May 18, 2023 • 34 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon recap the Heat’s HUGE Game 1. Longtime NBA Insider Marc Stein drops by for the latest from around the association. And James Harden declined his player option and is interested in a team with “a competitive roster’ and wants ‘the basketball freedom’ to be himself.
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Episode Transcript
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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
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. Let's give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Carmon live from the Tirack dot Com studios
tyrec dot com. I'll help you get there. An unmatched election,
fast free shipping, free road has a protection and over
ten thousand recommended installers. Tirack dot com the way tire
buying should be well. The Heat take Game one over
(00:51):
the Celtics one twenty three to one sixteen. Jimmy Butler
thirty five points, seven assists, five rebounds, six steal It
was all Jimmy at the end. He was stepping in
front of passing lane. Jimmy, he was hitting free throws.
He's a wizard. He did it all. Look playoff Jimmy
is a thing in every couple of games. He's a
game like this, everybody can go, oh my god, he's
(01:13):
the greatest playoff before forever. Just watch, just watch tomorrow.
I'll give you. I'll give you a big preview tomorrow's
daytime TV shows. Just get ready. Listen to me. Listen
to me. Listen to me, Listen to me. You're gonna see.
Is Jimmy Butler the best playoff player in basketball history?
You're gonna get that.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Eight seven seven ninety.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Butler the best playoff player in basketball history.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
If we were to do a whole question, just else
would be on that?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Just watch?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Just can we just put all the guys from the
old Jimmy Butler Celtics teams Magic.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
On the Litill Russell Jordan's.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Julius Randam would not be making it out.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
No, that would be a list of Okay, what NBA
stars need to be traded in the offseason for an
upgrade rating? For that? Surely are you kidding? Hey, Julius
Randall is a good player on a bad team. Now,
he was a good player and a good team, but
disappear and need him the most, and he kissed his
wife after the game. Come on, listen, listen, listen, we
(02:14):
will move me do that. We will trade Julius Randall
for Joel em Beat and everything's gonna be just fine.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I already put that into the universe. It's not gonna happen.
It's gonna be just a third team all NBA. And
all anybody can do is go around Manhattan and deface
every playoff and Knick's poster that had a picture.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
In Julius destroyed them, stomped on him.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Terrible people, terrible human beings. Look, it's not his fault.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Just wait, Is Jimmy Butler the best playoff performer tonight? Yes?
Speaker 5 (02:44):
He is.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Just watch, Just watch, and someone's gonna make all kinds
of really ridiculous headlines. They're gonna be happy with it.
Ha see people.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Aloud, right.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Jordan Jordan, Jordan, Jan Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Click Jordan Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Dre And that's what's gonna happen. Jordan doesn't have games
like Jimmy Butler. Jordan had better players around. Hi, Jimmy
Butler's got nobody. Jimmy Butler's got bam out of bio.
He's never been on a team like Jordan had Jimmy
Butler's just trust me, that's gonna be it tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Just what in the background, you got the technical producer
just playing boomher click.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Click click man on that computer man.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Guy speaking of technic technical production real quick? Did you
see this? The YouTube TV stopped working country wide tonight
during the final minutes of Heat Celtics.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
See, we were having trouble because you know, it made
me watch the.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Movie because Jason has AOL He's got that before before.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
We came into the studio, I tried to pull up
my my YouTube TV account and he kept freezing, and
I'm like, I wanted to blame the building.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And then and then Mike called it, and the guy said, okay, sir,
I need you to turn your computer off and turn
it back on again. But I just stopped working in
the final minutes game. I did it right before I
got together, right before I called you. I did it,
sorreny to do it again.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Please turn it off so it would unfreeze for thirty
seconds and then it would go right back into the
loop of trying.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Sir, I'm going to take control of your computer. Do
I have permission to? Okay, right override your screen right now.
I always like that when people can fix and I
can fix your thing. Do I have permission to override
your screen and take over your computer? Yeah? Like you
could take Oh no while you're doing it? Okay, no,
gre Okay, awesome, All right, Greg, I.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Hadn't said yes yet. I was asking questions.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You know, how does YouTube good with all the AI
advancements that we have now that are good and bad?
How does that happen?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
No, the larger question is Sunday Ticket as you now
have Sunday Too TV, and you're gonna get more subscribers,
and you just jacked up your costs per month another
eight dollars per month. I'm paying nearly double what I
paid per month when it first came out, like I
was an early adopter. It's nearly double the costs all
(04:51):
sorts of channels I don't use. And it goes down,
and then it goes down in jimmy time, How do
you not even pretend to be up like play next
heat while it's down. We're having trouble with the live
feed from this. Let's entertain you by a couple of people.
Nick's vanquished once again.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Get of one job, Hot take theater get ready, Jimmy
Butler best playoff performer in NBA history. There never been
a guy like him.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Or you have the like since someone will claim that
early producer too has to say the most clutch player
in the NBA Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Okay, okay, because he'll come in and he'll snatch your sore. Sure, okay,
But now here's the thing. I just tweeted that out. Yeah,
and I said, just wait till tomorrow on TV's Hot
Take Theater, Jimmy Butler is the best playoff performing in
NBA history. And let me throw this at you now.
Am I getting cringes from everybody on during the day
on the radio, TV goan Oh, he put it out there.
We can't do it because I'm gonna look stupid if
(05:56):
I do that topic now, because Jason Smith said it's
gonna happen. And now I'm gonna look like an idiot
when I say that Jimmy Butler is the most clutch,
best playoff performer in NBA history.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Now, we can't do that topic now.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Now we gotta do something else. Let's do something else
on Lebron. Let's talk about Lebron with Lebron. Why not
why Lebron take those trees at the end. Why did
he do it?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Let's talk you about why why would they stop normal protocol?
Now this is gonna be the one that is the
the bridge too far. We can't do what those guys
talked about last year?
Speaker 5 (06:27):
Do it?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Are you serious? Can't come on?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
That's that's already in going into conference calls and that'll
be part of morning meetings. I ran a couple of
stats I had are friends at Stats ain't come back
with this Twitter? And how about a fresco Mike get
swollen down The Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon will shake.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It over from Missoula if they lose this series eight.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Seven Tonight Show brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive
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by combining your motorcycle, rv A, TV and more. All
your protection is in one place, Muddle and save at
Progressive dot com. So we'll have more on this game
coming up in a few minutes. Old friend Mark Stein, here,
you guys gonna stop. I've done I've done shows and
(07:11):
podcasts with Mark Stein before we're gonna talk game one
of the Eastern Conference Finals. We'll get into what Game
two could wind up being for the Lakers and the Nuggets,
and what could potentially be next for John Rant get
a lot of great stuff coming up next. With Mark Stein.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, I think he's got any thoughts on the Knicks problems.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I'm sure. I'm sure he run for the New York Times.
I mean, I'm sure he's got something on the next
and we win Stein's money, Nick, Nick, Yes, we could
oh win Oh, I like that. Win Mark Stein's money.
I like that. We could do that. Tell him, tell him,
we have to do it. He's got he's got to
cut a check for us. We have to call him
Ben uh no, no, no, just win Mark. We're not
gonna take Ben Stein's money. We're taking Mark Stein's money.
(07:47):
So it's it's a little bit different.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, I think if he's on the line and we're
taking Ben Stein's money something, he still has money.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Of course he does. Really, I think Jim doesn't. Jimmy
kimmelll still co host that show.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
I don't think posted on animo, all right, because that's
where we gotta start, right, Jimmy Kimmel right with Ben
Stein's money, who knew you can.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
You can go from ben Stein's mind.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
You think ben Stein said, there goes the guy was
the guy who just brought me the stuff and said
certain things on the show. And now look at him.
