Pete Carroll, CeeDee Lamb, Oklahoma St Barcodes | Sports Talk w/ Steve Jones, Ep. 284

welcome to sports talk with Steve Jones The Daily Talk Show with the voice of Penn State football and men's basketball you never know what special guests may stop on by any given day now here's the man of the hour Mr Steve Jones all right great to be with you on the show today it's a great day it's cold it's chilly it feels like fall feels like football season Steve that's what it feels like today yes it does felt that way the yesterday out the practice feel it was like 65 66 degrees Chase Meyer was back in the locker room Chase Meyer says oh man says I got to get warmer clothes I go said warmer clothes he goes I'm from California oh boy I looked at him I said you also kicked at pen Sunshine ain't ready for gold really so yeah oh gez um and this is a very it's a fun Football story to start off with here but it's nil related um don't know if you saw this but Oklahoma state has announced and has shown photos they are putting the QR code on the back of every player's helmet for the n Collective and the nil fund through Oklahoma State so that means if you see the Cowboys running on the field in a QR code you can scan it and donate via their helmets which is definitely something new um it is 1 and a half square inches big so it's not the largest it's visible from the stands but it's more visible from the TV broadcasts so it's when to get fans at home who are Oklahoma State fans to be able to donate to the nil fund wanted ask you about this because it's one of those new things we're seeing where like I think Colorado State or Colorado is practicing with players social media handles on the back of their jerseys like all these things are popping up where it's not the most serious thing in the world it's more of a funky thing and I wanted to get your feelings on it taking the the temperature on it well okay everybody's trying to come up with an Innovative way to do it mhm uh it doesn't mean any of this are going to any of these things are going to work of course uh which is um a big you know everybody's guessing and because they're guessing they're trying to come up with um any way they can think of to get more nil opportunities I mean James Franklin went around did a series of events for Penn State uh pth fler he's been working hard on on the on the basketball front Dan cabal has been working hard on the football front but it's a constant grind to do it and the reason is is that when you donate to nil you then have to donate again next year to nil it's something that is constant um instead of the one big donation and one shot to give money to a program to do X Y or Z it is a yearly subscription pretty much is what they want you to sign up for to donate yeah3 $40,000 a year right and as we've discussed it can become a lot right for people so um the so now you're going to let's do QR codes let's you know the bottom line is everybody's going to be giving money out next year anyway and it's not going to be just so people know it is not going to be we got $22 million 11 going to William Sports 11 going to go to no it's not going to happen that way okay it's going to be split there'll be a split at some point but it's going to be done realistically yeah sorry it's called life MH um and the um and so everybody's going to get money anyway the question is going to be what does that then do to the fervor for nil now you're going to have schools requesting it left and right M you Ohio State claims to have a $20 million payroll this year yeah um and that of course it's amazing when you lose to Michigan three years in a row suddenly out of nowhere people really want to donate and I believe the 20 million payroll is what how close is it to the Pittsburgh Pirates payroll it's pretty close I think the Pirates are 60 million I think something like that so it's not that far off right um but that's um that's the issue moving forward will people see the 22 million per year and say well okay they're already getting the money they don't need it mhm I was asked in Camp Hill last week to explain the 22 million into explain nil and I said I said well let's start with this I said based on then the way the question was phrased I said I think you think the money's coming from the NCAA and the guy said yeah he says no I said every school has to come up with the 22 million themselves I said there's going to be a 4% escalator in this moving forward they went oh they said so it's going to be a combination of the 22 million and whatever cut goes to football MH and I have a pretty good handle on how much the Cut's going to be but I'm not at Liberty to say it we'll find that out a later time yeah but you know but I I sort of know in the neighborhood what they want to do basically um and the um but you're still going to have to have an nil component mhm the question is going to be at most schools across the country will there be less of an incentive to donate to nil MH because you know the players are already getting money yeah it's it's the I'm just I'm just throwing that out there yeah well it's like if I know a players is going to be getting paid x amount of money I don't know how much but let's say it's like 20 grand why am I going to donate 20 bucks but I know he's already going to get 20 grand it's a weird so yeah so now the pitch is going to be they're get they're all getting basic money great but your donation can help put us over the top with certain individuals I believe that nil can be they can start they might be able to start bringing it in internally MH instead of having external Outlets of collectives you can start doing it internally now which is what I believe Oklahoma state is doing that's what their their thing is is it's the Collective they are creating for the athletes they are just putting the QR codes on their helmets or in the case of Colorado similar things right