Steve Hartman and Olden Polynice Discuss NBA Playoff Positives and Negatives

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Living the dream once again here on a fully loaded
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way tire buying should be and who should walk in Today,

(00:27):
My dear friend for many many years, the great Olden Polonies,
is in studio today. How are you, Olden?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm good.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good. How you doing I'm doing good. We come in.
We reminisce about the fact that we have been at
this for a while.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
That means we're old older. I like to use that older.
We Uh, we got a lot to cover today. We
got a lot of NBA playoff news. We're gonna get
to I got a lot of basketball stories. I certainly
want to get the thoughts from Olden Polonies over the
course of the day. Also, John Palmer Rosi's gonna join us.
He is our MLB in sider here at Fox Sports Radio.

(01:02):
So we have two playoff games coming up today. First
one is going to be the Pacers and Knicks, and
then later the tee Wolves taking on the defending NBA
champion Denver Nuggets. I want to ask you right at
the top about your former University of Virginia teammate Rick Carla.
So you and Rick, of course, helped Virginia to that

(01:23):
magical run to the final four back in nineteen eighty four,
your freshman year, when you replace that loser, Ralph Sampson
who failed to get to the final four of his
last two years of Virginia, the great Ralph Sampson Hall
of Famer, and you take over as a freshman, and
you know, I had a magical run to the final four.
Rick was a senior on that team, one of the

(01:44):
leaders of your team. And obviously he's gone on to
have a very successful career as a coach in the NBA.
He's done a great turnaround job of the Pacers. A
couple of years ago they won like in the twenties.
Now all of a sudden, you know, I mean, that's
what he's done. I mean, he's an NBA championship coach
with the Dallas. But he made a comment Olden in
your seventeen years of professional basketball, fifteen years in the NBA,

(02:07):
you've seen pretty much everything. But he talked about the
fact that small market teams are not getting a fair shake.
You know, the Pacers going against the Knicks, who are
having this great run this year as a revival for
a Knicks organization. That's very important to this league that
your big market teams do well. You want the Knicks
to be good, you want the Celtics to be good,

(02:28):
you want the Lakers to be good. But does he
have a point. Did you ever feel like because you
played for major market teams some of the smaller market teams,
do you feel like major market teams get certain advantages?
And of course he was addressing some of the officiating,
but do you think that somehow there's a little bit
of discrimination against some of the smaller market teams.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
I believe that, and Rick, I mean, he called it
as it is, and so there was some buias to that,
and it's unfortunate. But I get the point. The major
markets make the NBA more money, period and so to
me that's a problem because it's supposed to be a
fair game across the board, but it's not always that way.

(03:13):
Based on how certain calls. And I've always said this,
like football holding is fifteen yards period. You know, certain
things are just automatic. We know what the numbers are.
It's fifteen yards, it's this, it's that NBA. I can
file you, or I can put my hand on you.
It's a file today. It's not a file to mark.
It's a file in the first quarter. It's not a
file on the second quarter. It's a file on display.

(03:35):
It's not a file on the next play. It's all
over the place. And so yeah, that comes into play.
But and I still remember back in I can't remember
what year that was, when the Pacers got to the finals.
They had played earlier two thousand year Lakers Portland. There's
rumors that the league basically was like, we cannot have

(04:00):
a Portland, Indiana Finals.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
I was at that seventh game. The remarkable Laker comeback
in that fourth quarter the newly fresh Staples Center was
one of the most remarkable comebacks ever. They were dead, dead,
dead dead to that Portland team, and all of a sudden,
a miracle run by Shaq and Kobe, and they were
on their way to a championship.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
Yeah, and I'm a Laker fan and that's still like, hmm,
interesting how that happened.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, remember the Lakers got the similar Blake breaks a
couple of years later against Sacramento. You know, the infamous
game where the fouls were seemingly going against the Kings.
You had some time there in Sacramento. I just I
don't know. It just seems like when people start screaming
about conspiracy theories and everything else, they say stop, stop, stop.

(04:50):
But like you say, when we talk about calling fouls, look,
we had a rogue. According to the NBA official, Tim
donneghe who was fixing games for multiple years, it wasn't
like he was investigating. Was an investigation about something else
that led them to find out what Tim donaghue had
been doing. And as it turned out, in games that

(05:11):
he officiated, there were more fouls called. He was playing
the over unders, so it was basically call more fouls,
more points. It turned out, as they did a little research,
that the games he officiated were higher scoring games. So
that's all he was doing was just playing over calling
more fouls, creating more points, more opportunities to score, and
cashing in. So I don't know, I mean, as a

(05:34):
big inside oldn obviously there's so much body contact. I mean,
you know, I remember I was a big Shack fan obviously,
and I'm saying, technically you could either call him or
who's ever defending him a foul on literally every.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
Play, play every play you can call a foul. And
whether it was Shack, whether it was Tim Duncan, whether
it was Robinson Patrick, it doesn't matter fouls occur. It's
like and we're tout, play through it, play through the foules,
no matter what if they blow the whistle, because at
the end of the day, we used to say, also,
it's only a foul when they blow the whistle. That's it.

(06:11):
It's only a five if they blow the whistle. And
so to me, and the perfect point case in point
was the whole situation just happened with Jamal Murray about
what we're talking about. You throw a taw and a heater,
heat a pad and it's only a fine. And then
people are like, well, you know, because he's never done
a I don't care if he's never done anything. Okay,

(06:35):
it's still the letter of the laws says you do
anything like that, it's an automatic one game suspension. And
if you have propriors then it goes into multiples all
Draymond Green. So now you're having separate rules for different
players and that's obscene.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
So Rick Carlisle throughout his career, I remember when he
was got his first head coaching position with the Pistons,
had success, and then he got because Rick is a
guy that speaks his mind, yes, and that didn't sit
well with Piston's management, and so he ended up losing
that job. And obviously you had success elsewhere, but I

(07:14):
I mean this, this is where look, my view on
the NBA is simply this. First of all, they're too
many teams. Thirty teams is too many teams.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Somewhere in between used to have.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, you know when people talk about well, you know
Bill Russell and Will Chamberlain, they were playing in an
eight nine ten team league. I'm like, think about it,
think about think about think about right now, if you
were to take the current thirty team NBA and cut
it to ten teams, how good would the rosters be?

(07:54):
How good would the rosters be It the NBA you
were literally get rid of two thirds of the players
would be gone. Yes, So the only yeah, goodbye these
guys that are filling out these benches gone, so if
you only had ten teams. And so when when people

(08:15):
try to dismiss the old days, I said, do you
understand how elite it was. Yesterday's athletes are stronger, faster, bigger, everything,
better train. But when you play in a small league
and you're playing, by the way, the same teams constantly,
so there's no you know, you're not playing a team
like once or twice, and you're playing every team eight, nine,

(08:36):
ten times a year, so you have that familiarity. I
could make an easy argument it was more challenging in
those days.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 4 (08:46):
But you know it's like everybody wants to make the
comments and minimize it, and you're absolutely right. It's like, dude,
it was the best players that were allowed to play.
Now this league is watered down with so many for
lack of a better word, bums bottom line. And so

(09:07):
to me, it's not fair to the game. You know,
I'm getting on the team because I know somebody that
knows somebody that knows somebody, or I have a good agent. No, man,
you have to be able to perform. And so to me,
I kind of agree with you. It's like, Yo, maybe
expansion is not a necessary thing, and so but this

(09:30):
is where we are. I don't think it's gonna gain
because we're about to increase it by two teams. So
when we're gonna go to thirty two, spread it out
even more.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
I just again, I'm sorry. There's not basketball where a
single player can make the biggest impact. Coming up on
the other side, speaking of players that can make an impact,
I have a big question for you about Wimba Miyama
because something isn't right with Wimby. I know everyone's talking

(10:04):
about this generational talent and the incredible rookie season he
just had, and he was the unanimous Rookie of the
Year runner up. Maybe should have been Defensive Player of
the Year. But something's Missy. We'll explain. This is Fox
Sports Sunday. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called
All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time,

(10:26):
but it's more about the stories about what made these
people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along
the way. We talked to coaches, we talked to players,
We tell you stories. You download it.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
You listen to it.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with
Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts. Steve Harvin, Olden Polonies. Here Fox
Sports Sunday. We are live from the tairaq dot com studios. Now,
don't forget. Right after the show, podcasts is going out.
If you missed any of today's show, be sure to

(11:01):
check out the podcast. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever
you get your podcasts. Be sure to follow rate and
review of the podcast. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever
you get your podcasts, and you'll see this show posted
right after we get off the air. I felt like
I went into a time cap. So I walk in
today and I look up and Sam and Ryan here.

(11:22):
What happened? Guy? How did you guys end up back
here with me on this Sunday? Here? Bad news? Steve,
It is actually twenty twenty all over again. It must be.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
I was gonna say, this is sorry, ridiculous. It's February
of twenty twenty. Just getting into the thick of things.
How did how did this work for you?

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Sam? I mean I've been talking a lot about you
because you know, we used to be the most famous
person out of Iowa until Caitlin Clark hit. Yeah. Now
I'm like thirtieth thirtieth ye yeah, bum no longer top
ten and Ryan's still legauged so still yep yeah, yep. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (11:57):
We're here to provide time off for others. They shall
not be named. But it's always good to be in
here with you and see you on a Sunday or Saturday.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, yeah, so great to have you guys here. We
appreciate that, I know Olden. We're happy to have Olden here.
I got a lot of questions for Olden polonies? Do
you actually hold on before you do? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (12:15):
You were working with Olden when we captured this drop,
which we use all the time now at ed FSR.
Steve I had to play that because it's just so funny.
I use it for other guys named Steve and like
who is that? And like it's Olden polonyes just but
nominally mainstay drops for for a couple of years.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Now, Steve Olden and I go back to my old
five seventy days, you know, out in burder Bank there
and lose cannons and so yeah, old and I you
know how it is in this bit. It's a small business, right, Olden.
You will cross paths with the same people over and
over again.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
You never know, you never burn bridges. That boy?

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Is that the truth?

Speaker 3 (12:55):
All right?

Speaker 2 (12:55):
So here it is. We're quite wise, aren't you? Coming
up on level six?

Speaker 3 (12:59):
I hate to say that, coming up on level six?
Damn it.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Do not be shy. I've long past that. It's a
great thing, all right. I want to do a little
you know, you know, mild and I'm a big stat guy,
and I'm trying to figure out this stat. So Victor
Weiman Yama Wemby was the unanimous choice of Rookie of
the Year, and he had some amazing numbers this year,

(13:24):
really did. He is a generational talent and to see
him this good, this quickly, is something special. But here's
something I can't quite understand, and maybe you can't. I
want to mention two guys you were very familiar with,
David Robinson and Tim Duncan, who were, like Victor women Yama,

(13:44):
number one overall picks drafted by the San Antonio Spurs.
So the year before David Robinson was drafted, the Spurs
won twenty one games. His first year, they won fifty six,
a five game improvement. The year before. Tim Duncan was drafted,

(14:04):
they won twenty games, and his first year they won
fifty six. That's a thirty six game improvement. So thirty
five game improvement in one year with David Robinson, thirty
six game improvement first year with Tim Duncan. The year
before Wemby was drafted, the Spurs won twenty two games.
This year with Wemby, they won twenty two games. So

(14:30):
David Robinson was a thirty five game improvement is his
rookie season. Tim Duncan was a thirty six game improvement
his rookie season. Victor Winbin Yama's first zero game improvement.
So thirty five games thirty six games, zero games.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
So explain to me why in terms of wins and losses,
David Robinson and Tim Duncan had two of the most
dramatic impacts of any player's ever to come into this
league in terms of adding wins to the resume of
their team, and as great as Wemby was individually, it

(15:09):
didn't add up to a single extra win from the
year before.

Speaker 4 (15:13):
Well, I'm gonna start by saying for people that are
gonna make the comments after I make my statement, okay,
that are gonna call me the old guy that's hating. No,
I speak facts. The game was different. These guys were
great players because they had already played a lot of basketball.
Tim Duncan was at Wait for as David Robinson was

(15:36):
that Navy, and it's like they knew how to play
the game and they came in a time when the
game was rough and tough. These a Hall of Fame guys.
The bar has dropped so low, Okay, you can't even
limbo under it, okay, because it's just too low. Now,
I'm not taking anything away from this young man. Twenty

(15:58):
one points a game, ten rebounds on three point nine,
it says three something blocks all that good stuff, Rookie
of the year. But the boss's been set low, it
really has. And so to me, that's the problem. How
How did you not make any significant difference from one

(16:18):
year to the next for a team at all? And
we have precedents by these other two guys that you mentioned,
thirty five and thirty six game improvements. So to me,
that's a problem. Yes, he's gonna have numbers, he's gonna
have stats. Ooh yeah, but are you winning? Chet Holgram help? Okay? See,

(16:40):
Wemby didn't help anything, and so that's the problem. It's
just the bar has been set so low. These guys
are not who we think they are. I said this
last year before the draft. I've seen this movie before. Again,
I'm not knocking Whimba Yama. I think he's a He's
definitely a generational talent. But I've seen this movie before.

