April 27, 2021 • 39 mins
On today's episode, Jason and Producer Rob G discuss Chris Paul's All-NBA First Team candidacy on the heels of his virtuoso performance on Monday night to halt the New York Knicks 9-game winning streak. CP3 has been a very good player for a very long-time with a history of impacting winning. You could argue that he's on-par with great point guards of the past like John Stockton and Jason Kidd. However, what keeps from getting on the Magic Johnson-Isiah Thomas-Steph Curry level is that he's only ever been awesome in the regular season; His playoff failures over the past decade (on stacked rosters) has been well-documented. Focusing on just this season, however, Paul's case for First Team All-NBA alongside Curry is bolstered by the Phoenix Suns' improbably run to the top of the Western Conference. In an age where advanced stats like PER and Box Plus Minus are all the rage, will CP3's 'winning impact' be enough to overtake the gaudy stats of guys like Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard? Only time will tell. On the NFL front, multiple outlets are reporting that the Atlanta Falcons are fielding trade calls on superstar wide receiver Julio Jones. You always take rumors like that with a grain of salt, especially this time of the year. Moreover, what kind of message would a trade like that send to the rest of the roster? Unless the idea of drafting the hometown hero Justin Fields at #4 is too good to pass up, Jason believes it's hard to imagine the Falcons actually pulling the trigger on a trade.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, everybody,
It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire, Tuesday, April twenty seven,
close to the draft. We got forty eight hours to go,
very geeked for it. Monday's pod got a lot of
positive and negative reaction. Clearly. I don't know if Rob
(00:28):
G saw this on his mentions on social media, but man,
a lot of Mac Jones defenders out there. I had
no idea there were that many. Um or or it's
you know the in Kyle Shanahan, we trust crowd, or
if Kyle wants this, let's do it. Kyle Shanahan says, jump,
I say how high? Like that's the vibe I got.
(00:48):
People are just like all in there, like, oh, Jimmy G.
You know the young kids now and I noticed my
son and his friends do it when they're playing video games.
Everything is just trash, you know. Um oh, that guy's trash.
His game is trash, and it's like harsh and all
these guys on social media, Jimmy G is trash. Jimmy
G Is asked, I'm like, what are you talking about.
(01:09):
Jimmy G was making twenty eight million dollars a year
playing quarterback in the NFL and went to the Super Bowl.
When he's healthy his record, I believe in San Franz
twenty four and eight when he's healthy as a starter.
The only problem is he's not really that healthy. Um.
But I'm just I was stunned at the Jimmy G reaction.
I thought more people would be in agreement with me,
(01:30):
but such is life. All right. We will do a
bit on the draft possibly later. The Scolio Jones stuff
moderately interesting, but I think we have to start the
podcast today with perhaps the biggest story in the n
b A And you know, we like try to start
some brush fires over here. UM and rob G and
(01:51):
I are always spit bawling most mostly throughout the day
over text what do you think? What about this? And
I'm usually like, oh, I got nothing, man, don't see anything,
and I'm like disappointed that there's nothing huge, and then
Rob G coming in firing on all cylinders. Oh well,
Chris Paul, did you see what he did to the
next last night? Yeah, he wanted at twenty points. And
(02:15):
then Rob G's like, yeah, he's first team All NBA
for me, And that's what I get. My stories to
pop up with Rob g is peddling that kind of garbage. Listen,
I'm probably a little lower on everybody than Chris Paul,
mostly because of his history of postseason failures and injuries.
And I know you can't blame the injuries on Chris Paul.
They just happened. Injuries happen everybody in the playoffs. It
(02:36):
stinks that being said, there is a narrative that Chris
Paul tries so freaking hard in the regular season. Every
game means so much to him. He exerts so much
energy in the regular season in this marathon eight two
games sprint, yes, seventy two this season, that Chris Paul
(02:58):
tries so much harder than the best of the stars
around the league that his teams instantly rise to the top.
We saw it when he went to the Clippers. We
saw it when he went to Houston, We saw it
when he went to Okay. See. Yes, they were a
very good regular season team last year, and we're seeing
it again this year in Phoenix. It's it's undeniable. Chris
(03:20):
Paul is a great point guard. Now you want to
get interesting, you say, Okay, he's amazing. Where does Chris
Paul rank all time among all all time point guards
because he does never ring, he's never been to the finals.
But man, is he a hell of good regular season player.
Four times All NBA First Team, four times All NBA
(03:41):
Second Team, seven time All NBA First Team defense. You
know that's not quite Kobe numbers, but it's up there,
especially for a point guard in a league where a
lot of point guards don't defend or even try to.
And I guess I know everybody loves to stay well,
Steph Curry isn't a good defender, and they gotta hide
him and teams attack him and blah blah blah blah blah.
Fair enough, Steph Curry is absolutely eviscerated Chris Paul head
(04:04):
to head. I don't want to hear anything about it. Um,
they're not in the same sentence. Chris Paul is a great,
great player. He's not on the level of of Steph
Curry as a scorer, I don't think as a leader.
Because if you remember, and this matters, people want to
go play with Steph Curry. Kevin Durant wanted to go
(04:26):
to Golden State to play with Curry. UM. Just a
quick reminder, Chris Paul got in numerous altercations with Blake
Griffin and apparently they still don't like each other. Um,
Chris Paul got in a famous beef with James Harden.
Chris Paul has going head to head with Curry and
they apparently don't like each other. I know they give
(04:48):
each other shout outs on social media. I get it.
Heat of the moment is different. But Chris Paul is
one of these guys. Man, you love to be on
the team with him. I love it until he starts
writing you hard and he's just way too hard on
everybody because he acts like Lebron. You don't win like Lebron.
You know he's in that banana boat crew, Dwyane Wade, Uh, Carmelo, Anthony,
(05:14):
Chris Paul Like it's okay to ride teammates the way
Lebron does and get on their case and and be
yell and be the leader. I get that, but you
have to be awesome to do that. And Chris Paul
regular season awesome. I haven't seen it in the playoffs,
and I know there's been injuries. Um, obviously, the Rockets
won against that loaded Warriors team with Katie. That will
go down as one of the closest toughest defeats of
(05:40):
Chris Paul's career. They go up three too, he show
boats in Curry's face hitting a late three, and then
like a minute later, pulls his hamstring and doesn't get
to play in Game six and seven. The basketball gods
would not allow it. That being said, Chris Paul still
look very, very, very good player. I don't think you
can put him above of obviously Magic Curry, Isaiah Thomas,
(06:04):
um Oscar Robertson. You know, some people call him a
combo guard. I think Iverson's more of a combo and
a two. John Stockton is the interesting one. Jason Kidd
is interesting. So rob G, I'm gonna bring you in
before we break down your nonsense about Chris Paul First
Team All NBA. Where are you on Chris Paul versus
(06:25):
a John Stockton and Jason Kidd in the pantheon of
great point guards? I think that Chris Paul is definitely
a notch above Jason Kidd um John Stockton. It's a
tougher case to make because he played with one team
his whole career and he formed arguably the most devastating
(06:47):
scoring duo in NBA history, you know, with him and
Crome alone, So that's a tougher case to make. And
John Stockton, I know, people don't like to admit it,
or maybe they're not aware because he's a six ft
and think unathletic white guy. But he was an incredible
basketball player and he was a great defender. So that
(07:08):
one's a little bit tough, right, have to really dive
deep into the numbers. And then again, you know, Chris
Paul's career is still being written. Um right now, I'd
have stocked in ahead of Chris Paul, but I think
he would. I would have CP ahead of Jason Kidd. Alright, well,
I'm disagreeing on Jason Kidd. First of all, Stockton career leader.
I believe in assists and steals in NBA history. Neither
(07:31):
of those records are gonna be broken because he played forever.
As you said, you know, um unathletic white guy. But
by the way, he played eighty two games like thirteen times.
I mean the guy I never took days off. Just
physical marvel despite his six oh one seventy stature um,
which is not that much better than me um. As
for Jason Kidd, I know he was ridiculed as called
(07:54):
Ason Kidd because he had no j meaning no jumper.
You can't use the J and Jason. But you want
to hype up Chris Paul's defensive credentials. Jason Kidd four
time All NBA First Team All Defense, five time All
NBA Second Team Defense. This guy did win a title.
I know it was late in his career. Five times
(08:15):
All NBA First Team point Guard. Now, I know that
was in between Magic. It was like after Magic and
Isaiah and before um Lebron in the league really turned
into a point guard league. I'm sorry, not Lebron, Stephen Curry.
Uh Curry didn't take over for a while. And you
know he was kind of before Chris Paul became a superstar.