I mean that's fine that they're doing that it's just a different way of getting the word out there MH but that's all it is is getting the word out there I to be honest with you I would be very surprised it makes a difference but it's clever it's it's Innovative I don't think it's going to work that's just me um I there's going to be more pressure than ever for athletic departments to the donor base because for example Penn State and so many others in the Big 10 they can handle this 22 million going forward mhm but I keep I'll keep returning to pit but what about pit can they handle it MH can they even approach 22 million yeah I don't think they can realistically and the reason they say that realistically I'm not picking on them it just turns out they're in the ACC MH we know what the ACCC TV contract is yeah it is less than half of the Big 10 TV contract on average average less than half that's why Florida State's so upset because they say every year this goes by we're falling further and further financially behind MH well if you're getting 36 million from your media contract then there's the ACC you know there's there's the college football playoff money things like that well remember the big 10's getting all that money too the SEC is getting all that they're same money so you're treading water here and pit can't make up for it in attendance mm nope right they can't make up for it in attendance Penn State has a 94% renewal rate in a 110,000 seat Stadium mhm Yeah okay or they have what 94,000 season tickets and 110,000 seed Stadium 94,000 seas and tickets MH okay um so and you look at a pit game on TV and again with all this is with all due respect this is I'm just doing analysis here right but because hind you know hinfi aasher stadium is the Steelers Stadium the seats are Steelers gold mhm yellow yeah well they stick out on TV when they're not filled and you can see pit games they're just empty seats all over the place unless they're playing Penn State Notre Dame Ohio State then they sell those games out they get a good crowd for Clemson they'll get a good crowd for Florida State but they rotate on and off the schedule yeah and so they can't make up for it with attendance they can't and that is um that's the big problem with all all this there's a bunch of schools out there they're in the same boat you're going to tell me that Wake Forest and Duke both stadiums of less than 40,000 they can't do it mm-m nope so your ability to compete in power four when the when the guy down the road is capable of offering 22 million and you're looking around going I don't know how we're going to do this MH it's a big problem it's an issue it's a real issue you have to have you have to have quote your mega donors step forward mhm well well that's the issue here yeah and can you get your mega donors to step forward um and that's it's an issue especially because you don't you need you need the mega donors the problem is they donate in like one shot and a lot of the time they don't donate constantly and so they're banking on all of the less than Mega donors to donate constantly the problem is is it is a lot of money year in year out to donate and do they want to donate and pony up x amount of money every year yeah it's a lot I barely want to donate x amount of money to my school it's a lot of money for me but then there's another part to it too MH part of this settlement that they have and again this is Court mandated this isn't one of those like hey this is great you know like I can't believe they're going to I always love when I hear they're going to pay the players they're being forced to pay players okay the court says you have to M if they didn't settle it would have been triple that amount and that's a lot of and I'm not exaggerating on that because antirust numbers are trebled so it would have been 6 that's called Anti-Trust law the minimum would have been 66 they could have settled for more than that they could have said 5050 million be 150 million who knows right so they settled but it's the back pay one from 17 to 23 where 60% of it's coming out of NCAA reserves and I Tred to explain to the the audience the gentleman's question I said this is probably what you're thinking about is 60% from the reserves but they said the other 40% will come from the distributions from the NCAA basketball tournament over the next 10 years which does two things one it it makes it ensures the viability of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament because they need it yes right to keep going to pay this but number two it really hurts schools like Bucknell MH Coastal Carolina San Jose State and so forth that are not getting the big football contracts they're not getting any football TV money whatever a big share of what they're getting is going to be from the NCAA basketball tournament and they're all going to have to take less because of this and it hurts them as well yep there we go um I wanted to change little gears real fast it's all right with you and no we're not going to soccer I know you're you're you're jumping for joy uh we are going to the world of doping uh you know a similarly fun topic here on the show of doping of doping so yesterday oh okay I I you said dope I thought of Jason it was like J Jason I think Jason's Jason's outstanding so uh the current number one player in the world in tennis yanic CER tested positive twice for an antibotic steroid back in March but he will not be suspended by the uh International tennis Integrity agency they announced that um it was an system apparently through a massage from his physiotherapist he tested positive for cl ball which is the exact same thing fernan tati's Junior tested positive for that got him an 80 game suspension and dropped by Adidas back in 2022 and Center is not getting suspended and none of this stuff is happening and people are saying he's like oh it wasn't intentional all