July 6, 2023 • 42 mins
Jason Smith and Olden Polynice debate if the new NBA In-Season Tournament is a good idea. And ongtime NFL Insider Jason La Canfora swings by for all the latest on the Bills, Hard Knocks with the Jets. And why Victor Wembanyama should be on strict minute’s restriction during the regular season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Greetings and welcome inside. Happy Wednesday, The Jason Smith Show
Mike Harmon on Voudation Olden Polonies in tonight as we
broadcast live from the tirect dot Com whow direct dot com.
We'll help you get there at unmatched selection, fast free shipping,
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(00:49):
The way tire buying should be op Man, you know,
I'd said, Okay, I wonderf We're gonna have some big
NBA stuff to talk about. We got all kinds of
free agency in boom. Now I have a whole new
tournament to breakdown. The night you're in doing the show.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I'm ready to go, but ahones that's how.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's how works. That's hot work. You know you've done
this before, you know, come on, man, you've done this before.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I know. I'm just being I'm just being dumb today.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Oh hey, come on, come, I don't. Don't be so
hard on yourself. I gotta put up with frostburg and
tight shirt every night. Come on, it's it's that's fine.
Oh sorry, is it too soon for that, guys?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Too soon?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Too soon? Okay, Just so you know, tight shirt. Yesterday,
the last couple of days filling in, I got Tears
for Fears music, you know. Time's like, yeah, drilling for
dead during the afternoon, still got tears for Fears music.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So that warm heart?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, no, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Really it does. Yeah, it's a tradition on like any other.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yes, yes, that and the Masters. You are correct about that.
Uh so, you know, like I was saying, Olden, you know,
we have all this big NBA free agency stuff to
get to. We're gonna get all the breakdown of what's
coming with Harden and potentially Damian Lillard. And now we
got this big NBA in season tournament a breakdown. So
you picked a good to do the show?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh man? Every night. It's a good night to be on.
So let's do this every night.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
The big story today in the NBA is now the
long rumored in season tournament is going to happen this season,
and we have the details. Think about it like this.
If you think about the in season tournament like the
World Cup, it's pretty easy to get It'll take place
on December seventh, or the Final four will take place
(02:29):
on December seventh and ninth in Las Vegas. Okay, so
how do we lead up to that. Every team in
the NBA is gonna be put in a group. There's
gonna be six groups, and you're gonna play four games
in group. The winners of the group and the group
teams of the next best record all get out and
they play to get down to in the knockout stage,
the semifinals and the finals. So if you think about
(02:51):
it like the World Cup, everybody's in a group. You
gotta get out of group. You also have to have
a You can get out of group without winning your
group if you have a good record. So that's kind
of how the end in season tournament's going to begin.
All the stats are going to count, except for the
championship game. Of the events. So everything's in the regular season,
the games count and the standings. It's this new in
season tournament that takes place late November early December, and
(03:16):
the final is gonna be in Las Vegas. Now, I
know this is very polarizing the way this was announced
on Twitter. I don't think WOJ is anybody any favorites
today with the lack of details on it. But Op,
I don't know, Man, I like this. I love the idea.
I think this is a This is a forward thinking
thing by the NBA. Was because seasons are getting too
(03:37):
long now for many teams who don't have the playoffs
at the end of them. You're seeing regular seasons in
sports get less and less popular as the time goes on,
and not less and less popular, but there's less and
less emphasis on it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Look.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Look, stars in the NBA now are only gonna play
sixty sixty five games at most they're gonna have, you know,
they play fifty five to sixty that's kind of the
average right now. So to have something like this, I
think is a great idea. It's gonna take a little
bit of time to jump in, but this is the
wave of the future, and not only do. I think
we're gonna see it in the NBA, But when the
NBA starts succeeding, you'll see it in hockey, You'll see
(04:11):
it in Major League Baseball. This is kind of a
forward thinking thing that is gonna happen. Fans are gonna
jump to it. They're gonna adjust very quickly. It'll be
a pretty big part of the NBA calendar.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I definitely believe that, and I agree it's gonna be fun.
But I'm gonna start doing what woja does? You know?
Just announce stuff that I already knew about, you know,
months ago, with no details. That's what I'm gonna start doing.
I mean, okay, known about this. I'm a soccer fan,
so I'm used to this personally. But you know, you
(04:43):
play and then you play the fend leaves and everything else,
so I get all that. So the NBA is basically
barring from soccer, and I like that. But number one,
we don't care. I mean, unless you tell us it's
a play in, We're gonna just assume it's a regular
season game because that's how it's gonna play out. The
(05:04):
only thing I'm having a problem with is the last
two game stats not counting. That's kind of you know,
that's almost like the playing tournament at the end of
the season. It doesn't count. And so this is regular season, okay,
a regular season in tournament, I believe either all the
games count or none of them count. Okay, you keep
them stepping apart, but that would really mess up what
(05:27):
they're trying to do. So it's kind of I think
that was kind of like a compromise. Let's have the
last two games. So I'm looking forward to it. But again,
unless I'm being told specifically, we're not gonna notice a difference.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Well, here's this is what I really like about it
and what I think the ultimate version of it is. Right,
there's a lot of time you're a big soccer fan.
You saw Manchester City won the Trouble this year, right,
they won the England Premier League, do it? And there
are mid season tournaments that are really big deals take
place outside of what's going on in the English Premier League.
(06:03):
Their games that take place outside of it, and people
want to win those championships, like they want to win
the English Premier League. Maybe they want to win the
EPL a little bit more, but they still want to
really win these tournaments that that we see. So that's
the vision of this for the NBA is we want
to have a mid season tournament that teams want to
win just as bad or all right, maybe almost as
(06:25):
bad as winning the NBA title. So I like that.
I would rather see this be a completely separate from
the NBA, completely separate from the regular season. We're gonna
take a break and we're gonna play this tournament. I'd
like it a little bit later in the calendar year,
so maybe after that, you know, they've actually been there
a little bit longer than just a month before they
(06:46):
they do this. But if you're telling me a tournament
that means a lot, that's gonna be extra money for
the players, whatever it's going to be. To make it
a big deal, you got to make it a big deal.
You know. You put this out here saying, hey, we're
gonna do this tournament. Okay, so how big a deal
is it? You gotta tell me and make me believe
it's a big deal and it's a championship and it's
(07:06):
more money and whatever. You're gonna need to sell it
because you gotta sell it right away, and if you do,
people are gonna buy into it and say, okay, we Hey,
this is the first chance we have to win a championship,
and if we don't win, okay, we're on to the
rest of the regular season. So I'd rather see this
be by itself a two week break. Let's just say
however long it's gonna take to play these games and
move on to two and a half weeks. It would
(07:28):
be fun. It'd be a fun thing. Let's say my
team stinks. I mean, the Knicks are gonna win the
title next year, so I'm feeling okay about that. But
normal years, like if the Knicks aren't good, hey, we
could win this. We can get hot for a couple
of weeks, we could win a couple of games here.
But to make it that way, that seems like that's
been that's the ultimate vision of this. So why not
just make it right away because fans will care about it.
(07:50):
Fans will out we got a tournament, middle say, okay, great,
this is awesome. Fans care about Summer League. We're spending
time wondering about chet and when when Biyama's gonna play
in all this stuff, and we overinflate Summer League. Fans
are ready for this, So make it a big thing,
and right away it can be even bigger than you
expected to be the first year.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Oh definitely. And I agree to that last point. I mean,
I got the game on right now Sacramento in Miami
and a ton of fans in the Sands, and they
like it. They're giving out championship trophies now for some
of league champions. So you're right, go all in or not,
you know, do it like you said, you know, if
(08:27):
you're going to take a break, make it separate and
apart from the actual NBA. And so if you got
to cut the games, do it, but you know, just
make it separate apart. You know, there was a lot
of blowback for the playing tournament. Now people are loving
it because it's a lot more enticing and it gives
you something to play for. And outside of the financial aspects,
(08:51):
I don't see really, you know, what's the difference right
now for this in mid season or in season tournaments.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
The way they're trying to amp up because the NBA
is seen and look, they have realized this faster than
anybody that. Okay, the impact of the regular season is dwindling,
right They put in the play in tournament a couple
of years ago, and right away you saw it met
with kind of a side eye from the NBA. Some
people liked it, So I don't like the playing Tournament. Now,
(09:20):
where is it two years later? All year from NBA
teams during the season is oh, just make the play
and we're good. Right. You watch the heat go from
the Playing Tournament to the NBA Finals. So now it's
just just make the planes. Now, it's just be one
of the top ten teams in each in each conference?
Are you really going crazy to be the number one team?
To finish with the best records so you have home
court advantage all the way through. Hey, the Nuggets were
(09:41):
the best team this year, number one team in the West.
They made it all the way through. But is it
really that important? You see how teams are treating the
regular season now, stars are playing in sixty games if
they're lucky, they're taking off every one of the knights
of back to backs all the time, even if they're
young and they're able to play. You're just not seeing it.
You have seen a downgrade in the importance of how
the regular season is treated. So you need something in
(10:03):
the middle to kind of spark it up. A little bit,
and this is one of those sparks you're gonna get.
