NFL Draft Previews with Jeremiah & Yates plus Kirk Goldsberry and Max's Grief
Big Cat and PFT are navigating a sports calendar that is absolutely redlining. Between the NBA playoffs delivering late-night daggers and the NFL Draft looming just hours away, there is zero time for a breather. We started with the Minnesota Timberwolves looking like the real deal as they dismantled the Phoenix Suns. While everyone was worried about Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards knew exactly what the Suns were missing.
The Timberwolves are legit and much better defensively than the Phoenix Suns
The Timberwolves are good and they're deep. Their two stars [Towns and Edwards] did not play great and the Timberwolves still won easily because they're just so much better defensively. And the Suns play iso ball. It's terrible basketball to watch. I think the Timberwolves are really, really good.
PFT is ready to call the time of death on the Phoenix experiment, mostly because they look like they’ve completely run out of ideas. It turns out that having three elite scorers doesn't matter much when your offense looks anemic and you're stuck in iso hell.
The Phoenix Suns are officially dead
The Suns are dead. I proclaimed it. The Suns are dead. They don't look like they have any life to him whatsoever. They look anemic. Bradley Beal looks pretty bad. No trade clauses, by the way, for Bradley Beal. So yeah, I think he's like the sixth highest player in the NBA. They're gonna be stuck with that for a little bit.
Speaking of vibes, Big Cat is tracking a very specific equipment issue in Phoenix. It has nothing to do with shoes or jersey fits, but everything to do with Devin Booker’s forehead.
Devin Booker is a worse player when he wears a headband
I also have a vibe stat for this game. And it has nothing—it's based on absolutely nothing... I don't think Devin Booker's good when he wears a headband. I just don't know why. I think maybe his head is too constricted. He wears a tight headband.
The Sixers and Lakers Heartbreak
Max is currently in the depths of despair following the Sixers' absolute collapse against the Knicks. Big Cat read through Max's live-tweeting of the five stages of grief, moving from "That didn't just happen" to "We'll get a better whistle at home." The guys debated the infamous non-timeout and the lack of boxing out, but Max is trying to stay positive despite being down 0-2.
The 76ers will win their series against the Knicks despite being down 2-0
And then the final act, new tweet: Sixers will win this series.
Out West, the Lakers are living in a Groundhog Day nightmare against the Nuggets. No matter how well Anthony Davis and LeBron James play, the result is always a Jamal Murray buzzer-beater or a Nikola Jokic masterclass. PFT thinks the writing is on the wall for the King.
The Lakers-Nuggets series is over
I think this series is definitely over. Yeah. Well, no, well, what's gonna happen is the Lakers, Sixers might, the Lakers are gonna play great in some more games that they're also going to lose. Right. That's what's gonna happen.
Kirk Goldsberry joined the show to provide some actual basketball intelligence to counter the guys' emotional outbursts. He broke down the tactical adjustments Michael Malone made to stifle AD and why the torch has officially been passed in the Western Conference.
The Nuggets' series win over the Lakers represents a 'handing of the torch' from LeBron James to Nikola Jokic
A lot of people think Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world, something we would describe LeBron James as for a vast majority of the 2010s. But this decade appears to belong to Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. And I think it's telling, it's sort of a handing of the torch. It's a very painful one, but this is LeBron James's longest losing streak against any single opponent in his entire 21-year career.
Final NFL Draft Prep
Daniel Jeremiah stopped by to give his final evaluations before the first round kicks off in Detroit. He provided a fascinating breakdown of the depth in this class, noting that while the top is heavy with quarterbacks, the wide receiver class is historically deep with potential long-term starters.
The 2024 draft class has 10-12 second-contract caliber wide receivers
I was strict with it. So you can, you can extrapolate this beyond this, but like a con—like my confidence level's high. Wide receivers, 10 to 12 of them. Wow. Like there's 10 to 12 that I feel pretty confident they're gonna, they're second contract, same team, commit to 'em type players.
DJ also threw a wrench into the JJ McCarthy hype train, suggesting that the smoke around the Michigan quarterback might be masking another name rising up boards late in the process.
Michael Penix Jr. could be drafted before JJ McCarthy
I was sniffing around this morning 'cause I had, there's so much stuff flying around and like one of the teams had told me like, 'Hey, I wouldn't be surprised if when it was all said and done if Penix went over McCarthy.'
Field Yates also joined the set to talk about his new role on the ABC storytelling broadcast. He confirmed that while the quarterback talk dominates the headlines, the real separation in talent happens once the elite wide receivers are off the board.
There is a massive talent drop-off in this draft after the 'Big Three' wide receivers
One of the cool things about this draft class is you got three receivers at the very top in [Marvin Harrison Jr.], Malik Nabors, and also Rome Odunze... in a different draft, all three of those guys could easily be the number one wide receiver taken. There's a very, very small difference at the very top between [them]. All three of those guys are part of the blue chip group... [then there's] a drop.
Field is leaning heavily toward the Commanders making the obvious choice at number two, despite some of the social media drama involving agents over the last week.
Jaden Daniels will be the number two overall pick in the NFL Draft
I feel good about Jaden Daniels going number two. You know, this past week was interesting obviously—mostly incited by Jaden Daniels' agent taking to Twitter... but I do think Jaden Daniels ends up going number two overall.
Hot Seat/Cool Throne
Hot Seat included the Denver Broncos, who Big Cat thinks pulled off a PR masterclass by releasing objectively terrible jerseys on the same day they traded for Zach Wilson. It's the classic "split the vote" strategy to ensure no one thing gets 100% of the hate. Meanwhile, Big Cat is already preparing the "Coming Home" video for Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant will 100% return to the Oklahoma City Thunder
Kevin Durant is 100% going back to the Thunder. Yes. They're doing some trial balloons... it was a video narrated by KD talking about Chet Holmgren and the city of Oklahoma City... I'm absolutely for it because I think that would be a very cool, like if he won, wins a title with the Thunder. Kind of everything's forgiven.
We wrapped up with Guys on Chicks where the guys advised a listener that if she wants to keep rooting for the Bills after a breakup, she might just have to go all the way and try to date Josh Allen herself.
Hopefully, Max finds a way to stop screaming at PFT before game three tips off.

