Steve Hartman and Bucky Brooks talk NBA Draft and Aaron Rodgers!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Yes, living the dream once again, once again here on
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(00:26):
busy saturday. Indeed, by the way, you've been watching MLB
in London as the Cubs destroyed the Cardinals today.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Boy, the Cardinals suck the share. Okay, yeah, forgive me
if I'm wrong. How long has Drek Gitter been on
this show? Is he a new guy on the show.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
He's a new guy after he sold off his interest
in the Marlins.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yes, so he's a regular. So this isn't a guest appearance.
So this is what he does.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Now, I believe so, Although who is missing? Right Thomas?
Frank Thomas is missing? I don't know if Frank Thomas
was replaced? I don't know. Maybe kfig knows the answer
to this. He does, Can you turn on k figs
Kevin figures? Has he replaced Frank Thomas.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Frank Thomas is out, completely out and dry Jeter did
take his take his spot full time.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
So Frank Thomas is just doing full time workout now
with the estosteronestosterone commercials and infomercials.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
That's his gig. And now Jeter is a most part
of MLB on Fox's coverage.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yes, okay, So Dontrea Willis is also out on some
of the stuff. That's why he's with the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
So Dontrell is doing work with the Dodgers locally, but
he's still doing work for Fox as well.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yes, okay, So.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Dodgers or they actually have a lot of people to
work there, they do. I mean they hired like a
rotation of a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
And some of them weren't Dodgers because Doctre Willis wasn't
a Dodge. Correct, No, one of the great Dodgors. Is
that weird? Is that weird? Is that weird? Steve, Like
you're l a guy, You're guys that is that weird too?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
So much, I think Dontrell does a pretty good job.
I'm not talking about connection. No, he has absolutely zero connection.
Does it bother me? When you consider how many former Dodgers.
Look you have Earl hirst Eizer. No Mar is a
bit of a reach, let's face, but.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
For the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
But I mean I think of No Mar as a
Red Sox.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
He played there though, yeah he did, so would you
be mad like I'm a tar heel. Yes, And I
just decided I want to do some radio for UCLA
and I'm talking about Al Bruins. Here we go, our Bruins.
A clap. Let's a clap.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Cockpack clack, tap clap, like oh no, no, this happened
to me. This actually happened to me. I was on
the UCLA football broadcast for two years and I got
replaced by someone that had no connection not only do
U c l A, he had no connection to Los Angeles,
which seemed a little bizarre to me at the time.

(02:47):
By the way, he's a friend of mine, so it
wasn't that bad, but it was, you know, and I
was moved on to something else.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
But yeah, I would. I think.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I think if you're just saying, if you're a hardcore
fan of a team, you would prefer to have someone
that has a connection to that team. Although you know,
speaking of great Dodgers Hall of fame Dodger Don Sutton,
the late great Don Sutton. Wasn't he with the Braves forever?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
I believe so?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
And he's never pitched for the Braves, pitched with the Brewers.
With the Angels, yeah, but if.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
You're a Hall of Favor, doesn't that change things?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Though, I would say Frank Thomas with cheater ya.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
I'm just thinking from a local thing. When I thought about,
because I watched the other night in Dontreal was talking.
I was like, I don't I don't think he came through,
Like I'm a Dodger.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Can I give you a little side stories? Two thousand
and four in MLB All Star Games in Houston, uh
and Mark Gubazza, who has been a long time Angels announcer, who,
by the way, never pitched for the Angels. By the way, he.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Signed with the Angels, but he was hurt, so we
never played exactly technically good.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
He's an Angel and one of the great great guys
in this industry. But anyway, because of him, I was
at the All Star Game in two thousand and four
and he's and he got me into a VIP party
the day before the game, and you know, you say,
it's a VIP party. I'm like, who's going to be
there type of thing. So I walk into this party

(04:14):
and immediately I see two very familiar faces players, Derek
Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Now, when you watch the dynamic
of these, obviously at that point Yankee teammates, no because
four no No four A Rod was still with the Rangers, right, So.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
To show you.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Who the man was in the room, it wasn't even close.
So there's Derek Jeter. Now this is when he was
still in his single days, you know, going from one
one lady after another, and he, first of all, is
wearing a suit that is just that.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Doesn't sound nice. He's going for one that makes him
sound almost Jigger Lewis just because the gift baskets. I
just think.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
And by the way, to clarify, because Steve, you were
a stickler for this. He was on the Yankees two
thousand and four was his first year they believed I
remember that.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Okay, okay, So they were teammates, but in this room
there was a clear difference between Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
So Jeter is in an incredible suit. I don't know
what the price tag on this thing was, but you
talk about threads like this thing was off the charts.
So there is Jeter and he was on the phone.

(05:32):
He's talking to somebody, and there are three women on
a one to ten scale. There is no scale for
these women. All three of them are off the charts.
Two are basically flanking him, and one is sort of
standing in front of him. And he's really paying no
attention to any of them as he's talking on the phone,

(05:56):
but they're obviously trying to get his attention. Meanwhile, a
Raw is five feet from him getting no female attention.
Now at that point you're probably thinking a Rod is
a better player than Jeter.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Something about the captain. The captain has always been able
to pull him. His is on read what we call
it a roster or resume, but his resume is full
of accolades and accomplishment.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Unreal. And of course his wife is just ridiculously the
girl dad now yeah, I think it's what two or
three daughters. Yeah, but I mean his wife is just ridiculous.
You know how beautiful she is. But anyway, watching, I
mean it was weird. Right. This is a social setting
and here are the two biggest stars and they Yeah,
that was a Rod's first year with the Yankees two
thousand and four. And they're at the All Star Game

(06:41):
in Houston and there is Jeter and again these three
women off the charts, just dressed to kill and they're
really working it, trying to get his attention. But he
wouldn't have anything of it. He was just talking on
the phone. He's too busy, he can't be that. And
a Row was laughing like I'm watching a Rod five
feet from and he and a couple other guys that
are like laughing watching Cheeter at work. So anyway, Jeter,

(07:04):
now part of this national How do you feel about
Major League Baseball in London? Is that necessary? I mean
we talk about this a lot, Bucky, with the NFL
going to London and Germany and different countries and talk
about you know, you know, expanding to an international market
the National Football League. Is this really necessary?

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah? No, we got to see it.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Man.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
You want to expand, you want to expand, I mean,
we want to see if it's can you expand in
the country we have. It's a global game. Remember we
had the World Baseball Classic, like, so part of taking
it to the world is you have to go outside
of the bounds of domestic United States, and so I
would think that there's some other places you probably got
have gone before you get to London. I think you

(07:47):
probably could have done, like.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
I don't know, Japan. I mean we had games in
Japan obviously, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
I mean you could have done a few other spots
before we got it.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Play cricket in London, I mean, is on that sort
of their variation of baseball is cricket. I don't know. Anyways,
the field look beautiful absolutely today. We got a lot
to cover today on today's show. We have NBA obviously
to get to in the aftermath of the draft off soul.
We have plenty of NFL news to get to. One thing.
I will say, Bucky that at the beginning here, So

(08:17):
Wembin Yama, victor young Win Binyana, forget that, now Wemby Wemby.
It's like gianis Anto compo, right, everyone calls them the
Greek freak or Yannis, but now it's Wimby because that's
where I'm seeing everybody when Banyama is not what anyone's
going to call this guy. It's just Wimby. Is that

(08:41):
good with you? Sam?

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Wimby that's fine. I think that's an endearing nickname. Yeah,
shortening of the name. It took a while to get
Yannis's last name, the pronunciation of it on Tantakumpo. It
took a while for people to get that.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
But most people pass it over. They may say it
once and then, like when I'm doing a TV highlight
of the Bug and we'll say Janis andre Tekeempo once
and then from that point on, it's either the Greek
freak or yanis the rest of the story. You know,
you don't have to say.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, I never said, I just say yanis, right.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Imagine being a play by play guy doing Bucks games,
You're just gonna say yanis.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
And the same thing with Wemba Yama. Yeah, Wimby, just
go go Wimby. Let's talk about him for a second here, Bucky.
First of all, we're getting a variation of stories of
actually how tall he is. So apparently in socks he's

(09:37):
seven three, but with shoes he's seven five. So they
just seem to use the bigger number, and they say,
we never seen anything like this guy, And I'm like,
I've seen someone like him who almost identical to him
in appearance, and everything else, and that's Ralph Sampson. Ralph

(09:57):
Sampson was seven to four. He was ahead of his
time because he was a perimeter guy. He wasn't the
most physical guy. He was insanely gifted, way ahead of
his time. So the idea that we've never seen anything
like Wimby before, well that's because you're too young to
remember Ralph Sampson, who played four years of Virginia, three

(10:20):
time National Player of the Year, was a four time
All Star before injuries derailed his NBA career. So don't
tell me we've never seen anything like Wimby before, because
we have. Do you like the idea of a seven
foot five guy that prefers to be a perimeter guy.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
I mean, he's he any different than Juelan being in
some of the bigs there we see Karl Anthony Towns.
That's kind of the way that it is. I'd like
to see a big man playing the post, but we
don't do that anymore. No, all these guys are big guards, evidently,
you know, And so with Wimby, I am sure they
were trying to get him into block. But here's the thing.
He's so thin that people will push him around he's skilled,

(11:05):
he's talented. I'm curious to see what Greg Popoviz does
with him in two years. I can't wait to see
what he looks like after pop kind of gets gets
his hands on him. All Right, So I.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Want to get into this at the start of the
show today, what we learned from the NBA draft in
terms of did they not learn their lesson from what
they just saw from the NBA champion Nuggets. This is
Fox Sports Saturday.

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Speaker 8 (12:21):
Give me the hell Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Steve Harvion, Bucky Brooks, Fox Sports Saturday, we are coming
live from the tyrack dot com STUDIOSA draft is in
the books. No big surprises in this draft. Really, a
couple of players fall, a couple of players rise. By
the way, As a UCLA guy, I was so happy
to see my man Jimi hawkas junior jump into number eighteen.

(12:44):
I think he's a beautiful fit for the Heat.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Oh my team. Yeah. Yeah, He's versatile, he loves He
said the right things if you even after being draft.
He talked about like his toughness. He talked about working hard,
can't wait for the opportunity, all of those things, all
of the right things. If you are someone who subscribes
to like what the Heat do and Heat coaching, those things,
you understand those code words and those words and how

(13:08):
it means and so like it is a great opportunity.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
He's not flashy. He's a team guy. Where do you
need me? Defense, offense, playmaking, shooting, rebounding, He's a good
addition for any team, but especially a team that appreciates
a guy with his talent, like a well coached, well
organized team like the Miami Heat. All Right, so one
of the big stories obviously Wemby being the top overall pick,

(13:32):
no surprise there, and we went through the usual litany
of players we've seen this over the last several years.
But I thought, I really thought that maybe, just maybe,
in the aftermath of the dominance of Jokic in this
NBA playoff run, a championship run by the Denver Nuggets,

(13:54):
that maybe some teams would look at the center position
a little bit differently than they had in recent years
and not just exclusively go for big guys they can
hit three point shots. But that was not the case.
You got de Shiboy, who was the would Aenn Award winner,
two time All American, not drafted, to Timmy who we've

(14:17):
seen in the last three years dominate against Zaga. Yeah,
not drafted. You can't tell me that these guys have
nothing to offer an NBA team.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
I mean, like like they're older, four or five years
in college, like everybody wants the new young.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
I mean hockey has junior played four years of college.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, I mean, you know, so he gets picked that,
you know. And the thing is with the NBA, and
this is always the thing in the draft, and I
think the NBA draft is so much different than the
NFL draft. The NBA draft is so much on potential,
so much on prototypical dimensions, potential, what you can project
a player, a prospect to be two three years. The

(14:58):
NFL has some of that element, but it's more of
production with the prototypes in those things. And that is
why in the NFL draft Anthony Richson was more like
a Yannis pick. Didn't necessarily have the production, but then
you see all the numbers in the prototypical physical dimensions
in those things, and so you're like, hey, we'll take
a chance on him high because he could be whatever.