And the NBA is looking at their calendar right now
and going, okay, So we play a month and a half,
we play a little bit over a month, we have
this tournament, we have Christmas Day, we have the the
we turn the calendar over, and then a month and
a half after that, we have the All Star Game
in the trade deadline. Then a month and a half
(10:23):
after that we have the playoffs start. We have you know,
every month and a half or so, every every seventy
five days, we have something that's going to be a
big part of the calendar. So I get that. I
get that the NBA has had the foresight for it,
which is why I like it, because it's gonna you're
seeing that coming to Major League Baseball come to hockey too,
So I like that. I like the whole impact of this.
(10:46):
It's just it's not gonna be really difficult to sell
everybody on it. You know, I don't see this being
a very hard thing because even the playing tournament was
something that the players came around to very quickly. They'll
come around to this. It's just as fast. Oh, it's
a tournament. It's here. Oh, it's extra money, because I say,
you gotta put an extra money, Olden, I'm sure, I'm
sure you would try to get in and try to
(11:07):
play if they put extra money.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
For this tournament, I would I get in shape right now.
But you know what I was thinking, you know, because
they have that whole Christmas thing, I would do it.
I would do the final eight teams. I would do
it Christmas Day, so you still keep the traditional games
on Christmas Day and then a couple of days later
(11:32):
you have the chance, you know whatever, the final four
and then the championship, you know, because they're gonna have
to try to figure it out because they're keeping the
chance the Christmas games, you know, now that's a whole
different entity. So now you have four of them, you know,
because Christmas games are very popular right now, So when
are you really gonna have this N season tournament? Then
(11:54):
you have all star games. So the scheduling is what
I think what's been hampering them.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh I like that idea. That see you should call
Adam Silver with that idea, because that's a great Have
the have the finals be on Christmas Day? Right, have
the semifinals b the two days before, and you have
the final, the championship on Christmas.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Day, something along those lines. Oh, if you want to
keep your Christmas Day games, have have the you know
eight games, six games whatever it is, four games, you know,
semi finals. Basically on Christmas Day you still get all
your games in and then a couple of days later, oh,
right before New Year's maybe you have the championship.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I like, putting all, putting all, like the quarterfinal games
on your see it. You should be working in the end.
You shouldn't be sitting here with me, olden. You should
be in the front office with these ideas.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Hey, man, I've been trying. Man, they keep dissing me.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
This aggression will not stand.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Man.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I mean, I know we might be in the minority,
but I think this is a really good idea and
you're going to see it copycatted and it's got going
to take very long to work out the kinks on this.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
And let's be kind of fun. It's very successful overseas
with soccer. I mean it is. It's amazing how it's done,
you know, and it's okay. You know, it's okay to
make change. I don't mind that. The only thing that
gets kind of like off a little bit. Are the records,
you know, stuff that will did Oscar Rock all those
(13:23):
guys back then. But again, change is inevitable, you know,
and so we've seen it over the years that changes
do happen. But I think as far as like figuring
out the stats and the records, I think that's the
only thing that you know, kind of like hamper the
league in trying to fix.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
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 (13:52):
Jason Smith Alton polonies in from Mike Harmon tonight is
we're watching the Dodgers getting thumped right now for nothing,
Pittsburgh with the lead on top of the fourth inning.
But it's early, as Olvin like to say at last hour,
and during Kevin Wyatt's update, Dodger's down one nothing. It's early,
it's early, it's early. But before we get into Lillard
(14:12):
and Harden a little bit more in this discussion, Op,
you and I were having a few minutes ago about
minutes restrictions for the season for chet Holmgrin and Victor
Web Minyama. I get what you were saying about how
guys are coming into the league and they're not ready,
and Lebron was ready when he came in, and I
get that, but that's not gonna change. And the reason
(14:32):
I think there should be a minutes restriction for like
twenty minutes a night for them beginning of the season
is to protect them from getting injured because they are
big assets that the teams are hoping will be their
franchise for the next ten or twelve years. This is
kind of the world we live in now. It's not
going to change where Okay, guys are gonna come in
now and it's gonna be you have to come in
(14:53):
as an upper class. But no guy's still gonna be
one and done coming into the NBA, or you know,
if they were able to come in after two years,
whatever it is. So we're still gonna always fight this.
So if that's the case, guys not coming into the league,
I hear you on not being ready, being ready physically,
You're seeing guys eating more time to develop now than
you ever have before. But if this is the reality,
(15:15):
this is the world we live in, we kind of
have to adjust around it. So That's why I look
at a minutes restriction saying, Okay, this is what's gonna
protect them from themselves, protect them from getting hurt, and
help teams protect their assets going forward.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Well, yeah, I can see what you're trying to say,
but hear me out once again. The reason like myself
and a lot of guys from the sixties, seventies, eighties,
nineties were able to play and play through injuries and
play hurt and everything else is because we built a
(15:51):
tolerance for pain. We built a tolerance, and we built
our bodies to where we could withstand stuff the way
they're doing. And now listen into these analytics, geeks okay
that don't play them, don't know what's going on. They're
doing a disservice to these players and the game because
they will continually stay getting hurt because they're not building
(16:16):
up that tolerance. And so that's the problem I'm having.
Everybody keeps thinking less games is gonna help, It's gonna
continue the injuries. I'm not a doctor, but I've been
through this. I know what it takes to be an
NBA player, and I know the physicality aspects of it.
And so it's like you have to build that up everybody. Again.
(16:40):
You see Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis has a cycle now
of getting hurt. I can tell you exactly the day,
the month, and the time when Anthony Davis is gonna
get hurt during the season. I can do the same
with Chris Paul. I can do the same with most
of these guys that get hurt routinely because they're not
building up tolerance for the pain.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Right. But okay, so these guys come in the league
then and they start building up their tolerance. It's not
gonna happen in school. It's not gonna happen in if
they're playing in a smaller schedule for one year and
they play thirty five games in a couple of tournament games.
So they're gonna need some time for that to happen.
So why not have that that restriction to keep them
healthy and keep them going until that can happen. I'm
(17:24):
not saying this should be a ministertriction forever, but for
their rookie year when they come into the league, until
they see what kind of pounding they can take. I
don't see how that's a bad idea.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
They need to play. What helped me was summer league.
Some league helped me. After I got the Seattle signed
a contract and everything else, we started playing basketball, and
then I went I came down to LA and I
played in the LA Summer League. But that somemer league
had Magic Johnson, a keem olajuw On Dominique, they had
(17:53):
all the NBA players. So I was getting used to
the physicality in the summer by playing against the guys
that I was gonna see during the season. That's not
what's happening here. Ninety percent of these guys will not
even be on a roster and so to me, you're
not getting the chance to build that up. Even in
the summer league. When Benyama's gonna play two games and
(18:14):
then that's it, that's not gonna help him. Playing two
games already unlimited minutes, it's not gonna help him because
now his body is gonna shut back down. And that's
the problem. It's like when you if you don't stretch,
go out and play a get basketball game without stretching,
(18:34):
see what happens. And that's what these guys are doing. Unfortunately,
they're doing it on a bigger scale. It's not just
per game, it's per season. In per career, because now
by taking a game off when your body is revved up,
you are destroying yourself and no one's seeing it because
they don't care.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
But I don't see how that changes. I mean, I
don't see I don't see.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Play more games. Play more games. I guarantee you you'll
have less injuries.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yeah, but but I'm look, I'm with you on it,
but that but that's just not the way the NBA
world is going now. I mean, you see guys now,
and it used to be a star would play seventy
five games, right said they'd have a few games here
and there, be off as long as they had a
season that was bereft of injuries. But now it's like
sixty games. You know, you're lucky if embiid gets to
(19:25):
sixty games. Lebron and ad play sixty games. So that
that's like that's become the new normal. And I don't
know that. I mean, it's like trying to throw a
pebble in the ocean and stopping it. Like that's the
way the NBA is going now. I don't know the
will ever. Are we ever going to get back playing
more games? I don't think that.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I don't think so you are absolutely right. I do
agree with you on that this is the new normal,
going back to when you first started this whole thing
with Michael Jordan. You know, Michael Jordan played like eight
or nine years eighty two games at least like eight
or nine eighty two games he played, including his last year,
and so to me, you know, it was a different game.
And so we are here now. But if these people,
(20:04):
these analytics guys, you know and forget you know, I
apologize for call them geeks, but these analytics guys, you know,
actually I don't apologize. Wow, look at you analytics guys
wanna keep thinking that this is the way it's gonna help.
It's not, Okay, that's how they get in jobs, okay,
(20:24):
through numbers, and the numbers are not adding up, Okay.
It's about what's in your head, what's in your heart,
and what you can take and not take. I mean,
Kawhi Leonard's career is probably gonna be done all because
of load management. You know, he's gonna continuously get hurt
because when's he gonna play, and when he does play,
(20:46):
we're gonna limit him. And when he does go hard,
this is a damn end let's cycle.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You know, I don't. I don't say if I wish
there was a solution to it, but I just don't
see there being a solution play that's yeah yet, but that,
but that's whats on. No teams are gonna do that.