He's the king of Late Night. Ben Stein.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Hey, you gotta start somewhere.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
But we lost an absolute legend not too long ago.
Superstar Billy Graham one of the WWF absolute superstars when
the WWF was really born into our public consciousness in
the nineteen eighties. Uh passed away at the age of
seventy nine. He had been in ill health for quite
a long time. I believe he was in hospice. I
(08:42):
was just taking off machines and ventilators. He was someone
who was very outspoken about steroid usage and what he
thought it did to him during his career and after
his career as a wrestler. But man, it's really something
because he was he was so much fun. You talk
about legend, nobody went third person like Superstar Billy Graham.
(09:03):
I mean, he was just outstand Superstar Billy Graham's coming
to Madison Square Garden at Superstar Billy Grahams leaving with
a championship belt because Superstar Billy Graham doesn't take no
for an answer. At Superstar Billy Graham doesn't come in second,
Superstar Billy Graham, I will see you on February fourteenth,
Superstar Billy Grahm. We there signing autographs and I will
throw Hulk Holgie out of the ring. Superstar Billy Graham's
telling you that Superstar Billy Graham was gonna do this.
(09:23):
He was the best.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
He was.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
I remember when he came back from his knee injury
and they showed his knee operation live on television. I mean,
see was awesome. He could talk so well, he was
so charismatic, he was great on the microphone. He was awesome.
Oh my god, Superstar Billy Graham. Every time I see
it his voice in my head. Superstar Billy Graham says hello,
Superstar Billy Graham would like a big back with fries and.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
A dire coke.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Superstar Billy Graham needs some napkins. Superstart Billy Grhant needs
a bigger straw, and Superstart Briller Graham wants a coffee.
I mean, I'm picturing him doing that his entire life.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
But it's funny, right you look at all of the
pop culture references and inclusion of a Rick Flair for instance, Well,
Billy Graham was that before Rick Flair.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
With the better body, right, bodybuilder.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Big long, feathery earrings, all but just getting like Jesse
the body Ventura and a lot of his persona in
the WWF pattern. After Billy Graham, it all goes back
to gorgeous George with some of the looks. But when
you when you get into just that persona bodybuilder hanging
out with Schwarzenegger and Frank Zane and Franco Colombo and.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
All those guys.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
I certainly watched it and had the magazines growing up
and everything. You don't trying to get swollen and reading
all that. There he was in all these competitions and
he goes in the physique. We were watching some videos
earlier of you know, a young Vince McMahon interviewing in
the seventies, you know, the man of the hour, too
(10:50):
sweet to be sour. I mean you might want to
use that sometimes, but going through the Awa, the Crusher,
the Bruiser, Nick Bockwick, all those guys that he fought
with there, Jerry Blackwell, uh, certainly a big rivalry later
on with Dusty Rhodes, and if you had the two
of them and you played the blind audio, you might
have some trouble telling them apart at times.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
But that was it.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
It was mastering the microphone, but also a guy so
physically imposing. It was like he didn't look like anybody else. No,
you had a lot of big guys, yeah, but generally
in that era, it wasn't a matter of you know,
being you know, chiseled. It was just your big In
this case, you got the bodybuilder coming out there, predecessor
to say Rick Rude's character as well, Hey check this out,
(11:33):
let me pose for the ladies over here. All of
those things, but a master of the microphone and a
guy that influenced.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So many careers. So a big loss in the wrestling world.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Rest in peace. Superstar Billy Graham. It's like it was
his first name, wasn't Billy Graham? Was Superstar Billy Graham?
Well not to be super used with the televangelis exactly, yes, exactly,
So hey, so call me superstar. That's right, Okay, great,
Hey superstar, that's.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Me, that not your reverend. I'm super Superstar Billy Great.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
That's what you guys call me Twitter, superstar, Justin Frossberg,
superstar Justin Frostburg says the Dodgers are good.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Well, hen starts a generational talent, the voice over guy
going back to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Don't make me whip out the morosiuse me.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh wow, Frostburg, you saved that. I'm like, wait, whoa, whoa?
That what you're calling it now? I saw the end
of the show. At the end of the show, it's
going to be the end of the show.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Just passing in front of my eye.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
That might have been the end of the show.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You talk about the nuts. That's way closer to the
end of the show. No, that is true, should say Justin,
I have to forcibly remove you now from this.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
He had a good run.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I'm sorry. How you gotta go?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I mean, we've only been doing this for ten years,
and it's like a cartoon where Tyser picks him up
by the scruff of his shirt.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
That just throws him out, and Froustberg's trying to run
the door. You pull out the little broom and sweep.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Out Tyscher doesn't eat me. You really think he's picking
somebody up? No, no, he cause he's got all that
fake protein that he eats from all those different foods
that don't fake. That happened. Yeah, and all those things
and Gaze you could just eat some proteins are fughezy
fake because all the things you say you eat I
don't think are real. I think it literally grows in
the ground. You read them off some kind of bottle
(13:13):
of something you got at GNC or Whole Foods, and
you think it's real. It's just made up. Jason, I'm
much more sophisticated than I go to Erawan, thank you?
Oh sorry, sorry, what was it? No Erawon, that's they've
never heard of. No, that's the princess from House of
the Dragon. And yeah, that's Arawon. Yeah, they go to
Erawan with the dragons in in the middle of the
House of the Dragon. Yes, spoiler alert or just they
(13:33):
visit with the dragons, that's all. And it's a dragon visit.
One of the main kids dies too, whoa, what are
you doing?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
What? Why are you?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Spoilers long enough? Yeah, but oh my god, I couldn't
say it was one.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I can't believe how many kids are there, Like Toothsis,
she has two boys.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Well, now you cut them in half. That's true, King
Solomon kind of thing. Whoa coming up next? Mark Styed
NBA Inside or what next in Game two for both
of the Conference finals? What's next for John Moran? Keep
it right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
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 1 (14:18):
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My bess
friend Mike Harmon Live from the tire i Rag dot
Com Studios, where we're coming off of the heat once again,
taking Game one in their playoff series. They beat the
Celtics in a bit of a surprise one twenty three
one sixteen. Jimmy Butler is your hero. Thirty five point
(14:39):
seven assists, six rebounds, six deals. He did it all tonight.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He's the best.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Playoff player in NBA history, hands down.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Just wait for that hot take theater tomorrow on TV.
Joining us now on the hotline to break it all down,
old friend, and I say this because yeah, old friend,
we did chosen to podcast together at ESPN. You can
fall him on Twitter at the Steinline. It is at
the Steinlines. Got a podcast we're going to talk about
a couple minutes called This League Uncut. It's Mark Stein. Mark,
good talking to you again, man.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
How you doing, gentlemen, I'm good. Good evenings. Thank you
for the kind intro.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Well, look, the last time I talked to you, the
Knicks were terrible, and now they're not bad, so there's
progress the last few years.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Happy for you.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It really was a big deal.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
And then you know, it just happened Mark that he
was off on Friday night, so he was able to
avoid four hours of me just well laughing at him.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
So no shame in a second round exit. The Knicks
are on the very short list of teams, the very
short list of playoff teams that can feel pretty good
about their future. I would put the I'd say Nick
and Sacramento. Pretty much everybody else who has exited these
playoffs is facing major, major off season questions and crossroads.
(15:56):
So let him, let him have his let him have
his moment in the sun.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
But is Julius Randall still a niche?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
We're getting Joel Embiid. It doesn't matter. We're getting Joel Embiid.
