March 22, 2023 • 34 mins
Chris and Rob share their thoughts on Japan’s dramatic win over the United States in the World Baseball Classic final, debate whether Shohei Ohtani needs to parlay his WBC success into an MLB postseason appearance and explain why they’d like to see the NBA create a USA vs The World All-Star exhibition game in the same vein of the WBC. Plus, NBA champion and FOX Sports Radio NBA analyst Antonio Daniels swings by to discuss Zion’s future with the New Orleans Pelicans, the Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff outlook and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of The Odd Couple with
Chris Russo and Rod Harker. The story Right Now Rob
last night's World Baseball Classic finale, and Japan does take
down the United States three to two in an absolute thriller.
(00:46):
And Japan now Rob has won three of the World
Baseball Classic championships, the United States has one, and so
right now Japan seems to rule. But it came down
to really Rob a storybook ending, right, I mean, people
had alluded to it. Go ahead, yeah, I was gonna say, Chris,
(01:10):
my goodness, gracious, you couldn't if you were in Hollywood,
you couldn't write that squipt look ahead now, go ahead,
I gonna yeah. I just it was just to me.
It was suitable for framing where old Tani's pitching to
trout three two count, you know, and and and and
a wicked slider, that was nasty. That was rippleball, right,
(01:32):
what was that? Did you throw that? Fifty eight miles
an hour? I mean, but Chris, just just the setting,
the circumstance. It was what everybody And and I heard
the clip from mom the Dan Patrick Show and uh smolty,
John Smoltz predicted exactly that and and it came down
(01:53):
to it, which is incredible to think that that would
line up that way and that close up that we
line up like that. God, did you get to appreciate
it as it went on, like just just what went on?
And yeah, yeah, yep, yep, it was. It was great.
It was great. And afterwards I think, do we have
(02:15):
sound of a tiny I mean, obviously it's a translation,
we don't have to sound, but Rob essentially what he
said was that getting that w AT victory was the
best moment of his career, the best moment of his career.
And so that's how much it meant to him. Yeah,
(02:36):
and and I thought that was I get it. National pride, Chris.
You know, um, for the people of Japan, they were
watching in droves and early games this this WBC Chris,
eighty million people were watching like in Japan, they got
I think, yeah, did it go up to one hundred million? Yeah,
(02:57):
one hundred million people watching a you know, an international
baseball game that doesn't have any real Uh you know,
what's the right tournam it's an exhibition, there's no I
think the significance is what you put up. I would
say it's different than your tip because it's a legitimate tournament.
I mean, we don't put a lot of stock into it,
(03:19):
to be honest as Americans, but it is a legitimate tournament.
It's I mean, I think it's been characterized as an exhibition,
but it's a tournament. There's a champion winning it means something.
So I do think of it. I mean again, I
think here in this country we don't think of it
that importantly. But well, we didn't even have all of
our exhibition right, but we didn't have all of our
(03:40):
best players, best pitching. And the Commission of Rob Menford
said that at going forward, they're going to push to
have the best of the everybody, you know what I mean,
like uh that And I'm not trying to say that
the h A USA team was chop lever and there
were scrubs on it because they had an all star
line up. You have beat Mookie Betts, Trade, I mean,
(04:03):
and they were beating everybody else, Chris by double digits.
They won't fourteen to two, you know, big, big numbers.
So it wasn't like they didn't play well. It's just
that the pitching for Japan, and you mentioned this yesterday
has been outstanding, and it was last night. Yeah, it
just was the on the run. They got first. They
scored first with Trade Turner's home run. But other than that, Chris,
(04:25):
they really couldn't muster anything. Let me read you this
quote from USA manager Mark de Rosa on a tiny rod.
What he's doing in the game is what probably ninety
percent of the guys in that clubhouse did in Little
league or in youth tournaments, and he's able to pull
(04:46):
it off on the biggest stages. He is a unicorn
to the sport. I think other guys will try it,
but I don't think they're going to do it to
his level. What blows me away on this stage is
the at that no moments too big for him. He
did not seem rattled by walking Jeff McNeil on a
close pitch, right, not rattled that three MVPs were coming
(05:10):
up to back unbelievable. No, this dude is awesome, man,
he is. He's still not the MVP from last year
in the America League. I don't killed anybody. That's fine.
He's awesome, but he's a great player and he's as
advertised Chris. Remember when he first came struggled a little bit,
then he had a couple of injuries, you remember, and
nobody really he is fully what was advertised as far
(05:35):
as being able to pitch and hit at that level.
And I think there will be more people attempting to
do it now whether they can be at that level.
I agree with de Rosa, like, like you might not
be able to get there. You might be much better
Chris with one with the bat and you're a mediocre
pitcher or you're a great pitcher and a mediocre hitter,
like that's not what old Tani is, right, And if
(05:57):
you're if you're hurting, if you're not going like say
you're a picture, you're a great hitter, you're a decent picture,
but you're not gonna help help the team in that regard.
And they got the other guys that can do it better,
then I can't be mad at the team for being like, look,
you're just gonna hit, We're just gonna be whatever, right,
And guys I think should accept that if that's the case.
(06:21):
But Rob, I think too, you're going like the guys
that want to do that and upstay through college or
even the miners do it at a high level. I think, Rob,
they're gonna need the encouragement, you know, because we it
just we don't even we've never thought about that, you know,
it's in our lifetimes, and so I think we with
(06:43):
de Rosa is right, Rob, growing up it's nothing to
see the best picture. This guy's who's a phenomenal high
school picture be a great hitter as well, and you know,
and then they get they got to choose one. So
I think if a guy gets encouragement and is able
to try to do it, then I do think there
might be a few who can do it. Whether or
(07:03):
not they do it at his level, I don't know.
But but here's the problem. Even I did cringe a
little bit, Chris, I gotta admit that he said that
was the best moment of his career, best that you know,
like like an exhibition. Yes, you beat the United States,
but you're playing in the major leagues, you're playing on
a team that that you can't get to the playoffs.
(07:25):
Like old Tani needs to be of that ilk to
to get the Angels in the postseason. We need to
see him on that stage because this shouldn't be I'm
hoping that this doesn't wind up being, uh, the biggest
thing that happens. I don't want him to be the
(07:47):
Carmelo Anthony of baseball. Chris, where your greatest moment. You know,
your greatest moment was, you know, in the tournament or
international play, but not in the main league. Do you
think it's impossible that that Oltani will win for sure?
