February 11, 2025 • 27 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses Luka Doncic's Los Angeles Lakers debut, his expectations for the Luka-LeBron James moving forward and why he believes these new-look Lakers can make a run to the NBA Finals. Later, J-Mac explains why his optimism around Luka's former team - the Dallas Mavericks - is fading fast.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire Vamp.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Tuesday, February eleventh.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
A public service announcement.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
You probably should go out and get the wifey, the girlfriend,
the side piece. Huh, just kidding, a Valentine's card, order
the flowers. Get all that stuff done before you miss
the window. I'm locking mine up today after I finished
with the herd and get some stuff done. I'm gonna
lock that stuff down just so I don't miss the wind.
Don't wait till Thursday, Guys, you'll screw it up. Everything
(00:41):
good will be gone. You'll be settling for scraps. And
now let's get.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
To what you really care about. Yes, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
The Luca era gets underway. Rob G's fired up. I'm
fired up. The Lakers look like they're headed to the
finals as they beat down, and I mean absolutely punish,
one of the worst teams in the league, the Utah Jazz,
Holy cal The Jazz are bad one thirty two one thirteen.
Lakers smoke them. They were up twenty thirty most of
(01:08):
the second half. Luca was on some sort of minutes restriction,
so he only only had fourteen Let me get this
exact right, fourteen, five and four. I bet his over
assist prop I didn't know about the minutes restriction because
I bet it early. I was just firing a couple
bucks off didn't go well. It was seven and a half.
(01:31):
He did not come close to the point total or
the assist shot one of seven from three. It was
a little herky jerky, but I have I have some takes. Obviously,
Lakers now.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Moved thirteen games over five hundred.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I wonder if Charles Barkley still thinks that the Lakers stink.
He said that literally two weeks ago, and that was
even before Luca.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
And now do the Laker stink? Charles? I gotta ask.
I mean, you know, it's the oracle.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Charles Barkley, who never gets anything wrong, said the Lakers
stink in there nothing not good. They are hurtling toward
a top four seed in the West. And obviously you
can't take too much away from a beatdown of the
hapless Jazz. The Jazz are currently battling Washington and New
Orleans in the race for Cooper Flag. Although it's weird
(02:17):
because the Jazz is two best players I think are
Walker Kessler and Lorie Market And I don't know where
Cooper Flag fits in there, but obviously you take Flag
and figure out the rest later. Lakers should beat the
Jazz on Wednesday as well, and in to head into
the All Star Break. Is one of the hottest teams
in the league. You can't make any sweeping generalizations about
(02:37):
the Luca Lebron would they have two practices together, but
this much was obvious.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
The ball movement was.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
It was like borderline orgasmic the way the Lakers were
passing unselfish basketball. It trickled down Lebron let it be known, Hey, Luca,
you do you don't worry about fitting in, show out,
do your thing, and Luca obvious he was not gonna
do that. He was unselfish. He did miss some shots.
I mean, the guy been out since Christmas. Okay, we're
(03:07):
looking at you know, that's like six seven weeks on
the shelf. He comes back and he wasn't crisp offensively,
but you could see the makings.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Of a really, really dangerous Lakers team. They did.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think they held their own on the on the boards.
Although Kessler had a bunch of offensive rebounds. Listen, I'm
not gonna come out and say that they're gonna be
able to handle Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Nobody can handle Nikoliokic. I don't want to hear this.
Who they have to guard him?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I mean the Timberwolves have Rudy Gobert. He can't do
anything right, you know. Okay, see what you think Isaiah
Hartenstein is slowing Nikoliokic.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Nobody is.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
You can't slow him down. He's gonna get his Can
you stop everyone else? That's why it's such a simpleton.
Take the Lakers room protection. Who's gonna stop Jokich? Like
nobody nobody stop at him in the league? Guys, come on.
But overall the Lakers look really good. My guess now
that they have such an extraordinary perimeter playmakers score, is
that guys like Lebron, Austin Reeves, Ruey Hachi Mora are
(04:08):
gonna just be so happy enjoying life.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So many more open shots.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
It's like teams will give up ady fadeaways and turnarounds.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They don't care about that twos. Come on, a twelve
foot two.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
From Ad We'll give it to you, but you're not
giving up twenty five foot threes to Luca, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You gotta hug him up.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
You gotta respect the drive, and you just saw a
lot of easy layups and dunks. The Lakers shot fifty
four percent. I'm not really familiar with the work of
Jordan Goodwin, but this kid's explosive. He's in the rotation
for sure, young kid out of Saint Louis. He's twenty
six years old. Man, he came off the bench. He
led the Lakers' offensive boards. Like they've got a scrappy team.
(04:48):
I like what I see from Drian Phinney Smith, who's
starting to fit in. He was miked up last night
on the telecast out here for the Lakers, and you know,
he was obviously joking around and stuff, but he appears
to be one of these like raw Rock kind of guys,
like keep it positive, don't get down when things are down.
And between Lebron and Luca, I'm just telling you, guys,
(05:10):
this team is so deadly right now. Again, Rob G's
gonna laugh at me, you know, but I do believe
the Lakers have a really good chance of getting to
the NBA Finals. And I'll just keep saying it till
I'm bluing the face and you guys, maybe it sinks in.
I don't care how dominant Okase looks in the regular season.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I just don't care.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yes, they're smothering teams, They're obliterating everybody. They have a
plus thirteen point four point differential by far best.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
In the league.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
They've barely played Hartenstein and chet Holmgren. We know that,
Okayse's a really good regular season team. Anybody who's watched
playoff basketball knows this.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
This regular season stuff. This ain't the playoffs. It's just not.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And it's gonna come down to who can slow down Sga.
Now I said nobody can. I'll tell you right now.
Nobody can stop Luca, not Lou Dort, not Jay Dubb,
none of those guys. Okay, can somebody stop Sga. I
don't think it's out of the realm that he's slowed
down enough and he'll probably be the MVP of the league.
