Full Show: Warriors beat Rockets, KD to Houston? | Trump's Hollywood Tariff | Diddy's Jury Selection

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
What's up, everybody. Welcome to the latest edition of The
Stephen A. Smith Show, coming at you as I love
to do at least three times a week over the
digital airways with YouTube and of course iHeartRadio. As always,
I like to pause for a moment to take just
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Can't thank y'all for the love and support enough. We've
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(00:34):
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To continue to like and follow the show, just click
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and you two shall consider yourself the latest member of
the Steven A.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Smith Show family.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
And while you're doing that, please make sure to pick
up a copy of my New York Times best selling books,
Straight Shooter, War of Second Chances and First Takes Now
in paperback. Just go to straight shoot book dot com
to get yourself a copy. Once again, that straight shooterbook
dot com to get yourself for copy. Let's get started
with the NBA Playoffs, right, I got a lot of
stuff to get into, but I gotta start with the

(01:15):
NBA Playoffs and the conclusion of the first round that
we saw in Houston last night. That's where the gold
To State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets one of three
to eighty nine in advanced to the second round of
the NBA Playoffs for semi finals in the Western Conference,
that is, to face the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Warriors were
led by Buddy Heal, who dropped thirty three on the
Rockets on twelve for fifteen shooting, hit nine to three pointers.

(01:36):
By the way, I'll get to Houston in their future
in just a moment, but I want to start off
with Steph Dremond and this version of the Golden State
Warriors by saying this this brother, Steph Curry twenty two
points and fifty percent shooting four to ten from three,
team high ten rebounds, seven toss two steals, two blocks,
played forty six to forty eight minutes at the age

(01:57):
of thirty seven. Scored fourteen of his twenty two points
Game seven in the fourth quarter on five or six
shooting from the field. Okay, and him and He'll combined
for twenty five points on eighty two percent shooting five
to six from three in the fourth quarter of Game
seven as well, so Curry in Game sevens, his record
is four and two, and in those game sevens he's

(02:18):
averaged thirty point eight points per game on forty two
shooting from three point range. He's improved a five and
zero all time in playoff series against the Houston Rockets.
He's one of the greatest ever. It's we just can't
say any longer that he's the greatest shooter God has
ever created. He's one of the greatest ever. He's absolutely spectacular,

(02:42):
no question about it. And he shows up in big
moments when they count most. And he deserves a lot
of credit for that, because I'm about to tell you
somebody who doesn't in just a little bit. But before
I get into that, let's give Draymond Green some props
as well. Not just because of his sixteen points, not
just because he started off the game hitting a couple
of pointers, not just because he showed up in the

(03:02):
Game seven in a big moment. Yet again, it's because
he's the same Draymond Green that spent All Star Weekend
guaranteeing the basketball world the Golden State Warrior is gonna
win the championship, and maybe they won't, in all likely
that they won't, but he ain't. He ain't dead yet,
He's still alive. Jimmy Butler didn't have to have that

(03:23):
big of a game because he was deferential as he
needed to be to Buddy Healed, who essentially played the
role of Klay Thompson. Because if you remember Klay Thompson
when he dropped forty one against OKC and the playoffs
many years back, if you can remember that Klay Thompson
had dropped thirty seven points in one quarter one time,

(03:44):
if you remember that marksman wizard that departed from the
Golden State Warriors last year to join the Dallas Mavericks,
you were wondering what were the Golden State Warriors going
to do in the absence of Klay Thompson's Rajinski as
good as he is, he ain't Clay, But somebody who
looked like Clay last night was Buddy Healed. He was spectacular,

(04:08):
biggest game of his career, easily so, and he deserves
a lot of credit and a lot of props for
the job that he put forth. Having said all of that,
I want to go to Houston and Jalen Green Fred
van Vliet major props to him play an option on
his deal this summer. Houston will in all likelihood will

(04:29):
keep him. But the bottom line is we got to
get to Houston. In this regard, they came into the
players of the second seed out West and lost the
Golden State. They've got a young squad and a well
coached by email Udoka. Okay, However, that clearly wasn't enough,
as the Rockets struggle to find a consistent scorer throughout

(04:50):
the first round.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Why am I bringing that up?

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Because you can't talk about the Houston Rockets the day
without talking about Jalen Green. I know he's young, but
he ain't ready. He ain't ready, and you know I
was disappointed.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
You can't be a twenty point game scorer in the
face of your franchise. And in six of the seven
games that you play as the primary scorer you score seven, nine, eight, eleven,
twelve and eight. That's not the face of a franchise. Now,
he had thirty eight points a game two, but that's
when Jimmy Butler got hurt and went down. I mean,

(05:36):
Jimmy Butler might as well have been Freddy Krueger or
Jason from Friday to thirteenth, because that's how Jalen Green
looked in six of the seven games, which is why
the Houston Rockets have to prioritize going out and getting
Kevin Durant from Phoenix. You got a couple of picks,

(05:58):
You got a few players, whether it's Jalen Green with
Jabari Smith and a couple of Easton or somebody else.
You got to go out and get Kevin Durant. You
know that twenty seven point in game scorer, one of
the most prolific scorers ever who's ever existed in NBA history.
That brother who would be coached by email Udokah, who
would be backed up by the Van Vlietz and I'm
in Thompson's of the world, who's going to be a

(06:20):
stud that second year player or Chagoon that brother. You
need Kevin Durant, and you need him bad. You got
Steven Adams, one of his former teammates already there. You
add Kevin Durant to that mix with him in Chagoon,
all right? With im N Thompson, with Email Udoka coaching them,
they could make some noise in them.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Even in the Western Conference.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
I know there's people out there saying, why Houston, Why
not Detroit in the Eastern Conference it's an easier path
of the finals, fair enough, But if Kevin Durant gotta
be out West and you gotta go to Houston and
be coached by email Udoka, I think Email Udoka is
a Kevin Durant caliber scorer away from winning the championship.
That's what I believe. That's what I believe. And to

(07:03):
be honest with you, even though I pick go to
Sainty to win the series in seven games, I'm so
very glad that they did because I don't want to
see Houston against Minnesota. Houston has a difficult time scoring.
They can't shoot the three, they can't shoot perim of
the shots. Really, if they're not missing making layups, they
ain't doing anything. They got to play up tempo, they
got to push the pace, and they got to make layups.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
They ain't even reliable let the free throw line.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
You need Kevin Durant badly, or a Devin Booker I'm
just saying, I know Phoenix ain't giving up Devin Booker,
but that's what you need. It really really is, and
let's see if they get it. Let me transition to
my next subject, because it's uncomfortable but necessary. I want
to talk about one more team that lost this weekend,

