8/23 H2: 2023-24 outlook for Lakers and Clippers; Reggie Bush suing NCAA

NBA analyst, Ryan Hollins, fills in for Fred and breaks down the Lakers and Clippers' offseason. Reggie Bush is suing the NCAA for defamation

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Oh yes, and we keep itmoving on a hump day. It's Wednesday
and its sun is shining and it'sbeautiful. My man. Ryan Hollins is
in for Fred Rogan today, choppingit up. Man. It's always good
to chop it up with my man. And we're gonna talk a little bit
of NBA action right now. Iknow it's the off season, but a
lot of moves were happening or didnot happen, Ryan, I want to

(00:21):
get your take on some of those. Let's start with the Let's start with
the Lakers. Many they get allthe way to the Western Conference Finals,
they end up losing to Denver Nuggets, who it went on and won the
title. They add gave Vincent tarnPrice, They re signed Austin Reeves,
Rui Hachimura, D'Angelo Russell. Thiswas a good team last year, Ryan,

(00:46):
and it showed what they did atthe end of the season and into
the playoffs. Did they add enoughpieces or is this team staying together and
having a full training camp gonna beenough to put him right back in at
least as in conference final and maybea chance to win it all. I
think the Lakers, absolutely, youhave a chance to win it all.

(01:08):
Sometimes with Lebron, the big,blockbuster, sexy move isn't always the best
move for him. You get whatI'm saying. Sometimes the the Kyrie Irving
move may have not met championship theway that good team may want may have
met championship or may mean championship forLebron. So the fact that you got

(01:33):
all these young guys, they cameback and now they have a chance to
develop, they have experience, uhdid well. I even spoke with Daniel
Russell. He feels like this isthe right time in his career in LA
to be in LA maturity wise,to play his best and right. So
that first year when he was drafted, I think it was two overall,

(01:55):
right, yeah, two or threeoverall. It was just it was in
It was the wrong time for him. Is that what you're saying. It
was just he was a little immature, which a lot of people said coming
out of coming out of that campor coming out of the Lakers. It
was that he was very immature andit showed. And and now coming back
and getting the second chance here feelslike he did grow up and mature a

(02:16):
lot more. He's so positive whenyou see him he's so vocal. I
think even Bigger Rodney, You've seenthis with guys. He understands himself.
He knows he's not gonna be thegreatest defender. He knows he's crafty,
he knows how to score the basketballand make plays, and understands that the
Lakers needed outside shooting. So forD'Angelo Russell, he's not trying to be

(02:38):
something that he's not, and Ithink that comes at a strong value.
There may meet some games where likein that Nuggets series, where he may
get benched, he might not playas much. But I think for him,
for Rui Hachimura, for a Rfifteen, Austin Reeves and those guys
all coming back, Jackson Hayes isgonna be one of the biggest surprises of
the season. That kid can absolutely, absolutely ball. Remember that I said

(03:01):
that he is a freak of nature. And Lebron loves guys who he can
get the basketball too. And ifhe can kind of get a get Jackson
Hayes going, man, the Lakersgotta steal with that. Dude. Man,
I'm gonna tell you right now,right Jackson Hayes is a problem.
And if he can get and whatmakes you excited about his game, right?

(03:24):
What gets you fired up about hisgame? He's got all the intangibles.
He's a Athletically, he's a he'sa seven foot Anthony Davis here.
Do everything. Anthony Davis can doit as seven feet he can, he
can shoot threes, He's nimble,ovously. Putting it together on the floor
is another thing. The mental aspect, knowing where to be on the floor,
knowing what your matchups are, uh, staying disciplined during a season.

