March 30, 2023 • 35 mins
Jason and Mike discuss the Lakers and LeBron James and what his legacy with the team means by the end of this season.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Ti irac dot com the way tire buying should be well.
Happy Opening Day Eve. We've made it to the eve
of the Major League Baseball season. It's here. We're gonna
see eleven cy young winners squaring off at nine o
clock in the morning tomorrow. Mike Carmon. It is an
exciting night right now. One of the biggest things that
I love about the opening month of Major League Baseball,
(01:09):
I got day games all day every day, starting nine o'clock,
ten o'clock all the way through the day as we
look at the time zones and the being blessed to
be here on the West Coast. You wake up, grab
a cup of coffee, and there's first pitch, and with
pace of play, I'll still have plenty of time to
get a nap between those windows. It's a beautiful thing.
(01:31):
I'm so excited. Let's go. So we will have some
big bold predictions for the Major League Baseball season coming
up later on in the show, because I remember last
year I told you Aaron Judge was going to be
the MVP in the American League. Remember I told you, boy,
it's been a year now, It's been a year that
I've been able to run that take. But it runs out,
but it runs out tonight like tonight, So the last
(01:52):
night I can really pump that because you know when
the new season starts tomorrow, I know. I mean, look,
you want a banner like the Angels for waiting the
spring training. I think the Angels should get a banner
if they keep Otani all season, like that should be
like on roster post deadline, like that could be a
banner that they raised and they wind up somehow keeping
him after July thirty first, see, I think he might
(02:14):
keep him out of spite because of what, because of
the money that is there, and just beg that it happens.
But look, before we get to that, tonight is a
big night in the NBA. Look the Knicks already one.
They beat the heat. That's how the Knicks work, man,
that's how they roll. They got they got no Jalen Brunson.
Julius Randall leaves the game with a sprained ankle, doesn't matter.
(02:37):
Nicks win, Knicks win, Nicks win. Look at you, you
come back from a day off, all refreshed and ready.
We thought you were stalking Rogers, trying to find out
how you can facilitate the last stages of this. So
it doesn't vex you anymore, a packer. It was my
own darkness retreat yesterday. That's what it was. But it's
(02:59):
another day, a lying open yeah, not a jet. That's okay. Look,
it's it's getting closer and closer. It's it's what it is.
It is getting closer and closer. All you gotta do is, hey,
all you gotta do is read other pundits. Mike Florio
saying things that we've said for the last week and
a half, almost verbatim and tiens, how it's going with
the Jets and Aaron Rodgers. It's all happening. We have
(03:20):
long been a popular show across this globe on Fox
Sports Radio. Blank you Florio, Well there's that too, But hey,
high drama in the NBA right now. There has never
been a group of teams playing five hundred basketball taking
up our attention more than the Western Conference right now.
It really is insane. How a bunch of teams that
(03:42):
are just okay, we're treating them like they're all NBA
title contenders. Oh, the Lakers are gonna get in. What's
gonna happen in the Mavericks? Who's gonna wind up in
the playing round? All these teams stink, They all stink.
They're all barely five hundred, Yet we can't get enough
of them. Hey, I don't hate the player, I don't
hate the game. It's just amazing that all these all
(04:02):
the conversation that's driving the NBA right now is about
all these craptastic teams that can't even get a game
over five hundred, and now they're all gonna sneak into
the playoffs with forty or forty one wins and yet
oh man, I can't wait to talk about them because
here they are. I mean, you just do the whole
nicole kidman thing to celebrate the Western Conference heading in
(04:23):
what is it, three and a half games separating fourth
through eleventh. Wait, wait, do you mean? Do you mean
like when you go to the movies and she's there
doing oh and she does the whole Hey, the magic
of the movies is here. Okay, Okay, you know he
went they feel real and powerful and blah blah blah.
Because here they are, and that's where we're at in
the final week and a half. Why do you think
they rescinded those technical follows? You can't be suspended. We
(04:47):
need you in a Wednesday prime time event Philadelphia of
one to eleven one o eight two minutes remaining over
the Dallas Mavericks. But it's it's that kind of thing, Jason.
We know, drama that wasn't at the taggle for TNT
for all those years, and so that's what we got
the final week. It doesn't matter that it's a lot
of bad basketball. A lot of stars have become anonymous
(05:09):
again because we haven't seen him on a court in
a while, said guy. Hey, oh he grew his hair out. Okay, cool,
he grew a beard. It's been a while since we've
seen them on the court. But now as we get
towards the playoff run, suddenly everybody's there, including oh, everybody's
favorite pincushion here in Los Angeles. Yeah, I would you
know before we get to Lebron because we're gonna have
(05:29):
a big thought, big hot take on Lebron here. Oh,
it's all our fly are we? No? Why are we
messing around with this hole? All you get to you
know your technicals? How about you just say you know what. Look,
we don't want to fool you. We don't want to
feel like we're just leading you. We're raising the number
of teas you have to get in the season. He
gets suspended to fifty, let's just let's just do that,
right in sixteen seventy, Now just raise it to fifty. Okay,
(05:52):
how about how about that? Anymore? We stopped being a
bunch of sensitive candy asses. And unless a guy gets
punched in the low post, you don't call a technical fall.
I'm sorry he called me a dirty name. Anybody that's
ever set anywhere near courtside. They take one hundred and
ninety seven of them before they call a technical. You
can't take the hut turn in the cheek for one
(06:13):
hundred ninety eight. Come on, man, I mean like this,
why why why are we at slecch a low number? Right?
Why why don't we just go to fifty? Right? If
you get fifty in a year, okay, then you're then
we're fine. Right. Then you get more injections, and you
get guys are more hot headed, they get thrown out more,
there's more highlights. I think everybody wins, and I think
you get I think you got to be able to
average one a game. You should be able to spout
(06:34):
off the one game eighty two. Well you're only playing
fifty seven. Oh, I mean yeah, okay, so maybe fifty
five is the number seven? Shut up? Maybe that maybe
that's the magic number. I think that's just just throwing
it out there. I mean, because look, in the end,
we all enjoy the jawing and the jostling, and an
occasionally we actually get something that's pretty physical and violent
(06:55):
that they decide is egregious and over the top. Okay,
that's mine. But when it's just, hey, you were chirping
at the referee. You know what technical follow you? He
said that your wife's pie was no good. Okay if
the woman can't bake or I mean that's all he said,
and you teat him up. Yeah, everybody wins. We get
(07:15):
more meltdowns, they get more time to say, Okay, that's fine.
Everybody wins. They're losers here. You know, when the last
Iowa women's basketball game has outrated everything the NBA has
done this season, you probably need to stand back and
evaluate your your process, your progress in the product that
you're putting out on the court. Now, let's get to
(07:40):
this because this is something that I don't know that
Lebron James knew exactly what he was saying when he
said it, but he's turned out to be pretty on
the nose with it. Right now, five and a half
to go in the fourth quarter, Lakers are thumping the
Bulls one oh five nine. Last night they were dead.
(08:01):
They weren't on Monday. Lebron was too small on Monday.
But today, But here's the thing. We've talked about this
over the lad and now, like I told you when
we talked about this a week ago about Hey, the
end of Lebron with the Lakers. You can see it coming.
You can see it coming. It seems like they've had
enough of him when he was injured and seemed like
(08:22):
he was at odds with the Lakers coaching staff about
coming back and I'm not healthy, and then suddenly he
was healthy. He was healthy to come in because he saw, Oh,
I'm not winning this battle because the team is ready
for me to go, the front office is ready for
me to go, the fans are ready for me to go.
I gotta come back and play because if we wind
up getting into the playoffs and I'm not part of
this team, boy, oh, it's gonna be really difficult. Told
(08:43):
you last week, the off season's going to be messy
for Lebron James. As the Lakers of real life. We've
gotten all weeken get out of him, and Lebron knows, Hey,
I don't have the power to sit here and say
I'm going to finish my career. I'm gonna have to
go someplace else. Lebron was right, although I think he
missed the number these seven games that Lebron James is
going to play right now from tonight through the end
(09:04):
of the season are the most important games he has
ever played as a Laker, because his future as a
Laker depends on how this finishes. And it may not.
