Hour 2 – NBA Finals Greatness with Marc Stein

NBA Insider Marc Stein joins Jason and Mike  for all things NBA Finals and his favorite movie in the last 50 years.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hello, Welcome in Side Hour too, the Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon. Well another RBI single
from all Star Andy Pajes. Who is It's just going
to happen for the guy now? Dodgers lead the Nationals
three to one. The Dodger, of course, playing tonight without
Dave Roberts who was suspended for belly bumping Mike Shilt

(00:50):
last night, and Shultz suspended as well for the belly bump.
So we had that and the yelling and screaming and.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
The yellowy screaming me threatening to beat his ass. Yeah,
I'm gonna say you to meet me a parking lot.
All of those things probably not you know, it's not.
I mean, it's great for baseball, but they have to
pretend that they don't like it.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Let's just call it what it is. I really wanted
a John Cheney John Calipari confrontation between the two of
them after this where he just kind of walked in
and started waiting at him.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
He doesn't even need to threaten to kill him, just
to show up in the room and just sit out.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Uh, Dave in the back? Uh yeah, well you're dirty
and miserable. How do you? How do you? Why do
you think I'm Mike Shilton. You see he's dressing his uniform,
he's got the hat on, he's got his arms folded
from sitting on the bench. Oh no, not Mike Shilt.
I'm just here to ask a question about that jerk
sitting up in the front right there wanted to fight me.
Oh okay, well go ahead, then take the microphone ask
your question.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Well, I mean, look, they have to go back to
the old rules of fighting as established by Anchorman.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Nothing to the head or face. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Try.
I mean, which is you know, the unwritten rule of baseball.
You can't you can't go up there with purpose pitches,
which is why A just wore us through the pitch.
He just started walking off the mountain. He knew he
was done. Everybody been worn.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
I did my job. I'd do it again. Do you
think they had a giant, you know, nacho cheese bucket
full of cash that you know he had to take
one for the team or you know, like.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
How does that work nacho cheese bucket? Now I'm just
picturing off. You know, if I could door dash the
helmet nachos from Dodger Stadium. I think I do that
every day. I think I did every day. Oh yeah,
just door dash here you go in the hell, say
where there's a will and a bunch of money, there's
a way. Oh Like if I was like really really rich,
like if I was you know, if I was staying

(02:37):
cronky rich, like yeah, I would I would have that.
I would just have you know, the the uh the
I would have one of those in my house at
the on the bottom floor. Go, yeah, a helmet Nacho's
at twelve o'clock. Please, thank you. I am really surprised
you haven't already done that. I mean those aren't that expensive.
I mean, look, you gotta make sure you soup it
up a little bit, you know, Tim Allen Home improvement style,
so that you don't have clogs from the cheese and

(03:00):
it keeps flowing.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
But I mean, you see those things that receptions all
over the place, right the chocolate, you know, fountains and whatever.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Else you can eat, and then the cheese fountains are there.
You could do this highly economical for you, that ever
flowing cheese. Now, if I because if I had money,
I would I would go further because I would, I
would say, oh, and make sure you serve it to me.
In the helmet Rick Monday war for his walk off
home run in nineteen eighty seven, I want that. I
want the helmet that Sean Green wore for the Grand

(03:31):
Slam that won the NL West in two thousand and three.
I want that hat that Monday was wearing when he
saved the American flag stop it from burning. I want that.
No that those are hat nachos. That's very different. No no,
no, no no, but I mean, look that's just you wear
that hat while you eat from those nachos. So I

(03:53):
have the Rick I got got the Rick Monday hat.
But then I have the Rick Mundy. Yes it's a
commemorative date, all right, sure, okay, you know the Now
we have to go back to the old song.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
If I had a million dollars, it's all about, you know,
a cheese fountain in my house.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Cheese found I would want it where like you know
the really rich people that have four yers. When you
walk into there, it's just a room that doesn't have anything,
and there's a big staircase, and it's in in every
in every murder mystery movie. You know you want to
there's a big foyer, right, and I'd and like, it's
such an empty space that doesn't have anything to do.
It's just a space. That's where I would have my fountain.

