February 10, 2022 • 37 mins
In hour 3 of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, NBA Insider Ric Bucher joins the show to punctuate exactly where the Lakers are when it comes to any hope of a turnaround after a less than spectacular season before the all-star break. Then, after a miserable loss to a depleted Trail Blazer team, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was asked if there is a scenario where Russell Westbrook could be traded at the deadline, and the guys have it for you!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night ten pm to two a m 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.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hello, Welcome inside our
three of The Jason Smith Show with my base friend
Mike Harmon, live from Radio Row here super Bowl fifty
six as we count down to kickoff Bengals and the
Los Angeles Rams. Uh, it's a big night in the
(00:46):
NBA as we are closing in on the trading deadline,
and there's gonna be a big NBA story. I I
have to expect there to be this because if a
couple of teams are actually alive from the neck up,
they're gonna wind up making move is that they need
to make because that vocal why look wow wow wow
wow wow wow wow wow wow. Uh. The Lakers and
(01:11):
the Blazers who last night, Lebron James said, uh, yeah,
we're not nearly as good as the Bucks. Today. Sources
say the Lakers are going to be aggressive and feel
the sense of urgency to make moves. No Russell Westbrook
in the lineup tonight because he either a has lower
back tightness or B the Lakers are gonna trade him
(01:32):
and don't want him to get hurt. Uh. They trail
Portland's right now, and this is embarrassing, even though it's
in Portland, Portland, I don't even know if they're playing
with five guys because they made so many trades in
the lass twenty four hours. I know they have five players,
but they're leading the Lakers nine six. Lebron's got twenty three,
A d has seventeen, and you know what. This is
(01:53):
where I'm at with with the Lakers. Uh, this hasn't
worked for a while. There's still a lot of time
to get things ready for the postseason. They did this
once with the Calves and it worked. The big mid
season Lebron James said, I need all new players, and
the cars went out and changed out half the roster
(02:15):
and it worked and they went to the NBA Finals.
They need to do that again. The only two untouchables
on the Lakers, Lebron and Anthony Davis, that's it. Everybody
else can be traded. Malik Monk can go to bring
back a star. Obviously, you need to try to move
on from Russell Westbrook and if you can get John
Wall for him, which is what the talk has been,
(02:35):
do it. Because if you know a doesn't work, why
not try be You never know another team that might say, yeah,
we'll take Westbrook and his salary and then pay him
out he's ever gonna play for us again and becomes
a free agent. The Lakers need five new players. They
need five new players, two new starters and two more
guys to come off the bench that maybe this next
invention of shake it up and see if it mixes
(02:57):
well is going to work. Because to eight to think
that we'll just wait at the guys healthy, now we
watch you guys healthy. Last night was the big low
point because everybody was healthy. The Lakers were at home,
they were playing the defending champions, and they got boat
raced and they got and it was never close. They
got it to within nine, and it didn't matter. It
didn't matter. They they never were able to touch the
(03:18):
defending champs, who right now or maybe the fifth or
sixth best team in the NBA maybe, and this is
the defending champs, So if you're not doing well against them,
you're clearly not going to beat the elite teams in
the NBA at the top. You're not gonna be Golden State.
You're not gonna beat Utah. You can't waste Lebron James,
who maybe has another year after this left before you
(03:39):
think he might be retiring because whatever he wants to say,
I want to play with brawny, I want to do
all of these things in a couple of years, he's
just not healthy and he can't stay healthy and he
winds up being out of the lineup for long periods
of time. So you have to think of Lebron's prime
as being the rest of this year and maybe one more.
Playing the loose five that he's been playing for the
past few weeks. Getting at um that that that bit
(04:01):
of advantage on a on a on a defensive assignment
UH that he's able to exploit that clearly has helped
and clearly he'll be able to do that for a
little bit while longer because he's still Lebron. He's still
skilled that way to be able to come out and
shoot a three and be able to to uh, get
to get over and get past the other team's five.
That'll work. But after that, that's it. You have to
(04:23):
make big, big changes. I really five new players. I'm
like can cong Bundy five counts five five new players,
two new starters, three guys coming and go get a star.
It needs to be aggressive, even even if you're blowing
it up and you're bringing in everything new. You bringing
a new energy, you bringing a new possibility, and sometimes
(04:44):
that's worth its weight because even if it doesn't work,
just the energy around to change, just the energy that
maybe this will, you'll get another buy in. You get
a fresh round of buy in from the players because
right now they're just going out there and just playing right.
And then they know, like we're we're a five your team,
we're a little bit under five hundred. That's not changing.
It hasn't changed in months. So to think that we're
(05:05):
just gonna get better because the calendar is gonna turn
to another day not gonna happen. Lakers need at least
five new players. Go get a star. You'll be able
to do it. Trade your first round picks all the
way through, doesn't matter. They can only trade really one
more but it doesn't matter what you do. There's still
first round picks. They're really irrelevant. But five new players
for tomorrow make those moves. The fact that Rob Polinka
(05:28):
was able to still get Anthony Davis when Davis said
I only want to go to the Lakers and he
didn't have any bargaining power, he was still able to
bring him in and win a championship. Rob Polinka has
to go out and do this because this is what
the Lakers need. Nothing short of a complete and total
remake is gonna help them this season, and it's not.
It's not where most teams are, where we can put
it away and try for it next year. You can't
(05:50):
keep wasting Lebron James. Yeah, I would love to see
a what's behind door? Number two? Right? Because John Wall
hasn't played, and even before this year, he hadn't played
a lot for a couple of years. So even if
he doesn't play, always, yeah, it's better even if he
doesn't play. Who did they trade for that empty seat
right there? One are the Lakers the best when Russell
(06:10):
Westbrook's not playing. So if you have a guy already
not playing coming in, that's good. Hey, youre in the
winds above replacement is higher. What do you expect for me?
I expect you to do the same thing. Come in
and not playing will be better. All right, I can
do that. I can do that. You can pay me.
I can do that. Right now, as we come down
(06:30):
to the end of the fourth quarter, Rick Buker coming
up talking about this all the trade deadline in just
a couple of minutes. But we look at the Lakers
there in the numbers nine spot. They are three and
a half games ahead of the Pelicans who are shuffling
things up still knows ion. And then they are currently
five games ahead of these Portland Trailblazers who just detonated
(06:53):
and decided we're going and bringing up a whole new squad.
And then maybe still some moves for that him to make,
but we'll we look at the Lakers, and we've seen
the Fanos move before. We've seen Lebron the GM make
those shuffle it up and deal kind of moves saying
we need the energy. And for Rob Polenka, you're you're
(07:15):
looking at a squad I don't know how many times
I've seen. And we've got to get people to get
proper grammar working it's not uninterested, it's disinterested. Right, I
could be as uninterested or as disinterested as I can be. Yeah,
the point being that you got a team that the
lacks urgency. So what you need to do? You need
to shake things up, right, It's like that coaching change,
(07:36):
the managerial change major League Baseball. We think we've got
a winner, but we need some sort of energy. And here,
right now, they're in the playoff playing area right, which
means possible playoffs. And then the whole theory theoretical was
if I get them in a series and you can
bog it down and you have the regular schedule, days off,
all that kind of stuff that maybe things could work,
(07:59):
but doesn't work in this format. No, and Lebron finally
realized that, right, finally said it yesterday. So what can
you do? You've traded away all these draft picks. You
might as well go keep trading away as long as
all the c b A allows you to to today's
current second graders. If you have to like the future,
(08:19):
you need now that that kid who goes to George
Washington Middle School, he's gonna be really good at We're
not gonna look, they're already scouting him and trying to
I mean they're looking inside that he's no, no, no no,
looking at that door that leads up the stairways at
the kids home. Let me see those markers for the
last three years. What are the growth spurts, what are
the increments, what are we got going there? What's the
(08:40):
height and the family all of those research projects. But
the point being to what you said before and what
we preached all along, is you've got a finite window
with Lebron James. That's it. We know this and we
thought as the collective just based on the cyborg mentality
and the fact that he hadn't had any serious injuries
like even last year, right it was a fluke, you
(09:03):
had a body slide into him and take him down,
like it wasn't a non contact injury or just you know,
training or whatever not. That he hasn't had some of
those ailments, and we always attributed them the load management.