No teams are gonna do.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I'll show them how to do it. It's it's the
same that hard. I'll show them how to do it, Jason, Right, But.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
It's the same thing as baseball, where pitchers used to
pitch complete games. They pitch into the seventh and that's
stop doing.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I absolutely right, Gibson, all them casts, they were pitching
nine inches. Uh, Gaylord Perry, you know, freaking just destroy people, everybody,
complete game, complete game. Now you playing five inches? You
have seven pictures. Now for a game, you come in
for one, you come in for the one battle, you
come in, Come on. That's That's what I'm sing. Is
this generation, this whole thing is so walk Now we're
(21:47):
getting we're paying more for less. Yeah, yes, we're all
paying more for less. Fans everybody, we all paying more
for less. And it's not fair.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
No, but that, but this but this is this is
you know, I had this, I had this discussion. This
is why I've always believed. This is like about twenty
years ago, in between time when I when right before
I became a talent, I was a producer at ABC
ABC Sports here in LA and a lot of stuff
that that went on. We had a we had the
(22:19):
person in charge that would just make ridiculous decisions. I'm like,
what you're saying, this doesn't make sense. No, this doesn't
make sense. It doesn't matter. I can't believe. This doesn't
make sense. What you're telling me doesn't make sense. None
of it made sense. They were They were horrible decisions.
And I remember going back after a meeting and talking
to to my manager saying everything that that they they
said in that meeting was bad. He goes, I know,
(22:41):
and I said, we're not gonna be able to put
on a good show. We're not able to get guests,
We're not gonna be able to do We're not He goes,
I know, and I said, why are you telling me this?
He goes, because we have to adjust because this is
the world we live in. That person is in charge
of this department and is in charge of everything that
we do, and this is the world we live in,
and this is how they want us to do it,
and we have to find a way around it. If
(23:03):
we're going to try to do it, I know it
hamstrings us. It's not the best thing for us, clearly,
but this is the world we live in, and from
then on I've always understood that, Okay, yeah, sometimes there's
only so much you can do where you have to
instead of fighting a battle saying Okay, if this is
the way it's gonna be, now, I have to find
a way around it. And I feel like that's where
it is with the NBA. You have to find a
(23:23):
way around it now because it's never gonna get back
to players playing eighty two games. Lebron's never gonna go
for oh now I'm gonna play. No, it's never gonna
happen because now players have realized, oh I can still
get paid, superstars can compete the same amount of money
and playing less game. No one's gonna call them out
on it. So that's why it has to evolve, and
that's why I think that's why this idea of hey,
(23:44):
you know, home, we're gonna win Minyama play in less minutes,
because there's nothing that's gonna make that change and say Okay,
guess what now, you're right, let's go and let's everybody's
gonna play more minutes and put more stress on it.
It's just not gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna call him out. Now, here's
the thing you need to understand. They have They have
shirts now with heart monitors. They have the wristband thing
that control you know, for their hot blood pressure. They
put all these things on these players, right. They have
a masseuse, they have a chiropractice, they have in house chef,
(24:16):
they have a private playing that you can name. All
these wonderful amenities that they have, and they're all getting
hurt more. It's insane. There's only this is the one
that really messes with me right now. And I'm not
the angry old ex player, you know, I don't care.
(24:38):
The one is says they don't even have they don't
have two of days anymore. That's been outlawed. Okay, what
they have now is you have two hours for practice total.
If you want to do two a days, it's gonna
be one hour, one hour. It's not gonna be you
(24:59):
can't deal. So everybody has one practice and there's two outs.
By the time a coach finished talking, you're really running
up and down for about thirty five to forty minutes.
It's insane. And you expecting these guys to stay healthy
during the season all they I'm telling you, it's a
big AAU. There's no practices in AU. It's just play basketball.
(25:21):
That's what That's what we've gotten to now, and.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That's not gonna change. I mean, AU is gonna have
to have that kind of season. You're gonna still jump
from Hey, the most games you're gonna play, and you're
gonna play thirty five games. Maybe sometimes AU you'll play, like,
you know, four games in a weekend when you're in
a big tournament. But you're still gonna hit that thirty
five to forty game. And then suddenly, hey, guess what,
here's the NBA. It's a man's league. Man, that is
a man's league. Eighty two games, and now how many
(25:46):
games can you make it through?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
That?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I would do. I would do a complete offhaul. Okay,
with the schedule, and because now, like with this in
game tournament that we talked about earlier, I would just
take that as the precursor of changing everything. Okay. I
would bring and even more from Europe because they play
about thirty thirty five games overseas, but it's like once
or twice a week. So I would spread the season
(26:07):
out that way. Now you can get better quality because
you're not gonna play eighty two games. Okay. We used
to say the same thing. We used to say, eighty
two is too much. Okay, So it's not like we're
dissing it now. We used to say the same thing,
but we just did it, you know, for less pay,
because we love the game so much. I don't think
a lot of these guys love the game anymore. I
(26:29):
think they just doing it for the bag. I don't
think they really love basketball. Now I'm not saying everybody.
I just say there's some guys I don't think they
truly love the game.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Well, you know, you know what. I'm with you to
a point. I don't know if it's about loving the game.
I don't know that there's the emphasis on winning, on
the importance of winning, because that's a fallacy because the
NBA is the NBA is a lifestyle, like hey, being
a big star, being able to play, making a lot
of money playing and playing basketball. No, I think everybody
loves that. I think they all love that, but how
(27:01):
much do they love winning? I think players like winning.
I think I think they would rather win than not win.
And there's certain players. It's why we gravitate to players
like Jordan and Kobe and Lebron who want to win.
They know they're measured by finals appearances in championships. But
I think a lot of players, hey, it's a great lifestyle,
it's a great life, and they get to play and
do it. But the overall winning, winning's nice, but it's
(27:21):
almost like, hey, if we can win, great, but losing
is not something that, Okay, I'm going to really lose
a lot of sleepover if we lose. We lose only
you know, only one team can win. We'll go as
far as we can that. I don't know that there's
much of an emphasis on.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Let me tell you one thing about the NBA is this, okay,
and this is what people need to understand. Okay, they're
selling a bill of goods because they can only be
one champion. Everybody else the twenty nine other teams of
basically losers. You gotta understand. For the NBA, you cannot.
You have to either be really really good, which is
about six seven teams are really really bad. You cannot
(27:59):
be in the at all. In the NBA, you cannot
be in the middle. You had to be one of
the other really really good or really really bad. Boy
it to work.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Joining us on the hotline right now to break down
all the big news in the NFL Longtime NFL Inside,
or check them out on Audissey The Washington Post. He's
on Twitter at Jason Locke and four. It is Jaylaw.
What's happening, buddy? How are you?
Speaker 4 (28:33):
I can't complain. I'm sitting here on the deck here
at the Outer Banks, a little vacation. You know, life
is good.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Wow, you're watching the TV show Outer Banks. You're actually on.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
The O're yes, we're in Corolla, Corolla anyway, Yes, on
the Outer Banks. I've never seen the TV show, but
have a vacation here for years.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
All right. My daughter likes it, so she's a big
fan of it. So anytime shears out of it, it's like, Oh,
Outer Banks, Outer Bank. So I think he gets one
of those shows where there's like an adult and a
team mystery and it's got to be solved somehow, And
there's hyjenk So I think that's what it is. So
if you run into that down there, that's what it's
all about.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
I will keep an eye out most definitely.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
All Right, well, hey, speaking of hijinks, breakdown what's going
on with the Bills here? Right? We saw this big story.
Oh boy, Josh Allen had to say, listen, the media
is running too much with the story that Stefan Diggs
is at odds with the Bills. And after he had
his one day point out of camp or whatever it was,
and he showed up and he says it's the media's
fault and everything is fine? Is everything really fine? Jay?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Well, no, I don't think everything's totally fine. I mean
we saw, you know, some of the fon Digg's frustration boilover,
you know, with how their season ended, and I think
there was even maybe a little flicker or two of
some sideline discontent before that. And then certainly we continue
to see salary still bonker at his position and his
(30:02):
contract maybe look a little bit outdated right now. And
then yeah, you had the the hold in or the
you sent home or whatever however you want to quantify.
You know, they're they're sort of mini camp through ha.
The reality is, I don't think he's going anywhere, and
maybe there are some some things they could still do
to massage that contract a little bit, to try to
(30:25):
smooth it over anymore. I don't know how you can
call it a media creation. Like the coach talked about
it in real time and was like pretty much admitted
that we kind of sort of sent them home. We
don't think it's that big of a deal, but clearly
it was a thing. You can't say it's a complete
nothing burger. You can't say it's not a thing. I
(30:47):
think it's something that you know, jeopardizes their season or
something that you know, a cloud that hangs over them. No,
I think they figured this thing out, but like if
they have a slow start, you know, and there there
is a little bit of friction, like you know, it
(31:10):
might not be a complete utter utopia. But I don't
think he's going anywhere. I think he's going to be
a hell of a football player for them, And I
think a lot of people are getting a little over
their skis with just talk of like the bill you
know what I mean, like the Bills are sort of
left that now or the Bills had their chance. I
think they're built a little better than that.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
All right, Hey, Jason Olden here now there. You know,
at first I wasn't really liking you because you know,
you used to you used to be you know what fan.
They can't believe you went to the Red Sox of
all teams. So I'm gonna give you a pass because
now I know you left them and you went to
another team. So we're not too worried about the Oreas.
