I Look Good

The

Blucifer brothers are back this week. We're breaking down the sadness that is the Broncos, re signing a kicker and releasing everyone else. And then we're getting into the happiness of the Nuggets, winning all the games. And deciding not to lose. Dan, play that funky music. We are coming to you live on a Thursday night here in snowy Colorado. Ryan, how is the weather around you? Are you buried in snow? Was it bad in your area? Up here by Dano and I, we fortunately avoided most of it. So it was all kind of an imaginary blizzard for us, which is the best kind of blizzard because you get to not go to work, but it's not really affecting. Uh, and I didn't have to shovel a lot.

Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm apartment living, so, uh, while my apartment was not shoveled, I would say till maybe 2, 3 p. m. I actually have a non disparagement clause in my lease, which I believe is illegal. Uh, but any lease, lease attorneys could get back to me on that one. And if you are, I actually would love to hear from you because I'm actively trying to get out of this, but we didn't have, uh, any shuffling responsibilities. However, we also didn't have that much snow. Like yeah, there was a preemptive cancel by a lot of these school districts And I hate to sound like an old person, but it felt weak. It did feel a little weak.

As someone who didn't have to go in to a school district. I'm thrilled. I was

gonna say I'm happy for you But I'm I'm you know, I feel a little old in the moment To be like, well, in my day, like you and I got in a car accident going to school on a day that definitely should have been a snow day. So

yeah, they just didn't want to cancel it because it was finals. And I remember it because you and I left so early. Um, and our mom actually, this is how old we were. She left us a message on our home phone that was like, Hey, I left really early. The roads are absolutely terrible. Don't come like, I will write you an excuse. Stay at home. Like do not do this, but we'd already left. She couldn't call us on a cell phone at that time. So we, uh, we didn't have those yet. So, uh, there were cell phones to be clear, but our parents hadn't purchased them, uh,

for us. I didn't get a cell phone until college. So when we were, when we were slowly turning, Oh, it HOV, I remember thinking to myself, Why am I driving to my Bible final for Mr. Homan right now? Like, what are we doing?

Yeah, it was, it was terrible. But, uh, yeah, shout out Mr. Homan. Shout out Mr. Homan. Proud listener of the podcast. Uh, but it was a busy week. In Denver sports. And of course here on the blues for brothers, we are a local sports podcast. So let's get into it, Ryan. Let's start off with the Broncos. Uh, we talked about it last week. We said goodbye to Russell. That was a joyous occasion. We had some. I don't think I took enough

joy. I honestly, I think I'd like to stop you there. The fact that that toxic MF er, I'm gonna say, because I'm trying to temper my, my emotions in the moment, you know? It's not the end of the world, but the fact that that toxic guy is off of our team I don't think that that can be understated I recognize that we're I think we're both aligned on the moves that they made after this being like a little Underwhelming and sort of frustrating but the fact that they got rid of Russell counteracts all of that In such a powerful way that I don't think they can make a mistake after that move. So I'm just here to say a weekend, you know, I've been drinking out of my Broncos mug almost every day at work today, this week, like I'm, I'm back on the train. I'm, I recognize that we're in for a long haul, but gosh, darn it. Sean and I are going to be great friends.

That's good to hear. That's good to hear. Uh, cause Sean, the cupboard is pretty empty. All right. Well, he emptied it.

He actively threw out, he was like, Oh, this shit expires in May. Yeah, it's March. I'm good. I'm all set, man. No worries. Not gonna eat

it. Yeah. Sean is doing the rarely seen, at least in my household, uh, I always, this is my dad quality, uh, around leftovers. Kesha will want to throw things out early in the week, and I'll say that's wasteful. I'll eat it. Right? I never end up eating it. Right? I never end up eating it. It's always like, a Well that's

not a bad quality then. The bad quality is when you eat it and it's not, it is actively bad. Which is what I can tell you that I do. Like Sophie will bring something home and I'm like, I know I'm going to end up eating that three days from now when I'm questioning whether it's good or not. That's, that's the difference between me doing this podcast in a closet and you doing this podcast in your office, you know, that's the difference.

We're, we're, you

know, you're loving it.

There's levels. What I'm saying is, is that the other thing that I think must be stated, if I can defend myself a bit. I agree with you. The true, like the 10 dad mode would 100 percent be saying, never throw out food in this house. And our

dad used to call himself the dump truck. Like he prided himself on being like, yeah, I'm not going to order anything. I'm literally just going to eat what other people leave behind. He was a raccoon.

Yeah. We were raised by, uh, the raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. Um,

I've never seen it, but yeah, I'll believe you. Yeah,

uh, but I will say, I, it is hard to cook for a two year old, uh, because Bodhi could eat 30 pounds worth of dinner. Or zero pounds worth of dinner. I've seen

the kid eat four pieces of pizza. I've seen the kid eat four pieces of pizza, which was more than what I ate. I was like, I was kind of going pound for pound. I'm like, this three year old is not going to eat me. And all of a sudden he does. And I'm like, well, I,

