May 3, 2024 • 52 mins
Jason and Mike react to the Bucks getting bounced by the Pacers in Game 6. And Doc Rivers weighs in on his future with the Bucks. Plus, NBA Insider Ric Bucher drops by for all things Knicks, Lakers and Doc Rivers!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Greetings, Hello, and welcome inside. Happy Thursday, The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon hobo live from
the ti Iraq dot Com Studios, tirac dot com. I
hope you get there. An unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers
tirack dot com. The way tire buying should be. Well,
(00:53):
here we go. The late tip off, got about four
minutes to go before halftime. Agan this game up twenty
eight to nine. Yeah, and at least I can say, well,
they gave Way the lead quickly rather than just over
the course of the entire game, which I think is better.
They lead the Sixers right now. Game six forty five
(01:14):
forty one again, about four minutes left to go. Joel
Embiid has just gone to the bench for the sixers.
This is where the Knicks absolutely have to take advantage
of non Embiid minutes because clearly when he's out there
and he's and he can't go, they're sitting him now
for a little bit, and they have to push this
lead back out because you you can't not take advantage
when Embiid is not in the game. And this is
(01:35):
a big moment now for the Knicks to be able
to say, hey, let's push that lead back out before halftime.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I gotta say I have a really big problem with
one of the graphics they just showed on the telecast.
It said bench points seventy six ers twenty two to nothing.
I really just saw a putback from Hartenstein.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
What the hell? No, Well, listen, well, it was a
pass from Quentin Grimes, and it was it was so
I think it was actually credited to Quentin Grimes. First.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh, okay, just trying to make sure that I'm getting
this correct. In terms of the rotation. Hartenstein's playing pretty
well out there. He's eight and six, He's playing pretty
held of an effort off the bench giving them great balance.
But it's another one of those examples that we've been
watching is uh and waiting for our turn to come
on and yell uh, really bad rebounding box outs. You
(02:21):
guys are really crafty. I'll tell you. There's a lot
of just planting their feet for the Sixers, like all right,
I've got established my position.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
No, you still need to, you know, move when you've.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Got a guy starting to come doors the lake like, nah,
he got there.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That's too bad. How many of those?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I mean that was the Hartenstein put back that we
just watched a minute ago.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I was like, really, there's three guys. Yeah, they need
a little bit of that download they need, they need
to The one thing watching this game and watching the
Knicks lead evaporate was yes, off the bench. All the
Sixers do is have guys coming off the bench hit
threes like but Toombs three for four, but he healed
his three for This is a game where I don't
know if it's good or bad. Well, well, that Scott
Foster's refereeing, that's bad.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
They just actually did an ISO shot at Foster.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Literally, as you said, it's a six point game and
Tyrese Maxi has two points. Yea, he has made one
field goal. He has made one shot today from the field,
and it's a four point game. Now, a three point
game is a Sixers hit another three. But he Healed again.
I mean, this is just insane. The Knicks were We're
absolutely working the Sixers and then suddenly, hey, here we
(03:28):
all come off the bench and with the stuff we
haven't done in a long time, and between Healed and betoom,
they are seven to ten from three point range. These
two guys by themselves brought the Sixers back in this game.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Now, Embiid came right back into the game very short
span on the bench. What was that about thirty eight
seconds or something of game time doing my fundamental fuzzy
math here without a box score in front of me
at the moment. But immediately he returns and you see
the collapse on him a bit, giving the shooters opportunity
to set up some chrisp passing to move the ball
(04:03):
around the horn, uh and getting that open shot for Healed.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
See here's the thing, and here's where I would go
if I was the Knicks. And now it's a one
point game with two and a half to go before halftime,
Sho hire Doc Rivers. No, well, we'll get to that
because the good well you know where he's coming. You
know where he's going. Doc to the lake. Put that
evil on me, Ricky Bobby. I think he's already talked
about in the post game after the Bucks got eliminated.
You know, I really liked living in LA Still have
(04:28):
a house out there. Everything is wonderful and I can
get back out to look. I know what they're missing
out there. Don't blame me for this here, all right,
this is a load of crap when I took over,
don't blame me for this in Milwaukee, Okay, I know
we're a championship caliber team. Don't blame me for this.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Not on me, But Doc, you were hired as an
analyst to help things before you went down to become
the No.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
No, I took over at the wrong time. And by that,
I mean I took over when they weren't any good.
So that that's that's my problem. I should have took
over when they were out to win the title. That's
what it should have took over. They were thirty and thirteen.
Uh No, I think that's a correct Actually, I think
they had the I think thirty and thirteen record. They
had some stuff wrong. It was actually thirteen and thirty and.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Then your Samarine Adrian Griffin and ran him out of town.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You and Yannis and Tennekopo, get ready for a doc
to the Lakers. Get ready, don't put that out there.
Get ready, get ready, or if the Lakers take ty
lud As, you go back to the Clippers, let's go.
I was waiting for Doc Rivers to finish this press
coffers and put on a Laker hat. All right, guys,
I'll see you later on, see you in a couple
of days. I'm in the transfer bortal. Immediately, I'm gonna
(05:31):
go have a ham and cheese sandwich. See what I
did there? See what I did? Yeah, you're gonna get
text your family. But I'm there. You're not making an
home the name I'm there. I'm getting threatened.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It's literally, anybody butt Doc No, that is his first thing.
Frostburg just started shaking his head again. I know exactly
what's going through his head before he even said a word.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Don't you put that voodoo on me? Like with the Chargers,
it was horriba or nobody. This is anybody butt doc. Yeah,
but remember what you were saying, they were gonna trade
justin Herbert and then what did you hear?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
All these swirling and rumors of ah, they just couldn't
come to a compensation.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
What the hell?
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
The Jasons trying to kill the man. My best friend
Mike Carmon live from the tirect dot com studios, tyrec
dot com. I hope you get there. An unmatched election,
fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten
thousand recommended installers tireck dot com the way tire buying
should be. Now, this game is tied right now, forty
ninety nine and sixers are going to the free throw
(06:30):
line with a ridiculous foul. Look, I told you I
was an a dum fo. I told you coming into
this game, I expected the Knicks to lose, and then
seeing Scott Foster the extender on the game, I really
expected Nix to loo.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Well, but I mean that's a clear fole where like
a like a dope. He was doing one of those
WWE moves that they's now become in vogue. Everybody run
back and forth from corner to corner and then throw your.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Ass into the guy. I mean I'm stunned the game
is this close. I thought this would be a this
would be a runaway for the Sixers. Well, you gotta
make it look dice for the people. Really not gonna
work on it, extending the series until the second half.
But yeah, but look, the Knicks got up big and
the Sixers just are unbelievably unconscious from three point range
again now healed, and but toom are seven for ten
(07:11):
from three point range. And I mean, look, what are
you gonna do?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Is it legal to put your stars in a hyperbar
chamber to get them fifteen minutes of proper cryo rest.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I don't think you can do that. You need to,
like to what spots on the floor and stuff. Hey,
we gotta wipe this up. We gotta do something. I
don't think you can do that. Actually, just wondering, you
know what, what are the rules of engagement there?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
You ask me what I would do now seeing this
is what's going on? Oh and ogn nob just missed
a breakaway let up? How does he miss? Whether he
wanted to lay it in or don't get he is
he has had an awful first half on a movie.
He has had so many chances up close and he
has not finished, and that's a he has had an
(07:53):
awful first half, absolutely awful. But here's the here's the
thing about what we're seeing and another three by by
this by the Sixers. It's a five point lead now
with six seconds ago before halftime. You know that buddy healed,
you know, But here's the thing. Yeah, exactly, the Knicks
get a bucket before the break, and it's gonna be
(08:13):
a fifty four to fifty one lead by Philly going
into halftime over the Knicks. A first half which now
the Sixers spend a lot of energy to come back
in the game. But look, you asked me what I
would do, now, what would you this game? Yeah, Joel
Embiid is playing well, and he's someone obviously he's even
(08:34):
he's Joel Embiid even if he's not one hundred percent.
But if I'm the Knicks and you can see them
collapsing and they're allowing the three point shot, they have
to go in the second half and say, you know what, Embiid,
We're gonna let you have the ball and you got
to work it.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, because that far away from the mask, unless he's
established truly down in the low post the Knicks, then
you double up. I guess says you need to, but
where he's been catching the ball, I don't think running
the second guy out is now is how you want
to operate this this They can make him dribble if
he wants to put the ball on the court.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
This is how the Knicks win the game, because yes,
you're okay with Embiid and he gets in, he gets
his points. But number one, okay, you're talking about twos
instead of all this barrage of threes that are keeping
you in. And the Knicks have to get out on
the perimeter and stop that from happening. And eventually, and
this is the big thing is Embiids played a ton
of minutes and you know he's going to get tired
in the fourth quarter. So when it comes out of
(09:28):
the fourth quarter, it's gonna be like game win in
game two, where what's he really gonna have left? And
then defending the Sixers is going to be much easier.
So if I'm I knew coming into this game, all right,
the Sixers are in this and they're just gonna keep
shooting threes, and Maxi and company are gonna keep shooting
until they win. This series or get back or get
back in it. And now the Knicks really have to
(09:48):
adjust and say, all right, we have to get out
on guys on the perimeter because guys are just hot. Yeah,
but here's the problem's missing shots from three they're get
and it's all catch and shoot. It's catch and shoot,
it's a dribble around a screen and it's hitting a shot.
The Knicks have to change what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, but in the second half, Nick Nurse gets to
activate the winner Soldier and Max he will actually start
becoming more of an offensive threat. You're in trouble here. Look,
I already had that code. Whatever the hell Zemo said,
I'm all said to him to get.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
A moving I already said I accepting that this is
going to seven games, right after blowing Game five, which
is again the worst Knicks loss in twenty five years. Uh,
seeing this turnaround in Philadelphia. Now Scott Foster on the game. Yeah, okay,
I've never wanted a live to look in on games.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Haven't changes with you and Frostburg more than when Scott
Foster was announced.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I Mean, the NBA knows who they're sending the games.
They know we're sending Scott Foster to this Knicks Sixers game.
They know the home tapped the elmo and said get
after it. They know the home team's record in Scott
Foster games are like forty eight and twenty. So I mean,
I mean, look, you're you're fighting up hill, of course,
and and look in the second half it's gonna be
(10:58):
are the Are the Sixers gonna be allowed to do
whatever they want to right then? Very physical Defensively, the
Knicks need to attack the basket a little bit more.
And it's so far it's been a game where hey,
the Knicks were hot early and then they couldn't hit anything.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I gotta say, that's kind of sounded like a bleakly
you started doing your own two minute drill, your own.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Two minute report. Did two minute report was right there.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
It's like, well, you know, here's a bunch of things
that went the Sixers way, Like you're already speaking that
into existence, even though you bemoaned and said no, no, no,
that's not what we do.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
We're Knicks fans. We take our losses. I mean, I
almost feel like with embiid, the strategy in the second
half should be like what teams did to Kareem Abdul
Jabbar at the end now and I'm going back, and
they kind of did it with shock a little bit,
but not not quite as much. But Kareem at the end,
when he was thirty eight thirty nine to forty, what
(11:49):
teams would do was they would, hey, we're gonna guard.
