wish her success on her retirement. That was awfully nice.

What a kid that is. What a great kid.

One more thing on the Celtics. You know, your daughter and her boyfriend went to the Miami Heat game against the Celtics.

The next time we went to the game, the guy, Mike, who sits in front of me, who's season ticket holder, he said, that awful Miami fan was sitting behind me that whole game. He was screaming and yelling everything Miami did. Fortunately, the Celtics won, but I think Tommy might have gone over the top of the game.

I hope I text Tommy before you do.

Good to see you. Happy New Year.

They're so deep. We're already like fully subscribed, fully allocated on every OKC. But if you wanted to just see for fun, you know, another little bit to get down, will they get to 63 wins? Feels totally plausible. 63 and 19? Sure.

Yeah, I... We really... I think, believed that the coaching change and what they'd be able to do from the perimeter, especially like, you know, that they would change what they had, what the single biggest problem was a math problem, which was they didn't get up enough threes and they didn't make enough threes. And we say, okay, Bud is going to come and change that.

And the problem is, you know, it's kind of the same problem as last year when they were a great underplay. Durant can't really play night to night and it really doesn't make sense for him to play night to night. And they just rotate two out of the three guys. Yeah. And, you know, Beal doesn't move the needle. He doesn't help them win basketball games.

Yeah.

You never gave up.

Oh, my God. That's insane.