He's slowed down enough that the Lakers could take down
(06:17):
ok I'm not worried, and I'm probably in the minority here, Rob,
but I do believe the Lakers are a legit Finals
contender from the West. I'm not saying they're winning the championship.
They're definitely not as good as Boston. That being said,
nobody in the West team wise scares me.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Does Jokich? Of course you think, o Kitch, he's really good.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
The Lakers have Luca, and I'm just telling you, guys,
it is a surreal thing to look.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Up at the screen and see Luca on the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I mean, you guys know, faithful listeners to this podcast
the last four years.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
No, I am as big a Luka.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Doncs fan there as there is outside of Dallas, and
to just see him.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
In a Lakers jersey is just it just doesn't feel real.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
And Rob, I don't know if you feel the same way,
but I just feel like before with Lebron and Ad,
hey man, we got a shot. We can contend, we
could be in the mix. We could push Denver, we
could push Okac. It's a different vibe with Luca. I
feel like we could beat anybody. Yeah, I just said,
we as in the Lakers. So Rob, I listen, I'm
not overreacting to a win over Utah, but the possibilities
(07:24):
of this team, Oh my gosh, I don't see why
any Laker fan.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Wouldn't be absolutely geeked.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Jason, you are entirely too measured and too conservative for
this podcast. I don't know about you, but I've already
laid down blanket to set up lan chairs on figure.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Oh and this is a patient in the parade coming
in June. Did you see the first half of that.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Game last sew they scored seventy two points on an
NBA team without a legitimate, you know, rotation level center.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Okay, Luca Danches and Lebron James and Lebron had one
those you know I like to call.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It that the C plus plus games, where if you
look at the final numbers, it's twenty four to seven
and eight tens, Like he hit. The final stats look great,
and you're like, oh, he also had seven turnovers and
he only played twenty nine minutes because he was in
cruise control most of the game. Like that's gonna be
the norm from now on. Luka Doncic, who was ice
(08:22):
cold from three could not throw a pee in the ocean,
and it didn't even matter because we can hit you
from so many ways with so many creative ball handlers.
Austin Reeves an afterthought in this game plays a team
I had thirty two minutes goes for twenty two nine
to four, Like, how are you gonna stop them? The
(08:44):
answer is you can, point blank period. For all of
the conversation about first Nikola Jokic and nicolgo which is
still the best player in the league. I think he's fantastic.
He owns the Lakers, point blank period. Well, he owned
a D one ad, he owns owns a Remember they
they can cheat him in the bubble right in the
in the conference conference finals.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I think yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
But let me just say about Nikola Jokic. We said
on this podcast during the last postseason, it's become very
apparent that you cannot stop Nikola Jokic. So what are
your options? You either one you keep trying to square
peg round hole this thing and say, hey, a d
(09:24):
and Lebron as your two main front court guys, are
gonna be able to slow down the most dominant offensive
center we've seen since Shack or you zag and you
say we're gonna go small, We're gonna run these guys
to death, and we're gonna hope we can beat them
in a track me. Enter Luka Dancic, who if he's
not the best player in the league as you say
(09:45):
he's at worse two or three, and on any given night,
in any given series, he can be the best player
on the floor by a mile. That's not even counting
what Lebron James has been doing this season. When the
Lakers get into the post season, yes, including Shay, Gilgas,
Alexander and Okasee, every series they play, they are gonna
(10:08):
have at least one, if not two, of the top
two players in the series. What's more, both of those
guys are playoff proven, They're tremendous scores, They're tremendous passers.
So on the off chance that one of those guys
is having an off night shooting, the other one's gonna
pick up the slack or that guy's just gonna set
(10:28):
the table for everybody else. And the Lakers have two
of them. They have two six foot eight Magic Johnson
clones going into any playoff series against anybody they're gonna
go against. Houston's too young, OKC is Shay and a
bunch of dudes. Right now, Memphis, we know what they
(10:49):
are playoff rods. Outside of Nikola Jokic, and I'm giving
him his respect because I think he's that good. There
is absolutely nobody in the Western Conference that I think
can even hang with the Lakers. Hashtag Lakers and six
is coming again America.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Wow. The last time I brought this up, we won
the championship. It's coming.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
How much purple denk did you drink in New Orleans?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Mind?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (11:14):
God, don't wow?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I wish goodness, gracious, Rob off the top rope.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
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listen live now listen.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I had a buddy at the Lakers game, and you know,
he's a faithful listener of the podcast, and I'm his
texts are just like, dude.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
The vibes here, the crowd is juiced.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
It was it was jumping off the screen like the
excitem that Luca would get the ball, and it's just
you're like, all right, what's coming?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
What do we got? Who are reality ooping here? It's
just if you're a Lakers fan, you're super ginting. Now.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I know there's a bunch of listeners to the podcast
who are probably pissed that the Lakers got Luca, but
lucas I This is a good question, is Luca free Lakers?
Was he a likable player? And my guess would be yes.
He talked a lot of shit, he backed it up.
He talked trash to Devin Booker, he took on the Clippers,
(12:12):
Kawhi and PG all by himself.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
He is fearless. I mean, I know, he's.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
You know, the Slovenian and he curses and he complains
to ref's a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I get all that, but I felt like he was
a very likable player.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And a lot of the stars who go to the
Lakers people don't like them because.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It's the freaking Lakers.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
But I just I get this weird vibe that I
think people like Luka Doncic and I think I'm guessing here.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The Lakers are going to be more liked and popular
than people think.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Absolutely, and not just that he's likable, because you know,
I think I think the word that I would use
is he's relatable. How many guys.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Have you seen?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
You're a you know, men's league legend, Oh gosh, multiple
time men's league champion, You've seen? How many guys in
your league? And the local YMCA's in LA fitnesses and
parks all around the country that look like Luka Doncic.