(03:47):
All those things come into play.But from a talent aspect, Jackson Hayes
has it all. And one thingthat we spoke about earlier with the Lakers,
what they struggled have being able toplay a different temple. Stay struggled
having to play a little bit bigger, so whole with him. So if
he can just provide length and somedefense, we're not even talking about the

(04:10):
scoring part. Rodney, He's gonna. So I say that to say,
the Lakers got a lot of guys. If Rodney, if one of them
takes that next step, now yougot action. If one of those guys
takes that next step, for thefor the for the Lakers, you have
action. And I think that's somethingto be really excited about if you're a

(04:30):
Lakers fan. And just sometimes withLebron, as we've seen, you know,
his better teams were just the solidteams that defended and played hard and
had depth. So taking the depthaway from it, and Rodney, I've
heard you talking about this Lebron's age, taking the depth away from what he
has in a basketball team has hurthim in a lot of people's opinions the
most. Yeah, no doubt,no doubt. And it showed, you

(04:56):
know, when they were able toplay with seven eight sometimes guys, the
better off they were. And andyou know when they won it all it
was because they could match up withlengthwise right because Javelle McGee was there,
Dwight Howard was there to help alongwith Anthony Davis uh and it helped him.

(05:17):
And going into that Denver series andyou keep talking about, you know,
it was a matchup they did somethingdifferent. They were able to run
with Golden State, they were ableto do the different things with some of
the other teams, but they raninto a matchup problem when they faced the
Nuggets. And what you're saying withthe young guys, Jackson Hayes is now
if he takes the next step,he can they can be that team that

(05:40):
they were with the White Howard andwith Javelle McGee mitching Man. Coincidentally,
Javelle McGee is has been has beenreleased by Dallas. Is he a guy
that they may pick back up?But that's really the only thing. Dude,
going into that Denver series, didyou feel like that was going to
be the matchup problem? It wasgoing to be the length issue that Denver
created for them are presented for him. It was written all over the wall,

(06:00):
and I know La doesn't want tohear about the moral victories and all
the guys played hard and they improved, but the Lakers really look like a
team. And I think, youknow, the last two or three years
of frustrations from the fans standpoint isthat that you know, they weren't together,
They weren't a cohesive unit. Youknow, there was there was,
just it wasn't good basketball that youwere seeing from the Lakers. And now

(06:21):
they they looked like they were playingthe right way and doing the right things
on the floor. Sod I thinkbuilding from there, having positive momentum and
then being able to win games whereyou don't need thirty or like like like
ran like you don't want like ifLebron goes out and puts up a forty
ball, you want to celebrate it, but you don't want to need it.

(06:43):
I mean, you had to pieceLebron together after he broke the scoring
record, right, you don't wantto put him in those situations. And
you know that there's still some verygood basketball left for Lebron, but you
want to amplify it. You wantto want Lebron, you don't want to
need them. And I think theLake or made some strides towards that as
a collective group, whether than puttingin it just on a Kyrie Irving or

(07:06):
a Russell Westbrook. Right. Alot of talk has been you're the perfect
person. Asked about Anthony Davis andreally since he came here about him playing
the five? Right, will AnthonyDavis be willing to play the five because

(07:26):
he's more comfortable playing that four spot? I mean, talk about the difference
of that role and where Anthony Davisis better suited and with another big guy
help him along the way so hedoesn't have to play the five. Or
is it just something that people liketo throw out there that really is not
a big deal. No, here'sthe thing you have to understand. When
you hear Anthony Davis playing the five, you're not saying that, you know,

(07:50):
Anthony Davis is this big bruiser,you know when he's on the floor.
What you're saying is that when AnthonyDavis is playing the five, you're
spacing the floor. Then the otherteam has to have a center that can
actually keep up with Anthony Davis,which is at the end of the day
a problem for opposing teams. Andthen you know, you're the team gets

(08:13):
faster. You know, you gotLebron playing the forest, so you gotta
have a power forward playing Lebron,so Lebron can lean towards his strength rather
than his speed at this stage inhis career. So that's the excitement with
Anti Davis playing the five. Nowthe issues come playing the five against Nikola
Yokis that's not a good matchup forhim. But if he's playing the five,

(08:33):
which he did primarily in the GoldenState series, oh my god,
you saw some just monster numbers.That's where I mean. He was absolutely
destroying the Warriors that everybody was,Man, this is Anthony Davis. We've
been looking for man. There hegoes. So that's where the excitement was
with him playing the five. Butno, it doesn't always work. But

(08:54):
the key is if Jackson Hayes isJackson Hayes here there are reports and it
did surprised me already saying that hecould start. And if the if Vela
McGee still has some gas left inthe tank, don't be surprised if the
Lakers go out and try to makea run at Javela and say, hey,
man, come come back to LaWe could use you. We like

