July 18, 2024 • 41 mins
Jason and Rich Ohrnberger celebrate the heck out of Bronny James making his first 3 pointer as a Laker. Caitlin Clark sets the WNBA record for most assists in a game with 19. And Jason gives his 5-person Mount Rushmore of the most influential & transcendent athletes of the last 25 years!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Six years, not seven, not nine, not four, not five,
six years and six. It is the most specific intro
we have here at Fox Sports Radio Live live athetirack
dot com studios tyrac dot com. I'll help you get
there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
(00:51):
and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirect dot com is
the way tire buying should be. So right now, Summer
League Atlanta leads the Lakers seventy six sixty five fourth quarter.
The reason this game a big deal. Bronnie James HiT's
the first three pointer of the Summer League, first three
pointer of his career. He's got nine points tonight, having
(01:13):
his best overall game.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
He's shooting well.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
He's played about eighteen minutes so far and now he's
hit a three right, started zero for fifteen, really big stories.
He overmatched and just on this for a couple minutes
before you get to Caitlin Clark. Is that I see
I see this differently from you, Rich because there was
such a almost like with with Caitlyn Clark in the
WNBA when she first comes in. There's all this controversy
(01:38):
and all this hate and all this jealousy of Caitlyn Clark,
and everybody's throwing out there it's about her race, it's
about you know, if if she heterosexual, all of this
different thing. And it turns out, okay, this is just
the players that are jealous because she's coming to the
league all of a sudden.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Is getting things that they haven't had before.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Okay, So we saw the criticism of her calmed down
a little bit, and I see the same thing that's
gonna happen with Bronnie James. Now, yes, there was the
initial divisiveness because of Lebron James, and it's all because
of the polarizing nature of Lebron that oh, hey, Lebron's
got his kid on his team. I can't believe he's
doing this. His kid stinks everybody's waiting for Bronnie to stink,
(02:18):
which is kind of unfair of the kid. But he's
also not an unwitting accomplice in this. He wanted to
get to the NBA. He wanted a no two way deal,
so he's getting this. But still now that he's played
a little bit, and you could see that he's overmatched,
and the Lakers can see these overmatch piece. Look, guys
that tear up the summer League are overmatched in the
in the NBA, right, guys that kind of boys. Guy
(02:39):
to triple double in the summer league and he can't
even make a team. So just the fact when you
see a guy struggle in summer league, you know that,
all right, he needs more seasoning. And Bronnie James even
said it himself to tamp things down the other day.
Look wherever they assigned me after this summer, I'm fine with.
So suddenly, all of the oh, he's gonna take up
a roster spot and the Lakers are gonna be forced
(03:00):
to play him. It's gonna be all this hatred and
all this scrutiny on the Lakers, and as Lebron running
the Lakers, I see now that everybody has seen that
Bronni needs to have time to develop and play in
the G League, and it's easy because the Lakers G
League team plays in Los Angeles. It's easy to have
him go back and forth. Bronni even said, Hey, I'm
open to whatever assignment they give me. This story's going
(03:22):
to start calming down now. He's gonna get to slowly
slide out of the spotlight, get to go do his
thing and play, and eventually it will come back again.
But for the rest of this summer, now that the
initial hate of Bronni and Lebron and the Lakers and
he's running things, he's the GM once people have gotten
that out of their system now and he's played, and
everybody kind of gets Okay, this is what Bronni needs
(03:42):
to have happen now, and that's what's going to happen.
He's not gonna suddenly start playing a bunch of minutes
because Roria Chamor goes oh for four from three point
range in a couple of games. I think people have
seen this now, so the story's going to start calming
down now a bit.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
I think that's a possibility. I also think the possibility
that he does play significant menu it's at some point
this season that ship hasn't sailed either, and I think
we could all We wouldn't even have to squint very
hard to see that far down the road and see
the reasons why that would happen. It would be the
greatest story in the I guess if we're going to
(04:18):
use near sightedness right now in the foreseeable future for
the NBA having father and son be on the court
during the regular season for the first time in NBA
history as a Lakers drafted Bronni James because we know
that Lebron James Senior has a lot more yesterday's log
than tomorrow's, you know, in terms of produce. You know,
(04:40):
let's not buy the green bananas, let's buy the riper
bunch when we head to the produce stands in terms
of in terms of career length here because he doesn't
have that much time left in the league. It's look,
Lebron James has been playing for a long time, so
how much time does he really have left to play
(05:01):
with his son? We are, you know, potentially one injury
away from saying goodbye. Now. I'm not hoping that, I'm
not even predicting that. I hope it doesn't happen. I
hope he plays for another handful of years. I think
Lebron James is great for this league. And frankly, even
though I've been labeled the mean.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Girl, I'm more I'm more of a you're the one, Hey, Hey,
you're the one throwing out there.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Hey, every locker he goes around.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
When he goes from physics to gym class, people are
gonna be saying, hey, you're Lebron's good.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I'm just saying, you seem pretty comfortable with that.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
You know what I am? I'm a mean girl beat
writer because I can. I can I can see where
I can see where the mean girls are gonna go.
And and we all know that, we can all see that.
You know that's not speaking out of school here, it's
in nepotism. Oftentimes there are whispers in the hallways now.
The best way to defeat nepotism is by being competent.
(05:56):
Competency always beats nepotism. And I hope I'm rooting for Bronnie.
I'm hoping that he turns out to be a very
competent NBA player, because I think that's better for the storyline.
I love covering this sport. I love talking NBA. I'm
sad that Lebron James is leaving the NBA sometime soon.
(06:18):
What as soon mean? Is it a year, is it
five years? I don't know, but soon we're not going
to have him the same way the legends of old
Tom Brady Tiger Woods as they leave their sports, you know,
you sort of say, well, what's next? You know, I'm
hoping to see something pop off the screen the way
Lebron James did for the NBA. I don't know if
there's a next yet, and I'm not even necessarily going
(06:40):
to say Bronni James is next. I can't. Nobody can
at this moment. But I'm excited for the storyline. I
know that much. So I am rooting for the guy.
But they also I, as everybody else is, I'm aware
that there's going to be whispers in the hallway. He's
going to face that level of criticism. Oh, I'm curious
(07:02):
if he does end up playing for a G League team,
how long that lasts. I'm curious if he spends some
time on the roster with the Lakers, how long that lasts.
Because right now it's very clear as he was the
fifty fifth overall draft pick to the Lakers. He's not
playing great basketball. Everybody who watches the game understands that
(07:25):
can he improve? Absolutely? Will he that's a whole nother story.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You know, This is how if you said, how can
I see this season going for Browny, this is the
biggest vision that I have. So the summer is going
to end and he'll wind up bouncing back and forth
between the Lakers, being the fifteenth man on the team
and playing in the G League. Right, that's kind of
where it's gonna go.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
If the Lakers play well out of the gate, and look,
they're bringing back basically the same roster as last year,
and you're hoping that all right with a new head
coach and JJ Reddick, and you know players buying in
because I obviously a lot of them quit on Darvin
Ham the end of last year. Uh, you're hoping for
something new. The Lakers come out and play well, all right,
everything is gonna be fine. But this this is what
(08:09):
I see. If you see certain parts of the Lakers struggle,
Like if you see them defensively not in synct because
Bronn he's a pretty good defender. If you see guys
missing some threes or not hitting some big shots. I
could see, you know, the Lakers lose three in a
row and they're seven and ten, or they're ten and fourteen,
(08:30):
And I can see the postgame press conference with the
microphones in Lebron's face, and Lebron is talking while he's
putting his shirt on, and he's looking to the side,
and someone's and someone would say, because of course you
don't know what he's gonna you want to you want
to tee him up for it. They're gonna say, hey,
do you think changes need to be made? What do
you think about the team, And then Bron saying something like, oh,
we had all the confidence in the world and the
(08:51):
guys here, and then as he just looks the other way,
he just finishes by saying, and you know, we got
some guys down in the G League two that are
playing that might deserve a chance at some point. So
we were happy with what we have here in the
locker room, knowing full well what those words are going
to mean. So and the pressure will go on. He's
not gonna go and say I demand this. That's how
Lebron is gonna do it. And then Rich Paul is
(09:11):
gonna know. Okay, now I gotta pick up my phone.
I gotta call Geenie Buss. They're gonna talk to Ron Polinka.
We're gonna get JJ reddickon. And this is how it's
gonna go. We're gonna a big conference call about Bronny.
Like that's how I see it going. If the team
struggles and it looks like there's an opening, Lebron is
going to take it. He's not gonna sit back and
just say no, we're good. All these guys are because
(09:32):
we know what motivates Lebron Now.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Towards the end of the grade he won, is he
on a championship.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It's not only Lebron, it's Genie Bus two. Look, we
know what motivates her also championships, yes, just like her father,
but also the business of basketball. Her father, if he
taught her anything, was the fact that basketball is a business,
and the better you are in the business, and the
more those seats are filled in the arena, the better
off you're doing in terms of your bank account. That
(10:00):
was the chief concern. I mean, look, anybody who's watched
Showtime or the new biopic HBO series, it's fun it's
a fun watch, but it is I don't want to
say it's perfectly accurate to Jerry Buss, but it really
does capture the showmen and the businessman that he was.
