May 10, 2023 • 34 mins
Mike Harmon and Ryan Hollins explain why NBA teams are going nuts for the best NBA prospect since LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama. MLB Insider Jon Paul Morosi drops by for all the latest stories from around the diamond. And Mookie Betts rented an Airbnb to avoid staying in Milwaukee's haunted Pfister Hotel.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon 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
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
Please give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Greetings, Welcome in hour two of the program Jason Smith
Show with Me Mike Harmon. No Jason Smith tonight. He's
mentally trying to prepare for the oustring of the Knicks tomorrow,
the Mets loss and sureser shoulder. I mean, there's so
much going on in his world of art from a
sporting perspective, but it'll be back tomorrow. In Theory, we're
(00:49):
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should be. In all serious It's to the end of
the school year, right If you're heading towards a graduation.
You got all sorts of events and activities he coaches.
(01:11):
All of those things conspire together. So taking a breather,
Ryan Hollins's ten year NBA vet analysts over in the
Planet Houston will get his thoughts. As we're one week
away from the Draft Lottery, one of the great moments
during the NBA Playoffs that we all eate, and obviously
the sweepstakes. It's like watching the lottery at the end
(01:32):
of your local news. Ryan Hollins this year, come on
my pink pong ball, asked to come up.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
That's where we're at with all of this, right everybody.
When Mayama is the sweepstakes. I just got to notice
a new trading card product coming out just in time
for the Draft Lottery next week. The two that they
feature when Minyana when Mayana and Caitlin Clark of Iowa
are going to be featured in this set. As you know,
(02:01):
collectors try to find the next great, great hope for
their squads. Obviously Clark going back to Iowa for another year.
But for the NBA Draft Lottery, we have teams like
the Dallas Mavericks that said, you know, let's keep our
possibly protected pick and ping pong balls for a chance
(02:21):
at greatness instead of a play in where well we
maybe we get ousted very quickly.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
And given the way the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Have gone gone so far, Ryan like, man, I gotta
wonder if there's ever been a quiet moment that any
member of the Mavericks said, damn, that we should have
gone for it.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
No, listen, man, it's NBA teams are smarter than ever
and they see opportunities in the excitement with Victor wim
bin Yama and you know he's box office fan. He
really is that good, and you know he's the highest
prospect we've seen honestly since Lebron James and into the
(03:00):
day's NBA. The excitement is. You know, before it was like,
you know you won, you wanted the next Michael Jordan,
or you needed a Shaquille O'Neil, the biggest, strongest, you know,
guy that you can put on the floor. And today's
NBA you need the best basketball player. And with Victor size,
he has the ability to guard in space. He's long,
(03:20):
he's lean, he's athletic, and if he can be that
threat inside on the post, as far as you know,
in the paint. That's the dangerous part about the league
and the way he's played the gay today and what
he brings to the table. So that's the excitement. And
I want to say for the draft lottery, this is
(03:41):
going to change organizations. Man, Like this is this is
really cool and you just hadn't seen this hype and
it's fun and honestly, this is going to change the
trajectory of a number of organizations. There may be some
organizations that may decide to trade out of their pick
or want to train because there's someone that they like.
(04:02):
And I think this is just really cool, and I
mean I arguably one of the more suspenseful lotteries in
a very long time.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, we talk about wembin Yama and the hype around it.
You know, we go back to twenty nineteen when we
had Zion Williamson and John Morant and RJ. Barrett and
a bunch of big names at the top of that draft,
and it's an EBB and flow. Right, you have one
or two guys most years that people get excited about
and maybe they're just a flash and then they become
(04:35):
a solid NBA player And there's nothing wrong with that, right,
I can go back all those years to the Christian
Latner draft selection. Guy had a pretty good NBA career. Unfortunately,
he was coming out of college with so much hype,
the Dream Team inclusion, and then he gets drafted top three,
so the expectations are so sky high. How many other
(04:57):
players drafted top five went on to have nice careers,
But where they can you live up to the hype
when you're the number one? And that's all anybody's talking
about for months, no idea most of the time that
he really doesn't doesn't work. But for when Bin Yama,
he's the He's the guy on everybody's lips. Your Houston
Rockets expected to choose fairly early as well, given the
(05:19):
number of ping pong balls in ye old hopper. Do
you guy, do you have a wish list that you've
put up for the draft?
Speaker 6 (05:28):
You know what, I'm an a static for whoever the
team goes out.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
And keeps done. That's good, very diplomatic. No, it's the
thing with the guy in the place.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
You don't have a choice, you know, And and I
just am a firm believer in what Houston's doing. I
love my Rockets, and you put your best foot forward
you give yourself a chance, and you do things the
right way, and good things happen. And I really believe
that good things are going to be happening in Houston
that I have already seen, you know. So I think
whether it's Victor Or, it's not that the organization is
put themselves in a prime becauseosition to make amazing things happen.
(06:02):
And there's a lot of other talent in there, you know,
outside of Victor, although don't would make no mistake, no sure,
if we're just turning a blind eye, he is the
generational talent that is there at leads to the eye
right now. And I've talked to a number of scouts
and front office members and media members who've seen him
and you know, watched him, and they believe in Victor.
(06:24):
You know, he's he's different, you know, and you see
his work ethic and his motor and you know, we
hadn't seen the league get behind a kid the way
they're they're championing win bin Yama already. I mean, think
about his games are on TV. You've been introduced to
him before he's actually played an NBA game, and that's
where those you know, Lebron James, those those LBJ comparisons
(06:46):
start coming from.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, it's always the thing I appreciate and want to
see from all the leagues. Get in there and sell, sell,
sell next, right, Why why aren't there more draft specials
in the middle of your NBA coverage. Here's another halftime
profile on the top five expected picks, all those and
we'll get some of that next week. But the draft
(07:08):
lottery will come and go, and we'll go right back
into game game analysis, right, and another second half of
a game like no, let's celebrate for the night and
introduce you know, the rest of the US that didn't
necessarily watch college buckets or when you've got a women
yama coming from overseas, you've heard about it, maybe you've
(07:29):
seen a couple of highlight videos. Here's the opportunity to
pull out the little stringed instruments and get the voiceovers
from some of those reporters that we love so much
on every network, to give you the stories of who
they are, because come Draft night now, we're moving into
the next pick too quickly to do that. Get in
there and sell your next But if you're Houston Rockets
(07:50):
Jalen Green twenty two to a game, Kevin Porter Junior,
a guy who's still only twenty two. Still, it seems
like he's been around quite a minute here. Perhaps I
paid attention to him earlier than I did others. But
you got a young squad and looking to add another
big piece here as we get ready for the draft,
excitement abounds. Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith Mike Harmon.
(08:14):
Were brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling
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Want to give him a couple of minutes here, John
Palmarosi gonna join us talk about Major League Baseball where
we're at lamentation for the Mets. Thor left his start
(08:35):
early for the Dodgers. So all of those guys that
were supposed to be stalwarts for the Mets and just
pitching staffs as a whole shows how quickly the worm turns.
