July 1, 2025 • 40 mins
Jason Smith: I love LeBron is "watching" the Lakers to make sure they stay competitive. What a load of crap. He's simply pushing the optic that he still has dominant influence with the team, which he doesn't. He's in his last year in L.A. & the Lakers would've moved on if they could.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
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iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. Give this you're listening to
(00:24):
Fox Sports Radio. Hello, Welcome in Side hour two the
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Yeah,
what a day it is, as Night one of NBA
Free agency is here. Get in there and sell, sell, sell,
(00:45):
And I want to say this right. We'll have the
big story on Lebron coming up in a second. Like
I like all the stories so far. Well the signings
we're gonna get to, right, Michael Porter Junior was the
big move, big trade today, fun trade. Very excited for
Cam Johnson. Yeah, there's lots of fun stuff. We talked
a little last hour. We talked about two teams that
made moves today. I think we're gonna be in the
(01:06):
top three in each of their conference next year. It's
all great, but like this whole like I'm kind of
done with shams, and people say, what a big night? Wait, wait,
do you see what happens night when okay, well it
still is early enough, we may get something. It's eleven
o'clock in the east. I told you what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Giannie's yard sale will be wrapped up and whatever's left
will be thrown.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Lucas couch eight seven seven night when I'm hanging out there,
or they're you know, just dieting together, you know whatever,
it is, just eating vegetables. Yeah, that's all we're doing.
Look how Sin Lucas hanging out together. But I feel like, okay, snap,
I get it that you know, in the NBA world,
this has been a really really big day in NBA. Okay,
(01:54):
free game's first day. But you said, don't sit here
and tell me what an unbelievable day it's going to be.
I'm like, okay, you're you're talking about deals that don't
have the cross entirely cross country promotional appeal. You're not
talking about superstars that are changing, but they are changing teams.
We're talking about moves that that teams have made that hey,
this can vault them up. That's really what it is.
(02:16):
But I mean, come on, Michael Porter Junior is the
biggest name you know, don't don't see her? Tell me
what an unbelievable day it's gonna be. Okay, I get it,
but I think you know what the world of the
NBA versus what it is to everybody that that's two
different things, right, It's it's kind of we're kind of
not quite seeing what we've been promised over and now
it could change. Yeah, Giannis could go to the Knicks,
you know, any minute now, Jannis and Doc could wind
(02:37):
up going to the Knicks as a package deal. Ho
don't we go together? Not at all? That could act.
But so far, I'm like, okay, this is this has
been a day for the big NBA fan who is
watching what his team is doing and seeing, hey, is
this gonna make us better? Like there's there's that kind
of appeal, but the whole Hey, you know, Kevin Durant,
even though the guy's thirty seven and I don't know
(02:57):
what he's gonna have left. He hasn't led a team.
He's a getting paid a lot of money for for
what he's gonna take it for the salary cap. He's
always been that guy. But he's a big name that
everybody cares about. Like, yeah, I'm like, okay, you got
If you're gonna tell me a night's gonna be big,
you gotta you gotta, you gotta give me some big names.
You're gonna wind up moving places. Not that Hey, this
is happening. And oh, by the way, the Knicks are
getting Jordan Clarkson. You know, I love that move, and
(03:21):
I'm like, okay, game score, I get it. I like
that move. But okay, you know this isn't k D.
It's not Giannis, it's not it's not Embiid, it's not
any it's not anything else. It's okay, yeah, not even
the big marquee teams. It's not even the Lakers of
the Knicks, of the Southern It's okay. Well, we've got
the Hawks, make big moves Hawks and the magic right
in the Rockets. Sure, with their new front office made
(03:43):
a big made that big trade in the Brooklyn Nets.
I mean we we did technically land in New York, right, yeah,
all of up.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I mean, you got a lot of money changing hands,
and that's all finding good. But for Shams, Shams right now,
his whole thing is that he's got to Uh, he's
p T Barnum. He's got to go in there and
sell sell. Everybody else has been vanquished. Wendy's kind of
been neutered and all this ever since Lebron kind of
(04:15):
you know, sunned him with the you know.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Like we're best friends.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
All that guy did was give you love and adoration
and headlines that were just glowing for years.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Now, Shams is that guy. Sharani is now the.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Torch carrier for Lebron James Enterprises and Rich Paul and
Clutch Sports.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's all there, but it's all on him and he's
got to try to sell it as best he can.
The groundbreaking move might come through on this next text
message I got. Oh, no, it's someone asking me to
vote in a local election.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Damn it. No, I thought it was gonna be the
big one. Hello and welcome to movie vote now. Speaking
of guys taking up too much money from the Cellar
team salary cap, Lebron James over the weekend decided to
opt in to his fifty two million dollar option with
the Lakers for this year. Part of this announcement was
(05:11):
that he is also going to be watching to make
sure the Lakers make moves to stay competitive. He understands
the Lakers are going. I know, I'm trying to do
this with a straight faith. It's very difficult. It's very difficult.
You know, I understand the Lakers. They was handpicked Towel,
he was handpicked.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
He understands the Lakers are going in a direction where
it's you know, behind Luca that they're building around him.
But you know, I still want to win and be
competitive and all this stuff. And I'm watching the Lakers
to see like the threat of him demanding a trade
is actually going to happen. Okay, let me tightly strip
it all the way. Here's what Lebron is doing because
what this whole I'm watching the Lakers to see what
(05:55):
they do. It is what I call a loak, which
is a load of crap. This is a load of
crap and simply a spin by Lebron and Clutch Sports
to make it seem like Lebron is still controlling the
narrative with the Lakers. Right. He did for a long time,
right did for a long time. The zenith of Lebron's
control was the Lakers saying, we can get Buddy healed.
(06:18):
This guy no, no, no, we want Westbrook. I don't know,
let's go get Westbrook. And they're still up until but
maybe now they'll kind of get out of it. But
they were still up until last year suffering from hey,
we went out and got Westbrook. Right, Yes, he used
to be that guy. But when the Lakers traded for
Luca and now the team is being sold, Lebron is
(06:38):
being kept at shoulders length. And I told you this
is his last year with the Lakers and he's not
gonna take less money. And again, now this hamstrings the
Lakers because Lebron, as good a player as he is,
is not worth thirty five to thirty seven percent of
the salary cap whatever it's going to be, unless the
Lakers say, hey, we'll go over second. Apron all this
fun like that's what he is. Like, he's a really
(06:59):
good player still, but he's not worth campaign fifty two
million dollars. But this is where the Lakers are stuck with.
They're stuck with each other for this year. No one's
trading for Lebron James with that kind of salary, and
that's not happening. But this will be his last year
in Los Angeles because the Lakers will spend this year again,
and I understand because it's gonna be well, Luke and
Lebron really only had a couple of months. We want
(07:20):
to get Luca in the right place. And now Luca,
every video you see of Luca, he looks so skinny
in his new short sleeve shirts and everything else. Maybe
now he's listening to the Lakers and getting in shape. Okay,
that's great, and we want to give him a chance
with Lebron to see what they can do. And this
is gonna be not a free year, but a year
to say, Okay, maybe we catch lightning in a bottle
(07:43):
and Lebron understands his basketball mortality in La is going
to be this year, and something big happens and they
go far and they surprise a lot of people and
then maybe something changes. But this is gonna be a
year the Lakers are going to say, Okay, what do
we do over this year and how to we build
around Luca? What's the what changes do we need to
make next off season? Like this offseason for the Lakers
(08:05):
is gonna be if they can do one big thing,
I'd be happy. If they can do one big thing,
I'd be happy and it doesn't need to be something
un like Yiannis. But if they can do one big
thing and bring in one big player, one big rim runner,
one big, one big player that can say, okay, this
can allow us to trade Austin Reeves if we need
to whatever. If they could do one thing, all right,
(08:27):
that's great. But other than that, this is gonna be
a year where it's where it's going to be. All right,
how to the next eighty two games and playoffs go?
What do we need behind Luca, We're gonna be have
that fifty million dollars worth. Good. Now you don't have
worry about Pandoran Phinney Smith because he opted out and
now he's gone to the rockets. So you're gonna have money.
You're gonna be flush with more cash next year. So
that's what's gonna happen. This is just Lebron wanting the
(08:49):
optic of I'm in control. Dude, you're not. You're not
in control. Don't tell me you're monitoring like the Lakers
aren't tank. You're not gonna suddenly suck. We'll go get
Cooper flag again. We'll just call Nico for Cooper flagging.
A couple of years will tradehim? Do it? Let me
be worried about like he's. All he's doing is trying
to control the narrative that I'm still because because that's
been who his whole career has been about finals, his
(09:12):
impact on the game. But I am still the biggest
of the big dogs, right And I'm gonna try to
put this out to the Hey, I'm kind of above
the team, and I want to look and see you're
doing the right thing. If I'm Mark Walter, if I'm
Gee but Ron, probably I'm gonna say, what are you
gonna do? I get very public, I go, what are
you gonna do? What are you gonna do? You're gonna
opt what? What do you do? You can't you opt
it in? What are you gonna do? Sit out? What
(09:33):
do we go trade you? We can't trade you because
you said no, I'm gonna take fifty two million dollars
because I'm never gonna take less money. So I'm taking
fifty two million dollars. What are you gonna do? Lebron? Yeah? Again,
but what are you gonna do? That's what I would say,
very outloud, very chesty, like I wanna fight. Hey, what
are you gonna do? What are you gonna what do
you really He's not gonna do anything. He's not gonna
do anything. He is here until the season ends and
(09:53):
the Lakers say thank you, and he's calling Cleveland saying, hey, guys,
you know I started here, I came back. We won
love to finish here. I think you guys need a
little bit of leadership, you know. I see you guys
got a lot of young, good young players. Maybe hey,
maybe I could finish it home. That's kind of what
I'd like to do. That's what this is all about,
Julie grid.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
If he wants to play for no money. I had
the blessing that this statement, whatever this is you want
to call it and categorize it, came out while I
was on air doing the Fox Sports Sunday Show and
had a good laugh at it, and yeah, it's Lebron
trying to keep control when he doesn't have it right.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
This is the ah, you broke up? Hey, I broke
up with her.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Okay, it was all my idea. It wasn't gonna work.
