Transcript of Pablo Pledgescobar and Snow Paterno | Hour 3

You are listening to the Dan Levatar Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states. Tony, who's your friend?

My friend right here, Nico Caseras. He is the QB for the US National Flag Football Team. We just got a massive win in Worlds over in Germany. To my left here.

Wow.

Welcome back.

Friend of the show, also been on the show prior to.

Dan isn't here, but the real Slim Shady is.

So, so who did we beat?

Um, so this year, um, we— our pool games were Australia, Israel, and America Samoa, and then our playoff games were Japan, Mexico, and Italy.

Who was the best of that group? You beat them all?

Uh, no, we did not beat them all.

Who'd you lose to?

You lost?

Yeah, in pool play.

Oh wow, we lost.

Who'd you lose to?

America Samoa.

What? Oh, you know what? I saw that headline.

Yes, that would have been my guess.

All right, so they were really good.

Um, I think that we came out kind of honestly kind of overlooked, looking our group, to be honest with you, almost looking ahead to the playoffs. And I think they played a really good game. They had a really good game plan, and they played that game as if it was their Super Bowl. Um, and we overlooked them. We came out flat to start. It was our first game of the day, and they had a really good game plan. So credit to them.

So let me ask you this, because in different sports there are rivalries, right? In soccer, Brazil versus Argentina, massive rivalry. Hockey, USA versus Canada, massive rivalry. For you guys, is there a rival for Team USA where it's like every time, like, this game means double, even when it's just a friendly?

Yeah, 100%. It's definitely Mexico.

Mexico?

Oh, yeah.

Like in soccer. Yeah.

So the last couple of times we played them, it's dating back all the way to 2022. It's been like one score games because they have a really good offense and they play a very different style of flag football, to be honest with you. Similar.

Like, what does that mean? Yeah, what does that mean?

—So, um, in the game of flag football, there's a certain, like, there's a lot of laterals behind the line of scrimmage, um, a lot of handoffs behind the line of scrimmage to allow different people to throw the ball. So Mexico does that times 10, times 5, however much you want to think it— Wow. —different than anybody else. Yeah, so, and then the other thing that's interesting is that not only does the national team play like that, everybody in Mexico plays that way. Oh. So they have a lot of reps in that certain style.

Right. So that's like almost like their— that's their culture. Correct.

On the field. Yeah. So think about it like in the NFL now that everyone's doing like RPOs and type of like that. That's how Mexico plays all the time. That's how their form of what they consider football is down there. What's our style? I think we have— Kicking ass and taking names? 100%.

We don't call plays, we call players.

And winning gold medals. But, but— Got him. I would say we have— ours is different because we have the mix of me being the drop back guy with then we have 3 guys who are also really good throwers and runners who could also, um, get active, as we call it, in the backfield and run and do the dancing around. So we have a good mix of both.

Who was the quarterback for, uh, American Samoa? It was Tua Tagovailoa's brother.

Really?

What? Wow. Wow. You know, Tua sucks now. Yeah.

Uh, yeah, Tua is, uh, in a new system, so I'm happy for him. He definitely needed to get away from Miami, but it's still definitely not, uh, Well, finished.

Uh, he's got a pipeline now to a whole new league. Yeah, 100%.

Absolutely horrific. Yeah, it's tough when you don't know how to take snaps, man. That's kind of a pre-req.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, so what does Tua's brother play like? Does he play like Tua?

Um, I think, yeah, they ran— they were drop back every play. Um, is he also lefty? No, he's a righty. Okay, so that definitely—

Tua is technically a righty though. Is he? Yeah, yeah. His father forced him to throw lefty and that's how he learned lefty. Yeah. Yeah, how'd that work out for him? It's not working out.

It all makes sense now.

He was the leading passer and he made a lot of money, so it worked out great. National champion as well. It worked out. Oh, okay. Yeah, he's alright. Well, he was asking the question.

Yeah, but Taliyah definitely played a really good game. He definitely is similar in the sense that they were drop back every play, intermediate passes, stuff like that. And they let him just— he got a deeper shotgun, which is again something that like is very rare for a tackle quarterback just to go in because like you saw it in the Fnatic game, Brady and them were 5 yards away. Not that far with a 7-yard rush, and Talya understood I need to get deeper in the shotgun and whatnot. So he played really well. It was his best game all tournament, so credit to him.

