April 30, 2024 • 40 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon react live to the Nuggets eliminating the Lakers and try to make sense of what the Lakers did on the court down the stretch. NFL Insider Jason La Canfora joins the guys to recap the draft and highlight one wild trade that could happen in the future. Plus, Jason believes Kevin Durant will be joining the Lakers in the offseason!
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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 Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
The Nuggets look like they are walking away with a
one oh eight one oh six win over the Lakers.
Jamal Murray hits a runner in the lane with about
four seconds left to go. The Lakers try to inbound
it fast. They get the ball to Lebron near half court,
who it looks like, tries to draw the shooting foul
(00:51):
the old Chris Paul move, I'm pretending I'm shooting from
half court. Uh, and no whistle is blown. The ball
is loose. The Lakers pick it up. I think Katcha
Mura had a desperation he from the other side of
half court. It does not go and the Nuggets have eliminated.
The Lakers buy a bucket Jamal Murray into the lane
(01:12):
for a floater, the one hander going away from the hoop.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
He had two.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Lakers around him, and you just have to nod and
say the Nuggets were the better team. They had guys
hitting clutch shots after clutch shots. Murray is second game
winner of the series, and now the Denver Nuggets move
on to the second round of the playoffs. The Lakers
go home forty seven and thirty five for the season.
One eight, one six is the final, Aaron Gordon hitting
(01:39):
a huge three in the final minute for the Nuggets,
Lebron tying the game with a couple of free throws,
but then it's Jamal Murray in the final possession, a
fallaway one hander for his thirty second point of the night,
and the Lakers lose and the Nuggets go on the
drive defending the title.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Is still there.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Not too bad for a guy wasn't supposed to play
right all those question marks and for LEBRONI gets challenged
by Jokich. The ball ended up in the hands of
Torrian Prince, who'd come in as a substitution for D'Angelo
Russell down the stretch. Free throw disparity in this one
(02:19):
twenty seven to nine.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, Lakers went to the free throw line a lone
few times.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Many the three point attempt differential is only two so
any of the Oh they take us outside?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
No, no, no, they tried to work inside quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Jokis getting mauled a number of drives down low, no harm,
no foul.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Kind of curious just down the final minutes. But Murray
with that floater. So money in big moments.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Look, it's it's and it's nothing different than what we
talked about earlier. The Nuggets are a younger team, their
stars are younger, they're fresher at the end of games.
This is why they've won this series. That's why the
Lakers have gone out to a lead in every game.
The Nuggets have reeled them in. The Lakers get tired
because of their age playing in the mile high air,
and the Nuggets have enough left at the end. Now again,
(03:08):
was this a competitive five games score? Yes, it might
be the most competitive game series. I've won three more,
three more years and the Lakers will beat the Nuggets,
who was a competitive sweep. Now it's competitive five games.
Next year, competitive six games, next year, competitive seven games.
In the fifth year, competitive seven games and the Lakers win.
Finally Lebron at forty four.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I was gonna finally beat the nugget Who saw that
Lakers squad at that Lebron Kevin Durant KD.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Is forty Yeah, look, look that that's what it is.
You can you can sum up the Lakers and Lebron's
gonna get killed and a D is gonna get killed
in all this, and I understand them. There's some there's
some things to get to with the Lakers, but the
bottom line is this. The Nuggets are the champs. They're
the better team. They're starting five is better. They get better.
They get more clutch plays from Aaron Gordon and even
(03:54):
even Michael Porter Junior had a huge game tonight. He
had five threes tonight. The Nugget's get more from their
supporting cast. Their stars are a little bit better. They
dominate a little bit more. Jamal Murray is a ball
dominant point guard that can make big shots, and he
lives for the big shots. The Lakers have Lebron and
a D and so oftentimes the offense bogs down, it
(04:16):
becomes Lebron iso plays. The Nuggets are just better. You
can cut it out any way. You want to be
and I know Lebron, look at Lebron this see the
Lakers all out in the first round. Yes, we'll get
to all that, but right now, this moment in time,
why the Nuggets win and they're moving on to the
second round. The Lakers are going home. The Nuggets are
just better and and you knew, and I'm watching this
final play going Murray's gonna hit this shot because the
(04:39):
Nuggets hit every shot right. You know, they're made for
the Lakers. They love going up against the Lakers. You
can see it. It felt like a conference finals game today,
the back and forth, and you just knew Murray's gonna
find the open spot. He's gonna hit a shot. And
that's exactly what he did.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Yeah, you saw him come off the Joki screen and
a wide open lane to make the floater. You know,
you talk about him in big moments and what he's
meant to this squad rise up, especially for the injury history.
Whenever we talk about stars and you know their paths
to to where they, you know, climb the mountain, he
(05:15):
certainly has had a few along the way, and tonight,
you know, a lot of expectation.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
I didn't see the betting line move much so the.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Expectation was he'd give it a go the old college try,
which means you play rope a dope with some of
the injury reports. Ah, it's a lot worse. I'll tell
you he's questionable. And then he's running up and down.
And there was one moment though, that he had in
the fourth quarter where he came down after a shot
and they called the time out after he made a shot.
The Lakers did, one of the few times Darvin Ham
(05:43):
actually used the time out in that circumstance. Remember that
fourteen to two run they went on. There was no
time out to try to know when Dicky Viteal was
back in his heyday really calling up games and wish
him well and good health. Sorry, the White Sox swept
your raise, you know, to get a teo screen was
always there, and Laker fans, no doubt, were ready to
(06:04):
throw things through their televisions because they were watching the
game once again start to slip away because they heat
it up.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
Gordon made a couple of.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Big rebound He had thirteen rebounds on the night while
he was only seven points, but for Jamal Murray is
thirty two including that floater. You know, he's a guy
that when the game's on the line. How many how
many guys do we have that that? You say that
in the NBA? Yeah, just get it to him. Yeah,
the teams have closers. That guy's a closer.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
And he doesn't like being called playoff Jamal Murray because
he's but he's playoff Jamal Murray.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
What do people remember? People don't remember what you do?
Speaker 4 (06:41):
He had a random mid January game against the Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
I'm sorry, you can score eighty. Yeah, you'll get brought
up when another guy is close to score eighty.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Now you want to just now because now we get
to Jamal Murray from it? Right, that's the Nuggets are
just better Jamal Murray. You get to the twenty nineteen
twenty twenty season and the series in the Bubble with
the Lakers, when I remember talking to this saying, man,
the era of the Nuggets is it may be here,
Like it is coming fast. Jokic and Murray is flipping phenomenal.
(07:16):
It could be here. The Lakers get the title in
the Bubble, ad hits the Big Three, they beat the
Nuggets and knock them out. Murray then has a couple
of injury plagued seasons and the Nuggets don't win. And
he had a whole season that he missed. He had
missed most of another season he missed the end of
the season, almost missed, almost like the equivalent of three playoffs.
(07:37):
He almost missed. If he doesn't get hurt, the Nuggets
have at least one, if not two, more titles. Just
to think about injury for a second. If he doesn't
get hurt, this could be a team that, hey, we're
going for our third in a row. See now it's
the extension of the Marvel universe like you were doing
with your guy Jalen Brunson as Captain America. Because now
we're doing that whole animated what if thing. Yeah, because Nuggets,
(07:59):
Because look, you know, he missed the entire twenty one
twenty two season. By the time he came back, he
was not he was not the same guy. Took him
a while to come back, but this is where he
is now. They would have at least one more and
they'd be going for a three peat. Maybe they'd have two,
but they'd have at least one more because they would
probably come back twenty twenty one he gets hurt. But
twenty twenty one, twenty one, twenty two, definitively last year
(08:23):
they win. I mean it really it could be. It
could be as it could be the last two years,
last three years, they could have won. Remember the first year,
it was, hey, he should be coming back here for
the play he should be coming back, should be coming back.
Where wait? Why is he not coming back? Why is
he not coming back? What's going on? Why can't the
guy come back? Because they thought he would come back
for the for the playoffs? Why where is he? Where's
he didn't come back and play? But I mean that
that's really you talk about injuries and what they do
(08:44):
to the playoffs. Just think about it from that perspective
of he doesn't if he doesn't tear his acl. I mean,
we could be looking at the going right from the
Warriors dynasty into the Nuggets dynasty.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Now we go right to the post game. The first shot.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I mean, you want to talk about really putting on
a brace and a wrap and everything to make it
look like you can't walk and that you're totally done.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
It's like a.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Magical healing occurred before the tip off. But you're right,
I mean, we have these twists and turns in history
of the NBA and all other sports. Right, we did
a podcast series called Special Teams a couple of years ago.
You can still find it out there wherever you download
your audio, where we'd go through some of the magical
(09:29):
runs of squads, and virtually I would say at least
half of them started with, well this guy was hurt
the year before, or they navigated through when this guy
misses half a season and comes back, you know, to
be a contributor or whatever the case was. And that's
like history is littered with teams at every level in
(09:50):
that regard. And for the NBA when we often talk
about depth in the playoffs and needing to have a
roster that's ready, but we know the bench shortens, you
don't get as much the contribution. What was it a
fourteen to eleven bench lead for the Nuggets in this
one to clinch things off, But you need two or
(10:13):
three superstars and at least that one guy that, no
matter the circumstance, wants the ball and missing a guy
like him and Porter Junior to think of all the
injuries he's had, right that, Because I mean, you could
do the Murray line but add Porter Junior, who missed
a ton of time. Remember coming out of college, you know,
is the basketball equivalent of Rob Gronkowski, Like, well, if
(10:34):
he can stay healthy and avoid extra back injuries, this
guy could be great. And now they've both been great.
