Chris and Caron: 06/24/2018

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Sports Radio. It's Chris and Karan Fox Sports Radio. Chris Mannox,
Yahoo Sports. Karan Butler, two time All Star NBA champion,
will come you live the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios.
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Quote today. What's happening, Karan? Happy weekend after the draft? Yeah,

(00:28):
I'm good man. You know the draft is over, We've
got free as I keep thinking, like, all right, the
draft is over the season, No, no free agency that
frames is over the season. No, no summer league. And
then it's Thumber Leagues over there. It's like, oh no,
then it's the guys that signed in like late July.
You gotta get to like end of July early August
to really kind of breathe. And even then, last year,

(00:48):
what do we have? Kyrie Irving traded in August. I
was on vacation in Maine. No, so this is like
the one week out of the year Koran that I'm
sure I can get away and not worry about anything.
I'm on vacation Maine, and and let's full disclosure, I'm
pretty well loaded. The entire week I'm pretty drunk that
entire week. Um, and I get a call from my
editor being like, how on vacation are you? I go,

(01:10):
I'm really on vacation. He goes, oh, because Kyrie just
got traded. I go, Now, I'm not writing anything unless
you want. Like the word very used like seventeen times over,
like a very very good deal for Boston yea Celtics,
Like that's all I could have Mustard at that point,
but it's it's the NBA man they've captured at least
eleven months out of the year at least, it's all

(01:32):
year round now it really is. It really is all
year round. And we don't know if this decision from
Lebron James is gonna come rather quickly or is this
gonna come in his orderly fashion where he's gonna string
this thing out and just have it as a log
jam for so many other free agents for some time
and everybody's gonna have their eyes glued on this process. Oh,
it's never for him. It's never quick, right. I mean

(01:53):
you look at the last two decisions. I believe it
was July eight for the first one and July twelve
the back and want I could have reversed those, but
I know eight and twelfth if I remember correctly, for those,
So we're gonna have at least a week I would
imagine before Lebron makes a decision. We'll get into this
down the road. But this is a far more complicated
decision for him than than others have been, right, I mean,

(02:14):
you know last time it was, you know, going back
to Cleveland and like the seeds are planted for that
months before is they kind of figured out the relationship
between Lebron and owner Dan Gilbert Miami. We know from
reporting that these guys have been talking about it going
back to the oh aight Olympics. Now, I don't know
where he stands. And what I want to get into

(02:34):
with you is the latest information about Paul George Um,
what we know about Kauai Leonard at this point, some
conflicting reports out there about Kauai. But before we do that, Karan,
I got three guys that I believe after the draft,
I'm now going to be intertwined forever, and I want
to get your thoughts on who the best player of
this group is gonna be. Marvin Bagley, Luca don Chick,

(02:56):
and Trey Young. Those three guys. Bagley because they is
passed on Daunt for him, Dunch because the Mavericks traded
up to get him, and the Atlanta Hawks traded back
to grab Trey Young. Of those three players right now,
is we speak the date being June, Who's the best

(03:16):
player of that bunch? I'm gonna say badly, just just
for the simple fact that you know, he's ready to score.
He's gonna have all the opportunities. I mean, Zach Randolph
in the year sixteen seventeen, I think for him he
was the leading scorer of that ball club. And Badley
is you know, more athletic. He's a guy that can

(03:36):
score the ball at a rapid pace. He's gonna live
around the rim and it's gonna be built around him
to be successful. The only thing I questioned is just
the organization thing. You know, I'm looking at, you know how,
who's going to teach him the ins and outs of
the NBA. Who's gonna be there every step of the
way to show him that how to be a professional
on and off the court, the preparation, all these things.

(03:56):
But I feel like he has a tremendous upside and
he's gonna, uh, you know, blossomed in in that system. Well,
you know, ideally, and you played there so you know
the structure of it. But ideally, I would think, like,
if you've got a big man that can do a
lot of things offensively, doesn't that sound like Lady Divac,
Doesn't it sound like a guy? I mean Vlada in

(04:16):
his playing days, it was a tremendous talent. I mean
he we talked about guys that reinvented the positions in
some ways. Vlady in the nineteen eighties and into the
nine nineties was a unicorn out there. It came to
five men. I mean, guys couldn't do what Vlady did.
I would think him taking on a bigger role, uh
you know, in terms of coaching would be useful in
this context. No, yeah, I think I think he he

(04:40):
had played a huge role, like he did the same
thing with de Marcus Cousins, and you know, obviously we
know how that ended. But at the same time I
think that, yeah, well yeah, it didn't. It didn't end
well because you know, um, the foundation was disturbed, like
it was fractured, and he was trying to fix it
on the fly and it just didn't work with the coaches,
you know, four or five coaches and five year spans.
The your span is just did not work at all.

(05:03):
But with with with Badley, I think it's gonna be
totally different. But I do feel like you need that
that presence of uh developmental guy on that sideline to
get him right, a big developmental big Okay, So I'm
actually gonna take don Che in this scenario because one
thing about Luca Donchees the last couple of months, I

(05:23):
feel like he's been unfairly picked apart. You know, while
these other guys were either not working out or working
out against nobody, Luca, Luca don che was playing games.
I mean, he was over there in the EuroLeague, playing
in highly competitive games against players significantly older than him,
and he was playing well. But in the moments that
he didn't play well, it feels like we kind of

(05:43):
picked him apart a little bit too much. Now I'm
thinking to myself, like, you know, none of these guys
have been playing since March at the latest. What what
are we doing here? Like? Why are we being so
aggressive at picking apart Luca donches his game? I think
it's a little bit unfair. It does concern me a
little bit. Now, one thing I was in Sacramento, Karan
was that, you know, Vlada was a huge Bagley guy.

(06:04):
I would have thought the reverse, I know, and I
reported up until the day's prior that there was some
back and forth going on there between don Chech and
Uh and Marvin Bagley. I was told though that Vlada
was a big Bagley guy, and that surprised me a
little bit. Given the international connection you got pageously Acovic
in that front office as well, I would have thought
that front office would have made don che a priority,

(06:25):
especially when you factor in that the pick of of
don Chi would have been extremely popular in Sacramento, Like
that pick would have gotten a lot of cheers and
a lot of positive press. I thought that would have
been enough to bump it over the edge. But Vlada
being a proponent of don Chech, that surprised me, that
really did. But you you know, you gotta go for

(06:46):
the short thing if you're Sacramento, because save you take
that chance it and you might as well consider if
this kid don't pan out, that lady job is, you know,
out the window, because they're gonna say you took him
for personal reasons or whatever the case. But the clear
cut obvious choice should have been badly if you saw
his production, you saw what he's capable of doing. You
saw that he's a gamer. He's most ready right now.

(07:07):
And there's still a lot of you know, questions about
Trey Young. You know, can he perform at this level? Uh?
And and do all the things that he did? Is
he a point guard? Is here too? Is he too little?
All these things? And then the same thing with uh,
you know the kids from overseas that you know got
drafted by Dallas is like, okay, is he big enough?

(07:28):
Is he slow that? Like? Is he quick enough? H
he has the agility and speed to keep up with
the guards at that position? We don't know. So he
took the safe bet. I'm with you on Trey Young
and the question marks there. I mean the Atlanta Hawks
and I had written this prior to the draft. The
Little Hawks were very very high on him. They were
less less big less high on They wanted Trey Young, though,

(07:50):
wanting to move back, so that deal worked out for
both teams in terms of what they wanted at that time.
Dallas really wanted to move up. They weren't big on
Jaren Jackson. They weren't big on Mo Bamba. They want
of the talent of European and now they think they
have the next great European player who can eventually supplant
the great European player they still have on that roster
and Dirk Davitski. But these guys Karan, they're gonna be

(08:11):
forever kind of intertwined for that reason because you know,
badly taken over don Chitch, don chits traded. Uh. Team
trades up to get him, Atlanta trades down to pass
on him. Those three guys are are always going to
be kind of linked. And the best player out of
those three, um, I'll be it'll be worth watching in
the years to come. But the other guy name I
want to ask you about, and the other guy that

(08:32):
really surprised me that he fell so far, and that's
Michael Porter Jr. Uh, we we know how good he is.
I mean you played that position in small forward position. Uh,
this guy is a tremendous talent. I mean people would
tell me that talent wise, Michael Porter Jr. He's right
up there with DeAndre eight. If it was just based
on pure talent, it would be those two guys neck
and neck. But that back injury that clearly played a

(08:53):
big role. I talked to some teams after the fact,
and I kept hearing some horrifying things about the potential
for that back injury, things like, may not play this
entire season, could become a chronic injury, may not have
been able to play in back to backs long term.
That's what scared these teams off. And and and look, I
give Denver credit sitting there at fourteen. It's a roll
the dice, no question about it. But it's high risk

(09:16):
and maybe even higher reward for Denver. What do you
think about Porter slipping that far? Yeah, you know what,
I saw the same thing. You know, whenever you have
you know that the thing about the NBA and obviously
collegian basketball is that availability is so important. You need
to be available to be successful. And you know, to
have have the chance to have scouted a young man
at that position. Now, granted you know he wasn't available

(09:39):
for uh much of the season, and and obviously you
just touched on some of the things that everyone knows
from watching him in the A U circle and all
these things that he's a heck of a talent. This
guy has no silings. He can do so many things,
and if healthy, he can be special. So you know,
Denver did an excellent job of, you know, looking at
the medicals and then going over in the same Look,

(10:01):
if we can get this guy core strong, come back
from this surgery, come back from this situation, and get
him in a position where he's available at all times
and put him in the system where he can blossom,
you know, this can be the steal of the draft.
And that's the chance that they took. And look, everybody
loves a feel good story, a comeback story, and I
definitely feel if he remains healthy he can be that. No,
he can be the steal the draft. Um, you know,

(10:24):
and I like the risk the Nuggets took here and
I'm a little bit surprised. And again I didn't see
the medicals, so that's a huge part of all this.
But I have a little bit surprised by a few
teams not taking a flyer on him. I mean the
Knicks they went with a safe pick Kevin Knox. I
mean they think that he can be a long term
play there not he's not gonna I don't think it
makes much of an impact this first year, but they

(10:46):
think with Fizdale his staff that can work it out
the Sixers. As I'm watching the Sixers draft, if Sam
Hanky was still the GM of the Sixers, he takes
Michael Porter June. You know that he takes him because
he took Joe m b when he wasn't healthy. He
took Dio Saric when he knew it wasn't get him
for two years. He took these guys and and Michael
Porter Jr. Is exactly the kind of draft pick that

(11:07):
Sam Hanky makes, you know, high reward uh down line.
But that even the Clippers Koran with two picks there.
That though the Clippers made some incredibly bizarre uh decision there.
I look, I saw Jerome Robinson up close and personal.
I'm a Boston College grad. I like him. God, I
wish he stayed in school. Um for personal reasons, I didn't.
I didn't see him as a lottery pick, you know,

(11:28):
as as I watched him last season. Same thing with
the kid from Kentucky, Alexander. If they trade they flipped, uh,
was it bridges for him? I didn't see him as
as this like you know, long term NBA play. I
thought the Clippers made some interesting decisions on draft night. Yeah,
they did. You know, they got a lot of valuable
pieces though, they really did. And the thing that questions

(11:49):
that that I questioned with the Clippers, there was a
couple of games out of making it out the playoffs,
and they struggled with having versatility and guys available, you know,
um losing their point are you know, and Patrick Beverley
early in this season, and uh, you know, not not
having you know, uh some of their forward guys to
you know, kind of just distribute the ball and have
that versatility out there in the court, I think and

(12:11):
hinder them. I think it hurts. So now they got
a lot of young guys that's hungry to get out
there and play, that could create do some special things.
And I think they're gonna be right there seven and eight,
you know, fight for a spot and possibly get in
the playoffs this year. Yeah. Look those I mean, look,
we don't know how these players pan out. But if
Michael Porter Jr. Turns into the star that his talent

(12:33):
suggests he can be, there'll be a bunch of teams
kicking themselves at the end of the day for passing
on a player with that kind of talent. Alright, So
the christ and Karan show Fox Sports Ready a lot
to get to today. We are a week away, literally
a week away from the start of free agency. Where
to look ahead to Kai Kai but Lebron, James, Paul George,
a little bit of news there, uh and of course
Kawhi Leonard what happens there. We've had some of the

(12:54):
last couple of days suggesting that the Spurs have something
on their mind there. So we get into all that
next us in Karan here on Fox Sports Radio. It's
Chris and Karan here on Fox Sports Radio. Great news.
There's a quick way you could save money. Switched to Geiko.
Go to Geico dot com and in fifteen minutes you
could say fifteen percent or more on car insurance. You

(13:15):
catch Carmelo Anthony's Instagram comments from this last couple of days, Karan,
I think Carmelo has got a few mess to send
to people. I mean, were there actually people out there
that the Carmelo anthem is gonna opt out of that contract? Like, seriously,
twenty eight million dollars, Give me a break. He was
always gonna opt today and he should by the way

(13:36):
he signed the contract. He's somebody you know, believed he
was deserved that money. Take the money, man Hamstrings Oklahoma City,
but take the money. It's not somebody believed he was
worth the money. He is and was worth the money
when he signed a contract at that time. You know,
his value was that, you know, And it's amazing to

(13:57):
see that so many people will forget rather quickly. You know. Look,
he tried to adapt to a different type of role,
had career lows and some of the numbers, but look
he was a catching shoot guy and as the third option.
And you still have a sixteen points, you know. I
see a lot of guys, you know, you know, averaging
thirteen points getting a hundred million dollar contracts right now,

(14:19):
you know, so uh, you know, look, you can't fought
him for that. And I don't understand, Like what's I mean?
I guess it was a slow day media they had
to talk about it, you know, but he you know,
he deserved that contract. Future Hall of Famer man. Look
you go, you go back to what was a two
thousand and eleven when he first signed that contract, and
we remember with the circumstances then, right, because you had

(14:42):
the Bulls after him. But the Bulls could only offer
the four year contract and the Knicks rafter him, Phil
Jackson or sat down with him at that time, so
we want you. They offered the full five year max.
Thinks a little under the max, but barely a couple
million bucks. And people criticized Carmel at that time for
choosing money over winning. And look, I think that's a
fair criticism because he went back to New York because

(15:03):
they could offer the most money. The Bulls they were
at that time in a position to win. They had
Derick Rose and and still as m v P type
Dirck Rose. Yet Noah, there you had a whole bunch
of guys there that could play. So you know, we
criticized him at that time. But if kurml la Anthon
was a free agent this summer, do you think you'd
get anywhere near twenty eight million dollars. He'd be lucky

(15:26):
to get eight million dollars. Lucky to get eight million dollars.
And and he understands that, and I think like as
fans people need to understand that also and stop being
so critical. If you're working a job right now and
whatever it is in your profession, whatever walk that you
what life that you do, and you're making forty million,
forty thousand dollars or a hundred thousand dollars a year

(15:48):
or two, whatever the number is, and it's guaranteed, Are
you going to take a risk on the open market
to take less? And the answer should be uh. I'm
not the smartest man in the world, but I know
the answer should be is no. If you've got a
guarantee situation, why would you gamble and you know the
number is gonna be, uh, extremely less? And that's what

(16:10):
he's doing. He's like, look, I gotta guarantee. Let me
look at this real quick, seven point nine million dollars.
I gotta seven point nine million. You take the money.
Everybody else would take the money. Everybody else would everybody
else take the money? So I don't play him for
doing it. Puts Oklahoma City in a tough spot. And
I honestly think that they are going to be negotiations

(16:31):
or at least thoughts in the Oklahoma City front office
about a buyout. Uh. I think they'll they'll discuss that
and see what's best for them if they can work
something now with Carmello want a buyout. But I don't
fault him at all for opting into that contract. Nobody
else should because you take that money too. If you
if your option was to make at the very minimum
twenty million dollars less, you would take all that money.