(07:49):
and that's the Los Angeles Clippers. Clippers lost Game seven
to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, won twenty to one.
On one. Wasn't even that close. Okay, it wasn't even
that close. They were down by as much as thirty five.
Let's get that out the way. And if you think
that was bad, don't let me get started with James Harden,
who is a no show yet again for the Clippers.
Harden mostly guarded by Christian Braun. I might add I'm

(08:12):
sitting down when I say this. He was held to
seven points on two of eight shooting. Harden now holds
a three and four career record in game sevens, with
each of his losses to a different team. He's lost
four game sevens with four different teams. His last win
came in the bubble with the Houston Rockets in twenty twenty.
Now Harden left them for on Saturday night without speaking

(08:33):
to the media. No surprise there. That's usually what he does,
and that's on him. But I gotta tell you something
right now. It's so bad it's hard to really really
put in the words because when I think about Harden.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Here's what I want y'all to know.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
James Harden played thirty five minutes attempt at eight shots.
The Clippers were out scored by twenty nine points. With
Hardened on the court, He's now lost four of his
last five playoff series. Overall, his combined game for the
last four game sevens James Harden has played with he

(09:11):
has at combined one in three record three straight losses,
thirteen point eight points per game, fourteen to fifty one
field goals. That's twenty seven percent. Five of thirty from
three point range. That's seventeen percent. This is James Harden.
There's a dude that averaged thirty in his sleep for years.
This is a dude that won the league scoring title,

(09:32):
won a league in VP, won multiple scoring titles, won
a league in VP, ladies and gentlemen. In game sevens,
he's attempting fifty one shots in four games. Can somebody
explain that that doesn't even equate to thirteen shots a game.
How is that possible? Twenty seven percent from the field,

(09:55):
seventeen percent from three point range, Ladies and gentlemen, that's
a joke. Job. When Game sevens arrived, James Harden is
no way to be found. Wasn't with Houston years ago
against Golden State, wasn't with Philly a couple of years
back when he was in Philly with Doc Rivers against Boston.

(10:16):
Wasn't this past Saturday night a blowout and annihilation and
ass kicking. Now it wasn't just him, Kawhi Lennett, who
averaged who scored over twenty every single game, wasn't as
great as self, but wasn't awful.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
But you know, he was like a minus thirty one
on the court.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Zubac and others, norm Power didn't have the greatest game,
didn't have a good game at all. I get that part.
But James Harden, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not talking about
the eight points of the seven points. I'm talking about
the shot attempts. How in the hell do you take
just eight shots in the game seven? If you're James Harden,
that's that's like hot piece of butter. Hot, piece of butter.

(10:57):
That's what that's about. Yeah, I don't want the ball, Okay,
get it bout somebody else.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
What's that about? I mean, that's a crying damn shame.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
He's almost played for as many teams for as he's
played as he's won playoff series five since last reaching
the conference finals in twenty eighteen, and the last seven years,
he's played for as many teams, almost as many teams
as playoff series he's won. I just don't know what
to say about it anymore. And I feel so sorry

(11:33):
for Steve Bomber. Billionaire. You got a new arena, you
let Paul George walk away, you invest in Kawhi and
James Harden, and James Halling balls out until the playoffs arrived,
and then he got and then balled out in game six,
bust deliving you know what had him with twenty eight,
had about twenty eight and then show up in the
game seven in Denver and it was like you didn't

(11:57):
recognize him, Like he's allergic to Game seven. You know
what they gonna start, They gona come up with a fever.
It's gonna call it James Harden fever. If you're gonna
show up in a Game seven that you're gonna have
James Harden fever. That's what it's.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Gonna amount to. And that's the crime shame of it all.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
I can't even emphasize how disappointed I was in the
way that he played. I just threw up my hands like,
oh shit, damn. Once again. I got food thinking the
Brothers is gonna show up for Game seven, and he
did it. I don't know where the Clippers go from here,

(12:37):
but the legitimate question to be asked is what difference
does it make if you know that all the man
is gonna do is show up in the playoffs and
we the bed. I got mad respect for James Harden.
I think he's an incredible player. I think he's a
future Hall of Famer. But you can't have these blemishes
on your resume. My man, big purpose on first take

(12:58):
this morning, my day job on He is every weekday
from ten am the newon East to stay. At the time,
he was like, man, I was tripping. I talked about
the best off guards in the history of basketball, said
Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryanna had James Harden number three, ahead
of de Wayne Wade. I was tripping, That's what Big
Perk said. He said because he couldn't because after watching
James Harden flop and yet another Game seven performance, he

(13:20):
can't believe he ever thought to put them ahead of
d Wade. And that's correct, because d Wade showed up
for Game sevens. But for some reason, this man is
allergic to doing so. And I don't think James Harden's
reputation ever recovers from this this, you know, short of
a championship. I don't see how it happens. I really

(13:42):
really really don't. Coming up, President Trump proposes a one
hundred percent tariff on all films made outside of the
United States, and stocks tumbled for some of the biggest
studios in streaming services. I'll get into what it all
means straight ahead, but first jury selection begins in the
federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial for showing Didny colmbs
We we've got the latest on the trial that could

(14:03):
send Ditty to prison for life. By the way, as
an assign I got the Minnesota Timberwolves being the coach
and Stay Poris and six six stephen A. Smith show
coming your way. I'm going away back one morning minute.

(14:29):
All right, folks, I need you all to stop what
you're doing and listen up. You know I love this
time of year. Right. The NBA Playoffs shore in full
effect and with all this action jumping off to Stephen E.
Smith Show wants to make sure you take advantage of
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(14:49):
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Speaker 2 (15:08):
Prospects, Hey, Hey, run your game.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
It's arger Blue Sky's baby, Arja Blue Skys, my beloved
New York Knicks. If advanced to the second round of
the NBA Playoffs, so I'll give you my picks for
tonight's matchup between the next and the defending NBA champions.
The Boston Celtics. Let's go forward. First up, will Jalen
Brunton score more or less than twenty seven and a
half points? Yes, he's healthy, he's rested. The ball is

(15:31):
in his hands. Obviously, he gives anybody problems who's guarding
against them. He's gonna have the ball in his hands.
He's gonna have the green light. He's gonna be the
number one option, and he can create a shot for
his own self, whether it's jump shots, whether it's getting
into the lane, get to the free throw line, et cetera.
Do I see him scoring more than twenty seven and
a half points in this game? The answer is yes,
I'm going with more. Next up, will Carl Anthony Town

(15:52):
score more or less than twenty and a half points?
My answer is yes, even though he's averaged less than
that in the four regular season games against the Celtics
this year, I would say yes, I'm going with more
because he dan Well had better do it with his
size twenty one feet, with his questionable legs. I don't
give a damn. He's still a self proclaimed best shooting
big man in basketball. Okay, the brothers been shooting over
fifty percent from the field and from three point range