But in parallel, you know, with the Jamal Murray side,
is is it Porter Junior is there for all of
that run as well? Perhaps there's that title or two,
but you know, the old to be the man, you
gotta beat the man.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
And it'll be curious.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
The young guns are really out in the Western Conference.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I mean, just think, just think about how what Denver
could be going for had he not gotten I mean,
I got he got hurt and it happened, and it
took him a long time to get back, and I
get it. But just think about that for set where
they'd be going. Because we talk about great duos in
the league and Lebron and a d and Giannis and
Lillard and all this, but I mean, really Jokich and
Murray and they're both well on the on the right,
(11:19):
you know, on the right, on the left side of thirty.
This is a you know, this is this They're unstoppable.
When when he is healthy. They're absolutely unstopped.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
We'll say one of my favorite moments of the game
was with the four fifteen left Murray gets the ball
and dunks on Lebron and then he totally did the
full Lebron most muscular shoulder shrug pose that Lebron does
after dunking, and like he couldn't hold a straight face
after he did it. That's that's where we're at, at
(11:50):
this level of chaos in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Play.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (12:04):
Hey, this is Tom Ferducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have accorded to the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties.
It's the Book of Joe Podcasts. I can't wait for this, Joe.
Speaker 7 (12:18):
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
dugout and behind the scenes in Major.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
League Baseball, cars, wind whatever else we want to talk about. Yeah, well,
there are no boundaries right.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Listen to the Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app,
on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Fox
Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon and The Nuggets with Jamal Murray. Call him
game making the game winner with three seconds left, the
Nuggets eliminate the Lakers. Buy a bucket one eight, one
(12:50):
oh six. They win the series four games to one.
And yes, we talked about the fact the Nuggets are
just a better team than the right You can say
a lot they're better. Yes, the games were closed. A
lot of things happen, but this doesn't matter if it's
Darvin Ham or not. But this is a reason why
Darvin Ham's gonna lose his job as Lakers head coach.
(13:14):
Here's the play by play of the final shot of
the game. Jamal Murray, for the second time this series,
hitting a game winner basically at the buzzer to win
it for the Nuggets.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Difference of two seconds the game clock and the shot clock.
Worst case scenario, we're going to overtime. They'll get your screen,
Murray to try to play the time. They'll talking out
about the Lakers. I gotta go, James, A pump for food,
a punch shot, no soos on the clock, the Nuggets
a dance play.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
You have won, So Reggie Miller not right, worst case
scenario going over there. This is what's so abominable for
the Lakers on this final play, right, because yes, Nuggets
were better, Lakers have faltered late, but look at what
they do defensively on this play. It is abominable. Okay,
(14:04):
Murray's got the ball on the right side of the court,
about five or six feet behind the three point line.
He drives to the left. Okay, Now, if you are
the Lakers, who are the two people you do not
want to take this shot? Jamal Murray, Nikola Jyokich, Right,
these two guys you don't want to see take the shot.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
What happens? Murray drifts over to the left, and two
things happen. Ruey Hachimura stands there and allows Jamal Murray
even though it's a floater falling away. It's a one
hander from the elbow, and Ruey Hachimura just stands there
like I want to guard against him ditching the ball
off to somebody. Who the hell is Jamal Murray going
(14:43):
to pass it to unless it's Nikola jokicch right, So
you got ruey Hachimura who just stands there and does nothing. Right,
So Murray doesn't get anybody in his face, the guy
who you know is gonna take the shot or Yokic.
These are the guys, so no one's in his face, right,
What does Ad do? Ads on yok When the ball
goes to Murray?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
What does Ad do?
Speaker 1 (15:02):
He kind of floats to the side, and you figure, okay,
he's gonna get out on Murray and is gonna go
out and get a hand in his face. Instead, he
kind of stands. He takes a step back under the
basket looking for the rebound. Meanwhile, there's still five seconds
left at this point. If Murray doesn't like this shot,
Nikola Jokic is wide open on the other side because
(15:24):
Ad is left Jokic. AD's just standing there guarding nothing.
Ruyachimor is guarding nothing. So if Murray doesn't like the
shot for some reason, he just has to look to
his right and Yo could say, hey, give it to me.
They're not guarding me, like the Lakers were so worried always.
He gon adition it like it's like we don't want
to give up an easy bat. We don't want to
make it look like we didn't have this play covered
(15:44):
and it's gonna be some kind of backdoor play and
Aaron Gordon's in there for a dunk or KCP gets
a basket and gets in Lebron's face. It's like they
It's like I felt they were. They were so they
were so focused on we don't want to look bad
on this play, and instead they allow the best player
and the second best player on the team to have
carte blanche on the floor. Jamal Murray has all kinds
(16:06):
of room, nobody gets in his face for the last shot,
and if he wanted to pass, Jokich was wide open
on the other side. So I mean, seriously, what are
the Lakers doing, Like, whether that's Darvin Ham or not,
that is inexcusable. And this is this is where you
say someone needs to come in that can say, Okay,
I need to get you guys on this page to
play this right way now. Because again, it doesn't matter
(16:28):
if it's what Darvin Ham put out there, it was terrible.
If it was the Lakers freelancing because they listened to Darvinham,
that's the same thing. But like, I see that play
and I go, what what are the Lakers saying coming
out of this, out of the huddle. What are they saying?
Don't let Michael Porter beat us? What are they saying
coming out of don't let Aaron Gordon beat us? What
are they telling each other when they come out of
the huddle. It makes no sense, makes absolutely no sense
(16:49):
that the two guys you said, we got to make
somebody else other than these two guys beat us. These
are the two guys that would wind up beat him
for the game.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yeah, just watching that play on a loop, right, you
get the screen, you got Yoki and Davis battling. Jokic
comes out, screens off Reeves, so Reeves is trying to
recover from that, and then as you said, he gets
towards the elbow and Hatchamura is there anticipating something, and
we're not going to be sure what until one of
(17:15):
them faces the music here. But you know, coming out
of the free throw, you had Lebron James made those
two free throws to make it a tie ball game,
and then there's no time out. The Nuggets inbound the
ball and they're playing because they've got the two stars
to close things out, and so there's no time to huddle,
(17:37):
there's no time to discuss the defensive arrangement. That's all
coming from the bench and your leaders, right Lebron and
Ad and calling it out. So in the end, Murray
gets the free look and you're right, Jokic if you
do the freeze frame because Davis had slumped back into
the lane and Jokicic just stops like, all right, ball
(17:58):
might come back my way, nice little easy jump shot,
lean in. Maybe he he cuts to the basket and
gets a you know, a quick layup.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah, Like if a d had stayed with Jokic, that
I could understand. Okay, you know what, Hey, I'm gonna
stay with Yokic. They're not going to inbound the ball
to him. I'm gonna stay with him. You have the
U four have to worry about, worry about Jamal Murray
making sure he doesn't win the game. But but even
Ad backed off at the end.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Of side, I had options.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I had options like Michael Balloon's gotta walk off and
go Well, but that's it.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
He walked. He didn't use the timeout.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
He he still had two timeouts as the game ends, right,
So you'd have the question if if Murray misses the
shot and it goes to ot, it's like then what
And then the Lakers they're out of timeouts. They didn't
call any in pretty obvious situations, but they're still out
of timeouts, so they go for the quick inbound and
Lebron tries.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
To get into jokicch a bit.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Instead, it's it's a pass over to Prince who who
this is the forty foot shot? If both of them
were looking for falls like Darvin Ham comes sprinting down
looking at that.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Point, if you're Lebron, I try to just dribble and
get the foul on Jokic, and because Jokic is right
there and not move trying to.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Yeah anyway, he gets it his way and he makes
the pass off to Prince.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Well, they couldn't figure out defense. Do you think they're
going to figure out to play on the fly? Right there?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Come on, man, be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, we'll have more.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
NBA on the way, but joining us now to put
a nice big red bow on the NFL Draft longtime
NFL insider. Check them out on Twitter at Jason lock
and four on Odyssey Washington Post one of five to
seven the Fan in Baltimore, j Law, what's happening, Bud?
Speaker 6 (19:45):
What's going on? Gentlemen? How was your draft?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
The draft was good. I was happy for the Jets.
I think Harmon is very happy for the Bears, fairly ecstatically.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yeah, you know, and no.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Games have been played and we haven't lost, so we're
feeling pretty good in the offseason.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
Jason, that time of the football seasons in the Jets,
I agree with you, guys entirely.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I feel pretty good.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Now.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Listen, you should you should be excited.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yeah, I'm I'm excited when we want to.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, but this is when the Jets do their best work,
Jay is in the in the off season. It's the
it's the pesky games that give us trouble.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
Yeah, I'm not even sure they're very good at this,
but yeah, it's definitely better than the game.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Okay, So with all the teams you saw, we've had
time to look and see what's the one or two
teams when you go, wow, they really aste it. If
it's the Jets, that's fine. But they really hasty. You
love what they did.