these things but a lot of the players are not to happy about it so Nick kgos one of the big players in tennis right now says it's ridiculous whether it was accidental or planned you get tested twice with a band substance you should be gone for two years your performance was enhanced massage cream yeah nice rolling eyes emoji that is what he posted about because it's more than fair that everyone's mad about it every other sport you get suspended tatis same thing suspended 80 games why doesn't this dude get suspended or have anything else happen to him there's weird standards across Sports when it comes to doping and it makes no sense sometimes they all have their own rules MH uh what makes it different in tennis and golf versus Fernando tatis is that in tennis and golf you're an independent contractor as opposed to being on a team and have a contract with the team yeah so as independent contractors There are rules that they have you know that are applied to them that are different than team sports so uh and so the same rule for Fernando tatis is the same rule for Aaron judge with the Yankees um independent contractors and what gets me is is that let's start with this I don't know how much of a favor they're doing to Center or what it means to the tour but he's not a draw mhm okay no offense really good player but who's buying tickets to go see him play the draw they're playing they're paying their money to see jokovic jokovic Nadal alarz alarz people like that the draws are the stars right he may be highly ranked adorable not a draw okay so this isn't being done let's start with that prise it's not being done because they think he's some draw and boy by letting him play in the US Open we might sell out M hey excuse me you're selling out anyway because they think alcarez and jokovic are going to be in the final like the Olympics yeah I mean that's what they think MH they think you know and same thing on the women's side with the top players they want to see Osaka right they want to see Coco golf right well it's um that's so you know it's a no it it's not first of all let's start with this is this stuff really working what we're doing a lot of modern science today mhm which I think makes a difference like for example when I see football B basetball guys the Catapult system being chipped keeping track of heart rates things like that that's a huge advancement making a couple of changes in practice based on what you're getting from data huge advancement um but at the same time uh why somebody has to explain to me why is it before all of these Sports Science innovations that Greg Maddox took the ball every fifth day MH and didn't miss turns MH Don Dale took the ball every fifth day didn't miss turns somebody has to explain to me how season after season till later in his career Johnny Unitus lined up under Center mhm right I mean somebody has to explain to me why why Larry birdon Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan were playing 82 games a year mhm over and over and over again heck how LeBron's made it 21 years playing 82 games right okay somebody has to explain that to me how how but LeBron's part of the sports science era it's a little bit different how all these old oldtime players keep playing over and over and over again again mhm and the sport was just as physical then as it is now mhm why and there are different kinds of injuries today that I had never heard of until the last 10 15 years yeah pectral Tears like what UCL tears Tri you know triceps like mhm right okay before it was knees shoulders rotator cuff sometimes ankle right not even rotator cuff yeah didn't hear much about that now maybe it's because they they found it and they can do something about it then maybe that's it yeah but why is it year after year you know and guys got hurt and they missed time I got that yeah but for example um it was what year was it 1965 mhm 1965 the Colts had to play the Packers in a one-game playoff to get to the NFL championship game to play Cleveland MH and Bart Star got hurt early in the game and then Zeke Browski had to replace him MH well star banged up to heck plays the next week against [Music] Cleveland right like all taped up everything like that really banged up you know you he probably play paid a price later in his in his in his career because I mean eventually he needed rotator cuff surgery but K yeah but why mhm I mean why why is that as opposed to today where I've got creams and I've got this and I've got that you like all the recovery stuff makes sense MH you know cold tubs hot tubs cherry juice pickle juice I mean all sorts of things that you know that they've invested a lot of time in but why is it people weren't missing tons of time before mhm now they weren't making as much money so they knew they darn well better show up and I know we just discuss it on this show so you won't get back into the whole too many games at a young age thing we're not going to discuss that now but it is just something to note um I do want to get to a topic we've discussed it some we disced it in bits and pieces over time um the idea of having a strong connection and a linear path between the owner or GM of a team and the coach and the players and the staff and everyone how important that is in terms of everyone pulling in the same direction and the reason I bring it up I know it's soccer related but uh this morning and zesa the manager of Chelsea uh insisted that Chelsea is not a mess right now because they have more than 40 first team players His official thing was I'm not working with 42 players that is on the outside I'm only working with 21 I banished 20 players right that feels like a bit of a mess because because he's only working with half the players they have he's not using the half other half the players they're just sitting there doing nothing right not training not making you money not doing diddly they're just