You know, we couldn't. You couldn't have this happen. You know,
you don't want the stink of it on you or
it's the I'm gonna go out on a hiking trail
and you know that sign that says, hey be where
the mountain lion. But if you do see one, look
real big. Lebron's trying to look real big here. The
problem is that doesn't work because everybody sees right through
(10:57):
it of trying to own the narrative that the.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Lakers, there's no way they can trade you. Right, nobody's
giving you fifty three million dollars worth of assets, right
if you wanted to go home to Cleveland. Guess what
to make it work? They give up five guys like
it's a burger and you know, the the peanut oil,
fries and all of that stuff, and go around contenders.
Because that's the thing, right still wants to be on
(11:22):
a contender. No contender can take on that salary without
gutting what they are and the identity.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Of who they are along the way. So that's one.
The other is, I'm sure he would have liked a
James Harden like deal, making sure he got every penny
along the way.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Oh yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You mentioned in passing Finney Smith that guy really would
have helped, right, And I'm not a guy that's looking
for any player to really go in and give up
a bunch of money. Now, if you could stretch things
out to where your perannum makes you feel a whole,
especially when you're forty two, forty three, forty years, forty
four years old, to give you some flexibility. Now, because
(12:00):
I mentioned him before, Brook Lopez might not be a
world beater, but damnit, he'd looked really good in the
Laker uniform for fifteen to twenty minutes a night, Whitney
in terms of trying to solve what you need as
a big men. Instead he goes to the Clippers.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
At what nine million a year?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
So we're talking on the periphery. Finney Smith's deal with
Houston was four for fifty three. They were fourteen and
six with him as a starter last year were the Lakers.
And you look at a guy defender pretty good from
outside about thirty six and change from three point range.
All of that to say is he's a guy that
could have continued to eat minutes. But if you're not
(12:39):
gonna opt in, you know, with the negotiations. And this
is where Mark Walter and the new look Laker front
office in business dealings going forward is at a hard
reset for the year following kind of looks like it,
doesn't it when you wipe that fifty three million dollars
off the board and you say, all right, we're now
(12:59):
open for business because you can only do the when
we talk about the second apron, right, it really screws
you draft wise and asset wise if you do it
multiple times over a five year period.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
It's supposed to be punitive to go into that space.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So are you gonna do it when Lebron's taking up
fifty three million dollars of cap space?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
No, you're not right.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It would just be bad business that hamstrings you down
the road to try to make him happy. So the
all the I'm watching you like he's de Niro and
Meet the Foxers. It's all all bluster. So it's all
it's all fun and game and fugezy. But it helps
him keep the narrative and lets him sleep at night,
whether he plays somewhere else next year, whether his wife
(13:41):
gets what she's wanted, screaming in the background, retire already,
damn it?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Wait, wait, really, where do you think you're not? It's
like in the movie where the the Uh, where the
hero is running and running away and the bad guys
chase him, going where are you gonna go? There's no
way out? And this is like Lebron is a running
trying to find it. Where you're gonna go? You gotta
fight me in the alley. There's no way out of
this alley. You gotta fight me. There's no way where
(14:06):
you're gonna go. Where you're gonna go, there's no place
to go. You're not going anywhere. You're here. Okay, here's
no influenza. It's your last year. Enjoy it and then
go and then go back to playing in Cleveland. Go
go back.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He could have had a lot more fun this offseason
if he'd opted out. See wants him at whatever rate
he was willing to play for. That would have been fun.
Theater exit, how about a Fresca exit swollen dome? Jason
Smith Mike Harmon Live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Coming up next, we get back into the biggest NFL
trade of the off season so far, plus my favorite
story of the weekend without a doubt. That's next Jason
and Mike Fox. 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
(14:53):
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller with me and a lot to have you joined
us on our week the Auditory Journey. You're asking, what
in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you
it's a spin off of it. Ben Mather Show, a
Colt hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture
if you will a world will? We chat with captains
of industry in media, sports and more every week explore
(15:16):
some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mather or the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon. Yeah, we'll get to the big NFL
trade coming up in a couple of minutes. But you know,
my favorite story of the weekend was here, his favorite
story of the weekend. It made me laugh out loud.
I loved it so much. The movie that we loved
laught so well that you were tackling like a bad
man like you out of financial stake in it. No,
(15:46):
not financial steak. Good. Where can we get a steak.
Let's go, so big weekend for the United States men's
national team, right, make it to the knockout stage of
the uh may make it to the semifinals the Gold
Cup either after the big penalty kicks which is a
phenomenal event this week, and I mean watching it was
so much fun, it was so tense, and wow, penalty
(16:09):
kicks still suck. Yeah, I think I think Turner might
have to look worry about his job a little bit
here for the World Cup next year. But perhaps I
missed the freeze. I miss him. Everybody chill that did
your favorite moment come from the penalty kicks? No, it
did not, because one of my favorites, dear, no, my favorite,
(16:29):
my favorite? Right? Okay, So here comes now this new
modern day rivalry between the United States and Canada and soccer. Right,
that's come off the last couple of years. Okay, that's great.
And Jesse Marsh, the head coach of Canada, who has
never been shy with saying things about this rivalry, wanted
to make sure he piled on, twisted the knife a
(16:52):
bit and coming into the Gold Cup when the United States,
for their best players were not playing right, including Christian
polistic who said, hey, it's been a long year. I
want to come for a couple of games. I want
to come for the entire Gold Cup. And you know,
this whole thing that made US soccer look bad and
clear was a bad optic. And jesse Marsh decided, yeah,
I'm gonn twist and knife wip because I'm you know,
(17:14):
all these reports out not happy with how the coaching
selection went. Wanted to be the coach the US men's
national team. Decided to say, remember, right before the Gold
Cup began, not one guy called me and said, coach,
I don't know, it's been a long year. Maybe I
don't come to the Gold Cup. Not one guy. Okay,
this is exact quote from Jesse Marsh. Not one guy,
(17:34):
not even close to that conversation, Okay, leaving no stone
unturned that hey, everybody wanted to come. Nobody said they're
not there. Everybody wanted to show. Okay, all right, that's great,
that's great. Now they get knocked out, right, so now
the United States gets to play Venezuela instead of Canada
because they get knocked out in penalties. And what is
jesse Marsh tell reporters yesterday, if I'm honest, we're missing
(17:57):
half of our group. Nobody called it. They weren't coming,
but you lost Oh hey hey hey, now hey, we're
missing half our guys.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Right, well, so this became, but the follow up spin is, well,
they're all hurt.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
It's not that they weren't coming, like we didn't have
conversations because they were just too tired. I said they
were unavailable.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
See I thought I thought the other was that you
were going to talk about the miss penalty kick by
Burr Halter.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Oh, television coverage showing the body that was so sailed it.
That's like when you see how did that umpire call
out a strike? And you see they show you where
them the strike boxes and this bollet's like way out
of it, like Angel hernandez umpiring? What how did they
make that call? Oh my favorite story. Hey, no excuses, No,
everybody's here. Every no one called me said they don't
(18:52):
want to come play. Oh we're missing half our guys.
Oh okay, oh sid show now you're and a half here.
It's well, but but he wants to be clear they
none of them called to say they were too tired
to play.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, they might have been injured or had other commitments,
but they weren't too tired.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
No no, no, no, no, no, no no no. Look
now the look Alfonso Davies is one of the best
left backs in the world. He got hurt towards a
cl in March. But this is this is after, this
is right before the Gold Cup. I'm twisting the knife
here on the United States, nobody called this day. They
worked up. Oh now we're now we're missing half our guys.
Now we went from hey, no, we're here, we're ready,
we want to play. Oh, but now here's an excuse
(19:33):
because we lost. Oh we're missing Oh okay, so wait
a minute. So I don't understand. But I thought everybody
was all into it and everything was great. Oh but now,
oh yeah, here's why we lost.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well, but that's that's coach speak, right, that's what we do.
It's not reasons, it's excuses. It's the But this is
why it didn't go our way. It's the tale as
old as time. I mean, it's great theater. When we
talk about international happens as, and whenever penalty kicks become
(20:02):
involved in things, I always just kind of shrug. Like
with my daughter's teams, that's one of the things I
hate like you just killed each other up and down
the field for all these minutes, and now we're gonna
decide whether a goalie.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Guess is right to decide. At least I'm a big stay,
you know what I mean. At some point, Yeah, at
some point you gotta do some keep running, keep going,
or maybe you do it like uh maybe a borrow
instead of penalties. You borrow from the NHL. Hey, we're
gonna play five on five in the overtime. It's go okay,
all right, we'll go up and do We're gonna play
five on five. All right. Maybe that's good. Maybe maybe
(20:37):
that's how you do it. You still settle it on
the field, but you play five on five, or you
go from eleven v eleven and after the first minute
you go to ten v ten. Then you go nine
v nine, run off eight v eight. Yeah, here's your order.
