December 18, 2021 • 36 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon discuss the return of Kyrie Irving for the Brooklyn Nets road games and also project how an injured player for a red hot team that could make them the very best in the NBA. All this and more on The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmen 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 Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on
the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R. You're
(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside Happy Friday,
The Jason Smith Show with my big friend Mike Harmony.
As we get set for a big weekend of football,
We're gonna have the NFL basically every day for the
next three months. We got games. Tomorrow, we got games.
(00:46):
Sunday we got games. Monday, we got games. Tuesday, we
got a game. On Thursday, we got games. We have
games almost every single day. Unfortunately, because of the latest
developments with NFL teams and the COVID situation, however, we're
not getting forfeits though some teams would like that. We
are getting all the games played at least as of now,
my Carmen, So the big question is going to be
(01:08):
how do I put my lineup in for Fantasy? Because
I got guys playing on Tuesday. But if they don't
play because of COVID, can I put a guy in retroactively?
Do I have to tell you before the game that
I'm putting a guy in? Do I wait to do this? Uh,
that's gonna be a very very big question. I answer
them all right now. If he doesn't play on Tuesday,
(01:28):
you made your choice. Sorry, it didn't work your way.
So I get a guy twisting his ankle on the
first play, Do I get the other fifty nine minutes
of somebody else? Nope? Not. Now wait a minute, let
me just say this before you go on. Uh, please
check with your commissioner what the rules are for your lead.
All right, Mike Harmon is not making the rules for
your individual No, listen, It's like Brandon Staley and everybody
(01:56):
wanted to be all mushy mouthed in terms of how
we addressed it, saying, well, you know, down distance and
game situation, time outs and how the flow is, that's
how we're gonna play. No, he said, we're gonna be aggressive,
that's who we are. I say the same thing. I'm
not gonna be the Hey, you know, check with everybody
else to see if it's good by them, No beat it.
(02:18):
You made a decision. You know what you know right now,
which means it's like anything right. You make a choice
on a Thursday night, and then Sunday morning the guy
wakes up at and stubs his toe on the way
to the bathroom and doesn't play. You know, you know,
there's there's no recourse, there's no there's nothing you can do.
I mean, you made you made your choices. That's it.
(02:38):
It's locked. Be done. Still, make sure you check with
your commissioner before you put your lineup in and understanding,
well it was all the opinions and editorials. The opinions
expressed by Mike Harmon here on Fox Sports Radio may
not reflect the opinion or league settings for you and
(02:58):
your jackass buddies. At least consult the rules in your league.
Harmon became the commissioner of Miley. He's not even involved
in my He's the commissioner for all the leagues. Now, yes,
check with the grand master about the rules. I have
the row being made in the whole nine yards. I am.
You are meeting Mike Harmon in five seconds. Prepare yourself,
(03:20):
prepare yourself, prepare yourself. So yeah, so that's what we
have right now, and and and this is a great
way to start it, because the talk of four fits
is just, oh my god, it makes you want to
bang my head against the wall. Uh. COVID nineteen we
know as hit teams very hard. This week. We had
three teams with at least a dozen players in COVID protocol.
A couple of teams were up over twenty. So as
a result, this is news from earlier in the day,
(03:42):
Saturday's game between the Raiders and the Browns has been
moved to Monday. That game is gonna be at five
o'clock Eastern time, and then the regularly scheduled Monday night
game will come after at eight twenty Eastern times. You've
got a double header on Monday night football. Two games
scheduled for Sunday, Washington and the Eagles and the Seahawks
and Rams have now both been moved to Tuesday at
(04:03):
seven pm Eastern. So this is why we have We
have a game tomorrow we will get into with the
Patriots and the Colts. Got a big one that we
got Sunday that we have Monday, we have Tuesday. And
immediately after this happened a right this is why nobody
can can can ever be happy because all week long
we heard what angle from the players. All they're doing
is wanting to make money. Why don't they help us out?
(04:23):
Why don't they help us by moving these games? Why?
Why are they Why are they beholden to the almighty dollar?
You're Baker Mayfield Way and the players are weighing, and
we're not gonna be able to play the games. I
don't understand why they don't move it. So then the
NFL moves the games, and then what do we get
right after these games should have been forfeited. The Raiders
really wanted a forefeit. We've been put in a competitive
disadvantage because of this game. Yes, I understand that it's
(04:45):
not as easy as winning a game by forfeit. That's
the easiest way to win. You want the team to
go to the middle of the field, they flip the coin.
The other teams not there, you get called forfeit. I
under I look, I I get the whole we've been
put at a disadvantage, but understand that. You know, we've
got to be able to work together. I mean, I mean,
maybe I'm just crazy and I'm being too much Pollyanna.
But at some point I gotta think he can work
(05:06):
together on this. The NFL has seen of their players
and almost of all personnel vaccinated. When COVID comes up,
it comes up. I get it. I know. In the
summer the NFL said we could be forfeiting games if
you have positive COVID tests. Well, that was number one
a threat to make sure everybody got vaccinated. And number
two things have changed. Right that there's a the O
(05:28):
Macron variant is that it's much more passable. You're seeing
now every day the O Macron variant is infecting more
and more people. And the good news is that it's
not a it's not as serious a variant that that it's.
It's something that people get through pretty easy. So that's good.
But we want to work together on this. You would
want the benefit of the doubt if if your team
had to have guys knocked out because of COVID, you
(05:51):
would want that. You got. Look, everybody's doing the right thing,
the players all got we have a vaccination rate right
and still you're seeing it. Players are doing the right thing,
The teams are doing the right thing, and the NFL
did the right thing by moving the game. I get it.
It's not convenient for the Raiders, who at this point,
we'll take winning a game anyway. Apparently we really wanted
to really wanted a forefeit. Really you wanted to forfeit.
(06:12):
You really wanted to forfeit. But yet that's become the
overwhelming angle on this. It was why don't you help
the teams? Now it's why did you help the teams?
Nobody's ever gonna be happy. But in the end, the
NFL made a decision that if it was you on
that end of it, that you would want the same
thing made right Because the Raiders would say, oh man, suddenly,
if Derek carsh it up and said, guys, I test
a positive for COVID, I don't know. Are the Raiders
(06:34):
gonna say, well, nope, so nope, we gotta play everybody.
Everybody's doing it right. Yeah, I get everybody's trying to
do it right. But this is something that just happens.
We're gonna have to deal with COVID. We gotta dance
with it for a while longer. It's not gonna be eradicated.
Getting vaccinated really really helps, right, it helps everything, But
we're still gonna have to deal with it. So the
NFL said, Okay, yeah, it kind of sucks. I feel
(06:55):
bad for the Raiders having to move a game, but
they would want it if it was them, and maybe
they wind up doing something to help the Ray years
later on, maybe they pushed their game by a day
the week after. You know, we haven't seen the end
of that yet. We don't know what things are going
to be like in a week. We're kind of going
day to day here, So yeah, I would think everybody
would want that benefit of the doubt if their team
happened to get ravaged by COVID, which if you're vaccinated
(07:16):
and you're doing your thing and vaccinated players get get infected. Okay,
did the all you did say is the players say, listen,
we did what you wanted us to do, and the
NFL said, yes, you're right, you did. We're gonna move
these games. We can all plan. Old rule of thumb,
don't go pointing and act him the fool, because you
may end up with the the mirror pointed back atch
(07:36):
in looking and going hey, what happened here? Circumstances change, right,
we that's the the only constant in our lives is change,
And certainly with the beginning of COVID until now it's
it's shifting. And I know some folks so immediately will say, well,
I don't trust this that, or you know fauci or
(07:58):
whether it's just science all together, and how the vaccine
has come about and all I I certainly get stopped
in in my neighborhood now and again not as bad
as it used to be. It's not me getting screamed
at from cars. But still, you know, folks want to
have the discussions and immediately get into long political debates
(08:20):
uh related to COVID in this case for the NFL,
they put in the protocols, and maybe it's time to reevaluate,
right and maybe and we talked about this for the
last couple of weeks. Jason was all right as this
started to swell, what are you doing if you have
this large of vaccinated you know, staff and rosters. Do
(08:41):
you change it if asymptomatic? Right? Bruce Arians bringing that
up again today amongst many others, saying all right, well,
maybe we need to look at this if because we
let guys playing with colds and other things. Right the
Bears on Monday night, right now they have thirty two
guys either injured, sick, or on the COVID protocols like
eight of them are just they have cold slash flus.
