November 10, 2022 • 35 mins
Jason and Mike discuss the Lakers having their issues early on in the season, and what they need to do to fix their broken season early on. The guys discuss the Twitter turning into the Wild West when someone impersonated Adam Schefter. Plus, FS1 NBA Insider Ric Bucher joins the guys to discuss all things Lakers, Nets and more from the NBA!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings, Welcome inside our three,
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buying should be. Right now. Midway through the fourth quarter,
Lakers got some work to do if they're gonna avoid
falling to two and nine to start the season. The
Clippers have pushed their lead out to ten, nine eight
seven over the Lakers. Lakers fought back after a big
(01:05):
first quarter deficit to cut it to two at halftime,
but it's been all Clippers since then. Uh leading the
way for the Clippers, Paul George has twenty six points
to go along with four rebounds and three assists other
big nights and support. Powell's got sixteen points off the bench.
Uh watch out. Meanwhile for the Lakers, Lebron's got twenty
eight and we're gonna talk to Rick Buker coming up
(01:27):
in a few minutes. But this is just a case
of the Lakers don't have the horses to compete with anybody,
right that that's what you're seeing, that an aging Lebron
and and and Anthony Davis that is the same a
d as he was two years ago, but with maybe
a little bit less motivation to win. It's just not
enough because that's the roster. Yes, you have a couple
(01:49):
of very minor, minor pieces like Patrick Beverley Westbrook coming
off the benches has been okay at times, but he's
a bench player, and some nights he's good and some
nights he isn't. And you know, none who you thought
was gonna be great is not scoring. This is just
a bad roster, no matter what you think. You can't
wait and move things around and reconfigure that it's just
(02:11):
a really bad aging roster and and that there's nothing
you can do. If you're not gonna make the moves
to get better, then it's time to just clear the decks.
And you clear the decks and you wait for next
year and you try to get assets in first round
picks for Anthony Davis, tried to do whatever you need
to do to move Russell Westbrook. Don't worry about getting
anything back from whatever you need to do. That's what
(02:33):
this season should be about. Try to maybe get some
players for free at the trade deadline. Hey, this guy
can be a part of our team for next year,
and he's kind of cheap because he's owed a lot
of money. But we're gonna trade Anthony Davis and this
might be a fit for another year with Lebron. But
the Lakers have to do something because this is just
you're gonna watch them slide to two and nine, two
(02:53):
and twelve, two and fourteen. Lebron's gonna unplug. It's gonna
be awful. He's gonna skip games. You know, he may
he may wind up skipping the season. He's gonna pass
Kareem and say that's it. I'm done. I'm done. I'll
see you guys next year. It's going to get really,
really bad. The Lakers have to make a decision whether
we're gonna go for it and get better or we're
(03:13):
just gonna try to move the next year in grab assets.
Just like if you're in a fantasy dynasty football league
and your team is terrible, like you're on my team
is Hey, we're in next year mode already. We're getting
draft picks, we're getting young players, we're sending out guys
like Austin Ekeler and Lamar Jackson, and we're making our
team deeper. This is what you have to do for
the Lakers. Well, you started Zach Wilson over Justin Fields
(03:35):
to ensure a loss. Hang on, I started Sam Ellinger
over Justin Fields. I did, yes, get the guy right.
We didn't come on and we didn't have to. Even
I didn't say let's go get Zach Wilson in our leave.
Even I didn't say that you're a liar. Uh. Look,
you got twenty eight from Lebron James labored twenty eight points,
(03:56):
four of eight from three point range, and they've shot
nearly thirty five from three point range tonight. But the
go for it that you alluded to, what what are
you going for to try to get to that seven
to ten and saying we we've got two would be
greats at this point because they were great and at
times Lebron still is great and he's been fantastic and
(04:18):
stretches tonight. But what's he looked like in April, May June.
I don't know, but trying to uh, I don't know
that we've ever done a deep dive on expiring contracts
earlier in the season. What's gonna be out there that
you can go inquire that will maybe help fortify things
short term? And and I don't do it in a pejorative,
(04:42):
you know, making fun of the situation. It's unfortunate, right,
is that you want to see teams at their best.
Lakers are better. Look, they're they're in the purpose position
because they're they're not mediocre, they're bad, right, And we
could do the if sands butts like we do with
NFL teams of like, but this possession and help with
with the Bears earlier I joked about it, and it's
(05:02):
something we've talked about quite a bit. Jason of the
two minute reports or the review of the officials work
after an NFL Sunday game once it's gone final they've
gone to the locker rooms. It doesn't matter anymore. Sending
me something on official league letterhead with an apology for
this call, that call the other and a signature by
(05:23):
the league official in charge doesn't really do a whole
hell of a lot. Yeah, he might have a wax seal,
so that's kind of cool, but beyond that, it does nothing.
So the Bears today got a letter about a couple
of calls that were made in error in that loss
to the Dolphins. It doesn't matter. Same the same thing
here with the Where we look with the Lakers, it's there.
(05:43):
There's a lot of things that maybe you could do.
Is it too little, too late? Right, you had the
opportunity in the off season. You knew what you had
in terms of a roster that it wasn't gonna be
very good, and you know that you've got players that
are at at a point in their careers where even
this this is them playing every night at this point,
(06:03):
Jason and and Anthony Davis gutting through whatever that back
ailment is. Right, once the back enters the injury report,
we get nervous on a nightly basis, But seven or fourteen,
twenty nine minutes tonight, seventeen and eight still minus eleven.
Lebron is still minus fifteen and minus thirteen after he
makes another bucket. But the the idea that there there
(06:25):
are no quick fixes here, and and that's the hard
part to it, because you can't the wholesale get rid
of the roster. Now in our dynasty league, we can.
He can just say this guy is pretty good. He
can help you at least be your third receiver or whatever.
In this case, you've got a bunch of guys that
I don't know that their role players for many NBA
(06:49):
teams still NBA players, and I respect it, but we
all got to talk about it in terms of the
relative value of some of these guys that are getting
heavy minutes for the Lakers, and and they're they're in
a really difficult spot that could have been at least addressed.
Again waiving those draft picks like they're giant, you know,
(07:09):
powerball tickets that you already know you've got the winning numbers.
They're not there, Twitter at how about a fresca Mike
gets swollen down The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman.
We could talk about how complicated other banks make it
to redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about
how we discover you can redeem your rewards for cash
and any amount of any time. I mean talk about
amazing learn more at discovered dot com slash redeem rewards
(07:32):
terms they do apply. So we'll have more on the
NBA coming up with Rick Buker. What's next to the Lakers?
What about the Warriors? Can they make it all the
way back? The Nets now have a head coach to wait,
but I thought they had a different guy. But today
was the first day of Twitter Blue, the new way
to get verified on Twitter if you want to pay
eight dollars a month. And one thing I can say
(07:53):
for Elon Musk is when he has an idea, it
happens right away. There's no and a couple of months
and not he had people staying and working, you know,
twenty five hours a day. I want this rolled out
by the end of next week or you're all fired. Well,
today you found that Twitter Blue is a new thing.
And now there's two ways that people are verified on Twitter.
You are verified by Twitter because you are deemed to
(08:17):
have value and entertainment or in some other way or
now yeah or yeah right now, while you can still
do that, or you pay eight dollars to be verified,
and if you click on someone's blue check mark, it
either says this person is verified because they contribute in
society in a meaningful way, or uh, they paid eight
dollars a month to be verified. You knew it wasn't
(08:39):
gonna be lost. And I think that was pretty Uh
you know, self congratulatory there, and you can can meaningful way.
