July 3, 2025 • 41 mins
Ben Maller opens hour 1 of the show reacting to the news that free agent big man DeAndre Ayton is signing with the Lakers. Does this solve their issues at center? How does Ben see this working out? Then, he discusses the Knicks hiring Mike Brown as their next head coach... Is he an upgrade over Thibodeau? Plus, more fun with a new edition of the 'Who Am I?' Game!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here we go. Welcome. It's our number one, hour one
of the original Recipe podcast, not to be confused with
the Extra Crispy and there will be new episodes on
the fourth of July weekend every single day the fifth
Hour podcast. But here in our number one of the
Original Recipe podcast, the Andre Ayton has made his decision.
(00:25):
He was let go, fired by the Trailblazers. He's going
to the Los Angeles Lakers. What are the odds that
DeAndre Ayton reinvents himself as a Laker? Also, how do
you process the Milwaukee Bucks leaking that they were upset
with Dame Lillard rehabbing his achilles injury in Portland. Apparently
(00:45):
he didn't get he didn't get permission for that, saying
it wasn't approved. So how do you process that? We'll
talk about that and Mike Brown. All signs pointing to
Mike Brown being named the new coach of the Knickerbockers.
Is that an upgrade or a downgrade? We'll examine that
as well on the second half of the day night
(01:07):
radio doubleheader. We string it together in our number one.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
The center of the basketball universe, say what Welcome? In
the beginning of another night of the Ben Mahlor Show.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
We are in the air everywhere, mixing and mingling as
we get in under the wire, coast to coast, border
the water and beyond on the vast and universally powerful
microphones of fsre amminating live. Do it live from inside
(01:44):
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Way Tire Buying Show b and our lead this hour
from pro Bouncy Ball the day night double header, Day
(02:28):
night doubleheader coverage continue. So our little filling stuff during
the day locally here in La. But the high speed
sports wire does not slow down. It does not, So
we have a follow up follow up to a previous
Mala monologue. We talked about this a couple of days ago,
(02:48):
and the Portland Trailblazers decided that they did not want
the services of DeAndre Eighton anymore, so they worked a
buyout to get rid of him. So he came a
free agent to roam around wherever he wants, wherever his
heart desires. The NBA so free agent center DeAndre Ayton.
The decision is in. He is no longer unemployed. I
(03:13):
know you're very concerned about this. If you did not
hear by now, perhaps perhaps you tuned out, you were
not listening. We have learned, though, it's been a double
and triple confirmed that DeAndre Ayton is taking his talent,
if you want to call it that, to the Lakers
a two year deal to have heartache in the playoffs
(03:34):
with the Lakers. The deal includes the player options, so
it's really like a one year deal. But the deal
between Portland and eight they had a falling out. So
he goes to LA eight And in between the buyout
from the Trailblazers and the money, the new money the
Lakers are going to pay him, he will earn thirty
(03:55):
four million dollars to play pro bouncy ball and will
likely miss half the games. And then when he plays,
he'll be engaged about half the time of those games.
So eight and will turn twenty seven on July twenty third,
So he's got three weeks to go here until he
turns twenty seven. And he averaged a pedestrian fourteen points
(04:17):
a game, did have ten rebounds a game, shot fifty
six percent for the Portland Trail Blazers down the Oregon
Trail last year. So let us discuss the question DeAndre
Ayton he goes to the Lakers, what are the odds
that he reinvents himself and turns out to be the
(04:37):
player he's supposed to be and not the player that
he has been. So I've got house plans, middle school
group chat, and T shirt cannon, and we will combine
all of these things together and we're gonna make the Babaganoosh.
We're gonna make the babagan so a the word reinvent
to use that word that he's not going to reinvent himself.
(05:00):
I'm gonna go police on that idea. And I know
because I live in Los Angeles, LA is a town
that when you think about the history of transforming underachieving
seven foot players into gladiators, they have a rich history
of that, unless they don't right now. It is a land.
If you want to kill Smoothie, you can get that.
(05:21):
If you want to hang out with social media influencers,
they're all over the place and a sun tannocean here,
there and everywhere. You've got that. Listen eighton. He's played
now with two different teams. He has not shown any
of that so called Mamba mentality. In fact, he's the
antithesis of that. He is more likely, by the time
(05:43):
he's done with the Lakers, more likely to have opened
a juice bar in Van Eyes than he is to
have made an All Star team as a Laker. And
with the Suns, he is not a team that was
in the finals. Maybe they gagged against the Milwaukee Bucks
and the finals a couple years back. You remember that.
So he was with the Suns. It was a finals team. Grant,
(06:04):
it was kind of a flukey finals run. But they
were in the finals and in the finals. I remember
we did monologues about it. But DeAndre Ayton approached NBA
Finals games like he was playing rec ball at the YMCA.
It's like la la la la la, I said, the
Boys and Girls Club the YMCA. So DeAndre. He plays
(06:24):
in cruise control. At least that's how he has played.
He has been dining on room service and sleeping through
a wake up call since he entered the NBA in
the twenty eighteen draft. And trust me watching him play,
and I'm not just being a shock dog, I don't
know least a shocking take. Like I've literally seen house
(06:45):
plants that play with more perseverance and more and have
more energy than DeAndre Ayton plays professional basketball. Yeah, there'll
be at random night where he'll show up and he'll
be engaged and all that. I don't doubt that's gonna happen.
Maybe maybe he'll even stat a couple of good games
together and play well for a week, But just don't
count on it, right, And what about the numbers? He
(07:08):
averaged a double double? What about the numbers? All right? Well,
his nickname should be stove Top because it's stat stuffing
statistics that look nice to the uneducated fan, but they
have little to no impact on winning games. That's DeAndre
Ayton in a nutshell period. Stop now one of the
(07:28):
teams that supposedly contacted him. And there's Indiana. Now Indiana
needs a center because they lost their center to the
Milwaukee Bucks. And the reason the Bucks got their center,
mister Turner, is because the Milwaukee Bucks are going to
eat one hundred thirteen million dollars, no barbecue sauce, no
(07:52):
honey mustard, no dipping sauce, one hundred and thirteen million
to pay damn literally go away. So now there's some
new report out on that if you saw this or not,
and maybe not, but how do you process a story
that has been leaked by the Bucks that one of
the factors in buying out Damian Lillard is that they
(08:13):
were upset that Dame Time was going to rehab or
had been rehabbing his achilles injury in Portland. They said
it was not improved, not approved, not approved by the
big shots there in Milwaukee. So how do you process that?
So I love this because it happens ninety nine point
(08:35):
nine percent of the time, the classic sports breakup where
both sides pretend that they get along with each other.
They sing Kumbai Yah, right, they wish each other the
best and all that stuff the best means as good
as all the rest, And at the same time they
are rushing to their phones to send text messages in
(08:58):
to their friends, their useful idiots in the media, and
they're leaking all the petty grievances that each side has
here to the media and it ends up being like
a middle school group chat where they're just throwing all
kinds of crap out there, right, all kinds of crap
out there. Some of it's true, some of it's not.
Like the Bucks didn't just wave Damian Lillard like on
(09:20):
his way out, they leaked that they were upset with
him because he wanted to rehab in Portland where his
kids are. The horror of horse a thirty four year
old father wants to be near his family while learning
to walk again because his achilles was shredded like shredded
chicken and how dare him? And it's it's part of
(09:40):
the story where, if you follow the story, we've seen
these kind of hostile sports breakups that have happened, these
sports divorces. It's the part of the story where the
Bucks want you to believe that they were the aggrieved party,
that they that they they were the ones that were
the victims. This is it didn't work out that da
going back to Portland was some kind of betrayal, is
(10:03):
what it's being tossed out as I mean, that's that's
the NBA. It's not a hostage negotiation. And for the
Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillward was the big flex. You swung,
you try to hit a grand slam and you popped
up meekly to the catcher. That's what you did. It happens,
and so now you lick your wounds and you move on,
(10:25):
kind of like the team in New York, we pivot.
Last word here we go now to Gotham, Midtown, Manhattan, where,
unless there's a last minute snaffoo, we have a new
coach for the fledgling NBA team in the Big Apple,
Mike Brown. What can Brown do for you? Mike Brown
(10:46):
named coach of the Knicks, although things still have to
be worked out the crossing of the t's the dot
in the eyes, but being reported it's a done deal,
barring some kind of last minute snaffoo. Mike Brown gonna
be the coach of the Knickerbockers. Is this an upgrade
or a downgrade? Upgrade or downgrade? Mike Brown coaching the Knicks?