Is that what you're saying. I think it's impossible. Like
(08:07):
in basketball if one players only five on the court obviously,
as you know, and one player can have such a
greater effect on a basketball game than he can on
a baseball game. Now I'm not saying obviously, we've seen
many great players who haven't won championships. But have you
(08:28):
seen You've only seen a couple who haven't had like
any decent amount of postseason success. I shouldn't say a couple,
but you know, Donaique never got past the second round.
Mellow got to the conference finals once, like usually a Dame.
Lillard's been to a conference final at this point, yo,
(08:49):
kids at least has been to a conference final. Like.
So that's what I mean, right? You know, Rob, you
could hit five hundred as a batter, You could be
undefeated and I have at one point zero er a
and not even make the playoffs in baseball because it's
such a dependent sport on your other teammates. So I
(09:10):
hear you. I would love I agree, you know, I
don't know if I said it on our show. I
know I said it on First things First, Well, I
did say it on our show yesterday. I left to
see him with the Yankees. He deserves to be on
a bigger stage where they're playing for something, correct, like,
of that talent, he has to be a guy that
plays for something. We can't be cheated. I to have
(09:34):
that guy playing Chris and not be on the stage
in October. You know when when when when people are
watching and it really matters, and you know, every at
bat and every pitch really counts. You know, it's good
to hit three home runs in May against the Texas Rangers.
Do you know what I mean? Okay, that's great. Or
he struck out uh thirteen Milwaukee Brewers, that's nice too.
(09:58):
But but I want to see Tony against the best
of the best, having those moments where he could give
us memories and magic that we've seen. That's why when
you talk about all the greatest players, it does center
around them in those big moments. Chris right, Michael Jordan
winning championships, uh, Wayne Gretzky winning a two championship, Stanley
(10:20):
Cups in the NHL, like those great players. Very seldom
can we say somebody's like the greatest player who hasn't won,
because the greatest because winning is a big part of that.
Although what I would say is, and we've talked about
this many times before, rob baseball is different. I mean,
(10:42):
Rod Carew was an outstanding hitter, didn't have much playoff success, right.
We talked about Ken Griffey Jr. Um. You know, there
there are others you could talk Mike Trout Obviously he's
only right, he's only been to one postseason, right, right.
I mean I do think I hear you because because
(11:03):
so many of our heroes from growing up and even
you know, they do get to a World Series at
some point and maybe win one. But I just think
the nature of the sport makes it tough. I'm saying, like,
I want to see him with the Yankees or with
the team where he's gonna consistently be on the big
stage and be able to showcase his ability to the
whole country. But I wouldn't look at it. Here's where
(11:26):
I'm coming from, my guests. I wouldn't look at it
as a negative on him if he couldn't if he
stayed with Anaheim Rob and could never get there. No,
I'm just saying for the greater like, it's just selfish
thing for baseball and baseball fans, that's just selfish. We
want to see him on that plateau. We just saw
(11:47):
him come up against a great lineup of you know,
of USA players and be able to shut them down
and and and I think we just want to see that.
And I don't know if you're gonna see that if
he stay age with the Angels, I'm not sure. Yeah,
I'm almost like, and here, let me throw this one
thing into Rob about him saying last night was his
(12:08):
biggest moment. I get where you're coming from, because it's like,
really wow. But when I thought about it. He remember,
he's in a foreign country, and I mean, I obviously
the MLB means something to him because he chose to
come here. But did he grow up really watching Major
League Baseball? Was he really into it? You know? It
(12:31):
made probably if I was in a foreign country and
I was playing in that league, saying basketball or whatever.
But then we also had a national you know, where
I could play for America, and we came there and
we played the best players in my country and we
beat him. I might think, you know what this meant more,
(12:51):
I was playing for my country, we played against your
best players and we beat you. I think that might
have something to do with it, too. Yeah, I mean
that's fair. I'm not. I just I think he has
so much like to give and I want to see
if he can do that. And he's lived up to
the hype this far. I just think that there's more there.
(13:14):
While this will be a nice moment, I hope it's
not his greatest moment ever. That he should have great
moments in Major League Baseball with everything on the line.
That's what I'm expecting to see. That's what I want
to see, and that's what I don't want to be
cheated from Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
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(13:34):
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FSR to listen live two NBA Insiders podcasting twice a
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(13:56):
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Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Chris, I
don't want to belabor the point, you know, like, uh
so I was at the thing real quick. Yeah, Yeah,
(14:19):
I was at You were giving a speech BSM. It
was like a critique of uh of your being getting
what do you call it when you sit down with
your program directed they do an air check. It was
kind of like that. It was air checking shows and
we were talking. They were doing it like publicly in
front of it. Yeah and part of people. Yeah. They
they air checked our show and the air check Carton
(14:41):
and Robert from w f AN in New York and
Mark Turnoff is one of the people and Scott Shapiro
off just those two shows that just picked people. I mean,
it just was just two shows. It's a whole program.
But but this forty minutes was US and and and
Wfan Okay, and you know, the was just a little
thing about a little pushback on doing baseball or something,
(15:05):
and and me and Turnoff got into it like he
felt like he was coming after one of my kids,
Like I had a baby, you know what I mean,
I had to protect. So you are completely, uh biased
when it comes to base I'm not biased. You are,
but it's cool, not fine, I'm not what you clearly
an object you and you're objected with the NBA, right, Okay,
(15:27):
so we're yeah, actually I think I am. I mean,
it's fine, and I think you do it because baseball
just because of that reason, like in general, baseball is
not talked about for the most part on the TV
and radio shows, you know and my national ones. Okay,
(15:47):
but what did he say talking no? But my point
was it didn't make any sense for what he was saying,
because hey, he worked in New York where you know,
Mike and the Mad Dog would break down a three
hour Yank the Yankee game for three hours on radio
every major city when the when the Dodgers make the playoffs,
they take Colin Calherd off the air in La Okay
(16:10):
because they're not gonna have a show one but locally,
I think very wrong if he's saying locally they don't
still talk baseball because but just the idea, and my
point is the reason national shows don't play well in
major cities is because of the lack of baseball tour.
You can't have a show one in Boston nationally, or
(16:31):
LA or New York or Philadelphia, Chris, on a national
level where you're talking about Alabama football or or some
NFL story that just doesn't affect your city. And and
that was my point was not that you can't talk baseball.
If you talk it, it's gotta be you have to
make it interesting. You can't break down a game about
(16:53):
baseball like Shoeo Tani. How are you not talking about him?
He's worth talking about, He's compelling, He's a story that
That's what I'm talking about, Chris, And I think when
when we do our stuff and we look at our downloads,
our second biggest download was was on an episode of
(17:14):
whether Show Hey or Aaron Judge should be the MVP
that tells you it's compelling. We're not forcing it the issue,
am I right? It's something that would be interesting to
talk about. So that was my rub is that you
just can't make a blaket statement to say don't do
this or don't do that and only do these two things.
