June 16, 2022 • 35 mins
Welcome into the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon! Jason and mike react to the Dodgers vs the Angels game with a potential no hitter, Harmon eats the mythical secret burger from Mc Donalds, and Mark Medina - NBA Writer and Insider joins the guys!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. It's
our two of The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon, where I truly am proving that Harmon
is my best friend and practicing what I preach. One
of the big things on the show the last few
(00:44):
nights has been my discovery of the best way to
eat a big Mac, which has been getting extra cheese,
extra sauce, and no pickles. Of the pickle is the
only thing at this point I would dispute because it
looks beautiful. Game changer, gay changer. So coming into work
tonight because you and I are in the studio, They
were coming in a couple of nights a week do
(01:05):
the show, which is kind of fun. I decide, well,
if I'm coming in, I'm gonna go to McDonald's and
get another one of those big macks, and so Harmon says, hey,
bring one so I can have it on the air.
I said, okay, great, So I go to McDonald's. I
get the big Mac for me. I mean, I finished
that before you can even get here, and I bring
Harmon's while driving. Oh yeah, dude, you kidding. That's and
you eat it. And that's a tough one to eat
(01:26):
while you're driving. To one with one hand, an extra
with extra with extra sauce. It's a tough one today.
You changed your shirt when you got here. No, no, no no,
I'm talented, man. Not my first rodeo. All right, I've
done this a few times before. You should see me
drive on the freeway eating a burger king Hershey Sunday
pie with one hand holding the pie, one hand holding
the fork, and I got my hand on the wheel.
I'm an expert, Manny, you can get an accident. They're
(01:48):
gonna take everything you and Eddie. They're gonna bankrupt your cousins,
forget about forget about guys in Daytona Formula one no
one can do. Gonna be worse than Garcia going after everybody.
I'm like, I'm like Tom Cruise in in uh Days
of thunder Man. Where does this guy come from? He's
got such natural talent. Yeah, I mean you try to
(02:09):
do that, you try to real I thought you were
just gonna go from Maverick and talking about flying upside
down and one hand and people. Yeah this is doing
in the Serpent death spiral thing. Yeah, you show the
talent that I have. I mean, I really miss Itmpress
could have been I could have been a race car driver.
Since you mentioned like nine thousands, then I'll go television
for a moment. Did you watch Obi one? No? No, no,
(02:31):
didn't watch Obi Wance tonight Obi wan Us tonight tonight.
We got to spoil it. Spoilers. I'm just saying, I, um,
Darth Vaders watched it twice. Wow. Really wow. That's like
like me going to see Top Guns twice. Okay, disease, Yeah,
jobing like Princess Life. So I com not enough apparently
(02:52):
uh so well and then she uh, she showed a
tremendous power and and how leverage can work to you you
and yeah, yeah leverage is a very but yeah, I
think about I mean think about a lot of the
workouts that you see people posting. A lot of it
is leverage, pulling, pulling, sleds filled with weights, sleds filled
with people, whatever the case. But that's kind of what
(03:14):
Leia did going back to Jedi. So I come in
and I have the food. Harmon is not here yet,
because you know, I'm always here before Harmon because he
comes in late and out of breath and everything. So
I take the big mac and it takes me at here.
You know what time the show begins, earlier time to
show starts, was that here before the show started. So
(03:36):
I put the big back in the refrigerator. And I
only say this because of how you walked in. Harmon
walks in. I put the big back in refrigerator for
him because I don't know what time he's coming. And
you're sitting right. You still have a drink in front
of you and you're now eating yours. So I got
my drink in front of it. I'm having my cookies
because I finished. I got the child chip cookies. And
Harmon comes walking in, Hey, oh, my best friend, where's
(03:56):
my big back? And I go, it's in the refrigerator
because I didn't know what you would want it, and
he goes exactly so Harmon decides, I don't even know
what what that was supposed to be. You were taken
by surprise that I actually got something. You were like,
that's why you said, so I put it in there.
(04:20):
That Harmon says, well, I guess we gotta have this
on the end. That's a thing. Yeah, what you could
have frozen it like they did before you bought it. Now,
I wanted to make it so he could eat it.
I wanted you put it in the fridge. Friend, we
just leave it out. Well, I mean it is true,
(04:42):
it doesn't age terribly. Yes, we've seen a lot of
experiments to that. You're like Peter Boyle and young Frankenstein.
So I said, all right, harm let's have this big
mac and you can tell everybody how good it is.
It's been a big thing people are sending me. Pick
is if there were seats on social media saying I
tried it, it's awesometer. So here you are right now
(05:05):
cutting you're cutting the big Mac in half. Really, I
can't use my right hand. You can hold a big
mac in white. Can't all this going on? That's a
good part though. Okay, So Harmon's cutting the big Mac
in half, he's about to have his very first big
mac with extra cheese and extra sauce. Take a big bite,
don't cheat yourself. There you go. You already got sauce
(05:25):
all over your hands. That shows you how good this
is gonna be. That shows up. Just eat it, eat
it eats. Harmon's already got it. Man, Look at ti shirt.
He's thinking about saying, Oh, man, I gotta go get McDonald's.
That's how excited he is. Nothing. I think you've broken
his heart. Yeah, you go ahead, take look at at
all that sauce. Take that big bite. Yeah, but how
(05:47):
good is that though? Be honest though, is it good?
Oh it's tasty. Yeah, I'm not gonna Alex is over
here waiting for the mc rib I'm not making that
mistake again. It bought for me. Wouldn't need you know.
He was very angry about throw it out out four
cents now. The running joke for a long time in
my family has been, yes, watch what dad is going
(06:09):
to order off of the menu. It is going to
be something very messy that includes chicken. So I will
find the messiest chicken sandwich, chicken and chilot as you
name it, something that is guaranteed to get all over you.
It's almost like when you go to a restaurant, say
in Massachusetts, and they immediately want to give you the
(06:32):
bib because you're gonna be cracking lobster in different seafood,
It's almost the same thing. It's like that guy ordered
that chicken dish here. Yeah, well, let me let me
get a picture of you that I put on Twitter.
If you eating the sandwich, because this is gonna be awesome.
Me see get that, yeah, show that up there, let
me see that big take that big bite. Let me say,
take the bike, take the bite. Yeah, that's perfect. It's
(06:55):
all over the keyboard again. Heart. Oh wow. Okay, I
may need to take this picture again because I don't
think I can put it on social media. Because if
you guys got to see this, we have yes, because
at the angle of the photo, I don't think I
can put this on social media. Harm and look at that.
(07:18):
I don't think I can put that on social No,
I can't know. It's it looks like no, no, that's wrong.
Yeah no, no, it looks like the big mac is
an extension of this microphone in front of it. It
doesn't no, trust me, I'll show this to you. Guys.
Can't put it on social media. I need another picture.
I can't do it. It's hilarious. I'm never gonna delete it,
and I'm gonna save it when you want to run
for office one day, that'll never need. I need another
(07:41):
picture of you. I need another picture of you. Show him,
show me, show me the sandwich. Taking a lot of
radio time. All right, there we go, All right, now
it works. But yeah, that other picture, Yeah I can. Oh, well,
you're gonna see this picture. It's fantastic, all sorts of wrong.
(08:01):
And now there's gonna be a some gud a crazy
fan account that gets started because of that. M all
that excitement for a sandwich. And yeah, the game one
of your Stanley Cup Final leave off the s for savings.
The Colorado Avalanche had blown a three one lead in
(08:22):
this game. The Lightning come back to tie it at
three apiece. We go to overtime, and in overtime within
the first two minutes, Burakowski scores his second goal of
the final at the one three mark, and the Avalanche
take game one over the Lightning by the final of
(08:44):
four to three. And I'll be honest with you, because
this is I'm not gonna lie to you about things.