I like this. Capitalism is no joke. Yeah. When he's enthused, he's enthused. So we always make enough. under the idea that we may need to have the 30 pounds ready for our guy. And then there's sometimes where the wife will have seconds. Sometimes she doesn't. So you're really cooking for four, but sometimes you're cooking for one and a half. So sometimes I have already eaten the same meal. Three straight days, and then a new leftover comes into play, and I'm like, I'm not going back to that one. I can't do it. And, but my point of all of this, uh, digression was, Sean Payton just threw out the leftovers a little early. Um, he was like, hey, like, Justin Simmons, you're unbelievable. We're never gonna be good while you're still good. Like, here you go, buddy. Why would we pay you? Um, that was a bad move, but a necessary one, right? Like, uh,

yeah, like we've got, we let Vaughn go, you know, it's, I, listen, I am not excited by Sean Payton. I'm not going to sit here and tell you, even as a newly rejuvenated Broncos fan who hated this. Born again Broncos fan. Yeah, I'm a born again Broncos fan. I hated this team. I could not stand Russell Wilson. I am not, I can't sit here and say that I, well, stand. I'm standing, I'm at a standing desk if you couldn't tell by my voice, a super fit guy over here. Uh, but the, That's something Russell Wilson would say, which makes me want to jump off a ledge. Uh, I just don't, I don't understand how we can look at the situation and in good conscience say, I think Sean Payton's going to fix this. I don't think he is. Like, he has been a part of a organization that has been very stable and very, Arguably too stable. Like, the only Argument against what the Saints did is that they didn't go all in. They never took a real risk. They never did anything that was outside of the norm. So we have that as our basis. So anybody who's like thinking big here, you need to settle down. This team Here's my question for you, Ryan. This team is at most going to be fun. At most.

Do you think Peyton is running it? Or do you think, uh, which Payton, I guess, do you think is running it? Do you think it's George or do you think it's Sean? Because that's the part that drives me crazy. I think it was time to totally tear this down to the studs. I think you have too many players who are part of a losing culture. We're on the same page here. And you've got to go down to the studs. But I Don't trust George Payton to be the one that then, like, I think it's the worst case

scenario. I think it's the worst case scenario. It's it's that George is in charge and Sean thinks he can boss him around. It's the worst case scenario. Like, George is like, Oh, I am, I am actually in charge of this. Like, I am the general manager. I am, you know, talking to the head of Walmart and Condoleezza Rice about the

moves

that I'm making. Like, that guy feels really fucking important because that, you can't not feel important at that job. Like, of course you feel important. A

lot of stories leaked when he didn't get fired. There were some clear, where do

we think

that we're like, he's still well regarded around the league. A lot of people still believe in him and what an intelligent guy. And I'm like, cool, dude, that's awesome. That you're so intelligent. Could you use some of that intelligence on the Broncos or did you use it all for Minnesota? Like, do you have any brain cells to spare? For the Broncos, do you think, or like, when is that

genius going to come in? Nobody, including Dan, is going to like to hear this, but the Broncos are heading more towards the direction of the Rockies than they're heading towards the Nuggets. They are investing in the wrong things. They don't care about the right things. They don't even understand what they're doing is counterproductive to their overall goal. Like, that's the most frustrating part about the Rockies, is that they think that what they're doing is right, and what they're doing is counterproductive to what they say their overall goal is. And that is exactly what the Broncos are doing. They're not, like, unless they make a big trade and get one of these superstar quarterbacks, I don't think that anything they've done this offseason is worth it. Like, you can't free up all this cap room. You can't do, Justin Simmons is a, is a money move. We made a money move. Because, why? Like, the Waltons aren't broke. The salary cap in the NFL is bullshit. Like, figure it out! Don't sign Garrett Bowles! Like, Justin Simmons means something to fans, and it feels like they're unbelievably disconnected. It's Tulowitzky all over again. Like, this is the timeline that we're on. This franchise hasn't been good in almost a decade.

Yeah, no, it's uh, it's getting pretty bad out there. Um, I will say, uh, George Payton, um, is for all of his, uh, leaked media reports about being a genius. Um, I have watched him get outmaneuvered by a guy I watched, uh, get multiple concussions. Uh, in his late thirties in John Lynch, um, like I just watched him get brain damage, uh, here for the Broncos, and that's not even talking about the Bucs. Like it's not good, but I do wanna go through, so Simmons, I agree with you. Um, and maybe Simmons indicated like, Hey, I want to go try to win a Super Bowl. In which case I think it's the right thing. But I think that would've gotten leaked. I think that would've gotten

leaked that in, if you're not, if you wrong, if you're not leaking, that you're not doing your job. That's the overall point. That's the overall point. That's the Rocky's problem. That's a Rockies maneuver where like, okay, TULO doesn't want to sign. It's not like TULO is requesting a trade. It's like the Rockies are shopping TULO. Go look smart, do something smart. Like I am willing to be hired by them, but do something smart.

Cause otherwise you're right. The, you do what every other smart team does and you go, Hey Simmons, uh, are you okay with restructuring your contract with 50 percent of it as a signing bonus? That doesn't count against the cap like Travis Kelsey did like or Patrick Mahomes Yeah, like you just restructure it so that it's not

signing bonus and it's signing bonus. What is the point of the walmart franchise owning like this is my biggest frustration and i'm not going to stop on this like blueprint for brothers listeners buckle in because your boy's back And I'm not going to stop. The Walmart franchise should be taking advantage of the signing bonus over and over and over and over again. We should be getting every superstar with a 100, 000, 000, 000 signing bonus in a minimal fucking year. Salary. This is the cheat code to the NFL. It's the only ownership that truly is liquid. Like, let's go. If you're really that rich and you're really interested in making a franchise really good, invest. You're nobody has ever you name another time anybody has ever lost money Investing in a professional sports franchise. I have an MBA. I will wait like You could you could send it to me. I would love to look at it I it's not it doesn't exist because these are there in the ether You're about to sell the rights again to the, to Sunday Ticket. Like, this is just fake money. You are literally throwing fake money at an investment to make money. So do it. Don't be pussies. Do it.

I kind of liked, uh, cushion Barry. I know he had, he was graded out high, but that guy absolutely sucked for every other year. And this has, Hey, you had a contract year coming up, written all over it. Um, we have a good offensive line coach. Um, that's one of the benefits of Peyton is he brought in a good line coach with him. Um, so I think that we're in a good spot there. Um, so I, I agree with not paying him and, uh, I also cannot express the joy. Uh, it's not quite the joy you felt with Russell Wilson leaving, but not having to watch, uh, the villains. Uh, in Remember the Titans of Josie Jewell and Alex Singleton together. A.