(16:53):
All right. Let me ask you about another guy that's
gonna get some money hit the free agent market, or
this guy is going to get bought out. Dwight Howard
traded again? How about this current traded again, Dwight Howard.
I don't know if you agree with this, but I
think Dwight Howard's a Hall of Famer. I think he's yeah,
hasn't won championship, but he's going to be in the
Hall of Fame. His numbers alone, his level of dominance
in the last calendar year, just literally right at the

(17:16):
last calendar year. He has been traded twice in deals
that on paper are incredibly lopsided. He was traded effectively
from Atlanta to Charlotte last year from Marshall for Marshall
plumb Ly. Yes, the other plumb Ly A Miles Plumbly
started three Plumble Miles Plumbly, who had three years left
in his contracts. It wasn't like you get miss Plumbly

(17:38):
and an expiring deal. You got Miles Plumbly. And three
years on a bad contract. This year days ago he
was traded from Charlotte to the Brooklyn Nets for Timothy Mosgoff,
who has years a year left on his contract a
year longer, so two years left in his contract. So
Dwight Howard has quite literally by two teams been told

(17:59):
to shove off. And this is a guy, Karen, the
last two years has been healthy. Why do you play
this past season one games? He gave them what sixteen
and twelve something along those lines? On paper, Dwight Howard
is still a high level player, and yet playing a
position where there really aren't a bunch of high level players.
He has been told get out now you're next player.

(18:21):
You've got your finger in the pulse of of the
NBA's thoughts on Dwight way more than I do. But
what's your take on Dwight Howard being dumped and now
bought out by the way the Brooklyn Nets stink? And
he was just bought out by the Brooklyn Nets probably
for you know, nine cents on the dollar. What do
you think? What do you think about that? Look? I
thought it was, you know, amazing season he just had,

(18:43):
you know, this past season after you know, reavent itself
after the Hawks situation numbers was down, came back. Looked
like the Dwight Old has some flashes, jumping over the rim.
Just looked like he was having fun again. And you
know all the things that I was here and personally was,
you know, not a good locker room guy. You know guys,
you know this. Then enjoyed playing with him. So we

(19:06):
had brought him on, you know, on the draft show.
And we brought him on and he called in and
he had an excellent conversation addressing off those issues, saying that, look,
I have so much basketball left in me, saying that
he wants to be on the winning team, understanding that
he's gonna be a future Hall of Famer, And I
asked him, what do you want your legacy to be.
I want to be remembered as a great human being.

(19:28):
I want to be a winner. I want to do
all these things. And all those struck a nerve with me,
because you know, perception is one thing, and you can
hear it in his voice that he's all about like
just winning and leaving a good taste in people mouth
after he lead this game of basketball. But he did
say I have a lot of basketball left in me.
You look at guys like Lebron James, Chris Paul, Look,

(19:48):
I'm look I was born in eighty five. They mean
that I got a lot of basketball left in me,
and I want to continue to play. Him thirty two
years old and I'm looking forward to having a long,
long career. That was a great interviewer. Are actually gonna
replay that interview you did with Dwight Howard in the
second hour of the show, So stick around for for that.
My question though, Corona and as soon as like and
I'd look at it from a reporter's perspective. UM. I

(20:10):
made a few calls talk to some gms UH and
lower level guys and organizations about Dwight and he here's
the basics of it. If he's willing to take like
the veteran minimum, they'll be teams that are willing to
sign him. If he's looking for the mid level exception,
which is eight million dollars plus, I don't know where
he's gonna get it. I don't think there's a market

(20:32):
forum at eight million dollars plus per year. Now. An
obvious team to look at for Dwight Howard is the
New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans a couple of years ago
tried to acquire Dwight Howard from the from the Hawks.
That deal didn't get done, but Del Demp's is still there,
Danny Ferry is still there. Those are two guys that
like Dwight Howard a lot. And you have to remember,

(20:53):
I don't believe that the Pelicans are all that excited
about the idea of resigning to Marcus Cousins. I don't.
I think they they're willing to bring him back. But
if the dollar figure is too high, and you know
Mark de Marcus too, he's looking for big dollars. If
that dollar figure is too high, I say, he said
that in my podcast recently. Uh Max, if he's looking
for Max, he is not going to get it from

(21:13):
the Pelicans. So the Pelicans, uh, would be in a
position to maybe get, you know, a cheaper version of Cousins.
Granted it's not it's somebody doesn't have the offensive versatility
of Cousins. But if you can bring in Dwight in
a lower figure, it enables you to resign Rondo because
you have more money to do that, and you know
Dwight would come off the bench, maybe start in some

(21:34):
situations in a three man kind of big man rotation
with Anthony Davis, with the Cold the Meritage, and of
course now with Dwight Howard. So look for the Pelicans
to be in the mix. Look for the Celtics to
be in the mix. You've got Danny Ainge who a
few years ago when Dwight was still in Houston, he
was trying to acquire it. So the Celtics, who could
lose Aaron Bains in free agency, that's somebody keeping the mix.

(21:56):
Another team might be the Lakers. I think Dwight is
a party Dwight that wants to go back l a
and and redeem himself there and with a different team
and a different system. So I think the market Karan
is gonna be there for him. But if his agent,
I believe, is Aaron Goodwin the brothers there, uh, the
Goodwin Brothers. If if his agents say we want eight

(22:18):
plus million dollars there, he's not gonna get it. He
might have to go to China. Like he's incredibly popular
in China. He could make five million bucks a year
in China. I'm just saying, Karen, like that, that's where
it's at. Like if he wants money, he's gonna have
to go somewhere else. Like if don't you think and
look again, I'm looking at this is from the outside.
You're you're a player, but like if you're Dwight Howard,

(22:39):
you're already getting Let's assume he gets like twenty of
the twenty four million dollars from from the nets you're
getting paid this year. No matter what, don't you go
someplace you can win and you know that where you
fit in and can win and try to redeem yourself.
Isn't that the smart way to go? Yeah? I think it's.
I think it's all about winning with him, and that's
you know, a point of emphasis of what he's you know,
talked about out when he came on. He was just like, look,

(23:01):
I want to win. I don't. I don't think it's
about a money thing. But he do want to want
the world to know and and and and this everyone
to know that, Look, you know, I have a lot
of value still and I have a lot of basketball
left in me. I don't want people to look at like, yo,
I'm on the back end of my career. This is it.
I mean, he kept you know, he made he made
a clear point in case of saying, look, Lebron James,

(23:24):
you know this guy, you know, he's your fifteen and
he's doing this Chris Paul thirty three years old. He's
doing it like I'm younger and I want to continue
to play at the high level and my body feel
great and all these things. And you know, I really,
I really do believe him, and I think that it's
not about money. I just think it's about planning the
winning situation and winning environment and just you know, changing

(23:45):
the narrative of in the perception of what people see
you to be around the association. This is a perfect
opportunity for him to do that. He is going to
effectively get paid this year when the Nets buy him out.
They can't do it until July six, and I don't
I don't think they's a little dollar figure yet. But
when the Nets buy him out, he's gonna get his
money for this year if he chooses to go to

(24:07):
a situation where he can help a team win a ring.
And look, I don't mind him ring chasing at this
point because ring chasing for Dwight Howard not only helps
rehabilitate your image, but maybe you do get a ring
and then that adds to your resume. But if he
winds up taking like I'm trying to even think of
who would sign him at this point, like go to
Orlando and take like five million dollars, I'm gonna know

(24:27):
all I need to know about Dwight Howard. All Right,
we're gonna get more into this a little bit later
on the show. We're gonna replay that interview that Karen
Butler and the guys did with Dwight Howard a little
bit later in the program. But first, let's check in
with Ilo. See what's going on out there? What's up? Bilo?
Perfect time in Chris and Karan, because at the World
Cup Japan and Senegal we're tied one one until just
moments ago in the seventy feet minute in Sibali from

(24:55):
a touchdown the back post, the back post to start
Smasha Senegal the seventy peppery Gaoid mark follow all the
call on Fox. So it is now Senegal to Japan
one now in the seventy five minute. Earlier today, England
advanced the round of sixteen with a six one victory

(25:16):
over Panama, led by a Harry Kane hat trick. We've
been working on set pieces. We've been working on the
way we want to play and it's still coming together us.
So uh yeah, Britian Missile. Obviously fantastic to be fo
and to do it and this this way is Kane
with five goals in two games, the most in this
year's World Cup. Finally, coming up at two pm Eastern
on Fox, Columbia clashes with Poland with both teams oh

(25:40):
and one in Group H play. Chris and Karen back
to you. It's Chris and garon Fox Sports Radio. Chris
Mannix Yahoo Sports, Ran Butler, two time All Star NBA champion.
We're coming you live from the Getico Fox Sports Radio studios.
It's easy to say fift more in car insurance with Geico,
go to Geico dot com or call seven Otto. The
only hard part figuring out which way is easier is it?

(26:04):
Are you allowed on Fox Sports ready to say that
you hate soccer? Is that they frowned on that here
at the station because I really hate soccer. I don't
know I did I mean? And but to be fair, Kern,
this is like not a new thing. Like when I
was at Sports Illustrated UM SIT in my late twenties
and it was before World Cup maybe or not. I

(26:24):
don't think it was for a World Cup, but it
was when soccer really started to take hold in the US.
And I have long been even an s I like
because I'm around a lot of soccer files people that
love the game. I'm I was one of those people
that said, I can't watch this. I just can't do it.
I need scoring, I need action, I need a lot
of points on the boards. Why like basketball so much?
So they told me to rent a minivan and drive

(26:46):
up and down the East Coast and go to a
bunch of soccer games. So I went to MLS games,
I went to international friendlies, and they believed that like
a ten day, eight game journey watching the beautiful game.
I in the stands with some USA soccer players. I
sat in the luxury suites with USA soccer players, talk
to them. They you know, ran me through all the

(27:07):
stuff that was happening out there the S. I thought
that I would become a soccer lover. I didn't. I
hated it more after that than I ever did before,
ever before. So I encourage you watch on Fox soccer stuff.
Just you won't see me watching on Fox. I'm watching
it live, and I'm watching the replace. I've got it

(27:29):
on here in the studio too. I just there's just
something about the lack of scoring that just bothers me.
Those nil nil ties on the pitch get my lingo down.
But those nil nil ties and they just don't do
a lot for me. All Right, we've been talking about
Dwight Howard. We've been talking about the draft. You have
any thoughts on either eight seven seven six three six
not eight seven seven nine nine on Fox. If you

(27:52):
like your team's draft, you don't like it. If you
like the top of the draft. We talked about Bagley,
don Chich and Trey Young being kind of intertwine forever.
Who got the best of that deal? Eight seven seven
nine nine on Fox eight seven six six three six nine.
And would you take Dwight Howard on your team if
he doesn't cost you anything more than the veteran minimum?
Would you want Dwight Howard on your team? All right, Karen,

(28:14):
let's talk more about the trade that is happening, isn't happening.
Who knows where it's gonna happen to, what team is
gonna be involved. That's Kauai Leonard, we know, but we
know nothing, right, we know nothing about this. We know
that Kauai met with Gregg Popovitz last week. They talked
about something, and now we have a bunch of reports
out there. We have Spurs are gonna hold like kind

(28:35):
of a blind auction. I had reported that earlier in
the week. We had USA Today saying the Spurs are
not gonna trade Kauai the Lakers. In fact, they're either
gonna resign him or trade him the Eastern Conference. I
didn't Kard. I didn't think this deal is gonna go
down on Draft night because that's not how the Spurs operate.
They're a very methodical team when it comes to this stuff.
And if they do wind up trading Kawhi Leonard, I

(28:56):
think it's like mid July when they actually do it.
But what do you make of everything learned the last
week or so about Kawaii. Yeah, you know, once I
heard and got win of you know, pop coming to
fly out and meet with Kauai, uh I just I
was just like, Okay, let's let's see, you know what
type of energy or smoke comes from that me And
you know it's it's exactly on the lines of what

(29:18):
you know, we all probably thought or guests, because the
Spurs have a way of handling business, don't want them
in the Western Conference, probably willing to send him to
the Eastern Conference and a couple of teams that have,
you know, assets that can make that happen or pull
that off. We all know who those teams are. So
it's like, wow, that that would be amazing for them,

(29:38):
but you know, bad for you know what a lot
of people was hoping that would take place in the
Western Conference, you know, particularly with the Lakers, because you
look at the assets that they have, they willing they
can pull it off and open the book and the
roster to the Spurs to make a lot of things happen.
But it doesn't seem like they were willing to entertain those, uh,

(29:59):
those options. No, it doesn't. And look from what I hear,
I think the Spurs will think they can bring him back,
they can change this. I could be wrong, Uh, but
I think the mentality in that organization. Look, I mean
it's it's both from reporting and you know, listening to
what R. C. Beauford said publicly on draft night, I
don't think they've given up on this, Koran. I think

(30:21):
they still believe that that this can be repaired. And
if you're San Antonio, I mean that's the ideal situation.
I mean you've You've built Kauai into the player that
he is today. Look, I give Kauai all the credit,
give the player the credit first. At the same time,
Kauai Letard was an undersized power forward coming into the
pros without a three point shot. He got with the Spurs,
he changed the shot, he became a Finals m v P.

