Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Mike Harmon and Arnie Spanier (in for Jason Smith) open this 'Best of' edition of the show with their immediate thoughts and reactions to the Seahawks agreeing to trade Geno Smith to the Raiders. Later, they get into Jalen Brunson's ankle injury and the news that he's likely to miss the next two weeks to recover. NBA insider Marc Stein joins the show to weigh in with his own thoughts and discuss some of the other big storylines from around the Association. Plus, reacting to Deion Sanders' reasoning for why Shedeur's draft stock seems to be falling.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Green Eggs and welcome in time to play.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
A beautiful Friday Night. Here the Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon. No Smith tonight off gallivanting across the
globe it Instead, we've got the stinking genius himself, sty
spin Ah.

Speaker 5 (00:46):
Listen to you you're doing boy.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I am fired up. Lots of football in the air.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
I think you and I and Ian have exchanged about
one hundred and thirty five stories over the course of
the day. We'll see how many we boil down to
when it's all said and done. Some are minor little anecdotes,
Some are just fun off the wall, Hey didn't you know?
Kind of things where we can I don't know, play
some games, or just do a bunch of liner notes

(01:13):
like the back of an old album, you know, back
when you bought an album, Arnie.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, you pull out.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
The big booklet and all the artwork that they spent
all that time preparing and curating just for you, as
opposed to now, Hey, they're just gonna do it digitally,
get some AI image and just throw it out there,
will you?

Speaker 3 (01:29):
All right?

Speaker 5 (01:29):
Right now, from the time I spoke to you this morning,
and don't you steal this from me, we have March Madness.
I'm dubbing this Free Agent Friday. It was crazy. There
must have been like what five or six signings from
when we were getting ready for the show this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Oh no, it's fun.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Obviously we'll get to the big trade momentarily. We'll talk
about Daddy's making sure all the spotlights are on them,
and all sorts of other fun stuff across this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Did I tit my hand too? You did? Yes? If
that's okay, here's your thank you good god man.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
All right, as we come to you live from the
Tirac dot Com studios tyrac dot com, we'll help you
get there an unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road
hazard protection, at over ten thousand recommended installers tyraq dot com,
The Way tire Buying should be. Get in on the
show at Fox Sports Radio, at Swollen Dome at Stinkin'

(02:25):
Leave Out the first g stinkin Genius one in the
Twitter verse. As we go through, we've got Ian Roddy
sitting in. He's my podcast producer for the iWatch Flex
podcast that I do with Dan Byer, the football savant
in his own right. And we've got Alex Tyshirt on
the boards with us, of course, the omnipresent authoritative voice

(02:46):
of Steve Desager at the news desk.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
We're honored to have you with us.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
Whatever you're doing here on a Friday night into Saturday morning. Yeah,
because we're getting there soon enough for you on the
East Coast. We appreciate you giving us a few minutes
of your time. Take us with us, with you, with
you wherever you go on the iHeartRadio app. See, I'm
so jacked up. I've got so much caffeine coursing through
the veins that it's a whole other thing. The heart
rate is elevated. Why because Geno Smith is in the

(03:11):
news once again.

Speaker 5 (03:12):
Yes, yes, he has.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Been dealt now.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
When you and I were starting to exchange messages earlier
this morning, Arnie, it was a lot of the conjecture, right,
because Wednesday is when we finally get to see some
things that we have been rumored, consummated, some things that
are out there reported signings, dollars, cents, trades, all of
this can't happen till the league starts their new year
on Wednesday. But in the interim you had every insider

(03:38):
known demand, local and national, throwing darts at a board,
about quarterbacks, about defensive ends. We'll get to Hendrickson and
the Bengals and the mess that Brown has on his
hands there in a little while. But Gino Smith, Sam Darnold,
two names that keep coming up. Will rope in a

(03:59):
couple of the other veterans as we go. But as
the afternoon unfolded, we get the Raiders making a trade
for Gino Smith giving up a third round pick, the
ninety second overall, and so five years in Seattle, a
couple of times at the Pro Bowl, great efficiency on
the deep ball, spread the ball around well, had some

(04:20):
huge moments for them. Seahawks will save thirty one million
dollars in cash and cap space, they take on thirteen
and a half in dead money out of what about
two ninety ish to eighty ish I think was to
eighty is where we're settling in at the salary cap.
So the Raiders have that thirty one million added on
Gino in contract talks as the final year was evidently

(04:43):
looking for that forty to fifty range, and the Seahawks
sit not so much after the first season under Mike McDonald,
and again lots of great metrics coming out about Gino
and his acumen over the last couple of years and
what he did.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Behind the scenes.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
You don't win enough, you don't get the headlines right,
you're just you become a jag again, even if you
have finally extricated yourself from any of the ill will
that formed around the time with the Jets all those
years ago. For the Raiders, we've talked about it a bunch
of Smith and I already I'm sure you and you're
rating Raider loving pale. Chris Blank will follow us later

(05:25):
on today.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
Yeah, talking about.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
Pete Carroll and and look, you're winning now, right it's
as much as you're building, you're also looking to try
to make some waves right now as you go into
the year bringing in a veteran quarterback, because that's what
we kept hearing, veteran quarterback, they're gonna go get one.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Well, they got their man in Geno Smith.

Speaker 5 (05:44):
Yeah, they did. You know, I got a couple of
things on this. First of all, look, I'm not the
biggest Geno Smith fan, but there's no doubt that the
Raiders got an upgrade. I mean a big upgrade. They
went from like a C minus D plus two B
minus with Gino Smith even better than that. Maybe I'm
not even giving Gino his full credit. We've always heard

(06:04):
rumors that, you know, the Raiders may be interested in
Geno Smith because of the tie in, we would, Pete Carroll, Sure,
those rumors were a long time ago, though I hadn't
heard anything in a long long time. And then all
of a sudden this morning, boom, here you go, here's
the trade grade move by the Raiders. And we should
have known that the Raiders were gonna go ahead and

(06:25):
trade for quarterback or go free agency instead of trying
to trade up against Sanders or or Ward. Because let's
face it, look Tom Brady's kind of heavily involved with
this team. Now out of his owner, and you think
he wanted to go with a rookie quarterback, and you know,
three four five years down the road, what if they
made a mistake and they'd have to start all over again.

