Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Jason and Steve debate if the Lakers are back or not.  Jason gives you two NBA superstars that SHOULD be dealt at the deadline. Mike McCarthy will not coach in the NFL this season. And a visit from NBA Insider Ric Bucher!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen 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 (00:32):
Greetings, welcome inside, Happy Tuesday. Don't do that to me,
you know, ty shirt. The days have blended into one
another from me since college. So I mean, like I
clearly I could actually misch the day.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Oh yeah, dude, oh when you don't have that regular schedule.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Absolutely no, absolutely since college, I'm like, uh, Thursday, Friday.
No Friday, Friday. Especially when I used to work on
the weekends. Like when I worked on the weekends so much,
I was like, yeah, Friday, Like I'm off like Tuesday
and Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Weekends not the weekend for you.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
They're not real days off, Like I'm off on Tuesday.
That's great now, but ever single knowledge like just you
know rolls right and well, you know, Wednesday is no
different than Friday, which is no different than except you know,
football on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
But that was that was it that we had sociology
like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and you knew you had that
math class on Tuesday Thursday. Absolutely, I know what you mean,
especially for some of us who live in a place
that doesn't have extreme weather the various months of the year.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
You're talking about all the classes that I skipped because
it was too cold out. I'm saying I'm staying in today.
I could play RBI Baseball. No, I'm good. I could play.
I can play. I could play the whole World Series
if I skip my ten am class. Yeah, I'm getting
don end Jason, don't make me scare you.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Well, he was scared.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
What what do you can scare me?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Man, don't do that.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
You weren't even here last night.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
I even know that.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Man, I know everything that's scary that don't even don't
even do that. Man, that's that's too. I'll tell you
I did have a bad moment last night. I was
finishing that this this horror novel eating was so creepy,
and I finish it and I'm laying down and I'm
thinking I actually said on the air, I'm gonna be
laying here, I'm gonna think about that creepment Duvall from

(02:08):
Liam Cohen. And don't you know a couple of times
I woke up and I'm like, you hear something? I mean,
not that I heard Duvall, obviously, not that I don't like,
did I did I hear something? Did I hear something?
Did I hear something? Did somebody come in? Did Irban
Meyer try to run in here and tell me how?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
It's?

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Oh, that is scary.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's scared so bad. We're a lot from the tire
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Steve Desager in for Mike Harmon tonight and we have

(02:46):
tons of football to get to. But now is I
feel like today is the day, Steve O that the
NBA trade deadline really kicked into overdrive and we're gonna
get there by way of the game of the night
that we just in the NBA. Tyrese MAXI, what did
he have? Seventy five tonight?

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Forty three forty three.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Forty three in the first eight minutes? Isn't that what
it was? And he kind of cruised from there.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Actually it was about seventy five at halftime for Philly
because they can score, it will and soon as Anthony
Davis went.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Out, Uh, the Sixers roll the Lakers one eighteen, one
oh four Frostburg. Are the Lakers back? Are they still back?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
No?

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Texas football is back. I'm sure not.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Bet Let me be back Saturday. Le'll be back to okay?
Are you sure about that? Sure about okay?

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Play the next come on?

Speaker 1 (03:32):
This is you know, this is And this is why
people now understand why I say, hey, there's no reason
if you want to be tepidly, cautiously optimistic that maybe
it's a possibility that the Lakers might be okay, because
this is what they do. They play a couple of
good games in a row, and everybody says, oh, look
at this. They figured it out. Now Austin Reeves is

(03:54):
going to score thirty five a game. Now it's not
Dalton Connect anymore.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
He was great off the bench tonight.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Ad is gonna score sixty and we're gonna and then
they have games like this where really you went into Philadelphia,
who's playing without and beating Paul Georgian, and you didn't
even sniff a win, like this is what the Lakers.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Do, like because Davis wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
I don't know if it's it's that the Lakers can't
handle success, but boy, they win a couple of a row,
and you certainly see JJ Reddick getting all chesty and yeah,
we play like this, we can beat anybody. Dude, you've
watched what we've watched this team, right, you know that
you can win a couple of games and then you
lose a couple of games. Like I give them credit.
There's seven games over five hundred, which is not bad,
but in the end there's still they win a couple

(04:33):
of games, and then they have a night like this
where I mean.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Come on, not their first this year, and memo to
coach JJ Reddick, tonight, you couldn't have beaten those plumbers
from the nineteen sixties.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
I mean, it's just an amazing I mean, look a
d ten minutes tonight. Obviously, but this is a game
that's still you're playing against against tyres Maxing a bunch
of guys in the G League. I mean, Cox's very good,
by the way, not Chess Maxey's because it's a bigger
point to make with Tyres Maxing. But like, I mean, look,
and Gordon's not bad, and Kelly Oubray once in a
while is say, oh my good as Kelly, But like
this is this, This told you, this is why the

(05:03):
Lakers are so maddening. Like they can't they can't handle success.
They can't find a way to sustain anything. And it's
and I don't know if it's just mentally they don't
have the fort two to be able to do it,
or it's just they they they again, they can't handle success,
and they think we have it and they come up
with efforts like this against the Sixers and a team
that's quit that is like wait, waiting for the deadline

(05:25):
to come and go like this is the late. This
is why I can't ever really believe in the Lakers.
It's nice they're playing a little bit better. That's good,
But every time you start thinking about it, this is
what happens. So anytime they went three and row, hey
that's great, all look at this, look at the Lakers
that's gonna be. This is Ben's like better when they
had Magic and Kareem. You know, they had Shaq and
Kobe at the same time they had Worthy and Wilkes

(05:47):
and Michael Cooper and said Sebalos and Nick van Exell.
There twelve man rotation of those guys. And then they
come up with a game like.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
This, Yes, four records. The Lakers who with two minutes
to go in the first quarter were leaving and Anthony
Davis when out of the game. And after that over
one hundred points scored by Shy.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah. How long is the game? Is it a quarter?

Speaker 3 (06:05):
It is four quarters? They haven't learned that yet.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
A right, we just had a center. Well that's all.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
The guy he left injured tonight is the guy who
asked for a little front line help.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
By the way, now you know when this game was over, guys,
the second Brownie James checked in.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Oh man, that was also first quarter.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeahnnie checked in and Tyre Smaxy said, oh, hey, time
to go to school. That's a human white fly. It's
time for you to go to school.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
I know.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, we had a year at college. Oh, you're gonna
get some right now.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
The Lakers were up eight when he checked in in
the first quarter. So his plus minus is just awful tonight. Yeah, no,
not good, although it's awful too.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Hey, the dog connect was pretty good off the bed anight,
but a lot of it. Look, it was garbage time.
The Lakers didn't threaten right.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well, they give up almost fifty points in the second quarter,
so it really wasn't a game. YEA second question, and
I again point to Anthony Davis leaving with the abdominal strain.
And the Lakers did play a game last night, so
we know they're not playing a game tomorrow. But at
one point it was twenty five point deficit at Philly,
a team that was missing the two stars. Maxey scored
forty three.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Now here's the deal. We're gonna get into Dearon Fox
and Jimmy Butler, who are the two big stars that
are on the trading block now. But I've said this
a couple of times, and I think a night like
tonight also bears it out. The Sixers are done with
the incarnation of the team that has been built around
Joel Embiid for the better part of the last decade.

