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Graydon Prescott 0:17
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live. Sports prep live, where we unbox the bike and talk excellent in athletics.

What's up everybody? Welcome back to season four of sports prep live. I'm your host, great and Prescott, and since we last aired in the end of November, a lot, a lot has taken place in the sports world. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to cover everything that has taken place in the last two months in our 30 minutes of air time. However, we do have a lot going on right now, and that's what we're going to talk about today. Got my man. KB, here as usual. What's

K.B. 1:04
up? Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. Let's get it rolling. All

Graydon Prescott 1:07
right. So we're going to start right here. Las Vegas. Raiders fired their coach, Anthony Pierce. He had a I'm not going to say he had a good run, but they have moved on to more infamous things, hiring Pete Carroll as their head coach. Pete Carroll, obviously, he was a legend at USC. Won three national championships. He was the coach when, when Reggie Bush got his Heisman correct with that whole 2005 2006 2007 USC, that era. He was a great coach at USC, hired by the Seattle Seahawks. They immediately rose when he became the coach. Made it to the NFC Championship in 2012

Super Bowl in they won the 2013 Super Bowl correct that took place in the year 2014

and then the 2014 season, they had another great made it to the Super Bowl again. Yes, Tom Brady and the Raiders, yes, they're down by four. Marshawn Lynch, 28 seconds left in the game. It was 28 to 24 then there's 28 seconds left in the game, a second and goal from the two yard line. Everybody on the planet thinks the Seattle Seahawks are going to win the Super Bowl because

K.B. 2:19
they got to that two yard line on the back, literally, of Marshawn

Graydon Prescott 2:23
Lynch beast mode. So, you know, obviously Pete Carroll would just hand, hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch. Seahawks win back to back, and they're probably going to three peat the next year. No second and goal. They decided to call a play from from shotgun formation, a slant, and that pass was intercepted by patriots legend Malcolm Butler, correct, who historically did not have a good career in the NFL, but made one play, which makes him a Patriots legend, one of the most famous interceptions in the history, probably the most famous history of football. But yeah, what we know Pete Carroll for is the worst play call, possibly and probably in the history of football at any level. Yes, and that's who the Raiders decided to hire in typical Raiders fashion. So what do we have to say about this? I don't like it, but, you know, I'm just gonna ask your opinion. You

K.B. 3:16
know, as he said, he's a good X's and O's guy, but I just don't know how you live down that play. Clearly, Marshawn Lynch has not like that. That was he's

Graydon Prescott 3:27
not the only one. It's Marshawn Lynch. It's Sherman. Richard Sherman, yes, everybody on that team, Russell,

even though, you know, he tries

to defend his coach, that

K.B. 3:38
play was called I hear because Marshawn Lynch was a brusque personality, and being a brusque personality, you know, he's not camera friendly. Every now and then, he might have a quip here or there that would entertain the media, yeah, but this guy wasn't considered friendly in terms of his interviewing skills or his demeanor. And so, you know, at the end of football games, Super Bowl games, when the winner gets to say, you know, what are you gonna do after winning your Super Bowl? Do you know what the line is? Oh, I'm going to Disney I'm going to Disneyland. Yeah, so Marshawn Lynch didn't seem the type of individual that they wanted to be like the face of that game, because he would have won MVP. Russell Wilson, however, clean cut, well spoken, quarterback, that's the guy they wanted to be, the guy for that game to get that MVP. And so they take the ball out of marshawn's hands, who got them all the way down the field, literally carrying the right or the Patriots on his back, yeah, gets them down to the two yard line. And everyone in the stadium, everyone watching, knows the play that's going to be called, and everyone knows it cannot be stopped. And what does Pete care? Will do. He doesn't call the play. He does not call the play for Marshawn Lynch and throws the ball trying to make the quarterback the goat, and he is intercepted, yep, and the rest is history. So fast forward to today and or really, last week, and Pete Carroll is hired on as the Raiders, new head coach after Mr. Pierce was giving given his walking papers, pink slip, who I see quite a bit, actually, at a high school basketball game. But given the pink slip, I'm not sure that this has the feeling of success