Not really that great of shape. You know, can't run,
can't jump, but he's just fucking awesome at basketball and
(13:14):
at various levels.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
We all know somebody whor have played on a court
with some guy.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You're like, man, that guy is cooking us, and he's
taking three dribbles this entire you know, last ten minutes.
He just knows how to play, and the way that
he plays is infectious. To your point, he's an asshole
when he has to be, but he also plays with
a smile on his face and a certain joy that
you just don't get nowadays with most professional athletes. Luca
(13:40):
in La, I don't I don't know if I'm if
I'm overstating this, if I don't feel like I am.
He is going to be the biggest star in the
league by a country mile inside of a year. He
was already an international star because of his talent. Now
you get him in LA where he's going to be
a national TV forty seven fifty five times a year.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
He's gonna be playing deep into June.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Like I said, I think this team is poised for
an NBA championship run and He's gonna be the lead
talking point on most of the national networks because it's
the Lakers like he is, He's the new face of
the We kept saying, who's gonna be the next face
of the league? Is it gonna be you know, Lebron
(14:25):
and Steph Katie? That kind of phased out who's next,
Who's got next? Everyone's saying it's Wemby. Luca is gonna
take that baton and spread through the finish line. It's him,
It's his world from now on.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, the vibes feel good around Luca. Now, let's pivot
to the team Luca was traded from, and that's the
Dallas Mavericks, the MAVs, And I'm not gonna you know,
there's still like twenty eight games left in the season.
I'm not doing this every single night like what happened
in the NBA. But Dallas lost a bit of a
heartbreaker to Sacramento in overtime.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
De Rosen had forty two in the game winner.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
But the real story is the game was played in Dallas,
and MAVs fans are hot and bothered by Nico Harrison
trading Luca, and it's been what we like eight days
now they did one of these kiss cam things, except
it was like, you know, staying or whatever, and one
(15:20):
of these fans stands up and basically says, you can
read his lips very clearly f Nico Harrison, and then
some fans snuck in a sign of bashing Harrison, and
apparently it was just really it was open season on
the GM and I know that there's been reports that
he's gotten death threats, and then the police kind of
(15:41):
pooh poohed that.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Listen, everybody knows you can.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Get I get death threats on Twitter all the time
from these losers. Kill yourself, don't come to Toronto, don't
come to Chicago after blastings.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You know, I get this crap o. I don't know.
It's nothing to me. I'm not going to.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Report it to the police, but it apparently fans are
very upset. And Jason Kidd refused to meet with the
media because he knew that's all anybody wanted to ask about.
And nobody cares about the loss. Compounding matters, Oh, Anthony
Davis got hurt. He is going to be out at
least three weeks, maybe a month, the estimates are. And
(16:17):
they got a little lucky with the All Star break
that ad will miss ten to twelve games, Folks. I
know that may not seem like a lot, but when
there's like twenty eight games left and let's say he
misses twelve, that's Rob. What is that close to like
forty percent of the final games for a team that
is not a lock.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
To make the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
You look at the West, Rob, I mean it is
a logjam Lakers at five, and then from the Clippers
at six, who are three games back, to the Lakers,
to the Spurs, there is a not a huge difference.
It is the Spurs are twelve. So two of these
teams are going to miss the playoffs. Clippers, Timberwolves, MAVs, Kings,
(16:58):
Warriors who won again last night. Curry, he's just on
a tear, Suns and Spurs. I would like to see
Wemby in the playoffs badly. I kind of sort of
want to see d Book and Kevin Durant in the playoffs.
I'm curious if Kevin Durant comes out with revenge on
the mind or he folds and they get swept again again.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
KD.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
I don't know how many times you're going to get
swept in the playoffs. Dog Celtics swept you when you
were on Brooklyn last year. You gots swept by the Timberwolves.
You can't get broomed again, my guy, Golden State, We'll
see you with Jimmy Butler Sacramento. I know a lot
of people will pick them to regress, but Sabonis, DeRozan, Levine,
they got some dudes. Dallas is the one that I
keep circling because you look at playmakers on that team
(17:38):
and like Kyrie Irving played forty four minutes last night. Okay,
Kyrie Irving is getting up there in age. He's got
a lot of tread on those tires. He's a smaller
guard after Kyrie. Their guard options Klay Thompson, who can't
defend anybody in the back court now and is basically
just a shooter. Dante exem you know, Okay, he's fine
(18:00):
role player. I don't even know who KYLERA.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Kelly is.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I think he's a big Naji Marshall, Okay, Spencer Dinwitty,
I guess is like a creator.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And then former Laker.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Max Christy, who's now playing thirty five minutes a night.
He went for fifteen last night plus twenty three like
Max Christy. If Kyrie were to go down like Max,
Christie's like a vital player on this team.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
They started somebody.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Named Kessler Edwards, Rob bro What the hell's going on
with the MAVs.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
I'd like to amend everything that I said about them
when this trade was done. So I thought that they
won this one in the short term. For a number
of reasons, I'm gonna work backward from everything he talked about.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Number One, In.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Addition to Ad being hurt, PJ Washington is still isn't
back yet with an ankle injury. Derek Livey is basically
out for the regular season, and late Monday night, I
didn't get to watch the game full disclosure, but Daniel
Gaff had to leave with a knee injury. Oh no,
so you know, hopefully it's not too serious and it
was just you know, he's out for that game. But
(19:07):
that's not nothing. But the biggest reason why I'm so
down on this team is with Ad out again. Conservatively
we're saying ten to twelve games. Most like he's out
for about a month. You need Kyrie Irving to step
up and really carry them.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Now.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You brought up the idea what if he turns an ankle,
then they're kind of screwed. I think even if he's healthy,
their ceiling is nowhere near as high as I thought
it was when this trade was initially done, I was
still infatuated with the idea of Kyrie Irving more so
than the actual player. Okay, in the four games that
they've played since Luca got traded, Kyrie has been forced
(19:45):
to play forty one minutes per game, which is not
ideal for an undersized guard. Here's the other problem. During
that stretch, he's only giving you twenty two points a
game and four and a half assists the game. He
is your only real creator shot creator on that team
(20:06):
that can do it at a high level.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, hold on, do you remember Jaden Hardy?
