Steve Hartman & Veejay Huskey Talk Smart to the Lakers, Beal to the Clippers & More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Please, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio living the
dream once again on a fully loaded Saturday.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Harbin and Husky and we are broadcasting live
from the Fox Sports Radio studios. Well, DJ, when I
found out we are going to be here doing double
duty this weekend, I thought.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well, double scoop a.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Big vanilla funny year, here we go. You got a
kick out of that. But yeah, it's very different here
on Saturdays, VJ. As you know, we only have a
couple of hours. Adam Kaplan, our NFL insider, is going
to be joining us. By the way, Adam's going to
be co hosting tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
With Dan Bayer.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Okay, so lead into our show tomorrow. So Adam's gonna
be joining us here in about twenty minutes. Of course,
he's getting ready to go to all the different camps
around the National Football League, and our NBA insider, Mark
Medina will join us in the next hour. There are
all kinds of rumors flying about. More guys started getting
buyout and their deals and then signing on with other teams,

(01:02):
as he saw with Bradley Beale and the Clippers. Now
there's rumors about Marcus smarttting out of his deal in
Washington's he signed with the Lakers. So yeah, there's there's
different ways to put a roster together these days.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
You know what this buyout thing bothers me. It does
because if you can just make a trade and then
just get bought out and then pretty much go to
the next team. I understand that there's numbers and all
that stuff, and you know, contract numbers and money's gotta
match and things of that nature, but I honestly do
believe there needs to be something implemented to where, Okay,

(01:37):
if we make this trade, you got at least be
here until the trade deadline the following year. This idea
that we could just trade guys, have the numbers match up,
and then knowing that we're gonna buy a guy out.
Because let's get real, I grew up in the DMV area.
Who's trying to really play for the Washington Wizards right now?
Kyle Kuzma's now moved on. You know, I go all

(01:58):
the way back to Gilbert Areenas being Therewami Brown being
in the MOE overall. Pick I lived there when all
that was happening. You used to see those guys all
the time, and I don't mind Marcus Smart saying, Okay,
I want to go play somewhere else, But I do
think the NBA, the Players Association, we need to revisit
this thing. Because if that's the case, then how can
you include them into the trade if you're just gonna

(02:19):
buy them out and then they can just go sign
the rich stay rich, right, because I can say, Okay,
we'll wait for this guy to get bought out and
then we'll go get this guy, and then we'll go get.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
You know, I just I understand what you're wrong a
little bit.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
But at the same way, it sort of helps you
get out of a bad contract.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, I mean, you're on the hook for.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
The entire contract, so if you can you know, like
the Damian Lillard situation in Milwaukee, you know you're like
on the hook for all this money and now you're
able to sort of space it out with all the
cap implications around the NFL. So look, the NFL tries
to again give you the opportunity to pay more, so

(02:58):
keep your stars. That makes a lot of sense sense.
This is another way to say, all right, he got
stuck with a bad deal and you want to get
out of it, and you really have no use for
that player. So instead of being on the hook for
all the money, you know, for a certain year to
put you up against the Catholic can space it out.
You buy out of the deal, and then you can
get rid of the guy. But again for the Clippers,

(03:19):
I mean, you get Bradley Beal for next to nothing.
I don't know what kind of player he's going to be.
I know what kind of player he's been in the past.
I like Bradley Beal on a personal level. I think
he's a very sharp guy. But you know what he
does is put up numbers that really don't translate into anything, right.
I mean, the guy his career has got glossy numbers

(03:40):
with very unglossy results for the teams he's played on.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
And not only that, even the Bradley Beial deal, what
we can jump there really fast. You essentially trade, not
trade as trade swat players, but you essentially Norman Powell
goes right, and then you bring in Bradley Beal, who.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
To me, and this is not a knock, I've always
seen him.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
As like a Gilbert Arenas two point h Like you said,
God can shoot it, he can fill it up. He
can flat out shoot the pill. I'm not gonna take
that away from that man. But like you just always said,
also said too, does it translate to winning? You could
put up numbers, but.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
He is like the what the third wheel at best
on that team obviously with Kawhi and Hard and Look,
as far as the Clippers are concerned, it just comes
down to one thing.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Keeping Kawhi on the court.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Right, absolutely, but not only if he's not on the court,
they're not gonna do anything. I mean, his beal take
him to the next level. Look, they're adding pieces right now,
you know. They They've got what is quickly been recognizing
to a domas the place to be. It's a destination.
Now can that translate into a championship? There's still obviously
a lot of teams in the West. You got to

(04:50):
rate it him, right, Clippers, Right, That's what I was
gonna go.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
But we sit here and talk week after week, and
we both agreed that the Western Conference was period conference
this year. They had the better teams. They ended up
winning the championship. We probably thought other than Boston, that
was the only team that we thought had a shot
out of the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, we
had questions, Hey, can Denver get back there? Denver has

(05:15):
the championship mental in mindset. They've been there, there, done it.
Are we finally gonna see okay, see breakthrough, which they did.
Oh hey, here's here's Ann Edwards is he's gonna finally
leave Minnesota, leave Minnesota. The Lakers make a surprising trade
in the middle of the night and they get Luca,
and we start thinking, oh, hold up, can the Lakers
win put in the Eastern Conference?

Speaker 4 (05:34):
You asked me about Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
I told you, bro, I never believed in Cleveland you
can win all them games. But they don't have players
that I look at and go, Daris Garland, all right,
nice player.

Speaker 4 (05:43):
Can you win a championship with him?

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, if he's like your third guy, if he's Awkwuaman,
but if he's Batman or Superman now, but if he's
the Flash, okay, then you got a shot.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
A beial could be that for the Clippers. Really, again,
I do.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
I think they didn't defend anybody Steven nor rebound there
and defend it.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
But Powell was not a shutdown defender. He played, but
he played defense.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Though I don't think anybody's gonna mistake Bradley Beal for
being a defender, and and is his scoring going to
translate to them being a better basketball team? And last point,
the man was banged up being injured the last two
years himself. He hasn't been healthy and been in the course,
and he plays seventy eighty games himself.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
When we're here tomorrow to do our show, we're going
to be.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Coordinating Scotty Scheffler has today. I mean, by the way, okay,
so everyone, you know, they tried to do this comparison
of you know, his numbers with that of Tiger, and
you know, but it's what Scottie Scheffler is one hundred

(06:49):
is Jack Nicholas.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
In the nineteen sixties.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Arnold Palmer was the star of golf.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
He was right, He had Arnie's army, he had the look,
you know, he was had the good looking guy, and
he was winning in dramatic fashion, played a very dramatic
game of golf.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
And then along comes this guy.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Fat Jack as he was known as a young guy
who was over a decade younger.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
But he was so good. He was so his game
was so.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Programmed and he just kept winning major after major after major.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
It wasn't until much later in his career.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
You know, by the mid seventies that Nicholas sort of
got a following because now when people think Nicholas and
weren't around during Nicholas's they just remember that last Master
and everybody was and I remember literally watching that day
live on television.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
But that wasn't Jack back in the day.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
The Jack back in the sixties in the early seventies
was a guy that was a really boring golfer whose
game was perfectly suited for major golf championships. And I'm
watching Scottie today and he has really.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
Gotten into that idea. He had no bogies today.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
He missed a lot of US seven right, Yeah, he
shot sixty seventy, had one eagle touber and that's it
and the rest are pars. And this is how Nicholas
navigated majors. He knew, stay out of trouble, stay away
from the doubles and the tripples, definitely, and once you
got a lead, you're gonna hold that lead. So Scheffler
is one of those guys. He's just assaulted to your

(08:17):
type guy. He married his high school sweetheart, they had
the kid. Now he has made it clear that you know,
the golf is in his life. He doesn't want to
be defined by golf. It's what he does. And it's
not exciting for golf fans because he's not Rory McElroy.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
He's not. He's not one of the exciting players that
people get rebbed up.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
I mean watching Rory in the crowd there in Northern Ireland,
they're all excited about Rory. He grew up there. He's
not gonna win. He's six shots back at Scotty Scheffler.
You know, unless he shoots a sixty two tomorrow, that's
not gonna happen. So I I you know, it's hard though,
when you do have a player as dominant as Scheffler
is that doesn't have sort of the it factor, right,

(08:59):
And that's the thing. I mean Tiger had not only
the talent, he had the it factor. I mean he
had emotion out there, has not Scotty Scheffler. So it's
gonna be very interesting in the years ahead because Scheffler
is going nowhere. This guy put it this way. This
is his twenty fifth major. He's played in sixteen top tens.
Like he isstent.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
He is that that was Jack cliss Hell, and he's
just like this straight line for twenty years where he
is the bar for everybody to You know, Trevino had personnel,
all these other guys had personalities, but Nicholas was the
dominant player.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
And that's where we are right now with Scotty Scheffler
no Number one, first of all, number one in the world.
So we can't take that away from him. He is
the guy right now. He's got a four stroke lead
over Lee right now, and you got Fitshpatrick and McElroy
is sitting and ain't know Noice, So like you say,
he's six shots off. But we mentioned this last week
watching Center and watching Alcatraz in the Wimbledon final, and

(09:58):
you and I and Chris got into this thing about
star pound superstar. That's what Tiger was. Like they yelled,
get in the hole because of Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods
had the fist putt. And remember when it all first started,
it was frowned upon because golf is supposed to be
quiet and Jim Nance's and welcome, welcomes friends to a
gut study National and it's soft and it's quiet, and

(10:20):
this is about an eight foot pup. It's gonna break
left or.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Like that was golf.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
But when Tiger came along, it was it was Guy
started working out, Guy started lifting weights, Guy started wearing
one color. One day Tiger. He had more than the
it factor. He had the I'm the guy fact, Like
I'm the one. You guys are Jordan Ali, like you
follow me. You guys want to be me, because if
you get to me, trust me, we'll remember who you

(10:45):
are forever. Sports enthusiasts like the two of us will
remember these guys forever. But the average golf person couldn't
tell you the statue just threw up about Scotti Schoffer.
They don't know that the guy's got sixteen top tens,
and they don't know that because he's not a superstar.
That's what tennis is missing and golf is missing. Just
you know, just a superstar right now. And that's why

(11:07):
you have a great tournament going on right now, poor Rush.
But where where's where's the excitement?