And and look, I understand where the NHL is as
far as popularity and like great stuff from Gary Bettman
today you said, hey, NHL made six billion dollars this year,
which is nice, and now the highest paid player can
make more than like five hundred grand a year. But
they got they made changes to their television corridge, which
(09:06):
it's great. Yeah, it's great. What they did was great. Uh,
by far and away. The quality of the games right,
not talking about the drama surrounding it now, because look,
the NBA does drama better than anybody in the world.
They do drama better than the NFL, anybody. What goes
on surrounding the game is oftentimes better than the game itself.
But if you're trying to compare playoffs this year, it's
(09:29):
not even close. The drama and excitement of the on field,
on ice, on court product goes to the NHL over
the NBA, and it's not even close. I know people
who are watching hockey for the first time now just
because the games are close, because they want to watch
a live sporting event at night, which tells you about
the last passion of programming is sports event you know,
so many of my friends like, yeah, the basketball game
(09:51):
is a blog. I'm watching the hockey game because it's close,
and that's what they don't like. Oh my goodness, really
you're watching that been a much better product on court
on field? Nice? Uh, the NHL so far this year
than the NBA. Yeah. I haven't done that run the
numbers or seen anything, you know, just encapsulated in those
great infographic forms. But you know, just from what we
see on a night tonight basis, it would also appear
(10:13):
that scoring is up, which is always good for business. Right.
The Superstars getting deeper into the playoffs obviously huge. McKinnon.
I loved his response when he was asked about what,
uh winning a Stanley Cup final and and being able
to hold the cup would mean for his legacy, and
he started laughing. He's like, what my legacy as to what?
(10:34):
I what my career means? Do you guys like to
you Yeah, that kind of thing. So it's fun. But
you know, the Rangers made a deep run. That's good
for business. A team potentially winning a third straight Stanley
Cup good for business. Uh, you know, And on that
last shot, Vassilevsky had no shot, No prayer. I mean
(10:55):
his went tried to kick save it and was nowhere
near the skate, big shooting angle and a wide open
look there to to finish things off. But I mean
you look at the the home crowd there in Colorado,
just absolutely losing their minds, everybody with their pom poms
waiting in the air. It's it's that great time of year, right,
(11:17):
didn't win in time? Right, And and the best part
is that you're getting a let to quote Barry Melrose,
you're getting a lot of offense. Right. It's not it's
not like, hey, this is a one one game in overtime,
you're getting four three games. We're getting six, five games,
five four games. We're getting teams going up and down
the ice. I mean, this is great for hockey. Right,
here's your here's your opening night game one of the
(11:37):
Stanley Cup Final, national television, and you're going overtime and
it's two exciting teams and you're seeing a lot of offense.
This is the best part. The teams are really irrelevant
the the on field, on ice, on court product. The
advantage clearly goes to the NHL, not even close. The
NBA has had so many blowouts and but the dramas
around they, like I said, the drama surround of the
NBA is always better than the end of overtime in
(12:01):
in hockey, there's nothing that beats it, right, the tension
and if you're in the building, it's one thing. I mean,
like it's palpable, uh if you're on your couch. And
right now, my father is going to bed very late
in Clearwater, Florida, and he's pissed because it Tampa Bay Lightning.
But he would be the first one to say, Wow,
(12:22):
what a game. Right, that's we had it up on
one of our monitors here and and our eyes were
fixated for the last hour and fifteen minutes ago. Rewatch
the Rays losing to the Yankees. That's that's what he
wants to relive to. Uh now, either that he's tuned
into the show to try to see what kind of
nonsense you and I will utter over the next two
(12:43):
and a half hours or so. So, I mean that's
always a positive thing, but you have these these big moments,
but over time in hockey, right inching every rush, every
shot attempt, blocked, stopped, failed, aboarded, whatever, it's it's just
a fantastic run knowing that one little slip and that's
(13:04):
ball game, right. It's not, Hey, we're gonna play another
extended timed period when you go, oh, no, exactly, gets
so slow out of your mouth of action from a
defender or a goalie that's just off the mark, and
well that's it. One game one goes to Colorado. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
(13:26):
with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific,
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
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(13:49):
Joining us now on the hotline as we take a
look at what could be the final game of the
NBA Final. Has been covering it FRIENDBA dot Com, a
longtime NBA inside a reporter, friend of the show. He's
on Twitter at mark G Underscore Medina. That's at Mark
g Underscore Medina. He's here to announce his new podcast
with Draymond Green. So Mark, congratulations on that, because I
(14:11):
know he's looking to make waves in the podcast world. Whoa,
you guys have a scoop. I did not realize that
I got a promotion here. Love it well. Listen he
talks about his podcast as much as the NBA final.
So there's that, you know what. I can Adam only say.
You know, people are talking about how the podcast is
astracting him from his work. I can Adam away say that, Uh,
(14:33):
my appearances with you aren't taking away anything from my work.
With focusing on the finals, it's only in helping. Oh
that's good. I mean it refocuses maybe some extra points
of emphasis. Al Medina thinks about it the game. Maybe
one of us says something in a more likely smith
(14:53):
that gets you going down a whole other path. No,
I like to reprepp him for the game, like, oh,
Steph is having a good series. I didn't know that
he it's explaining well, oh I didn't know. Oh he's
in the finals. Oh no, wonder people keep talking about
in for m v P. Oh, now I get it
all right, Mark? So going into Game six, I talked
about this last hour everything I've heard from the Celtics
the last couple of days I've not liked because they
(15:16):
seem lost. Udoka seems frustrated with the message he's trying
to get to the team about how they how they
try to get away from the Warriors defensively and have
a better flow on offense. The the only thing that
gives me any any hope that this series gets pushed
to game seven is if there is a fortuitously officiated
game for the Celtics tomorrow that can open up their offense,
(15:38):
because right now it feels like they have no answer
for what the Warriors are doing. Yeah. Look, I think
that the Warriors are going to close it out because
you know, it seems like they turned a corner with
getting momentum. I also think that, you know, they're viewing
this upcoming game almost the same way they viewed uh
their closeout game against Memphis in Game six, where it's like, hey,
(15:58):
we don't want to fly halfway across the country for
a you know who knows what game seven. But look,
you never rule it out. The Celtics have been seven
and oh after a loss in the postseason. Um, you know,
the Warriors have never taken advantage so far in the
playoffs with the first potential closeout game. And you know,
I think back to the earlier point about the Celtics
(16:20):
with their ability to bounce back. I mean after the losses,
their offense is much more efficient, much more prolific. Their
turnovers cut down from sixteen to eleven, and so you
never rule it out. But you know, if I had
to put money on, and thankfully I don't, I think
it's the Warriors. Yeah, I said. The two things that
that have stuck out these last couple of games marked
(16:42):
the how sloppy Boston has been with the basketball right
the last last game turnover ratio at eighteen to six.
But the younger team is the tired team in the
fourth quarter oftentimes and looking like they're trying to find
answers and gasping, as opposed to the veterans playing in
the upper thirty minutes that are just still seem to
(17:03):
have be fresh and ready to take care of business. Well, look,
I mean the Celtics might be younger, but you know
they've gone through a lot of attrition during these this postseason,
with having that seven game series against Miami and not
really having that much of a time to hit the
recharge button before the final start, and then you know
at their center position. Robert Williams the third has been amazing,
(17:25):
but he's been on like one leg the entire series.
