June 26, 2023 • 39 mins
FOX Sports Radio Weekend host Ephraim Salaam is in for Rob, and he and Chris explain why Dennis Rodman was dead wrong for saying Larry Bird couldn’t play in today’s NBA, tell us if we should believe Cam’Ron’s story about why Draymond Green punched Jordan Poole last summer and discuss the latest surrounding Damian Lillard’s future with the Portland Trail Blazers. Plus, The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson swings by to discuss the Cam’Ron’s wild Draymond-Poole story, why he believes both Green and Klay Thompson will get contract extensions this summer, how Chris Paul fits within the Golden State Warriors offense and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
All right, it is the Odd Couple. I'm Chris. He's EPHROM.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Were broadcasting live from the tire rag dot com studios.
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We got Marcus Thompson, best selling author from The Athletic,
joining us at the bottom of the hour. He knows
(01:02):
all things warriors, so we'll get to talk with him
about what's going on there in the Bay area.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
But let's start here.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
We're gonna go historical because Dennis Rodman, who played against
Larry bird back for Detroit in the late eighties, he
was asked, and this is a wide ranging thing, Ephim
I get Gilbert A. Renus, first of all, said that
(01:32):
Larry Bird would probably beat Lebron James in a game
of one on one.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
And so that predict.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
That statement was made to Dennis Rodman on lad TV.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And here's what Rodman said.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
If Larry Bird play in this era, I thought he'd
be in Europe. So I'm just letting you know over man, really,
except to say you be somewhere over there. But you know,
I think his game was fit for Boston at that
time in the eighties and stuff like that, you know,
but uh so, uh, today's world, Oh.
Speaker 6 (02:12):
He don't know.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
That's no way. I'm not just a downplaying him because
he's a great player at that time, just like I was.
And uh but I'm saying, no, that's no way. I
think the kids from my Denver is way better him.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
He talking about NICOLEA.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
Jokic.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I don't even know if he knew his name. First
of all, let me address the Lebron thing. I think
Lebron would beat Larry Bird in one on one. I
think Lebron is better than Bird. But you know, I
think Bird is clearly a top ten player of all time.
(02:49):
And Rodman is way way way off on this, and
and I think we have to address really Robin for
some reason, maybe because Bird was beating him, he don't
like Larry Bird. And you remember Ephraim when Detroit met
(03:12):
Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals in nineteen eighty seven
and Boston beat him in seven games, and after the
seventh game, that's when Rodman said Bird is overrated, and
basically that he's getting all of these accolades and all
of his love because he's white and if he was black,
(03:35):
he'd just be kind of another player.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Now, mind you, moments.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Earlier, Bird had just dropped thirty seven points, nine assists,
and nine rebounds on Rodman.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
But everybody remembers that.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
In Isaiah Thomas got involved and kind of seconded what
Rodman said, and you know, it became a big deal.
But I I think he is out of his mind,
Larry Bird. Larry Bird, if he played the day, Ephraim
might be better than in his day because he'd be
(04:13):
shooting more three pointers. And he's one of the greatest
shooters ever and he was a phenomenal player. And I
think people.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Fromous passer as well.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I think he was a better passer than Lebron. Larry
Bird I don't think it's even a discussion. Think about
this at a time where the league needed a rebirth. Yep,
coming off the merger between the ABA the NBA, the
(04:43):
league needed something.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
Right.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
You finally got to have doctor J in the NBA,
Moses Malone, right, all of these things, and incomes this
kid from Michigan State, Magic Johnson. And income comes this
kid Larry Bird from Indiana State. Right, Larry Bird. That
(05:10):
is what made the NBA what it is now, That rivalry,
those two dynamic, all time great players who played each
other in college and carried that same thing over into
the NBA. Their skill levels and hatred for each other
(05:32):
were on par with each other. Would you say, Magic
Johnson if he played today, would be playing in Europe?
Speaker 4 (05:42):
And look, I think Magic would be tremendous today. But
of the two, and like I said, obviously I never
make this argument, but e from of the two players,
if you wanted to say one was not built for
today's game, the one you would say would be Magic
(06:07):
because Magic didn't didn't shoot that well. I would never
say now I wouldn't. I wouldn't make that argument. But
I wouldn't make that argument. I'm just saying if you
had to say, if you if you had, like my
point is just that if you were going to pick
one of those two that you thought might struggle more
in today's game, I think Magic would have adjusted and
(06:28):
been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
But I'm just.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Saying he lacked that a great skill that is obviously
big time today, and I think he would have become
a better jump shooter.
Speaker 7 (06:40):
But remember he had that set shot. Yeah, he had
a set shot, but that wasn't his thing. His thing
was movement. His thing was movement. We're going to chanst
the temple. You have to catch up with us, right,
you have to catch up with us. And his generalship,
his court leadership, all of those things made him, in
(07:01):
my opinion, one of the if not the greatest point
guard to ever play. His counterpart, Larry Bird, was the
mirror image of that. It was a white guy who
was all about shooting, competing, and an ultimate teammate. So
you had two guys. Remember the Weapons commercial, same shoe,
different color, back to back. Magic pulls up in the
(07:23):
cornfield in a limo right so to taybody.
Speaker 6 (07:28):
Was wearing wet That's that's what the shoe was.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
That was the shoe until Jordan Right, and so it
was the same shoe. Nobody got a different design. You
just had the colorway, different color. Right had the colorway.
That's just they They cornered the market in that. But
to say that guy who stood chin in the chin,
(07:53):
shouldered the shoulder and competed at the highest level with
the with one of the all time great wouldn't be
able to play today.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
It's unbelievable. Well, here's how.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
That's just hate. That's just hatred. That's all that.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
And when that why I brought up the issue in
eighty seven because he's got and I get it.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I guess Larry was beating him so much.
Speaker 7 (08:17):
But nobody wanted to get cooked by especially basketball. You
you know you took pride, you didn't you didn't want
to be cooked by a white guy, like it was
just like right, But basketball it transcends color, like it's
skill is skill.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Well, here's how good Larry Bird was. The year before
he got to Boston, they.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Won twenty nine games.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
He goes there and they win sixty one, and then
the next year they win the championship.
Speaker 7 (08:47):
Like the only person that got in his way to
win in the championship really was the magic.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It was that magic Doctor j and Maget right like
they play in the spine.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 7 (09:01):
So it was no man, He's one of the top
players to ever play in any eerror. His game translates period.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I've actually said and maybe you've heard me say this,
Nikola Jokicic's reminds me. Now their games are somewhat different,
but he's like a seven foot Larry Bird to me,
because not fast, uh not you know, jumping high, but
(09:30):
a great shooter, not as good as Bird, but still
a great shooter, great passer, great rebounder. Bird was a
great rebounder, and defensively not a lot down guy. But
because they're big and they were smart, and they're they
have good instincts, they actually are good. We're good defenders.
