July 11, 2025 • 23 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses a wild 4th of July story involving new Los Angeles Chargers running back Najee Harris, Cooper Flagg’s inefficient yet wildly exciting NBA Summer League debut, why he believes Bronny James will be a regular member of the Los Angeles Lakers rotation next season, what makes the Devin Booker contract extension with the Phoenix Suns so puzzling, and whether or not LeBron James’ standoffish approach towards Deandre Ayton is cause for concern.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire? Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Friday, July eleventh. Though we had some
Summer League action last night Bronnie James and the Lakers
versus Cooper Flag and the MAVs. Obviously we'll dive into that.
I listen. I gotta say this Nase Harris story. So
(00:33):
I had seen it online for those who don't know
what happened. So naj Harris, I guess, didn't get the
memo about, hey man, you're a professional athletes, stay away
from fireworks on July fourth, and he was at some
party after midnight and there were fireworks, and you know,
the internet kind of ran wild with speculation that he
lost an eye. Yes, Naje Harris, the former Steelers running
(00:55):
back who's now with the Chargers, in a fireworks mishap,
and there was like evidence pointing to something happened, but
it wasn't quite sure what happened. So then one of
the newspapers, I think they covered his hometown, the Bay
Area something, the Mercury News baby had a story about
how he suffered an injury and went to two hospitals
(01:20):
that night. There were all they just weren't all of
the details. And my guess is that big Uh. His
agent would not talk. But my guess is that that
story by the Mercury News, I guess decided, Hey, you
know what, everybody's onto it, we gotta we gotta go
ahead and talk about it. So his agent talked to
(01:41):
all the NFL reporters, Chefter, Rappaport, all those guys, and
according to his agent, Naj Harris suffered a quote superficial
eye injury, and his agent said he is fully expected
to be ready for the upcoming season. Now, guys, I've
got to ask you, what is a superficial eye injury?
(02:06):
I don't know. But here's the worst part. Several people
were with Naj Harris doing who knows what, and according
to the San Francisco Chronicle, one person I don't know
if it was in Naja Harris's crew, but who was
there lost fingers in the accident. I mean, I don't
(02:28):
know what to tell people, Like we've all had you know,
when we were young kids, we did some really dumb
things of fireworks, no doubt about it. We know fireworks
are dangerous. Obviously, it's July fourth. But when you mix
alcohol and partying and it just is a disaster. Jason
Pierre Paul famously lost some fingers someone else in the
NFL had I'm basically on who it is, but the
(02:51):
JPP one is basically like, oh my gosh, jeopardizing your career. Now,
JPP did have a long career after that. You can
rust the pastor missing two fingers. But according to the
San Francisco Chronicle, six guys were injured and a thirteen
year old. Six dudes, I mean, and the guy who
(03:13):
lost fingers suffered injuries to his face and chest. And
they're only calling it a high grade firework. I don't know.
Four men went to the hospital, two others drove themselves,
one of them presumably Nase Harris, and the boy declined
medical treatment. But I don't know, guys, it's just extremely
(03:34):
disappointing to hear like, you're Nase Harris, you have a
scant shelf life in the NFL of like, I don't know,
four or five more years, and you're messing around with fireworks.
I don't know, guys, It's just it's disappointing. But anyways,
I thought we would open the podcast with that. Instead
of the NBA Summer League matchup that everybody could not
(03:59):
wait for. Cooper Flag, Brownie James Cooper Flag came out
on top of a two point win. I know nobody
cares who won, but I'll just give you the stat line.
I'm sure people are gonna freak out. Cooper Flag was
five of twenty one, shooting not great, finished with ten
points six boards Forrest's three steals on a block. Reminder,
(04:22):
Cooper Flag is eighteen years old. He was zero for
five on all his threes. Reminder, Cooper Flag's eighteen years old. Okay,
his first Summer League game hyped. I mean, this guy
has been working what since maybe the age of ten,
thinking he's gonna go to the NBA. Everybody thinks that
at the age of ten, right, I'm going to the NBA.
I thought that like a buffoon, and he's worked his
(04:45):
way up, and finally he makes it to the NBA
Summer League. Of course, he's nervous and amped up, and
you know, he didn't shoot it great, but the MAVs
wisely are putting the ball in his hands and saying like, hey,
you need to create. Can you create your own shot?
And he kind of struggled with that. He's eighteen, guys,
and now, just for balance, some notable number one picks
(05:09):
in their Summer League debut. Blake Griffin, who, if memory serves,
was that in year two because he missed all of
year one. Blake Griffin had an unbelievable Summer League debut
twenty seven and twelve, shot eleven of fifteen. But Blake
Griffin wasn't handling. Blake Griffin was basically dunking and scoring
(05:30):
in the paint. John Wall had twenty four and eight assists,
Andrew Wiggins had eighteen. Ben Simmons didn't shoot it well.
Shocker two of nine shooting ten points, Markel Folts seventeen points,
Zion had eleven. Wemby two of thirteen shooting. You guys,
remember this last summer only nine points, eight boards, five blocks.