He hasn't been a hundred percent. They've seen that he
doesn't need to be a hundred percent at least to
be an X factor, but you know he's going to
continue to get worse as time goes on. But I
think the bigger point, it just seems like Jalen Brown
and Jayson Tatum in particular are becoming more and more
inefficient on offense. So yeah, I do wonder if this
(17:48):
is just going to be a continuous pattern. But I
think in fairness, they've had a resilience identity, that's why
they've gotten here in the first place. And in the
Warriors case, they've had their own elements of inconsistency with
how they are defensively, most notably with Raymond Green. Steph
Curry is going to continue be Steph Curry, but as
(18:08):
far at as you know other teammates, they showed strength
and numbers in Game five, but not so much the
rest of the games. So there's all these like kind
of moving parts that make it unpredictable. But again, if
I have to put money down in Vegas, thankfully I
don't because I usually lose it. But I think that
I would gain money by, you know, going all in
on the Warriors. But you're getting for so you got
(18:29):
that going for you. Hey, hey, hey, when you read
tomorrow that Scott Foster has assigned to Game six, you
may change that. You may change that. Ventians kind of uh,
speaking of laying money down in Vegas, we talked about
this last hour. Andrew Wiggins somehow is only the fourth
favorite to win m v P right now, when it's
(18:49):
kind of shocking because there's really only two choices Steph Curry,
who's going to win it even if he goes scoreless,
and Andrew Wiggins. Potentially if he scores fifty tomorrow night,
they wind up winning. I I really can't see there
being any scenario where the Warriors win where it's not
Steph Curry being the m v P, even though Wiggins
is having a terrific series, well a hundred percent. And look,
(19:10):
I mean, Andrew Wiggins was playing really well in Game five,
and he's played well the entire series. But with exception
of Game five, Steph Curry has been above and beyond
the best player on both teams, and I think the
fact that is, Look, I don't I'm not in Boston
to mar so I won't have a vote. But if
there's a game seven, we'll see who has a vote
among you know, the media corps and the national writers.
(19:33):
But uh, I don't want to be that narrative guy.
But the reality is there's other voters that you know,
do the narrative vote. So I think when you couple
the narrative vote and the fact that objectively he's been
the best player on both teams, it's inevitable that he's
gonna win Finals MVP if the Warriors win the title.
That's just the reality. So I don't think there's gonna
(19:54):
be an Andrea Wawa or Kevin Durant swiping the award
from him, because Kevin Durant now in the Brooklyn Nets
and Andre you know, he hasn't really played much UH
and he's much different than the Andrea glad Islan. So
it's des for the taking and he doesn't need it
for legacy purposes, but you know, it's nice to have
another thing to put in his UH in his UH.
(20:16):
I Guess Trophy Room right next to the Irvin Magic
Johnson Western Conference Finals m v P. Mark Madina with
us here at the Jason S. Fitzcheo with Mike Armen,
Fox Sports Radio, NBA Rider over at NBA dot Com
joins us each and every week breaking down all things
NBA Playoffs as we get ready for Game six tomorrow.
You find him on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina.
(20:38):
If you've heard him on the network, Uh, countless spots
doing some TV spots over on the herd. Uh. The
profile continues to rise, and we're happy to be part
of it here Mark and uh welcome the visits. Uh,
and and happy that you spend these minutes with us.
I want to get back to Andrew Wiggins real quick
if I can. Uh, just a guy that a lot
of folks had kind of bailed on and when the
(21:00):
deal got made to bring him in, wondering if it
was just an overpaid chip, A guy who seems to
have fit it fit in beautifully. What is it about
his personality? Uh? As as you've done your your research
and been around the squad that that made this the
right fit. Well, I think his personality is more soon
(21:22):
to be a complimentary player. Um, look, these are any
Most sports redemption stories usually cut two ways and where
you know some of it was self inflicted, but then
you give them credit for bouncing back. This is exactly
what it is for Andrew Wiggins. He did not live
up to what was expected and asked for him in Minnesota. Uh.
(21:45):
In fairness, Minnesota has also been a hot mess. Uh
until recently. Um, we're with the Warriors. They they got
Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, amazing culture, and they
also didn't need him to be a number one guy.
And as we've seen throughout you know his career, both
for better and for worse, Andrew isn't cut out to
be another number one guy. He's much more suited to
(22:07):
be a complementary, second, third, fourth option. So it's a
perfect marriage and exactly what the Warriors needed. I think
that even though they knew when they got him that
they felt like he would check all the boxes with
what they're looking for, with you know, being able to
mitigate the absence with Kevin Durant's departure as a wing
(22:28):
player and add some complimentary defense, Um that this has
also exceeded their expectations because they thought that he would
be able to do this on a consistent basis, but
not to this extent. And so he's definitely raised his
profile up another level. And I think that, you know,
going in the playoffs, there were a lot of questions
(22:48):
about long term what his future was going to be
because even though the Warriors were pleased with him from
just a contractual standpoint, they're going to have to devote
a lot of money to him and everyone else just
to keep everything together. But you know, knowing that he's
not going to be a free agent until next summer,
that buys them another year. But the other thing is
(23:09):
that the Warriors adhere to this simple calculation that they're
willing to pay the luxury tax if that specific move
is uh an X factor in their quest to win
a championship. If it is a Hey and the bench
rotation player, that's not going to make much of a difference.
That's when they that's when they try to trim their bill.
(23:30):
But when it comes to stars or complementary pieces, that's
gonna dictate whether they can win a title or not.
Joe wake Up is about, you know what, I'll win
the title as opposed to emptying out some of my
pocketbooks because A I care more about winning and be like,
he's not crying poverty. They're pretty money every time they
have a game at Chase Center. So I think with that,
(23:53):
this seems to ensure that they're going to be willing
to spend to keep them long term. Well, you're forgetting
more like they're gonna have to find some money for
Lebron James because you know on the shop he said
would love to play for Warriors, So they're gonna have
to fit him in at some point in the next
year or two. Well, yeah, yeah, I think, uh, you
know when Steph Currew was on the local radio station
and he was laughing after they're playing the the Lebron interview,
(24:17):
I think that's basically a live reaction for the Warriors
front office. Yeah, Lebron wants to play for us. That's cute.
We're fine. I think he's gonna find a lot of that. No, no, Lebron,
we're fine. Wait I'm Lebron James. No, no, no, we're
actually fine if we're fine with all of this. Alright,
so Mark, before we let you go, all right, complete
the sentence for me here right here. You picking the
(24:39):
Warriors to win tomorrow night. But we go to Game
seven in the NBA Finals. If what happens, Celtics force
Game seven if fill in the blank, yeah, if Jason
Tatum and or Jalen Brown live up to what they're
asked to be and uh, they're able to you know,
(25:00):
limit the Warriors defense. Um, look throughout this series with
with Steph Curry, he's going to continue to play out
of his mind. But that hasn't guaranteed that the Warriors
are able to win. I think the bigger factor in
play is how great of a defensive team can they be?
And that is in line with what they've shown historically
(25:22):
during their other title runs they over they always were
at the top defensively. So Celtics can win if you know,
for whatever reason, the Warriors don't bring it defensively, whether
it's because of their own effort or if the Celtics
are able to be really you know, locking step with
their star players or with their ole players on offense. Um.
(25:42):
But if the Warriors defense are clicking, um, you know
they're gonna be hosting up a trophy at the t
D Garden tomorrow. You can also give it me if
Larry Bird drops forty. You could have given me that too,
and that that would have Like Rick Patino said back
in the day, Larry Bird isn't walking through that door,
or if he does, he just kind of hobbles to
(26:03):
damn thing. Goes to Kevin McCall and Robert Parrott to
finish off the quote. He's on Twitter at Mark g
Underscore Medina. That said, Mark g Underscore Medina Insider reporter
for NBA dot Com cover in the NBA Finals. Mark
has always funny. We appreciated my friend. We'll talk to
you soon. Likewise, appreciate you guys. Take care of Mark.
