March 31, 2022 • 37 mins
Jason and Mike are joined by Fox Sports NBA insider Ric Bucher, more on the surprising Bruce Arians retirement and a reason why it could have happened, and a farewell to an acting legend!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
inside our four of The Jason Smith Show with my
best friend Mike Harmon. Good advice that was Rick Bucker
on Undisputed earlier, No No, the Sun's beat the Warriors
(00:49):
and a thriller that we didn't think was going to
be a thriller one oh seven, one oh three, and
they win because for some reason, Jordan Pool, who had
an incredible night, decides to take a forty five a
shot with four seconds. I don't I don't know. I
think that was JRS. He's gonna unzip himself and it's
gonna wind up being j R. Smith. We're gonna find
out that, yeah, that was like he looked up at
(01:10):
and it's like, all right, why why is he Why
is he shooting? Did he love track of time, sight
of Clay Thompson just decide I'm I'm on fire, and
Steph would be proud of me looking on from the
second row. I don't understand. It was a forty five,
a desperation shot that you normally throw up one. Hey,
(01:30):
there's no time left, but this case, there was three
and a half seconds left. They had a chance to
get closer for a three they didn't get it. Joining
us now the hot line to break it all down.
Fox Sports one NBA insider extraordinary, longtime friend of the show,
Rick Buker, Rick, can you explain that Jordan Pool shot
to us and all there at the end? I got
I got nothing for you. I think the funniest part
(01:51):
for me, though, was you guys have seen that little
chiff of the dog in the house that's on fire,
and the and the and the little blurb is and
everything's fine. That would everybody's looking at him, what Jordan's feelings,
and he's looking at every going it's fine, It's okay,
it's fine. But that was that was the most amusing
(02:13):
part of this um. Although he did Steve did say
in one of the time outs, no matter what happens tonight,
so you know, we're we're moving in the right direction.
So I think he kind of foreshadowed or had a
premonition that that this was not going to go their way,
in large part because and this is one of the
(02:34):
things that I've said about the Warriors, even if they
have all hands on deck and Steph Curry is still
walking around in a walking boot, and I think he's
supposed to be reevaluated tomorrow the day after. Uh, it's
not promising that he's still in the walking boot. I
know they could be precautionary, but it says to me
that it's not as if he gets reevaluated and they
(02:56):
say he's good to go, I think he's gonna still
be out for a little bit. All that said, uh my,
my concern has always been that even with Andre Andre
and Clay and Staff healthy, you're still relying on guys
like Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins and guys who have
never had to play a prominent role on a team
gunning for a championship. And these are the kind of
(03:18):
decisions that we saw tonight where you go, Okay, what
was that about that obviously either lose your games or
prevent you from having a shot at winning them, and
you simply can't afford that in the playoffs. And these
guys never having been in these kind of pressure situations
before and never had to having had to play mistake
(03:40):
free basketball. That's one of the elements that the Sons,
for example, this, I mean, the Sons can live with
Devin Booker doing Devin Booker things and not good things
because they got everybody else on point. But um, the
Warriors at the stage, we've got too many young guys
who you can't afford to have doing that. And this
(04:02):
was just an example. You know. The thing is reckon.
I'm gonna give you two things over the course of
conversation that I'm gonna title. I'm not saying, I'm just saying, Okay,
because for the Warriors, right again, Clay Thompson coming back,
he's been good, Like his player efficiency rating has been good.
He's been scoring. But I'm not saying, I'm just saying,
before Clay Thompson came back, they were running a rough
(04:24):
shot over everybody. Right, they were twenty nine and nine. Yes,
they had injuries, right, but they're still twenty nine and nine.
Since he's come back, they've been a five hundred team,
and yes, Step has been hurt the last few games,
but still for the vast bulk of it, he's been there.
They've been a five hundred team with Clay Thompson. Before
they were killing everybody, and now with Clay Thompson back,
they're just another team. Is there a correlation there at all? Well?
(04:47):
They so Clay came back and then Dre went out
and Igwadala was out as well, and their defense really suffered,
and I believe suffered in large part because you were
missing those two guys, and Clay came back. And Clay
has been trying to prove and Steve has said it
(05:09):
to me directly. He and I had a conversation about
this that Clay is is pressing because he wants to
prove that he's the old Clay Thompson, and he's clearly not.
He doesn't have the same elevation, he doesn't have the
same movement. Um, he's not the same defensively, and and
so's he's forcing some shots, or he's taking shots that
(05:33):
when he had like an extra int or two of elevation,
they weren't contested the way they are now, or he
could create a little more space, and as a shooter,
he's I mean, you know, it's like watching Devin Booker tonight.
Devin Booker could not hit a shot and but kept
thinking and great shooters do this. The next one's going
in and I'm thinking, like, dude, get to the free
(05:54):
throw line. Stop shooting the mid range because you can't.
You're hitting it long or short. You're not on that
at all. But it's a tricky it's a tricky thing
for any coach, especially with a guy like Clay or
or Devon for that matter, because you know, with anyone's shot,
they can suddenly find it and get hot. So you
kind of have to live with them searching for it
(06:15):
at times. The problem with Clay is he's had more nights. One,
he's had more nights where he's searching for it than
he ever has before. And two, he doesn't give you
the same things that he gave you with the rest
of his game, defensively in particular, and so it compounds
(06:36):
the issues. And then for every one of those shots
that he's taking where he's searching for it, that's one
less shot that Jordan's Poole is taking. That's one less
shot that Andrew Wiggins is able to take and find
a rhythm, and so it it's snowballs and the Warriors
don't have the margin of error that they can afford,
and nobody wants to say anything because it's a feel
(06:57):
good story for Clay to be back. I mean, he's
coming back from two injury. Nobody, nobody's ever come back
and played the way he has, and they do need
him to find his game in order for them to
be as successful as they want to be. So it's
just it's a it's it's the ultimate Catch twenty two. Yeah,
he's hurting them, but you kind of gotta live with
it a little bit and say, Okay, I hope at
(07:19):
some point he stopped hurting us. Yeah, that's still you know,
first world problems on a relative basis in the NBA
rick because you know, Steph Curry is sitting there watching
the the exploits. Meanwhile, we've got the Lakers are back
in the play in they're back in the plane because
the Spurs lose. But Lebron James, Yes, because they didn't
(07:40):
have to play, they weren't involved, that's right. But tomorrow,
tomorrow it's back on them. No, Lebron James, Anthony Davis
still in street clothes. Um, do any of them, either
of them bother to play the last seven games or
is it a fluid situation for real? Yeah, it's a
great question. I can't I can't believe that. I mean,
(08:03):
there's no telling when Anthony Davis is going to come back.
He's been doubtful for about a week as well, we
say he's been doubt for flore a week. I would
say he's been doubtful for about five years. But yeah,
boom um. I can't imagine that Lebron James would voluntarily
(08:24):
shut it down as long as they have a shot
at the play in now if he has to miss
a couple of games, even even if it if it
looks dire, I just don't see him missing games until
it becomes mathematically impossible. And and that you know, we
(08:45):
have so few games. I don't that's gonna be down
to the last couple of games before that happens. So,
I just I can't imagine as as uh minimal as
making the play in as I mean, so are from
the the expectations for this team this year, and how
small an accomplishment that is. I look, Lebron's already getting
(09:12):
beat up pretty good about the fact that he's chasing
a scoring title while his team is not even looking
like a play in much less a playoff team. So
for him then to shut it down. And I've actually
been watching, like the teams that he's playing and not
(09:34):
playing against, I mean Philadelphia and Dallas, He's he's playing
against the lesser teams, he's not playing against the tougher teams.
And I'm thinking, okay, that certainly benefits you as far
as maintaining your scoring average. What are we really about here,
and there's already some questions about that. Is he just here,
(09:55):
really just going for the scoring title? And it's been
my feeling that scoring has been more important to him
this year than anything else because he's not playing a lick.
I mean, it's embarrassing the defense that he's playing. He's it.