Graydon Prescott 5:36
attack. Oh no, no, just like the last four hires, I'm a firm believer on I'm saying this not about the Raiders, but about Pete Carroll. So Right? Raiders, if you're if you hear this, don't, don't come at me. I'm a firm believer that Pete Carroll was made successful because of the talent that he had. That happens a lot. It's worth the Seahawks had one of the best defenses ever, so they won a Super Bowl because they held the best offensive and the best offense in the history of the NFL. They held him to eight points in the Super Bowl. They won 43 to eight. Then they played Tom Brady, and they held them to, you know, 28 which it's a pretty decent scoring game, but that was absolutely that was a 3233 point per game offense. So they held them below their average. It was the Seahawks defense that carried them to Super Bowl wins. It was not their coach. Same thing at USC. USC was completely loaded. They arguably. I would, I would think the 2001 Miami Hurricanes are the best in terms of all around talent, sure, the history of college football, but the mid 2000s to late USC, USC problem, yeah, and Pete Carroll was the coach of that team, yes, everybody in the country, Bucha, yeah. So, you know, they had two Heisman winners on those teams, right? So, you know, Pete Carroll had that talent. Once he gets to Las Vegas, I think it's going to be a rude awakening, both for the Raiders as an organization and for Pete Carroll. He's not turning this

K.B. 7:00
if he does. I mean, I think he is motivated to try to salvage his career, because this is definitely going to be an in cap. This is a two and 15 football team. I understand. I understand. So they're going to have to go out and do some business, bring some people on to the roster. They had better that can get things done you're not, I don't know if you're going to be able to go out there and get superstars. Obviously, they got some draft capital, and hopefully they use that wisely. But Mark Davis, Tom Brady and Pete Carroll have their work cut out for them. Tom Brady was, obviously, you know, one of the greatest to ever do it. We haven't seen him in the capacity that he is with the Raiders. So we'll see if he's a good administrator. We'll see if he's a good general

Graydon Prescott 7:48
manager. And look, just because you're a great player does not mean you're going to be a great administrator. Ask Michael Jordan, correct. Ask Michael

K.B. 7:57
Jordan, wow. Shots fired. Shots fired. And that is true. Yeah, that is true. All

Graydon Prescott 8:03
right, it's great. And Prescott here on Sports prep, Live me and my man, KB, were chopping it up about the lost rate Las Vegas Raiders hiring Pete Carroll, and we got a lot of things w and b related to talk about. And we're gonna start right now. So over the course of the last season, I have said repeatedly that the Las Vegas aces were going to move on. They were going to move on from a certain player. Can you remind me who I said they were going to move on from?

K.B. 8:29
I believe her last name started with a P, let's see plum, plum, plum, plum, plum, I think it was plum, maybe Kelsey Kelsey palum, right?

Graydon Prescott 8:42
So over the course of season three of this show, I said on multiple occasions that the Las Vegas aces needed to move on from Kelsey Plum. And what did they do last week? They moved on from Kelsey Plum like I predicted that they would. They have traded in a three in a three team trade with Seattle and Los Angeles for jewel Lloyd, Los Angeles and turn got Kelsey Plum, Seattle got some draft picks and Las Vegas got jewel Lloyd. Wow. I think that that was as good of a move. Move really could have made brilliant trade. Jewel Lloyd is a last five seasons, 22 points a game. Ball, totality ball. She's won a couple scoring with COVID, a lot. COVID, a lot. She has a nice color way of GT cuts, yes, sir. Completely popular, completely unrelated, but I love the shoes, right? Sorry, go. Point is Jewel Lloyd is a baller. I saw him. I saw her play in Los Angeles over the summer when they played the sparks. She had 31.7 rebounds, six assists. Jewel Lloyd is a baller. I think she's going to go great with an Asia Wilson with a Jackie Young. Jewel Lloyd, Jackie young, and if they decide to keep Chelsea Gray, because she fits now, she doesn't care about how much she shoots the ball, so that's going to get more shots. That's gonna get more shots for jewel, who's also relatively unselfish. She was just on a team where she needed to shoot the ball right, right. Put her next to Jackie young and Asia Wilson, Las Vegas, has made a very good move here. I think they're going to be right back to being trouble for everybody in the