earning money and doing stuff on their own that is an entire team doing whatever they want without a coach which is just crazy right and it's very very clear and apparent that him and the ownership and the players are very clearly not pulling in the same direction and it feels important to get the idea of just what it means when a front office a team and everyone goes in the same direction and I wanted to ask you about that because we're seeing it a lot more where as soon as there's division amongst the team someone's let go usually the coach and then players are shipped out and you see it constantly and it was depicted in Moneyball um with Brad Pit when he wanted to start certain players he got them started that was the whole thing that happened with Billy Bean art how was not portrayed well in that he was not portrayed well at all but that was a moment where we it was not accurate how he was portrayed and you know it's not that Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't do a good job of you know as an actor MH but the um the portrayal of art how in Moneyball the movie mhm is not fair or accurate to Art how that he wasn't MH the antagonist yeah he was made out to be just like Jerry West in Showtime was absolutely not portrayed mhm it's it you know it's called poetic license the point though was pulling in different directions never makes things go easily if people pull in different directions it doesn't really doesn't usually signify good things for a franchise or for a college team so like what does it mean when you're all going in the same direction with the same goal same path all of it like what does that mean for a team for a program for an organization you you have to have defined roles MH and what's happening is that in some sports the general manager and the analytics Department are telling managers what lineups to use mhm no you hired that person to be the manager let him manage mhm you hired that person to be the coach whether it's a woman a man whomever let them coach mhm right they're there every day at practice MH they know who should be playing know they don't play favorites MH okay because they're their jobs on the line yeah they're not playing favorites I always love when I hear that oh playing you know H they just play their favorites like okay you know just you're not as I said years ago you know years ago the biggest surprise about the job is how little people actually know MH right and so you hear comments like that they only play favorites like like I'll never forget with Joe he's not playing the best players I'm like what are you talking about they got this five star on the bench this guy over here is like oh they playing he played these two guys like going I said do you think it practice they said you know what I think we'll do this and tie one hand behind her back because we think it would be more competitive I don't see I said or do you think they went through practice and said you know what I hate to say this but those two guys are playing better we got to play them I said do you so which conversation do you think took place yeah he's not playing the best players my you have to have defined roles general managers have to be GMS mhm and figure out ways to strengthen their team whether they're running a soccer team baseball team football team that's their job Scouts need to scout MH they need to generate information for you so that you can then make the Right Moves to have the right balance on your team MH coaches need to coach managers need to manage if you don't like the job they're doing as a coach or a manager you are more than entitled to remove them and put somebody in that you think can handle this Personnel better mhm that's fine but don't handcuff them mhm right it's not up to the coach or the manager to handcuff the general manager it's also not up to the general manager to handcuff the coach or the manager agreed right I mean that's why you have roles just like assistant coaches right have roles and need to be allowed to be the head coach of their position MH yeah and it's okay for a head coach for example to get in a meeting and even if they agree with the decision M the position coach has made to still ask questions to challenge them to make sure of the conviction of their decision that's okay yeah that's good management coaches want you the head coach wants to make sure their cist is 100% all in on what they're doing because if they believe it he'll believe it too and he'll be on board with it yeah so I mean uh um the that that to me is what how it's supposed to work MH what has happened over the last seven or eight years is that you have people usurping the role M of the guy in The Dugout MH the coach on the bench and you know all trying to get involved like just MH stay back yeah okay right here here it's fourth down and and three analytic what does analytics say mhm you go for it every time or let's just take fourth and two fourth down and two analytics says go for it every time says it but if the balls in your own 13 yard line mhm yeah no MH can't do it cost a lot of coaches a lot of jobs the past few years cuz they went with the analytics and situations like that were a guy like a Brandon Staley who got torched to Pieces by people in the press and media by players because that was what was happening is he was doing these things and everyone's like what are you doing well but here's the other part the other part though is entering the Big 10 this year is a guy that tends to do the same things Dan Lanning hey you know what Dan lanning's record is against was Washington what is it it's 0 and three people don't realize Oregon has not beaten Washington since Dan Lanning got there mhm and why would that be Steve Well no I mean number one Washington's really good but in one critical game he made a couple decisions on fourth down we like I'm not so sure I'd do that right here right