(16:14):
in the four games he's played against Boston this year.
Don't stop now, Ain't gonna stop it in there, do it, okay?
Because the Knicks need all the help they can get
against the Boston Celtics. Next, will mister Jason Tatum scored
more less than twenty seven and a half points? Why
would I say otherwise? When he's averaging thirty four against
Knicks this year and they're clearly the better team. I'm
gonna go with more on this because Jason Tatum is

(16:35):
that dude, and the Boston Celtics are a better team,
and the New York Knicks defense ain't what it used
to be. All of those things coupled together, Jason Tatum
rather shit easily scored more than twenty seven and a
half points, and I believe he will. And finally, will
Jalen Brown scored more or less than twenty one and
a half points.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
I'm gonna go with.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
More because it ain't hard to do, okay, It's what
he can do on any given night with relative ease,
especially against this Knicks defense. Gonna go with more for
him as well. So there you have it. Jalen Brunson
Karl Anthony Towns, Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, more and more
and more and more, because that's what prospects like to do.
You say more that means more money in your pocket.

(17:12):
At least some people would like to believe that. It's
usually true, though, prospects will get you paid. Trust me
on that. Welcome back to Stephen A.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Let's get to New York, where jury selection began today
in a federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean
Diddy Combs. Federal prosecutors alleged Combs used his power and
wealth to sexually abuse, chorus and exploit alleged victims for decades.
If convicted, Combs would be spending the rest of his

(17:45):
life in federal prison. Defense attorneys for Comes contend that
all of his sexual encounters were consensual and have described
the music mogul as a swinger who invited third parties
into his bedroom. Last week, federal prosecutors offered Combs a
chance to plead guilty for a reduced sentence.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
He turned down that offer.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Joining us now, obviously to discuss the trial is Ellie Honing,
legal analyst for CNN who's been on this show many times.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
One of our favorites.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
What's up, Ellie?

Speaker 2 (18:18):
How are you man? How's everything?

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Steven?

Speaker 3 (18:20):
This this is going to be a fascinating trial.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
This is the courthouse I used to practice it, So
I can bring you inside the huddle on this one.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Well, I can't wait for you to do that. First
things First, him turning down a plead deal for a
lesser charge, is that something to be expected? Should that
be considered a surprise?

Speaker 2 (18:39):
What do you make of that?

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Now?

Speaker 4 (18:40):
It's an interesting little bit of last minute gamesmanship here.
It's not that uncommon for prosecutors to make an offer
on the eve of trial. Now the big question is
what were they offering? Right, It's one thing if they
were offering him twelve years. It's another thing if they
were offering him three years or something like that. The
fact that he said no, you know, I guess it
depends again on what the offer is.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
But he's dug in.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Look, he appears to believe he's got a shot at
winning this trial. Otherwise he would have taken that plea
because the downside here, if he loses this trial, Stephen,
he's going to get fifteen years minimum and as you
said before, up to life. So Seawan Combs and his
lawyer must have sat down and said, look, there's a
chance to get out of this for less, but but
they're comfortable rolling the dice.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
Those are very high consequence dice to roll. Though.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Let's get to the jury selection Ellie, which obviously started today.
How long should we expect this process to take place?

Speaker 3 (19:27):
So this is federal court.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Federal jury selection is way quicker than state jury selection. Right,
We've seen state cases drag on for weeks.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
And weeks and weeks.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
I have had jury selected in multiple murder cases in
two days or so. Now we have the complication in
this case that everybody knows the defendant. Everyone who comes
in there as a perspective juror will have at least
heard something about Sean Combs, about Diddy, so that takes
longer to wade through. I am certain we will have
a jury by the end of the week. If I

(19:57):
had to guess, I would say we'll have one by Wednesday.
Federal court moves pretty when it comes to jury selection.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Given the charges federal prosecutor is levied against Didny, what
type of jury should his defense team want to see?

Speaker 4 (20:07):
Actually, so this is where the gamesmanship comes in Steven,
I'll never forget something that when I was a young prosecutor,
a veteran defenselaer who've been practicing forty fifty years said
to be something like jury selection isn't just a big deal,
it's the whole ballgame. I mean, these are the people
who decide the case. Now, let's think about this from
the defense side. Like you said, your Shawn Combs, you

(20:28):
or Shawn Holmes's lawyer, what are you worried about here?
To me, it's pretty obvious you want to avoid anyone
who a knows about this case. Mostly everyone does and
be just has their mind made up, has already come
to some sort of judgment. There will be many many
questions asked of the jurors, the potential jurors. Have you
heard about this case? Have you formed any opinions? Could

(20:48):
you still consider the evidence fairly? But look, the fact
of the matter is this case has gotten an enormous
amount of publicity. Shawncolmbs since the indictment came down, has
been the subject of all sorts of criticism, of jokes
in the media. And I would be looking out for
people who already had their minds made up against him
and could not come in there and judge the case
fairly and impartially. But the catch, though Steven, is a

(21:08):
lot of people will say, oh, yeah, I could be
fair and impartial. I could put aside everything I've heard.
But this is where your gut instinct comes in. As
a lawyer, I tried. I tried a case against John
Gotti Junior. Right, everyone had heard of the guy. A
lot of jurors said, oh, I could be fair. But
then it gets into that gut, like do I believe him?
Am I sensing something weird that I don't think this
person could be impartial? So defense is looking for people

(21:29):
whove already convicted the guy, But.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Defense is also looking for people who don't, who know
little to nothing about the case. I would imagine how
plausible is that, in considering how high profile he is,
that people don't have for going conclusions because they're completely
oblivious to what's going on.

Speaker 4 (21:46):
Right, So you'd be amazed that the types of answers
you get from these potential jurors who sometimes like have
barely heard of things.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
I think everyone's going to have to say they've heard
of the guy.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
I imagine ninety percent of the people will well I
know he was in some trouble, But I actually think
you're right. I don't think that many people are going
to say, well, I know he's charged with racketeering and
sex trafficking and all that. I think they're going to
just basically come down to, well, I know he got arrested,
I know.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
He's in trouble.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
I know it has something to do with sex and
coercion and that kind of thing. So that's going to
be a key question. How much do you know about
this case? How much do you know about the charges?
Have you read the indictment? Have you seen this story
covered on CNN on Steven A's show, And you're just
it's a guessing game, right. It really does come down
to your instinct. But yeah, if I'm the defense, I
would want someone who knows less about the case. But

(22:30):
on the other hand, if you get someone who's like,
I've never heard of this guy, I've never heard of
the case, they can start wondering like, is there something
off about this juror?