I don't have a blue check mark, I'm no less
able to communicate effectively and impact the meaning of life.
Is you cough up the eight bucks, Mike, then eight
bucks a month? Then then why don't you pay eight dollars? No,
(09:03):
I meant for the other blue check mark the way
you you gotta do. He's gonna lose that whatever whatever.
The man eight dollars a month so that you knew
it wasn't gonna be long until Twitter went from the
wild West into something that is just even crazier. It's
(09:25):
like going in from the wild West to West World.
Like that's what this is. Because the first fake firing
got a lot of people today on social media, and
someone who impersonated Adam Schefter uh put out a tweet
saying that the Raiders have fired Josh McDaniels, and because
you know, look, the Raiders probably are close to find
Josh McDaniels. So people thought it was real even though
(09:47):
the Twitter account came from Adam Schefter, not it had
a blue checkmark. Okay, and they're all, look at this,
he gets fired, but very quickly the account was suspended.
But this is just gonna happen now for you know,
for a plate, Twitter had no rules for the longest time,
and I was like, okay, there, you kind of get
some of the rules to a place that has no rules.
(10:09):
But now rules are coming in. And as we're seeing
the rules that are tried that are trying to improve that,
Elon Musk is trying to improve Twitter On, it's oh,
didn't don't you think that this is gonna be uh
an outcome of it? Don't you think that that this
could be an offshoot that you're not thinking about And
we're seeing it right, you already saw the first day
impersonating accounts is happening. Trying to fool people with check marks, right,
(10:32):
that's gonna continue to happen forever. If you're gonna sell
blue check marks for eight bucks of person this is
just going to continue because there's so many people with
nothing better to do that you know what, I'm gonna
see if I can get people with a fake NBA
trade or waiting to see the fake MLB signings from
the winner meetings that are gonna happen over the next
few weeks. Mets extend Jacob deGrom two years, five hundred million.
(10:55):
Wait until you see that report come out from fake
Ken Rosenthal, you know, fake somebody just just wait, did they?
It had no rules and it was going how it
was going, and now you're putting rules in and that's
gonna make it even more chaotic. Five wow. And that
the guy that covers the Lakers. Now they look so
(11:18):
like given Today we'll talk about the injury lists that
popped up for the NFL quarterbacks, right Stafford and I
know his wife was on a podcast and and talking
about the scary nature of those things. Kyler Murray with
his injury and so on that it became a I'm
I was becoming dubious of anything I was seeing. After
(11:40):
that Schefter, after a Lebron James, there were three or
four examples pretty fast, couple others that just made you
shake your head but you know the impersonation uh and
replication hundreds. It's gonna be an army of fake woog
is running around and and Sham and Schefter and Jay Glazer,
(12:02):
although Jay Glazer, you know I wouldn't mess with him.
He'll come and get your ass, uh, And he's got
an army of guys that will come do it. But
it's it's just that idea of the wild West. Could
you always had the verification process which like it or
just dislike it. Whatever. Folks got through the process at
different different rates, different times, and sometimes it was easier
(12:24):
to get the check mark otherwise, wasn't. We didn't do
a whole lot of effort uh in terms, And I
think if I just changed it to my name, maybe
they would have done it. But I didn't care after
that first attempt. I know some folks like, come on,
I'm on my seventh attempt to get verifies. Like, okay,
if you care that much, uh, just put a rat
(12:44):
or something next to it and people will think it's
a blue check mark because it's an icon next to
your name. But it's gonna be curious to see what
the next generation of this is because it could get
ugly pretty fast, and we saw a very small sample
size today telling you man, wild West to West World,
this is just gonna continue to go. It's like go
(13:06):
so Twitter getting canceled. Yeah, I've got the Mad Hatter
is gonna have a tea party. I'm here man, I'm
here for it. That's new Twitter. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Is this
song for the next tonight? If if this is for
(13:26):
the nixt that's okay, I'm with you Fox Sports Radio,
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
Blue Chuck Mark. We could talk about how complicated other
banks may get to redeem credit card rewards, or we
could talk about how with Discover you can redeem your
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mean talk about amazing. Learn more at discover dot com
(13:46):
slash redeem rewards terms they do apply well. A few
minutes ago, Lebron limped off the court about five minutes
left to go. The Lakers were down ten against the Clippers.
He has not come back on the court and the
Clippers are about a minute away from putting the finishing
touches on a victory over the Lakers. It's one ten,
one oh one. This will drop the Lakers to two
(14:08):
and nine. And you wonder, m to and nine? Lebron
with a groin injury? How long till we see him again?
How long till we see Lebron again? Think about that?
To a nine groin injury? How long till we see Lebron?
A month too month? How long till Lebron comes back? Woiky,
are our buddy buddy over at the l A times? Uh?
(14:31):
And I verified it is him. They say that the
Lakers have said Lebron James is out with quote left
leg soreness. Joining us now in the hot line to
break it all down. Fox Sports one NBA Insider Extraordinary
Checkout is on the Ball podcast. It is Rick Buker. Rick,
what's happening? Buddy man? I am living the dream because
(14:59):
you because you didn't take the Lakers head coaching job
when it was offered to you in the off season,
and now you're watch happier one of a few moves
I didn't. I didn't invest in crypto either, so um yeah.
Two things I've done right in the last in the
last year, so I'm making up for lost time, and
makes plenty of mistakes early on. So I'm trying to
get my trying to get my score above five hundred.
(15:21):
So let me ask you this and what we talked
about before he came on. Uh, the Lakers played the Clippers.
It's a big statement type game. Lebron limps off with
a growing left leg type injury. The Lakers for two
and nine. How long can we see Lebron again? Now?
A month? Two months, three months? When do we see
Lebron Christmas Day? When do we see him again next? Boy?
(15:42):
It's uh, it's a good question. Well, I mean we
have to factor in how many points. How many more
points does he need to get past Kareem He needs
like a thousand, I think a thousand something, So we
gotta to fit that into the season. I don't think
he wants that to carry over to next season. Uh,
then again, maybe he does. Maybe you want to break
that record in a more enjoyable season than this one
(16:05):
proves to be, because it's gonna land. This isn't like
step Curry breaking three point record in the midst of
the of the Warriors surging and winning a championship. This
is this is breaking Kareem's record on a team that
could set a record for for losses in a season
(16:25):
for for a Lakers team. So, um, yeah, I don't
know when you know, it's funny we've gotten into hockey now.
It's general just left this left leg sore, neut like,
we can't we can't be a little more so that. Yeah,
you know what, maybe we should just say he's old,
like Lebron James left the game because he's old plus
(16:55):
on there. Yeah. Well, but it was an interesting game
watching this unfold, Rick, because we had many stretches where
you'd see Davis and James and even Russell Westbrook where
they had stretches where they're playing really well, but it
didn't matter in the scoring column, and certainly in the
plus minus they were still on the wrong side of that. Yeah. Well,
(17:15):
and this is just a difficulty. It's a difficulty where
Lebron Lebron is right now. I mean, obviously he can
still dial it up, he can still do special things.