Speaker 6 (20:36):
I mean, look, I'm not going to sit here and
tell you that I know these kids. I talked to,
you know, a fair amount of people and uh, you know,
sort of kicked it around with a few guys I
talked to about this kind of stuff. And I think
the Steelers, you know, they they have really uh kind
(20:58):
of changed their identity here and they now have a
super athletic quarterback and I'm talking about justin Fields, not
Russell Wilsons.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And.
Speaker 6 (21:10):
A reconstructed offensive line, and with the way they started
running the ball last year, and with what they already
had on defense, and a few of these pieces now
sprinkled in, and if they do come away with a
veteran wide receiver at some point between now and week
I'll say week eight, by the trade deadline, then you know,
(21:32):
I think they're a really interesting football team. Like yeah,
I mean, I know, the kid like the kid Wilson
and Nancy State linebackers. One of my favorite players in
the draft. And I don't know that he's going to
have the longest career in the world, but I know
he's going to play, you know, like Dick Buckets for
(21:53):
as long as he can, and he's wired a certain
way and had him into that defensive front. And with
what they've done in free agency, like I think Pittsburgh
stands out for me as a positive. Like I'm seeing
plus seven fifty for Pittsburgh to win that division. I'm
(22:13):
in on that. I'm sprinkling there. And on the other side,
I did the Giants, like I don't know how They're
the only people in the league. I don't think they
needed a quarterback, you know, and apparently they were like
Drake may or Bust which blows my mind because that's
the kid that the guys I trust in the league
like the least. So you know, of that top really
(22:36):
of the top five, I would say, because I definitely
talk to some people who preferred Pennix, especially if you
were going to play him sooner rather than later. Now
who knows, because Penis might not play for five years
according to the Falcon So you know that would that
would really you want to talk about that insult the injury.
We finally direct a quarterback who might be good. Now
we're going to wait four years to play him and
(22:56):
we all know that that's bs, but they said it.
I just don't see how the giants like think they're
going to win this way, and for guys whose jobs
are on the line, I think they made some interesting choices.
And the Titans draft didn't do much for me either.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, since you brought it up, the Michael Panics junior,
everybody's falling all over themselves for reason, slash excuses, slash
justifications to tell everybody how smart they are and making
this choice.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
I'm still not there and I've been able to do it.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
It's a great thought exercise, Jason, But you just paid
this guy, even if it's mostly in two years, you
paid him at dollars.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
Yeah, it doesn't make sense. It's incongruous. Now, that doesn't
mean that Panics won't turn out to be one of
or maybe even the best quarterback in this draft. But
there's just you know, ultimately, a lot of this sport
is about that set allocation right and how you distribute
(23:58):
a finite amount of funds. Does these billionaires only want
to spend but so much and a finite amount of resources.
You can only carry so many players on your roster.
It wants right and a finite amount of cat money.
And to act like this was part of some master
plan is if it was a master plan, it's actually
more shameful than it wasn't you know, to mean, that's
(24:18):
really like, here's what we're going to do, like I
and look, a lot of this is driven by the owner.
My reporting about Penix and the possibility of him going
eighth overall prior to the draft was driven by what
I was hearing about the way the owner was talking
in that building. So he's cool with it, and it's
his money, but it's backwards. I mean, you just think
(24:41):
of what you could have done to build around this.
And if you're at eight and you're not sure he's
going to be there, then you just have the conviction
to move up or whatever. But for a twenty four
year old who's played as much as he has, who
had the success he had for him to not like
(25:02):
he now he's sitting like he's some twenty one year
old kid, it's really bizarre. And I think it'll come
to a head in I don't know, nine months, because
I don't think her cousin's going to be there for
year two one way or the other. Like I don't
think that scenario exists. So he's gonna be there for
one year, and then he's going to be treated San
(25:24):
Francisco and we'll see what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Jason locking for with us here The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Carmon Live from the ti rag dot com Studios.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
All right, another quarterback here.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
It's not just about him, but it's about what he
brings and what else they have done in the off season.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And it did during the draft.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
But I will be surprised, and Mike Harmon's gonna faint
when I say this, I will be really surprised if
the Bears aren't in the playoffs next year. I'd be
really surprised if they they can't flip that seven win
season into a ten or eleven win season with the
moves they've made in an NFC where you could say, hey,
you know, on paper they have a really strong roster.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
Yeah, I don't know. You know, I think they may
have to walk before they run, Like I'm not there.
I know there's a lot of people who are going
to like look at them and say, well, that's the
the NFC's version of the twenty twenty three Texans, right,
And I'm not sure that on the offensive side of
the ball, the staff they have is going to be there,
(26:22):
and I'm not sure that that's going to be the
group that is long term with Caleb Williams certainly made
stripes defensively last year. That's a tough division though, you know,
like if we're looking for parallels on teams that have
done this, it's usually they're in a garbage division, Like
I don't know the AFC South last year, especially with Jacksonville,
(26:43):
you know, peeing down's leg every week. So I don't know, man.
I think very you know, highly of the Packers and
also the Lions and Minnesota. Look, Minnesota was hanging around
to the end with Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens and
all these dudes like Kevin O'Connell. I think he's a
pretty sharp cookie. You know, they've got to go to Houston,
they've got to go to San Francisco. You know. Even
(27:05):
their games like Chicago against the NFC West, like, I
don't know, man, Like are those layups for them? Like
I'm not ready to say that. And any NFC team
against an AFC division, even if you're catching a lesser one,
like ask Cal Shanahan about that. He went two and
four against the AFC last year. Now he did it
to put it north, But I don't know, guys, Like
(27:28):
I kind of need to see it before I buy it.
Like what I'm hoping there is that there is this
huge hype train and every time, you know, they complete
a forward pass at OTA's, it's the lead story in
the six o'clock news there. And so let's get that
win total up to like nine and a half and
then I'll fade it with abandon Like right now, eight
and a half's a little snug from me. If you
made me better, i'd go under, actually, because you're getting
(27:50):
plus money and if you're making me wait six months
to get my money back, I at least want to
feel like I'm getting more than I put down. Like
that's just me, you know what I mean. I'm not
in the futures bets, you know, minus one to eighty five, Like, yeah,
that's not how I roll. Like I could figure out
something else to do with that money in the meantime
for that return. But uh, let's see. I'm here for
the hype train because I want to fade them.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
The old shawsh Ink line that I I knowed you.
I want to fade them, oh the you know, hope
is a dangerous thing and Bears fans will remember that,
I think in short order. Well, but given the way
you laid out the division is you know kind of
where I sit is. You know, it's it's a long
road there and looks great on paper. Now you actually
have to go win games. But uh, you brought up
(28:34):
San Francisco in the Kirk Cousins analysis last one for
real quick, Well, just.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
Briefly, that dog Copper, I didn't somebody whispered it.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
It wasn't they, No, it could have.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Been maybe I got voices in my own head. Now,
but he's got a talking dog. That's a pretty big story.
I mean, I was gonna listen to the dog.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
That's pretty that's a pretty big I thought you were asleep.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
That's all righty, he's veteran wide receivers actually going to
get dealt.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Well, I tell you this much. I don't think the
book getting paid in San Francisco, So you know, I
don't know. Maybe there's an in between, but uh, I'm
a lot of time between now and I'm not eve
gonna say week one. I'll say what I said before.
Between now and the trade deadline, a lot of time he's.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
On Twitter at Jason locking For. That is at Jason
locking For and look for the In the dog battle
against Kirk Herbstreak's dog Ben, it's going to be Copper
versus Ben uh, and we'll see who winds up winning.
That's destroying bad well Copper special Copper can talk. That's
pretty good.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
Wow. Get him in the mental and the verbal physical
not so much. We're an old pug mix. Outsleep any dog,
I know?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Okay, Well, well that's that's part of the dog Olympics
is sleeping a lot of noises.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
He can probably make more noises than the average buff.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I mean, wait, maybe we hit him something. Dog. I
think we hit him something.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
He starts more trade rumors than any dogs. For him.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Jay is always buddy appreciated man.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
We'll talk Sayyboddy his dog starting their dog cousins to
the forty nine ers rumor Wow.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We just watched the Suns get swept out of the place. Yeah,
all they did, all the draft picks, they gave up
to get kd All, the draft picks they gave up
to get Bradley Beal, the money they gave Devin Booker,
and you saw at the end of their sweep, Kevin Durant,
not happy how he was used, says, I felt like
(30:46):
maybe it was I was in the corner too much
and use me like they wanted me to. Devin Booker said,
you know, we all have to be better. I felt like,
you know, I was unprepared. Kevin's unprepared. Frank Vogel was unprepared.
And when you say you're unprepared, you can say that
I feel unprepared. But what you're saying is the coaches
were unprepared and they hate him.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Frank vo is what you're saying. I mean it is
ad Darvin Ham from last week just magnified because he
got swept out of the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
There are going to be sweeping changes in Phoenix because
like they are now, they're not good enough. And I
know Booker said a lot today about it. Oh, if
we were healthy, you're all playing this how it goes
in the playoffs. You can't say no one's gonna be
all healthy in the playoffs. You your three stars were
standing and you got swept. This is a team that
needs a reboot. And obviously Booker, being the youngest player,
(31:31):
still a star. They will keep him, they will build
around him. But but you watch in the offseason, it's
gonna be hey, KD, Bradley Beal, what are we gonna do?