(04:30):
At least I would have something where when I walk
by it to go from the kitchen to the bathroom
or the bathroom to the to the to the bedroom,
whatever it was. And I would have nachos all around,
so I could just walk by, grab a nacho sticking under,
eat it so I'm walking by, walk by again five
minutes later, another nacho sticking et to go. Oh. I
would have that all the time, and I'd have it
running all the time. So if I woke up at
four in the morning, boy, you know what I'd like,

(04:50):
and the nachos it's running. The nacho cheese fountain is run.
I'd just grab a couple put it right in. Okay,
you know what, these chips have been out all Nightsdale,
I have you know people who work for me? Get
rid of this. I would hire somebody. You're the nacho
remover and filler guy. Wow, what what do you? What
do they put on their their w two? Uh? What's
what's your occupation? Cheese filler?

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Not?

Speaker 1 (05:13):
You fix the cheese when you need to, but mainly
you keep those chips fresh. I'm in charge of the ship. Mortimer,
come over here, Yes, sir, what is it? You see
what that is right there? You know what that is?
That is a stale chip in my big cheese fountain.

(05:33):
Are stale chips allowed in the fountain? Mortimer? No, sir,
they are not. Mortimer, your fire. No, this work, This
works well. I I kind of dig this.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Talk about a great post nineteen seventy five movie that
could not be made, and it's uh today in quite
the same format trading places.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Uh so, speaking of Dodger Dodger helmets. Okay, yeah, so
we're getting show. Heyotani, who was pitching again on Sunday?
By the way, Otani, Oh for O tonight? Two walks
for the Dodgers coming back to pitch Sunday against the Nationals,
I assume they're not gonna let him go very long,
maybe seven eight innings, since the Nationals will throw like
twelve years, you know, and it's exciting to see him back.

(06:12):
I assume it would be another inning to the point
where if his first inning isn't stressful, they might let
him go too, But no more than that. And because
you know, the Dodgers want the plan is, listen, we
want to have somebody ready to go, right. We don't
want to have to change and bring somebody in the
middle of an inning. So I'm sure they will have

(06:33):
whoever's going to come in, you know, say, maybe it's
Anthony Banda, that's what it was last time. They will
have somebody ready to go. But if it's a short
first inning and Showy says I want to go again, Dave,
Rob's go okay, yeah, go ahead, We'll get banned ready
for the third ing, no matter what. Right, So I
see one inning definitively for show Hey, two innings if
it's a short first inning, and then and then he's out.
But I'll tell you what, man, And this is something

(06:56):
that I think he's got one month that has really
been at the forefront of everybody's opinion. But show Haotani
has been bad more than he's been good this year. Okay,
show Haotani. Look you look at his numbers. Yes, ops

(07:17):
is great. Twenty five home runs, forty three RBIs hit
in two ninety two. Right, it's having a phenomenal season.
It looks like he had an incredible month of May. Right,
fifteen home runs in twenty seven RBI and in three ten. Right,
that's a month. I mean, you're talking a home run
every other day. Twenty's nearly home nearly an RBI in
every game he played in the month, and he hit

(07:37):
three ten. His OPS was up at one point two. Right,
that was an unbelievable month. Since then, or not since then,
but since June started and in March, all of April,
he has been just regular. Right, You watch him like
in the last few weeks he is, he is chasing more.

(07:58):
His swing and misrate is up. You know, I you
know I see him now. You can you can get
him with breaking pitches out of the zone. He used
that he that he normally lays off of I don't
know if he feels pressure to keep hitting or that,
you know that that big month of May. But you're
looking at May fifteen homers, twenty seven RBIs three oh nine.
The other two months, okay, the other two months ten homers,

(08:20):
sixteen rbi and he's hitting two seventy, right, Like that's
that's the majority of Sho Heyotani season. Obviously, it all
counts because it's all in one big thing, but really
one month for Otani, that's what he's done. Like, his
May was amazing and it came out of nowhere because
his April was kind of a slower start, and yeah,
you can you can talk about the guys not getting
on base below at the bottom of the order, and

(08:41):
that's kind of why he's got twenty five homers and
forty three RBI. But overall, he was a much he
was a much bigger threat in the month of May.
But bookending that, which is the majority of the season
to two plus months, he has been very ordinary and
that and that's a shocker to me because I never
thought I'd say that and go, man, he's been but
he's been below average more than he's been above average

(09:03):
is year when he was good that month he was
I mean here's a month that stands in history. Who's
had a month if Babe Ruth have months like that.
But the other two months it's been Wow. He has
really struggled. He has really struggled to connect with the ball.
He struggle. All his numbers are down across the board.
And that's that's that's two plus months. And that's really
the good news for the Dodgers because the Dodgers are
first place winning and o'tani hasn't really been at any