(09:04):
But they'd be able to play, is the argument from
some Whereas you've got guys who've tested positive for the
COVID variant or or COVID off of their uh the
the original strains um off their latest tests and and
won't be even though they're a symptomatic. So it's you know,
trying to with it with the moving shifting sands. Try
(09:26):
to figure out best practices. Now, Remind the players, if
the game doesn't get played, whether they award you a
win or not, according to everything that we've been handed,
they don't get paid right, So isn't that part of
it is you want to get paid right? The wind
doesn't mean a damn thing right. You're not earning any
stats towards a bonus or all All Pro or or
(09:49):
Pro Bowl berths or any of that stuff. So you know,
there's a lot of gaps there. So immediately it became
the well, if it was was us, they'd make us play.
That's that's what Raider fans and a bunch of Raider
players were saying right away. It's like, okay, now now
we've got this. And for the NFL, they wanted to
(10:10):
be clean. But this is also the best of all
worlds because you show the divide of the players Association
once again, right, and people pointing out, hey, you know
the guy tread Or from the Browns, he's the union
president and look at they look what they did for
him and his team. So you get to keep the
divide as as you push forward on another of one
(10:34):
of the many issues that come up in collective bargaining
UH discussions each and every time. So for on the
business side of it, it's say who who? This opened
a whole other can of worms. But for the straight
playing out the last four weeks of the NFL season,
you want to play all sixty four of them. And
(10:54):
we we said, you know, they'd go back on the
the idea that they wouldn't move these games around. Nope,
here we go Tuesday football. Uh. The only day we're
missing right now is Wednesday. We get to take a
breather and watch. You know, we'll get a game. We'll
get a game on Wednesday. We'll get a game on Wednesday.
We'll get a game some out, we'll get one on Wednesday.
I'm not worried it's still good, right, and that it's
(11:16):
still in the possibilities. And you've got so many teams
that were ravaged by this and to think that it,
I mean, I guess this is the question if if
I'm a player, the only one I want to know,
what's critical mass in terms of positive tests, Well, it's
I think it's one of those. I don't think it's
it's a hard and fast if it's five players, unless
it's what what's your situation here? We are forty eight
(11:38):
hours away from the game orty hours. We have twenty players,
and okay, we can't play that game. You have twenty
players in COVID protocol the camp. Allright, we we need something.
We have four or five players, we can play that game. Yeah,
but one of those our quarterback. Now we can play
the game. Twenty players, I can't do it. I mean,
I think it's one of those you kind of know
it when you see it. There's no transparences. No people
(11:59):
are gonna want, especially the Jets. As you try to
get a last you want, you want, you want transparency
from the NFL. You realize what you're asking for, what
you want transparent? Did you not? Did you not catch
how far back my tongue was planted in my cheek
as I said that from the NFL, I want to
(12:22):
be six five and be like David Robinson. Uh, that
is that is why I said it. I figured everybody,
after a long, stressful week, maybe you just finished work,
maybe you've got a second job. You gotta get to that.
That line, if nothing else, would make you all laugh.
And I think I succeeded. Real credit card questions require
(12:44):
real people, someone who understands your issues and works to
resolve them with you. That's why I Discover offers helpful
US based representatives available. Seven Discover exceptionally common sense. Now
here's to all the business part. You made great points
about that. I look back and focus on teams really
wanted a forfeit. They really wanted to win via forfeit,
(13:04):
which the raiders may not be any other way right
now right I we want to win via forfeit, And
I go, really, you really want to win via forfeit.
You really want to win that way? That's you want
to do with COVID. Nope, we're doing everything right. That's
a victory. Okay, We're it's it's not a scoreboard. It's
not us against COVID against other teams. Right, you're playing
the other teams and we're all fighting COVID together. Right,
(13:27):
That's kind of how it goes. But when I do, yeah,
we really wanted that forfeit, Oh my god, how desperate
are you? It's it's ten year old soccer league. You
reek of ridiculousness. Look and look, and I'll be fair
when when you're coaching and salt. Look at anybody who's coach,
like if if if you get before game, that's happened
a couple of times before, not in a while, you know,
but when the girls were younger, if like the coach
comes over and says, hey, we might have enough players
(13:49):
right now. I know the game's gonna start in ten minutes.
If we don't, what do you want to do? I said,
we can play. And then if the ref says, well
you'renna have to forfeit, okay, And then for a second
you go we're gonna win pretty easy, and you go, oh,
we want to play. You know that that's the thought
that Okay, it comes in your mind for a second,
but then you realize you're there the girls want to play.
You want to play, you know, for teams to go. Yeah,
(14:09):
I get you want to win, go on the fielding win.
How desperate and how bad do you sound as a team.
It's oozing out of the pores when you go, we
really need that forefeit to win. I'm a Jets fan.
The only way they can win is via forefeit. And
it's not happening. And I'm not calling and screaming, Oh
we should have a forefeit because we're doing great COVID wise,
I'm embarrassed for the Raiders and anybody that has talked
about yeah, yeah, yeah, we should win via forefeit. Oh
(14:32):
my god, that that we're just scrimmaging now. Yeah, that
that's all I need to know about you, and how
mentally strong you are as a team, and how how
good you think your team is. If you start crying
about a forfeit, but that would be cool. Hey, the
game doesn't cap. We're gonna pa you know, we got
everybody's here anyway. Let's just play a little bit games
on TV. Yeah, hey, girls, you play defense, you get
(14:56):
to play offense today a little bit. That'll be fun. Hey,
who wants to play goalie everybody. I mean, it's not
anna count. It means nothing. It's like a try out.
Come on, Hey, Darren Waller, you want to play quarterback?
That's great, all right, Derek Carr, you go play safety.
Oh this is gonna be a lot of fun. This
is gonna work out for us. I mean, really, it's
so embarrassing to hear. Oh yeah, yeah, we really wanted
(15:17):
that forfeit. Oh my goodness. Well, we have more NFL
on the way. The Lakers just tipping off right now
in a very late start in Minnesota. But speaking of
the NBA, a big star on his way back to
the court. Yeah, but not full time. We'll tell it.
It's next Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
(15:38):
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with My big friend Mike Harmon. It can
happen easily. A few drinks become a few too many,
it's time to go. You think of calling for a
ride home? What's the worst an app? And you get
(16:00):
pulled over, You lose your license, you totally your car
you kill someone, drive sober, or get pulled over paid
for by NITZA. Well. Right now, in the NBA, we
just watched the Golden State Warriors in the Marquee Game
of the Night against the Boston Celtics. Uh. The Warriors
were up big in this one for a while. The
(16:21):
Celtics made it nice and close, which meanings, Okay, they
made it close. Uh, that's kind of what we saw.
But in the end it was not enough. The Warriors
uh improved to twenty four and five, beating the Celtics
one eleven to one oh seven. Andrew Wiggins scores twenty seven.
The Warriors keep rolling. There's potential that they could get
(16:42):
Clay Thompson back on the court sometime in January. And
for a team that's twenty four and five, are now
adding a former All Star who, look, let's face it,
he may not be great. We don't know what he's
gonna be, but they're in such a great spot right
now with what they have. Clay Thompson's a guy that
now we're talking about his his return and now it's
tangible because it's within a month or so that he's
(17:05):
a guy that can come off the bench and play
a handful of minutes and work his way back. It's
been two years since the guy has played. All he's
going to be is an asset for them, because this
is the this is what Steve Kerr has has put
forward in Golden State. You really think Clay Thompson is
gonna say no, no, no, I gotta start, man, you
gotta you gotta movie. Now he's gonna say, yes, I
want to keep playing. This is great. You guys have
(17:26):
paid me. Everything is wonderful. He will be an additional
weapon off the bench, and maybe as we get closer
to the end of the season, depending on how things go,
maybe Clay gets back in the starting lineup. But maybe
this year he just comes off the bench, and that's
the way it is. He winds up playing a lot
of minutes. But this is how it goes. I mean,
this is you talk about a big trade deadline acquisition.
It's a bit of a question mark because you don't
(17:48):
know what kind of Clay Thompson you're getting back. But
you are now getting back someone in the middle of
January that is going to be able to do nothing
but help you. And if he doesn't, where are you Anyway,
You're at the top of the Western Conference. So it's
not like, boy, this guy's riding to the rescue. Everything
is coming up seven for the Warriors right now. It
is a phenomenal magic carpet ride. No, it's really going
(18:08):
to disrupt the chemistry. There's no wait. Did I thought
we were supposed to just disagree and yell something nonsensical?