We're gonna let you get heavy, heavy involvement all throughout
the first three quarters, and Kareem would get when he's
thirty eight three, he would score thirty points, thirty five
points in NBA history, back when it was when thirty
thirty five was like, you know, sixty now. But by
the time it got to the fourth quarter, Kareem was exhausted,
(12:10):
you know, cap you know, all of a sudden, there
was not enough on his on his hook shot, and
he wasn't. He wasn't the same guy. Because they knew,
we're gonna let you get the ball offensively. We know
how you're going to shoot. You're not gonna make every shot,
but you're gonna get points. But then the fourth quarter comes,
you're gonna be tired and your shots are gonna be short,
and that's how we're gonna take over and we're gonna
win and that happened to Kareem at the end. And
even though Embiide is not at that point in his career,
(12:30):
he's not healthy. He's not in shape. You can see,
as Rick Buker likes to point out, he's gonna join
us after the show tonight. I've never seen a guy
getting tired shooting free throws. And that's Embiid. So okay,
that's a couple of weeks ago, his way back in
I I. You know, the Knicks need to let him be. Hey,
do your thing, work, work, work, because Hertenstein is playing
him really well defensively. Let him work, let him work,
(12:51):
let him work, and the time we get to the
fourth quarter, the Sixers offense should be a little bit
more discombobulated. This is my halftime report, This is my
this is my my strategy for going.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Trying to speak this into existence. Eventually, they're gonna be
due for some missed long distance threes, yes, even when
they're wide open.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I mean again, max Maxi gets activated the Winter Soldier. Yeah,
go at some point, you think, but I mean, but
here's the other thing is that Maxi's not scoring. Yeah, okay,
but all the other guys are hitting from I mean,
what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Like, Okay, if they weren't hitting, maybe Maxi's.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
But that's the beauty is its only is if that
does get a little bit cold, or your knicks come
out and Thibodeau has them pressing out to the to
the line a little bit more and not given the
shooters some free reign, then yeah, Maxi gets to go
to work and we see how lightning fast he can
get to the lane.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
So there you go. There's my nicked strategy for the
second half. Go New York. But again, I've already accepted
that they're gonna lose this game, and it's already resigned
to that fact. I resigned that after game five, I
told you they're gonna lose by thirty. Maybe they won't
lose by thirty. You'll still get consolation pizza. So it's
all good. And now what Scott Foster doing game? If
you're gonna put if you're gonna give Scott Falster to
us for game six in Philly, you're giving a Scott
(14:00):
Foster from game seven to nine one.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
This is why Angel Hernandez getting rotated to the second base.
He can be on the staff, but he's not going
to be the head official. How about that?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Ready for a new job like Sott Foster, let Express
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That's expresspros dot Com. Well, coming up next, we'll have
more on this game again. Nixon sixers at halftime, but
straight ahead the Bucks go home. We will hear from
(14:32):
Doc Rivers. What does this mean for the futures of
Jannis Lillard and Doc. I'll tell you this, two guys
out of those three will be gone this offseason. Hel
two out of three ain't bad though. Coming up next,
right here, Jason and Mike Fox just not Doc klex fault,
(14:52):
It's Klicks Focus.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
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 5 (15:04):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Two Pros and a
Cup of Joe Podcast with Brady Quinn, Jonas Knox, and myself,
LeVar Arrington. Make sure you catch us live weekdays six
to nine am Eastern or three am to six am
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(15:25):
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Speaker 1 (15:37):
Give this part.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
All right, I'll buy ty shirt. Did you just start
streaming Married with Children?
Speaker 6 (15:49):
No?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I just like Frank Sinatra. Okay, all right, that would
be a hell of a flox if you did, though, Yeah,
I'll tell you what a show.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
No, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I dig the move though, handing the pants feed up. Sure,
good move. That's life.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
That is.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
He would be canceled today, right, Yeah, they tried for
all ten years they were on. Yeah, I don't think
you could get you get Married with Children up? No,
ma'am doesn't work in twenty twenty four. No, I don't
think so. Although it's it's my dad still runs his
favorite line all the time from from Al Bundy when
when like it's like Al's having the horrible day whatever,
and the doorbell rings, I wonder who that could be? Now,
(16:30):
Bundy says, I hope that's a bullet with my name
on it. Yeah, my dad says that all the line.
That's a bullet with my name on it. The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike. Carbon Racing as
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(16:52):
Safety Runs First dot com. That Safety Runs First dot Com.
So Nixon six Ers at halftime, Sixers overcome a twenty
eight to nine death because twenty sixteen Buddy Heal showed up.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Oh great, you know Buddy Heal had two points in
the first five games of this year.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Come on, man, really, like, what the hell?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Little Buddy comes through.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Big look at him. I don't know if I feel worse,
Like would I feel better if it was Maxi with
a huge first half, or do I feel better that
it's not Maxi and it's Buddy Healed.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I mean, come on, no, no, you'd rather be Maxie
because you expected it. Instead, it's Buddy Heal kicking your
ass man wearing a head band and laughing at you.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I mean that dude's got seventeen off the bench, He's
got five threes in the first half. It's like, oh hey,
it's twenty sixteen again. I'm Buddy Healed. I'm the guy
everybody wants on their team.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Wait, wait, wait now, now there's gonna be a bunch
of thought piece going. If we could get this Buddy
Healed and team him up with Lebron and a d
look at this.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, just watch on Twitter. He'll start trending. Alex Caruso
will start trending. Then uh bad band bros. Yeah, they'll
start trending, and so we'll uh uh oh who else
will trend there? Uh no, they'll be them and Caruso.
Any Green will trend too, That's right, Danny Green, isn't
he Studio Sta doesn't matter? That sounds gonna trend. But
(18:06):
we saw earlier tonight the Bucks get knocked out of
the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers. Obi toppin ex nick
now good twenty one points and eight boards off the bench.
Indiana wins at one, twenty ninety eight. It was not
a close game. Lillard did play, but wasn't quite himself,
wasn't hitting shots, no, Yannie, And now it turns to
(18:28):
what do you make of this Milwaukee Bucks? First round failure.
There's three big players that are gonna dominate most of
the three big people dominating most of the conversation obviously Jannis,
Lillard and Doc Rivers. And I'll tell you I'll tell
you this. If you're a Milwaukee you have to see
past this. Oh, if we had Yannis, it might have
(18:48):
been different. You have to see past that and say,
what are we gonna do to keep Jannis happy? Right?
What do we have to do because we're not getting
better even with you, we're still out in the first round.
So of those three, Jannis isn't going anywhere right this year,
He's got another year. The year to worry about Yannis
is if the changes they make this year, because they're
gonna have to make changes in the offseason to keep
(19:09):
them happy. If they don't work now this time next year,
if the Bucks fail, then you're gonna worry about Yanna saying, hey,
maybe i've maxed out here. I need to go someplace else. Right,
that's what you're looking at. Now. The guys to worry
about are not worry about, but you worry about Lillard
and Doc Rivers because quite honestly, how happy is Damian
Lillard Seeing how this year went. He did not want
(19:32):
to go to the Bucks. It was not his preferred destination.
They couldn't get a deal with the heat going on.
So he goes to the Bucks and what happens. It
was awkward. He wasn't the same guy all year. He
looked like he was a bit of a shadow of himself.
In the first couple of games, he was hitting shots
and there was no yann It's like, okay, maybe he
just needed to be the one again, because that's kind
of who he was his whole career. But this did
(19:53):
not work out. This did not work out for the Bucks.
He never able to figure out a way to say, okay, hey,
with the two man game here with me and Yiannis,
they got me to make big shots in the playoffs.
This did not work. So I am not gonna be
surprised when you hear Damian Lillard may want out. Damian
Lillard might wind up getting that trade. He always wanted
to to get to his preferred destination because clearly the
(20:15):
Bucks need to do something, because if they don't, you're
looking at saying, well, other teams are gonna get better
this year. We're just getting older and Lillard's getting older.
Is this really better for are we really going to
get better? Is this really gonna happen? So the first
thing I'll tell you right now is I am not
gonna be surprised when Lillard is on his way out
either he says I want to get to a better team,
(20:35):
I want to get to my destination, or the combination
of that in the Bucks realizing Okay, we tried this,
it didn't work. Now we're gonna try something else and
hopefully it works with Yanna. So Lillard this season, I
would not be surprised. This is it from Milwaukee. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
The big thing with the Lillard though, is still trying
to ascertain how much he was impacted by everything swirling
around right new confines, a pending divorce, all of that stuff,
And we've talked about that at length with other players
in the past, and it certainly has come up a bit,
and he's been pretty candid with some of his remarks
(21:09):
as to how things happened and transitioned here that it
became a very difficult piece. Can you push that past, right?
Is it a one year thing or does that, you know,
without another move, you know, become something that just lingers
right that he never finds the piece, contentment and whatever
else he needs to make Milwaukee a new home beyond the.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Basketball side of it.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Right there, I think there are two completely different discussions
going on, right, feeling comfortable with fit and what the
offense and what the total break is because you also
have the coaching changes, right, You've also acquiesced to whatever Yiannis.
We have to assume a little bit of a Lebron
James like invisible hand, going back to Budenholzer being ousted,
(21:58):
going back to Griffin and being ousted, and now whatever's
gone on with Doc that some of that is Giannis.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Inspired, slash directed.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
And let's remember a few years ago, if it wasn't
for the clown shoe of going back in the playoffs
of Kevin Durant, they would have never won their title either.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Look, it's it that that is a big that it's
a big clown shoe dilemma. It's a which way in
a which day because it would have gone terribly right.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You might have had a bunch of firings and everybody
shuffle up and deal right then.
Speaker 6 (22:30):
But it.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
So you smile and.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
You put it away for a little while until you
couldn't you know not now just see it there.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Hey, let's go back in there and the visitor. The
issue is the Bucks need to keep moving to keep
Giannis happy. Right you can. You can see he's getting
more and more frustrated. And when you get more frustrated,
your your patience comes to an end. It doesn't get longer,
it comes to an end. Even Jerry Jones his patience
is coming to an end. Is the last season for
this team that I'm gonna sell the team, but I'll
(22:57):
bring it back Zeke. We're gonna move to Michigan to
take over for Hardbombed. So this is where I am
not going to be surprised when this is the last
year for Damian Lillard in Milwaukee. Know, maybe he gets
to Miami, but there's gonna be some kind of some
kind of movement made because the Bucks need something else
because this didn't work. Now, when it comes to Doc Rivers,
I mean, this really should be the end of Doc's
(23:18):
coaching career. It really should. How many more teams does
he need to take over and underachieve with until you realize, boy,
Doc really isn't the guy.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I don't know what it is that people think Doc
Rivers is just this great coach. They love Doc. He's
he's living off of two thousand and eight when he
had three Hall of Famers And I'm sorry, I could
coach team with three Hall of akg Pierce ray Allen
hit some shots. Go out there and spread the floor
a little bit, and when you need a three, I
think Posy will hit one. Like he's living off of
(23:50):
two thousand and eight. Right. He won in two thousand
and eight, lost the next year, blew a big lead,
never got the Clippers, passed the second round. With all
the talent that he had, Jumps Jumps doesn't win at
his next stop in Philly, No, no, no, Now he goes
and now he gets the job in Milwaukee. And not
only could he not win in Philadelphia with Mbat, he
can't win in Milwaukee with Yannis. And this is not
(24:10):
just oh hey, things were great and then Yiannis gets
hurt and we flame out. Things were awful with Giannis
when he took over. There was no there was there
was no cohesion, there was no we're playing well. He
took over a team that was thirty and thirteen and
all they were were sitting around at five hundred the
entire time, right, I mean, he's got a losing record
(24:31):
in the playoffs, Doc since twenty sixteen. He didn't even
get to game seven this time. Did even get to
games I'm gonna fall oh in game seven? No, didn't
even get there this time. The other thing is that
they didn't just lose these games.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, not competitive right, Like through the balance of the series,
without that crazy ass Middleton game, they were non competitive.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And now you wonder, Now you wonder how much of
did the Pacers just say, you know what, We're not
gonna go crazy and expend ourselves in this game here
in game five six, like the Celtics did.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Look right, you lost one and then you said, all right,
had enough screwing around, stop playing with your food, go
go finish this thing off.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
But this really should be the end of Doc River's
career because not only does he not win, doesn't take
any responsibility for it.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
And here he is.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I knew this was coming right the Doc Rivers. Excuse go,
This is him just a few moments ago talking about
the end of the season and wilwauk in how it
came to an end and how really, well, when you
know when we don't have Giannis. We're not gonna win.
