June 25, 2022 • 36 mins
Jason and Mike try to make sense of the Knicks trades after last nights NBA Draft, Freddy Freeman is extra emotional returning to Atlanta, and Ric Bucher - FOX Sports 1 NBA Analyst joins the guys!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
inside our three, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon. Where look, you know what, let me
just tell you this, because you're smartass guys all about
the Knicks. We are coming for every free agent. Now,
(00:45):
okay that it was embarrassing yesterday, Bill, it was we
are down just a little. We are coming for every
free agent. We're learning from the Mets and we're learning
from Steve Cohen that if there's a player you want, Kyrie,
just go by them and look at where you'll be
twenty games, over five hundred and the best team in
(01:06):
the National League. Uh, the Knicks. You know, last night,
I was I understood what they were doing, but I
because what they wanted to do was we want a
free up money the best way to do this was
to get rid of Kemba Walker for nine million dollars.
You know, people, you know, I get, but it was
embarrassing the way they did it, because they traded. They
(01:27):
made a pick, they traded the pick away, they obtained
a player, they traded the player away that they traded
Kemba Walker away. The optics were bad, but in the
end they got a couple of first round draft picks,
and they got financial flexibility to go after players in
free agency. And clearly they know we are going to
get Jalen Brunson or somebody else that good. You know
(01:51):
that with stop with Kyrie Frostburg stopped trying to sneak
Kyrie in there. It was embarrassing and I get it.
But the day after it's time to understand that, Okay,
this is not Isaiah Thomas's Knicks or the Knicks of
of up until you know, three years ago, they have
good young Throw Phil Jackson under the bus. Phil Phil
(02:13):
was terrible, but the Nick the Knicks now have a
young nucleus of players that are pretty good, and it's
time to give them uh the chance to run the
franchise right. It's time to have Barrett and quickly. And
if you go get Jalen Brunson. Uh, these are the
guys need to run the franchise now. And Obi Toppin
and the veterans that you had like Julius Randall goodbye.
And there's the other guys that are thirty years old
(02:34):
and Derrick Rose and Alec Burk's it's okay, goodbye, and
it's time to let the Knicks and the young players
who have had a couple of years in Tom Thibodeau's
system to understand. Okay, now we're the leaders of this
team where it's a young person's league and and the
Vets have shown us the way. The Knicks can be
pretty good pretty fast. And they will be able to
get at least one star in this offseason, whether it's
(02:56):
by a straight free agent signing or a sign and
trade or a trade of contracts, and the Knicks are
gonna find themselves at at the best spot they've been
in in fifteen years. They were in a good spot
after the end of last year, and they made a
couple of bad free agent signings and Julius Randall wasn't
the guy they thought he was, so they struggled this year.
(03:17):
Now all right, we saw we did last year. It
didn't work, Kemba Walker didn't work, and when Fortier didn't
really work. Julius Randall is now mad and and he's
not the player he was. He had one great year.
We put his banner in the rafters. Julius Randall twenty uh.
So they're going to move on. They have a good
young nucleus of players for the first time in a
long time that are all in their early twenties. They're
(03:39):
gonna add a couple of really good young players in
this offseason, and suddenly they'll make a leap forward where
it'll be It'll it'll be us. It'll be a one
of those rubber band where hey, we got but go
back a little bit to make that step forward. They
made a big step forward a year ago, a step
back this year. Now they'll make a leap forward this
year and be in the mix and be a big
playoff spot. The Eastern ofference. This is not gonna be
(04:01):
a team that's they'll be solidly in the playoff mixed
somewhere five through ten, whether there at least in the playoffs,
or they're in the in the in the playing round.
In that kind of conversation. But I think they're gonna
be better. I think they're gonna be more of a
playoff team, a more of a five six kind of
seed in the Eastern Conference. Yeah. I mean, it's all
all the question of do you divest yourself of your
(04:23):
Julius Randall shares because obviously, look, R J. Barrett's a
fantastic player, and I think you know, we we saw
some of those other third year guys get some shine
and run this year, some fourth year guys when you
start talking about Brunson and others, but that you know,
he's a guy that in the New York market. You
know he got a little bit of run. But the
(04:44):
opportunity is there and obviously quickly strong. So you do
have a few guys to build off of and would
expect it. I do have to ask this as you
were doing your analysis, Uh, you definitely went and I
could feel like you um kind of dancing in your
brain as you did it. Were you going Paula Abdual
(05:04):
Opposites attract or time warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Because you gotta jump in. You had two steps forward
and a step back. You got all of that in
and I just didn't know if you were, you know,
conflating those and doing a good matchup like you were
on Glee or what you were doing. No, I was
definitely more opposite attract than I was. Let's do the
time warp again. So you're you're more of a mc
(05:27):
scat cat kind of guy. Okay, yeah, you take two
steps forward, take two steps back. You come together because
opposites attract, but definitely its attract. You know, trying to
get people who really don't want to play for the
Knicks to recognize that their best path forward is for
their career and protect perhaps to get over in the
(05:48):
Eastern Conference, is to play for the Knicks. The best
thing you can do is they go play for the Knicks.
But I don't want it doesn't matter. Best thing you
can do is go play for the next look the Knicks.
The Knicks are on the way. They figured out how
to build their team. All they did last year was
they they signed the wrong guys. Right they have. I
told you they have a support group of players that
(06:10):
is really good and now they're gonna become players who
have taken that next weep. Look. R J. Barrett is
becoming a star and became a star last year. Good,
these good things happen, but the guys they trusted to
get them there, which are the big signings of last year,
which is Walker and Fournier and the trust and Julius Randall. Okay,
they signed the wrong guys, not the last team to
do that and and won't be the last team to
(06:31):
do that. So now that they they can have more
confidence building in their younger players. Now they bring in
the younger players and guys like Jalen Brunson five years old.
These are the guys who give the big contracts to
you go forward with them. No, I like where the
Knicks round. I like where they were at the end
of las year because they have a mass talent and
now they know what they have to keep. They were
easy to laugh at, but now we're coming for your
(06:51):
free for everyone. Yeah, I appreciate that you've come around
a little bit on Jalen Brunson because you were not
a fan as they exited the playoffs of the idea
you have the Knicks going and getting him. Well, now
I know it's only gonna be about that. It's only
four and a hundred million. Look at that's I'm spending
the next money. This is not like, hey, we gotta
give him forty five million dollars a year now, four
years in a hundred okay, four and hunter for Jalen Brunson. Okay,
(07:13):
that's fine, all right, you're feeling better about that as
you cut that fictional check in your mind. Yes, as
as long as you're good. So as long as it
makes you feel better, I do I I buddy, And
plus the Mets one tonight and the Braves loss, so
I feel good. Oh yeah, No, it's it's all positivity
in the sporting universe. Even though the White Sox lost
(07:33):
again to ball. I'm sorry, buddy, I'm wearing it my
getting My buddies in Baltimore are wearing me out on
my phone. So clean me alone? Yeah, maybe alone. Winnipeg
was was was winning last beat it. You can't. You
can't hide the losses, buddy. They staring you in in the
face every single day. Well no, and then I'm gonna
head home in a couple of weeks and it's gonna
(07:54):
be like, all right, what am I? What am I
walking into? Actually? The baseball God's right, the schedule gets
jelling gods for this trip where you know the world's
collide and I actually have a window to go back home,
uh Detroit at the White Sox over the weekend. And
then the Orioles come to regularly to play the Cubs,
like really really a dozen baseballs and just go stock
(08:18):
all the Uh the Orioles young players like you guys
are rather come hide yo time sign these for these kids.
