James Harden says, 'CP3, Get Away from Me!'

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:22):
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(00:48):
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(01:08):
was a little extra umph, a little extra gusto in
my all yeah to day. I don't really know why
I'm excited. We got some great topics to talk about,
but I just put a little extra something in there.
That's all. Nothing wrong with that, that's a good thing.
Maybe it's because of that FEELI jacket. I like that,
like the colorful, very calif Rob comes in here with

(01:31):
something new every every day, I would say every at
least every other day. You got a new payer. Yesterday
it was a new payer of shoes sneakers. Right, these
shoes are new there, so you got two new things
on there, right they they they they kind of old
man shoes. No, right, the old man comfortable. Like my

(01:53):
feet hurt, so I gotta get some comfortable shoes. But
that type of shoe though, they look good, Colhi, you
know the top quality, all right. Yeah, I try to
like stay in the fashion because you know what happens. Now,
what we're doing is we can easily fall in it,
and we were we were doing a lot of it
during the winter, wearing sweatpants and stuff from it because
it's just easier for us. We wear suits on television.

(02:16):
We're always got that stuff. So sometimes I just want
to dress down, come to our radio show. So you
see its some sweats. But then I'm like, I have
some nice shoes. I have something like you're gonna white
pants and shoes today. You don't have gonna sweats. You
decided to wear something. So every once in a while,
my wife's in town. Oh there you go, all right,
she didn't try to have you going out to dinner
after night, all right, Really being sweats That's what I said.

(02:40):
I'm looking at you. Yeah, but I'm with you in that.
If I if people didn't see me on TV and
suits all the time, I wouldn't wear sweats all the time,
knowing that they're gonna see them, right, So you know,
I just think now they already know, oh you know
how to dress professionally. You already see that, right, So
you know same with me. You know, I wear most
of the time. But just recently I've been used when

(03:02):
I'm teaching. You always know when I'm in school, right
because you go like, oh, you talk today, because I'll
have one you have on your time, have some fair
gama or whatever, real talk, real talk, guccievers whatever. I
ain't lying, all right, all right, let's welcome into our
couple of crew. Wouldn't be able to do this fine

(03:22):
radio program without them. Rob g of course our producer,
Alex is our engineer. Brian Finley is our update guys
at the desk all night. He'll keep us updated throughout
the program. Ari and Jonah are interns. And of course
Elijah is our social media guru and uh he does
a great job. And they're all on the other side

(03:43):
of the glass. Chris Bussar. Let's kick some asks on
this trash talking Tuesday. That's right, Yeah, I forgot about that.
In the third hour, you will have a chance to
trash anyone anything in the world of sports. So come
home and strong, and there's plenty of stuff to try. Well.
Speaking of trash talking, Uh, there was a report and

(04:06):
there there have been several reports now a new report
that came out today from Vincent Goodwill to Sports. That's
our guy. We will have him more than the third
hour of the show, so you definitely want to keep
it locked. Rob's ex nephew as well, that's right, and
but does a great job for y'all who sports he does.
He had a very insightful story with a lot of

(04:26):
behind the scenes reporting about the beef between James Harden
and Chris Paul, and he presented it that it's beyond repair.
He says that both players have essentially asked to be traded.
Chris Paul has gone to management asked to be traded.
James Harden has said it's him or me now in fairness,

(04:47):
Daryl Morey the gim has denied it. We believe Chris
Paul has said news to me on social media right.
He didn't directly, but by saying that, he's saying I
don't know if that could be that hard Harden saying
him or me, That could be any little part of
the story that but we had to put that out there.
Vince is a good reporter. I'm sure he's not making

(05:08):
this stuff up. And this is a conversation, Rob. Look,
we talked about a little bit yesterday when it comes
to style of play. If Chris Paul wants more ball movement,
more player movement, not for the offense to be as
ball down and hardened centric as it has been has been,
I'm totally with him. I agree with Chris on that.

(05:31):
From that standpoint, a one man show's not gonna win
an NBA championship. They've got to get more balling player
movement in that offense. Now, if you're asking me, who
am I picking, if Hardens him or me? Is really true? Uh,
I'm sorry, Chris, I'm picking James Harden every day, all day.
And who would not make that decision if you had

(05:54):
to pick. And here's the thing, with all due respect,
and I say that seriously, not just like a Let
me throw that out there, with all due respect to
Chris Paul, who will be a first ballot Hall of Flamer,
who is an all time great point guard his If
this demand for a trade is true, I mean the

(06:15):
Houston Rockets would drive him to not the airport, to
the next the next nation. We're gonna get you a
plane ticket. You're gonna go to Utah. We're driving to Toronto.
We're driving you there. We want to make through customs.
We want to make sure you get the right right
like like, Chris, I'm sorry, and I said this before

(06:38):
they signed him, that they knew they had doubts, they
didn't really want to do it. But obviously there was
some type of wink wink deal, some type of handshake
agreement when he agreed to demand the trade from the
Clippers to go to Houston and to a certain degree, right,
I don't feel sorry for Chris. You put yourself in
this situation. They were they were hardened centric when you

(07:02):
decided to go there. Right, nothing changed, So you can't
act like this is brand new. This is how he plays.
You signed that big contract. You know what's coming thirty
eight million this coming year, forty one to next year,
forty four to next year. If it was all about
playing the right way and doing all that. You didn't

(07:23):
have to come to Houston because you already knew what
they were serving, right, James Harden, James Harden all day
and for the appetizer, the entree of a dessert, James Hardened.
Now he's a great enough player, Chris that maybe thought
things were gonna be different. And I have marveled, especially
this year as watching him like man, he really turned

(07:46):
himself into a role player. He's playing like a two
guard to try to win the ring. So I give
him credit for that. But because it's hard to ticket step.
His real game is your game, and his game is
being the ball dominant point guard that's gonna get him
in the Hall of Fame. So I give him credit
for switching his style. And I understand he said, look,

(08:06):
we've done it two years. It hasn't worked. Let's go
to a more inclusive offense. Here's the thing too that
people need to understand. And I hope all of these
stars and even a few superstars, but really the stars
in the NBA are listening. Hear me. Well, all of this,

(08:28):
you know, wanderlust, all of this. The grass is always greener,
Oh it's greener. For a few guys. Lebron James can
go anywhere and he's gonna get his Kevin Durant a
Kawhi Leonard, they can go anywhere and they're going to
get theirs. They're gonna be the superstars of the team.

(08:51):
But most player, and I'm talking about even stars, some
guys need to stay where they're at because maybe the
system is geared to you, or you just got such
a presence in the franchise, or for whatever reason, it's
not gonna be the same elsewhere, and you're not going
to be as good. Exhibit A. Dwight Howard, I think

(09:16):
he ruined his career by leaving Orlando. Exhibit B. I
don't doubt that for one second, because it didn't It
would all the way downhill. Don't forget he got down.
He got to an NBA finals with that team. They
had a nice team going. They knocked off Lebron. If
you remember that, I was supposed to be the Kobe
Lebron Finals Yea and Dwight Howard and that magic team

(09:39):
knocked off Lebron. I'll never forget that. He was on
his way right there. Every year he was in the
top five MVP vote he was on his way, and
people think, I don't think he's a Hall of Famer,
but he does have the credentials. Most people that I've
most experts, if you will, think he's a Hall of
Famer based essentially saw only on what he did in Orlando,

(10:01):
because every place he's gone, he's gotten worse and worse
and worse. And now he probably he might not even
be hable to find a job this year. Okay, but
Carmelo Anthony demanded his way out of a good Denver
team to go to New York. It helped this celebrity,
but it certainly didn't help him basketball wise. Chris Paul,
now you should have stayed. He should have stayed with

(10:22):
the Clippers. Look at what he really should have stayed
with the Clippers. Look at what that team did last Yeah. Well,
and let's face it, they went out in the first round,
and with Chris, they were getting there the second round.
That's the power of expectations. But if they trade Blake
and bringing you know, maybe they bring into pieces around
you to make you a better team around Chris Paul.
But he should have stayed with the Clippers. Dude. There

(10:44):
are so many instances of guys thinking, you know, forcing
their way out of places, and it doesn't work. So
all of you free agents who have a good thing,
be careful, be careful. I mean, he's still a superstar,

(11:04):
but Rob, can I throw Kyrie in there at least
for now? I mean I get it he had he
butted has with Lebron, but it certainly didn't work out
in Boston. So guys have to be careful about where
you want to go because it can ruin some of

(11:28):
your careers. Darren Williams, remember Darren wis on the Hall
of Fame track right in Utah and he wound up
going to the Nets and they had a little success,
but it wasn't Actually by the time he left, people
didn't look at Darren w. Couldn't get rid of him. Now,
some of it was injuries, but had he stayed in Utah,

(11:50):
he maybe would have been a Hall of Famer. Was
it was him and Chris Paul were the best two
point guards in the league. No daught about it. So
guys gotta be careful. But I just think, look, this
is this is how they gonna trade. You can't you
think anybody no money never but right? But but I
can't not that wall. That would be like with with

(12:11):
what our problem problem, right, We'll give you all bad
money and you take you know what I mean, walls.
It might be worse. He's banged up late next year
and that's the first year of his four year extension.
Oh god, it's well Ernie got fire. Bernie. Yeah, that
that probably had to happen with all that, you know

(12:33):
what's going on. But he was there for a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but but it was time. It was definitely, definitely to
surprise he survived that long with some of those moves bad.
So that's like Chris Paul rob and we'll get Vince
Goodwill on to talk about it. Um, how do you
think they handle this situation? I'll let it blow over

(12:55):
because it's nothing you really can do. There's no way
I'm getting rid of Harden. No, there's no way. And
so there's no way that anybody's gonna take uh, anybody
gonna take Chris Paul. I just I just told you
the money. The money is so astronomical you're talking about
that that thats the last two years. Just how how somebody, somebody,

(13:16):
some general managic is gonna stand up? Introduced Chris Paul
the press conference with the with the contract that you
and the money you gotta pay. No way nobody wants
to keep a job the Lakers won't. I mean, Lebron's
this guy. Lebron's always talked about one, you know, one
of our buddies over there. He's like, we're getting Chris
Paul said news. I said really, I said, do you

(13:38):
know what the money is? And then when I said
the money, he looked at me. Guys, yeah, maybe not.
They could no, but they wouldn't. I don't think I
think Lebron, as much as he likes Chris, he's he's
smarter than that. He's smarter than that. You would hope,
and you would hope Rob Perlinker or whoever. If Lebron
is behind the scenes pushing for Chris, I don't think

(13:59):
they're a good fit. But if he's behind the scenes
pushing for Chris, then you got to still have somebody
there to say no. Will he was pushing for Carmelo.
They said no. They didn't pull a trigger because he
wanted now Chris, I could I've talked enough about if
Lebron could play off the ball. He's not gonna play

(14:22):
off the ball. Can't teach you the old he's not
doing it. He's not gonna do it because you talked
about this earlier last season, before before, right before with
a D. He should just be I think Lebron should
just be the point guard. Get a wicked shooter at
the two. Get you know, if you can get a
Brook Lopez as a center. I know that's a big gift,

(14:43):
But I think Lebron should just run the point. And
you don't have to call him that because he doesn't
want to be called a point guard. But all right,
what if anything can the Houston Rockets due to fix
their Chris Paul James Harden problem eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six sixty

(15:04):
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(15:46):
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(16:09):
took fire insurance exchanges and affiliates products unavailable in every state.
You two did to the Eye Couple. Chris Brussar, Rob Parker.
We're brought to you by Discover Card because Discover treats
you like you would treat yourself. All Right, a lot
of you guys went to weigh in, Chris Paul, James Harden.
This beef is apparently a lot nastier than people thought,

(16:34):
and reportedly James Harden is saying it's him or me,
And reportedly Chris Paul has demanded the trade, which is
a bit comical because they just they love the trade,
but they can't anyway, Let's see what you think. Michael
in Connecticut, you're on with the Odd Couple. What's your thoughts?
What's up Chris, rob I'm like super hype right now.