(06:47):
This is a good compromise. They're gonna have to pay
Gino probably about what fifty million, forty five to fifty million.
Seattle didn't want to do that, so grade move by
the Raiders to get them, and all they had to
give up a third round pick. And now it's going
to be a great move by Seattle by getting Sam Donald.
Now they're gonna have to give him about the forty

(07:08):
five to fifty million that they didn't want to give Gino,
but they probably think he's more worth it after the
year he had in Minnesota.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Yeah, we'll talk about Donald, and that seems to be
the rumor. We're seeing a lot of nice photoshopped and
AI images of Sam Donald as a member of the
Seahawks as the Evening war on and that one gets
other questions about what they're building towards with You've got
DK Metcalf in the trade world. Do they bring back

(07:36):
Tyler Lockett on a lesser deal? Right, there's there's a
bunch of moving parts there as well, but stay with
the Raiders. They they give up the third round pick.
So you bring in Geno. Look, the turnover rate has
been high, but he's been pretty efficient downfield, and you've
seen him make some plays with the Seahawks. Now you

(07:58):
had a robust even room here. You got Jacoby Myers,
you got Brock Bauers as your starting points, and then
you start to work from there. I'm of the opinion, like,
as much as I love the idea of that rookie
quarterback and yes we get them on the cheap and
all that, if you don't have an infrastructure built, it's
not really helping you. We watched it last year with

(08:19):
the Bears, right, a lot of splashy moves, a lot
of great stuff on the outside, and players that you
get kind of fired up. Whatever you thought of Keenan
Allen in his final couple years, whether he goes back
to the Chargers or stays in Chicago remains to be seen.
But you bring in Rome of Doonsday, you bring in
and made that big trade for DJ Moore the year before.

(08:40):
All of that that it looks great on paper. Unfortunately
you didn't have enough guys that could block for Caleb Williams,
and he wasn't ready for prime time in terms of
reading and analyzing and pushing the ball downfield right most
throws at or near the line of scrimmage. When you
do the shot chart, it's really pressing when you see

(09:01):
plus sixty eight sacks. How many of those are his fault,
the number of other hits whatever. So within this year
they immediately go and grab a couple of linemen. Same
thing with the Raiders. You've got a pretty good offensive line.
You already resigned Max Crosby, so Geno's not even the
face of the team. The face of the teams Max Crossby.
So you got that going for you. Now you can

(09:21):
work on the infrastructure and build from there and play
the longer game, as it were, in terms of finding
the right quarterbacks as much as they they may have
been enamored or Mark Davis certainly seemed enamored with Shdor Sanders.
Do I rule out categorically that they don't draft him, No,
because they're the Raiders, and.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Even with Tom Brady in the fold, you never can tell.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
But Spytech and Davis I gotta think you know you're
working up the master plan. Because you're a bottom feeder
in the AFC West.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
This move doesn't push you forward but too terribly much,
but you're at least starting to get a little bit
of conversation and excitement in the desert.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
You don't say it's interesting, you say that. I was
just about to tell you the Raiders had to make
this move because, let's be honest, as much as I
think that Kansas City's going to come back to earth,
and they are, they're certainly, you know, getting a next
three year up there. I don't think Kelsey's gonna be great,
but that's beside the point. The Chargers are on the incline.
The Broncos are on the incline. The Raiders didn't want

(10:24):
to get left behind. They had four wins last year.
They're like, we got to do something to get above
five hundred. We have to be a nine to eighteen
to compete for a playoff spot. So they said, the
Chargers are moving up, the Broncos are moving up. We
know how good Kansas City is. We got to make
a move. Look how difference two organizations make. Remember when
Washington made their move, everybody's like Philadelphia Washington. Now they're

(10:47):
the key of the NFC. So I said, Dallas is
the biggest loser. They didn't do anything. They're not keeping
up with the Joneses. No pun attended. They're not keeping up.
Look what the Raiders did. They said, we want to
keep up. They got themselves a quarterback. The Cowboys said,
you know, we don't care. I guess we pretend like
we want to keep up and they don't make any move.

(11:08):
That's the difference right there.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Cowboys will be curious as we get things flowing into
the new year. Right they did free up a lot
of money. They still have to sign Micah Parsons and
push forward from there. Jerry Jones' comments about free agency
not really being the place.

Speaker 5 (11:24):
He was shocked that he said that, I would why
would you say that? Even first of all, even if
it's true, why would you say that it's draft time?
You're supposed to lie. We expect you to lie. Why
to us? What do you do with Why why would
you even say that that free agency? And maybe he
just could be tried to be completely honest because he

(11:45):
just doesn't want to spend the money. I don't know
what's going through his mind. I figure when owners get
older they don't mind spending the money because they only
have so many more years left to try to win it.
I don't understand what's going on.

Speaker 4 (11:56):
It's funny you say that. That's a question I'll ask
about to another team going to the AFC side in
a little while. But with Jerry Joes, remember this is
the guy that after the first day of the draft
last year, went out of his way to talk about
how excited he was that Jonathan Brooks was still on
the board, only to watch him get drafted by Carolina.
Now he hurt his leg and was gone for the year.

(12:17):
But the point just taking Jerry sometimes can't get away
from a microphone fast enough. We'll have more on this trade,
the ramifications, and the spin the wheel of veteran quarterbacks
as we go. But as we continue here sticking genius one,
our guy Arnie Spanier in for Jason Smith tonight here

(12:37):
the Jason Smith Show with me Mike Arman on Fox
Sports Radio. We're going to go to the world of
the NBA, and yesterday, as it happened in real time,
a scene from Star Wars played out in my head.
We'll tell you what that's all about. As we continue
here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
A tradition like no other.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
Yeah, it's Friday night and it means Tysher's at the controls.
We're back live from the tyrack dot com studios Jason
Smith Show with Me, Mike Carman, Arnie Spaniard, the Steak,
and Genius himself in for Jason Smith. You here, Arnie
every Sunday night alongside Chris Plank, who will follow this
very show at Stake and Genius one where you find him,

(13:31):
find me at Swollen Dome, and then of course find
us all at Fox Sports Radio. Don't have the right
team on the court. Express Employment Professionals can help from
contract placements to full time hires.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
We've got you covered.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Visit expresspros dot com today and let us handle your
hiring so you can focus on growing your business now, Arnie.
Last night, as Smith and I were watching what was
a hotly contested game Lakers Nicks live here from Los.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
Angeles, I was summed about that guy. I was really
I was watching that I got it all into it
and then we just fell apart. But go ahead.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
It was hard.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
We literally had a loser's leaves town match between our
executive producer, Justin Frossberg and Jason Smith. The loser was
going to have to go running into the night. And
then I reminded Smith that his name was on the
show and that I could really destroy him for a
good hour plus if things went south. So we kind

(14:26):
of retracted that, but he was still going to banish
Frostburg from the production booth. Ty Shirt was a little
mad when the Lakers went onto that one thirteen one
oh nine victory, because he meant he had company for
the rest of the night and couldn't blare his music
the way he wanted to. Now as we're watching it,
the villain in all of this comes back to Josh Hart.

