The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
11/18 Hour 1 - What Are You Willing To Trade For Giannis Antetokounmpo
"Your child's first step is a big step towards their future. With first step by college invest, every Colorado child born or adopted on or after January 1, 2020 will receive a free $115 contribution to their college invest college savings account. Plus, we'll match a percentage of your contributions in the coming years helping you save even more. Enroll today and start your child off on the right foot. Visit ColoradoFirstStep.org to get started and claim your $115 now. "The Killer Beast!" ESPN 97 5 and 92 5 proudly present, "The Killer Beast." "It's definitely a fan of the Killer Beast." Don't sweat technique. Broadcasting live from a mobile Veritex community bank studios located at Brieper and Country Club for the Cougs Hardball Classic. "Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham." "What a big town, hey!" "How are we doing?" "He's blank on Branham, Brian out here, on-site engineering, Abigail, producing back at Gal on this rainy day in Houston. Happy to have you. It's weird on a Monday, not talking Houston, Texas, isn't it? A little weird. "As we were sitting here listening to the open, that's the first thing that crossed my mind. It's like we would be talking about everything Texans and breaking down, everything that went right, wrong, and indifferent. And now here we are waiting for a game tonight and realizing that as much as the players have their schedule thrown off by a day, we do too." "We are broadcasting live from the Cougs Hardball Classic, by the way. Great time out here. A little rainy, but that's not stopping the golfers, have you noticed that? They're gamers, they're roughing it, they're grinding through things. That's what baseball players, really that's what Cougars do. That's what Cougars are tough. Cougars are tough. We're here at the Cougs Hardball Classic, maybe talk to a few of the ball players, Woody Williams is out here, a couple of current big Leaguers, kind of Wong, Jerry Triolo, Gold Glover out here as well. We might get a few of them on. But yeah, no Houston Texans today. We will talk about the Texans as they gear up for Monday Night Football. No, we're not the pregame show to Monday Night Football that's coming up later tonight. We'll talk to all things that happened in the NFL yesterday too, a very busy day in the NFL. Some statements made around the NFL yesterday, but how about we lead with the Rockets during the NFL season in mid-November, this is what the NBA Cup does to you, you lead Rockets because of the stakes that are the NBA Cup. It adds intrigue to things, even though the game yesterday in Chicago of course was not part of the NBA Cup. Those are only Tuesdays and Fridays, biggest days of the week for the NBA. How about the Rockets putting up 143 points against the Chicago Bulls, and the Bulls are great, five and nine. But you hang 143 against another NBA team for a Rockets team that really isn't known for their offense. You look at what the Rockets are quietly doing and it's like the best kept secret across the NBA. The fact that this team just keeps hanging dubs and they're hanging a lot of them by double digits. As much as I was concerned when they lost the opener against Charlotte, that's a bad loss against the bad team. This probably I hope is something that they can erase quickly, but I hope it's not a sign of things to come. Well, it absolutely hasn't been. This team has been blowing the doors off of teams. Chicago's been playing better basketball, but they were no match for the Rockets last night. Both ends of the floor. You are seeing guys just put forth a ton of effort and they're getting a ton of results. And I love the balance that this team has been about to. Yeah, it seems like whenever guys are struggling to that you have other guys step up like Jabari Smith was a dreadful for every game this season until about the last two. Fred Van Fleech shooting the basketball has been dreadful until every game but about the past two. And Fred Van Flee was was incredible yesterday, 28 points, 10 for 16 from the floor hit half of his three pointers when was the last time you could say that about Fred Van Vliet. He was everywhere, but Jalen Green started the year hot. Alpe Shinghoon took a few games to get going and now he's had back to back triple doubles. Dylan Brooks has been this steady force. Same thing with Tari Easton and I'm in Thompson like whenever you have that kind of depth, you don't need everybody to be at their best at all times. If you have three or four players and the rest of the guys are a bunch of scrubs, you need those three or four to always be their best. Because this rocket team has this depth, you can have a couple of players in the rotation that have an off night and still have no problem beating teams in the NBA. We've seen it and we were concerned about when Jalen had an off night or if he wasn't at least even if he wasn't shooting the ball great, if he wasn't getting 20 points. But when you look at the balance that this team is putting out there and you look at the fact that you have eight guys that could get you double figures in any given night and in most nights you're getting seven guys to get the double figures. That is the kind of balance that a lot of coaches dream of. The fact that on any given play, I can call somebody's number and they can get me two. And if there's a miss shot that I'm going to get the effort to get the rebound, to keep the ball alive, to make the right pass and then defensively when you start talking about and other coaches and analysts that used to be coaches are talking about, when you look at the film and even last night when they were talking to Billy Donovan, when you see Tari Eason and you see a men Thompson in the back court picking up three quarters court and knowing you are going to have your hands full all night as frequently as they're going to do that, you realize a tone is being set on the other end that is not very frequent in the NBA to see teams play defense like that. I think he's my favorite player. I think I'm in Thompson. My favorite Houston rocket. I love watching him play and he can do it without a shot like he's impacting the game in a very positive way for the Rockets and he's a very mediocre shoe at best by calling him a mediocre shooter is like being very kind to him. But he's already my favorite player despite having no shot whatsoever. I think the biggest thing for him with me is the fact that there's the work ethic there that he might not be there yet in terms of his offensive prowess and his ability to shoot the basketball, but the fact is you know he's working on it as hard as he can. You know when you hear the stories and talk to people around the team to know that he's getting in, you know, 100, 200 shots a day. He's trying to improve his three-point shot and it means enough that in the post-game interview he goes, "That was my career high, right, two made threes in the game." Like he knows what everybody else knows about the scouting report and he's trying to change that where a lot of guys are like, "I'm in the league, I'm good, I'm just going to be who I've always been." He works his tail off and it shows because it's the same mentality when he's on the court he plays both ends. My favorite part about his game is he doesn't have to have a play called for him, but he's going to go after every loose ball, every rebound and do