So this does not take a high basketball IQ. It
(11:10):
does not. You do not have to be some kind
of insider to know. Congratulations to the New York Knicks.
They have just downgraded, right, They've downgraded from a nice
bunker to a beach house and a hurricane is coming
to town. All right, now it looks nice, no beach house,
(11:32):
but wait till that storm arrives. Not so much. So
you let me get it straight. You gave Tom Thibodeau
a pink slip, and this is your solution. This is
your solution, really like you had no plan. The guy
that helped drag the rotting carcass of the Knickerbockers out
(11:55):
of the Dolan Dungeon as they call it in Midtown
Manhattan and Madison Square into the Eastern Conference Finals first
time since AOL dial up internet was still a thing,
And you let that go for Mike bleeping Brown. Are
you kidding me? Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. Yeah, Brown has
(12:18):
been fired more than the T shirt cannon at your
local minor league ballpark. My god, uh, Cleveland got rid
of him twice. The Lakers had him for a cup
of coffee. They dumped him after one year, after five games.
I think it was five games if I remember. They
got rid of him. Sacramento just had him they made
(12:38):
the playoffs and they still dumped Mike Brown. This was
mid season, after thirty one games. So that's not a trend, okay,
that is what's called a pattern. And Tom Thibodeau, who
was I guess an acquired taste. Some we like the
way he coached from afar. We don't have any skin
(12:58):
in the game, but his teams had grit. There was
an edge to a Tom Thibodeau coach team. And when
you juxtapose that style to Mike Brown, when people talk
about Mike Brown, everyone says the same thing. Nice guy, right,
Nice guy boy, Mike Brown. Nice guy. Everyone's talking about
how players love Mike Brown. Man, you can't get enough
(13:22):
of Mike Brown. He's great. So how did that work
out for the Cavs? How did that work out for
the Lakers? How did that work out for the Kings?
So get to the point, please, So nobody is yapping
about the x's and o's the mad tactician that Mike
Brown is. So Mike Brown is essentially the NBA's version
(13:46):
of a substitute teacher in terms of coaching. He's the
guy that will show everyone loves the sub because you
know it's an easy day when the subs there, right, Yeah,
the sub brings some snacks, maybe some crack or something
like that, and you get to watch movies all day
and it's great until a key moment comes up and
(14:08):
you need to execute and you haven't put the work
in and it all it's like a grenade. It just
blows up in your hands and it's a it's a disaster.
So that's where I am. But hey, listen, these are
the knicks, this is the real knicks. They had a
little taste of success with Tom Thibodeau, and now they
kicked his ass to the curb. And now they brought
(14:29):
in Mike Brown, who will be peaks and valleys, but
many more, many more valleys than peaks. These stumbling, bumbling
knickerbockers are back at it yet again. All right, it
is the Ban Mahler Show. If you would like to
comment on that or anything else, you can join us
right now. We'll open up the lines. They're already filling
(14:50):
up at eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. That's
eight seven seven nine nine six six three sixty nine.
Also on X at Ben Mallor, that's at Ben Malor.
So straight ahead, we've got seven Heaven and a hand update,
(15:11):
seven Heaven and a Panda Update. We'll get to that
and we will do it next. Hey, it's Ben, host
of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller. Would mean a
lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey.
You're asking what in God's name is the Fifth Hour?
I'll tell you it's a spin off of The Ben
Mahler Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should
(15:34):
you listen? Picture if you will a world will? We
chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more
every week explore some amazing facts about human nature and more.
Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Bill Miller and You And is the Ben Mahler Show
up all night every night? Just beginning the Red Eye
flight should be a smooth all night operation. You can
interact with us on the phones at eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox. That's eight seven seven nine nine
(16:22):
six six three sixty nine, also on the X Machine,
send a message at Ben Mahler m A L L
e er the last name if you don't know how
to spelled Ben. Bad job by you and hitting all
the buttons. Our friend Mary is in tonight. Say hello
to Mary Mary the board op on X and in
(16:43):
the producer's chair Ian Roddy. You can find him at
Ian Roddy Underscore, although I'm trying to convince him to
change that name on X like a little tail. Yeah,
we'll get back to it right now, All right, back
to it we go. In a pro bouncy ball malled
(17:04):
monologue to begin the night, as the clown Show continues
in Lakerland as they've signed the Booby Prize of the
NBA free agency period, DeAndre Ayton and berg Dog says.
He says, if you want a good laugh, take Tony
in the Bay Area's Advice and Google. David Vess watch
(17:25):
a Dufus break his arm going down a kid slide.
I heard what happened earlier with Rogan. The feud with
Vassa is back on. It never ended. The elitist David Vassy,
who does the Dodger postgame thing in La here and
our lead in most nights after the Dodger game, and
(17:45):
vassay he's been hanging out with all these millionaire baseball players.
He's he's lost his way. He has lost his way.
That's the reality. Josh Wrightson says he's in Nebraska, but
he's a Bears fan. I guess he's a Bulls fan.
I don't know. Maybe he's a Laker fan. He says.
Ben I so wanted to disagree with you on what
you were going to say, but indeed, down deep down,
(18:08):
I was screaming, no, DeAndre Ayton. I'd rather have stuck
with Jackson Hayes. There you go. What else do we
have about page down? Brian says the Lakers are about
to get a reality check once DeAndre Ayton puts on
that uniform. Yeah, you're not kidding, Brian. That's a great
take by you, and I'm surprised you had that take.
(18:29):
I thought you'd have a different take, but that appears
to be what you're saying there, Brian. Now, yeah, DeAndre Ayden.
Every generation has players like this. They just kind of
go through the motions and there you know, they're half hearted.
They don't they have ability. If they don't fully monetize
their ability, although financially he's monetized his ability. What else
(18:49):
we have, Tacoma Drew writes and says, A plus plus plus. Finally,
we agree spot on watching DeAndre Ayton play back basketball
in slow motion and give zero effort, yet he still
has a golden ticket aka contract for millions of dollars.
It's insanity. Well, I wish we could all have that
(19:14):
where you just show up half ass and you get
that money and you don't have to put the full
effort in there. It'd be great. Most people, though, actually
have to show up and put a good effort in
and can't just cut corners. But DeAndre, God bless him,
because he's tall and gifted athletically, he's been able to
figure that out how to circumvent the things that normal
people have to do in terms of like effort and
(19:36):
energy and things like that. Nature Boy writes in says
your your cohort. Fred Rogan could not help but sigh
and disgust when he heard eight Andy. I did a
daytime show on AM five point seventy in LA, the
flagship of Fox Sports Radio locally, and I was on
with Fred, who's the dean of La Sports and Fred
(19:56):
is from originally like a million years ago. He's from
Arizona and he's a Suns fan deep down, and so
he saw his heart just ripped out of his body
watching DeAndre Ayton not give a crap in the NBA
Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, Ryan writes in from
San Diego, I think he's on the Laker payroll. He says,
(20:18):
what other options do the Lakers have? Taj Gibson, DeAndre Jordan,
Keith Glass, Jack Sikma. The Lakers signing Ayton gives them
at least an asset. Okay, listen, if that helps you
get through the day. I don't want to be the
bearer of bad news here. If that helps you get
through the day, good luck to you, Ryan, God bless you.
And you think a team like the Portland Trailblazers who
(20:40):
decided this guy is such, he's such as bestis that
we have to bring in a hazmat crew to get
rid of this stiff DeAndre Ayton, when they also they
had an asset, right, Ryan, they had an asset. The Trailblazers.
They don't have many good players. They could have traded.
They could have tradedre Aiden if he's such an asset,
(21:02):
why not he's a double double guy. But the Blazers
are like, this guy is such a loser. We can't
win with a guy like this. We have to kick
him out of Oregon and we'll have to pay him
to play the Lakers because the Trailblazers know when the
Lakers and Blazers play, they have an advantage. They are
on the power play when DeAndre Aiden's on the court
(21:24):
because most of the time he's not going through the
mot He's just going through the motions. He's not focused
now chipping the cues, writes In and says a plus
on the amount of monologue. Under normal circumstances. People might
want to make fun of the career of DeAndre Ayton,
but one needs to remind themselves that this dude can
afford to light Cuban cigars using one hundred dollars bills
(21:48):
without losing any sleep or even batting an eye. Well,
no pushback on that. That does not mean, though, that
that money that he's made is because he's he's earned
that money for actual performance consistently super market Steve writes
and says, damn, I did not know the Knicks could
(22:08):
choose a head coach who made their their interest in
Don Staley look like a mensa move. Yeah, that's a
fair point, spots Weed writes in He's down the Oregon Trail.
