May 18, 2022 • 44 mins
On the Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Jason and Ryan Hollins, who is sitting in for Mike, talk some Chris Paul, and Ryan shares why other NBA players seem not to like him. Plus, NBA Insider Dan Woike joins the show and shares an interesting off the court story about Ryan Hollins, his experience at his first draft lottery, and the Heat taking down the Celtics in game 1 of the ECF! Then, the guys praise Jimmy Butler’s game 1 performance in the Eastern Conference Finals, and frankly, Jason is surprised he has not won a championship yet. Has the new guard of players in the NBA finally taken over the old guard?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
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(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with my temporary
really tall bas friend Ryan Hollins, where maybe we don't
marry the Celtics quite yet. A ten three run to
(00:43):
start the fourth quarter. Uh, and now a big time
twenty point Miami heat lead is down to ten, nineties six,
eighties six. Yet it's been a big night for Jason Tatum.
He's got twenty six points at thirty five minutes. But
Baton Pritcher fifteen off the and she's got three three's
had a couple of big threes a few moments ago.
(01:04):
And now maybe we're not burying the Celtics here. What
do you what do you see this right? You see
you see the Celtic coming back here. You think that
he put this away. It is done. But I think
the most exciting thing is that we are seeing. This
is the first playoff type of basketball where saying, I
mean there's elbows flying, their bodies, getting laid, elbow getting
(01:26):
punching is all over the this playoff basketball, man. And
this is a Miami Heat type of game right now.
And I questioned the ability for the Heat to score,
but it has been their defense, and they've been physical,
and they're they're just beating Boston up. And I can't
help but think about the importance of Marcus Smart. He
(01:50):
brings a lot of physicality. I see he'd probably have,
you know, two or three flagrant fouls, a couple of
elbows in a game like this. He is on the sidelines.
They could use him, And it looks like Boston is
maybe not as deep as I thought they're they're kind
of throwing some guys out on the floor that aren't
quite playoff ready, and you know, hats off to the Heat.
(02:12):
It looks like they're stepping in and exposing the lack
of death or the or or just missing Marcus Smart,
who was their emotional leader. He's the Draymond Green. Okay,
that's that's what he brings to the table, uh, for
the for the Boston Celtics. So him not being on
the floor, you're seeing how big of an impact against
a extremely physical team that it is. Oh yeah, no,
(02:33):
I completely agree because this is a game. But yes,
you're always gonna miss a talented player when he's out right,
you're always gonna miss that. But sometimes you're missing the
teeth in your lineup at the same time. And and
and while yeah, you know, Marcus Smart, we scored twenty
points in this game. Maybe not, but when you're missing
that attitude and and you're on somebody's home floor, it
gets really difficult when when you have a guy that
(02:56):
brings that to you, because it's not like there's other
guys are gonna to step up and step into that role. Right, Like,
if if you're missing a score, let's just say, well,
you know what, if you're just missing a guy. That's
if you're missing a a Gordon Hayward, let's just say,
all right, well, you know, the guys scores twenty two
points a game, but there's gonna be more minutes for others.
Somebody else is gonna be able to score because other
guys are gonna get more shots. You can fill in
(03:18):
for stuff like that, but for attitude, you can't replace it,
can't you can't replace it. And and Draymond is a
great example, because yeah, the Warriors would miss so much
missing his attitude. Yes, you miss his talent, but you
miss his attitude more than anything. I'll tell you, I
I think the Celtics are missing Marcus Smart's attitude more
than they miss anything else in this game. Because look,
they were scoring enough in the first half, you know,
they were scoring with it, and then things got a
(03:39):
little bit more physical. The Heat started to import their
will on the game. And now you see the Heat
with the tent, the twenty point lead, that's now a
ten point lead. Uh, they missed that more than they
miss Marcus Smart when he does in the box score.
And I'll tell you right now, I still like Boston
in this series. I think the Heat are playing excellent
right now. They're handling business at home. But I think
the physicality will start to mass match up. And like
(04:00):
you said, when when Smart gets back and Horford, who
has been absolutely bawling, gets back, you know those two
guys are really gonna help. But just the heat, they
just struggle to score man and and it bothers me.
And I think they struggled this game. But just their
physicality that turnovers and you know, anytime you can turn
offense into defense, it's a real plus. Yeah, but if
(04:21):
if they're wanting the Celtics, So the dark side for
them is that if they're missing their guys all the
way through, the heat can be physical here, Like if
they wind up missing Smart and Horford, because you're talking
about a big body down low, and and as we
talked about the attitude, if if it's like, hey, the
guys are back for Game two, Okay, because I picked
the Celtics to go to the finals because they're they're
(04:41):
they're a more complete team. Look, they've been the best
team in the he's maybe the best team in the
NBA since the calendar flipped from twenty two. But when
you're missing both those guys, if it's like, hey, they
can come back later on in the series, well, if
you're talking about game four and maybe too late by then,
you know, so they gotta yeah, I still like the self,
but they're gonna come back. So like, I gotta see
(05:02):
these guys back in Game two because you know you can't.
You can't just keep relying on hey we're going home
down to zip Bob, the home cooking is gonna help us,
and we wind up getting back in the series. No,
you're you're right about that. And we we just did
see two what almost all this series go down oh
two and then you know, come back and or most
of them come back and make something happen. So now
you're right about that. You do not want to play
(05:23):
with fire. I'm not sure I know health and safety protocols.
So expect Horford to be you know, back decently soon hopefully.
And I'm not sure what's going on with Marcus Smart,
but you're right they definitely need him back desperately in
the lineup. And you know, for Boston all it's not
lost if you lose this game. You know, you're you're
getting the best punch right now from Miami. And I'd
(05:44):
go back and look at this film and clearly the
game is not over. But I'm assuming that the Heat
are gonna win and say, hey, man, um, we turned
the basketball over. We kind of handed the game over,
So we just have to run our stuff, be a
little tighter with the basketball and get the heat off
the nail. And when I say the heater on the nail,
it means they're daring Jayson Tatum to make those extra passes.
(06:05):
You know, they're sitting right where he's going to drive
the basketball and really deterring him from just having a
free reign to do what he wants. And right now
Boston is struggling with it and they've turned the ball
over at an alarming rate. Yeah, they got six team
turned over to night. Tatum's got seven, UH to lead
the way. Cannot games look, just ask Chris Paul right
you know they can't have games like that if you're
(06:28):
gonna wind up winning now because I want to ask
you about Chris Paul so one oh four nine two
heat with the lead over the Celtics right now, again
six minutes ago in the fourth quarter. If you're a
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(06:50):
Slash match limitations they do apply, so after the elimination
UH for the for the Sun's right, and and the
one thing I saw again, here's a second year where
Chris Paul hits the wall. Last year was middle of
the finals. This year it's the middle of the second round.
All the hate came out and Patrick Beverley is out,
I can't wait to go on television and talk about
(07:12):
Chris Paul and he calls him a traffic cone. And
you just see some of the hate that comes out
for Chris Paul, whether it was other players or in
the media. Why do why do people hate him so much? Why?
Why is Chris Paul this target? Like no one, no
one's talking at all about Janice, about oh Jannie, what
a failure? No no, no, no, yet Janice did play
better than Chris Paul. But I mean, why is all this,
(07:34):
all this hatred and victory all saved for Chris Paul.
You know, Chris has probably rubbed some people wrong in
his time playing, and he's extremely competitive that he doesn't
he doesn't turn it off. So it looks like he's
gotten under the skin of guys. And you know, especially
when it comes to point guards, they're they're very territorial, man,
They're they're territorial of of of what they have and
(07:56):
you know there's a lot of egos and competition that
that that flies around. So I think you know, you know,
just Chris is one of those guys. Man, He's feisty,
he wants to win. He's got a competitive edge and drive.
And you know with that, you really can't beat everyone's friend.
You know, when you've chosen that, that's I'm that guy.
I'm not the guy who it's hugging everybody and high
(08:19):
five of them. And I choose to compete and get
after you and you know, have some trash talk. You
know you're gonna rub some guys wrong. And I think
that's what you kind of see from Chris Paul. And
he's been at it for a very very long time.
Now you played with him, you played a couple of
years and and in in l a is is that
what he's like? Is he always liked that. He never
turns it off, like what was it? Chris is a
(08:41):
good guy, but he's very competitive. He's extremely competitive. He
does not like losing. And like I said, everybody may
not always be on the same page with that. Or
you know, you're compete against a guy and you have
some harsh words. Some guys don't forget those words. Man,
You're like they hold on to him, you know, like
Chris not silent. You could you see him trash talk
(09:03):
guys and of course like that it's not a secret,
so it rubs guys wrong. You know, he's in your face,
he's elbow and he's scratch and he's clawing. That is
how Chris has always played. And like I said, everyone
is not a fan. And especially when you get you know,
you got point guard on point guard rivalries. Those things
aren't aren't always you know, the nicest are prettiest things
to see. Would you like that? In practice too? As
(09:24):
competitive like that when you guys are practice, No, Chris
will get after it and lead, but he wasn't trying
to lay it on the line and practice like that.
Even more so, Proud in the games with Chris is
more like a perfectionist. So in practice we want to
get things right, We want to know what everything was
gonna look like. And you know he tried to make
the correct plays. Um if they made sense, No, I
(09:44):
get It's the one thing if you still talk to him,
just just tell him that because this is never gonna
work right. One thing for like you know, eight years now.
He thinks, if I'm dribbling the ball in the backcourt
and they come to family on purpose, if I look
like I'm shooting from seventy five ft away, I want
the shooting foul. They're never going to give it to him.
He still does it. He's been doing it for a
dozen years now. They're never gonna give him that call.