Speaker 2 (11:13):
There's not gonna be juice telling you this is Nicholas
got married very young to Barbara. His wife stilled all
these years and you know they had kids young, and
he was.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
Just this steady Eddie Arnold Palmer was known as the King,
not just for golf. He's still got a juice.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah, he still has a juice in the stores you
can go purchase.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yes, he was a guy who was off the charts
in personality and everything else.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
And so the hell man, the stories I've heard over
the years.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
About Arnold Palmer and the one time I got to
meet that man, I mean, I just I was blown
away how nice he was.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
But that's that was Arnold Palmer. He just had that charisma.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Man, Scotty doesn't have that, But what he has is
an unbelievable game that's gonna win him a lot the
major golf championships. All Right, NFL, we I've got the game,
the Hall of Fame game between the Lions and the
Chargers coming up on the thirty first.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
That would be a week from Thursday. So we're getting close.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
And a man that's gonna be rating all the different
training camps around the NFL is gonna be joining us.
We're gonna check in with our NFL insider, Adam Kaplan.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Hey, it's me Rob Parker.

Speaker 6 (12:29):
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(12:51):
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Speaker 7 (12:56):
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(13:17):
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Speaker 2 (13:21):
You'll see a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows,
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access to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Well,
we are now days away, a little over week away
from the start of the preseason Hall of Fame Game.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Teams are already in.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Camp and a man that's going to be a training
camps all around the NFL and they know when he
shows up the season's about to begin. He is our
NFL inside of the great Adam Kaplan is joining us
right now. And by the way, before we start in
on the questions, Adam, I understand you And Dan Byer,
we'll be doing the show tomorrow leading in to VG

(14:01):
and I tomorrow.

Speaker 8 (14:02):
Yeah, twelve to two pm Easter. I cannot wait. Man,
looking forward to it. Dan and I've known each other
for many years, and it'll be cool to host on
the eve. As you said, I mean, you set it
up very well. This is the earliest I can remember
of every team will be practicing this week at some point. Now,
I would caution people we have the five day acclimation period,

(14:22):
which the NFL has had for many years, where you
kind of ease into things, because they've told me for
a while that most injuries in training camp happened the
first week, so that kind of ease into.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
It, all right.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
So before we get into a lot of details, VG
and I have plenty of questions. We got to talk
about the fallout of Lloyd Hall Junior NFLPA. The rulers say,
he steps down, he expands strips to strip clubs.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
I mean, what a debacle.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
I mean, the leadership of the NFL, you know Demores
Smith and Gene Upshaw going back to the EDG.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
Garvy days.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
I mean, it just seems like the leadership has been
less than great for the players over the years. They
were hoping that Lloyd how Junior was going to be
different and now this debacle. So what's going to be
the fallout of him stepping down and miss his reports.
This guy was expensing all these trips to all these
strip clubs.

Speaker 8 (15:14):
Well, first of all, it's total chaos. So first of
all that they need an next player to be their director.
Lloyd Howe had no affiliation with the players or the NFL,
and also he had conflicts of interest with one of
his business interests has some deals with the NFL. So
the whole thing was an absolute nightmare. And kudos to
the reporting out there. I could tell you this. Let

(15:35):
me go, Steve. I'm gonna go back to twenty eleven. Okay,
I was actually working for Fox Sports dot Com then
and that CBA negotiating CBA negotiation, which was contentious. First
of all, for all the rhetoric, what did they really get, Steve,
For all the fighting and screaming and yelling. This is

(15:55):
in my career. I've never seen anything like this with
the two sides going at it. They wanted shorter off
seasons and they wanted a less journey us off season.
That's really what they got. Now they got a higher percentage,
is they kept getting a higher percentage of the gross revenues,
but in terms of everything else that they look for,
fully guaranteed money, they haven't even come close to getting it.

(16:16):
It's sure a CBA, they haven't come close to getting it.
By the way, the new one, the latest CBA does
not expire till March of twenty thirty one. Who does
a ten year CBA. It's ridiculous. Their cap situation is
not great the way it's in terms of how it's done.
There are a lot of problems. And then you tackle

(16:36):
on the leadership now hours around, partially for Gene Upshaw
for his passing, so just in terms of covering the league,
but man, since then you have to question and it's
moving forward here, Steve. The thing that I've gotten from
the player side for many years is this, and particularly now,
things happen without their knowledge that they had, Like they're

(16:58):
sent a memo.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
Nobody knows. No one really had heard of Floyd Hall.

Speaker 8 (17:02):
To be honest with you, that's a problem the way
that and I talked to for the candidates went against
DeMar Smith. A lot of them were not happy with
the way it went down. Just they felt they would
have a legitimate shot and all of a sudden they
were scored it out. It's just really odd way. You're right, Steve,
to bring us up. The way that they've they've handled
themselves over the years, the players by and large feel

(17:23):
like they're they're just not consulted or they don't feel
part of it.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Adam Kaplan vj Vernon Husky here, great pleasure. Has been
a minute since we rap man from other shows, So
I got some questions loaded up for you, big dog.

Speaker 4 (17:37):
Right now.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
This is the time of year to me, man where
it's like, where's your attention? Like what what teams are
you looking at? What storylines?

Speaker 5 (17:43):
Like?

Speaker 4 (17:43):
Where are you looking?

Speaker 8 (17:44):
What's funny?

Speaker 4 (17:45):
And in a team that grasps me is Buffalo sure?

Speaker 3 (17:47):
And I look at the bills and and you know,
I think McDermott's gotta be on the hot seat this
year because Josh, you've had Josh Allen, He's got his MVP.
But at some point man, you got to cast this
thing in at least game man, a big game VJ.

Speaker 8 (18:04):
They're not. He's not under the hot seat. He's very
close to ownership. He's been the survivor in terms of
their coaching staff. He's a lot of coaches, a lot
of coaches go. They've had changes, you know, on the roster,
significant changes. They've done a lot, him and Brandon being
together work together in Carolina, so they've had a pretty

(18:24):
good partnership. They turned things around. They had a bad
cap situation when they when they came in. But the
bottom line is they really have not won in the
playoffs as well as they should. We know about their
their issues with the Chiefs over the years, it's been
incredible rivalry. I don't see it basically, based on what
I know from talking to people there. There's despite a
lot of conjecture, truly not now. Look, if they lose

(18:47):
in the first round, they lose at home, you're twenty
foot and nothing, then that's a different story. Of course,
you have to have context. But going to the season, no,
I would not say that.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
You know, and there's always a question in sports, how
much impact as a coach or a manager actually have
for the game.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
Sure, but we will.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
I will say this, with Pete Carroll being highed by
the Raiders, it is arguably the greatest foursome of coaches
ever in any division in the history of the NFL.
When you talk about and you Reid, Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh,
and Pete Carroll all coaches in the same division.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
It's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
I mean, I mean think about it. I mean, you've
got obviously you got three coaches and the other visions
that have won Super Bowls. And then Jim Harbaugh won
a National champion's been to a Super Bowl, so he's
he's hardly if that's the weekest link, that's that's pretty strong.
So how does that dynamic work? I mean, because each
of these guys going to face each other a couple

(19:43):
of times during the season, and what exactly does Pete
Carroll bring in a seemingly, at least on paper, raising
the bar as far as the coaching aspect of the
Raiders in a division already with Harbaugh and Peyton and read.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
It's a good point.

Speaker 8 (20:01):
So see if it's gonna be calmness Pete Carroll being
around him and the Seahawks over the years and go
to their training camp and known Seahawks front office and
coaches for many years. So look, you could argue, you know,
is he sort of out of touch with offense. That's
certainly a debate and that's certainly worth talking about. But
he has a plan, He does his competitive practices, He

(20:24):
knows how to treat his players. His players buy and
large really like them. Not I'm not saying all of
them do, but most of them do. There's gonna be
a sense with John Spytech, the general managers Wan Toose
won Super Bowls with multiple teams that they that they'll
form a pretty good partnership. John will John will have
personnel control. Pete, by the way, had it for many
years with Seattle. Most people didn't know that, but he

(20:45):
actually did, but would rarely use it. But it's it's
a situation where they know they're in a turnaround program.
They got Gino Smith after the trade. They extended his
contract so for probably three years, will be their starter,
so I don't have to worry about that position, which
is huge for them, and they could just start building.
So I like to move. I know it's some Raider
fans like, why wait a minute, why are we bringing

(21:06):
this guy in after what happened Seattle, But you want
to jump start something, He's going to do things the
right way. It's not like he's ninety years old. He's
what you would call young, seventy plus year old coach.
I like the staff that he put together. But the
problem that spy Tech and Carol have is the roster
they took over to one of the five worst of
the National Football That's the truth, and it's going to
take them a while to get this thing turn around.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Fox Sports Saturday with Steve Hartman and VJ. Husky. Right
now we have one of the great Adam Kaplan NFL
insider Adam I'm gonna stay with that division. Very simple question.
Is this the year finally that somebody, namely maybe the
Chargers of my Man Jim.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
Jimmy Burgers Jim Harborough.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Is this the year that someone finally takes over the
AFC wes and wins that division and then now makes
the Chiefs a wow card football team.