He says, excellent malar monologue. We meaning Portland traded Yusuf
Nurkic for DeAndre Ayden and they both underperformed. I don't
(22:31):
see DA making any impact for the Lakers, which I'm
happy about. I'm experiencing great shot in freude right now. Well,
you should take extra shot in freuda because dope's like
that guy Ryan in San Diego. They drink that purple
and gold kool aid. They just they don't get it.
They do not get it, do not get it. All right,
we'll take some calls. It is a call in show.
(22:53):
And where do we begin here? Eenie Meanie miny Moe
picked a caller by the day. Let's start out with Jeff,
who's in and sack Ramento. What's going on? Jeff? Welcome,
hey man?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
How you doing tonight?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Jeff? If I was any better, I'd be a king,
but not a Sacramento king because they're going the wrong direction.
They're going the wrong direction.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Oh I know, but you know Mike Brown. You know,
teachers get Teacher of the Year every once in a while.
You know, he's keep happened.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Are you praising Mike Brown? What that are you? Are
you praising Mike Brown? Is that why you're making this
colle Jeff.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You know, broken Quakers right to us quest today?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You know?
Speaker 4 (23:32):
So, Yeah, but I'm just gone with the whole curse
and all that kind of crap from the king. You know,
you should have just turned left heading down to LA
when he got fired. Yeah, New York.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Wow. It is impressive though, that these Sacramento Kings had
two point guards and now they have none. Right, they
had Dearon Fox and Halliburton, and they traded both of them,
and now they've just got this hodgepodge of a roster.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Very impressed, you, yeah, it's it's impressed. That's why you know,
I'm ready for football season. Let's go Nighters.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
There you go, go Niners, take the and take the
Giants with you. I thank you. I go. There's Jeff
in Sacramento. Uh, let's see here. I can't read that
on their nature boys. Very active, he was. He's doing
the day night doubleheader. The nature boy. I do see
Viva los VICKI checking in as well. Let's go back
to the phone, So say loo to Big Daddy, who
(24:30):
wants to say, oh, he's in Memphis, but he wants
to talk to all of his constituents. Hello, big Daddy,
what's going on?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Definitely all my fans and all my ass I never
heard to breaking news in one day?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Well did break news during the day? Oh yeah, because
I was on during the day. Yeah, I get to
break some news and.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Playing cursh off Man. That's that's that's upsetting breaking news.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
And yeah, look at you you were you were listening
to Big Daddy during the day. How about that. I'm impressed,
but U yeah, yeah. Now the Deaddy thing though, I
was reading about it after I got done with that.
So he's still facing some jail time, but not not as.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
You look.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Well, that's the that's the that's the max, though, Big Daddy.
I don't think he's you think he's gonna get the max.
I don't think he's gonna.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Well, you know, he might get out of there off
time behavior.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
You know, he's already he's already been in He's already
been in jail for at least a year, right, if
not longer. So he's already been in there, ye going
on a year and a half.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotta, I gotta,
I got something for big books come from big Where
do work you come from?
Speaker 1 (25:44):
See, that's that's a that's a better joke than the
leper car and told yesterday when he was in studio.
So that's a that's a funnier joke and solid that's
like a next level bad joke.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
That's uh yeah, yeah yeah, the one that don't understand.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
They got to think about it.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, right now hollering James is trying to figure out
what you mean. He's like what he Man, I don't
have no idea, it makes no sense.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Before all right, well.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Enjoy the fourth I'll be we'll be here tomorrow. We'll
have a live show leading into the fourth, a normal,
normal schedule the rest of the week and another day
night doubleheader. So another day night doubleheader.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
That that's the way you do.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
That's right there, clearly, yes, all right, thank you. There's
a big daddy checking in man Is on the campaign trail.
That was a little stump speech. Now we used to
have this guy, uh miss, I guess he's called mister Blunt. Now,
and he he used to be a caller of the show,
but he couldn't handle calling overnight talk radio, so he
retired as a caller. And he has a addiction to
(26:49):
buying lottery tickets. And mister mister blunt, he's calling himself now.
He says, it sounds like the Lakers are the only
team in the NBA. Well, you might want to go
to Costco if there's one year where you live there
in Arkansas, sir, scratch off. And they have a great
hearing department. My dad when he lost his hearing when
he got older, I took him to Costco. We got
(27:10):
a hearing aid right there, kirkland Brand, kirklan Brand hearing
gave my dad got a little older, we went in
there and hooked him up and all that was great
because that monologue was not just about the Lakers, you
dumb dumb. It was also the Milwaukee Bucks, which seemed
to be another team in the NBA, and the New
(27:30):
York Knickerbockers, another team in the NBA. So you choose
to listen to only what you want to hear, which
is a you problem, not a me problem. That's a
you problem. Sean and Portland right, sinceys the Blazers trading
DeAndre Ayton was the first I heard of him being
on the team. Well, there has been no reason to
(27:51):
watch the Trail Blazers since the moment that Damian Lillar
left town. So those two things coincide with each other. Now,
speaking of pro bouncy ball and the wacky Tobacci of
the NBA, Kevin Durant is going to be traded. We
know that he's going to the Rockets. It's all done,
(28:12):
but it's not done. The trade has not been finalized yet.
Now is there's some kind of glitch in the thing
of a jig? No, no, no, no, However, they're looking
at NBA history when Kevin Durant is ultimately traded, as
all these general managers have hired the salary cap experts,
(28:33):
the nerds to come in here, the accountants to manage
the salary cap and try to finagle the salary cap.
And so now the Rockets. It's supposed to be just
a trade between the Suns and the Rockets, and now
we're being told they're going to add not one, not two,
not three, not four, not five, how about seven total teams.
(28:55):
It's very complicated behind a paywall on the athletic They
say that the trade of Durant from the Suns to
the Rockets the deal. By the time it's done, they're
anticipating a league record seven teams we'll get involved in this,
including the Atlanta Hawks, the Brooklyn Nets, the Warriors, the Lakers,
(29:16):
and the tim Barrew Wolves. They're still trying to figure
it out. They're figuring out exactly who's going where and
all this. Now, the previous record was set last summer
when technically Clay Thompson was a sign and trade to
the Dallas Mavericks and that was a six team trade. Now,
(29:39):
why why are are the NBA teams all partnering up
to make these massive trades Because about twenty five percent
we are told of the NBA teams are having issues
circumventing the salarycap. So it's it's moving money around, relocating
(30:01):
money to try to get around it. And so they
toss some things into this trade. And there's there's different layers.
It's all the red tape, you know, all the fine
print and all that. The trade cannot be finalized until
after the holiday weekend. So today's the July third, it's
still July second on the West coast, but it's July
(30:21):
third or July third show. The fourth is tomorrow, and
then on July sixth, that's when the free agency period
begins and the negotiating period it started back on Monday,
and so anyway, there's a lot of there. But the
seven seven teams supposedly will be part of this. Like
what are they just gonna throw in like second round picks?
(30:41):
Are they gonna what are they gonna do? They're gonna
toss in like a bag of popcorn or something like
that to make the salary cap numbers work?
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Is that how that goes? I don't know. All right,
let's go back to the phones and we'll say hello
to Andre who is in the Commonwealth. Hello, Andre, Welcome.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Ben? Good to be with you?
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Yes on this Wednesday evening morning, depending on where you are.
I think the DeAndre Ayton move in your analysis is
spot on. They're going to be a much better team
on paper, much better team on two K. But now
you have, instead of two massive egos, universes of machismo
(31:26):
with Luca and Lebron. Obviously they're determined to do things
their own way. Now you throw eight and in there
that's the third guy that's going to want to walk
to the beat of his own drum. And you know
how it all works together, it's going to be interesting.
I think this is, you know, comparable. You know Luca
how he plays, he needs that you know, lob threat,
that person to make those rim runs. So they wanted
to appease Luca. And they were in the same draft
(31:48):
class together, right, Lucas should have been the number one
overall pick, you know, and it ended up being eight.
And who's had a kind of middling NBA career. Marvin
Bagley's been forgotten. Jared Jackson Junior has panned out, so
he's a step above, you know, one player who's a
clear butt. But he's really the weak link in that
draft class. If you kind of get rid of Marvin
Bagley a third, so you partner him and Luca, hopefully
(32:10):
you can find some symmetry. But you know, he's always
been he's never had a motor except for when you
need the contract and then he kind of regresses back.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Well even then when he needs a contract, he's just
like he just does the bare minimum. We all know
people like that at work. They just do the bare
minimum and they get away with it, and he's been
rewarded with the riches of Solomon or in this case,
the riches of the NBA and all that. I don't
want to redo the twenty eighteen draft, but that is
pretty impressive. If you look at the top picks there.