(08:36):
But Jason Kidd is, come on, that guy's a legend.
I I certainly have j Kidd over Chris Paul. And
again that's not a knock. I'm not slamming Chris Paul
because I have Hall of famers above him. But I
think my bigger beef, ore Rob g is with you
proclaiming Chris Paul's first team All NBA this year. And
(08:56):
I know there's still ten twelve ish games left. But
I think several of the spots are locked. We know
Curry is a stone cold lock first team, we know
Janice stone cold lock and beat your kich. I think
four of the positions are taken. Where it gets interesting,
Rob g is if you want to put Chris Paul
(09:18):
First Team All NBA, you are now leaving people off
the number one team in the East. That would be
Hardened Kyrie, who your boy Rob Parker's teping up for
and James Harden. And you're leaving off everybody on the
Utah Jazz, who are also the number one seed in
(09:39):
the West. So the not the top two seeds in
each conference not represented in All NBA, and I mean
the Jazz. It basically lead the sucker wire to wire.
I don't listen, this gets difficult with the whole first
place how do you reward them? But neither of the
(09:59):
first place teams is going to get the m v P.
Neither is gonna get first Team All NBA. It almost
feels a little how do I say this politely disrespectful? Rob? Oh,
are you done now here? You've you got that out
of your off your a chest. You feel better about
what you just said. Look let's start off with the
(10:21):
Brooklyn Nets. None of those three guys have played enough
games to be considered for First Team All NBA. No,
he has not played enough. I think he's missed seventeen games,
and Joel Embiads miss more than that. Yeah, but Joel
Embiad has been much more dominant when he's been on
the court than Kyrie Irving has. So that's that's one.
I mean, this is gonna be a strange year because
(10:43):
you're not going to have Lebron James, I think is
not in a consideration for first team. Anthony Davis won't be,
Kevin Durant won't be, James Harden won't be. I mean,
those are arguably four of the top five players in
the NBA who you can't even have a legitimate conversation
about whether or not they belonged First Team All NBA
(11:03):
because they've been hurt. Where I think this really gets tricky,
and again I might the Jazz forget about them. Donovan
Mitchell has had a great season, he has not been
a first team All NBA caliber player this season. I
don't think what about what about the stifle Tower, Rudy Gobert. Yeah,
but he's a front court player. So how you know
(11:24):
there's two guards. Do you think there'll be a push
for Rudy Gobert over and beat Uh? There could be,
but I think that Embiid would have one m v
P had he played enough games this season, and because
he did not, I think that's why Yoki is gonna
run away with it. Yokich, I mean, I've heard people
say this is the seasons all about been endurance, and
(11:45):
nobody has endured more than Nicola Yokich this season. I
think that Okay Gobert, I believe it's played in fifty
nine of sixty games. Um he has the highest player
efficiency rating on the Jazz, but it only ranks eighteenth
in the league behind Valentiunist, Kyrie Uh Clint Cappella, who's
(12:07):
been dominant on a UM on a Hawks team that's
actually going to the playoffs. But um, Okay fair enough
and be does lead the league in player efficiency rating,
Yoki just second. Right, So what where I think it
comes down to for that last guard spot is Luca
don Chet, Damian Lillard and Chris Paul In my opinion,
(12:29):
that's where that's where you're going to decide who gets
that last spot, and to me, Luca puts up gaudy numbers,
but the offensive, the whole team is built around him,
so he's gonna get numbers regardless, kind of like the
same way that Atlanta and Trey Young gets numbers. Like
when you have the ball that much and everything is
built around you and you're orbiting the sun, you know
(12:51):
you're gonna put up numbers. Dame Lillard, I think would
have had a good case had the Blazers not slipped recently.
And it's not to you know, he pulled a hamstring,
so it's kind of hard to blame him, but I
think that's gonna be counted against him. The Phoenix Suns
as of this morning, or only one and a half
games out of the top seed in the Western Conference.
(13:12):
The Phoenix Suns, who both you and I said before
the season that we didn't understand the Chris Paultry. You're like, oh,
so you're gonna get a thirty five year old point
guard to give him forty million dollars a year to
just to make the eight seed and get smacked by
the Lakers in the first round, Like we didn't believe
in what they might become. And the only reason why
they are where they are, which I've said numerous times
(13:34):
on this podcast on The Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio,
the only difference maker on that roster is Chris Paul. Mhmm.
Chris Paul single handedly turned and also ran team a
middle of the road no man's land, not quite bad
enough to be the worst team in the NBA, but
(13:55):
not a playoff or a legitimate contender, a definitive middle
of the road team into arguably the best team in
the Western Conference. M hmm. Okay, that's a convincing case.
Let me push back a little bit. Okay, so I'm
really curious with the advanced UH stats community comes in.
(14:17):
So obviously you know the stat wind shares your kids
running away with it. Curry seven, Chris Paul ninth, Damian
Lillard ten. I mean, it's a minuscule different seven point
five or seven point four that's in wind shares. Um.
By the way, Zion Williamson, who deserves some first team consideration,
is top five in like every advanced A category. Just
(14:38):
putting that out there, um, defensive wind shares is I
think where Chris Paul gets a huge edge on Damian Lillard.
The Blazers much to my chagrin, are one of the
worst defensive teams in the league. And um, Damian Lillard
not playing a ton of defense. So offensively, I give
you Lilard the edge, but CP three gets the edge defensively,
(14:59):
and so I'm a sue ming rob that you're giving
the Sons being number two in the West in what's
pretty much a stack conference. I think the West, we
both agree, is much better than the East right, and
so that's where CP three gets the edge over over Damon.
You know, I don't know box plus minus. I don't
(15:24):
even really know what that is. It's an advanced stat
that people reference all the time. Damian Lillard's fift, Chris
Paul's box plus minus. Um, it's hard if you don't
know what it means. I don't know. Now. I do
know that the usage rate stat which is interesting, and
Damian Lillard's ninth and Chris Paul is not in the
top twenty, like Chris Paul clearly has a better team.
(15:48):
I mean, hell, there would be people who agree that
Devin Booker is a better player than Chris Paul. Is
that a better season Devin Booker, By the way, it
was phenomenal against the Knicks um thirty three points. You know,
I don't want to say he's like the second best
shooting guard in the league, but he might be. Devin
Booker's that good. And how can you give Chris Paul,
(16:10):
who is a clutch player, made some big clutch shots
against the next how can you give him first team
over d book Like, wasn't book Or the All Star
and Chris Paul didn't make it. Chris Paul and Devin
Booker was an injury replacement. And that's that's the guy
that everybody was like, how is book Or not in
the All Star? Remember all the players were like prefending
(16:31):
the Yeah, so I just he's not even the best
player on his team most important, sure, but Dame is
definitely the best player. Luca without him, I mean, by
a mile, is the best player. I don't know. I like,
remember what happened, Okay, see in the playoffs last year.
(16:53):
You know they got smoked? Did they mean they pushed down?
They were well, they were down to nothing, and then
Dennis Shrewder bailed him out, uh bringing him back, and
then lu Dort at a game and Chris Paul was
not even like one of the three best players in
the series. I don't want to call him a regular
season guy, but tell me the playoff series that Chris
(17:13):
Paul has ever made a difference. Now, you could say, well, Jason,
it's just the regular season, but how many times do
you do this? Give guys regular season awards the playoffs
come said, guy soils his pants and vomits all over himself,
and we're like, why did we vote that guy when
the playoffs matter that more than anything. I don't know.
Think of an NFL player who always crushes in the
(17:36):
regular season and then the playoffs comes up empty. I don't.
I mean, is gonna yell? Come on? I mean I
But here's the thing. You're making two different arguments. If
you want to say the playoff success or failures against
Chris Paul, you wanta hold the games, and that's fine,
but that's something you hold against him when you're comparing
him to Jason Kidder John Stockton like you did earlier.
(17:56):
If you're making the discussion about this season all NBA,
who deserves that last guard spot? All I gotta you
want to bring up Devon Booker. Devin Booker, like I said,
is the Zach Levine of the West. He will give
you great stats on a terrible team. Year and year out.
Before Chris Paul got there, he had won more than
(18:18):
twenty four games in his career one time. He won
thirty four games last year, which was the pinnacle of
Devin Booker's career. And the only reason they got the
thirty four wins is because they went to no in
the bubble with no fans and everybody started shooting out
of their minds because they had no pressure on them.
Each one more shout out to t J. Warren. Okay,
(18:39):
but with Chris Paul, everywhere he goes, he affects winning
unlike anybody not named what Lebron, James and probably James Harden.