You gotta come off two minutes, gonna come off blows,
and you just play until until somebody scores. We're down
(20:58):
a one on one. Now, boy, these guys are It's
better than penalty kicks. That's the way to do it.
I wouldn't mind seeing that I'm in I like that. Uh,
I love that story. That's a good story, you know,
anytime the coaches have to now eat it. Yeah, oh yeah,
I know. Hey, we're missing we're missing half far guns.
Oh oh that's what okay should have held up graphics.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
See all these guys injured, injured, stung by a bee.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Uh but everybody wanted to be there. Oh yeah yeah yeah,
but we're missing half. Oh he got the wrong protein shake.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
He's lactose intolerant, so he was unavailable to us.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Wait this doesn't have way and it does it? Yes?
No way? Whoa no way. I kept saying no way. No.
I thought you said, like, dude, do you want something?
And I said no way? And I said yeah, so
I got it for you. I didn't know you meant,
oh you couldn't have way. W h e y oh
I didn't that oh so way he said no way?
Oh not tim weigh No, no, no, no, no, completely
(21:55):
different thing. Oh okay, way, okay.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Wa see there it is. There's your buddy eat comedy.
You could do kicking and screaming two and that's the
way they sabotage the opponents, like one thing after another.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Kicking and screaming one any good. I don't even think
I saw it. I enjoyed it, really, Okay it did.
Merits A Part two? Will Ferrell, Yeah, no, I know,
Will Ferrell Yeah, Merits A Part two. Robert Duvall, Okay,
dit get juice box? Okay, all right, okay Harris, oh
Rachel Harris. Yeah, but still a second movie. I could
(22:27):
go for a second move. Whole second movie. Ok. Pretty good? Uh? Now,
big trade in the NFL today we talked about little
bit last hour from the Dolphins perspective. Dolphins and Steelers
finally make a trade that we thought was going to
be made about a month ago. John new Smith for
some reason, the Dolphins didn't want to pay him. We
thought he was going to get traded to the Steelers.
The deal kind of fell through. You keep your all pros.
(22:49):
But now it's back when all pros get involved because
Jalen Ramsey was enough to sweeten the pot with John
hu Smith to the Steelers, who parted with Minka Fitzpatrick.
So you have an all pro cornerback and all pro
safety as part of this trade. So it's Jalen Ramsey
and John new Smith for Mika Fitzpatrick and a pickswap,
and it's a late round PICKSWAP. So we talked about
(23:10):
the Dolphins side of it. It's hard to understand. I
can't understand, and this is a league that has the
Jets in it. I can't understand what the Dolphins are doing.
But for the Steelers, I know they're gonna get a
lot of criticism because you're bringing in older players and
is another, you know, another example of here's you know,
Jalen Ramsey's over thirty and John new Smith is twenty nine.
(23:30):
But I'm happy because I feel like the Steelers are
now finally behaving like a modern day NFL team. They
generally don't sign guys in free agency or don't go
for big trades, but now look what they've done in
the last few months. DK metcalf is in all right,
we made that move, right. We've send out George Pickens,
(23:51):
and we brought in a new quarterback and Aaron Rodgers.
Now we make a big trade with and we send
out Minka Fitzpatrick, who's been great for us. But we're
getting to all pro type players coming back in. It
makes me happy that maybe the Steelers aren't lost, right,
maybe all hope isn't lost. When I say things like
omar Kanum, Mike Tomlin, how are you running this team?
It's not nineteen eighty five. You're not gonna win by
(24:13):
going a value meal at the quarterback position, right, You're
not gonna do that. But but now this hope that, Okay,
they're acting like a real NFL team that has a
win now kind of window in that, Hey, we're going
for it with Aaron Rodgers, so we're okay, bringing in
John Husmith and bringing in Jalen Ramsey and to go
along with the other guys that we've traded for. Hey,
(24:35):
I kind of like that again so much that I've
been critical of the steel I don't know the last
time I said something about the Steelers. Okay, I really
like what they did here. It's not many things except
this I like because now I feel like, in the
last couple of months, they've decided, Okay, at least we're
gonna be bold. Right. I don't like the Rogers move.
It's going to backfire on them, But I don't want
to add let's not talk about that. Let's talk about
(24:56):
the right strategy. And maybe this is Omarcana Mike Tomlin's
seeing that, Hey, we could be on our way out
if we don't start winning, right, like, we're how much
of a of a of a mode of winning that
were we put on by ownership saying hey, if you
don't win, I know, we just signed you again, gave
you an extension, Mike Tomlin, but boy, you guys gotta
(25:16):
do something because generally, again, the Steelers don't do things
like this. So whether it was a bit of an
impetus that hey, you guys got to win now, let's
get a little bit more aggressive, I feel like the
Steelers have joined the you know, modern day NFL in
twenty twenty five by making these big moves, and it
makes me happy that, Okay, maybe maybe it's not all
lost for them, because hey, the NFL is good when
the Steelers are good. It's better when the Steelers and
(25:37):
the Cowboys and the Dolphins and all those teams are good.
And this is a good thing. So I'm happy about this.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Always in the mix, you know, we talk about the
streak and eight and a half the over under on
wins for the years, so night in the nice and
the meaty part of the curve, they do have a
more depth at cornerback than perhaps any other team.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
They go eight or nine deep at cornerback now because
you got.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Darius Elliott, Thornhill, Porter, Junior Ramsey. Forget about Bishop. They
drafted Dante Kent. Yeah, I know he might do for
a couple of reps. Just keep on going there. So
in the AFC, you're you're ready for battle. In that regard,
(26:20):
you got a bunch of guys that can play, and
even if they are a little older, still the the
depth comes into play for you.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Here. You did draft Derek Harmon. I'd be remiss if
you didn't say, you know, armand dress the front arm,
but shuffle up and do something right even if it's wrong.
That was seemingly the message from the Rooneys, who normally
don't do a lot of talking coming off of this
last season, a disappointment with another early exit. So for
(26:50):
Mike Tomlin, you and I, you know, in our media circles,
I don't know how secure his job really is.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
I'm assuming it's a life until they agree to shake
hands and walk away.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Maybe he's got to be the guy that starts.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That conversation because it just seems like at some point
you're running in place. Now with this change, you've got
a more dynamic, more stable quarterback, even if he is
longer in the tooth. He can't tell me. Rogers isn't
the best they've seen at the position since Roethlisberger's third
to final year.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Because that limp to a terrible end. Oh yea where
he couldn't move and he no longer could do the
incredible hulk of six guys trying and terrible. Now he
even just crumble and that was the end of him.
Extending plays didn't exist. Metcalf's going to be an interesting
experiment offensively, trying to figure out how to push forward
Arthur Smith's offense when really it'll become Aaron Rodgers offense
(27:48):
before long. Is a curiosity in a stack division because Cleveland,
even if they can't get their quarterback right, they're still
a pretty good roster.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
But I like that they're at least being bold. John
new Smith and Friarmooth team together. They got Smith to
sign a one year deal for twelve million, which is
nothing if you can come anywhere near replicating the production
he had a year ago. And now this helps where
you have a little bit of a thinner wide receiving
corps alongside Metcalf that you do have the dual tight
(28:18):
end that can run the seams for you. No, I
mean it's it's amazing that it took the Steelers this long.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
You go, oh the Steelers way really is who? Not
what it was? Man? We got no but we do something.
But it's good versus great, right, consistently good both our teams.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
We'd kill to have a three year stretch that looks
like white Mike and Tomblin is done. Oh, Jory, you're
fighting in December for something meaningful, but.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
They'll be fighting for Will Howard to start in December.
But again, I don't want let's be positive about want
to be positive to my positive about this. I positive
about this, not that Will Howard's gonna be. Why do
you have to take Aaron Rodgers out at the knee?
Not that suddenly and it's a third snaf I'm gonna
be getting emails going, hey, in my Dynasty draft, should
I take Will Howard as a late flyer? Yes? Take
Will Howard is a late flyer? Yes, go ahead, take
(29:08):
him in the fourth round of your Dynasty draft. Cut Uh, No,
I this is it's good and it's not like they're
suddenly on the hook bad contracts. It's oh they traded
for a guy who's still in this prime in DK
metcalf Right, and they've been some other moves that worked
out as well, and now here John Wi Smith can
be a really good tight end for a couple of years.
Tight ends, you know, you don't just hit thirty is
a tight end and suddenly fall off the cliff. You
(29:29):
can be a really good you know, you see guys
at thirty three, thirty four, even thirty five having big
years a tight end in the NFL, especially when if
you can team up Smith with Pat Fryer, move where
you're not playing all the time and you're you're fresher
like this was a really good move. Honestly, John Smith
probably comes their number two target, probably their number two
guy in the offense now in the passing game. Right,
So again, welcome to the modern era. In the end,
(29:52):
took just took you a while, took you twenty five
or thirty years, but welcome Steelers. You're here, about time,
Thank you, you're all here. Can we get our teams there?
Time not to find out what's what one problem at
the time, like in Fight Club, one fight at a time.