(10:23):
He understood how to captivate an audience. So does Jeanie.
She worked with him for a long time. They worked
hand in hand together for a long time. And so
as much as Lebron like you just pointed out, and
Rich Paul like you just pointed out, and even JJ Reddick,
who obviously is a minion of Lebron's because he got
him the job, so who else is he going to
(10:43):
answer to, Genie Buss is also right there with him
because she knows what's good for business, and that storyline
will be printed everywhere. That is worth tens of millions
of dollars in marketing that they are going to get
for free just by activating a G League player to
the active roster, even if it's for a matter of
(11:06):
days that he's activated to the roster, it is going
to be millions upon millions, fistfuls of money worth of
free marketing that they're gonna get on the press sheets
of every single newsroom across the country and frankly internationally
as well, because it's big time news. I think I
think everybody's in lockstep with what you just said, not
(11:28):
just Lebron, but everybody in that organization.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
But you know, and the funny thing is you bring in,
you bring out the really big point of where the
Lakers are right now, is that you talked about, Hey,
the Lakers are about championships, but they're also about the
business end of it. The Lakers understand why were they
so insistent about bringing Lebron back? Right? Lebron clearly is
he's a guy that gets his Now does he make
the Lakers better?
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Is he?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know, he's still one of the top fifteen players
in the game. But can you still build around him
like the past? Is he still the same guy the Lakers? Okay,
where we are right now, we're not a championship team,
but we need to continue to be the Lakers. We
need to be the Lakers. We need to stir the drink.
We need to be at the head of the conversation.
Whether we finish sixth in the West, we're in the
(12:13):
playing round, whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And the and the thing that gets us.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
That relevancy is having Lebron James and hey, and having
Bronni James that buys us more of it as well.
Who knows for how long over the next couple of years,
because if we're not gonna win titles and the Lakers know, hey,
we know we're far behind these other teams in the West, right.
We know Denver got knocked out last year by a
really hot Timberwolves team, but we know how good they are.
(12:36):
The Thunder had been making big moves in the offseason.
There might pick to go to the finals this year.
The tea Wolves were so good last year all that.
I mean, this is a situation where you go, Okay,
we understand where we are. We're not nearly as good
as these teams, so we have to win the battle
of relevancy and continuing to be a team that stirs
the conversation and having Lebron James, which is why they
(12:57):
count out to him and.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Gave them everything.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Hey, we need we need you here, Lebron, because the
Lakers team without Lebron really isn't the Lakers a d
as good as he is. Isn't someone that we get
to we talk about all the time. You're we're not
gonna talk about him on TV. I'm not gonna talk
about on the radio, but keeping Lebron and then bringing
Browny in that buys us at least that part of
our identity for the next couple of years. Because the
(13:19):
Lakers have always had start, even when they were bad,
They've always had stars.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You're going, you're going back to the early eighties.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
They've always had superstar players that have stirred to drink.
And they were looking at a reality of hey, we're
not a championship, We're not gonna have it, but we
gotta have this at least. So we got to keep Lebron.
We gotta go get Bronny because that's going to satisfy
that part of it.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And I'm a fan of seeing history be made. Yeah, look,
you know, and I'll be brief here that the reality
of this situation is if JJ Reddick works with the Lakers,
history will be made. Because this is a guy who
hasn't coached beyond the youth level. So if he has
any modicum of success at the NBA level, well that's
a historic event. If Brownie James has any modicum of
(14:02):
success with the Lakers, or even if he just steps
on the floor on the active roster with the Lakers
at any point during the regular season while his father
is still playing with the organization. History will be made
and that's cool. And I understand maybe it's dubious reasons
why both of those people I just mentioned are on
the court at all with Lebron, but jeez, there's something
(14:24):
to me that I'm romantic about sports and I like
to see things like that. When the Patriots were the
Evil Empire and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick had an
undefeated season going all the way to the Super Bowl.
Even though I grew up in New York and I
was rooting against a team that many of my aunts
and uncles and my brother, my cousin, they all root
(14:46):
for the Giants, I was like, well, how cool would
it be to see the first ever undefeated Super Bowl
since the seventy two Dolphins have the record and we
all get to witness this. Now. I had food thrown
at me at the Super Bowl party I was at,
but still that thought process stands today. I'm very curious
(15:08):
what happens with the Lakers this season because a lot
of history could be made in a very short order.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Rich Oordenberger, who of course played for the Patriots for
three years.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Ain't the Tom Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I got where you're coming from with that, buddy, I
got where you're coming from. Jason Smith, Rich Ordenberger in
from Mike Harvion Tonight the Jason Smith Show here on
Fox Sports Radio. So we'll have the Caitlin Clark history
and controversy and Rich you alluded to it. We have
NBA history once again in this Laker game over the Hawks.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
We had it a few minutes ago. We got history again.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
That's next right here, Jason Smith, Rich Ordenberger, this is
Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radios teamed up with ty
rack dot Com to give away a seat of four
brand new tires valued add up to fifteen hundred dollars
every two weeks this summer. That's right, three lucky listener
is going to receive a set of four new tires
plus installation, taxes and fees valued ad up to fifteen
(16:06):
hundred bucks. It's the Summer of Tireraxsweepstakes. Enter daily at
Foxsports Radio dot com to increase your chances to win. Yes,
you can register to win every day to improve your chances.
A winner is going to be selected every two weeks
between now in August twenty fifth. For a set of
four brand new tires. To enter and get rules, visit
Fox Sports Radio dot com furnish by tireraq dot com
(16:27):
The Way tire buying should be.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
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 (16:43):
Hey, gang, this is Jay Glazer, host of Unbreakable, a
mental wealth podcast, and every week we will have on
leader from sports entertainment like Sean McVay, Lindsey Vaughn, Michael Phelt,
David Spade.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Got Fiemmi, and also those who can.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Help us in between the ears, anyone from a therapist
to someone like Ed Milett for John Gordon. We've all
been through some sort of adversity to get to the top.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
We've all used different tools.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer and Mental Wealth podcast
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get podcasts.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon,
Doctor Rich Ornberger in for Harmon tonight, and we're gonna
get to Caitlin Clark in a second. But we had
Summer league heroics. Just right now, as cameras are following
Bronnie James as he leaves the floor the Lakers triumphant
(17:40):
victory over the Hawks eighty seven to eighty six, And
we're gonna bring you the second great moment in NBA history.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
We brought it to you.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
About a half hour ago, something you had never seen before.
Bronnie James hitting his first three of his NBA career.
It was outstanding, it was amazing. Well, Richie, oh, he
wasn't happy with just one. Ronnie James decided he check,
give me the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
All of them in the first half.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Got a chance at another.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
He there you go.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Lakers TV on the call.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Ronny James two threes tonight, Lakers win, uh, probably his
best all around game. Lakers get their first win of
Summer League. ESPN on the call. Rather sorry, I said,
Lakers TV. I think they're sending Lakers TV to Summer League.
You No, you're right, You're right. It wasn't Billy Mack.
I should have thought about that. But Bronny goes for
(18:41):
twelve points tonight. Nice night for him, five out eleven
from the floor. Look like we said a few minutes ago.
I think things will start calming down a little bit now.
And you know, once you get your first couple of
three pointers on your belt. Now, now it's just bombs away.
Now he's gonna shoot ten or twelve threes a game.
He's gonna be clapping for the ball. Hey, come on,
come on, I'm hot. I'm hot, I'm hitting threes.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Now give me the to me filling up the basket.
There's no question about it. I think, like we spoke
about earlier, this truly has been a growth moment for
our relationship, getting to win this history together twice, but
also for Brandi James. Yeah, there's no question, but twice
twice we got to celebrate this great moment, really incredible stuff. Look,
(19:23):
I truly I'm invested in this storyline like a lot
of basketball fans are, and not for the reasons a
lot of people think about. I'm not waiting for this
guy to trip over himself and to prove everybody right
that he only got the job because of who his
dad is. I hope this works out because it's more
fun that way. I get it. You know, everybody has
(19:46):
their opinions about the way people get jobs sometimes, but
you know, and honestly, if the ends justify the means,
then who really cares? Who really cares? And that's exactly
where this could go, and I'm hopeful that it goes there.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So from Brownie James to Caitlyn Clark, who said a
w NBA record tonight in the Fevers loss of the
Dallas Wings, nineteen assists I really wanted to get to
twenty would have been a phenomenal night for her. But
nineteen assists to go along with twenty four points, However,
(20:20):
the Fever go basically scoreless down the stretch. In the
final few minutes, a ninety three to ninety three game
turns into a runaway win for the Dallas Wings. And look,
Dallas is not a great team. You know, they're struggling.
They had only won five games coming into this year.