It's fine, It's gonna happens now. Trying to speak it
and do existence there we go. We're gonna speak it
out there. It's gonna happen. Joel Embiid's coming. Uh hey,
let's look game one here of the East Finals, watching
the Heat and the Celtics. We talked about this the
beginning of the show, the first hour. Both teams are
(16:24):
really flawed. I think we're gonna see wide swings of
talent up and down. The team will look like world
beaters from one quarter to the next and look like
they don't belong in the playoffs. I just feel like
we're gonna get this crazy ass topsy turvy seven game
type series that that teams are gonna be flawed. We're
gonna get great highs, great lows, but it's gonna be
a lot of fun along the way.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Well, I actually picked I actually picked Paton sick and looked.
I say, And it's funny because on my substack, the
way I do my predictions is I make my pick,
and then I do an open thread so all my
readers can jump in and and put in their picks,
but also tell me how stupid I am. And you know,
I think people there were some people in there saying,
(17:08):
how can you pick Miami. They have no chance against Boston,
And I'm just stepping back saying, did you just not
watch Boston and Philadelphia trade frailties for seven games. Look,
the Celtics should win this series. The Celtics have the
better roster, the better team, more depth, more versatility. But
(17:29):
they are all over the map. And it's a zero
percent surprise that Miami, who knows exactly who it is.
No team in the league maybe if they're not the
best team, maybe, but they know exactly who they are.
They play through their identity every single game, and it's
(17:50):
not a surprise that they go in there and steal
a game one from a Boston team that has just
been average at home forever in the playoffs eleven and
eleven and they're last twenty two at home. So doesn't
mean Miami's for sure going to win the series. But
I'm not feeling terrible about picking the heat and six
(18:12):
right now. Say that mean neither.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I'm in good company with you, Mark, So I'm feeling
pretty smart for the moment as we look at it.
I mean, the Celtics five hundred team in games decided
by five or fewer points during the course of the year,
but I'll make it about the winning side and Eric Spolstraut.
When is he going to get more credit for the
job he's done for the last twelve thirteen years.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Yeah, I mean I think I think he honestly has it.
Maybe not on NBA Twitter, but I mean around the league.
I mean, you know, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I mean, Spoe is.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
The best coach still in the playoffs without any questions.
And Butler, you know, I've been saying this to me.
I was, you know, I was fortunate to be in
the bubble for half of it and witness it myself.
To me, Jimmy Butler has been a top ten player
in the NBA since the bubbles. He was that good
(19:06):
in the bubble. And I don't think, you know, we
make such a big deal out playoffs Jimmy, And you
know he's not going to play eighty two games at
that level, but he's basically been that guy this whole
time in Miami. He is a top ten player in
this league. And again, this team, despite flaws and injuries,
(19:27):
they all fit so well around there. I mean, it's
just it's astounding what they get on a night like
this from Struce, from Vincent from Caleb Martin. Kyle Lowry's
looking more like the Kyle Lowry they thought they signed.
I mean, these guys just play to their max.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
In the inside of Mark Seine with us here the
Jason smithser with Mike Harmon Lott from the ti iraq
dot com studios. All, let's get to the Western Conference. Now,
we're getting ready for Game two of the Nuggets and
the Lakers. The Nuggets play about as well as you
could possibly play for the vast majority of the game,
and it's just enough to hold off the Lakers. How
do you feel about this series seeing what you saw
in Game one?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Well, look, the Lakers do have a lot of reason
to be encouraged by the way they came back. I
felt like Denver had the decided advantage coming into this
series because you know, Jimmy Butler to me, was the
MVP of the first round of the playoffs, and Jokic
was the MVP of the second round and is playing
as well as he ever has with the deepest team
(20:29):
he's ever had around him. But you know, the Lakers,
they will take a lot from that fight back. I
saw my podcast partner Chris Haynes just reported on CNT's
post game show that darvinham is considering a lineup change
and moving Hatcha Murra into the starting lineup after the
job he did defensively on Jokic in the fourth quarter.
(20:51):
So I mean, look, this Lakers team has completely changed.
The whole complexion of the team changed at the trade deadline,
the multiple moves they've made, and you know, frankly, Ad
and Lebron needed more assistance, a lot more assistance than
they were getting through the first half of the season.
(21:11):
So this one also looks like it has the ability
to go long and be a long series. But look, Denver,
really both teams have been great at home, so I mean,
the road wins in the series are going to be
huge because neither of these teams are losing games at home.
But I just think this is the most well rounded
(21:31):
team that Denver has put around Jokic. And even though
I'm sure Michael Malone is furious about the way things
happened late, a coach can spin it and use it.
As you guys thought the game was over, we did
a B and C and let them back in it,
and so it maybe helped Denver keep an edge for
(21:54):
Game two that they might not have otherwise had if
they absolutely rolled in Game one.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with Me Mike Harmon.
Uh from the tyrack dot com studios. We've got our guy,
Mark Stein with us at the Steinline where you find
him on Twitter at mark Stein dot Substack dot com
is where you can read his latest check it out,
uh there for the latest columns and insights on the NBA,
(22:22):
and you can chime in on on the picks that
he makes as well. Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
So stay with this series.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
You know it's been the Witch is the third man
to step up in terms of scoring for the Lakers.
And I find it fun that while we're talking about games,
there's all the handwringing over Austin Reeves needing to get paid.
That's the subplot to it all.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
You know what, So I'm not I'm not so sure
that it's worrying about him getting paid. I think it's
more just because the limitations of what the Lakers could
do to match our shows are so tough that that,
you know, had we had this conversation in November or
December for fifty million over four for Austin Reeves, Yeah,
(23:04):
you know that's that'll you know that might be an overpay,
but he's just changed his reputations around the league so
dramatically that I mean, he's my current NBA standards, he's
worth more than that. So look, it's not just the Lakers.
All the top end teams with this new CBA coming in,
are so worried about how much harder it's going to
(23:27):
be to build teams around stars with the restrictions that
are going to be placed on the highest spending teams.
It's not just the Clippers and the Warriors, you know, Milwaukee,
Scenic Philly, we can go on and on and on.
You know, these teams are making coaching changes in part
for that reason because it's going to be hard to
(23:48):
reshape their roster. So what's the easiest thing to do,
Make a coaching change and try to bring a new
voice in. So that's the big change. So it's I mean, look,
Austin Reeves has with he is legit. You know, he
got a lot of fans around the league. There's a
lot of teams that would love to steal him.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Hey, Mark, let's get outside the playoffs here for a second.
Because the other big story that we're following, of course,
waiting to see what the final call is going to
be on John Morant after the latest gun video, how
does this end for him? Now he had the apology
or the put out the statement last night, Adam Silver
said he was shocked, how does this end for him?
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Well, I think everyone around the league is curious how
severe the suspension is going to be. Frankly, the feel
around the league was that the eight game suspension he
received the first time, when it was really only two
games because they credited six games that he missed while
he was away from the team. I mean that was
you know, overwhelmingly seen as super soft. So really, you know,
(24:46):
this whole thing, it's it's not just a Grizzly crisis,
it's an NBA crisis. It puts marketing, It creates you know,
marketing and image challenges for all teams, not just not
just the grid. So, I mean a lot of people
around the league do want to see how, you know,
(25:06):
how is the league, how strict will the league be?