He just can't sustain it, and he can't sustain it
with a team like the Lakers, who when he's not
playing well, have absolutely no chance. So even when he's
(17:38):
playing well, I mean that that's the biggest it must
have to be the most difficult mental aspect of this
for Lebron is he can shoot well. He can play
well both he and a d of shot in a
game and it has made absolutely no difference. They've still
lost the game. So there's not a level at which
(17:59):
he can play that is going to decide outcomes. And
he's not in a place at this point where he
can play thirty five minutes of top notch basketball. He he,
I mean, he's been taking plays off here and there
(18:19):
over the course. But I will say this to you, guys,
I'm I'm really surprised. He's not one of the guys
that I thought would fall off the table like suddenly
you go, oh, man, he looks old. But this season, man,
he looks old. I don't care what the numbers say.
(18:40):
There's just things within the game. Um what he had
three air balls the other night. Uh, there's just aspects
of the game that he can't he can't get by guys. Um,
and it happens. I mean, it's not's not a not
a death room, it's not a it's not a criticism
or an insult to him. It's just it happens. I'm
(19:01):
actually because of the way he's taking care of his body.
I just didn't expect it to be. I figured it
would be just kind of residual, gradual, um, and it
doesn't look like it right now. It looks like suddenly,
you know, he's got a piano on his back when
he didn't before. You know, I thought for him it
would be when he realizes I can't stay on the
(19:21):
court anymore. It would be a physical thing. It would
be my body is just breaking down, and I can't
say I play for a week. I'm out for a
week and a half. I have a couple of games.
That's what was going to tell him, I can't do
it anymore, Not that you would play and it would
be a road we would say, boy Lebron's a playmaker
now and look what. But it would be when he knows, hey, physically,
I'm just done. And it's tough because it's a guy
(19:42):
that's been healthy, really healthy for the for the first
eighteen years of his career. You couldn't get the guy
off the floor, you know. Yeah, Well, the thing that
he has going for him is that he is a
big man in today's game, and so there are ways
for him to be on the floor or and to
contribute that if he was, I mean, flip side is
(20:04):
Patrick Beverley, Like Patrick Beverley can't really do anything anymore
at the ages is jumping on him too. And but
but Lebron, you know, has improved his his perimeter, shooting,
his mid range. Uh, he can play four or five,
and so I think he can extend it that way.
And I do believe that he his goal now and
(20:26):
I felt it's been his goal more so than winning
champions championships for the last year or two has really
been about I want to extend my career until Brownie
gets to the n b A. I want to play
a season with my son. But I think he wants
to very much. I don't. I don't see a way
(20:50):
short of a cataclysmic type injury, a career ending injury,
that he doesn't make that happen in somehow, some way.
So Rick, we we know that all the particulars, no
draft picks, whatever else. So trading and making any imminent
moves like it's it's all the wishing, wanting and hoping
(21:12):
for the Lakers at the moment. Let's go to the
Nets that actually did something all the rumors of their
coaching position and it's a guy that's been there all along.
In Jacque Vaughan gets the call amidst all the chaos
and then they go out and throttle the Knicks under
his Tutela kind of left that part out. Let's just
stick to the nets. We could our guy, cam Reddish
was awful. Guys, he really let me down with that
(21:34):
over seven performance. You know what. That's that's that's going
to happen in the development of every great player. I
will say there have been games where cam Reddish. Cam
Reddish has looked like the best player on the floor.
He is. I've been really impressed with him. And look,
I don't know what why uh the people are the
(21:56):
league decides to do this to the Knicks all the time,
but you geared, but the Nets We're going to be
kind of geeked up to one play the Knicks and
to play the Knicks with Jacque von who the guys
on that team really like. I think they're they're they're
very happy to see him get the full time job.
Emay was just too toxic with everything that's going on
(22:16):
with Kyrie. Um, you know, I've I've been told everything
from like Adam Silver gave Joe Sib the nudge to say, hey,
look it's too much. You can't you can't bring Emay
in here. Your your your team already is controversy filled.
Um enough is enough? Like that's just that's that's too
(22:38):
much to to And whether it's it was Adam Silver
or whether it was the Minority Partners, whether it was
the sponsors, I mean, it was just I was really
tone deft for that to even begin that conversation. And
what I don't know is like, because because Emay is
(22:58):
a A C A A guy and at least one
of the reporters that was putting it out there as
a C A A guy, Like, how much of that
was the priming of the pump to get it out
there that he's a front runner and this could happen
and and sort of pushed the envelope a little faster
than maybe anybody was ready to uh and and may
(23:20):
have backfired because with all of the turmoil going around
Kyrie to then throw in there not not only that
you're firing Steve Nash and hiring Emay but that that
you immediately have Udoka getting the job. It's like, Okay,
you guys didn't start talking about this like ten minutes ago.
(23:42):
You must have been talking about this weeks ago to
set this up that that he was the next in line.
And if that's the case, like, were you're really supporting
Steve Nash and were you really taking seriously what happened
in Boston that the reason that that Emay lost his job.
So it just it didn't It didn't look good all
(24:04):
the way around. Now we'll say this is something that's
going to be in a column that I'm writing tomorrow,
sort of a notes column of things that I'm hearing
around the league. But Nets were not the only team
that was interested in Emayodoka after Boston. I was I
was told that there was another team that was vetting
Emay a week after Boston suspended him to consider replacing
(24:27):
their guy depending on which direction their team went. Um
that they were they were ready to potentially higher Emay.
So I know there's a lot of people out there
saying this is an indicator that he's never going to
get another shot. I'm I'm not convinced to that based
on what I've heard so far Rick Buker with us,
the Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen Live, and the
(24:49):
tire Act dot Com Studio. So teams are going to
go out after email Udoka Okay, So if that one, now,
do you think that could happen this year? Another deal
or or as you Oka, now, hey, he's out for
the rest of this year and and it's going to
be next year sometime. I'm I wouldn't. I wouldn't be
I'm not going to rule out that he could get
hired this year. I think that what what happened in
(25:11):
Brooklyn really was a case of it was just it
was too much toxicity. It's the whole thing with Kyrie
wasn't going on, and particularly the Kyrie anti semitism and
his reluctance to acknowledge that it was anti Semitism, like
all of that. Uh, then I think maybe just maybe
(25:34):
there's a pathway to Email getting that job. But with
all of the controversy around Kyrie, it was just it
was too much. You couldn't you couldn't do both. But
I look, I do believe that there, I do believe
that people still respect what Emay did as a coach
and as a head coach and somewhere along the line.
(25:57):
May not be a circumstance with a team as good
as the Brooklyn Nets, but I would I would be
surprised if he doesn't get another opportunity, all right, Rick,
last one for me, I'd love to go do a
deep dive on Danny Ainge and how he gets the
Jazz to start losing, which was supposed to be planned.
But we've got the Warriors at four and seven, can't
(26:18):
win on the road. What's the fix for Steve Kerr? Boy,
It's it's tough. Part of it is, I mean, this
is the tricky part the The solution in terms of
winning now is to tighten up your rotation and not
give as many minutes to the young guys. But that
(26:41):
means playing Staff and Draymond and uh, some of the
guy in Cavan Looney, the guys that have been have
already had a lot of miles on their bodies. It
means not preserving them the way you want to for
the for the end of the year. So he's really
in a catch twenty two in terms of he's kind
(27:03):
of got to live with We're gonna lose some games.
Here because I got to develop these young guys because
if they're not giving me anything, I don't have anybody
else to turn to. It was one of the things
that that that GMS told me over the summer about
why they were skeptical that the Warriors were going to repeat,
and it was because they lost so much of their bench.