(17:01):
Tall guys that can run. I'm you gotta make a
difference with wins and losses too.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Well, here's here's the thing. A lot of people are
gonna be screaming, probably screaming right now. Well, the rest
of his team sucks, But the fact is David Robinson
and Tim Duncan were joining teams that were not good sucks.
And here's the thing. Whatever Victor Wembin Yama Wemby was
able to do individually did not make his teammates better.

(17:32):
And by the way, just to get to twenty two wins,
they had to win seven of their last eleven games.
You know, when a lot of teams just throw playing
out the string and resting people for the playoffs. So
most likely if that not have been the case, they
would have won less games. But it's got to be
more than individual numbers are you making your teammates better.
Is your presence on the court elevating the play. When

(17:55):
Kareem App, Jewel Abdul Jabbar came in with a young
Milwaukee Bucks team had thirty plus game turnaround Larry Bird
his rookie season with the Celtics, which by the way,
was the year before they got Parish McHale and the
deal with the Warriors. The year Befour went from twenty

(18:16):
nine wins to sixty one thirty two game improvement with
Larry Bird. So that is that happens not just because
you're able to put up some great, glowing individual numbers,
but your presence changes the whole dynamic of the team
around you, and that was missing with Wemby. Even though

(18:37):
he obviously has one of the elite coaches of all
time in Greg Popovich, his presence on the court, although significant,
did nothing to raise the caliber play of the players
around him.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Exactly.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
I mean again, I played against both those guys, Tim
Duncan and David Right. I was in the same draft
class with David. He was the first senter. I was
the second one. So I'm very familiar with these guys.
We respected David Robinson for his work ethic and tenacity.
We respected Tim Duncan for his work ethic and tenacity
and his skill set. Both of them had great skill sets.

(19:11):
They came in, they were professionals. They handled it the
right way. This kid here again, he's gonna have a
great career, you know, God willing, God forbid any injuries.
But he's gonna have a great career. But no one's
afraid of him. He's too skinny, he's too light in
the ass. It's just not you're not putting fear in
me as a player. I'm not gonna be afraid of you.

(19:35):
And so there was some trepidation against David. I knew
I couldn't run out there on David because he's gonna
go right by me. I knew I couldn't, you know,
like not defend him. Duncan he had to off the
glass jumper. He had a skill set. There were certain
things these guys could do. Plus the other teammates were
playing also. I had a conversation on the right here

(19:55):
with my brother and it was very It was specifically
about women, Yama and chet Holmgren. He said, oh, wow,
we're seeing how oh the playoffs are kind of exposing
Chet a little bit. He's having a rough time. I'm like,
you know, it's showing the difference between he and when Benyama.
I said, let me tell you something, when Minyama would
be playing worse than Chet. Holmen right now because of
the playoffs in regular season are two different seasons. And

(20:19):
so I say that to say this man, whoever you are,
there's gonna be problems and issues based on how the
game is called.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
He had favorable.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
Whistles during the season because they were trying to hype
it up. It was like, oh my god, that's the
new guy. There's a bunch of stuff that happened there.
Come on, now next year is gonna be a little different.
In the playoffs, it would have been different. But he's not.
In the playoffs. You're not making any significant headweight whatsoever
to help your team. I'm not feeling it when you.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Have a player and not just a center. But I
mentioned Larry Bird or Max I'm a hater. Well, it's
not about our hater. Again. When we talk about great now,
it's got to translate to your team. It's a team sport,
you know. I said this about the late great Kobe Bryant.

(21:11):
Kobe Bryant and I mentioned this and maybe to nauseum.
By definition, a leader is someone who inspires others to follow.
That's a leader. A leader is someone that inspires others
to follow. There are a lot of great individual players

(21:34):
that are not leaders. They can do things individually and
you could say, well, they set an example, okay to
some degree, doesn't necessarily make them a leader. You can
actually have players on your team. I used to say this,
and I used to kid Kobe about this when they
won their last championship against Boston and Kobe and I

(21:55):
just had this back and forth constantly because I was
always ribbing Kobe and he was. I was on the
court doing my television work and he walked by to
do an NBA you know, this hour or so after
the game, and he stops. He sees me, Hey, Hartman,
what do you think now? And I looked right at him.
I said, well, I guess you and d Fish have

(22:15):
the same number of rings. Oh now, I said, and
he understood, because yeah, that was the role d Fish play.
He was like the leader on the team. Yeah, he
wasn't obviously the best player on the team. Kobe was that.
But do you talk about the leader, the guy that
led that team. Now, that's what I was saying. It's
no knocking Kobe obviously one of the greatest players in

(22:37):
the history of the game, but doesn't necessarily make you
a leader. So I don't know if Wimby's got that
in him. I felt like David Robinson was a leader.
Tim Duncan was a leader, you know. I mean, does
Tony Parker and Monogenobili happen? Are they in the Hall
of Fame if they're not teammates of Tim Duncan. No so,

(22:58):
But they were able to elevate their games because they
had a leader in Tim Duncan, a quiet leader, but
he knew the personality of his coach. He knew the
personality of his players. It could still happen for Wemby
obviously a very young player, but yeah, his his impact
is the rookie was far shy of what happened when
the Spurs got David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Let's find

(23:20):
out what is trending right now? And mon Sie, we
crossed paths with Olden as we left our show yesterday,
we did. You had not met Olden before?

Speaker 6 (23:31):
No, Yeah, it's just been a while it's been a
long time.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, not at all.

Speaker 6 (23:37):
But I think that was the first time.

Speaker 7 (23:38):
He right before you walked in, he called it. He
was like, Olden's about to walk in. I did a
seven footer and I was like, he's seven foot And
then you walked in and I was like, oh, man,
I've never stood you know, next to you that closely,
and I you know, next to me, you look like
an eight footer. But he literally called it right as
you walked in.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
I can always feel Olden's press.

Speaker 6 (23:58):
You did, you did right, man.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
We should work together all the time.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Steve, Yes, yes, it's too easy, too easy.

Speaker 6 (24:07):
Too easy, he says, too easy.

Speaker 7 (24:10):
We have a lot going on today, fellas. But right
now it's just a lot of baseball. We've got basketball
coming up, NHL coming up. Baseball, though. The Diamondbacks are
beating the Orioles one zero, trying to avoid the sweep
by Baltimore. They're going to start the fifth inning. The
Cubs are on top of the Pirates two to one.
Bottom of the fourth inning. The Red Sox have scored
first against the Nationals at home, three zero. Bottom of

(24:31):
the third. The Yankees have added another run. They're beating
the Rays to zero top of the fourth inning, while
the Phillies nick As the Yano's a three run homer.
They're up on top of the Marlins three to one,
trying to complete that sweep. It's the bottom of the third.
The Dodgers will be without show Heo tany today. He
experienced back lower tightness. Yesterday they did win at Petco Park.

(24:53):
The biggest crowd at Petco Park. A lot of Dodger
fans went to that Will Smith is gonna be dhing
instead against the Padres. At the Wells Fargo Championships, Anders Shoffley,
Rory McElroy, they were the leaders. Now they are tied
for the top spot twelve under part overall through three holes,
and then the NBA is gonna.

Speaker 6 (25:11):
Kick off with the Draft lottery.

Speaker 7 (25:12):
That's at three pm Eastern time, so in about thirty
minutes or so. Then it's a pair of game fours
to continue the playoffs. Indiana Pacers Nicks, they're gonna try
to even the series. Then the Timberwolves are gonna try
to even the series at home against the Nuggets.

Speaker 6 (25:25):
That game's at eight pm Eastern time.

Speaker 7 (25:28):
NHL Playoffs, the Bruins are gonna be without their captain
Brad Marshan for Game four against the Panthers. Marshannon left
Game three with an upper body injury. Florida leads that
series two to one, then the Connects and the oilers
will take place after that's Game three, a series that's
tied at one apiece, so plenty to go around today.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
All right, So, MINSI, you probably heard Olden earlier agree
with you about the Jamal Murray situation. Oh so she
came on yesterday on Fire saying, because we were talking
about Denver's big bounce back went on the road against
the t walls, like he should not have been playing?
Why was he he should not? And you guys agree
on that.

Speaker 6 (26:05):
Just a little bit of consistency. It just SU's a
bad precedent.

Speaker 7 (26:08):
And I said to Steve Balls, like, expect players to
throw things now because they're gonna push the boundaries.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
I have to, especially if I'm a first timer.

Speaker 6 (26:15):
Exactly right shod.

Speaker 7 (26:17):
And then I was like, you have a repeat offender
four games, that's nothing. They're gonna be pushing the boundaries
because they're seeing that.

Speaker 6 (26:22):
It's like nothing's gonna happen to me.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Okay, But Mike Canner and this whole thing. Look, I'm
not disagreeing with you the rules of the rules side,
but my point is you're saying, why would they do
Denver any favors. If you looked at the ratings last
year for the Nuggets Heat Final, it was significantly down
from the year before when you had the Warriors and
the Celtics. The Nuggets are not a draw in a
lot of ways. Yokich is Tim Duncan. If you look

(26:46):
at those San Antonio Spurs finals, the ratings were not good.
They were always down when San Antonio was in the
NBA finals, and Denver's the same way. Denver's not a draw.
So I don't know if you think, well, they wanted
Denver to get back in the series or they want
Denver to win this series against Minnesota. I'll be honest with you.
I think Minnesota's got more star power than Denver has.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
I mean, you're right, it's not about TV ratings. Here's
what it was about. You know, we don't want to
give the perception, okay that when we're controlling the game,
that's the that's the narrative and all that. But the
reality is this, If I suspend Jamal Murray, Okay. Now

(27:35):
it's like, oh my god, but if I don't suspend them.
The problem that I'm having, of course, is the fact
that now that you don't suspend him of Draymond Green okay,
actually has a case, you know, regardless of because the
letter of the laws said it's ABC, And now you
circumvented that by saying, well, we're gonna just do one
hundred thousand because it's his first offense. Into Monci's point,

(28:01):
now all the first timers, I get a free shot
at this.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Well, by the way, are they making up the rules
as they go? In other words, is there any rules?
It says that if you engage in that kind of
infraction and it's your first time of fence, there will
not be a suspension. Is there such a you're not.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
It's not.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
But we've had precedents of people throwing stuff, you know.
But at the same time, he directed a throw at
the referee. I don't give a damn what they say.
He directed it at the ref that's a suspension. You
might as well just walk up there and swing at them.
It's the same thing. So that's the president that they've

(28:40):
just set. It's like, well, if it's your first offense.
Come on, now, I mean, it's ridiculous. Man, that's the problem.
So I don't care about the ratings and all that.
What they did was foul. He should have been suspended
and let the Whatever happened during the game happened during
the game. But now they o Pandul's boxes.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Hmmm, all right, well we'll see what happens next. What
do you make of this series between the Nuggets and
the tea Walls? I mean, by the way, backtracking a
little bit here, So the Lakers lose a five game
series to the Nuggets, and the Lakers let all five
games at halftime. All five games the Lakers let at halftime.
So the argument about the Lakers was, well, you're close.

(29:24):
In other words, we're gonna Darvin Ham's gonna take the fall,
and we're going to get a coach in there. We're
going to get more into that situation a little bit later, Olden,
but the idea was the Lakers. If the Lakers are
leading the defending NBA champions at halftime of five consecutive games,
they're close. Well, we are also saying the Nuggets have

(29:45):
really been playing inconsistent all year long. Coach Malone has
been frustrated with this team throughout the season that they
don't always seem to show up. Maybe a little malaise
after winning a championship, maybe understandable first time you've ever
done it. But then after watch him getting blown out
at home in consecutive games to the t Wolves. Now,

(30:05):
if you're the Lakers, you're like, well, maybe we're not
as close to a championship where we thought if we
were using Denver as the bar. Minnesota is a whole
different level. So what do you expect? I mean, obviously
it was a huge comeback a win for the Nuggets
with the addition of Murray, but they dominated the t
Wolves in Minnesota. The road teams obviously won all three
of the games so far. On the surface, it would

(30:28):
appear to me Minnesota is not a great matchup for
Denver because Denver's huge advantage against the Lakers was size,
and you're not gonna have size advantage when you got
the two big men inside for the t Wolves. So
how do you think the series is going to play out?