How long will the suspension be? And you know, look,
they also have to the league at this point is
still going through the investigated process. They want to make
sure that the video that's out there is authentic. And
accurate and depict what we think it's depicts. But I mean,
(25:27):
you heard, I'm sure you guys heard Adam Silver speaking
to ESPN before the draft lottery, and you know he
himself said he's expecting the worst.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
So speaking of said draft lottery, all all eyes on
on one guy, Victor wembin Yama. The next great things
goes to San Antonio. We've been wondering Mark. I think
as a collective watching the NBA Greg Popovich, how long
is he for the NBA? This will reinvigorate a guy
and make him stick around a while.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
I think he was coming back anyway for at least
one more season. That was all the indications I was getting.
But yeah, I was actually in the drawing room in
Chicago last night. I'm still in Chicago at the NBA
Draft combine, and I was. I was in the lottery
room when you know, you find out an hour beforehand
the results, and you know I did. When the crowd
(26:22):
kind of thinned out, I was able to sidle up
to Brian Wright, the Spurs GM who was their representative
in the drawing room when the ping pong balls actually
pinged and ponged and we found out where Webin Yam
was going. And I told him, I said, you know now,
I'm pops coach until he's at least eighty now and
he laughed. And you know, believe believe me, Greg Popovich
(26:44):
cannot wait to coach this guy. I mean this, you know,
this is it's It's like it's two story books. I mean,
I'm sure there are a lot of people in other
cities who are upset and can't believe that the Spurs
yet again after a twenty two and have twenty six
years after duncan it happens again?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
You can follow on Twitter at the Steinline. It's NBA
insider Mark Stein. Check out his podcast This League Uncut,
an iHeart podcast. What's on the latest one? Mark? What
do you got?
Speaker 5 (27:15):
We actually just recorded one tonight with our our wembiologist,
Nicola Batoum or the La Clippers joined us about it'll
be out in the morning, Nicola Batoom taking us inside.
We talk all things wemby with Nicola Batoum.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Wow, that's you better patent that word a wembiologist. I mean,
now you can make money on here. That's pretty good again.
Check it out This League Uncut the podcast an iHeart
podcast and Mark on Twitter at the steinline, Mark and
talking again, my friend, We'll talk soon. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
Sounds good, guys, Take care thanks Mark.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
All right there he goes. Now, look, yes, the league
is going to wait as long as they can until
they announced a John Morant's suspension because Adam Silver is
not someone that comes out and says something very decisively.
He's one of those let me see which way the
wind is blowing here. How are people going to react
if say this is the suspension? What will the action be?
(28:06):
If this is the suspension, we can say that this
is a video that is legit. So the video wasn't legit,
we would know by now right, I mean we would know.
John Morant would have said whoaa wo this was not me,
or this was me way before, it's a video from
five months ago, something else. No, he wouldn't have apologized
again and said what he said if it wasn't legit.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
So he issued a different statement during the so yourst
game of the Western Conference Final.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
How many people you think Adam Silver is calling up
going hey, let me get your take on something here,
just just to want to ask you what you think.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I think he's reading a lot on the blogs and
message boards, stealing right out of draft day. How long
do you think the suspension should be? Well, I see
what they want on the message boards.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon live from the tire Rag dot Com Studio.
We'll have more on the heat in the Celtics coming
up in a couple of minutes. Jimmy, But another big
NBA headline today that first began as a report from Yahoo'
Chris Haynes, then became more widely accepted that James Harden
(29:15):
will become a free agent. He will opt out of
the final year of his deal with the Sixers. It's
gonna pay him thirty six million dollars. He is hoping
for a four year deal, as we've seen reports today,
his last bite at the Apple for a long contract. Now,
let me just say one thing to James Harden, if
that is in fact his strategy, I got four words
(29:38):
for you. No, that is one to I'm gonna eat that.
That's six words. If I had six words for you
that would.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
And instead at that level, at that pace, it sounded
like four fast.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I actually had to count on my fingers.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
One.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I'm gonna don't count. The contraction is.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Gonna is one where that's fine. I got four words
for you. Good luck with that good you really think
it takes one?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Good luck?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
It takes one, babe. He's gonna eat.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
The biggest reality sandwich in his life. He's need a
fat sales realities sandwich. I want to double meat and
double cheese and onions and all and horse radish on it.
Kevin Durant didn't have a big market when he wanted
out Kevin Durant because many teams thought, are we really
a Kevin Durant away from.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Winning a championship? And clearly the Sons found out, oh,
we're not a Kevin Durant away.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
But the beauty of this is you would be able
to sign him and not give away for first rude,
but you to acquire him.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
But you want it, You're gonna get. You're gonna get
in for James Harden. Where if if teams didn't think
they were a Kevin Durant awake, Remember, he wanted to
be traded a long time ago, and the offers were bad,
and the only team that was out there was Hey,
the Sons. The Sons, and who wound up getting him?
The Sons. Did they give up a lot for him? No,
you're talking about James hard who is now two levels
(31:02):
below of where KD is. James Harden now is not
nearly the James Harden we got every three or four games. Hey,
I can have a big game for you, but I'm
a guy who is a number two or even a
number three guy on a team. That's the reality for
James Harden. You think teams are gonna say, yes, we're
a James Harden away from winning a championship. Just think
about that. What team he wants to go to a contender,
(31:23):
because that's part of the port too, go to a contender, win,
get paid. What contender is gonna say we need to
bring in James Harden. Everywhere he's been it has not worked.
His height with the Rockets, never got to the NBA finals,
the Nets didn't work, shipped him out, the Sixers didn't work, underachieved.
He wants to leave. What team is.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Gonna say we are a James Harden away.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Nobody and he's gonna get that big dose reality and
gonna find out the hard way. The market's gonna be
really small for him, really fast. He's gonna have to
settle for less money and a destination of a desperate
team who is like, well, how else are we gonna
get a star? Maybe James Harden will work with Damian Lillard,
and that's where I gotta go. I gotta go to Portland.
I gotta go someplace that's not quite a contender, but
(32:04):
someplace where, hey, they'll at least have me and maybe
give me some kind of cash. But his four year
payday with it contending to yeah, good luck, because that
ain't happening.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Well. But that's the thing is, it only takes one.
And that's where we're at with James Harden. You saw
enough in those couple of games. It's like I can
still take over and still have a huge impact sometimes,
and it takes one. Now, to their detriment, I'm not
the head of any of these NBA teams because I'm
(32:37):
sure as hell not signing up for four years of
guaranteed money. But it takes one to say, all right,
we're close ish and given away. The playoffs have gone
this year and the changing face of the NBA related
to how much of that gap is closed to where
these seven and eight seeds are competitive, that you're gonna
(33:01):
have a team that looks around and says, well, we
can get a guy into your point of this is
our way to get a star in we didn't win
the lottery, congratulations, spurs that you can go in and
get a James Harden and I don't. I have no
idea what he is as a team leader. Seems like
he's always wanted around until he's not, and getting not
(33:25):
getting along with Doc Rivers is not a reason for
me to cross him off any list.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Right, the fact that he was he was just alright
with Doc. So much was made about that, like, all.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Right, why is everybody always you know, bowing to the
altar of Doc Rivers and all these things. Might be
a nice guy, but from a coaching perspective, we've seen
so many issues and philosophical differences with guys that you know,
it's not a bad thing necessarily that a star disagrees
with him. Yeah, someone will go on and get him,
(33:57):
someone will pay him his money and watch man. But
but you opt out and at worst you've got to
crawl back to them on on a spread out deal.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Just watch, nobody's gonna be interested, and no one's gonna
want to pay him. No one where he's gonna want
to go? Good luck.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
That's the keto where.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
He's gonna want to go, because you know what, once
he drives up wherever he's gonna pay him the most,
becomes where he wants to go.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
We got more in the NBA playoffs coming up next
right here, Fox
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
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. Let's give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Carmon live from the Tirack dot Com studios
tyrec dot com. I'll help you get there. An unmatched election,
fast free shipping, free road has a protection and over
ten thousand recommended installers. Tirack dot com the way tire
buying should be well. The Heat take Game one over
(00:51):
the Celtics one twenty three to one sixteen. Jimmy Butler
thirty five points, seven assists, five rebounds, six steal It
was all Jimmy at the end. He was stepping in
front of passing lane. Jimmy, he was hitting free throws.