And Kd's up for an extension and there's been no
talk about it. So I'm gonna guarantee you this. You
are gonna see a trade with k D and the Lakers.
(31:51):
This is gonna be the lakers last Hail Mary to
salvage the last couple of years of Lebron and ad
Is Kevin Durant. They're not gonna get young superstars. They're
gonna have to find a way. Okay, yeah, Kevin Durant's
thirty six, but he's still KD. Right, he still doesn't
need to dominate. You thought it was gonna work with
what they had in Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
It didn't.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
But the Lakers need something, you know, they need something.
It's not working with Russell and the combination of him
and Reeves and Hutchamore and everything else. That's gonna be
the thing because that's where Kevin Durant's gonna want to
go one last chance at the title. It's not working here, boy,
the Lakers were good. Add me to this mix and
watch what happens. Right, that's you're gonna see him there.
(32:30):
You're gonna see a slow dance with Kevin Durant and
the Lakers. There's gonna be phone calls me back and
forth and we Clutch Sports is gonna be involved, and
that's gonna be the guy the Lakers got. I told
you a loft season. They're gonna get a third star.
They have to get a third star. Is it gonna
be a young third star? They have to go up
a lot for a young third star. But they've done
big trades with Phoenix before, right, just can't say. Just
because their rivals the Steve Nash trade, Lakers still don't
(32:52):
have a first first round pick. The Steve Nash picks
go through twenty forty, so they're giving up all of them.
So we've seen it before and this just makes too
much sense. Where is Kevin Durant going to go to
better himself? Bigger spotlight. This is a team that's gonna
be overwhelmingly okay with bringing him in because hey, KD
could be that guy, and KD is gonna wind up
(33:14):
being a Laker. He's gonna be their big prize in
the offseason, and there'll be younger players going to Phoenix.
They try to figure it out. It'll kind of be
like the Ad trade with the Pelicans, except there will
be a little bit less because Kevin Durant is older
and not quite that player. So it's gonna be more
let's make the salaries match and we're gonna move on
because Phoenix needs to just reboot from the from the
ground up. So he knew ed coach knew everything. Booker's
(33:36):
gonna be there and figure everything else out.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
And they wiped out everything in terms of trade assets
to make this team come together. And then it was
an abject failure at every turn. I mean, you even
saw the Charles Barkley saying you don't even deserve to
go here as you get swept out, So all of
that fun, I don't I don't know what's was Looking
(33:58):
at the odds a little bit earlier, one of the
favorites would be for Durant to go back to OKC
where it all began, which is I think an interesting prospect. Again,
when We're talking about a team that what's the average
age twenty four year seven months and seemingly humming along, Yeah,
let's bring Kevin Durant back in and try to fit
(34:18):
that back in. That doesn't seem to make much sense
to me for the Lakers. One last gasp, because even
earlier this week, right Lebron James as the series went
three to zero, all the whispers of what he want
to stick around? Is he going to leave for another squad?
(34:38):
I don't think retirement's ever been in the offing, but
Lakers versus finding a new place to settle up for
another year or two interesting prospects. Just Durant at this point,
go back to Golden State. Just go back there.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
He's not gonna go back.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
It's not gonna go re equate yourself with all the
tech guys him back to day.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
There's no way. There's no I'm gonna go back there.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Draymond's gonna go oh hell no, oh no, no, no, no,
that I'm out.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Wait a minute, wait, wait, that could be the plan
all along.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Hey God, he goda, Well, that's exactly where my line
of thinking. Wait, we can bring in KD, but it's
gonna mean this and this, I don't know. Clay finally
goes and finds his his one hundred million dollars from
I don't know, say Philadelphia.
Speaker 5 (35:29):
I'm telling you what Raymond's gone.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
I'm telling you, man, Lakers and Kevin Durant that that
it makes too much sense for where KD would end
up and what the Lakers could get. It's you can't
say we're getting Westbrook again. No, we're getting a bit
of a better player this time. Uh, and a guy
that's still in his in his the end of his prime,
and someone who can help carry and and wouldn't that
be great for the Lakers. You're suddenly looking at Wow, okay,
(35:52):
hey on a second, man, Maybe we just extended our
run a little bit here, because if Lebron retires in
two years and we have KD in the same place
Lebron is now, we have some we have a couple
of years to bring another star in.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
But you can see that.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Look, they've built a pretty nice team right now. But
when it when you look at the results, you can't
hold on your your Your team is not good enough,
not enough firepower, not making enough, not making shots from
the outside. Yeah, this is what it's gonna be KD
is gonna wind up being a Laker. It's just gonna slowly, subtly,
and very seductively dance towards each other. Well, and if
(36:25):
that dance were to occur, I'm gonna go back. And
perhaps your best moment here at Fox Sports Radio was
you're over under analysis of the Brooklyn Nets. Oh yeah,
yeah when KD and those guys all team. When I
say sixty games would be undertal yeah yeah, what twenty?
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:41):
What would you say for a full year of eighty
Lebron and KD on the court to get Ooh how
about that tough guy?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I know what right would it count if every game
two out of the three guys play?
Speaker 5 (36:53):
Oh, meat loaf was all about two out of three?
Ain't bad? I want all three of them on the court.
So there you go, shout out.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
That's gonna be your consolation prize Lakers. Is Kevin Durant
tired of feeling a loan in your job?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Seartch.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
With just one connection, you can find endless job opportunities.
That connection is Express Employment Professionals. Don't go it alone.
Visit expresspros dot com to find the location nearest to you.
That's expresspros dot Com. Now, before we bring Steve to
Sagarin for what's trending, this is what I'm going to
tell you, something that's going to just slay both of you.
So last hour, we had the joke Jason Lockinforrest dot
Buy that his dog was breaking news and you know,
(37:28):
thinking that in a year Kirk Cousins will get traded.
We kind of had fun there and we talked about
talking dogs and different animals that have been famous. Now,
we just watched quiz Show in My House nineteen ninety four, classic,
believably good. Oh my god, Paul Schofield, how did he
not win? I have no idea, but because Martin Landau
beat him that year. But quiz Show was so good.
Speaker 5 (37:49):
You leave Martin Landau alone and in the.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
And it was takes take place in the fifties. Quiz
show scandal Ray Fines phenomenal with John Taturo. Yeah, true story,
And one of the plot lines of it was that
Ray findes his character gets a job on The Today Show.
Right he answers all these questions, he gets very popular.
Charles Van Doran, It's job on the Today Show and
they show him on on on set with the actor
(38:12):
playing Dave Garaway and.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Jafred Muggs is dem Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
They had a chimpanzee who was like the mascot of
the Today Show in the fifties. So I was gonna
make a jay Fred Muggs joke last hour on the show.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
I looked at Hm.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I said, Oh, I don't want to be harmon and
bring up you know, and bring up you know, a
dead animal.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
No compliment there, And I looked it up.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Jfred Muggs is alive and living in retirement in Florida.
The chimp on TV from the nineteen to ship from
the nineteen fifties. His breed of chimpanzee can live into
their eighties. He is in retirement in Florida and he's
been there, they said, living his best life and foot
if you do, Jafred Muggs alive, first to go boom.
(38:53):
Jay Fred Muggs alive, living in Florida.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
He's seventy two years old.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
He was born in nineteen fifty two.
Speaker 5 (38:59):
How about that.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
That's amazing because the quiz show contested Herbs Temple is
not alive. No, No, Herb Stemple is alive. He's the
only one who is alive. No, I think Herb in
recent years past tway really yeah, now you're bringing up yes, yeah,
you're bringing John Tature.
Speaker 5 (39:13):
I thought I thought he was the only Okay, he
might have been.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
The last living living person. Oh that that Ryan Bersching
are jumping it. Yes, no, he's dead.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Bring us Well, you got your secondary confirmation. You asked
me before which guy did AD run into? I said,
Porter and immediately, hey, birsay.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Who did he run into?
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Couldn't believe me there, couldn't believe Steve that the guy
was dead. Herb Stemple would have known that answer.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yes, he would have. Am I dead? I don't know
how did I know? Of course I knew Marty was
best picture.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
I saw it three times in but I had to
say no, I'm alive and get eliminated.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
Marty Ernie Borgne getting after it.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
But j Fred Muggs is still alive. I cannot believe that.
I cannot believe that we should go visit him.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Oh, visit j Fred on the Real Today Show.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I mean, yeah, they don't even know that. Yeah, no,
it's amaze.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I'm like, he's still alive. Oh my god, it's gonna
make an appearance. I mean tall Roker's been on long enough.
Somebody longer than that should be on the show. Quiz
Show is thirty years old. Now that's how old I
knew there was, right, Yeah, you told me. In ninety
four j Fred Muggs was still alive. I would say, oh,
come on, man, come on, you can't sl it.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
Nope, it's like those one hundred and ninety year old
tortoises that are walking around.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
Man, let's go. The guy was walking through a towny Chin.
