Steve Hartman and Bucky Brooks discuss Nikola Jokic’s playoff dominance, the Celtic’s future and more!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Please, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio, living the
dream once again here on another beautiful Saturday. This is
Fox Sports Saturday and we are broadcasting live from the
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(00:20):
recommended installers ti iraq dot com the way tire buying
should be. It took forever, Bucky, but we finally got
the NBA Finals underway. And I'm gonna say this because
it's such a rare occurrence that it's worth mentioning. So
after the Celtics forced a Game seven on that miracle

(00:44):
tip shop by White send it to a game seven,
everyone obviously picking the Celtics at home and they were
gonna make history. And I said, I have a sense
Boston's gonna bleep in their pants in that game, and
they look worn out, and that incredible Miami Heat team
jumped all over them. And that's how we got to

(01:06):
where we are right now, an eight seed the Miami
Heat going against the number one seed, the Denver Nuggets.
Before we get into a little talk about what's to come,
in this series, what we saw in Game one of
this series. How compelled are you, Bucky Brooks to watch
this series?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, I'm really compelled because I'm a Miami Heat fan.
But even if I wasn't a fan of the Heat,
I would be compelled because this is an opportunity for
me and everyone to have an opportunity to see Joker
on the big stage. Like Joker is kind of toward
an anonymity since the ball with that's really the last
time that we saw the Nuggets, and he is a
much different player now than he was back then. And

(01:48):
so to have an opportunity doing the run up to
the finals, to see him dominate and do all those
things and to kind of squash the notion that he
shouldn't have been a three time MVP.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
He's done everything.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
I would have been compelled to see what he does
because this was the last frontier. It's the last question
you go against him.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
You know.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
This reminds me a little, and I always go back
into history of the nineteen seventy one World Series and
people discovering Roberto Clemente. Now Clementi obviously had been a
big star for baseball for many, many years, but he
had not been on that big stage since early in
his career when they didn't have a lot of television coverage.
But in nineteen seventy one, he put on a show.

(02:27):
I mean, he just dominated that seven game series. The
Pirates won the World Series, and everyone's like, Wow, this
guy's really good. It's like, were you paying attention? And
this is where we are with Jokic. I mean, it's
not like he just suddenly came out of nowhere. He's
the two time reigning MVP, and obviously a lot of
people felt he should have been a three time MVP
going into this series. I wonder I'm glad to mention

(02:49):
Jokic at the start here because one of the things
I watch Jokic's game and it's old school. And when
I say old school, we go back in time. So
for most of the listeners out there, when we say
Bill Russell, you know the name, but you don't know

(03:09):
his game because you didn't watch it. I mean that
was way back in the late fifties and through the sixties.
Let me tell you how Bill Russell played the center position.
He was a defensive oriented center, blocked a lot of shots.
He was a big rebounder, but he was a team
oriented center. The offense often ran through him. He was
not a great shooter, nor did he shoot the ball

(03:30):
a lot. The irony was Will Chamberlain's first seven years
in the NBA. He led the league in scoring. The
first year he didn't lead the league in scoring, he
led the Philadelphia seventy six ers to an NBA championship,
and then five years later, when the Lakers won their
first LA championship in seventy two, Will was barely averaging
fourteen points a game. So this and then we go

(03:52):
back to Bill Walton with the Portland Trailblazers in the seventies.
These were playmaking centers who could score if they wanted to.
It wasn't that they were not capable of scoring, It's
just that they were a team oriented center. The offense
ran through them. What we saw in that first quarter
of Game one where Jokic didn't even shoot the ball

(04:16):
and they're just knocking down shots as he's setting a
guy after God, I just wonder because this is a
league like most sports where it's copycat league. When you
look at Nikola Jokic, who came out as a second
round pick, very non athletic. I mean, the scout report
was on the money. He's not athletic, he's not explosive.
He has a good basketball IQ, but he's limited physically,

(04:41):
especially on the defensive end. But they were able to
do take what he did best, which is have a
sense of the court, vision, court awareness, and build a center.
Now that is the prototype of its center should be.
I'm just wondering, Bucky, whether or not we're going to
see more teams suddenly look at the formula that the

(05:03):
Nuggets did with Jokich and try to develop these big
guys in a different way than camping them out at
the three point line.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
I think so.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
I think what you've seen is a little bit of
a return to the old school. I mean, even if
you look at the Miami Heat, they've shown that you
can drive through the rim, try and collect free throws
and still be a team that shoots prolific from the
three point strip. With the Denver Nuggets, they have the
best of both worlds because they have a big man
who plays big. You know, the difference between Joker and

(05:35):
Joel Embiid is Joel Embiid is a big man who
wants to play like a guard much like Anthony Davis.
Joker has the ability to do all those guard like things,
but push come to show up. He can get in
the post, he can back you down, he can play
bully ball with you. And that's what he's been able
to do. And so yeah, it should be a greater
appreciation for I would say old school big man play.

(05:56):
And hopefully I know we have all these kids playing
au and the working on the jump shots, so whatever.
But if you look at Joker and you look at
his footwork, and you look at how easy and how
he just confounds and befuddles these defenders in the block,
I will spend more time in the block man just
being a big guy that can dominate it. You cannot
stop a big man who has the ability to get

(06:18):
to the rack anyway and with a variety of different moves.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
You know, after Kareem's sophomore year at UCLA, they outlawed
the dunk. For nine years, there was no dunk. And
if you look at the big man that came from
that era, guy's like Bob Lanier, Bob McAdoo, these are
guys that Bill Walton they could not dunk in college,
meaning they actually had to learn how to shoot the ball.

(06:41):
Here's the thing about Jokuch. When he's around the rim,
it doesn't matter the angle. He knows where he is
and he's able to do little turnaround scoops wherever. But
he has a great sense. How many times do we
see big guys in this league blow layups. It's like,
how is this at seven feet missing that shot because

(07:02):
they don't shoot that ball. They don't shoot that ball
you'll get has such a great sense around the rim,
where the rim is, how to get his shot off
from different angles. So I'm I'm hoping call it old school.
It's not old school, it's where we are right now.
You're watching it right now. People are just blown away

(07:23):
by the multifaceted, non athletic Nicola Jokic. And I'm thinking
if you could do that with this guy a second
round pick, Imagine if you had a guy that did
have some more explosiveness, guys that maybe were more athletically inclined,
if you taught them that brand of basketball, how great

(07:44):
those teams would be.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
I mean, you'd like to think that those teams would
be outstanding, maybe outstanding because they're developed in the air.
A team that is able to mix power with skill,
finesse and the things that we used to appreciate. I mean,
think about I mean it's crazy that it's been thirty years,
but think about the big men. I was saying their
heyday when you had an opportunity to watch a chem

(08:06):
Olajuwan and Shaq and Patrick Ewing and David Robinson, Tim
Duncan all in that era. I mean, Kevin Garnett, Karl
Malone with count as a big man, but just the
way that they played.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
And you can live at the free throw line.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
I think what you're seeing is in this league, man,
you have to have a way to generate points that
aren't always difficult, and in the postseason when everyone the
game kind of bogs down and everyone has the ability
to really hone in on the game plan, you have
to have someone who can go and get a bucket,
someone who can go and get files to kind of