(07:27):
They're done. He's done. He's not healthy, he's not playing.
You don't trust the process. He's done the process. We
trusted the process for a long time. Eventually in a
new process. Okay, the process is only going to go
so long, might go a decade. How long is this process?
We need a long time? We need a long way?
Do we need a long long time like the Jets
process of getting back to the playoffs? And we need

(07:47):
at least a decade, maybe even more. It's over in Philadelphia.
The season is over. They're not going to the playoffs.
It's a situation in which they can't get their star
healthy and on the floor. I don't know how much
he's motivated to actually be on the floor. Of all
the names that are out there for the trade deadline,
right we're hearing de Aaron Fox and Paul and Paul George.
We're hearing dearon Fox and obviously Jimmy Butler. The last

(08:10):
few days, we'll get to them. The two names that
honestly need to be out there are Joel Embiid and
Steph Curry. Those are the names that need to be
out there. Embiid, I can't I can't tell you how
bad Philadelphia needs a fresh start and how much he
needs a fresh start, especially when you see the Sixers
win a couple of big games in the last week.
Remember to be Cleveland, and you know, without Embiid, and

(08:32):
here's a team that is now built around Tyrese Maxi.
You move on from the money you owe Joel Embiid
and you start over again. Right, you have you have,
you have Maxie and Paul George. Okay, it'll be easy
to get another star. You have seen the best of
Joel Embiid. How healthy is he really going to be
the rest of his career?

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Now?

Speaker 1 (08:48):
He still is someone who will bring a decent amount
in a trade because a team will look at him
and say, maybe he's motivated in a change of scenery.
And the next two postseasons, I feel pretty good. I
feel pretty good that Joel Embiid new situation this postseason,
next postseason, you'll get a lot out of him. Right,
because this is what happens in the NBA with starts
to decide. I've quit on one team, but I'm in a

(09:10):
new location. That's never great, Right suddenly I'm great. Uh. Look,
we've seen it with James Harden, We've seen it with
Chris Paul. See, it was so many players multiple times
right right now? Yeah, hard until he just gets tired
and I'm reading I'm ready to go.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
By the way, Philly is, even with the win tonight,
they're not even into the play it. They're not even
tenth in the Eastern Conference, Danny. So I know we've
got a while to go, but we are past the
halfway point of the season.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
Now.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
It's they're done and they know they need to move
on and start the new seventy six ers, which is
Maxi George. Howver long it is, and you can get
another star, you can bring somebody else in, and it
makes sense for Embiid to go as well, because Embiid
needs that fresh start. He's just it's like both sides
are just just going in circles right now, waiting, like

(09:54):
and I guarantee you Joel Ebid would be magically healthy
if he went to another team, going to be hey, right, oh,
but he's out of it. No, No, he's starting. He's
starting today, he said forty minutes. He's ready to go.
He will be magically healthy if he got traded to
another team.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
They're going in circles because only one leg works, so
he's actually walking around. He goes straight around the trade him.
Does he actually have to physically able to be able
to walk to the plane or how did they get him?
Because I don't know how that works. It's it's you know,
you mentioned Fox. The the irony is now that the
Lakers are leaving town losing at Philly tonight, Sacramento is

(10:26):
the next team in and it's tomorrow night. And it
was today the reports that Sacramento is open to trading
dearon Fox, who's been a key to this offense for years.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
They need more cowblls, you.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
Know.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
And just for a second with the uh with with
the Daron Fox on the on the trading block. Oh
by the way, just uh, you know, let let's pour
one out for light the beam because I feel like
light the beam is kind of over now and so
really I feel, well, if you're trading the guys like them,
I mean it's not like yeah, but maybe maybe you're
just kind of maybe the beam will pulse a little bit,

(11:02):
maybe pulse the beam a little bit. Maybe. Uh, let's
let's you know, you know, what do they call it
when you have the not the safety lights, but when
the lights are on really low in a room, just
to just to illuminate it, you know, like that, that's
kind of where they're at with the light to beam like.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Some earthquake outage happens and the emergency light.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, exactly, it's like, well, they're not really that bright,
but they still kind of light things, so it still
kind of looks like that. But look if If and
the Sixer and the and the Warriors have been mentioned
as a destination potentially for dearon Fox, also mentioned for
Jimmy Butler on one of his preferred UH lists. But
really the two names that need to be there, like
I said, are Joel and Beat and Steph Curry. Because

(11:40):
Curry's got to realize that if he's going to win again,
it's not going to be a Golden State. It's not.
And He's got to decide what's more important to me.
Do I want to give away the last seven or
eight years of my career and put up some empty
stats just to be a one.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
One team, Like.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
I get that that is very that very attractive. There's
some currency, but you want to win at some point,
and I know he wants to win because I watched
him win all the gold medals in the Gold Medal Game.
Give me the ball, give me the ball. We're gonna
give me the ball game. He should have had all
the gold medals, so I know he still wants to win,
and he's got to understand that nobody's gonna go there
right there, you know. And he's already said, look, don't
make a trade if it's going to ruin the future

(12:20):
of the team. The young players for the Warriors haven't
come along. The dynasty is over, and they're not trending upward.
They're not winning more games. That had a nice start
to the season when Steve Kerr was playing I think
fifteen guys a night, like everybody was coming off the
bench and playing at least ten minutes. But now they
settled back into this is kind of who they are,
just like the Lakers are who they are. This is

(12:41):
who the Warriors are. They're a five hundred is team.
They'll win at home. Curry will still give you big
nights once in a while, but they're not nearly as
good as the other teams in the West. And there's
no one player coming in that's going to make that happen.
Jimmy Butler's not gonna make that happen, right darreon Fox
is not gonna make that happen, not that the Kings
would actually trade him to Golden State, but this is
where Steph Curry's got to realize, if I'm going to

(13:02):
win in the next two or three postseasons will be
the end of my prime. Most likely, I gotta go
someplace if I want to win, and you can. It
doesn't need to be a seventy six ers and beat
situation where it's I hate you, you hate me, we're trading.
This can be one of those Hey, we're talking and
we're all together on this. We want to give Steph
a chance to win. And and Steph, it's everybody can

