July 15, 2020 • 34 mins
Kenny "The Jet" Smith went from playing alongside Michael Jordan on a North Carolina NCAA team to ten seasons in the NBA where he helped lead the Houston Rockets to back-to-back championships. Since then, The Jet has brought his expertise on the court to the always entertaining & award-winning Inside the NBA on TNT, where he's delivered enough classic TV moments to rival his extensive on-court highlight reel. With the NBA Bubble ramping up, Kenny joins Jensen to talk about the Woj email, LeBron's decision to keep his name on his jersey and Kenny's upcoming virtual basketball camp, The Jet Academy (jetacademycamp.com). Jensen also breaks the news to Kenny about Russell Westbrook's positive test in a jam packed episode. This episode and series supports FeedingAmerica.org. For more of The Sports Bubble, visit treefort.fm/the-sports-bubble
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Sports Bubble, a production of iHeart Radio
Entree Fork Media. My name is Jensen Carp and I'm
a sports fan and like my one year old when
he plays with his mom in our backyard, I'm intensely
watching bubbles. But amongst all the social media updates about
Dwight Howard being alone at a DJ party and slightly
(00:25):
unimpressive food plans, I think we're missing out on a
big story. A Rod and JL are trying to buy
the Mets. Sure, they're part of a large group that
includes finance bros and Bradley Beale, Travis Kelsey and of
all people, Mason Plumley, but still the Mets. Sure, the
TV deal is great, but I can't imagine seeing these
celebrities even traveling the Flushing let alone hanging at the games.
(00:46):
I doubt Jennifer Lopez knows who Benny Agban Yanni is. Also,
wouldn't it be prime Mets behavior to sell the A
Rod and JL then have them break up publicly and
have to sit in separate sides of City Bank and
never even promote they own the team so the other
doesn't succeed and way l f GM here, I am
still interviewing athletes and sports and superfessionals finding out how
they're doing during this very weird time because someone has to.
(01:08):
This is the sports bubble with Jensen Card. When people
first started looking at sports for normalcy, I called foul.
It's weird, and I never would have expected how much
people look to televise competition to feel whole. But then
I started thinking about my favorite TV show, Inside the
NBA on T and T, and I realized maybe I
needed sports more than I ever thought, because I really
miss my ritual of watching it. And a major reason
(01:31):
for that show's success and relevancy is today's guest, Kenny Smith.
Kenny the Jet played ten years in the NBA, most
notably for the Houston Rockets, where he won two championships
alongside players like a Chemalai Juan and Clyde Drexler. The
former u n C Tar Heels score just under ten
thousand points in his professional run, and his career three
point percentage still ranks him top fifty in the history
(01:51):
of the NBA, and since his tremendous playing days, he's
continued to give back to the game, becoming a premier
broadcast voice alongside Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson.
Where they might not only be the funniest force in
working on TV, they've also helped guide a sports fandom
through heavy subjects and social issues well beyond the court.
With the NBA bubble ramping up, I talked to Kenny
about the Woes email, Lebron's decision to keep his name
(02:13):
on his jersey, and Kenny's upcoming virtual basketball camp, and
I break the news of Russell Westbrook testing positive to him,
which felt like quite a Woes bomb in itself. It's
an honor to talk to Kenny, the Jets smith in
the sports bubble Press one. Kenny, it's an honor to
(02:43):
speak with you. I wanted to at least start with
the idea that that with inside the NBA, on T
and T, it's it's not just basketball talk. You guys
have this incredible personality thing going on, and you've become
so relevant and raw with talk about what's going on
around the world. You're sort of a north star for
a lot of people at time. I know that you've
been quarantining pretty steadily, pretty strictly, but I wanted to
(03:05):
know what you think, why are so many people rebelling
against this idea of masks and science? Well, I have
no idea because, um, you know, honestly, for me, who
is you know, outside in public particularly you know, I'm
an average criticism, I'm gonna have to wear it when
maybe an hour a day, you know, if I'm out
and if i'm Let's say, let's say, if everyone's right
(03:28):
about hey, you didn't really need to wear math. Let's
say you're right. I don't mean a convenued for an hour.
What if you're wrong, you say, you kill people, The
the the the risk out weighs the reward, you know.
So I think that it's important to understand that as
a citizen is just you know, you're sacrifice. And I
(03:52):
think maybe being in sports. People have been in sports
have sacrifice their personal game for the better or of
the good of the team. And so for us, it's
not unusual to do that. For me being on a
championship team East Rockets, you know, number one team in
the country in college, Like, you're you're okay with giving
(04:16):
some of your individual things up for greater the good.
I totally understand it. It's just it's so mind boggling
to me, and I ask you about sort of the
role of larger issues like politics and sports. This week,
as I mean a large story is that a reporter
we all call Woes and lovingly love his bombs. Uh,
(04:36):
he gets suspended for two weeks for sending an F
word laced email to a senator as a reply for
being critical of social issues. A lot of people and
players are standing up for woes. What what were your
feelings when you read about the situation. Well, I just
feel that there is a line of you know, personal,
and there's a line of work, and sometimes those lines
(04:59):
do glect. However, his personal emails, I don't know if
he even ESPN email to send these things out. I
don't know how that leaves in. At times, when you
publicly make statements on your Instagram, Twitter, at times I
(05:21):
could really reflect on your employer and and their news.
So I understand that. But if he's sending a personal
email about his personal political views to a personal senator
at times, we got it bad. Yeah, it seems crazy
for me, especially because I applaud so much of finding
out personal beliefs of people, especially in the NBA. But
(05:43):
I found it so messed up that it was basically
you know, it was sent to his personal He responded
with a personal. I mean if if employers or you know,
any sports league start looking into people's personal emails as
you know, a reflection of their employer, it does seem
like a very slippery slope. Yeah. Yeah, I think that
when you make it a public your point, then you
(06:06):
do have an obligation to your family, your friends, and
your employer in that order, like when you make it public.
But if you do not make it public, you don't
have an obligation regardless of what you're believe, if I
agree with it or not, you don't have an obligation
two to us at all, or your employer, or your
fans or your press. Yeah, if you make it public,
(06:28):
you do, which which brings us to the NBA bubble.
This past weekend we saw finally some optimism from players
in Orlando, whether it was Chris Paul playing corn hole
or the MAVs having a DJ Balcony dance party. But
right before we got on the phone, Russell Westbrook announced
that he had tested positive for COVID and now obviously
has to quarantine and not play. So what do you
(06:48):
think morale is right now in Orlando for these players.
I think it's you know, I would say if I
would be I'm not obviously being in that bubble as
a whole unique situation and told you have to tell
you to be there if I was there again, I'm
just I'm optimistic, but super cautious because we understand that
this is the most contagious the virus that we've had,
(07:11):
and it's the most beat in our life that period.
So there's no question that out of bound, there's no
you know, process that out of bound. So everyone is
optimistically cautious, though, and here you have a guy who's
you know, already down there or or right to be.