(16:57):
I told my fear, I say, I'm finally gonna get
you talk to you guys today, and I just want
to say I love what everything guys are doing. I
listened to you every day. Thank you. And I think
you guys should try to do Instagram Live too, since
you're not on TV. I think that would be pretty
dope as well. Yeah, we're working on some other stuff.
We appreciate. Michael. We're in Connecticut, are you? Because you

(17:17):
know I went to Southern Connecticut up in New Haven. Oh,
I'm in Milford. I went to University of Bridgeport. Okay,
I'm originally from New York, but I just ended up
staying in Connecticut. It's a great place, all right. Cool? Cool?
What you got for us? Um? So first I want
to say, um, rob Um, listening to you like um.
One of my professors asked me my political views and

(17:40):
I told him I watching on CNN and he told me,
um that I should watch part so I can get
opposed views and listen to you kill my boy Lebron
is kind of like that. I think. I think, I
think crazy is a pretty objective more than you and
I feel like you should get my boy break sometimes.
So what's your thought one h your thoughts on the rockets?

(18:04):
My thoughts on the rocket It is just that thing
to just get it together. Um, just because they don't.
I feel like the West is open more than ever, right,
even though, um, and they should just try to go
on this last run. That's a great thing. That's a
great point, right because this is the VI this is
it's open, right, it's open. Don't screw around now? No

(18:26):
that Hey Robert and Victorville, California. You're on the odd
couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? How you doing? Man?
Doing great? Man? Thank you? I got to auto list
in Victorville. Well I'm sorry for her risk. Um. Yeah,

(18:47):
I just wanted to say, Man, nobody else was going
to give Chris Paul that money, and he was on
that team the year before, and he took the money.
Now he wants out. It's ridiculous. It is. He should
have stayed with the Clippers. It's just as simple as that.
But think about it. This is the third place Chris
has been. Forget that he's had problems, as we know,
he's had problems with the other teammates and all that,

(19:09):
but he demanded the trade out of New Orleans. He
demanded the trade, you know, out of the Clippers, and
now he wants to be traded reportedly from Houston. Like
at some point, it's like a marriage. If you keep
getting to at some point it ain't your spout right,
it's just kill me everybody else. You gonna take a

(19:29):
look in the mirror and say, hey, we think it's you.
Thank for the car, Robert, Tony and West Palm Beach.
You on with Chris and Rob? What's going on? Thank you? Brother?
What's happening? Not much? How about this for a wild idea?
And how about for Carma at the same time, both
both of these brothers, So I'm not mistaken. Guy really
hot contracts. So as far as Chris Paul, we already

(19:51):
know it's crazy hot. How about this thought, Detroit trade
up for Blake Christin you think gets played and Detroit
at that point guard team them up with Andre Drummond
and we mess the whole nball making all place that's interesting.
At first, I thought you were saying trade Chris Crawl

(20:13):
too for Blake to Detroit to be with Blake Gribbin.
But I'm like, they didn't get along right, didn't have
some issues. They had issues, But I'd be honest, I
think they would probably, but they couldn't with that money anywhere.
It wouldn't work out what it you could. Houston wouldn't
want Andre Drummond. They got no need for an Andre Drummond. Look, honestly,
if Chris and Blake could be reunited, I'm not saying

(20:34):
they'd be their first choice, but I bet you if
they came together again, they'd have more appreciation for each other.
And Rob in the East. Now, I'm not saying they'd
be better than Toronto necessarily, but in the East they
would be have a lot of they'd be a lot better,
So they should try to look at it. I don't know.
I mean, he mentioned trading for Blake. You like Blake

(20:55):
in Houston, like Blake is almost like a small five.
And still I don't know if that would really work.
You can't spot him up, but you can't shoot. Let's
check in with Jane from New York on the odd
couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up, James, Hey, how
are you guys doing? Man great? I got a crazy plan.
It kind of actually goes with what he was saying,
Like to me, there's teams that should do like a

(21:18):
trade for Chris Paul that maybe aren't looking at playoffs
right now, like the Phoenix Suns. Chris Paul, that his best,
what he's having fun. You put him with the Phoenix Suns.
That's like the olden days of Tyson Chandler with DeAndre
Atan then you got Devin Booker there. The Rockets aren't
gonna get much for m Paul anyway. So with the
with the Suns, they got a lot of role players

(21:39):
t J. Warren, they could plug in as the three
and D players. I think it will work out for
both teams. Well, remember, Phoenix is gonna have to they
already I believe Max Devin Booker. They're gonna have to
Max DeAndre Ayton down the road. Uh, that's gonna be
that's gonna be tougher than financially. Um. You know, what
you guys are pointing out is that there may be

(22:00):
teams you can trade him too, you know. And just
I just think everybody's talking about it. Phoenix, Yeah, because
the money was Phoenix is going young. There's no need
for them to happen. I mean, that would be crazy.
It wouldn't make any sense, right right? All right? Would
any team be crazy enough to trade for Chris Paul
right now? That's on, Rob g I know you're laughing

(22:21):
at the team. NBA champion Antonio Daniels has the answer next.
But first, be sure to catch live editions of The
Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker week days
at seven pm Eastern, four pm Pacific. It is the
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(22:42):
dot com or call eight hundred and nine four seven Auto.
The only hard part is figuring out which way is easier.
We do it every week, and this might be the Well.
We got the draft coming up in free agency, so
I'm sure we'll do it a few more weeks. But
we always love to bring in the NBA champion Fox
Sports NBA analysts, one of our good buddies, Antonio Daniels.

(23:06):
What's happening, man, what's up, Bud? We are great, man,
We are great, and lots going on in the NBA.
It just never stops, you know what I mean, It
like never stops at all. Right, So there's plenty of
places to start, but we'll start in Houston. You've probably

(23:27):
seen these reports about the beef between Chris Paul and
James Harden. I do agree with Chris Paul that they
need more ball and player movement in their offense, right sure,
But I don't know that you could trade And just
talk about that situation, like, do you think they should
trade Chris? And if so, do you think see any

(23:48):
realistic scenario out there where they could trade him? Just
talk about that. I don't First and foremost, I would
like to know what happened, you know, like, like you
think how bad it has to be for it to
be unsalvageable, right about that? As as players, like I've
gotten to it with teammates and you know, we've had discussions,

(24:09):
but you know, a few days later, we can discuss it,
we can talk about it. We right back on the
floor doing what we gotta do. What happened between Chris
Paul and Dame's Harden from the point where they're making
commercials together. Now it's unsalvagable what happened because this has
to extend beyond style of play and has to attend
beyond stali play, you know, because you think about it

(24:30):
style of players. What it is? They had the same
stalar play last year ye when Chris baul got there.
You know, they had the same stalar play this year.
So what happened to make this situation between these two
now unsalvagable? It's my question. I totally agree that commercial
where Harden burn up Chris's kitchen and told you the

(24:54):
other thing too, is of all times to have. And
I know the season crashed and burned. You know, once
Katie went down, people thought that they were gonna win
and possibly have a chance to win the championship because
even Charles Barkley said they couldn't win the series with
you know, I we're gonna win the series because of KD.

(25:15):
But now the Warriors are beat up, batter than bruised.
Isn't this the time to come together and not be
fighting at that say, there's a chance, there's an opening,
There's there's the door open for us here. Okay, listen,
If you remember two weeks ago, one of the things
I told you guys is that I thought Houston Rockets
were overreacting. I thought they were overreacting. You didn't say that,

(25:36):
I remember, right, because and the reason I said that, Dennis,
because exactly what just happened. So you look at Golden
State doing what they did for the past five years,
and the fact of the matter is here in Houston.
You know, you didn't win the NBA Championship, but you
lost to the best team assembled three of the last
four years. So now what do you do. Did you overreacted?

(25:59):
Do you say, all right, let's wait for this thing
in Golden State to fizzle out. Because once they're fizzled out,
now what's going to be our opportunity? Low and behold
kd goes down, Low and behold, Klay Thompson goes down. Now,
all of a sudden, Golden State's not looking intimidating anymore.
So now if you look around the NBA, yeah, you
see Anthony Davids in La and you see Kawhi Leonard

(26:20):
in Toronto. All these things could change so quickly. And
if you're Houston, now you have an opportunity, a small
window to make a run because one thing that you
have on a lot of these other teams is chemistry.
And by chemistry, I mean once training camp opens, everybody
knows their role. P J. Tucker knows his role, Eric
Gordon knows his role, James Harden, Chris, Paul Clay, Kapella,

(26:43):
all these guys knows their role. Anthony Davis, Lebron, James,
and Kyle Kuzman have yet to play an NBA game together,
so they have to learn things. If Kawhi Leonard leaves
and he goes to the Clippers, they have to start
all over. Two guys have a head start ahead of
every anybody else. Along with being like the role that
you guys have being experienced together. I just think they

(27:06):
overreacted too quickly. The h couple were joined by NBA
champion Antonio Daniels. Antonio, you agree with me that they
need more ball movement and all that. How do you
think they should play? Like? What tweaks do you think
they should make? You know, assuming they stay together and
keep Chris and James, And two do you think James
after you know, thirty six points a game and the

(27:29):
last two years, he's just become this individual superstar. Do
you think he can adjust or would be willing mentally
to adjust to a new style of play? Well, James
Harden wasn't this ball dominant before, right that Tony got there, right,
you know? So I think we forget that when they
made it to the Converence Finals with Kevin mckill, he

(27:51):
didn't play this style of basketball that they're playing right now.
So I think that James Harden can go back to
that style of play willing be willing too after the
set that he's had. I don't know about that. I'm
not sure about that. And this is the damn Toni
system though, you know, so when you hire Mike D'Antoni,
you understand what you're getting into. You're getting into a

(28:13):
ball dominant in a different way system. You go back
and look at Linsanity because the ball was in his hand.
You go back and look at the Phoenix Suns with
Steve Nash, the ball was in his hand. And now
it's basically the same situation with James Harden, except James
Harden is not looking to facilitate like Steve Nash was.
But the user's rate is just as high. So I

(28:34):
don't know, as long as Mike D'Antoni as a coach
in Houston. I don't know if their style of play
can change Antonio. Obviously a lot of people's lives will
be on where Kawhi Lettero wind up and where he'll go.
And my gut just says it's going to be the Clippers.
He can take a look at the situation and go, hey,

(28:55):
he can be the long ranger. Long ranger, I can
My job is on in Toronto. I got it all done.
They can't be mad at me. We won a championship.
Everybody's happy. And then you could look at it and say,
he would have a golden opportunity. You want to put
yourself as legendary status winning a championship in Toronto where

(29:16):
they never won, and then go into a team like
the Clippers and maybe giving them a chance to win
as well. What would that do for a guy if
he was able to make that happen, Well, I think
that would be great. I mean that would be fantastic
because to me, I agree with you guys, I think
it's a two team race. I think it's a two
team race right now. It's a Clippers and it's Toronto.

(29:36):
And agreed, if he leaves Toronto. People can't be upset
at him for leaving because he went to Toronto. And
this is the thing that he didn't do the regular
NBA spill. So he didn't go to Toronto and say,
you know what, I want to finish my career here. No, no,
I want to be here long term. He said none
of that. He went in, he took care of his business.
He won an NBA championship. He didn't leave the fans on.