But in the NBA, Ryan a lot made game to
game about the officiating. What's allowed, what's not illegal? Screens
was the battle cry after the game from Steve Kerr.
(08:56):
We saw Julius Randall with four offensive fall blocking block
or charge and standing in for one late hoping you
get a call. Tell my daughter playing her club soccer
work all the time. It's like if you're gonna go
to the ground, which she generally doesn't. Uh, she finds
a way to stay on her feet. Remember you go
to the ground and you don't get a call, that's
(09:17):
a lot of wide open space you're giving your opponent. Likewise,
in the NBA, if you're going to try to stand
in and create contact, get it, get a charge, and
get that call goes against Just suddenly the ebb and
flow of a game could change on a play like that,
particularly if that that becomes your second or third file
early in a game. So do you see it officiated
(09:40):
much differently than it was, say when you were playing?
If we or or do we just have too much
scrutiny on the officials and it's really not a lot
of change more just that we nitpick it all.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
No, it will.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
It's definitely a different game than when I played it.
I'm not that old time, I know, but no, it's
a it's a different game. There's three point shootings, there's
not a lot of teams that carry centers uh in
their roster. And I will say now from covering the
league all eighty two for Houston, it's very confusing between
the block and a charge.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Those used to be clear cut.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
You know, decisions and it there there is and and
they don't even like to call him charge.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Player control fouls, yes, so these are.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
This is such a defensive term.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Now, well, what happens is sometimes a player is not
in position, but they're out of control. And because they're
out of control, now we have a player control foul.
So as far as the charge, sometimes there's a charge
that guys squared up, you hit him, he was in position,
he went down, that's a charge. Player control is something different. Okay,
So that's where uh, those terms actually do differ, and
(10:52):
that's where there's a there's maybe the confusion with some
of the uh you know, some of those calls.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
So player control is different.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
So you like to just describe them all as player control.
But you see a lot of guys I think, moving,
sliding up under guys and you know, not necessarily taking
it in the chest. And I think there's the there's
a lot of gray area. But the one thing I
trust in the NBA, they're gonna go this offseason and
clean it up. And what you're seeing now with the
discreption sheet is during the season, everything was called so tight,
(11:23):
so tight, so tight, and then all of a sudden
you're coming in and saying, uh, we're not calling anything.
The game is getting physical. The game there's a lot
of grabbing, there's a lot of holding. You know, playoff
basketball is completely different game than regular season basketball. I mean,
this is not even remotely close to being the same game.
And I think that's the challenge now that you're you know,
(11:46):
you got to look at and and and say, Okay, well,
what's what's wrong. What's the difference here? It's a different game, man,
that that's what's going on. It's a different ballgame than
you're used to seeing.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I think the hard part for say, the the casual
observe for us. I mean here in media like to
think we have a pretty good eye for what we're seeing.
But it's all all debate, right, and especially when we're
talking about the level of consistency, because we do it
with the NFL all the time. It's like, well, in
these down distant circumstances, you can't call that. I go
(12:16):
back to the Super Bowl the last couple of years,
go like, there's all these circumstances like, well, I mean,
with this much time on the clock, it's like, all right,
so if that was was called with six minutes left
in the second quarter, that doesn't potentially turn a game.
You're kidding me, right. I mean with the NBA, there's
enough possessions that you think a lot of times it's swallowed.
But down the stretch in the fourth quarter, you know
(12:38):
you're you're seeing some wrestling matches and you'll let it go.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I joked about it the other day.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Anthony Davis was going deep into the game with no
folsy when he got called for his first on television,
they laugh, they go, wow, considering all the defense he's
been playing, would you believe that's his first fall, as
if to mock the officials because he was flying all
over the place. Is a lot of body in the
lane whatever, and it's like, hey, there doesn't seem to
(13:05):
be that level of consistency. We see guys flying into
the camera wells with some regularity. Sometimes it gets called.
Sometimes it's now just play on, And I think that's
got to be frustrating for players and coaches trying to
figure out where that line is, especially if a guy
gets whistled for a couple of quick ones, because now
you've got to change your whole tone and tenor of
how you're defending and playing in those circumstances.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
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.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon tyrack dot com Studios. Ryan Hollins in
for Jason Smith tonight. Reminder that we are brought to
you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.
You get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
ATV and more all your protection in one place. Bundle
and save at Progressive dot now. But we join him,
(14:01):
joining us each and every week here on the program
as he does. Our guy John Paul Morosi, part of
the showcase coverage Boston Atlanta MLB Network tomorrow. He's up
late with us JP getting ready for that beauty sleeve.
How you doing, brother?
Speaker 7 (14:19):
I am outstanding gentlemen. One of the great times a year.
We've got the NBA Playoffs, the NHL playoffs, and I'm
sure since now we can welcome Ryan to the Big Ten,
we can also have some some Big Ten Bruins conversation
at some point this evening, right, Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Look at that. He's all excited.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
He's like, Yeah, we're gonna be on TV again. Sorry, Ryan,
I had to do that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Welcome in JP.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Crazy couple of weeks here in Major League Baseball, so
many storylines that we're following. I'll ask the first question
for my absent partner, Suzers. Now to the IL and
questions abound. So much going on with that rotation. You're
there in Atlanta. What are the Mets going to be
able to do other than stop gap with prospects to
(15:06):
try to shore things up and chase down the brains.
Speaker 7 (15:10):
They're in a really difficult spot, Mike, and it's because,
obviously we knew coming into this season they were heavily
leveraged toward veteran players, and especially veteran pitchers, and the
idea was that at the least at the beginning of
the season that Verlander and sus Aer would be fresh
(15:30):
that they would have consistency out of the gate, and
that if they had to supplement with some starting pitching
move that the deadline are from within the organization, that
those reinforcements would arrive on schedule in the second half.
Clearly it's not working. And when you consider Mike just
how much money they're spending. Obviously for Shures and for Verlander,
(15:52):
these are shorter term deals with huge dollars to where
you need to get that return immediately early on in
the year. And now you look at just how much
distance there is between the Braves and the Mets, and yes,
there's plenty of time left. But even as the Braves
today are dealing with the absence of Max Free to
(16:14):
their ace who has a forearm issue that's to keep
them out for a while, and Kyle Writ's already on
the IL, I just think the Braves have much better
infrastructure to weather this storm, whereas the Mets just seem
like an aging team that has no answer. Peede A
Lonzo's been brilliant, but the pitching has not been there,
and that explains why there is such a chasm for
(16:36):
the Mets in between the Mets and the Braves right now,
in the National League Eese.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
All right, you talk little brother, Let's talk big brother. Now, Okay,
Aaron Judges pack, there's a huge win.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Ten to five win.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Okay, are the Yankees trending in the right direction, Well.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Ryan, they are, But here's the challenge for them. They're
playing in one of the best versions I have ever
seen of the best division in Major League Baseball, that's
the American League East. They're playing better, They've won two
in a row, and yet they're nine games out of
first place and they're still last in the American League East. Obviously,
(17:14):
there's a lot of baseball left. I expect that we'll
see at least three and very possibly four playoff teams
coming out of the American League East this season, so
there's plenty of time for them to get back into this.