K.B. 10:14
league. And I think it's a good move, because I actually like Kelsey Plum. I just think that in terms of the the makeup of this team, she stopped being that that really good fit, yeah, and I do think that they needed someone that was a little bit more dynamic in that role. And they got that, and the sparks got what they needed. They needed somebody with, you know, that that on court wisdom, that on court basketball, IQ to help that franchise, you know, reach the heights that they have reached in the past. So I think it was a good trade for them. The one thing that I would say about you know, because this happened actually, before the jewel Lloyd Kelsey pullham trade, I think a lot of Las Vegas ray or Las Vegas aces sports fans were sorry to see Kate Martin, go, yeah, Kate Martin got a lot of love around here. Really popular athlete in the Las Vegas area, obviously, played with Caitlin Clark the University of Iowa, much beloved, you know, kind of shocked the world and herself when her name was called at the WNBA. The draft. Draft, correct, correct. Thank you. So that's one player that I think that they will will miss dearly, just a lot of fun cheering for her, but she is going to have a much larger role out there in the Bay Area, where she was actually one of the first people that they picked up, along with the coach that left the aces to be the head coach out there as well. So that's just a little side note. But back to the aces, there's another big move that has been made. Tell us about it, that the ACES made, that the ACES made somebody else coming in. Oh, I haven't heard this one. Natasha, no, she's going, Oh, that's right, it's not the aces.

Graydon Prescott 12:04
Now, I also said that the Indiana Fever needed to do my bad folks. I also said that the Indiana Fever needed to do a couple of things. One of those things that they needed to do desperately this off season was resigned. Kelsey Mitchell, correct. I'm not gonna get around forward on my skis. I'm not gonna beat around the bush. They did it. They resigned Kelsey Mitchell, brought her back.

K.B. 12:24
Big, long discussion about Yes, so she's

Graydon Prescott 12:26
back. So that's good. They did the right thing there. They also needed to get another big, tall forward to pair with Aaliyah, because they had some troubles with, you know, Aaliyah, Boston, dealing with double teams in the post, right, right? And she wasn't as productive as she may have wanted to be. She didn't have the patented second year jump that we're used to seeing from a lot of players in professional basketball. They went out and signed Natasha Howard. Natasha Howard used to be on the fever, but she's been on the wings for the last few years.

K.B. 12:58
Yeah. I think she had a broken foot or something early last year, yep, but, but did heal up six

Graydon Prescott 13:03
foot two. She's, she's a forward, very, very good, very skilled player. I like her game. She's tough. She is tough. She's going to be a perfect fit now with the fever, because I think she will give Aaliyah Boston the ability since Aaliyah six five, Natasha, how is bringing in some sizes six, two, but Natasha also has a longer winks, man, she's a better shoe. She's a scorer. Yes, yes. So Natasha is going to be able to free up a Leo a little bit more. Caitlin is going to be getting a Cisco lore, and Kelsey Mitchell is always going to get her shots. I think the fever in a position now where they're going to be tough,