That that was my point. Well, I think you made
(17:35):
good points. I think um, definitely, we've shown and we
obviously we don't talk mostly baseball, but we do more
than any other do more than most. Yeah, because we don't.
We do basketball and football the most. But yeah, we
do more baseball than any other national show that I've heard.
And I think what it is, Rob, is you've got
(17:57):
to and this is I think base balls trying this more.
You know, you can see the commercials and they've talked
about having fun and all that stuff. It's storylines. Even
in the other sports, Rob, a lot of the talk
is about story this storyline, right, Baseball has to like
(18:18):
play into that more. Like you talked about Show Hey
because of his uniqueness verse Aaron Judge because he was
breaking the American League home run record that was those
were unique storylines, right, And I do think baseball needs
to maybe I think promote that more and and let
(18:38):
players personalities shine more because personalities are a big part
of the storyline. So um but yeah, it's it's um,
I Rob, I've told you the story before. You know,
we used to both go and first take years ago.
I mean, this isn't more isn't more than a decade ago?
At ESPN and we be on with Skip bay Us
(19:00):
and I remember being in late September, early October and
we're not talking any baseball. Remember that's when you had
ten topics. You didn't repeat topics. You have ten topics,
and we're talking about you know, week four or five
in the NFL games and no baseball. And I would
(19:22):
be like, it's the freaking playoffs. Baseball is not hockey.
Why are we aren't we talking it? And their answers,
you know, was that the focus group show that when
they would talk baseball, you know, the ratings would dropping
all that, so they I guess they have their reasoning,
but that's what I was told. Rob. It baffled me
(19:43):
at first because it just never dawned on me that
we wouldn't talk baseball, all right, and when you know,
obviously I was on that show for a long time
when it was cold pizza like you me and you.
Early on, I did plenty of base but as time
went on, you know, it less. And I'm glad that
stephen A and them still do something. I mean they
do a little right, but they do. They haven't totally
(20:06):
eliminated it. Well. And I will say this, ESPN's like
PTI does it, does it? Rob? They've always topped, They've
never they've never stopped. They've That's the top rated sports
debate show. And I will I do think that ESPN
because it's kind of the default sports network, you know,
(20:27):
like Colga Cola or Xerox cleanex like you're just it's
the first and so people just go there. I think
they have that, you know, a luxury of talking things
that maybe other networks might not. But we we didn't
plan on doing all that. But obviously the WBC last
night was great and we were talking about first things
first today, Rob, what other leagues could learn from it
(20:49):
because it was such a great moment for baseball and
Nick right now I were talking about how you know,
the NBA All Star Game. Obviously, was just a joke.
It was terrible this year. And what about making that
American stars versus international stars? Would that improve the game?
(21:11):
I think it would because I definitely think rob the
international stars would come in wanting to play. You see,
Yanni's already he wants to compete and All Star Games
and most guys don't, right, and so I think they
would come out ready to kick. You think maybe doing
like this WBC Chris, where it would be the US
against the world and that or and and maybe yeah,
(21:36):
where they're willing to play and I and I get it.
I mean, we talked about it before. There's nowhere around
the Chris injuries or a part of sports. We talked
about al twove with his thumb. We talked about Edwin Jackson,
the Mets closer who got hurt in the celebration, Like
don't you can't blame the WBC for that, and they don't.
(21:58):
Just it could have happened in any game, right, could
have been a spring training game. Again, if you wanted
to be a stickler, you could complain about, oh, did
the Clippers really need that game last night? Ight? I mean,
you know what I mean. It's just you can't can't
play like that like that. You just gotta play and
sometimes people are gonna get injured. Chris. It's like when
(22:20):
people get sick. I can remember just saying the people,
you know, sometimes they go whoe with me and I'm
sick and I'm in the hospital, and I say to
them stop it. I said, do you know how many
hospitals there are and doctors? People get sick, Chris? Did
you can't put that on your people get sick? That
like there's no hospitals. There's one on every corner right
(22:44):
right now. I'm with you. Um, I think rob in
this format, I do think for history's sake, because these
are you know, notable things. How many times somebody made
an All Star team? That can affect a Hall of
Fame bit right, stuff like that. So I do think
you would continue voting for the players. Let the fans,
(23:06):
the media, the coaches still vote for the All Stars
as we typically do East Coast, Eastern Conference, Western Conference,
you know, just for the honor, right, So you were
named an All Star that if I was a player,
I would be honored just to be named an All Star.
But we don't play that game. Then you pick the
(23:27):
American All Stars and the International All Stars and they play.
Rob and I just think that I think the American players,
I think everybody would compete, because I definitely believe the
international players would come out one week, at least most
of them, and so I think the Americans would have
to just to not get destroyed. And you know what,
(23:49):
you might be right in that not only in an
exhibition basically tournament to WBC, Japan competed, Kris. They wanted
to win, and Joe Hayes told us, it's the best
thing you ever did, Like, like, you don't say that
for like a kick around All Star Game or you
(24:10):
know what I mean, like or or or something that
I mean, he said, the best thing he's ever done. Wow.
And I do think Rob, and I think the American
players definitely competed. I mean, you said that they had
the best hitting in the tournament. But I let's I
think it's it's just fair and honest to say we
as a nation, and probably our players, I mean, we
(24:33):
don't look at it as big of a deal as
some of the other countries, maybe most probably most of
the other countries. But I think going forward, Rob, we
might I think, well, this year could kick it all.
It's every four years, so that kind of that could
lessen it, right, But I think Rob that going forward,
(24:54):
you know, I think it's gonna be a bigger and
bigger deal. And so yeah, I think that could liven
up the All Star And they've tried everything, Rob, don't
work the street street ball, picking your own players, and
you know it just I mean, let they've tried it
(25:14):
all the ideas in the road, like like like like
Adam Silver looks over in the corner Chris, and the
guy goes, I got nothing right, I got exactly. It's
just like come on, and so uh, let's throw it
out to the listeners. Eight seven seven, Chris, Let's say this.
They have done this format us say, against the world
(25:34):
in the rookie game, but now make it right, now,
make it for the big time stars like that. They
have tried that and the rookies it didn't you know,
it didn't take. They didn't really make them compete that hard.