(13:24):
cry in Golden State, and everybody can can can you know,
can can wear the Steph Curry jerseys, and Steve Kirk
can cry that he's being traded, and Steph Curry can
cry that he's being traded. All of these things can happen, Steve,
and I'm okay with you can do that because eventually
he wants to do that. One year at the end,
back at Golden State. He's always going to be a warrior, right,
He's always going to be a Golden State warrior. So
but if he wants to win, he's got to say, Okay,

(13:46):
let let me go someplace and you can help the
Warriors bring in new players, right, do something else. But
the dynasty is over. And if he wants to win,
he's got to decide what's more important and if and
and he should decide that I need to go someplace
else if I really want to win, because he's one
of those over the top guys like Jimmy Ballard. Do
you ever but he's what Hey, you go to a
team that suddenly, all of a sudden, we got Steph

(14:07):
Curry and he's scoring twenty eight a game. And now, look, look,
we can't do any wrong. We're just adding we're adding
a shooter. Did we get him the ball? And it
goes in the net all the time because we watched
it from afar for the last decade. Now he's doing
it for us, like he isn't over the top guy,
and if he wants to win, he's.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Got to go with this past week, though he tried
to play against the Lakers over the weekend with four
seventeen shooting from the floor and with the bad knee,
is not playing in that late game that's underway. Golden
State hosting Utah tonight. But I'm reminded of when Junior Say,
all Pro linebacker for years with the Chargers and we
all thought he was going to be a lifetime Charger
when he got dealt. His comment after the trays, if

(14:45):
this helps the Chargers to be better, then I'm fine
with it. That was kind of an astonishing comment. But
even more so, I think that would apply to Steph
Curry because you're right, just like Michael Jordan's always a
Chicago Bull. It doesn't matter what happens from here on out,
Steph curR Will absolutely always be a Golden State Warrior.
But that team, and I know it's been three short

(15:05):
years less than that since they won the title again
when they beat Boston and Jason Tatum in the finals.
Aside from that season, it's been mostly eh for about
six years now, following that dynasty.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
They squeezed that last one out against the Celtics and
that's been it.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
It's either play in not getting in, and currently it's
more of the same. Either Sacramento or Golden State might
be missing even the play in April exit.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
How about a fresca Jason Smith Steve de Sega in
from Mike Harmon tonight live from the Tirak dot com studios. Hey,
an emergency like during the fires recently swept through Los Angeles.
You want Rapid Radios instant push to talk walkie talkies
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(15:52):
off and free shipping. Well, if they should be on
the trading block, and those two superstars absolutely should, what
about the other guys who could possibly maybe become an
NBA title contender if they add Vox, if they add
Jimmy Butler, if they have Lebron James. Oh, sorry, Frostburg
too soon. That's coming up next right here, this is

(16:14):
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Speaker 2 (17:17):
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 (17:33):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with special delivery
Steve de Sega in for Harmon tonight. Don't forget right
after the show, our podcast goes up. If you miss
any of tonight's show, just be sure to listen to podcast.
Just search Jason Smith and Mike Harmon wherever you get
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(17:53):
Smith and Mike Harmon wherever you get your podcast from,
and you'll find today's show and a best of version
posted right after week off the air. Well, we'll get
to the latest of the NBA in a second, but
news that's just come in. Apparently the choice was Hey,
Mike McCarthy, it's the Saints or nobody, and Mike McCarthy
has said, Okay, I choose nobody. According to NFL Networks

(18:17):
Tom Pellisero and Ian Rappaport, Mike McCarthy, late of the
Dallas Cowboys, has decided to sit out the twenty twenty
five season, instead focusing on the openings that will come
after the twenty twenty five season end, so he will
look to get back into the mix a year from now.
In twenty twenty six. He may as well be saying, Hey, Jerry,

(18:38):
thanks a lot for screwing me by not letting me
go and holding on to me for that nextra week.
Thanks a lot. Jerry Jones, at least Jerry Jones for
the most part, had stuck to I'm just gonna screw
the cowboys with decisions I make. Now he's outside of
the cowboys. Got you what anymore?

Speaker 3 (18:52):
Part of this is also other people not choosing Mike
McCarthy because there were what six openings this offseason. New
Orleans is the last opening. They gave Kellen Moore, ironically,
a former Dallas assistant, a second interview last night. We
mentioned that during last night's show, McCarthy had not been
interviewed by the Saints, and now he's not going to
be coaching this year.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
You know, I will say this because yes, he did
get a chance to talk to Bears talk to him
right after.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
But there but the Bears talked to Harmon and everybody else.
It's your list of fifty.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, the Bears hired Ben Johnson. I was actually going
in next and they said, oh, hey, that's great. But
there is that thing. Yes, he was able to get
a couple of interviews, but how serious of a candidate
was he really? Because if a team's going to hire
somebody as a head coach, right, you have a list
of people you're thinking about people for a long time. Look,
the Jets knew they were going to have the opening

(19:41):
that they did. The Bears knew they were going to
have the open teams think that way.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
We did talk about the Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Lest right, Well, well it just gets the Cowboys, is that?
But nobody knew that Mike McCarthy was going to be available.
So when the Jets and the Bears and these teams
that know they're going to have openings, right, the Saints,
like three quarter the teams all know they're gonna have openings, right,
We didn't know the Raiders were gonna have an opening.
But okay, but like when three quarters of the teams
know they're gonna have an opening, here's a guys we're

(20:08):
gonna talk to, right, We're gonna do research now on
Ben Johnson, on Aaron Glenn, on Mike Vrabel, all these guys.
When all of a sudden, a week after the season ends,
Mike McCarthy is thrown in, it's well, can we really
hire the guy? Like I know we like him? Then
you know, he's been a really good head coach and
won the Super Bowl with the Packers, and he's won
twelve games year at the Cowboys and coaching in Dallas

(20:29):
with all that chaos and being able to win as
much as he did is a good thing for him.
But how serious of a candidate can he be when
all of a sudden, late in the game, and I
mean late to the research and late to the looking
into it and the phone calls in the background of
what you need to do for each candidate, like it
really is impossible to hire at that point. Jerry Jones
absolutely screwed him by letting him stay, Like if you're

(20:51):
not gonna let if you're not gonna let him go, man,
let him go and go do something else.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
Or Jerry Jones thinks we'll talk after the regular season ends.
Bet that as the years it was, no, the contract
is up, but we can just get an agreement on
extending this thing. And when they couldn't come to an agreement,
then here it is thirteenth of January, after the regular season,
when obviously other teams are already going through their candidates
with their opening Some have had openings for a while

(21:18):
because some coaches lost their jobs during the season, And
then McCarthy is available on the thirteenth a couple of
weeks ago, and Cliff Kingsbury, for example, was going to
be a candidate New Orleans with the opening, and he decides,
I'm not going to interview for the Saints head coach opening.
I'm going to stay at Washington. But you know how