K. A. the Milkchick Brothers. I just want to remember the Titans

too. Austin Eckler. Like, is, brings me a joy that I'll

never know. Is the one kid before he, before they go to camp, the kid that gets paralyzed, what's his fucking name?

Oh no, it's the guy, no, no, no, Josie Jewell's the one who quits the team. Oh, Oh, he is absolutely that guy. I understand he was on offense and he wasn't going to block, but it's that. Um, or he's the guy that the guy got kicked out of the hall of fame for defending his player against. Um, where the guy kicked him in the helmet on the way out, there was no penalty.

Unbelievable. Yeah, it's Josie Jewel's the

end of the day. You went to a perfect conference, by the way. This is how you know he's a classic smart guy. He said, Hey, where are all the terrible quarterbacks, . They probably can't even complete a pass to a running back. This will be great. Unbelievable out there. The NFC South baby, like give me baker. Give me freaking, uh, the, the hobbit that, that went number one over there, uh, in Bryce Young. And then you've got Kirk Cousins who might put up numbers, but you're probably going to win. I

do think he's side with the Panthers. So he's, Oh,

you're right. You're right. You're right. Uh, so he can

intercept Bryce Young, except in practice, which will be a nightmare

for Bryce. Yeah, no, you talk about a confidence builder. He's going to be like, dude, that running back was wide open, but it did hit our nose tackle in the helmet again. So we'll never know if he would have caught it. You know, he's going to be like, I could have caught up to it. And everyone's

going to be like, the tape is going to be unbelievable. The tape will be really good from practice. Yeah. Uh,

Kaywan Williams don't care. Chris Mannertz don't care. And Jonathan Hanners don't care.

Now, let's get to the big news. There was no talent on the team, Kyle. No, no, no. This is the thing that people in Denver don't understand. And I'm here to tell you, as a recent convert, your team sucked. They were fucking awful. They were, there was no good part of it. There wasn't a wide receiver core. There wasn't an offensive line. There wasn't a defensive line. There wasn't. A lineback in core and there was only one cornerback, and his name is Tank and One Safety. And we released our safety and we released it.? Yeah, . So we didn't even get anything for him. So the the like, why would you, the cupboard is bare, so there's nothing, could not be more there, there's nothing there. The infrastructure is shit and everybody's like. That you should trade up to get drake may i'm like drake may might be good What happens if he's good? We're gonna ruin a quarterback. I don't want to that's what

I was gonna say I don't want to Yeah, we're at the stage of our franchise where we were so dysfunctional and there's such a lack of talent that it would be honestly hard to evaluate a rookie quarterback because you'd be like, well, it's like, it's like Bryce Young where you're like, well, there was no good players for him to throw it to. Yes, he looked very short and bad, but also their offensive line sucks. There's no weapons that you fear. Like it couldn't be a worse situation. Uh, I do want to get your Jerry Judy takes here. Um, as a new convert. So the Broncos, they traded him to Cleveland. Uh, they Got rid of 13 million in salary. They got a fifth and a sixth round pick in exchange. Um, do we think that Jerry is going to come back to haunt the Broncos or do we think he's, um, going to, uh, be a little continue to just be a tantalizing talent, but not. necessarily productive.

I think he and Deshaun Watson deserve each other. Yeah, I think that's all I will say. I think they are both, uh, great talents that I would absolutely rather not root for. So go ahead. I

think it's very telling by the way that, uh, the comparison I was going to make, Jerry, Judy did it in a press conference. Um, and Bones Highland did it in an Instagram post, but they both said, I feel wanted here. I, how wanted do you feel in the Clippers? Judy, how wanted are you going to feel when it's like, Hey, we're throwing to Njoku and Cooper. Those guys are always actually open and good. You drop it and have stone hands. I think this was a good move. I think this was addition by subtraction. And to your point, We have so many holes that we need about a hundred draft picks, which is unrealistic. Like we need the Oklahoma cities. Thunders amount of draft picks and we, that's impossible. But so like getting more swings at the Apple is good because like you said, we need linebackers. We need cornerbacks. We need a quarterback. We need wide receivers. Like we restructured Tim Patrick and everyone was like, Oh dope. We get to keep Tim Patrick. That guy's coming off of two major knee injuries and he's in his thirties. What are the chances that goes well? And if it does, it's probably a two year injury and we're not even going to see it and this will release him and the second year he'll be good somewhere else.

I think the thing that

finishing your Rockies point will be a farm system and Tim Patrick will go be good somewhere else.

Well, I think the thing that people do underestimate is that. Yeah, I've been on really talented teams, like extremely talented teams that have not performed because they didn't like each other. Like the key factors in the team didn't like each other. And if you have Jerry Judy, who is undeniably a talent, Like, nobody on a football field is going to watch Jerry Judy in practice and be like, that guy's not good at football. Nobody's going to say that. And there's going to be some portion of the locker room that is saying, hey, Jerry Judy should get more targets. And that is kind of, It's insurmountable to a certain extent when he hasn't proven that he can perform at a level that you need to feed him the targets that he thinks he should get, and those people in practice think he should get, and that sector of the locker room thinks he should get. Like, it's kind of why I think Zeke Najee is bad for the Nuggets. Like, I don't know. I'm not sure that we could give him the amount of minutes that he actually deserves and It creates sort of a tension and so I understand it Uh, but I don't like it either like it's talent You're good. You're getting rid of talent And I have some rookie cards that are now much less valuable because he's wearing a fucking broncos jersey instead of a brown jersey So yeah, i'm disappointed