He moves well enough to score, he does not move
well enough to defend. And so with all that in mind,
(10:17):
I just think he's already getting some some hits for that.
If he was to shut it down before they're actually eliminated,
I think there would be I just think it would
put a really bad taint on on that scoring title
if he ends up winning it. I see. I don't know, Rick,
because I look at it as Lebron doesn't want to
be the guy who is gets the blame for the
(10:40):
Lakers not making the playoffs, because that's what's going to happen.
But if he can't play in the last seven games,
I can't play in the last. Look, I said six
weeks ago, if the Lakers are in a position where
they look like they're falling out of the playing round somehow,
Lebron James is not going to play. And I'm not
saying he's not dinged up. We've seen him come back
from ankle injuries before. I'm not saying he's not dinged up.
(11:00):
Six weeks ago, I knew if they look like they're
falling out and can't even make it, he's not going
to wind up playing the last because because he's not
going to be the guy to wear the whole Lakers
didn't make it and I couldn't even get him in
the playoffs, and this is where we are right now.
You may be right. I just hate to think that
he would go that far. It's it's one thing where
(11:23):
what was it two years ago, three years ago, the
first year, first year in l A where he's got
the groin injury. They're clearly out of the running, Like,
there's not a whole lot to be gained by him
coming back and trying to lift them. But this is
this is really a different taste because you're talking about
a handful of games that you could make the difference
(11:46):
between getting into the play in and and giving yourself
a shot or shutting it down. And I do believe
that he is ganged up. I don't. I believe it's
not just the ankle. I think the knee is bothering him.
He does not look like he's moving well. So there's that.
But I mean, at this point, you got seven games left, Uh,
(12:09):
there's everybody at this point in the season is playing
banged up somehow, some way. And with Lebron's size and
strength and and and I Q like, this is where
he should be able to still function and play. If
he doesn't play, it's because one he's either preserving himself
(12:29):
or two, to your point, he wants to avoid that blame.
And I just I can't. I can't say that. I
I just hope he I hope that's not the case.
I I really don't, But that would that would make
me think far less of of Lebron if if indeed
he was dodging this just because he didn't he didn't
(12:52):
want to wear these because it looks he's gonna get
blamed anyway. I mean, at this point, the failures of
this year's team are already hanging on him. Um to
skip the last few games just because he doesn't want
to be standing on the court when they're officially eliminated.
That's that's hard for me to swallow. Rick, last one.
(13:12):
For you to choose your own adventure, I'm gonna upset
it up like it's the Spider Man meme of the
three guys staring at each other. I got Russell Westbrook,
I got Julius Randol, and I got Donovan Mitchell. Can
they force their way out in a three man battle royal?
Who's who? Who's left standing? Uh? Well, Westbrook should probably
have the easiest exit, m Randall. I mean, I do
(13:38):
believe that, whether he's asking to be traded or not,
that they're going to have to make a decision on
that because the just the relationship between him and the
and the Nick's faithful is no longer exists. And let's
face it, he's been terrible. Now, um, you know what
you can get for him, You're probably it's probably pennies
(13:58):
on the dollar. But at this point, I think you
have to move in a different direction. I would say
the Donovan Mitchell thing I've been hearing this last summer,
that that he's going to find his way, and oddly enough,
he's gonna find his way to New York. Um. And
so I I'm not surprised, like I almost feel he
(14:20):
sees the opportunity to justify why he's leaving by playing
up what's going on. But the reality is, you know,
and in that loss, he's the one who had six turnovers. Um,
he's the one who clearly was not playing his his
best basketball and he has to he he the star,
without question, and the offensive star of the Utah Jazz.
(14:43):
So in part, I put some of the downfall on
the Jazz on on Donovan. And I don't know really
that he knows what he would be getting into going
to New York and being the star there, because I
don't put him in that top tier of guys. Um,
he's a he's a six one, maybe six two shooting
guard and he's not I just don't put him at
(15:07):
the caliber of star that can drive a team and
do it under the scrutiny of a place like New York.
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker. You really just took
the air on it. You know, he just he just
took appreciate. He slapped you upside the face. I had
a Julius Randall for Don for Donna Mitchell trade all
worked out about forty five minutes ago, and now here
(15:29):
you are. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, you go
with that, You doe with that. Check out Rick on
Twitter at Rick Buker also his latest on the Ball
podcast about the latest overblown outrage in the NBA. Ricks
always buddy appreciated, my friend. We'll talk to you next week.
(15:49):
Have fun, Yeah, Anleman, Bruce Arians, Joe Never a dull moment, right.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with
My best friend Mike Harmon. WHOA that scared me? That
(16:13):
scared me? I mean, I mean you haven't even heard
what Tom Brady told the Tampa Bay Buccanteers. WHOA is that? What?
He said, whoa, whoa. I tried to lay it up
for the dunk to make sports for a second, and
it sailed into the third row. I was waiting for
(16:33):
run it back, but we didn't get well. But that
I thought it was an obvious Maybe it was too obvious.
You just said it was too obvious. I'm not. I'm
not taking low hanging fruit. I'm I'm much more esoteric
in the ten o'clock hour, m m uh so, the
story involving and revolving around Tom Brady and Bruce Arians.
Like Bruce Arians is no longer the Buccaneers head coach.
(16:56):
He's not retiring. He's moving upstairs to the front office.
Todd Bowles, defensive coordinator Jets you know, is taking over
as the new head coach. Now, we got some stuff
on bowls coming up in a few minutes. But look,
we've told you a lot, and we've told you since
Tom Brady's retirement happened, it just wasn't right. No one
retires and then can't even confirm it a week later.
(17:16):
No one retires for forty days and comes back unless
retiring was a leverage ploy, and he wanted something with
the Buccaneers and he wasn't happy. We knew that he
wasn't happy with Bruce Arians. The two of them weren't
getting along for many different reasons, and retiring was his
way of pushing his leverage down. I don't need to play.
(17:37):
I'll sit and I'll wait and and and now you
guys have to figure it out because I don't have
to play. And the fact that he kept the door
open and you kept hearing Brady with new teams and
maybe finding a way to get there Tampa Bay said, Okay, okay, Tom,
what do you want? You really think it's a coincidence
that Brady announced he's coming back and the decision was
made for Bruce Arians to go upstairs around the same time.
(17:59):
Rick Stroud of the Tampa eight Times reporting that earlier tonight,
of course not Brady pulled the power play. His leverage
was retirement. What do you want? I want new head coach.
I'm not gonna go through this again. I just did
it for almost twenty years in New England. I'm not
doing it and not doing it. And what happened Todd
h He's got a new head coach now, and Todd Bowles,
who was going to leave him completely alone and whatever
(18:19):
you want to do. I'm over here in the defense.
You're there with the offense. So it all works. Brady
wins his power play, retiring as a power play. You see.
Now it works. You don't have to threaten it like
Aaron Rodgers. You have to do it like Tom Brady.
But what is at the heart of what happened with
Brady and Bruce Arians? Earlier tonight we talked to Rich Ornberger,
(18:39):
former teammate of Tom Brady's analyst here at Fox Sports one,
Fox Sports Radio with us hos some morning show in
San Diego. Uh. He was the guy who a couple
of months ago first reported there was a lot of
strife between Brady and Bruce Arians and they didn't get
along well. So earlier we asked him, Hey, what were
some of the things that was going on between Brady
(18:59):
and the coaching death And take a listen to what
Rich told us. Was this over control of the offense?
Was it more about the play calling? Was it the
culture itself? Like? What what was the what were the
biggest things that that that caused this? Uh? This rift? Well,
from what I heard and what I ascertained, the rift
was caused between him and Bruce over the fact that
(19:20):
Brady's a complete workaholic. I mean that guy will put
everybody to sleep. He will breast never to make sure
that they're pursuing greatness and perfection if he can help it.
And Bruce says, we know has really trimmed his schedule down.