Speaker 8 (21:52):
Well, I've been on record on sports for one of
the companies that work for a new television four and
I put it out there because every year I try
to come up with something like Steve's picked last year
of Denver, which like no one saw and Steve got
it right. I'm looking to get one. No one has
the exittus, so to speak, to pick the Chargers over
the Chiefs other than myself. I'm going for it. Yeah,
I completely missed on the Chargers this season. I didn't

(22:15):
see it.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Now.

Speaker 8 (22:16):
One thing I've learn about Jim Harri about talking to
people very close to Him've worked with him for a
number of years and various stops. I mean, you could
say what you want about well I wears everybody out.
That typically happens. But the first three to four years
are incredible. And look you noticed that in choke games
like they did with the former head coaches, they find
a way to win. They have this new facility at Steve.

(22:38):
I want to get asked Steve what I think he
was going to go there? You told me last week
you again, I.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Was going to go there, but we couldn't get the
arrangement set for interview, so I did not get there
on Thursday.

Speaker 8 (22:47):
All right, but hopefully you get there else you gon know.
But the rosters better now. They got that Naji Harris situation,
which is kind of weird, but They've rebuilt their offensive
line completely over the last three seasons. They their young
receiver corps. Defensively, they've added some pieces that the thing
is a coaching under Jesse Mentor, who Harball brought over

(23:08):
from Michigan with him, is fantastic. They overachieved. That's the
one issue where I don't see them making a huge run.
But I know the Charge has been mostly awful against
the Chiefs since Andy Reid has been there. But I
really feel that that they this is the team to
do it. It's funny you set this up because it's
sometimes you just get a gut feeling.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Again.

Speaker 8 (23:28):
I didn't see this with the Chiefs the Chargers last year,
and I like their off season they've had. They're the
team to the throne them and answer your question, I
think they could do it all right.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
Well, I tell you what.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
In the weeks ahead, we're gonna have a lot more
with Adam. The good news is he's going to be
on tomorrow with Dan Buyer.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Look forward to it.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
Where are you going to be broadcasting from?

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Where are you so?

Speaker 8 (23:49):
I'm in my radio studio, okay, And that's why I
sound so great. You know a lot of people It's
funny when I do radio over the country, they said, wait,
how are you in studio? No, I'm not believe it
or not so magic of com Rex and I owe
my own equipment, so it helps.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
And that sounds great. Adam. We look forward to it
as our leading tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (24:06):
Appreciate the time. We'll talk to again next week.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Thanks Adam.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
That is Adam Kaplan, our NFL insider, and again he
and Dan Bayer are going to be our leading for
tomorrow's show with Fox Sports Sunday. All right, now, let's
find out what is trending, and Martin is in the house.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
It is true, how are you?

Speaker 2 (24:25):
I'm doing great staying here? Are you as excited as
we already get? This NFL season started? No knocking all
the other sports, so we leave the love all of
the NFL season. Well, the thing here is like Sundays.
I consider you have what the seventeen plus the twenty
one Sundays of NFL twenty two give or tape, Pro
Bowl and so on, and then you have every other Sunday.

(24:46):
So I'm wrapping up now, I got what seven other
Sundays left, and then I got real Sunday.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
So that's kind of the way I look at it,
you know, to me, real Sundays.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
Well, you're gonna be on hiatus for a little bit, coming.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
I'll be back before real Sunday. I'll be back.

Speaker 9 (25:01):
That's what I'm saying. I got seven Sundays and go
travel the world, do whatever the.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Hell I want. You'll be a different man, I will, well,
I'll be the same man, different status tax file.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
Do you know I didn't say worse. I'll you'll be
a better man, a better side.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (25:18):
My fiance was kind of it didn't click ther when
we had to go to her marriage license that would
get it at the courthouse. Yes, yeah, yeah, because this
is a legal document, like yeah, the same that we
get pardoned by the judge.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
She had to change her name. You got to go
to the courthouse, you know, because not Yeah.

Speaker 9 (25:33):
Anyway, Marcus Smarts moving to l A will be our neighbor.
Sin a two year, eleven million dollar deal after being
bought out by the Washington Wizards.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Uh, that's Perk Schams Sharania.

Speaker 9 (25:45):
So that's the second buyout guard to come to That's
the second buyout guard to come to LA Who's also
played for the Wizards and Bradley Beal and Marcus Smart,
So there you go. Scottie Scheffler was spectacular at the
twenty twenty five Open third round is bogie free sixty
seven at the Eagle on seven.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
He's fourteen under right now. If he wins Sunday at.

Speaker 9 (26:06):
Port Rush, it'll be his fourth major title, his second
of the year Royal Put Rush, excuse me, no disrespect,
and also would place him three fourths of a way
to a career Grand Slam. And Santon quarterback Tyler shaw
I have agreed to a fully guaranteed contract worth ten
point seventy nine to five million dollars because when you
take a quarterback at forty why not pay them all

(26:27):
you can? And Cincinnati Bengals they don't subscribe to this
at all. Defensive and Shamar Stewart did not return reports
a training camp with the rest of the team's rookies
on Saturday, the only first round pick yet to be signed,
and Steve like, a couple of days ago, he was like,
there's a bunch of second round picks now yet to
be signed. Over the last five days or so, probably

(26:48):
twenty of thirty two at minimum second round picks have
been signed. Shamar Stewart's head coach Mike Elko was on
TV saying no, he's in fact not coming back to Texas.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
A and m with that, I'll kick it back to
you guys. All right, very very good. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
That the whole thing about the new guarantees for the
second rounders, right, we were talking about this last last
week exactly that we're going to see some delays.

Speaker 10 (27:11):
But it's like a domino theory once when they started
all full, well, I thought it'd speed up once one
guy signs Camp. Look, Camp's knocking on the door. Get
your ask, Camp exactly getting camp Man. Let's get ready,
all right, Hartman and Husky Here Fox Sports Saturday. We're
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. By the way,
you can stream the show and all of our Fox
Sports Radio shows live twenty four to seven in the

(27:31):
new and approved iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
us live. One of the newest features in the app
is to select Fox Sports Radio is one of your presets,
you know, like the preset on your radio dials, So
make sure to preset Fox Sports Ratio and the iHeart
Radio app. You always pop up at the top of
your screen. Marcus Smart. Okay, here's the problem for Marcus
Smart right now. He just hadn't been healthy last couple

(27:54):
of years, right. I mean, this guy was a defensive
ployer of the Year. He's never been a good shooter.
That's what he did to help Boston for so many years. Unfortunately,
ever since he left Boston, he's been hurt. Played twenty
games total two years ago. This year between the two teams, uh,
he played thirty four games. So I mean again, his

(28:17):
value as a defender is only as good as his availability.
So if he can stay in the court for sixty
plus games, and you know you got somebody that can
really help you.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
But if he can't stay healthy, it's just a waste.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Do you get the fill in that the Lakers are
kind of scrape in the bottom of the pot, Well,
they are to get the rest of the pieces of
meat that were left behind from that ate, the ate
the chowder.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Healthy, Marcus Smart makes sense for them the defensive they
need defense, period. They on the interior exterior, they need
guys that can defend. And Marcus Smart when he was
healthy obviously one of the best defenders in the league.
But unfortunately, ever since he left Boston, He's been hurt.
He was hurting Memphis, he's hurting Washington, didn't play many games.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
I thought a lot of that had to do And
this is a real thing. I thought a lot of
that had to do with his heart being hurt because
when he got traded from Oh yeah, that.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
And especially against he gets traded and then misses out
on one he ah and then they win the day ring.
That's that's got a sting.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
And no matter how tough you are and how you know,
how physically tough you are, how hard you play, we're
all still human beings. That's one thing I loved about
covering pro sports and being around his Bridget, you called
Bridget and I talking about when we were hanging around
and talking to Khalil Mack last year, you can these
guys are human.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
They are at the end of the day.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
They may be superstars and we may think they're invincible,
but a lot of feelings, man, especially when you get
shipped off. And we've heard former players say it all
the time when they asked, yeah, so what would you
thought when you get traded? Of course, when you get traded,
you say all the right days talk to them ten
years later and ask them how they felt that day
they got traded. You know, the most part it's oh yeah,
I want it back at him or hurt.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
I'll give an example, Bill Walton, the late great Bill Walton,
and I got to Nobill. He did some radio, but
I remember asking about his miraculous comeback with the Celtics.
Now I understand this. After his big championships in Portland.
The next year, he got hurt and then he went
to the Clippers, and he, like three of the four
years he there, he played zero games, and then all

(30:24):
of a sudden, he ends up in Boston five years
removed from actually playing, and he was six Man of
the Year, right, and he stayed healthy the entire year
and helped the Celtics win a championship six correct, But
that was the eighty six season, and then he played
played one more year and then he was done. But
I asked him about that year specifically, and he said, look,