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I do.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
He's a little he's Kyrie ish and shifty. But I
guess he's fallen out of favor because he has moments
in the finals. He only played nine minutes last night.
I don't I don't know what that means or why
Jason kidd is you know he's got injuries like PJ.
Washington didn't play like they're a bit of a mess.
But man, Rob, I mean, you're right after Kyrie, who
(20:31):
playmakes for this team.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Right, and that you know, there's been uneven results so far,
and it was on a buzzer beater against Sacramento. But
if your only real playmaker is gonna give you four
and a half assists the game shooting forty and twenty
eight percent from three, that is not a recipe for
success in the Western Conference. You know, unless Ad can
(20:54):
find the fountain of youth and he can get whatever
the blood spinning that get done in Germany and get
his abs right and his groins good, and he's not
having a sports arena. This team is dead on arrival.
They are not even gonna make the playoffs, much less
be a threat in the Western Conference. And then to
go back to your original point about what's going on
in Dallas, I thought it was very interesting that, you know,
(21:18):
the death threats are one thing. I understand that point,
but multiple fans were ejected from the arena for either
screaming fire Nico or sneaking what's the word posters into
the building that said things like that, like what are
you doing? Do you not understand? You know what fans mean?
(21:39):
Fan is short for fanatic. You should almost expect that
kind of blowback and for these guys to go soft
like that and to make matters even worse. Dirt Novitsky,
Mav for Life, actually was at the Laker game instead
of a mav home game, So that, I mean, that
kind of tells you all you need to know that
your biggest star in your franchise history is saying you
(22:01):
know what, I know that I'm a MAVs guy, but
you know, Luca's my brother.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
I got to show up to his game instead. It
was going on with us.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Not great.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
The trends are not good.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
I will say the juice right now, the pop for
the NBA is real, Like there's so much excitement right
now around the league because of these trades and the
new look teams, and obviously, you know, I think it
would be helpful if Butler and Curry made the playoffs
and kind of it made a run, if you will,
because Steph Curry when he's hot is as exciting as
(22:44):
any player in the league.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
That's undeniable. But the league is just is such a tear.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Right now, I will say this whole idea that Luca
was out of shape and messed with the culture, and
there's some votes from I guess his name is Mark Dumont.
You know he's her owner, governor whatever his title is.
They're really acting like Luca was a problem. And Nico
(23:12):
Harrison saved the season last year with two trades at
the deadline, getting PJ. Washington and getting Gafford, and that's
why they trust him. That the Kyrie Irving thing worked.
But what they're missing is it all worked because of Luca,
exactly like Kyrie Irving as a one that doesn't work. Okay,
(23:37):
I know he was on the straight and narrow, but
it's probably because Luca's taken all the arrows and Kyrie's
just the other guy over there. Hey man, I could
score thirty. Nobody's gonna ask me a million questions. I
could do my thing. It's all about Luca, right.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
PJ.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Washington non factor in Charlotte. All of a sudden, Lucas
is go sit in the corner. I'll find you.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And now PJ.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Washington is like a big factor and Daniel Gafford is
like the perfect grim Runner, he goes. I think he
went from Washington to Dallas. And then Daniel Grafford, Oh
my gosh, Daniel gaffer this guy is a player, you know,
Derek Live, look at this guy. It's all because of Luca.
It's only they talked themselves into thinking, well, you know,
(24:17):
the GM did this, and we got this guy and
this look at all.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
These everything's working. I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I think this was just a gross miscalculation, and I
think most people agree with me. I don't know if
Nico Harrison, you know, he joked at the press conference
that he's not going to even be around in ten years.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Rob, I don't know. If they missed the playoffs, do
you think he returns.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I think he has to.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I think that they've kind of dug into a point
where they have no choice but to bring him back,
because to your point, they've given this illusion that they're
all on the same page with this whole thing. And
what's very telling to me is that, yeah, yes, Luca
is not in the best shape.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
I think that's pretty you know, by NBA standard.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
However, every single other NBA player, both teammates and opposition,
can say, well shit, if he's out of shape and
it's giving you thirty five, ten and ten. Then you know,
maybe that works for him. And to your point about
the postseason, you know, lest we forget, I know that,
you know, Kyrie has this beautiful game and everybody likes
(25:23):
to watch him plays very pretty basketball that he plays.
During that playoff run, in two games against OKC, scored
single digits. One of the game he scored twelve uh
And then he had several games in the Western Conference
finals where he shoots sub forty percent. In the finals,
his shooting percentages go thirty one, thirty eight, forty six,
(25:46):
fifty five a game they won by forty and thirty
one percent. So can you imagine if Luka Doncic puts
up that kind of output, not only do they not
win the championship, they don't make the finals. They're probably
getting swept out in one of these rounds. Yeah, Like
Kyrie was given the cover of night by Luca doncies
because of his immense talent, and for this franchise to
(26:08):
continue to paint him in such a way that like
they were winning almost in spite of him, that they
hadn't overcome his being out of shape and his you know,
bad vibes in the locker room and the culture that
he was setting, Like, I just think that that's a
crazy spin job by that.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
It's not great.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
There's obviously plenty of NFL stuff going on. We'll do
that tomorrow. We just obviously wanted to get Luca and
Lebron out of the way because that's a big story
in sports today. So tomorrow we will chop up the
latest Aaron Rodgers, the Matt Stafford New York Giants.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
It seems like those are the two big ones.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Also over super Bowl weekend, Russell Wilson will not be
returning to Pittsburgh, according to Jay Glazer.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So it's like some musical chairs happening. I think. I
think it's interesting around, like this is good.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I know some people are upset, but I think this
is good movement options. I think Kirk Cousins is gonna
be on the move. Rob Gie's Raider are hard up.
