March 30, 2023 • 38 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon discuss the Lakers and LeBron James and what his legacy with the team means by the end of this season, their bold predictions on the World Series and the MVP as we gear up for Baseball season, and Mark Medina - Long time NBA Insider joins the guys!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
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(00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmen on Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside.
Happy Wednesday, The Jason Smith Show with my bass friend
Mike Harman hobo live from the ti irac dot com studios.
Tirac dot com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast,
(00:42):
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should be well. Happy Opening Day Eve. We've made it
to the eve of the Major League Baseball season. It's here.
We're gonna see eleven cy young winners squaring off at
nine o'clock in the morning tomorrow. Mike Carmon, it is
(01:02):
an exciting night right now. One of the biggest things
that I love about the opening month of Major League Baseball.
I got day games all day, every day, starting nine o'clock,
ten o'clock, all the way through the day. As we
look at the time zones and the being blessed to
be here on the West Coast. You wake up, grab
(01:23):
a cup of coffee, and there's first pitch, and with
pace of play, I'll still have plenty of time to
get a nap between those windows. It's a beautiful thing.
I'm so excited. Let's go. So we will have some
big bold predictions for the Major League Baseball season coming
up later on in the show, because I remember last
year I told you Aaron Judge was going to be
the MVP in the American League. Remember I told you, boy,
(01:46):
it's been a year now, It's been a year that
I've been able to run that dake. But it runs out,
but it runs out tonight like tonight, So the last
night I can really pump that because you know when
the new season starts tomorrow. I no, I mean, look,
you want a banner like the Angels for way the
spring training. I think the Angels should get a banner
if they keep Otani all season, like that should be
(02:06):
like on roster post deadline like that could be a
banner that they raised, and they wind up somehow keeping
him after July thirty first. See, I think he might
keep him out of spite because of what, because of
the money that is there, and just beg that it happens.
But look, before we get to that, tonight is a
big night in the NBA. Look the Knicks already one.
(02:27):
They beat the heat. That's how the Knicks work, man,
that's how they roll. They got they got no Jalen Brunson,
Julius Randa leaves the game with a sprained ankle, doesn't matter.
Nicks win, Knicks win, Nicks win. Look at you, you
come back from a day off, all refreshed and ready.
We thought you were stalking Rogers, trying to find out
(02:49):
how you can facilitate the last stages of this. So
it doesn't vex you anymore. Still a packer. It was
my own darkness retreat yesterday, That's what it was. But
it's a the other day of a lying open Yeah,
not a jet that's okay. Look, it's it's getting closer
and closer. It's what it is. It is getting closer
and closer. All you gotta do is, hey, all you
(03:10):
gotta do is read other pundits, Mike Florio saying things
that we've said for the last week and a half,
almost verbatim, until is how it's going with the Jets
and Aaron Rodgers. It's all happening. We have long been
a popular show across this globe on Fox Sports Radio.
Blank you Florio, Well there's that too, But hey, high
(03:31):
drama in the NBA right now. There has never been
a group of teams playing five hundred basketball taking up
our attention more than the Western Conference right now. It
really is insane. How a bunch of teams that are
just okay, we're treating them like they're all NBA title contenders. Oh,
the Lakers are gonna get in. What's gonna happen in
the Mavericks. Who's gonna wind up in the playing round?
(03:51):
All these teams stink, They all stink. They're all barely
five hundred, yet we can't get enough of them. Hey,
I don't hate the player, I don't hate the game.
It's just amazing that all these all the conversation that's
driving the NBA right now is about all these craptastic
teams that can't even get a game over five hundred
and now they're all gonna sneak into the playoffs with
(04:12):
forty or forty one wins. And yet, oh man, I
can't wait to talk about them because here they are.
I mean, you just do the whole nicole kidman thing
to celebrate the Western Conference heading in what is it,
three and a half games separating fourth through eleventh. Wait, wait,
do you do you mean like when you go to
the movies and she's there doing oh and she does
the whole Hey, the magic of the movies is here. Okay, Okay,
(04:34):
you know he went they feel real and powerful and
blah blah blah. Because here they are, and that's where
we're at in the final week and a half. Why
do you think they rescinded those technical falls? You can't
be suspended. We need you in a Wednesday prime time
event Philadelphia up one to eleven, one oh eight, two
minutes remaining over the Dallas Mavericks. But it's it's that
(04:57):
kind of thing, Jason. We know, drama that wasn't at
the tagline for TNT for all those years, and so
that's what we got the final week. It doesn't matter
that it's a lot of bad basketball. A lot of
stars have become anonymous again because we haven't seen him
on a court in a while. Sad guy. Hey, oh
he grew his hair out. Okay, cool, he grew a beard.
(05:18):
It's been a while since we've seen them on the court.
But now as we get towards the playoff run, suddenly
everybody's there, including oh, everybody's favorite pincushion here in Los Angeles. Yeah,
I would you know before we get to LEBRONC. We're
gonna have a big thought, big hot take on lebron here.
Oh it's all our fi are we? No? Why are
we messing around with this hole? All you get to
you know your technicals? How about you just say you
(05:39):
know what. Look, we don't want to fool you. We
don't want to feel like we're just leading you. We're
raising the number of teas you have to get in
the season. He gets suspended to fifty. Let's just let's
just do that right now in this sixteen seventy. Now
just raise it to fifty. Okay, how about how about that? Anymore?
We stopped being a bunch of sensitive candy asses. And
unless a guy gets punched in the low post, you
don't call a technical fall. I'm sorry he called me
(06:04):
a dirty name. Anybody that's ever set anywhere near courtside,
they take one hundred and ninety seven of them before
they call a technical. You can't take the hut turn
in the cheek for one hundred ninety eight. Come on, man,
I mean like this, why why why are we at
slecche low number? Right? Why why don't we just go
to fifty? Right? If you get fifty in a year, okay,
then you're then we're fine. Right. Then you get more injections,
(06:25):
then you get guys are more hot headed, they get
thrown out more, there's more highlights. I think everybody wins,
and I think you get I think you got to
be able to average one a game. You should be
able to spout off a game eighty two. Well, you're
only playing fifty seven. I mean yeah, okay, so maybe
fifty five is the number seven? Shut up? Maybe that
maybe that's the magic number. I think that's just just
(06:47):
throwing it out there. I mean, because look, in the end,
we all enjoy the jawing and the jostling, and occasionally
we actually get something that's pretty physical and violent that
they decide is egregious and over the top. Okay, that's mine.
But when it's just, hey, you were chirping at the referee,
you know what technical follow up? He said that your
(07:07):
wife's pie was no good. Okay if the woman can't
bake or I mean, that's all he said, and you
teat him up. Yeah, everybody wins, We get more meltdowns,
they get more time is okay, that's fine. Everybody wins.
They're here. You know, when the last Iowa women's basketball
game has outrated everything the NBA has done this season,
(07:29):
you probably need to stand back and evaluate your your process,
your progress in the product that you're putting out on
the courting. Now, let's get to this because this is
something that I don't know that Lebron James knew exactly
what he was saying when he said it, but he's
turned out to be pretty on the nose with it.
(07:52):
Right now, five and a half to go in the
fourth quarter, Lakers are thumping the Bulls one oh five nine.
Last night they were a day. They weren't on Monday.
Lebron was too small on Monday. But today, but here's
the thing. We've talked about this over the last and
(08:12):
now you, like I told you when we talked about
this a week ago, about Hey, the end of Lebron
with the Lakers, you can see it coming. You can
see it coming. It seems like they've had enough of
him when he was injured and seemed like he was
at odds with the Lakers coaching staff about coming back
and I'm not healthy, and then suddenly he was healthy.
He was healthy to come in because he saw, Oh,
I'm not winning this battle, because the team is ready
(08:32):
for me to go, The front office is ready for
me to go, the fans are ready for me to go.
I gotta come back and play because if we wind
up getting into the playoffs and I'm not part of
this team, boy, oh, it's gonna be really difficult. Told
you last week. The off season's going to be messy
for Lebron James as the Lakers of real life, we've
gotten all wee can get out of him, and Lebron knows, Hey,
I don't have the power to sit here and say
(08:54):
I'm going to finish my career. I'm gonna have to
go someplace else. Lebron was right, although I think he
missed the number these seven games that Lebron James is
going to play right now, From tonight through the end
of the season are the most important games he has
ever played as a Laker, because his future as a
Laker depends on how this finishes. And it may not.
It still might not be enough. But if the Lakers
(09:16):
win enough games, they get into the playing round, or
maybe things really really really fall their way, because you know, look,
right now, they're in ninth, but you know, they're only
a game out of six, right they're only a game
and a half out of six with the Warriors. But
the words starting to get hot a little bit now,
But they're not only game and half out of six
with seven games left, These things can happen. If the
Lakers get into get in the top of the playing round,
(09:37):
and they win the Okay, then you can see the
Lakers coming out of this season going maybe one more
with Lebron, maybe we can try to figure it out
around them. The changes we made made the team better.