But if we're looking at the big picture here and
asking ourselves how vulnerable are the Rays, how vulnerable are
the Orioles, I'm not seeing it right now. I see
(17:37):
the Yankees still as being a significant step below Tampa
and Baltimore, and getting Aaron Judge back is huge, But
that just gets the Yankees lineup closer to par as
a group they have just not hit enough. And Ryan,
my fear is that as much as I love watching
Aaron Judge hit, I'm a little worried about how often
(17:59):
other teams are to let him swing the bats. Because
if he's the only player that you're really fearing right
now in the Yankee lineup, and Stanton is hurt and
Donaldson's hurt, there just hasn't been that lineup depth that
we typically see from the Yankees. I'm concerned. So thrill
to the Aaron back. He's one of the great ambassadors
in the games, a wonderful person that we all love
(18:20):
to watch play, but I'm just concerned about where this
Yankees lineup is trending big picture.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Now, he's on the down side of a three to
one game as we go to the bottom of the seven.
But show Aotani seven strikeouts and seven innings pitched to
night against the Houston Astros, and he's now surpassed Babe
Ruth for career strikeouts by a two way player. With
every strikeout and every big outing, how many more million
(18:46):
does it add a top six hundred million for whoever brings.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Him in Mike It.
Speaker 7 (18:50):
It really is an extraordinary sum of money that he's
likely to get. I do think it's going to be
somewhere in the range of and I'm just gonna pause
and get this terminal. You out about half a billion dollars.
That's pretty crazy, signed for about half a billion dollars.
And here's here's the issue though, that I say this
(19:13):
and I pause afterward to affix the asterisk at the
end of my statement, because whenever we're talking about a
pitcher in his free agent year, health is always the
foremost line on that resume. And we all, I don't
care if you're an Angel fan or not, we all
(19:34):
for the good of the game, for what a great
ambassador he is, much like Aaron Judge, we all want
him to be healthy all season long. And so I hope,
I hope that he has a fully healthy, dominant season
in both disciplines, and that every team comes out at
the winter time and says, okay, let's all line up
and offer our half a billion dollars to show a
(19:56):
I hope that's where this is going. Here's a very
good chance it is, but at all hinges on his health,
and as we know in sports, health is the one
thing that you can't really predict. What I do know
is this, If the Angels keep playing good baseball, at
least he can stay there through the deadline. And as
much as I would love to be up all night
(20:16):
for the whole month of July covering breathless reports of
where Otani's going to be traded, and I'll do it
and we can talk every night in the show because
I love you, guys, but I really think it's good
for the game if he ends the year with the Angels,
and free agency can arrive when it arrives, that's all good.
We need to see show Hey and Trout playing meaningful
(20:40):
games late in the season, and certainly if they make
the playoffs or not, I leave to them. But my
near term wish as a baseball person is that at
the very least we get to the final week of
the season, guys, late September early October, and we're talking
about show Hey and Trout trying to make the playoffs
(21:01):
together for the first time.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
All Right.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
We see the success that the w NBA is having
with the Aces. It's looking like the NBA's trending towards
who's gonna be the first team in Vegas? Am I
seeing this right? That the A's are gonna be in Vegas.
Are they kind of follow the Raiders footsteps there?
Speaker 7 (21:23):
Right? Rhyano. It's a great point, and it's not a done,
done deal for certain yet we should make sure that
we're clarifying where where things stand. But you're your reading
of this is correct that unless something falls apart, and
obviously it's that that clause does a lot of work
when we're talking about franchises moving in, the stadium is
being built. But unless something falls apart, Plan A here
(21:47):
is for the for the Oakland Athletics to become the
Las Vegas Athletics or whatever nick nickname they're gonna have
they need, Ryan, I think Vegas is going to be
a tremendous major league city for a variety of reasons.
Number One, we've seen already the Vegas Gold might have
tremendous success in the National Hockey League. We've obviously seen
(22:08):
the Raiders have success there too. But for me, it's
about the grassroots of the sport that they have a
very well supported Triple A team. We've seen Bryce Harper,
we've seen Chris Bryant come from Las Vegas arrived in
the major leagues. So I look at when we talk
about relocation, expansion, what are the grassroots and are and
(22:29):
what very importantly is the corporate partnership. This is a
transaction and a move ryan that I don't think could
have happened ten years ago, fifteen years ago. We just
weren't there yet in terms of the open marriage between
professional sports and the gambling industry, casinos, gaming, and it's
(22:49):
just a different world now, and I think it's very
healthy that it is a different world. And I'm excited
to see where we could just see the game grow
because I'm done being stuck in the past about where
where the line should be, what we should do if
this grows the game, and as long as it's all
done legally from a standpoint of sports gambling in baseball,
I think it's it's something that brings more people into
(23:10):
the tent and grows the game, and I'm all for it.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
JP Now that we're a few days away from in
the in the rear view mirror, we had the Big
Series in Mexico, a lot of runs scored, so that's excitement.
But we're talking about movement to Los Angeles, and we
keep talking expansion growth and where do we plant flags
next for Major League Baseball. What came out out of that,
you know, a couple of games in Major League Baseball
(23:36):
talking points, you know, as you're hearing scuttle, but in
response to the crowds and to the action, that was
held huge.
Speaker 7 (23:45):
Success Micah, and I'm glad you mentioned it. Obviously a
lot of a lot of runs scoring. Yeah, honestly, that
is that is one of the reasons that we've talked
and Sotainly Ryan knows well from the NBA and all
the games the NBA has played all around the world.
It's an important thing to be able to grow your brand,
to actually visit the countries that matter to you and
(24:05):
and that are that comprise the identity of your sport.
And so I think, first of all, baseball has talked
a lot about wanting to grow in Mexico. I do
think that the run totals are emblematic of one of
the competitive challenges that would exist if MLB were to
move a franchise their full time This is this is
the cores field of cores field. This is next level
(24:27):
cores in terms of how the ball flies and travels.
And so I think that that would be a challenge
if there was a full time franchise base there. But
if you talk about growth market, that's going to matter
for the sport for a long time. We saw the
way that Team Mexico played at the World Baseball Classic.
We've seen already I think more than a dozen Mexican
born players in the major leagues this season. It's an
(24:49):
important market for the game. And I love the reports
about about the Dodgers potentially beginning the season next year
in Korea. I just think it's it's so important. I
was actually having a conversation earlier today and this is
a bit outside of sports, but I think it's it's
relevant here. The power in being able to say to
someone that you're hoping will support your your team, or
(25:10):
just or just become your friend, to be honest with you.
When you can say, as Ryan can say when he's
traveled and played basketball around the world. When you can
say I have visited your country, I have spent time
working in your country, I have I have gotten to
know the culture of your country, it's just a very
powerful statement. And I think for baseball to do that
and really put put their feet on the ground in
(25:30):
different places just sends the right message and opens up
whole lot of.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Opportunities JP last one.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Real quick, Look, the central is a mess, so we'll
push them to the side. When your top team just
went to and eight in their last ten, right, push
past them.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
But for the West, right for our.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
People here in Los Angeles and the Padres now with
Tatis Junior back and full of fact, Arizona intrigues me.