But I would hope Rob, that they would compete, uh
in this game and play hard. Fox Sports Radio has
(25:55):
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com and
within the iHeart radio app search f s R to
listen live our next guest. Yes, he's always hustling. He's
a serious XM NBA radio host. He's a Pelicans New
Orleans Pelicans TV analysts, he's a Fox Sports Radio NBA analyst,
(26:20):
and he is an NBA champion himself. Our man, Antonio Daniels.
What up, brother, Yo? Yo? Tell us Chris rob what's up, Fellas?
Great to have you on, man, We're good. Let's start here.
Kendrick Perkins went out and said it that the Pelicans
(26:40):
should trade Zion Williamson because he's basically out for the
rest of the season, gonna reevaluate him the last week
of the season. Your thoughts, Okay, do you think they should?
I mean, obviously he's been injured a lot. Seriously, Chris,
I'm just asking the questions. Do I do I think
(27:02):
that they should trade a generational talent? No? I don't.
I don't, No, not at all. And and and Perkins
is and he can have his own opinion on that. Cool.
You know if he feels like they should trade Zion? Cool. No,
I don't, not at all. I love that kid. Is
there a thing? And I know you're not a doctor.
(27:24):
And obviously they got doctors who don't have the answer.
But you know, what do you think needs to be done?
Does he need to lose weight? Is this just I mean,
what do you do? He's twenty four games, I don't know,
sixty one, didn't miss the whole year. Now he's played
twenty nine this year, right, I don't know. The thing
is like Chris rob if I knew, I would tell you.
(27:45):
You know, if I knew, I would tell you there's
is there a reason why guys in today's NBA are
more injured than the past. They don't play now, That's
what I just not the case resign. Yeah, yeah, I'm
just talking about in general. I feel like one of
the biggest reasons guys are injured now is because their
(28:06):
bodies aren't conditioned for it. And I don't think I mean,
we we're sitting here and we're talking about Diane, but
I don't think this is simply a Dion issue. Can
go back and look at other guys that were injury
riddled to start their careers off, and then once they
got their careers on the right path, they were good
to go. I do remember early on when Zion first
(28:26):
got there, we know how he's built and he's really big.
That there was a feeling in New Orleans of you know, look,
we're not trying to have him lose a lot of
weight because that's part of his strength. Like we want
him to be who he is. Do you think or
have they have they changed that thinking and said, look,
he let's have him drop weight and give that a try,
(28:48):
you know, Charles Bark, I don't. I don't know all
the way he had to lose. I don't know. I mean,
I know when I came into this year and I
saw Zion a media day, he was in the best
shape that I had seen him in as a pro.
He was in the best shape I've seen him in
as a pro. He almost looked like he was back
at Duke, but the way that he was chiseled. So,
(29:10):
I mean, the thing is, I don't know. Again, if
I had the answer to this, I would I would share.
But I really don't have the answer to this. And
I don't know. I mean, maybe this is something that's
going to happen early in his career. And but here's
the thing, I mean, who knows how you go about
this moving forward? I don't know what the next step is,
(29:32):
you know, but I know that it's killing him not
being on that floor. I know that. I've had conversations
with him. I know it's killing him not playing. This
isn't a low management thing. This isn't a situation where
her when he has gotten injured, he's got hurt. He's injured.
And it's a difference because when Dion throughout his career,
(29:54):
it's very rare that he's gotten hurt. You know, when
you're hurt, you can still go out there and play,
but when you're injured, playing is not an option. And
when you're talking about a hamstring, anyone that's ever had
hamstring issues knows how this works. You can feel great.
And the thing that happened prior to this is when
he reinjured it. When he reinjured it, that wasn't just
(30:16):
a setback. That was almost like a start over, right.
So when that happened all the way back in February,
so you almost go back to block one and the
second week of February and you start this whole thing
over again. But now he's back on the floor today,
back on the floor, got clear to start doing on
court activities, and then this next two weeks. We'll see
what comes to this and see if he's able to
(30:38):
go in the last two or three games of the seas.
Let's switch over to the Lakers, the host of the
Suns tonight in LA. You know where that Chris Eleventh
right there? One right? But is this one a d
I know Lebron probably won't come back, or he might
be back the last week, or maybe he won't be back,
(31:00):
But is this on Ad to try to get them
in like is with the team that they have and
the changes that they've made or whatever. Is this team
still good enough if AD's playing where he's capable. You know,
the biggest question that I have about the Lakers is
(31:23):
if Lebron James returns, what do they look like? This
isn't Kevin And I say that to say that Lebron
James is not Kevin Durant. We talked about this last week.
There are certain guys that the NBA is not plugging play.
But with certain guys to give these plugging play, right,
Kevin Durant, You can put him in the system and
(31:43):
he's good. Lebron James and the guys that needs the
basketball on his hands. But what you see without Lebron
James is the evolution of other players. Right Darvin Hamm
is coaching his tail off right now in LA. He's
putting the ball in Austin Reeve's hands. He's putting the
ball in D'Angelo Russell. He's running played from a league
Beasley isolations for for Anthony Davis, isolations for Rue How Chamora.
(32:06):
How does it that dynamic change when Lebron James returned.
That's the biggest question that I had last thing. Um.
The Warriors are playing right now against Dallas and we
all know their road record. They got their third best
home record in the league road, Yeah, eight and twenty nine.
(32:26):
What does that tell you when you see a team,
particularly one as experiences they are, and do you do
you essentially write them off as a chance to win
the West? Because of that, now, I feel like your
championship window was closed. We talked about this a good
amount throughout the course of my show this week, and
you know my thing is, I feel like the whole
(32:48):
temperament of that team changed when Draymond Greene hit Jordan Poole.
I feel like that changed everything for this team because
Draymond green is no longer allowed to be Draymond green
and those are his words. He can't be what right, key,
can't be what he is accustomed to be. And my
(33:10):
thing is when you do something like that, I've been
in locker rooms and I've seen that happened before. It's
not the impact that it has on those guys that
are experienced. It's not the impact that it has on
Clay and Steph and Lotty and Andre Igadolla. It's the
basis of those who who are new to this right,
who are new there, the wiseman at the time, the comminga,
(33:32):
the moody, the de Vincenzos, those kind of guys, and
the way that it was handled right, think about how
you would feel if you're in that locker room somebody
swung on you, nuck you, tried to slip you, and
then all they did was gave him a fine. Antonio didn't.
(33:54):
They didn't want him to miss the wing ceremony. That's right,
So the priority at that point, there were such a
trickle down effect to that punch for me, And I'm
not saying that's why this team is who they are.
You know, this is a flawed basketball team, period, but
the Draymond greene situation and what happened with Jordan Poole.