Maybe we have one more year. But if the Lakers
fumble this away and they wind up in the bottom
of the playing round, or they wind up falling out entirely,
then that's it for Lebron and it's going to be
(10:00):
messy off season of Lebron trying to say how he
wants out and to get to a new team, and
the Lakers trying to be the one saying we want
to move on from him. And that's gonna be really,
really messy. We told you a week and a half ago,
this offseason can get really messy for Lebron and the Lakers.
His most important seven games with the Lakers are right now.
If they get in and they get in on an upswing, Okay,
(10:22):
if not, that's gonna be it. And you're gonna see
stuff like does Lebron really want to go play in
Dallas with Kyrie? And look, you're gonna see that, and
that's gonna be a big storyline. Trust me, this offseason
is gonna get so messy for Lebron in LA it's
gonna be great for us. We're gonna talk about this drama.
We're gonna hear behind the scenes stuff all the time.
This is what Lebron said when he wasn't coming back.
This is what Anthony Davis really said, This is why
(10:42):
he really sat down when Lebron was breaking Kareem's record.
We're gonna get all of it, but his future comes
down to these are the most important games he'll play
as a Laker, these seven games starting with tonight. Yeah,
I think the biggest thing, and it ties to two
of the other big stories that we've been circling around,
as is the the national local media, everybody trying to
find an edge for these low these many weeks slash months.
(11:07):
You know, when you look at Rogers and you look
over at Lamar Jackson of trying to figure out relationship building.
Have these guys ever taken any courses right, a little
bit on how to massage egos and get everybody in
the room so we can at least hash it out right,
not poutiness at the end of the bench. I'm gonna
show up what I feel like it. And then when
(11:27):
it looks like the team is starting to captivate the city,
and you got a guy like Austin Reeves who goes
from a journeyman to one hundred million dollars player in
three weeks, all of a sudden, hey wait, I gotta
get back out. I'm gonna bristle at reports, just like
Aaron Rodgers did, swallowing the same scorecard Darkness Retreat right
zero Dark twenty three. So they kind of steal from
(11:48):
each other a little bit as you go through it.
But it's it's just curious because it's a situation whereby
we've watched the team coalesce a bit. There's no ball
stopping there, there's more fluidity, defense, better commitment. Lebron came
back and yeah, they get the win today and the
home and home with the Bulls, and Drummond didn't play
(12:11):
and that's fine, so yeah it didn't it nullifies it.
But go back to Sunday, there was no movement. Anthony
Davis suddenly was by standing again once Lebron checked into
the game. That's not good for business. That's not good
for long term success. So the fact that they haven't
remedied that. As much as we can get excited of
the muddled mess that is the Western Conference, I got
(12:34):
no confidence in it, nor that his foot from seeing
the Lebron James of feet, that he's gonna be available
when it's finally set and done in the playoffs. 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 and the iHeart Radio app.
I'm gonna go out on a limb. There's six minutes
(12:56):
ago in the fourth quarter. I'm gonna go out on
the in that the Kings are going to beat the Blazers.
Whoa I mean this is a hot take. Yeah, it's hot.
It's hot, dude, Hid Wallace is coming in. I'm gonna
uh no, Damian Lillard shut down for the year. Dat
Damon Stonem I no, no, no, no, no, none of
those guys. No Buck Williams Now they're all gone. No
(13:18):
Cloud Drectyers, They're all gone. The Kings lead the Blazers
one oh seven, two seventy two. So make it a
thirty five point lead for the Kings. Make it thirty
seven points now thirty seven shut up with just under
six minutes left to go. So the Kings are going
to clinch a playoff spot, breaking a drought that dates
(13:41):
back to two thousand and six. And when this happens
in another five minutes and thirty seven seconds, the longest
playoff drought among any of the four major sports will
belong to the New York Jets. Congratulations, but we're getting
Aaron Rodgers. So that's okay, Mike. We're going to celebrate
the hell out of that Jets thing. Oh man, oh absolutely,
are you kidding me? And Tight Shirt has been pulling
(14:03):
clips for the last couple of weeks, celebrating fifty years
of futility he had every angle of but well it's
not quite fifty year. I mean we went to back
to back AFC title games and last time we saw
the playoffs. Well what's the most important part of any
of those seasons, though, Tight Shirt? If you would please
morn in Indianapolis. Yeah, no, he didn't have it ready.
(14:25):
He's building grunts, he's playing. He's actually I saw him.
He's playing Farmville on his actually healing an orange. I
thought that he was just grunting. No, you keep I
keep getting that invitation from you on Facebook. Please come
play Farmville, Please come play Farmville. Trying to do you
a favorite, getting that for a year. Alex Tiger invited
you to like Farmville. Well you're stuck on TikTok. It's
gonna be gone soon, so I'm gonna help you out.
Wait till he sends you the candy crush once. I've
(14:47):
inviting to play Farmville. H Look, and we talked about
this with Mark Medina, and this is this is not
just a turnaround. This is just not a good season
where hey, one out of every eighteen years is good.
You're talking about two thousand and six drout Mike Brown
coming in in his first year with Sacramento that usually
finishes anywhere between twelfth and the bottom of the conference.
(15:11):
I mean, this is what it is to be the
Sacramento Kings. And here he is in his first year,
and you heard Mark mded to talk about things that
he has done, shorter practices, he's able to really unite
with the team. The moves they've made personnel wise have
all worked out, even the questionable ones like the Monti
sabanis coming in. He's been great. Murray has been really
really good first round pick from last year. And here
(15:34):
are the Kings, not just in the playoffs, but they're
gonna be the three seed. Isn't that. Hey, we're squeaking
in gay we're backgun postseason games for the first time
in Sacramento and said, no, this is they're gonna be
a three seed. They're really really good. I don't know
that anybody should get a vote for Coach the Year
besides Mike Brown. And we've had coaches do great things
this year. This is not where Hey, the rest of
(15:56):
the bottom of the barrel is empty. No, but hey,
look at Boston, three games out of first place after
they had to wave goodbye to their coach beginning of
the season. You see some other teams that are doing
extremely well this year that should get a lot of
votes and should get a lot of attention. But nobody's
doing what Mike Brown has done with Sacramento because all
these other teams, they all have really, really terrific players.
(16:18):
I mean, Sacramento's got some nice players, but nobody the
superstar level that teams like Boston and Milwaukee and Denver
and Memphis. A this is Hey, we got some pretty
nice pieces here and we're sitting here in third place.
Mike Brown should get every single vote. It should be
unanimous for him. No. I mean, look, because you also
had a team coming into the year and even going
back to last where you thought those big component parts,
(16:39):
the stars that are leading you to the number three seed,
we're gonna get traded. So everybody had to swallow egos
and recognize, hey, we're still trying to build something here.
Because they could have been angry about it, right or
I guess you could also just say ah, none of
the insiders actually know anything. Take the Aaron Rodgers approach.
(17:00):
But Dearon Fox and everybody like they were trading away
half that roster this offseason. They were all supposed to
be Lakers, weren't they frosted all of them, all of
We're gonna be last one of them. Dearon Fox is
going to be a Laker. Vladdie was going back to
the Lakers. Sure, Mike Bibby was going to the Lakers
instead of a left They're all going, Can you still
(17:22):
get Vlody as as uh the voice on your ways app?
Can you still get Vody? No? Come on, oh yeah
you have l Wait wait, actually tell this time top stop.
You have Vlodi divats as tech. You could text Lottie absolutely,
you could text him, and would you like me to say,
just give me? I want to text him. I want to.
I want to I want to ask him. I want
(17:44):
I want to Where can I get cigarettes? Bloody? The
first I want to be able to get some cigarettes.
You just want to smoke with? Watta you? Insessment is
I want to know where I could get cigarettes. I
wouldn't even gas mask keep a company. But yeah, we've
had Bloode on the show. I was a long time
ago though, Yeah, that was having It's time to bring
(18:05):
him back. Yeah, oh yeah, now we'll bring him back. Hey, congratula.
Everybody wants to talk to me. Now what an outstanding night?
Look at this. Should we cold call him in four minutes?
Call me kick up the phone and called Doug Christy
anymore that we lost that one? I mean, maybe flood
he's out having a heater, so you know, he could
(18:26):
wind up you could have some time for him by
heater or what a cigarette? A cigarette? Heater and bye,
you're having a heater. It's a cigarette. Maybe he's out
there a heater is something else, Jason, No, but this
is in the United States. A heaters a cigarette, So
that's what it is. Just from Europe. I didn't know that.