Appreciate them in five years twittering out about a fresca
Mike and Swallen don't for all your autograph needs as well.
Jason Smiths Show with Mike Harmon with prices sore and
at the pump Discovers got your back with cash back.
You're discovered to earn five percent cash back at gas
(08:40):
stations and a target now through June on up to
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slash rewards limitations they do apply well. This headline from
the NBA today a bit of a shocker, but it
gets into what is next for the Golden State Warriors.
Steve Clifford is going back is Charlotte to coach? Why
(09:02):
is he going back? Because this is the job. Kenny
Atkinson was going to get a Warriors assistant who has
long been viewed as as a as a great individual
coach who's been able to help talent grow. And that's
what Kenny Atkinson has done. That's kind of been his
calling card. He was going to coach Charlotte, but he
backed away, wanted to stay with Golden State, according to
(09:22):
according to Steve Kerr, it was about his family and
he's got kids in school. He didn't want to leave.
He change his mind. We're happy to have him. So
Steve Flifford says, what else am I doing? Sure, I'll
come back to Charlotte. And Steve Flifford has done well
in Charlotte. But this really is about Steve Kerr because
whether or not Kenny Atkinson is the coaching waiting, which
(09:43):
there's no way he's not because to hear Steve Kerr
say yeah, his family, all these things he thought at
a second time. No, these are all things you think
about before you say yes. Kenny Atkins doesn't answer the
phone and they go, hey Kenny, it's Charlotte. Yes, I'll
take the job. I'll tell my wife and kids when
they get home. No. You talk about it and you
decide and then you go. You have that change of
(10:06):
heart or you say no, before you say yes. Every
time someone changes their mind, it's because they were made
a promise by the team. And I've seen it. I've
seen it with the Syracuse Orange and Jim Beheid, where
Mike Hopkins was supposed to be the next coaching waiting.
The problem is Jim Beheid didn't want to retire or
somebody says, I'm gonna go coach someplace else. Josh McDaniels,
(10:27):
I'm sure, was going to be the coaching waiting with
Bill Belichick, but you know what, things change. The Belichick
wanted to stay on. Josh McDaniels finally left. But Steve
Kerr is not a coach that you can see is
gonna be in it for the long haul without taking
a break right. Curs someone who has coached a lot
of basketball, a lot of pressure basketball over the course
(10:48):
of the past seven eight years, and he's won a lot,
and he has been synonymous with Steph and Clay and
Draymond and this dynasty. He's also someone that's had his
share of physical issues. His back prevented him from coaching
a lot. He is a big time candidate for I
need a sabbatical, not that he's done coaching forever, but
just I need some time to step away from the
(11:09):
game before I see what I want to do next.
And he's going to coach as long as the Warriors
are still a championship threat, and then he's going to
walk away. He's not going to oversee a big rebuild.
He's not going to oversee any sort of change in
in in in personnel. If Steph retires or Clay retire. Um,
(11:29):
now now I'm gonna make it work with whoever is next. No,
he will stay through the end of this dynasty. Then
he will walk away, and he will spend some time recharging,
and then he will come back in a year or
two to a different situation. Maybe he comes back to
the Warriors if he wants to. Maybe winds up going
to coach the Knicks because they have the right players
in place. Because remember he said no to the Knicks
because he liked the personnel in Golden State. He'll come
(11:52):
back to a team that he likes the personnel for.
But to think that that Steve Kerr is someone he's
gonna coach every single year. No, guys like him, Sean McVeigh,
they are candidates for sabbatical because they've done a lot.
They're still young. I want a couple of years of
no pressure. I'm not gonna oversee teams, my team not
playing well and not being a championship threat. So the
(12:14):
next year or two, yeah, Steve Kerr will be there,
but after that he'll take a couple of years off.
He's he's gonna be the first guy of the dynasty
that winds up going. It's not gonna be Steph. It's
not gonna be Clays like we Draymond. It's gonna be
Steve Kerr. Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest thing
with Steve Kerr is that you look at a guy
nine nine titles five as a player for as a coach.
He's had some back issues, right physical things. Obviously, wears
(12:37):
his heart on on his sleeve for a number of issues,
particularly when when there's you know, these mass uh episodes
of gun violence and and folks can deride him as
they want, and there have been times from an NBA
perspective where where I've certainly gone at him when he's
lamented the course of the game and such. But the
(12:58):
reality is you've gotta I who who's been in been
in the league forever and around the league forever, and
and he was very good at the broadcasting side of things, right,
He's good with the quote, he's he's sneaky, funny and
and snarky at times with reporters and and has had
his fun right all those clips you saw last week
(13:20):
as you you commemorated the anniversary of Bulls titles and hey,
I had to say, Michael again. You know, there it is,
go do it, Steve, you know. So he's done it
on the big stage. So he can go back and
command twenty million dollars a year togo be a broadcaster, right,
and show up on one of those crews uh in
the the larger vein there. So I think there's certainly
(13:45):
an opportunity from a physical and mental health standpoint, but
also just for a I'm done with this phase and
now we we get back into either something large, you know, societal,
because there's always been speculation that perhaps he steps out
of basketball uh and starts to go back, not necessarily
(14:05):
entering the political fray, but where his life revolves more
about being active in those issues. 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 I Heart Radio app well. Joining
us now on the hot Line Fox Sports one. NBA
(14:28):
insider Extraordinariy longtime friend of the show. You can follow
on Twitter at Rick Buker, That is at Rick Buker
and I will welcome in Rick Buker with two very
simple words. Nix yo, nix yo, conveyance yo protected pick yo.
What are we doing? Yo? We're getting everybody, Rick, We're
(14:55):
getting Jalen Brunson. We're We're getting everybody. It's happening everybody.
Do you run around, look busy, look like you're doing something. See,
we're very industrious. What did you make? We didn't make anything.
We're just busy, were busy moving things. We're doing it happen. Well,
they got to put out a long press release that
(15:17):
had a lot bunch of lion items. Do it like
I was, though I was not fully aware of this um.
But Leon Rose has not uh, he has not talked
to the media in person. Just the preseason and before
(15:40):
and after. He's never spoken. Is he reliving like Joseph
Condrad's Heart of Darkness? Like? What? What? What? What the hell? Again?
We come back to nix Yo, and we're back to
where Rick makes sense of this for me here, help
about me out. Oh you know, I don't know whether
(16:03):
to be uh, incredibly flattered that you think I can
make sense out of it, or insulted that you would
actually put me on the spot and ask me to
do the impossible. I will say this, it's it's I
get what the thinking was in terms of they're going
(16:24):
after Jalen Brunson. You gotta find a way to get
off the Kemba Walker. Um, you don't want to just
flip a pick, you know, flip your pick in order
to one not half to pay. I mean, you have
a lottery pick that's a pretty big number. I don't know,
it's probably at least or five million starting. So you
flip that along with um Kemba Walker's contract, and now
(16:48):
you're opening up eighteen million or so. So you get
a little bit closer to being able to, uh to
legitimately go after Jalen Brunson. And yet at the same
time you acquire their asset other draft picks, so it
doesn't look like, hey, we just I mean, it doesn't
make you look at as bad having to dump canvas contract. Uh,
(17:11):
if you can have some camouflage from the fact that
it took a lottery pick or it took a pick
in order to do that, and so so there's that.