Speaker 3 (22:37):
And maybe I don't want that.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
What about the defense team from this perspective, they've already
put out They've described a music mogul as a swinger
who invited third parties into his bedroom. I'm like, is
that a detail that you wanted to just let out
as a defense team, I don't know what to make
of that.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
What say you third parties and fourth parties and fifth
parties and sixth.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Parties apparently, but that is going to be the defense.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
And look, I know it's maybe not the greatest pr
move in the world, but it's a viable defense, and
I think this will be the core of the defense.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
It'll boil down.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
To maybe he's a freak, ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
but there's no federal crime of being a freak. There's
no federal crime of having these sort of aggressive, unusual
sexual appetites. But going hand in hand with that, that's
not going to be enough on its own, because you're
going to have victims and witnesses testifying. You say, he
coerced me, he threatened me, he assaulted me, And so

(23:29):
they're gonna have to combine that maybe he's a swinger,
but that's not a crime with an attack on.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
The victims in the courtroom.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
They're going to have to suggest that these victims, these
witnesses have bad motives. They're looking for a payday, they
made up stories about him. It became a pile on
and they all sort of picked up on each other's stories.
And that's a common defense you see in these sort
of multi victim, multi witness cases. So I think that's
exactly what the defense is going to be, says the last.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
Time you were on here weeks ago. Have there been anything,
Has there been anything additional as it pertains to information
or findings that have transpired over the last few weeks
that you find potentially alarming or potentially beneficial to ditty
to the Didty case itself.

Speaker 4 (24:14):
Yeah, I've actually been surprised the other way, Steven, which
is I thought there would be more victims that are
charged in the indictment. I thought there would be more
expanded charges. Now prosecutors have tweaked this indictment up a
little bit. They now reference victim one and victim two
in the indictment.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
Apparently there is going to be a third victim as well.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
But given the number of civil suits, the dozens of
civil suits, I thought that at some point the prosecution
would either be a adding more and more victims than
they did and be adding more and more defendants. This
is a very unusual case in that the charge is racketeering,
which means in this case they're charging seancone's a thing
at the head running a criminal enterprise. Yet he's the

(24:53):
only defendant. Now you can do that. R. Kelly is
another example of a guy who was a one man
racketeering enterprise. But look, I used to charge racketeering cases.
I used to teach the course on racketeering within DJ.
My racketeering cases were mob cases. There's twenty five guys,
twenty eight guys, fifteen guys. So it's unusual, and I
think a bit surprising to me that the original indictment

(25:13):
has more or less remained intact.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
I would have expected.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
I think, I said to you, Stephen Ay back at
the time, I thought that there.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Was going to be bigger expansions of this indictment than
there were.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
And because there aren't, is that an argument the defense
makes in his favor? Where the other Where are the
other defenders? How come he's the only guy that's really
being prosecuted here? Why is it that you haven't been
able to find anybody else that's you accusing him of racketeering? Oh?
You bet.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
They're going to make some variation of that argument, they're
going to go, oh, my goodness, folks, a racketeering enterprise.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
There must be a lot of people. Well, folks, guess what,
they say, He's the whole thing.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
How about all these other guys, how about these bodyguards,
how about these handlers, how about these enablers. Now some
of them will testify. Some of them have been given deals,
They've been given immunity, or they've been given non prosecution agreements.
So some of these people are going to get on
the stand and say, yes, I was part of this,
Yes I helped him out, but in exchange for my testimony,
I've been given a free pass. Now you know what
the counter to that is going to be, they got

(26:07):
a sweet deal because they're just telling prosecutors whatever prosecutors
want to hear.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
But it's not uncommon.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
I mean, I mean more cooperation deals that I could
even remember. So, yeah, that's absolutely going to be a
dynamic at this trial. He's the only one. They say,
this is a one man show. You shouldn't believe that,
members of the jury.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
What about the video Cassie Ventura, his ex girlfriend, where
he ran down the hallway half naked and dragged her
through it to the ground kicked and all of that stuff.
We saw that video. First of all, we don't know.
I'd like to know whether you believe that's going to
be admissible in this court case number one and number two,
the fact that she's agreed to testify against him according

(26:46):
to the reports, how damning do you believe there is
the potential for that to be.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
I think that video is the prosecution single most important
and most powerful piece of evidence.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
It will come in.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
By the way, that was the subject of a pre
trial ruling that judge said yes, you may play the video.
Now the question is going to be what's the relevance,
what's the context around it. It appear the prosecutors are going
to argue this was part of him threatening, forcing, coercing,
abusing this woman as part of his effort to traffick
her across state lines for sexual purposes. Apparently the defense

(27:17):
is going to be no, this had nothing to do
with the sex trafficking, ring or coercion.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
This was a fight they were having over infidelity.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
And you know, I think Cassie will be Cassandra will
be the most important witness for the prosecution. But the
attack on her is going to be she's a liar,
she's telling them what they want to hear, she's looking
to raise her own profile, she's got a bad financial incentive,
and so look, so much of this just comes down
to the jurors are going to be sitting feet away
from her.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
I mean, I've been in these courtrooms.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
They're going to be four feet away from her, And
so much of it is just going to come down
to how they assess her demeanor, what does she look like,
how does she deliver her answers? Is she credible? From
what I've seen of her in public, she seems quite
credible to me. But people don't always play the same
on the witness stand as they do in front of
a camera.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
What about the documentaries and stuff like that that have
been put out about him and some of the allegations
against them, and people essentially co signing on what he's
being accused of because they're highlighting his behavior or what
it was throughout these years. How much of an impact,
if any at all, do you expect that to have.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
So prosecutors cannot obviously just play the documentaries or pieces
of the documentaries for the jurors, right that would be inadmissible. However,
if there's a witness on the stand who has previously
spoken in one of these documentaries, and there will be
many of those, everything they've said previously can be used
to cross examine them, to impeach them. As we say, so,
if a witness gets on the stand and says something
a little different than what he or she said in

(28:45):
a documentary, or leaves out a detail or adds a
detail that they didn't say in the documentary, then that's
absolutely fair game for cross examination. And I assume in
this case, if the prosecutors are any good at their jobs,
and I'm sure they are, it's my former office, they
have not just whatever the document are, but the raw
footage that came before it, because a lot of times,
you know, you'll do a two hour interview and it'll
end up being twelve minutes on the documentary. So I

(29:07):
assure you both sides have watched that footage very carefully,
and it's all in play just the same if it
was prior testimony, you know, to a police officer in
front of a grand jury, it can be used.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
You've raved about your former place of occupation, Southern District
of New York and what it brings to the table
in terms of its high conviction rate, et cetera, et cetera.
You still feelings as confident in their case, considering their
reputation and what they bring to the table. You're still
feeling as confident with the whole diddy with this whole.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Did hey matter against them?

