we're welcoming in one of the best
columnists maybe the best columnist for
my money
in the country with apologies to karin
phillips
jerry brewer of the washington post also
known
as slim brew jerry who wrote about his
weight loss journey throughout this
pandemic
in addition to so many other things
jerry brewer
welcome to the blackest show
on television right now you have added
some much-needed light-skinnedness
to this show we we sincerely sincerely
appreciate you
jerry i am curious
jerry with the nfl playoffs going on
this weekend i'm just curious what game
intrigues you the most
well i mean first of all it's the winner
so i'm a little lighter in the winter
than i'm gonna be in the summer
but uh secondly um it
is the ravens and the bills
i think it's incredibly interesting
you're talking about uh
two fantastic young quarterbacks you
know one of whom and lamar jackson has
already won
an mvp josh allen and the bills
look to me to be perhaps the most
dangerous team in the league
kansas city included however
we know that the bills have had a a
meager
playoff history and we know they they've
um
we just don't know exactly what that
team
is as far as how tested they've been and
so i'm really interested in that game
the winner of that game
absolutely could beat kansas city and go
to the super bowl
and i think that's the most intriguing
game of the weekend even more so than
brady versus briggs
kyle what you got
i'm interested to know you know you out
there in the city that russ built
how are seahawks fans feeling about you
know not being in the playoffs
not being in this farm when you know
that is a system a city
and a fan base that is accustomed to
playing late
in the playoffs and in super bowl so
what's the mood of the city out there
it's something i i was thinking about
because you know the way russ started
this season
and how it kind of tapered off how's the
12th man feeling out there
well karen they're really struggling
with this one uh
you know it has been now six
years since they have made it as far as
an nfc
championship game and we know what
happened six years ago
uh and losing that super bowl to the
patriots
they thought that in this game you know
when you look at
russell's playoff history as a nine and
seven record now in the postseason
it has taken very dynamic quarterbacks
on top of their game
cam newton in his mvp season uh
matt ryan in his mvp season matt ryan
again when he was
uh incredible um tom brady
uh you know those caliber of players are
the ones and
the teams and the quarterbacks who beat
them in the postseason
they thought with it being john wafford
starting this game
and with jared goff with a bum thumb
coming in
that it was and playing in seattle even
though it was in front of no fans
they figured this team was at least
going to advance
and and play in the divisional round to
not be here
everyone is is kind of having an
existential crisis you know where are
things going is pete carroll the right
guy
you just saw they fired uh offensive
coordinator russell wilson doesn't seem
all that happy about that
he wants to continue to be more of a
past first offense pete carroll wants to
go back to
more of a ground and pound offense so
this is
for a team that looks like they have a
pretty legitimate future as far as
postseason appearances this is a very
concerning time as far as can they get
to that next level
or are they going to be one of those
teams that is one
or two games and done for the rest of
russell wilson's career
now you make a great point jerry that
that super bowl was a long
time ago and the makeup that of that
team is completely different
from the super bowl win to even the
super bowl loss
that make up of that team is completely
different moving more towards an
offensive
oriented ball club and and like that we
can switch gears to another offensive
oriented ball club jerry brewer the
brooklyn nets
i'm curious what you think about kyrie
irving
and kevin durant and james harden
joining forces
is it too much duplication too much
offense not enough balance what do you
make of that trio in that setup
i call them the big three that will
never be
vinnie i i just i i don't think that
they are going to be able to maximize
each other's talents
and i you wonder okay in every big three
there has to be a third guy
and based on credentials that has to be
kyrie irving but as kyrie irving ever
had a number three guy mentality is
kyrie irving
capable of doing things without the
basketball in his hands and most
importantly
is kyrie irving capable of doing things
on the defensive end is james harden
capable of doing things on the defensive
end
as we saw at the end of his run in okc
on in to his championship days with the
golden state warriors kevin durant
is quite the defensive player especially
with his versatility however
coming off of coming off of an achilles
injury
uh you know can can he be that
that defensive anchor for a team he's
never had to be
the runaway best defensive player on a
team
and that's something that they're going
to need from them absolutely now so i
think it's
the big three and and with their synergy
can they bring out the best in each
other that's a huge question
but i think an even greater question is
where are they going to find enough size
to compete you're going to have to go
through
potentially joel embiid you're going to
have to go through potentially giannis
if you're lucky enough to make it to the
nba finals there's anthony davis and
lebron james
do you really think what's left of
deandre jordan
is enough inside along with kevin durant
and jeff green
who are more perimeter oriented they're
going to have to find some size
either through a lucky trade or
absolutely in the buy our
buyout market so this is a team that's
going to be constantly evolving as the
year goes forward
with a whole lot of heat on them every
time they lose a game
every time they have a bad performance
every time it doesn't look right
among the three of them there's going to
be a lot
of questions to be answered and neither
none of those three have shown that they
can handle the heat
the heat that comes with that kind of
scrutiny
and then you brought up a good joy and
jerry um i don't
i'm not really focused about the offense
look they're gonna get buckets
and even the defensive point a lot of
people are bringing up
my question about this team is and why i
hated the trade
is the bench i thought brooklyn was the
runaway favorite to make it to the
finals and maybe win it all just because