So I get, I get the logic behind it, but
it's it's putting all your eggs in the jail in
Brunson basket. And if you don't get him, um, I
(17:35):
actually I don't think Malcolm Brockton is a is a
bad fallback. But if you don't get either one of those,
then what are you looking at? And how if you
accomplished anything? And that's the that's the issue. Now. I
will say this, You know, I don't need stephen A
or or Uh or Spike or anybody to like, you know,
(17:56):
gnash their teeth and pull their hair out. First of all,
I have you to do that, Jason, and to like,
what were you expecting them to do in this draft
that was going to change your view of who they were?
I know Jade and Ivy was was was you know,
everyone was hoping that that that they were going to
(18:16):
be able to find a way to get him. But
even if you add him, like, does that really change
the narrative on the Knicks right now? It does not
you have a mid you have a mismatch, you have
Tom Thibodeau is a coach who is a good finishing
coach with veterans, and you have a young rebuilding program.
(18:37):
Until you change that, there's no going forward here. And
this is also the problem with being the Knicks in
that market is that if you are going to rebuild,
you need patients. And when you have a Knicks fan
like stephen A or or you know, Knicks fans as
(18:59):
visible as stephen A and and Spike, you have no
chance of gaining the patients that you need in order
to build this. And then you double down on it
by Leon not ever talking to the media or cultivating
a relationship with the media and New York. It might
(19:22):
earn you some of that patients. It might get you
some of those guys saying stephen A, shut up, like
you're always whining about the Knicks, Like Leon Rose has
a plan and here it is, and I know what
we know what it is. And and you've got somebody
who's waving the flag for you. They're doing none of
those things. So like the idea that last night was
(19:44):
somehow going to be the panacea for all, it ills
the knicks, Like that's just unrealistic. But it seems to
me like they're not even trying to come up with
a plan that would make sense that it's going to
get them to the next stage, and that that's probably
the most distressing thing. I don't have a problem. Look,
it's easy to hit the knicks. We do it all
(20:06):
the time. But they're making it a little too easy
right now because there's nothing even somebody who wants to say, hey,
give them a chance. They're not giving you anything to
hold on to latch onto that says this is why
you should give them a chance. Is it perhaps a
calculated effort because the Nets are right there with them
(20:27):
with all sorts of craziness, turmoil and uh well lots
of chaos for lack of a better term. So there,
I mean, we're not talking about it. We're bad, but
look at what you guys have. Yeah, well, or or
it's you know what. Okay, so we were not very
good on the court. But if you think the Net
(20:48):
can build a dumpster fire, we can build a three
story dumpster fire. Like our dumpster fire is much much
bigger than theirs. That the only that's the only explanation
that I have because at least with the Brooklyn with
the Brooklyn Nets, and and look the Nick this is
(21:08):
this is a little bit like the cocohola pepsi thing.
The Nick, because of their brand alone, should never view
themselves as being in competition with the brooklyn Nets. That
should not be affective. No matter what the brooklyn Nets do,
it should be this is what we're doing. This is
what our plan is. And I had I hate to
say it because I don't know that they'll ever get
(21:29):
a solution. This is This is probably the most I
don't know, depressing aspect of the next situation which we
all know, which is that as long as Jim Dolan
owns the team, nothing is going to change. Like I
fully expected a year from now, we're going to get
another regime. Leon Leon is gonna be out. We're having
(21:50):
no GM. We're certainly gonna have another head coach, and
and we're gonna start this siscifice rolling the ball up
to the rock up the hill and waiting for it
to roll back down, honest and squash us all. And
then we get somebody else to roll it up again,
and they would roll back down and squashes us all,
and sisiphus Yo sysiphus. Like in a year, that's it.
In a year, we're gonna be talking about that. Yeah, yeah,
(22:13):
that's what we're gonna talk But the latest iteration and ultimately,
the guy who's making the decisions on who does it
and why they do it and how they do it
is going to be Jim Dolan. And we've we've seen
this before. So that's the most depressing aspect of this
is like, I just don't see how it's legitimately going
(22:36):
to change. But I will say this, I don't see
anything changing until we get to the next regime, because
I just it's still blows my mind. I'm still wrapping
my head around the fact that Leon Rose is in
a rebuilding situation and he's found it to serve him
best by not cultivating any kind of relationship with the
(22:59):
people that connect him to his fan base, which is
the fan base that you need the patience of in
order to have the time to say, look, we got
these young pieces and you know, Obi has got to
earn his minutes and uh, you know Mitchell's coming along
and um, you know, just go down the line. I mean,
(23:20):
you just you need to sell hope and how do
you how do you sell hope if you never tell
people what your plan is? That that just is with
a with a press release, I mean a press release
that just kind of vaguely says this is what we
were thinking. Um, and this is you know, these are
(23:42):
our broad strokes. It just I it is. It's nothing
short of mouth seasons as I see it with with
how you run a you run a an organization, especially
in the media capital of the world. Are you kidding me?
I just I can't. I can't get over it. Whatever.
Whatever you think of what Leon Rose is doing, the
(24:03):
fact that he's he feels it's beneath him to explain
what he's doing to the people who cover the team
is mind boggling. See I I dig your Sisyphus reference.
I think it looks more like um, the yodeling guy
from that game on the prices, right, and then you
(24:25):
reset and come back for more. So let's stay with
the next. Uh. You've got Kevin Durant, you know, new
media and chirping all over Twitter showing up a podcast.
Hey I'm not you know, that's Kyrie's business and whatever else.
I sent this along to Jason Uh. Kyrie Irving on
bet online a g uh next team if not the
Nets Lakers are three to one? Would you really go
(24:48):
play for six million dollars and leave a lot of
cash on the table. Uh, he would if he's going
to stay true to this idea that he's not like
we're all puppets, but he not a puppet. Um, because
if he stays with the Brooklyn Nets, the Brooklyn Nets
are are are making a point of saying, we're resting
(25:10):
control of the franchise once again. We handed it over
to Katie and Kyrie. No more of that. We're going
to run the show. And Kyrie, if you want to stay,
you're gonna stay in an incentive laden, shorter term deal
because we can't give you a long leash. That's the deal,
and and and so um. If if Kyrie accepts that,
(25:34):
then while they're pulling strings and he's responding to it,
his only out really is to go to the Lakers
or go someplace else, take whatever money they have to
offer him, and say it's not about the money. I
just want to play. And and I've said this elsewhere,
said it on first things first, But to me, that
(25:56):
would do the most to re abilitate his image because
much of what he has said doesn't fit with what
he does. This would be a truly uh magnanimous act
where it's like, it's about playing the game. It's about
not being told what I have to do where I
(26:17):
have to do it. I'm gonna make the choice. I'm
gonna go play here. Short of that, if he if
he decides to stay in Brooklyn, if he decides to
to compromise or acquiesced to the new rule with the
with the Brooklyn Nets, then I don't want to hear
anymore from him about like media puppets and people taking
(26:41):
direction and all that, because he will demonstrate that he's
no different, all right, Rick. Lastly, something we talked about
a few minutes ago. You know, well, Kenny Atkinson uh
staying with the Golden State Warrior, Steve Clifford goes back
to Charlotte, which is great now whether or not Kenny
Atkinson is the coach and waiting for Golden Steaks. Seen
this kind of thing before, whether officially unofficially. It's hard
(27:03):
for me to see Steve Kerr coaching more than another
year or two. And when the Warriors championship window closes,
he doesn't retire, but he takes a sabbatical because he's
coached a lot of high pressure games. He's synonymous with
this dynasty. He's had health issues. I see him go
another year or two and then hey, I'm stepping away,
I recharge, and then he comes back, maybe cose back
(27:25):
as a GM, he coaches someplace else. It kind of
follows that Phil Jackson type path. I think that's a
good bet. Um from everything I've heard, both Bob Myers
and Steve Kerr like this, it's a grind. I don't
think people appreciate, especially what what Steve Kerr went through
the last three years and building this team up. Now
having Steve, having having Steph Curry, um, certainly eases things.