Wait a minute, should I wait? Can I I'll do
it on my phone. I have to do it on
(18:48):
my phone. Just no, he's a cigarette. That's what I
always said. It was all right. So that's where you're
at with the Kings again. They are just moments away
from breaking that drought and heading to the playoffs for
the first time since two thousand and six. One twelve
to eighty with two and a half to go in
the fourth quarter. Now they just need to remember the
(19:09):
jobs are not done. Man. Oh no, but you have
tonight to sell them and you got to you gotta
get tonight. I mean, you have to get tonight to
celebrate because seventeen years some kind of party. You can,
you can, you can get it back. Oh look, you're
in third place in the West. There's nothing that's gonna
happen to you. You're not gonna take over second place
from Memphis because they've gotten hot again. John Morant is back. Yes,
you're only two games back. Ten yeah, yeah, yeah. But
(19:31):
the thing is, yeah, you had a chance, but Morant
came back just at the nick of time. And you're
not giving up third place on the Suns because you
have a five game lead on them right now. So
it's not This is not anything where you could just
decide for the next next week and a half. Hey man,
we're all just gonna be hanging out, just partying, and
we're gonna let the bench, bottom of the bench play
and that's kind of how and then we'll see it
(19:52):
for the first game of the playoffs. We'll see it
for that King's Warriors first round of the playoffs where
the Warriors wind up winning and it's suddenly, oh, the
Warriors back, look at this, We're beating the we beat
the Kings, because you can see that happening, right, and
everybody falling back in love with the Warriors. Oh, they
won the three six matchup. Look at them back. I
can see that happening. It's gonna drive me crazy. But
in the Western Conference, as we've talked about, as much
(20:13):
as we can celebrate what Denver has been, we haven't
seen the secondary players beyond Yokis play at a high
level and a winning level in the playoffs yet. So
that's a big wildcard all and we talk about four
through eleven are separated by three and a half games.
It's if if the Warriors do make it through round one.
(20:34):
Now they don't play a whole lot of defense, but
you got a couple of agitators and scorers, and Steph
can go off like he did the other night for
his thirty nine, and he's got a little edge to
him these days. I kind of like Steph more these
days where he's angry Steph, there's something to that and
wanting to fight everybody. Draymond Green I mean, look, here's
(20:54):
a technical we'll resend it. It's all good. So I
think is much as you you want to bemoan the
fact that people will fall in love with him. There
may be reason too, which would say, I guess, once again,
once we get to parody, another man's word for it
would be mediocrity. Hey, once man's celebrations another man's mediocrity.
(21:18):
Or it should be one man's mediocrity, another man's celebration.
That's wing like that. Yeah, I like the second one better.
I think that works better. Workshop it what you got, Frostburg.
This game is not over yet, but one NBA insider
that we won't name here, shops you put out congrats
to the Kings for clinching a playoff spot, and people
are destroying him because the game's not over yet. But
(21:39):
it's just thirty five seconds left. That up. The Blazers
got them right where they want. If Lillard hits one
shot from the logo, it's worth checking in. It's worth
forty points. O Duckworthy right, the duck work Duckworth. Dud
Duckworthy is I don't know Duckworthy? Are you duck You
put James Worthy and Duckworth together. Well, I mean, man
(22:00):
a whole other episode about being worthy for something else.
Kevin does it a duck Kevin duck Worth rhymed with
Duck and James Worthy and TJ. You are duck worthy
at that point, DJ Hey and really quick Frostburg. Why
did you scare me? There's no alternate, un you know,
crazy meaning for the word heater in Europe. There is.
I looked it up on my phone. Okay, got I
(22:21):
didn't go on the computer here. God may be afraid
you made me afraid that I'm gonna google something. Oh
my god, I don't have to apologize for it. Go.
I didn't know. I just looked it up. I did
Europe Heater meeting, and all I get is the energy
transition of revolutionizing the heating of Europe. People also ask,
how do you heat a house in Europe? What are
two types of heaters? How do European radiators work? There
(22:41):
is nothing subversive about anything about that heater is a cigarette? There,
we got you? Good rook. Well, I don't know you
say something like that. You're the one that you've seen
every horror movie, knowing the man, and yet I scare
you so easy. I don't I don't know if Lottie
Texas you saying, hey, tell Jason not to say anything
about it to giving me his number. So yeah, one
(23:05):
choice for unanimous head Coach of the Year and now
it is official. Watching the game tick down, the Kings
are going to the playoffs for the first time since
two thousand and six. They win it over the Blazers
one twenty to eighty. Big Night deeron Fox eighteen and six.
Samonis had fifteen and twelve rebounds and four assays. Everybody
(23:27):
on the Kings played. They played everybody. I mean they
played every single person their roster. Malik Monk plus thirty
four for the game with nineteen off the bench. What
about Mike Bibby? Wait, where was Malik Monk last year?
Where was he? I tell me, where was he last?
I forget Frostburg. Where was he last carrying it up
for the Lakers. Oh that's right, that's where he was.
But look at the Kings. We can have a good
(23:50):
two thousand and six game coming up later on this hour.
Let's go, yeah, buddy, Although we really should play the
Jets game now that they're the big dogs. No, No,
let's let's sea we do this. Let's celebrate the Kings
tonight and we'll get to the Jets tomorrow, all right.
Two thousand and six Tonight tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight, I
(24:10):
will do Relate Done tonight, D TJ. A funny thing
happened on the way to the playoffs for the Jets
in two thousand and ten, DJ Something for Everyone. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Well,
(24:34):
the Lakers win tonight, Kevin Durant's back in the lineup.
He's at least made one shot. Joining us now on
the hot line to break it all down, no one
better NBA Insider. Check him out on NBA dot com.
Follow him on Twitter as well at Mark G Underscore Medina.
That's at Mark G Underscore Medina. Mark. What's happening, my friend?
What's happened? I'm talking to? Here's with you guys? Two?
(24:56):
Game one? They win, even with Julius Randall having a
left ankle injury against Miami. I mean I think the
Knicks end Randall will be fine. I mean we're still
love here. Well, here's the thing, it's boring. The Knicks
are good. We have to spend all our time talking
about this generic five hundred list, the group of five
hundred teams in the Western Conference, because that's what everybody
(25:18):
cares about. All these teams that stink. Hey, who can
get who can win forty two games and clinch that spot?
A clich to six spot that never has five hundred
teams that stink been more relevant than they are right now, Mark,
I don't get it all right. I was going to
talk about, Hey, I'm choosing the next over the box
and atheletics. If you don't want to break that down, no, no, no, no,
no no no no, let's let's break that down. Let's
(25:39):
break that down. We put out good vibes beginning on.
We put out good vibes for Julius Randall. We send
it out there for healthy candle, him for his ankle.
Yeah we did. We need you, We need Julius, but
uh yeah, I mean, look the nixt win. Now, it's
what we do. We find a new hero every night.
It's it's I mean, it's it's like it's like Gotham City.
You need a new hero tonight, Batman. Now we get
(25:59):
somebody else now, we get to Manuel quickly. Now we
got Quentin Grimes. It's somebody knew. Oh here we come,
Mark Medina. It's exciting. Yeah, you know what, it's probably
a good idea. We should break it down the Western Conference.
Oh you know what the hell? Man? What the who? Yeah,
he just totally did a reverse. Oh but think the
Knicks did win tonight one ninety two over the heat,
(26:20):
So there is that. All right? So we said this
the beginning of the show tonight. Maybe Lebron was right
about this, although he didn't really know at the time.
These seven games are going to wind up being his
most important as a Laker, because this offseason could get
really messy with Lebron and new destinations. If this doesn't
(26:40):
turn out for the Lakers, they make it into the
play In, they finish well, they don't play a couple
of games or one game and get knocked out. I
don't know that these next seven games aren't his biggest
seven games as a Laker. Yeah, I think they are.
I mean, look, he's even said of his career. I
would probably disagree with him, because look, he was he
helped the caval Leaders become the only team in NBA
(27:02):
history overcome a three one final series deficit in twenty sixteam.
But I think the larger point you mentioned about the
Lakers it is most important because even with that twenty
twenty NBA championship, they've just been disappointing since then. So
can they at least offer some hope that this isn't
a lottery team, This isn't a team that misses the
play torment. They can at least make the playoffs so
(27:23):
that they have a brighter future next season with pursue
possibly the same roster. And you know, I think, as
crazy as it sounds, if they run it back next season,
I think they'll they'll be good. Like the trade deadline
moves that they made all good fits. It's probably something
I should have done before the season started, but i'd aggress.
But I think, you know, obviously it's a huge if.
(27:46):
But if there are no injury issues with Lebron Nady
moving forward, they are trending very well in the right direction.
I really like that if there's no injuries there, come on,
come on, you get a huge if. That was one
of the best sell jobs ever. But I had to
call you on it. I actually like watching the team
play without Lebron and am I wrong? Is that blasphemous
(28:08):
am I band from the NBA? Because they moved the
ball and everybody got involved. They played some great basketball
instead of standing around waiting for him to do stuff. Well,
I don't blame me. Here's what happened in Lebron James
is out. Anthony Davis took his game to another level.
For the most part. He was aggressive, playing like a
number one guy, playing like an All star, being consistent.
(28:30):
Austin reeves they should put up a statue with him
already as a really good guy in the starting lineup.
But in all seriousness, it's not so much that they're
better without Lebron. It's more of the rotation looks weird
with Lebron in the lineup. I think this is a
step in the right direction with playing a Bulls team.
That look, if it wasn't for the planned tournament, they
would have already been trying to tank for the lottery.