(31:52):
But my question to you is this, DeAndre Hopkins Dalvin Cook,
why are we hearing where you know, what's the landing
spot for these two guys.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Look, they don't. They don't have a robust market.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You know.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
If if they did, and if they were going to
get a contract that they were immediately in love with,
you know, I think it would have already happened. I mean,
we know who they visited with. I don't know anybody
who's looking at you know, in the case of DeAndre Hopkins,
anybody who's looking at the Titans and looking at the
Patriots and saying they're at the vanguard or the forefront
(32:30):
of like what's going on with modern you know, the
modern passing game in the NFL. Like, I don't know
anybody's looking at those quarterback situations saying I want to
hitch my wag into that. I mean, those teams don't
have big boy passing games. They lack dynamic talent in
the passing game. But you know that's where they made
(32:51):
their visits and and maybe that's where it goes. You know,
Dalvin Cook, I think it's clear that the money isn't
going to be exactly what he'd probably want in Miami.
I don't know that there's going to be a better
scheme fit though for him ultimately in what they do
the outside zone running game, you know, the sort of
(33:14):
tried and true you take it all the way back
to Alex Gibbs and you know Kyle Shanahan's daddy Mike,
what they were doing in Denver thirty years ago. That
stuff still works and he's built for that, and you know,
outside zone is his bread and butter. So I think
he'd be a potential game breaker in Mike McDaniel's run scheme.
But again, I mean we're not playing any football, even
(33:36):
fake football. For another three weeks before people show up
for camp, and I don't think these guys are necessarily
like dudes who you're going to see a whole lot
in the preseason anyway. And it could take an injury
early in camp somewhere else for someone to give them
closer to what they're looking for financially. So I don't
think there's any like on either side from teams or them,
(34:00):
any sense that anything's close or anything has to happen
right away.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Jay'son locking for our guests here, the Jason Smith Show,
the Olden Polities in for Mike Harmon tonight. All right, Jay,
let's head to Hard Knocks now, which is like the
mystery that everybody seems to know. We're just waiting for
the official announcement. We saw Green Bay kind of let
the cat out of the bag this weekend when their
team president says, oh, looking forward to seeing the Jets
on Hard Knocks this year. I really I get the
(34:24):
teams don't want to do it all. We don't want
the edded distraction of the cameras, but this is not
that big a deal. Teams have gone to the playoffs
before when they've done Hard Knocks. I don't see this
as being the Oh my goodness, we're completely throwing this
season away by doing hard knocks. I just don't see
it that way.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
No, it's no, it's not. It's not the biggest thing
in the world. I mean, look, you know how football
coaches are wired. You know, they're obsessive, compulsive maniacs who
want to control everything their players do and think. And
I mean not all of them, but a lot of them.
So you can't. You know, it's hard enough to sort
(35:03):
of control what's on the inside. Then you start bringing
in Tamra Cruise, some NFL films and this or that,
you know, and all of a sudden, it's a little
tougher to be, you know, the megalomaniac sort of dictator
that you ultimately may want to be, especially you know,
it's just so silly, but I mean, they're worried about
(35:23):
what someone's going to see that they're not supposed to see.
And I mean, just to be a regular media member
these days and cover an NFL like Ota, it's nuts.
The stuff that most of these teams like don't want
you to report on or don't want you to say
that you saw. You know, so now here you are
all these people from the outside that you don't know,
who aren't regulars in your building, and you're hoping they're
(35:45):
all playing by the rules. And at the end of
the day, is it all much ado about nothing? Absolutely?
Are state secrets going to be leaked or is somebody
going to see something they're not supposed to see? No,
But it's just one more set of variables, right, It's
one more set of sort of controllables that they don't
want to deal with, that they'd much rather one of
their competitors have to deal with. But ultimately, the league
(36:08):
thinks it's good for the league, right, I mean the
thirty two billionaires and the commissioner and his underlings feel
like it's just good free pr for the league, right,
And so as long as it's getting at decent ratings,
it's not going away. And they created a kakamanie formula
to decide who might have to participate in it and
who doesn't have to participate in it. And I don't
(36:31):
think as many people watch this as they used to,
but I also don't think it's going away. And if
it's the Jets, it's the Jets.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Well, of course it's gonna be the Jets. It's Aaron Rodgers.
The camera loves him. Of course, it's gonna be the Jets.
He's gonna love it. It's gonna be the only story.
Forget about here's two here's two defensive backs competing for
the nickel. No, nobody's gonna care about who wins the
nickel job. Heys, give me Aaron Rodgers. That's all.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
But here's the say. Robert Salop probably thinks that's terrible.
But do you think, what are you? John's probably all
over Like I think, to a guy like who's been
trying to win the back page forever, right and competing
with the giants through the fall, in the winter for
who's in the back you know, the back pages of
the sports tabloids, like, I think he'd be all over it.
I think he'd look at it as an infomercial for
his football team, which is essentially what it is. And again,
(37:20):
when the owners want to do something they don't think
the coaches like, they send them all off to the
golf course and then they hold a vote and they
change the rules on overtime or whatever. So it ain't
a coaches league, it's an in a players league. It's
a billionaires league. And again I think Woody Johnson would
look at this as a potential money maker and maybe
he sells a few more Aaron Rodgers jerseys or you know,
(37:41):
some obscure dude comes out of nowhere and they he's
like the guy everybody's rooting for and every week like
he's gonna make a team or is he any team?
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Like?
Speaker 4 (37:48):
I think you can call that up.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
The best part for me about hard Nax is coach,
want to see you bring your playbook?
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Cut, yeah, but I had a question for you. Now.
You know the other day Steph Clay Kelsey and Mahomes
played in that match, okay, and apparently players well it
was okay for them to bet on it. And you
see where I'm going with this. Yeah, this whole gambling hypocrisy. Yeah,
(38:21):
you know, what do you make of this? Because it
makes no sense to me?
Speaker 4 (38:25):
No, no it doesn't. But again, these are rules being
made five billionaires who were hypocrites who were taking money
hand over fist and sponsorship deals with these very same
entities you know, Draft Kings, FanDuel whoever. That they don't
want you know that they want to heavily regulate what
the players can and can't do in regards to you know,
(38:46):
their own wagers, however small they may be. I mean, look,
the one I guess third rail has always been you
can't bet. You know, it used to be you can't
gamble it off of these guys. You'd walk into an
NFL locker room if you posted all place. I mean, now,
clearly they don't want you betting in their facilities any
sort of bets, and they don't want you betting on
(39:07):
you know, football whatsoever. It may take a little more
time for that message to get through, but the world's
changed and there's too much money out there for these
billionaires to ignore it anymore. So, but keep trying to
sort of massage it as it goes along. But ultimately
I think maybe we do reach a point in time
(39:28):
where what the players, what's asked to the players is
the same as sort of what's asked to the coaches,
which is they just don't want them betting on any
professional sports whatsoever. Now, whether that you know, what you're
referring to, whether you want to consider that a professional
sport or not, you know, I think probably remains to
be seen. I mean, it's kind of like a one
off I don't know, freak show kind of a thing. So,
(39:51):
but you get better on anything these days, So I
don't I'd be lying if I told you I had
to figure it out or I know where it's all going.
I also don't think the sports leads themselves necessarily nowhere
it's going either. But you know, there's a lot of
dudes whose careers have been lost already or they might
not get a second to third chance, especially when they're
not a superstar, And I think that starts to resonate
(40:13):
more than anything else. I think, you know, guys look
at the ramifications and decide, you know, whether it makes
sense to fire off that five dollars parlay better or not.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Lastly, Jay, look, I know you're close to this and
everywhere I look it's Lamar Jackson's gonna throw fifty touchdowns
this year. He's got eleven receivers who we're going to
get the thousand yard season. It's going to be the
greatest season ever. Are you buying into that hype with
the new offense, new everything and the new players in
or is this just hey, it's early and it's kind
of the honeymoon period.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
Yeah. I mean, look, I think you know, Can he
throw for four thousand yards forty two hundred yards something
like that, maybe even forty five? Yes, I think he can.
He could be in that range. Do I think he
could average two passing touchdowns a game? You know?
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Do I do?
Speaker 4 (41:02):
I think if he's gonna end up playing and let's
say it doesn't play in every game he plays in
fifteen or sixteen, you know, is he in the low
thirties and touchdown passes? I do? You know? Is he
going back from twelve hundred yards rushing recalibrating to like
seven fifty or something like that. I also think that's
in the cards, you know, And yeah, could he could he?
(41:23):
I think for me, like the total number, I'm focused
on his forty Did he account for forty touchdowns or
close to it? Passing and rushing? You know? Is he
throwing for thirty four and running for another five or six?
I think it's that sort of efficiency. You know, what
does he look like in the red zone? I don't
think they're going to be up there with the Bengals
or you know, some of these teams in terms of
(41:44):
how prolific the offense is in terms of yardage. I
think they're still going to be relatively balanced. But I
think his individual passing yards will should go up and
I think his rushing yards should go down.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
You can fall him on Twitter at Jason lock and four.
That's at Jason lock and four Odyssey, Washington Post. Jays
always buddy, whether you are from the Inner or outer Banks,
Thank you very much for your time and enjoy the week.
We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4 (42:08):
You guys do the same, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
All right? All right, Yankees.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
He's an Orioles country, that's.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
No.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
But he used to root for the Red Sox and
I hate the ooh, I hate them with a passion.