(09:16):
you. You want to uh,you know, we we know what you
bring to the table and we'd liketo have you. Yeah, I agree
with you. I agree with you. I think he was he was able
to run the floor as a bigman, and I think he's still got
something left in the tank. Andwe'll see. Hey, listen, Ryan
Hollins is in for Fred Rogan today. I want to talk to you about
the Clippers on the other side ofthe break, because they had an interesting

(09:39):
off season or lack thereof the JamesHarden situation. I want to get into
that as well, and how wellRussell Westbrook is gonna fit there, is
he gonna fit long term? Forthat team, and then Kawhi Leonard,
Paul George a lot to talk aboutwith the Clippers. We'll do that on
the other side, AM five seventyLA Sports on us on a Wednesday hump
Day r at Hollands in for FredRogan. Are we just talked a little

(10:03):
bit about the Lakers in their offseason with their plans and and how Ryan
sees Then let's move over to theother locker room at the Crypt talk about
the Clippers. Not a whole lotof action for the Clippers in the offseason,
Ryan, Are you good with thator because they you know, we're
looking at four years now of thePaul George Kawhi Leonard, which I think

(10:24):
a lot of people believe that theywould at least had one appearance in the
finals. Now, granted they've hadsome injury issues that have really really stimmied
their chances, but man, there'sgot to be a lot of frustration in
that franchise because they haven't been ableto get to the to the championship.

(10:45):
They didn't do a whole lot inthe off season. The biggest news out
of the offseason whether or not theywere gonna make that James Harden trade and
and and that seems like that thatit's stalled out, that's not happening.
Where do you see the Clippers goinginto into this season and how much pressure
is on that franchise and the playersto do something big this year and as

(11:05):
their window closed. Whenever you havetwo players like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George,
your window is definitely not closed.It's far from close. And you
can argue, Rodney, if I'mwrong to last. Since Kawhi Leonard and
Paul George joined the Clippers, youcan say they've had the most talented top
to bottom a team in the entireassociation. We're talking Lakers, we're talking

(11:28):
Philadelphia, we're talking Golden State Warriors, outside of maybe the Sons and the
Nets. When they were assembled topto bottom best team, the question is
what it's health. Sometimes, Rodney, you cannot control what they're a player
is healthy or if he or hecan play, or you can get those
two same guys, your guys onthe floor at the same time. But

(11:50):
when Kawhi Leonard plays, he's boxoffice. When Paul George plays, he's
box office. If they can gethealthy, and I know that's the most
disappointing part of professional sports or justsports in general. It's injuries. They
can get healthy. They have enough, so there's no rush to make a
monstrous move. And if you're anotherorganization, you don't. You're probably not

(12:11):
willing to make a move for aKawhi Leonard because you don't know if you'd
get your the return on investment.Unless you're a team that's just desperate and
willing to essentially take a chance.For the most part, you're not gonna
see it. The biggest news,I guess are rumblings they stayed put,
but was saying, hey, arewe gonna go out and make a deal

(12:31):
for James Harden. James Harden obviouslyexpress interest. The Clippers were one of
his teams. If not, Ithink the major target for him to go
to, And the question would be, and the Clippers, if I'm not
mistaken, weren't willing to give upenough to make Darrel moorey happy to make
that move. You know, thewhole sack over there with James Harden.
But if you're from the Clippers standpoint, you're saying, you know, how

(12:52):
much better did James Harden make us? We know that if Kawhi Leonard's not
playing and we give up everything forJames Harden. We've gone all in on
James Harden being able to be theguy and lead a team. It would
be a magnificent trio, if healthyand if working you think hard and fits
with them, if he were tomake if they were to make that somehow

(13:13):
make that trade, I cannot certifiablysay that it would fit. But I
know they'd have the talent. Iknow they'd give themselves a chance to succeed.
I know when you're looking over atthe most stat team, which is
the Phoenix Suns, right from atalent perspective, you can go pound for
pound with them, and you talkabout windows closing, right. So sometimes,
Rodney, if you're a general manager, sometimes your job is to give