But now but now you've got a guy who's missing
chunks of time and the injuries take longer to come
back from, and that means that the cliff is right
(09:25):
over there and you've got to figure out how to
maximize what's left of his career as a Laker because
it may not finish here. We've talked about that, not
even related to Browny James, just in general. You may
decide you can't have the organization at the behest of
Lebron James going forward, that you need to move forward,
whether it's with Anthony Davis or with some other combination
(09:47):
of players. And I think that's really the I in
the mirror kind of thing for the Lakers over this
next twelve hours and whatever they can try to pull
together is recognizing what you are, what you need to be,
and trying to build for five years from now. As
a foolhardy plan, you try to win this year, and
that's why you know, we're looking at posters of Matthew Stafford,
(10:10):
Joe Burrow, all those moves to try to win now,
particularly the Ram side. Obviously, with the Bangals, everything that
needed to go right, did every break they needed happened.
But with the Rams, they pushed all in and if
it doesn't work, there's no guarantee you of getting back.
That's why everybody saying with the Bengals, hey, they're playing
with house money. You know, Dan Marino got to a
(10:31):
Super Bowl very early, never got back. So don't try
to tell me there's no sense of urgency. You know
there's a sense, but but it's just it's house money
where they're not expected to win. The team's not expected.
I think you're using that term wrong. But if you
use disinterested and uninterested, and nick means two completely different things. Yeah,
uninterested is not a word. Uninterested means I was asked
(10:51):
about something, I thought about it, and I'm not interested it.
Disinterested means no matter why, I'm just have no interest,
so whatever you do. But uninterested means I heard about it,
I thought about it, and I'm not interested. Disinterested means
don't even tell me about it. I'm disinterested. Yeah, I'm interested.
Is just wrong. Uninterested it's a word. It's a you
just said it wasn't a word, and it's a it's
(11:13):
not a word that you should be using in this context.
But when we get to Matthew Stafford uninterested, not interested
in or concerned about something or someone. For example, I'm
completely uninterested in what Mike Harmon has to say there.
It is dictionary dot com that just now. But the
point is, if if you're going all in, as you
(11:33):
keep pointing at the Matthew Staton because you see, because
I can see you stards in front of me, I
can do at it. This is radio you keep. That's
what my family does. Point the time you get the
room in a family family, when you get the Matthews
step like that, see it. Yes, you could also just
(11:54):
say Matthew Stafford's name. And I understand I don't think
you do. Look at them PI staring at you look
I get your point. Uh and clearly if you can
get to a television, I suggested, because the Lakers are
down three with five seconds left to go, it is
(12:15):
Russell Westbrook checked in you maybe I know he's out
with the back injury. You may be seeing a lot
of these Lakers in their last game in a Laker uniform.
I mean good. Half of these guys could be gone
in a few hours. Did they take their jerseys off
and give him away? Half? Go take this? Take this?
Take this? Take this, Hey, Malik Monk, take this. Taylor
Horton Tucker, take this, Austin Reeves take He's got fourteen
(12:41):
and seven assists tonight in it. Twenty four minute trade
and while he's hot, you have to trade the while
he's hot. What it is what is the lake. There
should be a big fire sale for the Lakers, and
tomorrow we should be spending all our time trying to
recap who's gonna be starting for them? Where they are?
Did they make themselves into a title contending team. It's
what we should be talking about tomorrow with the Lakers.
(13:01):
We should be We should also be talking about the
Nixon making a big trade and doing a three for
one and bring a star to New York because clearly
what's going on this year is not working in Julius
Reynolds not a star. These are things we should be
talking about tomorrow. Big time, fire sale, fire fire, fire
fire sale. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(13:21):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three
time pro bowler Lavarrington and I couldn't be more excited
to announce a new podcast called Up on Game? What
is up on Game? You asked, along with my fellow
pro bowler t J. Hudgman's out of and Super Bowl champion.
(13:43):
That's right, Plexico Burds. You can only name a show
with that type of talent. On It, Up on Game,
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me,
LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgman's Outa and Plexy Coke burd
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
(14:05):
you get your podcast from Fox Sports Radio, The Jason
Smith Show with my base friend Mike Harmon live from
Radio Rose. Super Ball fifty six. We got some big
NFL stories on the way, but we have to react
to and this is not hyperbole, this may be the
(14:26):
worst Lakers loss in maybe ten years. Like Fire, they
lose Fire. They lose to the Blazers. No Damian Lillard,
no c J McCollum because he was traded, They didn't
have any of the players they got back for McCollum
playing tonight, and still they lose to the Blazers. They
were in ten point favorites and they lose. I am
(14:49):
waiting for the Lakers postgame press conference like I waited
for the Force Awakens or endgame. I can't wait, But
right now a guy also can't wait to talk to.
Pretty soon, he's just gonna be known as Matt Buker's dad.
But right now he is Fox Sports one NBA insider extraordinaire,
longtime friend of the show, Rick Buker. You can fall
on Twitter at Rick Buker. Rick, what's happening? Man? Oh?
(15:11):
The joy in your voice is just unmistakable, But I
suppose it's understandable. Yeah, you said in the last ten years.
I think maybe in the history of the franchise. Who
whoa No? I mean, come on, you look at where
they are. You look at the desperation with which you
(15:31):
would expect the Lakers to play. You look at Russ
Westbrook supposedly has been the thing that's holding them back. Well,
Russ wasn't available tonight because of a a a sore back.
You couldn't get that out. You couldn't even say it.
(15:52):
How do I how do I explain as a guy
who's never missed a game all year and is on
the ropes then potentially on the trade block, is now
suddenly has a storeback for the first time in his career.
I don't know how to explain that. But I'm just
you know, I'm looking at actually wanted to look at C.
(16:15):
J ELLOPI anybody familiar with C. J Elloby, C C
j Elloby. Yeah he's Um, he's a six six two
pounds small forward. Who let me just take a look here,
who shoots? I expect a little bit better than I thought,
But um, you haven't just four point one one points
(16:38):
a game, want to sift two point six rebounds? Uh?
He was your starting small forward against Lebron James to night.
That's the state of this Portland's Trailblazers team. Uh it,
I mean I it was a wreck of a team.
And even if the Lakers had won, the fact that
(16:59):
they were going to have to grind out a win
against this Blazers team, to me, spoke Volumes, not a
rough Westbrook, not a the Lakers as a whole. But
we're now at a point where we need to stop
talking about Anthony Davis and Lebron James as superstars because
if they are indeed superstars, I don't care who else
is on the floor. You put them on the floor
(17:22):
with you, Me, Mike, your producer, you name it, three
of us and those two guys. We should beat what
the Blazers put on the floor tonight, and they were
unable to. And so I just believe that this is
the this is reality coming home really hard on the
(17:42):
Lakers in terms of exactly exactly what they have and
where they are. And on top of all this, thirty
and they get to play a Golden State Warriors team
that got beat by the Utah Jazz or or in
the process of getting beat by the Utah Jazz and
are probably going to be playing for something meaningful in
this Lakers game. So good luck with all that. Yeah, yeah,
(18:06):
Golden In the final minute, as you we talk here, Lebron,
did I'm thinking for one second, hang on, So I'd
probably be the shooting guard because I can hit from three.
Like you should see me the y m c A.
I can hit from three. Rick, would you be the
point guard? You can hit from the pro three? Yes? No, no, no, no, no,
(18:27):
Well I did painted the three point That's all I do.
That's all I do is take threes. When I go
work out at the Y, I take big time threes.