(08:39):
bring some calmness to the game. And we've seen with
the big man like Joker, they've been able to do
that now.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
And of course in this Game one, he basically didn't
shoot the ball until they needed him to shoot the ball,
and he had twelve points in that fourth quarter when
Miami was nudging a little bit toward them. So this
is one of those series that I think, in fact,
there's many layers to the series. By the way, one
quick note, and I know you're a Miami Heat guy, Bucky.
So the Miami Heater the second eight seed to get

(09:06):
to the NBA Finals. The previous one, coach by Jeff
Van Gundy, were the ninety nine Knicks. By the way,
there's a lot of parallels in these two NBA finals
because the nineteen ninety nine Knicks in the finals played
against a team that was playing in the NBA Finals
for the first time who had migrated from the ABA,
the San Antonio Spurs. And here we are, all these

(09:29):
years later and the Miami Heat are playing a team
that's in the NBA Finals for the first time having
migrated from the ABA. Now here's the bad news for you.
That series ended in a four game sweep. Was it
wasn't for one, I don't believe, So I don't know.
Maybe I don't know it either way, sweep, gentlemen sweep

(09:51):
forever year. Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't much of a contest,
let's put it that way. But the bottom line here
is is that something's going to have to change, Draft Stickley,
if the Heat are to make this a competitive NBA Finals,
We're gonna break down exactly what they have to do.
By the way, We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
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Progressive dot com our takeaway from Game one and how
things could drastically change tomorrow in Game two of the
NBA Finals. This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Hi, this is Jay Glazer.

Speaker 5 (10:33):
And you may know me for the world of football,
or fighting or even shows like HBO's Bawlers. Well you
don't know is for my entire life. I have lived
in something I refer to as the Great Depression anxiety.
So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable,
a mental health.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Podcast with Jay Laser, where each week, while we.

Speaker 5 (10:52):
Talk about mental health, I hope to describe it, give
it words.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the.

Speaker 5 (10:58):
iHeartRadio appp podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 6 (11:05):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Steve Harbin and Bucky Brooks. This is Fox Sports Saturday
and we are live from the tirag dot com studios.
By the way, we want to welcome our new affiliate
in Peoria, Illinois, Peoria Sports Radio one o one point one,
to the Fox Sports Radio family. They're a Chicago White
Sox radio network affiliate. Program director Scott Hecnethorne dropped another

(11:40):
network to flip the Fox Sports big win for them.
Welcome to our FSR family, Peorias Sports Radio one oh
one point one. Actually, the Harbin family. We have roots
in the state of Illinois in a small town called
Mount Carrol, Illinois's right on the border of Illinois and Iowa,

(12:01):
and it's one of those cities. The population there is
the same now that it was one hundred and fifty
years ago. Speaking of Iowa, Iowa, Sam, who we were
I don't know questioning whether he would return after flying
over the pond to England, has returned. It is good
to see you. It's good to be back.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Thank you.

Speaker 7 (12:24):
I was just going to say, you know, England, London
was nice with nice weather, but Peoria, Illinois, you've never
been there.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
I assume I have never been to Peoria. No underratedly
nice town, nice town, good looking.

Speaker 7 (12:36):
It a town is a city city, I'd say, I'd
say it's six figures. I'd have to double check that.
But Peoria happy for that. That doesn't compare to let's say,
des Moines. I think it's probably smaller than des Moines.
But it's over one hundred thousands, I guess, And yeah,
great for them, Peoria. Yeah, it's not. It's in western Illinois.
It's not too far from yeah, from the.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
From well, that's that's where Mount Carrol is. And if
you no one has ever been to Mount I promise
you that I think I've driven around it because it
not because my farm. However, if you ever go to
Mount Carroll, Illinois and go to the local cemetery, like
half the people there are named Hartman, like it's like
it was like hundreds of years of Hartman's ancestral bones

(13:17):
are buried right there on the Hartman's side. All right,
so we are we are breaking this down. What's going
on right now? As far as these NBA Finals are concerned.
By the way, so the the Nuggets had ten days
from closing out the Lakers to Game one. They look good,
by the way. I mean, they were even admitting I saw,

(13:40):
you know, Jamal Murray before the series began, saying, yeah,
you know, it will probably be a little rusty, but
that'll shake off pretty quickly. Well they should it off
very quickly, because they were operating at a high level
almost from the get go. But the fact that we
now have because they're not on the road, why is
it Thursday Sunday? And by the way, they don't have

(14:02):
Game three until Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
Stretch it out.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
We need to we momentum, go back to backs.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
We don't want back to well.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's not a back to back. How about every other day.
I mean, it seems you can get an extra travel
day if you're gonna go on the road to tow
one one one series. But why is there Why are
we not playing today? No?

Speaker 3 (14:25):
No, no, not too soon?

Speaker 2 (14:26):
All right, give Miami multiple days back, bounce back and
recover and all that.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
By the way, I wanted to mention one thing about
why these two teams find themselves in the NBA Finals,
and that is organizational continuity. Once again, we're seeing a
scrambling of all these coaches, Bucky, where guys are fired

(14:53):
in one place and re hired. And we're going to
talk about that a little bit later on. But you
have here Eric Spolstra, who so of course is safe
because he is the handpicked man of pat Riley, who
is still very much running that Miami Heat organization. And
then you have Malone, Michael Malone, who's what is it
eight years now in Denver? Yeah, and we remember you

(15:13):
mentioned when Denver got to the Western Conference finals in
the bubble three years ago and they had these young
players like Murray and Jokic and Porter, and they were
still very young and raw. But the continuity with the coach,
you can see the development of their game. You know,
you start putting pieces together, you start building a unit.

(15:34):
And it doesn't seem to be a genius idea that
if you sort of hold things together you're going to
be getting better. And Malone is obviously proven. I mean
other organizations may have looked at his record saying, ah,
nothing really special is going on here. Let's make a change,
you know, maybe we could get more out of this
team instead give the Nuggets credit. They stuck with Malone,

(15:58):
he had a game plan, and now they're three wins
away from winning their first ever NBA championships. So the
continuity of these two organizations to me, again, we're talking
about a copycat league and you know, trying to develop
big men in the in the vein of a guy
like Jokic. How about running your organization like these two

(16:19):
organizations are running. Instead of scrambling through different coaches, let
them put the game plan together, develop the players, create
some unity, and see what happens.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great plan.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Both organizations know exactly who they are and they take
their cues from the top. You think about Miami and
what pat Riley was able to do, not only since
he's taken over as president, but when he served as
head coach, they won a title. So his voice is
loud in the building. Then on the other side, you're
talking about having a level of success, but steady success,

(16:53):
building a program, building it up where they are now
one of the forces in the West. And so Mike
mclona's personality is that, you know, he does a few
different taxes to get his team going, but he's deeply
involved and interested in what they're doing. The trick will be,
how do you take what these guys have done in