now MH and I mean when I'm watching games or broadcast I'll just say from broadcasting games like Jawan Howard and Mike Woodson would call timeouts and like okay you're on a you're on a 10 two run right now mhm don't I want them to call the time out mhm I'm like what are they doing mean dick and I will look at each other like really and Woodson and and Howard are as guilty as anybody of it MH um now Joan of course is in C is in coaching yeah right now well he's probably coaching somewhere but not not in the Big 10 yeah um I I have three ownership structures I want to point out to you and see your thoughts on in terms of what category they fall in we'll start with one I think is probably the positive and the the everyone pulling in the same direction Miami Heat Pat Riley Eric spola Jimmy Butler the players they all pull in the same direction they have for years because they're all aligned they're all going the same direction and look at that they've won titles they've made finals like they are all going in the same direction at the same time becoming an Unstoppable Force right and by the way I think spoler is going to be the Olympic coach in Los Angeles I would agree he is it's going to be him and tyo as the two main guys anyway it's going to be one of the two of them the other one's going to be the assistant coach I'm fairly confident of that um because it was just announced of course Steve cerr is going to step aside um he's incredible but they all pull in the same direction I have a next one for you which is going to be again in the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves who's the owner wolf isn't it no Ziggy wolf is the Taylor's the owner Glen Taylor's the owner is he I don't know A-Rod and uh Mark Lori are they buying the team yeah but who knows anymore if that's happening they're in a court case to find out who's got it so currently car Anthony Edwards yeah Ziggy wolf owns the Vikings by the way um you got Glen Taylor own owns the t- wolves and he's still the owner I mean he's still the owner but like guess who's signing the checks I but that's the thing is now A-Rod and Lori are paying for it and there's a court battle over who the owner is because you've got Anthony Edwards Chris Finch and Tim Connelly all going the same direction but they don't know who to report to at the top do they try and make cost cutting moves and trade guys like a Carl Anthony towns that was the whole discussion is A-Rod and Mark lur wanted to trade the guys away get rid of cat save some money cuz they're way over the luxury tax right now way over that first apron i' trade cat so but that's the thing is they want to trade cat why know what he's not very good cool so you want to trade cat the problem is on a trade with a star player they've got to get the owner to sign off on it he's a big name that does not play like a star I agree but to do a trade like that you have to get the owner to kind of clear stuff like that to make sure they're okay with it and they're going to go to Glen Taylor and he's going to say no I want to keep this team together so all of a sudden the guys who are taking over as owners don't want it to happen GL tlor but the person that is currently the owner mhm okay yeah is the one that is signing the checks yeah okay so and and right now you have an ownership dispute there well okay you got an ownership dispute but who's still the owner that's who you take direction from I don't sit there and wait for a coupet t yeah to do whatever either way does not feel like there's much pull in the same direction because if you're a Tim Connelly you're like I don't know who like who am I asking for direction because apparently A-Rod and Lori were the ones who suggested to do certain things and so they started taking direction from them and then all of a sudden the contract apparently passed certain date and they got mad and Taylor got mad and now we're in this legal battle so that's happening well I mean that's you know the last one I have for you the fun one uh down in uh I believe it's named after him Jerry world uh Jerry Jones probably the most famous owner taking charge of a team um if is CD lamb GNA sign a contract I don't know maybe maybe not who has any idea I got no clue he has such a tendency to just make it about him and it honestly amazes me how good he is at it how good he is at taking char of everything and not letting anyone do anything on their own um first of all he owns it MH so it's his baby it's literally called Jerry World well it's called jury world because he built it yeah he he didn't take State money to do that he just he didn't MH just like Robert Craft Robert Craft didn't take State money to build um jillette Gillette Stadium um as opposed to other places where you're going around and around trying to get money from States and counties and local authorities um um and when so the stadium is one thing but Jerry Jones's biggest problem is not Jerry Jones the owner it's Jerry Jones the general manager m mhm and it's not about contracts okay it's not about contracts like CD lamb Dak Prescott and so forth it is about Talent acquisition and that's been his problem has been Talent acquisition yeah um you know he has been enamored with getting the star player MH instead of just getting the good player yep um and that's um to me that's that that's a big problem the GM and is as the owner is a problem let's go all the way back to the Giants Wellington Mara MH who was a great owner in the NFL in the history of the league Wellington Mara you can't say enough father of John Mara I'm guessing yeah okay um and but early on MH he made some moves with the Giants in the 60s personnel-wise because he pulled off a couple of Trades that were really good he got ya TI in a trade like wow um so then he kind of thought he could do some things well then he made some other deals that suddenly they went from a team that went