(30:44):
you know what, when I'm with the Clippers, one of
the worst franchises in the league, you know, it's like, look,
I'm trying to get healthy.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
I had all kinds of foot problems everything else.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
It wasn't like I was dogging it.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
But there's something more motivating when I'm joining a championship level,
so absolutely, and I'm playing with guys that really know
how to play the game like Dennis Johnson, obviously, Larry Burro,
Robert Parrish, Kevin mcal These guys know how to play
the game right. And now that fits for me, and
it was inspiration for me to get myself back on
the court. So you know, the Lakers are hoping that

(31:17):
putting that Laker uniform on and getting an opportunity obviously
Abel Luca and Lebron. You know, a team that, at
least on paper, conceivably, if everything went right, could make
some noise in the Western Conference.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
Maybe that'll be a motivating factor to keep him on
the court.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
I always thought he was a great player, and I
thought when Boston traded and I missed on this one,
but I thought when Boston traded him, it was almost
like when Memphis traded Dylan Brooks. You don't have to
be the best player to beat a heart and soul.
We talked about heart for the Nick Obacas, right, even
though Jalen Brunts is the guy, the heart and soul
of that basketball team is Josh Hart you could see

(31:55):
it pops off the screen every single time the man
steps onto the floor, and I thought that would weaken
Boston once again missed on it. They go get the
chip l right, cool, But now you see with their
injuries and the things that they're happening, and letting Porzingis
go and letting some other players walk and moving guys,
It's like, hey, you probably could use a market smart

(32:15):
right now. But of course, you know, Heinstin's hindsight's twenty twenty.
You don't have a crystal ball. I get it.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
I'm still gonna just hold out on what I think
about the Marcut Smart deal. I'm still because I'm I'm
just trying to figure out. You said you mentioned the
injury thing. But then the Lakers themselves are in such
flux right now with all the stories about whether they're
gonna move on with Lebron or Lebron's gonna shoot up
for him this year, you yourself thought that he played
his last game. I didn't think so at first, But
then when you start to hear all these stories and

(32:43):
you start to kind of readb between the lines, they
turn around and they sell the team, and you know,
there's all this pillow talking going on now and all
this outside. He blatantly openly said summer league, I ain't
got nothing to say, and Lebron always had something to say.
So bringing them in, I get where you're coming from.
But if you still have all this this flux going on,

(33:04):
is it really going to matter? And you see the
team across town and you mentioned it to it don't
in the Clippers. You see them the moves that they're
making and things that they're trying to do there, So
interesting move today.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
Two year deal, is it correct? The second year is
a player option.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
So again, he's only playing fifty four total games in
the last two years out of one hundred and sixty two,
so that's you know, out of one hundred and sixty four,
so he has missed a lot of airs. By the way,
reports are that Luka Doncic did reach out to him,
So again this is Luka Doncic's team me and you

(33:42):
know he he knows that when healthy Marcus Smart is
a guy obviously can't help you win games, period and l.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
All love him.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
If he comes here and he plays hard and he's healthy,
this city will engulf him because, like you said, most
Smart Laker fans know they need defense all right.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
On the other side, we're gonna do a lil recap
of the Baseball All Star Game that, in my opinion,
hit a new low. And the second half of the
baseball season is underway. Do they have a chance to
stay in the headlines or will they be swallowed up
by the NFL in a matter of days. This is
Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio, Hartman and Husky
Here Fox Sports Saturday, coming live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Mark Mandin, our NBA insider, will be joining us later
in the next hour. Get his thoughts on Marcus Smart
now being a Los Angeles Laker. The Baseball All Star Game.
For the game itself, it was there were moments in
the game.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
It was interesting.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Nationally got off to a six to nothing lead, americanly
ties it, and then all of a sudden, I didn't
know this. This rule was actually put in in twenty
twenty two that there would not be extra innings anymore.
So basically it was home run derby decide the winner
and his through is made. Kyle Schwarber became the first
player ever to win the MVP non pitcher to win

(35:08):
the MVP award with actually no hits in the game.
He was zero for two in the game and against
a batting practice pitcher throwing fifty miles an hour, he
hit three in the stands and that got him an
MVP again. I mean, why do we have to dumb
down these All Star games? So why can't we just
play a game? Is there any reason we can't play

(35:31):
a game like a legitimate baseball game. Why do we
have to gimmick it up and have some stupid home
run derby And half the guys are already gone, so
you know, like show, hey, Otani's in his cities, these guys,
so it's like, whoever played at the end of the game,
all right, we got to drag you back out. Fortunately,
a perfect batting practice type hitter like Kyle Schwarber, who

(35:51):
does nothing but swing for the fences, was perfect for
the competition. But yes, he became the first non pitcher
to be named the MVP All Star Game MVP and
actually go hitless in the actual game.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
Last week you asked me to end the show. How
many innings VJ are you gonna watch of the All
Star Game? Because when you myself and Monty had a
big discussion about it last week. I said, I'm gonna
you guys, you guys, you guys got me excited. I'm
gonna watch all nine and I text you guys, I said,
out all time I saw, I said, hey, I've put
the kids down. I've just started it on DVR, and

(36:24):
I was excited to see the top pictures against show Hey,
and the top pictures against against Judge. And in those matchups,
it's like, okay, I'm feeling this. And then, like you say,
they jump out the five nothing. I'm like, okay, this
thing is getting a little out of hand. But then
the America League has that real big inning. They come
back and put a public couple of guys on. Uh,
there's a three one shot home run. Next thing you know,

(36:46):
it's five to three. Then they scored knock another one
in five for It's like, okay, here we go. And
as soon as Baseball All Star reels VJ Vernon Husky,
the big Vanilla funny back in, they let me down
with that debacle.

Speaker 4 (37:02):
Like you said at the end, you have got to
be kidding me.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
This is why you should let guys be able. Now
if it goes extra innings. The new rules should be okay,
if you pull the guy each manager, you get three
guys that you can pull back into the game.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
The problem is, though guys get out of theirs, out
of the goal.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
But if they know the rule, now the rule is
and remember guys, stay fully dressed, stay fully aware, stay
fully ready just in case.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
Or go to the three of the five guys.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
You have, have five guys on the list and say, okay,
these are my five, let me pick three. You go
to judge and say, hey, look, if we go extras,
I'm using you tonight. Oh sure, hey we go extras,
I'm using you tonight. Like if we go to I'm
using you tonight. Put the stars back out there and
then let us get the best players in the game
that started the game to finish the game. What are

(37:58):
the chances are you going extra innings? Right, it's happened
twice and what the last twenty five thirty years? So
what the chances all.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Specially after the American rallies to tie the game while
you're like into the game, all right, what right?

Speaker 3 (38:10):
And now we stopped for this and I didn't know
what was going on by that time. It's like two
two thirty in the morning because I'm pausing, and then
I'm playing again.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
I'm pausing, I'm watching.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
I'm fast forward due to the commercials, so I'm like, okay,
extra baseball, let's go okay. And I've thought about you
on Monty I dad say, you know what, man, they
pulled me back in.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
And then I'm watching TV. I'm like, what are you
talking about?

Speaker 3 (38:28):
What are they doing?

Speaker 2 (38:30):
It's gonna do too much to ask what to stay
in uniform? No one played again till Friday, right, And
here's my thing with that.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
I'm gonna tell you this.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
And I might be the old guy get off my lawn,
But as I always say about old guy, get off
my lawn, Yes, get the hell off my lawn. Because
I was in the hot sun keeping my lawn fresh.
You weren't, so stay off my lawn. Isn't there a
pride to just stay dressed, stick around? You might want
to take some pictures afterwards, do the whole Jersey exchange

(38:58):
type of ordeal, but to get out of your uniform.
I yeah, I'm not with that man that bothered me
because it's like, hold up, bro, like you didn't just
show up.

Speaker 8 (39:09):
Just for this part.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
No, it's the whole game.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
It's the whole game.

Speaker 4 (39:13):
It's it's one night you didn't stay inform.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Start night night, you're not playing again right day. You
can stay in your uniform baseby in there and once again,
and baseball's reeled me back in.

Speaker 4 (39:29):
It has not all the way.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
But then when you do things like this, it's almost like, see,
this is why I kind of float away from you
from time to time, because you guys can't get out
of your own damn way.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
There are young stars in this league, and you have
two superstars obviously, and Aaron Judge and show Heyo Tonic.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
Right, these are the faces of major le Bass, two guys.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
That being said, once we kick off that Hall of
Fame game on the thirty first, baseball be forgotten.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
No one's gonna get well. Listen, I have to run
until we get to the postseeds, right.

Speaker 5 (40:00):
No.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
I have the running joke in his studio that base
football starts for me once the main dominoes of NBA
free agency fall.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
Once that happens, I am football.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
We still have that uncertainty about Lebron right now? Is
that still holding you in as far as the NBA.
I mean it's not done yet, not done yet.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
I've already said my opinion. I think he's done as
a Laker, and I just think it's only a matter
of time.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
So you do believe he'll be playing for a different
team this year.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Absolutely, I just think it's only a matter of time.
Dang was actually right? You were and you you were
ahead of all of us. You were ahead of all
of us. No, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
I may not work out that way. By the way,
speaking of All Star games, they must watch. All Star
Game is coming up tonight, right it is?

Speaker 4 (40:49):
This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio rolling along here on
another busy sports Saturday, Fox Sports Saturday. They were broadcasting
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. Coming up later
in the air, Mark Medina, our NBA insider, will join us.
Marcus Smart is now a Laker. We'll talk about that,
the Bradley Beal move to the Clippers. A lot of

(41:14):
NBA news happening as always, and Mark Medina will fill
us in tonight the w NBA All Star Game. I
don't watch the sb's, but I certainly heard about Shane
Gillis and his unbelievable job he did MC in that event.
But of all the things he said, I know, the
headline catcher was his crack about Caitlin Clark working at

(41:39):
waffle house that one.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
But his best was this one.

