March 3, 2021 • 36 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon discuss Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta saying the organization will celebrate James Harden by retiring his jersey. Jason thinks Fertitta isn’t reading the rooms as Rockets fans are still upset at Harden’s muddy end of his tenure in Houston. Jason and Mike also discuss the Lakers loss against the Suns. Plus, NBC Lead Writer/NBA Insider Kurt Helin joins the guys to discuss James Harden and more from the NBA!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
inside our three of The Jason Smith Show with my
bas friend Mike Harmon, live from the Farmers Insurance Studio
Studio Studio Studios called one Triple eight Farmers a switch
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(00:45):
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that's one triple eight Farmers and start saving today we
are Farmers. Well, we have a crazy basketball story coming
your way in a couple of minutes in regards to
James Harden. But wow, uh you hear that old adage
(01:08):
of sometimes that when you see a player get thrown
out in Major League Baseball, that up there's an umpire
who thinks people came to the Ballpark to see him umpire, right,
and you've heard the phrase a lot, right of course.
Well maybe that's what just happened, because here you have
look the biggest game of the night, in the biggest
game and probably a week in the NBA. I would say,
(01:30):
sons in the Lakers. The Sun still lead eight two
seventy six late in the third quarter, but they'll be
playing the rest of the game without Devin Booker, who
just got ejected, just got ejected, and he got ejected,
just arrested. Uh here's the play by play. This is
(01:51):
from about five minutes ago in the third quarter. Now
we got a technical foul and somebody just got tossed
or KCPS somebody it's got tossed. Them says, I don't
want any more of this. Now Booker is looking or
is he just look in a case CP. Hopefully the
Bookers tossed. Somebody's gone, is out of the game. But
(02:12):
somebody is gone. Wow, their best player is gone. It's
really difficult to see just exactly what Devin Booker did. Now,
could they be upset because he bounced the ball to
an official a little harder than normal? I mean it really,
it doesn't look like it's anything more than just hey,
(02:32):
here's the ball. I don't know what could have possibly
happened to kick Devin Booker out of this game, but
he could have possibly said to get two teas and
get thrown out of the game. I mean, yes, I
don't want you to sit here and say, well, it's
a nationally televised game, it's the Lakers. You gotta keep
in the game no matter what. But I really don't
see anything that Devin Booker did to get himself ejected.
(02:53):
He was salty about a call against Shrewder before that
right quick whistle didn't look like there was a lot
of tech. Fine, so kind of got yelled, you know,
yelling back and forth. And then there's a little bit
of aggressiveness in the lane. And when he bounces the
ball at the referee, he's not looking at the referee now,
so I think he bounced it thinking all right, he
was back over there on the base line a second ago,
(03:15):
and oh wait, there he is, you know, coming across
the lane. And but the referee doesn't have trouble with
the bats. It's a it's a bounce pass, and Jeffree
doesn't have trouble getting the basketball from it's a bounce,
he's got it, uh, And he's not the guy that
tosses him, right, So I don't see what he did
other than bouncing the basketball. He's cursin at kcp uh
(03:36):
and he's jawn with shrewder and And what's funny is
as they're running Booker out of the building, the Lakers
are walking up behind him and they're still yelling at
it was like, all right, what are we doing here?
Like they're they're grown ass men. Tell him to shut
up and get back to playing basketball. You don't inject
a guy. I mean, I didn't see him say anything
(03:58):
towards a referee. I didn't see him saying because listen,
you you gotta let that trash talk and gol if
it's player and player, you know. But I didn't see
him say anything to the referee. The referee who did it.
Just the referee that called him for the technicals looked
like that's exactly what he did. He he looked back,
he saw him bound, so him bounced the basketball and
(04:18):
then he gave him another one. So I I don't
I really don't get what exactly happened because he you
see the first ref come and he and he and
he calls, and he calls for the technical and then
he bounces the ball to the referee. And then another
ref walks by after seeing that and and gives him
the year out of the game. So really, I think
that's what it was. I think he the second referee
(04:39):
walked by Devin Booker when he bounced the ball to referee,
and you see it. It doesn't even look like it's
a hard bounce, but it's it's one of those. It's
a sharp bounce to the ref. The ref gets it.
And the ref that gets the ball is not the
guy that throws him out. He's got to look on
his face like, what the hell are you doing? Why
are you ejecting him? By the way, trying to interpret
what was going on on that call that made me
no sense, I don't know, I don't know. I mean,
(05:01):
somebody got tossed. I was it. I see the second
ref as he walks by, And it could be that
Booker said something at that point, and and he could
he could have said something but fixes in or something
like that. Who knows, But I mean, wow, I mean,
he's what the ref just happens to be walking by him.
When he says that this is not Devin Booker walking
(05:23):
up to the referee to get mad at him and
yell at him for something. This is not Devin Booker
going out of his way to deserve This is not
Draymond Green getting the referee's face and you have to
throw him out because something really bad could happen if
you don't. This is like the most innocuous of things.
And I get when you say the magic words, but wow, man, really,
just because there's other players around, you throw Devin book around.
(05:45):
And he loved throwing him out, right. He just didn't
give the second tea. He just goes the tea and
he gives the umpire you're gone, right, he does. He does.
He does a baseball umpire two steps, Hey you're gone,
Like like, hey, I'm gonna throw you out with a
flourish here I'm gonna be the first person is safe.
Farewell to you. I I don't get it. I really
don't get what just happened and how they threw him
out of the game. And you know what we're gonna
(06:06):
get after the game is over, the referee pool is
gonna say, uh, we're we're not commenting on this. Devin
Booker was thrown out because of of what he said,
and you know, and we're just not gonna get anything,
and they're gonna they're gonna hush it all up because
we're gonna get a statement from a pool reporter on this,
and we're never gonna understand. I don't know what Devin
Booker could have possibly done to get thrown out. He
bounced the ball aggressively in the direction of the official
(06:29):
in a threatening manner. Do you think that's what we're
gonna get something to that effect? Oh? Man, that is
just that is just absolutely insane. I really don't get it.
Look like I said, it's not a matter of boy,
it's a nationally televised game versus you know, a non
naturally televised game. Although I'm sure Adam silver And and
broadcast partners are gonna go, what are you nuts, what
(06:50):
are you doing throwing him out of the game, because
not that people would tune away if Devin Booker doesn't play,
because look, Lebron is playing, so people are gonna watch Lebron.
But if the game turns into a blowout in the
fourth quarter, guess what that's people saying? All right, that's
seen enough games over, I'm not watching anymore. What are
you doing? What are you doing? So hopefully Phoenix can
keep this close and still close right now late in
(07:10):
the third quarter, but that big Phoenix lead is starting
to evaporate a bit. Well, when your best player gets
thrown out, that's kind of things that are gonna happen.
I really I don't understand it. I I really, I
really can't wait to see what this possibly could be
to get him thrown out. Really, it looks like it's
one of those referees that says, hey, I think I
think people who are allowed in games, and there aren't many,
but people who are watching on TV are watching me
(07:33):
be a referee, and I want to show my family
that I can make a great call with the flourish
and throw a superstar out of the game. So I'm
gonna do it. Weak sauce. Wow, that really is amazing.
Uh So we'll keep you posted on this because obviously
this is a story that we're gonna be following throughout
the rest of the night. We go to the end
of the third quarter. Uh the Sons with the lead
(07:53):
eight six eighty three. Uh So, with Devin Booker gone,
surely Chris Paul's gonna have to pick up some of
the slack year. He's not having a great game so
far tonight. Meanwhile for the Lakers, Lebron's got twenty four
and five assists, and it is Taylor Horton Tucker off
HT with fourteen. He just he just took a shot
(08:13):
that I don't even think Lebron would have taken. He
had he had he had the ball on the on
the outside, the arc on on the left side, and
he was completely did up by his man, and there
was like twelve or thirteen seconds slept in the shot clock,
and he took one of those Kobe Bryant, I don't care.
I'm gonna turn, twist and fade away and throw up
at three from what I should have never taken this shot,
(08:35):
and he did it, and I'm going, oh my god, dude,
what are you diling? I mean, that was some kind
of shot from th h T. It's a beautiful thing.
I'll tell you what. Sometimes take those crazy shots. Didn't
you do that as a kid? And then you made
one that was improbable? So what do you do that?