Speaker 6 (25:25):
Winning is incredibly hard. It takes twelve to fifteen players
turning themselves into one and buying in your staff being
together as one and did health and didn't You still
may not win. You know, it's just hard, and you're
not gonna win unless you're healthy or unless you're really deep.
(25:47):
So nothing you can do about it. You know, Jannis
plays the way he plays, and we need them to
continue to play that way. Dame probably out of season
this year where he never really get in the right
condition that he wanted because he didn't know where he
was going all summer and so he couldn't work out.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Wait wait, wait, wait did that work out?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
That?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
That is Doc Rivers in a nutshell.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard come from a podium,
but we've heard a lot of.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Crazy ass stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Started couldn't work out because he didn't know where he
was going.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
He's yeah. He started off by saying, hey, oh, you
need all these things. It's hard to win. Gee, thanks
for telling me it's hard to win. You need all
these things to go right, and you still may not win.
Oh okay, okay, and then gets into yeah, never had
a chance. You got gonna win when you're not healthy.
You know, we need honest play the way you wanted to.
Dame couldn't get in check. Really, he couldn't get in
shape in them. He didn't. He couldn't get in shape
(26:39):
from the end of the summer all the way till
now it's the next year. I mean, really look at
look at Doc Rivers and the excuses that he just
continues to throw out there. He never takes any responsibility.
Just once. I'd like to see Doc say, hey, I
couldn't get them to play to their maximum capability, and
that's on me. I'd looked, but he's.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Gonna At the beginning, when he said you needed all
twelve to fifth team to play, I think he was
kind of owning it very obliquely of yeah, I never
got anybody on the same page here. That just never happened.
But he losses past that and Ealy gets into injury
and health issues like the Luland thing. Again, it's nuanced
(27:18):
in terms of what's going on in his personal life,
et cetera. But to say he's not in shape because
he didn't know where he was going, all right, expound
upon that one for me a little bit, because from
a physical standpoint, that doesn't matter unless you're saying, all right,
he would have really needed to ramp it up if
he was going to go play in Denver with great regularity.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I'm other than that. It makes no sense. I mean, really,
everything that is Doc Rivers in a nutshell. I'm going
to offer excuse after I'd love to grow up as
a kid. I'd love to have been Austin Rivers in
his house because I can make any excuse I want to. Yeah, okay,
that's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
No, Dad, I mean to make this happen, we needed
all eight of my guys. I mean, come on, did
you think we to get away with that? We would
need all eight of these guys to keep their mouths shut,
never read on their friends. You know there's loose lips
in any series, someone talking to their mom or dad,
or brother or sister or the girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I mean, we're gonna get screwed. I mean, Dad, I mean.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
You could see this for a while away, right, you
can understand where I'm coming from.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
The injuries in the NBA playoffs now are a given right,
and talk about it the way to win. I agree
with him, the way to win is to stay healthy.
I'm not disagreeing with Doc Rivers, hey not. But you
know what, I'm pretty sure the Knicks are gonna see
here and're not gonna say at the end off we
had Julius randall off we were healthy. Well, Josh Hart
already did that, all right, Josh Hart did that earlier.
The Clippers, Well, the players are one thing. Players are
(28:37):
one thing. It's the coach that sits here and says, Okay,
I'm gonna sit here and tell you what's going on.
You're not gonna see that. You're not gonna see You're
not gonna see tylu say hey, oh boy, not having Kawhi.
Injuries happen in the playoffs and you have to figure
out a way around it. But to sit there and
just throw your hands up and say, okay, well, what
are we gonna do? Everybody else is hurt, man, you
find a way. You find a way. Yes, it's much
(28:59):
more difficult, and there's an advantage if your team is healthy,
but everybody is hurt. We already have a laundry list
of players who are out there that are injured. We
already have a first team All Stars worth of players
the Celtics aren't gonna lose next round of the Knicks
and say, oh, and in the finals of the Knicks,
a guy I had, we had Porzeenkasa, they would be five.
This is what happens. But yet Doc is making it
seem like, yeah, there's no there's no excuse, there's no choice,
(29:22):
we have we just we just lost. There's no ownership
of anything from Doc. But the other thing, when you
play this many games, it becomes pain threshold and severity
of injury to the point where you can't go at all.
And you know how many of these guys are at
the well, you know what, I probably could use the
extra day off. It's like the NFL.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
By week three, everybody's dealing with something and could technically
be on the injured list. Same thing here in the NBA.
When you've played what are you in your ninety fifth game?
When you add preseason, even if you're only playing limited minutes,
then I mean you're into some crazy ass runs and
we know how short benches Yet during the playoffs and
(30:01):
even with an extra day off, that's.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Not buying you enough time to recover at this point.
So using injury excuses look dame. Gave it the old
college try. I didn't think he'd play today. Yeah, no,
I didn't expect that. It's Grady went out to play.
It's Grady went out.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
And he tried to show some heart and get out there.
But you know, once you're out there, that's that's how
you get judged. Like there's no curve.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Speaking of the Clippers, Wow, up next, you want to
know who's got the worst contract in the NBA? Oh,
we got that four straight ahead. This is fine. This
is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon live from Thetirack dot Com Studios. Joe
Gibbs at the game too. How about that Joe Gibbs
being ahead Big Dom? Yeah? Big Dom is there probably
kicking Knicks players out of the of the game. Yeah,
but Joe Gibbs, you're good. Three minutes to go in
the third quarter, the Sixers with a seventy seven to
(31:01):
seventy four lead over the Knicks. Sixers overcoming a huge
twenty eight to nine deficit. Uh, to come back and
take the lead thanks to Buddy healed, but Tom off
the bench hitting all kinds of threes. So the Sixers
with a three point lead again, three minutes to go
into third quarter. Long way to go, and I'm still
waiting for Scott Foster to really have a Scott Foster
(31:22):
like impact on the game.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah, we haven't seen any of those big moments just
yet where they've done a couple of ISO shots of yeah,
like there was it was, Yeah, just foreshadowing. It's almost
like you're watching a horror movie and there's like that
little frame that they sneak in in a scene.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Did I see that?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Wait, like a subliminal.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Thing when you see somebody and they're just having a
conversation and the killer is like all the way in
the back and you see him just like kind of fuzzy,
just standing there. You're like, it's coming back.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Guy.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, I'm gonna get you. They're coming to get you.
But look it is time to take a look and say,
all right, Kawhi Leonard has the worst contract in the NBA. Right.
We got into this little bit last night and yes
I get it. You know, I heard the the odd
couple talking about it. They think that Bradley Beal has
the worst early three years, one hundred ninety million. Yes,
that's a bad contract. But Kawhi Leonard, this is why
(32:11):
he's got the worst contract. Three years, one hundred and
fifty four million. And surprise, he signs when he's healthy. Right,
when he's healthy in January, things are going great. Yeah, signe, Hey,
I got my money. And now he's not playing. He's
already gonna be out for the next game, which could
be the last game in the Clipper season. It's the
worst contract in the NBA because the Clippers are built
(32:32):
around him. Right, Like if you say, yeah, Bradley Bial's
a bad contract for the Suns, Okay, but Devin Booker
is a better player, and Kevin Durant's a better player.
Right you're talking about Yes, your number three years, your
number three guy has a bad contract. And I get that.
I'm not saying it's good, but this is your number
three guy. The Clippers gave all this money to Kawi
Lean and they've done nothing in the last four years.
(32:54):
He could barely stay on the court, and now you're
tied to him for another three years after this when
clearly you've seen the best of Kawhi. He's getting into
his mid thirties. He's not gonna suddenly get healthier. He's
not gonna suddenly lead the Clippers to somewhere they haven't been.
The Clippers are just stuck because they couldn't stand up
(33:14):
and say, you know what, we've tried for four years
with this. Right, can't say the Clippers weren't patient, they
didn't give the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George Errarett Chansy.
He can't say they didn't do that. They did, and
I'm glad they were paytian. But this is now gonna
be four years and the Clippers are no closer to
a title than they were when they got Kawhi Leonard.
So yeah, this should have been a tough decision to say, yeah,
let's wait and let's try to regroup in the offseason,
(33:36):
because signing a guy off injury history who's thirty three
to a three year deal doesn't help. Right, So you're
talking about the Clippers who are saying we're just gonna
be kind of who we are for the next three years,
will be a team that makes the playoffs, will win
forty five is games, potentially during the season, maybe less
because maybe Kawhi Leonard's more injured, he plays less. But
you've now said we are gonna be mediocre at best
(33:57):
for the next three years after this. That's why this
is the worst contract, because he's the guy. He's the
guy everybody else supposed to be around him. That's why
this is such a bad contract.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Well, now you have the other piece that flows out
of that is Paul George saying do I want to
sign up for this? Right, he's got a player option,
and look, this begets a much larger discussion about what
you really think Paul George is at this point, because
he's great at times and then he I just saw
Joel Embiid given Jalen Brunson a couple of minutes ago,
(34:27):
the little too small thing. Sometimes Paul George kind of
disappears and plays a little bit small, right, and when
they've needed him, you know, the old Randy Van Warmer
that we love to do. You left me just when
I needed you most to come up big and to
be a leader and assertive. So for the Clippers would
not be the worst thing in the world if he
opted out and then someone else decided to jump at
(34:50):
him with the giant bag of money. Be it, the Sixers,
be it, and there's probably five or six teams that
you can name off the top.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Of your head. Hell just go across the way and
stay at Crypto dot com with the Lakers when it's
all said and done. I mean, there's there's just a.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Lot that rides on it, and you've got to get
other people to buy in that that's your lead. Because
I agree with you. The Beal deal is as terrible
as it is.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
He was.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
He was at an add on then said, oh, we'll
get him. We have to overpay, but we'll get him.
But he's not the focal point of what you're trying
to do with Kawhi. That that's the guy that you've
had this whole thing running around the whole time, never
passed the torch, right like Lebron was supposed to do
the ad that never happened. Same thing in La you
brought these guys, remember street lights before spotlights or whatever
(35:39):
the hell that campaign was, It.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Was still Kawhi first. Listen. I would much I agree.
I would much rather have Larrybal's contract than Bradley Beal.
I would much. I would. Helloa means goodbye. I would
much rather have Larry Beial's cut by all the Yahoo
Sports colleague, right, right, guy, But you could still overcome
that because you have two better players and one who
is a younger star and Devin Booker like the Clippers
(36:04):
like this, we're gonna build around a guy that we
don't know when he's ever gonna play that you can't
count How do you build around a guy that you
can't count on being on the floor.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
You can't just put him in bubble wrap because there's
no guarantees ready for April.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
That's they tried that this year. That's insane. Coming up next? Boy,
do we have a great story out of the NFL?
Is it great? Make you scratch your head? Plus Nix
and the Sixers are tied going to the fourth quarter mixho.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
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 (36:39):
Nicks win and the Sixers losing. Jalen Bruntson goes for
another forty point game. Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show
with My best friend Mike Harmon, liven Theti Rag Dot
com Studios, Go Why what is that? I'm just making
(37:00):
forget never forget. The Knicks eliminate the Sixers one eighteen
one fifteen, the Pacers blow out the Milwaukee Bucks. Are
changes coming for these teams? Are the Knicks and Celtics
on a collision course? Are the Knicks going to the finals.
