Let’s Go!
I haven’t been this jazzed up to chat with you all on a Monday in a long time. We got a recap to “The Last Dance” and then a full, comprehensive breakdown of the NFL Draft. And I want y’all to read every word and then tell me what you think down below.
(If you need to break this read into two parts, I suggest Part 1: The Last Dance in the AM and Part 2: The NFL Draft at lunchtime or after work)
Commenters, STAND UP.
For those of you that have been vying for your boy from Day 1 — I’ll repay you someday. A few more subscriptions this past week really energized me. In turn, I’m keeping up the multi-newsletter weeks and giving you a thorough read on this beautiful Monday.
Can we keep it going?
The Last Dance
It’s been a long time since I had one of those piercing hangovers. Truthfully, it’s one of the only things I don’t miss from pre-quarantine days. Waking up with that nasty taste in your mouth, your head pounding, your stomach uneasy, your bladder full, and your bathroom too far away.
Now imagine you have that feeling and Michael Jordan is knocking at your door, he’s pounding on it and you’re late to work with a woman in your bed.
An entire documentary could just be made based on Carmen Electra hiding from Michael Jordan in Dennis Rodman’s hotel room on the morning of a mid-season bender that was granted by Phil Jackson.
That was my biggest takeaway from these two episodes. Moments that got 15 seconds could’ve lasted an hour and a half and would’ve gotten my undivided attention.
How about there being footage of Dennis Rodman, in front of like, 1,000 people, swigging a Miller Lite and then just hopping on a motorcycle and saying hasta la vista!?
I didn’t expect this series to live up to the hype. It has done that and more. The highlights are astonishing. The storytelling is masterful. The editing is perfect. It’s made me laugh out loud a dozen or so times as well, which is a cherry on top.
The focus of these two episodes was obviously Rodman. He’s truly one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of sports. I’ve always believed that, deep down, he was a good guy. Troubled? Yes. Misguided? Certainly. But he’s one unique dude and the telling of his story will always deserve my curiosity.
Him stopping short of an apology but instead asking Mike for a cigar, an incident they both independently verified the same way, was so beautiful to me.
I think most people don’t know what kind of player Rodman was. Yes, it was Jordan, Pippen, Rodman for that last three-peat. But Rodman was nothing like those guys at a player. He was awful offensively. Like, terrible. Consider the fact that he never averaged more than 5.5 points with the Bulls, yet he’s still this much of a vocal point.
That’s why Dennis Rodman is Dennis Rodman.
(Did anyone else say ‘huh?’ when they casually said, ‘That’s why Madonna would always tell him..’ What now?)
He made rebounding look like an art, and he made it a desirable statistic. He was only 6’6 in a league that still thought a 7-footer was a must on the floor at all times. Yet he still averaged 15, 16 rebounds every year. He defended, and like Jordan said in the doc, whether it seemed so or not, he always came to play.
The way they told the story about Rodman asking for a vacation was hilarious to me, but also spoke to why Jackson was such a mastermind as a coach.
“He needs a vacation, he needs to let loose.”
Picture any boss saying that in a crucial point of your company’s year, let alone the head coach of an NBA team during an effort to win a third championship.
That’s why it bothers me when people downgrade Jackson at times because he always had so much talent.
Well, having strong personalities and a ton of talent at your disposal is a blessing and a curse. Plenty of coaches have had both and not many of them have a championship to show for it, let alone 11.
Jackson’s relationship with Rodman was clearly a genuinely special one. Before he came to the Bulls, there were questions as to whether Rodman could ever be a productive player again. Forget being an integral part to a championship team. Jackson is just a special guy — his world view would’ve been impactful no matter how he chose to spread it, and it’s, honestly, kind of wild that it ended up being in competitive sports, coaching some of the greatest basketball teams of all time.
For instance, I’m not sure how many of you caught this, but when they’re on the plane and they’re talking about the Super Bowl, Jackson remarked that the AFC had finally won a Super Bowl. Then he suggests that the same may happen soon in the NBA. That’s in the middle of the season, right before a game against the reigning Western Conference champions, the Utah Jazz. And then the Bulls lose.