I saw it in the TikTok world. He had a
little hat on him, taking his turtle out for a walk.
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon 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
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
The Nuggets look like they are walking away with a
one oh eight one oh six win over the Lakers.
Jamal Murray hits a runner in the lane with about
four seconds left to go. The Lakers try to inbound
it fast. They get the ball to Lebron near half court,
who it looks like, tries to draw the shooting foul
(00:51):
the old Chris Paul move, I'm pretending I'm shooting from
half court. Uh, and no whistle is blown. The ball
is loose. The Lakers pick it up. I think Katcha
Mura had a desperation he from the other side of
half court. It does not go and the Nuggets have eliminated.
The Lakers buy a bucket Jamal Murray into the lane
(01:12):
for a floater, the one hander going away from the hoop.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
He had two.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Lakers around him, and you just have to nod and
say the Nuggets were the better team. They had guys
hitting clutch shots after clutch shots. Murray is second game
winner of the series, and now the Denver Nuggets move
on to the second round of the playoffs. The Lakers
go home forty seven and thirty five for the season.
One eight, one six is the final, Aaron Gordon hitting
(01:39):
a huge three in the final minute for the Nuggets,
Lebron tying the game with a couple of free throws,
but then it's Jamal Murray in the final possession, a
fallaway one hander for his thirty second point of the night,
and the Lakers lose and the Nuggets go on the
drive defending the title.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Is still there.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Not too bad for a guy wasn't supposed to play
right all those question marks and for LEBRONI gets challenged
by Jokich. The ball ended up in the hands of
Torrian Prince, who'd come in as a substitution for D'Angelo
Russell down the stretch. Free throw disparity in this one
(02:19):
twenty seven to nine.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, Lakers went to the free throw line a lone
few times.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Many the three point attempt differential is only two so
any of the Oh they take us outside?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
No, no, no, they tried to work inside quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Jokis getting mauled a number of drives down low, no harm,
no foul.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Kind of curious just down the final minutes. But Murray
with that floater. So money in big moments.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Look, it's it's and it's nothing different than what we
talked about earlier. The Nuggets are a younger team, their
stars are younger, they're fresher at the end of games.
This is why they've won this series. That's why the
Lakers have gone out to a lead in every game.
The Nuggets have reeled them in. The Lakers get tired
because of their age playing in the mile high air,
and the Nuggets have enough left at the end. Now again,
(03:08):
was this a competitive five games score? Yes, it might
be the most competitive game series. I've won three more,
three more years and the Lakers will beat the Nuggets,
who was a competitive sweep. Now it's competitive five games.
Next year, competitive six games, next year, competitive seven games.
In the fifth year, competitive seven games and the Lakers win.
Finally Lebron at forty four.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I was gonna finally beat the nugget Who saw that
Lakers squad at that Lebron Kevin Durant KD.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Is forty Yeah, look, look that that's what it is.
You can you can sum up the Lakers and Lebron's
gonna get killed and a D is gonna get killed
in all this, and I understand them. There's some there's
some things to get to with the Lakers, but the
bottom line is this. The Nuggets are the champs. They're
the better team. They're starting five is better. They get better.
They get more clutch plays from Aaron Gordon and even
(03:54):
even Michael Porter Junior had a huge game tonight. He
had five threes tonight. The Nugget's get more from their
supporting cast. Their stars are a little bit better. They
dominate a little bit more. Jamal Murray is a ball
dominant point guard that can make big shots, and he
lives for the big shots. The Lakers have Lebron and
a D and so oftentimes the offense bogs down, it
(04:16):
becomes Lebron iso plays. The Nuggets are just better. You
can cut it out any way. You want to be
and I know Lebron, look at Lebron this see the
Lakers all out in the first round. Yes, we'll get
to all that, but right now, this moment in time,
why the Nuggets win and they're moving on to the
second round. The Lakers are going home. The Nuggets are
just better and and you knew, and I'm watching this
final play going Murray's gonna hit this shot because the
(04:39):
Nuggets hit every shot right. You know, they're made for
the Lakers. They love going up against the Lakers. You
can see it. It felt like a conference finals game today,
the back and forth, and you just knew Murray's gonna
find the open spot. He's gonna hit a shot. And
that's exactly what he did.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Yeah, you saw him come off the Joki screen and
a wide open lane to make the floater. You know,
you talk about him in big moments and what he's
meant to this squad rise up, especially for the injury history.
Whenever we talk about stars and you know their paths
to to where they, you know, climb the mountain, he
(05:15):
certainly has had a few along the way, and tonight,
you know, a lot of expectation.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
I didn't see the betting line move much so the.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Expectation was he'd give it a go the old college try,
which means you play rope a dope with some of
the injury reports. Ah, it's a lot worse. I'll tell
you he's questionable. And then he's running up and down.
And there was one moment though, that he had in
the fourth quarter where he came down after a shot
and they called the time out after he made a shot.
The Lakers did, one of the few times Darvin Ham
(05:43):
actually used the time out in that circumstance. Remember that
fourteen to two run they went on. There was no
time out to try to know when Dicky Viteal was
back in his heyday really calling up games and wish
him well and good health. Sorry, the White Sox swept
your raise, you know, to get a teo screen was
always there, and Laker fans, no doubt, were ready to
(06:04):
throw things through their televisions because they were watching the
game once again start to slip away because they heat
it up.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
Gordon made a couple of.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Big rebound He had thirteen rebounds on the night while
he was only seven points, but for Jamal Murray is
thirty two including that floater. You know, he's a guy
that when the game's on the line. How many how
many guys do we have that that? You say that
in the NBA? Yeah, just get it to him. Yeah,
the teams have closers. That guy's a closer.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
And he doesn't like being called playoff Jamal Murray because
he's but he's playoff Jamal Murray.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
What do people remember? People don't remember what you do?
Speaker 4 (06:41):
He had a random mid January game against the Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
I'm sorry, you can score eighty. Yeah, you'll get brought
up when another guy is close to score eighty.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Now you want to just now because now we get
to Jamal Murray from it? Right, that's the Nuggets are
just better Jamal Murray. You get to the twenty nineteen
twenty twenty season and the series in the Bubble with
the Lakers, when I remember talking to this saying, man,
the era of the Nuggets is it may be here,
Like it is coming fast. Jokic and Murray is flipping phenomenal.
(07:16):
It could be here. The Lakers get the title in
the Bubble, ad hits the Big Three, they beat the
Nuggets and knock them out. Murray then has a couple
of injury plagued seasons and the Nuggets don't win. And
he had a whole season that he missed. He had
missed most of another season he missed the end of
the season, almost missed, almost like the equivalent of three playoffs.
(07:37):
He almost missed. If he doesn't get hurt, the Nuggets
have at least one, if not two, more titles. Just
to think about injury for a second. If he doesn't
get hurt, this could be a team that, hey, we're
going for our third in a row. See now it's
the extension of the Marvel universe like you were doing
with your guy Jalen Brunson as Captain America. Because now
we're doing that whole animated what if thing. Yeah, because Nuggets,
(07:59):
Because look, you know, he missed the entire twenty one
twenty two season. By the time he came back, he
was not he was not the same guy. Took him
a while to come back, but this is where he
is now. They would have at least one more and
they'd be going for a three peat. Maybe they'd have two,
but they'd have at least one more because they would
probably come back twenty twenty one he gets hurt. But
twenty twenty one, twenty one, twenty two, definitively last year
(08:23):
they win. I mean it really it could be. It
could be as it could be the last two years,
last three years, they could have won. Remember the first year,
it was, hey, he should be coming back here for
the play he should be coming back, should be coming back.
Where wait? Why is he not coming back? Why is
he not coming back? What's going on? Why can't the
guy come back? Because they thought he would come back
for the for the playoffs? Why where is he? Where's
he didn't come back and play? But I mean that
that's really you talk about injuries and what they do
(08:44):
to the playoffs. Just think about it from that perspective
of he doesn't if he doesn't tear his acl. I mean,
we could be looking at the going right from the
Warriors dynasty into the Nuggets dynasty.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Now we go right to the post game. The first shot.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I mean, you want to talk about really putting on
a brace and a wrap and everything to make it
look like you can't walk and that you're totally done.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
It's like a.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Magical healing occurred before the tip off. But you're right,
I mean, we have these twists and turns in history
of the NBA and all other sports. Right, we did
a podcast series called Special Teams a couple of years ago.
You can still find it out there wherever you download
your audio, where we'd go through some of the magical
(09:29):
runs of squads, and virtually I would say at least
half of them started with, well this guy was hurt
the year before, or they navigated through when this guy
misses half a season and comes back, you know, to
be a contributor or whatever the case was. And that's
like history is littered with teams at every level in
(09:50):
that regard. And for the NBA when we often talk
about depth in the playoffs and needing to have a
roster that's ready, but we know the bench shortens, you
don't get as much the contribution. What was it a
fourteen to eleven bench lead for the Nuggets in this
one to clinch things off, But you need two or
(10:13):
three superstars and at least that one guy that, no
matter the circumstance, wants the ball and missing a guy
like him and Porter Junior to think of all the
injuries he's had, right that, Because I mean, you could
do the Murray line but add Porter Junior, who missed
a ton of time. Remember coming out of college, you know,
is the basketball equivalent of Rob Gronkowski, Like, well, if
(10:34):
he can stay healthy and avoid extra back injuries, this
guy could be great. And now they've both been great.
