Fox Sports Sunday: Mike Harmon & Mark Medina Talk NBA All-Star Break, NBA Dunk Contest, and so Much More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Greet exam a little later time, same loud ass voice
coming through your radio speakers. Welcome in. It's a beautiful
Fox Sports Sunday. I have it on the rundown so
brilliantly put down by our executive producer Shay. It's no
longer football season, so it's it looks like that is
either a serial killer or a five year old somewhere

(00:26):
in between. Either way, Here we are another beautiful Sunday.
I'm Mike Carmon. Welcome in. You hear me with Jason
Smith during the week. You also hear this man uh
several times over the course of the week here on
Fox Sports Radio. I know he is up late last
night doing a hit with our own Bernie Fratto. It's
Mark Medina at mark g Underscore. Medina is where you

(00:46):
find him here in Los Angeles, living right down the street.
Now you're showing me the Lindy's promo sports key to Athlon.
You've been all over the TV.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Stuff RG dot Org, Let's Seela, Spectrum Sportsnet, and let's
not forget Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
There you go, hustling all the way through, keeping you
apprized of everything going on in our NBA. What a
busy weekend it is. And I just start with this
mark after a week of goodwill where they overwhelmed Super
Bowl coverage for several days, even on the media rod
because they don't call it radio row anymore because we're

(01:24):
talking all media, all encompassing big hug. That the NBA,
the trade deadline, obviously, the seismic shift. I went and
saw the hulks so I could say it, you know,
kind of jumping into la. That was Luka Doncic and
his effect. Right, Harrison Ford is the big redmnuch. You've
seen the commercials. I'm not spoiling anything, is. It took
over and we had a week of good will. Nobody

(01:46):
was talking about the game, problems with the game and
anything else. Maybe some problems with teams making trades and
quote quitting, but we we celebrated the game for a
week and then came All Star weekend and well we're
right back in the same spot.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
We are back to normal. We're now seeing a skills
contest that was boring, you know some and we'll get
into it later. Didn't take it seriously. We have a
three point contest that was okay, but not great and
another dunk contest where macmclung had to come in and
save the day. Outside of his heroics, it was another
ho hum contest. So yeah, status quo. As usual for

(02:21):
All Star.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
We cout, so we get right back into the negativity
and ah the game and what's wrong with the game,
And and again Adam Silver for all the incoming he
takes you and I talking a little bit as we're
getting ready for the show. Look at the TV deal
we just signed. Look at all the money that's flowing through.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
The NBA is gonna be okay. Don't worry, Mike.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I don't think they're gonna be standing standing around, you know,
singing a song on the street corner for their money.
Not to denigrate anybody that does that. I love the hustle.
You gotta get yourself heard and seen and fed. However
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for at ti raq dot com for that. So Mark,
as you have your your maiden voyage here on a

(03:28):
Sunday morning with me here. I mean, you've covered this
league extensively obviously in the last couple of weeks, a
lot of running around trying to get information and get
behind the scenes, right, get into the dirty, soft underbelly.
And I'm not making Luca fat jokes like so many
people when I say that of that trade and how
it came down, still a lot of a lot of

(03:48):
misgivings or anger, I think would be the more proper term,
especially in Dallas, but even here in La was all right,
what does this mean? Everybody trying to go big picture
instead of in the moment just going Lucas showed up.
He's gonna play some basketball.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah. It was wild seeing Luca's debut earlier this week
because it had the same kind of buzz that I remember.
It was at a Lakers game for Kobe Bryant's final
game in twenty sixteen, where he ended with a sixty
point capper. It had similar buzz when Lebron James broke
Kareem Abdul Jabbar's record to become the NBA's all time
lead score in twenty twenty three. Just so many celebrities,

(04:27):
so many fans, just being engaged in the moment. They
handed out number seventy seven Luca Donchit jersey. So literally
everyone in the building was already wearing a Luca jersey.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
And you saw Lebron's buy into it a couple of
hours before came time. He was, yeah, smiling from like
the Cheshire cat.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Well, he bought into it from start to finish. It
started with texting Luca Dncht saying hey, handle it however
you want, with starting lineup intros and Lucas saying okay,
well I'll be announced last, and then moving forward, you'll
be announced last in future games, and then him telling
Luca in the pregame huddle, you know, don't worry about

(05:06):
fitting in, fit out. He threw a few f bombs
in there, but that was a direct contrast. You may
recall during his years the second go around with Cleveland,
where Kevin Love was talking about, hey, I'm trying to
figure out how to fit out and make that Big
three work. And then he did those whole Da Vinci
code tweet about don't worry about fitting out, fit in,

(05:28):
and be a part of something special direct completely a
completely opposite message that he gave for Luca. Understandably so
because Luca is a special player. But yeah, a lot
of buzz across the board, but a lot of questions
moving forward on how this is all going to play out.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, I mean, they obviously get a couple of quasi
warm up games and look, they're all professionals. I celebrate
them all. Congratulations to those on the Utah Jazz that
first game, like you couldn't schedule it any better, I
guess for his debuts, although they ended up opping the
second game, which all of a sudden, you know, we're
no longer a camelot. Everything isn't great, and now we

(06:06):
have this problem. Right, so when we look at the
overarching effect, we get into the large scale part of
what is All Star weekend. Right, all of that happens,
and people can complain about timing. It's never a good time.
It's like anything in your life, right, there's really never
a good time to get married, to move, to have

(06:27):
a kid, to like all of those things. There's always
a reason or multiple reasons not to. And so we
get to this All Star break right after the trade deadline,
still a lot of speculating. We got the buy out
market that still has to come, so a lot of
jockeying because, let's face it, it's a convention at this point, right,
because nobody wants to participate in these things, even Steph Curry.

(06:50):
He showed up for the three point shoot up. He
looked good, but he just stood there.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Right, He smiled and clapped for Buddy heeled pay.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
He was very, very excited for Buddy heeld'snd. So that
was great, the one guy who actually did have a
pretty good first round, right, and and got hot down
the stretch in a familiar shooting background. All of that stuff.
But all of that say, we get to All Star
weekend and immediately the Daggers are out. We've got all

(07:18):
of the oh why won't they participate? It's the same
tired argument, but it's nothing anybody's addressing. The closest we
got was after Mac McClung, John Morant and Giannis and
Tenna Cooper going hey, this guy makes me might want
to dunk, Like why you even do that, because now
if you don't participate next year, are you ready for

(07:38):
that incoming? Both you guys have shown yourself as kind
of soft when it comes to public criticism. John Morant
is old man, will get in trouble for yelling at
somebody about it. And then Yannis, as you know, as
much as he likes to play, you know, do the
little poking fun and be you know, impish grin, whenever
he's gotten criticized, he retreats and acts like a five

(08:02):
year old. So like, are they ready for what comes
if they don't actually participate?

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah, I'm gonna say this now, they're not going to participate.
And I understand why they're not going to participate. When
you're looking at Mac McClung's dunk, specifically over the car,
it was impressive, but he also I kind of clipped
his leg a little bit on the car. I'm in Memphis, Grizzlies.
I'm telling John Morant, no, you are not participating the
dunk contest. You may also recall Mike that earlier this season,

(08:29):
John Morant has vowed, you know what, I'm not gonna
dunk anymore. Now he did break that because he did
have a few throwdowns. But the larger point of why
he was saying he was not going to dunk because
he had some shorter injuries last season, and part of
that was because he was such a high flyer with
attack in the basket. So yeah, he's not participating the
dunk contest. It was fun to see the tweet because

(08:50):
it gives us something to talk about. But I think
it was very much in the moment being part trying
to be a part of the excitement. But it's gonna
fade and it's not going to happen.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Everybody just said, hey, you need to be active on
All Star Saturday night and need at least one tweet
from you about what's going on. But to that point,
let's do the dunk contest. Mac McClung people do in
the deep dive on what he may or may not
have earned from his dunk wins against his salary. I
know there's some noise about two way contracts and stuff.

(09:22):
I'm not a huge Let's bring out a bunch of
props and ladders and seven foot guys to dunk over
or whatever. It's cool in the moment, but it's like,
all right, Stefan Castle did some really crazy creative stuff
that by comparison doesn't rate the same. Right, he goes
up in the air, does the behind the back while

(09:43):
in the air and makes it look easy, and its
like I was boring. The crowd had no response, right,
absolutely lifeless to it. But then you wheel out a
car or put another guy out there. Oh wait, now
let's add another whatever it was, another foot riser, and
he's gonna over to your point, potential for injury and
chaos that comes with all of that. But just as

(10:07):
soon as we get into I've never been a prop
comic guy, I'm not a prop prop guy in this regard.
I'll take what Castle did.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, the purity, the.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Sanctity or whatever it is. And it's got nothing to
do with him being a g leaguer. Like I saw
some people mad that he Participated's like, you're trying to
put on a show. If he actually wants to participate
and puts on a good show that people get behind,
how do we complain about it?