(15:21):
The NBA is more like that. The NFL certainly isn't
like that.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, But Bucky, if you go back over, I mean,
you go the history of the draft. Just the last
ten NBA drafts, first round thirty players, right half of
them are either bust or at the very best forgettable players,
no impact on the league at all. And that might
be generous just saying half of the first round I mean,

(15:47):
sometimes you'll see a sprinkling of second round picks that
far exceed the first round guys have done in the league.
That's not a good ratio of players. And this is
every single year, any one of the year's the last
ten years. You know, just look it up. Look at
the players picked in the first round of the NBA

(16:07):
draft over the last ten years, and how many players
do you see like either you've never heard of them,
or if you've heard of them, they're barely breathing its
terms of an NBA career. So I don't know what
they think they need as far as you know, talent
in the NBA. One thing I've always said about the

(16:29):
NFL draft, and you still see this because guys come
up with some glowing numbers at the combines and elevate
themselves as far as their draft status. If I'm a
scout and you've been in this business, you have to
ask yourself this question. Anybody can stand there with a
stop watch or see how high a guy jumps or

(16:50):
this that doesn't answer this question. Is this guy capable
of plane? In the NFL? Is this guy got the
apter too? The smarts? You know what's between the ears
to understand to do what's necessary to excel at the
highest level. Well, this is no different than basketball talk

(17:11):
about basketball IQ.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Cute.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
You know, we all sit here and marvel at Jokic, right, Wow,
this guy's basketball IQ is off the charts. The Tire
League had a chance to draft Jokic and he was
marketed as another typical slow, white guy that had some skill,
but certainly not a guy that anyone could have predicted
would be a franchise guy. The Nuggets lucked out. Maybe

(17:34):
they did see something in him because they drafted him
and they were reaping the benefits. But that, to me
is the sign of an effective scout is identifying guys
that can actually play the game.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
So I would say that you have a few different
things at play when it comes to scouting and drafting
and those things. One, you had a shift in the
league where it went from being big man dominated big
men's centric, where it was about finding the big man
that you could sit on the block and you work
from inside out, throw it into him, hit they kept out,
you shoot threes on those things. Well, then it became

(18:11):
a guard oriented, wing oriented league where you want the
guys that could play one on one off the bounce
and do those things. And so some of the I
would say, like the lack of big men being drafted
early is because people don't know how to put them
into today's game and how to project that out. I
also will say that the NBA unfairly I won't say unfairly,

(18:33):
but when you really look at the guys who are
either coaches or guys who are your front office execs,
how many of those guys are big men. And so
the game is viewed through the prism of the guards
and the wings. And so that's why we see the
game being evaluated and played like that, because you're not
having bigs evaluating bigs and touting their value as hey,

(18:57):
we get a big guy, we can build around him
and do those things. Because everything is so gar eccentric.
Wing centric guys are devalued when it comes to being
big people.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Well, to mean, that's that's weak. You're right, one hundred
percent right, Bucky in your analysis of what's happening in
the league right now. But we just saw a team
figure out a way to take a non athletic center
who has a high basketball IQ and work their offense
through him because he had the ability to make the passes,

(19:27):
and he worked hard to get himself into better shape
to be more athletic max out his athletic abilities. But
we just had an example of how to get it done.
So when you talk about some of these bigs that
obviously have basketball ability, remember Zach Edy was the player
of the Year this year. He's decided to go back
to Purdue for another year because he was facing the

(19:49):
same fate as the giv Way, Andrew, Timmy and some
of these other things.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Again, completely, he will continue to face that fate whether
he goes back or not, and like he'll continue to
have eight time being appreciated like a high level player
that he is on the collegiate level. It's one of
those things. I will say this. The best thing that
could happen for bigs would be for the Nuggets to
look like they're going to do it again. Now we
saw the draft ends like this finals a week and

(20:17):
a half before the draft starts, but sometimes executives have
to see it before they can believe it. So they
have to see Joker dominate again. The Nuggets dominate again
with him being the centerpiece as an inside out player
before they're like, hey, well maybe because remember with Golden
State and how it became the trend like to shoot

(20:38):
threes in those things. It took them dominating on multiple
multiple seasons before people are like, oh, you can do it,
because remember the biggest thing is you can't win as
a jump shot shooting team. And then they disprove that
they dispel that myth because they were able to win
shooting a bunch of jump shots without a post presence.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
You still need a rim protector.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Oh yeah, but see, Okay, So.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Because if we don't see guys just camping out of
the three point line, what are they doing. They're driving
to the hoop, lay up after layup after uncontested layups.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
So right now, the big man are being viewed like
the running backs because if you're saying I just need
to rimp protect to someone that can just swat shots, well,
from an executives mind, what this is gonna be a
surplus of big guys who have limited offensive skills, who
can run up and down the floor and block shots.
Why do I need to expand the draft pick on
that when I can find one in the undrafted market.

(21:31):
So that might be why they're doing it, just like
they can find a running back in an any level.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
All right, we got a lot of NBA e's we're
gonna get to today, but first let's find out what
is trending right now. And someone that we rarely see
grace our studios here on the weekends, really even in
the day light. Yes, that would be Kevin Biggers KFE usually.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Looking yes, lurking at the rules and the Overnight's good
to be with you, Steven, But I.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Heard you with Jonas there. He he's almost mocking you.
How you it slummed it through the weekends.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Par for the course. It's okay, it's all right.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
See see he's big time now that he's moved up
into the daylight, and I'm still slumming it in the overnight.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
So it's all right, all right, the pose standing as eleven.
But there you go.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
It's all right.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
We have a full slate of Major League baseball already underway.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
Wander Franco back in the lineup for Tampa Bay.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
He was benched earlier this week for a couple of
games for disciplinary reasons. He just went deep to give
the Raise a two to nothing lead in the first inning.
Starling Marte is fourth home runner the season, giving the
Mets a one nothing lead over Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
You can watch that game on FS one.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yankees and Rangers scoreless in the first.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Aaron Judge out indefinitely after we revealed that his toe
injury actually a torn ligament and not a sprain, which
is what was initially reported. Cubs hammert the Cardinals in
the first of two games in London by the score
of nine to one. Tonight at seven eastern on Fox.
It'll be the Dodgers hosting the Astros. Also tonight at
seven eastern, Game one of the College World Series between
LSU and Florida from Omaha. That will be the final

(22:58):
soccer Tonight on FS one feature the Startup group play
in the Gold Cup. The United States would take on
Jamaica at nine thirty Eastern at Soldier Field in Chicago.
And golf, third round of the Travelers Championship. Chez rev
has a one stroke lead over Keegan Bradley. They are
both through twelve holes. Ricky Fowler eagle at six. He
has stormed back to four strokes off the lead back
to Stephen Bucky.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
All right, k FAG, we'll talk to you a little
bit later on Once again, we are Comedy Alive. From
the Tyraq dot com studio. So a lot of news
out of the NBA, which is good for us because
we can start really looking to the future. So the
Nuggets now are they've set the bar. Miss is a
team that went sixteen and four in the playoffs. They
really didn't have a lot of resistance in the postseason.

(23:40):
So there's the bar. So that's the team to beat,
the Denver Nuggets. So let's start with the Phoenix Suns
and the Bradley Beal deal. When that deal, first of all,
when they were talking about Beal was on the block
and I'm looking at the terms of his contract where
he has three years remaining plus a player option, and

(24:03):
we talked about this last week. It was like fifty
seven million dollars the last year of this deal. Bradley
Beal is a player I like. But putting up numbers
with the Wizards doesn't really count it. Remember DeMarcus Cousins
used to put up big numbers with the sack Kings.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
Boogie Boogie was nice though.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Okay, yeah, but when we talk about numbers that don't
translate into wins, there's another way to term It's called
empty numbers. When Bradley Beal was averaging thirty points plus
for consecutive years last couple of years down to twenty three. Hey,
that's great. It's not to say that guy doesn't have
some mad skills. And I like Bradley Beal the person

(24:44):
as well, but it's not translating into victories. So let's talk.
Let's talk about the Phoenix sens. And I get it.
You have a new owner and he's trying to put
his stamp on his team. You fired Monty Williams to
bring in Frank Vogel, Kevin Durant, You have Devin Booker,
and you have Bradley Beal, and he got eight. Although

(25:06):
I think some of the dynamics of the numbers don't
quite add up yet. I still think they're gonna have
to do a little maneuvering. But the last time I checked,
when you have three scorers like Durant, Booker and Beale,
there's only one basketball on the court. So how's that
dynamic gonna work?

Speaker 1 (25:23):
He's third in the pecking order. Kevin Durant shoots.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
You're paying fifty million a year for order.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, I mean that they decided to do that, Like,
I don't I don't understand it. I don't know how
it closes the gap on the competition when it comes to, Okay,
we got another guard. I still need defense, right, you
need I would say what they needed is what they
gave up to get Kevin Garten, Kevin Durant, thank you.
I would say that they would have been better served
to pick up I would say three B level players

(25:54):
that could add to the depth. I mean, much like
they gave up Cam Johnson, Mikail Michael Bridges, m M yeah,
Like I mean they needed more of those players, glue
glut glue guys as opposed to another star player that
could command a bunch of shots.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
Frank Vogel's rep as a coach going back to his
Pacer days before he went to the Lakers defense. So
let's let's talk about the the whole things that Durant, Beal,
and Booker have been on the All NBA defensive teams.
I could count that on well, no hands, Okay. So

(26:31):
I'm trying to I'm trying to see this in training
camp and Frank Vogel is screaming at Durant, Booker and Beale,
you got to shut down the other guy. And they're
looking him like, come on coach, what I do, That's
not what I do, right, My my job is So
they're going to go with will outscore them because they
you know, they they won more games against the Nuggets,

(26:52):
and a of their team did this postseason, won two
games at least.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
All right.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
So then on the other end of that deal, of course,
was Chris Paul, who got dealt to the Wizards. We
knew he wasn't going to stay there because.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
It was a surprised to him. Did he got trade?
He didn't know, Well, he was surprised.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
It was a surprise that he got dealt there, but
it was even a bigger surprise that they were able
to deal him, Like who wants Chris Paul? A thirty
eight year old Chris Paul. And of all teams, they
figured out the one team that was desperate to unload
a contract. Because remember Jordan Poole's contract extension, the big
money doesn't start until this season. So it only took

(27:31):
one year for the Warriors to realize we made a
major mistake given all that money to Jordan Poole. So
we bring in Chris Paul for a year, dump his salary,
and then we can start over again. Is he going
to be coming off the bench. What is that, Chris Paul.
Can you think of a worst fit for his game

(27:51):
than the Golden State Warriors?

Speaker 1 (27:54):
Uh?

Speaker 7 (27:55):
What?

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Look, I don't think he had a major I think
the decision came to between going to Golden State and
going to Washington. I think it was easy for him
to go to Golden State because they're gonna win. Washington
not even close to get anything. The only thing he
would have done it was brought him closer to where
he grew up in Winston Salem, North Carolina. But outside
of that, I don't really see the benefits going to
the Warriors. Yes, he has to get out of his

(28:16):
comfort zone because he will not be able to start
because you're not gonna move Steph Clay Wiggins. Not move
one of those guys to the bench.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
He's a ball dominant point guard.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
So here, here's what you would have to if you're
Steve Kurr, what you pitched to him is you get
to do what Cale Lowery did for the Miami Heat.
You get to be the captain of the second team.
You get all the young guys. When you come into
the game in the second quarter, we will tweak our thing.
We become more ball center. You do your thing, get
the young guys going, and then you come out. At

(28:46):
this stage of his career, he's not a four time
start anymore. We see his body break down, and so
maybe they can keep him in bubble wrap for the
regular season and then use him as needed in the postseason.
But that's the only role I can imagine I'm playing.
I can't imagine him fighting that. What is he going
to say?

Speaker 2 (29:04):
I don't know, but we don't when a lot of times, well,
it's a mixed bag. When we talk about guys that
have been superstars in the NBA, and I'll include Chris
Paul at the peak of his career was one of
the top stars. You know, he use the term superstar,
but certainly one of the top stars of the league.
I always go back to Allan Iverson at the end

(29:25):
of his career, where you know, this is a guy
who averaged forty one minutes per game for his entire
NBA career, which is still one of the most stunny
numbers stats that can think of that a man of
his stature played an average of forty one minutes a
night for his entire career in the NBA show you
the toughness of an Alan Iverson. But when he was

(29:45):
asked to reduce his role, he just was not capable
of doing that. It was not in his DNA, and
that was it. That was the end of his career.
So I don't know, Chris Paul doesn't strike me as
a guy they're gonna yeah, well, he's different because his
ego is immense, I mean, which is part of the
reason he's been such a great player.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, I mean I don't I don't know well enough
to speak to the ego. I would say it is
hard for guys who have been uh career starters to
go to the bench. Remember when uh Carmelo and Okay
see and they're like, hey, mean you come on the bench?
He said, pee, they talking about your boy coming off. No,
it took him a while to embrace that role because
he was I mean, he didn't see himself as that.