That was part of his contract when he re upped
with the Boxes, that he was going to take a
(19:41):
much different approach than head coaching than virtually any of
the other thirty one head coaches in this week. You know,
it's a it's it's a job where most of the
times you're not burning the midnight oil, you're burning burning
the next morning oil. And then some you know, and
that's the way Tom Brady operated for two decades in
New England with to those coaches. And I think a
(20:02):
lot of that rubbed up on time, that a lot
of that was in time to begin with. So I
think when you have a situation where you have a
coach who obviously is very comfortable with the media and
very comfortable accepting phrase and very comfortable criticizing a star
quarterback who's doing a lot and I mean a lot
of the heavy lifting, I think there was some some
(20:25):
there was some animosity growing up there. That's my own speculation,
but but I think that's that's that's as accurate as
I could portray it um in terms of what I
heard about, you know, issues with other members of the
coaching staff. I mean, there were battles over the run
games between him and Byron Left, which you know, they
disagreed on a lot of the play selection during the
(20:47):
course of the game. Brady changed a lot of the
calls that were coming in from the sideline at the
line of scrimmage in game to the point where as
far as the game that Byron was calling from the
sideline and Brady was running on the field, it was
completely different. He was running his own playbook on the field.
So so that that just takes you a little bit
(21:09):
deeper into some of the issues that we're going on
amid a really successful season, regardless of how many injuries
they have, they still found a way into the postseason
and gave the Rams all they could handle, almost came
back in one all right. So there it is from
Rich Hornberger. The first part of this is the most interesting,
which is that Brady, according to Rich, you know, all
(21:32):
he's hearing and talking to people. Uh was that Brady
wasn't comfortable Bruce arians with the reduced schedule that he
had coming in and making changes and wanting to do
different things, and and and criticizing him in public. And
Brady didn't like that. And quite honestly, I kind of
get that. I kind of get that Brady's not a
guy that, Hey, what's the big knock on Brady? That
(21:53):
guy is a work hard It's not working hard, he's
not true, not always trying to be the best quarterback
he can be. No, that's all Tom Brady is doing.
He's not a quarterback where somebody else you have to wonder, hey,
what motivates the guys? He really doing all the right things. No,
that's not Brady. And Brady just went through an entire
career in New England where no matter how much he
(22:13):
and Bill Belichick hated each other, which they did, neither
of them would go public about it. Neither of them
would criticize the other person. Remember when it came to
be Belichick would always say Tom, Tom's the best quarterback
in the league. Tom's great, what's next? And Brady would
never He would say Bill and I work great together.
It's a great relationship, even though they hated each other,
they would never do that. And so Brady goes to
(22:35):
Tampa Bay and here he is in his first year,
and he wins the super Bowl and they're playing well,
and suddenly it's uh, Bruce Arians is talking about Brady
not throwing this pass. Ride should have done this, should
have done this. So I get Tom Brady not being
happy being criticized in public, especially when Bruce Arians is
not someone who's there all the time with him, right,
like not Josh McDaniels, who was there all the time
(22:56):
with Brady. What are we doing? What do we want
to do? How are we doing this? So I get
where he is upset about that. And and the one
thing you have to understand as a coach and your
Bruce Arians is that, Okay, you can be comfortable with
the media and like to talk and do all these
and do all these things. Hey, this is just who
I am. You also have to understand who you're coaching,
and you have to understand how what you say is
(23:16):
going to rub off on your players, and especially a
guy like Brady. I think you want to make sure
he's in the best place possibly mentally to go forward
because now look at where he is now. Bruce Arians
is not coaching anymore, and he's upstairs, and Tom Brady
wins a power play and now he's the quarterback. He's
got a new wet coach and doesn't have to worry
about Bruce Arians criticizing him anymore. Yeah, I think you
also need to have a thicker skin if your town, Brady,
(23:38):
But I understand. And look, when you've got power, you
wield it in in any situation. Al Right. If if
you're you're coaching a squad and you see your team
is better, and this I'm looking squarely at you, what
do you do? You point out where there's opportunity. Maybe
the opponent doesn't like it, maybe their parents in the
stands don't like it, but you point out opportunity. In
(23:59):
this case, this was a coaching him up know the
guy that you're coaching. But for Brady, you gotta know
the coach, so you know, in theory, you should have
worked this out somewhere along the way with the years together.
Right of all right, I like to talk and and
really expose you know how how I'm feeling about everything
from the Arian side, and Brady realizing, yeah, Arians is
(24:23):
my coach. That's what he's gonna do. But Arians should
have been more sensitive to the sensitive Tom Brady. So
now people will have poudy Tom Brady emoj's coming out
of this, which is which is always I don't know
that Brady's I don't know it's Brady said, look, and
you know me, I'm not the biggest Tom Brady defender
in the world, but I don't know that Brady sensitive
as much as it's I've won eleven super Bowls in
(24:45):
the last twelve years, and this guy's coming out saying
I wouldn't have thrown that past. I know I should
do here, all right, But again you're a grown ass man.
You laugh and go, I've won more than he'll ever know. Right,
you should be above it, as I guess where my
point is. Right. But in the end, if that's what
(25:05):
causes all the friction, uh, And you know, if it's
about how many hours you work, well, if Bruce Arians
got his quality hours in, like I don't know that
sitting with him at three in the morning as they're
nodding off to good Times or whatever is on your television,
you know, finishing up the you know, tape re view
is that hour as Bruce has fallen asleep. Is is
(25:26):
that gonna keep Tom Brady from making a bad decision
on the field. No, if Brady is convinced it is
that I I guess you have to say, Okay, yeah,
Bruce should have been there sitting with him on the couch,
even if he wasn't helping out. He could have logged
that as an a billable hour. And he come on,
you know that. Let's gets silly to a point, but
in the end they couldn't make it work any longer.
(25:51):
And then you decide which part of this story the
positives of instagrams and whatever else versus what Rich told
us there right, the inner workings of play calling and
distribution of um success, blame and and all those attributes
that you push forward. And now you got Byron Leftwich,
(26:14):
Well it is Tom Brady squad right by Todd Bowles
will be the headman, will figure out what happens with
the defensive coordinator position. But in the interim, you know,
now it's quite clearly, all right, Tom Brady wants all
credit and or blame. He's gonna get it. And and
you watch, just because he moved to the front office
and whatever role they're giving him. Do you think Bruce
(26:35):
Arians is gonna shut up? I think that's part of
the deal. Hey, you shut up? Okay, Okay, I will okay, Okay.
He's also not the head coach. He's also not he's
still still part of the organization. Yeah. But when you're
the head coach and you criticize someone, okay, that's you're
there with the team all the time, and and you
(26:57):
definitely have the cache because you're there, or though you
should be there more more time because of the Bruce
Arian schedule. But but again, that when you're the head
coach and you criticize somebody, though, it comes with much
more of a Hey, this guy knows that he's talking
about He's there, he's with everybody every day who understands
he's the head coach. When you're in the front office
and you're not around the team, you don't see people
coming out criticizing the quarterback. You leave Jerry Jones alone.
(27:19):
He's got enough troubles of his own. I gave Dak
all that money and now no, but you don't see
gms in front office members, even if they were former coaches,
don't say, hey, Tom Brady's got to throw a better
pass there on third and seven. Uh, it doesn't happen,
And when you do, you wind up looking bad. You
look like what you're not? What were you? What were
you doing during the game? You were up in the
box watching next to the owners, you know, are you
(27:40):
at the GM and you you weren't on a headset,
you weren't figuring out what was going on. So it's
a little bit different when you're doing it there. He's
lost a lot of the relevancy in in in criticizing
if he does do it from that point, because he's
not going to get the benefit of the doubt anymore. Yeah,
I think you take Bruce Arians at face value. I
guess is where it is for me, and you could
(28:03):
like it, you can dislike it whatever if if that's
legitimately the biggest beef that Tom Brady had his Oh
he criticized the throw and would would say that the
the throw has gotta be better for me. Like, then
my estimation of Tom Brady falls to a degree. You
gotta be better than that. Your resume is stacked. Uh,
(28:24):
that that's just words. Come on, man, Twitter At how
about a frescup Mike and I hate Brady, You and
Rob Parker should get together and do I know I've
got enough of but love for Tom Brady. But its
legitimately a lot of this is is because Bruce arians
got to a podium and would be like, yeah, that
throw was on Tom and he's mad about it because
(28:46):
he never said what a terrible game he played it,
and I'm not Yeah, but Tom Brady is also not
someone's gonna say I don't know what coach was calling
on that. I don't know what kind of play call
that was. That was a bunch of crap right there.
