July 1, 2022 • 36 mins
Mike and Rich talk about Kevin Durant’s trade request, NBA.com’s Mark Medina stops by to talk about the opening of the NBA’s free agency period, Sean McVay showing some love to his former QB, and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. It's mighty powerful, open,
brought back down to earth with the hobo name that
has been ascribed to me these last couple of months.
That well, it's taken on its whole life here on
the show rich because look, I come in with my
old raggedy holy and I mean holy big holes on
(00:49):
the bottom by flip flops, but they still cover my foot.
So I mean, what am I gonna do? Right, There's
enough foam that I'm good. Uh, And then obviously you know,
pay eat on the shorts. And today I'm wearing a
red Fox T shirt. So I got that going for
the minimalist, right. You know, who needs a thick soul
(01:10):
underneath your foot when you you can really you can
really feel the earth under you know, well, I feel
the earth move under my feet. Either that or you
go Cliff Clayven who said, you know, it all comes
back to shoes. It does comfortable shoes, and then there
is something to be said for that, no question about it.
I do have to do the update because we really
didn't get into it yesterday. I got the pins out
(01:32):
of my hand rich pretty soon. I'm no longer part
partially Wolverine. It's a little sad about it's more impressive. Yeah,
it's a big step and and I'm I'm proud of
your recovery now during uh, during during this time, it
has been just a little finger flection, you know, bicep curls.
(01:53):
I'm sure what have you been up to in terms
of keeping the hand in shape during this time or
was it strictly rap well? With the right hand, I
couldn't do anything. Fortunately I'm a lefty, which man, everything
was available to me. That is amazing. There's a random joke.
I don't know why I fell uh and used my
weak side to brace my fault, but I did, and
(02:13):
lucky for me. But it was interesting right because you
had the big pin going down towards the pinky that
was almost all the way to the risk so like
there's no movement really my pinky yet. Uh, we're gonna
have to work on that one quite a bit. But
like the rest of it, who's helping me nobody? So
you just get to work. I've done a lot more walking, yeah,
(02:35):
and I can't relied on that sling a lot. Here's
what you can expect, um, you know, I mean with
depending on the physical therapist. Should you hire one who's
gonna walk you through all this, you're basically going to
spend the next I don't know, two weeks to a
month opening your hands, scrunching a towel and then opening
your hand again. The towel roll up was something that
(02:58):
was told to me. My doctor also advised that, you know,
this is the thing for dexterity, you might want to,
you know, buy yourself a keyboard and maybe that would
be an excuse to not only learn to play an instrument,
but also to work those muscles. So I have now
a tablature Elton John songbook. I should probably learn the
(03:19):
basics first, but eventually I'll have you know, the jeweling
crusted glasses and I'll be ready to go. Yeah, I
was about to say, I can't wait till you're like
like Billy Joel, You're just here, just out on the stage.
You're just you know, waiting for people to put bread
in your jar, still wearing the paint stained shirt, the
red fox T shirt and the soulless flip flops. Hey,
you can't change me. We try to make that fashionable.
(03:44):
I make that pretty like the post. Yeah, at sixty
five bucks a pair of Holy flip flopsy concert markup.
That's where you make your dollars. He's rich, Join Burger
And for Jason Smith here the Jason smiths you with
my garment. 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 all the cash back you've
(04:06):
earned at the end of your first year. Discover exceptionally
common sense. Learn more at discover dot com. Slash match
limitations they do apply. We did a bunch of college
football our one. We turn our attention to the NBA
here for a while. Uh Mark Madino join us here
in just a little bit coming up in about fifteen
minutes from now. Talk about the day's activities and all
(04:26):
the rumor, conjecture, speculation, on free agent movement, impossible trade assignments.
But I wanted to ask this to you. Rich we
Bow and I were just kind of spitball on this
and came to a conclusion. You know, a couple of
weeks ago, Smith and I were joking and he just
kind of threw out. He goes, what if you just
take you know, Durant and Kyrie and just trade him
(04:47):
for Westbrook in a d well That that became. I
don't know if that's a hot take, but it became
something that people started to do in earnest today. You know,
some of the poll questions and stuff we we do
get bastardized and show up somewhere this one. Uh, there
was as a why don't they just do this well
beyond injuries and you know, not wanting those guys or
their contracts on either side. But that's a whole other thing.
(05:11):
But it's the idea that if Kevin Durant were to
join the Lakers and follow me on this, is this
perhaps the first title? I mean, the bubble people have
their issues, but would this be the first title where
nobody would get credit? Because Lebron needed Kevin Durant to
get another one. Kevin Durant jumped into another situation with
(05:32):
a superstar now granted, coming from where the Lakers have
been and and outside of that title run pretty much
a disaster for the last decade. But it's possible that
people dislike and want to do the negative to both
those guys tour that championship never really exists, just like
that forest falling or the tree falling in the forest,
(05:52):
and we're not around to hear it. Yeah, yeah, Durant
to Los Angeles, though, I mean, look, you're just going
to have to spend so so so much money, and
or not even money you're gonna have to spend. You're
gonna have to spend so much draft capital. You're gonna
have to leverage the entire future of your franchise in
(06:14):
order to put this. Yeah, but who cares about draft picks.
I mean, I'm I'm all with less need in the
blank those picks Department, and have been for a long
time rich because if I can get a superstar today
and take my best shot at a title or two
and we actually get one, now if it fails, then yeah,
people say, look what all you gave up to not
not win? Well that's fine, but you shoot your shot,
(06:35):
but it gets But but what we're talking about, yeah, no, no,
I guess yes. And that's true too, because you know, look,
you kicked the can down the road, but still those
chickens come home to roost. Absolutely, I generally agree with
what you're saying. I say, if you have a chance
to win right now, win right now. But here's the
(06:57):
strange thing. You know. Look, Durant joining Golden State when
Curry was in his mid to late twenties, and this
splash Brothers plus Draymond trio was was at its peak.
You know. I mean, I've realized they're coming off their
most recent title. But the regular season did not look
(07:20):
good for Golden State. Uh they barely played together those three,
and they put it all together and assembled something special
in the postseason. I think we would I think the
Lakers in order for them to even have postseason success
adding Durant to the full it would look something similar.
It would be like Lebron You can't count on him
(07:40):
for a full eighty two anymore. Uh, A d is
made of glass until proven other otherwise. And Kevin Durants
had his issues as he gets a little longer in
the tooth, year with injuries as well. So is it
is it going to look the same as when he
joined the super Team in Golden State or is it
gonna look more like it did when he winned the
(08:00):
Super Team in Brooklyn? Unfortunately, I kind of feel like
it's gonna look more more of the same like it
did when he joined the Brooklyn Super Team. Yeah, and
then that's the thing, right, But it's all a nice
theoretical exercise here. I just was having fun with it
because this would be the take nine months from now,
no right point that guy blank, that guy nobody wins.
(08:21):
The only guy we're gonna celebrate is Darvin Ham and
whoever the sixth man will and and I think it
would probably be Lebron's title, Like you know what I mean,
because everybody what what what everybody would insert if the
if Durant coming to l A would would actually occur,
They probably say, well, Lebron is the general manager, so
he's the one who greased the wheels to get this done, right.