(17:13):
terms of high levels of commitment and accountability and make
it the norm. Are you going to have others who say, Hey,
here's what I want to do. I want to have
a very tight detailed program. Can you help me? Can
you show me? Give me some practice plans and those things?
And so it sounds great on paper, but unless you
have one of those special dudes, it's not a winn formata.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
It's amazing how winning can really make a coach more effective.
I mean, you talk about building respect in a room.
So these guys, this nucleus of players for Denver have
been with Malone now for several years, and I'm sure
he's been selling an idea to them year after year
after year. Now a year ago, obviously, Murray got hurt,

(17:54):
missed the season, and so it's sort of put a
delay on things. But he's back, and you listen into
the players, these Denver players and how they've gotten to
this point, and you know, you talk about unity, but
it's more about buying into what a coach is selling,
you know, you know, On a completely different related note,

(18:16):
you look at the Denver Broncos a year ago, you
had a rookie coach that didn't know what he was doing.
Now you bring in Sean Payton. The second he walks
in that locker room. Yeah, he's got credibility. Guy's been there,
he's won a super But he brings credibility into the
locker room. Now you've got to build on that. But
once a coach has established a formula that works for

(18:39):
a team and results in w's man, oh man, that's
what every organization obviously is looking for.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Absolutely, It's just it's just way you want to make
sure you're you're cleaning, concise and all those other things,
very clear with what your intentions are. But I mean,
if you can let it fly, let it fly.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
And then what had happens of courses, And we've seen
this with a guy like Bill Belichick. You know, once
you get to that level, you know, no one's gonna squabble,
no one's gonna get in your way. It's my way
or the highway, and you know, and he had that
recognition over the years of Okay, we may have spent
a ton of money on this free agent, or he
may have used a high draft pick on this guy,

(19:21):
he doesn't fit, get rid of him, now.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah, I mean I think that's the thing.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Is one thing to draft him is another thing to
leave him languishing when you watch roster when you know
they can't play.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
So yeah, that's impacting. That's kind of part of it.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
I mean, look at the Heat, Kayla Martin, Kayla Martin,
I mean, anybody could have had this guy.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
How about him?

Speaker 2 (19:41):
How about j Cole the rapper reaching out to Karan
Butler did grant him a workout?

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Right, it's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
But again, you can get a workout. But it's and
this is you know, people are saying, well, how have
the Heat been able to put this roster together? A
lot of guys who are undrafted or free agents and
everything else. It's simple. They able to identify what it
is that this guy does best and then novel idea,

(20:08):
we're going to put them in a position to succeed.
What a novel idea?

Speaker 2 (20:12):
I mean a great it's a great idea because it's
a player's game. It's a players league, and so you've
got to take your players, your best players, and you
got to create partnerships so they are just as invested
as you are. You also have to have some creativity
to make sure they get their touches in their sweet spots.
When I look at what is going on. Uh yeah,
people talk about this to young people problem, but really
it's the adults in the room that are messing it

(20:33):
up exactly.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
But more then, that's because certain coaches believe that they
can take a guy that does X and we can
make them do why because and you're like, no, that's
not what he does. And it's it's always been a frustration.
This is why so many times when we talk about
the success of athletes at the professional level, it cannot
be overstated. Now, there's always supreme talents, they're going to

(20:59):
be great no matter where, but the overwhelming majority are
a product if they have success of being in the
right place, right time, right system.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, I would say eighty five percent of the league
they're system players. I know they don't want to hear
me say that, but right you need to be in
the right system to fit your your talents. And if
you're in that system, I mean, look, there's no's bard.
So it is just a matter of understanding exactly who
you are, understanding exactly who the organization is and everybody
who makes decisions put the organization's interest first before you

(21:32):
put your own individual interest.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
All right, So coming up on the other side, what
has to change from what happened in game one of
the NBA Finals to have a different look for game two.
We'll get to that, but first let's find out what
is trending right now. And this man is just knee
deep and roll on garrow. Oh yeah. With the French Open.
By the way, I saw the number one seed on
the women's side, two time French Open champion. How do

(21:55):
you pronounce a nay swat tech tech via tech. I
think it is attaching. It's more like I'm shit tech Yeah,
and she gooseggs somebody today love Love, which probably only
took like thirty minutes. Can you imagine like not even
showing up.

Speaker 8 (22:07):
Yeah, getting broken three times in back to back seven
So when we have two such dominant players, obviously the
joker on the other side of the other joker, the
tennis choker, is this fade to come play and we're
going to see any upsets here. The thing about Novak
Djokovic is that he's only won two out of all

(22:28):
the Grand slams on clay. This is not a service
that suits his game very well. But with no Rafina
doll And we heard a report today that he's going
to be out at least in the next five months
because of some injury issues. It's either him, it's al KaAZ.
Here is a name that you're going to want to remember,
Dan Altmeyer. He beat Yanix Center in the second round.
Dan Altmeyer is a guy that I got to call

(22:49):
a challenger event of him just about seven weeks ago.
And this guy's a filthy backhand and he is on
a charge here. He's got Grigor Dimitrov today, So somebody
to keep an eye. Regardless of his outcome in this tournament,
he's going up the charts.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
I'm looking at the tennis thing and this thing about
sports like this, you know, it's an individual sport. He
needs stars. And with the retirement of Serena and Federer
and Nadal says next year will probably be his last
year Djokovic has left. I mean, there's this sport desperately
needs a breakout star that's going to start dominating some

(23:26):
of these Grand Slam tournaments.

Speaker 8 (23:27):
Well, and I think I think Bucky will like this
because on the American side for men's tennis, Ben Shelton
could be that guy. Now, his background, he won national
championships at the University of Florida, but the dude was
a quarterback in high school. So he's got the football
athleticism that you rarely see in a tennis player. His dad,
Brian is the head coach for the University of Florida,

(23:48):
has all kinds of great athletic jeans. But you're talking
about a guy who's built to be a quarterback and
take some punishment. And now he's back there hitting four
hands and backhands. That is somebody to keep an eye on.
He is inside the top fifty. He's only, I believe,
twenty twenty years old. So for looking for an American man,
which we haven't had since Samprius at Agacy and even Roddick,

(24:09):
if you want to go down that road, we're looking
for the next American star, it's going to be Ben Shelton.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
All right, there, it is, there, it is Tennis. Couldn't
believe that tennis right there by the way, Sam was
taking notes during that entire time.

Speaker 8 (24:22):
Yes, Sam, Sam oftentimes gets tetris confused with tennis.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
So I just have to right. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, a big fan of Tetris.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
Yes. Yes.