That's all I do. That's all I got ice water
in my veins. There's not a shotted playing with I
hate playing with guys like you. You're always You're always
wait out there, just wait, hey, hey, I'm open. I'm
(18:47):
from the would at least cut before you ask for
the damn ball. I'm just clapping for it. Give it
to me. I can shoot, Come on, come on, And
as he demonstrated standing out there, is because it's only
about before you get back to the other three point line,
and you ain't defending anybody to low that. So the
(19:08):
entire your entire transition game is about a full back
and forth. That's okay, I'll be the buddy heel of
this team. That's fine, that's that's I'll just take a
lot of threes, be the buddy healed. Nicely done. Twenty
one turnovers. Lebron scores the final left and points, including
that set three pointer to make it a two point laws.
(19:31):
So that's kind a big deal. But twenty one turnovers
and I don't know that you know, we we kept
d having it a little bit of fun. With the
words uninterested and disinterested, you can use them in interchangeably here,
because that's really the description of what we saw from
this squad. Is Frank Vogel really gonna finish the season
at this point? Well, the I mean the alternative is
(19:53):
who who are you're going to name that is going
to kick started Lebron James, I'm just throwing it because
we we talked about this a couple of weeks ago,
and he can't get them to do anything at this point. Yeah. Well,
and but Lebron James can't get him to do anything.
It doesn't I mean, if he's not reading them the
(20:16):
riot Act. And and here's the difficulty, Like Lebron James
is not playing with premium energy. You know, he's still scoring, well,
he's still you know, being aggressive in his spots, but
he's not defending this entire that that's the heart of it.
This entire team does not defend with any energy whatsoever.
(20:38):
And I and I thought that because they were the
l A A r P Lakers, that that was going
to be a struggle at that end of the floor.
Combination of being old and then having guys that were
never really great defenders at any point in their careers.
I mean, Carmelo Anthony not a great defender, Russell Westbrook
not a great defender. Uh. And then the guys who
(20:59):
were the trouble of reasons are just to the point
where they don't have the energy anymore to be able
to be able to do that. So it's from the
very beginning, this was this was gonna be a problem.
And I thought it would be a problem with Frank
because you're asking this guy who he's just I mean,
he's a great guy, is a great personality, but he
(21:21):
doesn't like confrontation, and you're asking him to ride rough
shot on Carmelo, Anthony Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Lebron James,
Dwight Howard. You're expecting to hold them all accountable. Like,
I just didn't see a way in which that was
going to happen, and so that was then gonna fall.
(21:43):
Lebron James was gonna have to hold them all accountable.
What does he really want to go through that exercise
at this point in his career? And does he have
the requisite game in order to hold everybody accountable that way?
It's that that's that's the problem here. Uh, you know,
short of I just I don't know's there's certainly there's
(22:04):
not a coach available, But I don't know that there's
a coach that exists that could get this crew playing
to the level of urgency and effort necessary to make
it work. Now we'll get to the other point. We've
got to get to Harden a little bit, and some
of the other things we may see tomorrow, but let
me just finish with this here. It was what was
(22:27):
it about twelve years ago when the Cavaliers, in the
midst of the big run with Lebron James, they traded
half their players at the deadline and brought in and
and basically remade the roster, and they wind up going
back to the finals. I kind of think that's what
the Lakers needed, because no matter what we know, Lebron
and A d aren't going anywhere. Five new players tomorrow,
(22:47):
I mean, whatever you can do, even if it's this
point is Russell Westbrook for John Wall whether he plays
or not, it doesn't matter. I think five new players
for the Lakers tomorrow and maybe two new starters and
three guys are gonna play minutes. I mean, that's really
kind of what you have to do, isn't it. Well,
But here's the problem, and and yeah, I don't think
that the value of the players that you have one
(23:08):
because of their contracts really are are not very big.
So you know, getting quality talent back is the the
the equation. The formula is not there to make it
happen unless you're including Anthony Davis. And but the other
The bigger part is is Anthony Davis and Lebron James
are not what Lebron James and Kyrie Irving were back there.
(23:33):
When you change that Cleveland team, like the core, the
core and the talent at your core is not the same.
Lebron James now is scoring better and or as well
as he ever has, is shooting as well as he
ever has. He's not doing any of the other things
that he used to do at a remarkable level. He's
not playmaking at a remarkable level. He's not defending at
(23:56):
a remarkable level. Like those are the things that people
look at the box score and think, oh, he's you know,
he's got this string of plus point games. Well, okay,
but you know, I mean he got a note. Scored
well again tonight they lost scored well. Uh the other
night against Milwaukee, they got blown out. Like, his numbers
(24:19):
don't equate to winning numbers at this point because he
can't do the things that this team needs him to
do based on the talent that he has around. Jason
Smith Show with Mike Harmen live from Radio Row here
the Convention Center in l A. Super Bowl fifty six
on the hotline with us talking all things chaos and
the NBA. It's our buddy, Rick Buker. Find him on
(24:40):
Twitter at rick Buker. FS one Analysts sometimes host On
the Ball podcast with Rick Buker and his latest uh
talking about Damian Lillard following that Chris Paul Model is
up at Fox sports dot Com. Will get to that
in a moment. But James Harden Rick with the hamstring injury,
just like we're talking about the lower back, the hamstring injury,
(25:02):
and all the talk is he won't get dealt That's
what Steve Nash is selling us. Are you buying it?
I am, because Philadelphia is the place that is desperate
to get him and there the Nets no matter what
is going on, don't want to hand the Sixers the
(25:25):
opportunity to do with the Nets. Still hope that they
will be able to do this season having Harden, no
matter what the relationship is. Right now, you get k
D back, you have Kyrie, you have hardened, You get
everybody together and playing again, and you do something during
the season, you do do something, you make a run
(25:46):
into postseason. All of whatever is going on right now
can potentially be put behind you. The potential can be
realized once again. You're you're keeping the ball in your
court by saying, Harden may be uncertain about whether he's
gonna stay or go this summer. Let's use the next
couple of months to convince them that this is the
best place for him to stay, rather than just saying, oh,
(26:09):
you know what, we don't know if we're gonna be
able to keep him or not. We better just get
rid of him now and hand phil LPI seventies six
is exactly what they want now. The conversations in terms
of what what what is going on? I I doubt
that the conversations are going on to the depth that
they are. But if I was, if I were the
Brooklyn Nets and I was even considering this, if Harden
(26:29):
had made it clear to me, I'm not resigning here.
I want out of here, and I may even sit,
you know, this hamstring may become chronic and I may
just miss the rest of the season. If he if
he like pushed the red button and and went that
far to get his way out, then the only way
I make that deal if I'm the Net, is I
(26:50):
stripped The Philadelphia seventies is not just a Ben Simmons,
but of Tyrese Maxie of the tea stable of enough
pieces so that it's just it's just James Harden and
Joel mb so that yeah, they got their two guys,
but they don't have a championship corps anymore. They don't
have the answer that necessary ancillary pieces in order to
(27:13):
compete for a title. That's the only way I would
even consider doing it. And I dare say, if I'm
the next I don't even consider that. I go, you
know what, we put this together. These guys wanted to
play together. Let's see once k d backs whether whether
we can get the chemistry and the commitment that we
(27:34):
had at the beginning of the year, if we can
recapture that before the postseason starts. All right, Rick, So lastly,
we get it. We got the Lakers, we got James Harden.
Were about fifteen hours away from the deadline tomorrow. If
I said to you give me some big names that
you think could be dealt, would you give me I
think you can start with Julius Randall. You can start
(27:55):
with Julius Randall if you want to. That's okay. That's
gonna be a tough Yeah. I mean, that's the problem
is you gotta you gotta find somebody who is willing
to You know, another man's trash is one man's trash
is another man's treasure. Uh, you need to find somebody
who is equally distressed and wants to make that deal.
(28:17):
I you name a power, you name a team that
is desperate to get Julius Randall right now, I'm sorry,
but I can't name anyone. So it honestly, and I
don't know if I talked about it the last time
I was on, but this draft is going to be
a lot better than people thought it was going to be.