He's a wizard. He did it all. Look playoff Jimmy
is a thing in every couple of games. He's a
game like this, everybody can go, oh my god, he's
(01:13):
the greatest playoff before forever. Just watch, just watch tomorrow.
I'll give you. I'll give you a big preview tomorrow's
daytime TV shows. Just get ready. Listen to me. Listen
to me. Listen to me, Listen to me. You're gonna see.
Is Jimmy Butler the best playoff player in basketball history?
You're gonna get that.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Eight seven seven ninety.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Butler the best playoff player in basketball history.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
If we were to do a whole question, just else
would be on that?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Just watch?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Just can we just put all the guys from the
old Jimmy Butler Celtics teams Magic.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
On the Litill Russell Jordan's.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Julius Randam would not be making it out.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
No, that would be a list of Okay, what NBA
stars need to be traded in the offseason for an
upgrade rating? For that? Surely are you kidding? Hey, Julius
Randall is a good player on a bad team. Now,
he was a good player and a good team, but
disappear and need him the most, and he kissed his
wife after the game. Come on, listen, listen, listen, we
(02:14):
will move me do that. We will trade Julius Randall
for Joel em Beat and everything's gonna be just fine.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I already put that into the universe. It's not gonna happen.
It's gonna be just a third team all NBA. And
all anybody can do is go around Manhattan and deface
every playoff and Knick's poster that had a picture.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
In Julius destroyed them, stomped on him.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Terrible people, terrible human beings. Look, it's not his fault.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Just wait, Is Jimmy Butler the best playoff performer tonight? Yes?
Speaker 5 (02:44):
He is.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Just watch, Just watch, and someone's gonna make all kinds
of really ridiculous headlines. They're gonna be happy with it.
Ha see people.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Aloud, right.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Jordan Jordan, Jordan, Jan Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Click Jordan Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, Jordan.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Dre And that's what's gonna happen. Jordan doesn't have games
like Jimmy Butler. Jordan had better players around. Hi, Jimmy
Butler's got nobody. Jimmy Butler's got bam out of bio.
He's never been on a team like Jordan had Jimmy
Butler's just trust me, that's gonna be it tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Just what in the background, you got the technical producer
just playing boomher click.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Click click man on that computer man.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Guy speaking of technic technical production real quick? Did you
see this? The YouTube TV stopped working country wide tonight
during the final minutes of Heat Celtics.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
See, we were having trouble because you know, it made
me watch the.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Movie because Jason has AOL He's got that before before.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
We came into the studio, I tried to pull up
my my YouTube TV account and he kept freezing, and
I'm like, I wanted to blame the building.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And then and then Mike called it, and the guy said, okay, sir,
I need you to turn your computer off and turn
it back on again. But I just stopped working in
the final minutes game. I did it right before I
got together, right before I called you. I did it,
sorreny to do it again.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Please turn it off so it would unfreeze for thirty
seconds and then it would go right back into the
loop of trying.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Sir, I'm going to take control of your computer. Do
I have permission to? Okay, right override your screen right now.
I always like that when people can fix and I
can fix your thing. Do I have permission to override
your screen and take over your computer? Yeah? Like you
could take Oh no while you're doing it? Okay, no,
gre Okay, awesome, All right, Greg, I.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Hadn't said yes yet. I was asking questions.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You know, how does YouTube good with all the AI
advancements that we have now that are good and bad?
How does that happen?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
No, the larger question is Sunday Ticket as you now
have Sunday Too TV, and you're gonna get more subscribers,
and you just jacked up your costs per month another
eight dollars per month. I'm paying nearly double what I
paid per month when it first came out, like I
was an early adopter. It's nearly double the costs all
(04:51):
sorts of channels I don't use. And it goes down,
and then it goes down in jimmy time, How do
you not even pretend to be up like play next
heat while it's down. We're having trouble with the live
feed from this. Let's entertain you by a couple of people.
Nick's vanquished once again.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Get of one job, Hot take theater get ready, Jimmy
Butler best playoff performer in NBA history. There never been
a guy like him.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Or you have the like since someone will claim that
early producer too has to say the most clutch player
in the NBA Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Okay, okay, because he'll come in and he'll snatch your sore. Sure, okay,
But now here's the thing. I just tweeted that out. Yeah,
and I said, just wait till tomorrow on TV's Hot
Take Theater, Jimmy Butler is the best playoff performing in
NBA history. And let me throw this at you now.
Am I getting cringes from everybody on during the day
on the radio, TV goan Oh, he put it out there.
We can't do it because I'm gonna look stupid if
(05:56):
I do that topic now, because Jason Smith said it's
gonna happen. And now I'm gonna look like an idiot
when I say that Jimmy Butler is the most clutch,
best playoff performer in NBA history.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Now, we can't do that topic now.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Now we gotta do something else. Let's do something else
on Lebron. Let's talk about Lebron with Lebron. Why not
why Lebron take those trees at the end. Why did
he do it?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Let's talk you about why why would they stop normal protocol?
Now this is gonna be the one that is the
the bridge too far. We can't do what those guys
talked about last year?
Speaker 5 (06:27):
Do it?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Are you serious? Can't come on?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
That's that's already in going into conference calls and that'll
be part of morning meetings. I ran a couple of
stats I had are friends at Stats ain't come back
with this Twitter? And how about a fresco Mike get
swollen down The Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon will shake.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It over from Missoula if they lose this series eight.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Seven Tonight Show brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive
makes buddling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discund
by combining your motorcycle, rv A, TV and more. All
your protection is in one place, Muddle and save at
Progressive dot com. So we'll have more on this game
coming up in a few minutes. Old friend Mark Stein, here,
you guys gonna stop. I've done I've done shows and
(07:11):
podcasts with Mark Stein before we're gonna talk game one
of the Eastern Conference Finals. We'll get into what Game
two could wind up being for the Lakers and the Nuggets,
and what could potentially be next for John Rant get
a lot of great stuff coming up next. With Mark Stein.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, I think he's got any thoughts on the Knicks problems.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I'm sure. I'm sure he run for the New York Times.
I mean, I'm sure he's got something on the next
and we win Stein's money, Nick, Nick, Yes, we could
oh win Oh, I like that. Win Mark Stein's money.
I like that. We could do that. Tell him, tell him,
we have to do it. He's got he's got to
cut a check for us. We have to call him
Ben uh no, no, no, just win Mark. We're not
gonna take Ben Stein's money. We're taking Mark Stein's money.
(07:47):
So it's it's a little bit different.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, I think if he's on the line and we're
taking Ben Stein's money something, he still has money.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Of course he does. Really, I think Jim doesn't. Jimmy
kimmelll still co host that show.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
I don't think posted on animo, all right, because that's
where we gotta start, right, Jimmy Kimmel right with Ben
Stein's money, who knew you can.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
You can go from ben Stein's mind.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
You think ben Stein said, there goes the guy was
the guy who just brought me the stuff and said
certain things on the show. And now look at him.