You dribbled up the next time down the court and
you threw it up the same way. Yeah, yeah, but
that's that's on the playground when it was Okay, dude,
(08:57):
what are you doing? You know this is that this
is this is like a real game. You know, this
is guaranteed contract. You can do whatever, and hell you
want Twitter it out about a Fresca Mike and Swollen
The Jason Smith Show with my bass friend Mike Harmen.
So this story really is there. There's certain things called
time and place right our producer, justin Frostburg. That's one
of his favorite phrases is, Hey, dude, there's a time
(09:19):
and place, time and place, time and place, and there's
a time and place for something that came up today
in regards of what we're gonna see tomorrow in the NBA. Tomorrow,
James Harden makes his triumphant return to Houston, and I
mean triumphant because the Nets are playing terrific. He's an
m VP candidate and it's gonna be the first time
he's back since forcing his trade away a couple of
(09:41):
months ago, and with all of this going on, right,
so Harden's coming back to town, fans are upset with
you know, James Harden was able to quit basically on
the team, then throw the team under the bus and
and and bully his way out of town. Now we
have to watch him succeed with the Nets, which is tough.
Victor Oladipo, who they would ostensibly like to build a
team around, just turned down a two year, forty five
(10:04):
million dollar contract extension, which is the max. You can
give me once a longer max deal at the end
of the year. So maybe now Houston's out and they
have to trade him before the deadline. So this is
what's going on in Houston right now. You have upset fans,
upset fan base, and tilman for Tita Rockets owner, in
an email sent to the Houston Chronicle earlier today, said that, yeah,
(10:25):
at the end of James Harden's career, we're gonna retire
his number thirteen. Now, I understand that you want to
honor one of your all time grades. He was there
for eight years, he became an m v P, became
one of the best players in the NBA. I I
get that, but time and place, because everybody is still
so mad at this guy. They're so mad at him,
(10:48):
and they're mad at the team for letting him go.
They're mad at not being able to make a trade
that was gonna allow them to win. The team stinks
and this guy basically just quit on you and forced
his way out by bullying you into trading him and
trading him to a great team. And this is when
you say, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna retire his jersey
(11:08):
after his career is over. Dude, this is not the
time to say that. This is the time to say, hey,
it'll be fun to have James Harden back and get
a big win, or be fun to have James Harden
back and we'll see what kind of welcome he gets
when he tries to get into the paint. You know,
this is what you say when your guy comes back
after being a jerk and forcing his way and a
tuck is that's what James Harden did. I hate that.
(11:28):
That's how it went that. That's what Stars have to
do now, because teams won't listen if they're if they
want to be traded that Stars have to go. They
have to burn bridges, they have to embarrass the organization.
Could the only thing that gets him to stand up
and take notice. The Texans aren't going to really ramp
up their trade of DeShawn Watson until Deshaun Watson completely
throws them all under the bus publicly, right. So part
(11:50):
of it is I get that it's it's not all
the player's fault, because players can say, hey, I've asked
my team to trade me five times, they won't do it,
so now I gotta I gotta step it up. But
I hate that it works that way. I hate that
that's how it works now in sports. And if you
want to get traded and you're a star, well, I'm
just gonna be a malcontent and maybe I'll do some
things on social media the team doesn't like. I'll like
some posts I'm not supposed to like. I will say
(12:12):
some things in an interview or in a post game,
and I will get my way. I hate that it
works that way. And that's exactly what James Harden did,
and it's exactly why the Rockets. This is the worst
thing you can do is to say, yes, we're gonna
celebrate this guy. Now everybody is still mad. They can't
stand James Harden. And now you're saying, yeah, we're gonna
celebrate now. No, stop trying to take me away from
(12:34):
the bad reality. And so oh yeah, things were great.
The wound is still too raw, Mike Harmon, this is
still too raw wound to say, yes, we're gonna celebrate.
I look at Tillman f Tita, and I go, okay, Wow,
this guy really knows how to how to alienate stars
and alienate a fan base. He is really Maybe it's
just something they do in Houston. They know how to
really just tear things apart when things have been working
(12:55):
so well. Now, I think this is where you go
to the old application of the old adage. Don't be
mad or sad that it's over. Be glad that it happened,
and you celebrate those eight glorious years that he led
your team to the playoffs and on never to glory
uh and the crown. Because here's what you have to
(13:16):
do with this. You gotta do it now, because if
the Nets go and win a title, Smith, how the
hell are you ever gonna do that? And then we
traded him away to where he could form a super team.
He went to Brooklyn where they became the team and
pushed the Knicks off the back of the fish raft
alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving ladies and gentlemen of war,
(13:38):
and welcome for your Rockets Hall of Famer James Harden.
There goes boom. Now they're mad at you because you're
trading away and he got a title. Right now, you're
trying to pull up put all the voodoo out there.
You're trying to put all the negative energy of those
angry Houston fans saying, yeah, look he goes up to
the Raffers plaque, you plague you, and that's what you're
(14:00):
gonna get for James Harden, even though you know Kyrie
tried to say, hey, it's not it's gonna be a
love fest. It's gonna be a wonderful thing. There's not
gonna be any animosity. Uh huh sure. I think it's
just a reverse psychology plan from Fatina, knowing that if
they do win, it's a million times worse on him
to try to do this later on in his career
or to wait some decade or so beyond. Now, I
(14:23):
think this is perfect because you'll get booed by some
faction of the crowd, cheered by the other and in
theory again, you start pushing some of that negativity out
of Hues because right now it's been swallowed by negativity.
All the sports teams I mean, you've seen the list
of people that have left. It's longer than the train
on that Cleveland Brown's quarterback, Jersey Man, I'm telling you,
(14:47):
so that's what you need to do. You need to
take some of that bad, bad juju and push it out,
And this is a way to do it. Twitter at
how about a frescop Mike gets swollen don the Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Clearly Houston
does Hey, how are we supposed to act in certain situations? Well,
he's supposed to act by doing this, We're gonna do
the exact opposite. We're gonna zag when people think we're
(15:10):
gonna zig, and you watch what happens. Yeah, watch what happens.
There's good. There's gonna be a time to celebrate James
Harden's career. There is absolutely going to be a time
right now. It's not that time, man, It's not celebrate
his whole catalog to a commemorative bubblehead of his press
conference when he said, hey, we don't have what it
takes to win in this locker and use that sound bite. Hey,
(15:33):
I want to thank him for that because that got
us into the rebuild mode. I'd be really Houston. They
have some no idea what they're doing. That's so embarrassing.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time
Pro Bowl Little Warrington and I couldn't be more excited
(15:54):
to announce a new podcast called Up on Game. What
is a fun game? You ask along my fellow Pro
bowler t J. Hudhman Zata and Super Bowl champion. That's right,
Plexico Burds. You can only name a show with that
type of talent on it. Up on Game We're going
to be sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments.
(16:16):
Listen to Up on Game with me lebar Arrington, t J. Hudgmansatta,
and Plexico Birds on the I Heart Radio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from with us
now on the Hotline. Longtime friend of the show, NBA
Insider for NBC the lead NBA writer and managing editor
(16:38):
at NBC sports dot Com. That means he writes whatever
he wants to, he proof rereads his own stuff, he
puts it up on the site. You can followm on
Twitter at Basketball Talk. That is at Basketball Talk, it
is Kurt healing Kurt. What's happened to my friend? Not much,
it's to proofly in my own stuff that gets me
in trouble. But yeah, it's it's it's pretty much all true. Okay,
Oh very good. Now listen. I I made a al
(17:00):
to Mike at the beginning of the show tonight because
I saw the story you had today via Brian Windhorst
that NBA executives are preparing for an NBA superstar to
force his way to the Knicks next year in a trade.
And I said, you don't leave the air tonight until
you either tell us who it is or give us
your best guess at who it is. So we're gonna
(17:21):
sit here until four in the morning if we have
to before. You're gonna give us that name. If it's
j Honest, if it's Lebron, if it's a d if
it's steph you're gonna give us that name. Kurt Ellen,
Alex Caruso. If Alex Carusoine, he would be so upset
(17:43):
because he trends every time the Lakers play, Because look,
run runs Twitter late at night, right when the Lakers
play late things that trends, Alex Caruso trends, Kyle Kuzma
trends like you think Lebron would trend every night. No, no, no,
it's real Lakers fans and Alex Caruso trends every single night.