And it was understood why they lost it, why they
(27:24):
couldn't pay Gary Payton what Portland paid him, and why
Otto reporter went to Toronto and um, you know why
they why they's understandable why they lost those pieces. But um,
at the same time, like kaminga Wiseman Moody, like they're
not ready to be those kind of role players that
(27:46):
you can count on or play long minutes and expect
to win. And I think one of the other little
elements here that nobody's real really looking at the fact
that play Thompson, well, he started to find a little
more of his offense. It's still up and down, but
he's he's finding his offense. He's nowhere near the defensive
(28:07):
player he used to be. And Jordan Pool is not
a defensive player by any means, And that's really where
they're getting hurt Is I don't think it's offensively so much.
It's Wiseman's giving them nothing. Uh, Clay Thompson isn't giving
them what you expect. Klay Thompson give you. Jordan Poole
has never been a good defender and Steph does what
(28:28):
he can, and so you're they're exposed on a nightly basis.
Looking around the league, particularly in the Western Conference, you
look at the talent on the wings, the scoring talent
on the wings, the athleticism on the wings. It's a
battle every night, and the Warriors are not equipped to
fight that fight. You can fall them on Twitter at
(28:50):
Rick Buker, That is at Rick Buker, Fox Sports One,
NBA Inside to check out his latest on the Ball podcast,
All on Kyrie Irving in his situation with the Nets
because always Budy appreciate it. Man. We'll talk to you
next week. My pleasure, guys see Rick. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on
(29:12):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app Fox
Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harman Live from the Tiraq dot Com studios. We
could talk about how complicated other banks making radium credit
card rewards, or we could talk about how with Discover
you can redeem your rewards for cashing any amount at anytime.
I mean talk about amazing learn more at discovered, dot com,
(29:34):
slash or deem rewards terms they do apply well. Really
sad news in the world of sports today, the passing
of Fred Hickman UH sixties six years old, and he
was look a lot of the online um bios for
him having right one of the o g s of
sports television. Uh. He was a mainstay on CNN Sports
(29:57):
Tonight throughout the nineteen nineties and him and the late
Nick Charles did a show every night at eleven o'clock.
And I'll tell you what I'll be honest with. You'll
pull the curtain back when I was a p A
at ESPN in the early to mid nineties and working
on the eleven o'clock Sports Center every night, we viewed
it as and this is still ESPN is becoming the
(30:19):
big dominant force in sports right. It's it's it's before
they became the Evil Empire, where they were still boy.
Everybody couldn't help but love watching Dan and Keith and
and and everything else. Every night we felt was a
battle between us and CNN Sports Tonight Shannon Keith against
(30:40):
Nick and Fred. And we would watch the show after
uh and we would look at it and look at
the highlights they put up. Did they put different plays
in the highlights? Did the did the viewer get a
better um impact, a better takeaway from the highlights they did?
Or what the highlights we did? It was too really
big organization pushing each other. It was. It was a
(31:02):
glorious time. I mean, it really was something. And and
and Nick and Fred had great chemistry and they were
terrific together. And like I said, it was Dan and
Keith and Nick and Fred, and it was back and
forth every night. And eventually ESPN pulled away because obviously
ESPN is a sports company, CNN is a news company,
and they went in kind of a different direction and
Sports to Night wasn't the show it was. Then Fox
(31:23):
got involved in CNN kind of got squeezed out a
little bit. But I'll tell you what for for most
of the nine nineties, that was it. And I we
would we would do our show and then sometimes watch back. Okay,
what did they do in this highlight? What did they show?
This was funny what they said here? Oh they did this,
they did Oh, I can't believe they showed Bo Jackson
doing this and this highlight or so and so did this,
(31:43):
and and that's kind of how we would watch things ago.
Where was that? Where did I missed that play that
I missed that? It was awesome? It was it was
these two heavyweights pushing each other in a in a
in a slug fest every single night, and it was
just I can't tell you how awesome it was to
be a part of that. Well, those Midwest guys in Springfield,
I mean Nick Charles was at Columbia College that was
(32:04):
right down the street from the downtown campus at Northwestern
where I worked. And then you look at at Fred
I mean the long run that he had eventually some
time with the ESPN with Fox in his career. But
I remember those battles. You wanted to watch both, right,
You wanted to figure out because repeats and whatever else,
how do I get both shows in? And then given night,
(32:26):
the back and forth, the camaraderie and the little features,
and it's like, oh, they got us on that highlight
And I could only imagine what it was like working
in the newsroom, especially if you didn't get the one
clip that ended up becoming what would be today the
viral sensation. Did you hear about X? Because if you
missed it, I'm sure Dan and Keith let everybody know
(32:48):
about it. Yes, so you know that kind of thing,
you know, you know, it wasn't so much that because
Dan and Keith did their thing like they were motivated
to do their thing, and it was it was something
to want. No, but I'm saying if you guys miss
some highlight that so no, that that well, that wasn't
something Danner key. That's where our bosses would say, Hey,
did you do the Royals Yankee game last night? Yeah?
(33:08):
How did you not show Bo Jackson throwing the guy
out of third base? Well, because the game was eight
to two at the moment at the time, it didn't
really go the story of the game. Bo Jackson throws
the guy out at third flat footed. You really don't
want to think that needs to go on the highlight
Like that wouldn't be a Danner Keith thing. That would
be something you would get from from one of your
friend Hey, listen, why why are you doing this? Yeah.
(33:29):
Back when I talked to Keith, uh oh, you can't, dude,
he stopped following me on Twitter because he had a
meltdown because you have a fake blue check. That's yeah,
that's but yeah, just just a large idea of that
that competition was healthy. And those were two of the
greatest tag teams that we've ever seen in this medium.
(33:49):
So that was a golden age as this stuff started
to evolve and and he was a fixture on our
televisions for a long long time. Yeah, it was. It
really was something to see CNN push and be that
kind of competitor to Yes, because you think about now
it's like, boy, who you know who can can fight
them every night? And now it's it's such a diverse
(34:11):
atmosphere of well, you have MLB Network if you really
want something baseball, if you want football, you have NFL Network,
you have you have then b NBA channel, you have
all these different uh you know, these different things. Back then,
you didn't have that. And the only honestly, the biggest
thing that ESPN was always afraid of, and it wasn't
about you know, yes to having the better highlights is
a big thing because they felt that's where people would
(34:32):
then gradually tune over. They were always worried that if
they had a story we didn't have, because you know,
the Internet wasn't didn't really exist, and for most of
the nineties, where where was a big news gathering thing,
it was you got your news from the six thirty
eleven o'clock at two thirty Sports Center, or you got
it from CNN tonight. Nobody wanted to be scooped on
that we had. That was a big thing. Was okay,
(34:53):
always a big sire relief. Okay, we had all the stories.
They didn't have anything we didn't have, and that was
always okay. We had good show. Everything was good. Now
let's get ready and move on for the next day.
That was a big part of it too. We always
have to remember the two thousand NBA MVP Award as well.
Oh the only guy didn't didn't vote for Shaquila. Shack
(35:14):
even said, I want to thank everybody for the m
v P Award, even the guy who didn't vote for me.
He remember, you had a big laugh on that at
his press conference for Fred Hickman had Talented, Talented Dude.
Fred Hickman, sixties, six years old, Rest in peace. The
Jason Smith, who with Mike Carmen live from the tirect
dot Com Studio, is coming up Next, we get back
into a story involving a quarterback in his former team.