I mean, he's not doing it. And so like you know,
afford me the same aim the same uh favor because
you know I'm trying as hard as I can. I'm
pretty sure speaks for itself. You don't need to do that.
(29:08):
There's no need from just say in public, I don't
know why Tom threw that pack. Yeah, but when you
have Carson Wentz, Okay, yeah, you can make those you
can make those statements. I don't know what you've You've
got a long storied career in sports media. But when
you're saying something silly, I I call you out on it. Okay,
that but that that's that's different. That's you know that.
That's first of all, I don't say anything silly you
(29:29):
try to call it. Secondly, that's different than Tom Brady,
who is all right because it's not embarrassing because it's
part of a debate in the discourse that we have.
That's if you couldn't even have fun with it. Brady
and Arians are on, Yeah, you just lost right there.
You you just lost my estimation of you just felt too.
You're right with Brady on this. I tried to set
(29:49):
you up for a joke. You try to come back
with like some serious debate about it. Because I was
getting to the joke. I had to set it up.
But no, that was the longest damn. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Mike Check.
(30:12):
If you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in
the sports game, what's good? This is national champion and
former pro bowler Chris Johnson and let me tell you
a little bit about my new series kJ Live. J
Live is the only show featuring me going one on
one with the brightest basketball minds on the planet to
get the real And when I say real, I mean
that real. I got legendary Hall of famers, elite coaches,
(30:34):
and the top basketball insiders bringing you a unique perspective
on all things hoops culture that you will not find anywhere.
To make your next move your best move and tap
in with me on kJ Live wherever you get your
podcast from Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with
(30:55):
my best friend Mike Harmon. Hey, welcome back. I thought
you were gonna be like Al Savodka and you were,
Oh wow, the red Wing Samboni drive, scooping up Octopi
with the organization fifty one years they said get out,
no more driving the Zamboni for you. He also ran
all the barbecues for the team. That's kind of a
(31:17):
big deal. That's a double barrel right there. You got
you know, know, Zam, the ice is gonna be choppy
and you're not gonna eat. Well, that's a very difficult
double barrel to get a tough guy to get rid of.
Like I thought you walked off, that you got salty
enough that I you know, alluded to some disagreements on air,
and and that you quit I was a little scared. No,
it's all right, that's all good. Now, everything is fine. Okay,
(31:40):
you're feeling better. He got me upstairs. Am I gonna
have an executive role? What am I? Yeah? That's what
it is now. Yes, you're gonna be You're the executive
role now because you're now the Bruce arians of the show.
And I'm Tom Brady and I am pushing Uh. Hey,
best wishes clearly to Bruce Willis. The story today just
so sad, uh stepping away from act. I don't know
if he's ever going to act again. Uh, suffering from aphasia,
(32:03):
which is a disease that affects your ability to speak
and to understand speech. Which it just shocking seeing this
today and and and hearing this about Bruce Willis. Who Look,
he's been one of the biggest leading men in Hollywood
for thirty years now. And and yeah he was when
he first came around in Moonlighting and die Hard, I
mean he was, he was so cool. I mean I
(32:25):
remember I even bought his uh a Return of Bruno
album when he had album talking about Bruno, but that
album that was huge, No, coming right up with the
Jaunty Little Hat. Oh yeah, doing specials on HBO. Also,
I mean, he was just the epitome of cool man
when he first came up and has had an incredible career. Uh,
(32:48):
just really shocking news about Bruce Willis. Who who you know? Look,
Bruce Willis a guy I I used the urinal next
to him at a movie once. Oh nice, Yeah, you know,
that's the my claim to fame with Bruce Willis. I
went to go see No Country for Old Men, and
Pam and I went to see in the middle of
the day and there was a couple of guys. There
was only like eight people in the theater because it
was like at one o'clock showing, and there's two guys
(33:09):
sitting in front of us who were kind of just
spread out. But it doesn't matter because you know, there was,
like I said, eight people in the theater. So we
get ready to go and I said, I have to
go to the bathroom. My wife says, okay, great, I'll
beat you outside. I go in and it's one of
those bathrooms where there's only three urinals, and so there's
one person on the left and one person on the right,
and I go, all right, well, I gotta go in
the middle. Here but whatever, it's fine. So I go
(33:29):
in and I hear the guy in the left talking, going, man,
you know, you invest so much in Josh Brolin's character
and then what sorry spoiler alert, and you know, and
then and and and then what happens to him is
just so weird. I'm going, oh my god. And I
look over and I go, oh my god, that's Bruce Willis.
Oh my god, I'm using a urinal right next to
Bruce Willis. And I couldn't tell who it was the
friend he was with watching, But I'm just sitting there
listening to they're talking about the movie, and I'm going,
(33:50):
oh my god, this is so cool. I'm going to
the bathroom. I'm just gonna stay here until they're done.
I don't care what I'm done. I'm just gonna stay
here after until they those guys walk. That's that's something special.
I mean, I raised a glass and kind of did
the nod uh partially, you know, across one of the rooms.
When we used to have you huge holiday parties at
(34:13):
Fox Sports Radio once upon a time, pre pandemic, long
White ways back, we we ran into the DiCaprio guys.
They were out smoking and hanging out as everybody was leaving,
and then Bruce Willis was inside having a drink. I
forget the hotel, but it was like, Hey, there's a
guy and you just nod like you know, he has
he got his reputation. People deal with that as it were.
(34:33):
For me, it was, hey, that's one of the most
famous guys in Hollywood and we're sitting in uh, you know,
fifty yards from each other, raising a glass and saying salute.
That's that's a that's a good night. So best best
to his family friends, all the fans go get some
of those marathons going. Uh. Certainly a long body of
work from which to choose and crank up the return
(34:55):
of Bruno extra loud come in, right up to come
and right Uh. The other big story that we've attacked tonight,
besides Tom Brady and Bruce arians is the US men's
national team is back in the World Cup. It's been
twenty hundred days. We don't really have to worry about
qualifying ever again because the next uh World Cup is
(35:19):
we're hosting. In the time we get the twenty thirty,
they're gonna double the teams in the World Cup. We're
not gonna have to worry about it. So this is
the last time, and we didn't lose the Costa Rica
by more than six goals, so we made it. And
this honestly was the best result for the United States.
Tu say, wait, what are you talking about? We lost
Costa Rica. It doesn't matter. We just not have to
lose six nothing. So this is the best result because
(35:42):
we win, we get in, we celebrate, and we can
still talk about what a bad coach Greg barr Halter is,
So it serves it serves everybody. We can be happy
that we got but still complaining about Greg Burr Halter.
It was funny because the start of the game, right,
there's a lot of attacking. They forced a bunch of
corner kicks, uh quality scoring chances, and then it was
(36:03):
almost like all right, what how much time have we
gone through? Okay, that's good, we get back off and
that was it. Like there really wasn't another thrust the
rest of the game, like all right, and people were
taking runs at ballistic It's like, get him off the field.
And it's funny as you know, we're doing the show
tonight and start seeing the flow between you know, NBA
(36:25):
games and what everybody's watching the Brady story and everybody
throwing up their theories more on the Oscar stuff. But
then all of a sudden, I started seeing a number
of why is ballistics still on the pitch? Why is polisics?
Like see, I'm trying to speak that into existence. So
it's a movement Twitter and out about a fresca. Mike,
(36:45):
it's swollen down. The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon, our best of podcast goes up on
about ten minutes on iTunes. Wherever you listen to podcasts,
it is there. The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, downloaded,
rate us, give us five stars, will love you forever
and ever and ever again. Wherever you listen to podcasts,
it is there iTunes, the I Heart Radio app, whatever
(37:06):
you got it? Coming up next, my buddy Ben Maller.