to three straight NFL championship games they lost all three mhm but they went to three straight NFL championship games he made some deals including Sam Huff going to Washington and it didn't work suddenly they got old and they acquired the wrong Personnel MH well finally it did get to a point in the 70s where the to the 70s where the Mars finally hired their first GM mhm it's the same story with this same story with this is he needs to pass off the job of talent acquisition GM to somebody else because I think that's what's been holding him back it's not as if hey look did they find um diamonds in the rough such as a Dak Prescott in the fourth round sure did they make the right move in getting Micah Parson sure right I thought you know you mentioned CD lamb sure did they rebuild the offense but there's something missing with that team right and it's also a soap opera there every day uh there's something about the Cowboys very much like the Yankees where they're just a daily soap opera and I don't um I I just sit back and I say to myself you got to let somebody else a Pros Pro run the show yeah like you are sitting there with Incredible Talent at the three of the biggest positions you need it Michael Parsons is the leader of the defense incredible at pretty much everything you've got a top level quarterback a starting caliber quarterback we'll say cuz I know some people are very weird about Dak Prescott a starting caliber quarterback in he's he's a top 12 quarterback in the league he's a top talent in the league at quarterback and you've got a top talent at receiver you've also had Talent like Amari Cooper and Ezekiel Elliott and Leighton vanderash and all these guys across the defense who have been great and awesome when they've been playing Randy Gregory on the defensive end like uh what's his name Lawrence DeMar Lawrence MH Talent everywhere but what have the Cowboys not done in the past like 20 years anything anything not a single thing the Yankees in them are pretty much the same as you said as a Yankees fan I love getting great talent it's awesome to have all the talent and stuff in the world but like I would like one of these please thank you very much well first of all it's hard to get one of those the problem is Dallas is not advant ing to NFC Championship gam that's thing they're not getting close enough to even get them the Yankees the same they're not getting to the possibility of getting one yeah they're falling way short every time and look the Yankees are in the same boat look Brian cashman's been there for a long time mhm um I am not big on Aaron BU as a manager nope uh just personal opinion I agree um I'm just not and I've never been big on him as a manager and it's one of those where you would think after all this time you know it would grow on you and it's it has not no uh and that is in other words I have not changed my opinion about him at all I didn't have a you know and you know if if time goes I I'll I I've always had the ability like okay you know what you change your mind you've own up to things right I'll save like yeah you know what I didn't have that one right I've always I've always done that so when I tell you I haven't changed my mind I have not changed my mind I didn't think he was a good hire to begin with and I still don't think he's a good hire nope um and but both those teams are under the microscope and you wonder sometimes if the pressure of the media and the pressure of the fan base the worst thing you can do mhm when you're in a decision-making spot is to panic MH and I feel over time the Yankees have panicked MH and they've gone way out over their skis let's get Jun Carlos Stanton I'm like going why mhm I mean when they got him I was like what why I mean how what like yeah you have to be kidding me right and the Cowboys have been the same way they always want to do the Splashy thing mhm instead of doing the solid football thing you know what teams you know what team especially has not panicked the past few years Boston Celtics there was all these rumors should they trade Jaylen Brown should they trade Jason Tatum should they do all these things to get to the championship they said no we're going to add Drew holiday cuz we why wouldn't we want you holiday we're going to add Derek white we're going to add kristo porzingis and look what happened but Brad Stevens did it for the right reasons Brad Stevens looked at Malcolm Brockton and he said okay well he's a lot like Tatum and he's a lot like brown M he had Marcus Smart may even the point guard but he's a lot like Tatum he's a lot like brown and he said look we need need to change up and have some different components instead of having five of the same out on the court so they acquired initially Derek white former first round pick who is a guy that doesn't demand the ball MH but is a good Defender a good shooter and just plays within a team concept mhm they then made the trade withart and they get porzingis we're suddenly out of nowhere instead of having a Robert Williams Because Williams was in the Brogden trade right we're going to have this guy then go inside outside and oh and by the way we're going to keep Al Horford MH uh who in limited minutes can be a star oh and now we're going to bring in Drew holiday because Drew holiday who is pivotal in Milwaukee winning because he's a great defend Defender mhm and picks his spots offensively and they got rid of him to Portland well then the Celtics took Brogden Williams they packaged him to Portland they got holiday who's different than Marcus Smart yeah right so they changed up and they said who are the guys that it would be ridiculous for us to get rid of MH you always build around your core right now the Phillies back in the early 201s MH picked out the core of Jimmy Rollins Chase Utley Ryan Howard Roy Halliday Cliff Lee Cole hamls we're going to build around those guys mhm and you're saying