(14:46):
What's a bad decision making in the final second? Yeah,
seconds of regulation. Doesn't get the shot off in times not.

Speaker 5 (14:53):
All his fault. Brunson got him the ball a little
bit too eight, So I will say that they did
double team slee. He got into bad position, gave him up,
gave it up all too eight.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
He took an extra dribble because he got wide eyed
seeing Luca right, Luca on defense. Now I'm not gonna
say he hasn't had a couple of flashes, but it's
still the opportunity to go against. Luca went for the
extra dribble and before he can get the shot off,
as Lebron came over to contest, doesn't get it off.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
The thread light goes on.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
So we get to overtime and we always question, you know, hey,
inevitability of injuries.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
No, not this one, because with.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
One twenty four left on the clock, Jalen Bronson goes
to the hole, tries to make something happen, and then
in that moment, this line flashed from a movie that
I've seen a million times spens in.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
The force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out
in terror and was suddenly silenced.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
I feel something terrible has happened.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, there you have it.

Speaker 5 (15:55):
You've been waiting to play that for so long.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Well, you know what, it just is so aprob the
Great Alec Guinness Obi Wan Kenobi as older On is
destroyed spoiler alert, nineteen seventy seven. If you haven't seen it,
check your pulse. You gotta go do some living. But
all of that to say, I heard every Knicks fan.
I watched my Twitter role. I almost saw the whale

(16:18):
tail come up, which I have not seen in a while,
because there was so much activity of my God, and
then trying to figure it out. They had a challenge
of whether it should have been a filed Well, Luca
kind of did a judo chop to Brunson's chest as
he went by, but that would have been followed number six,
so that can't happen. It gets contested and ends up landing.
And I didn't see replays. They didn't really do a

(16:40):
lot of replay on like one which we got.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
To see one with the rolled ankle. You did get
to see one of them, but.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
Just generally we don't get them a lot anymore, Arnie,
Like when there's an injury, the guys down, you get
the live you might get one more look, but it's
not like once upon a time here, let me watch
you watch this guy get hit from the side repeatedly.
Love football games or guys getting swatted in the paint
and dusted and knocked to the court.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
So we didn't see it. And then it started to
make the rounds.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
On socials, you see the angle that Jalen Brunson's ankle
took and Sham Sharania reported and soon confirmed and retweeted
and reposted by others that he's expected to miss at
least two weeks. Jalen Brunson not Champs with a right
ankle sprained. So the human body continues to just astound

(17:29):
me because I saw that in you know, some of
the Twitter doctors, and you take them all with a
grain of salt, but you know they've seen enough and
made enough repairs and examinations that they're certainly more more
appropriate to give you an estimation than I am. But
all of that is like, wow, just two weeks, huh?

Speaker 3 (17:48):
At least two weeks.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
But you know what was funny in terms of the
timing of the report, it literally came out the same
minute the Gino Smith trade went down. It's like, oh,
you got that. I got this, So now we got
a battle once again.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
You know, I saw a couple of reports. First of all,
somebody said he could be out until the start of
the playoffs. Then there was the two week thing. Then
I saw one that says, well, we'll reevaluate him in
two weeks. I think I'm gonna believe that one will
they'll kind of reevaluate him in two weeks. I don't
expect him to get back on the court in two weeks.
Look pretty serious. I mean, I thought it was gonna

(18:21):
be a lot worse than that. I think in the end,
if it's only about two to three weeks, maybe it
could be a blessing in disguise where he takes some
of the minutes away from him and rest his body
and gets ready for the playoffs. That's if he's back
in two or three weeks. If he's held out to
the playoffs, then there's no silver lining at this whatsoever.

(18:42):
It's gonna be real tough for the Knicks to do anything.
This was gonna be Look, this was gonna be tough
going anyway. They've played so bad against all the top teams.
It's absolutely disgusting. But I hated to see that. If
they would have just ended things in the regulation, none
of this stuff would have happened. Hopefully runs and it's
going to be back in two weeks. I think it's

(19:02):
going to be longer though, Mike. I think it's going
to be more like three, maybe longer than that.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
Yeah, I'm really hoping.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
I didn't cause any issues for Josh Hart, although in
New York I'm sure he's wearing it already for not
finishing the job or at least getting a shot off.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Just get the shot off. What happens from there.

Speaker 5 (19:18):
He shouldn't have driven. He should have just shot the
jumper when he got the ball, I think less than
two seconds after about two seconds last.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Two seconds left.

Speaker 5 (19:26):
Yeah, you should have just shot.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Eyes got wide, you were and you were open.

Speaker 5 (19:30):
He was open. So just shoot the ball, shoot the jumper,
and you know at that point, deliver or die if
you make it. That's what I would have.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Done strength straight.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
The schedule remaining for the Knicks for their twenty games
is about five hundred. So you've got some heavy weights,
and then you've still got some games against the sinking Spurs,
the Blazers and who've been up and down. Right, they
had a good run for a while, and on any
given Sunday, any given night, can still give you a fight.
We look at the standings where you're sitting right now,

(20:00):
third in the East. Couple of games that had of
the streaking Bucks, they're eight and two in their last ten.
Yanna's had his twenty thousand point nobody cared, although I
liked their little montage they did for him, because it's
I saw him drafted and he looked like he was.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
What ken did you see that? They were mad because
nobody put it out anything that Yana scored what was
his ten pointer or something to that. Nobody said anything.
They had won eight to nine. Nobody was saying anything
about that Low's having a better season than Steph Curry.
Everybody said he's washed up, and everybody's kind of forgetting

(20:37):
about what's going on with Milwaukee. Hopefully the Nicks hang
on to the number three seed. You don't want to
be number four and have to play Cleveland in the
first round, But what the heck? Either way, it's it's
not going to be an easy case for them anyway.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
Well, the difficulty and you saw it, and it was
only a minute twenty four, so not exactly a robust
sample size, but you had a lot of guys standing
around trying to figure out who the hell was going
to deal with the all after Brunson went out right
the concerning right, I get it. Thibodeau runs a very
short rotation, very ball, that's crazy ball dominant Marlon Bronson.