Some young players, Corbyn Carret having himself and nice.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
You can they hang around? Is this the team that
I will see in the second half still playing meaningful baseball?
Speaker 7 (26:03):
Yes, I believe they will, And for a couple of reasons.
Number one, the d Backs have gotten better. You've seen
the emergence. I think Rivera's had a really good year
for them. Guriel has had a really good year. Walker
as someone who I still think has a very productive
position over at first base. And to your point, Corbin Carroll,
what a dynamic player he is. They just called up
Dominic Fletcher. There's a lot to like about this team.
(26:25):
It's very young. But I also think in the big
picture here the Dodgers are not necessarily as dominant as
they used to be. It has the feeling of a
different kind of year for them. I still think they
can win the division, and right now they're leading the division.
But this is not the juggernaut team of the latter
stages of the last decade. It's just the personnel is different,
(26:48):
and so the guys that are there are a little
bit older. They're gonna need guys like Autman to really
carry this team, I think, for stretches of the season,
not for the whole year. They've got Mookie and they've
got Freddie, but he's going to have to continue to
be this productive rookie if the Dodgers are going to
find a way to hold off. To your point, a
young talented d Backs team that's playing with very little pressure.
(27:12):
Young talented teams with no pressure are dangerous, and so
the Dodgers I think have to be on guard for
the d backster this season.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Fantastic stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
As always, we appreciate the minutes that we get few
but you know, we'll go day to day as all
of these as we head towards the trade deadline, no
question about it. So much going on our buddy John
Paul Morosi at John Morosi, leave the h out because
mom said so, j O n m rs. I catch
him Tomorrow's part of the showcase. The Red Sox are
(27:42):
in Atlanta to face the Braves. Look forward, have a
great call, my friend. Look forward to talking to you
and catch it up with you from the road.
Speaker 7 (27:49):
Sounds great, Mike and Ryan appreciate the conversation. And again, Ryan,
welcome to the Big ten, my friend, and it's great.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Great to have you appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
We'll follow up on that in future interations. That's our guy, JP.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It's time for him to go to bed because it's
late East Coast and you know he's got to be
ready to dominate the airwaves tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
As part of that MLB network coverage.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Hey, welcome back in Fox Sports A Radio Jason Smith
Show with Me, Mike Carmon, Jason Off Tonight, Ryan Hollins
tenure NBA vet analysts for the Rockets in his stead
UCLA Bruins. I have the rookie card to prove it.
That's my guy, joins me on the show. I'll be
back again on Friday as we traverse the highways and
byeways of the NBA Playoffs. And our greater Sporting Universe says.
(28:40):
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Four minutes and change left in the third quarter, Denver
at with a nineteen point lead over Phoenix. Here game five.
(29:02):
We'll talk about it in ernest coming up in about
ten minutes from now. But a story I thought you
would be entertained by Ryan, one that comes up with
some regularity. We've got the Milwaukee Hotel, the infamous Fister Hotel,
pfi Ter Hotel that is notorious for potentially well just
(29:25):
being haunted. So Mookie Betts said, nope, I'm out. So
he went to an air B and B for their
set against Milwaukee. Rather than risk losing sleep. He said,
while he doesn't believe, you know, these stories of ghosts
are true, but he doesn't want to find out that
he's wrong. That's what he told the Orange County Register.
(29:47):
Quote just in case, So a couple of things, I
mean Milwaukee, obviously it town. You would have passed through many,
many times, including this year. This is just a place
everybody just keeps a nice perimeter from. And b why
haven't athletes bought themselves and built a hotel that they
you know, do a rev share on and then use
(30:08):
as they need, you know what.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
It's just, it's what's there in Milwaukee. It's a part
of it. And I have had sensible teammates, coaches. There's
stories around every single professional league of that of that hotel,
and they guys are just freaked out. Dude, like Mike,
(30:32):
it's as real and people believe in it. Me personally,
I haven't seen anything. I haven't had an issue. And
Mookie Bets is serious about it.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Man, did you go creeping up there like you were
Ray Parker Junior at any point? Listen, I am afraid
of no ghost.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
I'm all in man, But I.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Get it, man, like just some people are not playing
around with this, dude, like.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It is funny, right because you've got you know, the
frame chizes of these horror films that made inexpensively you know,
taught tales, and they build all these franchises and people
will get on board that and then as soon as
it's off you know, they sleep with the lights on
for the next week. It's like they want to watch it,
hour and a half of this and then whatever from
(31:17):
their childhood, from their development, from tales they've read, whatever,
and stories like you say, going around the locker room.
Perhaps like my Catholic upbringing. You know, I may watch
some of those movies, but by by the end of them,
you know, there's parts of them that that kind of
get at your soul a bit and stick with you.
So I can understand a Mookie bet saying, you know what,
(31:38):
I'm not even gonna open that door.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
I'm out.
Speaker 6 (31:41):
No, man, I'm telling you guys don't play. And I
mean I've had a number of opportunities there in Milwaukee
where we've even stayed at you know, an opposing hotel
or a little bit of a drive to come in
or you know, kind of just a wait at the
fister at all circumstances. But I said, I've had no
problems myself, so I personally don't have a you know,
(32:04):
have an issue there.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yeah, I remember there is the pee, the silent p
to start things like Pfizer for those that want to
go down that road. Hey man, you know, we we
understand where where folks' heads go, and sometimes we'll meet
you there. In this case, we're not superstitions. In your
ten years of the NBA, was there any teammate that
(32:27):
you just they had a bunch of things where you
guys kind of had to walk on pins and needles
around them because you know, things that would upset their
rhythms heading into a game.
Speaker 6 (32:38):
I think you know, but basketball is posed to baseball.
It's not that superstitious. It's not like, you know, guys
have routines. You don't play with the guys routine. But
there's nothing that you know that that stands out. You know,
Baseball you get the wacky ones. Basketball were not as
crazy when it comes down to it.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Now outside of the and we did it the other
day because of that Van Build story about you know
how cheaply you can dress man. Did you have anything
that you had to do on a game day meal
a nap? Was there something into your routine that helped
you hang in the league for a decade.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
I'm a napper.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
I'm a big napper, and it's and it's not always
necessary that I need the nap, But from a like
a it's more of a mental reset when I would
take my naps, so that that's kind of my thing.
I was like to come out early and just visualize
the arena like I'm an early guy, even even when
I broadcast broadcast the games. I like to get there
(33:34):
early and just kind of be there before everybody's in there.