(28:38):
It's one of the reasons why the Blazers like are
just you know, completely demolishing their team because they're looking
at the draft thinking we could get like, we could
get a really good cornerstone player, we could get the uh,
we could get the next Darius Garland type player, or
the big man that's in uh in Cleveland right now. Um, Mobli,
(29:00):
we can have a Mobli we could we could get
one of those, and that would suddenly change the dynamic
on our team. UM. So that's why I was told
a couple of days ago, like there may not be
as many big deals or as many deals made at
the trade deadline, as was expected, because everybody kind of
wants to see what their lottery position is before they
(29:23):
start moving draft picks. You can filem on Twitter at
Rick Buker. That is at Rick Buker Fox Sports One
Analysts On the Ball with Rick Buker podcast Rick, When
what you got on the ball? What's going on? I
know you got some Damian Lillard stuff? What else you got? Uh?
You know? Next the next podcast is gonna be a
the myth of the Big Three. You need a big
(29:45):
three in order to play for its title and how
what has been demonstrated is that was we had a
few unique big threes, but just getting you know, three
superstars together, as the Nets and the l Akers are
amply demonstrating, is not the secret to winning the title.
(30:06):
Outstanding stuff. Thanks as always, and uh thanks for always
bringing the fire. We appreciate. We will talk to you
next week, my friend, have a great one. You got it.
I'm gonna I'm gonna break down the my my hit
now with Matt Hucker and see what do you think? Good? Well, hey,
listen and if the Nick's trade Julius Randall before the
end of the show, we get to call you back. Yes,
(30:26):
you do. Okay, that question, I won't answer, but you
can call me back. I can't wait to hear that. Well,
then I'm just gonna call Matt Buker. Then he's gonna
a new insider. He's gonna answer. You think it's you
think it's hard to get me on the phone, forget it.
He's a teenager. He's a teenagers. They have to pick
up a phone. What Dad, close the door. I'm talking
(30:50):
to Fox Sports Radio all right here, right now. The
only way I could get him is if I texted
him to fair point there on your pain. There you go.
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 I Heart
(31:13):
Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
My best friend Mike Harm Live from downtown l a
Super Bowl fifty six radio row. Where all the fire
going on right now? We was about the fire. That's
the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only do they lose to
night to a Portland team that started a bunch of
(31:34):
jags because none of the players from the c. J.
Mccollumn trade were there, They traded away McCollum. No Damian Lillard.
He hasn't played in a couple of months, and still
the Lakers found a way to lose. With Lebron and
a D on the court, they lost to just a
bunch of guys. Now coming up in a few minutes,
you're gonna hear James Worthy, Laker legend, say some things
(31:55):
that James Worthy just looks like he wants to walk
off the set of Lakers post gamage quick. He looks
like a beaten maybe wants to walk away and just
say that heat between he and Magic. I think they're
about ready to become Celtics fans. This like, I think
it's a final. This Lakers team. Look, I don't know
when it's been this bad. This has been. It's where
if you're a Lakers six years with playoffs where because
(32:18):
they were all high draft picks, they've all gone on
to nice careers, but the expectation was that they were
all going to lead them back to start them into championships.
But they were never good. Like even even in Kobe's
last year's they knew when the Lakers weren't very good.
It was okay, Kobe's making a lot of money. We
don't have a lot of money to spend. You didn't
expect them to be good. This is you were expected
(32:39):
to be championship contenders, going to get Russell Westbrook? Even
freezing Cold takes has the magic before Magic tweeted the
championship contender. Uh, Magic Johnson tweeting this out a few
minutes ago. We told you it was bad, and this
is the fallout after the Lakers lost to Portland tonight.
I'm speechless. No words can describe how I'm feeling. Frank
(33:03):
Vogel was asked if there's a scenario in which Russell
Westbrook isn't on the team after tomorrow, and he said, quote,
if there's a way to improve our team, will improve
our team. I've got nothing else to say about the
trade deadline. Goodbye, Russell Westbrook. Here's Frank Vogel. I know
we've talked about the trade deadline, but you know Russ
is a guy who just has has been talked about.
Is there a scenario where he isn't on this team
(33:24):
after noon tomorrow. Uh. If there's ways to improve our team,
we'll try to improve our team. Other than that, UM,
I got nothing to say about the trade deadline. He gone, hey, gone,
I just say leave me alone. Look there, I need
to get through these sixteen hours. I said, you can't
ask me about trade deadline. I just turn my phone off.
This has been such an utter disaster, and this is
(33:46):
the low point for the Lakers, losing this game to
this Portland team that has given up on the season
and is starting guys that nobody knew who the hell
they want, right you just you heard Rick Buker tell
us the story of c. J. Lerby, who played forty
three minutes tonight at small forward. They still won. This
Lakers team never jelled all right now. I thought Russell
(34:08):
Westbrook coming in. And my mistake, because I thought it
was gonna be great, was that they were going to
run the offense through Westbrook. And I've been saying this
for months, and Lebron and a D would adapt around it,
and this would help during the regular season. It would
take the wear and tear off of Lebron and a D.
They would win enough games in the regular season and
then Lebron and a D are fresh for the playoffs.
(34:29):
None of that has happened because Lebron can't stay healthy.
A D can't stay healthy. And they have misused Russell
Westbrook from the beginning. He does one thing, you know
what he does. He has a dynamo at point guard.
And if you could get him to adapt a little
bit running the offense through him, okay, But the problem
is they didn't try that. No, he's got to come
(34:49):
to our way of doing things. Russell Westbrook is just
a guy when you're doing that. So as much as
it's been Russell Westbrook has not been good, he has tried.
He has tried to fit in up until last night
when he said, I've I've earned the right to be
on the on the court at the end of games.
He has been. He has been and said and done
all the right things, not causing controversy, taking benchings in
(35:11):
in stride. But now it's at the point where this
something has to be done. We can't have one more
day where it's like this. But from as much as
it's been Westbrook's fault, the Lakers brought him in and
have completely misused him, and they've completely miscalculated this team.
I like bringing Westbrook in. Did I like when suddenly
everybody else coming in was forty years old? But Lebron
(35:32):
likes the veterans, and of course they're gonna do what
Lebron says, you need to have some youth come in.
And look who's been the best guy that brought in.
Malik Monk has been pretty good when he's been giving
the chance, and now he's getting all Westbrook's minutes. So
as much as you want to blame Westbrook, and I
get it, you want to bring Lebron and you want
to blame a d you know, I understand, but they
brought Russell Westbrook in and said no, we're gonna zig
(35:52):
when you think we're gonna zag, and the way they've
used him, there was no way they were going to
win positively a disaster. And look, I wanted documentary on
the seventy two hours in the life of Russell Westbrook
going from its coach's decision, respect the decision to you
know what, I've earned the right to be out there,
you know, my resume in history and respect in the
game whatever. That's a pretty big shift in thinking, which
(36:16):
means he listened and watched and and had a lot
of social media contact, uh and probably one or two
voices in his ears. But form Lebron James, this is
the what he wrought right, and Rob Polinka has gotten
a pass in all of this because Lebron gets the blame.
And obviously he's got unlimited power, as as we like
(36:38):
to say going to Emperor Palpatine. But now you're in
a situation where you you don't have a lot of
assets to trade away because you did mortgage part of
your future for Anthony Davis said it yielded a title.
But now you have this situation where even with Lebron
taking over the five that Anthony Davis wouldn't, you still
haven't resolved any Taylor Horton Ker is good every third
(37:02):
game as opposed to becoming a consistent player, and nobody
plays defense like we're talking about with Rick Bucker before,
Like there's nobody committing to what Frank Vogel's whole coaching legacy, right,
that was the whole thank was that he was gonna
get you to buy in. Well, if you're that old,
you can't commit to playing forty eight at minutes of defense,
you could do it sporadically. And Lebron has been that
(37:23):
guy for the last couple of years already, So you
should have been building with that taken into account to
begin with, Twitter at how about a frescup? Mike gets
swollen Dome. The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman live
from Radio Rose, Super Bowl fifties six uh. Coming up next,
you'll hear from James Worthy, who the Lakers have officially
broken after this loss. I this is such a horrendous loss.