(05:53):
Cooper flagged ten six four assists. Like, you cannot overreact
to this stuff. Derreck Rosse had ten and five assists.
Lebron had fourteen, seven and six. I'm pretty comfortable saying
there's zero correlation to number one picks playing in the
Summer League in their first game and their NBA career.
They're just there's nothing there guys so much goes into
(06:18):
an NBA player, and some of these guys again, Blake
Griffin went to Oklahoma, John Wall went to college, Andrew
Wiggins only one year at college. Ben Simmons one year
at college. But most of these guys spent essentially a
year in college and came into the pros at nineteen
or twenty. Cooper Flag is still eighteen years old. Let's
(06:40):
just chill the hell out blasting him positives. He could
do it all. He literally can do everything, Cooper. I
need you to bring the ball up, okay. I need
you to guard their best perimeter wing, got it. I
need help defense block shots, got it. He just didn't
make shots. So what, it's his first Summer League game.
(07:01):
I don't think you can draw sweeping conclusions and overreact,
but you know, it was good to see Cooper Flag
FAA makes the league. I'm sticking with my Kevin Garnett comparison,
and yes, I know you don't like that. But the
interesting thing about that is when I say Kevin Garnett,
people think, oh, Hall of Famer, MVP winning titles with
(07:21):
the Celtics. No no, no, no no. I want you
to think of eighteen year old Kevin Garnett who came
into the league all gangly and skinny and was not
a huge factor at eighteen. Okay, let me read off
some Kevin Garnett numbers for you. As a nineteen year
(07:43):
old rookie out of high school. He shot forty nine percent,
which is nice. He shot seventy nine percent for the line,
which is good as a rookie. Shoot, what's wrong with
these stats? It's so annoying as a rookie. Kevin Garnett
(08:04):
put up, why is this? My bad?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Guys? My bad?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Okay, here we go. He shot forty nine percent, he
shot seventy percent from the line, I'm sorry, and averaged
ten six and one one point eight assists, ten and
six one Cooper flag will will obliterate those numbers. I
would expect somewhere along the line of like fifteen nine
and three three or four assists, And then by year
(08:31):
four Kevin Garnett was up to twenty and ten, and
then by you know when he's like when he hits
his prime around like late twenties, that's when he's averaged
like Leeds the league in boards four years in a row.
He's a twenty four to thirteen to five assist guy
wins the MVP. Like, I don't see why people are
pushing back so much against that comparison for Cooper Flag.
(08:53):
Cooper Flag's length is unbelievab. He's gonna block a ton
of shots. I just think he's such a great piece.
Oh my god, I will add Bronnie James to me,
looks like a much different player. And I know he
had a season in the G League and Jay he
come on his sixty to one, what could he do?
I'm on record he will be in the Lakers rotation
(09:14):
this year, not like six seven, eight guy. I think
it's reasonable to say Bronnie James will be, you know,
the tenth guy in the Lakers rotation. So five starters
and then five coming off the bench. As of now,
let's see who who the Lakers get if they're able
(09:35):
to get Bradley Beal. I do see Zach low is
or is writing and all these people are saying, Zack
Lowe claims the Clippers are getting Bill Hey, that would
be fricking great for the Clippers. I'm not gonna lie.
I don't see why he would give the stiff arm
to the Lakers. That's kind of a jerk move, but
you know, to each his own. But if I look
at the Lakers rotation again, as of now, you guys
(09:57):
are starting five of re Hachimour, Lebron Luca Natan, and
then coming off the bench again as of now, Gabe Vincent,
Jordan Goodwin who did some things, Jake Laavia I guess,
Jared Vanderbilt, and then I don't see why Bronnie James
isn't right there with Dalton connect for the tenth spot.
(10:18):
Jackson Hayes is probably eleven. Nobody really believes in him. Yeah,
I think we can expect Bronnie, who just looks more
comfortable as a pro in year two. He doesn't look
as timid, he seems shiftier with the ball, His step
back look good. I mean, I thought, again, I'm not
saying he's an All Star or anywhere close to that,
(10:38):
but the mere fact he's in the NBA and his
dad is the greatest player in the history of basketball
pretty freaking impressive. I don't know about you guys, but
my kids, historically, if I say hey, let's do this,
they're like, oh, I'm wanna do something different. No, my
kids really are mostly out on listening to dad, it's
a chore to get them to do the things I
want them to do that I think are for them
(11:00):
long term. But the fact that Lebron got one of
his kids in the league, come on, guys, that's impressive
as hell. So overall, takeaway from Group of Flag if
you're grading his debut B plus. I mean, it wasn't
an a because he didn't shoot it great, but he
was trying to do a lot of one on one creating.
(11:20):
He's not going to be doing that with the MAVs.
Summer League team go for it, but with the MAVs
he's definitely not gonna be creating as an eighteen year old.
But overall, you have to like what you saw from
the MAVs outside of the shot shooting, and one of
my buddies was complaining on texts that his shot looks funky. Whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 2 (11:53):
Right before I get to this text message drama, I'm
sure you guys have seen it. I just need to
quickly just chime in on this Devin Booker two year,
one hundred forty five million dollar extension. Okay, if you're
a Son's fan, I get it, you want to keep Booker.