(27:50):
If there's any crew that that he would run or
want to run with, uh, it's this one. But it
kind of goes hand in hand with Steph. Like I
don't his steps never talked about it, and I don't.
I haven't gotten any indication that he's looking to stop
playing anytime soon. But it did turn thirty four. Um,
(28:11):
you know how many years does he have left. He's
got a young family, he's got he's involved in a
lot of other things. Um, I know he loves to
play and compete, but you know, how much longer does
he want to do it. I think if he stepped
off in two three years, then Steve would two. And
there's a chance there is a chance, depending on how
(28:32):
things go, that that Steve might do it sooner than that,
because I do know. You know, I've been told by
various people it's because sort of unsolicited they would just
bring it up there, like, yeah, I think Steve and
Bobb on they have a couple more years now. This
was going into prior to winning the championship, and sometimes
that can re energize you and give you motivation to
(28:54):
go get another one. But there's no question that, um
that you know, Rick Wealth stepped off, like people look, Um,
I give Joe Lake all the credit in the world.
He has really evolved as an owner. UM. I loved
when they when they won the championship and he basically said, Hey,
this is all Bob and Steve and the players. It
(29:17):
was it was the most humility that I've seen him show.
But Joe always thinks they're supposed to win every year.
In the last three years, he was grinding and pushing
and that gets you what they've gotten and he's put
his money where his mouth is. So I can't bolton
on any of that, but it does wear that constant
pressure does wear people out. And Stephen Bob at the
(29:40):
point now where they're minted. I mean, they could take
a couple of years off and people would be knocking
their door down to get them back in the game.
So I think you're I think you're definitely onto something.
And it certainly fits with everything that I've been hearing
around the league. He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, that
is Rick Buker, And potentially, if Steve Kerr does step down,
(30:03):
Matt Buker would be named the next head coach of
the Golden State Warriors. So if that happens, you would
have more unprecedented access to that team. I well, you
would think, but I, you know what, would not be surprised?
Would not be surprised? Dad? Who? Rick Who? I'll have
(30:24):
my people get back to you. How did you get
to remembers here? Yo? My son's doing all these interviews
with WOA. Why can't I get me my dad? My dad?
Would you got more followers than you do? Nothing? Personal?
(30:53):
Here's this very part. I can actually I can imagine
in my head. I can see those words coming out
of Matt's mouth. Check out the latest the On the
Ball Podcast with Rick Buker. Then there's the On the
Ball Squared Podcast with Matt Pucker. But On the Ball
with Rick Pucker the podcast is there. Check them out
on Twitter as well at Rick Buker. Rick is always body.
(31:15):
Appreciate you man. We'll talk to you next week. My pleasure.
You gotta thanks. Rick. 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 I Heart Radio app. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb.
The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all
(31:35):
basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories
about what made these people love their sport and all
the interesting interactions along the way. We talked to coaches,
we talked to players, We tell you stories. You download it,
you listen to it. I think you like it. Listen
to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
(32:00):
Fox Sporis Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon, Hey on a night where I said
we need extra special doses of fun tonight. We do. So.
Let's hear from Freddie Freeman before the game tonight against
the Atlanta Braves. Oh, come on, shout out a little
bit cranky. Let's hear the real. We don't need fake
(32:23):
crying when we actually have real crying from Freddie Freeman
about to play his first game back in Atlanta, which
the Dodgers wound up winning four to one. It's hard
to even look up and people then who had been
with for fifteen years. It's really hard to put into words.
(32:44):
I can't even look up at you guys because I
don't know if I'm gonna get through it. So there
really good about an hour ago. Gosh, I don't know
all the emotions. It's hard to put into words. I'm
just happy to be back. Uh, I get it. You
know I'm a crier. You know I've told you. And
when the end of seasons girls I coach in soccer
(33:06):
and softball, I cry relentlessly because it's so sad, because
you know you're you're part of someone's lives for so long,
and then you know, who knows what the future is
gonna hold. I get that way. I'm a crier. Freddie
Freeman got lowballed by the Braves to the tune of well,
instead of a hundred and sixty five million, they offered
(33:27):
him a hundred and forty million. It's thirty million. It's
a big difference. And I had to go to the Dodgers.
I don't, I don't know that this is this is
really worth crying over. I don't. I don't know that
this is one of those you know, I couldn't. I
couldn't be okay with five years and hunt million, right,
(33:47):
that's the and used it and talking about it. When
when it's Lebron James and Dwayne Wade, it's the meet
up in Miami and they're on the banana boat and
everything else is going, It's like, quait, what Why is
everybody mad at us? Why are they booing us? Now?
To that end, I say, you know, go find and
you know, fulfill your destiny. Be happy where you're gonna be.
(34:09):
You want to go play with your friends, you want
to go to Miami, have at it, go go to it.
Just don't be naive enough to think that there aren't
gonna be some people that are pretty piste off about
it that there's you're stacking the deck against the team
that they cheer for, right, I mean, so that's in
the in in place with Freddie Freeman. You had the
opportunity to stay. They gave you a hundred and forty
(34:31):
million reasons to stay. They just didn't want to give
you the sixth year. You decided that was the breaking
point and you for Los Angeles. Doesn't mean you're not
gonna be sad. But then it became an all day
every time there was a microphone or camera on him.
It's almost like he was trying out for the young
and the restless. Why have happened? Why? And that's my
(34:54):
evil twin over there. I mean, this is still your play.
Aren't you mad? Aren't you mad? Head at the Braves
that they let you go after everything you've given to
the franchise and m v p A World Series, and
they decided, we like you, but not quite what the
other teams like you for. We're gonna sign your replacement
right away. I'm more mad than I am so sad
(35:15):
about I'm gonna stick it to you right now. I
don't know that that's something I'm mad about. I find
it motivated there's okay, you don't want me. Okay, now
I'm gonna really now really come back, and you watch
what happens. That's kind of more what I expected, not that,
not the crying, no of this. Yeah, but I mean
he he really can't say they didn't want him. They
just didn't want them for that six They loved him
so much of you enough. But just remember there's a
(35:40):
thin line between love and hate. And you could be
mad in a situation and the tears can start flowing
anyway because you can't control the demons and the emotion
inside you. Yeah, but you're gonna be upset or more angry.
If your parents said to you, Hey, you can stay
here for the next five years till you're eighteen, Well
what about if I'm nine to Oh no, no, nineteen,
(36:01):
you're out. You're out after eighteen. But I love it here.