(30:44):
I think the Spurs have to take a lot of credit,
deserve a lot of credit for developing him into the
player that he is today. So if I'm San Antonio,
I'm just not ready to pull the shoot on Kawai
Leonard yet and say we'll auction him off. And it
doesn't seem like that's the case with them. Do you
think this relationship could be reparable between the Kauai and
say Antonio. No. And And the only reason I say
that is because, look like I look at the history

(31:06):
of you know the game, and you know the connection
of the championship and the Finals MVP and not being
able to tell the story of basketball of the San
Antonio Spurs without mentioning Kawhi Leonard so that's forever. You know,
anybody that's been part of a championship organization or team
know that it's going to be a connection in one
way or another for the rest of your life. But

(31:26):
the way that he was handled was just, you know,
glaring to me, because you look at Tony Parker, you
look at mental genoble and the way they went out
publicly and kind of address some issues with his health. Um.
I think that set them back right there, and that's
something that's gonna have to be discussed and handled in
the in the proper manner. But I think it just

(31:48):
rubbed him and his team the wrong way. Yeah, I
totally get that. I totally believe that. Um. And that's
why my my best guess is that sometime in mid
July they come up with the deal for him. Now
I'm not so sure that I believe that they're not
willing to trade him to a team in the Western Conference.
What if a team in the Western Conference makes the

(32:09):
best offer, Because if you're a team other than Lakers,
one thing you have to know before you make an
offer for Kawhi Leonard is what are you gonna get back?
Or what I mean is he you're gonna get back
a guy that wants to be there in the long term.
I mean, that's the big question. Kawhi Leonard has one
year left in his contract. You can't simply make a
deal and trade away cornerstone players your team. And take

(32:30):
Boston for example, the team with the most assets to
offer for the Celtics. You can't deal Jalen Brown, Terro
Rose year that Sacramento Kings pick next year for Kawhi
Leonard without knowing he wants to be there. Would you
would you? Would you do it? Chris for a guaranteed
championship though? But let me ask you that I know
your selfish guy, like, would you do that? Nope? Not
for one, not not for a team, not for a

(32:51):
team built to win two or three. I got you,
you know what I mean. Like other teams, if they're
kind of on their last last breads, the left last
legs there, so to speak, other teams, I might consider it.
But Boston, I know they haven't one anything. And look,
we can point to two thousand twelve Oklahoma Cities an
example of a team that had a lot of young
guys every thought they'd win two or three championships down
the line. They won zero and now that team is

(33:13):
all broken up. But the Celtics, they're in a big market.
They've got their young guys under contract for a long time.
If they bring back Kyrie Irving in a year, that's
another guy under contract for a long time. I wouldn't
do it, not unless he says, yes, I want to
be in Boston for the next five years. Wouldn't happen
for me. So they can will they can win? I mean,

(33:34):
Kauai come over here is they're they're clearly the favorite.
I mean people already saying that there the favorite to
come out to the East clearly next year and possibly
you know, deep throwned the Golden State Warriors. But if
you add that to the mix, look, I'm with you,
and if you get if you get a commitment, you know,
I'd go pretty deep. I do. I do Brown, I
do Rogier. I might do multiple draft picks. I don't

(33:57):
put Tatum on the table because I think Tatum is
gonna be a real special school or UH in this league.
But I do put Brown and Rogier uh into that mix.
All right, Chris and Karan here, Fox Sports Radio. A
lot more to get to, including the free agency of
Lebron James. We're just about a week away, one week
away from Lebron's free agency, and some reports out there
about guys that could affect it. We talked about Kawhi Leonard.
What about Paul George. How likely is it we see

(34:20):
Paul George not in l A, not in Philadelphia, but
back in Oklahoma City. We'll talk about that next. Chris
and Karan here on Fox Sports. It's Chris and Karan
here Fox Sports Radio. Wet a replay Karan Butler's interview
with Dwight Howard happened on Draft Night. Replay that bottom
of the next hour. Terrific interview. Give you some insight
into what Dwight's thinking right now. He's been traded twice

(34:43):
the last calendar year and bought out or will be
bought out by the Brooklyn Nets before we get to
that's on three quarters of the first hour without talking
about Lebron James, and something tells we're not gonna do
much more of that, alright, We're not gonna wait that long.
In the next couple of weeks, Lebron's Aimes is able
to become a free agent on July one. The presumption

(35:04):
is that he's going to opt out of his contract
and become a free agent. Less he has a deal
on the table to be traded somewhere, which I guess
is a possibility. But yeah, we've looked at the usual
candidates Koran for Lebron and Houston and in l A
and I heard Boston, and you know, could Miami maybe
be in the mix? Going back to Cleveland. We've talked
about this before. There's not a great option for Lebron James,

(35:27):
not a natural fit. And now one of the fits
that seem to make a lot of sense from a
basketball perspective, from a lifestyle perspective, which is what we
know that is big for Lebron James, may not be
that appealing from a basketball perspective. Mean, the Lakers are
targeting Kawhi Leonard, but there are zero indications that the

(35:48):
Spurs are interested in trading Kauahi Leonard to the Lakers.
Maybe it's because they don't want trade in West. Maybe
it's because they don't love brandon Ingram or any of
the offers Lakers would put on the table. No interest
at this point. And now you have Paul George out there,
and there have been something we've talked about Karan. We
were at the forefront of this. There have been some
rumblings in the last few days that Paul George may

(36:09):
go back to Oklahoma City, which you and I have
discussed at length, you know, for the last few weeks. Um,
how surprised would you be? I guess let's start here.
How surprised would you be if Paul George went back
to Oklahoma City? I wouldn't be shocked, uh, for the
simple fact that you know, look, when you're playing with
alongside a guy like Russell Westbrook, I mean, he's gonna

(36:30):
get the hit, uh, the superstar treatment, He's gonna get
the praise, but he also is gonna get all the
you know, the controversy that comes with it. You know,
why didn't you guys win? He's gonna take that hit.
And you know, if you're Paul George, you can preserve
your career, you know, even longer by playing alongside a
guy like that. And you know, he had to devastating
injury to his knee, you know, playing on the Olympic

(36:53):
team and all those things. So you gotta think about
longevity in that space and the possibility of you you know,
continuing to get not this contract, which is gonna be
a MAX deal, but possibly one more after that. You're
still relatively young, and you're you're capable of receiving two
more MAX deal. So you gotta think about all those things.
And and and uh I think this planing. Okay, See

(37:14):
as as symboled right now, if Lebron James isn't the
character that's already in Los Angeles, you would be hesitant
to come here because now the pressure if you come
here and know Lebron James, you're gonna be the guy,
You're gonna be the marquee player, and all the pressure
is gonna be on you. For one, with the credentials
that you carry into you being in your hometown, you

(37:35):
know it's gonna be added pressure. Let me ask you this,
because you played with Russell Westbrook, you play with Kevin Durant,
you know Paul George. Do you think the relationship between
Paul George and Russell Westbrook is stronger than the relationship
at the end between Durant and Westbrook? Uh? I would
say at the end, possibly, just because uh you know,

(37:56):
every like you have to think, like these guys got drafted,
they they come up together, they grow together, friendly competition
amongst one another. Uh. And we're talking about Katie and Russ.
But it comes a point where, you know, Kevin Durant,
you know, he's done everything, All Star, All Star, m
VP uh status, uh, you know, getting the league MVP

(38:16):
for regular season and all these things, and now he's
just like, my, my, my legacy is really gonna be
all about winning. And that's why I think he made
the move to Golden State, because he knew that they
can win right now today. Well, with Paul George is
a little different. Isn't about just you know, winning the
championship right now, It's about being in the best situation,
and you know, getting to that point, he still have

(38:37):
you know, valuable window of time where he can lead
up to that. I would imagine that there either will
be or has already been a long conversation between Lebron
and Paul George. Has to have been because though tampering
rules for players, players do whatever they want. And Lebron's
got a decision to make here. He's got to figure
out what the best uh you know, long term fitness
for him, and I don't think he wants to, you know,

(38:58):
July one to make his first contact with Paul George
or to figure things out that way. I want to
think you want I want to. I think Lebron wants
to know what Paul George is thinking right now, and
you know how strong a feeling he has for Oklahoma
City because I think that's where it's because what's come
down to for Paul George. I think it's just those
two teams. Yeah, I know people have mentioned Philadelphia, people
have mentioned Houston. I think it's Oklahoma City. I think

(39:21):
it's l A And I think it's a battle right now.
I think Russell Westberg's recruiting and pretty hard. And I
get a sense too, and this was kind of reported
out there. I think I may even said this in
the show weeks ago, but there's kind of a you know,
not a confidence necessarily, but Oklahoma City feels pretty comfortable
with their chances of bringing him back. So I think
that those conversations I would imagine Karan had already taken place,
been Lebron and Paul George. I think a lot of

(39:43):
conversations and a lot of energy between camps have taken place.
You know, um, the players specifically probably would talk a
little more in depth once Lemron, you know say if
not or if he is gonna actually become a free agent,
which he is, and and then once that happened, I
think it's gonna get more in depth. You'ren't gonna see
mean with the players and etcetera. And you know you're
gonna know or have a good feel of what guys

(40:05):
are gonna do and where they lean. Yeah. I agree.
So we'll talk more about free agency coming up next week.
Also get back into the draft. Michael Porter Jr. Talk
more about that. It's Chris and Karan here on Fox
Sports Radio. It's Chris and Karan Fox Sports Radio. Where
coming you live from the guy Go, Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Fifteen minutes. Gonna have you or more on car insurance.
Visit guy Go dot com for a free rate quote

(40:28):
today A lot to get to this hour. Bottom of
the hour, We're gonna replay the interview Karan Butler did
on Draft Night with Dwight Howard, who has had uh
interesting last few days. He was traded from Charlotte to
the Brooklyn Nets, the second time in the last calendar
year that Dwight Howard has been traded. The Nets subsequently
decided that they're gonna buy him out. That will happen
July six. They haven't agreed on financial terms just yet

(40:48):
from what I've been told, but that could happen in
the next couple of weeks. So will happen in the
next a couple of weeks or Dwight Howard a free
agent to be what makes sense for Dwight Howard and
what's his mindset? Karan got to the into that with Dwight,
which we'll get into later in the show. But I
don't want to take a different tax to Karen. On
the draft. We talked in the first hour about some
of things that we like, didn't like, surprised us. And

(41:10):
I do want to talk more about the trio of
players that I think are to be intertwined forever in
this draft. But I do want to ask you, but
a guy that didn't get drafted, and that is one
Lie Angelo Ball. And we expected this right we We
assumed that Lie Angelo Ball was not going to get drafted.
Nobody had any real interest in him. He declared himself
eligible for the draft. But that's almost like me declaring

(41:31):
myself eligible for the draft, doesn't It doesn't quite carry
any any real weight. Now that he's gone undrafted. What
do we think about this? My biggest issue to hear
me out on this one and and and then you
can tell me if I'm crazy. My biggest issue with
lo Angelo being pulled out of school like that is
that it takes an option off the table. And I
know people don't like to hear about the education part

(41:52):
of college, especially for guys that want to become pros.
But how many guys leave high school thinking they're gonna
go to the pro ranks after one year? I bet
are a thousands of them that are great high school players, like,
I'm gonna do one year maybe two in college and
I'm gone. They get to college, they realize, own crap,
it's it's good basketball. What am I doing? I can't
go to the pros. And they wind up staying and

(42:14):
maybe they go turn pros a junior or senior, maybe
they don't, maybe they get a four year degree. This
is my feeling about l Angelo ball. He is the
middle child in what is presumed to be two NBA players.
A Lonzo going to be a very good NBA player.
LaMelo certainly has that Lonzo like potential in terms of
talent to be an NBA player Lo Angelo. Doesn't so
him getting pulled out of school to go to that

(42:35):
ridiculous Lithuanian League and to enter the draft when nobody
every knew they weren't going to draft him and probably
probably not gonna get invited into a summer league team.
His options are nil. He doesn't have a chance now,
and he's left u c L A. He doesn't have
a chance to take advantage of u c l freaking
A and go to school there for four years. Maybe,

(42:56):
and I've said this before, but maybe he can become
like the agent of the family. Maybe he can get
a four year degree in sports management and become the
agent of the family. He can represent Alonzo Ball, represent
LaMelo Ball. Nothing wrong with that. Not all of us
were born with the type of talent that Alonzo has,
and maybe LaMelo has. But now he has no other options. Karan,
and this is my biggest issue with LaVar Ball. I

(43:17):
had a problem with his his gregarious nous. I have
a problem with him being so ostentatious. I don't care
that he's out there saying I could beat Michael Jordan
one on one. He is selling his brand and he
is selling his sons and by all accounts, he's a
pretty good father. I don't. I don't hear anybody saying
that he's a bad father. So I have no issue
with that part of it. But by pulling his son
out of school and now not getting him drafted, not

(43:39):
getting him at this point in vide to a summer
league team, I don't. I think Lie Angelo is now
in an impossible situation because he doesn't have U c
l A to fall back on. What do you think?
You know, he did an excellent job of you know,
just navigating himself through that situation and making light making
light out of out of thing that happened over there

(44:01):
in China, wasn't the right way to go about it
in the foot locker commercial and left a bad tasting
people mouth. And then he's not performing or not the
same caliber player of the other two brothers what you
touched on. So he's in an awkward spot, you know,
he really is. But at the same time, he he
would be an excellent agent. He would be an excellent
guy to represent the family the Triple Bees because he

(44:23):
understands the movement, He understands the mindset of his father.
I think his father would have a great deal of
trust in him. And but you know, he has to know,
like you have to walk away from the game knowing that, look,
you left it all out there. You advertise yourself as
much as possible, you probably wasn't as talented as you
thought you was, and let the chips fall what they made.
But he's still in that process of this making sure,

(44:47):
you know, confirming that, look, I'm not going to have
a career in this thing. But he the window was
still open. Maybe maybe it works out for him, maybe
it doesn't. I know, he could sell out summer league games.
I noticed people will actually come and watch him and
attend to games just to see what will he do
out there on the court. Yeah, but no, I don't
think they care in the summer league. Like I mean,
first of all, what does a team care if a

(45:11):
player sells out summer league games, Not like they get
this big cut of summer league revenue, and not like
summer league revenue is all that expensive anyway, It's mostly
for and you've you've seen, you've been at summer league games.
You put you know, kids from the you get key
kids from the local area to give them free tickets,
um and even tickets themselves aren't all that expensive. Like
Laker games sellout, Knicks games often sellout. Top games involving

(45:32):
the top draft picks often do really well. But I
don't think that's even relevant. I'm look, I hear what
you're saying. But it brings It brings eyes, it draws
people attention to the summer league. Like what you said there,
what you said there about the window not being closed,
Come on, man, it's closed. It's closed on this kid.
He's not gonna be an NBA part. Can't close the
window on the kids. You never know what can happen.