(08:42):
You know that he's assembled the team in its current
state now and Lebron has reached his final forum in
the NBA, which is he's he's you can't even say
player GM anymore, he's like player GM, future owner. I mean,
he's made no qualms about going public with the fact
that not only would he like to own an NBA team,
(09:03):
he named the city he wants to put it in
like so, I mean, it's it's an interesting time we're
living in uh in the NBA in general. But getting
back to the original point you're making, I think if
Durant joined l A, given that they've won a recent
championship anyways, I think they would give the credit to Lebron,
(09:24):
which then swings the door back to Yeah, Durant one
finals with two teams, He's won three championships, maybe he
even won three NBA finals m v p s by
the end of his career. Should he join l A
and build a super team and go and win a
championship and do all those things? But has he ever?
(09:44):
Has he ever? Will he ever get the credit for
being the reason that will be his legacy? Well, because
that's allegedly right now. Obviously, the more podcast he does
in more social media and maybe gets loose with David
Letterman next time when he's high, Like what you're gonna do?
I don't care, but you know, truth serum uh in
(10:06):
all respects, regardless of what it is, your your think
of choice. Did you watch that whole thing? But I
haven't seen at all. I've seen more than the clips
that became the go round. But I find him fascinating.
I'm a big fan like he and Draymond. Fascinating doesn't
mean that every once in a while you're just like,
all right, just go go do your thing, or you're
you're you know, barking up a tree that maybe you
(10:28):
don't understand right, and you know everybody that's quick to
point out you never did that, did that whatever. I'm like, okay,
that's fine. But we're fans and media right now. It's there.
Are you punching down or you're necessarily punching down? But
you know, when you and I talk about football, When
I talk football with Bucky Brooks on a on a
(10:49):
Sunday morning, the goal is to make it digestible, right
do I can I necessarily go through and and do
all the coverage stuff and give you all the technical terms.
I don't know. I think with a little work I
can polish that and get back to that. But is
that what the average fan or consumer of a radio
show wants no. So when basketball players or football players
(11:11):
whatever start talking about different coverages, pickups, whatever in very
technical terms, you're speaking to a very small audience. Yeah,
and you're mean kind of thumbing the nose that the people,
but there you're trying to court and also look interaction
with fans. It is changed, obviously with social media because
of the twenty four hour, three sixty five access that
(11:33):
people who are interested in the NBA have to Kevin
Durant and the availability of Kevin Durant on his social
media pages. It has completely changed the way we communicate
with our superstars. If you are a fan of Okay
see and you want to tell Kevin Durant how much
you can't stand him, you have that access. If you're
a Brooklyn fan and you are pissed at Kevin Durant
(11:56):
for waiting until two hours before free agent he opens
to announce your trade when everybody sort of felt like
the Brooklyn Nets have stabilized at least in the moment um, Yeah,
I mean you have access to him. And what's interesting
about that David Letterman sit down is he expressed a
very different Kevin Durant than I would even characterize him.
(12:19):
As you know. And I think I, you know, just
because of our roles here talking about these guys all
the time, following basketball very closely, we pay attention. I
don't consider him petty, but I do consider him sensitive
at least that's the portrayal that I've I've viewed. But
he says he's not sensitive at all. He's like a
duck in water, you know. The the water just beats
(12:41):
up and rolls off his back and he's onto the
next moment. He doesn't get hung up with you know.
But but that's not that Kevin Durant. I know that
Kevin Durant. I know he'll he'll get into vicious battles
with people on Twitter. You know. Maybe his attitude towards
all of this is very puppet puppet master, you know.
(13:02):
And he's he's very zen about the whole thing, and
he feels very in control of the whole thing. And
maybe age and wisdom and his veteran experience in the
NBA has hardened to him to some of the cruelty
that that, you know, being a person in his position,
UH can suffer. But yeah, I mean, even recently, the
guy who exists on social media versus the guy he
(13:26):
portrayed when he did that sit down. It's it's two
very different people. I'm curious which is the truth. No,
And that's the beauty of it. And like I've been
saying it all week and I'll stand by it. But
all of these media feuds both on both sides the athlete,
uh and the entertainer or journalists, small j wherever you
(13:47):
want to go with it from the Baker may have
field stuff back with Colin to Skimp and Draymond and
Skimp and k D and Skip and he's got a
lot of guys. But just keep going on down the line.
I mean, it's all w W W E were works right
right because it's good for brand. Like I openly courted.
I did it on Twitter. That's wall one dome. You're
a player, executive coach and you just want to have
(14:09):
media beef. We could go and and and if you
don't really do the improv thing, we could work on
that a little and it'll be great. It'll be great
theater for everybody. In other words, I'd like a little
cloud too rich around here. I want to court it.
I will put the pin in this before we talk
to Mark Medina with someone who just retweeted a welcome
to Live golf graphic with a picture of Kevin Durant
(14:32):
on there. Yeah, yeah, see now you got that. He's got,
He's got. Yeah, Kevin Durant's going to the Big ten
along with the USC and U C l A. I
mean it's look the first really flying you got NBA
free agency, which is almost as exciting or more than
NBA regular season and now conference realignment is almost as
(14:53):
good as a mid level pack twelve or Big ten
game anyway, So we're here for buddy that this is
the beauty of it. Four hours of madness to discuss it,
mock it, uh and toss it in a million different ways.
He's rich Orinberger, how Mike Carmen. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. I think
(15:15):
this is the part you're supposed to hop up and down,
rich rich Hoarinburger and for Jason Smith tonight on Mike Harmen,
thanks for hanging out with us here on your Thursday night.
We know you have a lot of options audio video
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after your dog or children. We know that, but we
appreciate you hanging out with us here. Uh, and we
(15:37):
can't tell you how much, but you no other thing.
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Rich orin Berger in for Jason Smith. Tonight, the NBA
(15:58):
Silly Season is up and in full effect. Rich And
I gotta say I'm here for it right watching Funny Money,
because really some of the numbers are just unfathomable. And
I've never wanted to say, hey, folks, get too much cash,
you know, you you get what someone's willing to pay, right,
Just like when you go to a store or you're
buying in the collectibles market or whatever, it's like, why
(16:20):
is that worth so much money? It's like, well, someone
decided that they needed to have it for whatever reason.
In this case, it also becomes the well I want
a title, or I just want the shiny new superstar
or guy that I think could be. So we won't
belabor nick stalk tonight because well Smith isn't here, but
Jalen Brunson going to the New York Knicks. It's one
of those I saw a line and I failed to
(16:43):
note who it was saying, well, I guess tampering doesn't
extend to family members working for a team, because Rick
Brunson being part of the Knicks organization, but Jalen Bronson
leaving Dallas. I thought the interesting part of it that
people got all upset about. I was saying, well, the
Mavericks didn't even get a chance to talk to him, Like, well,
(17:04):
they did, They had a full run by which to
sign him, Oh yeah, and kneel with it, and they didn't. Yeah. Yeah,
it's uh any anybody who's trying to defend the home
team for not getting the deal done. We were just
talking about the Freddie Freeman stuff, right, Yeah, Atlanta could
have kept Freeman. It's just money, and it's not our money,
(17:25):
so it's a lot easier for us to talk about it. Right.
There are ways, right, if you want to skirt the
salary cap in any sports league and spend a little
bit more on guarantees and all those things that we
know are are available to front offices or ownership too
to still keep a player happy, satisfied with his contract amount,
(17:48):
and also build around him. That's available to you. It
just costs money. And look, I get it. It's not
an endless you know tree or bottomless well or whatever
you want to call it. But there there are ways
to get that done. And if he is a current
product of yours and and available for negotiations. Yeah, you
(18:10):
may think that playing for the hometown team will tug
out the harms heartstrings, but that's getting less and less
as the days go by. I I really think that
players they're they're far more loyal and rightfully so, to
the name on the back of the jersey than they
are on the front of the jersey, especially in the NBA,
(18:31):
because you can't trust if you're a part of a
team that the other star on the roster is going
to stay loyal to the team. Right How How can
how can you wake up every morning and say, oh, yeah, okay,
you know if you're Lebron because a D s here,
it means he's not going to become dissatisfied and try
to force his way at l a at some point
(18:52):
or Kyrie and Durant in Brooklyn or James harden In
in Philadelphia. They're nothing is Garon ted in that league anymore?
