May 21, 2024 • 38 mins
Chris & Rob discuss Jalen Rose’s comments on what US players need to do, Ephraim Salaam joins the show, and Olden Polynice stops by.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Bruson and Ron Parker. A.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, it is The Odd Couple.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
I'm Chris Brusond alongside my partner Parker, and.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
We are broadcasting live from the tire rack dot com studio.
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Do it live.
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More than ten thousand recommend to install.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Tirereck dot Com is the way tirebind should be. It
of course, is a trash talking Tuesday, so that means
that in the second hour of the show you will
be able to trash anyone or anything in the.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
World of sports.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
You have thirty to forty seconds to do so, so
get your takes ready and with that saying, let me
welcome in one of the biggest trash talkers of them all?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
What mister Rob Parker?
Speaker 6 (01:27):
What's up man, Chris? What's happening in Chris Bussard?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Mister Parker, I'm great? How are you?
Speaker 6 (01:34):
I'm great? Man? Well?
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Who you trashing? It is trash talking Tuesday? Who you trash?
Speaker 6 (01:43):
You know what, Chris? I know it's not fair.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Holmes has been pitching lights out for the Yankees out
of the closure in the bullpen. Yes, last night, it
was pretty obvious he didn't have his good stuff, and
I'm gonna trash Aaron Boone, who probably should have yanked
him before he did wind up costing the Yankees the game.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
They're four to one in the ninth.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I just wonder sometimes and you want to try to
let guys work out of it, Chris, you know what
I mean, and give them a chance. But it just
looked pretty obvious that he didn't have it. You know,
why not just say tonight, come on, it's okay, you
don't have it tonight.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
It was obvious to me, that's all. But that's not
fair because he's been lights out.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It's tough. Yeah, you know what I mean. You just
tend to riding, but you know, it happens to the
best of them.
Speaker 6 (02:35):
So nobody's gonna be perfect.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
That'll be great, right, So we got some good stuff
to get to on this trash talking Tuesday, So let's
introduce the I Couple crew and get this party started.
The super producer rib G is out, so in his
place our man Bo Benson.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
It must be a holiday coming up. Rob G's off
already the holiday on Monday, Monday.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We will be working on Monday, Yes, working hard for Chris.
Speaker 6 (03:01):
What happened to you? Are you sick? What are you
doing working now?
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Now?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I gotta do TV, so I might as well do
radio too, so.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
I'm looking okay, all right, that makes sense now?
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Also we got DJ Alex ty shirt is in. That's
a that's an unusual event.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
So we're excited here Monday, right Alex.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Monday, I'll be on the herd. I'm sorry about that.
What there you go?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I know it is all unusual because we also Rob
got Martin Weiss on the other. Yes, you see, Chris
dan Byer heard that shock in your voice and he said,
you know what, let's givehim a double dose.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
There you go, there you go, do your thing man.
And on the social media are man in Lizja Sabuna.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Rob.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
I want to get right to this because it's an interesting,
so interesting stuff out there. We talked last week about
why American NBA players or ex NBA players seem to
be going out after the international guys, and sure enough
yesterday this wasn't really going after him. This was just
(04:07):
stating a matter of fact. But Evan Turner, who I
will I will read about what he said in a moment.
But Jalen Rose Rob, who of course was a very
good player, member of the iconic Fab five and has
done some great good broadcasting over the years too. He
(04:30):
tweeted this out yesterday, Rob, dear us born players put
in that work tirelessly and showed discipline. Otherwise NBA jobs
are becoming extinct. If that isn't a shout out to
the international takeover, I don't know what is.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And this is a little different. This is more of
a shot.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
We'll we'll spend more time talking about Jalen and what
he said.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
Rob.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
But Evan Turner, who played ten years in the NBA,
was a solid player, was not what he was supposed
to be right coming out of Ohio State. He was
a really a top player coming into that draft was
actually the second pick overall in twenty ten, but at
a decent NBA career. Here's what he said after the
Nuggets lost to the Timberwolves. And obviously the Nuggets rob
(05:23):
were led their best two players international Nikola Jokicic of course,
of Serbia and Jamal Murray of Canada, and the top
player from Minnesota and top two players were American in
Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony town.
Speaker 6 (05:43):
But it's not like they don't have any international players.
Let's not.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Rudy Gobert is their third is probably their third best player, right.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
I was gonna say, okay, let's they.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
But you know what, that's that's why they they're looking
at them more as the Americans. Anyway, here's what did you?
Did you see this rot? What Evan Turner posted on
x NO.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
I just saw the Jalen Rose stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, here's what Evan said.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
I sound like a hater, but I don't want to
see Joki play another game. It's like watching baseball. I
knew know that will stick under your crow, yet.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Watching Evan Turner in his career was like watching baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:26):
How's that Evan Turner is now like he's the beautifire
of the game.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
He's the guy who tells you how great it is
to watch what a three time MVP A guy will
put up forty points in game six, or like you
could say that after they lost and it's fine, and
you could say you don't enjoy it.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
He's not as exciting as ant Man.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I don't think you need to be a former basketball
player Chris to say that, but there's still something about
his game and what he's able to do is passing
ability where he can score the basketball from everywhere.
Speaker 6 (07:03):
I mean, it's different tastes for different people.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
That doesn't bother me as much, but the Jalen Rose
thing is something I'm definitely interested in them.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, let me.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Comment on Evan and then I want to hear you going, Jalen.
I'm look, like you said, different taste for different people, right,
different strokes for different folks.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
If you like high flying, and.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I do, I prefer I mean Michael Jordan, I think
had the best looking game in the history of basketball.
Kyrie Irving with all the you know, the ball handling
and the moves that.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
He has, all that is exciting to watch.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
So I do prefer that style, and I have thought
certain players were boring. I saw Tim Duncan, Rob, as
great as he was, was certainly not an exciting player
to watch, right, But I think Jokic is actually very
fun to watch. His past assing nobility, the fact of
(08:02):
a seven footer who's not even thin, he's a seventh
footer who's bulky, is bringing the ball up, running the point. Essentially,
he is their point guard. I know it's Jamal Murray technically,
but the Nicola Jokic is their point guard rob and
I enjoy watching him. It was It's like Larry Bird.
(08:25):
He wasn't high flying, but he was fun to watch. Now,
his passes were a little fancier, or you know, some
of them were.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Jokic can throw the fancy passes.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
But I like watching Jokic, and I'm a little surprised
that an NBA player or x NBA player who knows
the game would say that it was not fun to
watch him, you know what I mean. I'm like, I
get Duncan and I'm not even trying to rip Duncan,
but Jokic. I'm surprised somebody that really knows the game
(08:58):
thinks Jokic isn't fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Not the way he you just said it. He's a
point guard, a point center, Chris. The way he passes
the basketball. I mean, he does some stuff that's interesting.
I look and go, I can't believe he made that pass.
But seriously, he hit threes with hands in his face.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
He scores at all levels, can even lead the break,
I mean, for goodness sake.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So maybe Evan Turner would have hated watching Kareem abdul
Jabal because he did the same thing right, this skyhook,
and I would be like, why should he do anything
different like like that?
Speaker 6 (09:32):
You couldn't stop the shot, Chris, it was really good.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Why should Shock shoot a sixteen foot thanks?