Speaker 4 (41:42):
So he goes, four time w NBA All Star Britney
Hicks is here.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Everybody give it up for Bretdany, and the crowds like yeah,
he posive, goes, I'm joking around.

Speaker 3 (41:53):
That's my friend's wife. I knew none of you knew
WNBI players, right, I.

Speaker 4 (41:57):
Mean even some of the WNBA players are bloody right.
It was so great.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
So with no Caitlin Clark playing in the game because
of her injury, ticket prices were cut in half.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
For tonight NBA All Star Game.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Now I can imagine Shane Gillis's crack about the w
NBA being an anonymous league didn't sit well with the
four letter considering they are the home of the WNBA.

Speaker 4 (42:25):
But this guy has no fears of comic comic But
that was classic.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
I mean, yeah, fourth time WNBA All Star Brittany Hicks
is here.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
Everybody, let's give it up for Brittany.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
And I was like, yeah, he goes, actually, I'm joking around,
that's my friend's wife.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
I knew, none of you knew. As they show her,
she clearly looks in her forties or middle She clearly
looks like a middle aged older woman.

Speaker 4 (42:48):
And it's like when I saw that, Cliff I.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
Squinto I've never heard of her before, and then I
heard the joke. I said, Oh, that's that's that's gold
right there, man, that's that's going to be in a
twenty five year standup comedian. And myself, like you said,
no fear. We're not supposed to have any fear. No,
we don't care about your comedians. We don't care about
your feelings. You're not here to feel, You're here to laugh, okay,
and get the feelings out of it. I thought it

(43:12):
was great, but it also brings more to the point
to where they're actually letting her be a sidelink, like
like helping coach the game. They're doing anything they can
to keep her name and keep her going.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
But I told you this. You realize she will be
on the screen more than players in the game.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
But here's my thing with it, And I don't want
to use the word beef, just my thing with it.
If the production doesn't start to turn up real fast
because I haven't played as much attention to it this
year with a lot of other things going on. This
thing's gonna fall real fast. You can only force feed
people so long before they see that the food that

(43:52):
you're trying to serve them just isn't ripe anymore.

Speaker 8 (43:54):
Right.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
You can only force feed kids that that square piece
of pizza at school. Would I could put it in
a cup of alpasaus before kids look at that stuff
and go Okay, man, I don't want to eat this anymore.
Something better change. And her being injured doesn't help. But
as I said when she was coming out of Iowa,
told you just during the break, she's gonna have to
find some way to physically just get stronger and tougher

(44:17):
because they do allow. Hell, it looks like more contact
than the NBA some nights when I am watching the game.
But the fact that she's home, it's a home stadium,
it's the home city, I get it. I don't think
this would be happening if it was in Minnesota, or
if it was in Miami, or if it was in
Los Angeles. But I don't mind it being that. Hey,

(44:38):
she's the hometown girl. It's the home of the fever.
We got to keep her involved some way. Somehow, she
got greenlit to help coach the game. So I mean,
I don't have a problem with it, but I tell
you this, man, they better fix this food that they
keep trying to force feed people real fast, or what
are we gonna do next? Blame the league? Oh, of

(44:58):
the league, didn't take care of our the league. It's
not the league's job to take care of a player.
Is your job to take care of youself?

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Well, this is also a crossroads time for the WNBA
in terms of player compensation. So the WNBA, they're getting
very frustrated right now because they see the ratings and
they're they're not acknowledging the fact that the ratings are
one hundred percent attached to one player.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
But you know they're they're.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Ignoring all that and they want to get more money.
Understand this, The WNBA is still losing money. Yes, even
though they have more eyeballs and more people in attendance,
at least when Caitlin Clark's playing, they're still losing money.
And when I say they're losing money, that means NBA
owners are losing money. And they've been losing money on

(45:47):
the WNBA from the get go, and the league is
encourage them to suck it up. There was only one time,
and this was probably five years in so the league
started in ninety seven, like early.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
Two thousands, where some of the players were.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Grumbling about the money and David Stern with the commissioner
of the NBA at the time, and he said, I'll
give you two choices. Either continue to play for what
you're making, or I'll pull the plug on your league today.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Gone, and and and again. Agree with that? Did you
like that?

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Stern took that, But that's how Stern w I get
was I think I think it was honest because he
was only conveying the sentiment of the w of the
NBA owners.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Remember, the commissioner technically.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Works for the owner, so the idea for him to
then go to the owners and say, by the way,
can we put more money into this WNBA And they're like, seriously,
I'm already losing money and you want me to lose
more money.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
That's not happening.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
So I think he was really the messenger in that situation.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
I don't know if he really felt that way of
the time, but all I know is there was no
more noise after that.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
And by the way, everything I am saying right now.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
In no way demeans the players themselves, the coach or
anybody else has invested their effort and time and energy
into the WNBA.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
But this is the bottom line business. What happened to
the Late Show?

Speaker 8 (47:15):
Right?

Speaker 11 (47:16):
You know?

Speaker 3 (47:16):
We have we have the show on CBS. I mean
you have. It's a bottom line business.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
You're losing money and the overhead on that show is
too much.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
You know, you have two unred employees.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
You're losing the costs one hundred and eighty million dollars
a year and we're not getting the return on the dollar.
We can't continue to lose money on this.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
So what happens to the w NBA? Does this league eventually?
Because if it's going to be.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
Exactly what it is VJ, so it's just going to
stay what it is.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
We can't get mad at these ladies for actually dipping
in other like Angel Reese a little bit, but we can't.
We can't get mad at Angel rees for capitalizing on
her beauty, capitalizing on her name, capitalizing on because if
y'all aren't gonna encourage you if you really, if y'all
not gonna pay me, you know, a little more money,
then yes, I am gonna. I am gonna go get

(48:08):
a McDonald's meal, deal with UH endorsement doing.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
God, you got women that are now getting some commercial time,
a lot of it, yeah, a lot, which is good
even if they're not instantly recognized. You you do it
or nothing, you get a little more familiar with the
faces and everything else.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
You just release two sneakers. As far as the actual.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Operation of the w n B, a man, nothing's gonna
change until they can actually prove that they can be
profitable because the NBA owners are the ones that are
financing the w NBA.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
How do you become more profitable? Though, as Americans we're
so stubborn with we have this discussion about soccer, right
is if we don't watch it, we just don't want.
Last year, I sat here and argue with so many
different people of stop telling me you guys are gonna
watch and not talking to the talent here, just to
the fans. Stop telling me and tweeting how you're gonna
really stick to this. You're not. You're being bought in

(49:06):
because there's a storyline with Reese and with Clark, and
as soon as that goes away, you all will return
to exactly what you've been doing.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
And that is one hundred percent ignore in this league.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
See, the only sport that's on equal footing is tennis, obviously,
because the men and women play the exact same Grand
Slam events. They're playing at the same time. You tune
in Wimbledon, US OAP and Australian French.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
You see the men and women.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
They get equal money even though it's not equal play
because the men are playing three out of five sets,
women only two out of three. So actually the women
technically are making more money than the men. But they
are on the same stage right right, and so we're
recognizing them on the same stage. It's similar to actors
and actresses. They're on the same stage, so we can
hold them in the same line street you know, you

(49:55):
know they're not they're not playing in the same league.
So it'll be interesting. But I I wish the w
NBA two more to embrace this opportunity they have been
afforded with the celebrity of Caitlin Clark, instead of fighting
it every way and the and the joke by Shane
Gillis talking about you know, uh, you know what he

(50:16):
said about the whole waffle house. You know, everyone was like, Wow,
did you really go there with that joke? Yeah, but
you know, you know it's that it's that nervous laughter,
like he's he's sort.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Of on the money, you know that how that's how humor. Yeah,
well he was. He was on the deal with his
money and the jokes and that, like that joke he said,
I knew, I'm just joking. That's my best friend's wife.
I knew.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
None of you knew WABA player.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
So that was absolutely classic. All right, coming tough times,
all right, coming up in the ar.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
So we're gonna get back to the NFL because we
got a lot of ground to cover as we get
ready for this first preseason game. I want to get
into one of the divisions that everybody will be talking
about during this twenty twenty five season. Which division am
I talking about? You'll find out. This is Fox Sports Saturday,

(51:11):
Steve Harbin VJ Husky Here Fox Sports Saturday. We're coming
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios for the best
pregame show every weekend. Be sure to tune into Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown presented by bet MGM every Saturday and
Sunday morning from nine am to noon Eastern six to
nine am Pacific, We'll count down to all the biggest games.