(13:35):
your coach in your city a chance. And if you're looking at that roster
and you're gonna say, and thisis internal conversation, this is what's going
on behind the scenes, we're givingyou. Give us a chance to win.
Getting a James Harden would give youa chance to win. But if
you leverage your future, then youcome back to the table and say,
is it worth it. We've alreadygone so heavy on Paul George, we

(13:58):
give away every single second and verseround draft pick we had. We've already
gone all in on Kawhi Leonard,and now whatever we have left of the
future, we give that up forJames Harden Man. Is that a wise
choice? So that's more so thequestion from the Clippers standpoint and the discussions
they're having internally. Yeah, andI'm just saying give given his age.
Now, look, Harden's MVP inthis league and the past one scoring titles.

(14:22):
He's done a lot of things anda lot of great things in this
league. But at this stage ofhis career, we saw how it didn't
work out so great. And Phillywe saw him and we saw flashes of
James Harden going back to that oldJames putting up forty, you know,
and and having fifteen assists and doinghis thing, getting to the rim,

(14:43):
getting fouled, getting to the freethrow line, and then he'd have a
game where he had six points andfour assists. It was just an inconsistent
James Harden. I'm just wondering.You know, we always talked about change
of scenery may help a guy.Do you think it would help the Clippers
if he were to come because Idon't know anymore Ryan. I don't know

(15:07):
if he can do it enough tobring that James Harden back to get him
over the hump. I don't thinkit would be fair at all to expect
that same James Hard. But understand, you may never see a system like
that again. Any We're talking aboutMike D'Antoni, the seven second offense and
you know the spacing, and Idon't think enough credit is given to,

(15:28):
you know, what p J.Tucker was doing, you know, within
the prime of his career, andguys like Trevor Reesa and Eric Gordon and
how stacked you know those teams werein Houston or around James Harden. It
was the it was the perfect storm. You know, the guys. They
had a bunch of guys with achip on their shoulder that want to play
hard. They had an attitude andyou know, they competed against the Warriors,

(15:52):
and James Harden was you know,playing like a maniac. But you
had you had a roster built toenhance what James Harden to the table.
So I think it would not befair to ask that same James. I
think obviously clearly he may not bethat same player. But if we saw
during the playoffs he had a fiftypoint triple double against the Celtics, who
were favored by many to win thechampionships. I think you gotta put respect

(16:18):
on James's name. It's still there, but I don't think it's fair to
expect the same James. Yeah.Another guy, Russell Westbrook. He came
to the Lakers and I think ninetynine percent of people felt that I was
just not going to work as abad fit, and it turned out to
be a bad fit. It didn'twork for the Lakers for a variety of

(16:38):
different reasons. I mean, everybodythinks that they have the answer as to
why, but but they're they're thereare different reasons why that did not work.
He goes across the hall Ryan andit works and he fits in nicely.
It's like almost to the point whereRuss is Russ is back to being
Russ and making things happen. Man, what do you what do you think?

(17:00):
Was it just the culture over therewith the Clippers? Was it tylu?
I mean, what do you thinkit was going from the Laker Laker
team to the Clipper team for forRussell Westbrook and then going forward, can
he can he go back to thatform being back in the Clipper uniform.
So, first of all, whatdo you think it was that that made

(17:22):
him go back to being rust andthat rust that we come to see man,
Rodney, I'm glad you asked that. It's twofold. It's one.
There's motivation because I got one minute. You can't tell me I can't play
no more. You know, hewas motivated. And then secondly, the
expectations weren't the same, you know, with with the Lakers, he was
expected to carry the load when Lebronwas out, and then there wasn't much

(17:45):
help around them. You know,when they cleared that space, they were
able to go out and get agroup of very good players to support Lebron.
But it was like not rust,just make it happen with what you
got here. That that was atough situation. There were the expectations may
have been too high. It's motivation. And then also Rodney, after a
while, when all the trade rumblingswent on about Russell Westbrook, right,

(18:07):
everybody's talking about trade Russ, tradeRuss right, as a certain point when
you didn't trade Russ and Rodney,I know you've probably seen situations like this
when you play when you didn't tradehim, they just got awkward in that
locker room. That trade dude,when that trade, I've been a part
of it. So when that tradedeadline passes and that dude next to you
have been asking for a trade andhe don't get traded, it ain't good

