July 16, 2022 • 33 mins
Jason Smith and Steve DeSaegher welcome you into the Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon! The Texans settle with 30 women who have accused Deshaun Watson and Jason and Steve give their reactions on that. FSR Legal Insider Amy Dash joins the guys to discuss the Watson situation and more from the NFL. Plus, NBA.com NBA Insider Mark Medina joins the guys to discuss more from the NBA!
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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 week
night ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. For Russell Westbrook, what's
the best path for him to reclaim his career? And
that is I agree with his agent, it's staying with
the Lakers because if he goes someplace else, he's off
the NBA map. No one's ever going to acquire him
again thinking he can be a difference maker for us.
(00:47):
No one's ever going to pay him again because he's
not a difference maker. You look at what happened when
the Lakers were an absolute and abject disaster. So if
somehow things change, let's just say they're able to make
a couple of moves, they get Buddy healed again, Miles Turner.
Whatever it is Westbrook coming back, he's going to start
with the Lakers. If the Lakers defy expectation and they're good.
(01:10):
Guess who jump starts his career again, Russell Westbrook and
whether he resigns with the Lakers from more money because
it works and Lakers go far in the playoffs and
Lebron says, a, let's keep the gang together for one
more year, let's try to figure it all out, or
another team says, you know what, hey, he can be
our Chris Paul. We saw he was back to being
the dynamic player that he was he was with Washington
Oklahoma City. He can still do that. Yeah, he's thirty three,
(01:32):
thirty four. We can go get him and give him
a couple of years and see if he is the
missing piece for us. So that's really the best path
for him. I mean, obviously had to opt into the
forty seven million dollars a year because no one else
is gonna pay him, though he's gonna play under the
option year finish out the max contract. But you mentioned
his age. This is the agent he's had since U C.
L A. So this is over a decade with this
(01:53):
guy that they are years. He was there with A
fourteen years. So somewhere in this when you gave the
Baker Mayfield example, are you saying that's also the Geno
Smith route, where you go to another team and people
forget about you and then you get your chance. Is
that Is that what you just said? The Baker Mayfield
is Geno Smith? No? No, no no, The Geno Smith route
(02:14):
is go to a team, don't say anything, and then
watch another hope the team trades their quarterback and then
gets to get a new one and they realize, oh,
you're the only one there, the other guy that can't
play quarters. I guess that's how it goes. I guess
that's what we're doing. Okay, then that's fine, But Russell
Westbrook still has years plural left in this league. As
(02:36):
bad as last year was and as bad as Russell
Westbrook was in the paint, I'm still astounded at a
guy that's known for his athleticism since u C l A.
That's part of the reason why he was a lottery pick,
not just the defense. He just was a waste in
the paint. How a guy could miss that many four
or five footers and in was astounding to me. And
(02:59):
so you can't have you know, point guards tend to
have a lot of layup attempts. You can't have that
as your ball handler, and then you know the amount
of hitting the side of the backboard and those kind
of things. But that's going to count this year. The
side of the bat one something. You get a half
a point for the side of the backboard, you get
(03:21):
a quarter, you get a quarter and a quarter of
a point for the top of the backboard. So it's
going to at least how no matter what he does,
he will draw some kind of points for the Lakers.
Next Well, he's still going to be in this league
for years and I I stand by that plural. However,
what last year did is it kind of rearranged the
(03:43):
course of the flow of the river of his resume.
If you understand, it really got people thinking about him
in a way that they might start thinking about him
that way permanently. And so he's got to do something
now this year with the Lakers to kind of make
up for last year. Nothing can make up for last year.
(04:03):
And if you know what I mean, you've got to
change some minds. That's on you this year. And this
is my open letter to the Lakers for this year,
because Frank Vogel didn't do it, and he should have,
and it was a disaster from the beginning let's just
all be You know, we got pulp fiction on our
TVs right now here at Fox. Let's all be five
little fonds. He's gonna be cool for a second and
(04:25):
understand what I'm saying is what the path is for
the Lakers going forward. Last year they got Russell Westbrook.
Russell Westbrook has done one thing for the past fourteen years.
He was playing point guard his way, and the system
of the team has always adjusted around Russell Westbrook, who
is a dynamic player. He is a volume shooter. He
(04:46):
doesn't always make the right decisions, but he hasn't always
been surrounded with the greatest talent. Sometimes he had great
talent around him, got to the NBA Finals, sometimes he didn't.
Still was able to win m v P in the NBA.
What did the Lakers do when they got us Westbrook? Again,
this is a guy who's been in the league now
for thirteen years. We're gonna change what you do. We're
gonna take you from being a ball dominant point guard
(05:08):
to being someone who maybe brings the ball up, splits
the job with Lebron, but sometimes stands in the corner
waiting for the ball. How was that ever going to
be and work out well for the Lakers. You took
a player who does one thing really well, and you're
gonna try to make Russell Westbrook AJU and and and
do something that he's never done before, thinking that's going
(05:30):
to work. You can't do that with every player. And
maybe you're spoiled with Lebron because Lebron is someone as
we've seen, my goodness, the guy it's small forward, power forward,
point guard center. Last year, maybe moving Lebron to the
five full time is how it's gonna go and how
he extends his career for another two or three years
just because you have Lebron, who can play any position
(05:52):
incredibly well. I mean, you can't just do that with everybody.
You can't take someone and say, okay, this is what
you've done, we're gonna do this to you. Here. I cringe,
Steve when I see the Jets in the NFL draft, go, hey,
we we let you know he was a defensive end
in college, but boy, he really projects well to be
a defensive tackle in the NFL. And I go, there's
a bust. That guy's never gonna happen because you're gonna
(06:13):
change what the guy knows what he's done well, it's
gotten with the league. No, no, we're gonna change your
position because we think you can do this better. And
that's one thing to say when a guy is young.
But Westbrook thirteen years suddenly you're gonna change what he does.
He's gonna and he's gonna buy in and don't know,
you have to give him the offense, you have to
adjust around it, and you have to let it go
from there. I realized that could rankle the feathers of
(06:35):
a d and Lebron a bit, going this is kind
of our team. But this is who you wanted. You
wanted Russell Westbrook. You want the best version of Russell Westbrook.
This is the way to do it, and this is
the best version for the Lakers. The Lakers have more
problems than just Westbrook. Allow me to state the obvious,
because well, yeah, no, But the way that people have
talked about Westbrook, some are getting the impression or you know,
(06:56):
the foggy glasses looking back to last season that he
was the only problem. Please. He has had a career
where he's averaged at least twenty points a game for
a decade straight, but not last year. He also has
been the assists man so often that he led the
league in assists three out of the last four years,
certainly not last year, not on this team. And then
when you have the warts of his shooting, including the
(07:18):
in the paint shooting, there just was no avoiding how
by his standard, this was a bad year and it
was a wolf a year by the Lakers standard. But
his three point shooting he was under again from three
point range. Why are you trying three to five three
pointers per game when you can't make three out of
ten And this has been the case for the last
(07:39):
five years from long distance for this guy. So he
needs to get it through his thick skull on some
points as well. Twitter, and how about a fresca Jason
Smith Steve to Sayer in from Mike Harmon tonight. So look,
it may not be the best thing for the Lakers,
but if he's gonna be back, and this is what
it is. And again he's parting ways with his agent
as they differed over the direction of him. It looks
(07:59):
like he wanted to leave the Lakers now his agent
wanted him to stay. The best thing for everybody, He's
got to stay. And if he does stay and you
can't move him, because look, if you can move Russell Westbrook,
you move him right the Lakers. That's one thing that
I'm not saying you gotta keep him. But if you
are forced to keep him, that's the best way forward.