(51:33):
Tune into Countdown presented by bet MGM every Saturday and
Sunday morning right here on Fox Sports.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Okay, so we are going to obviously be doing over
the next several weeks as we get into the preseason
in the NFL, start breaking down division to by division,
team by team. I know you can't get enough. We
certainly can't get enough. We are anxious to get this
NFL season underway. I thought today though VJ one of
the more intriguing divisions, it was a year ago, and

(52:05):
even I think even more so this year is the
NFC North. And I just want to preface by saying this,
So remember last year we had three playoff teams out
of the North. The Lions were fifteen and two, the
Vikings were fourteen and three, and the Packers were eleven
and six and then the Bears bringing up the rear

(52:26):
at five and twelve. Well, if you look at the
NFL odds over under wins this year, the Lions won
fifteen games last year. They're over under this year's ten
and a half.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
I've got it.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
I mean, that's a far cry from over fifteen. And
then you have the Vikings winners fourteen and three last
year over under this year nine and a half, over
Packers eleven and six last year over under nine and
a half. And here's the crazy thing, the Bears five

(53:01):
and twelve last year over under eight and a half.
So basically, they've got the Lions who were separated. They
were ten games better than the Bears a year ago,
but according to this year's preseason over under odds, they're
two games better. So right off the top, have the

(53:23):
Lions fallen that far down and the Bears risen that
far up in terms of what we expect in twenty
twenty five or are they fooling themselves that there is
that much of a change coming up in twenty twenty
five from what we saw in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
I'll say this, it all depends on what happens with
the NFC South and the NFC West. Because last year,
on our preview show on this network moving into the
football season, I predicted three teams from the North. We
get to the playoffs. I had three teams from the
North getting to the PS. I had the Vikings actually
win in that division, and I took the over on

(53:59):
the win. So I was hinging on JJ McCarthy. No,
I did not know Sam Donald was gonna do that.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Well.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
I thought Sam Donald had an anomaly type of year,
and I think in Seattle, we're gonna see that. We're
gonna see Sam Donald. Kind of backtrack to Sam Donald,
you don't have Justin Jefferson to throw the ball to
and all those other weapons there, Jordan Addison Flores in
that defense, that blitz happy defense, number one blitz rate
winning team over the last three years, which means when

(54:24):
they blitz they get to you, they're successful at it.
I like the Packers this year. I like the Vikings
this year, and I like the Lions this year. I
understand there's been some some coaching losses with the Lions,
but if you're telling me they're over runners ten and
a half, I just don't think that they're dropping five.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
Let's game not less.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
Golf goes down and then uh, you're losing am around
Saint Brown.

Speaker 4 (54:45):
You do you do get Big hutchback this year?

Speaker 3 (54:48):
Andy Sewell misses ten game, like you're you're gonna have
to completely that offense is gonna have to completely fall
apart to not score five hundred and sixty four points again,
which they did last year.

Speaker 4 (55:01):
They're gonna score that.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
Many POINTSUS means when you scored that many points and
you're only giving up three forty two, that means you're
stopping people and you're blowing people away. Plus two to
twenty two, I believe was tops in the league as
far as plus minus last year, so they outscored everybody better.

Speaker 4 (55:14):
Than everybody else.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
And when you look at them other divisions, we're really
getting one playoff team from the NFC South. We already
know that only one team's getting there in the West.
I mean it's a coin flip. Yes, Seattle and the
Rams last year finished at ten and seven. San Francis
going written to some injuries. They had a down year.
Always saying football, you got about a three or four
year window to get to the big game and to
win one. They got there twice in that little three

(55:37):
or four year window. And then they had to reset
some things. They moved on from Deebo Samuel, they had
to restructure some contracts. Now you've seen Jennings is holding out.
He either want to be traded or get a new contract.
But we heard that last summer when Brandon Ayuk was
working on his deal and people thought that they were
gonna move Ayuk because they believe Gennin's can do the
job that Ayuk was doing. So you have a lot
of flux there with the Niners. So when I look

(55:59):
at this vision, are they in the Minnesota Vikings? What
if they lost Sam Darnold.

Speaker 8 (56:03):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
I believe in JJ McCarthy. Yes, it's a little bit
of my Michigan love. But all I do is just
just put the tape point to tell me what the
kid did in school. He only did what he was
asked to do. He was asked to hand the ball
off and not turn the ball over, throw a complete passing,
throw touchdowns, and he had he had average receivers in college.
This guy's gonna throw to Justin Jefferson, He's gonna throw
to Jordan Akison, Jordan Addison, like he's gonna throw to

(56:26):
some really good football players. And then the Packers. I
like Jordan Love, and I like the young receivers and
the weapons they have there. So I think these three
teams each will win over ten games. Again, the Bears,
than me are still just some you know, five and
twelve last year, I knew people that said they're gonna
win seven, eight, nine games. No, I just I just

(56:47):
don't see it with Caleb because I watch a quarterbacks
footwork and when I watched Caleb just too many times
the magical stuff you did at a see, yeah, bro,
that works in college. In the NFL, you gotta run
an off that you gotta stay up part, you gotta throws.
Had some good games, but they were still a five
and twelve football team. All right here here is the
reason for the downgrade preseason predictions for the NFC North.

(57:09):
Look what they did in the postseason last year, own three, right,
I mean it and wasn't just owing three.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
The Lions are a prime example.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
Right. So in the end, when they got blown out
by the Commanders on their home field, a lot of
people were saying, well, all the all the injuries on
the defensive side of the football caught up with them,
and they go like, that's funny because they were fourteen
and one after the Aiden Hutchinson, I'm injured. I mean,
they were not losing games because of that. I'm getting

(57:38):
back to Dan Campbell. He did not have his team
ready for that game. There is a different mindset when
you go into the postseason and for them to get
absolutely blitz creed by a rookie quarterback on their home field,
coming off that impressive win where they had, you know,
the whole Shenanigans with the with the Vikings to win

(57:58):
the division title and everything else, they.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Dominate that game. I I just I really wonder.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
About this Lions team whether they have and this gets
back to Jerry Goff as well. There's a different mindset
when you're in the postseason as opposed to the regular season.
There are many examples of this over the years. Same
thing with the Vikings. I mean the Vikings. Yeah, they
had to go to play the Rams on the road,

(58:26):
but by all accounts, so what the way they looked
in those last two games. Again, we talked about Kevin O'Connell.
What did he do two years ago? They lost to
the Giants at home in a playoff game. So the
and and even la floor look at his postseason record.

(58:50):
He had two MVP seasons from Aaron Rodgers, how did
that translate in the postseason. So I I you know,
the funny thing is you look at on the paper
what they did a year ago and you say, wow,
this is one of the better divisions in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (59:05):
And I say, based on what their regular season records, Well,
that's what we're gonna go on.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
And I want to see how Caleb Williams, if he
can get the Bears into the playoffs, That's how I'll
judge Caleb Williams. That's why I keep talking about, you know,
the Justin Herbert situation, until this guy proves he can
play big time football in the games that matter most.
I'm sorry you're not in the conversation when you talk

(59:32):
about elite. Elite is someone that does it on the
biggest stage. And so's that's where this whole division is.
It's not an elite division based on what we saw
in the postseason a year ago.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
The Bears aren't making the playoffs. We can cancel that out.
The Bears aren't making a playoffs.

Speaker 4 (59:48):
Well, they've made a lot of noise in the offseason.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
Yeah, but once again, that's on paper. Yeah, you're talking
about on paper. We got the Commanders, right, are they
gonna take a step back they're gonna have a sophomore
slunt like we kind of saw with CJ. Stroud in
the Texas last year, who ironically had a even plus
minus as far as point differential h three to seventy three,
seventy three, seventy six and three seventy six across the board,

(01:00:10):
like even three seventy two. Excuse me, even three seventy points.
They scored three seventy two. They gave up. So then
we go to the Dallas Cowboys. Do they have a
bounce back? I think if you do have DAK. There
were seven to ten last year, and I think if
you have DAK, I mean all DAK has shown is
I win eleven plus games. So well, if DAK starts
the whole season, they won a lot of football games.
Do you think that they'll win more games than the
Eagles or the Commanders? Not think the Eagles are primed

(01:00:33):
to be the first team I believe in twenty something
years to repeat in the NFC East. I think the
Eagles are primed. They have a really good dounter. Yeah
they do.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
They've added on the defensive side. They've dropped this so well, you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Got you still got back and still got to keep
Saquan healthy in his history. Unfortunately, now we saw when
he's healthy and he had an MVP season, right, But
can he you stay healthy two years in a while.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
It was not two years in a row. He was
healthy that last year with the Giants. So he's been
healthy the last two or three years he's been he's
been back, he's been healthy. I'm not worried about Saquon.
I'm just not I'm not worried about Saquon. They won
it last year. You got a taste of what that
feels like. And you're coming back with the big zero
and the big bulls are on your chest and the
X on your back. Everybody's gunning for you because you're
the defending Super Bowl champions. But if you go down once,

(01:01:23):
like I said, the NFC South, only one team's going
to the playoffs side of that division they're not getting
to and I and I honestly believe that NFC Wes
will only get one team in the playoffs. I like
Kyler Murray and I thought Maserati Marvin Harrison Junior was
gonna be the rookie of the year. That was my call.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
That was my pick.

Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
When AAA VJ, Who's gonna be the NFC rookie of
the y, I said, bro, I think it's gonna be
Marvin Harrison.

Speaker 4 (01:01:47):
Jian.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
This kid is crazy good. He has all the physical tools,
he has all the tape you can put them. When
you put the tape on, the guy just shows up
and just catches the ball and scores touchdown passes. You
know what's gonna happen there with Kyler Murray. It's almost
like you're tapped out there, right the The Rams are
a noted team.

Speaker 4 (01:02:04):
You bring back.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
Stafford with Stafford's a year and Stafford's a year older.
He's older, he can still play. I get it. I
like the Rams a lot in that division. By the way, right,
that's who I would pick the today. I would pick
the Rams to win the NFC.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
If going into last season you'd have this parlay, I'm
gonna take the Cowboys to win seven games and the
forty nine ers to win six game.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
Games, Yeah you would have had that. Yeah, you'd be
in Mali my Ties and pin.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
A lot of people were predicting that was going to
be the NFC championship game going into the last season.

