Part 2: NBA League Pass Rankings and Million Dollar Picks With Chris Ryan, Rob Mahoney, Wosny Lambre, Sheil Kapadia, and Anthony Dabbundo
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We talked basketball. We talked UFC. We talked Yankees with my buddy Jacko. Part two is coming up right now. Dinner in League Pass Draft with Big Waz and Chris Ryan and Rob Mahoney. And then I brought in Shil Kapadia and Anthony Dibundo to help me with Million Dollar Picks for week eight. We have a little momentum going. Can we keep it up? It is all next. First, our friends from Pearl Jam. ♪♪♪

All right, we're taping this at 1:30 Pacific time, Thursday.

Here with Chris Ryan, the Charles Nelson Riley of The Ringer. Sent 17 podcasts this week. This is the one that counts, though, man. This is the one that matters. I appreciate that, CR. Big Woz. Yes, sir. How are you? I'm happy. Good to see you. Yeah, you love this. This is your time of year. Yeah, it is. Especially, like, hope springs eternal for all of these teams for at least the next month. And...

And the one and only Rob Mahoney. Hi. Who's somehow breaking down the NBA again and not weird shows on Apple. It's getting weirder. You can't eat you both. Yeah. We'll find out. What's that new show with Kevin Kline? Disclaimer. Yeah. My mom was like, this best show in a while. My mom's 76. She hasn't gotten to episode five yet, I can tell you. She likes super weird. So anyway, it seems disturbing. So we're going to do league pass rankings, which is great because we...

We're actually supposed to do this on Tuesday and fate intervened. I got super sick. But I'm glad we got to see two days of games because I feel like this is a better way to do it. Now I have a better feel for the season. So shout out to Zach Lowe. Back in the day at Grandland, we came up with the league pass rankings, I think in 12 or 13. We had five categories. I went back and read what the categories were. They're going to shape...

What we do for this. So you can't just be, you can't just say Brooklyn's my number one because literally why would you? Yeah. Who, who did you think was there? I'm waiting till we get to Brooklyn. All right. Category number one is relevancy of the playoff picture. Category number two is her hoop nerdgasm potential. Uh-huh. Category number three is the league pass experience, which was a big passion of Zach's and still is announcing teams, sideline reporting, uh,

uniforms, the mascot, like the, the Clippers last night just was a 10 out of 10 with how weird that was. Fucking guy came out of the rafters. What's that guy's name? Their mascot. Try.

Drop from the Raptors. I actually don't know. Oh, in hard style. It was terrifying. I didn't know that was going on. Yeah, they're all excited about that mascot. I was mesmerized by the wall, but I didn't see the mascot. Well, the wall was cool. Are we sure it wasn't James Arden? He didn't come down? Category number four, individual player appeal. And then category number five, the most important for all of us, is unintentional comedy, irrational affection,

and personality intangibles. I'm just going to make this easy. CR, I'm giving you first pick. Oh, you are? And we'll just go around. Okay. And there's no snake fashion. Okay. There's no real way to win this. So we'll just get started. You didn't want to do any headlines. You didn't want to ask any Embiid questions. Nothing. We'll get there. The Philly will be mentioned at something during the pod. And as we hit each pod,

pod, each team, we'll talk about variables. Is your best player ever going to play? Why did they give him an extension and he's not healthy? Those are questions we'll ask. We're not there yet. With the first pick, I'm going to go with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Explain. Ant is my favorite

current professional athlete. Wow. I think even within... Over Angel Reese? In a day and a half, he has managed to already make hilarious content out of one game where he told Bronny he didn't need to take a shower. I love that so much.

The yo that Vanderbilt said, you haven't played in two years. Yeah. It seemed angry about it. Yeah. Did Vanderbilt chirp at him? Like, what happened? They used to be teammates. Yeah, I think it's just shit talking. That's like a familiarity factor. The Brian thing killed me. If there was a premium tier to pay $1,000 for season to have Ant miked,

Yeah. And it was just going into my AirPods. I don't even know if a thousand would be too high. Like I would pay pretty much anything and I would just expense it to you. Well, there's a new level with swagger with him because now he played with all the best guys. Yeah. So now he's on the court with LeBron and he's just like, oh, fine, I'll talk shit with him. Yeah. And LeBron probably edited him out of starting five a little bit. Oh, no question. So that he didn't steal this show. Yeah.

Then you add the Dante piece, which is this weird revenge tour that he's on that seems to be metastasizing beyond even the Knicks. And it's like, he's angry and playing hard. I think that they're just going to have like a tougher, more competitive, more fuck you team without Kat. Don't forget the Gobert piece. And there's Gobert. Yeah, there's Gobert just going out there and getting choked out. So I think it's just a really exciting night-to-night team that's going to be in the mix for the title.

Just to tear down your team right off the bat. Okay. How do you feel about the thing you love most? Watching Anthony Edwards play basketball, being actively stifled, every possession by Julius Randle doing whatever it is that Julius Randle wants to do. You don't like Julius Randle's jab steps? I actually, I'm like a big supporter of Kentucky alumnus across the board. So I'm excited actually because I also think Randle at least is saying the right things where he's like, you know what? I can pass.

I've just been in situations where they've asked me to take 26 shots a game. So I'm sure it'll clog up the lane a little bit. I told Waz before we started that I had Minnesota second and I moved them down six spots after watching Randall for two hours. I was just like, wow, I just don't like watching. Forgot. I just don't like watching him play basketball. Nothing personal. I'm sure he's a great guy. But I bet for all of us, Minnesota's towards the top of the board.

right? 100%. Yeah. They're fun. They're interesting. They're going to be good and competing for things. And the go-bare part of it, like having a guy on your team that everybody else wants to dunk on,

rockets them up a ranking like this. Also, speaking of Kentucky alumnus Dillingham, I'm like already like... Do we think he's going to play? I just... When he does, I think he's jumping out of the building. Got you. It would be funny if there was like an actor or an actress like Gobert that everybody who did a scene with them just wanted to destroy them in the scene.

Maybe he was like Taye Diggs. People are just like, I fucking destroyed Taye Diggs. Dave Gobert brings something special out of everybody's got a gripe with him. There's like American foreign stuff with him. There's defensive player of the year stuff. There's inter-French beef. Yeah. He's just despised. It's bizarre. Yeah. He's the individual version of like Memphis who like everybody hates. Yeah. As a team. Right. Rudy's just that individual for every single NBA player.

450 guys hate him. I didn't agree with the first pick, but I see you. I see you, CR. I see you. You've been putting the word CR. I see you, Chris Ryan. What do you have for number two, Wes? My number... Man, I didn't know I was going to be put in this position. To draft? Yeah. I'm going to go with Oklahoma City. This is the pick. Which I think everybody's really excited about.

about watching them. It's not just Shea. It's J-Dub. It's Chet for me specifically. I'm a big, big Chet guy. The new additions, Hardenstein got hurt. A lot of people said I jinxed it because I said on our pod, I said their depth was unbeatable. And then he got hurt the next day. What power you have. We did the over-under. We all did over lock 57 and a half. And I think he broke his hand listening to the podcast. But I still think they can hit it.

It's just young guys. My favorite thing about League Pass, outside of great teams, is a sense of discovery. Watching guys week after week learn new things, beat new things. Or teams discover things about them and then they overcome that adjustment by other teams. So I think OKC has it all. They have the top to bottom talent.

And then they have this sense that like you're going to be learning new things about their potential every single week. Yeah, and every single game. It's not even like, is this guy having a great week? It's, oh, I didn't know Cason Walls could do that. I didn't know these guys could pop off in that way. And they're so deep. They have so many interesting players. I'm not worried about the Thunder to say the least. I think they're going to be awesome. Do you think there's any like, it's like too predictable how good they're going to be? Like I was thinking about this. I would love like a crazy midseason Koki Presti move.

like trade for Kawhi you know just do something nuts to like upset the apple cart he's never done it one time in his entire tenure I think the Hayward thing also probably scared him off of doing that ever again too they've even elicited a terrible Kendrick Perkins take before the season started what was that take how SGA needs to cut his scoring down to 24 points a game and get other guys involved it's very specific it's like

Other guys involved. He's like one of the most inclusive stars we have. He is the most. What is that? It's like him and Steph Curry. Where are the producers on those shows? No, Kendrick. No, please don't say that. I like the discovery thing, especially like with League Pass day in, day out when guys get scratched, guys aren't playing, or you're just flipping around in second quarters. I feel like for League Pass, you need kind of a bench that can either be really good

Or really weird. Yeah. Really weird is like, there's a couple teams that we'll get to where you're just like, wow, this guy? Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah. Which I think is fun. Now that burns off by November, December. You're like, all right. But that's where them having all this stuff to trade, even if it isn't a koki trade.

Yeah. Like they could mix it up anytime they want to. And they could have a slightly different team or a very different team by February. And I think that potential makes them super watchable too. This is a good character for us to develop is Coke Presti. Coked up Presti? And what he could do with all these picks. So it's like Saul Rubinick in True Romance? Screaming at Gordon Hayward? You stabbed me in the heart! All right. Okay. So now you're up, Rob. This is... I feel like this is a...

Easy pick, but you won't make it. What does that mean? I don't think you're going to make the pick you should make. I'm going to take the San Antonio Spurs. Wow.

Easy reason. Straightforward reason. Although, look, I'm also going to talk your off about Chris Paul and how much I'm looking forward to seeing him there. I just have no idea what Wimby is capable of. And I very much look forward to seeing what that is. And Paul's already resting? No, don't worry about it. Okay. Don't worry about it. He's going to be fine. Chris Paul is theoretical. Theoretical? Yeah, he's like Kawhi Leonard. Their bodies are shot. That's incredibly rude. They're not going to play. These guys don't play. But the reason why, look, I was quite...

idiotically skeptical of Wemby very vocally skeptical performatively America first skeptical yeah I was like oh he did it in the French League give me a break do it in the ACC um obviously I was wrong but my thing about the Spurs while they're lower on my list I don't care about anybody else on that team like not a one other player do I get geeked to watch even though Wemby is yes you know he's transcended um

But, you know, I like to pick. You're not into Harrison Barnes like that? Harry Barnes doesn't do it for me. Poor Harry. No, but Stephon Castle, though, they do have interesting young guys. He's a nice rookie, yeah. So some pop, some intrigue.

Obviously, everything at Wemby. Come on. Stephon Castle? Yeah. UConn? I hated the feeling last season when you would watch the Spurs and Wemby would have like, he'd be drawing like a triple-double in the first quarter and then Pop would just go against all vibes and just pull him out for like most of the second or, you know, sit him like with just like unrepentant, just like we're managing it, we're managing it. It's like people want to watch this guy explode. Let's go. Yeah.

I had them like in the eight to 10 range because I'm with Waz. I really only want to watch Wemby. I don't know if Castle's ready yet. But the thing with Wemby is anytime he gets going or makes some crazy play, I'm going to see it on my phone in five seconds, right? So all the stuff that he did last year or when he had like the 17 points and six minutes in third quarter, like you start hearing about it as it's happening. Just go over and get it.

So I don't know. I still don't know what this team wants to be. They're not going to be that good yet. Yeah, I don't feel like they will. And their over-under I thought was pretty high, but there's some people really going in on them being good. And I just think Chris Paul's too old. I'm with Waz. Like all of the evidence in NBA history is against point guards, little guys at his age.

being really good. I don't see it. He's not going to play a ton of games, but when he is out there, he will actually throw the ball to Victor Webonyama, which is something that they needed. Yeah, and I think I hear your point about the highlights. I think it's well-founded. The thing you will miss is Webonyama trying shit that doesn't work, and he has some of the most elaborate and incredible near highlights of any player in the league. The time he jumps at a ball but can't quite block it or goaltends it, the threes he'll attempt. I want to see all that stuff in addition to the great highlight plays.

I have Orlando at number four. That's the team that I should have drafted? Well... I'm not talking down to them. I love the magic. Here's why. I have a bunch of reasons. One is I think they're really fun to watch. Two, Cerruti's here and I just wanted to make this thing. He's got a big smile on his face for those at home. Three, I think they're the discovery team this year along the lines of what OKC was last year where...

And we were banking on this when we did the over-unders. I know you guys liked them too. Like the 47 wins last year, it felt like of any team in the league, them or Cleveland had a chance to jump. But I loved what they did last night. There was a real killer instinct with them. Palo is clearly just a level higher than he was last year.

And I want to just watch them because I don't know what their ceiling is. Like, I watched last night, and I know it's early. I'm not trying to overreact after one game. And I want to see the Knicks game 25, right? I'm not going to judge the Knicks after one game. Let's wait until 25. Let's see when Rich Robinson comes back. But Orlando's really fucking hard to play. And Cerruti made the key point when we were talking about it today. They can just play well for six minutes and go on like a 19-1 run. And you're like, what? You know, they're almost like a football team that can score points in bunches

They're just really scary. I was scared last night watching them for the Celtics. And then the Palo piece is the X factor for a league pass. Like he's just going to have nights where he puts up 38 and 20 and nine assists.