(45:54):
Bro And look as a basketball player, I mean you've
seen a little bit of them, Like I mean, I
keep here in the stuff A three and D guys,
not three D guy. I mean, I'm not trying to
like beat up on him, He's a kid. I just
you know, nobody I've ever talked to has even hinted
that he's even close to an NBA player. Look, he's
not gonna be a G League player unless a team
wants to look in the G League. If you have

(46:15):
a team that's desperately trying to sell tickets, maybe you
bring him in. Maybe trying. I'm just trying to keep
it really a Koran that that he's not and look
at I just this is my problem with what you
know LaVar did and pulling him out of school like that,
like he made a mistake. And I think one of

(46:37):
the reasons. Look if he didn't get punished in the
way they did and when he said out, like he
sat out a bunch of games right before he was
pulled out of school. If he if he had been
able to play for U C l A starting in
week one, I don't think he would have been pulled
out of school. But because he was forced to be
punished for his you know, legitimate crime, actual crime. Um,

(46:58):
he was pulled out of school and it took away
a major option for him. That just disappoints me as all.
And you know, it's it's just sad to see, you know,
that happened to him. But hopefully everything works out for
him going forward. I'm not gonna say done, I'm not
gonna shut the window, but I'm gonna say it's a draft. Yeah,

(47:18):
we don't leave it a little crack, We'll lead a
window crack. Anything can happen, all right. From one guy
that didn't get drafted, another one that did, but drafted
later than usual. Michael Porter Jr. A terrific talent, didn't
play many games at Missouri this past year because of
a back injury. Came back at the end of the season,
didn't play all that well. But it wasn't surprising. Uh.
In the tournament he was expected to be maybe in

(47:41):
the top four or five. He slips all the way
to fourteen. And for what I heard on draft night, Karan,
from teams that passed on him, the medicals were terrible.
Like his back is being viewed as a potential career ender.
That's how teams are looking at it. The the type
of injury that he has. I had some teams say
I could cost him the entire season. I had other

(48:01):
teams say it's gonna be chronic from the rest of
his career. And that's what scared him off. I mean, look,
there are teams out there that you said, wow, they
didn't draft him, like are you are you nuts? Like
the Knicks, a team that badly needs more star power,
you know, a guy who have nothing to play for
it next year, by the way, like porzingis, whenever he
comes back, uh Neil Kina year two, they're developing guys.

(48:22):
And I think the Knicks next year, okay with getting
another high lottery pick the Sixers, if Sam Hanky was
the GM of that team. Karen, you know they're taking
Michael Porter Jr. But they pass on him. Uh. The
Clippers with two picks in that first round twelve and thirteen,
they make us a swap that gets them, uh, the
kid Alexander from Kentucky. They get Jerome Robinson from BC.

(48:42):
Porter clearly much more upside than either one of those
two guys. He falls all the way to fourteen. That
tells me that the Medicals must have been terrifying. Four teams.
What does it tell you? Yeah, I mean that's exactly
what it look. People was telling me when this kid
was early in last season, when the Collegians season started,
they were saying, like, look, Kevin Durant, most talented player

(49:04):
in this in this uh in this draft coming up,
and you know aid him like and then everybody else
and you know, some people, what you touched on earlier
in the show, some people had him, you know, even
hired than Aiden. That's the number one pick, Like confirm
he is the number one pick. That's how good this
kid is. So to send in your medicals and and

(49:26):
your medical report, and people be like, you know what
we're we can't touch this kid, like this is a
red flag. And and one of the things that was
extremely glaring at me was individual workouts. Right, so when
you have your pro day and you have people come
to your respective location, your gym, and you cannot do
your own pro day, like these are the things that

(49:46):
you would like run through, like dummy off as drills,
Like so you see me dribbling around the cone. I
had to cancel that because I can't even do that
because of my health. That was that was a extremely
alarming and I was just like, wow, this, this, this
must is much more serious than we all thought. I
liked the decision by Denver to take him because if

(50:07):
you look at the guys that were drafted around him
in Washington drafted Troy Brown, which I thought was a
massive reach um getting him that high um, and after
that they just had guys that didn't have anywhere near
the talent that Porter does. And if you're the Denver Nuggets,
you don't need Michael Porter Jr. To be a contributing player.
This year. The Nuggets are going to be competing for

(50:29):
a playoff spot in the Western Conference, with or without
their rookie. I mean, they were just on the cusp
blastph year of of making the playoffs. They didn't. But
they're right there, you know, in terms of getting in
that next year. If they stay healthy, if they get
contributions from other guys, growth from other guys, they they're
gonna be a good team. Porter gives you an opportunity

(50:50):
to in a year, two, year three to add another star,
a cheap star. Like let's say, look, all that matters
is if he stays healthy, if that back is healthy,
if he's able to go through stuff, Look right, shirt
him this year, don't play him this year, set him out,
say we're gonna work on getting your back right, getting
things figured out. Maybe the very end of the season
will give you a couple of minutes and you come

(51:10):
back in Summer League two thousand nineteen, and then you
come back ready to play. If he does that, I
think it's a great pick for Denver. I think that's
the plan, and I think Tim Connelly and Calvin Booth
and those guys, I think that's the timetable that they
had for this kid. Look, let's spend the year of
getting him adjusted, building his temple, getting his frame tight,

(51:31):
getting his core strong where he's gonna have the back
issues and stuff like that. Teach him all these mechanics, UH,
get him running different changes, gate and he's gonna be,
you know, best equipped to take on the NBA grind.
And let's see what happened. Let's throw him out there
in the fire, uh next summer in the summer league,

(51:53):
and see can he carry that load? And I think
that's the that's the timetable they're looking at. It was
a good risk to take if you're the Nuggets. Again,
if he turns out to be a terrific player, high reward,
high high reward. I guarantee you they'll be teams underneath
him with guys don't pan out. It's not a knock
on those guys right now. But you look at the
history of the draft. How many guys drafted, you know,

(52:14):
eight to fourteen wind up in great players. I mean,
probably far less than I would imagine. So it's a
good risk by the Denver Nuggets to take. I like
to move bold move by Tim Conley, Josh Cronky, that
whole front office and ownership group just keep him until Next,
I'm with you there man, all right, Chris and Garan,
Fox Sports Ready, a lot more to get to you.

(52:34):
Bottom of the hour. We're gonna bring back Karan Butler's
interview with Dwight Howard happened on Draft night. Dwight, of course,
about to be bought out from the Brooklyn by the
Brooklyn Nets, traded for the second time in as many years.
We'll get Dwight in one year, I should say, we'll
get Dwighte's thoughts on his pending free agency. What does
he want for his next career move When we come back,
I do want to talk more about free agency though,

(52:55):
and that would be Lebron, James, Paul, George, Kawai, Leonard,
maybe impact Acte via trade. We'll dive into all that more. Next,
Chris and Karan here on Fox Sports Radio. It's Chris
and Karan here, Fox Sports Radio. What does it mean
when Geico says just fifteen minutes could save you fift
or more on car insurance? It means you probably should
have gone to Geico dot com fifteen minutes ago. Alright,

(53:21):
So we are a week away from free agency and
it's expected to be one of the wildest free agencies
in recent years. Of course, every time Lebron James he's
on the market, free agency is pretty bonkers. Lebron has
been a free agent twice in the last eight years.
Both those times is represented a pretty seismic shift in
the balance of power in the NBA. Will it once again?

(53:42):
Now here's my question for you, Kuran. The Cavaliers drafted
Colin Sexton on Draft night. A collin sects the point
guard Alabama good. He's a tough guy, doesn't shoot the
three particularly well, but he did learn under Avery Johnson,
so I think that's a positive for him. What do
you think that Lebron James was thinking on Draft night
when he watched the Cavaliers draft Colin Sexton? They get

(54:04):
matter to him at all? Absolutely not. I don't think
it did. I mean, look, he's a heck of a talent,
and you know what, Avery Johnson said that he's one
of the best players I've seen in the pick and
row setting. And guy that can, you know, do some
things and you know, play with his head at the ram,
that can play in in small space and relatively large space.

(54:25):
If he gets real estate, he can make a lot
of things happen. I think that that's exactly what the
Cleveland Cavalier has been missing. Another guy that you can
throw the ball to and they can operate great shots
for theirselfs and others. So you know, it is a
great pickup for the Cleveland Cavaliers. But I don't think
it's going to weigh in on Lebron's decision. Yeah, I
don't agree with you. Um here's what the Cavaliers have

(54:46):
to hope though. They have to hope he works out
like Big Time works out, because Colin Sexton effectively represents
what they god for Kyrie Irving. You know, you put
in that trade, that Boston trade. All the pieces are
gone except Rante's, but he's not really a part of
what they're doing. Jordan's exactly, or Jordan Clarkson. Jordan Clark
is gonna be gone a year from now, and maybe
Larry Nan sticks around for for a while because he's

(55:08):
a pretty decent big man prospect at his position. But
Colin Sexton is is it? I mean, they traded Kyrie
Irving largely because of that unprotected NETS pick. I'm sure
they hope that nets pick was better. I'm sure they
hoped it was a top three pick, but it didn't
turn out to be, so now they have to hope
that sex intitial player. And I'm just not I don't
know if I see him as a starter Korunt, I don't.

(55:28):
I mean, I think he's tough, and I think you
make a really good backup. I'm gonna sure I see
him as as a starting point guard league. Maybe it's
the size thing. How big is He's not exactly a
big guy. Maybe I look at size more than than
anything else in situations like that, But size is huge.
But if you could play, you could play, and and
that's what's that has yet to be determined on this level.

(55:49):
And I'm interested. I'm interested to see him and summarly play,
you know. That's what I'm looking forward to seeing, because
that's gonna be the tale of the tape. You know,
you're gonna be able to see a lot of things.
You know, he dominated on the collegian level, but let's
see what happened going forward. Yeah, yeah, he'll probably be
a couple of years. We look that if the Cavaliers
wind up losing Lebron, there had plenty of time to

(56:10):
develop them and rebuild them, you know, in obscurity basically
because they'll be a very average team. It won't even
be a terrible team next year because you've got too
much talent there. I mean, Kevin Love is still there,
Jerry Smith is still there. You know, those pieces of that.
They're not gonna bottom out in other words, next season.
But I'll be to see if what he turns out
to be, because that's what they got effectively, Chris with

(56:30):
that team, me and a symbol, right s Lebron leaves
and that team as a symbol. Do they do they
make the playoffs? No? Not in the East? Um No,
I'm trying to think of who the eighth seed the
East was with Washington this year. You're not gonna jump No,
they're not gonna jump over and like Detroit's gonna be

(56:51):
probably a little bit better and be in the mix
for the eighth seed. Yeah, you're not jumping over Washington.
You just that in. You know Milwaukee's gonna better now,
You're just not gonna jump over him that. No. I
mean I think they're probably like a ten or eleven maybe,
and that's like the worst places. So going from the
NBA Finals, uh, back to back to back pretty much

(57:13):
three straight seasons or whatever it was, and then all
of a sudden not even making the playoffs. Well, isn't
that what happened with Cleveland the first time around? I mean,
they didn't make the finals that final year with Lebron,
but they were a sixty plus win team with him,
and they went from that team to a team to
wind up being bad enough to get the first pick
in the draft. And that's that's what he does. Lebron
leaves destruction, especially in the wake of Cleveland, uh when

(57:38):
he leaves. So it's kind of where they're they're at
right now. I don't I don't think it's a I
don't think there's anything they can do about it either,
unless you offload Kevin Love, you know, for nothing, and
try to really bottom out and get back into that
first pick in the draft mix. I think they're stuck
with being like a ten eleven seat. That's gonna be
such a hard team to coach. I mean, these guys
were kind of put together to play off Lebron James, right.

(58:00):
I mean Kevin Love was acquired because of his three
point shooting. I mean, Kevin Love, he stays with Cleveland
next year will be like a twenty eight and twelve
guy once again be Minnesota two point. Oh, it's not that.
I mean they're not good enough. They're gonna throw the
ball to Kevin Love and to have him who else
creates offense there? I'm missing someone like you. Maybe they'll

(58:21):
they'll go back to being a bad team, and maybe
Jordan Clarkson could perform under those circumstances. You know, he's
gonna have a lot of opportunities, gonna light it up
then because he could be a streaky player. He's gonna
have volume of shots and have the ball in his hand.
It would be different for him. Yeah, not good, that's
for sure. Not good for the team in terms of
wins and losses. But I tell you, if it's not Cleveland,

(58:43):
Lebron goes back to I mean, I'm not sure the
Lakers are a great option for him right now. I
mean Kauai I think it's safe to say that before
July one, Kauai Letter is not gonna get traded. I
think if Kawai Leonard gets traded, it's like July and
even like even go to August. I mean, go back
to last year when Kyrie Irving made his trade demand.

(59:06):
That happened right around draft time. He didn't get trade
until the end of August. So if you're the Spurs,
you're not in any rush to do this. I mean,
you're only real deadline, frankly, is the trade deadline in February.
That's really your only deadline to move this guy. Now.
Certainly the return if you trade him before the start
of the season is most likely to be more, but

(59:27):
you're not in a huge rush to do this, so
they can drag this thing out, effectively turn into a
blind auction. There's a lot of reporting out there, but
what they're gonna do. I saw something in USA today
where they said not gonna get trade to an Eastern
Conference team or a Western Conference team. Not sure I
buy that. I think the Spurs is probably gonna take
the best offer on the table, but they've got time
to pull this off. So let's just so this is

(59:47):
where I was going with this. Kawhi Leonard is not traded,
Paul George decides he wants to go back to Oklahoma
City in a short term deal. What does the Brown do? Like,
I don't believe for a second, Karan that Lebron is
going to l A to play with Anzo and Brandon
Ingram and Julius Randall. I don't believe it. I still
think that I still think that group is better than

(01:00:07):
the team that he has a symbol and in Cleveland
right now, I really do. I look at Kyle Kolzman,
I look at you know, Alonzo Ball, I look at
Brandon Ingram, I look at the versatility of those guys,
and look, it's gonna probably take a year because you
gotta think, all right, look forward to the next summer.
Kawhi Leonard uh, you know, if he signed on, and
then you have to look at, you know, Kevin Durant situation.