There's so much stimulation, there's so much just life and
energy going on in that arena. So to me, the
sooner that you can get there with no one there,
you kind of just get to seller yourself in the arena.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I dig that the Billy Chapel clear the mechanism. There's
your obligatory baseball for love of the game reference Kevin
cost and it's another one that you can add in
the where of ice. I've seen John c Riley from
the Star of So Many Films with Will Ferrell, and
while there he is stepbrothers of course, but he was
(34:09):
the catcher for Kevin Coster as well. Hey, at the
end of your first year, Discover credit cards automatically double
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at discover dot com. Slash match back into the NBA
playoffs and the Nuggets
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon 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 Foxsports Radio
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
Please give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Greetings, Welcome in hour two of the program Jason Smith
Show with Me Mike Harmon. No Jason Smith tonight. He's
mentally trying to prepare for the oustring of the Knicks tomorrow,
the Mets loss and sureser shoulder. I mean, there's so
much going on in his world of art from a
sporting perspective, but it'll be back tomorrow. In Theory, we're
(00:49):
broadcasting live from the Tirak dot coms studios tire rack
dot com. We'll help you get there an unmatched selection,
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thousand recommended installers. Tyrec dot com the way tire buying
should be. In all serious It's to the end of
the school year, right If you're heading towards a graduation.
You got all sorts of events and activities he coaches.
(01:11):
All of those things conspire together. So taking a breather,
Ryan Hollins's ten year NBA vet analysts over in the
Planet Houston will get his thoughts. As we're one week
away from the Draft Lottery, one of the great moments
during the NBA Playoffs that we all eate, and obviously
the sweepstakes. It's like watching the lottery at the end
(01:32):
of your local news. Ryan Hollins this year, come on
my pink pong ball, asked to come up.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
That's where we're at with all of this, right everybody.
When Mayama is the sweepstakes. I just got to notice
a new trading card product coming out just in time
for the Draft Lottery next week. The two that they
feature when Minyana when Mayana and Caitlin Clark of Iowa
are going to be featured in this set. As you know,
(02:01):
collectors try to find the next great, great hope for
their squads. Obviously Clark going back to Iowa for another year.
But for the NBA Draft Lottery, we have teams like
the Dallas Mavericks that said, you know, let's keep our
possibly protected pick and ping pong balls for a chance
(02:21):
at greatness instead of a play in where well we
maybe we get ousted very quickly.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
And given the way the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Have gone gone so far, Ryan like, man, I gotta
wonder if there's ever been a quiet moment that any
member of the Mavericks said, damn, that we should have
gone for it.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
No, listen, man, it's NBA teams are smarter than ever
and they see opportunities in the excitement with Victor wim
bin Yama and you know he's box office fan. He
really is that good, and you know he's the highest
prospect we've seen honestly since Lebron James and into the
(03:00):
day's NBA. The excitement is. You know, before it was like,
you know you won, you wanted the next Michael Jordan,
or you needed a Shaquille O'Neil, the biggest, strongest, you know,
guy that you can put on the floor. And today's
NBA you need the best basketball player. And with Victor size,
he has the ability to guard in space. He's long,
(03:20):
he's lean, he's athletic, and if he can be that
threat inside on the post, as far as you know,
in the paint. That's the dangerous part about the league
and the way he's played the gay today and what
he brings to the table. So that's the excitement. And
I want to say for the draft lottery, this is
(03:41):
going to change organizations. Man, Like this is this is
really cool and you just hadn't seen this hype and
it's fun and honestly, this is going to change the
trajectory of a number of organizations. There may be some
organizations that may decide to trade out of their pick
or want to train because there's someone that they like.
(04:02):
And I think this is just really cool, and I
mean I arguably one of the more suspenseful lotteries in
a very long time.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, we talk about wembin Yama and the hype around it.
You know, we go back to twenty nineteen when we
had Zion Williamson and John Morant and RJ. Barrett and
a bunch of big names at the top of that draft,
and it's an EBB and flow. Right, you have one
or two guys most years that people get excited about
and maybe they're just a flash and then they become
(04:35):
a solid NBA player And there's nothing wrong with that, right,
I can go back all those years to the Christian
Latner draft selection. Guy had a pretty good NBA career. Unfortunately,
he was coming out of college with so much hype,
the Dream Team inclusion, and then he gets drafted top three,
so the expectations are so sky high. How many other
(04:57):
players drafted top five went on to have nice careers,
But where they can you live up to the hype
when you're the number one? And that's all anybody's talking
about for months, no idea most of the time that
he really doesn't doesn't work. But for when Bin Yama,
he's the He's the guy on everybody's lips. Your Houston
Rockets expected to choose fairly early as well, given the
(05:19):
number of ping pong balls in ye old hopper. Do
you guy, do you have a wish list that you've
put up for the draft?
Speaker 6 (05:28):
You know what, I'm an a static for whoever the
team goes out.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
And keeps done. That's good, very diplomatic. No, it's the
thing with the guy in the place.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
You don't have a choice, you know, And and I
just am a firm believer in what Houston's doing. I
love my Rockets, and you put your best foot forward
you give yourself a chance, and you do things the
right way, and good things happen. And I really believe
that good things are going to be happening in Houston
that I have already seen, you know. So I think
whether it's Victor Or, it's not that the organization is
put themselves in a prime becauseosition to make amazing things happen.
(06:02):
And there's a lot of other talent in there, you know,
outside of Victor, although don't would make no mistake, no sure,
if we're just turning a blind eye, he is the
generational talent that is there at leads to the eye
right now. And I've talked to a number of scouts
and front office members and media members who've seen him
and you know, watched him, and they believe in Victor.
(06:24):
You know, he's he's different, you know, and you see
his work ethic and his motor and you know, we
hadn't seen the league get behind a kid the way
they're they're championing win bin Yama already. I mean, think
about his games are on TV. You've been introduced to
him before he's actually played an NBA game, and that's
where those you know, Lebron James, those those LBJ comparisons
(06:46):
start coming from.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, it's always the thing I appreciate and want to
see from all the leagues. Get in there and sell, sell,
sell next, right, Why why aren't there more draft specials
in the middle of your NBA coverage. Here's another halftime
profile on the top five expected picks, all those and
we'll get some of that next week. But the draft
(07:08):
lottery will come and go, and we'll go right back
into game game analysis, right, and another second half of
a game like no, let's celebrate for the night and
introduce you know, the rest of the US that didn't
necessarily watch college buckets or when you've got a women
yama coming from overseas, you've heard about it, maybe you've
(07:29):
seen a couple of highlight videos. Here's the opportunity to
pull out the little stringed instruments and get the voiceovers
from some of those reporters that we love so much
on every network, to give you the stories of who
they are, because come Draft night now, we're moving into
the next pick too quickly to do that. Get in
there and sell your next But if you're Houston Rockets
(07:50):
Jalen Green twenty two to a game, Kevin Porter Junior,
a guy who's still only twenty two. Still, it seems
like he's been around quite a minute here. Perhaps I
paid attention to him earlier than I did others. But
you got a young squad and looking to add another
big piece here as we get ready for the draft,
excitement abounds. Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith Mike Harmon.
(08:14):
Were brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling
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Want to give him a couple of minutes here, John
Palmarosi gonna join us talk about Major League Baseball where
we're at lamentation for the Mets. Thor left his start
(08:35):
early for the Dodgers. So all of those guys that
were supposed to be stalwarts for the Mets and just
pitching staffs as a whole shows how quickly the worm turns.
But in the NBA, Ryan a lot made game to
game about the officiating. What's allowed, what's not illegal? Screens
was the battle cry after the game from Steve Kerr.