Who's the worst other national team the US has ever played? Like an opponent where you're like, is this the first time these guys have ever played flag football?

Yeah, call out an entire country.

Yeah, I would rather not do that, but I would say— Just whisper it.

Whisper it. Nobody will know.

But what I will say is that when you go to the World Championships, this— like the tournament we just played in, it's different from last year we played Continentals, which is like just exactly what it says, North America, South America, and Central America. So this is the best of the best. Only your top 4 countries qualify. So our top 4 countries actually all made playoffs, which is a credit to how good our Continentals is. But I would say when you go to Continentals, you don't face the best competition compared to this one because it's all the best.

Greg, you're thinking about like, I think when Bill Russell played in the Olympics, they played against Thailand and the starting center was like 5'8" or something like that.

They beat him by like 100 points. You have somebody in mind when I say that. 100%. 1,000%.

Probably got a couple, a couple of places in mind.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was Olympic qualifying on the line for some of these nations?

Yes. So we have the auto bid because we're the host country. But then if you— if since we placed first, second, and third, auto qualified. So Italy auto qualified and Canada auto qualified. Yeah. Canada beat Mexico. Both of Zazz's teams, by the way.

Yeah, whatever.

It's a dual Canadian citizenship. I'm an American. Can't figure out. Can't decide.

As long as he reps the red, white, and blue come Olympic time, we'll be all right.

We hope. We don't know. We don't know. Sure.

With that white, it could go either way.

It depends on the scenario.

Neutral color. Isn't that right, Barbasol?

Well, look, let's do something up Nico's alley here, right? Then maybe he could help us out. Tony, you have a top 5 for us here today?

Boys, I got a top 5.

Here we go, hit the music. I did already.

Thank you.

We've got a top 5 of worst quarterback situations in the NFL. All right, so I'd like Nico to give us a grade on these top 5. So 5, going with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We got Aaron Rodgers, Will Howard, Drew Aller, who had a decent preseason game was on my top dudes list of preseason week 1, but that is a terrible, terrible QB room.

Uh, I don't want to commit QB on QB violence here, which is also what I'm calling it. All right, look, I saw Zazz.

I wanted to call out, uh, the, the other nations in your sport, but this is a little different here. All right, can we—

let's do this. Let's go through all 5 and then I'll re-rank them depending on what I pay. All right, I like that. I love a re-ranking.

Number 4, The New York Jets. Geno Smith, Cade Klubnik, Brady Cook. My boy Geno. Look what they did to your boy. Look what they did. Back to where he started. About to pass through the toll booth for the last time and then all of a sudden, you know what's happening.

About to right back. They massacred my boy.

They massacred my boy.

Number 3, Arizona. Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew II, and Carson Beck. That's a bad situation. With his legs. That is a tough situation. Arizona might be the worst team in the league. It might be the worst team in the league. Vegas has them, I think, at 3.5 over.

I may or may not know, but the Dolphins and the Cardinals are both tied for lowest win total.

So it seems like you know. Number 2, the Cleveland Browns. Watson, Sanders, Gabriel. I don't know who I'd want to not be on my team.

Whoever doesn't win the job between Watson and Sanders, they have to cut, right? Like, you can't continue this every week throughout the season. They have to cut the guy that doesn't win it. Yeah, right. Or trade him.

Or try to trade him.

Well, how does either one of them have any type of trade value?

There's gonna be a huge market, line out the door for Deshaun Watson.

Dylan! Dylan! Dylan's number 9 now, I think? 8? What is he?

He doesn't know his number. Question mark. Jared Goff took his number and I think he's without a number.

He's not number 5, that's Jaden Daniels' number.

Don't say that number ever again. Number 1, we talked about him earlier, the Atlanta-led Tua Tagovailoa.

Hey! I think that is the worst QB situation in the league.

Him, Penix, and Cooper Rush is just about as bad as you can get, right?

How about us not making it?

I like that. Yeah.

I was going to put the Dolphins O-line, but I really like Malik Willis.

I think the Dolphins QB situation is better than all of those you just mentioned.

Yeah, I agree. Absolutely.

Yeah, I agree. Is Quinn Ewers still the backup? Yeah.

And he's not good. Not for long.

I actually think he played pretty well last year and now he, he got us a win in like a 7-game skid. Like he looked decent in that McDaniel system. New system.

All right, so same again, 5 to 1.

All right, so Steelers at 5, Jets at 4, Cardinals at 3, Browns 2, Atlanta 1.