(01:00:29):
What he's gonna do is he gonna sign a one
on one off for whatever type of deal he's gonna sign.
Jimmy Butler is gonna be out there, be available. It's
a lot of notable names that's gonna be out there.
And once you're in Los Angeles and people see the
product and and see Lebron there on that platform and
as the carrot to come play with. You know, look,
anything can happen. You know it really can't. Anything can happen.

(01:00:53):
Do you think that Lebron would really waste a year
like that? Because I look, I agree with you to
some extent that talent in l A maybe better than
what they have overall in Cleveland. But you heard Lebron
saying it's extremely difficult to kind of start from scratch
with the team and and build it around you know,
his talents. You know, Cleveland, for all their flaws, they

(01:01:14):
are built around his talents. So they're able to play
with him. So if he went back to Cleveland, maybe
they're not a finals team, but they're at least the
Eastern Conference finals team depending on where they finished, uh
in the standings. The Lakers, I mean, what are they
with Lebron James a six seed, five seed in the West.
Maybe you think Lebron would really waste a year like
that when he's thirty three years old, be thirty four

(01:01:34):
mid season and it considers what like what do you
consider to waste year? Like? What I what I look
at is I see Lebron, as you know, being on
a different layer of his career where he's like, all right, look,
I'm making it this seamless transition into entertainment and all
these other things that I'm doing in Los Angeles. Is
the market that uh gonna be in and gonna reside

(01:01:56):
in for here on out. And this is me making
that transition. It's not even about chasing titles no more,
you know what I mean. Like you you see so
many guys coming out saying, look, he shouldn't chase titles anymore,
and we don't know what his thing is. He's gonna
be arguably the top three or four players ever to
play the game of basketball already as a symbol when

(01:02:16):
we when we sit back and look at his resume,
that's what it's gonna say. So that's already ridden the stone.
So now, I mean, what is it about. Is it
about you know, chasing go still or is it's about
you know, rewriting history and doing it in one of
the best markets to do that. Well, that's different. Like
if you're talking about off the court stuff and that
not being a waste of a year. Okay, I get that. Look,

(01:02:37):
he's doing a lot of things off the court, Hollywood,
the uninterrupted platform, which I believe he's gonna use to
make his next decision, so to speak. He's doing a
lot of things off the court. But on the court,
I'm just saying, you go back to Cleveland, you've got
the very least a chance to make the NBA Finals.
You know, I think Boston's a favorite in the Eastern
Conference right now. Philadelphia, they're gonna be right there at

(01:03:00):
the Milwaukee's better with Mike Budenholzer the head coach. But
you've at least got a chance to make the finals.
You put Lebron with the Lakers next season. Eastern Conference
at best, at best you're a second round team. I
know Lebron's great, Karan, but in that conference, unless you're
the five seed, I don't know how you win a
first round series against Golden State against Houston. Uh Who

(01:03:23):
am I missing there? Top of the conference? San Antonio,
San Antonio, if they're still together, who knows there? I
think Minnesota is gonna be better with Jimmy Butler healthy
this year. Uh utah? Who who knows? What they do?
I think they I think you take by the way,
I got a good player in Grayson Allen. I think
that was a smart pick by them. I I just

(01:03:47):
perfect thing, yeah exactly. I just think from a basketball perspective,
it's a wasted year next year if you don't get
Paul George to go with you, and even if you do, Frank,
I don't think you win anything um next year. I
think I wonder if Lebron would say, you know what
if he finds out that Paul George goes back. And
this is why I think Lebron's gonna drag this thing out.
If he finds out Paul George goes back, doesn't it
make more sense for him to go one plus one

(01:04:07):
with the Cleveland again. I mean, run that back for
one more year, then see what happens in the the summer nineteen.
I think if he go back with a one plus
one with Cleveland and just look forward to them, you know,
making the finals again, that's not happening with that team
as a symbol. Uh, that's gonna be thee the Celtics
all day. If they're healthy, I think the Boston Celtics

(01:04:29):
is gonna, you know, pretty much run through the Eastern
Conference next season. They went seven games with the Celtics
without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. Will have to imagine
that with those two guys, the Celtics roll against Cleveland.
But it's interesting, you know, Paul George's decision. I don't
think is is anymore uh, you know, fated company of you.
I don't think it's uh it's it's it's a lock

(01:04:49):
to the ghost l A or anything like that. All right,
we'll talk more about that we come back. I do
want to talk more. I want to do a play
actually Karen's interview with Dwight Howard which he had on
Draft night, terrific interview, and then we'll talks some about
Dwight Howard his next step. But first here's David Gascone.
But what's going on up there? What's up, David? Gentlemen feople.
World Cup action continues and there wasn't a lack of
goals being scored today. Japan going right down on the

(01:05:10):
wire post Osaka, the punchs miss. There's an open call
start to tow called courtesy of Fox. That happened in
the seventy eight minute. Japan and Senegal played with a
too too drava and earlier on today picture of concentration

(01:05:31):
Parry Kane five start and they called courtesy of Fox
as well. Harry came with a hat trick and England
all over Panama. They had five nothing at the end
of the first half and Cruise an easy six one victory.
And about thirty minutes from now, I get pulling in
Columbia again. All that action is available on Fox. Switching

(01:05:55):
over to Major League Baseball. Handful of games just underway.
Raised on top of the Yankees in t MP, but
to Zip, Mariners and Red Sox just started. There's no score.
Bottom of the second from Fenway, Indians one, Tigers nothing.
The Dodgers are all over the Mets again. Max Munsey
has homeward in consecutive games. He's got fifteen long balls
for l A to nothing. Dodgers over the Mets. A

(01:06:16):
game sits in the top of the second endning gentlemen's
christ and Garan Here Fox Sports Radio Chris Maddox, Yeah
who sports Corn Butler, two time All Star NBA champion
company live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. It's
easy to say fift more in car insurance with Geico,
go to Geico dot com or called one nine seven otto.
The only hard part figuring out which way is easier.

(01:06:37):
So on Draft Night, Karan Butler, who is the greatest
booker I've ever seen, He had Dwight Howard on the show,
and as we learned this past week, Dwight Howard traded
from the Charlotte Hornets to the Brooklyn Nets the second
time in the calendar year that Dwight Howard has been
traded the Nets. They proceeded to tell Dwight that we
are going to buy you out for what's So, what's
next for Dwight Howard? Here's Karen Butler in the game.

(01:07:00):
Ain't talking to Dwight. You know, there's been a lot
of reports that you know, a trade has been you
know formed and involving you going to Brooklyn. Just let
me know your future plans and and once the officially
go through, you know, what are you thinking going forward?
Well with the situation um of Meeta and trading, you know, one,

(01:07:20):
it was kind of blindsided. You know. I h literally
found out right before I was about to do it
as a charity event um. And also I found out
on one Instagram. I found out through the comments section
on one of my pictures. Uh So I was in
total shock about the whole situation. And you know, I

(01:07:43):
wasn't upset the fact that they, uh I was traded
for Brooklyn. It was more so over shot because I
I thought that I had a really good year this
year year and when I when they said I was
one of books, and I said, you know what, I'm
gonna go in there and you know, make the best
of the situation and then um, actually, I think what's

(01:08:03):
gonna happen is gonna be a buy out and uh,
I'll make myself a free agent, you know for this summer.
Now that that's that's crazy because the second I got
win up the news, I found out the same way
you did, which is extremely unfortunate, but that's happened. That
happens a lot in our business. But why do you
feel like you get such a bad rap, you know,

(01:08:26):
around the league and just through so many sources, because
I know you're away from the game of basketball, you're
a great person, But why do you feel you get
such a great bad rap? Well, I just think it's
it's a lot of people making up a lot of
different stories, and they come up with this narrative about
you know, who I am. And my grandma always has
always told me a lot don't care who tells, And

(01:08:47):
you know that's how I look at you know, a
lot of people are saying a lot of things about
me that you know was unfair, you know, and uh,
you know, my main thing is I just want to
go out there and win, you know, and give a team,
and any team that I've been on the best of me.
You know. Um, I came in as leave got eighteen

(01:09:09):
and you know, I think everybody you know, when you
come in at a young age, you know, people see
all your mistakes. You know, this is not like going
to college are you know, you know, just basically being
out of the public eye. You know, we are in
a public eye every single day, you know, so every
mistake I made, everything that you know, what's happened in
my past, is then put out there publicly and it's

(01:09:31):
kind of basically gave people an opinion based off you know,
what they've heard and stuff like that. You know, maybe
you know a little bit of you know, my actions,
you know, have kind of made people feel a certain
type of way, and you know, I really want that
to change, you know, because it's really not who I am.
I've never been that way. Um. There's no way I
could be when Community assist awards to be the best

(01:09:54):
person in the community, but be a bad team. You know,
that doesn't really go well together. You know. Um, I'm
not that type of person, you know, and I totally
hate that, um, and I really want to do whatever
I can to change that because you know it's not
it's not right, and um, I've tried my best, and
any teammate that you know has ever felt that way,

(01:10:17):
I would love for them to come out and you know,
say say it's them, you know, put an address on it,
you know, so you know this can get cleared out
and we can move forward. You know. I love the
fact that you're always honest about the situation at hand.
And look, we all have our flaws, and you know,
we learned from mistakes. And clearly you've learned from whatever

(01:10:37):
adversity that you've been through over your career. But if
you get this buyout in this request, what type of
situation are you looking for going forward? Is it a
mentor role? I mean, obviously you're coming off a spectacular
years and a winning situation. What is it about? Oh well,
I just want to be on a winning situation, you know. Um,

(01:10:58):
in a situation where I can just be free and
just play basketball. Um, that's what it's about. You know. Uh,
I was saying my twentie season, I'll be fine with
you know, mentoring more and you know, you know, waving
from the bench and you know, trying to push the
young guys but I still got a lot of basketball

(01:11:18):
in me, and the knowledge that I have today can
really help me and help any type of team. You know.
I think the last couple of years, the reason why
you know, you could say that I haven't had good
seasons is because of my health. That last year was
as healthy as I've been and sometimes you know, and
I'm fairly, fairly young. Thirty two is not a old player, um.

(01:11:43):
But if you look at guys like Lebron and also
Chris Baul, they're a lot they're older than me, um,
and they're still playing out at high level. And you know,
I'm the same way. And I want to talk to
the guys, you know, because I think the biggest thing
that you know for me and then I you know,
I think it will be best is to let the
guys know. Like I know, you've had this perception of

(01:12:06):
me because of what's being said, but this is not me.
This is what I want to do. I want to win,
I want to play at a high level. I want
to enjoy this game because this game can end at
any moment. You know. It's Karen can tell you, it
goes by fast. And it's shocking for me to say
that I'm going into my fifteen season. You know what

(01:12:26):
I'm saying, But it goes by fast and I would
just let those guys know. Whatever teams, it's like, yo,
I know what you heard. I'm not that type of person.
I want to win and I'm gonna push you and
push myself to the limit. And that's all I know.
Um So, uh man, It's it's a tough time going
through free agency. But I've heard from the coaches, from

(01:12:49):
the owners, gms, but the main people you want to
really try to build with is the guys that you're
gonna be fighting with night in the night out on
the court. Absolutely, And you know, my last question for
you before we're in the interview, man, is just your
legacy and how how do you want to truly be remembered. Uh. Well,
I think that a lot of people have looked at

(01:13:11):
my career and said he's underrated and said I should
have done this that in the third Um, but man,
I don't. I want to be remembered as one of
the best people that ever want the search and it
goes deeper than basketball. My whole life, I've wanted to
change of the world, see people smile and enjoy themselves
and basketball. That's giving me that platform to entertain people

(01:13:34):
for those two or three hours at the game where
they could say, man, I actually got a chance to
see the white Howard playing and it was it was amazing,
you know. So that's that's the kind of legacy that
you know, I love, appreciate you, brother, Thank you for
coming on the show. That's Dwight Howard with her own
Karan Butler speaking on Draft Nights, shortly after Dwight learned

(01:13:56):
that he was being traded to the Nets. Of course
he is being bought out by the Nets, gonna hit
the free agent market. A lot to unpack in that interview.
Dwight Howard, one of the biggest names in basketball, a
Hall of Famer, will do all that more. Next, Chris
and Karan here on Fox. Hey are you here right now?