(08:56):
We saw Julius Randall with four offensive fall blocking block
or charge and standing in for one late hoping you
get a call. Tell my daughter playing her club soccer
work all the time. It's like if you're gonna go
to the ground, which she generally doesn't. Uh, she finds
a way to stay on her feet. Remember you go
to the ground and you don't get a call, that's
(09:17):
a lot of wide open space you're giving your opponent. Likewise,
in the NBA, if you're going to try to stand
in and create contact, get it, get a charge, and
get that call goes against Just suddenly the ebb and
flow of a game could change on a play like that,
particularly if that that becomes your second or third file
early in a game. So do you see it officiated
(09:40):
much differently than it was, say when you were playing?
If we or or do we just have too much
scrutiny on the officials and it's really not a lot
of change more just that we nitpick it all.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
No, it will.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
It's definitely a different game than when I played it.
I'm not that old time, I know, but no, it's
a it's a different game. There's three point shootings, there's
not a lot of teams that carry centers uh in
their roster. And I will say now from covering the
league all eighty two for Houston, it's very confusing between
the block and a charge.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Those used to be clear cut.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
You know, decisions and it there there is and and
they don't even like to call him charge.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Player control fouls, yes, so these are.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
This is such a defensive term.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Now, well, what happens is sometimes a player is not
in position, but they're out of control. And because they're
out of control, now we have a player control foul.
So as far as the charge, sometimes there's a charge
that guys squared up, you hit him, he was in position,
he went down, that's a charge. Player control is something different. Okay,
So that's where uh, those terms actually do differ, and
(10:52):
that's where there's a there's maybe the confusion with some
of the uh you know, some of those calls.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
So player control is different.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
So you like to just describe them all as player control.
But you see a lot of guys I think, moving,
sliding up under guys and you know, not necessarily taking
it in the chest. And I think there's the there's
a lot of gray area. But the one thing I
trust in the NBA, they're gonna go this offseason and
clean it up. And what you're seeing now with the
discreption sheet is during the season, everything was called so tight,
(11:23):
so tight, so tight, and then all of a sudden
you're coming in and saying, uh, we're not calling anything.
The game is getting physical. The game there's a lot
of grabbing, there's a lot of holding. You know, playoff
basketball is completely different game than regular season basketball. I mean,
this is not even remotely close to being the same game.
And I think that's the challenge now that you're you know,
(11:46):
you got to look at and and and say, Okay, well,
what's what's wrong. What's the difference here? It's a different game, man,
that that's what's going on. It's a different ballgame than
you're used to seeing.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I think the hard part for say, the the casual
observe for us. I mean here in media like to
think we have a pretty good eye for what we're seeing.
But it's all all debate, right, and especially when we're
talking about the level of consistency, because we do it
with the NFL all the time. It's like, well, in
these down distant circumstances, you can't call that. I go
(12:16):
back to the Super Bowl the last couple of years,
go like, there's all these circumstances like, well, I mean,
with this much time on the clock, it's like, all right,
so if that was was called with six minutes left
in the second quarter, that doesn't potentially turn a game.
You're kidding me, right. I mean with the NBA, there's
enough possessions that you think a lot of times it's swallowed.
But down the stretch in the fourth quarter, you know
(12:38):
you're you're seeing some wrestling matches and you'll let it go.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I joked about it the other day.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Anthony Davis was going deep into the game with no
folsy when he got called for his first on television,
they laugh, they go, wow, considering all the defense he's
been playing, would you believe that's his first fall, as
if to mock the officials because he was flying all
over the place. Is a lot of body in the
lane whatever, and it's like, hey, there doesn't seem to
(13:05):
be that level of consistency. We see guys flying into
the camera wells with some regularity. Sometimes it gets called.
Sometimes it's now just play on, And I think that's
got to be frustrating for players and coaches trying to
figure out where that line is, especially if a guy
gets whistled for a couple of quick ones, because now
you've got to change your whole tone and tenor of
how you're defending and playing in those circumstances.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
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.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon tyrack dot com Studios. Ryan Hollins in
for Jason Smith tonight. Reminder that we are brought to
you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.
You get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
ATV and more all your protection in one place. Bundle
and save at Progressive dot now. But we join him,
(14:01):
joining us each and every week here on the program
as he does. Our guy John Paul Morosi, part of
the showcase coverage Boston Atlanta MLB Network tomorrow. He's up
late with us JP getting ready for that beauty sleeve.
How you doing, brother?
Speaker 7 (14:19):
I am outstanding gentlemen. One of the great times a year.
We've got the NBA Playoffs, the NHL playoffs, and I'm
sure since now we can welcome Ryan to the Big Ten,
we can also have some some Big Ten Bruins conversation
at some point this evening, right, Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Look at that. He's all excited.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
He's like, Yeah, we're gonna be on TV again. Sorry, Ryan,
I had to do that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Welcome in JP.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Crazy couple of weeks here in Major League Baseball, so
many storylines that we're following. I'll ask the first question
for my absent partner, Suzers. Now to the IL and
questions abound. So much going on with that rotation. You're
there in Atlanta. What are the Mets going to be
able to do other than stop gap with prospects to
(15:06):
try to shore things up and chase down the brains.
Speaker 7 (15:10):
They're in a really difficult spot, Mike, and it's because,
obviously we knew coming into this season they were heavily
leveraged toward veteran players, and especially veteran pitchers, and the
idea was that at the least at the beginning of
the season that Verlander and sus Aer would be fresh
(15:30):
that they would have consistency out of the gate, and
that if they had to supplement with some starting pitching
move that the deadline are from within the organization, that
those reinforcements would arrive on schedule in the second half.
Clearly it's not working. And when you consider Mike just
how much money they're spending. Obviously for Shures and for Verlander,
(15:52):
these are shorter term deals with huge dollars to where
you need to get that return immediately early on in
the year. And now you look at just how much
distance there is between the Braves and the Mets, and yes,
there's plenty of time left. But even as the Braves
today are dealing with the absence of Max Free to
(16:14):
their ace who has a forearm issue that's to keep
them out for a while, and Kyle Writ's already on
the IL, I just think the Braves have much better
infrastructure to weather this storm, whereas the Mets just seem
like an aging team that has no answer. Peede A
Lonzo's been brilliant, but the pitching has not been there,
and that explains why there is such a chasm for
(16:36):
the Mets in between the Mets and the Braves right now,
in the National League Eese.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
All right, you talk little brother, Let's talk big brother. Now, Okay,
Aaron Judges pack, there's a huge win.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Ten to five win.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Okay, are the Yankees trending in the right direction, Well.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Ryan, they are, But here's the challenge for them. They're
playing in one of the best versions I have ever
seen of the best division in Major League Baseball, that's
the American League East. They're playing better, They've won two
in a row, and yet they're nine games out of
first place and they're still last in the American League East. Obviously,
(17:14):
there's a lot of baseball left. I expect that we'll
see at least three and very possibly four playoff teams
coming out of the American League East this season, so
there's plenty of time for them to get back into this.