(29:59):
He didn't need the they sent on. He said, look,
when free agency comes, I will make my decision in
until then, I'm gonna go ahead and take care of business.
And that's just what he did. So he ups and
he decides to go. There's nobody in Toronto land that
can be upset at Kawhi Leonard from moving and going
to the Los Angeles Clippers, Antonio with the Lakers and

(30:19):
the Antonio I'm sorry, um ad Trey Anthony Davis trade.
Do you think let's assume they get max money and
they can go after one of these superstar free agents,
do you think they'd be better right they I don't
think they're gonna get them money, but just for arguments,
say if they could do you think they'd be better
served getting and let's take Kawhi out, getting a Kyrie,

(30:42):
a Kimba, a Jimmy Butler, Or would they be better
off using that money and splitting it up for two
or three guys who are pretty good. You know, we
about this conversation today on NBA Radio, and for me,
I am not in favor of them going after a
third guy, meaning a Re Irving and Kimber Walker and
Jimmy Butler. Your third guy's Kyle Kuzman. Show that he

(31:05):
is capable of being that guy. So now you take
that twenty three to twenty seven millions, and you look
at it, Danny Green, you know, you look at it.
Jamal Crawford, you look at it, JJ Redding or a
Brook Lopez. You surround Lebron with shooting because if you
take up all that, that's me and you say, all right,
let's bring in Kymrie Irving. Now it's fantastic as far

(31:27):
as star powers concern. Now you got Lebron James, you
got Anthony Davids, you got Kylimie Irving, you got Kyle
Kuzman and a bunch of minimum guys. I just don't
think that's the right move for the Los Angeles Lakers
right now. And the other part two is you you
went out of your way to keep Kyle kulzmus So,
then what would be the pride you couldn't let him go?
If if you were really going to do that, right,

(31:48):
that's a great points. Then he would be a fourth
guy because he would go down to probably twelve points
a game, right like that? Right, that's a great point,
Rod because if you you fought hard to keep Kyle
Kuzman out of that deal to the Pelican, right, you
fought so hard to keep him for a reason, you
didn't fight that hard to make him. Yeah, that's a
great point, all right, Antonio, great knowledge as always, man,

(32:12):
and I appreciate the wings. I'm sure I'll be hearing
from you soon. Do you you more? You know we
didn't want to go back to the table and that one.
Wait a minute, where's our rob? Gee? Yeah? Wait a minute, more? Gee?
Didn't we bet this? Soon? We bet this, Antonio? We did.

(32:32):
We'll get the change tape a man, where you at? Rob? Gee?
Can you get under the hold on check tape? We'll
get back. We got tape. Man, I'm telling you, we
made that better because I remember saying I want to
I want to losch you know if I lose, I'm
no that you pay a big time. I ain't complaining.

(32:53):
I just want you to know with bonus. No, I
know you pay with bonus, and you know I want
twenty win bets. But you're one of them. So we'll
get back to you, Antonio. Let's see the sports betting
world is sleeping on Steph Curry and Rob Parker sleeping
on him. Obviously, I've already I've already dropped a Michael

(33:17):
Steph like Rob Ago say another thing negative about staff.
Oh yes, I will when they don't make the playoffs.
This shire with I couple of Fox Sports Radio Rob Parker.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search f

(33:38):
SR to listen live. At Farmer's Insurance, we know the
sound of a perfect hot air balloon landing and a
Leston perfect one covered it. Doctor Farmers, we are farmers underwritten.
My farmers took fire Insurance exchanges and affiliates prodcts unavailable
in every state. You're tuned into the eye a couple
of Chris brus are Rob Parker, and the odds for

(34:01):
the NBA MVP and a lot of other awards Rookie
of the Year for next year have all come out,
and of course the Rookie of the Year is projected
to be Zion Williams and any problem with that, Rob, No, Yeah,
I'm with that. I think it'll be Zion. The more
interesting odds were for MVP, and here they go, Yannis

(34:26):
onto Dakoumpo three to one, so he's the favorite. James
Harden plus three fifty, Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard both
six to one, Lebron James seven to one, and Anthony
Davis seven to one. I'm not going to as much
as drib G tried to push me in our pre

(34:46):
show meeting, I'm not going to be forced into making
my prediction just yet. Last years too early, Yes, and
I think he had a great chance to be that,
although Yannis probably would have still been it if he
has not gotten hurt. But this year, you're awfu Lebron
or you oh, you're not ready. I said on Undisputed

(35:10):
a couple of days ago that I might it might
have been yesterday I said it, I might go with
Lebron as my preseason picked for MVP. I do think
he comes back with a vengeance. However, I also think
that there will be low management for both Lebron and
Anthony Davis. I also think that a lot of the

(35:32):
regular season for them is going to be about developing
chemistry and not just trying to win sixty games. So
I doubt I'll pick Lebron. Certainly won't pick Anthony Davis
just because it's gonna be hard to be the MVP
with Lebron as your teammate and vice versa. It might
be hard for Lebron when you've got Anthony Davis. Now,
you know, Shock and Kobe used to always cancel each

(35:54):
other out. So I right now, and again, I'm not
being held to this because I'm gonna wait until the
all to make my preseason picks. But right now, I
think the guy I'm looking at, rob one it is
gonna win it this year. So I'm not positive players.
When they did the poll with the players they had

(36:15):
right hard players generally are different than the media. But
I think it's going to be y honest, and so
I don't know is he gonna win it again next year,
especially after we've seen him struggle the way he did
in the playoffs. If he doesn't come back with a
jumper the right, I mean, everybody knows if he has

(36:35):
the same type of season but doesn't have the jump shot,
voters are gonna hold that against him. So I I
the guy I'm looking at rob is Steph Curry because look,
Kady's gonna be out, Clay's gonna be out for half
the season at least. I think it's all there for
Steph to have a phenomenal run and if they're winning,

(36:56):
if they're saying around, you know, fourth seed, fifth seed
in the West, before Clay gets back, and Steph is
averaging I don't know, he averaged twenty seven this year. Well,
I think Clay will be back around March, okay, and
before they maybe two months to if he can work

(37:17):
himself back to one hundred percent before the playoffs, I
think they've they're gonna be in the running to win
it all again. But yeah, that's why I think Steph.
That's why I think Steph is a guy that people
need to look at for MVP. I changed my mind
from the time we had the pre show meeting to
now because that's no, no, you know I've changed, you know,

(37:40):
you know, no, I do we need to replay that
I said Jannis in the pre show meeting. Okay, but
I'm gonna go with James Harden really yeah, I just
you know, I thought about it. If all the bicker
only from this stamposedly they got an opportunity if the
windows open, do you know what, maybe cooler heads prevailed, Chris.

(38:02):
It's not as bad as people are making it out
to be. They come together and say, we still got
a chance at this and when if we do the
right thing, and we've seen James Harden play when he
didn't have teammates and guys were down and he carried them,
and maybe this shift they can stay healthy, you know
what I mean, and play together and understand they have

(38:22):
an opportunity to do something right that maybe that might
inspire them. And that's why I'm saying I'm gonna say
James Harden, well, that's not a bad pick because he's
always gonna be in the running. It's the right And
let's say he and I don't think he'll average thirty
six points a game. Let's say averages comes down to
thirty and his assists go up a little and he

(38:44):
is playing more, you know, getting more guys involved, not
not dominating the ball as much. Then I think people
are gonna look at that and he might get a chance.
The thing is, they're not gonna I don't see them
being a team that's gonna say, let's go get sixty wins,
you know what I mean. They're gonna be all about
preparing for the out right. And typically you know, the

(39:07):
team that wins a ton of games and there's one
player that leads him, he gets MVP. But it's gonna
be interesting. Two hours left. I Couple Fox Sports Radio.
You know what to do. Keep it lock. It is
the Eye Couple. I'm Chris, He's Rob. You can follow
us on social media on Twitter, I am at Chris
Underscore Bruce Hard, Rob is at Rob Parker FS one.

(39:30):
On Instagram, I'm at Chris Bruce Ard sixty eight. What's
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Visit Geico dot com for a free rate quote and

(39:52):
if you checked out my Instagram or on Twitter today, Chris,
we have a limited edition odd Couple two shirts for
sale if you go to Rob parkershop dot com Rob
Parker and they're classy, the black and white ones, you
remember the ones that we had earlier. And it's limited editions,
so when they're gone, they're gone. So you want to go,

(40:15):
and it's only seven more than that, but your chance
to scoop up a odd Couple T shirt. Very fashionable,
I might add, all right, Rob, we're in here doing
our show every night, and typically we're watching basketball, but
obviously basketball season is over, so now we're watching more baseball,

(40:40):
and not just Major League baseball, but the College Baseball
World Series is underway. And yesterday both you and I
were taking the back at actually seen I hate to
say it, but seeing black players playing for the University
of Michigan. And it wasn't like we saw one guy
we looked like a shot, but but right away it

(41:04):
was like we took a look at a little close
that we knew something was going on at Michigan because
all of a sudden, I was like and then and
then I think at one point, you you tapped me
when they had a shot in the dugout and you
were like, okay, like look at that guy. They got
a few. Because you don't see a lot of African
Americans playing in the college baseball world sire, you see
something when I say zero, right, Obviously the Major League

(41:28):
Baseball is down now to less than seven percent African American.
And then the interesting thing is this the coach at
the University of Michigan, Michigan, Eric how you say that
he told ESPN that he is going out of his
way to recruit inner city kids. I think there's a

(41:52):
little cold there, a little cold there's Americans And here
he goes, what is your mindset for the guys that
you want to wear your uniform? Well, we just think
our roster should look like the United States of America,
and so we target a lot of a lot of
inner city kids. There's a lot of great athletes out there,
and I think it's ridiculous the cost of travel ball

(42:14):
and some of these showcases, and it just, uh, you know,
it negates opportunities for a lot of kids. And so
you know, for us, we want to have a diverse
roster and we want to provide as many opportunities for
kids all over the country that we can. Bravo, Bravo.
That's the first thing I thought when he said that

(42:35):
he's not giving a hand down. He's not giving kids
who can't play a scholarship. It's ain't about a quota system.
He's just saying in the circles that they look at
nowadays to be able to recoup players, it is the
travel ball, it is the the showcase events and tournaments

(42:55):
and stuff, and unfortunately, not as many African Americans are
in circles. So those are the kids that get left out.
And he's doing his due diligence to look a little
bit deeper, to look and see if there's some kid
who might be good at baseball who's not in those circles,
who can't afford that extra stuff to get seen. And

(43:17):
he's going out. Michigan is good this year in baseball.
It's not like like they're there scrub team. And he's
got he went from when he took over the team,
they said they had zero minorities on the Michigan basketball
but baseball team, that's not unusual, right. I know what
they got this year in Black College and universities teams
are majority nine black right now, doubt that's where it is. Yeah,

(43:40):
he has seven African Americans on the team, seven zero
to seven. And all he said was, we're going to
be diverse, and we're gonna look around for people and
and and give give kids of all people of all
kinds an opportunity and a chance. And I applaud it.