(01:14:18):
It's Chrissy Garan here Fox Sports Radio. Great news. Quick
way you could save money, switch to Geico. Go to
Geico dot com and a fifteen minutes you could say
fiftent more on car insurance. My great interview by Karan.
That last segment, he spoke to Dwight Howard on Draft Night. Dwight,
of course going to be a free agent. Net's gonna

(01:14:42):
buy him out. He's gonna twenty four million dollar contract.
The Nets will find some kind of middle ground with him,
probably around twenty million. I'm gonna guess and buy him
out of his contract. And first corral, let me get
your takeaways from speaking to Dwight. What did you get
from that conversation. Well, I felt like he definitely lead
was shocked by the decision of the Charlotte Hornets, you know,

(01:15:04):
trading him as he touched on. He found out through
social media and he didn't receive a phone call or
anything like that. Yeah, that that was crazy, and he
also was bothered, but you know, you know what, that's
That's what you see a lot of. So like I
want people to really like let that sit in when
you're understanding that guy's gonna make free agent decisions this

(01:15:27):
summer comes July first, and understand that it is a business.
So when guys decide to go somewhere else, don't think
that they're leaving the organization stranded and blame the individual
for Oh man, he's so wrong because look, look what's happened.
This happens all the time, you know, But to move
away from that, just to pivot back to what we

(01:15:48):
were discussing. Um, I think I thought he did an
excellent job, but just venting out in this saying, look,
this is the perception of me, and I want to
change that. I'm all about winning. I have a lot
of basketball left in me. And he was open, he
was honest. He's like, you know, some of some of
the criticisms that that he receives is you know, is
warranted and his self inflicted. But look, he's he's gonna

(01:16:11):
be better going forward, and he just wants to win.
And he is a future Hall of Famer, whether you
like it or not. He is the number states it
and he's gonna be in a situation where he can
kind of, you know, improve on that legacy. One of
the things I cringed at during that interview, not from you,
but from Dwight him talking about the stuff written about

(01:16:31):
him in the media and that affecting him. The media
didn't trade him twice in a year. The media didn't
dump him for Miles Plumbly and his bad contract. The
media didn't dump him for uh, Timothy Moskoff, who has
a bad contract. The media isn't paying him twenty million
dollars not to play. I understand. I understand that there's

(01:16:55):
some perceptions of him that I don't want to call
it up unfair, but exaggerate it maybe I think that's
fair to say. But you've got two teams, Karen three.
Now that's said down, No, we don't want any part
of you, but we're done. We don't want you around
our team. Like, if that's not a wake up call
for Dwight Howard, I don't know what will be. In

(01:17:17):
one year. You've had three bad teams, non playoff teams,
the Hawks, the Hornets, and now the Nets say we
don't want any part of you. That has to be
a wake up call for him, doesn't it. Yeah, I
think it's a wake up call whenever you're being shipped
and moved around and uh, you're playing your best basketball
of of of the last couple of years. And that's

(01:17:38):
exactly what he was doing in Charlotte. Unfortunately it wasn't
winning basketball because they didn't make the playoffs. But he
looked great, you know, he really did from a physical standpoint,
jumping high again, putting the ball on the floor, showing
a lot of moves, being part of you know, so
many highlights that we see on television, but to get
traded at like he was shocked. I was shocked because

(01:17:59):
I was like, all right, they're gonna be good. Went forward,
like you know, they got two great pieces and Kimba
him and you know, maybe some someone would want to
come and play. It is the Eastern Conference. Anything's possible.
But you know, that's this, you know, devastating, and I
think wherever he goes, he's going to be a better
version of himself. Okay, here's the question though, from a
basketball perspective, is Dwight Howard as valuable in today's NBA

(01:18:25):
as he was ten years ago when he was a
young player coming into his own in the NBA. In
today's NBA, as you know, Karan, big men with versatility
are more valuable. Al Horford at the five is more valuable.
Uh yeah. The finals are a little bit tricky to
look at because Lebron carried the h the Cavaliers to
where he did. But five men with versatility on both

(01:18:48):
ends of the floor are more valuable than ever before.
Dwight Howard is playing in the league where the pick
and roll is the number one play in this league.
I don't think any doubt about that. And Dwight Howard
defending the pick and role isn't what he used to be.
Dwight Howard, you know, the back injury has robbed him
of something. And defensively, I don't think he's as big

(01:19:08):
an asset on the perimeter as he has been in
years past. I think that costs him a little bit.
Do you agree? Yeah? I think the game has changed too,
Like you said, no positional guys, guys that can stretch
being the pick and roll situation beyond the perimeter, doing
things the activity on the pick and road ball handler,
playmakers at that position. Um, but he's still effective, you know,

(01:19:32):
and you know he had to find a way to
be effective in this game and play with that pace.
And he's still a productive guy, you know, at a
at a reasonable number. And I think he can be
an asset to a team. Yeah, I mean what is
that reasonable number though? I mean I don't know roughly.
I mean, if he if he drops down, I'm looking
at it, looking at it right now. You know, over
his career, earning over a hundred and ninety million dollars,

(01:19:55):
uh was looking to get twenty three point five this year. Um,
that reasonable number. I mean, if you you want to
stretch out and get ye know, I would say somewhere
between you know, eight the twelve. Oh, that's not gonna happen.
That's that's that's that's not gonna happen. I mean, that's
what he's probably gonna be looking for. Like you said,

(01:20:16):
the Pelicans will definitely be, you know, someone to be
interestful if you can't get to Marcus Cousins and you
can get the White for a three year with his
star power still has a super uh superstar name in
this game for eight to twelve. I mean it may work.
He's only gonna get most likely one year, three million dollars.

(01:20:37):
That's what the market is, Howard. It's it's a reality
that he and his team are gonna have to one year. Yep,
maybe a little more of a team has space, but
one year, that's all it's happened. We'll talk more about that.
Top of the hour. It's Chris and Karan right here,
company of one more hour, Fox Sports and it's Chris
and Garan, Fox Sports Radio. Chris Maddox, Yeahoo Sports. Karan Butler,

(01:20:58):
two time All Star, NBA champion, and we are coming
to you live from the Getico Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Fifteen minutes could save you fift cent or more on
car insurance for the Geico dot com for a free
rate quote. Today our three of the program. We're about
three days off of the NBA Draft at taking place
Thursday night. Some interesting names that we're gonna get into

(01:21:20):
later in the show, but I want to talk first
about the top of the draft. Kuran and three guys
that I think you're gonna be intertwined for the rest
of their careers, and that's Marvin Bagley at two, Luca
don Chech at three, and Trey Young at five. These
are three guys that have kind of a connectivity to
each other now because of what happened on draft night.

(01:21:41):
The Kings, of course they debated Danche versus Marvin Bagley.
They went with Bagley. UH. The Atlanta Hawks, drafting at
number three, they didn't love Dunch, so they traded back
on an extra first round pick. In two thousand nineteen,
they get Trey Young at five. The Dallas Mavericks, who've
got kind the history with European talent is a guy

(01:22:02):
named Dirk that's still there in Dallas. UH. They draft
the top international player in this draft, Don chech who
has tremendous potential as a small forward prospect in the NBA.
So you got three guys there are always gonna be
kind of intertwined there. Jaren Jackson kind of sandwiched in between.
The Memphis We get into them later, but these three guys, Bagley,
don Chich and Trey Young are going into the draft. Karage,

(01:22:23):
you looked at those three, who did you like best? Two?
Do you like the most an NBA player? I love Bagley,
you know, I really did. I love what he brings
to the table. I love the pedigree of, you know,
going to the University of Duke and having that time
with coach k and that system and understanding how to
be a professional preparation on and off the court. I

(01:22:45):
think he was ready, you know. I think he's ready
for the moment. And you know, obviously, you know, Don
check is gonna be amazing and been playing professional for
some time, going to an unbelievable organization, uh in the
Dallas Mavericks, and you know, I think he's gonna have
a chance to blossom. He he really is, you know.
And then I also look at Trade Young situation, and

(01:23:05):
I think it's gonna be great because that organization in
that city is gonna, you know, rally behind him and
they want him to succeed. So relatively good situation for
all those young men. They're all gonna be connected with
you touched upon, but Bagley is gonna have I feel
like the best instant impact and immediate uh you know, career,
uh going forward. How do you think Bagley fits in

(01:23:27):
with that culture there? Because you were part of that
team and look at the time you were there, it
was as as messy as you can get. I mean,
George Carl battling with the front office. You know, there
was expectations thinking your last season, they was gonna get
fired at mid season. That changed at the eleventh hour.
The front office, though, is still the same. You know,
a lot of divaki is there. Ownership is still the same.
They're kind of goofy um with that that ownership group.

(01:23:49):
Mean is this you think that's an environment that Bagley
can can thrive in? That's the thing. You know, Like
when we talk about franchise players and we talk about
guys that change organizations and things like that, the organizations
that they go to are usually like what the Sacramento
kings Is, you know, and then they change everything because

(01:24:10):
they are the the the talent, the thing that draw
people in and everything and they make it you know,
super just you know, a great environment for progress. And
I think Badly is that type of talent where you're
gonna come to the arena and you're gonna be in
all of him, you know, putting up you know, eighteen

(01:24:31):
and ten every night of maybe possibly twenty and ten
because Zach Randolph's doing it, you know, leading the team
and scoring in year sixteen seventeen, wherever it may be.
And I think that he's gonna be the guy that
you're gonna you know, put everything around and run the
offense through and him and Darian Fox is gonna be
you know, something fun to watch. Yeah. I like the Fox.

(01:24:53):
And you know, you know, putting two guys like Badly
and Fox together, two guys that are versatile that can
probably play in the open floor a little bit too together.
I do worry about what kind of front court they're
gonna put together because you know, Badly shot like close
from three last year but only took under two attempts,
so it's not like he was this consistent stretch four guy.
And they're talking about pairing them with Harry Giles, who

(01:25:14):
was a first round pick last year, who played sparingly
because of that those knee injuries. I don't know what
he's gonna look like, um, you know, coming back from
from all these injuries. But when he does come back,
he wasn't a three point shooter in college either. In
today's NBA, Karan, very few teams now that you know,
Memphis has kind of been broken up. Very few teams
played power four and power five. You've got to have

(01:25:36):
some spacing, don't you. At that front court position, you
gotta have a ton of space. But I think that's
something that is going to be rude for approvement, Like
no one is gonna come into the association ready for everything.
We we have yet to see that. The closest thing
we saw too, it was, you know, Lebron James coming
into the association highly hyped and scoring twenty five and
five a night at a clip. So I think he's

(01:25:57):
gonna be a guy that's gonna have a lot of
room for provement, going to adjust to the new wave
and the new style of the NBA. But he's definitely
capable of that. You know he has the body type,
he has the score mentality, has the edge feeling that
he's the best prospect with the highest ceiling in this draft.
Is three of those guys that feel that way. Aid
Mo Bamba is another one. So I think that he's

(01:26:19):
just gonna come in in this prosper and I think
the organization want to see him succeed at all costs.
All right, So the connection between Bagley and Don chick
Is is one thing. But you look at at donch
and Trey Young, you word of reminds me of It
reminds me of two thousand and eight, that draft class,
and you'mber what happened in the top five of that class.
You had Kevin Love flipped O J. Mayo that year.

(01:26:42):
Two guys draft, I think only a couple of picks apart.
After double check on on that, I'm looking at it
right now, Derrick Rose. Yeah, Kevin Love at five, O J.
Mayo three, so exactly the same in this sense, three
five kind of swap. Kevin Love turned into a multi
time All star. O J. Mayo had a decent career,
but nothing close to what Kevin Love of has done
at this point. That's why these two guys. You know,

(01:27:02):
if one of them turns out to be a major
star and the other one flops or at least his
only average, uh, you know, we'll be talking about it.
I do think that daunt It has the higher ceiling
of these two players, and daunt It is going to
a situation where I think there's more structure and a
better chance for him to develop early on, maybe not
turn into a great player early on, but to develop

(01:27:23):
good habits playing under Rick Carlisle and for that Mavericks organization.
And you're playing with one of the all time great
maybe the all time great international import ever in Dirk Navitsky.
So there's that Atlanta Trey Young projects as a point guard,
doesn't I know it's a positionless league, but in Atlanta
you've got Trey Young, but you've also had Dennis Shrewder there,

(01:27:45):
who is not does not have the best reputation in Atlanta.
I think they have to find a taker for Dennis
Shrewder because maybe they can play together, but I'm not
sure I want Shrewder there when he knows that Trey
Young is there to take his spot. So the Atlanta
organization certainly stability there with their new coach, relatively new
top executive. I think Done is in a better spot

(01:28:07):
to develop the Trey Youngest. Yeah, and you know it's
gonna be a process, and you're gonna, like you touched on,
you're gonna have to put you know, Shrewder in his
place or you know, put him in a situation where
he can go somewhere else because you don't want that
vibe and that energy in the in the locker room
is going to be a ton of competition. But the
writing is on the wall. Trey young is the the
guy of the future that they're going to be invested

(01:28:28):
in going forward. And you know Shrewder needs a fresh start.
But you know, as you touched on, you know Don
check is gonna have an amazing opportunity. You know with
the Dallas Mavericks. You know, Mark Human is gonna put
him in a situation to be successful on and off
the court. You know, Rick Carlisle is gonna do an
excellent job of that. So, like, I think it's just
amazing to see what's gonna happen going forward with you know,

(01:28:49):
both of those young men. But best believe they're both
gonna have young you know and extremely bright futures. You know,
the one thing you have to watch out with Trey
Young is that not to expect him to be Steph Curry.
I know we make that comparison all the time. Steph
Carry in his first year of Golden State played eighty games,
thirty seven minutes of game average, seventeen points per game,
seven and a half points per game. Do not expect

(01:29:10):
Trey Young to come in and do that. Don't do it,
and for no other reason. Then Steph Curry came out
of Davidson after his junior year. Steph Curry had a
great n C double a tournament to end his his
college career. Trey Young was a freshman who effectively came
out of nowhere this year. Now, he did some unbelievable
things in Oklahoma, ridiculous things in Oklahoma. He was triple
teamed a lot at Oklahoma. He still led the nation
wide in scoring and assists, put up some big assist

(01:29:34):
numbers this year. Don't expect him, though, to step in
and be Steph Carry. That's what I wonder about Trey Young.
Does the pressure to be the next Steph Curry overwhelmed
him to some degree? Does he start to get to
the people ask too much of now. I think it's
a good thing that he's in Atlanta. Atlanta, say what
you want to buy him. But there's not a lot
of pressure in Atlanta right now, not a lot of
hype around them to succeed. He's going to be able

(01:29:55):
to grow organically, especially if they moved in a shrewder out.
But I wonder, Karen does do the expectations of being
Steph Curry asked in year one, does that weigh him
down a little bit? No, I don't think so. And
and like you just touched on, you know, look, expectations
in Atlanta is gonna be another thing, because you know,
that is Hotlanta, and that's gonna be a place where

(01:30:17):
a lot of people is gonna, you know, come out
to these games and expect certain things, you know, because
he's gonna be the ticket, he's going to be the drawing,
he's gonna be the face of the franchise going forward,
and people are gonna be excited to see him play.
And that's you know, coming one of the entertainment capitals
of the world, you know, and they're gonna put on
the show and it's gonna be a big production and
he's the face of it. Yeah, yeah, we'll see what

(01:30:39):
happens there. And of course the Memphis Grizzles. I don't
know what they're doing. I really don't. I'm not. I
wasn't a big general jack understand what they're doing. I
wasn't a huge Darren Jackson guy. I mean, good player,
a lot of upside. But who would you have to
give you as Memphis at that spot. I mean, so
many people already had said they didn't want to be there.
I mean, what do you do? I probably would have
taken Trey Young there. If I didn't, I might have

(01:31:00):
taken mo Bamba there. I know that mo Bamba didn't
give them any medicals and didn't want to work out there.
At some point, at some point, you just say screw
it and say so so you're you're not friend to
invite people to your party even though they say they're busy.
Uh yeah, if if if they if I know they
have to go, if they're contractually required. I mean, nobody
who's the fourth pick in the drafts gonna say, you know,

(01:31:22):
what's screwed it. I'm gonna go play overseas for three
years or whatever. It is, Like it's not gonna happen
like the threat. Somebody said, and this was this was
not a good take. Somebody said that, like the the
Kings were worried about Don Chech not coming over if
they drafted him. Like, no, no, they weren't. They were
not worried about that Don check was going to come over.
Maybe he'd preferred to be in Dallas, but he was
coming to Sacramento, a guy like Bomba. Even if it

(01:31:44):
didn't work out there, he would have gone. He absolutely
would have gone. Yeah, I don't I don't think that
was I just don't. I don't know what Jaren Jackson
is necessarily, I don't know what he projects out to
kind of be. I mean, that might have even been
a spotif I was Memphis, and you know, given the medicals,
and I think they I think they red flagged him
pretty good. But if if I'm then I might have

(01:32:08):
thought about Porter Junior at that spot, I might have
just taken a gamble, just taken. I mean, you gotta
do something right if you're Memphis. Is such a messy situation,
like I think they blew it in not trading Marcusol
last year. I would have moved him and try to
get something for him, even fifty cents in the dollar,
because you're not going to win with Marcusol. You're not.