So it kind of does feel like the wild West
where once free agency hits or the league gear ends,
just go and get yours. Let's see where what it
all looks like when the dust clears. He's re join
(19:13):
Burger I might. I'm enjoining us now on the hotline
to try to read t leaves and make it all
makes sense to us, because or maybe he demands a
trade too. So her buddy Mark Medina NBA dot Com
at Mark g Underscore Medina NBA season is done, draft
is done, and and boom, we get right into chaos.
We thought it was gonna be a quiet day and
(19:34):
then Katie wants out, Mark, how about that? It's it's
the first off to answer your open ending question, I
was able to agree with an extential with Fox Sports
Radio recently. So I'll be here free agency and next
season and I'm beautiful demanded trade, don't worry. I'm loyal.
I appreciate you. That's good. Well, that's that's good to
get that out there. We'll make sure to put that
(19:55):
in print big that I'll actually honor the contract and
not shakes three. Well, he's in a four year deal
like Kevin Dread. Yeah, we'll see. Hey, you know what,
Actually that's a that's good opening to talk about what
we're just discussing. Mark the idea that loyalty in terms
(20:18):
of where a player might be next season. It's fleeting
in the NBA anymore, and I'm not sure if that's
the best thing for the league and for its fans, certainly,
but that's the way it is right now in its
current state. Is this sustainable? Is this model of doing
business in the NBA sustainable? Or do you think at
(20:38):
some point the commissioner and the NBA p A have
to come together and figure out a way to stabilize
all this because I mean, you buy somebody's jersey and
you expect them to be there for very long. That
is a full hearty investment these days. Yeah, no, it's
not sustainable. And look like I gotta, you know, preempt
(20:59):
my coming. Terry's saying, Hey, player powerment for the most parts,
good thing. Players should be able to decide when they're
a free agent what's best for them. Organizations do that.
They trade players even before their contract ends. But this
idea in Kevin Durant's case, where you know, he legitimately
might have reason to be upset and we don't know
(21:20):
what's causing be upset. Is he upset Kyrie Irving? Or
is the episode with the Nets? But regardless, literally last
season he agreed to a four year extension and that
for your extension doesn't even kick in until next season,
So there has to be a media of the minds.
That's one thing, uh, you know, for a superstar to
(21:41):
you know, use his petting. Free agency has leveraged, so
to speak, um, but to be demanding trades before your
new contract even kicks in, that's not good for the league.
And I'm saying this again being a pro player. Hey,
every guy has to decide what's best for them. But
when he signed a deal, you know that are out
and all of a sudden you're that unhappy like that,
(22:03):
The league has to make reforms with the p A
to try to reduce these things from happening. Now. I
don't know how many times its showed up in your timeline,
but it goes back to me being able to buy
property on Lake Como next to Clooney. For all the
times I saw Kevin Durant in the Lakers jersey in
my timeline today, there's a lot of more I've seen
(22:25):
more of the what Kyrie would look like jersey. That
seems to be the more realistic route. I don't think that. Look,
I mean, Kevin Durant put his preferred destinations out here,
the Phoenix Suns in the Miami heat. That Nats certainly
aren't obligated to do that. But I don't think that
the Lakers want Kevin Durant, as weird as that might sound.
(22:47):
But also I don't think Kevin Durant would want to
be there. I know, just from my time in Golden State.
The sense that I got is, you know, part he
left Golden State partly to show that, hey, he can
win by being the main bus driver, as Charles Barkley
recently alluded to. And if you were to be with
the Lakers, like all the praise goes to lebron right
(23:08):
and and you know, any qualified praise would go to Durant.
So I think that, you know, beyond that, the Lakers,
it's not a guarantee that they would want Kyrie iring,
but I think they are looking at it more from
that lens of Hey, Kyrie and Lebron have a lot
of history together. While they have question marks about his
leadership and his availability, as twenty nine other teams are,
(23:31):
they know that from a basketball standpoint, he's a much
better fit than Russell Westbrook. But we'll see. I mean,
Russ doesn't have a lot of interest around the NBA,
So even if the Lakers do want Kyrie, maybe it's
not going to happen because the Russ is that toxic
of an asset. I'm a big Trey Young fan. I
think he's one of the brightest new talents in this league.
(23:51):
How much better are the Atlanta Hawks today? Oh, they're
They're astronomically better. I think de jont Murray is one
of those rising young talents, and you might think, well,
why did the say Anton Spurs allow him to walk?
There's fair question marks to be had with that because
I think that he's developing into a special player. But
I think the Spurs, you know, it wasn't a criticism
(24:13):
of the Jonte, It just seems like that they were
that far into a rebuilding phrase that it's like, hey,
may as well tear it down and do this the
right way because they can't really do this rebuilding on
the fly. They missed the playoffs again this season. But
in the Hawks case, yeah, I think that Trey Young
and Degone Murray. I wouldn't say that they're the best
(24:35):
duo right now in the NBA because there's other veteran players,
but I think that they're the best young duo in
the NBA. And knowing how Travish link is as a
GM UH, he's just getting started with you know, maybe
they can reach out to deal with John Collins uh
with another deal as far as the trade goes, or
keeping him a long term um. But they also have
(24:56):
a pretty good supporting cast. So I think when you
look at these last two seas and you know, last
year with the Hawks making the playoffs this year they didn't,
it was very clear that this was much better than
it was in the past of them being a lottery team.
But how do they compete in a crowded Eastern Conference?
And now I think that you can propel them as
one of those teams that you know are prohibitive favorites,
(25:18):
but they have a fighter's chance and making noise. Yeah,
I mean a lot of the teams in the East.
We either have chaos like in Brooklyn, or you have
guys coming back off injuries, or you have situations, say
like Philadelphia, where you have stars, you have a coach
which who's had some uh how should be saying less
than great exits from playoffs. But now James Harden freese
(25:39):
up money, they bring in P. J. Tucker, Daniel House.
How much better are they? Well, look, you may as
well call them the Philadelphia Rockets, right like Daryl Morey
Simson tent on reuniting with every player there from Houston.
They maybe maybe that that's the solution to the Westbrook
problem with the Lakers. They bring back Westbrook and see
(25:59):
if that experiment with James Harden works. Again my hunches
they won't do that. But I think the larger point is, uh,
Daryl Morey is bringing back a lot more familiar faces.