This is Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
inside our four of The Jason Smith Show with my
best friend Mike Harmon. Good advice that was Rick Bucker
on Undisputed earlier, No No, the Sun's beat the Warriors
(00:49):
and a thriller that we didn't think was going to
be a thriller one oh seven, one oh three, and
they win because for some reason, Jordan Pool, who had
an incredible night, decides to take a forty five a
shot with four seconds. I don't I don't know. I
think that was JRS. He's gonna unzip himself and it's
gonna wind up being j R. Smith. We're gonna find
out that, yeah, that was like he looked up at
(01:10):
and it's like, all right, why why is he Why
is he shooting? Did he love track of time, sight
of Clay Thompson just decide I'm I'm on fire, and
Steph would be proud of me looking on from the
second row. I don't understand. It was a forty five,
a desperation shot that you normally throw up one. Hey,
(01:30):
there's no time left, but this case, there was three
and a half seconds left. They had a chance to
get closer for a three they didn't get it. Joining
us now the hot line to break it all down.
Fox Sports one NBA insider extraordinary, longtime friend of the show,
Rick Buker, Rick, can you explain that Jordan Pool shot
to us and all there at the end? I got
I got nothing for you. I think the funniest part
(01:51):
for me, though, was you guys have seen that little
chiff of the dog in the house that's on fire,
and the and the and the little blurb is and
everything's fine. That would everybody's looking at him, what Jordan's feelings,
and he's looking at every going it's fine, It's okay,
it's fine. But that was that was the most amusing
(02:13):
part of this um. Although he did Steve did say
in one of the time outs, no matter what happens tonight,
so you know, we're we're moving in the right direction.
So I think he kind of foreshadowed or had a
premonition that that this was not going to go their way,
in large part because and this is one of the
(02:34):
things that I've said about the Warriors, even if they
have all hands on deck and Steph Curry is still
walking around in a walking boot, and I think he's
supposed to be reevaluated tomorrow the day after. Uh, it's
not promising that he's still in the walking boot. I
know they could be precautionary, but it says to me
that it's not as if he gets reevaluated and they
(02:56):
say he's good to go, I think he's gonna still
be out for a little bit. All that said, uh my,
my concern has always been that even with Andre Andre
and Clay and Staff healthy, you're still relying on guys
like Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins and guys who have
never had to play a prominent role on a team
gunning for a championship. And these are the kind of
(03:18):
decisions that we saw tonight where you go, Okay, what
was that about that obviously either lose your games or
prevent you from having a shot at winning them, and
you simply can't afford that in the playoffs. And these
guys never having been in these kind of pressure situations
before and never had to having had to play mistake
(03:40):
free basketball. That's one of the elements that the Sons,
for example, this, I mean, the Sons can live with
Devin Booker doing Devin Booker things and not good things
because they got everybody else on point. But um, the
Warriors at the stage, we've got too many young guys
who you can't afford to have doing that. And this
(04:02):
was just an example. You know. The thing is reckon.
I'm gonna give you two things over the course of
conversation that I'm gonna title. I'm not saying, I'm just saying, Okay,
because for the Warriors, right again, Clay Thompson coming back,
he's been good, Like his player efficiency rating has been good.
He's been scoring. But I'm not saying, I'm just saying,
before Clay Thompson came back, they were running a rough
(04:24):
shot over everybody. Right, they were twenty nine and nine. Yes,
they had injuries, right, but they're still twenty nine and nine.
Since he's come back, they've been a five hundred team,
and yes, Step has been hurt the last few games,
but still for the vast bulk of it, he's been there.
They've been a five hundred team with Clay Thompson. Before
they were killing everybody, and now with Clay Thompson back,
they're just another team. Is there a correlation there at all? Well?
(04:47):
They so Clay came back and then Dre went out
and Igwadala was out as well, and their defense really suffered,
and I believe suffered in large part because you were
missing those two guys, and Clay came back. And Clay
has been trying to prove and Steve has said it
(05:09):
to me directly. He and I had a conversation about
this that Clay is is pressing because he wants to
prove that he's the old Clay Thompson, and he's clearly not.
He doesn't have the same elevation, he doesn't have the
same movement. Um, he's not the same defensively, and and
so's he's forcing some shots, or he's taking shots that
(05:33):
when he had like an extra int or two of elevation,
they weren't contested the way they are now, or he
could create a little more space, and as a shooter,
he's I mean, you know, it's like watching Devin Booker tonight.
Devin Booker could not hit a shot and but kept
thinking and great shooters do this. The next one's going
in and I'm thinking, like, dude, get to the free
(05:54):
throw line. Stop shooting the mid range because you can't.
You're hitting it long or short. You're not on that
at all. But it's a tricky it's a tricky thing
for any coach, especially with a guy like Clay or
or Devon for that matter, because you know, with anyone's shot,
they can suddenly find it and get hot. So you
kind of have to live with them searching for it
(06:15):
at times. The problem with Clay is he's had more nights. One,
he's had more nights where he's searching for it than
he ever has before. And two, he doesn't give you
the same things that he gave you with the rest
of his game, defensively in particular, and so it compounds
(06:36):
the issues. And then for every one of those shots
that he's taking where he's searching for it, that's one
less shot that Jordan's Poole is taking. That's one less
shot that Andrew Wiggins is able to take and find
a rhythm, and so it it's snowballs and the Warriors
don't have the margin of error that they can afford,
and nobody wants to say anything because it's a feel
(06:57):
good story for Clay to be back. I mean, he's
coming back from two injury. Nobody, nobody's ever come back
and played the way he has, and they do need
him to find his game in order for them to
be as successful as they want to be. So it's
just it's a it's it's the ultimate Catch twenty two. Yeah,
he's hurting them, but you kind of gotta live with
it a little bit and say, Okay, I hope at
(07:19):
some point he stopped hurting us. Yeah, that's still you know,
first world problems on a relative basis in the NBA
rick because you know, Steph Curry is sitting there watching
the the exploits. Meanwhile, we've got the Lakers are back
in the play in they're back in the plane because
the Spurs lose. But Lebron James, Yes, because they didn't
(07:40):
have to play, they weren't involved, that's right. But tomorrow,
tomorrow it's back on them. No, Lebron James, Anthony Davis
still in street clothes. Um, do any of them, either
of them bother to play the last seven games or
is it a fluid situation for real? Yeah, it's a
great question. I can't I can't believe that. I mean,
(08:03):
there's no telling when Anthony Davis is going to come back.
He's been doubtful for about a week as well, we
say he's been doubt for flore a week. I would
say he's been doubtful for about five years. But yeah,
boom um. I can't imagine that Lebron James would voluntarily
(08:24):
shut it down as long as they have a shot
at the play in now if he has to miss
a couple of games, even even if it if it
looks dire, I just don't see him missing games until
it becomes mathematically impossible. And and that you know, we
(08:45):
have so few games. I don't that's gonna be down
to the last couple of games before that happens. So,
I just I can't imagine as as uh minimal as
making the play in as I mean, so are from
the the expectations for this team this year, and how
small an accomplishment that is. I look, Lebron's already getting
(09:12):
beat up pretty good about the fact that he's chasing
a scoring title while his team is not even looking
like a play in much less a playoff team. So
for him then to shut it down. And I've actually
been watching, like the teams that he's playing and not
(09:34):
playing against, I mean Philadelphia and Dallas, He's he's playing
against the lesser teams, he's not playing against the tougher teams.
And I'm thinking, okay, that certainly benefits you as far
as maintaining your scoring average. What are we really about here,
and there's already some questions about that. Is he just here,
(09:55):
really just going for the scoring title? And it's been
my feeling that scoring has been more important to him
this year than anything else because he's not playing a lick.
I mean, it's embarrassing the defense that he's playing. He's it.
He moves well enough to score, he does not move
well enough to defend. And so with all that in mind,
(10:17):
I just think he's already getting some some hits for that.