It still might not be enough. But if the Lakers
win enough games, they get into the playing round, or
maybe things really really really fall their way, because you know, look,
right now, they're in ninth, but you know, they're only
(09:25):
a game out of six, right, They're only a game
and a half out of six with the Warriors. But
the words starting to get hot a little bit now,
but they're not only game and half out of six
with seven games left. These things can happen. If the
Lakers get into get in the top of the playing round,
and they win the Okay, then you can see the
Lakers coming out of this season going maybe one more
with Lebron, Maybe we can try to figure it out
(09:45):
around them. The changes we made made the team better.
Maybe we have one more year. But if the Lakers
fumble this away and they wind up in the bottom
of the playing round, or they wind up falling out entirely,
then that's it for Lebron. And it's going to be
a messy season of Lebron trying to say how he
wants out and to get to a new team, and
the Lakers trying to be the one saying we want
(10:06):
to move on from him, and that's gonna be really,
really messy. We told you a week and a half ago,
this offseason can get really messy for Lebron and the Lakers.
His most important seven games with the Lakers are right now.
If they get in and they get in on an upswing, Okay,
if not, that's gonna be it. And you're gonna see
stuff like, does Lebron really want to go play in
Dallas with Kyrie and Luka. You're gonna see that, and
(10:28):
that's gonna be a big storyline. Trust me, this offseason
is gonna get so messy for Lebron in LA It's
gonna be great for us because we're gonna talk about
this drama. We're gonna hear behind the scenes stuff all
the time. This is what Lebron said when he wasn't
coming back. This is what Anthony Davis really said. This
is why he really sat down when Lebron was breaking
Kareem's record. We're gonna get all of it, but his
future comes down to these are the most important games
(10:50):
he'll play as a laker these seven games starting with tonight. Yeah,
I think the biggest thing, and it ties to two
of the other big stories that we've been circling around,
as is the national local media, everybody trying to find
an edge for these low these many weeks slash months.
You know, when you look at Rogers and you look
over at Lamar Jackson of trying to figure out relationship building.
(11:12):
Have these guys ever taken any courses a right, a
little bit on how to massage egos and get embody
in the room so we can at least hash it
out right, not poutiness at the end of the bench.
I'm going to show up what I feel like it.
And then when it looks like the team is starting
to captivate the city, and you got a guy like
Austin Reeves who goes from a journeyman to one hundred
(11:35):
million dollars player in three weeks, all of a sudden,
Hey wait, I gotta get back out. I'm gonna bristle
at reports, just like Aaron Rodgers did, swallowing the same
scorecard Darkness Retreat right zero Dark twenty three. So they
kind of steal from each other a little bit as
you go through it. But it's it's just curious because
it's a situation whereby we've watched the team coalesce a bit.
(11:57):
There's no ball stopping, there's there's more fluid, any defense,
better commitment. Lebron came back and yeah, they get the
win today and the home and home with the Bulls,
and Drummond didn't play, and that's fine, So yeah it
didn't it nullifies it. But go back to Sunday, there
was no movement. Anthony Davis suddenly was by standing again
(12:19):
once Lebron checked into the game. That's not good for business.
That's not good for long term success. So the fact
that they haven't remedied that. As much as we can
get excited of the muddled mess that is the Western Conference,
I got no confidence in it, nor that his foot
from seeing the Lebron James of feet, that he's going
(12:39):
to be available when it's finally set and done in
the playoffs. 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 iHeartRadio app.
One of the top five songs of the eighties, let
it wash over you. You'll know in the end and
(13:00):
tears for fears, Right, Aaron Rodgers will be there. And
when you're in doubt you call up the packers. You say,
no first round pick, how about a cup a love? Second?
There go our listeners. I'm sorry, but we're going again.
(13:23):
Aaron Rodgers to go to the super Bowl and you're
gonna play Jordan Love and he's gonna suck and we're
gonna win the Lombardi Trophy maybe one or two. Promise you,
Aaron Rodgers will These are the ultimate lyrics too, went
in Rome by the promise. Yeah, I mean you did
(13:45):
miss the obvious rhyme with Jordan Love will blow. But
that's okay. No, wait a minute. I didn't want to
be that mean to him, I do, you know, well,
but I mean you said he was gonna stink, so yeah,
well I'm I'm freestyling, you know sometimey oh, But I'm
just saying, you know, it was an easy rhyme scheme
that you just decided to throw away. I was better
than Papa Doc. I mean, come on, man, I mean
(14:07):
it was it was it was Jay Rabbit and then
me and then Papa Doc. I was right there. Are
you kidding? Yeah? But you showed up and you were
able to finish the job. Popa Dock. I really that
one of the top three songs of the eighties went
in Rome Promise. That is a bold proclamation. I bet
if we put up a poll question that would not
be the case. But if you went to run a
walla Mac the Jason Smith Show with my best friend
(14:28):
Mike Harmon live from the Tirac dot com studios. At
the end of your first year, Discover credit cards automatically
double all the cash back you've earned. That's right, everything
you earned is doubled. Seriously see terms. Check it out
for yourself at Discover dot com. Slash match. Well, things
are turning out well for the Lakers. They just finished
up a one twenty one, one ten win over the
(14:49):
Chicago Bulls. The only downside for the Lakers here is
that the game was on the road, so one ten
for the Bulls. There's no taco element to this win,
just a win by Roofs were back at five five hundred.
Look how exciting they are. They're a five hundred team
and what are the Lakers did. It's so awesome that
you could be mediocre and people care about you. It's
too bad it wasn't at home, because then they could
(15:09):
have had the Streamers and the band. Oh yeah, yeah,
oh yeah. The Bill McDonald called the Streamers around. Here
comes a confetti. The Lakers are back at five hundred.
Oh my goodness, will this ride never end? Well? You know,
you said you find your wins, and on that day
they were the better team on the court. So at
least the Streamers. Oh, that'd be the best. Now we
(15:31):
got more NBA on the way. But how about we
tell you how Lamar Jackson saga is going to end
up because people are asking the wrong question. They're saying
where where where? That's not the right question, especially after
today where he decided, well, you know, I don't have
an agent, so I'm going back on social media to
clap back at my critics. He was very upset that
(15:52):
he was being questioned about why he didn't play in
the last season's playoff game. Part of the reason the
ongoing saga why no one is offering Lamar Jackson a contract.
No one's even meeting with him, and he's now getting
so upset that I may not open this gym with
Francis and now I'm gonna go on social media when
you really upset me. Quote, let's get real. I'd rather
(16:15):
have one hundred percent PCL than go out there and
play horrible forcing myself to put my guys in a
bad situation. Now that's selfish to me this way, he
tweeted out late on Tuesday night. I don't remember me
sitting out on my guys week one versus the Jets,
to week twelve versus the Broncos. How come all of
a sudden I sit out because of money in which
I could have got hurt at any time within that
time frame when we know the super Bowl, but on
(16:37):
my mind since April of twenty eighteen. Well, I think
you gotta answer your own question. How come suddenly I
sit out because of money when I could have gotten
hurt at any time. That's kind of why you sit
out because of money, because you could get hurt at
any time. Because I want it's enough for money. But look,
we've said all the things before, right that, Lamar Jackson,
we're not asking the right question because with this happening
(16:57):
right now, he doesn't have an agent. We've talked about
how that has hurt him. Right We talked about how
he is where he is right now because of that,
he doesn't have people fighting his battles. He's injured and
this is why he's sitting where he is right now.
He is a wildcard. Teams don't know do I call him?
Do I call the Jim, Do I call Ron Francis?
You know, I don't know what do I do? So
(17:18):
he's done this to himself. But we've documented this. So
now the real question is how is this going to end?
When is this going to end? And I will tell
you exactly how this is going to go, and get
ready and sit back because it's going to be a while.
At this point, no one's going to do the money
in the picks form, right, we kind of agree to
that that he wanted two hundred fifty million dollars. Guaranteed
he's not going to get that two first round picks
(17:39):
for Lamar Jackson. Teams don't want to give that up
because teams could have done that, right, you could have
done that, signed him, and you know he would go.