Speaker 6 (09:37):
Stop the dunk? Right, stop dunking, Shock.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
That's boring. And we get it.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You're nine foot tall and you weigh eight hundred pounds
and nobody can stop you.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Why don't you go to the perimeter? Oh man? All right?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Rap?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
So here. I know you want to comment on Jalen,
so have at it.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
The Jalen thing.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
I don't think it was ripping. You think he was ripping. Yeah,
I don't think he was ripping it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
It sounds good, but it ain't gonna have any effect
because it ain't stopping people from getting paid. It ain't
gonna stop the aau Chris machine.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
People aren't going to adjust. They don't.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
They look at their individual They look at their individual
play and where they want to get to, and they
don't look and go, I want to be a better passer.
I want to have better skills and not score as
many points because I made the right basketball play. They're
not doing that because people are still getting paid. People
(10:34):
want to put up their numbers Chris, to have their
highlights and get there. They they're not going to run
and go do fundamentals because that's not going to get
them where they want to go. And even though we
talk about it and a number of European or foreign
players are now going to be at the top of
the draft, right, is the two of the top three
(10:55):
gonna be foreign? Three to the top four? Yeah, something
like that, And they don't look at it like that
doesn't affect me.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You know, I'm still gonna be in the draft, Or'm
gonna be a lotter we picked. So they don't look
at it like that and go, oh, yeah, I need
to work on my passing and I'll score five less points, right, Chris,
and be under twenty. But I'll have two more assists
and I'll know how what's the right basketball player to make?
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Good luck with that, because I don't see that happening.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Look, I agree with you for the most part, Jalen Rose,
that's good, great advice.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
It's great advice. It's needed. Rob, Let's stop. I mean,
how many how many.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Players, ex players have we had on the show who've
been in denial.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Look, we were still the best in the world. We're
still the beast. What you need to.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Right there in denial? All Right, So I like Jalen
sound in the alarm. I'm with you for the most part.
And I'm gonna add this. I think a big like
are the way we develop players in our culture. I
don't mean black cult, draftan American coach. I just can't
American social media and the country as a whole.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Rob.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
If you are fifteen years old and a great player,
you're a celebrity. Right You're on social media. You probably
got over a million followers. Your highlights are being played
all over the place. People are gassing you up. You're
the man. You're probably people wanting you know, they don't
really ask for autographs as much now, but they want
(12:26):
pictures everywhere you go. You're probably getting paid. You certainly
can get paid off your social media. You probably you
might be getting an NIL deal. That is just not conducive.
Fifteen years old, you haven't made it to the NBA.
We've before all this social media, Rob. There were tons
of guys who were awesome at fifteen and never even
(12:49):
either never made the NBA or when they got there
they were subpar.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Oh j. Mayo was supposed to be the new hotness.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
He was then decent career after one year usc not
even a decent career.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
His career was cut short. We see that time and
time again.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
And meanwhile, is Serbia, in Slovenia, in Greece or wherever
it's in Europe, they are If you're fifteen and nice, rob,
you're playing with grown men, you're practicing twice a day,
you're being yelled at and really coached well by some
(13:28):
hard nosed coach, and grown men are schooling you every
day in practice, and you don't get much playing time
in the real games. So that developed you much better
than if you think you all that and you're about
to go to the NBA and be this great player.
(13:49):
And so I agree with you on that, and I
just added that rob to you what you said. But
I will here's what I'll throw in. And I don't
know if we'll respond to it or not.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
But pride do we do we?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Or I don't even know if it's pride, it might
just be desperation. I mean, like we need to wake up.
I hear what you're saying, you know, I think, but
we go ahead. I just think, Chris, people are on
their individual kick.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
What you're saying makes sense if you are a part
of a team trying to do something and in that scheme, hey,
you gotta do better on this or that, or try
to play better. But they're telling an individual player, but
he's not tell if you're gonna tell him.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Look, you might be great in California.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You're the tenth best player in America at your age,
or the fifth best or whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
But you look at the best players in the world,
they're no longer married, Like you know what, I'm here
in the NBA. I don't know.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
I'm just saying it makes logical sense, Chris.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
But I just don't think people are wired that way
because they don't think it a them.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
What does it have to do with me.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I'm not scoring less points, then they're gonna hold that
against me. I'm not taking less you know what I mean?
Like like that's the way they look at it, like, uh, oh,
well that's a smart guy. He made the write basketball
play and he did this, or oh then he he
takes care of the basketball. Well that sounds good, and
I'm not saying it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Yeah, but no, I know to that point, and you're
talking about playing the quote unquote right way.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Right, I don't think we die.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
I think that's a problem in American basketball in general
that we agree play you know, one man or two
man basketball, high pick and roll at all the levels
now and you know, isolation and over there they're learning
to play kind of five man ball.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Although Luca is as one on one as anybody.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
But I just I think we do need our adults
need to wake up, Rob. The adults that teach the
kids need to wake up up and start teaching them
better and stop worrying. You're talking about worrying about themselves. Yeah,
a lot of coaches, Rob are like, this is my
meal ticket. I'm gonna get on the bench out of
(16:10):
major college because of this kid, right, and you're not
coaching him.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
You're not teaching him.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I went to the ball Brothers, not Lonzo. I went
to the Last two ball. Remember I went to the
I went to the game. Oh yeah, there was Cherry
Pick in California. Leangelo and LaMelo. They with Cherry Pick
and Chris they wouldn't even come past half court. The
other guys would rebound the ball and throw it down
to them. It was embarrassing. It was embarrassing.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And look at them now.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
I mean, le Angelo never was a great prospect, but
he's not in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
LaMelo's in it, but his.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Career is on hold, and Lionzo is injured, you know,
and who knows what his career is gonna be. So yeah,
but hopefully Rob desperate. I would say this before we
go to the listeners. I think more players, more ex players, Rob,
the Ogs, Garnet's, the Paul Pierce's guys like that, they
(17:06):
need to start doing what Jalen did. Now, you gotta
do it in a way you and I would say
that some of these guys just don't care. I don't
do it in a way that's insulting. To the international
rights because I mean, if they gonna come over here,
be better. God bless them. You know, it's nothing against
them at all, but it's just saying, look, we need
to step up.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
This is a game that was created in America.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
We've dominated it for you know, one hundred years, and
now we're losing a grip on it. So let's start
playing better and teaching better. I just want more of
these guys, the ogs, to come out and start saying that.
All right, eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, You'll
turn the way in Jalen Rose sounds the alarm on
(17:52):
American basketball players, I guess at the lower levels high school, college,
junior high even and how they have to get better
or they're gonna be more fewer and fewer Americans in
the NBA and more and more international players. Your thoughts next,
Chris A. Rod THEA Couple, Fox Sports Radio. Thanks for
listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to catch
(18:14):
us live every weekday from seven pm to ten pm
Eastern four to seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Odd Couple at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Palie Fusco here with Tony Fusco. You know, as the
host of the number one rated Paully and Tony Fusco show.