The man to answer all of these questions joins us
(37:21):
now Little Round Ball Rock with fo Fox Sports one
insider extraordinary host of the On the Ball podcast. He's
on Twitter at Rick Buker. It is Rick Buker. Rick,
go New York, Go New York. Go your thoughts.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yeah, the word insufferable keeps coming to mind. I don't
know why. I just I don't know why. In fact,
producer said, hey, can you do something? I said, no,
I can't do anything.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Kidding me.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
I can't do anything. I can't slow Jason's role. Right now,
you're asking me impossible. That's like asking That's like asking
the Philadelphia seventies fixers to find a way to stop
jailing brunts. It done.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Help me, Obi wan Kenobi, you know seriously, You know seriously, though, Rick.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
The thing is is that outside of loud mouse like
me in the go New York and New York Go.
We talked about this. The nixt style of play, which
is always is reniscent of their hard work, blue collar
in the nineties. You see, you have to take the
game and grab it from their hands, and they will
take it to the grave to try to beat you
like that. That's a style that cuts through for any
(38:29):
fan across the country. And it's a shame that loudmouth
fans like me kind of take away from it because
of the co New York Go, New York Go. But
really their style of play is something that that that
fans can really embrace because not every team plays like this.
You'd want every team to play like this, but they don't.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Yeah, no, agreed. It's it's their grittiness and their resilience,
and they're just their willingness to play hard all the
times and and sort of that underdog. I mean, you
just look lets like six kwos, you know, two hundred
pounds Jalen Brunson, who it still is a marvel to
(39:05):
me that he's able to get to the places that
he does on the floor and he's able to get
his shot off against dixtate six nine defenders with a
looming Joel mb so, Uh, yeah, no, it is. It
is an easy team to root for. I will say that,
you know, going into this game, when we talked about
(39:27):
it on on Speak today and that at the end
they were asking I think they said, we will Joel
Embiid bring it home or something like that, and I said,
you know what, that's a really weird way to spell
Jalen Brunson, because this is what I expected. And then
the game starts and they come out with the big
(39:48):
lead and they give it all back. And the one
thing that concerns me about them is so Tid is
relentless and saying this is what we're going to do,
and this is how we're going to do it, and
to your point, like and they just they're they're they're
a bulldog that's got the bone in its teeth and
(40:11):
or the chew toy and it and it's not going
to let go. And sometimes that can backfire on you
in terms of there's just times where and I thought
it happened in the previous game where Tis has got
to make an adjustment, like you've got you have to
do something a little bit different, and uh, ultimately Philadelphia
(40:33):
just couldn't execute well enough. Uh you know, I think
Nick Nurse got as much as he could out of
a obviously an impaired Joel Embiid. And I thought Dothy
di Vincenzo, the job that he did on Tyrese Maxi
the entire game, forcing sort of shadowing him left, and
(40:57):
so you know, Tyrese is so good. He's he was
able to get back to his right, but he would
get to it like in difficult from difficult angles. He
couldn't get there quickly enough. And I just thought with
the shot making and the defense, and then obviously Josh
Hart hitting the huge, huge three at the end when
(41:20):
it was like, well we're not going to jal and
win this, Josh, you want to take a stab at it,
we'll We'll let you shoot that three, and he did.
And I just so, and this is how it's going
to go, Like Dalen's probably going to give you what
he's going to give you, but how much farther they
go is really going to depend on these these contributing
(41:45):
pieces and what you're getting out of your out of
your bench. I thought Mitchell Robinson was really good defensively,
and you're like, you can't just take those things for granted,
you're going to have to get those on a nightly
basis in order to get where. I think that they
(42:06):
will be a contrast and styles in this next round.
But I think I told you guys, I had the
mix in the in the conference finals as a and
as a stark horse to make it to the finals.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Well, two things. Number one, well thanks for coming around
to me, Rick, I just want to say that. Number one,
thanks coming around to that. Yeah, I've been telling you
that since the since they got Andunobi, I've been telling
you how good we are.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
You've been telling me that for the last six years.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
That's true too. That's true too.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Okay, I mean eventually, eventually it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Right somewhere, I was going full on Reeland. In the years,
you've been telling me you're a genius since you were
seventeen and all these years i've known you. I don't
know what you mean. I want to see Tims with
the strategy of just playing five. We're just suiting five.
This is my team out here. But the postgame, Nick Nurse.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
He really did right.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
When Robinson comes walking in with that giant bandage on
his leg and everything, it's like here we go. But
Nick Nurse made it a point to lament the officiating
and kind of wagging his finger at Scott Foster and
crew for those tirees, h those Maxie drives down the
lane and not being able to get to the foul line.
(43:25):
Only four free throw attempts tonight, I mean a number
of them, Ricky. It kind of looked like he was
anticipating the contact, like he was taking a bump in
a w W E ring. So you're not gonna get
the call. But overall, the fact that Nurse went back
to the referee, well after being vanquished from a series,
you know, it is a questionable move.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
Yeah, I mean, especially because I'd go the other way,
and you know it did Maxie. Where there are a
couple of calls where you could have called contact, sure,
I thought, but I thought EMBI got a number of
calls that I was like, really, that's what we're calling
Bill Kennedy. Really, I mean, he initiated the contact. It
(44:09):
was a little bit of bump, but is that enough
in this game to send the guy to the free
throw line? So, you know, I look at the numbers. Overall,
they shot twenty three free throws. The Nick shot twenty
four Dalen I thought was really clever and and getting
guys on his hip and then going straight up and
(44:32):
they were crowding in from behind and he deserved to
go to the line. So I think overall, I don't know,
I can't with all the officiating, some of the officiating
that I've seen, this was not, by any means a
(44:52):
game that I felt like the referees were too too
much part of it. They were they were too visible
in in the ultimate outcome. And I think maybe some
of this is that Nick was still thinking about some
of the previous games where it again, you know, we
(45:13):
talked about it the game that they they gave away,
and I'll and again I mean even there, like you
could look at the two minute reports said that they
missed some calls, but I think we outlined like there
was five things that the Philadelphia seventy six ers could
have done different in order to uh to still win
that game. So I have a lot of respect from Nick.
(45:34):
I think he's a great coach, but I think he's
I think he's harping on the wrong thing here.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Yeah, look, I mean you saw the two minute report
come out for the last game they missed calls against
the seventy six ers, and then to see him talk here,
I'm like, you know what, just take the L. Take
because now you just seem like a guy that all
you do is complain about the officiating, the entire players.
You know, you lost lost in six games. Take the L.
But you know that's not the way they went.
Speaker 4 (45:59):
Yeah, No, I can't argue with that. It's not I
don't think it's a great it's not a great look
for a guy that I think is a very good coach.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smiths are with Mike Carmon
live from the tyrack dot Com studios. Rick Bucker with
us here. All right, So so Rick, you know it
pains me, but we do have other NBA news to
get you away from the mix. Look, we watched the
Bucks go out in the first round and Doc Rivers
again gave a lot of excuses to why they didn't win. Uh,
they were just not good when he took over. Yes,
(46:29):
they weren't healthy, but you know what, lots of teams
aren't healthy. What do you take away what the Bucks
need to do in this offseason coming off of what
you saw now getting eliminated in the first round for
the second straight year.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
It's funny because I almost feel as if, you know,
we've talked about the Phoenix Suns and the guy their
terrible position, and I and I actually don't think they're
in that terrible position. I think they have to make
some changes. I think the Bucks in a way are
in a worse position than the Phoenix Suns. You certainly
have Jana Thopas Acompo, who if you're asking, you know,
(47:03):
the the incumbent superstar or incumbent star, because I would
say Yannis is a superstar. I would say Devin Booker
is a star. So Milwaukee has an advantage there. I
think those guys are basically at the same point in
their careers. But after that, like you know what, I
can still get a lot for Kevin Durant, I don't
(47:27):
know what I can get for Damian Lillard at this stage.
Bobby Portis, I don't know how much he would bring
me Brook Lopez. I mean they have Chris Middleton. Chris
Middleton feels a lot like Bradley Beal to me, like
the contract is way way bigger than what I can
expect that guy to produce at this point. And so look,
(47:50):
I think they came into the season as the oldest
team in the league, if not certainly one of the oldest,
and and and also cat strapped, and so I don't honestly,
I don't know where they go with this team. I
didn't and I'm sure I said it to you guys,
like I never believed in the Lillard Yannis pairing from
(48:13):
the beginning, And the only the only out that I
could see is, you know, to make a call to Miami.
You guys still interested. He didn't get him the first time.
Maybe we can make something happen. That's that's the route
that I would go. But I don't know that if
Milwaukee is thinking, you know what, we weren't healthy and
we just need to bring it back. Defensively, they were
(48:35):
so vastly compromised, particularly on the wing. They need to
get way more athletic After Yannis, the athleticism falls off dramatically.
They need to make some significant changes. It's going to
be a tough summer. The one thing, and I'm sure
that we've talked about it, the one thing I do
not want to hear is, well, you know, joannest probably
(48:57):
he needs to go to someplace else. If he wants
to play for a championship. Yes, be honest. Is the
reason that Damian Lillard is there and they're in the
position that they are as a defensive team, and he
made the barter of I'll find I'll resign if you
go get my guy. The last thing I want to
(49:18):
hear is, well, you know Milwaukee can't serve his purposes. Mark,
Milwaukee already served your purpose. Okay, so pick it out,
figure it out, and find a way to bring Milwaukee
another title.
Speaker 6 (49:32):
All right?
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Who's in the tracksuit coaching Lebron when the fall hits
a JJ Reddick, Tyleru or Doc Rivers.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
You know what, I just don't see. I mean, I
would say that Tyler's probably at the top of Lebron's
wish list. I also, I think Steve Ballmer will like
there's no way he's letting Tyleru leave and go play
for the Lakers, like that that rivalry and that enmity
is will prevent him from letting ty logo. Aside from
(50:00):
the fact that I think that what's happened to the
Clippers this year is not I don't put that on Tie,
it's you know, you don't have you don't have leadership
in your locker room. And so we've we've seen this
story over and over and over again in the way
that they respond, you know, good luck if you want
to you want to bring JJ Reddick in there. I
(50:21):
think for JJ smart enough to know that that would
not be that would not be a good move. And
I think I feel as if Starvinham like really had
come to a point where he's like, just put me
out of my misery. I mean, because you don't say,
you don't say, hey, we had a starter who for
ten games bleeped, you know, unless you're trying, unless you're
(50:46):
trying to get out of there, because then you're just
you're just you're trying to find a way to lose
that locker room. And so I don't really know that
it matters who they bring in because the issue was
not Darvinham's coaching. Yeah, you know, challenging with three minutes
(51:08):
left and it costing your last time out. I think
that was a faux pall. But overall, when I look
at the season record that they had and what they
have for personnel and the roster that they have, I know,
Lakers Nation, if they're not you know, playing for a title.
Do they think that their team is underachieving or or
(51:29):
that any team that Lebron is on, Lebron and ad
In and of themselves is supposed to make you a
title contender. I just don't know the thirty nine, thirty
nine year old Lebron does that at this point. And
the rest of the roster. I mean, I'm supposed to
get excited about Austin Reeves. I think he's a great
finds he was undrafted for a reason. Really, Hatchey Mura
(51:54):
is nice, but he plays the same position as Lebron.
So I just it's a problematic roster. And and I
don't the Darvin kept looking for solutions and answers. I'm
not going to put him on that, and I'm not
going to put that on him. And I don't. I
just don't. I don't know that any there's a coach
(52:16):
out there that is going to solve the riddle that
is the Lakers roster.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
You can fall him on Twitter at Rick Buker. That
is at Rick Buker, Fox Sports one NBA Insider. Check
out his latest on the Ball podcast, which will be
all about the Knicks. Right it's going to be forty
five minutes about the Knicks and Tom Tibodeau's track track wear.
Speaker 4 (52:37):
Isaiah Hartenstein one of.
Speaker 1 (52:40):
The best backups we've ever seen. Ricky, see you, buddy.