(09:53):
Not all league type defenders, but good defenders. It wasn't
a weakness. And one thing I like about Bird, and
I've said this Ephrom before Yokic, but just in recent years,
I think I said Steph, James Harden, now Jokic. What
I like about them, and this goes way back to Bird,
(10:17):
is that they are reminding us. They are letting people
know the game is really about skills and fundamentals, like
if you know how to play the game and you
are skilled, now, yes you need a certain degree of
athleticism or height size, But if you meet that criteria,
(10:41):
whether it's athleticism or size, then if you have skills,
you can excel in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And I think during the Jordan era it wasn't Jordan's.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Fault, just like Steph's is not Steph's fault that everybody
wants to shoot threes at the lower levels. But I
think Jordan wilders so much with his athleticism that people
be the game for about two decades became hyper focused
on athleticism. How high can you jump, how fast can
you run? How quick are you to the to the
(11:15):
you know, exclusion of skills in some cases, And I
think now with Harden and Staff and Yo Kitchen some others,
it's brought it back to you know what it's really
about skills?
Speaker 7 (11:28):
It is and when you look at that era with
Jordan and Dominique Witler Drexler, Jordan wasn't a Dominique wasn't
a knockdown shooter, but you look up it he had
forty five points.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
It's like, wait, what what just happened.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Right.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
It's the same man who shot an eighteen foot jumper
and then wind melded back off the off the rebound.
It was about scoring, it wasn't about the handle it.
Jordan made basketball sexy. Jordan made basketball unexplainable, right, and
(12:08):
that also propelled the league. The skill that we're seeing
with the step back, the euro step right, the ability
to create your shot with minimal space. These guys are
putting up these shots from twenty five feet with no space.
(12:30):
They shooting logo threes like it's nothing, without even pushing
the ball, they're shooting it. So the skill level has increased,
and I think that is lending to the way people
see older players because Bird wasn't shooting a step back
(12:53):
like that. Well, you were gonna pull up with both hands,
look you in your eyeball and just that double hand shot.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
You know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
One thing I think and I heard Garnett, Kevin Garnett
say this. I think he was talking with Paul Pierce
on his podcast. No, he was talking with Tracy McGrady
and T mack made a great point. Both of them
did back in the day. And this is Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler is like this, no wated dribbles. It's not
(13:26):
like now you will see guys they'll beat you and
then come back and beat you again, right and beat you.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Again, or try to beat you again, or beat you again.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Whereas Jordan bj Armstrong once told us on this show,
the genius of Michael Jordan was that he learned to
dominate the game and three dribbles or less because that
makes it better for your teammates. He wasn't pounding the
ball for fifteen to twenty second. I'm taking my three
dribbles right and I'm pulling up. And Jimmy Butler is
a throwback in that sense. You know, he's not all
(13:59):
fancy with the handle, not shooting thirty footers twenty five
footers for the most part, but he gets you buckets.
He's more efficient in his movements, and that's kind of
a throwback. It's the eye couple Chris and e from
We Got Plenty More in Store. There is a report,
I guess we'll call it a report from a rapper
(14:22):
that Jordan Poole was talking nonsense and that's why he
got snuck by Draymond Green.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
That's next. It's Chris and e from The Eye Couple
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Paulli Fosco Here with Tony Fusco.
Speaker 8 (14:47):
Yo.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
Of course you know us as the host of the
number one rated show and all the sports talks, the
Paully and Tony Fusco Show.
Speaker 8 (14:54):
Ye.
Speaker 9 (14:54):
Now, the suits at Fox Sports Radio gave us this
ad time because they wanted us to tell you how
great our show is.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Why Yeah. Instead of us doing.
Speaker 9 (15:03):
That, let's just let our millions of fans do the
talkin Yeah, play the tape.
Speaker 8 (15:08):
You don't know crap about Polo whoa, whoa whoa.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
That's the wrong tape. Wrong tape. Just forget that. Look.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
Listen to the Polling Tony Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio app,
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Speaker 4 (15:25):
All right, We're live from the tirereck dot Com Studios,
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Slash match. All right, we all know Draymondgreen sucker punched
(15:46):
Jordan Poole before last season, was not suspended and as
the Warriors had a horrible role record and got beaaten
the second round by the Lakers. Afterwards, they all said, yeah,
the vibe was never right since that punch.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So, uh, Cameron the rapper.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Now, for those that don't know Cameron and Mace, the
two famous rappers from back in the day, Uh, they
are now doing a sports show, and I mean they
are going all out.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
They wear suits like they really.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Trying to look Yeah, they trying to look like first
Take undisputed.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
They're doing their thing.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And Cameron actually dropped something today that I talked to
a couple of people close to, uh, this situation, close
to the Warriors.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
One said he wasn't sure.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
He said Jordan Poole talks a lot of trash, but
wasn't exactly sure if this is what was said. The
other person told me they heard some similar things. But
here's Cameron breaking it down.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
It was saying the reasons Dream punched him in his face,
they said the first day, he told Draymond Green, you
know Michigan and Michigan State have beat Draymond State. Draymond
Green's from Michigan State. He's from Michigan.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
He told you already a lifetime rivalry.
Speaker 10 (17:11):
Right, he told Draymond the Michigan State than you. Then
you wouldn't did And then they was running sprints a
sound and he told Draymond, don't worry about it. You're
being Sacramento next year. Then he told Draymond, he told Mr.
Why is your Twitter handle money Green? When you broke
and you're not going to get a new contract, and
(17:32):
that's the one that broke the camel's back would end
up punching them in the face.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So he from what you I mean, Look, there's no
excuse for what Draymond did. But a brother's human and
sometimes people they should control themselves, but they don't. What
you think about this, if it's true, We're gonna fight
all the time, man, People fight all the time. People
(17:58):
get in arguments all the time. You ever got into
a fight, yes, right, like.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
It and almost when a teammate in college, Yes.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
It happens.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
Emotions are high, and it's you know, people are always like, well,
that's you know, that's that's terrible behavior.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Yeah, you should you fight?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No?
Speaker 6 (18:21):
Will you fight? Yes?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
And the only thing out of there, And now I
shouldn't say the only thing, but I ain't liked that
he sucker punched.
Speaker 7 (18:28):
No, but what he didn't But he really didn't sucker
punch him. If you lock at the well, First of all,
he got in his face. Jordan Poole pushed him, a
violent push, and Draymond Green reacted to that push with
a punch. I'll tell you this from someone who has
been in fights, who has been punched. If you push somebody,
(18:54):
it's all you have to be prepared for what comes back.
And if you're not prepare for what comes back, then brother,
that's on your fault. That's on you. So it's not
like he was talking, Draymond came up. When you say
sucker punch, he was talking. Draymond came up behind him
and popped him in the face from behind. That's a
(19:16):
sucker punch. Or if he just walked up and they
were just talking talking right, No, there was an altercation happening.
And in that altercation Draymond thunder punched him into the wall.
And what happens is, you know, Draymond fights because he
hit him and then closed the space. You don't give
(19:38):
your you don't give the person you're fighting opportunity to
regain their footing or composure. You hit and eat up
the space. Now you're in control of the person you're
you're fighting. So look, if you gonna be able to
talk trash like that, then you get what you like.
(20:02):
You gotta be able to fight.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
I also think that, and I don't know what the
Obviously it must have been a I was gonna say,
I don't know the context says.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
You know, you could.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Joke around trash talking where y'all both know, you know,
we were playing, But obviously he was talking trash that
was getting on Draymond's nerves. Maybe it was just maybe,
like Cameron said, if this indeed is true, it was
(20:35):
to talk about the money, right.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
Yeah, I mean it's like, bro, you're not gonna come
here in my house and just talk to me crazy.