I feel like that had a bigger effect on the
(34:16):
Golden State Warriors than people want to discuss. All right,
That is our man, Antonio Daniel's great stuff. As always, brother,
we appreciate you, no doubt. For sure, I appreciate you
guys always,
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of The Odd Couple with
Chris Russo and Rod Harker. The story Right Now Rob
last night's World Baseball Classic finale, and Japan does take
down the United States three to two in an absolute thriller.
(00:46):
And Japan now Rob has won three of the World
Baseball Classic championships, the United States has one, and so
right now Japan seems to rule. But it came down
to really Rob a storybook ending, right, I mean, people
had alluded to it. Go ahead, yeah, I was gonna say, Chris,
(01:10):
my goodness, gracious, you couldn't if you were in Hollywood,
you couldn't write that squipt look ahead now, go ahead,
I gonna yeah. I just it was just to me.
It was suitable for framing where old Tani's pitching to
trout three two count, you know, and and and and
a wicked slider, that was nasty. That was rippleball, right,
(01:32):
what was that? Did you throw that? Fifty eight miles
an hour? I mean, but Chris, just just the setting,
the circumstance. It was what everybody And and I heard
the clip from mom the Dan Patrick Show and uh smolty,
John Smoltz predicted exactly that and and it came down
(01:53):
to it, which is incredible to think that that would
line up that way and that close up that we
line up like that. God, did you get to appreciate
it as it went on, like just just what went on?
And yeah, yeah, yep, yep, it was. It was great.
It was great. And afterwards I think, do we have
(02:15):
sound of a tiny I mean, obviously it's a translation,
we don't have to sound, but Rob essentially what he
said was that getting that w AT victory was the
best moment of his career, the best moment of his career.
And so that's how much it meant to him. Yeah,
(02:36):
and and I thought that was I get it. National pride, Chris.
You know, um, for the people of Japan, they were
watching in droves and early games this this WBC Chris,
eighty million people were watching like in Japan, they got
I think, yeah, did it go up to one hundred million? Yeah,
(02:57):
one hundred million people watching a you know, an international
baseball game that doesn't have any real Uh you know,
what's the right tournam it's an exhibition, there's no I
think the significance is what you put up. I would
say it's different than your tip because it's a legitimate tournament.
I mean, we don't put a lot of stock into it,
(03:19):
to be honest as Americans, but it is a legitimate tournament.
It's I mean, I think it's been characterized as an exhibition,
but it's a tournament. There's a champion winning it means something.
So I do think of it. I mean again, I
think here in this country we don't think of it
that importantly. But well, we didn't even have all of
our exhibition right, but we didn't have all of our
(03:40):
best players, best pitching. And the Commission of Rob Menford
said that at going forward, they're going to push to
have the best of the everybody, you know what I mean,
like uh that And I'm not trying to say that
the h A USA team was chop lever and there
were scrubs on it because they had an all star
line up. You have beat Mookie Betts, Trade, I mean,
(04:03):
and they were beating everybody else, Chris by double digits.
They won't fourteen to two, you know, big, big numbers.
So it wasn't like they didn't play well. It's just
that the pitching for Japan, and you mentioned this yesterday
has been outstanding, and it was last night. Yeah, it
just was the on the run. They got first. They
scored first with Trade Turner's home run. But other than that, Chris,
(04:25):
they really couldn't muster anything. Let me read you this
quote from USA manager Mark de Rosa on a tiny rod.
What he's doing in the game is what probably ninety
percent of the guys in that clubhouse did in Little
league or in youth tournaments, and he's able to pull
(04:46):
it off on the biggest stages. He is a unicorn
to the sport. I think other guys will try it,
but I don't think they're going to do it to
his level. What blows me away on this stage is
the at that no moments too big for him. He
did not seem rattled by walking Jeff McNeil on a
close pitch, right, not rattled that three MVPs were coming
(05:10):
up to back unbelievable. No, this dude is awesome, man,
he is. He's still not the MVP from last year
in the America League. I don't killed anybody. That's fine.
He's awesome, but he's a great player and he's as
advertised Chris. Remember when he first came struggled a little bit,
then he had a couple of injuries, you remember, and
nobody really he is fully what was advertised as far
(05:35):
as being able to pitch and hit at that level.
And I think there will be more people attempting to
do it now whether they can be at that level.
I agree with de Rosa, like, like you might not
be able to get there. You might be much better
Chris with one with the bat and you're a mediocre
pitcher or you're a great pitcher and a mediocre hitter,
like that's not what old Tani is, right, And if
(05:57):
you're if you're hurting, if you're not going like say
you're a picture, you're a great hitter, you're a decent picture,
but you're not gonna help help the team in that regard.
And they got the other guys that can do it better,
then I can't be mad at the team for being like, look,
you're just gonna hit, We're just gonna be whatever, right,
And guys I think should accept that if that's the case.
(06:21):
But Rob, I think too, you're going like the guys
that want to do that and upstay through college or
even the miners do it at a high level. I think, Rob,
they're gonna need the encouragement, you know, because we it
just we don't even we've never thought about that, you know,
it's in our lifetimes, and so I think we with
(06:43):
de Rosa is right, Rob, growing up it's nothing to
see the best picture. This guy's who's a phenomenal high
school picture be a great hitter as well, and you know,
and then they get they got to choose one. So
I think if a guy gets encouragement and is able
to try to do it, then I do think there
might be a few who can do it. Whether or
(07:03):
not they do it at his level, I don't know.
But but here's the problem. Even I did cringe a
little bit, Chris, I gotta admit that he said that
was the best moment of his career, best that you know,
like like an exhibition. Yes, you beat the United States,
but you're playing in the major leagues, you're playing on
a team that that you can't get to the playoffs.
(07:25):
Like old Tani needs to be of that ilk to
to get the Angels in the postseason. We need to
see him on that stage because this shouldn't be I'm
hoping that this doesn't wind up being, uh, the biggest
thing that happens. I don't want him to be the
(07:47):
Carmelo Anthony of baseball. Chris, where your greatest moment. You know,
your greatest moment was, you know, in the tournament or
international play, but not in the main league. Do you
think it's impossible that that Oltani will win for sure?
Is that what you're saying. I think it's impossible. Like
(08:07):
in basketball if one players only five on the court obviously,
as you know, and one player can have such a
greater effect on a basketball game than he can on
a baseball game. Now I'm not saying obviously, we've seen
many great players who haven't won championships. But have you
(08:28):
seen You've only seen a couple who haven't had like
any decent amount of postseason success. I shouldn't say a couple,
but you know, Donaique never got past the second round.
Mellow got to the conference finals once, like usually a Dame.