Speaker 4 (30:43):
I think Denver's gonna win the series because all the
pressure that one win in Game three shifted all the
pressure onto Minnesota because you went into Denver and took
two games, and you lost your first game at home.
You have to win tonight, you have to, Okay, but

(31:04):
check it out. Let's say that Minnesota wins three to one. Okay,
Denver's backs against the Wall game. The next game is
in Denver, which they'll probably win. Now you have to
win game six because you don't want a game steping
back in Denver. So all the pressure is on the

(31:25):
Minnesota Timberwolves. I think you know, when Gobert was out
for the birth of his child, you know, it was
a great thing for the Minnesota Timberwolves to win that game.
And so when he comes back, he's great defensive player.
I mean defense played the year, but it does limit
some of the things that they do offensively, and so

(31:48):
Denver was taking advantage of a lot of that stuff.
And again, I just believe that they just smacked Denver
the first two games, and Denver was not expecting. You're right,
there was some malays and the fact that the Denver
Nuggets are defending champions. Say they walked out out there like, hey,
we beat this team last year. But the Denver forgot
two things. Jane McDaniels and Nas Reed, they did not

(32:13):
play last year, so that's a big difference. Also, the
same pass you were able to make against the Lakers, you.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Can't make those pasts against the Timberwolves.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
That's insane.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Well, too long, the too athletic.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Well, and then why I get back to being roster
to roster. I just think the te Wolves have more star.
Parry got the sixth man of the year. Obviously you
got the two bigs inside. And then all right, so
Anthony Edwards, when you watch this guy play, and I
said this at the end of the regular season, which
I get about OKC and Minnesota, and you know where

(32:48):
they are in terms of Denver, and I guess the
only unanswered question is Shay Gil, Alexander and Anthony Edward.
Are these guys going to be that level of player
in the postseason. We're seeing it right now with Jalen Brunson,
obviously with the Knicks. Where guys and by the way,
Jamal Murray has been that guy for the Denver Nuggets,

(33:09):
the guy who's game. He's never been an All Star,
he's never been on any all NBA teams, but in
the big games, this guy stabs up.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
And that's what you're supposed to do.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Is Anthony Edwards. Does he have that look to you?
Oh yeah, a guy that can take over a team,
take over a postseason.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Remember you will talk about leaders. Yeah, he's one of them.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Yeah, this kid, at twenty two years old is a
bona fide team leader, your best player offensively, but he's
not selfish, and he's and he loves to play defense.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
He wants to play defense.

Speaker 4 (33:42):
I fell in love with Anthony Edwards when he made
the statement about load management. But kid that young to
have that presence of mind, That's when I was like,
I'm an Anthony Edwards fan.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
All Right, I'm gonna take that a little bit further.
On the other side. Yeah, we go a little old
skill here, but it doesn't mean that this way change
is inevitable. You got to go with the changes. That
doesn't mean that every change is the right change. We'll
talk about load management a little bit and how it's
affected the NBA and where we go from here. Even

(34:13):
though the league did step in and make some revisions
to discourage it, and I think for the NBA it
might have been the right decision. We'll explore more. This
is Fox Sports Sunday. Steve Harbin Olden Polonies. Here Fox
Sports Sunday, we are live from the tire rack dot
Com Studios. Time management, time management. You know, as you

(34:41):
get older, you're aware of time. Time, you know is
you know, especially when we have children, as we have,
and suddenly they're a lot older. I remember a contemporary
of mine, or Herscheiser, the Great Pitcher, right after my
second son was born. He I was talking because I

(35:05):
didn't have kids, so you know, I was later in
my thirties, and he said, he said something I'll never
forget because I was, you know, had these two little
baby boys at home before my daughter was born, and
everything was just crazy busy, and he said, when you
have kids, the days are long, but the years are short.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
And by the way, on that note, a happy Mother's Day,
by the way to all the moms out there. Moms
do a lot of time. But it is true. I mean,
suddenly you just get so busy and then you blink
and then all of a sudden, twenty years has passed
and it's like, wow, what happened there? How did it happen?
And so we hear about this load management and the

(35:49):
NBA set out to do something about it. Last year,
I believe the numbers were unreal. Of the top it wasn't.
The exact number was something like this. Of the top
twenty nine scorer scoring leaders in the NBA points per game,
only five had played at least seventy games. Seventy games,

(36:12):
not eighty seventy games. Five of the twenty nine. So
they set out these new rules that said, you're not
eligible for any postseason honors unless you play X amount
of games. It's like mid sixties or whatever. It was
like embiid miss too many games, so you're not going
to see him all in the All NBA. He's not
eligible for any of those kind of honors. But that
really and by the way, we did see our star

(36:34):
players play more this year. You know, suddenly Kawhi Leonard,
who's the poster boy for load management, showed up for
more games. We had, you know, Lebron and Anthony Davis
combine for one hundred and forty seven games this year.
Close I was like, wow, you mean you actually can
play that many games? Well, what do you make of this?
I mean, like I said, you've powered through seventeen professional season,

(36:55):
fifteen years in the NBA. I would question whether any
coach ever came up to you and asked you if
you were tired during an NBA game. So, well, what
do you make of this and how does it help
or harm the NBA in terms of load management and
the amount of minutes players are playing.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Well, I hate it.

Speaker 4 (37:18):
I hate load management, and I blamed Popovich for this,
you know, but he had the right idea back then
with his older players. You know, I'm gonna sit you
guys certain games. So they were doing it the right way.
But it just became a thing. And that's the problem
with the NBA. It's a league of followers. Bill Shamans

(37:39):
started freaking shoot rounds because the Lakers happened to have
a couple shoot rounds one year, the year they won
the championship, you know, morning shoot rounds, and everybody's like,
oh my god, that's the secret to winning the championship.
Everybody started shoot rounds. I hated shoot rounds. Get up
at eight, you know, eight o'clock or whatever it is,

(38:00):
to go to ten o'clock. At eleven o'clock, shoot a
round and go back to the hotel. Crap, Because whatever
you heard at eleven am, you forgot at one pm.
So it didn't matter. So it's a bunch of followers.
Now everybody's doing load management, and it's not fair to fans.
It's not fed to the game. So I don't like
it personally, So I'm happy the league came up with this,

(38:22):
the sixty five game rule. You know, a lot of
people against it, but hey, if you want to be
acknowledged as a great player as all NBA, you gotta
show up bout of mind.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
You can't tell me that athletes of this caliber are tired.
You just can't. Again, Michael Jordan's final season with the
Washington Wizards, out of eighty two games, he played in
eighty two games. He was forty years old. He wasn't

(38:58):
the young Michael Jordan. He showed up, and a lot
of players that were, you know. I mean we were
talking during one of the breaks about Malone and Stockton,
I mean combined in there, what seventeen years together with
the Jazz. I think they combined missed ten games in
seventeen years, some crazy.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Nothing, insane numbers, insane, But everybody was doing it. It
wasn't just one guy, you know, And so to me,
these guys now everybody's concerned about their body I'm like, dude,
we all concern about our bodies, but you can't cheat
the game because the game will get you back.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
I remember a story of a dear friend of mine
has four seats for the Clippers that cost them a
zillion dollars, And he had a friend of big time
client that he wanted to bring to a game and
the night before they were on a back to back Kawhi.
The night before it scored thirty five points outstanding. This
guy's I can't wait to see Kawhi. They sit down
their seats, Kwie in his street clubs.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
And so he he gets out of his seat. He
goes right over to Bomber and says, why is he
not in the game?

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (40:05):
And Bomber just looked at him like, wow, Yeah, why
is he not in the game. This is a big
time client.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
I'm paying a mint.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
For these tickets. Wow, you're telling me he can't play
back to back games?

Speaker 3 (40:20):
All right?

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Not good for the NBA, all right. Coming over the air, SID,
we're getting in to the NFL news. Why because Olden
admits the NFL owns the sports world. This is Fox
Sports Sunday.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
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 (40:42):
Yeah, we're rolling along here on a busy sports Sunday.
Fox Sports Sunday broadcasting live from the tire rag dot
com studios. Tire rag dot com. We're gonna help get
you there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road
ASID protection, over ten thousand recommended installers, tire rag dot
com the way tire by it should be. We're about
a half hour away from tip off between the Pacers

(41:04):
and the Knicks. The home team has won all three
games so far. To expect the Pacers to prevail and
even up this series or do the Knicks have a
little extra magic going on right now with Jalen Brunson.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
I mean, they definitely have magic with Brunson and the
rest of his Villanova cohorts. But I think Indiana winstonn
also because i Ogianonoby being out was a killer.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
They are really down. I mean, when you look at
how many minutes hard brunts and they're logging a lot of.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
A lot of minutes, and that's gonna play a part too.
And again they're in shape and they feel good. But
you know, you gotta mix it up a little bit
because eventually I'm gonna get used to these guys as
a pacer. They're gonna say, okay, I know what Josh
is doing, so okay, let me box him out. And
know Jalen wants to go left a lot of times.
I mean, you know, so you're gonna figure some things out.
If you add different components to it, then you know,

(41:59):
they got to figure that out as well. But right now,
Tipodau's playing six seven, eight guys maybe yeah, maybe eight?

Speaker 3 (42:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
You only had three guys off the bench in the
game three yeah. And I would imagine this because we
were talking about load management on the other side. So
if you're accustomed to playing let's say, thirty two to
thirty five minutes a night, and then all of a sudden,
you're playing forty to forty two minutes a night, even
if you're an elite athlete, your body's going to feel

(42:27):
the difference.

Speaker 4 (42:28):
Oh yeah, definitely, you know, but you prepare for that stuff.
That's why I don't like load management, and that's why
people get hurt. It's because of load management. Your body's
not used to it, So, you know, we used to
play on asphalt.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Nobody today plays on as fall. Nobody.

Speaker 4 (42:48):
These kids don't know anything but wooden floors, and so
to me, that does stuff to your body as well.
You know, we built the tolerance for pain. They're not
doing that any.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
People don't play on asphalt anymore.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
I'm out there.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Wow, that's all we played on back in the day.
All right, let's talk about the NFL. And you know,
we were getting ready for the start of the show.
We were watching some UFL action. I was joking that
every single one of these UFL games, if you take
a picture of the crowd shot, it's the same crowd,
same seats, every single game, just a little few people

(43:26):
scattered around the place. So the UFL has got a
long way to go for survival. That is not the
case with the National Football League. The NFL is like
this monstrosity that at some point you feel like it's
got it top off somewhere, and it just doesn't. It

(43:48):
just grows and grows and grows and grows. And a
big part of the growth of the NFL from the
very beginning is gambling. It's the most bet on sport.
I remember the days olden. When I put it this way, now,

(44:09):
I really put myself back in time is when you
were in high school. So when the forty nine Ers
played the Bengals in Super Bowl sixteen at the Pontiac
Silver Dum, I remember that one January of nineteen eighty two,
I was in Vegas with buddies of mine. There was
only one place in Vegas that you can make a

(44:29):
sports bet. It was the star Dust. The Stardust Hotel
was the only place that you could actually wager a bet.
And you're gonna like this, So my buddies and I
did a three way parlay. We had the forty nine
Ers as one and a half point favorites to cover.

(44:50):
We took the under in the game, which I believe
was forty eight, and we tied it to a Ralph
Sampson University of Virginia basketball game cover the spread.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
Well.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Virginia blew out whoever they played that day. So this
would have been Ralph's junior year at Virginia. And amazingly enough,
the line dropped on that Super Bowl where all the
late money came in on the Bengals. It was like
a pick'em game by tip off by kickoff, and we
won that. And the one we were barely covering was
the under. I think in the over under was forty

(45:24):
eight forty eight and a half and it was forty seven,
so we win the bet, right. But that's that's what
it was. You had one place in all of Vegas.
And then my first radio gig our sponsor was the
first sportsbook ever in Vegas, the Olympiad at Caesar's Palace,
So they were our sponsors for our show. So I
think about where gambling was then and these billion dollar

(45:48):
deals with these gambling establil BuShips that now the NFL
is in bed with yep, and somehow, some way, the
NFL is, you know, cracking down on players saying, well,
you can't you can't bet on any kind of sport
if you're on the premises of the of the team,

(46:10):
even though everybody's got their gambling device literally in their hand.
I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out, the
relationship of gambling in which these sports leagues are having
money poured into their leagues billions of dollars from these
gambling establishments, and their effort to I don't know what
somehow justify the relationships with the gambling establishments that in

(46:34):
no way they have any effect on what we are
seeing in terms of the product on the field. Where
do you draw the line on that olden?

Speaker 4 (46:42):
I don't even know. You can't really draw the line.
There's no line to draw. It is what it is,
you know, But I think it's full hypocrisy. It kind
of reminds me of when I used to live in
Salt Lake City, Utah. You know, Mormons don't drink, they
don't smoke, they don't do anything. They don't drink calf,
I mean, but they can sell it to you, they

(47:04):
can profit from it, and were just not gonna partake.
And so, you know, NFL is this monstrosity, as we've said.
You know, they used to own only Sundays. Then it
became Sunday and Monday. Then it became Sunday, Monday, Thursday.
Now it was Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Saturday. You know, they're
probably they're gonna get the rest of the three days eventually,
and so to me, you know, I just don't like

(47:25):
the hypocrisy of it. All you're in bed with. I'm
not gonna say the names of these companies, but you
in bed with all of them. And yet now all
of a sudden you're like, oh, gambling is bad. We
don't want you to gamble. What the hell is that about?
You just gotta let people be people. I don't think
players should bet on games per se, you know, whether

(47:47):
it's to win or to lose.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
I get that.

Speaker 4 (47:49):
But these young boys that just made that ten thousand
dollars bed, we all used to do that. I made
a living off of my teammates, you know, like doing
trick shots and all. There's always some kind of gambling
going on. I bet I rebound you this game, you know,
something like that.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Okay, Okay, this is where I want to go with this. Okay,
So I'm glad you mentioned that. The idea the players
do not bet on themselves, their teams, their sport is ridiculous.
It's been going on forever because if you've got the

(48:27):
gambling itch, you want an edge, and what better way
of having an edge than participating in what you're betting on.
You know, Floyd Mayweather Junior legally bet on himself to
win every fight that he fought, and guess what he
won every time. If you go to England at Wimbledon
you could bet on yourself to win. Now, obviously I

(48:51):
would draw the line if you're betting against your team,
If there's even a hint of any kind of you know, fix,
where you're trying to fix a game to lose, you're gone, done, finished,
don't let the door hit you on the way out.
But I I've never quite this goes back to the
Pete Rose situation or John Dowd, who led the investigation.