So we'll do that tomorrow on the pod and we'll
call it a day just to celebrate Luca and Lebron
in their first game. They're up next again on Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Can't wait. We'll talk to you the
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire Vamp.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Tuesday, February eleventh.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
A public service announcement.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
You probably should go out and get the wifey, the girlfriend,
the side piece. Huh, just kidding, a Valentine's card, order
the flowers. Get all that stuff done before you miss
the window. I'm locking mine up today after I finished
with the herd and get some stuff done. I'm gonna
lock that stuff down just so I don't miss the wind.
Don't wait till Thursday, Guys, you'll screw it up. Everything
(00:41):
good will be gone. You'll be settling for scraps. And
now let's get.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
To what you really care about. Yes, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
The Luca era gets underway. Rob G's fired up. I'm
fired up. The Lakers look like they're headed to the
finals as they beat down, and I mean absolutely punish,
one of the worst teams in the league, the Utah Jazz,
Holy cal The Jazz are bad one thirty two one thirteen.
Lakers smoke them. They were up twenty thirty most of
(01:08):
the second half. Luca was on some sort of minutes restriction,
so he only only had fourteen Let me get this
exact right, fourteen, five and four. I bet his over
assist prop I didn't know about the minutes restriction because
I bet it early. I was just firing a couple
bucks off didn't go well. It was seven and a half.
(01:31):
He did not come close to the point total or
the assist shot one of seven from three. It was
a little herky jerky, but I have I have some takes. Obviously,
Lakers now.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Moved thirteen games over five hundred.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I wonder if Charles Barkley still thinks that the Lakers stink.
He said that literally two weeks ago, and that was
even before Luca.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
And now do the Laker stink? Charles? I gotta ask.
I mean, you know, it's the oracle.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Charles Barkley, who never gets anything wrong, said the Lakers
stink in there nothing not good. They are hurtling toward
a top four seed in the West. And obviously you
can't take too much away from a beatdown of the
hapless Jazz. The Jazz are currently battling Washington and New
Orleans in the race for Cooper Flag. Although it's weird
(02:17):
because the Jazz is two best players I think are
Walker Kessler and Lorie Market And I don't know where
Cooper Flag fits in there, but obviously you take Flag
and figure out the rest later. Lakers should beat the
Jazz on Wednesday as well, and in to head into
the All Star Break. Is one of the hottest teams
in the league. You can't make any sweeping generalizations about
(02:37):
the Luca Lebron would they have two practices together, but
this much was obvious.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
The ball movement was.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
It was like borderline orgasmic the way the Lakers were
passing unselfish basketball. It trickled down Lebron let it be known, Hey, Luca,
you do you don't worry about fitting in, show out,
do your thing, and Luca obvious he was not gonna
do that. He was unselfish. He did miss some shots.
I mean, the guy been out since Christmas. Okay, we're
(03:07):
looking at you know, that's like six seven weeks on
the shelf. He comes back and he wasn't crisp offensively,
but you could see the makings.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Of a really, really dangerous Lakers team. They did.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think they held their own on the on the boards.
Although Kessler had a bunch of offensive rebounds. Listen, I'm
not gonna come out and say that they're gonna be
able to handle Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Nobody can handle Nikoliokic. I don't want to hear this.
Who they have to guard him?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I mean the Timberwolves have Rudy Gobert. He can't do
anything right, you know. Okay, see what you think Isaiah
Hartenstein is slowing Nikoliokic.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Nobody is.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
You can't slow him down. He's gonna get his Can
you stop everyone else? That's why it's such a simpleton.
Take the Lakers room protection. Who's gonna stop Jokich? Like
nobody nobody stop at him in the league? Guys, come on.
But overall the Lakers look really good. My guess now
that they have such an extraordinary perimeter playmakers score, is
that guys like Lebron, Austin Reeves, Ruey Hachi Mora are
(04:08):
gonna just be so happy enjoying life.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So many more open shots.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
It's like teams will give up ady fadeaways and turnarounds.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They don't care about that twos. Come on, a twelve
foot two.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
From Ad We'll give it to you, but you're not
giving up twenty five foot threes to Luca, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You gotta hug him up.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
You gotta respect the drive, and you just saw a
lot of easy layups and dunks. The Lakers shot fifty
four percent. I'm not really familiar with the work of
Jordan Goodwin, but this kid's explosive. He's in the rotation
for sure, young kid out of Saint Louis. He's twenty
six years old. Man, he came off the bench. He
led the Lakers' offensive boards. Like they've got a scrappy team.
(04:48):
I like what I see from Drian Phinney Smith, who's
starting to fit in. He was miked up last night
on the telecast out here for the Lakers, and you know,
he was obviously joking around and stuff, but he appears
to be one of these like raw Rock kind of guys,
like keep it positive, don't get down when things are down.
And between Lebron and Luca, I'm just telling you, guys,
(05:10):
this team is so deadly right now. Again, Rob G's
gonna laugh at me, you know, but I do believe
the Lakers have a really good chance of getting to
the NBA Finals. And I'll just keep saying it till
I'm bluing the face and you guys, maybe it sinks in.
I don't care how dominant Okase looks in the regular season.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I just don't care.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yes, they're smothering teams, They're obliterating everybody. They have a
plus thirteen point four point differential by far best.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
In the league.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
They've barely played Hartenstein and chet Holmgren. We know that,
Okayse's a really good regular season team. Anybody who's watched
playoff basketball knows this.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
This regular season stuff. This ain't the playoffs. It's just not.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And it's gonna come down to who can slow down Sga.
Now I said nobody can. I'll tell you right now.
Nobody can stop Luca, not Lou Dort, not Jay Dubb,
none of those guys. Okay, can somebody stop Sga. I
don't think it's out of the realm that he's slowed
down enough and he'll probably be the MVP of the league.
He's slowed down enough that the Lakers could take down
(06:17):
ok I'm not worried, and I'm probably in the minority here, Rob,
but I do believe the Lakers are a legit Finals
contender from the West. I'm not saying they're winning the championship.
