Saturday Sportsworld with Marc Stein (July 22, 2023) Part 1

The Associated Press' Tim Reynolds joins us to provide a first-person account from Lionel Messi's debut in MLS with Inter Miami and an update on the Damian Lillard trade saga.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to Saturday Sports World with MarkStein, presented by Panini Freding Cards and
Collectibles on ninety seven one The Freak, the official homes of all Dallas Mavericks
Games, hosted by legendary NBA reporterand publisher of his subject, The Steinline.
Cheers Mark Stein Friends, Hello onceagain, and welcome in to episode

(00:30):
number four of Saturday Sports World withMark Stein, 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.This one will not be strictly NBA,

(00:51):
not as we dribble closer to lateJuly, not with the limited, very
incremental, some would say non existentmovement on the three sided trade Watch ongoing
throughout the NBA. Damian Lillard isstill a Portland Trailblazer, James Harden is

(01:15):
still a Philadelphia seventy six, orPascal Siakam is still a Toronto Raptor,
and that might be the case forwell, I'm not sure for how much
longer. I wish I could definitivelytell you. I wish I could give
you that answer right now. It'snot possible on this particular Saturday show What

(01:41):
is Possible. However, we're goingto do all kinds of new stuff on
this edition of the show, aCowboys training camp preview. In the second
segment, after our first break wordsI thought I would never say, but
in my old age, trying tobe a little bit more well rounded,
we're gonna catch up with my goodfriend, my former Bristol teammate, Calvin

(02:04):
Watkins of the Dallas Morning News.He's going to be headed to Callie soon
to cover training camp. That previewis en route. But first, friends,
I want let me also, first, let me remind you you can
text the show. You can hitme on the Steinline text line. Still
seeking a sponsor for an even fanciername to hit us on the text line

(02:29):
two one four seven eight seven onenine seven one two one four seven eight
seven one nine seven one. Inthe third segment, we will get to
some of your texts, some ofyour messages. Again, you want to
sponsor that text line, email meM A R C S T E I

(02:51):
N one word mark Stein at substockdot com. Right now, though,
let's kick things off. Let's gostraight to the Steine Line hotline. I
want to introduce you to one ofthe vote one of the most versatile sportswriters
in America. He is the nationalNBA writer for the Associated Press, but

(03:14):
that only is a fraction of whatthis man does. He covers. He
ably covers the Dolphins, the Marlins, the Panthers, Hurricanes, Tennis Olympics.
Was there a huge soccer game inSouth Florida yesterday with Lionel Messi making
his debut? Was the on thepremises, of course, he was a
man who never takes a day off, kind enough to join us here today

(03:36):
on the show and my formal myformer my former neighbor in the Walt Disney
World bubble in Orlando three summers ago, an experience we will never forget.
Living on planet NBA with twenty twoNBA teams. My pal Tim Reynolds of
the Associated Press gave him a warmwelcome, Doctor Reynolds, I can't believe

(04:00):
you're actually stationary to speak to me. What what are you covering today,
doctor Stein? I? First off, are we out of time? After
the intro? No, we stillhave a good time. I left you
a good I left you a goodten minutes. I feel as though the
intro took up the segment, SoI appreciate that you deserve it. Man
I he who does not take daysoff. I start a vacation today.

(04:27):
Awesome. Before we go to VegasAugust second for USA B Camp. Yes,
indeed, I hope to be Ican make it there and join you
for that because the NBA requires usto be in Las Vegas now like thirty
three times a year. Thank youVegas, Thank you Nbaum. And then
we're off to Hall of Fame andAbu Dhabi and Manila and that we come

(04:49):
home in this football season. Didyou see that? Did you see?
Though? Jake Fisher reported that theG League Showcase, my favorite Vegas event,
is actually moving to Orlando. Yeah. I didn't need that in my
life either. Yeah, I'm Ididn't see no more Florida of VNCI.
I'm still I'm still recovering from thebubble three years later. But that's that.
That's for another day. Let's getto the events of last night you

(05:12):
were in that you were in thehouse right there with lebron Serena Williams,
Kim Kardashian, Kim Reynolds of theAP live to see the Lionel Messi debut.
Paint a picture for us. Whatdid we miss if we were not
fortunate enough to see it on AppleTV? Well, first off, on
the sinewyin text line, you shoulddo a contest which one of these four