(49:11):
I was a guest on my show many times. I said, John,
in all your years investigating Pete Rose, was there ever
a hint he bet against the Reds? Ever? He goes, no,
But there were games that he didn't bet on his team.
I go, oh, you mean, like when the other team
had their a starter going against his number five starter. Yeah,
he didn't want to throw his money away. I understand that.

(49:32):
So this is this is where I'm really having a
problem with this, because what the I think the NFL
is overcompensating now trying to say, Okay, yeah, we got
billions of dollars coming in from these gambling establishments, But
I understand this. We are against gambling when it comes
to our players on any sport, and that's just not realistic.

(49:52):
It's it's you know. And by the way, that that
bet between Neighbors and Daniels, they still have that, I
guarantee you.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
Oh my god, they got a public he mind and say,
oh man, we canceled the bad because of the gambling situation.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Oh please, so you but was it in your time
many years in professional basketball, was it uncommon for players
to just have a little friendly side wager based on them.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
We had them. That was part of it.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
We had side bets, side wagers, whatever you want to
call them. You know, that was a nice little handshake
back back. You know, one hundred dollars here, a thousand
and here, ten thousand here. We had one of the
biggest fights in all of basketball between teammates when I
was with Seattle over gambling because somebody didn't pay on time.
You know, Oakalley slapping people over gambling debts. So stop it,

(50:42):
that's what I'm saying. You're trying to make these damn
narratives that aren't true. Nothing is new under the sun, nothing.
So if you have it today, you had it in
the eighties, you had it in the fifties. Tim Donnahy
was not the only referee. He's the only when that

(51:03):
got caught. I remember Tom Chambers making the statement to
one arrest, you must have money in this game. That
man never got a call again. Because these referees talk
to each other. He made a statement about us. Now
we're gonna show him.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
You know.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
It's kind of like Chris Paul with Scott Foster. It's
like they'd make this stuff personal. And it goes back
again to the earlier conversation we're having how referees. You know,
it's a file here, it's not a file there. They
controlled too much of the game, and that's the part
no one's talking about.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Did you ever confront an official no about calls against you.

Speaker 4 (51:39):
I never complained about a call because I knew it
wasn't gonna make a difference, so I just let it go.
It's like I raised my hands and that was it.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
See, this is my knock on Chris Paul. Obviously a great, great, great,
great player. He just talks to the officials, wait.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
Too much, way too much, you know, because I learned.
One of the things I learned, referees are people too,
So what I did I got to know them right.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
You know.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
I'll tell you this story because he's retired. Now whatever
my rookie year, Dick Mavetta made a mistake. I knew
he was a bad call, so I didn't yell and
scream and cuss him out. I said, hey, Dick, can
you take a look, you know, like, because I think
that was a bad call, you know, but I respect
the call.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
I respect the whistle.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
So you know what, because the referees they have videos,
you know, and they looked at plays. He's like, you
were right, I missed it. All right, next play offensively,
I'll get it back to you. The man just he
blew the whistle. I didn't get fouled. He just gave
me the call back.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
That is the thing about the NBA from the very
beginning is stars get calls. Well. I don't know how
many times I saw the great Magic Johnson was like
the party in the Red seas going in for a
layup and they're just going to blow the whistle on
somebody free point play.

Speaker 4 (52:58):
I'm like, they don't like be disrespected, they don't lie
being shown up right, That's the thing.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Everybody's got an ego.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
All right, I'm going to say I want to get
more into some of the NFL. It's been a long
time since Olden and I caught up on a few things.
Get your thoughts about the draft. Which quarterbacks are actually
going to make a difference. Which teams are you most
interested in seeing what they've got in twenty twenty four.
This is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harbin and Olden Polonies

(53:27):
Here Fox Sports Sunday. We're live from the Tyraq dot
Com studios. All right, we interrupt this NFL conversation for
the now underway NBA Draft lottery, and we are halfway through.
We got seven picks to go. Any teams out of
order yet, Olden.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
I don't know, man, it's weird right now. It looks
like somebody who's out of San Antongi's got the eighth pick.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
That yeah, Portland is now at number seven.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Atlanta's already in the top four.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Garante soup Portland and now has the seventh pick and
the fourteenth pick.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Antonio's got eighth and yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
Okay, all right, So it's a little different than it
was last year when all eyes were on the wattery
with Wemby out there. Hornets end up now with the
number six overall pick. Is that gonna matter for a franchise?
That doesn't matter. Got the piston said number five?

Speaker 4 (54:21):
Uh oh, so that means the Washington Wizards in the
top four.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
That's that's uh so you got the guy out of Australia, right,
the big man is he projected to be that number
one over Alex Saw.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Yeah, he's the primitive guy.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
So who knows these teams they're gonna it's gonna happen
the combineses this weekend. So anything can happen. Once you
get into Combine, they start doing the you know, all
the interviews and everything else, the measurements. We're gonna find
out the guy is not really six eleven, he's actually
six ' nine.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Yeah, let me ask you this. So they're gonna break
right now and we're gonna find out the top four
picks in the draft. Zach Edie, all right, so I'm
watching this guy destroy everybody in the NCAA tournament, two
time player of the Year, first guy to win the
Woodward back to back year since Ralph Samson at your school, Virginia.

(55:14):
And I'm watching this guy and I'm thinking to myself,
all right, I understand in this day and age where
you expect your centers to stand at the three point
line and knock down three point shots that he doesn't
fit that mold. But I'm also thinking to myself, Okay,
you can't teach size never and this guy, if you

(55:36):
watch his development at Purdue, got better every year. He
worked to become a better basketball player. So the work
ethic is there. You know, Jokich was a second round
pick for obvious reasons. He wasn't very athletic. No one really,
you know, sort of did the extra work to unless
Denver did and taking him in the second round to say, well,

(55:58):
what's this guy's basketball IQ? Is he not how to
play the game? Can he play the game? Does he
have the inner fire to work on his game get
better in this game? Can he develop his game? Because
that's always what you have to when you draft a player.
You have to figure out what is this guy ceiling?
Has he already peaked? Is this as good as it

(56:20):
going to get? Does he have the work ethic understanding
when you're a professional, it's a job and needs to
be treated as work to get better at your craft.
These are all the X factors that go into any
kind of sport in evaluating talent. But when you look
at Zach Edie, would you roll the dice on this guy,
and if so, how would you use him in the NBA?

Speaker 3 (56:45):
It depends on where I pick.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
Let's let's say you took him in the second round.
I mean right now he's projected maybe low first round,
most likely second round pick.

Speaker 4 (56:55):
I think he's going to be a top fifteen pick. Oh,
you really do, because they gonna one of the things.
To your point, they realize he does have a work ethic.
He could have come out last year and he didn't,
and his game improved and he got a little quicker.
And again we're so wrapped up. Remember I said this,
it's the League of followers. Yes, the reason I love

(57:20):
Nicola Jokic so much is that he's bringing the big
man positions somewhat back by getting in the low posts.
That's when Denver's the most deadliest, when he's passing out
of the post. So now with Edie, you got a guy,
Oh my god, Steve size matters.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Yeah, here's another thing I see about when you have
bigs that are not accustomed to being in the low post,
they don't have a lot of basket awareness. How many
blown layups do you see in the NBA? You know
it doesn't blow a lot of layups. Is Jokic, he
seems to under He does miss up, but he seems

(58:02):
to have basket awareness down low where he can make
a quick turn, little hook shot whatever, and seemingly know
where he is on the court and can make that
two footer. That's what I see with Zach Edy. He
knows where the basket is and so if you get
him in the low post, he's such a mismatch against

(58:23):
other players. You don't have to cover a lot of
ground if you're down low. With that kind of size,
he's got low repertoire. He knows how to put the
ball in the basket down low.

Speaker 4 (58:33):
Right now, Zach Edy is better than two guys, and
I'm gonna mention them biz My Biambo on o case
he's bench and Tristan Thompson on Cleveland's bench. He's one
hundred times better than them right now, way more serviceable.
Can score, download, can dunk the ball. He's gonna dunk
it on you. He has a toughness about him. He

(58:56):
can shoot from outside. He just doesn't rely on a
three point shot, you know. And the thing is, you
know everybody saying, well, he's slow, a foot Well, Yoka
change the fastest person in basketball, but yet no one
can defend him, no one can go by him. So
how is that? Because he knows how to play the game.
He's smart and that's the thing. Stop trying to knock

(59:19):
this kid down because of his size. Size matters. And
if I'm a GM, I'm deaf, I'm gonna bring him
on if nothing else then to defend jokids.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
All right, we're going into the top four picks right now.
I believe the Rock has just got the third pick,
Spurs got the fourth pick, and that means that the
number one pick is going to be with.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Wow, the Atlanta Hawks.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
The Atlanta Hawks.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
Wow, that's huge.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
But do we have a player that is an absolute
lock to be an impact guy with the number one
overall pick?

Speaker 4 (59:58):
That is huge? That he's Trey Young is gonna be traded.
He's gonna be traded. They're not gonna have him with
the number one player.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
They're not.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Well, let me ask you about Trey Young. If you're
the Lakers, are you interested in Trey Young?

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
No? No, that's not what the Lakers need.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
Well, I mean, are you set with D'Angelo Russell at
the point I don't. I don't mean he's got he's
got a player option.

Speaker 4 (01:00:25):
But I don't mind D'Angelo d'anglo has his moments. He's
an All Star former, all stuff. The Lakers problem is
wing shooting and length. That's the problem. They have pretty
much everything else. You know, they need a backup for
Anthony Davis because he's definitely not a Ciner, so they

(01:00:45):
need a big shoot throw Zach Eaton there.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
I mean when you think back to when they won
their championship in twenty twenty, you had m JaVale McGee,
you had Howard who still motivated that point, and Anthony
Davis wasn't forced to play the center position.

Speaker 4 (01:01:07):
Yes, and that's the key. Let him play his natural position.
I don't care. Just let him play his natural position
and get some wing defenders Allah Jade McDaniels and them
Kats you know, nik Kill Walker, nikkill Alexander Walker. You know,
you need that kind of length and they you know,
And okay, granted Jerry Vanderbilt, No, he was hurt the

(01:01:28):
whole year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
That that doesn't help because let's face it, Lebron cannot
play defense much. No, he comes up with the occasional
block shot or something like that. He has his moments,
but at this point you got to have somebody's. It's
just like, you know, Michael, Michael Cooper, one of my
all time favorite leaguers, got elected the Hall of Fame.
I was happy. I mean, he never made an All

(01:01:50):
NBA team. You know, he was all defense, he was
never an All Star. But because Magic Johnson was not
much of a defender, you needed that guy. Oh yes,
Michael Cooper. That's what the Lakers are missing this year
because defensively they were awful. All right, So the NBA
Draft lottery is now set. Let's find out what is trending.
With more on that and so much else here, we

(01:02:11):
are about to tip off an NBA playoff game.

Speaker 6 (01:02:14):
We are, yes, all right?

Speaker 7 (01:02:17):
So officially the first five picks of the draft lottery,
in case you missed it for the NBA, which it
starts on June twenty six, that's the first round of
the NBA Draft.

Speaker 6 (01:02:26):
Number one goes to the Hawks. The Wizards get.

Speaker 7 (01:02:29):
The second overall pick, Rockets number three. The Spurs actually
have two in the top ten, they're the fourth and
eighth pick, and then the Pistons get the fifth pick.
So the Draft officially starts Round one June twenty six,
and now we're gonna get a pair of game fours
in the NBA. Pacers are going to try to even
the series against the Knicks. Following that matchup, it's the
Timberwolves and the Nuggets. That game is at eight pm

(01:02:52):
Eastern Time on the ice. The Bruins will be without
their captain Brad Marshan for Game four against the Panthers.
Florida leads that series two to one, and it's going
to start at six thirty pm Eastern time, followed by
a Game three between the Canucks and the Oilers. That
series is tied at one a piece. Let's move on
to Major League Baseball, where the Diamondbacks have exploded trying
to avoid the sweep by Baltimore. They're on top nine

(01:03:14):
to two against the Ools. It's the bottom of the
sixth inning. The Cubs and the Pirates are tied at
two a piece. Top of the seventh. The Red Sox
are beating the Nationals three to two. Top of the
seventh as well. The Twins on the scoreboard. Carlos Santana
with the three run homer, and they're beating the Blue
Jays three to one. Top of the eighth inning, the
Astros blanking the Tigers four zero. Bottom of the seventh.
The Raiser are on the scoreboard, but the Yankees are

(01:03:36):
still on top. It is six to four bottom of
the seventh eraand Judge with a two run homer, the
latest to give some the Yankees some runs. The Phillies
and the Marlins tied at six. Bottom of the sixth inning.
The Guardians trying to avoid the sweep by the White Sox.
They're blanking Chicago six zero. Top of the six. The
Brewers are trying to sweep the Cardinals. The Cardinals have

(01:03:56):
lost seven in a row. They're trying to not make
it eight. But the Brewers are on top three to two.
It's the top of the fifth inning at the Wells
Fargo Championships.