(21:13):
But when you're looking around like those final possessions were awkward.
It was like the first practice of a new season.
New kids trying out for the team. Here, run and
run a play. What player we running?

Speaker 3 (21:25):
I don't know what he plays.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
So in finishing that game against the Lakers was just really.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Kind of uncomfortable.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
But you look at where they sit right now, forty
twenty two or three and a half games ahead of Milwaukee.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
You might be bat on Indiana and Detroit behind them.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
It may be better if they finished up at the
four seed. I think I'd rather play Cleveland than have
to play the Celtics, though either either way it's not
going to be anyway.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
Yeah, both teams really deep. I mean, you saw what
the Celtics have been doing. It's like, hey, you want
to play tonight, now you go. So you get Brown
plays one night and Pritchard and White go insane, and
then Brown sits the next night, Tatum reinserts himself with
a thirty five point performance. So it's it's the pick
your poison and the depth, especially when you look at

(22:12):
a guy like Pritchard off the bench that can light
it up.

Speaker 6 (22:14):
You know what I was gonna say about that, miccause
some of these other teams don't have that.

Speaker 5 (22:18):
You know, when you said Pritchard, I loved them when
they took him out. I think it was Oregon and
I was telling, you know, playing this is a great move,
that they're gonna love him yours down the line. It
just goes to show you why in a long regular
season with eighty two games, why the guys number six, seven, eight,
ten off the bench eleven twelve, Why these guys can't

(22:38):
play a big factor in like a back to back
game or something like that. Why they have to sit
on the bench all eighty two games. You know, unless
it's a thirty point blowout, they're that bad. You're only
paying millions of dollars and you can't get him into
a game to make a difference for five minutes or something.
I never understood that, Mike. I think it's absolutely crazy.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
Back in first round pick in twenty twenty, averaging fourteen
points a game for rebounds, three and a half assists,
and shooting about forty eight percent from the field this year.
But your point very well taken a right. Whenever you
run with the short rotations, that's that's what you do
in the playoffs. Yeah, sure, you shorten it and now
you're in the season thirty guys. But during the regular

(23:20):
season we talk about the wear and tear, and me
speaking from first hand experience of watching and living and
dying with some of those Thibodeaux squads in Chicago that
were pretty good. Those guys had nothing left, right, Joe
Kinah and some of those guys that were playing, they
played with great heart, but by the fourth quarter of
most games, you waited for them to trip over.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Their tongues or their shoelaces.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
They were playing so many minutes and we're watching the
same thing with your beloved Nicks.

Speaker 6 (23:48):
Oh, I see it, you can see it. You can
see it coming away. Yeah yeah, and it will take
its toll on you. That's why maybe it's good that
he'll sit out. You just don't want them the roll
is ankle and become anything serious. They said, it doesn't
look that way.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
So hopefully he'll just rest on up, get his body ready,
and we'll see what I've been coming playoff time. But
even with him in the lineup, the Knicks were like,
oh and twelve against the top two seeds. It was crazy.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
It was tark Yeah, it's it's a very dark.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
I'm going to go to a game late like two
three weeks. I'm gonna go down to New York and
go to a game.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Are you really yeah?

Speaker 5 (24:22):
Do I get free tickets? Do I say? I think
like I'm covering the game or not going?

Speaker 4 (24:26):
Uh, We've got channels up in the Fox Sports Radio studios.
There's a producer I'll get you in touch with. I
want to take my y Yeah, I tell you, well,
I mean claim he's your cameraman.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
What did I say something wrong?

Speaker 4 (24:43):
At Genius One at Swollen Dome at Fox Sports Radio.
Here as we roll forward to Jason Smith Show with Me,
Mike Carman, Jason off tonight, It'll be back on Monday,
as we get ready for the opening bell of the
new trading week in the National Football Income Wednesday, as
the new calendar kicks off and we get full on

(25:06):
into free agency and these trades get consummated because the
next few days are gonna be insane, no question about it.
But while while we're in the NBA, we've got some
bigger topics. You know, the father and son should play
the Cat Stevens song under me while I talk later off.
But all of that to say, you know, those top
six picks are top six seeds. I should say we've

(25:28):
been talking a lot Detroit Smith and I because he
picked them for greatness about three years ago. He was
clearly ahead of where he needed to be in that regard.
But they're eight and two in their last ten to
get to the sixth seed, and you're seeing Cad Cunningham
and what he can be Pacers after some early struggles,
playing pretty well of late up to thirty five wins

(25:52):
on the Yes, they're seventeen games behind Cleveland. Cleveland with
another narrow win tonight, but that's a squad that got
was deep. And then they went and they added DeAndre
Hunter because I'm that nerd watching him that twenty nineteen
draft class, Arnie. I'm heavily invested in in the trading
card world. In other words, I bought because I was bored.

(26:13):
And so they're stacks of these guys sitting by.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yeah, well, so I keep keep any idea of where
these guys go. And so when DeAndre Hunter gets out
of Atlanta and goes to a winner, I'm like, hey,
those might actually have some value. Now go back and
pick those up. But fifteen six and four off the
bench as they get a one point win over Charlotte.
So a nice trade deadline acquisition there.

Speaker 5 (26:35):
If you flip flop the number two seeds with the
number one seeds, that means you made the Celtics and
the Lakers the number one seed and gave them fifty
two wins and fifty three wins. We'd be clamoring about
the NBA like you wouldn't believe. It'd be like the
new sport found And I know, Bark, we got all
upset about this. We'll probably get to this later on.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Oh you're there, just stay with it now.

Speaker 6 (27:00):
But look, I'm a basketball snob.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
I want the Celtics, the Knicks, the Lakers, you know,
Detroit teams like that to play. Well. I'm not into
Cleveland in Oklahoma City. My partner, as you mentioned, Chris Planke,
he lives out there in Oklahoma City. Good for him.
They're happy out there. We want to see the Celtics

(27:26):
against the Lakers. We want to see the Knicks against
the Lakers. People want to see the big boys. They're
basketball snobs. No disrespect against Cleveland. I guess it is
a disrespect against Cleveland and Oklahoma City. They just don't
move the needle. Do you understand, Mikey, You know what
I'm talking about. You do it five days a week.
You'd rather who? Do you think the commissioner is rooting

(27:48):
for the Celtics and the Knicks and the Lakers or
Cleveland and Oklahoma City? And tell me, could you imagine,
like I said, if the Lakers had fifty two wins
and the Celtics had fifty three wins and they were
both had that type of record, my good, our Golden
State was up there after what they've been doing. Now
we'd be talking about the NBA like it was the

(28:09):
newfound sport. But yet because we have Cleveland and Oklahoma City,
we're basketball snobs about it.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
Well, I think there's something to it. Of Look at
the end, we're broadcasting. One of the things Steve de
Sager does with us, and I know he does it
with you and Chris Is you know, keeps an eye
on what television ratings are, what the eyeballs are. Clearly,
you know when we're talking the old play the hits,
my man, like you've been told that for as long
as you and I and anybody's been in the business.