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day,
piles of it. In fact, Tony, why don't you open
up one of those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Hey, listen to this, Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terribly not Wait, why o
one dem Pauli in Tony, you suck more than anyone wait,
and to you guys are the absolute best there coming
up with the stupidest take.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Just listen to Tony Fusco show on the iHeart Radio app,
Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, all right, man from Salon, what's up.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Brother Joy?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
We are good.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Look, I'm we're gonna read you a tweet from uh
Jalen Rose yesterday and Rob and I just spent time
talking about it. We might keep talking about it in
the next hour, but we want to get your thoughts,
he says this. Dear us born basketball players put in
that work tirelessly and show discipline Otherwise NBA jobs are
(19:45):
becoming extinct.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
Your thoughts, well.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
I mean you just look at the landscape of the
league now. Spots are definitely becoming extinct. The be jobs
for US born players, but there limits the number of
spots on a team are are are greatly decreasing because
(20:11):
of the tremendously high basketball IQ of foreign born players
and the way they're training there. They train more, practice more,
play less games overseas and when you watch AAU. My
nephew is on a top A he's nine can by
(20:31):
the way, he's on the top AAU team for his
age bracket to where if they even play up and
it's when they play so many games in a weekend.
It's out of control. They practice one maybe twice a
week if that, because of school, and they go on
these tournaments. You know, we were in Vegas. Now we're
going to Nevada and we're back back in Vegas and
(20:54):
they play six, seven games in two days.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
It's just, Chris, did we.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Just talk about these We just talked about that play
games instead of learning and skills and practice.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Let me ask you this from and I imagine at
nine and ten they're getting real coaching. Maybe not, but
you tell me, But do you see some of the
higher level teams, the thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year olds where
they can make decisions to go to different teams. Are
they being coached or are they just being it's able.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
To do whatever doing coach.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
I coach nine to twelve year olds, right, and we
I coach basketball, right. I don't coach roll the ball
out there, give it to your best player and everybody
said screens and get out of the way, right right.
I don't coach one on one basketball. I coach team basketball.
Because you know, the level of basketball at you starts
(21:53):
at this age.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
If you chea man, are you unique?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Because it doesn't seem like our players are playing that
the way you're talking about, seems like they are playing
more than one on one and high pick and roll.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
And you know what I mean, Well, it's easy at
this age. You can see the outlier, the kid who
can go behind his bag, who can hesitate, who can
do a step back. He's obviously going to get the
shine on the team. But I have to tell these kids, hey, man,
we can only go as far as you. If you
want to be a leader, then you have to lead.
You have to get your teammates involved, because guess what
(22:25):
happens at that age, they will just stand around and
watch you play. They they're literally stand and watch you
dribble up across somebody over, take on the double team,
and put up a shot, and they won't do anything
basketball related. And that's the problem. You have to teach
the game of basketball, not basketball moves. Like my son
(22:49):
works with a personal trainer and then for his own
individual abilities and then when he comes and we can
and I coach the team, I'm coaching basketball. I'm not
how good you can go behind your back and I
can do the step back. I'm not teaching that. I'm like, hey, man,
give the ball up and go screen right, or come
set the screen on the ball, roll or pop, pick
(23:12):
and pop. The game of basketball is played in the
three man way, like if you can get the advantage
right using similar to like a three man triangle, or
you can cut the half the court in half and
take advantage of the defense, then that's basketball. It's always
been a two man game. If you watch any of
(23:32):
these kids, it's all one on one man. Every game
is one on one everything. It is me versus you.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Hey, from let me ask you are you surprised the
NBA ratings are down ten percent. We got some seven
game series, we got younger, more exciting players. The old
school guys got knocked out or or didn't make it
or you not.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
So you're not surprised.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
No, I'm not surprised because it's on Brandon. Like when
you look at Nicola Yokich, You've been the MVP, in
my opinion, for the last four years. Just FYI, even
though we had to you know, Doell and b thing
last year, uh NICOLEA had better numbers. The team with
won the championship, the old nine yards. He looked before that.
(24:15):
You had Giannis and he looked before that. Like there,
no American player was even in the top three for MVP.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
They're so do you think that it is as now? Look,
the Minnesota Denver game was the highest rated, the game seven,
highest rated game ever. I believe that's correct me if
I'm wrong. I think I heard that in our update
ever on TNT. Highest rated playoff game ever on tn T,
(24:46):
which is obviously good. I think a lot of that
was probably because of Anthony Edwards and Minnesota. Do you
think if if international players continue to dominate or to
be honest, it gets even more become more dominant because
win by Yama.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I mean, come on, he's.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
He's coming and you got top kicks coming.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Right, So do you here? He's here right?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Next year he's gonna be a top ten player, maybe
top five. But do you think that that will hurt
the ratings of the league.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Look as baseball.
Speaker 8 (25:21):
As baseball?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Right?
Speaker 8 (25:26):
Tell me?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Is baseball like like American born players having dominated baseball?
And I don't know how long that's just the fact
of the matter.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I don't know when you when you say that, and
I'll put you back because there's Mookie Batch, there's Aaron Jones,
there's Mike Trout.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I can give you.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
If I gave you the top ten baseball players, I'm
going to tell you that eight or seven of them
are from the United States.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
And I get it.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
There are a lot of Latin players and the best
player is o'tim.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Break down the percentage of nationality on baseball teams as
a whole?
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Well, I do think I think to your point where
whether we argue over that, but when when your best
players or some of your highest profile players. We talked
about it rob last week because they're in a different
country because they may be English, may be a second
or third language. They're probably in general, there are there
(26:29):
a few outliers, but in general, they're probably not going
to show as much of their personality, right and be
as colorful.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Is that fair? And that could hurt the marketing of
the game.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Of course, the face of baseball show, Hey, and he's
got one new Balance commercial over here, like what are
we doing? How do you market that?
Speaker 4 (26:51):
In terms of the d I mean they getting Yo
Kichen commercials, but yeah, still it's not the same.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
But what I'm saying is, how do you like coming
out in the draft? Nobody cares about the NBA draft
or the draft lottery or any of that, because we
know there'll be there'll be players that are drafted we've
never ever seen play basketball.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Right right, nobody's gonna know who they aren't.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
We're not invested. We're not invested in any of these
players because we've never seen them play.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
All of a sudden, now.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
They're the first, second, third pick in the draft and
we're like, okay, what happens. The reason the NFL is
the way it is is because of the college system
n Cuba. All right, these kids to come from high
school go to college and they lived there for three years,
they played there. The you know, college fandom for NCAA
(27:42):
football is through the roof. So by the time the
draft rolls around, you know these kids, you've seen them
play on the high level, You've watched them all weekend.
There's marketability there because it's home grown. You can relate
to some of the stories.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Does not why to have the u NFL They think
that people gonna go follow those kids from college and
watch that.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Well, now, because now you get you get the stories, right,
you get this kid with the you know quarterback in
the UFL. Now he's you know, making the transition to
the NFL. He has an opportunity to do this and
that y we love those stories. Like nobody watches the
G League. So when these guys come from high school
and go play in the G League and the then
(28:24):
they get drafted, nobody's ever seen them play before outside
the Balls Life website. And you got the clips of
them playing AAU when they were in high school. But
other than that, you don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Right, it's a good it's a good conversation. Ethan. We
appreciate your input. Brother, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Pressure brothers, y'all stay safe.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah uh.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Game one Eastern Conference Finals coming up at eight pm Eastern.
Rob and I'll talk about that next. Keep it locked
a a couple of Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure
to check us out live every weekday from seven pm
to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd Couple
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream it's live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
We're live from the tie right dot com studios.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Our next guest, fifteen year NBA veteran now Fox Sports
Radio hosts and NBA analyst.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Our friend Old and polonies Old and what's up? Brother?
