July 22, 2023 • 43 mins
On top of the usual NBA talk, featuring a Damian Lillard trade update and a review of some Mavericks news items, we also spend considerable time this week discussing Lionel Messi's MLS debut with Inter Miami and previewing Cowboys training camp with special guests Tim Reynolds (The Associated Press) and Calvin Watkins (The Dallas Morning News).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Welcome to Saturday Sports World with MarkStein, presented by Panini Frading Cards and
Collectibles on ninety seven one The Freak, the official homes all Dallas Mavericks Games,
hosted by legendary NBA reporter and publisherof his subject, The Steinline.
Cheers Mark Stein Friends, Hello onceagain, and welcome in to episode number
(00:31):
four of Saturday Sports World with MarkStein, presented by our dear dear friends
at Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles.I hope you are ready for the most
worldly show we've done yet. Thisone will not be strictly NBA, not
(00:52):
as we dribble closer to late July, not with the limited, very incremental,
some would say non existent movement onthe three sided Trade Watch ongoing throughout
the NBA. Damian Lillard is stilla Portland Trailblazer, James Harden is still
(01:15):
a Philadelphia seventy six, or PascalSiakam is still a Toronto Raptor, and
that might be the case for well, I'm not sure for how much longer.
I wish I could definitively tell you. I wish I could give you
that answer right now. It's notpossible on this particular Saturday show What is
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Possible. However, we're going todo all kinds of new stuff on this
edition of the show, a Cowboystraining camp preview. In the second segment,
after our first break words I thoughtI would never say, but in
my old age, trying to bea little bit more well rounded, we're
gonna catch up with my good friend, my former Bristol teammate, Calvin Watkins
(02:05):
of the Dallas Morning News. He'sgoing to be headed to Callie soon to
cover training camp. That preview isen route. But first, friends,
I want let me also, first, let me remind you you can text
the show. You can hit meon the Steinline text line. Still seeking
a sponsor for an even fancier nameto hit us on the text line two
(02:30):
one four seven eight seven one nineseven one two one four seven eight seven
one nine seven one. In thethird segment, we will get to some
of your texts, some of yourmessages. Again, you want to sponsor
that text line, email me MA R C S T E I N
(02:51):
one word mark Stein at substock dotcom. Right now, though, let's
kick things off. Let's go straightto the Steine Line hotline. I want
to introduce you to one of theone of the most versatile sportswriters in America.
He is the national NBA writer forthe Associated Press, but that only
(03:15):
is a fraction of what this mandoes. He covers. He ably covers
the Dolphins, the Marlins, thePanthers, Hurricanes, Tennis Olympics. Was
there a huge soccer game in SouthFlorida yesterday with Lionel Messi making his debut?
Was he on the premises? Ofcourse? He was a man who
never takes a day off, kindenough to join us here today on the
(03:36):
show and my formal my former myformer neighbor in the Walt Disney World bubble
in Orlando three summers ago, anexperience we will never forget. Living on
planet NBA with twenty two NBA teams. My pal Tim Reynolds of the Associated
Press gave him a warm welcome,Doctor Reynolds, I can't believe you're actually
(04:01):
stationary to speak to me. Whatwhat are you covering today, doctor Stein?
I? First off, are weout of time? After the intro?
No, we still have a goodtime. I left you a good
I left you a good ten minutes. I feel as though the intro took
up the segment so I appreciate thatyou deserve it. Man I he who
(04:21):
does not take days off. Istart a vacation today. Awesome before we
go to Vegas August second for USAB Camp. Yes, indeed, I
hope to think I can make itthere and join you for that because the
NBA requires us to be in LasVegas now like thirty three times a year.
(04:42):
Thank you Vegas, Thank you Nbaum. And then we're off to Hall
of Fame and Abu Dhabi and Manilaand that we come home in this football
season. Did you see that?Did you see? Though? Jake Fisher
reported that the G League Showcase,my favorite Vegas event, is actually moving
to Orlando. Yeah. I didn'tneed that in my life either. Yeah,
I'm I didn't see no more Floridaof VNCI. I'm still I'm still
(05:05):
recovering from the bubble three years later. But that's that's for another day.
Let's get to the events of lastnight you were in that you were in
the house right there with lebron SerenaWilliams, Kim Kardashian, Kim Reynolds of
the AP live to see the LionelMessi debut. Paint a picture for us.
What did we miss if we werenot fortunate enough to see it on
(05:29):
Apple TV. Well, first off, on the sinewyin text line, you
should do a contest which one ofthese four things are not like the other?
Lebron Serena, Kim Kardashian and yeah, hi me so um it was
so, it was. It's terrible. Radio did not have an answer.
(05:49):
It's been fourteen hours. I stillcan't explain it. I still can't explain
what I wrote after I wrote elevenhundred words on it. I can't like
it was due respect to the strikingwriters and actors in Hollywood. This was
Hollywood, This was made up,This was Disney, this was the bubble.
This was a fairy tale. Tohave this guy in his first match
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do that and basically as a walkoff, it was the longest two minutes
of stoppage time in the history ofsoccer. Um, I don't think anybody
noticed that where he struck the freekick from was about five yards further back
from where I think he actually gothit. There was that element, um,
he just can't make But you knew, you knew that you were going
(06:36):
to see something. You knew theminute they called for the kick. You
knew it was going in, buthe just knew, like he doesn't miss
that, and and it wasn't alayup though, So it's me it's like
that's a lot harder to pull offfor people who don't follow the game very
closely. You know, Okay,a guy made a twenty five yard free
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kick where he was. It's actuallyit would been a lot easy. It
would have been easier for him furtherback. I mean he could he could
only hit the ball at that exactpace, at that exact angle. He
didn't overpower it. It was I'mgoing to send it a yard wide of
the goal post. I'm gonna bringit back and over a wall of five
(07:21):
guys who had no chance. Hewas exhausted. I mean, it was
like you would see him when hewould get the ball, he'd attack,
he'd make a move. He's abrilliant passer. He's still the greatest passer
in the sport. He would setthings up and then he would spend then
into Miami would lose possession, ora ball ground of bounds or something would
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happen, and you would he wouldwalk like a slow walk mark all the
way back to midfield and get readyto reload. He was gassed. He's
not in match fit whatever yet.Yet the great ones can still go to
that place where they just a momentand all of a sudden, there's like
a hundred people on the field becauseyou have all these security guards making sure
(08:03):
people don't rush the field. Andmore on that in a second. How
close the stands are to the fieldhere and how very different it is going
to be for Lionel Messi here thananywhere else in the world. But we
didn't know if the match was over. They restarted play. They played for
almost a full minute again. Itwas the longest stoppage time ever and we
just we're all sitting there with storiesto write on intense deadline, just couldn't
(08:26):
believe what we had seen. Yetyou knew it was coming. It was
the craziest thing. It was.It was Ray Allen's three with five point
two to go on steroids. Itwas didn't have that same meaning. Maybe,
I mean, this is a glorifiedexhibition. I mean the league's cump.
I mean, who really cares.But the moment of this guy in
his first match in that stadium withDavid Beckham and Lebron James and Serena Williams.
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I mean, it was such abig deal here Mark last night that
you know, the Dolphins are startingprinting camp in a few days. The
Dolphins are still a pretty big dealdown here. I don't think anybody knows
that too. It was in thebuilding to a tag of Viola was in
the building last night, and Ithink very few people notice, which just
speaks to the level of mania thatit was. Yeah, I mean you
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covered every dribble of the heatles howI mean, I'm getting the vibe that
you think that this can live upto that. I mean, Ken,
can you know this is major leaguesoccer. It is not the highest level
of of world soccer. But Imean that just that we're just watching Lebron
hug Messi that that clip, Imean that was that. I mean Lebron
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was that was love that. Imean, you know, you don't normally
see him spill out the kind ofemotion even and that's before the match when
when Messi checks in, you knowthe VIP boxes right there and they all
have their phones out. This isit's Billionaire's Row, it's the Stephans,
it's Serena, it's Kim Kardashian it'sLebron. They all the level of celebrity
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that they have, and they allhave their phones out because they want to
capture this moment of a guy checkinginto a soccer game. It's not going
to be the Heatles. It's goingto be incredible in its own way.
It's going to be tempered, it'sgoing to be different. There will be
ebbs and flows to it, obviously, but it will be great for soccer
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in this country because it is anotherreason for Americans to follow the sport period.
That's the win for soccer in thiscountry. If Inner Miami wins trophies,
that's wonderful. Adidas is going tomake money. The club's gonna make
money. Lionel Messi is gonna makea ton of money. Apple TV is
gonna make a ton of money.That's all well and good. This will
grow the game. There is someirony in the fact that his first match
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was going directly up against the women'snational team match last night. That was
I think unfortunate. Yet we're alltalking about soccer today, whether it's the
women last night, whether it's Messylast night, whether it's both, like
many of us are, We're alltalking about soccer. In this country today.