(09:26):
sort of consistent yet. Right, It's like it's like the
one Soto thing, but but it amps itself up, like, Okay,
Soto started hitting. Now the Mets still can't win, but
like Soto started hitting, the Mets still have been a
first place team, like the Dodgers is still in first place.
But o'tani's been bad more than he's been good this year.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
What's been interesting is you talk about a guy absolutely
raking batting average on balls in play, right, those those
pesky strikeouts and everything. In May he hit four thirty
on balls that he actually put in play. You go
back prior prior to that, go back to April he

(10:01):
hit three ninety five.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
In play.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
So yeah, your your point is there. He is flailing
and he's working out of the zone A little bit
part of it. You know, you're pressing because you're not
getting the juice from the back of the lineup. You're
also trying to steal every run you can, so you're
you're going up swinging for the downs a bit trying
to give the pitching staff the much much talked about,

(10:27):
much malign, beleaguered pitching staff that's acquitted itself. Well, I mean,
Dave Roberts is this is not new territory for him.
How do we cobble together a rotation and a bullpen?

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Go?

Speaker 3 (10:40):
I mean, it's almost like they're using some powerful AI
program to make it all work to computer.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Hey, Pewter, Pewter, figure this out for me. Maybe maybe
it's the contraption that Doc built in back to the field.
I don't know. Okay, see what I do here.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
You know it's not my first radio. But by the way, also,
you brought a banda Someone suggested No Country for Old Men,
one of our favorites, the bandy tracks. See it's it's
right there and it all plays together for us. But yeah,
if he could be this quote, ordinary boy, it's a
scary world when he's not in it, and you still

(11:17):
have two and a half months for that. Well, and
that's the thing, right, there have been a lot of
debates and you can have your your thought pieces of
whether he should be moved in the lineup. I know
there were a lot of folks saying, well, I'm daisy pitch,
he shouldn't shouldn't be leading leading off.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's like what what what? You know? What's the difference?

Speaker 3 (11:35):
So you know all of those thought thought processes. When
he has a quote slump, you know, he doesn't Homer
for twelve at bats or something. The world's ending. Everything's fine,
Everything's just fine. But your your points well taken. The
strikeout number is moderately concerning.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
I mean that. And that's the thing is that watching
his at bats like and it's not it's they can't
feel like he's chasing. I feel like it almost is
like he's made up his mind that I know where
this pitch is going. I'm gonna swing at it, right,
Like he's made up his mind before the pitch where
this is where it's gonna go, and I'm gonna get it.
And it dovetails out of the strike. So the number
of times I've seen him strike out on pitches that

(12:16):
are just three feet outside. Now, Sodo strikes out a
lot of things, but the number I've seen that for
Otani is is really alarming. And and you know, sometimes
you get look, you get in bad habits at at
at bat and you figure things out and I'm sure
the Dodger and hey, everything is fine. Otani's still having
a great year, Okay, but still, I mean you look
at those two months sandwiching May and he's and he's
not He's not quite the same guy.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, at this point, my my level of concern there
is zero. I'm more concerned about him getting plunked in
the middle of the back and then smiling at everybody
because you know what, it's gonna happen again. We got
six weeks to for them to prepare and there will
be suspension.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Totally, yes, there will be suspensions.

Speaker 5 (13:02):
And there is a god Rojas got a double.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Oh my goodness, Rojas actually is on base. Wait, they
are stopping the game. They are raising a banner. Miguel
Rojas is on second is literally telling everybody right now
football is life. Exit out about it, folks with exit
swollen dome, The Jason Smith Show with My best Friend
Mike Harmon. Uh So, a lot more baseball on the way,

(13:26):
but straight ahead. NBA insider Mark Stein stops by will
preview Game seven. Find out what he thinks is next
for the Knicks and the lake Man.

Speaker 5 (13:36):
He's got a bone to pick with you and he's.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Upset something we said last hour on the show. It's
next right here, Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
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
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
The Jason Smith Show with My ah best Friend Mike Harmon.