So that's what I did. Blank, Steph Curry. I'm taking
all these shots now. Steph, you sent yours on the bed,
you had your moments. I fought my way back from injury.
(18:29):
It's been well. Chronicles, get over there, Wiggins with twenty seven.
As you said, Curry, No, Jordan Pool in COVID protocol
doesn't matter. Uh. They still go out uh and have
a massive run. Uh once again the third quarter they
got dominated, but it didn't matter because they built uh
such a deep reservoir of success and you're looking at
(18:52):
the turnover margins and all of those you know metrics
time and time again. Both teams shot well from three
point range, so you had that more or less even.
But the Warriors just keep rolling. And now you're playing
with house money because in the end, does it does
it matter? You just need to be right come April,
(19:13):
and if you're the earlier, you get Clay Thompson back
in to rotate him into to get him set and
get your rotations if you're Steve Kerr set and knowing
what his physical limitations are, if there are any, and
you know you can build on a minute restriction. Uh. Now,
it's just the the other question of Wiseman and what
(19:34):
his return looks like. But to get Clay Thompson back
as a luxury, like you said, it's like getting a
trade piece or or picking up a guy who's been
sitting on the sideline, say you know, we we got
a little bit of room. You want to come play
some ball? Sure? Like like suddenly, what do you Harrelson
(19:55):
from White Mane canchup? Hey, you mean play basketball? Guy?
I guess I could. I can show up and do
a couple of things for you and added bonus, right,
the guy that uh just comes back in a kind
of an afterthought, right, because yeah, you'd like it. He's
a nice bonus. But if he can come back and
give you any meaningful minutes, even if it's just as
(20:15):
part of a rotation to start working himself back into shape,
and he's not ready till April or or even May.
Then you know you're you're that much richer for it.
So obviously the Warriors are doing great. They're getting a
player back. Look, everybody's doing great today because it's spider
Man Day's spider Man. Spider Man. Were you tweeting at
(20:35):
us and texting us during Spider Man? No, no, no,
I'm going after I'm going after the show tonight. You
said you were going in the morning, we were gonna
go and and Zoe wanted to go to school and
and go all day, and we wanted to go to
a um and and get tickets and for the uh
for the big screen, the XD screen, and we couldn't
do it at one thirty. So we're like, okay, great,
(20:56):
so going after the we get done with the show.
I am out of here and going right to Spider Man.
So what you're saying is she heard the talking yesterday
on the show and recognized Harmon was right. No, not really,
I said, remember this needed to finish your school day.
Remember this is a guy who pulled his own daughter
out to play in a soccer game. Okay, so understand
(21:18):
that this. When Mike Harmon says this, he kind of
says one thing and sort of does another. But no,
But it was mainly we couldn't get that. We couldn't
get the tickets for the bigs for the big screen
because it was already sold out for like oh great, so,
oh my god, we gotta go. We're going Imax with
this one. We're going, well, the XD screen, you know,
the big you know the big screens, not not the
three D ones, but the big Imax screen. Yeah, that's
(21:39):
what we're gonna say. There you go. Yeah, spider Man.
You know, I might have wanted to see spider Man,
spider Man, spider Man, spider Man, spider Man, spider Man.
You didn't invite me to go. You didn't say, hey,
how I'm gonna go after I would have done that.
I didn't have plans. You you're the one that's making plans.
It's like, awesome, maybe after the show, hard an have
(22:04):
a couple of drinks and watch Spider Man. When you
go out to walk your dog, do you call me
and say you want to go for a walk and
hang out and walk the dog. I got a nice
parasital umbrella. But we can walk up and down the
street and talk about how wonderful. The callies, look, go
back and listen to what you just said. I should
have them play it back. Do you want to go
for a walk? I'm not getting any further than that.
I don't have to have it right back to me.
If I as soon as I say the word walk,
(22:27):
you're done. Spider Man, Spider Man, Spider Man, tonight spider Man.
But speaking of returns, it is not quite Spider Man
coming back, but for the Nets, it kind of is
as Kyrie Irving is now going to return to the Nets.
Wait a minute, is he getting vaccinated? No? Did New
(22:50):
York change their parameters? No, he is going to come
back as a part time player, and he will play
in the road games that aren't take place in New
York and in Toronto. The team announcing this on Friday.
He is still unwilling to satisfy New York City mandates,
and it was you're gonna stay home as long as
(23:10):
we need you to stay home, and then the Nets
decide after this week, boy, Kevin Durant's playing a lot
of minutes. Man, We're playing pretty well. Is it the
worst thing in the world to have Kyrie Irving? For now?
For a little bit, Uh no, let's have Kyrie Irving
come and play. It goes against what they thought, and
we can get We're gonna get to the physical part
of him being back with the team. But on the court,
(23:31):
it makes all the sense in the world because eventually
you're hoping that Kyrie Irving is gonna get to come
back and play. Right, You're eventually hoping that, whether it's
the mandates are lifted at some point in the spring,
maybe you have because remember the NBA seasons pretty long.
You know, we can go all the way to April,
then the mandate can be lifted, or he decides to
get vaccinated. The nets are hoping that eventually, somehow it's
(23:52):
going to work out, And it was only gonna work
out if one of those things happened, because Kyrie clearly
is not gonna get vaccinate. So but they're hoping to
get him back, So why not get him back now?
He can play every other game. You if you're going anywhere,
you're gonna need him anyway. So what is what's worse
than having him come back and play in half the games?
Now you can adjust your line up with him or
(24:12):
without him. It will work. This is COVID right. We're
making it up on the fly, and this works for
the Nets. It will be less minutes for Kyrie Irving
or for for Kevin Durant. It'll be less wear and
tear on these guys going towards the playoffs, because the
Nets will still be able to win games even if
Kevin Durant doesn't play forty three minutes. It could be
a night where maybe you'll get to play thirty three,
but because Kyrie is playing, they blow a team out. Um,
(24:34):
there's gonna be more rest involved. It will be more
load maintenance, clearly from a basketball standpoint, being where the
Nets are, Hey, we're playing pretty well at the top
of the Eastern Conference. We don't want to burn out
our stars. We can have a free player playing with
us in every other game basically, and he's a really
good one. So okay, from a basketball standpoint, I completely
get it. This works for the Nets. Keep going back to,
(24:55):
you know, the shifting sands, the protocols changing this one.
Kyrie Irving has always kind of been curious. You could
practice with the guys, but he can't go from the
gym and the contact there to the arena and and
and some of it. The the logic. You know, there's
some gaps there for me, obviously, bigger stage, more people around,
(25:20):
et cetera. But you're not walking through the arena and
high fiving and hugging every one of those eighteen thousand
plus fans. But I digress. As the season goes on,
And remember this was a non starter at least that
was the report weeks ago. Well, situations change and the
overall picture of hey, we'll probably get him back in
(25:43):
short order because everything's gonna go away, right, Clouds are
gonna go away, and we're gonna be foot loose and
fancy free. No, not so fast. So if you do
have the opportunity outside of games in Canada and New
York to utilize a guy of his talents and his
particular set of gills, and you say, hell yeah, let's
go to your point less wear and tear on some
(26:05):
of the veteran stars and a guy who you know
you've now got him working himself back into the basketball
shape fully. Not that he's been sitting around just eating
you know, loads of ice cream and cookie dough. No,
that's me. That that's me, that's me the holidays, that's me.
That's what I'm holiday. I'm getting ready. I'm in holiday shape.
I'm in holiday shape many holidays all year round. Yeah,
(26:30):
every day I can't get I can't eat because my
wife makes great peanut brittle and I can't have it because,
you know, because the gold tooth. And they told me
not to not not to have peanut brittle and nuts
for a while. So you know, I'm a baller now
with my gold tooth, but I can't have it. I
can't have nuts for a bit. If it restricts you
from eating something as simple as the well, the nut,
then it's bad. How much of a baller are you?
(26:53):
I'm a ball can't have it of ice cream? No,
it hurts because it's too cold. It's too cold. Uh,
just the the idea that you as a team, And
I'm sure they consulted Durant and Harden and and all
the the top top people that you would you would
(27:16):
need to kind of say, all right, how's the locker
room gonna feel about this? Because it doesn't happen in
a vacuum. And they looked around and said, yeah, we're winning.