(30:28):
I think this is different because I know Chris Chris
Pall certainly should be able to see the light at
the end of the tunnel because it's fast approaching, and
so if he wants to add a ring to it,
I can't even say collection a ring to the Mantle.
He has to do what he has to do to
get with the Warriors, and I think for them, man
dealing with Chris Paul is much better than dealing what

(30:49):
they were dealing with when it came to Jordan Pool.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
All Right, So on the Western Conference front, it doesn't
look like, at least for now, that any team has
ascended to the love of really giving the Denver Nuggets
a serious challenge. But in the Eastern Conference there was
one major deal done that could have changed the dynamic
of the league. We'll talk about whether or not por

(31:12):
Singha's to the Celtics will make a big difference in Boston.
Stay with us. This is Fox Sports Saturday, Steve Harvin
and Bucky Brooks Fox Sports Saturday coming live from the
tai Iraq dot Com studios. Tygle Lil NBA in this
first hour here, because well, there was a lot of
NBA news with the drafts, some trades being made, including

(31:33):
the one that the Celtics made to bring the big
guy por singis in saying bye bye to Marcus Smart. Yes,
so on the surface, Bucky, I would say this, whatever
you're doing and have been doing, Remember they've been to
the Eastern conference finals. What is it five of the
last six years, only one of those years that they

(31:55):
actually make it to the NBA finals, And of course
they haven't won an NBAH Championship the Celtics since two
thousand and eight. But it would seem to think that
with this dynamic that we have, we've gone as far
as we can go. So we need to make a change.
So in order to bring in a big Porsingis, you

(32:18):
have to part with the former defensive player of the
Year Marcus Smart, who by all accounts and I've never
been in a Celtic locker room with Marcus Smart, but
those that have spoken out about his impact on the team.
It goes beyond just being a shutdown defender. He's a
guy that's really important in that locker room. He's a
locker room guy to hold things together when the other

(32:41):
guys might be coming a part of the seam. So
when you look at that trade understanding, Persingis is coming
off a productive season where he was healthy for most
of the year, but that's not been the norm with
Porsingis over the last four or five years. But look
at the odds right now. The Celtics, along with the

(33:02):
Nuggets are the favors to win the NBA Championship. Do
you believe the Celtics have made the necessary move to
get to the next level.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
No, I actually think they are a worse team than
they were before. And the reason why I would say
that is because the reason why they couldn't beat the
Miami Heat had nothing to do with their talent, had
everything to do with their toughness and their guts and
their grit. So now you remove I would say the
toughest player on their team, and Marcus Smart, the one

(33:33):
who would stick his nose in there, get dirty if
the game need to ratchet up a level of physicality
and stuff like that. He was willing to throw his
body around. Porzingis doesn't bring that. And so I think
if you're the Miami Heat and the other teams, you
love that you're Jolan beiid you think Jolan Bee cares
about little personas down there in the block. So to me,

(33:58):
this would be great for the Celtics and the record
the season, it will not bring them any closer to
the title.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Oh, I'm with you. You remember when Percingas first went
to the Knicks and everyone's just thinking, oh my, hey,
they they got themselves the next dirt Novitzky, you know,
a big guy that can shoot and everything else. But
even in this day and age, when we have these
bigs that hang out on the perimeter, you still have
to bring something at the defensive Endy you mentioned Embiid.

(34:27):
How about a guy like jo Kich going against Persingis.
I mean that there is no resistance percingus is average?
Am I right? Less than one shot block per game
for his career and he's seven to three, So he
doesn't offer anything.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
At the defensive end. He's just a long.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
And he's a guy that's been prone to injury. Yeah,
he had a year where he played seventy plus games.
That has not been the norm with Persingis. He has
been missing a lot of games in recent years. I'm
with you. I saw that deal done and to me,
it just smelled of a panic move. Let's not forget

(35:06):
that this Celtics team was given up for dead down
three to zero in that series against the Heat and
won three in a row. Maybe they just ran out
of gas in the game seven. It's hard to beat anything.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah, but you know, you know who's farked them winning?
The guy who said don't let us get one that
was Marcus Smart. Yeah, and I'm not saying that I'm
a huge fan of Marcus Smart, but what I can
recognize is what he brought to that team. He was
the tough guy. He was the irritant. He was the pest,
the net that would get under the skin of the
opponents because he would take a timely charge. He would

(35:37):
flop and flail around and do all those things. But
they needed that. Who does that? Now, Who's going to
be the tough guy? And a guard can normally shouldn't
be the enforcer, but he was the only enforcer that
the Celtics have.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Well, like I said, everyone that's been around that team
pointed out that Marcus Smart was a key guy in
the locker room. Well, when we talk about locker room guys,
and I'll give an example back in the day with
the Lakers, and that.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Was d Fish.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
I mean D Fish could do things on the court.
He wasn't spectacular at anything. He was never going to
get a sniff of an All Star appearance or anything
like that, but he filled the void that Kobe didn't
necessarily want to partake in. Kobe was focused on what
was happening on the floor. He wasn't interested in the

(36:28):
dynamics of the locker room. And I was in that
locker room a lot during the Kobe years. Kobe was
like an island onto himself. He would come out and
he would talk to the media. Always great, but he
wasn't a locker room guy. How important are locker room guys?
You've seen it from a player's perspective, from a coach's perspective.
How do you place value on someone that is valued

(36:52):
in a locker room?

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Is very important. The best teams are talented, but really
they're connected. And the only your teams can be connected,
there has to be a couple of people in the
locker room that have the pulse of the team, and
they know what's needed and when it's needed to be done,
and so if there's a hard conversation that needs to
be had, they're willing to step up and do that.

(37:14):
And they don't bristle at the notion of you know what,
you can't talk to the number one player the number
two player like that. You talked about Derrek Frisher being able, Dude,
I remember hearing Derek Frisher talk about I think he
and Kobe drafted the same year, and so after practice
they had to work out together and play these one
on one games. And so there was a mutual level
of respect between Kobe and Dee Fish that maybe didn't exist,

(37:38):
and so Fisher didn't take a back seat to Kobe.
And so those things are necessary. And so when you
talk about a player like Marcus Smart, he spoke out
like last year when Tatum and Brown were shooting, he
was the way he a, they're shooting too much. He
had a connection with I mean you Doka when it

(37:59):
came to that, because they were trying to create a
confront and demand culture where you confront guys, you demand
better play, better participation, whatever it is. And they did that,
and so now without that, those guys get to go unchecked.
Oh man, it becomes a one on one show.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
I remember after the Lakers won their last championship with
Kobe in twenty ten, Game seven against the Celtics, I
was doing a TV shot on the floor after that
game and Kobe and I had this back and forth
the rapport back in the day. I was always taking
little shots at him and he, for some reason he
found me very amusing about that. But he walked right

(38:35):
by me as I was getting ready to do a
stand up, and he yells out of me, what do
you think now, Hartman? And I didn't hesitate. I go,
I guess you and d Fish have the same number
of rings.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Hmm hmmm. Interesting.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
That was my immediate response, because he was asked right
after the game, what does this mean? He didn't say
at Celtics it means I got one more ring than
Shack because he had five to Shacks four. So I
had heard that when he yelled at what do you
think now, Hartman? I'm like, I guess you and d
Fish have the same number of rings. But that was
that was my way, and he laughed. I mean he
understood because I understood that he plays a role. Now.

(39:13):
I don't know again the dynamic the Marcus Smart had
in that locker room, but what I hear is he
was that guy, and so to hold things together when
you know the two bigger stars, obviously are you going
to getting all the attention? So it will be interesting.
All I can say right now is is that from
my observations, no team yet has made any move to

(39:37):
cause the Denver Nuggets any fear.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
No, not at all, not yet.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
I mean, there's still plenty of moves that could be made.
But what Boston did, the Golden State did, but the
Phoenix Suns did. None of them to me, have elevated
themselves to the level where the Nuggets are right.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Now, and so it's unfortunate. I mean, he's great a
lot of activity. Certainly, it doesn't mean it's gonna lead
to any achievement. So we'll see what it how it
plays out. But just a nice move. It'd be great
for the video game, but it won't do anything. It
won't be anything in real life.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
Chris.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
There's one other team I'm still waiting to make a move.
See what they're gonna do. That would be the Los
Angeles Lakers, who always seem to be in the conversation,
which is what happens when you have a guy named
Lebron James on your team. All right, we're gonna got
away from the NBA because we got a lot of
NFL news to get to keep it right here, ladies
and gentlemen, you are tuned into Fox Sports Saturday, rolling

(40:35):
along here on a big Saturday. Fox Sports Saturday broadcasting
live from the ti I Rack dot Com Studios, ty
Rack dot com. We're gonna help get you there an
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way tire buying should be. All right, we still have
plenty more NBA news to get to. Spend our first

(40:57):
hour dosing overdosing on the NBA. I want to get
to some NFL news. A little bit quiet on the
NFL front, but not necessarily. I need some clarification from you, Bucky,
because maybe I'm missing something here. Aaron Rodgers was talking psychedelics.
Is that right?

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (41:17):
I mean, is this like hallucinogenics? Was this a new drug?
What am I missing here is what is it that
Aaron Rodgers is a proponent of in terms of making
his game better or making the game better for players
in the NFL? When am I missing?

Speaker 7 (41:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (41:33):
I think just making it better for players being able
to tap into some other medicines that are maybe more
holistic as opposed to the mainstream medicines that we're pumping
into people's bodies. And so, because he's kind of artsy fartsy,
and I guess he's a kale guy, so I guess
he must be a well read man. Oh yeah, yeah,

(41:55):
it's kind of promoting some of the things that he
says exists in others leagues, but the NFL has yet
to relent.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
All right, let me ask you this. Robert Sala is
his new coach. Your quarterback is getting out there and
publicly stating this is a positive. If you're Sala, do
you pull him aside and saying, hey, how can I
get some of this stuff from me and my coaching staff,
maybe share it with the rest of the players on
the team. Or are you pulling him aside saying, look, Aaron,

(42:23):
you can do whatever you want with your game, but
don't necessarily pass it on to everyone else because what
works for you may not actually work.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
For somebody else. That's a very interesting thing. It depends
on how Sala has elected the coach Aaron. Did he
elevate Aaron and give Ellen Aaron the kind of sway
where he can kind of do whatever he wants to
do unchecked, which is some of the power that Aaron
wanted into some of it that he will died the
last couple of years of Green Bay, Or is it
really a coach player relationship with the coach lays down

(42:55):
the law and the player has to acquiesce. I don't
believe it's the latter. So I don't know if you
can really have Aaron pipe down. I don't know if
he can ask him directly, ay Man, I don't think
this is a good.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Look when you think about playing in Green Bay for
the entirety of his career, and the only time we
ever heard from him is on one national radio show.
That was the only time we'd ever hear him being
spoken of. It already seems and you know, remember the
change we saw in Tom Brady when he went down
to Tampa, once he got away from the grips of Belichick.

(43:28):
We saw different Tom Brady. He was out going, he
was on social media, he was everywhere. And we're seeing
a little that with Aaron Rodgers. We have seen more
of Aaron Rodgers, heard more from Aaron Rodgers in just
a few months with the Jets, And dare I say
we had in his entire career with the Green Bay Packers?
Is that good or bad?

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Aaron fun air, He's fun guy now fun guy. Remember
Brady is a fun guy in fun Guy likes to
go to the game with his younger teammates and introduce
him to people that they don't know. Oh, and he's
like a man, I mean a man around town. He's everything,
he's there, he's a swiftye. Like so many things that
we're finding out about Anon Rodgers that we never had

(44:11):
opportunity to learn while he was there in Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
That's good as long as it translates into wins. I'm
going to talk about another team in the division that
he now plays in, the AFC East, and that is
the Buffalo Bills. So the Buffalo Bills a couple of
years ago had that big shootout game Josh Allen versus
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, and even though they walked

(44:35):
away from that game a loser, everyone walked away from
watching that game staying well. The only reason they lost,
and they changed the overtime rules because of it, at
least in playoff games, is that they never had a
chance to answer that first touchdown drive of the Chiefs
in that overtime. So at that point a lot of
people were thinking that the Chiefs and the Bills were

(44:55):
on equal footing. And then the chief Us loss of
the Bengals at home in the AFC Championship game, and
then last year, the Bengals beat the Bills in the playoffs.
When you look at the Buffalo Bills going into this year,

(45:17):
are they in the conversation with the Chiefs and the
Bengals or are they a step behind those two teams
When you talk about supremacy in the AFC.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
I think they're a step behind, not significantly far behind.
But if we're talking about teams on the rise and
teams that may be on the decent, I would say
they are more on the DC line. When you look
at their roster, love Stefon Diggs, but there's not another
viable threat that's established in the bass game. Yeah, Dawson

(45:50):
Knox is there. They drafted Kink from Utah, but they
don't have another guy that scares you, so all the
attention can go to Diggs. Running game has been nothing
more than Josh Allen as a one man show, scrambling
quarterback runs in those things. Defensively, they have talent, but
they lost Tremaine Evans. They don't They're making the transition

(46:11):
where Leslie Fraser was their defense plate at a very
high level. Sean McDermott wants to take over play call
and so now Leslie is on a hiatus. Sean McDermott
steps in as the defensive coordinator slash, yet coach more
responsibilities on his plate. How does that change the way
that he manages the game. And so the final thing,
Ken Dorsey, there were people that were a noticeable difference

(46:33):
between what Brian Dayball did and Ken Dorsey dynamic offense
not as dynamic didn't have all the answers those things.
And so because of that, Buffalo Bills aren't viewed in
the same stratosphere as the Kansas City Chiefs and some
of the other teams in they are see all.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Right, So we go back to when the acquired Stefan Diggs,
Brian Dable obviously running that offense, and the unprecedented leap
in a fiew that we saw out of Josh Allen.
Unprecedented a guy that never completed sixty percent of his
passes in college suddenly completing sixty nine percent of his passes,

(47:11):
so partly because of the addition of a great receiver
like Diggs, table doing the right things. And we were
having this conversation a year ago that Josh Allen was
almost checked out by the majority of people to be
the MVP of this league. Has he plateaued? Now you

(47:32):
talked about the Bills, a team seemingly in dissension, are
we going to say the same thing about their quarterback?