Now this is from stat Muse. This is even three
weeks old, so the stats are even better now than
what they were at the time. When Chris Paul got
(18:59):
to the Hornets. The year before they had a two
twenty win percentage forty six percent winning afterwards. When he
was there, the Clippers three up to six. The Rockets,
who were very very good. They were a perennial second
or you know, second round team in the playoffs sent
(19:19):
win percentage. Chris Paul gets there seventy nine percent win
percentage the okay see thunder fifty nine win percentage. And
that was when they had you know, Russell Westbrook and
Kevin Durant. You know, so they had a pretty good
team for a long time. Chris Paul gets there sixty one.
So he made an already good team even better. And
(19:41):
that's after subtracting Russell Westbrook, who had been their best player.
Phoenix forty six percent he gets there. This was again,
this is for three weeks ago. Seventy win percentage. So
say what you want about his stats. I know he
doesn't put up the biggest numbers. He's not if you
want put him stat for stat against Luca Dodges or
(20:03):
Damian Lillard, even with advances, I don't think he really
matches up to them. But if you want to talk
about impact and impacting a game, I don't think there's
anybody that has a better case this season than Chris Paul.
Huh that listen? This is probably listen, Rob, Do you
make some decent arguments? Okay, obviously that's why we love
(20:25):
to chop it up and argue with each other all
the time. Um, I would say this is probably your
most compelling argument. Um, And it's weird because I don't
even think you're a Chris Paul guy, are you? No? No,
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 I Heart Radio app
(20:47):
search f s R to listen live. I just find
him insufferable. And that's probably why I'm um slow to
warm up to your first team All NBA take, but
just simply because I'm not a fan of his work. Um,
it just seems insufferable, you know. And again maybe I'm
just I have such a soft spot for guys like
(21:08):
uh Curry. And what happened with Blake Griffin? Do you remember?
Wasn't there an incident after he left the Clippers where
he got thrown out of a game and then he
and someone else, um nearly got into it with Was
it Blake Griffin when he went to Detroit? Like there
was something that happened at Staples Center and he was
at the center of it. And I'll never forget game
I think it was Game six in Houston and the
(21:33):
Warriors had to go back to Houston for games. I
think it was Game six and there was no Durant
and everybody thought, oh my gosh, jeez, Warriors, they're in trouble.
And I'm pretty sure Steph Curry showed up to get
up shots like at like nine o'clock at night or
in the afternoon or evening, and Chris Paul went and
(21:57):
made them kick Curry out so Chris Paul could get
up shots the night before the game. Do you remember this?
And I also remember the locker room story. I can
get that to you when you're doing with this, right,
So you know, it's things like this that just irk me. Um,
he just it just seems like a dick, you know.
And I know that shouldn't matter, Jason, remove the emotion.
(22:19):
Just look at the numbers. Well, if you trust the numbers, Yes,
Chris Paul is one of the biggest difference makers in
the regular season. I need to stress that in the league. Um,
if you take Dame off Portland, they basically become Phoenix
without Chris Paul. If you take Luca off the MAVs, well,
(22:42):
I think they drop even even lower. The probably one
of the worst teams in the league without Lucay. This
is tough. I'm gonna probably have to reserve judgment I'm
gonna lean toward Rob g making his best arguments and
Chris Paul. You know, luckily it's it's going up against
Dame and uh Luca because if it were against Zion Williamson.
(23:05):
I'm telling you right now, all the stats favor Zion
and I know they're like eleventh in the West because
their coach stinks and you know, the roster's garbage. But
we we predicted that, we saw that coming a mile away. Um,
I'd like to get Zion on that team. Let's see
how many games and be plays down the stretch. Now,
tell me this fun story about Steph Curry versus CP
three and then Chris Paul in the bowels of Staples
(23:27):
while the Steph Curry one that you told it exactly right.
You know, he was gonna get his shots up per usual,
and Chris Paul decided, now I'm gonna get my shots
up and I'm gonna use your side of the court,
you know, just to play a little mind game with you.
And that's the better story is. Um. It was the
Rockets and the Clippers in the locker room. And anyone
who's ever been a Staple Center knows that there's a
(23:50):
kind of a backway entrance into their locker between the
visiting locker and the home locker room. And if you
are a member of the Clippers, you know exactly how
that works. And know what happened was Clint Capella acted
as like a diversion that allowed Chris paul to go
through the back hallway in an attempt to h attack
(24:10):
Austin Rivers. Oh that's right, Austin Rivers. Yes, great, it
was ultimately unsuccessful, but the intent was there, and that
for that alone, I think you gotta give him around
replies for and and And this is another thing, like
he played with Austin Rivers, right, they were teammates on
the Clippers, I'm almost certain, with Doc as the coach, right, correct. Yeah,
(24:32):
And it was such an awful experience for Austin Rivers,
probably because he didn't play defense or hustle um that
he wanted to him and he probably said something really
nasty to Chris Paul um and they were ready to
throw fists. Um yeah, I mean all fairness though, who
hasn't wanted to punch Austin Rivers. I let me say, um,
you know you do projections of players coming out of college.
(24:54):
I was so in love with Austin Rivers game at
Duke Dude, nobody could stay in front of his cross
over in a one on one space. He's unstoppable. The
guy is super, super talented. And then he gets to
the NBA and it's like, I mean he literally would
have his head down dribbling rob and he just not
looked to pass to anyone and then his defense was
(25:15):
passive at best and it just went downhill. Now he
has shown up in Spurts. I think he's had a
couple of big games. He's going over thirty a bunch
of times. He might have had a forty point game,
and he played well for the Knicks earlier this year. Um,
but super interesting that anybody, anybody who plays with Chris
Paul leaves him, and it's just like, and what do
(25:36):
you think? What do you think about this? Is it
interesting that as as good of friends as Lebron and
Chris Paul are that Lebron's never tried to get him
honest team? Well, he did try this pass offseason, and
they just couldn't make it work because his salary is
so big, you know, it's kind of it's really difficult.
Lebron ever not gotten something he wanted. No, I just
(25:58):
think it was mathematically impossible, Like they would have had
to sign and trade Contavious Callwell Pope to like a
twenty five million dollar contract and then throw in every
other good player they had. It would have been CP,
Anthony Davis and Lebron And even then, you know, if
you're Oklahoma City, why the how would you want Contavious
Caldwell Pope. It's million dollars a year. Yeah, they'd be
(26:20):
sitting in like they're sitting Al Horford in one of
the most egregious tank jobs I can remember in the NBA.
And let's quickly pivot. I was gonna mention the NIXT
but who cares? They lost the winning Treaks over Chris
Paul had two prayers real quick before we do. Julio Jones,
I just need to point out to some folks in
what has been a quiet turn of events, not quite shocking,
(26:40):
but just quiet. If you look at the NBA, State
in Minnesota was the worst team in the league forever. Okay, Houston,
if you followed the story, you know earlier on yesterday's POT,
I mentioned um they had an incident at the Booby
Trap Strip Club in Miami and they have now shut
down John Wall. They are in full on tank mode
(27:00):
like they are the meme of that tank sketting on ice.
That's the Houston Rockets right now. Um, it's so funny.
We talked about Chris Paul being such a difference maker.
Houston loses James Harden and what happened to them? They went,
They went from you know Russ and Harden last year too.
(27:21):
I don't even know who the hell is playing for
the Rockets now. They now have the worst record in
the league. Minnesota playing well now with um former Laker
Dan one of Rob's favorite guys of all time, Karl,
Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, who, by the way, is
making the Rookie of the Year case. Interesting. Timberwolves now
(27:42):
actually half a game up on Orlando for the third spot.
And remember people, Minnesota's pick goes to the Warriors if
it's outside the top three. So yes, the Golden State Warriors,
in a draft that's basically considered a five person draft,
(28:02):
could get the fourth pick. Of course, we know Kate Cunningham,
Oklahoma State, mobile USC, Jalen Green and the G League,
and then Jalen Sugs from Gazaga. The other kid is Kominga,
who's also in the G League, a bit more of
a project. The Warriors would not want him if they're
trying to contend. Um. He's really talented player with a
lot of upside, but they don't want him. Now was
(28:22):
Steph Currys turning thirty four? I mean, if they got
their hands on the Mobili kid out of USC do
you pair him with Meisman? Do you trade him or Wiseman? Uh?
Do you trade the pick and Wiseman for Bradley Beal
if he becomes available. The Warriors will have options. Just
keep an eye on that pick. But um, okay, see
(28:44):
who Rob has has mentioned? Um, the team who had
Chris Paul last year. Okay see now the fourteen straight
losses and they are the fifth worst team in the league.
They have all of the lottery picks for what the
next decade? And uh, we'll see what they can do.