K.B. 13:37
they're going to be competitive, very tough. They're going to be competitive. They are playoff bound. Absolutely. The tear that Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell went on towards the second half of their season was just unbelievable. It was historic. They were balling out. And now you're right to add someone like Howard alongside of Oh, the name eludes me, Alia Boston, sorry, alongside Alia Boston. So you've got four scoring threats on the floor at the same time. Yeah, real scoring threats. You know that can give you anybody can give you 20. Yeah, that's going to be a problem. That's going to be tough for a lot of these other franchises to contend with. So look out for the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark, man, she is so focused, yeah, you know, she had a chance to participate in the unrivaled league that was launched this year, yeah, a couple of months ago. A great league, if you have a chance to check it out, three on three basketball, yeah, a lot of the wnb players in this league, a league of Brianna Stewart's and pardon the FISA the FISA Collier, and they offered Caitlyn an opportunity to participate in the league, and they were backing the truck up for Caitlyn to participate, but Caitlin said she wants to focus. On her game. So she got a little bit of golf out of the way. And then from that point on, it's been basically all basketball. And I've seen, you know, some videos that have come out of the Indiana beaver petty fever. New coach over there, Stephanie white, yep. Really respected. Went to Purdue. You know, that's her home. She loves Indiana. Indiana loves her. She was there before. So they have really retooled. So look out. Look look for them to come out of the gate swinging and in keeping with this thing, this, this discussion on Caitlin Clark, you have someone who was offered a chance to participate in the NBA. NBA, all star. All Stars. Yeah, you know, much like last year when there was the NBA versus WNBA, all star shoot off and Caitlin passed. Caitlin said, I'll take a pass. She wants her first three point contest to be in the WNBA. But that's just to let you know, this young lady is focused. I think it was the right decision. She is really supportive of the WNBA. The WNBA has grown, you know, a lot just since she came into the league last year, a lot more money coming in, TV deals, all that sorts of fun stuff. Yeah, so look for the fever to be dangerous this upcoming season.

Graydon Prescott 16:17
Yep, I also, I completely echo your sentiment. I applaud Caitlin for declining that NBA three point contest. The reason she gave specifically was that she wanted her first three point contest to be in Indianapolis, right? The All Star Weekend. It's going to be so Hint, hint, she's probably going to be in the three point shootout this year in the WNBA. I'm definitely looking forward to see her there. But while we're on the topic of NBA All Star Weekend,

K.B. 16:46
it's almost unwatchable for me. Now tell me about it. And

Graydon Prescott 16:51
yeah, and I know I'm not the only one. There were about 410 points scored in the office.

K.B. 16:59
No, Dave, it's embarrassing. Yeah, it is embarrassing. What the men of the NBA have done to the All Star game. It is basically a layup line. There is not one shred of defense ever played, so it's lost its entertainment value. So the ratings have cratered. Adam Silver is trying to retool This. Is trying to do something about this, but it has gotten bad, and it's gotten to the point I was watching Stephen A the other day, and I echo the sentiment that he expressed. It's gotten to the point where you shouldn't even have it. Just shut it down. You shouldn't even have it. But hopefully they retool this thing and make it similar to what the WNBA players are doing, because that is great basketball. I mean, when that USA Basketball team was over in France, I was glued to the television, because it's just great pure basketball on the WNBA side. And so hopefully the NBA can capture some of that magic and give us some serious basketball come All Star Weekend, because right now it's a dead and the crazy

Graydon Prescott 18:03
thing is, the All Star game used to be very serious in the NBA. Correct, correct. Kobe Bryant in 2011 Dwayne Wade broke his nose playing defense. Yes, in 2003 you had Michael Jordan hitting a fade away in his last All Star game with five seconds left, everybody thinks he called game, and then Kobe comes down and gets fouled on a three. Of course, Kobe is going to be involved in all the seriousness. It's COVID. But the NBA used to have fiery, competitive, close, defensive, all star training, yeah, yes. And now everybody wants to say, oh, man, I wish they played like they used to. They very well could shooting,

K.B. 18:43
but they 40 point threes repeatedly.

Graydon Prescott 18:46
I know it's just, there's no reason it's really

K.B. 18:49
lost its entertainment value, so hopefully they do something to fix it, because if they don't, I think the audience is simply just going to check out.