Speaker 1 (47:40):
I think plateau is a good is a good way
to do it. Let's look at his last couple of
years now. From a production standpoint, the numbers are all
the same. He's completing the great year of twenty twenty
when people talked about him being an MVP, completed sixty
nine percent of his passes at forty five hundred yards,
thirty seven touchdowns, ten interceptions. Well, the last two years

(48:01):
he's had thirty six touchdowns, thirty five touchdowns, fifteen interception
fourteen interceptions respectively. The issue is he's not as efficient.
He's been right around sixty three percent in terms of
his completion rate. Now you put that against the first
two years in the league he was at fifty two
than fifty eight percent, so he still he.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Was in college, so that was Remember in those days,
we were just looking at him like, Okay, we get it.
He's not going to be able to complete a high
percentage of passes making beat you with his legs. A big,
physical guy, no one ever druamped. How do you make
that leap.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
It has never been done never and like normally and
see he is I would say, kind of messed it
up for generational quarterbacks that come behind him because now
everyone is looking for the next guy to do what
Josh Allen did right, which has become a more accurate
passer in the league. That is harder due to the
complexity of the defense and the athleticism on defense now,
but he's been able to do it. The issue that

(48:56):
you have. Some would say, okay, Brian dave Ball got
him up, been going put together the blueprint and the
formula and so left a blueprint there in Buffalo for them.
So all Ken Dorsey had to do was take that blueprint. Dorsey,
first time coordinator, wanted to do some things on his
own so they don't look like they look. And so
to me, is Ken Dorsey good enough to handle this

(49:20):
job long term? Meaning is he good enough to get
them to the Super Bowl? Is he a super Bowl
caliber offensive coordinator? In terms of understanding the game, the plays,
understanding how to play the clock, score game, meaning, hey,
we want to play complimentary football because that's what we
need to do to protect our defense, or vice versa.

(49:41):
That's what I'm curious. Ken. He have a well rounded
game where hey, sometimes he takes his foot off the
gas because he knows I need to play this way
for our team to win tonight. Our worry about all
the criticism or whatever down the line.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
All right, for the next six weeks. Obviously, NFL teams
still trying to put things together. We still have some
big name free agents just floating out there. Where ultimately
will they end up. This is Fox Sports Saturday, Steve Harbin,
Bucky Brooks, Fox Sports Saturday. Once again, we are coming
alive from the ti Raq dot com studios. I just

(50:20):
had Father's Day and we were talking about this. Bucky,
did you this struck a nerve with you last week?
So when we talked about father Yeah, so because you
went on a bit of a rant.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Is that what we call it?

Speaker 2 (50:35):
A bit of it? I mean, yeah, you were ranting
a little bit about how fathers get short changed, certainly
in terms of comparison Father's Day to Mother's Day. So
how did your Father's Day go? Did you bring in
a lot of loot from your children and wife? Was
there any recognition of Father's Day at the book Brooks house?

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Any kids are always great.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Kids are good. Okay, give you a nice card, you know,
say some nice things about that.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Good kids are good, Kids are always good. Kids are
always good. It's just, you know, just my contention with
Father's Day was he was almost like a shared holiday
this year between Father's Day and Juneteenth, and you know,
like it's just the thing, like it's it's been documented
that Mother's Day is the highest grossing day of the
year for most restaurants. Correct, because everyone takes mom out,

(51:24):
like and if you didn't take mom out, you best
believe you're gonna hear about it.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Dad's Yeah, where do they take you out for Father's Day?

Speaker 1 (51:31):
So I didn't go the day of, but I went
to a nice little place, to a nice little place
in Malibu, nice little place.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Wait to say, was this a Father's Day dinner? A
Juneteenth dinner?

Speaker 1 (51:43):
What was Father's Day thing? We wanted to check out
something different. But it was cool, like but you know,
like you know, you have a dog. Your dog is
always gonna take care of you. So it was good.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
So my daughter, my youngest. I have two boys and
my daughter she's twenty two. Now this is a reminder
of how if you have daughters how they mirror their
mothers very similar, right, You see that a lot of
the traits that you see in mom. This is like
when you meet your future wife. You know, you're like, well,

(52:12):
what is she going to be?

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Like?

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Usually you look at the mom, but how is her mom?
If you want to get a sense of how she's going.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
To be, that's what That's what I mean that that
that goes back to like like part of the reason
why you want to go to your high school girlfriend's places.
You want to see what the mom looks like, right,
because you want to hope that the mom is like
hot and nice and all those other things. And so yeah,
it just.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
Should be like, well, the mother and my children and
I very different dynamic in terms of money, which is
not uncommon. No, that's common, you know, it's very common. Yet,
but she likes the nicer things. I like nice things too. Yeah,
it's like, you know, I'm not looking for bargain basement here,
but I'm looking for a little levity. Yeah, and we

(52:58):
are discussing a dining table.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
Therese always big purchases, dining tables, big couches.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Let me ask you this, do you guys eat together
at the dining table, or is the dining table that
sits there only for decoration, thank you. Essentially it's decoration.
It fills out the room and then that rare occasion
of Thanksgiving, a Christmas.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
Yeah, I mean it's just rare, thatre dining dining tables.
Even going back to my parents' house, rarely used decorations the.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
Same way when I grew up, we didn't even we
had a living room. When I grew up, we had
the dining room. No one was ever in that room
unless it was a holiday.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
No ever, no limits, No you don't go in Dane.
I remember my grandma's plastic all over plastic, Yeah, don't
miss it up. Yeah yeah, those things look don't touch. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
So I don't want to give out numbers here, but
they sort of hit me for a loop when they
said how much money they want to on a dining
table and six chairs for what is essentially decoration. Yeah,
so I'm gonna have something.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
To do with that. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's that's a
tricky one.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
And but when they get then double up on you
when they get to you know, it's that's tough.

Speaker 9 (54:13):
Rough, that's tough. That's tough, and you know that you
know your daughters, your eye. Yeah, you know, you don't
want to talk to you a certain way. You don't
want her disappointed.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
But then hey, yeah, budgetary constraints where But.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
She has a boyfriend. Now he's a nice guy. I
like him, but I'm I'm giving him a little warning,
like you understand, Yeah you see this, you see this coming,
because yeah, he's off to pay roll.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
She's on you, you know, and I hope your salary
cap situation.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Is you have to be aware of these things. All right,
I want to ask you about some penning free agents.
By the way, I thought this was one of the
great comments here. Alexander Madison, who is now the number
one running back I take for the Vikings after playing
very a little behind Dalvin Cook over the last four years,
says it's a game changer. Well, it's a game changer

(55:05):
for him. I don't know if he can produce anywhere
near the kind of production that we saw from Dalvin Cook, who,
by the way, over those last four years was a
pro bowler every year and just came off a season
where he actually played for all seventeen games. Why is
it all quite on the Dalvin Cook front? Are there teams.
Are you hearing anything about any we assume Miami was

(55:26):
going to be in the mix. Are they still in
the mix? What's the latest buzz with Dalvin Cook?

Speaker 1 (55:31):
I would say the buzz on Dalvin Cook is he's
going to have to just his compensation expectations.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
So this just comes down their teams are interested, but
not at the price he's looking for.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
Oh yeah, because I would think the price that he's
looking for is very similar to the one that he
was at. So anywhere I mean we're talking about I
think his cap number was over fourteen million. I think
his actual number number was right around ten million. So
if he's looking for that kind of payday, I don't
know who's willing to fork that over. Right now, a
month before training camp when you can look and see man,

(56:04):
just guys like Kareem Hunt, Melvin Gordon, guys are just
sitting out there, and so you can love Dalvin Cook,
but you like, is Galvin Cook going to be nine
million more dollars in Melvin Gordon a Kareem Hunt? Based
on what we need and so those things are tricky.
So eventually he'll sign with a team, But in terms

(56:25):
of the cash flow, I don't know if the cash
is going to be out there in terms of to
his liking.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
You know, way back in the day, I mean way
back in the day, the evolution of football over the years,
they used to have when they ran the single wing offense.
Are you familiar with the single wing?

Speaker 1 (56:42):
I am, because I think I run a variation of it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
So the single wing was a direct snap to the tailback,
who really did everything. I mean, he passed, he ran,
and kicked, he did all but you specifically quarter but
the actual quarterback was more of a blocker blocking these
really was he was exactly And I'm looking I'm trying
to figure out the evolution of what we're going to

(57:07):
see with you know, let's face it, the downgrading of
the importance of the running back position. You need somebody
back there to protect the quarterback. I mean, there's got
to be at least one more body in the backfield.
But we see empty backfield formations in the NFL all
the time, single back formations. Is that what we're looking at?

(57:28):
Are we looking at now where a running back essentially
will be replaced by essentially another flanker, slot receiver, you know,
empty backfields? I mean to me, you still have to
have somebody to protect the quarterback. But is that where
we're going with this? Where the running back position as
we have known it, and now obviously without you know,

(57:50):
Jonathan Taylor, Derek Henry, there are very few running backs
still in that mode of the old school, you know,
give the guy the ball twenty twenty five games times
a game. Is that where we're going with this?

Speaker 1 (58:00):
We're definitely moving away from the traditional running back in
terms of a we're gonna put it in his belly
and let him rock with it twenty to twenty five times.
The premier running backs, or the running backs that are
getting paid, are the ones who also have the ability
to impact the game as a receiver. You don't have
to necessarily be and just making a receiver then do it. Yeah,
but you still need to have the guy that can

(58:20):
run in between. And so what you're hearing coaches talk
about it went away from you talked about twenty to
twenty five carries to maybe twenty touches.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
All right, let me ask you about two backs both
in the Hall of Fame first ballot guys Marshall falk Ledani.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
And Thomas's idea of running backs in today's game.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
I mean both of these guys. Lt was the first
running back to have a thousand yards rushing one hundred receptions.
You know Marshall Falk once he went to the rams.
They I mean, you know that offense isn't what it
is obviously without Marshall Falk.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
Yeah, are those just.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Rarefied air talents or could we see more of that?

Speaker 1 (59:00):
You can see more of that, but you have to
be able to be willing to base it on the talent,
not the position, meaning when you're evaluating. So there was
a lot of consternation over Bijon Robinson and Jamar Gibbs
going early in the first round at running back. I
would contend, well, yeah, the talent says they should be
top fifteen picks. You watched them on tape. I mean

(59:21):
they were explosive, they were dynamic, they had production, all
those things. But because of the position, there was an
expectation that those guys would fall either out of the
first round or at the very bottom of the first round. Well,
the difference between them and somebody else, they can catch
them all out the backfield and so they can stay
on the field for all three downs. You can get
some production out of them. Ay, just stuffing a round. Cool,

(59:42):
We'll just use them as a receiver out of the
backfield now more than ever, if you're a running back,
you have a toolbox full of tools, full of different
ways where you can impact the offense and put up production.
If you are limited, like a Derrick Henry or some
of those other guys, it's going to be hard to
staying a long career because once you get older, you

(01:00:03):
can't run. You gotta be able to catch it out
of the backfield, and even older guys typically can still get
open as they are aging themselves almost out the league.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Austin Eckler, Yeah, to do I mean a guy, I'm
a guy that was undrafted, but it had that kind
of skill set he did.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
And see now the difference with Austin Eckler. He had
red zone touchdowns, he had a ton of catches out
of the backfield. But I would say that he's not
impactful enough as a runner that he changes the way
that you play on defense. And a perfect world, what
you would like to do, is you a general manager
about to sign the running back you'd like to tap
into some opponents. What do you think about our guy? Oh, man,

(01:00:42):
we had a game plan form. We had to do
all these things for him, not only running game, but
as a receiver out of the backfield. They move them around.
If you don't have those kind of bad those kind
of clubs in your bag, it's gonna be hard to
get a second contract. That's noteworthy. It's just there are
too many guys who you can kind of pee smell
around and kind of make it happen.

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
But again, and look, let's look back at Todd Gurley
who had that and for two years he's the guy.
I mean, he's the guy, but you're taking a lot
of punishment. Man, he was and for him, he was
a ticket, especially when blown out need before you got
into the.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
He's a ticking time. But I will say and there
was a lot of there were a lot of people
that were upset with Todder Gurley getting the deal that
he got and how he did it. But from a
production standpoint, when it was time to pony up and
he was about the hold out, he's coming off the
offensive player of the year. You had to pay him
market value for his services and look it into quickly.

(01:01:43):
But that's that's the nature of the position. I would
tell you I would always offer the more talented running back.
I would expand the first or a second round pick
on a running back without hesitation if their their talent
matches up on tape. Because when you find one man,
you want him, and he's only going to play really
on that first deal. If you do it right and
then you let him graduate bring somebody else in, it

(01:02:04):
just makes it easier, like a more seamless transition than
the other way.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
The constant evolution that is all of sports, but definitely
in the National Football League. Let's find out what is
trending right now, man, that has evolved as well over
the years. How long have I known you?

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
Kfig?

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
How long?

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:02:23):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
When did I start in our local affiliate A five
to seven ELI Sports two thousand and seven, two thousand and.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
Eight, Steve Yeah, a long time young whipper snapper coming in?
Oh yeah, just an intern at that point in time.
And now you've has a voice changed at all? Well,
his voice carries more clout now than he used it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
That's what it is, buddy.

Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
Yeah, voice isn't cracking like he's telling.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
How it is when you're the new kid on the block.
I know he's seen and not heard so to speak,
although Kfig always impressed from day one.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
But well, you know, throwing my feet thrown right into
the fire, having an insern for petrols and money, that's
not an easy gig.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
So you know that's I could have forewarned you on
Now I think I did four one we did on man, Yeah,
I tried your best.

Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
We'll start with us A Major League Baseball a full
slate today to ten games in progress at the moment,
each of which are in the fifth inning. A trade
turner RBI single just moments ago is tied at the
Mets Phillies matchup at two apiece. You can watch that
game on FS one. Seattle in Baltimore tied at two apiece.
Toronto a five to two lead over Oakland. The Royals
have turned a four to nothing deficit into a seven
to four lead over Tampa Bay. Arizona a five to

(01:03:27):
three lead over San Francisco. Home runs from Ozzi, Albi's
and Matt Olsen have the Braves up six to four
over Cincinnati, who are seeking their thirteenth consecutive victory.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
The Yankees lead the.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Rangers won nothing on a Billy McKinney home run and
golf third round of the Travelers Championship. Keeg and Bradley
has a two stroke lead over Chez Rev. Ricky Fowler
finished his round at ten under sixty, although he's still
six strokes back. Soccer Tonight on FS one will feature
the start of group play at the Gold Cup. The
United States will face Jamaica at nine to thirty Eastern
at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
Back to Stephen.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Bucky Big, thank you very much. Once again, We're coming
you live from the tire rack dot com studios. I
want to sneak in a baseball note here for a second.
The CINCINNTI reads, who are awful to be honest with you,
have suddenly caught fire. They have won twelve straight games.

(01:04:20):
I have a buddy of mine that I've known for
years that actually was signed by the Reds organization, and
so he texted me last night and everyone is talking
about if you haven't heard about this kid named Elie
Dela Cruz, twenty one year old rookie was brought up
June sixth. He made his major league debut with the Reds,
so pretty much his arrival has coincided with this insane

(01:04:42):
run by this Reds team He's a six foot five
kid out of the Dominican and he is a specimen.
And yesterday, in his fifteenth major league game, he hit
for the cycle. Now, what is the cycle? In terms
of how rare is this? They're basically in the history

(01:05:05):
of baseball the same number of no hitters there have
been guys to hit for the cycle. The number is
almost identical. Sam, do you have some of the highlights
here Adela Cruz and his this was the triple. I
think this is what actually wrapped it up for the cycle.
Let's hear it.

Speaker 10 (01:05:20):
Here's the two two and there's a drive toward the
right center field gap that's down this wull Send, India
around third day, la Cruz going for third. Here's the relay,
not in time, an RBI triple for Ellie Dyla Cruz
and he has just hit for the cycle.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
That is insane. And it's fifteenth major league games. So
through fifteen games, Bucky, he is now hitting three sixty one.
He has an ops of one thousand and seventy four.
And everyone's going bonkers about this guy. And I'm saying, hey,
he may turn out to be one of the all
time greats. But it was ten years ago that we

(01:06:01):
had almost a eerily similar situation same month rookie brought up.
That was the Taka baseball, and that was Yasiel Puig
of the Dodgers, who was brought in a June of
ten years ago, in the year twenty thirteen. In his
first month in Major League baseball in June, he hit

(01:06:23):
four thirty six with an eleven eighty ops. He had
forty four hits in its first month as a major
league player. And we know how that story went. I mean,
I mean, if we was we were, remember how we were.
I mean, Puigue was off the charts.

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
So that was the only place that I could sit
when I would go watch, I would go sit rightfield
because I want to say, right behind Puig and watching
make plays. And I mean he was different, man, when
you watched the way that he was built. He was
built almost like a football player. Oh diick and rugged. Yeah,
he was fine. Now. He was fun for me because
I don't mind a little theatrics and some of those things.

(01:07:04):
He didn't necessarily work out for baseball because they didn't
like that. They didn't play about quote unquote unritten rules.
But it was a lot of fun and man, It
was just a lot of fun watching him play with
the energy and stuff. And look, he may blow through
a sign or two, he may run when he's not
supposed to run and do those things, but he was
so talented. You just always wish that he could get it,

(01:07:26):
just get it together.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
Well, that first month was unreal. I mean it was
so unreal that I remember the All Star Game was
coming up right and everyone was saying, you got to
have to change the rules. Like, I get it. He
wasn't on the ballot or anything like that, but people
want to see this guy at the All Star Game.
That's how dynamic he was. But I'm hoping Elie de

(01:07:48):
la Cruz of the Reds because I love watching this
guy's game again. Twenty one years old, six foot five,
out of the Dominican. The guy just you can see
he's got superstar potential. That's tough. You never know. This
is all sports and we're seeing a lot of guys
that come flash on the scene and you're like, oh,
this guy the Hall of Fame, and then a couple

(01:08:10):
of years later, whatever happened to hmm? So and so
how is that? I mean, you've had teammates, you've had
players you've coached. You know that you look at him
and say to yourself, especially as someone that play the game,
Oh if I had had that talent, Oh my gosh,

(01:08:31):
if I had that talent with the work ethic I
have and how hard I've worked just to get where
I am without all of that, but I was given
those gifts.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
I can tell you the two guys that always stand
out and come to mind. The first one would be
Charles Woodson. Played with Charles Wilson at the very end
of my career in Oakland. It was his rookie season,
and I have never seen a more talented, like just
a pure talent where game was so easy. He wasn't
a practice guy, was he No? But the game was

(01:09:03):
so easy, and so I Hartman. I could tell you
he would face Tim Brown Hall of Famer Tim Brown
in one on ones and it maybe it was naivete.
He had no respect for Tim Brown in terms of
just the way he covered him. There was no reverence
for hey man, this is a great Tim Brown. He's
jumping browse, he's throwing them around, he's doing all these things. Yeah,

(01:09:24):
like he and this guy is all on it. And
he would just see things and go being the journey
the journeyman, the backup that I was. Man, I'm waiting
and pausing it can I He had no fear in
terms of that. The other player I would say was
Dale Carter. Dale Carter was my teammate with the kan
City Chiefs out of out of Tennessee. And I have

(01:09:45):
never seen a guy who just a natural athleticism, uh,
the feistiness that he played with and if and he's
doing great now, I mean, such such a good dude.
But look, it was a little sideways because he might
have been distracted by the tree of life. And so
there were times that I think the game in Kansas
City started at twelve high noon kickoff. He might have

(01:10:08):
strolled through their ten forty five eleven o'clock Well do hey, man,
you got this guy, you go play. But just his talent, yeah, no,
I mean he as talented as he was.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
I guess that's and this is this is something that
happens very young. You know, when you're around youth sports,
and with my kids, I was around youth sports a lot,
and you can you can pick them out immediately, like, Okay,
that kid is different, he's got that he's got the

(01:10:38):
it in terms of athletic ability. But when you dominate
at every level. You mentioned Charles Woodson, who dominated in
high school, dominating in college ultimately was a Pro Football
Hall of Famer, it's got to be difficult to work
harder when everything you're doing is enough to still better

(01:11:00):
than everyone else.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
Yeah, like that, And that's the hard thing. And that's
also why we've seen it and has been kind of
I won't say proven over time. It's hard for great
players to become great coaches because when you're so talented,
you skip steps along the way, and so your talent
provides you. Yeah, I don't go from A to B

(01:11:24):
to C to D. I went from A to D.
And so it's hard for you to break things down
or focus on like the building blocks when you didn't
necessarily have to use those things. And that's why I think,
and it's unfortunate, but like Kobe Bryant's tragic death, but
the way that he was teaching, because I've talked to
people who watched his teams, his girls teams at the

(01:11:46):
Mambacapney and what he did and watched him practice and
how they did fundamentals over and over and over and
over Again, that's uncommon because typically when you're great, there's
other stuff that you've done, or you're just so natural
and it just kind of happens that you can't even
think about, how can articulate what I just did?

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
Ty Depmer trying to be the offenseive coordinator BYU TI
Denmer obviously was a clipboard holder in the NFL for
what fifteen years. There's a reason why his football IQ
was off the charts. Now, physically, he didn't have the
physical tools to play in the NFL. Obviously played at
the highest level in college Heisman Trophy winner, but when
he tried to be a coordinator, what he saw on

(01:12:30):
the field is different than what the normal person sees
on the field. It's like you say, it's hard for
me to say, all right, you're gonna do this and
you're gonna see this because that's what I saw. But
then you have to realize what you saw is not normal.
You can't use yourself. And that's like you said, if
guys that excel doesn't mean you can't be a good coach,

(01:12:52):
but your view of the game is completely different than
the normal person.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
Yeah, it can't be, and I would I would say
this is. There's an art to being able to teach
the game at whatever, whether you're like a teammate trying
to teach another teammate how to do things, or whether
you're a player who has had tremendous success that wants
to coach. There's an art to being able to take
the complex and make it simple so that anyone can

(01:13:17):
do it. It's much like broadcasting, like when you're doing
play by player, you're calling the game and those things
is how can you take all of the craziness that
you're seeing but spit it out so that the layman
can understand like, oh, okay, I understand exactly what it is.
And so yeah, it's a gift and it's one of
those things that you have to be taught. And for
great players or great people in certain walks of life,

(01:13:37):
it's hard to take things that happen naturally natural, Oh
I spot that, and be like, oh, like, here's how
you need to look at it. In that regard, it
is really a challenge and it can be frustrating for
those guys when they're coaching guys who don't have this stuff.
But those guys can't see the game or they can't
get the stuff like a talented player or a talented

(01:14:00):
coach would get.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
What is important for a sport to thrive. I'll give
you one thing, trash talk. We haven't in full effect.
This is Fox Sports Saturday, Steve Harvin, Bucky Brooks, Fox
Sports Saturday. We're coming alive from the tai Iraq dot
Com studios. So I was, h I don't know if

(01:14:26):
I can tell that conversation came up about sportsmanship in sports.
And here's how I look at sportsmanship in sports. When
we talk about youth sports, and we talk about high

(01:14:47):
school sports, even to some degree, when we talk about
college sports, although now college sports are a professional but
I think that there is a place for sportsmanship. I
think it's honestly, I think it's something that starts with
the family. You know, how to conduct yourself in life
and treat other people. I mean, that's where it really begins.

(01:15:07):
But if you're a coach, a mentor, yeah, I think
when they're young, you encourage the idea of sportsmanship. However,
when it comes to the professional game, that's where I
throw it all out the window. First and foremost, professional
sports is entertainment. It's the entertainment business and to me,

(01:15:33):
there are a few things that are more entertaining in
professional sports than bad sportsmanship. It's something we talk about.
We rarely emphasize good sportsmanship and professional sports, but when
there's bad sportsmanship, oh yeah, it's definitely in the headlines. Now,
this would also include trash talking. So a lot of

(01:15:57):
times when we talked about it wasn't trash talking, but
it was being boastful.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
So much is made of Joe Namath guaranteeing a victory
in Super Bowl three. The reason that people still talk
about this all these years later is the fact that
at the time, no one had ever done that. Nobody, nobody.

(01:16:26):
It was like Muhammad Ali, no one had ever heard
that kind of you know, boast about it. I'm gonna
put this guy down in a certain round. It was
never ever, ever done. No one ever boasted I guarantee
you we're going to.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
Beat this team. You never heard that ever.

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
But things have changed, and now we have the Chase
situation with the Bengals, you know, trumpeting his own quarterback,
saying that Joe Burrow is the best quarterback in the league. Yeah,
and he was asked about what about Patrick mc mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes and his response was pat who. Now, Travis

(01:17:07):
Kelcey obviously understandable coming to his defense, and I guess
they showed the picture of you know, Mahomes with his
two Super Bowl rings that this is the guy, this
is the guy we're talking about. Where where are we
in terms of the value. Because one thing we love
in sports, Bucky is rivalries, Yes, love it. We love rivalries.

(01:17:30):
And it's evident that the Bengals Chiefs rivalry. Now that
Chiefs have finally beaten the Bengals. Remember burrow was three
and oh before that AFC champions.

Speaker 1 (01:17:40):
Command and borrowhead.

Speaker 2 (01:17:41):
That's what burrowhead the whole smidz. I mean, this is
so good for the NFL. Great, It's so good.

Speaker 1 (01:17:47):
Great.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
So this added layer. Now with Chase being quoted as saying,
Pat who, how much does this play? I know it's
great for us to talk about it's great for the sport,
but how much does that play in the locker room?
How much impact, if any, does it actually have on
what we will see on the field, Because we will

(01:18:08):
see the Chiefs some Bengals play plenty over the years
to come.

Speaker 1 (01:18:13):
It won't have any significant play, but you'll always remember,
and so the only time it really matters is at
the end of the game. And so if you talk
trash before the game, you just better know you may
have to eat crow a little bit afterwards if you
say something out landish. That's just a part of the deal. Now,
if you talk crazy and talk trash, and then you win,

(01:18:34):
and then you can do whatever you want because you've
won the game. So ultimately it is great fodder. Players
always love the disrespected card, so it can engage that
locker room a little bit if you kind of poked
the bear.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
Do they still have the bulletin board stuff? Is that still?

Speaker 1 (01:18:49):
I mean we heard that, Look I say I said
for years at any time. The bulletin board, the overhead
projector and clips, those things have a tendency to find
their way in public view using whether it's plastered on
the wall or on the video the video screen. Yeah,
that makes sure that you're well aware of somebody's comments.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
See the thing about uh Joe Namas coach was a
Hall of Fame coach named Webu Bank who ironically had
been the Colts coach the team they were playing against
in the Super Bowl. When Johnny Knis went back to
back championships. He wanted to strangle name it because the
fact was, as they got ready for that game, we
knew we can beat this team, we knowing things we can,

(01:19:31):
but he knew taking it down like I know this
Colts team, I know we can beat this team. And
then you had to open your big game. Give give
him a little energy.