(44:00):
That's all. That's all you could ever ask for, is
to give people an opportunity to sink or swim on
their own. But there's a system here that's been waited
and for whatever reason, mostly financial. I don't know if
it's mostly financial. Well, because that's what they're talking about
with the showcase. I'm talking about not being able that
I'm talking about to being seen on the stuff that

(44:23):
where these schools usually go to watch these kids. That's
what I'm agree with that. And I like what he
said about you know, like you said, these showcases, the
travel ball, the year round play. It takes a lot
of money, a lot you know, have your kid traveling
year round, playing baseball on weekends and stuff. So I'm

(44:45):
with him on that, go into the inner city if
there are or wherever it may be, If there are
kids playing baseball and they're good enough, or at least
they show the potential, even if they may not quite
be good enough yet because they haven't had the training.
If they show that potential, then certainly I'm all with
going at them now. I do also think diversity in

(45:08):
many walks of life. Diversity in and of itself is
valuable in sports. I'm not one that thinks Major League
baseball or college baseball has to look like America or
any sport, but it has to look like who's playing,
who are the best players. And if African Americans for

(45:29):
whatever reason, aren't playing baseball as much anymore, then it's
not gonna look I mean, first of all, America is
only twelve percent black, twelve thirteen percent black as it is,
so major League Baseball is down to seven percent. But
you know, if it's gonna look like America is still
only gonna be twelve percent. No. But but I just
think I just don't think in sports that a coach

(45:54):
has to go out and say I want my team
to look like America's team. What if a basketball coach, Well,
they do this, but they do this in college at
all at all times as well, because they also look
at it that there's also an experience that goes on
in college which is a little bit academical, right and
I and I see that. And I'm not saying he's

(46:17):
not putting on black kids on the baseball team who
can't play. I don't believe that for one second. That's
not what he's talking about. And I would be with
you if that's what you're talking about about having Yeah,
about having a token. The team's gotta be twelve African American,
but I'm gonna I'm gonna look around and give opportunity

(46:37):
if there's some kids who maybe just on in the pipeline.
And and it's have moved away, you see it now
to Chris, high school basketball isn't as big. It's the
AAU that's bigger than high school. They used to be
about high school basketball. They don't even some of those kids,
I don't even know if they even play high school
basketball anymore. It's about due but yeah, but it's about

(46:59):
AAU and tournament and all that stuff. And that's the
part that maybe not all the black baseball players are
involved in because of the cost that goes with it.
So anything that opens up access and and and allows
people to be in the mix, for them to be
get a look see without having to come up with
the dough. I'm for it. If they're good enough and

(47:21):
he feels confident that he can offer this kid a scholarship,
more power to him. Well, it's funny that it's smart
recruiting because African Americans have proven historically and even today
still that they can be great baseball players. Look at
the right now, you look at the record, but that
that's not that's not even an issue. If we can play.

(47:44):
If you if if if good black baseball players, for
one reason or another aren't getting recruited, it's smart of you.
Just like when Bear Bryant got beat by USC and
he said, look, I gotta go get some black players.
He's like, we can't do this. We all get in smashed.
So if you, if there are great African American players

(48:04):
out there who aren't being recruited, then you are smart
to go out there and get them. But I think also, Rob,
I think there's two other factors. One you and I
talked about it before the show. Nowadays, kids are whether
off their own volition or being enforced by coaches or
strongly encouraged by coaches to specialize. So if I'm gonna

(48:29):
play basketball, coaches are telling me, I gotta play year round.
Don't play football, don't play baseball, play basketball year round.
That's the only way you can get to the highest
level or football they do this, or baseball. And when
we grew up, Lebron James, heck, forget us. Lebron James,
who's only thirty four years old, he played football in basketball.

(48:51):
Michael Jordan played baseball and basketball. Dean Sanders played baseball
and basketball, and those are vote some of the greatest
athletes we've ever seen, right, So I think that's a factor,
and that's taking a lot of kids play, But that's
taking him away from baseball. So I think we need

(49:12):
to get away from that and start stop just all
the specialization and let them play. And then I think
they're also I just don't think African Americans have as
much interest in baseball as they use. But here you go,
whatever reason, here's your other point that you just made
about the specialization. We saw this year, for the first
time in the history of professional sports drafts, Kyler Murray

(49:37):
was the numb was a first round pick up baseball
and football had never happened. So it doesn't tell people
when they tell you you can't make it if you
don't specialize, that's not true. Kyler Murray just showed you
you can do both and still right, you can do
both and still Kyler Murray could have taken the Age

(49:58):
deal and made money or the na Felt deal, which
he did to accept, so he had two options. Don't
buy into the idea that you have to play a
sport twenty four to seven, only one sport three sixty
five and you can't focus in on anything else for
a part of the year. I think that that's the
false narrative. I think too, that a lot of the

(50:19):
African Americans who are playing are out in the suburbs.
I think where African Americans have really where it's really decreased,
is the inner cities. That's where the game, and in
blacks playing baseball has really declined. In my view, Yeah,
I don't. I don't have a lot of the ones,
a lot of the ones who were in the suburbs.

(50:40):
They may be on travel teams you know or or
you know. But Michigan has look, I agree with him.
If he's this is an untapped pipeline of great athletes
by all means, go get them, you know, But I
just think for there, our interest isn't as much in
baseball as it used to be. And hopefully I just

(51:01):
hope as a as an African American, which is great
opportunities for other guys, I hope that we start playing
like we used to because I love baseball and I
think it makes better baseball because obviously there's some great
athletes out there that aren't playing it. They could be,
no doubt about it. There's athletes out there, and there
are scholarships going to waste where people aren't there. Everybody

(51:22):
can't make the basketball team. Everybody's not making the NBA,
and I'm not saying that is that's all it is.
And all the people that's come from Europe now and
other places right right, and so it's not even they
don't even take all the kids who play Division one.
I like the chance of you getting there. Forty forty

(51:43):
five guys every year entering the NBA. That's itty five
fifty guys, and only thirty get guaranteed contract being drafting thirty.
And that's thirty all over the world, not just in America,
all over the world. So you're right, it's so yeah man, hopefully,
but that that it's an interesting topic and we want

(52:03):
to get your thoughts on at eight seven, seven ninety
nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six sixty
three sixty nine. Should more sports teams take their queue
from Michigan Baseball and seek out talent outside of the
travel ball circuit. We will continue the conversation with you.
Next is The Eye Couple of Fox Sports Radio. Be

(52:24):
sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
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(52:44):
Doctor Farmers, we are farmers underwritten. My Farmers took fire
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Talking Tuesday. Hey, that's right, get your takes ready. You'll
be able to call in and trash anyone or anything

(53:06):
in the world of sports in the third hour, even
if it's robbed and myself by Discover card because Discover
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some people are trying to get in. Try you can
call back eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight
seven seven Blowing Up sixty three sixty nine. Let's start

(53:26):
with Brian in Florida. What do you think about the
situation with diversity in baseball? Hey, guys, thanks a lot.
I'm not There's a lot of things I want to
say about it, but I appreciate you guys taking my call. Um.
It's not just African American kids that financially or you know,

(53:50):
a problem with travel ball. My own son I played.
I played ten years professional baseball to the big leagues.
Who would you play with? Bart? I got to major
league roster at the padres, O Winds and Astros. I've
talked to you guys before. Oh I do remember you, Yes,
I do remember. Yeah, I mean a long time a
long time ago. But I appreciate this topic. It's awesome.

(54:13):
That's why I call it back in. I'm you know,
a little nervous right now to talk about here, but nah,
just be just be, let let it go. And we
love to have you input. So you know, literally my
middle son is he's I've been a college coach too,
and he's a college prospect. I literally have to pay

(54:35):
thirty eight hundred dollars to him for him to go
to a showcase. Wow, this is what I can't afford
that showcase. Yeah, yeah, well yeah, and I'm I'm not
an African American. It's not just in a city kid.
Just to everyone. And I agree with you guys, and

(54:55):
I agree. We need athletes. It's all about athleticism. We
wore to create that. I teach, I teach lessons. Bryan,
let me ask do this is this laziness on the
part of college coaches because to recruit like you know,
like you used to on the high school games or what. Well, well,

(55:16):
I don't know. I've been a little while. I'm and
I'm in medical sales now, but I think, yeah, you
gotta go, you gotta get in the weeds. I gotta
you gotta go down and say, you know, I'm in
Fort Minted, Florida right now. So there's some some African
American high schools that that there's athletes there, Yes, and

(55:40):
you gotta get in the weeds and say what does
he want to do? What is this kid. But basketball
is the sport or football, and especially in Florida, Florida
foot you know the sporting football, right all right, Brian,
thank you man. We appreciate that serious and it just
told you about what they do. And he said, I

(56:03):
don't have it, you know what I mean, that's one
showcase that's crazy. Let's go to Richard and Victorville. Richard,
you are with christ and robb Hey, guys, um, you
know it's interesting. The very last thing he said is
you can't afford It is definitely money driven when they
try to get an athlete to stay in one sport.
When you when you diversify, you go baseball, basketball, football

(56:26):
year round. You diversify your muscle groups, you don't get
burned out. And how many times I've heard of millions
of professional athletes and they talk about the other sport
that they were offered a deal in. So, uh, I
think it's much healthier, it's better for the athlete's body.

(56:47):
And uh heck, I mean, we're athletes. We love baseball,
we love basketball, we love football. Uh. I've heard former
base or even current MLB pictures say they think the
fact that these guys are pitching these kids are growing
up pitching your round. It's not good for their arms.

(57:08):
And when they played football or basketball, it helped them
work other muscles, as you say, and also give those
muscles arrest. And Richard, here's the other thing. They have
kids now who only pitch. And the old days, the
best player they played shortstop when they didn't pitch, and
now they all hit and they can hit and do everything.
Now they just pitch. Yeah, which is crazy. And you

(57:31):
look at the injuries. They're more than ever. Tommy John, kid, automatic,
what you're gonna get, you're gonna injure your arm. If
you're a picture. Thanks, let's go to a dominic in Oakland.
You're on the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Dominic?
Another much? How you guys? Great? Uh so, so I'm
a little you. I'm thirty one and I played with

(57:53):
an All American or the Mcdonal'sall American or another basketball tame.
But a certain point guard was the certain quarterback of football.
We had baseball players on the team, we had track
stars on the team, and it seemed like even you know,
it's not that long ago, but back then, if you
were a great athlete, every coach wanted you to play
on their team, and they would get offers to a

(58:15):
lot of different schools, and people would come down and
if you were a great track star, you see football
coach who's coming down to see track meets. And now
I see twelve year olds playing AU basketball in the winner,
the spring, the summer baseball camps going year round, people
moving down to Florida, so they're gonna have the warm

(58:38):
weather and play all year, and it just seems like,
I don't know if it's an interest or if they
just feel like they need to do it to keep
up with everybody else, But it seemed that it was
working back then. And that's not even that long ago.
We played more than one sport, and well, we just
saw it this year, Dominic. We were just talking about
Kyler Murray. You got drafted in the NFL and Major

(58:59):
League Baseball the first round. Yeah, I think there is
a fear that will I be able to make it
and keep up with everybody else. The flip side of that, though, Rob,
I think for a lot of these kids, and I've
seen talk to some of these high level high school
basketball players, I think that can take a lot of

(59:21):
the fun away from it. It becomes like a business.
When you're a teenager, you know, it's so much you're
so focused on I gotta get to the league. I
gotta get to the NBA. That you're not even playing fun,
not having anything's like I gotta get this big contract
in the NBA at some point. Like so, I don't
know if you can put the genie back in the bottle,

(59:41):
but I think it needs to be. Let's go to
Evan and Virginia. Evan, you're on with Christ and Rob. Hey,
Christ and Rob, how are you guys doing? Hey, listen,
you guys have a good topic. You got brought up.
But I agree with a lot of the stuff to
other colors say. But my mind keeps going back to
bow Jackson. If he never would have gotten hurt, Yeah,

(01:00:02):
he was one of the all time greats. He's another one. Uh.
You gotta realize he's only he's only a year older
than Michael Jordan's right when he was at his speach,
Niki had him as the face of nah. Yeah Jordan was.
Michael Jordan was in his commercials, his vote no, his commercials.
Right now, if vote don't get hurt, that it gives