Graydon Prescott 18:56
Yeah, and for the last couple of years, I haven't been paying attention.

K.B. 19:00
400 points over 400 points between two teams in a 40 basketball game is ridiculous. I know that should never happen

Graydon Prescott 19:09
while we're on the while we're on the topic of the NBA, a guy who's been making a lot of noise for all the wrong reasons recently is Jimmy Butler, yes, so he's been suspended this season twice.

K.B. 19:20
What's his alter ego, Elmo or something? I

Graydon Prescott 19:23
don't know. Whatever it is, he's making waves. He wants out of Miami, and he has a couple of landing destinations that are really trying to pursue him. One of those very aggressively, is the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix Suns. Kevin Durant, yes, a struggling team. They are barely above 500 right now, and another team is at 500 right now. Warriors, yes, so we got two struggling franchises in the Western Conference going after a dog. Well, he is a dog. Old legends going. After an old dog. I don't see the point. I don't think either of them are making a good choice going after him. I think they should be going I disagree with you. Jimmy

K.B. 20:08
Butler. Can hoop Now, the problem with Jimmy Butler is, can you handle his antics in the locker room? I don't know if Phoenix has a personality strong enough to handle Jimmy Butler in the locker room. I know the Warriors do Draymond. Draymond Green, there is no question Jimmy's not going to come in there and run that locker room. He's not going to come in there and run that team. Kevin Durant is a champion, but Kevin Durant is an MVP. Kevin Durant is a Finals MVP, but Kevin Durant has quiet power, right? He likes to lead by example. He's not going to be in anybody's ear barking. He a lot of these guys are friendly with one another. He just doesn't have that personality. Fact, the reason that he's not a warrior anymore has a lot to do with him not having that personality and Draymond Green having it. Draymond Green is a dog. That's something that Jimmy Butler will understand. So in terms of the impact of landing with either the team, I think the impact could actually be bigger with the Phoenix Suns, but I think the fit is better with the goal is better with the Warriors. And actually, Steph Curry has expressed, along with Steve Carter, some reservations about having Jimmy Butler in that locker room, what it might do with the lock to the locker room, because Jimmy is, he's impetuous, he he's he's unpredictable, yeah, he's a lot to handle. But there is a person there, like I said, named Draymond Green, who would have no problem putting Jimmy Butler in his place, because the one thing that Jimmy Butler is not is a champion that Draymond Green is is a champion? Yep, absolutely, yeah.

Graydon Prescott 21:42
I agree with that. I just Jimmy Butler's 36 years old. That's my only thing. I don't think he is somebody that I would try to complete this huge trading Hall for. There's just not that much value there. I guess I could see it, because the Warriors and the the sons are in win now. Mode. Katie is 36 Steph Curry is going to be 37 here in two months or a month and a half. So they're trying to win now, Jimmy Butler can help with that.

K.B. 22:10
In fact, I think the last game that Jimmy Butler had, he dropped 36 points in 19 rebounds. Like Jimmy Butler can hoop, yeah, no, no, no, no, you're 36 or not. Jimmy Butler can who you're getting no argument out of me on that note,

Graydon Prescott 22:23
as we as we finish up the show here in a few minutes, I did want to talk about some of the players in the WNBA who remain free agents. There's a few names on here that I think are worth noting, one of which has been a topic of discussion on this show a lot is Kennedy Carter. She hasn't she's yet to been be signed. She has yet to have been signed by Chicago, by anybody, right? And I think teams have a similar worry with her,

K.B. 22:55
as Jimmy Butler, as they would have, absolutely Butler, absolutely. She reminds me of a female Jimmy Butler. She can be

Graydon Prescott 23:02
some trouble in the locker. Correct, correct. Great player, not the greatest three point shooter, but she's a scorer. She's a dog. Yes, she's a dog, and she's young. I I have a completely different opinion about Kennedy Carter than I do with Jimmy Butler, because she is 10 years younger than he is. She still got a lot of time ahead of her. The only problem is she can be kind of a cancer in the locker room,