(05:33):
things are not like the other?Lebron Serena, Kim Kardashian and yeah,
hi me so um it was soit was. It's terrible. Radio did
not have an answer. It's beenfourteen hours. I still can't explain it.
I still can't explain what I wroteafter I wrote eleven hundred words on

(05:56):
it. I can't like it wasdue respect to the striking writers and actors
in Hollywood. This was Hollywood,This was made up, This was Disney,
this was the bubble. This wasa fairy tale. To have this
guy in his first match do thatand basically as a walk off, it

(06:16):
was the longest two minutes of stoppagetime in the history of soccer. Um,
I don't think anybody noticed that wherehe struck the free kick from was
about five yards further back from whereI think he actually got hit. There
was that element. Um, hejust can't make any But you knew,
you knew that you were going tosee something. You knew the minute they

(06:41):
called for the kick, you knewwhat was going in, but he just
knew, like he doesn't miss that, and and it wasn't a layup though,
So it's it's like that's a lotharder to pull off than for people
who don't follow the game very closely. You know, Okay, a guy
made a twenty five yard free kickwhere he was. It's actually it would

(07:02):
been a lot easy. It wouldhave been easier for him further back.
I mean he could he could onlyhit the ball at that exact pace,
at that exact angle. He didn'toverpower it. It was I'm gonna send
it a yard wide of the goalpost. I'm gonna bring it back and
over a wall of five guys whohad no chance. He was exhausted.

(07:26):
I mean, it was like youwould see him when he would get the
ball, he'd attack, he'd makea move. He's a brilliant passer.
He's still the greatest passer in thesport. He would set things up and
then he would spend then into Miamiwould lose possession, or a ball ground
of bounds or something would happen,and you would he would walk like a
slow walk mark all the way backto midfield and get ready to reload.

(07:46):
He was gassed. He's not inmatch fit whatever yet. Yet the great
ones can still go to that placewhere they just a moment and all of
a sudden, there's like a hundredpeople on the field because you have all
of these security guards making sure peopledon't rush the field. And more on
that in a second. How closethe stands are to the field here and

(08:09):
how very different it is going tobe for Lionel Messi here than anywhere else
in the world. But we didn'tknow if the match was over. They
restarted play. They played for almosta full minute again. It was the
longest stoppage time ever and we justwe're all sitting there with stories to write
on intense deadline, just couldn't believewhat we had seen. Yet you knew
it was coming. It was thecraziest thing. It was. It was

(08:31):
Ray Allen's three with five point twoto go on steroids. It was didn't
have that same meaning. Maybe,I mean, this is a glorified exhibition.
I mean the league's comp I mean, who really cares. But the
moment of this guy in his firstmatch in that stadium with David Beckham and
Lebron James and Serena Williams. Imean, it was such a big deal

(08:52):
here Mark last night that you know, the Dolphins are starting training camp in
a few days. The Dolphins arestill a pretty big deal down here.
I don't think anybody knows that too. It was in the building to a
tech of Finola was in the buildinglast night, and I think very few
people notice, which just speaks tothe level of mania that it was.
Yeah, I mean you covered everydribble of the heatles how I mean,

(09:15):
I'm getting the vibe that you thinkthat this can live up to that?
I mean, can can You know? This is major league soccer, It
is not the highest level of ofworld soccer. But I mean that just
that we're just watching Lebron hug Messithat that clip, I mean, that
was that was I mean Lebron wasthat was love that. I mean,

(09:37):
you know, you don't normally seehim spill out the kind of emotion even
and that's before the match when whenMessi checks in, you know the VIP
boxes right there and they all havetheir phones out. This is it's Billionaire's
Row, It's the Stephans, it'sSerena, it's Kim Kardashian, it's Lebron.
They all the level of celebrity thatthey have, and they all have

(10:01):
their phones out because they want tocapture this moment of a guy checking into
a soccer game. It's not goingto be the Heatles. It's going to
be incredible in its own way.It's going to be tempered, it's going
to be different. There will beebbs and flows to it, obviously,
but it will be great for soccerin this country because it is another reason

(10:22):
for Americans to follow the sport period. That's the win for soccer in this
country. If Inner Miami wins trophies, that's wonderful. Adidas is going to
make money. The club's gonna makemoney. Lionel Messi is gonna make a
ton of money. Apple TV isgonna make a ton of money. That's
all well and good. This willgrow the game. There is some irony
in the fact that his first matchwas going directly up against the women's national