(37:47):
I can't even tell you. I can't wait for the
post game. And we got more from the Super Bowl.
Keep it here.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night ten pm to two a m 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.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hello, Welcome inside our
three of The Jason Smith Show with my base friend
Mike Harmon, live from Radio Row here super Bowl fifty
six as we count down to kickoff Bengals and the
Los Angeles Rams. Uh, it's a big night in the
(00:46):
NBA as we are closing in on the trading deadline,
and there's gonna be a big NBA story. I I
have to expect there to be this because if a
couple of teams are actually alive from the neck up,
they're gonna wind up making move is that they need
to make because that vocal why look wow wow wow
wow wow wow wow wow wow. Uh. The Lakers and
(01:11):
the Blazers who last night, Lebron James said, uh, yeah,
we're not nearly as good as the Bucks. Today. Sources
say the Lakers are going to be aggressive and feel
the sense of urgency to make moves. No Russell Westbrook
in the lineup tonight because he either a has lower
back tightness or B the Lakers are gonna trade him
(01:32):
and don't want him to get hurt. Uh. They trail
Portland's right now, and this is embarrassing, even though it's
in Portland, Portland, I don't even know if they're playing
with five guys because they made so many trades in
the lass twenty four hours. I know they have five players,
but they're leading the Lakers nine six. Lebron's got twenty three,
A d has seventeen, and you know what. This is
(01:53):
where I'm at with with the Lakers. Uh, this hasn't
worked for a while. There's still a lot of time
to get things ready for the postseason. They did this
once with the Calves and it worked. The big mid
season Lebron James said, I need all new players, and
the cars went out and changed out half the roster
(02:15):
and it worked and they went to the NBA Finals.
They need to do that again. The only two untouchables
on the Lakers, Lebron and Anthony Davis, that's it. Everybody
else can be traded. Malik Monk can go to bring
back a star. Obviously, you need to try to move
on from Russell Westbrook and if you can get John
Wall for him, which is what the talk has been,
(02:35):
do it. Because if you know a doesn't work, why
not try be You never know another team that might say, yeah,
we'll take Westbrook and his salary and then pay him
out he's ever gonna play for us again and becomes
a free agent. The Lakers need five new players. They
need five new players, two new starters and two more
guys to come off the bench that maybe this next
invention of shake it up and see if it mixes
(02:57):
well is going to work. Because to eight to think
that we'll just wait at the guys healthy, now we
watch you guys healthy. Last night was the big low
point because everybody was healthy. The Lakers were at home,
they were playing the defending champions, and they got boat
raced and they got and it was never close. They
got it to within nine, and it didn't matter. It
didn't matter. They they never were able to touch the
(03:18):
defending champs, who right now or maybe the fifth or
sixth best team in the NBA maybe, and this is
the defending champs, So if you're not doing well against them,
you're clearly not going to beat the elite teams in
the NBA at the top. You're not gonna be Golden State.
You're not gonna beat Utah. You can't waste Lebron James,
who maybe has another year after this left before you
(03:39):
think he might be retiring because whatever he wants to say,
I want to play with brawny, I want to do
all of these things in a couple of years, he's
just not healthy and he can't stay healthy and he
winds up being out of the lineup for long periods
of time. So you have to think of Lebron's prime
as being the rest of this year and maybe one more.
Playing the loose five that he's been playing for the
past few weeks. Getting at um that that that bit
(04:01):
of advantage on a on a on a defensive assignment
UH that he's able to exploit that clearly has helped
and clearly he'll be able to do that for a
little bit while longer because he's still Lebron. He's still
skilled that way to be able to come out and
shoot a three and be able to to uh, get
to get over and get past the other team's five.
That'll work. But after that, that's it. You have to
(04:23):
make big, big changes. I really five new players. I'm
like can cong Bundy five counts five five new players,
two new starters, three guys coming and go get a star.
It needs to be aggressive, even even if you're blowing
it up and you're bringing in everything new. You bringing
a new energy, you bringing a new possibility, and sometimes
(04:44):
that's worth its weight because even if it doesn't work,
just the energy around to change, just the energy that
maybe this will, you'll get another buy in. You get
a fresh round of buy in from the players because
right now they're just going out there and just playing right.
And then they know, like we're we're a five your team,
we're a little bit under five hundred. That's not changing.
It hasn't changed in months. So to think that we're
(05:05):
just gonna get better because the calendar is gonna turn
to another day not gonna happen. Lakers need at least
five new players. Go get a star. You'll be able
to do it. Trade your first round picks all the
way through, doesn't matter. They can only trade really one
more but it doesn't matter what you do. There's still
first round picks. They're really irrelevant. But five new players
for tomorrow make those moves. The fact that Rob Polinka
(05:28):
was able to still get Anthony Davis when Davis said
I only want to go to the Lakers and he
didn't have any bargaining power, he was still able to
bring him in and win a championship. Rob Polinka has
to go out and do this because this is what
the Lakers need. Nothing short of a complete and total
remake is gonna help them this season, and it's not.
It's not where most teams are, where we can put
it away and try for it next year. You can't
(05:50):
keep wasting Lebron James. Yeah, I would love to see
a what's behind door? Number two? Right? Because John Wall
hasn't played, and even before this year, he hadn't played
a lot for a couple of years. So even if
he doesn't play, always, yeah, it's better even if he
doesn't play. Who did they trade for that empty seat
right there? One are the Lakers the best when Russell
(06:10):
Westbrook's not playing. So if you have a guy already
not playing coming in, that's good. Hey, youre in the
winds above replacement is higher. What do you expect for me?
I expect you to do the same thing. Come in
and not playing will be better. All right, I can
do that. I can do that. You can pay me.
I can do that. Right now, as we come down
(06:30):
to the end of the fourth quarter, Rick Buker coming
up talking about this all the trade deadline in just
a couple of minutes. But we look at the Lakers
there in the numbers nine spot. They are three and
a half games ahead of the Pelicans who are shuffling
things up still knows ion. And then they are currently
five games ahead of these Portland Trailblazers who just detonated
(06:53):
and decided we're going and bringing up a whole new squad.
And then maybe still some moves for that him to make,
but we'll we look at the Lakers, and we've seen
the Fanos move before. We've seen Lebron the GM make
those shuffle it up and deal kind of moves saying
we need the energy. And for Rob Polenka, you're you're
(07:15):
looking at a squad I don't know how many times
I've seen. And we've got to get people to get
proper grammar working it's not uninterested, it's disinterested. Right, I
could be as uninterested or as disinterested as I can be. Yeah,
the point being that you got a team that the
lacks urgency. So what you need to do? You need
to shake things up, right, It's like that coaching change,
(07:36):
the managerial change major League Baseball. We think we've got
a winner, but we need some sort of energy. And here,
right now, they're in the playoff playing area right, which
means possible playoffs. And then the whole theory theoretical was
if I get them in a series and you can
bog it down and you have the regular schedule, days off,
all that kind of stuff that maybe things could work,
(07:59):
but doesn't work in this format. No, and Lebron finally
realized that, right, finally said it yesterday. So what can
you do? You've traded away all these draft picks. You
might as well go keep trading away as long as
all the c b A allows you to to today's
current second graders. If you have to like the future,
(08:19):
you need now that that kid who goes to George
Washington Middle School, he's gonna be really good at We're
not gonna look, they're already scouting him and trying to
I mean they're looking inside that he's no, no, no no,
looking at that door that leads up the stairways at
the kids home. Let me see those markers for the
last three years. What are the growth spurts, what are
the increments, what are we got going there? What's the
(08:40):
height and the family all of those research projects. But
the point being to what you said before and what
we preached all along, is you've got a finite window
with Lebron James. That's it. We know this and we
thought as the collective just based on the cyborg mentality
and the fact that he hadn't had any serious injuries
like even last year, right it was a fluke, you
(09:03):
had a body slide into him and take him down,
like it wasn't a non contact injury or just you know,
training or whatever not. That he hasn't had some of
those ailments, and we always attributed them the load management.