(28:36):
That doesn't mean that we don't get to talk about
our own personal interest stories. I'm a Chicago fan. Are
they relevant in any way? The Bears are the Bears
always are because they're in a historic franchise. There's a
lot of Bears fans out there, and people love to
laugh at a big team that's losing. Right, That's what
we do with the Cowboys, historic brands, the Raiders for
all these years. Right, you don't have to be good

(28:59):
cow you but yeah, but you had the history, right
that stays with you and has gone global as the
game went global.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
But when we talk about Oklahoma.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
City, Cleveland, Look the ratings were there San Antonio dynastic, right,
we use that term generational, dynastic, all of those big
words to describe teams and their efficiency and their dominance.
Did anybody outside of us covering it? How many people
really went out of the way, Hey, the Spurs are on.

(29:29):
I want to go watch the big, fundamental.

Speaker 5 (29:31):
Now boring champions. Man, we did. We weren't big. We
weren't big into San Antonio. They weren't moving the needle
as much as the big cities like New York and
Boston and Los Angeles and places like that. Mike that's
for sure.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
But that's it.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
Right, So you get a story and we joked about
it during Super Bowl week, right, everybody's on radio row
and doing all the media stuff in New Orleans. Meanwhile,
you've got the NBA trade deadline that actually had a
bunch of big names move and a bunch of big
stories that flew flew out of it. So it kind
of dwarfed whatever was going on with super because we

(30:05):
had no we had no arrests, we had no big controversies.

Speaker 5 (30:09):
Too bad for your guy.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
But there were New Orleans, right, you're expecting something bad
to happen. Nothing happened. But you know, you didn't get
any big inflammatory quotes from either team like it. It
just kind of flowed. People did the corporate thing. Hey,
I'll tell you a little bit about my season. Now,
I'm gonna tell you, you know, don't drink draino. You
used to uncloude your pipe. I mean, you know that
kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (30:31):
So took Cetter stage over the NFL during Super Bowl Week.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
But that's it.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
But but that's it right this we we complained and
complained and complained about the NBA, and then for a
week it was great. Well, these trades went down, we
got back to complaining about the NBA once they started
playing again because it went out of the All Star
break and all the mess that that was. So people
were back to just yelling at each other if who
could have the hottest take about what you do with

(30:58):
the All Star Game? Nauseating sports talk. Glad that we
were able to avoid a bunch of it, and we
got to watch the Four Nation Cup on the hockey
side and talk a bunch about that, which I'm sure
I've had some program directors trying to eject us along
the way. But all of that to say, Arnie, we
were back to hating the game. But then you get Luca,

(31:20):
you get Jimmy Butler, Now you got Steph Curry's reinvigorated,
Nicole de Jokic doing some things. So you're seeing Denver
on the surge, so and then Boston doing what they are.
So Cleveland and Oklahoma City get to be part of
that mix, but they're certainly not driving the bus.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
No.

Speaker 5 (31:35):
And you know, Mike, I know everybody watches the NFL Draft.
I think the numbers were like ten million people last year.
This year, there's not a big quarterback run. So maybe
the numbers are a little bit down or maybe the same.
But the NBA has a unique opportunity that once the
playoffs start to recapture the sports world, what are they
gonna have to do. They're gonna have to make sure
that the schedule is made where you get you know,

(31:58):
like Golden State's playing one day, the Lakers are on
a different day, maybe the Nicks on one day, the
Celtics on another day, and none of this three and
a half weeks off and stuff like that. You can't
have the teams taking three four days off between games.
I remember last year, wasn't there like six days off?

Speaker 4 (32:16):
What do you get into some of those gaps? Well,
you get tords because the finals are always set in.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Stone right right off. Everything finishes early. Then you're screwed.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
I'm really glad you expounded on that point because I
was nervous, and I know, sure as hell over at
the news desk, the legendary Steve de Seger was a
little bit nervous about like you were calling.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
For a fix.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
You were calling for a fixer to come in in
terms of the matchups in the first route. Steve areny
making me nervous early on a Friday.

Speaker 7 (32:46):
No, I wasn't, but there you go. It took only
a couple of segments. You're working with Arnie for that
to come out.

Speaker 5 (32:53):
The SEGA lead with Arizona beating Kansas tomorrow, would you
lead with that one please?

Speaker 7 (32:58):
Well, of course we do have your Nicks on while
Arne is on, so he's gonna take the Wildcat's place
of losing while Arnie is on the air. By the way,
last Friday night, when the ESPN had, of course NBA,
what were the ratings, They had Lakers Clippers and got
one point nine million, and the next night they had
thunder Spurs and it was one.

Speaker 5 (33:17):
Point two million viewers.

Speaker 7 (33:19):
Sheeez enough said, if we have a late game just
starting up with the Clippers hosting New York, Jalen Brunst
and the Knicks out at least two weeks with the
sprained ankle suffered last night. Wins this evening from Memphis
and Minnesota Toronto as well to Arnie's delight, Oklahoma City
has won its sixth straight game and Cleveland has won
its thirteenth in a row. Okay See without Shay Giljis Alexander,

(33:41):
who was rested, still beat Portland and Cleveland won it.
Charlotte in fact, nine straight losses for the Hornets, even
though Miles Bridge has scored forty six points. There was
college basketball on Fox TV at Illinois. The home team
beat number eighteen Perdue eighty eight to eighty and right
now at number sixteen Memphis, it's the Tigers fifth eight

(34:01):
over South Florida. In Women's Basketball Conference tournament week victories
for number one Texas, wins for USC and UCLA. Michigan
upset number fifteen Maryland. Right now in the final seconds,
Iowa has taken the lead on thirteenth ranked Ohio State
fifty nine to fifty eight in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal.
Among the six NHL games, Winnipeg a six to one

(34:23):
winner at New Jersey. The NHL's trade deadline was today.
Defending champion Florida acquired Brad Marshall on Boston, assuming he's
back before the playoffs. Absolutely it is Detroit at Washington tonight.
Caps take that one five to two. And Yes, the
Seahawks traded quarterback Gino Smith to the Raiders, where he'll
play for coach Pete Carroll. Seattle gets a third rounder.