If you're a realist who's into building teams, I think
(12:17):
you've got to seriously question this contract. So let's start here.
Devin Booker, we have this firmly established. Is not a
top five player in the NBA. Right If you're going
top five players in the league, you're looking at Jannis Jokich,
Luca Sga. Do you want to go to Lebron, I mean,
(12:42):
Anthony Edwards, whatever. All those guys are better than Booker,
and then you could go to the second tier of superstars.
Is he better than I know this is not gonna
be popular. I'm just gonna say it anyway. Is he
for sure? Devin Booker, for sure better than Paolo Bancaro.
(13:08):
And you could say, well, he's accomplished more, and I
would counter with, well, yeah, he's been around the league longer.
But if I told you you could have a six
to six shooting guard or a six to nine guy
who can play the three, four, maybe the five in
a pinche, I mean, who you take? You know, d
book is not better than Tatum. I don't know. Is
Booker better than Jalen Brunson, who carried the team to
(13:29):
the conference finals outside of one postseason run with Devin
Booker where he got Chris Paul and they went to
the finals. Is Devin Booker taking the suns anywhere? He's
like a really good player, But does he elevate the
player if veryone and wound him? And that's my point, Like,
I don't even know if he's as good as Dame
Lillard was at the height of his powers. And I
(13:50):
asked this because if you're not a top five player
and not a top ten player, can you justify paying
someone one hundred and forty five million over two years?
He's gonna make seventy two and a half million dollars. Now,
the smart people will say, oh my gosh, you look
at the percentage of the cap and depending on what
you used chat gubt where you're looking, it's like thirty
(14:13):
five to forty two percent of the salary cap, depending
on how much it goes up. Are you serious on
a shooting guard, he's not even an elite defender. How
is that sustainable? And I ask you this because like
The Suns have a great trade ship in Devin Booker,
and maybe that's why they signed him to this awesome
(14:34):
deal because it's tradable, so the people are gonna be
desperate with to Charlotte Hornet's take on Devin Booker, I mean,
you know, teams are gonna want to get in the
Devin Booker business, but building around him seems like there's
no chance. And I look at the Sun's depth chart
and I'm like, I don't exactly know what they're building for.
They're not gonna sniff the playoffs. They're definitely not top ten.
(14:58):
I saw a Yahoo ranked the Sun's thirteenth in the West.
This is their potential starting lineup, and I'm gonna remove
Bradley Beal because you know, we think he's gonna be gone,
d Book, Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, Mark Williams, Ryan Dunn.
Is that a thirty five win team in the West
(15:21):
coming off the bench, Colin Gillespie, Royce, O'Neill, Grayson Allen,
the big guy from Duke Malawatch, Nigel Hayes who they
picked up who was overseas. I think that's the former
Wisconsin guy. Yeah, thirty year old rookie was great internationally, Like,
that's a thirty five, so what's the point of paying
(15:42):
Devin Booker? And the counter and again I love this
argument with people is like, do you want to pay
Devin Booker when you know you're not going anywhere? Or
is it worth having him on the roster so fans
can cheer for somebody you could sell jerseys, Like if
they're a thirty five win team, are they going to
be selling out games where people coming to see Devin
(16:04):
Booker or does it make more sense to just get
off Booker? And I feel the same way about the Bucks,
and they're honest. Now they're in the East, which makes
it even easier, But they went and got Miles Turner.
I didn't like that move at all. Given the wave
and stretch of Dame Lillard, Miles Turner is essentially on
the books for about fifty million dollars and that's insane.
So again, I know that's cold, hard business and nobody
(16:27):
wants to hear it, but that's kind of the reality
at that level. No, this isn't small potatoes under the
bench guy, you know, but we're talking big seventy two
and a half million for Devin Booker. I just again,
I like Booker a lot. He's an Olympian, He's certainly
a top fifteen player in the league. But seventy two
million dollars, we're getting to that price point for NBA
(16:49):
players where it's like, yeah, I don't, how are we
supposed to build a team when one guy's making I mean,
there's a stat out there the Devin Booker's salary next
year is higher than the entire Miami Marlin's payroll, entire
roster is like sixty seven mil. And Booker's eclipsing that.
(17:11):
Now that I get it, the finances are there, and
I'm not I don't want to take money out of
d books pocket, But goodness, gracious Phoenix, good luck. I
wonder Booker gets unhappy there making a lot of money
and not winning at all.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
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 (17:34):
We can wrap up with this, and I don't want
to keep doing Lebron and the Lakers. We won't. Eventually,
Beal will be settled. But I look at the story
of DeAndre Aiden's given an interview, They ask have you
heard from Lebron? No, not yet. Have you heard from Luca? Yeah?
I got a text from Luca, And that right there
(17:56):
sends like a shockwave to Lakers fans because it's like, well,
wait a minute, wait a minute, what's going on here?