(28:54):
In this game specifically, I think it was aalian sign
that it was Anthony as running the show thirty eight
points Lebron having twenty five. I think that was by
design that not just because of Lebron coming off of
his injury. But I think philosophically they're better, at least
from a X is and O standpoint, if they make
a D the primary focal point. That's what Lebron James
(29:17):
has set out ever since AD joined the team in
twenty nineteen. And so while no one will doubt that
Lebron James is the leader of the team, he's the
heart and soul. He dictates and quarterbacks the offense. It's
all about running things through a D. But that also
requires for the team to get him touches. But most
importantly for a D to be aggressive. And when I've
talked to a D, I've talked to people in the Lakers.
(29:39):
The difference between a twenty point game or a thirty
point game for Anthony Davis, it all depends on how
aggressive he is on the floor good side to night.
But he's got to be consistent with it all, right, Mark,
whether it's the Eastern conser of the Western Conference. Right,
we're looking at the bottom of the standings now because
the teams that are good, look we get to like
game fifty five of the NBA season, and the best
(30:01):
teams stay the best teams, right, we don't see a
lot of movement at the top of the conferences, because
we kind of know the movement comes now where we talking,
you know, you know, four through eight, four through nine,
four through ten. If we you and I are having
this conversation, MEU and Mike having this conversation at the
end of the regular season, what's something that's shocking that
you can see happening in that part of the standings
(30:22):
that we're paying that big part of attention to. Whether
it's in the East or the West, give me a
shocker from the East or the Western Conference. Wow, that
is a really tough to answer here. You know what,
I think that the Pelicans they're going to solidify themselves
as a playing team. Maybe that's not a shocker right
now because technically they're ninth, but there was a feeling
(30:43):
that without Zion Williamson, they're going to plummet to the standings.
And while they haven't technically ruled them out for the season,
when I've asked people in the Pelicans organization, one person said,
technically it's not closed, but it's damn near close. And
I think that that is a credit to how Willie
Green's coached the team. He just has a lot of
emotional intelligence doesn't get too high too low. He really
(31:07):
empowers the guys, and I think that that has had
a trickle down effect when you're looking at guys like
Brandon Ingram CJ. Mccollumb, you know, to lesser extent, you know,
lettery Nance Junior, etc. And so maybe it's not a
huge shocker, but I think that the feeling was that,
you know, look at the beginning of the season, they're
top in the West, partly mostly because of Zion, and
then they started plummeting. I think their seasons still salvageable
(31:29):
because they've been doing a really good job with making
up for all that there's less than ideal circumstances. Now,
I'd be remiss if we didn't in the Western Conference
do the celebratory moment for the Sacramento Kings and what
they've been able to do, the depth and balance of
scoring they've got Vlady divots was only our ways guide
(31:50):
what last time they were relevant as opposed to on
the court? Can they actually make a run here? Is
it muddled enough here in the Western Conference that we
can see the Kings go from the longest drought to
perhaps representing when this is all done I think they
certainly can. I mean they got the coach, and with
Mike Brown, I mean first year here, but he's obviously
(32:12):
had a lot of experience, has a lot of great qualities,
farcest preparations, some of the learning curves. He's made up
for it in this latest stint of not so many
long practice sessions, having a more innovative offense, and they
just have a lot of really great talent. Daron Fox
and Demontes Saponas have great chemistry, whether it's in pick
(32:32):
and roll, moving off the ball, you know, going in ISO.
I think Kegan Murray is one of the most mature
young players that I've seen in recent years. I think
the only concern about the Kings is they don't play
any defense, and that's ironic because Mike Brown in previous
coaching stops that's what he was all about. So far
in the regular season, it hasn't made that much of
(32:52):
a difference because their offense has just been so prolific.
But I know, to a man, but Mike Brown has
been really harping on that end of the floor. Maybe
it'll improve relatively, but clearly regular season sample size shows
enough that they are who they are. So that would
be the only concern. But as far as their talent level,
they're not afraid. They're deep, they're well coached that they
(33:14):
very well could be a player. But I would still
give the edge to the Denver Nuggets. And you know, look,
don't look now, but as long as the Golden State
Warriors have a full roster I either healthy and Andrew
Wiggins come smack at some point, you have to assume
they're in the mix. But that is a huge Jeff
no clarity on win or if he'll come back. And ironically,
you know, unlike the championship years, they've struggled to defend,
(33:37):
to win on the road consistently, they've struggled to be
an elite defensive team. But I guess as long as
you have Steph Curry and Draymond Green and Clay Thompson,
technically you can't rule them out. You know. Just to
bring it back full circle is we've had a lot
of coaches step in and do great jobs this season unexpected,
whether it's Boston or the bounce back for the Knicks.
(33:58):
But honestly, Mike Brown is the coach of the Year
and it should be unanimous. I mean, I really I
can't believe that there's any other choice where you could say, hey,
so and so did more with more. I mean, you know,
it's not like Mike Brown has a really star studded
roster there and he comes in his first year and
he turns over a team that hasn't made the playoffs
since two thousand and six, and not only that, they're
(34:19):
gonna be a three seat. Didn't just squeak in and go, hey,
we may not they're gonna be the three seat in
the West. I don't know they could vote for anybody
besides Mike Brown. Yeah, I mean, Mike Brown doesn't want
to win Coach of the Year because the last time
he won Coach of the Year with Cleveland, the next
season he wound up gaining let go right, So I
think that he's superstitious there. But I'm with you unanimous
pick for Coach of the Year, and I think you
(34:40):
have to look at the context, not just with the
King's drought, but the roster itself. You know, the Kings
were getting a lot of criticism for trading tireson Hallie
Burton and getting to Montes Sabonis, and you know what
this is. At one of those rare trades whereas win
win for both sides. The Indiana Pacers have benefited from
that deal, and clearly Sacrament has not just because of
(35:01):
sabonus a skill set, but it's all about how much
can they unlock Daron Fox's greatness. And there was a
feeling that, you know, Jared Fox and Tyres Hallard Burton
or gaining each other's way. How about what they use
on the number four pick. They're gaining a lot of
criticism with drafting Kegan Murray instead of Jaden Ivy during
the drafting. Clearly it's not like Kegan Murray is this
(35:22):
you know, star studded player who's changing a franchise on
his own. But he has all the right ingredients where
you know, I think he has a complete game, he's
a student of the game, he's coachable, he has a
very kind of old school spirit to him, so much
that there are people in the organization that, don't get
me wrong, it's not the skill set, but they're saying
(35:43):
they remind him off Tim Duncan because of just how emotional,
mature and stoke Key is. And so I'm not going
to say that Kegan Murray is going to have Tim
Duncan's career. But as far as his approach to this
game and the seriousness he could and you know what,
those are two really good quality needs to have. And
so I think the future is bright for Sacramento and
(36:03):
Mike Brown knows how to get the best of them.
Not a bad way to be mark last one for you.
Real quick, we'd be remissing. We'd been a couple of
weeks since we got into the whole fun and excitement
of the MVP talk. Joel Embiid took his shots at
Yokichen records and winning and everything, and then the next
time they were supposed to play each other, he sat out.
But as he caught him. It's it possible that Embiad
(36:25):
has caught him in the MVP race. I guess it's possible.
I don't I can't read the mind to the utter voters,
but I was, you know, asked to participate in ESPN's
upcoming strong Pole. I still have Yokich has number one.
I have Mbad second, I have be honest third. But
you know what, MBA could slide down to three because
of some of his recent injuries. But I think to
(36:45):
Mbad's credit, it's not a good look that he missed
the regular season game matchup against Denver Nuggets, But I
think if it were up to him, he would have played.
I think this is a larger thing about the Sixers,
and you know, following this for kious load management strategy
as well as the NBA itself, they want these marquee
games to feature to the top stars. But then they
(37:08):
have the Sixers play three games and four nights, right
like teams might wind up resting certain guys. But it's
certainly a missed opportunity, not a good look. But I
think prior to that, I think what I give jaw
and Be credit for is, you know, he's expanded his game.
He's not just the post up guy. He's been really
been able to be, you know, a pick and pop
(37:28):
sort of guy. Stretch five playmaking with James Harden's been
really well. But look, Nicole Yokis is a walking triple double.
He's become even a more vocal leader. Besides you know,
his dependable playmaking and scoring. And look, the knock on
him before was, oh, well, the Nuggets aren't really winning
that much. They're just barely a playoff team. Well, last
(37:49):
time I checked, their first in the Western Conference by
three and a half games over Memphis, So clearly he's
helping them win games. And that's partly a product of
the fact that that is healthier, but it's mostly a
product of the fact that Nicole Yoki is one hell
of a player and I think he's gonna get the
third MVP. You can follow him on Twitter at Mark
(38:09):
g Underscore Medina, NBA, inside a FRIENDBA dot com. Check
out his latest Column's gonna hit tomorrow Keegan Murray better
than Tim Duncan. It'll be up What about nine o'clock
tomorrow morning. There'll be up that morning, first week in
the morning. All right, very good, Take it easy, buddy.