Speaker 8 (24:32):
By the way, Steve, you're talking about the changes between
game one game two of the NBA Finals. One change
could be that we see Tyler Hero in that game.
Miami Heat head coach Eric Spolster said today that they're
not going to say yet whether or not Hero can play.
He's dealing with that injury to his right hand, that
surgically repaired right hand, But by tomorrow Spolster will have
an indication on whether Hero can play. He was out

(24:54):
Game one of the Finals, which is a game that
the Nuggets won. NBA four Julius Randall he'll be back
time for the Knicks training camp in the fall, but
he did, according to the team, have surgery on his
left ankle. Former Yukon head coach Kevin Ollie is going
to be joining the Brooklyn Nets coaching staff, and when
he was a college head coach, he won the national
championship with Yukon in twenty fourteen. A ton of baseball

(25:16):
going on as well, and the Washington Nationals right hander
Stephen Strasburg, this according to the Washington Post, is dealing
with severe nerve damage and there is a whole lot
of speculation now, guys, that he may never pitch in
a game again. Stephen Strasburg may never get in a game.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Know what he is going to do, though, continue to
collect insane phex thirty five million year. We're never retiring,
I mean, is that unbelievable. He's only pitched, I believe
since the twenty nineteen World Series. Arreys, I think he's
pitched five games. Yeah, and he's collected one hundred million
dollars with more to come.

Speaker 8 (25:52):
Not bad former San Diego State aztec Strasburg. Just a
couple of notes as far as games going on right now.
The Phillies have taken lead one and nothing against the
Nationals in the top of the third. Tigers and White
Sox are going to extra innings. Not a whole lot
of offense their seven combined hits one to one. Is
the score coming up At about seven to fifteen Eastern
time on Fox Television, We've got the Dodgers hosting the Yankees.

(26:16):
And lastly, guys, the Red Sox finish off a win
against the Rays eight to five, with the Socks scoring
five runs in the sixth inning.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
And lastly, the memorial turn of PJ. To our third round, a.

Speaker 8 (26:28):
New leader Bucky and Steve David Lipski eight unders, got
a one shot leader Mark Hubbard going into the back
nine here. Hadeki Matsuyamu had the lead going into today,
leading by as many as two shots. This is a
Steve Hartman special. Had a six on a par three
on the back nine, a couple three consecutive bogies on

(26:49):
his round today has.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
Completely fallen down the leader board.

Speaker 8 (26:52):
But a six on a par three, as they send
it back to Bucky and Steve, that sounds like a
Steve Hartman special on the golf course.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Well, first of all, there's no such thing that's a
part three on my card. It may say part for me,
but I'm always adding at least a number to every hole. Right,
That's that's the way pretty much. It's called a handicap, right,
that's the way you do it. So all right, thank
you very much. By the way, a little update on
the Strasburg situation. Since the twenty nineteen World Series, he

(27:18):
has actually started eight games. He has a record of
one and four. He has been collecting thirty five million
dollars for each of these four years, and he has
three more years guaranteed at thirty five million dollars, So

(27:39):
he has collected one hundred and forty million so far
for one win and three more years even if he
never pitches again. So I guess this would be the
argument that the NFL has about not guarantee more contracts.
I mean, you're on the hook for that doesn't matter
what whether he pitches or not. You got to pay
all that money out. Can you imagine at the end

(28:01):
of it. I mean, seriously, the NFL is getting a
little more in terms of guaranteeing deals that they're never
going all the way like the no Look at Chris Bosh.
I mean he he collected about four years of pay
after he was forced to retire. Was you know it
was a career ending injury, but still, I mean you
had to pay him for multiple years.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah, that's part of it.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it is is a part of
It's one of those things that you have to always
be mindful love, and so we have seen it with
these situations when it comes to doing the extra. No
one wants to do extra. Everyone wants to do the ordinary,
but still get the great results. You got to do
extra to make it happen. And so you've seen these
people try and throw with this chum out there. See,
I didn't get their guys to bite and say, yeah,

(28:45):
you know what, we don't we don't flip the switch
on Monday. Everyone's gonna show up.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
So the way I added up Steven Strasburg, if he
never pitches again, we'll collect two hundred and forty five
million dollars for one win. That's not bad. No, not
a bad thing. A right, let's get back to the
NBA finals here, Bucky. So the one thing that was clear,
and this was really no seekert going into this matchup
between the Heat and Nuggets, is that physically the Nuggets

(29:10):
are just a much bigger team. They're a bigger team
across the board. So the question being is if you're
the smaller opponent, if you are David versus Goliath, how
do you even the playing field? How how do the
Heat attack the Nuggets in a manner that they can

(29:31):
equal the playing field? If they can oo.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
This is a tough one.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
So when you look at the matchups, one team is
clearly superior in terms of talent. A lot of times
though you're a spolstering those things, you talk to your team,
and you say, hey, tough team wins, But the problems
you run against with the Denver Nuggets, they're talented and tough.

(29:57):
Years ago, I had a coach tell me, like, ultimately,
which you're looking for in the team is a collection
of blue chip talents that have blue collar mentalities. They're
gonna do the dirty work in those things. And so
the Nuggets are willing to do the dirty work. So
the only thing that the Miami Heat can do is
they got to find a way to make the game
end up being played in the muck. It has to

(30:18):
be a load down scoring, grinded out, grinding a million
free throws, whatever it is, but it has to be
a very slow, deliberate pace to the game because Nuggets
want to run. What I think everyone has to pay
attention to is that last game is gonna be tough
on the Heat. Anyway, play on Monday, emotional win. You
get there probably Tuesday morning, you're trying to figure out.

(30:38):
You got two walkthroughs, maybe a little light pratice. Then
you're playing on Thursday. I don't know if that's enough time.
And so what they're probably hoping on is hopefully they
can maybe stay close enough still one early. So by
the time they get their sea legs back, when they
get back to Miami, they can kind of start throwing
in some defenses and wrinkles that have slowed them down.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Well, one thing that's got to change is two free
throws in a game, an all time NBA Finals record
low doesn't even seem possible, especially because the Heat are
not necessarily a team that camps at the three point line.
So Jimmy Pohler is not a guy that sits at
the three point line. He's a guy that's aggressive. And
he took it on himself after the game. He said, Hey,
it starts with me. We got we gotta go to

(31:18):
the hoop man. We gotta start to create a foul.
Maybe you pick up a couple of quick fouls on yok,
get him to sit down for half a quarter and
do some damage that way. But if you're not attacking,
you're really just playing into Denver's hands.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
You're playing in their hands, and they have superior talent.
They're longer than you. Everywhere, they have people that are
sitting there at the room just disturbing shots and coming
over with those like whatever I call them, like the
little cheap shots, not cheap shots, but like the little
coming over it, close out, make it hard, make it difficult.
You got all the size in the middle of the pain.
And so I think what happens is you get intimidated.