They win at one on one ninety three, and there's
(20:41):
a great night for Caitlyn Clark. And there's also controversy
that comes along with it. Nineteen assists tonight unbelievable, right,
you see that that people were crazy denying her talent,
talking about her not being someone who is deserving of
a spot on the Olympic team, all of these things.
But I tell you this rich is that she did
(21:02):
not take a shot in the final six minutes of
this game. She had a shot attempt, she had a
miss three right at the six minute mark to go
in the fourth quarter. She did not take another shot
the rest of the game. And you're talking about someone
who is the all time leading scorer in college basketball
history with range to hit threes that nobody else in
(21:24):
the league has. But I get that, Yes, you want
her to be a little bit less deferential in big times.
And maybe she's caught up a little bit now because
she's dishing the ball so well, she's seeing the court
so well, coverages are rolling towards her so much, she's
able to find the open player. She's still getting her
points right still at twenty four tonight, right, So it's happening.
(21:45):
But sometimes I see her and I go, yeah, Okay,
maybe that's not a play where you want to try
to edition and push. Maybe this is where you get
a little bit selfish and take a shot. Flip side
of it is, Hey, you're Christy sides. How about we
make sure we draw and plays up. When Kitlyn Clark
goes three four minutes without a bucket, let's draw a
couple of plays up and get her the ball and
(22:05):
get her a couple of shots. She can't go six minutes.
She can't go the final six minutes of a game
and not take a shot. So, while the truth is
somewhere in the middle, yes, Skaitlyn Clark, be less deferential.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yeah, do you need to draw more plays?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
The bottom line is you can't have her go oh
for oh from the floor in the final six man.
That is just not a recipe for anything.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Well, I agree with that, and that is both speaking
to the basketball side in the marketing side of being
the Indiana Fever head coach. Look, head coaching is difficult
because even though you're not as a professional basketball coach
recruiting where you know, you need to show all of
the high school recruits how many points your starting point
(22:48):
guard is scoring per game so that you can refill
that spot, you know, with one of these five star
talents coming out of high school. You know, but what
you are doing is you are trying to recruit fans.
You're trying to recruit the trust of the administration around you,
the general manager, the president of basketball operations, the owner
(23:10):
of the club. Because it's bad pr when your star
doesn't score down the stretch of a basketball game, there's
no question about it. If Lebron James ever goes oh
froh the last six minutes of a Laker game, that
is the first question at the podium postgame, win or lose.
Why weren't you giving any looks? Why didn't you make
(23:31):
the decision to drive the lane and score? It needs
to be discussed on the sideline or any television time out.
So I agree with you in both aspects of this,
from a marketing standpoint, from a public relations standpoint, and
also from the basketball standpoint. But one thing I think
has become clearer and clearer this season with Caitlin Clark
(23:52):
and then the fever as they made the right choice.
She is a star. She can handle this league. I
think she's growing. I think her teammates are becoming better
because she's there. I think they're becoming a stronger squad
because she's there. Now my opinion, I have a potentially
more of a layman's education of the WNBA. My interest
(24:19):
in the WNBA started like with Caitlyn Clark, so I'm
interested to be educated along the storyline that she goes
because like Tiger Woods attracted me to professional golf. Caitlin
Clark's attracting me to the WNBA. But what I can
tell from what I've seen is this whole experiment started
(24:40):
out with a lot of naysayers, and I think they've
been quieted over the course of this season.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Well, love more on Caitlyn Clark coming up in ninety seconds,
say bigger point to make than besides, hey, shoot the
ball in the final six minutes. But first, Martin Wise
has what's trending in the wide world of sports.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
I'm dub the Dallas Wings beat the Indiana Fever one
on one t ninety three. But as you guys are
just talking about, we heard history or saw history earlier today,
Caitlinton decided.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Not to shoot. Get your will hits.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
There up a good incredible and that is the nineteenth
Desister Cacklin is incredible.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Near WNBA single game record.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
She did set that record along with twenty four points,
and Leah Boston had twenty eight points to lead the Fever.
Arica on Gumbwallee and Odyssey Simms both at twenty four
to lead the winning Dallas Wings. Summer league just wrapped
up for the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks Lakers
with a one point lead eighty seven to eighty six.
Brownie James finally hit a three pointer, In fact that
(25:43):
he hit two of them, finishing five for eleven from
the floor two for five from three for twelve points.
Colin Castleton led the Lakers with seventeen in the win
and Summer League. The Open Championship is about to start
in about two hours now. Jack McDonald, Todd Hamilton, Justin
le in the first group. Scottie Scheffler is the outright
favorite to win the Open Championship. He's been the outright
(26:05):
favorite and all four majors in this calendar year. He's
the first golfer to do that since Tiger Woods in
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Hall of Fame for Wicher.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
Miller will serve as the coach of the WNBA team
during the league's All Star Game Saturday and Phoenix, while
Olympic coach Cheryl Reeve will.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Lead Team USA.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
The White Sox are designated catcher Martin Maldonado for as
Sigmon and earlier today, USA Basketball route at Serbia in
an Olympic tune up in Abu dab one five ninety
seventy nine. Steph Curry led with twenty four points, including
six three pointers. Caleb Williams signed his fully guaranteed, four year,
thirty nine million dollar contracts He asked the Bears to
(26:44):
not use the franchise tack at the end of his
rookide deal. Chicago declined to make that provision in his contract.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Jason and Rich back to you guys. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
M dub Now you talk about the situation with Caitlyn
Clark and just how I don't want to say people
are missing the point, but you know, sometimes we try
to force stuff to happen, and and sometimes it's just
you have to understand that you can't force it.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
You have to just give credit where credit's due.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Right outside of Caitlin Clark today, look nineteen assists for
the fever WNBA record. You see all the stats, everything
she's doing. Last night the story broke, the WNBA gets
a new two point two billion dollar television rights deal
for the next eleven years. They were making sixty million
dollars a year TV rights. Now this year now that's
(27:38):
going to be up over three hundred million dollars a year,
and that's due to one person it's great that we
mention Angel Reese and some of the other rookies and
they're all good players, right, and they're all star players.
And Angel Reese is a really good player. And you see,
you know what, the double double she has this year
getting a lot of attention. Absolutely, people are making giving
a run for Rookie of the Year. But that's like, okay,
(27:58):
this is just I hate Caitlin Clark. I want to
talk about somebody else, but let's just be honest. Is
that none of this is happening without Caitlin Clark. There's
no charge, there's no charter flights, you're flying commercial without
Caitlin Clark. You are still working on whatever TV deal
you have without Caitlin Clark. When you're looking at the
Mount Rushmore of the most influential, biggest athletes to the
(28:21):
last twenty five years, Caitlin Clark is on that Mount Rushmore.
After three months in the WNBA by herself, she has.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Given you a two point two billion dollar deal.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
She has increased your television revenue by over three hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Because if Caitlin Clark's not in this draft, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Angel Reese, as good a player as she is, Camilla Cardoso,
all these players. Hey, they're going No one's going crazy
for the WNBA rights for two point two billion dollars
a year. Conversely, if Kitlin Clark is the only one
who came out this year, you're getting two point two
billion dollars. It's Kitlin Clark, It's Lebron James, It's Tiger Woods,
it's Sho Hayo. It's the athletes who transcend the sport
(29:03):
and bring attention and money and revenue that we've never
seen before. I mean, and just think about and get
the oka WNBA and they're making two point two billion.
The NBA is about to sign a seventy six billion
dollar TV rights agreement. But okay, I understand you're talking
with the WNBA that came from a summer league that
was lucky to get the attention that it had, and
(29:24):
now it's front burner and everybody's getting paid. Everybody's flying
charter and flying. I mean, this is because of one person.
And I get that you're upset that one person is
getting credit because you've played in the league for a
long time, Are you coaching the league in a long time,
or you're another rookie who is a good player. But
let's be honest, Caitlin Clark is making all of this happen.
I mean, you're talking Caitlyn Clark, Lebron, Tiger, and O'tani.
(29:48):
That's your mount rushmore of the transcendent athlete to the
last twenty five years.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Oh, there's no question about it, Jason, And I think
one of the things when you speak about all those
other players that they have common that Caitlin Clark doesn't
quite yet have in common yet is they've been dominant
in their sports. Now, Caitlyn Clark has been very good.
Has she dominated? Has she been the best player in
her league yet? Ever? No? And she's in the infancy
(30:16):
of her career. But one thing I can say for
certain is she is the most influential WNBA basketball player
that's ever left. And there's no questioning that because already
you can see the tremendous weight and gravity of her
influence on this league. Like you mentioned, nobody's flying charter.
(30:37):
Nobody is getting a television rights deal to the tune
of hundreds of millions of dollars per year without Caitlyn Clark.
And I'm not saying anybody needs to kiss her ring.