Is this? This isn't Lebron being passive aggressive because he
didn't initiate it. DeAndre Aden was asked, have you heard
from Lebron? But this being Lebron's not excited for DeAndre Aiden,
who the Portland Trailblazers essentially paid ten million dollars or
(18:19):
I'm sorry eight and forfeitted ten million dollars just to
get the hell out of there. So Lebron presumably is
not thrilled with the addition, or is Lebron not thrilled
that the franchise is essentially make going all decisions through
Luca first as opposed to Lebron, Like that's new. I
mean it's twenty some odd year, twenty two seasons. He's
(18:42):
always been the guy that you run to first if
you're in the front office, and now it's he's not first,
And you just have to wonder, is Lebron gonna be
okay with this? Is it just a summer malaise where
he's just going through like a little phase here a
spat if you will. And I know some people are
gonna pooh, pooh oh. Come on on, he's such a baby.
He can't text his new buddy DeAndrea and he can't
(19:03):
he can't say anything to them. I don't know what's
Lebron waiting for like I do. Now, you could say, hey, Jay,
remember Luca and Bill. Luca and DeAndre and share an
agent in Bill Duffy. And oh, by the way, Jake
la Ravia, the first guy that they went after in
(19:26):
free agency. Guess who he shares an agent with, Austin Reeves.
It's almost as if the Lakers view Luca and Austin
Reeves as two building blocks and they just need to
find the third guy after Lebron retires. And it's weird
because it's putting Lebron in a weird spot. He I'm
just telling you the Lakers will contend, well, they win.
(19:48):
I don't freaking know. Are they favorites?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
If they get Bill, could you make an argument that
they're the favorites?
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Somebody tried to tell me that if you're Bradley bial
you want to rehab your image as a starter getting
buckets alongside James Harden And I'm like, all right, sure,
or are you thirty two? You've made a lot of
money and you know what, it's time to freaking get
to a conference finals at least And where's my better
(20:14):
chance at that with the paper Clips or the Lakers?
And oh, by the way, what's more high profile for
me in my next spot? Were the Lakers. I'm gonna
be on TV all the time, all the primetime games.
I've got Lebron and Luca next to me. You look
at the last fifty years in the NBA, who has
raised the play of their teammates more than Luca and Lebron.
(20:35):
It's like maybe Magic Johnson. Honestly, Like, okay, obviously Michael
Jordan was amazing, but he didn't make everyone around him better.
He maybe threatened them to be better in practice, but
on the court, he wasn't making them better. Luca's finding
people on every possessions. That's why he's one of the
(20:56):
assists leaders every year. Lebron same thing. They can manipulate
defenses and get their guys to the right spot. You
play with Lebron, It's like, oh my god, you played
with Luca, Like, look what Luca did to PJ. Washington.
Did you guys remember what PJ Washington was before that
run to Dallas made to the finals? Exactly? What was
Daniel Gafford exactly? Play with Luca Bingo like Yokich is
(21:19):
certainly up there. But I just don't see why you
wouldn't play with Luca Lebron. And I know people are
gonna call me a homer, J Mac, what the hell's
wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Bro?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Obviously I'm rooting for the Lakers. My buddy has season tickets.
You know, I can wedge my way into some of
those games. But like, it's just, I not unfathomable, But
it's just crazy if you've got the choice to pick
Clippers or Lakers, that you would go Clippers just because
you can start. Remember it's now starts, it's who finishes now,
(21:49):
there's no guarantee who's gonna finish games. And the Lakers
problem last year was their fifth spot was kind of
up in the air. I'm telling you now, if Beial
is there, oh my gosh, Bill Reeves, Lebron, Luca and Ayton.
That to me is a slam duncan. I guess as
soon as the buyout happens, then the other dominoes will
fall after Bell, the Jonathan Cominga and whatever else is
(22:11):
out there Al Horford. But right right now, it is
a little troubling if you're a Laker fan that Lebron
hasn't texted DeAndre Ayton like welcome aboard, can't wait to
win with you. It just feels a little strange. I
don't want to say it's a passive aggressive move by
Lebron because we don't actually know why he hasn't done
(22:32):
it yet. Maybe the Lakers have some game plan where
they're going after someone else and then they're gonna announce Lebron,
I don't know, and then Lebron says Lebron's gonna come
out and say his part. But remember the statement he
wants to see what the Lakers are doing and he
wants to be in contentent for a title. I don't
(22:54):
know that he would ask for a trade that doesn't
feel like on brand for Lebron at this stage in
his career. I cannot imagine that that happens. I also
cannot imagine him getting traded. But the one thing that
really surprises me right now is, you know, why have
the Golden State Warriors done absolutely nothing? I mean that's
(23:18):
the one. They have not done anything in free agency,
not one move. Now you could say they're waiting for
Beal and then they're gonna have their coaminga thing. I
don't know, guys, it is. It's weird. I'll just leave
it at that. It's weird that the Warriors have done
nothing and the Lakers and Lebron are silent. Something's going on.