every little thing that you need a guy to do and that's huge for a young team like this. Tari's the same way. Like you're not calling plays for a man, you're not calling plays for Tari, but they're going to find ways to impact. And Tari's a little bit better of a scorer, although a man scored 18 points yesterday doing it, or 16, doing it based basically on what you said, transition, getting out of the break, offensive tip-ins, being in the right, being in the dunk spot, he's somebody that impacts winning without ever drawing a playoff form like you mentioned. You know, to Jeremy, where it could actually rub off the other way, a little younger player rubbing off on another younger player, that's what Jabari Smith has to be. Jabari Smith seems to get caught up in if my number's not called, if I don't get a play run for me, if I'm not getting my shot early. If he just did the kind of things that Tari, and I think he's fully capable of doing it, maybe that's part of maturity, but if he, if that clicks with him too, he's going to get his and realize I will still fill up the box score, I will get my numbers, I will get double doubles, but at the same time, it'll make them an even better team. It's like they haven't got their ceiling yet, and there are guys with just little things like that that can take this team to get another level. You're not looking at the standings yet, noticing that the raw future 10 and 4, third place in the Western Conference, just to gain back from home court advantage throughout the playoffs. We're not looking at that yet? No. Five in a row. 10 and four. Looking at the fact that, look, as I'm looking at the style of basketball, the fact that it's entertaining to watch still, but the fact that they're playing both ends, they're scoring the basketball at a very high rate, they're blowing the doors off the team, and they're beating good teams in a lot of cases, which you wouldn't have expected if you thought less of this team to where that's something that at a certain point, when you start rattling off wins in a row too, when you look at it, you go, "Hey, at the end of the year, you're going to look back and say it was at the start of the season when we rattled off this many wins in a row and beat these quality of teams when it comes down to tie breakers and seating." And you go, "It does matter right now as much as somebody, you know, so many people say, "Well, the NBA doesn't start until Christmas." For the teams themselves and what it can do for them later on in the season, this is an important stretch that they're taking advantage of. Well, with the addition of the NBA and season tournament, the NIT, we all know that the NBA basketball starts in mid-November now, because of the intrigue that is the NBA and season tournament, the NIT. See, the cynic in me wants to push back on their schedule and be like, "Yeah, they have not been beat anybody." And the one team that they, you know, really good team that they played, the Thunder, you know, they get beat by them by 19. They played the Warriors, lost to them. That game went to overtime if memory serves. Or no, that was the one that they trail by, yeah, they almost pushed into OT, but they were down by, you know, 20-something points. But then the push back to that would be what they wanted, Dallas, a team who represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals last year, well, they beat the Knicks at home and were pretty convincing in that 12-point victory too. So I do think it's fair to say that their schedule has been formidable. Now I wouldn't mind a little mixed-in win against Oklahoma City or beat a Golden State. That would make me feel a little bit better. Was it last trip, was the first trip that left the State of Texas? Like they had played home games and they played Dallas and San Antonio twice to where that was as good as it could be. Yeah, Chicago. Okay, see. That's going to say, and then they finally, that last trip got out on the road to hit okay, see now they're hitting Chicago and Milwaukee. But from that standpoint, yes. But you did beat Dallas. Yeah. And in the Golden State, they had one of the two or three best records in the league. Well, you didn't beat Golden State. Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. But you came back in that game, people were giving that a moral victory type thing. But they've been playing good basketball against whoever they're playing as opposed to that Charlotte game to start the year where I was like, that was a bad look to start the season. That one did give me a little sour taste in my mouth, but they've done a really good job writing the ship 10 and 4/3 place in the Western Conference, although we're not looking at the standings yet. A 0 9 7 9, they put up 143 points on the Bulls, tipped the cap. I think it's what we're doing. I think we're tipping the cap by leading Rockets on a Monday in the NFL season. That's tipping the cap. Although the Texans played yesterday, we certainly wouldn't be doing that. Watching the Rockets beat the Clippers back-to-back games to one of which being the NBA and season tournament, what a win, what a win proving to Group A that they mean business, which the Rockets do lead Group A because of point margin, by the way. So keep that in mind as you watch your standings, watch your groups. I'm watching those Clippers games. I'm like, my goodness, I'm so happy they didn't bring in James Harden. Didn't this team feel gross if it had James Harden on it? Wouldn't that have been infectious to this team in a negative way if James Harden was on this roster? I was watching those Clippers games with you, whooped up on them, by the way, thanking everybody that James Harden did not get brought into the Houston Rockets. I think we can thank Eme Adoka the most. Yeah, you can, and I think you should, because of the fact that it was forced desperation if you brought in James Harden, because you look at it and he got exactly that. He got forced desperation in L.A. because of the new arena, the new uniforms, the fact that they were desperate to still have an identity when making that big transformation into that big new arena. And they were hoping that he was going to be a guy along with Kawhi, who is just the sorriest excuse for a max player that you ever want to see. And James Harden is a catastrophe to play around, because it's all about James Harden. And you want to talk about what Steven Silas didn't do to develop these young kids. James Harden would have been the worst thing for this young roster of young talent, because the Al would have been playing fourth fiddle, and the first three would have been James and Symphony. And that would have been awful. Yeah, I was so happy that James, like he's doing this little like, you know, social media posts, writing to the game and like, all right, fill it home. Well, you're always on Houston, because Houston didn't want you. And I felt very happy about that. I was a little worried, seeing that Cam went more, didn't get any minutes yesterday. I was like, Oh, Cam went more in the doghouse, but then they listed him as out today because of a sort knee. So I guess he's got a little bit of an element that is a yelling him. I thought he was in the doghouse early in the year. I just, I think he has been. And I think quite honestly, he got sent down because he's still one of those kids emotionally that feels like he needs to play and play significant minutes in order to feel like he's a part of the team. And they