And I don't think she's asking for anybody to kiss
her ring. But we are in the age of the influencer. Look, similarly,
I don't know if Baby Gronk is the greatest youth
(30:58):
football player on the planet, but I do know his name,
and I do know that he is an influencer and
so and so.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Yes, E've been trying to slide into Baby Grond's DMS
for a while.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Hey it's rich Ornberger. Six years in the NFL. Listen
to my intro on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Meme, girl, you get it. Come on, Baby Grond. Look
we're I'm filling it for Mike Hartman. I need you,
I need the juice. Could you be a guest. Look, Yes,
I've been working a lot of angles. I've been up
late on the East Coast. But the point I'm trying
to arrive at is Caitlin Clark is an influencer, and
that influence has netted all of these basketball players more attention.
(31:38):
And that's better for the league, whether they want to
admit it or not.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, and it's it's difficult to see the backlash.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I get the backlash on the.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Court like I get Diana Tarossi saying, Yeah, reality is
we're gonna make or earn it on the court. I
completely get that, like that's hey, but between the lines,
you're gonna show us if you're really this good.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
But the off the court stuff and the way she's
being treated and the way that it's that Cheryl Reeve,
who's the coach of the Olympic team, has said, I
have no interest in Caitlyn Clark. We're about more than her.
Doesn't want to answer questions about her. This is where
you have to say, hey, grow up a little bit.
Like everybody's doing well. I don't understand why. I get
(32:20):
you're upset that you coached for a long time or
other players have played for a long time, and here
comes this one player who's twenty two years old and
is in the league for three months and suddenly she's
getting everything that you never had. Well, guess what, she's
making everything better for you. Salaries are going up, more
money is coming. Everybody's winning here, and you got to
(32:40):
put that jealousy aside. You want to make her earn
it on the floor a hundred percent. That's how it's
supposed to go. But you need to step back and go,
all right, are we really doing the right thing. Here
is me seeming like I am anti Caitlyn Clark and
the players are anti Caitlin Clark and coaches are anti
Kaitlyn Clark. Does that really seem like that's the right thing?
Does that really seem the fair thing to do? I mean,
(33:00):
look at just what her presence has done, and here's
where you are now. She was out every five minutes
saying how great she was and I'm doing this and
I'm doing this, look out great. Then I get a
little bit of the backlash. But she's trying to just
go out and play basketball and saving her her feistiness
for on the court because she likes to get into
with teams with players on the court. That's why all
(33:21):
of this seems like it's so out of bounds. And
at this point, they should be shaking her hand before
every game saying, hey, thank you, thank you. We're gonna
try to kick your ass now, but thank you so much.
We're all gonna line up to shake your hand for
everything you've done for us before we get ready and
go to play this game.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Yeah. Look, I mean same with the PJ golfers. When
Tiger Woods came along and there was the same rebuttal
from all of those gods. I shouldn't say all of
those golfers. I don't want to generalize. I don't want
to lump everybody into the same picture. I'm sure there
were certain players who were rooting for Tiger, but you
remember as well as I do, Jason, because you're a
golf fan. How there were plenty of people rebuking and
(33:59):
refuse using to acknowledge the greatness of a young man
on tour who was changing things. And he was changing
things in a hurry. More attention than the sport has
ever been paid, was paid during his rise and during
his sustained success, and it rubbed a lot of the
old timers on tour the wrong way, and frankly, a
(34:20):
lot of the country clubs around the country. It rattled
things to the foundation. And I think Caitlin Clark is
having a similar effect on the WNBA. You can see it.
There's a lot of people uncomfortable with the change. There's
a lot of people who are rebuking the opportunity to
highlight and exemplify the influence that she's had on the league.
(34:41):
And that's fine, that's fine. Not everybody's gonna come to
the party. Some people are just going to be late,
you know, And I think that's I think that's what's
happening right now in the WNBA as well.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith, Rich Orenberger in for Mike
Harbon tonight.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Coming up next, we.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Have a big, big story out of the NBA and
following that, a huge NFL power hour of talk with
Rich and I keep it right here. Feel like we're
just getting started. Jason Smith, Richie oh in for Harmon.
This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with Doctor Rich Hornberger
in for Mike Harmon Tonight, and we got a big
power hour of NFL topics coming your way over the
next hour and twelve minutes. We got quarterback news, we
have potential wide receiver trades. Again, big time NFL Power
Hour on the way. But just for this for a
(35:41):
couple seconds, Rich, is that you know, Look, we talked
a lot about the Lakers Summer League games night, Bronnie
James NBA history with his first two three Tonight, You
and I will always remember the time being on the air,
the two threes bookending our relationship. Now now we're gonna
exchange Christmas gifts and all kinds of fun stuff. Every
time I look, and they showed him, you know, a
(36:01):
hundred times during the game, JJ Reddick is there and
he's sitting there watching the game, and he's got his
arms folded, and he has said, I'm gonna be in
on all the planning going on with the Lakers, but
I'm not gonna coach, but I'll be in on everything else.
But every time they cut away to him, it just
got more ridiculous in my mind that he's not coaching
the Lakers, Like this is a guy that's had zero
coaching reps outside of the fourth grade, And.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Like, how do you not coach the summer league team?
Speaker 1 (36:26):
I mean, if you're here doing all of this anyway,
how do you not coach the summer league? Like if
you needed time away, because look, how many of these
guys are going to.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Make the roster?
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Not many.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You know, it was a really long year for me.
I did the NBA Finals, I did the interview circuit
with the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
I need some time away.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Obviously, everybody understands that, but if you're here, I'm so involved.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
I'm so involved. Then coach team and gets some reps
like you have zero, absolutely zero.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Coaching experience, and you're here, I'm just watching you with
folded arms, and it's like, how are you not getting
that practical experience that I'm sure you could use going
into the NBA season.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
I think that part of it is because JJ needs
all those things, and maybe that was all predetermined with
his contract. And also there's a part of me that
thinks Lebron doesn't want him to be on a court
without Lebron. Okay, you know, because let's face it, I
mean JJ and Lebron. Maybe in Lebron's view is the
(37:26):
brain trust that the Lakers need to advance them into
a stratosphere that they haven't reached yet with the previous
head coaches. Since he's become a Laker. Okay, I'm willing,
I'm willing to believe that if that's what Lebron believes,
he's one of the best to ever do it, if
not the best to ever do it, Okay, Okay, And
(37:48):
you know what, until proven otherwise, let's let's give this
a shot. So what if it's Lebron, who said, hey, JJ, yeah,
I get it. You're chomping at the bit and you
want to coach in the Summer League, But do you
really think that's what's best for you when you sign
this contract? Didn't you were you envisioning coaching players at
(38:08):
Summer League or were you envisioning coaching us at Crypto
dot com arena in LA. I think I think maybe
you ought to go on extended vacation until we all
get back together under the tent. Okay, And he went,
you know what, Lebron, that's a really good idea. And
you know what, Lebron, all of your ideas are really
good ideas. Rich.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
That's why Lebron loved the fact that that JJ Reddick
got the gig, because it's like.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Lebron becoming the head coach.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Hey, if Reddick gets it, basically I could coach the team.
So all right, I mean it's not official or anything,
but if if Reddick's the coach, he's just gonna do
what I say. So it's like me getting the coach team. Yes,
I'll sign off on Reddick whatever hees. Yes, bring JJ
Redick and bring my guy in, because that means I'm
really the coach.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, this is pretty uh transparent. Although I will say this,
I think JJ Redick is a very intelligent basketball person.
I think he has a high IQ when it comes
to basketball. I mean that any time you hear this
guy speak, whether it's on a broadcast or on a
podcast or during an interview, this guy knows the game
(39:14):
inside and out. He's highly highly intelligent when it comes
to the sport of basketball. So is Lebron James. Though,
And if you're asking me, if there's a player capable
of coaching and playing at the same time, who would
it be, Well, it would have to be Lebron James.
So maybe what he's looking for is a peer, somebody
who sees the game through the same set of eyes,
somebody he knows he'll be able to influence who he
(39:37):
needs as sort of a compatriot on the sideline, seeing
the games through that same lens. And maybe it'll be
a better fit than Frank Vogel or Darvin Ham, who
sort of felt like both of those names were shoehorned
into the picture alongside Lebron James as opposed to him
putting his stamp of approval on it and his sole
stamp of approval on it.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
So your vision is this?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
K eight seconds left to go in the huddle, and
JJ Redick says, Okay, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna
run a screen down low. We're gonna get the ball
to Ad in the paint because he's been running things
and AD's gonna get Ad get to the free throw
line and let's do it. Okay, ready, Hey, JJ, Wait
a minute, But what if we did this instead?
Speaker 4 (40:16):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (40:16):
What you got, Lebron? How about instead you inbound the
ball to me. I dribble around the three point line
for a couple of seconds and decide I'm gonna take
a three that looks pretty and maybe it wins the game.