But now but now you've got a guy who's missing
chunks of time and the injuries take longer to come
back from, and that means that the cliff is right
(09:25):
over there and you've got to figure out how to
maximize what's left of his career as a Laker because
it may not finish here. We've talked about that, not
even related to Browny James, just in general. You may
decide you can't have the organization at the behest of
Lebron James going forward, that you need to move forward,
whether it's with Anthony Davis or with some other combination
(09:47):
of players. And I think that's really the I in
the mirror kind of thing for the Lakers over this
next twelve hours and whatever they can try to pull
together is recognizing what you are, what you need to be,
and trying to build for five years from now. As
a foolhardy plan, you try to win this year, and
that's why you know, we're looking at posters of Matthew Stafford,
(10:10):
Joe Burrow, all those moves to try to win now,
particularly the Ram side. Obviously, with the Bangals, everything that
needed to go right, did every break they needed happened.
But with the Rams, they pushed all in and if
it doesn't work, there's no guarantee you of getting back.
That's why everybody saying with the Bengals, hey, they're playing
with house money. You know, Dan Marino got to a
(10:31):
Super Bowl very early, never got back. So don't try
to tell me there's no sense of urgency. You know
there's a sense, but but it's just it's house money
where they're not expected to win. The team's not expected.
I think you're using that term wrong. But if you
use disinterested and uninterested, and nick means two completely different things. Yeah,
uninterested is not a word. Uninterested means I was asked
(10:51):
about something, I thought about it, and I'm not interested it.
Disinterested means no matter why, I'm just have no interest,
so whatever you do. But uninterested means I heard about it,
I thought about it, and I'm not interested. Disinterested means
don't even tell me about it. I'm disinterested. Yeah, I'm interested.
Is just wrong. Uninterested it's a word. It's a you
just said it wasn't a word, and it's a it's
(11:13):
not a word that you should be using in this context.
But when we get to Matthew Stafford uninterested, not interested
in or concerned about something or someone. For example, I'm
completely uninterested in what Mike Harmon has to say there.
It is dictionary dot com that just now. But the
point is, if if you're going all in, as you
(11:33):
keep pointing at the Matthew Staton because you see, because
I can see you stards in front of me, I
can do at it. This is radio you keep. That's
what my family does. Point the time you get the
room in a family family, when you get the Matthews
step like that, see it. Yes, you could also just
(11:54):
say Matthew Stafford's name. And I understand I don't think
you do. Look at them PI staring at you look
I get your point. Uh and clearly if you can
get to a television, I suggested, because the Lakers are
down three with five seconds left to go, it is
(12:15):
Russell Westbrook checked in you maybe I know he's out
with the back injury. You may be seeing a lot
of these Lakers in their last game in a Laker uniform.
I mean good. Half of these guys could be gone
in a few hours. Did they take their jerseys off
and give him away? Half? Go take this? Take this?
Take this? Take this, Hey, Malik Monk, take this. Taylor
Horton Tucker, take this, Austin Reeves take He's got fourteen
(12:41):
and seven assists tonight in it. Twenty four minute trade
and while he's hot, you have to trade the while
he's hot. What it is what is the lake. There
should be a big fire sale for the Lakers, and
tomorrow we should be spending all our time trying to
recap who's gonna be starting for them? Where they are?
Did they make themselves into a title contending team. It's
what we should be talking about tomorrow with the Lakers.
(13:01):
We should be We should also be talking about the
Nixon making a big trade and doing a three for
one and bring a star to New York because clearly
what's going on this year is not working in Julius
Reynolds not a star. These are things we should be
talking about tomorrow. Big time, fire sale, fire fire, fire
fire sale. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(13:21):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three
time pro bowler Lavarrington and I couldn't be more excited
to announce a new podcast called Up on Game? What
is up on Game? You asked, along with my fellow
pro bowler t J. Hudgman's out of and Super Bowl champion.
(13:43):
That's right, Plexico Burds. You can only name a show
with that type of talent. On It, Up on Game,
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me,
LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgman's Outa and Plexy Coke burd
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
(14:05):
you get your podcast from Fox Sports Radio, The Jason
Smith Show with my base friend Mike Harmon live from
Radio Rose. Super Ball fifty six. We got some big
NFL stories on the way, but we have to react
to and this is not hyperbole, this may be the
(14:26):
worst Lakers loss in maybe ten years. Like Fire, they
lose Fire. They lose to the Blazers. No Damian Lillard,
no c J McCollum because he was traded, They didn't
have any of the players they got back for McCollum
playing tonight, and still they lose to the Blazers. They
were in ten point favorites and they lose. I am
(14:49):
waiting for the Lakers postgame press conference like I waited
for the Force Awakens or endgame. I can't wait, But
right now a guy also can't wait to talk to.
Pretty soon, he's just gonna be known as Matt Buker's dad.
But right now he is Fox Sports one NBA insider extraordinaire,
longtime friend of the show, Rick Buker. You can fall
on Twitter at Rick Buker. Rick, what's happening? Man? Oh?
(15:11):
The joy in your voice is just unmistakable, But I
suppose it's understandable. Yeah, you said in the last ten years.
I think maybe in the history of the franchise. Who
whoa No? I mean, come on, you look at where
they are. You look at the desperation with which you
(15:31):
would expect the Lakers to play. You look at Russ
Westbrook supposedly has been the thing that's holding them back. Well,
Russ wasn't available tonight because of a a a sore back.
You couldn't get that out. You couldn't even say it.
(15:52):
How do I how do I explain as a guy
who's never missed a game all year and is on
the ropes then potentially on the trade block, is now
suddenly has a storeback for the first time in his career.
I don't know how to explain that. But I'm just
you know, I'm looking at actually wanted to look at C.
(16:15):
J ELLOPI anybody familiar with C. J Elloby, C C
j Elloby. Yeah he's Um, he's a six six two
pounds small forward. Who let me just take a look here,
who shoots? I expect a little bit better than I thought,
But um, you haven't just four point one one points
(16:38):
a game, want to sift two point six rebounds? Uh?
He was your starting small forward against Lebron James to night.
That's the state of this Portland's Trailblazers team. Uh it,
I mean I it was a wreck of a team.
And even if the Lakers had won, the fact that
(16:59):
they were going to have to grind out a win
against this Blazers team, to me, spoke Volumes, not a
rough Westbrook, not a the Lakers as a whole. But
we're now at a point where we need to stop
talking about Anthony Davis and Lebron James as superstars because
if they are indeed superstars, I don't care who else
is on the floor. You put them on the floor
(17:22):
with you, Me, Mike, your producer, you name it, three
of us and those two guys. We should beat what
the Blazers put on the floor tonight, and they were
unable to. And so I just believe that this is
the this is reality coming home really hard on the
(17:42):
Lakers in terms of exactly exactly what they have and
where they are. And on top of all this, thirty
and they get to play a Golden State Warriors team
that got beat by the Utah Jazz or or in
the process of getting beat by the Utah Jazz and
are probably going to be playing for something meaningful in
this Lakers game. So good luck with all that. Yeah, yeah,
(18:06):
Golden In the final minute, as you we talk here, Lebron,
did I'm thinking for one second, hang on, So I'd
probably be the shooting guard because I can hit from three.
Like you should see me the y m c A.
I can hit from three. Rick, would you be the
point guard? You can hit from the pro three? Yes? No, no, no, no, no,
(18:27):
Well I did painted the three point That's all I do.
That's all I do is take threes. When I go
work out at the Y, I take big time threes.
That's all I do. That's all I got ice water
in my veins. There's not a shotted playing with I
hate playing with guys like you. You're always You're always
wait out there, just wait, hey, hey, I'm open. I'm
(18:47):
from the would at least cut before you ask for
the damn ball. I'm just clapping for it. Give it
to me. I can shoot, Come on, come on, And
as he demonstrated standing out there, is because it's only
about before you get back to the other three point line,
and you ain't defending anybody to low that. So the
(19:08):
entire your entire transition game is about a full back
and forth. That's okay, I'll be the buddy heel of
this team. That's fine, that's that's I'll just take a
lot of threes, be the buddy healed. Nicely done. Twenty
one turnovers. Lebron scores the final left and points, including
that set three pointer to make it a two point laws.