I think it's just getting there um or whatever you
(07:33):
and so you know, it's a it's an unbelievable, you know,
scenario that one of the best players in the league
has to be quarantining for minimum before teen days. I mean,
I know, I've heard you say in other interviews, and
it's kind of how I feel about. You know, a
rookie is going to have a different response to leaving
his family and and sort of the risks than someone
(07:53):
who has a full family has been in the league
for seven eight years. But now with Westbrook and you know,
sort of seeing some of the video from from the
bubble and we're all laughing at it because it is
it is funny to see, you know, JJ Reddick shot
on a beer because he's bored. But do you think
this overall bubble idea now not having Westbrook play and
what will this championship mean? Was it the right thing
(08:14):
to do? I don't. I don't think there's the right
home thing, Like there is no equation that is comfortable.
Every day we get new information that actually contradicts sometimes
what the information was before. I don't think there's any
right way, Like, you know, besides, the opening as we
(08:34):
opened up is like should we wear a mask or not?
Like the information that comes in it's so contradictory and
so diametrically opposed and the one that we've heard before.
At times, there hasn't been a united front. There hasn't
been one message that's comes from people we trust and
say we're going to follow that as a nation. Uh So,
(08:54):
now that's why you have spiking and so areas and
all of those things, and that that's the most difficult
part about being part of this is the uncertainty of
the information and where you're getting it from. Yeah, And
like even right before we got on the phone together,
I was talking to my wife about Westbrook, and you know,
I've heard from Gobert a little bit that he still
(09:16):
has lasting effects. We've heard whispers that like, oh, these
players could feel or anyone could feel the effects on
their lungs for years to come. I mean, I don't
even know if that's a true statement. I mean, I
hate putting anyone, let alone my favorite athletes in that predicament.
But I don't know if that's the truth. I don't
know if it goes away, I don't know if it
sticks with you. I have no clue. It's a new
it's a new violence. So no one knows where the
(09:37):
long term round offlications are. And I like, even when
you told me where, you're the first one to tell
me that, I wasn't aware that he would, you know,
a touch the probity. So like I'm learning this information
as we're talking. And because there's so many other things
between the social and jud you know, the spiking and
Plauda and Texas, you know, and then like I live
(09:58):
in Los Angeles, what did it do in here and
you know, you have young kids and and then all
of sudden, West Lot like that's last on my Look,
that's quite a time, quite a time. Uh, Well more
at home for you. What what is the plan for
you guys to return to Turner, to basketball, to the
our favorite TV show? What is what? What's the role
(10:20):
out for you guys? Well, you know, we we start
doing home shows this month, and then they they're asking
us to possibly, you know, to to continue that shows
in Atlanta and then from there, I don't know, you know,
right right after that, I don't know. And it's um
an interesting time when you really don't know your schedule. Yeah,
(10:43):
you kind of know it if you could propose schedule,
but is it actually gonna follow through, you know, based
on what's happening? That's crazy to hear. Even uh when
it comes to inside the NBA. I wanted to ask
also about you know, my favorite it with Ernie, Like,
you know, he has faced you know, hot skins of
(11:03):
foam in the past, and he is of a higher
age group than the rest. I mean, is there concern
over him jumping into anything quickly? Has it been talked about,
you know, sort of keeping him at Bay. I think
we've all seen that this is not just age anymore.
I think initially those were, you know, the first reports,
but I know eleven year old kids in Los Angeles
(11:23):
who have it, you know, so it's not an age
thing anymore. I think we're all concerned, you know, obviously
you know for Ernie of course, but we're all concerned
for all about families and friends and what they you know,
they have to go to um. You know. I've unfortunately
had probably a more direct loss probably than maybe some
(11:46):
of the other guys, because I'm from New York and
that was where it initially came, you know, the episode
of where it's kind of like first people were getting
tested more and people were dying more. So for me,
my thought process about this virus is a lot different.
I think that maybe even everyone else that lives and
(12:06):
work in Atlanta. You've talked about on on kind of
a more surface level, You've talked about how you expect
a lot of young teams to sneak in a possible
championship here in Orlando. I wanted to know why you
saw an advantage for those teams over like say a
Lakers or Clippers who under different circumstances in a normal
NBA playoff would be clear far and away favorites. Well,
(12:27):
I think just because of the fact that you know,
young players trained differently. They trained to be ready right now.
As you become a season vet, you're trained to become
better as the season goes on. And this feels more
like an AU tournament than it does the continuation of
the season. And I think the young guys, some of
(12:48):
these guys are only two or three years we moved from.
They're saying, oh, this is in the newsual environment, but
and an you tournament like this being there all in
one hotel, public teams there, this is what they grew
up doing, most of these guys, So I think the
comfort level might be different. And then the lack of
home court advantage. Home court advantage is big for veteran teams,
(13:11):
and because there's no home court advantage, I think that
allows younger teams to play better in this environment. Yeah,
I I totally see that. And I guess my thing
too is like guys like Lebron, which we'll get into
in a little bit, like they're dealing with much heavier
things right now. I kind of think if you're uh,
(13:31):
you know a rookie in the league, and you're just like, man,
I don't know. I play basketball and call of duty
when I get back to the the hotel, it does
feel like they have less on their mind to jump
into this bubble. Yeah, and you know, when you have
less responsibilities, you're worrying about you. They're the anxiety that
other players are having from you know, typically you're worrying
(13:51):
about who I have to God, Chrick, Paul, but Matthew,
worrying about what I eat? Can I talk to this person?
Can I play card in this room? Could I read
this book because someone touched it? Then you if you
have more responsibility, how my kids doing at home? How
was my wife, my family, my mom my dad. So
the younger you are, the unless responsibilities you have. So
(14:12):
unless anxiety may have possibly in this environment, I know
I have more. I have more anxiety year olds on
right now, right right, Yeah, I hope. So I have
a one year old, So I tend to think that
I have way more neurosis, at least I hope. Back
to basketball, you became a bit of a Twitter ratio
last week when you placed Lebron as tenth best in
(14:34):
the NBA You've talked about it enough. We're not gonna
go too deep into it, citing sort of the change
in gameplay over the years, a bit of an equalizer.
I wanted to ask you on the other side of things,
as a common just watcher of the game and super fan,
I see dudes like Zion or Jonas or Dame and
they're they're they're kind of these like health specimens, Like
I can't believe they look like that. And then I
(14:56):
see my dad's favorite players and I'm like, these dudes
are sticks, you know what I mean. Like, I'm always
shocked at how physical, beyond belief the game has become.
With the competition being so much tougher than say, when
we'll scored a hundred, wouldn't it be almost that Lebron
has it harder or what am I missing in in
in the expertise of it. Well, I would say that, yeah,
(15:16):
athleticism is more on display. I don't think that it was.
It's got much more, if you know what I mean.
So Michael Jordan was jumping from the foco box, right,
so zac Lavini says, oh, I saw that, So now
I'm going to try to jump on the d and
put it between my legs, so you know, it's not
(15:39):
it's justok, more on display because of the rules as well,
because there's no hand checking and there's no flagrant foul rules.