What if we did that instead? Okay, that's what we're
gonna do. Okay, thanks JJ. Hey, good idea on the
AD stuff, though. But I're gonna do my thing now
and I'm gonna kind of take that three and hope
it goes in.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
I pictured it more like the first way you were talking,
where he's talking about the play to a D in
the paint and you just see Lebron shaking his head
and no, somewhere over some other players shoulder. It's like,
and what I meant by that was Lebron, Lebron gets
the ball. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
I forgot exit out about a Fresco, rich at Ornberger,
Jason Smith, Riccio, and for Harmon. Coming up next, the
big NFL Power Hour of Breakdown.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Keep it an ear Fox,
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Six years, not seven, not nine, not four, not five,
six years and six. It is the most specific intro
we have here at Fox Sports Radio Live live athetirack
dot com studios tyrac dot com. I'll help you get
there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
(00:51):
and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirect dot com is
the way tire buying should be. So right now, Summer
League Atlanta leads the Lakers seventy six sixty five fourth quarter.
The reason this game a big deal. Bronnie James HiT's
the first three pointer of the Summer League, first three
pointer of his career. He's got nine points tonight, having
(01:13):
his best overall game.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
He's shooting well.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
He's played about eighteen minutes so far and now he's
hit a three right, started zero for fifteen, really big stories.
He overmatched and just on this for a couple minutes
before you get to Caitlin Clark. Is that I see
I see this differently from you, Rich because there was
such a almost like with with Caitlyn Clark in the
WNBA when she first comes in. There's all this controversy
(01:38):
and all this hate and all this jealousy of Caitlyn Clark,
and everybody's throwing out there it's about her race, it's
about you know, if if she heterosexual, all of this
different thing. And it turns out, okay, this is just
the players that are jealous because she's coming to the
league all of a sudden.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Is getting things that they haven't had before.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Okay, So we saw the criticism of her calmed down
a little bit, and I see the same thing that's
gonna happen with Bronnie James. Now, yes, there was the
initial divisiveness because of Lebron James, and it's all because
of the polarizing nature of Lebron that oh, hey, Lebron's
got his kid on his team. I can't believe he's
doing this. His kid stinks everybody's waiting for Bronnie to stink,
(02:18):
which is kind of unfair of the kid. But he's
also not an unwitting accomplice in this. He wanted to
get to the NBA. He wanted a no two way deal,
so he's getting this. But still now that he's played
a little bit, and you could see that he's overmatched,
and the Lakers can see these overmatch piece. Look, guys
that tear up the summer League are overmatched in the
in the NBA, right, guys that kind of boys. Guy
(02:39):
to triple double in the summer league and he can't
even make a team. So just the fact when you
see a guy struggle in summer league, you know that,
all right, he needs more seasoning. And Bronnie James even
said it himself to tamp things down the other day.
Look wherever they assigned me after this summer, I'm fine with.
So suddenly, all of the oh, he's gonna take up
a roster spot and the Lakers are gonna be forced
(03:00):
to play him. It's gonna be all this hatred and
all this scrutiny on the Lakers, and as Lebron running
the Lakers, I see now that everybody has seen that
Bronni needs to have time to develop and play in
the G League, and it's easy because the Lakers G
League team plays in Los Angeles. It's easy to have
him go back and forth. Bronni even said, Hey, I'm
open to whatever assignment they give me. This story's going
(03:22):
to start calming down now. He's gonna get to slowly
slide out of the spotlight, get to go do his
thing and play, and eventually it will come back again.
But for the rest of this summer, now that the
initial hate of Bronni and Lebron and the Lakers and
he's running things, he's the GM once people have gotten
that out of their system now and he's played, and
everybody kind of gets Okay, this is what Bronni needs
(03:42):
to have happen now, and that's what's going to happen.
He's not gonna suddenly start playing a bunch of minutes
because Roria Chamor goes oh for four from three point
range in a couple of games. I think people have
seen this now, so the story's going to start calming
down now a bit.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
I think that's a possibility. I also think the possibility
that he does play significant menu it's at some point
this season that ship hasn't sailed either, and I think
we could all We wouldn't even have to squint very
hard to see that far down the road and see
the reasons why that would happen. It would be the
greatest story in the I guess if we're going to
(04:18):
use near sightedness right now in the foreseeable future for
the NBA having father and son be on the court
during the regular season for the first time in NBA
history as a Lakers drafted Bronni James because we know
that Lebron James Senior has a lot more yesterday's log
than tomorrow's, you know, in terms of produce. You know,
(04:40):
let's not buy the green bananas, let's buy the riper
bunch when we head to the produce stands in terms
of in terms of career length here because he doesn't
have that much time left in the league. It's look,
Lebron James has been playing for a long time, so
how much time does he really have left to play
(05:01):
with his son? We are, you know, potentially one injury
away from saying goodbye. Now. I'm not hoping that, I'm
not even predicting that. I hope it doesn't happen. I
hope he plays for another handful of years. I think
Lebron James is great for this league. And frankly, even
though I've been labeled the mean.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Girl, I'm more I'm more of a you're the one, Hey, Hey,
you're the one throwing out there.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Hey, every locker he goes around.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
When he goes from physics to gym class, people are
gonna be saying, hey, you're Lebron's good.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I'm just saying, you seem pretty comfortable with that.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
You know what I am? I'm a mean girl beat
writer because I can. I can I can see where
I can see where the mean girls are gonna go.
And and we all know that, we can all see that.
You know that's not speaking out of school here, it's
in nepotism. Oftentimes there are whispers in the hallways now.
The best way to defeat nepotism is by being competent.
(05:56):
Competency always beats nepotism. And I hope I'm rooting for Bronnie.
I'm hoping that he turns out to be a very
competent NBA player, because I think that's better for the storyline.
I love covering this sport. I love talking NBA. I'm
sad that Lebron James is leaving the NBA sometime soon.
(06:18):
What as soon mean? Is it a year, is it
five years? I don't know, but soon we're not going
to have him the same way the legends of old
Tom Brady Tiger Woods as they leave their sports, you know,
you sort of say, well, what's next? You know, I'm
hoping to see something pop off the screen the way
Lebron James did for the NBA. I don't know if
there's a next yet, and I'm not even necessarily going
(06:40):
to say Bronni James is next. I can't. Nobody can
at this moment. But I'm excited for the storyline. I
know that much. So I am rooting for the guy.
But they also I, as everybody else is, I'm aware
that there's going to be whispers in the hallway. He's
going to face that level of criticism. Oh, I'm curious
(07:02):
if he does end up playing for a G League team,
how long that lasts. I'm curious if he spends some
time on the roster with the Lakers, how long that lasts.
Because right now it's very clear as he was the
fifty fifth overall draft pick to the Lakers. He's not
playing great basketball. Everybody who watches the game understands that
(07:25):
can he improve? Absolutely? Will he that's a whole nother story.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You know, This is how if you said, how can
I see this season going for Browny, this is the
biggest vision that I have. So the summer is going
to end and he'll wind up bouncing back and forth
between the Lakers, being the fifteenth man on the team
and playing in the G League. Right, that's kind of
where it's gonna go.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
If the Lakers play well out of the gate, and look,
they're bringing back basically the same roster as last year,
and you're hoping that all right with a new head
coach and JJ Reddick, and you know players buying in
because I obviously a lot of them quit on Darvin
Ham the end of last year. Uh, you're hoping for
something new. The Lakers come out and play well, all right,
everything is gonna be fine. But this this is what
(08:09):
I see. If you see certain parts of the Lakers struggle,
Like if you see them defensively not in synct because
Bronn he's a pretty good defender. If you see guys
missing some threes or not hitting some big shots. I
could see, you know, the Lakers lose three in a
row and they're seven and ten, or they're ten and fourteen,
(08:30):
And I can see the postgame press conference with the
microphones in Lebron's face, and Lebron is talking while he's
putting his shirt on, and he's looking to the side,
and someone's and someone would say, because of course you
don't know what he's gonna you want to you want
to tee him up for it. They're gonna say, hey,
do you think changes need to be made? What do
you think about the team, And then Bron saying something like, oh,
we had all the confidence in the world and the
(08:51):
guys here, and then as he just looks the other way,
he just finishes by saying, and you know, we got
some guys down in the G League two that are
playing that might deserve a chance at some point. So
we were happy with what we have here in the
locker room, knowing full well what those words are going
to mean. So and the pressure will go on. He's
not gonna go and say I demand this. That's how
Lebron is gonna do it. And then Rich Paul is
(09:11):
gonna know. Okay, now I gotta pick up my phone.
I gotta call Geenie Buss. They're gonna talk to Ron Polinka.
We're gonna get JJ reddickon. And this is how it's
gonna go. We're gonna a big conference call about Bronny.
Like that's how I see it going. If the team
struggles and it looks like there's an opening, Lebron is
going to take it. He's not gonna sit back and
just say no, we're good. All these guys are because
(09:32):
we know what motivates Lebron Now.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Towards the end of the grade he won, is he
on a championship.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It's not only Lebron, it's Genie Bus two. Look, we
know what motivates her also championships, yes, just like her father,
but also the business of basketball. Her father, if he
taught her anything, was the fact that basketball is a business,
and the better you are in the business, and the
more those seats are filled in the arena, the better
off you're doing in terms of your bank account. That
(10:00):
was the chief concern. I mean, look, anybody who's watched
Showtime or the new biopic HBO series, it's fun it's
a fun watch, but it is I don't want to
say it's perfectly accurate to Jerry Buss, but it really
does capture the showmen and the businessman that he was.