At let's face it, we're betweenNFL. We're all waiting for the
Dame trade, we're all waiting foreverything else. It's a great moment right
(11:07):
now for soccer to grow, andyou couldn't have scripted better ways for it
to grow. Last night, thewomen were dominant and then Messi just Messi
was just just incredible. No,I mean, he did what showman do.
He rose to the occasion, hedelivered the magic moment and he frankly
just looks happy. I saw himearly last season. I happened to be
in Israel and by total luck,PSG was in Israel for a Champions League
(11:31):
game. Messi, Embabe Naymar allscored. It was the first time they
had ever all three scored in amatch. But Messi, he kind of
trudged off the pitch and didn't hejust he didn't look happy as a PSG
player. He looks happy again.You are right, I went way too
long with an in true because nowwe are running out of time, so
I want to shift as much asmuch as real quick on the messy happiness
(11:52):
thing. He's waving to people lastnight, Mark while he's playing, he's
waving two fans. It's it's incredible. Anyway, I'm sorry, No,
let's I want to spend our lastcouple of minutes here talking about Damian Lillard
because obviously that is another of yourmany summer focuses when you speak to people
with the Heat, because right nowit doesn't look like a trade is close.
(12:15):
It just doesn't. But we knowMiami is going to offer hero a
slew of first round picks, pickswaps, whatever they have to do.
How confident are Heat people when youspeak to them that ultimately Damian Lillard will
end up a Heat player. Ithink they believe that Portland will engage,
and if that's the case, thatDamian Lillard will be a Heat player.
Because you know what your friend ChrisHaynes has reported, what you know what
(12:37):
I know. What I've reported,what a lot of people have reported,
is that Damian Lillard has picked Miami. He's picked the Miami Heat. And
Dame is not one to waffle.He's made up his mind. This is
what he wants, this is wherehe wants to be. There's a billion
reasons why the connection he had withdam Adebio I think is a really understated
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story right now in this whole deal. They connected incredibly at the Tokyo Olympics
and you could see bonds being formed. They've stayed close, they've stayed in
touch their friends, as many guysin the league are. The Heat believe
that Dame will not change his mind. So they're just waiting very patiently still
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for Portland to realize that it's notDame's not going to change his mind,
that Dame isn't going to go,isn't going to want to play again for
the Portland Trailblazers. And Joe Croninknows this. Joe Cronan knows, and
Joe Cron's a good man, like, let's not make this about people.
Joe Cronin is a good guy.Joe Cronan said it to us in Vegas
that he failed Dame. I thoughtI even thought he went too far by
(13:46):
saying that they've been trying to dosomething for eighteen months. It hasn't worked.
So now they have a young corethat will develop on a timetable that's
not congruent with Damian Lillard's championship timeframe. Dames thirty three. The time
to really going for the ring isnow. Portland is not a win now
Team there are a win in afew years. Team everybody knows what has
to happen. I do think Portland'sjust upset with the fact that it came
(14:09):
out so quickly and so adamantly thatI want to go to the Miami Heat.
I think there are people in theBlazers organization that are still bothered by
that. I think that's the delay. One thing I will say to you,
Mark is Iimi Hacks Jr. Signedon July first. He's eligible to
be traded on August first. Ibelieve I have to wonder if that's part
of the hold up. If whenmore assets become available for trade. I
(14:31):
think it's going to happen before weall leave for the Philippines. Everybody,
this was a pleasure. I amso glad I was able to set this
up with you, mister Reynolds.I hope I see you soon at Team
USA camp. I'm still TBD forthat trip. I will not be at
the FEBA World Cup, but let'ssee if I can at least meet you
in Vegas for Camp America. FollowThis man by Tim Reynolds on Twitter covers
(14:54):
the NBA like a blanket. Oneof my favorite numbers guys on Planet NBA.
And if you want to follow LionelMessi's journey with inter Milan, inter
Milan with Inner Miami. I wassaving that inter Milan point for later.
If you want to follow his journeywith Inner Miami, read Tim Reynolds.
Take care of my good friend.Be good. I love you, Doctor
Stein. All right, we willbe back after the break with more Saturday
(15:18):
Sports World here on ninety seven oneThe Freak presented by Panini. You're listening
to Saturday Sports World with Mark Stylepresented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles on
your official home dwell Dallas Mavericks Games. Ninety seven one The Freak. All
right, everybody, segment number twoof Saturday Sports World, presented by my
(15:43):
good friends at Panini. Thank youto Tim Reynolds from the Associated Press.
That was a spirited recap of whatwe saw yesterday in Miami with Lionel Messi
making his MLS debut. And weare momentarily we're going to get to a
(16:08):
Cowboys training camp preview with my friendCalvin Watkins from the Dallas Morning News who'll
be covering the goings on in Oxnard. But first I do want to bring
up the steinline text line one moretime. Only one text so far today
asking for Dallas MAVs News, whichI kind of feel like trolling me a
(16:32):
little bit, because that's the kindof that's the kind of demand that I
get when I do my sub stackchats on Fridays, my subscriber only chats.
Where is the MAVs News If youwant to text me two one four
seven eight seven nineteen seventy one twoone four seven eight seven one nine seven
one. Of course the station embeddedin that text line send me a text
(16:57):
message. We'll get to some ofthose in the third segment. But we
have him now. We were teammatesat ESPN. He was he was a
Houston Rockets beat writer in those days. But you know him now as part
of the Dallas Morning News staff.He covers the Dallas Cowboys. He will
(17:18):
be at training camp. He willbe out of this miserable North Texas heat
and just rubbing it in our faceswhen he's in Oxnard, where I'm guessing
the temperatures are a little friendlier.Let's go to him now, my pal,
Calvin Watkins, mister Watkins, thanksa mill for joining us, My
(17:38):
friend, how are you good?You go you guys, all right,
we're good. Not as good asyou I mean you uh, I mean
just going to Oxnard has to beinvigorating, just to be in that in
that air. What I've never beento Cowboys camp. Just atmosphere wise,
how how good is it? Ithink, Um, thatmosphere is great because
(18:04):
the weather is so beautiful and inthat part of the country. And you
know, the hotel, one ofthe hotels of the media says that it's
right on the beach, you know, with a Cowboys practice is a golf
course right next next to it.Um, this is you know at night,
you got to wear a pull overbecause it's about fifty sixty degrees.
(18:29):
It's rough. It's rough. It'srough out there. So uh, my
son goes through. Uh he's playingbasketball, passading the city college. And
he called me one day and youknow he I guess we did. We
did a FaceTime. He calls ourlook and he's got like a palm tree
in the background. So he's nevercoming home. I don't blame him.
(18:52):
Didn't he just but he just didn'the just uh he just signed the playoffs?
Where didn't he? God, twosons, my youngest son. Uh,
he signed to play at Whale andBaptists nice an Ai squ out there
and playing view. They had twokids. Yeah, and your oldest is
staying at Pasadena SEC. Yeah,they stay to Pasadena. Yeah, home
of Brad Turner Los Angeles Times,the mayor of Pasadena. But we'll get
in there. We'll get into that. We'll get into that another day.
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What are what are the one ortwo main storylines for you going into Cowboys
camp. The biggest one to meis Mike McCarthy calling the offensive plays.
Um when he got the job,Kellen Moore was the play caller, and
he allowed Kellen to keep that job. And then obviously after this past season,
(19:37):
Mike had seen enough and Kellen founda job calling the offensive plays in
LA for the Chargers. So nowMcCarthy's gonna call the plays again. A
lot of Packer fans were very dissatisfiedof how McCarthy called the plays and if
his tenure in Green Bay. Sowe'll see if anything will change here.
But that's the number one storyline forme, is that this now we have
(20:03):
a new storyline. Zack Martin,the All Pro Pro Bowl, potential Hall
of Fame, right, guard.We believe he's going to hold out.
He's thinking about it. He wantsa new contract. He's making fourteen million
dollars a year the top guards athis position or at the twenty million dollars
range, So there's a seven milliondollar gap and he would like to close
(20:26):
on. So whether or not heshows up to camp or not be very
interesting, and whether or not theCowboys give him a new contract. It's
also going to be interesting because they'vecaved in the past. Two guys that
have held out. The most latestexample was Zeke Elliott back in twenty nineteen.