He's an extra piece. We're gonna probably have him back
in eventually anyway, So why not get the reps, get
the rotations, get the minutes, get him in shape. And
then again it's the wishing, wanting, hoping that we go
(27:40):
back to business as quote unquote normal, or things change
in New York State to where you know, you you
don't have to have him as just a part time player.
But in the interim, hey, he's that guy you know
you're gonna do uh a remote for a radio show
or your television show, and you pick up an extra
cameraman or uh tech to go produce around the road
(28:01):
to run a board. That's that's Kyrie Irving right now. Yeah.
But look, look from we'll get to the personal standpoint
in a little bit, because it's also about coming back
to the locker room. But basketball, this does completely make sense,
and there is something to be said for something that
was hard and fast a couple of months ago doesn't
need to be hard and fast two months later, Right
(28:23):
it doesn't because I know, well we talked about how
people want to go hard and fast at the NFL
said there be forfeits in August. Okay, don't you think
life has changed from August till now as far as
COVID goes, and how we're treating at the world changes
every couple of days. Now, there's no hard and fast rule, right.
The world moves faster than it ever has before. So
things are going to be a bit of a certainty.
(28:46):
But the potential to change is always there, right, So yes,
you can, we can. We're not gonna We're not gonna
have it. Okay, let's wait a couple of months. Boy,
the players are getting tired. Um, we we were playing
really well. He would really help and and something that
was an idea it wasn't even discussed a couple of
months ago. Could be something that's an easy conversation two
months later. That is how the world works, you know,
That is how things go. There could be a conversation
(29:08):
you have with your kids about no, there's no way
you're going on this trip. No way, no way, no,
this trip is not a good trip for you to
go on for X, Y and Z, and then two
months later, oh yeah, you know, okay, yeah, trip sounds good.
You want to go on the trip, You go on
the trip. I mean, things change, and that's how things change.
Things change. In the NFL with dealing towards COVID and
what the how they wanted to to address it. They're
doing the right thing and things are changing with the
(29:28):
nets towards Kyrie Irving, and look, it's better for the
lead that he's back in. I can't wait to hear
all the stuff he's been up to and all his
thoughts on vaccination and not vaccination. Maybe I don't know what.
I don't know what he's been busy on the last
few months. Who knows he could come out and say, hey,
I've found a way to make meet out of cardboard.
I can't I can't wait to show this to you.
(29:49):
I mean, who knows he could come up with anything.
The guy is all over the place. So I'm looking
forward that. Look, it's better that he's back. He's a
great player in the league. But yeah, but this was
something that went from no known oh too, yeah, just
because the world changes. The world changes all the time.
So is he back? Is he back for? I can't
tell you in two months if he's still gonna be
playing in away games. He may not be. He may
decided he doesn't want to play in the way games anymore.
(30:11):
He might decide he needs more time away from the team.
The time he's had away so far isn't enough. The
league may say you can't have a player play part
time for you, You You can't. Who knows, But for right now,
this is decision basketball wise. It's a good one. Yeah. No,
they're they're not gonna come in it and stop this.
He it's another uh guy back in that they can say, look,
we can we found creative solutions during this time of
(30:34):
COVID to make sure that our stars and our players
are on the court and putting for the best product
we possibly can for our fans. How you like that
I wrote that for you, Adam Silver, You can cut
and print it right now. Just put it on the stationary,
fix the auto penn signature, and away we go. All
of those things. Uh as you lay it out. I
(30:56):
mean it's perfect, perfect setup, uh, for the business side
and for the the players and teams as you're trying
to execute this. And obviously Kyrie Irving's the the face.
The question is how many other players are you know,
kind of kind of in in this mode that we're
We're not Sharon because there wasn't a stance, But I
(31:19):
hope Kyrie Irving comes out. You know, we had the
instagram putting the shoes back on. Who knows, maybe maybe
he's gonna be the guy to spoil Spider Man for me.
Spider Man, he's that time, he's a time. Maybe he
got an advanced copy, he's got cloud. Well, we got
more NFL on the way. We have one game in
the league tomorrow, and boy is it a doozy. We
(31:41):
got the Pats and the Colts. We picked the game
next and I'm gonna give you a surprise coming up next,
right are Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's Ben hosting The
(32:01):
Fifth Hour with Ben Mallory along with my trustees sidekick
David Gascon. Would mean a lot to have you join
us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in
God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's
a spin off of the Ben Maller Show, Cold Hit
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(32:24):
amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to The
Fifth Hour with Ben Mallow on the I Heart Radio
app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Well,
we got a lot of big NFL preview this weekend.
I got an upset special picks coming your way next
hour on the show, some bold predictions for this week.
But um, we had the Game of the week last
night with the Chargers in the Chiefs, and now we
(32:46):
have Game of the Week part two tomorrow with two
teams that are red hot in the a f C.
We have the Patriots and the Colts, and the Pages
have been playing incredibly well and Belichick looks invincible right now.
But I gotta tell you, Mike, tomorrow, the Colts cool
off the Patriots, all right. The Colts are playing so
(33:06):
incredibly well, all right, so much so they'd be a
team like if I could say, hey, who's that five
hundred team that can make a run in the playoffs
in each in each conference? Because he got a lot
of teams at five hundred, the Colts would be that
team right now. Remember I picked him for the a
f C title game, like way, wait, wait, wait wait,
look okay, but look and then it ran as fast
I did. But now but now I'm back because they're
(33:28):
playing well, Look, they're a complete team, right, It's not
just Jonathan Taylor Thomas as well as he is running
the football. I mean it is. It is a big
time step up by Carson Wentz who has been playing
really well. But no one talks about it because you
know Taylor is getting all the attention. I get it.
The defense is playing good enough. It's not lights out
of thought as good as I thought it would be,
(33:49):
but they're not allowing a lot of points. Look, Wentz
is doing what Indianapolis brought him here for. This is
the kind of team I thought we would see from
the beginning of the season. It just took him a
little while. The Colts have been playing and really the
Patriot plane really really well, but Colts cool them off.
Tomorrow they get a big game running the football and
it's not like you can stop one part. The Colts
(34:10):
get a win. It'll be close. It will be a
low scoring game. But give me the Colts tomorrow over
the Patriots. Two point favorites. Are the Colts two and
happen some spaces. Six is your total. Damian Harris out
for New England means a lot of talk about the
love of Brandon Bolden, Romandre Stevenson and those in the
(34:32):
run game there for New England, Uh, the key is
trying to figure out in the passing game beyond what
you've seen at times from Hunter Henry and John new Smith,
who's gonna step up? Who do you got? You've got
a lot of guys that are well kind of look
kind of the same when you break down where the
stats are right, your leaders Kendrick Boorne, who's come on
(34:53):
of late, and include any and all Chris Berman isms
that you need to Jacoby Myers. But there there's six
hundred yard guys not dominant. Borns found the end zone
a bunch of late, so they're gonna look to get
him involved early and off. And for Mac Jones, doesn't
turn the ball over, takes care of the football. You're
(35:13):
not gonna get a robust point total. But we look
at game to game. You know two teams that are
in the top ten in terms of total defense. You
mentioned the Colts at game Patriots giving up just fifteen
point four points per game. I'll look for Bill Belichick
to come up with the scheme to at least slow
(35:35):
Jonathan Taylor and then it goes back on Carson Wentz's arm.
And this is where it goes back to That's Carson Wentz.
That's the guy I remember, even if he's got Pittman
and Jack Doyle and all these other guys were running around.
I'm looking for the Pats to win on the road. Yeah. Look,
I'm not expecting Carson Wentz to show up and throw
four touchdowns tomorrow. But am I expecting him become and
(35:57):
play well and play exactly how the Colts thought he
would play. Yeah, because you know what, he has been
playing really well, fantastic. But but but nobody's talked about
that because it's Carson went and he was so bad
and nobody likes the guy. And boy Jonathan Taylor is
so good. But I admitted I was wrong weeks ago.
He's played really well in efficient football. He has been
really he has been very functional as quarterbacks. Man. So
(36:23):
I'll take the Colts, Michael, take the Patriots. How about
some big time bold predictions. Oh we got those for
you coming up next, right there, Jason Smith, Mike Carbon.