(18:30):
for nobody. I remember one pricethat my practice. Shout out my guy,
Melvin Eli. Melvin Eli didn't gettraded after asking him to be traded,
and it was a rampage. AndMelvin was the nicest guy on the
planet. Man. He went intopractice and tour Premot president and knew what
man. He went full Jimmy Butleron the squad that day. Man.
So it is I say that tosay with Russell Westbrook. It had been

(18:53):
awkward since the man had been thrownso far under the bus about being traded
and moved and all this, andthen he comes back and he was still
there. Yeah, that's hard togo back in that locker room. You
hear that day in and day out, and it's different now. I mean,
I'm so glad I don't I didn'tplay in the social media age because
you can't get away from it.No matter where you go, no matter

(19:15):
what you do, you can't getaway from it. So yeah, it'd
be interesting with the Clippers, man, I think there's a lot of they're
moving into a new building very verysoon. They want to come in and
go into that new building on ahigh note. So it's a big,
big year for the Clips. Man. Here's a question right going around the
NBA nowadays, And we talked aboutthis a little bit earlier when you mentioned

(19:37):
you talked about depth and depth aroundLebron. You know, when Lebron,
you know, in that second halfof the season where they put some places,
the pieces around them, he couldcome out of games for five minute,
six minutes and there was enough depthto carry the load. When you
see what's happening now and you mentionedPhoenix as well, with what they got
in terms of three superstars on thatteam. Can that work nowadays because depth

(20:03):
becomes an issue. You sacrifice adepth when you have three guys that you're
paying forty fifty million dollars and specificallyPhoenix. Can that way of doing business
work in today's NBA? It absolutelycan, But your front office is gonna
be tested. Think about Lebron Jameswhen he won in Miami. They went

(20:26):
out and got James Jones and MikeMiller, a great cast of veterans that
that fit that situation. So toyour answer, it could work, but
your front office has to go outand get those gyms. Keep thinking about
a guy and once you to lookout for this Eric Gordon. Eric Gord's
an absolute baller. He's playing forthe Bahamas right now with the with the

(20:47):
World Games, and he's balling rightnow, So he could be a guy
that's gonna be heavily leaned on.You know, can Bradley Bill play the
point guard position? Are they gonnago out and get that, you know,
that backup point You know, Ericand Bill can kind of play by
committee, but they've never been acommitted floor general type of point guard.
But they can handle the ball.So I think you gotta take that Miami
Heat approach and go get some undraftedguys who can ball. Look at Miami

(21:11):
Heat, they get they're not gettinglate draft picks, they getting undrafted no
picks, okay, and they're makingit happy with those guys. So at
the end of the day, toanswer your question, your front office has
to get those gems. They gottafind that veteran who still has some gas
in the tank. You know,who can bring something to your organization.
You can't just get anybody. Soit is tough because you said everybody got

(21:34):
drafted and they gone and then yougot Now you can get up. I'm
not mistaken, another two way playeradded into your organization. So you gotta
wisely go out and really evaluate guys. Yeah, no doubt. You gotta
find those gems and you gotta goout. And that's why I think everybody,
you know, you have to givea lot of praise and tip your

(21:56):
cap to Rob Olinka what he wasable to do. The good guy,
a guy like Austin reeves right,and to see that talent and then it
pays off the way it did wasit was a great job bringing back the
D'Angelo Russell all those things and makingthat trade. So it worked out for
the Lakers. Let's go up,Let's go up north to Golden State.

(22:18):
How does the CP three Steph Curryplay Thompson trio work up there? You
know what, I was talking withmy guy Brendan Haywood road Champ with the
Dallas Mavericks the other day, andI think I'm more optimistic than not.
The reason I say that, Rodneyis, if I'm not mistaken, About

(22:38):
four or five years ago, weall saw that Chris Paul had been moved
to the Oklahoma City Thunder, andeverybody was like, he's done. He'd
been injured and ain't working no more. This the nd CP all the talk
said, you know, they weregonna buy Chris out and just wasn't gonna
work there. And Chris goes onto have arguably his most productive a year