If he got to the Nicks, he would go, No
one's ever going to write about me anymore. Are over,
(18:05):
He's living a good life. Give me and by the way,
like twenty nine other teams would probably like Alex Caruso
on the roster. Guy hustles, more athletic than you think,
like Marx makes smart plays, had a good connection with Lebron,
Like yeah, no, Um, I had actually gone and listened
to After After I you know, Dan from our side
had posted that I went back and actually listened to
the podcast and he and Brian wasn't Brian. Brian was like,
(18:28):
there's a lot of people speculating about what the names are.
I'm it wouldn't be honest. He he just signed a
five year deal and be he's not a bright lights,
big city kind of guy. Um, if he forced if
if the Bucks stink in three years and he forces
his two years whatever, three years, he forces his way out.
It's going to be where he thinks he can win,
and that might be Miami, or that might be wherever,
(18:51):
but it's not necessary and maybe it's New York, but
it'll be more based on that with him. Um, I
imagine that there's a lot of Bradley Beal's speculation, but
it's to me, it's probably gonna be somebody more with
an ego, more, somebody who's like, man, let's be honest,
whoever the Savior is, because it's not. It's not. You know,
(19:13):
as much as everybody there loves Julius Randall, Julius Randall
is not the savior. Julius Randall is the guy who
gets traded in the deal for somebody later that's better. Um,
whoever that guy is, it's somebody who's like, you know what,
if I go to New York and win, if I turn,
if I get this team back to the finals, if
I'm the next Patrick Ewing, I reach a legendary status
(19:34):
that's not available. You know that that you're just not
You just can't get elsewhere. So I'm really curious. I'm
trying to think of a few years out who you know,
who that could be? If you made me guess, though
I would guess Carl Anthony Towns. Alright, alright, let let
us do this. I'm gonna I know, I know you
know who it is. So here's what I'm I don't know. Actually,
(19:56):
I don't know who it is. I don't I don't
want to get you in trouble. I'm gonna just start
naming superstars and if I get to the guy, just
like Sniff or something, right, that's just like Sniff or
something like Luca Spider, Mitchell, Kevin Durant during somebody in
New York. You know, he's not really, he's in Brooklyn.
(20:18):
He's not in New York. He's in Brooklyn. He is
New York adjacent. He is not in New York's hay, wait,
where aren't there better bagels in Brooklyn? Well, yeah, that's true.
The water is better. That is true. Okay, you can
always go and get bagels in Brooklyn and go back
to Manhattan. You can do that. That's the way it works.
So you think Karl Anthony Towns would be the guy
that's one of the like, if you're talking about who
people are eyeing a few years out, is like, I'm
(20:41):
gonna let you guys in on a secret Minnesota is
not very good. Um, like shocking, all right there, Yeah,
there may be some long term issues. That's also a
team that's it's getting sold and potential move. You know,
there's rumors about moving and all sorts of stuff that
come with that. Um, that's just one that comes to mind.
I'm probably Luca. I don't think Luca is going anywhere
(21:04):
for a while. He's still on his rookie deal, remember,
so he's going to sign a max extension. He's probably
got four or five years left in Dallas before he
if everything went weirdly sideways for some reason, I don't
think Cuban would let it. He's still five years out
from from trying to get out of there. Um. So yeah,
you're I'm trying to think of who else Jason Taittum,
(21:26):
Jalen Brown type of guys. But again, they just kind
of I'm thinking trying to think of guys who just
signed max is in the last max extensions in the
last couple of years, and they're gonna you know, Donovan
Mitchell's possible. Um, he does like it in Utah, but um,
that would be an interesting one too. I don't know
if he's though it's it's fair to ask, is Donovan Mitchell?
I mean he's the number one in Utah on a
(21:48):
very good ensemble team. Is he a number one? True
number one? You want a shock on? No? No, no.
And by the way, I love voted him an All
Star voted him all NBA. I climbed all over. I
thought Shaq handled that poorly. But if i'm it depends
(22:09):
on who I've got with him. Again, it works really
well with Rudy Gobert, but I don't think he's Lebron
or Durant where he's where you have to have somebody
that he plays off of well as opposed to a
true one two type of punch. So Randall, Julius rand
I mean answer, I was just gonna say, Curt, he's
(22:32):
not letting you get rid of Julius Randy no matter
what else happened. Then here's the thing. I know, Nicks
fans love Julius Randall and think he and r. J.
Barrett are like part of the cornerstones of the future.
And I'm telling you, r J. Barrett, I don't know.
To me he's eventually Jordan Clarkson. He's a future six
man of the year, and and and on that same
(22:55):
podcast with with no Well, I think it was the
same podcast. I remember somebody saying that Julius Randall is
your di'angelo Russell with the guy you trade to get
the guy you want, you know, in Brooklyn. So it's
more that, all right, well then hey, look Spider Mitchell
can play great alongside of Manuel Quickly. He's the best
(23:17):
player to mix anyway. I like quickly. It's hard not
to like quickly, quickly. You gotta I'll tell you, man,
this happens every year. It's happened with Tyler Hero and
bam at a bio and we could run down the
most of other guys. Guys come out of Kentucky, get
drafted in the later first round, and they go to
Kentucky as you know, elite high school recruits because that's
what Calipari gets. But then he kind of boxes them
(23:37):
in a system and there's a lot of talent there,
so they they don't get as many minutes as they'd like,
and it's just kind of hard. Then they come out
and go to the pros and they get a little
more freedom, and you're like, holy crap, these guys are good.
Like every year we sleep on. Some guy gets picked
in the twenties and then he comes out of Kentucky
and just blows us away. Well, there you have it.
So we've got young guys trying to make their mark
(23:59):
and a lot of the expiring contracts, buyouts, whatever else.
Because of how weird things are this season, I e.
Everybody's five hundred. Do we expect to see more activity
or less at the trade deadline? Less is what I'm hearing.
I mean, I think there will be some moves. Um,
you know, P J. Tucker is gonna get moved, don't
be surprised. Like Evan four, I don't know. Orlando might
(24:20):
be end up being sellers. J J. Reddick will end
up somewhere. Um. But I think I keep hearing less
in part because some of those teams that might be
sellers are in the mix, and Washington is not going
to be a seller right now. They think that they've rightfully,
they're only I'm not looking at the standings right now,
but there're only a couple of games out of a
play in spot. There are teams that are just gonna
(24:41):
gun for that. Atlanta is not selling right now like
some of these teams because it's a little deeper. Are
just they're not in a big a hole. And plus
it's all bunched up, like you said, which is another
concern for your Nicks. By the way, man, you're like
three games from falling out of the playoffs completely. Also
three games from the two seats. It's okay, everybody's mediocre. Man,
everybody stinks it's it is stratified, isn't it. Like there's
(25:04):
it's Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and um, Philadelphia at the top, and
then it's you. You can put the next eight in
any order, and I'd be like, yeah, that could happen. Yeah,
the same thing in the West. It's then it's it's
the Jazz and the Lakers and the Clippers, and then
you can put everybody else anyway. I think there's six
great teams everybody else. Are we keeping the Clippers in
(25:25):
that group right now? Eventually they're gonna get there. Look
it's been We're gonna be two years into the Kawhi
Leonard experience. We're gonna be saying, you know, eventually when
the Clippers get all their guys back something. At some point,
we're gonna be right about that. At some point we will.
But I'll tell you what, man, if you're the Jazz,
not only do you want to make sure you keep
winning and get that one seed and then then they've
(25:45):
stumbled a little lately, but you want to make sure
you get that one seed. You want to make sure
the Lake. You want to make sure Slash Hope, Lakers
and Clippers are too three. You want them on the
other side of the bracket. So that yeah, you gotta
go through Denver, who or and Phoenix. I don't want
to sleep on Phoenix here, but that's a lot easier
route than those Lakers and Clipper teams come to playoffs.
(26:07):
All right, so laslie le, let' let's finish with this
Scirt's finish for the flourish because you know, I thank
thank you for telling me that the Knicks could get
both Kadie and Lebron next year. So you said you
think things are going to be good, but they're good. Yes,
Oh yeah, sure, Well I figured that was a given,
you know what I mean, they'll figure out the salary
cap thing. So you said you didn't expect there to
(26:28):
be a lot You know, teams don't know who they are.