The best to do is be able to move him
and bring somebody else in, or make a train and
(08:21):
get Kyrie Irving to come in. That's the best thing.
But if you are stuck with him and you have
no way to go forward, I know it sounds weird, going, boy,
we're stuck with him. We're gonna give you the offense.
That's the NBA. That's not works. Sometimes we really don't
want you, but we're gonna give you so much responsibility.
This is how people succeed now in the world and
outside of basketball. But that's the way forward. If you're
stuck with him, you gotta keep him. You gotta let
(08:42):
him be who he is. That's the best way form.
And I thought it was a very complimentary statement from
the agent, I mean up and down talking about well,
of course he spent so much time with him. This
was presented as a very amicable departure and yet a divorce.
No the less. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
(09:05):
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific, Honessey Sports, CBS, Sports, Fox,
Sports Radio, Legal Insider Amy Dash. You can follow on
Twitter at Amy dash TV. That's at Amy Dash TV.
What's happened to name? Hi? How are you doing? Is
that my theme music? Yes, it is. I missed that.
I'm so happy to be back. I feel like I'm
(09:27):
staging a comeback right now. Like this reminds me of
when I was little. I used to go to the
w w E. It was when I was younger of
us called the WWF before that lawsuit, and everybody had
an entrance song. So I feel like this is my debut. Yeah,
we we give walk up music. It's it's it's your
version of walk up music. It's exactly. I just need
a I need a stage name, and I need a costume.
(09:48):
Well yeah, but possibly a sidekick. Okay, all right, that's
like being a superhero. I need a sidekick and even
costume when you keep well, this is what happened WWF.
Remember they all have like a manager. Well, you gotta
get your own classy freddy blassie. Right, okay, all right,
now is how is that means that good walk up
(10:09):
music for you? Are okay? With the l A Law theme,
I think that's okay. I feel like I need to
have like a daunting manager beside me. It was really like,
no nonsense. You know, you want to make it a
little bit more hardcore. You want like Mr Fuji with
the cane when he would trip people as they would
run by. Okay, all right, that's good form, you know, Okay,
(10:32):
not Jimmy Hart with a megaphone yelling around. I got
a d I think I actually yes, I was definitely well,
you have a bit you You posted this up in
your website League of Justice dot com a couple of
weeks ago. I remember reading you had said that this
was likely going to be the outcome with the women
settling the claims against the Houston Texans who were involved
(10:55):
in this a couple of months ago when it was
found that they helped to facilitate to Shawn Watson getting
massages away from the team. Uh so this just this
did not surprise you would all say that this was
the outcome, Yeah, because you know they're they're really up
against a wall here where it's just been such a
nightmare situation. For this franchise. I mean, the quarterback is
(11:17):
really the face of the franchise, so to have to
go through all this, and I remember in the way beginning,
everybody was talking about conspiracy rumors, Oh was the team
and on it because he had asked for a trade.
But if you think about everything they went through, having
to sit him for so long and just set to
the bed publicity and being harassed at the press conferences,
I mean they were just, I think, so happy to
get this behind them. And I thought it was really
(11:38):
interesting that the McNair's, you know, signed the statement that
they released today saying that the settlements were not an
admission of wrongdoing, but a clear stand against sexual assault
and misconduct of any kind. And they signed it with
kil McNair's wife and daughter. Their names were before his,
So I feel like possibly some of the female was
(12:00):
a new organization had a hand in it, and it
was just there was no other option. I mean, what
are they going to do go through court battles with
potentially thirty women. It's expensive. They can afford to pay
it off and just make it go away. Amy, This
is Steve, the part of the team statement that you
just referenced the clear stand. To me, the clear stand
was we are not going to be mired in this
(12:23):
like he struck so many others through the mire. Because
this case is going on forever. There's not even NFL
discipline yet from this case. They just wanted out right. Yeah.
And I think also there's an element too of you know,
there was there was strong evidence. It's not like there
was no evidence against the team. Now doesn't mean that
the ownership knew anything about what was going on. I
(12:44):
doubt they were sitting I mean, you know, who knows.
Maybe it's possible. I doubt though cal mcnairs sitting there going,
oh yeah, Deshaun Watson is out getting massages in the
Houstonian Hotel. Let's provide him with the hotel membership, Let's
get him the table. Let's make this easy for him
so he can randomly reach out to sixty or more
Instagram people who many of them don't even have massage
(13:04):
therapy licenses. So I don't think there was that level
of involvement. But you know, there was a security employee
who was probably more involved than he should have been
with giving an n d A. That's the allegation at
least so, and then there was an entity that was
contracted by the Texans that had complaints on record about
some of these activities, and the organization by all accounts,
(13:26):
at least in stepping and stop it. So I think
there is some responsibility being taken, not saying that they
had knowledge of it, but saying, okay, you know, if
we were to go to court and have to fight this,
there could be some responsibility, just as uh the employers
of employees who may have been more involved than they
should have. Amy does this have any bearing on how
(13:48):
the NFL will conduct their investigation to the Texans, because
obviously they're they're looking into the four cases that are
still there. They're waiting to make their decisions still be
a ways away. How much does this affect what the
NFL is doing it? You know, there's a lot of
mixed feelings on that some people are saying, and actually
some people are reporting that the NFL has already been
(14:09):
investigating the claims against the Texans. Um I do. I
just don't see how the Texans settle with thirty women
and the NFL doesn't discipline the club at all for
its role active or not direct or not knowing or
not in in you know, failing to supervise what was
going on with Deshaun Watson. And it doesn't necessarily mean
(14:30):
John Watson was doing exactly what he was accused of,
but things were going on that obviously ended up being
detrimental to the team and the league, and that in
of itself is punishable. When the team says this is
our clear stand against any form of sexual assault and misconduct,
are they saying they're siding with the women that they're
settling with. That seems a little odd. It sounds to
(14:53):
me like there is some sort of an acknowledgment within
that statement that things went on that shouldn't have gone on.
Now doesn't mean that Deshaun Watson sexually assaulted any of
these women. Are all of these women? I don't think so.
But I think there's sort of that sigh of like
the disappointed parent that knows that their child is not
(15:15):
the best child. Oh, you know, the honor roles students
that they thought their child would be, your hope their
child would be and something went on to disappoint them,
where their expectations, you know, didn't match the reality of
the situation. So I think that they are bearing responsibility.
And do you think this statement then is easier for
the Texans to make today because he's not with the
Texans anymore. Yeah, exactly. I think it's an admition of all. Gosh, guy,
(15:39):
you know, this guy was really a train wreck for
this organization. Whether he didn't what he's accused it or not,
this is just a horrible situation and a horrible look
because of the number of accusers from the number of
people that he reached out to, and this conduct is
just not normal. I would have loved to have seen
that sentence in today's statement, this guy was a train
wreck for our organizations. That legal analyst Damie Dash with
(16:00):
us here Fox Sports Radio, Jason Smith, Steve Disagarin from
Mike Carmon a right not to widen this out a
little bit bigger. Waiting for the final discipline call on
DeShawn Watson, UH disciplinary Officer Sue Robinson, jointly appointed by
the NFL the NFL p A currently deciding whether Watson
violated the NFL's personal conduct policy. Does today's evidence is
(16:22):
to does today's story have any effect as far as
that goes, and what she's weighing for Watson I don't
think so. Um. I think the real question is how
neutral is this arbitrator, and and how much final phasees
the arbitrator have, you know, I think the prevailing thought
is that if there's no discipline, the NFL can't protest that.