So that's my fourth pick. What I like about them too for a league pass team is their style is very distinct. Like nobody's as physical as they are. Nobody's as downhill as they are. Their entire core is young guys who are still trying to establish and prove themselves. That's what I really like about Orlando. You're not going to watch a team that plays that style where they're just like hitting you the entire freaking game. Several teams in the Eastern Conference, especially the favorites, are all kind of like on a...

almost organizational load management program. You know, you're like, oh yeah, you guys are going to build up to the spring. There's a couple like this one, the one that I might pick next that you're like, man, every single night I bet you guys are going to go for it. Yeah, they're going to have to like protect these things from not playing. Yeah, so I think that's a cool pick. There's also a version of a defense first team that is not that fun to watch. There's like a real slog

The Magic are not that. Watch Jalen Suggs play defense. He's flying around. He's hounding everybody. He's going to make every guard's life miserable. Talking tons of shit, but great vibes on the Magic side. They have so many guys who are very physical, but super watchable. So one other thing with this from a league pass standpoint, because they did, and they started this last year where they basically show the Jumbotron camera during the timeouts. So you just stay with the feed.

Orlando's got one of the most lit crowds. Yeah. It's just cougars everywhere. A lot of off-season pro golfers. A lot of off-season weird celebrities like golfers and NASCAR drivers. There's older rich guys sitting in the front row with some wife that's like 40 years younger than him. I actually really see Rob shaking. I really enjoy their time out stuff. Rob's trying to win a trip to Disney World. I'm just trying to get out of this room.

I'm just trying to get away from this table right now. Cougar Central, the Orlando Magic. It's pretty funny. All right, Chris, you're up. All right. Number five pick. So there's an extra element I'll just throw in to one of Zach's criteria there, which is something that's more recent for me, but it is fantasy. And I got Mobley this season. And let me tell you, small theater fans,

Sample size? Yeah. Mobley. Mobley and the Atkinson program might be incredible. And we've been waiting for this Tim Duncan next generation thing to happen. It's only one game, but I think that...

Cleveland looks like the kind of team you want to watch every single night. My stockbroker is still hammering me about my Mobley position. Yeah. Just like, we are just overextended. Is it considered insider trading for also incredibly over-leveraged and Evan Mobley stock? If we talk him up on this pot, is that a crime of some kind? I think it's very smart. 25-8-3 in 27 minutes last night. And that's the other team that kind of has the look a little bit. Like, granted, one game sample size, but they did all the right things in the offseason. They got Mitchell to commit.

And if you're Cleveland, you can't really afford to be like, we'll start playing hard in February. It's like, no, you guys got to like. Yeah, they have to do it now. And I think Atkinson is bringing just a whole new dynamic. Rob mentioned it on the live stream yesterday where he's like, yo, Mobley, we're going to give you the ball and actually allow you to do something with it. We're not going to treat you like some traditional big and give it to you on the block and think you're going to dream shake people to death like that.

not how he's doing. He's just more creative than the last coaches. And I think that's reason in and of itself, even though like it's the whole team is back.

From last year if they're just healthier and more creative on offense specifically then yeah, they're definitely worth a watch I also don't want to let the larger conversation about Donovan Mitchell cloud the fact that he's fucking watchable Yeah, super fun to watch. Yeah, also I say them against a good team I'm just gonna be entertained on the West Coast those those central timezone games are very in the sweet spot of you've gotten home from work You can throw it on as you're making dinner. You can check in with them. Definitely. Well, that's six pick. Oh

This is easy for me. It's the Philadelphia 76ers. For both sides of it. One, because I do think legitimately when everybody's available, this can be a really good to great team. Just the talent that's available. The other thing, so just on a talent contender, we all know that on paper.

The other thing that I like is that I know for a fact the entire fan base is ready to turn on these guys. The second... Ready. The second that it doesn't... Locked and loaded. They are ready to kill these dudes. So it's like both of those elements, like do they fulfill their potential or do we just watch one of the worst car crashes of recent memory?

Paul George had an excuse. He has a bruised knee. That was hurt. That's a two-week injury. That was a real injury. Yeah. Like, my daughter just had that in soccer. It fucking hurt. She was limping around for two weeks. You can't... There's no way to heal it. Embiid is healing from the off-season. That's for my daughter, Paul George. Huh? He's recovering from the off-season. But the Embiid thing is where... It's hard work losing 25 pounds, right? Yeah, he lost too much weight. That's a lot of cardio. Explain the extension to me, CR. Uh...

You're going to really play show us, prove it to us with your own beat? How about, yes. Show me another example in the NBA of that happening right now.

As you know, I don't understand why the Corpers did it with Kawhi. I don't understand the point of these extensions when you have no idea if the guy's going to be healthy three months from now. I'd rather be like, oh man, we should have extended him. He's healthy. They're moving into a new building and they need to have a stable face in the franchise. And Maxie, for as much as he's beloved in the city, is not there yet. Also, he's awesome? Are we just pretending Joel Embiid's not good? Like, he's hurt a lot. The playoff concerns are what they are, but he's...

an excellent player who I like, I would be in business with that idea. He didn't look healthy in the Olympics. He didn't look healthy in the playoffs. And now he's not healthy. That's six months. Yeah. But you're not playing for now. You're hoping that he's healthy by May. Yeah. That's the example of what I was saying, where it's like, do you really want to watch the Sixers in December? Probably not. Now, I just want to say no franchise has ever said this before as like a selling point to their fans.

We only care about the playoffs. No fucking kidding. Everyone cares about the playoffs. Oh, whoa, this is a new theory. We only care about the postseason. Okay, cool. The problem with taking that stance if you're the Sixers is that you've never done anything. Like if Boston decided...

tomorrow like yo we're chilling until the playoffs it's like yo they've been going to finals conference finals he didn't say I'm chilling until the playoffs he said I want to be as healthy as possible for the playoffs and that means I'm going to try and monitor my body I don't care about MVP I don't care about all NBA the extension is done it's all about being healthy I'm just playing devil's advocate he wasn't like I don't give a shit

until the playoffs start. I just think it's a weird decision to treat the regular season like, you know, when you go to a restaurant that there's the 20% gratuity automatically and then they're like, you can put a plus three if you want and it's like, that's how you're treating the regular season. Like, that's plus three. It's like, it's optional. Like, I mean, it's not that important.

You know, the gratuity is happening already. It's just like, I don't care. That's what it feels like. And it's with a brand new roster construction. Again, like I bring up Boston because they've had sustained success. It's like conference finals, finals all the time for six years. So they're like, look, we get the regular season. We're worried about getting to our final destination. There's credibility there. For a team that just got constructed to be like, we're going to figure out what kind of team we are in the playoffs.

That doesn't make any sense to me. From a League Pass perspective, here's what I'm not looking forward to is this exact conversation every time I see a visiting or an opposing broadcast. They didn't make one of the three TVs for me last night. It's like, I don't want to watch Andre Drummond. No, thank you. I'll be tuned in as long as two of the big three are in there. Did they get bumped off for Tubi?

No, I had three other games. You can get league pass on three different outlets. So I had all three. Rob, you're a conspiracy guy based on some of your TV watching. Wow. Okay. This is like an Apple TV question. Is this just an excuse and it beats that healthy? And this is like, they sat in a room for five hours and they were like,

let's do a whole, we only care about the playoffs. We just want to get him ready. This is one random quote that he made. Maybe he's just not healthy. They're not putting up billboards in Philly that say, Sixers, just wait for the playoffs. We're seasoned with this with five years of Kawhi. This is five years of Kawhi with the same blueprint of like, ah, you know. Leading up to the Paul George injury, I would say that this has been the most enthusiastic people have been about the Sixers in a long time. Like where it was just like,

holy shit, this actually worked. You actually did sign a guy into cap space. He actually might be the perfect third wheel. People were enthusiastic for the Joker too. Were they? He drafted him. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like I have to defend these guys. No, look, again, like I said, as long as

Joel or Paul George on the two of the big three. Maxi, I'm going to be interested to see how those guys work. Particularly Paul George around Joel Embiid because he's never played with that kind of player before. And Joel's never played. Well, he had the one season of Jimmy, but he's never played with a wing. He's never had a wing that's also like, I'm happy to be the beta here. Jimmy was obviously like, he would go in and out of wanting to be the top.

The playmaker. I hate this. He's also never played with someone like Gershon Yabusele and I'm not afraid to say it. Yabu. Fun guy. Um...

None of this is passing the smell test for me. Okay. None of it. That was Waz's pick. That's my pick. And I think they're putting too much pressure on Maxie because now Maxie is becoming, it's like when this, I remember writing about this a million years ago, it happened with David West in New Orleans. Everybody talked about how great he was so often. It was like he somehow became overrated by not doing anything. Yeah.

and Maxie it's like oh Maxie I love Maxie oh he could be the face of the franchise it's like can we see Maxie like be the best guy in a team for three weeks in a row why okay I just wanted to be first of all Waz picked them and second of all this is the league pass rankings draft and now it's just been like unloading on the Sixers for five minutes well that's what we do here and it's unloading them for them for like what they've done in the playoffs we glaze the magic we're just like these guys fighters every single night that's right

That's right. But I think to me, again, I think the human interest of it appeals to me. Like Joel's story, Paul George's story, even, you know, Daryl's story, right? Like the way this team is put together and how all in it feels like that's compelling to me. So I'm paying attention. It's a burn the ships team. Yeah, man. Good luck. We're going to take a break. Let's see our regroup.

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All right, coming back. Somehow we've only done six teams. Rob Mahoney is up with pick seven. I'm going to take a team that is in close games all the time, usually because they're blowing lots of leads. At least that was the case last season. Also, crucially, on the league pass side of things, as Chris pointed out, I'm going the other side of the time bracket. West Coast, kind of a tough slot this year. Not a lot of teams I'm super invested in except the Sacramento Kings. Give me the Cardiac Kings. They

They found every way to blow games last year. Now, let's put DeMar DeRosa in there. Let's have a closer. Let's have two of the best closers in the league between him and De'Aaron Fox. It's a weird basketball fit. I want to see if it works. They have an overall alignment that I think if they put two of their stars on the floor at all times could result in really high-level baseline play all the time. I'm excited to see it. I'm excited to see it.

I'll be committed to watching them all season for the fun factor. And again, because their style is so distinct, even though I know that they will not do anything in the playoffs as constructed. They may not even make it, to be honest. Right. But it's just the visceral feeling of watching these guys play so fast and be committed to that style that every single team every year says, yeah, we're going to play with more speed.

pace this year and like never does it but Sacramento's gonna actually do it and deliver while playing absolutely no defense but I'm still here for it they might be the most entertaining team on the west coast right incredibly they were entertaining last year yeah and now the Rosen thing makes it even better I feel like we can't lose with the Kings because if it doesn't go that well

Then it just becomes De'Aaron Fox trade machine time. Oh, yeah. Let's go. Yeah, let's go. Let's start making up trades with him. Coke Presti on the phone. Coke Presti's like, hello? What's the Scarface thing where they're like, ah! Tony.

But I actually think they're going to go be more entertaining would be my pick for them. I like their team. I thought, you know, they won 48 and 46 the last two years. I don't know why they would go backwards. Also pretty fun arena. And when it's close games, it gets pretty. From a league pass standpoint, a lot of good stuff from that. Like I like light the beam. I like their fans. Their games always have a good atmosphere. So strong pick. I'm taking the Celtics eight.

This sucks. You're picking your own team? Well, they're really fun to watch. They shoot a shitload of threes. They have two of the best. Can I tell you on behalf of our nation who all love you and love your podcasting, they're not that fun to watch. They're fun to watch. They have some of the best players in the league. Show of hands, does anybody find the fucking Celtics fun to watch? They're like in the middle of my ranking. Okay. Here's my question. It's my pick. Okay.

Is there anything left to discover that we don't know? So I'm going to make the case. Oh, crazy. You had to ask this? I think there's a chance. My fingers crossed. Sometimes when a team wins the title, the next year they come back and they actually go up a level. And Steve Kerr's talked about this because I remember talking to him about this in my book.

there's a weird confidence that comes into play. And I felt like they had that in that Knicks game. So I'm intrigued by how hard they go this season. I think they're going to have a lot of blowout wins. I think Tatum is really motivated. Is a lot of blowout wins good for league pass?

It's good for you. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. But it's interesting to watch these teams try to figure out. They're just bouncing around the schedule. Every team has these weaknesses. And then they come in and the Celtics have 43s in the first half. These teams, they almost don't know. It's almost like in football when you play those teams that are just throwing it every down. You're just like, what's happening? No other team plays like this. I don't know. There's a vibe. I think the atmosphere is good. I like the announcers. And I don't

I don't know. I just think they're really good to watch. I'm more interested in them for non-basketball reasons. I'm interested in them for Missoula post-game quotes. Absolutely. I'm interested in them for who's the worst person they could possibly be sold to who will bankrupt the team. And...

That is a conversation topic right now in Celtics Nation. Six months are going to be on here defending sovereign wealth funds. Look, Abu Dhabi, you take the phone call. You can't judge. Shouts to MBS. But no, I actually, on our show yesterday, I think the Celtics could win 70 games this year. I really do. I think there's enough fuck you factor to Tatum with the Olympics, Brown...

with the Olympics, Joe Mazzullo, who nobody respects still, even though he just won a championship. I think legitimately these guys, you know this like nobody believed in us and nobody respects us, like Jordan just completely made it up out of thin air, it wasn't true. With the Celtics, it's true. Like, they've been legitimately disrespected, especially...

on an individual level. So I could see them chasing 70 wins or even trying to break the record. And they got the talent, they got the continuity to do it. I really do see them as like a 2016 Warriors type. Yeah, if they hit that streak in the middle of the season where it's like the heat when they were on their run or even the Rockets where it's like 18 regular season wins in a row, like we're locked in for 19. We want to see if they can pull that kind of stuff off.

stuff off. One thing, I forgot to mention this in my league pass case. They've mastered the regular season, I think, out of all the teams where they'll just rest one guy and then it'll be like, Sam Houser, it's your night. So this is, but this is cool. Yeah, it's cool in the Celtics. Here you go. No.