We'll talk to you next week. Thanks Jrek,
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon 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 Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Greetings, Hello, and welcome inside. Happy Thursday, The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon hobo live from
the ti Iraq dot Com Studios, tirac dot com. I
hope you get there. An unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers
tirack dot com. The way tire buying should be. Well,
(00:53):
here we go. The late tip off, got about four
minutes to go before halftime. Agan this game up twenty
eight to nine. Yeah, and at least I can say, well,
they gave Way the lead quickly rather than just over
the course of the entire game, which I think is better.
They lead the Sixers right now. Game six forty five
(01:14):
forty one again, about four minutes left to go. Joel
Embiid has just gone to the bench for the sixers.
This is where the Knicks absolutely have to take advantage
of non Embiid minutes because clearly when he's out there
and he's and he can't go, they're sitting him now
for a little bit, and they have to push this
lead back out because you you can't not take advantage
when Embiid is not in the game. And this is
(01:35):
a big moment now for the Knicks to be able
to say, hey, let's push that lead back out before halftime.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I gotta say I have a really big problem with
one of the graphics they just showed on the telecast.
It said bench points seventy six ers twenty two to nothing.
I really just saw a putback from Hartenstein.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
What the hell? No, Well, listen, well, it was a
pass from Quentin Grimes, and it was it was so
I think it was actually credited to Quentin Grimes. First.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh, okay, just trying to make sure that I'm getting
this correct. In terms of the rotation. Hartenstein's playing pretty
well out there. He's eight and six, He's playing pretty
held of an effort off the bench giving them great balance.
But it's another one of those examples that we've been
watching is uh and waiting for our turn to come
on and yell uh, really bad rebounding box outs. You
(02:21):
guys are really crafty. I'll tell you. There's a lot
of just planting their feet for the Sixers, like all right,
I've got established my position.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
No, you still need to, you know, move when you've.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Got a guy starting to come doors the lake like, nah,
he got there.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That's too bad. How many of those?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I mean that was the Hartenstein put back that we
just watched a minute ago.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I was like, really, there's three guys. Yeah, they need
a little bit of that download they need, they need
to The one thing watching this game and watching the
Knicks lead evaporate was yes, off the bench. All the
Sixers do is have guys coming off the bench hit
threes like but Toombs three for four, but he healed
his three for This is a game where I don't
know if it's good or bad. Well, well, that Scott
Foster's refereeing, that's bad.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
They just actually did an ISO shot at Foster.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Literally, as you said, it's a six point game and
Tyrese Maxi has two points. Yea, he has made one
field goal. He has made one shot today from the field,
and it's a four point game. Now, a three point
game is a Sixers hit another three. But he Healed again.
I mean, this is just insane. The Knicks were We're
absolutely working the Sixers and then suddenly, hey, here we
(03:28):
all come off the bench and with the stuff we
haven't done in a long time, and between Healed and betoom,
they are seven to ten from three point range. These
two guys by themselves brought the Sixers back in this game.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Now, Embiid came right back into the game very short
span on the bench. What was that about thirty eight
seconds or something of game time doing my fundamental fuzzy
math here without a box score in front of me
at the moment. But immediately he returns and you see
the collapse on him a bit, giving the shooters opportunity
to set up some chrisp passing to move the ball
(04:03):
around the horn, uh and getting that open shot for Healed.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
See here's the thing, and here's where I would go
if I was the Knicks. And now it's a one
point game with two and a half to go before halftime,
Sho hire Doc Rivers. No, well, we'll get to that
because the good well you know where he's coming. You
know where he's going. Doc to the lake. Put that
evil on me, Ricky Bobby. I think he's already talked
about in the post game after the Bucks got eliminated.
You know, I really liked living in LA Still have
(04:28):
a house out there. Everything is wonderful and I can
get back out to look. I know what they're missing
out there. Don't blame me for this here, all right,
this is a load of crap when I took over,
don't blame me for this in Milwaukee, Okay, I know
we're a championship caliber team. Don't blame me for this.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Not on me, But Doc, you were hired as an
analyst to help things before you went down to become
the No.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
No, I took over at the wrong time. And by that,
I mean I took over when they weren't any good.
So that that's that's my problem. I should have took
over when they were out to win the title. That's
what it should have took over. They were thirty and thirteen.
Uh No, I think that's a correct Actually, I think
they had the I think thirty and thirteen record. They
had some stuff wrong. It was actually thirteen and thirty and.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Then your Samarine Adrian Griffin and ran him out of town.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You and Yannis and Tennekopo, get ready for a doc
to the Lakers. Get ready, don't put that out there.
Get ready, get ready, or if the Lakers take ty
lud As, you go back to the Clippers, let's go.
I was waiting for Doc Rivers to finish this press
coffers and put on a Laker hat. All right, guys,
I'll see you later on, see you in a couple
of days. I'm in the transfer bortal. Immediately, I'm gonna
(05:31):
go have a ham and cheese sandwich. See what I
did there? See what I did? Yeah, you're gonna get
text your family. But I'm there. You're not making an
home the name I'm there. I'm getting threatened.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It's literally, anybody butt Doc No, that is his first thing.
Frostburg just started shaking his head again. I know exactly
what's going through his head before he even said a word.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Don't you put that voodoo on me? Like with the Chargers,
it was horriba or nobody. This is anybody butt doc. Yeah,
but remember what you were saying, they were gonna trade
justin Herbert and then what did you hear?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
All these swirling and rumors of ah, they just couldn't
come to a compensation.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
What the hell?
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
The Jasons trying to kill the man. My best friend
Mike Carmon live from the tirect dot com studios, tyrec
dot com. I hope you get there. An unmatched election,
fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten
thousand recommended installers tireck dot com the way tire buying
should be. Now, this game is tied right now, forty
ninety nine and sixers are going to the free throw
(06:30):
line with a ridiculous foul. Look, I told you I
was an a dum fo. I told you coming into
this game, I expected the Knicks to lose, and then
seeing Scott Foster the extender on the game, I really
expected Nix to loo.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Well, but I mean that's a clear fole where like
a like a dope. He was doing one of those
WWE moves that they's now become in vogue. Everybody run
back and forth from corner to corner and then throw your.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Ass into the guy. I mean I'm stunned the game
is this close. I thought this would be a this
would be a runaway for the Sixers. Well, you gotta
make it look dice for the people. Really not gonna
work on it, extending the series until the second half.
But yeah, but look, the Knicks got up big and
the Sixers just are unbelievably unconscious from three point range
again now healed, and but toom are seven for ten
(07:11):
from three point range. And I mean, look, what are
you gonna do?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Is it legal to put your stars in a hyperbar
chamber to get them fifteen minutes of proper cryo rest.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I don't think you can do that. You need to,
like to what spots on the floor and stuff. Hey,
we gotta wipe this up. We gotta do something. I
don't think you can do that. Actually, just wondering, you
know what, what are the rules of engagement there?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
You ask me what I would do now seeing this
is what's going on? Oh and ogn nob just missed
a breakaway let up? How does he miss? Whether he
wanted to lay it in or don't get he is
he has had an awful first half on a movie.
He has had so many chances up close and he
has not finished, and that's a he has had an
(07:53):
awful first half, absolutely awful. But here's the here's the
thing about what we're seeing and another three by by
this by the Sixers. It's a five point lead now
with six seconds ago before halftime. You know that buddy healed,
you know, But here's the thing. Yeah, exactly, the Knicks
get a bucket before the break, and it's gonna be
(08:13):
a fifty four to fifty one lead by Philly going
into halftime over the Knicks. A first half which now
the Sixers spend a lot of energy to come back
in the game. But look, you asked me what I
would do, now, what would you this game? Yeah, Joel
Embiid is playing well, and he's someone obviously he's even
(08:34):
he's Joel Embiid even if he's not one hundred percent.
But if I'm the Knicks and you can see them
collapsing and they're allowing the three point shot, they have
to go in the second half and say, you know what, Embiid,
We're gonna let you have the ball and you got
to work it.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, because that far away from the mask, unless he's
established truly down in the low post the Knicks, then
you double up. I guess says you need to, but
where he's been catching the ball, I don't think running
the second guy out is now is how you want
to operate this this They can make him dribble if
he wants to put the ball on the court.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
This is how the Knicks win the game, because yes,
you're okay with Embiid and he gets in, he gets
his points. But number one, okay, you're talking about twos
instead of all this barrage of threes that are keeping
you in. And the Knicks have to get out on
the perimeter and stop that from happening. And eventually, and
this is the big thing is Embiids played a ton
of minutes and you know he's going to get tired
in the fourth quarter. So when it comes out of
(09:28):
the fourth quarter, it's gonna be like game win in
game two, where what's he really gonna have left? And
then defending the Sixers is going to be much easier.
So if I'm I knew coming into this game, all right,
the Sixers are in this and they're just gonna keep
shooting threes, and Maxi and company are gonna keep shooting
until they win. This series or get back or get
back in it. And now the Knicks really have to
(09:48):
adjust and say, all right, we have to get out
on guys on the perimeter because guys are just hot. Yeah,
but here's the problem's missing shots from three they're get
and it's all catch and shoot. It's catch and shoot,
it's a dribble around a screen and it's hitting a shot.
The Knicks have to change what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, but in the second half, Nick Nurse gets to
activate the winner Soldier and Max he will actually start
becoming more of an offensive threat. You're in trouble here. Look,
I already had that code. Whatever the hell Zemo said,
I'm all said to him to get.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
A moving I already said I accepting that this is
going to seven games, right after blowing Game five, which
is again the worst Knicks loss in twenty five years. Uh,
seeing this turnaround in Philadelphia. Now Scott Foster on the game. Yeah, okay,
I've never wanted a live to look in on games.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Haven't changes with you and Frostburg more than when Scott
Foster was announced.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I Mean, the NBA knows who they're sending the games.
They know we're sending Scott Foster to this Knicks Sixers game.
They know the home tapped the elmo and said get
after it. They know the home team's record in Scott
Foster games are like forty eight and twenty. So I mean,
I mean, look, you're you're fighting up hill, of course,
and and look in the second half it's gonna be
(10:58):
are the Are the Sixers gonna be allowed to do
whatever they want to right then? Very physical Defensively, the
Knicks need to attack the basket a little bit more.
And it's so far it's been a game where hey,
the Knicks were hot early and then they couldn't hit anything.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I gotta say, that's kind of sounded like a bleakly
you started doing your own two minute drill, your own.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Two minute report. Did two minute report was right there.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
It's like, well, you know, here's a bunch of things
that went the Sixers way, Like you're already speaking that
into existence, even though you bemoaned and said no, no, no,
that's not what we do.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
We're Knicks fans. We take our losses. I mean, I
almost feel like with embiid, the strategy in the second
half should be like what teams did to Kareem Abdul
Jabbar at the end now and I'm going back, and
they kind of did it with shock a little bit,
but not not quite as much. But Kareem at the end,
when he was thirty eight thirty nine to forty, what
(11:49):
teams would do was they would, hey, we're gonna guard.