Dalton Schultz tried to pull that samemeasure by a quote unquote not showing
(20:49):
up. Well, he did showup to the offseason workouts, but he
didn't practice, and then he soughta new contract and the Cowboys and not
give him one. But Zack Martinhave a lot of leverage here because,
as I said, he's the allworld offensive Linda, I've seen this team
described as the most talented team inthe in the Dak era. Accurate you
(21:15):
agree with that? Is this thebest team they've had with Dak at the
QB home Well, he's got Well, it's interesting that people would say that
because when he first got the jobfrom Tony Romo, they had a pretty
damn good season. I think theywon thirteen games that year. And you
(21:37):
know, he's had Amari Cooper onthe team and he doesn't have him now
for the second consecutive year. Ialways think we in the media and even
fans overrate the Cowboys talent, tobe honest with you, because they are
the Cowboys, and the Cowboys don'tget further than the second round of the
playoffs, So what does that tellyou about some of the talent. I
(21:59):
would think he's rookie year. Hehad a lot of talented players just based
off the number of wins they obtained. But going into this season, I
would say, yeah, he's gota lot of talented weapons. You get
Brandon Cooks here from the from Houstondoing some speed ceedee lamb. Obviously he's
gonna be the number one guy fora second and secutive year. Now you've
(22:19):
lost Ezekiel Elliott, but he wason the decline. The offensive line's got
some issues, as we mentioned withthe potential holdout of Zack Martin. Defensively,
they're fantastic, you know, Imean, they're great defensively, But
I'm gonna say that rookie year forDak, he had more talent, just
because we kind of realized we didn'thave the thread of a holdout like we
(22:41):
do with the starting right guard,and we don't. And you know,
here's the thing. Dak is losinghis starting running back and Zeke Elliott.
Yes he was on the decline,but he's losing his starting running back and
the guy who is replacing him,Tony Poller, is coming off surgery to
his ankle. So there's a lotof question marks there with the offense and
(23:02):
Mike McCarthy's calling to play. Sothat also impacts whether or not you know
how to utilize the talent. CalvinWatkins, Cowboys, writer from the Dallas
Morning News, joining us here onSaturday. Sports World presented by Panini Trading,
Guards and Collectibles. I this morning, I actually read our pal Tim
Kalishaw's column kind of looking at whereDak Prescott falls now, you know,
(23:27):
as as a thirty something, andkind of what the outlook is for him,
how much pressure is on the quarterback? And I mean is do you
see this team as a Super Bowlcontender? I think so? Yeah,
they are a contender, the biggest. They're cryptonizes the forty nine ers,
(23:48):
and the Niners have knocked him outof the postseason in the last two years.
They're just talented and more talent onthe forty nine ers, and they
know how to utilize their talent.That's the other key. But they are
a super Bowl contender. See SanFrancisco, Philadelphia Cowboys. Those are you
know, those are the top threeteams in the conference. Whether or not,
as I said, Dason will cometo San Francisco remains to be seen.
(24:11):
They play them in a regular season, but that doesn't really mean as
much because you got to see themin January. As far as the pressure
on Dak, there's always a lotof pressure on him. This year maybe
a little bit more because he's seekinga new contract. You know, he's
got this year, next year luckon his deal. To remember Mark,
he signed a four year extension acouple of years ago at the richest contract
(24:33):
with franchise history, and as youknow, the price goes up because everybody
else is getting a new contract inhis position. So we're interesting to see
how much more money da Prescott cantake from Jerry Jones over the next couple
of years. And while people alwayswant to replace Dak, I always say
to them who are going to replacehim with? And they go silent.
You know, someone would say CooperRush, but I would say he's not
(24:56):
on Dak's level. So to me, that's the top ten quarterback in this
league and you're gonna have to payhim. The pressure is going to be
tremendous because if he doesn't succeed withMike McCarthy, me and you might be
talking about coaching change next winner.And just for clarity, Dak Prescott's birthday
is next week. He will turnthirty next Saturday, on Saturday on Saturday,
(25:18):
Sports World. In our last fewminutes here, I actually want to
ask you more of a personal slashtechnical question. Please compare for me covering
the NFL day today to covering theNBA day to day. I would say
covering the NBA day to day isa lot more fun because you have more
(25:41):
ability. You have the ability totalk to the players and the coaches is
greater because they're always playing games andI like covering games. The NFL is
fun from a standpoint off. Youhave one game a week and you're building
up to something like a boxing actuallybuilding up to a fight. So you
build it up to this one gameand this game means everything. But as
(26:03):
in the NBA, a game onNovember sixteenth might not mean as much,
you know, because you might seethat team again January third, you know.
So the reality is I dislike theNBA because it's more relaxed. You
could talk to the guys more,you see them more. It's a fun
game. The NFL is a brutalgame. It's fun as well, but
(26:25):
it's very brutal because the wear andtear on your body is just it's just
it's a car wreck every night,every excuse me, every week. It's
a car wreck. NBA is notso much that, But I would definitely
say the NBA is a lot morefun. NFL is very structured. I
compare it to a nine to fivejob. You know, it's very structured.
(26:45):
You know, a time, pressconferences, no, what time practices,
no, a time the games areNBA is we're not doing a shoot
around to day Oh okay, youknow that kind of thing. So it's
it's a little bit looser, buta lot more fun. In your time
in town, you've obviously you've coveredlots of MAVs, and you were a
Rockets beat writer in addition to allof your NFL stints, and you're covering
(27:10):
the Cowboys now. But I think, I think, I think you have
been around the NBA more than enoughfor me to ask you this question.
Dallas coming off the rough season theyhad last year, the big changes they've
made this summer, Houston spending allkinds of cap space to bring in Fred
Van Vleet and Dylan Brooks and they'verevamped their team, and the Spurs winning
(27:32):
the draft lottery for the third timein franchise history and get to bring in
they get to draft Victor Weiman Yama. In about a minute, you tell
me which of those three teams nextseason is the most interesting to you.
Which of the three Texas teams willyou find captures your attention the most.
I'm not saying it's because I'm here, but I'm gonna say to Mavericks,
(27:56):
because Lucas just sensational player as isKyrie. Kyrie could be this, you
know what, I'm taking a weekoff, So just the drama around the
potential Shenanigans of Kyrie irving the talentof Luca and this Mavericks. He did
not make the playoffs last year withthose two guys. Now, they weren't
(28:17):
around a lot after the trade wasmade, but this is will be a
tremendous amount of pressure on them tonot so much get in the playing game,
but to become one of the topsix seeds. I think, because
if you're in the playing game,I'm like, man, that's like you
didn't make the playoffs to me.So I think the to me is the
Mavericks will have more magic, moreattention. I love what they're gonna do
(28:41):
in Houston because that's that's a reallyyoung team and like you said, Famblee
is gonna help them. The Spursof the Spurs, Victor's gonna be fine,
will pop down there. But tome, it's the Mavericks that's the
most intrigued. Well, listen,I'm really glad you came on because,
as you know, having worked closelywith me, I can bear spell NFL
and I know where I live.If I'm gonna have a radio show on
(29:03):
the weekend and Cowboys Camp is starting, I probably need to mention the Cowboys
and talk about them at least alittle bit. So thank you for coming
on here. Educating me, helpingme through that, and we will all
be highly jealous of your temperature surroundingsin coming days when you arrive in Oxnard.
Well, I appreciate you, man, Take it easy. Let's talk
(29:26):
soon. There you go next weekend, so you gotta talk about that.
Sounds good man. There he goeseveryone, My pal Calvin Watkins from the
Dallas Morning News. Congratulations to bothof the young men in the Watkins household
playing college basketball. Fantastic More SaturdaySports World presented by Panini is next.
One more segment to go here onninety seven one the Freak. This is
(29:48):
Saturday Sports World with Mark Stein onyour official home to all Dallas Mavericks games.
And honest, this is penalty kickrange from Leonel Messi. How many
times have you seeing him sport goalsfrom this sort of position? Entered the
d challenge coming from behind and afree kick to come. Four men in
(30:11):
the wall for CRUs ash, aDRAFTI scooter behind them. The whistle sounds,
Messi approaches. He goes for honestdebut form a back. Everyone picked
the game with the last kick upthe game play it out three has won
it for it to Miami on seeleave the Hook Rild scenes last night as
(30:40):
Lionel Messi his first game in aMajor League Soccer shirt inner Miami, he
wins it with a free kick inthe ninety fourth minute. That's my pal
Chris witting him on. He wason AM five sixty in Miami with the
radio call of the Messy winner andjust wanted to speak a little bit more
(31:03):
about mister Messi before we before weget to some MAVs dribbles here in the
final segment of Saturday Sports World,because look the absolutely the anticipation for this
game, you know, as anticipateda match in MLS history, for sure.