All right, Nico, where did he screw up there?

I, I have the— so from what I think is the best to the worst, I think the Jets are 5. I'd be like, I also think that they're gonna be decent. Their roster is very good on paper. My boy Geno, they— if Geno just comes to play, think about it. Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, Adon Mitchell. They're not— they're not terrible on paper. They— they drafted Amari Cooper. Like, they're— they're going to be—

they're not terrible on paper, but they're always terrible on the field.

They're pretty bad. Correct. But I'm saying just on paper, that situation isn't the worst.

So you still have trust in Geno after what we saw in Vegas?

Never said that. I just said it would be not the worst situation. You're the one— but you know, Um, I then say Arizona. I think Brissett can wheel out a couple wins. Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison, Jeremiah Love— I get he's hurt. Michael Wilson had it with a 1,000-yard receiver.

I don't think that situation is completely that bad, but I want to say this and I want to get on the front end. Marvin Harrison, not a good player. What?

Not a good player. Yeah, but Trey McBride is.

Trey McBride, I very, very much like.

But Maserati Marv What?

What about in like the 7th round?

Okay, if you want to—

I'm just saying he's that guy. He's like that. Why? Not to go fantasy on you guys, but he's like that guy. He's like lingering and you're like, he was a 1st round pick last year. You know, Marvin Harrison Jr. or Romeo Dobbs in fantasy. See, now we're talking.

More of a Matt Golden guy this year.

So you started out by asking, should you take him in the 7th round? And you followed that with not to go fantasy here.

I went there, but okay. I just wanted to apologize on the back end. I would say then it would be the Steelers. I didn't even think about that, but once you said it, I agree. That situation is— it's grim. Yeah, for sure. Then Falcons, two lefty quarterbacks and two lefty quarterbacks that are hurt is a recipe for absolute disaster. And then I would say the Browns is a worse situation, and I think it's like exemplified just from the fact that they don't know who they're— they— one rep you could see, uh, Deshaun, the next rep it could be Shedeur. I don't even think they know who their starter is right now in flag football right now, not the NFL.

Flag football right now, are you a better quarterback than Deshaun Watson?

I won't be answering this question.

All right. I think we all know you're a better person.

I feel confident that I— Australia. Australia. Was it Australia? No, it was not. Tough. Excuse me. I did my research. Biggest blowout.

Australia, actually, last year. So I don't know how it happened, but they beat Japan in Oceania last year in their Continentals, and Japan got the number 1 overall seed at World Championships this weekend. So they've made strides. Okay. Yeah, Japan, Japan was a very good offense. We had a really good defense. Our defensive coordinator, Rudy Fernandez, is from Miami, and he held them to 8 points. So other than that, our offense kept on scoring. And George and Willie, who are other— our other coaches, had a great game plan. We scored every drive that game. So I know what you're thinking.

Yeah, he did get screwed in that slam dunk contest.

He took off the Fernando Martín jersey. No, but, but Mike, If we're going to do this, Nico, you don't have to answer, but if we're going to sleuth this out, it's got to be a country that's not used to playing a sport with an oblong ball, right? It won't be Australia.

It won't be— they also have to have a team. Sure. Plenty of nations that I would guess they probably don't even have a team.

No, I like— to me, it would have to be someone— I don't know. I'm trying to think what's a country where it's like you've never played this before. Paraguay, right? Like, you're getting closer.

I'll tell you, Central American countries, I feel like, are like, what's going on here?

Wait a second. But they have— they have rugby teams over there.

Uruguay.

You're going too far south. Chile. Got to stay in the central. Tony's getting like Honduras is like, what are we doing here? What are we doing?

The ball. El Salvador. Good team.

I like that. I like El Salvador.

All right. Why? You don't want to— You're worried about El Salvador? No comment.

El Salvador. Come on. But I'm going to tell you the other part of it. It can't be a country that has too many American, like, like—

Oh, like someone who's really good that you guys would never expect is Panama.

Because they're all American.

Panama is very good. They have two really good receivers. No, no, they just put— they've poured a lot into the sport. So that's how a lot of teams are getting bigger in flag football, is because their governments are getting behind them and pouring a lot into this. Doesn't work with soccer here.

Yeah, well, that's what I— that's what I was thinking was happening was like, okay, so like, for instance, in basketball, if you look at like the Puerto Rican national team, it's all people from like New York.