But if I said to you, all right, Kurt, the
biggest name that's going to be traded somewhere at the
deadline is going to be who Who's one big name
that you would think, you know, if this guy gets traded,
this is what I expect. This is a guy I
expect to be moved. That's gonna be a big difference maker,
big difference maker. I don't know. In fact, I gets
with Victor Ladipot is probably the biggest name. Um, maybe
(26:51):
Andre Drummond. I don't know that a guy who really
really moves the needle. By the way, Victor Roladipot moved
the needle a couple of years ago, he kind of
just from Fortunately since the injury, he has not gotten
back to being that guy. Um, but he wants to
test free agency. Houston may move him, but I just
I don't know that you're going to see a guy
who really like a starter or I'm sorry, starter, but
(27:14):
like an all star, elite level player that moves the
needle moving It's it's going to be moves around around
the margins. It's you know, can Brooklyn pick up some
wing depth and can the Clippers find a point you know,
a point guard on the scrap heap who can help
them with um, you know, they're they're playmaking issues at
the end of games and stuff like that. It's it's
gonna be role players and there's not. I don't think
(27:36):
you're gonna see Blake Griffin could be on the move.
But again I just I don't. I don't think you're
gonna see Blake Griffin on the move. I think he
gets bought out because I don't think anybody wants to
pay him thirty nine million dollars. Next year, you can
fall them on Twitter at Basketball Talk, that is, at
Basketball Talk and his Curt healing. Remember you heard it
here first. Next year the Knicks could have Luca and
beat Steph and Lillard. Oh you can all be you know,
(28:00):
and Beads a good one. That's a good the big time,
the reigning m v P. They're very nice, Thank you,
much appreciated. Look, Look, Karl Anthony Towns would be great,
uh you know the NBA. Look, but to hear, the
NBA is preparing for a star player to force his
(28:20):
way to the Knicks. You know, of all the guys
we mentioned, like Karl Anthony Towns will be at the
bottom of that list. Like as Karl Anthony Towns really
somebody that the NBA would go, Wow, man, the Knicks guy.
I mean, Karl Anthony Towns is very good. I mean
he's a good player, but he's not any of the names.
He's not a superstar. He's not a star player that
would woa have a seismic impact on the NBA that
(28:41):
other NBA executives will go, now, we got to watch
out for the Knicks. How is this done? Did a
p push his way through? I just don't know that
Karl Anthony Towns is that guy. Look, he's really good.
I'd love the Knicks to get him. He's terrific player.
I just don't know that he's that guy. I would
love for him to be able to play some meaningful basketball, right.
He been through a lot obviously with his family, a
(29:03):
ton of stuff this year and just for his career,
it's always been the al right, can't we get this
guy over because he's he's had a fantastic career stat wise,
but unfortunately you're on a team that isn't advancing. You're
not making any headway uh into into those you know,
deeper playoff rounds, hell appearing in the playoffs at all.
(29:25):
So getting an opportunity somewhere to be the guy on
a contending team would would be huge, and you know,
for for basketball, I think that would be a good
storyline that would get followed. Uh. But yeah, it's not
the huge ripple effect that we we've been hoping for. Uh.
Kurt did not give us much confidence that And I
(29:46):
think again it's because everything's bunched. It's just a mess. Look,
he said, it's good, it's good. Want to be an
embat It could be in beat and it could be
both of them and Luca of course, you know yeah,
I mean they could get three guys next year. I
mean that could be what it is. Twitter and how
about a Fresco Mike gets swollen Dome the Jason Smiths
with Mike Harmen again. More on that story of via
(30:07):
Kurt and Brian Windhorst. Check out Kurt's Twitter page at
Basketball Talk. We'll have more from the NBA coming up
in a few minutes, because boy, it looks like the
Lakers are gonna have a lot of explaining to to
lose a game this badly to the Phoenix Suns, as
the Sons played basically the entire second half without Devin
Booker once in a while, the Lakers can give you
(30:28):
a stinker, and this is one of those things tonight.
Uh we get to that coming up next. Plus another
big quarterback story out of the National Football League that's
just too delicious to ignore. Keep it right here, Jason
Smith Mike harmon Fox. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
(30:50):
and the I Heart Radio app. Call on Farmers and
you could save on your auto insurance? What else are
you gonna do with your phone in the next few minutes?
Look at photos of things other people eight called one
Farmers to get a quote. We are Farmers written my FARMERSOK.
Fine chance changes and available every state Fox Sports Radio,
The Jason Smith Show with my bist friend Mike car
(31:12):
and everybody get happy. Hey, we got more on this
big shocking loss by the Lakers to the Sun's coming
up in ten minutes. The Suns do it without Devin Booker,
who got thrown out for a reason that I can't
even fathom. So we got high drama coming up from
the NBA in a few minutes. But let me just
say this, night. We're talking a lot about quarterback situations
(31:34):
throughout the league, and in the past twenty four hours,
Alex Smith has gotten a lot of attention. And when
you couple it with the news, I'm gonna give you
right now, boy, I I think I know exactly what's
gonna happen for one team's quarterback situation next year. According
to reports today, look Bears JM. Ryan Pace said that
he hasn't ruled anything out at quarterback for next year. Obviously,
(31:56):
they've been linked with Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson put the
Bears on his list of teams ago to why. I
don't know, but he did. Hey, potentially DeShawn Watson. Hey,
you know the Bears DeShawn Watson work. But reports out
of Chicago today there were two. One said that the
Bears have not ruled out going back with Mitchell Trabisky
next year, and that other reports say Alex Smith could
(32:19):
wind up going to the Bears and be reunited with
Matt Naggy. They're they're a league circle reports saying both
of these things could happen. And boy, I'll tell you,
once I heard both of those stories, I I took
a stamp out and I said, boom, that is exactly
what's going to happen, because that would be so incredibly
bears to repeat. Well, we don't think Mitchell Trabiski is
(32:41):
the guy. He showed us glimpses, but after four years,
why not give another chance. But we need to back up.
So let's go to a guy that maybe the fans
are gonna like, who has done some things in the
past but really can't start anymore. And it's Alex Smith.
You are doomed to mediocrity. Let's let's let's chase another
eight and eight season in Chicago. You're going into what
you're gonna go to one the same way you went
(33:03):
into You know, this is what's gonna happen now. Because
the power of these stories got out into the universe.
You can cross off Russell Wilson, you can cross off
the Shawn Watson, you can even cross off Sam Donald,
Buddy your bears. You know it's gonna be true Whisky
and Alex Smith next year. It's gonna be like a
political ticket. Trabisky Smith one that that that that that
that that that That's what's gonna happen. Man, Yeah, it
(33:26):
is absolute lunacy. Uh, if you wanna rock yourself to
sleep tonight, just find the audio of this inane press
conference talking about coaching and the strength of our team
is in the coaching and then every euphemism for teamwork
and kind of camaraderie. And it was just a can
(33:47):
joke show, is really what it was. Uh. And you
know me, I may be a bit of a Trabinsky apologist,
but part of that is all right, how bet you
actually run an offense that's tailored to his skills instead
of taking the square peg and putting it in the
round hole. Yeah. I went to that basic analogy because
the reality is when they did let him get to
(34:09):
the outside, get to the edge, you know what, some
good things happened, and the offense sprung to life. Uh.
And the defense did not acquit itself nearly as well,
making Chuck Poganto the scapegoat. You gotta have a fall guy,
so they had a fall guy. I still think they
may swing for the fences. I know you're pushing it aside. Yes,
the leadership of Alex Smith was brought up, and I
(34:31):
there there's some credence to that. I think he's a
better fit down in with the Jaguars as they try
to figure out exactly what's gonna go on with Trevor Lawrence.
But I think when when you look at Ryan Pace,
he knows that the sort of Damocles is swinging over
the top of it. I haven't used it in a while.
(34:52):
I thought i'd go back to it. We were listening
to a little uh beetle juice in the car earlier.
The sword of damn a clean hess swinging, uh and
so you know, the whole being dead thing. Uh. So
I think there's the possibility that they take that swing
for the fences at most likely Deshaun Watson to try
(35:13):
to see if they can't uh stir things up, strike
up the band, as you were, uh, and maybe that'll
convince Allan Robinson to stick around. Good luck, good luck
with all of that, good luck with everything. You just said.
Playoffs team last year. Yeah, no, listen, they're gonna keep
letting more teams in. The Bears eventually will continue to
(35:34):
get into it at eight and eight and seven and
nine and said, yeah, you know, and you're still wishing
to sniff that that height, well yeah, yeah, but listen,
we stink, and we stunk bad, like we weren't like mediocre,
stunk like you. We we did it right like we
stunk all the way. Man. We went for it and
we got it and screw it up Twitter. And how
about a Fresca Mike and swollen Dumb The Jason Smith
(35:56):
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Uh something from
the Lakers Sun tonight. I still can't believe happened. And
the NBA has got a lot of explaining to do.