(32:39):
The only one that really effed up was the Sacramento
kingspick Marvin Bagley in like the top five. All everyone
else in the top five turned out to be at
least a pretty good NBA player. You know, Aydon's you know,
he's been to the finals. He's not great, but he's
better than Marvin Bagley and Trey Young's in that draft
class in twenty eighteen. And then you drop off to
(33:01):
Mo Bamba at number six. The great Mo Bamba, great name,
all name team Andre, not all game team Mo Bamba.
Wonderful name, not a wonderful game though.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Yeah, the pride of New York City. You know, he
he's a New York guy, and uh, you know he'll
have work. You know, he's a rim protector and he'll
if he continues to defend and get some rebounds and
be a good teammate. But that's the other thing about eight.
And before we kick it over, you have some good
stuff on Mike Brown. And I'm obviously the leader of
the Tom Thibodeaux brigade, so just quickly on that. But
DeAndre and you know, he's he's a surly guy. You know,
(33:35):
he's just it's not just that he doesn't produce effort,
you know, he just he has his mood swings.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
So j J.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Reddick, he's got his He's got his hands full. We'll see,
but they're better on paper. But Mike Brown, you know again,
he's essentially a Tips clone with hugs like he'll give
you a hug, he'll pats on the back, he'll smile
at you. But Mike Brown is an old tool coach,
coming from the Greg Papa this tradition. So we're of
the same mind on this. The knicks, you know, and
really what it came down too, I've thought about the
obvious Tips guy. It was a Jerry Jones Jimmy Johnson
(34:05):
situation between Leon.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Rose and Tibbs.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
And not that Tibbs is I'm not making that comparison.
But he did bring prosperity to New York and they
would be better off with him on the sideline. Rather
than this. You know, wild goose traits in bringing in
Mike Brown, but.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I disagree on I think this is all James Dolan
and Tom Thibodau wasn't playing ball, and Dolan was embarrassed
because the way the Knicks played, they lost to a team.
They should have beaten the Pacers. They were more talented then,
but they lost to the to the less talented team.
And Mike Brown is going to be a good middle manager.
He's going to do what James Dolan wants. And but
(34:42):
Leon Rose was Tom Thibodau's agent. I find it hard
believe that Leon Rose was the guy that did this.
I think it's the owner that whacked the coach. And
then this guy, Mike Brown is going to come in
there and he'll he'll massage the egos and all that.
And he's a nice guy. Everyone loves him, and you know,
the team will underachieve and then they'll get rid of
him in a a couple of years and bring somebody else.
And I well leave it there. Andre, thank you, the
(35:02):
Great Andre and his dog willis in the Commonwealth. It
is the Ben Mahler Show. Time now for the who
Am I Game? This is where we pretend to be
somebody else else. We call it the who am I? Game?
So Paul Skeins, that's a pitcher, pretty good one. He
is on pace for an eight plus war. That means
not actual war, no bombs, no bombs, This means wins
(35:24):
above replacement. So Paul Skeins is on pace for an
eight plus wins above replacement year, and that has not
happened for a Pittsburgh Pirates player since me. Again, Paul
Skeins starting pitcher been a phenom. Pirates they suck, but
(35:44):
they've played well this week. Paul Skin's on pace for
eight plus wins above replacement this year. That has not
been accomplished by a Pirates player since me. Who am I?
That is the question?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
The answer Next, be sure to catch live editions of
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific, Bill.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Miller and you. It is the Ben Maler Show, up
all night every night. We thank you for spending part
of the overnight hours with us, and you can stream
this show and all the other Fox Sports Radio shows
live twenty four to seven the new and improved iHeartRadio app.
Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app. You can
stream us live. And one of the newest features in
the app is that you can select Fox Sports Radio
(36:28):
the Ben Maler Show in the Fifth Hour Podcast as
some of your precess, just like the presets on the
car radio dial. And if for some reason the show
gets covered up by public service broadcasting, commercials or some
late baseball game, you can always hear the show in
its entirety on the iHeart Radio app. So be sure
(36:49):
to preset Fox Sports Radio Ben Maler Show, Fifth Hour
Podcast in the iHeartRadio app. It will always pop up
at the very top of your screen. Now back to it.
Back to it we go, and we'll pay off the
who am I? Game? This is where we pretend to
be somebody else, as we call it the who am I? Game?
So Paul Skens is on pace for an eight plus war.
(37:13):
That's wins above replacement. It's nerdstat That is a accomplishment
that has not happened by a Pirates player since me.
Who am I? That is the question? What is the answer?
Bagel Boy going with the candy Man John Candelaria, The
candy Man can Shane in de Mones says the brainiac
(37:34):
Arthur Fonzarelli from Bobby in Florida. Apollo Creed tossed out
by Donkey Sausage Ferdduck says Max Munsey. Yeah, what a
tough night there for the Doyers. Max Munsey down for
the count. Who else got messed up on a play
at third base? White Sox Guy slid into him head first.
Mister nice Guy's going with Jerry Don Gleaton. That is
(37:57):
a great name by mister nice guy. Classic old school
late eighties early nineties baseball. Who else we have r
Kelly from King Rory, Roberto Clemente or Greg Guttfeld from
sposwed B two Bomber aka the Death Dorito from Big
Reg and Iowa, who knows a thing or two about
(38:18):
the Ritos. Captain Jack Sparrow from Andy and Lionel Lakes, Minnesota.
Eke and Rosevild Minnesota going with Bert be Home Blilevin
as his answer. Kent to Colby, one of the ugliest
people ever to play professional sports for the Pirates back
in the day Sewn in the Valley of the Sun,
going with the iconic human Regin Delay Omar Dahl as
(38:41):
his answer. Sheriff Blake from Chip and the Ques, Doug
Dreyback from sewn in Portland. Rob also went with John Candelari,
Robin Minnesota, Yasiel Puig from Mickey Who's up with us?
In State forty eight? Listening? Who else? Terry in England
went with Joe and Phil the knuckleball pitchers. I see
(39:01):
what you did there. Uh, let's see as anyone else?
All right, that's enough. Let's see. Does Mary have an answer? Mary?
Do you have an answer? Mary? You know your you
know your baseball, you're a big baseball person. Yes, all right, Yeah,
that's the answer, is the answer.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
How do we go?
Speaker 1 (39:19):
W TOV Hall of Famer Rob Van dam Oh, Rod
van Damn legend? Ro is it Rod van dam No,
it's not, unfortunately not Rod van dam It is none
other than the Great Babe Adams. Babe Adams. You probably
(39:39):
don't know who that is. I didn't know who that is.
He played nineteen thirteen for the Pirates, the Great Babe Adams.
I'm guessing that's not his real name. That it's a nickname.
Most people aren't named Babe. It's a nickname. Anyways, go
back to the phones. We'll take a quick call. Who
do we have here? See any meaning? Might oh let's
go to our friend Kelly in Des Moines and she's
She's back, formerly known as Donut Kelly. Hello, Kelly in
(40:01):
the moin h I've been Hello Kelly. Hello, I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
It's been a while. I've been out of a phone
for a while.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Really, that's a problem.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Listening to the show, unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Oh, you're not supposed to admit that, Kelly. You're not Kelly.
You're not supposed to admit you're not listening to the show.
It's a bad job by you. You're supposed to say. Well,
I mean we look to the podcast the next day.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
I just can't listen live anymore because the radio broke
in my car and I don't have a phone.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Okay, these seem like problems that are going to affect you.
You need a phone in the modern world. It's very
tough to live in the modern world without a phone,
very difficulty.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
They are expensive.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
I mean I can keep the wireless on at home
and I can use my apps, but no, I can't
call anyone or do anything. But I'm using right now.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
That's on your to do list, Kelly. Your to do
list is to get a phone this week.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, thank you, Thank you then get a phone.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
With Laura's cell reception, and then you can listen on
the iHeart app whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
Yes, that's exactly how I used to listen. We were
in the car and we would use my phone to
listen on the iHeart app. And that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
There you go, all right, Well, I'm glad you're checked in.
We wondered what happened to you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (41:16):
I'm sorry. I felt like I was abandoning you.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
I know, well, I mean we are. We're in this together.
It's a partner. Thank you. There's the Great Kelly formerly
known as Donut Kelly and des Moines giving us the
low down skinny on all that is right in the world.