I just find that level of maturity in thinking to be fascinating, especially when juxtaposed to Jordan’s.
I’m sure they’ll tell this story later on, but when the Bulls are in the Finals in ‘98, Jackson was actually preparing his team to lose — at least, mentally. As Steve Kerr has explained, Jackson wanted the Bulls to accept the idea that losing was a very real possibility. If they accepted that, the thought went, then they’d be able to play with no fear.
Jordan then stepped in and said, “Fuck that Phil, we’re not losing.”
That push and pull could be another doc on its own, and it could probably be a non-sports related one: Two completely different ideologic thought processes meshing together to achieve extraordinary things.
We took care of you… we took care of you… today, we’ll take care of you,” Jordan said to Sam Smith regarding the newspapers’ picks before Game 5 in Cleveland.
That Cleveland team that Jordan and the Bulls took down was no joke. They were heavily favored over the Bulls, and had won ten more games than them in the regular season.
A nugget from after Game 4 that they left out, which I’ve highlighted in the newsletter before:
“Have no fear, we’re going to win this ball game.”
Another thing that wasn’t included was that Doug Collins had drawn up a play for Dave Corzine. The Bulls all looked at each other, then back at Doug. Jordan said give me the ball. Then, as you know, The Shot On Ehlo followed.
“All you fuckers go to hell! Go home, mother fuckers!”
I love Doug Collins. One of my favorite Bull figures ever. It’s funny to see him as a young man, much less in control of things and confident than he is now. Him sweating his ass off and running around was a reminder of just how much of a young buck he was at the time.
The truth about the Collins/Jordan dynamic wasn’t totally reflected in the doc. They did — and do — love and have great respect for one another. But Collins loved Jordan too much. When Jordan walked out of practice, for instance, and they kissed afterward? Jordan, although Collins had been unfairly tampering with the score in practice, should not have done that.
That’s why Jackson eventually replaced him, as Collins suggested, in a mysterious way. Jackson was able to combat Jordan’s play and personality in a way that Collins couldn’t. Collins was too much of a Jordan fan to be his coach. Jackson ultimately gained immense respect from Jordan by seeming like not much of a fan at all.
Now let’s talk Pistons.
The Pistons/Bulls rivalry is a perfect example of what I yearn for in today’s NBA. I’m not a guy who gets overly nostalgic about the way things used to be, either. I love the NBA. But I just don’t think you’ll ever see teams be so consistently constructed like that again for long enough to have that much disdain for each other.
That Pistons team had their own personality, and the Bulls had to transform theirs to surpass them. If you don’t have guys 1. who cared as much as they all did (enough to be diabolical over a hand shake) or 2. play on a team together long enough to develop an identity, you won’t have that again.
For one, Fuck Bill Laimbeer. He was a bully on the court, protected by the game and his far superior teammates. Watch one of those weak ass punches he threw and you’ll figure out quickly that all of his smoke ended once he got away from a referee-monitored area. He’s a salty loser. Always has been, always will be. That’s why he still takes shots at MJ, because he’s holding onto the idea that he matters much more than he did.
Isiah Thomas, because he was such a snake when he played, gets a bad rap. Well, actually, he earned that. Both on the floor and in the front office afterwards. But he was a hell of a player, and he’s a Chicago great. SGCTC certified? The answer is yes.
I still believe the Bulls would’ve won that series in 1990 had Scottie Pippen not had a migraine. And yes, I believe everything he said about how he was feeling. Could it have been due to the pressure? Sure. But he battled migraines throughout his career, and anyone that’s had a migraine knows how debilitating they can be.
It wasn’t just that Scottie, the second best player on the team, was unable to play well that night. It’s that he played at all. If he had just been injured, the Bulls could’ve planned for Game 7 without him, and done without his mishaps during the actual game.
You could tell how much it hurts Jordan to even concede that Scottie had a migraine today. Had they won that series (the Pistons only lost five games that whole playoffs, three of which came to the Bulls), the entire narrative around the Bulls/Pistons rivalry is altered. I mean, they swept them the next year. I wouldn’t change a thing about the Bulls dynasty, of course. But that is a What if? that is not often considered.