You know, if you're of acertain age like this old man,
(31:27):
you know, I cannot quite I'mstill going to put Plai's debut for the
New York Cosmos in nineteen seventy five. That is still on a different level
for me. That also had alocal tie because the Dallas Tornado were the
opponent for that match in nineteen seventyfive. When palais, who is my
(31:48):
footy? Goat again when you're whenyou're of a certain age in your fifties
or older, as great as Maradonnawas, as great as see continues to
be just the level of stardom,worldwide recognition and impact that Play had.
It's you know, the sport didnot exist in this country. It did
(32:13):
not exist until Play played for theNew York Cosmos. I still have a
thermis that I proudly display. Ithink I've tweeted a picture of it as
well. Just again, my familywas all from Europe, you know,
I was my brother and I werethe first in our family who were born
(32:36):
in the United States. Ninety pluspercent of both sides of our family were
born in Romania. Soccer was myfather's that was the sport he grew up
with and grew up loving. Andagain he moved to the United States in
the sixties and it didn't even exist. And you know, the great Play
changed all that when he played forthe Cosmos. But look, this is
(32:58):
you know, I guess the differencehere is you know, Play was clearly
at the end of his career then, and while Messi is thirty six,
he is still close enough to thepeak of his powers that, you know,
he just led Argentina to World Cupglory. So for a player who
is still as good as he isto come to Major League Soccer, you
(33:21):
know, my son Aaron pointed thisout during the week he was googling Inner
and Inner Miami's coming up more frequentlynow than Inner Milan, which is just
just speaks to the to the powerand appeal that Messi possesses. And you
know, almost all the games aregonna be on Apple TV. I think
(33:44):
you're gonna have to get it ifyou want to watch. And you know,
if you didn't have it last night, you know you already missed a
ridiculously magic moment. And that isagain just how you know the fact that
Lebron James and of course Mavericks assistantcoach Jared Dudley, their summer league coach,
he was there, He was onthe trip with Lebron. He tweeted
(34:07):
out some ridiculously close to the pitchpicture taking. So we're gonna have duds
on here in the very near futureto not only talk about MAVs Summer League,
but to talk about what it waslike to be there with Lebron and
Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian to beon celebrity row for this MESSI debut.
(34:30):
Absolutely crazy scenes and it took.It took Inner Miami years with an s
to get this done, to finallyget messy here, but he reduced David
Beckham, one of the Miami owners, to tears on the sideline yesterday with
that free kick. He bent it. He bent that free kick in as
(34:53):
well as Beckham ever could. Justa tremendous moment for major leagues soccer.
I think Tim Reynolds from the APin our first segment brought up a great
point. A shame that the gamewas going on at the same time as
the Women's World Cup opener yesterday.Never really endowed the United States cruising to
(35:13):
an easy three nil win over Vietnam. But still it would have been nice
had those matches not been competing directlyagainst each other on a Women's World Cup.
Note thanks to our friends from Panininext week on next week's show,
as we complete the first month ofSaturday Sports World and there will be there
(35:37):
will be a Newsy announcement as wellabout next week's show. But as part
of all that, thanks to ourfriends at Panini, we're going to be
doing a Women's World Cup sticker giveaway. And Panini is famous for their soccer
sticks. I mean this goes backdecades. I think I first Panini's World
(36:00):
Cup stickers first became something I wasaware of in the eighties. Nineteen eighty
two World Cup was really the firstWorld Cup that I was able to dig
into as a fan to seriously followit. And you know the stickers from
that World Cup. Actually it waseighty three when they finally reached my radar.
But ever since, you know,I've been an avid collector. So
(36:22):
I will be most honored to doa Panini World Cup soccer sticker giveaway featuring
the Women's World Cup. Will dothat on next week's show, and I'll
figure out the mechanics of exactly howto do that. The text line will
be involved, and I will saythank you. We did get a good
response after my second call out fortext here. And we're gonna shift now
(36:44):
to answering some of these MAVs questions. But remember, everybody, please at
least throw me a first name inan initial, Throw me a city where
you're texting in from, because otherwiseit's just a number. And I don't
have any feel for who is registerthe question. My pal Jay from MAVs
Film Room, he included his name. He's asking about Tim Hardaway Junior.
(37:08):
I know there's a lot of curiosityabout Tim Hardaway Jor the MAVs have tried.
You know, he has been madeavailable in trade scenarios dating to the
trade deadline again at the draft.As things stand now, of course,
he is still a member of theMavericks, But I don't think the Mavericks
(37:30):
have moved away from the proverbial table. If trade possibilities re emerge with a
center, They've as we've talked abouton every single episode of the show,
they have tried to get a frontlinecenter via the trade market. It has
not happened to this point. Ifit does happen, there's a decent chance
(37:52):
that because of Tim Hardaway Junior's salary, that he would be involved in that
move. He has a declining contractthese last couple of years, so his
deal it is movable. And youknow, he shot the ball. It
doesn't really get talked about enough.He did shoot the ball very well from
December on. November was rough.October and November very rough for Tim Hardaway's
(38:15):
shooting. But he did shoot theball well from December on. And you
know, if the Mavericks do,if they are able to assemble something significant,
you can safely assume that Tim HardawayJunior would be a part of that
deal. I can't guarantee you thatthey will be able to do something significant,
(38:37):
but they are trying. I havean unnamed text here asking me have
you heard anything relating to the MAV'sreported interest on Derek Jones Junior and Kelly
Ubrey. I think they have expressedsome exploratory interest in Derrick Jones Junior.
As of right now, it's nothingthat they've you know, I haven't sense
(38:58):
that that's something that there immediately movingon, but you know, things could
change fast, not necessarily with him, but just in general. The MAVs
do still have a good chunk oftheir mid level exception available if they wanted
to sign sign someone. But thevibe for this week has been mostly,
you know, just keeping an eyeon the marketplace, not necessarily moving forward
(39:21):
with anything, seeing what's out there. Kelly Ubre's a different situation. My
sense is I only think the Maverickswould be interested in Ubrey at a minimum
contract price. Ubrey at this pointis still seeking more than the minimum.
Much like Christian Wood, He's holdingout for something better. Will something better
(39:43):
than the minimum? Will something betterthan the minimum? Materialized for Ubre to
this point, it hasn't or elsehe would have signed. And you know,
again, he remains available. ButI I got another question here about
Rudy, and I was actually toldat this point I don't believe the Mavericks
(40:05):
are seriously considering any kind of runat Rudy Gay. I think their interest
to this point has been overstated.But look, they're in the position now
where, you know, the bulkof their moves have been made, so
they can kind of sit back andsee what shakes loose, see if anything
materializes that they want to jump on. But you know, again, I
(40:29):
think the preference from the Mavericks isthey they'd rather you know, again,
given their druthers, can they rekindlesome of the trade talks that they had
been involved in earlier in the summer. Is there a chance does Clint Capella
move in a trade that does notinvolve Dallas? Do you know? Is
(40:52):
is it possible that Toronto makes atrade with Atlanta and Capella is involved and
the Raptors obviously wouldn't have a needfor Clint Cappella because they just resigned Yaka
Peardle. Could the Mavericks jump intoa trade like that, is there a
separate deal to do because the directdealings with Atlanta, the talks for Cappella,
(41:13):
they just haven't gone anywhere. Theteams can't agree on terms. So
a straight Atlanta Dallas trade involving Cappellato this point, it just you know,
they haven't They haven't found any commonground. Their common ground continues to
be the phrase I'll use. Soyou know, we'll see does Atlanta make
(41:35):
some other kind of move. Imean, I know there's a feeling now
when you get to this point inJuly that things are over. I don't.
I don't think they're ever. Youknow, no team says it is
July twenty second and we are done. Nobody does that. You keep your
options open. Training camp again doesnot start for the bulk of the NBA
for twenty eight teams, does notstart until October second. That's media day
(41:59):
for eight of the league's thirty teams. The Mavericks because they have the two
games in Abu Dhabi against Minnesota followedby an exhibition against Real Madrid. Because
the Mavericks begin the exhibition season withthree games abroad and we'll be getting into
that down the road. That's alot. That's a long time to be
(42:20):
away. But because of that,the Mavericks media day will be on September
twenty ninth, their first practice onSeptember thirtieth. But still a lot of
runway before we get to that point. I keep tossing out the reminder Donovan
Mitchell was not traded to Cleveland lastsummer until early September. Things were talked
about, there was pretty robust conversationat Summer League, but it took another
(42:45):
month plus before a deal came tofruition. And so I think, you
know, you got to kind ofstay on alert. And we're on three
again, a three headed trade watch. Damian Lillard. Is Portland's gonna trade
him? James Harden? Is Phillygoing to trade him Toronto? Are they
going to trade Pascal Siakam? Thatwill do it for this edition of Saturday
(43:10):
Sports World, profuse thanks as alwaysto our friends at Panini for making the
show possible. We'll be back nextSaturday, and next it's the news Junkies
here on ninety seven one. TheFreak
Welcome to Saturday Sports World with MarkStein, presented by Panini Frading Cards and
Collectibles on ninety seven one The Freak, the official homes all Dallas Mavericks Games,
hosted by legendary NBA reporter and publisherof his subject, The Steinline.