You had a young cousin come over, come over to
your crib, or a friend come over and just be reckless.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah you go, Hey, what's you talking?
Speaker 6 (20:59):
About right.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
So do you think this that justifies it?
Speaker 6 (21:04):
No?
Speaker 7 (21:05):
No, no, I don't think you gotta be bigger than that.
But everybody's not always. Hey man, you gotta know first
of all, you got rule number one. Know who you're
talking to? Rule number one? No who mean you're talking to?
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Many a person has gotten jacked up for talking trash.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
To the wrong You picked the wrong one.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
There's a meme going around talking about find out right
if you want to if you want to fight.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
That's it with an mm a dude or something.
Speaker 6 (21:36):
You know, you better check the ears right, get the ears.
You don't run up on nobody in the bar. They
got cauliflower ears. Brother. You in for a long night.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
We got Marcus Thompson from the Athletic around the corner. First.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Right, Thank you, Steve, It's the eyd Couple live from
the tire Rag dot com studios. Our next guests, we
go back to ESP and Classic. I don't know if
y'all remember that show in the early two thousands, twenty
plus years ago. He now writes for the athletic best
selling author Marcus Thompson.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
What's up, man, man? Do you remember them?
Speaker 4 (22:24):
You remember that's where we first met, Yeah with Josh Wow.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yes, yes. I don't know how many people were watching,
but we were on there. We were on there.
Speaker 8 (22:37):
I remember having a debat again too, and feeling like
I won, and then you had like a counter argument,
and I was like this dude is like Harry Bason. Man,
you can't.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Oh man, Well we gotta look.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
We got e from Salim in Bay Area hero. Yes, baby, yes, indeed.
All right, So let's start. There's a lot of warrior
stuff to talk about. First of all, we just got done.
Have you heard this Cameron story, Cameron and Mace talking
about what Jordan Poole was saying to Draymond and got
(23:14):
him punched.
Speaker 8 (23:15):
Absolutely, I didn't hear it. What is that?
Speaker 3 (23:18):
So?
Speaker 6 (23:20):
Right?
Speaker 8 (23:20):
Right?
Speaker 6 (23:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I mean it's fair.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
You wonder you know, obviously, Rapper, he might be in
circles to hear stuff like this. Do you have any
idea whether or not that it's true or not?
Speaker 8 (23:34):
You know, I'm a I'm chilling man, I'm not chasing
what Cameron talking about like like, I mean, it's funny.
I just assumed it wasn't true, like just the way
he was saying it, and I imagined, like I'm not
saying he made it up out of the in there.
He probably heard it from somebody. But all I know
(23:55):
is we've been digging about this for months. So Cameron
beat me on today to them, you know, when I
was digging.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
What did what did you get when you were digging
that it wasn't.
Speaker 11 (24:08):
That big, It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. That
it was the common kind of trash talk between them, uh,
because a lot of it was in defense of Jordan
Poole saying he didn't really do anything to cost it
like that was kind of the big pushback. Initially it
was like Draymond pussy, you know, we thinking, man, what
he said it, and the like persistent response was it
(24:33):
wasn't anything all that And if you watched the film,
the reason it was so jarrings because it came out
of nowhere, right, It was like nobody around expected it.
Speaker 8 (24:42):
So he was really talking as greasy. Yeah, you would
think somebody would have been like, hey, hold would get
a little drum or maybe maybe maybe they talked that
greasy all the time. I just didn't hear anything like that.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
When you watched the tape. U Steph Curty didn't even
turn around. He doesn't even turn around even after the punch.
He still was just like ye. So it almost to
me what I got from that was like, wow, he
(25:16):
he knew something was about to happen.
Speaker 6 (25:18):
He's like, man.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
It probably was a couple of days of Jordan Poole
just going and going and going, and then it was
just like all right. So Steph was just like, hey, man,
it is what it is. You're gonna do what you're
gonna do. But what we realized we didn't know at
the time. We realized after the fact that they've come
out and said it that that really fractured the locker
(25:41):
room and it just it didn't. It didn't help them
in the season, terrible road record, lost uh in the
second round to the Lakers. Moving forward, obviously, Jordan Poole's
no longer there, Draymond's a free agent. What is Draymond
coming back? How long will he be there? What are
(26:02):
you or what are you hearing about? What's next for
the for the Warriors with Draymond.
Speaker 8 (26:09):
Man, Draymond ain't going nowhere, but to get back to
your earlier point, the part that made it so surprising
even then is still now. Like that makes you feel like, man,
he had to say something. It can't be like you
don't wear Draymond down, you know what I'm saying, Like
like he's been contractions, he was too, Like he's from
(26:30):
a family, it's hard to believe that like a right day, three,
day four, Like you don't beat Draymond at this right.
So that's where it's like, man, he had to say
something that's just my basic little hood knowledge. You know
what I'm saying, my mother, I love my hood. And
but but I do feel like there was a part
(26:52):
where Draymond, who's like really good at you know, mended relationships.
You know, he's had to do that a lot, so
he's kind of a pro at it. He's really good
at bouncing back and being contrite and doing what he
has to do to get there. But it was clear
this was one of these situations he couldn't fully fix,
and I feel like the loss was less about that chemistry.
(27:14):
They got to a place where it was cool, like
you know, we just watching the whole time especially in
the locker room. You could see they got to a
point where it was functional. You know how it is
before everybody gets to drinking. It's cool and then like
Thanksgiving start going crazy. Not like because there's some underlying stuff.
They always they seem to get past it. I don't
think Jordan ever did. Like on the court, I feel
(27:36):
like it was all mounting. He didn't play well, so
it ended up being like, all right, he's got to
go because you gotta wait. You can't win without Raymond.
So if Jordan's gone and you made that decision, you
have to ride with Draymond. You hitt now lose them
boat because then that would be like self defeating. So
(27:58):
to me, I think, couple of days, we're gonna hear
this Raymond sign for three years. It's gonna all line
up with Steph's contract because Steph is the one, and
make sure it's Stephan, Draymond and Clay and see how
many championships they can get. I feel like that's the course.
Now George goes because if you don't signed Raymon, Now, man,
(28:18):
what's what's the what is it? It? Creak with a paddle?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah, you're right, you ain't winning nothing. Now.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Look, tell me, how do you like the Chris Paul trade?
And I to me, there has got to be another
move coming to get some size.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
It doesn't have to be great size.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
But you remember they had Bogt that fest as the
Zially they always had just some mediocre seven foot or close.
Looney's great, but they to me, they need a little
more size to back him up. Tell me about the
Chris Paul trade and are you do you think they're
gonna go get some size or that they need size?
Speaker 8 (28:54):
Are you trying to tell me that Chris Paul ain't
the answer to they signed.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I think that he only brings one thing and that's
the second unit, not falling off the map stuff from
the bench.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Other than that, I don't think it makes sense basketball wise.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
It there, especially after watching this team losing the playoffs, right,
and yeah, yeah, part of it was Jordan wasn't good
and it was all on Step. They had nobody else
who could create a shot. They had nobody else who
you could put the ball in their hands and feel
comfortable like Chris Paul gives you that. But a bigger
(29:31):
part of it was they do got Debo right, They
just didn't have the side. I feel like there just
has to be and then right, they lose doctor Divincinzo
or we're expecting they will lose doctor Divinizo because he's
probably gonna get paid more than what they can offer,
and they replaced him with a guy who's like, you know,
(29:52):
it's kind of of that ilk, but even smaller right
now in athletics, so in two key positions, it feels
like they've gotten smaller. I feel like they've kind of
got to figure out a way to inject thumb level
of like grown man, because you look who you got
to deal with, like right, Nakola, like is a problem.