Finally, what would you give to be a part of a Bulls plane ride back in those days? Shooting the shit with Jordan and co. on a cross country flight, I’d do nasty things to get a chance at that.
Scott Burrell, who MJ put on blast in the end of the 4th episode, probably had anxiety over that clip for years. He probably got over it and then would randomly think of it in the shower and get shivers down his spine. That poor guy.
Think of that one video your brother or friend has of you. Every once in a while at a party they’re like, ‘Hey should we show them that?’
Now imagine that feeling, but knowing the video was going to be shown to 6 million people.
I want to get to some Bears talk, so I’ll end it with this.
I kind of like John Paxson in this. God dammit.
Comment your reactions to “The Last Dance” below!
Bear Down and Trade Up
The NFL Draft has come and gone. Approximately 15 minutes into the first round, all of my pent up excitement for a pseudo sporting event had vanished. Was I aware that we were in the middle of a pandemic? I was. Did I need the NFL commissioner to remind me? Folks, I did not.
I ended up enjoying the ABC broadcast (and the draft as a whole), which featured the College Gameday staff. But my God, the idea that we — and the players — need to be reminded of when their parents died immediately after the best moment of their lives will always be strange to me. I mean, some of these deaths — with all due respect — aren’t even worth mentioning.
His father tragically passed away… of old age… when he was a freshman at Clemson. Why the hell do I need to know that? Congratulations, you just got a new job. Now — let’s talk about when your Grandma died. What the hell, man?
I’m all for merging sentimental stories with sports. We’ve all thrown on ESPN at a random time and found ourselves tearing up all of a sudden at an E:60 special report. But I don’t need one of those for every single draft pick. Stick to his participation in the high school band and his 40-time. We can do without the delayed eulogies and the other, just, weird shit.
Also, I see we’ve expanded the definition of “Academic All-Star” a bit here. Apparently a 3.0 college GPA is now noteworthy. And here I was thinking my friends in college were all regular guys. Try mother fuckin’ Academic All-Stars, baby!
I owe them some texts. That semester you got a B in management, man? That was awesome. You are extraordinary. Here I was thinking you just played video games, shared cheap handles of Vodka with 10 other people, and did the bare minimum to get a passing grade in all of your classes. Trey Wingo has informed me that I had you all wrong.
Starting, at account manager, a three-time All-Star…
Could’ve been four if not for that 2.8 GPA sophomore year.
The NFL Draft — what a weird concept. Can you imagine being that good at something that you were handed $8 million on the spot at 21? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! I got the ‘ol stimulus check this week and felt like I held the American economy in the palm of my hand.
I’d give my financial advisor, about, hmm, 4 milly. Invest that pronto my man (or woman!). I heard Amazon’s stock is in good shape. Then I think I’d just go on Amazon and buy everything that looked even remotely appealing.
Imagine your online shopping cart having, say, $4,764 worth of shit in it and not even breaking a sweat. And yeah, I know a bunch of that is going to Uncle Sam. Don’t be the AFTER TAXES guy. I’ll give Uncle Sam 50% right off the top if he wants it.
Me getting drafted in the first round would mean:
A hot tub, for sure.
A condo in River North — strictly for the weekends.
A night out, all expenses paid, for the homies and I.
And… I honestly can’t think of anything else.
Via Spotrac:
Just look at the signing bonuses. As Randy Moss would put it, that’s straight cash, homie.
Anyway.
For the record, the above was an immediate reaction thrown together on Thursday night. Many people have pointed out the dead dad thing since, so much so that it’s almost more annoying than the dead dad stuff was in the first place.
I just imagined someone reading this newsletter for the first time and thinking it was just going to be some straight commentary on each of the Bears draft picks and we’re, give or take, 2,500 words down and have not mentioned them once.
Welcome to Still Gotta Come Through Chicago.
Cole Kmet
It figures that after growing up a Notre Dame fan and wishing the Bears would draft every pass catcher from there for 15 years, the moment I become less interested in the Irish, they take Cole Kmet at 43rd overall.
Jeff Samardzija. Anthony Fasano. Golden Tate. John Carlson. Tyler Eifert. Kyle Rudolph. Rhema McKnight.
I wanted all of them.