He's the king of Late Night. Ben Stein.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Hey, you gotta start somewhere.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
But we lost an absolute legend not too long ago.
Superstar Billy Graham one of the WWF absolute superstars when
the WWF was really born into our public consciousness in
the nineteen eighties. Uh passed away at the age of
seventy nine. He had been in ill health for quite
a long time. I believe he was in hospice. I
(08:42):
was just taking off machines and ventilators. He was someone
who was very outspoken about steroid usage and what he
thought it did to him during his career and after
his career as a wrestler. But man, it's really something
because he was he was so much fun. You talk
about legend, nobody went third person like Superstar Billy Graham.
(09:03):
I mean, he was just outstand Superstar Billy Graham's coming
to Madison Square Garden at Superstar Billy Grahams leaving with
a championship belt because Superstar Billy Graham doesn't take no
for an answer. At Superstar Billy Graham doesn't come in second,
Superstar Billy Graham, I will see you on February fourteenth,
Superstar Billy Grahm. We there signing autographs and I will
throw Hulk Holgie out of the ring. Superstar Billy Graham's
telling you that Superstar Billy Graham was gonna do this.
(09:23):
He was the best.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
He was.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
I remember when he came back from his knee injury
and they showed his knee operation live on television. I mean,
see was awesome. He could talk so well, he was
so charismatic, he was great on the microphone. He was awesome.
Oh my god, Superstar Billy Graham. Every time I see
it his voice in my head. Superstar Billy Graham says hello,
Superstar Billy Graham would like a big back with fries and.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
A dire coke.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Superstar Billy Graham needs some napkins. Superstart Billy Grhant needs
a bigger straw, and Superstart Briller Graham wants a coffee.
I mean, I'm picturing him doing that his entire life.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
But it's funny, right you look at all of the
pop culture references and inclusion of a Rick Flair for instance, Well,
Billy Graham was that before Rick Flair.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
With the better body, right, bodybuilder.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Big long, feathery earrings, all but just getting like Jesse
the body Ventura and a lot of his persona in
the WWF pattern. After Billy Graham, it all goes back
to gorgeous George with some of the looks. But when
you when you get into just that persona bodybuilder hanging
out with Schwarzenegger and Frank Zane and Franco Colombo and.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
All those guys.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
I certainly watched it and had the magazines growing up
and everything. You don't trying to get swollen and reading
all that. There he was in all these competitions and
he goes in the physique. We were watching some videos
earlier of you know, a young Vince McMahon interviewing in
the seventies, you know, the man of the hour, too
(10:50):
sweet to be sour. I mean you might want to
use that sometimes, but going through the Awa, the Crusher,
the Bruiser, Nick Bockwick, all those guys that he fought
with there, Jerry Blackwell, uh, certainly a big rivalry later
on with Dusty Rhodes, and if you had the two
of them and you played the blind audio, you might
have some trouble telling them apart at times.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
But that was it.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
It was mastering the microphone, but also a guy so
physically imposing. It was like he didn't look like anybody else. No,
you had a lot of big guys, yeah, but generally
in that era, it wasn't a matter of you know,
being you know, chiseled. It was just your big In
this case, you got the bodybuilder coming out there, predecessor
to say Rick Rude's character as well, Hey check this out,
(11:33):
let me pose for the ladies over here. All of
those things, but a master of the microphone and a
guy that influenced.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So many careers. So a big loss in the wrestling world.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Rest in peace. Superstar Billy Graham. It's like it was
his first name, wasn't Billy Graham? Was Superstar Billy Graham?
Well not to be super used with the televangelis exactly, yes, exactly,
So hey, so call me superstar. That's right, Okay, great,
Hey superstar, that's.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Me, that not your reverend. I'm super Superstar Billy Great.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
That's what you guys call me Twitter, superstar, Justin Frossberg,
superstar Justin Frostburg says the Dodgers are good.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Well, hen starts a generational talent, the voice over guy
going back to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Don't make me whip out the morosiuse me.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh wow, Frostburg, you saved that. I'm like, wait, whoa, whoa?
That what you're calling it now? I saw the end
of the show. At the end of the show, it's
going to be the end of the show.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Just passing in front of my eye.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
That might have been the end of the show.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You talk about the nuts. That's way closer to the
end of the show. No, that is true, should say Justin,
I have to forcibly remove you now from this.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
He had a good run.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I'm sorry. How you gotta go?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I mean, we've only been doing this for ten years,
and it's like a cartoon where Tyser picks him up
by the scruff of his shirt.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
That just throws him out, and Froustberg's trying to run
the door. You pull out the little broom and sweep.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Out Tyscher doesn't eat me. You really think he's picking
somebody up? No, no, he cause he's got all that
fake protein that he eats from all those different foods
that don't fake. That happened. Yeah, and all those things
and Gaze you could just eat some proteins are fughezy
fake because all the things you say you eat I
don't think are real. I think it literally grows in
the ground. You read them off some kind of bottle
(13:13):
of something you got at GNC or Whole Foods, and
you think it's real. It's just made up. Jason, I'm
much more sophisticated than I go to Erawan, thank you?
Oh sorry, sorry, what was it? No Erawon, that's they've
never heard of. No, that's the princess from House of
the Dragon. And yeah, that's Arawon. Yeah, they go to
Erawan with the dragons in in the middle of the
House of the Dragon. Yes, spoiler alert or just they
(13:33):
visit with the dragons, that's all. And it's a dragon visit.
One of the main kids dies too, whoa, what are
you doing?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
What? Why are you?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Spoilers long enough? Yeah, but oh my god, I couldn't
say it was one.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I can't believe how many kids are there, Like Toothsis,
she has two boys.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Well, now you cut them in half. That's true, King
Solomon kind of thing. Whoa coming up next? Mark Styed
NBA Inside or what next in Game two for both
of the Conference finals? What's next for John Moran? Keep
it right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
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 1 (14:18):
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My bess
friend Mike Harmon Live from the tire i Rag dot
Com Studios, where we're coming off of the heat once again,
taking Game one in their playoff series. They beat the
Celtics in a bit of a surprise one twenty three
one sixteen. Jimmy Butler is your hero. Thirty five point
(14:39):
seven assists, six rebounds, six deals. He did it all tonight.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He's the best.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Playoff player in NBA history, hands down.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Just wait for that hot take theater tomorrow on TV.
Joining us now on the hotline to break it all down,
old friend, and I say this because yeah, old friend,
we did chosen to podcast together at ESPN. You can
fall him on Twitter at the Steinline. It is at
the Steinlines. Got a podcast we're going to talk about
a couple minutes called This League Uncut. It's Mark Stein. Mark,
good talking to you again, man.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
How you doing, gentlemen, I'm good. Good evenings. Thank you
for the kind intro.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Well, look, the last time I talked to you, the
Knicks were terrible, and now they're not bad, so there's
progress the last few years.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Happy for you.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It really was a big deal.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
And then you know, it just happened Mark that he
was off on Friday night, so he was able to
avoid four hours of me just well laughing at him.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
So no shame in a second round exit. The Knicks
are on the very short list of teams, the very
short list of playoff teams that can feel pretty good
about their future. I would put the I'd say Nick
and Sacramento. Pretty much everybody else who has exited these
playoffs is facing major, major off season questions and crossroads.
(15:56):
So let him, let him have his let him have
his moment in the sun.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
But is Julius Randall still a niche?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
We're getting Joel Embiid. It doesn't matter. We're getting Joel Embiid.