Speaker 3 (10:31):
Yeah, I'm not going to complain at all about mac
mcclong being part of it. I mean he's embraced it. Obviously,
he's not a star player. So this helps him. But
you know, he also could very well say I'm not
going to be a part of this because I'm trying
to protect my NBA future just to make sure I'm
not in the G League. And he didn't do that.
And I understand your point that everyone has a different taste.

(10:53):
Some don't want the props, some reward the props because
of creativity. But the bottom line is it was still
impressed for him to jump over a car. But I
think you bring up a good point about Stefan Castle.
For all the criticism that we're hurrowing about All Star Weekend,
he actually epitomized what can be good about All Star Weekend.
Not only did he participate in the Dunk Contest, he

(11:15):
won the Rising Stars MVP. He's going to be a
part of this new format with tonight's games where the
Rising Stars play against Shacks Ogs and if they win,
they can advance to play in the next game. But
we also have to keep in mind Stefan Castle is
not a superstar player. He's doing this because he has

(11:36):
this opportunity. But I think that it is a lesson
that I hope the stars later tonight take that for
whatever they've already accomplished. All Star Weekend should still be
treated as a tenth pole event because this really affects
how lucrative these TV rights deals are. So as a

(11:59):
result of that, put on an entertaining show. You don't
gotta do Game seven intensity, don't got to slap the
floor and take charges. But you know what, at least
compete in care and we haven't seen that in recent years.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, in my head immediately with the old Wojo Bojahowski
for the Duke Blue Devils, that was his signature, come on,
let's go. But for Stefan Castle obviously getting a lot
of run. You mentioned the Rising Stars MVP. One of
the things we pointed out when you joined Jason and
I on the show at Mark g Underscore Medina. Of
course check out everything he's got going there, joins us

(12:32):
on Fox Sports Radio was with the Spurs that he
didn't have to be part of any deal to go
land de Aaron Fox. He didn't, He wasn't part. They
didn't give up any of the talent, and you saw
the promos and everything. They really did a lot of work.
Stefan Castle is a guy that clearly they have some
thoughts is going to be on the in the public
eye here for a while teamed with Wemby, teamed with

(12:54):
de Aaron Fox, that you're gonna be getting to see
him quite a bit before it's all said and done.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah. Look, I think with Spurs they can pencil in
that they're going to make the or make the playoffs
this season. Now how far they can go, It's hard
for me to really project any Western Conference team outside
of Oklahoma City making a deep playoff push. Because shake
Gilles Alexander MVP caliber player. I think that he is
in the running to win MVP. But they also have

(13:21):
such a deep team, so many wing defenders. They've been
able to do this despite having overlapping injuries with their
big guys. First with Isaiah Hartenstein now Chet Holmgren, they
seem to be like a well oiled machine. But ever
since they got Dearon Fox and also kept Stefan Castle's
part of this deal, I don't think that they're a

(13:41):
sneaky good team that can just make the playing tournament.
I'm gonna pencil them in as one of those six
seeds that get in outright now, what they're ceiling is
it could be first round and out. But they have
a very bright future because Victor Weanbiniama. He's going to
be playing in Spurs uniform, you know, in the next
decade or so.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
There's the name that we will jump off with, going
into a larger all star conversation about what we expect
a little bit later today, criticisms thereof and all the
media coverage that we got yesterday because wembin Yama had
something fun to say and I think people are interested
for later on today. We'll get to that as we
continue here. It's Fox Sports Sunday. Thanks to Chris Burffett

(14:25):
and Shay making a sound so pretty this morning. That's
Mark Medina. I'm Mike Carmen, and thanks for being part
of the extended family here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Sunday here Fox Sports Radio
Mike Harmon alongside Mark Medina. Welcome him in folks at
Mark g Underscore Medina, come and do your normal yelling
and complaining about what I have to say at Swollen Dome.
I take the love, I take the hay. It's all
good positive energy for me. I welcome it all. We
love you here at Fox Sports Radio. You got a

(15:06):
lot of ways to listen to us, obviously, a lot
of things you could be doing on a Sunday, Ready
for Daytona later on. They're doing the warm ups now
and pit bulls out there. He has no gloves on,
Mark Medina, no gloves, I would have lost that prop bet.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
I'm looking at that at the feed right now. He
brought the kind of performance intensity that we hope we
will see for the NBA All Star Games. It's not
just one game tonight. It's a new format. It's a
tournament format. The ogs that Shack picked against the rising
stars and then Shaq and Kenny or Chuck and Kenny.
I think Chuck chose the international stars. Kenny's got the

(15:44):
young stars, so hopefully they can match this kind of
concert performance that we're.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Well, we're trying. We're hoping for that kind of energy
and competitive fire. No question about guys are actually going
to participate. I think as of now nobody's opted out.
It's not like a Pro Bowl situation. I do like
the jumpsuits, the racing stripes I think are a nice
touch for the people dancing on the stage there for
pit Bull. But you got a full night of action

(16:09):
in addition to the NBA start. I was telling you
before the show, and you know, we're talking with share producers,
like I had like three screens going on, Like I
got so much done yesterday. I had nowhere to be,
so I watched a ton of sports college buckets, women's
college buckets, and men's We'll get to the Illinois flap
in a minute, because that was just insane. Obviously, all

(16:30):
of the All Star Saturday Night the Tournament US Canada,
where we've got three fights in the first nine seconds
of a game. You know what the over underund fights
was for the game two and a half. So nine
seconds in you're cashing a ticket that was offically a fight, Right, Yeah,
let's go. It's fight night. I had a WWE premium

(16:52):
event that was streaming as well, Vengeance for NXT.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
I mean, I got it all in well, Mike, it
was a loaded sports calendary yesterday, But I am disappointed
that we didn't see one event that I was under
the impression that was going to happen amid all this
beef that was created last week with JJ Reddick and
you know who, Jason Smith. I thought that there was
going to be some sort of competition with JJ Reddick
shooting threes Jason Plaine three point contest on Nintendo. I

(17:20):
thought that was going to be part of All Star Weekend.
I guess they didn't get the memo.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
I was, well, I was really trying to get that together.
We're still working out. I mean, as you know, some
things for All Star Weekend, no matter how much work
they put in, doesn't happen. Yeah, go ahead and find
our take. Smith and I Caitlyn Clark and her power
in the sporting universe. Disagree with it if you want,
but you can't all together dismiss it when you look

(17:43):
at the idea that you got. Steph Curry, I'll do it. Yeah,
Caitlyn does want to. Okay, we're scrapping the event. Okay, cool,
But yeah, the JJ Reddick Jason Smith beef. For those unaware,
my co host during the week had some things to
say when JJ Reddick was as to many people and
jaj is a guy that I mean, I'll say it.

(18:05):
It's Sunday morning, think churchy thoughts, but he's he read,
asked about things right, the antennas are up. But he's
also a guy that worked in media. And this was
the thrust of what Smith and I got into, like,
this is a guy that denigrated the history of the
league that feeds him and that he played in by

(18:27):
calling all the guys basically that came before him plumbers
and electricians. So how is me questioning your acumen as
a coach after coaching only children a problem? When you
have dismissed seventy years of basketball, when you have absolutely

(18:47):
categorically thrown out the history, saying the guys that were
on the sixties Celtics don't matter. That Will Chamberlain, Oscar
Roberts had all these legends that built a platform of
which you were speaking about, that and which you played in,
and that in which you are now coaching in that

(19:07):
you've dismissed anything they've done, how are you then going
to question the credibility of anybody that talks on the
radio or television at that point?

Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah, period, I agree wholeheartedly. And the thing about that
commentary is I mostly agree with JJ Reddick's analysis of
the game. I have my own issues about how the
game is now. But one thing I do believe that
he also believes is there are more skilled players. There's
more sophistication about training and how organizations manage players and

(19:42):
how they manage the salary cap. Those things are better.
But what can also be true is that the competitive
intensity isn't the same as it was before, and the
importance of a game from both fans, organizations and players
haven't been the same. So he can make his point
without saying, oh, yeah, the previous generation of players weren't good.

(20:07):
They weren't great. It was just a different kind of game.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Right. You also have innovations in nutrition and understanding of
the human body. I mean, we're leaps and bounds ahead
of where we were. I sustained, and look, I'm old
enough to where I had an injury to a knee
that nobody would ever sign off for another sporting endeavor. Nowadays,
you'd be back on the court or back on a
football field in six months maybe if it took that long.