Yeah, I mean, I think also like all of these moves have to be seen in the vacuum of we are a traditionally successful franchise and most people our age are not used to the Broncos sucking. Um, and these are all moves that. We were calling for last year at the trade deadline, where we said, bottom out, you are not as good as you think you are bottom out. Um, we want draft picks. We want to be in the sweepstakes for Caleb Williams. We want those changing things. The most wild thing that you can do to catapult yourself into contention immediately is you draft a rookie quarterback is unbelievable. You hit on that and you have. A top 10 quarterback with bottom 10 quarterback money. And so the rest of your roster becomes unbelievable around them. Obviously the bill comes due and you've seen that with the chargers. Um, now they're having to release talent because the Dustin Herbert money is coming due. You saw it with the chiefs. Even they had to, they didn't get to have all the high powered tools. Um, That they wanted because, and they've had, they have to take swings on guys. Like they have Stonehands Tony out there. Uh, because he's a tantalizing talent. Like they

both can't catch. They've won super bowls with honestly underdeveloped talent at the skill positions because Patrick Mahomes is so good. Like there are certain positions in the, um, In the NFL that you can sort of like over exaggerate for and you can Yeah, absolutely And honestly like jokic is that for the nuggets right now? You cannot you can't he is mahomes. You can't Scheme for him. You can't do anything. You just have to assume that they're going to do something Unbelievable and you have to do something Equally or better than that to beat them and it's not fair, but it is the way that it is and Honestly as Broncos fans We just have to accept the fact that Patrick moms is gonna be in the division for the next 10 years So it's kind of over, like, I'm not anticipating the Broncos winning an AFC championship outside of like a random fluke year where everything hits right. Like the Brock Osweiler, Peyton Manning, Superbowl, like that was an unbelievable year, but everything broke, right. That is what they're going to need. To compete with that Patrick Mahomes level of team. And that's in the division. Like it's not that it's some random AFC team that I'm pulling out of nowhere. We play them a lot. So it's twice a year to me. It's over.

I, and so I, I think that this is an honest assessment. And I wonder if this was part of the feedback that Peyton got, it was, Hey, you can keep your job, but we're rebuilding. Like we've seen this and there's not enough disguises out there. Also, we can't forget all of the leaked reports and all of the Peyton flirty interviews, uh, at the Superbowl week of he love, he wants to go big in this draft. So you can't analyze this off season without seeing a draft. I don't, I don't see a path to anything besides Justin Fields. Which I think we're kind of Justin Fields guys on this podcast in terms of we feel like that's at least exciting But it's a watchable. I totally get it. It's not a watchable

product next year You're gonna be excited and you're gonna be disappointed by Justin Fields. I want to ask you

though I want to ask you I'm not, his mobility covers up for a lot of talent flaws. I think. I

think the, which is what you mean the, the recap of this conversation is that I have sort of come around to your point of view on from last week week's po. Where you were like, I don't actually think we have to take a quarterback in this draft, which I can't believe that I'm saying that we might not have to, but if you had to stay at 12, what are you doing?

Like, are you, I'm getting that cornerback from Alabama. That's what I want. I'm the quarterback from Alabama. We, we just went through our roster and there is, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No he's.

So we could play Sertain in this slot, and then

this guy on the outside. It would be, it would be, remember when the Jaguars had Bouye and, um, Oh, the guy who won the Super Bowl with the Rams. Ramsey. I don't know why. Ramsey. It's like when they had those two guys, and with freaking Bortles, they almost beat the Patriots. Yeah. And they were talking wild stuff. It's like that. Where you're just like, this is pretty tough

to go up against. That has the Alabama connection. So he's not going to be upset about

it. Yeah, no, no, no, no. He'd be pumped about it. Um, but I'll

do, I'll do more research. You know, that I was in on Certain. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I've made, I've got, you want to talk about rookie cards that I'm more invested in. I've got a lot of Certain rookie cards and I've got a Jersey.

He's unreal. And, um, yeah, I think that that's, uh, I think you have too many holes on your roster to swing at 12. You can swing in later rounds. And I talked about that last week on the pod, but you've got to get talent. In this room, because like you said, the cupboard's bare. Like, we are, we are talking about our signings right now. We signed a fullback, Troutman, and we re signed Will Lutz, Ryan. Yeah, I know. To a two year effing deal. What are we doing? Hey, hey, he's vital to the locker room. Like, we've got Roach. Like, we're just reciting old saints. It

feels like we're not actually trying to get better. It feels like we're trying to sound competency. And that's a different thing, right? Like, we have to be prepared to watch a competent but bad football team for the next five years. It's going to be tough. I'm not looking forward to it. I wish, I wish Russ was still here. So I could still cheer for the dolphins.

Uh, yeah, no, I don't, uh, I'm not super pumped about, um, the team, but I will say I could, I could enjoy my Sundays if we get Justin Fields. I think that's a, a path to it being a bad team, but a,

I'm so happy that we're on the same page here. What do, do you think, what do you think the odds of that are? Because they don't feel that good to

me. Well, so the market's kind of drying up. The market's kind of drying up. Like you're, you're getting less and less out there with now the Falcons are out, right? Like they have Kirk. Um, you have. Um, obviously Seattle staying with Gino. Um, like,

yeah,

like there's not as many teams as you would think are out there. Like maybe the Raiders, but like, why did the Raiders? You know, like

that's kind of more like the trade up candidate to me than the Broncos even do. So I don't know. It's just, it's, it's hard for me to honestly process because I've been calling this since August of last year saying that we should get Justin Fields. So if it actually happens, Dan, we're going to have to find some clips. Like, I mean, this is. This might be the all time call here if I, uh, if I get this right. And

it's a way for us to be excited about it. Right? Like, I think it's just a good, like, if you're Walmart, if you're Walmart and you're a business guy, you just say, Hey, we're going to suck, but this is a way to be fun and suck. Like, and all we want, you might. What if you hit. And you're like, Oh, we have our quarterback. Now we can start drafting wide receivers. We can start drafting. We don't have to draft quarterback ever, but we're still going to have a top 10 pick, but you know what I mean? Um, because the rest of the team is so bad. You

have to draft a

quarterback, but, well, but I'm saying what if fields and Peyton turn it on? Like there's a world in which. fields has not been with Kyle, the, the most ingenious

love language.