Teams know, hey, we signed him, you would want to
come here and the Ravens would let you go. So
there's no two hundred fifty million there's no two first
round picks. Okay, Let's say Lamar Jackson comes down off
is two hundred and fifty million dollars guaranteed to something
(18:00):
more palatable like three years and one hundred and thirty million,
which is what he turned down from the Ravens. Let's
say that happens. Our teams still going to do it
where they're giving up two first round picks and they're
gonna do it. Probably not all right, because teams would
there would have been at least some kind of interest
in him before that, but there's not. So now what's
going to happen. We're gonna go through the draft because
(18:23):
there's a lot of quarterbacks out there, and look, everybody
thinks they're gonna get one. Meanwhile, there's four guys early on.
Maybe we'll Levis slides a little bit, but there's four
guys out there, and everybody that needs a quarterback thinks, yah,
we can pick and we can get the guy we
want to. The culture gonna think they can get their
guy at four if they want to. One two will
be quarterbacks as well. Maybe it's Richardson, maybe it's but teams. Okay,
(18:43):
let's do this. Then after the draft. They're gonna sit
back and say, Okay, we're going forward, and the Ravens
are gonna think, well, now we're back in the catbird
seat because Lamar doesn't have a team. We went through
free agency, we went through the draft, he doesn't have
a team. So we franchise him and he's gonna play
for us this year, except we told you, Lamar Jackson
(19:04):
will not. He is not that guy that's gonna put
together this this sitting out and all of this care
and then say, oh, you're right, I lost. I'm going
to show up and play. He has played his last
down as a Raven. You see how combative this is
with the Ravens when you put out your tweet I
want to trade when thirty two coaches are sitting down
to breakfast at the owners meetings, yeah, you're not going
back to that team. So the Ravens are gonna think
(19:26):
he's coming back, and they're gonna proceed with Tyler hunt
Lee will take all the reps and well we got Lamark,
and we got Lamark coming back. Then they're gonna realize
he's not coming back and it's going to be now
we have to trade him. And then they're gonna get
nervous because the longer he sits out, the less they
get back. Teams are gonna get a little bit nervous
because maybe the couple that figure, Okay, the price has
gone down, now we can go get him. So what
(19:48):
then you're going to see is as we get to
the start of training camp, when things get really hairy
and dicey, and we really want him in for the
entire training camp. We really want him in to be
able to get our playbook. That's what you're gonna see
Lamar Jackson traded because that's when things are going to
get really desperate and it's gonna get down to a
decision has to be made. A decision doesn't have to
be made about Lamar Jackson right now, doesn't have to
(20:10):
be made about for him for any other team because
clearly they've made their decisions for now. So now we're
gonna wait. But this is gonna be one of those
Eve of training camp type things. First day of training camp, Hey,
somebody decided to pull together a trade and they're gonna
have to pay Lamar Jackson less money and give up
less draft picks because whoever trades for him is not
going to give him a new deal. He either going
to have him play this year. He's gonna have to
(20:31):
play a one year deal under the money he's gonna
make this year, and then hope that after this year
he gets his contracts someplace else. That's how it's going
to end for Lamar. Jackson's not get in with a
big payday. It will end with him playing for this
year for thirty some odd million dollars, hoping that after
this year I get another chance at free agency. I
show that I can stay healthy for seventeen games, and
(20:52):
then I'm more of an investment and teams feel better
about giving me a lot of money. So that's how
it ends for Lamar all the way on the EVA
training camp. The team's not going to give up a
lot for him. It's only going to be a one
year deal, thirty some odd million dollars. Prove it, and
then he's back on it next year. Try to do
the same thing a year from now. Yeah, it's a
difficult conversation at this point because people think if you
say anything negatively about the way this has been handled,
(21:16):
that you don't like the player that is Lamar Jackson,
you don't value him because everybody. You know, there's a
lot of folks that would have you just say, well,
why wouldn't he be worth two hundred fifty million dollars
because you don't have to pay him that, all right?
If one of the thirty two did and wanted to
and just wanted to solidify that, it would have been
done March fifteenth. As soon as he was able to
(21:37):
talk to people. You would have been standing out there
like you were what's his face? Q Sack standing out
there with the giant boombox or Rex Ryan back when
he was recruiting for the Jets, showing up outside of
guys houses at midnight. Hi, we'd like you to be
part of our team. In your eyes, is playing over
the boom box and he's standing out with a stack
of papers and maybe a nice table of or derves.
(22:01):
I don't know, but the idea that we look at
the timetable now and you still see it pondered as
to the fourth pick with Indianapolis, or say I'm paying
him fully guaranteed. I don't want to pay guaranteed money.
That's silly, all right. So you got that, you got
the game of Liar's Poker. As we've deemed it here
(22:23):
on the show these last few days with the owners meetings, Jason,
with every coach, every GM going up there, and maybe
they believe it in their hearts. Right, it's the George Costanza.
You're not lying if you've somehow convinced yourself this is true,
staring in a mirror, practicing it horrid ball. Yes, I'm
fully committed. I expect Lamar Jackson to be here, Ron Rivera.
(22:45):
We like our quarterback room with Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissette.
Wait what, Okay? Maybe, but Lamar Jackson's there, and Dan
Snyder seems like the type of guy that he would
either go and get Lamar Jackson to screw everybody over
with a guaranteed deal, or whoever the new owners would be,
would say, Wow, you want to make a splash. There's
our new guy. We're already in for six billion. What's
(23:07):
another two hundred million dollars, let's go. But for the
Colts and others that have high draft picks, you know,
there's a lot to consider here because if there was
such a rush to market, and that's where it's not
because Lamar's on social media bemoaning the fact that we're
at this point and going through and trying to combat
every piece of the equation, and it's just it's a
(23:31):
bad look, right You've you don't have someone going in
and and working for you to smooth out any of
the things where they might critique and criticize Derek Gayton
to ride, Um, you know you're in their world now.
As I completely quote the Princess and the Frog at
Doctor Faciliate, but the the idea that you've gotten a
(23:51):
lover again, I went full Doctor Faciliate. There's coming from
the best, the best villain ever should have gotten. That's
a hot doctor for Silly, the best village. Oh he's
my favorite, better than Gaston. Oh come on, No one
spits Gaston, No one takes Yeah. But that we start
thinking about David Gascott and it really muddies the water
(24:13):
and wrestling. No one quite bites like Gaston. He expect
he had a good He had a good hype man
in Lafu too. That is something for Silly it did
not have because that little toady for the Prince didn't
really help him out too much. Like Paul Bearer in
this is where You where You're at a little bit. Yeah,
I think we can go down that road. But for
Lamar Jackson, it's just the he's combating a lot of
(24:35):
narratives and part of it is owners and GM's They
don't want to deal with the player directly unless it's
something very simple, which we've seen done. Number of players
have gone in and gotten their deals done, but they
don't have the questions of injuries and missing chunks of seasons.
And everybody that does the hey, he's the MVP, He's like,
(24:58):
well then he should have gotten a spot onus for
winning the MVP. It doesn't matter three years later. And
I love him, he's one of my favorite players to watch.
But it's a you know, a harsh bucket of cold
water of reality here when nobody ponied up. And now
as you get closer to the draft and you've got
other needs, right, you're drafted fourth, you don't just need
(25:18):
a quarterback. You're drafting ninth. You're draft and in these
different slots that you need other component parts. So why
would you bail the Ravens out and do the trade before?
Then go get Lamar Jackson and force the issue with
the trade, and guess what the compensation is a bunch
of middling picks, maybe one or two first round picks,
(25:39):
but they're not on the book still the following years.
So in theory, you've made your team better, and then
those draft picks suck because they're in the twenties. If
I thought the Ravens. Here's the thing about the Ravens,
and I will say this to leave the door open
a glimmer for that, because they don't know what they're
doing anymore. Five guys in the last four years that
(26:00):
were drafted by the team have said blank you, I'm
leaving when it came time to contract extensions and feeling disrespected.
Is that what I bet you the Ravens thought processes
is that they would just love to kick this can
down the road for the next three years, right, and
get okay and then just walk away, right, And that
(26:20):
that's why they don't want to get in for him
for longer than that. They would love to say, okay,
franchise this year. So yeah, they would love to be
able to kick this can down the road for three years,
but they can't. And so in a perfect world, would
they be okay with having Lamar back for this year?
A probably, you know, if if it came down to it,
and they couldn't. They didn't have to worry about paying.
They could franchise him if they wanted to, for thirty
(26:41):
two million dollars year, and they thought he would come
back and play. Yeah, I don't think for a second.