Rob Let's quickly go to the NFL. We didn't get
to this on Monday's pot. It kind of broke early
(29:07):
early Monday morning. We didn't quite get to it. Julio
Jones of the Atlanta Falcons, veteran receiver production has started
to decline. He's not playing as many snaps as he
used to. If you followed. Uh, Julio Jones's career is
one of the seminal receivers of this generation. Uh, certainly
a Hall of Fame lock. He I don't know, is
(29:27):
he in that Calvin Johnson class? Would you say, Rob, Oh,
I think he's better than Calvin Johnson, you know, in
his career. I don't know if like individually, he's a
better receiver, but as far as career, he's had a
much better career than Calvin Johnson. Uh. He did go
to the Super Bowl. Should have a Super Bowl ring.
But we don't want to bash Kyle Shanahan any further. Um,
he's open now. It was unclear if he's open to
(29:51):
a trade or they're looking for a trade partner, or
he gave the okay that they could trade him. I
don't know what was your read on that, Rob, because
I remember this is NFL Draft week, smoke screen season
is in full mother bleep in effect. Well, when I
first saw the headline, I also thought it was a
smoke screen. I thought, Hey, we're just trying to drum
up interest. Maybe we can get a first round pick
(30:12):
for this guy, until I saw that it wasn't just
Ian Rappaport who floated out, It was also Albert Rear.
It was also Peter King, so three friends of the
show who are all very reputable reporters. So then I
start to believe it a little bit. But then late
last night, Falcons general manager Terry Fontaneau does an interview
(30:34):
with a local news station and they asked him about
it and say, hey, you know, what's this going on
with Julio Jones. Are you guys accepting calls on him?
Because that's what's been flowed at that they are taking
calls on anybody who wants to track Ruleio Jones. And
to his credit, he gave arguably the most honest answer
that I think a GM could give it a situation.
He says, look, we're in a difficult cap situation. That's
(30:56):
just a circumstance when teams call about any player, we
have to listen. So it doesn't seem what they really
want to get rid of him, but they understand that
they are in salary cap hell, they only have a
few guys who are actually worth anything on the open market,
and if they can find a way to save themselves
fifteen million dollars against the cap this season. I think
they're gonna have to think about it. And uh, I
(31:17):
would be shocked at this point if he is a
Falcon next season. Oh come on, jeez, I that that
is a man. That's a quantum leap you're making. Remember
that show with Scott Bacula in the eighties. Of course
you don't. You aren't even born. Um, what what kind
of message are you sending if you're I mean the heart?
(31:38):
Who's the heart and soul of that team? Julio and
Matt Ryan Julio, Okay, you're dump. You get a new GM,
you get a new coach, both first time head coach,
first time GM. There was talk about them going quarterback
at four and now you're dumping Julio Jones. Why don't
you just start over? Like what are you doing dumping Julio? Now?
(31:58):
I know Calvin Ridley is really good it, um, but
I don't see why they don't make one more push.
This almost feels like the new guys trying to outthink
the room. Remember the guys got to Green Bay. Uh,
what's his face? The new coach there? La Fleur goes
there and what do they do, like, Oh, we're gonna
(32:20):
invest in a backup quarterback in the first round, and
then we're gonna get another running back, Like we're gonna
do everything we can to not help our star quarterback
who's a legend Aaron Rodgers, Like Matt Ryan's been there
forever due to his cap situation. He ain't going nowhere,
So you're gonna take away Julio Jones, what is Arthur
(32:43):
Blank all of a sudden like opened to starting over? Hey, Arthur,
do you remember what life was like in the eighties
as a Falcons fan? Just because you guys got lucky
with Matt Ryan in the draft and went to a
Super Bowl and you went to a bunch of playoff games, Like,
it can be really brutal in the wildern if you
don't have a star quarterback. And if you want to
make Matt Ryan unhappy, sure, Julio Jones, Yeah, great idea. Now,
(33:08):
I don't know what he's got left in the tank.
He is only thirty two, and I was looking up
some of his stats, like he hasn't crater, he hasn't
fallen off a cliff. I don't think he's quite the
caliber receiver like say a Randy Moss, who can go
from Rob G's Raiders to the Patriots and put up
historic numbers. I don't know if he's capable of that, um,
(33:31):
but he can be a very very good receiver on
a playoff team. He could still be a number one.
I mean, I don't think he's gonna want to go
to like my Jets, who have all the capitom in
the world because they stink um and be like a
grown up in a locker room for the young kids.
But damn if I could get my hands on Julio
Jones for a young quarterback like Zach Wilson, Oh, that
(33:52):
would be amazing. Julio, they got the Denzel Mims uh,
Corey Davis, Jamison Crowder Uh. Now, Rob G hasten me
text to stop talking about the Jets again. Um, I
don't know, Rob. My guess is Julio's not going anywhere
and this is just you know, idle chit chat to
see if you can generate some kind of sweet offer.
(34:14):
But who's backing up the Brinks for a thirty two
year old receiver? That would be my John Gruden, who's
willing to back up the brinks chuck for a third Yards.
He did the same thing for Antonio Brown already, and
so I would not be ended in spectacular facts. You
act like that will stop him. You know, they they
drafted terribly with Cleveland Furral in the first round. They
(34:38):
reached for him, and then they followed up the following
year by reaching for um Our Nett, the cornerback. Oh goodness,
what a disaster. So um, I also need to add,
did you see the report on your Raiders that Gruden
is out on players who opted out? Did you see that?
I saw that the Pittsburgh is out on that as well. Well.
It's interesting that Gruden would come out and say that
(35:00):
because a lot of people in some mock drafts had
kind of pegged Micah Parsons from Penn State to the
Raiders because you know, John Gruden likes toughness, he likes
football guys, We're gonna hit smash and all those chucky
isms that were a deal when he was you know,
the Monday night football announcer. Um. But like, personally, I
(35:20):
have no I no earthly clue what your Raiders are doing.
At least my Jets have bottomed out. So if they
went for Julio and be like, hey, We're trying to
grow up and get some veterans and make a quick
push while the Patriots are still down. Miami doesn't know
what they have with Tua, and you know, it was
just basically dangling him for Deshaun Watson and maybe we
(35:40):
sneak into the playoffs with Big Ben's career coming to
an end. Your Raiders are in a brutal division. I'm
just gonna put this out there quietly. You know, if
you're deep into a thirty five minute podcast, for even
a podcast like, maybe you'll pick this kernel up. I
have a Denver Broncos super Bowl ticket. I know they're
not gonna win a super Bowl with Drew Locket quarterback,
(36:03):
but should they fall asked backward into a capable quarterback,
that team has a ton of talent. Quietly, they had
an amazing offseason. Rob without question, your Raiders are the
worst team in the a f C West. We know
the chiefs of one. I think we both agree that
Chargers are two. The Raiders are I mean they're headed
(36:25):
for five wins, and I mean I don't know how
you get your You need the jaws of life to
get out of John Druden's contract. Well, quickly on the
whole opt out situation before we devitail and finish this
off on Julio. The Raiders flouted the COVID rules more
than anybody in the NFL last season, So that tells
me that they don't think it was that big of
a deal, and anybody who thinks it is the big deal,
(36:46):
I think they may think that they are what's the
word beta's and that's why we don't want him in Vegas.
I think that that's John Gruten's attitude. But with Julio,
I think that the reason why they're even considering an
accepting call Julio number want to save money. But I
think that they know that there is a very very
good chance that they could have justin Field staring at
(37:08):
them at number four, and I think it would behoove
them to not take the hometown kid. Build for the future.
And if you're going to do that, there's no reason
to keep Julio Jones around because you know you're you're
basically so you're telling me you are endorsing the Falcons
hunting on this season. Okay, even though Drew Brees retired
(37:32):
and the division is you know, Tampa's to lose but
Carolinas in rebuild mode, I don't think anybody believes in
the Saints. You're basically saying, hey, we're gonna you know,
we're gonna be way over the cap, and we're going
to get a quarterback for our future, and you know
who really cares about this season? Would you say that
(37:53):
they are much better without Julio Jones than with him,
like he's really making that big of a difference. Well, no, no,
I'm I'm saying that. But they can't. They can't do
what San Francisco was planning on doing with Jimmy Garoppolo. Um, well,
I I A, I don't know that they feel as
(38:13):
confident that Arthur Smith. Who I mean, can we say
he made Ryan Tannehill? Um, yes, I don't know. Ryan
Tannehill was a top ten pick and did nothing in Miami. Um,
and and kind of refurbished his career if you will,
in Tennessee. But let's just say I have more faith
in Kyle Shanahan than I do Arthur Smith. And at
(38:35):
the same time, like, you're getting now the fourth best
quarterback in the draft, But is he the fourth best quarterback? Well,
I didn't have the top three guys don't want him.