We're gonna let you get heavy, heavy involvement all throughout
the first three quarters, and Kareem would get when he's
thirty eight three, he would score thirty points, thirty five
points in NBA history, back when it was when thirty
thirty five was like, you know, sixty now. But by
the time it got to the fourth quarter, Kareem was exhausted,
(12:10):
you know, cap you know, all of a sudden, there
was not enough on his on his hook shot, and
he wasn't. He wasn't the same guy. Because they knew,
we're gonna let you get the ball offensively. We know
how you're going to shoot. You're not gonna make every shot,
but you're gonna get points. But then the fourth quarter comes,
you're gonna be tired and your shots are gonna be short,
and that's how we're gonna take over and we're gonna
win and that happened to Kareem at the end. And
even though Embiide is not at that point in his career,
(12:30):
he's not healthy. He's not in shape. You can see,
as Rick Buker likes to point out, he's gonna join
us after the show tonight. I've never seen a guy
getting tired shooting free throws. And that's Embiid. So okay,
that's a couple of weeks ago, his way back in
I I. You know, the Knicks need to let him be. Hey,
do your thing, work, work, work, because Hertenstein is playing
him really well defensively. Let him work, let him work,
(12:51):
let him work, and the time we get to the
fourth quarter, the Sixers offense should be a little bit
more discombobulated. This is my halftime report, This is my
this is my my strategy for going.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Trying to speak this into existence. Eventually, they're gonna be
due for some missed long distance threes, yes, even when
they're wide open.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I mean again, max Maxi gets activated the Winter Soldier. Yeah,
go at some point, you think, but I mean, but
here's the other thing is that Maxi's not scoring. Yeah, okay,
but all the other guys are hitting from I mean,
what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Like, Okay, if they weren't hitting, maybe Maxi's.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
But that's the beauty is its only is if that
does get a little bit cold, or your knicks come
out and Thibodeau has them pressing out to the to
the line a little bit more and not given the
shooters some free reign, then yeah, Maxi gets to go
to work and we see how lightning fast he can
get to the lane.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
So there you go. There's my nicked strategy for the
second half. Go New York. But again, I've already accepted
that they're gonna lose this game, and it's already resigned
to that fact. I resigned that after game five, I
told you they're gonna lose by thirty. Maybe they won't
lose by thirty. You'll still get consolation pizza. So it's
all good. And now what Scott Foster doing game? If
you're gonna put if you're gonna give Scott Falster to
us for game six in Philly, you're giving a Scott
(14:00):
Foster from game seven to nine one.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
This is why Angel Hernandez getting rotated to the second base.
He can be on the staff, but he's not going
to be the head official. How about that?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Ready for a new job like Sott Foster, let Express
Employment Professionals help. Express is hiring for jobs in a
variety of industries and job seekers never pay a fee
at Express. Check out expresspros dot com to find your location.
That's expresspros dot Com. Well, coming up next, we'll have
more on this game again. Nixon sixers at halftime, but
straight ahead the Bucks go home. We will hear from
(14:32):
Doc Rivers. What does this mean for the futures of
Jannis Lillard and Doc. I'll tell you this, two guys
out of those three will be gone this offseason. Hel
two out of three ain't bad though. Coming up next,
right here, Jason and Mike Fox just not Doc klex fault,
(14:52):
It's Klicks Focus.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
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 5 (15:04):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Two Pros and a
Cup of Joe Podcast with Brady Quinn, Jonas Knox, and myself,
LeVar Arrington. Make sure you catch us live weekdays six
to nine am Eastern or three am to six am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. You can find your local
station for the Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
(15:25):
show over at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Give this part.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
All right, I'll buy ty shirt. Did you just start
streaming Married with Children?
Speaker 6 (15:49):
No?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I just like Frank Sinatra. Okay, all right, that would
be a hell of a flox if you did, though, Yeah,
I'll tell you what a show.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
No, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I dig the move though, handing the pants feed up. Sure,
good move. That's life.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
That is.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
He would be canceled today, right, Yeah, they tried for
all ten years they were on. Yeah, I don't think
you could get you get Married with Children up? No,
ma'am doesn't work in twenty twenty four. No, I don't
think so. Although it's it's my dad still runs his
favorite line all the time from from Al Bundy when
when like it's like Al's having the horrible day whatever,
and the doorbell rings, I wonder who that could be? Now,
(16:30):
Bundy says, I hope that's a bullet with my name
on it. Yeah, my dad says that all the line.
That's a bullet with my name on it. The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike. Carbon Racing as
a new independent regulator, HAYSA that's implementing comprehensive reforms and
the sports combining hands on care with cutting edge technology
to help keep its athletes safe. To learn more, visit
(16:52):
Safety Runs First dot com. That Safety Runs First dot Com.
So Nixon six Ers at halftime, Sixers overcome a twenty
eight to nine death because twenty sixteen Buddy Heal showed up.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Oh great, you know Buddy Heal had two points in
the first five games of this year.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Come on, man, really, like, what the hell?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Little Buddy comes through.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Big look at him. I don't know if I feel worse,
Like would I feel better if it was Maxi with
a huge first half, or do I feel better that
it's not Maxi and it's Buddy Healed.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I mean, come on, no, no, you'd rather be Maxie
because you expected it. Instead, it's Buddy Heal kicking your
ass man wearing a head band and laughing at you.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I mean that dude's got seventeen off the bench, He's
got five threes in the first half. It's like, oh hey,
it's twenty sixteen again. I'm Buddy Healed. I'm the guy
everybody wants on their team.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Wait, wait, wait now, now there's gonna be a bunch
of thought piece going. If we could get this Buddy
Healed and team him up with Lebron and a d
look at this.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, just watch on Twitter. He'll start trending. Alex Caruso
will start trending. Then uh bad band bros. Yeah, they'll
start trending, and so we'll uh uh oh who else
will trend there? Uh no, they'll be them and Caruso.
Any Green will trend too, That's right, Danny Green, isn't
he Studio Sta doesn't matter? That sounds gonna trend. But
(18:06):
we saw earlier tonight the Bucks get knocked out of
the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers. Obi toppin ex nick
now good twenty one points and eight boards off the bench.
Indiana wins at one, twenty ninety eight. It was not
a close game. Lillard did play, but wasn't quite himself,
wasn't hitting shots, no, Yannie, And now it turns to
(18:28):
what do you make of this Milwaukee Bucks? First round failure.
There's three big players that are gonna dominate most of
the three big people dominating most of the conversation obviously Jannis,
Lillard and Doc Rivers. And I'll tell you I'll tell
you this. If you're a Milwaukee you have to see
past this. Oh, if we had Yannis, it might have
(18:48):
been different. You have to see past that and say,
what are we gonna do to keep Jannis happy? Right?
What do we have to do because we're not getting
better even with you, we're still out in the first round.
So of those three, Jannis isn't going anywhere right this year,
He's got another year. The year to worry about Yannis
is if the changes they make this year, because they're
gonna have to make changes in the offseason to keep
(19:09):
them happy. If they don't work now this time next year,
if the Bucks fail, then you're gonna worry about Yanna saying, hey,
maybe i've maxed out here. I need to go someplace else. Right,
that's what you're looking at. Now. The guys to worry
about are not worry about, but you worry about Lillard
and Doc Rivers because quite honestly, how happy is Damian
Lillard Seeing how this year went. He did not want
(19:32):
to go to the Bucks. It was not his preferred destination.
They couldn't get a deal with the heat going on.
So he goes to the Bucks and what happens. It
was awkward. He wasn't the same guy all year. He
looked like he was a bit of a shadow of himself.
In the first couple of games, he was hitting shots
and there was no yann It's like, okay, maybe he
just needed to be the one again, because that's kind
of who he was his whole career. But this did
(19:53):
not work out. This did not work out for the Bucks.
He never able to figure out a way to say, okay, hey,
with the two man game here with me and Yiannis,
they got me to make big shots in the playoffs.
This did not work. So I am not gonna be
surprised when you hear Damian Lillard may want out. Damian
Lillard might wind up getting that trade. He always wanted
to to get to his preferred destination because clearly the
(20:15):
Bucks need to do something, because if they don't, you're
looking at saying, well, other teams are gonna get better
this year. We're just getting older and Lillard's getting older.
Is this really better for are we really going to
get better? Is this really gonna happen? So the first
thing I'll tell you right now is I am not
gonna be surprised when Lillard is on his way out
either he says I want to get to a better team,
(20:35):
I want to get to my destination, or the combination
of that in the Bucks realizing Okay, we tried this,
it didn't work. Now we're gonna try something else and
hopefully it works with Yanna. So Lillard this season, I
would not be surprised. This is it from Milwaukee. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
The big thing with the Lillard though, is still trying
to ascertain how much he was impacted by everything swirling
around right new confines, a pending divorce, all of that stuff,
And we've talked about that at length with other players
in the past, and it certainly has come up a bit,
and he's been pretty candid with some of his remarks
(21:09):
as to how things happened and transitioned here that it
became a very difficult piece. Can you push that past, right?
Is it a one year thing or does that, you know,
without another move, you know, become something that just lingers
right that he never finds the piece, contentment and whatever
else he needs to make Milwaukee a new home beyond the.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Basketball side of it.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Right there, I think there are two completely different discussions
going on, right, feeling comfortable with fit and what the
offense and what the total break is because you also
have the coaching changes, right, You've also acquiesced to whatever Yiannis.
We have to assume a little bit of a Lebron
James like invisible hand, going back to Budenholzer being ousted,
(21:58):
going back to Griffin and being ousted, and now whatever's
gone on with Doc that some of that is Giannis.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Inspired, slash directed.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
And let's remember a few years ago, if it wasn't
for the clown shoe of going back in the playoffs
of Kevin Durant, they would have never won their title either.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Look, it's it that that is a big that it's
a big clown shoe dilemma. It's a which way in
a which day because it would have gone terribly right.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You might have had a bunch of firings and everybody
shuffle up and deal right then.
Speaker 6 (22:30):
But it.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
So you smile and.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
You put it away for a little while until you
couldn't you know not now just see it there.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Hey, let's go back in there and the visitor. The
issue is the Bucks need to keep moving to keep
Giannis happy. Right you can. You can see he's getting
more and more frustrated. And when you get more frustrated,
your your patience comes to an end. It doesn't get longer,
it comes to an end. Even Jerry Jones his patience
is coming to an end. Is the last season for
this team that I'm gonna sell the team, but I'll
(22:57):
bring it back Zeke. We're gonna move to Michigan to
take over for Hardbombed. So this is where I am
not going to be surprised when this is the last
year for Damian Lillard in Milwaukee. Know, maybe he gets
to Miami, but there's gonna be some kind of some
kind of movement made because the Bucks need something else
because this didn't work. Now, when it comes to Doc Rivers,
I mean, this really should be the end of Doc's
(23:18):
coaching career. It really should. How many more teams does
he need to take over and underachieve with until you realize, boy,
Doc really isn't the guy.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I don't know what it is that people think Doc
Rivers is just this great coach. They love Doc. He's
he's living off of two thousand and eight when he
had three Hall of Famers And I'm sorry, I could
coach team with three Hall of akg Pierce ray Allen
hit some shots. Go out there and spread the floor
a little bit, and when you need a three, I
think Posy will hit one. Like he's living off of
(23:50):
two thousand and eight. Right. He won in two thousand
and eight, lost the next year, blew a big lead,
never got the Clippers, passed the second round. With all
the talent that he had, Jumps Jumps doesn't win at
his next stop in Philly, No, no, no, Now he goes
and now he gets the job in Milwaukee. And not
only could he not win in Philadelphia with Mbat, he
can't win in Milwaukee with Yannis. And this is not
(24:10):
just oh hey, things were great and then Yiannis gets
hurt and we flame out. Things were awful with Giannis
when he took over. There was no there was there
was no cohesion, there was no we're playing well. He
took over a team that was thirty and thirteen and
all they were were sitting around at five hundred the
entire time, right, I mean, he's got a losing record
(24:31):
in the playoffs, Doc since twenty sixteen. He didn't even
get to game seven this time. Did even get to
games I'm gonna fall oh in game seven? No, didn't
even get there this time. The other thing is that
they didn't just lose these games.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, not competitive right, Like through the balance of the series,
without that crazy ass Middleton game, they were non competitive.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And now you wonder, Now you wonder how much of
did the Pacers just say, you know what, We're not
gonna go crazy and expend ourselves in this game here
in game five six, like the Celtics did.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Look right, you lost one and then you said, all right,
had enough screwing around, stop playing with your food, go
go finish this thing off.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
But this really should be the end of Doc River's
career because not only does he not win, doesn't take
any responsibility for it.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
And here he is.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I knew this was coming right the Doc Rivers. Excuse go,
This is him just a few moments ago talking about
the end of the season and wilwauk in how it
came to an end and how really, well, when you
know when we don't have Giannis. We're not gonna win.