There's no you know, there's no suspension of games. So
now you have freedom of movement, which puts your athletics
as a more on display. It looks very similar if
you want to am a luck of the or pick
(16:00):
up game in in in the nineties, you would see
this type of athleticism on display. So I just we're
talking about threads of greatness now, you know, between Kevin
Durant and and and and Lebraun and Oscar Robbinson and Kareem.
But I you know, I've seen Kaleem when he was
Kareem the guy. You know that he paid it, and
(16:23):
it doesn't look much different. And if you don't, I
think that you know, these guys appear to be you know,
Zion like however, are massive of around It's really not.
You know, if you were in them, you can rocket lockerroom.
You saw you know, the athleticism and Rarning Maxwell, the
(16:45):
keep Alijaan and and those guys like that. You go, well,
it doesn't look that much different. You know, you know,
Championshill looks like Darren Collinson, you know, and like they're
not really that much different. Um so some of god
he used to play football and now play basketball. Yeah,
that may be it, but in terms of overall athleticism,
(17:08):
it's not that much different. I think it's just more
consistent that these guys jump. But I don't think it's higher.
I think they just do it more consistently. Well. Uh,
speaking of Lebron, you know, he's been in the news
all week regarding the idea of the league approved protests
sayings for the back of the jerseys. He has decided
(17:30):
not to go with it. Anthony Davis has followed suit. Uh.
Some players I think we'll be hearing about in the
next couple of days will also agree that it doesn't
resonate with their own missions. Much like Lebron said, I
think we live not only in COVID times, but with
obviously people starting to wake up to the racial divide
thanks to so many things, but to the unfortunate murder
of George Floyd. What was your reaction, because I feel
(17:54):
like I've changed my thoughts on it. At first, I
was like, well, that sounds like a cool thing to do,
put them on the back of the or is he's
And then as I listened to Lebron, I thought, well,
I don't want anything to be uniform right now. I
think everyone should make their own personal choices. And I
guess I'm just very confused at what are your thoughts
on the jersey situation. Well, I think that I do
(18:14):
like the idea that guys have that opportunity to do it.
I would have liked to for them to admit certain
things individually if they didn't see one of their quotes
that they wanted on the twenty two lists, and I
don't know if that's happened. I have to be, you know,
be careful that I'm not a hundreds in sure, but
I think that you know this awareness there are guys
(18:38):
like Lebron. He doesn't have to always wear something on
the back of his jersey to get his political message ahead.
But there are guys on the team that they do.
They don't have the same breach socially and politically that
he does, so this helps us get their message, of course,
So I think it's both and it's hard to stannable
(19:00):
and no one, no one is forced or I don't
think anyone's obligation ever is to to jump in a cause.
But if you should be aware of it, and you
should be able to say that, let me say you don't.
I don't think you're obligation to start a cause. I
think your obligation is to know what your cause is.
(19:21):
And because we all don't have the same mental um
imagination to create programs and so you know what, man,
I would love to help kids, but I don't even
know what to do. I gotta said that all the time.
All right, Well, here's a program that you should do.
You should research that. You do obligation and research it
and figure out where do you want to land. Your
(19:43):
job is to create the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
That's not your obligation, right, you could seek it out
and figure out maybe I'll support that. You know that
is an obligation. Yeah, And you obviously played with with
Jordan's uh and we're friends with him, and he obviously
at a different approach towards politics and social justice that
you know has kind of come under scrutiny and he's changed.
(20:05):
It seems like he's making a bit of a one
eight there. Have you been impressed as a fan watching
Lebron becomes this sort of north star for politics and
social justice. I just don't think we were in the
same place that we're at. I don't think we're in
the same place to compare what Michael or Mohammad Ali
or even Lebron is doing, because they're all different. Like
(20:26):
Mohammed Ali is the ultimate of what we're talking about.
So I think that then to say, well, Lebron doesn't
do it, momma a leave, did you know? I think
it's just it's a different time and Lebron is great
at using social media platform where if he tweets something
right now, millions of people know instantly. Where the news
(20:50):
cycle is so different in the nineties, like time it
got back to the whole news cycle. It's not news anymore.
It's not even news. It's like so it's a different environment.
You know, Uh, there are people, you know, even when
Rodney King happened, it took weeks for people to even
see the video, like weeks. You know, people say, oh,
(21:13):
I haven't seen that yet, you know, like what you
hadn't seen the Rotney King because you have to wait
for the eleven o'clock news to kind of show it again,
so all day you don't have an opportunity to see it.
Right now, that information has passed instantly around the world.
That's why George Floyd around the world there was protests.
It wasn't protests just an American so you know, they
were all protesting injustice. So it's just a different that
(21:38):
everyone lives in. Because imagine if mom and Ali who
was able to move the needle without any kind of
social media, imagine if he lived in miss Era, the
changes he could have made. He talked like a Twitter account. Yeah, um,
I did want to ask you what you expect to
(21:59):
see I mean with these hopefully, man, I don't know
even with breaking news just before we talked, but you
know with these games starting pretty soon, like do you
expect to see showing of protest you? Is that what
we're gonna just is going to become the norm for
each game. I think that the norm is no NORMA
(22:19):
norm is out of the window, you know, because most
of the norm that was there before a lot of
us really didn't like you kind of we're able to
move in it and be successful in the in that norm,
but meanly like it. So that I just I think
when I hear norm, an old norm, a new norm.
I just feel that there is no norm. It is
(22:40):
a collection uh thought provoking incidents that now can be
solution based. More with Kenny Smith after this. Right now,
Feeding America is working tirelessly to ensure are most vulnerable
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(23:03):
individuals whose jobs are impacted, and low income families continue
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(23:25):
we hope that you can join us in this effort
to find out how you can help Feeding America dot
org backslash COVID nineteen. Now the rest of my conversation
with Inside the NBA on T and T S. Kenny Smith.
You've said recently that it's somewhat inevitable that one day
you'll join a front office for an NBA team, And
(23:47):
I always am so depressed by the numbers of African
Americans working behind the scenes in the NBA, and I
want to know, obviously, you'd be a great addition to
any team. I want to know what other black basketball
minds that are out there that you think have not
gotten the chance. They so deserve someone with a basketball mind,
someone that would just be such an addition to a
team to wear a suit and help out that just
(24:09):
hasn't gotten that chance. Well, here's the scenario that I
look at it instead of looking at a particular individual
or individuals. Sports, for some reason, the only profession where
they take your tenure, the experience, and your expertise, and
when you finished playing, they say it doesn't count. You
(24:33):
have to start in the mil If I was If
I was for Amazon twenty years and I took that
Amazon team from a team that was starting not doing
well to all of a sudden, we're a championship team
for multiple years. Can I leave Amazon. I'm the most
sought after consultant in the field. But when you leave
(24:55):
the sport, they go, well, now you you got to
cut films. You know it's on the film like like like.