Speaker 4 (01:02:35):
I thought Dallas would be better than that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
But once again, when the team loses their quarterback, I
try not to judge too harshly because we all know
whether it's Pop Warner, middle school, high school, college, XFL, AFL, NFL,
your it don't matter, flag football doesn't matter. If you
do not have a solidified QB, you have zero shots
to make any real noise. You'll win a game or two,

(01:02:59):
you'll upset team, but real shot to be a contender.
So when he went down for the years, like okay,
cowboys are out, like you don't have your quarterback, And
I can't judge you too harshly on that. But I
right now as I sit here, and once again one
of these major quarterbacks go down for one of these
three teams. All right, cool, but I think all three
of these teams hit on the over. I'm surprised that

(01:03:20):
it's nine and a half from Minnesota. I understand JJ
is a different quarterback than with the Ander Sam Darnold,
but all those other offensive weapons and pieces around, and
you're talking about a top five offensive line also too.
They can run the football, they could throw the football,
and you know Floresa's defense is gonna get after your
behind Sunday after Sunday down after down and I like

(01:03:41):
Jordan Love. I know some people mark at the kid,
but he didn't go on a road and win a
playoff game in Dallas two years ago. Like he's done
this and we're and was up at San Francisco. The
first interception is tip, the second ones on him.

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
There's the game there. When you're looking at over unders.
You know, the Vegas Insider understand this. Every single year,
without exception, there's gonna be four or five teams that
will win at least four games less.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Than they're over under. And there's gonna be four or
five teams every year that will win four games or
more over they're over under. It happens every single year team.
I mean last year, Jacksonville was four and thirteen.

Speaker 4 (01:04:28):
Four and thirteen.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
Nobody had that going into the preseason.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Nobody.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
We mentioned the Cowboys with seven wins, We mentioned the
forty nine ers with six wins. It happens every single viks.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
No longer had the Vikings winning fourteen. I thought they'd
be over to the over end of day set, but
I didn't know if they were gonna win. I didn't
think they were going to forteen. I think I called
him twelve and five or maybe eleven to six. But
I thought the over last year was like nine and
a half or something like that. I thought they would
be really good as far as their over runners concerned.
But you're right, it happens every year in the playoff.
Teams fluctuates in and out. But a lot of it

(01:05:05):
is luck, a lot of it is injury. There's some
teams that are like, you're ready to look at the Raiders.
Like the Raiders. I feel for the Raiders because that like,
look who the other squads are a lot of.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
People already look at they were a four win team
a year ago, over under six and a half. So
they look at Pete Carroll and say, well, at the
very least, you've had a major upgrade from a coaching standpoint. Yeah, seven,
you bring in a quarterback. Well, and that division is
going to be tough. We've talked a lot about THEFC West.
We're going to do a lot more. But the question
is we didn't think going into the season. Yes, I

(01:05:38):
did predict the Broncos to make the playoffs, but to me,
it wasn't that big of a reach.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
They actually only.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
Won two more games than they did the year before, Right,
But I thought Sean Payton at least was going to
get a quarterback that he was comfortable with. I saw
Bonnicks at Oregon. I knew this guy could play. I
knew he was a mature quarterback. He'd started like fifty
games on the Division one level, playing in the SEC
and the big tens. I mean, he's going against the
toughest competition. I was not worried about whether he was

(01:06:03):
going to be ready. Well, actually, right, it was the
Pac twelve back then for Oregon. I'm already into the
Big ten. Moti, you see how I am. I got
that mindset right now. But the bottom line was he
was an experienced college quarterback, so I didn't think the
transition was going to be that difficult and has approved
it was not. All right, let's find out what is
trending once again, Martin is here. I am fully geared

(01:06:25):
up playing his guitar, not as much as I'd like
to be. However, I will say this, because I've been
watching this progression you've been making with your guitar playing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
It's noticeable. It is like very noticeable.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
I appreciate that. Yeah, you can hear it, you can
see it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Yeah, is honestly the last couple of days, I've not
been feeling it. That's okay, I have not. I been
like I do.

Speaker 9 (01:06:47):
How have I been doing this for seven months? And
I still suck this bad? It's kind of the feeling
I've had. So I've makeed that thanks to.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
What is how many more days to the big day
August ninth to now?

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
I don't know?

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
Yeah, okay, three weeks?

Speaker 3 (01:07:05):
There you go. That works.

Speaker 9 (01:07:06):
Okay, we're coming up on just around the river bend.
You guys moved that fast. Listen, I said, I only look,
I got real congratulations.

Speaker 4 (01:07:16):
I didn't. I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
Congratulations to you man, So you and her good luck
on your wedding and your honeymoon. Congratulations. I thought it
was gonna be like next year something like that when
we last talked about her. But look, I said, I
got real Sundays and I got every other Sunday. I
feel like if I have done'm not.

Speaker 9 (01:07:32):
This is what I had to deal with, these wedding
planners like that, I'm not having my anniversary on week
three every year.

Speaker 4 (01:07:37):
Yeah, like right, Vesca scenario. I'm busy week three, you
know what. I'm never busy.

Speaker 3 (01:07:42):
August ninth like that exactly. Ever, I'm never busy on
August night, so gradually, congratulations, man, I said to her, Congratulations,
have fun and enjoy the day. Man, thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:07:55):
You were looking at me with I thought you was.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
I thought you had more. He's always got more. I've
got more.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
But I didn't know.

Speaker 11 (01:08:01):
That is the most truest statement I've heard all day, Steve.
I thought that's speaking of getting some more. Marcus Smart
two years, eleven million dollars. Add that to his bank
account and a work employment length that guests with the
Los Angeles Lakers.

Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
He got a treat to a contract buyout with the Wizards.

Speaker 12 (01:08:17):
Scottie Scheffler recorded a bogie free sixty seven to take
a commanding lead into the final day of the twenty twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Five Open at Royal Port Rush. He's fourteen under right now.

Speaker 9 (01:08:27):
If he wins this, he's three fourths of his way
to a career Guaran Slam, his fourth major title, second
one this year. It's pretty good for a guy who
said he doesn't find a lot of fulfillment in winning.

Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
Saints and quarterback Tyler Shaw a team that may not
find much.

Speaker 12 (01:08:41):
Fulfillment and willing going forward agreed to a fully guaranteed
contract worth ten point eight million dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
I rounded that up.

Speaker 9 (01:08:48):
Cincinnati Bengals defensive an Shamar Stewart did not report the
training camp with the rest of.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
The team's rookies today.

Speaker 12 (01:08:53):
He's the lone first round pick in this year's draft
class who has not yet signed his rookie deal. And
you know what he might I think off the time,
have my the seventh there's only seven players, wow, between
the first and second rounds we've yet to have been signed.

Speaker 3 (01:09:06):
Shamar Stewart the only one in the first round. So
back to you guys. All right, thank you very much, Martin.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
As always, once again, we are coming you live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios. Don't forget after the show,
the podcast is going up, So if you miss any
of today's show, be sure to check out the podcast.
Just search Fox Sports Radio where we get your podcasts,
and follow review the podcast, give it a big five star,
and ken. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever we get
your podcast to see today's show posted. Right after we

(01:09:31):
get off the air, We're gonna break a little bit
early because coming up on the other start, we're gonna
get a chance to talk to our NBA insider Mark Medina,
all the latest and all these buyout of contracts signings
all over the NBA. This is Fox Sports Saturday, Harvin
and Husky Fox Sports Saturday once again, coming live from

(01:09:54):
the Fox Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 4 (01:09:57):
Coming up after US, Jason fitz Buck Rising will be here.

Speaker 3 (01:10:00):
I want to think.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
No, that's what it says right here, Martin can you
come on? Mike, I'm I'm I'm reading what's on my
list here?

Speaker 9 (01:10:10):
I did you write this and subscribe to the podcast?
Coming up next on Fox Sports Radio after Hartman and Husky,
it will be Martin Wison, Alex Monicco.

Speaker 3 (01:10:17):
Okay, so there you go.

Speaker 11 (01:10:19):
Is that?

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
Yeah? That one was on me, Steve, that's my bat. Okay, Well,
I just let everybody's locked in. Well again, I'll get
yourself together. Ian's got a lot on his plate, a
lot of I leave working with you, and this is
and this is what I come back to.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
At least we know he's not the superstar this week,
guilty charged all on all accounts. Ian, outside of that
tremendous job is always Mary Mack is the absolute best.
Mary Mack came in to say hi to VJ and
see VJA and.

Speaker 4 (01:10:49):
I haven't seen him.

Speaker 3 (01:10:49):
Mary to you too, I know she is. I haven't
writing them, I haven't seen them to him. Why you
should have seen me and Ian in the hallway. Man,
haven't seen them to in a while.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
Man, Well, it was good to have you back, and
it's also great to have this man back to give
us the latest on what's happening around the NBA are Insider,
the always busy Mark Mendina has found time for us today.
Mark always appreciate the time. Let's get right to it
right now. So Marcus Smart missed two thirds of the
games over the last two years after leaving the Celtics.

(01:11:20):
Now he's a laker. What are they getting at this
point in Marcus Smart's career. Is it conceivable that he
could play sixty five games this year and give them
the same kind of defense that he had in his
heyday with the Celtics, Or is that Marcus Smart gone?