They're definitely not as good as Boston. That being said,
nobody in the West team wise scares me.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Does Jokich? Of course you think, o Kitch, he's really good.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
The Lakers have Luca, and I'm just telling you, guys,
it is a surreal thing to look.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Up at the screen and see Luca on the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I mean, you guys know, faithful listeners to this podcast
the last four years.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
No, I am as big a Luka.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Doncs fan there as there is outside of Dallas, and
to just see him.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
In a Lakers jersey is just it just doesn't feel real.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
And Rob, I don't know if you feel the same way,
but I just feel like before with Lebron and Ad,
hey man, we got a shot. We can contend, we
could be in the mix. We could push Denver, we
could push Okac. It's a different vibe with Luca. I
feel like we could beat anybody. Yeah, I just said,
we as in the Lakers. So Rob, I listen, I'm
not overreacting to a win over Utah, but the possibilities
(07:24):
of this team, Oh my gosh, I don't see why
any Laker fan.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Wouldn't be absolutely geeked.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Jason, you are entirely too measured and too conservative for
this podcast. I don't know about you, but I've already
laid down blanket to set up lan chairs on figure.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Oh and this is a patient in the parade coming
in June. Did you see the first half of that.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Game last sew they scored seventy two points on an
NBA team without a legitimate, you know, rotation level center.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Okay, Luca Danches and Lebron James and Lebron had one
those you know I like to call.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It that the C plus plus games, where if you
look at the final numbers, it's twenty four to seven
and eight tens, Like he hit. The final stats look great,
and you're like, oh, he also had seven turnovers and
he only played twenty nine minutes because he was in
cruise control most of the game. Like that's gonna be
the norm from now on. Luka Doncic, who was ice
(08:22):
cold from three could not throw a pee in the ocean,
and it didn't even matter because we can hit you
from so many ways with so many creative ball handlers.
Austin Reeves an afterthought in this game plays a team
I had thirty two minutes goes for twenty two nine
to four, Like, how are you gonna stop them? The
(08:44):
answer is you can, point blank period. For all of
the conversation about first Nikola Jokic and nicolgo which is
still the best player in the league. I think he's fantastic.
He owns the Lakers, point blank period. Well, he owned
a D one ad, he owns owns a Remember they
they can cheat him in the bubble right in the
in the conference conference finals.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I think yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
But let me just say about Nikola Jokic. We said
on this podcast during the last postseason, it's become very
apparent that you cannot stop Nikola Jokic. So what are
your options? You either one you keep trying to square
peg round hole this thing and say, hey, a d
(09:24):
and Lebron as your two main front court guys, are
gonna be able to slow down the most dominant offensive
center we've seen since Shack or you zag and you
say we're gonna go small, We're gonna run these guys
to death, and we're gonna hope we can beat them
in a track me. Enter Luka Dancic, who if he's
not the best player in the league as you say
(09:45):
he's at worse two or three, and on any given night,
in any given series, he can be the best player
on the floor by a mile. That's not even counting
what Lebron James has been doing this season. When the
Lakers get into the post season, yes, including Shay, Gilgas,
Alexander and Okasee, every series they play, they are gonna
(10:08):
have at least one, if not two, of the top
two players in the series. What's more, both of those
guys are playoff proven, They're tremendous scores, They're tremendous passers.
So on the off chance that one of those guys
is having an off night shooting, the other one's gonna
pick up the slack or that guy's just gonna set
(10:28):
the table for everybody else. And the Lakers have two
of them. They have two six foot eight Magic Johnson
clones going into any playoff series against anybody they're gonna
go against. Houston's too young, OKC is Shay and a
bunch of dudes. Right now, Memphis, we know what they
(10:49):
are playoff rods. Outside of Nikola Jokic, and I'm giving
him his respect because I think he's that good. There
is absolutely nobody in the Western Conference that I think
can even hang with the Lakers. Hashtag Lakers and six
is coming again America.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Wow. The last time I brought this up, we won
the championship. It's coming.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
How much purple denk did you drink in New Orleans?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Mind?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (11:14):
God, don't wow?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I wish goodness, gracious, Rob off the top rope.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live now listen.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I had a buddy at the Lakers game, and you know,
he's a faithful listener of the podcast, and I'm his
texts are just like, dude.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
The vibes here, the crowd is juiced.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
It was it was jumping off the screen like the
excitem that Luca would get the ball, and it's just
you're like, all right, what's coming?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
What do we got? Who are reality ooping here? It's
just if you're a Lakers fan, you're super ginting. Now.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I know there's a bunch of listeners to the podcast
who are probably pissed that the Lakers got Luca, but
lucas I This is a good question, is Luca free Lakers?
Was he a likable player? And my guess would be yes.
He talked a lot of shit, he backed it up.
He talked trash to Devin Booker, he took on the Clippers,
(12:12):
Kawhi and PG all by himself.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
He is fearless. I mean, I know, he's.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
You know, the Slovenian and he curses and he complains
to ref's a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I get all that, but I felt like he was
a very likable player.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And a lot of the stars who go to the
Lakers people don't like them because.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It's the freaking Lakers.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
But I just I get this weird vibe that I
think people like Luka Doncic and I think I'm guessing here.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The Lakers are going to be more liked and popular
than people think.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Absolutely, and not just that he's likable, because you know,
I think I think the word that I would use
is he's relatable. How many guys.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Have you seen?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
You're a you know, men's league legend, Oh gosh, multiple
time men's league champion, You've seen? How many guys in
your league? And the local YMCA's in LA fitnesses and
parks all around the country that look like Luka Doncic.
Not really that great of shape. You know, can't run,
can't jump, but he's just fucking awesome at basketball and
(13:14):
at various levels.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
We all know somebody whor have played on a court
with some guy.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You're like, man, that guy is cooking us, and he's
taking three dribbles this entire you know, last ten minutes.