just basically said, right now, we don't have time to deal with that because we're trying to get established with the guys that we are going to put in our rotation. And they just kind of avoided the distraction. Right now, it's, it's, it's amazing to me that he is just a forgotten name, but it's fine because they're playing so good without him that no one's missing him right now. You hope that he understands that there's going to be a time and a place where he will be needed and he can have minutes and contribute to this team at the same time. You can't worry about it because of what you're doing, the coach you play for and the goals that they have for the squad. Yeah. They're going to need them in the trade with Milwaukee to get you honest is where they're going to need a four one zero six. It's the Emirates Cup tournament, not the NIT, chill out four one zero six. Not going to give Emirates free, free advertising on the show and it is the NIT NBA in season tournament. Why do you think they're calling it the NBA Cup this year? Because they realize they were calling it the NBA in season tournament last year and it stood for NIT. I'm not letting Adam Silver in the NBA off the hook. It will forever to me be known as the NIT. That's how I know that we have enough commercials too to remind us of who's sponsoring. That's right. Yeah. That is right. We're broadcasting live, hardball classic presented by little Woodrow's out at Bray borer, a Brayburn Country Club. I'm thankful to be out here supporting the Houston coach. We got a lot to talk about today. We'll get to some of the top news from around the NFL and week 11 of the NFL season. What are your favorite Texans Cowboys storyline ahead of Monday night football? Is there a new plan B for life after Alex Bregman? What do you believe after the college football weekend? Mel bag Monday. We got to talk about the fights or at least the one that was a fight and the other thing that was a circus that happened in Jerry's world 713 780 ESPN, the HRMP listener line we're on Twitch, Twitch.tv/espn975 on YouTube and ESPN Houston blankers at Pac-Man Joel Brian at sec by BMAC. I'm at Jeremy Branham. Are you interested in a trade for Yannes? And if so, how much are you willing to give 713 7803776? 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A32-204-1936, I also encourage you to go to all state siding and windows and see all the different products and services that they offer that might be able to give a facelift to your house. In the meantime, realize 30% off all windows right now, $2,500 off a complete siding job and they're always going to be looking to take care of senior citizens, military and first responders as well as ESPN listeners if you mention them and mention us. That is absolutely fantastic. Check them out today, give them a call, allstatesidingandwindows.com. Yes, P.N., $97.5. Broadcasting live from a mobile Veritex community bank studios located at Brieburn Country Club for the Cougs Hardball Classic, here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. We are indeed at the Cougs Hardball Classic, thanks to little Woodrose for having us out. 4106, the old commissioner, he's referring to David Stern, I would never let you get away with calling it the NIT. He's probably right, but he's no longer with us. David Stern would probably have somebody killed if they were calling it the NBA and season tournament. Although if their service to the round, I don't think they would have ever been called the NBA and season tournament, the NIT, to begin with. I don't know if I ever told you this, but David Stern was one of those guys that was the master of his public perception, you know, like he was always the sweet, soft-spoken nice guy and in the NBA meetings one year, it was when business casual and stuff started getting in and he was like he encouraged team members of the teams that get to the meetings to do it. He didn't want his staff to do it and one of his staff members came in with jeans and like a half zip and he waited till he got up and the doors were shut and no one from the outside was in. He went off for about 15 minutes, like red-faced, screaming, yelling, cussing. And I was like, oh my God, if anybody saw this David Stern and one of the guys in the league bumped me and goes, every week, almost every day in the league offices, I was like, really? I thought everybody knew that. Oh, Stern. You know, I think a lot of people thought that like, you know, he was that public persona guy, like he was just that man, he was a demon behind closed doors. I remember whenever he went on with Jim Rome and asked Jim Romes, what is it like to be your wife, which is pretty messed up thing to do, but that was David Stern for you. Aaron Wilson's reporting that Kamari Ladar Hadar Holliman will start against the Cowboys tonight. Kamari Lasseter is out for Monday night. I'm surprised this was actually like questionable like return to practice. I figured concussion, you're going to miss at least one game anyway. So no lasseter today, Wilson's reporting that it's Kidar Holliman that will get the start, although they did activate Jeff Acuda to the roster. So I don't love the fact that Jeff Acuda, yes, he hasn't played all year, but I don't love the fact that if he's not beating out lasseter that we don't, why are you even keeping up at this point? I would expect that we see both of them though. I think Holliman will start and I think we see Acuda at some point. I think that's the insurance policy right there of the fact that much like the greens at left guard and if Kendrick Green can't play and you're wondering the same question when we were talking about offensive lineman, look, if Acuda can't play, then we're going to start a guy that's younger, hopefully faster, more athletic at this point in his career and give him his first crack. If he can't at least hope the experience of Acuda can come in and kind of quiet the storm so it doesn't become a bigger headache in a game that you are supposed to win by at least a touchdown. All right. Giannis is coming up in league circles. It's been reported that if he were to get traded that the Rockets could be a team to keep an eye on as a potential suitor in a potential trade partner with the Milwaukee Bucks 713780 ESPN. Are you interested in a trade for Giannis and how much you're willing to give? Are you interested blakers? I'm not. I'm not and I once was and I think that one of the things that really turned me off soured me and was something that I just said, I don't think this team needs is one because of what we're talking about because the way this team is gel and coming together because there's so many options that you don't have to sit there and go, you're desperate for one or two of these guys to be that type of go to guy when you have so many to choose from. And two because of the age and the overall age of this entire team, how it can grow together. But most importantly now, it's the fact that look what Giannis has done since he got to Milwaukee and all of a sudden got that prima data attitude, you know, you want a championship, you had good role players, you had good pieces. And then what you did was you forced their hand and said, I don't want Drew Holliday. I don't want guys that can actually play. I want another big name like me because that's what it's supposed to be to take me to the next level, although you already want to ring. And you went and traded for Damon Lillard and then really wisely the Boston