We'll talk to you next week, my friend. Appreciate you man. Alright,
great stuff, as always from Mark Medina.
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harman at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
(00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmen on Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside.
Happy Wednesday, The Jason Smith Show with my bass friend
Mike Harman hobo live from the ti irac dot com studios.
Tirac dot com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast,
(00:42):
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should be well. Happy Opening Day Eve. We've made it
to the eve of the Major League Baseball season. It's here.
We're gonna see eleven cy young winners squaring off at
nine o'clock in the morning tomorrow. Mike Carmon, it is
(01:02):
an exciting night right now. One of the biggest things
that I love about the opening month of Major League Baseball.
I got day games all day, every day, starting nine o'clock,
ten o'clock, all the way through the day. As we
look at the time zones and the being blessed to
be here on the West Coast. You wake up, grab
(01:23):
a cup of coffee, and there's first pitch, and with
pace of play, I'll still have plenty of time to
get a nap between those windows. It's a beautiful thing.
I'm so excited. Let's go. So we will have some
big bold predictions for the Major League Baseball season coming
up later on in the show, because I remember last
year I told you Aaron Judge was going to be
the MVP in the American League. Remember I told you, boy,
(01:46):
it's been a year now, It's been a year that
I've been able to run that dake. But it runs out,
but it runs out tonight like tonight, So the last
night I can really pump that because you know when
the new season starts tomorrow. I no, I mean, look,
you want a banner like the Angels for way the
spring training. I think the Angels should get a banner
if they keep Otani all season, like that should be
(02:06):
like on roster post deadline like that could be a
banner that they raised, and they wind up somehow keeping
him after July thirty first. See, I think he might
keep him out of spite because of what, because of
the money that is there, and just beg that it happens.
But look, before we get to that, tonight is a
big night in the NBA. Look the Knicks already one.
(02:27):
They beat the heat. That's how the Knicks work, man,
that's how they roll. They got they got no Jalen Brunson,
Julius Randa leaves the game with a sprained ankle, doesn't matter.
Nicks win, Knicks win, Nicks win. Look at you, you
come back from a day off, all refreshed and ready.
We thought you were stalking Rogers, trying to find out
(02:49):
how you can facilitate the last stages of this. So
it doesn't vex you anymore. Still a packer. It was
my own darkness retreat yesterday, That's what it was. But
it's a the other day of a lying open Yeah,
not a jet that's okay. Look, it's it's getting closer
and closer. It's what it is. It is getting closer
and closer. All you gotta do is, hey, all you
(03:10):
gotta do is read other pundits, Mike Florio saying things
that we've said for the last week and a half,
almost verbatim, until is how it's going with the Jets
and Aaron Rodgers. It's all happening. We have long been
a popular show across this globe on Fox Sports Radio.
Blank you Florio, Well there's that too, But hey, high
(03:31):
drama in the NBA right now. There has never been
a group of teams playing five hundred basketball taking up
our attention more than the Western Conference right now. It
really is insane. How a bunch of teams that are
just okay, we're treating them like they're all NBA title contenders. Oh,
the Lakers are gonna get in. What's gonna happen in
the Mavericks. Who's gonna wind up in the playing round?
(03:51):
All these teams stink, They all stink. They're all barely
five hundred, yet we can't get enough of them. Hey,
I don't hate the player, I don't hate the game.
It's just amazing that all these all the conversation that's
driving the NBA right now is about all these craptastic
teams that can't even get a game over five hundred
and now they're all gonna sneak into the playoffs with
(04:12):
forty or forty one wins. And yet, oh man, I
can't wait to talk about them because here they are.
I mean, you just do the whole nicole kidman thing
to celebrate the Western Conference heading in what is it,
three and a half games separating fourth through eleventh. Wait, wait,
do you do you mean like when you go to
the movies and she's there doing oh and she does
the whole Hey, the magic of the movies is here. Okay, Okay,
(04:34):
you know he went they feel real and powerful and
blah blah blah. Because here they are, and that's where
we're at in the final week and a half. Why
do you think they rescinded those technical falls? You can't
be suspended. We need you in a Wednesday prime time
event Philadelphia up one to eleven, one oh eight, two
minutes remaining over the Dallas Mavericks. But it's it's that
(04:57):
kind of thing, Jason. We know, drama that wasn't at
the tagline for TNT for all those years, and so
that's what we got the final week. It doesn't matter
that it's a lot of bad basketball. A lot of
stars have become anonymous again because we haven't seen him
on a court in a while. Sad guy. Hey, oh
he grew his hair out. Okay, cool, he grew a beard.
(05:18):
It's been a while since we've seen them on the court.
But now as we get towards the playoff run, suddenly
everybody's there, including oh, everybody's favorite pincushion here in Los Angeles. Yeah,
I would you know before we get to LEBRONC. We're
gonna have a big thought, big hot take on lebron here.
Oh it's all our fi are we? No? Why are
we messing around with this hole? All you get to
you know your technicals? How about you just say you
(05:39):
know what. Look, we don't want to fool you. We
don't want to feel like we're just leading you. We're
raising the number of teas you have to get in
the season. He gets suspended to fifty. Let's just let's
just do that right now in this sixteen seventy. Now
just raise it to fifty. Okay, how about how about that? Anymore?
We stopped being a bunch of sensitive candy asses. And
unless a guy gets punched in the low post, you
don't call a technical fall. I'm sorry he called me
(06:04):
a dirty name. Anybody that's ever set anywhere near courtside,
they take one hundred and ninety seven of them before
they call a technical. You can't take the hut turn
in the cheek for one hundred ninety eight. Come on, man,
I mean like this, why why why are we at
slecche low number? Right? Why why don't we just go
to fifty? Right? If you get fifty in a year, okay,
then you're then we're fine. Right. Then you get more injections,
(06:25):
then you get guys are more hot headed, they get
thrown out more, there's more highlights. I think everybody wins,
and I think you get I think you got to
be able to average one a game. You should be
able to spout off a game eighty two. Well, you're
only playing fifty seven. I mean yeah, okay, so maybe
fifty five is the number seven? Shut up? Maybe that
maybe that's the magic number. I think that's just just
(06:47):
throwing it out there. I mean, because look, in the end,
we all enjoy the jawing and the jostling, and occasionally
we actually get something that's pretty physical and violent that
they decide is egregious and over the top. Okay, that's mine.
But when it's just, hey, you were chirping at the referee,
you know what technical follow up? He said that your
(07:07):
wife's pie was no good. Okay if the woman can't
bake or I mean, that's all he said, and you
teat him up. Yeah, everybody wins, We get more meltdowns,
they get more time is okay, that's fine. Everybody wins.
They're here. You know, when the last Iowa women's basketball
game has outrated everything the NBA has done this season,
(07:29):
you probably need to stand back and evaluate your your process,
your progress in the product that you're putting out on
the courting. Now, let's get to this because this is
something that I don't know that Lebron James knew exactly
what he was saying when he said it, but he's
turned out to be pretty on the nose with it.
(07:52):
Right now, five and a half to go in the
fourth quarter, Lakers are thumping the Bulls one oh five nine.
Last night they were a day. They weren't on Monday.
Lebron was too small on Monday. But today, but here's
the thing. We've talked about this over the last and
(08:12):
now you, like I told you when we talked about
this a week ago, about Hey, the end of Lebron
with the Lakers, you can see it coming. You can
see it coming. It seems like they've had enough of
him when he was injured and seemed like he was
at odds with the Lakers coaching staff about coming back
and I'm not healthy, and then suddenly he was healthy.
He was healthy to come in because he saw, Oh,
I'm not winning this battle, because the team is ready
(08:32):
for me to go, The front office is ready for
me to go, the fans are ready for me to go.
I gotta come back and play because if we wind
up getting into the playoffs and I'm not part of
this team, boy, oh, it's gonna be really difficult. Told
you last week. The off season's going to be messy
for Lebron James as the Lakers of real life, we've
gotten all wee can get out of him, and Lebron knows, Hey,
I don't have the power to sit here and say
(08:54):
I'm going to finish my career. I'm gonna have to
go someplace else. Lebron was right, although I think he
missed the number these seven games that Lebron James is
going to play right now, From tonight through the end
of the season are the most important games he has
ever played as a Laker, because his future as a
Laker depends on how this finishes. And it may not.
It still might not be enough. But if the Lakers
(09:16):
win enough games, they get into the playing round, or
maybe things really really really fall their way, because you know, look,
right now, they're in ninth, but you know, they're only
a game out of six, right they're only a game
and a half out of six with the Warriors. But
the words starting to get hot a little bit now,
But they're not only game and half out of six
with seven games left, These things can happen. If the
Lakers get into get in the top of the playing round,
(09:37):
and they win the Okay, then you can see the
Lakers coming out of this season going maybe one more
with Lebron, maybe we can try to figure it out
around them. The changes we made made the team better.