We'll head into the weekend with some wackiness. Hopefully we
(23:41):
need Lebron and Lakers obviously, but something seems to be
a miss. Anyways, have a wonderful weekend. Whatever you guys
got on tap show, hopefully it's a good one. And
MLB All Star Break coming up, and hopefully you're joining
me hosting on The Hurt. See you on Monday.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire? Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Friday, July eleventh. Though we had some
Summer League action last night Bronnie James and the Lakers
versus Cooper Flag and the MAVs. Obviously we'll dive into that.
I listen. I gotta say this Nase Harris story. So
(00:33):
I had seen it online for those who don't know
what happened. So naj Harris, I guess, didn't get the
memo about, hey man, you're a professional athletes, stay away
from fireworks on July fourth, and he was at some
party after midnight and there were fireworks, and you know,
the internet kind of ran wild with speculation that he
lost an eye. Yes, Naje Harris, the former Steelers running
(00:55):
back who's now with the Chargers, in a fireworks mishap,
and there was like evidence pointing to something happened, but
it wasn't quite sure what happened. So then one of
the newspapers, I think they covered his hometown, the Bay
Area something, the Mercury News baby had a story about
how he suffered an injury and went to two hospitals
(01:20):
that night. There were all they just weren't all of
the details. And my guess is that big Uh. His
agent would not talk. But my guess is that that
story by the Mercury News, I guess decided, Hey, you
know what, everybody's onto it, we gotta we gotta go
ahead and talk about it. So his agent talked to
(01:41):
all the NFL reporters, Chefter, Rappaport, all those guys, and
according to his agent, Naj Harris suffered a quote superficial
eye injury, and his agent said he is fully expected
to be ready for the upcoming season. Now, guys, I've
got to ask you, what is a superficial eye injury?
(02:06):
I don't know. But here's the worst part. Several people
were with Naj Harris doing who knows what, and according
to the San Francisco Chronicle, one person I don't know
if it was in Naja Harris's crew, but who was
there lost fingers in the accident. I mean, I don't
(02:28):
know what to tell people, Like we've all had you know,
when we were young kids, we did some really dumb
things of fireworks, no doubt about it. We know fireworks
are dangerous. Obviously, it's July fourth. But when you mix
alcohol and partying and it just is a disaster. Jason
Pierre Paul famously lost some fingers someone else in the
NFL had I'm basically on who it is, but the
(02:51):
JPP one is basically like, oh my gosh, jeopardizing your career. Now,
JPP did have a long career after that. You can
rust the pastor missing two fingers. But according to the
San Francisco Chronicle, six guys were injured and a thirteen
year old. Six dudes, I mean, and the guy who
(03:13):
lost fingers suffered injuries to his face and chest. And
they're only calling it a high grade firework. I don't know.
Four men went to the hospital, two others drove themselves,
one of them presumably Nase Harris, and the boy declined
medical treatment. But I don't know, guys, it's just extremely
(03:34):
disappointing to hear like, you're Nase Harris, you have a
scant shelf life in the NFL of like, I don't know,
four or five more years, and you're messing around with fireworks.
I don't know, guys, It's just it's disappointing. But anyways,
I thought we would open the podcast with that. Instead
of the NBA Summer League matchup that everybody could not
(03:59):
wait for. Cooper Flag, Brownie James Cooper Flag came out
on top of a two point win. I know nobody
cares who won, but I'll just give you the stat line.
I'm sure people are gonna freak out. Cooper Flag was
five of twenty one, shooting not great, finished with ten
points six boards Forrest's three steals on a block. Reminder,
(04:22):
Cooper Flag is eighteen years old. He was zero for
five on all his threes. Reminder, Cooper Flag's eighteen years old. Okay,
his first Summer League game hyped. I mean, this guy
has been working what since maybe the age of ten,
thinking he's gonna go to the NBA. Everybody thinks that
at the age of ten, right, I'm going to the NBA.
I thought that like a buffoon, and he's worked his
(04:45):
way up, and finally he makes it to the NBA
Summer League. Of course, he's nervous and amped up, and
you know, he didn't shoot it great, but the MAVs
wisely are putting the ball in his hands and saying like, hey,
you need to create. Can you create your own shot?
And he kind of struggled with that. He's eighteen, guys,
and now, just for balance, some notable number one picks
(05:09):
in their Summer League debut. Blake Griffin, who, if memory serves,
was that in year two because he missed all of
year one. Blake Griffin had an unbelievable Summer League debut
twenty seven and twelve, shot eleven of fifteen. But Blake
Griffin wasn't handling. Blake Griffin was basically dunking and scoring
(05:30):
in the paint. John Wall had twenty four and eight assists,
Andrew Wiggins had eighteen. Ben Simmons didn't shoot it well.
Shocker two of nine shooting ten points, Markel Folts seventeen points,
Zion had eleven. Wemby two of thirteen shooting. You guys,
remember this last summer only nine points, eight boards, five blocks.
(05:53):
Cooper flagged ten six four assists. Like, you cannot overreact
to this stuff. Derreck Rosse had ten and five assists.
Lebron had fourteen, seven and six. I'm pretty comfortable saying
there's zero correlation to number one picks playing in the
Summer League in their first game and their NBA career.