(35:35):
You're not gonna believe this latest twist. This from the
tirect dot Com Studios on Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings, Welcome inside our three,
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thousand recommended installers ti irac dot com the way tire
buying should be. Right now. Midway through the fourth quarter,
Lakers got some work to do if they're gonna avoid
falling to two and nine to start the season. The
Clippers have pushed their lead out to ten, nine eight
seven over the Lakers. Lakers fought back after a big
(01:05):
first quarter deficit to cut it to two at halftime,
but it's been all Clippers since then. Uh leading the
way for the Clippers, Paul George has twenty six points
to go along with four rebounds and three assists other
big nights and support. Powell's got sixteen points off the bench.
Uh watch out. Meanwhile for the Lakers, Lebron's got twenty
eight and we're gonna talk to Rick Buker coming up
(01:27):
in a few minutes. But this is just a case
of the Lakers don't have the horses to compete with anybody,
right that that's what you're seeing, that an aging Lebron
and and and Anthony Davis that is the same a
d as he was two years ago, but with maybe
a little bit less motivation to win. It's just not
enough because that's the roster. Yes, you have a couple
(01:49):
of very minor, minor pieces like Patrick Beverley Westbrook coming
off the benches has been okay at times, but he's
a bench player, and some nights he's good and some
nights he isn't. And you know, none who you thought
was gonna be great is not scoring. This is just
a bad roster, no matter what you think. You can't
wait and move things around and reconfigure that it's just
(02:11):
a really bad aging roster and and that there's nothing
you can do. If you're not gonna make the moves
to get better, then it's time to just clear the decks.
And you clear the decks and you wait for next
year and you try to get assets in first round
picks for Anthony Davis, tried to do whatever you need
to do to move Russell Westbrook. Don't worry about getting
anything back from whatever you need to do. That's what
(02:33):
this season should be about. Try to maybe get some
players for free at the trade deadline. Hey, this guy
can be a part of our team for next year,
and he's kind of cheap because he's owed a lot
of money. But we're gonna trade Anthony Davis and this
might be a fit for another year with Lebron. But
the Lakers have to do something because this is just
you're gonna watch them slide to two and nine, two
(02:53):
and twelve, two and fourteen. Lebron's gonna unplug. It's gonna
be awful. He's gonna skip games. You know, he may
he may wind up skipping the season. He's gonna pass
Kareem and say that's it. I'm done. I'm done. I'll
see you guys next year. It's going to get really,
really bad. The Lakers have to make a decision whether
we're gonna go for it and get better or we're
(03:13):
just gonna try to move the next year in grab assets.
Just like if you're in a fantasy dynasty football league
and your team is terrible, like you're on my team
is Hey, we're in next year mode already. We're getting
draft picks, we're getting young players, we're sending out guys
like Austin Ekeler and Lamar Jackson, and we're making our
team deeper. This is what you have to do for
the Lakers. Well, you started Zach Wilson over Justin Fields
(03:35):
to ensure a loss. Hang on, I started Sam Ellinger
over Justin Fields. I did, yes, get the guy right.
We didn't come on and we didn't have to. Even
I didn't say let's go get Zach Wilson in our leave.
Even I didn't say that you're a liar. Uh. Look,
you got twenty eight from Lebron James labored twenty eight points,
(03:56):
four of eight from three point range, and they've shot
nearly thirty five from three point range tonight. But the
go for it that you alluded to, what what are
you going for to try to get to that seven
to ten and saying we we've got two would be
greats at this point because they were great and at
times Lebron still is great and he's been fantastic and
(04:18):
stretches tonight. But what's he looked like in April, May June.
I don't know, but trying to uh, I don't know
that we've ever done a deep dive on expiring contracts
earlier in the season. What's gonna be out there that
you can go inquire that will maybe help fortify things
short term? And and I don't do it in a pejorative,
(04:42):
you know, making fun of the situation. It's unfortunate, right,
is that you want to see teams at their best.
Lakers are better. Look, they're they're in the purpose position
because they're they're not mediocre, they're bad, right, And we
could do the if sands butts like we do with
NFL teams of like, but this possession and help with
with the Bears earlier I joked about it, and it's
(05:02):
something we've talked about quite a bit. Jason of the
two minute reports or the review of the officials work
after an NFL Sunday game once it's gone final they've
gone to the locker rooms. It doesn't matter anymore. Sending
me something on official league letterhead with an apology for
this call, that call the other and a signature by
(05:23):
the league official in charge doesn't really do a whole
hell of a lot. Yeah, he might have a wax seal,
so that's kind of cool, but beyond that, it does nothing.
So the Bears today got a letter about a couple
of calls that were made in error in that loss
to the Dolphins. It doesn't matter. Same the same thing
here with the Where we look with the Lakers, it's there.
(05:43):
There's a lot of things that maybe you could do.
Is it too little, too late? Right, you had the
opportunity in the off season. You knew what you had
in terms of a roster that it wasn't gonna be
very good, and you know that you've got players that
are at at a point in their careers where even
this this is them playing every night at this point,
(06:03):
Jason and and Anthony Davis gutting through whatever that back
ailment is. Right, once the back enters the injury report,
we get nervous on a nightly basis, But seven or fourteen,
twenty nine minutes tonight, seventeen and eight still minus eleven.
Lebron is still minus fifteen and minus thirteen after he
makes another bucket. But the the idea that there there
(06:25):
are no quick fixes here, and and that's the hard
part to it, because you can't the wholesale get rid
of the roster. Now in our dynasty league, we can.
He can just say this guy is pretty good. He
can help you at least be your third receiver or whatever.
In this case, you've got a bunch of guys that
I don't know that their role players for many NBA
(06:49):
teams still NBA players, and I respect it, but we
all got to talk about it in terms of the
relative value of some of these guys that are getting
heavy minutes for the Lakers, and and they're they're in
a really difficult spot that could have been at least addressed.
Again waiving those draft picks like they're giant, you know,
(07:09):
powerball tickets that you already know you've got the winning numbers.
They're not there, Twitter at how about a fresca Mike
gets swollen down The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman.
We could talk about how complicated other banks make it
to redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about
how we discover you can redeem your rewards for cash
and any amount of any time. I mean talk about
amazing learn more at discovered dot com slash redeem rewards
(07:32):
terms they do apply. So we'll have more on the
NBA coming up with Rick Buker. What's next to the Lakers?
What about the Warriors? Can they make it all the
way back? The Nets now have a head coach to wait,
but I thought they had a different guy. But today
was the first day of Twitter Blue, the new way
to get verified on Twitter if you want to pay
eight dollars a month. And one thing I can say
(07:53):
for Elon Musk is when he has an idea, it
happens right away. There's no and a couple of months
and not he had people staying and working, you know,
twenty five hours a day. I want this rolled out
by the end of next week or you're all fired. Well,
today you found that Twitter Blue is a new thing.
And now there's two ways that people are verified on Twitter.
You are verified by Twitter because you are deemed to
(08:17):
have value and entertainment or in some other way or
now yeah or yeah right now, while you can still
do that, or you pay eight dollars to be verified,
and if you click on someone's blue check mark, it
either says this person is verified because they contribute in
society in a meaningful way, or uh, they paid eight
dollars a month to be verified. You knew it wasn't
(08:39):
gonna be lost. And I think that was pretty Uh
you know, self congratulatory there, and you can can meaningful way.