For the record, Samardzija would have been the best out of all of them.
Kmet means a few things — the Bears automatically entered into the good graces of half of the dads in the Chicagoland area. A tight end from Chicago who played at Notre Dame. ‘Great pick,’ they all exclaimed in unison.
But it gets even better. As Jack Silverstein pointed out, Kmet’s father — Frank Kmet — was the first modern-era free agency signing the Bears ever made. A Hersey High product, the first Kmet was drafted out of Purdue by the Buffalo Bills and later became a Chicago Bear.
Football aside, this pick is what SGCTC dreams are made out of. Did you see Cole’s reaction to being drafted?
This man is SGCTC certified until otherwise noted.
Now let’s get to the player and the draft pick itself: Kmet was pretty much unanimously considered the best tight end in this year’s draft.
As a junior at Notre Dame, he had 43 catches for 515 yards, with a particularly stellar game at Georgia, where he turned in a 9 reception, 108-yard performance. He’s 6’6, 260 pounds and ran a 4.7 40-yard dash. His vertical jump is 37 inches.
He has all the tools to become a starting tight end in the NFL. Drafting in the second round, I’m sure that’s all the Bears could’ve hoped for.
But there lies one of the issues. I’m not sure they needed to snag him as early as they did. After all, they had another pick seven slots later where they drafted Jaylon Johnson (more on him later). Of the picks between the Bears first two, only two offensive players were drafted — both wide receivers.
It’s impossible for someone like me to know whether Kmet would’ve still been there at 50. But with the information we have, it looks like he may have been. That goes back to Ryan Pace’s biggest tendency: When he sees something he likes, strategy goes out the window. He can’t help himself.
The Bears in general have been offenders of this draft mistake over the years. The draft, more than anything, is about creating the most value possible for your organization. When you take players you like, it’s a good thing. But when you take them without considering the dozens of other factors that come with it — that’s bad.
Let’s say the Bears could’ve gotten Kmet at 50. That would’ve allowed them to take a top-tier safety — LSU’s Grant Delpit (44th pick) or Antoine Winfield Jr. (45th pick) — alongside him. This isn’t a knock on Jaylon Johnson, but netting a premier safety prospect in addition to the best tight end in the draft would’ve felt a whole lot better.
Even if Johnson and Kmet were the two players the Bears wanted no matter what, they could’ve explored trading back. Pace said they had an opportunity to do so, but they decided against it. See: Pace’s biggest tendency. He wanted who he wanted and tunnel vision took over.
Having another Friday pick or even an early pick on Saturday to make up for the compensation pick we lost with the Nick Foles trade would’ve been a great get and increased our chances of getting more than a couple meaningful players in this year’s draft.
Now, the second issue with this pick. The Bears gave Jimmy Graham $9 million guaranteed, all while pressed up against the cap this offseason. If you give a tight end that much money in the situation we’re in cap-wise, the idea that you’re scrambling to take a tight end with your first pick in the draft looks, to put it kindly, odd.
I’ve yet to meet someone — check that, I’ve met one person, but I don’t think he’s watched football since Fortnite hit the market in 2017 — who thought the Jimmy Graham signing was a good idea. The Kmet pick suggests, to some extent, the Bears aren’t even all that sure it is either.
Now, of course most good teams have more than one competent, pass-catching tight end. The Bears have a double-digit group of tight ends on their roster right now — which has been a little overplayed, it’s not like they will come Week 1 — and Kmet may already be the best tight end. On one hand, that’s a good thing. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean he’s good.
But I do think Kmet is good, and the evidence we have at our disposal suggests he is as well. His blocking needs improvement, no doubt, but it seems the Bears priorities lie in the passing game right now.
It’s also unlikely that Kmet will make an immediate impact, most rookie tight ends don’t. If he does, at least we’ll know that the Bears knocked this pick out of the park.
At the end of the day, tight end was a need, and the Bears got — supposedly — the best one available. The bottom line is that the Bears did not have a tight end amass 100 yards last year, and it’s borderline impossible to have a good offense with that little production coming from the position.
In a vacuum, there’s no reason to not like this pick. The issues listed above have nothing to do with Kmet himself.