And I think that James Harden, I'm pleasantly surprised he
was shocked. He is showing some self awareness that someone
like Russell Westbrook could show that he's mindful that uh,
(26:20):
you know, he's where he's at in his career. His
game has dropped down a peg or two and so
he's willing to exercise some sort of discount to make
sure that Aryl Morey has more at his disposal to
have a better team. And you know, look, they haven't
agreed to a deal yet, but my understand that he's
going to meet with the Sixers this weekend, and obviously
(26:40):
he opted out with the idea that it will be
a lesser figure. So I think that, you know, there's
obviously more work to be done, but the Sixers can
be right back where they should be with giving Joel
Embiid more help than he got last season. Um, we
know that there's a host of young superstars eligible for
those key contract extensions, Jean Moran and the Grizzlies. I'm
(27:03):
sure they'll get that done if they haven't already as
we're speaking to each other. Um, but how about Zion Williamson, right,
hasn't played a lot of games through his first three
seasons with the Pelicans due to injury. Where they at
with Zion, Well, nothing's official yet, but you know, I
haven't heard anything but signs that hey, they're going to
(27:24):
agree to him with an extension. And look, I'm one
of those people that earlier in the season I was
learing of it because I still have this wait and
see approach about can he ever get healthy? But I
think that you know, the Pelicans have stayed firm that
regardless of whatever criticism he's gotten for how involved he's
been with the team or whatever, um, they're bullish that
(27:46):
you know he's going to turn a corner health wise,
and you know he's been cleared basically since late May
to start rehabbing without any restrictions, and I haven't heard
of any setback since then. But even with that, I
think the Pelicans are willing to make that dive into
uh committeeing towards Zion long term, knowing that there's also
(28:08):
a lot of other things that are going for them well,
with Brandon Ingram and C. J. McCollum being a good
veteran voice around there, Willie Green showing that he has
what it takes to be a really good head coach
in this league. And so no doubt while the Pelicans
success long term will hinge on not only how well
Zion Williamson will play, with how healthy he can be.
(28:30):
I think the comforting fact for the Pelicans is that
they have a lot of good working pieces around the
medicod culture that can help absorb anything negative with his return,
as well as putting him in a good position succeed.
Fantastic stuff, NBA Run or NBA dot Com. You can
follow him on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina joins
(28:53):
us each and every week and signed his contract extension.
That's breaking news. Probably need the sounder for that one. Mark,
appreciate you taking some time with us. Enjoy free agency.
Look forward to talking to you again soon, and enjoy
the holiday weekend. We appreciate you, guys. Happy fourth and Hey,
you hear it on this sound by here, feel free
to replay it over the airwaves. I'm committed to Fox
Sports Radio for however long they want made. I dig
(29:15):
that Kyrie once said that on a court in Boston,
almost exactly those words, Mark, I am not Kyrie Irvan
though here you go. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
(29:35):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast Straight Fired
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight
Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines,
accurate stats to help you win big at the sports book,
and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and
(29:56):
listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the I
Heart Ray You app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get
your podcasts. Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio. Jason s
fents you with Mike Carmen rich Ornberger, former NFL lineman teammate,
Got you carried Tom Brady quite a bit. He sounds sexy.
(30:17):
Add Ornberger on Twitter is where you find him. I've
been active. There's a lot of stuff you're getting after it, Yeah,
feeling it. I mean, maybe got a little bit of
a caffeine rolling through. I mean double duty for you, right,
you were up really early, and I mean Hartman's exhausting.
Plus you got two little kids running around. Yeah, so
I mean, you know fumes soon enough, might be mad
(30:41):
your head against the microphone soon. I'll tell you what
I dig. I dig radio at night because it feels
like the people who were we're cheers in with, they've
got their libations in hand, or they're trying to keep
their eyes peeled open. At ten and two on the
road somewhere. You know, I just this is uh, it's
a freeing hour to be out here and discussing, especially today.
(31:05):
I mean, NBA free agency pops off every off season,
so that's a guarantee some big news breaks it. It
happens every single season. But what happened in the college
football world today, I don't think. I don't think it
has yet to get it to do because I think
it broke so late in the day today, you know,
after the lunch rush, right that we really haven't fully
(31:28):
feasted on this and conceptualized what this means for college football.
Everything is different today than it was, you know, than
it was yesterday. And we'll go through some of those
parameters coming about ten minutes from now, No question about it.
There's I mean, we've we spun off a little bit.
We talked to our guy Pete Feutech earlier, but I've
got well and in the note that I sent to
(31:50):
to our crew, you, uh, what do we have like
eight different permutations? Uh? And I call it the Spidery
effects only appropriate that Spiderman is currently on one of
monitors here in the Fox Sports Radio studios. Uh, that
you know, you take your basic point, right, basic story headline,
and then just say, all right, where how many different
(32:10):
ways can we dissect this? How many pieces of a
spider web can we touch? And that's uh, that's certainly
the college football landscape going forward, because while a team
you work for and work with is going to play prominently,
I think in the next generation. We'll get into that
coming up in about ten minutes from now, but I
wanted to get into this Sean mcveigh's story really fast. Uh,
(32:33):
talking on the podcast Open Mike with Mike Silver saying
hard Thing for Me talking about his end of the
era with Jared Goff. Remember so much made of how
phone calls and communication failed, but here's the quote from McVeigh,
hard thing for me because the thing that's most important
that anything is being a good communicator, clear, open, honest,
(32:55):
make sure people aren't caught off guard and really have
respect for the players and coaches for what they have
to do. And I wish that there had been better
in person communication. Yeah, like anything, right, you've got it.
We We've talked about it all the time. Right. Intent
might be great, but if someone doesn't get your tone right,
it's a phone message text message, voicemail, all of those things. People,
(33:19):
depending on their mood and what's going on in a
given moment, they're gonna read into it. And if they're
getting bad news, right in this case, Jared Goff's getting
bad news no matter how you cut it. One I mean,
and that's not even taking any jokes at Detroit. It's
just saying, I've got this guy that everybody thinks is
the greatest young coach going. We've got a team that
can win. I got us into a super Bowl. You
(33:43):
could say all you want, defense carry and whatever, that
the reality was, they were still the super Bowl. And
then you're being told you're you're the guy. You're not
the guy anymore. I had. I had breakups in high
school that I look back when I was in my
twenties and when what the hell was I doing? What
the hell was I thinking? And and now in my
(34:05):
thirties look back to my twenties and feel the same way.
You know, when you're dealing with people and you're talking
about relationships, whether you know it's a boss to an
employee or personal relationship of friendship, whatever, I mean, you
always look back and you always criticize your handling of
those events because you are now detached from the emotions,
(34:27):
from the urgency, and you have the the hindsight the
ability to look at things from that perspective when you're
in it, though it's very difficult to know for sure
if you were you know, I don't know a year
more wise or ten years more wise, if you would
handled it any differently, because emotions are an interesting thing.
(34:49):
And you know, Sean McVeigh, Look, he was excited about
the future of his franchise. He was excited about the
prospect of getting a quarterback who very o Alee is
more talented than Jared Goff and felt excited about that
future and and rightfully so we saw what the outcome
was this season. So you know, it's it's very it's
(35:12):
good that he's reflective. It's good that, in the position
he's in as a head coach, that he wants to
be a better people person, because that is an enormous
part of the job. But I mean, if he could
go back like with the wisdom he has now and
with the same emotion and urgency that he had, then
would it have gone much differently? Maybe? Maybe? But who knows,
(35:34):
you know, because time is of the essence, when you're
dealing with trade scenarios and front offices and player requests
and draft capital and all the things that get thrown
into the pot and stirred up during these conversations, just
always remember you're in a glass case of emotion, that's tray.
You need to be able to step away. Otherwise you
end up saying the Ringo Star classic photograph and I
(35:58):
realize you're not coming back anymore. You should, you should
really add that to your playlist. Hey, if your valued
customers to deserve a simple gesture of appreciation from your
credit card company, That's why I discover matches all the
cash back you've earned at the end of your first year.
Discover exceptionally common sense. Learn more at discovered dot com.
Slash match limitations they do apply. As Rich alluded to,
(36:21):
the college football landscape has changed irreparably. We'll tell you
how it all settles out next. Dun Fox
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. It's mighty powerful, open,
brought back down to earth with the hobo name that
has been ascribed to me these last couple of months.