Speaker 5 (14:02):
I'm an ass man.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
True So, Happy fiftieth anniversary to Jaws, right, ushering in
the era of the modern cinema. Right movies can be
broken up into two categories, the era before nineteen seventy
five now the modern era, which Jaws birth, big blockbuster,
Jaws turning fifty years old today now last hour in

(14:25):
the show gave a big hot take for the weekend.
Think about this in the modern era since Jaws blockbuster,
you know birth that era best movie of the last
fifty years. I gave it to you. It's Back to
the Future. Everything you want in it, acting, writing, drama, comedy,
memorable one liners, thrills, great soundtrack, everything you would want

(14:46):
in a movie. Back to the Future gives you. Other
movies have. Other movies are funnier, movies have a little
more rag. But nothing does everything as well as Back
to the Future. And now someone joins us with a
bone to pick on that topic. He is longtime NBA
insider friend of the show. You can follow on Twitter
at the Steinline. Check him out on substack. It is

(15:09):
Mark Stein. Happy Friday, man, How are you.

Speaker 4 (15:13):
Listen. I'm trying to get work done here. We got
a Game seven coming up. Yeah, the whole league is
waiting on a Kevin Durant trade. The draft is in
a matter of days. I live in Cooper Flag's New City.
It's Friday night. I'm tethered to the desk, just trying
to publish, publish my story, get some work done. And
then you guys are start tweeting about the best movie

(15:36):
of all time since nineteen seventy five, and you just
threw off my whole workflow and I had to call in.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
All right, we'll go ahead, my friend the floor FLT
since jawsin seventy five, what do you got?

Speaker 4 (15:53):
The answer is nineteen eighty two's Rocky three. And that
is the end of the discussion.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
Club laying thunderlips. I mean, you got you got a lot,
There's no question about it. I think I've probably watched
that nearly one hundred times.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
Yeah, it's it is one of those movies. At the minute,
the second you accidentally find it as you're flipping through
the channels, whatever you had to be, whatever you were doing,
is scrapped, and you must watch the whole thing. Incredible villain,
incredible story. I mean, it's the best, it's the best.

(16:32):
It's the best of the Rocky movies. I will die
on that hill. And it is. If if the time
frame is nineteen seventy five until now here's your winner,
I've settled it for you. I'll go off back to
the we can go back to the NBA playoffs now.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
But when we were talking about the birth of the
blockbuster coming out of Jaws, I mean, this also gave
us the lead in for WrestleMania one.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
I mean, so we've got all of that. Yeah, there
you go. Culture never the same I remember being so
scared of me. I was like I was ten years old,
remember being It's like, oh my god, this mister t
is so scary. Then I found out later in life
always like five six, oh okay, but he was so scary,
he was so sticky.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
First it is the first movie I ever went to
the cinema without parental supervision. And it was. It was
life it was, and it was life changing. I did
not see to that point. I had not seen the
first two. And I watched that and became a lifelong

(17:36):
addict of the whole Rocky franchise, Creed franchise. I mean
it just that was a that was a life changing
trip to the theater in nineteen eighty two.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
So you jumped right in and in the middle said,
who's this guy coming to help Rockies named Apollo? Who
is this guy? Why is he coming to help?

Speaker 4 (17:52):
I was mesmerized instantly. To this day, there is an
Apollo Creed doll in my office or my shoulder. Almost
every word I type, I'm looking at it. Look at
it right now?

Speaker 1 (18:07):
All right? All right? So here, So here's so you
had Rocky three, I or may not have the thunderlips
Kpe Mark, tweet out a picture of that Apollo Creed doll.
Can you do that? And when we're done, you just
tweet out a picture of the line.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
I think I I think I I've done that before.
In fact, when like I said, Carl Weather's playing Apollo Creed,
I mean just I loved that character beyond words. And
when we lost Carl Weathers, I wrote a whole story.
I've written multiple stories just about my my love of
the Rocky franchise, but I wrote I wrote a whole

(18:41):
tribute to him. I will try to find it because,
like I said, I definitely put a picture of it
in that story if I remember right, So I will.
I will try to find it.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
That is awesome. Mark Stein on the board with Rocky three. Wow.
So okay, So now is it is it disappointing to
have to get back to the NBA Finals after this?
Or are you okay back to the NBA Final?

Speaker 4 (19:01):
Like I mean, no, I was just mad. I was
just really mad at you guys for I mean, just
like like I'm trying to concentrate and I mean, I mean,
I can't believe that Rocky three wasn't the automatic answer.
But now that we've sorted that out, I think we
can get back on course and start talking about Game seven.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
All right, So what do you see now going into
Game seven? If after the first couple of games I
thought this is gonna You're gonna see point counterpoint, and
teams are going to be able to counterbalance from game
to game. You're gonna see adjustments. I see Oklahoma City
on Sunday. What do you see on Sunday?