Yeah. Like he's not been with the most ingenious play callers out there. Say it's there's a world in which say

deeper.

Yeah. Um, when we've gotten to this point in the podcast, I think it's good to transition. Um, so Did you have any other Broncos thoughts? Um, I feel like We can't fully analyze this until draft free and free agency Is officially done.

I still think I the last thing I would say I guess is that like I still hope that they take a swing on quarterback in the draft I'm not swaying from that position. I know we disagree, but like I want them to try to trade up and try to get Drake may try to get one of these guys I want, I want

a guy

and. But if we can't, I, you know, that I love Justin Fields, you know, that I love that opportunity. And I do think that's the best value. So

to me, Fields is better than I think fields has the potential to be better than anyone in this draft, but Caleb Williams. And so if you're not getting Caleb Williams, You're not going to get it on the limbs. I think if you don't believe in Justin Fields, then you sit on it. And then, you know, we're in Ryan, we're in the Shadour sweepstakes, baby. Bring Shadour home. Uh, I don't actually believe that, but you know, that's going to be all of it. Uh, or we draft the Alabama corner. Then we draft Travis Hunter and we just say in a world of throwing, you can't throw on us. We have Travis Hunter.

Unfortunately, uh, Patrick Mahomes can throw on anybody, so we're gonna have to be able to score 14 points, which has been a struggle. It's been a struggle. We haven't been able to score 14 points very much,

so. That's where we put Travis on offense. Oh, but that's the Broncos. Let's get to a more positive topic. Uh, the Denver Nuggets, um, the Denver Nuggets are back in the one seed. Um, they are absolutely on fire. They just, uh, swept the heat. Um, in a game that was just kind of like the finals, right? Like, and very similar to the first game. The Nuggets came out in the first quarter, looked like they were going to absolutely run away with the game. And then because they're the Nuggets, they messed around and, uh, let it stay close. Uh, and then in the, uh, in the third quarter, it looked like maybe they were going to pee down their leg a little bit. And they ended up up one. The bench, uh, shout out Christian Braun and Peyton Watson. Um, there's something about, uh, Uh, Miami, uh, there was a video in which it appears that, listen, I'm inspiring him, Ryan. We're getting back to our roots. It's playoff time, Ryan. I can't be calling him by his real name. Uh, what do you think inspired him last time in Miami? Uh, also there was that video where it did appear that Shakira was waving to him. Uh, so shout out her.

Shakira,

Shakira. Yeah. That would be a good thing for his swag. I'll tell you that. All I can

tell you is that if Shakira is listening, which we know she does listen from time to time, my ears also

don't lie. When you're right, you're right. Uh, but. The Nuggets are kind of looking unreal right now. Um, they have lost one game in overtime that they lost because Durant hit an amazing three over Aaron Gordon. What was

the game that I texted to you guys? Was that the It was that Kings, I think it was Celtics Kings, we played back to back at home, something like that. Yeah, and no Fox for the Kings, but yeah. Yeah, in the first half of that Celtics game, I think I texted the group of people that we have season tickets with and I said, we're winning the championship. Like, this is the most confident I've felt in a Nuggets team since last playoffs. I, I don't think that they're, barring injury, knocking on wood. Like, I don't think that there's a scenario in which some team can beat them, can solve this in seven games. That's, that's what I keep coming back to. On a, on a game to game basis, sure, you might be able to catch Jokic on an off night, you might be able to catch, you're gonna have to catch two people on an off night. You're gonna have to either catch Jokic and Murray, or Murray and Porter, or some combination of the three, in order to win games, and that just doesn't happen very much anymore, because these people have been through, I mean, we've been watching them in season tickets for five years. Take these scars and they just don't get rattled. So it's very difficult to envision a scenario in which they get beat. So I think I'm the most confident I've ever been in a Nuggets team. And it's a scary place to be in just like it was last year when I was saying the same stuff, you know, two months from now during the playoffs when I thought we would win it's, but it feels like

that. Yeah, the biggest development to be has been, um, obviously like Porter has really looked good. Um, obviously he messed up Miami and then he was kind of like, he's like, did you see how open those streets were? Like, I took him, there were times where like Miami was like, well, we're going to double down. Like they were trapping Jamal with two and then Jokic just flashed across. Yeah. For the backbreaking three. So of course you're sinking down on yoga and it was one pass offense. And Porter was like, I mean, sure. Like I will shoot a lot

over three. He's sometimes now he takes a dribble. Yeah, that is the ultimate, just sort of F you to the defense where he is literally taking a dribble and sidestepping because it makes him feel more comfortable. Like His performance, I, I bet on him over four and a half threes before the last game, and he hit three in the first quarter. And I was like, I've never felt more confident in something. Whereas, you know, in years past, he would fade in the second half. He was the first half.

You'd

see his, that, that live line and see exactly the opposite. And that's the most dangerous part. And. We did not have that last year. I don't think we would have said this this time last year about Michael Porter Jr. So that is this very scary prospect for the entire rest of the NBA.