(16:43):
But if there is discipline and they don't like the
amount of discipline, either Watson or the NFL can appeal it,
and then the NFL can step in and completely change
it to what they want anyway. So that's kind of
an odd thing because you're claiming independence and there's going
to be at least a final decision on the facts
of the situation. But then it seems that anything short
(17:05):
of no discipline, or anything more than no discipline, I
should say, they can just come in and do whatever
they want anyway. So it's just it's a weird new
process where they're trying to give the appearance of being
more fair, but I don't not necessarily know that it's
going to play out that way. So I'm curious to
see whether she really makes a well reasoned and thought
out decision that seems at least somewhat fair. I have
(17:27):
heard people in this case has gone on for a
while and As we said earlier, there is no NFL
discipline coming yet, and who cares. The judge probably could
care less that training camps are opening soon. But I
have people heard people on the outside on the air say, Hey,
a couple of grand juries in Texas haven't indicted Watson.
(17:48):
Does that mean anything? Did they examine all the cases,
even a majority of the cases? Should we draw conclusions
from that? Well, it depends because there's been some rumors
that not all of the evidence may have been presented
to the grand Juries. There are a lot of women
that were sitting outside of the room waiting to go
and to testify, and I believe only one may have
been called. The police investigators said that she was not
(18:09):
called to speak before the grand jury. I don't know
if that's entirely aggurate, but if so, that's really strange
because she is recorded in a deposition the lead investigators
saying that the police were of one mind that Deshaun Watson,
in their in their opinion, at least had committed crimes
in all ten cases. So it is suspect. But what
it says to me is if everything was above board,
(18:32):
it means that there was a problem with the evidence.
That was presented to the grand jury, and so there
may have been some contradictory evidence or some evidence that
cast out on the credibility of some of the accusers.
But what I will say is that those are ten
people you're talking about now potentially thirty accusers. Remember now
with the news today, we know that there's thirty women accusing.
Before this morning, we thought it was twenty four accusers.
(18:53):
Now there could be six more claims that come out
against Deshaun Watson. We don't know, but you're talking about
twenty additional claims that the NFL is examining that may
not have problems with the evidence until I would guess
that there's going to be at least a couple where
there's a higher likelihood that not that something may have
happened there, because that's the standard. It's not proved beyond
(19:15):
a reasonable doubt like in a criminal court case. It
is there a more than fifty percent chance that he
did what he's accused of, and if there's evidence to
support that, the judge could find that whether it's true
or not. So Amy's with putting all of this together now,
maybe a couple more weeks or maybe a month before
we get the answer onto Shawn Watson. What do you
expect the arbitrator's decision to be? Uh, you know, I
(19:38):
think she's going to take it on a case by
case basis, And I think if the NFL is only
asking for discipline in a couple of cases, which is
what the rumors are, that they only brought forth the
cases they felt were the strongest and supported by actual
evidence that something happened that was at least conduct detrimental
to the league, I think she's going to issue a
suspension for a couple of cases. Each case is six games,
(20:00):
so I think you could be looking at at least
half a season, maybe even a full season. UM. And
then of course there's a possibility if she issues less
than a full season, the NFL can appeal and just
give him a full season anyway, So I think definitely
it's going to be UM. You know, I think more
than six games for sure. Her website is League of
Justice dot com, Odyssey, Sports, CBS, Sports Radio, Fox, Sports
(20:22):
Radio official legal insider Amy Dash, who gave us a
seal of approval on her entrance music. So so now
if I go on League Justice, can I get anything
on Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks. Do you have anything
on that you're writing about that as well? My goodness,
I'm still reeling over that happened at the draft. I'm
still very confused by it. I ended up going to
(20:44):
sleep because I was so frustrated. You can't, you know,
you can't, you can't. Trying to figure out the Knicks
is sometimes it's it's fruitless. What's going on? So? Are
we building a team that's going to be possibly good
in the next five to ten years if everything goes
right like or are we trying to get good players now?
I'm just really confused because every day it changes and
(21:05):
just the idea of building a team for the future.
All I need to do is think about what happened
with the Nets, and I have zero faith in that approach.
Well you picked me right up there on a Friday night, Amy,
Thanks so much that Really I was excited to talk
Smack Donovan, Mitchell and Jalen Brunson. What a backcourt they're
gonna wind up being? And well, I don't know. I'm
still not over the draft. So even if they were
(21:27):
again him, do you think that was Jalen Brentson, then
he's going to really perform or is it going to
be another Randall situation. Oh no, no, no. I think
that you got a pretty good backcourt. It's an undersized backcourt,
but these guys are good players. And Donovan Mitchell's a star.
It's been a long time since the Knicks out of star.
Julius Randall's not a star. They thought he was one.
They paid them like one, and I was so happy,
(21:48):
and it's gonna say happy things about the Knicks to me.
You know, there's just a lot of people were waived.
The team's gonna look totally different. And my concerns always
the chemistry. I just feel that you need the same chemistry.
You don't necessarily need star players, but you need the
same chemistry that you had in the nineties where everybody
was really gritty and they were there to win and
they were there to work as a team. And I
(22:09):
think that's what the Knicks have been missing. I mean,
especially with like Carmelo Anthony and all these people that
have come through who have tried to like take the
ball and just hog the ball and completely you know,
mess over the team and the team's prospects. That winning
a championship, that's what New Yorkers want They just want
a championship, am they right? No, of course this championship.
After championship, you can win five in a row and
(22:30):
it's gonna be We didn't win last year, but that
this is New York. There's no proper more competitive place
than New York. I know your softball team wants to
win championship after championed a tough team. Yes, exactly. I'm
trying to bring some toughness to my softball team. Last year.
I had a little bit of a better mix of people.
I'm going to have to be honest. You know, there's
(22:51):
a lot of beginners. It can get a little bit frustrating.
But the upside to that is I'm getting a lot
of action in the infield and I get to beat
the leadoff hitter. The thing that is going, Okay, make
some trades. If you need to make some trades, make well,
oh I've already tried. So we've got the mayor. You know,
the mayor's part of the league. So I need to
talk with the mayor. And he gets very you know,
(23:12):
I think he threatened. Okay, you're not getting your trash
picked up picture if you if you smack talk you're
not going to get your trash picked up next week.
And there was a big fight between the picture and
the mayor. So I said, listen, we've got no one,
um like, we've got no one in the outfield because
all we throw all the beginners in the outfield. We
have a strong infield, but we've got no backup picture.
(23:35):
So she gets tired and very heated, and then we've
got no one to catch a ball in the outfield.
And you're putting up against these people who have you know,
strong big girls that are hitting it really far out
there into the outfield. So that's our problem. So I've
already tried to negotiate some trades. It's not going so well,
but I'm gonna keep at it. Well, good luck, let
(23:55):
me know, and and uh, you know, if you need
help with the salary cap, I can help navigate that
for you. Is well. I don't want trophies, can you.
We were undefeated last year, we didn't even get a trophy. Well,
good luck, but we will talk soon. And remember, I
guess I'm being sung off. I thought you've got to
(24:17):
go to the batting cages. Now I thought you gotta
gotta get a late night batting cage session in Yeah,
I gotta go meet up with the bush Whackers. I'll
see you guys later. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's me Rob Parker.
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
(24:41):
twenty two minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk featuring
the biggest name the newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the eye test, We've got all
the bases cover. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do
yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with
Rob Parker on the I Heart Radio app or wherever
(25:02):
you get your podcast. For Russell Westbrook, what's the best
path for him to reclaim his career? And that is
I agree with his agent, it's staying with the Lakers
because if he goes someplace else, he's off the NBA map.