Speaker 4 (29:40):
That's a great question. So I of course, you know, Look,
I came up through this office. I have a reverence
for it. But I certainly do not think that SDNY
is infallible. They've made a lot of missteps, including most recently,
I think, throwing out the Eric Adams case, which I
know a lot of the people there pushed back and
disagreed with, but that came from up above.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
No, look, I think the.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
Case is is a sound case, looking at the indictment.
I think the hype around it, and maybe the SDNY
helped promote this hype got a little beyond what actually
ended up happening. But look, the odds are stacked against
any criminal defendant in that courthouse. You know, you'll see
that conviction rates are ninety eight percent. Throw those out
because that includes guilty please, which almost every case pleads guilty.

(30:22):
There are no reliable data on how many trials result
in conviction, but in my experience and just following that courthouse,
seventy eighty percent or so of all trials resulting conviction.
I don't think Seawn Colmbs is going to cut a
sympathetic figure here for the jury. I think they're going
to hear some horrible things about him. I think the
witnesses are going to present some devastating testimony. I think

(30:43):
that video that we talked about of the assault is
really really damaging evidence. So I would put it, you know,
if I had to make a picture, I would say
seventy five eighty percent that he gets convicted.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
Last question, is he better off or worse off now
than he was when he was first arrested, as if
attains to this case and how he's looking.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
Well, I think he's slightly better off in that it
hasn't been this explosion in the number of witnesses. But look,
it could get a lot worse. I mean, he was
given that plea offer. Again we don't know what it was,
but he was given a chance to sort of hedge
his bets and mitigate his bottom line loss here and
he chose not to do it. And the way these
trials work. It's it's a flip of a coin. It's

(31:22):
yes or no. The jury can't come down and say, well,
we want to kind of convict him.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
But off some you know. I mean, well, look, they
can split the verdict.

Speaker 4 (31:28):
I guess they should say that they can convict them
on sun counts but not others. But man, if he
gets convicted on anything in this case, he's looking at
at double digits plus behind bars, so he's taken. Look,
it's a huge gamble. It's terrifying for anybody to be
in that position, you know. I've seen a lot of
people go through it. The odds are against him. He
has a very good defense team behind him, so anything

(31:50):
can happen, but his life is on the line.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
Here forgive me. I got one more question. I just
thought about, if your case is that strong, if you're
the Southern District, in your case is that strong, why
offer him a plea?

Speaker 4 (32:03):
So it could be that they don't think that. They
could be that they're worried about some aspect of their case.
It could be they're worried about one of the witnesses
or the victims. It also could be, look, the reason
you offer a plea deal when you have a strong case,
especially on the eve of trial. Is A you might
be worried about some aspect of your case, or B
you're just trying to again cap your risks.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
You know you lock in a conviction, you move on too.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
Senten scying, And let's keep in mind there's always a
risk stephen A of what we call jury nullification, which
means when the jury or a single juror just says,
I don't really care what the evidence is. I'm going
to vote not guilty, and all you need is want
If you're the defense, right, you need all twelve jurors
beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. So you get one
person on that panel and says, I don't know, I
don't believe some of these victims, or I feel bad

(32:47):
for Shawcoms. I feel like he's been railroaded. Racial issues
could come into play here. I have a black man
sitting at the defense table, so a celebrity, you know,
a universally known guy. So my fear going into this
as the prosecutors would not so much be of an
a quittle.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
I don't think you're going to get twelve zero not guilty,
but you never know.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
In a high profile cases. Cases hang and then that's
a win essentially for the defense. You can always retry
a hung jury, but it's a nightmare for prosecutors. So
it may have been they said, look, if we can
lock in a conviction, get ex's the penalty, avoid the
time and expensive trial, and avoid the risk of a
hung jury. Maybe they calculated that would have been worth it.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
This case is not gonna be televised or anything like that, right,
I mean, cameras are not going to be in the court,
loud in the court room or anything. Right, Is that correct? Right?

Speaker 3 (33:27):
Federal courts are dinosaurs.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
They refuse to allow not only cameras, but even live
audio feeds. Even the Supreme Court, by the way, it
gives us live audio feed now. But they are old fashioned.
I am on this soapbox, stephen A. They need to
let cameras in there. The Constitution says public trial. Why
are we acting like it's eighteen forty show it. We
can all watch it. We should get to see it.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Ellie Honing, senior legal analyst for CNN, one of the
best in the business. It'll be much watch television whenever
you're on. I can promise you that. Thank you Ellie Man,
I really appreciate it. Man, take care of yourself.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
Thanks, Heberday, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Talk to you coming up.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Caitlin Clark returns to Iowa and puts on a show.
I'll get into that straight ahead. But first, President Trump
wants to impose a one hundred percent tariff on films
made outside the United States. What's up with that? We'll
talk about it. I'll explain its significance.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
In just a minute. You're watching The steven A.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Smith Show. Don't go away back for more in a minute.
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Speaker 2 (35:22):
Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Now let's get to the nation's capital, Washington, d C.
Where President Donald Trump has his sights evidently turned towards Hollywood.
The president says the American movie industry was dying a
very fast death due to incentives provided by other countries
to shoot outside the United States. As a result, Trump

(35:43):
announced an intent to impose one hundred percent tariffs on
the industry for films made outside the country. The president
went to truth Social with the following post quote, this
is a concerted effort by other nations and therefore a
national security threat. It is in addition to everything else,
messaging and propaganda end quote. The President continued saying he

(36:07):
was authorizing the relevant government agencies, such as the Department
of Commerce, to begin the process of imposing a one
hundred percent tariff on all films produced abroad.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
End quote.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
That's what the President said, Okay, and we understand this.
Here's what I want everybody to recognize. We can pause
words all we want to, but in the end, the
president one could easily SURMISEE this is just his latest
element in the revenge tour that he is on anybody

(36:42):
that has been against him, anybody that has vilified him,
anybody that has tried to castigate him along the way.
He's coming for you, and he's sparing virtually no one. Now,
why would I say this about the movie industry?

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Are you kidding me? Have you seen Hollywood?

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Have you looked at how a vast majority of folks
in Hollywood have spoken out against them? I mean, think
about that. Think about the concerted effort that was put
forth to support the likes of Kamala Harris. Think about
how that support how flagrantly and emanated from Hollywood. Not
everyone in Hollywood, of course, but certainly enough people where

(37:23):
you could you could basically say, the industry itself. Did
you see Meghan Kelly go off about George.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Clooney weeks ago?