That a phone broke. I hate when that happened. Got it,
I hate it. Gotta fix your phone, come on,
Here we go. Welcome. It's our number one, hour one
of the original Recipe podcast, not to be confused with
the Extra Crispy and there will be new episodes on
the fourth of July weekend every single day the fifth
Hour podcast. But here in our number one of the
Original Recipe podcast, the Andre Ayton has made his decision.
(00:25):
He was let go, fired by the Trailblazers. He's going
to the Los Angeles Lakers. What are the odds that
DeAndre Ayton reinvents himself as a Laker? Also, how do
you process the Milwaukee Bucks leaking that they were upset
with Dame Lillard rehabbing his achilles injury in Portland. Apparently
(00:45):
he didn't get he didn't get permission for that, saying
it wasn't approved. So how do you process that? We'll
talk about that and Mike Brown. All signs pointing to
Mike Brown being named the new coach of the Knickerbockers.
Is that an upgrade or a downgrade? We'll examine that
as well on the second half of the day night
(01:07):
radio doubleheader. We string it together in our number one.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
The center of the basketball universe, say what Welcome? In
the beginning of another night of the Ben Mahlor Show.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
We are in the air everywhere, mixing and mingling as
we get in under the wire, coast to coast, border
the water and beyond on the vast and universally powerful
microphones of fsre amminating live. Do it live from inside
(01:44):
the greasy spoon as we are frying up piping hot
sports stakes all night long from the Fox Sports Radio
studios as approved by Van the One Legged Bama Man
in this portion of the Ben Malors Show, made possible
part by our friends at tire Ract. For over forty years,
ty Iraq has been helping customers find the right tires
(02:06):
for how, what and where they drive, ship fast and
free back by free road hazard protection with convenient installation
options like mobile tire installation, tire ract dot Com, The
Way Tire Buying Show b and our lead this hour
from pro Bouncy Ball the day night double header, Day
(02:28):
night doubleheader coverage continue. So our little filling stuff during
the day locally here in La. But the high speed
sports wire does not slow down. It does not, So
we have a follow up follow up to a previous
Mala monologue. We talked about this a couple of days ago,
(02:48):
and the Portland Trailblazers decided that they did not want
the services of DeAndre Eighton anymore, so they worked a
buyout to get rid of him. So he came a
free agent to roam around wherever he wants, wherever his
heart desires. The NBA so free agent center DeAndre Ayton.
The decision is in. He is no longer unemployed. I
(03:13):
know you're very concerned about this. If you did not
hear by now, perhaps perhaps you tuned out, you were
not listening. We have learned, though, it's been a double
and triple confirmed that DeAndre Ayton is taking his talent,
if you want to call it that, to the Lakers
a two year deal to have heartache in the playoffs
(03:34):
with the Lakers. The deal includes the player options, so
it's really like a one year deal. But the deal
between Portland and eight they had a falling out. So
he goes to LA eight And in between the buyout
from the Trailblazers and the money, the new money the
Lakers are going to pay him, he will earn thirty
(03:55):
four million dollars to play pro bouncy ball and will
likely miss half the games. And then when he plays,
he'll be engaged about half the time of those games.
So eight and will turn twenty seven on July twenty third,
So he's got three weeks to go here until he
turns twenty seven. And he averaged a pedestrian fourteen points
(04:17):
a game, did have ten rebounds a game, shot fifty
six percent for the Portland Trail Blazers down the Oregon
Trail last year. So let us discuss the question DeAndre
Ayton he goes to the Lakers, what are the odds
that he reinvents himself and turns out to be the
(04:37):
player he's supposed to be and not the player that
he has been. So I've got house plans, middle school
group chat, and T shirt cannon, and we will combine
all of these things together and we're gonna make the Babaganoosh.
We're gonna make the babagan so a the word reinvent
to use that word that he's not going to reinvent himself.
(05:00):
I'm gonna go police on that idea. And I know
because I live in Los Angeles, LA is a town
that when you think about the history of transforming underachieving
seven foot players into gladiators, they have a rich history
of that, unless they don't right now. It is a land.
If you want to kill Smoothie, you can get that.
(05:21):
If you want to hang out with social media influencers,
they're all over the place and a sun tannocean here,
there and everywhere. You've got that. Listen eighton. He's played
now with two different teams. He has not shown any
of that so called Mamba mentality. In fact, he's the
antithesis of that. He is more likely, by the time
(05:43):
he's done with the Lakers, more likely to have opened
a juice bar in Van Eyes than he is to
have made an All Star team as a Laker. And
with the Suns, he is not a team that was
in the finals. Maybe they gagged against the Milwaukee Bucks
and the finals a couple years back. You remember that.
So he was with the Suns. It was a finals team. Grant,
(06:04):
it was kind of a flukey finals run. But they
were in the finals and in the finals. I remember
we did monologues about it. But DeAndre Ayton approached NBA
Finals games like he was playing rec ball at the YMCA.
It's like la la la la la, I said, the
Boys and Girls Club the YMCA. So DeAndre. He plays
(06:24):
in cruise control. At least that's how he has played.
He has been dining on room service and sleeping through
a wake up call since he entered the NBA in
the twenty eighteen draft. And trust me watching him play,
and I'm not just being a shock dog, I don't
know least a shocking take. Like I've literally seen house
(06:45):
plants that play with more perseverance and more and have
more energy than DeAndre Ayton plays professional basketball. Yeah, there'll
be at random night where he'll show up and he'll
be engaged and all that. I don't doubt that's gonna happen.
Maybe maybe he'll even stat a couple of good games
together and play well for a week, But just don't
count on it, right, And what about the numbers? He
(07:08):
averaged a double double? What about the numbers? All right? Well,
his nickname should be stove Top because it's stat stuffing
statistics that look nice to the uneducated fan, but they
have little to no impact on winning games. That's DeAndre
Ayton in a nutshell period. Stop now one of the
(07:28):
teams that supposedly contacted him. And there's Indiana. Now Indiana
needs a center because they lost their center to the
Milwaukee Bucks. And the reason the Bucks got their center,
mister Turner, is because the Milwaukee Bucks are going to
eat one hundred thirteen million dollars, no barbecue sauce, no
(07:52):
honey mustard, no dipping sauce, one hundred and thirteen million
to pay damn literally go away. So now there's some
new report out on that if you saw this or not,
and maybe not, but how do you process a story
that has been leaked by the Bucks that one of
the factors in buying out Damian Lillard is that they
(08:13):
were upset that Dame Time was going to rehab or
had been rehabbing his achilles injury in Portland. They said
it was not improved, not approved, not approved by the
big shots there in Milwaukee. So how do you process that?
So I love this because it happens ninety nine point
(08:35):
nine percent of the time, the classic sports breakup where
both sides pretend that they get along with each other.
They sing Kumbai Yah, right, they wish each other the
best and all that stuff the best means as good
as all the rest, And at the same time they
are rushing to their phones to send text messages in
(08:58):
to their friends, their useful idiots in the media, and
they're leaking all the petty grievances that each side has
here to the media and it ends up being like
a middle school group chat where they're just throwing all
kinds of crap out there, right, all kinds of crap
out there. Some of it's true, some of it's not.
Like the Bucks didn't just wave Damian Lillard like on
(09:20):
his way out, they leaked that they were upset with
him because he wanted to rehab in Portland where his
kids are. The horror of horse a thirty four year
old father wants to be near his family while learning
to walk again because his achilles was shredded like shredded
chicken and how dare him? And it's it's part of
(09:40):
the story where, if you follow the story, we've seen
these kind of hostile sports breakups that have happened, these
sports divorces. It's the part of the story where the
Bucks want you to believe that they were the aggrieved party,
that they that they they were the ones that were
the victims. This is it didn't work out that da
going back to Portland was some kind of betrayal, is
(10:03):
what it's being tossed out as I mean, that's that's
the NBA. It's not a hostage negotiation. And for the
Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillward was the big flex. You swung,
you try to hit a grand slam and you popped
up meekly to the catcher. That's what you did. It happens,
and so now you lick your wounds and you move on,
(10:25):
kind of like the team in New York, we pivot.
Last word here we go now to Gotham, Midtown, Manhattan, where,
unless there's a last minute snaffoo, we have a new
coach for the fledgling NBA team in the Big Apple,
Mike Brown. What can Brown do for you? Mike Brown
(10:46):
named coach of the Knicks, although things still have to
be worked out the crossing of the t's the dot
in the eyes, but being reported it's a done deal,
barring some kind of last minute snaffoo. Mike Brown gonna
be the coach of the Knickerbockers. Is this an upgrade
or a downgrade? Upgrade or downgrade? Mike Brown coaching the Knicks?