(01:32:29):
He's he's got one year left in his contract. Maybe too,
I think he knocked into the contract. But you're not
gonna win with him on that roster. So you've got
Mike Conley coming back from a bad foot injury. You're
not a playoff team in the Western Conference. So if
it's you know, you lose Porter for an entire year,
but you have a chance get another high lottery pick
next year. You need to start their Karen. It's something

(01:32:49):
to revitalize that franchise with the grit and grind era,
you know, basically being over. I just I just didn't
see it happened. I don't see it happened. I think
it's gonna be a process. I think they're you know
what ain't gonna pass. You know, do you like Jaron Jackson?
Do do you? I mean, what are you thinking of me?
He's a good player. I don't. I don't even see
him as being like a starter in the NBA. You know,
I think he's gonna be a good player. You just

(01:33:11):
don't know until you know you see him on a
consistent basis, you know. But I think Memphis struggled for years,
you know, with attendance and those things. You know, they
always had sellouts for the playoffs. But look, you know,
the only thing to sell out in Memphis is Graceland
and and that's that's beyond time now for that. So
I think it's you know, there's a process of where

(01:33:33):
they have to rebuild and it's gonna take some time. Yeah,
I don't know if Jackson is an NBA level three
point shooter. Uh and if he's not, that's a major problem. Huge. Um,
I don't know. I mean, look, he he wasn't like
you look at his potential. He didn't produce in college.
He averaged what eleven points and six rebounds as a freshman.

(01:33:56):
Like I I he wasn't a productive college player necessarily.
So I don't know. I don't know that that seemed
like a reach and they can't afford to miss with that.
But I mean Memphis, And but the other part of
it is Memphis been bad at drafting, Like in recent years,
they have been bad. Look at their list of guys
they drafted drafting in free agency. Yes, but I mean
you don't expect guys to go there. And I didn't

(01:34:17):
have a problem at the time with them overpaying Chandler Parts,
because the only way to get somebody to go to
Memphis to overpay them. But they have not been good
at drafting the guys they passed on. Well, come on, man,
you overpay somebody to come to your organization. And look,
Chandler Parson. Look he was injured. He got the injury.
He can't do anything about that. I'm glad he got paid.
He's a hell of a person. I'm happy with the contract.

(01:34:38):
But I'm just saying, like it didn't warrant uh Memphis
to jump out on a limb like that and pay
that type of money for Chandler Parsons at the time,
even with all right, we're gonna take a break. But
at the time, though, right, I mean quickly, they were
a team looking to compete. I mean they had beca
Saul Connolly, they did a hold of small four. I
think they saw Parsons as a way to get out
of the Western Conference at that point, right, I mean,

(01:35:00):
look like it's me oh no, a right, maybe not.
Maybe that's wishful thinking. All right, I want to get
into some stuff about Dwight Howard. We talked about him
last hour. Kuran did a great interview with him on
Draft Night, and Uh, I want to see what's next
for Dwight Howe plus the free agency of Lebron James
and uh Paul George Loom one week away from the

(01:35:22):
start of free agent. We'll dive into all that more
next Chris. And there's a better way to buy home
insurance with Progressives new Home Quote Explorer to get a
custom quote and a great rate all online. See for
yourself how much you could say at Progressive dot Com.

(01:35:48):
It's Chris and Karan here Fox Sports Radio. Come, what
do you live from the getic Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Free agency about a week away. A lot of big
names on market. Another guy that will be on the
market is Dwight Howard, traded twice in the calendar year.
Atlantis sends him to Charlotte. Charlotte sends it to Brooklyn.

(01:36:10):
Brooklyn says and thanks, but no thanks, We're gonna buy
you out. Last hour, we played the interview. Koran did
a great interview with Dwight Howard on Draft Night and
what what what He makes me curious about Dwight Howard
Karen is where where is he at mentally in terms
of what is the next best step for his career.

(01:36:31):
We talked about money and we ran out of time
at the end of the last segment. We talked about
money and the possibility that you, like you said, Dwight
could be looking for like eight twelve million dollars per year.
That's not gonna happen. It's just not um. The only
way he's getting that is if you go places in
China like that's the only I don't even think they'd
pay him that much. If he wants to play in
the NBA again, he could probably go to a terrible

(01:36:54):
team at like four or five million dollars maybe, or
you'll go to a winning team and play for the
veterans minimum. And if I'm Dwight Howard, kuran, I'm playing
for the veterans minimum because I'm already getting twenty million
dollars or so from the Brooklyn Nets, so I've got
my money for this year. This is extra money, and
this is a chance for Dwight Howard to rehabilitate that image. Now,

(01:37:18):
I don't know if he truly understands that the negative
image from him doesn't come from the media. It just
doesn't Maybe it's exaggerated to some degree in the media,
But like I told you last hour, the media didn't
trade him from Atlanta. The media didn't trade it from Charlotte.
The media didn't tell a young Brooklyn team to say thanks,
but no thanks. This is Dwight Howard. He has effectively

(01:37:40):
been dumped by three teams in the last year. And
if you if you're not woken up by that, Koran,
I don't know what you are. If you're Dwight Howard,
he has to recognize that this is about him. He
has to figure out what's going on with him. What
is it his attitude, is it the way it comports himself.
Something is happening. You've been around enough guys, enough guys
that are are bad in the locker room. You know,

(01:38:01):
the teams don't want to have those guys around, no
matter how talented they are. Yeah. I think it's a
combination of many things, and you touched on it. I
think is you know, being somewhere um, you know, having
habits that's not favorable. And then the media, you know,
us being on this side of the space where you
have to report what you hear of what you see

(01:38:22):
or what you think the problem is and the truth
of the situation and scenarios. And that's exactly where you know,
he's not being a victim. You know, he's not playing
a victim. He's been been honest and you know he
came on the show to express those things like, look,
you know, some of these things are warranted, self inflicted,
and there's things that I have to be better at

(01:38:43):
and you know, going forward, that's exactly what I tend
on doing. I you know, I want to be a
better version of myself. I want my legacy to be
a great person, you know, on this earth, not just basketball.
And I'm thinking winning right now. And when he said
all those things, you know, it it hit home. It
struck a nerve. I was like, you know what, that's
that's what it's all about. I think, you know, it's

(01:39:04):
all about growth and you know, maturing on the fly.
And that's exactly what seems like taking place with Dwight Howard. Look,
I don't doubt that Dwight Howard is a good person.
You mentioned those communities, system awards, um. His personality has
always been something of a positive. But as a basketball player,
there are legitimate concerns about his commitment to winning every

(01:39:28):
night and just putting up good numbers. As you know,
that doesn't mean there's a strong commitment to winning. That
doesn't mean you're a good guy to have on your team. Look,
one of the people you're closest with, Kobe Bryant, guy
that was on this show. What did Kobe Bryant Kron
think of d White Howard? Okay, so you know what.
I don't make it go there, but but we know

(01:39:50):
we know what Kobe I mean. You want to put
up the video of Kobe going soft soft soft soft
over and over again in that first game that Dwight
Howard played to Houston. Kobe doesn't think that Dwight is
is a winner. Um, and you look at some of
these other teams, they didn't really think it. And I
gotta tell you, Krown, I've heard this from Dwight before.
I've heard the and not again. I want to put

(01:40:10):
the the, the the be a good person stuff aside,
because I do think he's a good person. But I
have heard him talking about repairing his basketball image, uh
playing for a winner. Heard that when he signed with Atlanta,
heard that he was trying to Charlotte, and I'm hearing
that right now. I'm hearing it, but I'm not seeing
it yet. And look, you can correct me if I'm wrong,
But just just putting up numbers does not mean you're

(01:40:32):
a winning player. I think that's fair to say. Yeah.
And I think that you know, when you go through
the transition of being moved around, shopped around, uh, you know,
thinking that you're valued at this and other people having
a different perspective about your value and where you're at,
it's a reality check. And I know him on the
court as a competitor, and then I know him away

(01:40:54):
from the game of basketball, and I think this one
right here really hit home. I think this move, I
think the way that it was done, I think that
you know, all those things just it was like a
domino effect and when it hit him, and I think
he's like, you know what, I have to reevaluate my career.
I have to reevaluate how I how I am as

(01:41:16):
accessed in this game, and how I'm viewed as a
person and as a professional. And I think going forward,
I think he's going to be better because I I
don't think he wants to be viewed as anything but
an asset to an organization. If I'm Dwight Howard and
I'm about to enter free agency, I do it around
July six. Um. First of all, I don't worry about money.

(01:41:37):
I tell my agents forget about money. The veteran minimum
is fine. I'm getting paid anyway. I need to repair
my image. I need to become a winning basketball player,
be considered a winning basketball player. There are two situations
I would look at right away. The first is New Orleans.
The Pelicans have that interested in Dwight Howard in the past.

(01:41:57):
They tried to trade for him when he was with Atlanta,
didn't work out. The Pelicans have an issue with DeMarcus Cousins.
I don't think they want to pay him what DeMarcus
is looking for. So if DeMarcus walks all of a sudden,
you have a hole at that five spot. Now, maybe
you're not a starter full time and in New Orleans,
because you know, they were pretty damn effective with that
Anthony Davis Nicola Merritage front line. But you're a starter

(01:42:20):
part of the time. You take the physical pressure off
Anthony Davis and you put yourself with Rajon Rondo. Look,
do you play with Rondo too? Don't you think Rondo
and Dwight Howard on the court would make a pretty
good pick and roll combination. Absolutely. I think Rondo is
gonna put you in a situation where you can be successful.
You know, it's high basketball, i Q. All you gotta
do is make yourself available and uh, you know, run

(01:42:41):
the floor, get to the paint. You know, he has
a basketball mind to you know, make sure that you're
rewarded for playing the right way. Yeah. I think Rondo
and Howard would work really well together offensively, but around
another guy. Rondo wasn't a big fan of Dwight Howard
when he was playing against him, But anyway, Um, that's
one situation I would consider if they move on from
DeMarcus Cousins, I would run towards that situation. Low pressure

(01:43:03):
to playing in New Orleans, not a lot of media
attention down there. You can resuscitate your career to some
degree there. The other one is Boston and as I
said when the trade happened, Danny Ainge, the GM of
the Celtics, another guy that's been interested in Dwight Howard
in the past when he was with Houston. Boston kicked
the tires on trading for him. The price was just
too high at that point. You go out there. If

(01:43:24):
your Boston, let's say they have to lose Aaron Baines,
you bring in Dwight Howard at the minimum. Dwight Howard
can be a winner in Boston. What's Boston's biggest problem
right now? What's their biggest issue going into postseasons. It's
rim protection, it's blocking shots, it's rebounding how often to
the Celtics, but not rebounded by the Cavaliers, by the Sixers.
They get beat up on the glass because for all

(01:43:44):
of Al Horford's talents, he is not a great rebounder.
You bring Dwight Howard in, you put him in a
Brad Stephens system, playing off Kyrie Irving, playing off Gordon Heyward.
He will not put up the same numbers, but he'll
be in a position to win Karan. He would win
games in Boston. Don't have to sign a multi year deal.
Do it for one year veterans minimum. Get your money
from Brooklyn, play for Boston, play for New Orleans and

(01:44:08):
become a winner like he If if he's as healthy
as he looks and he played eighty one games last year,
he could still play it for three or four more years.
But if he plays like if he acts like the
same goofball he's been for his last few stops, he's
not going to be a wanted man. He's gonna wind
up in China where he's still popular, very popular in China,
but he's gonna wind up playing there. So I think

(01:44:30):
if you're if you're Dwight Okay, I know he said
that before. I'm still just saying that's where the most
money might be. That's it. We're just talking money. But
don't you I mean, do do you disagree? I mean
everything you said China thing, I was like, once you
do China out there, I was like, all right, But

(01:44:51):
outside of that, you your own point. Like I think
if it's about winning, and I think it's if it's
about being with an excellent organization and planning system where
you can attribute contribute immediately. Uh look, Brad Stevens, they
got that thing rolling. Yeah, they had it rolling without
even having the superstar talent out there on the court.