Speaker 6 (01:04:04):
Andrew Shoftley extending his lead. He is thirteen under par overall.

Speaker 7 (01:04:08):
Rory McElroy two shots back back to you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
Thank you very much, so check in with you and questions,
can you say Hawks again?

Speaker 6 (01:04:20):
Hawks?

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
That's not what you said.

Speaker 6 (01:04:22):
What did I say? You know, it comes out, it
just comes out. I don't plan it, but you're right,
you're probably right and I'll probably coming back out like
that at some point.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
Hacks.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
By the way, she is a die hard Clippers fan, really,
I am.

Speaker 7 (01:04:38):
My dad has a picture of you with one of
the teams, like I remember the year.

Speaker 6 (01:04:42):
But he has it in the garage.

Speaker 4 (01:04:43):
Oh yeah, cool, Yeah, your father likes pain and you
like pain.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
We do.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
You had two runs with the clips, right runs. Yeah,
I know you finished your career there, but you had
the can can I just now now, I'm all caught
up with this NBA stuff going on right now, with
the with the draft lottery. The Clippers are another team
that's got to make some serious decisions here right now.
So you got Kawhi under contract, and Kawhi is your

(01:05:12):
one proven guy that can get it done with the
games matter most. The problem is he hasn't been there
for the games the matter most because he's always hurt. Yep,
Paul George fifty one dollar player option. And by the way,
we were talking yesterday Montsey and I about isn't it
curious that we're ten days after the or eleven days
now since the Clippers got eliminated. They keep talking about

(01:05:34):
extending Tylo's contract and no extension has been done. If
you're ty Lou, are you comfortable with the idea of
I mean, if you're going to re sign or extend
the deal with Paul George, We're we're now into the
sixty million dollar a year range. That's where we that's
where the salaries are going. And then you have to

(01:05:55):
make a decision about James Harden.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
So if your tail and they're trying to sell you
on the idea that we're gonna keep this trio together,
we're basically gonna keep this team together. If you're ty Lou,
are you saying to yourself, this team as is is
good enough to win a championship or would I have

(01:06:20):
a better opportunity to win a championship if I get
traded or literally quit my job and take the Lakers shop.

Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
He has a better opportunity somewhere else. Clip is a
snake bit. They're not gonna win.

Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
They can't.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
Kawhi, this is groundhog Day. That's groundhog Day. Kawhi Leonard
is groundhog Day. It's gonna repeat this cycle every single year.
And it's unfortunate. I mean, because he's a hell of
a player. But this is where we are right now.
We're in that loop and he's gonna have to figure
it out because Paul George at fifty one million. Wow,

(01:07:00):
and they got to figure that out too. Yeah, I'm
hard they gotta figure out. You know, we don't know
how much more Russell Westbrook got left in him. And
I don't think everybody was sold on the whole system,
you know. And I think a lot of it had
to do with Kawhi and the injuries. I think people
really they've grown frustrated.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Well, unfortunately you watched Paul George and Harden disappear at
the end of that series.

Speaker 4 (01:07:24):
Oh yeah, definitely, especially after that game in Dallas. Yes, man,
and I and I told somebody, I say, hey, I
think I was on air. I said, hey, it don't
matter what they did in that game, they will be
back to normal.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
So a lot of decision making having to be done
right now. All right, Well, we just got on. I
just mentioned the Lakers. I'm sure they would love to
have tied lou Why wouldn't you. He's one of the
premier coaches in this league and obviously won a championship
with Lebron. But it just seems to me like Lebron
has got his heart set on JJ Reddick and I'm

(01:08:02):
just trying to figure this out now. It's when we
talk about no coaching experience, that does not mean you
can't have success. You know, Jason Kidd jumped right into
the fire, Larry Burd jumped right into the fire fish
a lot well, and then you obviously had the Steve
Nash situation in Brooklyn that didn't work out so well.

(01:08:24):
So I mean, you can't just have a blanket statement, well,
he's never been a coach before, he can't be successful.
He can be successful if he is the right voice
in that locker room. If his voice resonates with that team,
then he's the right guy.

Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
The Darvin Ham hiring was based on his many years
as an assistant in Milwaukee, where he was known as
the locker room guy. That was the Darvin Ham rep
is that he was that very valuable guy in your
assistant coaching staff that things get a little sideways in
the locker room. He has the right temperament, the right
things to say, the smooth things over. He knew that

(01:09:00):
they thought, Okay, maybe that's the personality we need to
be a head coach. Unfortunately, he mismanaged way too many games.
He mismanaged lineups, he mismanaged late game situations. He stood
there with his hands in his pocket. It just it
didn't work. Yeah, so I didn't blame them for moving
on from that. But let's say JJ Reddick, right, fifteen
years in the NBA, one of the great shooters in

(01:09:22):
the league. I hate duke guys, but okay, I'll over
see that. But knowing Lebron, knowing AD, knowing that team,
because the personnel are set, even d Loo's got a
player option this year, Reeves is under contract, Hatchamura is
under contract. Do you think a guy like JJ Reddick

(01:09:43):
it would be the missing piece to get the Lakers
over the top.

Speaker 4 (01:09:47):
No, excuse me, no at all. And his why And
I gotta go back a little bit. Darvin Ham. Yes
he was a locker room guy, but that's when he
was playing. That was as a player. And if you
are a locker room guy as an assistant coach, it's
a totally different mentality. As a head coach, you can

(01:10:07):
be not. Assistant coaches are supposed to get along with
the players. The head coach doesn't talk to the play
as much. So that's how it works. But now to
but I still don't think he should have been fired
like that, but it is what it is. You know,
you get hired to be fired. But JJ Reddick, here's
why I don't like it, because they might as well

(01:10:27):
just make Lebron the head coach. Just make him the
head coach and that's it. You know, if you want
to put jjved to sit there and you know, play
the part, fine, but Lebron will be the head coach
because he's gonna be asking for the clipboard anyway. So
I just don't like it. And why main reason I

(01:10:49):
don't like it is because it is JJ Reddick has
called older players so many different names, and now as
a coach, you will have to referenced them in actual
reverence to make a point. The same guys you were knocking,
you will have to refer to them at some point

(01:11:09):
in time doing one of your coach speaks and say
how good they were or else your team ain't gonna
buy it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
I mean that's again. And when I hear well, even
though if he doesn't have any he has no coaching
experience at any level, you bring in a lot of
veteran assistance, Well, what's the point of him being there?

Speaker 4 (01:11:31):
Exactly? What's the point. They've done that with other people
in the past, and it's because Lebron podcast Yeah, that's
the thing. Everybody's about making splash. That's why he's got
to make these ridiculous statements.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
All right, let me take this a step further. So,
my younger son lives and Breeze. The NBA lives in
Breeze Lakers basketball. When the Lakers got a lemonade, he said,
it's time to blow this thing up. And he wasn't
talking about just firing Darwin. He said, right now, I
would trade it Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis right now's trade

(01:12:06):
value is at its peak. How many draft picks did
the Clippers give away to get Paul George plus Shay
Gills just Alexander, I mean him plus like five number ones.
He's like, you get five number ones for go, Yeah,
but you're not going to get a player as good
as Anthony Davis. He goes, I blow this whole thing up,

(01:12:30):
Bye bye, Lebron. I'm starting all over again, because this
is now. When you think about this, Lebron has been
with the Lakers now for six years, six years, and
they've only gotten past the first round of the playoffs
twice in six years, and that's not what the Lakers

(01:12:56):
are looking to do. If I would imagine, and I've
known Genie but for a long time, I'm sure her
and mentality is exactly the same as their father. It's
about championships with the Lakers. As Kobe said to me
many times, there are two grades on the season, A
and F. What what if you get to the NBA
Finals and we don't win F? That's it?

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
Are the Lakers? You are expected to win championships.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
Do you believe that this team as it's made up
right now is good enough to win the NBA champions Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:13:30):
Not at all, not even close. They can't get out
the first round, not even close. Last year was a
great run. But it's like, come on, man, So the
Lakers are celebrating getting to Western Conference finals. Now the
Lakers are celebrating in season tournament championships.

Speaker 3 (01:13:52):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
Oh that was that was ridiculous. Why the way I
heard Dan earlier on the show today? Did you hear
him try to tie in Indiana's run in the postseason
to their run to the championship game of the n
season tournament.

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (01:14:09):
Kerry was dismissing that I was like, then Den backed
off saying that that that actually was not a good question.
I was like, who remembers that n season tournament. The Lakers,
by the way, did not want to put up a banner, Like,
there was no way they were going to put a
banner up until the NBA said, oh, yeah, you are.
You're going to put a banner up there in season

(01:14:30):
tournament in November.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
Yeah, that wasn't even a tournament. What was that? Those
were all regular season games. Unfortunately, the game that we
could have used as a w did not count. The
championship game was a sit alone exhibition game.

Speaker 4 (01:14:46):
The NBA wanted to show the new flaws the colorway.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
Some of them. What was it? The Bulls? You could
not watch them on TV? Olden.

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
You know who has the best Frosty in my personal opinion,
the Brooklyn Nets. Yeah, oh my god. It looks like,
how what's the movie Pleasantville? If it mus be a Pleasantville?

Speaker 2 (01:15:11):
All right? Coming up on the other side, I do
want to get a quick thought out in the NFL
with you. We got a lot more NBA news and
yes we are underway Pacers and Nicks. This is Fox
Sports Sunday. Steve Harman and Olden Polonies. Right here on
Fox Sports Sunday, we are live from the tire rack
dot Com studios. Pacers come out on fire at the

(01:15:33):
start of the show. Of course, Pacers trying to even
up the series. Home team has won each of the
three previous games, Nicks and Pacers, and later on it's
gonna be the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets. That
series is the exact opposite. The road team has won
all three games so far. Well that hold up? Later

(01:15:53):
can Denver even up that series? During the break, We're
just talking about really the whole chain dynamic of collegiate
sports in terms of recruitment, in terms of compensation with
the transfer portal on top of nil And you know, Drodmeyo,
the new coach of the New England Patriots, made a

(01:16:15):
comment about Drake May that sort of caught people by surprise.
I mean, right now they're just got you know, like
the rookie camps and stuff like that going on, and
he goes, yeah, this guy's got a long way to go.
And my sense of that comment wasn't necessarily in terms
of throwing the football or anything like that. I mean,

(01:16:36):
there's a reason they took him third. Overall, it's more
about attitude and maybe the idea that Drake may, like
all the other collegiate stars of this day and age,
has already put millions of dollars in his bank through NIL.
I mean, they're already millionaires before they even reached the
league if you're an elite collegiate player. I mean, reports

(01:16:57):
had it that Caleb Williams made well over ten million
dollars in two years at USC over ten million dollars.
And by the way, your rememory he at the combine,
he basically told everybody, no, I'll decide you want a physical,
I'll decide which teams give me a physical. He brought
a lot of attitude because he's already got money in

(01:17:17):
the bank. So how do you think this affects, especially
when we're talking about the NFL or the NBA, because
those are the players that are earning some serious bank
through NIL and the collegiate ranks, how does that affect
what's happening at the colleges and how does that affect

(01:17:39):
maybe their performance level, performance expectations, development crossing over. It
used to be from the amateur ranks to the professional ranks,
now it's from the professional ranks to the professional ranks.

Speaker 4 (01:17:54):
Well, I believe it's going to affect high school more
than college and the pros because now everything's dropped down
one and maybe even to the junior high level. Because
it used to be I'm working hard, working hard, working
hard to get to the pros. Now I'm working hard,
work hard to get to college because I'm getting paid

(01:18:16):
in college pretty soon. You know, it's like what's next.
So to me, these guys now they all free agents
every single year because it's like, if I'm not happy
right now with this guy. It puts a lot of
pressure on coaches. If a guy is not content with
his playing time, not happy with how much with the

(01:18:36):
bag he got, he's leaving, you know. And I kind
of like, I'm not saying I agree with it for
the players, but I get it because coaches were doing
this forever. You know, they'd be on the team and
then they'd leave and so and there was no sitting
down and all that. Players used to have to sit up.
Now guys can get up and leave or get a

(01:18:57):
bag and make a ton of money. I mean, I
watched Bronnie James and basketball at the highest nil. Caleb
Williams high nil. These guys they doing it so they
taking advantage of the system the way it is. So
I can't be mad at him for that, but I
think it's destroying the game.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
It's interesting now, if you had had a transfer portal,
imagine after your freshman year of Virginia, ooh final So there,
I mean your final four. You're there with a Keem,
You're there with Patrick Ewing right, oh yeah, you're battling
a chem in the final.

Speaker 3 (01:19:27):
I'm getting a bag a hi.

Speaker 1 (01:19:29):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
You know, all of a sudden, there's that that there
transfer portal situation. People are dangling money, saying, Olden, come
on out here. We got even a better situation. You
would have been at least open to it, right.

Speaker 3 (01:19:42):
I would have thought about it, but I love I
love Virginia so much. I know.