So this does not take a high basketball IQ. It
(11:10):
does not. You do not have to be some kind
of insider to know. Congratulations to the New York Knicks.
They have just downgraded, right, They've downgraded from a nice
bunker to a beach house and a hurricane is coming
to town. All right, now it looks nice, no beach house,
(11:32):
but wait till that storm arrives. Not so much. So
you let me get it straight. You gave Tom Thibodeau
a pink slip, and this is your solution. This is
your solution, really like you had no plan. The guy
that helped drag the rotting carcass of the Knickerbockers out
(11:55):
of the Dolan Dungeon as they call it in Midtown
Manhattan and Madison Square into the Eastern Conference Finals first
time since AOL dial up internet was still a thing,
And you let that go for Mike bleeping Brown. Are
you kidding me? Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. Yeah, Brown has
(12:18):
been fired more than the T shirt cannon at your
local minor league ballpark. My god, uh, Cleveland got rid
of him twice. The Lakers had him for a cup
of coffee. They dumped him after one year, after five games.
I think it was five games if I remember. They
got rid of him. Sacramento just had him they made
(12:38):
the playoffs and they still dumped Mike Brown. This was
mid season, after thirty one games. So that's not a trend, okay,
that is what's called a pattern. And Tom Thibodeau, who
was I guess an acquired taste. Some we like the
way he coached from afar. We don't have any skin
(12:58):
in the game, but his teams had grit. There was
an edge to a Tom Thibodeau coach team. And when
you juxtapose that style to Mike Brown, when people talk
about Mike Brown, everyone says the same thing. Nice guy, right,
Nice guy boy, Mike Brown. Nice guy. Everyone's talking about
how players love Mike Brown. Man, you can't get enough
(13:22):
of Mike Brown. He's great. So how did that work
out for the Cavs? How did that work out for
the Lakers? How did that work out for the Kings?
So get to the point, please, So nobody is yapping
about the x's and o's the mad tactician that Mike
Brown is. So Mike Brown is essentially the NBA's version
(13:46):
of a substitute teacher in terms of coaching. He's the
guy that will show everyone loves the sub because you
know it's an easy day when the subs there, right, Yeah,
the sub brings some snacks, maybe some crack or something
like that, and you get to watch movies all day
and it's great until a key moment comes up and
(14:08):
you need to execute and you haven't put the work
in and it all it's like a grenade. It just
blows up in your hands and it's a it's a disaster.
So that's where I am. But hey, listen, these are
the knicks, this is the real knicks. They had a
little taste of success with Tom Thibodeau, and now they
kicked his ass to the curb. And now they brought
(14:29):
in Mike Brown, who will be peaks and valleys, but
many more, many more valleys than peaks. These stumbling, bumbling
knickerbockers are back at it yet again. All right, it
is the Ban Mahler Show. If you would like to
comment on that or anything else, you can join us
right now. We'll open up the lines. They're already filling
(14:50):
up at eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. That's
eight seven seven nine nine six six three sixty nine.
Also on X at Ben Mallor, that's at Ben Malor.
So straight ahead, we've got seven Heaven and a hand update,
(15:11):
seven Heaven and a Panda Update. We'll get to that
and we will do it next. Hey, it's Ben, host
of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller. Would mean a
lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey.
You're asking what in God's name is the Fifth Hour?
I'll tell you it's a spin off of The Ben
Mahler Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should
(15:34):
you listen? Picture if you will a world will? We
chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more
every week explore some amazing facts about human nature and more.
Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
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Bill Miller and You And is the Ben Mahler Show
up all night every night? Just beginning the Red Eye
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(16:43):
the producer's chair Ian Roddy. You can find him at
Ian Roddy Underscore, although I'm trying to convince him to
change that name on X like a little tail. Yeah,
we'll get back to it right now, All right, back
to it we go. In a pro bouncy ball malled
(17:04):
monologue to begin the night, as the clown Show continues
in Lakerland as they've signed the Booby Prize of the
NBA free agency period, DeAndre Ayton and berg Dog says.
He says, if you want a good laugh, take Tony
in the Bay Area's Advice and Google. David Vess watch
(17:25):
a Dufus break his arm going down a kid slide.
I heard what happened earlier with Rogan. The feud with
Vassa is back on. It never ended. The elitist David Vassy,
who does the Dodger postgame thing in La here and
our lead in most nights after the Dodger game, and
(17:45):
vassay he's been hanging out with all these millionaire baseball players.
He's he's lost his way. He has lost his way.
That's the reality. Josh Wrightson says he's in Nebraska, but
he's a Bears fan. I guess he's a Bulls fan.
I don't know. Maybe he's a Laker fan. He says.
Ben I so wanted to disagree with you on what
you were going to say, but indeed, down deep down,
(18:08):
I was screaming, no, DeAndre Ayton. I'd rather have stuck
with Jackson Hayes. There you go. What else do we
have about page down? Brian says the Lakers are about
to get a reality check once DeAndre Ayton puts on
that uniform. Yeah, you're not kidding, Brian. That's a great
take by you, and I'm surprised you had that take.
(18:29):
I thought you'd have a different take, but that appears
to be what you're saying there, Brian. Now, yeah, DeAndre Ayden.
Every generation has players like this. They just kind of
go through the motions and there you know, they're half hearted.
They don't they have ability. If they don't fully monetize
their ability, although financially he's monetized his ability. What else
(18:49):
we have, Tacoma Drew writes and says, A plus plus plus. Finally,
we agree spot on watching DeAndre Ayton play back basketball
in slow motion and give zero effort, yet he still
has a golden ticket aka contract for millions of dollars.
It's insanity. Well, I wish we could all have that
(19:14):
where you just show up half ass and you get
that money and you don't have to put the full
effort in there. It'd be great. Most people, though, actually
have to show up and put a good effort in
and can't just cut corners. But DeAndre, God bless him,
because he's tall and gifted athletically, he's been able to
figure that out how to circumvent the things that normal
people have to do in terms of like effort and
(19:36):
energy and things like that. Nature Boy writes in says
your your cohort. Fred Rogan could not help but sigh
and disgust when he heard eight Andy. I did a
daytime show on AM five point seventy in LA, the
flagship of Fox Sports Radio locally, and I was on
with Fred, who's the dean of La Sports and Fred
(19:56):
is from originally like a million years ago. He's from
Arizona and he's a Suns fan deep down, and so
he saw his heart just ripped out of his body
watching DeAndre Ayton not give a crap in the NBA
Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, Ryan writes in from
San Diego, I think he's on the Laker payroll. He says,
(20:18):
what other options do the Lakers have? Taj Gibson, DeAndre Jordan,
Keith Glass, Jack Sikma. The Lakers signing Ayton gives them
at least an asset. Okay, listen, if that helps you
get through the day. I don't want to be the
bearer of bad news here. If that helps you get
through the day, good luck to you, Ryan, God bless you.
And you think a team like the Portland Trailblazers who
(20:40):
decided this guy is such, he's such as bestis that
we have to bring in a hazmat crew to get
rid of this stiff DeAndre Ayton, when they also they
had an asset, right, Ryan, they had an asset. The Trailblazers.
They don't have many good players. They could have traded.
They could have tradedre Aiden if he's such an asset,
(21:02):
why not he's a double double guy. But the Blazers
are like, this guy is such a loser. We can't
win with a guy like this. We have to kick
him out of Oregon and we'll have to pay him
to play the Lakers because the Trailblazers know when the
Lakers and Blazers play, they have an advantage. They are
on the power play when DeAndre Aiden's on the court
(21:24):
because most of the time he's not going through the
mot He's just going through the motions. He's not focused
now chipping the cues, writes In and says a plus
on the amount of monologue. Under normal circumstances. People might
want to make fun of the career of DeAndre Ayton,
but one needs to remind themselves that this dude can
afford to light Cuban cigars using one hundred dollars bills
(21:48):
without losing any sleep or even batting an eye. Well,
no pushback on that. That does not mean, though, that
that money that he's made is because he's he's earned
that money for actual performance consistently super market Steve writes
and says, damn, I did not know the Knicks could
(22:08):
choose a head coach who made their their interest in
Don Staley look like a mensa move. Yeah, that's a
fair point, spots Weed writes in He's down the Oregon Trail.