(19:31):
So that's kind a big deal. But twenty one turnovers
and I don't know that you know, we we kept
d having it a little bit of fun. With the
words uninterested and disinterested, you can use them in interchangeably here,
because that's really the description of what we saw from
this squad. Is Frank Vogel really gonna finish the season
at this point? Well, the I mean the alternative is
(19:53):
who who are you're going to name that is going
to kick started Lebron James, I'm just throwing it because
we we talked about this a couple of weeks ago,
and he can't get them to do anything at this point. Yeah. Well,
and but Lebron James can't get him to do anything.
It doesn't I mean, if he's not reading them the
(20:16):
riot Act. And and here's the difficulty, Like Lebron James
is not playing with premium energy. You know, he's still scoring, well,
he's still you know, being aggressive in his spots, but
he's not defending this entire that that's the heart of it.
This entire team does not defend with any energy whatsoever.
(20:38):
And I and I thought that because they were the
l A A r P Lakers, that that was going
to be a struggle at that end of the floor.
Combination of being old and then having guys that were
never really great defenders at any point in their careers.
I mean, Carmelo Anthony not a great defender, Russell Westbrook
not a great defender. Uh. And then the guys who
(20:59):
were the trouble of reasons are just to the point
where they don't have the energy anymore to be able
to be able to do that. So it's from the
very beginning, this was this was gonna be a problem.
And I thought it would be a problem with Frank
because you're asking this guy who he's just I mean,
he's a great guy, is a great personality, but he
(21:21):
doesn't like confrontation, and you're asking him to ride rough
shot on Carmelo, Anthony Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Lebron James,
Dwight Howard. You're expecting to hold them all accountable. Like,
I just didn't see a way in which that was
going to happen, and so that was then gonna fall.
(21:43):
Lebron James was gonna have to hold them all accountable.
What does he really want to go through that exercise
at this point in his career? And does he have
the requisite game in order to hold everybody accountable that way?
It's that that's that's the problem here. Uh, you know,
short of I just I don't know's there's certainly there's
(22:04):
not a coach available, But I don't know that there's
a coach that exists that could get this crew playing
to the level of urgency and effort necessary to make
it work. Now we'll get to the other point. We've
got to get to Harden a little bit, and some
of the other things we may see tomorrow, but let
me just finish with this here. It was what was
(22:27):
it about twelve years ago when the Cavaliers, in the
midst of the big run with Lebron James, they traded
half their players at the deadline and brought in and
and basically remade the roster, and they wind up going
back to the finals. I kind of think that's what
the Lakers needed, because no matter what we know, Lebron
and A d aren't going anywhere. Five new players tomorrow,
(22:47):
I mean, whatever you can do, even if it's this
point is Russell Westbrook for John Wall whether he plays
or not, it doesn't matter. I think five new players
for the Lakers tomorrow and maybe two new starters and
three guys are gonna play minutes. I mean, that's really
kind of what you have to do, isn't it. Well,
But here's the problem, and and yeah, I don't think
that the value of the players that you have one
(23:08):
because of their contracts really are are not very big.
So you know, getting quality talent back is the the
the equation. The formula is not there to make it
happen unless you're including Anthony Davis. And but the other
The bigger part is is Anthony Davis and Lebron James
are not what Lebron James and Kyrie Irving were back there.
(23:33):
When you change that Cleveland team, like the core, the
core and the talent at your core is not the same.
Lebron James now is scoring better and or as well
as he ever has, is shooting as well as he
ever has. He's not doing any of the other things
that he used to do at a remarkable level. He's
not playmaking at a remarkable level. He's not defending at
(23:56):
a remarkable level. Like those are the things that people
look at the box score and think, oh, he's you know,
he's got this string of plus point games. Well, okay,
but you know, I mean he got a note. Scored
well again tonight they lost scored well. Uh the other
night against Milwaukee, they got blown out. Like, his numbers
(24:19):
don't equate to winning numbers at this point because he
can't do the things that this team needs him to
do based on the talent that he has around. Jason
Smith Show with Mike Harmen live from Radio Row here
the Convention Center in l A. Super Bowl fifty six
on the hotline with us talking all things chaos and
the NBA. It's our buddy, Rick Buker. Find him on
(24:40):
Twitter at rick Buker. FS one Analysts sometimes host On
the Ball podcast with Rick Buker and his latest uh
talking about Damian Lillard following that Chris Paul Model is
up at Fox sports dot Com. Will get to that
in a moment. But James Harden Rick with the hamstring injury,
just like we're talking about the lower back, the hamstring injury,
(25:02):
and all the talk is he won't get dealt That's
what Steve Nash is selling us. Are you buying it?
I am, because Philadelphia is the place that is desperate
to get him and there the Nets no matter what
is going on, don't want to hand the Sixers the
(25:25):
opportunity to do with the Nets. Still hope that they
will be able to do this season having Harden, no
matter what the relationship is. Right now, you get k
D back, you have Kyrie, you have hardened, You get
everybody together and playing again, and you do something during
the season, you do do something, you make a run
(25:46):
into postseason. All of whatever is going on right now
can potentially be put behind you. The potential can be
realized once again. You're you're keeping the ball in your
court by saying, Harden may be uncertain about whether he's
gonna stay or go this summer. Let's use the next
couple of months to convince them that this is the
best place for him to stay, rather than just saying, oh,
(26:09):
you know what, we don't know if we're gonna be
able to keep him or not. We better just get
rid of him now and hand phil LPI seventies six
is exactly what they want now. The conversations in terms
of what what what is going on? I I doubt
that the conversations are going on to the depth that
they are. But if I was, if I were the
Brooklyn Nets and I was even considering this, if Harden
(26:29):
had made it clear to me, I'm not resigning here.
I want out of here, and I may even sit,
you know, this hamstring may become chronic and I may
just miss the rest of the season. If he if
he like pushed the red button and and went that
far to get his way out, then the only way
I make that deal if I'm the Net, is I
(26:50):
stripped The Philadelphia seventies is not just a Ben Simmons,
but of Tyrese Maxie of the tea stable of enough
pieces so that it's just it's just James Harden and
Joel mb so that yeah, they got their two guys,
but they don't have a championship corps anymore. They don't
have the answer that necessary ancillary pieces in order to
(27:13):
compete for a title. That's the only way I would
even consider doing it. And I dare say, if I'm
the next I don't even consider that. I go, you
know what, we put this together. These guys wanted to
play together. Let's see once k d backs whether whether
we can get the chemistry and the commitment that we
(27:34):
had at the beginning of the year, if we can
recapture that before the postseason starts. All right, Rick, So lastly,
we get it. We got the Lakers, we got James Harden.
Were about fifteen hours away from the deadline tomorrow. If
I said to you give me some big names that
you think could be dealt, would you give me I
think you can start with Julius Randall. You can start
(27:55):
with Julius Randall if you want to. That's okay. That's
gonna be a tough Yeah. I mean, that's the problem
is you gotta you gotta find somebody who is willing
to You know, another man's trash is one man's trash
is another man's treasure. Uh, you need to find somebody
who is equally distressed and wants to make that deal.
(28:17):
I you name a power, you name a team that
is desperate to get Julius Randall right now, I'm sorry,
but I can't name anyone. So it honestly, and I
don't know if I talked about it the last time
I was on, but this draft is going to be
a lot better than people thought it was going to be.