That well, it's taken on its whole life here on
the show rich because look, I come in with my
old raggedy holy and I mean holy big holes on
(00:49):
the bottom by flip flops, but they still cover my foot.
So I mean, what am I gonna do? Right, There's
enough foam that I'm good. Uh, And then obviously you know,
pay eat on the shorts. And today I'm wearing a
red Fox T shirt. So I got that going for
the minimalist, right. You know, who needs a thick soul
(01:10):
underneath your foot when you you can really you can
really feel the earth under you know, well, I feel
the earth move under my feet. Either that or you
go Cliff Clayven who said, you know, it all comes
back to shoes. It does comfortable shoes, and then there
is something to be said for that, no question about it.
I do have to do the update because we really
didn't get into it yesterday. I got the pins out
(01:32):
of my hand rich pretty soon. I'm no longer part
partially Wolverine. It's a little sad about it's more impressive. Yeah,
it's a big step and and I'm I'm proud of
your recovery now during uh, during during this time, it
has been just a little finger flection, you know, bicep curls.
(01:53):
I'm sure what have you been up to in terms
of keeping the hand in shape during this time or
was it strictly rap well? With the right hand, I
couldn't do anything. Fortunately I'm a lefty, which man, everything
was available to me. That is amazing. There's a random joke.
I don't know why I fell uh and used my
weak side to brace my fault, but I did, and
(02:13):
lucky for me. But it was interesting right because you
had the big pin going down towards the pinky that
was almost all the way to the risk so like
there's no movement really my pinky yet. Uh, we're gonna
have to work on that one quite a bit. But
like the rest of it, who's helping me nobody? So
you just get to work. I've done a lot more walking, yeah,
(02:35):
and I can't relied on that sling a lot. Here's
what you can expect, um, you know, I mean with
depending on the physical therapist. Should you hire one who's
gonna walk you through all this, you're basically going to
spend the next I don't know, two weeks to a
month opening your hands, scrunching a towel and then opening
your hand again. The towel roll up was something that
(02:58):
was told to me. My doctor also advised that, you know,
this is the thing for dexterity, you might want to,
you know, buy yourself a keyboard and maybe that would
be an excuse to not only learn to play an instrument,
but also to work those muscles. So I have now
a tablature Elton John songbook. I should probably learn the
(03:19):
basics first, but eventually I'll have you know, the jeweling
crusted glasses and I'll be ready to go. Yeah, I
was about to say, I can't wait till you're like
like Billy Joel, You're just here, just out on the stage.
You're just you know, waiting for people to put bread
in your jar, still wearing the paint stained shirt, the
red fox T shirt and the soulless flip flops. Hey,
you can't change me. We try to make that fashionable.
(03:44):
I make that pretty like the post. Yeah, at sixty
five bucks a pair of Holy flip flopsy concert markup.
That's where you make your dollars. He's rich, Join Burger
And for Jason Smith here the Jason smiths you with
my garment. 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 all the cash back you've
(04:06):
earned at the end of your first year. Discover exceptionally
common sense. Learn more at discover dot com. Slash match
limitations they do apply. We did a bunch of college
football our one. We turn our attention to the NBA
here for a while. Uh Mark Madino join us here
in just a little bit coming up in about fifteen
minutes from now. Talk about the day's activities and all
(04:26):
the rumor, conjecture, speculation, on free agent movement, impossible trade assignments.
But I wanted to ask this to you. Rich we
Bow and I were just kind of spitball on this
and came to a conclusion. You know, a couple of
weeks ago, Smith and I were joking and he just
kind of threw out. He goes, what if you just
take you know, Durant and Kyrie and just trade him
(04:47):
for Westbrook in a d well That that became. I
don't know if that's a hot take, but it became
something that people started to do in earnest today. You know,
some of the poll questions and stuff we we do
get bastardized and show up somewhere this one. Uh, there
was as a why don't they just do this well
beyond injuries and you know, not wanting those guys or
their contracts on either side. But that's a whole other thing.
(05:11):
But it's the idea that if Kevin Durant were to
join the Lakers and follow me on this, is this
perhaps the first title? I mean, the bubble people have
their issues, but would this be the first title where
nobody would get credit? Because Lebron needed Kevin Durant to
get another one. Kevin Durant jumped into another situation with
(05:32):
a superstar now granted, coming from where the Lakers have
been and and outside of that title run pretty much
a disaster for the last decade. But it's possible that
people dislike and want to do the negative to both
those guys tour that championship never really exists, just like
that forest falling or the tree falling in the forest,
(05:52):
and we're not around to hear it. Yeah, yeah, Durant
to Los Angeles, though, I mean, look, you're just going
to have to spend so so so much money, and
or not even money you're gonna have to spend. You're
gonna have to spend so much draft capital. You're gonna
have to leverage the entire future of your franchise in
(06:14):
order to put this. Yeah, but who cares about draft picks.
I mean, I'm I'm all with less need in the
blank those picks Department, and have been for a long
time rich because if I can get a superstar today
and take my best shot at a title or two
and we actually get one, now if it fails, then yeah,
people say, look what all you gave up to not
not win? Well that's fine, but you shoot your shot,
(06:35):
but it gets But but what we're talking about, yeah, no, no,
I guess yes. And that's true too, because you know, look,
you kicked the can down the road, but still those
chickens come home to roost. Absolutely, I generally agree with
what you're saying. I say, if you have a chance
to win right now, win right now. But here's the
(06:57):
strange thing. You know. Look, Durant joining Golden State when
Curry was in his mid to late twenties, and this
splash Brothers plus Draymond trio was was at its peak.
You know. I mean, I've realized they're coming off their
most recent title. But the regular season did not look
(07:20):
good for Golden State. Uh they barely played together those three,
and they put it all together and assembled something special
in the postseason. I think we would I think the
Lakers in order for them to even have postseason success
adding Durant to the full it would look something similar.
It would be like Lebron You can't count on him
(07:40):
for a full eighty two anymore. Uh, A d is
made of glass until proven other otherwise. And Kevin Durants
had his issues as he gets a little longer in
the tooth, year with injuries as well. So is it
is it going to look the same as when he
joined the super Team in Golden State or is it
gonna look more like it did when he winned the
(08:00):
Super Team in Brooklyn? Unfortunately, I kind of feel like
it's gonna look more more of the same like it
did when he joined the Brooklyn Super Team. Yeah, and
then that's the thing, right, But it's all a nice
theoretical exercise here. I just was having fun with it
because this would be the take nine months from now,
no right point that guy blank, that guy nobody wins.
(08:21):
The only guy we're gonna celebrate is Darvin Ham and
whoever the sixth man will and and I think it
would probably be Lebron's title, Like you know what I mean,
because everybody what what what everybody would insert if the
if Durant coming to l A would would actually occur,
They probably say, well, Lebron is the general manager, so
he's the one who greased the wheels to get this done, right.
(08:42):
You know that he's assembled the team in its current
state now and Lebron has reached his final forum in
the NBA, which is he's he's you can't even say
player GM anymore, he's like player GM, future owner. I mean,
he's made no qualms about going public with the fact
that not only would he like to own an NBA team,
(09:03):
he named the city he wants to put it in
like so, I mean, it's it's an interesting time we're
living in uh in the NBA in general. But getting
back to the original point you're making, I think if
Durant joined l A, given that they've won a recent
championship anyways, I think they would give the credit to Lebron,
(09:24):
which then swings the door back to Yeah, Durant one
finals with two teams, He's won three championships, maybe he
even won three NBA finals m v p s by
the end of his career. Should he join l A
and build a super team and go and win a
championship and do all those things? But has he ever?