That's next, right here, Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to eleven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
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on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
inside our three of The Jason Smith Show with my
bas friend Mike Harmon, live from the Farmers Insurance Studio
Studio Studio Studios called one Triple eight Farmers a switch
you could save big on your auto insurance. It's really
(00:45):
the best thing you can do with your phone in
a few minutes. Just call one eight to eight Farmers,
that's one triple eight Farmers and start saving today we
are Farmers. Well, we have a crazy basketball story coming
your way in a couple of minutes in regards to
James Harden. But wow, uh you hear that old adage
(01:08):
of sometimes that when you see a player get thrown
out in Major League Baseball, that up there's an umpire
who thinks people came to the Ballpark to see him umpire, right,
and you've heard the phrase a lot, right of course.
Well maybe that's what just happened, because here you have
look the biggest game of the night, in the biggest
game and probably a week in the NBA. I would say,
(01:30):
sons in the Lakers. The Sun still lead eight two
seventy six late in the third quarter, but they'll be
playing the rest of the game without Devin Booker, who
just got ejected, just got ejected, and he got ejected,
just arrested. Uh here's the play by play. This is
(01:51):
from about five minutes ago in the third quarter. Now
we got a technical foul and somebody just got tossed
or KCPS somebody it's got tossed. Them says, I don't
want any more of this. Now Booker is looking or
is he just look in a case CP. Hopefully the
Bookers tossed. Somebody's gone, is out of the game. But
(02:12):
somebody is gone. Wow, their best player is gone. It's
really difficult to see just exactly what Devin Booker did. Now,
could they be upset because he bounced the ball to
an official a little harder than normal? I mean it really,
it doesn't look like it's anything more than just hey,
(02:32):
here's the ball. I don't know what could have possibly
happened to kick Devin Booker out of this game, but
he could have possibly said to get two teas and
get thrown out of the game. I mean, yes, I
don't want you to sit here and say, well, it's
a nationally televised game, it's the Lakers. You gotta keep
in the game no matter what. But I really don't
see anything that Devin Booker did to get himself ejected.
(02:53):
He was salty about a call against Shrewder before that
right quick whistle didn't look like there was a lot
of tech. Fine, so kind of got yelled, you know,
yelling back and forth. And then there's a little bit
of aggressiveness in the lane. And when he bounces the
ball at the referee, he's not looking at the referee now,
so I think he bounced it thinking all right, he
was back over there on the base line a second ago,
(03:15):
and oh wait, there he is, you know, coming across
the lane. And but the referee doesn't have trouble with
the bats. It's a it's a bounce pass, and Jeffree
doesn't have trouble getting the basketball from it's a bounce,
he's got it, uh, And he's not the guy that
tosses him, right, So I don't see what he did
other than bouncing the basketball. He's cursin at kcp uh
(03:36):
and he's jawn with shrewder and And what's funny is
as they're running Booker out of the building, the Lakers
are walking up behind him and they're still yelling at
it was like, all right, what are we doing here?
Like they're they're grown ass men. Tell him to shut
up and get back to playing basketball. You don't inject
a guy. I mean, I didn't see him say anything
(03:58):
towards a referee. I didn't see him saying because listen,
you you gotta let that trash talk and gol if
it's player and player, you know. But I didn't see
him say anything to the referee. The referee who did it.
Just the referee that called him for the technicals looked
like that's exactly what he did. He he looked back,
he saw him bound, so him bounced the basketball and
(04:18):
then he gave him another one. So I I don't
I really don't get what exactly happened because he you
see the first ref come and he and he and
he calls, and he calls for the technical and then
he bounces the ball to the referee. And then another
ref walks by after seeing that and and gives him
the year out of the game. So really, I think
that's what it was. I think he the second referee
(04:39):
walked by Devin Booker when he bounced the ball to referee,
and you see it. It doesn't even look like it's
a hard bounce, but it's it's one of those. It's
a sharp bounce to the ref. The ref gets it.
And the ref that gets the ball is not the
guy that throws him out. He's got to look on
his face like, what the hell are you doing? Why
are you ejecting him? By the way, trying to interpret
what was going on on that call that made me
no sense, I don't know, I don't know. I mean,
(05:01):
somebody got tossed. I was it. I see the second
ref as he walks by, And it could be that
Booker said something at that point, and and he could
he could have said something but fixes in or something
like that. Who knows, But I mean, wow, I mean,
he's what the ref just happens to be walking by him.
When he says that this is not Devin Booker walking
(05:23):
up to the referee to get mad at him and
yell at him for something. This is not Devin Booker
going out of his way to deserve This is not
Draymond Green getting the referee's face and you have to
throw him out because something really bad could happen if
you don't. This is like the most innocuous of things.
And I get when you say the magic words, but wow, man, really,
just because there's other players around, you throw Devin book around.
(05:45):
And he loved throwing him out, right. He just didn't
give the second tea. He just goes the tea and
he gives the umpire you're gone, right, he does. He does.
He does a baseball umpire two steps, Hey you're gone,
Like like, hey, I'm gonna throw you out with a
flourish here I'm gonna be the first person is safe.
Farewell to you. I I don't get it. I really
don't get what just happened and how they threw him
out of the game. And you know what we're gonna
(06:06):
get after the game is over, the referee pool is
gonna say, uh, we're we're not commenting on this. Devin
Booker was thrown out because of of what he said,
and you know, and we're just not gonna get anything,
and they're gonna they're gonna hush it all up because
we're gonna get a statement from a pool reporter on this,
and we're never gonna understand. I don't know what Devin
Booker could have possibly done to get thrown out. He
bounced the ball aggressively in the direction of the official
(06:29):
in a threatening manner. Do you think that's what we're
gonna get something to that effect? Oh? Man, that is
just that is just absolutely insane. I really don't get it.
Look like I said, it's not a matter of boy,
it's a nationally televised game versus you know, a non
naturally televised game. Although I'm sure Adam silver And and
broadcast partners are gonna go, what are you nuts, what
(06:50):
are you doing throwing him out of the game, because
not that people would tune away if Devin Booker doesn't play,
because look, Lebron is playing, so people are gonna watch Lebron.
But if the game turns into a blowout in the
fourth quarter, guess what that's people saying? All right, that's
seen enough games over, I'm not watching anymore. What are
you doing? What are you doing? So hopefully Phoenix can
keep this close and still close right now late in
(07:10):
the third quarter, but that big Phoenix lead is starting
to evaporate a bit. Well, when your best player gets
thrown out, that's kind of things that are gonna happen.
I really I don't understand it. I I really, I
really can't wait to see what this possibly could be
to get him thrown out. Really, it looks like it's
one of those referees that says, hey, I think I
think people who are allowed in games, and there aren't many,
but people who are watching on TV are watching me
(07:33):
be a referee, and I want to show my family
that I can make a great call with the flourish
and throw a superstar out of the game. So I'm
gonna do it. Weak sauce. Wow, that really is amazing.
Uh So we'll keep you posted on this because obviously
this is a story that we're gonna be following throughout
the rest of the night. We go to the end
of the third quarter. Uh the Sons with the lead
(07:53):
eight six eighty three. Uh So, with Devin Booker gone,
surely Chris Paul's gonna have to pick up some of
the slack year. He's not having a great game so
far tonight. Meanwhile for the Lakers, Lebron's got twenty four
and five assists, and it is Taylor Horton Tucker off
HT with fourteen. He just he just took a shot
(08:13):
that I don't even think Lebron would have taken. He
had he had he had the ball on the on
the outside, the arc on on the left side, and
he was completely did up by his man, and there
was like twelve or thirteen seconds slept in the shot clock,
and he took one of those Kobe Bryant, I don't care.
I'm gonna turn, twist and fade away and throw up
at three from what I should have never taken this shot,
(08:35):
and he did it, and I'm going, oh my god, dude,
what are you diling? I mean, that was some kind
of shot from th h T. It's a beautiful thing.
I'll tell you what. Sometimes take those crazy shots. Didn't
you do that as a kid? And then you made
one that was improbable? So what do you do that?
You dribbled up the next time down the court and
you threw it up the same way. Yeah, yeah, but
that's that's on the playground when it was Okay, dude,
(08:57):
what are you doing? You know this is that this
is this is like a real game. You know, this
is guaranteed contract. You can do whatever, and hell you
want Twitter it out about a Fresca Mike and Swollen
The Jason Smith Show with my bass friend Mike Harmen.