Speaker 4 (01:19:47):
Holland, so yeah, I probably wouldn't have gone anything. And
you know what's so funny because it kind of reminds
me of what just happened with my son last year.
He had a chance to transfer, you know, out of
Long Beach State, and he may a great statement, he said, Dad,
I'm not a quitter, you know. Yeah, because that's how
it looks you know you're quitting because things got hard.

(01:20:09):
He says, I might encounter the same situation at the
next school. I know the situation here. I'm gonna stay
and just work my butt off.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
Well, how much does that play into the idea of
being a team guy? In other words, if you just
seemingly are looking out for yourself in a team sport,
I would imagine that's sort of a badget's carried with
you wherever you.

Speaker 4 (01:20:28):
Are, and it stays with you forever. Steve stays with
you forever. Teams don't forget that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:34):
All right, So right now it is all Pacers over
the next much more on these NBA playoffs. We'll also
check him with John Paul Morosi, our MLB insider. This
is Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:20:45):
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 (01:20:57):
Enjoying a beautiful Sunday here this Mother's Day. A happy
Mom's Day to all the moms out there. Once again,
this is Fox Sports Sunday. We are broadcasting live from
the ti Iraq dot Com studios. Ty iraq dot com,
we're gonna help get you there and on Matt's selection,
fast reshipping, free road aster protection, over ten thousand recommended installers.

(01:21:19):
Tie iraq dot com. The way tire buying should be.
That's the one. By the way. The Pacers, the game's over.

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
It's a massacre right now.

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
Thirty four to eleven. Yeah, you heard me, right, Pacers
thirty four Nicks eleven men and a half to go
in the first quarter. Game over.

Speaker 3 (01:21:43):
It's gonna be a'll have a comeback.

Speaker 2 (01:21:45):
Not gonna happen. I mean, they are rocking in Indiana
right now. Pacers looking to even up this series. And
again the home teams won every game of this series.
But the Pacers on fire right now, and the Knicks
can't hit anything and.

Speaker 3 (01:21:59):
They blew too games in New York.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
Yeah, Pacers are the better team. Nicks have the home advantage. Look,
I mean again, the problem with the Knicks, the injuries
are catching up. They don't have a bench right now. Yeah,
their benches. Brunson has started this game oh for five shooting,
oh for five, so zero points and that's that's that's

(01:22:25):
the death now, I mean Brunson is I mean did
you ever think Brunson was going to be this level
of player?

Speaker 3 (01:22:30):
Not this level?

Speaker 4 (01:22:31):
I mean, I really enjoy watching them play with Dallas,
you know, especially when Luca was out. I was like,
oh wow, he's made a name for himself. He's a
serviceable guy in the NBA. But I did not see
top five MVP voting. Yeah no, I did not see that.

Speaker 2 (01:22:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:22:48):
Uh, you know that's work ethic right there.

Speaker 2 (01:22:51):
Pacers are shooting seventy percent in this game, Nix twenty
five percent.

Speaker 4 (01:22:55):
That's the recipe for the best.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
Have those numbers, never lie.

Speaker 2 (01:23:02):
So we're gonna go back to the Garden. Most likely,
it doesn't even matter in the East, honestly. I mean,
I know the Celtics have had these hiccups, right the
Game two hiccup against the Heat obviously, the same thing
against the Cavaliers where they just didn't show up. They've
actually they haven't they haven't lost a road game, I mean,
and then they came back again Game three in Cleveland

(01:23:22):
as expected, and one rather convincingly. But I mean, can
you see, let's take either one of these teams, let's
as seem, let's assume it's the Pacers, and I hate Look,
the Knicks have had a great season, but you're down Rondall.
It's catching up for this team, too many injuries. Can
the Pacers offer any resistance at all to the Celtics
if they match up in the Eastern Conference Finals?

Speaker 4 (01:23:43):
I believe so because they have the All Stars to
match them, you know, Halliburt and Siakam. They have Miles
Turner who should have been an All Star one year
at least. I like their bench. So it's I think
the matchup a lot. But again, key factors coaching. Karla

(01:24:07):
heads above Missoula, and that's gonna play a part. Also,
you know, game management, and so to me, yeah, Indiana
does have a chance.

Speaker 2 (01:24:17):
Why is Rick Carlisle, your former college teammate of Virginia
such a good.

Speaker 4 (01:24:22):
Coach because he lets the guys be themselves. You know,
he's not heavy handed when it comes to coaching. Some
coaches are heavy handed. And again, he's relatable because he
played the game. You know, he played with Bird, he
played with Boss and won a championship. He's relatable. He
knows you know, you're not gonna get too much over

(01:24:43):
on him, you know, And so that's the thing, it's
and it's important some players that are former former players.
Some coaches rather that are former players. They understand it.
Not saying that you know you're gonna be a great
coach because you are a player. That No, but it helps.

Speaker 2 (01:25:00):
Do you believe that it doesn't matter who comes out
of the West, the West will ultimately be the champion.
I believe. So the West is where it's at. And
what's one of these four teams you're not gonna Yesterday,
Montci made a bold prediction at the end of our show.
She asked me to make my prediction. Unfortunately just ran

(01:25:20):
out of time. I was so close to giving my
pickout when all of a sudden those final seconds ticked
off on the show. But the team that's coming out
of the West and ultimately gonna win the NBA Championship
the Dallas Mavericks.

Speaker 3 (01:25:38):
Okay, I can see that.

Speaker 4 (01:25:40):
But I think the NBA Finals is whoever comes out
the Minnesota Denver game. Oh really yeah, I think that
whoever that's the winner, they're gonna get to the finals
and they're gonna win. So to me, that's the Western
Conference Finals right there. Because Dallas, for everything that they've

(01:26:00):
done against Okay, see so far up to one, I
get it. But them boys in Minnesota, they who they long,
and Dallas ain't gonna be able to handle all that stuff.
In Denver, they won't be able to handle Yokics. So
this is the Western Conference Finals is being played between
Minnesota and the Denver Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (01:26:22):
Okay, and you are still picking, as you said earlier,
picking Denver to come back to win.

Speaker 4 (01:26:26):
The cir Dever to come back to win the series.
They're gonna end up playing the Dallas Mavericks and they
beat Dallas and then they beat Boston.

Speaker 2 (01:26:35):
Here's the thing about Dallas, dantic I used to think
there would never be a player who handled the ball
in a more dominant fashion in terms of just hands
on the ball than James Harden did with the Rockets.
I thought, we will never see that happen again. Somebody
had actually done a study on who led the league

(01:26:55):
in dribbles, and it turned out Hard and that almost
twice as many as any other player at the height
of his run with the Rockets. I say that in
Doncic is like next level, I mean his, and yet
Kyrie Irving I've always I don't know what it is
about Irving's game. Maybe I see more in him than others.
But when I just talk about skills, what you're capable

(01:27:18):
of doing on the offensive end, I just I just
think Kyrie Irving is like next level his ball handling,
going to the who knocking down shots. He to me,
I'm looking he was a number one overall pick, won
a championship, hit hit the game winning shot in that
Game seven against the Warriors when the Cavs won the championship.

(01:27:39):
To me, he is a nex factor in Dallas's part.
It's not Doncic.

Speaker 3 (01:27:44):
It's Kyrie.

Speaker 4 (01:27:45):
It is is absolutely Kyrie, but it's also PJ. Washington,
you know, and Daniel Gafford Nico Harrison made Oh my god,
those two moves were insane. To get rid of Grant
William's contract and bring in a PJ. Washing That was
that was insane maneuvering. And so to me that was major.

(01:28:06):
But also I think Luca's realized that, you know, I
got to involve my teammates a little bit more. But
the fact that he has Kyrie, Now, Kyrie's comfortable in Dallas.
He's happy in Dallas. You know, Yes, he loves it there.
It's like and he even said it, he's like, man
I wish I could have played my whole career here
and that it's a beautiful thing. You know, when you're
happy and comfortable.

Speaker 2 (01:28:27):
How much is that Jason Kidd.

Speaker 3 (01:28:29):
It's not Jason Kidd. It's Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:28:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:28:34):
Yeah, it's the city of Dallas in the state of Texas.
It's just, you know, he's you know, he was dealing
with all the other stuff in New York and now
he doesn't have to worry about it. So but it's
great to be able to play and be comfortable and relax.
But I say that to say this, you know, that
has helped Lucas so much, to note that I don't

(01:28:55):
have to handle the ball so much now. I don't
know what's going on. Man, the statement about Dallas in
the pick, but that knee, I don't know if it's
Luca being diva or if he's actually hurt. So I
don't know if it's a serious injury. That doesn't bowl
well for the Mappicks.

Speaker 2 (01:29:13):
All right, So the Knicks hit a three. McConnell hit
a shot for the Knicks all right before the end
of the first quarter. So thirty four to fourteen pacers
blasting the Knicks after one quarter in their Eastern Conference
semifinals matchup. All Right, we'll take a break. I want
to get out a little bit early because I want
to get a little extra time on the other side

(01:29:34):
with a man that's gonna give us all the latest
not only on Major League Baseball, but yes, the ongoing
Stanley Cup playoffs as well, the one, the only, the
Great John Paul Morosi will join us. This is Fox
Sports Sunday, Steve Harbin and Olden Polinese. Here, Fox Sports Sunday.
We are live from the Tirak dot Com studios. All right,

(01:29:57):
a little bit of a comeback here for the Knicks.
They making a game of this? Or is this still over?

Speaker 3 (01:30:02):
Please? Yeah? They gonna keep fighting. God, that's what the
Knicks do.

Speaker 2 (01:30:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:30:06):
But man, that's a nice little bump on the head.
They just receiving the first quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:30:10):
All Right, We're gonna switch gears for a second here
because joining us right now is a man that wears
many many hats, including that of our Fox Sports Radio
MLB Insider. He's sharing time with. He can't believe he's
talking like Ryan and Sam Like it's it's like I
had a time warp situation here. John Paul Morosi seeing

(01:30:31):
our old crew step in for a day to give
other guys a break. So how are you today, JP,
on this Mother's Day?

Speaker 8 (01:30:38):
Outstanding? Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and the
families out there. It certainly you think about it in
the sports life. In the sports world, none of this
is possible without moms. So we think all the moms
out there today, oh.

Speaker 2 (01:30:51):
No doubt about that. And all these athletes always talk
about their moms and all the sacrifices they made to
help them in their careers. I'm gonna start with the
NHL because now we're you know, we're into the second round,
just like in the NBA. And here's one thing I've
always observed about the Stanley Cup playoffs. We always know
in every sport there's it's more intense when you gets

(01:31:13):
to the postseason. But I said this about the Stanley
Cup playoffs, it's not even the same sport. Like the
brand of hockey they play in the postseason is very
different than they do in the regular season, which explains why.
And of course I was very much a part of
the La Kings run to Stanley Cup championships in twenty
twelve and twenty fourteen. They were a lower level seed

(01:31:34):
both of those years, and they were very ordinary in
the regular season and extraordinary in the postseason. And then
we saw what happened last year were the Boston Bruins
had the greatest regular season ever and then went down
the first round. But this year your four to one
seeds are not only still alive, we could actually see

(01:31:55):
the four one seeds all up end up in the
final four. So what is a different this year and
how it's played out so far in the Stanley Cup.

Speaker 8 (01:32:03):
Playoffs, that's a great question, Steve. I think that the
biggest thing I would point out is that the teams
that are leading or in a commanding position have excellent goaltending.
The Rangers with Shasturkin, the Stars with Attinger that they've
got a two to one lead, although that's a very
competitive series still that you look at what Florida has,

(01:32:25):
and of course Bobrovski and what he's been able to
do in the past. It's interesting with Vancouver They've had
to go to three different goaltenders in this run. So
I think it's a combination of great goaltending on the
top teams and not just great goaltending in name. But
they're all in good form right now. They're all playing well.
And also I think that the commonality that I'm seeing

(01:32:48):
is that the teams that are in a very good
situation in position all have a really elite defensive course.
And I look at especially the Rangers. I had a
chance to see them play in person this past week.
It was a great week in New York. I saw
a Ranger game and then two Yankees Astros games. It
was great. It was my exact kind of week in
New York. And you look at the Rangers and with

(01:33:11):
Adam Fox and KeAndre Miller, and of course you think
about Jacob Trubo, who plays a more physical style of play.
I just think we're seeing so many great defensemen in
the league right now, so many of them are American.
It's it's really, it's in so many ways the peak
of American hockey. Do you think about Quinn Hughes probably
gonna win the Norris. He's doing a great job with

(01:33:33):
the Vancouver Canucks, but of course their series, and if
I had to pick one series that to me has
the best chance to go seven and has been the
most entertaining, I would say Edmonton Vancouver, because you've got
the two Canadian teams left, they're playing each other. When
two Canadian teams play in the playoffs, especially in the
second round, it just brings in such intensity and passion.

(01:33:55):
Of course, as we know, it's been more than three
decades since the last Canadian team to win the Cup.
So you've got a lot of desperation, a lot of
talent on both sides. You've got the best player in
the world of McDavid in that series. So I've been
glued to that. I cannot wait for Game three here tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:34:12):
Hejp here. So I'm good in.