I no, no, you're out, You're gone. I'm not taking
care of you anymore. Now I'd be a little more
upset than I am. Crying. Well, I I think you
kind of have to realize the economic realities you were
living in Twitter and out about a Fresca. Mike and Swellen, dumb,
We get back into a big developing NBA story coming
up next. This is Fox where
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to eleven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
inside our three, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon. Where look, you know what, let me
just tell you this, because you're smartass guys all about
the Knicks. We are coming for every free agent. Now,
(00:45):
okay that it was embarrassing yesterday, Bill, it was we
are down just a little. We are coming for every
free agent. We're learning from the Mets and we're learning
from Steve Cohen that if there's a player you want, Kyrie,
just go by them and look at where you'll be
twenty games, over five hundred and the best team in
(01:06):
the National League. Uh, the Knicks. You know, last night,
I was I understood what they were doing, but I
because what they wanted to do was we want a
free up money the best way to do this was
to get rid of Kemba Walker for nine million dollars.
You know, people, you know, I get, but it was
embarrassing the way they did it, because they traded. They
(01:27):
made a pick, they traded the pick away, they obtained
a player, they traded the player away that they traded
Kemba Walker away. The optics were bad, but in the
end they got a couple of first round draft picks,
and they got financial flexibility to go after players in
free agency. And clearly they know we are going to
get Jalen Brunson or somebody else that good. You know
(01:51):
that with stop with Kyrie Frostburg stopped trying to sneak
Kyrie in there. It was embarrassing and I get it.
But the day after it's time to understand that, Okay,
this is not Isaiah Thomas's Knicks or the Knicks of
of up until you know, three years ago, they have
good young Throw Phil Jackson under the bus. Phil Phil
(02:13):
was terrible, but the Nick the Knicks now have a
young nucleus of players that are pretty good, and it's
time to give them uh the chance to run the
franchise right. It's time to have Barrett and quickly. And
if you go get Jalen Brunson. Uh, these are the
guys need to run the franchise now. And Obi Toppin
and the veterans that you had like Julius Randall goodbye.
And there's the other guys that are thirty years old
(02:34):
and Derrick Rose and Alec Burk's it's okay, goodbye, and
it's time to let the Knicks and the young players
who have had a couple of years in Tom Thibodeau's
system to understand. Okay, now we're the leaders of this
team where it's a young person's league and and the
Vets have shown us the way. The Knicks can be
pretty good pretty fast. And they will be able to
get at least one star in this offseason, whether it's
(02:56):
by a straight free agent signing or a sign and
trade or a trade of contracts, and the Knicks are
gonna find themselves at at the best spot they've been
in in fifteen years. They were in a good spot
after the end of last year, and they made a
couple of bad free agent signings and Julius Randall wasn't
the guy they thought he was, so they struggled this year.
(03:17):
Now all right, we saw we did last year. It
didn't work, Kemba Walker didn't work, and when Fortier didn't
really work. Julius Randall is now mad and and he's
not the player he was. He had one great year.
We put his banner in the rafters. Julius Randall twenty uh.
So they're going to move on. They have a good
young nucleus of players for the first time in a
long time that are all in their early twenties. They're
(03:39):
gonna add a couple of really good young players in
this offseason, and suddenly they'll make a leap forward where
it'll be It'll it'll be us. It'll be a one
of those rubber band where hey, we got but go
back a little bit to make that step forward. They
made a big step forward a year ago, a step
back this year. Now they'll make a leap forward this
year and be in the mix and be a big
playoff spot. The Eastern ofference. This is not gonna be
(04:01):
a team that's they'll be solidly in the playoff mixed
somewhere five through ten, whether there at least in the playoffs,
or they're in the in the in the playing round.
In that kind of conversation. But I think they're gonna
be better. I think they're gonna be more of a
playoff team, a more of a five six kind of
seed in the Eastern Conference. Yeah. I mean, it's all
all the question of do you divest yourself of your
(04:23):
Julius Randall shares because obviously, look, R J. Barrett's a
fantastic player, and I think you know, we we saw
some of those other third year guys get some shine
and run this year, some fourth year guys when you
start talking about Brunson and others, but that you know,
he's a guy that in the New York market. You
know he got a little bit of run. But the
(04:44):
opportunity is there and obviously quickly strong. So you do
have a few guys to build off of and would
expect it. I do have to ask this as you
were doing your analysis, Uh, you definitely went and I
could feel like you um kind of dancing in your
brain as you did it. Were you going Paula Abdual
(05:04):
Opposites attract or time warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Because you gotta jump in. You had two steps forward
and a step back. You got all of that in
and I just didn't know if you were, you know,
conflating those and doing a good matchup like you were
on Glee or what you were doing. No, I was
definitely more opposite attract than I was. Let's do the
time warp again. So you're you're more of a mc
(05:27):
scat cat kind of guy. Okay, yeah, you take two
steps forward, take two steps back. You come together because
opposites attract, but definitely its attract. You know, trying to
get people who really don't want to play for the
Knicks to recognize that their best path forward is for
their career and protect perhaps to get over in the
(05:48):
Eastern Conference, is to play for the Knicks. The best
thing you can do is they go play for the Knicks.
But I don't want it doesn't matter. Best thing you
can do is go play for the next look the Knicks.
The Knicks are on the way. They figured out how
to build their team. All they did last year was
they they signed the wrong guys. Right they have. I
told you they have a support group of players that
(06:10):
is really good and now they're gonna become players who
have taken that next weep. Look. R J. Barrett is
becoming a star and became a star last year. Good,
these good things happen, but the guys they trusted to
get them there, which are the big signings of last year,
which is Walker and Fournier and the trust and Julius Randall. Okay,
they signed the wrong guys, not the last team to
do that and and won't be the last team to
(06:31):
do that. So now that they they can have more
confidence building in their younger players. Now they bring in
the younger players and guys like Jalen Brunson five years old.
These are the guys who give the big contracts to
you go forward with them. No, I like where the
Knicks round. I like where they were at the end
of las year because they have a mass talent and
now they know what they have to keep. They were
easy to laugh at, but now we're coming for your
(06:51):
free for everyone. Yeah, I appreciate that you've come around
a little bit on Jalen Brunson because you were not
a fan as they exited the playoffs of the idea
you have the Knicks going and getting him. Well, now
I know it's only gonna be about that. It's only
four and a hundred million. Look at that's I'm spending
the next money. This is not like, hey, we gotta
give him forty five million dollars a year now, four
years in a hundred okay, four and hunter for Jalen Brunson. Okay,
(07:13):
that's fine, all right, you're feeling better about that as
you cut that fictional check in your mind. Yes, as
as long as you're good. So as long as it
makes you feel better, I do I I buddy, And
plus the Mets one tonight and the Braves loss, so
I feel good. Oh yeah, No, it's it's all positivity
in the sporting universe. Even though the White Sox lost
(07:33):
again to ball. I'm sorry, buddy, I'm wearing it my
getting My buddies in Baltimore are wearing me out on
my phone. So clean me alone? Yeah, maybe alone. Winnipeg
was was was winning last beat it. You can't. You
can't hide the losses, buddy. They staring you in in the
face every single day. Well no, and then I'm gonna
head home in a couple of weeks and it's gonna
(07:54):
be like, all right, what am I? What am I
walking into? Actually? The baseball God's right, the schedule gets
jelling gods for this trip where you know the world's
collide and I actually have a window to go back home,
uh Detroit at the White Sox over the weekend. And
then the Orioles come to regularly to play the Cubs,
like really really a dozen baseballs and just go stock
(08:18):
all the Uh the Orioles young players like you guys
are rather come hide yo time sign these for these kids.