Maybe we have one more year. But if the Lakers
fumble this away and they wind up in the bottom
of the playing round, or they wind up falling out entirely,
then that's it for Lebron and it's going to be
(10:00):
messy off season of Lebron trying to say how he
wants out and to get to a new team, and
the Lakers trying to be the one saying we want
to move on from him. And that's gonna be really,
really messy. We told you a week and a half ago,
this offseason can get really messy for Lebron and the Lakers.
His most important seven games with the Lakers are right now.
If they get in and they get in on an upswing, Okay,
(10:22):
if not, that's gonna be it. And you're gonna see
stuff like does Lebron really want to go play in
Dallas with Kyrie? And look, you're gonna see that, and
that's gonna be a big storyline. Trust me, this offseason
is gonna get so messy for Lebron in LA it's
gonna be great for us. We're gonna talk about this drama.
We're gonna hear behind the scenes stuff all the time.
This is what Lebron said when he wasn't coming back.
This is what Anthony Davis really said, This is why
(10:42):
he really sat down when Lebron was breaking Kareem's record.
We're gonna get all of it, but his future comes
down to these are the most important games he'll play
as a Laker, these seven games starting with tonight. Yeah,
I think the biggest thing, and it ties to two
of the other big stories that we've been circling around,
as is the the national local media, everybody trying to
find an edge for these low these many weeks slash months.
(11:07):
You know, when you look at Rogers and you look
over at Lamar Jackson of trying to figure out relationship building.
Have these guys ever taken any courses right, a little
bit on how to massage egos and get everybody in
the room so we can at least hash it out right,
not poutiness at the end of the bench. I'm gonna
show up what I feel like it. And then when
(11:27):
it looks like the team is starting to captivate the city,
and you got a guy like Austin Reeves who goes
from a journeyman to one hundred million dollars player in
three weeks, all of a sudden, hey wait, I gotta
get back out. I'm gonna bristle at reports, just like
Aaron Rodgers did, swallowing the same scorecard Darkness Retreat right
zero Dark twenty three. So they kind of steal from
(11:48):
each other a little bit as you go through it.
But it's it's just curious because it's a situation whereby
we've watched the team coalesce a bit. There's no ball
stopping there, there's more fluidity, defense, better commitment. Lebron came
back and yeah, they get the win today and the
home and home with the Bulls, and Drummond didn't play
(12:11):
and that's fine, so yeah it didn't it nullifies it.
But go back to Sunday, there was no movement. Anthony
Davis suddenly was by standing again once Lebron checked into
the game. That's not good for business. That's not good
for long term success. So the fact that they haven't
remedied that. As much as we can get excited of
the muddled mess that is the Western Conference, I got
(12:34):
no confidence in it, nor that his foot from seeing
the Lebron James of feet, that he's gonna be available
when it's finally set and done in the playoffs. 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 and the iHeart Radio app.
I'm gonna go out on a limb. There's six minutes
(12:56):
ago in the fourth quarter. I'm gonna go out on
the in that the Kings are going to beat the Blazers.
Whoa I mean this is a hot take. Yeah, it's hot.
It's hot, dude, Hid Wallace is coming in. I'm gonna
uh no, Damian Lillard shut down for the year. Dat
Damon Stonem I no, no, no, no, no, none of
those guys. No Buck Williams Now they're all gone. No
(13:18):
Cloud Drectyers, They're all gone. The Kings lead the Blazers
one oh seven, two seventy two. So make it a
thirty five point lead for the Kings. Make it thirty
seven points now thirty seven shut up with just under
six minutes left to go. So the Kings are going
to clinch a playoff spot, breaking a drought that dates
(13:41):
back to two thousand and six. And when this happens
in another five minutes and thirty seven seconds, the longest
playoff drought among any of the four major sports will
belong to the New York Jets. Congratulations, but we're getting
Aaron Rodgers. So that's okay, Mike. We're going to celebrate
the hell out of that Jets thing. Oh man, oh absolutely,
are you kidding me? And Tight Shirt has been pulling
(14:03):
clips for the last couple of weeks, celebrating fifty years
of futility he had every angle of but well it's
not quite fifty year. I mean we went to back
to back AFC title games and last time we saw
the playoffs. Well what's the most important part of any
of those seasons, though, Tight Shirt? If you would please
morn in Indianapolis. Yeah, no, he didn't have it ready.
(14:25):
He's building grunts, he's playing. He's actually I saw him.
He's playing Farmville on his actually healing an orange. I
thought that he was just grunting. No, you keep I
keep getting that invitation from you on Facebook. Please come
play Farmville, Please come play Farmville. Trying to do you
a favorite, getting that for a year. Alex Tiger invited
you to like Farmville. Well you're stuck on TikTok. It's
gonna be gone soon, so I'm gonna help you out.
Wait till he sends you the candy crush once. I've
(14:47):
inviting to play Farmville. H Look, and we talked about
this with Mark Medina, and this is this is not
just a turnaround. This is just not a good season
where hey, one out of every eighteen years is good.
You're talking about two thousand and six drout Mike Brown
coming in in his first year with Sacramento that usually
finishes anywhere between twelfth and the bottom of the conference.
(15:11):
I mean, this is what it is to be the
Sacramento Kings. And here he is in his first year,
and you heard Mark mded to talk about things that
he has done, shorter practices, he's able to really unite
with the team. The moves they've made personnel wise have
all worked out, even the questionable ones like the Monti
sabanis coming in. He's been great. Murray has been really
really good first round pick from last year. And here
(15:34):
are the Kings, not just in the playoffs, but they're
gonna be the three seed. Isn't that. Hey, we're squeaking
in gay we're backgun postseason games for the first time
in Sacramento and said, no, this is they're gonna be
a three seed. They're really really good. I don't know
that anybody should get a vote for Coach the Year
besides Mike Brown. And we've had coaches do great things
this year. This is not where Hey, the rest of
(15:56):
the bottom of the barrel is empty. No, but hey,
look at Boston, three games out of first place after
they had to wave goodbye to their coach beginning of
the season. You see some other teams that are doing
extremely well this year that should get a lot of
votes and should get a lot of attention. But nobody's
doing what Mike Brown has done with Sacramento because all
these other teams, they all have really, really terrific players.
(16:18):
I mean, Sacramento's got some nice players, but nobody the
superstar level that teams like Boston and Milwaukee and Denver
and Memphis. A this is Hey, we got some pretty
nice pieces here and we're sitting here in third place.
Mike Brown should get every single vote. It should be
unanimous for him. No. I mean, look, because you also
had a team coming into the year and even going
back to last where you thought those big component parts,
(16:39):
the stars that are leading you to the number three seed,
we're gonna get traded. So everybody had to swallow egos
and recognize, hey, we're still trying to build something here.
Because they could have been angry about it, right or
I guess you could also just say ah, none of
the insiders actually know anything. Take the Aaron Rodgers approach.
(17:00):
But Dearon Fox and everybody like they were trading away
half that roster this offseason. They were all supposed to
be Lakers, weren't they frosted all of them, all of
We're gonna be last one of them. Dearon Fox is
going to be a Laker. Vladdie was going back to
the Lakers. Sure, Mike Bibby was going to the Lakers
instead of a left They're all going, Can you still
(17:22):
get Vlody as as uh the voice on your ways app?
Can you still get Vody? No? Come on, oh yeah
you have l Wait wait, actually tell this time top stop.
You have Vlodi divats as tech. You could text Lottie absolutely,
you could text him, and would you like me to say,
just give me? I want to text him. I want to.
I want to I want to ask him. I want
(17:44):
I want to Where can I get cigarettes? Bloody? The
first I want to be able to get some cigarettes.
You just want to smoke with? Watta you? Insessment is
I want to know where I could get cigarettes. I
wouldn't even gas mask keep a company. But yeah, we've
had Bloode on the show. I was a long time
ago though, Yeah, that was having It's time to bring
(18:05):
him back. Yeah, oh yeah, now we'll bring him back. Hey, congratula.
Everybody wants to talk to me. Now what an outstanding night?
Look at this. Should we cold call him in four minutes?
Call me kick up the phone and called Doug Christy
anymore that we lost that one? I mean, maybe flood
he's out having a heater, so you know, he could
(18:26):
wind up you could have some time for him by
heater or what a cigarette? A cigarette? Heater and bye,
you're having a heater. It's a cigarette. Maybe he's out
there a heater is something else, Jason, No, but this
is in the United States. A heaters a cigarette, So
that's what it is. Just from Europe. I didn't know that.