But in parallel, you know, with the Jamal Murray side,
is is it Porter Junior is there for all of
that run as well? Perhaps there's that title or two,
but you know, the old to be the man, you
gotta beat the man.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
And it'll be curious.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
The young guns are really out in the Western Conference.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I mean, just think, just think about how what Denver
could be going for had he not gotten I mean,
I got he got hurt and it happened, and it
took him a long time to get back, and I
get it. But just think about that for set where
they'd be going. Because we talk about great duos in
the league and Lebron and a d and Giannis and
Lillard and all this, but I mean, really Jokich and
Murray and they're both well on the on the right,
(11:19):
you know, on the right, on the left side of thirty.
This is a you know, this is this They're unstoppable.
When when he is healthy. They're absolutely unstopped.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
We'll say one of my favorite moments of the game
was with the four fifteen left Murray gets the ball
and dunks on Lebron and then he totally did the
full Lebron most muscular shoulder shrug pose that Lebron does
after dunking, and like he couldn't hold a straight face
after he did it. That's that's where we're at, at
(11:50):
this level of chaos in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Play.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (12:04):
Hey, this is Tom Ferducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have accorded to the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties.
It's the Book of Joe Podcasts. I can't wait for this, Joe.
Speaker 7 (12:18):
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
dugout and behind the scenes in Major.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
League Baseball, cars, wind whatever else we want to talk about. Yeah, well,
there are no boundaries right.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Listen to the Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app,
on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Fox
Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon and The Nuggets with Jamal Murray. Call him
game making the game winner with three seconds left, the
Nuggets eliminate the Lakers. Buy a bucket one eight, one
(12:50):
oh six. They win the series four games to one.
And yes, we talked about the fact the Nuggets are
just a better team than the right You can say
a lot they're better. Yes, the games were closed. A
lot of things happen, but this doesn't matter if it's
Darvin Ham or not. But this is a reason why
Darvin Ham's gonna lose his job as Lakers head coach.
(13:14):
Here's the play by play of the final shot of
the game. Jamal Murray, for the second time this series,
hitting a game winner basically at the buzzer to win
it for the Nuggets.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Difference of two seconds the game clock and the shot clock.
Worst case scenario, we're going to overtime. They'll get your screen,
Murray to try to play the time. They'll talking out
about the Lakers. I gotta go, James, A pump for food,
a punch shot, no soos on the clock, the Nuggets
a dance play.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
You have won, So Reggie Miller not right, worst case
scenario going over there. This is what's so abominable for
the Lakers on this final play, right, because yes, Nuggets
were better, Lakers have faltered late, but look at what
they do defensively on this play. It is abominable. Okay,
(14:04):
Murray's got the ball on the right side of the court,
about five or six feet behind the three point line.
He drives to the left. Okay, Now, if you are
the Lakers, who are the two people you do not
want to take this shot? Jamal Murray, Nikola Jyokich, Right,
these two guys you don't want to see take the shot.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
What happens? Murray drifts over to the left, and two
things happen. Ruey Hachimura stands there and allows Jamal Murray
even though it's a floater falling away. It's a one
hander from the elbow, and Ruey Hachimura just stands there
like I want to guard against him ditching the ball
off to somebody. Who the hell is Jamal Murray going
(14:43):
to pass it to unless it's Nikola jokicch right, So
you got ruey Hachimura who just stands there and does nothing. Right,
So Murray doesn't get anybody in his face, the guy
who you know is gonna take the shot or Yokic.
These are the guys, so no one's in his face, right,
What does Ad do? Ads on yok When the ball
goes to Murray?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
What does Ad do?
Speaker 1 (15:02):
He kind of floats to the side, and you figure, okay,
he's gonna get out on Murray and is gonna go
out and get a hand in his face. Instead, he
kind of stands. He takes a step back under the
basket looking for the rebound. Meanwhile, there's still five seconds
left at this point. If Murray doesn't like this shot,
Nikola Jokic is wide open on the other side because
(15:24):
Ad is left Jokic. AD's just standing there guarding nothing.
Ruyachimor is guarding nothing. So if Murray doesn't like the
shot for some reason, he just has to look to
his right and Yo could say, hey, give it to me.
They're not guarding me, like the Lakers were so worried always.
He gon adition it like it's like we don't want
to give up an easy bat. We don't want to
make it look like we didn't have this play covered
(15:44):
and it's gonna be some kind of backdoor play and
Aaron Gordon's in there for a dunk or KCP gets
a basket and gets in Lebron's face. It's like they
It's like I felt they were. They were so they
were so focused on we don't want to look bad
on this play, and instead they allow the best player
and the second best player on the team to have
carte blanche on the floor. Jamal Murray has all kinds
(16:06):
of room, nobody gets in his face for the last shot,
and if he wanted to pass, Jokich was wide open
on the other side. So I mean, seriously, what are
the Lakers doing, Like, whether that's Darvin Ham or not,
that is inexcusable. And this is this is where you
say someone needs to come in that can say, Okay,
I need to get you guys on this page to
play this right way now. Because again, it doesn't matter
(16:28):
if it's what Darvin Ham put out there, it was terrible.
If it was the Lakers freelancing because they listened to Darvinham,
that's the same thing. But like, I see that play
and I go, what what are the Lakers saying coming
out of this, out of the huddle. What are they saying?
Don't let Michael Porter beat us? What are they saying
coming out of don't let Aaron Gordon beat us? What
are they telling each other when they come out of
the huddle. It makes no sense, makes absolutely no sense
(16:49):
that the two guys you said, we got to make
somebody else other than these two guys beat us. These
are the two guys that would wind up beat him
for the game.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yeah, just watching that play on a loop, right, you
get the screen, you got Yoki and Davis battling. Jokic
comes out, screens off Reeves, so Reeves is trying to
recover from that, and then as you said, he gets
towards the elbow and Hatchamura is there anticipating something, and
we're not going to be sure what until one of
(17:15):
them faces the music here. But you know, coming out
of the free throw, you had Lebron James made those
two free throws to make it a tie ball game,
and then there's no time out. The Nuggets inbound the
ball and they're playing because they've got the two stars
to close things out, and so there's no time to huddle,
(17:37):
there's no time to discuss the defensive arrangement. That's all
coming from the bench and your leaders, right Lebron and
Ad and calling it out. So in the end, Murray
gets the free look and you're right, Jokic if you
do the freeze frame because Davis had slumped back into
the lane and Jokicic just stops like, all right, ball
(17:58):
might come back my way, nice little easy jump shot,
lean in. Maybe he he cuts to the basket and
gets a you know, a quick layup.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah, Like if a d had stayed with Jokic, that
I could understand. Okay, you know what, Hey, I'm gonna
stay with Yokic. They're not going to inbound the ball
to him. I'm gonna stay with him. You have the
U four have to worry about, worry about Jamal Murray
making sure he doesn't win the game. But but even
Ad backed off at the end.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Of side, I had options.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I had options like Michael Balloon's gotta walk off and
go Well, but that's it.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
He walked. He didn't use the timeout.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
He he still had two timeouts as the game ends, right,
So you'd have the question if if Murray misses the
shot and it goes to ot, it's like then what
And then the Lakers they're out of timeouts. They didn't
call any in pretty obvious situations, but they're still out
of timeouts, so they go for the quick inbound and
Lebron tries.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
To get into jokicch a bit.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Instead, it's it's a pass over to Prince who who
this is the forty foot shot? If both of them
were looking for falls like Darvin Ham comes sprinting down
looking at that.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Point, if you're Lebron, I try to just dribble and
get the foul on Jokic, and because Jokic is right
there and not move trying to.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Yeah anyway, he gets it his way and he makes
the pass off to Prince.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Well, they couldn't figure out defense. Do you think they're
going to figure out to play on the fly? Right there?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Come on, man, be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, we'll have more.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
NBA on the way, but joining us now to put
a nice big red bow on the NFL Draft longtime
NFL insider. Check them out on Twitter at Jason lock
and four on Odyssey Washington Post one of five to
seven the Fan in Baltimore, j Law, what's happening, Bud?
Speaker 6 (19:45):
What's going on? Gentlemen? How was your draft?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
The draft was good. I was happy for the Jets.
I think Harmon is very happy for the Bears, fairly ecstatically.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yeah, you know, and no.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Games have been played and we haven't lost, so we're
feeling pretty good in the offseason.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
Jason, that time of the football seasons in the Jets,
I agree with you, guys entirely.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I feel pretty good.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Now.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Listen, you should you should be excited.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yeah, I'm I'm excited when we want to.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, but this is when the Jets do their best work,
Jay is in the in the off season. It's the
it's the pesky games that give us trouble.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
Yeah, I'm not even sure they're very good at this,
but yeah, it's definitely better than the game.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Okay, So with all the teams you saw, we've had
time to look and see what's the one or two
teams when you go, wow, they really aste it. If
it's the Jets, that's fine. But they really hasty. You
love what they did.