Lillard's been to a conference final at this point, yo,
(08:49):
kids at least has been to a conference final. Like.
So that's what I mean, right? You know, Rob, you
could hit five hundred as a batter, You could be
undefeated and I have at one point zero er a
and not even make the playoffs in baseball because it's
such a dependent sport on your other teammates. So I
(09:10):
hear you. I would love I agree, you know, I
don't know if I said it on our show. I
know I said it on First things First, Well, I
did say it on our show yesterday. I left to
see him with the Yankees. He deserves to be on
a bigger stage where they're playing for something, correct, like,
of that talent, he has to be a guy that
plays for something. We can't be cheated. I to have
(09:34):
that guy playing Chris and not be on the stage
in October. You know when when when when people are
watching and it really matters, and you know, every at
bat and every pitch really counts. You know, it's good
to hit three home runs in May against the Texas Rangers.
Do you know what I mean? Okay, that's great. Or
he struck out uh thirteen Milwaukee Brewers, that's nice too.
(09:58):
But but I want to see Tony against the best
of the best, having those moments where he could give
us memories and magic that we've seen. That's why when
you talk about all the greatest players, it does center
around them in those big moments. Chris right, Michael Jordan
winning championships, uh, Wayne Gretzky winning a two championship, Stanley
(10:20):
Cups in the NHL, like those great players. Very seldom
can we say somebody's like the greatest player who hasn't won,
because the greatest because winning is a big part of that.
Although what I would say is, and we've talked about
this many times before, rob baseball is different. I mean,
(10:42):
Rod Carew was an outstanding hitter, didn't have much playoff success, right.
We talked about Ken Griffey Jr. Um. You know, there
there are others you could talk Mike Trout Obviously he's
only right, he's only been to one postseason, right, right.
I mean I do think I hear you because because
(11:03):
so many of our heroes from growing up and even
you know, they do get to a World Series at
some point and maybe win one. But I just think
the nature of the sport makes it tough. I'm saying, like,
I want to see him with the Yankees or with
the team where he's gonna consistently be on the big
stage and be able to showcase his ability to the
whole country. But I wouldn't look at it. Here's where
(11:26):
I'm coming from, my guests. I wouldn't look at it
as a negative on him if he couldn't if he
stayed with Anaheim Rob and could never get there. No,
I'm just saying for the greater like, it's just selfish
thing for baseball and baseball fans, that's just selfish. We
want to see him on that plateau. We just saw
(11:47):
him come up against a great lineup of you know,
of USA players and be able to shut them down
and and and I think we just want to see that.
And I don't know if you're gonna see that if
he stay age with the Angels, I'm not sure. Yeah,
I'm almost like, and here, let me throw this one
thing into Rob about him saying last night was his
(12:08):
biggest moment. I get where you're coming from, because it's like,
really wow. But when I thought about it. He remember,
he's in a foreign country, and I mean, I obviously
the MLB means something to him because he chose to
come here. But did he grow up really watching Major
League Baseball? Was he really into it? You know? It
(12:31):
made probably if I was in a foreign country and
I was playing in that league, saying basketball or whatever.
But then we also had a national you know, where
I could play for America, and we came there and
we played the best players in my country and we
beat him. I might think, you know what this meant more,
(12:51):
I was playing for my country, we played against your
best players and we beat you. I think that might
have something to do with it, too. Yeah, I mean
that's fair. I'm not. I just I think he has
so much like to give and I want to see
if he can do that. And he's lived up to
the hype this far. I just think that there's more there.
(13:14):
While this will be a nice moment, I hope it's
not his greatest moment ever. That he should have great
moments in Major League Baseball with everything on the line.
That's what I'm expecting to see. That's what I want
to see, and that's what I don't want to be
cheated from Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
(13:34):
foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search
FSR to listen live two NBA Insiders podcasting twice a
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Few NBA podcast with Me Chris Hans and Me Mark
(13:56):
Stein join us as we team up to expound on
everything we're hearing and Jason. Listen to This League Uncut
with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Chris, I
don't want to belabor the point, you know, like, uh
so I was at the thing real quick. Yeah, Yeah,
(14:19):
I was at You were giving a speech BSM. It
was like a critique of uh of your being getting
what do you call it when you sit down with
your program directed they do an air check. It was
kind of like that. It was air checking shows and
we were talking. They were doing it like publicly in
front of it. Yeah and part of people. Yeah. They
they air checked our show and the air check Carton
(14:41):
and Robert from w f AN in New York and
Mark Turnoff is one of the people and Scott Shapiro
off just those two shows that just picked people. I mean,
it just was just two shows. It's a whole program.
But but this forty minutes was US and and and
Wfan Okay, and you know, the was just a little
thing about a little pushback on doing baseball or something,
(15:05):
and and me and Turnoff got into it like he
felt like he was coming after one of my kids,
Like I had a baby, you know what I mean,
I had to protect. So you are completely, uh biased
when it comes to base I'm not biased. You are,
but it's cool, not fine, I'm not what you clearly
an object you and you're objected with the NBA, right, Okay,
(15:27):
so we're yeah, actually I think I am. I mean,
it's fine, and I think you do it because baseball
just because of that reason, like in general, baseball is
not talked about for the most part on the TV
and radio shows, you know and my national ones. Okay,
(15:47):
but what did he say talking no? But my point
was it didn't make any sense for what he was saying,
because hey, he worked in New York where you know,
Mike and the Mad Dog would break down a three
hour Yank the Yankee game for three hours on radio
every major city when the when the Dodgers make the playoffs,
they take Colin Calherd off the air in La Okay
(16:10):
because they're not gonna have a show one but locally,
I think very wrong if he's saying locally they don't
still talk baseball because but just the idea, and my
point is the reason national shows don't play well in
major cities is because of the lack of baseball tour.
You can't have a show one in Boston nationally, or
(16:31):
LA or New York or Philadelphia, Chris, on a national
level where you're talking about Alabama football or or some
NFL story that just doesn't affect your city. And and
that was my point was not that you can't talk baseball.
If you talk it, it's gotta be you have to
make it interesting. You can't break down a game about
(16:53):
baseball like Shoeo Tani. How are you not talking about him?
He's worth talking about, He's compelling, He's a story that
That's what I'm talking about, Chris, And I think when
when we do our stuff and we look at our downloads,
our second biggest download was was on an episode of
(17:14):
whether Show Hey or Aaron Judge should be the MVP
that tells you it's compelling. We're not forcing it the issue,
am I right? It's something that would be interesting to
talk about. So that was my rub is that you
just can't make a blaket statement to say don't do
this or don't do that and only do these two things.