Speaker 4 (19:33):
Well, look, I think people would point to the Denver
series and say, remember how good OKAC looked in that
Game seven. But I feel like at this point this
thing is all bets off. I mean, nobody knows what's
gonna happen. I mean, the home team is fifteen and
four all time in Game seven, but this Indiana team, like, look,

(19:56):
they're one win away from what would be the most
improbable championship that we've ever seen in the NBA. I'm
not going to try to judge it against the other
leagues and you know, because it's too hard to do that.
But in look, in the NBA, you know, the Rockets
won it as a number six seed, but they were
they were defending champions, and they traded for Clyde Drexler

(20:19):
at mid season. The first NBA season that I really
remember being locked to locked into as a kid, seventy
seven seventy eight. That was a That was the year
I truly became an you know, an NBA fan really
following it. Washington won it all with a with only
they were only forty four and thirty eight, But the

(20:41):
league was in such a different place, and really Portland
was your defending champion. They were fifty to ten. When
Bill Walton got hurt, they were overwhelmingly the best team
in the league. They lose Walton and you know it
throws the playoffs open. And yeah, okay, so a forty
four win team win a championship. I mean that is

(21:02):
crazy on paper. But again, where the NBA was in
seventy seven seventy eight, to compare the you know where
it is the stature that the league has now. If
the Pacers can win one more we have never seen
anything like this, if the Pacers, if the Pacers can
win one more game. Look, it is an extremely tall
order to go into OKAC, which is probably the noisiest

(21:25):
building in the league or certainly in the conversation. But
here's the thing. The thunder just looked rattled and discombobulated
in Game six, and that has created doubt that didn't
exist in the Denver series. The Thunder are gonna have
to show us that they're ready for this moment. And

(21:49):
you know the Pacers, that was the first elimination game
they've played in these playoffs. They rose to the moment.
I mean, what's the state of Halliburton's calf on sunder?
I mean, that's another I mean, there's so many variables,
but like I can't tell you what's gonna happen. I
genuinely don't know. We don't know. That's what makes it
so delicious.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
Well, let me stay with that for a second, right,
because I just want a one on one contest between
the Game five and Game six, no shows of SGA
and Tyrese haliburt and going back to game five, let's
just let them battle it out. What do you think
the status of that caff really is?

Speaker 4 (22:25):
I mean, I don't see how it can be good,
But obviously he gritted through it yesterday and then people
are gonna say, oh, he's not really hurt. I mean
I think it's clear there's something wrong there. You know,
is it as bad as they said, you know, is
it gamesmanship? I don't know. I mean, look, I'm you know,
in full disclosure. Game two is the only game I've

(22:47):
been at in person. I am. I am tracking this
thing from afar like you guys. But I mean, if
do you guys believe in team of Destiny stuff? I mean,
with all of the Pacers comebacks and a escapes and
again first time in this postseason that they're facing win
or go home, and the way they responded in that situation,

(23:10):
I mean, it has been. It has been an incredible ride.
And you know, if if they win, they are in
the history books forever. And if they lose, if Oklahoma
City does what it's supposed to do and win Game
seven at home and validate the incredible regular season that
the thunder have had, it's going to be a fascinating
question to see how history history remembers this Pacers team, because,

(23:35):
like it's been such a great playoff run again, the
likes of which we just we've never seen, you know,
like you want to talk about that Rockets team that
was the sixth seed in ninety five, but again they
were defending champs. They had a team and Clyde Drexler,
who they traded for at mid season. I was talking,
I was on the Gottlieb Show earlier today and Jay

(23:58):
stew was like, well, what about the rap is winning
in twenty nineteen. Okay, the Raptors traded for a Finals
MVP before that season, bringing in Kawhi Leonard, and at
mid season they traded for Mark Basol, one of the
best defensive centers of his generation and an All Star.
Like so that Raptors team was loaded. I mean, Siaka,

(24:19):
who's one of the two best players on the Pacers,
you know, one of the two or three best players
on that Raptors team. I mean that Raptors team was
really good. And again you're adding Kawhi Leonard an MVP
this Pacers team. I mean, where do you rank Halliburton
and Siakam two of the twenty five best players in

(24:40):
the league? Is it two of the top twenty? I
mean we can argue that all night, but like they
are not built like a traditional champion. Halliburton and Siakam
were not top ten picks and it's nothing but depth
surrounding them. Really, Rick Carlisle is you know, he probably
has the most accomplished resume out of any Pacer. It's