(34:46):
Smith has one year left on his deal. For now,
and yes, quarterback Sam Darnold is available. The new league
year starts March twelfth in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Back to you, thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (34:56):
Steve at the news desk with us all nighte Ian
and making us sound so pretty. He's the stinking genius
at Stink and Genius one on X. Find me over
at Swollen Dome. I'm Mike Carmon as we hang out
with you here Friday into Saturday.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Coming up next a story that has.

Speaker 4 (35:12):
Me thinking of an old Sting profile on sixty minutes.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
What the hell am I talking about?

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Yes, another old reference that'll get you pondering this next
topic as we turn to the NFL. He's Ernie, I'm Mike,
and this is Fox.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Welcome back in a live from the tyrac dot Com
Fox Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
It's the Jason Smith Show with Me Mike Carmon.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
No Jason Smith tonight, Ernie span your our buddy in
gracious to sit with us, broadcasting legend.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
We're blessed to have him with us.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
That's as much as I'm gonna wash him up at
Stick and Genius one if you want to do that
or disagree or yell at both of us. Some commentary
coming in a little bit over the the Geno Smith
story that we started the hour with his trade to
the Raiders. Will continue to keep an eye on on
socials and and integrate them into the show as we
circle back to that a little later. Mark Stein's going

(36:11):
to join us in the third hour talking all things NBA.
But we go back to the NFL, the NFL draft,
the silly season, all the rumor, conjecture, speculation, and coming
out of the combine, the talk of well, we didn't
love that guy. We didn't like that guy. But a
lot of it goes back to Shudor Sanders. He seems
to be bearing the brunt of it U and he
and his father while they took to the video streams

(36:36):
and they had their commentary about well, Deane had a
theory about why why you.

Speaker 5 (36:41):
The only kid to hate?

Speaker 8 (36:42):
No?

Speaker 2 (36:42):
Why you the only kid in the draft potential first
pigs or whatever big today?

Speaker 3 (36:48):
Why are you the only ones goud you.

Speaker 5 (36:51):
No thatause they want you to just lad to the
team game.

Speaker 8 (36:56):
Game.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
But we know the game. We sounded this baby, there
you go.

Speaker 5 (37:00):
We're saying, baby, you know what, don't knock like this
is something new. Every year we get this. This guy's sliding,
this guy's moving up, this guy's going down. We didn't
like this guy's attitude. This guy may have an injury,
this guy has a off field problem. This guy didn't
know this, this guy had a bad wonder Wick exam.
Any reason to drop these guys down so a team

(37:23):
could take him. That happens, and and they'll live, manipulate
and do everything there. This is nothing new. Dion's right.
They probably want you to do her, to slide a
little bit so a team could take him. But don't
act like you know it's any conspiracy theory that we're
just doing it because it's Deon's kid. This goes on
all the time with every position, every player. They just

(37:46):
want to go ahead, and I mean, heck you the
number one pickle Carter. We don't know if this guy
needs a surgery, doesn't need surgery, strussed fact, fracture, all
kinds of stuff. So, uh, there's there's rumors on just
about everybody out there.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Well, it goes to with him.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
It's at least an injury, and you're trying to figure
out which of the thirty opinions matter.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yeah, exactly what you need to do with that.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
Physically, When it comes to Sanders, it becomes the he
may not be for everyone kind of idea.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Right.

Speaker 4 (38:16):
The quote that was out there from the Athletic quote
hit the wrong notes. In Combine interviews, unquote Mary kay
Cabin at the Cleveland Plain the Dealer noted members of
the organization said they were impressed. They like Sanders at
the East West Shrine Bowl the Combine quote. They didn't
find them to be arrogant or brash, but confident and engaging.
They liked all of the good things his Hall of

(38:37):
Fame dad did and poured into him, appreciated its own
guy et cetera.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Who leadership goes through.

Speaker 5 (38:43):
Yeah, who did he say, I'm not going to even
talk to you because you're not even picking in the
top ten or top five or something like that.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
I don't know that that was real.

Speaker 4 (38:52):
Those are always ones that start circulating, and you got
to make sure you're not NFL senteled.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
Because save what happens if they wanted to trade up
and get them, then you know, so you have to
speak to. Even if somebody, even if it's Kansas City,
who knows if they don't want to trade up and
get you.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
Well, but it's the kind of thing that you are
waiting to see. And look, you got to play the
game too, right, if you're a player and you're gonna
be more engaged with some teams than others, and being
engaged with Cleveland, they're the number two pick as it
stands right now.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
But it goes back to a great To.

Speaker 4 (39:29):
Be great at anything, right, you've got to have some
level of hubris, you know, being in our business, right,
Steven a who will talk about in a few minutes
designs one hundred million dollar deal, you gotta have some
some confidence.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
That some folks might decide might be a little too much.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
I think back to an old profile they did of
sting On sixty minutes, and towards the end they decided
to play word association.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
See what he would do.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
And he starts going back and forth, you know, breakfast
blah blah blah blah blah. And there's a pause and
he goes arrogant and stay smiles, gets that little devil's
grin the eyebrow goes up and he goes guilty.

Speaker 5 (40:06):
Well, let's let's see if Sadr is laughing and thinking
he's arrogant when he's going to be the third quarterback
taken in this year's draft and not the second quarterback
take him.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
But as we know, you always need one of those.
So what does that mean he goes third in the draft?

Speaker 5 (40:20):
Arnie no, Josh, I think Jason Jackson dartwy.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
Jack said Dart Well, so that's the thing, right should
ahead of him? Cam Ward is the clear wand to
some we shall find out he's Arnie Spanier.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
I'm Mike Harmon.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
As we continue here on Fox Sports Radio, we go
back to the NBA and the confrontation scene around the world.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Puppets on a.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
String Baby, Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith
Show with me Mike Harmon alongside me our guy, Arnie
Spanier in for Jason Smith tonight. You can find him
at Sticking Genius One. Find me over at Yeah look
at you Uh known for me of course at Fox
Sports Radio. Also, be sure to check out the Fox

(41:03):
Sports Radio YouTube channel. Search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube.
You'll see a bunch of video highlights from the shows.
Be sure to subscribe so you never missed the very
best of Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Hot takes,
big arguments, food tips, whatever the case may be.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
All of that is there on the YouTube channel. Check
it out. Evangelize, tell your friends. As we go.