(10:06):
Can you tell them that They're never gonna put you
on the free throw line when you're seventy ft from
the basket. Never gonna just just tell him that because
we can stop doing that. Just one thing. It's just
it's one thing. It's it just gets to me. I
don't know if I have the I don't know if
that works coming from me. I think he I think
he's said pretty good from himself. Well, why why why
does he Why was he hitting the wall so early
(10:28):
in the playoffs this year? Look, he was great those
first two games, uh the last series and a twenty
five points a game and two turnovers, and then he
went to nine points and four turnovers. I mean, it
wasn't suddenly that that the Mavericks that did something crazy
on him, But all of a sudden, you just he
just went from Hey, Chris Paul, Chris Paul to at
some point you gotta wonder if the guy is gonna
(10:48):
get old, and it just and it just happened like
all of a sudden, like, well, what did you see
in that series? I think it's what you said and
I but I think opposite. I don't think that Jason
Kidd gets enough credit for attacking Chris Paul. I think
what was it Game four when he when he had
the foul trouble and they went after Chris. And Jason
(11:09):
Kidd knows because he's one of the greatest point guards
to ever played the game. There's just rules to the game.
There's a point guard high i Q level. And honestly,
with the Phoenix Suns, Chris, whether he was scoring or not,
he was the maestro if I'm saying that right. He always,
you know, conducted to define symphony of basketball over there
in Phoenix and made sure that everything ran well and
(11:30):
they'd get a good shot or a great shot every
time down the floor. And j C. Kidd was like, nah,
you know, press up into him, play one on one
and then on the other end, Jayleen Brunson go at him.
And he knew that if he could wear Chris out
and frustrate him. It was gonna make everything harder on
DeAndre Ayton, on Devin Booker, and it did because normally
Chris is the guy making sure all they have to
(11:52):
do is just be you know, prepared to you know,
catch and score the basketball. So I think your hat
has to go off to Jason Kidd and that stance
because he didn't let Chris just kind of hide and
run the show. Can he still be an impact playoff
player throughout the playoffs? Chris Paul or or those days
done for him and Phoenix has to bring in a
score or somebody else take the load off. Because last
(12:15):
year was one thing, Okay made all the way to
the middle of the NBA Finals, but he also didn't
play a lot of basketball, so he stayed fresher. But
at this point, now you're talking about the second round
of the playoffs, going out and playing like that the
last four games. Can he still be an impact playoff player?
Because regular season, yeah, sure it happens here one one
game out of eight two and and you know you
have Devin Booker has taking a lot of shots. You
(12:35):
can still be that way. But in the playoffs, so
we could really can count can they count on Chris Paul? Again?
I don't think you can count them out? And every
every matchup is different. You know. The one thing that
the Mavericks did is they switch all the screens and
they forced you to play a lot of one on one,
and you know, and then he's getting attacked on the
other end. So I don't think everyone's gonna have this
(12:55):
game plan for Chris. If you play a regular coverage
or pick and roll coverage, he's gonna eat you alive
from the mid range. He's gonna, you know, make the
correct passes. So I just think that this was a
poor matchup. I don't think Chris is done. I think
he's surprised us all once he switched his diet, and
you know, he wasn't injured, uh nearly as as much,
even though there's reports that he was. He was injured
(13:16):
after the series. I'm not sure what to make of that.
I'll leave that one alone, but I don't to answer
your question, I don't think that Chris is done. I
think he's kind of surpassed. But it's Chris, the same
Chris that can just go one on one and get
a bucket on call No. I don't think he's that,
but he's still incredibly effective because he knows you gotta
guard the pick and roll. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays
(13:39):
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. My check. If
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(14:00):
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(14:23):
podcast from Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show. Ryan
Hollins in a for Mike Harmon Tonight, UH Heat lead
the Celtics one one oh seven, about a minute and
a half left to go in this game. UH Big
three by the Celtics. He to be shooting some free
throws now. Uh, we'll have more in this game coming
(14:45):
up in a couple of minutes as it races towards
its conclusion. But something I wanted to ask you Ryan,
because you know, last hour we talked, we got into
the end of my football career and you said, he
was there a moment that you knew when your football
career was done? Or we took the pads off on
the field. I told you the moment it was for me.
So I got because people asked me on social media,
(15:06):
what did you have a moment where you knew, hey,
you know, my whole life college and it was NBA
and you played for a long time where you knew
that that was it and you weren't going to play
in the NBA anymore. Was there a moment that you
knew that, hey, you know, my mom to the next
part of my life now and and and broadcasting and
you know, trying to get broadcasting gear from people. So
(15:27):
my last year was in Memphis, and the irony was
I felt like that was my productive, most productive year
in the NBA, where I knew were everywhere I was
supposed to be on the floor. I was in tune
with my body how to prepare for games. Um, I
(15:48):
understood what I needed to do. And after the season,
the phone calls weren't coming through. But I say this, like,
this is a moment that stood out. And maybe I
didn't know it was my last year, but I knew
I was like coming to terms with it. So I
was in Memphis and I was there off and on
(16:10):
off and on, off and on. You know, coaching staff
wanted me. You know, there are other guys on the roster,
so you know, I kind of fell into that battle
of like we want them, is there space for him?
And you know, I kept I'd be wave cut, wave cut,
wave cut, you know, coming back. And I remember I
got the call to come back to Memphis and I
was in l A X and I was in line
(16:33):
and I was ready to uh you know, Boord airplane.
I'm getting getting a bite to eat, and I remember, like,
like my my eyes just started kind of like welling
up with tears randomly. I didn't want to leave my
family behind. I didn't want to leave my family. I'm like, man,
I'm leaving and it just doesn't feel right. And normally
(16:53):
there's an excitement. Hey man, you're about to go make
a million dollars playing basketball. I didn't feel the same way,
and I knew that there was something changing in me.
And obviously, you know, I had started into the broadcasting,
doing radio and you know, doing stuff like that while
playing in the NBA. I don't know if a lot
of people know that. And I was like, Okay, I
(17:13):
kind of got this like second deal. When it's over,
I'm gonna do the broadcasting. That's something I'm gonna work
towards that I have a passion with. But I just
know that feeling of leaving my family was just like, ah,
do I have to go? And I've never had that right,
like dude, Like I never I never had that feeling
with basketball. So I think that's you know, part of
(17:33):
the moments where I got to prepare myself to go
and I never found myself hanging onto it. But it's like,
if there's like a worthwhile year, like hey Ryan, we're
gonna bring you in to do this, this and this,
I would have done that, but I couldn't see the
like I'm gonna you know, I had opportunities to do
some you know, some G league stuff, and I was
(17:54):
just like, Nah, I'll decline. I don't want to It's
not gonna work out. Twitter at how about a Fresco
Ryan at the Ryan Hollands Great stuff, man, that's a
great story The Jason Smith Show. Ryan Hollands in for
Mike Harbon tonight with prices soaring out the pump Discovers
got your back with cash back. He was discovered to
earn five percent cash back at gas stations and target
(18:15):
now through June on up to fift and purchases when
you activate. Learn more at discovered dot com. Slash rewards
limitations they do apply well. It is now over in Miami.
The Heat have a one game to none lead in
the Eastern Conference Finals. They beat the Celtics one eighteen
one oh seven. Joining us now in the hot line
(18:36):
to break it all down. A man who has all
kinds of inside information from the NBA Draft Lottery. He
is l a times NBA insider, extraordinary long time friend
of the show, Dan Woikey. You can fom on Twitter
at Dan Woikey Sports Now. Dan, you really blew the
lid off something on Twitter A while ago. You attended
(18:56):
your first NBA Lottery from the sequestered room tonight and
you had a tweet that I still can't believe. I
want you to explain it to everybody. So you put
a bunch of people into a room and you locked
the door for hours, and I cannot explain how stunned
I was to see all of the sandwich is still
sitting on the table when we finally got our fresh air. Um.
(19:20):
It reminds me, did Ryan Hollins tell you my favorite
Ryan Hollends story? No? I don't know if I did.
I got a lot of Ryan Hollows stories, But I
once saw a newly retired Ryan Hollins go into the
media room at then Staples Center and take the um
the trade that they used for like to go food
(19:43):
right and fill it with tortilla chips and Nato cheese,
like probably nine thousand galleries worth of food, and like
Ryan to this day still looks like he could be
out on the court. I looked at his food and like,
my I should have got like they didn't fit anymore.
(20:05):
I've never I've never seen such a disgusting display from
a professional athlete. I thought I thought Dan was going
to talk about like, you know, this big rebound I
grabbed or the time, I you know, you know, rounded
all the clippers up and gave him a passionate speech
or you know something diving on the floor in practice.
(20:27):
But it made me realize that honestly, just like just
some people, just some people have it. Look, that's entirely
on brand for Ryan Hollands. If it's free, I'll take three.
That is the most on brand Ryan Holland story that
I've heard, not even a great story. They're not even
God can cheese that's gonna happens. A man who wants
(20:50):
owned a restaurant, owned and operated a restaurant. Unbelievable. Wait
did he take like a whole can of cheese? Like it?
It was Honestly, I wouldn't have put it past him,
Like there was a ladle right for the cheese. I
would not have put it past him to grab one
(21:11):
of the like you know, sixteen ounce soda cups and
just scoop it out of there with that. I can.
The thing is, I could just fix you right and
like U c l a sweatsuit just walking out with
it got that day Jason, he was he was in
(21:32):
a suit. He's in like a three piece suit. It
was incredible, like honestly the longest vests I've ever seen
in my life on seven ft pounds Ryan Hollands, and
the man is eating enough nachos to see the small
(21:54):
state unbelievable. Oh and I know there's no way you're
remember that story, Ryan, There's no way. Yeah, I know
what he's talking about. It was kind of like it
was kind of like my pregame routine. It's like, yeah,
it's like I'm not going into the stands, Like like
I enjoyed watching the game. I was getting some nachos
(22:16):
and and you know you did you carve up. You
got to carve up. It's a long night. Carve blow man.
You made him upset telling about all the sandwiches that
were left over the drag. You know, I gotta so
this was the to put this, to put this uh
car back on the road. Here. Um, I never too late.