(31:57):
You don't want to go in there and deal with
the contact. You don't want to get your shot blow.
And so it's funny because the Celtics look huge compared
to the Heat when we watch this series, and then
it's like the Nuggets are supersized, supersized because it's not
even Joker, it's I mean, Gordon and everybody.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
I mean the way.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
Gordon was so aggressive going hunting a shot early in
the game. Yeah, pounding on it. It's gonna be tough.
There's a school of thought that some people say, hey, man,
why don't you just single up on Joker and let
him get as much as he wants and don't playoffs
the shooters, make the shooters take tough shots because they
haven't shot well when they've been uncontested. But the way

(32:36):
Joker plays, man, he may go for sixty five, like
that's the thing you can you can you can factor
in all right, we may get to one ten, he
may get fifty or.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
He's had a fifty point game in this postseason. He
can pretty much do what he wants to do. And
even if you were to single cover him, his vision
on the court, his passing ability. Again, it points out
when you have a great passing big man. To me,
there's nothing more valuable. Bill Walton was this way back

(33:05):
in the day. He can see, first of all, being
as big as he is, he can see the whole court,
and guys play off of that. So even if you're
singling up on him and seemingly trying to lock down
everybody else on the court, he'll still find them. It's
almost to say someone is indefensible. Well, I guess there's
a defense for everybody. The problem for the Miami Heat

(33:28):
is I don't know what formula they can put together
with the players they have. There's a reason they were
the eighth seed.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, I mean there's a reason. There's a reason why
they were af seed.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Like looking out of their regular season was I mean,
they were spotty at best when it came to it.
But we said, if they feed it out, they could
be a handful. And so I'm sitting here looking at
what they can do, and we talked about a single
upon Joker smother everybody else, or double team Joker every
time and make him randomly find the guy, but we

(33:57):
won't double team off the same guy and backs back lists.
That's there, but it's a lot trying to keep up
with who's dublin, who's switching, who's moving where on personnel?
And then the final thing is ultimately you just got
to you got to play better, get shoot better, because
as bad as the game looked, it only looked bad
because Miami was missing threes.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Miami hits a couple of those threes. The game is
nip and tuck.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
A league or sport dreams about having that charismatic star
that not only dominates on the court or on the field,
but some of you can market. I think a lot
of people now are sitting there looking at yoga seeing
all right, right now, he is the best player in
this league. Is that a good thing for the NBA?

(34:41):
How to market? Nicola will tell you how? This is
Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 6 (34:48):
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Steve Harvin Bucky Brooks. This is Fox Sports Saturday. We're
coming alive from the ti iraq dot com studios. All right,
So the NBA has got a problem. Nicola Jokic is
not the problem as far as the game he's playing.
I love the game he plays, and I think a
lot of people are enjoying the game that he's playing

(35:20):
right now. But if you're a league and suddenly you're
looking at the distinct possibility that the Nuggets are not
a one and done team. They have a nucleus of
young players. It is conceivable that the Nuggets could be
winning a championship this year and a couple more after that.
So that means that Jokic could be center stage for

(35:42):
several years to come as the face of your league.
How do you market Nicola Jokic. Sam's got some ideas,
But before I get to Sam, Bucky, I got to
get to you, all right. So you're the marketing guy
for the NBA, and you're like, okay, by the way,
you remember they've sort of had a similar situation with Yannis.

(36:02):
How do you market a guy that's from Greece with
a last name of Aunchta Compo and they really haven't
done a great job. Plus, he plays in a smaller
market in Milwaukee, similar to the Okic situation in Denver.
It's not New York, it's not Chicago, it's not la
and Giannis, despite winning a championship and a couple of
MVPs from a PR standpoint, still flies under the radar. So, Bucky,

(36:26):
what do you do with Jokic?

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Man? This is a tough one.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
This is a tough one because he's such a good
player within this how do you make it where he
can can transcend lines meaning that everyone has an appetite
for his game. I think the only thing you can
do as you market him is no gimmicks. Look, man,
you just got to put the focus on his basketball skills,
how dominant he is, the fact that he's a two

(36:49):
time MVP should have been a three time MVP, and
you have to put it on the on court stuff.
I just don't think with him because even when you
hear him talk in articulately like he's great, he's a
great teammate, but he does he deflects so much of
the attention away from him on his teammates. I don't
know if he can ever be a marketing machine or

(37:09):
like where you can just pump all this stuff out.
I think you have to put it on his game.
He is one of the best that we've seen. We
may not see another guy like this for a while. YadA, YadA, YadA.
You have to kind of talk him up like some
of the other great big men. And because remember, I
don't know if they've ever been able to really market
a big man. Shack was able to, but his game
was power and a little different.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Well, look at Tim Duncan. I mean, if you're going
to make a comparison to anybody to Jokic, it's Duncan.
I mean, Duncan was a consonant, the Big Fundamental. Any
attention on me.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
The Big Fundamental, that's his nickname.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Right, The guy won five NBA Championships and flew under
the radar through the entire career. All right, now, Sam,
you're known as a marketing genius. Some things you throw
out there are absurd, ridiculous, laughable, But every once in
a while, something sticks. So what do you have for
Nicola Jokic. You got to pitch all your ideas. You
gotta see you it sticks, all right.

Speaker 7 (38:02):
So my thing with Nicola Jokic is sometimes people might
call him nicola or nicola, So how about a soft
drink called nicola, like Coca cola or RC cola. Or
he comes in and they resuscitate the old ricola and
he does mekola and that becomes this thing because you know,

(38:23):
he soothes the itchy sore throat of the Denver Nuggets
fan base and anybody loves basketball, so he could come
in and they and it's funny thing because he's so
such a serious guy a lot of the time, so
if he does a silly commercial like that, it might
get a good reaction.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Well that's that's the point right there. He just looks
like a big bouncer. We always love to see somebody
out of character. He's a no nonsense guy. Give him
a little nine. I mean, look a look at my tumbo.
No no, no, no, no no right, no no no, no
no no. So I mean he was able to use
that as yeah, exactly. So what you need to do.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
Is to.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Have him agree to do something that would be out
of characters, which would instantly endear him to everybody.

Speaker 7 (39:08):
And I think the Nicola that thing could be great
because we haven't seen that would be a copyright infringement. Well,
but he works for you to be working for Ricola
doing the Nicola coff trap.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
I think they have a lot of money that we
haven't remember. Those guys that are up in like the
rice Alps. But I know that those big.

Speaker 7 (39:24):
Horn tubes and they're blowing those and down relates to
twenty twenty three something that was back in nineteen eighty eight. No,
those commercials are running as recently is maybe fifteen years ago.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
I swear.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
I are Nicola Soft dren Again if you're looking for
commercial marketing, and again, this is this is the dream
of every sport. The reason that Michael Jordan or a
Tiger Woods went into the stratosphere is that their game
and their personality translated to those that could care less

(39:56):
about basketball or care less than golf. That's your dream
that your biggest star has that crossover appeal.

Speaker 7 (40:03):
Michael Jordan made undershirts and underwear. You know Haynes. He
turned that into something.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
That he didn't have to. He could put his name
on any.

Speaker 6 (40:10):
But the Haynes.

Speaker 7 (40:11):
There's nothing crazy about Haynes undershirts and underwear.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I mean it's not that interesting. I'll just be honest. Yeah,
that's your dream. I don't know. Look right now, Denver
still has work to do. They got to get three
more wins in order to corral this first championship. All right,
We'll have much more NBA finals to talk about down
the road. Some of the coaching changes of the NBA.
We turned to the NFL. Yeah, OTAs, what's going on?