Speaker 6 (20:36):
I mean, look, I'm not going to sit here and
tell you that I know these kids. I talked to,
you know, a fair amount of people and uh, you know,
sort of kicked it around with a few guys I
talked to about this kind of stuff. And I think
the Steelers, you know, they they have really uh kind
(20:58):
of changed their identity here and they now have a
super athletic quarterback and I'm talking about justin Fields, not
Russell Wilsons.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And.
Speaker 6 (21:10):
A reconstructed offensive line, and with the way they started
running the ball last year, and with what they already
had on defense, and a few of these pieces now
sprinkled in, and if they do come away with a
veteran wide receiver at some point between now and week
I'll say week eight, by the trade deadline, then you know,
(21:32):
I think they're a really interesting football team. Like yeah,
I mean, I know, the kid like the kid Wilson
and Nancy State linebackers. One of my favorite players in
the draft. And I don't know that he's going to
have the longest career in the world, but I know
he's going to play, you know, like Dick Buckets for
(21:53):
as long as he can, and he's wired a certain
way and had him into that defensive front. And with
what they've done in free agency, like I think Pittsburgh
stands out for me as a positive. Like I'm seeing
plus seven fifty for Pittsburgh to win that division. I'm
(22:13):
in on that. I'm sprinkling there. And on the other side,
I did the Giants, like I don't know how They're
the only people in the league. I don't think they
needed a quarterback, you know, and apparently they were like
Drake may or Bust which blows my mind because that's
the kid that the guys I trust in the league
like the least. So you know, of that top really
(22:36):
of the top five, I would say, because I definitely
talk to some people who preferred Pennix, especially if you
were going to play him sooner rather than later. Now
who knows, because Penis might not play for five years
according to the Falcon So you know that would that
would really you want to talk about that insult the injury.
We finally direct a quarterback who might be good. Now
we're going to wait four years to play him and
(22:56):
we all know that that's bs, but they said it.
I just don't see how the giants like think they're
going to win this way, and for guys whose jobs
are on the line, I think they made some interesting choices.
And the Titans draft didn't do much for me either.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, since you brought it up, the Michael Panics junior,
everybody's falling all over themselves for reason, slash excuses, slash
justifications to tell everybody how smart they are and making
this choice.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
I'm still not there and I've been able to do it.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
It's a great thought exercise, Jason, But you just paid
this guy, even if it's mostly in two years, you
paid him at dollars.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
Yeah, it doesn't make sense. It's incongruous. Now, that doesn't
mean that Panics won't turn out to be one of
or maybe even the best quarterback in this draft. But
there's just you know, ultimately, a lot of this sport
is about that set allocation right and how you distribute
(23:58):
a finite amount of funds. Does these billionaires only want
to spend but so much and a finite amount of resources.
You can only carry so many players on your roster.
It wants right and a finite amount of cat money.
And to act like this was part of some master
plan is if it was a master plan, it's actually
more shameful than it wasn't you know, to mean, that's
(24:18):
really like, here's what we're going to do, like I
and look, a lot of this is driven by the owner.
My reporting about Penix and the possibility of him going
eighth overall prior to the draft was driven by what
I was hearing about the way the owner was talking
in that building. So he's cool with it, and it's
his money, but it's backwards. I mean, you just think
(24:41):
of what you could have done to build around this.
And if you're at eight and you're not sure he's
going to be there, then you just have the conviction
to move up or whatever. But for a twenty four
year old who's played as much as he has, who
had the success he had for him to not like
(25:02):
he now he's sitting like he's some twenty one year
old kid, it's really bizarre. And I think it'll come
to a head in I don't know, nine months, because
I don't think her cousin's going to be there for
year two one way or the other. Like I don't
think that scenario exists. So he's gonna be there for
one year, and then he's going to be treated San
(25:24):
Francisco and we'll see what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Jason locking for with us here The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Carmon Live from the ti rag dot com Studios.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
All right, another quarterback here.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
It's not just about him, but it's about what he
brings and what else they have done in the off season.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And it did during the draft.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
But I will be surprised, and Mike Harmon's gonna faint
when I say this, I will be really surprised if
the Bears aren't in the playoffs next year. I'd be
really surprised if they they can't flip that seven win
season into a ten or eleven win season with the
moves they've made in an NFC where you could say, hey,
you know, on paper they have a really strong roster.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
Yeah, I don't know. You know, I think they may
have to walk before they run, Like I'm not there.
I know there's a lot of people who are going
to like look at them and say, well, that's the
the NFC's version of the twenty twenty three Texans, right,
And I'm not sure that on the offensive side of
the ball, the staff they have is going to be there,
(26:22):
and I'm not sure that that's going to be the
group that is long term with Caleb Williams certainly made
stripes defensively last year. That's a tough division though, you know,
like if we're looking for parallels on teams that have
done this, it's usually they're in a garbage division, Like
I don't know the AFC South last year, especially with Jacksonville,
(26:43):
you know, peeing down's leg every week. So I don't know, man.
I think very you know, highly of the Packers and
also the Lions and Minnesota. Look, Minnesota was hanging around
to the end with Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens and
all these dudes like Kevin O'Connell. I think he's a
pretty sharp cookie. You know, they've got to go to Houston,
they've got to go to San Francisco. You know. Even
(27:05):
their games like Chicago against the NFC West, like, I
don't know, man, Like are those layups for them? Like
I'm not ready to say that. And any NFC team
against an AFC division, even if you're catching a lesser one,
like ask Cal Shanahan about that. He went two and
four against the AFC last year. Now he did it
to put it north, But I don't know, guys, Like
(27:28):
I kind of need to see it before I buy it.
Like what I'm hoping there is that there is this
huge hype train and every time, you know, they complete
a forward pass at OTA's, it's the lead story in
the six o'clock news there. And so let's get that
win total up to like nine and a half and
then I'll fade it with abandon Like right now, eight
and a half's a little snug from me. If you
made me better, i'd go under, actually, because you're getting
(27:50):
plus money and if you're making me wait six months
to get my money back, I at least want to
feel like I'm getting more than I put down. Like
that's just me, you know what I mean. I'm not
in the futures bets, you know, minus one to eighty five, Like, yeah,
that's not how I roll. Like I could figure out
something else to do with that money in the meantime
for that return. But uh, let's see. I'm here for
the hype train because I want to fade them.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
The old shawsh Ink line that I I knowed you.
I want to fade them, oh the you know, hope
is a dangerous thing and Bears fans will remember that,
I think in short order. Well, but given the way
you laid out the division is you know kind of
where I sit is. You know, it's it's a long
road there and looks great on paper. Now you actually
have to go win games. But uh, you brought up
(28:34):
San Francisco in the Kirk Cousins analysis last one for
real quick, Well, just.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
Briefly, that dog Copper, I didn't somebody whispered it.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
It wasn't they, No, it could have.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Been maybe I got voices in my own head. Now,
but he's got a talking dog. That's a pretty big story.
I mean, I was gonna listen to the dog.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
That's pretty that's a pretty big I thought you were asleep.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
That's all righty, he's veteran wide receivers actually going to
get dealt.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Well, I tell you this much. I don't think the
book getting paid in San Francisco, So you know, I
don't know. Maybe there's an in between, but uh, I'm
a lot of time between now and I'm not eve
gonna say week one. I'll say what I said before.
Between now and the trade deadline, a lot of time he's.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
On Twitter at Jason locking For. That is at Jason
locking For and look for the In the dog battle
against Kirk Herbstreak's dog Ben, it's going to be Copper
versus Ben uh, and we'll see who winds up winning.
That's destroying bad well Copper special Copper can talk. That's
pretty good.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
Wow. Get him in the mental and the verbal physical
not so much. We're an old pug mix. Outsleep any dog,
I know?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Okay, Well, well that's that's part of the dog Olympics
is sleeping a lot of noises.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
He can probably make more noises than the average buff.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I mean, wait, maybe we hit him something. Dog. I
think we hit him something.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
He starts more trade rumors than any dogs. For him.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Jay is always buddy appreciated man.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
We'll talk Sayyboddy his dog starting their dog cousins to
the forty nine ers rumor Wow.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We just watched the Suns get swept out of the place. Yeah,
all they did, all the draft picks, they gave up
to get kd All, the draft picks they gave up
to get Bradley Beal, the money they gave Devin Booker,
and you saw at the end of their sweep, Kevin Durant,
not happy how he was used, says, I felt like
(30:46):
maybe it was I was in the corner too much
and use me like they wanted me to. Devin Booker said,
you know, we all have to be better. I felt like,
you know, I was unprepared. Kevin's unprepared. Frank Vogel was unprepared.
And when you say you're unprepared, you can say that
I feel unprepared. But what you're saying is the coaches
were unprepared and they hate him.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Frank vo is what you're saying. I mean it is
ad Darvin Ham from last week just magnified because he
got swept out of the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
There are going to be sweeping changes in Phoenix because
like they are now, they're not good enough. And I
know Booker said a lot today about it. Oh, if
we were healthy, you're all playing this how it goes
in the playoffs. You can't say no one's gonna be
all healthy in the playoffs. You your three stars were
standing and you got swept. This is a team that
needs a reboot. And obviously Booker, being the youngest player,
(31:31):
still a star. They will keep him, they will build
around him. But but you watch in the offseason, it's
gonna be hey, KD, Bradley Beal, what are we gonna do?