Speaker 6 (29:32):
What's happening?
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Hey guys, how y'all doing?
Speaker 4 (29:36):
We are great, man. We got a lot to get to,
so let's get it started.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Did you hear or see.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Jalen Roses tweets about NBA players or American players yesterday? Older,
I'll read it to you if it sounds like you
haven't heard it. Here's what Jalen tweeted yesterday. And Rob
and I have been to talking about it and taking
calls on it. Dear US born basketball players, This is
(30:04):
from Jalen put in that work tirelessly and show discipline.
Otherwise NBA jobs are becoming extinct. Obviously he's talking about
the international takeover, if you want to call it that
of the NBA.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
What are your thoughts on what Jalen's saying.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
I mean, he has a right to make that statement.
But again it's more for whatever they call that click.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
What's an overstatement. We admit that.
Speaker 8 (30:32):
It's but I'm not buying it because it's still limits
under Europeans, you know. And I mean, granted, you got
to understand these guys are getting better because they take
this thing seriously and at Madison, and so to me,
not to say that American plays aren't, but it's like
(30:52):
it's so readily available for them. They have so many
different options. You know, if I don't make it in basketball,
can go into football, I can go into soccer, I
can go into rap I can go So there's just
a lot of options for American kids, you know. And
so to me, because you got to remember basketball was
always an inner city game.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
And be talking about.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
Black players, he talking about white players. You talk about
Mexican you know, so I don't know to the extent
of what he meant. You know, it's such a broad statement.
But yet European players are looking good and they play,
you know, with a different mentality. But at the same time,
it is what it is. Man, it doesn't matter what
the profession is. If you don't bust your butt, somebody's
(31:38):
gonna be ready.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Well, let's go to the Lakers and their coach church.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Obviously they're going to take this week time and one
of the leading candidates is JJ Reddick. Maybe Olden you
could coach the Lakers, But what do you make of
JJ Reddick is not like someone without coaching experiences.
Speaker 6 (31:58):
Has never coached before.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
But with this team and with his relationship with Lebron,
their podcast partners and Lebron, time is running out. Is
it time or is it wise to give Lebron an
unproven coach at this point in his career.
Speaker 8 (32:16):
Well, it would be a perfect situation for Lebron because
he'll get to do what he wants to do, which
is the coach and so or to at least control
the team. You put JJ Reddick in that situation, JJ
Redick will just be a figurehead for what Lebron wants
to do, because he's gonna owe Lebron because he's the
guy pushing for this and asking for it. So to me,
(32:39):
it's a bad move for the Lakers all the way around.
I would rather than just say, you know what, we're
going to make Lebron a player, coach and let it
be that.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
Do that, rather than just put JJ stand there.
Speaker 8 (32:53):
But if you do that, you're just saying that you
know where we're gonna, you know, do whatever Lebron wants.
And I'm like, ten fifteen years ago, Lebron, I'm doing
so many different things to keep him. But that's not
the same thing now. I mean, we'll talk about a
thirty nine year old dude that's twenty one years in.
It's way different. And that's what a lot of people
(33:15):
are not seeing. It's not the same player anymore.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Olden, you played in what I think was the golden
age of the NBA big man. It is the best
era of bigs ever in the NBA. I mean you,
Alonzo Morning, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem, Elijahwan.
You faced all of those guys and more. How do
(33:41):
you feel, how do you kind of compare Jokic to
the ultra elite players of your era as far as
big men.
Speaker 8 (33:50):
You know what, I love watching Nikolojokic's play. He's a
very smart player. He stays within who he is. He's
a combin nation of Larry Bird. Larry Bird was not
a high leaper and fast runner or great defender, but
he knew how to play to his strengths, and so
to me, and he had great anticipation. Jokis is the
(34:13):
same way, and so to me, those are the comparisons
and things like that, But he would have succeeded in
any era because he's such a smart player. You know,
we've had guys built like him or even worse than him,
And so to me, you know, we try to make
all these comparisons. At the end of the day, he's
making the most of what he has based on the
(34:38):
rules and the way they set up now. And so
I'm I'm glad that he knew he's smart enough to
do that.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
I'm gonna keep taking you back down memory lane. Now.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You played at University of Virginia, and I remember everybody
was this is you followed Ralph Samson everybody's like, this
is the next Ralph Samson, Right, Ralph Samson, you know, Oh,
he wanted to play outside, right, And everybody said he
was soft because he wanted to shoot l and all
that stuff. And obviously he still you know, he started
(35:11):
out great in his NBA career, twenty and eleven, went
to the finals with Elijahuan early in his career, and
then of course got injured, and his career was never
the same. How good I'm gonna ask you two ways.
If he had not gotten injured, how good would he
have been? And if he came in up into day's
(35:34):
era where they welcome big men shooting outside, would he
possibly have been maybe the first victor winm Been Yama
or something like that.
Speaker 8 (35:43):
Well, I think I said this with you guys before
when we were talking about women. Yam. I've seen this
movie before and it was Ralph Census seven four, can
handle the ball, can shoot from outside, and everything else.
And I remember, you know, playing against Ralph the summer time,
when you know, when I first got on campus and
I was like, holy crap, I'm glad I ain't got
(36:04):
to match up with this dude, because it was like
it was insane watching that, because in that situation, he's
not just posting up, he's shooting jumpers. I mean pull
up jumpers, you know, coming off of screens. I was like,
what the hell? So I vaguely remember that, But at
the same time, the man is a Hall of Famer
(36:24):
with everything that happened in his career, So I don't
know how much greater he would have been. It would
just would have been more points and more rebounders. Statistically,
it would have been greater, but he's still a Hall
of Famer.
Speaker 6 (36:39):
Where are you on the Knicks? What do they have
to do moving forward?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Obviously they were injuries and whatnot, but there were also
a lot of injuries in the Eastern Conference, and I
don't know if everybody was healthy whether the Knicks would
have been that close to going to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
Do they have enough?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Do they need to make a big splash older do
they need a another player to go along? I know
Julius Randall is a big part of that team, and
he was out, but is that enough if they want
to get to the UH to the Eastern Conference Finals,
or even make it to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 8 (37:11):
They still need some more. They need they need a
name guy. They need a guy that can score, They
need a power forward that can rebound. Julius Randa does
not fit how these guys are playing right now because
they are so into one another, the Villanova three and
the rest of those guys. You know, when Julius Random
was healthy and playing, you could always see when he
(37:33):
got frustrated because he didn't get the ball, and then
it's like, I'm going to check up a shot. And
that's not the style the Knicks are playing right now.
The injury aspect, you know, that's part of sports, but
a lot of it comes down to the fact that
these guys were playing way too many minutes.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
You know.
Speaker 8 (37:51):
I mean, you get a Josh Hard who plays like
three consecutive consecutive games without subbing out. That's insane. I
don't care what era, it's insane.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
That's our man.