(22:38):
I had never been in that room before. Um, I've
actually never covered a team with a lottery pick, to
be totally honest, like I've been fairly if I guess fortunate,
maybe in that way where you know, it's just it's
never occurred. And you know, I went into the room
kind of with the idea being that if a I
wanted to see what it was like and be if
(23:00):
the Lakers were to somehow win the lottery and then
that pick doesn't belong to them anymore. I kind of
wanted that felt like something I should see, Right, it
didn't happen. That didn't then, so I could focus on
just how insane the processes. Guys. This is something. This
is what I love about the NDIA. There is one
thing I truly love about the NBA. On one hand,
(23:22):
this is something that could be accomplished literally by Adam
Silver just writing the names of each team on a
little tiny piece. They were bawling it up and throwing
it into like a fedora, shake it up, pull it out.
Like it could happen. You could. You could watch him
do it. You could put them in a different room.
If you were worried about what I was gonna say,
(23:43):
there's like you could, like, you could do this a
thousand different ways, right, um, and they'd all be fairly easy,
and you would say, Okay, well that's how they do it. Well.
The way that that that happens now is I mean,
you've got multiple accountants, there are security guards. I wasn't
allowed to my phone into the room. It wasn't allowed
to bring my watch, my Apple lots into the room.
(24:04):
I know, no transmittable devices. Um, you're in the room,
you're kind of you know, plan like soft sand on music,
trying to calm everybody down. But like you know, you
get all these these guys, a handful of gms and
then some other team representatives and it's like you've got
this plan right, and it can all just to go
to total hell if you don't get the right ping
(24:26):
punk ball a combination. It's incredible how lucky you just
have to be for this tall workout. There's nothing to it,
but it's also the most complicated thing I've ever seen.
Well I'll tell you, man. I mean they know that
the prize this year is not Zion. It's Chet right
there now. I mean, you know, every year the number
(24:49):
one pick is created differently, it's a guy named Chet.
This year it might not be Chet. Kind of has
to be, man, you have to drift. It's got to
be a guy named Chet has to be the number
one pick in the when given the chance, when given
the chance to chat, you should always chat, is what
you're saying. Yes, you want, you want, you want to
Chet when you can, yes, you know, um no, so
(25:13):
obviously chat homegren is in conversation. It is just fun
to say chat um. And it's like in a way
that like I like, I saw Chet's dad in the
hotel lobby here today and it's like, oh, that's Chet's dad.
That's how I thought, Like I wonder like as I
see every time I see tall people, I'm like, oh
(25:33):
that might big Chet sister, that Chet dog. Like it
is very like and it's kind of how I've been
walking around Chicago Chet City. Uh, you know it is.
It's just I don't it. This seems like a pretty
wide open draft, right, Like people seem there is a
(25:54):
consensus um in the top three, maybe even the top four,
depending on how you feel about Jake and Ivey Um
that like these are the guys that are going to
be taking some fashion and then after that nobody knows.
And it is you know, you had people in that room,
um not super unhappy that maybe they ended up at
(26:17):
ninth instead of fifth. I'm just picking up numbers that random, um,
you know, because it's like you might get the player
you one at five at nine and you play m
a little one, you know, it's um, you know, maybe
like everybody kind of feels like this is gonna be
a get your guy draft and you just have to
hope that you're a guy hasn't someone else's though, or
(26:38):
that it's not chet because chet Chet will be come
by the time. Hey Dan, let me let me ask
you this. You've been covering the league for a while. Yea,
does this seem like we're hitting that that part of
the league that like that time where you know, Lebron,
Katie Staff, those Lillard, like those guys are kind of
(26:59):
getting all old and we're seeing this new batch of
you know, like Tatum, Luca Janice. Is this this younger
jobs taken over? Are we quite there yet? Or no?
It's a it's right. It's a really good question. Um,
you must have had a ton of nachos before the
show today. Your brains, really, your brains are really firing. Uh.
(27:21):
It is something I've been talking about with people, like
are we at this transition point? Right? We're like the
old guard is out and like the new wave of
superstars coming in. But then you know, Jimmy Butler just
scored forty like it was the bubble again, right, Um?
And then We're gonna watch Steph Curry tomorrow night and
we'll see, you know, we'll see what he's able to cook. Um.
(27:41):
I think it's not gonna that group is going to
go quietly. UM, but there is a um, there is
sort of a group of younger players who have like
the requisite experience to like really take that lead right
to move into that to move from all NBA player
(28:02):
to m v P type player. Jason Tatum, Devin Booker. Um,
you know Chamran now Loose played in big games. Um.
You know I'm looking at kind of those guys and
I mean yet, to be honest, was already you know
there Luca too for this example. Uh, you know, these
are guys that have played in very big games, um,
(28:22):
that have been in the league since a young age,
and so like they're young, but they're also somehow experienced.
And I think that's that's kind of what we're seeing right, Like, UM,
I think I think I started. I mean this Jason
Tatum's third Conference finals already. I think that I think
that might be right, you know, and it's sort of
(28:43):
like at he's twenty four, Um, you know what I mean,
Like this guy has already been like kind of in
the fire, and I think, you know, if he's able
to have you know, the kind of series that he had, um,
you know against Milwaukee, Like yeah, I mean we're talking
about a guy who you know you could shut on
(29:05):
for m v P last year. I'm just gonna start
saying chat every time a word rank he could. Yeah,
it's gonna replace your your adjectives, the odds, the odds,
I'm my bigod Chat. He can chet his way to
the m v P next year, you can do it.
He's on Twitter at dan Wicky Sports. That is at
(29:25):
dan Wicky Sports. If you see at a game, hey,
off from nachos because apparently he doesn't get to get them.
I don't want. I know, I don't want. Like honestly,
there were so many of them, those off putting like
it was the amount of nachos was so big that
I was like, I don't know, like it made me full.
(29:45):
I don't think I want him anymore. He's on Twitter
at dan Wicky Sports at dan wick Sports. D dub
has always mad. Appreciate it. We'll talk to you next week.
Thanks so much. Thanks for having me Ryan, you're discussing it. Gosh,
is any of that story that he told not true Ryan,
any of the story that was the real thing. I'm thinking,
(30:08):
I'm getting like this classic NBA love from him, or
it's this amazing moment that I had that no one
knew it's nachos in my in my suit story. No, no,
Like hey, when he just retired and you know, we
knew he was going to be a great broadcast. He
had a big future. He had all these Nazi at
whole Trade that people wouldn't use to carry sandwiches in
(30:32):
discussed the entire room. It was. I'm just picturing like
when you would see on Facebook during the pandemic when
someone say, you're looking at something fun to do, uh,
you know, cooking at home and they put um uh
saran wrap or no tinfoil around an entire table and
they just douse it with nachos and cheese and everything.
(30:53):
You're just eating right off the table. Because if you're
eating on the on the on the tinfoil, and that's
my picture, you're just walking out with that big of
a thing of of nachos with all the cheese on
the side of it. It wasn't well all right. So
like in the to go container, you just you get
about like, you know, three or four scoops of the
(31:13):
nachos in there and the chips, and then you you know,
you go with the chili and you get the cheese
and you gotta soak it because you don't have enough
Chilier cheese. At some point you're just gonna have chips.
You don't want to have just chimps. Nobody wants that,
so you gotta take a couple of scoops. So that's
what Dan is disgusting about. And then you know, it
happens sometimes. No I get Look, the chips are just
(31:35):
a vessel to get the cheese into your mouth. No
I get Yeah, the chips that you gotta put the
cheese on something, No I get it. I get it.
Twitter it out about a fresco Ryan at the Ryan
Hollins The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon Big Dog
in for Harmon tonight. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
(31:55):
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the Hard Radio app Fox Sports Radio. Welcome inside
our three, The Jason Smith Show with Ryan Hollins in
for Mike Harmon tonight, and oh boy, did we watch
the Miami Heat really take it to the Celtics in
the second half. They went at one eighteen, one oh seven.
(32:18):
And we talked about the Celtics and the players they
were missing a few minutes ago. And now it's time
to look at it from a different perspective as we
watch Jimmy Buckets tonight go for forty one nine rebounds,
five assists, four steals, and three blocks, an amazing night
from not only that, he's seventeen out of eighteen from
(32:39):
the free throw line, his forty one points leading the
way for the Heat. And you know, Ryan, when I
when I see Jimmy Butler play and this this is
a weird this is a weird way to say this.
But this, I mean, this is a compliment for him,
is that I'm surprised he hasn't won a championship, right,
I'm surprised that Jimmy Buckets is a guy because of
the way he elevates in the layoffs and the way
(33:01):
that he's been able to play for for the for
his career. Look, he's thirty two now, he's been in
the league a while. He's one of the elder states.
But not not quite a guy that all you worry
about how much does he have left in the tank.
But Butler is a guy that I always expected to say,
you know what, this guy's gonna with the way he
elevates in in the playoffs. Look, he's been a pretty
good twenty two pointed game guy score for most of
(33:23):
his career. But we get to the playoffs and he
has his impact on the team and he elevates something.
I'm really surprised we're not talking about championships plural for
him when it when it comes to him on the court,
just seeing what he does when he gets to the postseason. Yeah,
I mean, there's a guy's been around named Lebron James.
He's another guy you know named Steph Curry. You know,
(33:44):
there's this kind of like there's always good players, man,
there's always good It's not like, boy, there was nobody
around then. Now that was that was a horrible time
in the NBA. Yeah, there's this dynasty up there, and
he had a chance. People, he had a chance to
be a Laker with Lebron James. He was one of
the first options, one of the calls, and he's like, nah, bro,
I'm going to South Beach. He turned it down, so, um,
(34:08):
you're right, he could have had a chance, but he
wanted to do it his way. He could have teamed up,
he could have you know, went somewhere. You know, Jimmy's
been highly sought after, but he wanted to do it
his way in South Beach and he he got close.