If he was to shut it down before they're actually eliminated,
I think there would be I just think it would
put a really bad taint on on that scoring title
if he ends up winning it. I see. I don't know, Rick,
because I look at it as Lebron doesn't want to
be the guy who is gets the blame for the
(10:40):
Lakers not making the playoffs, because that's what's going to happen.
But if he can't play in the last seven games,
I can't play in the last. Look, I said six
weeks ago, if the Lakers are in a position where
they look like they're falling out of the playing round somehow,
Lebron James is not going to play. And I'm not
saying he's not dinged up. We've seen him come back
from ankle injuries before. I'm not saying he's not dinged up.
(11:00):
Six weeks ago, I knew if they look like they're
falling out and can't even make it, he's not going
to wind up playing the last because because he's not
going to be the guy to wear the whole Lakers
didn't make it and I couldn't even get him in
the playoffs, and this is where we are right now.
You may be right. I just hate to think that
he would go that far. It's it's one thing where
(11:23):
what was it two years ago, three years ago, the
first year, first year in l A where he's got
the groin injury. They're clearly out of the running, Like,
there's not a whole lot to be gained by him
coming back and trying to lift them. But this is
this is really a different taste because you're talking about
a handful of games that you could make the difference
(11:46):
between getting into the play in and and giving yourself
a shot or shutting it down. And I do believe
that he is ganged up. I don't. I believe it's
not just the ankle. I think the knee is bothering him.
He does not look like he's moving well. So there's that.
But I mean, at this point, you got seven games left, Uh,
(12:09):
there's everybody at this point in the season is playing
banged up somehow, some way. And with Lebron's size and
strength and and and I Q like, this is where
he should be able to still function and play. If
he doesn't play, it's because one he's either preserving himself
(12:29):
or two, to your point, he wants to avoid that blame.
And I just I can't. I can't say that. I
I just hope he I hope that's not the case.
I I really don't, But that would that would make
me think far less of of Lebron if if indeed
he was dodging this just because he didn't he didn't
(12:52):
want to wear these because it looks he's gonna get
blamed anyway. I mean, at this point, the failures of
this year's team are already hanging on him. Um to
skip the last few games just because he doesn't want
to be standing on the court when they're officially eliminated.
That's that's hard for me to swallow. Rick, last one.
(13:12):
For you to choose your own adventure, I'm gonna upset
it up like it's the Spider Man meme of the
three guys staring at each other. I got Russell Westbrook,
I got Julius Randol, and I got Donovan Mitchell. Can
they force their way out in a three man battle royal?
Who's who? Who's left standing? Uh? Well, Westbrook should probably
have the easiest exit, m Randall. I mean, I do
(13:38):
believe that, whether he's asking to be traded or not,
that they're going to have to make a decision on
that because the just the relationship between him and the
and the Nick's faithful is no longer exists. And let's
face it, he's been terrible. Now, um, you know what
you can get for him, You're probably it's probably pennies
(13:58):
on the dollar. But at this point, I think you
have to move in a different direction. I would say
the Donovan Mitchell thing I've been hearing this last summer,
that that he's going to find his way, and oddly enough,
he's gonna find his way to New York. Um. And
so I I'm not surprised, like I almost feel he
(14:20):
sees the opportunity to justify why he's leaving by playing
up what's going on. But the reality is, you know,
and in that loss, he's the one who had six turnovers. Um,
he's the one who clearly was not playing his his
best basketball and he has to he he the star,
without question, and the offensive star of the Utah Jazz.
(14:43):
So in part, I put some of the downfall on
the Jazz on on Donovan. And I don't know really
that he knows what he would be getting into going
to New York and being the star there, because I
don't put him in that top tier of guys. Um,
he's a he's a six one, maybe six two shooting
guard and he's not I just don't put him at
(15:07):
the caliber of star that can drive a team and
do it under the scrutiny of a place like New York.
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker. You really just took
the air on it. You know, he just he just
took appreciate. He slapped you upside the face. I had
a Julius Randall for Don for Donna Mitchell trade all
worked out about forty five minutes ago, and now here
(15:29):
you are. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, you go
with that, You doe with that. Check out Rick on
Twitter at Rick Buker also his latest on the Ball
podcast about the latest overblown outrage in the NBA. Ricks
always buddy appreciated, my friend. We'll talk to you next week.
(15:49):
Have fun, Yeah, Anleman, Bruce Arians, Joe Never a dull moment, right.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with
My best friend Mike Harmon. WHOA that scared me? That
(16:13):
scared me? I mean, I mean you haven't even heard
what Tom Brady told the Tampa Bay Buccanteers. WHOA is that? What?
He said, whoa, whoa. I tried to lay it up
for the dunk to make sports for a second, and
it sailed into the third row. I was waiting for
(16:33):
run it back, but we didn't get well. But that
I thought it was an obvious Maybe it was too obvious.
You just said it was too obvious. I'm not. I'm
not taking low hanging fruit. I'm I'm much more esoteric
in the ten o'clock hour, m m uh so, the
story involving and revolving around Tom Brady and Bruce Arians.
Like Bruce Arians is no longer the Buccaneers head coach.
(16:56):
He's not retiring. He's moving upstairs to the front office.
Todd Bowles, defensive coordinator Jets you know, is taking over
as the new head coach. Now, we got some stuff
on bowls coming up in a few minutes. But look,
we've told you a lot, and we've told you since
Tom Brady's retirement happened, it just wasn't right. No one
retires and then can't even confirm it a week later.
(17:16):
No one retires for forty days and comes back unless
retiring was a leverage ploy, and he wanted something with
the Buccaneers and he wasn't happy. We knew that he
wasn't happy with Bruce Arians. The two of them weren't
getting along for many different reasons, and retiring was his
way of pushing his leverage down. I don't need to play.
(17:37):
I'll sit and I'll wait and and and now you
guys have to figure it out because I don't have
to play. And the fact that he kept the door
open and you kept hearing Brady with new teams and
maybe finding a way to get there Tampa Bay said, Okay, okay, Tom,
what do you want? You really think it's a coincidence
that Brady announced he's coming back and the decision was
made for Bruce Arians to go upstairs around the same time.
(17:59):
Rick Stroud of the Tampa eight Times reporting that earlier tonight,
of course not Brady pulled the power play. His leverage
was retirement. What do you want? I want new head coach.
I'm not gonna go through this again. I just did
it for almost twenty years in New England. I'm not
doing it and not doing it. And what happened Todd
h He's got a new head coach now, and Todd Bowles,
who was going to leave him completely alone and whatever
(18:19):
you want to do. I'm over here in the defense.
You're there with the offense. So it all works. Brady
wins his power play, retiring as a power play. You see.
Now it works. You don't have to threaten it like
Aaron Rodgers. You have to do it like Tom Brady.
But what is at the heart of what happened with
Brady and Bruce Arians? Earlier tonight we talked to Rich Ornberger,
(18:39):
former teammate of Tom Brady's analyst here at Fox Sports one,
Fox Sports Radio with us hos some morning show in
San Diego. Uh. He was the guy who a couple
of months ago first reported there was a lot of
strife between Brady and Bruce Arians and they didn't get
along well. So earlier we asked him, Hey, what were
some of the things that was going on between Brady
(18:59):
and the coaching death And take a listen to what
Rich told us. Was this over control of the offense?
Was it more about the play calling? Was it the
culture itself? Like? What what was the what were the
biggest things that that that caused this? Uh? This rift? Well,
from what I heard and what I ascertained, the rift
was caused between him and Bruce over the fact that
(19:20):
Brady's a complete workaholic. I mean that guy will put
everybody to sleep. He will breast never to make sure
that they're pursuing greatness and perfection if he can help it.
And Bruce says, we know has really trimmed his schedule down.