Cheers Mark Stein Friends, Hello onceagain, and welcome in to episode number
(00:31):
four of Saturday Sports World with MarkStein, presented by our dear dear friends
at Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles.I hope you are ready for the most
worldly show we've done yet. Thisone will not be strictly NBA, not
(00:52):
as we dribble closer to late July, not with the limited, very incremental,
some would say non existent movement onthe three sided Trade Watch ongoing throughout
the NBA. Damian Lillard is stilla Portland Trailblazer, James Harden is still
(01:15):
a Philadelphia seventy six, or PascalSiakam is still a Toronto Raptor, and
that might be the case for well, I'm not sure for how much longer.
I wish I could definitively tell you. I wish I could give you
that answer right now. It's notpossible on this particular Saturday show What is
(01:42):
Possible. However, we're going todo all kinds of new stuff on this
edition of the show, a Cowboystraining camp preview. In the second segment,
after our first break words I thoughtI would never say, but in
my old age, trying to bea little bit more well rounded, we're
gonna catch up with my good friend, my former Bristol teammate, Calvin Watkins
(02:05):
of the Dallas Morning News. He'sgoing to be headed to Callie soon to
cover training camp. That preview isen route. But first, friends,
I want let me also, first, let me remind you you can text
the show. You can hit meon the Steinline text line. Still seeking
a sponsor for an even fancier nameto hit us on the text line two
(02:30):
one four seven eight seven one nineseven one two one four seven eight seven
one nine seven one. In thethird segment, we will get to some
of your texts, some of yourmessages. Again, you want to sponsor
that text line, email me MA R C S T E I N
(02:51):
one word mark Stein at substock dotcom. Right now, though, let's
kick things off. Let's go straightto the Steine Line hotline. I want
to introduce you to one of theone of the most versatile sportswriters in America.
He is the national NBA writer forthe Associated Press, but that only
(03:15):
is a fraction of what this mandoes. He covers. He ably covers
the Dolphins, the Marlins, thePanthers, Hurricanes, Tennis Olympics. Was
there a huge soccer game in SouthFlorida yesterday with Lionel Messi making his debut?
Was he on the premises? Ofcourse? He was a man who
never takes a day off, kindenough to join us here today on the
(03:36):
show and my formal my former myformer neighbor in the Walt Disney World bubble
in Orlando three summers ago, anexperience we will never forget. Living on
planet NBA with twenty two NBA teams. My pal Tim Reynolds of the Associated
Press gave him a warm welcome,Doctor Reynolds, I can't believe you're actually
(04:01):
stationary to speak to me. Whatwhat are you covering today, doctor Stein?
I? First off, are weout of time? After the intro?
No, we still have a goodtime. I left you a good
I left you a good ten minutes. I feel as though the intro took
up the segment so I appreciate thatyou deserve it. Man I he who
(04:21):
does not take days off. Istart a vacation today. Awesome before we
go to Vegas August second for USAB Camp. Yes, indeed, I
hope to think I can make itthere and join you for that because the
NBA requires us to be in LasVegas now like thirty three times a year.
(04:42):
Thank you Vegas, Thank you Nbaum. And then we're off to Hall
of Fame and Abu Dhabi and Manilaand that we come home in this football
season. Did you see that?Did you see? Though? Jake Fisher
reported that the G League Showcase,my favorite Vegas event, is actually moving
to Orlando. Yeah. I didn'tneed that in my life either. Yeah,
I'm I didn't see no more Floridaof VNCI. I'm still I'm still
(05:05):
recovering from the bubble three years later. But that's that's for another day.
Let's get to the events of lastnight you were in that you were in
the house right there with lebron SerenaWilliams, Kim Kardashian, Kim Reynolds of
the AP live to see the LionelMessi debut. Paint a picture for us.
What did we miss if we werenot fortunate enough to see it on
(05:29):
Apple TV. Well, first off, on the sinewyin text line, you
should do a contest which one ofthese four things are not like the other?
Lebron Serena, Kim Kardashian and yeah, hi me so um it was
so, it was. It's terrible. Radio did not have an answer.
(05:49):
It's been fourteen hours. I stillcan't explain it. I still can't explain
what I wrote after I wrote elevenhundred words on it. I can't like
it was due respect to the strikingwriters and actors in Hollywood. This was
Hollywood, This was made up,This was Disney, this was the bubble.
This was a fairy tale. Tohave this guy in his first match
(06:15):
do that and basically as a walkoff, it was the longest two minutes
of stoppage time in the history ofsoccer. Um, I don't think anybody
noticed that where he struck the freekick from was about five yards further back
from where I think he actually gothit. There was that element, um,
he just can't make But you knew, you knew that you were going
(06:36):
to see something. You knew theminute they called for the kick. You
knew it was going in, buthe just knew, like he doesn't miss
that, and and it wasn't alayup though, So it's me it's like
that's a lot harder to pull offfor people who don't follow the game very
closely. You know, Okay,a guy made a twenty five yard free
(06:59):
kick where he was. It's actuallyit would been a lot easy. It
would have been easier for him furtherback. I mean he could he could
only hit the ball at that exactpace, at that exact angle. He
didn't overpower it. It was I'mgoing to send it a yard wide of
the goal post. I'm gonna bringit back and over a wall of five
(07:21):
guys who had no chance. Hewas exhausted. I mean, it was
like you would see him when hewould get the ball, he'd attack,
he'd make a move. He's abrilliant passer. He's still the greatest passer
in the sport. He would setthings up and then he would spend then
into Miami would lose possession, ora ball ground of bounds or something would
(07:41):
happen, and you would he wouldwalk like a slow walk mark all the
way back to midfield and get readyto reload. He was gassed. He's
not in match fit whatever yet.Yet the great ones can still go to
that place where they just a momentand all of a sudden, there's like
a hundred people on the field becauseyou have all these security guards making sure
(08:03):
people don't rush the field. Andmore on that in a second. How
close the stands are to the fieldhere and how very different it is going
to be for Lionel Messi here thananywhere else in the world. But we
didn't know if the match was over. They restarted play. They played for
almost a full minute again. Itwas the longest stoppage time ever and we
just we're all sitting there with storiesto write on intense deadline, just couldn't
(08:26):
believe what we had seen. Yetyou knew it was coming. It was
the craziest thing. It was.It was Ray Allen's three with five point
two to go on steroids. Itwas didn't have that same meaning. Maybe,
I mean, this is a glorifiedexhibition. I mean the league's cump.
I mean, who really cares.But the moment of this guy in
his first match in that stadium withDavid Beckham and Lebron James and Serena Williams.
(08:50):
I mean, it was such abig deal here Mark last night that
you know, the Dolphins are startingprinting camp in a few days. The
Dolphins are still a pretty big dealdown here. I don't think anybody knows
that too. It was in thebuilding to a tag of Viola was in
the building last night, and Ithink very few people notice, which just
speaks to the level of mania thatit was. Yeah, I mean you
(09:11):
covered every dribble of the heatles howI mean, I'm getting the vibe that
you think that this can live upto that. I mean, Ken,
can you know this is major leaguesoccer. It is not the highest level
of of world soccer. But Imean that just that we're just watching Lebron
hug Messi that that clip, Imean that was that. I mean Lebron
(09:35):
was that was love that. Imean, you know, you don't normally
see him spill out the kind ofemotion even and that's before the match when
when Messi checks in, you knowthe VIP boxes right there and they all
have their phones out. This isit's Billionaire's Row, it's the Stephans,
it's Serena, it's Kim Kardashian it'sLebron. They all the level of celebrity
(09:58):
that they have, and they allhave their phones out because they want to
capture this moment of a guy checkinginto a soccer game. It's not going
to be the Heatles. It's goingto be incredible in its own way.
It's going to be tempered, it'sgoing to be different. There will be
ebbs and flows to it, obviously, but it will be great for soccer
(10:20):
in this country because it is anotherreason for Americans to follow the sport period.
That's the win for soccer in thiscountry. If Inner Miami wins trophies,
that's wonderful. Adidas is going tomake money. The club's gonna make
money. Lionel Messi is gonna makea ton of money. Apple TV is
gonna make a ton of money.That's all well and good. This will
grow the game. There is someirony in the fact that his first match
(10:43):
was going directly up against the women'snational team match last night. That was
I think unfortunate. Yet we're alltalking about soccer today, whether it's the
women last night, whether it's Messylast night, whether it's both, like
many of us are, We're alltalking about soccer. In this country today.