They're just there's nothing there guys so much goes into
(06:18):
an NBA player, and some of these guys again, Blake
Griffin went to Oklahoma, John Wall went to college, Andrew
Wiggins only one year at college. Ben Simmons one year
at college. But most of these guys spent essentially a
year in college and came into the pros at nineteen
or twenty. Cooper Flag is still eighteen years old. Let's
(06:40):
just chill the hell out blasting him positives. He could
do it all. He literally can do everything, Cooper. I
need you to bring the ball up, okay. I need
you to guard their best perimeter wing, got it. I
need help defense block shots, got it. He just didn't
make shots. So what, it's his first Summer League game.
(07:01):
I don't think you can draw sweeping conclusions and overreact,
but you know, it was good to see Cooper Flag
FAA makes the league. I'm sticking with my Kevin Garnett comparison,
and yes, I know you don't like that. But the
interesting thing about that is when I say Kevin Garnett,
people think, oh, Hall of Famer, MVP winning titles with
(07:21):
the Celtics. No no, no, no no. I want you
to think of eighteen year old Kevin Garnett who came
into the league all gangly and skinny and was not
a huge factor at eighteen. Okay, let me read off
some Kevin Garnett numbers for you. As a nineteen year
(07:43):
old rookie out of high school. He shot forty nine percent,
which is nice. He shot seventy nine percent for the line,
which is good as a rookie. Shoot, what's wrong with
these stats? It's so annoying as a rookie. Kevin Garnett
(08:04):
put up, why is this? My bad?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Guys? My bad?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Okay, here we go. He shot forty nine percent, he
shot seventy percent from the line, I'm sorry, and averaged
ten six and one one point eight assists, ten and
six one Cooper flag will will obliterate those numbers. I
would expect somewhere along the line of like fifteen nine
and three three or four assists, And then by year
(08:31):
four Kevin Garnett was up to twenty and ten, and
then by you know when he's like when he hits
his prime around like late twenties, that's when he's averaged
like Leeds the league in boards four years in a row.
He's a twenty four to thirteen to five assist guy
wins the MVP. Like, I don't see why people are
pushing back so much against that comparison for Cooper Flag.
(08:53):
Cooper Flag's length is unbelievab. He's gonna block a ton
of shots. I just think he's such a great piece.
Oh my god, I will add Bronnie James to me,
looks like a much different player. And I know he
had a season in the G League and Jay he
come on his sixty to one, what could he do?
I'm on record he will be in the Lakers rotation
(09:14):
this year, not like six seven, eight guy. I think
it's reasonable to say Bronnie James will be, you know,
the tenth guy in the Lakers rotation. So five starters
and then five coming off the bench. As of now,
let's see who who the Lakers get if they're able
(09:35):
to get Bradley Beal. I do see Zach low is
or is writing and all these people are saying, Zack
Lowe claims the Clippers are getting Bill Hey, that would
be fricking great for the Clippers. I'm not gonna lie.
I don't see why he would give the stiff arm
to the Lakers. That's kind of a jerk move, but
you know, to each his own. But if I look
at the Lakers rotation again, as of now, you guys
(09:57):
are starting five of re Hachimour, Lebron Luca Natan, and
then coming off the bench again as of now, Gabe Vincent,
Jordan Goodwin who did some things, Jake Laavia I guess,
Jared Vanderbilt, and then I don't see why Bronnie James
isn't right there with Dalton connect for the tenth spot.
(10:18):
Jackson Hayes is probably eleven. Nobody really believes in him. Yeah,
I think we can expect Bronnie, who just looks more
comfortable as a pro in year two. He doesn't look
as timid, he seems shiftier with the ball, His step
back look good. I mean, I thought, again, I'm not
saying he's an All Star or anywhere close to that,
(10:38):
but the mere fact he's in the NBA and his
dad is the greatest player in the history of basketball
pretty freaking impressive. I don't know about you guys, but
my kids, historically, if I say hey, let's do this,
they're like, oh, I'm wanna do something different. No, my
kids really are mostly out on listening to dad, it's
a chore to get them to do the things I
want them to do that I think are for them
(11:00):
long term. But the fact that Lebron got one of
his kids in the league, come on, guys, that's impressive
as hell. So overall, takeaway from Group of Flag if
you're grading his debut B plus. I mean, it wasn't
an a because he didn't shoot it great, but he
was trying to do a lot of one on one creating.
(11:20):
He's not going to be doing that with the MAVs.
Summer League team go for it, but with the MAVs
he's definitely not gonna be creating as an eighteen year old.
But overall, you have to like what you saw from
the MAVs outside of the shot shooting, and one of
my buddies was complaining on texts that his shot looks funky. Whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
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 (11:53):
Right before I get to this text message drama, I'm
sure you guys have seen it. I just need to
quickly just chime in on this Devin Booker two year,
one hundred forty five million dollar extension. Okay, if you're
a Son's fan, I get it, you want to keep Booker.
If you're a realist who's into building teams, I think
(12:17):
you've got to seriously question this contract. So let's start here.