You are listening to Fox Sports radio radio radio radio
radio radio radio radio radio
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmen 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 Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on
the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R. You're
(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside Happy Friday,
The Jason Smith Show with my big friend Mike Harmony.
As we get set for a big weekend of football,
We're gonna have the NFL basically every day for the
next three months. We got games. Tomorrow, we got games.
(00:46):
Sunday we got games. Monday, we got games. Tuesday, we
got a game. On Thursday, we got games. We have
games almost every single day. Unfortunately, because of the latest
developments with NFL teams and the COVID situation, however, we're
not getting forfeits though some teams would like that. We
are getting all the games played at least as of now,
my Carmen, So the big question is going to be
(01:08):
how do I put my lineup in for Fantasy? Because
I got guys playing on Tuesday. But if they don't
play because of COVID, can I put a guy in retroactively?
Do I have to tell you before the game that
I'm putting a guy in? Do I wait to do this? Uh,
that's gonna be a very very big question. I answer
them all right now. If he doesn't play on Tuesday,
(01:28):
you made your choice. Sorry, it didn't work your way.
So I get a guy twisting his ankle on the
first play, Do I get the other fifty nine minutes
of somebody else? Nope? Not. Now wait a minute, let
me just say this before you go on. Uh, please
check with your commissioner what the rules are for your lead.
All right, Mike Harmon is not making the rules for
your individual No, listen, It's like Brandon Staley and everybody
(01:56):
wanted to be all mushy mouthed in terms of how
we addressed it, saying, well, you know, down distance and
game situation, time outs and how the flow is, that's
how we're gonna play. No, he said, we're gonna be aggressive,
that's who we are. I say the same thing. I'm
not gonna be the Hey, you know, check with everybody
else to see if it's good by them, No beat it.
(02:18):
You made a decision. You know what you know right now,
which means it's like anything right. You make a choice
on a Thursday night, and then Sunday morning the guy
wakes up at and stubs his toe on the way
to the bathroom and doesn't play. You know, you know,
there's there's no recourse, there's no there's nothing you can do.
I mean, you made you made your choices. That's it.
(02:38):
It's locked. Be done. Still, make sure you check with
your commissioner before you put your lineup in and understanding,
well it was all the opinions and editorials. The opinions
expressed by Mike Harmon here on Fox Sports Radio may
not reflect the opinion or league settings for you and
(02:58):
your jackass buddies. At least consult the rules in your league.
Harmon became the commissioner of Miley. He's not even involved
in my He's the commissioner for all the leagues. Now, yes,
check with the grand master about the rules. I have
the row being made in the whole nine yards. I am.
You are meeting Mike Harmon in five seconds. Prepare yourself,
(03:20):
prepare yourself, prepare yourself. So yeah, so that's what we
have right now, and and and this is a great
way to start it, because the talk of four fits
is just, oh my god, it makes you want to
bang my head against the wall. Uh. COVID nineteen we
know as hit teams very hard. This week. We had
three teams with at least a dozen players in COVID protocol.
A couple of teams were up over twenty. So as
a result, this is news from earlier in the day,
(03:42):
Saturday's game between the Raiders and the Browns has been
moved to Monday. That game is gonna be at five
o'clock Eastern time, and then the regularly scheduled Monday night
game will come after at eight twenty Eastern times. You've
got a double header on Monday night football. Two games
scheduled for Sunday, Washington and the Eagles and the Seahawks
and Rams have now both been moved to Tuesday at
(04:03):
seven pm Eastern. So this is why we have We
have a game tomorrow we will get into with the
Patriots and the Colts. Got a big one that we
got Sunday that we have Monday, we have Tuesday. And
immediately after this happened a right this is why nobody
can can can ever be happy because all week long
we heard what angle from the players. All they're doing
is wanting to make money. Why don't they help us out?
(04:23):
Why don't they help us by moving these games? Why?
Why are they Why are they beholden to the almighty dollar?
You're Baker Mayfield Way and the players are weighing, and
we're not gonna be able to play the games. I
don't understand why they don't move it. So then the
NFL moves the games, and then what do we get
right after these games should have been forfeited. The Raiders
really wanted a forefeit. We've been put in a competitive
disadvantage because of this game. Yes, I understand that it's
(04:45):
not as easy as winning a game by forfeit. That's
the easiest way to win. You want the team to
go to the middle of the field, they flip the coin.
The other teams not there, you get called forfeit. I
under I look, I I get the whole we've been
put at a disadvantage, but understand that. You know, we've
got to be able to work together. I mean, I mean,
maybe I'm just crazy and I'm being too much Pollyanna.
But at some point I gotta think he can work
(05:06):
together on this. The NFL has seen of their players
and almost of all personnel vaccinated. When COVID comes up,
it comes up. I get it. I know. In the
summer the NFL said we could be forfeiting games if
you have positive COVID tests. Well, that was number one
a threat to make sure everybody got vaccinated. And number
two things have changed. Right that there's a the O
(05:28):
Macron variant is that it's much more passable. You're seeing
now every day the O Macron variant is infecting more
and more people. And the good news is that it's
not a it's not as serious a variant that that it's.
It's something that people get through pretty easy. So that's good.
But we want to work together on this. You would
want the benefit of the doubt if if your team
had to have guys knocked out because of COVID, you
(05:51):
would want that. You got. Look, everybody's doing the right thing,
the players all got we have a vaccination rate right
and still you're seeing it. Players are doing the right thing,
The teams are doing the right thing, and the NFL
did the right thing by moving the game. I get it.
It's not convenient for the Raiders, who at this point,
we'll take winning a game anyway. Apparently we really wanted
to really wanted a forefeit. Really you wanted to forfeit.
(06:12):
You really wanted to forfeit. But yet that's become the
overwhelming angle on this. It was why don't you help
the teams? Now it's why did you help the teams?
Nobody's ever gonna be happy. But in the end, the
NFL made a decision that if it was you on
that end of it, that you would want the same
thing made right Because the Raiders would say, oh man, suddenly,
if Derek carsh it up and said, guys, I test
a positive for COVID, I don't know. Are the Raiders
(06:34):
gonna say, well, nope, so nope, we gotta play everybody.
Everybody's doing it right. Yeah, I get everybody's trying to
do it right. But this is something that just happens.
We're gonna have to deal with COVID. We gotta dance
with it for a while longer. It's not gonna be eradicated.
Getting vaccinated really really helps, right, it helps everything, But
we're still gonna have to deal with it. So the
NFL said, Okay, yeah, it kind of sucks. I feel
(06:55):
bad for the Raiders having to move a game, but
they would want it if it was them, and maybe
they wind up doing something to help the Ray years
later on, maybe they pushed their game by a day
the week after. You know, we haven't seen the end
of that yet. We don't know what things are going
to be like in a week. We're kind of going
day to day here, So yeah, I would think everybody
would want that benefit of the doubt if their team
happened to get ravaged by COVID, which if you're vaccinated
(07:16):
and you're doing your thing and vaccinated players get get infected. Okay,
did the all you did say is the players say, listen,
we did what you wanted us to do, and the
NFL said, yes, you're right, you did. We're gonna move
these games. We can all plan. Old rule of thumb,
don't go pointing and act him the fool, because you
may end up with the the mirror pointed back atch
(07:36):
in looking and going hey, what happened here? Circumstances change, right,
we that's the the only constant in our lives is change,
And certainly with the beginning of COVID until now it's
it's shifting. And I know some folks so immediately will say, well,
I don't trust this that, or you know fauci or
(07:58):
whether it's just science all together, and how the vaccine
has come about and all I I certainly get stopped
in in my neighborhood now and again not as bad
as it used to be. It's not me getting screamed
at from cars. But still, you know, folks want to
have the discussions and immediately get into long political debates
(08:20):
uh related to COVID in this case for the NFL,
they put in the protocols, and maybe it's time to reevaluate,
right and maybe and we talked about this for the
last couple of weeks. Jason was all right as this
started to swell, what are you doing if you have
this large of vaccinated you know, staff and rosters. Do
(08:41):
you change it if asymptomatic? Right? Bruce Arians bringing that
up again today amongst many others, saying all right, well,
maybe we need to look at this if because we
let guys playing with colds and other things. Right the
Bears on Monday night, right now they have thirty two
guys either injured, sick, or on the COVID protocols like
eight of them are just they have cold slash flus.