It's fine, It's gonna happens now. Trying to speak it
and do existence there we go. We're gonna speak it
out there. It's gonna happen. Joel Embiid's coming. Uh hey,
let's look game one here of the East Finals, watching
the Heat and the Celtics. We talked about this the
beginning of the show, the first hour. Both teams are
(16:24):
really flawed. I think we're gonna see wide swings of
talent up and down. The team will look like world
beaters from one quarter to the next and look like
they don't belong in the playoffs. I just feel like
we're gonna get this crazy ass topsy turvy seven game
type series that that teams are gonna be flawed. We're
gonna get great highs, great lows, but it's gonna be
a lot of fun along the way.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Well, I actually picked I actually picked Paton sick and looked.
I say, And it's funny because on my substack, the
way I do my predictions is I make my pick,
and then I do an open thread so all my
readers can jump in and and put in their picks,
but also tell me how stupid I am. And you know,
I think people there were some people in there saying,
(17:08):
how can you pick Miami. They have no chance against Boston,
And I'm just stepping back saying, did you just not
watch Boston and Philadelphia trade frailties for seven games. Look,
the Celtics should win this series. The Celtics have the
better roster, the better team, more depth, more versatility. But
(17:29):
they are all over the map. And it's a zero
percent surprise that Miami, who knows exactly who it is.
No team in the league maybe if they're not the
best team, maybe, but they know exactly who they are.
They play through their identity every single game, and it's
(17:50):
not a surprise that they go in there and steal
a game one from a Boston team that has just
been average at home forever in the playoffs eleven and
eleven and they're last twenty two at home. So doesn't
mean Miami's for sure going to win the series. But
I'm not feeling terrible about picking the heat and six
(18:12):
right now. Say that mean neither.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I'm in good company with you, Mark, So I'm feeling
pretty smart for the moment as we look at it.
I mean, the Celtics five hundred team in games decided
by five or fewer points during the course of the year,
but I'll make it about the winning side and Eric Spolstraut.
When is he going to get more credit for the
job he's done for the last twelve thirteen years.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Yeah, I mean I think I think he honestly has it.
Maybe not on NBA Twitter, but I mean around the league.
I mean, you know, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I mean, Spoe is.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
The best coach still in the playoffs without any questions.
And Butler, you know, I've been saying this to me.
I was, you know, I was fortunate to be in
the bubble for half of it and witness it myself.
To me, Jimmy Butler has been a top ten player
in the NBA since the bubbles. He was that good
(19:06):
in the bubble. And I don't think, you know, we
make such a big deal out playoffs Jimmy, And you
know he's not going to play eighty two games at
that level, but he's basically been that guy this whole
time in Miami. He is a top ten player in
this league. And again, this team, despite flaws and injuries,
(19:27):
they all fit so well around there. I mean, it's
just it's astounding what they get on a night like
this from Struce, from Vincent from Caleb Martin. Kyle Lowry's
looking more like the Kyle Lowry they thought they signed.
I mean, these guys just play to their max.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
In the inside of Mark Seine with us here the
Jason smithser with Mike Harmon Lott from the ti iraq
dot com studios. All, let's get to the Western Conference. Now,
we're getting ready for Game two of the Nuggets and
the Lakers. The Nuggets play about as well as you
could possibly play for the vast majority of the game,
and it's just enough to hold off the Lakers. How
do you feel about this series seeing what you saw
in Game one?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Well, look, the Lakers do have a lot of reason
to be encouraged by the way they came back. I
felt like Denver had the decided advantage coming into this
series because you know, Jimmy Butler to me, was the
MVP of the first round of the playoffs, and Jokic
was the MVP of the second round and is playing
as well as he ever has with the deepest team
(20:29):
he's ever had around him. But you know, the Lakers,
they will take a lot from that fight back. I
saw my podcast partner Chris Haynes just reported on CNT's
post game show that darvinham is considering a lineup change
and moving Hatcha Murra into the starting lineup after the
job he did defensively on Jokic in the fourth quarter.
(20:51):
So I mean, look, this Lakers team has completely changed.
The whole complexion of the team changed at the trade deadline,
the multiple moves they've made, and you know, frankly, Ad
and Lebron needed more assistance, a lot more assistance than
they were getting through the first half of the season.
(21:11):
So this one also looks like it has the ability
to go long and be a long series. But look, Denver,
really both teams have been great at home, so I mean,
the road wins in the series are going to be
huge because neither of these teams are losing games at home.
But I just think this is the most well rounded
(21:31):
team that Denver has put around Jokic. And even though
I'm sure Michael Malone is furious about the way things
happened late, a coach can spin it and use it.
As you guys thought the game was over, we did
a B and C and let them back in it,
and so it maybe helped Denver keep an edge for
(21:54):
Game two that they might not have otherwise had if
they absolutely rolled in Game one.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with Me Mike Harmon.
Uh from the tyrack dot com studios. We've got our guy,
Mark Stein with us at the Steinline where you find
him on Twitter at mark Stein dot Substack dot com
is where you can read his latest check it out,
uh there for the latest columns and insights on the NBA,
(22:22):
and you can chime in on on the picks that
he makes as well. Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
So stay with this series.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
You know it's been the Witch is the third man
to step up in terms of scoring for the Lakers.
And I find it fun that while we're talking about games,
there's all the handwringing over Austin Reeves needing to get paid.
That's the subplot to it all.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
You know what, So I'm not I'm not so sure
that it's worrying about him getting paid. I think it's
more just because the limitations of what the Lakers could
do to match our shows are so tough that that,
you know, had we had this conversation in November or
December for fifty million over four for Austin Reeves, Yeah,
(23:04):
you know that's that'll you know that might be an overpay,
but he's just changed his reputations around the league so
dramatically that I mean, he's my current NBA standards, he's
worth more than that. So look, it's not just the Lakers.
All the top end teams with this new CBA coming in,
are so worried about how much harder it's going to
(23:27):
be to build teams around stars with the restrictions that
are going to be placed on the highest spending teams.
It's not just the Clippers and the Warriors, you know, Milwaukee,
Scenic Philly, we can go on and on and on.
You know, these teams are making coaching changes in part
for that reason because it's going to be hard to
(23:48):
reshape their roster. So what's the easiest thing to do,
Make a coaching change and try to bring a new
voice in. So that's the big change. So it's I mean, look,
Austin Reeves has with he is legit. You know, he
got a lot of fans around the league. There's a
lot of teams that would love to steal him.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Hey, Mark, let's get outside the playoffs here for a second.
Because the other big story that we're following, of course,
waiting to see what the final call is going to
be on John Morant after the latest gun video, how
does this end for him? Now he had the apology
or the put out the statement last night, Adam Silver
said he was shocked, how does this end for him?
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Well, I think everyone around the league is curious how
severe the suspension is going to be. Frankly, the feel
around the league was that the eight game suspension he
received the first time, when it was really only two
games because they credited six games that he missed while
he was away from the team. I mean that was
you know, overwhelmingly seen as super soft. So really, you know,
(24:46):
this whole thing, it's it's not just a Grizzly crisis,
it's an NBA crisis. It puts marketing, It creates you know,
marketing and image challenges for all teams, not just not
just the grid. So, I mean a lot of people
around the league do want to see how, you know,
(25:06):
how is the league, how strict will the league be?