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Did you see her dissect him and pick him apart
like a fine toothed comb when he tried to denigrate
her in some way, at least in her eyes. Have
you heard the reports of Biden and how Clooney ultimately
came out calling for him to step down weeks later,

(37:54):
but he was quiet up until that point. We've seen
a plethora of people eminating out of hollyod would and
the belief, by and large is that it's not just
the actors, but it's the studios themselves. And it doesn't
escape me, It doesn't fly over my head one bit
that this is the kind of thing that Trump would do,

(38:17):
because he's talking about make America grade again, make the
American film industry grade again. And he's making a legitimate
argument when you take into account what he's pointing to
in terms of businesses being taken elsewhere, because he's gonna
have an abundance of American citizens that are totally formed
in this regard. I'm putting on my glasses so I

(38:38):
can make sure that I could read carefully. President Donald
Trump proposed on Sunday a one hundred percent tariff on
films produced outside the United States. The move has made
investors of major US streamers and studios nervous, and stocks
for companies like Netflix and Paramount slid because of it.
Analysts warned the teriff, though not finalized, would lead to

(38:59):
fewer and more expensive films. You think Trump doesn't know that,
I'm going to continue reading from here. It talks about here.
Share prices of major studios and streaming companies slid following
the news, when Netflix shares trading down one and a
half percent midday on Monday and Paramount shares dipping about
zero point seven percent. Disney and Universal parent company Comcast

(39:21):
slumped in pre market trading Monday, before mostly bouncing back
to their respective pride prices at Friday's close. This is
all from last week. Trump said in a Sunday social
media post he plans to implement taxes on foreign films
as a mean to prevent the US movie industry quote
from dying a very fast death. Think about what he's saying.

(39:44):
US studios have increasingly turned the shooting projects overseas. Think
about what he's pointing to. Shooting projects overseas is a
means of taking advantage of tax benefits or finding unique
locations for films for television sets. Netflix and that Houston
February plans to invest one billion dollars to produce films
and series in Mexico over the next four years. According

(40:07):
to a report from entertainment industry cons consultancy Alsburg SPI,
thirty six European countries in fifteen Asian countries offered film
production and centerves in twenty twenty four, up from seventeen
European countries and seven Asian countries offering tax credits and
rebates in twenty seventeen. So his argument is going to

(40:28):
be they're taking their business elsewhere. We've got to compel
them to do business right here in the United States.
One of the way to do that is to put
these tariffs on content produced outside of the US, And
as a result, you're going to have people that are
going engage engage rather than reciprocation. They may do the

(40:50):
same thing to the movie industry. He's not blinded that fact.
He doesn't seem to care. And if you say, hey, okay,
then I'm going to do business here in America, that
doesn't mean you're going to get the tax breaks that
are available to you at other places, Which means that
if you're Hollywood You're going to be producing less content.

(41:11):
Studios are going to be green lighting less less projects.
As a result, less people are going to be working.
As a result, their bottom lines are going to be compromised,
and Hollywood as a result, collectively is going to be
compromised because of it. You don't think Trump knows that.

(41:34):
Let me veer totally left, totally left. The other day
a news report came out and contrary to the impression
that it gave, it wasn't Trump going back on his
words to me. When I did News Nation last Wednesday
night and I asked him about HBCUs and he said,

(41:56):
you don't need to be concerned at all, Steven I
love the blacks. I love the black people, historically black
colleges and universities. I love them. They love me. They
have nothing to worry about them. I saved them, Stevens,
I saved them. Remember that. That's what he said. And
then a story came out about Howard University and how

(42:17):
they were looking forward to about sixty four to sixty
five million dollars and in terms of discretionary funding and
limiting that or minimizing that the Trump administration was proposing
them not getting that sixty four to sixty five million,
and everybody was in another row. CCEE promised one thing
and he did another, when in fact, the real story

(42:39):
behind it was that it was supposed to be a
one time payment for the hospital, and since the hospital
hasn't been completed, that's not something the Trump administration feels
the need to provide or it has been completed. Since
it has been completed, what do you need the money
for it? That's what he's asking. That's not the same

(42:59):
as minimising funding that was promised to them, So we
have to be accurate about that. But my point in
saying all of that is this, he still could have
given it to them if he wanted to. But according
to my sources, he doesn't like the board at Howard University.
He doesn't appreciate the way they have treated him, according
to sources close to Trump, and because of that, he

(43:23):
doesn't particularly like them. And if he doesn't like them,
he's not gonna do him any favors. That's how this works.
At some point in time, you can lament it all day.
I've got people that work for me that lament that
kind of stuff. They think the behavior is juvenile. Is successive,

(43:43):
it's uncalled for, it's beneath the presidency of the United States.
Blah blah blah. He doesn't care. And that's exactly why
you have to make a decision. Either if you're an
elected politician. Let's say that made Michael. Either you're an
elected politician. Listen to me, Sherry. You're either an elected

(44:07):
or whether you're an elected politician, or you're somebody that's
gonna have to do business with him, you're gonna have
to recognize you're gonna have.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
To appease him to some degree.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
You're gonna have to do that. I've been critical of
him for years, but he was nice on News Nation.
You know why.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
I said, good evening, mister President, good talk to you.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Something as simple as that. Remember when he was at
the NABJA National Association for Black Journalists over the summer
and Rachel Scott asked, did a phenomenal job interview? And
she asked the right questions. She asked the questions that
people wanted to know. But what did Trump say? That's
just a nasty, nasty question. You didn't even say hello,

(45:00):
how are you?

Speaker 5 (45:02):
You have used words like animal and rabbit to describe
black district attorneys. You've attacked black journalists, calling them a loser,
saying the questions that they ask are quote stupid and racist.
You've had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mariologue resort.
So my question, sir, now that you are asking black supporters.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
To vote for you, why should.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
Black voters trust you after you have used language like that.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been
asked a question.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
So in such a horrible manner.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
A first question, you don't even say hello, how are you?

Speaker 2 (45:39):
See what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
You don't even say hello, how are you? It matters
to him, And that's not to say that there's a
reason or justification for doing any of the things that
he may have done or will continue to do. It's
just knowing the hand that you're dealt and knowing who

(46:02):
you're dealing with. And that's what you're going to have
to learn about him. If you don't already know if
you want to do business with him, you're gonna have
to make sure that you're ready to engage in some
level of capitulation, even if it's something as simple as

(46:22):
being well mannered. If you are an elected official, and
you have to work on behalf of your constituency, and
you're gonna have to cross that out. It can't be
imitating Mitch McConnell when Barack Obama was in office and
he said, our goal here is to make him a
one term president. That's not gonna fly with this guy.