I'm okay with him rooting for the Orioles, but he
was a Red Sox fan, and especially he's and I
should have asked him to follow up when did he
become the Red Soxe, because I think he joined them
or believed in them when they beat us, when we
gave away that three one lead
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from 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.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Greetings and welcome inside. Happy Wednesday, The Jason Smith Show
Mike Harmon on Voudation Olden Polonies in tonight as we
broadcast live from the tirect dot Com whow direct dot com.
We'll help you get there at unmatched selection, fast free shipping,
free roadhatch protection, over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com.
(00:49):
The way tire buying should be op Man, you know,
I'd said, Okay, I wonderf We're gonna have some big
NBA stuff to talk about. We got all kinds of
free agency in boom. Now I have a whole new
tournament to breakdown. The night you're in doing the show.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I'm ready to go, but ahones that's how.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's how works. That's hot work. You know you've done
this before, you know, come on, man, you've done this before.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I know. I'm just being I'm just being dumb today.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Oh hey, come on, come, I don't. Don't be so
hard on yourself. I gotta put up with frostburg and
tight shirt every night. Come on, it's it's that's fine.
Oh sorry, is it too soon for that, guys?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Too soon?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Too soon? Okay, Just so you know, tight shirt. Yesterday,
the last couple of days filling in, I got Tears
for Fears music, you know. Time's like, yeah, drilling for
dead during the afternoon, still got tears for Fears music.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So that warm heart?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, no, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Really it does. Yeah, it's a tradition on like any other.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yes, yes, that and the Masters. You are correct about that.
Uh so, you know, like I was saying, Olden, you know,
we have all this big NBA free agency stuff to
get to. We're gonna get all the breakdown of what's
coming with Harden and potentially Damian Lillard. And now we
got this big NBA in season tournament a breakdown. So
you picked a good to do the show?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh man? Every night. It's a good night to be on.
So let's do this every night.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
The big story today in the NBA is now the
long rumored in season tournament is going to happen this season,
and we have the details. Think about it like this.
If you think about the in season tournament like the
World Cup, it's pretty easy to get It'll take place
on December seventh, or the Final four will take place
(02:29):
on December seventh and ninth in Las Vegas. Okay, so
how do we lead up to that. Every team in
the NBA is gonna be put in a group. There's
gonna be six groups, and you're gonna play four games
in group. The winners of the group and the group
teams of the next best record all get out and
they play to get down to in the knockout stage,
the semifinals and the finals. So if you think about
(02:51):
it like the World Cup, everybody's in a group. You
gotta get out of group. You also have to have
a You can get out of group without winning your
group if you have a good record. So that's kind
of how the end in season tournament's going to begin.
All the stats are going to count, except for the
championship game. Of the events. So everything's in the regular season,
the games count and the standings. It's this new in
season tournament that takes place late November early December, and
(03:16):
the final is gonna be in Las Vegas. Now, I
know this is very polarizing the way this was announced
on Twitter. I don't think WOJ is anybody any favorites
today with the lack of details on it. But Op,
I don't know, Man, I like this. I love the idea.
I think this is a This is a forward thinking
thing by the NBA. Was because seasons are getting too
(03:37):
long now for many teams who don't have the playoffs
at the end of them. You're seeing regular seasons in
sports get less and less popular as the time goes on,
and not less and less popular, but there's less and
less emphasis on it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Look.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Look, stars in the NBA now are only gonna play
sixty sixty five games at most they're gonna have, you know,
they play fifty five to sixty that's kind of the
average right now. So to have something like this, I
think is a great idea. It's gonna take a little
bit of time to jump in, but this is the
wave of the future, and not only do. I think
we're gonna see it in the NBA, But when the
NBA starts succeeding, you'll see it in hockey, You'll see
(04:11):
it in Major League Baseball. This is kind of a
forward thinking thing that is gonna happen. Fans are gonna
jump to it. They're gonna adjust very quickly. It'll be
a pretty big part of the NBA calendar.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I definitely believe that, and I agree it's gonna be fun.
But I'm gonna start doing what woja does? You know?
Just announce stuff that I already knew about, you know,
months ago, with no details. That's what I'm gonna start doing.
I mean, okay, known about this. I'm a soccer fan,
so I'm used to this personally. But you know, you
(04:43):
play and then you play the fend leaves and everything else,
so I get all that. So the NBA is basically
barring from soccer, and I like that. But number one,
we don't care. I mean, unless you tell us it's
a play in, We're gonna just assume it's a regular
season game because that's how it's gonna play out. The
(05:04):
only thing I'm having a problem with is the last
two game stats not counting. That's kind of you know,
that's almost like the playing tournament at the end of
the season. It doesn't count. And so this is regular season, okay,
a regular season in tournament, I believe either all the
games count or none of them count. Okay, you keep
them stepping apart, but that would really mess up what
(05:27):
they're trying to do. So it's kind of I think
that was kind of like a compromise. Let's have the
last two games. So I'm looking forward to it. But again,
unless I'm being told specifically, we're not gonna notice a difference.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Well, here's this is what I really like about it
and what I think the ultimate version of it is. Right,
there's a lot of time you're a big soccer fan.
You saw Manchester City won the Trouble this year, right,
they won the England Premier League, do it? And there
are mid season tournaments that are really big deals take
place outside of what's going on in the English Premier League.
(06:03):
Their games that take place outside of it, and people
want to win those championships, like they want to win
the English Premier League. Maybe they want to win the
EPL a little bit more, but they still want to
really win these tournaments that that we see. So that's
the vision of this for the NBA is we want
to have a mid season tournament that teams want to
win just as bad or all right, maybe almost as
(06:25):
bad as winning the NBA title. So I like that.
I would rather see this be a completely separate from
the NBA, completely separate from the regular season. We're gonna
take a break and we're gonna play this tournament. I'd
like it a little bit later in the calendar year,
so maybe after that, you know, they've actually been there
a little bit longer than just a month before they
(06:46):
they do this. But if you're telling me a tournament
that means a lot, that's gonna be extra money for
the players, whatever it's going to be. To make it
a big deal, you got to make it a big deal.
You know. You put this out here saying, hey, we're
gonna do this tournament. Okay, so how big a deal
is it? You gotta tell me and make me believe
it's a big deal and it's a championship and it's
(07:06):
more money and whatever. You're gonna need to sell it
because you gotta sell it right away, and if you do,
people are gonna buy into it and say, okay, we Hey,
this is the first chance we have to win a championship,
and if we don't win, okay, we're on to the
rest of the regular season. So I'd rather see this
be by itself a two week break. Let's just say
however long it's gonna take to play these games and
move on to two and a half weeks. It would
(07:28):
be fun. It'd be a fun thing. Let's say my
team stinks. I mean, the Knicks are gonna win the
title next year, so I'm feeling okay about that. But
normal years, like if the Knicks aren't good, hey, we
could win this. We can get hot for a couple
of weeks, we could win a couple of games here.
But to make it that way, that seems like that's
been that's the ultimate vision of this. So why not
just make it right away because fans will care about it.
(07:50):
Fans will out we got a tournament, middle say, okay, great,
this is awesome. Fans care about Summer League. We're spending
time wondering about chet and when when Biyama's gonna play
in all this stuff, and we overinflate Summer League. Fans
are ready for this, So make it a big thing,
and right away it can be even bigger than you
expected to be the first year.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Oh definitely. And I agree to that last point. I mean,
I got the game on right now Sacramento in Miami
and a ton of fans in the Sands, and they
like it. They're giving out championship trophies now for some
of league champions. So you're right, go all in or not,
you know, do it like you said, you know, if
(08:27):
you're going to take a break, make it separate and
apart from the actual NBA. And so if you got
to cut the games, do it, but you know, just
make it separate apart. You know, there was a lot
of blowback for the playing tournament. Now people are loving
it because it's a lot more enticing and it gives
you something to play for. And outside of the financial aspects,
(08:51):
I don't see really, you know, what's the difference right
now for this in mid season or in season tournaments.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
The way they're trying to amp up because the NBA
is seen and look, they have realized this faster than
anybody that. Okay, the impact of the regular season is dwindling,
right They put in the play in tournament a couple
of years ago, and right away you saw it met
with kind of a side eye from the NBA. Some
people liked it, So I don't like the playing Tournament. Now,
(09:20):
where is it two years later? All year from NBA
teams during the season is oh, just make the play
and we're good. Right. You watch the heat go from
the Playing Tournament to the NBA Finals. So now it's
just just make the planes. Now, it's just be one
of the top ten teams in each in each conference?
Are you really going crazy to be the number one team?
To finish with the best records so you have home
court advantage all the way through. Hey, the Nuggets were
(09:41):
the best team this year, number one team in the West.
They made it all the way through. But is it
really that important? You see how teams are treating the
regular season now, stars are playing in sixty games if
they're lucky, they're taking off every one of the knights
of back to backs all the time, even if they're
young and they're able to play. You're just not seeing it.
You have seen a downgrade in the importance of how
the regular season is treated. So you need something in
(10:03):
the middle to kind of spark it up. A little bit,
and this is one of those sparks you're gonna get.