I don't have a blue check mark, I'm no less
able to communicate effectively and impact the meaning of life.
Is you cough up the eight bucks, Mike, then eight
bucks a month? Then then why don't you pay eight dollars? No,
(09:03):
I meant for the other blue check mark the way
you you gotta do. He's gonna lose that whatever whatever.
The man eight dollars a month so that you knew
it wasn't gonna be long until Twitter went from the
wild West into something that is just even crazier. It's
(09:25):
like going in from the wild West to West World.
Like that's what this is. Because the first fake firing
got a lot of people today on social media, and
someone who impersonated Adam Schefter uh put out a tweet
saying that the Raiders have fired Josh McDaniels, and because
you know, look, the Raiders probably are close to find
Josh McDaniels. So people thought it was real even though
(09:47):
the Twitter account came from Adam Schefter, not it had
a blue checkmark. Okay, and they're all, look at this,
he gets fired, but very quickly the account was suspended.
But this is just gonna happen now for you know,
for a plate, Twitter had no rules for the longest time,
and I was like, okay, there, you kind of get
some of the rules to a place that has no rules.
(10:09):
But now rules are coming in. And as we're seeing
the rules that are tried that are trying to improve that,
Elon Musk is trying to improve Twitter On, it's oh,
didn't don't you think that this is gonna be uh
an outcome of it? Don't you think that that this
could be an offshoot that you're not thinking about And
we're seeing it right, you already saw the first day
impersonating accounts is happening. Trying to fool people with check marks, right,
(10:32):
that's gonna continue to happen forever. If you're gonna sell
blue check marks for eight bucks of person this is
just going to continue because there's so many people with
nothing better to do that you know what, I'm gonna
see if I can get people with a fake NBA
trade or waiting to see the fake MLB signings from
the winner meetings that are gonna happen over the next
few weeks. Mets extend Jacob deGrom two years, five hundred million.
(10:55):
Wait until you see that report come out from fake
Ken Rosenthal, you know, fake somebody just just wait, did they?
It had no rules and it was going how it
was going, and now you're putting rules in and that's
gonna make it even more chaotic. Five wow. And that
the guy that covers the Lakers. Now they look so
(11:18):
like given Today we'll talk about the injury lists that
popped up for the NFL quarterbacks, right Stafford and I
know his wife was on a podcast and and talking
about the scary nature of those things. Kyler Murray with
his injury and so on that it became a I'm
I was becoming dubious of anything I was seeing. After
(11:40):
that Schefter, after a Lebron James, there were three or
four examples pretty fast, couple others that just made you
shake your head but you know the impersonation uh and
replication hundreds. It's gonna be an army of fake woog
is running around and and Sham and Schefter and Jay Glazer,
(12:02):
although Jay Glazer, you know I wouldn't mess with him.
He'll come and get your ass, uh, And he's got
an army of guys that will come do it. But
it's it's just that idea of the wild West. Could
you always had the verification process which like it or
just dislike it. Whatever. Folks got through the process at
different different rates, different times, and sometimes it was easier
(12:24):
to get the check mark otherwise, wasn't. We didn't do
a whole lot of effort uh in terms, And I
think if I just changed it to my name, maybe
they would have done it. But I didn't care after
that first attempt. I know some folks like, come on,
I'm on my seventh attempt to get verifies. Like, okay,
if you care that much, uh, just put a rat
(12:44):
or something next to it and people will think it's
a blue check mark because it's an icon next to
your name. But it's gonna be curious to see what
the next generation of this is because it could get
ugly pretty fast, and we saw a very small sample
size today telling you man, wild West to West World,
this is just gonna continue to go. It's like go
(13:06):
so Twitter getting canceled. Yeah, I've got the Mad Hatter
is gonna have a tea party. I'm here man, I'm
here for it. That's new Twitter. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Is this
song for the next tonight? If if this is for
(13:26):
the nixt that's okay, I'm with you Fox Sports Radio,
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
Blue Chuck Mark. We could talk about how complicated other
banks may get to redeem credit card rewards, or we
could talk about how with Discover you can redeem your
rewards for cash and any amount at any time. I
mean talk about amazing. Learn more at discover dot com
(13:46):
slash redeem rewards terms they do apply well. A few
minutes ago, Lebron limped off the court about five minutes
left to go. The Lakers were down ten against the Clippers.
He has not come back on the court and the
Clippers are about a minute away from putting the finishing
touches on a victory over the Lakers. It's one ten,
one oh one. This will drop the Lakers to two
(14:08):
and nine. And you wonder, m to and nine? Lebron
with a groin injury? How long till we see him again?
How long till we see Lebron again? Think about that?
To a nine groin injury? How long till we see Lebron?
A month too month? How long till Lebron comes back? Woiky,
are our buddy buddy over at the l A times? Uh?
(14:31):
And I verified it is him. They say that the
Lakers have said Lebron James is out with quote left
leg soreness. Joining us now in the hot line to
break it all down. Fox Sports one NBA Insider Extraordinary
Checkout is on the Ball podcast. It is Rick Buker. Rick,
what's happening? Buddy man? I am living the dream because
(14:59):
you because you didn't take the Lakers head coaching job
when it was offered to you in the off season,
and now you're watch happier one of a few moves
I didn't. I didn't invest in crypto either, so um yeah.
Two things I've done right in the last in the
last year, so I'm making up for lost time, and
makes plenty of mistakes early on. So I'm trying to
get my trying to get my score above five hundred.
(15:21):
So let me ask you this and what we talked
about before he came on. Uh, the Lakers played the Clippers.
It's a big statement type game. Lebron limps off with
a growing left leg type injury. The Lakers for two
and nine. How long can we see Lebron again? Now?
A month? Two months, three months? When do we see
Lebron Christmas Day? When do we see him again next? Boy?
(15:42):
It's uh, it's a good question. Well, I mean we
have to factor in how many points. How many more
points does he need to get past Kareem He needs
like a thousand, I think a thousand something, So we
gotta to fit that into the season. I don't think
he wants that to carry over to next season. Uh,
then again, maybe he does. Maybe you want to break
that record in a more enjoyable season than this one
(16:05):
proves to be, because it's gonna land. This isn't like
step Curry breaking three point record in the midst of
the of the Warriors surging and winning a championship. This
is this is breaking Kareem's record on a team that
could set a record for for losses in a season
(16:25):
for for a Lakers team. So, um, yeah, I don't
know when you know, it's funny we've gotten into hockey now.
It's general just left this left leg sore, neut like,
we can't we can't be a little more so that. Yeah,
you know what, maybe we should just say he's old,
like Lebron James left the game because he's old plus
(16:55):
on there. Yeah. Well, but it was an interesting game
watching this unfold, Rick, because we had many stretches where
you'd see Davis and James and even Russell Westbrook where
they had stretches where they're playing really well, but it
didn't matter in the scoring column, and certainly in the
plus minus they were still on the wrong side of that. Yeah. Well,
(17:15):
and this is just a difficulty. It's a difficulty where
Lebron Lebron is right now. I mean, obviously he can
still dial it up, he can still do special things.