They completely don't want him. They want him only on
their terms, and Lamar doesn't want that, and so but
but the but the terms that the Ravens want him
for are unrealistic because he's not going to agree to that.
So that's why this one they're gonna wait, They're gonna place,
they elimate with each other. The Ravens will think eventually
(27:01):
he's gonna come in, and he's gonna say no. And
when it gets to camp, they're gonna say, Okay, here's
a trade. The team's gonna say, hey, we'd like Lamar,
but we'd like to have a prove it year on him.
How about a first round pick for Lamar Jackson. Okay,
And that's how it's gonna go. First round pick Lamar
Jackson for a year, and if he's great, we'll resign him,
or if he's healthy, they sign him during the what
however it winds up working, That's how it's gonna end
(27:22):
for Lamar Jackson. Yeah, I mean, certainly they would love
to go down the road that Washington had done with
Kirk Cousins. Here's a franchise. Okay, franchise costs gets through
the roof, but you're not locked in. So if especially
once we get the guaranteed contract part of this in
the mix, right, Minnesota's in for Kirk Cousins by current standards,
(27:45):
it's not a bad contract and it was short term.
You look at what Deshaun Watson got. If he's the
player that he looked like he was becoming in the
Planet Houston going forward and then they're able to solve
some of those ills from last year, then maybe he
ends up being quote unquote worth the money. And that's
beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as we
(28:06):
know with that. But for Lamar Jackson, if they could
do the year after year kind of situation and just
go up the scale and while the salary cap is increasing,
it's the percentage that he takes up of the cap
isn't prohibitive to doing other things and being creative with
cat management elsewhere. Yeah, I think they'd absolutely love that.
(28:27):
They just don't want to be on the hook for
Oh no, there's the injury we we thought was going
to happen after carrying the ball one hundred twenty times
a year, and it happens here in year seven, where
we still have three years left at one hundred and
fifty million dollars guaranteed. I mean, that's that's the doomsday
scenario for them and for those that want to criticize
(28:48):
the Ravens. Look, they've done a lot of missteps. Bashati
going up on the steps of every building possible saying
I pay it for that's not it's not good business.
Just shut up and go about your way as you're
trying to work and negotiate. Doing it in public, it
just made you look like a super villain instead of
(29:09):
a businessman who still knows what he's doing and running
in an NFL franchise. And so now you're you're at
this loggerhead and should have been smarter about it, I
guess along the way. But if Lamar legitimately got an
offer of three four one thirty three, as he tweeted out,
if that was a legitimate offer, that's not bad money.
(29:30):
Now we're quibbling over a few percentage points, and I'm
not saying that that doesn't add up to a bunch
of money. But in three years you're back on the marketplace.
And if you're still that guy, and assume that you are,
that you're going to find another bag. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific, Fox
(29:52):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. At the end of your first year, Discover
credit cards automatically double all the cash back you've and
that's right, everything you learned doubled. Seriously see terms. Check
it out for yourself at discover dot com. Slash match
well in his Major League Baseball Eve, we made it Yeah.
Predictions coming up in a few minutes, Bob Jason Otani's
(30:14):
gonna look so good at the deadline of the Dodger uniform.
See just replaced Dodgers with Mets. And then you have
it right. Then you'll have it right, Fight night, Fight night,
which right yellow like Nick King. With the season ready
to begin tomorrow, the big story of spring training, and
the big story everywhere, has been the pitch clock, which
has been implemented to speed up games and we get
(30:35):
the data today, the pitch clock shave twenty six minutes
off of spring games, which is great. So instead of
a game going three fifteen, it's two forty five, the
pace of play moving it up a bit. That's awesome. Now,
forget about the fact that some pitchers don't like it.
You're gonna get some violations. Batters, they will figure it out.
But the big thing this is is this is for
(30:58):
the fans. You will never watch a baseball game as
long as this is involved. The same way again, every
single time, when you're watching a pitch you are going
to watch the pitch clock and see if it gets
to a point with which the batter gets a strike
or the pitcher throws a ball. You are gonna watch,
just like watching the clock tick down during a play
(31:18):
in the NFL when the play clock could hit zero,
when you're watching the clock tick down on the side
of the basketball game. You will watch the pitch clock
every single play. You won't watch the picture. You will
kind of watch the picture out of the corner of
your eye, the batter out of the corner of your eye,
and you'll watch that pitch clock looking for violations. That's
that's when you have this big thing in your screen
in front of you and you're seeing fifteen fourteen thirteen.
(31:42):
You're not gonna be able to ignore it. It's too big,
and you will watch that every single pitch, every single pitch,
and you can think of the next day already. This
home run shouldn't have happened. Look at this screen grab
the clock hit zero. Sod Grom striking out so and
So shouldn't have been a strike out. It should have
been I can already see it go. You will never
(32:02):
watch the game the same way again. And it's going
to happen tomorrow. This for people big baseball fans who
if you watch a little bit of spring training, if
you watch a lot of spring training, if you wait
for the season to begin, now you're gonna watch in
earnest and it's gonna be there in every single game
and every single highlight, and you're gonna watch that pitch
clock all the time. Well, you know me, I anticipate
(32:23):
the chaos over the next couple of days because now
we have to put it in live and we actually
have to adhere to it, because that's the hard part is. Yeah,
we wanted to do it in theory and normally it's
sloughs off right the points of emphasis in the NFL
officiating or even in Major League baseball, and then you
start getting into the season, it goes away. Here the
(32:45):
pace of play, i e. Balls are actually put into play,
the via the pitch or lord knows, they actually put
the ball in play instead of the strikeout walk home
run phenomenon. We've had these last couple of years that
you still get a ton of action and you get
home a half hourly. I just like Clayton Kershaw's point
(33:07):
to it all as well, as long as they get
their beer sales in, so good job by him recognizing
what's important. We haven't sold you know, if that's twenty
six minutes less than selling beer. Well, but the worst
scenario that you ever have in a baseball game, or
I think for the NFL, like, there's not gonna be
a massive variance for the there's in terms of what
(33:29):
a fourth quarter looks like. Yeah, there'll be some some timeout,
some injury timeouts, reviews, whatever, but that's fairly standardized. Think
about Major League baseball. The number of times you've gone
to a game and you're cruising along in the sixth
you get to the seventh inning and they bring in
that third relief pitcher and then all of a sudden,
everything goes to hell. Well they've stopped serving beer by
(33:50):
that point, so now you're there for another hour and
a half to watch the last two innings of the games.
You can't drink, which is good for traffic because then
you're stone cold, sober and you're safe. I'm so mad.
I want to drink. You know, you can leave the game.
You don't have to stay. Oh god, right, I'm leaving.
But that was But but it's part of the experience, right,
We're all about the fan experience. This is what the
fans wanted, isn't it. They also want beer, Rob man Ford,
(34:14):
But I'd be curious to see the implementation as we
get to the regular season that we do that shot
clocks and and down distance kind of thing. Up, he
didn't get the spirit of the law. Said that ball
should have left his hand before the zero, kind of
like the grace period you get with the snap in
the NFL. And so officials need to be ready because
(34:37):
especially with gambling dollars on the line. Can you imagine
the it's a long drive right field, it's out of
the park, No, that three on home run does not
count because upon review the shot clock, I mean the
pitch clock, he had struck zero. The umpire comes in,
they're waving it off. The three came after the buzzer.
Durant did not get it off in time. Oh, my goodness,
(34:59):
the sons of law. So the Knicks, the Knicks have
won the NBA championship, waved up waving off a three run. Oh,
I brought the Knicks in the baseball Mike in desperation.
When Aaron Rodgers is still a packer, he's got to
find his joy where he can. Jason, how long before
Kershaw loses it with the with the pitch clock? Oh,
let's see, uh, second out to day right? Second inning? Yeah,
(35:21):
second ending of the game. Second innings. Good, He'll get
through the first inning and be really mad. I go
out there and go if that happens to me again, man,
And he'll just start throwing pitches at the pitch clock
to break in and y, no, it's not what I
would be. Good. Then he's got to get somebody counting
down like Frau far bissonaf Dame. He might kill Dan
and then and then he holds up his hat and
says I was just channeling my inner Randy Johnson twelve
(35:41):
and to me that next Big Bowl. Predictions for the
MLB season Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harman podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox Sports
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(00:25):
Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside. Happy Wednesday, The Jason
Smith Show with my bass friend Mike Harmon hobo live
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(00:46):
Ti irac dot com the way tire buying should be well.