Nobody else was trading up for him yesterday. Kyle Shanahan
believes more in Kyle Shannahan that he does any quarterback.
That's what. Yeah. I love this draft stuff. Alright, guys,
(38:58):
so this has been a good one. Um, I don't think.
Maybe we'll see, maybe there's another level to Julio. We
have a really good guest coming up tomorrow. You guys
are gonna like his stuff. Um, forty eight hours to
the draft. Get ready, folks. Uh, it's gonna be a blast.
We will talk to you tomorrow.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, everybody,
It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire, Tuesday, April twenty seven,
close to the draft. We got forty eight hours to go,
very geeked for it. Monday's pod got a lot of
positive and negative reaction. Clearly. I don't know if Rob
(00:28):
G saw this on his mentions on social media, but man,
a lot of Mac Jones defenders out there. I had
no idea there were that many. Um or or it's
you know the in Kyle Shanahan, we trust crowd, or
if Kyle wants this, let's do it. Kyle Shanahan says, jump,
I say how high? Like that's the vibe I got.
(00:48):
People are just like all in there, like, oh, Jimmy G.
You know the young kids now and I noticed my
son and his friends do it when they're playing video games.
Everything is just trash, you know. Um oh, that guy's trash.
His game is trash, and it's like harsh and all
these guys on social media, Jimmy G is trash. Jimmy
G Is asked, I'm like, what are you talking about.
(01:09):
Jimmy G was making twenty eight million dollars a year
playing quarterback in the NFL and went to the Super Bowl.
When he's healthy his record, I believe in San Franz
twenty four and eight when he's healthy as a starter.
The only problem is he's not really that healthy. Um.
But I'm just I was stunned at the Jimmy G reaction.
I thought more people would be in agreement with me,
(01:30):
but such is life. All right. We will do a
bit on the draft possibly later. The Scolio Jones stuff
moderately interesting, but I think we have to start the
podcast today with perhaps the biggest story in the n
b A And you know, we like try to start
some brush fires over here. UM and rob G and
(01:51):
I are always spit bawling most mostly throughout the day
over text what do you think? What about this? And
I'm usually like, oh, I got nothing, man, don't see anything,
and I'm like disappointed that there's nothing huge, and then
Rob G coming in firing on all cylinders. Oh well,
Chris Paul, did you see what he did to the
next last night? Yeah, he wanted at twenty points. And
(02:15):
then Rob G's like, yeah, he's first team All NBA
for me, And that's what I get. My stories to
pop up with Rob g is peddling that kind of garbage. Listen,
I'm probably a little lower on everybody than Chris Paul,
mostly because of his history of postseason failures and injuries.
And I know you can't blame the injuries on Chris Paul.
They just happened. Injuries happen everybody in the playoffs. It
(02:36):
stinks that being said, there is a narrative that Chris
Paul tries so freaking hard in the regular season. Every
game means so much to him. He exerts so much
energy in the regular season in this marathon eight two
games sprint, yes, seventy two this season, that Chris Paul
(02:58):
tries so much harder than the best of the stars
around the league that his teams instantly rise to the top.
We saw it when he went to the Clippers. We
saw it when he went to Houston, We saw it
when he went to Okay. See. Yes, they were a
very good regular season team last year, and we're seeing
it again this year in Phoenix. It's it's undeniable. Chris
(03:20):
Paul is a great point guard. Now you want to
get interesting, you say, Okay, he's amazing. Where does Chris
Paul rank all time among all all time point guards
because he does never ring, he's never been to the finals.
But man, is he a hell of good regular season player.
Four times All NBA First Team, four times All NBA
(03:41):
Second Team, seven time All NBA First Team defense. You
know that's not quite Kobe numbers, but it's up there,
especially for a point guard in a league where a
lot of point guards don't defend or even try to.
And I guess I know everybody loves to stay well,
Steph Curry isn't a good defender, and they gotta hide
him and teams attack him and blah blah blah blah blah.
Fair enough, Steph Curry is absolutely eviscerated Chris Paul head
(04:04):
to head. I don't want to hear anything about it. Um,
they're not in the same sentence. Chris Paul is a great,
great player. He's not on the level of of Steph
Curry as a scorer, I don't think as a leader.
Because if you remember, and this matters, people want to
go play with Steph Curry. Kevin Durant wanted to go
(04:26):
to Golden State to play with Curry. UM. Just a
quick reminder, Chris Paul got in numerous altercations with Blake
Griffin and apparently they still don't like each other. Um,
Chris Paul got in a famous beef with James Harden.
Chris Paul has going head to head with Curry and
they apparently don't like each other. I know they give
(04:48):
each other shout outs on social media. I get it.
Heat of the moment is different. But Chris Paul is
one of these guys. Man, you love to be on
the team with him. I love it until he starts
writing you hard and he's just way too hard on
everybody because he acts like Lebron. You don't win like Lebron.
You know he's in that banana boat crew, Dwyane Wade, Uh, Carmelo, Anthony,
(05:14):
Chris Paul Like it's okay to ride teammates the way
Lebron does and get on their case and and be
yell and be the leader. I get that, but you
have to be awesome to do that. And Chris Paul
regular season awesome. I haven't seen it in the playoffs,
and I know there's been injuries. Um, obviously, the Rockets
won against that loaded Warriors team with Katie. That will
go down as one of the closest toughest defeats of
(05:40):
Chris Paul's career. They go up three too, he show
boats in Curry's face hitting a late three, and then
like a minute later, pulls his hamstring and doesn't get
to play in Game six and seven. The basketball gods
would not allow it. That being said, Chris Paul still
look very, very, very good player. I don't think you
can put him above of obviously Magic Curry, Isaiah Thomas,
(06:04):
um Oscar Robertson. You know, some people call him a
combo guard. I think Iverson's more of a combo and
a two. John Stockton is the interesting one. Jason Kidd
is interesting. So rob G, I'm gonna bring you in
before we break down your nonsense about Chris Paul First
Team All NBA. Where are you on Chris Paul versus
(06:25):
a John Stockton and Jason Kidd in the pantheon of
great point guards? I think that Chris Paul is definitely
a notch above Jason Kidd um John Stockton. It's a
tougher case to make because he played with one team
his whole career and he formed arguably the most devastating
(06:47):
scoring duo in NBA history, you know, with him and
Crome alone, So that's a tougher case to make. And
John Stockton, I know, people don't like to admit it,
or maybe they're not aware because he's a six ft
and think unathletic white guy. But he was an incredible
basketball player and he was a great defender. So that
(07:08):
one's a little bit tough, right, have to really dive
deep into the numbers. And then again, you know, Chris
Paul's career is still being written. Um right now, I'd
have stocked in ahead of Chris Paul, but I think
he would. I would have CP ahead of Jason Kidd. Alright, well,
I'm disagreeing on Jason Kidd. First of all, Stockton career leader.
I believe in assists and steals in NBA history. Neither
(07:31):
of those records are gonna be broken because he played forever.
As you said, you know, um unathletic white guy. But
by the way, he played eighty two games like thirteen times.
I mean the guy I never took days off. Just
physical marvel despite his six oh one seventy stature um,
which is not that much better than me um. As
for Jason Kidd, I know he was ridiculed as called
(07:54):
Ason Kidd because he had no j meaning no jumper.
You can't use the J and Jason. But you want
to hype up Chris Paul's defensive credentials. Jason Kidd four
time All NBA First Team All Defense, five time All
NBA Second Team Defense. This guy did win a title.
I know it was late in his career. Five times
(08:15):
All NBA First Team point Guard. Now, I know that
was in between Magic. It was like after Magic and
Isaiah and before um Lebron in the league really turned
into a point guard league. I'm sorry, not Lebron, Stephen Curry.
Uh Curry didn't take over for a while. And you
know he was kind of before Chris Paul became a superstar.
(08:36):
But Jason Kidd is, come on, that guy's a legend.
I I certainly have j Kidd over Chris Paul. And
again that's not a knock. I'm not slamming Chris Paul
because I have Hall of famers above him. But I
think my bigger beef, ore Rob g is with you
proclaiming Chris Paul's first team All NBA this year. And
(08:56):
I know there's still ten twelve ish games left. But
I think several of the spots are locked. We know
Curry is a stone cold lock first team, we know
Janice stone cold lock and beat your kich. I think
four of the positions are taken. Where it gets interesting,
Rob g is if you want to put Chris Paul
(09:18):
First Team All NBA, you are now leaving people off
the number one team in the East. That would be
Hardened Kyrie, who your boy Rob Parker's teping up for
and James Harden. And you're leaving off everybody on the
Utah Jazz, who are also the number one seed in
(09:39):
the West. So the not the top two seeds in
each conference not represented in All NBA, and I mean
the Jazz. It basically lead the sucker wire to wire.