Devin Booker, we have this firmly established. Is not a
top five player in the NBA. Right If you're going
top five players in the league, you're looking at Jannis Jokich,
Luca Sga. Do you want to go to Lebron, I mean,
(12:42):
Anthony Edwards, whatever. All those guys are better than Booker,
and then you could go to the second tier of superstars.
Is he better than I know this is not gonna
be popular. I'm just gonna say it anyway. Is he
for sure? Devin Booker, for sure better than Paolo Bancaro.
(13:08):
And you could say, well, he's accomplished more, and I
would counter with, well, yeah, he's been around the league longer.
But if I told you you could have a six
to six shooting guard or a six to nine guy
who can play the three, four, maybe the five in
a pinche, I mean, who you take? You know, d
book is not better than Tatum. I don't know. Is
Booker better than Jalen Brunson, who carried the team to
(13:29):
the conference finals outside of one postseason run with Devin
Booker where he got Chris Paul and they went to
the finals. Is Devin Booker taking the suns anywhere? He's
like a really good player, But does he elevate the
player if veryone and wound him? And that's my point, Like,
I don't even know if he's as good as Dame
Lillard was at the height of his powers. And I
(13:50):
asked this because if you're not a top five player
and not a top ten player, can you justify paying
someone one hundred and forty five million over two years?
He's gonna make seventy two and a half million dollars. Now,
the smart people will say, oh my gosh, you look
at the percentage of the cap and depending on what
you used chat gubt where you're looking, it's like thirty
(14:13):
five to forty two percent of the salary cap, depending
on how much it goes up. Are you serious on
a shooting guard, he's not even an elite defender. How
is that sustainable? And I ask you this because like
The Suns have a great trade ship in Devin Booker,
and maybe that's why they signed him to this awesome
(14:34):
deal because it's tradable, so the people are gonna be
desperate with to Charlotte Hornet's take on Devin Booker, I mean,
you know, teams are gonna want to get in the
Devin Booker business, but building around him seems like there's
no chance. And I look at the Sun's depth chart
and I'm like, I don't exactly know what they're building for.
They're not gonna sniff the playoffs. They're definitely not top ten.
(14:58):
I saw a Yahoo ranked the Sun's thirteenth in the West.
This is their potential starting lineup, and I'm gonna remove
Bradley Beal because you know, we think he's gonna be gone,
d Book, Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, Mark Williams, Ryan Dunn.
Is that a thirty five win team in the West
(15:21):
coming off the bench, Colin Gillespie, Royce, O'Neill, Grayson Allen,
the big guy from Duke Malawatch, Nigel Hayes who they
picked up who was overseas. I think that's the former
Wisconsin guy. Yeah, thirty year old rookie was great internationally, Like,
that's a thirty five, so what's the point of paying
(15:42):
Devin Booker? And the counter and again I love this
argument with people is like, do you want to pay
Devin Booker when you know you're not going anywhere? Or
is it worth having him on the roster so fans
can cheer for somebody you could sell jerseys, Like if
they're a thirty five win team, are they going to
be selling out games where people coming to see Devin
(16:04):
Booker or does it make more sense to just get
off Booker? And I feel the same way about the Bucks,
and they're honest. Now they're in the East, which makes
it even easier, But they went and got Miles Turner.
I didn't like that move at all. Given the wave
and stretch of Dame Lillard, Miles Turner is essentially on
the books for about fifty million dollars and that's insane.
So again, I know that's cold, hard business and nobody
(16:27):
wants to hear it, but that's kind of the reality
at that level. No, this isn't small potatoes under the
bench guy, you know, but we're talking big seventy two
and a half million for Devin Booker. I just again,
I like Booker a lot. He's an Olympian, He's certainly
a top fifteen player in the league. But seventy two
million dollars, we're getting to that price point for NBA
(16:49):
players where it's like, yeah, I don't, how are we
supposed to build a team when one guy's making I mean,
there's a stat out there the Devin Booker's salary next
year is higher than the entire Miami Marlin's payroll, entire
roster is like sixty seven mil. And Booker's eclipsing that.
(17:11):
Now that I get it, the finances are there, and
I'm not I don't want to take money out of
d books pocket, But goodness, gracious Phoenix, good luck. I
wonder Booker gets unhappy there making a lot of money
and not winning at all.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
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 (17:34):
We can wrap up with this, and I don't want
to keep doing Lebron and the Lakers. We won't. Eventually,
Beal will be settled. But I look at the story
of DeAndre Aiden's given an interview, They ask have you
heard from Lebron? No, not yet. Have you heard from Luca? Yeah?
I got a text from Luca, And that right there
(17:56):
sends like a shockwave to Lakers fans because it's like, well,
wait a minute, wait a minute, what's going on here?