At let's face it, we're betweenNFL. We're all waiting for the
Dame trade, we're all waiting foreverything else. It's a great moment right
(11:07):
now for soccer to grow, andyou couldn't have scripted better ways for it
to grow. Last night, thewomen were dominant and then Messi just Messi
was just just incredible. No,I mean, he did what showman do.
He rose to the occasion, hedelivered the magic moment and he frankly
just looks happy. I saw himearly last season. I happened to be
in Israel and by total luck,PSG was in Israel for a Champions League
(11:31):
game. Messi, Embabe Naymar allscored. It was the first time they
had ever all three scored in amatch. But Messi, he kind of
trudged off the pitch and didn't hejust he didn't look happy as a PSG
player. He looks happy again.You are right, I went way too
long with an in true because nowwe are running out of time, so
I want to shift as much asmuch as real quick on the messy happiness
(11:52):
thing. He's waving to people lastnight, Mark while he's playing, he's
waving two fans. It's it's incredible. Anyway, I'm sorry, No,
let's I want to spend our lastcouple of minutes here talking about Damian Lillard
because obviously that is another of yourmany summer focuses when you speak to people
with the Heat, because right nowit doesn't look like a trade is close.
(12:15):
It just doesn't. But we knowMiami is going to offer hero a
slew of first round picks, pickswaps, whatever they have to do.
How confident are Heat people when youspeak to them that ultimately Damian Lillard will
end up a Heat player. Ithink they believe that Portland will engage,
and if that's the case, thatDamian Lillard will be a Heat player.
Because you know what your friend ChrisHaynes has reported, what you know what
(12:37):
I know. What I've reported,what a lot of people have reported,
is that Damian Lillard has picked Miami. He's picked the Miami Heat. And
Dame is not one to waffle.He's made up his mind. This is
what he wants, this is wherehe wants to be. There's a billion
reasons why the connection he had withdam Adebio I think is a really understated
(13:01):
story right now in this whole deal. They connected incredibly at the Tokyo Olympics
and you could see bonds being formed. They've stayed close, they've stayed in
touch their friends, as many guysin the league are. The Heat believe
that Dame will not change his mind. So they're just waiting very patiently still
(13:22):
for Portland to realize that it's notDame's not going to change his mind,
that Dame isn't going to go,isn't going to want to play again for
the Portland Trailblazers. And Joe Croninknows this. Joe Cronan knows, and
Joe Cron's a good man, like, let's not make this about people.
Joe Cronin is a good guy.Joe Cronan said it to us in Vegas
that he failed Dame. I thoughtI even thought he went too far by
(13:46):
saying that they've been trying to dosomething for eighteen months. It hasn't worked.
So now they have a young corethat will develop on a timetable that's
not congruent with Damian Lillard's championship timeframe. Dames thirty three. The time
to really going for the ring isnow. Portland is not a win now
Team there are a win in afew years. Team everybody knows what has
to happen. I do think Portland'sjust upset with the fact that it came
(14:09):
out so quickly and so adamantly thatI want to go to the Miami Heat.
I think there are people in theBlazers organization that are still bothered by
that. I think that's the delay. One thing I will say to you,
Mark is Iimi Hacks Jr. Signedon July first. He's eligible to
be traded on August first. Ibelieve I have to wonder if that's part
of the hold up. If whenmore assets become available for trade. I
(14:31):
think it's going to happen before weall leave for the Philippines. Everybody,
this was a pleasure. I amso glad I was able to set this
up with you, mister Reynolds.I hope I see you soon at Team
USA camp. I'm still TBD forthat trip. I will not be at
the FEBA World Cup, but let'ssee if I can at least meet you
in Vegas for Camp America. FollowThis man by Tim Reynolds on Twitter covers
(14:54):
the NBA like a blanket. Oneof my favorite numbers guys on Planet NBA.
And if you want to follow LionelMessi's journey with inter Milan, inter
Milan with Inner Miami. I wassaving that inter Milan point for later.
If you want to follow his journeywith Inner Miami, read Tim Reynolds.
Take care of my good friend.Be good. I love you, Doctor
Stein. All right, we willbe back after the break with more Saturday
(15:18):
Sports World here on ninety seven oneThe Freak presented by Panini. You're listening
to Saturday Sports World with Mark Stylepresented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles on
your official home dwell Dallas Mavericks Games. Ninety seven one The Freak. All
right, everybody, segment number twoof Saturday Sports World, presented by my
(15:43):
good friends at Panini. Thank youto Tim Reynolds from the Associated Press.
That was a spirited recap of whatwe saw yesterday in Miami with Lionel Messi
making his MLS debut. And weare momentarily we're going to get to a
(16:08):
Cowboys training camp preview with my friendCalvin Watkins from the Dallas Morning News who'll
be covering the goings on in Oxnard. But first I do want to bring
up the steinline text line one moretime. Only one text so far today
asking for Dallas MAVs News, whichI kind of feel like trolling me a
(16:32):
little bit, because that's the kindof that's the kind of demand that I
get when I do my sub stackchats on Fridays, my subscriber only chats.
Where is the MAVs News If youwant to text me two one four
seven eight seven nineteen seventy one twoone four seven eight seven one nine seven
one. Of course the station embeddedin that text line send me a text
(16:57):
message. We'll get to some ofthose in the third segment. But we
have him now. We were teammatesat ESPN. He was he was a
Houston Rockets beat writer in those days. But you know him now as part
of the Dallas Morning News staff.He covers the Dallas Cowboys. He will
(17:18):
be at training camp. He willbe out of this miserable North Texas heat
and just rubbing it in our faceswhen he's in Oxnard, where I'm guessing
the temperatures are a little friendlier.Let's go to him now, my pal,
Calvin Watkins, mister Watkins, thanksa mill for joining us, My
(17:38):
friend, how are you good?You go you guys, all right,
we're good. Not as good asyou I mean you uh, I mean
just going to Oxnard has to beinvigorating, just to be in that in
that air. What I've never beento Cowboys camp. Just atmosphere wise,
how how good is it? Ithink, Um, thatmosphere is great because
(18:04):
the weather is so beautiful and inthat part of the country. And you
know, the hotel, one ofthe hotels of the media says that it's
right on the beach, you know, with a Cowboys practice is a golf
course right next next to it.Um, this is you know at night,
you got to wear a pull overbecause it's about fifty sixty degrees.
(18:29):
It's rough. It's rough. It'srough out there. So uh, my
son goes through. Uh he's playingbasketball, passading the city college. And
he called me one day and youknow he I guess we did. We
did a FaceTime. He calls ourlook and he's got like a palm tree
in the background. So he's nevercoming home. I don't blame him.
(18:52):
Didn't he just but he just didn'the just uh he just signed the playoffs?
Where didn't he? God, twosons, my youngest son. Uh,
he signed to play at Whale andBaptists nice an Ai squ out there
and playing view. They had twokids. Yeah, and your oldest is
staying at Pasadena SEC. Yeah,they stay to Pasadena. Yeah, home
of Brad Turner Los Angeles Times,the mayor of Pasadena. But we'll get
in there. We'll get into that. We'll get into that another day.
(19:15):
What are what are the one ortwo main storylines for you going into Cowboys
camp. The biggest one to meis Mike McCarthy calling the offensive plays.
Um when he got the job,Kellen Moore was the play caller, and
he allowed Kellen to keep that job. And then obviously after this past season,
(19:37):
Mike had seen enough and Kellen founda job calling the offensive plays in
LA for the Chargers. So nowMcCarthy's gonna call the plays again. A
lot of Packer fans were very dissatisfiedof how McCarthy called the plays and if
his tenure in Green Bay. Sowe'll see if anything will change here.
But that's the number one storyline forme, is that this now we have
(20:03):
a new storyline. Zack Martin,the All Pro Pro Bowl, potential Hall
of Fame, right, guard.We believe he's going to hold out.
He's thinking about it. He wantsa new contract. He's making fourteen million
dollars a year the top guards athis position or at the twenty million dollars
range, So there's a seven milliondollar gap and he would like to close
(20:26):
on. So whether or not heshows up to camp or not be very
interesting, and whether or not theCowboys give him a new contract. It's
also going to be interesting because they'vecaved in the past. Two guys that
have held out. The most latestexample was Zeke Elliott back in twenty nineteen.