Speaker 8 (38:03):
The things they got to figure out.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
That's our man. Old and polling these great stuff as always, brother.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
Siate you, Old and thank you all right, guys.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Trash Talking Tuesday is now eight seven, seven ninety nine
on Fox.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
You'll turn the way in.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
You got thirty to forty seconds to shoot your trash.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
That's next. Ocome
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Bruson and Ron Parker. A.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, it is The Odd Couple.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
I'm Chris Brusond alongside my partner Parker, and.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
We are broadcasting live from the tire rack dot com studio.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
Do it live.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Tire rack dot Com will help you get there.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
They've got an unmatched selection, fast re shipping, free row
has a protection in.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
More than ten thousand recommend to install.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Tirereck dot Com is the way tirebind should be. It
of course, is a trash talking Tuesday, so that means
that in the second hour of the show you will
be able to trash anyone or anything in the.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
World of sports.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
You have thirty to forty seconds to do so, so
get your takes ready and with that saying, let me
welcome in one of the biggest trash talkers of them all?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
What mister Rob Parker?
Speaker 6 (01:27):
What's up man, Chris? What's happening in Chris Bussard?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Mister Parker, I'm great? How are you?
Speaker 6 (01:34):
I'm great? Man? Well?
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Who you trashing? It is trash talking Tuesday? Who you trash?
Speaker 6 (01:43):
You know what, Chris? I know it's not fair.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Holmes has been pitching lights out for the Yankees out
of the closure in the bullpen. Yes, last night, it
was pretty obvious he didn't have his good stuff, and
I'm gonna trash Aaron Boone, who probably should have yanked
him before he did wind up costing the Yankees the game.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
They're four to one in the ninth.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I just wonder sometimes and you want to try to
let guys work out of it, Chris, you know what
I mean, and give them a chance. But it just
looked pretty obvious that he didn't have it. You know,
why not just say tonight, come on, it's okay, you
don't have it tonight.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
It was obvious to me, that's all. But that's not
fair because he's been lights out.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It's tough. Yeah, you know what I mean. You just
tend to riding, but you know, it happens to the
best of them.
Speaker 6 (02:35):
So nobody's gonna be perfect.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
That'll be great, right, So we got some good stuff
to get to on this trash talking Tuesday, So let's
introduce the I Couple crew and get this party started.
The super producer rib G is out, so in his
place our man Bo Benson.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
It must be a holiday coming up. Rob G's off
already the holiday on Monday, Monday.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We will be working on Monday, Yes, working hard for Chris.
Speaker 6 (03:01):
What happened to you? Are you sick? What are you
doing working now?
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Now?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I gotta do TV, so I might as well do
radio too, so.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
I'm looking okay, all right, that makes sense now?
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Also we got DJ Alex ty shirt is in. That's
a that's an unusual event.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
So we're excited here Monday, right Alex.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Monday, I'll be on the herd. I'm sorry about that.
What there you go?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I know it is all unusual because we also Rob
got Martin Weiss on the other. Yes, you see, Chris
dan Byer heard that shock in your voice and he said,
you know what, let's givehim a double dose.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
There you go, there you go, do your thing man.
And on the social media are man in Lizja Sabuna.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Rob.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
I want to get right to this because it's an interesting,
so interesting stuff out there. We talked last week about
why American NBA players or ex NBA players seem to
be going out after the international guys, and sure enough
yesterday this wasn't really going after him. This was just
(04:07):
stating a matter of fact. But Evan Turner, who I
will I will read about what he said in a moment.
But Jalen Rose Rob, who of course was a very
good player, member of the iconic Fab five and has
done some great good broadcasting over the years too. He
(04:30):
tweeted this out yesterday, Rob, dear us born players put
in that work tirelessly and showed discipline. Otherwise NBA jobs
are becoming extinct. If that isn't a shout out to
the international takeover, I don't know what is.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And this is a little different. This is more of
a shot.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
We'll we'll spend more time talking about Jalen and what
he said.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
Rob.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
But Evan Turner, who played ten years in the NBA,
was a solid player, was not what he was supposed
to be right coming out of Ohio State. He was
a really a top player coming into that draft was
actually the second pick overall in twenty ten, but at
a decent NBA career. Here's what he said after the
Nuggets lost to the Timberwolves. And obviously the Nuggets rob
(05:23):
were led their best two players international Nikola Jokicic of course,
of Serbia and Jamal Murray of Canada, and the top
player from Minnesota and top two players were American in
Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony town.
Speaker 6 (05:43):
But it's not like they don't have any international players.
Let's not.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Rudy Gobert is their third is probably their third best player, right.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
I was gonna say, okay, let's they.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
But you know what, that's that's why they they're looking
at them more as the Americans. Anyway, here's what did you?
Did you see this rot? What Evan Turner posted on
x NO.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
I just saw the Jalen Rose stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, here's what Evan said.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
I sound like a hater, but I don't want to
see Joki play another game. It's like watching baseball. I
knew know that will stick under your crow, yet.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Watching Evan Turner in his career was like watching baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:26):
How's that Evan Turner is now like he's the beautifire
of the game.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
He's the guy who tells you how great it is
to watch what a three time MVP A guy will
put up forty points in game six, or like you
could say that after they lost and it's fine, and
you could say you don't enjoy it.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
He's not as exciting as ant Man.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I don't think you need to be a former basketball
player Chris to say that, but there's still something about
his game and what he's able to do is passing
ability where he can score the basketball from everywhere.
Speaker 6 (07:03):
I mean, it's different tastes for different people.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
That doesn't bother me as much, but the Jalen Rose
thing is something I'm definitely interested in them.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, let me.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Comment on Evan and then I want to hear you going, Jalen.
I'm look, like you said, different taste for different people, right,
different strokes for different folks.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
If you like high flying, and.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I do, I prefer I mean Michael Jordan, I think
had the best looking game in the history of basketball.
Kyrie Irving with all the you know, the ball handling
and the moves that.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
He has, all that is exciting to watch.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
So I do prefer that style, and I have thought
certain players were boring. I saw Tim Duncan, Rob, as
great as he was, was certainly not an exciting player
to watch, right, But I think Jokic is actually very
fun to watch. His past assing nobility, the fact of
(08:02):
a seven footer who's not even thin, he's a seventh
footer who's bulky, is bringing the ball up, running the point. Essentially,
he is their point guard. I know it's Jamal Murray technically,
but the Nicola Jokic is their point guard rob and
I enjoy watching him. It was It's like Larry Bird.
(08:25):
He wasn't high flying, but he was fun to watch. Now,
his passes were a little fancier, or you know, some
of them were.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Jokic can throw the fancy passes.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
But I like watching Jokic, and I'm a little surprised
that an NBA player or x NBA player who knows
the game would say that it was not fun to
watch him, you know what I mean. I'm like, I
get Duncan and I'm not even trying to rip Duncan,
but Jokic. I'm surprised somebody that really knows the game
(08:58):
thinks Jokic isn't fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Not the way he you just said it. He's a
point guard, a point center, Chris. The way he passes
the basketball. I mean, he does some stuff that's interesting.
I look and go, I can't believe he made that pass.
But seriously, he hit threes with hands in his face.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
He scores at all levels, can even lead the break,
I mean, for goodness sake.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So maybe Evan Turner would have hated watching Kareem abdul
Jabal because he did the same thing right, this skyhook,
and I would be like, why should he do anything
different like like that?
Speaker 6 (09:32):
You couldn't stop the shot, Chris, it was really good.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Why should Shock shoot a sixteen foot thanks?