By at the time, Yeah, let's find out what's trending
in the wide world of sports. Someone who's been called
Steve de Saga because his name is Steve de Saga,
(30:15):
he's got what's trending. Oh, I've been called worse.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
We've got great baseball in Texas tonight and great soccer
and Orlando going on first off programming. Note, US Men's
soccer plays its Gold Cup semi final Wednesday on FS
one from Saint Louis against Guatemala. Guatemala just upset Canada
and to shootout Sunday the Americans one on Sunday on
penalty kicks.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
You didn't have half their guys, Steve, they didn't have
half their.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
So give him some slack. It sounded okay, you know,
the roster was okay, if I guess. We went through
today the Americans against Costa Rica yesterday and you mentioned
the US goalie Matt Frees making three late saves out
of the six penalty kicks he faced. And then in
the second semifinal late Wednesday. This week, Mexico will play
in the bay Are against Honduras. The tournament final is
(31:02):
Sunday in Houston. Also, the FIFA Club World Cup is
going on in the round of sixteen. Inter Milan lost
today in Charlotte to nothing to Flumenensea, and tonight still
going on in Orlando. Manchester City might be eliminated shortly.
Now they were trailing second half. Their Superstar early high
on it in the fifty fifth minute score to tie
(31:23):
it at two. He was substituted out for overtime. They
fell behind. Phil Foden of England tied it, and now
they've fallen behind again late in the ot al hell
all four Manchester City three, two minutes to go here
after eleven thirty in Orlando, and a great crowd there
(31:43):
as well. Tuesday, Real Madrid plays Juventus in Miami. As
for that baseball game in Texas, the Orioles in the
top of the tenth inning homer twice for a six
to three lead over the Rangers. Bottom of the tenth
Odllas Garcia a three run homer to even the game.
And now in the top of the eleventh, the Orioles
with four runs and a ten to six lead. Now
(32:05):
bottom of the eleventh Texas batting at Seattle, we have
a Cal Raley homer, his thirty third of the season.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
You get it a home run every day. Cal Raley
take every day he literally could from both sides of
the plate, except one night when I take him in
the MLB the streak game and he goes over four. Well,
here's the kiss of death there point. Did they check
his bat earlier?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yeah, it's one of those torpedo bats that nobody's talking
about anymore. How about that sack fly earlier for cal Raley.
That was his seventieth RBI. It's Seattle six to one
over the Royals, top of the eighth Rosarina with two
long balls. There were at least three team shutouts on
each of the last five days in the Major's longest
set streak in Major League history. Philadelphia Tonight shut out
(32:47):
San Diego for nothing. Pittsburgh Tonight shutout Saint Louis seven
to nothing. The late game on FS one did have
Arizona shutting out the Giants two nothing.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
In the seventh, Giants tied it up.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Arizona has just gone back in front. It's now three
two diamondbacks. In the top of the eighth inning, Toronto
beat the Yankees five to four, Vladimir Guerrero Junior with
three RBIs. Toronto shortstop Bobachet was out with a sore knee.
The A's with two runs in the top of the
ninth one at Tampa Bay six to four. The lost
to closer Pete Fairbanks. Boston's win was thirteen to six
(33:20):
over Cincinnati, as the Red Sox scored seven times in
the first inning. Houston shortstop Jeremy Pania was placed on
the injured list with a small rib fracture. He had
been hit by a pitch. The Rockies host Houston on Tuesday.
Colorado off tonight. That team's record nineteen and sixty five.
The Steelers acquired All Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey from
the Dolphins. Denver Nuggets traded Michael Porter in a first
(33:43):
rounder to the Nets for Cam Johnson, and the Memphis
Grizzlies are giving Jaron Jackson a Max extension.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve. Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon coming up next, we break
down the biggest trade of the day in the NBA
and boy for one team, it was fantastic for him.
That's next, Jason to Mike. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten pm Eastern. Seven pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio
(34:12):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Find a song that makes you smile faster? So long,
dare you to them that season? It's so long. You're losing.
We're losing. We're losing, We're losing, We're losing pictures and games.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Well, but I mean, look at it this way. You
were at the best team ERA through the end of May.
For the month of Junior had the worst.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, the worst. Yeah, experiencing everything. I'm right up to
the baby. I could wear my metskar today, wear met shirts.
Say I know we're not gonna lose if for wrong
ago dirt Bags have lost twelve out of the last thirteen. Yeah, okay,
it's hurts swept by the pirates. Okay, here, well, here's
the legal to wear that. I know. Here's the thing
because now sitting where we are near the end of June,
(34:59):
twelve games under five hundred, last place, and oh wait,
I'm sorry, we're two games out of first and in
the first wild card. Oh okay, just ma just making sure,
just making sure, making sure slipping. No, it hasn't been great. No,
I'm not great, Bob. I guess use the word great,
but it's not. But it's not like last where hey,
(35:19):
we're twelve games or five hundred. I dude, and I
can't sugarcoat that. I can't. I can't find she's just
going we have scored like thirty to four. I should say,
do the Jesse marrish. We just missing half our guys,
so it's go missing. That's not a bad way to go,
missing half our guys. Uh. But look, this night one
(35:39):
of NBA free agency. We've had a lot of moves
from teams, a lot of big moves that that contenders
have made, teams that want be contenders. But the biggest
trade that we saw today the Nuggets trading Michael Porter
Junior to the Nets for Cam Johnson. Right now, this
is a deal that we we thought was coming. We
had heard for a while, all all the whispers that
(36:01):
Denver's got to move on from Michael Porter junior. They
got to they got to do something else. They got
to move on to Michael Porter junior. And I love
this trade for Denver because it frees up money and
Cam Johnson is much more of a an athletic scorer
and a guy that's going to be good on the wing.
And he's a good defender, which is healthy. Yeah, which
is also what Nikola Jokic wants. Hey, I need some
(36:21):
guys that I don't need. I don't need guys you know,
you know, gumming up my area here. I need and
we need to score on the wing a little bit more.
And they're more athletic. This is a really good move.
I get it for the Nets because they want to
keep Michael Porter Junior because he could be one of
those franchise players as he continues to develop. Right, he's
got a great skill set, but the Nuggets needed something else.
(36:43):
They needed They needed a guy that can hit some shots,
that can play defense, that's more athletic. Because and I
love this because yes, you can sit here and say, oh,
it's just keeping Yokich happy, which okay, it's very important. Yes,
you want to keep your star happy. But the most
important thing, and this is what the Nuggets realized that
a lot of compay and I wish the Knicks would
realize this, but okay, but that a lot of contenders
(37:04):
don't is that. Okay, we won the title. Here we
are now two years later, and it hasn't gotten better.
It is time to move on. From this group, it's
time to move on. I know that everybody still has
Champagne in their rise from two years ago we won
the title and Michael Porter Junior part of this, but
in two years it hasn't gotten better, right, So you
(37:26):
have to move on. You have to retool around who
is your players going forward? Obviously it's going to be
continue to build around Yokic for the night, for the
foreseeable future. What's the best way we go forward because
teams not everybody sees that something. Look, we've talked about
the Knicks and they're seeing a strategy of Hey, the
Celtics best players out for the year already and the Pacers'
(37:47):
best players out for the year already. Hey, we're gonna
be the favorites in these Let's not do anything stupid. No,
you were really shown the door that you really had
a lot of warts and you need to make something
big happen. But none, no, no, we don't think. We still
think this nucleus is really good. Okay, I get it,
but I'd rather be the nuggets where they understand that. Okay, hey,
(38:09):
we kept this window open for a couple of years,
but we had to fire our head coach. Now we're
making moves and they understand that. Okay, we won, we
got to get back up there. We need some change,
We need to do things a little bit differently. We
have a new head coach now that's now our official
head coach or permanent head coach. And now we make
a big move in free agency that's gonna make us better,
more athletic, better on the wing. Like I love it
(38:29):
when teams understand, hey, I love these players too. They
have a special place in our heart because we want
a championship together. We'll always have those memories, but it's
time to move on. It's like you know, hey, your
high school boyfriend girlfriend, Hey, we have great memory, but
you're going to this school and I'm going to this schooler.
We really gonna make it work for the first We're
gonna be miserable the first two years. When when you're
two thousand miles away and we're calling each other on
a Friday night and I'm wondering where you are on Saturday. No,
(38:51):
you got to move on right. High school was great,
you had great tons, awesome, but your life is changing
in college. Now. This is the Nuggets saying, hey, we
had our high school championship. Now it's time to move on.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
You look like you're getting a little wistful thinking of,
oh no, no, what was that girl's name sophomore year?
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I never had it. No, I never had that. I
was not. I knew long distance relationships were never gonna happen,
so I never even even thought about.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Okay, well, so we'll bury that one for now. But
when we look at Michael Porter junior last couple of years,
he's stayed fairly healthy. He at least appeared in games,
but oftentimes had the giant red medical designation alongside his name,
wondering about his back. Guy with an extended history, no
question about it. For Cam Johnson gets to go to
(39:36):
a game a team that will be competitive. And for
Nicola Jokic, you know, folks can dismiss the keep the
superstar happy. We've talked about how unique he is in
terms of not just his playing style and how good
he is and dominant on the court. Is that he's
a guy that's just a bit different in terms of
he could just turn and walk away, and I don't
(39:56):
think anybody would be shocked. So in the interim, you
do everything you can as a front office to keep
him happy. Oh and you had to give up an
unprotected twenty thirty two pick.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
And you say it, what is it? Seventeen million dollars
a year.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Different discrepancy gives you an extra chip to go into
the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
I mean great, I'm a great move all around by
the Nuggets. This is the biggest trade, best move so far.
They've done it. They've reopened that championship window. Now because
now you know they're not done, they have more money
to spend. They will do something else base they saw it.
I don't know how to top that in thirty seconds exit.