Celtics came right behind you and said, you're trading him to Portland, but that doesn't prevent Portland from trading to us. Boston got 10 times better, you got two times worse and then on top of it, he's he loves Chris Middleton and he had the he had them backed into a corner as an organization to pay him $60 million. He's like the Aaron Rodgers of the NBA right now. He's trying to run everything in Milwaukee and he's going to run it into the ground. Knowing how much you hate Aaron Rodgers, that's that's a pretty big insult with the great fake. But Ironic that Aaron is a part owner of the Milwaukee Bucks too, but this is all that I am seeing from the outside looking in at the way Giannis has turned in terms of all of his demands and how he wants things or he's threatening to he'll leave. He did the same thing with the Packers and I just have deja vu that this is what it looks like. Giannis is trying to do. Yeah. I did not expect that answer from you. So it does make me feel a little bit better that I also do not want to trade for Giannis. I thought that you were going to be in on it because I mean he is the best player. Like if you're looking at Giannis versus every single player on the Houston Rockets and you were to say, okay, pick pick the best player between every member of the Rockets and Giannis. The answer is Giannis. Giannis would be the best player there, but I don't love how he fits this build. I don't love how he fits the trajectory the Rockets are going on. Like the money's one thing, but he is 29 years old. He's going to be 30 like next week. So it's mortgaging your future and trading all of these young pieces because the price ain't going to be cheap. I've seen some of these trade proposals that rocket fans are throwing out there. You're selling it way too short because it's going to cost you a lot to get in on Giannis. So I'm actually out on this one as well. I just don't love how he fits the build of what you have going on. And then the other element to this as well is you can't trade Jalen Green or Appi Shungoon this year. So like, what does a trade even look like between the Houston Rockets and the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis? If you can't trade Jalen or Appi just because of the contract extensions, you can't trade them until the off season. If it was a new deal this year, it could be the end of December, I believe. I think that's right. Yeah. But if it's an extension, then it has to be a full year. Yeah. So I'm actually out on that one, two, three, eight, six, four, uh, blinkers speaking straight facts about the Rockets. See, I'm a little nervous that we're so like, that we're both out on Giannis that we're being idiots. Like, are we being idiots, not trading for Giannis who could quite possibly be the best player in the NBA, seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero, three, seven, seven, six, tell the bees why we're dumb and more honest, tell us because everybody calls in and does that anyway. But here's the thing where you and I watch enough basketball to realize the other thing that really stuck in my mind when I saw these rumors was he's a very tough player to play around to shoot or he's a different way of James Harden in the fact that at least with James Harden, you know what he's going to do, how he's going to do it. And if he does look for a bailout or to pass the ball, where you need to be with Giannis, it's a totally different animal because of the fact that he doesn't shoot the three. He, you know, when he gets his hands on the ball, it's, it's such an awkward because he's going to get into the, try to get into the paint. He's going to try and use his reach and whatever. But you don't know if you're standing in his way. You don't know where you need to go to kind of keep there any kind of offensive flow. And so he's a tough player to even compliment if that's what you want to do as opposed to you know what Harden's going to do and the way he's going to go about his business. Yeah, you have to like totally reinvent who you are as a team. Like again, maybe we're being dumb because it is Giannis that is the dude that's averaging 32 points a game. It is a dude that's averaging 12 rebounds a game. He has won a championship. He's been a two time MVP. So, so maybe we're being the ignorant here. I just, I don't see it, eight eight zero seven, Giannis would make this team instantly a contender's shin goon plus picks would turn the Rockets into the best defensive team in the league. Okay. I agree with that. I agree that Giannis makes this team instantly a contender. I do not agree that shin goon plus picks would be enough to get to another get Giannis on top of that. You can't trade shin goon until the end of the year. Yeah, no, if you're thinking that it's just going to take Shen goon and picks to get Giannis, you're out of your mind. And I think that the other thing that you look at is how to the point I was making to how's it going to make it better because who's going to be the other who's going to be his Robin and who's going to be the supporting cast because I think you're going to have to give up multiple pieces out of your rotation and picks just to make open the conversation with Milwaukee and that that's going to be multiple picks as well. What do you think? What do you think the package would look like? I think that if all contracts were on the table, they would want both Shen goon and Jalen Green and then maybe one other guy, maybe it's Cam Whitmore and then several first round picks. And I think that's where it would start for them and I think that from a rocket's perspective, you have to then realize not only that, but when he comes in, he's going to want you to put a significant piece next to him that you don't currently have. So yes, your team might be better in the short term with Giannis, but if you're looking to do what Giannis wants to do, which is win another title, he's going to require you to do a whole hell of a lot more work just to get it where he wants it to go. So obviously right now they can't trade Shen goon and Jalen Green, as you guys discussed, as you laid out that package role, do you see even a package available that they would even, you know, obviously, a men would have to-- I think all of them. Like I mean, it's a men, it's picks, you're probably going to have to throw in either the money or Jalen Brooks to make the contracts. No, the money's, the Brooks and Van Vlied element are in there simply for the money. Yeah, yeah. Just for the money. I wonder what the other expiring deals, if you could get up there, probably not because he makes so much money. But you have, like, the Chalk Lendale contract's pretty big, like, and he's on an expiring deal. Now it's not big enough. Holidays is bigger. Holidays getting almost 10 a year, I think, for two years, right? Well, you're not trying to bring Holidays back in a package. No, no, I'm talking about the other Holidays that's on the Rockets. Oh, my bad. Yeah, if you're just trying to get money stuffers in-- He's not even there anymore. I'm a walkie. No, I'm talking about-- yeah, the Rockets Holiday gets 10 a year where you could make the money work. Yeah. It's just that if I'm a walkie and I'm looking at it if those two are off the table, a men's the first guy I want, Tari's the second guy I want. Well, let's say, hypothetically, let's say the offer's obviously plus contracts to make it work and picks, but it's a men, it's cam, and it's read, plus picks a