(20:33):
But back then it was like, nah, you did that
to your leg, You're done. They wouldn't take me at
west point right right now? They did do how many
millions of dollars in ads to beg you to come
join the military over all these years, and there's a
lot of complaining about flyovers or whatever else. We're not
getting into any of that part of it, but like
they literally did a forty five minute call with me.
I told them that this injury is like, hey, good

(20:53):
luck wherever you go to college. Son, it was great
meeting you.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
Click Mike. In other words, would you have passed the
physical You're a part of that Charlotte Hornet's trade unlike
Mark Williams.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
No, actually no. But it's funny that you bring that
up because that has been part of the backdrop. Adam Silver,
of course having to do his State of the Union
as we do, remind her that shortly after the show
though the podcast will we go up? If you missed
any of today's show, be sure to check it out.
Search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast, Fox

(21:23):
Sports Weekends, Fox Sports Sunday, Harmon and Medina, Medina and Harmon.
However you find it, be sure to follow, rate, review it,
send it to your friends and family, Tell him how
much you love or hate us. It's all the same,
all good energy coming through. Search Fox Sports Radio wherever
you gets your podcast you'll see the show posted right
after we get off the air. Yeah, this stuff with

(21:43):
Smith and Reddick was fun because he responded to our
colleague Dan Woiki's question LA Times and it goes, well,
is this from a real person or is it Jason Smith?
And he added some numbers. People in the room clearly
knew who Jason Smith was. All right, LA based. We
are on AM five seventy LA Sports here, so yeah,

(22:07):
some of the fun with that. But as they get
to the All Star Game, you know, look, JJ Redick's
got other things to be concerned about. We poke fun
of the on court and that back and forth. I
know he's using the time are affected by the fires
here in southern California, So obviously all the best he
and his family. We can agree to disagree and I'll

(22:29):
fight through the media. I don't have any numbers after
my Twitter handle just yet, and I think he's afraid
to say at Swollen Dome in a press conference. But
we're at the All Star Game, the celebration, and one
of the things with Luca we get into this battle
mark all the time is the you know, face of
the game, right, the Elder Statesman lebron At every turn

(22:50):
telling you I'm not gonna do this much longer. I'm
not gonna be here much longer. Steph Curry will get
to his comments next hour about you know, how he
wants to go out. But then you the young guys
being asked point blank, hey, do you want to be
the face of the league. Anthony Edwards had his thoughts
uh as to how he wants to pursue this.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Consider yourself the top candidate to be the next phase
of the league.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
No, not really, that's what they got. Uh, that's what
they got.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Went before.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
He went on to say, I just want to be
the guy that comes in and beats you. Other people
can do that kind of talking about responsibility and the
gravi toss that goes with being the face of the leaks,
like I just want to come in, do my work
and go. And then clearly it's like everybody assembled, because
it's you know, the media scrum of who you're going
to see and which guy you're standing in front of whatever.

(23:41):
Sometimes you're the only guy on the dais, you know,
for those you know pulling back the curtain. Every once
in a while there's one or two guys up there,
or you're basically, you've got to go sprint to a
part of the room where the guy is and clearly
when be gonna draw a massive audience when you get
to an All Star game. But Anthony Edwards basically just
saying not me and Mike.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
I was, so, what's surprised about Anthony Edwards's comment? Look,
I always normally like his no filter and his honesty
is authenticity. That's one of the reasons why the Wolves
and their fan base are so enamored with him. But
I thought that he would take the reins here. I mean,
we have to keep in mind when he was with
the US Olympic team last summer and we were talking

(24:19):
to him during practice about who's going to be the
guy who wants to take the last shot. He was
saying he wants to.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Take and we applauded him.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Here was the greatest curR applauded and he said, Look,
we have Lebron and Katie and stuff, but I want
Anthony Edwards to say this. And I also am very
well aware. I remember talking to him his second season,
after coming off a really good rookie year, and he
was saying that he didn't feel fully comfortable being someone

(24:49):
that is trying to take a primary scoring load or
having a bigger leadership role because he wanted to respect
the Vets, the locker room dynamics and people appreciated for him.
But if he is being given an opportunity, he should hoist.
He should take that bataon and run with it. Because
Victor Wee Binyama, he's a generational talent. He can become

(25:13):
the voice and face of the league. But as we've
seen in this previous generation, it's not just Steph, it's
not just Lebron, it's not just a rant, it's all
of them. So Anthony Edwards needs to be part of that.
And also you add in the fact that Victor one Binyama,
he's very popular, but he's an international star. It's very
important to be able to hit every single lane, having

(25:35):
international faces of the league, domestic face of the league,
and just make it sure that it's all about a
lot of great stars, not just one player and everyone else.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Because, let's face that was one of Adam Silver's biggest
talking points. He even had a handout about it. Mark.
I mean we were talking about it as we were
getting ready to do the show. I mean, here's all
the international reach for all of you folks that want
to complain about our television ratings or whatever else. Look
at this and like shaking the piece of paper. You
know he's doing this whole thing. I got numbers hit

(26:05):
backs it up. We're all over the globe. Look at
all these guys that are coming to I mean, look
at the way we're doing the game today, which long
argued go back to the old standard hockey run, not
necessarily the four nation thing like we're doing here for
instead of the NHL All Star Game, but US against
the globe, it always works, tried and true formula. Maybe

(26:27):
it hits a little too much on the nose right now.
And you saw the reaction to just the national anthem
being played in that US Canada game yesterday. For those
that missed the US over Canada in the Nation's Cup,
they'll play on Thursday against Finland, a little little gold
medal rematch all these years later. But to your point, right,

(26:49):
you've got to have guys that represent a bit of everything,
And with Anthony Edward also a hey, you're in a
I don't call any of them small markets, but on
a relative scale, you're a small market guy that they
want to make the face of the league. Hell yeah,
jump on in.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
And look, we were talking about this earlier about the
NBA ratings discussion. Where they're at, there might be a decline,
but let's be very clear, the NBA is not going anywhere.
They're in great financial shape. They signed that lucrative TV deal,
and part of it has to do with the fact
and Adam Silver somewhat acknowledged it that their survival their

(27:29):
business model is not dependent on who's viewing the games,
because linear cable is not just the only option. There's
stoke so many streaming platforms. But they're also mindful of
the engagement of watching highlights, game attendance, how many fans
are buying merchandise. But I think it's still important for
the NBA to hit all the different lanes, and one

(27:52):
of the lanes I think is very important, it's lays
Hall start weekend in the game itself and throughout the
regular season the playoffs, is that there still needs to
be an importance for the game itself, not just for players,
but for also fans. And what we've seen in recent
years is there's so much attention on literally every single
thing except for the game. With the personalities, the trades,

(28:16):
the free agency moves, the soap opera, the highlights, but
we don't really talk about the games. And part of
that is because it hasn't been seen as important for organizations,
players and fans. But if they are able to tap
into that more and more, it's gonna make it for
a better product. But how they do that, it's incumbent
on every single young star to lean into wanting to

(28:39):
carry that torch.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, I think a lot of it, you know, as
you unpacked it down down the backside. There is that
we do see and have the the plethora of games
at our disposal. It's a long slog, right, eighty two games,
a lot of games wear and tear on the body.
They've done a good job based on fighting with the
union about back to backs, trying to get rid of

(29:03):
the load management scourge that came to the league as
best they can. But the reality is it doesn't feel
like you've got juice on most nights, right, which is
why that Luca appearance was something different. Right, all the
celebrities in the crowd, it's all find it good, but
just that you can see it from the television and

(29:23):
you were there, just that juice is in the arena
an hour before you tip off. Yeah, and it stayed right.
You had a palpable buzz around and the court side,
and they did a good job because normally you're framing it.
It's like a if you have a live event and
you don't sell out the second and third decks, you
can frame it to where it's like, look at it.
The rock is crowd with those three people.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
No.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
No, they did wide crowd shots as many three hundred
levels as you know, celebrity row shots during that lucagame
and they're like, all right, that's what you're trying to get. Now.
You can't do that forty one home dates a year,
but you need it more than once. Yeah, And I
think that's the larger when we talk about where the
NBA is. You know, look, football is an event. You've

(30:06):
only got seventeen games, You've got nine or eight home
dates depending on what it is. So like there's that
everything matters. The hard part is you get into a
point in the NBA season and this is where I
think for a lot of the players, this is your
take advantage of the moment kind of opportunity. Right, we
talked about the Super Bowl last week Daytona five hundred
on Fox. Later on today their super Bowl starts their season.