(21:39):
crammed it was, even with Ben Johnson and the team
making a run in the playoffs, and with Kingsbury with
his Washington team making a run in the playoffs. It
a little bit reminds me of some of the offseason
craziness with college football. How you've got recruiting, but during
bowl games and so the schedule is for one thing
is on top of the schedule for another. It would
be easier if all of these interviews and all of

(22:02):
these decisions from front office could happen a little bit
later in January up until the new league year begins
in mid March.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
If you know that you're debating on whether or not
you want to stay, whether or not you're gonna keep him,
I mean it, it's Jerry Jones nose. And all of
a sudden, Mike McCarthy didn't show up with this offer,
this Scott Boris type offer to coach the team, and
Jerry said, oh no, it's way too much money. We're
not ready to spend that. You good luck you pedal
that pee alnzo someplace else. We'll give him three years

(22:32):
and seventy million, but not a penny more.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well, I'm not sure it's Jerry involved, So I'm not
sure how much logic, as logical as this may be,
I'm not sure how much that applies to a Jerry decision.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
I'm sorry. I actually I thought I sent the email
a week ago that said we're not renewing you. But
I saw it was in my drafts and Steven told
me got to actually press the send button, and I said, oh,
so then I sent here you go, you should have it. Now,
there you go. We're letting you go.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
We're gonna get something cheaper, and we're gonna be back
to heaven. I as they just heard over in the
commiss here.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
You know, I let the Neapolitan flavors give you three
choices in just one bit, but if you have more
than one flavor Neapolitan, we're gonna charge you extra. So
for one scoop of ice cream is five dollars, but
one scoop of Neapolitan because you get a little bit
of chocolate, little bit of an a little bit of strawberry,
that's gonna be fifteen dollars for the same That's how
I make money. You think I didn't go to business

(23:24):
school to learn how to not make money. That's how
I make money here. And we only serve Neapolitan, and
everybody make sure to get all three in every scoop
they get.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
So he had more choices of the ice cream than
he had For coaches is.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Brian Schottenheimer and nobody it's pro now speaking of being
somebody or nobody. Jordan Schultz, NFL insider, who is piggybacking
on this report, says that there was no interest in
Mike McCarthy for the Saints, So that means so that
must mean hey boy, now that Dallas Cowboys. This is
like World War Z where the zombies are just expanding.

(23:57):
So this probably means that that we're gonna wind up
getting Helen Moore to be the Saints head coach. Is
probably gonna be counter.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Last night's discussion with him. They went in person to
talk with him in person.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yes, oh man, I'll tell you this is the most
uninspiring head coaching hiring cycle.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
I think that which is a match for the kind
of let's say draft choices we get in April to
start this next season with rookies. There was a lot
of bang zoom splashed last year in some hires and
some draft choices, and it's kind of looking like the
opposite of that for twenty twenty five NFL.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
I mean, look at the top three guys, right, the
top three guys in some kind of order, Mike Rabel,
Ben Jnson, Aaron Glenn And even as as the process
went on, Mike Rabel was going to the Patriots. Okay,
we knew that was happening. Yeah, And really, in a
normal year of coaching openings, Rabel is fifth or sixth

(24:55):
of the guy because he's a regurgitated head coach. Right
he was there, he got fired. He's trying to get
back in to be a coach somewhere right there, he's like,
he's like down at the fifth or sixth option. A
guy like Ben Johnson. Normally, Hey, he's really hot, left,
but how much was he not hot at the end
of this year? Right, Like the Bears bit against themselves

(25:15):
to get him, and you thought he's a guy that's
gonna walk in And even though the Lion set a
record for touchdowns in a season like any I think
anybody could have had Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, who
I love the Jets getting Aaron Glenn because he's uniquely
qualified for the Jets, being a guy that's played there
and played for Woody Johnson. Like these are guys that
are they that exciting in a normal coaching cycle.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
They're not.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
And meanwhile, the openings are usually a little bit more
exciting as well. But when it's the Jets and the Patriots,
all the bottom feet are tears. Just tear. I mean
the Bears were the best by default. I mean, think
about that. When the Bears are the best opening, what
does that tell you about where the openings are? Like
all the openings weren't good. This is it's a very
uninspiring cycle. And I don't know, maybe Mike McCarthy's sitting

(25:57):
back thinking, man, I couldn't get one of these jobs.
Oh wow, I got it, all right. I'm gonna wait
another year and see what works out for me. But
I love the way it's phrased in the NFL Network report.
Obviously they get the report because they're talking to his representatives.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
You know what, we're just gonna stand down this offseason
and we're just gonna go into the hiring cycle in
twenty twenty six after next season. As if this is
his decision, that's how it's quoted. Let's say that's how
it's passed along to us the consumer. I think this
segment fleshes that out a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah. I mean, look, I think that McCarthy in a
normal in a normal situation in which the day after
the season ends, you're either staying or you're going, he
has a job. I'm pretty sure he has a job
somewhere because the CEO head coach is kind of in
vogue now.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Whereas well, he's got a better resume than some of
these guys.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Guy's got a super Bowl, he's got he's an offensive coach.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
Recently it wins three years in a row for this.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Cowboys, and being that guy, being the CEO head coach
is what's really valuable now because the shine is kind
of off the great coordinators. And even though a great
head coach can come from anywhere, he doesn't need to
be a coordinator. It could be a quarterbacks coach and
someone that can lead a program. But the CEO head
coaches that have led a program and will stop the backsliding.

(27:15):
These guys are These guys are really in demand right now.
Like you saw, the Raiders made the best hire. They
hired a guy. I know the backsliding is gonna stop
with Pete Carroll. I don't know how much better the
Raiders are gonna be, but I know they won't backslide anymore.
Still need a quarterback. And the same thing with the Patriots.
I don't know how good they're gonna be, but they're
not gonna backslide anymore. The Jets are out on a
limb a little bit with Aaron Glenn Bunch, and he's

(27:35):
a guy that knows Europe. But those teams, who's there
where they were? The reports of the undisciplined and stuff,
you know that stops. You would think with guys like Frabo,
right Yeah. And if McCarthy had jumped in right after
the season and teams knew the day after the regular season,
here's our guys who are available, he would have been
much more on the radar of teams. He would have
been brought in right away as a big candidate for

(27:57):
But when you don't sometimes you need to think about
a possibility before he can really pull the trigger something.
It's too it's too early to make a decision on it,
and and it's and you say, well, but we like
this guy, but we haven't had the proper time to
chew this around and vet it and see what his
impact would talk to him twice in person, right, we
don't have that time, so we really we can't treat