Because the information that I've acquired over the twenty years
of being the player twenty years at TNT between runners,
um agents, general managers, and players and owners that have
(25:15):
called me for information and or guide it. Yeah, I'm
on an infantry level thought process, like meaning I see
things from that point of view, but I also see
it from a bird's out point of view, which they
can only see it at. So I know how this
decision is gonna affect not only the player, but the agents,
the runner, and the mom and the dad. The decision
(25:37):
you're making about this person going into the bubble, I
know how it affects every element of the person that
is going into bubble. That is an experience that no
one else who says, did you do your homework and
say I'm gonna be I'm really gonna be a student
of analytics. I'm going to be a student of you know, business.
(25:59):
I can't learned that. No one could ever learn those
twenty years and those ten years in the NBA. So
tho ye's no one could ever learn that, And so
that is where to me, it seems it's inevitable, and
there's a long list of people that have it. I
just feel, um, you know, not to to my horn,
but I'm just at the top of that list. When
(26:20):
it comes to the experience from television, I could tell
you how what your team is the kidding so what
they say, how it affects the biggest companies in the
media like Turner and ESPN, How it effects is that
what you're about to say? Where do you get that?
I don't know. I'm all for it. Uh a question.
(26:42):
And then we're gonna get into the Jet Academy, which
I which I love. But uh, do you ever think
about politics ever cross your mind? I Mean, your mom
always says, you know you're gonna be the first black president.
That's about it. When you're when you're like, you could
be the first black president. But I've never thought of
it as a political aspiration. I just think that, you know,
(27:06):
I've never never do at all. Right, I'm just placing
it into your head. All right, all right, let's talk
about the Jet Academy. You've been holding basketball camps for
twenty five years, and now with the changes all around us,
you've had to call an audible tell us what the
classes in are gonna look like. Well, what it is
is that it's the first virtual basketball training mechanism and
sports training. Because we're gonna venture out to WHOA. That's
(27:28):
why wear the Academy. It's basically myself I Holt every
week with three young Victola Deepo, Temba Walker All NBA
All Star, h w n B A n d P
Briana Stewart, Brittany Grinders w NBA alf Saw will be
Hall of Famer. And what we do is where your
personal training four hour and a half. And what differentiates
(27:49):
it is it's live. It does live on demand afterwards,
but it's live and you get to consume information the
way we consume it now. You can ask questions live,
you can upload your video if at forty eight hours,
we kind of answer it and say, hey, you're doing
this right. It's the way our kids consume information. They
don't pop in a DCR tape. They don't even like
(28:11):
going to a demand link all the time if it's
not live. They don't really all the time like consuming
the information that's there because they want to interact with it.
And that's what we've done. We have some great partners.
Big Shock had the Big Shock code. You put in
Big Shock, you get a great discount, American Express giving
a study five dollars off if a card older comes
(28:31):
on We've got some great partnerships come in as well,
and it's the first of its kind. It works on
any device anywhere, or you needed Wi Fi service and
or tell you the services. That's it. And you could
be in a park, you could be in the gym,
you could be in your backyard, you could be in
your living room or in your room and annoy your
mom a bout the ball in your room. So you
(28:52):
could do anything of that nature and be part of
this and where your personal trainer is go an hour
and a half a day. Yeah, it's so impressive how
you guys kind of change it around. I know you were, Uh.
I read that you were inspired by d Nice in
the Versus series by Timberland and Swizz Beats. I mean,
I've I've been so blown away by all of the
creativity on social media and this is just another sort
of great example of it, considering how much of the
(29:14):
Internet is just garbage people usually. Yeah, I think again,
it's consuming information that you're the way you're consuming it
now and producing it, but at the same time making
it appropriate for the actual movement of your daily life.
And people can check it out at jet Academy camp
dot com. Uh. It's awesome and they can add the
(29:34):
big shock code correct to to save money. I can
do that, will use your m X and you'll save
money as well. Jet Academy camp dot com again. Jet
academy camp dot com where you go sign up, put
the big Shot code in or use your MX and uh,
I'm joining. I love it well. I wanted to ask
you one last thing. You know, like you said, the
(29:56):
call of a team's front office may eventually pull you
from the Turner broadcast, no matter how much I hope
that doesn't happen, but deep inside hope it does. I
wanted to go through some names of people who might
send in their resume if you were to leave an
empty chair on the show. I wanted you to tell
me if you think they'd farewell on inside the NBA
as a replacement. Alright, First I have I have moving
(30:16):
him from courtside to the studio. He's a controversial voice.
Reggie Miller, Reggie's great game day. I love I love
watching You're looking at the Reggie at the game. So
Reggie the game by very good. Okay, this guy just retired.
He's an animal of how how long he played, But
(30:38):
what a basketball mind with Vince Carter could come on
the show with us right now, we were honest, we
could put a fip chair up there at six ft away.
I don't have to leave. Okay, that's a good one,
all right, this one. He's become quite an impressive podcaster,
and I love his voice. I did not think I would,
even as a Clippers fan, I never saw myself rooting
(31:00):
for the media presence of Matt Barnes. I would love
to see Matt Bond dominate like NBA TV, because he's
got like a a persona that I'd like to see
every day more than i'd like to see once a week. Yeah,
I would like he's like a radio show, okay, because
(31:22):
he's gonna be topical. I'd like to hear him on
the topic a lot of times on our show. We're
one week away, and sometimes the topic that is hot
on Thursday is not hot on the following on Thursday.
I love to hear Matt Bonds take on things as
they happen. Okay, very I listen. I've surprised again of
how much I love hearing Matt Barnes talk. All Right,
(31:43):
this one is a little crazier. It's for times that
we want to go on an acid trip. What about
the addition of Bill Walton. Yeah, just I think he's
great and and and college basketball is where he lives.
To me, you know, what he does for a coup
of basketball in the Pac twelve is like perfect. He's
(32:06):
one of my favorites. But he's one of my favorite
I laugh every time he's on. Okay, my other one.
This is my last one. And I think this is
the most realistic to me because I think that he
brings a great game mind. And let's he'll let Shack
and Barkley do their thing. Uh, Kevin Garnett. But we've
got Kevin. Kevin was there already. Okay, Well we're interestingly enough.
You know, Area's twenty one. Yeah, I'm still aware of
(32:29):
those shirts. I create the word the cug button for him.
I listen, I'm trying to. I'm trying to. I saw
him an uncut gems. I'm just trying. I'm trying to
fancy him up a bit. Put him at the desk. Yeah,
I missed Kevin Man. He is the most enthusiastic person
about life that I've ever met. H I've never met
anyone that more enthusiastic about life. So I've missed him,
(32:52):
all right, Well, maybe we'll agree on him. But luckily
we do not have to replace you. This is all
fictitious because I do not want you to leave. I
do want you to stay healthy and safe. Though. I
appreciate you talking to me, and I hope next time
we talk, I don't break another name with positive CODVID
tests again. I feel bad about that now, Okay, thank you,
Thank you, Kady. Take care. The Sports Bubble is produced
(33:22):
and distributed by tree Fort Media. The show was executive
produced by Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Matthew Coogler, and me
Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer and
sound supervisor, with production and editing by Jasper Leak additional
production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hayley Mandelberg.