And Kd's up for an extension and there's been no
talk about it. So I'm gonna guarantee you this. You
are gonna see a trade with k D and the Lakers.
(31:51):
This is gonna be the lakers last Hail Mary to
salvage the last couple of years of Lebron and ad
Is Kevin Durant. They're not gonna get young superstars. They're
gonna have to find a way. Okay, yeah, Kevin Durant's
thirty six, but he's still KD. Right, he still doesn't
need to dominate. You thought it was gonna work with
what they had in Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
It didn't.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
But the Lakers need something, you know, they need something.
It's not working with Russell and the combination of him
and Reeves and Hutchamore and everything else. That's gonna be
the thing because that's where Kevin Durant's gonna want to
go one last chance at the title. It's not working here, boy,
the Lakers were good. Add me to this mix and
watch what happens. Right, that's you're gonna see him there.
(32:30):
You're gonna see a slow dance with Kevin Durant and
the Lakers. There's gonna be phone calls me back and
forth and we Clutch Sports is gonna be involved, and
that's gonna be the guy the Lakers got. I told
you a loft season. They're gonna get a third star.
They have to get a third star. Is it gonna
be a young third star? They have to go up
a lot for a young third star. But they've done
big trades with Phoenix before, right, just can't say. Just
because their rivals the Steve Nash trade, Lakers still don't
(32:52):
have a first first round pick. The Steve Nash picks
go through twenty forty, so they're giving up all of them.
So we've seen it before and this just makes too
much sense. Where is Kevin Durant going to go to
better himself? Bigger spotlight. This is a team that's gonna
be overwhelmingly okay with bringing him in because hey, KD
could be that guy, and KD is gonna wind up
(33:14):
being a Laker. He's gonna be their big prize in
the offseason, and there'll be younger players going to Phoenix.
They try to figure it out. It'll kind of be
like the Ad trade with the Pelicans, except there will
be a little bit less because Kevin Durant is older
and not quite that player. So it's gonna be more
let's make the salaries match and we're gonna move on
because Phoenix needs to just reboot from the from the
ground up. So he knew ed coach knew everything. Booker's
(33:36):
gonna be there and figure everything else out.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
And they wiped out everything in terms of trade assets
to make this team come together. And then it was
an abject failure at every turn. I mean, you even
saw the Charles Barkley saying you don't even deserve to
go here as you get swept out, So all of
that fun, I don't I don't know what's was Looking
(33:58):
at the odds a little bit earlier, one of the
favorites would be for Durant to go back to OKC
where it all began, which is I think an interesting prospect. Again,
when We're talking about a team that what's the average
age twenty four year seven months and seemingly humming along, Yeah,
let's bring Kevin Durant back in and try to fit
(34:18):
that back in. That doesn't seem to make much sense
to me for the Lakers. One last gasp, because even
earlier this week, right Lebron James as the series went
three to zero, all the whispers of what he want
to stick around? Is he going to leave for another squad?
(34:38):
I don't think retirement's ever been in the offing, but
Lakers versus finding a new place to settle up for
another year or two interesting prospects. Just Durant at this point,
go back to Golden State. Just go back there.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
He's not gonna go back.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
It's not gonna go re equate yourself with all the
tech guys him back to day.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
There's no way. There's no I'm gonna go back there.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Draymond's gonna go oh hell no, oh no, no, no, no,
that I'm out.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Wait a minute, wait, wait, that could be the plan
all along.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Hey God, he goda, Well, that's exactly where my line
of thinking. Wait, we can bring in KD, but it's
gonna mean this and this, I don't know. Clay finally
goes and finds his his one hundred million dollars from
I don't know, say Philadelphia.
Speaker 5 (35:29):
I'm telling you what Raymond's gone.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
I'm telling you, man, Lakers and Kevin Durant that that
it makes too much sense for where KD would end
up and what the Lakers could get. It's you can't
say we're getting Westbrook again. No, we're getting a bit
of a better player this time. Uh, and a guy
that's still in his in his the end of his prime,
and someone who can help carry and and wouldn't that
be great for the Lakers. You're suddenly looking at Wow, okay,
(35:52):
hey on a second, man, Maybe we just extended our
run a little bit here, because if Lebron retires in
two years and we have KD in the same place
Lebron is now, we have some we have a couple
of years to bring another star in.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
But you can see that.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Look, they've built a pretty nice team right now. But
when it when you look at the results, you can't
hold on your your Your team is not good enough,
not enough firepower, not making enough, not making shots from
the outside. Yeah, this is what it's gonna be KD
is gonna wind up being a Laker. It's just gonna slowly, subtly,
and very seductively dance towards each other. Well, and if
(36:25):
that dance were to occur, I'm gonna go back. And
perhaps your best moment here at Fox Sports Radio was
you're over under analysis of the Brooklyn Nets. Oh yeah,
yeah when KD and those guys all team. When I
say sixty games would be undertal yeah yeah, what twenty?
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:41):
What would you say for a full year of eighty
Lebron and KD on the court to get Ooh how
about that tough guy?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I know what right would it count if every game
two out of the three guys play?
Speaker 5 (36:53):
Oh, meat loaf was all about two out of three?
Ain't bad? I want all three of them on the court.
So there you go, shout out.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
That's gonna be your consolation prize Lakers. Is Kevin Durant
tired of feeling a loan in your job?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Seartch.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
With just one connection, you can find endless job opportunities.
That connection is Express Employment Professionals. Don't go it alone.
Visit expresspros dot com to find the location nearest to you.
That's expresspros dot Com. Now, before we bring Steve to
Sagarin for what's trending, this is what I'm going to
tell you, something that's going to just slay both of you.
So last hour, we had the joke Jason Lockinforrest dot
Buy that his dog was breaking news and you know,
(37:28):
thinking that in a year Kirk Cousins will get traded.
We kind of had fun there and we talked about
talking dogs and different animals that have been famous. Now,
we just watched quiz Show in My House nineteen ninety four, classic,
believably good. Oh my god, Paul Schofield, how did he
not win? I have no idea, but because Martin Landau
beat him that year. But quiz Show was so good.
Speaker 5 (37:49):
You leave Martin Landau alone and in the.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
And it was takes take place in the fifties. Quiz
show scandal Ray Fines phenomenal with John Taturo. Yeah, true story,
And one of the plot lines of it was that
Ray findes his character gets a job on The Today Show.
Right he answers all these questions, he gets very popular.
Charles Van Doran, It's job on the Today Show and
they show him on on on set with the actor
(38:12):
playing Dave Garaway and.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Jafred Muggs is dem Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
They had a chimpanzee who was like the mascot of
the Today Show in the fifties. So I was gonna
make a jay Fred Muggs joke last hour on the show.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
I looked at Hm.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I said, Oh, I don't want to be harmon and
bring up you know, and bring up you know, a
dead animal.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
No compliment there, And I looked it up.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Jfred Muggs is alive and living in retirement in Florida.
The chimp on TV from the nineteen to ship from
the nineteen fifties. His breed of chimpanzee can live into
their eighties. He is in retirement in Florida and he's
been there, they said, living his best life and foot
if you do, Jafred Muggs alive, first to go boom.
(38:53):
Jay Fred Muggs alive, living in Florida.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
He's seventy two years old.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
He was born in nineteen fifty two.
Speaker 5 (38:59):
How about that.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
That's amazing because the quiz show contested Herbs Temple is
not alive. No, No, Herb Stemple is alive. He's the
only one who is alive. No, I think Herb in
recent years past tway really yeah, now you're bringing up yes, yeah,
you're bringing John Tature.
Speaker 5 (39:13):
I thought I thought he was the only Okay, he
might have been.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
The last living living person. Oh that that Ryan Bersching
are jumping it. Yes, no, he's dead.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Bring us Well, you got your secondary confirmation. You asked
me before which guy did AD run into? I said,
Porter and immediately, hey, birsay.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Who did he run into?
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Couldn't believe me there, couldn't believe Steve that the guy
was dead. Herb Stemple would have known that answer.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yes, he would have. Am I dead? I don't know
how did I know? Of course I knew Marty was
best picture.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
I saw it three times in but I had to
say no, I'm alive and get eliminated.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
Marty Ernie Borgne getting after it.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
But j Fred Muggs is still alive. I cannot believe that.
I cannot believe that we should go visit him.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Oh, visit j Fred on the Real Today Show.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I mean, yeah, they don't even know that. Yeah, no,
it's amaze.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I'm like, he's still alive. Oh my god, it's gonna
make an appearance. I mean tall Roker's been on long enough.
Somebody longer than that should be on the show. Quiz
Show is thirty years old. Now that's how old I
knew there was, right, Yeah, you told me. In ninety
four j Fred Muggs was still alive. I would say, oh,
come on, man, come on, you can't sl it.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
Nope, it's like those one hundred and ninety year old
tortoises that are walking around.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
Man, let's go. The guy was walking through a towny Chin.
I saw it in the TikTok world. He had a
little hat on him, taking his turtle out for a walk.
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