Speaker 8 (01:34:16):
Yourself, outstanding. Thank you so much for the time today.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:34:20):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:34:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:34:21):
So my question is still hockey, but I want to
get your take on the Arizona Coyotes moved to Salt
Lake City.

Speaker 3 (01:34:28):
What do you think about that and why did it happen?

Speaker 8 (01:34:32):
Well, I think there's it's a great, great question, old
and there's a lot of different reasons for it. I
think there's been first and foremost, if they had had
a path to an arena in Arizona where they trusted
that it was going to get done, they would have
they would have stayed there because in some ways, and
I may be a bit of a uh, you know,

(01:34:53):
an outlier in this respect, I think that hockey in
Arizona was extraordinarily successful, and one of the ways in
which I measure that is one of the best three
players in the world is from Scottsdale. That's Austin Matthews.
He's the alternate captain of the Toronto Made Beliefs, And
so whenever I talk hockey with my Canadian friends, I

(01:35:15):
will often mention, in all sincerity, hey, you're lucky there's
a team in Arizona. Because there's no team in Arizona,
Austin Matthews never would have been introduced to the sport.
His dad's from California's moms from Mexico, and he is
one of the best players in the world. And the
only reason why he's playing the games because there was

(01:35:36):
a franchise there to help it grow. Now, the flip
side of this is I'm optimistic that by having hockey
in Utah that will have similar growth there, and certainly
I would hope, certainly in an ideal what all of
these major markets would have hockey. But I think that
Ryan Smith and the way that he of course owning

(01:35:56):
the Utah Jazz and building up the culture of high
hockey there. I do think it's going to be win
a win win, because we're likely looking at a newer
arena to be built there as a successor to the
Delta Center. We'll see perhaps and more than likely in
Olympics there in the next eight to ten years, and

(01:36:17):
so by having more and more Olympic Games in hockey
culture there, it becomes the ideal place for us to
host an Olympic Games in the future. With NHL players
playing in an NHL building, I think there's there's really
good synergy there. But uh, but od, it's a it's
a really important question. I wish that hockey would have
been more successful in in Arizona. I just think they
wanted to take that next step. And you know, certainly

(01:36:39):
what a great, uh sports market, basketball market Salt Lake
City is, and I think that the only the only
concern I've got Old is that we couldn't get one
of the other former teams, the Pistons, to get the
top tick on the NBA lot. We're concerned about that
here in Michigan. Old. We keep we keep waiting, I
keep I keep wanting to wanting them to be as
good as they were back when you played here in Michigan,
and we have, we have had a long struggle to

(01:37:01):
get there.

Speaker 2 (01:37:01):
My friend, well, I mean, you guys, come on yet,
what at seven straight trips in the Eastern Conference Finals
at one point for the Pistons, they had a magical round.
At least he got Chauncey Billups into the Hall of Fame.
That was long overdue. All right, let's let's turn to
Major League Baseball. Now, JP. You know that I'm a
I'm an old school guy. And yesterday Moncei and I

(01:37:21):
were doing our radio show and all of a sudden,
she tells me, Hey, we got a no hitter going on.
Do you want me to mention it? It could be
a jinx And she goes, yeah, Max Fritz got a
no hitter going. And then I looked up and he's gone.
He's out seven no hit innings. They lifted him. They
end up losing the no hitter with two out of
the ninth, with Jad Martinez hitting a home run. I

(01:37:42):
know this is not new. We've seen a lot of
these combined no hitters. Major League Baseball used to list
a no hitter. If you pitched nine no hit innings,
even if you were to lose the no hitter in
extra innings, you still got credit for a no hitter.
Then they took those off the books. I'm for this.
I'm going to get a rid of com I know
hitters that to me is not a no hitter. A

(01:38:02):
no hitter, to me, is an individual achievement. It's like
hitting for the cycle, Like if you had a team
hit for a cycle. Is that a cycle? No, it's
not hitting for a cycle, but by the way, has
been done exactly almost to the number as many times
as a no hitter is an individual achievement. That's the
way I look at a no hitter. I would disallow
or have it a separate category, combined no hitters. It

(01:38:25):
kills me when I see the record books and they
list the combine no hitters side by side by individual
no hitters. That's just me. How do you feel about it?

Speaker 8 (01:38:34):
That's fair, I think, Steve, I do. And it's interesting
when you see it listed in different places, and certainly
now the record book itself is something of a it's
in an acronism, right, It's something from a different time,
This old fashioned thing where I don't bring a record
book to the ballpark with me. I just just look

(01:38:55):
it up online. And I do think that when you
look it up online, when you look up the overall
records of the game, it is different when you see
combined no hitter or an asterisk next to a team
and a date and a score and it says this
was a combined team no hitter. Is do I believe

(01:39:15):
And in terms of the historical context, do I look
at Christian Javier's no hitter a combined no hitter in
the World Series in the same way as Don Larson's
perfect Game? No, I don't. I mean, first of all,
one's the perfect game and one's a no hitter, but
also one was by one person at the final out.
It was Don Larson and Yogi Berra embracing at Yankee Stadium.

(01:39:37):
That was that was the magic of that moment. And
now it might be the third or fourth pitcher. It's
so interesting where sometimes you hear the story told and
it's it's remarkable to hear it that a guy will
close out a no hitter, a combined no hitter, not
even realizing it the no hitter, And sometimes it actually
happens they're so they're focused on their inning and not

(01:39:59):
really worried about how many how many hits have been
given up, and everybody's worried about the jinks and nobody's
talking about it. There's getting three outs not really thinking
about it. So that is a very interesting part of
it to me, guys, Steven Olden, it's all about the
way that the game has changed. And even even Paul
skeins yesterday is very highly anticipated debut. Now there was

(01:40:20):
some rain involved, but he wasn't gonna go nine innings anyway.
And I think that's that's part of it where you
would ideally like to see in the past a seven
inning start and eight inning start. I certainly covered a
lot of those by Justin Verlander back in the day.
The game has not changed, or it's not supposed to
have changed that much, but guys are now programmed to

(01:40:42):
go max effort for nine innings and it just simply
or for however long they can go, and it simply
just doesn't it's not conducive to allowing guys to stay longer.
I mean, I said, think about all is great. The
seasons Olden played in the NBA, it's almost like, right
Now the equivalent is is guys are just sprinting. Sprinting

(01:41:03):
is never slowing down, sprinting straight for however long they
can go. And it's not nine innings any longer, certainly,
and it's not going to be forty eight minutes in
the basketball game. It's it's just a very different sport
where guys need rest more often because their effort is maximized,
and I really believe it is not for the betterment
of the overall product.

Speaker 3 (01:41:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:41:23):
Great, great answer. You touched on Paul skin. That was
going to be one of my I had a two
part question, so I was going to ask you about,
you know, what you thought of his performance and also.

Speaker 3 (01:41:35):
Hall of Fame.

Speaker 4 (01:41:37):
I've always had an issue with the Hall of Fame
because if a guy, you know, put the numbers up,
he's a Hall of Famer supposedly, but then you know,
he goes a year, five years, seven years, ten years,
whatever it is. I mean, the stats don't change what.

Speaker 2 (01:41:52):
I'm so happy. I'm so happy you asked this question.
What I love to print JP to the wall on this. No,
he's not Hall of Fame all day, every day, believe.

Speaker 8 (01:42:03):
Me, I love it. So let's answer the last part
first old and it's an excellent point. So I'm a voter.
I have been, for goodness almost ten years now. I
love it. It's one of my favorite things that I
do in my role, and I'm honored to have the ballot.
It's hard, it's hard to figure it out. I think
sometimes one thing we run into is we're only allowed

(01:42:24):
to vote for ten players on every ballot, and so
sometimes you may not have room for a guy. Let's
say Scott Rowland's a good example. When he first came
on the ballot, everybody wasn't voting for him because maybe
they wanted to make sure that they were voting for
the other players that were ahead of him, a Derek Jeter,
for example. There's just not as much space on the

(01:42:45):
ballot for that particular year. But as as people reconsidered
his case and took a second look at his numbers,
sometimes someone like a Tim Rains, Larry Walker, Burt Blylevin.
They're all examples of guys who I think certainly belong
in the Hall of Fame, but it required a longer
amount of time for the voters to really reconsider their candidacies.

(01:43:09):
And that's I know. Joel Sherman, who I do a
lot of Hall of Fame shows with the Jason Stark.
We always talk about how it's it's important to consider
every name on your ballot, really think about his credentials
and consider how maybe with the benefit of additional information
context that you that you tend to look at a
player in a different light. But I also know that

(01:43:30):
from your perspective, you knew who the Hall of Famers
were that you were playing against. I would think that
players players have that certain knowledge of when you're on
the floor, on the court, on the on the field
with somebody, oh my gosh, that's the Hall of Famer,
and I think you instinctively know who that person is.
And that's why I think it's important for the first

(01:43:50):
of all, for us to have the input of the players,
and second of off of theer to be what we
call the era committees, where players themselves sit on the
committees and consider the guy that we didn't vote for.
Because the players possess insight that we don't have, and
so I think it's really important that there is that
second step where the players can help have a voice

(01:44:11):
to who joins their fraternity. If if you will, Ted
Simmons is one example from recent years, but I'll get
to fall Skins quickly. I think that he really he
answered the ball in terms of what his command, his
ability to really just show his incredible ability to make pitches.
And I know earlier on I said that we're sometimes
two velocity focused, and we are. And yet when we

(01:44:33):
see it like we saw it with Skeins where he
was hitting one oh one's, it's worth noting that what
he's doing is fairly extraordinary. Would he be able to
in a different time, And I still think he could
pitch at ninety four to ninety five and get maybe
an additional inning out of every start. I think that's
in there somewhere. But certainly yesterday he proved Olden that

(01:44:53):
he's got the equipment to throw the ball harder than
just about anybody else on the all.

Speaker 2 (01:45:00):
Right, now, I'm gonna make one final statement here about
the Hall of Fame. So follow me on this, guys.
This is how I would set up all Hall of
Fames five year retirement room. Now I rule is in
so I'm assuming those that are selecting for the Hall
of Fame are doing their homework. That's a big assumption

(01:45:20):
because a lot of times I'm looking at votes because
they're public, and I'm like, this person absolutely did no homework.
But I'm gonna assume that everyone's doing their homework. You
have all the first year eligibles on the ballot, only, Okay,
you've had five years to evaluate their career. You vote,

(01:45:40):
you get seventy five percent, you're in. If you don't.
I'm a big believer in second chances. Five years later,
those players that did not make it will get one
final shot. Now you've had ten years to figure out
whether or not. And I've always said this about the
Hall of Fame. If I give you a name and
you got to think about it, they're not a Hall

(01:46:01):
of Famer, right, I mean that's the way I look
at it. Like if I give you a name and
you're like, well no, see, I mean my Hall of
Fame would be far more exclusive than it is right now.
But anyway, so that's the way I would do it,
and you get a second chance. So there's none of
this sitting on the ballot for you know, ten years

(01:46:22):
or you know, veterans commit none of that crap. Okay,
Obviously you would have a separate committee for non players
for coaches, executives, umpires, whatever. But as far as the
players concerned, five year retirement. Everyone's the first ballot. Guy,
you get in great. If you don't five years later,
you get one more shot, because I'm assuming that those

(01:46:43):
that are making the picks are doing their homework.

Speaker 3 (01:46:46):
There you go.

Speaker 8 (01:46:47):
Oh, I know is this when I was watching Olden
wear that beautiful zero at the Palace Auburn Hills all
those years ago. I knew this back on those teams.
Joe d Hall of favor, Rodman, hall of Famer, Isaiah.
There you go. But it was a pretty pretty simple.
Look at the roster right there, right Olden?

Speaker 3 (01:47:04):
That's true. Yeah, that was absolute.

Speaker 2 (01:47:07):
Yeah what what what happened to the palace? That's that's gone?

Speaker 3 (01:47:11):
Palace is gone.

Speaker 8 (01:47:12):
It was a great.

Speaker 3 (01:47:15):
Oh my god, the palace.

Speaker 2 (01:47:17):
It wasn't great for me. I was covering the Lakers
for the four finals. I was there for all three games.
It was an absolute nightmare of that day. Uh JP,
great stuff is always We'll talk to again next week.

Speaker 8 (01:47:27):
Dave hadn't doing the conversation. Thank you for representing the
Pistons as well as you did.

Speaker 3 (01:47:31):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 8 (01:47:32):
Awesome times.

Speaker 2 (01:47:33):
There he is the great John Paul Morosi. All right,
let's find out what is trending right now, and Monci,
we have a game that's not getting any better.

Speaker 6 (01:47:44):
No, no, it's not.

Speaker 7 (01:47:45):
I mean they came out swinging and they've maintained it.
They started shooting sixty percent from the field Indiana, they're
still shooting fifty seven percent from the field. Yeah, and
their three point shooting went up to forty seven percent,
while New York's three point shooting is at fifteen percent.

Speaker 6 (01:48:00):
No, boy, no, fellas, it is sixty to.

Speaker 7 (01:48:03):
Thirty four, two and a half minutes to go in
the first half.

Speaker 6 (01:48:07):
I mean, it's it's not looking good. But we have
seen a lot of comebacks.