(28:18):
him very seriously, like, well, we'll talk to him, but
we can't treat him seriously as a candidate. Whereas if
he goes after the after the first day, hey, he's
brought the Jets talk. Well, maybe the Jets don't because
Aaron Rodgers says, no way, man, no, if I'm gonna stay,
he's not coming way.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Are you implying that he's worked with.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
But other teams can say, oh, yeah, we want to
talk to him because I think teams do see that, Hey,
McCarthy was able to win in Dallas, where there's all
kinds of chaos all the time.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
It's a circus.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
If you can win in the circus, you can win
where there's less of a circus. Now granted we're a
circus too because we're looking for a head coach. But
if you can win in that circus, we can trust
you here. But something even though it's a week, that's
a big week for teams to say, yes, we can
put them on our board and and chew it around
and vet it right. But when the week goes by
and okay, now we can talk to him. Well, we've

(29:08):
already had interviews with five people we know who were zoom,
we know who were zeroing in on. We're gonna have
second zoom interviews with people. We're gonna have a first
in person interview here. And all of a sudden, McCarthy's
not a guy who gets let go. That suddenly is oh,
you only need to meet him for five minutes and
hire him, right. It's not like if Mike Tomlin got
let go hey right away, a team would snap him
up right If Kyle Shanahan got let go, a team

(29:30):
would snap up right away, Kevin O'Connell, all these great
young coaches, Sean McVay, if he got let go by
the Rams, he'd be snapped up right away. No, McCarthy's
a guy. Well we got to think we had to
look into it. So yeah, I mean, that week really
screwed him. And if that if it was a different week,
we'd be doing a different story.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
I would love to know if there's been any private discussion,
even among just two employees who are front off as
football executives of you know, we recently hired a new
head coach this offseason, but man, I think we could
have McCarthy. You know, not quite Buyer's remorse, and that's
not automatic. I mean you might have a knee church

(30:06):
reaction say yes, of course. Well, I mean the Cowboys
had a hire obviously that they wouldn't. The Jets, I
doubt right would say, oh man, we could have I
doubt they would. I think the Raiders are quite happy
with who they got, and they've gone in a different
direction and needed to. As far as coach hire Patriots,
I'm sure they're fine with who they got, getting an
ex Patriot who's been an NFL head coach. You mentioned

(30:29):
the Bears with Ben Johnson, who was throughout this past
season the hot coordinator that oh he's gonna be an
NFL Whether he succeeds as a head coach, who knows,
but absolutely soon, sooner rather than later, he's going to
be an NFL head coach. And sure enough Chicago got him,
which means we're left with mister Duval, the Jacksonville higher.

(30:52):
I know they loved the offense. They saw that he
ran with Tampa Bay. It was impressive this past year.
But I wonder if there's just part of him Jacksonville.
You know, they had a lot of years with haven't
done much. There's a reason why they say, yeah, we'll
have a home game in England. Can we have two
due I wonder if somebody's thinking, I wonder, I wonder

(31:14):
if we should have. I wish we'd have had a.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Chance exit out about a Fresca. Jason Smith Steve to
saga'rer in for Mike Harmon again, the news just a
few minutes old. Mike McCarthy will not seek a head
coaching position in the NFL this year, which really was
a Saints or nothing, and we'll focus instead on getting
back into it in twenty twenty six. More on this
and the Night in sports. Steve de Sager, who they

(31:36):
say is kind of like the Mike McCarthy of here
a soft Fox Sports Radio give me. He works really
well in chaos, He's got what's trending.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
I know it wasn't a comment about my wake. We'll
get to the NFL news in just a moment, but
reliever Kirby Yates has passed his physical and we'll sign
with the Dodgers. He was an All Star with Texas
last year. Gets a one year deal thirteen million dollars.
Yates turns thirty eight in March. Washington Commanders offensive coordinator
Cliff Kingsbury will stay with the team. New Orleans give
Kellen Moore a second interview. Last night, the Cowboys hired

(32:06):
Matt Eberfluss's defensive coordinator. He had been the Bears head coach.
Mike Zimmer will likely retire. Chicago formally announced Dennis Allen
as its defensive coordinator. Detroit two offensive coordinator is John Morton,
who is with Denver for one year. The Raiders reportedly
interviewed Darryl Bebble for offensive coordinator. He worked for Pete
Carroll in Seattle Baltimore. Hey, who you see?

Speaker 1 (32:27):
I forget who was it that called that passing play
on the goal line in the Super Bowl? Who was Oh,
that's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
The team with Marshawn Lynch. Marshawn Lynch, who of course
crashed Pete Carroll's news conference with Vegas earlier this week.
Baltimore is hiring Chuck Pagano as secondary coach or quote
senior secondary coach, so he is not retired. The Browns
say they're not interested in trading away defensive end Miles Garrett.
He's been a First Team All Pro four times. Last

(32:53):
Sunday's AFC Championship drew over fifty seven million TV viewers,
breaking last year's record for an AFC title game. Ratings
by this method go back to nineteen eighty eight. Sunday's
NFC Championship game had forty four million viewers. The Eagles
have chosen to wear their home green uniforms in the
Super Bowl in a couple weeks as the designated home team.

(33:15):
They can choose, so Kansas City will wear white. Philadelphia
cannot wear its alternate jerseys, so no Kelly Green, just
the Dark Green, and the Super Bowl will be in
New Orleans a week from Sunday on Fox TV and
the WNBA. Britney Griner agreed to a deal with Atlanta.
Phoenix is acquiring Elsa Thomas from Connecticut. She's finished top
five for MVP in each of the last three years.

(33:36):
We have two late games in the NBA early second quarter.
Golden State is leading twenty nine twenty seven over Utah,
which has lost six in a row. At Portland, it's
the Bucks ahead of the Blazers forty two to thirty
five early in the second quarter. The two other games
are finals. Houston sent Atlanta to a six straight loss
one hundred to ninety six. Philadelphia beat the Lakers one

(33:57):
eighteen one oh four Tyrese Maxie four twenty three points.
Anthony Davis of LA left with an abdominal stray.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve O. The Jason Smith
Show is Steve de Sag. You're in from Mike Harmon
tonight live from the tire rack dot Com studios. Hey,
you are watching our listening to us right now, but
did you know you can watch us as well? That's right,
we got our own YouTube channel, Fox Sports Radio on YouTube.
You can see our smiling faces. It's awesome. Be sure

(34:25):
to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just
search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a whole
bunch of video highlights from our shows. Be sure to
subscribe so you always have instant access to our Fox
Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Well, we got more NFL
coming up. In a bit, we wanted to bring you
that big breaking news about Mike McCarthy. But straight ahead,
two stars are on the trading block in the NBA.

(34:45):
Where should they end up going? We'll tell you that's next.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. Big Game covering presented by Otesla Oh Prevo Last.
This is football's biggest moment under the lights on the screen,
where we come together to celebrate the best of the best.