Here there we go. Be sure to catch live editions
(26:24):
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. I'm George rice Stir,
host of the Rice Ster or Wrong phodcast. This is
the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop culture meet
the truth. Absolute fire home Monday's, Wednesdays and Fridays facts only.
(26:46):
Make sure you check your feelings at the door because
no bs is allowed. We keep it one hundred. This
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Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harm I'm
(27:10):
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Learn more at discover dot com. Slash rewards limitations they
do apply. So as we got set for Game six
of the NBA Finals tomorrow, I thank for Mark Medina
(27:31):
stopped by breaking it down with us. One team made
a big trade tonight that is an absolute win from
every different direction, as the Mavericks acquired Christian Wood from
the Rockets in exchange for the number twenty six pick
in the draft and four players with expiring contracts. Now
(27:52):
boban is on the move again. It's that one sucks.
I mean, he's become one of the greatest pitchman. Well, yeah, dars,
he's gonna get to the big man there he is.
He's gonna get to Houston. Ryan Hollis is gonna put
a book in his mouth and hit him over the
head with it. Repeatedly and then slams that in the
light being pretty good move. Uh, Boban, Marcus, Chris, Trey Burke,
(28:13):
Sterling Brown all traded to Houston again, four guys with
expiring contracts, and here are the Mavericks who had a
crying need for more offense, had a crying need up
front because you know, Porzingis didn't work out, so they
make a move. And so he's not the Latvian Dirk,
he's more the Latvia. He's not the Latvian Dirk. He's
(28:34):
now he's the Washington. This is such a win for
the Mavericks because you trade four guys expiring contracts. Now,
I could even say that maybe they gave up too
many expiring contracts because the Rockets want to move on.
(28:55):
They're probably gonna get Boncaro with the number three overall pick.
They want to open up playing time upfront, which is
why they had room to dump Christian wood. Uh So
you could even I could say for a second, maybe
they gave up way too many expiring deals. But they
went out and got a really good player like Christian wood.
Is is a nineteen and ten guy the last couple
of years, and this is a big thing to shore
up that front court. Doesn't mean they're not gonna go
(29:17):
resign Jalen Brunson, because you know, Wood's got one more
year and fifteen million dollars left on his deal. This
is ultimately palatable for Mark Cuban and for a Mavericks
team that was this close despite the fact they were
playing with one guy. I told you this is a
bad roster, right, The Mavericks did not have a good roster.
They have an incredibly talented player in Luca, they did
not really have anything else around it, right, some of
(29:39):
the guys you're counting on din Witty really you know Brunson,
Yes he's a little bit overrated, but still he's a
guy that's on the rise. You're gonna bring him back
what you want to keep him, so it looks like
he's staying put. This is such a huge win of
a trade for the Mavericks. This is gonna vault them
to the top of the West, the conference of who's
gonna be the the trendy team to pick to win
the finals? Next here it's I was trying to find
(30:02):
a number two that was consistent, right, Because when healthy
Hardaway Junior can put up points. Okay, for the year,
he's of fourteen a game guy. Dinwood, he had his
moments as well, but again, consistency and the ability on
occasion to have a monster game, right if Luca is
having an off shooting night or has to miss a game,
(30:22):
trying to find something to to push it forward. Now,
with Brunson, I would disagree with you. I think in
terms of his rating or whatever you want to say,
Q rating where people look at him as a player.
There there was Brunson, regular season guy, and then he
had a couple of big playoff games and all of
a sudden, right it elevated him quickly. He's like, no,
(30:44):
he's a good player. Let's let's just make sure we
recognize still on the come though, But those couple of big,
you know, breakout performances are are not an indication of
what he has been. Might might you see more consistency
of that in the future, Sure, but he's not there yet.
And from a contract perspective, look, Mark Cuban wants to win, right,
(31:06):
He wants to win about as much as any other guy.
So we're talking with Mark Medina about what the Warriors
are willing to do financially. I mean, Cuban's a guy
that's right there with it right that. Wait, if I
if I could push this thing forward, and now you
bring in a legitimate nineteen and ten guy, uh that
that gets after it every night. Yeah, this is this
(31:27):
is a huge win. And none of those guys were
anything more than end of the bench a minute here minute.
They're kind of guy right there. They're not impact players
in any way, shape or form. Because normally we see
the five for one. It's like your fan I think
if it is your fantasy team, something we talked about
all the time. But there's a five for one deal,
it's the all right, I'm already going into a rookie
(31:47):
draft or I've got something else going on that I'm
gonna fill roster slots elsewhere. And that's that's what this
feels like here. Uh So, now can I give you
my berman announce this is You've been all twitchy, you know,
you know that thing you where your leg starts shaking,
like when you really need to go to the bathroom
when I get a good one. I really just want
you've been You've been very anxious ever since we talked
(32:10):
to mon C. I I really want to get this
I'm not saying it's great. We're gonna have to all
you know, assess this guy's got anything with Miles Finch. No,
not Miles Finch. My Yeah, we're watching Miles Finch on
He's got He's been in a lot of franchise. Yeah,
we got Days of Future Past and Live Free Your
(32:30):
die Hard and Police Academy on our TVs right now.
It's all sports related, diving and rolling and jumping. This
this Live for your die Hard. I became a huge
Maggie Q fan. I'm like, whoa, I like Maggie Q.
I was like, Wow, she's gotta I want to see
every movie she's done. She's the one that went I
(32:51):
need I Need you. That's Stacy Q. And she related
to Cura Stacey Q and I think they are and
actually Que from the James Bond movies there, what about
Que from Impractical Jokers. Yes, he's related to them as well.
And they all start in Que the movie from if
you remember that boy, I'm taking you all the way
back down to Rabbit, all the way back. Let me guess, Jason,
(33:14):
they live on Avenue Que, Yes they do. Now that
is one hell of them saw off Broadway when it
was first starting, it was decided it was advertised as
the Muppets on crack uh, So here we go you ready,
here's guy Okay, here's my Heart getting getting the voice ready,
(33:36):
and t J with the Mavericks getting Christian Wood for
four players, including Sterling Brown. Dallas is telling the NBA
world that as far as their roster goes, this is
us for next season. No, you did not go to Brown. Wow.
One of the great actors of our time, A man
(33:58):
who seems to be everywhere. Now it's good. Yes, have
you seen him in Mazel yet? I finished Mazel? Oh,
he's so good and so good. He's so good at Reggie.
He's he's somebody that you really like and you really
hate at the same time. He's such a character. Talking
about my Wall of Fame. Yeah, this is us for
(34:19):
next season. Something I've ever seen a minute of. You
know why, because everybody says the same thing. Oh, you'll
cry every week watching this is us? Then why the
hell would I want to watch that show? There's a
sadness on tell about. I want to watch something that's
goodn't got my own life to mats this year though.
The Jets Okay, the Jets are tough. But that's but
(34:41):
everybody says the Jets are gonna be really good. Yeah, well,
one after another. You want to talk about offseason hype.
Yeah good, we we we we might be good. And
the second and I'm not gonna I don't cry every
Jets game. We win three or four games a year.