Happy Opening Day Eve. We've made it to the eve
of the Major League Baseball season. It's here. We're gonna
see eleven cy young winners squaring off at nine o
clock in the morning tomorrow. Mike Carmon. It is an
exciting night right now. One of the biggest things that
I love about the opening month of Major League Baseball,
(01:09):
I got day games all day every day, starting nine o'clock,
ten o'clock all the way through the day as we
look at the time zones and the being blessed to
be here on the West Coast. You wake up, grab
a cup of coffee, and there's first pitch, and with
pace of play, I'll still have plenty of time to
get a nap between those windows. It's a beautiful thing.
(01:31):
I'm so excited. Let's go. So we will have some
big bold predictions for the Major League Baseball season coming
up later on in the show, because I remember last
year I told you Aaron Judge was going to be
the MVP in the American League. Remember I told you, boy,
it's been a year now, It's been a year that
I've been able to run that take. But it runs out,
but it runs out tonight like tonight, So the last
(01:52):
night I can really pump that because you know when
the new season starts tomorrow, I know. I mean, look,
you want a banner like the Angels for waiting the
spring training. I think the Angels should get a banner
if they keep Otani all season, like that should be
like on roster post deadline, like that could be a
banner that they raised and they wind up somehow keeping
him after July thirty first, see, I think he might
(02:14):
keep him out of spite because of what, because of
the money that is there, and just beg that it happens.
But look, before we get to that, tonight is a
big night in the NBA. Look the Knicks already one.
They beat the heat. That's how the Knicks work, man,
that's how they roll. They got they got no Jalen Brunson.
Julius Randall leaves the game with a sprained ankle, doesn't matter.
(02:37):
Nicks win, Knicks win, Nicks win. Look at you, you
come back from a day off, all refreshed and ready.
We thought you were stalking Rogers, trying to find out
how you can facilitate the last stages of this. So
it doesn't vex you anymore, a packer. It was my
own darkness retreat yesterday. That's what it was. But it's
(02:59):
another day, a lying open yeah, not a jet. That's okay. Look,
it's it's getting closer and closer. It's it's what it is.
It is getting closer and closer. All you gotta do is, hey,
all you gotta do is read other pundits. Mike Florio
saying things that we've said for the last week and
a half, almost verbatim and tiens, how it's going with
the Jets and Aaron Rodgers. It's all happening. We have
(03:20):
long been a popular show across this globe on Fox
Sports Radio. Blank you Florio, Well there's that too, But hey,
high drama in the NBA right now. There has never
been a group of teams playing five hundred basketball taking
up our attention more than the Western Conference right now.
It really is insane. How a bunch of teams that
(03:42):
are just okay, we're treating them like they're all NBA
title contenders. Oh, the Lakers are gonna get in. What's
gonna happen in the Mavericks? Who's gonna wind up in
the playing round? All these teams stink, They all stink.
They're all barely five hundred, Yet we can't get enough
of them. Hey, I don't hate the player, I don't
hate the game. It's just amazing that all these all
(04:02):
the conversation that's driving the NBA right now is about
all these craptastic teams that can't even get a game
over five hundred, and now they're all gonna sneak into
the playoffs with forty or forty one wins and yet
oh man, I can't wait to talk about them because
here they are. I mean, you just do the whole
nicole kidman thing to celebrate the Western Conference heading in
(04:23):
what is it, three and a half games separating fourth
through eleventh. Wait, wait, do you mean? Do you mean
like when you go to the movies and she's there
doing oh and she does the whole Hey, the magic
of the movies is here. Okay, Okay, you know he
went they feel real and powerful and blah blah blah.
Because here they are, and that's where we're at in
the final week and a half. Why do you think
they rescinded those technical follows? You can't be suspended. We
(04:47):
need you in a Wednesday prime time event Philadelphia of
one to eleven one o eight two minutes remaining over
the Dallas Mavericks. But it's it's that kind of thing, Jason.
We know, drama that wasn't at the taggle for TNT
for all those years, and so that's what we got
the final week. It doesn't matter that it's a lot
of bad basketball. A lot of stars have become anonymous
(05:09):
again because we haven't seen him on a court in
a while, said guy. Hey, oh he grew his hair out. Okay, cool,
he grew a beard. It's been a while since we've
seen them on the court. But now as we get
towards the playoff run, suddenly everybody's there, including oh, everybody's
favorite pincushion here in Los Angeles. Yeah, I would you
know before we get to Lebron because we're gonna have
(05:29):
a big thought, big hot take on Lebron here. Oh,
it's all our fly are we? No? Why are we
messing around with this hole? All you get to you
know your technicals? How about you just say you know what. Look,
we don't want to fool you. We don't want to
feel like we're just leading you. We're raising the number
of teas you have to get in the season. He
gets suspended to fifty, let's just let's just do that,
right in sixteen seventy, Now just raise it to fifty. Okay,
(05:52):
how about how about that? Anymore? We stopped being a
bunch of sensitive candy asses. And unless a guy gets
punched in the low post, you don't call a technical fall.
I'm sorry he called me a dirty name. Anybody that's
ever set anywhere near courtside. They take one hundred and
ninety seven of them before they call a technical. You
can't take the hut turn in the cheek for one
(06:13):
hundred ninety eight. Come on, man, I mean like this,
why why why are we at slecch a low number? Right?
Why why don't we just go to fifty? Right? If
you get fifty in a year, okay, then you're then
we're fine. Right. Then you get more injections, and you
get guys are more hot headed, they get thrown out more,
there's more highlights. I think everybody wins, and I think
you get I think you got to be able to
average one a game. You should be able to spout
(06:34):
off the one game eighty two. Well you're only playing
fifty seven. Oh, I mean yeah, okay, so maybe fifty
five is the number seven? Shut up? Maybe that maybe
that's the magic number. I think that's just just throwing
it out there. I mean, because look, in the end,
we all enjoy the jawing and the jostling, and an
occasionally we actually get something that's pretty physical and violent
(06:55):
that they decide is egregious and over the top. Okay,
that's mine. But when it's just, hey, you were chirping
at the referee. You know what technical follow you? He
said that your wife's pie was no good. Okay if
the woman can't bake or I mean that's all he said,
and you teat him up. Yeah, everybody wins. We get
(07:15):
more meltdowns, they get more time to say, Okay, that's fine.
Everybody wins. They're losers here. You know, when the last
Iowa women's basketball game has outrated everything the NBA has
done this season, you probably need to stand back and
evaluate your your process, your progress in the product that
you're putting out on the court. Now, let's get to
(07:40):
this because this is something that I don't know that
Lebron James knew exactly what he was saying when he
said it, but he's turned out to be pretty on
the nose with it. Right now, five and a half
to go in the fourth quarter, Lakers are thumping the
Bulls one oh five nine. Last night they were dead.
(08:01):
They weren't on Monday. Lebron was too small on Monday.
But today, But here's the thing. We've talked about this
over the lad and now, like I told you when
we talked about this a week ago about Hey, the
end of Lebron with the Lakers. You can see it coming.
You can see it coming. It seems like they've had
enough of him when he was injured and seemed like
(08:22):
he was at odds with the Lakers coaching staff about
coming back and I'm not healthy, and then suddenly he
was healthy. He was healthy to come in because he saw, Oh,
I'm not winning this battle because the team is ready
for me to go, the front office is ready for
me to go, the fans are ready for me to go.
I gotta come back and play because if we wind
up getting into the playoffs and I'm not part of
this team, boy, oh, it's gonna be really difficult. Told
(08:43):
you last week, the off season's going to be messy
for Lebron James. As the Lakers of real life. We've
gotten all weeken get out of him, and Lebron knows, Hey,
I don't have the power to sit here and say
I'm going to finish my career. I'm gonna have to
go someplace else. Lebron was right, although I think he
missed the number these seven games that Lebron James is
going to play right now from tonight through the end
(09:04):
of the season are the most important games he has
ever played as a Laker, because his future as a
Laker depends on how this finishes. And it may not.