(28:38):
It's one of the reasons why the Blazers like are
just you know, completely demolishing their team because they're looking
at the draft thinking we could get like, we could
get a really good cornerstone player, we could get the uh,
we could get the next Darius Garland type player, or
the big man that's in uh in Cleveland right now. Um, Mobli,
(29:00):
we can have a Mobli we could we could get
one of those, and that would suddenly change the dynamic
on our team. UM. So that's why I was told
a couple of days ago, like there may not be
as many big deals or as many deals made at
the trade deadline, as was expected, because everybody kind of
wants to see what their lottery position is before they
(29:23):
start moving draft picks. You can filem on Twitter at
Rick Buker. That is at Rick Buker Fox Sports One
Analysts On the Ball with Rick Buker podcast Rick, When
what you got on the ball? What's going on? I
know you got some Damian Lillard stuff? What else you got? Uh?
You know? Next the next podcast is gonna be a
the myth of the Big Three. You need a big
(29:45):
three in order to play for its title and how
what has been demonstrated is that was we had a
few unique big threes, but just getting you know, three
superstars together, as the Nets and the l Akers are
amply demonstrating, is not the secret to winning the title.
(30:06):
Outstanding stuff. Thanks as always, and uh thanks for always
bringing the fire. We appreciate. We will talk to you
next week, my friend, have a great one. You got it.
I'm gonna I'm gonna break down the my my hit
now with Matt Hucker and see what do you think? Good? Well, hey,
listen and if the Nick's trade Julius Randall before the
end of the show, we get to call you back. Yes,
(30:26):
you do. Okay, that question, I won't answer, but you
can call me back. I can't wait to hear that. Well,
then I'm just gonna call Matt Buker. Then he's gonna
a new insider. He's gonna answer. You think it's you
think it's hard to get me on the phone, forget it.
He's a teenager. He's a teenagers. They have to pick
up a phone. What Dad, close the door. I'm talking
(30:50):
to Fox Sports Radio all right here, right now. The
only way I could get him is if I texted
him to fair point there on your pain. There you go.
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 I Heart
(31:13):
Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
My best friend Mike Harm Live from downtown l a
Super Bowl fifty six radio row. Where all the fire
going on right now? We was about the fire. That's
the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only do they lose to
night to a Portland team that started a bunch of
(31:34):
jags because none of the players from the c. J.
Mccollumn trade were there, They traded away McCollum. No Damian Lillard.
He hasn't played in a couple of months, and still
the Lakers found a way to lose. With Lebron and
a D on the court, they lost to just a
bunch of guys. Now coming up in a few minutes,
you're gonna hear James Worthy, Laker legend, say some things
(31:55):
that James Worthy just looks like he wants to walk
off the set of Lakers post gamage quick. He looks
like a beaten maybe wants to walk away and just
say that heat between he and Magic. I think they're
about ready to become Celtics fans. This like, I think
it's a final. This Lakers team. Look, I don't know
when it's been this bad. This has been. It's where
if you're a Lakers six years with playoffs where because
(32:18):
they were all high draft picks, they've all gone on
to nice careers, but the expectation was that they were
all going to lead them back to start them into championships.
But they were never good. Like even even in Kobe's
last year's they knew when the Lakers weren't very good.
It was okay, Kobe's making a lot of money. We
don't have a lot of money to spend. You didn't
expect them to be good. This is you were expected
(32:39):
to be championship contenders, going to get Russell Westbrook? Even
freezing Cold takes has the magic before Magic tweeted the
championship contender. Uh, Magic Johnson tweeting this out a few
minutes ago. We told you it was bad, and this
is the fallout after the Lakers lost to Portland tonight.
I'm speechless. No words can describe how I'm feeling. Frank
(33:03):
Vogel was asked if there's a scenario in which Russell
Westbrook isn't on the team after tomorrow, and he said, quote,
if there's a way to improve our team, will improve
our team. I've got nothing else to say about the
trade deadline. Goodbye, Russell Westbrook. Here's Frank Vogel. I know
we've talked about the trade deadline, but you know Russ
is a guy who just has has been talked about.
Is there a scenario where he isn't on this team
(33:24):
after noon tomorrow. Uh. If there's ways to improve our team,
we'll try to improve our team. Other than that, UM,
I got nothing to say about the trade deadline. He gone, hey, gone,
I just say leave me alone. Look there, I need
to get through these sixteen hours. I said, you can't
ask me about trade deadline. I just turn my phone off.
This has been such an utter disaster, and this is
(33:46):
the low point for the Lakers, losing this game to
this Portland team that has given up on the season
and is starting guys that nobody knew who the hell
they want, right you just you heard Rick Buker tell
us the story of c. J. Lerby, who played forty
three minutes tonight at small forward. They still won. This
Lakers team never jelled all right now. I thought Russell
(34:08):
Westbrook coming in. And my mistake, because I thought it
was gonna be great, was that they were going to
run the offense through Westbrook. And I've been saying this
for months, and Lebron and a D would adapt around it,
and this would help during the regular season. It would
take the wear and tear off of Lebron and a D.
They would win enough games in the regular season and
then Lebron and a D are fresh for the playoffs.
(34:29):
None of that has happened because Lebron can't stay healthy.
A D can't stay healthy. And they have misused Russell
Westbrook from the beginning. He does one thing, you know
what he does. He has a dynamo at point guard.
And if you could get him to adapt a little
bit running the offense through him, okay, But the problem
is they didn't try that. No, he's got to come
(34:49):
to our way of doing things. Russell Westbrook is just
a guy when you're doing that. So as much as
it's been Russell Westbrook has not been good, he has tried.
He has tried to fit in up until last night
when he said, I've I've earned the right to be
on the on the court at the end of games.
He has been. He has been and said and done
all the right things, not causing controversy, taking benchings in
(35:11):
in stride. But now it's at the point where this
something has to be done. We can't have one more
day where it's like this. But from as much as
it's been Westbrook's fault, the Lakers brought him in and
have completely misused him, and they've completely miscalculated this team.
I like bringing Westbrook in. Did I like when suddenly
everybody else coming in was forty years old? But Lebron
(35:32):
likes the veterans, and of course they're gonna do what
Lebron says, you need to have some youth come in.
And look who's been the best guy that brought in.
Malik Monk has been pretty good when he's been giving
the chance, and now he's getting all Westbrook's minutes. So
as much as you want to blame Westbrook, and I
get it, you want to bring Lebron and you want
to blame a d you know, I understand, but they
brought Russell Westbrook in and said no, we're gonna zig
(35:52):
when you think we're gonna zag, and the way they've
used him, there was no way they were going to
win positively a disaster. And look, I wanted documentary on
the seventy two hours in the life of Russell Westbrook
going from its coach's decision, respect the decision to you
know what, I've earned the right to be out there,
you know, my resume in history and respect in the
game whatever. That's a pretty big shift in thinking, which
(36:16):
means he listened and watched and and had a lot
of social media contact, uh and probably one or two
voices in his ears. But form Lebron James, this is
the what he wrought right, and Rob Polinka has gotten
a pass in all of this because Lebron gets the blame.
And obviously he's got unlimited power, as as we like
(36:38):
to say going to Emperor Palpatine. But now you're in
a situation where you you don't have a lot of
assets to trade away because you did mortgage part of
your future for Anthony Davis said it yielded a title.
But now you have this situation where even with Lebron
taking over the five that Anthony Davis wouldn't, you still
haven't resolved any Taylor Horton Ker is good every third
(37:02):
game as opposed to becoming a consistent player, and nobody
plays defense like we're talking about with Rick Bucker before,
Like there's nobody committing to what Frank Vogel's whole coaching legacy, right,
that was the whole thank was that he was gonna
get you to buy in. Well, if you're that old,
you can't commit to playing forty eight at minutes of defense,
you could do it sporadically. And Lebron has been that
(37:23):
guy for the last couple of years already, So you
should have been building with that taken into account to
begin with, Twitter at how about a frescup? Mike gets
swollen Dome. The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman live
from Radio Rose, Super Bowl fifties six uh. Coming up next,
you'll hear from James Worthy, who the Lakers have officially
broken after this loss. I this is such a horrendous loss.
(37:47):
I can't even tell you. I can't wait for the
post game. And we got more from the Super Bowl.
Keep it here.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.