money to make it work. Maybe Jabari, too. Maybe Jabari, I think, at this point, I don't really care if he's a part of the deal. But, like, is that something you'd be willing to entertain? No. If it's a men read, cam plus picks a money. No. That's too much. Yeah, if it's Tari-- I want to keep him in. Like, he, to me, I mean the way that you-- But I know that you do that deal with it. I agree. Yeah. Which is why we're not getting a trade done. Yeah. But even still, read. You don't know what you don't know yet, but what you do know is he's a dead-eye shooter. And then-- That's why you'd want him next to Giannis. That's what I'm saying. And the fact that he can handle the ball, he's going to get better. He's so young. But he's coming from a bloodline, too, where he's going to be a smart player for you that's going to get better and better to where that's something you don't want to part ways with because no matter what you're going to try and build, there's always going to be a place for that. Johnson might be the only player on this team I'm not willing to trade. Under the right trade, I'm willing to trade Alpe, under the right-- I had no problem trading Jalen, actually. In fact, like, more realistic future trade for the Rockets if we eliminate Giannis from this conversation. I think that the future trade that makes the most sense for the Rockets is upgrading at shooting guard, is upgrading a score for the Houston Rockets. So if your Jalen Green in picks gets you a shooting guard that's an elevation over Jalen Green, to me, that's the trade you eventually make at some point, which you can't do that for a while. But am I trading a men, Reed, Jabari, picks? I'm not doing that for Giannis. No, you hope that you could keep both a men and Tari because you can see now a year ago when even though Tari sat out the year, the Knicks and several teams were calling on Tari East and going, "Don't care if he's hurt or not, that's a guy that I want on my squad because I can do some things with him and now you're seeing why." Just from an impact standpoint, and the fact that there's still no ceiling for them, I don't want to trade a men, I don't want to trade Tari, I don't want to trade trade Reed. I know what I've got in both June and Jalen Green. Jalen Green would be the centerpiece for a lot of teams that still feel like there's another level for him to get to. Shen Gu and I'm fine trading with because as good as he's been here, I don't want to say that Brook Lopez one way or another is better or worse than him, but just knowing that Brook Lopez was on the open market a year ago or two years ago shows you that you can find another Shen Gu in the way the games played today, you don't need them all that much. I think he's kind of unique. I agree with you in terms of like his value, but I wouldn't say that you can find another Shen Gu because I think he's kind of, I don't want to say unicorn because that's putting him like in this special category, but you don't see sinners that have his type of game. But if I look at it and say from a different perspective, if I tell you the Brook Lopez is a seven foot three point shooter that can knock down, you know, good numbers from three point range. You see more of those nowadays though. Yeah, he's a unicorn too to the where where, but he's also going to play, he's a big man that's going to go down and be all defensive first team. So he has his strengths and weaknesses, but the big man has been kind of pushed to where that's not a necessity anymore. That's a luxury when you get a player like that. So from even from an LP standpoint, I'd be okay if I had to go find another LP type player. Which rocket currently on this team is the one you at least want to trade? It's no brainer to me. It's a men Thompson. Yeah, me too. I just because of the fact that even from last, when you got him last year, he was supposed to basically be in the G league in learning because he's so young and raw. You saw everything you needed to see early on to the point where he was getting minutes by the end of the year. And the only thing he needed to fix was his shot. Now you're seeing improvements in his shot and you're seeing even a more dominant player when he's on the floor, filling up a stat sheet without getting a single play called for him. And he's playing defense at a high level. That's all I need to see to say. That's who you build around. Text line seems to be out on it too. For the most part, 0 9 7 9, absolutely not. He's the number one. He is not the number one. He has no jumper and can't hit free throws. Cam Jabari read all the picks. I don't think it's enough to get it done for Yannes. Cam Jabari reading all the picks is not enough in my opinion. I think Jabari is right now. Jabari is the guy that you would love to unload that a lot of teams know that the book is out on right now. That's got to do a hell of a lot of improving before they're going to want them. 8 8 0 7. Explain how the second apron works. I thought bucks could only trade one for one since they were over the apron. I'm not exactly sure the second apron works other than it tries to limit like these huge massive supers teams and spinning tons of money. But it's very complicated. 1 3 0 6. Ron is the biggest. I mean largest prima Donna in radio who's coming in with the name the show. Not really relevant to the conversation. But I read it anyways because I'm here for it Brandon T. I'm out on Yannes. Keep the nucleus together for the next year or two and see what they can do. I think they I think wouldn't win a title with Yannes anyways. You could if Yannes with the right pieces around it. I think you can because their defense would be so elite if you have Yannes and kept the guys that we like. If you keep Tari and and a man and have Yannes and those are your three basically primary defenders. I don't care the other two guys you put on the floor with him and his bad ish and goon to play defensively. You are going to absolutely dominate the conversation in most matchups defensively because just with the reach alone in the athleticism. You're going to absolutely strangle and suffocate most most teams you play against. Corey I love where this team is going and I don't know that I want him to play where Jabari told Alpe to go and pass picked by Alpe cut by Van Vlee makes me like a little team ball Jabari Camtari all the picks not totally out on Yannes but I rather have a young athletic rim protector don't understand why the Rockets not doing that they really don't have that guy at the five yet I think eventually it's coming. I'll tell you the sleeper that bothered me about this entire story when I read it from Mark Stein is that the Rockets secretly or not so secretly are still in love with the idea of acquiring Kevin Durant please stop thinking about that don't ever think about it again and if that's what you're thinking then you need to get a good night's sleep and stop drinking because that's ridiculous at his age with what he may or may not have left in the tank to say that no matter what you have on your roster or what it would cost to go get him that that would even be a consideration. What if it's cheap though what if it's what if it's Jalen Green a few picks and then cap filler to make it work and he's your upgrade as your score then your window is going to be the next couple of years before you're going to have to find another a replacement for him what you would have you would have your entire foundation minded I hated I hated