And like my buddy, my buddy plays on a 3-on-3. His older brother plays on 3-on-3.

There you go. The 3x3s especially, it's all like, oh yeah, that guy grew up in New York and he went to like St. Stevens-Johns or whatever. So I'm trying to think of these countries, if they have too many expats or whatever, people who have settled in America, the diaspora is what they call it. Like, that can't be it. It's gotta be a country that doesn't have a lot of exports. Hmm.

So you played Italy in the final. They qualified for the Olympics. Was Stellato playing for Italy? 'Cause I thought I read that Sean Stellato was trying to make the Olympic team in flag football.

He was not. But their quarterback, funny enough, is a New Yorker.

From New— yeah, there you go. Luke.

Luke is his name. He played, uh, tackle over in Italy and has all this stuff.

Down Levitar! Can't trade Marino! Nice hat! It's what he's most known for. It's not like I'm holding on to it. Greg Cuddy! Nice hat! They were 9-2, but it's Marino! And then the next time we saw Marino after Greg Cuddy traded him, he threw for 5 touchdowns and he was Man on the COVID of Sports Illustrated. You can't trade Marino! Nice hat, asshole! This is the Dan Levatar Show. So I mentioned, I mentioned a few minutes ago, I referenced Jaden Daniels. And from what I understand, Greg Cody over here, he is one of the few that is on Jaden Daniels' side. That's right. In this dispute. What do you mean he's right?

He's right. He stands on the right side of history, as do I. Thank you.

Thank you. So, Greg, you— is that accurate? You are on— you think that what Jayden Daniels is doing right now is noble?

Yes. I put a lot of stock in the Heisman Trophy. I think it's the biggest prize in college football for an individual. LSU's had 3 Heisman winners way back in the day. Billy Cannon retired his number, retired his number.

For people who don't know, by the way, Jayden Daniels, he sent a cease and desist to Louisiana State that they are not able to use his name, image, and likeness anymore. And people are connecting the dots here. This year saying the reason that he is doing that is because they have now this year given his number 5 to, uh, another player, a cornerback, D.J. Pickett, that he's doing this as a result. He feels disrespected. Yes.

And so, and so they retired Billy Cannon's number, the first Heisman winner from LSU. The second was Joe Burrow, of course, more recently. But a while ago now, 7 years ago, and they haven't given out his number. So it's, it's tantamount to being retired. All of a sudden, Jayden Daniels, the third Heisman winner, does not get that respect. And, and I think, uh, in, in terms of a college team, I think a Heisman Trophy winner means more to your program and your history than any incoming player who nobody ever heard of until last week.

Well, what if Lane Kiffin, who's the new coach, is in a situation where he believes. So, so this player DJ Pickett claims— well, not even claims, I think Brian Kelly backed him up on it. Brian Kelly didn't fulfill the promise that he made, but this player claims that he was promised number 5, and now the new coach Lane Kiffin is willing to actually fulfill that promise. What if Lane Kiffin felt that this kid was going to leave? He was going to transfer somewhere else if the school didn't, uh, follow through with the promise. And if that's the case, what the hell does Lane Kiffin care about Jayden Daniels?

He— well, he should care about the history of his program and have respect for the most recent Heisman Trophy winner, I think. And D.J. Pickett should have the class to say, you know what, I'm going to wear a different number.

Well, he did. He did last season.

Okay. And so if you're wedded to a number enough where— keep in mind, this kid's, what, 18 years old? If you're wedded to a number enough to transfer over that, I don't want you anyway.

A couple of things, by the way. We had this situation in Phoenix where Steve Nash wore 13, and then he— the end of his Phoenix tenure, he goes to LA, plays the last 2 years. So as soon as he got traded to LA, Marcin Gortat, who had worn 13 his entire career but had to switch obviously when he came to Phoenix, goes to our equipment manager, he's like, "Okay, can I have 13 now?" And the equipment manager's like, "No." So we can— I don't want to put the blame on the kid, which, by the way, great name for a cornerback. Pickett. Oh my God, that's a famous— that's a perfect name. But I don't want to put the blame on the kid. The kid's going to ask, hey, let me get that number now.

The kid asked years ago. That's why he— it's on— promised it. It's on the school.

It's on the school to say no. And who made that promise to the kid?

Brian Kelly, who did not fulfill the promise. But they're anymore.