But no cigar on the bubble. You gotta take a
lot of you have a lot of credit there and
and they kind of have a had a hangover from that,
(34:28):
and you know, they're right back where they need to
be in the Eastern Conference finals. And you know, with
the shot as we talked about earlier in the last
segment of any team just as good enough to go
out and win it. They've got home court advantage. So
that means if they just take care of home, they're
gonna be in the finals. If for him, he's definitely
(34:50):
on the right team as far as making those choices right,
you talked about I could have won with the Lakers.
I could have gone here because he's someone who over
the course of his career, Look, he war on us
welcome a little bit at the end in Chicago. You
thought he was gonna be there forever. It happened very
quickly in Minnesota as well, happened in Philadelphia, and now
Miami seems to be where okay, everything has fallen into
(35:11):
place for him, where his attitude and his and and
and what he brings to the team fits. I mean,
it looks and it fits. Even the fact that three
weeks ago or a month ago he wanted to fight
Eric Spoelster during the game, you know, he was so
unhappy with what was going on, and still to have
him find a way for it to fit and lead
the Heat to where he's at. I mean, I really
am surprised that we're that Jimmy Butler is not one
(35:33):
of those guys at the end of his career we're
gonna say, hey, the couple of titles that he had
and what just because of the way, you know, as
good a player as he is and how he elevates
in the playoffs. Because normally, if you're a guy you
elevate in the playoffs, you're gonna you're gonna find yourself
on your way to one, maybe a couple of titles,
because when you're on good teams, you're on good teams,
like the Heat have been a good team with him.
The Bulls were a good team when he was there. Um,
(35:55):
Philadelphia could have wound up being a really good team
had the seventies sixers wound up keep him instead of
letting him go. And you know, the whole Tobias Harris
over me is he's walking off the court was kind
of a great thing. But you know, I kind of
look at at Jimmy Butler that way. I know it
seems weird like it's a compliment, but it's not really.
But I mean that that the way he plays in
the playoffs, it's just he does it all the time.
(36:16):
You know. It's it's not like, boy, Jimmy Butler disappeared
all he was terrible. He always elevates in the playoffs.
He's got that about him. Yeah, but you gotta understand
the the era of parody is over where everybody, or
I guess it's it's finally back excuse me, where you
have a number of teams that could go win it.
So it's not like, oh man, this was just Jimmy's
(36:37):
year he wanted you know, you you gotta think it's
it's it's been Cleveland and in Golden State for a
very long time. Lebron versus step Curry. It's some shape
or fashion for a long time. So yeah, Jimmy can
step up, and you know he's got a culture, he's
got something that he's been able to build over there
in South Beach, and you know he is one of
those guys, but he's not the guy, but he can.
(36:58):
He can wear the shoes. I always say he's he's
a part time superstar, and that's that's a big time
Anybody who's of course fifty in the NBA finals is
a superstar in my mind, he definitely brings it, but
he's not always that. Jimmy is just a hard working guy.
But as you bring up the heat and you know
why you're seeing his success there, he fits the culture.
They're like, Jimmy, you're one of us, your hardworking, your grind,
(37:19):
you show up in big moments and you're dog like,
you're you're one of us. And that's why it thinks
he's seeing good things down there in South Beach and
you know they're having a lot of success under supposed to.
Is he a guy that can win like this? Can
you see there being a scenario where where he wins
the championship this year? For Miami and being the number
one guy because as you said, maybe he's better suited
(37:42):
to being part of a duel or a tandem where hey,
it's it's me and somebody else is on equal footing
with him. Oh, this is definitely the year. If there
is any year, this is the year. You know who
who knows if Lebron company can get it together in
l A, who knows if you know Kevin Durant and
what's going on with Kyrie Irving. We don't question the
talent there and it let alone Ben Simmons show up
(38:03):
as half of his former self. You know, they just
got it extremely better. So you know, this is the
year where you gotta take advantage. And you know I
know this, I knew this from playing, is that when
you look around at roster and you have enough guys
where you feel like you can win the championship, my goodness,
you better do everything in your power to try to
(38:23):
win one. Because you think about you know, injuries, you
think about opportunity and you know, especially within sports and contracts, man,
that that that I'm telling you, I've seen team blow
up extremely quick. So you know, you take advantage and
I think that's something that Jimmy Butler is talking about
in Miami. I think there's something that shoot is probably
gonna haunt Chris Paul for a very long time because
(38:44):
of it. And and it's real, man, you gotta take
advantage of opportunities. We talked the other night Jason Smith
and Ryan Hollins in from Mike Harmen Tonight The Jason
Smith Show with Mike Carmen heard here on Fox Sports Radio.
Tonight show brought to you by Discover. If you're a
valued customer, you deserve a simple gesture of appreciation from
your credit card company. And that's why I discover matches
(39:05):
all the cash back. If you're in the end of
your first year, discover exceptionally common sense. Learn more at
discovered dot com. Slash match limitations apply. So let me
ask you this, because this is this is a conversation Harmon.
I got into the other night and you know, we
we talked a little bit with Dan Woike about at
last hour, and you said, Hey, do you feel like
the you know, we're almost at the point where the
old guard is moving aside and here comes the young guard.
(39:29):
And I don't know that it's that as much as
guys you and the guys you just mentioned Lebron, Kyrie
k d Harden, the guys we've talked about for so long.
I think are done winning. And I don't mean they're
done winning. Boy, they're on bad teams. It's no, I
don't think winning is the priority it once was for them.
Where I can still see it from Jimmy Butler, the
(39:50):
way he elevates in the playoffs, because I you know,
I watched Lebron and and really, you're not gonna play
at the end of the season. You're only gonna play
in a couple of games because it looks like the
Lakers are gonna fall out of the playoffs. I don't
get the same sense that Lebron is in to win
a championship like I did after he won. He won. Hey,
that's the one I promised I was coming here. Now
I'm setting up the rest of my career. I want
(40:11):
to pass Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I want to wind up
playing with Brawny, and I think that those guys are
about different things. Now. Look, Katie is just about people
respecting him. He doesn't care, doesn't care about winning and
elevating as long as people say he's the best player
in the league. And if not that, he wants to
fight you on social media. Kyrie simply plays basketball because
he has to. It's a necessary evil. He wants to
(40:33):
do all these other things in basketball. All right, It's
making me money, so I do it. James Harden, you
watch and he's not the same guy said it for
a long time. I don't know how much these guys
are are are spurred on by winning anymore as much
as they are. I'm playing basketball for other things in
my life. They they don't. They don't die to win
like they used to, because Lebron did and Katie did.
(40:55):
Look all these guys who watched James Harden go until
he couldn't run up and down the floor anymore in
the last minute of a playoff game. But all these
other guys we're seeing now. And look, Jimmy Butler's thirty
two in there. But you know, Butler and Taint them
and some of the guys you brought up. Yeah, I
could see how bad they all want to win. I
could see how bad Luca wants to win, and Steph
and Clay, but I don't see it from these older guys,
and and Butler's kind of the the guy who stands
(41:16):
out because he's one of the older guys that's still
motivated by winning, whereas the other guys who have wonder
his age, that that have that have done it or
have realized I'm kind of not motivated by it anymore.
I don't think you could say that. I think just
sometimes it's not your year. You can't can show health.
You know, there's so many different factors that go into
winning a championship. I don't think that these guys don't
(41:38):
want to win anymore. I think they're you know, they
know they're more than an athlete. But I think Lebron
has showed you for a very long time that he
can win. He can be a family man, he can
take care of his business off the court, and I
think that his championship said a lot of that. And
it it ain't for everybody, you know, and I think
obviously Kyrie is a different monster. I think the way
(42:01):
that the Nets are going about things, they're doing it
their way. It didn't work. They see, they gotta blow
it up. They gotta they gotta fix, fix, figure something out.
You know, they're gonna have to get back to the
drawing board. But Ultimately, at the end of the day,
you know, those guys know they're more than athletes. And
I don't think that it says that they're not competitive
or they're not leaving it at all out there on
the floor to try to win, just because they have
(42:22):
ulterior thoughts. You know, the days of you know, Michael
Jordan Ate sleeps and breedes basketball and Kobe Bryant's gonna
be mad for the next ten years because he missed
the free throw. He like, those days are over. No,
I still see that from some guys. Man, I still
see that from Luca. I see that from step not
(42:44):
from Luca. No, Luca. Luca just likes to smile when
he does. He's like, Luca enjoys himself. Okay, he enjoys himself.
That's myers. Did he so did say that? You know,
Luca's not going into a den after these losses. Lucas
enjoying his life. Wow, you just I can't believe you
(43:04):
just you just missing all the great stuff you said
about Luka. Do I love Luca? You know, I do
love Luca, And that's something that this is not my words,
This is not me dropping some breaking story that Luca,
Luca enjoys himself. You know he's young, but yeah, but
you can enjoy yourself and also have a big desire
to win. And I can. I can see that he's
come into camp out of shape because he's that talented
(43:26):
and worked his way into shape. He ain't coming in
he ain't taking of his taking care of his body
like lebron So Luca and and that's fine. Everybody has
different choices. You know, you want to sacrifice your life
for the next twenty years they try to be the
greatest player to ever play, or do you want to
be really good at basketball and enjoy yourself on the way.
You know, you've got choices to make, all right. So
(43:48):
so if you tell take Luca out there, if you
disagree with me about Luca, but the other guys you
mentioned Steph and Clay and telling them and those guys,
I mean, you know you don't see it out of them.
I think they're committed to like that. I don't know
the intricacies of of what stephord Clay and Tatum are doing,
but they're they're definitely locked in. And like I said,
I don't think is there anything wrong with knowing that
(44:08):
you're more than an athlete as long as you take
care of business once you get on the floor. Like
I said, Lebron is open people's eyes. And some people
hate Lebron because he shows you that he can go
and do Space Jam two and then win the championship.
Like you know what I'm saying. While filming, like they're like, no,
you you can't be anything other than a basketball player.
And he's like, no, I'm gonna be a movie star too.