But if we're looking at the big picture here and
asking ourselves how vulnerable are the Rays, how vulnerable are
the Orioles, I'm not seeing it right now. I see
(17:37):
the Yankees still as being a significant step below Tampa
and Baltimore, and getting Aaron Judge back is huge, But
that just gets the Yankees lineup closer to par as
a group they have just not hit enough. And Ryan,
my fear is that as much as I love watching
Aaron Judge hit, I'm a little worried about how often
(17:59):
other teams are to let him swing the bats. Because
if he's the only player that you're really fearing right
now in the Yankee lineup, and Stanton is hurt and
Donaldson's hurt, there just hasn't been that lineup depth that
we typically see from the Yankees. I'm concerned. So thrill
to the Aaron back. He's one of the great ambassadors
in the games, a wonderful person that we all love
(18:20):
to watch play, but I'm just concerned about where this
Yankees lineup is trending big picture.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Now, he's on the down side of a three to
one game as we go to the bottom of the seven.
But show Aotani seven strikeouts and seven innings pitched to
night against the Houston Astros, and he's now surpassed Babe
Ruth for career strikeouts by a two way player. With
every strikeout and every big outing, how many more million
(18:46):
does it add a top six hundred million for whoever brings.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Him in Mike It.
Speaker 7 (18:50):
It really is an extraordinary sum of money that he's
likely to get. I do think it's going to be
somewhere in the range of and I'm just gonna pause
and get this terminal. You out about half a billion dollars.
That's pretty crazy, signed for about half a billion dollars.
And here's here's the issue though, that I say this
(19:13):
and I pause afterward to affix the asterisk at the
end of my statement, because whenever we're talking about a
pitcher in his free agent year, health is always the
foremost line on that resume. And we all, I don't
care if you're an Angel fan or not, we all
(19:34):
for the good of the game, for what a great
ambassador he is, much like Aaron Judge, we all want
him to be healthy all season long. And so I hope,
I hope that he has a fully healthy, dominant season
in both disciplines, and that every team comes out at
the winter time and says, okay, let's all line up
and offer our half a billion dollars to show a
(19:56):
I hope that's where this is going. Here's a very
good chance it is, but at all hinges on his health,
and as we know in sports, health is the one
thing that you can't really predict. What I do know
is this, If the Angels keep playing good baseball, at
least he can stay there through the deadline. And as
much as I would love to be up all night
(20:16):
for the whole month of July covering breathless reports of
where Otani's going to be traded, and I'll do it
and we can talk every night in the show because
I love you, guys, but I really think it's good
for the game if he ends the year with the Angels,
and free agency can arrive when it arrives, that's all good.
We need to see show Hey and Trout playing meaningful
(20:40):
games late in the season, and certainly if they make
the playoffs or not, I leave to them. But my
near term wish as a baseball person is that at
the very least we get to the final week of
the season, guys, late September early October, and we're talking
about show Hey and Trout trying to make the playoffs
(21:01):
together for the first time.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
All Right.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
We see the success that the w NBA is having
with the Aces. It's looking like the NBA's trending towards
who's gonna be the first team in Vegas? Am I
seeing this right? That the A's are gonna be in Vegas.
Are they kind of follow the Raiders footsteps there?
Speaker 7 (21:23):
Right? Rhyano. It's a great point, and it's not a done,
done deal for certain yet we should make sure that
we're clarifying where where things stand. But you're your reading
of this is correct that unless something falls apart, and
obviously it's that that clause does a lot of work
when we're talking about franchises moving in, the stadium is
being built. But unless something falls apart, Plan A here
(21:47):
is for the for the Oakland Athletics to become the
Las Vegas Athletics or whatever nick nickname they're gonna have
they need, Ryan, I think Vegas is going to be
a tremendous major league city for a variety of reasons.
Number One, we've seen already the Vegas Gold might have
tremendous success in the National Hockey League. We've obviously seen
(22:08):
the Raiders have success there too. But for me, it's
about the grassroots of the sport that they have a
very well supported Triple A team. We've seen Bryce Harper,
we've seen Chris Bryant come from Las Vegas arrived in
the major leagues. So I look at when we talk
about relocation, expansion, what are the grassroots and are and
(22:29):
what very importantly is the corporate partnership. This is a
transaction and a move ryan that I don't think could
have happened ten years ago, fifteen years ago. We just
weren't there yet in terms of the open marriage between
professional sports and the gambling industry, casinos, gaming, and it's
(22:49):
just a different world now, and I think it's very
healthy that it is a different world. And I'm excited
to see where we could just see the game grow
because I'm done being stuck in the past about where
where the line should be, what we should do if
this grows the game, and as long as it's all
done legally from a standpoint of sports gambling in baseball,
I think it's it's something that brings more people into
(23:10):
the tent and grows the game, and I'm all for it.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
JP Now that we're a few days away from in
the in the rear view mirror, we had the Big
Series in Mexico, a lot of runs scored, so that's excitement.
But we're talking about movement to Los Angeles, and we
keep talking expansion growth and where do we plant flags
next for Major League Baseball. What came out out of that,
you know, a couple of games in Major League Baseball
(23:36):
talking points, you know, as you're hearing scuttle, but in
response to the crowds and to the action, that was
held huge.
Speaker 7 (23:45):
Success Micah, and I'm glad you mentioned it. Obviously a
lot of a lot of runs scoring. Yeah, honestly, that
is that is one of the reasons that we've talked
and Sotainly Ryan knows well from the NBA and all
the games the NBA has played all around the world.
It's an important thing to be able to grow your brand,
to actually visit the countries that matter to you and
(24:05):
and that are that comprise the identity of your sport.
And so I think, first of all, baseball has talked
a lot about wanting to grow in Mexico. I do
think that the run totals are emblematic of one of
the competitive challenges that would exist if MLB were to
move a franchise their full time This is this is
the cores field of cores field. This is next level
(24:27):
cores in terms of how the ball flies and travels.
And so I think that that would be a challenge
if there was a full time franchise base there. But
if you talk about growth market, that's going to matter
for the sport for a long time. We saw the
way that Team Mexico played at the World Baseball Classic.
We've seen already I think more than a dozen Mexican
born players in the major leagues this season. It's an
(24:49):
important market for the game. And I love the reports
about about the Dodgers potentially beginning the season next year
in Korea. I just think it's it's so important. I
was actually having a conversation earlier today and this is
a bit outside of sports, but I think it's it's
relevant here. The power in being able to say to
someone that you're hoping will support your your team, or
(25:10):
just or just become your friend, to be honest with you.
When you can say, as Ryan can say when he's
traveled and played basketball around the world. When you can
say I have visited your country, I have spent time
working in your country, I have I have gotten to
know the culture of your country, it's just a very
powerful statement. And I think for baseball to do that
and really put put their feet on the ground in
(25:30):
different places just sends the right message and opens up
whole lot of.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Opportunities JP last one.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Real quick, Look, the central is a mess, so we'll
push them to the side. When your top team just
went to and eight in their last ten, right, push
past them.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
But for the West, right for our.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
People here in Los Angeles and the Padres now with
Tatis Junior back and full of fact, Arizona intrigues me.