(10:23):
He understood how to captivate an audience. So does Jeanie.
She worked with him for a long time. They worked
hand in hand together for a long time. And so
as much as Lebron like you just pointed out, and
Rich Paul like you just pointed out, and even JJ Reddick,
who obviously is a minion of Lebron's because he got
him the job, so who else is he going to
(10:43):
answer to, Genie Buss is also right there with him
because she knows what's good for business, and that storyline
will be printed everywhere. That is worth tens of millions
of dollars in marketing that they are going to get
for free just by activating a G League player to
the active roster, even if it's for a matter of
(11:06):
days that he's activated to the roster, it is going
to be millions upon millions, fistfuls of money worth of
free marketing that they're gonna get on the press sheets
of every single newsroom across the country and frankly internationally
as well, because it's big time news. I think I
think everybody's in lockstep with what you just said, not
(11:28):
just Lebron, but everybody in that organization.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
But you know, and the funny thing is you bring in,
you bring out the really big point of where the
Lakers are right now, is that you talked about, Hey,
the Lakers are about championships, but they're also about the
business end of it. The Lakers understand why were they
so insistent about bringing Lebron back? Right? Lebron clearly is
he's a guy that gets his Now does he make
the Lakers better?
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Is he?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know, he's still one of the top fifteen players
in the game. But can you still build around him
like the past? Is he still the same guy the Lakers? Okay,
where we are right now, we're not a championship team,
but we need to continue to be the Lakers. We
need to be the Lakers. We need to stir the drink.
We need to be at the head of the conversation.
Whether we finish sixth in the West, we're in the
(12:13):
playing round, whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And the and the thing that gets us.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
That relevancy is having Lebron James and hey, and having
Bronni James that buys us more of it as well.
Who knows for how long over the next couple of years,
because if we're not gonna win titles and the Lakers know, hey,
we know we're far behind these other teams in the West, right.
We know Denver got knocked out last year by a
really hot Timberwolves team, but we know how good they are.
(12:36):
The Thunder had been making big moves in the offseason.
There might pick to go to the finals this year.
The tea Wolves were so good last year all that.
I mean, this is a situation where you go, Okay,
we understand where we are. We're not nearly as good
as these teams, so we have to win the battle
of relevancy and continuing to be a team that stirs
the conversation and having Lebron James, which is why they
(12:57):
count out to him and.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Gave them everything.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Hey, we need we need you here, Lebron, because the
Lakers team without Lebron really isn't the Lakers a d
as good as he is. Isn't someone that we get
to we talk about all the time. You're we're not
gonna talk about him on TV. I'm not gonna talk
about on the radio, but keeping Lebron and then bringing
Browny in that buys us at least that part of
our identity for the next couple of years. Because the
(13:19):
Lakers have always had start, even when they were bad,
They've always had stars.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You're going, you're going back to the early eighties.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
They've always had superstar players that have stirred to drink.
And they were looking at a reality of hey, we're
not a championship, We're not gonna have it, but we
gotta have this at least. So we got to keep Lebron.
We gotta go get Bronny because that's going to satisfy
that part of it.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And I'm a fan of seeing history be made. Yeah, look,
you know, and I'll be brief here that the reality
of this situation is if JJ Reddick works with the Lakers,
history will be made. Because this is a guy who
hasn't coached beyond the youth level. So if he has
any modicum of success at the NBA level, well that's
a historic event. If Brownie James has any modicum of
(14:02):
success with the Lakers, or even if he just steps
on the floor on the active roster with the Lakers
at any point during the regular season while his father
is still playing with the organization. History will be made
and that's cool. And I understand maybe it's dubious reasons
why both of those people I just mentioned are on
the court at all with Lebron, but jeez, there's something
(14:24):
to me that I'm romantic about sports and I like
to see things like that. When the Patriots were the
Evil Empire and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick had an
undefeated season going all the way to the Super Bowl.
Even though I grew up in New York and I
was rooting against a team that many of my aunts
and uncles and my brother, my cousin, they all root
(14:46):
for the Giants, I was like, well, how cool would
it be to see the first ever undefeated Super Bowl
since the seventy two Dolphins have the record and we
all get to witness this. Now. I had food thrown
at me at the Super Bowl party I was at,
but still that thought process stands today. I'm very curious
(15:08):
what happens with the Lakers this season because a lot
of history could be made in a very short order.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Rich Oordenberger, who of course played for the Patriots for
three years.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Ain't the Tom Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I got where you're coming from with that, buddy, I
got where you're coming from. Jason Smith, Rich Ordenberger in
from Mike Harvion Tonight the Jason Smith Show here on
Fox Sports Radio. So we'll have the Caitlin Clark history
and controversy and Rich you alluded to it. We have
NBA history once again in this Laker game over the Hawks.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
We had it a few minutes ago. We got history again.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
That's next right here, Jason Smith, Rich Ordenberger, this is
Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radios teamed up with ty
rack dot Com to give away a seat of four
brand new tires valued add up to fifteen hundred dollars
every two weeks this summer. That's right, three lucky listener
is going to receive a set of four new tires
plus installation, taxes and fees valued ad up to fifteen
(16:06):
hundred bucks. It's the Summer of Tireraxsweepstakes. Enter daily at
Foxsports Radio dot com to increase your chances to win. Yes,
you can register to win every day to improve your chances.
A winner is going to be selected every two weeks
between now in August twenty fifth. For a set of
four brand new tires. To enter and get rules, visit
Fox Sports Radio dot com furnish by tireraq dot com
(16:27):
The Way tire buying should be.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
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 (16:43):
Hey, gang, this is Jay Glazer, host of Unbreakable, a
mental wealth podcast, and every week we will have on
leader from sports entertainment like Sean McVay, Lindsey Vaughn, Michael Phelt,
David Spade.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Got Fiemmi, and also those who can.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Help us in between the ears, anyone from a therapist
to someone like Ed Milett for John Gordon. We've all
been through some sort of adversity to get to the top.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
We've all used different tools.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer and Mental Wealth podcast
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get podcasts.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon,
Doctor Rich Ornberger in for Harmon tonight, and we're gonna
get to Caitlin Clark in a second. But we had
Summer league heroics. Just right now, as cameras are following
Bronnie James as he leaves the floor the Lakers triumphant
(17:40):
victory over the Hawks eighty seven to eighty six, And
we're gonna bring you the second great moment in NBA history.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
We brought it to you.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
About a half hour ago, something you had never seen before.
Bronnie James hitting his first three of his NBA career.
It was outstanding, it was amazing. Well, Richie, oh, he
wasn't happy with just one. Ronnie James decided he check,
give me the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
All of them in the first half.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Got a chance at another.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
He there you go.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Lakers TV on the call.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Ronny James two threes tonight, Lakers win, uh, probably his
best all around game. Lakers get their first win of
Summer League. ESPN on the call. Rather sorry, I said,
Lakers TV. I think they're sending Lakers TV to Summer League.
You No, you're right, You're right. It wasn't Billy Mack.
I should have thought about that. But Bronny goes for
(18:41):
twelve points tonight. Nice night for him, five out eleven
from the floor. Look like we said a few minutes ago.
I think things will start calming down a little bit now.
And you know, once you get your first couple of
three pointers on your belt. Now, now it's just bombs away.
Now he's gonna shoot ten or twelve threes a game.
He's gonna be clapping for the ball. Hey, come on,
come on, I'm hot. I'm hot, I'm hitting threes.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Now give me the to me filling up the basket.
There's no question about it. I think, like we spoke
about earlier, this truly has been a growth moment for
our relationship, getting to win this history together twice, but
also for Brandi James. Yeah, there's no question, but twice
twice we got to celebrate this great moment, really incredible stuff. Look,
(19:23):
I truly I'm invested in this storyline like a lot
of basketball fans are, and not for the reasons a
lot of people think about. I'm not waiting for this
guy to trip over himself and to prove everybody right
that he only got the job because of who his
dad is. I hope this works out because it's more
fun that way. I get it. You know, everybody has
(19:46):
their opinions about the way people get jobs sometimes, but
you know, and honestly, if the ends justify the means,
then who really cares? Who really cares? And that's exactly
where this could go, and I'm hopeful that it goes there.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So from Brownie James to Caitlyn Clark, who said a
w NBA record tonight in the Fevers loss of the
Dallas Wings, nineteen assists I really wanted to get to
twenty would have been a phenomenal night for her. But
nineteen assists to go along with twenty four points, However,
(20:20):
the Fever go basically scoreless down the stretch. In the
final few minutes, a ninety three to ninety three game
turns into a runaway win for the Dallas Wings. And look,
Dallas is not a great team. You know, they're struggling.
They had only won five games coming into this year.
They win at one on one ninety three, and there's
(20:41):
a great night for Caitlyn Clark. And there's also controversy
that comes along with it. Nineteen assists tonight unbelievable, right,
you see that that people were crazy denying her talent,
talking about her not being someone who is deserving of
a spot on the Olympic team, all of these things.