Speaker 6 (25:25):
Winning is incredibly hard. It takes twelve to fifteen players
turning themselves into one and buying in your staff being
together as one and did health and didn't You still
may not win. You know, it's just hard, and you're
not gonna win unless you're healthy or unless you're really deep.
(25:47):
So nothing you can do about it. You know, Jannis
plays the way he plays, and we need them to
continue to play that way. Dame probably out of season
this year where he never really get in the right
condition that he wanted because he didn't know where he
was going all summer and so he couldn't work out.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Wait wait, wait, wait did that work out?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
That?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
That is Doc Rivers in a nutshell.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard come from a podium,
but we've heard a lot of.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Crazy ass stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Started couldn't work out because he didn't know where he
was going.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
He's yeah. He started off by saying, hey, oh, you
need all these things. It's hard to win. Gee, thanks
for telling me it's hard to win. You need all
these things to go right, and you still may not win.
Oh okay, okay, and then gets into yeah, never had
a chance. You got gonna win when you're not healthy.
You know, we need honest play the way you wanted to.
Dame couldn't get in check. Really, he couldn't get in
shape in them. He didn't. He couldn't get in shape
(26:39):
from the end of the summer all the way till
now it's the next year. I mean, really look at
look at Doc Rivers and the excuses that he just
continues to throw out there. He never takes any responsibility.
Just once. I'd like to see Doc say, hey, I
couldn't get them to play to their maximum capability, and
that's on me. I'd looked, but he's.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Gonna At the beginning, when he said you needed all
twelve to fifth team to play, I think he was
kind of owning it very obliquely of yeah, I never
got anybody on the same page here. That just never happened.
But he losses past that and Ealy gets into injury
and health issues like the Luland thing. Again, it's nuanced
(27:18):
in terms of what's going on in his personal life,
et cetera. But to say he's not in shape because
he didn't know where he was going, all right, expound
upon that one for me a little bit, because from
a physical standpoint, that doesn't matter unless you're saying, all right,
he would have really needed to ramp it up if
he was going to go play in Denver with great regularity.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I'm other than that. It makes no sense. I mean, really,
everything that is Doc Rivers in a nutshell. I'm going
to offer excuse after I'd love to grow up as
a kid. I'd love to have been Austin Rivers in
his house because I can make any excuse I want to. Yeah, okay,
that's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
No, Dad, I mean to make this happen, we needed
all eight of my guys. I mean, come on, did
you think we to get away with that? We would
need all eight of these guys to keep their mouths shut,
never read on their friends. You know there's loose lips
in any series, someone talking to their mom or dad,
or brother or sister or the girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I mean, we're gonna get screwed. I mean, Dad, I mean.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
You could see this for a while away, right, you
can understand where I'm coming from.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
The injuries in the NBA playoffs now are a given right,
and talk about it the way to win. I agree
with him, the way to win is to stay healthy.
I'm not disagreeing with Doc Rivers, hey not. But you
know what, I'm pretty sure the Knicks are gonna see
here and're not gonna say at the end off we
had Julius randall off we were healthy. Well, Josh Hart
already did that, all right, Josh Hart did that earlier.
The Clippers, Well, the players are one thing. Players are
(28:37):
one thing. It's the coach that sits here and says, Okay,
I'm gonna sit here and tell you what's going on.
You're not gonna see that. You're not gonna see You're
not gonna see tylu say hey, oh boy, not having Kawhi.
Injuries happen in the playoffs and you have to figure
out a way around it. But to sit there and
just throw your hands up and say, okay, well, what
are we gonna do? Everybody else is hurt, man, you
find a way. You find a way. Yes, it's much
(28:59):
more difficult, and there's an advantage if your team is healthy,
but everybody is hurt. We already have a laundry list
of players who are out there that are injured. We
already have a first team All Stars worth of players
the Celtics aren't gonna lose next round of the Knicks
and say, oh, and in the finals of the Knicks,
a guy I had, we had Porzeenkasa, they would be five.
This is what happens. But yet Doc is making it
seem like, yeah, there's no there's no excuse, there's no choice,
(29:22):
we have we just we just lost. There's no ownership
of anything from Doc. But the other thing, when you
play this many games, it becomes pain threshold and severity
of injury to the point where you can't go at all.
And you know how many of these guys are at
the well, you know what, I probably could use the
extra day off. It's like the NFL.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
By week three, everybody's dealing with something and could technically
be on the injured list. Same thing here in the NBA.
When you've played what are you in your ninety fifth game?
When you add preseason, even if you're only playing limited minutes,
then I mean you're into some crazy ass runs and
we know how short benches Yet during the playoffs and
(30:01):
even with an extra day off, that's.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Not buying you enough time to recover at this point.
So using injury excuses look dame. Gave it the old
college try. I didn't think he'd play today. Yeah, no,
I didn't expect that. It's Grady went out to play.
It's Grady went out.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
And he tried to show some heart and get out there.
But you know, once you're out there, that's that's how
you get judged. Like there's no curve.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Speaking of the Clippers, Wow, up next, you want to
know who's got the worst contract in the NBA? Oh,
we got that four straight ahead. This is fine. This
is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon live from Thetirack dot Com Studios. Joe
Gibbs at the game too. How about that Joe Gibbs
being ahead Big Dom? Yeah? Big Dom is there probably
kicking Knicks players out of the of the game. Yeah,
but Joe Gibbs, you're good. Three minutes to go in
the third quarter, the Sixers with a seventy seven to
(31:01):
seventy four lead over the Knicks. Sixers overcoming a huge
twenty eight to nine deficit. Uh, to come back and
take the lead thanks to Buddy healed, but Tom off
the bench hitting all kinds of threes. So the Sixers
with a three point lead again, three minutes to go
into third quarter. Long way to go, and I'm still
waiting for Scott Foster to really have a Scott Foster
(31:22):
like impact on the game.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah, we haven't seen any of those big moments just
yet where they've done a couple of ISO shots of yeah,
like there was it was, Yeah, just foreshadowing. It's almost
like you're watching a horror movie and there's like that
little frame that they sneak in in a scene.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Did I see that?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Wait, like a subliminal.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Thing when you see somebody and they're just having a
conversation and the killer is like all the way in
the back and you see him just like kind of fuzzy,
just standing there. You're like, it's coming back.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Guy.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, I'm gonna get you. They're coming to get you.
But look it is time to take a look and say,
all right, Kawhi Leonard has the worst contract in the NBA. Right.
We got into this little bit last night and yes
I get it. You know, I heard the the odd
couple talking about it. They think that Bradley Beal has
the worst early three years, one hundred ninety million. Yes,
that's a bad contract. But Kawhi Leonard, this is why
(32:11):
he's got the worst contract. Three years, one hundred and
fifty four million. And surprise, he signs when he's healthy. Right,
when he's healthy in January, things are going great. Yeah, signe, Hey,
I got my money. And now he's not playing. He's
already gonna be out for the next game, which could
be the last game in the Clipper season. It's the
worst contract in the NBA because the Clippers are built
(32:32):
around him. Right, Like if you say, yeah, Bradley Bial's
a bad contract for the Suns, Okay, but Devin Booker
is a better player, and Kevin Durant's a better player.
Right you're talking about Yes, your number three years, your
number three guy has a bad contract. And I get that.
I'm not saying it's good, but this is your number
three guy. The Clippers gave all this money to Kawi
Lean and they've done nothing in the last four years.
(32:54):
He could barely stay on the court, and now you're
tied to him for another three years after this when
clearly you've seen the best of Kawhi. He's getting into
his mid thirties. He's not gonna suddenly get healthier. He's
not gonna suddenly lead the Clippers to somewhere they haven't been.
The Clippers are just stuck because they couldn't stand up
(33:14):
and say, you know what, we've tried for four years
with this. Right, can't say the Clippers weren't patient, they
didn't give the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George Errarett Chansy.
He can't say they didn't do that. They did, and
I'm glad they were paytian. But this is now gonna
be four years and the Clippers are no closer to
a title than they were when they got Kawhi Leonard.
So yeah, this should have been a tough decision to say, yeah,
let's wait and let's try to regroup in the offseason,
(33:36):
because signing a guy off injury history who's thirty three
to a three year deal doesn't help. Right, So you're
talking about the Clippers who are saying we're just gonna
be kind of who we are for the next three years,
will be a team that makes the playoffs, will win
forty five is games, potentially during the season, maybe less
because maybe Kawhi Leonard's more injured, he plays less. But
you've now said we are gonna be mediocre at best
(33:57):
for the next three years after this. That's why this
is the worst contract, because he's the guy. He's the
guy everybody else supposed to be around him. That's why
this is such a bad contract.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Well, now you have the other piece that flows out
of that is Paul George saying do I want to
sign up for this? Right, he's got a player option,
and look, this begets a much larger discussion about what
you really think Paul George is at this point, because
he's great at times and then he I just saw
Joel Embiid given Jalen Brunson a couple of minutes ago,
(34:27):
the little too small thing. Sometimes Paul George kind of
disappears and plays a little bit small, right, and when
they've needed him, you know, the old Randy Van Warmer
that we love to do. You left me just when
I needed you most to come up big and to
be a leader and assertive. So for the Clippers would
not be the worst thing in the world if he
opted out and then someone else decided to jump at
(34:50):
him with the giant bag of money. Be it, the Sixers,
be it, and there's probably five or six teams that
you can name off the top.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Of your head. Hell just go across the way and
stay at Crypto dot com with the Lakers when it's
all said and done. I mean, there's there's just a.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Lot that rides on it, and you've got to get
other people to buy in that that's your lead. Because
I agree with you. The Beal deal is as terrible
as it is.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
He was.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
He was at an add on then said, oh, we'll
get him. We have to overpay, but we'll get him.
But he's not the focal point of what you're trying
to do with Kawhi. That that's the guy that you've
had this whole thing running around the whole time, never
passed the torch, right like Lebron was supposed to do
the ad that never happened. Same thing in La you
brought these guys, remember street lights before spotlights or whatever
(35:39):
the hell that campaign was, It.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Was still Kawhi first. Listen. I would much I agree.
I would much rather have Larrybal's contract than Bradley Beal.
I would much. I would. Helloa means goodbye. I would
much rather have Larry Beial's cut by all the Yahoo
Sports colleague, right, right, guy, But you could still overcome
that because you have two better players and one who
is a younger star and Devin Booker like the Clippers
(36:04):
like this, we're gonna build around a guy that we
don't know when he's ever gonna play that you can't
count How do you build around a guy that you
can't count on being on the floor.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
You can't just put him in bubble wrap because there's
no guarantees ready for April.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
That's they tried that this year. That's insane. Coming up next? Boy,
do we have a great story out of the NFL?
Is it great? Make you scratch your head? Plus Nix
and the Sixers are tied going to the fourth quarter mixho.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
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 (36:39):
Nicks win and the Sixers losing. Jalen Bruntson goes for
another forty point game. Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show
with My best friend Mike Harmon, liven Theti Rag Dot
com Studios, Go Why what is that? I'm just making
(37:00):
forget never forget. The Knicks eliminate the Sixers one eighteen
one fifteen, the Pacers blow out the Milwaukee Bucks. Are
changes coming for these teams? Are the Knicks and Celtics
on a collision course? Are the Knicks going to the finals.