(01:45:12):
So now you add that addition and then add a
room protector like a Dwight Howard in that system. Hey,
come on, man, you can cancel Christmas look at look
at how they used Aaron Baines this past year. They
moved him in and out of the starting lineup, they
used him from matchups. We all know that Al Horford
doesn't want to be a full time five, but Boston
can put a lethal offensive group on the floor with

(01:45:35):
Horford at the five and Tatum Brown, Kyrie, Gordon Hayward
out there on the floor. And then when you need
to play bigger than a handful of teams that you
have to play bigger against, when you need to play bigger,
you put Dwight Howard in the game and let him
be Dwight wrought to him in the post, maybe averages
ten and ten. I think you can do that in
a limited role. It's just it just makes too much sense.
I really hope, and you think he will, but I

(01:45:56):
really hope that Dwight Howard gets it. Did he get
that this is the most critical year of his career.
Money should be off the table, It should be all
about winning. Man. I think if he I think if
he displayed that in free agency and when he starts
talking to teams, I think that would speak volumes also.
And I mean, look, you know you play for you
know a long duration of time. Isn't about money anymore,

(01:46:19):
you know. You want to secure the wealth of your
family and future, you know, and all that stuff. But
at at the end of the day, it's all about
you know, winning, and you know the way you will
be perceived, you know, forever. And I think he's thinking
about that alright. Free Agency just a week away. We're
gonna be deeper into that, But first let's check in
with David Gascon see what's going on out there. What's up,
David and gentlemen. A lot of action today in a

(01:46:41):
fiffull World Cup group play, that is, but nothing doing
right now between Poland and Columbia. They're reaching the thirty
third minute corner kick coming up right now for Columbia.
But the matches scoreless as we speak, and all the
action is available on Fox if you want to check
it out earlier today as well. General Concentration Kane five

(01:47:05):
star first called courtesy of Fox and Harry Cane of
England had a hat trick. They actually led five nothing
at the end of the first half and cruise to
an easy six one victory over Panama. Japan tied at
the equalizer came in the seventy eighth minute against Senegal.
Two teams played with a two two drawn and onward.
A Major League Baseball Dodgers have three hits today, all

(01:47:27):
of them solo blasts. Kick Hernandez, Cody Bellinger, Max Munsey,
Dodgers three mets to Brazens on top of the Orioles
three one Cubbies with a five spot nowally the Reds
five nothing. Anthony Rizzo is twelve foam run of the
season raise doubling up the Yankees six to three in Tampa.
Right now, it's in the bottom of the fourth inning, gentlemen,
back to you. It's Christy Garan, Fox Sports Radio, Chris

(01:47:50):
Mannix Yeahoo Sports, Corn Butler, two time All Star NBA champion,
Where company Live from the Guy Go Fox Sports Radio Studios.
It's easy to say or more on car insurance with
Guy Goo go to Geico dot com or one four
seven Auto. The only hard part figuring out which way
is easier. All right, Free agency, As we said a
week away in Lebron James set to hit the market

(01:48:11):
once again, second time in the last eight years. Lebron
is gonna become a free agent. But each of those
times he became one, there was a natural, smart, easy,
championship looking team for him to go to. It was
Cleveland or Cleveland. Went from Cleveland to Miami in two
thousand ten eleven, and then he goes back to Cleveland
in two thousand fourteen. That made some sense because of

(01:48:33):
Kyrie being there, Kevin Love all that, So you had
some some natural place for the Lebron to go. But Koran,
I look around and I don't know what the easy
place for him to go is. I mean, Houston looks
like a team that could use him to get over
the hump, But I'm not sure Lebron James, you know,
from a family standpoint, wants to go to Houston. The
Lakers look like a smart team for him to go

(01:48:55):
to from a family standpoint, but from a basketball position
right now, there's certainly not close to winning anything. What
do you think about Lebron's free agency in the coming week.
I think, I mean you touched on it. It's all
about family. I think it's all about you know, having
that that that that broad perspective of you know, family
and transition and transition into you know life life at

(01:49:16):
the basketball and you know, the hashtag is always believe
and more than the game. And I think he's one
of the athletes that embody that more than any that
I've seen in my lifetime. So with that being said,
you think about cities like Los Angeles, and you think
about the platform that he already has that exists when
Uninterrupted and spring Hill Entertainment and the movie platform and

(01:49:40):
what he's doing HBO, all these things, and it just
made perfect sense, you know, for him and his family
to uproot from Cleveland and be out here in this market. Now,
if it's a basketball decision, you have to say, you know, Houston,
you have to think about Philadelphia and what they can
do in the Eastern Conference for years to come. You
have to think about, you know, staying put in Cleveland

(01:50:02):
possibly and you know, with the news of Kawhi Leonard
possibly only being released to an Eastern Conference team, maybe
you can you know, finesse something and and and get
your you know, your your robbin in in in that trade.
So it's a lot of scenarios, but l A still
makes the most sense from a family perspective to me. Yeah,

(01:50:24):
I'm not sure even if Kauai is truly available at
this point, I don't know that Cleveland has enough to
get it done. I mean, I don't know how you
you could in theory package Kevin Love and Colin Sexton,
but I don't know if that's that's not we can
You're not gonna get that. You're not gonna get Kauai
for that. Uh put it that way. It's there's just
better offers that are going to be on the table
for Kauai Letard. But I mean, I'm just curious to

(01:50:48):
know what matters to Lebral at this point, like what
really matters, because you know, like I said, you've got
a good family situation l A. But if Paul George
winds up back in Oklahoma City, which is at least possible,
I don't know how you handicap those odds, but it's
at least possible that Paul George winds up back at
Oklahoma City, either on a short or long term deal.
What's he doing out in l A. I mean, Lebron
James a great player. He can do a lot of

(01:51:10):
things with a lot of players. But you're not getting
past the second round with Alonzo Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randall.
You're just not That's not a team that's equipped to
get out of the second round of the playoffs. So
go ahead, you you you think that how many more
good years of basketball Lebron James? Half, like, what would

(01:51:32):
I would say? I would say two to three of
being this Lebron James. This is what we're watching right now. Yes,
so I would say three to four, okay, And if
you have a good base of talent around him, a
wealth of talent, it may you know, even preserve him
even more. But you know at some point he's gonna

(01:51:53):
decline and go down. So that means we we, like
I say, if he go to Los Angeles this this summer,
he's gonna win a title in that in that time span.
I think if he's playing at that level and he's
the character draw in more talent and as a symbol,
it's not going to be the following year, but you

(01:52:14):
know it's gonna be probably the year after that or
possibly that following year. But at some point he's gonna
win a title and that will put him at four
four titles that would be restoring and filling here in
Los Angeles, and he'll be able to maximize that space
off the court from year one when you get here,
and then it's only going to excel and go even higher,

(01:52:34):
you know, once he brings that title. Do you think
the fact that Kyrie Irving didn't want to play with
him had forced his way out of a championship level
situation is somehow going to be a negative for Lebron
when it comes to recruiting free agents and getting guys
to play with him. No, I don't think he wants
to be the guy that has to do everything, you know,

(01:52:54):
And I think that, Look, when you play with great
players and you're a great player in your own right,
I think Kyrie is like, Okay, look we won the championship.
They cannot tell the story of, you know, Lebron coming
back to Cleveland one of the best sports stories ever
without mentioning me. I hit the shot to put us
over the hump. He had the block, I had the shot.
I made it. All right, that's confirmed. But now it's like, look,

(01:53:17):
let let me let me see what else I can do,
Like I'm uncle Drew. Let me see what other avenues
and lanes I can explore an embody. And that's what
Kyrie is doing. He's becoming a better version of himself.
He's selling out shoes he's selling out in movie theaters,
He's doing all these things, and now he he wants
to go out there and possibly win a title or
two or three without Lebron, and and that's cool, and

(01:53:39):
you salute the brother for doing that. And I think
Lebron respects that and understand that. Obviously he wanted his
sidekick to be with him and preserve his career longer
and longer and in Cleveland, but that was not the case.
That wasn't his destiny. He had a different plan for
his future. So Lebron understands that. And then other guys,
you know, Lebron is still the care that guys want

(01:53:59):
to play with. You know, a lot of guys want
to play alongside of him and enhance themselves. And they
understand that they're gonna have an instant following because everybody
still view Lebron as the best all around player ever
to play the game of basketball and the best player
on the planet right now today. Okay, the wild card
and all this is Paul George. Because if Paul George
says I want to play in l A, I think
Lebron goes to De l A and they figure out

(01:54:21):
the Kawhi Leonard stuff on the fly, like if they
can acquire him, great, If not, maybe they go out
and make another deal. Maybe they stand pat with what
they have. Paul George the ultimate wild card in this mix.
What's your read on this? Though? I mean, like, look,
I hear and I have been saying for weeks now
that you know, Paul George leaving Oklahoma City, even though
it ended disappointingly last year, was not you know, an

(01:54:42):
automatic that that he likes it there and and it
kind of was reinforced by some of the things he
said the end of the season. I go back to
those comments. What's your read on all this? Does? Does? Does?
Paul George? What do you what? What? What do you?
How do you handicap this? Well? I look at it
like this, you know, it's it's gonna come down to
what's really important, you know, to Paul George. And you know,

(01:55:03):
understanding that he wants to be in Los Angeles at
some point, you know, definitely when he was with the
Indiana Pacers that was the case. But understanding that if
he come here and that there is no Lebron James,
He's going to be the face of this franchise and
he's gonna be the end, uh, the beginning, in the end.
I mean, he's gonna be the headline in the story
Night in, the Night Out, Hometown Kid came back. It's
gonna be under tremendous amount of pressure. And some people

(01:55:26):
embraces that then and some people don't. Some people rejected.
And that's something that's gonna be a mental decision for him,
you know. And how he want to carry on with
that and plan in the same city with family and
loved ones and all that. That's another thing, you know,
And that's something that he has the option to embrace

(01:55:47):
or stay put. In a situation where you're gonna get
maxed out the super max, they're willing to back up
the truck for you, and you get to play with
a superstar like Russell Westbrook who's gonna get criticized whether
he win or lose, and you know, it might be
a good situation for you where he's gonna, you know,
be your shield and gonna take the hit night in
and night out. Yeah, no question about that. So we'll

(01:56:09):
see what happens there. All right, we gotta take a
break and we come back. I do want to dive
into the most intriguing player in the draft. That was
Michael Porter Jr. Projected Top three picky slides all the
way to number four team. Well, the teams before him,
especially in that eight to thirteen range. Regret passing on
Michael Porter Jr. We'll talk about that next. Chris and
Karan here on Final a few minutes this hour, Chris

(01:56:29):
and Karan Fox Sports Radio, Great News. A quick way
you could save money. Switch to Geico, to Geico dot
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the show? Check us out on iTunes. Podcast is up.
Check our Twitter account at Chris and Koran. Follow Karan
on Twitter at Real Tough Juice. Check me out at

(01:56:49):
Chris meddox y s. You're get over there. No, you
don't know the words, don't uh? I do that all
the time. He is. This is this what a car
ride with Karen Butler would sound like? Yeah, car karaoke.

(01:57:10):
See there you go, here go, there's a new venture four.
You get a whole bunch of things going on, all right. Um,
so the NBA Draft, there's some interesting picks, of course,
Um yeah, I thought Troy Brown of fifteen was interested
in Washington. I thought the Clippers made some risky moves

(01:57:33):
with their twelfth and thirteenth pick, but no bigger you know,
no bigger player in this draft at the Michael Porter Jr. Right,
I mean Porter Jr. A guy that's widely viewed, almost
unanimously viewed as a top two or three talent in
this draft, goes all the way to number fourteen. And
what that tells us is that the medicals were terrible.
Water missed most was freshman year with a major back injury.

(01:57:56):
He went through the workout process somewhat showed teams medicals.
His agents and his team were saying, Oh, the medicals
are good. Their medicals are good. Deal, teams are fine
with them. Well, clearly not fine with them. Michael Porter
Junior gets passed over by teams like the Knicks. Two
picks from the Clippers, Uh, the Sixers, who are you know,
in the history of Sam Hanky would have drafted him,
no question, all the way to fourteen to the Denver Nuggets. Scrob,

(01:58:19):
What did you think of a guy's talented as Porter
Junior slipping all the way to fourteen? Yeah, I was shocked,
you know, I was shocked to see him drop, but
then I wasn't surprised though, So I hope that makes
sense to the listeners, Like I was shocked to see
a talent like him dropped, but I wasn't surprised because
of the medical reports. And with a guy like that,
you know, when you have a surgical procedure or anything

(01:58:40):
like that back knee, that is like the red flag
now risks fingers, shoulders, things like that. You know, it's like, okay,
it happens, they recover rather quickly. No, no, no shock value,
there no real news. But when you talk about knees
and backs, that's like crucial to careers. Uh, players not
being able to available at me durable And that's that's

(01:59:03):
that's glaring. And let's see what happened with him going forward.
But tremendous upside. Uh A name that everybody loved in
the draft, but just was you know, afraid to take
that chance. I was hearing some really really bad things
about the medicals in the immediate aftermath of the draft,
stuff like may not be able to play this year,

(01:59:23):
stuff like chronic The word degenerative was used by one
executive that I talked to the possibility, couldn't maybe won't
be able to play back to backs. Moving forward with
something people talked about, and you're right, the back injury.
A back injury is about as scary as they get
for NBA teams, NBA players, um even the knee. I
think this point, Karan, it's it's less scary than than

(01:59:46):
a back injury, because a back injury could really derail
you for extended periods of time and may not heal
all the way properly. I mean, look, we just talked
about Dwight Howard, I mean the back injury that he
had affected him for years. So oh, I don't know
where this all winds up. I do think though, it's
a gut seed, but a a good move by the
Denver Nuggets because the Denver Nuggets are in a tough

(02:00:09):
salary cap position in the next couple of years, and
the only way they get that next star it's through
the draft. So Porter Jr. If he does turn out
to be able to play, he has that potential to
be a star. So now you have Porter, You've got
Jamal Murray, You've got nicolea. Yokich, You've got guys in
Denver that can really play as opposed to what you're
gonna draft Troy Brown. You're gonna draft uh was it?
Zaire Smith was sitting there Aaron Holliday like you weren't.

(02:00:31):
You probably weren't gonna get a star at that spot.
Now they get a potential start if they have to
wait a full countar year to get him. Yeah, you know,
the way that that organization is gonna work out is
you're gonna have to build through the draft what you
touched on, and you know through free agency you're gonna
have to overpay guys. And Tim Connelly did an excellent
job of you know, high risk but even higher reward

(02:00:52):
in this pick. And hopefully he can remain healthy and
you know, build his temple and get his body right
and then look forward to him, you know, starting the
following season, not this one, but getting him prepared for
the two thousand nineteen going forward. All right, quickly, we're
gonna save the tape. Best player of this draft five
years from now is who Oh, that's a good one.

(02:01:13):
I would have to say a in Obamba Ibamba. Yeah,
I think bad is going to have the immediate impact. Though,
I'm gonna go with Dan. I'm taking to European going
to Dallas. One great European, it'll be the air to
the next one. You know how they developed those Europeans
there man, you played there? Yeah? Nice? I like this
game all right. A lot more coming up here on

(02:01:33):
Fox Sports Radio. We'll be back next week. Chris and Karen,
thanks for listening. Fox Sports Radio Squad

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