Speaker 13 (01:11:35):
Well, I think the availability version of Marcus Smart is gone.
That's a big question mark on how durable he's gonna play.
But when he has been on the court, he has
been effective as a defender, a great locker room guy,
emotional leader, his shooting its very feats or famine. Sometimes
he'll go six to six from the field or go
oh of eight. Usually there's very little in between. I

(01:11:57):
thank Steve because it's a deal on the buyo market.
It's kind of a low risk move, so at the
very least, they give him some needed defense and they
give them another voice in the locker room that isn't
afraid to call out Luca Doctors and Lebron James and
everyone else when things don't go well.

Speaker 4 (01:12:14):
Mark, are you doing, Man, VJ run on Husky here?
Good to talk to.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
Your brother's been man, Yeah, good to talk to as always. Man,
I haven't seen you since the Laker games. Man, it's
been a minute, brother since we've called. Yeah, thank you, brother.
So let's think with la Man. You and I have
both been there a bunch of Laker games, Clipper games.
I mean, my head's just scratching. I'm not judging these
moves yet. The Marcus Smart move, it's like, okay, I'm
just I'm trying to feel that. The Lakers feel like

(01:12:36):
there's such a flux, and then a team across town
up in Inglewood and into it. The Clippers pretty much
send off Norman Power replace him with Bradley Beale. I
just I don't like it, man, and I'm trying to
figure out why. Why was that type of move made.
This is a guy that we thought people were claming
to be an All Star, and in normal power, I
think he's a much better defender. He may not be
the knockdown shooter that Bradley bill is, but I didn't

(01:12:59):
think that that's what the Clippers need it. What team
do you feel like is a better position to make
a longer run in the postseason and why?

Speaker 13 (01:13:09):
Well, it's a very tough but good question Vija to
answer because a lot of it's just on hell and
there's a lot of question marks about Bradley Beal's durability
because his time in Phoenix was pretty much on the
bench because he missed so many games. Now, talking to
his agent this week, Mark Bartleston, he was saying, you know,
he's spending the off season getting strong, will proving his body,

(01:13:32):
but we'll have to see when he's actually on the court.
So as a berutine, so you know why the Clippers
are doing this. I understand your skepticism, but here's their
thought process. Norman pal perfect two way players adjusted seamlessly
as a starter. Reason why they didn't extend him is
they're trying to free up some cap space or next
summer to possibly make a big move. Whether it's if

(01:13:54):
Gianna sounds like Cuba becomes available Nikola Jokic, those might
be pipe dreams, frankly, but I think it's the broader
idea of being in a position to make a major deal.
So if it was just for basketball, it would be
a no brainer. You bring back Norman Pale. But I
think all things considered, they still have a respectable roster.
But there are a lot of questions, and as always

(01:14:14):
with the Clippers, it starts with hell with now Bradley Field,
but obviously with Kawhi Leonner and let.

Speaker 3 (01:14:19):
Me just piggyback on that good, great answer and return.
But so they want to clear cap for the next room. Fine, Mark, listen,
I'm not going to argue that. But if you swing
and miss next summer, you cleared this cab space and
gave away an integral part of your team. And now
Bradley Beil has probably shipped off somewhere else and now
you're just in flux. Man, You're you You've torn down

(01:14:42):
what actually people thought could be a decent team to
make a decent run. I just I get what you're saying.
I'm just not sure. I'm like you said, those are
pipe dreams. Johanna's Jokic. Yeah, okay, Lake, let me know
when that happens. Wake me up when that happens.

Speaker 13 (01:14:56):
Well, well, how about this. The Clippers, who never can
see need this for obvious reasons. But I think if
you if we connect the dots here, I think the
Clippers that concluded, if they just ran back and retained
their main team, it's good for a first round exit,
and that's basically it. And sore feeling on this team.
So the reason why they're trying to make some you know,

(01:15:19):
risk keep but potentially you know, high potential payoff moves
is that if they just want status quo, their ceilings
pretty limited. So you know, there's a lot of questions.
But they're selling point to Bradley Beal as they you know,
be be the guy that made you an All Star.
Don't feel inhibited like you weren't Phoenix. He's going to
be the starting point guard. But that was the same

(01:15:40):
kind of the rhetoric that they share with Russell Westbrook
and when you're sharing the ball with someone like James
Hard and Kawhi Leonard. Inevitably, there's a lot of opportunity
to be very good, but a lot of challenges around
along the way on how they share all those responsibilities.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
By the way, staying with the Clippers for a moment
here CEP. Three, returning to the Clippers, why not Blake Griffin? Right,
I love city, Let's bring it back in.

Speaker 13 (01:16:04):
But how about DeAndre Jordan?

Speaker 4 (01:16:06):
I mean, let's they're all free agents ready to roll.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
But I mean JJ reddicks here in La too.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
So at this point of his career twenty years in
twenty years in CP three, does he really want to be.

Speaker 4 (01:16:19):
Such a reduced role player? I mean, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
Having covered you know, sort of when he first came
to La quite a bit down there in that era
of the Clippers.

Speaker 3 (01:16:30):
Does his ego allow that? I mean, is that something
that he wants?

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
Is he just looking to extend his career in another
year getting paid or what do you think the mindset
would be for a Chris Paul if he were to
rejoin the Clippers in obviously a very reduced role.

Speaker 13 (01:16:47):
Yeah, I think it's a very unique circumstance because he's
back in LA. He has ties with the Clippers. I
think I want to put them as a contender. I
would put them on paper, but you know, we know
all the fluid moving parts. But there is an outside
chance that this could give him that chance to win
a title. Now to your broader point, is he willing

(01:17:09):
to accept a reduced role. He's been willing to do
that ever since going to San Antonio, and he has
been doing a good job of embracing the mentorship role.
But I think the end of the day, he wants
to still have an impact on the game, still prove
that he can play at a high level. So I
think the sacrifice is there as far as minute shots

(01:17:32):
even coming off the bench. But he's not wanting to
just sign up to be a pedestrian player. He still
wants to be able to have his fingerprints on the
team as far as managing everyone.

Speaker 3 (01:17:45):
Mark, talk to me about my pissons. Just real fast, man.
Did you like the offseason?

Speaker 4 (01:17:49):
You like the moves?

Speaker 3 (01:17:50):
We know have him on the leak Beasley, but then
they added some other player, Duncan Robinson, three point shooter.
We know we need it. I'm excited, man, I you
know I know we got Alist in the first round.
I call I call pisiness and six I was wrong.
But I like where my Pistons are moving. Man, what
do you think about their offseason? What Trajan Lang and
those guys are doing up in the MotorCity.

Speaker 13 (01:18:07):
Yeah, I mean, all things considered, it's as good as
it can be. Duncan Robinson is a great three point shooter,
and obviously them losing the leak Beasley, that's a huge
stem because he was posting career high numbers and proving
as a defender. Ironically enough, he was seen as a
very good locker room influenced leader before all. You know,
this investigation came down. But the Pistons, they're a young

(01:18:29):
team on the rise. They showed that, you know, they're
a force to be reckoned with, and all they need
to do is just continue that continuity of building around
Kate Cunningham. So you know, it's not ideal what happened
with Malik Beasley, but they're still going to be a
player in these especially when you look into the dynamic
that the Boston Celtics. They have a player with an

(01:18:50):
achilles injurw Jasons had them same thing with the Indiana
Pacers with Tyree Taliburn. The Milwaukee Bucks, they have a
lot of question marks. Even though they got Miles Turner,
is that enough to still make them contender for the contender?
So I think outside of Cleveland, New York, it's really
up for grabs with everyone else in theage.

Speaker 2 (01:19:07):
All Right, we don't have a lot of time, but
I got to get your thoughts. More investigation going on
gambling in the NBA. Did Terry Rozier at thirty bets
placed in forty six minutes in a game in twenty
twenty three and he was under on every one of
those and somebody walked away with a lot of money.

(01:19:28):
I know the NBA doesn't want to call attention to it,
but behind closed doors, what kind of concerns do they
have with multiple investigations going on right now of alleged
gambling involving players in the NBA.

Speaker 13 (01:19:42):
Well, it's a lot of concerns because I think the
thing that they fear is that, well, this involved not
just a rotation player but an actual star player. And
I'm not naive to the way the world works, but
I would be surprised if it ever involved a star player.
But just because they're already making so much money, is
probably not worth the risk. But you know, ever since

(01:20:04):
you know they've had business relationships with gambling companies, you know,
all bets are off. You know, the NBA clearly wants
to have revenue strooms. They want to have their cake
and eat it too. But this is a downside on
when you tap into those kind of revenue strooms.

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
Great stuff, Marcus always, we appreciate it. We'll talk to
again next week.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
Steve VJ.

Speaker 13 (01:20:25):
You guys are the best. Appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (01:20:28):
Mark Medina. Yeah, that is sort of that.

Speaker 4 (01:20:31):
You know, you you go to bed with all these
gambling establishments.

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
And then you.

Speaker 4 (01:20:37):
These guys are dumb, man, I'm serious.

Speaker 3 (01:20:39):
You know, not to do it. They're going to catch you.

Speaker 2 (01:20:41):
Well, they don't, that's the whole thing. They think they're
going to be. They're talked into it like they'll never
figure this out. Believe me, this is easy money. It's
going direct. Clean your pocket.

Speaker 3 (01:20:50):
VJ. Great stuff, man.

Speaker 4 (01:20:51):
We always do it again tomorrow. I see you tomorrow,
see you tomorrow again.

Speaker 3 (01:20:56):
Coming up. Keep it right here. This is Fox Sports
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