So this story really is there. There's certain things called
time and place right our producer, justin Frostburg. That's one
of his favorite phrases is, Hey, dude, there's a time
(09:19):
and place, time and place, time and place, and there's
a time and place for something that came up today
in regards of what we're gonna see tomorrow in the NBA. Tomorrow,
James Harden makes his triumphant return to Houston, and I
mean triumphant because the Nets are playing terrific. He's an
m VP candidate and it's gonna be the first time
he's back since forcing his trade away a couple of
(09:41):
months ago, and with all of this going on, right,
so Harden's coming back to town, fans are upset with
you know, James Harden was able to quit basically on
the team, then throw the team under the bus and
and and bully his way out of town. Now we
have to watch him succeed with the Nets, which is tough.
Victor Oladipo, who they would ostensibly like to build a
team around, just turned down a two year, forty five
(10:04):
million dollar contract extension, which is the max. You can
give me once a longer max deal at the end
of the year. So maybe now Houston's out and they
have to trade him before the deadline. So this is
what's going on in Houston right now. You have upset fans,
upset fan base, and tilman for Tita Rockets owner, in
an email sent to the Houston Chronicle earlier today, said that, yeah,
(10:25):
at the end of James Harden's career, we're gonna retire
his number thirteen. Now, I understand that you want to
honor one of your all time grades. He was there
for eight years, he became an m v P, became
one of the best players in the NBA. I I
get that, but time and place, because everybody is still
so mad at this guy. They're so mad at him,
(10:48):
and they're mad at the team for letting him go.
They're mad at not being able to make a trade
that was gonna allow them to win. The team stinks
and this guy basically just quit on you and forced
his way out by bullying you into trading him and
trading him to a great team. And this is when
you say, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna retire his jersey
(11:08):
after his career is over. Dude, this is not the
time to say that. This is the time to say, hey,
it'll be fun to have James Harden back and get
a big win, or be fun to have James Harden
back and we'll see what kind of welcome he gets
when he tries to get into the paint. You know,
this is what you say when your guy comes back
after being a jerk and forcing his way and a
tuck is that's what James Harden did. I hate that.
(11:28):
That's how it went that. That's what Stars have to
do now, because teams won't listen if they're if they
want to be traded that Stars have to go. They
have to burn bridges, they have to embarrass the organization.
Could the only thing that gets him to stand up
and take notice. The Texans aren't going to really ramp
up their trade of DeShawn Watson until Deshaun Watson completely
throws them all under the bus publicly, right. So part
(11:50):
of it is I get that it's it's not all
the player's fault, because players can say, hey, I've asked
my team to trade me five times, they won't do it,
so now I gotta I gotta step it up. But
I hate that it works that way. I hate that
that's how it works now in sports. And if you
want to get traded and you're a star, well, I'm
just gonna be a malcontent and maybe I'll do some
things on social media the team doesn't like. I'll like
some posts I'm not supposed to like. I will say
(12:12):
some things in an interview or in a post game,
and I will get my way. I hate that it
works that way. And that's exactly what James Harden did,
and it's exactly why the Rockets. This is the worst
thing you can do is to say, yes, we're gonna
celebrate this guy. Now everybody is still mad. They can't
stand James Harden. And now you're saying, yeah, we're gonna
celebrate now. No, stop trying to take me away from
(12:34):
the bad reality. And so oh yeah, things were great.
The wound is still too raw, Mike Harmon, this is
still too raw wound to say, yes, we're gonna celebrate.
I look at Tillman f Tita, and I go, okay, Wow,
this guy really knows how to how to alienate stars
and alienate a fan base. He is really Maybe it's
just something they do in Houston. They know how to
really just tear things apart when things have been working
(12:55):
so well. Now, I think this is where you go
to the old application of the old adage. Don't be
mad or sad that it's over. Be glad that it happened,
and you celebrate those eight glorious years that he led
your team to the playoffs and on never to glory
uh and the crown. Because here's what you have to
(13:16):
do with this. You gotta do it now, because if
the Nets go and win a title, Smith, how the
hell are you ever gonna do that? And then we
traded him away to where he could form a super team.
He went to Brooklyn where they became the team and
pushed the Knicks off the back of the fish raft
alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving ladies and gentlemen of war,
(13:38):
and welcome for your Rockets Hall of Famer James Harden.
There goes boom. Now they're mad at you because you're
trading away and he got a title. Right now, you're
trying to pull up put all the voodoo out there.
You're trying to put all the negative energy of those
angry Houston fans saying, yeah, look he goes up to
the Raffers plaque, you plague you, and that's what you're
(14:00):
gonna get for James Harden, even though you know Kyrie
tried to say, hey, it's not it's gonna be a
love fest. It's gonna be a wonderful thing. There's not
gonna be any animosity. Uh huh sure. I think it's
just a reverse psychology plan from Fatina, knowing that if
they do win, it's a million times worse on him
to try to do this later on in his career
or to wait some decade or so beyond. Now, I
(14:23):
think this is perfect because you'll get booed by some
faction of the crowd, cheered by the other and in
theory again, you start pushing some of that negativity out
of Hues because right now it's been swallowed by negativity.
All the sports teams I mean, you've seen the list
of people that have left. It's longer than the train
on that Cleveland Brown's quarterback, Jersey Man, I'm telling you,
(14:47):
so that's what you need to do. You need to
take some of that bad, bad juju and push it out,
And this is a way to do it. Twitter at
how about a frescop Mike gets swollen don the Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Clearly Houston
does Hey, how are we supposed to act in certain situations? Well,
he's supposed to act by doing this, We're gonna do
the exact opposite. We're gonna zag when people think we're
(15:10):
gonna zig, and you watch what happens. Yeah, watch what happens.
There's good. There's gonna be a time to celebrate James
Harden's career. There is absolutely going to be a time
right now. It's not that time, man, It's not celebrate
his whole catalog to a commemorative bubblehead of his press
conference when he said, hey, we don't have what it
takes to win in this locker and use that sound bite. Hey,
(15:33):
I want to thank him for that because that got
us into the rebuild mode. I'd be really Houston. They
have some no idea what they're doing. That's so embarrassing.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time
Pro Bowl Little Warrington and I couldn't be more excited
(15:54):
to announce a new podcast called Up on Game. What
is a fun game? You ask along my fellow Pro
bowler t J. Hudhman Zata and Super Bowl champion. That's right,
Plexico Burds. You can only name a show with that
type of talent on it. Up on Game We're going
to be sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments.
(16:16):
Listen to Up on Game with me lebar Arrington, t J. Hudgmansatta,
and Plexico Birds on the I Heart Radio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from with us
now on the Hotline. Longtime friend of the show, NBA
Insider for NBC the lead NBA writer and managing editor
(16:38):
at NBC sports dot Com. That means he writes whatever
he wants to, he proof rereads his own stuff, he
puts it up on the site. You can followm on
Twitter at Basketball Talk. That is at Basketball Talk, it
is Kurt healing Kurt. What's happened to my friend? Not much,
it's to proofly in my own stuff that gets me
in trouble. But yeah, it's it's it's pretty much all true. Okay,
Oh very good. Now listen. I I made a al
(17:00):
to Mike at the beginning of the show tonight because
I saw the story you had today via Brian Windhorst
that NBA executives are preparing for an NBA superstar to
force his way to the Knicks next year in a trade.
And I said, you don't leave the air tonight until
you either tell us who it is or give us
your best guess at who it is. So we're gonna
(17:21):
sit here until four in the morning if we have
to before. You're gonna give us that name. If it's
j Honest, if it's Lebron, if it's a d if
it's steph you're gonna give us that name. Kurt Ellen,
Alex Caruso. If Alex Carusoine, he would be so upset
(17:43):
because he trends every time the Lakers play, Because look,
run runs Twitter late at night, right when the Lakers
play late things that trends, Alex Caruso trends, Kyle Kuzma
trends like you think Lebron would trend every night. No, no, no,
it's real Lakers fans and Alex Caruso trends every single night.
If he got to the Nicks, he would go, No
one's ever going to write about me anymore. Are over,
(18:05):
He's living a good life. Give me and by the way,
like twenty nine other teams would probably like Alex Caruso
on the roster. Guy hustles, more athletic than you think,
like Marx makes smart plays, had a good connection with Lebron,
Like yeah, no, Um, I had actually gone and listened
to After After I you know, Dan from our side
had posted that I went back and actually listened to
the podcast and he and Brian wasn't Brian. Brian was like,
(18:28):
there's a lot of people speculating about what the names are.