(23:02):
as a professional, and every yearafter you kept kind of I don't know
how he's gonna work with Phoenix.Is he the answer? He turned the
organization around. Man. So there'sa level where you I don't think I
can with good faith count out ChrisPaul, even at this stage in his
career. And this is gonna bethe least that Chris has ever been asked

(23:22):
to do. And I look attwo guys, keep an eye on Jonathan
Cominga and Andrew Wiggins, and Ithink that Chris is gonna lean on those
guys. And when I say leanon him, he's gonna say, man,
guys, you guys play the defense. And I get you the basketball,
y'all play defense. For me.Y'all lock up, y'all have my

(23:44):
back, and I'm gonna get youthe basketball. Coming run running that lane,
Jonathan, because I'm gonna get youthe rock, big fella, go
upstairs. I'm gonna get you alive. I'm gonna get your wide open three.
And I think also, and Iwant to hear this here, Hey,
you mark this down. I'll savethis this bite for me. Steph
Curry is going to be in therunning for MVP. If you're a betman,

(24:04):
go go put your money on StephCurry for m VP. The reason
why because Steph Curry's gonna have thechance to run the wings rather than bring
the ball up floor. This isthe least pressure that Steph Curry has had
in a very long time. Sonow Steph Curry is gonna be in a
situation where you're saying, you know, Steph, just go get busy,
go score, go, go runthe floor, don't leave the team.

(24:26):
And Chris Paul's gonna say, man, I I got you. He looks
great this summer. He's motivated.I think he made a comment said he's
the best point guard of all time, or maybe we can dive into that
later. There's a lot to unpackthere. But I think for Steph Curry,
he has a chance to just gobe a score. And a lot
of people have even argue for along time, it's Steph Curry a point

(24:48):
guard. He's he a point guard. I think, now you got a
chance to go find out. Yeahyou do, Yeah you do? Before
I want to do while we're stillon the NBA, Man, because you
covered this guy for a couple ofyears in Houston, I think he's still
a free agent. But Christian Wood, Christian would to me as a baller,
man, what's your thoughts on him? Christians one of the most talented

(25:08):
bigs I've seen. And for ChristianWood, it's him having the chance.
Uh, it's not basketball related.He's gonna have to dive into his playbook,
he's gonna have to be on thesame page with the coaching staff,
and he's gonna have to do thelittle things on and off the court.
But it's not a question of talent. So I hope that wherever he ends

(25:30):
up he gets a chance to behis best. But man, he he
he has got it all. Man. He can shoot the three, he
can drive the ball, he canblock shots. He's a little slighter frame,
I would say, so he's notthe strongest, but from his skill
set and talent, man, he'san NBA talent. So I'm intrigued to
see where Christian Wood goes. Idon't think this is definitely his last year

(25:51):
ever playing in the NBA, buthe you know, he's gonna have his
work to do. Yeah, Ihear you, I hear you. All
right, man, we got ourNBA field. We got some more coming
up on that and in the thirdhour, but coming up next. You
know, my fellow trojan there's beensome shots fired out there by one of
my fellow trojans. Man, we'regonna get into that. On the other

(26:12):
side of the break, AM fiveto seventy LA Sports Ryan Howard and for
Fred Rogan, let's go, ohyeah, come on, it's Wednesday,
Ryan Hollands and for Fred Rogan.And it's been good, man, it's
been good stuff so far, RyanHollands. And it's juicy right now because
my man Big five, Reggie Bushmany stuff to us yesterday. Yesterday.

(26:37):
Man, that dry stuff that Vestawe're talking about. I won't say the
word, don't say it. Don'tsay I'm not I'm not that's that's say
crazy. I ain't saying the word. It's a baseball term. It's a
baseball term. Believe it, believeit. There By man uh USC's Big
five, Reggie Bush is uh suingthe NCAA for defamation of character and he's

(27:03):
going after him man after And thiswas based on a statement. But I
think black in twenty twenty one,right, Kevin. I think it was
a statement that the nca made inconjunction with you know, talking about the
nil and what Reggie Bush had togo through and giving back his heisman and
the USC vacating that national title thatthey won. First off, I don't

(27:26):
know how and why it's ever beennecessary to take away the records or a
championship from a team that was determinedon the field. M you know,
I just never I never got that. But they have dragged him through the
mud over the years, and Ithink they're using him now or used him