That was part of his contract when he re upped
with the Boxes, that he was going to take a
(19:41):
much different approach than head coaching than virtually any of
the other thirty one head coaches in this week. You know,
it's a it's it's a job where most of the
times you're not burning the midnight oil, you're burning burning
the next morning oil. And then some you know, and
that's the way Tom Brady operated for two decades in
New England with to those coaches. And I think a
(20:02):
lot of that rubbed up on time, that a lot
of that was in time to begin with. So I
think when you have a situation where you have a
coach who obviously is very comfortable with the media and
very comfortable accepting phrase and very comfortable criticizing a star
quarterback who's doing a lot and I mean a lot
of the heavy lifting, I think there was some some
(20:25):
there was some animosity growing up there. That's my own speculation,
but but I think that's that's that's as accurate as
I could portray it um in terms of what I
heard about, you know, issues with other members of the
coaching staff. I mean, there were battles over the run
games between him and Byron Left, which you know, they
disagreed on a lot of the play selection during the
(20:47):
course of the game. Brady changed a lot of the
calls that were coming in from the sideline at the
line of scrimmage in game to the point where as
far as the game that Byron was calling from the
sideline and Brady was running on the field, it was
completely different. He was running his own playbook on the field.
So so that that just takes you a little bit
(21:09):
deeper into some of the issues that we're going on
amid a really successful season, regardless of how many injuries
they have, they still found a way into the postseason
and gave the Rams all they could handle, almost came
back in one all right. So there it is from
Rich Hornberger. The first part of this is the most interesting,
which is that Brady, according to Rich, you know, all
(21:32):
he's hearing and talking to people. Uh was that Brady
wasn't comfortable Bruce arians with the reduced schedule that he
had coming in and making changes and wanting to do
different things, and and and criticizing him in public. And
Brady didn't like that. And quite honestly, I kind of
get that. I kind of get that Brady's not a
guy that, Hey, what's the big knock on Brady? That
(21:53):
guy is a work hard It's not working hard, he's
not true, not always trying to be the best quarterback
he can be. No, that's all Tom Brady is doing.
He's not a quarterback where somebody else you have to wonder, hey,
what motivates the guys? He really doing all the right things. No,
that's not Brady. And Brady just went through an entire
career in New England where no matter how much he
(22:13):
and Bill Belichick hated each other, which they did, neither
of them would go public about it. Neither of them
would criticize the other person. Remember when it came to
be Belichick would always say Tom, Tom's the best quarterback
in the league. Tom's great, what's next? And Brady would
never He would say Bill and I work great together.
It's a great relationship, even though they hated each other,
they would never do that. And so Brady goes to
(22:35):
Tampa Bay and here he is in his first year,
and he wins the super Bowl and they're playing well,
and suddenly it's uh, Bruce Arians is talking about Brady
not throwing this pass. Ride should have done this, should
have done this. So I get Tom Brady not being
happy being criticized in public, especially when Bruce Arians is
not someone who's there all the time with him, right,
like not Josh McDaniels, who was there all the time
(22:56):
with Brady. What are we doing? What do we want
to do? How are we doing this? So I get
where he is upset about that. And and the one
thing you have to understand as a coach and your
Bruce Arians is that, Okay, you can be comfortable with
the media and like to talk and do all these
and do all these things. Hey, this is just who
I am. You also have to understand who you're coaching,
and you have to understand how what you say is
(23:16):
going to rub off on your players, and especially a
guy like Brady. I think you want to make sure
he's in the best place possibly mentally to go forward
because now look at where he is now. Bruce Arians
is not coaching anymore, and he's upstairs, and Tom Brady
wins a power play and now he's the quarterback. He's
got a new wet coach and doesn't have to worry
about Bruce Arians criticizing him anymore. Yeah, I think you
also need to have a thicker skin if your town, Brady,
(23:38):
But I understand. And look, when you've got power, you
wield it in in any situation. Al Right. If if
you're you're coaching a squad and you see your team
is better, and this I'm looking squarely at you, what
do you do? You point out where there's opportunity. Maybe
the opponent doesn't like it, maybe their parents in the
stands don't like it, but you point out opportunity. In
(23:59):
this case, this was a coaching him up know the
guy that you're coaching. But for Brady, you gotta know
the coach, so you know, in theory, you should have
worked this out somewhere along the way with the years together.
Right of all right, I like to talk and and
really expose you know how how I'm feeling about everything
from the Arian side, and Brady realizing, yeah, Arians is
(24:23):
my coach. That's what he's gonna do. But Arians should
have been more sensitive to the sensitive Tom Brady. So
now people will have poudy Tom Brady emoj's coming out
of this, which is which is always I don't know
that Brady's I don't know it's Brady said, look, and
you know me, I'm not the biggest Tom Brady defender
in the world, but I don't know that Brady sensitive
as much as it's I've won eleven super Bowls in
(24:45):
the last twelve years, and this guy's coming out saying
I wouldn't have thrown that past. I know I should
do here, all right, But again you're a grown ass man.
You laugh and go, I've won more than he'll ever know. Right,
you should be above it, as I guess where my
point is. Right. But in the end, if that's what
(25:05):
causes all the friction, uh, And you know, if it's
about how many hours you work, well, if Bruce Arians
got his quality hours in, like I don't know that
sitting with him at three in the morning as they're
nodding off to good Times or whatever is on your television,
you know, finishing up the you know, tape re view
is that hour as Bruce has fallen asleep. Is is
(25:26):
that gonna keep Tom Brady from making a bad decision
on the field. No, if Brady is convinced it is
that I I guess you have to say, Okay, yeah,
Bruce should have been there sitting with him on the couch,
even if he wasn't helping out. He could have logged
that as an a billable hour. And he come on,
you know that. Let's gets silly to a point, but
in the end they couldn't make it work any longer.
(25:51):
And then you decide which part of this story the
positives of instagrams and whatever else versus what Rich told
us there right, the inner workings of play calling and
distribution of um success, blame and and all those attributes
that you push forward. And now you got Byron Leftwich,
(26:14):
Well it is Tom Brady squad right by Todd Bowles
will be the headman, will figure out what happens with
the defensive coordinator position. But in the interim, you know,
now it's quite clearly, all right, Tom Brady wants all
credit and or blame. He's gonna get it. And and
you watch, just because he moved to the front office
and whatever role they're giving him. Do you think Bruce
(26:35):
Arians is gonna shut up? I think that's part of
the deal. Hey, you shut up? Okay, Okay, I will okay, Okay.
He's also not the head coach. He's also not he's
still still part of the organization. Yeah. But when you're
the head coach and you criticize someone, okay, that's you're
there with the team all the time, and and you
(26:57):
definitely have the cache because you're there, or though you
should be there more more time because of the Bruce
Arian schedule. But but again, that when you're the head
coach and you criticize somebody, though, it comes with much
more of a Hey, this guy knows that he's talking
about He's there, he's with everybody every day who understands
he's the head coach. When you're in the front office
and you're not around the team, you don't see people
coming out criticizing the quarterback. You leave Jerry Jones alone.
(27:19):
He's got enough troubles of his own. I gave Dak
all that money and now no, but you don't see
gms in front office members, even if they were former coaches,
don't say, hey, Tom Brady's got to throw a better
pass there on third and seven. Uh, it doesn't happen,
And when you do, you wind up looking bad. You
look like what you're not? What were you? What were
you doing during the game? You were up in the
box watching next to the owners, you know, are you
(27:40):
at the GM and you you weren't on a headset,
you weren't figuring out what was going on. So it's
a little bit different when you're doing it there. He's
lost a lot of the relevancy in in in criticizing
if he does do it from that point, because he's
not going to get the benefit of the doubt anymore. Yeah,
I think you take Bruce Arians at face value. I
guess is where it is for me, and you could
(28:03):
like it, you can dislike it whatever if if that's
legitimately the biggest beef that Tom Brady had his Oh
he criticized the throw and would would say that the
the throw has gotta be better for me. Like, then
my estimation of Tom Brady falls to a degree. You
gotta be better than that. Your resume is stacked. Uh,
(28:24):
that that's just words. Come on, man, Twitter At how
about a frescup Mike and I hate Brady, You and
Rob Parker should get together and do I know I've
got enough of but love for Tom Brady. But its
legitimately a lot of this is is because Bruce arians
got to a podium and would be like, yeah, that
throw was on Tom and he's mad about it because
(28:46):
he never said what a terrible game he played it,
and I'm not Yeah, but Tom Brady is also not
someone's gonna say I don't know what coach was calling
on that. I don't know what kind of play call
that was. That was a bunch of crap right there.