I also think, uh, the other thing that I really wanted to highlight about this Nuggets team, um, is there was a, uh, I don't know, study, just, I guess study would be the word, But they observed, um, some of the teams that are most successful are teams that just have the most physical contact with one of them. So they keep track of it. Like how many high fives, how many stuff. And Malone talked about it after the heat game of Murray and those guys saying like, Hey, Christian and Reggie are rocking. Let them have their moment. Like we're good. Let you know, we don't need to go back in just cause it's our time. They're cooking. Let them cook. Um, and I think that the Porter Jokic. I can't remember the last time I saw Jokic. Just like, he didn't actually F bomb Porter, uh, when he would turn around and walk up the floor. But it was as close to a non verbal F U as you could

get. You know that I love you. No, you know that I love this. This is actually the thing. If you've been a long term listener to the pod, you have heard me bring up this exact dynamic. Because I felt like early in Porter's career, Jokic didn't like playing with him. Which is a death nail. It's a death knell to your career in Denver. Like you can't be as talented as Michael Porter jr is and have somebody have the best player on the team, not want to play with you. That's just not going to work out. And it put the nuggets in a difficult position because obviously Michael Porter jr is one of the best players on the team and. He wasn't able to fit in. The last two and a half years of his career have been, like, a complete 180. He's a way more dynamic player. He's figured out how to play off the pick and roll. He has that like stop and pop. He has the sidestep three. He has the cutting off of the weak side even when AG is in that dunker spot. Like there are so many things that Michael Porter Jr. does on a night to night basis that he never would have done. In that type of scenario. So I think it's, it's a great point by you in that, like, there are so many.

The connection I think is stronger with this year's team, even than it was last year, which is a weird thing to say. But, I feel like there's that, and you saw it, Jokic is starting to go, Okay, in those minutes where Murray comes out early, and we take him out, you know, about the six minute mark, and then we try to survive. Um, or if it's probably not six, it's more like five now that we're trying to win games. Um, but it was six in some of those early ones. Um, but we don't take Porter out as early, right? We stagger those two. And now you're starting to see Jokic go, Okay, I'm gonna go to Porter's wing. And whether that's me posting up or whether that's me there and he gets him some shots and he gets him going. And it's now the trust is there for him to do that rather than before. It would be like, why are you playing through Christian?

Like, he's fun,

but Michael Porter's over there, like, let's get threes that are wide open from the best three point shooter. Let's do that. Like, it felt like it was a thing, like you said, that they didn't enjoy playing with each other, all that stuff. And they both made adjustments and they both done that. And now, Yeah. Yeah. It makes those minutes all the more dangerous because then you come back and you don't lose the Murray minutes and now Murray's coming back and he's fully loaded and he's starting to hit some of those shots. He's looking even better and it's a, uh, it's a problem, Ryan, for the NBA. And the other thing that I wanted to shout out, you mentioned him last podcast, um, as maybe turning it around. And I wasn't as bullish, I guess on him,

but I don't think Christian, I mean, I'm not, I, I'm all here to, you know, Hype up my podcast host, but I think you were less than bullish. You were a little down

on my boy. I said he was about the save. You were like, my boy.

You in my boy.

Listen, this is how I feel. Um, but

no, CB boy CB has played a lot better, and I think I brought it up weeks ago. I mean, he was dealing with that calf injury at the beginning of the year, and I told you, I mean. That stuff just lingers. And I think he is finally rounding into form and he is not. So this is actually, it's a good segue because we didn't talk about this pre podcast, but I did actually watch, um, one of those heat games, um, from the finals last year in Miami. And it happened to be the, it was just on NBA TV. And I just, I was like, I I'm automatically in on this. So I, I've ended up watching it and I, the biggest takeaway to me was that Christian Brown was unbelievable in that game. I think he had like 20 points. It was the game that he went off,

right? Yeah. It was the one where Jokic got in foul trouble and him and Bruce Brown just won us the game.

Yeah. Only the only thing that he did was pass the ball and cut. Like he was

doing nothing. And then in transition he was downhill,

but, but there was nothing in his game where I wasn't like, oh, he's just regressed in this. It was just, he was doing a better job of finishing at the, he looked. Different like that. Yeah. It's just like, I think the guy was hurt is hurt. And I think he is finally finding his form. And I think we are really dangerous team when Peyton Watson and Christian Brown are coming off the bench and playing well, because Peyton Watson is playing. I mean, we're, I, I said, you know, you could go back six weeks ago. I said that I thought that, you know, Um, uh, Justin holiday should be taking a Peyton Watson, Watson's minutes. That's essentially what I was applying with my, with my rhetoric. And I could not disagree with myself more, but Justin Watson is getting minutes and he should, or Justin holiday is getting minutes because he should, he's playing really well, so I think that we're,

and I would trust Justin holiday. I would trust him to come in in the Suns and say, all right, dude, you got Beal go chase him around You know what? I mean? Like we need you to buy he's perfect. He is

honestly perfect. He is a great playoff player he's and and Maloney's Maloney's Puppeteering this team, like I know the coach of the year goes to just whoever makes

the biggest. I wanted to talk about this on the podcast. I saw it. Shout out D line code today where he was like, Hey, we have no other all stars. We've never had anyone selected besides the Augustinian All NBA teams. We're the number one seed. We're the defending champs. Why is Mike Malone not coach of the year? No, no, no. I called Mike last year. It worked for us then. Ryan, I'm going back. We can't afford to do anything. Well, I don't think Michael is going to like that very much. He can be offended all he wants. But,

Well, Michael, listen. It motivated him. I will.

He was a little orner, ornery last playoffs and I liked it. I gotta get back to

that. Mike. I will call you Michael, and Kyle could call you Mike, which you did, and then we can, we can meet in the middle here. But no, I, I, I didn't know that he had said that. I didn't see that, but I completely agree with him. I mean, it's, it's honestly like at a certain point, Jokic gets too much credit and I think it's hurt Jamal and it's probably hurt Michael. So, and I mean that Porter Jr and Malone, like it hurts everybody on the team.