That that was my point. Well, I think you made
(17:35):
good points. I think um, definitely, we've shown and we
obviously we don't talk mostly baseball, but we do more
than any other do more than most. Yeah, because we don't.
We do basketball and football the most. But yeah, we
do more baseball than any other national show that I've heard.
And I think what it is, Rob, is you've got
(17:57):
to and this is I think base balls trying this more.
You know, you can see the commercials and they've talked
about having fun and all that stuff. It's storylines. Even
in the other sports, Rob, a lot of the talk
is about story this storyline, right, Baseball has to like
(18:18):
play into that more. Like you talked about Show Hey
because of his uniqueness verse Aaron Judge because he was
breaking the American League home run record that was those
were unique storylines, right, And I do think baseball needs
to maybe I think promote that more and and let
(18:38):
players personalities shine more because personalities are a big part
of the storyline. So um but yeah, it's it's um,
I Rob, I've told you the story before. You know,
we used to both go and first take years ago.
I mean, this isn't more isn't more than a decade ago?
At ESPN and we be on with Skip bay Us
(19:00):
and I remember being in late September, early October and
we're not talking any baseball. Remember that's when you had
ten topics. You didn't repeat topics. You have ten topics,
and we're talking about you know, week four or five
in the NFL games and no baseball. And I would
(19:22):
be like, it's the freaking playoffs. Baseball is not hockey.
Why are we aren't we talking it? And their answers,
you know, was that the focus group show that when
they would talk baseball, you know, the ratings would dropping
all that, so they I guess they have their reasoning,
but that's what I was told. Rob. It baffled me
(19:43):
at first because it just never dawned on me that
we wouldn't talk baseball, all right, and when you know,
obviously I was on that show for a long time
when it was cold pizza like you me and you.
Early on, I did plenty of base but as time
went on, you know, it less. And I'm glad that
stephen A and them still do something. I mean they
do a little right, but they do. They haven't totally
(20:06):
eliminated it. Well. And I will say this, ESPN's like
PTI does it, does it? Rob? They've always topped, They've
never they've never stopped. They've That's the top rated sports
debate show. And I will I do think that ESPN
because it's kind of the default sports network, you know,
(20:27):
like Colga Cola or Xerox cleanex like you're just it's
the first and so people just go there. I think
they have that, you know, a luxury of talking things
that maybe other networks might not. But we we didn't
plan on doing all that. But obviously the WBC last
night was great and we were talking about first things
first today, Rob, what other leagues could learn from it
(20:49):
because it was such a great moment for baseball and
Nick right now I were talking about how you know,
the NBA All Star Game. Obviously, was just a joke.
It was terrible this year. And what about making that
American stars versus international stars? Would that improve the game?
(21:11):
I think it would because I definitely think rob the
international stars would come in wanting to play. You see,
Yanni's already he wants to compete and All Star Games
and most guys don't, right, and so I think they
would come out ready to kick. You think maybe doing
like this WBC Chris, where it would be the US
against the world and that or and and maybe yeah,
(21:36):
where they're willing to play and I and I get it.
I mean, we talked about it before. There's nowhere around
the Chris injuries or a part of sports. We talked
about al twove with his thumb. We talked about Edwin Jackson,
the Mets closer who got hurt in the celebration, Like
don't you can't blame the WBC for that, and they don't.
(21:58):
Just it could have happened in any game, right, could
have been a spring training game. Again, if you wanted
to be a stickler, you could complain about, oh, did
the Clippers really need that game last night? Ight? I mean,
you know what I mean. It's just you can't can't
play like that like that. You just gotta play and
sometimes people are gonna get injured. Chris. It's like when
(22:20):
people get sick. I can remember just saying the people,
you know, sometimes they go whoe with me and I'm
sick and I'm in the hospital, and I say to
them stop it. I said, do you know how many
hospitals there are and doctors? People get sick, Chris? Did
you can't put that on your people get sick? That
like there's no hospitals. There's one on every corner right
(22:44):
right now. I'm with you. Um, I think rob in
this format, I do think for history's sake, because these
are you know, notable things. How many times somebody made
an All Star team? That can affect a Hall of
Fame bit right, stuff like that. So I do think
you would continue voting for the players. Let the fans,
(23:06):
the media, the coaches still vote for the All Stars
as we typically do East Coast, Eastern Conference, Western Conference,
you know, just for the honor, right, So you were
named an All Star that if I was a player,
I would be honored just to be named an All Star.
But we don't play that game. Then you pick the
(23:27):
American All Stars and the International All Stars and they play.
Rob and I just think that I think the American players,
I think everybody would compete, because I definitely believe the
international players would come out one week, at least most
of them, and so I think the Americans would have
to just to not get destroyed. And you know what,
(23:49):
you might be right in that not only in an
exhibition basically tournament to WBC, Japan competed, Kris. They wanted
to win, and Joe Hayes told us, it's the best
thing you ever did, Like, like, you don't say that
for like a kick around All Star Game or you
(24:10):
know what I mean, like or or or something that
I mean, he said, the best thing he's ever done. Wow.
And I do think Rob, and I think the American
players definitely competed. I mean, you said that they had
the best hitting in the tournament. But I let's I
think it's it's just fair and honest to say we
as a nation, and probably our players, I mean, we
(24:33):
don't look at it as big of a deal as
some of the other countries, maybe most probably most of
the other countries. But I think going forward, Rob, we
might I think, well, this year could kick it all.
It's every four years, so that kind of that could
lessen it, right, But I think Rob that going forward,
(24:54):
you know, I think it's gonna be a bigger and
bigger deal. And so yeah, I think that could liven
up the All Star And they've tried everything, Rob, don't
work the street street ball, picking your own players, and
you know it just I mean, let they've tried it
(25:14):
all the ideas in the road, like like like like
Adam Silver looks over in the corner Chris, and the
guy goes, I got nothing right, I got exactly. It's
just like come on, and so uh, let's throw it
out to the listeners. Eight seven seven, Chris, Let's say this.
They have done this format us say, against the world
(25:34):
in the rookie game, but now make it right, now,
make it for the big time stars like that. They
have tried that and the rookies it didn't you know,
it didn't take. They didn't really make them compete that hard.
But I would hope Rob, that they would compete, uh
in this game and play hard. Fox Sports Radio has
(25:55):
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com and
within the iHeart radio app search f s R to
listen live our next guest. Yes, he's always hustling. He's
a serious XM NBA radio host. He's a Pelicans New
Orleans Pelicans TV analysts, he's a Fox Sports Radio NBA analyst,
(26:20):
and he is an NBA champion himself. Our man, Antonio Daniels.