(46:45):
He's got the House, he's got the Senate, he's got
the White House, he's got the Supreme Court six to
three majority. You're going to have to figure out a
way to do something to get a semblance of what
you want. That is the way that it goes, whether
you like it or not. And this thing with Hollywood

(47:09):
is the latest example. Somehow, some way, the one hundred
percent tariffs that he's proposing, studios in Hollywood are gonna
have to get connected to the White House, and they're
gonna have to throw them a bone figuratively speaking, to
do business with him and to get him to back
off for some of the things that they're interested.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
In him ignoring. He knows that.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
It's an effort to squeeze the opposition, which is what
he considers Hollywood. Make no mistake about that. In my opinion,
that's all this is. It's gonna compel Hollywood to want
to reach out to him, to ask him for some

(47:57):
kind of favor in an effort to show them some
grace so they can march forward with their business as
usual approach, and in return, they're gonna have to give
up something. I don't know what that is.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
I just know it's Trump if I know it. How
to hell they don't they.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Know it, which is why it might have behooved them
to lay low, be silent, and just shut the hell
up and go to the polls and vote for somebody else,
as opposed to being so conspicuous and flagrant in their
descent against them. Same industry that want to guard every
single little interview that you do to make sure that

(48:40):
you don't utter a negative syllable that could compromise them
at the box office was out there gung ho against
them in a very public way. You didn't think that
was gonna come back to bite you. I'm just saying,
I'm speaking logic. That's all just simple logic to me.

(49:03):
That's what this is about. In my humble opinion. I
don't give it damn what Trump says. That's what is about.
I don't give it damn about inconvenience in them, they
inconvenienced me. It's their turn to suffer. It's how goes.
Before we get to your tweets, I want to give
a quick shout out to Caitlyn Clark and the Indiana Fever,

(49:25):
who hosted the Brazilian national team in Iowa yesterday. The
event was a sold out homecoming for Clark as the
WNBA preseason tipped off this weekend. The Indiana Fever beat
the Brazilian team one hundred and eight to forty four,
capped off by Clark making a thirty six foot three pointer. Okay,
that was the same spot on the court that has

(49:46):
her number twenty two logo affixed, and the same spot
where she broke the NCAA women's basketball career scoring record
last year. She finished the exhibition game Sunday with sixteen points,
five sis, and six rebounds. Caitlin Clark is the real deal.
Get let me get that out the way first. I
got a lot of respect, a lot of love for
this young lady. I think she's spectacular. I think she's

(50:08):
box office. I think she should have been easily, easily embraced,
and that wasn't the case last year. Just to remind
y'all who she is. I'm just gonna read off some
numbers because you see this. To me, this year, she's
gonna be better. Last year as a rookie, fresh off
of going to the National Championship Game and losing to
South Carolina and then playing less than two months later,

(50:31):
her first professional season as a w NBA rookie, she
was the unanimous Rookie of the Year. She was an
All WNBA first teamer. She finished fourth in league MVP voting.
She started all forty regular season games for the Fever
and had a groundbreaking year marked by numerous w NBA records.
She finished the regular season leading rookies and scoring field

(50:54):
goals made, three point field goals made, assists, steals, and
minutes played. She ended up setting regular season WNBA records
for assisting the season with three hundred and thirty seven,
with three hundred and thirty seven points scored or assisted
on in a season with one thy five hundred and
twenty points by a rookie with seven hundred and sixty nine,
and three point field goals by a rookie with one

(51:15):
hundred and twenty two. By the way, she was boxed
office sold out more than anybody, helped massively increase WNBA ratings.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
And the only thing stupid.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
That happened with her is Team USA not putting on
a damn team. She's that special, ladies and gentlemen, and
that was year one. This time around, she's got more
rest and she got to had an entire offseason to
prepare for this full WNBA season that's about to come on.
She's special. She's special. And oh, by the way, Page

(51:54):
Beckets from Yukon who's now in Dallas, even though her
team may not be that good, she's gonna be special too.
And I can't wait until my girl, Juju Watkins comes
out of college because when she gets herself healthy and
she's on the pro level, look the hell out because
she is spectacular.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
I can't wait till she gets to the w NBA.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
WNBA is it? It's it, It's worthy of being talked
about on an everyday basis. To mcgirl Shaney Ogooma k
from ESPN Andrea Carter from ESPN, are you happy now
I'm talking about the end of the w NBA even
though I've been talking about it Janay. She keeps telling me, y'all,

(52:39):
I gotta get the games. When you're gonna get to
the gayste when you gonn get the game, Well, I
need a course. I see. I've had a couple of
NBA games over the last couple of weeks. I sat
courtside for both games. How come I got how come
I'm having trouble getting the courtside seat to w NBA games,
But I ain't got no trouble getting the court soide
seat to the NBA games. And I'm like, I'm looking
for it for free. I'm willing to pay for it.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
Before I get to your tweets, I want to start
with Giants rookie linebacker Abdul Carter, who evidently has no
shame in asking the NFL Legends for their jersey number
after being.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Drafted by the Giants third overall.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
He said he wanted to wear number fifty six, the
retired number of Giants legend LT himself, Lawrence Taylor. Taylor
quickly rejected that request, saying, quote, get another number, end quote.
Carter then tweeted quote the worst thing he could say
was no, my stance, don't change. LT is the goat,
nothing but respect. This just gonna make me work even harder.

(53:39):
I love it. End quote. After that rejection, Carter then
moved on to his number at Penn State, number eleven,
retired by the Giants in honor of quarterback Phil Simms.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
While Simms said.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
He would have given the oka, he was ultimately outvoted
by members of his family and rejected Carter's request as well,
about which Carter tweeted, quote, Damn, at this point, I'm
gonna be out there with just my last name on
my jersey, no number. JK JK. It's all love. Just
want to play football. End quote. Actually, ab Duke Carter.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
You're lying.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
You don't just want to play football. You want the
number that you want. It's not a crime, But abdul Cardo,
because I'm quite sure you're going to be great, because
you're a baller, and somebody said you were right next
to me at the next game. I didn't even notice you.
My man, my bad, my apologies. Let me say this

(54:31):
to you. I want you to imagine, abdu Carter, although
I totally believe you when you say it was out
of respect, because why would you want to wear the
number of a scrub? Why would you want to wear
the number of an average player. Of course, you're respecting
the individuals whose numbers you reached out to grab, you know,
in Phil Simms case, to a lesser degree, because that's

(54:52):
just the number you wanre in college. Whereas with LT
it was out of respect for his greatness. With you
playing in that position, I'm quite sure it was out
of respect, but Abduke Carter respect Just Imagine that you
played fifteen to twenty years in the National Football League.
Imagine that you recorded over one hundred and thirty two sacks.
Imagine that with the great linebackers in NFL history, the

(55:12):
Dick Dick Butkus's of the world and others, you know,
the Jack Hams, Jack Lambert's of the world and so
many others, the Ray Lewis's of the world, the Ronnie
Lotts of the world.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
The list goes on and on.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
Imagine you yourself have that kind of career spanning fifteen
to twenty years, and the rookie who's never played a
game calls you, after all of those years of greatness
and service which warranted your number being retired and raised