(25:04):
been a great story, guys, seriously, I mean, you know,
all joking aside from the beginning like this, this has
been just a ridiculously good run for the Pacers. And
but now they have the very difficult assignment that you
got to go to OKC and win on their floor.
I mean, it's you know again, the home team is
fifteen and four in Game seven in the finals for

(25:25):
a reason.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
And the insider Mark Stein, our guest Jason Smith, Mike
Carmon lot from the Fox Sports Radio studios. All right, now,
as you said, I know you you got a lot
going on. We got free agency coming, we got KD
situation for this week. The Lakers are sold for ten
billion dollars. Genie Bus supposedly is staying on for a while.
I can't see that being very long. What do you

(25:46):
see for the Lakers this summer? Does Mark Walter come in,
Do they get aggressive? Do they do they say screw it,
We're gonna spend money. Are they gonna remake the robbel Look?

Speaker 4 (25:55):
I remember in the NBA there are limits to what
you can spend that the Dodgers don't face. So in
the short term, I don't know that that much is
going to change because Lebron James is almost certainly going
to opt in, and the Lakers just don't have the
flexibility to go out and start making Dodgers like moves

(26:15):
that can't happen in the NBA. And look, it's not
even about a willingness. Steve Balmer is willing to spend
anything he can to make the Clippers, to get the
Clippers to the Championship Promised Land. But remember in the NBA,
it's all about once you go into that second apron,
you can't aggregate salaries in trades, your draft picks get frozen,

(26:37):
you lose all these team building tools. That's what Phoenix
is going through right now. Phoenix is so far buried
in the second apron and it just makes doing anything difficult.
But the infrastructure of the Lakers is certainly going to change,
and I like you, they will invest top dollar in

(26:58):
everything they can everywhere else to modernize the franchise. There's
no way it's a bad thing. Like it's going to
take the Lakers to the next step. And ultimately, when
they do have the financial flexibility to make moves, you
know they're going to swing big and make Yep, it's
the Lakers. They're never going to have trouble getting getting players.

(27:22):
I mean, that's the thing is like, in the short term,
it's very hard to put the pieces around Luka Doncic
to optimize him. But eventually they will get flexibility and
then they will put a great team around him, because
that is the hardest part. Getting the Luka dantic is
the hardest part. They've got that figured out. It might

(27:45):
it might not happen immediately because of you know, hap
limitations and luxury tax concerns, but ultimately nobody in the league,
in the other twenty nine front offices, is very very
happy about this. I mean, this is not with anybody,
not what any of the Lakers' rivals wanted to.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
See Mark, other than Kevin Durant going back and forth
with Boogie Cousins about possible fistfights in the Sun's locker
room last year. What happens next with him.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Well, look, the Sons want to do this, but by
the draft, I mean something that has mattered to Phoenix.
Phoenix would love to have a trade for Kevin Durant
that it likes, but that also gives them at least
one first round pick in Wednesday's draft, which of course

(28:39):
they don't have. The Houston Rockets at number ten have
what would have been the Sun's pick via Brooklyn, So
at this point the Sons don't have a first. But
the reality too here is everyone all these teams know
that the Suns are operating from a position of desperation.

(28:59):
They decided that they have to trade Kevin Durant and
they want to get something resembling the Hall that they
gave up to get for him. And it's like, how
they're not going to get They're not going to come
close to matching that. I mean that was four first
the pick swap and Bridges and Cam Johnson. I mean,

(29:22):
they gave up a ton to get him. But they
have to try to find the best deal they can
make as opposed to trying to That's where that's where
I think the Suns end up going, rather than prioritizing
Katie's desires in terms of a landing spot. But all
these teams they're talking to, they're not putting some monster

(29:45):
offer on the table, and it's not because they don't
like Kevin Durant or Kevin Durant is a future Hall
of Famer he's the number eight all time score in
league history, and he's an absolute all time great. But
the reality is in September he'll be thirty seven, and
if you're not on his preferred wish list, you have
to resign him to a contract extension. He only has

(30:05):
one year left on his deal. So how much can
the Suns really get here? To this point? They have
not gotten an offer that they consider palatable. Can that
happen this weekend? Can that happen before Wednesday's draft? And
we're gonna have to sit tight and see. But the
Suns might have to say we if we're not getting enough,

(30:30):
are we better off walking away from the table? And
that's you know, that's the kind of stuff they're mulling
right now.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
He is working feverishly on the finals on the draft.
On Kevin Durant. You can follow him on Twitter at
the steinline. That is, at the steinline he is Mark Stein.
Hey listen here, since you're a man, ain't got no
heart here? You'd like to see a real man? I
bet you stay him leading there you go? Likes to

(31:01):
run all the time?