Is this? This isn't Lebron being passive aggressive because he
didn't initiate it. DeAndre Aden was asked, have you heard
from Lebron? But this being Lebron's not excited for DeAndre Aiden,
who the Portland Trailblazers essentially paid ten million dollars or
(18:19):
I'm sorry eight and forfeitted ten million dollars just to
get the hell out of there. So Lebron presumably is
not thrilled with the addition, or is Lebron not thrilled
that the franchise is essentially make going all decisions through
Luca first as opposed to Lebron, Like that's new. I
mean it's twenty some odd year, twenty two seasons. He's
(18:42):
always been the guy that you run to first if
you're in the front office, and now it's he's not first,
And you just have to wonder, is Lebron gonna be
okay with this? Is it just a summer malaise where
he's just going through like a little phase here a
spat if you will. And I know some people are
gonna pooh, pooh oh. Come on on, he's such a baby.
He can't text his new buddy DeAndrea and he can't
(19:03):
he can't say anything to them. I don't know what's
Lebron waiting for like I do. Now, you could say, hey, Jay,
remember Luca and Bill. Luca and DeAndre and share an
agent in Bill Duffy. And oh, by the way, Jake
la Ravia, the first guy that they went after in
(19:26):
free agency. Guess who he shares an agent with, Austin Reeves.
It's almost as if the Lakers view Luca and Austin
Reeves as two building blocks and they just need to
find the third guy after Lebron retires. And it's weird
because it's putting Lebron in a weird spot. He I'm
just telling you the Lakers will contend, well, they win.
(19:48):
I don't freaking know. Are they favorites?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
If they get Bill, could you make an argument that
they're the favorites?
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Somebody tried to tell me that if you're Bradley bial
you want to rehab your image as a starter getting
buckets alongside James Harden And I'm like, all right, sure,
or are you thirty two? You've made a lot of
money and you know what, it's time to freaking get
to a conference finals at least And where's my better
(20:14):
chance at that with the paper Clips or the Lakers?
And oh, by the way, what's more high profile for
me in my next spot? Were the Lakers. I'm gonna
be on TV all the time, all the primetime games.
I've got Lebron and Luca next to me. You look
at the last fifty years in the NBA, who has
raised the play of their teammates more than Luca and Lebron.
(20:35):
It's like maybe Magic Johnson. Honestly, Like, okay, obviously Michael
Jordan was amazing, but he didn't make everyone around him better.
He maybe threatened them to be better in practice, but
on the court, he wasn't making them better. Luca's finding
people on every possessions. That's why he's one of the
(20:56):
assists leaders every year. Lebron same thing. They can manipulate
defenses and get their guys to the right spot. You
play with Lebron, It's like, oh my god, you played
with Luca, Like, look what Luca did to PJ. Washington.
Did you guys remember what PJ Washington was before that
run to Dallas made to the finals? Exactly? What was
Daniel Gafford exactly? Play with Luca Bingo like Yokich is
(21:19):
certainly up there. But I just don't see why you
wouldn't play with Luca Lebron. And I know people are
gonna call me a homer, J Mac, what the hell's
wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Bro?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Obviously I'm rooting for the Lakers. My buddy has season tickets.
You know, I can wedge my way into some of
those games. But like, it's just, I not unfathomable, But
it's just crazy if you've got the choice to pick
Clippers or Lakers, that you would go Clippers just because
you can start. Remember it's now starts, it's who finishes now,
(21:49):
there's no guarantee who's gonna finish games. And the Lakers
problem last year was their fifth spot was kind of
up in the air. I'm telling you now, if Beial
is there, oh my gosh, Bill Reeves, Lebron, Luca and Ayton.
That to me is a slam duncan. I guess as
soon as the buyout happens, then the other dominoes will
fall after Bell, the Jonathan Cominga and whatever else is
(22:11):
out there Al Horford. But right right now, it is
a little troubling if you're a Laker fan that Lebron
hasn't texted DeAndre Ayton like welcome aboard, can't wait to
win with you. It just feels a little strange. I
don't want to say it's a passive aggressive move by
Lebron because we don't actually know why he hasn't done
(22:32):
it yet. Maybe the Lakers have some game plan where
they're going after someone else and then they're gonna announce Lebron,
I don't know, and then Lebron says Lebron's gonna come
out and say his part. But remember the statement he
wants to see what the Lakers are doing and he
wants to be in contentent for a title. I don't
(22:54):
know that he would ask for a trade that doesn't
feel like on brand for Lebron at this stage in
his career. I cannot imagine that that happens. I also
cannot imagine him getting traded. But the one thing that
really surprises me right now is, you know, why have
the Golden State Warriors done absolutely nothing? I mean that's
(23:18):
the one. They have not done anything in free agency,
not one move. Now you could say they're waiting for
Beal and then they're gonna have their coaminga thing. I
don't know, guys, it is. It's weird. I'll just leave
it at that. It's weird that the Warriors have done
nothing and the Lakers and Lebron are silent. Something's going on.
We'll head into the weekend with some wackiness. Hopefully we
(23:41):
need Lebron and Lakers obviously, but something seems to be
a miss. Anyways, have a wonderful weekend. Whatever you guys
got on tap show, hopefully it's a good one. And
MLB All Star Break coming up, and hopefully you're joining
me hosting on The Hurt. See you on Monday.
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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