Our theme music is composed by Spilkus. If you've enjoyed
(33:43):
what you've heard, please subscribe, rate us and review us
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to podcasts, and please visit Feeding America dot
org if you're able to make a donation, any amount
makes a difference, and you can learn more about other
ways you can help. On their website. For more information
on a sports Bubble, links to the socials, and for
show transcripts for our hearing impaired listeners, go to tree
(34:04):
for dot fm. Be safe and be well. The Sports
Bubble is a production of I Heart Radio and tree
Fort Media. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to the Sports Bubble, a production of iHeart Radio
Entree Fork Media. My name is Jensen Carp and I'm
a sports fan and like my one year old when
he plays with his mom in our backyard, I'm intensely
watching bubbles. But amongst all the social media updates about
Dwight Howard being alone at a DJ party and slightly
(00:25):
unimpressive food plans, I think we're missing out on a
big story. A Rod and JL are trying to buy
the Mets. Sure, they're part of a large group that
includes finance bros and Bradley Beale, Travis Kelsey and of
all people, Mason Plumley, but still the Mets. Sure, the
TV deal is great, but I can't imagine seeing these
celebrities even traveling the Flushing let alone hanging at the games.
(00:46):
I doubt Jennifer Lopez knows who Benny Agban Yanni is. Also,
wouldn't it be prime Mets behavior to sell the A
Rod and JL then have them break up publicly and
have to sit in separate sides of City Bank and
never even promote they own the team so the other
doesn't succeed and way l f GM here, I am
still interviewing athletes and sports and superfessionals finding out how
they're doing during this very weird time because someone has to.
(01:08):
This is the sports bubble with Jensen Card. When people
first started looking at sports for normalcy, I called foul.
It's weird, and I never would have expected how much
people look to televise competition to feel whole. But then
I started thinking about my favorite TV show, Inside the
NBA on T and T, and I realized maybe I
needed sports more than I ever thought, because I really
miss my ritual of watching it. And a major reason
(01:31):
for that show's success and relevancy is today's guest, Kenny Smith.
Kenny the Jet played ten years in the NBA, most
notably for the Houston Rockets, where he won two championships
alongside players like a Chemalai Juan and Clyde Drexler. The
former u n C Tar Heels score just under ten
thousand points in his professional run, and his career three
point percentage still ranks him top fifty in the history
(01:51):
of the NBA, and since his tremendous playing days, he's
continued to give back to the game, becoming a premier
broadcast voice alongside Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson.
Where they might not only be the funniest force in
working on TV, they've also helped guide a sports fandom
through heavy subjects and social issues well beyond the court.
With the NBA bubble ramping up, I talked to Kenny
about the Woes email, Lebron's decision to keep his name
(02:13):
on his jersey, and Kenny's upcoming virtual basketball camp, and
I break the news of Russell Westbrook testing positive to him,
which felt like quite a Woes bomb in itself. It's
an honor to talk to Kenny, the Jets smith in
the sports bubble Press one. Kenny, it's an honor to
(02:43):
speak with you. I wanted to at least start with
the idea that that with inside the NBA, on T
and T, it's it's not just basketball talk. You guys
have this incredible personality thing going on, and you've become
so relevant and raw with talk about what's going on
around the world. You're sort of a north star for
a lot of people at time. I know that you've
been quarantining pretty steadily, pretty strictly, but I wanted to
(03:05):
know what you think, why are so many people rebelling
against this idea of masks and science? Well, I have
no idea because, um, you know, honestly, for me, who
is you know, outside in public particularly you know, I'm
an average criticism, I'm gonna have to wear it when
maybe an hour a day, you know, if I'm out
and if i'm Let's say, let's say, if everyone's right
(03:28):
about hey, you didn't really need to wear math. Let's
say you're right. I don't mean a convenued for an hour.
What if you're wrong, you say, you kill people, The
the the the risk out weighs the reward, you know.
So I think that it's important to understand that as
a citizen is just you know, you're sacrifice. And I
(03:52):
think maybe being in sports. People have been in sports
have sacrifice their personal game for the better or of
the good of the team. And so for us, it's
not unusual to do that. For me being on a
championship team East Rockets, you know, number one team in
the country in college, Like, you're you're okay with giving
(04:16):
some of your individual things up for greater the good.
I totally understand it. It's just it's so mind boggling
to me, and I ask you about sort of the
role of larger issues like politics and sports. This week,
as I mean a large story is that a reporter
we all call Woes and lovingly love his bombs. Uh,
(04:36):
he gets suspended for two weeks for sending an F
word laced email to a senator as a reply for
being critical of social issues. A lot of people and
players are standing up for woes. What what were your
feelings when you read about the situation. Well, I just
feel that there is a line of you know, personal,
and there's a line of work, and sometimes those lines
(04:59):
do glect. However, his personal emails, I don't know if
he even ESPN email to send these things out. I
don't know how that leaves in. At times, when you
publicly make statements on your Instagram, Twitter, at times I
(05:21):
could really reflect on your employer and and their news.
So I understand that. But if he's sending a personal
email about his personal political views to a personal senator
at times, we got it bad. Yeah, it seems crazy
for me, especially because I applaud so much of finding
out personal beliefs of people, especially in the NBA. But
(05:43):
I found it so messed up that it was basically
you know, it was sent to his personal He responded
with a personal. I mean if if employers or you know,
any sports league start looking into people's personal emails as
you know, a reflection of their employer, it does seem
like a very slippery slope. Yeah. Yeah, I think that
when you make it a public your point, then you
(06:06):
do have an obligation to your family, your friends, and
your employer in that order, like when you make it public.
But if you do not make it public, you don't
have an obligation regardless of what you're believe, if I
agree with it or not, you don't have an obligation
two to us at all, or your employer, or your
fans or your press. Yeah, if you make it public,
(06:28):
you do, which which brings us to the NBA bubble.
This past weekend we saw finally some optimism from players
in Orlando, whether it was Chris Paul playing corn hole
or the MAVs having a DJ Balcony dance party. But
right before we got on the phone, Russell Westbrook announced
that he had tested positive for COVID and now obviously
has to quarantine and not play. So what do you
(06:48):
think morale is right now in Orlando for these players.
I think it's you know, I would say if I
would be I'm not obviously being in that bubble as
a whole unique situation and told you have to tell
you to be there if I was there again, I'm
just I'm optimistic, but super cautious because we understand that
this is the most contagious the virus that we've had,
(07:11):
and it's the most beat in our life that period.
So there's no question that out of bound, there's no
you know, process that out of bound. So everyone is
optimistically cautious, though, and here you have a guy who's
you know, already down there or or right to be.
I think it's just getting there um or whatever you
(07:33):
and so you know, it's a it's an unbelievable, you know,
scenario that one of the best players in the league
has to be quarantining for minimum before teen days. I mean,
I know, I've heard you say in other interviews, and
it's kind of how I feel about. You know, a
rookie is going to have a different response to leaving
his family and and sort of the risks than someone
(07:53):
who has a full family has been in the league
for seven eight years. But now with Westbrook and you know,
sort of seeing some of the video from from the
bubble and we're all laughing at it because it is
it is funny to see, you know, JJ Reddick shot
on a beer because he's bored. But do you think
this overall bubble idea now not having Westbrook play and
what will this championship mean? Was it the right thing
(08:14):
to do? I don't. I don't think there's the right
home thing, Like there is no equation that is comfortable.