Speaker 4 (31:01):
Guy, should you guys should see my kids watching me
do every line of that movie that is. That is
a press conference I wish I would have been at.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
I can tell you I think that's a podcast.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
I had to settle for. I had to settle for
watching that on the big screen. But come on, characters,
boundtrack action. I mean, it is just ninety minutes of.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Glory running on the beach. Oh yeah yeah, Mark, thanks
so much as always for stopping by. Hey, just think
about it. Next week when we talk, we're going to
be talking about the draft. Right all the season final,
We're talking about the draft because it's right around the corner.
We will have it.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
We will have it. The next time we talk, we
will have an NBA champion.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Take it easy to enjoy the weekend. Enjoy game seven,
my friend, Thank you so much. There goes Mark Stein.
Rocky three from Mark Stein. You got that on the board. Wow,
that's that. Yeah, that's that's the movie after movie after.

Speaker 5 (32:02):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
Time now to find out what's trending in the wide
world of sports. So someone who's been called the Mickey
gold Mill of Fox Sports Radio, he walks around the
hallway saying, they was hand picked rock they was all
hand picked for you.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Do people know Mick's last name?

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Seriously, why I said, Okay, I should say, you said,
Mickey Goldman.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
I only knew it when you know, when he died
and sorry spoiler, when he died and they showed us.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
No such thing as a little advanced warning.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, let me think about that. He dies, Andy and
Rocky still fights, and Clever Lang doesn't go to prison
at all. He pushed him and knock and he died
as a resultant. Now Clever Lang's a champion.

Speaker 5 (32:48):
Okay, Yeah, but he almost stole rocks girl.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
True, did he did?

Speaker 3 (32:52):
I don't think Talia shit Adrian was thinking about it
for a second.

Speaker 6 (32:56):
She was, and Rocky made four more movies, I believe, so, Yeah,
that is true.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Yeah, at least.

Speaker 6 (33:02):
NBA Finals Game seven will be Sunday, Indiana, Oklahoma City.
NBA Draft starts Wednesday, WNBA with three games Tonight, The
Lake Contest at Vegas has Seattle leading.

Speaker 5 (33:12):
The ace is.

Speaker 6 (33:13):
Eighty four eighty one with about four minutes to go.
Dallas got twenty one points from Page Beckers and won.
At Connecticut eighty six eighty three. Dallas was two and
eleven this year. Atlanta edge Washington ninety two ninety one.
The Stanley Cup Final average just two point five million
viewers on TNT plus the three point eight million in
Canada to Major League Baseball. Milwaukee is seventeen to six

(33:35):
winner at Minnesota, Christian Yelich four hits, eight RBIs and
getting the win in his second major league start the
Brewers Jacob Mazerowski, who pitched six perfect innings and then
allowed a lead off walk at a homer in the seventh.
Arizona has won fourteen to eight at Colorado. The Rockies
record seventeen and fifty nine this season. Earlier, we had

(33:57):
a Philadelphia ten to two win over the Mats, who
lie seventh straight. So this game was tied two to
two in the seventh. But the Phillies are yeah Yeah,
Yeah alone and first in the NLES. Nick Castiano's three hits,
three RBIs. Baltimore with two in the eighth beat the
Yankees in New York five three. Aaron Judge did his
twenty seventh homer. Seattle's Cal Rawley with two more long

(34:17):
bombs twenty nine homers for his season. Seattle wins at
the Cubs, nine to four victories for Tampa Bay and
Texas wins for Miami and Saint Louis the White Sox
were seven to one winners at Toronto that was seven
to nothing in the third inning Padre's closure. Robert Schwarez
was suspended three games for hitting show Hey Otani, you

(34:37):
mean he didn't get Jill Steve, Dodgers are leading four
to two over Washington and the sixth it's Royals winning
at San Diego four to two and the seventh back
to you.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Thank you, Steve. The Jason Smith Show with Mike Carbon
live in the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Don't forget. You
can stream the show all of our Fox Sports Radio
shows live twenty four to seven in the new and
improved iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Orts Radio in the
app to stream us live. One of the newest features
in the app, you can select Fox Sports Radio is
one of your presets, just like the presets on a
radio dial, So be sure to preset Fox Sports Radio