(40:37):
We got all the latest Steve Harvin, Bucky Brooks. This
is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 6 (40:43):
listen live.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
Yeah, rolling along here on another massive Saturday in the
sports world. Fox Sports Saturday broadcasting live from the tire
rack dot Com studios tyre rac dot com. We're gonna
help get you there an unmatched selection fast ree shipping,
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Tire rack dot com the way tire buying should be.

(41:15):
And Yes, today we are welcoming a brand new affiliate, Peoria, Illinois.
Peoria's Sports Radio one oh one point one. Welcome to
the Fox Sports Radio family. They're a Chicago White Sox
Radio Network affiliate. Program director Scott Hecnethorne dropped another network

(41:37):
and wisely made the flip to Fox Sports. Big win
for them, big win for us. Welcome to our FSR family,
Peoria's Sports Radio one on one point one Iowa. Sam said,
if you've never been to Peoria, Illinois, put it on
your bucket list.

Speaker 7 (41:55):
Nice little town. There's actually I was very close. One
hundred and eleven thousand people there there.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
It is all right, So welcome and thank you so
much for joining us here in our Fox Sports Radio family. Now,
one thing you're going to find out about this show,
and I have someone of the caliber of Bucky Brooks
in the room, a man that has worn every imaginable
hat when it relates to the National Football League as
a player, as an executive, as a broadcaster, as a writer.

(42:20):
I mean, is there anything you haven't done under the
umbrella of the National Football League?

Speaker 2 (42:26):
I mean there's so much more to do, Like there's yeah,
there's like games.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
How good of a general manager would you be, Bucky?

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Oh? I mean who says that they would be a
good one? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
I think hopefully I would be smart enough to surround
myself with people that are smarter than me, and we
try and figure out a way to play the right
way and hire the right people and get the right
players right.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Well, the Raiders could probably use your help, no because sorry,
all right, So look at and Mike Mayock. You know,
he was a guy that was a TV guy who
became a general manage journey. He made some good picks,
made some bad picks, but every general manager has good
and bad. I've known a lot of gms over the years.
I worked for one named Al Davis, who was a

(43:07):
de facto GM as owner of that team. Bobby Bether
was a close friend. Oh yeah, great Bobby Bether and
I knew extremely well. He used me a lot doing that.
He yes, father C. J. Bethard and member of the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. So they're obviously are great
success stories out there. But I'm a little confused with

(43:29):
the Raiders' situation because a week ago last Sunday, Rich
and I were talking about the real possibility that Tom Brady,
who's seeking partial ownership of the Silver and Black, may
first have to take some time off to be the
quarterback of the team because Jimmy Garoppolo had foot surgery

(43:54):
and they're being a little choy about his situation. But
when you have a guy who is given an eleven
million dollar signing bonus and then that bonus is withdrawn
and lumped into his salary, which by the way, is
only guaranteed if he makes the.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
Team, he's gonna make the team. Made the team.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
That's assuming that there are people out there, Budcky that say,
Jimmy Garoppolo will never see the light of day as
the Raiders quarterback. Why else would they do that with
his signing bonus.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
They have to do it.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
From a procedural standpoint, you want to make sure that
you protect the team and protect the owner. You don't
want to make sure. You want to make sure that
you don't give out exorbitant money to someone who's not
going to play. And so just to protect yourself in
the contract, you want to make sure that that is
a presisting condition if you hurst that, we don't want
to be on the hook for those things. Just to

(44:50):
kind of make sure that, uh, mister Javis, do you
call Mark Davis?

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Mister Davis?

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Now hard for me to me. He's Mark.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
Okay, so we're talking about Mark Davis.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
So just to make sure that Mark Davis has protected
the team is protected from having the Dolau cash. But
this is not uncommon. If you have an injury you
signed for a team. In those things, sometimes they point
to those injuries. Make sure you know it's covered with
the waiver. A if you hurt this again, we won't
protect it. But if anything else happens, yeah, you get
all your money and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
All right, So for the Raider fans out there, update
this on this Garoppolo situation.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
So my thing with the Garoppolo thing is, look, he
had foot surgery. He has had a series of injuries obviously,
regardless with Jimmy Garoppolo, if this popped up or not,
you worry about him because durability has been as big
as concern. He's been oft injured, but when he's played,
he's played pretty well for his teams. For the Raiders,
I think is a worthwhile risk because potentially he's an

(45:44):
upgrade over Derek Carr based on the connection, the chemistry,
the knowledge and expertise that he has in this offense
with Josh McDaniels is just a notch above what Derek
Carr had. And so Josh McDaniels and those guys wanted
their own quarterback, and though Jimmy Garoppolo's own quarterback, he
just has to be available.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Well, Josh McDaniels was laughing off this entire thing, and
I was thinking to myself, why is Josh McDaniels laughing
With all the success he had on all those years
in New England. And yes, we recognized that he had
a major part in winning a lot of those Super Bowls,
no question about that. But as a head coach he's
been a failure. He was a failure in Denver, and
he was a failure last year with the Raiders and

(46:26):
the idea that he is a doctor. Remember we were
mentioning earlier about Belichick, where you build the kind of
collateral where it's my way or the highway. Josh McDaniels
has not built that collateral in terms of his head
coaching career. You have no credibility with the my way
or the highway. So I don't know what kind of
deal that he made with Mark Davis and the Raider

(46:49):
organization where he feels safe or even if he were
to let go or get let go, he's got a
lot of guaranteed years left on that contract because we
never get the specifics of these coaching contracts, so we're
not exactly sure how they work. But I mean, the
idea that Garoppolo makes a full recovery from this first

(47:10):
surgery and then is out on the field for seventeen
starts in twenty twenty three seems like a far fetched
idea to me.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
It might be tough for him to pull it off
because he's never really been that guy. The one thing
that I would question if I was a Raiders fan,
Jimmy Garoppolo the move, that's what it is. But you
had Jerry Stidham and Jared Stidham came in and played
the last couple of games after you sat down, Derek
Carr and Jared Stidam leaves goes to Denver. You weren't

(47:42):
able to retain them, so they had Bobby Horrier as
maybe your backup qurter.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Bobby Hoyer, who, by the way, was Rich Ornberger's roommate
when they broke in together with the Patriots back in
nine that's unbelievable. But Rich hasn't play in the NFL
in nine years.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
That's just unbelievable, And so you have him as a backup.
Who's right?

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Just a placeholder if you really wanted to do this,
you always want to stop gap your position with someone
who can play and play at a high level. It's
been a long time since Brian who here has played
better Yet sins, Brian Horrey has played at an acceptable
high level that you think you can win a long
stretching games, and so to put all your eggs in
the Jimmy garoppolo basket, it's risky.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
You had the guy. His name is Tom Brady. Last
time I checked Tom Brady, last year's set NFL records
for attempts in completion, still playing at a pretty high level,
a guy that's also somewhat familiar with Josh McDaniels. On
the offense that they run. He has been absolutely emphatic.
He has played his last play. He's not interested in
getting hit anymore. Here's one problem that Tom Brady, tom

(48:49):
Brady may not have actually accounted for. Do you understand
that Tom Brady is responsible for one of the most
hated plays in the history of the Raiders. If I'm
a Raider fan, the idea of Tom Brady associated with
the Raiders, I'll tell you when I'll let him be
associated with the Raiders. When he comes clean and admits
that he fumbled the ball, that that whole tuck rule

(49:11):
thing was an absolute joke. It changed the dynamic of
the NFL because even Tom Brady admitted, had we lost
that game, Drew Bledsoe would have been back as the
starting quarterback the next year, he would have been back.
That was tom Brady's own words, why would you stay
with me? We would have lost our first playoff game
at home. I didn't play particularly well in that game.