(30:13):
We just watched Anthony Davis say man amount of baduo
walk out of there, like yo, he's to me right,
and those are like the like premier small ball type center,
So like, I get it. Draymond's you know, is able
and if they're if they're playing like small and they
can play it well, they'll get problems to side. But
(30:33):
you just still feel like, yo, are you got you
got to do something else? And here's the other issue,
like you were probably bigger than size. Steph missed about
twenty five games a year, right, and Jordan Poole was
the cute in the answer for that. He was always
good because Jordan man, you can give him the rock.
We go for thirty minutes. He's young, right, this is
this is time to shine. He go average twenty five.
(30:55):
What happens if that's Chris paul now, like you want
to burn those those you know, like you can't rely
on that. What happens that Chris paul As is out,
which is very possible. Now who's running your team? Like
they need another another like Jordan Poole type player, another playmaker,
another point guard, another Floorgian room. Because the guys they
(31:15):
have missed time. That's just what they do.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
What about none of that's gonna fix Klay Thompson? So
what else? You know?
Speaker 8 (31:26):
What the fact and I'm not.
Speaker 7 (31:28):
Just talking about the shooting. The shooting comes and go,
but watching that, he's not the defender that he was
before the injuries. Uh So to me watching him, he
doesn't feel comfortable. He doesn't feel comfortable and as you know,
dynamic as he once was, how do you get that
(31:51):
back with him? Because what you need that if if
that's not clicking, then that's a problem. He had become
a really good wing defender. He can play bigger guys
down low. That's gone now. And on top of that,
the shooting walls that he goes through, how do you
address that?
Speaker 8 (32:10):
We well, Chris, you know this line right, what comes
before the fall?
Speaker 10 (32:15):
Right?
Speaker 8 (32:18):
Yeah, Clay Clay had he had a lot of pride.
He was hell bent on making sure everybody knew he
wanted four ring and he's been determined to be the
Clay Thompson that everybody remembered from twenty nineteen. Right, he
felt like he was about to hit another level, and
(32:39):
then he had two years jack from him, and for
the last years he's been kind of bnch on being
that guy. But I think the fall happened.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
Right.
Speaker 8 (32:48):
We watched Game six Clay not show up in the playoffs.
We watched the Steph's looking lonely out there, right because
they're like trapping up. He's got four shots in Clay's
bottle and is missing. So now you Clay's gotta understand
he might not ever be that guy from between nineteen again,
but he can still be effective. And one of the
(33:09):
ways he needs to do that he's gotta get in shape,
Like he can't he can't just feel like Yo, I'm
Klay Thompson. Four rings. You feel me, you know, Jackie
Moon and just walk on the court like some days
is over, like he's got it. He's got it. And
and the crazy part is like Steth's right there showing
you like look at Seth's body, like Seth like I'm
(33:31):
not I understand, like I'm thirty five, so let me
make sure I'm in peak, like everything is on point.
And Clay he didn't work out last off season because
he was going through the day in my.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Ear, Marcus day in my ear. We gotta break, we
gotta break. You know how it works. We'll get you
on again.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
Man.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
We appreciate the insight, bro.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
Absolutely no problem.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
All right, more couple coming, y'all way, keep it locking.
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 12 (34:08):
Top of the fourth A one two pitch to Pearson
in the air, high and deep to right field. That's
keeping home Josh Pearson a rocket shot to write his
fourth home run of the year, a two run variety,
and the Tigers now lead nine to two over Florida.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
All right, that was a progressive play of the day.
Progressives making things even easier. They'll help you bundle your
home and car insurance together so you can save on both.
Learn Moore at progressive dot com or one eight hundred Progggressive.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
We're live the Odd Couple.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Ephram Salim is in for Rob Parker and we are
live from the tie right dot com studios, and we've
got some news and update about Dame Lillard in Portland.
Speaker 13 (34:59):
Rob this right, this is the most non breaking news
of all time coming out of Blazer's front office. General
manager Joe Cronin to some of the reporters there in Portland. Quote,
I met with Dame and Aaron Gordon this afternoon. We
had a great dialogue. We remain committed to building a
winner around Dame.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Aaron Gordon did he first of all?
Speaker 13 (35:26):
Did that's the way that That's the way it's tweeted
out by several reporters, hopefully that they're all retweeting incorrectly,
but that's the way they did.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
I he doesn't want to. I think we should just
stop on the Dame stuff.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
Let's let it go, right.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
He don't want to be traded.
Speaker 6 (35:41):
It's just right.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
I'll say this.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
I want a guy to want a guy that that's good,
that's that good.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
To want to win a championship.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
But I will say this, I always respected what Allen.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Iverson said when he was in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Of course, and we all know I want to win,
he would say, but I want to do it here.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
And if at the end of my career I.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Haven't led Philadelphia to a championship, I can live with that. Now, obviously,
this is the other side. Dame's gotta realize. They traded
Ai Westbrook I think felt the same way they traded
Oklahoma City traded him. So if it you know what
I mean, Like, if it gets to a point where
they feel like they need to trade him, I think
(36:27):
they will.
Speaker 6 (36:27):
The loyalty doesn't go both ways.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
And that's why I guess he's just happy there.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
But he better hope that they keep him as long
as he wants to stay there.
Speaker 7 (36:36):
Four hundred million dollars. Man, he was like, Hey, it's
gonna be what it's gonna be. I don't know who
they get to come to Portland. Ain't getting nobody.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Well they you know what I'm saying, They're not trading.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
They have to either trade all those young pieces for
like which they could probably put together a nice veteran team.
I don't know if he could win the championship, but
why would you do that. I'm not trading all those
young pieces.
Speaker 7 (37:04):
Yeah, unless Drexler, Barkley and everybody else coming back.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Jerome Jerome Cursey, you know, like I said, I'm right right,
the daddy before he came to America. Right, I just again,
we probably and I know we I'm gonna talk about
it on TV tomorrow. First things first, I'm sure, but.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
He's waiting on an invite there.
Speaker 4 (37:31):
But go ahead, Hey, if I if I can pull
it off, you in there.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
You know you're by married.
Speaker 7 (37:39):
If you want to bring if you want to bring
some fire into the show, I mean, give me, give
me five days, give me five days.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
I come out there for five days.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Let me see, let me see what I can do.
I'll see what I can do. But yeah, I mean right,
he don't want to go. We just got accepted.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
Yeah, he just like, what what is it? He's he
feels like he's home. He got his kids there, He's
built a life there. Like I said, he's huge in
the community. I'm not mad at him at now.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Granted, really in football, it is kind of just that
quarterback that the pressure's on, you know, like they're the
only ones we kind of count championships on. Do you
get it though, as a former pro athlete, like.
Speaker 7 (38:23):
Hey, yeah, I went, I went to one Super Bowl
play thirteen years. That's twelve years of not going right,
not getting close. So you get to a point where
it's just like, look, I'm going to build a life
for myself. I can't control things I can't control. That's it.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
He could control this though, well.