He just can't sustain it, and he can't sustain it
with a team like the Lakers, who when he's not
playing well, have absolutely no chance. So even when he's
(17:38):
playing well, I mean that that's the biggest it must
have to be the most difficult mental aspect of this
for Lebron is he can shoot well. He can play
well both he and a d of shot in a
game and it has made absolutely no difference. They've still
lost the game. So there's not a level at which
(17:59):
he can play that is going to decide outcomes. And
he's not in a place at this point where he
can play thirty five minutes of top notch basketball. He he,
I mean, he's been taking plays off here and there
(18:19):
over the course. But I will say this to you, guys,
I'm I'm really surprised. He's not one of the guys
that I thought would fall off the table like suddenly
you go, oh, man, he looks old. But this season, man,
he looks old. I don't care what the numbers say.
(18:40):
There's just things within the game. Um what he had
three air balls the other night. Uh, there's just aspects
of the game that he can't he can't get by guys. Um,
and it happens. I mean, it's not's not a not
a death room, it's not a it's not a criticism
or an insult to him. It's just it happens. I'm
(19:01):
actually because of the way he's taking care of his body.
I just didn't expect it to be. I figured it
would be just kind of residual, gradual, um, and it
doesn't look like it right now. It looks like suddenly,
you know, he's got a piano on his back when
he didn't before. You know, I thought for him it
would be when he realizes I can't stay on the
(19:21):
court anymore. It would be a physical thing. It would
be my body is just breaking down, and I can't
say I play for a week. I'm out for a
week and a half. I have a couple of games.
That's what was going to tell him, I can't do
it anymore, Not that you would play and it would
be a road we would say, boy Lebron's a playmaker
now and look what. But it would be when he knows, hey, physically,
I'm just done. And it's tough because it's a guy
(19:42):
that's been healthy, really healthy for the for the first
eighteen years of his career. You couldn't get the guy
off the floor, you know. Yeah, Well, the thing that
he has going for him is that he is a
big man in today's game, and so there are ways
for him to be on the floor or and to
contribute that if he was, I mean, flip side is
(20:04):
Patrick Beverley, Like Patrick Beverley can't really do anything anymore
at the ages is jumping on him too. And but
but Lebron, you know, has improved his his perimeter, shooting,
his mid range. Uh, he can play four or five,
and so I think he can extend it that way.
And I do believe that he his goal now and
(20:26):
I felt it's been his goal more so than winning
champions championships for the last year or two has really
been about I want to extend my career until Brownie
gets to the n b A. I want to play
a season with my son. But I think he wants
to very much. I don't. I don't see a way
(20:50):
short of a cataclysmic type injury, a career ending injury,
that he doesn't make that happen in somehow, some way.
So Rick, we we know that all the particulars, no
draft picks, whatever else. So trading and making any imminent
moves like it's it's all the wishing, wanting and hoping
(21:12):
for the Lakers at the moment. Let's go to the
Nets that actually did something all the rumors of their
coaching position and it's a guy that's been there all along.
In Jacque Vaughan gets the call amidst all the chaos
and then they go out and throttle the Knicks under
his Tutela kind of left that part out. Let's just
stick to the nets. We could our guy, cam Reddish
was awful. Guys, he really let me down with that
(21:34):
over seven performance. You know what. That's that's that's going
to happen in the development of every great player. I
will say there have been games where cam Reddish. Cam
Reddish has looked like the best player on the floor.
He is. I've been really impressed with him. And look,
I don't know what why uh the people are the
(21:56):
league decides to do this to the Knicks all the time,
but you geared, but the Nets We're going to be
kind of geeked up to one play the Knicks and
to play the Knicks with Jacque von who the guys
on that team really like. I think they're they're they're
very happy to see him get the full time job.
Emay was just too toxic with everything that's going on
(22:16):
with Kyrie. Um, you know, I've I've been told everything
from like Adam Silver gave Joe Sib the nudge to say, hey,
look it's too much. You can't you can't bring Emay
in here. Your your your team already is controversy filled.
Um enough is enough? Like that's just that's that's too
(22:38):
much to to And whether it's it was Adam Silver
or whether it was the Minority Partners, whether it was
the sponsors, I mean, it was just I was really
tone deft for that to even begin that conversation. And
what I don't know is like, because because Emay is
(22:58):
a A C A A guy and at least one
of the reporters that was putting it out there as
a C A A guy, Like, how much of that
was the priming of the pump to get it out
there that he's a front runner and this could happen
and and sort of pushed the envelope a little faster
than maybe anybody was ready to uh and and may
(23:20):
have backfired because with all of the turmoil going around
Kyrie to then throw in there not not only that
you're firing Steve Nash and hiring Emay but that that
you immediately have Udoka getting the job. It's like, Okay,
you guys didn't start talking about this like ten minutes ago.
(23:42):
You must have been talking about this weeks ago to
set this up that that he was the next in line.
And if that's the case, like, were you're really supporting
Steve Nash and were you really taking seriously what happened
in Boston that the reason that that Emay lost his job.
So it just it didn't It didn't look good all
(24:04):
the way around. Now we'll say this is something that's
going to be in a column that I'm writing tomorrow,
sort of a notes column of things that I'm hearing
around the league. But Nets were not the only team
that was interested in Emayodoka after Boston. I was I
was told that there was another team that was vetting
Emay a week after Boston suspended him to consider replacing
(24:27):
their guy depending on which direction their team went. Um
that they were they were ready to potentially higher Emay.
So I know there's a lot of people out there
saying this is an indicator that he's never going to
get another shot. I'm I'm not convinced to that based
on what I've heard so far Rick Buker with us,
the Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen Live, and the
(24:49):
tire Act dot Com Studio. So teams are going to
go out after email Udoka Okay, So if that one, now,
do you think that could happen this year? Another deal
or or as you Oka, now, hey, he's out for
the rest of this year and and it's going to
be next year sometime. I'm I wouldn't. I wouldn't be
I'm not going to rule out that he could get
hired this year. I think that what what happened in
(25:11):
Brooklyn really was a case of it was just it
was too much toxicity. It's the whole thing with Kyrie
wasn't going on, and particularly the Kyrie anti semitism and
his reluctance to acknowledge that it was anti Semitism, like
all of that. Uh, then I think maybe just maybe
(25:34):
there's a pathway to Email getting that job. But with
all of the controversy around Kyrie, it was just it
was too much. You couldn't you couldn't do both. But
I look, I do believe that there, I do believe
that people still respect what Emay did as a coach
and as a head coach and somewhere along the line.
(25:57):
May not be a circumstance with a team as good
as the Brooklyn Nets, but I would I would be
surprised if he doesn't get another opportunity, all right, Rick,
last one for me, I'd love to go do a
deep dive on Danny Ainge and how he gets the
Jazz to start losing, which was supposed to be planned.
But we've got the Warriors at four and seven, can't
(26:18):
win on the road. What's the fix for Steve Kerr? Boy,
It's it's tough. Part of it is, I mean, this
is the tricky part the The solution in terms of
winning now is to tighten up your rotation and not
give as many minutes to the young guys. But that
(26:41):
means playing Staff and Draymond and uh, some of the
guy in Cavan Looney, the guys that have been have
already had a lot of miles on their bodies. It
means not preserving them the way you want to for
the for the end of the year. So he's really
in a catch twenty two in terms of he's kind
(27:03):
of got to live with We're gonna lose some games.
Here because I got to develop these young guys because
if they're not giving me anything, I don't have anybody
else to turn to. It was one of the things
that that that GMS told me over the summer about
why they were skeptical that the Warriors were going to repeat,
and it was because they lost so much of their bench.