Speaker 4 (41:26):
Forward, he's already on Mike talking all things NBA. The
world in front of us, still talking and buzzing about
the big injury and game last night. That's really front
and center for us as we go forward. Arnie, certainly
you are still a little weepy over the Jalen brun

(41:47):
See runs a injury.

Speaker 5 (41:49):
Yeah, yeah, Well first is going to be a lot worse.
That's why. Sure, I thought it was gonna be like
the season ending, or it worse that he was not
even going to make it back for the playoffs or
maybe the first round. Now we hear it's gonna be
two weeks. I think they'll reevaluated in two weeks. Hopefully
he comes back, you know, like with about six seven

(42:09):
games left. Rest that body up. We'll see how effective
he's gonna be. But it was horrible to see him
go down like that.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Well, let's talk to a man who knows about this
and everything going on in our NBA. It's Mark Stein
joins us at the Steinline, where you find him on
x You can read him at Substack Mark Stein dot
substack dot com. Longtime NBA scribe insider, Mark, Welcome into
the show on a big Friday night.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
How are you? I am all good?

Speaker 8 (42:40):
But I think, yeah, it could have been a lot
worse with Jalen Brunson, honestly, So if you are a
Knicks fan, as I'm getting the vibe from the weepiness
that you are, I mean, yeah, I think things could
have been a lot worse. I don't think Jalen Brenton
will be back in two weeks, but again I think

(43:03):
that the efficient you know, the way it looks, you
certainly thought it could be a much more severe injury.
And I'm based in Dallas, so the team I covered
seems to know nothing but injuries. So an injury that
turns out less severe than anticipated always always always the

(43:24):
better outcome.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
All right, So well let's go to Dallas first.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
We'll circle back Alreadie, you can get back on your
knicks and trying to revive them in a moment for
the Mavericks. How is how are the Mark Cuban comments
going in Dallas? We're talking about hey would have gotten
a better deal and all of that rhetoric. After we've
watched just the carnage the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 8 (43:47):
Well, I don't think it's too surprising, honestly, because you know,
it's pretty well known that, you know, Mark Cuban was
as big a Luca Dodgs fan as there was in Dallas.
And you know, the first five plus seasons of Luca's
career when Mark Cuban was still the majority owner of

(44:10):
the Dallas Mavericks. I mean, really, everything they did was
designed to make him happy, try to put a good
team around him. You know what makes it all so
emotional in Dallas. A big part of this is, and
this is kind of unique to the Mavericks and unique

(44:32):
to the city and unique to the history of the franchise,
is that, you know, Dirk Naviski played twenty one years
for the Mavericks, which is a single team NBA record
that might never be broken. You know, obviously, Stephen Curry
has a chance, so he has the opportunity to be
to be a one a one team legend, but like

(44:54):
you just don't see that much in the modern NBA,
and in those last years of the Viki's career the
last two three years, it just hung over the franchise.
How on earth do you replace someone who is synonymous
with the team as Dirk Noavitsky was. And then not

(45:15):
only were the Mavericks able to find a way to
acquire the draft rights to Luka Doncic on draft Nights
in twenty eighteen, but Dirk and Luca actually played a
past the Torch season together. Dirk's last season was Lucas first,
and so the way Luca's career began, and then with
all the success he had, and how even Dirk would

(45:39):
tell you that this guy has a higher ceiling than
I did. This guy has a much more NBA ready game,
and you see it with you know, in Luka Doncic's
first six NBA seasons he was All NBA five times.
You know, Dirk's four first team All NBA selections, those
are the only other four in Mavericks franchise history terms

(46:00):
of first team All NBA. So, I mean, it's really
like the Mavericks trading Dirk's little brother. And that's why
this is so difficult and why it's just this is
a heartbroken franchise, a fan base, heartbroken fan base that

(46:23):
with the Kyrie Irving injury, now it's just heaping even
more heartbreak on a fan base that was already suffering.
So yeah, you know, it's a situation unlike I've ever seen, honestly,
and I've been this is my thirty second season covering
the league.

Speaker 5 (46:38):
Well, I don't know if this is just a bad
rumor that everybody was putting out there, or maybe I
believed that any chance that they actually made move the
franchise to Vegas, or is that just a bad rumor of.

Speaker 8 (46:50):
Being stirred up out that is that is a that
is the wildest of conspiracy theories. And you know, I
don't know, maybe in our world today, like we look
for the conspiracy theory in everything.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
But.

Speaker 8 (47:06):
The Mavericks are a top five market in terms of
market size, like the NBA. Let's just let's just if
you wanted to play along and pretend that there actually
was that that that was the secret plan. The league
and the other owners are not going to let that happen.

(47:27):
You can get when there's a when there's a team,
when there's an expansion franchise in Vegas. Eventually we know
that's a likely outcome. The expansion franchise is going to
be worth the expansion fee is going to be six billion,
maybe more. The NBA doesn't the NBA doesn't need to
move a highly successful franchise in Dallas the Vegas when

(47:49):
they're going to be able to bring an expansion team
in at a very hefty price. So that really is
just wild and nonsensical that.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
You know.

Speaker 8 (48:02):
Again, but you know what, I think it's the one
thing it does that this trade was so shocking that maybe,
you know, a curmudgeon like me has to accept that
people want to think that there have to be some
sort of wild story behind it because it was those shocked.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
Well, Mark, there was another good one. I heard Mark
stein with us at the Steinlin Words where you find
them on Twitter. Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon. Already
in for Jason is that the Adelsons will team up
with Lebron for Vegas and Mark Cuban buys the dip
and gets.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
The Mavericks back.

Speaker 8 (48:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
I wouldn't. I wouldn't.