Wait a minute, should I wait? Can I I'll do
it on my phone. I have to do it on
(18:48):
my phone. Just no, he's a cigarette. That's what I
always said. It was all right. So that's where you're
at with the Kings again. They are just moments away
from breaking that drought and heading to the playoffs for
the first time since two thousand and six. One twelve
to eighty with two and a half to go in
the fourth quarter. Now they just need to remember the
(19:09):
jobs are not done. Man. Oh no, but you have
tonight to sell them and you got to you gotta
get tonight. I mean, you have to get tonight to
celebrate because seventeen years some kind of party. You can,
you can, you can get it back. Oh look, you're
in third place in the West. There's nothing that's gonna
happen to you. You're not gonna take over second place
from Memphis because they've gotten hot again. John Morant is back. Yes,
you're only two games back. Ten yeah, yeah, yeah. But
(19:31):
the thing is, yeah, you had a chance, but Morant
came back just at the nick of time. And you're
not giving up third place on the Suns because you
have a five game lead on them right now. So
it's not This is not anything where you could just
decide for the next next week and a half. Hey man,
we're all just gonna be hanging out, just partying, and
we're gonna let the bench, bottom of the bench play
and that's kind of how and then we'll see it
(19:52):
for the first game of the playoffs. We'll see it
for that King's Warriors first round of the playoffs where
the Warriors wind up winning and it's suddenly, oh, the
Warriors back, look at this, We're beating the we beat
the Kings, because you can see that happening, right, and
everybody falling back in love with the Warriors. Oh, they
won the three six matchup. Look at them back. I
can see that happening. It's gonna drive me crazy. But
in the Western Conference, as we've talked about, as much
(20:13):
as we can celebrate what Denver has been, we haven't
seen the secondary players beyond Yokis play at a high
level and a winning level in the playoffs yet. So
that's a big wildcard all and we talk about four
through eleven are separated by three and a half games.
It's if if the Warriors do make it through round one.
(20:34):
Now they don't play a whole lot of defense, but
you got a couple of agitators and scorers, and Steph
can go off like he did the other night for
his thirty nine, and he's got a little edge to
him these days. I kind of like Steph more these
days where he's angry Steph, there's something to that and
wanting to fight everybody. Draymond Green I mean, look, here's
(20:54):
a technical we'll resend it. It's all good. So I
think is much as you you want to bemoan the
fact that people will fall in love with him. There
may be reason too, which would say, I guess, once again,
once we get to parody, another man's word for it
would be mediocrity. Hey, once man's celebrations another man's mediocrity.
(21:18):
Or it should be one man's mediocrity, another man's celebration.
That's wing like that. Yeah, I like the second one better.
I think that works better. Workshop it what you got, Frostburg.
This game is not over yet, but one NBA insider
that we won't name here, shops you put out congrats
to the Kings for clinching a playoff spot, and people
are destroying him because the game's not over yet. But
(21:39):
it's just thirty five seconds left. That up. The Blazers
got them right where they want. If Lillard hits one
shot from the logo, it's worth checking in. It's worth
forty points. O Duckworthy right, the duck work Duckworth. Dud
Duckworthy is I don't know Duckworthy? Are you duck You
put James Worthy and Duckworth together. Well, I mean, man
(22:00):
a whole other episode about being worthy for something else.
Kevin does it a duck Kevin duck Worth rhymed with
Duck and James Worthy and TJ. You are duck worthy
at that point, DJ Hey and really quick Frostburg. Why
did you scare me? There's no alternate, un you know,
crazy meaning for the word heater in Europe. There is.
I looked it up on my phone. Okay, got I
(22:21):
didn't go on the computer here. God may be afraid
you made me afraid that I'm gonna google something. Oh
my god, I don't have to apologize for it. Go.
I didn't know. I just looked it up. I did
Europe Heater meeting, and all I get is the energy
transition of revolutionizing the heating of Europe. People also ask,
how do you heat a house in Europe? What are
two types of heaters? How do European radiators work? There
(22:41):
is nothing subversive about anything about that heater is a cigarette? There,
we got you? Good rook. Well, I don't know you
say something like that. You're the one that you've seen
every horror movie, knowing the man, and yet I scare
you so easy. I don't I don't know if Lottie
Texas you saying, hey, tell Jason not to say anything
about it to giving me his number. So yeah, one
(23:05):
choice for unanimous head Coach of the Year and now
it is official. Watching the game tick down, the Kings
are going to the playoffs for the first time since
two thousand and six. They win it over the Blazers
one twenty to eighty. Big Night deeron Fox eighteen and six.
Samonis had fifteen and twelve rebounds and four assays. Everybody
(23:27):
on the Kings played. They played everybody. I mean they
played every single person their roster. Malik Monk plus thirty
four for the game with nineteen off the bench. What
about Mike Bibby? Wait, where was Malik Monk last year?
Where was he? I tell me, where was he last?
I forget Frostburg. Where was he last carrying it up
for the Lakers. Oh that's right, that's where he was.
But look at the Kings. We can have a good
(23:50):
two thousand and six game coming up later on this hour.
Let's go, yeah, buddy, Although we really should play the
Jets game now that they're the big dogs. No, No,
let's let's sea we do this. Let's celebrate the Kings
tonight and we'll get to the Jets tomorrow, all right.
Two thousand and six Tonight tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight, I
(24:10):
will do Relate Done tonight, D TJ. A funny thing
happened on the way to the playoffs for the Jets
in two thousand and ten, DJ Something for Everyone. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Well,
(24:34):
the Lakers win tonight, Kevin Durant's back in the lineup.
He's at least made one shot. Joining us now on
the hot line to break it all down, no one
better NBA Insider. Check him out on NBA dot com.
Follow him on Twitter as well at Mark G Underscore Medina.
That's at Mark G Underscore Medina. Mark. What's happening, my friend?
What's happened? I'm talking to? Here's with you guys? Two?
(24:56):
Game one? They win, even with Julius Randall having a
left ankle injury against Miami. I mean I think the
Knicks end Randall will be fine. I mean we're still
love here. Well, here's the thing, it's boring. The Knicks
are good. We have to spend all our time talking
about this generic five hundred list, the group of five
hundred teams in the Western Conference, because that's what everybody
(25:18):
cares about. All these teams that stink. Hey, who can
get who can win forty two games and clinch that spot?
A clich to six spot that never has five hundred
teams that stink been more relevant than they are right now, Mark,
I don't get it all right. I was going to
talk about, Hey, I'm choosing the next over the box
and atheletics. If you don't want to break that down, no, no, no, no,
no no no no, let's let's break that down. Let's
(25:39):
break that down. We put out good vibes beginning on.
We put out good vibes for Julius Randall. We send
it out there for healthy candle, him for his ankle.
Yeah we did. We need you, We need Julius, but
uh yeah, I mean, look the nixt win. Now, it's
what we do. We find a new hero every night.
It's it's I mean, it's it's like it's like Gotham City.
You need a new hero tonight, Batman. Now we get
(25:59):
somebody else now, we get to Manuel quickly. Now we
got Quentin Grimes. It's somebody knew. Oh here we come,
Mark Medina. It's exciting. Yeah, you know what, it's probably
a good idea. We should break it down the Western Conference.
Oh you know what the hell? Man? What the who? Yeah,
he just totally did a reverse. Oh but think the
Knicks did win tonight one ninety two over the heat,
(26:20):
So there is that. All right? So we said this
the beginning of the show tonight. Maybe Lebron was right
about this, although he didn't really know at the time.
These seven games are going to wind up being his
most important as a Laker, because this offseason could get
really messy with Lebron and new destinations. If this doesn't
(26:40):
turn out for the Lakers, they make it into the
play In, they finish well, they don't play a couple
of games or one game and get knocked out. I
don't know that these next seven games aren't his biggest
seven games as a Laker. Yeah, I think they are.
I mean, look, he's even said of his career. I
would probably disagree with him, because look, he was he
helped the caval Leaders become the only team in NBA
(27:02):
history overcome a three one final series deficit in twenty sixteam.
But I think the larger point you mentioned about the
Lakers it is most important because even with that twenty
twenty NBA championship, they've just been disappointing since then. So
can they at least offer some hope that this isn't
a lottery team, This isn't a team that misses the
play torment. They can at least make the playoffs so
(27:23):
that they have a brighter future next season with pursue
possibly the same roster. And you know, I think, as
crazy as it sounds, if they run it back next season,
I think they'll they'll be good. Like the trade deadline
moves that they made all good fits. It's probably something
I should have done before the season started, but i'd aggress.
But I think, you know, obviously it's a huge if.
(27:46):
But if there are no injury issues with Lebron Nady
moving forward, they are trending very well in the right direction.
I really like that if there's no injuries there, come on,
come on, you get a huge if. That was one
of the best sell jobs ever. But I had to
call you on it. I actually like watching the team
play without Lebron and am I wrong? Is that blasphemous
(28:08):
am I band from the NBA? Because they moved the
ball and everybody got involved. They played some great basketball
instead of standing around waiting for him to do stuff. Well,
I don't blame me. Here's what happened in Lebron James
is out. Anthony Davis took his game to another level.
For the most part. He was aggressive, playing like a
number one guy, playing like an All star, being consistent.
(28:30):
Austin reeves they should put up a statue with him
already as a really good guy in the starting lineup.
But in all seriousness, it's not so much that they're
better without Lebron. It's more of the rotation looks weird
with Lebron in the lineup. I think this is a
step in the right direction with playing a Bulls team.
That look, if it wasn't for the planned tournament, they
would have already been trying to tank for the lottery.