(09:44):
Has he ever? Will he ever get the credit for
being the reason that will be his legacy? Well, because
that's allegedly right now. Obviously, the more podcast he does
in more social media and maybe gets loose with David
Letterman next time when he's high, Like what you're gonna do?
I don't care, but you know, truth serum uh in
(10:06):
all respects, regardless of what it is, your your think
of choice. Did you watch that whole thing? But I
haven't seen at all. I've seen more than the clips
that became the go round. But I find him fascinating.
I'm a big fan like he and Draymond. Fascinating doesn't
mean that every once in a while you're just like,
all right, just go go do your thing, or you're
you're you know, barking up a tree that maybe you
(10:28):
don't understand right, and you know everybody that's quick to
point out you never did that, did that whatever. I'm like, okay,
that's fine. But we're fans and media right now. It's there.
Are you punching down or you're necessarily punching down? But
you know, when you and I talk about football, When
I talk football with Bucky Brooks on a on a
(10:49):
Sunday morning, the goal is to make it digestible, right
do I can I necessarily go through and and do
all the coverage stuff and give you all the technical terms.
I don't know. I think with a little work I
can polish that and get back to that. But is
that what the average fan or consumer of a radio
show wants no. So when basketball players or football players
(11:11):
whatever start talking about different coverages, pickups, whatever in very
technical terms, you're speaking to a very small audience. Yeah,
and you're mean kind of thumbing the nose that the people,
but there you're trying to court and also look interaction
with fans. It is changed, obviously with social media because
of the twenty four hour, three sixty five access that
(11:33):
people who are interested in the NBA have to Kevin
Durant and the availability of Kevin Durant on his social
media pages. It has completely changed the way we communicate
with our superstars. If you are a fan of Okay
see and you want to tell Kevin Durant how much
you can't stand him, you have that access. If you're
a Brooklyn fan and you are pissed at Kevin Durant
(11:56):
for waiting until two hours before free agent he opens
to announce your trade when everybody sort of felt like
the Brooklyn Nets have stabilized at least in the moment um, Yeah,
I mean you have access to him. And what's interesting
about that David Letterman sit down is he expressed a
very different Kevin Durant than I would even characterize him.
(12:19):
As you know. And I think I, you know, just
because of our roles here talking about these guys all
the time, following basketball very closely, we pay attention. I
don't consider him petty, but I do consider him sensitive
at least that's the portrayal that I've I've viewed. But
he says he's not sensitive at all. He's like a
duck in water, you know. The the water just beats
(12:41):
up and rolls off his back and he's onto the
next moment. He doesn't get hung up with you know.
But but that's not that Kevin Durant. I know that
Kevin Durant. I know he'll he'll get into vicious battles
with people on Twitter. You know. Maybe his attitude towards
all of this is very puppet puppet master, you know.
(13:02):
And he's he's very zen about the whole thing, and
he feels very in control of the whole thing. And
maybe age and wisdom and his veteran experience in the
NBA has hardened to him to some of the cruelty
that that, you know, being a person in his position,
UH can suffer. But yeah, I mean, even recently, the
guy who exists on social media versus the guy he
(13:26):
portrayed when he did that sit down. It's it's two
very different people. I'm curious which is the truth. No,
And that's the beauty of it. And like I've been
saying it all week and I'll stand by it. But
all of these media feuds both on both sides the athlete,
uh and the entertainer or journalists, small j wherever you
(13:47):
want to go with it from the Baker may have
field stuff back with Colin to Skimp and Draymond and
Skimp and k D and Skip and he's got a
lot of guys. But just keep going on down the line.
I mean, it's all w W W E were works right
right because it's good for brand. Like I openly courted.
I did it on Twitter. That's wall one dome. You're
a player, executive coach and you just want to have
(14:09):
media beef. We could go and and and if you
don't really do the improv thing, we could work on
that a little and it'll be great. It'll be great
theater for everybody. In other words, I'd like a little
cloud too rich around here. I want to court it.
I will put the pin in this before we talk
to Mark Medina with someone who just retweeted a welcome
to Live golf graphic with a picture of Kevin Durant
(14:32):
on there. Yeah, yeah, see now you got that. He's got,
He's got. Yeah, Kevin Durant's going to the Big ten
along with the USC and U C l A. I
mean it's look the first really flying you got NBA
free agency, which is almost as exciting or more than
NBA regular season and now conference realignment is almost as
(14:53):
good as a mid level pack twelve or Big ten
game anyway, So we're here for buddy that this is
the beauty of it. Four hours of madness to discuss it,
mock it, uh and toss it in a million different ways.
He's rich Orinberger, how Mike Carmen. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. I think
(15:15):
this is the part you're supposed to hop up and down,
rich rich Hoarinburger and for Jason Smith tonight on Mike Harmen,
thanks for hanging out with us here on your Thursday night.
We know you have a lot of options audio video
streaming services looking at the night sky or picking up
after your dog or children. We know that, but we
appreciate you hanging out with us here. Uh, and we
(15:37):
can't tell you how much, but you no other thing.
If you are a valued customer, you deserve a simple
gesture of appreciation from your credit card company. That's why
I discover matches all the cash back you've earned at
the end of your first year. Discover exceptionally common sense,
learn more, Discover dot com slash match limitations they do apply.
Rich orin Berger in for Jason Smith. Tonight, the NBA
(15:58):
Silly Season is up and in full effect. Rich And
I gotta say I'm here for it right watching Funny Money,
because really some of the numbers are just unfathomable. And
I've never wanted to say, hey, folks, get too much cash,
you know, you you get what someone's willing to pay, right,
Just like when you go to a store or you're
buying in the collectibles market or whatever, it's like, why
(16:20):
is that worth so much money? It's like, well, someone
decided that they needed to have it for whatever reason.
In this case, it also becomes the well I want
a title, or I just want the shiny new superstar
or guy that I think could be. So we won't
belabor nick stalk tonight because well Smith isn't here, but
Jalen Brunson going to the New York Knicks. It's one
of those I saw a line and I failed to
(16:43):
note who it was saying, well, I guess tampering doesn't
extend to family members working for a team, because Rick
Brunson being part of the Knicks organization, but Jalen Bronson
leaving Dallas. I thought the interesting part of it that
people got all upset about. I was saying, well, the
Mavericks didn't even get a chance to talk to him, Like, well,
(17:04):
they did, They had a full run by which to
sign him, Oh yeah, and kneel with it, and they didn't. Yeah. Yeah,
it's uh any anybody who's trying to defend the home
team for not getting the deal done. We were just
talking about the Freddie Freeman stuff, right, Yeah, Atlanta could
have kept Freeman. It's just money, and it's not our money,
(17:25):
so it's a lot easier for us to talk about it. Right.
There are ways, right, if you want to skirt the
salary cap in any sports league and spend a little
bit more on guarantees and all those things that we
know are are available to front offices or ownership too
to still keep a player happy, satisfied with his contract amount,
(17:48):
and also build around him. That's available to you. It
just costs money. And look, I get it. It's not
an endless you know tree or bottomless well or whatever
you want to call it. But there there are ways
to get that done. And if he is a current
product of yours and and available for negotiations. Yeah, you
(18:10):
may think that playing for the hometown team will tug
out the harms heartstrings, but that's getting less and less
as the days go by. I I really think that
players they're they're far more loyal and rightfully so, to
the name on the back of the jersey than they
are on the front of the jersey, especially in the NBA,
(18:31):
because you can't trust if you're a part of a
team that the other star on the roster is going
to stay loyal to the team. Right How How can
how can you wake up every morning and say, oh, yeah, okay,
you know if you're Lebron because a D s here,
it means he's not going to become dissatisfied and try
to force his way at l a at some point
(18:52):
or Kyrie and Durant in Brooklyn or James harden In
in Philadelphia. They're nothing is Garon ted in that league anymore?