I'm it wouldn't be honest. He he just signed a
five year deal and be he's not a bright lights,
big city kind of guy. Um, if he forced if
if the Bucks stink in three years and he forces
his two years whatever, three years, he forces his way out.
It's going to be where he thinks he can win,
and that might be Miami, or that might be wherever,
(18:51):
but it's not necessary and maybe it's New York, but
it'll be more based on that with him. Um, I
imagine that there's a lot of Bradley Beal's speculation, but
it's to me, it's probably gonna be somebody more with
an ego, more, somebody who's like, man, let's be honest,
whoever the Savior is, because it's not. It's not. You know,
(19:13):
as much as everybody there loves Julius Randall, Julius Randall
is not the savior. Julius Randall is the guy who
gets traded in the deal for somebody later that's better. Um,
whoever that guy is, it's somebody who's like, you know what,
if I go to New York and win, if I turn,
if I get this team back to the finals, if
I'm the next Patrick Ewing, I reach a legendary status
(19:34):
that's not available. You know that that you're just not
You just can't get elsewhere. So I'm really curious. I'm
trying to think of a few years out who you know,
who that could be? If you made me guess, though
I would guess Carl Anthony Towns. Alright, alright, let let
us do this. I'm gonna I know, I know you
know who it is. So here's what I'm I don't know. Actually,
(19:56):
I don't know who it is. I don't I don't
want to get you in trouble. I'm gonna just start
naming superstars and if I get to the guy, just
like Sniff or something, right, that's just like Sniff or
something like Luca Spider, Mitchell, Kevin Durant during somebody in
New York. You know, he's not really, he's in Brooklyn.
(20:18):
He's not in New York. He's in Brooklyn. He is
New York adjacent. He is not in New York's hay, wait,
where aren't there better bagels in Brooklyn? Well, yeah, that's true.
The water is better. That is true. Okay, you can
always go and get bagels in Brooklyn and go back
to Manhattan. You can do that. That's the way it works.
So you think Karl Anthony Towns would be the guy
that's one of the like, if you're talking about who
people are eyeing a few years out, is like, I'm
(20:41):
gonna let you guys in on a secret Minnesota is
not very good. Um, like shocking, all right there, Yeah,
there may be some long term issues. That's also a
team that's it's getting sold and potential move. You know,
there's rumors about moving and all sorts of stuff that
come with that. Um, that's just one that comes to mind.
I'm probably Luca. I don't think Luca is going anywhere
(21:04):
for a while. He's still on his rookie deal, remember,
so he's going to sign a max extension. He's probably
got four or five years left in Dallas before he
if everything went weirdly sideways for some reason, I don't
think Cuban would let it. He's still five years out
from from trying to get out of there. Um. So yeah,
you're I'm trying to think of who else Jason Taittum,
(21:26):
Jalen Brown type of guys. But again, they just kind
of I'm thinking trying to think of guys who just
signed max is in the last max extensions in the
last couple of years, and they're gonna you know, Donovan
Mitchell's possible. Um, he does like it in Utah, but um,
that would be an interesting one too. I don't know
if he's though it's it's fair to ask, is Donovan Mitchell?
I mean he's the number one in Utah on a
(21:48):
very good ensemble team. Is he a number one? True
number one? You want a shock on? No? No, no.
And by the way, I love voted him an All
Star voted him all NBA. I climbed all over. I
thought Shaq handled that poorly. But if i'm it depends
(22:09):
on who I've got with him. Again, it works really
well with Rudy Gobert, but I don't think he's Lebron
or Durant where he's where you have to have somebody
that he plays off of well as opposed to a
true one two type of punch. So Randall, Julius rand
I mean answer, I was just gonna say, Curt, he's
(22:32):
not letting you get rid of Julius Randy no matter
what else happened. Then here's the thing. I know, Nicks
fans love Julius Randall and think he and r. J.
Barrett are like part of the cornerstones of the future.
And I'm telling you, r J. Barrett, I don't know.
To me he's eventually Jordan Clarkson. He's a future six
man of the year, and and and on that same
(22:55):
podcast with with no Well, I think it was the
same podcast. I remember somebody saying that Julius Randall is
your di'angelo Russell with the guy you trade to get
the guy you want, you know, in Brooklyn. So it's
more that, all right, well then hey, look Spider Mitchell
can play great alongside of Manuel Quickly. He's the best
(23:17):
player to mix anyway. I like quickly. It's hard not
to like quickly, quickly. You gotta I'll tell you, man,
this happens every year. It's happened with Tyler Hero and
bam at a bio and we could run down the
most of other guys. Guys come out of Kentucky, get
drafted in the later first round, and they go to
Kentucky as you know, elite high school recruits because that's
what Calipari gets. But then he kind of boxes them
(23:37):
in a system and there's a lot of talent there,
so they they don't get as many minutes as they'd like,
and it's just kind of hard. Then they come out
and go to the pros and they get a little
more freedom, and you're like, holy crap, these guys are good.
Like every year we sleep on. Some guy gets picked
in the twenties and then he comes out of Kentucky
and just blows us away. Well, there you have it.
So we've got young guys trying to make their mark
(23:59):
and a lot of the expiring contracts, buyouts, whatever else.
Because of how weird things are this season, I e.
Everybody's five hundred. Do we expect to see more activity
or less at the trade deadline? Less is what I'm hearing.
I mean, I think there will be some moves. Um,
you know, P J. Tucker is gonna get moved, don't
be surprised. Like Evan four, I don't know. Orlando might
(24:20):
be end up being sellers. J J. Reddick will end
up somewhere. Um. But I think I keep hearing less
in part because some of those teams that might be
sellers are in the mix, and Washington is not going
to be a seller right now. They think that they've rightfully,
they're only I'm not looking at the standings right now,
but there're only a couple of games out of a
play in spot. There are teams that are just gonna
(24:41):
gun for that. Atlanta is not selling right now like
some of these teams because it's a little deeper. Are
just they're not in a big a hole. And plus
it's all bunched up, like you said, which is another
concern for your Nicks. By the way, man, you're like
three games from falling out of the playoffs completely. Also
three games from the two seats. It's okay, everybody's mediocre. Man,
everybody stinks it's it is stratified, isn't it. Like there's
(25:04):
it's Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and um, Philadelphia at the top, and
then it's you. You can put the next eight in
any order, and I'd be like, yeah, that could happen. Yeah,
the same thing in the West. It's then it's it's
the Jazz and the Lakers and the Clippers, and then
you can put everybody else anyway. I think there's six
great teams everybody else. Are we keeping the Clippers in
(25:25):
that group right now? Eventually they're gonna get there. Look
it's been We're gonna be two years into the Kawhi
Leonard experience. We're gonna be saying, you know, eventually when
the Clippers get all their guys back something. At some point,
we're gonna be right about that. At some point we will.
But I'll tell you what, man, if you're the Jazz,
not only do you want to make sure you keep
winning and get that one seed and then then they've
(25:45):
stumbled a little lately, but you want to make sure
you get that one seed. You want to make sure
the Lake. You want to make sure Slash Hope, Lakers
and Clippers are too three. You want them on the
other side of the bracket. So that yeah, you gotta
go through Denver, who or and Phoenix. I don't want
to sleep on Phoenix here, but that's a lot easier
route than those Lakers and Clipper teams come to playoffs.
(26:07):
All right, so laslie le, let' let's finish with this
Scirt's finish for the flourish because you know, I thank
thank you for telling me that the Knicks could get
both Kadie and Lebron next year. So you said you
think things are going to be good, but they're good. Yes,
Oh yeah, sure, Well I figured that was a given,
you know what I mean, they'll figure out the salary
cap thing. So you said you didn't expect there to
(26:28):
be a lot You know, teams don't know who they are.