Some young players, Corbyn Carret having himself and nice.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
You can they hang around? Is this the team that
I will see in the second half still playing meaningful baseball?
Speaker 7 (26:03):
Yes, I believe they will, And for a couple of reasons.
Number one, the d Backs have gotten better. You've seen
the emergence. I think Rivera's had a really good year
for them. Guriel has had a really good year. Walker
as someone who I still think has a very productive
position over at first base. And to your point, Corbin Carroll,
what a dynamic player he is. They just called up
Dominic Fletcher. There's a lot to like about this team.
(26:25):
It's very young. But I also think in the big
picture here the Dodgers are not necessarily as dominant as
they used to be. It has the feeling of a
different kind of year for them. I still think they
can win the division, and right now they're leading the division.
But this is not the juggernaut team of the latter
stages of the last decade. It's just the personnel is different,
(26:48):
and so the guys that are there are a little
bit older. They're gonna need guys like Autman to really
carry this team, I think, for stretches of the season,
not for the whole year. They've got Mookie and they've
got Freddie, but he's going to have to continue to
be this productive rookie if the Dodgers are going to
find a way to hold off. To your point, a
young talented d Backs team that's playing with very little pressure.
(27:12):
Young talented teams with no pressure are dangerous, and so
the Dodgers I think have to be on guard for
the d backster this season.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Fantastic stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
As always, we appreciate the minutes that we get few
but you know, we'll go day to day as all
of these as we head towards the trade deadline, no
question about it. So much going on our buddy John
Paul Morosi at John Morosi, leave the h out because
mom said so, j O n m rs. I catch
him Tomorrow's part of the showcase. The Red Sox are
(27:42):
in Atlanta to face the Braves. Look forward, have a
great call, my friend. Look forward to talking to you
and catch it up with you from the road.
Speaker 7 (27:49):
Sounds great, Mike and Ryan appreciate the conversation. And again, Ryan,
welcome to the Big ten, my friend, and it's great.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Great to have you appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
We'll follow up on that in future interations. That's our guy, JP.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It's time for him to go to bed because it's
late East Coast and you know he's got to be
ready to dominate the airwaves tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
As part of that MLB network coverage.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Hey, welcome back in Fox Sports A Radio Jason Smith
Show with Me, Mike Carmon, Jason Off Tonight, Ryan Hollins
tenure NBA vet analysts for the Rockets in his stead
UCLA Bruins. I have the rookie card to prove it.
That's my guy, joins me on the show. I'll be
back again on Friday as we traverse the highways and
byeways of the NBA Playoffs. And our greater Sporting Universe says.
(28:40):
We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling
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Four minutes and change left in the third quarter, Denver
at with a nineteen point lead over Phoenix. Here game five.
(29:02):
We'll talk about it in ernest coming up in about
ten minutes from now. But a story I thought you
would be entertained by Ryan, one that comes up with
some regularity. We've got the Milwaukee Hotel, the infamous Fister Hotel,
pfi Ter Hotel that is notorious for potentially well just
(29:25):
being haunted. So Mookie Betts said, nope, I'm out. So
he went to an air B and B for their
set against Milwaukee. Rather than risk losing sleep. He said,
while he doesn't believe, you know, these stories of ghosts
are true, but he doesn't want to find out that
he's wrong. That's what he told the Orange County Register.
(29:47):
Quote just in case, So a couple of things, I
mean Milwaukee, obviously it town. You would have passed through many,
many times, including this year. This is just a place
everybody just keeps a nice perimeter from. And b why
haven't athletes bought themselves and built a hotel that they
you know, do a rev share on and then use
(30:08):
as they need, you know what.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
It's just, it's what's there in Milwaukee. It's a part
of it. And I have had sensible teammates, coaches. There's
stories around every single professional league of that of that hotel,
and they guys are just freaked out. Dude, like Mike,
(30:32):
it's as real and people believe in it. Me personally,
I haven't seen anything. I haven't had an issue. And
Mookie Bets is serious about it.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Man, did you go creeping up there like you were
Ray Parker Junior at any point? Listen, I am afraid
of no ghost.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
I'm all in man, But I.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Get it, man, like just some people are not playing
around with this, dude, like.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It is funny, right because you've got you know, the
frame chizes of these horror films that made inexpensively you know,
taught tales, and they build all these franchises and people
will get on board that and then as soon as
it's off you know, they sleep with the lights on
for the next week. It's like they want to watch it,
hour and a half of this and then whatever from
(31:17):
their childhood, from their development, from tales they've read, whatever,
and stories like you say, going around the locker room.
Perhaps like my Catholic upbringing. You know, I may watch
some of those movies, but by by the end of them,
you know, there's parts of them that that kind of
get at your soul a bit and stick with you.
So I can understand a Mookie bet saying, you know what,
(31:38):
I'm not even gonna open that door.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
I'm out.
Speaker 6 (31:41):
No, man, I'm telling you guys don't play. And I
mean I've had a number of opportunities there in Milwaukee
where we've even stayed at you know, an opposing hotel
or a little bit of a drive to come in
or you know, kind of just a wait at the
fister at all circumstances. But I said, I've had no
problems myself, so I personally don't have a you know,
(32:04):
have an issue there.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yeah, I remember there is the pee, the silent p
to start things like Pfizer for those that want to
go down that road. Hey man, you know, we we
understand where where folks' heads go, and sometimes we'll meet
you there. In this case, we're not superstitions. In your
ten years of the NBA, was there any teammate that
(32:27):
you just they had a bunch of things where you
guys kind of had to walk on pins and needles
around them because you know, things that would upset their
rhythms heading into a game.
Speaker 6 (32:38):
I think you know, but basketball is posed to baseball.
It's not that superstitious. It's not like, you know, guys
have routines. You don't play with the guys routine. But
there's nothing that you know that that stands out. You know,
Baseball you get the wacky ones. Basketball were not as
crazy when it comes down to it.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Now outside of the and we did it the other
day because of that Van Build story about you know
how cheaply you can dress man. Did you have anything
that you had to do on a game day meal
a nap? Was there something into your routine that helped
you hang in the league for a decade.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
I'm a napper.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
I'm a big napper, and it's and it's not always
necessary that I need the nap, But from a like
a it's more of a mental reset when I would
take my naps, so that that's kind of my thing.
I was like to come out early and just visualize
the arena like I'm an early guy, even even when
I broadcast broadcast the games. I like to get there
(33:34):
early and just kind of be there before everybody's in there.
There's so much stimulation, there's so much just life and
energy going on in that arena. So to me, the
sooner that you can get there with no one there,
you kind of just get to seller yourself in the arena.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I dig that the Billy Chapel clear the mechanism. There's
your obligatory baseball for love of the game reference Kevin
cost and it's another one that you can add in
the where of ice. I've seen John c Riley from
the Star of So Many Films with Will Ferrell, and
while there he is stepbrothers of course, but he was
(34:09):
the catcher for Kevin Coster as well. Hey, at the
end of your first year, Discover credit cards automatically double
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at discover dot com. Slash match back into the NBA
playoffs and the Nuggets
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Mike Harmon
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