I don't listen, this gets difficult with the whole first
place how do you reward them? But neither of the
(09:59):
first place teams is going to get the m v P.
Neither is gonna get first Team All NBA. It almost
feels a little how do I say this politely disrespectful? Rob? Oh,
are you done now here? You've you got that out
of your off your a chest. You feel better about
what you just said. Look let's start off with the
(10:21):
Brooklyn Nets. None of those three guys have played enough
games to be considered for First Team All NBA. No,
he has not played enough. I think he's missed seventeen games,
and Joel Embiads miss more than that. Yeah, but Joel
Embiad has been much more dominant when he's been on
the court than Kyrie Irving has. So that's that's one.
I mean, this is gonna be a strange year because
(10:43):
you're not going to have Lebron James, I think is
not in a consideration for first team. Anthony Davis won't be,
Kevin Durant won't be, James Harden won't be. I mean,
those are arguably four of the top five players in
the NBA who you can't even have a legitimate conversation
about whether or not they belonged First Team All NBA
(11:03):
because they've been hurt. Where I think this really gets tricky,
and again I might the Jazz forget about them. Donovan
Mitchell has had a great season, he has not been
a first team All NBA caliber player this season. I
don't think what about what about the stifle Tower, Rudy Gobert. Yeah,
but he's a front court player. So how you know
(11:24):
there's two guards. Do you think there'll be a push
for Rudy Gobert over and beat Uh? There could be,
but I think that Embiid would have one m v
P had he played enough games this season, and because
he did not, I think that's why Yoki is gonna
run away with it. Yokich, I mean, I've heard people
say this is the seasons all about been endurance, and
(11:45):
nobody has endured more than Nicola Yokich this season. I
think that Okay Gobert, I believe it's played in fifty
nine of sixty games. Um he has the highest player
efficiency rating on the Jazz, but it only ranks eighteenth
in the league behind Valentiunist, Kyrie Uh Clint Cappella, who's
(12:07):
been dominant on a UM on a Hawks team that's
actually going to the playoffs. But um, Okay fair enough
and be does lead the league in player efficiency rating,
Yoki just second. Right, So what where I think it
comes down to for that last guard spot is Luca
don Chet, Damian Lillard and Chris Paul In my opinion,
(12:29):
that's where that's where you're going to decide who gets
that last spot, and to me, Luca puts up gaudy numbers,
but the offensive, the whole team is built around him,
so he's gonna get numbers regardless, kind of like the
same way that Atlanta and Trey Young gets numbers. Like
when you have the ball that much and everything is
built around you and you're orbiting the sun, you know
(12:51):
you're gonna put up numbers. Dame Lillard, I think would
have had a good case had the Blazers not slipped recently.
And it's not to you know, he pulled a hamstring,
so it's kind of hard to blame him, but I
think that's gonna be counted against him. The Phoenix Suns
as of this morning, or only one and a half
games out of the top seed in the Western Conference.
(13:12):
The Phoenix Suns, who both you and I said before
the season that we didn't understand the Chris Paultry. You're like, oh,
so you're gonna get a thirty five year old point
guard to give him forty million dollars a year to
just to make the eight seed and get smacked by
the Lakers in the first round, Like we didn't believe
in what they might become. And the only reason why
they are where they are, which I've said numerous times
(13:34):
on this podcast on The Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio,
the only difference maker on that roster is Chris Paul. Mhmm.
Chris Paul single handedly turned and also ran team a
middle of the road no man's land, not quite bad
enough to be the worst team in the NBA, but
(13:55):
not a playoff or a legitimate contender, a definitive middle
of the road team into arguably the best team in
the Western Conference. M hmm. Okay, that's a convincing case.
Let me push back a little bit. Okay, so I'm
really curious with the advanced UH stats community comes in.
(14:17):
So obviously you know the stat wind shares your kids
running away with it. Curry seven, Chris Paul ninth, Damian
Lillard ten. I mean, it's a minuscule different seven point
five or seven point four that's in wind shares. Um.
By the way, Zion Williamson, who deserves some first team consideration,
is top five in like every advanced A category. Just
(14:38):
putting that out there, um, defensive wind shares is I
think where Chris Paul gets a huge edge on Damian Lillard.
The Blazers much to my chagrin, are one of the
worst defensive teams in the league. And um, Damian Lillard
not playing a ton of defense. So offensively, I give
you Lilard the edge, but CP three gets the edge defensively,
(14:59):
and so I'm a sue ming rob that you're giving
the Sons being number two in the West in what's
pretty much a stack conference. I think the West, we
both agree, is much better than the East right, and
so that's where CP three gets the edge over over Damon.
You know, I don't know box plus minus. I don't
(15:24):
even really know what that is. It's an advanced stat
that people reference all the time. Damian Lillard's fift, Chris
Paul's box plus minus. Um, it's hard if you don't
know what it means. I don't know. Now. I do
know that the usage rate stat which is interesting, and
Damian Lillard's ninth and Chris Paul is not in the
top twenty, like Chris Paul clearly has a better team.
(15:48):
I mean, hell, there would be people who agree that
Devin Booker is a better player than Chris Paul. Is
that a better season Devin Booker, By the way, it
was phenomenal against the Knicks um thirty three points. You know,
I don't want to say he's like the second best
shooting guard in the league, but he might be. Devin
Booker's that good. And how can you give Chris Paul,
(16:10):
who is a clutch player, made some big clutch shots
against the next how can you give him first team
over d book Like, wasn't book Or the All Star
and Chris Paul didn't make it. Chris Paul and Devin
Booker was an injury replacement. And that's that's the guy
that everybody was like, how is book Or not in
the All Star? Remember all the players were like prefending
(16:31):
the Yeah, so I just he's not even the best
player on his team most important, sure, but Dame is
definitely the best player. Luca without him, I mean, by
a mile, is the best player. I don't know. I like,
remember what happened, Okay, see in the playoffs last year.
(16:53):
You know they got smoked? Did they mean they pushed down?
They were well, they were down to nothing, and then
Dennis Shrewder bailed him out, uh bringing him back, and
then lu Dort at a game and Chris Paul was
not even like one of the three best players in
the series. I don't want to call him a regular
season guy, but tell me the playoff series that Chris
(17:13):
Paul has ever made a difference. Now, you could say, well, Jason,
it's just the regular season, but how many times do
you do this? Give guys regular season awards the playoffs
come said, guy soils his pants and vomits all over himself,
and we're like, why did we vote that guy when
the playoffs matter that more than anything. I don't know.
Think of an NFL player who always crushes in the
(17:36):
regular season and then the playoffs comes up empty. I don't.
I mean, is gonna yell? Come on? I mean I
But here's the thing. You're making two different arguments. If
you want to say the playoff success or failures against
Chris Paul, you wanta hold the games, and that's fine,
but that's something you hold against him when you're comparing
him to Jason Kidder John Stockton like you did earlier.
(17:56):
If you're making the discussion about this season all NBA,
who deserves that last guard spot? All I gotta you
want to bring up Devon Booker. Devin Booker, like I said,
is the Zach Levine of the West. He will give
you great stats on a terrible team. Year and year out.
Before Chris Paul got there, he had won more than
(18:18):
twenty four games in his career one time. He won
thirty four games last year, which was the pinnacle of
Devin Booker's career. And the only reason they got the
thirty four wins is because they went to no in
the bubble with no fans and everybody started shooting out
of their minds because they had no pressure on them.
Each one more shout out to t J. Warren. Okay,
(18:39):
but with Chris Paul, everywhere he goes, he affects winning
unlike anybody not named what Lebron, James and probably James Harden.
Now this is from stat Muse. This is even three
weeks old, so the stats are even better now than
what they were at the time. When Chris Paul got
(18:59):
to the Hornets. The year before they had a two
twenty win percentage forty six percent winning afterwards. When he
was there, the Clippers three up to six. The Rockets,
who were very very good. They were a perennial second
or you know, second round team in the playoffs sent
(19:19):
win percentage. Chris Paul gets there seventy nine percent win
percentage the okay see thunder fifty nine win percentage. And
that was when they had you know, Russell Westbrook and
Kevin Durant. You know, so they had a pretty good
team for a long time. Chris Paul gets there sixty one.
So he made an already good team even better. And
(19:41):
that's after subtracting Russell Westbrook, who had been their best player.