Every episode of this is us. You cry at but
you know what, everybody hurts sometime. This is our roster,
(35:05):
This is us for next season. Twitter and out about
a Fresca. Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon coming up next. Why
it's hard to find a lot of sympathy for the
people involved in the biggest controversy in sports the last
few days. It's next right here. This is Fox or
(35:26):
SASA McDonald's
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to eleven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. It's
our two of The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon, where I truly am proving that Harmon
is my best friend and practicing what I preach. One
of the big things on the show the last few
(00:44):
nights has been my discovery of the best way to
eat a big Mac, which has been getting extra cheese,
extra sauce, and no pickles. Of the pickle is the
only thing at this point I would dispute because it
looks beautiful. Game changer, gay changer. So coming into work
tonight because you and I are in the studio, They
were coming in a couple of nights a week do
(01:05):
the show, which is kind of fun. I decide, well,
if I'm coming in, I'm gonna go to McDonald's and
get another one of those big macks, and so Harmon says, hey,
bring one so I can have it on the air.
I said, okay, great, So I go to McDonald's. I
get the big Mac for me. I mean, I finished
that before you can even get here, and I bring
Harmon's while driving. Oh yeah, dude, you kidding. That's and
you eat it. And that's a tough one to eat
(01:26):
while you're driving. To one with one hand, an extra
with extra with extra sauce. It's a tough one today.
You changed your shirt when you got here. No, no, no no,
I'm talented, man. Not my first rodeo. All right, I've
done this a few times before. You should see me
drive on the freeway eating a burger king Hershey Sunday
pie with one hand holding the pie, one hand holding
the fork, and I got my hand on the wheel.
I'm an expert, Manny, you can get an accident. They're
(01:48):
gonna take everything you and Eddie. They're gonna bankrupt your cousins,
forget about forget about guys in Daytona Formula one no
one can do. Gonna be worse than Garcia going after everybody.
I'm like, I'm like Tom Cruise in in uh Days
of thunder Man. Where does this guy come from? He's
got such natural talent. Yeah, I mean you try to
(02:09):
do that, you try to real I thought you were
just gonna go from Maverick and talking about flying upside
down and one hand and people. Yeah this is doing
in the Serpent death spiral thing. Yeah, you show the
talent that I have. I mean, I really miss Itmpress
could have been I could have been a race car driver.
Since you mentioned like nine thousands, then I'll go television
for a moment. Did you watch Obi one? No? No, no,
(02:31):
didn't watch Obi Wance tonight Obi wan Us tonight tonight.
We got to spoil it. Spoilers. I'm just saying, I, um,
Darth Vaders watched it twice. Wow. Really wow. That's like
like me going to see Top Guns twice. Okay, disease, Yeah,
jobing like Princess Life. So I com not enough apparently
(02:52):
uh so well and then she uh, she showed a
tremendous power and and how leverage can work to you you
and yeah, yeah leverage is a very but yeah, I
think about I mean think about a lot of the
workouts that you see people posting. A lot of it
is leverage, pulling, pulling, sleds filled with weights, sleds filled
with people, whatever the case. But that's kind of what
(03:14):
Leia did going back to Jedi. So I come in
and I have the food. Harmon is not here yet,
because you know, I'm always here before Harmon because he
comes in late and out of breath and everything. So
I take the big mac and it takes me at here.
You know what time the show begins, earlier time to
show starts, was that here before the show started. So
(03:36):
I put the big back in the refrigerator. And I
only say this because of how you walked in. Harmon
walks in. I put the big back in refrigerator for
him because I don't know what time he's coming. And
you're sitting right. You still have a drink in front
of you and you're now eating yours. So I got
my drink in front of it. I'm having my cookies
because I finished. I got the child chip cookies. And
Harmon comes walking in, Hey, oh, my best friend, where's
(03:56):
my big back? And I go, it's in the refrigerator
because I didn't know what you would want it, and
he goes exactly so Harmon decides, I don't even know
what what that was supposed to be. You were taken
by surprise that I actually got something. You were like,
that's why you said, so I put it in there.
(04:20):
That Harmon says, well, I guess we gotta have this
on the end. That's a thing. Yeah, what you could
have frozen it like they did before you bought it. Now,
I wanted to make it so he could eat it.
I wanted you put it in the fridge. Friend, we
just leave it out. Well, I mean it is true,
(04:42):
it doesn't age terribly. Yes, we've seen a lot of
experiments to that. You're like Peter Boyle and young Frankenstein.
So I said, all right, harm let's have this big
mac and you can tell everybody how good it is.
It's been a big thing people are sending me. Pick
is if there were seats on social media saying I
tried it, it's awesometer. So here you are right now
(05:05):
cutting you're cutting the big Mac in half. Really, I
can't use my right hand. You can hold a big
mac in white. Can't all this going on? That's a
good part though. Okay, So Harmon's cutting the big Mac
in half, he's about to have his very first big
mac with extra cheese and extra sauce. Take a big bite,
don't cheat yourself. There you go. You already got sauce
(05:25):
all over your hands. That shows you how good this
is gonna be. That shows up. Just eat it, eat
it eats. Harmon's already got it. Man, Look at ti shirt.
He's thinking about saying, Oh, man, I gotta go get McDonald's.
That's how excited he is. Nothing. I think you've broken
his heart. Yeah, you go ahead, take look at at
all that sauce. Take that big bite. Yeah, but how
(05:47):
good is that though? Be honest though, is it good?
Oh it's tasty. Yeah, I'm not gonna Alex is over
here waiting for the mc rib I'm not making that
mistake again. It bought for me. Wouldn't need you know.
He was very angry about throw it out out four
cents now. The running joke for a long time in
my family has been, yes, watch what dad is going
(06:09):
to order off of the menu. It is going to
be something very messy that includes chicken. So I will
find the messiest chicken sandwich, chicken and chilot as you
name it, something that is guaranteed to get all over you.
It's almost like when you go to a restaurant, say
in Massachusetts, and they immediately want to give you the
(06:32):
bib because you're gonna be cracking lobster in different seafood,
It's almost the same thing. It's like that guy ordered
that chicken dish here. Yeah, well, let me let me
get a picture of you that I put on Twitter.
If you eating the sandwich, because this is gonna be awesome.
Me see get that, yeah, show that up there, let
me see that big take that big bite. Let me say,
take the bike, take the bite. Yeah, that's perfect. It's
(06:55):
all over the keyboard again. Heart. Oh wow. Okay, I
may need to take this picture again because I don't
think I can put it on social media. Because if
you guys got to see this, we have yes, because
at the angle of the photo, I don't think I
can put this on social media. Harm and look at that.
(07:18):
I don't think I can put that on social No,
I can't know. It's it looks like no, no, that's wrong.
Yeah no, no, it looks like the big mac is
an extension of this microphone in front of it. It
doesn't no, trust me, I'll show this to you. Guys.
Can't put it on social media. I need another picture.
I can't do it. It's hilarious. I'm never gonna delete it,
and I'm gonna save it when you want to run
for office one day, that'll never need. I need another
(07:41):
picture of you. I need another picture of you. Show him,
show me, show me the sandwich. Taking a lot of
radio time. All right, there we go, All right, now
it works. But yeah, that other picture, Yeah I can. Oh, well,
you're gonna see this picture. It's fantastic, all sorts of wrong.
(08:01):
And now there's gonna be a some gud a crazy
fan account that gets started because of that. M all
that excitement for a sandwich. And yeah, the game one
of your Stanley Cup Final leave off the s for savings.
The Colorado Avalanche had blown a three one lead in
(08:22):
this game. The Lightning come back to tie it at
three apiece. We go to overtime, and in overtime within
the first two minutes, Burakowski scores his second goal of
the final at the one three mark, and the Avalanche
take game one over the Lightning by the final of
(08:44):
four to three. And I'll be honest with you, because
this is I'm not gonna lie to you about things.