Speaker 7 (38:44):
He could control leaving, but he can't control winning the championship.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
He's even saying it ain't no guarantee but true. But
we just want to see him compete and have a chance.
But all right, e from great work, brother, Thank you always,
thank you, my man.
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
to check us out 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 Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSRT parties.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
All right, it is the Odd Couple. I'm Chris. He's EPHROM.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Were broadcasting live from the tire rag dot com studios.
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Tire rag dot com is the way tire buying should be.
We got Marcus Thompson, best selling author from The Athletic,
joining us at the bottom of the hour. He knows
(01:02):
all things warriors, so we'll get to talk with him
about what's going on there in the Bay area.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
But let's start here.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
We're gonna go historical because Dennis Rodman, who played against
Larry bird back for Detroit in the late eighties, he
was asked, and this is a wide ranging thing, Ephim
I get Gilbert A. Renus, first of all, said that
(01:32):
Larry Bird would probably beat Lebron James in a game
of one on one.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
And so that predict.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
That statement was made to Dennis Rodman on lad TV.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And here's what Rodman said.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
If Larry Bird play in this era, I thought he'd
be in Europe. So I'm just letting you know over man, really,
except to say you be somewhere over there. But you know,
I think his game was fit for Boston at that
time in the eighties and stuff like that, you know,
but uh so, uh, today's world, Oh.
Speaker 6 (02:12):
He don't know.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
That's no way. I'm not just a downplaying him because
he's a great player at that time, just like I was.
And uh but I'm saying, no, that's no way. I
think the kids from my Denver is way better him.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
He talking about NICOLEA.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
Jokic.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I don't even know if he knew his name. First
of all, let me address the Lebron thing. I think
Lebron would beat Larry Bird in one on one. I
think Lebron is better than Bird. But you know, I
think Bird is clearly a top ten player of all time.
(02:49):
And Rodman is way way way off on this, and
and I think we have to address really Robin for
some reason, maybe because Bird was beating him, he don't
like Larry Bird. And you remember Ephraim when Detroit met
(03:12):
Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals in nineteen eighty seven
and Boston beat him in seven games, and after the
seventh game, that's when Rodman said Bird is overrated, and
basically that he's getting all of these accolades and all
of his love because he's white and if he was black,
(03:35):
he'd just be kind of another player.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Now, mind you, moments.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Earlier, Bird had just dropped thirty seven points, nine assists,
and nine rebounds on Rodman.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
But everybody remembers that.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
In Isaiah Thomas got involved and kind of seconded what
Rodman said, and you know, it became a big deal.
But I I think he is out of his mind,
Larry Bird. Larry Bird, if he played the day, Ephraim
might be better than in his day because he'd be
(04:13):
shooting more three pointers. And he's one of the greatest
shooters ever and he was a phenomenal player. And I
think people.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Fromous passer as well.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I think he was a better passer than Lebron. Larry
Bird I don't think it's even a discussion. Think about
this at a time where the league needed a rebirth. Yep,
coming off the merger between the ABA the NBA, the
(04:43):
league needed something.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
Right.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
You finally got to have doctor J in the NBA,
Moses Malone, right, all of these things, and incomes this
kid from Michigan State, Magic Johnson. And income comes this
kid Larry Bird from Indiana State. Right, Larry Bird. That
(05:10):
is what made the NBA what it is now, That rivalry,
those two dynamic, all time great players who played each
other in college and carried that same thing over into
the NBA. Their skill levels and hatred for each other
(05:32):
were on par with each other. Would you say, Magic
Johnson if he played today, would be playing in Europe?
Speaker 4 (05:42):
And look, I think Magic would be tremendous today. But
of the two, and like I said, obviously I never
make this argument, but e from of the two players,
if you wanted to say one was not built for
today's game, the one you would say would be Magic
(06:07):
because Magic didn't didn't shoot that well. I would never
say now I wouldn't. I wouldn't make that argument. But
I wouldn't make that argument. I'm just saying if you
had to say, if you if you had, like my
point is just that if you were going to pick
one of those two that you thought might struggle more
in today's game, I think Magic would have adjusted and
(06:28):
been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
But I'm just.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Saying he lacked that a great skill that is obviously
big time today, and I think he would have become
a better jump shooter.
Speaker 7 (06:40):
But remember he had that set shot. Yeah, he had
a set shot, but that wasn't his thing. His thing
was movement. His thing was movement. We're going to chanst
the temple. You have to catch up with us, right,
you have to catch up with us. And his generalship,
his court leadership, all of those things made him, in
(07:01):
my opinion, one of the if not the greatest point
guard to ever play. His counterpart, Larry Bird, was the
mirror image of that. It was a white guy who
was all about shooting, competing, and an ultimate teammate. So
you had two guys. Remember the Weapons commercial, same shoe,
different color, back to back. Magic pulls up in the
(07:23):
cornfield in a limo right so to taybody.
Speaker 6 (07:28):
Was wearing wet That's that's what the shoe was.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
That was the shoe until Jordan Right, and so it
was the same shoe. Nobody got a different design. You
just had the colorway, different color. Right had the colorway.
That's just they They cornered the market in that. But
to say that guy who stood chin in the chin,
(07:53):
shouldered the shoulder and competed at the highest level with
the with one of the all time great wouldn't be
able to play today.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
It's unbelievable. Well, here's how.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
That's just hate. That's just hatred. That's all that.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
And when that why I brought up the issue in
eighty seven because he's got and I get it.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I guess Larry was beating him so much.
Speaker 7 (08:17):
But nobody wanted to get cooked by especially basketball. You
you know you took pride, you didn't you didn't want
to be cooked by a white guy, like it was
just like right, But basketball it transcends color, like it's
skill is skill.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Well, here's how good Larry Bird was. The year before
he got to Boston, they.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Won twenty nine games.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
He goes there and they win sixty one, and then
the next year they win the championship.
Speaker 7 (08:47):
Like the only person that got in his way to
win in the championship really was the magic.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It was that magic Doctor j and Maget right like
they play in the spine.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 7 (09:01):
So it was no man, He's one of the top
players to ever play in any eerror. His game translates period.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I've actually said and maybe you've heard me say this,
Nikola Jokicic's reminds me. Now their games are somewhat different,
but he's like a seven foot Larry Bird to me,
because not fast, uh not you know, jumping high, but
(09:30):
a great shooter, not as good as Bird, but still
a great shooter, great passer, great rebounder. Bird was a
great rebounder, and defensively not a lot down guy. But
because they're big and they were smart, and they're they
have good instincts, they actually are good. We're good defenders.
(09:53):
Not all league type defenders, but good defenders. It wasn't
a weakness. And one thing I like about Bird, and
I've said this Ephrom before Yokic, but just in recent years,
I think I said Steph, James Harden, now Jokic. What
I like about them, and this goes way back to Bird,
(10:17):
is that they are reminding us. They are letting people
know the game is really about skills and fundamentals, like
if you know how to play the game and you
are skilled, now, yes you need a certain degree of
athleticism or height size, But if you meet that criteria,
(10:41):
whether it's athleticism or size, then if you have skills,
you can excel in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And I think during the Jordan era it wasn't Jordan's.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Fault, just like Steph's is not Steph's fault that everybody
wants to shoot threes at the lower levels. But I
think Jordan wilders so much with his athleticism that people
be the game for about two decades became hyper focused
on athleticism. How high can you jump, how fast can
you run? How quick are you to the to the
(11:15):
you know, exclusion of skills in some cases, And I
think now with Harden and Staff and Yo Kitchen some others,
it's brought it back to you know what it's really
about skills?