But if I said to you, all right, Kurt, the
biggest name that's going to be traded somewhere at the
deadline is going to be who Who's one big name
that you would think, you know, if this guy gets traded,
this is what I expect. This is a guy I
expect to be moved. That's gonna be a big difference maker,
big difference maker. I don't know. In fact, I gets
with Victor Ladipot is probably the biggest name. Um, maybe
(26:51):
Andre Drummond. I don't know that a guy who really
really moves the needle. By the way, Victor Roladipot moved
the needle a couple of years ago, he kind of
just from Fortunately since the injury, he has not gotten
back to being that guy. Um, but he wants to
test free agency. Houston may move him, but I just
I don't know that you're going to see a guy
who really like a starter or I'm sorry, starter, but
(27:14):
like an all star, elite level player that moves the
needle moving It's it's going to be moves around around
the margins. It's you know, can Brooklyn pick up some
wing depth and can the Clippers find a point you know,
a point guard on the scrap heap who can help
them with um, you know, they're they're playmaking issues at
the end of games and stuff like that. It's it's
gonna be role players and there's not. I don't think
(27:36):
you're gonna see Blake Griffin could be on the move.
But again I just I don't. I don't think you're
gonna see Blake Griffin on the move. I think he
gets bought out because I don't think anybody wants to
pay him thirty nine million dollars. Next year, you can
fall them on Twitter at Basketball Talk, that is, at
Basketball Talk and his Curt healing. Remember you heard it
here first. Next year the Knicks could have Luca and
beat Steph and Lillard. Oh you can all be you know,
(28:00):
and Beads a good one. That's a good the big time,
the reigning m v P. They're very nice, Thank you,
much appreciated. Look, Look, Karl Anthony Towns would be great,
uh you know the NBA. Look, but to hear, the
NBA is preparing for a star player to force his
(28:20):
way to the Knicks. You know, of all the guys
we mentioned, like Karl Anthony Towns will be at the
bottom of that list. Like as Karl Anthony Towns really
somebody that the NBA would go, Wow, man, the Knicks guy.
I mean, Karl Anthony Towns is very good. I mean
he's a good player, but he's not any of the names.
He's not a superstar. He's not a star player that
would woa have a seismic impact on the NBA that
(28:41):
other NBA executives will go, now, we got to watch
out for the Knicks. How is this done? Did a
p push his way through? I just don't know that
Karl Anthony Towns is that guy. Look, he's really good.
I'd love the Knicks to get him. He's terrific player.
I just don't know that he's that guy. I would
love for him to be able to play some meaningful basketball, right.
He been through a lot obviously with his family, a
(29:03):
ton of stuff this year and just for his career,
it's always been the al right, can't we get this
guy over because he's he's had a fantastic career stat wise,
but unfortunately you're on a team that isn't advancing. You're
not making any headway uh into into those you know,
deeper playoff rounds, hell appearing in the playoffs at all.
(29:25):
So getting an opportunity somewhere to be the guy on
a contending team would would be huge, and you know,
for for basketball, I think that would be a good
storyline that would get followed. Uh. But yeah, it's not
the huge ripple effect that we we've been hoping for. Uh.
Kurt did not give us much confidence that And I
(29:46):
think again it's because everything's bunched. It's just a mess. Look,
he said, it's good, it's good. Want to be an
embat It could be in beat and it could be
both of them and Luca of course, you know yeah,
I mean they could get three guys next year. I
mean that could be what it is. Twitter and how
about a Fresco Mike gets swollen Dome the Jason Smiths
with Mike Harmen again. More on that story of via
(30:07):
Kurt and Brian Windhorst. Check out Kurt's Twitter page at
Basketball Talk. We'll have more from the NBA coming up
in a few minutes, because boy, it looks like the
Lakers are gonna have a lot of explaining to to
lose a game this badly to the Phoenix Suns, as
the Sons played basically the entire second half without Devin
Booker once in a while, the Lakers can give you
(30:28):
a stinker, and this is one of those things tonight.
Uh we get to that coming up next. Plus another
big quarterback story out of the National Football League that's
just too delicious to ignore. Keep it right here, Jason
Smith Mike harmon Fox. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
(30:50):
and the I Heart Radio app. Call on Farmers and
you could save on your auto insurance? What else are
you gonna do with your phone in the next few minutes?
Look at photos of things other people eight called one
Farmers to get a quote. We are Farmers written my FARMERSOK.
Fine chance changes and available every state Fox Sports Radio,
The Jason Smith Show with my bist friend Mike car
(31:12):
and everybody get happy. Hey, we got more on this
big shocking loss by the Lakers to the Sun's coming
up in ten minutes. The Suns do it without Devin Booker,
who got thrown out for a reason that I can't
even fathom. So we got high drama coming up from
the NBA in a few minutes. But let me just
say this, night. We're talking a lot about quarterback situations
(31:34):
throughout the league, and in the past twenty four hours,
Alex Smith has gotten a lot of attention. And when
you couple it with the news, I'm gonna give you
right now, boy, I I think I know exactly what's
gonna happen for one team's quarterback situation next year. According
to reports today, look Bears JM. Ryan Pace said that
he hasn't ruled anything out at quarterback for next year. Obviously,
(31:56):
they've been linked with Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson put the
Bears on his list of teams ago to why. I
don't know, but he did. Hey, potentially DeShawn Watson. Hey,
you know the Bears DeShawn Watson work. But reports out
of Chicago today there were two. One said that the
Bears have not ruled out going back with Mitchell Trabisky
next year, and that other reports say Alex Smith could
(32:19):
wind up going to the Bears and be reunited with
Matt Naggy. They're they're a league circle reports saying both
of these things could happen. And boy, I'll tell you,
once I heard both of those stories, I I took
a stamp out and I said, boom, that is exactly
what's going to happen, because that would be so incredibly
bears to repeat. Well, we don't think Mitchell Trabiski is
(32:41):
the guy. He showed us glimpses, but after four years,
why not give another chance. But we need to back up.
So let's go to a guy that maybe the fans
are gonna like, who has done some things in the
past but really can't start anymore. And it's Alex Smith.
You are doomed to mediocrity. Let's let's let's chase another
eight and eight season in Chicago. You're going into what
you're gonna go to one the same way you went
(33:03):
into You know, this is what's gonna happen now. Because
the power of these stories got out into the universe.
You can cross off Russell Wilson, you can cross off
the Shawn Watson, you can even cross off Sam Donald,
Buddy your bears. You know it's gonna be true Whisky
and Alex Smith next year. It's gonna be like a
political ticket. Trabisky Smith one that that that that that
that that that That's what's gonna happen. Man, Yeah, it
(33:26):
is absolute lunacy. Uh, if you wanna rock yourself to
sleep tonight, just find the audio of this inane press
conference talking about coaching and the strength of our team
is in the coaching and then every euphemism for teamwork
and kind of camaraderie. And it was just a can
(33:47):
joke show, is really what it was. Uh. And you
know me, I may be a bit of a Trabinsky apologist,
but part of that is all right, how bet you
actually run an offense that's tailored to his skills instead
of taking the square peg and putting it in the
round hole. Yeah. I went to that basic analogy because
the reality is when they did let him get to
(34:09):
the outside, get to the edge, you know what, some
good things happened, and the offense sprung to life. Uh.
And the defense did not acquit itself nearly as well,
making Chuck Poganto the scapegoat. You gotta have a fall guy,
so they had a fall guy. I still think they
may swing for the fences. I know you're pushing it aside. Yes,
the leadership of Alex Smith was brought up, and I
(34:31):
there there's some credence to that. I think he's a
better fit down in with the Jaguars as they try
to figure out exactly what's gonna go on with Trevor Lawrence.
But I think when when you look at Ryan Pace,
he knows that the sort of Damocles is swinging over
the top of it. I haven't used it in a while.
(34:52):
I thought i'd go back to it. We were listening
to a little uh beetle juice in the car earlier.
The sword of damn a clean hess swinging, uh and
so you know, the whole being dead thing. Uh. So
I think there's the possibility that they take that swing
for the fences at most likely Deshaun Watson to try
(35:13):
to see if they can't uh stir things up, strike
up the band, as you were, uh, and maybe that'll
convince Allan Robinson to stick around. Good luck, good luck
with all of that, good luck with everything. You just said.
Playoffs team last year. Yeah, no, listen, they're gonna keep
letting more teams in. The Bears eventually will continue to
(35:34):
get into it at eight and eight and seven and
nine and said, yeah, you know, and you're still wishing
to sniff that that height, well yeah, yeah, but listen,
we stink, and we stunk bad, like we weren't like mediocre,
stunk like you. We we did it right like we
stunk all the way. Man. We went for it and
we got it and screw it up Twitter. And how
about a Fresca Mike and swollen Dumb The Jason Smith
(35:56):
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Uh something from
the Lakers Sun tonight. I still can't believe happened. And
the NBA has got a lot of explaining to do.
That's next, right here, Fox
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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