Appreciate them in five years twittering out about a fresca
Mike and Swallen don't for all your autograph needs as well.
Jason Smiths Show with Mike Harmon with prices sore and
at the pump Discovers got your back with cash back.
You're discovered to earn five percent cash back at gas
(08:40):
stations and a target now through June on up to
in purchases when you activate learn more Discover dot com
slash rewards limitations they do apply well. This headline from
the NBA today a bit of a shocker, but it
gets into what is next for the Golden State Warriors.
Steve Clifford is going back is Charlotte to coach? Why
(09:02):
is he going back? Because this is the job. Kenny
Atkinson was going to get a Warriors assistant who has
long been viewed as as a as a great individual
coach who's been able to help talent grow. And that's
what Kenny Atkinson has done. That's kind of been his
calling card. He was going to coach Charlotte, but he
backed away, wanted to stay with Golden State, according to
(09:22):
according to Steve Kerr, it was about his family and
he's got kids in school. He didn't want to leave.
He change his mind. We're happy to have him. So
Steve Flifford says, what else am I doing? Sure, I'll
come back to Charlotte. And Steve Flifford has done well
in Charlotte. But this really is about Steve Kerr because
whether or not Kenny Atkinson is the coaching waiting, which
(09:43):
there's no way he's not because to hear Steve Kerr
say yeah, his family, all these things he thought at
a second time. No, these are all things you think
about before you say yes. Kenny Atkins doesn't answer the
phone and they go, hey Kenny, it's Charlotte. Yes, I'll
take the job. I'll tell my wife and kids when
they get home. No. You talk about it and you
decide and then you go. You have that change of
(10:06):
heart or you say no, before you say yes. Every
time someone changes their mind, it's because they were made
a promise by the team. And I've seen it. I've
seen it with the Syracuse Orange and Jim Beheid, where
Mike Hopkins was supposed to be the next coaching waiting.
The problem is Jim Beheid didn't want to retire or
somebody says, I'm gonna go coach someplace else. Josh McDaniels,
(10:27):
I'm sure, was going to be the coaching waiting with
Bill Belichick, but you know what, things change. The Belichick
wanted to stay on. Josh McDaniels finally left. But Steve
Kerr is not a coach that you can see is
gonna be in it for the long haul without taking
a break right. Curs someone who has coached a lot
of basketball, a lot of pressure basketball over the course
(10:48):
of the past seven eight years, and he's won a lot,
and he has been synonymous with Steph and Clay and
Draymond and this dynasty. He's also someone that's had his
share of physical issues. His back prevented him from coaching
a lot. He is a big time candidate for I
need a sabbatical, not that he's done coaching forever, but
just I need some time to step away from the
(11:09):
game before I see what I want to do next.
And he's going to coach as long as the Warriors
are still a championship threat, and then he's going to
walk away. He's not going to oversee a big rebuild.
He's not going to oversee any sort of change in
in in in personnel. If Steph retires or Clay retire. Um,
(11:29):
now now I'm gonna make it work with whoever is next. No,
he will stay through the end of this dynasty. Then
he will walk away, and he will spend some time recharging,
and then he will come back in a year or
two to a different situation. Maybe he comes back to
the Warriors if he wants to. Maybe winds up going
to coach the Knicks because they have the right players
in place. Because remember he said no to the Knicks
because he liked the personnel in Golden State. He'll come
(11:52):
back to a team that he likes the personnel for.
But to think that that Steve Kerr is someone he's
gonna coach every single year. No, guys like him, Sean McVeigh,
they are candidates for sabbatical because they've done a lot.
They're still young. I want a couple of years of
no pressure. I'm not gonna oversee teams, my team not
playing well and not being a championship threat. So the
(12:14):
next year or two, yeah, Steve Kerr will be there,
but after that he'll take a couple of years off.
He's he's gonna be the first guy of the dynasty
that winds up going. It's not gonna be Steph. It's
not gonna be Clays like we Draymond. It's gonna be
Steve Kerr. Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest thing
with Steve Kerr is that you look at a guy
nine nine titles five as a player for as a coach.
He's had some back issues, right physical things. Obviously, wears
(12:37):
his heart on on his sleeve for a number of issues,
particularly when when there's you know, these mass uh episodes
of gun violence and and folks can deride him as
they want, and there have been times from an NBA
perspective where where I've certainly gone at him when he's
lamented the course of the game and such. But the
(12:58):
reality is you've gotta I who who's been in been
in the league forever and around the league forever, and
and he was very good at the broadcasting side of things, right,
He's good with the quote, he's he's sneaky, funny and
and snarky at times with reporters and and has had
his fun right all those clips you saw last week
(13:20):
as you you commemorated the anniversary of Bulls titles and hey,
I had to say, Michael again. You know, there it is,
go do it, Steve, you know. So he's done it
on the big stage. So he can go back and
command twenty million dollars a year togo be a broadcaster, right,
and show up on one of those crews uh in
the the larger vein there. So I think there's certainly
(13:45):
an opportunity from a physical and mental health standpoint, but
also just for a I'm done with this phase and
now we we get back into either something large, you know, societal,
because there's always been speculation that perhaps he steps out
of basketball uh and starts to go back, not necessarily
(14:05):
entering the political fray, but where his life revolves more
about being active in those issues. 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 I Heart Radio app well. Joining
us now on the hot Line Fox Sports one. NBA
(14:28):
insider Extraordinariy longtime friend of the show. You can follow
on Twitter at Rick Buker, That is at Rick Buker
and I will welcome in Rick Buker with two very
simple words. Nix yo, nix yo, conveyance yo protected pick yo.
What are we doing? Yo? We're getting everybody, Rick, We're
(14:55):
getting Jalen Brunson. We're We're getting everybody. It's happening everybody.
Do you run around, look busy, look like you're doing something. See,
we're very industrious. What did you make? We didn't make anything.
We're just busy, were busy moving things. We're doing it happen. Well,
they got to put out a long press release that
(15:17):
had a lot bunch of lion items. Do it like
I was, though I was not fully aware of this um.
But Leon Rose has not uh, he has not talked
to the media in person. Just the preseason and before
(15:40):
and after. He's never spoken. Is he reliving like Joseph
Condrad's Heart of Darkness? Like? What? What? What? What the hell? Again?
We come back to nix Yo, and we're back to
where Rick makes sense of this for me here, help
about me out. Oh you know, I don't know whether
(16:03):
to be uh, incredibly flattered that you think I can
make sense out of it, or insulted that you would
actually put me on the spot and ask me to
do the impossible. I will say this, it's it's I
get what the thinking was in terms of they're going
(16:24):
after Jalen Brunson. You gotta find a way to get
off the Kemba Walker. Um, you don't want to just
flip a pick, you know, flip your pick in order
to one not half to pay. I mean, you have
a lottery pick that's a pretty big number. I don't know,
it's probably at least or five million starting. So you
flip that along with um Kemba Walker's contract, and now
(16:48):
you're opening up eighteen million or so. So you get
a little bit closer to being able to, uh to
legitimately go after Jalen Brunson. And yet at the same
time you acquire their asset other draft picks, so it
doesn't look like, hey, we just I mean, it doesn't
make you look at as bad having to dump canvas contract. Uh,
(17:11):
if you can have some camouflage from the fact that
it took a lottery pick or it took a pick
in order to do that, and so so there's that.