Speaker 7 (11:28):
It is and when you look at that era with
Jordan and Dominique Witler Drexler, Jordan wasn't a Dominique wasn't
a knockdown shooter, but you look up it he had
forty five points.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
It's like, wait, what what just happened.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Right.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
It's the same man who shot an eighteen foot jumper
and then wind melded back off the off the rebound.
It was about scoring, it wasn't about the handle it.
Jordan made basketball sexy. Jordan made basketball unexplainable, right, and
(12:08):
that also propelled the league. The skill that we're seeing
with the step back, the euro step right, the ability
to create your shot with minimal space. These guys are
putting up these shots from twenty five feet with no space.
(12:30):
They shooting logo threes like it's nothing, without even pushing
the ball, they're shooting it. So the skill level has increased,
and I think that is lending to the way people
see older players because Bird wasn't shooting a step back
(12:53):
like that. Well, you were gonna pull up with both hands,
look you in your eyeball and just that double hand shot.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
You know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
One thing I think and I heard Garnett, Kevin Garnett
say this. I think he was talking with Paul Pierce
on his podcast. No, he was talking with Tracy McGrady
and T mack made a great point. Both of them
did back in the day. And this is Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler is like this, no wated dribbles. It's not
(13:26):
like now you will see guys they'll beat you and
then come back and beat you again, right and beat you.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Again, or try to beat you again, or beat you again.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Whereas Jordan bj Armstrong once told us on this show,
the genius of Michael Jordan was that he learned to
dominate the game and three dribbles or less because that
makes it better for your teammates. He wasn't pounding the
ball for fifteen to twenty second. I'm taking my three
dribbles right and I'm pulling up. And Jimmy Butler is
a throwback in that sense. You know, he's not all
(13:59):
fancy with the handle, not shooting thirty footers twenty five
footers for the most part, but he gets you buckets.
He's more efficient in his movements, and that's kind of
a throwback. It's the eye couple Chris and e from
We Got Plenty More in Store. There is a report,
I guess we'll call it a report from a rapper
(14:22):
that Jordan Poole was talking nonsense and that's why he
got snuck by Draymond Green.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
That's next. It's Chris and e from The Eye Couple
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Paulli Fosco Here with Tony Fusco.
Speaker 8 (14:47):
Yo.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
Of course you know us as the host of the
number one rated show and all the sports talks, the
Paully and Tony Fusco Show.
Speaker 8 (14:54):
Ye.
Speaker 9 (14:54):
Now, the suits at Fox Sports Radio gave us this
ad time because they wanted us to tell you how
great our show is.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Why Yeah. Instead of us doing.
Speaker 9 (15:03):
That, let's just let our millions of fans do the
talkin Yeah, play the tape.
Speaker 8 (15:08):
You don't know crap about Polo whoa, whoa whoa.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
That's the wrong tape. Wrong tape. Just forget that. Look.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
Listen to the Polling Tony Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
All right, We're live from the tirereck dot Com Studios,
brought to you by discover Card. At the end of
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Slash match. All right, we all know Draymondgreen sucker punched
(15:46):
Jordan Poole before last season, was not suspended and as
the Warriors had a horrible role record and got beaaten
the second round by the Lakers. Afterwards, they all said, yeah,
the vibe was never right since that punch.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So, uh, Cameron the rapper.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Now, for those that don't know Cameron and Mace, the
two famous rappers from back in the day, Uh, they
are now doing a sports show, and I mean they
are going all out.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
They wear suits like they really.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Trying to look Yeah, they trying to look like first
Take undisputed.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
They're doing their thing.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And Cameron actually dropped something today that I talked to
a couple of people close to, uh, this situation, close
to the Warriors.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
One said he wasn't sure.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
He said Jordan Poole talks a lot of trash, but
wasn't exactly sure if this is what was said. The
other person told me they heard some similar things. But
here's Cameron breaking it down.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
It was saying the reasons Dream punched him in his face,
they said the first day, he told Draymond Green, you
know Michigan and Michigan State have beat Draymond State. Draymond
Green's from Michigan State. He's from Michigan.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
He told you already a lifetime rivalry.
Speaker 10 (17:11):
Right, he told Draymond the Michigan State than you. Then
you wouldn't did And then they was running sprints a
sound and he told Draymond, don't worry about it. You're
being Sacramento next year. Then he told Draymond, he told Mr.
Why is your Twitter handle money Green? When you broke
and you're not going to get a new contract, and
(17:32):
that's the one that broke the camel's back would end
up punching them in the face.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So he from what you I mean, Look, there's no
excuse for what Draymond did. But a brother's human and
sometimes people they should control themselves, but they don't. What
you think about this, if it's true, We're gonna fight
all the time, man, People fight all the time. People
(17:58):
get in arguments all the time. You ever got into
a fight, yes, right, like.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
It and almost when a teammate in college, Yes.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
It happens.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
Emotions are high, and it's you know, people are always like, well,
that's you know, that's that's terrible behavior.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Yeah, you should you fight?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No?
Speaker 6 (18:21):
Will you fight? Yes?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
And the only thing out of there, And now I
shouldn't say the only thing, but I ain't liked that
he sucker punched.
Speaker 7 (18:28):
No, but what he didn't But he really didn't sucker
punch him. If you lock at the well, First of all,
he got in his face. Jordan Poole pushed him, a
violent push, and Draymond Green reacted to that push with
a punch. I'll tell you this from someone who has
been in fights, who has been punched. If you push somebody,
(18:54):
it's all you have to be prepared for what comes back.
And if you're not prepare for what comes back, then brother,
that's on your fault. That's on you. So it's not
like he was talking, Draymond came up. When you say
sucker punch, he was talking. Draymond came up behind him
and popped him in the face from behind. That's a
(19:16):
sucker punch. Or if he just walked up and they
were just talking talking right, No, there was an altercation happening.
And in that altercation Draymond thunder punched him into the wall.
And what happens is, you know, Draymond fights because he
hit him and then closed the space. You don't give
(19:38):
your you don't give the person you're fighting opportunity to
regain their footing or composure. You hit and eat up
the space. Now you're in control of the person you're
you're fighting. So look, if you gonna be able to
talk trash like that, then you get what you like.
(20:02):
You gotta be able to fight.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
I also think that, and I don't know what the
Obviously it must have been a I was gonna say,
I don't know the context says.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
You know, you could.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Joke around trash talking where y'all both know, you know,
we were playing, But obviously he was talking trash that
was getting on Draymond's nerves. Maybe it was just maybe,
like Cameron said, if this indeed is true, it was
(20:35):
to talk about the money, right.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
Yeah, I mean it's like, bro, you're not gonna come
here in my house and just talk to me crazy.
You had a young cousin come over, come over to
your crib, or a friend come over and just be reckless.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah you go, Hey, what's you talking?
Speaker 6 (20:59):
About right.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
So do you think this that justifies it?
Speaker 6 (21:04):
No?
Speaker 7 (21:05):
No, no, I don't think you gotta be bigger than that.