But they have an infrastructure where they fit these people in and they actually make sense in the game versus like, oh, Embiid's playing. Well, there's no reason Ricky Council can't be getting blooded by Nick Nurse. It's just all part of the plan. But I like as a fan, it's like, oh, it's going to be a Peyton Pritchard. Let's call him loose game. Anyway, see how you're up. For pure aesthetic reasons, and we were talking a little bit about like everybody wants to push the ball. Nobody pushes the ball like the Pacers. So I'm going to go with them. Yeah.

Matherin's back, which is the kind of thing you say on a podcast, but I actually love Benedict Matherin. He brings a little bit of that crazy fuck you energy to the games. Halliburton presumably does not have a hamstring injury right now, and they're just a really exciting team. Is he going to be good again, or are we just, that's never happening? It comes just in various ways. They just went to the conference finals. Yeah, but that was kind of like a fluky Blazers run. There's some flukes involved, but he was still good. Their offense was still good, and he's driving their offense.

So, is he going to be good again, though? When we saw him at in-season tournament, like, he was MVP level, right? And that's when I was really, like, when I saw it in person, I was like, damn, like, that's when I really joined the Halliburton train. But ever since he came back from that injury, he has not been that dude that was, like, doing the Dame time to Milwaukee and, like, showing everybody up and just destroying people. So, I think, but I think the level that he got...

In certain games against the Knicks, he's still a high-quality, all-star-level guy. It just might not be every single night. He hasn't been MVP-level like he was very early on. His first two months, he was one of the four best guys in the league last year. It was crazy. Even yesterday. I was watching Mather and had a look in his eye like...

I'm here, guys. I was the missing piece last year. He's a very confident player. He really is. There was a video over the summer of him dominating Carmelo's son and talking shit to him. I was like, this is the sicko stuff that I love is when NBA players are like, I'm not even going to let you get an Instagram reel off of me. He's one of those guys who takes the challenge. Oh no, it's Gilbert Arenas, this kid.

He takes the challenge of being, like, really good seriously. He dealt with a lot of nagging injuries last year. But, you know, a lot of times these guys, we think in the second year it's going to happen. And then it doesn't. And, you know, ultimately the third year becomes...

the year that they take that proverbial leap. They also have so many young guys who's like, is Matherin going to pop? Is Nemhard going to take a step forward? Is Jairus Walker going to give them anything? Like, I want to see what all those guys can do. Or is Jairus Walker a bust? What's going on with him? Two other things with them. They're a good opponent.

They bring out really fun games from the other team. And I like their home court. Like for league pass, it's just fun to watch games there where the fans seem really close to the court. It's like the only thing, it's like the field house. It's like almost like this throwback thing. And so it also goes along with like McConnell pressing guys for the entire full court. It's like, it's just, they're fun games to watch. Fun timeout stuff too with them. It's like,

Pacer fans, let's honor Bob from Bob's Hardware Store. Available for 60 years. Selling the best hardware in Gary, Indiana. Bill, your heartland voice is perfect. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, you're up, Wes. I can't believe they've lasted this long. It's Luka Doncic, the favorite to win the MVP, the Dallas Mavericks. I just...

I think Dallas is going to zip back to the finals. I think Luke is going to win the MVP. I think they've constructed an even better roster around him this year, around the edges. Clay Thompson is one thing. Najee Marshall is another. But I think also just going that far in the playoffs and learning what it takes to actually win, you know, at that level. I think Dallas is going to level up this season. And, you know, I'm excited about Derek Lively. I think I'm...

I'm over the moon for him in terms of his potential. And I just, you know, and the Kyrie thing, of course, is fun. You know, the twisty layups and the handle and all of that stuff every single game. But really, it's Luka who, you know, I was joking to Rob the other day, like my first next LeBron was Giannis. Then it was Jokic. Now it's Luka. I really do think Luka is the next LeBron and is poised to like really make this thing happen.

I have nothing to add. I think there are guys... Look, there's some people who I think are turned off by Luka's style. Like, how much he has the ball in his hands. How much he creates. I am turned off by Luka's style. I can't connect with that. I think in part, for me, it's like the longer his possessions go, the more dramatic they feel. Like, his passes are so exceptional. That's what I'm saying.

that I'm just like waiting to see how he gets himself out of the straight jacket. I think it's awesome in the playoffs. It's a little bit of a tough beat on a Tuesday night. I hear you. And that's where you hope that the Kyrie factor, like the space they'll have with Klay, everything lively is going to be popping off this season. That stuff will help.

It's a tough beat for P.J. Washington year two, now that it's not a new team anymore. Yeah. It's like, oof, six months, I'm going to just be in the left corner. Hoping I get passed. So are you kind of like completely neutral on this team? I don't know. Listen, I've talked about it before. I don't love the heliocentric. Yeah. Harden to me is like my idea of hell to watch. I didn't go last night. Granted, I was sick last night, but I just don't want to drive 45 minutes to watch James Harden have the ball for...

Two hours straight. It just sounds horrible. Nothing against him. Some people like it. I just, that's not what I like. Nothing against him. No, I just don't like that style of basketball. But Rob makes a good point. Like other people see it as like, this is amazing to watch this person solve all these machinations off the same thing over and over again. I just don't personally like it. They've made a lot of advances at the Intuit Dome. It's like a new experience. I would love it if James Harden got a notification every time you're coming. Yeah.

So he's like 23 seconds at the top of the key. The lunging into people. I just. Bill got up to go to the bathroom. I could pass you. Every time he goes to the bathroom, Harden's like, all right, I'll sit now. When he comes back, let me know and I'll dribble for a while. Who do you have? This team would have been very high for me, except for opening night. I'm going to take the New York Knicks. A lot to figure out. Yeah.

I think the fact that they don't have a bench makes them a better regular season team in some ways. Like, I'm not going to get a lot of bad minutes from guys who can't play. Like, I think we're going to find out pretty quickly if, like, Dadier can be literally anything for them, if campaign can be literally anything for them. But Jalen Brunson has to play. Well, but Jalen Brunson has to play huge minutes. Like, their best players have to play huge minutes every night. And so it's almost the Knicks are the opposite of the Sixers problem where their best guys are going to be out there.

Like they're going to run themselves into the ground to try to get this thing through. And I want to be there to watch it. And I want to see if they can solve some of the clutter that they had on opening night for sure. I agree with Rob. I want to watch just to watch McKilbert just shoot. It's like it really should be a sixer with that shot. His last three was good though. Okay. You know. That one looks smooth. It was looking pretty gamey for the last couple of weeks. Woz, where do you stand on Bodega Cat?

Look, my thing is the same. I like that he's the seventh most important voice in the room, that he's coming into a situation where, like, nobody's ever called you the savior of the Knicks. You've never been the golden boy here. You're coming here, and people are looking at you like, you got to assimilate to this culture. I love that aspect of it. He's not being asked to lead anybody, because let's face it, he couldn't do that. But, like, I think he's old enough and...

And I don't want to say wise enough, but I think he'll get the hint that he has to conform to what they're trying to do. And I would hope that it's impressed upon him the sort of magnitude of what they're trying to accomplish there. Like what it would mean to the people in New York, the fans of that team, for them to actually live up to their expectations. Like, you know, Jalen Brunson so obviously gets it. Like...

truly gets it, like what this Nick thing is. I just hope that Carl Towns gets to that point. I think if he does, he's going to learn how to be additive to what they're doing. I don't think he's going to be Wilt Chamberlain or anything stupid like that. But I think he can be very complimentary to Jalen Brunson, what he's trying to do in the in-between game. And I think he could be obviously way better than Julius Randle. So like, yeah, that's where I'm at with Catty.

I thought Brunson looked pretty good in the first game considering he was still covered in Dante DiVincenzo's blood.

After the ruthless trading of his college buddy. My God, would I ever trade Joe House? It's like, sorry, House. We had a chance to get so-and-so. You're now working over there. Sorry, buddy. We're still going to hang out, right? It was fucked up. Can you imagine if I was just screaming at Cerruti like, this is what happens when they let you run things, Cerruti.

We have to talk about the magic before the Sixers. Oh, my goodness. Well, this draft has been too predictable, and I'm about to uproot it. And it's genuine, too, because I love this team, and I almost picked them four picks ago. They were on the big screen last night for me.

There's a lot to love the Atlanta Hawks. Wow. I have their over 36 and a half. I like watching them. Trey is just like, thank God DeJounte Murray's not here anymore. Yeah, the vibe change was crazy. Incredible vibe change. Lobs galore.

multiple 6'9", 6'10", skinny guy. You have to really look. You can almost not tell them apart. I'm still getting used to like, oh, is that? No, that's Johnson. And they all like, it's just like interchangeable length and weirdness. And I'll be honest, man. Waz, we haven't talked about this.

I have property on Richeche Island. Oh, man. I'm fucking in on Richeche. Like, I'm legit in on him. I like that guy. I liked him in the preseason. Listen, it was not expensive. Is there a vineyard attached? Expectations were down. I like that guy. I like how even his box score last night didn't really show what he was doing. Can I read you the ESPN headline here? What is it? It says, number one pick, Richeche. Opens with three, goes two for eight.

Mr. Lamp in traffic. That's clickbait right there. I thought he was good. I think he hustles and he makes sense to me as somebody who will be a valuable person on a really good NBA team. And they have him and they have Dyson Daniels and they have Johnson. They're just weird. They're fun to play. They have two big guys. The Congo came in. Bogdanovich comes in and just takes over the offense for six.

I think they're pretty good. I got to say. It's a good question when you say, like, you know you have league pass when dot, dot, dot. Dyson Daniels is trending on your For You, where Dyson Daniels is locking guys up. Alcatraz, let's go. Well, last night he was almost murdered in real time by Nick Claxton. Nick Claxton was trying to get suspended for the season, so he doesn't have to play with Cam Thomas anymore. Who can blame him, honestly? Yeah, he was like, this is my one shot to get out of here. That game was super fun. There was almost two fights.

the, it got super feisty. It was close to the end. Atlanta's also not good enough to close games, which is great for league pass. They're up like, like by eight with a minute left. Somehow Brooklyn had a chance at the end. Um,

Thumbs up. I like that team. It seems like a 43-win team to me. Yeah, I'm a Jalen Johnson believer. I really love his package of both physical gifts, but he has a nose for the game. He has a genuine feel. He's not just out there, some robotic, athletic guy. I like that. And I think, like you guys said, the DeJounte Murray thing was...

a clarifying trade. Like, the team now has an obvious focal point and it's more organized instead of the sort of your turn, my turn nature that they were doing last year. And, you know, for league pass purposes, Trae Young is going to get on people's nerves and that's always fun. Like, and he's going to make a point of it. Plus,

He went to Istanbul, y'all. I seen him. I see the new beard. We know what's going on with that. So we can't put that past me. You Italian soccer coach? Yeah. He was like, give me the Antonio Conte. Come on now. You had me at they could be fun to watch. You lost me at 43 wins. Like, this team is not winning that many games. Well, that would be like six over the over-under. I think they can get to like 43 and 39 because at

It looks like Miami might be worse than we thought. Or they got Magic. Did you see all those sucky Eastern Conference teams yesterday? Yes. It's brutal. Yeah, it is tough. Somebody is going to have to win 43 games that we don't. Could it be Charlotte? I don't know. I think the Hawks are way better than Washington and Chicago. Detroit? They're way better than that group.

but I don't know that they're that close to the Miami's and the Indies. And, you know, I think there's a level below that somebody is going to be in. And I would, it's either them or my, you could step on rakes all season and make the East play in. So like, I'm not ruling out. It's like, there's going to be a bulls Hawks kind of like totally race to the bottom there. I kind of like their team. And I, if research turns out to be good right away, which I think there's a chance he's a little bit impactful. Um,

I don't know. Watch out for them. All right, CR, we got to move faster. Okay, I'm going to go with the Rockets. There's very few teams who market themselves as tough. So it's kind of fun to watch them on any given night get into people's shit.

It's more of a preseason thing, but the Reed Shepard experience so far has been delightful. He didn't get as much of a look last night, but Sangoon did and basically did baby Jokic all night. And I still have... And they lost, by the way. And they lost, I know, which is kind of the fun part is because there isn't like the Boston thing where you're like, can you win 70 though? It's like, no, are these guys going to actually pick...

a rotation, pick an identity, pick a sort of hierarchy, and are they going to play tough every night, which I think they will. This is very foreign for me because I usually traditionally do not like the Rockets, but this is a collection of guys that I like and a collection of guys that I hate watch. I hated Vernon Maxwell back in the day. I'm in violent agreement with you. I watched a lot of them last night. Same thing. And I don't think they have any idea what their rotation is. No. They played their top five a lot.

Whitmore barely played. But he played, which I thought was a pleasant surprise. So he tried to play 10 and then...

Shepard, it's just, he just seemed tiny to me. Yeah. People were talking about him coming in. They got smoked as soon as he came in. I'm still a real Shepard guy. No, I'm in too, but it was like, oh, this guy's little. I think once it slows down a little bit, but like the preseason, it was like, is this Pete Maravich? And now it's like, oh, this guy's little. Like they're going to hunt him on defense. Yeah. Well, in the holy war that is developing, Chris, do you identify more as a Shang-Goon guy or a Jalen Green guy? I think I really way preferred watching them on that

run they went in after Shingun, but they are aesthetically way more pleasing to watch with Shango. Isn't the question, are you a Shingun guy or a Jabari Smith guy? Because that seems to be the fundamental, like Jabari was invisible last night.