(09:04):
But they'd be able to play, is the argument from
some Whereas you've got guys who've tested positive for the
COVID variant or or COVID off of their uh the
the original strains um off their latest tests and and
won't be even though they're a symptomatic. So it's you know,
trying to with it with the moving shifting sands. Try
(09:26):
to figure out best practices. Now, Remind the players, if
the game doesn't get played, whether they award you a
win or not, according to everything that we've been handed,
they don't get paid right, So isn't that part of
it is you want to get paid right? The wind
doesn't mean a damn thing right. You're not earning any
stats towards a bonus or all All Pro or or
(09:49):
Pro Bowl berths or any of that stuff. So you know,
there's a lot of gaps there. So immediately it became
the well, if it was was us, they'd make us play.
That's that's what Raider fans and a bunch of Raider
players were saying right away. It's like, okay, now now
we've got this. And for the NFL, they wanted to
(10:10):
be clean. But this is also the best of all
worlds because you show the divide of the players Association
once again, right, and people pointing out, hey, you know
the guy tread Or from the Browns, he's the union
president and look at they look what they did for
him and his team. So you get to keep the
divide as as you push forward on another of one
(10:34):
of the many issues that come up in collective bargaining
UH discussions each and every time. So for on the
business side of it, it's say who who? This opened
a whole other can of worms. But for the straight
playing out the last four weeks of the NFL season,
you want to play all sixty four of them. And
(10:54):
we we said, you know, they'd go back on the
the idea that they wouldn't move these games around. Nope,
here we go Tuesday football. Uh. The only day we're
missing right now is Wednesday. We get to take a
breather and watch. You know, we'll get a game. We'll
get a game on Wednesday. We'll get a game on Wednesday.
We'll get a game some out, we'll get one on Wednesday.
I'm not worried it's still good, right, and that it's
(11:16):
still in the possibilities. And you've got so many teams
that were ravaged by this and to think that it,
I mean, I guess this is the question if if
I'm a player, the only one I want to know,
what's critical mass in terms of positive tests, Well, it's
I think it's one of those. I don't think it's
it's a hard and fast if it's five players, unless
it's what what's your situation here? We are forty eight
(11:38):
hours away from the game orty hours. We have twenty players,
and okay, we can't play that game. You have twenty
players in COVID protocol the camp. Allright, we we need something.
We have four or five players, we can play that game. Yeah,
but one of those our quarterback. Now we can play
the game. Twenty players, I can't do it. I mean,
I think it's one of those you kind of know
it when you see it. There's no transparences. No people
(11:59):
are gonna want, especially the Jets. As you try to
get a last you want, you want, you want transparency
from the NFL. You realize what you're asking for, what
you want transparent? Did you not? Did you not catch
how far back my tongue was planted in my cheek
as I said that from the NFL, I want to
(12:22):
be six five and be like David Robinson. Uh, that
is that is why I said it. I figured everybody,
after a long, stressful week, maybe you just finished work,
maybe you've got a second job. You gotta get to that.
That line, if nothing else, would make you all laugh.
And I think I succeeded. Real credit card questions require
(12:44):
real people, someone who understands your issues and works to
resolve them with you. That's why I Discover offers helpful
US based representatives available. Seven Discover exceptionally common sense. Now
here's to all the business part. You made great points
about that. I look back and focus on teams really
wanted a forfeit. They really wanted to win via forfeit,
(13:04):
which the raiders may not be any other way right
now right I we want to win via forfeit, And
I go, really, you really want to win via forfeit.
You really want to win that way? That's you want
to do with COVID. Nope, we're doing everything right. That's
a victory. Okay, We're it's it's not a scoreboard. It's
not us against COVID against other teams. Right, you're playing
the other teams and we're all fighting COVID together. Right,
(13:27):
That's kind of how it goes. But when I do, yeah,
we really wanted that forfeit, Oh my god, how desperate
are you? It's it's ten year old soccer league. You
reek of ridiculousness. Look and look, and I'll be fair
when when you're coaching and salt. Look at anybody who's coach,
like if if if you get before game, that's happened
a couple of times before, not in a while, you know,
but when the girls were younger, if like the coach
comes over and says, hey, we might have enough players
(13:49):
right now. I know the game's gonna start in ten minutes.
If we don't, what do you want to do? I said,
we can play. And then if the ref says, well
you'renna have to forfeit, okay, And then for a second
you go we're gonna win pretty easy, and you go, oh,
we want to play. You know that that's the thought
that Okay, it comes in your mind for a second,
but then you realize you're there the girls want to play.
You want to play, you know, for teams to go. Yeah,
(14:09):
I get you want to win, go on the fielding win.
How desperate and how bad do you sound as a team.
It's oozing out of the pores when you go, we
really need that forefeit to win. I'm a Jets fan.
The only way they can win is via forefeit. And
it's not happening. And I'm not calling and screaming, Oh
we should have a forefeit because we're doing great COVID wise,
I'm embarrassed for the Raiders and anybody that has talked
about yeah, yeah, yeah, we should win via forefeit. Oh
(14:32):
my god, that that we're just scrimmaging now. Yeah, that
that's all I need to know about you, and how
mentally strong you are as a team, and how how
good you think your team is. If you start crying
about a forfeit, but that would be cool. Hey, the
game doesn't cap. We're gonna pa you know, we got
everybody's here anyway. Let's just play a little bit games
on TV. Yeah, hey, girls, you play defense, you get
(14:56):
to play offense today a little bit. That'll be fun. Hey,
who wants to play goalie everybody. I mean, it's not
anna count. It means nothing. It's like a try out.
Come on, Hey, Darren Waller, you want to play quarterback?
That's great, all right, Derek Carr, you go play safety.
Oh this is gonna be a lot of fun. This
is gonna work out for us. I mean, really, it's
so embarrassing to hear. Oh yeah, yeah, we really wanted
(15:17):
that forfeit. Oh my goodness. Well, we have more NFL
on the way. The Lakers just tipping off right now
in a very late start in Minnesota. But speaking of
the NBA, a big star on his way back to
the court. Yeah, but not full time. We'll tell it.
It's next Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
(15:38):
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with My big friend Mike Harmon. It can
happen easily. A few drinks become a few too many,
it's time to go. You think of calling for a
ride home? What's the worst an app? And you get
(16:00):
pulled over, You lose your license, you totally your car
you kill someone, drive sober, or get pulled over paid
for by NITZA. Well. Right now, in the NBA, we
just watched the Golden State Warriors in the Marquee Game
of the Night against the Boston Celtics. Uh. The Warriors
were up big in this one for a while. The
(16:21):
Celtics made it nice and close, which meanings, Okay, they
made it close. Uh, that's kind of what we saw.
But in the end it was not enough. The Warriors
uh improved to twenty four and five, beating the Celtics
one eleven to one oh seven. Andrew Wiggins scores twenty seven.
The Warriors keep rolling. There's potential that they could get
(16:42):
Clay Thompson back on the court sometime in January. And
for a team that's twenty four and five, are now
adding a former All Star who, look, let's face it,
he may not be great. We don't know what he's
gonna be, but they're in such a great spot right
now with what they have. Clay Thompson's a guy that
now we're talking about his his return and now it's
tangible because it's within a month or so that he's
(17:05):
a guy that can come off the bench and play
a handful of minutes and work his way back. It's
been two years since the guy has played. All he's
going to be is an asset for them, because this
is the this is what Steve Kerr has has put
forward in Golden State. You really think Clay Thompson is
gonna say no, no, no, I gotta start, man, you
gotta you gotta movie. Now he's gonna say, yes, I
want to keep playing. This is great. You guys have
(17:26):
paid me. Everything is wonderful. He will be an additional
weapon off the bench, and maybe as we get closer
to the end of the season, depending on how things go,
maybe Clay gets back in the starting lineup. But maybe
this year he just comes off the bench, and that's
the way it is. He winds up playing a lot
of minutes. But this is how it goes. I mean,
this is you talk about a big trade deadline acquisition.
It's a bit of a question mark because you don't
(17:48):
know what kind of Clay Thompson you're getting back. But
you are now getting back someone in the middle of
January that is going to be able to do nothing
but help you. And if he doesn't, where are you Anyway,
You're at the top of the Western Conference. So it's
not like, boy, this guy's riding to the rescue. Everything
is coming up seven for the Warriors right now. It
is a phenomenal magic carpet ride. No, it's really going
(18:08):
to disrupt the chemistry. There's no wait. Did I thought
we were supposed to just disagree and yell something nonsensical?