(10:45):
team match last night. That wasI think unfortunate. Yet we're all talking
about soccer today, whether it's thewomen last night, whether it's Messy last
night, whether it's both, Likemany of us are we're all talking about
soccer in this country today. Atlet's face it, we're between NFL,
we're all waiting for the Dame trade, we're all waiting for everything else.
It's a great moment right now forsoccer to grow, and you couldn't have

(11:09):
scripted better ways for it to grow. Last night, the women were dominant
and then Messi just Messi was justjust incredible. No, I mean,
he did what showman do. Herose to the occasion, he delivered the
magic moment and he frankly just lookshappy. I saw him early last season.
I happened to be in Israel andby total luck, PSG was in

(11:30):
Israel for a Champions League game.Messi, Embabe Naymar all scored. It
was the first time they had everall three scored in a match. But
Messi he kind of trudged off thepitch and didn't he just he didn't look
happy as a PSG player. Helooks happy again. You are right.
I went way too long with anin true because now we are running out
of time, so I want toshift as much as much real quick on

(11:52):
the messy happiness thing. He's wavingto people last night, Mark while he's
playing, he's waving two fans.It's it's incredible. Anyway, I'm sorry.
Now, let's I want to spendour last couple of minutes here talking
about Damian Lillard because obviously that isanother of your many summer focuses when you
speak to people with the Heat becauseright now it doesn't look like a trade

(12:13):
is close. It just doesn't.But we know Miami is going to offer
hero a slew of first round picks, pick swaps, whatever they have to
do. How confident are Heat peoplewhen you speak to them that ultimately Damian
Lillard will end up a Heat player. I think they believe that Portland will
engage, and if that's the case, that Damian Lillard will be a Heat
player. Because you know what yourfriend Chris Haynes has reported, what you

(12:37):
know what I know. What I'vereported, what a lot of people have
reported, is that Damian Lillard haspicked 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, thisis where he wants to be. There's
a billion reasons why the connection hehad with dam Ade Bio I think is

(13:00):
a really understated story right now inthis whole deal. They connected incredibly at
the Tokyo Olympics and you could seebonds being formed. They've stayed close,
they've stayed in touch their friends,as many guys in the league are.
The Heat believe that Dame will notchange his mind. So they're just waiting

(13:20):
very patiently still for Portland to realizethat it's not Dame's not going to change
his mind, that Dame isn't goingto go, isn't going to want to
play again for the Portland Trailwazers.And Joe Cronin knows this. Joe Cronan
knows, and Joe Cron's a goodman, like, let's not make this
about people. Joe Cronin is agood guy. Joe Cronan said it to

(13:41):
us in Vegas that he failed Dame. I thought I even thought he went
too far by saying that they've beentrying to do something for eighteen months.
It hasn't worked. So now theyhave a young core that will develop on
a timetable that's not congruent with DamianLillard's championship time frame. Dame's thirty three,
the time to really going for thering is now. Portland is not
a win now team there are awin in a few years. Team.

(14:05):
Everybody knows what has to happen.I do think Portland's just upset with the
fact that it came out so quicklyand so adamantly that I want to go
to the Miami Heat. I thinkthere are people in the Blazers organization that
are still bothered by that. Ithink that's the delay. One thing I
will say to you, Mark isIimi Hacks Jr. Signed on July first.
He's eligible to be traded on Augustfirst. I believe I have to

(14:26):
wonder if that's part of the holdup. If when more assets become available
for trade. I think it's goingto happen before we all leave for the
Philippines. Everybody, this was apleasure. I am so 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 for that trip. I
will not be at the FEBA WorldCup, but let's see if I can

(14:48):
at least meet you in Vegas forCamp America. Follow this man by Tim
Reynolds on Twitter covers the NBA likea blanket, one of my favorite numbers
guys on planet NBA. And ifyou want to follow Lionel Messi's journey with
inter Milan, inter Milan with InnerMiami. I was saving that inter Milan
point for later. If you wantto follow his journey with Inner Miami,

(15:11):
read Tim Reynolds, take care ofmy good friend. Be good. I
love you, Doctor Stein Good.All right, We will be back after
the break with more Saturday Sports Worldhere on ninety seven one, The Freak
presented by Panini