Dalton Schultz tried to pull that samemeasure by a quote unquote not showing
(20:49):
up. Well, he did showup to the offseason workouts, but he
didn't practice, and then he soughta new contract and the Cowboys and not
give him one. But Zack Martinhave a lot of leverage here because,
as I said, he's the allworld offensive Linda, I've seen this team
described as the most talented team inthe in the Dak era. Accurate you
(21:15):
agree with that? Is this thebest team they've had with Dak at the
QB home Well, he's got Well, it's interesting that people would say that
because when he first got the jobfrom Tony Romo, they had a pretty
damn good season. I think theywon thirteen games that year. And you
(21:37):
know, he's had Amari Cooper onthe team and he doesn't have him now
for the second consecutive year. Ialways think we in the media and even
fans overrate the Cowboys talent, tobe honest with you, because they are
the Cowboys, and the Cowboys don'tget further than the second round of the
playoffs, So what does that tellyou about some of the talent. I
(21:59):
would think he's rookie year. Hehad a lot of talented players just based
off the number of wins they obtained. But going into this season, I
would say, yeah, he's gota lot of talented weapons. You get
Brandon Cooks here from the from Houstondoing some speed ceedee lamb. Obviously he's
gonna be the number one guy fora second and secutive year. Now you've
(22:19):
lost Ezekiel Elliott, but he wason the decline. The offensive line's got
some issues, as we mentioned withthe potential holdout of Zack Martin. Defensively,
they're fantastic, you know, Imean, they're great defensively, But
I'm gonna say that rookie year forDak, he had more talent, just
because we kind of realized we didn'thave the thread of a holdout like we
(22:41):
do with the starting right guard,and we don't. And you know,
here's the thing. Dak is losinghis starting running back and Zeke Elliott.
Yes he was on the decline,but he's losing his starting running back and
the guy who is replacing him,Tony Poller, is coming off surgery to
his ankle. So there's a lotof question marks there with the offense and
(23:02):
Mike McCarthy's calling to play. Sothat also impacts whether or not you know
how to utilize the talent. CalvinWatkins, Cowboys, writer from the Dallas
Morning News, joining us here onSaturday. Sports World presented by Panini Trading,
Guards and Collectibles. I this morning, I actually read our pal Tim
Kalishaw's column kind of looking at whereDak Prescott falls now, you know,
(23:27):
as as a thirty something, andkind of what the outlook is for him,
how much pressure is on the quarterback? And I mean is do you
see this team as a Super Bowlcontender? I think so? Yeah,
they are a contender, the biggest. They're cryptonizes the forty nine ers,
(23:48):
and the Niners have knocked him outof the postseason in the last two years.
They're just talented and more talent onthe forty nine ers, and they
know how to utilize their talent.That's the other key. But they are
a super Bowl contender. See SanFrancisco, Philadelphia Cowboys. Those are you
know, those are the top threeteams in the conference. Whether or not,
as I said, Dason will cometo San Francisco remains to be seen.
(24:11):
They play them in a regular season, but that doesn't really mean as
much because you got to see themin January. As far as the pressure
on Dak, there's always a lotof pressure on him. This year maybe
a little bit more because he's seekinga new contract. You know, he's
got this year, next year luckon his deal. To remember Mark,
he signed a four year extension acouple of years ago at the richest contract
(24:33):
with franchise history, and as youknow, the price goes up because everybody
else is getting a new contract inhis position. So we're interesting to see
how much more money da Prescott cantake from Jerry Jones over the next couple
of years. And while people alwayswant to replace Dak, I always say
to them who are going to replacehim with? And they go silent.
You know, someone would say CooperRush, but I would say he's not
(24:56):
on Dak's level. So to me, that's the top ten quarterback in this
league and you're gonna have to payhim. The pressure is going to be
tremendous because if he doesn't succeed withMike McCarthy, me and you might be
talking about coaching change next winner.And just for clarity, Dak Prescott's birthday
is next week. He will turnthirty next Saturday, on Saturday on Saturday,
(25:18):
Sports World. In our last fewminutes here, I actually want to
ask you more of a personal slashtechnical question. Please compare for me covering
the NFL day today to covering theNBA day to day. I would say
covering the NBA day to day isa lot more fun because you have more
(25:41):
ability. You have the ability totalk to the players and the coaches is
greater because they're always playing games andI like covering games. The NFL is
fun from a standpoint off. Youhave one game a week and you're building
up to something like a boxing actuallybuilding up to a fight. So you
build it up to this one gameand this game means everything. But as
(26:03):
in the NBA, a game onNovember sixteenth might not mean as much,
you know, because you might seethat team again January third, you know.
So the reality is I dislike theNBA because it's more relaxed. You
could talk to the guys more,you see them more. It's a fun
game. The NFL is a brutalgame. It's fun as well, but
(26:25):
it's very brutal because the wear andtear on your body is just it's just
it's a car wreck every night,every excuse me, every week. It's
a car wreck. NBA is notso much that, But I would definitely
say the NBA is a lot morefun. NFL is very structured. I
compare it to a nine to fivejob. You know, it's very structured.
(26:45):
You know, a time, pressconferences, no, what time practices,
no, a time the games areNBA is we're not doing a shoot
around to day Oh okay, youknow that kind of thing. So it's
it's a little bit looser, buta lot more fun. In your time
in town, you've obviously you've coveredlots of MAVs, and you were a
Rockets beat writer in addition to allof your NFL stints, and you're covering
(27:10):
the Cowboys now. But I think, I think, I think you have
been around the NBA more than enoughfor me to ask you this question.
Dallas coming off the rough season theyhad last year, the big changes they've
made this summer, Houston spending allkinds of cap space to bring in Fred
Van Vleet and Dylan Brooks and they'verevamped their team, and the Spurs winning
(27:32):
the draft lottery for the third timein franchise history and get to bring in
they get to draft Victor Weiman Yama. In about a minute, you tell
me which of those three teams nextseason is the most interesting to you.
Which of the three Texas teams willyou find captures your attention the most.
I'm not saying it's because I'm here, but I'm gonna say to Mavericks,
(27:56):
because Lucas just sensational player as isKyrie. Kyrie could be this, you
know what, I'm taking a weekoff, So just the drama around the
potential Shenanigans of Kyrie irving the talentof Luca and this Mavericks. He did
not make the playoffs last year withthose two guys. Now, they weren't
(28:17):
around a lot after the trade wasmade, but this is will be a
tremendous amount of pressure on them tonot so much get in the playing game,
but to become one of the topsix seeds. I think, because
if you're in the playing game,I'm like, man, that's like you
didn't make the playoffs to me.So I think the to me is the
Mavericks will have more magic, moreattention. I love what they're gonna do
(28:41):
in Houston because that's that's a reallyyoung team and like you said, Famblee
is gonna help them. The Spursof the Spurs, Victor's gonna be fine,
will pop down there. But tome, it's the Mavericks that's the
most intrigued. Well, listen,I'm really glad you came on because,
as you know, having worked closelywith me, I can bear spell NFL
and I know where I live.If I'm gonna have a radio show on
(29:03):
the weekend and Cowboys Camp is starting, I probably need to mention the Cowboys
and talk about them at least alittle bit. So thank you for coming
on here. Educating me, helpingme through that, and we will all
be highly jealous of your temperature surroundingsin coming days when you arrive in Oxnard.
Well, I appreciate you, man, Take it easy. Let's talk
(29:26):
soon. There you go next weekend, so you gotta talk about that.
Sounds good man. There he goeseveryone, My pal Calvin Watkins from the
Dallas Morning News. Congratulations to bothof the young men in the Watkins household
playing college basketball. Fantastic More SaturdaySports World presented by Panini is next.
One more segment to go here onninety seven one the Freak. This is
(29:48):
Saturday Sports World with Mark Stein onyour official home to all Dallas Mavericks games.
And honest, this is penalty kickrange from Leonel Messi. How many
times have you seeing him sport goalsfrom this sort of position? Entered the
d challenge coming from behind and afree kick to come. Four men in
(30:11):
the wall for CRUs ash, aDRAFTI scooter behind them. The whistle sounds,
Messi approaches. He goes for honestdebut form a back. Everyone picked
the game with the last kick upthe game play it out three has won
it for it to Miami on seeleave the Hook Rild scenes last night as
(30:40):
Lionel Messi his first game in aMajor League Soccer shirt inner Miami, he
wins it with a free kick inthe ninety fourth minute. That's my pal
Chris witting him on. He wason AM five sixty in Miami with the
radio call of the Messy winner andjust wanted to speak a little bit more
(31:03):
about mister Messi before we before weget to some MAVs dribbles here in the
final segment of Saturday Sports World,because look the absolutely the anticipation for this
game, you know, as anticipateda match in MLS history, for sure.
You know, if you're of acertain age like this old man,
(31:27):
you know, I cannot quite I'mstill going to put Plai's debut for the
New York Cosmos in nineteen seventy five. That is still on a different level
for me. That also had alocal tie because the Dallas Tornado were the
opponent for that match in nineteen seventyfive. When palais, who is my
(31:48):
footy? Goat again when you're whenyou're of a certain age in your fifties
or older, as great as Maradonnawas, as great as see continues to
be just the level of stardom,worldwide recognition and impact that Play had.