But Brian Kelly is also the one who had Jayden Daniels, right, win a Heisman for him. Yeah. He should have respected that enough, right? Instead of turning around and just promising anything. Maybe that's why you don't have a job anymore, just making these promises you can't keep. But my point is this: I don't blame the kid. The kid can ask. It's on the school, it's on the program to be like, sorry, this one is hallowed, no one else will wear it.

Bad name for Kenny Pickett though.

Yeah, terrible name. Uh, yeah, I stand with Greg. Me and Greg are on the right side. Who do you stand with?

What are you doing? I stand with Greg. You stand with Greg?

Yeah. Oh, I stand with Greg. Alongside, behind, alongside. Well, I stand behind— of course they're up front. The Daniels family is up front. Yeah, I'm, I'm directly behind.

The whole family's up front.

Yeah, well, but you don't stand beside the whole family.

I mean, I, I would never—

it's gonna be the dad that stepped up.

You want to stand next to the family, like at one point.

I would never, I would never, unless I was family. Now if I'm— I, I become family, then, then I could stand alongside, alongside. But like, respectfully, I stand behind them. They stand up front because they're the ones that are leading the charge, but they know we got the troops behind us led by Amin al-Hassan. I'm the first troop right behind.

Yes, correct.

And I'm I'm not standing with Amin, but I am sitting with Amin. There you go. So that's the next best thing.

So you're in a chair?

Yeah, it's a better chair. So everyone else is standing and you're sitting?

I'm sitting with Amin right now, literally.

He's an elder statesman, man. He gets to sit down.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Gotta save those legs.

Damn right I do. Sturdy legs.

Thick calves. Yes, they are. Thick calves.

You guys, where are you guys at? You guys are on the wrong side of history. On the other side.

Yeah. No, I think it's ridiculous.

No, I saw the picture. I'm with you. Right behind.

What picture? You're behind him.

You know what picture?

I don't care who's behind. Is there a picture of like the jersey? What?

Amin's trying to stand right behind.

I'm, I'm the first in line, right behind the family's first. I would never put myself unless I became family, and then in which case I get to stand.

He wants to sleep with Jaden Daniels. What? Oh, how dare you talking about Greg? I don't know what I mean. This year, Greg didn't deny it.

He didn't say a damn word, baby. He said it was sitting, by the way. You can see that.

Respectfully. So you guys see I'm wearing white. I look really good in white today.

Do you? You sure do, Cool Whip.

You know what other— you know what school— you know what school, their main color is white?

Who's that? All of them.

Penn State. Yeah, that's right, Penn State. You see what's going on with Penn State right now? They got something else going on. There is a major drug trafficking case that is going on at Penn State University right now. So there have been multiple arrests, a big scheme of drug— of selling cocaine. That's yayo, alright, GG, brother, yayo. And at Penn State, this originated apparently out of the Delta Upsilon fraternity house, involved a couple of different fraternity houses, and in the Delta Upsilon fraternity house You had, uh, Buddy was, uh, apparently a, uh, a ringleader, alright, when it came to distributing cocaine there at Penn State. So much so that the other fraternity brothers— pledges, mind you— you know, Greg, how pledges, they sometimes they're hazed, sometimes they're made to do things they don't want to do. Yeah. Apparently a lot of the pledges used to have to help package and cut the cocaine. Nice. I mean, come on. That's a bad—

by the way, if you're running a multi, you know, situation there, somebody's gonna blab. That's the last thing I want is some nerd freshman being like, "I cut coke on my thing!" Like, give me a break.

Well, apparently what happened, there was a tip. There was an anonymous tip, okay, that someone named T-Rob is distributing cocaine out of the Delta Upsilon house. And then the authorities did a little bit of cross-reference and found a name that would match T-Rob. I don't wanna say the whole name, but a name that would match T-Rob on Venmo, a digital payment.

Why won't you say the whole name? You're not an investigator, this is news. What do you care?

It's in the news. You're right, but I don't want anyone to get in trouble here for saying your name in front of—

They're not getting in trouble, it's on the news. Who the hell do you think you are?

Who the hell do you think I'm gonna get in trouble?

You a fed? This guy thinks he's 60 Minutes and people are learning, like, yo, it's already out in the news, bro.

All right, the kid's name is Thomas Robinson.

Oh no, he gave it away, that's my boy.

Why would you say that? T-Rob. T-Rob, Zell. They put two—

Is that the one that they're calling Blow Paterno?