(44:31):
I'm gonna be a lot of different things. I'm gonna
have ownership in different stakes and and and be good
at basketball too.
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every week night from ten pm to two am
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
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(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with my temporary
really tall bas friend Ryan Hollins, where maybe we don't
marry the Celtics quite yet. A ten three run to
(00:43):
start the fourth quarter. Uh, and now a big time
twenty point Miami heat lead is down to ten, nineties six,
eighties six. Yet it's been a big night for Jason Tatum.
He's got twenty six points at thirty five minutes. But
Baton Pritcher fifteen off the and she's got three three's
had a couple of big threes a few moments ago.
(01:04):
And now maybe we're not burying the Celtics here. What
do you what do you see this right? You see
you see the Celtic coming back here. You think that
he put this away. It is done. But I think
the most exciting thing is that we are seeing. This
is the first playoff type of basketball where saying, I
mean there's elbows flying, their bodies, getting laid, elbow getting
(01:26):
punching is all over the this playoff basketball, man. And
this is a Miami Heat type of game right now.
And I questioned the ability for the Heat to score,
but it has been their defense, and they've been physical,
and they're they're just beating Boston up. And I can't
help but think about the importance of Marcus Smart. He
(01:50):
brings a lot of physicality. I see he'd probably have,
you know, two or three flagrant fouls, a couple of
elbows in a game like this. He is on the sidelines.
They could use him, And it looks like Boston is
maybe not as deep as I thought they're they're kind
of throwing some guys out on the floor that aren't
quite playoff ready, and you know, hats off to the Heat.
(02:12):
It looks like they're stepping in and exposing the lack
of death or the or or just missing Marcus Smart,
who was their emotional leader. He's the Draymond Green. Okay,
that's that's what he brings to the table, uh, for
the for the Boston Celtics. So him not being on
the floor, you're seeing how big of an impact against
a extremely physical team that it is. Oh yeah, no,
(02:33):
I completely agree because this is a game. But yes,
you're always gonna miss a talented player when he's out right,
you're always gonna miss that. But sometimes you're missing the
teeth in your lineup at the same time. And and
and while yeah, you know, Marcus Smart, we scored twenty
points in this game. Maybe not, but when you're missing
that attitude and and you're on somebody's home floor, it
gets really difficult when when you have a guy that
(02:56):
brings that to you, because it's not like there's other
guys are gonna to step up and step into that role. Right, Like,
if if you're missing a score, let's just say, well,
you know what, if you're just missing a guy. That's
if you're missing a a Gordon Hayward, let's just say,
all right, well, you know, the guys scores twenty two
points a game, but there's gonna be more minutes for others.
Somebody else is gonna be able to score because other
guys are gonna get more shots. You can fill in
(03:18):
for stuff like that, but for attitude, you can't replace it,
can't you can't replace it. And and Draymond is a
great example, because yeah, the Warriors would miss so much
missing his attitude. Yes, you miss his talent, but you
miss his attitude more than anything. I'll tell you, I
I think the Celtics are missing Marcus Smart's attitude more
than they miss anything else in this game. Because look,
they were scoring enough in the first half, you know,
they were scoring with it, and then things got a
(03:39):
little bit more physical. The Heat started to import their
will on the game. And now you see the Heat
with the tent, the twenty point lead, that's now a
ten point lead. Uh, they missed that more than they
miss Marcus Smart when he does in the box score.
And I'll tell you right now, I still like Boston
in this series. I think the Heat are playing excellent
right now. They're handling business at home. But I think
the physicality will start to mass match up. And like
(04:00):
you said, when when Smart gets back and Horford, who
has been absolutely bawling, gets back, you know those two
guys are really gonna help. But just the heat, they
just struggle to score man and and it bothers me.
And I think they struggled this game. But just their
physicality that turnovers and you know, anytime you can turn
offense into defense, it's a real plus. Yeah, but if
(04:21):
if they're wanting the Celtics, So the dark side for
them is that if they're missing their guys all the
way through, the heat can be physical here, Like if
they wind up missing Smart and Horford, because you're talking
about a big body down low, and and as we
talked about the attitude, if if it's like, hey, the
guys are back for Game two, Okay, because I picked
the Celtics to go to the finals because they're they're
(04:41):
they're a more complete team. Look, they've been the best
team in the he's maybe the best team in the
NBA since the calendar flipped from twenty two. But when
you're missing both those guys, if it's like, hey, they
can come back later on in the series, well, if
you're talking about game four and maybe too late by then,
you know, so they gotta yeah, I still like the self,
but they're gonna come back. So like, I gotta see
(05:02):
these guys back in Game two because you know you can't.
You can't just keep relying on hey we're going home
down to zip Bob, the home cooking is gonna help us,
and we wind up getting back in the series. No,
you're you're right about that. And we we just did
see two what almost all this series go down oh
two and then you know, come back and or most
of them come back and make something happen. So now
you're right about that. You do not want to play
(05:23):
with fire. I'm not sure I know health and safety protocols.
So expect Horford to be you know, back decently soon hopefully.
And I'm not sure what's going on with Marcus Smart,
but you're right they definitely need him back desperately in
the lineup. And you know, for Boston all it's not
lost if you lose this game. You know, you're you're
getting the best punch right now from Miami. And I'd
(05:44):
go back and look at this film and clearly the
game is not over. But I'm assuming that the Heat
are gonna win and say, hey, man, um, we turned
the basketball over. We kind of handed the game over,
So we just have to run our stuff, be a
little tighter with the basketball and get the heat off
the nail. And when I say the heater on the nail,
it means they're daring Jayson Tatum to make those extra passes.
(06:05):
You know, they're sitting right where he's going to drive
the basketball and really deterring him from just having a
free reign to do what he wants. And right now
Boston is struggling with it and they've turned the ball
over at an alarming rate. Yeah, they got six team
turned over to night. Tatum's got seven, UH to lead
the way. Cannot games look, just ask Chris Paul right
you know they can't have games like that if you're
(06:28):
gonna wind up winning now because I want to ask
you about Chris Paul so one oh four nine two
heat with the lead over the Celtics right now, again
six minutes ago in the fourth quarter. If you're a
value customer, you deserve a simple gesture of appreciation from
your credit card company. That's why I discover matches all
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Discover exceptionally common sense. Learn more at discovered dot com.
(06:50):
Slash match limitations they do apply, so after the elimination
UH for the for the Sun's right, and and the
one thing I saw again, here's a second year where
Chris Paul hits the wall. Last year was middle of
the finals. This year it's the middle of the second round.
All the hate came out and Patrick Beverley is out,
I can't wait to go on television and talk about
(07:12):
Chris Paul and he calls him a traffic cone. And
you just see some of the hate that comes out
for Chris Paul, whether it was other players or in
the media. Why do why do people hate him so much? Why?
Why is Chris Paul this target? Like no one, no
one's talking at all about Janice, about oh Jannie, what
a failure? No no, no, no, yet Janice did play
better than Chris Paul. But I mean, why is all this,
(07:34):
all this hatred and victory all saved for Chris Paul.
You know, Chris has probably rubbed some people wrong in
his time playing, and he's extremely competitive that he doesn't
he doesn't turn it off. So it looks like he's
gotten under the skin of guys. And you know, especially
when it comes to point guards, they're they're very territorial, man,
They're they're territorial of of of what they have and
(07:56):
you know there's a lot of egos and competition that
that that flies around. So I think you know, you know,
just Chris is one of those guys. Man, He's feisty,
he wants to win. He's got a competitive edge and drive.
And you know with that, you really can't beat everyone's friend.
You know, when you've chosen that, that's I'm that guy.
I'm not the guy who it's hugging everybody and high
(08:19):
five of them. And I choose to compete and get
after you and you know, have some trash talk. You
know you're gonna rub some guys wrong. And I think
that's what you kind of see from Chris Paul. And
he's been at it for a very very long time.
Now you played with him, you played a couple of
years and and in in l a is is that
what he's like? Is he always liked that. He never
turns it off, like what was it? Chris is a
(08:41):
good guy, but he's very competitive. He's extremely competitive. He
does not like losing. And like I said, everybody may
not always be on the same page with that. Or
you know, you're compete against a guy and you have
some harsh words. Some guys don't forget those words. Man,
You're like they hold on to him, you know, like
Chris not silent. You could you see him trash talk
(09:03):
guys and of course like that it's not a secret,
so it rubs guys wrong. You know, he's in your face,
he's elbow and he's scratch and he's clawing. That is
how Chris has always played. And like I said, everyone
is not a fan. And especially when you get you know,
you got point guard on point guard rivalries. Those things
aren't aren't always you know, the nicest are prettiest things
to see. Would you like that? In practice too? As
(09:24):
competitive like that when you guys are practice, No, Chris
will get after it and lead, but he wasn't trying
to lay it on the line and practice like that.
Even more so, Proud in the games with Chris is
more like a perfectionist. So in practice we want to
get things right, We want to know what everything was
gonna look like. And you know he tried to make
the correct plays. Um if they made sense, No, I
(09:44):
get It's the one thing if you still talk to him,
just just tell him that because this is never gonna
work right. One thing for like you know, eight years now.
He thinks, if I'm dribbling the ball in the backcourt
and they come to family on purpose, if I look
like I'm shooting from seventy five ft away, I want
the shooting foul. They're never going to give it to him.
He still does it. He's been doing it for a
dozen years now. They're never gonna give him that call.