(01:00:24):
maybe something the kids to see it playing more than
one sport, and maybe Michael Jordan don't maker that money
after Nike campaign because he had to wait until both
left before the Naki gave him a shot. You know what,
I han't. I didn't even realize that. I remember the boat.
Both commercials were great. What Jordan would eventually yea eventually? Yeah,

(01:00:44):
but Di I and Sanders Rob remember how great he was.
He was playing baseball as a hobby, right, I mean
he hit what five something in the World Series the
World Ship. Remember he was playing both sports at the
same time, and he would come from football games. Yeah,
remember that. I mean again, he was literally I'm not

(01:01:05):
saying that as a joke, he was essentially playing baseball
as a hobby because you know, he was doing it
during football season and he was trimming. He hit, he
never got something in the World Series, he never he
never made an All Star team. Bo Jackson's the only
player to make an All Star Game, All Star team
and be a Pro Bowl in the NFL. But I

(01:01:25):
think if I think if d I had focused on it,
like just say he was a baseball player, I think
he would have been a Hall of Famer. Could he
could have been. He was tremendous, but yeah, Bo of
course was great too. The upcoming NBA Draft is on Thursday,
and the talent pool goes much deeper than Jozion Williams
and NBA analyst Jeff Goodman will explain next, but first

(01:01:46):
we are coming to you live from the Geico Fox
Sports Radio studios, Chris and Robb. It is easy to
say fifteen percent or more on your car insurance with Geico.
Go to Geico dot com or call eight hundred nine
four seven Auto. The only hard part is figuring out
which way is easier. The NBA Draft, as we said,
is coming up on Thursday, so nobody better to bring

(01:02:08):
in than basketball analysts for Stadium. Also, the host of
the Good and Plenty podcast Good and Plenty is our man,
Jeff Goodman. Jeff, how you doing, man? It's getting crazy
here in Boston tonight, right, crazy, right, So let's go
there before we get to the draft stuff. First of all,
this is Al Horford news. Now. I don't think it's

(01:02:30):
a surprise that he opted out in hoping to get
a longer term deal. No way, he's getting thirty million
a year. But now there's the talk that he may
not be in Boston because he what he wants a
three or four year deal that they're not willing to give.
Break down what's going on there with that. Yeah, I
talked to a source close to Celtics this morning and

(01:02:51):
they told me, listen, somebody else is going to be
offering a huge deal, a four year deal that they
thought was going to be in the range of about
one hundred and fifteen million. What so all signs, Yeah,
all signs pointed today to the fact that the Celtics
were not gonna be able to retain Al Horford. They're

(01:03:12):
not gonna They're not giving him a four year deal.
He's thirty three years old. They're worried about obviously the
drop off for the next year or two. He'll be effective,
he'll be fine, and he's the ultimate and tangible guy,
a great locker room, got everything. Listen, you want to
keep Al Horford at almost any cost, but not at

(01:03:32):
thirty million a year for four years and paying him
that money at thirty six, thirty seven years old, when
he's probably gonna be a little bit of a shell
of himself. You have any idea what to do? Maybe
I'm curious to see that you know who. I know
it's not Berkeley because he ain't playing with Kyrie. That's well, yeah,

(01:03:54):
let's let me ask you about that and Kywee and
basically what happened. I guess wall Hopp and Lucy what
really went wrong there? I know before the season started,
and I think it was to keep the dogs off
of him. He basically said, Hey, I'm gonna be My
plan is to be here as long as you guys
want me. And then obviously at some point he said
talk to me in July first, and I don't owe

(01:04:17):
anybody anything. So we knew that where it was headed.
But what really happened in Boston. Listen, Chris knows Kyrie.
We thought he'd changed here in Boston and changed from
that moody, immature kid in Cleveland. It was his team.
It's the perfect situation for him playing for a coaching
Brad Stevens that lets you play. Let's mark his smart

(01:04:40):
Jack threes whenever he wants the ultimate green light to
do whatever you want. But ultimately Kyrie didn't grow up.
He became unlikable here. To be honest, he really did.
And most people in Boston they're having a much harder
time it's Al Horford news Kyrie. They were ready. I

(01:05:01):
mean they're ready, Kyrie. Don't let the door hit you.
And then, you know what, go to Brooklyn. We don't
care at this point. We'll build around the young guys.
But now this is a hit because Al was such
a high character guy and kind of the anti Kyrie
in so many respects. Kyrie. Just listen to bottom line
with Kyrie, he doesn't respect really anybody thinks he's smarter

(01:05:24):
than everybody else, period. That's that's just as interesting there
because I look, if he goes to Brooklyn, I just
don't understand why in the world he goes there by himself. Well,
I mean, wise reason, do whatever you want. But basketball wise,
Brooklyn is like Boston light. I think, well, maybe he

(01:05:47):
doesn't like Boster. I mean, like I said, personal reasons,
he can do whatever you want. I would never criticize
a guy for personal reasons, but basketball wise, it just
doesn't make sense to me. Ahead, let's go ding the draft.
There's talk now that the Knicks are at dead number
three looking at Darius Garland from Vanderbilt. Is that true

(01:06:09):
and is that wise? If that's the case, I have
not heard that. I have heard that the Knicks are
We know how many smoke signals are set out within
forty eight hours of the draft. If you track all
the rumors and how many of them actually come to fruition,
it's like point one percent. I do not see the

(01:06:30):
Knicks going anywhere other than RJ. Barrett with this because
to me, there's three guys that have the potential to
be number one guys out of this draft. And I
really think, listen, five years we could be talking about
John Morant being the best player in this draft. We
really could. It wouldn't shock me at all. I love
Zion to death, but we haven't seen a point guard

(01:06:53):
with a combination of speed, athleticism, court vision, passing ability
and then throw and high character as John Morant. There's
nobody in the league that has now. Again, I get
he did at Murray State, but I'm telling you, I
think with the point guards in the league right now,
it's not what it was five years ago, seven years ago.

(01:07:15):
I think he can be a top three point guard
within five years in the league. I don't see Zion.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see him being a
top five or ten player in the league that quick.
Maybe he will be with the right personnel around him.
And I love the fact that now he's got a
Lonzo Ball on his team. I think it's great for

(01:07:36):
Zion because it makes things easier for him. It gives
him a guy who just as a facilitator, a ball mover.
What about Zion and speaking about him, I mean, most
people believe he's going to be the first overall pick.
But but some people have said that they wouldn't take
him first, including Jerry West. What do you make of
that when a guy of that caliber says, well, he

(01:07:58):
might not have been my first pick if I had
the first pick. Jerry's making a lot of money right
now from the Clippers, so he could say, whatever the
hell he wants, guys for the coin from me right,
but to me, if you miss on Zion, if you
take John Morant number one, and Zion becomes what some

(01:08:19):
people think, he'll become a top three five player. With
the marketing, with the fact that he is going to
absolutely Phil Arena is everywhere he goes, he'll be Honestly,
he'll be the top grossing jersey next year as a rookie.
Nobody will sell more jerseys than Zion in year one.
So I just don't think as a GM you can

(01:08:40):
pass on Zion, even though I can make a case
to you as I just did that. I think John
Morant might have a better NBA career than Zion Williams.
And we've also seen a lot of first overall pick
the number one picks, big guys falter and be bad
in the NBA, haven't we He's not gonna be bad,
he listen, There's no way he's gonna be bad because

(01:09:02):
the kid plays too hard. He's too big, strong, athletic,
and he's far more skilled in terms of being able
to pass the ball, make good decisions. All of that.
My character like he's a kid that everybody loves to
play with. So again, I don't see Zion failing. I
don't think there's any chance. The only way he fails

(01:09:24):
is if his body gets in the way, and some
people are worried about that at two hundred and eighty
five pounds. With the way he plays, in the explosiveness
that he plays with, that's the biggest concern. Not like
people talk about the perimeter shot, the three point shot.
All they want he's gonna have more space to operate.
That's not gonna be his bread and butter. Anyway, he'll
be able to make shots from eighteen p Jeff, you

(01:09:47):
mentioned are that this is kind of a three player
draft as far as stars, with RJ. Barrett being that
third guy with John and Zion of the rest of
the players. If there's one sleeper that you think would
be most likely to emerge as a star, who would
it be of those the other guys? Well, let me

(01:10:08):
start with first, Like, I think David Griffin's probably gonna
go I think he's got to go DeAndre Hunter at
number four. Okay, just because we'll keep that pick. There's
talk that they're even trying to get out of I
think they're trying to move up to get Barret. Is
what now what we're hearing, which would you know the
team was either the market for this draft isn't enough

(01:10:28):
to me that teams are gonna move up, Like, it's
just not I mean, I hear people saying it all
the time that, yeah, David Griffin for the number four pick.
It's not like there's disparity from four to fourteen. If
I told you right now, Ruey hot Chimura is gonna
go fourteen, which I think he goes higher than now,
let's sake, he goes ten, twelve, fourteen, whatever it is,

(01:10:49):
I could make it a legitimate case right now that
you could throw Ruey Hachimura, DeAndre Hunter, Jared Cover, all
these wings in a in a hat right now, and
nobody has any clue who's coming out in five years
and gonna be the best player. So to me, there's
so little disparity. If I'm Atlanta, I'm not trading eight

(01:11:11):
and ten to move up to four. If I can
crack the top three, if I can get r J,
I might do it. I'm gonna take eight and ten
and she who falls to me, And if I'm Atlanta,
I'm gonna add two more starters to trade young to
John Collins and Kevin Herder, and I'm gonna have five
good young players in Atlanta. Now, you're right, that makes

(01:11:32):
a lot of sense. It's Jeff Goodenman, basketball analysts for Stadium,
also the host of the Good and Plenty podcast. He
had Jason Tatum on last week, so make sure you
go and check that out. Jeff, great stuff. As always, Man,
We appreciate the knowledge. No thanks, you guys, appreciate it all.
Brother Pace more of the eye couple coming up. Keep

(01:11:52):
it locked, Fox Sports Radio at Farmer's Insurance. We know
the sound of a perfect hot air balloon landing and
a lust and perfect one scovered. Doctor Farmers were underwritten
my Farmers truck fire Insurance exchanges and affiliates products unavlable
in every state. It's the a couple of Fox Sports Radio,

(01:12:16):
Chris and Rob and Rob Ge. You got some breaking
news from Adrian woes Narowski over at the other network.
What's he talking about? Yeah, you know, much has been
made of the Anthony Davis trade with the Lakers about
the date of the agreement. If it's July six you know,
they may not have space for that max guy. If
it's July thirtieth, maybe they will. Well, woes has just

(01:12:37):
tweeted out that the Lakers are trying to expand the
trade in order to create that max cap space and
have it still go through on July sixth, which means
that the contracts of Mo Wagner, Jamario Jones, Isaac Bonga,
three guys you probably haven't heard of, will be added
to either the Pelicans or two additional teams to create

(01:12:58):
that thirty two and a half million dollars space. On
July sixth, so they would have If they can do this,
they'll only have three players under cons three players Lebron,
Anthony Davis, and Kyle Kuzma. Look, somebody told me last
week that if Anthony Davis goes to the Lakers, Kawhi

(01:13:21):
Leonard would very much, very strongly consider going there. Damon Jones,
former NBA player, form NBA coach, very close with Lebron James,
close close with a ton of players, he has said
the same thing. And I've also been told this week
that there's a feeling that Rob Polinka messed up the

(01:13:44):
deal because he didn't make sure they have the max
cap room. And so this makes all the sense in
the world, even if you're not gonna get another superstar,
it makes sense just because it gives you more, you know,
room to fill out your roster with other guys. Rob,
even though this person told me this about Kawhi and