And I thought what made them special was him as the stretch five, like in that kind of pseudo-towns role. That was, and then that opened up the paint. If he's not playing five, he has to like apply some basketball-like feel, and that's not what he does. Where do you think Miami's going to play him? When they trade for Jimmy Butler? Yeah.

This is the thing is that I feel like Houston, even though they haven't really proved anything, are almost at a point where they have to do some subtraction. You know what I mean? I did this in part one of the pod. I think it's a three-for-one trade team. And I don't know what the trade was. Could it be Jimmy Butler? Could it be somebody on that level where they just...

kind of cash in because I think they have too many guys. They have like six players who could have could deservingly play 10 more minutes a game than they will probably. Well and also Thompson seems like he might actually be special. He's really he looks really good. He's almost like I can't keep him off the court guy. Yeah. So I don't know what that means either. He's maybe the biggest quirk in the Shingun part of that because like playing Jabari at the five is the clearest way to make Amin Thompson really really good really really quickly or at least give him lots of opportunities and maybe it's like a first line second line thing where the

The second unit is the time where he gets to cook. Hockey subs. Like I floated this in part one. Brooks, Adams expiring and Thompson for Jimmy Butler is like a really interesting who says no. And I don't know if I would do that if I was Houston.

I think I would rather. Because I don't think that guarantees me round three. What's the point of that? I think we're in the same phase we've been in the whole time. Of the team. So, yeah. All right. What do you got, Wes? Man, this is tough. It's not that tough, actually. It's the Los Angeles Lakers for me. And the tier that I put them in.

is like, you know, Steph, KD, LeBron, like, it's like your favorite bar just announced that they're about to close in a few weeks. So you go for a few last times. You go a couple more times. I got to steal a glass. That's why I'm tuning into the Lakers. Like, LeBron is 40 years old, right?

So, like, for that reason alone. And then, Quad has kept the Lakers have been one of the most hilarious teams to watch in the league for, like, two and a half years now. Like, a bunch of blown leads, like, dissing the coach for no reason. Yeah.

both Vogel and Darvin Ham. Even though we lose that element with JJ, the players won't be sniping at him, but the JJ media interactions are going to be entertaining. Would you see his first in-game coach interview? He gave like a minute and a half long answer. It's like, JJ, one sentence. He's like, here are the four things I thought would work.

in the first three quarters. Then he did the post-game thing where it was like he had just gotten out of the shower and he was like, I'm writing a letter to the league requesting that we use worn basketballs. Yeah. I was like, you got to fucking take it easy, man. It's been a long year. Great. If we're watching on TV, I was pretty impressed by him. I mean, they're

He seemed locked in. He was locked in on the refs. They ran good plays out of timeouts. I thought he handled the Bronny thing as well as you could have possibly handled the refs' situation. They did a really good job just being like, we're doing this. We're getting it out of the way. Yeah, let's get the fuck out of the way. There's not going to be any LeBron watch. They really ran through Davis like they weren't beholden to, all right, LeBron, a terrible time.

And they're using Connect in the right ways. I thought he did a good job. We also, with League Pass standpoint, you get the celebrities and the shots during the timeouts and just you get a taste of how fucking weird LA is every time out. Do they count as a League Pass team if they're going to be on national TV every day?

It's an interesting... Well, it's a soap opera because you know they're going to lose three in a row. The first passive-aggressive D'Angelo Russell. Oh, he's available. That's going to happen. LeBron. First time LeBron's like, I just work here. Yeah, yeah. I don't know why I only took eight shots. You have to ask JJ. Yeah. So we'll have all the rollercoaster ride of that stuff. I love that stuff.

Who do you have, Mahoney? Easy one for me. Memphis Grizzlies. Yeah, that's the next for me. Love watching John Moran play basketball. I'm a simple man. Simple pleasures. He does incredible shit. Down the stretch last night was...

It was nice. The up and unders, the dunk attempts, the way to intercept steals out of midair. Who the fuck was the white guy? Which guy? Huff. Where'd he come from? I cover basketball for a living. I was like, who's this? And he was on two teams the last two years, but never really played. Well, I know Waz got two. He was in crunch time. Huge Santi Aldama game, too. I know we're locked in on that, Waz, of course. Yes, we. Huff, you could have told me 30 countries, and I would have believed any of them.

But I think he's from here. I think he is from here. Yeah, I'm with the job part. It's fun to see how it's going to play out, whether he can get to where he needs to go. Scottie Pippen Jr., 22 minutes last night. He's legit. I think he's a legit backer. He's a legit guy. I really like a lot of their players, and especially once Gigi Jackson and Vince Williams get back.

There's just like a lot of... Probably going to have a little bit less Jay Huff though. Yeah. That's going to be a tough blow for Bill. I wish he didn't have a first name. I just think he should go Huff. He should get yourself in a jersey. A Huff jersey. Huff. Marcus Smart looked a little doughy to me. Just going to mention that. That's... I don't know if it's age or what. They were playing 13 guys. Wow. Swole. Yeah.

Is Marcus Martin not going to be in the Celtics ring of honor? Oh yeah, you guys are not going to retire his number? No. You guys aren't going to, is he going to get like... We all have a lot of affection for Marcus. I just thought he looked big.

Like he put on like weight. I'm not saying he looked fat. I'm saying he looked like muscle. Also Memphis barbecue not to be trifled with. Let's all be honest about it. I like him a little leaner. I'll make this quick. I'm taking Denver because of Jokic. Yeah, that's easy. We don't need to discuss them. Although it is fun to watch whatever the hell is going to happen with their bench and see if they can figure out whether they can find eight guys who can play consistently. But Jokic, yeah.

This will make me mad this year that his team around him isn't better because you have this incredible asset and he has no bench and they were trying to do the thing where they were much smarter than everybody and we're going young in length and it's like, you know what helps? Some fucking players that could come in and play well for 15 minutes. Can you just find a couple of those? The thing about Jokic too, like he doesn't strike me as a guy who's like,

reading the press clippings and is like, oh, Denver's going to stink this year. He doesn't care. He's just going to go out and do what he does. He's like, people write about this? You guys like this? Yeah. I just have a bad feeling we may get to the point in January where it's like the Fakou Compasso Nuggets vibes. It's like...

why is this guy out there? Yeah. Why is this guy in the rotation? The Michael Malone performance art of refusing to play anybody under the age of 26. Julian Strother, Hunter Tyson, let one of these guys play. Yeah, it could be like an amazing yoga chair where he's just like, all right, get on my back, everybody. I'm just going to make chicken salad out of chicken shit again. C.R., you're up. I'm going to go Pelicans, a.k.a. Philadelphia South. DeJounte,

I think he had 10 assists before he fractured his hand last night. Zion Williamson out for... These guys probably should have gone higher. Bill Simmons flew, but as far as watching on League Pass goes, Zion still is one of the top five reasons to watch basketball when he's on and when he's playing. It's just so fucking fun and interesting. They have fun bench guys, too. I like Messi. I like Hawkins. Yeah. Trey Murphy, obviously. Hawkins is really good. And yeah, I think when Murray comes back,

The fact that they don't have a center might be an issue at some point at this season. Seems like it could, yeah. But I love how freestyle it can be and Willie Greer can throw all these different combinations. And if you get Zion out there, it's worth watching alone.

Plus we're on Brandon Ingram watch. That's right. Yeah, it was good last time. Entering year six of it. Yeah. No questions. Obviously he wants a new deal. Good luck. He was so clearly on the trade, trade block this entire summer. Well, shit, last year too. But yeah, I'm interested to see how he responds to that. Could that be a Coke Presti phone call?

No, no, no. Don't do it. He's too ball-stopper. I think he's more of a somebody's had a chance to compete at a really high level and their best player got hurt or their best scorer got hurt. Or like Sacramento's like, I'm desperate now. Let's do something. Why would you give Brandon Ingram when you have DeMar at home is my problem. From a league pass standpoint, I just want to point out the New Orleans is kind of a bummer sometimes. Yes, sometimes there's 14 people. The crowds are awful sometimes where you're just like,

Jesus Christ, guys. Minnesota's in town. Yeah. Jose Alvarado is a guy who's a soft spot. Christ the King guy. Puerto Rican guy. If you grew up in New York City, you know him. You absolutely know a Jose Alvarado. And so, you know, love that guy. What I love about the Pelicans is we're talking about all these other teams in the sense that we're all going to watch the same version of the Sixers, whether they're healthy or not. When you watch the Pelicans, there's like your version of that team within them. The five guys that you like playing together are

they may not actually get that much time on the floor as one unit, but everyone has their version of that roster that they like. It's just a matter of who's...

Whether they get enough run or not. This is another team that feels like it's not going to be the same team in February. Like something will be different. Something will have gone very wrong if it is. All right, we're going to take one more break. And then now we're entering the most exciting part of the podcast. There's only seven rounds and two teams will not get drafted. Who are the two teams that are going to live in ignominy, not getting drafted in the league pass draft? That's coming up next.

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I feel like we're in a very simple part of the ranking now in the draft. I'm taking the Milwaukee Bucks. They have Giannis on their team. I will watch him play every game that he can play, watch him run through the wall every time he wants to run through the wall.

I know they have their issues as a contender, but as a regular season product, Dame and Giannis is pretty great where I stand. Dame with a summer workout regimen too. Can Dame go from being once a week to twice a week as having good games? Which is, if he does, they're going to be fun to watch. He started off slow and there was little grumblings in the room that we were watching again. Like, can you believe they gave up Drew Holiday for this?

and then he's drained like four threes in a row from 30 feet away. It's like, oh, that's why they traded. Those were partisan gripes that were being made. Yeah, we know. We don't need to do too much on Milwaukee, but the Doc coach interviews are always fun too. Yeah. Doc, what happened out there? Oh, you told me. We were terrible. I'm not sure. Apparently we're not playing defense tonight. He just doesn't give a shit anymore. So I'm up then? Yeah, who do you think?

I just got to keep track of this. Okay. Oh, man. I really want to... Do I want to throw the draft out of whack again? No. I'll take Phoenix. Guess what? Kevin Durant's still really fun to watch. Yeah. I thought it was interesting that they still don't seem like they have chemistry yet.

A little rough on that end so far. Last night, Booker was the one that suffered. But it seems like they can't get all the guys going at the same time. But I like seeing Coach Bud, who just seems like he was on Ozempic or Atkins or something. Or both. The Arizona sun was really getting him. But yeah, Phoenix for me.

Yeah, I hope that Coach Bud could get them to be more elastic in their games, man. Like KD, Bradley Bill are just so used to playing one way. Like I hope he could coax some elasticity out of them. But, you know, yeah, it's still KD when he's just like dribbling people at mid-range and just training it. Super fun. For my next pick...

I'm going to go Steph and the Dirty Dozen. Yeah. Just got to watch Steph while he's still here. It's just crazy that we get this far in the past. Wow, you sound like you're talking about like grandpa. Well, no. We got to go visit grandpa while he's still here. I honestly weirdly feel like the extended twilight of LeBron has overshadowed. This is probably also the twilight of Steph. Yeah. Do you know what I mean?

Or has it? Because I feel like Steph can play until he's like 48. But like literally no guard has ever done this before. Yeah. No one his size has ever played this well this late. So they were, I mean, I think they had the Blazers last night. That was pretty quick. Yeah. But, and they played like 14 guys. But it's a weird. Would you see what Kerr said? What?

I mean, he literally did a 12-man rotation and talked about it after. He's like, I just wanted to see if we could figure this out. I mean, how did you feel about that as someone who watched Jason Tatum exercise? It's an absolute violation. Yeah, especially at the Olympics. But no, I just don't think...

I think you can play 12 guys during a season, but during an actual game, it makes no sense. You've played basketball. Okay. Because you're just not playing enough. It's stupid. I don't get it. As an experiment, I think it's interesting. But yeah, I'll go with Warriors. No, I think Curry has to be. He can't be in the bottom 10 of a draft. No, no.

My team is Charlotte. God damn it. That was the one I almost took two spots ago. Yeah, Charlotte. And, you know, Brandon Miller I feel very heavily invested in. I watched him play two games in the SEC tournament. There you go. He declared him the rightful number two pick in the draft. Seed investor. And I've just been holding on ever since when I put my scout hat on. But no, like, I just really love...

His, you know, his like fake Paul George routine that he's doing, especially early on in his career. Aspirational Paul George routine. Okay, aspirational. Oh, I like that. See, that's why you get paid the big bucks, Rob Mahoney. And then, of course, LaMelo Ball, man. Like, he dropped 34 last night. I think it's, you know, everything has come sort of...

like as a given right like they gave him that big extension just automatically just as a given i think it's now finally time for him to actually put this stuff on tape and show like why he you think so year five maybe it's time i think so yeah i think it's i think i thought he was awesome last night i watched that whole game that was one of the three tvs and uh that team so verno yeah he talked about the mismatch he's like he sat next to the bench yeah this is

The Celtics love Charles Lee. And this was, I thought, the hardest over-under for me because it was 29. I really liked the over. I also don't know what incentive they have to be like, we made the play in. But you watch them last night and it's just, they're a good team. Like, I mean, a good, bad team. But they had, you know, they have Curry, they have Grant Williams, Miles Bridges. They have rebounding.