He says, excellent malar monologue. We meaning Portland traded Yusuf
Nurkic for DeAndre Ayden and they both underperformed. I don't
(22:31):
see DA making any impact for the Lakers, which I'm
happy about. I'm experiencing great shot in freude right now. Well,
you should take extra shot in freuda because dope's like
that guy Ryan in San Diego. They drink that purple
and gold kool aid. They just they don't get it.
They do not get it, do not get it. All right,
we'll take some calls. It is a call in show.
(22:53):
And where do we begin here? Eenie Meanie miny Moe
picked a caller by the day. Let's start out with Jeff,
who's in and sack Ramento. What's going on? Jeff? Welcome,
hey man?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
How you doing tonight?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Jeff? If I was any better, I'd be a king,
but not a Sacramento king because they're going the wrong direction.
They're going the wrong direction.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Oh I know, but you know Mike Brown. You know,
teachers get Teacher of the Year every once in a while.
You know, he's keep happened.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Are you praising Mike Brown? What that are you? Are
you praising Mike Brown? Is that why you're making this
colle Jeff.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You know, broken Quakers right to us quest today?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You know?
Speaker 4 (23:32):
So, Yeah, but I'm just gone with the whole curse
and all that kind of crap from the king. You know,
you should have just turned left heading down to LA
when he got fired. Yeah, New York.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Wow. It is impressive though, that these Sacramento Kings had
two point guards and now they have none. Right, they
had Dearon Fox and Halliburton, and they traded both of them,
and now they've just got this hodgepodge of a roster.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Very impressed, you, yeah, it's it's impressed. That's why you know,
I'm ready for football season. Let's go Nighters.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
There you go, go Niners, take the and take the
Giants with you. I thank you. I go. There's Jeff
in Sacramento. Uh, let's see here. I can't read that
on their nature boys. Very active, he was. He's doing
the day night doubleheader. The nature boy. I do see
Viva los VICKI checking in as well. Let's go back
to the phone, So say loo to Big Daddy, who
(24:30):
wants to say, oh, he's in Memphis, but he wants
to talk to all of his constituents. Hello, big Daddy,
what's going on?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Definitely all my fans and all my ass I never
heard to breaking news in one day?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Well did break news during the day? Oh yeah, because
I was on during the day. Yeah, I get to
break some news and.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Playing cursh off Man. That's that's that's upsetting breaking news.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
And yeah, look at you you were you were listening
to Big Daddy during the day. How about that. I'm impressed,
but U yeah, yeah. Now the Deaddy thing though, I
was reading about it after I got done with that.
So he's still facing some jail time, but not not as.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
You look.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Well, that's the that's the that's the max, though, Big Daddy.
I don't think he's you think he's gonna get the max.
I don't think he's gonna.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Well, you know, he might get out of there off
time behavior.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
You know, he's already he's already been in He's already
been in jail for at least a year, right, if
not longer. So he's already been in there, ye going
on a year and a half.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotta, I gotta,
I got something for big books come from big Where
do work you come from?
Speaker 1 (25:44):
See, that's that's a that's a better joke than the
leper car and told yesterday when he was in studio.
So that's a that's a funnier joke and solid that's
like a next level bad joke.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
That's uh yeah, yeah yeah, the one that don't understand.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
They got to think about it.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, right now hollering James is trying to figure out
what you mean. He's like what he Man, I don't
have no idea, it makes no sense.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Before all right, well.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Enjoy the fourth I'll be we'll be here tomorrow. We'll
have a live show leading into the fourth, a normal,
normal schedule the rest of the week and another day
night doubleheader. So another day night doubleheader.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
That that's the way you do.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
That's right there, clearly, yes, all right, thank you. There's
a big daddy checking in man Is on the campaign trail.
That was a little stump speech. Now we used to
have this guy, uh miss, I guess he's called mister Blunt. Now,
and he he used to be a caller of the show,
but he couldn't handle calling overnight talk radio, so he
retired as a caller. And he has a addiction to
(26:49):
buying lottery tickets. And mister mister blunt, he's calling himself now.
He says, it sounds like the Lakers are the only
team in the NBA. Well, you might want to go
to Costco if there's one year where you live there
in Arkansas, sir, scratch off. And they have a great
hearing department. My dad when he lost his hearing when
he got older, I took him to Costco. We got
(27:10):
a hearing aid right there, kirkland Brand, kirklan Brand hearing
gave my dad got a little older, we went in
there and hooked him up and all that was great
because that monologue was not just about the Lakers, you
dumb dumb. It was also the Milwaukee Bucks, which seemed
to be another team in the NBA, and the New
(27:30):
York Knickerbockers, another team in the NBA. So you choose
to listen to only what you want to hear, which
is a you problem, not a me problem. That's a
you problem. Sean and Portland right, sinceys the Blazers trading
DeAndre Ayton was the first I heard of him being
on the team. Well, there has been no reason to
(27:51):
watch the Trail Blazers since the moment that Damian Lillar
left town. So those two things coincide with each other. Now,
speaking of pro bouncy ball and the wacky Tobacci of
the NBA, Kevin Durant is going to be traded. We
know that he's going to the Rockets. It's all done,
(28:12):
but it's not done. The trade has not been finalized yet.
Now is there's some kind of glitch in the thing
of a jig? No, no, no, no, However, they're looking
at NBA history when Kevin Durant is ultimately traded, as
all these general managers have hired the salary cap experts,
(28:33):
the nerds to come in here, the accountants to manage
the salary cap and try to finagle the salary cap.
And so now the Rockets. It's supposed to be just
a trade between the Suns and the Rockets, and now
we're being told they're going to add not one, not two,
not three, not four, not five, how about seven total teams.
(28:55):
It's very complicated behind a paywall on the athletic They
say that the trade of Durant from the Suns to
the Rockets the deal. By the time it's done, they're
anticipating a league record seven teams we'll get involved in this,
including the Atlanta Hawks, the Brooklyn Nets, the Warriors, the Lakers,
(29:16):
and the tim Barrew Wolves. They're still trying to figure
it out. They're figuring out exactly who's going where and
all this. Now, the previous record was set last summer
when technically Clay Thompson was a sign and trade to
the Dallas Mavericks and that was a six team trade. Now,
(29:39):
why why are are the NBA teams all partnering up
to make these massive trades Because about twenty five percent
we are told of the NBA teams are having issues
circumventing the salarycap. So it's it's moving money around, relocating
(30:01):
money to try to get around it. And so they
toss some things into this trade. And there's there's different layers.
It's all the red tape, you know, all the fine
print and all that. The trade cannot be finalized until
after the holiday weekend. So today's the July third, it's
still July second on the West coast, but it's July
(30:21):
third or July third show. The fourth is tomorrow, and
then on July sixth, that's when the free agency period
begins and the negotiating period it started back on Monday,
and so anyway, there's a lot of there. But the
seven seven teams supposedly will be part of this. Like
what are they just gonna throw in like second round picks?
(30:41):
Are they gonna what are they gonna do? They're gonna
toss in like a bag of popcorn or something like
that to make the salary cap numbers work?
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Is that how that goes? I don't know. All right,
let's go back to the phones and we'll say hello
to Andre who is in the Commonwealth. Hello, Andre, Welcome.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Ben? Good to be with you?
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Yes on this Wednesday evening morning, depending on where you are.
I think the DeAndre Ayton move in your analysis is
spot on. They're going to be a much better team
on paper, much better team on two K. But now
you have, instead of two massive egos, universes of machismo
(31:26):
with Luca and Lebron. Obviously they're determined to do things
their own way. Now you throw eight and in there
that's the third guy that's going to want to walk
to the beat of his own drum. And you know
how it all works together, it's going to be interesting.
I think this is, you know, comparable. You know Luca
how he plays, he needs that you know, lob threat,
that person to make those rim runs. So they wanted
to appease Luca. And they were in the same draft
(31:48):
class together, right, Lucas should have been the number one
overall pick, you know, and it ended up being eight.
And who's had a kind of middling NBA career. Marvin
Bagley's been forgotten. Jared Jackson Junior has panned out, so
he's a step above, you know, one player who's a
clear butt. But he's really the weak link in that
draft class. If you kind of get rid of Marvin
Bagley a third, so you partner him and Luca, hopefully
(32:10):
you can find some symmetry. But you know, he's always
been he's never had a motor except for when you
need the contract and then he kind of regresses back.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Well even then when he needs a contract, he's just
like he just does the bare minimum. We all know
people like that at work. They just do the bare
minimum and they get away with it, and he's been
rewarded with the riches of Solomon or in this case,
the riches of the NBA and all that. I don't
want to redo the twenty eighteen draft, but that is
pretty impressive. If you look at the top picks there.