And and look, I understand where the NHL is as
far as popularity and like great stuff from Gary Bettman
today you said, hey, NHL made six billion dollars this year,
which is nice, and now the highest paid player can
make more than like five hundred grand a year. But
they got they made changes to their television corridge, which
(09:06):
it's great. Yeah, it's great. What they did was great. Uh,
by far and away. The quality of the games right,
not talking about the drama surrounding it now, because look,
the NBA does drama better than anybody in the world.
They do drama better than the NFL, anybody. What goes
on surrounding the game is oftentimes better than the game itself.
But if you're trying to compare playoffs this year, it's
(09:29):
not even close. The drama and excitement of the on field,
on ice, on court product goes to the NHL over
the NBA, and it's not even close. I know people
who are watching hockey for the first time now just
because the games are close, because they want to watch
a live sporting event at night, which tells you about
the last passion of programming is sports event you know,
so many of my friends like, yeah, the basketball game
(09:51):
is a blog. I'm watching the hockey game because it's close,
and that's what they don't like. Oh my goodness, really
you're watching that been a much better product on court
on field? Nice? Uh, the NHL so far this year
than the NBA. Yeah. I haven't done that run the
numbers or seen anything, you know, just encapsulated in those
great infographic forms. But you know, just from what we
see on a night tonight basis, it would also appear
(10:13):
that scoring is up, which is always good for business. Right.
The Superstars getting deeper into the playoffs obviously huge. McKinnon.
I loved his response when he was asked about what,
uh winning a Stanley Cup final and and being able
to hold the cup would mean for his legacy, and
he started laughing. He's like, what my legacy as to what?
(10:34):
I what my career means? Do you guys like to
you Yeah, that kind of thing. So it's fun. But
you know, the Rangers made a deep run. That's good
for business. A team potentially winning a third straight Stanley
Cup good for business. Uh, you know, And on that
last shot, Vassilevsky had no shot, No prayer. I mean
(10:55):
his went tried to kick save it and was nowhere
near the skate, big shooting angle and a wide open
look there to to finish things off. But I mean
you look at the the home crowd there in Colorado,
just absolutely losing their minds, everybody with their pom poms
waiting in the air. It's it's that great time of year, right,
(11:17):
didn't win in time? Right, And and the best part
is that you're getting a let to quote Barry Melrose,
you're getting a lot of offense. Right. It's not it's
not like, hey, this is a one one game in overtime,
you're getting four three games. We're getting six, five games,
five four games. We're getting teams going up and down
the ice. I mean, this is great for hockey. Right,
here's your here's your opening night game one of the
(11:37):
Stanley Cup Final, national television, and you're going overtime and
it's two exciting teams and you're seeing a lot of offense.
This is the best part. The teams are really irrelevant
the the on field, on ice, on court product. The
advantage clearly goes to the NHL, not even close. The
NBA has had so many blowouts and but the dramas
around they, like I said, the drama surround of the
NBA is always better than the end of overtime in
(12:01):
in hockey, there's nothing that beats it, right, the tension
and if you're in the building, it's one thing. I mean,
like it's palpable, uh if you're on your couch. And
right now, my father is going to bed very late
in Clearwater, Florida, and he's pissed because it Tampa Bay Lightning.
But he would be the first one to say, Wow,
(12:22):
what a game. Right, that's we had it up on
one of our monitors here and and our eyes were
fixated for the last hour and fifteen minutes ago. Rewatch
the Rays losing to the Yankees. That's that's what he
wants to relive to. Uh now, either that he's tuned
into the show to try to see what kind of
nonsense you and I will utter over the next two
(12:43):
and a half hours or so. So, I mean that's
always a positive thing, but you have these these big moments,
but over time in hockey, right inching every rush, every
shot attempt, blocked, stopped, failed, aboarded, whatever, it's it's just
a fantastic run knowing that one little slip and that's
(13:04):
ball game, right. It's not, Hey, we're gonna play another
extended timed period when you go, oh, no, exactly, gets
so slow out of your mouth of action from a
defender or a goalie that's just off the mark, and
well that's it. One game one goes to Colorado. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
(13:26):
with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific,
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
If you're a value customer, you deserve a simple gesture
of appreciation from your credit card company. That's why I
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(13:49):
Joining us now on the hotline as we take a
look at what could be the final game of the
NBA Final. Has been covering it FRIENDBA dot Com, a
longtime NBA inside a reporter, friend of the show. He's
on Twitter at mark G Underscore Medina. That's at Mark
g Underscore Medina. He's here to announce his new podcast
with Draymond Green. So Mark, congratulations on that, because I
(14:11):
know he's looking to make waves in the podcast world. Whoa,
you guys have a scoop. I did not realize that
I got a promotion here. Love it well. Listen he
talks about his podcast as much as the NBA final.
So there's that, you know what. I can Adam only say.
You know, people are talking about how the podcast is
astracting him from his work. I can Adam away say that, Uh,
(14:33):
my appearances with you aren't taking away anything from my work.
With focusing on the finals, it's only in helping. Oh
that's good. I mean it refocuses maybe some extra points
of emphasis. Al Medina thinks about it the game. Maybe
one of us says something in a more likely smith
(14:53):
that gets you going down a whole other path. No,
I like to reprepp him for the game, like, oh,
Steph is having a good series. I didn't know that
he it's explaining well, oh I didn't know. Oh he's
in the finals. Oh no, wonder people keep talking about
in for m v P. Oh, now I get it
all right, Mark? So going into Game six, I talked
about this last hour everything I've heard from the Celtics
the last couple of days I've not liked because they
(15:16):
seem lost. Udoka seems frustrated with the message he's trying
to get to the team about how they how they
try to get away from the Warriors defensively and have
a better flow on offense. The the only thing that
gives me any any hope that this series gets pushed
to game seven is if there is a fortuitously officiated
game for the Celtics tomorrow that can open up their offense,
(15:38):
because right now it feels like they have no answer
for what the Warriors are doing. Yeah. Look, I think
that the Warriors are going to close it out because
you know, it seems like they turned a corner with
getting momentum. I also think that, you know, they're viewing
this upcoming game almost the same way they viewed uh
their closeout game against Memphis in Game six, where it's like, hey,
(15:58):
we don't want to fly halfway across the country for
a you know who knows what game seven. But look,
you never rule it out. The Celtics have been seven
and oh after a loss in the postseason. Um, you know,
the Warriors have never taken advantage so far in the
playoffs with the first potential closeout game. And you know,
I think back to the earlier point about the Celtics
(16:20):
with their ability to bounce back. I mean after the losses,
their offense is much more efficient, much more prolific. Their
turnovers cut down from sixteen to eleven, and so you
never rule it out. But you know, if I had
to put money on, and thankfully I don't, I think
it's the Warriors. Yeah, I said. The two things that
that have stuck out these last couple of games marked
(16:42):
the how sloppy Boston has been with the basketball right
the last last game turnover ratio at eighteen to six.
But the younger team is the tired team in the
fourth quarter oftentimes and looking like they're trying to find
answers and gasping, as opposed to the veterans playing in
the upper thirty minutes that are just still seem to
(17:03):
have be fresh and ready to take care of business. Well, look,
I mean the Celtics might be younger, but you know
they've gone through a lot of attrition during these this postseason,
with having that seven game series against Miami and not
really having that much of a time to hit the
recharge button before the final start, and then you know
at their center position. Robert Williams the third has been amazing,
(17:25):
but he's been on like one leg the entire series.