But everybody's not always. Hey man, you gotta know first
of all, you got rule number one. Know who you're
talking to? Rule number one? No who mean you're talking to?
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Many a person has gotten jacked up for talking trash.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
To the wrong You picked the wrong one.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
There's a meme going around talking about find out right
if you want to if you want to fight.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
That's it with an mm a dude or something.
Speaker 6 (21:36):
You know, you better check the ears right, get the ears.
You don't run up on nobody in the bar. They
got cauliflower ears. Brother. You in for a long night.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
We got Marcus Thompson from the Athletic around the corner. First.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Right, Thank you, Steve, It's the eyd Couple live from
the tire Rag dot com studios. Our next guests, we
go back to ESP and Classic. I don't know if
y'all remember that show in the early two thousands, twenty
plus years ago. He now writes for the athletic best
selling author Marcus Thompson.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
What's up, man, man? Do you remember them?
Speaker 4 (22:24):
You remember that's where we first met, Yeah with Josh Wow.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yes, yes. I don't know how many people were watching,
but we were on there. We were on there.
Speaker 8 (22:37):
I remember having a debat again too, and feeling like
I won, and then you had like a counter argument,
and I was like this dude is like Harry Bason. Man,
you can't.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Oh man, Well we gotta look.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
We got e from Salim in Bay Area hero. Yes, baby, yes, indeed.
All right, So let's start. There's a lot of warrior
stuff to talk about. First of all, we just got done.
Have you heard this Cameron story, Cameron and Mace talking
about what Jordan Poole was saying to Draymond and got
(23:14):
him punched.
Speaker 8 (23:15):
Absolutely, I didn't hear it. What is that?
Speaker 3 (23:18):
So?
Speaker 6 (23:20):
Right?
Speaker 8 (23:20):
Right?
Speaker 6 (23:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I mean it's fair.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
You wonder you know, obviously, Rapper, he might be in
circles to hear stuff like this. Do you have any
idea whether or not that it's true or not?
Speaker 8 (23:34):
You know, I'm a I'm chilling man, I'm not chasing
what Cameron talking about like like, I mean, it's funny.
I just assumed it wasn't true, like just the way
he was saying it, and I imagined, like I'm not
saying he made it up out of the in there.
He probably heard it from somebody. But all I know
(23:55):
is we've been digging about this for months. So Cameron
beat me on today to them, you know, when I
was digging.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
What did what did you get when you were digging
that it wasn't.
Speaker 11 (24:08):
That big, It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. That
it was the common kind of trash talk between them, uh,
because a lot of it was in defense of Jordan
Poole saying he didn't really do anything to cost it
like that was kind of the big pushback. Initially it
was like Draymond pussy, you know, we thinking, man, what
he said it, and the like persistent response was it
(24:33):
wasn't anything all that And if you watched the film,
the reason it was so jarrings because it came out
of nowhere, right, It was like nobody around expected it.
Speaker 8 (24:42):
So he was really talking as greasy. Yeah, you would
think somebody would have been like, hey, hold would get
a little drum or maybe maybe maybe they talked that
greasy all the time. I just didn't hear anything like that.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
When you watched the tape. U Steph Curty didn't even
turn around. He doesn't even turn around even after the punch.
He still was just like ye. So it almost to
me what I got from that was like, wow, he
(25:16):
he knew something was about to happen.
Speaker 6 (25:18):
He's like, man.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
It probably was a couple of days of Jordan Poole
just going and going and going, and then it was
just like all right. So Steph was just like, hey, man,
it is what it is. You're gonna do what you're
gonna do. But what we realized we didn't know at
the time. We realized after the fact that they've come
out and said it that that really fractured the locker
(25:41):
room and it just it didn't. It didn't help them
in the season, terrible road record, lost uh in the
second round to the Lakers. Moving forward, obviously, Jordan Poole's
no longer there, Draymond's a free agent. What is Draymond
coming back? How long will he be there? What are
(26:02):
you or what are you hearing about? What's next for
the for the Warriors with Draymond.
Speaker 8 (26:09):
Man, Draymond ain't going nowhere, but to get back to
your earlier point, the part that made it so surprising
even then is still now. Like that makes you feel like, man,
he had to say something. It can't be like you
don't wear Draymond down, you know what I'm saying, Like
like he's been contractions, he was too, Like he's from
(26:30):
a family, it's hard to believe that like a right day, three,
day four, Like you don't beat Draymond at this right.
So that's where it's like, man, he had to say
something that's just my basic little hood knowledge. You know
what I'm saying, my mother, I love my hood. And
but but I do feel like there was a part
(26:52):
where Draymond, who's like really good at you know, mended relationships.
You know, he's had to do that a lot, so
he's kind of a pro at it. He's really good
at bouncing back and being contrite and doing what he
has to do to get there. But it was clear
this was one of these situations he couldn't fully fix,
and I feel like the loss was less about that chemistry.
(27:14):
They got to a place where it was cool, like
you know, we just watching the whole time especially in
the locker room. You could see they got to a
point where it was functional. You know how it is
before everybody gets to drinking. It's cool and then like
Thanksgiving start going crazy. Not like because there's some underlying stuff.
They always they seem to get past it. I don't
think Jordan ever did. Like on the court, I feel
(27:36):
like it was all mounting. He didn't play well, so
it ended up being like, all right, he's got to
go because you gotta wait. You can't win without Raymond.
So if Jordan's gone and you made that decision, you
have to ride with Draymond. You hitt now lose them
boat because then that would be like self defeating. So
(27:58):
to me, I think, couple of days, we're gonna hear
this Raymond sign for three years. It's gonna all line
up with Steph's contract because Steph is the one, and
make sure it's Stephan, Draymond and Clay and see how
many championships they can get. I feel like that's the course.
Now George goes because if you don't signed Raymon, Now, man,
(28:18):
what's what's the what is it? It? Creak with a paddle?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah, you're right, you ain't winning nothing. Now.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Look, tell me, how do you like the Chris Paul trade?
And I to me, there has got to be another
move coming to get some size.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
It doesn't have to be great size.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
But you remember they had Bogt that fest as the
Zially they always had just some mediocre seven foot or close.
Looney's great, but they to me, they need a little
more size to back him up. Tell me about the
Chris Paul trade and are you do you think they're
gonna go get some size or that they need size?
Speaker 8 (28:54):
Are you trying to tell me that Chris Paul ain't
the answer to they signed.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I think that he only brings one thing and that's
the second unit, not falling off the map stuff from
the bench.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Other than that, I don't think it makes sense basketball wise.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
It there, especially after watching this team losing the playoffs, right,
and yeah, yeah, part of it was Jordan wasn't good
and it was all on Step. They had nobody else
who could create a shot. They had nobody else who
you could put the ball in their hands and feel
comfortable like Chris Paul gives you that. But a bigger
(29:31):
part of it was they do got Debo right, They
just didn't have the side. I feel like there just
has to be and then right, they lose doctor Divincinzo
or we're expecting they will lose doctor Divinizo because he's
probably gonna get paid more than what they can offer,
and they replaced him with a guy who's like, you know,
(29:52):
it's kind of of that ilk, but even smaller right
now in athletics, so in two key positions, it feels
like they've gotten smaller. I feel like they've kind of
got to figure out a way to inject thumb level
of like grown man, because you look who you got
to deal with, like right, Nakola, like is a problem.