Speaker 6 (09:37):
Stop the dunk? Right, stop dunking, Shock.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
That's boring. And we get it.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You're nine foot tall and you weigh eight hundred pounds
and nobody can stop you.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Why don't you go to the perimeter? Oh man? All right?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Rap?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
So here. I know you want to comment on Jalen,
so have at it.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
The Jalen thing.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
I don't think it was ripping. You think he was ripping. Yeah,
I don't think he was ripping it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
It sounds good, but it ain't gonna have any effect
because it ain't stopping people from getting paid. It ain't
gonna stop the aau Chris machine.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
People aren't going to adjust. They don't.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
They look at their individual They look at their individual
play and where they want to get to, and they
don't look and go, I want to be a better passer.
I want to have better skills and not score as
many points because I made the right basketball play. They're
not doing that because people are still getting paid. People
(10:34):
want to put up their numbers Chris, to have their
highlights and get there. They they're not going to run
and go do fundamentals because that's not going to get
them where they want to go. And even though we
talk about it and a number of European or foreign
players are now going to be at the top of
the draft, right, is the two of the top three
(10:55):
gonna be foreign? Three to the top four? Yeah, something
like that, And they don't look at it like that
doesn't affect me.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You know, I'm still gonna be in the draft, Or'm
gonna be a lotter we picked. So they don't look
at it like that and go, oh, yeah, I need
to work on my passing and I'll score five less points, right, Chris,
and be under twenty. But I'll have two more assists
and I'll know how what's the right basketball player to make?
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Good luck with that, because I don't see that happening.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Look, I agree with you for the most part, Jalen Rose,
that's good, great advice.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
It's great advice. It's needed. Rob, Let's stop. I mean,
how many how many.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Players, ex players have we had on the show who've
been in denial.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Look, we were still the best in the world. We're
still the beast. What you need to.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Right there in denial? All Right, So I like Jalen
sound in the alarm. I'm with you for the most part.
And I'm gonna add this. I think a big like
are the way we develop players in our culture. I
don't mean black cult, draftan American coach. I just can't
American social media and the country as a whole.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Rob.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
If you are fifteen years old and a great player,
you're a celebrity. Right You're on social media. You probably
got over a million followers. Your highlights are being played
all over the place. People are gassing you up. You're
the man. You're probably people wanting you know, they don't
really ask for autographs as much now, but they want
(12:26):
pictures everywhere you go. You're probably getting paid. You certainly
can get paid off your social media. You probably you
might be getting an NIL deal. That is just not conducive.
Fifteen years old, you haven't made it to the NBA.
We've before all this social media, Rob. There were tons
of guys who were awesome at fifteen and never even
(12:49):
either never made the NBA or when they got there
they were subpar.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Oh j. Mayo was supposed to be the new hotness.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
He was then decent career after one year usc not
even a decent career.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
His career was cut short. We see that time and
time again.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
And meanwhile, is Serbia, in Slovenia, in Greece or wherever
it's in Europe, they are If you're fifteen and nice, rob,
you're playing with grown men, you're practicing twice a day,
you're being yelled at and really coached well by some
(13:28):
hard nosed coach, and grown men are schooling you every
day in practice, and you don't get much playing time
in the real games. So that developed you much better
than if you think you all that and you're about
to go to the NBA and be this great player.
(13:49):
And so I agree with you on that, and I
just added that rob to you what you said. But
I will here's what I'll throw in. And I don't
know if we'll respond to it or not.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
But pride do we do we?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Or I don't even know if it's pride, it might
just be desperation. I mean, like we need to wake up.
I hear what you're saying, you know, I think, but
we go ahead. I just think, Chris, people are on
their individual kick.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
What you're saying makes sense if you are a part
of a team trying to do something and in that scheme, hey,
you gotta do better on this or that, or try
to play better. But they're telling an individual player, but
he's not tell if you're gonna tell him.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Look, you might be great in California.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You're the tenth best player in America at your age,
or the fifth best or whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
But you look at the best players in the world,
they're no longer married, Like you know what, I'm here
in the NBA. I don't know.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
I'm just saying it makes logical sense, Chris.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
But I just don't think people are wired that way
because they don't think it a them.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
What does it have to do with me.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I'm not scoring less points, then they're gonna hold that
against me. I'm not taking less you know what I mean?
Like like that's the way they look at it, like, uh, oh,
well that's a smart guy. He made the write basketball
play and he did this, or oh then he he
takes care of the basketball. Well that sounds good, and
I'm not saying it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Yeah, but no, I know to that point, and you're
talking about playing the quote unquote right way.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Right, I don't think we die.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
I think that's a problem in American basketball in general
that we agree play you know, one man or two
man basketball, high pick and roll at all the levels
now and you know, isolation and over there they're learning
to play kind of five man ball.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Although Luca is as one on one as anybody.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
But I just I think we do need our adults
need to wake up, Rob. The adults that teach the
kids need to wake up up and start teaching them
better and stop worrying. You're talking about worrying about themselves. Yeah,
a lot of coaches, Rob are like, this is my
meal ticket. I'm gonna get on the bench out of
(16:10):
major college because of this kid, right, and you're not
coaching him.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
You're not teaching him.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I went to the ball Brothers, not Lonzo. I went
to the Last two ball. Remember I went to the
I went to the game. Oh yeah, there was Cherry
Pick in California. Leangelo and LaMelo. They with Cherry Pick
and Chris they wouldn't even come past half court. The
other guys would rebound the ball and throw it down
to them. It was embarrassing. It was embarrassing.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And look at them now.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
I mean, le Angelo never was a great prospect, but
he's not in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
LaMelo's in it, but his.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Career is on hold, and Lionzo is injured, you know,
and who knows what his career is gonna be. So yeah,
but hopefully Rob desperate. I would say this before we
go to the listeners. I think more players, more ex players, Rob,
the Ogs, Garnet's, the Paul Pierce's guys like that, they
(17:06):
need to start doing what Jalen did. Now, you gotta
do it in a way you and I would say
that some of these guys just don't care. I don't
do it in a way that's insulting. To the international
rights because I mean, if they gonna come over here,
be better. God bless them. You know, it's nothing against
them at all, but it's just saying, look, we need
to step up.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
This is a game that was created in America.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
We've dominated it for you know, one hundred years, and
now we're losing a grip on it. So let's start
playing better and teaching better. I just want more of
these guys, the ogs, to come out and start saying that.
All right, eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, You'll
turn the way in Jalen Rose sounds the alarm on
(17:52):
American basketball players, I guess at the lower levels high school, college,
junior high even and how they have to get better
or they're gonna be more fewer and fewer Americans in
the NBA and more and more international players. Your thoughts next,
Chris A. Rod THEA Couple, Fox Sports Radio. Thanks for
listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to catch
(18:14):
us live every weekday from seven pm to ten pm
Eastern four to seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Odd Couple at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Palie Fusco here with Tony Fusco. You know, as the
host of the number one rated Paully and Tony Fusco show.