No one's ever going to acquire him again thinking he
can be a difference maker for us. No one's ever
(25:22):
going to pay him again because he's not a difference maker.
You look at what happened when the Lakers were an
absolute and abject disaster. So if somehow things change, let's
just say they're able to make a couple of moves.
They get Buddy Heal, they get Miles Turner, whatever it is.
Westbrook coming back, he's going to start with the Lakers.
If the Lakers defy expectation and they're good, guess who
(25:45):
jump starts his career again, Russell Westbrook. And whether he
resigns with the Lakers for more money because it works
and Lakers go far in the playoffs and Lebron says,
a let's keep the gang together for one more year,
Let's try to figure it all out, or another team says,
you know what, hey, he can be our Chris Paul.
We saw he was back to being the dynamic player
that he was he was with Washington Oklahoma City. He
can still do that. Yeah, he's thirty three, thirty four.
(26:08):
We can go get him and give him a couple
of years and see if he is the missing piece
for us. So that's really the best path for him.
I mean, obviously had to opt into the forty seven
million dollars a year because no one else is gonna
pay Himough, he's gonna play under the option year, finish
out the max contract. But you mentioned his age. This
is the agent he's had since u c l A.
So this is over a decade with this guy that
(26:28):
they are here. He was there with a fourteen years.
So somewhere in this when you gave the Baker Mayfield example,
are you saying that's also the Geno Smith route where
you go to another team and people forget about you
and then you get your chance. Is that is that
what you just said? No, Baker Mayfield is Geno Smith? No,
no, No No, The Geno Smith route is go to a team,
(26:50):
don't say anything, and then watch another hope the team
trades their quarterback and then then he forgets to get
a new one and they realize, oh, you're the only
one there, the other guy that can't play quarters. I
guess that's how it goes. I guess that's what we're doing. Okay,
then that's fine, But Russell Westbrook still has years plural
left in this league. As bad as last year was
(27:13):
and as bad as Russell Westbrook was in the paint,
I'm still astounded at a guy that's known for his
athleticism Since u c l A. That's part of the
reason why he was a lottery pick. Not just the defense,
he just was a waste in the paint. How a
guy could miss that many four or five footers and
in was astounding to me. And so you can't have
(27:36):
you know, point guards tend to have a lot of
layup temps. You can't have that as your ball handler.
And then you know the amount of hitting the side
of the backboard and those kind of things, but that's
going to count this year. The side of the back
one point something. You get a half a point for
the side of the backboard, you get a quarter, you
(27:57):
get a quarter and a quarter of a point for
the top of the backboard. So it's going to at
least how no matter what he does, he will draw
some kind of points for the Lakers. Next Well, he's
still going to be in this league for years and
I I stand by that plural. However, what last year
did is it kind of rearranged the course of the
(28:18):
flow of the river of his resume. If you understand,
it really got people thinking about him in a way
that they might start thinking about him that way permanently.
And so he's got to do something now this year
with the Lakers to to kind of make up for
last year. Nothing can make up for last year. And
(28:40):
you know what I mean, You've got to change some minds.
That's on you this year. And this is my open
letter to the Lakers for this year because Frank Vogel
didn't do it, and he should have and it was
a disaster from the beginning. Let's just all be you know,
we got pulp fiction on our TVs right now here
at Fox. Let's all be five little fonds. He's gonna
be cool for second. And understand what I'm saying is
(29:02):
what the path is for the Lakers going forward. Last
year they got Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook has done one
thing for the past fourteen years. He's playing point guard
his way, and the system of the team has always
adjusted around Russell Westbrook, who is a dynamic player. He
is a volume shooter. He doesn't always make the right decisions,
(29:23):
but he hasn't always been surrounded with the greatest talent.
Sometimes he had great talent around him, got to the
NBA Finals, sometimes he didn't. Still was able to win
m v P in the NBA. What did the Lakers
do when they got Russell Westbrook? Again, this is a
guy who's been in the league now for thirteen years.
We're gonna change what you do. We're gonna take you
from being a ball dominant point guard to being someone
(29:44):
who maybe brings the ball up, splits the job with Lebron,
but sometimes stands in the corner waiting for the ball.
How was that ever going to be and work out
well for the Lakers. You took a player who does
one thing really well, and you're gonna try to make
Russell Us Brooke a just and and and do something
that he's never done before, thinking that's going to work.
(30:06):
But you can't do that with every player. And maybe
you're spoiled with Lebron because Lebron is someone as we've seen,
my goodness, the guy it's small forward, power forward, point
guard center last year. Maybe moving Lebron to the five
full time is how it's gonna go and how he
extends his career for another two or three years just
because you have Lebron, who can play any position incredibly well.
(30:29):
I mean, you can't just do that with everybody. You
can't take someone and say, okay, this is what you've done,
now we're gonna do this to you. Here. I cringe
Steve when I see the Jets in the NFL draft, go, hey,
we we let you know. He was a defensive end
in college, but boy, he really projects well to be
a defensive tackle in the NFL. And I go, there's
a bust. That guy's never gonna happen because you're gonna
change what the guy knows. What he's done, well, it's
(30:50):
gotten with the league. No, no no, we're gonna change your
position because we think you can do this better. And
that's one thing to say when a guy is young.
But Westbrook thirteen years suddenly you're gonna change what he does.
He's and he's gonna buy in, And I don't know.
You have to give him the offense, you have to
adjust around it, and you have to let it go
from there. I realized that could rankle the feathers of
a d and Lebron a bit, going, this is kind
(31:12):
of our team. But this is who you wanted. You
wanted Russell Westbrook. You want the best version of Russell Westbrook.
This is the way to do it, and this is
the best version for the Lakers. The Lakers have more
problems than just Westbrook. Allow me to state the obvious,
because well, yeah, no, But the way that people have
talked about Westbrook, some are getting the impression or you know,
the foggy glasses looking back to last season that he
(31:34):
was the only problem. Please. He has had a career
where he's averaged at least twenty points a game for
a decade straight, but not last year. He also has
been the assists man so often that he led the
league in assists three out of the last four years.
Certainly not last year, not on this team. And then
when you have the warts of his shooting, including the
in the paint shooting, there just was no avoiding how
(31:56):
by his standard, this was a bad year, and it
was a wolf year by the Lakers standard. But his
three point shooting he was under again from three point range.
Why are you trying three to five three pointers per
game when you can't make three out of ten And
this has been the case for the last five years
from long distance for this guy. So he needs to
(32:17):
get it through his thick skull on some points as well. Twitter,
and how about a fresca Jason Smith Steve to say,
you're in from Mike Harmon tonight. So look, it may
not be the best thing for the Lakers, but if
he's gonna be back, and this is what it is.
And again he's partying ways with his agent as they
differed over the direction of him. It looks like he
wanted to leave the Lakers. Now his agent wanted him
(32:37):
to stay. The best thing for everybody. He's got to stay.
And if he does stay and you can't move him, beause, Look,
if you can move Russell Westbrook, you move him right
the Lakers. That's one thing that I'm I'm not saying
you gotta keep him, but if you are forced to
keep him, that's the best way forward. The best to
do is be able to move him and bring somebody
else in or make a train and get Kyrie Irving
to come, and that's the best thing. But if you
(32:59):
are stuck with him and you have no way to
go forward, I know it sounds weird, going, boy, we're
stuck with him, We're gonna give you the offense. That's
the NBA. That's how it works. Sometimes we really don't
want to, but we're gonna give you so much responsibility.