Phoenix forty six percent he gets there. This was again,
this is for three weeks ago. Seventy win percentage. So
say what you want about his stats. I know he
doesn't put up the biggest numbers. He's not if you
want put him stat for stat against Luca Dodges or
(20:03):
Damian Lillard, even with advances, I don't think he really
matches up to them. But if you want to talk
about impact and impacting a game, I don't think there's
anybody that has a better case this season than Chris Paul.
Huh that listen? This is probably listen, Rob, Do you
make some decent arguments? Okay, obviously that's why we love
(20:25):
to chop it up and argue with each other all
the time. Um, I would say this is probably your
most compelling argument. Um, And it's weird because I don't
even think you're a Chris Paul guy, are you? No? No,
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 I Heart Radio app
(20:47):
search f s R to listen live. I just find
him insufferable. And that's probably why I'm um slow to
warm up to your first team All NBA take, but
just simply because I'm not a fan of his work. Um,
it just seems insufferable, you know. And again maybe I'm
just I have such a soft spot for guys like
(21:08):
uh Curry. And what happened with Blake Griffin? Do you remember?
Wasn't there an incident after he left the Clippers where
he got thrown out of a game and then he
and someone else, um nearly got into it with Was
it Blake Griffin when he went to Detroit? Like there
was something that happened at Staples Center and he was
at the center of it. And I'll never forget game
I think it was Game six in Houston and the
(21:33):
Warriors had to go back to Houston for games. I
think it was Game six and there was no Durant
and everybody thought, oh my gosh, jeez, Warriors, they're in trouble.
And I'm pretty sure Steph Curry showed up to get
up shots like at like nine o'clock at night or
in the afternoon or evening, and Chris Paul went and
(21:57):
made them kick Curry out so Chris Paul could get
up shots the night before the game. Do you remember this?
And I also remember the locker room story. I can
get that to you when you're doing with this, right,
So you know, it's things like this that just irk me. Um,
he just it just seems like a dick, you know.
And I know that shouldn't matter, Jason, remove the emotion.
(22:19):
Just look at the numbers. Well, if you trust the numbers, Yes,
Chris Paul is one of the biggest difference makers in
the regular season. I need to stress that in the league. Um,
if you take Dame off Portland, they basically become Phoenix
without Chris Paul. If you take Luca off the MAVs, well,
(22:42):
I think they drop even even lower. The probably one
of the worst teams in the league without Lucay. This
is tough. I'm gonna probably have to reserve judgment I'm
gonna lean toward Rob g making his best arguments and
Chris Paul. You know, luckily it's it's going up against
Dame and uh Luca because if it were against Zion Williamson.
(23:05):
I'm telling you right now, all the stats favor Zion
and I know they're like eleventh in the West because
their coach stinks and you know, the roster's garbage. But
we we predicted that, we saw that coming a mile away. Um,
I'd like to get Zion on that team. Let's see
how many games and be plays down the stretch. Now,
tell me this fun story about Steph Curry versus CP
three and then Chris Paul in the bowels of Staples
(23:27):
while the Steph Curry one that you told it exactly right.
You know, he was gonna get his shots up per usual,
and Chris Paul decided, now I'm gonna get my shots
up and I'm gonna use your side of the court,
you know, just to play a little mind game with you.
And that's the better story is. Um. It was the
Rockets and the Clippers in the locker room. And anyone
who's ever been a Staple Center knows that there's a
(23:50):
kind of a backway entrance into their locker between the
visiting locker and the home locker room. And if you
are a member of the Clippers, you know exactly how
that works. And know what happened was Clint Capella acted
as like a diversion that allowed Chris paul to go
through the back hallway in an attempt to h attack
(24:10):
Austin Rivers. Oh that's right, Austin Rivers. Yes, great, it
was ultimately unsuccessful, but the intent was there, and that
for that alone, I think you gotta give him around
replies for and and And this is another thing, like
he played with Austin Rivers, right, they were teammates on
the Clippers, I'm almost certain, with Doc as the coach, right, correct. Yeah,
(24:32):
And it was such an awful experience for Austin Rivers,
probably because he didn't play defense or hustle um that
he wanted to him and he probably said something really
nasty to Chris Paul um and they were ready to
throw fists. Um yeah, I mean all fairness though, who
hasn't wanted to punch Austin Rivers. I let me say, um,
you know you do projections of players coming out of college.
(24:54):
I was so in love with Austin Rivers game at
Duke Dude, nobody could stay in front of his cross
over in a one on one space. He's unstoppable. The
guy is super, super talented. And then he gets to
the NBA and it's like, I mean he literally would
have his head down dribbling rob and he just not
looked to pass to anyone and then his defense was
(25:15):
passive at best and it just went downhill. Now he
has shown up in Spurts. I think he's had a
couple of big games. He's going over thirty a bunch
of times. He might have had a forty point game,
and he played well for the Knicks earlier this year. Um,
but super interesting that anybody, anybody who plays with Chris
Paul leaves him, and it's just like, and what do
(25:36):
you think? What do you think about this? Is it
interesting that as as good of friends as Lebron and
Chris Paul are that Lebron's never tried to get him
honest team? Well, he did try this pass offseason, and
they just couldn't make it work because his salary is
so big, you know, it's kind of it's really difficult.
Lebron ever not gotten something he wanted. No, I just
(25:58):
think it was mathematically impossible, Like they would have had
to sign and trade Contavious Callwell Pope to like a
twenty five million dollar contract and then throw in every
other good player they had. It would have been CP,
Anthony Davis and Lebron And even then, you know, if
you're Oklahoma City, why the how would you want Contavious
Caldwell Pope. It's million dollars a year. Yeah, they'd be
(26:20):
sitting in like they're sitting Al Horford in one of
the most egregious tank jobs I can remember in the NBA.
And let's quickly pivot. I was gonna mention the NIXT
but who cares? They lost the winning Treaks over Chris
Paul had two prayers real quick before we do. Julio Jones,
I just need to point out to some folks in
what has been a quiet turn of events, not quite shocking,
(26:40):
but just quiet. If you look at the NBA, State
in Minnesota was the worst team in the league forever. Okay, Houston,
if you followed the story, you know earlier on yesterday's POT,
I mentioned um they had an incident at the Booby
Trap Strip Club in Miami and they have now shut
down John Wall. They are in full on tank mode
(27:00):
like they are the meme of that tank sketting on ice.
That's the Houston Rockets right now. Um, it's so funny.
We talked about Chris Paul being such a difference maker.
Houston loses James Harden and what happened to them? They went,
They went from you know Russ and Harden last year too.
(27:21):
I don't even know who the hell is playing for
the Rockets now. They now have the worst record in
the league. Minnesota playing well now with um former Laker
Dan one of Rob's favorite guys of all time, Karl,
Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, who, by the way, is
making the Rookie of the Year case. Interesting. Timberwolves now
(27:42):
actually half a game up on Orlando for the third spot.
And remember people, Minnesota's pick goes to the Warriors if
it's outside the top three. So yes, the Golden State Warriors,
in a draft that's basically considered a five person draft,
(28:02):
could get the fourth pick. Of course, we know Kate Cunningham,
Oklahoma State, mobile USC, Jalen Green and the G League,
and then Jalen Sugs from Gazaga. The other kid is Kominga,
who's also in the G League, a bit more of
a project. The Warriors would not want him if they're
trying to contend. Um. He's really talented player with a
lot of upside, but they don't want him. Now was
(28:22):
Steph Currys turning thirty four? I mean, if they got
their hands on the Mobili kid out of USC do
you pair him with Meisman? Do you trade him or Wiseman? Uh?
Do you trade the pick and Wiseman for Bradley Beal
if he becomes available. The Warriors will have options. Just
keep an eye on that pick. But um, okay, see
(28:44):
who Rob has has mentioned? Um, the team who had
Chris Paul last year. Okay see now the fourteen straight
losses and they are the fifth worst team in the league.
They have all of the lottery picks for what the
next decade? And uh, we'll see what they can do.
Rob Let's quickly go to the NFL. We didn't get
to this on Monday's pot. It kind of broke early
(29:07):
early Monday morning. We didn't quite get to it. Julio
Jones of the Atlanta Falcons, veteran receiver production has started
to decline. He's not playing as many snaps as he
used to. If you followed. Uh, Julio Jones's career is
one of the seminal receivers of this generation. Uh, certainly
a Hall of Fame lock. He I don't know, is
(29:27):
he in that Calvin Johnson class? Would you say, Rob, Oh,
I think he's better than Calvin Johnson, you know, in
his career. I don't know if like individually, he's a
better receiver, but as far as career, he's had a
much better career than Calvin Johnson. Uh. He did go
to the Super Bowl. Should have a Super Bowl ring.