Every day we get new information that actually contradicts sometimes
what the information was before. I don't think there's any
right way, Like, you know, besides, the opening as we
(08:34):
opened up is like should we wear a mask or not?
Like the information that comes in it's so contradictory and
so diametrically opposed and the one that we've heard before.
At times, there hasn't been a united front. There hasn't
been one message that's comes from people we trust and
say we're going to follow that as a nation. Uh So,
(08:54):
now that's why you have spiking and so areas and
all of those things, and that that's the most difficult
part about being part of this is the uncertainty of
the information and where you're getting it from. Yeah, And
like even right before we got on the phone together,
I was talking to my wife about Westbrook, and you know,
I've heard from Gobert a little bit that he still
(09:16):
has lasting effects. We've heard whispers that like, oh, these
players could feel or anyone could feel the effects on
their lungs for years to come. I mean, I don't
even know if that's a true statement. I mean, I
hate putting anyone, let alone my favorite athletes in that predicament.
But I don't know if that's the truth. I don't
know if it goes away, I don't know if it
sticks with you. I have no clue. It's a new
it's a new violence. So no one knows where the
(09:37):
long term round offlications are. And I like, even when
you told me where, you're the first one to tell
me that, I wasn't aware that he would, you know,
a touch the probity. So like I'm learning this information
as we're talking. And because there's so many other things
between the social and jud you know, the spiking and
Plauda and Texas, you know, and then like I live
(09:58):
in Los Angeles, what did it do in here and
you know, you have young kids and and then all
of sudden, West Lot like that's last on my Look,
that's quite a time, quite a time. Uh, Well more
at home for you. What what is the plan for
you guys to return to Turner, to basketball, to the
our favorite TV show? What is what? What's the role
(10:20):
out for you guys? Well, you know, we we start
doing home shows this month, and then they they're asking
us to possibly, you know, to to continue that shows
in Atlanta and then from there, I don't know, you know,
right right after that, I don't know. And it's um
an interesting time when you really don't know your schedule. Yeah,
(10:43):
you kind of know it if you could propose schedule,
but is it actually gonna follow through, you know, based
on what's happening? That's crazy to hear. Even uh when
it comes to inside the NBA. I wanted to ask
also about you know, my favorite it with Ernie, Like,
you know, he has faced you know, hot skins of
(11:03):
foam in the past, and he is of a higher
age group than the rest. I mean, is there concern
over him jumping into anything quickly? Has it been talked about,
you know, sort of keeping him at Bay. I think
we've all seen that this is not just age anymore.
I think initially those were, you know, the first reports,
but I know eleven year old kids in Los Angeles
(11:23):
who have it, you know, so it's not an age
thing anymore. I think we're all concerned, you know, obviously
you know for Ernie of course, but we're all concerned
for all about families and friends and what they you know,
they have to go to um. You know. I've unfortunately
had probably a more direct loss probably than maybe some
(11:46):
of the other guys, because I'm from New York and
that was where it initially came, you know, the episode
of where it's kind of like first people were getting
tested more and people were dying more. So for me,
my thought process about this virus is a lot different.
I think that maybe even everyone else that lives and
(12:06):
work in Atlanta. You've talked about on on kind of
a more surface level, You've talked about how you expect
a lot of young teams to sneak in a possible
championship here in Orlando. I wanted to know why you
saw an advantage for those teams over like say a
Lakers or Clippers who under different circumstances in a normal
NBA playoff would be clear far and away favorites. Well,
(12:27):
I think just because of the fact that you know,
young players trained differently. They trained to be ready right now.
As you become a season vet, you're trained to become
better as the season goes on. And this feels more
like an AU tournament than it does the continuation of
the season. And I think the young guys, some of
(12:48):
these guys are only two or three years we moved from.
They're saying, oh, this is in the newsual environment, but
and an you tournament like this being there all in
one hotel, public teams there, this is what they grew
up doing, most of these guys, So I think the
comfort level might be different. And then the lack of
home court advantage. Home court advantage is big for veteran teams,
(13:11):
and because there's no home court advantage, I think that
allows younger teams to play better in this environment. Yeah,
I I totally see that. And I guess my thing
too is like guys like Lebron, which we'll get into
in a little bit, like they're dealing with much heavier
things right now. I kind of think if you're uh,
(13:31):
you know a rookie in the league, and you're just like, man,
I don't know. I play basketball and call of duty
when I get back to the the hotel, it does
feel like they have less on their mind to jump
into this bubble. Yeah, and you know, when you have
less responsibilities, you're worrying about you. They're the anxiety that
other players are having from you know, typically you're worrying
(13:51):
about who I have to God, Chrick, Paul, but Matthew,
worrying about what I eat? Can I talk to this person?
Can I play card in this room? Could I read
this book because someone touched it? Then you if you
have more responsibility, how my kids doing at home? How
was my wife, my family, my mom my dad. So
the younger you are, the unless responsibilities you have. So
(14:12):
unless anxiety may have possibly in this environment, I know
I have more. I have more anxiety year olds on
right now, right right, Yeah, I hope. So I have
a one year old, So I tend to think that
I have way more neurosis, at least I hope. Back
to basketball, you became a bit of a Twitter ratio
last week when you placed Lebron as tenth best in
(14:34):
the NBA You've talked about it enough. We're not gonna
go too deep into it, citing sort of the change
in gameplay over the years, a bit of an equalizer.
I wanted to ask you on the other side of things,
as a common just watcher of the game and super fan,
I see dudes like Zion or Jonas or Dame and
they're they're they're kind of these like health specimens, Like
I can't believe they look like that. And then I
(14:56):
see my dad's favorite players and I'm like, these dudes
are sticks, you know what I mean. Like, I'm always
shocked at how physical, beyond belief the game has become.
With the competition being so much tougher than say, when
we'll scored a hundred, wouldn't it be almost that Lebron
has it harder or what am I missing in in
in the expertise of it. Well, I would say that, yeah,
(15:16):
athleticism is more on display. I don't think that it was.
It's got much more, if you know what I mean.
So Michael Jordan was jumping from the foco box, right,
so zac Lavini says, oh, I saw that, So now
I'm going to try to jump on the d and
put it between my legs, so you know, it's not
(15:39):
it's justok, more on display because of the rules as well,
because there's no hand checking and there's no flagrant foul rules.
There's no you know, there's no suspension of games. So
now you have freedom of movement, which puts your athletics
as a more on display. It looks very similar if
you want to am a luck of the or pick
(16:00):
up game in in in the nineties, you would see
this type of athleticism on display. So I just we're
talking about threads of greatness now, you know, between Kevin
Durant and and and and Lebraun and Oscar Robbinson and Kareem.