It's you know, the sport didnot exist in this country. It did
(32:13):
not exist until Play played for theNew York Cosmos. I still have a
thermis that I proudly display. Ithink I've tweeted a picture of it as
well. Just again, my familywas all from Europe, you know,
I was my brother and I werethe first in our family who were born
(32:36):
in the United States. Ninety pluspercent of both sides of our family were
born in Romania. Soccer was myfather's that was the sport he grew up
with and grew up loving. Andagain he moved to the United States in
the sixties and it didn't even exist. And you know, the great Play
changed all that when he played forthe Cosmos. But look, this is
(32:58):
you know, I guess the differencehere is you know, Play was clearly
at the end of his career then, and while Messi is thirty six,
he is still close enough to thepeak of his powers that, you know,
he just led Argentina to World Cupglory. So for a player who
is still as good as he isto come to Major League Soccer, you
(33:21):
know, my son Aaron pointed thisout during the week he was googling Inner
and Inner Miami's coming up more frequentlynow than Inner Milan, which is just
just speaks to the to the powerand appeal that Messi possesses. And you
know, almost all the games aregonna be on Apple TV. I think
(33:44):
you're gonna have to get it ifyou want to watch. And you know,
if you didn't have it last night, you know you already missed a
ridiculously magic moment. And that isagain just how you know the fact that
Lebron James and of course Mavericks assistantcoach Jared Dudley, their summer league coach,
he was there, He was onthe trip with Lebron. He tweeted
(34:07):
out some ridiculously close to the pitchpicture taking. So we're gonna have duds
on here in the very near futureto not only talk about MAVs Summer League,
but to talk about what it waslike to be there with Lebron and
Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian to beon celebrity row for this MESSI debut.
(34:30):
Absolutely crazy scenes and it took.It took Inner Miami years with an s
to get this done, to finallyget messy here, but he reduced David
Beckham, one of the Miami owners, to tears on the sideline yesterday with
that free kick. He bent it. He bent that free kick in as
(34:53):
well as Beckham ever could. Justa tremendous moment for major leagues soccer.
I think Tim Reynolds from the APin our first segment brought up a great
point. A shame that the gamewas going on at the same time as
the Women's World Cup opener yesterday.Never really endowed the United States cruising to
(35:13):
an easy three nil win over Vietnam. But still it would have been nice
had those matches not been competing directlyagainst each other on a Women's World Cup.
Note thanks to our friends from Panininext week on next week's show,
as we complete the first month ofSaturday Sports World and there will be there
(35:37):
will be a Newsy announcement as wellabout next week's show. But as part
of all that, thanks to ourfriends at Panini, we're going to be
doing a Women's World Cup sticker giveaway. And Panini is famous for their soccer
sticks. I mean this goes backdecades. I think I first Panini's World
(36:00):
Cup stickers first became something I wasaware of in the eighties. Nineteen eighty
two World Cup was really the firstWorld Cup that I was able to dig
into as a fan to seriously followit. And you know the stickers from
that World Cup. Actually it waseighty three when they finally reached my radar.
But ever since, you know,I've been an avid collector. So
(36:22):
I will be most honored to doa Panini World Cup soccer sticker giveaway featuring
the Women's World Cup. Will dothat on next week's show, and I'll
figure out the mechanics of exactly howto do that. The text line will
be involved, and I will saythank you. We did get a good
response after my second call out fortext here. And we're gonna shift now
(36:44):
to answering some of these MAVs questions. But remember, everybody, please at
least throw me a first name inan initial, Throw me a city where
you're texting in from, because otherwiseit's just a number. And I don't
have any feel for who is registerthe question. My pal Jay from MAVs
Film Room, he included his name. He's asking about Tim Hardaway Junior.
(37:08):
I know there's a lot of curiosityabout Tim Hardaway Jor the MAVs have tried.
You know, he has been madeavailable in trade scenarios dating to the
trade deadline again at the draft.As things stand now, of course,
he is still a member of theMavericks, But I don't think the Mavericks
(37:30):
have moved away from the proverbial table. If trade possibilities re emerge with a
center, They've as we've talked abouton every single episode of the show,
they have tried to get a frontlinecenter via the trade market. It has
not happened to this point. Ifit does happen, there's a decent chance
(37:52):
that because of Tim Hardaway Junior's salary, that he would be involved in that
move. He has a declining contractthese last couple of years, so his
deal it is movable. And youknow, he shot the ball. It
doesn't really get talked about enough.He did shoot the ball very well from
December on. November was rough.October and November very rough for Tim Hardaway's
(38:15):
shooting. But he did shoot theball well from December on. And you
know, if the Mavericks do,if they are able to assemble something significant,
you can safely assume that Tim HardawayJunior would be a part of that
deal. I can't guarantee you thatthey will be able to do something significant,
(38:37):
but they are trying. I havean unnamed text here asking me have
you heard anything relating to the MAV'sreported interest on Derek Jones Junior and Kelly
Ubrey. I think they have expressedsome exploratory interest in Derrick Jones Junior.
As of right now, it's nothingthat they've you know, I haven't sense
(38:58):
that that's something that there immediately movingon, but you know, things could
change fast, not necessarily with him, but just in general. The MAVs
do still have a good chunk oftheir mid level exception available if they wanted
to sign sign someone. But thevibe for this week has been mostly,
you know, just keeping an eyeon the marketplace, not necessarily moving forward
(39:21):
with anything, seeing what's out there. Kelly Ubre's a different situation. My
sense is I only think the Maverickswould be interested in Ubrey at a minimum
contract price. Ubrey at this pointis still seeking more than the minimum.
Much like Christian Wood, He's holdingout for something better. Will something better
(39:43):
than the minimum? Will something betterthan the minimum? Materialized for Ubre to
this point, it hasn't or elsehe would have signed. And you know,
again, he remains available. ButI I got another question here about
Rudy, and I was actually toldat this point I don't believe the Mavericks
(40:05):
are seriously considering any kind of runat Rudy Gay. I think their interest
to this point has been overstated.But look, they're in the position now
where, you know, the bulkof their moves have been made, so
they can kind of sit back andsee what shakes loose, see if anything
materializes that they want to jump on. But you know, again, I
(40:29):
think the preference from the Mavericks isthey they'd rather you know, again,
given their druthers, can they rekindlesome of the trade talks that they had
been involved in earlier in the summer. Is there a chance does Clint Capella
move in a trade that does notinvolve Dallas? Do you know? Is
(40:52):
is it possible that Toronto makes atrade with Atlanta and Capella is involved and
the Raptors obviously wouldn't have a needfor Clint Cappella because they just resigned Yaka
Peardle. Could the Mavericks jump intoa trade like that, is there a
separate deal to do because the directdealings with Atlanta, the talks for Cappella,
(41:13):
they just haven't gone anywhere. Theteams can't agree on terms. So
a straight Atlanta Dallas trade involving Cappellato this point, it just you know,
they haven't They haven't found any commonground. Their common ground continues to
be the phrase I'll use. Soyou know, we'll see does Atlanta make
(41:35):
some other kind of move. Imean, I know there's a feeling now
when you get to this point inJuly that things are over. I don't.
I don't think they're ever. Youknow, no team says it is
July twenty second and we are done. Nobody does that. You keep your
options open. Training camp again doesnot start for the bulk of the NBA
for twenty eight teams, does notstart until October second. That's media day
(41:59):
for eight of the league's thirty teams. The Mavericks because they have the two
games in Abu Dhabi against Minnesota followedby an exhibition against Real Madrid. Because
the Mavericks begin the exhibition season withthree games abroad and we'll be getting into
that down the road. That's alot. That's a long time to be
(42:20):
away. But because of that,the Mavericks media day will be on September
twenty ninth, their first practice onSeptember thirtieth. But still a lot of
runway before we get to that point. I keep tossing out the reminder Donovan
Mitchell was not traded to Cleveland lastsummer until early September. Things were talked
about, there was pretty robust conversationat Summer League, but it took another
(42:45):
month plus before a deal came tofruition. And so I think, you
know, you got to kind ofstay on alert. And we're on three
again, a three headed trade watch. Damian Lillard. Is Portland's gonna trade
him? James Harden? Is Phillygoing to trade him Toronto? Are they
going to trade Pascal Siakam? Thatwill do it for this edition of Saturday
(43:10):
Sports World, profuse thanks as alwaysto our friends at Panini for making the
show possible. We'll be back nextSaturday, and next it's the news Junkies
here on ninety seven one. TheFreak
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