It still might not be enough. But if the Lakers
win enough games, they get into the playing round, or
maybe things really really really fall their way, because you know, look,
right now, they're in ninth, but you know, they're only
(09:25):
a game out of six, right, They're only a game
and a half out of six with the Warriors. But
the words starting to get hot a little bit now,
but they're not only game and half out of six
with seven games left. These things can happen. If the
Lakers get into get in the top of the playing round,
and they win the Okay, then you can see the
Lakers coming out of this season going maybe one more
with Lebron, Maybe we can try to figure it out
(09:45):
around them. The changes we made made the team better.
Maybe we have one more year. But if the Lakers
fumble this away and they wind up in the bottom
of the playing round, or they wind up falling out entirely,
then that's it for Lebron. And it's going to be
a messy season of Lebron trying to say how he
wants out and to get to a new team, and
the Lakers trying to be the one saying we want
(10:06):
to move on from him, and that's gonna be really,
really messy. We told you a week and a half ago,
this offseason can get really messy for Lebron and the Lakers.
His most important seven games with the Lakers are right now.
If they get in and they get in on an upswing, Okay,
if not, that's gonna be it. And you're gonna see
stuff like, does Lebron really want to go play in
Dallas with Kyrie and Luka. You're gonna see that, and
(10:28):
that's gonna be a big storyline. Trust me, this offseason
is gonna get so messy for Lebron in LA It's
gonna be great for us because we're gonna talk about
this drama. We're gonna hear behind the scenes stuff all
the time. This is what Lebron said when he wasn't
coming back. This is what Anthony Davis really said. This
is why he really sat down when Lebron was breaking
Kareem's record. We're gonna get all of it, but his
future comes down to these are the most important games
(10:50):
he'll play as a laker these seven games starting with tonight. Yeah,
I think the biggest thing, and it ties to two
of the other big stories that we've been circling around,
as is the national local media, everybody trying to find
an edge for these low these many weeks slash months.
You know, when you look at Rogers and you look
over at Lamar Jackson of trying to figure out relationship building.
(11:12):
Have these guys ever taken any courses a right, a
little bit on how to massage egos and get embody
in the room so we can at least hash it
out right, not poutiness at the end of the bench.
I'm going to show up what I feel like it.
And then when it looks like the team is starting
to captivate the city, and you got a guy like
Austin Reeves who goes from a journeyman to one hundred
(11:35):
million dollars player in three weeks, all of a sudden,
Hey wait, I gotta get back out. I'm gonna bristle
at reports, just like Aaron Rodgers did, swallowing the same
scorecard Darkness Retreat right zero Dark twenty three. So they
kind of steal from each other a little bit as
you go through it. But it's it's just curious because
it's a situation whereby we've watched the team coalesce a bit.
(11:57):
There's no ball stopping, there's there's more fluid, any defense,
better commitment. Lebron came back and yeah, they get the
win today and the home and home with the Bulls,
and Drummond didn't play, and that's fine, So yeah it
didn't it nullifies it. But go back to Sunday, there
was no movement. Anthony Davis suddenly was by standing again
(12:19):
once Lebron checked into the game. That's not good for business.
That's not good for long term success. So the fact
that they haven't remedied that. As much as we can
get excited of the muddled mess that is the Western Conference,
I got no confidence in it, nor that his foot
from seeing the Lebron James of feet, that he's going
(12:39):
to be available when it's finally set and done in
the playoffs. 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 iHeartRadio app.
One of the top five songs of the eighties, let
it wash over you. You'll know in the end and
(13:00):
tears for fears, Right, Aaron Rodgers will be there. And
when you're in doubt you call up the packers. You say,
no first round pick, how about a cup a love? Second?
There go our listeners. I'm sorry, but we're going again.
(13:23):
Aaron Rodgers to go to the super Bowl and you're
gonna play Jordan Love and he's gonna suck and we're
gonna win the Lombardi Trophy maybe one or two. Promise you,
Aaron Rodgers will These are the ultimate lyrics too, went
in Rome by the promise. Yeah, I mean you did
(13:45):
miss the obvious rhyme with Jordan Love will blow. But
that's okay. No, wait a minute. I didn't want to
be that mean to him, I do, you know, well,
but I mean you said he was gonna stink, so yeah,
well I'm I'm freestyling, you know sometimey oh, But I'm
just saying, you know, it was an easy rhyme scheme
that you just decided to throw away. I was better
than Papa Doc. I mean, come on, man, I mean
(14:07):
it was it was it was Jay Rabbit and then
me and then Papa Doc. I was right there. Are
you kidding? Yeah? But you showed up and you were
able to finish the job. Popa Dock. I really that
one of the top three songs of the eighties went
in Rome Promise. That is a bold proclamation. I bet
if we put up a poll question that would not
be the case. But if you went to run a
walla Mac the Jason Smith Show with my best friend
(14:28):
Mike Harmon live from the Tirac dot com studios. At
the end of your first year, Discover credit cards automatically
double all the cash back you've earned. That's right, everything
you earned is doubled. Seriously see terms. Check it out
for yourself at Discover dot com. Slash match. Well, things
are turning out well for the Lakers. They just finished
up a one twenty one, one ten win over the
(14:49):
Chicago Bulls. The only downside for the Lakers here is
that the game was on the road, so one ten
for the Bulls. There's no taco element to this win,
just a win by Roofs were back at five five hundred.
Look how exciting they are. They're a five hundred team
and what are the Lakers did. It's so awesome that
you could be mediocre and people care about you. It's
too bad it wasn't at home, because then they could
(15:09):
have had the Streamers and the band. Oh yeah, yeah,
oh yeah. The Bill McDonald called the Streamers around. Here
comes a confetti. The Lakers are back at five hundred.
Oh my goodness, will this ride never end? Well? You know,
you said you find your wins, and on that day
they were the better team on the court. So at
least the Streamers. Oh, that'd be the best. Now we
(15:31):
got more NBA on the way. But how about we
tell you how Lamar Jackson saga is going to end
up because people are asking the wrong question. They're saying
where where where? That's not the right question, especially after
today where he decided, well, you know, I don't have
an agent, so I'm going back on social media to
clap back at my critics. He was very upset that
(15:52):
he was being questioned about why he didn't play in
the last season's playoff game. Part of the reason the
ongoing saga why no one is offering Lamar Jackson a contract.
No one's even meeting with him, and he's now getting
so upset that I may not open this gym with
Francis and now I'm gonna go on social media when
you really upset me. Quote, let's get real. I'd rather
(16:15):
have one hundred percent PCL than go out there and
play horrible forcing myself to put my guys in a
bad situation. Now that's selfish to me this way, he
tweeted out late on Tuesday night. I don't remember me
sitting out on my guys week one versus the Jets,
to week twelve versus the Broncos. How come all of
a sudden I sit out because of money in which
I could have got hurt at any time within that
time frame when we know the super Bowl, but on
(16:37):
my mind since April of twenty eighteen. Well, I think
you gotta answer your own question. How come suddenly I
sit out because of money when I could have gotten
hurt at any time. That's kind of why you sit
out because of money, because you could get hurt at
any time. Because I want it's enough for money. But look,
we've said all the things before, right that, Lamar Jackson,
we're not asking the right question because with this happening
(16:57):
right now, he doesn't have an agent. We've talked about
how that has hurt him. Right We talked about how
he is where he is right now because of that,
he doesn't have people fighting his battles. He's injured and
this is why he's sitting where he is right now.
He is a wildcard. Teams don't know do I call him?
Do I call the Jim, Do I call Ron Francis?
You know, I don't know what do I do? So
(17:18):
he's done this to himself. But we've documented this. So
now the real question is how is this going to end?
When is this going to end? And I will tell
you exactly how this is going to go, and get
ready and sit back because it's going to be a while.
At this point, no one's going to do the money
in the picks form, right, we kind of agree to
that that he wanted two hundred fifty million dollars. Guaranteed
he's not going to get that two first round picks
(17:39):
for Lamar Jackson. Teams don't want to give that up
because teams could have done that, right, you could have
done that, signed him, and you know he would go.