Speaker 1 (01:19:41):
Don't don't let them out like always, let them feel
like they've been respected, don't say anything, try and stay
off the bulletin board.

Speaker 2 (01:19:48):
See, that's why that guarantee stands out, Yes, because if
you if you had just pulled the upset, okay, well
they didn't really know, but then for you to make
that boast to suddenly get their attention and still pull
it off one of the all time great moments. All Right,
we're gonna continue on. We got a lot of ground
to cover. Don't go anywhere, folks, plenty more to come.
This is Fox Sports Saturday, having another big fun Saturday.

(01:20:12):
That's what we're doing once again here on Fox Sports Saturday,
broadcasting live from the ti rack dot com studios, tierraq
dot com. We're gonna help get you there. An unmatched
selection fast free shipping. Free road has some protection over
ten thousand recommended installers tirac dot com the way tire
buying should be. Even talking a lot of NFL, talking

(01:20:32):
some NBA today, Let's get back to the NBA. A
little bit. Earlier on the show, we were breaking down
the draft some of the teams that made some pretty
bold deals. I think we're both in accord that as
of now, no team has elevated their roster to the
level of you need to beat the Denver Nuggets. Not yet,

(01:20:54):
and there are still several deals to be made out there.
The biggest name out there right now, and we're getting
conflicting reports about whether or not he's going to stay
or go, and that's Damian Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers.
So the Blazers are still publicly stating they have absolutely

(01:21:15):
no interest in making any trade involving Damian Lillard, who,
by the way, in his eleventh season in Portland, is
coming off his all time high averaging more than thirty
two points per game. He's a seven time All Star.
He's been first, second or third team All NBA seven times.
He was named to the seventy fifth Anniversary Team. His

(01:21:35):
spot in the Hall of Fame is secure.

Speaker 1 (01:21:39):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:21:39):
I look at Damian Lillard in Portland, and I'm a
little bit reminded of Mike Trout with the Angels. Mike
Trout had many opportunities to say goodbye to Anaheim and
go elsewhere. He's comfortable in Anaheim. Mike Trout is going

(01:22:02):
to stay an Angel. That's his choice. And I look
at Lillard's situation and Portland is very similar. Everyone's like, well,
aren't you frustrated about you know, not, you know, winning
a championship or being a real contender for a championship.
I don't think there's anything wrong with someone saying I'm

(01:22:26):
comfortable where I am. Yes, I want to win a championship,
and obviously scooted, you know, comes in now this third
overall pick. Maybe he adds something to that team. I
don't think there any there's anything necessarily wrong with that.
You know, we sometimes are hyper critical of guys that
are chasing a ring, you know, forcing their way out

(01:22:48):
of spots where they're figuring, well, I'll go to a
better situation. I really started with lebron right and and
him forcing his way out of Cleveland and going to
Miami and putting together the team with d Wade and
with Chris Bosh, which resulted by the way in force
rate trips to the NBA Finals and two championships. But
we seem to have been critical of those guys. Well,

(01:23:09):
if you're critical of those guys, then shouldn't you support
the idea of Damian Lillard. Hey, if it happens, it happens, great.
But I'm comfortable as a Portland trail Blazer. Yeah, I mean, ultimately,
I think we're so conflicted. Right, So it became a
thing where it was about ring chasing and counting rings

(01:23:31):
because you have to have a ring DISADVENTI your legacy.
That kind of became the media narrative some years ago,
and so that's what we always do. We judge everything about, well,
how many readings do you have? You can't necessarily aspire
to be the career long player to play in one
jersey and destination, even though you and I would say
back in our time coming up like it was an

(01:23:51):
honor to play for one franchise and kind of beat
that guy. So Dame lilld right now, I would say,
is he said, has to be conflicted in some way?

Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
Do our ride this all the way out with the
Blazers and become mister Blazer basically, or do I go
and chase the ring that everyone says I need to
have to complete my resume. I think it's a very
difficult thing for a player because once you throw the
money out and that stuff, like, everyone is prideful and
really you play the game for two things, respect and rings.

(01:24:22):
And so do you want to be respected as a
one Jersey guy who gave his all to the franchise
or do you want to be judged by the fact
that you were able to get a ring or you
chased a ring at the end of your career.

Speaker 2 (01:24:34):
Well, let's go back to Dirt Novisky, all right. I mean,
Dirk hung around in Dallas all those years, again, very
comfortable where he was, and then they won a championship.
You know, he had been an MVP, you know, and honestly,
we seen it now for the couple of guys we
saw it with the honest went back to back MVPs,

(01:24:55):
and then the year after that when it championship. We
just saw it with Jokic. I don't know how good
Scoot Henderson is going to be, but he seems to
be one of those guys that everyone is talking about
and he's nineteen years old. It's hard to project, but
maybe he has some magical instant elevating in the entire

(01:25:15):
game for the Portland Trailblazers. I mean, by the way,
everyone was a little caught off yesterday. I guess there
was some reference he made to Again I'm not always
on top of this a song that had Miami in it,
because everyone thinks he would go to the Heat, which would,
by the way, be great for the Miami Heat to
get Damian Lillard. Yes, I mean good for any team

(01:25:38):
to get a guy with limitless shooting range like Dame.
But I just I think I think he stays in Portland, dude.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
I mean I sense he talked about staying in Portland
in the importance of establishing those things and just kind
of being all around guy. But he kind of put
it back on the team. Well, I mean, if they
want those things.

Speaker 2 (01:26:03):
Well, they had the third overall pick. They took a
guy that a lot of people there were three guys
that where everyone was buzzing in this draft, right, and
they got one of them. M true, right, I mean there.

Speaker 1 (01:26:13):
Was not many guys because like, once you got to
the middle of the first round, like a lot of
names were. Yeah, I mean recognizable if you are casual.

Speaker 2 (01:26:20):
Well, that again, as I said earlier, that's every single
NBA draft. You get passed in the first round of
every draft. You might honestly have two or three impact players. Yes,
impact players. I'm not saying that you can't be a
nice role player or a solid start. I'm talking about

(01:26:40):
impact players. There just aren't that many. Damian Lillard is
one of them, but he needs the right supporting cast,
and so I again, I think I think Lillard stays. Seriously,
if you're the Portland Trailblazers, he's coming on this remarkable year.

(01:27:01):
He averaged, you know, again, thirty two points a game.
The reason that they're publicly stadium we're not interested in
trading him is they haven't heard anything remotely close, you know,
in terms of what you're offering us in order to
make this trade. Not even close. Yeah, I mean, you're
you're gonna have to give up five number ones. Think

(01:27:23):
think of what the Clippers here, It would be my response,
Think about what the Clippers gave up for Paul George.

Speaker 1 (01:27:30):
But then I would say, just because somebody made a
bad deal, it doesn't mean that we have to be
holding holding to that.

Speaker 2 (01:27:35):
Then there's no deal. Then you don't get them. How
bad do you want him if you put him on
the Miami Heat. We just talked about all these other deals,
right Persinga's to the Celtics. We talk about Chris Paul
with the Warriors. You talk Bradley Beal with the Sons.
If you add Damian Lillard to that Heat roster, your

(01:27:57):
Miami Heat, Bucky Brooks, how does that team look to you?

Speaker 1 (01:28:01):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:28:02):
Great, great, because, by the way, this was the lowest
scoring team in the league this year.

Speaker 1 (01:28:09):
Well, yeah, they don't have any wiggle rooms. So their
defense was on and I would say defensively they played
well enough to win in the finals. They couldn't put
the ball in the bucket. Yeah, I mean that was
the biggest thing. And so now you bring over Dame
Dalla the Dame do his thing. I mean, I know
it's fun to watch Jimmy Butler close it out, but man,
Dame hitting threes and and all that.

Speaker 2 (01:28:30):
Yeah, Butler can do all the other stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:28:32):
Yeah, change changes the dynamic a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:28:34):
You're getting look at you, you get a little excited.

Speaker 1 (01:28:37):
Just think.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
I mean, yeah, I mean I would like it, all right,
give me a deal then, Okay, I'm calling you pat Riley.

Speaker 1 (01:28:43):
I mean you over there talking about like five ones.
I would say they denyed negotiables. The guys that you're going.

Speaker 2 (01:28:49):
To know you still have to have a courtier team.
Look what Phoenix gave up to get Kevin. You don't
want to.

Speaker 1 (01:28:53):
Look at You can look at the roster and Dean
some fists. But the guys who are heat for life,
no Jimmy Butler, no Bam. Those guys have to say.

Speaker 2 (01:29:01):
Okay, so those two guys, but you got all those.
I mean Kayla Martin, I went, we want Kayla Martin.

Speaker 1 (01:29:06):
That'd be hard, that'd be hard.

Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
But Tyler Herroll. We want Tyler har Man.

Speaker 1 (01:29:10):
It's my guy, but Cornerstone, but we were part ways
with him.

Speaker 2 (01:29:13):
He's okay.

Speaker 1 (01:29:14):
I need players, I mean, I I mean, you have
to Draft picks are always great, but I need a
couple of players that I know could actually play for
us immediately. Okay, So I can't get it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:23):
So I just got two of them. You get Martin,
who wasn't even drafted. I got, I got Tyler who else?

Speaker 1 (01:29:28):
So you took you took Tyler. I can't convince you
to take uh Dakan, Robinson and Juice. Okay, those are
two other guys that were not drafted. I'm not gonna
take three undrafted guys. I'll take one of those two.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
You gotta give me Hero, you gotta give me Hero.
I want Robinson, I want Hero, I want Martin and
I want three number ones.

Speaker 1 (01:29:49):
Oh my gosh, I got I have enough to play.
You sure you have enough to play? Let me let
me have enough guys to play Lillard.

Speaker 2 (01:29:57):
What does that team need more than anything else?

Speaker 1 (01:29:59):
Scoring?

Speaker 2 (01:30:00):
I mean giving him one of the ultimate shooters in
the history of the game.

Speaker 1 (01:30:03):
I have Dame, I have Jimmy Butler, and then I
have Bam. I need some more. I need some more.

Speaker 2 (01:30:08):
You already well, first of all, you have Haimi hawk
as Junior, who, by the way, is not some eighteen
year old nineteen year old. He's a He's a twenty
two year old man. He's ready to roll right now. Yeah,
I mean, and you still have I'll give you stress.
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:30:22):
He keeps no, No, he has to go. He has
to go. He has to one. He has to take.

Speaker 2 (01:30:27):
I want Robinson, okay, and I won hero and I
want Martin Man and three number ones to smoke Number ones?
What you're for now? How mean how many years did
Jimmy Butler have left?

Speaker 1 (01:30:43):
Probably three? Thanks?

Speaker 2 (01:30:46):
Yeah, Like, come on, you looked a little gas at
the end of I mean, he was doing everything everything
throughout the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:30:51):
He did everything he does right and he's dame to take.

Speaker 2 (01:30:54):
So how would you would like to have seen Damian
Lillard take those shots at the end instead of Jimmy Butler.
I mean, look, I don't mind there have been different result.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
I don't mind him he taking some of those shots,
but it would have been great to have another player
untill have.

Speaker 2 (01:31:05):
Those lower games where he just goes off like he's
like but see no.

Speaker 1 (01:31:09):
But here's the thing, and this is why, like this
is why we get irritated, Like in watching the game
or hearing some of the analysis after the game, he's
running around with Jamal Murray and then people expect him
to have one of those hemmy games. Again. It is
hard to gear up and play somebody ninety four feet

(01:31:29):
over and over and over again. They're running around like
a little chicken with the haircut off, and he has
to chase behind him. Then on offense, everyone wants to
give him the ball, Say he go to work, go
one on five. No, I think I think now they've
been learn some lessons. It'd be a better, more controlled,
composed team that goes back to the final in the

(01:31:49):
year or two.

Speaker 2 (01:31:50):
All right, One other NBA team that is always in
the news is the Lakers, because well they're the Lakers
and they got a guy named Lebron James. What is
the best potent hensch'll move for them to get back
to where they want to be. We're gonna tell you
this is Fox Sports Saturday, Steve Harman, Bucky Brooks, Fox

(01:32:11):
Sports Saturday. We're coming alive from the tirerack dot Com Studios,
tucking some MBA and the aftermath of the draft. The
Los Angeles Lakers took Jalen Hood, Chaffino and Maxwell Lewis
in the h two pigs in the draft. By the way,
they moved up seven slots in that second round from

(01:32:33):
forty seven to forty specifically to get Lewis out of Pepperdine.
So they had their eye on this guy and they
did not want to risk losing him, so that's why
they moved up to get him. So they had a
couple of young guys. That's great, but you've got Lebron
James going into his twenty first NBA season, and you know,

(01:32:55):
you got to build a little bit for the future.
I don't know how much, if any, impact, these rookies
will have immediately on this team. Hopefully they'll pan out
to be long term players. For the Lakers, they need
immediate help and one guy they will not get is
Chris Paul. So there was all this buzz that Chris
Paul when he went to the Wizards ultimately could end
up either as a Laker or a Clipper. That did

(01:33:18):
not happen because miraculously, I mean think about, the Wizards
actually got a trade for Chris Paul. And that's how
desperate the Golden State Warriors were to get rid of
Jordan Poole's contract. So it will not be Chris Paul.
But I got a new name that I think would
be a nice addition for this team. Now, you resign Reeves.