And the NBA is looking at their calendar right now
and going, okay, So we play a month and a half,
we play a little bit over a month, we have
this tournament, we have Christmas Day, we have the the
we turn the calendar over, and then a month and
a half after that, we have the All Star Game
in the trade deadline. Then a month and a half
(10:23):
after that we have the playoffs start. We have you know,
every month and a half or so, every every seventy
five days, we have something that's going to be a
big part of the calendar. So I get that. I
get that the NBA has had the foresight for it,
which is why I like it, because it's gonna you're
seeing that coming to Major League Baseball come to hockey too,
So I like that. I like the whole impact of this.
(10:46):
It's just it's not gonna be really difficult to sell
everybody on it. You know, I don't see this being
a very hard thing because even the playing tournament was
something that the players came around to very quickly. They'll
come around to this. It's just as fast. Oh, it's
a tournament. It's here. Oh, it's extra money, because I say,
you gotta put an extra money, Olden, I'm sure, I'm
sure you would try to get in and try to
(11:07):
play if they put extra money.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
For this tournament, I would I get in shape right now.
But you know what I was thinking, you know, because
they have that whole Christmas thing, I would do it.
I would do the final eight teams. I would do
it Christmas Day, so you still keep the traditional games
on Christmas Day and then a couple of days later
(11:32):
you have the chance, you know whatever, the final four
and then the championship, you know, because they're gonna have
to try to figure it out because they're keeping the
chance the Christmas games, you know, now that's a whole
different entity. So now you have four of them, you know,
because Christmas games are very popular right now, So when
are you really gonna have this N season tournament? Then
(11:54):
you have all star games. So the scheduling is what
I think what's been hampering them.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh I like that idea. That see you should call
Adam Silver with that idea, because that's a great Have
the have the finals be on Christmas Day? Right, have
the semifinals b the two days before, and you have
the final, the championship on Christmas.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Day, something along those lines. Oh, if you want to
keep your Christmas Day games, have have the you know
eight games, six games whatever it is, four games, you know,
semi finals. Basically on Christmas Day you still get all
your games in and then a couple of days later, oh,
right before New Year's maybe you have the championship.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I like, putting all, putting all, like the quarterfinal games
on your see it. You should be working in the end.
You shouldn't be sitting here with me, olden. You should
be in the front office with these ideas.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Hey, man, I've been trying. Man, they keep dissing me.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
This aggression will not stand.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Man.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I mean, I know we might be in the minority,
but I think this is a really good idea and
you're going to see it copycatted and it's got going
to take very long to work out the kinks on this.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
And let's be kind of fun. It's very successful overseas
with soccer. I mean it is. It's amazing how it's done,
you know, and it's okay. You know, it's okay to
make change. I don't mind that. The only thing that
gets kind of like off a little bit. Are the records,
you know, stuff that will did Oscar Rock all those
(13:23):
guys back then. But again, change is inevitable, you know,
and so we've seen it over the years that changes
do happen. But I think as far as like figuring
out the stats and the records, I think that's the
only thing that you know, kind of like hamper the
league in trying to fix.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
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 (13:52):
Jason Smith Alton polonies in from Mike Harmon tonight is
we're watching the Dodgers getting thumped right now for nothing,
Pittsburgh with the lead on top of the fourth inning.
But it's early, as Olvin like to say at last hour,
and during Kevin Wyatt's update, Dodger's down one nothing. It's early,
it's early, it's early. But before we get into Lillard
(14:12):
and Harden a little bit more in this discussion, Op,
you and I were having a few minutes ago about
minutes restrictions for the season for chet Holmgrin and Victor
Web Minyama. I get what you were saying about how
guys are coming into the league and they're not ready,
and Lebron was ready when he came in, and I
get that, but that's not gonna change. And the reason
(14:32):
I think there should be a minutes restriction for like
twenty minutes a night for them beginning of the season
is to protect them from getting injured because they are
big assets that the teams are hoping will be their
franchise for the next ten or twelve years. This is
kind of the world we live in now. It's not
going to change where Okay, guys are gonna come in
now and it's gonna be you have to come in
(14:53):
as an upper class. But no guy's still gonna be
one and done coming into the NBA, or you know,
if they were able to come in after two years,
whatever it is. So we're still gonna always fight this.
So if that's the case, guys not coming into the league,
I hear you on not being ready, being ready physically,
You're seeing guys eating more time to develop now than
you ever have before. But if this is the reality,
(15:15):
this is the world we live in, we kind of
have to adjust around it. So That's why I look
at a minutes restriction saying, Okay, this is what's gonna
protect them from themselves, protect them from getting hurt, and
help teams protect their assets going forward.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Well, yeah, I can see what you're trying to say,
but hear me out once again. The reason like myself
and a lot of guys from the sixties, seventies, eighties,
nineties were able to play and play through injuries and
play hurt and everything else is because we built a
(15:51):
tolerance for pain. We built a tolerance, and we built
our bodies to where we could withstand stuff the way
they're doing. And now listen into these analytics, geeks okay
that don't play them, don't know what's going on. They're
doing a disservice to these players and the game because
they will continually stay getting hurt because they're not building
(16:16):
up that tolerance. And so that's the problem I'm having.
Everybody keeps thinking less games is gonna help, It's gonna
continue the injuries. I'm not a doctor, but I've been
through this. I know what it takes to be an
NBA player, and I know the physicality aspects of it.
And so it's like you have to build that up everybody. Again.
(16:40):
You see Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis has a cycle now
of getting hurt. I can tell you exactly the day,
the month, and the time when Anthony Davis is gonna
get hurt during the season. I can do the same
with Chris Paul. I can do the same with most
of these guys that get hurt routinely because they're not
building up tolerance for the pain.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Right. But okay, so these guys come in the league
then and they start building up their tolerance. It's not
gonna happen in school. It's not gonna happen in if
they're playing in a smaller schedule for one year and
they play thirty five games in a couple of tournament games.
So they're gonna need some time for that to happen.
So why not have that that restriction to keep them
healthy and keep them going until that can happen. I'm
(17:24):
not saying this should be a ministertriction forever, but for
their rookie year when they come into the league, until
they see what kind of pounding they can take. I
don't see how that's a bad idea.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
They need to play. What helped me was summer league.
Some league helped me. After I got the Seattle signed
a contract and everything else, we started playing basketball, and
then I went I came down to LA and I
played in the LA Summer League. But that somemer league
had Magic Johnson, a keem olajuw On Dominique, they had
(17:53):
all the NBA players. So I was getting used to
the physicality in the summer by playing against the guys
that I was gonna see during the season. That's not
what's happening here. Ninety percent of these guys will not
even be on a roster and so to me, you're
not getting the chance to build that up. Even in
the summer league. When Benyama's gonna play two games and
(18:14):
then that's it, that's not gonna help him. Playing two
games already unlimited minutes, it's not gonna help him because
now his body is gonna shut back down. And that's
the problem. It's like when you if you don't stretch,
go out and play a get basketball game without stretching,
(18:34):
see what happens. And that's what these guys are doing. Unfortunately,
they're doing it on a bigger scale. It's not just
per game, it's per season. In per career, because now
by taking a game off when your body is revved up,
you are destroying yourself and no one's seeing it because
they don't care.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
But I don't see how that changes. I mean, I
don't see I don't see.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Play more games. Play more games. I guarantee you you'll
have less injuries.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yeah, but but I'm look, I'm with you on it,
but that but that's just not the way the NBA
world is going now. I mean, you see guys now,
and it used to be a star would play seventy
five games, right said they'd have a few games here
and there, be off as long as they had a
season that was bereft of injuries. But now it's like
sixty games. You know, you're lucky if embiid gets to
(19:25):
sixty games. Lebron and ad play sixty games. So that
that's like that's become the new normal. And I don't
know that. I mean, it's like trying to throw a
pebble in the ocean and stopping it. Like that's the
way the NBA is going now. I don't know the
will ever. Are we ever going to get back playing
more games? I don't think that.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I don't think so you are absolutely right. I do
agree with you on that this is the new normal,
going back to when you first started this whole thing
with Michael Jordan. You know, Michael Jordan played like eight
or nine years eighty two games at least like eight
or nine eighty two games he played, including his last year,
and so to me, you know, it was a different game.
And so we are here now. But if these people,
(20:04):
these analytics guys, you know and forget you know, I
apologize for call them geeks, but these analytics guys, you know,
actually I don't apologize. Wow, look at you analytics guys
wanna keep thinking that this is the way it's gonna help.
It's not, Okay, that's how they get in jobs, okay,
(20:24):
through numbers, and the numbers are not adding up, Okay.
It's about what's in your head, what's in your heart,
and what you can take and not take. I mean,
Kawhi Leonard's career is probably gonna be done all because
of load management. You know, he's gonna continuously get hurt
because when's he gonna play, and when he does play,
(20:46):
we're gonna limit him. And when he does go hard,
this is a damn end let's cycle.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You know, I don't. I don't say if I wish
there was a solution to it, but I just don't
see there being a solution play that's yeah yet, but that,
but that's whats on. No teams are gonna do that.