Teams know, hey, we signed him, you would want to
come here and the Ravens would let you go. So
there's no two hundred fifty million there's no two first
round picks. Okay, Let's say Lamar Jackson comes down off
is two hundred and fifty million dollars guaranteed to something
(18:00):
more palatable like three years and one hundred and thirty million,
which is what he turned down from the Ravens. Let's
say that happens. Our teams still going to do it
where they're giving up two first round picks and they're
gonna do it. Probably not all right, because teams would
there would have been at least some kind of interest
in him before that, but there's not. So now what's
going to happen. We're gonna go through the draft because
(18:23):
there's a lot of quarterbacks out there, and look, everybody
thinks they're gonna get one. Meanwhile, there's four guys early on.
Maybe we'll Levis slides a little bit, but there's four
guys out there, and everybody that needs a quarterback thinks, yah,
we can pick and we can get the guy we
want to. The culture gonna think they can get their
guy at four if they want to. One two will
be quarterbacks as well. Maybe it's Richardson, maybe it's but teams. Okay,
(18:43):
let's do this. Then after the draft. They're gonna sit
back and say, Okay, we're going forward, and the Ravens
are gonna think, well, now we're back in the catbird
seat because Lamar doesn't have a team. We went through
free agency, we went through the draft, he doesn't have
a team. So we franchise him and he's gonna play
for us this year, except we told you, Lamar Jackson
(19:04):
will not. He is not that guy that's gonna put
together this this sitting out and all of this care
and then say, oh, you're right, I lost. I'm going
to show up and play. He has played his last
down as a Raven. You see how combative this is
with the Ravens when you put out your tweet I
want to trade when thirty two coaches are sitting down
to breakfast at the owners meetings, yeah, you're not going
back to that team. So the Ravens are gonna think
(19:26):
he's coming back, and they're gonna proceed with Tyler hunt
Lee will take all the reps and well we got Lamark,
and we got Lamark coming back. Then they're gonna realize
he's not coming back and it's going to be now
we have to trade him. And then they're gonna get
nervous because the longer he sits out, the less they
get back. Teams are gonna get a little bit nervous
because maybe the couple that figure, Okay, the price has
gone down, now we can go get him. So what
(19:48):
then you're going to see is as we get to
the start of training camp, when things get really hairy
and dicey, and we really want him in for the
entire training camp. We really want him in to be
able to get our playbook. That's what you're gonna see
Lamar Jackson traded because that's when things are going to
get really desperate and it's gonna get down to a
decision has to be made. A decision doesn't have to
be made about Lamar Jackson right now, doesn't have to
(20:10):
be made about for him for any other team because
clearly they've made their decisions for now. So now we're
gonna wait. But this is gonna be one of those
Eve of training camp type things. First day of training camp, Hey,
somebody decided to pull together a trade and they're gonna
have to pay Lamar Jackson less money and give up
less draft picks because whoever trades for him is not
going to give him a new deal. He either going
to have him play this year. He's gonna have to
(20:31):
play a one year deal under the money he's gonna
make this year, and then hope that after this year
he gets his contracts someplace else. That's how it's going
to end for Lamar. Jackson's not get in with a
big payday. It will end with him playing for this
year for thirty some odd million dollars, hoping that after
this year I get another chance at free agency. I
show that I can stay healthy for seventeen games, and
(20:52):
then I'm more of an investment and teams feel better
about giving me a lot of money. So that's how
it ends for Lamar all the way on the EVA
training camp. The team's not going to give up a
lot for him. It's only going to be a one
year deal, thirty some odd million dollars. Prove it, and
then he's back on it next year. Try to do
the same thing a year from now. Yeah, it's a
difficult conversation at this point because people think if you
say anything negatively about the way this has been handled,
(21:16):
that you don't like the player that is Lamar Jackson,
you don't value him because everybody. You know, there's a
lot of folks that would have you just say, well,
why wouldn't he be worth two hundred fifty million dollars
because you don't have to pay him that, all right?
If one of the thirty two did and wanted to
and just wanted to solidify that, it would have been
done March fifteenth. As soon as he was able to
(21:37):
talk to people. You would have been standing out there
like you were what's his face? Q Sack standing out
there with the giant boombox or Rex Ryan back when
he was recruiting for the Jets, showing up outside of
guys houses at midnight. Hi, we'd like you to be
part of our team. In your eyes, is playing over
the boom box and he's standing out with a stack
of papers and maybe a nice table of or derves.
(22:01):
I don't know, but the idea that we look at
the timetable now and you still see it pondered as
to the fourth pick with Indianapolis, or say I'm paying
him fully guaranteed. I don't want to pay guaranteed money.
That's silly, all right. So you got that, you got
the game of Liar's Poker. As we've deemed it here
(22:23):
on the show these last few days with the owners meetings, Jason,
with every coach, every GM going up there, and maybe
they believe it in their hearts. Right, it's the George Costanza.
You're not lying if you've somehow convinced yourself this is true,
staring in a mirror, practicing it horrid ball. Yes, I'm
fully committed. I expect Lamar Jackson to be here, Ron Rivera.
(22:45):
We like our quarterback room with Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissette.
Wait what, Okay? Maybe, but Lamar Jackson's there, and Dan
Snyder seems like the type of guy that he would
either go and get Lamar Jackson to screw everybody over
with a guaranteed deal, or whoever the new owners would be,
would say, Wow, you want to make a splash. There's
our new guy. We're already in for six billion. What's
(23:07):
another two hundred million dollars, let's go. But for the
Colts and others that have high draft picks, you know,
there's a lot to consider here because if there was
such a rush to market, and that's where it's not
because Lamar's on social media bemoaning the fact that we're
at this point and going through and trying to combat
every piece of the equation, and it's just it's a
(23:31):
bad look, right You've you don't have someone going in
and and working for you to smooth out any of
the things where they might critique and criticize Derek Gayton
to ride, Um, you know you're in their world now.
As I completely quote the Princess and the Frog at
Doctor Faciliate, but the the idea that you've gotten a
(23:51):
lover again, I went full Doctor Faciliate. There's coming from
the best, the best villain ever should have gotten. That's
a hot doctor for Silly, the best village. Oh he's
my favorite, better than Gaston. Oh come on, No one
spits Gaston, No one takes Yeah. But that we start
thinking about David Gascott and it really muddies the water
(24:13):
and wrestling. No one quite bites like Gaston. He expect
he had a good He had a good hype man
in Lafu too. That is something for Silly it did
not have because that little toady for the Prince didn't
really help him out too much. Like Paul Bearer in
this is where You where You're at a little bit. Yeah,
I think we can go down that road. But for
Lamar Jackson, it's just the he's combating a lot of
(24:35):
narratives and part of it is owners and GM's They
don't want to deal with the player directly unless it's
something very simple, which we've seen done. Number of players
have gone in and gotten their deals done, but they
don't have the questions of injuries and missing chunks of seasons.
And everybody that does the hey, he's the MVP, He's like,
(24:58):
well then he should have gotten a spot onus for
winning the MVP. It doesn't matter three years later. And
I love him, he's one of my favorite players to watch.
But it's a you know, a harsh bucket of cold
water of reality here when nobody ponied up. And now
as you get closer to the draft and you've got
other needs, right, you're drafted fourth, you don't just need
(25:18):
a quarterback. You're drafting ninth. You're draft and in these
different slots that you need other component parts. So why
would you bail the Ravens out and do the trade before?
Then go get Lamar Jackson and force the issue with
the trade, and guess what the compensation is a bunch
of middling picks, maybe one or two first round picks,
(25:39):
but they're not on the book still the following years.
So in theory, you've made your team better, and then
those draft picks suck because they're in the twenties. If
I thought the Ravens. Here's the thing about the Ravens,
and I will say this to leave the door open
a glimmer for that, because they don't know what they're
doing anymore. Five guys in the last four years that
(26:00):
were drafted by the team have said blank you, I'm
leaving when it came time to contract extensions and feeling disrespected.
Is that what I bet you the Ravens thought processes
is that they would just love to kick this can
down the road for the next three years, right, and
get okay and then just walk away, right, And that
(26:20):
that's why they don't want to get in for him
for longer than that. They would love to say, okay,
franchise this year. So yeah, they would love to be
able to kick this can down the road for three years,
but they can't. And so in a perfect world, would
they be okay with having Lamar back for this year?
A probably, you know, if if it came down to it,
and they couldn't. They didn't have to worry about paying.
They could franchise him if they wanted to, for thirty
(26:41):
two million dollars year, and they thought he would come
back and play. Yeah, I don't think for a second.