(35:10):
in the iHeartRadio app. It'll always pop up at the
top of your screen, so lock it in head RiPP
theob Off coming up next well. Oklahoma City on the
CUSP was potentially winning the NBA title after incredible regular seasons.
Who could be the Oklahoma City Thunder of next year?
The answer might surprise It's not Cleveland. The answer might

(35:30):
surprise you. That's next. Fox.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific Fox.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon Phillies. Thanks to Mark Stein for stopping by
it just doing work listening to the show. Go wait
a minute back to the future of the mess movie
the Last fifty Years calls up and gives us raw
three Stein is awesome. Check ab out on the Steinline

(36:04):
on Twitter.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
Now I keep Urban Nations coming in, folks uh at
Sports Radio at how about a Fresco? At Swallodo, We've
had Shawshank, Goodfellas, some of the usual suspects, No Country
for Old Men, which referenced before.

Speaker 5 (36:16):
But where the Hell's Freddy got fingered?

Speaker 6 (36:21):
Easily Top five film in the last fIF years.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Freddy got finger Is it really called the film?

Speaker 4 (36:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah, sure, good Fellas, Dances with Wolves, Crash, Gladiator and
Freddy got fingered? That. There there's your list and listen
coming up next to Look, We'll get back into this topic.
Next is your helm? Are you why? I will it's
not his blanket. Happy birthday, Walter. Why tell you exactly

(36:53):
why Back to the Future is the best movie of
the modern era since Jaws debuted fifty years ago. Today.
We'll have that coming up next hour. But we are
getting set for Game seven of the NBA Finals, Mark Stein.
I mean, look at an incredible finals that's been so far.
We're getting seven games on Sunday. Oklahoma City went very

(37:13):
quickly from being a team on the rise to wait,
now they might be a power for a long time.
How did they do it well? Obviously trading and continuing
to foster shake Gilgess Alexander he turns into an MVP.
But you see what they did. They drafted smartly, They
were patient with guys like Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams
was turning into a big superstar. You get the right

(37:36):
support players and Alex Carusono asaa Hertenstein. You have an
all NBA defensive player in lou Dort. You have a
perfectly assembled roster. But really, like this year is like
Oklahoma City went from hey, they're pretty good and they're
it's like, whoa wait a minute, Oklahoma City could be dominant?
Who could be the Oklahoma City Thunder of next season. Right,

(37:56):
this is it the book, Come on, man, the bulquet.
If I could say, hey, who could be the who
could be a thirty win team next year? The answer
is the Bulls. Right. But yeah, it's a yeah, you
can have Doc Rivers. So you show. I'll tell you
what Doc's gonna coach all the teams. He's gonna coach
all the teams. Uh, the Oklahoma City Thunder of next year.

(38:18):
Watch out for the Orlando Magic. Right. They had a
big week this week getting Desmond Bay. Right. The one
big thing for the Magic they don't hit threes. Bain
is coming in and that's kind of what he does.
That is big for the offense. But they have been
built in much the same way Oklahoma City has been
built right in Houston kind of built the same way.
All Right, we're bad for a while, but we're off

(38:40):
the radar. We're gonna accrue as many draft picks as
we can, and we're gonna try to hit, and we're
gonna be patient. We're not gonna go nuts. We're not
gonna spend all kinds of money. We're gonna wait for
our young players to really come through and then once
they do, we're gonna start making the right moves around them, right,
because that's really the biggest thing the teams do. Hey,

(39:01):
we want to jump and run before we can walk.
And what did the Magic do? Yes, Pala Boncara was
a great player right away, but Fritz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Hey,
let's wait a little bit. Let's give them a little
bit of time to bake. And they've all come around
a little bit sooner. So now we go make the
move for Desmond Bane. The East is not that great.
You're gonna see a lot of movements. And Knicks don't

(39:22):
even have a head coach. Next Jason Tatum might not
play for the entire regular season next year. The door
is open for Orlando to be the Oklahoma City Thunder
next year. They rebuilt under a cloud of darkness and
now here they are.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Oh, we talked about it. Giannis may be in the
West and you just keep going team, my team. They're
getting picked off one by one, so by default they
may rise to the top.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
No, here they go, the Orlando Magic, the Thunder of
next season. Think about that. Oh boy. Fox Sports Radio
Jason Smith Mike Harmon Live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Coming up next, not one, but two crazy stories out
of Major League Baseball. Keep it right here, Jason to Mike.
This is Fox Sports Radio.