He hasn't been a hundred percent. They've seen that he
doesn't need to be a hundred percent at least to
be an X factor, but you know he's going to
continue to get worse as time goes on. But I
think the bigger point, it just seems like Jalen Brown
and Jayson Tatum in particular are becoming more and more
inefficient on offense. So yeah, I do wonder if this
(17:48):
is just going to be a continuous pattern. But I
think in fairness, they've had a resilience identity, that's why
they've gotten here in the first place. And in the
Warriors case, they've had their own elements of inconsistency with
how they are defensively, most notably with Raymond Green. Steph
Curry is going to continue be Steph Curry, but as
(18:08):
far at as you know other teammates, they showed strength
and numbers in Game five, but not so much the
rest of the games. So there's all these like kind
of moving parts that make it unpredictable. But again, if
I have to put money down in Vegas, thankfully I
don't because I usually lose it. But I think that
I would gain money by, you know, going all in
on the Warriors. But you're getting for so you got
(18:29):
that going for you. Hey, hey, hey, when you read
tomorrow that Scott Foster has assigned to Game six, you
may change that. You may change that. Ventians kind of uh,
speaking of laying money down in Vegas, we talked about
this last hour. Andrew Wiggins somehow is only the fourth
favorite to win m v P right now, when it's
(18:49):
kind of shocking because there's really only two choices Steph Curry,
who's going to win it even if he goes scoreless,
and Andrew Wiggins. Potentially if he scores fifty tomorrow night,
they wind up winning. I I really can't see there
being any scenario where the Warriors win where it's not
Steph Curry being the m v P, even though Wiggins
is having a terrific series, well a hundred percent. And look,
(19:10):
I mean, Andrew Wiggins was playing really well in Game five,
and he's played well the entire series. But with exception
of Game five, Steph Curry has been above and beyond
the best player on both teams, and I think the
fact that is, Look, I don't I'm not in Boston
to mar so I won't have a vote. But if
there's a game seven, we'll see who has a vote
among you know, the media corps and the national writers.
(19:33):
But uh, I don't want to be that narrative guy.
But the reality is there's other voters that you know,
do the narrative vote. So I think when you couple
the narrative vote and the fact that objectively he's been
the best player on both teams, it's inevitable that he's
gonna win Finals MVP if the Warriors win the title.
That's just the reality. So I don't think there's gonna
(19:54):
be an Andrea Wawa or Kevin Durant swiping the award
from him, because Kevin Durant now in the Brooklyn Nets
and Andre you know, he hasn't really played much UH
and he's much different than the Andrea glad Islan. So
it's des for the taking and he doesn't need it
for legacy purposes, but you know, it's nice to have
another thing to put in his UH in his UH.
(20:16):
I Guess Trophy Room right next to the Irvin Magic
Johnson Western Conference Finals m v P. Mark Madina with
us here at the Jason S. Fitzcheo with Mike Armen,
Fox Sports Radio, NBA Rider over at NBA dot Com
joins us each and every week breaking down all things
NBA Playoffs as we get ready for Game six tomorrow.
You find him on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina.
(20:38):
If you've heard him on the network, Uh, countless spots
doing some TV spots over on the herd. Uh. The
profile continues to rise, and we're happy to be part
of it here Mark and uh welcome the visits. Uh,
and and happy that you spend these minutes with us.
I want to get back to Andrew Wiggins real quick
if I can. Uh, just a guy that a lot
of folks had kind of bailed on and when the
(21:00):
deal got made to bring him in, wondering if it
was just an overpaid chip, A guy who seems to
have fit it fit in beautifully. What is it about
his personality? Uh? As as you've done your your research
and been around the squad that that made this the
right fit. Well, I think his personality is more soon
(21:22):
to be a complimentary player. Um, look, these are any
Most sports redemption stories usually cut two ways and where
you know some of it was self inflicted, but then
you give them credit for bouncing back. This is exactly
what it is for Andrew Wiggins. He did not live
up to what was expected and asked for him in Minnesota. Uh.
(21:45):
In fairness, Minnesota has also been a hot mess. Uh
until recently. Um, we're with the Warriors. They they got
Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, amazing culture, and they
also didn't need him to be a number one guy.
And as we've seen throughout you know his career, both
for better and for worse, Andrew isn't cut out to
be another number one guy. He's much more suited to
(22:07):
be a complementary, second, third, fourth option. So it's a
perfect marriage and exactly what the Warriors needed. I think
that even though they knew when they got him that
they felt like he would check all the boxes with
what they're looking for, with you know, being able to
mitigate the absence with Kevin Durant's departure as a wing
(22:28):
player and add some complimentary defense, Um that this has
also exceeded their expectations because they thought that he would
be able to do this on a consistent basis, but
not to this extent. And so he's definitely raised his
profile up another level. And I think that, you know,
going in the playoffs, there were a lot of questions
(22:48):
about long term what his future was going to be
because even though the Warriors were pleased with him from
just a contractual standpoint, they're going to have to devote
a lot of money to him and everyone else just
to keep everything together. But you know, knowing that he's
not going to be a free agent until next summer,
that buys them another year. But the other thing is
(23:09):
that the Warriors adhere to this simple calculation that they're
willing to pay the luxury tax if that specific move
is uh an X factor in their quest to win
a championship. If it is a Hey and the bench
rotation player, that's not going to make much of a difference.
That's when they that's when they try to trim their bill.
(23:30):
But when it comes to stars or complementary pieces, that's
gonna dictate whether they can win a title or not.
Joe wake Up is about, you know what, I'll win
the title as opposed to emptying out some of my
pocketbooks because A I care more about winning and be like,
he's not crying poverty. They're pretty money every time they
have a game at Chase Center. So I think with that,
(23:53):
this seems to ensure that they're going to be willing
to spend to keep them long term. Well, you're forgetting
more like they're gonna have to find some money for
Lebron James because you know on the shop he said
would love to play for Warriors, So they're gonna have
to fit him in at some point in the next
year or two. Well, yeah, yeah, I think, uh, you
know when Steph Currew was on the local radio station
and he was laughing after they're playing the the Lebron interview,
(24:17):
I think that's basically a live reaction for the Warriors
front office. Yeah, Lebron wants to play for us. That's cute.
We're fine. I think he's gonna find a lot of that. No, no, Lebron,
we're fine. Wait I'm Lebron James. No, no, no, we're
actually fine if we're fine with all of this. Alright,
so Mark, before we let you go, all right, complete
the sentence for me here right here. You picking the
(24:39):
Warriors to win tomorrow night. But we go to Game
seven in the NBA Finals. If what happens, Celtics force
Game seven if fill in the blank, yeah, if Jason
Tatum and or Jalen Brown live up to what they're
asked to be and uh, they're able to you know,
(25:00):
limit the Warriors defense. Um, look throughout this series with
with Steph Curry, he's going to continue to play out
of his mind. But that hasn't guaranteed that the Warriors
are able to win. I think the bigger factor in
play is how great of a defensive team can they be?
And that is in line with what they've shown historically
(25:22):
during their other title runs they over they always were
at the top defensively. So Celtics can win if you know,
for whatever reason, the Warriors don't bring it defensively, whether
it's because of their own effort or if the Celtics
are able to be really you know, locking step with
their star players or with their ole players on offense. Um.
(25:42):
But if the Warriors defense are clicking, um, you know
they're gonna be hosting up a trophy at the t
D Garden tomorrow. You can also give it me if
Larry Bird drops forty. You could have given me that too,
and that that would have Like Rick Patino said back
in the day, Larry Bird isn't walking through that door,
or if he does, he just kind of hobbles to
(26:03):
damn thing. Goes to Kevin McCall and Robert Parrott to
finish off the quote. He's on Twitter at Mark g
Underscore Medina. That said, Mark g Underscore Medina Insider reporter
for NBA dot Com cover in the NBA Finals. Mark
has always funny. We appreciated my friend. We'll talk to
you soon. Likewise, appreciate you guys. Take care of Mark.