Uh, I don't know, but there's another kid in the other house.

Oh, that's Blow Paterno.

No, they referred to him as Pablo Pletschkebar.

I like that.

I mean, come on, Pablo Pletschkebar. Very sandusty. So this major cocaine trafficking ring was taking place, and now they've been busted at Penn State. I think it's a total of a dozen people have been arrested, implicated in this huge cocaine trafficking situation.

And still not the biggest scandal at Penn State.

True. Good, Greg. Frank Lucas taught me when you do the trap house, you have everybody cutting the stuff, everybody's gotta be naked. Butt naked. So it was a naked situation there? Butt naked.

Why do they have to be naked?

You don't know? No, I don't know.

They don't wear wires? Exactly right.

You don't wear a wire, you don't put stuff away.

You don't watch American Gangster and skim off the top?

You could keister it.

No, that is a thing that you can see. The sound quality on that would be awful. Have you thought of the sound quality?

He means, he means Keister in the, the— oh, sorry, okay.

I thought you meant the mic.

Taking a little dime back for the house.

Wire up there, like, come on, man. So just a bunch of dudes sitting there hog wild, you know, cutting cocaine.

That's what I'm saying. Can you imagine?

No, that's a disgusting scene.

Okay, come on, come on, man, stop doing that.

I'm not making a snorting noise.

The burp suite on Dyke.

Nice hat, asshole.

Man's got a cough.

Where's your Stay Puff hat? What?

Not you, Greg. I'm talking to the asshole on your left.

Oh, okay. Nico, say something funny. It looks like he's in a men's choir.

Looks like he's representing country dancing.

I was actually going to ask you, out of the two scandals, which one do you think is going to have a better season? LSU or Penn State?

I think Penn State's going to be better than people think.

I thought you were going in a different direction out of the two scandals. No, no, no. Me too. I was like, whoa! Nico fitting right in here. Dan Levitar!

Baker Mayfield tearing up Tampa Bay, 38 for 45!

Greg Cody! Shred 'em! This is the Dan Levitar Show! So yesterday I brought this up and coincidentally there ended up being some action as a result. I don't know, maybe people were listening, but I asked you yesterday, Amin. Yeah? James Harden, like, who does he play for this season? And you went through the whole spiel about, you know, Cleveland's waiting, they're going to make a move. You know, they're like, Harden plays for Cleveland. They're just for, for their financials, for their bookkeeping.

Like, it can't happen yet to have the flexibility to do another deal. And yesterday, the another deal happened. Peyton Watson, 4 years, $88 million, not an offer sheet, because this is also— I should have said this yesterday. A lot of times when you're going after a restricted free agent, You don't want to sign him to the offer sheet. You'd rather deal directly with the team and say, look, he's going to leave. Let's just make this easy so you can get some assets.

So it was a sign and trade.

It was a sign and trade. They get a— the Nuggets do— they get a trade exception. They cannot use it because they're above the second apron. Right. So it just remains.

So this trade doesn't help them get to underneath the tax?

No, no, no. Because of Spencer Jones. There's still— because Spencer Jones, they're still above the second apron. So they're still gonna either have to do deals to get under, or—

and I think they have 2 roster spots open right now anyway.

More likely, they're just gonna hold on to it until next summer because it lasts for a year. So they'll have like about a month and a half under the new salaries to do something with it, which is, you know, it's the best you can do.

So Peyton Watson goes to Cleveland, which we thought— I mean, referenced yesterday— was a possibility. Max Struis goes to the Clippers, uh, and Denver gets an unprotected 2031 first-round pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers. That's a good deal, which could be a good deal, but, but it doesn't do shit for them right now. All right, and you would figure that, hey, this is the championship window, you know, for all the talk about the Golden State Warriors and they're not doing anything right now in the you know, at least before the real twilight years of Steph Curry. Denver's not in a much different situation there where you have Nikola Jokic. You, you're— you let a player walk here in Peyton Watson, who's a good player. You didn't get anyone in return. Now maybe there are rumors out there that they're talking to DeMar DeRozan, but they're, they're over the second apron right now, so I don't know if that's possible just yet. And Jokic is a free agent after this year, and I understand Jokic already said I want to play I want to sign, play the rest of my career here. But you did have— well, it was like a year ago this time, right, where the president of the Nuggets, I think it was one of the Cronkies, right, where he came out and floated out there, we hope one day we're like— in not so many words, said hope one day we're not in a situation where we have to entertain trading away Nikola.