(27:48):
and talking about pay for play andit just really trans you know, trampled
his name in conjunction with all ofthat, and he's had enough right now.
He's had enough of that, beentrying to get his heisman trophy back.
For years, USC has finally beenable to welcome him back because they
were sitting in a position of beinggetting penalized for doing that. But now

(28:14):
he's back on campus at USC andis welcome back now. And I think
they should give it all back tohim, give his heisman back to him,
and and remove that stupid vacated championshipthat they took away from USC as
well. I'm not saying it's justas I'm a Trojan, but it's just
absolutely ridiculous when you when you thinkabout it. Man. So he's going
after the NCAA, which I think, you know, we talked about the

(28:37):
PAC twelve, you know, beingdissolved. I think very soon the NCAA
is going to be dissolved too.Man, those were some strong words there,
Rodney. Yeah, and I andI'm and I'm with you. Uh.
The reason that I'm with you iswe've always known that even when we

(29:00):
played, Rodney, we were professionals. We weren't we weren't kids, we
were we were professionals. You cango die for your country at at eighteen
and nineteen years old, and ifyou're you know you're playing a sport,
you know you should be paid todo so. Everybody's that the coach is
a professional, the trainers are professionals. Everybody's a professional, but the people

(29:22):
who are really making the money,and I know we have a problem with
that. Uh, these kids arenow making money and if it was so,
I've scene it wouldn't be happening today. Uh. The truth is and
I'll you know, I'll play devil'sadvocate here. Uh. I don't know
if you can even prove that Reggiedid something illegal. I don't know enough
information there, so I'm not goingto speak to that. But if he

(29:45):
did, the rules are the rules, and maybe that's something to fight for.
But ultimately it's crazy because you know, we know that these guys are
We're we're professionals at the end ofthe day. So I think for Reggie,
and you know this better than Ido. I'm sure you have a
relationship with Reggie Bush as a lumnaire. It's not even about the money,

(30:07):
like Reggie's made it enough. It'sabout his name, is about his legacy,
and I think that man, he'sone of the and I don't and
I hate that he doesn't get theproper respect. He's one of the greatest
collegiate athletes we have ever seen play. He is to date, the most
thing and I know you know thatfrom my generation, he's easily the most
exciting player, hands down, handsdown possibly and all that that entire decade.

(30:33):
The things that he was doing onthe football field, Oh my god,
Reggie bus right out. Hold on, let me let me write it
out for those who may not know, Reggie Bush ran out his shoes and
scored a touchdown. Reggie Bush usedto run to one side of the field,
stop, pivot, go to theother and go for six. I
mean, this man was, Imean, he was unbelievable. If they

(30:55):
if the internet was going off inthe Twitter and the TikTok, and it's,
oh my god, yo, Rodneycrazy right now by saying this,
not at all, not at all, I mean, And and look,
every game was a highlight film.We talked about this as early as must
see TV. But Reggie Bush certainlywas. And it was at a time
where USC was rolling, Pete Carrollhad the program back, they were winning

(31:18):
national titles and number five in theback in the backfield. Man, it
was it was electric. It waselectric, the things that he was able
to do. And I'm with you, I just don't know if there was
a more exciting player in college footballever ever, just the things that he

(31:40):
was able to do. And Ithink now and we're seeing an era now
with the NIL that I think theyjust want some of these records and things
that he did restored, But we'reseeing NIL where guys are doing the things
and getting the things that you justtalked about. You make so much money
for the schools, and yet wetalk about Reggie and you go to the

(32:02):
game and the Colosseum in two thousandand five and there are thirty thousand number
five jerseys in and around the coliseum, you know what I mean. And
players and kids took kid a dimeout of that and yet got to live
off a five hundred dollars a monthstipe in check, even when you're on
scholarship. It's just something that's notbalanced with that. It's not balanced with

(32:29):
that. I wanted to your thoughtson the NIL because it made us a
long conversation, but real quick,it's it's the right thing to do to
be able to to make money offyour own name. But I'm nervous that
it's going to get because it alreadyis a little bit out of here because
it's a town without a sheriff rightnow, and there's very little regulation to