(10:06):
Can you tell them that They're never gonna put you
on the free throw line when you're seventy ft from
the basket. Never gonna just just tell him that because
we can stop doing that. Just one thing. It's just
it's one thing. It's it just gets to me. I
don't know if I have the I don't know if
that works coming from me. I think he I think
he's said pretty good from himself. Well, why why why
does he Why was he hitting the wall so early
(10:28):
in the playoffs this year? Look, he was great those
first two games, uh the last series and a twenty
five points a game and two turnovers, and then he
went to nine points and four turnovers. I mean, it
wasn't suddenly that that the Mavericks that did something crazy
on him, But all of a sudden, you just he
just went from Hey, Chris Paul, Chris Paul to at
some point you gotta wonder if the guy is gonna
(10:48):
get old, and it just and it just happened like
all of a sudden, like, well, what did you see
in that series? I think it's what you said and
I but I think opposite. I don't think that Jason
Kidd gets enough credit for attacking Chris Paul. I think
what was it Game four when he when he had
the foul trouble and they went after Chris. And Jason
(11:09):
Kidd knows because he's one of the greatest point guards
to ever played the game. There's just rules to the game.
There's a point guard high i Q level. And honestly,
with the Phoenix Suns, Chris, whether he was scoring or not,
he was the maestro if I'm saying that right. He always,
you know, conducted to define symphony of basketball over there
in Phoenix and made sure that everything ran well and
(11:30):
they'd get a good shot or a great shot every
time down the floor. And j C. Kidd was like, nah,
you know, press up into him, play one on one
and then on the other end, Jayleen Brunson go at him.
And he knew that if he could wear Chris out
and frustrate him. It was gonna make everything harder on
DeAndre Ayton, on Devin Booker, and it did because normally
Chris is the guy making sure all they have to
(11:52):
do is just be you know, prepared to you know,
catch and score the basketball. So I think your hat
has to go off to Jason Kidd and that stance
because he didn't let Chris just kind of hide and
run the show. Can he still be an impact playoff
player throughout the playoffs? Chris Paul or or those days
done for him and Phoenix has to bring in a
score or somebody else take the load off. Because last
(12:15):
year was one thing, Okay made all the way to
the middle of the NBA Finals, but he also didn't
play a lot of basketball, so he stayed fresher. But
at this point, now you're talking about the second round
of the playoffs, going out and playing like that the
last four games. Can he still be an impact playoff player?
Because regular season, yeah, sure it happens here one one
game out of eight two and and you know you
have Devin Booker has taking a lot of shots. You
(12:35):
can still be that way. But in the playoffs, so
we could really can count can they count on Chris Paul? Again?
I don't think you can count them out? And every
every matchup is different. You know. The one thing that
the Mavericks did is they switch all the screens and
they forced you to play a lot of one on one,
and you know, and then he's getting attacked on the
other end. So I don't think everyone's gonna have this
(12:55):
game plan for Chris. If you play a regular coverage
or pick and roll coverage, he's gonna eat you alive
from the mid range. He's gonna, you know, make the
correct passes. So I just think that this was a
poor matchup. I don't think Chris is done. I think
he's surprised us all once he switched his diet, and
you know, he wasn't injured, uh nearly as as much,
even though there's reports that he was. He was injured
(13:16):
after the series. I'm not sure what to make of that.
I'll leave that one alone, but I don't to answer
your question, I don't think that Chris is done. I
think he's kind of surpassed. But it's Chris, the same
Chris that can just go one on one and get
a bucket on call No. I don't think he's that,
but he's still incredibly effective because he knows you gotta
guard the pick and roll. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays
(13:39):
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. My check. If
you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in the
sports game, What's good? This is national champion and former
pro baller Chris Johnson. Let me tell you a little
bit about my new series kJ Live. J Live is
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the brightest basketball minds on the manage to get the
(14:00):
real And when I say real, I mean that real.
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To make your next move your best move and tap
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(14:23):
podcast from Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show. Ryan
Hollins in a for Mike Harmon Tonight, UH Heat lead
the Celtics one one oh seven, about a minute and
a half left to go in this game. UH Big
three by the Celtics. He to be shooting some free
throws now. Uh, we'll have more in this game coming
(14:45):
up in a couple of minutes as it races towards
its conclusion. But something I wanted to ask you Ryan,
because you know, last hour we talked, we got into
the end of my football career and you said, he
was there a moment that you knew when your football
career was done? Or we took the pads off on
the field. I told you the moment it was for me.
So I got because people asked me on social media,
(15:06):
what did you have a moment where you knew, hey,
you know, my whole life college and it was NBA
and you played for a long time where you knew
that that was it and you weren't going to play
in the NBA anymore. Was there a moment that you
knew that, hey, you know, my mom to the next
part of my life now and and and broadcasting and
you know, trying to get broadcasting gear from people. So
(15:27):
my last year was in Memphis, and the irony was
I felt like that was my productive, most productive year
in the NBA, where I knew were everywhere I was
supposed to be on the floor. I was in tune
with my body how to prepare for games. Um, I
(15:48):
understood what I needed to do. And after the season,
the phone calls weren't coming through. But I say this, like,
this is a moment that stood out. And maybe I
didn't know it was my last year, but I knew
I was like coming to terms with it. So I
was in Memphis and I was there off and on
(16:10):
off and on, off and on. You know, coaching staff
wanted me. You know, there are other guys on the roster,
so you know, I kind of fell into that battle
of like we want them, is there space for him?
And you know, I kept I'd be wave cut, wave cut,
wave cut, you know, coming back. And I remember I
got the call to come back to Memphis and I
was in l A X and I was in line
(16:33):
and I was ready to uh you know, Boord airplane.
I'm getting getting a bite to eat, and I remember, like,
like my my eyes just started kind of like welling
up with tears randomly. I didn't want to leave my
family behind. I didn't want to leave my family. I'm like, man,
I'm leaving and it just doesn't feel right. And normally
(16:53):
there's an excitement. Hey man, you're about to go make
a million dollars playing basketball. I didn't feel the same way,
and I knew that there was something changing in me.
And obviously, you know, I had started into the broadcasting,
doing radio and you know, doing stuff like that while
playing in the NBA. I don't know if a lot
of people know that. And I was like, Okay, I
(17:13):
kind of got this like second deal. When it's over,
I'm gonna do the broadcasting. That's something I'm gonna work
towards that I have a passion with. But I just
know that feeling of leaving my family was just like, ah,
do I have to go? And I've never had that right,
like dude, Like I never I never had that feeling
with basketball. So I think that's you know, part of
(17:33):
the moments where I got to prepare myself to go
and I never found myself hanging onto it. But it's like,
if there's like a worthwhile year, like hey Ryan, we're
gonna bring you in to do this, this and this,
I would have done that, but I couldn't see the
like I'm gonna you know, I had opportunities to do
some you know, some G league stuff, and I was
(17:54):
just like, Nah, I'll decline. I don't want to It's
not gonna work out. Twitter at how about a Fresco
Ryan at the Ryan Hollands Great stuff, man, that's a
great story The Jason Smith Show. Ryan Hollands in for
Mike Harbon tonight with prices soaring out the pump Discovers
got your back with cash back. He was discovered to
earn five percent cash back at gas stations and target
(18:15):
now through June on up to fift and purchases when
you activate. Learn more at discovered dot com. Slash rewards
limitations they do apply well. It is now over in Miami.
The Heat have a one game to none lead in
the Eastern Conference Finals. They beat the Celtics one eighteen
one oh seven. Joining us now in the hot line
(18:36):
to break it all down. A man who has all
kinds of inside information from the NBA Draft Lottery. He
is l a times NBA insider, extraordinary long time friend
of the show, Dan Woikey. You can fom on Twitter
at Dan Woikey Sports Now. Dan, you really blew the
lid off something on Twitter A while ago. You attended
(18:56):
your first NBA Lottery from the sequestered room tonight and
you had a tweet that I still can't believe. I
want you to explain it to everybody. So you put
a bunch of people into a room and you locked
the door for hours, and I cannot explain how stunned
I was to see all of the sandwich is still
sitting on the table when we finally got our fresh air. Um.
(19:20):
It reminds me, did Ryan Hollins tell you my favorite
Ryan Hollends story? No? I don't know if I did.
I got a lot of Ryan Hollows stories, But I
once saw a newly retired Ryan Hollins go into the
media room at then Staples Center and take the um
the trade that they used for like to go food
(19:43):
right and fill it with tortilla chips and Nato cheese,
like probably nine thousand galleries worth of food, and like
Ryan to this day still looks like he could be
out on the court. I looked at his food and like,
my I should have got like they didn't fit anymore.
(20:05):
I've never I've never seen such a disgusting display from
a professional athlete. I thought I thought Dan was going
to talk about like, you know, this big rebound I
grabbed or the time, I you know, you know, rounded
all the clippers up and gave him a passionate speech
or you know something diving on the floor in practice.
(20:27):
But it made me realize that honestly, just like just
some people, just some people have it. Look, that's entirely
on brand for Ryan Hollands. If it's free, I'll take three.
That is the most on brand Ryan Holland story that
I've heard, not even a great story. They're not even
God can cheese that's gonna happens. A man who wants
(20:50):
owned a restaurant, owned and operated a restaurant. Unbelievable. Wait
did he take like a whole can of cheese? Like it?
It was Honestly, I wouldn't have put it past him,
Like there was a ladle right for the cheese. I
would not have put it past him to grab one
(21:11):
of the like you know, sixteen ounce soda cups and
just scoop it out of there with that. I can.
The thing is, I could just fix you right and
like U c l a sweatsuit just walking out with
it got that day Jason, he was he was in
(21:32):
a suit. He's in like a three piece suit. It
was incredible, like honestly the longest vests I've ever seen
in my life on seven ft pounds Ryan Hollands, and
the man is eating enough nachos to see the small
(21:54):
state unbelievable. Oh and I know there's no way you're
remember that story, Ryan, There's no way. Yeah, I know
what he's talking about. It was kind of like it
was kind of like my pregame routine. It's like, yeah,
it's like I'm not going into the stands, Like like
I enjoyed watching the game. I was getting some nachos
(22:16):
and and you know you did you carve up. You
got to carve up. It's a long night. Carve blow man.
You made him upset telling about all the sandwiches that
were left over the drag. You know, I gotta so
this was the to put this, to put this uh
car back on the road. Here. Um, I never too late.