Josh, uh, and it's like, all right, well, he's a free agent after this coming season and They're not any closer to winning a championship than they were these last couple seasons now.

No, I mean like, the good news is with him, anything is possible. Like, Leo literally could win a title with this roster. It's not that it's an awful roster.

They lost in the first round this past year.

Uh, who did they lose to? They lost to Minnesota, right?

Minnesota in 7.

Yeah, Minnesota, yeah. But the big thing is the injuries. They just keep getting hurt, especially guys like Aaron Gordon, who's a key guy. Peyton Watson, when Aaron Gordon was hurt, really exploded, and then he got hurt. So they're always kind of dealing with this injury bug. But the real thing here is that Jokic, do we think he's the kind of guy to demand a trade? Right. That's the real thing at play because I don't think so. I don't think so either. He seems to be a guy who really values the comfort and the familiarity. And so if he doesn't, he doesn't demand it, they'll never have to do anything in the same way that Steph Curry doesn't demand a trade. I told you guys, you know, do you entertain trading Steph Curry? It's like, no. Because he makes them a gajillion dollars and he's still really good. You just have to find out the other pieces.

If your Jokic isn't the reality in the West for the foreseeable future, that you're playing to be the third best team?

Yes and no, Greg, because I think ultimately whenever they match up with those other teams, it's not, it's not like it's been out of the question. They're competitive with them. And so the regular season is kind of secondary to, hey, in a 7-game series, can we beat them? And I think Denver very rightly looks at themselves like, yeah, we can beat anyone in a 7-game series, as they should. Same thing for OKC, same thing for San Antonio. I don't think there's been a separation in the sense of, I just can't get over the hump, I can't beat those guys.

It is kind of amazing. Like, I understand obviously Denver won the title in 2023, but all these years with Jokic, we want to talk about, you know, getting X player help. All these years they've had one player next to him with a total one All-Star, and that just happened.

Yeah, that just happened. Yeah, so it's, it's tough because some of that is the circumstance we were talking about. I can't remember who we were talking about the other day, like, oh, Amar'e Stoudemire, why does he have only one first All-NBA, first-team All-NBA? Because it's like, he's playing in an era where there was like incredible bigs, right? Uh, same thing with, with Jamal Murray. Part of it is you played in an era where the guards in the West were Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook and James Hardin and Chris Paul. It's like, yeah, how the hell am I ever gonna break through in an All-Star scenario with those names? On the other hand, it's like, yeah, there's a reason why. It's because he's nowhere near the caliber player of those guys. So, um, but he fits perfectly with Jokic, as does Aaron Gordon. They really had a good, like, collective thing going. It's just not been good enough either because of injury or because they took their foot off the gas against Minnesota a couple of years ago in the playoffs when they lost to them.

But then how could they be good enough to win a title this year if 3 years ago they were going to win a title and then haven't been and only teams have gotten better around them? So it's like you're looking around like Minnesota's arguably better than them.

I don't— I don't see— I think Minnesota is going to take a big step back. One of the big things about Minnesota was, oh man, they're big. They beat you with size. They've got Rudy, and they've got— and now they bailed on that, and they got Julius Randle, and now they don't have a 4 on the roster. They got Rudy, and then I think McDaniels, if you play big. But he's like— he's like me taller. Like, he's a— he's a slender guy, right? He's not a 4. He's definitely not a 5. Uh, and then they've got the young kid, uh, Yoan Beringer. He's like, again, unproven. They've completely switched to be like a very perimeter-based team, which I think took away from their kind of advantage. But I want to shift the conversation here. Go on.

Because Tunisia— it's Tunisia. Cleveland— it's got to be Tunisia. Jordan—

shaking his head no. Jordan— oh man, Jordan's always good. We're talking about the country.

Canada— oh man, that's a country joke too.

Cleveland— Slovakia. While they were waiting, well, I told you the flexibility. I said one of the options was Peyton Watson, which they ended up doing. The other option— is he good? Payton Watson's good. Payton Watson's good. Definitely. Like, that's a good get for them at $22 million a year. That's a really good get. The other option was Jonathan Kuminga, who was an unrestricted free agent. Jonathan Kuminga, who everyone was like, oh, Steve Kerr, I don't— I can't believe you didn't play him.