Speaker 2 (01:48:12):
It's not you know, well, I I asked, I asked Olden,
I said this. I said, how many times in your
career were you down twenty in a game and came
back to win? I mean, you can count him on
one hand or them on one hand. Yeah, this guy

(01:48:33):
played fifteen years in the NBA, seventeen years. On one hand,
it happened, you're down twenty in a game, especially on
the road.

Speaker 7 (01:48:41):
Yeah, No, but this year we've seen it happened in
the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (01:48:45):
We've seen it happen. The Glippers were up by thirty
one and almost lost. Yeah, you know, so it's just
anything could happen.

Speaker 7 (01:48:50):
But it does look like Indiana is definitely in a
rhythm that the Knicks are not in right now. Yeah,
sixty to thirty five, two minutes to go. Following this game,
it's still the Timberwolves and the Nuggets. We also have hockey.
The Bruins and the Panthers will have Game four. No
Brad Marshan for Boston. He has an upper body injury
that he suffered in Game three. Then it's Game three

(01:49:11):
between the Canucks and the Oilers on the ice, which
is a series that's tied at one apiece. Let's check
in in Major League Baseball. Baltimore was in a rain
delay against the Diamondbacks, but it looks like they're going
back into it. Arizona on top, nine to two, bottom
of the eighth inning. The Cubs have just taken the
lead against the Pirates. In the tenth inning, it's four
to two, top of the tenth. The Yankees are trying

(01:49:32):
to close this one out against the Rays in Tampa.

Speaker 6 (01:49:34):
They are up ten to six.

Speaker 7 (01:49:36):
It's the bottom of the ninth inning, the Rays are
down to their final out, but they do have a
man on first base. Also in extra innings in Miami
between the Phillies and the Marlins. They're going to the
bottom of the tenth inning. They are tied at six apiece.
The Cardinals trying to snap their seven game losing streak,
and they have taken the lead over the Brewers.

Speaker 6 (01:49:54):
It's four to three top of the ninth inning.

Speaker 7 (01:49:56):
In Milwaukee, the Rockies are beating the Rangers two to one.
To the fifth, the Reds are up on the Giants
three zero. Top of the second.

Speaker 6 (01:50:04):
The Padres are beating the Dodgers.

Speaker 7 (01:50:06):
Walker Bueller on the mound gave up back to back
home runs, first Fernando Tattoos Junior, then Jake Croninworth. Padres
up to zero top of the second. The Mariners are
beating the A's one.

Speaker 6 (01:50:16):
Zero bottom of the second. And I just became a
Mariners fans Fellas.

Speaker 7 (01:50:20):
Apparently they're doing this new thing this season where they
play Heaven is the Place on Earth that song, right,
and they're dropping little parachutes with hot dogs on them
throughout the stadium.

Speaker 6 (01:50:32):
So I am official?

Speaker 2 (01:50:36):
Yes? So is it?

Speaker 3 (01:50:38):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (01:50:38):
A bear dog, or.

Speaker 7 (01:50:39):
It's a hot like bun in the hot hot yes, yeah,
with the parachute and they're dropping them, and.

Speaker 6 (01:50:47):
So I am that's it. That's it. I'm in. You
don't have to do anything else.

Speaker 7 (01:50:53):
You're throwing food, You're you're dropping food in the air,
like I love that?

Speaker 2 (01:50:59):
Does anyone? How often do you eat a hot dog
when you're not at a sporting event? Never?

Speaker 6 (01:51:04):
Not ever?

Speaker 7 (01:51:05):
But I just was at the Dodgers game, not gonna lie,
I had like three three veggie dogs.

Speaker 2 (01:51:09):
I mean hot dogs, like to How often you eat
popcorn in a bucket when you're not at a movie?

Speaker 3 (01:51:18):
I'm over here gagging.

Speaker 7 (01:51:20):
If I gave you a veggie dog, you wouldn't even
notice the difference.

Speaker 6 (01:51:22):
Promise you, promise you.

Speaker 7 (01:51:24):
Second, of all, the popcorn, I do like kettle corn,
so I make kettle corn.

Speaker 2 (01:51:32):
Corn does not cant?

Speaker 1 (01:51:33):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:51:33):
Because kettle kettle corn is s like cracker jack.

Speaker 7 (01:51:37):
No, no, no, no, not the one that's coated.

Speaker 4 (01:51:42):
You eating a veggie dog, right, yeah? And then you're
eating kettle corn?

Speaker 6 (01:51:48):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:51:48):
No, So what's the point.

Speaker 2 (01:51:50):
Now, what's the point? Everyone knows how much I love mons,
but for help.

Speaker 6 (01:51:57):
Not the way I eat. No, I'm a veering and
not healthy at all.

Speaker 2 (01:52:00):
Veggie chicken nuggets.

Speaker 6 (01:52:02):
Veggie chicken wings. No, no, there.

Speaker 7 (01:52:07):
Was even a stick inside to make you feel like
you're having like a little drunk.

Speaker 2 (01:52:11):
One bite, one bite was enough to tell me that
was not a chicken.

Speaker 3 (01:52:15):
That was I don't know how like that. I don't
need it.

Speaker 2 (01:52:18):
Then you have that, Sam, Were you guys a part
of that? You were a part of that. I thought
they were diesel.

Speaker 6 (01:52:25):
They were delicious.

Speaker 2 (01:52:27):
It wasn't quite right. Don't even identify what they taste.
The texture was like, there was not good.

Speaker 3 (01:52:32):
It was glue.

Speaker 2 (01:52:33):
Whatever.

Speaker 6 (01:52:34):
I'm gonna live past. So it's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:52:37):
They made out like a fruit.

Speaker 6 (01:52:38):
They're not those that was made out of soy.

Speaker 2 (01:52:40):
So use jack soy on a stick.

Speaker 4 (01:52:44):
Yeah, my favorite saying a hundred years from now, none
of you're right, none of us.

Speaker 2 (01:52:49):
Are going to be here.

Speaker 6 (01:52:50):
You're right, you're right.

Speaker 2 (01:52:51):
Very good, All right, thank you? Min reminded me of Yeah.
So I threw a stat out yes to eliminate one
team from winning the NBA Championship. Alden and the team
that is not not going to win the NBA Championship
is the Denver Nuggets. Oh wow, Now, why do I

(01:53:13):
have I am so convinced about that because Nikola Jokic
won the MVP award. Think about this, in the last
twenty years before this year, the league's MVP, which is
always announced during the playoffs, has gone on to win

(01:53:35):
the NBA championship that season only three times in the
last twenty years. That was Lebron back to back in
twenty twelve twenty thirteen with Miami, and the last time
it happened was Steph Curry in twenty fifteen with the Warriors.
Those are the only three regular season MVPs whose team
would win the championship that season hasn't happened since twenty fifteen.

(01:54:02):
Twenty sixteen Steph Curry's seventy three win team gone Russell
Westbrook seventeen. No, hard to know Gianni's couple of years.
No jokicch Ironically, the only year he has won the
MVP in the last four years was last year and
his team went on to win the championship.

Speaker 4 (01:54:19):
So I don't believe in that because this is the
first time, you know, he's been a defending champion, and
I think these guys are defending that championship and Also,
you got to remember, whether it was Westbrook or somebody else,
it has to do with your team also, And the
beauty of jokicch is this. He has a great supporting cast.

(01:54:44):
He's not caught up in the extras you know of
the NBA lifestyle and everything else and all that comes
into play. You know, guys going out to the strip clubs,
party and all that, doing the finals. All that is
a part of it too that people don't talk about.
And so to me, he's not dealing with any of
that stuff they have constrained on basketball. Not a guy

(01:55:07):
who I'm shocked at to see how well he's playing,
and I think he's the X factor is Michael Porter Junior. Yes,
the stuff this young man is doing with everything else
that's going on in his family's life, my lord insane.

Speaker 2 (01:55:24):
So well coach team, and they built that team the
right way. They have clearly defined roles on that team. Yeah,
guys can step up. I mean, obviously we've seen Gordon,
you know, do more offensively on certain nights. But I've
always looked at great teams and you can look at
their box scores game in and game out, and they
look identical almost every game because they have clearly defined

(01:55:45):
roles for their players, and that continuity between coach and
players matters. That's why Denver is where they are right now.
All right, coming up on the other side, I got
a huge question, huge question for this guy, Olden Polonies.

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
I have a huge Yeah, I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:56:01):
Sure you will. This is Fox Sports Sunday, but Rock o'clock,
but Rock Steve Harvin, Olden Polonies Here, Fox Sports Sunday
once again. We are live from the tai Iraq dot
Com studios. Want to thank the crew today. Moncey, of course,
she is the glue of this entire operation, and uh

(01:56:24):
Olden has promised me he will never ever indulge in
one of your vege douars that I'm never gonna happen.
But we have Ryan here, and we have Sam. Now
this is a blast on the past for us. These
are guys that literally put the show on the map
many many years ago. Welcome. We have basically ditched everything

(01:56:46):
you guys brought to the show, but that doesn't mean
that you're still not a part of the show and
will be as long as I'm here. So, oh you
good to see you, Ryan, Good to see you Sam.
Of course, they're here. They've just been, you know, elevated
into much more prominent roles here at Fox Sports Radio.
Tearing up, Yeah, but do you feel like the the

(01:57:09):
lofty positions that you're in now within this organization, that
you really sort of cut your teeth, you know, with
this show? Absolutely?

Speaker 5 (01:57:18):
Yeah, put the time in here on the weekends, yes time.

Speaker 3 (01:57:22):
Everyone knows there's no host more more difficult, more demanding.

Speaker 1 (01:57:26):
More.

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
Uh yes, I really, I really ask a lot of
you guys. I really ask really Mons. Mons was talking
about this yesterday, goes. You have to understand there's no
prep for this show. I'm not handing you anything. The
only thing I got is the reads we have to
do here, And of course that means that whoever I'm

(01:57:48):
hosting the show with has got to play along. Olden's
been here many times and meod he knows how the
game's played.

Speaker 9 (01:57:54):
Of course, So it's it's it's an easy fall, it's
it's not nothing, Yeah, exactly. So we pick a few
things to talk about during the course of the show,
and I'm always confident, on confident in my co hosts
abilities to follow my lead, and it never.

Speaker 3 (01:58:10):
Fails, never ever, never have it.

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
But thank you very much for delivering John palm ROSSI today.
Thank you there, of course, and a flawless job is
always so thank you, Thank you very much. Okay, I
have a question for you, Olden, because we were talking
about NICOLEA. Jokic three time now NBA MVP, and I think,
in my opinion, one of the reasons that he has

(01:58:35):
become such a force in this league as a post
player is that biggs don't even know how to guard
the post anymore. That's they're not drilled in it like
guys of your era. So if Olden Polonies in your prime,
let's let's go back into your mid to late twenties

(01:58:58):
physically you are, that's wrong, maybe your early thirties at
a Donnis, I'm killing Jokics, and that's what I want
to say. So Yoka, there he is, and your coach
is looking at you saying, do something. Stop this guy's
killing us When you watch him, I'm sure you're figuring
this out. How would I, in my prime try to

(01:59:22):
take this guy out?

Speaker 4 (01:59:23):
Well, the best way to answer is this I competed against.
My first game was against Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Then I
had to go up against Patrick Ewing Alonza Morning, David Robinson,
Tim Duncan, the KM, Matombo, Sha Keill O'Neill Alonza Morning.
I can go on and on all the greatest players
to ever play. As biggs. I had to learn how

(01:59:45):
to defend every last one of them, So yokics would
have been no different. I would have just learned how
to play. If I asked a young guy today, do
you know what a swim move is? They wouldn't know.
They think it's something you do in the pool, right,
And so to me, they just you're right. No one's teaching.
It's all analytics and it's unfortunate, but no one. There
is no big man's coach. All the teams have mostly

(02:00:07):
gods as coaches teaching bigs.

Speaker 3 (02:00:10):
It's ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (02:00:11):
Well, and that's the thing. You can't know what you're
not taught to do and something that you don't do
on a repetitive basis in your day. I mean, it
was it was a big man's game. Big men dominated
the sport, and if you were a post defender, you
better know what you're doing or you're gonna get destroyed.

Speaker 3 (02:00:32):
Definitely, you were getting eaten up. And I didn't even mention, I.

Speaker 2 (02:00:36):
Was gonna say there was one left out.

Speaker 4 (02:00:39):
That's how crazy the league was with bigs YEA and
the idea of like they were, well, they couldn't play today, and.

Speaker 2 (02:00:51):
They couldn't play today like.

Speaker 4 (02:00:54):
Desroy people today. Shaq would destroy people. Stop it. That's
why I'm saying they make these absurd statements as a
statement of facts because we can't technically.

Speaker 2 (02:01:05):
Prove it right, exactly, who's your goat in the NBA.

Speaker 3 (02:01:12):
It's always been Kareem.

Speaker 2 (02:01:15):
I love the fact that you say that it's always
been Kareem because I used to say this about Kareem
whose resume matches his resume, especially if you include his
collegers at UCLA.

Speaker 3 (02:01:24):
But I don't dismiss the other guys.

Speaker 2 (02:01:26):
Right, it's all about here is no question about that.
All right, much more coming up, keep it here. This
is Fox Sports Radio, Steve

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