This is how people succeed now in the world and
outside of basketball. But that's the way forward. If you're
stuck with him, you gotta keep him. You gotta let
him be who he is. That's the best way. And
I thought it was a very complementary statement from the agent,
(33:23):
I mean, up and down talking about well, of course,
he spent so much time with him. This was presented
as a very amicable departure and yet a divorce nonetheless,
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to
eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
night on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. For Russell Westbrook, what's
the best path for him to reclaim his career? And
that is I agree with his agent, it's staying with
the Lakers because if he goes someplace else, he's off
the NBA map. No one's ever going to acquire him
again thinking he can be a difference maker for us.
(00:47):
No one's ever going to pay him again because he's
not a difference maker. You look at what happened when
the Lakers were an absolute and abject disaster. So if
somehow things change, let's just say they're able to make
a couple of moves, they get Buddy healed again, Miles Turner.
Whatever it is Westbrook coming back, he's going to start
with the Lakers. If the Lakers defy expectation and they're good.
(01:10):
Guess who jump starts his career again, Russell Westbrook and
whether he resigns with the Lakers from more money because
it works and Lakers go far in the playoffs and
Lebron says, a, let's keep the gang together for one
more year, let's try to figure it all out, or
another team says, you know what, hey, he can be
our Chris Paul. We saw he was back to being
the dynamic player that he was he was with Washington
Oklahoma City. He can still do that. Yeah, he's thirty three,
(01:32):
thirty four. We can go get him and give him
a couple of years and see if he is the
missing piece for us. So that's really the best path
for him. I mean, obviously had to opt into the
forty seven million dollars a year because no one else
is gonna pay him, though he's gonna play under the
option year finish out the max contract. But you mentioned
his age. This is the agent he's had since U C.
L A. So this is over a decade with this
(01:53):
guy that they are years. He was there with A
fourteen years. So somewhere in this when you gave the
Baker Mayfield example, are you saying that's also the Geno
Smith route, where you go to another team and people
forget about you and then you get your chance. Is
that Is that what you just said? The Baker Mayfield
is Geno Smith? No? No, no no, The Geno Smith route
(02:14):
is go to a team, don't say anything, and then
watch another hope the team trades their quarterback and then
gets to get a new one and they realize, oh,
you're the only one there, the other guy that can't
play quarters. I guess that's how it goes. I guess
that's what we're doing. Okay, then that's fine, But Russell
Westbrook still has years plural left in this league. As
(02:36):
bad as last year was and as bad as Russell
Westbrook was in the paint, I'm still astounded at a
guy that's known for his athleticism since u C l A.
That's part of the reason why he was a lottery pick,
not just the defense. He just was a waste in
the paint. How a guy could miss that many four
or five footers and in was astounding to me. And
(02:59):
so you can't have you know, point guards tend to
have a lot of layup attempts. You can't have that
as your ball handler, and then you know the amount
of hitting the side of the backboard and those kind
of things. But that's going to count this year. The
side of the bat one something. You get a half
a point for the side of the backboard, you get
(03:21):
a quarter, you get a quarter and a quarter of
a point for the top of the backboard. So it's
going to at least how no matter what he does,
he will draw some kind of points for the Lakers.
Next Well, he's still going to be in this league
for years and I I stand by that plural. However,
what last year did is it kind of rearranged the
(03:43):
course of the flow of the river of his resume.
If you understand, it really got people thinking about him
in a way that they might start thinking about him
that way permanently. And so he's got to do something
now this year with the Lakers to kind of make
up for last year. Nothing can make up for last year.
(04:03):
And if you know what I mean, you've got to
change some minds. That's on you this year. And this
is my open letter to the Lakers for this year,
because Frank Vogel didn't do it, and he should have,
and it was a disaster from the beginning let's just
all be You know, we got pulp fiction on our
TVs right now here at Fox. Let's all be five
little fonds. He's gonna be cool for a second and
(04:25):
understand what I'm saying is what the path is for
the Lakers going forward. Last year they got Russell Westbrook.
Russell Westbrook has done one thing for the past fourteen years.
He was playing point guard his way, and the system
of the team has always adjusted around Russell Westbrook, who
is a dynamic player. He is a volume shooter. He
(04:46):
doesn't always make the right decisions, but he hasn't always
been surrounded with the greatest talent. Sometimes he had great
talent around him, got to the NBA Finals, sometimes he didn't.
Still was able to win m v P in the NBA.
What did the Lakers do when they got us Westbrook? Again,
this is a guy who's been in the league now
for thirteen years. We're gonna change what you do. We're
gonna take you from being a ball dominant point guard
(05:08):
to being someone who maybe brings the ball up, splits
the job with Lebron, but sometimes stands in the corner
waiting for the ball. How was that ever going to
be and work out well for the Lakers. You took
a player who does one thing really well, and you're
gonna try to make Russell Westbrook AJU and and and
do something that he's never done before, thinking that's going
(05:30):
to work. You can't do that with every player. And
maybe you're spoiled with Lebron because Lebron is someone as
we've seen, my goodness, the guy it's small forward, power forward,
point guard center. Last year, maybe moving Lebron to the
five full time is how it's gonna go and how
he extends his career for another two or three years
just because you have Lebron, who can play any position
(05:52):
incredibly well. I mean, you can't just do that with everybody.
You can't take someone and say, okay, this is what
you've done, we're gonna do this to you. Here. I cringe,
Steve when I see the Jets in the NFL draft, go, hey,
we we let you know he was a defensive end
in college, but boy, he really projects well to be
a defensive tackle in the NFL. And I go, there's
a bust. That guy's never gonna happen because you're gonna
(06:13):
change what the guy knows what he's done well, it's
gotten with the league. No, no, we're gonna change your
position because we think you can do this better. And
that's one thing to say when a guy is young.
But Westbrook thirteen years suddenly you're gonna change what he does.
He's gonna and he's gonna buy in and don't know,
you have to give him the offense, you have to
adjust around it, and you have to let it go
from there. I realized that could rankle the feathers of
(06:35):
a d and Lebron a bit, going this is kind
of our team. But this is who you wanted. You
wanted Russell Westbrook. You want the best version of Russell Westbrook.
This is the way to do it, and this is
the best version for the Lakers. The Lakers have more
problems than just Westbrook. Allow me to state the obvious,
because well, yeah, no, But the way that people have
talked about Westbrook, some are getting the impression or you know,
(06:56):
the foggy glasses looking back to last season that he
was the only problem. Please. He has had a career
where he's averaged at least twenty points a game for
a decade straight, but not last year. He also has
been the assists man so often that he led the
league in assists three out of the last four years,
certainly not last year, not on this team. And then
when you have the warts of his shooting, including the
(07:18):
in the paint shooting, there just was no avoiding how
by his standard, this was a bad year and it
was a wolf a year by the Lakers standard. But
his three point shooting he was under again from three
point range. Why are you trying three to five three
pointers per game when you can't make three out of
ten And this has been the case for the last
(07:39):
five years from long distance for this guy. So he
needs to get it through his thick skull on some
points as well. Twitter, and how about a fresca Jason
Smith Steve to Sayer in from Mike Harmon tonight. So look,
it may not be the best thing for the Lakers,
but if he's gonna be back, and this is what
it is. And again he's parting ways with his agent
as they differed over the direction of him. It looks
(07:59):
like he wanted to leave the Lakers now his agent
wanted him to stay. The best thing for everybody, He's
got to stay. And if he does stay and you
can't move him, because look, if you can move Russell Westbrook,
you move him right the Lakers. That's one thing that
I'm not saying you gotta keep him. But if you
are forced to keep him, that's the best way forward.
The best to do is be able to move him
and bring somebody else in, or make a train and
(08:21):
get Kyrie Irving to come in. That's the best thing.