And LaMelo was awesome. And then out of nowhere, Trey Mann. I know. He can hoop. If they can say mildly healthy, I think it's going to be. But I think the team I watched last night was well coached. They had a specific style. They had an identity. They were tough. They were like walking around with their chests out. And I was like, oh, this is... I might have bet on them too. So I'm enjoying that part. But I think for the first month, they're...

A team to kind of watch as a frisky, dangerous. Yeah. Oh my God. Charlotte beat Cleveland in Cleveland last night. I think I do think they might be one of those teams. Yeah. They're not as good as the Pacers, but they play a similar uptempo style. LaMelo has a similar kinetic energy to him. That's really watchable. And when he's healthy, they win a lot of games. So I hope he can be healthy. He puts up big stats. Puts up big stats.

Fun to watch in like a no, no, no, yes kind of way. Yeah. The killer he shot, he took like a 30-footer to close the game yesterday. There you go. That's what you need on a league pass like Tuesday night, I guess I should say. I thought that team, and we haven't talked about Detroit yet, but same thing where...

they just seemed like they weren't rudderless anymore. Detroit seemed more professional to me. It wasn't Monty Williams benching J.J. Knifey for some reason. No, it's like, what's going on here? It's like, all right, they have Malik Beasley, but at least he's an adult. Yeah. You know, anyway. All right, what do you have, Rob? This is where I feel like there's a chasm. Like, the Charlo is kind of the embankment for me. Couldn't agree more. Yeah. There's a drop. I am going to take the Pistons here. Mm-hmm.

I just, I want it to be true so bad. I want them to be fun and watchable. I'm not even hoping for good yet. Just can they be an entertaining basketball product because they have a really exciting playmaker in Cade Cunningham. They have, in theory, better spacing.

I don't know that those guys will actually hit shots. I see a lot of like one for seven. They're going to take them. They will take them. And that's the thing. Is Tobias Harris enough of a shooter that people will kind of guard him in ways that they wouldn't guard Pistons of seasons past? And if so, I think the Pistons are going to be at least watchable.

He's a better shooter than the Beef Stew. I thought they were watchable last night. I mean, it seems like we cannot possibly overestimate how bad Monty was for that team. How bad the Monty Williams experience was. I mean, Jaden Ivey was one of my favorite guys coming out of college that year. So it's really exciting to see him score 17. It's almost like you shouldn't beg a guy to coach your team or GM your team like the Knicks did Phil Jackson.

He was supposed to professionalize them and for all their flaws last night, they still couldn't close it. They did look more professional. Yes. New hair for Cage. He's like, I'm a new man, new team. I thought I took note of that. In the Trey Young sense of new hair? I took a...

Beef stew is out there. Yeah. Always enjoyed him. Yeah, they're interesting. It's either going to be Charlotte or Detroit for that 10th play-in spot. And we'll see who gives a shit more about the season. Wow, this is getting dark. Man, I really want to take Brooklyn here, but I'm not going to. Why would you want to? There's no way. What is the urge you're feeling to take Brooklyn? Maybe I'll take them with my last pick. So Utah, they have to be the next pick.

I have no idea what they want to be. I assume they don't want to win and they're just stockpiling picks. But you watch them last night, especially in crunch time, and it's like, these guys are pretty good. They're well coached. They have a score at the end of games. They have rim protection. They have guards that can go by people. They seem like they're trying on defense. And they're just going to be a lot of fun West Coast games. I feel like...

I'm not going to, I won't get fooled again with the jazz because I know what's going to happen, which is at the trade deadline or right after. 22 and 21 record to start. And just going to come make the phone call. And it's like, look, we need to get in the Cooper flag business. Stop fucking winning these games. Well, the guy to trade is Kessler then if they're going to do that. Cause he's, well, just like you want to start weakening your team with like, let's get rid of our shop walking or,

They're not going to trade Mark and they're not allowed to. Or you can continue to empower Keontae George to take 18 shots and Colin Sexton to take eight. That's one way to ensure that you get the number one pick. They do have two of the 12 guys you probably wouldn't want to play with if you were a swing man.

I think Colin Sexton is a guy that contenders should call about. He's not as ball hoggy as he used to be when Kevin Love was beaming him in the back of the head. Honestly, I think he's been a boy scout over there. I think he's really turned his career around. And I hope by the deadline that he's able to go to a contender that needs some scoring pop, some ball handling. But he's a six man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or the point guard on a team that has like, we were talking about him for the magic, like wing playmaking that needs...

maybe an alternative look at a scoring guard. Like he could make sense for a team. Well, I don't know if you noticed during the Nets game, Dennis Schroeder was actually wearing an Orlando Magic jersey with a Brooklyn logo taped over it, just praying for them to trade for him. All right, CR, I think this is it. We only have six teams left. Oh, okay. This is our last round.

I can't wait to see who doesn't get drafted. All right. This is in the spirit of 2012 era, real heads, kind of league pass, like possibly stoned, watching on your couch, looking for almost abstract art in your basketball. So I'm going to pick the Blazers. Yeah. Because...

Is Scoot high on his couch watching abstract art while he's playing? Who are these guys? Is Denny for real? How many centers do they have? Is Klingon going to be like what he was in the preseason? Also, they might go 0-15 to start the season. Yeah, how many player pods is Chauncey Billups going to do where he's just being like, I hate all these guys? So I'm excited for the Blazers experience. And it's often the last game ending on the West Coast.

So it's kind of fun to just be like, yeah, it's just me and seven other dudes watching this Blazers-Kings game. Chauncey's agent's like, yo, if you can get out of your contract right now, NBC and Amazon are looking for guys. You got to get out now. So I'd play, scoot 48 minutes a game and just tell them to clear out. I'm a big Anthony Simons guy, so I'll always enjoy those minutes, particularly on this team. Dominating, just being happy to be

wildly overpaid I love when he takes three he's got a favorite so yeah I think you have to pick one complete shit team and it's for me it's the boys oh I have a different shit team but uh Simon's I think is another fun contender piece yeah I'd like to see him on Orlando I don't know if they you know but they need somebody like that for a year and a half now yup alright well CDF

We disrespected this team by not picking them. I'm picking the Miami Heat. Like, come on, man. It's Jimmy Butler. It's Bam. Jaime Jaquez. You know, Jovich. Don't you feel like this is like season 11 of this TV show? Yeah, I know. It's like Virgin River's still on. It's Grey's Anatomy at this point. I get it, but...

I'm going to watch them when they're on, right? Especially over the teams that are left on this list. So, yeah, Miami, you know, they're going to be well coached, if not very fun. And, yeah, I can't in good conscience pick any of these other teams left. That's the thing. The alternatives are very, very bleak. So thank you for that. I appreciate it, Wes. It's fair. And they'll get going at some point. But I...

Probably my least favorite stadium announcer timeout situation of the crowd. People showing up at 825. You don't want to pop that off? No. The heat culture, it's like an infomercial. It's not a very fun experience. It's fun to have them on a small TV with no sound.

Rob, who do you have? I feel terrible about all these teams. I will take by default the Toronto Raptors. Oh, interesting. The RJ Barrett renaissance is upon us, my friends. I'm eager for him to get back, back in the mix. I think it's like week to week right now, which is not what you want to hear coming into the season. But I identify as an Emmanuel Quigley guy. Yeah. I love watching him with a little more room to work.

I think we're all eager to see what Scottie Barnes can become. Are you one of those hipsters who thinks Scottie Barnes is like the prototypical NBA player? I'm not. But I'm invested. I'm invested in the greater project. Got you. I don't want to watch them at all. So this is the Mr. Irrelevant pick you've got here. You're telling me you would take Brooklyn over this? Here's the thing. I fucked up. We skipped a Waz pick. I'm going to blame the fact that I'm still on cold medication. We skipped a Waz pick. Um...

CR took New Orleans. It skipped to Rob who took Milwaukee and I took Phoenix.

So Waz, I'm sorry. I have to pick another team? You have to take another team. Come on, man. Take the Wizards. Are we sure we don't want to make fun of... Are we sure we don't want to make fun of Toronto for another second? Because... What the... Did Masai Uehari, like he won the title and he got another job? What's he doing? Yeah, I don't know. But I think he got equity in the team. But why is he then trying to take them? Equity in the team means he's

Make them a less valuable property. That's a great. That is like a brutal team to watch. Jakob Podol say like, it's not like we're trying to win every game. Like he's right. Like his quote. I had them in my bottom too. Yeah. Oh,

Oh, I'm... No. I think you really underestimate the Wizards. I just don't like watching that team. That can be fun to watch. Well, you get to watch them and be like, this is basically what it was like watching the Knicks five years ago. Yeah, that's what it is. I want to see the RJ thing get, like, where it goes. I want to watch where that story goes to go from the guy that got picked directly behind Ja and Zion and what those guys have become, bona fide all-stars when Zion plays, well, Ja too, to, like, RJ who's just like, eh.

You know, people were so disappointed in that. Counter. Not that interested. Wise. There's four teams left. Chicago, Brooklyn, the Clippers, and Washington. Those are our big four. I'm picking Chicago. It's for Kobe White alone. He's one of my favorite guys to watch in the NBA. His elevation of his game from like just this volume sort of shooter guy to like legitimate

Legitimate ball handle, turn the corner on guys, firing up pull-up threes. He's one of the most fun guys to watch. And so I'll be watching for that alone. I don't care about, you know, the freaking Josh Giddey thing. I think he stinks. Yeah, but if Giddey and Lonzo were both playing, you could have like a pretty fun passing team. Yeah, Lonzo too. But Lonzo thinks fun. I feel like we shorted them a little bit unfairly. I don't know.

You think I think this team is going to be fun to watch? Also, for a league pass, Stacey King's a pretty fun announcer to watch or listen to. He is fun. So it's good. Well, I was hoping they'd still be there at pick 28. Do it. And they are. Do it. The Brooklyn Nets. How many Justin K and Thomas? I was absolutely riveted by them last night. Ben Simmons, who actually looked pretty good.

I did something on part one about, I think, you know, there's a little showcasing. Nick Claxton was like, I got paid. I also don't want to be here anymore. Maybe I can get ejected right away. The Cam Thomas thing,

is the funniest league pass subplot of the season. Why is this happening? Why do they let him do this? This is like the NBA I grew up with in the late 70s where guys were like, I'm coming in and I'm shooting every time. I'm shooting every time. He might actually lead the league in scoring this year if Luka decides not to score less. There were Fando odds on him. Really? Yeah.

He might score 30 points a game. He will not score 30 points a game. He shoots all the time. Who's ideal? Nobody else shoots in this team. Cam Thomas' idea, I can assure you. Why is this happening? Like, he could literally, he could lead the league in scoring and not make the All-Star team. Oh, there's zero chance he makes the All-Star team. Oh, not only will he not make the All-Star team, they might just have to send him home so other guys can shoot. Isn't this basically like, how many Nets have just been like, please get me out of here because of this?

Nobody wants to be there. So Rob scoffed. Yes. I can't even feign enthusiasm for this team. I can't. No, you scoffed at the Cam Thomas scoring title? Yes. Right now, he's the seventh highest odds on FanDuel out of all the players in the NBA. I feel legally obligated to inform everyone listening to this podcast, do not make that bet. Are you sure though? I'm so sure. Let me go through it. Luka's the favorite, plus 145. Embiid's plus 390. He's not going to play 55. He won't qualify.

Shea, Giannis, Brunson, Edwards, and Cam Thomas. He's literally on Fandle right now. Cam Thomas. How many coaches now have gone through the process and like, I'm here now and like I've taken over for Jacques Vaughn or whatever. And like, they still just let him have green light. Well, the other piece of it, when he doesn't get the ball late, he gets visibly mad on the TV, which I love.

This is the NBA. This is all these late comers and like it's a it's a friendlier brand. This is the NBA. These are my roots. These are my roots. This is the 90s coming back where guys just been like, I'm shooting 30 times. This is J.R. Ryder in Minnesota. I'm shooting every time I get the ball. I love it. And the Simmons thing is really fascinating because there's moments where, you know, he was all NBA four years ago.

And there's moments where you think, yeah, that guy's a real basketball asset. Will somebody talk themselves into him? Coke Presti. There's not enough Coke in Oklahoma. And then I like their swings and there's a lot of trade bait on the team too. All right. So that was the last pick.

Not picked. The Clippers and Washington. 100%. Now, we knew Washington was going to get picked, but the Clippers... Clippers are depressing. Clippers did it themselves. They gave the Suns a fight, at least. Yeah. You would only watch for the arena, basically. If you've had the Harden experience, you would only watch the arena. And it needs to be said again. Harden said he watched the Mavericks go to the finals. Yeah.

And Luka was playing his brand of basketball. And what he saw was that his brand of basketball is a winning brand of basketball. Confirmation by this is a powerful drug, Waz. That's what he learned from last year's NBA playoffs. That the James Harden brand of basketball is championship quality. If we have one wish to make to the NBA gods, it's that the Clippers trade for Cam Thomas. Oh my God.

And then Harden and Thomas get to go bottom and bottom from each possession. I actually think he's one of the great tanking assets any team's ever had. He's not that bad. No. Are you talking about Cam Thomas? Cam Thomas. I thought you were piling that on James. Cam Thomas puts up points, keeps you in games. Casual fans think he's amazing. And ruins your locker room. Yeah. You're definitely going to lose if he's your best guy. And he's going to shoot every time he gets the ball. I think it's...