Speaker 8 (48:42):
I wouldn't wait on that one either. Look, I think
I think the Adelson and Dumont families have been, you know,
very clear about what their you know, business intentions were
when they bought the Mavericks from Mark Cuban. You know,
they know casino gambling is not legal in Texas yet,

(49:03):
but you know, their hope is that it will pass eventually,
and they're, you know, among the factions leading the drive
to try to get gambling legalized. But you know, they
want to build a new arena as part of a
casino resort, and you know that was really their play

(49:24):
and I do think that is still very much their intentions.
But you know, I'm a basketball writer. I you know,
I I don't I'm not in this to cover arena
development stuff, so I mean that's not really my focus.
And you know, I've been writing and talking about nothing

(49:46):
else for nearly forty days because the trade is about
that old and I still don't believe it, Like Luka
Doatcic comes on the TV screen wearing Lakers colors and
playing just you know, he's he's really starting to loo
look like full throttle Luca. I mean, the way he
closed the Knicks out, and you know he and Lebron

(50:08):
James and Austin Reeves. I mean that's the thing. The
Lakers are small, and it's going to be difficult for
them to win a championship without a top flight center,
which they obviy don't obviously don't have right now, having
given up Anthony Davis to get Luka Doncic. But in
today's NBA and the Mavericks proved this the first time
Luca led them to the conference finals when they still

(50:30):
had Brunson. When you had Luca and Brunson and then
Spencer Dinwitty as the third ballhandler like in today's NBA,
you know, you can do a lot of damage if
you have multiple playmakers, multiple guys who can get their
own shot and make plays for others. And the Lakers
do have that at an even higher level when you

(50:53):
put Luca with Lebron and then Austin Reeves as your
third option. So they are going to be undown. How
did we just there? Undoubtedly going to be defensive questions
about the Lakers. They are a small team, but they
are going to cause problems for the opposition because of
what those three guys can do with the ball.

Speaker 5 (51:13):
You know, Mark, you want to talk about causing problems.
I think this could be a really big problem. I'm
a basketball snob, so I'm with Boston, I'm with the Lakers.
I'm with the Knicks. Cleveland and Oklahoma City are having
phenomenal years. Could you imagine what we we'd be talking
all NBA if it was the Celtics and the Lakers

(51:34):
that had fifty two and fifty three wins. We wouldn't
be able to We couldn't get enough for that. But
because it's Cleveland and Oklahoma City, we're all snobs to it.
We're like, ah, you know, who cares as long as
we get to see the Celtics and the Lakers there.
How do you deal with something like that?

Speaker 8 (51:51):
Well? I do think also some of that is, you know,
the trade deadline activity was really a frenzy unlike we've
ever seen. And because the Lakers were at the heart
of that and the Warriors were at the heart of that,
and you end up with Luka Doncic and Jimmy Butler

(52:11):
ending up with new teams and just the effect that
has on the Western Conference and the title picture and
all those things. I think that's why the focus is
on them. But I mean, look, I think you're right
to a degree. You know, Cleveland and Oklahoma City are
not often described as glamour franchises. I mean, so have

(52:34):
they been under the radar, Have they been undercovered, have
they been flighted? I'm sure they feel that way. I mean,
the Cavs have been a ridiculously good story to start
fifteen in zero, to have three winning streaks of at
least twelve games. Only one other team in league history
has done that, the Dallas Mavericks in two thousand and six,

(52:55):
two thousand and seven. Now, Cleveland does not want to
follow that team's lead on how it did in the
players because of course, that Mavericks team won sixty seven
games and then lost in the first round. Is a
number one seed to Golden State. But look, Cleveland and
Oklahoma City, the playoffs will be here and we will
be talking about those teams a ton because for all

(53:17):
of their remarkable success in the regular season, there are
still going to be doubts about what they can do,
because that's just what happens in the NBA. We doubt
you until you can win on the foremost of stages.
There's just no way around it. As great as Jokich's
Denver had to hear that noise for years until they

(53:38):
finally won it all, and Cleveland's going to have to
go through it and Oklahoma City is going to have
to go through it. And if the Lakers can get
ahead of Steam in the playoffs and play Oklahoma City
in the hypothetical Western Conference, it's going to be fascinating
to see how the Thunder, who have a much bigger team,
if Holdgrin and Hartenstein healthy. But all the pressure will

(54:02):
be on Oklahoma City to live up to the number
one seed, and it's ridiculously good. It's regular season, so
I think April, May and June we will be talking
about we will make it up to the Cavs and
the Thunder and we'll be talking about them a lot.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
I love as you went through the teams and you
rope Denver in because I think they're getting to just
play in anonymity right now and they're playing the Suns
in battling tonight. But we've spent so much time with
everybody else, and like Arnie complaining about who we're not
talking about that Denver just gets to go do their things.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
What's a legitimate ceiling for Golden State? Do you think?

Speaker 8 (54:39):
I'm a huge Jimmy Butler fan, so I think they
can cause a lot of problems in the playoffs too. Now,
just like the Lakers. They are very small, and if
you're in a conference with you know, again, let's assume
health for the Thunder in the playoffs. If they've got
cheded Holmgren and Hertenstein, they are suddenly a big team,

(54:59):
which they weren't a year ago when they lost in
the second round to Dallas and Denver. You know, with
the Nuggets, you always wonder do they have enough shooting,
do they have enough bench? But they do have a
lot of Jokic, who is, for me, the best player
in the world at this point. I think he should

(55:21):
win the MVP. I know there's going to be a
lot of people who think, Shay, you'll just Alexander should
Jokic would be my pick. I think this is the
best basketball Jokic has ever played, and now that the
Nuggets have kind of left their slow start behind, they're
going to be a fifty win team. I think Jokic
should be the MVP. You've still got to deal with him,

(55:43):
and you know, can can Golden State beat Denver in
a playoff series? As small as they are, can they
neutralize Jokic enough? Can they force the ball into the
hands of the others, and you know, neutralized Jokics to
some degree. I mean that that's a big ask. But

(56:05):
like I said, I just think I think Jimmy Butler
is you know, he really has energized this team already.
He's such a smart player. He's completely different to Stephan Curry.
He gets free throw, he gets to the rim, he
generates free throws. And Okay, the Warriors will be small,

(56:26):
but with Raymond Green, James and Jimmy Butler on the floor,
they're going to be very smart defensively and very sharp.
And I don't think I don't think anybody really wants
to see them in the playoffs, especially because Stephen Curry
happens to be on a crazy heater right now too.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
On top of everything, he's Mark Stein at the Steinline,
where you find him on Twitter, read and Mark Stein
dot substat dot com.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
We got a couple of games coming down to the wire. Mark.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
If you go to his Twitter account at or x
account at the Steinline, you'll see one of the greatest
looking basketball cards ever in his pin tweet. Mark always
appreciate the visits. We look forward to it again next week.

Speaker 8 (57:05):
Go and join the games, all right, guys, be good,
take care.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
I appreciate you