Yeah, you got to side with Steve Kerr at this point.

Now he's an unrestricted free agent. He's just out there. Yeah, right. There's interest. There was interest in the Cavs. They're off the table.

You got two coaches now, or two teams essentially.

They're not really interested in giving him Minnesota and the Lakers are the remaining two that have been rumored and talked about, but I would like to suggest another destination for him. Because if you go to the Lakers, they got a bunch of offensive dudes. Go on. Right? If you go to Minnesota, they definitely got a bunch of offensive dudes. But there's a place right here across the street. Mm-hmm. Love it. Maybe, maybe need some bodies. Maybe need to fill out the roster. Maybe need some scoring punch off the bench now that Norm Powell is gone. Maybe someone who could step into the Jaime Jaquez role.

I think the Heat maybe.

Hmm. So why wouldn't the Heat consider someone like that if it's not gonna cost them anything?

That's right, son.

You nailed it.

I think— I didn't have you guessing it. I thought it would be the burrata next to me. I think, I think the reason why is probably money. Like, Kuminga's not looking for a short-term thing. He's looking for something a little bit more substantial. I don't know if the Lakers or the Wolves are in the position to offer that to him or what he's looking for. But it says look like Kevin Durant's ankles. But if Kuminga— I got to mean, if Kuminga were to consider Miami, I think there's an opportunity for him to really play up his value because they need bodies and like particularly bodies that can get— go get a bucket. And maybe he doesn't fit perfectly in the system, but again, Háquez was a guy that I thought didn't fit perfectly in the system, but they found a way to just, hey, you get these minutes off the bench where we're going to give you the ball, you could be bad out of hell in transition. I think Kaminga can do that, and maybe playing here can help him.

With what money though? I mean, that's, that's the— because like, he's good if it's a 1-year deal.

He's looking for way more than that. But that's my point, that's, that's Like, my thing— basically what I'm telling him is like, this is an opportunity for you to make an investment in yourself.

They have more money than anyone else right now, the Heat.

I mean, but they've got, I mean, roster spots filled, right? Like, they're dealing with the crunch because they have the hard cap at the first apron. So they can't just, oh, all of our money, because then they still have to fill out that roster.

No, I think they only have 2 spots open, and of course you only need to fill one of them.

So the point— but then again, like, do you want to be in a situation where we're completely right at the hard cap?

Where you have no more money if someone gets hurt.

No more money if somebody gets hurt, right? So that's what they're weighing. But the reality is, if you're John the Kaminga, if I go to Minnesota, if I go to the Lakers, I will— I might get my money, at least for now. But, but is that it? And am I going to be able to improve my value if I'm fighting for minutes, fighting for touches, fighting for shots?

Is that a good idea, especially on super perimeter-based teams like the Lakers and the Wolves?

Hong Kong, they got a team. It's interesting, though, that he was so willing to answer Hong Kong. No, but there were others.

Croatia.

I didn't even know they had a team until right now.

Wow. That's— you were trying to avoid headlines. Okay. Guatemala. They can't be good.

Guatemala is not good. They can't be good.

Come on. What are you afraid of?

They can't be good.

Bulletin board material, Mike, for the Continentals. He's got to be worried about the Croatians at this point.

But we don't have to see the Croatians next year. One thing I will say, though, if you don't mind me chiming in. So I'm in on my buddy here that I came with, Ernie. Big Heat guy also. We've been debating about the Klay Thompson versus DeMar DeRozan situation. So if it was up to all three, DeMar, Klay, and Kaminga, who do you think fills that role the best? Because if you're looking at it from someone who's never been in a system or whatnot, just semi-casual, semi-consider-myself-baller, I would think DeMar DeRozan would be the way to go.

Roy, what do you think?

I got nothing for you.

Sorry. Just because I think the Heat are missing a fourth quarter closer. I think because right now, if you need a bucket in the fourth, who are you giving the ball to?

Yeah, it's probably going to be Giannis.

Giannis going downhill.

But then like we've seen Giannis in Milwaukee have those moments where it's like, I'll take this jumper. Like, no, not that.

Well, so I think that's why you go after a DeMar for the minimum and it looks decent.

Minimum?

He doesn't take the minimum. The Heat love going after DeRozan for the minimum. It's a yearly— yeah, the yearly thing.

1000%. Almost as much as DeRozan loves saying absolutely not.

Yeah, 1000%. They love it.