K.B. 23:27
or so we've heard. Well, no, no, that's, that's established fact. Yeah, she's she's basically been booted off of a few teams because she's had a little bit of trouble reining things in with respect to the energy and the attitude, and so

Graydon Prescott 23:39
now they loved her in Chicago. Yes, they loved her. A lot of that probably has to do with Teresa weather zone, who was no longer there, who was fired, correct

K.B. 23:48
after one year, which I don't really understand that one year and they

Graydon Prescott 23:53
were never going to be a really good team, and

K.B. 23:56
Angel Reese. Angel Reese got hurt. Like, come on. I just don't understand that. Not that I'm a big I mean, what she did in the WNBA is legendary Weatherspoon was a Hooper, so I would have thought she demanded more respect than a single year at the helm. At least give her a second year to see if the first year was a fluke, but they did get rid of her. I know Kennedy wasn't happy about it. I know Angel Reese wasn't happy about it. So we'll see what happens with respect to them, either re signing her, or another team coming in and swooping her up. I think after the hit on Caitlin Clark, which got a lot of attention, yeah, garnered a lot of attention, I think after that, she was relatively well behaved. She caught a lot of flack for that. It wasn't a basketball play. But after that, she kind of got, you know, her head on straight, so she's going to be able to help someone. And I would imagine that there is some interest in the Windy City and trying to keep her in the fold. Yep.

Graydon Prescott 24:58
And then a couple. Other names that I work on the list. Here is the one of Bonner who Connecticut son, but her fiance, Alyssa Thomas, was just traded to the Phoenix Mercury, correct? So odds are she's not going to be in Phoenix or Connecticut next year. There are teams interested in her, but at 37 she's not going to she might retire. She's one of the top scorers of all time. Yeah. So there, there's a lot of uncertainty there. Whereas with Kennedy, she's 26 so she's still kind of in the prime of her career, right? And then the last name DJ Carrington, is a free agent, also Connecticut, and she could really go anywhere she wants, the defensive monster, Defensive Player of the Year. Yes,

K.B. 25:40
she had, I forgot about that, that she was Defensive Player of the Year, just, just knowing, seeing her as a player. She is defensively incredible, yeah. But yes, you're right. She did win Defensive Player

Graydon Prescott 25:50
of the Year, and she kind of locked up Caitlyn, who was the first she did. She did. So, you know, she could really go, and she should save

K.B. 25:59
her that, because Caitlyn is going to be different this year. Yeah. I've seen some of the tape. She's going to be different, yeah.

Graydon Prescott 26:05
But still, that doesn't change the fact that Janae Carrington is a dog great defender, and she's not going to have the off court antics. So she can really, yes, yeah. She can really go anywhere she wants to, and I'm excited to see where she ends up next season, absolutely. So that's kind of the fold on the W Oh. Brittney Griner Atlanta Dream. Now, after her first 12 seasons were spent with the Phoenix Phoenix, she has signed with the Atlanta Dream. So she's not big news to me, because there's a lot more going on in the WNBA. Brittney Griner is on the older side. Yes, yes. So, you know, I think there's a lot more interesting things. So that's kind of the that's the update on the WNBA. We got to talk about the we got to talk about the free agency, the trades that were made, and we got to talk a little bit about Pete

K.B. 26:52
Carroll. And next week, we have to get into UNLV men's basketball. I'm sure the season hasn't gone exactly as they wanted to. But DJ Thomas, wow, this dude coming next week, man. This dude is a problem, yep. So make sure that you tune in next week 630 to catch us talking about UNLV and DJ Thomas,

Graydon Prescott 27:16
all right. Thank you everybody for tuning in to episode one of season four on sports prep live. I'm your host, Graydon Prescott, and we will see you all next week. Have a great week, everybody. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm Graydon Prescott, and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports prep live. Thank you.