if you look at aside from the Golden State title and his Oklahoma City years tell me where Kevin Durant has made the guys around him better in the USA over the summer want to go metal lingers want to go well I think that internationally he could find a you know a macabre Tel Aviv deal that could make him a European sensation to win a title but I don't think that it's going to win a title in the NBA the Nets was a disaster everywhere he's been Phoenix is good as their plan right now I don't look at that team and say NBA championship right there he's super injury prone to I wouldn't touch Giannis with a ten foot pole he would want his trash brother also to come with him plus all the young good developing players we have here jelling and winning is too much again I'm a little surprised by our text line being kind of mostly anti-iannis 8 8 0 7 a minute is untouchable not keep read get your barry out of here and then ass blankers could amend eastern and Giannis be enough to be boston in a seven game series no you need a score yeah you need to go out well at least one yeah I don't know if Jalen's that score yet I don't know if you I think you might need more than one because when you look at boston look they didn't need per se to have the unicorn involved in all this but when when when you got the kind of production from four different guys in boston when white came on like he did and poor zingus was able to help there's not a team in the league that can match up with that and try and and stop them in a seven game series because it comes from everywhere it's like gold state at their peak when they had Kevin Durant too you had options galore of 25 point scorers that because of the cap you just can't see come together even with other teams that can match up with that that's I think the biggest thing is you still need guys that can score with boston and I don't think we have guys on this roster right now that are there yet 7 1 3 7 8 0 e s p n what's your favorite texans cowboy story line ahead of monday night football tonight cooler bees broadcasting live from the hardball classic presented by little Woodrose it is the bees on espn 97 5 and espn 92 5 you're listening to espn 97 5 you're back with a killer bees on espn 97 5 and 92 5 broadcasting live from a mobile veritex community bank studios located at pre burn country club for the cougs hardball classic here's Joe blank and Jeremy Branham thank you to little Woodrose for having us out here the cougs hardball classic they're a braving the elements today having to deal with the rain no problem though for a bunch of cougars go cougs a 7 1 3 7 8 0 espn what are your favorite story lines ahead of monday night football today 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6 what do you got blinkers I think the biggest story line for me is going to be just the continual story line that's going to kind of be around until it's solved and that is the offensive line like you know can what you did a week ago turn into more continuity more practice time and hopefully better results so that's you know the offense has more time to do what they need to do and if not then it's going to continue to be you know are you going to be musical chairs they can have to do more they're going to have to entertain other ideas that we have not been in favor of like you know at least I have it specifically more you may be more so than you about you know moving Titus Howard I just think that it's going to be what everybody keeps their eyes on until we don't have to worry about it so much yeah the the one that's popping up recently this happened late in the week last week over shown is actually a Texas Longhorn we know that Brian likes to pretend to be a Texas Longhorn fan Damari some Harvey and over shown I had this to say about the match up with the Texans on monday night football he said quotes even though it's a down year for us we still run the state of Texas in quote over ship cash and retrash and we do that on Tuesday but cash retrash this is still cowboy country in the long-star state even though it's a down year for the tip of the caliber it's a big trash I mean tell me what you've done to try and do what the Texans have done more so than you have get get to the playoffs win a playoff game be a team that you know that actually doesn't look like paper champions because they they get there and when they get there they get their doors blown off by a team that they were supposed to blow out as opposed to a Texas team that gets up win and gets the division around and then is competitive in a divisional game I just think that you know you're not the Cowboys of old and you don't have the big three sitting there you know doing everything that they want to do so slow your role before you start putting yourself in a category you don't belong in yeah I'm not gonna be very popular in Houston saying this but I don't think he's wrong I don't think that he's wrong yes the Texans are a better football team I was gonna say yes Texans have had a better winning percentage in the last two years let's let's not like make this this huge body of work let's not forget that prior to the last two years season and a half that the Houston Texans were winning 11 games in three seasons but we talk about Jerry Jones curtains nationally more than the Houston Texans even come up so from like a marketing point of view from a PR point of view from a team who just like grabs headlines Texans really aren't anywhere close to the Cowboys and look that might not be where you want to be like I don't want to be the organizations that's making headline because they don't have curtains that are covering up the Sun I don't want to be the organization that has an owner that's the make believing being this general manager I listen to Jerry Jones and Steven Jones this week or last week just kind of getting an idea where the Cowboys are I can't believe these guys are running an NFL football team from a general manager perspective it's sad quite frankly but the Cowboys have way more cache than quite frankly the Texans ever will I think it's two separate conversations I think if you want to talk about who's running the state of Texas from a football perspective but he didn't say that no but I'm saying that you can say what he said in kind of two different ways right right that's I'm saying so you can look at it from a football perspective where I think that it's completely in the Texans favor but when you look at it from just an overall marketing exposure logo popularity it's it's totally the other direction the Cowboys have been the Cowboys they've been the main states that you know there's a reason why when you talk about the overall value of the franchise to the popularity of the logo itself and the money that it generates worldwide the Cowboys are up there with the Yankees man united and just a few others to where you realize from that perspective the Texans are way behind I think a football perspective and with the contracts they just locked in and what that kind of limits them in doing I think the Texans are ahead by a good mark I rather have the Texans if I'm trying to win a football game and I rather have the Texans if I'm trying to stack up wins over the next five years but in terms of the brand the Cowboys are up there with some of the biggest brands in the history of sports like you mentioned so I'm interested in that storyline to see how like is this something that's you know going through the entire locker