So it kind of does feel like the wild West
where once free agency hits or the league gear ends,
just go and get yours. Let's see where what it
all looks like when the dust clears. He's re join
(19:13):
Burger I might. I'm enjoining us now on the hotline
to try to read t leaves and make it all
makes sense to us, because or maybe he demands a
trade too. So her buddy Mark Medina NBA dot Com
at Mark g Underscore Medina NBA season is done, draft
is done, and and boom, we get right into chaos.
We thought it was gonna be a quiet day and
(19:34):
then Katie wants out, Mark, how about that? It's it's
the first off to answer your open ending question, I
was able to agree with an extential with Fox Sports
Radio recently. So I'll be here free agency and next
season and I'm beautiful demanded trade, don't worry. I'm loyal.
I appreciate you. That's good. Well, that's that's good to
get that out there. We'll make sure to put that
(19:55):
in print big that I'll actually honor the contract and
not shakes three. Well, he's in a four year deal
like Kevin Dread. Yeah, we'll see. Hey, you know what,
Actually that's a that's good opening to talk about what
we're just discussing. Mark the idea that loyalty in terms
(20:18):
of where a player might be next season. It's fleeting
in the NBA anymore, and I'm not sure if that's
the best thing for the league and for its fans, certainly,
but that's the way it is right now in its
current state. Is this sustainable? Is this model of doing
business in the NBA sustainable? Or do you think at
(20:38):
some point the commissioner and the NBA p A have
to come together and figure out a way to stabilize
all this because I mean, you buy somebody's jersey and
you expect them to be there for very long. That
is a full hearty investment these days. Yeah, no, it's
not sustainable. And look like I gotta, you know, preempt
(20:59):
my coming. Terry's saying, Hey, player powerment for the most parts,
good thing. Players should be able to decide when they're
a free agent what's best for them. Organizations do that.
They trade players even before their contract ends. But this
idea in Kevin Durant's case, where you know, he legitimately
might have reason to be upset and we don't know
(21:20):
what's causing be upset. Is he upset Kyrie Irving? Or
is the episode with the Nets? But regardless, literally last
season he agreed to a four year extension and that
for your extension doesn't even kick in until next season,
So there has to be a media of the minds.
That's one thing, uh, you know, for a superstar to
(21:41):
you know, use his petting. Free agency has leveraged, so
to speak, um, but to be demanding trades before your
new contract even kicks in, that's not good for the league.
And I'm saying this again being a pro player. Hey,
every guy has to decide what's best for them. But
when he signed a deal, you know that are out
and all of a sudden you're that unhappy like that,
(22:03):
The league has to make reforms with the p A
to try to reduce these things from happening. Now. I
don't know how many times its showed up in your timeline,
but it goes back to me being able to buy
property on Lake Como next to Clooney. For all the
times I saw Kevin Durant in the Lakers jersey in
my timeline today, there's a lot of more I've seen
(22:25):
more of the what Kyrie would look like jersey. That
seems to be the more realistic route. I don't think that. Look,
I mean, Kevin Durant put his preferred destinations out here,
the Phoenix Suns in the Miami heat. That Nats certainly
aren't obligated to do that. But I don't think that
the Lakers want Kevin Durant, as weird as that might sound.
(22:47):
But also I don't think Kevin Durant would want to
be there. I know, just from my time in Golden State.
The sense that I got is, you know, part he
left Golden State partly to show that, hey, he can
win by being the main bus driver, as Charles Barkley
recently alluded to. And if you were to be with
the Lakers, like all the praise goes to lebron right
(23:08):
and and you know, any qualified praise would go to Durant.
So I think that, you know, beyond that, the Lakers,
it's not a guarantee that they would want Kyrie iring,
but I think they are looking at it more from
that lens of Hey, Kyrie and Lebron have a lot
of history together. While they have question marks about his
leadership and his availability, as twenty nine other teams are,
(23:31):
they know that from a basketball standpoint, he's a much
better fit than Russell Westbrook. But we'll see. I mean,
Russ doesn't have a lot of interest around the NBA,
So even if the Lakers do want Kyrie, maybe it's
not going to happen because the Russ is that toxic
of an asset. I'm a big Trey Young fan. I
think he's one of the brightest new talents in this league.
(23:51):
How much better are the Atlanta Hawks today? Oh, they're
They're astronomically better. I think de jont Murray is one
of those rising young talents, and you might think, well,
why did the say Anton Spurs allow him to walk?
There's fair question marks to be had with that because
I think that he's developing into a special player. But
I think the Spurs, you know, it wasn't a criticism
(24:13):
of the Jonte, It just seems like that they were
that far into a rebuilding phrase that it's like, hey,
may as well tear it down and do this the
right way because they can't really do this rebuilding on
the fly. They missed the playoffs again this season. But
in the Hawks case, yeah, I think that Trey Young
and Degone Murray. I wouldn't say that they're the best
(24:35):
duo right now in the NBA because there's other veteran players,
but I think that they're the best young duo in
the NBA. And knowing how Travish link is as a
GM UH, he's just getting started with you know, maybe
they can reach out to deal with John Collins uh
with another deal as far as the trade goes, or
keeping him a long term um. But they also have
(24:56):
a pretty good supporting cast. So I think when you
look at these last two seas and you know, last
year with the Hawks making the playoffs this year they didn't,
it was very clear that this was much better than
it was in the past of them being a lottery team.
But how do they compete in a crowded Eastern Conference?
And now I think that you can propel them as
one of those teams that you know are prohibitive favorites,
(25:18):
but they have a fighter's chance and making noise. Yeah,
I mean a lot of the teams in the East.
We either have chaos like in Brooklyn, or you have
guys coming back off injuries, or you have situations, say
like Philadelphia, where you have stars, you have a coach
which who's had some uh how should be saying less
than great exits from playoffs. But now James Harden freese
(25:39):
up money, they bring in P. J. Tucker, Daniel House.
How much better are they? Well, look, you may as
well call them the Philadelphia Rockets, right like Daryl Morey
Simson tent on reuniting with every player there from Houston.
They maybe maybe that that's the solution to the Westbrook
problem with the Lakers. They bring back Westbrook and see
(25:59):
if that experiment with James Harden works. Again my hunches
they won't do that. But I think the larger point is, uh,
Daryl Morey is bringing back a lot more familiar faces.