But I you know, I've seen Kaleem when he was
Kareem the guy. You know that he paid it, and
(16:23):
it doesn't look much different. And if you don't, I
think that you know, these guys appear to be you know,
Zion like however, are massive of around It's really not.
You know, if you were in them, you can rocket lockerroom.
You saw you know, the athleticism and Rarning Maxwell, the
(16:45):
keep Alijaan and and those guys like that. You go, well,
it doesn't look that much different. You know, you know,
Championshill looks like Darren Collinson, you know, and like they're
not really that much different. Um so some of god
he used to play football and now play basketball. Yeah,
that may be it, but in terms of overall athleticism,
(17:08):
it's not that much different. I think it's just more
consistent that these guys jump. But I don't think it's higher.
I think they just do it more consistently. Well. Uh,
speaking of Lebron, you know, he's been in the news
all week regarding the idea of the league approved protests
sayings for the back of the jerseys. He has decided
(17:30):
not to go with it. Anthony Davis has followed suit. Uh.
Some players I think we'll be hearing about in the
next couple of days will also agree that it doesn't
resonate with their own missions. Much like Lebron said, I
think we live not only in COVID times, but with
obviously people starting to wake up to the racial divide
thanks to so many things, but to the unfortunate murder
of George Floyd. What was your reaction, because I feel
(17:54):
like I've changed my thoughts on it. At first, I
was like, well, that sounds like a cool thing to do,
put them on the back of the or is he's
And then as I listened to Lebron, I thought, well,
I don't want anything to be uniform right now. I
think everyone should make their own personal choices. And I
guess I'm just very confused at what are your thoughts
on the jersey situation. Well, I think that I do
(18:14):
like the idea that guys have that opportunity to do it.
I would have liked to for them to admit certain
things individually if they didn't see one of their quotes
that they wanted on the twenty two lists, and I
don't know if that's happened. I have to be, you know,
be careful that I'm not a hundreds in sure, but
I think that you know this awareness there are guys
(18:38):
like Lebron. He doesn't have to always wear something on
the back of his jersey to get his political message ahead.
But there are guys on the team that they do.
They don't have the same breach socially and politically that
he does, so this helps us get their message, of course,
So I think it's both and it's hard to stannable
(19:00):
and no one, no one is forced or I don't
think anyone's obligation ever is to to jump in a cause.
But if you should be aware of it, and you
should be able to say that, let me say you don't.
I don't think you're obligation to start a cause. I
think your obligation is to know what your cause is.
(19:21):
And because we all don't have the same mental um
imagination to create programs and so you know what, man,
I would love to help kids, but I don't even
know what to do. I gotta said that all the time.
All right, Well, here's a program that you should do.
You should research that. You do obligation and research it
and figure out where do you want to land. Your
(19:43):
job is to create the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
That's not your obligation, right, you could seek it out
and figure out maybe I'll support that. You know that
is an obligation. Yeah, And you obviously played with with
Jordan's uh and we're friends with him, and he obviously
at a different approach towards politics and social justice that
you know has kind of come under scrutiny and he's changed.
(20:05):
It seems like he's making a bit of a one
eight there. Have you been impressed as a fan watching
Lebron becomes this sort of north star for politics and
social justice. I just don't think we were in the
same place that we're at. I don't think we're in
the same place to compare what Michael or Mohammad Ali
or even Lebron is doing, because they're all different. Like
(20:26):
Mohammed Ali is the ultimate of what we're talking about.
So I think that then to say, well, Lebron doesn't
do it, momma a leave, did you know? I think
it's just it's a different time and Lebron is great
at using social media platform where if he tweets something
right now, millions of people know instantly. Where the news
(20:50):
cycle is so different in the nineties, like time it
got back to the whole news cycle. It's not news anymore.
It's not even news. It's like so it's a different environment.
You know, Uh, there are people, you know, even when
Rodney King happened, it took weeks for people to even
see the video, like weeks. You know, people say, oh,
(21:13):
I haven't seen that yet, you know, like what you
hadn't seen the Rotney King because you have to wait
for the eleven o'clock news to kind of show it again,
so all day you don't have an opportunity to see it.
Right now, that information has passed instantly around the world.
That's why George Floyd around the world there was protests.
It wasn't protests just an American so you know, they
were all protesting injustice. So it's just a different that
(21:38):
everyone lives in. Because imagine if mom and Ali who
was able to move the needle without any kind of
social media, imagine if he lived in miss Era, the
changes he could have made. He talked like a Twitter account. Yeah, um,
I did want to ask you what you expect to
(21:59):
see I mean with these hopefully, man, I don't know
even with breaking news just before we talked, but you
know with these games starting pretty soon, like do you
expect to see showing of protest you? Is that what
we're gonna just is going to become the norm for
each game. I think that the norm is no NORMA
(22:19):
norm is out of the window, you know, because most
of the norm that was there before a lot of
us really didn't like you kind of we're able to
move in it and be successful in the in that norm,
but meanly like it. So that I just I think
when I hear norm, an old norm, a new norm.
I just feel that there is no norm. It is
(22:40):
a collection uh thought provoking incidents that now can be
solution based. More with Kenny Smith after this. Right now,
Feeding America is working tirelessly to ensure are most vulnerable
populations like students who are out of school, the elderly
(23:03):
individuals whose jobs are impacted, and low income families continue
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(23:25):
we hope that you can join us in this effort
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org backslash COVID nineteen. Now the rest of my conversation
with Inside the NBA on T and T S. Kenny Smith.
You've said recently that it's somewhat inevitable that one day
you'll join a front office for an NBA team, And
(23:47):
I always am so depressed by the numbers of African
Americans working behind the scenes in the NBA, and I
want to know, obviously, you'd be a great addition to
any team. I want to know what other black basketball
minds that are out there that you think have not
gotten the chance. They so deserve someone with a basketball mind,
someone that would just be such an addition to a
team to wear a suit and help out that just
(24:09):
hasn't gotten that chance. Well, here's the scenario that I
look at it instead of looking at a particular individual
or individuals. Sports, for some reason, the only profession where
they take your tenure, the experience, and your expertise, and
when you finished playing, they say it doesn't count. You
(24:33):
have to start in the mil If I was If
I was for Amazon twenty years and I took that
Amazon team from a team that was starting not doing
well to all of a sudden, we're a championship team
for multiple years. Can I leave Amazon. I'm the most
sought after consultant in the field. But when you leave
(24:55):
the sport, they go, well, now you you got to
cut films. You know it's on the film like like like.
Because the information that I've acquired over the twenty years
of being the player twenty years at TNT between runners,
um agents, general managers, and players and owners that have
(25:15):
called me for information and or guide it. Yeah, I'm
on an infantry level thought process, like meaning I see
things from that point of view, but I also see
it from a bird's out point of view, which they
can only see it at. So I know how this
decision is gonna affect not only the player, but the agents,
the runner, and the mom and the dad. The decision
(25:37):
you're making about this person going into the bubble, I
know how it affects every element of the person that
is going into bubble. That is an experience that no
one else who says, did you do your homework and
say I'm gonna be I'm really gonna be a student
of analytics. I'm going to be a student of you know, business.