(01:14:04):
they didn't say, oh, it's happening, it's a done deal
or anything like that, I don't think Kawhi Leonard should
go there. I agree doesn't make sense. I mean, look,
if we talk about it for personal reasons, if he's
a Lakers fan and he grew up with the Lakers
and wants to be home. I won't fall the player

(01:14:26):
for doing something for personal reasons. But and here's what
I gotta say, you won't if he does go to
the Lakers, you won't be able to say about him
what people said about Kevin Durant. Like Kauai has already
proven he can carry a team, a team with no

(01:14:46):
superstars too an NBA championship. He's won two MVPs in
the finals in his two championships, so he's a made man.
He can do whatever he want and nobody can really
criticize it. However, if I just led a team with
no other superstars to a title, I'm not going to

(01:15:10):
somebody else's team. I'm going to see I'm either staying
where I'm at, where I have my team, or I'm
going elsewhere where I still still my team. So I
think if he goes anywhere, it should be to the Clippers.
But I don't know if this Lakers thing is real
or not. But it's interesting. I mean, I think rob

(01:15:32):
I don't even care who the other twelve players would
be on the roster if they get Kawhi, Leonard, Lebron
James and Anthony Davis, it's a rap. I just think
that's a pipe dream. I'm totally with you about it
makes very little sense for him to do what he
just just want a championship and then he's gonna go
where to be to be with Lebron just I would

(01:15:55):
be stunned if that's the one goes. I think most
people would be shown would be sure. It doesn't seem
like him and doesn't fit. I know he does the
superintendent like he's not against it. No one of those guys,
And oh, I gotta I gotta play with you said,
what was the best thing he did all year? And
you brought this up, and it's a great point. He
just accepted what he had and worked with what he had. Right,

(01:16:19):
He didn't go to Toronto and go, dude, I can't
win with these guys. We need to we gotta get
rid of some of these guys. Can you give me
another guy to help? None of it? Right? That's not
his m old now, is it possible? Is he concerned
about his body? Is he concerned about the workload? I mean, heck,
if he went to the Lakers, all three of them

(01:16:41):
could be on major load management. Each of them couldn't
miss twenty games, you know, and just rest up during
the regular season, make sure you got good chemistry, and
then be ready to run through everybody in the playoffs.
But I'm with you. I think if he goes to
the Clippers there Toronto West and have a good chance
to win the champion, no doubt about it. And they're understated,

(01:17:02):
it kind of fits in. He's in LA, but he's
not on the team with the lights all bright. He
can go do his business and still get the job done.
I'm with you. I mean to me, it fits him more.
It just does. And and but you're still in Los Angeles,
just still, you know, not that far from where you
grew up, and so you kind of get that. But

(01:17:24):
you but you have a little uh amminentity right and
is different. You would have a heart attack if he
went to the lake, you know, what would you be?
You would just be beside yourself though. I would be
going to work on some baseball show twenty four hours.
And I wouldn't say you would move to Mexico. I

(01:17:44):
would know I would go work for the baseball that one.
I think I'm moving to Mexico. I mean, I don't
know what else I could do that, and I would
Rob forty weeks so we really hurt and Rob G
will pack because Rob G is husky, ye would make
sure you get those wings pronto, pronto. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard

(01:18:06):
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern, four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio AB. It
is the I Couple. I'm Chris, He's Rob coming to
you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. Fifteen
minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on your
car insurance. Visit Geico dot com for a free raid quote.

(01:18:27):
And I'll tell you the NBA just doesn't stop, k stop,
won't stop. First of all, it's a shocking, stunning NBA Finals.
And then a couple of days later, Anthony Davis goes
to LA to join Lebron James in a blockbuster deal.
And then we got the NBA Draft coming up, We've

(01:18:50):
got free agency coming up, and today a report from
Yahoo dot com Vincent Goodwill and we will have him
in about twenty minutes, so keep it locked for sure.
But he writes that the situation in Houston between Chris
Paul and James Harden is so bad that Chris Paul

(01:19:13):
is demanding a trade and James Harden is saying it's
him or me. And I'll tell you what I agree
with Chris Paul. There needs to be more ball movement.
There needs to be more player movement. You can't be
as James Harden centric as the Rockets are and win
a championship. However, if I have to choose between Harden

(01:19:36):
and Paul at this stage of their careers, oh, make
no mistake, it's James Harden all the way, every day,
all day. And who would not make that decision if
you had to pick. And here's the thing, with all
due respect, and I say that seriously, not just like,

(01:19:56):
let me throw that out there, with all due respect
to Chris Paul, who will be a first ballot Hall
of Flamer, who is an all time great point guard
his if this demand for a trade is true, I
mean the Houston Rockets would drive him to not the airport,

(01:20:18):
to the next the next nation. We're gonna get you
a plane ticket. You're gonna go to Utah. We're driving
to Toronto. We're driving you there. We want to make
through customers we want to make sure you get the
right right like like, Chris, I'm sorry, and I said
this before they signed him, that they knew they had doubts,

(01:20:38):
they didn't really want to do it. But obviously there
was some type of wink wink deal, some type of
handshake agreement when he agreed to demand the trade from
the Clippers to go to Houston, and to a certain degree, right,
I don't feel sorry for Chris. You put yourself in
this situation. They were ball, they were hardened centric. When

(01:20:59):
you decided to right, nothing changed. So you can't act
like this is brand new. It's just how he plays.
You signed that big contract, you know what's coming thirty
eight million this coming year, forty one to next year,
forty four to next year. If it was all about
playing the right way and doing all that, you didn't

(01:21:19):
have to come to Houston, because you already knew what
they were serving, right, James Harden, James Harden all day
and for the appetizer, the entree of a dessert. James Hardened. Now,
he's a great enough player, Chris that maybe thought things
were gonna be different. And I have marveled, especially this
year as watching him, like man he really turned himself

(01:21:43):
into a role player. He's playing like a two guard
to try to win the ring. So I give him
credit for that. But because it's hard to ticket step Yea.
His real game is your game, and his game is
being the ball dominant point guard, and that's gonna get
him in the Hall of Fame. So I give him
credit for switch in his style. And I understand he's saying, look,

(01:22:03):
we've done it two years, it hasn't worked. Let's go
to a more inclusive offense. Here's the thing too, that
people need to understand. And I hope all of these
stars and even a few superstars, but really the stars
in the NBA are listening. Hear me. Well, all of this,

(01:22:24):
you know, wanderlust, all of this. The grass is always greener.
Oh it's greener for a few guys. Lebron James can
go anywhere and he's gonna get his Kevin Durant a
Kawhi Leonard. They can go anywhere and they're going to
get theirs. They're gonna be the superstars of the team.

(01:22:47):
But most player, and I'm talking about even stars, some
guys need to stay where they're at because maybe the
system is geared toward you, or you just got such
a presence in the franchise, or for whatever reason, it's
not gonna be the same elsewhere and you're not going
to be as good. Exhibit A. Dwight Howard, I think

(01:23:12):
he ruined his career by leaving Orlando, Exhibit B. I
don't doubt that for one second, because it didn't it
would all the way downhill. Don't forget he got down.
He got to an NBA finals with that team. They
had a nice team going. They knocked off Lebron. If
you remember that, I was supposed to be the Kobe
Lebron Finals. Ye and Dwight Howard and that magic team

(01:23:36):
knocked off Lebron. I'll never forget that. He was on
his way right there. Every year he was in the
top five MVP vote. He was on his way. And
people think, I don't think he's a Hall of Famer,
but he does have the credentials. Most people that I've
most experts, if you will, think he's a Hall of
Famer based essentially solely on what he did in Orlando,

(01:23:58):
because every place he's gone, he's gotten worse and worse
and worse. And now he probably he might not even
be able to find a job this year. Okay, but
Carmelo Anthony demanded his way out of a good Denver
team to go to New York. It helped this celebrity,
but it certainly didn't help him basketball wise. Chris Paul,
now you should have stayed. He should have stayed with

(01:24:19):
the Clippers. Look at what he really should have stayed
with the Clippers. Look at what that team did last Yeah, well,
and let's face it, they went out in the first round,
and with Chris they were getting there the second round.
That's the power of expectations. But if they trade Blake
and bringing you know, maybe they bring in the pieces
around you to make you a better team around Chris Paul.
But he should have stayed with the Clippers. Dude. There

(01:24:41):
are so many instances of guys thinking, you know, forcing
their way out of places and it doesn't work. So
all of you free agents who have a good thing,
be careful, be careful. I mean, he's still a super uperstar.

(01:25:01):
But Rob, can I throw Kyrie in there at least
for now? I mean, I get it, he he had
he butted has with Lebron, but it certainly didn't work
out in Boston. So guys have to be careful about
where you want to go because it can ruin some

(01:25:24):
of your careers. Darren Williams remember Darren Williams on the
Hall of Fame track right back in Utah and he
wound up going to the Nets and they had a
little success, but it wasn't Actually by the time he left,
people to look at Darren Williams same couldn't get rid
of him. Now, some of it was injuries, but had
he stayed in Utah, he maybe would have been a

(01:25:47):
Hall of Famer. He was. It was him and Chris
Paul were the best two point guards in the league.
No daught about it. So guys gotta be careful. But
I just think, look, this is this is how they
gonna trade. Can you think anybody nobly just mention the money? Never?
But right? But but I can't not on wall. That
would be like with with our problem problem. Right, We'll

(01:26:10):
give you all bad money and you take you know
what I mean, walls. It might be worse. He's banged
up late next year and that's the first year of
his four year extension. Oh god, it's well, Ernie got
to fire. But Ernie, yeah, that that probably had to
happen with all that what's going on. But he was

(01:26:31):
there for a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but but
it was time. It was definitely, it was definitely time.
I'm surprised he survived that long with some of those
moves bad. So that's like Chris Paul rob and we'll
get Vince Goodwill on to talk about it. Um, how
do you think they handle this situation. I'll let it

(01:26:51):
blow over because it's nothing you really can do. There's
no way I'm getting rid of Harden. No, there's no way.
And also there's no way that anybody's gonna take anybody
gonna take Chris Paul. I just I just told you.
The money, The money is so astronomical. You're talking about
that that that games the last two years. Just how

(01:27:11):
how somebody, somebody, some general managin is gonna stand up,
introduced Chris Paul in the press conference with the with
the contract that you and the money you gotta pay.
No way, nobody wants to keep a job. The Lakers won't.
I mean, Lebron's this guy. Lebron's always talking about one.
You want one of our buddies over there. He's like,
we're getting Chris Paul said news. I said really, I said,

(01:27:34):
do you know what the money is? And then when
I said the money, he looked at me goals, Yeah,
maybe not all right? Is the Chris Paul James Harden
relationship beyond repair? The author of the story. Yahoo Sports
senior NBA writer Vince Goodwill himself has the inside scoop
and he joins us Next a Couple Fox Sports Radio.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple

(01:27:56):
with Chris Brussar then Rob Parker week days at seven
pm Eastern, four pm Pacific. It's The I Couple. Chris Brussar,
Rob Parker. We've got some great news for you. There's
a quick and an easy way that you can save money.
Switch to Geico. It only takes fifteen minutes to see
if you can save fifteen percent or more on your
car insurance. Go to Geico dot com and see how

(01:28:17):
much you can save. Also, we do it every Tuesday.
It is a trash Talking Tuesday, and just about twenty
minutes or so, you'll be able to call in and
trash anyone or anything in the world of sports, including
the I Couple. That's right. If you wish and line

(01:28:39):
up and you can start lining up, because get your
calls ready because they fill up fast. And bring it,
you know, don't don't call up him and in hall
and know what you want to say, know who you
want to trash, and bring it all. Right, Let's take
a couple of calls before we get to Vince Goodwill
from Yahoo Sports. Let's go to Ennis in New York

(01:29:00):
in this year on with the Eye couple. What's up, Bud? Hey,
what's up guys? How you doing tonight? Thanks brother, just
getting home from work. So the rocket they're not gonna
be able to trade Chris Paul because you know what
gets bananimal Buddy as the name of the Pope and
the wollow, and Chris Paul is the more poem, the

(01:29:22):
most overrated point guard of fallI my man, don't you
really you think that? Yes, yes, he is Chris because
look when he was when he was with the Clippers,
they underachieved all the time. And now he leaves the Clippers.
He left the Clippers and they overachieved without him. He

(01:29:44):
complains too much, He winds all the time. Man, And
you know what, I wouldn't want him on my team
if I was any other team in the league. Wow,
he did a great impression to Kauai. Ha. You know
that's a new one that was Kawhi. Yeah, I don't

(01:30:04):
think that was a good one. No, I like one.
I like, well, I like I don't like the new one.
If he was trying to sound like the old one,
that was just a new cool with that. Yeah, that
was cool. But but but we have to now, so
what is funny and which one? Yeah, they mean, I'm
gonna decide, like, if it's funny, I'll give him the

(01:30:24):
actual Kawhi life. But if he's like really reaching for
a life, I'll be like, it ain't all the way.
We're never gonna hear the old Kawhi lift dying slow.
It's gonna all behu there. I like that in Kawahi though.