But if you are stuck with him and you have
no way to go forward, I know it sounds weird, going, boy,
we're stuck with him. We're gonna give you the offense.
That's the NBA. That's not works. Sometimes we really don't
want you, but we're gonna give you so much responsibility.
This is how people succeed now in the world and
outside of basketball. But that's the way forward. If you're
stuck with him, you gotta keep him. You gotta let
(08:42):
him be who he is. That's the best way form.
And I thought it was a very complimentary statement from
the agent, I mean up and down talking about well,
of course he spent so much time with him. This
was presented as a very amicable departure and yet a divorce.
No the less. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
(09:05):
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific, Honessey Sports, CBS, Sports, Fox,
Sports Radio, Legal Insider Amy Dash. You can follow on
Twitter at Amy dash TV. That's at Amy Dash TV.
What's happened to name? Hi? How are you doing? Is
that my theme music? Yes, it is. I missed that.
I'm so happy to be back. I feel like I'm
(09:27):
staging a comeback right now. Like this reminds me of
when I was little. I used to go to the
w w E. It was when I was younger of
us called the WWF before that lawsuit, and everybody had
an entrance song. So I feel like this is my debut. Yeah,
we we give walk up music. It's it's it's your
version of walk up music. It's exactly. I just need
a I need a stage name, and I need a costume.
(09:48):
Well yeah, but possibly a sidekick. Okay, all right, that's
like being a superhero. I need a sidekick and even
costume when you keep well, this is what happened WWF.
Remember they all have like a manager. Well, you gotta
get your own classy freddy blassie. Right, okay, all right,
now is how is that means that good walk up
(10:09):
music for you? Are okay? With the l A Law theme,
I think that's okay. I feel like I need to
have like a daunting manager beside me. It was really like,
no nonsense. You know, you want to make it a
little bit more hardcore. You want like Mr Fuji with
the cane when he would trip people as they would
run by. Okay, all right, that's good form, you know, Okay,
(10:32):
not Jimmy Hart with a megaphone yelling around. I got
a d I think I actually yes, I was definitely well,
you have a bit you You posted this up in
your website League of Justice dot com a couple of
weeks ago. I remember reading you had said that this
was likely going to be the outcome with the women
settling the claims against the Houston Texans who were involved
(10:55):
in this a couple of months ago when it was
found that they helped to facilitate to Shawn Watson getting
massages away from the team. Uh so this just this
did not surprise you would all say that this was
the outcome, Yeah, because you know they're they're really up
against a wall here where it's just been such a
nightmare situation. For this franchise. I mean, the quarterback is
(11:17):
really the face of the franchise, so to have to
go through all this, and I remember in the way beginning,
everybody was talking about conspiracy rumors, Oh was the team
and on it because he had asked for a trade.
But if you think about everything they went through, having
to sit him for so long and just set to
the bed publicity and being harassed at the press conferences,
I mean they were just, I think, so happy to
get this behind them. And I thought it was really
(11:38):
interesting that the McNair's, you know, signed the statement that
they released today saying that the settlements were not an
admission of wrongdoing, but a clear stand against sexual assault
and misconduct of any kind. And they signed it with
kil McNair's wife and daughter. Their names were before his,
So I feel like possibly some of the female was
(12:00):
a new organization had a hand in it, and it
was just there was no other option. I mean, what
are they going to do go through court battles with
potentially thirty women. It's expensive. They can afford to pay
it off and just make it go away. Amy, This
is Steve, the part of the team statement that you
just referenced the clear stand. To me, the clear stand
was we are not going to be mired in this
(12:23):
like he struck so many others through the mire. Because
this case is going on forever. There's not even NFL
discipline yet from this case. They just wanted out right. Yeah.
And I think also there's an element too of you know,
there was there was strong evidence. It's not like there
was no evidence against the team. Now doesn't mean that
the ownership knew anything about what was going on. I
(12:44):
doubt they were sitting I mean, you know, who knows.
Maybe it's possible. I doubt though cal mcnairs sitting there going,
oh yeah, Deshaun Watson is out getting massages in the
Houstonian Hotel. Let's provide him with the hotel membership, Let's
get him the table. Let's make this easy for him
so he can randomly reach out to sixty or more
Instagram people who many of them don't even have massage
(13:04):
therapy licenses. So I don't think there was that level
of involvement. But you know, there was a security employee
who was probably more involved than he should have been
with giving an n d A. That's the allegation at
least so, and then there was an entity that was
contracted by the Texans that had complaints on record about
some of these activities, and the organization by all accounts,
(13:26):
at least in stepping and stop it. So I think
there is some responsibility being taken, not saying that they
had knowledge of it, but saying, okay, you know, if
we were to go to court and have to fight this,
there could be some responsibility, just as uh the employers
of employees who may have been more involved than they
should have. Amy does this have any bearing on how
(13:48):
the NFL will conduct their investigation to the Texans, because
obviously they're they're looking into the four cases that are
still there. They're waiting to make their decisions still be
a ways away. How much does this affect what the
NFL is doing it? You know, there's a lot of
mixed feelings on that some people are saying, and actually
some people are reporting that the NFL has already been
(14:09):
investigating the claims against the Texans. Um I do. I
just don't see how the Texans settle with thirty women
and the NFL doesn't discipline the club at all for
its role active or not direct or not knowing or
not in in you know, failing to supervise what was
going on with Deshaun Watson. And it doesn't necessarily mean
(14:30):
John Watson was doing exactly what he was accused of,
but things were going on that obviously ended up being
detrimental to the team and the league, and that in
of itself is punishable. When the team says this is
our clear stand against any form of sexual assault and misconduct,
are they saying they're siding with the women that they're
settling with. That seems a little odd. It sounds to
(14:53):
me like there is some sort of an acknowledgment within
that statement that things went on that shouldn't have gone on.
Now doesn't mean that Deshaun Watson sexually assaulted any of
these women. Are all of these women? I don't think so.
But I think there's sort of that sigh of like
the disappointed parent that knows that their child is not
(15:15):
the best child. Oh, you know, the honor roles students
that they thought their child would be, your hope their
child would be and something went on to disappoint them,
where their expectations, you know, didn't match the reality of
the situation. So I think that they are bearing responsibility.
And do you think this statement then is easier for
the Texans to make today because he's not with the
Texans anymore. Yeah, exactly. I think it's an admition of all. Gosh, guy,
(15:39):
you know, this guy was really a train wreck for
this organization. Whether he didn't what he's accused it or not,
this is just a horrible situation and a horrible look
because of the number of accusers from the number of
people that he reached out to, and this conduct is
just not normal. I would have loved to have seen
that sentence in today's statement, this guy was a train
wreck for our organizations. That legal analyst Damie Dash with
(16:00):
us here Fox Sports Radio, Jason Smith, Steve Disagarin from
Mike Carmon a right not to widen this out a
little bit bigger. Waiting for the final discipline call on
DeShawn Watson, UH disciplinary Officer Sue Robinson, jointly appointed by
the NFL the NFL p A currently deciding whether Watson
violated the NFL's personal conduct policy. Does today's evidence is
(16:22):
to does today's story have any effect as far as
that goes, and what she's weighing for Watson I don't
think so. Um. I think the real question is how
neutral is this arbitrator, and and how much final phasees
the arbitrator have, you know, I think the prevailing thought
is that if there's no discipline, the NFL can't protest that.