(28:54):
In this game specifically, I think it was aalian sign
that it was Anthony as running the show thirty eight
points Lebron having twenty five. I think that was by
design that not just because of Lebron coming off of
his injury. But I think philosophically they're better, at least
from a X is and O standpoint, if they make
a D the primary focal point. That's what Lebron James
(29:17):
has set out ever since AD joined the team in
twenty nineteen. And so while no one will doubt that
Lebron James is the leader of the team, he's the
heart and soul. He dictates and quarterbacks the offense. It's
all about running things through a D. But that also
requires for the team to get him touches. But most
importantly for a D to be aggressive. And when I've
talked to a D, I've talked to people in the Lakers.
(29:39):
The difference between a twenty point game or a thirty
point game for Anthony Davis, it all depends on how
aggressive he is on the floor good side to night.
But he's got to be consistent with it all, right, Mark,
whether it's the Eastern conser of the Western Conference. Right,
we're looking at the bottom of the standings now because
the teams that are good, look we get to like
game fifty five of the NBA season, and the best
(30:01):
teams stay the best teams, right, we don't see a
lot of movement at the top of the conferences, because
we kind of know the movement comes now where we talking,
you know, you know, four through eight, four through nine,
four through ten. If we you and I are having
this conversation, MEU and Mike having this conversation at the
end of the regular season, what's something that's shocking that
you can see happening in that part of the standings
(30:22):
that we're paying that big part of attention to. Whether
it's in the East or the West, give me a
shocker from the East or the Western Conference. Wow, that
is a really tough to answer here. You know what,
I think that the Pelicans they're going to solidify themselves
as a playing team. Maybe that's not a shocker right
now because technically they're ninth, but there was a feeling
(30:43):
that without Zion Williamson, they're going to plummet to the standings.
And while they haven't technically ruled them out for the season,
when I've asked people in the Pelicans organization, one person said,
technically it's not closed, but it's damn near close. And
I think that that is a credit to how Willie
Green's coached the team. He just has a lot of
emotional intelligence doesn't get too high too low. He really
(31:07):
empowers the guys, and I think that that has had
a trickle down effect when you're looking at guys like
Brandon Ingram CJ. Mccollumb, you know, to lesser extent, you know,
lettery Nance Junior, etc. And so maybe it's not a
huge shocker, but I think that the feeling was that,
you know, look at the beginning of the season, they're
top in the West, partly mostly because of Zion, and
then they started plummeting. I think their seasons still salvageable
(31:29):
because they've been doing a really good job with making
up for all that there's less than ideal circumstances. Now,
I'd be remiss if we didn't in the Western Conference
do the celebratory moment for the Sacramento Kings and what
they've been able to do, the depth and balance of
scoring they've got Vlady divots was only our ways guide
(31:50):
what last time they were relevant as opposed to on
the court? Can they actually make a run here? Is
it muddled enough here in the Western Conference that we
can see the Kings go from the longest drought to
perhaps representing when this is all done I think they
certainly can. I mean they got the coach, and with
Mike Brown, I mean first year here, but he's obviously
(32:12):
had a lot of experience, has a lot of great qualities,
farcest preparations, some of the learning curves. He's made up
for it in this latest stint of not so many
long practice sessions, having a more innovative offense, and they
just have a lot of really great talent. Daron Fox
and Demontes Saponas have great chemistry, whether it's in pick
(32:32):
and roll, moving off the ball, you know, going in ISO.
I think Kegan Murray is one of the most mature
young players that I've seen in recent years. I think
the only concern about the Kings is they don't play
any defense, and that's ironic because Mike Brown in previous
coaching stops that's what he was all about. So far
in the regular season, it hasn't made that much of
(32:52):
a difference because their offense has just been so prolific.
But I know, to a man, but Mike Brown has
been really harping on that end of the floor. Maybe
it'll improve relatively, but clearly regular season sample size shows
enough that they are who they are. So that would
be the only concern. But as far as their talent level,
they're not afraid. They're deep, they're well coached that they
(33:14):
very well could be a player. But I would still
give the edge to the Denver Nuggets. And you know, look,
don't look now, but as long as the Golden State
Warriors have a full roster I either healthy and Andrew
Wiggins come smack at some point, you have to assume
they're in the mix. But that is a huge Jeff
no clarity on win or if he'll come back. And ironically,
you know, unlike the championship years, they've struggled to defend,
(33:37):
to win on the road consistently, they've struggled to be
an elite defensive team. But I guess as long as
you have Steph Curry and Draymond Green and Clay Thompson,
technically you can't rule them out. You know. Just to
bring it back full circle is we've had a lot
of coaches step in and do great jobs this season unexpected,
whether it's Boston or the bounce back for the Knicks.
(33:58):
But honestly, Mike Brown is the coach of the Year
and it should be unanimous. I mean, I really I
can't believe that there's any other choice where you could say, hey,
so and so did more with more. I mean, you know,
it's not like Mike Brown has a really star studded
roster there and he comes in his first year and
he turns over a team that hasn't made the playoffs
since two thousand and six, and not only that, they're
(34:19):
gonna be a three seat. Didn't just squeak in and go, hey,
we may not they're gonna be the three seat in
the West. I don't know they could vote for anybody
besides Mike Brown. Yeah, I mean, Mike Brown doesn't want
to win Coach of the Year because the last time
he won Coach of the Year with Cleveland, the next
season he wound up gaining let go right, So I
think that he's superstitious there. But I'm with you unanimous
pick for Coach of the Year, and I think you
(34:40):
have to look at the context, not just with the
King's drought, but the roster itself. You know, the Kings
were getting a lot of criticism for trading tireson Hallie
Burton and getting to Montes Sabonis, and you know what
this is. At one of those rare trades whereas win
win for both sides. The Indiana Pacers have benefited from
that deal, and clearly Sacrament has not just because of
(35:01):
sabonus a skill set, but it's all about how much
can they unlock Daron Fox's greatness. And there was a
feeling that, you know, Jared Fox and Tyres Hallard Burton
or gaining each other's way. How about what they use
on the number four pick. They're gaining a lot of
criticism with drafting Kegan Murray instead of Jaden Ivy during
the drafting. Clearly it's not like Kegan Murray is this
(35:22):
you know, star studded player who's changing a franchise on
his own. But he has all the right ingredients where
you know, I think he has a complete game, he's
a student of the game, he's coachable, he has a
very kind of old school spirit to him, so much
that there are people in the organization that, don't get
me wrong, it's not the skill set, but they're saying
(35:43):
they remind him off Tim Duncan because of just how emotional,
mature and stoke Key is. And so I'm not going
to say that Kegan Murray is going to have Tim
Duncan's career. But as far as his approach to this
game and the seriousness he could and you know what,
those are two really good quality needs to have. And
so I think the future is bright for Sacramento and
(36:03):
Mike Brown knows how to get the best of them.
Not a bad way to be mark last one for you.
Real quick, we'd be remissing. We'd been a couple of
weeks since we got into the whole fun and excitement
of the MVP talk. Joel Embiid took his shots at
Yokichen records and winning and everything, and then the next
time they were supposed to play each other, he sat out.
But as he caught him. It's it possible that Embiad
(36:25):
has caught him in the MVP race. I guess it's possible.
I don't I can't read the mind to the utter voters,
but I was, you know, asked to participate in ESPN's
upcoming strong Pole. I still have Yokich has number one.
I have Mbad second, I have be honest third. But
you know what, MBA could slide down to three because
of some of his recent injuries. But I think to
(36:45):
Mbad's credit, it's not a good look that he missed
the regular season game matchup against Denver Nuggets, But I
think if it were up to him, he would have played.
I think this is a larger thing about the Sixers,
and you know, following this for kious load management strategy
as well as the NBA itself, they want these marquee
games to feature to the top stars. But then they
(37:08):
have the Sixers play three games and four nights, right
like teams might wind up resting certain guys. But it's
certainly a missed opportunity, not a good look. But I
think prior to that, I think what I give jaw
and Be credit for is, you know, he's expanded his game.
He's not just the post up guy. He's been really
been able to be, you know, a pick and pop
(37:28):
sort of guy. Stretch five playmaking with James Harden's been
really well. But look, Nicole Yokis is a walking triple double.
He's become even a more vocal leader. Besides you know,
his dependable playmaking and scoring. And look, the knock on
him before was, oh, well, the Nuggets aren't really winning
that much. They're just barely a playoff team. Well, last
(37:49):
time I checked, their first in the Western Conference by
three and a half games over Memphis, So clearly he's
helping them win games. And that's partly a product of
the fact that that is healthier, but it's mostly a
product of the fact that Nicole Yoki is one hell
of a player and I think he's gonna get the
third MVP. You can follow him on Twitter at Mark
(38:09):
g Underscore Medina, NBA, inside a FRIENDBA dot com. Check
out his latest Column's gonna hit tomorrow Keegan Murray better
than Tim Duncan. It'll be up What about nine o'clock
tomorrow morning. There'll be up that morning, first week in
the morning. All right, very good, Take it easy, buddy.
We'll talk to you next week, my friend. Appreciate you man. Alright,
great stuff, as always from Mark Medina.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.