How about a Fresco exit swollen dome. Speaking of big decisions,
(40:37):
one NBA title contender could be nearer to the biggest decision.
They'll make the
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. Give this you're listening to
(00:24):
Fox Sports Radio. Hello, Welcome in Side hour two the
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Yeah,
what a day it is, as Night one of NBA
Free agency is here. Get in there and sell, sell, sell,
(00:45):
And I want to say this right. We'll have the
big story on Lebron coming up in a second. Like
I like all the stories so far. Well the signings
we're gonna get to, right, Michael Porter Junior was the
big move, big trade today, fun trade. Very excited for
Cam Johnson. Yeah, there's lots of fun stuff. We talked
a little last hour. We talked about two teams that
made moves today. I think we're gonna be in the
(01:06):
top three in each of their conference next year. It's
all great, but like this whole like I'm kind of
done with shams, and people say, what a big night? Wait, wait,
do you see what happens night when okay, well it
still is early enough, we may get something. It's eleven
o'clock in the east. I told you what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Giannie's yard sale will be wrapped up and whatever's left
will be thrown.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Lucas couch eight seven seven night when I'm hanging out there,
or they're you know, just dieting together, you know whatever,
it is, just eating vegetables. Yeah, that's all we're doing.
Look how Sin Lucas hanging out together. But I feel like, okay, snap,
I get it that you know, in the NBA world,
this has been a really really big day in NBA. Okay,
(01:54):
free game's first day. But you said, don't sit here
and tell me what an unbelievable day it's going to be.
I'm like, okay, you're you're talking about deals that don't
have the cross entirely cross country promotional appeal. You're not
talking about superstars that are changing, but they are changing teams.
We're talking about moves that that teams have made that hey,
this can vault them up. That's really what it is.
(02:16):
But I mean, come on, Michael Porter Junior is the
biggest name you know, don't don't see her? Tell me
what an unbelievable day it's gonna be. Okay, I get it,
but I think you know what the world of the
NBA versus what it is to everybody that that's two
different things, right, It's it's kind of we're kind of
not quite seeing what we've been promised over and now
it could change. Yeah, Giannis could go to the Knicks,
you know, any minute now, Jannis and Doc could wind
(02:37):
up going to the Knicks as a package deal. Ho
don't we go together? Not at all? That could act.
But so far, I'm like, okay, this is this has
been a day for the big NBA fan who is
watching what his team is doing and seeing, hey, is
this gonna make us better? Like there's there's that kind
of appeal, but the whole Hey, you know, Kevin Durant,
even though the guy's thirty seven and I don't know
(02:57):
what he's gonna have left. He hasn't led a team.
He's a getting paid a lot of money for for
what he's gonna take it for the salary cap. He's
always been that guy. But he's a big name that
everybody cares about. Like, yeah, I'm like, okay, you got
If you're gonna tell me a night's gonna be big,
you gotta you gotta, you gotta give me some big names.
You're gonna wind up moving places. Not that Hey, this
is happening. And oh, by the way, the Knicks are
getting Jordan Clarkson. You know, I love that move, and
(03:21):
I'm like, okay, game score, I get it. I like
that move. But okay, you know this isn't k D.
It's not Giannis, it's not it's not Embiid, it's not
any it's not anything else. It's okay, yeah, not even
the big marquee teams. It's not even the Lakers of
the Knicks, of the Southern It's okay. Well, we've got
the Hawks, make big moves Hawks and the magic right
in the Rockets. Sure, with their new front office made
(03:43):
a big made that big trade in the Brooklyn Nets.
I mean we we did technically land in New York, right, yeah,
all of up.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I mean, you got a lot of money changing hands,
and that's all finding good. But for Shams, Shams right now,
his whole thing is that he's got to Uh, he's
p T Barnum. He's got to go in there and
sell sell. Everybody else has been vanquished. Wendy's kind of
been neutered and all this ever since Lebron kind of
(04:15):
you know, sunned him with the you know.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Like we're best friends.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
All that guy did was give you love and adoration
and headlines that were just glowing for years.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Now, Shams is that guy. Sharani is now the.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Torch carrier for Lebron James Enterprises and Rich Paul and
Clutch Sports.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's all there, but it's all on him and he's
got to try to sell it as best he can.
The groundbreaking move might come through on this next text
message I got. Oh, no, it's someone asking me to
vote in a local election.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Damn it. No, I thought it was gonna be the
big one. Hello and welcome to movie vote now. Speaking
of guys taking up too much money from the Cellar
team salary cap, Lebron James over the weekend decided to
opt in to his fifty two million dollar option with
the Lakers for this year. Part of this announcement was
(05:11):
that he is also going to be watching to make
sure the Lakers make moves to stay competitive. He understands
the Lakers are going. I know, I'm trying to do
this with a straight faith. It's very difficult. It's very difficult.
You know, I understand the Lakers. They was handpicked Towel,
he was handpicked.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
He understands the Lakers are going in a direction where
it's you know, behind Luca that they're building around him.
But you know, I still want to win and be
competitive and all this stuff. And I'm watching the Lakers
to see like the threat of him demanding a trade
is actually going to happen. Okay, let me tightly strip
it all the way. Here's what Lebron is doing because
what this whole I'm watching the Lakers to see what
(05:55):
they do. It is what I call a loak, which
is a load of crap. This is a load of
crap and simply a spin by Lebron and Clutch Sports
to make it seem like Lebron is still controlling the
narrative with the Lakers. Right. He did for a long time,
right did for a long time. The zenith of Lebron's
control was the Lakers saying, we can get Buddy healed.
(06:18):
This guy no, no, no, we want Westbrook. I don't know,
let's go get Westbrook. And they're still up until but
maybe now they'll kind of get out of it. But
they were still up until last year suffering from hey,
we went out and got Westbrook. Right, Yes, he used
to be that guy. But when the Lakers traded for
Luca and now the team is being sold, Lebron is
(06:38):
being kept at shoulders length. And I told you this
is his last year with the Lakers and he's not
gonna take less money. And again, now this hamstrings the
Lakers because Lebron, as good a player as he is,
is not worth thirty five to thirty seven percent of
the salary cap whatever it's going to be, unless the
Lakers say, hey, we'll go over second. Apron all this
fun like that's what he is. Like, he's a really
(06:59):
good player still, but he's not worth campaign fifty two
million dollars. But this is where the Lakers are stuck with.
They're stuck with each other for this year. No one's
trading for Lebron James with that kind of salary, and
that's not happening. But this will be his last year
in Los Angeles because the Lakers will spend this year again,
and I understand because it's gonna be well, Luke and
Lebron really only had a couple of months. We want
(07:20):
to get Luca in the right place. And now Luca,
every video you see of Luca, he looks so skinny
in his new short sleeve shirts and everything else. Maybe
now he's listening to the Lakers and getting in shape. Okay,
that's great, and we want to give him a chance
with Lebron to see what they can do. And this
is gonna be not a free year, but a year
to say, Okay, maybe we catch lightning in a bottle
(07:43):
and Lebron understands his basketball mortality in La is going
to be this year, and something big happens and they
go far and they surprise a lot of people and
then maybe something changes. But this is gonna be a
year the Lakers are going to say, Okay, what do
we do over this year and how to we build
around Luca? What's the what changes do we need to
make next off season? Like this offseason for the Lakers
(08:05):
is gonna be if they can do one big thing,
I'd be happy. If they can do one big thing,
I'd be happy and it doesn't need to be something
un like Yiannis. But if they can do one big
thing and bring in one big player, one big rim runner,
one big, one big player that can say, okay, this
can allow us to trade Austin Reeves if we need
to whatever. If they could do one thing, all right,
(08:27):
that's great. But other than that, this is gonna be
a year where it's where it's going to be. All right,
how to the next eighty two games and playoffs go?
What do we need behind Luca, We're gonna be have
that fifty million dollars worth. Good. Now you don't have
worry about Pandoran Phinney Smith because he opted out and
now he's gone to the rockets. So you're gonna have money.
You're gonna be flush with more cash next year. So
that's what's gonna happen. This is just Lebron wanting the
(08:49):
optic of I'm in control. Dude, you're not. You're not
in control. Don't tell me you're monitoring like the Lakers
aren't tank. You're not gonna suddenly suck. We'll go get
Cooper flag again. We'll just call Nico for Cooper flagging.
A couple of years will tradehim? Do it? Let me
be worried about like he's. All he's doing is trying
to control the narrative that I'm still because because that's
been who his whole career has been about finals, his
(09:12):
impact on the game. But I am still the biggest
of the big dogs, right And I'm gonna try to
put this out to the Hey, I'm kind of above
the team, and I want to look and see you're
doing the right thing. If I'm Mark Walter, if I'm
Gee but Ron, probably I'm gonna say, what are you
gonna do? I get very public, I go, what are
you gonna do? What are you gonna do? You're gonna
opt what? What do you do? You can't you opt
it in? What are you gonna do? Sit out? What
(09:33):
do we go trade you? We can't trade you because
you said no, I'm gonna take fifty two million dollars
because I'm never gonna take less money. So I'm taking
fifty two million dollars. What are you gonna do? Lebron? Yeah? Again,
but what are you gonna do? That's what I would say,
very outloud, very chesty, like I wanna fight. Hey, what
are you gonna do? What are you gonna what do
you really He's not gonna do anything. He's not gonna
do anything. He is here until the season ends and
(09:53):
the Lakers say thank you, and he's calling Cleveland saying, hey, guys,
you know I started here, I came back. We won
love to finish here. I think you guys need a
little bit of leadership, you know. I see you guys
got a lot of young, good young players. Maybe hey,
maybe I could finish it home. That's kind of what
I'd like to do. That's what this is all about,
Julie grid.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
If he wants to play for no money. I had
the blessing that this statement, whatever this is you want
to call it and categorize it, came out while I
was on air doing the Fox Sports Sunday Show and
had a good laugh at it, and yeah, it's Lebron
trying to keep control when he doesn't have it right.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
This is the ah, you broke up? Hey, I broke
up with her.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Okay, it was all my idea. It wasn't gonna work.