(25:59):
I can't learned that. No one could ever learn those
twenty years and those ten years in the NBA. So
tho ye's no one could ever learn that, And so
that is where to me, it seems it's inevitable, and
there's a long list of people that have it. I
just feel, um, you know, not to to my horn,
but I'm just at the top of that list. When
(26:20):
it comes to the experience from television, I could tell
you how what your team is the kidding so what
they say, how it affects the biggest companies in the
media like Turner and ESPN, How it effects is that
what you're about to say? Where do you get that?
I don't know. I'm all for it. Uh a question.
(26:42):
And then we're gonna get into the Jet Academy, which
I which I love. But uh, do you ever think
about politics ever cross your mind? I Mean, your mom
always says, you know you're gonna be the first black president.
That's about it. When you're when you're like, you could
be the first black president. But I've never thought of
it as a political aspiration. I just think that, you know,
(27:06):
I've never never do at all. Right, I'm just placing
it into your head. All right, all right, let's talk
about the Jet Academy. You've been holding basketball camps for
twenty five years, and now with the changes all around us,
you've had to call an audible tell us what the
classes in are gonna look like. Well, what it is
is that it's the first virtual basketball training mechanism and
sports training. Because we're gonna venture out to WHOA. That's
(27:28):
why wear the Academy. It's basically myself I Holt every
week with three young Victola Deepo, Temba Walker All NBA
All Star, h w n B A n d P
Briana Stewart, Brittany Grinders w NBA alf Saw will be
Hall of Famer. And what we do is where your
personal training four hour and a half. And what differentiates
(27:49):
it is it's live. It does live on demand afterwards,
but it's live and you get to consume information the
way we consume it now. You can ask questions live,
you can upload your video if at forty eight hours,
we kind of answer it and say, hey, you're doing
this right. It's the way our kids consume information. They
don't pop in a DCR tape. They don't even like
(28:11):
going to a demand link all the time if it's
not live. They don't really all the time like consuming
the information that's there because they want to interact with it.
And that's what we've done. We have some great partners.
Big Shock had the Big Shock code. You put in
Big Shock, you get a great discount, American Express giving
a study five dollars off if a card older comes
(28:31):
on We've got some great partnerships come in as well,
and it's the first of its kind. It works on
any device anywhere, or you needed Wi Fi service and
or tell you the services. That's it. And you could
be in a park, you could be in the gym,
you could be in your backyard, you could be in
your living room or in your room and annoy your
mom a bout the ball in your room. So you
(28:52):
could do anything of that nature and be part of
this and where your personal trainer is go an hour
and a half a day. Yeah, it's so impressive how
you guys kind of change it around. I know you were, Uh.
I read that you were inspired by d Nice in
the Versus series by Timberland and Swizz Beats. I mean,
I've I've been so blown away by all of the
creativity on social media and this is just another sort
of great example of it, considering how much of the
(29:14):
Internet is just garbage people usually. Yeah, I think again,
it's consuming information that you're the way you're consuming it
now and producing it, but at the same time making
it appropriate for the actual movement of your daily life.
And people can check it out at jet Academy camp
dot com. Uh. It's awesome and they can add the
(29:34):
big shock code correct to to save money. I can
do that, will use your m X and you'll save
money as well. Jet Academy camp dot com again. Jet
academy camp dot com where you go sign up, put
the big Shot code in or use your MX and uh,
I'm joining. I love it well. I wanted to ask
you one last thing. You know, like you said, the
(29:56):
call of a team's front office may eventually pull you
from the Turner broadcast, no matter how much I hope
that doesn't happen, but deep inside hope it does. I
wanted to go through some names of people who might
send in their resume if you were to leave an
empty chair on the show. I wanted you to tell
me if you think they'd farewell on inside the NBA
as a replacement. Alright, First I have I have moving
(30:16):
him from courtside to the studio. He's a controversial voice.
Reggie Miller, Reggie's great game day. I love I love
watching You're looking at the Reggie at the game. So
Reggie the game by very good. Okay, this guy just retired.
He's an animal of how how long he played, But
(30:38):
what a basketball mind with Vince Carter could come on
the show with us right now, we were honest, we
could put a fip chair up there at six ft away.
I don't have to leave. Okay, that's a good one,
all right, this one. He's become quite an impressive podcaster,
and I love his voice. I did not think I would,
even as a Clippers fan, I never saw myself rooting
(31:00):
for the media presence of Matt Barnes. I would love
to see Matt Bond dominate like NBA TV, because he's
got like a a persona that I'd like to see
every day more than i'd like to see once a week. Yeah,
I would like he's like a radio show, okay, because
(31:22):
he's gonna be topical. I'd like to hear him on
the topic a lot of times on our show. We're
one week away, and sometimes the topic that is hot
on Thursday is not hot on the following on Thursday.
I love to hear Matt Bonds take on things as
they happen. Okay, very I listen. I've surprised again of
how much I love hearing Matt Barnes talk. All Right,
(31:43):
this one is a little crazier. It's for times that
we want to go on an acid trip. What about
the addition of Bill Walton. Yeah, just I think he's
great and and and college basketball is where he lives.
To me, you know, what he does for a coup
of basketball in the Pac twelve is like perfect. He's
(32:06):
one of my favorites. But he's one of my favorite
I laugh every time he's on. Okay, my other one.
This is my last one. And I think this is
the most realistic to me because I think that he
brings a great game mind. And let's he'll let Shack
and Barkley do their thing. Uh, Kevin Garnett. But we've
got Kevin. Kevin was there already. Okay, Well we're interestingly enough.
You know, Area's twenty one. Yeah, I'm still aware of
(32:29):
those shirts. I create the word the cug button for him.
I listen, I'm trying to. I'm trying to. I saw
him an uncut gems. I'm just trying. I'm trying to
fancy him up a bit. Put him at the desk. Yeah,
I missed Kevin Man. He is the most enthusiastic person
about life that I've ever met. H I've never met
anyone that more enthusiastic about life. So I've missed him,
(32:52):
all right, Well, maybe we'll agree on him. But luckily
we do not have to replace you. This is all
fictitious because I do not want you to leave. I
do want you to stay healthy and safe. Though. I
appreciate you talking to me, and I hope next time
we talk, I don't break another name with positive CODVID
tests again. I feel bad about that now, Okay, thank you,
Thank you, Kady. Take care. The Sports Bubble is produced
(33:22):
and distributed by tree Fort Media. The show was executive
produced by Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Matthew Coogler, and me
Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer and
sound supervisor, with production and editing by Jasper Leak additional
production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hayley Mandelberg.
Our theme music is composed by Spilkus. If you've enjoyed
(33:43):
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ways you can help. On their website. For more information
on a sports Bubble, links to the socials, and for
show transcripts for our hearing impaired listeners, go to tree
(34:04):
for dot fm. Be safe and be well. The Sports
Bubble is a production of I Heart Radio and tree
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