He just knows how to play, and the way that
he plays is infectious. To your point, he's an asshole
when he has to be, but he also plays with
a smile on his face and a certain joy that
you just don't get nowadays with most professional athletes. Luca
(13:40):
in La, I don't I don't know if I'm if
I'm overstating this, if I don't feel like I am.
He is going to be the biggest star in the
league by a country mile inside of a year. He
was already an international star because of his talent. Now
you get him in LA where he's going to be
a national TV forty seven fifty five times a year.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
He's gonna be playing deep into June.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Like I said, I think this team is poised for
an NBA championship run and He's gonna be the lead
talking point on most of the national networks because it's
the Lakers like he is, He's the new face of
the We kept saying, who's gonna be the next face
of the league? Is it gonna be you know, Lebron
(14:25):
and Steph Katie? That kind of phased out who's next,
Who's got next? Everyone's saying it's Wemby. Luca is gonna
take that baton and spread through the finish line. It's him,
It's his world from now on.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, the vibes feel good around Luca. Now, let's pivot
to the team Luca was traded from, and that's the
Dallas Mavericks, the MAVs, And I'm not gonna you know,
there's still like twenty eight games left in the season.
I'm not doing this every single night like what happened
in the NBA. But Dallas lost a bit of a
heartbreaker to Sacramento in overtime.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
De Rosen had forty two in the game winner.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
But the real story is the game was played in Dallas,
and MAVs fans are hot and bothered by Nico Harrison
trading Luca, and it's been what we like eight days
now they did one of these kiss cam things, except
it was like, you know, staying or whatever, and one
(15:20):
of these fans stands up and basically says, you can
read his lips very clearly f Nico Harrison, and then
some fans snuck in a sign of bashing Harrison, and
apparently it was just really it was open season on
the GM and I know that there's been reports that
he's gotten death threats, and then the police kind of
(15:41):
pooh poohed that.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Listen, everybody knows you can.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Get I get death threats on Twitter all the time
from these losers. Kill yourself, don't come to Toronto, don't
come to Chicago after blastings.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You know, I get this crap o. I don't know.
It's nothing to me. I'm not going to.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Report it to the police, but it apparently fans are
very upset. And Jason Kidd refused to meet with the
media because he knew that's all anybody wanted to ask about.
And nobody cares about the loss. Compounding matters, Oh, Anthony
Davis got hurt. He is going to be out at
least three weeks, maybe a month, the estimates are. And
(16:17):
they got a little lucky with the All Star break
that ad will miss ten to twelve games, Folks. I
know that may not seem like a lot, but when
there's like twenty eight games left and let's say he
misses twelve, that's Rob. What is that close to like
forty percent of the final games for a team that
is not a lock.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
To make the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
You look at the West, Rob, I mean it is
a logjam Lakers at five, and then from the Clippers
at six, who are three games back, to the Lakers,
to the Spurs, there is a not a huge difference.
It is the Spurs are twelve. So two of these
teams are going to miss the playoffs. Clippers, Timberwolves, MAVs, Kings,
(16:58):
Warriors who won again last night. Curry, he's just on
a tear, Suns and Spurs. I would like to see
Wemby in the playoffs badly. I kind of sort of
want to see d Book and Kevin Durant in the playoffs.
I'm curious if Kevin Durant comes out with revenge on
the mind or he folds and they get swept again again.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
KD.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
I don't know how many times you're going to get
swept in the playoffs. Dog Celtics swept you when you
were on Brooklyn last year. You gots swept by the Timberwolves.
You can't get broomed again, my guy, Golden State, We'll
see you with Jimmy Butler Sacramento. I know a lot
of people will pick them to regress, but Sabonis, DeRozan, Levine,
they got some dudes. Dallas is the one that I
keep circling because you look at playmakers on that team
(17:38):
and like Kyrie Irving played forty four minutes last night. Okay,
Kyrie Irving is getting up there in age. He's got
a lot of tread on those tires. He's a smaller
guard after Kyrie. Their guard options Klay Thompson, who can't
defend anybody in the back court now and is basically
just a shooter. Dante exem you know, Okay, he's fine
(18:00):
role player. I don't even know who KYLERA.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Kelly is.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I think he's a big Naji Marshall, Okay, Spencer Dinwitty,
I guess is like a creator.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And then former Laker.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Max Christy, who's now playing thirty five minutes a night.
He went for fifteen last night plus twenty three like
Max Christy. If Kyrie were to go down like Max,
Christie's like a vital player on this team.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
They started somebody.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Named Kessler Edwards, Rob bro What the hell's going on
with the MAVs.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
I'd like to amend everything that I said about them
when this trade was done. So I thought that they
won this one in the short term. For a number
of reasons, I'm gonna work backward from everything he talked about.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Number One, In.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Addition to Ad being hurt, PJ Washington is still isn't
back yet with an ankle injury. Derek Livey is basically
out for the regular season, and late Monday night, I
didn't get to watch the game full disclosure, but Daniel
Gaff had to leave with a knee injury. Oh no,
so you know, hopefully it's not too serious and it
was just you know, he's out for that game. But
(19:07):
that's not nothing. But the biggest reason why I'm so
down on this team is with Ad out again. Conservatively
we're saying ten to twelve games. Most like he's out
for about a month. You need Kyrie Irving to step
up and really carry them.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Now.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You brought up the idea what if he turns an ankle,
then they're kind of screwed. I think even if he's healthy,
their ceiling is nowhere near as high as I thought
it was when this trade was initially done, I was
still infatuated with the idea of Kyrie Irving more so
than the actual player. Okay, in the four games that
they've played since Luca got traded, Kyrie has been forced
(19:45):
to play forty one minutes per game, which is not
ideal for an undersized guard. Here's the other problem. During
that stretch, he's only giving you twenty two points a
game and four and a half assists the game. He
is your only real creator shot creator on that team
(20:06):
that can do it at a high level.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, hold on, do you remember Jaden Hardy?