How long will the suspension be? And you know, look,
they also have to the league at this point is
still going through the investigated process. They want to make
sure that the video that's out there is authentic. And
accurate and depict what we think it's depicts. But I mean,
(25:27):
you heard, I'm sure you guys heard Adam Silver speaking
to ESPN before the draft lottery, and you know he
himself said he's expecting the worst.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
So speaking of said draft lottery, all all eyes on
on one guy, Victor wembin Yama. The next great things
goes to San Antonio. We've been wondering Mark. I think
as a collective watching the NBA Greg Popovich, how long
is he for the NBA? This will reinvigorate a guy
and make him stick around a while.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
I think he was coming back anyway for at least
one more season. That was all the indications I was getting.
But yeah, I was actually in the drawing room in
Chicago last night. I'm still in Chicago at the NBA
Draft combine, and I was. I was in the lottery
room when you know, you find out an hour beforehand
the results, and you know I did. When the crowd
(26:22):
kind of thinned out, I was able to sidle up
to Brian Wright, the Spurs GM who was their representative
in the drawing room when the ping pong balls actually
pinged and ponged and we found out where Webin Yam
was going. And I told him, I said, you know now,
I'm pops coach until he's at least eighty now and
he laughed. And you know, believe believe me, Greg Popovich
(26:44):
cannot wait to coach this guy. I mean this, you know,
this is it's It's like it's two story books. I mean,
I'm sure there are a lot of people in other
cities who are upset and can't believe that the Spurs
yet again after a twenty two and have twenty six
years after duncan it happens again?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
You can follow on Twitter at the Steinline. It's NBA
insider Mark Stein. Check out his podcast This League Uncut,
an iHeart podcast. What's on the latest one? Mark? What
do you got?
Speaker 5 (27:15):
We actually just recorded one tonight with our our wembiologist,
Nicola Batoum or the La Clippers joined us about it'll
be out in the morning, Nicola Batoom taking us inside.
We talk all things wemby with Nicola Batoum.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Wow, that's you better patent that word a wembiologist. I mean,
now you can make money on here. That's pretty good again.
Check it out This League Uncut the podcast an iHeart
podcast and Mark on Twitter at the steinline, Mark and
talking again, my friend, We'll talk soon. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
Sounds good, guys, Take care thanks Mark.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
All right there he goes. Now, look, yes, the league
is going to wait as long as they can until
they announced a John Morant's suspension because Adam Silver is
not someone that comes out and says something very decisively.
He's one of those let me see which way the
wind is blowing here. How are people going to react
if say this is the suspension? What will the action be?
(28:06):
If this is the suspension, we can say that this
is a video that is legit. So the video wasn't legit,
we would know by now right, I mean we would know.
John Morant would have said whoaa wo this was not me,
or this was me way before, it's a video from
five months ago, something else. No, he wouldn't have apologized
again and said what he said if it wasn't legit.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
So he issued a different statement during the so yourst
game of the Western Conference Final.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
How many people you think Adam Silver is calling up
going hey, let me get your take on something here,
just just to want to ask you what you think.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I think he's reading a lot on the blogs and
message boards, stealing right out of draft day. How long
do you think the suspension should be? Well, I see
what they want on the message boards.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon live from the tire Rag dot Com Studio.
We'll have more on the heat in the Celtics coming
up in a couple of minutes. Jimmy, But another big
NBA headline today that first began as a report from Yahoo'
Chris Haynes, then became more widely accepted that James Harden
(29:15):
will become a free agent. He will opt out of
the final year of his deal with the Sixers. It's
gonna pay him thirty six million dollars. He is hoping
for a four year deal, as we've seen reports today,
his last bite at the Apple for a long contract. Now,
let me just say one thing to James Harden, if
that is in fact his strategy, I got four words
(29:38):
for you. No, that is one to I'm gonna eat that.
That's six words. If I had six words for you
that would.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
And instead at that level, at that pace, it sounded
like four fast.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I actually had to count on my fingers.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
One.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I'm gonna don't count. The contraction is.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Gonna is one where that's fine. I got four words
for you. Good luck with that good you really think
it takes one?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Good luck?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
It takes one, babe. He's gonna eat.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
The biggest reality sandwich in his life. He's need a
fat sales realities sandwich. I want to double meat and
double cheese and onions and all and horse radish on it.
Kevin Durant didn't have a big market when he wanted
out Kevin Durant because many teams thought, are we really
a Kevin Durant away from.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Winning a championship? And clearly the Sons found out, oh,
we're not a Kevin Durant away.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
But the beauty of this is you would be able
to sign him and not give away for first rude,
but you to acquire him.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
But you want it, You're gonna get. You're gonna get
in for James Harden. Where if if teams didn't think
they were a Kevin Durant awake, Remember, he wanted to
be traded a long time ago, and the offers were bad,
and the only team that was out there was Hey,
the Sons. The Sons, and who wound up getting him?
The Sons. Did they give up a lot for him? No,
you're talking about James hard who is now two levels
(31:02):
below of where KD is. James Harden now is not
nearly the James Harden we got every three or four games. Hey,
I can have a big game for you, but I'm
a guy who is a number two or even a
number three guy on a team. That's the reality for
James Harden. You think teams are gonna say, yes, we're
a James Harden away from winning a championship. Just think
about that. What team he wants to go to a contender,
(31:23):
because that's part of the port too, go to a contender, win,
get paid. What contender is gonna say we need to
bring in James Harden. Everywhere he's been it has not worked.
His height with the Rockets, never got to the NBA finals,
the Nets didn't work, shipped him out, the Sixers didn't work, underachieved.
He wants to leave. What team is.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Gonna say we are a James Harden away.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Nobody and he's gonna get that big dose reality and
gonna find out the hard way. The market's gonna be
really small for him, really fast. He's gonna have to
settle for less money and a destination of a desperate
team who is like, well, how else are we gonna
get a star? Maybe James Harden will work with Damian Lillard,
and that's where I gotta go. I gotta go to Portland.
I gotta go someplace that's not quite a contender, but
(32:04):
someplace where, hey, they'll at least have me and maybe
give me some kind of cash. But his four year
payday with it contending to yeah, good luck, because that
ain't happening.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Well. But that's the thing is, it only takes one.
And that's where we're at with James Harden. You saw
enough in those couple of games. It's like I can
still take over and still have a huge impact sometimes,
and it takes one. Now, to their detriment, I'm not
the head of any of these NBA teams because I'm
(32:37):
sure as hell not signing up for four years of
guaranteed money. But it takes one to say, all right,
we're close ish and given away. The playoffs have gone
this year and the changing face of the NBA related
to how much of that gap is closed to where
these seven and eight seeds are competitive, that you're gonna
(33:01):
have a team that looks around and says, well, we
can get a guy into your point of this is
our way to get a star in we didn't win
the lottery, congratulations, spurs that you can go in and
get a James Harden and I don't. I have no
idea what he is as a team leader. Seems like
he's always wanted around until he's not, and getting not
(33:25):
getting along with Doc Rivers is not a reason for
me to cross him off any list.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Right, the fact that he was he was just alright
with Doc. So much was made about that, like, all.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Right, why is everybody always you know, bowing to the
altar of Doc Rivers and all these things. Might be
a nice guy, but from a coaching perspective, we've seen
so many issues and philosophical differences with guys that you know,
it's not a bad thing necessarily that a star disagrees
with him. Yeah, someone will go on and get him,
(33:57):
someone will pay him his money and watch man. But
but you opt out and at worst you've got to
crawl back to them on on a spread out deal.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Just watch, nobody's gonna be interested, and no one's gonna
want to pay him. No one where he's gonna want
to go? Good luck.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
That's the keto where.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
He's gonna want to go, because you know what, once
he drives up wherever he's gonna pay him the most,
becomes where he wants to go.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
We got more in the NBA playoffs coming up next
right here, Fox
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Mike Harmon
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