(32:52):
it. And I think it's gonnaget bad and worse before it gets better.
Your thoughts on nil and players gettingyou know, athletes now being able
to benefit from this, It ain'tfor the athletes to fix people, you
know, kind of make this seemlike it's the athlete problem. These kids
don't know what to do with theirmoney, you know, the big key,

(33:14):
and they stay in that statement.It's their money, it's their money.
I'm sorry. You can't control thesekids and these guys like you used
to be able to. But ultimately, and at the end of the day,
the athletes deserve to be paid.You gotta be glad that they're paid.
And I think that the next stepis and Rodan Andrew's gonna keep I'm

(33:36):
gonna keep it a buck, yes, Rodney, if if we have to,
If you have to go to workas a professional and you're late to
work or you don't do your jobat work, you get fined. You
can be fired from your job,you know. So now these kids,
the truth is the other side,they're gonna have to see some repercussions from
it. But the big major frustrationhere, Rodney, tell me if I'm

(33:59):
wrong, the universities are saying,now if I'm going after let's say I'm
Alabama, Alabama, right, andI can go and I can get player
A, B and C and they'regonna sign up just because I'm Alabama.
But guess what if you're if you'reold Mississippi State or you're somewhere else and
you say, man, you knowwhat I can pay and I can take

(34:21):
players C away from them so theycan't get abcn D. I'm gonna get
players C from Alabama now it canbe more competitive. So those schools are
complaining and getting frustrated or teams schoolsare saying, well, we don't have
the money or the funds. Letthem figure that out. This is gonna
this is gonna's gonna change the landscapebecause Brandy, you know, these young

(34:42):
boys ain't going to with all duerespect and shout out to mccronin go check
out what you said. They ain'tjust going to UCLA because it's UCLA.
Dog ain't going to USC just becauseit's USC. They going and getting the
bag as they should. A perfectdecision, guys, is Jaden Rashata was
just named the starting quarterback at ArizonaState. He was a Florida commit and
because he cannot he had a disputeover how much money he would make on

(35:05):
an nil deal. He decommitted fromFlorida and went to Arizona State. That
is like the definition of pay fromplay. Pay me what I want in
my NIL deal, or I ain'tcoming here. And that's Florida versus Arizona
State. Yeah, I mean,come on, yeah, that's it right
there. Yeah, it is,it is, and and it's gonna continue
until there's something. I don't knowthe answer to it, but there's until
there's some sort of real governance andregulation. Because the NCAA is sitting up

(35:30):
there with their hands up in theair like I don't know what to do
about this, and nobody's come upwith a real solution. But it'll be
interesting over the next couple of fewyears. Because you're right, a kid
that Okay, he's not starting aquarterback man, like you just mentioned,
I may i'd be starting. Okay, I'm up and gone. I'm leaving.
I'm transferring without any any penalty.I'm going from Florida to LSU because

(35:54):
they want me to back up thisguy. Now I'm gonna leave. And
also, by the way, LSUwas gonna give me a little bit of
this, uh this cabbage so Ican come there. It is. It
is wild and uh, if somethingdoesn't happen soon in terms of regulation,
it's gonna get way, way,way out of hand. We still got

(36:14):
a lot of go go ahead.I don't want the players to be regulated.
I want the universe. No,No, the players shouldn't be regulated.
The players should be able to goand get what they can get and
then and then find out the solutionand how you want to regulate it with
with a governance. But no,the players have paid enough over the years
and done enough that they deserved this. And for the guys that did do

(36:35):
a lot, I mean, I'mcluding myself in this and you two man,
you know there's there were opportunities whereyou could have made some money,
but you were not allowed to becauseyou were on scholarship and you were considered
a student athlete that couldn't do that. So it's come a long way,
still got a long ways to go, but hopefully they get there very soon.
Hey, listen, we got totreat it on the other side,
our man Benny Boons, and youris gonna come on and talk some NFL

(36:59):
football. Season is up on us. The NFL is back, coming back
within two weeks, so get ready, get ready. Footballs around the corner
and my Trojan's open up this Saturday, man, So it's already here,
am five seventy LA Sports. RyanHollins in for Fred Rogan.