Well, so here's my thing though. So today on the TNT podcast, we've had national guys. We've had Stephen A. Smith going in on Tatum, is the MVP. We've had Shaq saying Shay, is the MVP. Uh, we've had, you know, like, all this stuff, right? So, okay, either One of these things has to be true, okay? Either the all star game voting is meaningless, and Gordon and Pope should be on all defensive teams. Jamal Murray should be, uh, he won't be eligible because of the 20 minute rule. Um, for 65 games played, he sat out with some injuries where he he'll play enough games, uh, to meet the requirement, but not the 20 minute requirement, but like either he should get recognition, Gordon, somebody. Or, Michael Malone is a diabolical genius, and he has Jokic in a bunch of crap, and he throws it all together because he's Spolster and Popovich combined. Like, you have to give someone credit. Like, either Jokic is an all time great, Or, and I don't mean like all time great, like, oh yeah, he'll be in the Hall of Fame. He'll already be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, even Tim Duncan, who people say is the greatest power forward of all time, has Manu and Tony Parker in the Hall of Fame. Right now, it will be hard to put Jamal Murray in the Hall of Fame because he has zero All Star appearances

or All NBA. He's not getting there. If, if his career ended tomorrow, he would not be a Hall of Fame player. Right,

so I hope, you know, with the championships and that, sometimes that stuff comes later in the career and that's a stupid way to do it because there's people like Nick Wright who go, you have to show me and then you win the awards. It's like, no, no, no, why don't you just give the awards to the people who actually play the best? I just, the Michael Malone and we've had throughout the podcast and throughout our years, we've had our issues with Michael Malone. He's coached his ass off this year. He has played it perfect. He hasn't gone, he didn't lose his mind at the all star break, which you know, he wanted to. You know when they looked like crap and gave no effort into the all star break, you know Michael Malone was itching to call everyone a not nice word. I'm going to

interrupt. I'm going to interrupt. You know what I mean? I'm going to interrupt. I'm going to interrupt. Hold on. I'm going to interrupt. He definitely did. Well, but I mean, we just didn't, we just didn't hear about it, which is the, that is the evolution of a coach, which I think is your overall point. And I get it. Like somebody should be recognized, but I think as Denver fans, again, like I'm just going to come in here and be the realist, like we're never going to get that recognition. And honestly, I don't give a shit. It does not matter to me, and do you know why? Like, if Jokic really cared about the award, right? And he was, it wasn't even like he was advocating for it, but he really thought that it defined his legacy in some way. I would, I would be advocating for him. As hard as anybody in the media space, whatever that means, you know, like, because he's the best player in the NBA. He is the most valuable player in the NBA. I think Shea Gilchrist Alexander is amazing and might be better for the NBA to vote MVP, like just in terms of the long term prospects of the game. Like, sure. Whatever, if you want to put give SGA the MVP, that's fine. But what I'm saying is that you can't deny that this guy is the best player in the NBA. I don't care how you define most valuable player, but there is one best player, and it's Nikoli Jokic. And he gives you an advantage, which is why I've been saying we should bet on him to win the division. I'm saying we should bet on him to win the MVP. Like, all of these things are baked into him just being better than everybody else, despite what a voter might think, right? Like, you have to differentiate between a voter and what you watch every night as a basketball fan.

Yeah, I just think, I guess, I am, I agree with you. In terms of I am over, um, you will have noticed, uh, on, on my, um, social media. I I've engaged zero with the MVP discussion. I'm not engaging with anyone about it. I don't care. Um, Yogic doesn't care. Yogic's legacy is secure. And I agree with you that I think that most people who will actually watch basketball agrees the best player in the game right now, and it's not. Like when you see player rankings, there's not a lot of dispute around that. And so, like, MVP, whatever, it's like,

it's like, there were, well, I think, I think we do have to soak in this moment a little bit, like, I don't want to just pass over it because I think that it matters that Jokic matters in the, in the general discourse of the NBA. Right, because I think there's a lot of, uh, you know, fluff to the NBA media where it's like, oh, it's really highlight based culture that Jokic does not play into, but I think he's actually grown in popularity in a way that is admirable to the NBA and that they have done a decent job in making him like,

Oh, for sure, but I'm just people in his own way. I guess. Yeah. I'm just talking about awards now. Cause that's kind of where we started from. And so I'm kind of fine with Nikola Jokic. Um, I totally understand that over the next few years, similar to, um, and this is not an invitation to say he is them, but similar to Jordan, similar to LeBron. Um, similar to those guys. Like technically they should have won MVP every year for, you know, six to eight years, but there's voter fatigue. There's new guy on the block. Kind of what you're talking about with SGA, right? Like, Hey, we were tired of voting for the sink. Um, but to me, the part that I am getting a little bit more passionate about is the rest of their nuggets. And the rest of this culture getting its due, as far as, like, even Zach Lowe, who's a smart guy and I respect him, he talked about, like, Oh, I have a hard time due to his size putting KCP

on my all defensive team. Give me a fucking break. For one, he locked,

he locked Jason Tatum's ass up!

He wasn't too smart for that!

He's locked Steph Curry up. I love this. He's locked Devin Booker up. Like, give this man his props. A.

G. They call him first team in the locker room. They call him first team in the locker room.

Like, I understand that Jamal Murray is inconsistent and that the guards in the west are wild. I'm not delusional on that. And I do think that The fact that there are games where Jamal Murray will not play well, should matter.

When I make my all NBA team, I, I don't, well,

there needs to be

recognition. When I make my all NBA team, I don't put Jamal Murray on it. Like, no, I wish I could. I wish I could. I just don't like it. The, the guards are too good. They're unbelievable in the west. So it's, it's hard for him. And I recognize that, like, that is very difficult. Do you know what solves that wound better than anything? Another fucking championship ring. And I think that is, I think that's what Jamal Murray is after. And I don't think he cares about, like, he is very much like Jokic. He does not care about this stuff. Like he, he cares, I think, more than Jokic does. And he'll never admit it. But he does have this like UFC sort of like Zen attitude towards like, it

is what it is, it is what it is. Like, he's like, Murray's like, okay, he's like, he doesn't care about the other stuff. So I do think that and but I'm just and I think Murray gets the recognition because he does show out in big games and he has had huge playoffs in the bubble, like in the general NBA discourse. style of things. Like he does get the recognition. It's the, but this is not the nuggets team of Fakou Compasso and those guys that Jokic dragged to 50 wins. Like, this is not that. Like it's not close to that. These are very good players who would be very, very good. And if we offered The Lakers, KCP for Austin Reeves. They would say yes in 0. 5 seconds.