well why didn't it work well it didn't work because suddenly Ryan Howard in a playoff game against the Cardinals on the last play of the series popped as Achilles mhm changed everything yeah right oh Rollins and Rollins and Lee and Halliday over this time also got old and started breaking down yeah right especially the pitchers they start breaking down mhm okay but they had the right idea just because you have the right idea doesn't mean circumstances don't enter into it some things just doesn't work the Cowboys don't identify who their core guys are mhm I mean yeah Prescott lamb Parsons but they're very scattered mhm in decisionmaking about the other spots on the team around them MH okay um the Yankees are very scattered in the decisions that they make around Aaron Judge John Carlos Stanton um Garrett Cole people like that but they're very scattered in their other decisions mhm as to what they do Gaber hor is is a player that does not fit with what they're doing he doesn't fit right okay that doesn't help their catching situation isn't great okay you know lo you know Rizzo got old got hurt mhm well now your entire infield is not as good defensively because Rizzo's not there yeah you know what team I've been I was the most happy with in terms of not giving into the pressure and not giving into the big thing taking the big swing cuz so often you hear all the talk of a team being like they need to take a big swing on a guy they need to go for it now they need to do this huge thing that was the whole thing with Jaylen Brown and uh Drew holl or Jason Tatum let's trade one of them for Kevin Durant and KD ended up going to Phoenix hasn't really worked out so far and the teams that don't make those moves like for me the Knicks they didn't make that swing people were like get Donovan Mitchell get Carl Anthony towns last summer what they not do didn't go get those two guys like last summer two years ago what they end up doing they got some dude named Jaylen Brunson on a four-year 900 whatever it was million dollar contract they ended up getting him they got Josh Hart and they built this team and all of a sudden look at that they're a really gosh darn good team who didn't make a panic move who didn't do crazy things the 2018 New Orleans Saints lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Vikings what did they not do Panic didn't freak out didn't make crazy changes they brought in players across the board in certain positions to help out with the team Demario Davis incredible when they brought him in from the Jets just an outstanding human being outstanding player all of it Ted gin Jr dude's deep threat brought him in if it weren't for a referee that team may have won a title and they didn't make a panic move didn't blow it all up for one guy they said we're going to keep the team together we're going to play around Marcus Williams Marsha ladore PJ Williams on defense Demario Davis an Salone Cameron Jordan all these guys and then get one piece here and there add a little bit add a little sauce to this spot get us another running back to help on out get Mark Ingram back all these things and look at that it works but you also have to get the right star mhm so let's start start with um with this getting the right star you mentioned Kevin Durant well there are certain people are labeled as stars Carl Anthony town is labeled as a star is he the right star no right is Harden the right star nope is Westbrook the right star no just because you label the Star by somebody yeah and then people jump on board like they're a star MH you got to be able to watch as to how they play the game and what they do in within the team concept as to whether they make like not only themselves MH but people around them better and like Tatum and brown are the right stars because they don't care who scores mhm they've never cared who scored yeah they never cared who was labeled number one mhm never all right and they were both third overall picks in the draft mhm personality enters into this and a lot of teams do a mediocre job of investigating personality now part of that is part of that is the free agent system and the free agency opened at midnight at 12:01 I signed the sign the dude well how much times you really get to know him MH you couldn't you're not allowed to yeah you know what personality in free agency at least has proven right as we discussed earlier a little bit mentioned it lightly and by the way you mentioned Brunson uhhuh I his personality is beautiful for the game have you heard of a player who turned down a hundred plus Million Dollar on any contract just because he could have taken a fiveyear 70ish million dollar contract right he said I'm good give me the 4year 156 now I don't want to sign the fiveyear Oh by the 5year 269 my bad five years 269 million said I'm okay I'll take the less money now because he would rather give the team a shot to win to resign ogan and Obi to bring in his guys Mel Bridges and divon chenzo and Har and everyone right and say I want to do it they brought in Isaiah hartenstein he even said it this offseason he was like if I have the if the the numbers were the same he would have signed with the Knicks because he wanted to right but financially they physically could not get even close to what he got offered he's the right personality Brunson right personality Hart right personality Duce McBride the right that is what doing a good job is is testing out checking on every player asking five or six guys yeah what do you think about this person asking the locker room attendant for the Mavericks hey what are your thoughts on Jaylen Brunson I want to hear your feelings on him as a person as a personality like how does he interact with everyone else like if he isn't interacting with them in a positive manner I don't want him on my team yeah he's a star and he's awesome and he's got a great personality and it works and makes