(30:29):
For the NBA, folks are just kind of coming back
and really going to pay attention now. If you're a
really huge fan of a team, you've been in, you've
watched it from day one, coming in October, and you're
here for the casuals that are now looking to fill
their schedule, this is where you can jump off and
really take it to a whole other level. For Edwards,
for whoever else. Here's your here's your show out opportunity

(30:52):
and a national audience. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
And I will say, in fairness, I think that we're
going to see some good games today because it's a
new format, And I think the way the new format
works is it's not about time and score. You have
to reach forty points. So we're not going to be
seeing people forcing up shots or just hoisting things because
they want to score forty as quickly as they can.
There's also going to be more of an emphasis on

(31:16):
playing somewhat better defense. Also, the matchups itself, you have
the Ogs against the rising stars. Each generation is going
to want to make a statement. You have the international
stars against the domestic stars. They're going to want to
make a statement. But I do have concerns after this
season can it sustain because you may recall Mike, this

(31:38):
has been an ongoing thing with All Star weekend, the games,
very little defense played, or the games or the players
taken seriously. In the twenty twenty All Star Game in Chicago,
you know, is a month or so after Kobe Bryant's tragedy.
As one of many ways the league wanted to honor him,
Is said, how about we change the format to the game?
Were the first three quid it's played the normal way.

(32:02):
Last quarter you have to reach a target score twenty
four in honor of Kobe's jersey, so you accumulate all
those scores from the first three quarters, and then twenty four.
The first to reach that wins. We saw a really
competitive game because it was a new format. I think
players wanted to honor Kobe because of the circumstances. But
the very next year that fizzle went away, and then

(32:24):
they decided to go back to the normal format again.
I fear that after this season it's going to be
the same thing next year, and we'll see it up
close because it's now into it them in LA. Will
this new tournament format sustain? I have my skepticism because
of the past history.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
No, And that's just it, right. It's throwing a lot
of stuff against the wall to see if it sticks.
Part of it is the player buying the way these
matchups set up. You've got the intrigue of just trying
not to be shown up right, the Ogs as they're called.
You got Draymond Green, and we could do five hours
on everything he had to say, because he said plenty.

(33:02):
He's media guy, media savvy and really leaning into it,
but basically saying, these guys don't belong on Sunday, like
these guys don't belong here. So the expectation, I think
is that you can instill that in the Ogs to
just go out and slap them around. But I mean
they're gonna go lightly. As we talk about Castle and

(33:23):
some of these other guys that are playing don't connect
and he wants in Yeah, right, he's still salty about
having been kind of traded.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Yeah, I'm sure he'll want his highlight reel with making
a three against Lebron. I think you're also gonna see
the og is wanting to make a stand and yeah,
We're not gonna let these young kids do anything to us.
So yeah, we'll see some good performances. But the larger
point that I'm making you hit on it. I wrote
it about it as well for a column for RG
dot org this week. It comes down to player buying.

(33:55):
If they care about the event, it'll be an entertaining event.
If they don't care, we'll see what we saw the
last two years of layup lines, threes and no defense
and Adam Silver congratulating a team for breaking the record
for most points scored, but in a very annoyed, passive
aggressive tone. It do we get to be the players

(34:15):
buying into this?

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Can we get more than three files this year? He's
Mark mcdo at Mark g Underscore Medina where you find
him RG dot org, sports Keta, read him in a
number of sites. Obviously you hear him here on Fox
Sports Radio during this week and now on Sundays with
me for these two hours as we roll through. We
appreciate you being with us. As we continue from the

(34:37):
Diarraq dot com Fox Sports Radio Studios, there's a new
movie coming out and it's someone else calling themselves the
goat that and we'll circle back to the Young Victor
Wembin Yama, the Circle of Life, and no we're not
talking about the Lion King. He's Mark, I'm Mike. This
is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Sunday, Fox s Worts Radio,
Mike Arment alongside Mark Medina. Thanks for being with us.
We know you got a lot of choices the iHeartRadio
app take us with you. We're global for un A
plus affiliates nationwide. Of course, you can always communicate with
the show at Fox Sports Radio at Mark g Underscore
Medina find me over at Swollen Dome as we look

(35:18):
at the All Star World here coming up later on today,
I wanted to circle back to the old heads and
the new stars. First off, a movie that got announced
from a production company. Step Curry wants to evidently be
in the Goat conversation now as he's got an animated
movie coming out. Not a lot of details except for

(35:38):
the logo and the promo of Goat. How do we
feel about this?

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Well, as far as the Goat Conversation, I think it's
safe to say he's in there. He's already the greatest
shooter of all time. Now where is he ranked in
top five? Top ten? Still subject to be changed, but
he's in that. How do I feel about the movie
we'll see? I've seeing a lot of good sports movies
over the years. We've also seen bad sports movies over

(36:05):
the years. But my initial reaction when I saw that
plug it was inevitable because it's Steph Curry, the Goat conversation,
the rivalry of Lebron James. Do we feel that this
movie could be better than the Space Jam sequel that Lebron.
That's a good question, So that's what my intent is
going to be. When we saw the second Space Jam,

(36:26):
inevitably it was the comparison to the first. How's it
rack with Michael Jordan's acting, I'm also going to do
the line by line comparison of Space Jam with Lebron
versus Goat with Steph and whatever that movie's about.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
That's good. He's from the same production company that did
the Spider Verse movies, so at least from a visual perspective,
probably getting something pretty big. But to that end, we
also talk on the other end of the spectrum, going
back to the competitiveness that we're expecting a little bit
later on here with All Star weekend and Victor wembin
Yama also at the podium giving us a lot of

(37:00):
gems and talking about what his expectations are for later
on today. I guess not uh the Victor Wembnyama clip
if we could guess.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Consider yourself the top candidate to be the next phase
of the league.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Um no, not really, that's what they got.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Uh, that's what they got.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Went before there's Anthony Edwards talking about when Ben Yama again, uh,
the point of trying to get to the wehen min
Yama talking about how he's not here to make friends, right,
he's getting ready to come through all the face of
the league questions still out there, and he certainly got
asked that question. I think that you were asked about rules,

(37:42):
about being commissioner for the day, and about being the
face of the league. I think those are the three
questions everybody got on media day. But for when Ben
Yama an opportunity, I mean, look, I see the lot
of the Spurs. I'm in the studio here in the
evenings with Smith, so they're part of our like we
also have a really intimate knowledge of the Portland Trailblazers.
Unlike pretty much anybody in America because they're always in

(38:04):
the late window on TNT against the Warriors or whomever.
But when we look at ween Binyama, here's an opportunity
on a big stage, not that he hasn't already shown
and gotten his love, but in another space against all
the other all stars, to cement that next step.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Yeah, and another thing, and I'll read this quote because
I wrote it down just to make sure about when
he was asking about the game and the conversation we
were having on our guy is going to ticket seriously,
he made it clear for himself that his goal is
not to chill during this game. He wants to be competitive.
That's obviously a breath of fresh air. We'll see what happens.
It's not surprising because one of the many positive things

(38:48):
that the Spurs will tell you about Victor Wembinyama is
that he's very emotionally mature. He's a young player, but
he has kind of a veteran mindset. He's a real
student of the game, hard workers to make the right pass.
But that also makes it perplexed and surprising how he
treated the skills competition.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's the thing, right, there's a bit of a disconnect.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Yeah, like they didn't take it seriously. They try to
win all technicalities by not shooting the ball because the
aim is to finish as quickly as you can. That
doesn't show competitive intensity.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Well, but that's the question. Yeah, it either does or doesn't.
How are we defining competitive intensity? You're trying to win. Yeah,
and if you found the loophole and then you cleared it,
because that's the other thing. Draymond comes back in saying
Wemby evidently asked multiple officials. So when he got disqualified,
and then they took the ESPN ABC reporter and said

(39:39):
you get out of here. We're not doing this now, Like, oh,
come on, she's right there.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
And also his team at Chris Paul mastered the rule book.
But I want them to put on the shows. What
I'm getting.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Wow, that's the thing. We'll see what the show becomes
as we continue NBA All Star Weekend. Here we're talking
about in Fox Sports Radio. Hey, it's boring. It's not
me saying that. Somebody who actually has skin in the game,
literally and figuratively. Let's go. We're broadcasting live from the
Tirac dot Com studios Tyrac dot Com. We hope you
get there an unmatt selection fast free shipping, free road

(40:11):
has a protection over ten thousand recommended installers. It's tyrac
dot com the way tire buying should be welcome. In
another hour, Fox Sports Sunday again, so brilliantly enumerated on
our official rundown by our executive producer Shay thanks to
Chris Burfette. Hanging out, Manti Bolanos joins us here at

(40:31):
the news desk. It's Mike Carbon alongside Mark Medina. You
read him RG dot com Sports Keita c him at
what do you Got Sports?

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Sports?