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I do.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
He's a little he's Kyrie ish and shifty. But I
guess he's fallen out of favor because he has moments
in the finals. He only played nine minutes last night.
I don't I don't know what that means or why
Jason kidd is you know he's got injuries like PJ.
Washington didn't play like they're a bit of a mess.
But man, Rob, I mean, you're right after Kyrie, who
(20:31):
playmakes for this team.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Right, and that you know, there's been uneven results so far,
and it was on a buzzer beater against Sacramento. But
if your only real playmaker is gonna give you four
and a half assists the game shooting forty and twenty
eight percent from three, that is not a recipe for
success in the Western Conference. You know, unless Ad can
(20:54):
find the fountain of youth and he can get whatever
the blood spinning that get done in Germany and get
his abs right and his groins good, and he's not
having a sports arena. This team is dead on arrival.
They are not even gonna make the playoffs, much less
be a threat in the Western Conference. And then to
go back to your original point about what's going on
in Dallas, I thought it was very interesting that, you know,
(21:18):
the death threats are one thing. I understand that point,
but multiple fans were ejected from the arena for either
screaming fire Nico or sneaking what's the word posters into
the building that said things like that, like what are
you doing? Do you not understand? You know what fans mean?
(21:39):
Fan is short for fanatic. You should almost expect that
kind of blowback and for these guys to go soft
like that and to make matters even worse. Dirt Novitsky,
Mav for Life, actually was at the Laker game instead
of a mav home game, So that, I mean, that
kind of tells you all you need to know that
your biggest star in your franchise history is saying you
(22:01):
know what, I know that I'm a MAVs guy, but
you know, Luca's my brother.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
I got to show up to his game instead. It
was going on with us.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Not great.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
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listen live.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
The trends are not good.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
I will say the juice right now, the pop for
the NBA is real, Like there's so much excitement right
now around the league because of these trades and the
new look teams, and obviously, you know, I think it
would be helpful if Butler and Curry made the playoffs
and kind of it made a run, if you will,
because Steph Curry when he's hot is as exciting as
(22:44):
any player in the league.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
That's undeniable. But the league is just is such a tear.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Right now, I will say this whole idea that Luca
was out of shape and messed with the culture, and
there's some votes from I guess his name is Mark Dumont.
You know he's her owner, governor whatever his title is.
They're really acting like Luca was a problem. And Nico
(23:12):
Harrison saved the season last year with two trades at
the deadline, getting PJ. Washington and getting Gafford, and that's
why they trust him. That the Kyrie Irving thing worked.
But what they're missing is it all worked because of Luca,
exactly like Kyrie Irving as a one that doesn't work. Okay,
(23:37):
I know he was on the straight and narrow, but
it's probably because Luca's taken all the arrows and Kyrie's
just the other guy over there. Hey man, I could
score thirty. Nobody's gonna ask me a million questions. I
could do my thing. It's all about Luca, right.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
PJ.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Washington non factor in Charlotte. All of a sudden, Lucas
is go sit in the corner. I'll find you.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And now PJ.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Washington is like a big factor and Daniel Gafford is
like the perfect grim Runner, he goes. I think he
went from Washington to Dallas. And then Daniel Grafford, Oh
my gosh, Daniel gaffer this guy is a player, you know,
Derek Live, look at this guy. It's all because of Luca.
It's only they talked themselves into thinking, well, you know,
(24:17):
the GM did this, and we got this guy and
this look at all.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
These everything's working. I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I think this was just a gross miscalculation, and I
think most people agree with me. I don't know if
Nico Harrison, you know, he joked at the press conference
that he's not going to even be around in ten years.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Rob, I don't know. If they missed the playoffs, do
you think he returns.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I think he has to.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I think that they've kind of dug into a point
where they have no choice but to bring him back,
because to your point, they've given this illusion that they're
all on the same page with this whole thing. And
what's very telling to me is that, yeah, yes, Luca
is not in the best shape.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
I think that's pretty you know, by NBA standard.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
However, every single other NBA player, both teammates and opposition,
can say, well shit, if he's out of shape and
it's giving you thirty five, ten and ten. Then you know,
maybe that works for him. And to your point about
the postseason, you know, lest we forget, I know that,
you know, Kyrie has this beautiful game and everybody likes
(25:23):
to watch him plays very pretty basketball that he plays.
During that playoff run, in two games against OKC, scored
single digits. One of the game he scored twelve uh
And then he had several games in the Western Conference
finals where he shoots sub forty percent. In the finals,
his shooting percentages go thirty one, thirty eight, forty six,
(25:46):
fifty five a game they won by forty and thirty
one percent. So can you imagine if Luka Doncic puts
up that kind of output, not only do they not
win the championship, they don't make the finals. They're probably
getting swept out in one of these rounds. Yeah, Like
Kyrie was given the cover of night by Luca doncies
because of his immense talent, and for this franchise to
(26:08):
continue to paint him in such a way that like
they were winning almost in spite of him, that they
hadn't overcome his being out of shape and his you know,
bad vibes in the locker room and the culture that
he was setting, Like, I just think that that's a
crazy spin job by that.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
It's not great.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
There's obviously plenty of NFL stuff going on. We'll do
that tomorrow. We just obviously wanted to get Luca and
Lebron out of the way because that's a big story
in sports today. So tomorrow we will chop up the
latest Aaron Rodgers, the Matt Stafford New York Giants.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
It seems like those are the two big ones.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Also over super Bowl weekend, Russell Wilson will not be
returning to Pittsburgh, according to Jay Glazer.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So it's like some musical chairs happening. I think. I
think it's interesting around, like this is good.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I know some people are upset, but I think this
is good movement options. I think Kirk Cousins is gonna
be on the move. Rob Gie's Raider are hard up.
So we'll do that tomorrow on the pod and we'll
call it a day just to celebrate Luca and Lebron
in their first game. They're up next again on Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Can't wait. We'll talk to you the
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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