It's it's, it's why I told you that we should be betting on the nuggets at plus two 25 to win the division. Like this

is, I didn't know Towns was going to tear his meniscus,

but yeah. You think Towns was the reason that Minnesota was going to finish ahead of I think Towns. Oh, Kyle, Carl Anthony Towns. No, no, no. Talmadge makes the matchup a lot more difficult

for us. He talks about it. They're the most difficult matchup because, not because they can stop Jokic, but because you double with size. We're

not talking about head to head. We're talking about whether they're going to finish ahead of them in the, Well, but

we'd play them three more times is what I'm saying. So I'm saying if they would've gone two and one, they'd be three, one in the season series and we'd be in trouble. Cause just to

be a hundred percent clear with all of the audience, I did cash out my bet for double the amount that I put in. I just, I cashed it straight out. I'm not, I'm not gonna. Be worried about that. So did see you just a big shot there. Kyle,

uh, see you. Yeah. Uh, but, uh, yeah, so I do think that there's a general lack of respect for the. Like people just gloss over the nuggets and they go, I mean, this is just a well built team, but like, I go back to like Chris Finch after we knocked the Timberwolves out of the playoffs, Chris Finch goes on a monologue and I forget who, who was on, so forgive me, I can't give him credit, but he's like, well, like you have Jokic, he's like, so you try to go big, He's like, but then you gotta chase Porter around, so that's a problem. He's like, and so then Jokic just pulls your Rim Protector outside and goes and sets picks, and now you gotta chase all these shooters around. He's like, plus you got all the other sides inside, so it's not like Jokic needs to Rim Protect. He can play at the level, which his hands are unbelievable, and he's finally starting to get more credit for that. Like, this isn't the You can't just gloss over and say roster construction. You need to say these guys are good NBA players and they would be good in any context. Yes. Yo kitch elevates them to great, but it's not like Aaron Gordon was a bum. Like Aaron Gordon was good. I'm actually, I'm actually going to Orlando made the playoffs with a lack of talent, with Aaron Gordon as their

best player. I have never vehemently disagreed with you more. I think all of these Nuggets players are trash, and nobody should want to sign them. Nobody should ever want to sign them. And I can't believe that you would give Aaron Gordon this much credit. I mean, he has not been unbelievable in the dunker spot. He definitely hasn't shot like 99 percent from that unrestricted area down there where Jokic just finds him. Honestly, the KCP thing from 3 has been just, I mean, what are we talking about? I mean, it's been a little inconsistent during the regular season. I mean, I don't know. I don't know whether I feel comfortable with that or not. And then, you know, if I could, honestly, though, I mean, the guy is listen to his podcast. I mean, he's the best player in the NBA. He's been getting up those shots. I mean, Um, but no, I think, I think that the, this Nuggets roster construction is actually, it's not better than last year. Like it's, it's hard to compare the two. It's what you had to do. It's what you had to do. With the money this week, Nathan. You couldn't offer Bruce Brown 15 million dollars and then trade his ass. For sure you couldn't do the latter of those two. Like, Indiana was just like, oh yeah, let's drop a bag and then get rid of him in this deal to Toronto. Honestly, I kind of wish Toronto would buy him out just so we could pick him back up again. No, it's I just What two nuggets fans want you want a more dynamic rookie and a more dynamic sophomore? Then Peyton Watson and Christian Brown, like I was standing six feet away from, uh, what's the GM's name? Uh, Booth. Yeah. Calvin Booth. I was standing six feet away. I sent you guys a picture and I wanted to, I like, I was watching Yo Kitsch warm up. And I was more starstruck by Calvin Booth than I was by Jokin. Because I just wanted to shake his hand and be like, Listen man, I really appreciate what you've done with this team. Like, you can't, you can't have asked for anything more. You really can't. So, thank you Calvin. Yep.

No, agreed. Um, we've gone. We've got over an hour, so I don't want to keep the people. We could keep going. Um, but there's more nuggets basketball to be had. Um, also shout out McKinnon in the apps. They're also first in the division. They're crushing. Uh, we could have, uh, two MVPs here. So, uh, enjoy this before the Rocky season starts. Um, and then we're go straight from that sadness, right into the Rockies of football. I enjoy this happiness. I

am dedicated. I am dedicated to shitting on the, uh, Rockies until they get better.

Yeah, I think that's right. I'm going to

make that my mission. We're recor we're recording every week. During the summer through the Paris Olympics, which could get a little hairy for your guy in terms of Gambling advice. I might have to be feeding Kyle's pics. So We'll be producing content throughout the entire summer. So that's a very exciting prospect for all of you and Kyle what else you got to

say? I got nothing. Uh, what is

behind you? You Is that R2 D2 in a box or what's going on over your left shoulder there? What's going on?

Uh, it's an Amazon box, uh, that is open and I don't know, uh, there's some shoes behind me as well, uh, for our listeners, but, uh, when we've gotten to the point where we're discussing Amazon boxes and the shoes over my left shoulder, we know it's time to wrap it up. So, uh, thank you for listening. Please rate and subscribe. Uh, we're only going to be going more and stronger during the ABS Nuggets playoff run. It's a great time to get people to join in. We had a great time during the, uh, playoffs last year, and I think we. Really produce great content. So I stand by that. Um, so

most of the games, so it's hard not to, yeah.

Yep. But, uh, thank you for listening. Thank you for our super producer, Dan, the man, uh, producing this thing. And we will talk to you next week. Lucifer brothers is a crab shell media podcast.