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Jatlon Lindy's at mar G Underscore. Medina is really kind
of the hub of everything.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
And at Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
I mean obviously we hear that work. You're here, You're
what is the term ubiquitous? At this point, we're gonna
find you. If we leave the radio on, I could
I could tell by like a sundial there's Mark Medina
ready to get after it. You're looking all bright eyed
even though you were up late burning the midnight oil
talking to Bernie Frato.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yeah, I mean it's it's around the clock. The NBA
never sleep. Sometimes we'll see some good games. Sometimes we don't,
but the calendar continues to roll on and I'm always
there for it.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Now we're ready for the second half of the season.
But first this little pesky All Star Game different format,
as we talked about a little bit last hour. Look,
the podcast will go up when we're done. Love it,
hate it, share it with your friends, send it along,
and let's get that involvement up. React to what we do.
If you've got thoughts on the All Star Game again

(41:35):
at Swollen Dome, at mark g Underscore, Medina, how about
you're watching that? Do you have an alternate viewing plan?
If you saw a good movie and you want to
put that into the the ether force. I watch Bridge
Jones Diary as part of my long day yesterday. I
forgot to talk about that, the new one.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
What what's your review?

Speaker 2 (41:52):
I was in a couple of great emotional you know,
tug at you and and maybe you know when you
when you've got a little Hugh Grant now with the
silver and the hair, when you got an appearance from
Colin Firth, that that that it'll get you.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
I finished the Kobe Bryant three parts, seriously there came
out with through CNN. I think a few weeks ago,
So that was good. But I have so many endless
shows on the queue with Netflix and Max and every
streaming platform and inevitably because it's a great line of
work to work in, but there's all these games that

(42:28):
comes past behind. Yeah, I'm not going to load manage
the season mics.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
No.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
No, Well, we just finished the NFL, which you know,
takes up my life right between podcasts, between extra radio spots,
I don't sleep. I go back and actually watch the game.
So when we get on Fox Sports Radio, I can
say that I actually watched the game, as opposed to
just saying that guy stinks because the box score tells
me so or some other talking head that I listened

(42:54):
to to. No, I wanted to see it for myself.
So now I've got a little more time. Right with
the NBA. At the All Star break, I got to
watch all of All Stars Saturday night. I had second
viewing experience with the tournament, the US versus Canada. That
was great. Some college basketball, the flap in Illinois, and
got to mention that here momentarily. But yeah, we got
out to the movies. We went and saw the led

(43:15):
Zeppelin documentary that just came out very good goes through
the first two albums with some audio clips and responses
to such that you can tell these guys were just
kind of blindsided and they're emotional reactions. Either that or
they're all really good actors. And I didn't think John
Paul Jones or Jimmy Page was going to be an actor.
So they took care of business there. And I went

(43:36):
saw the new Marvel movie. So we're catching up on
our pop calls. Oh nice, and I'm hearing Brutalis. That's
an oscar. Yeah, I gotta see that. Flow is now streaming.
That was about an animated movie about a cat and
a flood. That was pretty good. So that's now like
a lot of stuff coming to streaming ahead of Awards season. Yeah,
so you can try to catch up before the NBA

(43:58):
picks back up in Ernest here Mark.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
And then we'll also see if this is must see
TV or change the channel. How the All Star Game
is tonight and the new format with the tournament first
to forty young stars versus the.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Ogs shirt skins.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Yeah, international stars versus the domestic ones. We'll see if.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Are you excited about it or is it just the
All right, let's Let's see what's next, because what would
incentivize these guys other than you know, this on paper
is great for if we're scripting a movie, right, which
is how the long winded way of getting to where
we were watching a lot of movies. So I'm trying
to go from plot points A and B and watching
stuff fall apart in the third act. Nobody can stick

(44:43):
the landing anymore. Great premise, great follow through here, and
I was like, wait, we only have twenty minutes of
screen time left. How do we fit? I don't know
how to land the plane? Will the NBA All Star
Game land the plane like? It sets up beautifully like
you laid it out? Ogs and rising stars, right, generations
collide international versus US. Great, we watched it on the stage.

(45:05):
They're booing the national anthem and then three fights in
nine seconds. Yeah, what do we get today? What kind
of fire do we.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
I think we're gonna see a revitalization today. They're going
to land the plane. But this doesn't mean much. We
saw two disastrous All Star Games the last two years,
so it's going to be a net improvement. It's really
going to be about what does All Star Weekend look
like next? Year add into it in our backyard because
I think what we'll see is it's going to be

(45:33):
successful tonight, and then they think, Okay, this is a
good format to keep moving forward. But the novelty is
going to wear off and then we're going to go
back to the same old nonsense we've talked about earlier.
We got to keep reinforcing it. It comes down to
whether the players care or not. And I'm saying this
as someone who is very mindful that it is good

(45:55):
for organizations to manage their players properly and not say,
you know what, play every single game just because but
All Star game. You don't got to play with full
playoff intensity to play every single minute. Just put on
an entertaining show. That's not hard to do. When it
comes to tempole events, you got to seize that moment.
An All Star is one of those moments.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
Now, the format may may do some of this for us,
right because you're not playing necessarily the same minutes. So
like we take away the minutes part of the equation
as we get into a year after year, now we're
playing to a score and we go to that. But
just the idea of expanding rosters so guys don't have

(46:38):
to play heavy minutes. I know it dilutes the idea
of All Star, but how often do you talk about it? Wow,
he was a twenty time All Star. Yeah, like we
used to do that. It's kind of like a Pro Bowl,
like it's been diminished for those guys where that used
to be a really big deal because guys showed up.
That bonus meant something. It was a free vacation for

(46:58):
your family to Hawaii all these years, all of those things,
you know, thirty thousand or fifty thousand or whatever the
winning team got was a substant substantive enough amount of
money to where there was some juice to the game
and an honor and you showed up and you played versus.
Now it's like, all right, I got named, I got
you know, eventually, I got to get a shoulder thing,

(47:19):
I haven't hung out with the kids as much or
whatever line. Whatever line, it is like, I'm out. So
we get to the second alternate, the third alternate, the fifth.
Like we actually had guys turning down the Pro Bowl
games this year, not that it's played the same way,
but for the Apples to Apples All Star Game comparisoncy
I get to use air quotes because that camera's on.

(47:41):
Is that the idea of it was so bad. The
guy's like, I don't belong there. I'm not going like,
like what are we even doing? But for the All
Star Games to now to just say, hey, you don't
have to carry a heavy load because we've got a
bigger roster and guys, forget about the snub part of
I don't care about that. But it's just more from

(48:02):
the can we get more buy in if guys don't
have to say how many I got to play thirty minutes?
Screw that. It's like if I can play fifteen and
hang out on the bench and have conversations and just
enjoy it, then maybe I'm more apt to buy in.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
Yeah, and this new format is going to force some
of those established players to play more minutes because there's
now four teams, it's not two teams. And this does
give an opportunity for some of the end of the
bench players that don't really make an appearance to actually
have meaningful minutes. But again, regardless of how many games are,
what format it's going to be, it's got to be

(48:40):
about both the veteran and the young players setting the
tone that they care about this game and they want
to put on a show, and putting on a show
is not having enough highlight reels to make on Instagram
or x or anything else.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
I think Silver told me that was important.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
Engagement.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
That's all he wanted, was engagement. If I was in
a drinking game with the word engagement for his press
conference on the floor right now, yeah, I'd be there,
Like there's a streamer, like I do trading cards, and
we've talked about this a little bit off hair you
and I in you know, in a hobbyist and what
I'm doing like show prep. I'll have a guy streaming

(49:18):
in the background seeing what the new products look like
with the break hit you know, rates are or whatever.
And occasionally they've actually had guys trying to do those
marathons of a new release, and this week was the
flagship Tops Baseball product, Fell Asleep. He's in the middle
of a pack and like you just see the hands
start to goes like okay, next level goes viral. Probably

(49:39):
good for the business overall, but for himself, yeah, maybe
he can't do the twenty four hour stream anymore. But engagement, engagement,
that's what Adam Silver kept saying, so, yeah, I would
have been drooling with that guy.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Yeah. Oh man, I think I need to look at
the number of times he actually said the word engagement
at that press conference, because it was a lot. Yeah,
I felt like beyond that at and the growth of
the game the internet, you know, the global game that.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Was a global is that? Is that going to become
the subtitle?

Speaker 3 (50:09):
I think it will be the global global game.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
You ain't got that NFL look at us unless you.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Didn't like the original slugan where amazing happens?

Speaker 4 (50:19):
Right?

