 Magic Johnson is talking as if he is going to play for the Lakers next year. He was the reason that Mike Tantoni quit New York, not a reason, the reason. All the things they could have said about Belichick before, they never could have said he doesn't have winning as the number one priority. If you want to reach your ultimate destination, which is a title in your said sport, basketball, you got to go through the Warriors. If it's football, you're probably going to have to go through the Patriots. So whether Magic said it or not, doesn't make it any less true. He knows it, they know it. So for him saying he's not being scared, I already knew Magic wasn't scared because he's a five-time champion. He's had to battle the big three semesters. He had to battle Mose Malone and Dr. J. Sixers, the bad boy pistol. Magic Johnson is talking as if he is going to play for the Lakers next year. He's having 1985 flashbacks as if he's running showtime on the floor as opposed from up above in a box seat somewhere, right? He's basically calling out the Golden State Warriors. And this isn't the first time he's done it. He constantly has brought up Golden State, Golden State. Now obviously, they're the end goal. Yes. You're right. They're the measured stick. That's the destination. They're the bar. It's everybody's bar. But you better be careful because you're not ready to challenge them. Who's playing? They're just not. Everything Magic said was accurate, I think. I think he said we're tough-minded. And LeBron James, I believe, is tough-minded. Rajan Rondo, I think Lance Stevenson is. I wouldn't throw Javel McGee in there, but he does have two championships. Right. You know, so I think they added some veteran toughness. He mentioned what? Western Conference Finals. I think that's a legitimate goal to say, we're going to try to get to the Western Conference Finals and we'll take our chances. And the death lineup, that's not a joke. If they had added Kawhi, we could have this discussion. Magic also won't talk small ball. If you added Kawhi and you want to say, oh, LeBron at the center. He's going to race Draymond and then some. Kawhi at the four. Okay. Kawhi versus KD. That's a real matchup. Now, they got to have real issues in the back court. But if they'd added Kawhi, we can start to have this discussion. They didn't add Kawhi. They had Lance Stevenson and Rajan Rondo. And so I don't mind what they did this offseason because I don't think there are great players available on one-year deals. Eventually they're going to get to that, but you need another superstar. You need another guy that could command a double team. You need another guy that can get you a bucket in the fourth quarter because the way the NBA is situated now, we can have a lot of conversations about the regular season. I know it is still somewhat important. But to me, when you break down these comparisons, it's about what's going to happen in the postseason. I get what Magic Johnson was saying there. You don't want a guy to come out and be like, yeah, we're terrified of the boogeyman. What was he supposed to say? I mean, what's he supposed to say in a situation like that? But the Warriors are a team with four, maybe five All-Stars and DeMarcus Cousins when he comes back healthy. The Lakers are a team with one great player and a whole bunch of unknowns. Now, I disagree with a lot of what the Lakers did this offseason. I don't think what they did, what they put around LeBron James is going to work. I would have been more proactive and going to get Kawhi Leonard, but they're in two entirely different places organizationally. Carmelo has in his mind that he's still that same guy. And what happened is that there's a guy in his class that still happens to be the best player in the NBA. He's going to be like, well, give me the right sort of circumstances. I can be that. Carmelo, you were. You was every bit the one-on-one. You scored and led the league in scoring, I think. You seconded MVP voting, but your teams weren't winning. So now you get an opportunity to go to a team that could possibly win, but it's predicated on doing a lot of different things. They need you to come up to bench. He is deluding himself on the court because you're right. He came out in LeBron's class and he is the flip side of LeBron because LeBron kept himself in supreme physical condition. He seems to even get stronger with age. Just physically, he's got the proverbial piano on his back. Right. He just looks heavy and ground bound to me and he's lost his explosiveness and I think he lost his edge. I think he lost his taste for basketball. Now he plays because everybody expects him to be Carmelo. Right. I don't know if he loves the game the way he used to love the game. If they were one step away from Golden State, there are definitely several steps. You know, I believe that a couple of teams in the east have the potential to be as good as Houston. I don't believe Houston believes that they're as good as they were or have the same potential. Like last year, they thought their ceiling was world championship. It would be hard for me to believe that everyone in their building believes that now. The Rockets are not in a position where they feel like if we don't add Mello, we're screwed. They are doing it because they think it's an added benefit and when you're saying he can't be on the court in the fourth quarter, listen, Gerald Green was playing fourth quarter minutes for this team. Like you don't think there is unless they want to go super small and have Cp3 Harden and Gordon out there. There is a lineup that exists that Cp3 Harden, Mello, P.J. Tucker and Capella. That will be the starting lineup. That will be some games finishing lineup. If you're talking about sticking him out there as the power forward in the fourth quarter of games with Chris Paul and with James Harden, how do you stop teams in that regard? He is still a below average defender and this doesn't even take into account the entirely separate conversation of the hilariousness of he and Mike D'Antoni reuniting. He was the reason that Mike D'Antoni quit in New York. Not a reason, the reason that he quit in New York. We all caught wind of it midway through last season or maybe two thirds through last season. Did it stop him? Did it hurt him in the playoffs? No, now the one difference I think is that Bill Belichick with the benching of Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl, that rub players including Brady the wrong way. That was the first, all the things they could have said about Belichick before, they never could have said he doesn't have the best, he doesn't have winning as the number one priority. This is a team that should have lost to the Jags and the AFC title gave it home down 10 with 9 minutes left. In the Super Bowl, gave up over 600 yards and 41 points to Nick Foles a backup quarterback. I think the Patriots have bigger problems than Brady Belichick. That defense I don't think is going to be there. Tough first place schedule. Take the under on the Patriots season win total. Belichick probably doesn't love that Brady has, via his celebrity and his play, almost superseded the hierarchy that Belichick has established. That Brady has a direct line of communication with the owner. That he's an adopted son of the owner. And Brady I'm sure doesn't love that Belichick still treats him like he's one of the players when he has done so much and he's the best quarterback in the league or one of them and maybe the best quarterback of all time. Tom Brady's success is all tied to Bill Belichick. Now, of course, there's no way that Tom Brady would agree with everything he's done, but he believes in Belichick. He believes in the moves that he make for the overall good. Now, does he sign off on him? No, because Belichick don't ask him to sign off on him. You know, you think he was happy when he lost Randy Moss? You can't have the type of respect, a warrant, the type of respect that Belichick, that he demands from you. And be wishy-washy.