(55:44):
to the rafters of a stadium and lives in the
franchise lore that somebody who's never played the game came
to you and said, can I wear your number? You
sure you would feel good about that. You know they

(56:06):
respect you because your numbers retired and you earned it.
But you wouldn't feel some kind of way about somebody
who's never played the game asking you for that, asking
you for the right to unretire their number so you
could wear it, and you've never played the game and

(56:26):
you've never proven a damn thing on a professional football field.
I need you to think about it that way, bro,
Get your own number, make your own way, and then
get that number retired. And see how you would feel
if somebody came and asked you to have the number

(56:48):
lowered from the rafters just so they could wear it
when they've never played the game, after it took you
an entire career to earn that number being retired in
your name. That's all I'm saying. I'm sure you meant
no ill will or anything like that. I just think
you need to look at it from a different lens

(57:08):
instead of the lens you're looking at it from. Penn
State ain't the National Football League. As much as we
respect the Big Ten, Penn State is not the National
Football League, Bro, it's just not Let's go to the
tweets before we get on out of here. Please show
me the first tweet at Heavenly Buckets, right, Steven A.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Smith?

Speaker 1 (57:30):
Where were Jalen Brunson rank amongst point guards in the NBA?
If he won a title this year, he rank amongst
the best. I mean, he's already a first team All
NBA player. He's resurrected basketball in New York City. He
clearly beat the greatest Nick of all time. If he
delivered a championship, he'd be the greatest Nick of all time,

(57:54):
Greater than Patrick Ewing, greater than Carmelo Anthony, greater than
Bernard King.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
The only reason we don't put him.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
Greater than Walt Clive Fraser Earl of Pearl Morose because
they won a chip and he did it. But if
he got you to the conference finals, he got you
to the NBA finals. Got my god, if he won
a championship, I'm a lord. And being in the NBA
right now with what you're seeing from everybody else, Yeah,
Luca's in the NBA. Yes, Kyrie Irvings in the NBA. Yes,

(58:21):
Shay Gil just Alexander I wouldn't put him above Shay.
I wouldn't put him a bunch above Shay Gil just Alexander, No,
I would not. I don't know if I could put
him against a hell of Luca because he was a
reserve to Luca, even though I think that he's been
just as productive as Luca. But that's debatable. But as

(58:43):
a talent of lucas sixty seven, Luca get himself in shape.
Imagine Steph Curry, Steph Curry not putting them above Steph Curry,
not yet. That's the greatest shoot of all time, not
a four time champion, but he'd be up there.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
Make the mistake about it. Let's get to the second tweet.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
What you got at Clark Kent four fifteen, right, Stephen A. Smith?
When is it a good time to elevate Steph from
greatest shooter God has ever created to one of the
greatest players God has ever created? That time is now.
He's a four time champion, as a two time League MVP.
He's the greatest shooter God has ever created. He responds

(59:20):
in a clutch. He's an NBA Finals MVP. Now he's
an Olympic gold medalist. We swore he did in the
semi finals of this the gold medal game against France,
and then last night against Houston. To play the kind
of game that he played only goldens A worried to
register a double double. I mean, the rebounds, the assist,

(59:41):
the decision making Steve Kerr begging him not to turn
the ball over, and then finally he only commits two turnovers.
I mean, you just you can't say enough about the
job that he has done, the kind of player that
he is, the kind of way he's transcended the game,
the NBA game because everybody wants to be like because
of his shooting prowess, his swag is personality, how he

(01:00:06):
gravitates and how he gets little kids to gravitate to him.
The baby Face Assassin. That's actually my favorite nickname from
the baby Face Assassin. He's one of the greatest in
the game right now.

Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
He's one of the.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
Greatest basketball players God has ever created. Instead of just
the greatest shooter, he's phenomenal. No doubt that time would
be now to answer your question directly at Krusty k
r U S s I thirty four right Steven A
Smith who wins in a fight one hundred Sports analysts
versus one gorilla. You can pick the one hundred analysts.
You know what.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
I've thought about this, and I'm gonna.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Go with the gorilla because these dudes weigh a ton
and it's not like one hundred men or one hundred
analysts are gonna be able to go up to at
the same time. So you're gonna get hurt the instant
you approach the gorilla.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
That's number one.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Number two. I don't know one hundred analysts who would
approach the gorilla. I don't know five hundred. I don't
know five I ain't body. We'd be running for cover,
running like hell. So that's how That's where I'm at
with that. Firmly believe in that. Okay, so I'm gonna

(01:01:17):
go with the gorilla. I'm just gonna go with the gorilla.
Last tweet show it to me please at sport Underscore
Midwest right. Stephen A. Smith thoughts on bush Light Apple.
The bush Light Apple is a bit at bringing back.
I mean the wrapping looks good, the bottle looks good.

(01:01:39):
I mean this something to be said about packaging. It
looks attractive. But beer is beer. It's not my thing,
you know. Heineging bush whatever. Just not my thing, but
wiser I get it. I mean, you know, to each
his own, not the way that I roll personally, you know,

(01:02:00):
never really really like the taste of any of them.
Not this one I'm talking about, but any of them.
And I never liked the phrase beer belly. I'm thinking,
you're drinking beer, you're gonna have a belly, and I'm
allergic to that. I don't want a belly. That's just nasty.
It's just nasty, Okay, But I do like the packaging.
The packaging is attractive, and to a beer drinker, I'm

(01:02:21):
quite sure that they would like it. And then if
they got a little apple inside to mix with the beer,
it might be a little twang to the taste and
all that that we don't know. So I mean, if
you're a beer drinker, you're probably gonna try. Good luck
to you, and I'm good with it, but it might
be worth the try. But that's to the beer drinkers
out there, which I am not one of them. Okay,

(01:02:43):
not my style, but if it's your style, go for it.
Knock yourself out. Just don't drive afterwards. No drinking and driving, okay,
make sure you're home settled in and you're not a
danger to our society in any way. Okay, make sure
that is the case. As long as you do that,
it's no bigtail.

Speaker 5 (01:03:04):
You good to go.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
Enjoy, appreciate the packaging. Gotta get on out of here.
That's it for this edition of The stephen A. Smith Show.
Thank you for joining, really really appreciate it. Feel free
to holler at me saying bad time, saying bad channel
in the next couple of days so I'll be back
with you. Hope you enjoyed the show. Thanks again to
Elie Honey, CNN senior Legal Analysts. I'll see you in

(01:03:26):
a couple of days. Until then, this the stephen A.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Stephen A himself signing off, Peace of love everybody,