Speaker 3 (50:20):
That should be that should that should be what it
is because that's about being in the moment, entertaining fans,
putting on a show.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
I'm trying to remember what was it? The Clippers was
a great time out with the Clippers back in the
day for the NBA, like all the salesmanship over the years,
but it started before we began the discussion of the Hey,
it's boring, and that was Draymond Green gave us so
many gems, but that was one that cuts through the

(50:48):
clutter of talking about today's NBA game and where there
may be some challenges Adam Silver engagement global. Look, he's
there as a salesman, so we get it. Draymond comes
off as a guy at times doing everything you can
to try to kill the product. Again, going back to

(51:08):
the JJ Rednick comments and his feud with our guy
Jason Smith last hour of you can't celebrate it for
what it is. You just got, Jimmy Butler, You got
some juice in your squad. People are a bit excited
to see what the second half can become. Yet you
talk about how boring the game is and I get it.

(51:29):
Three point shooting. And this is where Wembin Yama, the
young guy, is the sage going, look, if people learn
how to defend it, we won't do it.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
Yeah, I don't have a problem. And here's the thing
that's very interesting with this state of the game analysis.
I don't have a problem that it's more threes and
it's more emphasized on how well player can shoot. There's
a lot more skills required to adapt to today's NBA,
but there should still be the competitive intensity. Even though

(52:01):
there's more of an appreciation for cap management, load management,
roster construction, fluidity with player contracts that makes it hard
to team build. Even through all those different circumstances, there's
got to be the competitive intensity, and you see that
in fairness to the top teams that win a championship,

(52:21):
but you don't see that across the board, and I
think that as a result of that, that has made
the NBA regular season feel less meaningful. Where you're talking
about that huge moment of excitement with Luka Doncic's debut
with the Lakers, no one can ever replicate debut moments.
They're special for a reason because they only happen literally

(52:43):
one time. But there isn't that day to day excitement
for just the novelty of being at a game, being
able to see a star player do something special. And
that's got to be replicated, and it starts with the
players and the organizations with I think having them understand
and that you can always think long term and prioritize

(53:03):
the playoffs in the long term, but that doesn't necessarily
mean that you have to throw away the importance of
every single game, because that's what helps build championship habits well.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
And that's the thing as we're trying to find that
happy medium, right, I mean, look, John Paul Morose, he's
going to join Steven Rich in a little while. As
we get spring training underway from Major League Baseball, you
had a third of the league didn't spend a dime
in the off season for free agency. Yet everybody wants
to complain when the Dodgers or other teams figure out

(53:35):
a way to get someone to come in. Hey, well
you'll get your money. It's all guaranteed. It's Major League Baseball,
but it's deferred. Likewise in the NBA, we're talking about
ahead of the trade deadlines, how many conversations did we
have you and Jason and I with our guy Rick Buker,
with Mark Stein, like and when we talked to you
trying to understand these aprons and everything else put out

(53:56):
like can this trade actually happen? Don't know. They have
to put it to the league and maybe it gets accepted,
maybe it doesn't. Right, like all of those kind of
hurdles that have come in unnecessarily, and then you have
multiple teams where it's like, you know, we're just gonna
play for ping pong balls. Right. One of the products
that came out this week again going owing to the
collectibles market, has Cooper Flag autographs in it. So how

(54:20):
many teams are Hey, I'm going for that guy? Yeah,
so long before we even get to a trade deadline,
we're done. Yeah, right, and it's clear that we're done,
and we're trying to stack whatever we can to just
be as bad as we can. So maybe the ping
pong ball lands our way. I mean, it's just not
healthy for a game.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
Yeah. And some of these things that we're talking about
has to do with the labor deal and the NBA
policy because one of the things I think has improved
in recent years with the Plan Tournament, that has reduced
the amount of severe tanking, especially late in the season
when clear the bad teams are just sitting their main

(55:02):
guys out because they want to get a high draft
pick for the player. For the teams that still quote
unquote have a shot to make the Plans Tournament there,
still they still are making win now moves. They're still competing.
But the second apron concerns I'm not a fan of
because it has almost been like attacks and an excuse
for teams not to spend. And let me just break

(55:25):
this down in Layman's terms, and I wrote it, yeah,
and I made sure that I had these notes here.
When you are past the second apron, it's not about
an owner wanting to save money for money's sake. It
is because it restricts them from making roster moves. So
here's what happens when you're over the second apron. You
can't sign a player with a mid level exception, you

(55:48):
can't trade multiple players in a deal, you can't do
a sign and trade, and you can't include cash in
any deals. Those are a lot of parameters that restrict
teams for making major moves. And the NBA agreed to
this under the guise of we're trying to create competitive
balance and parody in the league, and we've seen there

(56:09):
hasn't been a defending champion since the Warriors in twenty
seventeen twenty eighteen, so there is more parody. But here's
where I have a problem with this. These second apron
calculations apply equally to all teams. It's not about penalizing
teams that are trying to spend their way into free agency.
It's also penalizing teams from being able to retain players

(56:30):
they drafted that are all a sudden are eligible for
more lucrative extensions. I thought the NBA wanted to reward
teams that drafts smart and know how to tap into
player development but when you're putting these kind of restrictions
when they're eligible for extensions past the rookie deals, I
don't think this helps the league at all.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
More restrictions, more problems, and really it's like going to
an accountant. Yeah, I just need you to figure this
out for me. Can this trade happen? Almost feel like
gms have to put it through. What's our calculation? I
don't know what do I have versus what you have?
And we have to figure it out. He's Mark Medina
at Mark g Underscore Medina read him in a bevy
of places here. I'm here all the time Fox Sports Radio,

(57:14):
part of our extended team NBA Insider, located here right
down the street here in Los Angeles. I'm Mike Carman
at Swollen Doome. Hear me yelling at and with Jason
Smith five nights a week, seven to eleven Pacific here
Fox Sports Radio. As we continue, we obliquely referenced MVP
conversations a little bit early. A lot of debate happened
in the NFL. Still a lot of people really mad

(57:36):
about the results in the NBA. Looks like it's a
two horse race. We'll talk about it next year. On
Fox and they were listed as day to day. But
as our friend Tom Looney used to say, then again,
aren't we all welcome back? In Fox Sports Sunday, Fox
Sports Radio, Mike Carman alongside Mike got Mark Medina at
Mark g Underscore Medina, our mad voyage here on a

(58:00):
beautiful Fox Sports Sunday. Yes, football is in the rear
view mirror. Plenty of stories still swirling about, but our
focus today we're gonna stay in the NBA and college buckets.
I'd be remiss if I didn't bring this up, going
back to Illinois being me, you know, the big ten
honk and apologist on the network. Although Rich Ornberger and

(58:21):
LeVar Arrington get to help me carry that torch as well.
With my north they actually played. I just went and
spent a lot of money at Northwestern, But either way,
I went to a lot of games. Terrence Shannon Junior
getting his jersey retired by the Fighting A Line I
yesterday and they had a countdown raucus like the Luca

(58:42):
celebration that you were talking about. They've got Michigan stayed in.
Tom Izzo looking to pass Bob Knight on the all
time wins list. It's a big deal, goes to unferral
the jersey. It's gonna roll down from the rafters. It's
upside down, Mark, It's upside down. A lot of apologies

(59:03):
more or less some statements from Brass saying heads will roll,
But the reaction from the crowd and from the player himself,
I'm getting my jersey retired, and this is what I
get embarrassing.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
How can anyone ever mess that kind of detail?

Speaker 2 (59:20):
Seems pretty basic.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
You would think that there's enough checks and balance. At
least the jersey doesn't look right. Maybe we should fix.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
This, send it down once just to look. Look, it's
all audio is nothing but a bunch of expletives. But
it's it's on the radar. We're celebrating all things basketball,
so we bring that in. Illinois would go on to
miss their final nineteen shots in losing to Michigan State.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Yeah, so started terribly.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Perhaps you could argue ended even worse. Now something we
were talking about related, and this is where we can
get some of that NFL fun In is how angry
three people got about the MVP voting. Now, to me,
it was far more nuanced than just hey, these guys
voted for this guy for AP versus the MVP, and
who flipped and why and why didn't Lamar win this

(01:00:11):
when he got that and Josh Allen wins. Meanwhile, you
got the offensive players over the years raising their hands,
including Saquon Barkley this year, going why don't we even
get considered? Like what if we're winning Offensive Player of
the Year, what position are these guys playing? Yeah, all
that being said, right now it is a two horse race.
And I use that term with all love and respect

(01:00:33):
for the sulky that Nicola Jokic likes to ride around
in during his off season. Plenty of shots of him
at his horse farm and riding around with MVP trophies,
championship trophies, et cetera. Right now it is Shake Gildes,
Alexander and Nicola Jokic and the field as of about