(49:31):
They would have brought back Bledsoe and tom Brady's current
could have gone in a completely different direction. So if
Tom Brady really wants to either be the quarterback of
the team, which he says he doesn't, or even get
an ownership stake in the Raiders, he needs to come clean.
And I say that which clean? That had you cheated?

(49:53):
He fumed.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
He didn't make the call.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
He was playing, but he's denied it. Or did you
see the Woodson thing?

Speaker 3 (50:03):
He didn't make the call. He was trying to make
a but for just.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
To acknowledge the fact that he fumbled the ball, he
got head.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
He fumbled the ball.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
He wasn't trying to throw paths. He's trying to make
him forward pass please, so you're on his side.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
I'm just saying you're trying to. I'm just look, I
think there's a way to understand.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
There are two plays that will stick in the craw
of Raider fans forever. The Immaculate reception to his last breath.
Al Davis said that was an illegal place should ever
have happened. And the same thing with the Tuck rull.
Two plays that cost the Raiders dearly, and Tom Brady
is the perpetrator. Plus he's he's laughed about it, laughed

(50:43):
at the Raiders. If I'm a Raider for I don't
want Tom Brady is an owner, Why would I want?
Why am I affording him ownership of the team? Is
no different than he's a Patriot.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
It's no different than when pat Riley went from the
Lakers to the Knicks and then from the Knicks to
the I mean, it's no, it's really no different.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
It's the same thing.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Sometimes really didn't have a tuckerl play.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Yeah, I mean, but he was always edgy and fringy
and kind of.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
No Raider fan liked Tom Brady or the New England
Patriots for that matter.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yeah, but all things I mean, what's going on here?

Speaker 1 (51:16):
We got the takeover of the coach, the general manager.
Now you're bringing in Tom Brady as an owner. What
the hell's going on here?

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Well, I guess some would say that they're trying to
create a winning environment, even though you so eloquently put
out a nice case that maybe Josh McDaniels has not
been a winner. He struggled running his own program. But
as he's trying to recreate what he left in New England,

(51:45):
he's trying, he's trying to put the piece of the
puzzle together.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Ownership is a big part of it.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
And he needs a dumb down that playbook a little bit.
What do you think? You know how these coaches are.
I've seen these these wizards walk in with these you know,
gigantic play book book.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
I got sure. I got to show you how smart
I am.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
And I remember we were talking about Bartie. Yeah, Sean McCabe,
I'm with you, I'm with you. I'm doing a few
things really well.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
But so Steve, what happens is in the office and
you have all this time, right, you get this time,
You got all this tape that you're watching, You got
all these ideas you're watching games, particularly if you didn't
make the playoffs, you've been looking at games and I mean,
you just have all this stuff and you hadn't been
around the players, and so you don't get around the
players for real until the end of May, where you
can get on the field and do something. So from

(52:34):
that time at the end of January, from January on,
man like about three months of just into four months
of just in the tape room just trying to figure
out how you can get an advantage. Yeah, so that's
why the playbook is so big.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
I remember a conversation years ago I had with Mac
Brown when you at the University of Texas and how
he handled the Vince Young situation. He says, I had
this incredibly talented quarterback, and it realized that we're asking
a college kid, a nineteen year old, to try to
do too much. Simple it down. Here's what we're gonna do, Vince.

(53:10):
We're gonna have because he could throw an accurate ball.
So your primary receivers open, you can get that ball
to him. If he's not open, we're not worried about checkdowns.
You take off and run.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
Agreed.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Next thing, you know, they win a National Championship.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
I mean, I mean, ultimately that's what you're doing. Maybe
we'll just get to it. Josh mcdaris has to go
through the process of whittling things down. It's an editorial process.
It's like being a writer, like you start with a
big old thing and then you get your work count down.
So he'll get the work counting down. You won't see
as many plays on the play sheet as we are
accustomed to see him from him.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
All right, a lot of things going on with the
OTA's right now as we get ready for the season.
What is all the latest news. We've got it for you.
This is Fox Sports Saturday. Steve Hartman, Bucky Brooks. This
is Fox Sports Saturday. We are coming a lot from
the Tirak dot Com studios OTAs and going on and
sort of a sort of an important time around the NFL, Bucky,

(54:06):
because once you got the mini camps, the OTA is over.
That's it. You don't see these guys again until training camp.
And that is is that now in August? Do we
even have any training camp in July?

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Or is we we have stuff in July right right
at the end, right at the end.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Wait, Like you know, I think Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
I think the Hall of Fame game is the first
weekend in August, maybe August third or so.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
All right, so those two teams have to come a
little early.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Those teams come in and get after it a little bit,
and so you have a couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
It's different though. It's a different training camp.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Very different from the old days, believe me. All right,
So let's talk about a guy who's still very much
in the news. DeAndre Hopkins, after being cut by the
Arizona Cardinals, has now said that he's going to take
his time, and that's a good thing because he's got
no list of possibilities or no endless list. It's an

(54:58):
endless list of possibilities of world he may end up.
So last week we were talking about Buffalo, we were
talking about the Chiefs, we were talking about the Ravens.
We talk about a number of teams, but a lot
of people are losing sight of one team out. He
supposedly would like to return to Houston, Haystown put it down.

(55:19):
But the word is the Texans aren't interested. They've turned
the page from DeAndre Hopkins. By the way, the early
reports on CJ. Stroud seemed to be very positive. I
don't know how much you can tell this early, but
they used the term he's ahead of where he thought
he would be hit a schedule. Head a schedule does
that mean?

Speaker 2 (55:38):
I mean they maybe thought he would be behind in
terms of being able to grasp the playbook, being able
to take things from the classroom and play it out
on the field.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
He's been able to do that. We've seen the clips
in there.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Obviously, you don't know if social only puts the good
ones out, but you've seen the ball.

Speaker 3 (55:52):
He looks as advertised.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
Oh, last time I saw him, he look really good
against one of the great defenses in the country, Georgia.
All right, Well, where else could a DeAndre Hopkins end up?
Let's see, it doesn't take a genius to figure this out.
Because he had a quarterback that he had a lot
of success with in Houston. You may remember this guy,
Deshaun Watson, now the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. And

(56:18):
Deshaun Watson has been asked about DeAndre Hopkins and he said, yeah, yeah,
we had success together. That's a good connection. So what
about it, Bucky? Are the Browns a real player in
the sweepstakes to get DeAndre Hopkins.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
That'd be interested.