It’s also worth remembering that the Bears brought in a new tight ends coach this offseason, Clancy Barone.
You remember him — the guy that looks like he would be the leader on a panel to keep two-a-days and probably calls millenials pussies three times per day?
Well, Mr. Barone has a track record. At every stop he’s had in the NFL, he’s coached a Pro Bowl tight end. Those include Alge Crumpler, Antonio Gates, Julius Thomas and Kyle Rudolph.
If nothing else, the Bears have made at least one objective clear: Have a meaningful tight end option in 2020.
Jaylon Johnson
The Bears turned around and completed the 4th Phase’s 15 minutes of fun on Friday by drafting Jaylon Johnson out of Utah with the 50th overall pick.
It’s time to call back to my draft guide from the last newsletter to evaluate this one. Is Johnson from the Big Ten? No. The SEC? No. The MAC? No. Uh oh. But, do I know who he is? Yes I do! Ding, ding, ding. Here comes a hall-of-famer.
The last couple of years I’ve been a Pac 12 After Dark addict. If you don’t know, Pac 12 After Dark just refers to the Pac 12 games being played late on Saturday nights because their time zone lags behind ours.
I’m a Big Ten guy through and through. I’m a sucker for the SEC on CBS. Love a 7 o’clock kickoff with Herby and Fowler on ESPN. But Pac 12 After Dark, now that’s my vice. The night is winding down and you’re feeling another Saturday come to a close. Worse yet, another college football weekend has come and gone. You try not to, but you think about the waning season, counting the weeks you have left. That’s where Pac 12 After Dark comes in. Fear not, there is still live football on and you still — theoretically — have the chance to make back all that money you lost in the first 10 hours of Saturday.
That’s why I know Jaylon Johnson and that’s why I know the dude is a stud. Johnson is 6-foot, near 200 pounds, and ran a 4.5 40-yard dash. In three years at Utah, he amassed 7 picks and 102 tackles in 37 games played. He contributed to one of college football’s best defenses last year.
He’s got all the instincts you’d want out of a defensive back in the draft. And the Bears did need a cornerback, even though I argued last week that I would have been fine with Kevin Toliver, Tre Roberson, and Artie Burns battling it out for that spot that Prince Amukamara’s departure left behind.
The issue with Johnson, as you found out about 3.5 seconds after the Bears drafted him, is his injuries. He’s had three shoulder surgeries in the last four years and played all last year on a torn labrum.
To make matters worse, NFL teams were operating in the dark this year. Teams were not able to conduct full physical evaluations of players due to the coronavirus, so it’s not as if the Bears were able to double and triple check on his health. The proof is in the pudding, though: three shoulder surgeries in four years is no joke.
And shoulder issues don’t go away. I’d argue they’re one of the more concerning injuries for a prospect to have, maybe outside of a knee. Once a shoulder goes bad, it never really gets good again.
Pace said that they were encouraged by the health information that Johnson did disclose, but there’s no real of knowing how healthy he’ll be in the next five years, especially with the limited interaction teams had with the prospects.
Still, if the Bears didn’t take Johnson, a team would’ve shortly after. In fact, I saw at least a few examples of draft gurus being surprised he was there at all at 50.
So, again, in a vacuum — considering the football player only — I like the pick. But there’s so much more to it than just the on-field performances.
Having said all of that…
Let’s go. Pac 12 After Dark forever.
Trevis Gipson
This Trevis Gipson, an edge linebacker/end hybrid from Tulsa, got caught in the Ryan Pace tunnel on Saturday. Pace was licking his lips from across the bar when he saw Gipson falling in the draft. He pulled out one of those — oh, you know, whatever picks *a 4th rounder next year* — out of his back pocket and slid it to the bartender.
Put it on my tab.
“God damn, what are you, 6’3, 260?” he said, creepily.
“261,” he whispered back to Pace, and the rest was history.
I can imagine the first credit card Ryan Pace got was maxed out pretty quickly. You’re saying I don’t have to pay this off ‘til next month?
The Bears are never going to have a normal amount of picks, or a surplus, as long as Pace is in charge.