(01:00:55):
twenty four hours ago, Gil just Alexander minus five p fifty,
Nikola jokicch plus three point fifty next nearest competitor who
is now hurt Janis and ten Kompo I had one
hundred to one, one hundred to one mark. That's not
good for the game either. Hey, these two guys, and
there's all our other stars. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
Now, I'll be transparent here because this happened pre Janni's injury.
But you may know Tim Bontems from ESPN. He'll do
a lot of check ins on MVP races by literally
asking perspective voters who they're voting for. So my top
five so far, but this was last week. It was

(01:01:38):
in order Shay, Jannis Jokic, Jason Tatum, and Jason Smith.
If you're listening for JJ, Reddick, Carl Anthony Towns in
the New York next fifth. But I'm switching it now
to Jokic. I was already on the fence. But I
think there's also clear separation between Shaey Gotis, Alexander and

(01:01:59):
Nikole Jokic because the Thunder they've.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Been behind games ahead of him.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
Yeah, first in the Western Conference. There's a lot of feeling.
When I talked to some execs before the season, who's
your MVP vote? Some of them scattered, some of them
being through Luca in UH, but a lot of them
said Shae because he has such a great UH skill
set of being such a great lethal score at the

(01:02:25):
basketing of the free throw line. Some of his so
called weaknesses have been addressed with him being an improved shooter,
improved defender, but also he has such a complete team
around him. So a lot of voters, they don't just
vote for who's the best player. They often equate, Okay,
are you on a winning team, does your team have
the best record? And all those things I think tie

(01:02:47):
together that I think Shay is gonna run away with
this and it's I don't think it's going to be close.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Eight more wins than the Nuggets, nine fewer losses. Yoga
celebrated his twenty fifth triple double of this sea the
other night for Oklahoma City. What's been amazing is they
had that run and Chad Holmgren is now played in
thirteen games.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
Yeah, and one year. One thing I'll add, like one
assistant coach that I talked to before the season, they
cast their prediction that Jokic would win because they think
it would really lean into on what the definition of
an MVP should be. That when you look at the
fact that there were issues with Aaron Gordon's injury and
Jamal Murray's injury and them losing a lot of key

(01:03:30):
roster depth, this even illustrates even more of the importance
of having Nicole Jokich, So he thought some voters would
keep that in mind, But I've all often seen over
the years that they don't put that into consideration as
much as they put into consideration if you're on a
winning team, what's the win loss record as well as
your own performance. And I think Shay obviously is a

(01:03:53):
part of that, because not only has he been they
don't say he's a complete player, but he's almost near it.
But that team is nearly a complete team. You know,
they have the so called an experience. They're not an
elite rebounding team, but they have everything else. They're an
elite defensive team. They have so many wings. You mentioned
they have Chet Holmgren. They've been winning even without him. Yeah,

(01:04:15):
but they came. They also have another good big and
Isaiah Hartenstein. So presuming Check comes back, there's a feeling
that they can go small, they can also go big.
Even in today's NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
See he wins an NBA title, My guy Smith on
the Weeknights is gonna claim it because of Hartenstein. It's
kind of like me when I celebrated White Sox Hall
of famers Ken Griffy Junior and Tom sever They're.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
Part Hey, hey, j If Jason wants to take credit
for it, he's also got to blame the Knicks for
not retaining them, of course.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
Yeah, no, well, I mean that's always the subplot of
watching him. The camera's on now, so like if we
just if you live stream and you just want to
see a man in pain, watch guys that used to
be on Smith led teams, like the teams he really
stands for, watch them do well somewhere else, Like psychologically,
it just absolutely destroy It's the Ralph Wigham. Since we

(01:05:06):
just had Valentine's Day, Happy Valentine's Weekend for those that celebrated, Uh,
whether it was celebrating yourself with something beautiful or if
you've got someone in your life that you did, that's
that's great too. But all of that said that you
choose me episode where Bart does the frame by frame
and says you can see his heartbreak there. Uh that
that's that's Smith watching him die, live and die. Uh.

(01:05:27):
And I love that. I love to ride the lightning.
I've been very upfront with him, and we were talking
about a little bit before the show that look, you're
in this spot wherever you fit in our sports radio
writing TV on some level you love sports. Now, there's
always some some grifters out there that realized there was
a buck to be made by being controversial, uh and
spewing hot take nonsense. They have their space too because

(01:05:50):
they helped move the needle for the rest of the conversations,
there's no question about it. But otherwise, there was a player,
there was a team. There was something that you know,
left that indelible mark on your heart and psyche that
stays with you. For me, it's the eighty three winning
Ugly White Sox to the eighty five Bears and on like.
Although my last title is two thousand and five with

(01:06:11):
the White Sox. Because I notice I leave the Cubs
out because I'm a Southsider. We don't we don't commemorate
Cubs stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
So you don't you'll consider Cubs fans to be real fans.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
No, they're fine, they're fine. It's the greatest outdoor bar
in America. There you go. How's that? My pup? How's that?

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Was?

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
I not nice? It's the best outdoor bar in America.
Wrigley Field and what they've done in that neighborhood. Yeah,
it got rid of the seven eleven and some of
the dingy stuff, the old taco bell and stuff are going.
But it's a nice area to go, have a drink
and hang out after a game.

Speaker 3 (01:06:42):
Well as it pertains to the next I know we
love trolling Jason. I will build him up a little
bit car onon in town. I got him in the
top five or top five. He should feel comforted that
that's been a better fit with Cat than how Julius
Randall has been with Minnesota. I literally wrote a story
for Linda, Yeah, I have it here before the season

(01:07:02):
saying that Jalen Brunson has the opportunity, a legitimate chance
to be the best all time Knicks player. Ever, as
far as impact goes even over someone like Walt Frasier
or Willis Reed Carmelo Anthony because he can win a championship.
But right now we've seen them get blown up by
the Selics. They don't have what it takes to get

(01:07:24):
past Cleveland or Boston in the playoffs. But you know what,
they'll get to the second round.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
But that's the thing, right is we're going back to
the same Tom Thibodeau script.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
Yeah, if you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Don't have more than one guy that you trust off
the bench, you're tripping over your tongue. Come the second
round of the playoffs. To that end, we talk about
veterans and trying to figure out what legacy and hope
is and all of that. We referenced the Goat movie
by Steph Curry, his production company that's gonna come out.
They got the teaser, everybody releasing shoes and other things.

(01:07:57):
Shake Gilders, Alexander Aja Wilson, I don't have time for
the monologue about that, but somebody owes Caitlin Clark an
apology and an awful lot of money based on the
way she took the incoming when that shoe deal got
announced last year. By the way, they now put up
merch if you wanted a Caitlin Clark's shirt for what
it's worth. But Steph Curry I also going into the

(01:08:20):
Godfather right it's in his home city and all of
this stuff, and he's the host of this All Star weekend.
But told Tim Kawakami, longtime Bay Area writer TV guy
the San Francisco Standard, where he's at now, quote, I've
seen different scenarios, Like everybody talks about Kobe in his
last year's from my vantage point on comparing it to

(01:08:42):
guys that only played for one franchise, Dirk, Tim Kobe
from our era. You don't want to be in a
situation the Lakers were in those last three years with Kobe.
I know he came off the Achilles injury, but it
was like they were a lottery team, and it was
more how many points Kobe could score down the stretch
of his career. I don't want to be in that scenario.
End quote. Now, some thought it was disrespectful to bring

(01:09:04):
up Kobe. He was talking about Kobe the player, right,
celebrating and commemorating those final years, which we all watched,
and there were great moments we were on air during
that sixty point night. I got no work from anybody
here because a run around the Lakers jerseys and celebrating
them always like can we get that clip? Hey, stop dancing,

(01:09:25):
I need a clip of that shot, so you know,
they've made for a fun night. But hey, I'll recreate
what the shot sounded like.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
For Yeah, I don't think it was disrespectful. I think
he's talking about the circumstances. He doesn't want his final
years to mirror that, and he shouldn't because those final
years were tough for two reasons. The Lakers were in
the lottery and Kobe was dealing with a lot of injuries.
The obvious way for Steph to avoid that is he's
got to stay healthy, and so far he has been
reasonably healthy. There were obviously a lot of concerns earlier

(01:09:56):
in his career about his durability his ankles. It's to
think about it at this time, but when he was
given an extension, his first extension, it was considered a
controversy on why would the Warriors commit No, that's true
Steph given his injury concerns with his ankles, and it
became a huge discount. It also ironically gave him additional

(01:10:16):
cap space in addition to the cap spike that the
NBA had to get Kevin Durant. So I think his
larger point was he wanted to make sure that he's
avoiding that part of having serious injuries and also be
in a situation where the roster construction isn't conducive to winning.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
No, and that's it, right, and you bring in Jimmy
Butler and we'll see what happens. Very short sample size,
but three and one there's at least subjuice back in
the building and you could see it for those forty
eight minutes. Love him or hate him, Jimmy Butler short
term is always a pretty good investment. Yeah, And I
don't think he's a guy you hold long because it's
gonna go sour. But short term, yeah, take the hit.