You know, we couldn't. You couldn't have this happen. You know,
you don't want the stink of it on you or
it's the I'm gonna go out on a hiking trail
and you know that sign that says, hey be where
the mountain lion. But if you do see one, look
real big. Lebron's trying to look real big here. The
problem is that doesn't work because everybody sees right through
(10:57):
it of trying to own the narrative that the.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Lakers, there's no way they can trade you. Right, nobody's
giving you fifty three million dollars worth of assets, right
if you wanted to go home to Cleveland. Guess what
to make it work? They give up five guys like
it's a burger and you know, the the peanut oil,
fries and all of that stuff, and go around contenders.
Because that's the thing, right still wants to be on
(11:22):
a contender. No contender can take on that salary without
gutting what they are and the identity.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Of who they are along the way. So that's one.
The other is, I'm sure he would have liked a
James Harden like deal, making sure he got every penny
along the way.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Oh yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You mentioned in passing Finney Smith that guy really would
have helped, right, And I'm not a guy that's looking
for any player to really go in and give up
a bunch of money. Now, if you could stretch things
out to where your perannum makes you feel a whole,
especially when you're forty two, forty three, forty years, forty
four years old, to give you some flexibility. Now, because
(12:00):
I mentioned him before, Brook Lopez might not be a
world beater, but damnit, he'd looked really good in the
Laker uniform for fifteen to twenty minutes a night, Whitney
in terms of trying to solve what you need as
a big men. Instead he goes to the Clippers.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
At what nine million a year?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
So we're talking on the periphery. Finney Smith's deal with
Houston was four for fifty three. They were fourteen and
six with him as a starter last year were the Lakers.
And you look at a guy defender pretty good from
outside about thirty six and change from three point range.
All of that to say is he's a guy that
could have continued to eat minutes. But if you're not
(12:39):
gonna opt in, you know, with the negotiations. And this
is where Mark Walter and the new look Laker front
office in business dealings going forward is at a hard
reset for the year following kind of looks like it,
doesn't it when you wipe that fifty three million dollars
off the board and you say, all right, we're now
(12:59):
open for business because you can only do the when
we talk about the second apron, right, it really screws
you draft wise and asset wise if you do it
multiple times over a five year period.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
It's supposed to be punitive to go into that space.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So are you gonna do it when Lebron's taking up
fifty three million dollars of cap space?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
No, you're not right.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It would just be bad business that hamstrings you down
the road to try to make him happy. So the
all the I'm watching you like he's de Niro and
Meet the Foxers. It's all all bluster. So it's all
it's all fun and game and fugezy. But it helps
him keep the narrative and lets him sleep at night,
whether he plays somewhere else next year, whether his wife
(13:41):
gets what she's wanted, screaming in the background, retire already,
damn it?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Wait, wait, really, where do you think you're not? It's
like in the movie where the the Uh, where the
hero is running and running away and the bad guys
chase him, going where are you gonna go? There's no
way out? And this is like Lebron is a running
trying to find it. Where you're gonna go? You gotta
fight me in the alley. There's no way out of
this alley. You gotta fight me. There's no way where
(14:06):
you're gonna go. Where you're gonna go, there's no place
to go. You're not going anywhere. You're here. Okay, here's
no influenza. It's your last year. Enjoy it and then
go and then go back to playing in Cleveland. Go
go back.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He could have had a lot more fun this offseason
if he'd opted out. See wants him at whatever rate
he was willing to play for. That would have been fun.
Theater exit, how about a Fresca exit swollen dome? Jason
Smith Mike Harmon Live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Coming up next, we get back into the biggest NFL
trade of the off season so far, plus my favorite
story of the weekend without a doubt. That's next Jason
and Mike Fox. 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
(14:53):
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller with me and a lot to have you joined
us on our week the Auditory Journey. You're asking, what
in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you
it's a spin off of it. Ben Mather Show, a
Colt hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture
if you will a world will? We chat with captains
of industry in media, sports and more every week explore
(15:16):
some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mather or the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon. Yeah, we'll get to the big NFL
trade coming up in a couple of minutes. But you know,
my favorite story of the weekend was here, his favorite
story of the weekend. It made me laugh out loud.
I loved it so much. The movie that we loved
laught so well that you were tackling like a bad
man like you out of financial stake in it. No,
(15:46):
not financial steak. Good. Where can we get a steak.
Let's go, so big weekend for the United States men's
national team, right, make it to the knockout stage of
the uh may make it to the semifinals the Gold
Cup either after the big penalty kicks which is a
phenomenal event this week, and I mean watching it was
so much fun, it was so tense, and wow, penalty
(16:09):
kicks still suck. Yeah, I think I think Turner might
have to look worry about his job a little bit
here for the World Cup next year. But perhaps I
missed the freeze. I miss him. Everybody chill that did
your favorite moment come from the penalty kicks? No, it
did not, because one of my favorites, dear, no, my favorite,
(16:29):
my favorite? Right? Okay, So here comes now this new
modern day rivalry between the United States and Canada and soccer. Right,
that's come off the last couple of years. Okay, that's great.
And Jesse Marsh, the head coach of Canada, who has
never been shy with saying things about this rivalry, wanted
to make sure he piled on, twisted the knife a
(16:52):
bit and coming into the Gold Cup when the United States,
for their best players were not playing right, including Christian
polistic who said, hey, it's been a long year. I
want to come for a couple of games. I want
to come for the entire Gold Cup. And you know,
this whole thing that made US soccer look bad and
clear was a bad optic. And jesse Marsh decided, yeah,
I'm gonn twist and knife wip because I'm you know,
(17:14):
all these reports out not happy with how the coaching
selection went. Wanted to be the coach the US men's
national team. Decided to say, remember, right before the Gold
Cup began, not one guy called me and said, coach,
I don't know, it's been a long year. Maybe I
don't come to the Gold Cup. Not one guy. Okay,
this is exact quote from Jesse Marsh. Not one guy,
(17:34):
not even close to that conversation, Okay, leaving no stone
unturned that hey, everybody wanted to come. Nobody said they're
not there. Everybody wanted to show. Okay, all right, that's great,
that's great. Now they get knocked out, right, so now
the United States gets to play Venezuela instead of Canada
because they get knocked out in penalties. And what is
jesse Marsh tell reporters yesterday, if I'm honest, we're missing
(17:57):
half of our group. Nobody called it. They weren't coming,
but you lost Oh hey hey hey, now hey, we're
missing half our guys.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Right, well, so this became, but the follow up spin is, well,
they're all hurt.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
It's not that they weren't coming, like we didn't have
conversations because they were just too tired. I said they
were unavailable.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
See I thought I thought the other was that you
were going to talk about the miss penalty kick by
Burr Halter.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Oh, television coverage showing the body that was so sailed it.
That's like when you see how did that umpire call
out a strike? And you see they show you where
them the strike boxes and this bollet's like way out
of it, like Angel hernandez umpiring? What how did they
make that call? Oh my favorite story. Hey, no excuses, No,
everybody's here. Every no one called me said they don't
(18:52):
want to come play. Oh we're missing half our guys.
Oh okay, oh sid show now you're and a half here.
It's well, but but he wants to be clear they
none of them called to say they were too tired
to play.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, they might have been injured or had other commitments,
but they weren't too tired.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
No no, no, no, no, no, no no no. Look
now the look Alfonso Davies is one of the best
left backs in the world. He got hurt towards a
cl in March. But this is this is after, this
is right before the Gold Cup. I'm twisting the knife
here on the United States, nobody called this day. They
worked up. Oh now we're now we're missing half our guys.
Now we went from hey, no, we're here, we're ready,
we want to play. Oh, but now here's an excuse
(19:33):
because we lost. Oh we're missing Oh okay, so wait
a minute. So I don't understand. But I thought everybody
was all into it and everything was great. Oh but now,
oh yeah, here's why we lost.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well, but that's that's coach speak, right, that's what we do.
It's not reasons, it's excuses. It's the But this is
why it didn't go our way. It's the tale as
old as time. I mean, it's great theater. When we
talk about international happens as, and whenever penalty kicks become
(20:02):
involved in things, I always just kind of shrug. Like
with my daughter's teams, that's one of the things I
hate like you just killed each other up and down
the field for all these minutes, and now we're gonna
decide whether a goalie.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Guess is right to decide. At least I'm a big stay,
you know what I mean. At some point, Yeah, at
some point you gotta do some keep running, keep going,
or maybe you do it like uh maybe a borrow
instead of penalties. You borrow from the NHL. Hey, we're
gonna play five on five in the overtime. It's go okay,
all right, we'll go up and do We're gonna play
five on five. All right. Maybe that's good. Maybe maybe
(20:37):
that's how you do it. You still settle it on
the field, but you play five on five, or you
go from eleven v eleven and after the first minute
you go to ten v ten. Then you go nine
v nine, run off eight v eight. Yeah, here's your order.