room of the Cowboys where it's like okay we got to show the Texans who runs the state because the Texans are not anywhere near that. Nico Ryan's was asked about that last week and it's like it was just our next game so that's something that will be fun to watch Nico Collins return like what does the offense look like with Nico Collins we've talked about Nico and Joe mix and they've played one complete game together mixing was hurting game to Nico was hurt by the time mixing came back so I'm interested in that I'm interested in the running game like the running game was not good the last time out for the Houston Texans is that look better can they improve in that department so from an offense standpoint those are the two things I had Nico on my list as well and I had Joe mixing on my list as well because you could tell the one thing you don't want is to see his frustration again for another week because they just can't have anywhere to run and there's just nothing open enough. The big thing for me on the flip side of this is as much as Dallas doesn't seem to have a whole lot to play for and a lot enough players to play for whatever they're trying to play for. The fact that Micah Parsons and for yeah it's it's also everybody can say oh it's Micah and it's CJ and it's the whole podcast thing and it's you know who's going to one up who Micah Parsons is going to try to put on a show tonight because he realizes his contracts up in a year he realizes it doesn't matter how bad the rest of this team is most people who know football though that is a destructive dominant football player and he's going to look to put his name back on the map against the less than offensive line to where we saw what Quinn and Williams was able to do when he was up against Kenyon Green. I think that Micah Parsons is going to be up and down this offensive line looking for any way that he can wreak havoc and have everybody remember just how good he is. Yeah see how they protect is going to be very interesting to me too like especially with him like is that something that they're going to be able to cover up at all and then on the defensive side of the ball for me it's really quite frankly defending CD lamb questionable status everything I've heard is that he's going to be good to play and they like to move CD around too they'll put him in the slot they'll put him outside and then like what do we know about the Houston Texans we know that they don't travel Derek stingley most of the time the only time that they've really done that in a single game was against the Browns last year in the wild card round I don't expect them to change that in the regular season so I expect stingley to be on the left side of the defense and not move you're starting Holman maybe we see a kuda we know that Jalen Petrie's a problem covering good receivers in the slot so how they defend CD lamb to me is going to be fascinating it is because of the fact that if you're the Cowboys and you have any kind of football knowledge at all and we know that the coaches are going to see this too they know that the advantages that they have is keep CD CD on the other side of the field from stingley and we'll live with that we'll take our chances with that because more times than not you're taking an all-pro caliber receiver and putting them in against less than defensive backs you're probably going to win that matchup and now it's just a matter of can your quarterback get the football where it needs to go that's why another one of the keys that I had was the defensive line getting home for the Texans yeah whether will Anderson plays or not he's not going to play the fact that Autry has looked good the fact that you know this could be another one of those games for like a Daniel Hunter where he just breaks out like will did against the Patriots and just says you have no one on that offensive line that's capable of guarding me and slowing me down I am going to do whatever Mike Parsons can do on the other side and then some and I've got other guys that can help me don't forget that they're getting party boy Mario Edwards back tonight oh that's right either either party boy or has trouble paying attention either has a either has an attention disorder he likes to have a little fun one of the two I've heard Cowboys teams in the past might have party in a similar way to the way Mario Edwards might have party yeah you're right that is kind of something I'm not this may not be a great city for for Mario Edwards just so this makes sure he's on the flight back this makes sure he's on the flight back I'm not sure he could handle that stuff yeah I'm not sure he could handle it with a white house we're doing back in the day any other storylines I think I think that's the main thing I think that from a defensive second half scoring oh that's that's big one you're right scoring's been a problem all year the other part of that and it's kind of connected in a way but the other part of that that we've seen the Texans get struggled with week after week after week this year is being a worse team on the road and now that's more so outdoors like we saw against the Jets and a few others but they've been a bad team and they've obviously been terrible in the second half so against a lesser than opponent this week that's got to be something we see it prove that's a big one that's a big one I think that's one that we've been harping on enough to realize that that that that can't that has to stop tonight I mean it doesn't matter who you're playing but you obviously it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that's a team you're supposed to be you're supposed to be able to put points on that means in both halves of the of the game and because it's been such a sticking point such a topic to be brought up every day at press conferences that's something that you got to look at and say that has to change tonight all right seven one three seven eight zero ESP if you have any let us know seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six also let's go over some of the big things that happened yesterday week eleven in the NFL it is the bees broadcasting live from the couge hardball classic on ESP at ninety seven five and ESP at ninety two five hey for me go to the break and we're from a good friend doc Linville doc Linville best in the business at dealing with hair loss for you and getting your hair back it doesn't matter if you've got pattern baldness you've already lost your hair maybe you have some hair still on your head it's just not what it used to be doc Linville's the answer it's not the sprays and the creams and the foams and the gimmicks that just don't work that just mass the problem it's actually getting your own hair back what I learned when I had a consultation with doc and his staff and that I didn't know previously which was the fact that you never lose the hair on the sides in the back of your 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thing for you you get a lot more confidence because you have your appearance back and that can mean so much check them out today tell them I sent you to buy go to nine seven five hair dot com you're listening to ESPN ninety seven five broadcasting live from a mobile Veritex community bank studios located at Draper and Country Club for the Cougs hardball classic here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham it's indeed where we're at Cougs hardball classic thanks to little Woodrose for having the killer bees out