I mean, he's not doing it. And so like you know,
afford me the same aim the same uh favor because
you know I'm trying as hard as I can. I'm
pretty sure speaks for itself. You don't need to do that.
(29:08):
There's no need from just say in public, I don't
know why Tom threw that pack. Yeah, but when you
have Carson Wentz, Okay, yeah, you can make those you
can make those statements. I don't know what you've You've
got a long storied career in sports media. But when
you're saying something silly, I I call you out on it. Okay,
that but that that's that's different. That's you know that.
That's first of all, I don't say anything silly you
(29:29):
try to call it. Secondly, that's different than Tom Brady,
who is all right because it's not embarrassing because it's
part of a debate in the discourse that we have.
That's if you couldn't even have fun with it. Brady
and Arians are on, Yeah, you just lost right there.
You you just lost my estimation of you just felt too.
You're right with Brady on this. I tried to set
(29:49):
you up for a joke. You try to come back
with like some serious debate about it. Because I was
getting to the joke. I had to set it up.
But no, that was the longest damn. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Mike Check.
(30:12):
If you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in
the sports game, what's good? This is national champion and
former pro bowler Chris Johnson and let me tell you
a little bit about my new series kJ Live. J
Live is the only show featuring me going one on
one with the brightest basketball minds on the planet to
get the real And when I say real, I mean
that real. I got legendary Hall of famers, elite coaches,
(30:34):
and the top basketball insiders bringing you a unique perspective
on all things hoops culture that you will not find anywhere.
To make your next move your best move and tap
in with me on kJ Live wherever you get your
podcast from Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with
(30:55):
my best friend Mike Harmon. Hey, welcome back. I thought
you were gonna be like Al Savodka and you were,
Oh wow, the red Wing Samboni drive, scooping up Octopi
with the organization fifty one years they said get out,
no more driving the Zamboni for you. He also ran
all the barbecues for the team. That's kind of a
(31:17):
big deal. That's a double barrel right there. You got
you know, know, Zam, the ice is gonna be choppy
and you're not gonna eat. Well, that's a very difficult
double barrel to get a tough guy to get rid of.
Like I thought you walked off, that you got salty
enough that I you know, alluded to some disagreements on air,
and and that you quit I was a little scared. No,
it's all right, that's all good. Now, everything is fine. Okay,
(31:40):
you're feeling better. He got me upstairs. Am I gonna
have an executive role? What am I? Yeah? That's what
it is now. Yes, you're gonna be You're the executive
role now because you're now the Bruce arians of the show.
And I'm Tom Brady and I am pushing Uh. Hey,
best wishes clearly to Bruce Willis. The story today just
so sad, uh stepping away from act. I don't know
if he's ever going to act again. Uh, suffering from aphasia,
(32:03):
which is a disease that affects your ability to speak
and to understand speech. Which it just shocking seeing this
today and and and hearing this about Bruce Willis. Who Look,
he's been one of the biggest leading men in Hollywood
for thirty years now. And and yeah he was when
he first came around in Moonlighting and die Hard, I
mean he was, he was so cool. I mean I
(32:25):
remember I even bought his uh a Return of Bruno
album when he had album talking about Bruno, but that
album that was huge, No, coming right up with the
Jaunty Little Hat. Oh yeah, doing specials on HBO. Also,
I mean, he was just the epitome of cool man
when he first came up and has had an incredible career. Uh,
(32:48):
just really shocking news about Bruce Willis. Who who you know? Look,
Bruce Willis a guy I I used the urinal next
to him at a movie once. Oh nice, Yeah, you know,
that's the my claim to fame with Bruce Willis. I
went to go see No Country for Old Men, and
Pam and I went to see in the middle of
the day and there was a couple of guys. There
was only like eight people in the theater because it
was like at one o'clock showing, and there's two guys
(33:09):
sitting in front of us who were kind of just
spread out. But it doesn't matter because you know, there was,
like I said, eight people in the theater. So we
get ready to go and I said, I have to
go to the bathroom. My wife says, okay, great, I'll
beat you outside. I go in and it's one of
those bathrooms where there's only three urinals, and so there's
one person on the left and one person on the right,
and I go, all right, well, I gotta go in
the middle. Here but whatever, it's fine. So I go
(33:29):
in and I hear the guy in the left talking, going, man,
you know, you invest so much in Josh Brolin's character
and then what sorry spoiler alert, and you know, and
then and and and then what happens to him is
just so weird. I'm going, oh my god. And I
look over and I go, oh my god, that's Bruce Willis.
Oh my god, I'm using a urinal right next to
Bruce Willis. And I couldn't tell who it was the
friend he was with watching, But I'm just sitting there
listening to they're talking about the movie, and I'm going,
(33:50):
oh my god, this is so cool. I'm going to
the bathroom. I'm just gonna stay here until they're done.
I don't care what I'm done. I'm just gonna stay
here after until they those guys walk. That's that's something special.
I mean, I raised a glass and kind of did
the nod uh partially, you know, across one of the rooms.
When we used to have you huge holiday parties at
(34:13):
Fox Sports Radio once upon a time, pre pandemic, long
White ways back, we we ran into the DiCaprio guys.
They were out smoking and hanging out as everybody was leaving,
and then Bruce Willis was inside having a drink. I
forget the hotel, but it was like, Hey, there's a
guy and you just nod like you know, he has
he got his reputation. People deal with that as it were.
(34:33):
For me, it was, hey, that's one of the most
famous guys in Hollywood and we're sitting in uh, you know,
fifty yards from each other, raising a glass and saying salute.
That's that's a that's a good night. So best best
to his family friends, all the fans go get some
of those marathons going. Uh. Certainly a long body of
work from which to choose and crank up the return
(34:55):
of Bruno extra loud come in, right up to come
and right Uh. The other big story that we've attacked tonight,
besides Tom Brady and Bruce arians is the US men's
national team is back in the World Cup. It's been
twenty hundred days. We don't really have to worry about
qualifying ever again because the next uh World Cup is
(35:19):
we're hosting. In the time we get the twenty thirty,
they're gonna double the teams in the World Cup. We're
not gonna have to worry about it. So this is
the last time, and we didn't lose the Costa Rica
by more than six goals, so we made it. And
this honestly was the best result for the United States.
Tu say, wait, what are you talking about? We lost
Costa Rica. It doesn't matter. We just not have to
lose six nothing. So this is the best result because
(35:42):
we win, we get in, we celebrate, and we can
still talk about what a bad coach Greg barr Halter is,
So it serves it serves everybody. We can be happy
that we got but still complaining about Greg Burr Halter.
It was funny because the start of the game, right,
there's a lot of attacking. They forced a bunch of
corner kicks, uh quality scoring chances, and then it was
(36:03):
almost like all right, what how much time have we
gone through? Okay, that's good, we get back off and
that was it. Like there really wasn't another thrust the
rest of the game, like all right, and people were
taking runs at ballistic It's like, get him off the field.
And it's funny as you know, we're doing the show
tonight and start seeing the flow between you know, NBA
(36:25):
games and what everybody's watching the Brady story and everybody
throwing up their theories more on the Oscar stuff. But
then all of a sudden, I started seeing a number
of why is ballistics still on the pitch? Why is polisics?
Like see, I'm trying to speak that into existence. So
it's a movement Twitter and out about a fresca. Mike,
(36:45):
it's swollen down. The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon, our best of podcast goes up on
about ten minutes on iTunes. Wherever you listen to podcasts,
it is there. The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, downloaded,
rate us, give us five stars, will love you forever
and ever and ever again. Wherever you listen to podcasts,
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(37:06):
you got it? Coming up next, my buddy Ben Maller.
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