You gotta come off two minutes, gonna come off blows,
and you just play until until somebody scores. We're down
(20:58):
a one on one. Now, boy, these guys are It's
better than penalty kicks. That's the way to do it.
I wouldn't mind seeing that I'm in I like that. Uh,
I love that story. That's a good story, you know,
anytime the coaches have to now eat it. Yeah, oh yeah,
I know. Hey, we're missing we're missing half far guns.
Oh oh that's what okay should have held up graphics.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
See all these guys injured, injured, stung by a bee.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Uh but everybody wanted to be there. Oh yeah yeah yeah,
but we're missing half. Oh he got the wrong protein shake.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
He's lactose intolerant, so he was unavailable to us.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Wait this doesn't have way and it does it? Yes?
No way? Whoa no way. I kept saying no way. No.
I thought you said, like, dude, do you want something?
And I said no way? And I said yeah, so
I got it for you. I didn't know you meant,
oh you couldn't have way. W h e y oh
I didn't that oh so way he said no way?
Oh not tim weigh No, no, no, no, no, completely
(21:55):
different thing. Oh okay, way, okay.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Wa see there it is. There's your buddy eat comedy.
You could do kicking and screaming two and that's the
way they sabotage the opponents, like one thing after another.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Kicking and screaming one any good. I don't even think
I saw it. I enjoyed it, really, Okay it did.
Merits A Part two? Will Ferrell, Yeah, no, I know,
Will Ferrell Yeah, Merits A Part two. Robert Duvall, Okay,
dit get juice box? Okay, all right, okay Harris, oh
Rachel Harris. Yeah, but still a second movie. I could
(22:27):
go for a second move. Whole second movie. Ok. Pretty good? Uh? Now,
big trade in the NFL today we talked about little
bit last hour from the Dolphins perspective. Dolphins and Steelers
finally make a trade that we thought was going to
be made about a month ago. John new Smith for
some reason, the Dolphins didn't want to pay him. We
thought he was going to get traded to the Steelers.
The deal kind of fell through. You keep your all pros.
(22:49):
But now it's back when all pros get involved because
Jalen Ramsey was enough to sweeten the pot with John
hu Smith to the Steelers, who parted with Minka Fitzpatrick.
So you have an all pro cornerback and all pro
safety as part of this trade. So it's Jalen Ramsey
and John new Smith for Mika Fitzpatrick and a pickswap,
and it's a late round PICKSWAP. So we talked about
(23:10):
the Dolphins side of it. It's hard to understand. I
can't understand, and this is a league that has the
Jets in it. I can't understand what the Dolphins are doing.
But for the Steelers, I know they're gonna get a
lot of criticism because you're bringing in older players and
is another, you know, another example of here's you know,
Jalen Ramsey's over thirty and John new Smith is twenty nine.
(23:30):
But I'm happy because I feel like the Steelers are
now finally behaving like a modern day NFL team. They
generally don't sign guys in free agency or don't go
for big trades, but now look what they've done in
the last few months. DK metcalf is in all right,
we made that move, right. We've send out George Pickens,
(23:51):
and we brought in a new quarterback and Aaron Rodgers.
Now we make a big trade with and we send
out Minka Fitzpatrick, who's been great for us. But we're
getting to all pro type players coming back in. It
makes me happy that maybe the Steelers aren't lost, right,
maybe all hope isn't lost. When I say things like
omar Kanum, Mike Tomlin, how are you running this team?
It's not nineteen eighty five. You're not gonna win by
(24:13):
going a value meal at the quarterback position, right, You're
not gonna do that. But but now this hope that, Okay,
they're acting like a real NFL team that has a
win now kind of window in that, Hey, we're going
for it with Aaron Rodgers, so we're okay, bringing in
John Husmith and bringing in Jalen Ramsey and to go
along with the other guys that we've traded for. Hey,
(24:35):
I kind of like that again so much that I've
been critical of the steel I don't know the last
time I said something about the Steelers. Okay, I really
like what they did here. It's not many things except
this I like because now I feel like, in the
last couple of months, they've decided, Okay, at least we're
gonna be bold. Right. I don't like the Rogers move.
It's going to backfire on them, But I don't want
to add let's not talk about that. Let's talk about
(24:56):
the right strategy. And maybe this is Omarcana Mike Tomlin's
seeing that, Hey, we could be on our way out
if we don't start winning, right, like, we're how much
of a of a of a mode of winning that
were we put on by ownership saying hey, if you
don't win, I know, we just signed you again, gave
you an extension, Mike Tomlin, but boy, you guys gotta
(25:16):
do something because generally, again, the Steelers don't do things
like this. So whether it was a bit of an
impetus that hey, you guys got to win now, let's
get a little bit more aggressive, I feel like the
Steelers have joined the you know, modern day NFL in
twenty twenty five by making these big moves, and it
makes me happy that, Okay, maybe maybe it's not all
lost for them, because hey, the NFL is good when
the Steelers are good. It's better when the Steelers and
(25:37):
the Cowboys and the Dolphins and all those teams are good.
And this is a good thing. So I'm happy about this.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Always in the mix, you know, we talk about the
streak and eight and a half the over under on
wins for the years, so night in the nice and
the meaty part of the curve, they do have a
more depth at cornerback than perhaps any other team.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
They go eight or nine deep at cornerback now because
you got.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Darius Elliott, Thornhill, Porter, Junior Ramsey. Forget about Bishop. They
drafted Dante Kent. Yeah, I know he might do for
a couple of reps. Just keep on going there. So
in the AFC, you're you're ready for battle. In that regard,
(26:20):
you got a bunch of guys that can play, and
even if they are a little older, still the the
depth comes into play for you.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Here. You did draft Derek Harmon. I'd be remiss if
you didn't say, you know, armand dress the front arm,
but shuffle up and do something right even if it's wrong.
That was seemingly the message from the Rooneys, who normally
don't do a lot of talking coming off of this
last season, a disappointment with another early exit. So for
(26:50):
Mike Tomlin, you and I, you know, in our media circles,
I don't know how secure his job really is.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
I'm assuming it's a life until they agree to shake
hands and walk away.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Maybe he's got to be the guy that starts.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That conversation because it just seems like at some point
you're running in place. Now with this change, you've got
a more dynamic, more stable quarterback, even if he is
longer in the tooth. He can't tell me. Rogers isn't
the best they've seen at the position since Roethlisberger's third
to final year.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Because that limp to a terrible end. Oh yea where
he couldn't move and he no longer could do the
incredible hulk of six guys trying and terrible. Now he
even just crumble and that was the end of him.
Extending plays didn't exist. Metcalf's going to be an interesting
experiment offensively, trying to figure out how to push forward
Arthur Smith's offense when really it'll become Aaron Rodgers offense
(27:48):
before long. Is a curiosity in a stack division because Cleveland,
even if they can't get their quarterback right, they're still
a pretty good roster.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
But I like that they're at least being bold. John
new Smith and Friarmooth team together. They got Smith to
sign a one year deal for twelve million, which is
nothing if you can come anywhere near replicating the production
he had a year ago. And now this helps where
you have a little bit of a thinner wide receiving
corps alongside Metcalf that you do have the dual tight
(28:18):
end that can run the seams for you. No, I
mean it's it's amazing that it took the Steelers this long.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
You go, oh the Steelers way really is who? Not
what it was? Man? We got no but we do something.
But it's good versus great, right, consistently good both our teams.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
We'd kill to have a three year stretch that looks
like white Mike and Tomblin is done. Oh, Jory, you're
fighting in December for something meaningful, but.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
They'll be fighting for Will Howard to start in December.
But again, I don't want let's be positive about want
to be positive to my positive about this. I positive
about this, not that Will Howard's gonna be. Why do
you have to take Aaron Rodgers out at the knee?
Not that suddenly and it's a third snaf I'm gonna
be getting emails going, hey, in my Dynasty draft, should
I take Will Howard as a late flyer? Yes? Take
Will Howard is a late flyer? Yes, go ahead, take
(29:08):
him in the fourth round of your Dynasty draft. Cut Uh, No,
I this is it's good and it's not like they're
suddenly on the hook bad contracts. It's oh they traded
for a guy who's still in this prime in DK
metcalf Right, and they've been some other moves that worked
out as well, and now here John Wi Smith can
be a really good tight end for a couple of years.
Tight ends, you know, you don't just hit thirty is
a tight end and suddenly fall off the cliff. You
(29:29):
can be a really good you know, you see guys
at thirty three, thirty four, even thirty five having big
years a tight end in the NFL, especially when if
you can team up Smith with Pat Fryer, move where
you're not playing all the time and you're you're fresher
like this was a really good move. Honestly, John Smith
probably comes their number two target, probably their number two
guy in the offense now in the passing game. Right,
So again, welcome to the modern era. In the end,
(29:52):
took just took you a while, took you twenty five
or thirty years, but welcome Steelers. You're here, about time,
Thank you, you're all here. Can we get our teams there?
Time not to find out what's what one problem at
the time, like in Fight Club, one fight at a time.