But I tell you this rich is that she did
(21:02):
not take a shot in the final six minutes of
this game. She had a shot attempt, she had a
miss three right at the six minute mark to go
in the fourth quarter. She did not take another shot
the rest of the game. And you're talking about someone
who is the all time leading scorer in college basketball
history with range to hit threes that nobody else in
(21:24):
the league has. But I get that, Yes, you want
her to be a little bit less deferential in big times.
And maybe she's caught up a little bit now because
she's dishing the ball so well, she's seeing the court
so well, coverages are rolling towards her so much, she's
able to find the open player. She's still getting her
points right still at twenty four tonight, right, So it's happening.
(21:45):
But sometimes I see her and I go, yeah, Okay,
maybe that's not a play where you want to try
to edition and push. Maybe this is where you get
a little bit selfish and take a shot. Flip side
of it is, Hey, you're Christy sides. How about we
make sure we draw and plays up. When Kitlyn Clark
goes three four minutes without a bucket, let's draw a
couple of plays up and get her the ball and
(22:05):
get her a couple of shots. She can't go six minutes.
She can't go the final six minutes of a game
and not take a shot. So, while the truth is
somewhere in the middle, yes, Skaitlyn Clark, be less deferential.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yeah, do you need to draw more plays?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
The bottom line is you can't have her go oh
for oh from the floor in the final six man.
That is just not a recipe for anything.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Well, I agree with that, and that is both speaking
to the basketball side in the marketing side of being
the Indiana Fever head coach. Look, head coaching is difficult
because even though you're not as a professional basketball coach
recruiting where you know, you need to show all of
the high school recruits how many points your starting point
(22:48):
guard is scoring per game so that you can refill
that spot, you know, with one of these five star
talents coming out of high school. You know, but what
you are doing is you are trying to recruit fans.
You're trying to recruit the trust of the administration around you,
the general manager, the president of basketball operations, the owner
(23:10):
of the club. Because it's bad pr when your star
doesn't score down the stretch of a basketball game, there's
no question about it. If Lebron James ever goes oh
froh the last six minutes of a Laker game, that
is the first question at the podium postgame, win or lose.
Why weren't you giving any looks? Why didn't you make
(23:31):
the decision to drive the lane and score? It needs
to be discussed on the sideline or any television time out.
So I agree with you in both aspects of this,
from a marketing standpoint, from a public relations standpoint, and
also from the basketball standpoint. But one thing I think
has become clearer and clearer this season with Caitlin Clark
(23:52):
and then the fever as they made the right choice.
She is a star. She can handle this league. I
think she's growing. I think her teammates are becoming better
because she's there. I think they're becoming a stronger squad
because she's there. Now my opinion, I have a potentially
more of a layman's education of the WNBA. My interest
(24:19):
in the WNBA started like with Caitlyn Clark, so I'm
interested to be educated along the storyline that she goes
because like Tiger Woods attracted me to professional golf. Caitlin
Clark's attracting me to the WNBA. But what I can
tell from what I've seen is this whole experiment started
(24:40):
out with a lot of naysayers, and I think they've
been quieted over the course of this season.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Well, love more on Caitlyn Clark coming up in ninety seconds,
say bigger point to make than besides, hey, shoot the
ball in the final six minutes. But first, Martin Wise
has what's trending in the wide world of sports.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
I'm dub the Dallas Wings beat the Indiana Fever one
on one t ninety three. But as you guys are
just talking about, we heard history or saw history earlier today,
Caitlinton decided.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Not to shoot. Get your will hits.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
There up a good incredible and that is the nineteenth
Desister Cacklin is incredible.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Near WNBA single game record.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
She did set that record along with twenty four points,
and Leah Boston had twenty eight points to lead the Fever.
Arica on Gumbwallee and Odyssey Simms both at twenty four
to lead the winning Dallas Wings. Summer league just wrapped
up for the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks Lakers
with a one point lead eighty seven to eighty six.
Brownie James finally hit a three pointer, In fact that
(25:43):
he hit two of them, finishing five for eleven from
the floor two for five from three for twelve points.
Colin Castleton led the Lakers with seventeen in the win
and Summer League. The Open Championship is about to start
in about two hours now. Jack McDonald, Todd Hamilton, Justin
le in the first group. Scottie Scheffler is the outright
favorite to win the Open Championship. He's been the outright
(26:05):
favorite and all four majors in this calendar year. He's
the first golfer to do that since Tiger Woods in
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Hall of Fame for Wicher.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
Miller will serve as the coach of the WNBA team
during the league's All Star Game Saturday and Phoenix, while
Olympic coach Cheryl Reeve will.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Lead Team USA.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
The White Sox are designated catcher Martin Maldonado for as
Sigmon and earlier today, USA Basketball route at Serbia in
an Olympic tune up in Abu dab one five ninety
seventy nine. Steph Curry led with twenty four points, including
six three pointers. Caleb Williams signed his fully guaranteed, four year,
thirty nine million dollar contracts He asked the Bears to
(26:44):
not use the franchise tack at the end of his
rookide deal. Chicago declined to make that provision in his contract.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Jason and Rich back to you guys. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
M dub Now you talk about the situation with Caitlyn
Clark and just how I don't want to say people
are missing the point, but you know, sometimes we try
to force stuff to happen, and and sometimes it's just
you have to understand that you can't force it.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
You have to just give credit where credit's due.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Right outside of Caitlin Clark today, look nineteen assists for
the fever WNBA record. You see all the stats, everything
she's doing. Last night the story broke, the WNBA gets
a new two point two billion dollar television rights deal
for the next eleven years. They were making sixty million
dollars a year TV rights. Now this year now that's
(27:38):
going to be up over three hundred million dollars a year,
and that's due to one person it's great that we
mention Angel Reese and some of the other rookies and
they're all good players, right, and they're all star players.
And Angel Reese is a really good player. And you see,
you know what, the double double she has this year
getting a lot of attention. Absolutely, people are making giving
a run for Rookie of the Year. But that's like, okay,
(27:58):
this is just I hate Caitlin Clark. I want to
talk about somebody else, but let's just be honest. Is
that none of this is happening without Caitlin Clark. There's
no charge, there's no charter flights, you're flying commercial without
Caitlin Clark. You are still working on whatever TV deal
you have without Caitlin Clark. When you're looking at the
Mount Rushmore of the most influential, biggest athletes to the
(28:21):
last twenty five years, Caitlin Clark is on that Mount Rushmore.
After three months in the WNBA by herself, she has.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Given you a two point two billion dollar deal.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
She has increased your television revenue by over three hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Because if Caitlin Clark's not in this draft, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Angel Reese, as good a player as she is, Camilla Cardoso,
all these players. Hey, they're going No one's going crazy
for the WNBA rights for two point two billion dollars
a year. Conversely, if Kitlin Clark is the only one
who came out this year, you're getting two point two
billion dollars. It's Kitlin Clark, It's Lebron James, It's Tiger Woods,
it's Sho Hayo. It's the athletes who transcend the sport
(29:03):
and bring attention and money and revenue that we've never
seen before. I mean, and just think about and get
the oka WNBA and they're making two point two billion.
The NBA is about to sign a seventy six billion
dollar TV rights agreement. But okay, I understand you're talking
with the WNBA that came from a summer league that
was lucky to get the attention that it had, and
(29:24):
now it's front burner and everybody's getting paid. Everybody's flying
charter and flying. I mean, this is because of one person.
And I get that you're upset that one person is
getting credit because you've played in the league for a
long time, Are you coaching the league in a long time,
or you're another rookie who is a good player. But
let's be honest, Caitlin Clark is making all of this happen.
I mean, you're talking Caitlyn Clark, Lebron, Tiger, and O'tani.
(29:48):
That's your mount rushmore of the transcendent athlete to the
last twenty five years.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Oh, there's no question about it, Jason, And I think
one of the things when you speak about all those
other players that they have common that Caitlin Clark doesn't
quite yet have in common yet is they've been dominant
in their sports. Now, Caitlyn Clark has been very good.
Has she dominated? Has she been the best player in
her league yet? Ever? No? And she's in the infancy
(30:16):
of her career. But one thing I can say for
certain is she is the most influential WNBA basketball player
that's ever left. And there's no questioning that because already
you can see the tremendous weight and gravity of her
influence on this league. Like you mentioned, nobody's flying charter.
(30:37):
Nobody is getting a television rights deal to the tune
of hundreds of millions of dollars per year without Caitlyn Clark.
And I'm not saying anybody needs to kiss her ring.
And I don't think she's asking for anybody to kiss
her ring. But we are in the age of the influencer. Look, similarly,
I don't know if Baby Gronk is the greatest youth
(30:58):
football player on the planet, but I do know his name,
and I do know that he is an influencer and
so and so.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Yes, E've been trying to slide into Baby Grond's DMS
for a while.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Hey it's rich Ornberger. Six years in the NFL. Listen
to my intro on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Meme, girl, you get it. Come on, Baby Grond. Look
we're I'm filling it for Mike Hartman. I need you,
I need the juice. Could you be a guest. Look, Yes,
I've been working a lot of angles. I've been up
late on the East Coast. But the point I'm trying
to arrive at is Caitlin Clark is an influencer, and
that influence has netted all of these basketball players more attention.