(32:39):
The only one that really effed up was the Sacramento
kingspick Marvin Bagley in like the top five. All everyone
else in the top five turned out to be at
least a pretty good NBA player. You know, Aydon's you know,
he's been to the finals. He's not great, but he's
better than Marvin Bagley and Trey Young's in that draft
class in twenty eighteen. And then you drop off to
(33:01):
Mo Bamba at number six. The great Mo Bamba, great name,
all name team Andre, not all game team Mo Bamba.
Wonderful name, not a wonderful game though.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Yeah, the pride of New York City. You know, he
he's a New York guy, and uh, you know he'll
have work. You know, he's a rim protector and he'll
if he continues to defend and get some rebounds and
be a good teammate. But that's the other thing about eight.
And before we kick it over, you have some good
stuff on Mike Brown. And I'm obviously the leader of
the Tom Thibodeaux brigade, so just quickly on that. But
DeAndre and you know, he's he's a surly guy. You know,
(33:35):
he's just it's not just that he doesn't produce effort,
you know, he just he has his mood swings.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
So j J.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Reddick, he's got his He's got his hands full. We'll see,
but they're better on paper. But Mike Brown, you know again,
he's essentially a Tips clone with hugs like he'll give
you a hug, he'll pats on the back, he'll smile
at you. But Mike Brown is an old tool coach,
coming from the Greg Papa this tradition. So we're of
the same mind on this. The knicks, you know, and
really what it came down too, I've thought about the
obvious Tips guy. It was a Jerry Jones Jimmy Johnson
(34:05):
situation between Leon.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Rose and Tibbs.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
And not that Tibbs is I'm not making that comparison.
But he did bring prosperity to New York and they
would be better off with him on the sideline. Rather
than this. You know, wild goose traits in bringing in
Mike Brown, but.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I disagree on I think this is all James Dolan
and Tom Thibodau wasn't playing ball, and Dolan was embarrassed
because the way the Knicks played, they lost to a team.
They should have beaten the Pacers. They were more talented then,
but they lost to the to the less talented team.
And Mike Brown is going to be a good middle manager.
He's going to do what James Dolan wants. And but
(34:42):
Leon Rose was Tom Thibodau's agent. I find it hard
believe that Leon Rose was the guy that did this.
I think it's the owner that whacked the coach. And
then this guy, Mike Brown is going to come in
there and he'll he'll massage the egos and all that.
And he's a nice guy. Everyone loves him, and you know,
the team will underachieve and then they'll get rid of
him in a a couple of years and bring somebody else.
And I well leave it there. Andre, thank you, the
(35:02):
Great Andre and his dog willis in the Commonwealth. It
is the Ben Mahler Show. Time now for the who
Am I Game? This is where we pretend to be
somebody else else. We call it the who am I? Game?
So Paul Skeins, that's a pitcher, pretty good one. He
is on pace for an eight plus war. That means
not actual war, no bombs, no bombs, This means wins
(35:24):
above replacement. So Paul Skeins is on pace for an
eight plus wins above replacement year, and that has not
happened for a Pittsburgh Pirates player since me. Again, Paul
Skeins starting pitcher been a phenom. Pirates they suck, but
(35:44):
they've played well this week. Paul Skin's on pace for
eight plus wins above replacement this year. That has not
been accomplished by a Pirates player since me. Who am I?
That is the question?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
The answer Next, be sure to catch live editions of
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific, Bill.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Miller and you. It is the Ben Maler Show, up
all night every night. We thank you for spending part
of the overnight hours with us, and you can stream
this show and all the other Fox Sports Radio shows
live twenty four to seven the new and improved iHeartRadio app.
Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app. You can
stream us live. And one of the newest features in
the app is that you can select Fox Sports Radio
(36:28):
the Ben Maler Show in the Fifth Hour Podcast as
some of your precess, just like the presets on the
car radio dial. And if for some reason the show
gets covered up by public service broadcasting, commercials or some
late baseball game, you can always hear the show in
its entirety on the iHeart Radio app. So be sure
(36:49):
to preset Fox Sports Radio Ben Maler Show, Fifth Hour
Podcast in the iHeartRadio app. It will always pop up
at the very top of your screen. Now back to it.
Back to it we go, and we'll pay off the
who am I? Game? This is where we pretend to
be somebody else, as we call it the who am I? Game?
So Paul Skens is on pace for an eight plus war.
(37:13):
That's wins above replacement. It's nerdstat That is a accomplishment
that has not happened by a Pirates player since me.
Who am I? That is the question? What is the answer?
Bagel Boy going with the candy Man John Candelaria, The
candy Man can Shane in de Mones says the brainiac
(37:34):
Arthur Fonzarelli from Bobby in Florida. Apollo Creed tossed out
by Donkey Sausage Ferdduck says Max Munsey. Yeah, what a
tough night there for the Doyers. Max Munsey down for
the count. Who else got messed up on a play
at third base? White Sox Guy slid into him head first.
Mister nice Guy's going with Jerry Don Gleaton. That is
(37:57):
a great name by mister nice guy. Classic old school
late eighties early nineties baseball. Who else we have r
Kelly from King Rory, Roberto Clemente or Greg Guttfeld from
sposwed B two Bomber aka the Death Dorito from Big
Reg and Iowa, who knows a thing or two about
(38:18):
the Ritos. Captain Jack Sparrow from Andy and Lionel Lakes, Minnesota.
Eke and Rosevild Minnesota going with Bert be Home Blilevin
as his answer. Kent to Colby, one of the ugliest
people ever to play professional sports for the Pirates back
in the day Sewn in the Valley of the Sun,
going with the iconic human Regin Delay Omar Dahl as
(38:41):
his answer. Sheriff Blake from Chip and the Ques, Doug
Dreyback from sewn in Portland. Rob also went with John Candelari,
Robin Minnesota, Yasiel Puig from Mickey Who's up with us?
In State forty eight? Listening? Who else? Terry in England
went with Joe and Phil the knuckleball pitchers. I see
(39:01):
what you did there. Uh, let's see as anyone else?
All right, that's enough. Let's see. Does Mary have an answer? Mary?
Do you have an answer? Mary? You know your you
know your baseball, you're a big baseball person. Yes, all right, Yeah,
that's the answer, is the answer.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
How do we go?
Speaker 1 (39:19):
W TOV Hall of Famer Rob Van dam Oh, Rod
van Damn legend? Ro is it Rod van dam No,
it's not, unfortunately not Rod van dam It is none
other than the Great Babe Adams. Babe Adams. You probably
(39:39):
don't know who that is. I didn't know who that is.
He played nineteen thirteen for the Pirates, the Great Babe Adams.
I'm guessing that's not his real name. That it's a nickname.
Most people aren't named Babe. It's a nickname. Anyways, go
back to the phones. We'll take a quick call. Who
do we have here? See any meaning? Might oh let's
go to our friend Kelly in Des Moines and she's
She's back, formerly known as Donut Kelly. Hello, Kelly in
(40:01):
the moin h I've been Hello Kelly. Hello, I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
It's been a while. I've been out of a phone
for a while.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Really, that's a problem.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Listening to the show, unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Oh, you're not supposed to admit that, Kelly. You're not Kelly.
You're not supposed to admit you're not listening to the show.
It's a bad job by you. You're supposed to say. Well,
I mean we look to the podcast the next day.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
I just can't listen live anymore because the radio broke
in my car and I don't have a phone.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Okay, these seem like problems that are going to affect you.
You need a phone in the modern world. It's very
tough to live in the modern world without a phone,
very difficulty.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
They are expensive.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
I mean I can keep the wireless on at home
and I can use my apps, but no, I can't
call anyone or do anything. But I'm using right now.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
That's on your to do list, Kelly. Your to do
list is to get a phone this week.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, thank you, Thank you then get a phone.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
With Laura's cell reception, and then you can listen on
the iHeart app whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
Yes, that's exactly how I used to listen. We were
in the car and we would use my phone to
listen on the iHeart app. And that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
There you go, all right, Well, I'm glad you're checked in.
We wondered what happened to you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (41:16):
I'm sorry. I felt like I was abandoning you.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
I know, well, I mean we are. We're in this together.
It's a partner. Thank you. There's the Great Kelly formerly
known as Donut Kelly and des Moines giving us the
low down skinny on all that is right in the world.
That a phone broke. I hate when that happened. Got it,
I hate it. Gotta fix your phone, come on,
Host
Ben Maller
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