(16:43):
But if there is discipline and they don't like the
amount of discipline, either Watson or the NFL can appeal it,
and then the NFL can step in and completely change
it to what they want anyway. So that's kind of
an odd thing because you're claiming independence and there's going
to be at least a final decision on the facts
of the situation. But then it seems that anything short
(17:05):
of no discipline, or anything more than no discipline, I
should say, they can just come in and do whatever
they want anyway. So it's just it's a weird new
process where they're trying to give the appearance of being
more fair, but I don't not necessarily know that it's
going to play out that way. So I'm curious to
see whether she really makes a well reasoned and thought
out decision that seems at least somewhat fair. I have
(17:27):
heard people in this case has gone on for a
while and As we said earlier, there is no NFL
discipline coming yet, and who cares. The judge probably could
care less that training camps are opening soon. But I
have people heard people on the outside on the air say, Hey,
a couple of grand juries in Texas haven't indicted Watson.
(17:48):
Does that mean anything? Did they examine all the cases,
even a majority of the cases? Should we draw conclusions
from that? Well, it depends because there's been some rumors
that not all of the evidence may have been presented
to the grand Juries. There are a lot of women
that were sitting outside of the room waiting to go
and to testify, and I believe only one may have
been called. The police investigators said that she was not
(18:09):
called to speak before the grand jury. I don't know
if that's entirely aggurate, but if so, that's really strange
because she is recorded in a deposition the lead investigators
saying that the police were of one mind that Deshaun Watson,
in their in their opinion, at least had committed crimes
in all ten cases. So it is suspect. But what
it says to me is if everything was above board,
(18:32):
it means that there was a problem with the evidence.
That was presented to the grand jury, and so there
may have been some contradictory evidence or some evidence that
cast out on the credibility of some of the accusers.
But what I will say is that those are ten
people you're talking about now potentially thirty accusers. Remember now
with the news today, we know that there's thirty women accusing.
Before this morning, we thought it was twenty four accusers.
(18:53):
Now there could be six more claims that come out
against Deshaun Watson. We don't know, but you're talking about
twenty additional claims that the NFL is examining that may
not have problems with the evidence until I would guess
that there's going to be at least a couple where
there's a higher likelihood that not that something may have
happened there, because that's the standard. It's not proved beyond
(19:15):
a reasonable doubt like in a criminal court case. It
is there a more than fifty percent chance that he
did what he's accused of, and if there's evidence to
support that, the judge could find that whether it's true
or not. So Amy's with putting all of this together now,
maybe a couple more weeks or maybe a month before
we get the answer onto Shawn Watson. What do you
expect the arbitrator's decision to be? Uh, you know, I
(19:38):
think she's going to take it on a case by
case basis, And I think if the NFL is only
asking for discipline in a couple of cases, which is
what the rumors are, that they only brought forth the
cases they felt were the strongest and supported by actual
evidence that something happened that was at least conduct detrimental
to the league, I think she's going to issue a
suspension for a couple of cases. Each case is six games,
(20:00):
so I think you could be looking at at least
half a season, maybe even a full season. UM. And
then of course there's a possibility if she issues less
than a full season, the NFL can appeal and just
give him a full season anyway, So I think definitely
it's going to be UM. You know, I think more
than six games for sure. Her website is League of
Justice dot com, Odyssey, Sports, CBS, Sports Radio, Fox, Sports
(20:22):
Radio official legal insider Amy Dash, who gave us a
seal of approval on her entrance music. So so now
if I go on League Justice, can I get anything
on Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks. Do you have anything
on that you're writing about that as well? My goodness,
I'm still reeling over that happened at the draft. I'm
still very confused by it. I ended up going to
(20:44):
sleep because I was so frustrated. You can't, you know,
you can't, you can't. Trying to figure out the Knicks
is sometimes it's it's fruitless. What's going on? So? Are
we building a team that's going to be possibly good
in the next five to ten years if everything goes
right like or are we trying to get good players now?
I'm just really confused because every day it changes and
(21:05):
just the idea of building a team for the future.
All I need to do is think about what happened
with the Nets, and I have zero faith in that approach.
Well you picked me right up there on a Friday night, Amy,
Thanks so much that Really I was excited to talk
Smack Donovan, Mitchell and Jalen Brunson. What a backcourt they're
gonna wind up being? And well, I don't know. I'm
still not over the draft. So even if they were
(21:27):
again him, do you think that was Jalen Brentson, then
he's going to really perform or is it going to
be another Randall situation. Oh no, no, no. I think
that you got a pretty good backcourt. It's an undersized backcourt,
but these guys are good players. And Donovan Mitchell's a star.
It's been a long time since the Knicks out of star.
Julius Randall's not a star. They thought he was one.
They paid them like one, and I was so happy,
(21:48):
and it's gonna say happy things about the Knicks to me.
You know, there's just a lot of people were waived.
The team's gonna look totally different. And my concerns always
the chemistry. I just feel that you need the same chemistry.
You don't necessarily need star players, but you need the
same chemistry that you had in the nineties where everybody
was really gritty and they were there to win and
they were there to work as a team. And I
(22:09):
think that's what the Knicks have been missing. I mean,
especially with like Carmelo Anthony and all these people that
have come through who have tried to like take the
ball and just hog the ball and completely you know,
mess over the team and the team's prospects. That winning
a championship, that's what New Yorkers want They just want
a championship, am they right? No, of course this championship.
After championship, you can win five in a row and
(22:30):
it's gonna be We didn't win last year, but that
this is New York. There's no proper more competitive place
than New York. I know your softball team wants to
win championship after championed a tough team. Yes, exactly. I'm
trying to bring some toughness to my softball team. Last year.
I had a little bit of a better mix of people.
I'm going to have to be honest. You know, there's
(22:51):
a lot of beginners. It can get a little bit frustrating.
But the upside to that is I'm getting a lot
of action in the infield and I get to beat
the leadoff hitter. The thing that is going, Okay, make
some trades. If you need to make some trades, make well,
oh I've already tried. So we've got the mayor. You know,
the mayor's part of the league. So I need to
talk with the mayor. And he gets very you know,
(23:12):
I think he threatened. Okay, you're not getting your trash
picked up picture if you if you smack talk you're
not going to get your trash picked up next week.
And there was a big fight between the picture and
the mayor. So I said, listen, we've got no one,
um like, we've got no one in the outfield because
all we throw all the beginners in the outfield. We
have a strong infield, but we've got no backup picture.
(23:35):
So she gets tired and very heated, and then we've
got no one to catch a ball in the outfield.
And you're putting up against these people who have you know,
strong big girls that are hitting it really far out
there into the outfield. So that's our problem. So I've
already tried to negotiate some trades. It's not going so well,
but I'm gonna keep at it. Well, good luck, let
(23:55):
me know, and and uh, you know, if you need
help with the salary cap, I can help navigate that
for you. Is well. I don't want trophies, can you.
We were undefeated last year, we didn't even get a trophy. Well,
good luck, but we will talk soon. And remember, I
guess I'm being sung off. I thought you've got to
(24:17):
go to the batting cages. Now I thought you gotta
gotta get a late night batting cage session in Yeah,
I gotta go meet up with the bush Whackers. I'll
see you guys later. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's me Rob Parker.
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
(24:41):
twenty two minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk featuring
the biggest name the newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the eye test, We've got all
the bases cover. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do
yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with
Rob Parker on the I Heart Radio app or wherever
(25:02):
you get your podcast. For Russell Westbrook, what's the best
path for him to reclaim his career? And that is
I agree with his agent, it's staying with the Lakers
because if he goes someplace else, he's off the NBA map.
No one's ever going to acquire him again thinking he
can be a difference maker for us. No one's ever
(25:22):
going to pay him again because he's not a difference maker.
You look at what happened when the Lakers were an
absolute and abject disaster. So if somehow things change, let's
just say they're able to make a couple of moves.