So I get, I get the logic behind it, but
it's it's putting all your eggs in the jail in
Brunson basket. And if you don't get him, um, I
(17:35):
actually I don't think Malcolm Brockton is a is a
bad fallback. But if you don't get either one of those,
then what are you looking at? And how if you
accomplished anything? And that's the that's the issue. Now. I
will say this, You know, I don't need stephen A
or or Uh or Spike or anybody to like, you know,
(17:56):
gnash their teeth and pull their hair out. First of all,
I have you to do that, Jason, and to like,
what were you expecting them to do in this draft
that was going to change your view of who they were?
I know Jade and Ivy was was was you know,
everyone was hoping that that that they were going to
(18:16):
be able to find a way to get him. But
even if you add him, like, does that really change
the narrative on the Knicks right now? It does not
you have a mid you have a mismatch, you have
Tom Thibodeau is a coach who is a good finishing
coach with veterans, and you have a young rebuilding program.
(18:37):
Until you change that, there's no going forward here. And
this is also the problem with being the Knicks in
that market is that if you are going to rebuild,
you need patients. And when you have a Knicks fan
like stephen A or or you know, Knicks fans as
(18:59):
visible as stephen A and and Spike, you have no
chance of gaining the patients that you need in order
to build this. And then you double down on it
by Leon not ever talking to the media or cultivating
a relationship with the media and New York. It might
(19:22):
earn you some of that patients. It might get you
some of those guys saying stephen A, shut up, like
you're always whining about the Knicks, Like Leon Rose has
a plan and here it is, and I know what
we know what it is. And and you've got somebody
who's waving the flag for you. They're doing none of
those things. So like the idea that last night was
(19:44):
somehow going to be the panacea for all, it ills
the knicks, Like that's just unrealistic. But it seems to
me like they're not even trying to come up with
a plan that would make sense that it's going to
get them to the next stage, and that that's probably
the most distressing thing. I don't have a problem. Look,
it's easy to hit the knicks. We do it all
(20:06):
the time. But they're making it a little too easy
right now because there's nothing even somebody who wants to say, hey,
give them a chance. They're not giving you anything to
hold on to latch onto that says this is why
you should give them a chance. Is it perhaps a
calculated effort because the Nets are right there with them
(20:27):
with all sorts of craziness, turmoil and uh well lots
of chaos for lack of a better term. So there,
I mean, we're not talking about it. We're bad, but
look at what you guys have. Yeah, well, or or
it's you know what. Okay, so we were not very
good on the court. But if you think the Net
(20:48):
can build a dumpster fire, we can build a three
story dumpster fire. Like our dumpster fire is much much
bigger than theirs. That the only that's the only explanation
that I have because at least with the Brooklyn with
the Brooklyn Nets, and and look the Nick this is
(21:08):
this is a little bit like the cocohola pepsi thing.
The Nick, because of their brand alone, should never view
themselves as being in competition with the brooklyn Nets. That
should not be affective. No matter what the brooklyn Nets do,
it should be this is what we're doing. This is
what our plan is. And I had I hate to
say it because I don't know that they'll ever get
(21:29):
a solution. This is This is probably the most I
don't know, depressing aspect of the next situation which we
all know, which is that as long as Jim Dolan
owns the team, nothing is going to change. Like I
fully expected a year from now, we're going to get
another regime. Leon Leon is gonna be out. We're having
(21:50):
no GM. We're certainly gonna have another head coach, and
and we're gonna start this siscifice rolling the ball up
to the rock up the hill and waiting for it
to roll back down, honest and squash us all. And
then we get somebody else to roll it up again,
and they would roll back down and squashes us all,
and sisiphus Yo sysiphus. Like in a year, that's it.
In a year, we're gonna be talking about that. Yeah, yeah,
(22:13):
that's what we're gonna talk But the latest iteration and ultimately,
the guy who's making the decisions on who does it
and why they do it and how they do it
is going to be Jim Dolan. And we've we've seen
this before. So that's the most depressing aspect of this
is like, I just don't see how it's legitimately going
(22:36):
to change. But I will say this, I don't see
anything changing until we get to the next regime, because
I just it's still blows my mind. I'm still wrapping
my head around the fact that Leon Rose is in
a rebuilding situation and he's found it to serve him
best by not cultivating any kind of relationship with the
(22:59):
people that connect him to his fan base, which is
the fan base that you need the patience of in
order to have the time to say, look, we got
these young pieces and you know, Obi has got to
earn his minutes and uh, you know Mitchell's coming along
and um, you know, just go down the line. I mean,
(23:20):
you just you need to sell hope and how do
you how do you sell hope if you never tell
people what your plan is? That that just is with
a with a press release, I mean a press release
that just kind of vaguely says this is what we
were thinking. Um, and this is you know, these are
(23:42):
our broad strokes. It just I it is. It's nothing
short of mouth seasons as I see it with with
how you run a you run a an organization, especially
in the media capital of the world. Are you kidding me?
I just I can't. I can't get over it. Whatever.
Whatever you think of what Leon Rose is doing, the
(24:03):
fact that he's he feels it's beneath him to explain
what he's doing to the people who cover the team
is mind boggling. See I I dig your Sisyphus reference.
I think it looks more like um, the yodeling guy
from that game on the prices, right, and then you
(24:25):
reset and come back for more. So let's stay with
the next. Uh. You've got Kevin Durant, you know, new
media and chirping all over Twitter showing up a podcast.
Hey I'm not you know, that's Kyrie's business and whatever else.
I sent this along to Jason Uh. Kyrie Irving on
bet online a g uh next team if not the
Nets Lakers are three to one? Would you really go
(24:48):
play for six million dollars and leave a lot of
cash on the table. Uh, he would if he's going
to stay true to this idea that he's not like
we're all puppets, but he not a puppet. Um, because
if he stays with the Brooklyn Nets, the Brooklyn Nets
are are are making a point of saying, we're resting
(25:10):
control of the franchise once again. We handed it over
to Katie and Kyrie. No more of that. We're going
to run the show. And Kyrie, if you want to stay,
you're gonna stay in an incentive laden, shorter term deal
because we can't give you a long leash. That's the deal,
and and and so um. If if Kyrie accepts that,
(25:34):
then while they're pulling strings and he's responding to it,
his only out really is to go to the Lakers
or go someplace else, take whatever money they have to
offer him, and say it's not about the money. I
just want to play. And and I've said this elsewhere,
said it on first things first, But to me, that
(25:56):
would do the most to re abilitate his image because
much of what he has said doesn't fit with what
he does. This would be a truly uh magnanimous act
where it's like, it's about playing the game. It's about
not being told what I have to do where I
(26:17):
have to do it. I'm gonna make the choice. I'm
gonna go play here. Short of that, if he if
he decides to stay in Brooklyn, if he decides to
to compromise or acquiesced to the new rule with the
with the Brooklyn Nets, then I don't want to hear
anymore from him about like media puppets and people taking
(26:41):
direction and all that, because he will demonstrate that he's
no different, all right, Rick. Lastly, something we talked about
a few minutes ago. You know, well, Kenny Atkinson uh
staying with the Golden State Warrior, Steve Clifford goes back
to Charlotte, which is great now whether or not Kenny
Atkinson is the coach and waiting for Golden Steaks. Seen
this kind of thing before, whether officially unofficially. It's hard
(27:03):
for me to see Steve Kerr coaching more than another
year or two. And when the Warriors championship window closes,
he doesn't retire, but he takes a sabbatical because he's
coached a lot of high pressure games. He's synonymous with
this dynasty. He's had health issues. I see him go
another year or two and then hey, I'm stepping away,
I recharge, and then he comes back, maybe cose back
(27:25):
as a GM, he coaches someplace else. It kind of
follows that Phil Jackson type path. I think that's a
good bet. Um from everything I've heard, both Bob Myers
and Steve Kerr like this, it's a grind. I don't
think people appreciate, especially what what Steve Kerr went through
the last three years and building this team up. Now
having Steve, having having Steph Curry, um, certainly eases things.