No teams are gonna do.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I'll show them how to do it. It's it's the
same that hard. I'll show them how to do it, Jason, Right, But.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
It's the same thing as baseball, where pitchers used to
pitch complete games. They pitch into the seventh and that's
stop doing.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I absolutely right, Gibson, all them casts, they were pitching
nine inches. Uh, Gaylord Perry, you know, freaking just destroy people, everybody,
complete game, complete game. Now you playing five inches? You
have seven pictures. Now for a game, you come in
for one, you come in for the one battle, you
come in, Come on. That's That's what I'm sing. Is
this generation, this whole thing is so walk Now we're
(21:47):
getting we're paying more for less. Yeah, yes, we're all
paying more for less. Fans everybody, we all paying more
for less. And it's not fair.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
No, but that, but this but this is this is
you know, I had this, I had this discussion. This
is why I've always believed. This is like about twenty
years ago, in between time when I when right before
I became a talent, I was a producer at ABC
ABC Sports here in LA and a lot of stuff
that that went on. We had a we had the
(22:19):
person in charge that would just make ridiculous decisions. I'm like,
what you're saying, this doesn't make sense. No, this doesn't
make sense. It doesn't matter. I can't believe. This doesn't
make sense. What you're telling me doesn't make sense. None
of it made sense. They were They were horrible decisions.
And I remember going back after a meeting and talking
to to my manager saying everything that that they they
said in that meeting was bad. He goes, I know,
(22:41):
and I said, we're not gonna be able to put
on a good show. We're not able to get guests,
We're not gonna be able to do We're not He goes,
I know, and I said, why are you telling me this?
He goes, because we have to adjust because this is
the world we live in. That person is in charge
of this department and is in charge of everything that
we do, and this is the world we live in,
and this is how they want us to do it,
and we have to find a way around it. If
(23:03):
we're going to try to do it, I know it
hamstrings us. It's not the best thing for us, clearly,
but this is the world we live in, and from
then on I've always understood that, Okay, yeah, sometimes there's
only so much you can do where you have to
instead of fighting a battle saying Okay, if this is
the way it's gonna be, now, I have to find
a way around it. And I feel like that's where
it is with the NBA. You have to find a
(23:23):
way around it now because it's never gonna get back
to players playing eighty two games. Lebron's never gonna go
for oh now I'm gonna play. No, it's never gonna
happen because now players have realized, oh I can still
get paid, superstars can compete the same amount of money
and playing less game. No one's gonna call them out
on it. So that's why it has to evolve, and
that's why I think that's why this idea of hey,
(23:44):
you know, home, we're gonna win Minyama play in less minutes,
because there's nothing that's gonna make that change and say Okay,
guess what now, you're right, let's go and let's everybody's
gonna play more minutes and put more stress on it.
It's just not gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna call him out. Now, here's
the thing you need to understand. They have They have
shirts now with heart monitors. They have the wristband thing
that control you know, for their hot blood pressure. They
put all these things on these players, right. They have
a masseuse, they have a chiropractice, they have in house chef,
(24:16):
they have a private playing that you can name. All
these wonderful amenities that they have, and they're all getting
hurt more. It's insane. There's only this is the one
that really messes with me right now. And I'm not
the angry old ex player, you know, I don't care.
(24:38):
The one is says they don't even have they don't
have two of days anymore. That's been outlawed. Okay, what
they have now is you have two hours for practice total.
If you want to do two a days, it's gonna
be one hour, one hour. It's not gonna be you
(24:59):
can't deal. So everybody has one practice and there's two outs.
By the time a coach finished talking, you're really running
up and down for about thirty five to forty minutes.
It's insane. And you expecting these guys to stay healthy
during the season all they I'm telling you, it's a
big AAU. There's no practices in AU. It's just play basketball.
(25:21):
That's what That's what we've gotten to now, and.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That's not gonna change. I mean, AU is gonna have
to have that kind of season. You're gonna still jump
from Hey, the most games you're gonna play, and you're
gonna play thirty five games. Maybe sometimes AU you'll play, like,
you know, four games in a weekend when you're in
a big tournament. But you're still gonna hit that thirty
five to forty game. And then suddenly, hey, guess what,
here's the NBA. It's a man's league. Man, that is
a man's league. Eighty two games, and now how many
(25:46):
games can you make it through?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
That?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I would do. I would do a complete offhaul. Okay,
with the schedule, and because now, like with this in
game tournament that we talked about earlier, I would just
take that as the precursor of changing everything. Okay. I
would bring and even more from Europe because they play
about thirty thirty five games overseas, but it's like once
or twice a week. So I would spread the season
(26:07):
out that way. Now you can get better quality because
you're not gonna play eighty two games. Okay. We used
to say the same thing. We used to say, eighty
two is too much. Okay, So it's not like we're
dissing it now. We used to say the same thing,
but we just did it, you know, for less pay,
because we love the game so much. I don't think
a lot of these guys love the game anymore. I
(26:29):
think they just doing it for the bag. I don't
think they really love basketball. Now I'm not saying everybody.
I just say there's some guys I don't think they
truly love the game.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Well, you know, you know what. I'm with you to
a point. I don't know if it's about loving the game.
I don't know that there's the emphasis on winning, on
the importance of winning, because that's a fallacy because the
NBA is the NBA is a lifestyle, like hey, being
a big star, being able to play, making a lot
of money playing and playing basketball. No, I think everybody
loves that. I think they all love that, but how
(27:01):
much do they love winning? I think players like winning.
I think I think they would rather win than not win.
And there's certain players. It's why we gravitate to players
like Jordan and Kobe and Lebron who want to win.
They know they're measured by finals appearances in championships. But
I think a lot of players, hey, it's a great lifestyle,
it's a great life, and they get to play and
do it. But the overall winning, winning's nice, but it's
(27:21):
almost like, hey, if we can win, great, but losing
is not something that, Okay, I'm going to really lose
a lot of sleepover if we lose. We lose only
you know, only one team can win. We'll go as
far as we can that. I don't know that there's
much of an emphasis on.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Let me tell you one thing about the NBA is this, okay,
and this is what people need to understand. Okay, they're
selling a bill of goods because they can only be
one champion. Everybody else the twenty nine other teams of
basically losers. You gotta understand. For the NBA, you cannot.
You have to either be really really good, which is
about six seven teams are really really bad. You cannot
(27:59):
be in the at all. In the NBA, you cannot
be in the middle. You had to be one of
the other really really good or really really bad. Boy
it to work.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Joining us on the hotline right now to break down
all the big news in the NFL Longtime NFL Inside,
or check them out on Audissey The Washington Post. He's
on Twitter at Jason Locke and four. It is Jaylaw.
What's happening, buddy? How are you?
Speaker 4 (28:33):
I can't complain. I'm sitting here on the deck here
at the Outer Banks, a little vacation. You know, life
is good.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Wow, you're watching the TV show Outer Banks. You're actually on.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
The O're yes, we're in Corolla, Corolla anyway, Yes, on
the Outer Banks. I've never seen the TV show, but
have a vacation here for years.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
All right. My daughter likes it, so she's a big
fan of it. So anytime shears out of it, it's like, Oh,
Outer Banks, Outer Bank. So I think he gets one
of those shows where there's like an adult and a
team mystery and it's got to be solved somehow, And
there's hyjenk So I think that's what it is. So
if you run into that down there, that's what it's
all about.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
I will keep an eye out most definitely.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
All Right, well, hey, speaking of hijinks, breakdown what's going
on with the Bills here? Right? We saw this big story.
Oh boy, Josh Allen had to say, listen, the media
is running too much with the story that Stefan Diggs
is at odds with the Bills. And after he had
his one day point out of camp or whatever it was,
and he showed up and he says it's the media's
fault and everything is fine? Is everything really fine? Jay?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Well, no, I don't think everything's totally fine. I mean
we saw, you know, some of the fon Digg's frustration boilover,
you know, with how their season ended, and I think
there was even maybe a little flicker or two of
some sideline discontent before that. And then certainly we continue
to see salary still bonker at his position and his
(30:02):
contract maybe look a little bit outdated right now. And
then yeah, you had the the hold in or the
you sent home or whatever however you want to quantify.
You know, they're they're sort of mini camp through ha.
The reality is, I don't think he's going anywhere, and
maybe there are some some things they could still do
to massage that contract a little bit, to try to
(30:25):
smooth it over anymore. I don't know how you can
call it a media creation. Like the coach talked about
it in real time and was like pretty much admitted
that we kind of sort of sent them home. We
don't think it's that big of a deal, but clearly
it was a thing. You can't say it's a complete
nothing burger. You can't say it's not a thing. I
(30:47):
think it's something that you know, jeopardizes their season or
something that you know, a cloud that hangs over them. No,
I think they figured this thing out, but like if
they have a slow start, you know, and there there
is a little bit of friction, like you know, it
(31:10):
might not be a complete utter utopia. But I don't
think he's going anywhere. I think he's going to be
a hell of a football player for them, And I
think a lot of people are getting a little over
their skis with just talk of like the bill you
know what I mean, like the Bills are sort of
left that now or the Bills had their chance. I
think they're built a little better than that.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
All right, Hey, Jason Olden here now there. You know,
at first I wasn't really liking you because you know,
you used to you used to be you know what fan.
They can't believe you went to the Red Sox of
all teams. So I'm gonna give you a pass because
now I know you left them and you went to
another team. So we're not too worried about the Oreas.