(01:30:45):
I Look, here's the thing. And look, first of all, Toronto,
if Messiah Jerry leaves is the gem, it's they got
no chance of keeping Kawhi none whatsoever. Okay, he was
the architect of that team. And if he goes to Washington,
which I'm very skeptical about, uh, you can better believe

(01:31:06):
Kauai is out of there. All right, let's bring him in.
He's Rob Parker's ex nephew. We'll leave you to google
that you'll figure it out. But he's a great NBA insider,
one of the best in the business. Senior sports writer
for Yahoo dot Com. Vincent Goodwill, what's happening, brother? How Benny?

(01:31:26):
I'm doing good? How about you guys? What you're doing
shaking up the NBA? Got everybody? Benny's in the punch. Well,
I'll put the story on and then gall on the airplane.
So I have so idea what y'all are talking about?
All right, but you got the big scoop man. Chris
Paul is demanding a trade out of Houston because of

(01:31:47):
his issues with James Harden. Expand on it. Well, I mean,
I think you guys have seen it, you know from
in terms of like basketball chemistry. That's that christ and
James have not mixed and messed all season. Both sides
have been frustrated with the other. And if you guys
remember Chris Paul's like final quest conference after they lost
the Golden State and they ask, and what do you

(01:32:09):
guys have to do? Make sure he said, I know
we have to do, and we sort of cryptic with
it and walked off. I believe that was kind of
like the smoke signal that started. And I don't know
exactly when he had the meeting with Daryl Morrio the GM,
but he expressed it at that point that he would
like to be separated from James Harden. I also know
that James Harden basically said it's either him or as me,

(01:32:29):
So I think both sides. You know, basically, U put
their stakes in the ground and and let everybody know,
let the Houston Rockets management know where they stood and
what they wanted from it. So I'm not really surprised
at all. It was viny to push back. U. The GM,
of course, said ISSU the statement to the Houston Chronicle,
that's not that's not true. U and Chris Paul put

(01:32:53):
out a Instagram post was it saying Wow, that's news
to me. What do you What do you make of that?
I mean, well, and Rob you and Chris, you guys
are both to notice from your days of breaking news
that you know those parties are going to the Knight
then right, you know publicly like if with Chris Pauls contract,
you know it's not easily tradeable, and with you know,

(01:33:14):
Chris Paul's reputation and everything else, so why would he.
I don't take anything from that um about those two,
I would expect the Niles. I don't take anything, clearly,
I don't take anything personal or anything. Nobody's issued any
personal attacks on me or anything like that. But my sources,
and I have multiple of them who reached out to
me today to stand firm on that, and I stand
behind my reporting. And you guys know, the initial blowback

(01:33:37):
is going to be there, but usually what happens is
once thing settles down, if the Rockets find a take
it for Chris Paul, you think they won't trade him, Oh,
they're probably like Rob and I talked about it. They'll
drive him, not to the airport to right Toronto. We're
driving you up there, so like city will get you there.

(01:33:57):
I don't worry. I don't worry. I mean, but it's there.
When you look around the league, and obviously you've talked
to executives as well, I mean, is there any realistic
I never say never. You know, we've we've seen some
crazy trades in the NBA, But is there any realistic
trade partner out there for Chris Paul as of today?

(01:34:17):
As a July June sixteen, seventeen or whatever. I would
say no, But you also have to think about a
free agency where half the league is up for free agency.
All these teams have all this cap space, so to speak,
and there's only a few stars to go around. And
I send that Chris Paul is on that level of
the superstar anymore. But when you can sell into your

(01:34:37):
fan base in your ownership, say hey, I'm going to
come home with something really good this summer, and you don't.
You have to be able to be flexible and be
able to maneuver and make some trades. Maybe trade a
guy like Chris Paul into your cap space and say, hey,
chare's a Hall of fame point guard who's got three
years up from this contract. Yes, there's a lot of money,
but he's a Hall of fame point guard who's still

(01:34:58):
you know, close enough so you know his greatness that
he can be effective. You know, he's not the player
he was, you know, five years ago. And of course
you're going to have to monitor his health. But I
don't think Chris Paul is done by any means. And
the only problem with that is basically his health and
his contract. I don't think his effectiveness has really taken
a dip from the past couple of years. I think

(01:35:20):
he's still a top ten, top flight point guard in
the NBA, and those guys are still hard to come by.
So what's going on up in Boston? Were you hearing anything?
Al Horford is ready to pack his bags and head
out of town. Talk that there's some big deal on
the table, four year deal over one hundred million dollars.
Have you heard that? I heard. I saw that once

(01:35:40):
I got the plane, because my plane, you know, as
everything in New York, rob nothing works like Wi FI,
I understand, stop ripping New York. I didn't see anything
until I landed. But it was really surprising because you
thought Al Horford was going to opt out and then
sign up maybe a three year deal, maybe a team
friendly to stay the Celtics because of the sweat equity

(01:36:01):
that's been built up off you're his age, and you
have his injury history, and you also look at there
being no Kyrie Irving and maybe no Cherry Rose here,
and maybe some of those things that have happened over
the past couple of years of leveraging of players publicly
and privately, you know, hoping for the next big superstar.
Maybe some guys look at that and say, you know what,

(01:36:23):
I'm going to take control of my career while I
can't before Danny Ains trades me for the next big thing.
Are you hearing anything about Kevin Durant, like will he
stay in Golden State? Will he take a long term
deal there? Or is he still got his eyes on
New York? We know they're gonna offer him the max.
Is he still likely to go to New York? I

(01:36:44):
don't know anymore at this point because that injury changes everything,
and not just on the standpoint of him not playing
next year, but you're talking about a guy Chris where hey,
that's a hard thing to recover from the Achilles. So
you have to get with a strength staff and a
health staff that you trust, and then you have to
be playing for a base where you have some level
of equity. If you go to the New York Knicks,

(01:37:06):
he's gonna want to play badly because he's gonna want
to show them that he's every bit the real deal
that we know that he is. And maybe that's not
the best thing for him to have that type of pressure.
And if you stay with the Golden State, they are
the one team that can make your game age better
than anybody else because they know his game and you
can play with Steph Curry and Clay Thompson and they

(01:37:27):
make the game so easy for him. Maybe that's where
his body is going to need now. Whether he comes
to that conclusion or not, I don't know, but I wonder.
I wonder this, guys, how do you recruit Kevin Durant
now when he's in this injury state and he's vulnerable
and you know what I'm saying, he's coming off of surgery.
What matters to him now is completely different than what

(01:37:49):
may have mattered to him two weeks ago as far
as being the best player in the game and what
he's looking to do and his goals and everything else.
When you have this type of injury, it makes you
recalibrate everything. So I don't even know if he can
be recruited or what the pitch can be. That's the
most interesting thing to me. That's going to be what
his decision tells us more than anything else, is what

(01:38:09):
his motives are from this point on, as as he's
at the age thirty with this injury that not a
lot of people have come back from. Yeah, who's seen
your sports NBA writer Vince Goodwill joining the Eye couple.
Then he also on Twitter is out there. I was
looking at some tweets and Zach Lowell just throughout the thought.
It's not any through reporting or anything, but what about it?

(01:38:32):
Just basically he was just putting out there that Clippers
would pretty easily have space to sign both Horford and Kauhi.
What do you think about it that if they added
those two guys to the team they have, that would
be really interesting, right because the Clippers have like the
aggressive player like the Montreal Harrolds. All right, they already
have those guys, right, No, no, no, no, but I

(01:38:53):
think that helps. I think when you add a Horford,
a low key personality, a defensive minded player, right, not
trying to score twenty, to me, that helps. And then
you add a guy like Kawai who's basically top three,
top five or whatever you want to put him. That
adds a very versatile and long front line there, and
then you start filling in the blanks in the back court.

(01:39:14):
I want to say, at this stage, guys, with the
story that you know to come out today and with
the NBA's free agency and the cycle, at this point,
nothing would surprise me. Sorry about that. I'm in New
York and everybody likes to blow their horn. I don't
worry about that, all right. You said nothing would surprise you.
I was told late last week, and it's hard for

(01:39:35):
me to believe. I do think Kauai is going to
be between the Clippers and the Raptors. However, I was
told by someone fairly plugged in that if Anthony Davis
goes to the Lakers, Kauai is seriously in play there
have now you know, that's assuming, of course they get
the max space myipe dream. Are you hearing anything of

(01:39:57):
the sort? And like you said, nothing would surprise you,
do you? I think that's a real possibility. Now that
will surprise you, that that would be something, Because here's
the thing. If you're for Why and you just led
a team to a championship as the lone star, what
would lead you to believe that you need lebron I

(01:40:17):
agree as Davis to win a championship? And what about Kawhi?
Leonard says that he's allured by the Los Angeles Lakers,
that he's going to be, you know, all by the
Fanners in the history and everything else, and that he
can be recruited by the likes of a guy like
Lebron James. I don't think that like Lebron can say,
you know, hey, Kawhi, how you doing. You know, I'm

(01:40:39):
chilling right now. It's the middle of May and he's like, hey, Lebron,
I'm in the middle of leading team to a championship.
I hallo at you later. All right, my man, great stuff.
We appreciate great story today. We look forward to reading
you uh with the draft and of course in the
free agency. Keep up the great world, brother, keep it up. Yep.

(01:40:59):
It's a story that could change the sports world as
we know it. That's next, But first it is the
Eye Couple coming you live from the Geico Fox Sports
Radio studios. It's easy to say fifteen percent of more
in your current shooters with Geico. Go to Geico dot
com or call eight hundred nine for seven auto. The
only hard party is figuring out which way is easier.