Speaker 3 (01:10:57):
Yeah, and I don't buy I remember talking to Draymond
Green actually after Jimmy's introductory press conference in LA for
a sports key to piece, and he was saying that
they're gonna win the championship. He's gonna be looking forward
to what the practice intensity is like in training camp
coming off the championship run. I don't buy that. But

(01:11:18):
I think that this is a perfect alignment because both
the team and the player were in a vulnerable spot.
Jimmy Butler, because of concerns about his health and his antics,
weren't seeing a lot of teams be willing to bid
a lot for what Miami wanted out of him. And
with the Warriors, they had seen that, even with Steph

(01:11:41):
playing at an all Star caliber level and Draymond Green
being more available because of fewer injuries and fewer ejections
and suspensions, that they were barely hanging on to being
playing team. That idea that the roster pieces that they
got last offseason offset Klay Thompson's departure sure would make
them a contender was fool's gold. So they decided they

(01:12:04):
have to make a move that gives them a shot
in the arm without mortgaging the future. They still have
Jonathan Kaminga, Moses Moody and Tray Sjackson Davis, Brandon Potzebski,
all those young players. They still have two first round picks.
They found that sweet spot that makes them a better team.
But I don't think it's going to make them a
championship contenter, but at least makes them a playoff contender.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
At least makes them interesting. And that's what we need.
More teams that we at least pay attention to. And
maybe you can pick make a long shot bet. Maybe
you will do that. I will not, and I don't
think Moncey will. Let's go over to the news desk
and our friend Moncy Belanos joins us here with everything
shaken in our sporting universe.

Speaker 5 (01:12:42):
Yeah, Daytona five hundred is about to start on Fox TV.
Fellas President Trump is at Daytona five hundred. They showed
him so he's about to enjoy that race. The NBA
Alsar festivities wrap up today with the All Star Game.
As you guys have been talking about a new fourteen.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Format, so three games.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
The first one tips off at eight to the eastern
right now in men's college shops, with about nine minutes
to go. Number fourteen Memphis has taken the lead from
Wichita State. They're on top fifty three to forty nine
with about seven minutes to go in the first half.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
Ohio State is.

Speaker 5 (01:13:10):
Beating number twenty Michigan twenty nine to twenty eight. On
the ladies' side, Yukon is playing seventh ranked Yukon and
they are on top of number four South Carolina thirty
nine to twenty three with about three minutes to go
in the second quarter. And in the NFL seven additional
massage therapists have accused Ravens kicker Justin Tucker of inappropriate
sexual behavior, bringing the total to sixteen women at eight

(01:13:31):
Baltimore area spause. This is according to the Baltimore Banner.

Speaker 2 (01:13:34):
Back to you guys, thanks so much, MONSI here Mansei
throughout the day here Fox Sports Radio here at Saturdays
alongside Steve Hartman as they get really rev you through
the college buckets Saturdays. As we're rolling through coming out
of the NFL season, he's Mark Medina and Mike Carmen.
As we continue, Kevin Durant set the bar for how

(01:13:55):
early you should set expectation for your life goals, and
I'm a little sad because I'm far behind. We'll talk
about it next year on Fox. Hey, welcome back, and
we're finishing up here Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio,
Mike Carmon, Mark Medino with you coming up in about
ten minutes from now. You've got Steve Hartman, Rich Ornberger
taking you through the day with the team, Chris and
Shay and and Monsey. Thanks to them for everything they're

(01:14:18):
doing on the day. Be remiss. We didn't acknowledge it.
Ukon putting a hurting on South Carolina. It's forty five
twenty three in a South Carolina home game. Wow, Gino
Rima must have heard some of the criticisms Jason Smith
and I were laying on him earlier this week. So
he's become more of a SoundBite than a winner post game?

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
Will we get a Jason Smith's SoundBite?

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
He might want to fight gat Yeah, he might he
might jump into Danny Hurley eventually is coming for us.
I mean it's look, we only go after winners.

Speaker 3 (01:14:51):
Yeah, every single head coach needs to give Jason Smith
a bad shout out post game.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
Well and generally if they come on the show if
the doing really well, he's a jinx. So you don't
want to come on our show. It's it's the worst. Hey,
he's number one, welcome in coach. They go out and
lose by twenty their next game. It's what he does.
He's that guy, all right. So earlier this weekend, lots
of press availability and and what guys are planning to

(01:15:20):
do All Star Game later on today. Jared Jackson, the
guy you wrote a piece on at Mark g under
Underscore Medina is where you find him on Twitter. You
can read it, see all the links to this stuff.
He was asked, we're talking about competitiveness. We want to
see guys with fire in the belly, and his was
his response to Taylor Rooks. I lost it four ft.

(01:15:46):
I'm gonna slap the floor and work. It's great. It's great.

Speaker 4 (01:15:49):
Just way you guys are gonna laugh, you guys a
gonna laugh, it's pretty great.

Speaker 2 (01:15:52):
It's pretty great. That was not great when I just
did know what you did was amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:15:56):
But this is my fault right here. I refreshed Twitter
for some reason and now it's gone.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
It's not coming up.

Speaker 4 (01:16:01):
Basically, he said that he's going full he's going full court,
he's going to defend, and he's going full time. He's
not putting anything outside of the court, and he wants
to basically play like he's gonna play in a normal game.
He's he's playing full defense. And yeah, that was really
well done.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Now your vocal impression of Jared I try, I try winning,
Kelly Endo has nothing on you. Let's just set a
different tone, is what he had to say.

Speaker 3 (01:16:24):
Yeah, I'm waiting to see with everything here with this
All Star Game. But I'm not surprised that someone like
Jared Jackson Junior would say that because he is a
competitive player. So the mention that you were saying, how
I talked with him earlier this week. Yeah, for a
piece for Athlon Sports doing a thing about his season's
second All Star appearance. He's the main reason why the

(01:16:46):
Grizzlies are in second place in the West. We can
talk about, Yeah, John Moran's healthy, but he really set
a tone for how they are defensively and also getting
everyone to have better offseason regiments. In one way this
crystallized it was that he was having a summer trip
in Tokyo this past summer and he flew to Desmond

(01:17:07):
Bains House in Texas. Right he lands at three in
the morning after flying from Tokyo and getting settled at
Desmond Bains House in Texas, and they do an early
morning workout even with the fifteen hour flight the jet lag. So, yeah,
Jaron Jackson's the real deal, great defensive player. Victor Wan
Binyama is gonna win DPO Y even though you know

(01:17:29):
Jared Jackson's doing a lot and it means a lot
for him to win that award potentially, But it's not
surprising that he would feed into that we're going to
take the All Star Game seriously.

Speaker 2 (01:17:38):
Well, when you joined Smith and I later on this week,
and if we're back for an extended period, we got
to go into those second and third bananas give him.
Since we're talking All Stars, we're talking the heroes of
the day. We got to talk about those guys that
make these teams work, and Jared Jackson one of those guys.
That certainly does. But speaking of work, I don't know
when you decided you wanted to do sports writing, little television,

(01:18:00):
some radio, all of those things. For me, it was
something I wanted to do in high school, but you know,
maybe didn't find the support and didn't have the guts
to go down that road. Blue collar history, Southside Chicago,
Kevin Durant. We'll get your answer second. But Kevin Durant
best at all of us in his response being asked
about that All Star weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:18:21):
Katie ads, would you get your twelve year old self?

Speaker 2 (01:18:25):
Felt like I was pretty locked in at twelve, man.
I ain ain't gonna lie to you, man, So there
you go, he was pretty locked in. So for you,
when was that moment of clarity or have you had
it yet?

Speaker 3 (01:18:36):
Well, how about this, Kevin Durant knew he was going
to be a really special NBA player at age twelve.
By age twelve, I already knew I wasn't going to
be a special Okay, good good. I already knew I
was terrible at basketball. So in a way, around the
same time, it crystallized I would love to get involved
with sports in this field. But much different conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
Yeah, No, it's a long, wonderful road here. Sunday's my
life blood here Fox Sports Radio. A lot of yelling
and contesting debates all these years at Swowan Dome, at
Mark G Underscore Medina. Hopefully we passed the audition. I
feel like the Beatles on the rooftop from nineteen sixty
nine Again, read Mark all over the place. You'll hear

(01:19:20):
him with us on Fox Sports Radio. Steve and Rich
coming up. Thanks to Chris, Shay and Monty. Talk to
you later.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Fox Sports Sunday: Mike Harmon & Mark Medina Talk NBA All-Star Break, NBA Dunk Contest, and so Much More!