(01:33:44):
You resigned Hotchamura. By the way, the numbers on those
guys Reeves is probably seventeen to eighteen million. Hotchamurrow like
fifteen million. It's doable. So you keep them in the fold.
But there's a guy that you can get for league
minimum right now, like four million dollars. He's got a
pretty good resume, and I think he would thrive in

(01:34:04):
a Lakers uniform, and that is Dereck Rose. So, Dereck Rose,
as we know, was the youngest MVP in the history
of the NBA, and then a devastating injury has rendered
him a shadow of his former self. In some respects,

(01:34:25):
he reminds me of Bill Walton. Bill Walton, of course,
was the dominant big man when he led the Portland
Trail Blazers to the championship, and then a year later,
in the midst of even a better season for the Blazers,
a year in which he was named MVP, Walton got
hurt and the foot injury sidelined him for years. Went
to the Clippers, only appeared in fourteen games over four years.

(01:34:49):
But then he went to the Celtics and he was
named six Man of the Year. Now, he wasn't a
guy that was going to put up huge numbers, but
he was a really good basketball player and he got
motivated in the presence of great players around him. I've
seen enough of Derek Rose over the last couple of years.

(01:35:09):
The Knicks finally said they're not going to pick up
the option on his deal. If I'm the Lakers, because
I can get him for pretty much nothing, I'm going
to roll with him. I still, he hasn't forgotten how
to play the game. He has physical limitations. He's not
a guy that's going to be, you know, like the
number three guy or anything like. But he's I think

(01:35:31):
of remember when they picked up Rondo in twenty twenty
and Rondo was at the end he played a valuable
role for that team and winning a championship. I think
Derek Rose could do that. Still, Am I higher than
a kite or what do you think?

Speaker 1 (01:35:47):
I think you could work? But I think Dick Rose
that indicated that he wanted to be downe with it
so he can spend time with his kids. So I
don't know if you're getting them motivated Derek Rose that
that wants to play. Does he have value as the
vet off the bench? What are we gonna do with
Shrewder and so many other guys that that play. We
can't Are we bringing hell Billy Kobe back? I mean,

(01:36:12):
like those things have to be answered. What about my shooter?
Guy that came off? Uh? Is it Walker for Miami?

Speaker 3 (01:36:19):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:36:19):
What like, what are we doing? My guys? The energy
got root?

Speaker 2 (01:36:23):
Ho you moorem again? You're gonna get rooms for nothing?
Four million dollars nothing?

Speaker 1 (01:36:30):
Yeah, but he's to play. He comes back like he
comes in. Someone has to go out and turn I do.

Speaker 2 (01:36:38):
I don't know. I've always been a Derrek Rosse fan.

Speaker 1 (01:36:40):
I mean I like Derrick Rose. I mean he's to
be my son's favorite dude, like he was lucky, great player.
But what who are we kicking out of the rotation?
A lot of it depends on if we sign.

Speaker 2 (01:36:51):
They're not necessarily kicking anybody out of the rotation. Yeah,
he'll Billy Reeves is going nowhere. Horomur is going nowhere.

Speaker 1 (01:36:58):
There's a lot of talk to read.

Speaker 2 (01:36:59):
An Russell his price eg is gonna be too high
too every away for the Lakers. He made thirty one
million dollars last year. He's gonna pay D'Angelo Russell thirty
one million dollars?

Speaker 1 (01:37:11):
Who else is gonna pay I have no idea pay him.

Speaker 2 (01:37:13):
Somebody's gonna pay him something like, Well, I'm trying to
figure who did all right? The team needs a big also, desperate,
you think, yeah, I mean the.

Speaker 1 (01:37:25):
Big that they have is not a big.

Speaker 2 (01:37:26):
I'll tell you what, how about Lopez?

Speaker 1 (01:37:28):
Brook Lopez?

Speaker 2 (01:37:29):
Brook Lopez, you know who is runner up for Defensive
Player of the Year this year. Who would have ever
thought brook Lopez would be a runner up for Defensive
Player of the Year.

Speaker 1 (01:37:36):
He's gonna let Milwaukee to come out to come on
to La La Land. That's what we're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:37:43):
I don't know the Bucks in your mess that they
just wire their coach. I mean, he who went further
than the playoffs this year. The Lakers are the Bucks Lakers.

Speaker 1 (01:37:51):
I mean, I just he's gonna come out here. He's
gonna shoot all those threes again. You can give him
some toughness again.

Speaker 2 (01:37:59):
Runner up for Defensive Player of the Year. Yeah, I'd
love to have brook Lopez come on make a deal here,
Let's hear it.

Speaker 1 (01:38:10):
I try, I try, I try.

Speaker 2 (01:38:12):
Here's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to create
some kind of buzz going into the next NBA season
because as we sit here right now, as easy as
it was for the Nuggets to win a championship this year,
it could be even easier next year because now they've
won a championship. Everyone said, well, it's tougher to repeat.
Not the NBA, it's we have repeats champions all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:38:32):
In the end, they got their confidence. They know what
it's like to win it. The hardest one is to
win the first one that they went through a little
bit of a meet grounded loss to Miami, and Game
two had to up the ani when it came to
their effort and toughness level and dank. So now they
take all those lessons and they go in to next
year with a better version of Joker, and yes, good luck.

Speaker 2 (01:38:55):
You know, it's amazing. When the Lakers won back to
back in eighty seven and eighty eight, it hadn't been
done since the Celtics in sixty eight sixty nine. Think
about what happened right after that though. Immediately the Pistons
won two in a row, Then the Bulls won three
in a row. Then the Rockets went too in a row,
then the Bulls went three in a row. The only
team during since that time that was unable to do

(01:39:16):
the repeat was San Antonio five championships, so that they
never won back to back.

Speaker 1 (01:39:22):
Why can they went back to back?

Speaker 2 (01:39:24):
I don't know, it's bad coaching.

Speaker 1 (01:39:27):
Do you think he's a good coach? What do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:39:29):
I think I think he's really coach. And I'll tell
you we're I mean, look a guy like Duncan, who again,
four years of college, four years. Tim Duncan didn't have
to stay awake for four years he did. Did it
hurt his development in the league? No? Nor did it
hurt his longevity in the league. But when you look

(01:39:51):
at a guy like Jenobley, when you look at Tony
Parker and how they developed Tony Parker's game for he
becomes a Hall of Famer and even more impressive to me,
it is the way that Pop was able to approach
Kawhi Leonard. He came in as a guy that you
know in the beginning, he was like, all right, he'll
help at the defensive end, but they were able to

(01:40:12):
nurture his game. I don't know, what do you think
he's gonna do with Wemby here? How do you take
this kid, who, by the way, is a marketing genius.
I mean, he's everywhere right, He's got the personality. You
saw him crying there after being the number one overall pick,
even though everyone knew he was gonna people are falling
in love with this guy quickly. But when you look

(01:40:34):
at his stature and by the way they say he
may still have more growth as tall as he is,
I'm looking at those legs though. Man, wow, those are
some skinny sticks.

Speaker 1 (01:40:46):
He's he's skinny. He's small, man, I mean like he's slender. Yeah, super,
he can't cover it. You can't put him on Joe if.

Speaker 2 (01:40:53):
Your pop, what do you do with this kid? I mean,
everyone's gonna expect an immediate impact.

Speaker 1 (01:40:57):
Oh, he make an impact right away, though, I mean
I think you have to make sure you have another
big for when you play those guys and put him
on the rest of that team is not good. I
mean young, it's so young. They're like babies.

Speaker 2 (01:41:11):
Well that's my point, but they're not good.

Speaker 1 (01:41:13):
They're young. You can't even tell they need an anchor.
Now they got the anchor. Weimby And I'm not even
a sentencen of his first fan, but they they talk
about him being a generational talent, one that we haven't
seen since Lebron Whohoa.

Speaker 2 (01:41:31):
WHOA wasn't Zion a generational talent? Didn't we hear that
about Zion when he was a duke.

Speaker 1 (01:41:38):
And he is a generational talent if he's not distracted.

Speaker 2 (01:41:41):
He has played less than half the games he could
have played so far in his card.

Speaker 1 (01:41:45):
I'm thinking that Hartman hasn't been paying attention to Twitter
and really figuring out why he's not playing like he's
not playing because he's partially injured and partially active.

Speaker 2 (01:41:55):
We knew that he was not going to hold up.

Speaker 1 (01:41:57):
Well, the body's not.

Speaker 2 (01:41:58):
The question is Isy's body.

Speaker 1 (01:42:00):
He's not gonna hold up because he has an active
recovery that he's playing that he's subscribing to, and so
once he gets focused and he's been in the facility, Look,
Zion is the one. Zion is the one that I
need to come to Miami. I need Zion to come
to Miami because Zion.

Speaker 2 (01:42:17):
All right, hold that, hold that thought for a second. Here,
let's find out what's trending right now. I need to
talk to someone that's going to make some sense.

Speaker 1 (01:42:24):
He knows about, he knows about Kevin knows about he
knows about Zion. He knows about Zion.

Speaker 2 (01:42:30):
He knows now he look at I've been trying to
make a deal for him to get the guy he
needs desperately for his Miami he and that's Damian Lillard
because yeah, the what was scoring team in the league.
He needs Zion one of the greatest shooters ever coming
out of Yearie and he wants Zion Williamson, who doesn't
even play.

Speaker 1 (01:42:46):
Oh, but he'll play in Miami. He's just a distracted
Oh he just is distracted.

Speaker 2 (01:42:50):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:42:50):
He gave even more distractions in Miami. No, no, you
didn't talk to him. He needs somebody to talk to him.
He didn't have a bet in New Orleans. He needs
you did talk to him. Get him straight. He'll focus.
He's all doing stuff. A porns come on, but no, lastly,
minutes to go.

Speaker 2 (01:43:05):
Who's gonna start down in those Cuban sandwiches tomorrow? Those
things are addicted. It's a question about that.

Speaker 3 (01:43:12):
Well, we'll start off with some Major League Baseball games
of note. On FS one, the Mets holding a four
to two lead over the Phillies in the eighth inning.
Giants now a seven to five lead over Arizona in
the eighth. The Red Swell game win streak is in jeopardy.
The Braves just extended their lead to seven to four
on a Marcelo Zuna home run. Luis Savarino pitch six
shoutout innings for the Yankees. They're up, won nothing over

(01:43:32):
the Rangers. In the ninth Astros and Dodgers will get
underway in about a half hour from now. You can
watch that game on Fox. Earlier in London, the Cubs
hamm at the Cardinals nine to one. Royals came back
from a four to nothing deficit to beat Tampa Bay
nine to four. When the PGA Tour third round play
is complete at the Travelers Championship, Keek and Bradley a
one stroke lead over Chez rev Ricky Fowlers six strokes back,

(01:43:54):
while Scotti Scheffler is seven strokes off the lead. As
Steve mentioned earlier in the NBA the next declining the
fifteen million dollar team option for point guard Derek Rose
and making the former MVP a free agents. In soccer,
the US men's national team will face Jamaica in group
play at the Goal Club Tonight. Coverage begins at nine
pm Eastern on FS one. Back to Stephen Bucky.

Speaker 2 (01:44:14):
All Right, k Fig, thank you very much, a voice
of reason.

Speaker 1 (01:44:19):
Knows hesions. Think it's a little bit about the injuries.
It's more about the other stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:44:26):
All right, once again, we're coming to you live from
the tire rag dot com studios. All right, let's let's
let's pause here for a second. So the Miami Heat
got to the NBA Finals, and they did it in
impressive fashion, no question, because they had to do it defensively.
They need offense. They need they're trying to I mean,

(01:44:48):
suddenly Caleb Martin is becoming your go to guy offensively.
So let's let's review again the all two brief career
of Zion Williamson, because I first of all, when everyone's
saying that Wemby is the first guy that really has
been considered the franchise guy since then, So Lebron, wow,

(01:45:12):
you have a short memory because that was Zion Williamson.
That was Zion. Like you know, when we're at the
draft lottery and everything else, who's going to get Zion
number one?

Speaker 1 (01:45:23):
They actually made it a generational challenges.

Speaker 2 (01:45:27):
First of all. First of all, remember now John Morant
was in the same draft, right, but they were actually
saying that on the broadcast, which, by the way, with
all due respect, it was dreadful.

Speaker 1 (01:45:40):
I mean it was it's hard.

Speaker 2 (01:45:43):
I'm dreadful, and that's not a personal shot at any individual.
Just the whole thing didn't work. You know, sometimes the
sum of all the pieces is what you have to
look at. It's not the individual pieces, because individually there
were a lot of people that had some interes. You
gotta have some kind of chemistry. And there was zero

(01:46:04):
on that NBA Draft broadcast anyway, But they were saying
that this is the first time in I don't know
since Lebron that we had gone into the draft with
a unanimous number one overall pick. And I'm thinking, I'm sorry,

(01:46:24):
wasn't Anthony Davis the number one unanimous pick out of
his one and down at Kentucky when he the national championship?
Wasn't Zion? No, it was if Jean Moran was number two,
Zion was everybody's number one. Who was Was anybody picking
Jamran over Zion? No? Okay, So I don't know what

(01:46:45):
they were talking about. So Zion's rookie season, he played
twenty four games. The next year, he played sixty one,
the next year zero, and this last year he played
twenty nine games. His career numbers scoring twenty five point
eight points per game, rebound, seven assists, three point six

(01:47:09):
career field goal percentage sixty point five percent, and amazingly enough,
his career three point percentage are very respectable thirty four
point three percent. But let's get back to the fact
that in four years he has played a total of
one hundred and fourteen games.