(35:09):
This is more than a game.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Be there, Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show is
Steve Disager in from Mike Harmon.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Look, I'm gonna do things my way, and my way
is terrible.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
Speed Up your hiring process, hey, Jerry, speed up your
hiring process with Express Employment Professionals. Reduce time to hire,
cut costs, find the right talent for both contract and
full time roles. Visit expresspros dot com today and transform
your hiring process. That's expresspros dot Com. Well, yeah, speaking
of Jerry Jones, we had the big story with Mike McCarthy,
who's going to sit out this year and try to

(35:47):
become a head coach next year. We'll have more on
Matt and a big super Bowl story coming up in
about ten minutes. But you know, we started the hour
Steve talking about the guys who the superstars who should
be on the trading block as the deadline approaches Joelle
and b Steph Curry hundred percent. But the two guys
we know are out there. It's feb sixth in the NBA,
but we're getting close to it, Like I just look

(36:07):
how we're sneaking up to it, like this weekend, we're
getting close. We're getting there.

Speaker 5 (36:11):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
De Aaron Fox who now is going to be shopped
by the Sacramento Kings and his preferred destination is sit down.
His preferred destination is San Antonio. And of course Jimmy Butler,
who has now been suspended for the eleventh time this season. Uh,
he gets to spend it more than Steve Howe, I
think been. Uh he's got his.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
This is just one month, his three suspensions, so give
him time three and one mon Yeah, that's something Uh
every ten days.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
It's I saw that clockwork a suspension. Uh. Now it's
more likely he's going to be dealt because according to Yahoo,
the Heat have realized, oh, we're not going to get
a lot for them, so they have lowered their trade demands.
Now the best places for both of them right now.
If you're de Aaron Fox boy, if the Spurs are
able to get him, look out. The new era of
the Spurs is gonna be here right away because the

(37:02):
Aaron Fox is a baller, right. Guy was all Team
NBA two years ago as long as they enough to
give up Stefan Castle. He was a guy who said,
listen to God's a guy I'm gonna take number one
in the draft. He is everything you want to player,
combo guard, great defender, like top five pick. He's what
you want. And right now, in anybody's rookie estimation, he
is the second best rookie of the year on the
board right and he is just continuing to get better.

(37:24):
So I don't want to give him up. The fact
that he can slide over and play different positions. If
they don't have to give him up and they can
go bring in de Aaron Fox. I'm telling you, by
this time next year, the Spurs will be a top
three team in the West because they're kind of getting
there now with Wemby becoming the star he is now,
but you had de Aaron Fox and all of a sudden,

(37:44):
this is gonna be a Timberwolves or Oklahoma City jump
of a year ago, where all of a sudden, it's hey,
wait a minute, these teams are not talking about.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
They're really really good.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Well Oklahoma Oklahoma City is terrific. Like that's gonna be
the difference in the Spurs if they get de Aaron Fox.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
I will add that the roster for the Spurs, having
seen that Paris game this past weekend, that only includes
the kid wem Bin Yama, who I guess is a
post player, although all those European bigs play so much,
in my opinion, too much of the game outside the paint.
But you've got the veteran point guard in Chris Paul,
which I think was a very good acquisition because he

(38:21):
still has something to offer and it gives you that
balance of the roster, I mean of guys on the
floor to be the leader with the kids on the floor.
And Harrison Barnes from Northern California has already made it
to the San Antonio Spurs. You know Visell got a
year ago, got a big contract extension.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Is that's the guy I think is going to most like,
that's who I found the san Antonio like, that's the
guy I really want to want to want to try
to move that I'm gonna hap. I don't want to,
but if a trade's gonnappen, they're gonna want somebody. He's
the guy I'm gonna wind up moving.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
And you're saying that we can then sign Fox, who
in another year, in a few months, could be a
free agent, because then by then his long I think
it's five year deal will have run out, not this
summer but the next summer, right, and then that's still
a pretty good smarting lineup.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
And if he wants to go to the spurt knowing
he's going to be a free agent, that's that pick.
The fact that this is my destination tells me this
is where I want to go, this is where I
want to be long term. And he will sign their
long term and he's gonna wind up being a san Antonio.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
And who's to say they won't get a decent draft
pick because at this point san Antonio is in the
same boat as Sacramento. As far as we may or
may not make the play in we may or may
not have any impact on the postseason. If even if
we get to the play in and I got to
say that the NBA, unlike you know, real fans who
watch playing games consider it playoffs. Those are not playing

(39:39):
a game. You did not make the postseason. That doesn't
even count. Forget the stats. You needn't even see it.
You got to be in the top BA, in the
top that is a tournament final, which Amazon pais so
much for for you doesn't exist. It's not even a
real game. The stats don't count.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Now for Jimmy Butler, now that other team are going
to get involved, it's gonna make trading him easier. But
I don't know that he's getting his preferred destination because
and it's so hard because he's owed so much, like
he'd have to give back a lot of money and
figure something. I mean, he's doing forty million dollars next
year that he's of course, I'm opting into that. I'm

(40:17):
not gonna opt out of that. Are you insane?

Speaker 3 (40:19):
In a sense, he's giving back money as we speak,
because he keeps getting suspended with pay.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
But I don't without pay. I don't see a team
that's a big contender going to get Jimmy Butler because
you have to move too many pieces on your team
with the money. Where it's gonna be a team honestly,
where he's gonna go and Pat Rodley would love to
do this. It's gonna be a team like Detroit that, hey,
we're five hundred, maybe we're a Jimmy Butler type in
his crazy type of leadership away from helping us. Or

(40:46):
a team like Dallas that is coming off the NBA
Finals and finds themselves not quite as good as they are.
Maybe Jimmy Butler is what we need. That's gonna be
the team that goes and gets a team that, hey,
maybe we need a little bit to get up to
being one of the big content because the big contenders.
He's not going there.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
If I were running an NBA front office, I would
be have to be so desperate to actually get Jimmy
Butler at this point because he's a pariah.

Speaker 5 (41:11):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
I mean, I think he'll be okay for the rest
of this year and next year. Do you know that
Nick Day took him six years to get really unhappy
in Miami, I mean really unhappy.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, But if you're in the destination he didn't handpick. No,
this is gonna go.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Sou We got more in these NBA stories plus that
big developing story out of the NFL. More coming up next.
Jason Smith Steve Desager in for harmon Fox.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
Big Game coverage just presented by ol Tesla Oh Prevo
last This is football's biggest moment under the lights on
the screen, where we come together to celebrate the best
of the best. This is more than a game.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
Be there, Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show is
Steve de Sagarin from Mike Harmon. If you're overweight, you
know it. I knew it. So if you're sick of it,
schedule your consultation call today. Visit my phdweightloss dot com.
That's my phdeweightloss dot com. Be healthy again, PhD weight Loss. Well,

(42:14):
the Lakers say they just need a center. Jimmy Butler
is now easier to move because the heat of allegedly
said hey, we'll take a little bit less. The Aaron
Fox wants out, wants to go to the Spurs. Nobody
better to talk to about this and Fox Sports won
NBA Inside to check out the On the Ball podcast.
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker that is Rick Buker,

(42:34):
who with all of these headlines, I think the most
stunning thing I'm gonna say to you, Rick Buker, is
how about those minutes Bronnie James got tonight?