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day,
piles of it. In fact, Tony, why don't you open
up one of those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Hey, listen to this, Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terribly not Wait, why o
one dem Pauli in Tony, you suck more than anyone wait,
and to you guys are the absolute best there coming
up with the stupidest take.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Just listen to Tony Fusco show on the iHeart Radio app,
Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, all right, man from Salon, what's up.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Brother Joy?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
We are good.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Look, I'm we're gonna read you a tweet from uh
Jalen Rose yesterday and Rob and I just spent time
talking about it. We might keep talking about it in
the next hour, but we want to get your thoughts,
he says this. Dear us born basketball players put in
that work tirelessly and show discipline Otherwise NBA jobs are
(19:45):
becoming extinct.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
Your thoughts, well.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
I mean you just look at the landscape of the
league now. Spots are definitely becoming extinct. The be jobs
for US born players, but there limits the number of
spots on a team are are are greatly decreasing because
(20:11):
of the tremendously high basketball IQ of foreign born players
and the way they're training there. They train more, practice more,
play less games overseas and when you watch AAU. My
nephew is on a top A he's nine can by
(20:31):
the way, he's on the top AAU team for his
age bracket to where if they even play up and
it's when they play so many games in a weekend.
It's out of control. They practice one maybe twice a
week if that, because of school, and they go on
these tournaments. You know, we were in Vegas. Now we're
going to Nevada and we're back back in Vegas and
(20:54):
they play six, seven games in two days.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
It's just, Chris, did we.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Just talk about these We just talked about that play
games instead of learning and skills and practice.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Let me ask you this from and I imagine at
nine and ten they're getting real coaching. Maybe not, but
you tell me, But do you see some of the
higher level teams, the thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year olds where
they can make decisions to go to different teams. Are
they being coached or are they just being it's able.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
To do whatever doing coach.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
I coach nine to twelve year olds, right, and we
I coach basketball, right. I don't coach roll the ball
out there, give it to your best player and everybody
said screens and get out of the way, right right.
I don't coach one on one basketball. I coach team basketball.
Because you know, the level of basketball at you starts
(21:53):
at this age.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
If you chea man, are you unique?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Because it doesn't seem like our players are playing that
the way you're talking about, seems like they are playing
more than one on one and high pick and roll.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
And you know what I mean, Well, it's easy at
this age. You can see the outlier, the kid who
can go behind his bag, who can hesitate, who can
do a step back. He's obviously going to get the
shine on the team. But I have to tell these kids, hey, man,
we can only go as far as you. If you
want to be a leader, then you have to lead.
You have to get your teammates involved, because guess what
(22:25):
happens at that age, they will just stand around and
watch you play. They they're literally stand and watch you
dribble up across somebody over, take on the double team,
and put up a shot, and they won't do anything
basketball related. And that's the problem. You have to teach
the game of basketball, not basketball moves. Like my son
(22:49):
works with a personal trainer and then for his own
individual abilities and then when he comes and we can
and I coach the team, I'm coaching basketball. I'm not
how good you can go behind your back and I
can do the step back. I'm not teaching that. I'm like, hey, man,
give the ball up and go screen right, or come
set the screen on the ball, roll or pop, pick
(23:12):
and pop. The game of basketball is played in the
three man way, like if you can get the advantage
right using similar to like a three man triangle, or
you can cut the half the court in half and
take advantage of the defense, then that's basketball. It's always
been a two man game. If you watch any of
(23:32):
these kids, it's all one on one man. Every game
is one on one everything. It is me versus you.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Hey, from let me ask you are you surprised the
NBA ratings are down ten percent. We got some seven
game series, we got younger, more exciting players. The old
school guys got knocked out or or didn't make it
or you not.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
So you're not surprised.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
No, I'm not surprised because it's on Brandon. Like when
you look at Nicola Yokich, You've been the MVP, in
my opinion, for the last four years. Just FYI, even
though we had to you know, Doell and b thing
last year, uh NICOLEA had better numbers. The team with
won the championship, the old nine yards. He looked before that.
(24:15):
You had Giannis and he looked before that. Like there,
no American player was even in the top three for MVP.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
They're so do you think that it is as now? Look,
the Minnesota Denver game was the highest rated, the game seven,
highest rated game ever. I believe that's correct me if
I'm wrong. I think I heard that in our update
ever on TNT. Highest rated playoff game ever on tn T,
(24:46):
which is obviously good. I think a lot of that
was probably because of Anthony Edwards and Minnesota. Do you
think if if international players continue to dominate or to
be honest, it gets even more become more dominant because
win by Yama.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I mean, come on, he's.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
He's coming and you got top kicks coming.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Right, So do you here? He's here right?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Next year he's gonna be a top ten player, maybe
top five. But do you think that that will hurt
the ratings of the league.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Look as baseball.
Speaker 8 (25:21):
As baseball?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Right?
Speaker 8 (25:26):
Tell me?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Is baseball like like American born players having dominated baseball?
And I don't know how long that's just the fact
of the matter.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I don't know when you when you say that, and
I'll put you back because there's Mookie Batch, there's Aaron Jones,
there's Mike Trout.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I can give you.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
If I gave you the top ten baseball players, I'm
going to tell you that eight or seven of them
are from the United States.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
And I get it.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
There are a lot of Latin players and the best
player is o'tim.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Break down the percentage of nationality on baseball teams as
a whole?
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Well, I do think I think to your point where
whether we argue over that, but when when your best
players or some of your highest profile players. We talked
about it rob last week because they're in a different
country because they may be English, may be a second
or third language. They're probably in general, there are there
(26:29):
a few outliers, but in general, they're probably not going
to show as much of their personality, right and be
as colorful.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Is that fair? And that could hurt the marketing of
the game.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Of course, the face of baseball show, Hey, and he's
got one new Balance commercial over here, like what are
we doing? How do you market that?
Speaker 4 (26:51):
In terms of the d I mean they getting Yo
Kichen commercials, but yeah, still it's not the same.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
But what I'm saying is, how do you like coming
out in the draft? Nobody cares about the NBA draft
or the draft lottery or any of that, because we
know there'll be there'll be players that are drafted we've
never ever seen play basketball.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Right right, nobody's gonna know who they aren't.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
We're not invested. We're not invested in any of these
players because we've never seen them play.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
All of a sudden, now.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
They're the first, second, third pick in the draft and
we're like, okay, what happens. The reason the NFL is
the way it is is because of the college system
n Cuba. All right, these kids to come from high
school go to college and they lived there for three years,
they played there. The you know, college fandom for NCAA
(27:42):
football is through the roof. So by the time the
draft rolls around, you know these kids, you've seen them
play on the high level, You've watched them all weekend.
There's marketability there because it's home grown. You can relate
to some of the stories.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Does not why to have the u NFL They think
that people gonna go follow those kids from college and
watch that.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Well, now, because now you get you get the stories, right,
you get this kid with the you know quarterback in
the UFL. Now he's you know, making the transition to
the NFL. He has an opportunity to do this and
that y we love those stories. Like nobody watches the
G League. So when these guys come from high school
and go play in the G League and the then
(28:24):
they get drafted, nobody's ever seen them play before outside
the Balls Life website. And you got the clips of
them playing AAU when they were in high school. But
other than that, you don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Right, it's a good it's a good conversation. Ethan. We
appreciate your input. Brother, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Pressure brothers, y'all stay safe.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah uh.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Game one Eastern Conference Finals coming up at eight pm Eastern.
Rob and I'll talk about that next. Keep it locked
a a couple of Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure
to check us out live every weekday from seven pm
to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd Couple
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream it's live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
We're live from the tie right dot com studios.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Our next guest, fifteen year NBA veteran now Fox Sports
Radio hosts and NBA analyst.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Our friend Old and polonies Old and what's up? Brother?