What up, brother, Yo? Yo? Tell us Chris rob what's up, Fellas?
Great to have you on, man, We're good. Let's start here.
Kendrick Perkins went out and said it that the Pelicans
(26:40):
should trade Zion Williamson because he's basically out for the
rest of the season, gonna reevaluate him the last week
of the season. Your thoughts, Okay, do you think they should?
I mean, obviously he's been injured a lot. Seriously, Chris,
I'm just asking the questions. Do I do I think
(27:02):
that they should trade a generational talent? No? I don't.
I don't, No, not at all. And and and Perkins
is and he can have his own opinion on that. Cool.
You know if he feels like they should trade Zion? Cool. No,
I don't, not at all. I love that kid. Is
there a thing? And I know you're not a doctor.
(27:24):
And obviously they got doctors who don't have the answer.
But you know, what do you think needs to be done?
Does he need to lose weight? Is this just I mean,
what do you do? He's twenty four games, I don't know,
sixty one, didn't miss the whole year. Now he's played
twenty nine this year, right, I don't know. The thing
is like Chris rob if I knew, I would tell you.
(27:45):
You know, if I knew, I would tell you there's
is there a reason why guys in today's NBA are
more injured than the past. They don't play now, That's
what I just not the case resign. Yeah, yeah, I'm
just talking about in general. I feel like one of
the biggest reasons guys are injured now is because their
(28:06):
bodies aren't conditioned for it. And I don't think I mean,
we we're sitting here and we're talking about Diane, but
I don't think this is simply a Dion issue. Can
go back and look at other guys that were injury
riddled to start their careers off, and then once they
got their careers on the right path, they were good
to go. I do remember early on when Zion first
(28:26):
got there, we know how he's built and he's really big.
That there was a feeling in New Orleans of you know, look,
we're not trying to have him lose a lot of
weight because that's part of his strength. Like we want
him to be who he is. Do you think or
have they have they changed that thinking and said, look,
he let's have him drop weight and give that a try,
(28:48):
you know, Charles Bark, I don't. I don't know all
the way he had to lose. I don't know. I mean,
I know when I came into this year and I
saw Zion a media day, he was in the best
shape that I had seen him in as a pro.
He was in the best shape I've seen him in
as a pro. He almost looked like he was back
at Duke, but the way that he was chiseled. So,
(29:10):
I mean, the thing is, I don't know. Again, if
I had the answer to this, I would I would share.
But I really don't have the answer to this. And
I don't know. I mean, maybe this is something that's
going to happen early in his career. And but here's
the thing, I mean, who knows how you go about
this moving forward? I don't know what the next step is,
(29:32):
you know, but I know that it's killing him not
being on that floor. I know that. I've had conversations
with him. I know it's killing him not playing. This
isn't a low management thing. This isn't a situation where
her when he has gotten injured, he's got hurt. He's injured.
And it's a difference because when Dion throughout his career,
(29:54):
it's very rare that he's gotten hurt. You know, when
you're hurt, you can still go out there and play,
but when you're injured, playing is not an option. And
when you're talking about a hamstring, anyone that's ever had
hamstring issues knows how this works. You can feel great.
And the thing that happened prior to this is when
he reinjured it. When he reinjured it, that wasn't just
(30:16):
a setback. That was almost like a start over, right.
So when that happened all the way back in February,
so you almost go back to block one and the
second week of February and you start this whole thing
over again. But now he's back on the floor today,
back on the floor, got clear to start doing on
court activities, and then this next two weeks. We'll see
what comes to this and see if he's able to
(30:38):
go in the last two or three games of the seas.
Let's switch over to the Lakers, the host of the
Suns tonight in LA. You know where that Chris Eleventh
right there? One right? But is this one a d
I know Lebron probably won't come back, or he might
be back the last week, or maybe he won't be back,
(31:00):
But is this on Ad to try to get them
in like is with the team that they have and
the changes that they've made or whatever. Is this team
still good enough if AD's playing where he's capable. You know,
the biggest question that I have about the Lakers is
(31:23):
if Lebron James returns, what do they look like? This
isn't Kevin And I say that to say that Lebron
James is not Kevin Durant. We talked about this last week.
There are certain guys that the NBA is not plugging play.
But with certain guys to give these plugging play, right,
Kevin Durant, You can put him in the system and
(31:43):
he's good. Lebron James and the guys that needs the
basketball on his hands. But what you see without Lebron
James is the evolution of other players. Right Darvin Hamm
is coaching his tail off right now in LA. He's
putting the ball in Austin Reeve's hands. He's putting the
ball in D'Angelo Russell. He's running played from a league
Beasley isolations for for Anthony Davis, isolations for Rue How Chamora.
(32:06):
How does it that dynamic change when Lebron James returned.
That's the biggest question that I had last thing. Um.
The Warriors are playing right now against Dallas and we
all know their road record. They got their third best
home record in the league road, Yeah, eight and twenty nine.
(32:26):
What does that tell you when you see a team,
particularly one as experiences they are, and do you do
you essentially write them off as a chance to win
the West? Because of that, now, I feel like your
championship window was closed. We talked about this a good
amount throughout the course of my show this week, and
you know my thing is, I feel like the whole
(32:48):
temperament of that team changed when Draymond Greene hit Jordan Poole.
I feel like that changed everything for this team because
Draymond green is no longer allowed to be Draymond green
and those are his words. He can't be what right, key,
can't be what he is accustomed to be. And my
(33:10):
thing is when you do something like that, I've been
in locker rooms and I've seen that happened before. It's
not the impact that it has on those guys that
are experienced. It's not the impact that it has on
Clay and Steph and Lotty and Andre Igadolla. It's the
basis of those who who are new to this right,
who are new there, the wiseman at the time, the comminga,
(33:32):
the moody, the de Vincenzos, those kind of guys, and
the way that it was handled right, think about how
you would feel if you're in that locker room somebody
swung on you, nuck you, tried to slip you, and
then all they did was gave him a fine. Antonio didn't.
(33:54):
They didn't want him to miss the wing ceremony. That's right,
So the priority at that point, there were such a
trickle down effect to that punch for me, And I'm
not saying that's why this team is who they are.
You know, this is a flawed basketball team, period, but
the Draymond greene situation and what happened with Jordan Poole.
I feel like that had a bigger effect on the
(34:16):
Golden State Warriors than people want to discuss. All right,
That is our man, Antonio Daniel's great stuff. As always, brother,
we appreciate you, no doubt. For sure, I appreciate you
guys always,
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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