The bright side, though, is Gipson’s upside. He’s a new-age, NFL EDGE fit and the Bears did need depth at that position. Keep in mind, Robert Quinn and Khalil Mack can’t play every down, as much as we’d like them to.
Gipson had 8 sacks and 15 tackles for loss last year and gets off the ball quickly. Pro Football Focus (PFF) included him in their March evaluation of potential sleepers in this year’s draft.
Gipson qualifies as a project because of how raw his set of pass-rushing moves is, but at the same time we like projects who are already grading out well. He earned an 89.7 pass-rushing grade at Tulsa last year despite lining up over tackles as a 3-4 defensive end on most snaps last year. With ideal length at 33 ⅞-inches and good bend, Gibson has the traits to get the job done in the NFL.
Pace makes the draft hard for a fan, because he gets players that he likes — and we grow to like — but they always come at a significant cost. It’s hard to stomp your feet that hard about a 2021 4th rounder, but Pace’s desperation tactics will most likely burn us somewhere down the line.
Kindle Vildor
Eight picks after Gipson, the Bears further padded their cornerback depth. So much for Kevin Toliver and co. battling it out. The CB room just got a lot more crowded. Smarter people than I seemed to be really excited about this pick, and the cornerback focus in lieu of safety focus seems to cement the Bears’ faith in Deon Bush at safety.
Darnell Mooney
Darnell Mooney ran a sub-4.4 yard dash at the combine and his speed is transferrable. He gives the Bears a much-needed potential threat in the wide receiver room now that Taylor Gabriel is gone. The issue is his size. At 5’10, 176 pounds, he doesn’t exactly have a prototypical body for the big leagues. The question is whether his speed will make up for that or not.
Arlington Hambright and Lachavious Simmon
… are real names and are O-linemen out of Colorado and Tennessee State. The Bears clearly think that their coaching changes (don’t bank on it) are enough to shore up their shaky offensive line. They made a few non-consequential signings in free agency and then rounded out the draft with two seventh-round picks dedicated to the big men up front.
Khalil Mack’s Brother
The Bears signed Khalil Mack’s brother.
He literally looks like a poor man’s version of Khalil Mack:
The Bears draft wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great either. It all depends on what you thought the Bears were lacking. My feeling is that they’re way more bullish on the offensive line situation than the rest of us. They also have much more confidence, clearly, in Deon Bush than most of us.
I know the tendency is to get mad when drafts aren’t flashy.
But bear in mind that boring drafts are often better ones. We all wanted that one sweet player we saw still on the board. But in the end, the team that “wins” the draft — in other words, the team that acquires the most flashy prospects — often doesn’t come out a winner five years down the line.
Comment your thoughts on the Bears draft below!
Nothing like getting pissed off over 6th-round picks on a perfectly good Saturday. Thanks for reading, as always. As always, next newsletter will be the best one yet. Keep your eyes open for more SGCTC later this week.
Did Nagy turn Zach Ertz into the player he is today? Not sure honestly, don't even know if Ertz was on the Eagle by the time Nagy went to KC. Which leads me to my next point... Travis Kelce baby. And for the sake of this argument, im going to assume Nagy turn both Ertz and Kelce into the best receiving TEs in football. You see where im getting at...Cole Kmet...with Jimmy Graham on the other end to take all the attention. This is going to look VERY similar to the 2012 Patriots, except the Bears are going to be murdering the flats, not the civilians! Still don't think it was that great of pick.
I wanted Delpit or Winfield badly. However, I think I am going to love Kmet. Nothing gets me fired up like a 4 yard button hook! Also, the video of him with his family was so awesome. Excited about Jaylon Johnson if he can stay healthy.
I was laughing out loud to myself when the Bears traded a... Fifth round pick for a fourth round pick? Do you think Rick Spielman was laughing to himself when he got that phone call? Obviously I know very little about the semantics of the draft, but the Bears were also picking 5 picks after that. Maybe wait and see if you can get him at 169 before jumping to 163 and offering next years higher round draft pick? But what do I know.
Horace Grant is the absolute man, and I couldn't help but grind my teeth every time that they showed Bill Laimbeer. Such a punk.
Lastly, can we get a running list of everyone who is SGCTC ceritified?