Speaker 4 (42:44):
I was not sure what I was watching when I
saw Bronnie first half, first quarter? I was I was like, wait, what,
what what happened here? I can't I just so, let's
not go there, let's not let's not start that way,
let's not start on the wrong foot. Well, we'll never

(43:05):
get off of it. And it's not I feel a
migraine coming on right now.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
All right, well, let let let's stick with this with
the Lakers. That you know that This is why I
always say it's it's okay to be tepidly, cautiously optimistic
that maybe the Lakers are okay, because every time they
play with a couple of games, they start getting chesty,
and JJ Reddick says something like, we play like this,
we can beat anybody, and then they go and lose
to Philadelphia without Paul George and Joel Embiid and doctor

(43:35):
J and Bobby Jones, and they say they just need
a center. A D says, we had a center at all.
That's what it was like, we'll win it all. If
I'm Rob Polinka Rick, I give them a center. I say,
never ask for anything again. I can get you if
you want JaVale McGhee and Dwight Howard. Again, I can
get you those guys, but don't ask for anything else.
If you guys need this to win a title, I'll

(43:55):
get this for you. Now go win.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
Yeah. Well, and here's the thing. You can you can
go get a center. You can go you can pull
Dwight Howard out of retirement. I mean, you can go
get a big body and play it at center. They
just I'm I'm blanking on the on the name. They
signed a guy to a two way and and gave
him some minutes. This is what I don't understand about

(44:19):
the essence of saying we need a center other than
a d doesn't want to have to be center. But
even that doesn't really make sense because he also wants
he's getting. He says he's gunning for Defensive Player of
the Year. Having to play center for the Lakers and
getting the sympathy vote as the center is probably his

(44:42):
best avenue to that. If they get a legitimate shot
block in center then he's not going to have the
same stats that he's had trying as the as the
backbone of that defense. And I do think that he
should be considered for Defensive Player of the Year. But
here's my big I question about getting a center. And

(45:03):
presumably you're getting a center not just to make the
team picture look better, but presumably so that he plays,
and then Anthony Davis moves to the four, and then
where does Lebron James play? You're moving him to small forward.
He has played predominantly power forward and at times he

(45:24):
has been the biggest player on these He's been essentially
at the five by default for the Lakers, and that
has worked, particularly defensively, but it's not going to work
if he has to play small forwards. He can't stay

(45:44):
in front of small forwards. He doesn't want it to
be chasing guys on the perimeter. And then what do
you do with Ruey Hatchemura, who essentially has been put
in that position and is ideally a power forward. I
just this is what I don't understand. I understand. Look,
but without Anthony Davis, Anthony Davis is really the only
rim protection that they have. Jackson Hayes is a shot blocker,

(46:08):
but offensively doesn't give you anything. He's not going to
space the floor. Christian Woods is. I don't know if
we'll see him again. I get in one sense why
they would want that, But talking about getting a center
as if that's the lynchpin to them winning, like you're
going to play that center a lot of minutes. That's

(46:30):
the part I don't get, because then it means that
Lebron James has to play a position that he's at
forty years old, simply not capable of playing. Like, yeah,
he was a point forward, he was a small forward.
He did all of that, and you could still do
that offensively, but defensively, now you're asking him to guard threes.
I just that doesn't make any sense to me. Even

(46:53):
if he was willing to do it and put in
the energy athletically, he's not capable of doing that at
this point.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
And as far as the team defense, Anthony Davis left
due to injury and then Philly scores almost fifty points
in the second quarter of this game tonight. Now LA
is continuing the Eastern road trip with essentially the game
in DC Thursday night. That's the equivalent of a free
space on your game board, and then the game will
be at New York on Saturday night. So two questions.

(47:21):
Competitive without Davis at New York and what about competitive
to avoid play in this year?

Speaker 4 (47:27):
Overall, they have a chance just because the Western Conference
is so wobbly. If it continues to be as wobbly
as it's been, then I think they have a chance
to avoid the play in. But if Minnesota gets its
act together, then I don't see Houston falling. I don't

(47:51):
see Memphis falling. It gets real tight. They're competing for
one of those six spots with Dallas, which is Dad
in in the mix without Luca. I what's the Clipper
issue with the Lakers exactly? And the Clippers are in
that mix, I mean they have I don't want to

(48:11):
dismiss them having a shot because to JJ Reddick's point,
like when they when they're playing their absolute best, Yes,
they can play with anybody, they can beat anybody. Their
problem is that you can't do that consistently, and and
no one expects them to do it consistently, and so
do I don't want to dismiss their chance of making

(48:31):
the sixth seed. But that's what they're playing for. They're
playing for the sixth seed, and they are going to
need two or three teams that I would say are
better than they are overall. To continue to underperform or
have injuries, that is going to leave that door open.
But look, they're they're in that mix now, and I

(48:54):
that's that's more than I would have expected. But I'm
not going to dismiss it, but it's it's Look, if
they don't make it, I would not be the least
price either.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
And the inside of Rick Bucker our guest Jason Smith,
Steve de Sager here a Fox Sports Radio. All right, now,
before we get to de Aaron Fox and Jimmy Butler,
we talked about this beginning of the show. Yes, these
guys are on the trading block and maybe maybe that
he can make it swing a deal. And you know, now,
maybe Daron Fox wants to go to the Spurs. But
I said earlier on the two guys who should be
on the trading block, I'm gonna give you two guys

(49:27):
who should be for different reasons. Yes, Joel Embiid.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
Okay and Steph Curry Okay.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Joel Embiid. Both sides need a fresh start up.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit,
but go ahead, Well, both sides need a fresh start
in Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
I mean you've seen the best of Embiid for the
next two postseasons. I think he'll magically be healthy when
he gets to a new team. And clearly they need
to start over. And if Steph wants to win, he's
got to think about going someplace else because no one's
coming to Golden State that's going to restart this dynasty. Rick,
who who are they going to get? Who's coming to
help me?

Speaker 4 (50:02):
You're you're looking through the wrong end of the telescope there,
And and I with Joel Embiid, and this is actually
good for you, and I that I agree with half
of your premise.