Speaker 1 (01:47:25):
Played one hundred and fourteen games. But those numbers that
you read off, that's less than thirty per rct. I mean, yes,
but the numbers that you read off were very impressive, right, yeah, man,
when he played early in the year. When he played
early in the year, I think New Orleans was it
might have been the number one team when he was playing,
and then he had an unfortunate hamstring injury that lingered.

Speaker 2 (01:47:44):
Okay, so then in the games that he has played,
he has averaged twenty five point eight seven point zero,
three point six. You know what his numbers are in
the games he hasn't played, has zero point zero, zero
point zero and zero point zero of the numbers that
he has posted in the games he hasn't played. Okay,

(01:48:06):
So all right now, and so I get it, you know,
because Velicans gave him a huge deal, huge contract. Let
me let me get some of the specifics on that deal,
because you want to make a deal so early. I
was trying to make a deal with you to get
Damian Lillard in a Heat uniform, and you passed when
I dare bring up the name of Tyler Hero. All right,

(01:48:28):
So here's what we're looking at right now in terms
of Zion's contract. So Zion Williamson is making thirty three
numbers are reasonable, okay, thirty three and a half in
twenty four, thirty six, thirty nine. He has signed through
twenty twenty seven seven for the next four years. Of course,
he's been making this money for the last couple of

(01:48:49):
years and he hasn't played at all. So if you
weren't willing to part with a Tyler Hero and three
number ones and a couple of other.

Speaker 1 (01:48:58):
Guys, I would. I would do it. I would do
it for you, would do it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:00):
For Zion because but you wouldn't do it for Damian Lillert.

Speaker 1 (01:49:03):
I would do it for Zion becu Zion is younger.
As long as I don't have to part with bam Maudebayer,
I would do it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:07):
Because why are you ignoring his injuries?

Speaker 1 (01:49:10):
I'm not ignoring his injury. I'm not ignoring the fact
that he's been injured but see what I'm saying, what
I'm saying, what I'm saying, it's a different situation. There's
so there's a couple of reasons why it would be
different in Miami than in New Orleans. In New Orleans
you don't have the czar up top that you have
in pat Raley. You also don't have what is known
as so we talk about heat culture in tag but

(01:49:32):
like a system of structure, order, discipline, and development. What
Zion needs, obviously is a lot of discipline in detail.
Never remember when Zion played his best who was a
coach stan Van Gundhi who demanded more from him. He
needs a more demanding programs in the program that he's
getting in New Orleans. That is what he needs.

Speaker 2 (01:49:53):
So yeah, but we questioned this even when he came
into the NBA. When you're nineteen years old, nobody everybody's nineteen, right,
he was already at how tall is he really?

Speaker 1 (01:50:07):
Sixty six six six seven and he was.

Speaker 2 (01:50:10):
Already two hundred and seventy five pounds.

Speaker 1 (01:50:11):
He's from where I'm from. He's from that's from the natural. See,
you have you ever spend any time in the South,
He's not gonna be But you ever spending time in
the South. You know, the fried chicken is like down
in the not everybody's you know what, the potato salad
and macaroni and cheese that he's grubbing off. And then
you put him in New Orleans. They should have known
he was gonna blow up his body tight crawfish catuffe

(01:50:33):
and all that. But here's a recipe for disaster. Put
him in New Orleans. Down there a guy that likes
to eat down there in the cuisine capital of the world.

Speaker 2 (01:50:41):
When he busted out of that shoe a duke, that's
when I knew that this guy, as insanely talented as
he is. I'm not questioning his talent in any way.
He's a freak of nature in a lot of ways.
But when I saw him bus out of that shoe,

(01:51:02):
I'm like, uh oh, because it's not sustainable. And I said,
if he's already naturally that size at age nineteen, imagine
like all of us, remember when you were nineteen, Bucky,
how about you weigh when you were nineteen years old.

Speaker 1 (01:51:17):
Let's see him nineteen. So that's like my freshman sophone year.
I probably one hundred and eighty five pounds.

Speaker 2 (01:51:22):
And you had a work to get to that one
eighty five.

Speaker 1 (01:51:23):
I'll bet yeah, because I was one seventy three my
senior high school.

Speaker 2 (01:51:26):
Yes right, I mean you had a warp to keep
that weight on. Yeah, remember those calorie days you had me?

Speaker 1 (01:51:32):
Oh man, you can eat double burgers before you go
to practice.

Speaker 2 (01:51:34):
And I have a twenty five year old son like
that who's always incredibly fit and everything else. The amount
of food this guy puts down is just insane, like it,
we'd kill every his brother's like I can't eat like that.
But he was naturally this big.

Speaker 1 (01:51:47):
Like this is his size.

Speaker 2 (01:51:49):
He's big bone, big bone, would call it. Whatever his structure.
All right, fine, so okay, so you're gonna give up
hero Caleb Martin Robin center Strus, one of those guys
and three numbers and three number ones for Zion Williamson.

Speaker 1 (01:52:08):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:52:09):
And you think that Spolstra and Riley can get this
guy in the straight and arrow and he can give
you sixty five plus games a year, yeah, every.

Speaker 1 (01:52:18):
Year, because he needs he needs structure in this way.
He needs a little order in his life. Now he's
a new dad, perfect time to get him right now. Wow, you're.

Speaker 2 (01:52:29):
I'm just when I hear New Orleans is shopping, I'm
I'm like, good luck, Who's who's making a deal.

Speaker 1 (01:52:36):
You guys are so negative, so negative on the talent
one d and fourteen games. Fourteen games?

Speaker 2 (01:52:40):
Can wait? Let me do the math again, the games
that he has missed. I remember my numbers are remember
zero points, zero points, zero point zero rebound, zero points
zero sist.

Speaker 1 (01:52:49):
Hey, keav don't let don't let him. Don't let them
fit the way in between us, because you know who
else had this. You remember Bill Walton when he went
to Portland. That's before your time. But when he went
to Portland, Bill Walton was off into right. Yes, he
was early on, early on offens you foot always his
first two years and he didn't do a whole lot.
He didn't do a whole lot. But then you know
what he did, Jack Ramsey, he went he went to Boston. Yeah,
that was a one year deal.

Speaker 2 (01:53:10):
He went by the way, you man.

Speaker 1 (01:53:11):
He averaged six Man of the Year seven points and
seven minor detail year. He had six Man of the
Year all right on the other six Man of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:53:22):
Oh man, it's like fantasy Land.

Speaker 1 (01:53:24):
It really is talking about.

Speaker 2 (01:53:28):
Back to reality. This is Fox Or Saturday. Ready for
me who has been contributing with about more Morny hammers.
One down the up field line and that ball is gone.
It's a three run homer Freddy for Mean his fourth
home run and the Royals take the lead. Wow, Royals
Radio Network. Did the Royals actually win on the road

(01:53:50):
against Tampa? They did. Royals just twenty two and fifty
five on the season, So there you go. And by
the way, Lyle's got the win. He was zero and eleven,
so now he's one and eleven. By the way, that's
our Progressive Play of the Day, brought to by Progressive Insurance.
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(01:54:11):
all your protection in one place. Bundle and saveapp Progressive
dot Com Fox Sports Saturday. Once again, we're coming you
live from the ti Raq dot Com studios. I want
to thank our crew today. We've had an interesting day. Iowa.
Sam was here. By the way, Bucky was just too
busy to talk to me today, which is the norm
with him. Now he just doesn't want.

Speaker 9 (01:54:31):
To talk to me.

Speaker 2 (01:54:32):
Chris comes in.

Speaker 1 (01:54:33):
He speaks to me.

Speaker 2 (01:54:34):
Chris, by the way, you were out at the us opening,
you had glowing reports about the LACC. Well, it was
a nice course.

Speaker 8 (01:54:41):
I've liked the golf a lot, and I think part
of that was enhanced by having an open bar available
to me because my dad was out there as a
USGA official.

Speaker 2 (01:54:49):
But open bar makes everyone's golf experience better. Oh you're playing,
whether you're watching, golf and alcohol go.

Speaker 1 (01:54:59):
Together big time.

Speaker 2 (01:55:01):
But yeah, it got it got fussed.

Speaker 1 (01:55:03):
On me, so very good.

Speaker 2 (01:55:04):
Well, I'm glad you. I never got out there. I've
never been on Think about this, I have essentially lived
here my whole life outside of time I spent in
San Diego, and I have never been there. Obviously, you
have to be invited, you have to have some kind
of super inclusive favor to step foot on that la CC.

Speaker 8 (01:55:21):
Your income has to at least be from what I understand,
like well over six figures too.

Speaker 2 (01:55:25):
Actually, rich Ornberger's wife's family are in the golf business,
so he was there. He went by himself, s hanging out.

Speaker 8 (01:55:34):
Yeah, I ran into friendly from here, but I didn't
I know there was other people up there. I missed
them a lot, But yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:55:39):
I never got out there. Next time, kfig came by
today and was just like, wow, Kevin Figures is in
the house. Normally he's on the overnights and then Bo Bo,
where's our producer? He's on the IR report. It was
a bad sign when Bo came in with the mask.
I'm thinking, aren't the past days over? He was a

(01:56:03):
little under the weather, so we excused him for the
rest of the day. So thanks all their help today.
By the way, I've been checking out my Twitter account.
As you know, I never tweet, but people use my
Twitter account to tell me what they're thinking. Some people
now think that I'm definitely on the bandwagon as far
as the Heat because they now have Hami Hawk as

(01:56:24):
junior a little bit because I'm a huge HAWKASZ fan,
one of the great Bruins of all time. I'm so
excited that a guy that actually played four years of
college could still be a top twenty pick in the
NBA draft. That's rare, very rare. It's almost like, what's
wrong with you if you play four years of college?
So he's a Heat. They got themselves a hell of

(01:56:44):
a player. One guy was saying, Hey, Harvin, why so
much hate for the Suns. I think Beal's an excellent edition. However,
the Sun's lack of depth or lack of depth concerns me. Well,
that's that's why we have a problem. Yeah, you've got great,
three phenomenal scorers in Durant, Booker, and Bial.

Speaker 1 (01:57:04):
But what about the rest of the team. Are you
an Aighton fan at all? I mean, he's fine, he doesn't,
he doesn't. He isn't mood a needle for me. He's fine,
like it if they lost him, it wouldn't affect me.
He's big, he's athletic, but I mean he comes and
goes in terms of like being locked down.

Speaker 2 (01:57:19):
But this is a team that two years ago, what
sixty four games. Yeah, they had a nice balance of
talent did and but I just don't I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:57:28):
Understand this trio. I mean they all do the exact
same thing. Yeah, I mean, I don't think they are
a better team or a better version of the one
that we saw a couple of years ago or even
earlier this year. They don't they don't defend, and so
this group will score, but they can't defend, and they
don't have as much depth as they had previously.

Speaker 2 (01:57:48):
And then one of our listeners said this, Lillard ends
up in the three to zero five soon and Miami
will be champs next season. So not buying into yours
z Ion over Damion choice.

Speaker 1 (01:58:02):
I'm just saying I would take Zion if Zion is
on the market and you can get them, we're rolling,
we're rolling.

Speaker 2 (01:58:08):
So you you're if the trades were of equal value
in terms of what you have to return to get
the talent, you would take Zion. Yeah, I'm going big
over Damian Lillard, going big.

Speaker 1 (01:58:20):
Over the little because that was the biggest issue, the
big issue. They didn't have enough size and now that
Zion is a like a big in terms of a
seven footer, but they needed more girth, more weight so
they can put their bodies on them. Because when they
got into the postseason, the Boston Celtics were a bigger
team than them, and then the Denver Nuggets were a
bigger team and it caused them problems. Well, now if
you put Zion on the floor with Bam, it now

(01:58:42):
reverses the matchup and it makes the opponent have to
deal with either Zion's size and girth and his talent,
or you have to deal with Bam. And Jimmy Butler
and dose things. So it's to me it's a harder
guard than if you put Dame Lilid up there.

Speaker 2 (01:58:57):
All right. So, now that we've had the NBA Draft
and really a flurry of trade activity, with obviously Damian
Lillard still out there, Zion still out there, is there
any team that you think can make an addition that
makes the roster wise better than the Denver Nuggets.

Speaker 1 (01:59:19):
Better than the Nuggets. No, there's no way that can
make a roster edition that will make them better. I mean,
you can maybe close the gap to Celtics, I mean,
talent wise, maybe they closed it a little bit, but
they don't have enough toughness to deal with the Nuggets
the Miami Heat, Like even if they get Dame, they
don't have enough size to deal with what the Nuggets
can put on the So it's tough, all.

Speaker 2 (01:59:40):
Right, Bucky. So there we do as we do every Saturday,
giving you a little thought from us. Don't worry though,
even though we're leaving more to come here on Fox
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