But we don't want to bash Kyle Shanahan any further. Um,
he's open now. It was unclear if he's open to
(29:51):
a trade or they're looking for a trade partner, or
he gave the okay that they could trade him. I
don't know what was your read on that, Rob, because
I remember this is NFL Draft week, smoke screen season
is in full mother bleep in effect. Well, when I
first saw the headline, I also thought it was a
smoke screen. I thought, Hey, we're just trying to drum
up interest. Maybe we can get a first round pick
(30:12):
for this guy, until I saw that it wasn't just
Ian Rappaport who floated out, It was also Albert Rear.
It was also Peter King, so three friends of the
show who are all very reputable reporters. So then I
start to believe it a little bit. But then late
last night, Falcons general manager Terry Fontaneau does an interview
(30:34):
with a local news station and they asked him about
it and say, hey, you know, what's this going on
with Julio Jones. Are you guys accepting calls on him?
Because that's what's been flowed at that they are taking
calls on anybody who wants to track Ruleio Jones. And
to his credit, he gave arguably the most honest answer
that I think a GM could give it a situation.
He says, look, we're in a difficult cap situation. That's
(30:56):
just a circumstance when teams call about any player, we
have to listen. So it doesn't seem what they really
want to get rid of him, but they understand that
they are in salary cap hell, they only have a
few guys who are actually worth anything on the open market,
and if they can find a way to save themselves
fifteen million dollars against the cap this season. I think
they're gonna have to think about it. And uh, I
(31:17):
would be shocked at this point if he is a
Falcon next season. Oh come on, jeez, I that that
is a man. That's a quantum leap you're making. Remember
that show with Scott Bacula in the eighties. Of course
you don't. You aren't even born. Um, what what kind
of message are you sending if you're I mean the heart?
(31:38):
Who's the heart and soul of that team? Julio and
Matt Ryan Julio, Okay, you're dump. You get a new GM,
you get a new coach, both first time head coach,
first time GM. There was talk about them going quarterback
at four and now you're dumping Julio Jones. Why don't
you just start over? Like what are you doing dumping Julio? Now?
(31:58):
I know Calvin Ridley is really good it, um, but
I don't see why they don't make one more push.
This almost feels like the new guys trying to outthink
the room. Remember the guys got to Green Bay. Uh,
what's his face? The new coach there? La Fleur goes
there and what do they do, like, Oh, we're gonna
(32:20):
invest in a backup quarterback in the first round, and
then we're gonna get another running back, Like we're gonna
do everything we can to not help our star quarterback
who's a legend Aaron Rodgers, Like Matt Ryan's been there
forever due to his cap situation. He ain't going nowhere,
So you're gonna take away Julio Jones, what is Arthur
(32:43):
Blank all of a sudden like opened to starting over? Hey, Arthur,
do you remember what life was like in the eighties
as a Falcons fan? Just because you guys got lucky
with Matt Ryan in the draft and went to a
Super Bowl and you went to a bunch of playoff games, Like,
it can be really brutal in the wildern if you
don't have a star quarterback. And if you want to
make Matt Ryan unhappy, sure, Julio Jones, Yeah, great idea. Now,
(33:08):
I don't know what he's got left in the tank.
He is only thirty two, and I was looking up
some of his stats, like he hasn't crater, he hasn't
fallen off a cliff. I don't think he's quite the
caliber receiver like say a Randy Moss, who can go
from Rob G's Raiders to the Patriots and put up
historic numbers. I don't know if he's capable of that, um,
(33:31):
but he can be a very very good receiver on
a playoff team. He could still be a number one.
I mean, I don't think he's gonna want to go
to like my Jets, who have all the capitom in
the world because they stink um and be like a
grown up in a locker room for the young kids.
But damn if I could get my hands on Julio
Jones for a young quarterback like Zach Wilson, Oh, that
(33:52):
would be amazing. Julio, they got the Denzel Mims uh,
Corey Davis, Jamison Crowder Uh. Now, Rob G hasten me
text to stop talking about the Jets again. Um, I
don't know, Rob. My guess is Julio's not going anywhere
and this is just you know, idle chit chat to
see if you can generate some kind of sweet offer.
(34:14):
But who's backing up the Brinks for a thirty two
year old receiver? That would be my John Gruden, who's
willing to back up the brinks chuck for a third Yards.
He did the same thing for Antonio Brown already, and
so I would not be ended in spectacular facts. You
act like that will stop him. You know, they they
drafted terribly with Cleveland Furral in the first round. They
(34:38):
reached for him, and then they followed up the following
year by reaching for um Our Nett, the cornerback. Oh goodness,
what a disaster. So um, I also need to add,
did you see the report on your Raiders that Gruden
is out on players who opted out? Did you see that?
I saw that the Pittsburgh is out on that as well. Well.
It's interesting that Gruden would come out and say that
(35:00):
because a lot of people in some mock drafts had
kind of pegged Micah Parsons from Penn State to the
Raiders because you know, John Gruden likes toughness, he likes
football guys, We're gonna hit smash and all those chucky
isms that were a deal when he was you know,
the Monday night football announcer. Um. But like, personally, I
(35:20):
have no I no earthly clue what your Raiders are doing.
At least my Jets have bottomed out. So if they
went for Julio and be like, hey, We're trying to
grow up and get some veterans and make a quick
push while the Patriots are still down. Miami doesn't know
what they have with Tua, and you know, it was
just basically dangling him for Deshaun Watson and maybe we
(35:40):
sneak into the playoffs with Big Ben's career coming to
an end. Your Raiders are in a brutal division. I'm
just gonna put this out there quietly. You know, if
you're deep into a thirty five minute podcast, for even
a podcast like, maybe you'll pick this kernel up. I
have a Denver Broncos super Bowl ticket. I know they're
not gonna win a super Bowl with Drew Locket quarterback,
(36:03):
but should they fall asked backward into a capable quarterback,
that team has a ton of talent. Quietly, they had
an amazing offseason. Rob without question, your Raiders are the
worst team in the a f C West. We know
the chiefs of one. I think we both agree that
Chargers are two. The Raiders are I mean they're headed
(36:25):
for five wins, and I mean I don't know how
you get your You need the jaws of life to
get out of John Druden's contract. Well, quickly on the
whole opt out situation before we devitail and finish this
off on Julio. The Raiders flouted the COVID rules more
than anybody in the NFL last season, So that tells
me that they don't think it was that big of
a deal, and anybody who thinks it is the big deal,
(36:46):
I think they may think that they are what's the
word beta's and that's why we don't want him in Vegas.
I think that that's John Gruten's attitude. But with Julio,
I think that the reason why they're even considering an
accepting call Julio number want to save money. But I
think that they know that there is a very very
good chance that they could have justin Field staring at
(37:08):
them at number four, and I think it would behoove
them to not take the hometown kid. Build for the future.
And if you're going to do that, there's no reason
to keep Julio Jones around because you know you're you're
basically so you're telling me you are endorsing the Falcons
hunting on this season. Okay, even though Drew Brees retired
(37:32):
and the division is you know, Tampa's to lose but
Carolinas in rebuild mode, I don't think anybody believes in
the Saints. You're basically saying, hey, we're gonna you know,
we're gonna be way over the cap, and we're going
to get a quarterback for our future, and you know
who really cares about this season? Would you say that
(37:53):
they are much better without Julio Jones than with him,
like he's really making that big of a difference. Well, no, no,
I'm I'm saying that. But they can't. They can't do
what San Francisco was planning on doing with Jimmy Garoppolo. Um, well,
I I A, I don't know that they feel as
(38:13):
confident that Arthur Smith. Who I mean, can we say
he made Ryan Tannehill? Um, yes, I don't know. Ryan
Tannehill was a top ten pick and did nothing in Miami. Um,
and and kind of refurbished his career if you will,
in Tennessee. But let's just say I have more faith
in Kyle Shanahan than I do Arthur Smith. And at
(38:35):
the same time, like, you're getting now the fourth best
quarterback in the draft, But is he the fourth best quarterback? Well,
I didn't have the top three guys don't want him.
Nobody else was trading up for him yesterday. Kyle Shanahan
believes more in Kyle Shannahan that he does any quarterback.
That's what. Yeah. I love this draft stuff. Alright, guys,
(38:58):
so this has been a good one. Um, I don't think.
Maybe we'll see, maybe there's another level to Julio. We
have a really good guest coming up tomorrow. You guys
are gonna like his stuff. Um, forty eight hours to
the draft. Get ready, folks. Uh, it's gonna be a blast.
We will talk to you tomorrow.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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