(22:38):
I had never been in that room before. Um, I've
actually never covered a team with a lottery pick, to
be totally honest, like I've been fairly if I guess fortunate,
maybe in that way where you know, it's just it's
never occurred. And you know, I went into the room
kind of with the idea being that if a I
wanted to see what it was like and be if
(23:00):
the Lakers were to somehow win the lottery and then
that pick doesn't belong to them anymore. I kind of
wanted that felt like something I should see, Right, it
didn't happen. That didn't then, so I could focus on
just how insane the processes. Guys. This is something. This
is what I love about the NDIA. There is one
thing I truly love about the NBA. On one hand,
(23:22):
this is something that could be accomplished literally by Adam
Silver just writing the names of each team on a
little tiny piece. They were bawling it up and throwing
it into like a fedora, shake it up, pull it out.
Like it could happen. You could. You could watch him
do it. You could put them in a different room.
If you were worried about what I was gonna say,
(23:43):
there's like you could, like, you could do this a
thousand different ways, right, um, and they'd all be fairly easy,
and you would say, Okay, well that's how they do it. Well.
The way that that that happens now is I mean,
you've got multiple accountants, there are security guards. I wasn't
allowed to my phone into the room. It wasn't allowed
to bring my watch, my Apple lots into the room.
(24:04):
I know, no transmittable devices. Um, you're in the room,
you're kind of you know, plan like soft sand on music,
trying to calm everybody down. But like you know, you
get all these these guys, a handful of gms and
then some other team representatives and it's like you've got
this plan right, and it can all just to go
to total hell if you don't get the right ping
(24:26):
punk ball a combination. It's incredible how lucky you just
have to be for this tall workout. There's nothing to it,
but it's also the most complicated thing I've ever seen.
Well I'll tell you, man. I mean they know that
the prize this year is not Zion. It's Chet right
there now. I mean, you know, every year the number
(24:49):
one pick is created differently, it's a guy named Chet.
This year it might not be Chet. Kind of has
to be, man, you have to drift. It's got to
be a guy named Chet has to be the number
one pick in the when given the chance, when given
the chance to chat, you should always chat, is what
you're saying. Yes, you want, you want, you want to
Chet when you can, yes, you know, um no, so
(25:13):
obviously chat homegren is in conversation. It is just fun
to say chat um. And it's like in a way
that like I like, I saw Chet's dad in the
hotel lobby here today and it's like, oh, that's Chet's dad.
That's how I thought, Like I wonder like as I
see every time I see tall people, I'm like, oh
(25:33):
that might big Chet sister, that Chet dog. Like it
is very like and it's kind of how I've been
walking around Chicago Chet City. Uh, you know it is.
It's just I don't it. This seems like a pretty
wide open draft, right, Like people seem there is a
(25:54):
consensus um in the top three, maybe even the top four,
depending on how you feel about Jake and Ivey Um
that like these are the guys that are going to
be taking some fashion and then after that nobody knows.
And it is you know, you had people in that room,
um not super unhappy that maybe they ended up at
(26:17):
ninth instead of fifth. I'm just picking up numbers that random, um,
you know, because it's like you might get the player
you one at five at nine and you play m
a little one, you know, it's um, you know, maybe
like everybody kind of feels like this is gonna be
a get your guy draft and you just have to
hope that you're a guy hasn't someone else's though, or
(26:38):
that it's not chet because chet Chet will be come
by the time. Hey Dan, let me let me ask
you this. You've been covering the league for a while. Yea,
does this seem like we're hitting that that part of
the league that like that time where you know, Lebron,
Katie Staff, those Lillard, like those guys are kind of
(26:59):
getting all old and we're seeing this new batch of
you know, like Tatum, Luca Janice. Is this this younger
jobs taken over? Are we quite there yet? Or no?
It's a it's right. It's a really good question. Um,
you must have had a ton of nachos before the
show today. Your brains, really, your brains are really firing. Uh.
(27:21):
It is something I've been talking about with people, like
are we at this transition point? Right? We're like the
old guard is out and like the new wave of
superstars coming in. But then you know, Jimmy Butler just
scored forty like it was the bubble again, right, Um?
And then We're gonna watch Steph Curry tomorrow night and
we'll see, you know, we'll see what he's able to cook. Um.
(27:41):
I think it's not gonna that group is going to
go quietly. UM, but there is a um, there is
sort of a group of younger players who have like
the requisite experience to like really take that lead right
to move into that to move from all NBA player
(28:02):
to m v P type player. Jason Tatum, Devin Booker. Um,
you know Chamran now Loose played in big games. Um.
You know I'm looking at kind of those guys and
I mean yet, to be honest, was already you know
there Luca too for this example. Uh, you know, these
are guys that have played in very big games, um,
(28:22):
that have been in the league since a young age,
and so like they're young, but they're also somehow experienced.
And I think that's that's kind of what we're seeing right, Like, UM,
I think I think I started. I mean this Jason
Tatum's third Conference finals already. I think that I think
that might be right, you know, and it's sort of
(28:43):
like at he's twenty four, Um, you know what I mean,
Like this guy has already been like kind of in
the fire, and I think, you know, if he's able
to have you know, the kind of series that he had, um,
you know against Milwaukee, Like yeah, I mean we're talking
about a guy who you know you could shut on
(29:05):
for m v P last year. I'm just gonna start
saying chat every time a word rank he could. Yeah,
it's gonna replace your your adjectives, the odds, the odds,
I'm my bigod Chat. He can chet his way to
the m v P next year, you can do it.
He's on Twitter at dan Wicky Sports. That is at
(29:25):
dan Wicky Sports. If you see at a game, hey,
off from nachos because apparently he doesn't get to get them.
I don't want. I know, I don't want. Like honestly,
there were so many of them, those off putting like
it was the amount of nachos was so big that
I was like, I don't know, like it made me full.
(29:45):
I don't think I want him anymore. He's on Twitter
at dan Wicky Sports at dan wick Sports. D dub
has always mad. Appreciate it. We'll talk to you next week.
Thanks so much. Thanks for having me Ryan, you're discussing it. Gosh,
is any of that story that he told not true Ryan,
any of the story that was the real thing. I'm thinking,
(30:08):
I'm getting like this classic NBA love from him, or
it's this amazing moment that I had that no one
knew it's nachos in my in my suit story. No, no,
Like hey, when he just retired and you know, we
knew he was going to be a great broadcast. He
had a big future. He had all these Nazi at
whole Trade that people wouldn't use to carry sandwiches in
(30:32):
discussed the entire room. It was. I'm just picturing like
when you would see on Facebook during the pandemic when
someone say, you're looking at something fun to do, uh,
you know, cooking at home and they put um uh
saran wrap or no tinfoil around an entire table and
they just douse it with nachos and cheese and everything.
(30:53):
You're just eating right off the table. Because if you're
eating on the on the on the tinfoil, and that's
my picture, you're just walking out with that big of
a thing of of nachos with all the cheese on
the side of it. It wasn't well all right. So
like in the to go container, you just you get
about like, you know, three or four scoops of the
(31:13):
nachos in there and the chips, and then you you know,
you go with the chili and you get the cheese
and you gotta soak it because you don't have enough
Chilier cheese. At some point you're just gonna have chips.
You don't want to have just chimps. Nobody wants that,
so you gotta take a couple of scoops. So that's
what Dan is disgusting about. And then you know, it
happens sometimes. No I get Look, the chips are just
(31:35):
a vessel to get the cheese into your mouth. No
I get Yeah, the chips that you gotta put the
cheese on something, No I get it. I get it.
Twitter it out about a fresco Ryan at the Ryan
Hollins The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon Big Dog
in for Harmon tonight. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
(31:55):
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the Hard Radio app Fox Sports Radio. Welcome inside
our three, The Jason Smith Show with Ryan Hollins in
for Mike Harmon tonight, and oh boy, did we watch
the Miami Heat really take it to the Celtics in
the second half. They went at one eighteen, one oh seven.
(32:18):
And we talked about the Celtics and the players they
were missing a few minutes ago. And now it's time
to look at it from a different perspective as we
watch Jimmy Buckets tonight go for forty one nine rebounds,
five assists, four steals, and three blocks, an amazing night
from not only that, he's seventeen out of eighteen from
(32:39):
the free throw line, his forty one points leading the
way for the Heat. And you know, Ryan, when I
when I see Jimmy Butler play and this this is
a weird this is a weird way to say this.
But this, I mean, this is a compliment for him,
is that I'm surprised he hasn't won a championship, right,
I'm surprised that Jimmy Buckets is a guy because of
the way he elevates in the layoffs and the way
(33:01):
that he's been able to play for for the for
his career. Look, he's thirty two now, he's been in
the league a while. He's one of the elder states.
But not not quite a guy that all you worry
about how much does he have left in the tank.
But Butler is a guy that I always expected to say,
you know what, this guy's gonna with the way he
elevates in in the playoffs. Look, he's been a pretty
good twenty two pointed game guy score for most of
(33:23):
his career. But we get to the playoffs and he
has his impact on the team and he elevates something.
I'm really surprised we're not talking about championships plural for
him when it when it comes to him on the court,
just seeing what he does when he gets to the postseason. Yeah,
I mean, there's a guy's been around named Lebron James.
He's another guy you know named Steph Curry. You know,
(33:44):
there's this kind of like there's always good players, man,
there's always good It's not like, boy, there was nobody
around then. Now that was that was a horrible time
in the NBA. Yeah, there's this dynasty up there, and
he had a chance. People, he had a chance to
be a Laker with Lebron James. He was one of
the first options, one of the calls, and he's like, nah, bro,
I'm going to South Beach. He turned it down, so, um,
(34:08):
you're right, he could have had a chance, but he
wanted to do it his way. He could have teamed up,
he could have you know, went somewhere. You know, Jimmy's
been highly sought after, but he wanted to do it
his way in South Beach and he he got close.