The man to answer all of these questions joins us
(37:21):
now Little Round Ball Rock with fo Fox Sports one
insider extraordinary host of the On the Ball podcast. He's
on Twitter at Rick Buker. It is Rick Buker. Rick,
go New York, Go New York. Go your thoughts.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yeah, the word insufferable keeps coming to mind. I don't
know why. I just I don't know why. In fact,
producer said, hey, can you do something? I said, no,
I can't do anything.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Kidding me.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
I can't do anything. I can't slow Jason's role. Right now,
you're asking me impossible. That's like asking That's like asking
the Philadelphia seventies fixers to find a way to stop
jailing brunts. It done.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Help me, Obi wan Kenobi, you know seriously, You know seriously, though, Rick.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
The thing is is that outside of loud mouse like
me in the go New York and New York Go.
We talked about this. The nixt style of play, which
is always is reniscent of their hard work, blue collar
in the nineties. You see, you have to take the
game and grab it from their hands, and they will
take it to the grave to try to beat you
like that. That's a style that cuts through for any
(38:29):
fan across the country. And it's a shame that loudmouth
fans like me kind of take away from it because
of the co New York Go, New York Go. But
really their style of play is something that that that
fans can really embrace because not every team plays like this.
You'd want every team to play like this, but they don't.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Yeah, no, agreed. It's it's their grittiness and their resilience,
and they're just their willingness to play hard all the
times and and sort of that underdog. I mean, you
just look lets like six kwos, you know, two hundred
pounds Jalen Brunson, who it still is a marvel to
(39:05):
me that he's able to get to the places that
he does on the floor and he's able to get
his shot off against dixtate six nine defenders with a
looming Joel mb so, Uh, yeah, no, it is. It
is an easy team to root for. I will say that,
you know, going into this game, when we talked about
(39:27):
it on on Speak today and that at the end
they were asking I think they said, we will Joel
Embiid bring it home or something like that, and I said,
you know what, that's a really weird way to spell
Jalen Brunson, because this is what I expected. And then
the game starts and they come out with the big
(39:48):
lead and they give it all back. And the one
thing that concerns me about them is so Tid is
relentless and saying this is what we're going to do,
and this is how we're going to do it, and
to your point, like and they just they're they're they're
a bulldog that's got the bone in its teeth and
(40:11):
or the chew toy and it and it's not going
to let go. And sometimes that can backfire on you
in terms of there's just times where and I thought
it happened in the previous game where Tis has got
to make an adjustment, like you've got you have to
do something a little bit different, and uh, ultimately Philadelphia
(40:33):
just couldn't execute well enough. Uh you know, I think
Nick Nurse got as much as he could out of
a obviously an impaired Joel Embiid. And I thought Dothy
di Vincenzo, the job that he did on Tyrese Maxi
the entire game, forcing sort of shadowing him left, and
(40:57):
so you know, Tyrese is so good. He's he was
able to get back to his right, but he would
get to it like in difficult from difficult angles. He
couldn't get there quickly enough. And I just thought with
the shot making and the defense, and then obviously Josh
Hart hitting the huge, huge three at the end when
(41:20):
it was like, well we're not going to jal and
win this, Josh, you want to take a stab at it,
we'll We'll let you shoot that three, and he did.
And I just so, and this is how it's going
to go, Like Dalen's probably going to give you what
he's going to give you, but how much farther they
go is really going to depend on these these contributing
(41:45):
pieces and what you're getting out of your out of
your bench. I thought Mitchell Robinson was really good defensively,
and you're like, you can't just take those things for granted,
you're going to have to get those on a nightly
basis in order to get where. I think that they
(42:06):
will be a contrast and styles in this next round.
But I think I told you guys, I had the
mix in the in the conference finals as a and
as a stark horse to make it to the finals.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Well, two things. Number one, well thanks for coming around
to me, Rick, I just want to say that. Number one,
thanks coming around to that. Yeah, I've been telling you
that since the since they got Andunobi, I've been telling
you how good we are.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
You've been telling me that for the last six years.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
That's true too. That's true too.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Okay, I mean eventually, eventually it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Right somewhere, I was going full on Reeland. In the years,
you've been telling me you're a genius since you were
seventeen and all these years i've known you. I don't
know what you mean. I want to see Tims with
the strategy of just playing five. We're just suiting five.
This is my team out here. But the postgame, Nick Nurse.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
He really did right.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
When Robinson comes walking in with that giant bandage on
his leg and everything, it's like here we go. But
Nick Nurse made it a point to lament the officiating
and kind of wagging his finger at Scott Foster and
crew for those tirees, h those Maxie drives down the
lane and not being able to get to the foul line.
(43:25):
Only four free throw attempts tonight, I mean a number
of them, Ricky. It kind of looked like he was
anticipating the contact, like he was taking a bump in
a w W E ring. So you're not gonna get
the call. But overall, the fact that Nurse went back
to the referee, well after being vanquished from a series,
you know, it is a questionable move.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
Yeah, I mean, especially because I'd go the other way,
and you know it did Maxie. Where there are a
couple of calls where you could have called contact, sure,
I thought, but I thought EMBI got a number of
calls that I was like, really, that's what we're calling
Bill Kennedy. Really, I mean, he initiated the contact. It
(44:09):
was a little bit of bump, but is that enough
in this game to send the guy to the free
throw line? So, you know, I look at the numbers. Overall,
they shot twenty three free throws. The Nick shot twenty
four Dalen I thought was really clever and and getting
guys on his hip and then going straight up and
(44:32):
they were crowding in from behind and he deserved to
go to the line. So I think overall, I don't know,
I can't with all the officiating, some of the officiating
that I've seen, this was not, by any means a
(44:52):
game that I felt like the referees were too too
much part of it. They were they were too visible
in in the ultimate outcome. And I think maybe some
of this is that Nick was still thinking about some
of the previous games where it again, you know, we
(45:13):
talked about it the game that they they gave away,
and I'll and again I mean even there, like you
could look at the two minute reports said that they
missed some calls, but I think we outlined like there
was five things that the Philadelphia seventy six ers could
have done different in order to uh to still win
that game. So I have a lot of respect from Nick.
(45:34):
I think he's a great coach, but I think he's
I think he's harping on the wrong thing here.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Yeah, look, I mean you saw the two minute report
come out for the last game they missed calls against
the seventy six ers, and then to see him talk here,
I'm like, you know what, just take the L. Take
because now you just seem like a guy that all
you do is complain about the officiating, the entire players.
You know, you lost lost in six games. Take the L.
But you know that's not the way they went.
Speaker 4 (45:59):
Yeah, No, I can't argue with that. It's not I
don't think it's a great it's not a great look
for a guy that I think is a very good coach.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smiths are with Mike Carmon
live from the tyrack dot Com studios. Rick Bucker with
us here. All right, So so Rick, you know it
pains me, but we do have other NBA news to
get you away from the mix. Look, we watched the
Bucks go out in the first round and Doc Rivers
again gave a lot of excuses to why they didn't win. Uh,
they were just not good when he took over. Yes,
(46:29):
they weren't healthy, but you know what, lots of teams
aren't healthy. What do you take away what the Bucks
need to do in this offseason coming off of what
you saw now getting eliminated in the first round for
the second straight year.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
It's funny because I almost feel as if, you know,
we've talked about the Phoenix Suns and the guy their
terrible position, and I and I actually don't think they're
in that terrible position. I think they have to make
some changes. I think the Bucks in a way are
in a worse position than the Phoenix Suns. You certainly
have Jana Thopas Acompo, who if you're asking, you know,
(47:03):
the the incumbent superstar or incumbent star, because I would
say Yannis is a superstar. I would say Devin Booker
is a star. So Milwaukee has an advantage there. I
think those guys are basically at the same point in
their careers. But after that, like you know what, I
can still get a lot for Kevin Durant, I don't
(47:27):
know what I can get for Damian Lillard at this stage.
Bobby Portis, I don't know how much he would bring
me Brook Lopez. I mean they have Chris Middleton. Chris
Middleton feels a lot like Bradley Beal to me, like
the contract is way way bigger than what I can
expect that guy to produce at this point. And so look,
(47:50):
I think they came into the season as the oldest
team in the league, if not certainly one of the oldest,
and and and also cat strapped, and so I don't honestly,
I don't know where they go with this team. I
didn't and I'm sure I said it to you guys,
like I never believed in the Lillard Yannis pairing from
(48:13):
the beginning, And the only the only out that I
could see is, you know, to make a call to Miami.
You guys still interested. He didn't get him the first time.
Maybe we can make something happen. That's that's the route
that I would go. But I don't know that if
Milwaukee is thinking, you know what, we weren't healthy and
we just need to bring it back. Defensively, they were
(48:35):
so vastly compromised, particularly on the wing. They need to
get way more athletic After Yannis, the athleticism falls off dramatically.
They need to make some significant changes. It's going to
be a tough summer. The one thing, and I'm sure
that we've talked about it, the one thing I do
not want to hear is, well, you know, joannest probably
(48:57):
he needs to go to someplace else. If he wants
to play for a championship. Yes, be honest. Is the
reason that Damian Lillard is there and they're in the
position that they are as a defensive team, and he
made the barter of I'll find I'll resign if you
go get my guy. The last thing I want to
(49:18):
hear is, well, you know Milwaukee can't serve his purposes. Mark,
Milwaukee already served your purpose. Okay, so pick it out,
figure it out, and find a way to bring Milwaukee
another title.
Speaker 6 (49:32):
All right?
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Who's in the tracksuit coaching Lebron when the fall hits
a JJ Reddick, Tyleru or Doc Rivers.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
You know what, I just don't see. I mean, I
would say that Tyler's probably at the top of Lebron's
wish list. I also, I think Steve Ballmer will like
there's no way he's letting Tyleru leave and go play
for the Lakers, like that that rivalry and that enmity
is will prevent him from letting ty logo. Aside from
(50:00):
the fact that I think that what's happened to the
Clippers this year is not I don't put that on Tie,
it's you know, you don't have you don't have leadership
in your locker room. And so we've we've seen this
story over and over and over again in the way
that they respond, you know, good luck if you want
to you want to bring JJ Reddick in there. I
(50:21):
think for JJ smart enough to know that that would
not be that would not be a good move. And
I think I feel as if Starvinham like really had
come to a point where he's like, just put me
out of my misery. I mean, because you don't say,
you don't say, hey, we had a starter who for
ten games bleeped, you know, unless you're trying, unless you're
(50:46):
trying to get out of there, because then you're just
you're just you're trying to find a way to lose
that locker room. And so I don't really know that
it matters who they bring in because the issue was
not Darvinham's coaching. Yeah, you know, challenging with three minutes
(51:08):
left and it costing your last time out. I think
that was a faux pall. But overall, when I look
at the season record that they had and what they
have for personnel and the roster that they have, I know,
Lakers Nation, if they're not you know, playing for a title.
Do they think that their team is underachieving or or
(51:29):
that any team that Lebron is on, Lebron and ad
In and of themselves is supposed to make you a
title contender. I just don't know the thirty nine, thirty
nine year old Lebron does that at this point. And
the rest of the roster. I mean, I'm supposed to
get excited about Austin Reeves. I think he's a great
finds he was undrafted for a reason. Really, Hatchey Mura
(51:54):
is nice, but he plays the same position as Lebron.
So I just it's a problematic roster. And and I
don't the Darvin kept looking for solutions and answers. I'm
not going to put him on that, and I'm not
going to put that on him. And I don't. I
just don't. I don't know that any there's a coach
(52:16):
out there that is going to solve the riddle that
is the Lakers roster.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
You can fall him on Twitter at Rick Buker. That
is at Rick Buker, Fox Sports one NBA Insider. Check
out his latest on the Ball podcast, which will be
all about the Knicks. Right it's going to be forty
five minutes about the Knicks and Tom Tibodeau's track track wear.
Speaker 4 (52:37):
Isaiah Hartenstein one of.
Speaker 1 (52:40):
The best backups we've ever seen. Ricky, see you, buddy.
We'll talk to you next week. Thanks Jrek,
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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