Speaker 5 (50:13):
That is that is progress us somebody right down the
date in the time, because this is this is a
noteworthy This.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
Is absolutely absolutely I agree with you one thousand percent.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
With Joel Embiid, I believe that he needs to be
someplace where he is a key contributor and not the
guy that carries the load. Like if you could make
a deal and find a way to get him to Phoenix,
for example, you know someplace that needs size, Sacramento another

(50:51):
place that needs size, and you have other talent there
where you're not asking him to be everything it like
he is his role on the Olympic team this past summer.
Give him, give him that and maybe you're able to
keep him healthy. But also you just you don't have
to count on him one thousand percent. He can just

(51:13):
he can give you a little bit. I'm with you
on that because the process and that whole thing in
Philadelphia that's over and Philadelphia is going to be stuck
unless they move on from them. And based on the
way his contract is structured, there's a lot of clauses
and provisions in there about health and everything else. I
really I think that's viable. Now let's get to Steph Curry.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
One.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Why are you hating on Steph Curry not being able
to live his life and be the guy in the
Bay Area. He has entrenched himself in the community, His
kids and his family have a life here that they love.
He has a life here that he loves. I think
there's a part of him, the old school part of him,

(52:00):
that would love to begin and end his career with
the in the same uniform that that has value for him.
But the other part is Steph Curry can just look
at Damian Lillard going to Milwaukee, that was supposed to
be his opportunity to go chase the rings that he's
never had, but certainly to upgrade his ability to chase

(52:22):
the championship. Any place that Steph Curry would go where
he would have a chance to win another title, he
would be the number two guy. It wouldn't be his
team anymore. And so I think he recognizes that it's
not just all about championships. From my conversations with him,

(52:44):
what he loves is the challenge of how can I
can I maximize the potential of this team? Can I
make us better than anybody expected us to be? And
he doesn't rule out like somehow, you know, playing for
another title. Doing it in twenty one twenty two was

(53:04):
somewhat miraculous, But I just he's not from the school
of if I'm not on a team. He's not in
the Lebron James category of if I'm not playing for
a title, then something's wrong and either you have to
fit you know, my GM has to fix it, or
I have to threaten to go someplace else. Step is

(53:27):
content here and he knows what he has and I
just don't see in any way that he wants to
give that up, and nor do I see the Golden
State Warriors wanting to give that up. There's something about
Steph Curry that goes above and beyond the player, and
that is just the person and the culture and the
aura that he has. And even though he's not playing

(53:51):
for titles, I will tell you when I go to
when I go to Chase Center, I still enjoy watching
him play and trying to do the best that he
can with this team. And I would much rather see
that continue than to see him someplace else where. Now
he's trying to fit in to someone else's scheme and

(54:13):
someone else's uniform and someone else's dynamic. I just I,
for one, do not. I have no interest in seeing that,
and I don't believe Steph Curry does either.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
So he's done winning.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
So he's done winning, yeah, because we would say that, yeah, Lebron, Yeah,
he's done winning.

Speaker 4 (54:32):
Ye, Jason. Here's the thing. Here's the thing, like, so
was Lebron James winning?

Speaker 1 (54:38):
We knew that I was done after twenty twenty he was,
And you know what.

Speaker 4 (54:44):
And and and it happens like this, this idea that
like I mean, Steph had Steph and the Warriors had
a longer run and unusually long run. Look at look
at over the last thirty years the teams. I mean,
we can count on one hand the teams that have

(55:04):
had to have sustained excellence at the level of the Warriors.
You've got what the Lakers in the three peat, right,
You've got the Spurs, and even Spurs didn't have you know,
like back back, but it was extended. Right. But outside

(55:29):
of that, I mean, Boston doesn't fit in that category.
Not even the Miami Heat. They went to four finals,
they won two championships. That that's still not five finals
and four championships for the for the Warriors, or do
I have that wrong? Stix maybe six finals?

Speaker 3 (55:50):
They lost to Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (55:52):
Yeah, they lost to Cleveland and they lost to Toronto
in the finals, and they still ended up with four rings,
four KD two with KD and then the twenty one
twenty two. So we have the numbers, right, I mean,
like the idea that that's supposed to just continue on
and on and on the league is built so that

(56:14):
that doesn't happen. I mean, honestly, it's it's it's not
it it's that the Warriors paid everybody who won them championships,
and at some point you just you run out of money,
and you run out of asset, and you run out
of out of legs because of age and wear and tear.

(56:35):
And that's and that's where the Warriors are. And honestly,
I mean, Steph is doing amazing for a guy at
thirty five thirty six, but he's not the same guy either,
And and so I don't even know if you put
him on another team where he had to be the
number one guy, Like what team is that? That's the part, Jason,

(56:57):
what team I gave you? You know, we can talk
about Joelle and being the teams that he could go to,
and it would make sense and it would be interesting,
Like give me a team where he would go and
you'd go, Okay, these guys aren't championship contenders. They're kind
of on the cuss. But if they had Steph Curry
and you got to give up something to get Steph,
Like who is that team? I don't know who that

(57:19):
team is? Do I just.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Default and say the Knicks? Do I just.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
I just default and say next, I'll just.

Speaker 4 (57:29):
Automatic go to.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Just default and say the next. I was thinking Portland
until he said on the CUSP Okay, no, yeah, nobody,
no last thing. I know, we've only got a minute here,
but we go from good guy, good attitude Curry to
Jimmy Butler. He's he's such a pariah. And maybe with
the contract also that I mean, how does he get
moved here in the next week?

Speaker 4 (57:53):
Yeah, well, honestly, I'm not convinced that he that he will,
simply because Miami would be better served to let him
walk as a free agent than to take on contracts
that are going to mess up them being able to
to to build around Bam and Tyler Hero going going

(58:16):
forward a year from now, and that's that's really their
their focus. They're not going to take back at contracts.
And the problem is is that Jimmy's worth you know,
Jimmy's Jimmy's making close to fifty million, So you got
to give up fifty million dollars worth of contracts if
you're a team of of you know, of any note

(58:36):
that means two good players. So I just I think
it's going to be really difficult to move him. I
think the way he's acting, the way that he is,
he knows the last shot at getting a payday. He
knows that Miami is not gonna He's trying to force
them to trade him. I'm going to be such a
pain in the ass that you're just you're going to
take less to in order to get me out of
the building. But I really think that they'll just continue

(58:57):
to suspend him and and and take the Ben Simmons
approach if it comes to that, rather than making a
bad deal.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, that is at Rick Buker.
Check out the On the Ball podcast and Rick obviously
to finish where he began. I think stuff with the
Lakers would be a pretty interesting team. That would be
a pretty fun team to watch. I think you'd be
okay with him trying to fit in with the nightly
soap opera.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
That would be.

Speaker 4 (59:21):
One for two, yo, one for two.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
I'll take it. I'll take it. Thanks a bunch money.
We'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 4 (59:28):
You got it.