me happy and it's shocking how much the Cowboys have blown up having Michael Parsons who I think we can say is a great star and a personality and all these things and they have him doesn't do anything with him they've got CD lamb a great receiver they don't want to pay him anything even though he's one of the best in the game and he's like he's fairly upset and he doesn't want to play if he's not going to get paid and Dak Prescott who doesn't really get in the media a lot he's the uh quarterback of the Cowboys of America's team he doesn't talk every day to the media he's not super out there talking to everyone constant like Aaron Rogers is he's not doing that chilling at home relaxing being Dak and for whatever reason he's an NFL Man of the Year Award winner so he's out there doing charity work too yeah he's doing great things even though the Eagles fans boot him craziness craziness across the board when you get the best players or great players in certain spots and you just can't or don't even attempt to figure it out the Spurs Victor wanyama a lot of people were calling for them to make a big trade get a Trey Young Atlanta for the last two years has said we don't want Trey young because every coach and every player has been like I don't want to play with him he sucks to play with no one likes him they didn't go trade for him because why would they I didn't like him at Oklahoma yeah somebody said oh no he had a great now I said no watch the last six weeks MH he he got off to a great start at Oklahoma the last 6 weeks he didn't play well and he kept taking the same number of shots like um no I think it's time for you to stop shooting as much mhm um look there are certain people that are great Stars MH that just play well with others Tom Brady played well with others pton Manning played well with others Sydney Crosby plays well with others you know I mean you can go on there's a long list of stars who understand the team concept of the game while also realizing that he you know I work at my talent every day MH you I talked with Jim calwell who was Payton's coach not not only as a head coach he was also before that his position coach and he just telling me how he works every day he's work work work work work right Bill O'Brien was Tom Brady's coach and Bill told me Brady just works and works and works all the time your stars have to be your hardest workers MH uh everybody will tell you you know a lot of people you know LeBron can be a polarizing figure but nobody can deny he works I mean his work ethic is outstanding Kobe Bryant the late Kobe Bryant his work ethic was off the charts Bird magic okay Michael Jordan Mariel Lemieux Wayne Gretzky mhm right it is a big plus when the best player in your organization is your hardest worker it sets the tone for everybody else MH it sets the tone for everybody else MH the reason everyone wants to go play with stars like a Giannis cuz he works harder than everyone else does it's been discussed he won a title because dude worked his keer off and in the championship game the game where you needed him to be him had and he had triple double yeah 50 point triple double no one does that he blocked the shot at the end of the game to stop the Suns from having a shot to win the game like that's what he did is he ran the length of court and did what LeBron did in that game against the Warriors M so often there's all these people being like this you know they almost got there they almost did it the star almost won the game LeBron in the fourth quarter of game seven of a season where he played 82 games and it's literally the final possible minute of the Season runs the length of the court to catch up with a guy and block a shot at the top of the backboard or bottom whatever it was yeah that is hard work it's effort all those things and it it confounds me when teams don't see a star who works hard and don't want to try and like use say him I want like we're going to make him our franchise and we're going to build around him and get everyone in this building to like get all the talent out of that kid we can but part of it is also the decision-making part right so let's take Brock pie who's a seventh round pick we all know the last pick in the draft and the whole thing why is he the last pick he's the last pick in the draft despite being a four-year starter at Iowa State MH this is where being a four-year starter at Iowa State was detrimental to him mhm because you're sitting there and you're looking at every great play he made but because he's a four-year starter you also saw all the bad plays he made as opposed to the one hit wonder MH right where the where the video is limited and you you go for fool's gold yeah right it's not a surprise I mean it's interesting because when you look at per is a seventh round pick Herz is a a second round pick MH dak's a fourth round pick Russell Wilson's a third round pick you got a lot of you know Brady was a sixth round pick it's not always the guys you take in round one MH and too often there are guys taking in round one who have limited video because you know came out early only started one year I'm going okay you ask yourself like okay and then there's the other part too I want players from winning programs so please this is not yeah right indicative of that but you know I was asked by a Chicago Bears fan today about you know fields in Chicago and the Bears just ruined people I said you know what I said sometimes it's hard for a guy that's been winning the entire time to suddenly be losing all the time MH yeah it has an effect on them it does yeah I mean look at Jason oh what no thank you for listening to sports talk with Steve Jones a seven Mountain media production come back at 11 every weekday for analysis of the latest happening in the sports landscape from college football to European soccer Steve and Kyle cover it all on Sports talk with Steve Jones [Music]