Wonderful to watch. I'm just glad that guys like this still exist in the league. The league was getting pretty like Sam runs. All the swings can shoot threes. All the point guards play certain ways. And Cam Thomas is like, clear the fuck out. I am scoring. It's my time. They don't even send doubles at them. Because they're like, yeah, go ahead, cook Cam Thomas. We'll give you 70, man. It's okay. I love that. I really enjoyed watching them last night.

Anyway, that's it for the week past draft. You can hear Waz and Rob on a group chat on the NBA, ringer NBA feed. Where are you going to be Charles? I don't really have a podcast anymore. You're going to be on Card Sharks. On NPR, yeah. Card Sharks, 20,000 Pyramid. I'll be on MSNBC election night. Family Feud, you're going to go on that? Yeah, Family Feud. CNN election show. Steve Harvey. Good to see you guys.

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at chase.com slash Sapphire Reserve. Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval. Terms apply. All right, we're gonna do some million dollar picks. We have all the ringers in town this week. So I grabbed Shil Kapadia, Anthony DeBunda. They're doing this with me in person.

And I'm super happy that you're here because this is the toughest week of the year. The lines are super weird. They're like old school high lines, huge home dogs. There's teams that I feel like we've either given up on or we're too bullish on. And it has all the makings of a zigzag week. And I'm scared. And I might actually, we did really well on Million Dollar Picks last week, although we should have swept, lost by the,

half point in Packers game and then I still don't know how the Chargers didn't beat the Cardinals yeah but when when you have a guy on the team you bet on that fumbles the ball out of bounds for the touchback has that team ever then covered no that's an L every time yeah that's an L every time you just immediately know it's like a black cat gets thrown on the TV what what are you the most afraid of from this week

I think you said it, the big lines. Like, you have the Lions. I'm like, the Lions are awesome. The Lions can get to the Super Bowl. They're 11 and a half point favorites. I'm looking at the Panthers, who Andy Dalton gets in the car accident, Bryce Young's back. I'm like, do I want to take Bo Nix to cover 10 and a half points? So those huge lines. Can the Broncos score 10 points? Yeah. Ravens, Browns. Everybody scores 20 on Carolina by halftime, though. Right. Yeah. So the big lines are the scariest. What are you the most scared of?

The bad teams are worse than they've been in years, according to DVOA. That's scary. And road favorites are 16-2 in the last three weeks. Wow. It should have been 17-1 if the Chargers beat the Cardinals, right? Jalen Rager elevated from the practice squad to ruin the game. So you're the most scared of that? I mean, things never last forever. NFL, not for long. So I feel like there has to be some mean reversion. The first four weeks, I came on the pod. We talked about it. Underdogs were crushing it.

And now the spreads are really, really big. There's six games with at least a touchdown spread. And I don't, there's a couple I like and a couple I want no part of. So I'll walk you through a couple of the games that I ultimately decided to stay away from before we get to the ones I liked. And then I want to hear what you guys like. I was looking at the Seahawks all week, plus three against Buffalo, because I still feel like you can throw on Buffalo. And that's the one thing I really believe Seattle can do. And I actually think their offense might be a little better than people realize, but

And then ultimately Metcalf being hurt, not knowing what's happening with him. And then I realized like, I just hate betting against Josh Allen. I just don't like it. Yeah.

You just feel so stupid with, and so I was like, I think I'm out, but you guys could also talk me back into that. I like the other side quite a bit. Oh, good. Yeah. I like the bills. Minus three is one of my favorite, favorite picks of the week. I'm looking at it. That Seahawks team last week against the worst pass rush in the NFL in Atlanta, Gino Smith was pressured on 50% of his dropbacks.

Now, he played awesome. He's able to play under pressure, and he did that in that game, and they won. But the Bills' defense has overachieved this year. I mean, they've got a good pass rush. Their offense is top five in the NFL against that Seahawks defense that has not been great. I feel like the Seahawks, I don't want to call them the good-bad team, but I do feel like they're the, if you lose to the Seahawks, you probably stink. But against good teams, they played, what, the 49ers?

The Lions, those have both been double-digit losses this year. So I think the Bills are really good, actually, with that Amari Cooper addition. He played well last week. And so in kind of a three-point spread. Yeah, they can run the ball. Their offensive line is good. So I like the Bills minus three in that game. Do you think the Colts are the good-bad team? Or would you go with Seattle? Are they good enough? He's the Colts guy. Are they good enough to be the good-bad team?

Maybe. They're the coin flip every game team. Every game just decided in the last five minutes this year. Yeah, I was looking at their point for every game and every game was like two points, three points, six points. Yeah.

Yes, I mean, the Colts, I think the Seahawks are better than the Colts. I think the Seahawks will surprise some teams, but they're not healthy. They're not good on the offensive line. And it's like if Geno turns into a magician and has one of those games against a bad defense, they can win. But I think if I see a team that I think can get to the Super Bowl playing the Seahawks, I feel pretty good about that team taking care of them. Any other Seahawks thoughts? Buffalo has been running the ball a lot all year until last week. They actually got more pass happy for the first time

And it is interesting to me because they have now more options with Cooper in the lineup to throw. And the one concerning thing with me for Buffalo is it's always been that they play the two high. They never give up big plays. This year, they are giving up more big plays. And so I do kind of think Seattle could stay in this with some explosives if they had Metcalf. But without him, who's the explosive threat on this offense now? Seattle, 27th against the run. Their defense feels like Buffalo can run on them. Yeah, they should. If Metcalf was playing, I'd be...

A little more bullish on Seattle. So that was one. I guess we got to talk Packers-Jags. I can't believe the Jags are even in the conversation. But this line is offensive. I mean, the Packers are four and a half point favorites in Jacksonville. It's probably going to be hot. The Jaguars are probably going to be able to move the ball on them, I'm guessing. And then conversely, I haven't liked the way Jordan Love's looked. I like that Packers team, but they have a big game next week.

Coming off, they had a big game last week. This just feels so trappy to me. I know. We're going to go to Jacksonville and beat the shit out of them. And it just scares me.

As somebody who likes to kind of follow, where does the lines move on certain teams throughout the year? Because you'll see that big groups, people with a lot of market influence, they will bet certain teams repeatedly throughout the year. And there's no team in the NFL that has gotten more of that support than the Jags. If you look at the spreads, week three, week four, week five, week six, somebody has come in and said, we love Jacksonville. I don't know who they are. If they are, if you're betting Jacksonville every week and you're listening to this podcast, call me. We can talk about what you see that I don't. But Green Bay has some real red flags.

Well, talk about them. Give us three. So their early down numbers are terrible. Their success rate numbers are very mediocre. It's a very boom or bust team and they forced a ton of turnovers. They've hit a ton of explosives. That's good. But how sustainable is it is a question that I have about Green Bay.

This would be a stay away for me. I'm not we've had interventions on this podcast about the Jaguars before. I'm not doing it against Matt LaFleur, who wins what, 70 percent of his games or whatever it is. And you're right about Jordan Love. But we saw him the second half of last year. Like there was some boom or bust to him and then he put it together and he was sensational. I think that stretch is coming. Like if you're looking at sleeper MVP candidates, like.

I think Jordan Love has like a seven, eight game stretch coming up where he's going to be one of the best players in the, in one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I just don't think those turnovers are going to last. I can't take Jacksonville. They win. They won by what? Running it 18 times in a row. Like how often is that going to happen? So I understand sort of the analytical view of the soft Patriot. That's right. The soft Patriots. I don't know that that formula is going to work against the Packers. You know, uh,

You should put this in your column. You write an excellent betting column for us every week. Every year there's an I hate myself team where you bet them and then you just, you literally hate yourself halfway through the game. And that's the Jaguars. I don't even know who's even in the running against them for that.

I mean, if you bet the Browns at any point this year, you probably need to... Yeah, but that's it. Yeah, there you go. You got duped. You're just ignoring obvious signs. Well, the Cardinals are just like the zigzag team. Like, it's like, oh, they're the... And then all of a sudden, they're losing by 30. Yeah. And certain defenses just seem like they can shut down Kyler completely. And then other ones just let him run around. And I never understand...

how teams don't just defend Kyler the same way. Yeah. Giants are probably in that. I hated myself for picking the Giants last week. You had the Eagles and I was like, I don't know. You know, I kind of like the, I hated myself one, you know, eight minutes into that game. So if I gave you a parlay with the Jags up to plus seven and a half and the over up to 39 and a half, and it was minus 120, you're not intrigued at all.

Because there's probably going to be points in this game, right? I know you don't like team totals. You got mad at House about that. But why not just bet the Jags team total? I just have bad luck with team totals. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong. Okay. I just stink at them. I like the Jags. I think there'll be points. So I generally agree with that. All right. I'm going to cross them off. This next game, I might not cross off. Colts, who, as we said, they might be the good-bad team. Catching Houston in a really interesting spot where they've already played them, the game was close. Yeah.

Every game they're in is tight and they're getting five and a half at home. And I don't understand without Nico Collins, why I wouldn't tease the Colts backwards and play around with the over-under. Why?

Why wouldn't I do that? Every advanced stat, and Dabundo and I have talked about this, every advanced stat on the Texans is suggesting they're a fraud. And I like the Texans coming into the season, but if you look at any of the offensive stuff and what they're doing on early downs, they're what, plus six on the season? Their point differential? Like, their offense is underachieved maybe as much as any offense in the NFL. But they didn't have Mixon for half of that. Yeah, but I

I don't know. Joe Mixon's fine, but if Joe Mixon means that much to your offense, then you might have some issues. So I know they don't have Nico Collins, but yeah, I like the Colts a little bit in that game. I don't totally trust it, but I don't trust that Texans team. I think fading the Texans while their record's really good and all the numbers suggest they might not be that good is probably a good play for the next whatever, two, three weeks. Do you believe in the second game thing?

I think it's fascinating how much the perception of these two teams has even changed in the last seven weeks. Both have overperformed relative, if you just look at their records, if you told a Colts fan before the season, we're going to be 4-3, they would have taken it. Texans, 5-2, they feel great. And yet, I feel like

Under the hood, both are kind of worse. Like, Richardson has been worse than I think most expected. It's very boom or bust. And honestly, Stroud has been very boom or bust. And the whole Texans offense is, okay, it's third down. Stroud drops back. He looks, where's Nico Collins? He throws in the ball and they move the chains. That's the whole offense. And the last two weeks, they did it to your team. Everybody has.

They can't score in the second half. Every game, it's like three-point second half, three-point second half against Buffalo, against pretty much every team they've played this year. Last week, Stroud couldn't get to 100 pass yards. So I don't really trust this offense. Colts to 11 and a half, and the under up to 52 and a half. I don't... The only way I lose that is if Anthony Richardson just loses his mind and throws like a pick six and has a fumble. I haven't liked what I've seen from him at all. It doesn't seem like he's...

ready to be a efficient starting quarterback yet. And the thing that made him special was the running, which they seem a little more hesitant for him to do now. So now it's like, well, what is this then? Because we were being promised like this Cam Newton, Josh Allen, physical threat who's going to run the ball. And now they're seemingly afraid to do that. This is your favorite team.

But don't you feel like they have them on the shackles, basically? We were sitting in the movie theater in the Spotify office on Sunday, and at one point, Danny Kelly turned around and said, so, like, are you still a believer? And I'm like, yes, but I have to be a little quieter about my belief now. It's harder for me to, like, put my chest out and say, we got the QB1 in the draft, because obviously Stroud's been as good as he's been. And you know what? I'm still happy they took him over Levis, because that was basically the option. Right. And...

I'm going to say that worked out. It's a low bar to clear. It's a low bar to clear. But you had to take the swing and I'm still not out yet. Well, they're in a weird spot because they're four and three in a conference that's not that good. Yeah. Right? With a defense that stinks. Right. Yeah. But I like your receiver weapons and it seems like whoever's in the game can run the ball.

So I don't know. I'm going to mark this one. I like the... I don't think these two teams can get to... Like their first game was 56 points. That was with Nico Collins and with Richardson hitting some bombs. I don't see that happening again. I'm going to mark that one down. And then the...

I just, the Chiefs Raiders game is a stay away to me as much as I want to be like, oh, they talk shit to my homes. I just think those home teams getting that many points, the history of that is a nightmare with teases. And we have the Browns in that situation and we have the Raiders. I think the Raiders are awful. I just don't, to me, that's an automatic no play.

It's probably a stay away division game line that high. I am tempted a little bit, though, with the Chiefs, with the way they've played the last two weeks. They've had double digit wins in each of those games. And I agree with you that Mahomes narrative thing is kind of a factor. I'm sure that he's looking for anything. Last week, look how we put, you know, their underdogs. And I know we had the two interceptions, but he was treating that game with the way he was running like that was a big game. And that Raiders team just, I mean,

They're just waiting to, I mean, they've already collapsed. They're just waiting to collapse more. They traded their best wide receiver. They've got nothing to look forward to. They have no players. They can't run the ball or stop the run. And they turn it over. Their defense isn't good. Their defense was good last year when they played the Chiefs and upset them. Their defense this year is like a bottom five unit. So if I had to pick a side, I would pick the Chiefs, but I'm kind of with you. I like to stay away when it's a division game that line that high. So if I gave you this eight point tease, which is even money on FanDuel,

Ravens minus nine and a half, Lions minus 10 and a half, and Chiefs minus nine and a half. And you could tease all those under three and all of them have to cover. Who would you be the most worried about? Ravens, Lions, or Chiefs? It has to be the Ravens. Right? The first game with Jameis? Well, which could go either way. Right, but that's, you're introducing variants. I think that Browns defense has been okay. I agree. You know, and Schwartz, the problem is the Ravens are rushing for 200 plus yards a game. Yeah. Um,

Yeah, I just, I can't. Betting against Jameis seems smart. The Ravens have given up the most 20-plus yard plays in the league. So if Jameis wants to get in there and lob some balls up, see what happens, could get dicey. This feels like the kind of game that we look late in the fourth quarter, and you're looking at it and you're like, wait, Baltimore's up three with the ball. I know. It seems too easy. I think that teases the stay away. But I looked at it long and hard. Dolphins against the Cardinals with Tua coming back.