By at the time, Yeah, let's find out what's trending
in the wide world of sports. Someone who's been called
Steve de Saga because his name is Steve de Saga,
(30:15):
he's got what's trending. Oh, I've been called worse.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
We've got great baseball in Texas tonight and great soccer
and Orlando going on first off programming. Note, US Men's
soccer plays its Gold Cup semi final Wednesday on FS
one from Saint Louis against Guatemala. Guatemala just upset Canada
and to shootout Sunday the Americans one on Sunday on
penalty kicks.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
You didn't have half their guys, Steve, they didn't have
half their.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
So give him some slack. It sounded okay, you know,
the roster was okay, if I guess. We went through
today the Americans against Costa Rica yesterday and you mentioned
the US goalie Matt Frees making three late saves out
of the six penalty kicks he faced. And then in
the second semifinal late Wednesday. This week, Mexico will play
in the bay Are against Honduras. The tournament final is
(31:02):
Sunday in Houston. Also, the FIFA Club World Cup is
going on in the round of sixteen. Inter Milan lost
today in Charlotte to nothing to Flumenensea, and tonight still
going on in Orlando. Manchester City might be eliminated shortly.
Now they were trailing second half. Their Superstar early high
on it in the fifty fifth minute score to tie
(31:23):
it at two. He was substituted out for overtime. They
fell behind. Phil Foden of England tied it, and now
they've fallen behind again late in the ot al hell
all four Manchester City three, two minutes to go here
after eleven thirty in Orlando, and a great crowd there
(31:43):
as well. Tuesday, Real Madrid plays Juventus in Miami. As
for that baseball game in Texas, the Orioles in the
top of the tenth inning homer twice for a six
to three lead over the Rangers. Bottom of the tenth
Odllas Garcia a three run homer to even the game.
And now in the top of the eleventh, the Orioles
with four runs and a ten to six lead. Now
(32:05):
bottom of the eleventh Texas batting at Seattle, we have
a Cal Raley homer, his thirty third of the season.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
You get it a home run every day. Cal Raley
take every day he literally could from both sides of
the plate, except one night when I take him in
the MLB the streak game and he goes over four. Well,
here's the kiss of death there point. Did they check
his bat earlier?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yeah, it's one of those torpedo bats that nobody's talking
about anymore. How about that sack fly earlier for cal Raley.
That was his seventieth RBI. It's Seattle six to one
over the Royals, top of the eighth Rosarina with two
long balls. There were at least three team shutouts on
each of the last five days in the Major's longest
set streak in Major League history. Philadelphia Tonight shut out
(32:47):
San Diego for nothing. Pittsburgh Tonight shutout Saint Louis seven
to nothing. The late game on FS one did have
Arizona shutting out the Giants two nothing.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
In the seventh, Giants tied it up.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Arizona has just gone back in front. It's now three
two diamondbacks. In the top of the eighth inning, Toronto
beat the Yankees five to four, Vladimir Guerrero Junior with
three RBIs. Toronto shortstop Bobachet was out with a sore knee.
The A's with two runs in the top of the
ninth one at Tampa Bay six to four. The lost
to closer Pete Fairbanks. Boston's win was thirteen to six
(33:20):
over Cincinnati, as the Red Sox scored seven times in
the first inning. Houston shortstop Jeremy Pania was placed on
the injured list with a small rib fracture. He had
been hit by a pitch. The Rockies host Houston on Tuesday.
Colorado off tonight. That team's record nineteen and sixty five.
The Steelers acquired All Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey from
the Dolphins. Denver Nuggets traded Michael Porter in a first
(33:43):
rounder to the Nets for Cam Johnson, and the Memphis
Grizzlies are giving Jaron Jackson a Max extension.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve. Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon coming up next, we break
down the biggest trade of the day in the NBA
and boy for one team, it was fantastic for him.
That's next, Jason to Mike. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten pm Eastern. Seven pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio
(34:12):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Find a song that makes you smile faster? So long,
dare you to them that season? It's so long. You're losing.
We're losing. We're losing, We're losing, We're losing pictures and games.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Well, but I mean, look at it this way. You
were at the best team ERA through the end of May.
For the month of Junior had the worst.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, the worst. Yeah, experiencing everything. I'm right up to
the baby. I could wear my metskar today, wear met shirts.
Say I know we're not gonna lose if for wrong
ago dirt Bags have lost twelve out of the last thirteen. Yeah, okay,
it's hurts swept by the pirates. Okay, here, well, here's
the legal to wear that. I know. Here's the thing
because now sitting where we are near the end of June,
(34:59):
twelve games under five hundred, last place, and oh wait,
I'm sorry, we're two games out of first and in
the first wild card. Oh okay, just ma just making sure,
just making sure, making sure slipping. No, it hasn't been great. No,
I'm not great, Bob. I guess use the word great,
but it's not. But it's not like last where hey,
(35:19):
we're twelve games or five hundred. I dude, and I
can't sugarcoat that. I can't. I can't find she's just
going we have scored like thirty to four. I should say,
do the Jesse marrish. We just missing half our guys,
so it's go missing. That's not a bad way to go,
missing half our guys. Uh. But look, this night one
(35:39):
of NBA free agency. We've had a lot of moves
from teams, a lot of big moves that that contenders
have made, teams that want be contenders. But the biggest
trade that we saw today the Nuggets trading Michael Porter
Junior to the Nets for Cam Johnson. Right now, this
is a deal that we we thought was coming. We
had heard for a while, all all the whispers that
(36:01):
Denver's got to move on from Michael Porter junior. They
got to they got to do something else. They got
to move on to Michael Porter junior. And I love
this trade for Denver because it frees up money and
Cam Johnson is much more of a an athletic scorer
and a guy that's going to be good on the wing.
And he's a good defender, which is healthy. Yeah, which
is also what Nikola Jokic wants. Hey, I need some
(36:21):
guys that I don't need. I don't need guys you know,
you know, gumming up my area here. I need and
we need to score on the wing a little bit more.
And they're more athletic. This is a really good move.
I get it for the Nets because they want to
keep Michael Porter Junior because he could be one of
those franchise players as he continues to develop. Right, he's
got a great skill set, but the Nuggets needed something else.
(36:43):
They needed They needed a guy that can hit some shots,
that can play defense, that's more athletic. Because and I
love this because yes, you can sit here and say, oh,
it's just keeping Yokich happy, which okay, it's very important. Yes,
you want to keep your star happy. But the most
important thing, and this is what the Nuggets realized that
a lot of compay and I wish the Knicks would
realize this, but okay, but that a lot of contenders
(37:04):
don't is that. Okay, we won the title. Here we
are now two years later, and it hasn't gotten better.
It is time to move on. From this group, it's
time to move on. I know that everybody still has
Champagne in their rise from two years ago we won
the title and Michael Porter Junior part of this, but
in two years it hasn't gotten better, right, So you
(37:26):
have to move on. You have to retool around who
is your players going forward? Obviously it's going to be
continue to build around Yokic for the night, for the
foreseeable future. What's the best way we go forward because
teams not everybody sees that something. Look, we've talked about
the Knicks and they're seeing a strategy of Hey, the
Celtics best players out for the year already and the Pacers'
(37:47):
best players out for the year already. Hey, we're gonna
be the favorites in these Let's not do anything stupid. No,
you were really shown the door that you really had
a lot of warts and you need to make something
big happen. But none, no, no, we don't think. We still
think this nucleus is really good. Okay, I get it,
but I'd rather be the nuggets where they understand that. Okay, hey,
(38:09):
we kept this window open for a couple of years,
but we had to fire our head coach. Now we're
making moves and they understand that. Okay, we won, we
got to get back up there. We need some change,
We need to do things a little bit differently. We
have a new head coach now that's now our official
head coach or permanent head coach. And now we make
a big move in free agency that's gonna make us better,
more athletic, better on the wing. Like I love it
(38:29):
when teams understand, hey, I love these players too. They
have a special place in our heart because we want
a championship together. We'll always have those memories, but it's
time to move on. It's like you know, hey, your
high school boyfriend girlfriend, Hey, we have great memory, but
you're going to this school and I'm going to this schooler.
We really gonna make it work for the first We're
gonna be miserable the first two years. When when you're
two thousand miles away and we're calling each other on
a Friday night and I'm wondering where you are on Saturday. No,
(38:51):
you got to move on right. High school was great,
you had great tons, awesome, but your life is changing
in college. Now. This is the Nuggets saying, hey, we
had our high school championship. Now it's time to move on.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
You look like you're getting a little wistful thinking of,
oh no, no, what was that girl's name sophomore year?
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I never had it. No, I never had that. I
was not. I knew long distance relationships were never gonna happen,
so I never even even thought about.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Okay, well, so we'll bury that one for now. But
when we look at Michael Porter junior last couple of years,
he's stayed fairly healthy. He at least appeared in games,
but oftentimes had the giant red medical designation alongside his name,
wondering about his back. Guy with an extended history, no
question about it. For Cam Johnson gets to go to
(39:36):
a game a team that will be competitive. And for
Nicola Jokic, you know, folks can dismiss the keep the
superstar happy. We've talked about how unique he is in
terms of not just his playing style and how good
he is and dominant on the court. Is that he's
a guy that's just a bit different in terms of
he could just turn and walk away, and I don't
(39:56):
think anybody would be shocked. So in the interim, you
do everything you can as a front office to keep
him happy. Oh and you had to give up an
unprotected twenty thirty two pick.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
And you say it, what is it? Seventeen million dollars
a year.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Different discrepancy gives you an extra chip to go into
the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
I mean great, I'm a great move all around by
the Nuggets. This is the biggest trade, best move so far.
They've done it. They've reopened that championship window. Now because
now you know they're not done, they have more money
to spend. They will do something else base they saw it.
I don't know how to top that in thirty seconds exit.
How about a Fresco exit swollen dome. Speaking of big decisions,
(40:37):
one NBA title contender could be nearer to the biggest decision.
They'll make the
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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