this afternoon I big news in the in the NFL the Buffalo Bills ending the Kansas City Chiefs undefeated season in Buffalo this view this changed the way you view the AFC you know not much I still believe that you know Kansas City has a certain level that they play to in the regular season another level that we've seen they're able to get to when it comes to postseason and so that's something that I'm not going to lose any sleep about if that's the first loss the Chiefs have this year I think the Bills needed that win a whole hell of a lot more than the Chiefs did at the same time was a really good statement win for the Buffalo Bills to say listen we lost some guys but at the same time we still are fully capable playing with these guys whenever they play so I think that from the standpoint of you know who needed it more Buffalo needed it more yeah it doesn't change the way I view the AFC at all really I don't I don't think much of the the Buffalo Bills like I know that they beat Kansas City yesterday I know the Kansas City kind of has these flaws I know the Kansas City's offense isn't great I don't trust the Buffalo Bills to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the postseason I just don't and I just yesterday game is not no no because they've been there and done that no no I expect Kansas City to go into Buffalo eat all their wings and then beat them whenever they play I had no issue with that it is we're saying that I mean Buffalo wins convincingly even without Dalton concave and Keon Colman playing he's been disappointed this year though and Keon Colman hasn't been I'm just saying like Josh Allen was already tied in I mean he's already obviously already lost Taylor Swift at the stadium yesterday it's a different game if Taylor Swift is there different game he loses his top two targets in the offseason now he's down two more targets going to this game so I mean it's I don't think it changes like if the game's an arrowhead I'm still picking the Chiefs but if it's somehow the Bills who are one game behind but would have the tiebreaker if somehow the Bills get the number one seed I think I'm picking the Bills out of now I would play a Kansas City future bet today I would too today I mean the thing is is they've gone to Buffalo and they've won in the postseason you look at say he's the past their defense is still there the defense might be better than it's been in this entire run so far for them and the fact that you still have Patrick Mahomes and you've added a guy like Dehop who's been a huge upgrade in terms of the wide receiver position that's yesterday that's one game but I'm just saying overall I'm talking about the overall teams Brian I'm talking about the fact from a from both teams perspectives I think that Buffalo needed this game more to say that they're still on the level of a Chiefs team that might be better defensively it got better from where they were at the start of the season offensively and I still have Patrick Mahomes and you're talking about getting pacheco back in the mix along with what Hunt has been able to do filling in for him and I think that they will be deeper at the end of the season obviously injuries are going to play a factor yeah yeah I hear what you're saying Brian and the offense for Kansas City has not been good like it has not been a friend that's been going down since last year yeah but then whenever the playoffs came around remember last year the second half of the year they were just squeaking by they were winning close games they were losing a couple here and there I think they were like five and two in their last seven games after the buy something like that I don't think that's exactly something like that but then the off the the playoffs come around and they're doing just enough like they do what is required with their defense being really the stronger side of the ball there I would take Kansas City to win a playoff game in Buffalo today and Kelsey you were offering me that I would take it today and Kelsey he was loaded in the playoffs yesterday in the playoffs though last year is when he really turned it up and took it to another level you know for the last three weeks he's been playing great he didn't have to do a whole hell of a lot yesterday but they found a way they were still competitive and I think in the playoffs they'll take it to the level where they'll be better how about the the Jim Harbaugh impact and what he is doing with the Chargers I can't stand that he's such such a good coach doesn't everyone I can't stand everywhere he does I was thinking about it last night about when we were talking about preseason who we thought we're gonna do what and we were like yeah Harbaugh's not gonna be able to do this in year one and they lost all these skilled position players and and you know it's gonna take a couple years and then it's also gonna see can he return to the NFL to have the same kind of success he had San Francisco he's unbelievable because he's doing more with less than what we thought at the start of the year I mean he's turned Johnson into a guy that can actually catch and be a big part of this Herbert just basically took the governors off and Herbert is throwing you know all over the place and running we had his first two rushes he had over 50 yards rushing after those two rushes one interception all season yeah I mean he's putting every pass where it needs to be and the guys that they're calling on to kind of fill the names of the bigger names they had a year ago are doing their jobs lad McConkie we had a breakout game last yesterday you mentioned Herbert I mean obviously Chris Collinsworth was just it felt like he was watching football porn yesterday watching just Herbert played especially the first half but my goodness some of those throws Herbert was making work there's two three quarterbacks in the league can make some of those well and then the one he missed the McConkie that would have been a big one too even McConkie was like we were all in shock going I mean with as good as he was throwing the football that was surprising he had a miss like that yeah he's a hurt we forgot how good Herbert was we did we did sleep on his town because he had a down year last year and a really dysfunctional team and then that the rest of that division too like the Broncos are kind of good the Denver Broncos are pretty good at football huh oh the Denver Broncos way better than we would have a thought about when you start thinking about the fact that bonyx might be a lot higher in terms of you had to redraft this quarterback draft right now would you put a bet down on bonyx rookie the year yes yeah I would yeah I mean it's gonna be hard to pass Jaden Daniels though I mean yeah that's that pre the not not preseason but the first half of the season story line was it's Jaden it's Jaden and Jaden but you look over the last five weeks bonyx is outplayed him yeah he's been insane he went four touchdowns yesterday little it's like the Russell Wilson thing where football or you know Jaden Daniels still has to finish strong because Russell Wilson's been in the MVP conversation for multiple years and then those last four or five games matter but yeah if you start if you started just recalculating right now bonyx is in that conversation he's playing his tail off yeah he's been really stinking good all right post bragman what is playing be is it willy adamas 713780 ESPN killer bees broadcasting live in 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