(01:41:19):
We're gonna bring in an author interesting book. It's called
three or thirty ten, as in the year thirty ten
Become the Machine. It's on sale now on Amazon and
Google Books. His name is Herman Jenkins. Herman, Welcome to
the eye couple. What's up, gentlemen, Thank you for having

(01:41:40):
me on. How are you guys doing great? And let
me say this first Chris before we get into Herman
somebody I've known forever covered in when he played at
the University of Detroit, a basketball player. He worked for
the Detroit Tigers in their front office there, so I've
known her for a long time and I was there
when he really got started with this whole book and

(01:42:01):
this whole premise. Solve to see it come to life
and everything. It's very I'm so proud. Oh, no doubt, Man,
Thank you so much. Row. Yeah, yeah, this is my
actual first first published book. Man, really excited about it. It
It looks great. Tell us about it. It's dealing with
e gaming, right, yeah, no doubt. So you know, thirty
teen becomes the machine. You know, it takes sports a

(01:42:22):
thousand years into the future. But it's the story of
Jason Joshua as kid. You know, he faces some difficult choices,
you know, while he's trying to navigate you know, the
temptations of being a high school you know, star athlete,
and you know his dreams unfortunately get gunned down while
he's playing in a pickup game, and he's then transformed
and led on this journey into this future world where
sport is no more in virtual gaming rain. So it's, uh,

(01:42:45):
you know, in that journey, you know, we've become consumed
with understanding, you know, how this transformation is going to
impact you know, his his current life where now he's
in a coma fighting for his life, and in the
sutual world where now he's got a master technology and
this this this e game culture that he inherently despises.
So you know, in this journey to you know, to
reconcile this paradox, and it's all kinds of twisting turns

(01:43:08):
and it ultimately becomes, you know, a social commentary on
this current intersection that we're seeing, you know, of sports,
E gaming and real athletics. Now now, herm, you're way
ahead on this U because now you know, he sports
and all that are pretty big now. But at the
time when you first came when when did you first
come up with this concept? Because I can't put a

(01:43:30):
year on it, but I first saw this from you
ten twelve years ago, am I right? Yeah? Yeah, conceptually, man, Actually,
it's going all the way back to like you know,
oh two man, and we just a long long time
ago were actually you know, we can see the vision
for thirty ten and um, you know it started as
a you know, a card game, trading card game like
Pokemon or Ubo R. And uh yeah, there was a

(01:43:52):
lot of fun to help, you know, a group of
guys get that project going. And when I jumped in
after leaving the Tigers, uh, it was just you know,
an amazing experience. We took the card game and the
classrooms and developed the curriculum that explored the math and
science education. You know, the play mechanic for Baseball thirty
ten was throw on tables, understanding how to read table.

(01:44:13):
So it was very inviting and uh, you know to
teachers to bring the program in for after school academic
support and that gave us life. You know, we kept
the concept going, kept seeking advice and everyone was saying,
you know, you've got to delve into the concept of story.
You know, what are these characters eat? What? What what
do they breed? You know, how can you bring this
to life? You know, so we can get off paper.

(01:44:34):
And you know, for since then, you know, we've been
you know, delving into this concept. You know, I've been
using my buddy Martes Connor as a sout founding board,
you know, Martes rob and uh, and we fleshed our
way through the story and Uh, you're right. The timing
couldn't be any better for it. What about the reception
you've gotten from the kids, you know, the kids who

(01:44:55):
love all this stuff, or if they attached to the characters,
or you know, since you came out or as you
went through the process, I'm sure you had some young
people look at it. Did they love it? Oh? Yeah,
no question, man. It's you know, it's been unbelievable. The
reception you know, from you know, when we first came
out with a Baseball thirty ten card game to now,

(01:45:15):
particularly when we're bringing up, you know, the book into
schools and libraries and just kind of seeing the expression
on kids faces when they see these characters and this
unique blend of sports and science fiction. It's uh. And
we're just trying to take it somewhere, you know, you know,
folks haven't taken it before. It's The I couple were
joined by author Herman Jenkins. His new book thirty ten

(01:45:36):
Become the Machine is on sale now at Amazon and
Google Books. Herman this e gaming is really growing. They
have teams now, like the Knicks and several other NBA teams.
There's a league where they've got five guys on their
team playing you know, basketball video basketball and competing like

(01:45:57):
they're really players on the game. How much do you like,
like how I don't say concerned, but how much do
you expect this to grow? And do you think it
could potentially at some point take away from the real
sports basketball, football, whatever it may be. Well, quite honestly,
I think you've already seen, you know, the effective impact

(01:46:19):
of the sports and e gaming, you know, on traditional
sport and athletics. Um you know, it's captivated the kid's attention.
You know, even guys who really you know, really get
down in ball. You know you've seen Joel Indeed and
all these guys, you know they get down on the
controller too. Um So, and then when you look at
you know the fact that their actual economy is a

(01:46:39):
scale and e gaming. You know, a kid who's a
superstar gamer can get sponsorships, you know, and and there's
no need to you know, get a quote unquote scholarship
you know, to the NCAA when you can honestly get
out here in game and make money, you know. So, Uh,
I think it's really gonna you know, put some pressure,
you know, to to change you know, some of the
current existing dynamics in traditional sports. Yeah. I think I

(01:47:02):
think the heat is on quite honestly. Where can people
get your book? Uh? Yeah? So the books available now
at Amazon dot com paperback or eat book uh and
Google Books. Um. So I'm looking forward to getting it
into some some mom and pops who carried the Baseball
thirty ten trading con game back in the day. They've

(01:47:22):
welcomed us with open arms. We've been on a potional
campaign of last you know, thirty to sixty days. So
we're looking forward to to to that, you know, getting
into the libraries, getting into the you know, the gaming
shops and small book shops and uh, you know, just Sharon, Sharon, Sharon,
is this new world? Well herman, it sounds like a
great book again. Become It's thirty ten, Become the machine

(01:47:44):
on sale now a Amazon and Google books. Good luck
with that, man, no doubt. And her coming out to
La Rob Rod. We're coming out all right, hey, let
me let me know. But like I said, once again,
so proud I've known you sent you a college kid
playing basketball, and to see what you've been able to
do them put together, man, it just makes me feel good.
So congratulations really so much. Out to the Bullpen, the

(01:48:08):
Collector Legion in La Baseball Clubhouse, and comic books. We
see you guys some all right, Brown's great, all right,
it's time for trash talking Tuesday. You're turning away in
and trash anyone or anything in the world of sports
eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven

(01:48:29):
nine nine six sixty three sixty nine. Keep it locked,
Fox Sports Radio. Jessica, I see you, I see you,
all right. You know how we do it. Every Tuesday.
It's trash talking Tuesday. Your chance to go off. Here
you go, trash tucking Tuesday. Can let you kick a field? Go?

(01:48:58):
We can't wait for this first one. I told Jessica,
I don't hang up, Jessica, don't hang up, start with Jessica.
Go ahead, Jessica, Welcome to the Eye Couple. Who are
you trashing? How are you guys doing tonight? We're all great,
a great. I am trashing Chris tonight. She's already like,

(01:49:21):
how should I do this? I'm soft I've softened you
up already, I can tend. I have been waiting for
a week to do this, and I thought the Raptors
were gonna win in Game five and they didn't. So
I've been waiting a week to trash you on this
hoping the Toronto Raptors win. Of course they did, because

(01:49:42):
you know, to quote Ben Diesel, it does not matter
if you win by an inch or by a mile.
Win is winning is winning. Toronto Raptors crush the hopes
and dreams of a three peak for the Golden State Warriors,
and Chris you kept going, oh they lost, Kad, they
can still do it. Oh they lost, right, Maybe that
maybe stuff can pull it out in game six. Nope.

(01:50:03):
Kauai is like, Nope, this is done and this is
my championship. Y'all go home. I'm standing Canada. Mic drop. Wow, alright?
What about what about Joseph and Indiana? You're in the
eye couple of Fox Sports Radio. Who are you trashing Joseph?
The Los Angeles Lakers do it. The Los Angeles Lakers

(01:50:27):
are the laughing stock of the NBA because I trade
they made for Anthony Davids. It's going similar to the
Brooklyn trade and rough Plinker is the biggest idiot to
order to trace. For Chris Paul to give up Kyle
Kuzba and probably something else, Jessicas feet and Chris Paul
would make Anthony Davis cross for how old school Chris

(01:50:49):
Paul is. All right, appreciate it, Jay, all right? Jay
wants to even things out with the Eye Couple. Go ahead, Jay,
who you're trashing? I'm trashing Rob Parker. Parker, Hey, Rob,
you always kind of be little Steph Curry Man. He's
a top ten player. And what's the first thing you

(01:51:11):
bring up all the time? You want to say he
choked and choked down a three one league in the finals.
But let me ask you this. And you always say
they needed Katie. But did Katie choke down a three
one league in the Western Conference finals? Never did it
in the finals. It was still the Western Conference Finals. Jacob,

(01:51:33):
who has Jay? Who's having sick? Jay? It was Steph
Purry that gave it to him. Mike drop Man, Stop,
don't give him one. No, Rob Parker, let's go to
Let's go to Marty in Kentucky. Marty, you're on with
the Eye Couple, who you're trashing. Well, before I get

(01:51:56):
onto my trash. I just want to throw out a
shout out to Jay for trash and Raw for all
the Hayte non Curry now trashing the I'm trashing the
Houston Rockets, I'm trashing D'Antoni, and I'm trashing Chris Paul.
Here we go, D'Antoni. Your style is never gonna win

(01:52:18):
a championship. Is a creator of Steve Nash went in
two straight MVPs, like a five four white guy winning
two straight MVPs, and the NBA. You're the creator of
Lynn insanity, which that's a perfect definition, because that's insanity.
You put you put your points in a position where
they're going to rack up the stats. Your style is

(01:52:41):
not gonna work in a league that today, after the
freedom of Movement era. You need ball movement, you need shooters,
and you got a point guard that actually knows the
XS and those basketball better than you. And you didn't
learn a darned thing from I'm trying to stay peach came.
Now I'm going to Chris Paul. I'd about to say

(01:53:03):
sound like you giving you you big up in Chris.
We will give Chris Paul credit work credit is due,
but now here's where I trashing Chris Pauls. You knew
what you were getting into being Tony's been around the league.
You knew that Harden was gonna be ball dominant. You
knew that Harden didn't care that much about defense. All right,

(01:53:25):
let's go to Mace and San Diego. Mace, who you
trashes ESPN? Well pull this network. The worldwide leader in
sports is total bs. This network laid off reputable employees
such as John Clayton, Jason Starke Edward or Chris Burman
and Keith Olverman, to name a few, but somehow retains annoying,

(01:53:46):
screaming a Smith and those two buffoons Michael Wilbon and
Tony Kornheiser. We're going to crap about sports with their
unintotable commentary. We'll have a combined by Q of thirty
on a good day. This network play really cares only
for the East Coast teams. They don't give a crap
about the West Coast or any other regional teams. Keith
Oberman did not follow this trend. He dedicated an entire

(01:54:08):
segment explains the world that Derek Jeter is the most
overrated player in the history of Major League Baseball finally
employees who didn't suck up to Jeter like he was
the most transcendent player in the game. This network talks
incessively about the Red Sox, Yankees, and Patriots. ESPN gave
an sp Award for courage to Peitlin Jenner as opposed
to Lauren Hill, a nineteen year old called basketball player

(01:54:31):
who had cancer. This network is an absolutely straight to sports.
ESPN is a CNN of sports, fake news for information.
ESPN stands for Eastern Sports Propaganda Network. Wow o, gare
you got like ten seconds? Twenty seconds? Go ahead. I'm
trashing Brett Farr for saying that he was hacked when

(01:54:52):
that Instagram post en up saying he's come back to football.
You already played that card once, Brett, and we saw
what you were working with. You can't say you at
a second time, you fiber All right, it's the Eye
Couple Chris and Rob. Go to iTunes, SoundCloud, Apple podcast,

(01:55:12):
Fox Sports Radio dot com. And if you want to
butt Odd Couple T shirt, go to Rob Parkershop dot com.
They're on sale limited edition. When they're gone seven May Parker.
Now go ahead and definitely pick one of those up.
Subscribe to the podcast downloaded, tell all your family and
your friends, and of course come back tomorrow. We'll do

(01:55:34):
it all again for three hours. Fox Sports Radio

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