And it was understood why they lost it, why they
(27:24):
couldn't pay Gary Payton what Portland paid him, and why
Otto reporter went to Toronto and um, you know why
they why they's understandable why they lost those pieces. But um,
at the same time, like kaminga Wiseman Moody, like they're
not ready to be those kind of role players that
(27:46):
you can count on or play long minutes and expect
to win. And I think one of the other little
elements here that nobody's real really looking at the fact
that play Thompson, well, he started to find a little
more of his offense. It's still up and down, but
he's he's finding his offense. He's nowhere near the defensive
(28:07):
player he used to be. And Jordan Pool is not
a defensive player by any means, And that's really where
they're getting hurt Is I don't think it's offensively so much.
It's Wiseman's giving them nothing. Uh, Clay Thompson isn't giving
them what you expect. Klay Thompson give you. Jordan Poole
has never been a good defender and Steph does what
(28:28):
he can, and so you're they're exposed on a nightly basis.
Looking around the league, particularly in the Western Conference, you
look at the talent on the wings, the scoring talent
on the wings, the athleticism on the wings. It's a
battle every night, and the Warriors are not equipped to
fight that fight. You can fall them on Twitter at
(28:50):
Rick Buker, That is at Rick Buker, Fox Sports One,
NBA Inside to check out his latest on the Ball podcast,
All on Kyrie Irving in his situation with the Nets
because always Budy appreciate it. Man. We'll talk to you
next week. My pleasure, guys see Rick. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on
(29:12):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app Fox
Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harman Live from the Tiraq dot Com studios. We
could talk about how complicated other banks making radium credit
card rewards, or we could talk about how with Discover
you can redeem your rewards for cashing any amount at anytime.
I mean talk about amazing learn more at discovered, dot com,
(29:34):
slash or deem rewards terms they do apply well. Really
sad news in the world of sports today, the passing
of Fred Hickman UH sixties six years old, and he
was look a lot of the online um bios for
him having right one of the o g s of
sports television. Uh. He was a mainstay on CNN Sports
(29:57):
Tonight throughout the nineteen nineties and him and the late
Nick Charles did a show every night at eleven o'clock.
And I'll tell you what I'll be honest with. You'll
pull the curtain back when I was a p A
at ESPN in the early to mid nineties and working
on the eleven o'clock Sports Center every night, we viewed
it as and this is still ESPN is becoming the
(30:19):
big dominant force in sports right. It's it's it's before
they became the Evil Empire, where they were still boy.
Everybody couldn't help but love watching Dan and Keith and
and and everything else. Every night we felt was a
battle between us and CNN Sports Tonight Shannon Keith against
(30:40):
Nick and Fred. And we would watch the show after
uh and we would look at it and look at
the highlights they put up. Did they put different plays
in the highlights? Did the did the viewer get a
better um impact, a better takeaway from the highlights they did?
Or what the highlights we did? It was too really
big organization pushing each other. It was. It was a
(31:02):
glorious time. I mean, it really was something. And and
and Nick and Fred had great chemistry and they were
terrific together. And like I said, it was Dan and
Keith and Nick and Fred, and it was back and
forth every night. And eventually ESPN pulled away because obviously
ESPN is a sports company, CNN is a news company,
and they went in kind of a different direction and
Sports to Night wasn't the show it was. Then Fox
(31:23):
got involved in CNN kind of got squeezed out a
little bit. But I'll tell you what for for most
of the nine nineties, that was it. And I we
would we would do our show and then sometimes watch back. Okay,
what did they do in this highlight? What did they show?
This was funny what they said here? Oh they did this,
they did Oh, I can't believe they showed Bo Jackson
doing this and this highlight or so and so did this,
(31:43):
and and that's kind of how we would watch things ago.
Where was that? Where did I missed that play that
I missed that? It was awesome? It was it was
these two heavyweights pushing each other in a in a
in a slug fest every single night, and it was
just I can't tell you how awesome it was to
be a part of that. Well, those Midwest guys in Springfield,
I mean Nick Charles was at Columbia College that was
(32:04):
right down the street from the downtown campus at Northwestern
where I worked. And then you look at at Fred
I mean the long run that he had eventually some
time with the ESPN with Fox in his career. But
I remember those battles. You wanted to watch both, right,
You wanted to figure out because repeats and whatever else,
how do I get both shows in? And then given night,
(32:26):
the back and forth, the camaraderie and the little features,
and it's like, oh, they got us on that highlight
And I could only imagine what it was like working
in the newsroom, especially if you didn't get the one
clip that ended up becoming what would be today the
viral sensation. Did you hear about X? Because if you
missed it, I'm sure Dan and Keith let everybody know
(32:48):
about it. Yes, so you know that kind of thing,
you know, you know, it wasn't so much that because
Dan and Keith did their thing like they were motivated
to do their thing, and it was it was something
to want. No, but I'm saying if you guys miss
some highlight that so no, that that well, that wasn't
something Danner key. That's where our bosses would say, Hey,
did you do the Royals Yankee game last night? Yeah?
(33:08):
How did you not show Bo Jackson throwing the guy
out of third base? Well, because the game was eight
to two at the moment at the time, it didn't
really go the story of the game. Bo Jackson throws
the guy out at third flat footed. You really don't
want to think that needs to go on the highlight
Like that wouldn't be a Danner Keith thing. That would
be something you would get from from one of your
friend Hey, listen, why why are you doing this? Yeah.
(33:29):
Back when I talked to Keith, uh oh, you can't, dude,
he stopped following me on Twitter because he had a
meltdown because you have a fake blue check. That's yeah,
that's but yeah, just just a large idea of that
that competition was healthy. And those were two of the
greatest tag teams that we've ever seen in this medium.
(33:49):
So that was a golden age as this stuff started
to evolve and and he was a fixture on our
televisions for a long long time. Yeah, it was. It
really was something to see CNN push and be that
kind of competitor to Yes, because you think about now
it's like, boy, who you know who can can fight
them every night? And now it's it's such a diverse
(34:11):
atmosphere of well, you have MLB Network if you really
want something baseball, if you want football, you have NFL Network,
you have you have then b NBA channel, you have
all these different uh you know, these different things. Back then,
you didn't have that. And the only honestly, the biggest
thing that ESPN was always afraid of, and it wasn't
about you know, yes to having the better highlights is
a big thing because they felt that's where people would
(34:32):
then gradually tune over. They were always worried that if
they had a story we didn't have, because you know,
the Internet wasn't didn't really exist, and for most of
the nineties, where where was a big news gathering thing,
it was you got your news from the six thirty
eleven o'clock at two thirty Sports Center, or you got
it from CNN tonight. Nobody wanted to be scooped on
that we had. That was a big thing. Was okay,
(34:53):
always a big sire relief. Okay, we had all the stories.
They didn't have anything we didn't have, and that was
always okay. We had good show. Everything was good. Now
let's get ready and move on for the next day.
That was a big part of it too. We always
have to remember the two thousand NBA MVP Award as well.
Oh the only guy didn't didn't vote for Shaquila. Shack
(35:14):
even said, I want to thank everybody for the m
v P Award, even the guy who didn't vote for me.
He remember, you had a big laugh on that at
his press conference for Fred Hickman had Talented, Talented Dude.
Fred Hickman, sixties, six years old, Rest in peace. The
Jason Smith, who with Mike Carmen live from the tirect
dot Com Studio, is coming up Next, we get back
into a story involving a quarterback in his former team.
(35:35):
You're not gonna believe this latest twist. This from the
tirect dot Com Studios on Fox
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