They get Buddy Heal, they get Miles Turner, whatever it is.
Westbrook coming back, he's going to start with the Lakers.
If the Lakers defy expectation and they're good, guess who
(25:45):
jump starts his career again, Russell Westbrook. And whether he
resigns with the Lakers for more money because it works
and Lakers go far in the playoffs and Lebron says,
a let's keep the gang together for one more year,
Let's try to figure it all out, or another team says,
you know what, hey, he can be our Chris Paul.
We saw he was back to being the dynamic player
that he was he was with Washington Oklahoma City. He
can still do that. Yeah, he's thirty three, thirty four.
(26:08):
We can go get him and give him a couple
of years and see if he is the missing piece
for us. So that's really the best path for him.
I mean, obviously had to opt into the forty seven
million dollars a year because no one else is gonna
pay Himough, he's gonna play under the option year, finish
out the max contract. But you mentioned his age. This
is the agent he's had since u c l A.
So this is over a decade with this guy that
(26:28):
they are here. He was there with a fourteen years.
So somewhere in this when you gave the Baker Mayfield example,
are you saying that's also the Geno Smith route where
you go to another team and people forget about you
and then you get your chance. Is that is that
what you just said? No, Baker Mayfield is Geno Smith? No,
no, No No, The Geno Smith route is go to a team,
(26:50):
don't say anything, and then watch another hope the team
trades their quarterback and then then he forgets to get
a new one and they realize, oh, you're the only
one there, the other guy that can't play quarters. I
guess that's how it goes. I guess that's what we're doing. Okay,
then that's fine, But Russell Westbrook still has years plural
left in this league. As bad as last year was
(27:13):
and as bad as Russell Westbrook was in the paint,
I'm still astounded at a guy that's known for his
athleticism Since u c l A. That's part of the
reason why he was a lottery pick. Not just the defense,
he just was a waste in the paint. How a
guy could miss that many four or five footers and
in was astounding to me. And so you can't have
(27:36):
you know, point guards tend to have a lot of
layup temps. You can't have that as your ball handler.
And then you know the amount of hitting the side
of the backboard and those kind of things, but that's
going to count this year. The side of the back
one point something. You get a half a point for
the side of the backboard, you get a quarter, you
(27:57):
get a quarter and a quarter of a point for
the top of the backboard. So it's going to at
least how no matter what he does, he will draw
some kind of points for the Lakers. Next Well, he's
still going to be in this league for years and
I I stand by that plural. However, what last year
did is it kind of rearranged the course of the
(28:18):
flow of the river of his resume. If you understand,
it really got people thinking about him in a way
that they might start thinking about him that way permanently.
And so he's got to do something now this year
with the Lakers to to kind of make up for
last year. Nothing can make up for last year. And
(28:40):
you know what I mean, You've got to change some minds.
That's on you this year. And this is my open
letter to the Lakers for this year because Frank Vogel
didn't do it, and he should have and it was
a disaster from the beginning. Let's just all be you know,
we got pulp fiction on our TVs right now here
at Fox. Let's all be five little fonds. He's gonna
be cool for second. And understand what I'm saying is
(29:02):
what the path is for the Lakers going forward. Last
year they got Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook has done one
thing for the past fourteen years. He's playing point guard
his way, and the system of the team has always
adjusted around Russell Westbrook, who is a dynamic player. He
is a volume shooter. He doesn't always make the right decisions,
(29:23):
but he hasn't always been surrounded with the greatest talent.
Sometimes he had great talent around him, got to the
NBA Finals, sometimes he didn't. Still was able to win
m v P in the NBA. What did the Lakers
do when they got Russell Westbrook? Again, this is a
guy who's been in the league now for thirteen years.
We're gonna change what you do. We're gonna take you
from being a ball dominant point guard to being someone
(29:44):
who maybe brings the ball up, splits the job with Lebron,
but sometimes stands in the corner waiting for the ball.
How was that ever going to be and work out
well for the Lakers. You took a player who does
one thing really well, and you're gonna try to make
Russell Us Brooke a just and and and do something
that he's never done before, thinking that's going to work.
(30:06):
But you can't do that with every player. And maybe
you're spoiled with Lebron because Lebron is someone as we've seen,
my goodness, the guy it's small forward, power forward, point
guard center last year. Maybe moving Lebron to the five
full time is how it's gonna go and how he
extends his career for another two or three years just
because you have Lebron, who can play any position incredibly well.
(30:29):
I mean, you can't just do that with everybody. You
can't take someone and say, okay, this is what you've done,
now we're gonna do this to you. Here. I cringe
Steve when I see the Jets in the NFL draft, go, hey,
we we let you know. He was a defensive end
in college, but boy, he really projects well to be
a defensive tackle in the NFL. And I go, there's
a bust. That guy's never gonna happen because you're gonna
change what the guy knows. What he's done, well, it's
(30:50):
gotten with the league. No, no no, we're gonna change your
position because we think you can do this better. And
that's one thing to say when a guy is young.
But Westbrook thirteen years suddenly you're gonna change what he does.
He's and he's gonna buy in, And I don't know.
You have to give him the offense, you have to
adjust around it, and you have to let it go
from there. I realized that could rankle the feathers of
a d and Lebron a bit, going, this is kind
(31:12):
of our team. But this is who you wanted. You
wanted Russell Westbrook. You want the best version of Russell Westbrook.
This is the way to do it, and this is
the best version for the Lakers. The Lakers have more
problems than just Westbrook. Allow me to state the obvious,
because well, yeah, no, But the way that people have
talked about Westbrook, some are getting the impression or you know,
the foggy glasses looking back to last season that he
(31:34):
was the only problem. Please. He has had a career
where he's averaged at least twenty points a game for
a decade straight, but not last year. He also has
been the assists man so often that he led the
league in assists three out of the last four years.
Certainly not last year, not on this team. And then
when you have the warts of his shooting, including the
in the paint shooting, there just was no avoiding how
(31:56):
by his standard, this was a bad year, and it
was a wolf year by the Lakers standard. But his
three point shooting he was under again from three point range.
Why are you trying three to five three pointers per
game when you can't make three out of ten And
this has been the case for the last five years
from long distance for this guy. So he needs to
(32:17):
get it through his thick skull on some points as well. Twitter,
and how about a fresca Jason Smith Steve to say,
you're in from Mike Harmon tonight. So look, it may
not be the best thing for the Lakers, but if
he's gonna be back, and this is what it is.
And again he's partying ways with his agent as they
differed over the direction of him. It looks like he
wanted to leave the Lakers. Now his agent wanted him
(32:37):
to stay. The best thing for everybody. He's got to stay.
And if he does stay and you can't move him, beause, Look,
if you can move Russell Westbrook, you move him right
the Lakers. That's one thing that I'm I'm not saying
you gotta keep him, but if you are forced to
keep him, that's the best way forward. The best to
do is be able to move him and bring somebody
else in or make a train and get Kyrie Irving
to come, and that's the best thing. But if you
(32:59):
are stuck with him and you have no way to
go forward, I know it sounds weird, going, boy, we're
stuck with him, We're gonna give you the offense. That's
the NBA. That's how it works. Sometimes we really don't
want to, but we're gonna give you so much responsibility.
This is how people succeed now in the world and
outside of basketball. But that's the way forward. If you're
stuck with him, you gotta keep him. You gotta let
him be who he is. That's the best way. And
I thought it was a very complementary statement from the agent,
(33:23):
I mean, up and down talking about well, of course,
he spent so much time with him. This was presented
as a very amicable departure and yet a divorce nonetheless,
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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