(30:13):
We just watched Anthony Davis say man amount of baduo
walk out of there, like yo, he's to me right,
and those are like the like premier small ball type center,
So like, I get it. Draymond's you know, is able
and if they're if they're playing like small and they
can play it well, they'll get problems to side. But
(30:33):
you just still feel like, yo, are you got you
got to do something else? And here's the other issue,
like you were probably bigger than size. Steph missed about
twenty five games a year, right, and Jordan Poole was
the cute in the answer for that. He was always
good because Jordan man, you can give him the rock.
We go for thirty minutes. He's young, right, this is
this is time to shine. He go average twenty five.
(30:55):
What happens if that's Chris paul now, like you want
to burn those those you know, like you can't rely
on that. What happens that Chris paul As is out,
which is very possible. Now who's running your team? Like
they need another another like Jordan Poole type player, another playmaker,
another point guard, another Floorgian room. Because the guys they
(31:15):
have missed time. That's just what they do.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
What about none of that's gonna fix Klay Thompson? So
what else? You know?
Speaker 8 (31:26):
What the fact and I'm not.
Speaker 7 (31:28):
Just talking about the shooting. The shooting comes and go,
but watching that, he's not the defender that he was
before the injuries. Uh So to me watching him, he
doesn't feel comfortable. He doesn't feel comfortable and as you know,
dynamic as he once was, how do you get that
(31:51):
back with him? Because what you need that if if
that's not clicking, then that's a problem. He had become
a really good wing defender. He can play bigger guys
down low. That's gone now. And on top of that,
the shooting walls that he goes through, how do you
address that?
Speaker 8 (32:10):
We well, Chris, you know this line right, what comes
before the fall?
Speaker 10 (32:15):
Right?
Speaker 8 (32:18):
Yeah, Clay Clay had he had a lot of pride.
He was hell bent on making sure everybody knew he
wanted four ring and he's been determined to be the
Clay Thompson that everybody remembered from twenty nineteen. Right, he
felt like he was about to hit another level, and
(32:39):
then he had two years jack from him, and for
the last years he's been kind of bnch on being
that guy. But I think the fall happened.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
Right.
Speaker 8 (32:48):
We watched Game six Clay not show up in the playoffs.
We watched the Steph's looking lonely out there, right because
they're like trapping up. He's got four shots in Clay's
bottle and is missing. So now you Clay's gotta understand
he might not ever be that guy from between nineteen again,
but he can still be effective. And one of the
(33:09):
ways he needs to do that he's gotta get in shape,
Like he can't he can't just feel like Yo, I'm
Klay Thompson. Four rings. You feel me, you know, Jackie
Moon and just walk on the court like some days
is over, like he's got it. He's got it. And
and the crazy part is like Steth's right there showing
you like look at Seth's body, like Seth like I'm
(33:31):
not I understand, like I'm thirty five, so let me
make sure I'm in peak, like everything is on point.
And Clay he didn't work out last off season because
he was going through the day in my.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Ear, Marcus day in my ear. We gotta break, we
gotta break. You know how it works. We'll get you
on again.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
Man.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
We appreciate the insight, bro.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
Absolutely no problem.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
All right, more couple coming, y'all way, keep it locking.
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 12 (34:08):
Top of the fourth A one two pitch to Pearson
in the air, high and deep to right field. That's
keeping home Josh Pearson a rocket shot to write his
fourth home run of the year, a two run variety,
and the Tigers now lead nine to two over Florida.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
All right, that was a progressive play of the day.
Progressives making things even easier. They'll help you bundle your
home and car insurance together so you can save on both.
Learn Moore at progressive dot com or one eight hundred Progggressive.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
We're live the Odd Couple.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Ephram Salim is in for Rob Parker and we are
live from the tie right dot com studios, and we've
got some news and update about Dame Lillard in Portland.
Speaker 13 (34:59):
Rob this right, this is the most non breaking news
of all time coming out of Blazer's front office. General
manager Joe Cronin to some of the reporters there in Portland. Quote,
I met with Dame and Aaron Gordon this afternoon. We
had a great dialogue. We remain committed to building a
winner around Dame.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Aaron Gordon did he first of all?
Speaker 13 (35:26):
Did that's the way that That's the way it's tweeted
out by several reporters, hopefully that they're all retweeting incorrectly,
but that's the way they did.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
I he doesn't want to. I think we should just
stop on the Dame stuff.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
Let's let it go, right.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
He don't want to be traded.
Speaker 6 (35:41):
It's just right.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
I'll say this.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
I want a guy to want a guy that that's good,
that's that good.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
To want to win a championship.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
But I will say this, I always respected what Allen.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Iverson said when he was in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Of course, and we all know I want to win,
he would say, but I want to do it here.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
And if at the end of my career I.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Haven't led Philadelphia to a championship, I can live with that. Now, obviously,
this is the other side. Dame's gotta realize. They traded
Ai Westbrook I think felt the same way they traded
Oklahoma City traded him. So if it you know what
I mean, Like, if it gets to a point where
they feel like they need to trade him, I think
(36:27):
they will.
Speaker 6 (36:27):
The loyalty doesn't go both ways.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
And that's why I guess he's just happy there.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
But he better hope that they keep him as long
as he wants to stay there.
Speaker 7 (36:36):
Four hundred million dollars. Man, he was like, Hey, it's
gonna be what it's gonna be. I don't know who
they get to come to Portland. Ain't getting nobody.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Well they you know what I'm saying, They're not trading.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
They have to either trade all those young pieces for
like which they could probably put together a nice veteran team.
I don't know if he could win the championship, but
why would you do that. I'm not trading all those
young pieces.
Speaker 7 (37:04):
Yeah, unless Drexler, Barkley and everybody else coming back.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Jerome Jerome Cursey, you know, like I said, I'm right right,
the daddy before he came to America. Right, I just again,
we probably and I know we I'm gonna talk about
it on TV tomorrow. First things first, I'm sure, but.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
He's waiting on an invite there.
Speaker 4 (37:31):
But go ahead, Hey, if I if I can pull
it off, you in there.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
You know you're by married.
Speaker 7 (37:39):
If you want to bring if you want to bring
some fire into the show, I mean, give me, give
me five days, give me five days.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
I come out there for five days.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Let me see, let me see what I can do.
I'll see what I can do. But yeah, I mean right,
he don't want to go. We just got accepted.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
Yeah, he just like, what what is it? He's he
feels like he's home. He got his kids there, He's
built a life there. Like I said, he's huge in
the community. I'm not mad at him at now.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Granted, really in football, it is kind of just that
quarterback that the pressure's on, you know, like they're the
only ones we kind of count championships on. Do you
get it though, as a former pro athlete, like.
Speaker 7 (38:23):
Hey, yeah, I went, I went to one Super Bowl
play thirteen years. That's twelve years of not going right,
not getting close. So you get to a point where
it's just like, look, I'm going to build a life
for myself. I can't control things I can't control. That's it.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
He could control this though, well.
Speaker 7 (38:44):
He could control leaving, but he can't control winning the championship.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
He's even saying it ain't no guarantee but true. But
we just want to see him compete and have a chance.
But all right, e from great work, brother, Thank you always,
thank you, my man.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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