But no cigar on the bubble. You gotta take a
lot of you have a lot of credit there and
and they kind of have a had a hangover from that,
(34:28):
and you know, they're right back where they need to
be in the Eastern Conference finals. And you know, with
the shot as we talked about earlier in the last
segment of any team just as good enough to go
out and win it. They've got home court advantage. So
that means if they just take care of home, they're
gonna be in the finals. If for him, he's definitely
(34:50):
on the right team as far as making those choices right,
you talked about I could have won with the Lakers.
I could have gone here because he's someone who over
the course of his career, Look, he war on us
welcome a little bit at the end in Chicago. You
thought he was gonna be there forever. It happened very
quickly in Minnesota as well, happened in Philadelphia, and now
Miami seems to be where okay, everything has fallen into
(35:11):
place for him, where his attitude and his and and
and what he brings to the team fits. I mean,
it looks and it fits. Even the fact that three
weeks ago or a month ago he wanted to fight
Eric Spoelster during the game, you know, he was so
unhappy with what was going on, and still to have
him find a way for it to fit and lead
the Heat to where he's at. I mean, I really
am surprised that we're that Jimmy Butler is not one
(35:33):
of those guys at the end of his career we're
gonna say, hey, the couple of titles that he had
and what just because of the way, you know, as
good a player as he is and how he elevates
in the playoffs. Because normally, if you're a guy you
elevate in the playoffs, you're gonna you're gonna find yourself
on your way to one, maybe a couple of titles,
because when you're on good teams, you're on good teams,
like the Heat have been a good team with him.
The Bulls were a good team when he was there. Um,
(35:55):
Philadelphia could have wound up being a really good team
had the seventies sixers wound up keep him instead of
letting him go. And you know, the whole Tobias Harris
over me is he's walking off the court was kind
of a great thing. But you know, I kind of
look at at Jimmy Butler that way. I know it
seems weird like it's a compliment, but it's not really.
But I mean that that the way he plays in
the playoffs, it's just he does it all the time.
(36:16):
You know. It's it's not like, boy, Jimmy Butler disappeared
all he was terrible. He always elevates in the playoffs.
He's got that about him. Yeah, but you gotta understand
the the era of parody is over where everybody, or
I guess it's it's finally back excuse me, where you
have a number of teams that could go win it.
So it's not like, oh man, this was just Jimmy's
(36:37):
year he wanted you know, you you gotta think it's
it's it's been Cleveland and in Golden State for a
very long time. Lebron versus step Curry. It's some shape
or fashion for a long time. So yeah, Jimmy can
step up, and you know he's got a culture, he's
got something that he's been able to build over there
in South Beach, and you know he is one of
those guys, but he's not the guy, but he can.
(36:58):
He can wear the shoes. I always say he's he's
a part time superstar, and that's that's a big time
Anybody who's of course fifty in the NBA finals is
a superstar in my mind, he definitely brings it, but
he's not always that. Jimmy is just a hard working guy.
But as you bring up the heat and you know
why you're seeing his success there, he fits the culture.
They're like, Jimmy, you're one of us, your hardworking, your grind,
(37:19):
you show up in big moments and you're dog like,
you're you're one of us. And that's why it thinks
he's seeing good things down there in South Beach and
you know they're having a lot of success under supposed to.
Is he a guy that can win like this? Can
you see there being a scenario where where he wins
the championship this year? For Miami and being the number
one guy because as you said, maybe he's better suited
(37:42):
to being part of a duel or a tandem where hey,
it's it's me and somebody else is on equal footing
with him. Oh, this is definitely the year. If there
is any year, this is the year. You know who
who knows if Lebron company can get it together in
l A, who knows if you know Kevin Durant and
what's going on with Kyrie Irving. We don't question the
talent there and it let alone Ben Simmons show up
(38:03):
as half of his former self. You know, they just
got it extremely better. So you know, this is the
year where you gotta take advantage. And you know I
know this, I knew this from playing, is that when
you look around at roster and you have enough guys
where you feel like you can win the championship, my goodness,
you better do everything in your power to try to
(38:23):
win one. Because you think about you know, injuries, you
think about opportunity and you know, especially within sports and contracts, man,
that that that I'm telling you, I've seen team blow
up extremely quick. So you know, you take advantage and
I think that's something that Jimmy Butler is talking about
in Miami. I think there's something that shoot is probably
gonna haunt Chris Paul for a very long time because
(38:44):
of it. And and it's real, man, you gotta take
advantage of opportunities. We talked the other night Jason Smith
and Ryan Hollins in from Mike Harmen Tonight The Jason
Smith Show with Mike Carmen heard here on Fox Sports Radio.
Tonight show brought to you by Discover. If you're a
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(39:05):
all the cash back. If you're in the end of
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discovered dot com. Slash match limitations apply. So let me
ask you this, because this is this is a conversation Harmon.
I got into the other night and you know, we
we talked a little bit with Dan Woike about at
last hour, and you said, Hey, do you feel like
the you know, we're almost at the point where the
old guard is moving aside and here comes the young guard.
(39:29):
And I don't know that it's that as much as
guys you and the guys you just mentioned Lebron, Kyrie
k d Harden, the guys we've talked about for so long.
I think are done winning. And I don't mean they're
done winning. Boy, they're on bad teams. It's no, I
don't think winning is the priority it once was for them.
Where I can still see it from Jimmy Butler, the
(39:50):
way he elevates in the playoffs, because I you know,
I watched Lebron and and really, you're not gonna play
at the end of the season. You're only gonna play
in a couple of games because it looks like the
Lakers are gonna fall out of the playoffs. I don't
get the same sense that Lebron is in to win
a championship like I did after he won. He won. Hey,
that's the one I promised I was coming here. Now
I'm setting up the rest of my career. I want
(40:11):
to pass Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I want to wind up
playing with Brawny, and I think that those guys are
about different things. Now. Look, Katie is just about people
respecting him. He doesn't care, doesn't care about winning and
elevating as long as people say he's the best player
in the league. And if not that, he wants to
fight you on social media. Kyrie simply plays basketball because
he has to. It's a necessary evil. He wants to
(40:33):
do all these other things in basketball. All right, It's
making me money, so I do it. James Harden, you
watch and he's not the same guy said it for
a long time. I don't know how much these guys
are are are spurred on by winning anymore as much
as they are. I'm playing basketball for other things in
my life. They they don't. They don't die to win
like they used to, because Lebron did and Katie did.
(40:55):
Look all these guys who watched James Harden go until
he couldn't run up and down the floor anymore in
the last minute of a playoff game. But all these
other guys we're seeing now. And look, Jimmy Butler's thirty
two in there. But you know, Butler and Taint them
and some of the guys you brought up. Yeah, I
could see how bad they all want to win. I
could see how bad Luca wants to win, and Steph
and Clay, but I don't see it from these older guys,
and and Butler's kind of the the guy who stands
(41:16):
out because he's one of the older guys that's still
motivated by winning, whereas the other guys who have wonder
his age, that that have that have done it or
have realized I'm kind of not motivated by it anymore.
I don't think you could say that. I think just
sometimes it's not your year. You can't can show health.
You know, there's so many different factors that go into
winning a championship. I don't think that these guys don't
(41:38):
want to win anymore. I think they're you know, they
know they're more than an athlete. But I think Lebron
has showed you for a very long time that he
can win. He can be a family man, he can
take care of his business off the court, and I
think that his championship said a lot of that. And
it it ain't for everybody, you know, and I think
obviously Kyrie is a different monster. I think the way
(42:01):
that the Nets are going about things, they're doing it
their way. It didn't work. They see, they gotta blow
it up. They gotta they gotta fix, fix, figure something out.
You know, they're gonna have to get back to the
drawing board. But Ultimately, at the end of the day,
you know, those guys know they're more than athletes. And
I don't think that it says that they're not competitive
or they're not leaving it at all out there on
the floor to try to win, just because they have
(42:22):
ulterior thoughts. You know, the days of you know, Michael
Jordan Ate sleeps and breedes basketball and Kobe Bryant's gonna
be mad for the next ten years because he missed
the free throw. He like, those days are over. No,
I still see that from some guys. Man, I still
see that from Luca. I see that from step not
(42:44):
from Luca. No, Luca. Luca just likes to smile when
he does. He's like, Luca enjoys himself. Okay, he enjoys himself.
That's myers. Did he so did say that? You know,
Luca's not going into a den after these losses. Lucas
enjoying his life. Wow, you just I can't believe you
(43:04):
just you just missing all the great stuff you said
about Luka. Do I love Luca? You know, I do
love Luca, And that's something that this is not my words,
This is not me dropping some breaking story that Luca,
Luca enjoys himself. You know he's young, but yeah, but
you can enjoy yourself and also have a big desire
to win. And I can. I can see that he's
come into camp out of shape because he's that talented
(43:26):
and worked his way into shape. He ain't coming in
he ain't taking of his taking care of his body
like lebron So Luca and and that's fine. Everybody has
different choices. You know, you want to sacrifice your life
for the next twenty years they try to be the
greatest player to ever play, or do you want to
be really good at basketball and enjoy yourself on the way.
You know, you've got choices to make, all right. So
(43:48):
so if you tell take Luca out there, if you
disagree with me about Luca, but the other guys you
mentioned Steph and Clay and telling them and those guys,
I mean, you know you don't see it out of them.
I think they're committed to like that. I don't know
the intricacies of of what stephord Clay and Tatum are doing,
but they're they're definitely locked in. And like I said,
I don't think is there anything wrong with knowing that
(44:08):
you're more than an athlete as long as you take
care of business once you get on the floor. Like
I said, Lebron is open people's eyes. And some people
hate Lebron because he shows you that he can go
and do Space Jam two and then win the championship.
Like you know what I'm saying. While filming, like they're like, no,
you you can't be anything other than a basketball player.
And he's like, no, I'm gonna be a movie star too.
(44:31):
I'm gonna be a lot of different things. I'm gonna
have ownership in different stakes and and and be good
at basketball too.
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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