(31:52):
But my question to you is this, DeAndre Hopkins Dalvin Cook,
why are we hearing where you know, what's the landing
spot for these two guys.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Look, they don't. They don't have a robust market.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You know.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
If if they did, and if they were going to
get a contract that they were immediately in love with,
you know, I think it would have already happened. I mean,
we know who they visited with. I don't know anybody
who's looking at you know, in the case of DeAndre Hopkins,
anybody who's looking at the Titans and looking at the
Patriots and saying they're at the vanguard or the forefront
(32:30):
of like what's going on with modern you know, the
modern passing game in the NFL. Like, I don't know
anybody's looking at those quarterback situations saying I want to
hitch my wag into that. I mean, those teams don't
have big boy passing games. They lack dynamic talent in
the passing game. But you know that's where they made
(32:51):
their visits and and maybe that's where it goes. You know,
Dalvin Cook, I think it's clear that the money isn't
going to be exactly what he'd probably want in Miami.
I don't know that there's going to be a better
scheme fit though for him ultimately in what they do
the outside zone running game, you know, the sort of
(33:14):
tried and true you take it all the way back
to Alex Gibbs and you know Kyle Shanahan's daddy Mike,
what they were doing in Denver thirty years ago. That
stuff still works and he's built for that, and you know,
outside zone is his bread and butter. So I think
he'd be a potential game breaker in Mike McDaniel's run scheme.
But again, I mean we're not playing any football, even
(33:36):
fake football. For another three weeks before people show up
for camp, and I don't think these guys are necessarily
like dudes who you're going to see a whole lot
in the preseason anyway. And it could take an injury
early in camp somewhere else for someone to give them
closer to what they're looking for financially. So I don't
think there's any like on either side from teams or them,
(34:00):
any sense that anything's close or anything has to happen
right away.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Jay'son locking for our guests here, the Jason Smith Show,
the Olden Polities in for Mike Harmon tonight. All right, Jay,
let's head to Hard Knocks now, which is like the
mystery that everybody seems to know. We're just waiting for
the official announcement. We saw Green Bay kind of let
the cat out of the bag this weekend when their
team president says, oh, looking forward to seeing the Jets
on Hard Knocks this year. I really I get the
(34:24):
teams don't want to do it all. We don't want
the edded distraction of the cameras, but this is not
that big a deal. Teams have gone to the playoffs
before when they've done Hard Knocks. I don't see this
as being the Oh my goodness, we're completely throwing this
season away by doing hard knocks. I just don't see
it that way.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
No, it's no, it's not. It's not the biggest thing
in the world. I mean, look, you know how football
coaches are wired. You know, they're obsessive, compulsive maniacs who
want to control everything their players do and think. And
I mean not all of them, but a lot of them.
So you can't. You know, it's hard enough to sort
(35:03):
of control what's on the inside. Then you start bringing
in Tamra Cruise, some NFL films and this or that,
you know, and all of a sudden, it's a little
tougher to be, you know, the megalomaniac sort of dictator
that you ultimately may want to be, especially you know,
it's just so silly, but I mean, they're worried about
(35:23):
what someone's going to see that they're not supposed to see.
And I mean, just to be a regular media member
these days and cover an NFL like Ota, it's nuts.
The stuff that most of these teams like don't want
you to report on or don't want you to say
that you saw. You know, so now here you are
all these people from the outside that you don't know,
who aren't regulars in your building, and you're hoping they're
(35:45):
all playing by the rules. And at the end of
the day, is it all much ado about nothing? Absolutely?
Are state secrets going to be leaked or is somebody
going to see something they're not supposed to see? No,
But it's just one more set of variables, right, It's
one more set of sort of controllables that they don't
want to deal with, that they'd much rather one of
their competitors have to deal with. But ultimately, the league
(36:08):
thinks it's good for the league, right, I mean the
thirty two billionaires and the commissioner and his underlings feel
like it's just good free pr for the league, right,
And so as long as it's getting at decent ratings,
it's not going away. And they created a kakamanie formula
to decide who might have to participate in it and
who doesn't have to participate in it. And I don't
(36:31):
think as many people watch this as they used to,
but I also don't think it's going away. And if
it's the Jets, it's the Jets.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Well, of course it's gonna be the Jets. It's Aaron Rodgers.
The camera loves him. Of course, it's gonna be the Jets.
He's gonna love it. It's gonna be the only story.
Forget about here's two here's two defensive backs competing for
the nickel. No, nobody's gonna care about who wins the
nickel job. Heys, give me Aaron Rodgers. That's all.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
But here's the say. Robert Salop probably thinks that's terrible.
But do you think, what are you? John's probably all
over Like I think, to a guy like who's been
trying to win the back page forever, right and competing
with the giants through the fall, in the winter for
who's in the back you know, the back pages of
the sports tabloids, like, I think he'd be all over it.
I think he'd look at it as an infomercial for
his football team, which is essentially what it is. And again,
(37:20):
when the owners want to do something they don't think
the coaches like, they send them all off to the
golf course and then they hold a vote and they
change the rules on overtime or whatever. So it ain't
a coaches league, it's an in a players league. It's
a billionaires league. And again I think Woody Johnson would
look at this as a potential money maker and maybe
he sells a few more Aaron Rodgers jerseys or you know,
(37:41):
some obscure dude comes out of nowhere and they he's
like the guy everybody's rooting for and every week like
he's gonna make a team or is he any team?
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Like?
Speaker 4 (37:48):
I think you can call that up.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
The best part for me about hard Nax is coach,
want to see you bring your playbook?
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Cut, yeah, but I had a question for you. Now.
You know the other day Steph Clay Kelsey and Mahomes
played in that match, okay, and apparently players well it
was okay for them to bet on it. And you
see where I'm going with this. Yeah, this whole gambling hypocrisy. Yeah,
(38:21):
you know, what do you make of this? Because it
makes no sense to me?
Speaker 4 (38:25):
No, no it doesn't. But again, these are rules being
made five billionaires who were hypocrites who were taking money
hand over fist and sponsorship deals with these very same
entities you know, Draft Kings, FanDuel whoever. That they don't
want you know that they want to heavily regulate what
the players can and can't do in regards to you know,
(38:46):
their own wagers, however small they may be. I mean, look,
the one I guess third rail has always been you
can't bet. You know, it used to be you can't
gamble it off of these guys. You'd walk into an
NFL locker room if you posted all place. I mean, now,
clearly they don't want you betting in their facilities any
sort of bets, and they don't want you betting on
(39:07):
you know, football whatsoever. It may take a little more
time for that message to get through, but the world's
changed and there's too much money out there for these
billionaires to ignore it anymore. So, but keep trying to
sort of massage it as it goes along. But ultimately
I think maybe we do reach a point in time
(39:28):
where what the players, what's asked to the players is
the same as sort of what's asked to the coaches,
which is they just don't want them betting on any
professional sports whatsoever. Now, whether that you know, what you're
referring to, whether you want to consider that a professional
sport or not, you know, I think probably remains to
be seen. I mean, it's kind of like a one
off I don't know, freak show kind of a thing. So,
(39:51):
but you get better on anything these days, So I
don't I'd be lying if I told you I had
to figure it out or I know where it's all going.
I also don't think the sports leads themselves necessarily nowhere
it's going either. But you know, there's a lot of
dudes whose careers have been lost already or they might
not get a second to third chance, especially when they're
not a superstar, And I think that starts to resonate
(40:13):
more than anything else. I think, you know, guys look
at the ramifications and decide, you know, whether it makes
sense to fire off that five dollars parlay better or not.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Lastly, Jay, look, I know you're close to this and
everywhere I look it's Lamar Jackson's gonna throw fifty touchdowns
this year. He's got eleven receivers who we're going to
get the thousand yard season. It's going to be the
greatest season ever. Are you buying into that hype with
the new offense, new everything and the new players in
or is this just hey, it's early and it's kind
of the honeymoon period.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
Yeah. I mean, look, I think you know, Can he
throw for four thousand yards forty two hundred yards something
like that, maybe even forty five? Yes, I think he can.
He could be in that range. Do I think he
could average two passing touchdowns a game? You know?
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Do I do?
Speaker 4 (41:02):
I think if he's gonna end up playing and let's
say it doesn't play in every game he plays in
fifteen or sixteen, you know, is he in the low
thirties and touchdown passes? I do? You know? Is he
going back from twelve hundred yards rushing recalibrating to like
seven fifty or something like that. I also think that's
in the cards, you know, And yeah, could he could he?
(41:23):
I think for me, like the total number, I'm focused
on his forty Did he account for forty touchdowns or
close to it? Passing and rushing? You know? Is he
throwing for thirty four and running for another five or six?
I think it's that sort of efficiency. You know, what
does he look like in the red zone? I don't
think they're going to be up there with the Bengals
or you know, some of these teams in terms of
(41:44):
how prolific the offense is in terms of yardage. I
think they're still going to be relatively balanced. But I
think his individual passing yards will should go up and
I think his rushing yards should go down.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
You can fall him on Twitter at Jason lock and four.
That's at Jason lock and four Odyssey, Washington Post. Jays
always buddy, whether you are from the Inner or outer Banks,
Thank you very much for your time and enjoy the week.
We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4 (42:08):
You guys do the same, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
All right? All right, Yankees.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
He's an Orioles country, that's.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
No.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
But he used to root for the Red Sox and
I hate the ooh, I hate them with a passion.
I'm okay with him rooting for the Orioles, but he
was a Red Sox fan, and especially he's and I
should have asked him to follow up when did he
become the Red Soxe, because I think he joined them
or believed in them when they beat us, when we
gave away that three one lead
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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