So that's what I did. Blank, Steph Curry. I'm taking
all these shots now. Steph, you sent yours on the bed,
you had your moments. I fought my way back from injury.
(18:29):
It's been well. Chronicles, get over there, Wiggins with twenty seven.
As you said, Curry, No, Jordan Pool in COVID protocol
doesn't matter. Uh. They still go out uh and have
a massive run. Uh once again the third quarter they
got dominated, but it didn't matter because they built uh
such a deep reservoir of success and you're looking at
(18:52):
the turnover margins and all of those you know metrics
time and time again. Both teams shot well from three
point range, so you had that more or less even.
But the Warriors just keep rolling. And now you're playing
with house money because in the end, does it does
it matter? You just need to be right come April,
(19:13):
and if you're the earlier, you get Clay Thompson back
in to rotate him into to get him set and
get your rotations if you're Steve Kerr set and knowing
what his physical limitations are, if there are any, and
you know you can build on a minute restriction. Uh. Now,
it's just the the other question of Wiseman and what
(19:34):
his return looks like. But to get Clay Thompson back
as a luxury, like you said, it's like getting a
trade piece or or picking up a guy who's been
sitting on the sideline, say you know, we we got
a little bit of room. You want to come play
some ball? Sure? Like like suddenly, what do you Harrelson
(19:55):
from White Mane canchup? Hey, you mean play basketball? Guy?
I guess I could. I can show up and do
a couple of things for you and added bonus, right,
the guy that uh just comes back in a kind
of an afterthought, right, because yeah, you'd like it. He's
a nice bonus. But if he can come back and
give you any meaningful minutes, even if it's just as
(20:15):
part of a rotation to start working himself back into shape,
and he's not ready till April or or even May.
Then you know you're you're that much richer for it.
So obviously the Warriors are doing great. They're getting a
player back. Look, everybody's doing great today because it's spider
Man Day's spider Man. Spider Man. Were you tweeting at
(20:35):
us and texting us during Spider Man? No, no, no,
I'm going after I'm going after the show tonight. You
said you were going in the morning, we were gonna
go and and Zoe wanted to go to school and
and go all day, and we wanted to go to
a um and and get tickets and for the uh
for the big screen, the XD screen, and we couldn't
do it at one thirty. So we're like, okay, great,
(20:56):
so going after the we get done with the show.
I am out of here and going right to Spider Man.
So what you're saying is she heard the talking yesterday
on the show and recognized Harmon was right. No, not really,
I said, remember this needed to finish your school day.
Remember this is a guy who pulled his own daughter
out to play in a soccer game. Okay, so understand
(21:18):
that this. When Mike Harmon says this, he kind of
says one thing and sort of does another. But no,
But it was mainly we couldn't get that. We couldn't
get the tickets for the bigs for the big screen
because it was already sold out for like oh great, so,
oh my god, we gotta go. We're going Imax with
this one. We're going, well, the XD screen, you know,
the big you know the big screens, not not the
three D ones, but the big Imax screen. Yeah, that's
(21:39):
what we're gonna say. There you go. Yeah, spider Man.
You know, I might have wanted to see spider Man,
spider Man, spider Man, spider Man, spider Man, spider Man.
You didn't invite me to go. You didn't say, hey,
how I'm gonna go after I would have done that.
I didn't have plans. You you're the one that's making plans.
It's like, awesome, maybe after the show, hard an have
(22:04):
a couple of drinks and watch Spider Man. When you
go out to walk your dog, do you call me
and say you want to go for a walk and
hang out and walk the dog. I got a nice
parasital umbrella. But we can walk up and down the
street and talk about how wonderful. The callies, look, go
back and listen to what you just said. I should
have them play it back. Do you want to go
for a walk? I'm not getting any further than that.
I don't have to have it right back to me.
If I as soon as I say the word walk,
(22:27):
you're done. Spider Man, Spider Man, Spider Man, tonight spider Man.
But speaking of returns, it is not quite Spider Man
coming back, but for the Nets, it kind of is
as Kyrie Irving is now going to return to the Nets.
Wait a minute, is he getting vaccinated? No? Did New
(22:50):
York change their parameters? No, he is going to come
back as a part time player, and he will play
in the road games that aren't take place in New
York and in Toronto. The team announcing this on Friday.
He is still unwilling to satisfy New York City mandates,
and it was you're gonna stay home as long as
(23:10):
we need you to stay home, and then the Nets
decide after this week, boy, Kevin Durant's playing a lot
of minutes. Man, We're playing pretty well. Is it the
worst thing in the world to have Kyrie Irving? For now?
For a little bit, Uh no, let's have Kyrie Irving
come and play. It goes against what they thought, and
we can get We're gonna get to the physical part
of him being back with the team. But on the court,
(23:31):
it makes all the sense in the world because eventually
you're hoping that Kyrie Irving is gonna get to come
back and play. Right, You're eventually hoping that, whether it's
the mandates are lifted at some point in the spring,
maybe you have because remember the NBA seasons pretty long.
You know, we can go all the way to April,
then the mandate can be lifted, or he decides to
get vaccinated. The nets are hoping that eventually, somehow it's
(23:52):
going to work out, And it was only gonna work
out if one of those things happened, because Kyrie clearly
is not gonna get vaccinate. So but they're hoping to
get him back, So why not get him back now?
He can play every other game. You if you're going anywhere,
you're gonna need him anyway. So what is what's worse
than having him come back and play in half the games?
Now you can adjust your line up with him or
(24:12):
without him. It will work. This is COVID right. We're
making it up on the fly, and this works for
the Nets. It will be less minutes for Kyrie Irving
or for for Kevin Durant. It'll be less wear and
tear on these guys going towards the playoffs, because the
Nets will still be able to win games even if
Kevin Durant doesn't play forty three minutes. It could be
a night where maybe you'll get to play thirty three,
but because Kyrie is playing, they blow a team out. Um,
(24:34):
there's gonna be more rest involved. It will be more
load maintenance, clearly from a basketball standpoint, being where the
Nets are, Hey, we're playing pretty well at the top
of the Eastern Conference. We don't want to burn out
our stars. We can have a free player playing with
us in every other game basically, and he's a really
good one. So okay, from a basketball standpoint, I completely
get it. This works for the Nets. Keep going back to,
(24:55):
you know, the shifting sands, the protocols changing this one.
Kyrie Irving has always kind of been curious. You could
practice with the guys, but he can't go from the
gym and the contact there to the arena and and
and some of it. The the logic. You know, there's
some gaps there for me, obviously, bigger stage, more people around,
(25:20):
et cetera. But you're not walking through the arena and
high fiving and hugging every one of those eighteen thousand
plus fans. But I digress. As the season goes on,
And remember this was a non starter at least that
was the report weeks ago. Well, situations change and the
overall picture of hey, we'll probably get him back in
(25:43):
short order because everything's gonna go away, right, Clouds are
gonna go away, and we're gonna be foot loose and
fancy free. No, not so fast. So if you do
have the opportunity outside of games in Canada and New
York to utilize a guy of his talents and his
particular set of gills, and you say, hell yeah, let's
go to your point less wear and tear on some
(26:05):
of the veteran stars and a guy who you know
you've now got him working himself back into the basketball
shape fully. Not that he's been sitting around just eating
you know, loads of ice cream and cookie dough. No,
that's me. That that's me, that's me the holidays, that's me.
That's what I'm holiday. I'm getting ready. I'm in holiday shape.
I'm in holiday shape many holidays all year round. Yeah,
(26:30):
every day I can't get I can't eat because my
wife makes great peanut brittle and I can't have it because,
you know, because the gold tooth. And they told me
not to not not to have peanut brittle and nuts
for a while. So you know, I'm a baller now
with my gold tooth, but I can't have it. I
can't have nuts for a bit. If it restricts you
from eating something as simple as the well, the nut,
then it's bad. How much of a baller are you?
(26:53):
I'm a ball can't have it of ice cream? No,
it hurts because it's too cold. It's too cold. Uh,
just the the idea that you as a team, And
I'm sure they consulted Durant and Harden and and all
the the top top people that you would you would
(27:16):
need to kind of say, all right, how's the locker
room gonna feel about this? Because it doesn't happen in
a vacuum. And they looked around and said, yeah, we're winning.