one through 11 they had everything you
need and i was watching the game against
charlotte when didn't when he went down
and dash put tlc into the lineup and i
was
i liked the way that it worked because
it kept that second unit intact
with karis levert being being able to be
himself
in the next game you know steve nash
started tlc
and didn't would he spot so it kept that
second unit um
in place for the future um until
everything that's happened but you
brought up the the topic of
size are we not talking about their lack
of death now because
before they had it they had to back up
at every spot you had jared allen like
you said you had a durable defensive pig
and now you've just got a whole bunch of
guards and dudes that like to dribble
and shoot so
are we overlooking the lack of depth
this team has
and we'll need especially in the
playoffs yes absolutely we are
i mean i think what championship teams
have you seen that don't have those kind
of guys the guys that shaq calls the
others
uh who who are just able to step forward
and help you win games you look at the
the lakers weren't the most well-devised
team
a year ago but they absolutely had their
feel of role players
you know right on down to dwight howard
embracing
coming off the bench and you just wonder
you know in those in those moments when
you run against the defensive scheme or
one of your stars is just
off uh you know what where is the
versatility
uh you know with with teams trying to
play for championships i look for
uh how many different ways can you win
we know one way this team can win
they're going to score 140 points a lot
of times against people
and they may be that rare team that has
multiple games in which all three of
those guys can go out for 30 even 35
together however when you get into a
playoff situation
and you have to beat a team four times
and they're focusing on you and they're
adjusting against you
what are you going to counter with i'm
really concerned about that and that's
where you're that's where your depth
comes into play
and when we talk about size it's not
just about
defending the rim either and playing
defense it's also about
who on that team is going to set screens
be it besides
deandre jordan and create the movement
and all of these things
um who's gonna get tough rebounds um
as well so there's there's a there's a
lot of questions to be answered
and i only that star power only saw so
much
of what you need on a basketball floor
we know and we all get it if we were in
that position
and we could add and have a team that
had three of the top 15 players in the
league
we're going to figure out a way to do
that however this
to me looks like a team that is going to
need
a year to jail and maybe we're talking
about them winning a championship
in 21 22 but they're playing in brooklyn
uh always have been in the shadow of the
new york knicks
which means that when they fail there's
going to be a ton of knicks fans
getting on them and everyone in the nba
wants them to be that now now now now
now
and if they're not that now how are they
going to handle it
this is not a team that is built for a
process
but i do think it's going to take the
rest of this season
in the next season to do it and can they
show that kind of patience
that is where you wonder the character
and the chemistry of the team what is it
you know what jerry it's funny
what's up you got to follow yeah no no
i've got a question for both of you like
i want to hear both of you on this
question
we talked about you know what this team
doesn't have and
there's another aspect that i don't
think anyone's brought about and you
guys could weigh on this
very well is do they have an enforcer
because jerry brought up a very good
thing you got three maybe
arguably what top 15 top 20 guys
who's the enforcer um because i look at
the cleveland team because we know sean
marx is going to had
to add something else to this team
there's going to be some more free agent
signings some more trade
some more movements of some part
cleveland's got 37 big men
over there um that they need to get rid
of but if you look around the landscape
of the league
where do you go if you're sean marx and
your steve nash to get an enforcer
to protect your investments because
somebody's going to have to be the angry
guy that's going to back up these guys
because you can't have kyrie and harden
and kd being tough guys you're going to
need somebody and
like where do they go to get that guy
because every championship team
has one they're going to be searching
for that for the rest of the year
really and i i think one of the most
underrated things
is not having a touring prince i mean i
think that there's a toughness to him
and i don't know if they need
someone to just get in guys face you
know when people are physical with uh
with durant or kyrie i mean james can
handle the physical play as big as he
is um i think he'll be fine there but
uh you need you need guys who have some
toughness you know
uh physical toughness but also mental
toughness
and i wonder where that comes from from
from this team so they're looking for
an enforcer they're looking for
leadership
and they're just they're looking even
for i
their team that could add an extra
shooter i think as well
with all of those guys so there's a lot
of needs
and there's only so many things that
they can do
you know within the strength restraints
of the salary cap with just
in the constraints of their roster to
get it done
and that's why i think it's going to
take more than this year for us to truly
see what they are
i think the buyout market is going to be
big for them depending on how
uh how many teams right now are are hard
capped
so they can't make moves brooklyn is
going to wind up being in that situation
too
and after the fact that there are very
few that no fans coming into arenas it's
going to be a tougher situation to pay
to justify
paying salaries for underperforming
teams the problem is for brooklyn you
have no clue
exactly how that's going to necessarily
play out but
jerry brewer for the washington post
the best columnist in the country slim
brew getting them shots off man
thank you for your time this afternoon
man next time i'm co-hosting
i'm a move karen out and just have you
with your woodsy background
be the co-host for the whole day
[Laughter]
you see what i gotta put up with you see
what i gotta put up with
i'll pray for you hey thanks for
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