(27:50):
If there's any crew that that he would run or
want to run with, uh, it's this one. But it
kind of goes hand in hand with Steph. Like I
don't his steps never talked about it, and I don't.
I haven't gotten any indication that he's looking to stop
playing anytime soon. But it did turn thirty four. Um,
(28:11):
you know how many years does he have left. He's
got a young family, he's got he's involved in a
lot of other things. Um, I know he loves to
play and compete, but you know, how much longer does
he want to do it. I think if he stepped
off in two three years, then Steve would two. And
there's a chance there is a chance, depending on how
(28:32):
things go, that that Steve might do it sooner than that,
because I do know. You know, I've been told by
various people it's because sort of unsolicited they would just
bring it up there, like, yeah, I think Steve and
Bobb on they have a couple more years now. This
was going into prior to winning the championship, and sometimes
that can re energize you and give you motivation to
(28:54):
go get another one. But there's no question that, um
that you know, Rick Wealth stepped off, like people look, Um,
I give Joe Lake all the credit in the world.
He has really evolved as an owner. UM. I loved
when they when they won the championship and he basically said, Hey,
this is all Bob and Steve and the players. It
(29:17):
was it was the most humility that I've seen him show.
But Joe always thinks they're supposed to win every year.
In the last three years, he was grinding and pushing
and that gets you what they've gotten and he's put
his money where his mouth is. So I can't bolton
on any of that, but it does wear that constant
pressure does wear people out. And Stephen Bob at the
(29:40):
point now where they're minted. I mean, they could take
a couple of years off and people would be knocking
their door down to get them back in the game.
So I think you're I think you're definitely onto something.
And it certainly fits with everything that I've been hearing
around the league. He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, that
is Rick Buker, And potentially, if Steve Kerr does step down,
(30:03):
Matt Buker would be named the next head coach of
the Golden State Warriors. So if that happens, you would
have more unprecedented access to that team. I well, you
would think, but I, you know what, would not be surprised?
Would not be surprised? Dad? Who? Rick Who? I'll have
(30:24):
my people get back to you. How did you get
to remembers here? Yo? My son's doing all these interviews
with WOA. Why can't I get me my dad? My dad?
Would you got more followers than you do? Nothing? Personal?
(30:53):
Here's this very part. I can actually I can imagine
in my head. I can see those words coming out
of Matt's mouth. Check out the latest the On the
Ball Podcast with Rick Buker. Then there's the On the
Ball Squared Podcast with Matt Pucker. But On the Ball
with Rick Pucker the podcast is there. Check them out
on Twitter as well at Rick Buker. Rick is always body.
(31:15):
Appreciate you man. We'll talk to you next week. My pleasure.
You gotta thanks. Rick. 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 I Heart Radio app. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb.
The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all
(31:35):
basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories
about what made these people love their sport and all
the interesting interactions along the way. We talked to coaches,
we talked to players, We tell you stories. You download it,
you listen to it. I think you like it. Listen
to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
(32:00):
Fox Sporis Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon, Hey on a night where I said
we need extra special doses of fun tonight. We do. So.
Let's hear from Freddie Freeman before the game tonight against
the Atlanta Braves. Oh, come on, shout out a little
bit cranky. Let's hear the real. We don't need fake
(32:23):
crying when we actually have real crying from Freddie Freeman
about to play his first game back in Atlanta, which
the Dodgers wound up winning four to one. It's hard
to even look up and people then who had been
with for fifteen years. It's really hard to put into words.
(32:44):
I can't even look up at you guys because I
don't know if I'm gonna get through it. So there
really good about an hour ago. Gosh, I don't know
all the emotions. It's hard to put into words. I'm
just happy to be back. Uh, I get it. You
know I'm a crier. You know I've told you. And
when the end of seasons girls I coach in soccer
(33:06):
and softball, I cry relentlessly because it's so sad, because
you know you're you're part of someone's lives for so long,
and then you know, who knows what the future is
gonna hold. I get that way. I'm a crier. Freddie
Freeman got lowballed by the Braves to the tune of well,
instead of a hundred and sixty five million, they offered
(33:27):
him a hundred and forty million. It's thirty million. It's
a big difference. And I had to go to the Dodgers.
I don't, I don't know that this is this is
really worth crying over. I don't. I don't know that
this is one of those you know, I couldn't. I
couldn't be okay with five years and hunt million, right,
(33:47):
that's the and used it and talking about it. When
when it's Lebron James and Dwayne Wade, it's the meet
up in Miami and they're on the banana boat and
everything else is going, It's like, quait, what Why is
everybody mad at us? Why are they booing us? Now?
To that end, I say, you know, go find and
you know, fulfill your destiny. Be happy where you're gonna be.
(34:09):
You want to go play with your friends, you want
to go to Miami, have at it, go go to it.
Just don't be naive enough to think that there aren't
gonna be some people that are pretty piste off about
it that there's you're stacking the deck against the team
that they cheer for, right, I mean, so that's in
the in in place with Freddie Freeman. You had the
opportunity to stay. They gave you a hundred and forty
(34:31):
million reasons to stay. They just didn't want to give
you the sixth year. You decided that was the breaking
point and you for Los Angeles. Doesn't mean you're not
gonna be sad. But then it became an all day
every time there was a microphone or camera on him.
It's almost like he was trying out for the young
and the restless. Why have happened? Why? And that's my
(34:54):
evil twin over there. I mean, this is still your play.
Aren't you mad? Aren't you mad? Head at the Braves
that they let you go after everything you've given to
the franchise and m v p A World Series, and
they decided, we like you, but not quite what the
other teams like you for. We're gonna sign your replacement
right away. I'm more mad than I am so sad
(35:15):
about I'm gonna stick it to you right now. I
don't know that that's something I'm mad about. I find
it motivated there's okay, you don't want me. Okay, now
I'm gonna really now really come back, and you watch
what happens. That's kind of more what I expected, not that,
not the crying, no of this. Yeah, but I mean
he he really can't say they didn't want him. They
just didn't want them for that six They loved him
so much of you enough. But just remember there's a
(35:40):
thin line between love and hate. And you could be
mad in a situation and the tears can start flowing
anyway because you can't control the demons and the emotion
inside you. Yeah, but you're gonna be upset or more angry.
If your parents said to you, Hey, you can stay
here for the next five years till you're eighteen, Well
what about if I'm nine to Oh no, no, nineteen,
(36:01):
you're out. You're out after eighteen. But I love it here.
I no, no, you're out, You're gone. I'm not taking
care of you anymore. Now I'd be a little more
upset than I am. Crying. Well, I I think you
kind of have to realize the economic realities you were
living in Twitter and out about a Fresca. Mike and Swellen, dumb,
We get back into a big developing NBA story coming
up next. This is Fox where
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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