And I think that James Harden, I'm pleasantly surprised he
was shocked. He is showing some self awareness that someone
like Russell Westbrook could show that he's mindful that uh,
(26:20):
you know, he's where he's at in his career. His
game has dropped down a peg or two and so
he's willing to exercise some sort of discount to make
sure that Aryl Morey has more at his disposal to
have a better team. And you know, look, they haven't
agreed to a deal yet, but my understand that he's
going to meet with the Sixers this weekend, and obviously
(26:40):
he opted out with the idea that it will be
a lesser figure. So I think that, you know, there's
obviously more work to be done, but the Sixers can
be right back where they should be with giving Joel
Embiid more help than he got last season. Um, we
know that there's a host of young superstars eligible for
those key contract extensions, Jean Moran and the Grizzlies. I'm
(27:03):
sure they'll get that done if they haven't already as
we're speaking to each other. Um, but how about Zion Williamson, right,
hasn't played a lot of games through his first three
seasons with the Pelicans due to injury. Where they at
with Zion, Well, nothing's official yet, but you know, I
haven't heard anything but signs that hey, they're going to
(27:24):
agree to him with an extension. And look, I'm one
of those people that earlier in the season I was
learing of it because I still have this wait and
see approach about can he ever get healthy? But I
think that you know, the Pelicans have stayed firm that
regardless of whatever criticism he's gotten for how involved he's
been with the team or whatever, um, they're bullish that
(27:46):
you know he's going to turn a corner health wise,
and you know he's been cleared basically since late May
to start rehabbing without any restrictions, and I haven't heard
of any setback since then. But even with that, I
think the Pelicans are willing to make that dive into
uh committeeing towards Zion long term, knowing that there's also
(28:08):
a lot of other things that are going for them well,
with Brandon Ingram and C. J. McCollum being a good
veteran voice around there, Willie Green showing that he has
what it takes to be a really good head coach
in this league. And so no doubt while the Pelicans
success long term will hinge on not only how well
Zion Williamson will play, with how healthy he can be.
(28:30):
I think the comforting fact for the Pelicans is that
they have a lot of good working pieces around the
medicod culture that can help absorb anything negative with his return,
as well as putting him in a good position succeed.
Fantastic stuff, NBA Run or NBA dot Com. You can
follow him on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina joins
(28:53):
us each and every week and signed his contract extension.
That's breaking news. Probably need the sounder for that one. Mark,
appreciate you taking some time with us. Enjoy free agency.
Look forward to talking to you again soon, and enjoy
the holiday weekend. We appreciate you, guys. Happy fourth and Hey,
you hear it on this sound by here, feel free
to replay it over the airwaves. I'm committed to Fox
Sports Radio for however long they want made. I dig
(29:15):
that Kyrie once said that on a court in Boston,
almost exactly those words, Mark, I am not Kyrie Irvan
though here you go. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
(29:35):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast Straight Fired
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight
Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines,
accurate stats to help you win big at the sports book,
and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and
(29:56):
listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the I
Heart Ray You app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get
your podcasts. Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio. Jason s
fents you with Mike Carmen rich Ornberger, former NFL lineman teammate,
Got you carried Tom Brady quite a bit. He sounds sexy.
(30:17):
Add Ornberger on Twitter is where you find him. I've
been active. There's a lot of stuff you're getting after it, Yeah,
feeling it. I mean, maybe got a little bit of
a caffeine rolling through. I mean double duty for you, right,
you were up really early, and I mean Hartman's exhausting.
Plus you got two little kids running around. Yeah, so
I mean, you know fumes soon enough, might be mad
(30:41):
your head against the microphone soon. I'll tell you what
I dig. I dig radio at night because it feels
like the people who were we're cheers in with, they've
got their libations in hand, or they're trying to keep
their eyes peeled open. At ten and two on the
road somewhere. You know, I just this is uh, it's
a freeing hour to be out here and discussing, especially today.
(31:05):
I mean, NBA free agency pops off every off season,
so that's a guarantee some big news breaks it. It
happens every single season. But what happened in the college
football world today, I don't think. I don't think it
has yet to get it to do because I think
it broke so late in the day today, you know,
after the lunch rush, right that we really haven't fully
(31:28):
feasted on this and conceptualized what this means for college football.
Everything is different today than it was, you know, than
it was yesterday. And we'll go through some of those
parameters coming about ten minutes from now, No question about it.
There's I mean, we've we spun off a little bit.
We talked to our guy Pete Feutech earlier, but I've
got well and in the note that I sent to
(31:50):
to our crew, you, uh, what do we have like
eight different permutations? Uh? And I call it the Spidery
effects only appropriate that Spiderman is currently on one of
monitors here in the Fox Sports Radio studios. Uh, that
you know, you take your basic point, right, basic story headline,
and then just say, all right, where how many different
(32:10):
ways can we dissect this? How many pieces of a
spider web can we touch? And that's uh, that's certainly
the college football landscape going forward, because while a team
you work for and work with is going to play prominently,
I think in the next generation. We'll get into that
coming up in about ten minutes from now, but I
wanted to get into this Sean mcveigh's story really fast. Uh,
(32:33):
talking on the podcast Open Mike with Mike Silver saying
hard Thing for Me talking about his end of the
era with Jared Goff. Remember so much made of how
phone calls and communication failed, but here's the quote from McVeigh,
hard thing for me because the thing that's most important
that anything is being a good communicator, clear, open, honest,
(32:55):
make sure people aren't caught off guard and really have
respect for the players and coaches for what they have
to do. And I wish that there had been better
in person communication. Yeah, like anything, right, you've got it.
We We've talked about it all the time. Right. Intent
might be great, but if someone doesn't get your tone right,
it's a phone message text message, voicemail, all of those things. People,
(33:19):
depending on their mood and what's going on in a
given moment, they're gonna read into it. And if they're
getting bad news, right in this case, Jared Goff's getting
bad news no matter how you cut it. One I mean,
and that's not even taking any jokes at Detroit. It's
just saying, I've got this guy that everybody thinks is
the greatest young coach going. We've got a team that
can win. I got us into a super Bowl. You
(33:43):
could say all you want, defense carry and whatever, that
the reality was, they were still the super Bowl. And
then you're being told you're you're the guy. You're not
the guy anymore. I had. I had breakups in high
school that I look back when I was in my
twenties and when what the hell was I doing? What
the hell was I thinking? And and now in my
(34:05):
thirties look back to my twenties and feel the same way.
You know, when you're dealing with people and you're talking
about relationships, whether you know it's a boss to an
employee or personal relationship of friendship, whatever, I mean, you
always look back and you always criticize your handling of
those events because you are now detached from the emotions,
(34:27):
from the urgency, and you have the the hindsight the
ability to look at things from that perspective when you're
in it, though it's very difficult to know for sure
if you were you know, I don't know a year
more wise or ten years more wise, if you would
handled it any differently, because emotions are an interesting thing.
(34:49):
And you know, Sean McVeigh, Look, he was excited about
the future of his franchise. He was excited about the
prospect of getting a quarterback who very o Alee is
more talented than Jared Goff and felt excited about that
future and and rightfully so we saw what the outcome
was this season. So you know, it's it's very it's
(35:12):
good that he's reflective. It's good that, in the position
he's in as a head coach, that he wants to
be a better people person, because that is an enormous
part of the job. But I mean, if he could
go back like with the wisdom he has now and
with the same emotion and urgency that he had, then
would it have gone much differently? Maybe? Maybe? But who knows,
(35:34):
you know, because time is of the essence, when you're
dealing with trade scenarios and front offices and player requests
and draft capital and all the things that get thrown
into the pot and stirred up during these conversations, just
always remember you're in a glass case of emotion, that's tray.
You need to be able to step away. Otherwise you
end up saying the Ringo Star classic photograph and I
(35:58):
realize you're not coming back anymore. You should, you should
really add that to your playlist. Hey, if your valued
customers to deserve a simple gesture of appreciation from your
credit card company, That's why I discover matches all the
cash back you've earned at the end of your first year.
Discover exceptionally common sense. Learn more at discovered dot com.
Slash match limitations they do apply. As Rich alluded to,
(36:21):
the college football landscape has changed irreparably. We'll tell you
how it all settles out next. Dun Fox
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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