And the Dolphins actually played pretty well last week considering they don't have a quarterback. Like, I thought their defense kept them hanging around. But I just... This, to me, seems like an all-time zigzag stay away. 100%. I want no part of this game. I want no part of the game. I agree. I don't know what to expect. Arizona might be a no-bet team for me now. I don't know how the Chargers didn't beat them. I don't even really know what the Cardinals did. And then...

You guys have a minute to talk me into the Cowboys plus four and a half against the 49ers. Go. I'm not doing it. I like the other side. This Cowboys defense stinks. I don't care who's out for the 49ers. Give me Kyle Shanahan against a Cowboys defense that probably still won't have Micah Parsons that can't stop anybody. And I like the Niners in that I'm not a believer in this Cowboys team at all. I think the Niners actually bounce back in that game. I've been a Dak guy forever, but there's one team he has never solved.

and it's the Niners. Their defense, no matter who the coordinator was, that personnel, like Warner's ability to take away the middle of the field has really, I think, hurt Dak and he's always had problems in that matchup. That's what scares me the most. More than any of the Niners stuff. I mean, offensively,

They look a mess. You guys talked about on the ringer NFL show, all yak. Now it's no more easy button plays for Purdy to just kind of get guys in space and just dominate the monsters are no longer, but I, I don't know. It's kind of a must win for the Niners too. Yeah. They'd be three and five. Well, Dallas isn't good. I mean, that's the, the reason to pick the Niners over everything else is I just don't think Dallas is good. Yeah.

But I also don't know who I'm scared of of the Niners if Debo doesn't play. So now it's just like, I got to stop George Kittle. This feels like all the nerds after this game are like, oh my God, Kyle Shanahan, look at what he did on this run play. And oh my God, he had this linebacker in a blender. That type of game. The Ronnie Bell game somehow. Stay away. Okay. Let's go to the picks that I actually liked. So, and you guys can feel free to throw your body in front of any of these.

Oh, first of all, before I do that, what's your favorite other than the Bills? I like the Bears. I have them. They're coming up. What's your favorite? I'm going to go with the Jags. Wow. Yeah. I hate it. I hate I'm a part of it, but.

Give me, yeah, Jacksonville. I'm going to hate this on Sunday, but. At least it's not a London game. You won't feel terrible until like, you know, two o'clock Eastern time. You and Raheem just cannot resist. You just can't. And Austin Gale's the worst. Like he was like Deshaun's last fan. So no, this is the week. I think he can get it going. He needed Deshaun to keep playing so he could have the content on Twitter where he could say Deshaun is the worst quarterback in the history of football. He just would not give up on him. Okay. My first favorite game.

Sorry, Shield. The Bengals down to minus one and a half against the Eagles. Okay. I don't think you can stop passing offenses. And I mean you like you're on the Eagles. I just don't think you're going to be able to stop Higgins and Burrow and Chase. And I think that Tampa game a couple weeks ago,

was more of a snapshot for who you are on defense. It could be. Now, the last two weeks, they haven't allowed a touchdown. I know they've played bad offenses. Bad offenses? You played Deshaun. You played Danny Dimes. Listen, Dimes was carving up some defenses earlier in the season. No, it's true. This is a test for them. I will say their corners, though, have played really well when they were struggling against the Bucs. A lot of it was the pass rush wasn't getting home. They had eight sacks last week against the Giants. Again, I know it's the Giants'

but their corners, the rookie Quinion Mitchell and Darius Slay have been having awesome seasons here.

it's going to be a lot of one-on-one, I think, on the outside with those corners versus the Bengals receivers. And can the Eagles pass rush get home without blitzing? So I actually took the Eagles this week. Now, I was against them last week, but yeah, I was on the Eagles this week because I think Saquon can have a monster game here against that Bengals. So that's the fear. Yeah. Yeah. Since he, some bad defensive stats with them. They're actually higher on DBOA than Philly is, but...

We're just staying to Bundau. So, you know, you want to guess how many points the Eagles have in the first quarter this year? It's not many. It's not any. Zero. They still have not scored in the first quarter. I mean, Kellen Moore.

I don't know what to make of that. I mean, the offense looks very similar to what it looked like last year. The passing game is a mess. If there's a reason to take the Bengals, it's because the Eagles, they had 21 dropbacks last week, and seven of them were a scramble or a sack. They throw a goalball stage at Brown. There's literally nothing else with this entire passing game. So I understand that reason to take the Bengals. I actually like the under in this game. I think both defenses are going to play pretty well, and it's going to be a little low scoring.

I was looking at my favorite bet on Findo, the first half game bet. And I thought I'd get more value on Bengals when first half Bengals win game, but it's only plus 130.

It's not worth it. Maybe, maybe she'll should do the cousin South special. Do Bengals first half Eagles game. Come back. Maybe. Yeah. That is plus seven 50. Oh, lean into the little bit. Sprinkle. Where are you on hurts mentally these days? He hasn't played well. I mean, their passing game is a mess. He's turning down throws. They're playing like they did his, that 2021 when it was just run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, hit a couple of deep shots. And that's the offense and they've got nothing else. So he's got to play better.

There's jokes about how they're like a service academy, just run, run, run. But even Navy and Army have more interesting offenses than the Eagles do now. My fear with taking the Bengals is their offensive line's banged up and your defensive line could just take over the game and Burrow would be running around for his life. But I think the Bengals can move the ball and throw on them.

I think Burrow's 70% completion this year. He's either leading the league or second, which is basically the Tampa recipe of just the chains are moving, ball's going, six yards here, 15, six,

and they take the lead early, and then you're in a spot you don't want to be in if you're the Eagles. Yeah, that absolutely could happen. I think you're right. The left tackle injury for the Bengals against the Eagles pass rush, can they get home? That'll probably determine the game. Bengals' run defense has been a little better since Rankins and Hill came back, the two defensive tackles, but they also played some bad run offenses. I'm not sure where I stand on Cincinnati run defense. Yeah, they play the same two teams, right? The Giants and the Browns the last two weeks, same two teams as the Eagles.

Are you ready to see the Bengals go three and five? That seems improbable to me. Especially for someone like me who picked them to win the Super Bowl. I think I'm going to keep them. I heard all the warning flags. I think I might keep that one. Next one is the Bears, which it sounds like we all like. That's up to two and a half. I'm going to do the rare thing of if Daniel somehow plays, I almost feel like that bet should be scratched.

I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think that's fair to be stuck with that line. If Daniels is playing, but it doesn't seem like he's going to play. I think I would have liked the bears anyway, in this game. Um,

Their defense, the stats are pretty good. They're third on first down, seventh on third down. They're fifth yards per play. Third turnovers. They're good in the havoc stuff. I like that havoc ranking. And then Caleb looked really good against some bad teams and some bad defenses. Guess who doesn't have a good defense? Washington. So whether Daniels plays or not, I think they can move the ball. He's got all three receivers. This feels like a get everyone's hope up in a real way.

Bears win followed by their schedule gets harder. Well, they've got the hardest remaining schedule in the NFL if you look at the betting markets and win totals. But my big, I mean, I don't know if I would like it if Daniels was playing, but Mariota, I think people are looking at that game last week and, oh, Cliff Kingsbury created this quarterback-proof offense.

It was the Carolina Panthers. We've seen enough... They're by far the worst team in the league. We've seen enough of Marcus Mariota over the years. Like, I want a three-game sample of Marcus Mariota and this offense is going to be trash. So that's the reason this Bears defense, you mentioned it, they don't give up 20 points against good offenses. So against Marcus Mariota, I think after this game, we're being like, wow, Jaden Daniels was a big reason why that commander's offense was good. You lose all the explosive plays with Mariota. Yeah. He's going to have a dumb turnover. And there's a reason...

You know, he's been in the league for a long time and nobody's ever really been happy with the experience. Like he got benched when he was on the Netflix show. Yeah. That was an amazing day. He just left the show. Yeah. He's like, I'm out and I'm out on the show as well. What do you have to add? This game for me, I wrote the least on it just because I don't have a strong opinion, but I don't really see the case for Washington. They have, there's one thing that they've gained and no team has gained more win probability from turnovers than the commanders this year. That tends to be kind of fluky. Yeah.

And this is the Bears off the bye, right? So if we're going to see any imagination from this offense, which we have seen very little of thus far, maybe this is the spot we see it from Chicago because I still have major questions about their offense. Like you said, they beat up on some of the worst defenses in the league. It would be a horrific Bears loss. Like, wow, we just lost to Marcus Mariota and our schedule is about to get harder. Conversely, if Washington wins, they're fine.

It's like, hey, our record is still awesome. We still have the NFC East. We still have control over it. We didn't have Daniels for this game. We're fine. Yeah. The Commanders still have to play Philly and Dallas twice each, so the NFC East is going to be decided much later than this week for sure. They have to play Philly twice, and they have the privilege of playing Dallas twice. Not sure how Dallas gets any stops, but I'm still not— DAC has just dominated the NFC East in a way that I refuse to give up on them stealing a bunch of division games and somehow sneaking in.

Falcons-Bucks is my next one. I don't understand this line at all. And I do understand it, but I also don't. The Falcons, this line moved to Falcons minus two and a half. They looked awful last weekend in Seattle.

Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are no longer playing for the Bucs. We're skipping over this. Like that was the whole reason they were successful. And Bucky Irving's pretty good too. But Baker had these two great receivers that he had real chemistry with and was just moving the ball left and right. And in one game, both of them went down.

I just picked up Jalen McMillan in two of my leagues for big money, by the way. He's the new number one. He's 22 years old. Feels like a little must-win-ish for the Falcons. Coming off an awful loss. I get it. They can't rush a passer, but I just find it hard to believe they're not going to be able to beat the Bucs without any star receivers.

I've got the Falcons. I mean, you nailed it. I've got the Falcons. You watch that Bucs offense. It's not just like, oh, they lost good play. Like, that was the offense. If those two guys can't win one-on-one or create explosive plays or yards after the catch, I don't know. Are they good enough to scheme stuff? And you lose both of them. It's not like you lost one of them. You know what it's like if you had opening night for the Sixers and the beat and Paul George didn't play? Who's Yabasele? Who's going to be playing? Jalen McMillan is Yabasele.

Atlanta's offense fifth against the fifth passing Tampa's D 29th against the pass 28th first down their defense isn't that good and they do they try to do a lot of gimmicks with the blitzes and stuff which might work against Cousins because the offensive line has been great but I just you know first game Atlanta stole it

So is there a revenge spot? Kirk threw for 500 plus yards in that game. Right. And Tampa Bay's secondary has given up more explosives than anybody. Them and Baltimore are giving up the most explosives in the league. Also, what's... So Atlanta is... I'm looking up the standings. I did tease Tampa for the record. Oh, you did? Up to eight and a half. Yeah. So Atlanta's four and three and Tampa's four and three. This game's for the division.

For the division in week eight? If Atlanta wins, they're going to be two games up with the tiebreaker and Tampa's not going to have their best receivers. If Atlanta wins, this division's kind of over. Well, more amazing is that one of these teams might have five wins after week eight. Like, what the fuck? It almost feels like this has to be a tie, but...

I mean, if Atlanta loses this game, that's embarrassing. Yeah. You can't beat the Bucs without Mike Evans and Chris Godman. That's literally their whole team. Yeah, that's my only... Is it a little rat line-y? I mean, I'm with you. I saw a minus two and a half. Well, Atlanta lost by 20 to fucking Seattle last week. So I don't... And Atlanta, they're four and three, but literally could be one and six. One and six? Yeah.

Yeah. Atlanta's had one game that wasn't down to the final possession, basically, or two games now with last week. Every other game is like two minutes to go. They're within six either way. And Kirk's got to lead a drive to try to win it or lose it. And they got a couple home. They didn't get others home. But yeah, these division games at home, catching eight and a half and a tease. I love, I love Tampa.

You love Tampa and a tease. Can you name four Tampa receivers? Do I get to count the running back? Jim McMillan, no. Name four. That's the thing though. Who do they run in a four receiver set? They're not going to. That's the one concern. So they run a lot of 11 personnel. Yeah. They don't,

have three full receivers now, so they got to go a little heavier, but K. Dotton, K. Dotton, big game this week. See, this is young and experienced, youthful exuberance. Like, we just got to keep them in the ring or fold. That's right. Trey Palmer's going to be pissed off. He's going to get a big game for him. Last one. I'm marking the Falcons down. If they lose that game, they should give up the team. By the way, Shield, who, if they didn't take Pennix after having seen all the rookies, who...

should they have taken that would have had a huge impact for them at number eight. Yeah. I'm trying to think of who, who was taking, I mean, I don't want to be a Homer, but Quinion Mitchell would be looking very good as a corner in that secondary. And just look at like the last three years, the guys they could have had, I mean, three or four years, they really could have built on the lines of scrimmage,

very well. But yeah, that was one name that came to mind. Byron Murphy, I know he got hurt, but I think he would have been really good for them too. Jared Verst, I mean, there were definitely good defensive players that they could have taken and added to that group. One of the stories is that none of the defensive guys have really taken the leap. But we knew that in the draft, right? Nobody was taken until pick 15. People were pretty down on it.