Here there we go. Be sure to catch live editions
(26:24):
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. I'm George rice Stir,
host of the Rice Ster or Wrong phodcast. This is
the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop culture meet
the truth. Absolute fire home Monday's, Wednesdays and Fridays facts only.
(26:46):
Make sure you check your feelings at the door because
no bs is allowed. We keep it one hundred. This
is where real conversations happen. Listen to the Rights or
Wrong podcast on the I Heart Radio appe Apple Podcast
or wherever you get your podcast, Fox Sports Radio, that
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harm I'm
(27:10):
an ass man with prices sore and at the pump
Discovers got your back with cash back. He was discovered
earned five percent cash back at gas stations and a
target now through June up in purchases when you activate.
Learn more at discover dot com. Slash rewards limitations they
do apply. So as we got set for Game six
of the NBA Finals tomorrow, I thank for Mark Medina
(27:31):
stopped by breaking it down with us. One team made
a big trade tonight that is an absolute win from
every different direction, as the Mavericks acquired Christian Wood from
the Rockets in exchange for the number twenty six pick
in the draft and four players with expiring contracts. Now
(27:52):
boban is on the move again. It's that one sucks.
I mean, he's become one of the greatest pitchman. Well, yeah, dars,
he's gonna get to the big man there he is.
He's gonna get to Houston. Ryan Hollis is gonna put
a book in his mouth and hit him over the
head with it. Repeatedly and then slams that in the
light being pretty good move. Uh, Boban, Marcus, Chris, Trey Burke,
(28:13):
Sterling Brown all traded to Houston again, four guys with
expiring contracts, and here are the Mavericks who had a
crying need for more offense, had a crying need up
front because you know, Porzingis didn't work out, so they
make a move. And so he's not the Latvian Dirk,
he's more the Latvia. He's not the Latvian Dirk. He's
(28:34):
now he's the Washington. This is such a win for
the Mavericks because you trade four guys expiring contracts. Now,
I could even say that maybe they gave up too
many expiring contracts because the Rockets want to move on.
(28:55):
They're probably gonna get Boncaro with the number three overall pick.
They want to open up playing time upfront, which is
why they had room to dump Christian wood. Uh So
you could even I could say for a second, maybe
they gave up way too many expiring deals. But they
went out and got a really good player like Christian wood.
Is is a nineteen and ten guy the last couple
of years, and this is a big thing to shore
up that front court. Doesn't mean they're not gonna go
(29:17):
resign Jalen Brunson, because you know, Wood's got one more
year and fifteen million dollars left on his deal. This
is ultimately palatable for Mark Cuban and for a Mavericks
team that was this close despite the fact they were
playing with one guy. I told you this is a
bad roster, right, The Mavericks did not have a good roster.
They have an incredibly talented player in Luca, they did
not really have anything else around it, right, some of
(29:39):
the guys you're counting on din Witty really you know Brunson,
Yes he's a little bit overrated, but still he's a
guy that's on the rise. You're gonna bring him back
what you want to keep him, so it looks like
he's staying put. This is such a huge win of
a trade for the Mavericks. This is gonna vault them
to the top of the West, the conference of who's
gonna be the the trendy team to pick to win
the finals? Next here it's I was trying to find
(30:02):
a number two that was consistent, right, Because when healthy
Hardaway Junior can put up points. Okay, for the year,
he's of fourteen a game guy. Dinwood, he had his
moments as well, but again, consistency and the ability on
occasion to have a monster game, right if Luca is
having an off shooting night or has to miss a game,
(30:22):
trying to find something to to push it forward. Now,
with Brunson, I would disagree with you. I think in
terms of his rating or whatever you want to say,
Q rating where people look at him as a player.
There there was Brunson, regular season guy, and then he
had a couple of big playoff games and all of
a sudden, right it elevated him quickly. He's like, no,
(30:44):
he's a good player. Let's let's just make sure we
recognize still on the come though, But those couple of big,
you know, breakout performances are are not an indication of
what he has been. Might might you see more consistency
of that in the future, Sure, but he's not there yet.
And from a contract perspective, look, Mark Cuban wants to win, right,
(31:06):
He wants to win about as much as any other guy.
So we're talking with Mark Medina about what the Warriors
are willing to do financially. I mean, Cuban's a guy
that's right there with it right that. Wait, if I
if I could push this thing forward, and now you
bring in a legitimate nineteen and ten guy, uh that
that gets after it every night. Yeah, this is this
(31:27):
is a huge win. And none of those guys were
anything more than end of the bench a minute here minute.
They're kind of guy right there. They're not impact players
in any way, shape or form. Because normally we see
the five for one. It's like your fan I think
if it is your fantasy team, something we talked about
all the time. But there's a five for one deal,
it's the all right, I'm already going into a rookie
(31:47):
draft or I've got something else going on that I'm
gonna fill roster slots elsewhere. And that's that's what this
feels like here. Uh So, now can I give you
my berman announce this is You've been all twitchy, you know,
you know that thing you where your leg starts shaking,
like when you really need to go to the bathroom
when I get a good one. I really just want
you've been You've been very anxious ever since we talked
(32:10):
to mon C. I I really want to get this
I'm not saying it's great. We're gonna have to all
you know, assess this guy's got anything with Miles Finch. No,
not Miles Finch. My Yeah, we're watching Miles Finch on
He's got He's been in a lot of franchise. Yeah,
we got Days of Future Past and Live Free Your
(32:30):
die Hard and Police Academy on our TVs right now.
It's all sports related, diving and rolling and jumping. This
this Live for your die Hard. I became a huge
Maggie Q fan. I'm like, whoa, I like Maggie Q.
I was like, Wow, she's gotta I want to see
every movie she's done. She's the one that went I
(32:51):
need I Need you. That's Stacy Q. And she related
to Cura Stacey Q and I think they are and
actually Que from the James Bond movies there, what about
Que from Impractical Jokers. Yes, he's related to them as well.
And they all start in Que the movie from if
you remember that boy, I'm taking you all the way
back down to Rabbit, all the way back. Let me guess, Jason,
(33:14):
they live on Avenue Que, Yes they do. Now that
is one hell of them saw off Broadway when it
was first starting, it was decided it was advertised as
the Muppets on crack uh, So here we go you ready,
here's guy Okay, here's my Heart getting getting the voice ready,
(33:36):
and t J with the Mavericks getting Christian Wood for
four players, including Sterling Brown. Dallas is telling the NBA
world that as far as their roster goes, this is
us for next season. No, you did not go to Brown. Wow.
One of the great actors of our time, A man
(33:58):
who seems to be everywhere. Now it's good. Yes, have
you seen him in Mazel yet? I finished Mazel? Oh,
he's so good and so good. He's so good at Reggie.
He's he's somebody that you really like and you really
hate at the same time. He's such a character. Talking
about my Wall of Fame. Yeah, this is us for
(34:19):
next season. Something I've ever seen a minute of. You
know why, because everybody says the same thing. Oh, you'll
cry every week watching this is us? Then why the
hell would I want to watch that show? There's a
sadness on tell about. I want to watch something that's
goodn't got my own life to mats this year though.
The Jets Okay, the Jets are tough. But that's but
(34:41):
everybody says the Jets are gonna be really good. Yeah, well,
one after another. You want to talk about offseason hype.
Yeah good, we we we we might be good. And
the second and I'm not gonna I don't cry every
Jets game. We win three or four games a year.
Every episode of this is us. You cry at but
you know what, everybody hurts sometime. This is our roster,
(35:05):
This is us for next season. Twitter and out about
a Fresca. Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon coming up next. Why
it's hard to find a lot of sympathy for the
people involved in the biggest controversy in sports the last
few days. It's next right here. This is Fox or
(35:26):
SASA McDonald's
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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