(31:38):
And that's better for the league, whether they want to
admit it or not.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, and it's it's difficult to see the backlash.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I get the backlash on the.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Court like I get Diana Tarossi saying, Yeah, reality is
we're gonna make or earn it on the court. I
completely get that, like that's hey, but between the lines,
you're gonna show us if you're really this good.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
But the off the court stuff and the way she's
being treated and the way that it's that Cheryl Reeve,
who's the coach of the Olympic team, has said, I
have no interest in Caitlyn Clark. We're about more than her.
Doesn't want to answer questions about her. This is where
you have to say, hey, grow up a little bit.
Like everybody's doing well. I don't understand why. I get
(32:20):
you're upset that you coached for a long time or
other players have played for a long time, and here
comes this one player who's twenty two years old and
is in the league for three months and suddenly she's
getting everything that you never had. Well, guess what, she's
making everything better for you. Salaries are going up, more
money is coming. Everybody's winning here, and you got to
(32:40):
put that jealousy aside. You want to make her earn
it on the floor a hundred percent. That's how it's
supposed to go. But you need to step back and go,
all right, are we really doing the right thing. Here
is me seeming like I am anti Caitlyn Clark and
the players are anti Caitlin Clark and coaches are anti
Kaitlyn Clark. Does that really seem like that's the right thing?
Does that really seem the fair thing to do? I mean,
(33:00):
look at just what her presence has done, and here's
where you are now. She was out every five minutes
saying how great she was and I'm doing this and
I'm doing this, look out great. Then I get a
little bit of the backlash. But she's trying to just
go out and play basketball and saving her her feistiness
for on the court because she likes to get into
with teams with players on the court. That's why all
(33:21):
of this seems like it's so out of bounds. And
at this point, they should be shaking her hand before
every game saying, hey, thank you, thank you. We're gonna
try to kick your ass now, but thank you so much.
We're all gonna line up to shake your hand for
everything you've done for us before we get ready and
go to play this game.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Yeah. Look, I mean same with the PJ golfers. When
Tiger Woods came along and there was the same rebuttal
from all of those gods. I shouldn't say all of
those golfers. I don't want to generalize. I don't want
to lump everybody into the same picture. I'm sure there
were certain players who were rooting for Tiger, but you
remember as well as I do, Jason, because you're a
golf fan. How there were plenty of people rebuking and
(33:59):
refuse using to acknowledge the greatness of a young man
on tour who was changing things. And he was changing
things in a hurry. More attention than the sport has
ever been paid, was paid during his rise and during
his sustained success, and it rubbed a lot of the
old timers on tour the wrong way, and frankly, a
(34:20):
lot of the country clubs around the country. It rattled
things to the foundation. And I think Caitlin Clark is
having a similar effect on the WNBA. You can see it.
There's a lot of people uncomfortable with the change. There's
a lot of people who are rebuking the opportunity to
highlight and exemplify the influence that she's had on the league.
(34:41):
And that's fine, that's fine. Not everybody's gonna come to
the party. Some people are just going to be late,
you know, And I think that's I think that's what's
happening right now in the WNBA as well.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith, Rich Orenberger in for Mike
Harbon tonight.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Coming up next, we.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Have a big, big story out of the NBA and
following that, a huge NFL power hour of talk with
Rich and I keep it right here. Feel like we're
just getting started. Jason Smith, Richie oh in for Harmon.
This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with Doctor Rich Hornberger
in for Mike Harmon Tonight, and we got a big
power hour of NFL topics coming your way over the
next hour and twelve minutes. We got quarterback news, we
have potential wide receiver trades. Again, big time NFL Power
Hour on the way. But just for this for a
(35:41):
couple seconds, Rich, is that you know, Look, we talked
a lot about the Lakers Summer League games night, Bronnie
James NBA history with his first two three Tonight, You
and I will always remember the time being on the air,
the two threes bookending our relationship. Now now we're gonna
exchange Christmas gifts and all kinds of fun stuff. Every
time I look, and they showed him, you know, a
(36:01):
hundred times during the game, JJ Reddick is there and
he's sitting there watching the game, and he's got his
arms folded, and he has said, I'm gonna be in
on all the planning going on with the Lakers, but
I'm not gonna coach, but I'll be in on everything else.
But every time they cut away to him, it just
got more ridiculous in my mind that he's not coaching
the Lakers, Like this is a guy that's had zero
coaching reps outside of the fourth grade, And.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Like, how do you not coach the summer league team?
Speaker 1 (36:26):
I mean, if you're here doing all of this anyway,
how do you not coach the summer league? Like if
you needed time away, because look, how many of these
guys are going to.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Make the roster?
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Not many.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You know, it was a really long year for me.
I did the NBA Finals, I did the interview circuit
with the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
I need some time away.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Obviously, everybody understands that, but if you're here, I'm so involved.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
I'm so involved. Then coach team and gets some reps
like you have zero, absolutely zero.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Coaching experience, and you're here, I'm just watching you with
folded arms, and it's like, how are you not getting
that practical experience that I'm sure you could use going
into the NBA season.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
I think that part of it is because JJ needs
all those things, and maybe that was all predetermined with
his contract. And also there's a part of me that
thinks Lebron doesn't want him to be on a court
without Lebron. Okay, you know, because let's face it, I
mean JJ and Lebron. Maybe in Lebron's view is the
(37:26):
brain trust that the Lakers need to advance them into
a stratosphere that they haven't reached yet with the previous
head coaches. Since he's become a Laker. Okay, I'm willing,
I'm willing to believe that if that's what Lebron believes,
he's one of the best to ever do it, if
not the best to ever do it, Okay, Okay, And
(37:48):
you know what, until proven otherwise, let's let's give this
a shot. So what if it's Lebron, who said, hey, JJ, yeah,
I get it. You're chomping at the bit and you
want to coach in the Summer League, But do you
really think that's what's best for you when you sign
this contract? Didn't you were you envisioning coaching players at
(38:08):
Summer League or were you envisioning coaching us at Crypto
dot com arena in LA. I think I think maybe
you ought to go on extended vacation until we all
get back together under the tent. Okay, And he went,
you know what, Lebron, that's a really good idea. And
you know what, Lebron, all of your ideas are really
good ideas. Rich.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
That's why Lebron loved the fact that that JJ Reddick
got the gig, because it's like.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Lebron becoming the head coach.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Hey, if Reddick gets it, basically I could coach the team.
So all right, I mean it's not official or anything,
but if if Reddick's the coach, he's just gonna do
what I say. So it's like me getting the coach team. Yes,
I'll sign off on Reddick whatever hees. Yes, bring JJ
Redick and bring my guy in, because that means I'm
really the coach.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, this is pretty uh transparent. Although I will say this,
I think JJ Redick is a very intelligent basketball person.
I think he has a high IQ when it comes
to basketball. I mean that any time you hear this
guy speak, whether it's on a broadcast or on a
podcast or during an interview, this guy knows the game
(39:14):
inside and out. He's highly highly intelligent when it comes
to the sport of basketball. So is Lebron James. Though,
And if you're asking me, if there's a player capable
of coaching and playing at the same time, who would
it be, Well, it would have to be Lebron James.
So maybe what he's looking for is a peer, somebody
who sees the game through the same set of eyes,
somebody he knows he'll be able to influence who he
(39:37):
needs as sort of a compatriot on the sideline, seeing
the games through that same lens. And maybe it'll be
a better fit than Frank Vogel or Darvin Ham, who
sort of felt like both of those names were shoehorned
into the picture alongside Lebron James as opposed to him
putting his stamp of approval on it and his sole
stamp of approval on it.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
So your vision is this?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
K eight seconds left to go in the huddle, and
JJ Redick says, Okay, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna
run a screen down low. We're gonna get the ball
to Ad in the paint because he's been running things
and AD's gonna get Ad get to the free throw
line and let's do it. Okay, ready, Hey, JJ, Wait
a minute, But what if we did this instead?
Speaker 4 (40:16):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (40:16):
What you got, Lebron? How about instead you inbound the
ball to me. I dribble around the three point line
for a couple of seconds and decide I'm gonna take
a three that looks pretty and maybe it wins the game.
What if we did that instead? Okay, that's what we're
gonna do. Okay, thanks JJ. Hey, good idea on the
AD stuff, though. But I're gonna do my thing now
and I'm gonna kind of take that three and hope
it goes in.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
I pictured it more like the first way you were talking,
where he's talking about the play to a D in
the paint and you just see Lebron shaking his head
and no, somewhere over some other players shoulder. It's like,
and what I meant by that was Lebron, Lebron gets
the ball. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
I forgot exit out about a Fresco, rich at Ornberger,
Jason Smith, Riccio, and for Harmon. Coming up next, the
big NFL Power Hour of Breakdown.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Keep it an ear Fox,
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.