But yeah, you're right. The cornerback that you got, the guy Detroit got, the D-back. Arnold, yeah. It seems like those have been kind of the winners. Yeah, there hasn't been one dominant guy yet. You're looking at the defensive rookie of the year odds, I can tell. Yeah, Jared Verst is the favorite. Verst was good last week. He's probably the guy that, you know, if you had to pick one guy, if they could redo it, that'd probably be the guy. All right, last one that I really liked. And I try not to, sorry, Kyle.

Try not to bet against the Patriots. Oh, Kyle's sad. You're playing seven with the Jets? No, I'm not. I'm going to tease the Jets with the over of 35, down to 35 and a half. The over is 41 and a half. Tease the Jets to one. Over 35 and a half. The Pats are a sneaky, the over under Lions have not caught up to the team they have. Their defense sucks. It's awful.

The quarterback actually makes some plays. May's pretty good. And they're a garbage time threat, right? They're an end of the half, two minute warning. They could actually get a field goal. They're not, offense isn't terrible. And it's also an all time must win for the Jets. Like their season's over if they don't win this. They beat them already. And the only fear would be like a 24 to three type game, like what they had on the Thursday night. But this Pats team is going to be able to put up like 14 games

So, 35 and a half seems right. Is there any way that Pats actually win this game? Wait, what's the teaser? So, Jets down to minus one. Minus one. The over to 35 and a half. I just need to get to 37 points. Jets can win 2017 and I win. Is it a good sign that Devontae Adams had to give a fiery post-game speech when he had been in New Jersey for like three days after last week's game? Did you see this story?

I did. So you have that. I mean, everything that can go wrong has gone wrong with the Jets. You mentioned it. Drake May will push the ball downfield. The Jets' defense has actually been the bigger story over their offense. They're 21st in defensive DVOA. The offense ranks exactly the same. 21st. You thought you were getting a mediocre offense with a great defense and their defense isn't good. But

But Rodgers basically said that. He's like, our offense needs to take care of our defense. We need to score points, give them lead. He's basically saying our defense sucks. Yeah. Which I was surprised by. But as usual, Aaron Rodgers said something. I think you're on the right side. I would be afraid to have any wager depending on the New York Jets with the way this season is going. I don't think you understand. And nobody does because nobody cares about the Patriots, nor should they.

This was a pretty traumatic week in Patriots Nation. I've been following. The, the Mayo soft thing. First of all, they were, and we talked about it Sunday night in the pod, so I'm not going to rehash that. They were so bad on Sunday night and so poorly coached and just everything was mismanaged and they looked awful. And then the quotes after the game from him,

which as usually Mayo took no culpability for anything and just blames everybody else, says he's soft. And that really went badly. And then Belichick said, fuck it. And just started like doing little sniper shots out of the eight different shows he's on and just escalated the stakes. And there's like a real conversation now in Massachusetts because God knows they love, the media loves this stuff there. It's like, can this guy be one and done?

would Kraft do this? I personally don't think he would. I think he'll give him more time, but it's, it's a fucking mess. The wide receiver room, they've had like three different guys have complained publicly. No other team has this.

I feel like this is an under the radar, like huge story for week eight, the pay with everything you said. And I've been following it all week long. Like if they come out and are just get blown out by 35 at home, what are you doing after that with the head coach? Now, is there a chance that it's not as bad on the inside as it seems on the outside and they come out and they,

play well and some players actually like Gerard Mayo and they figure some things out. That's the other thing, you know, maybe you come out of this saying, oh my gosh, everything last week was so overblown with the way they played in London and they're competitive in this game. But they're a sneaky big story, I feel like, in this week. I always, listen, the player podcasts are for the most part ridiculous and player interviews, expert interviews, you always have to take with a grain of salt. I was shocked by how many people

who talk or have platforms were like, wow, you don't call your team soft. That's never worked. That's never motivated anybody. That's like the number one thing you can't do. Like people are pretty horrified by it. You try to walk it back the next day. He's like, I wasn't saying the team was soft. I was saying we played soft. It's like,

No, you said the team was soft. That's actually what you did. And it's one of like many huge mistakes he's made, but they just seem really poorly prepared and poorly coached, which every year there's two teams, right? Like Carolina last year with Reich,

you knew something was like way off. Like it's like something, Monte Williams and the Pistons. It's like, this seems off, something's wrong. And that's the vibe I'm getting from the Pats. Yeah. Like it just doesn't seem right. What do you see when you're watching? Maybe they could try a different former linebacker as their head coach next year. Mike Vrabel? He would, he is available, I believe. Yeah. I think the offense is kind of interesting because,

Early in the game. And then the second half offenses have not been as inspiring. Like once they get off the script. Yeah. Once they try to establish the run, it's a disaster because they can't run the ball. But the ones that I like, they were 31st in explosive pass rate the first five weeks with Brissette. They're up to 15th the last few weeks. Yeah, Kyle.

Hitting some big plays down the field. They finally hit some 10, 20 plus yard plays. And that's when you don't have a good, you've talked about this, when you don't have a good offense, try to hit some big plays and see what happens. We had a Drew Bledsoe season. I think it was the second season.

They did the same thing. Couldn't run the ball. Team wasn't very good. And they were just like, Drew, air it out. And he did. And it was kind of, it kind of worked a little bit. And he's just flinging the ball. They had Ben Coates that year. I have a feeling if they're actually going to try to win this game, which I would assume they'd want to because it's the Jets. Like, that's it for the run game. They can't run the ball. The line sucks. So,

So I just generally like the over because I don't think they're going to be able to stop the Jets. The tackling linebackers, they've made history with how bad the tackling is. I've never seen anything like it. So I think Brees Hall could have a big game. So I like Jets minus one with the over 35 and a half. All right, so we have four on the fence with Colts plus 11 and a half with the under 52 and a half in Houston.

I'll let you guys vote on that. You like that one? I like it. I like it. Okay. So we'll add that. Cardiac Colts. And then Bills minus three in Seattle. What are your thoughts? I'm completely passing on this game.

I'm excited to watch it. It's actually the game I'm most excited to watch. I like it. It's one of my favorite. But listen, I thought the bundle, you know, we had a nice dinner last night. Bill, I thought he would come in, support me, my pick. But that's okay. Listen, you got to speak with whatever you're feeling at the time. I do like the Bills minus three at Seattle. Well, maybe what I can do is do little half bets. Or we could do a parlay with all three of those. Bills minus three. Jags plus seven and a half in the over.

Or maybe just Bills minus three with Jags plus seven and a half. I do feel like Charlie at the wall and it's always sunny. And I know that they filmed it right outside the office. I'm trying to keep track of all the teasers that have just been thrown at me in the last 10 minutes. What if we teased Jacksonville up to, or not teased, nudged it up to plus seven and a half so we get that touchdown buffer with Bills minus three and it's a Dabundo-Shiel parlay? Yeah.

All right. You're responsible for the Jags part of that. Let's do it. All right. There you go. All right. So we just looked this up. Bills minus three and then the Jags up to plus seven and a half. That parlay is plus 179. So I think we'll sprinkle something on that too. I also need an anytime touchdown score, preferably a tight end because Fandel is running a very cool touchdown bonus. What are we getting for that one, Kyle? 30% profit boost. Has to be a tight end? Does it have to be a tight end?

No. I was going to say Kate Otten is looking real good this weekend. Kate Otten? For the Bucs. Yeah. Tucker Craft? Somebody's got to score. Oh, my God. Tucker Craft. Emotional hedge. No, we're not emotionally hedging Tucker Craft. I do Brian Thomas often. So maybe he could score for the Jags. So you got Kate? The only reliable receiver.

Kate Otten, plus 180, anytime score? Sure. I love it. Yeah, somebody's got to score for the Bucs. They will eventually get points in the game, right? All right. Hopefully. What a performance by you. Kate Otten and the Jags just coming in on fire. What a performance. This is the NFL. And we're definitely doing Colts under. Okay. We're going to do million-dollar picks in a second, but first we're going to do Who's Delivering, presented by Uber Eats, where we break down the NFL players'

who have delivered so far this season from household names to out of nowhere surprises. No surprise that Lamar Jackson has been delivering. I feel like he has the MVP in his hands now, right? Is there, who would you even put against him at this point? No, he's the favorite. He's never played better. Their offense has been so much better than any other offense in the NFL. It's crazy. He's coming off an MVP and he's playing better than he did last season. Have you seen the Stephen Ruiz updated QB rankings? No. There's a new number one, Lamar Jackson.

He wasn't number one before? Mahomes has had the number one spot for, I think, a few years now. Mahomes has took the year off. He's on sabbatical. And yet undefeated. Six touchdowns, eight picks. No, I'm kidding. Mahomes, don't listen to me. Five years from now, he's going to come back to haunt me. Another one who's delivered, the Derrick Henry trade slash how awesome he's been. It's just fun to watch those dudes together. Any receiver? I would have said Nico Collins here, but...

I was going to say Mike Evans, but now he's here. All the receivers who have been delivering are basically out. Yeah. I feel like St. Brown could get going with no Jamison Williams for two games. He's been right on the cusp of having an awesome game, but that could be one. Brian Thomas Jr. Brian Thomas Jr., another one, who's been overthrown for a couple of touchdowns too. What's your favorite defense for delivering? My favorite, it's got to be the Vikings, right? Yeah. With Brian Flores. They've had the best defense in the NFL, even though they're

Team isn't great. I feel like their coaching has been unbelievable. Yeah. I'm always scared to go against them now. Yeah. I didn't even feel good taking the Lions against them this week, but it did it. Pittsburgh's defense has been pretty good too. Pittsburgh's been good. I think we, this is the year of Spagnuolo. Casey's defense. Yep. All right. That was Who's Delivering presented by Uber Eats, where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long. We didn't talk about a kicker who's delivering.

Brandon Aubrey, Aubrey delivering for society too. Aubrey just delivering all over the place. Uber Eats, the official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. All right, Kyle, it's time. The million dollar picks for week eight coming off a $580,000 windfall last week. That really should have been more. We're up 163,000 for the year, mainly because I don't bet on Deshaun Watson do some of the stuff your buddy Austin Gill does on paper chasers. I'm glad we came up with a name finally for...

It's a good name. For the pod. I've got some fun about this. We had a bunch of trademark violations before we got to paper chasers. Million dollar picks week eight. We all love the Bears minus two and a half against Marcus Maradona and Washington. Do we put the caveat that if Daniels plays, this is a no bet or do we just ride it?

I would be shocked if Daniels played. Okay, let's just ride it. You know what? We're gambling. Let's go. Bears minus two and a half. Washington doesn't need this game. This is the last easy Bears game before it gets hard. Washington D is terrible. The Bears can move the ball on them. So that's our first one. Falcons minus two and a half against the depleted Bucs. Dibundo doesn't like it.

But you like the Bucs and the Tees a little bit, even though you could have named three receivers on the team. Sheil and I like the Falcons in a bounce back. Minus two and a half. No Mike Evans. No Chris Godwin. Just played on a Monday night. These teams have already played. This feels like Atlanta gets their team right. That's two. The Bengals. Minus one and a half.

against the Philadelphia Eagles. Shield doesn't like this one. Dibundo likes it. Dibundo likes it. Yeah, a little bit. You mentioned Havoc. I'm a little scared because the Bengals do not create much. They do not create much Havoc. The Havoc might be on the Philadelphia sideline with people throwing stuff. I just think we saw this game a few weeks ago, a version of it with Tampa, where they just threw on Philly the whole game. Philly's defense wore down. The Bengals, I think, can do that again. I don't think the Bengals are going 3-5.

So that's three. We're going to put $200,000 on each of those. We are also putting $200,000 on the Jets teased down to minus one with the over of 30, down to 35 and a half because Drake may can get cheap points. And I think the Jets win. If the Jets lose this game, this becomes one of the dark moments in Jets history. They lose this dysfunctional Pats team that's turning on the coach. Come on. And we all like this one.

Another tease. Colts up to 11 and a half against Houston. They've already played. The under up to 52 and a half. 53 points needs to beat this. No Nico Collins. Yeah, he's dominated the Colts in this head-to-head. The fear would be the Anthony Richardson pick six, like to start the first quarter. It's all of a sudden it's 7-0. You're like, oh my God. All right. And then last but not least, we're doing a little 100K on a Dibundo-Shield parlay. Shield love the Bills minus three against Seattle.

The bundle likes the Jags. We're going to bring them up to plus seven and a half. That is plus 179 on FanDuel. So we'll put, actually we'll put 120K on that so they get that over 200. And then last but not least,

FanDuel's 30% touchdown scoring boost. You win on Otten? I can't wait. It's all I'm going to be watching. K.O. plus 180. I'm going to have to have a screen on Falcon's Bucks now for some reason. We'll throw 25K on that just to respect ourselves. Yes. Shil Kapati, we can hear you on the Ringer NFL show. DeBunder, you're on the Ringer gambling show. You pop on Philly Special from time to time, right? Yeah, we had a short-lived Phillies playoff run to reminisce. I didn't have a playoff run at all, so I'm jealous. Good to see you guys. You too. Good to see you too.

All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Waz and Mahoney and CR and Kapadia and Dabundo and Kyle Creighton and Steve Ceruto for producing as well. That's it for the two-part pod. I will see you on Sunday unless I'm dead of an illness.

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