He's an extra piece. We're gonna probably have him back
in eventually anyway, So why not get the reps, get
the rotations, get the minutes, get him in shape. And
then again it's the wishing, wanting, hoping that we go
(27:40):
back to business as quote unquote normal, or things change
in New York State to where you know, you you
don't have to have him as just a part time player.
But in the interim, hey, he's that guy you know
you're gonna do uh a remote for a radio show
or your television show, and you pick up an extra
cameraman or uh tech to go produce around the road
(28:01):
to run a board. That's that's Kyrie Irving right now. Yeah.
But look, look from we'll get to the personal standpoint
in a little bit, because it's also about coming back
to the locker room. But basketball, this does completely make sense,
and there is something to be said for something that
was hard and fast a couple of months ago doesn't
need to be hard and fast two months later, Right
(28:23):
it doesn't because I know, well we talked about how
people want to go hard and fast at the NFL
said there be forfeits in August. Okay, don't you think
life has changed from August till now as far as
COVID goes, and how we're treating at the world changes
every couple of days. Now, there's no hard and fast rule, right.
The world moves faster than it ever has before. So
things are going to be a bit of a certainty.
(28:46):
But the potential to change is always there, right, So yes,
you can, we can. We're not gonna We're not gonna
have it. Okay, let's wait a couple of months. Boy,
the players are getting tired. Um, we we were playing
really well. He would really help and and something that
was an idea it wasn't even discussed a couple of
months ago. Could be something that's an easy conversation two
months later. That is how the world works, you know,
That is how things go. There could be a conversation
(29:08):
you have with your kids about no, there's no way
you're going on this trip. No way, no way, no,
this trip is not a good trip for you to
go on for X, Y and Z, and then two
months later, oh yeah, you know, okay, yeah, trip sounds good.
You want to go on the trip, You go on
the trip. I mean, things change, and that's how things change.
Things change. In the NFL with dealing towards COVID and
what the how they wanted to to address it. They're
doing the right thing and things are changing with the
(29:28):
nets towards Kyrie Irving, and look, it's better for the
lead that he's back in. I can't wait to hear
all the stuff he's been up to and all his
thoughts on vaccination and not vaccination. Maybe I don't know what.
I don't know what he's been busy on the last
few months. Who knows he could come out and say, hey,
I've found a way to make meet out of cardboard.
I can't I can't wait to show this to you.
(29:49):
I mean, who knows he could come up with anything.
The guy is all over the place. So I'm looking
forward that. Look, it's better that he's back. He's a
great player in the league. But yeah, but this was
something that went from no known oh too, yeah, just
because the world changes. The world changes all the time.
So is he back? Is he back for? I can't
tell you in two months if he's still gonna be
playing in away games. He may not be. He may
decided he doesn't want to play in the way games anymore.
(30:11):
He might decide he needs more time away from the team.
The time he's had away so far isn't enough. The
league may say you can't have a player play part
time for you, You You can't. Who knows, But for right now,
this is decision basketball wise. It's a good one. Yeah. No,
they're they're not gonna come in it and stop this.
He it's another uh guy back in that they can say, look,
we can we found creative solutions during this time of
(30:34):
COVID to make sure that our stars and our players
are on the court and putting for the best product
we possibly can for our fans. How you like that
I wrote that for you, Adam Silver, You can cut
and print it right now. Just put it on the stationary,
fix the auto penn signature, and away we go. All
of those things. Uh as you lay it out. I
(30:56):
mean it's perfect, perfect setup, uh, for the business side
and for the the players and teams as you're trying
to execute this. And obviously Kyrie Irving's the the face.
The question is how many other players are you know,
kind of kind of in in this mode that we're
We're not Sharon because there wasn't a stance, But I
(31:19):
hope Kyrie Irving comes out. You know, we had the
instagram putting the shoes back on. Who knows, maybe maybe
he's gonna be the guy to spoil Spider Man for me.
Spider Man, he's that time, he's a time. Maybe he
got an advanced copy, he's got cloud. Well, we got
more NFL on the way. We have one game in
the league tomorrow, and boy is it a doozy. We
(31:41):
got the Pats and the Colts. We picked the game
next and I'm gonna give you a surprise coming up next,
right are Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's Ben hosting The
(32:01):
Fifth Hour with Ben Mallory along with my trustees sidekick
David Gascon. Would mean a lot to have you join
us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in
God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's
a spin off of the Ben Maller Show, Cold Hit
overnights on fs ARE. Why should you listen? Picture if
you will the world? Will? We chat with captains of
industry in media, sports and more. Every week Explorer some
(32:24):
amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to The
Fifth Hour with Ben Mallow on the I Heart Radio
app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Well,
we got a lot of big NFL preview this weekend.
I got an upset special picks coming your way next
hour on the show, some bold predictions for this week.
But um, we had the Game of the week last
night with the Chargers in the Chiefs, and now we
(32:46):
have Game of the Week part two tomorrow with two
teams that are red hot in the a f C.
We have the Patriots and the Colts, and the Pages
have been playing incredibly well and Belichick looks invincible right now.
But I gotta tell you, Mike, tomorrow, the Colts cool
off the Patriots, all right. The Colts are playing so
(33:06):
incredibly well, all right, so much so they'd be a
team like if I could say, hey, who's that five
hundred team that can make a run in the playoffs
in each in each conference? Because he got a lot
of teams at five hundred, the Colts would be that
team right now. Remember I picked him for the a
f C title game, like way, wait, wait, wait wait,
look okay, but look and then it ran as fast
I did. But now but now I'm back because they're
(33:28):
playing well, Look, they're a complete team, right, It's not
just Jonathan Taylor Thomas as well as he is running
the football. I mean it is. It is a big
time step up by Carson Wentz who has been playing
really well. But no one talks about it because you
know Taylor is getting all the attention. I get it.
The defense is playing good enough. It's not lights out
of thought as good as I thought it would be,
(33:49):
but they're not allowing a lot of points. Look, Wentz
is doing what Indianapolis brought him here for. This is
the kind of team I thought we would see from
the beginning of the season. It just took him a
little while. The Colts have been playing and really the
Patriot plane really really well, but Colts cool them off.
Tomorrow they get a big game running the football and
it's not like you can stop one part. The Colts
(34:10):
get a win. It'll be close. It will be a
low scoring game. But give me the Colts tomorrow over
the Patriots. Two point favorites. Are the Colts two and
happen some spaces. Six is your total. Damian Harris out
for New England means a lot of talk about the
love of Brandon Bolden, Romandre Stevenson and those in the
(34:32):
run game there for New England, Uh, the key is
trying to figure out in the passing game beyond what
you've seen at times from Hunter Henry and John new Smith,
who's gonna step up? Who do you got? You've got
a lot of guys that are well kind of look
kind of the same when you break down where the
stats are right, your leaders Kendrick Boorne, who's come on
(34:53):
of late, and include any and all Chris Berman isms
that you need to Jacoby Myers. But there there's six
hundred yard guys not dominant. Borns found the end zone
a bunch of late, so they're gonna look to get
him involved early and off. And for Mac Jones, doesn't
turn the ball over, takes care of the football. You're
(35:13):
not gonna get a robust point total. But we look
at game to game. You know two teams that are
in the top ten in terms of total defense. You
mentioned the Colts at game Patriots giving up just fifteen
point four points per game. I'll look for Bill Belichick
to come up with the scheme to at least slow
(35:35):
Jonathan Taylor and then it goes back on Carson Wentz's arm.
And this is where it goes back to That's Carson Wentz.
That's the guy I remember, even if he's got Pittman
and Jack Doyle and all these other guys were running around.
I'm looking for the Pats to win on the road. Yeah. Look,
I'm not expecting Carson Wentz to show up and throw
four touchdowns tomorrow. But am I expecting him become and
(35:57):
play well and play exactly how the Colts thought he
would play. Yeah, because you know what, he has been
playing really well, fantastic. But but but nobody's talked about
that because it's Carson went and he was so bad
and nobody likes the guy. And boy Jonathan Taylor is
so good. But I admitted I was wrong weeks ago.
He's played really well in efficient football. He has been
really he has been very functional as quarterbacks. Man. So
(36:23):
I'll take the Colts, Michael, take the Patriots. How about
some big time bold predictions. Oh we got those for
you coming up next, right there, Jason Smith, Mike Carbon.
You are listening to Fox Sports radio radio radio radio
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Mike Harmon
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