Speaker 6 (29:32):
What's happening?
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Hey guys, how y'all doing?
Speaker 4 (29:36):
We are great, man. We got a lot to get to,
so let's get it started.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Did you hear or see.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Jalen Roses tweets about NBA players or American players yesterday? Older,
I'll read it to you if it sounds like you
haven't heard it. Here's what Jalen tweeted yesterday. And Rob
and I have been to talking about it and taking
calls on it. Dear US born basketball players, This is
(30:04):
from Jalen put in that work tirelessly and show discipline.
Otherwise NBA jobs are becoming extinct. Obviously he's talking about
the international takeover, if you want to call it that
of the NBA.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
What are your thoughts on what Jalen's saying.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
I mean, he has a right to make that statement.
But again it's more for whatever they call that click.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
What's an overstatement. We admit that.
Speaker 8 (30:32):
It's but I'm not buying it because it's still limits
under Europeans, you know. And I mean, granted, you got
to understand these guys are getting better because they take
this thing seriously and at Madison, and so to me,
not to say that American plays aren't, but it's like
(30:52):
it's so readily available for them. They have so many
different options. You know, if I don't make it in basketball,
can go into football, I can go into soccer, I
can go into rap I can go So there's just
a lot of options for American kids, you know. And
so to me, because you got to remember basketball was
always an inner city game.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
And be talking about.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
Black players, he talking about white players. You talk about
Mexican you know, so I don't know to the extent
of what he meant. You know, it's such a broad statement.
But yet European players are looking good and they play,
you know, with a different mentality. But at the same time,
it is what it is. Man, it doesn't matter what
the profession is. If you don't bust your butt, somebody's
(31:38):
gonna be ready.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Well, let's go to the Lakers and their coach church.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Obviously they're going to take this week time and one
of the leading candidates is JJ Reddick. Maybe Olden you
could coach the Lakers, But what do you make of
JJ Reddick is not like someone without coaching experiences.
Speaker 6 (31:58):
Has never coached before.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
But with this team and with his relationship with Lebron,
their podcast partners and Lebron, time is running out. Is
it time or is it wise to give Lebron an
unproven coach at this point in his career.
Speaker 8 (32:16):
Well, it would be a perfect situation for Lebron because
he'll get to do what he wants to do, which
is the coach and so or to at least control
the team. You put JJ Reddick in that situation, JJ
Redick will just be a figurehead for what Lebron wants
to do, because he's gonna owe Lebron because he's the
guy pushing for this and asking for it. So to me,
(32:39):
it's a bad move for the Lakers all the way around.
I would rather than just say, you know what, we're
going to make Lebron a player, coach and let it
be that.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
Do that, rather than just put JJ stand there.
Speaker 8 (32:53):
But if you do that, you're just saying that you
know where we're gonna, you know, do whatever Lebron wants.
And I'm like, ten fifteen years ago, Lebron, I'm doing
so many different things to keep him. But that's not
the same thing now. I mean, we'll talk about a
thirty nine year old dude that's twenty one years in.
It's way different. And that's what a lot of people
(33:15):
are not seeing. It's not the same player anymore.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Olden, you played in what I think was the golden
age of the NBA big man. It is the best
era of bigs ever in the NBA. I mean you,
Alonzo Morning, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem, Elijahwan.
You faced all of those guys and more. How do
(33:41):
you feel, how do you kind of compare Jokic to
the ultra elite players of your era as far as
big men.
Speaker 8 (33:50):
You know what, I love watching Nikolojokic's play. He's a
very smart player. He stays within who he is. He's
a combin nation of Larry Bird. Larry Bird was not
a high leaper and fast runner or great defender, but
he knew how to play to his strengths, and so
to me, and he had great anticipation. Jokis is the
(34:13):
same way, and so to me, those are the comparisons
and things like that, But he would have succeeded in
any era because he's such a smart player. You know,
we've had guys built like him or even worse than him,
And so to me, you know, we try to make
all these comparisons. At the end of the day, he's
making the most of what he has based on the
(34:38):
rules and the way they set up now. And so
I'm I'm glad that he knew he's smart enough to
do that.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
I'm gonna keep taking you back down memory lane. Now.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You played at University of Virginia, and I remember everybody
was this is you followed Ralph Samson everybody's like, this
is the next Ralph Samson, Right, Ralph Samson, you know, Oh,
he wanted to play outside, right, And everybody said he
was soft because he wanted to shoot l and all
that stuff. And obviously he still you know, he started
(35:11):
out great in his NBA career, twenty and eleven, went
to the finals with Elijahuan early in his career, and
then of course got injured, and his career was never
the same. How good I'm gonna ask you two ways.
If he had not gotten injured, how good would he
have been? And if he came in up into day's
(35:34):
era where they welcome big men shooting outside, would he
possibly have been maybe the first victor winm Been Yama
or something like that.
Speaker 8 (35:43):
Well, I think I said this with you guys before
when we were talking about women. Yam. I've seen this
movie before and it was Ralph Census seven four, can
handle the ball, can shoot from outside, and everything else.
And I remember, you know, playing against Ralph the summer time,
when you know, when I first got on campus and
I was like, holy crap, I'm glad I ain't got
(36:04):
to match up with this dude, because it was like
it was insane watching that, because in that situation, he's
not just posting up, he's shooting jumpers. I mean pull
up jumpers, you know, coming off of screens. I was like,
what the hell? So I vaguely remember that, But at
the same time, the man is a Hall of Famer
(36:24):
with everything that happened in his career, So I don't
know how much greater he would have been. It would
just would have been more points and more rebounders. Statistically,
it would have been greater, but he's still a Hall
of Famer.
Speaker 6 (36:39):
Where are you on the Knicks? What do they have
to do moving forward?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Obviously they were injuries and whatnot, but there were also
a lot of injuries in the Eastern Conference, and I
don't know if everybody was healthy whether the Knicks would
have been that close to going to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
Do they have enough?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Do they need to make a big splash older do
they need a another player to go along? I know
Julius Randall is a big part of that team, and
he was out, but is that enough if they want
to get to the UH to the Eastern Conference Finals,
or even make it to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 8 (37:11):
They still need some more. They need they need a
name guy. They need a guy that can score, They
need a power forward that can rebound. Julius Randa does
not fit how these guys are playing right now because
they are so into one another, the Villanova three and
the rest of those guys. You know, when Julius Random
was healthy and playing, you could always see when he
(37:33):
got frustrated because he didn't get the ball, and then
it's like, I'm going to check up a shot. And
that's not the style the Knicks are playing right now.
The injury aspect, you know, that's part of sports, but
a lot of it comes down to the fact that
these guys were playing way too many minutes.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
You know.
Speaker 8 (37:51):
I mean, you get a Josh Hard who plays like
three consecutive consecutive games without subbing out. That's insane. I
don't care what era, it's insane.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
That's our man.
Speaker 8 (38:03):
The things they got to figure out.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
That's our man. Old and polling these great stuff as always, brother.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
Siate you, Old and thank you all right, guys.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Trash Talking Tuesday is now eight seven, seven ninety nine
on Fox.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
You'll turn the way in.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
You got thirty to forty seconds to shoot your trash.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
That's next. Ocome
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Rob Parker
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