They completely don't want him. They want him only on
their terms, and Lamar doesn't want that, and so but
but the but the terms that the Ravens want him
for are unrealistic because he's not going to agree to that.
So that's why this one they're gonna wait, They're gonna place,
they elimate with each other. The Ravens will think eventually
(27:01):
he's gonna come in, and he's gonna say no. And
when it gets to camp, they're gonna say, Okay, here's
a trade. The team's gonna say, hey, we'd like Lamar,
but we'd like to have a prove it year on him.
How about a first round pick for Lamar Jackson. Okay,
And that's how it's gonna go. First round pick Lamar
Jackson for a year, and if he's great, we'll resign him,
or if he's healthy, they sign him during the what
however it winds up working, That's how it's gonna end
(27:22):
for Lamar Jackson. Yeah, I mean, certainly they would love
to go down the road that Washington had done with
Kirk Cousins. Here's a franchise. Okay, franchise costs gets through
the roof, but you're not locked in. So if especially
once we get the guaranteed contract part of this in
the mix, right, Minnesota's in for Kirk Cousins by current standards,
(27:45):
it's not a bad contract and it was short term.
You look at what Deshaun Watson got. If he's the
player that he looked like he was becoming in the
Planet Houston going forward and then they're able to solve
some of those ills from last year, then maybe he
ends up being quote unquote worth the money. And that's
beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as we
(28:06):
know with that. But for Lamar Jackson, if they could
do the year after year kind of situation and just
go up the scale and while the salary cap is increasing,
it's the percentage that he takes up of the cap
isn't prohibitive to doing other things and being creative with
cat management elsewhere. Yeah, I think they'd absolutely love that.
(28:27):
They just don't want to be on the hook for
Oh no, there's the injury we we thought was going
to happen after carrying the ball one hundred twenty times
a year, and it happens here in year seven, where
we still have three years left at one hundred and
fifty million dollars guaranteed. I mean, that's that's the doomsday
scenario for them and for those that want to criticize
(28:48):
the Ravens. Look, they've done a lot of missteps. Bashati
going up on the steps of every building possible saying
I pay it for that's not it's not good business.
Just shut up and go about your way as you're
trying to work and negotiate. Doing it in public, it
just made you look like a super villain instead of
(29:09):
a businessman who still knows what he's doing and running
in an NFL franchise. And so now you're you're at
this loggerhead and should have been smarter about it, I
guess along the way. But if Lamar legitimately got an
offer of three four one thirty three, as he tweeted out,
if that was a legitimate offer, that's not bad money.
(29:30):
Now we're quibbling over a few percentage points, and I'm
not saying that that doesn't add up to a bunch
of money. But in three years you're back on the marketplace.
And if you're still that guy, and assume that you are,
that you're going to find another bag. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific, Fox
(29:52):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. At the end of your first year, Discover
credit cards automatically double all the cash back you've and
that's right, everything you learned doubled. Seriously see terms. Check
it out for yourself at discover dot com. Slash match
well in his Major League Baseball Eve, we made it Yeah.
Predictions coming up in a few minutes, Bob Jason Otani's
(30:14):
gonna look so good at the deadline of the Dodger uniform.
See just replaced Dodgers with Mets. And then you have
it right. Then you'll have it right, Fight night, Fight night,
which right yellow like Nick King. With the season ready
to begin tomorrow, the big story of spring training, and
the big story everywhere, has been the pitch clock, which
has been implemented to speed up games and we get
(30:35):
the data today, the pitch clock shave twenty six minutes
off of spring games, which is great. So instead of
a game going three fifteen, it's two forty five, the
pace of play moving it up a bit. That's awesome. Now,
forget about the fact that some pitchers don't like it.
You're gonna get some violations. Batters, they will figure it out.
But the big thing this is is this is for
(30:58):
the fans. You will never watch a baseball game as
long as this is involved. The same way again, every
single time, when you're watching a pitch you are going
to watch the pitch clock and see if it gets
to a point with which the batter gets a strike
or the pitcher throws a ball. You are gonna watch,
just like watching the clock tick down during a play
(31:18):
in the NFL when the play clock could hit zero,
when you're watching the clock tick down on the side
of the basketball game. You will watch the pitch clock
every single play. You won't watch the picture. You will
kind of watch the picture out of the corner of
your eye, the batter out of the corner of your eye,
and you'll watch that pitch clock looking for violations. That's
that's when you have this big thing in your screen
in front of you and you're seeing fifteen fourteen thirteen.
(31:42):
You're not gonna be able to ignore it. It's too big,
and you will watch that every single pitch, every single pitch,
and you can think of the next day already. This
home run shouldn't have happened. Look at this screen grab
the clock hit zero. Sod Grom striking out so and
So shouldn't have been a strike out. It should have
been I can already see it go. You will never
(32:02):
watch the game the same way again. And it's going
to happen tomorrow. This for people big baseball fans who
if you watch a little bit of spring training, if
you watch a lot of spring training, if you wait
for the season to begin, now you're gonna watch in
earnest and it's gonna be there in every single game
and every single highlight, and you're gonna watch that pitch
clock all the time. Well, you know me, I anticipate
(32:23):
the chaos over the next couple of days because now
we have to put it in live and we actually
have to adhere to it, because that's the hard part is. Yeah,
we wanted to do it in theory and normally it's
sloughs off right the points of emphasis in the NFL
officiating or even in Major League baseball, and then you
start getting into the season, it goes away. Here the
(32:45):
pace of play, i e. Balls are actually put into play,
the via the pitch or lord knows, they actually put
the ball in play instead of the strikeout walk home
run phenomenon. We've had these last couple of years that
you still get a ton of action and you get
home a half hourly. I just like Clayton Kershaw's point
(33:07):
to it all as well, as long as they get
their beer sales in, so good job by him recognizing
what's important. We haven't sold you know, if that's twenty
six minutes less than selling beer. Well, but the worst
scenario that you ever have in a baseball game, or
I think for the NFL, like, there's not gonna be
a massive variance for the there's in terms of what
(33:29):
a fourth quarter looks like. Yeah, there'll be some some timeout,
some injury timeouts, reviews, whatever, but that's fairly standardized. Think
about Major League baseball. The number of times you've gone
to a game and you're cruising along in the sixth
you get to the seventh inning and they bring in
that third relief pitcher and then all of a sudden,
everything goes to hell. Well they've stopped serving beer by
(33:50):
that point, so now you're there for another hour and
a half to watch the last two innings of the games.
You can't drink, which is good for traffic because then
you're stone cold, sober and you're safe. I'm so mad.
I want to drink. You know, you can leave the game.
You don't have to stay. Oh god, right, I'm leaving.
But that was But but it's part of the experience, right,
We're all about the fan experience. This is what the
fans wanted, isn't it. They also want beer, Rob man Ford,
(34:14):
But I'd be curious to see the implementation as we
get to the regular season that we do that shot
clocks and and down distance kind of thing. Up, he
didn't get the spirit of the law. Said that ball
should have left his hand before the zero, kind of
like the grace period you get with the snap in
the NFL. And so officials need to be ready because
(34:37):
especially with gambling dollars on the line. Can you imagine
the it's a long drive right field, it's out of
the park, No, that three on home run does not
count because upon review the shot clock, I mean the
pitch clock, he had struck zero. The umpire comes in,
they're waving it off. The three came after the buzzer.
Durant did not get it off in time. Oh, my goodness,
(34:59):
the sons of law. So the Knicks, the Knicks have
won the NBA championship, waved up waving off a three run. Oh,
I brought the Knicks in the baseball Mike in desperation.
When Aaron Rodgers is still a packer, he's got to
find his joy where he can. Jason, how long before
Kershaw loses it with the with the pitch clock? Oh,
let's see, uh, second out to day right? Second inning? Yeah,
(35:21):
second ending of the game. Second innings. Good, He'll get
through the first inning and be really mad. I go
out there and go if that happens to me again, man,
And he'll just start throwing pitches at the pitch clock
to break in and y, no, it's not what I
would be. Good. Then he's got to get somebody counting
down like Frau far bissonaf Dame. He might kill Dan
and then and then he holds up his hat and
says I was just channeling my inner Randy Johnson twelve
(35:41):
and to me that next Big Bowl. Predictions for the
MLB season Fox
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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