Speaker 8 (56:37):
Man.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
That's a lot of money tied up in your offense.
A lot of money now, rightfully so, because you paid
a quarterback a ton of money, So you want to
make sure the quarterback looks. The part of last year
when we saw him didn't play great, So maybe you
want to make sure he's comfortable.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
We've seen him.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
They traded for Eli Moore, they bring in, They have
Maura Cooper there. They paid big bucks a year ago
to David Njoku. The offensive line of being rout told
you got Nick Chubb back there. I don't know if
there's enough money for DeAndre Hopkins, even if you want
to bring him in. And then when it comes to
the offense that they run, they run an offense that

(57:12):
requires you to be a route runner. DeAndre Hopkins is
more of a what we call a playmaker, meaning it's
kind of the going back to your basketball days. It's
the difference between falling in love with a guy like
Dominic Wilkins who's a score versus a guy who's really
a shooter, like a Larry Bird or so Alex English,

(57:35):
something like that. So he's more of a playmaker, not
the Polish, refined guy. And so if you're Kevin Stefanski,
how do you make that fit in your offense when
everybody else are route runners. If he doesn't get the ball,
you gotta be able to drop some things to help
him get open. And that's necessarily not his forte. He's
always winning fifty to fifty balls, contested catches, acrobatic catches,

(57:57):
those things great as gets older and as he slows
down based on the price tag, because the price is
going to be hefty, I don't know if you can
get a return on your investment.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
All right.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
So if I'm Cleveland Brown's ownership and my quarterback has
his heart set on bringing in DeAndre Hopkins, I got
to Shawn Watson. I said, you really want this guy,
don't you? I really want him? Then we're gonna have
to redo your deal slightly. I mean, the money is
all guaranteed, but we're gonna have to redo the deal

(58:31):
a little bit to clear some space.

Speaker 3 (58:35):
Oh, my money's guaranteed, so however you want to do
it right.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
I mean, if you're Deshaun Watson you really have your
heart set on de hop then yeah, okay, that doesn't
matter to me whether I get paid now or get
paid down the road. You wanted to first, some money,
you can do, I'll do that. So whatever it is,
the salary part of it is always doable. You could
always figure it out to get a guy that you
want in the fold. Let's go back to those Houston

(58:58):
day though, when they were one of the most dynamic
quarterback receiver combos in the league. Describe it. What did
they do well? How much was Bill O'Brien involved in
the sort of a scheme to put them on the
right page, But what did they do that put them
on the map as one of the best passing combos

(59:20):
in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
They had a great connection. They had an unbelievable amount
of trust with one another. Dejean Watson knew that he
could throw it anywhere in the area, and Dee Hopp
was going to make the play. He was going to
protect him because if he couldn't catch it, he's gonna
make sure that it's not intercepted. And so that trust
allowed them to really take advantage of some one on
one matchups, some things where my guy's been in New York,

(59:43):
I'm just gonna throw it up to them, regardless of
the coverage regardless of Hey, whether you had the right
play call or not, went and out throw to DeAndre
Hopkins and they had a lot of success doing that. Now,
DeAndre Hopkins is older, and it's not only that he's older.
He's been injured a ton, you know, and the injuries
may not prevent him from playing games, but then he
can't practice. And so when you think about the timing

(01:00:05):
of the offense and those things, without consistent practicing from Hopkins,
it makes it hard to really build the offense around
him because things are so different on game day than
they are in practice. This would have to be one
where you have to be convinced, okay, man, has he
worked out, he is in great shape, he's the medical
and the durability in those things you have to get

(01:00:26):
all that kind of signed off on before you even
think about pulling the trigger. And by the time you
go through all that, you want to say, is it
worth it is a return on investment? Is really going
to be a worthwhile risk for us?

Speaker 4 (01:00:41):
Well?

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
The other thing for DeAndre Hopkins, because last week we
were mentioning four teams. We had the Bills, we had
the Chiefs, we had the Ravens, and we had the Jets,
and first of all, not only all four teams in
the AFC, but all teams that you could make an
argument now that Aaron Rodgers at the quarterback of the
Jets that would be in the mix for a possible
we'll run to get to the Super Bowl? Are the

(01:01:04):
Cleveland Browns a d hop in the conversation? Where are
the Cleveland Browns right now? Assuming that Deshaun Watson can
get back to form anywhere near what he used to
be with the Houston Texans, Where are the Browns right
now in terms of being a playoff contender? How far
away are they from actually being a championship contender?

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
They're not too far off. And the reason they're not
too far off if Deshaun Watson returns to form because
people forget it's been two years since you really explain,
here's the top five quarterback. If he returns to form,
and he's a guy because remember in the midst of
that terrible season that they had when he just got paid,
that was his best year.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
Best year. He's throwing it all over the yard.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
He was efficient, high level of efficiency despite the circumstances.
If he gets back to playing like that, Oh, this
team could be good because the running back they have
is Legitim Nick Chubb Amari Cooper should settle in and
he and Deshaun Watson would have a better connection, better connection,
better rapport. Defensively upgrade. Jim Schwartz comes over, it takes

(01:02:13):
over that defense to be a tax style.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
He'll create some things for Miles Garrett to get going.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
So there's a lot of optimism, a lot of reason
for optimism in Cleveland. Now they just have to put
it down. And so this for me is Deshaun Watson.
It's the equivalent of when Deshaun Watson went to Cleveland.
Is very much like when Lebron with the Miami first
and Lebron was wearing the black mask and all that,
that's not his natural emo. Well, now that Deshaun Watson

(01:02:40):
is navigated that first year, that first go around with
all the stuff swelling around him in terms of people
attacking this character and that stuff, well now you can
settle in. I think you see a much more relax
Deshaun Watson, which means you'll see a better version.

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
Now. Most conversations I've seen with him are very football oriented.
Like that other stuff, it'll never go away. But in
terms of what is expected of him in twenty twenty three,
completely different story. All right, let's find out what's trending
right now. Look at Brian Finley, b Fenn, it's all
ready to roll. He's got all the latest. What do

(01:03:16):
we actually have going on today?

Speaker 8 (01:03:18):
Well, Stephen Bucky, it is human nature to want to
be validated, and the Buffalo Bills are doing that in
the form of a new contract extension for their defensive
tackle Ed Oliver. To the tune according to reports, four years,
sixty eight million dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
That is the extension. Hold on a second here, So
the last thing I read about Ed Oliver and we
remember when he broke on the scene at the University
Houston first team All American as a as a freshman,
the new Aaron Donald, and we haven't seen that. It's
not that he hasn't been good, but he hasn't been
generationally good like he was supposed to be. And now

(01:03:56):
they're talking about he needs to use his head a
little bit more. Right, physical talent is there, and now
I wonder how his mental game is going to be
with all that money in his pocket.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
It's too late.

Speaker 8 (01:04:08):
Yeah, with that money, it's only going to up his
mental game as far as what he.

Speaker 4 (01:04:13):
Thinks of himself.

Speaker 8 (01:04:14):
But we do know that it's one year left on
the deal, so essentially under contract now he will be
in Buffalo for the next five seasons. The Washington Post
is reporting that Nationals right hander Stephen Strasburg is facing
severe nerve damage. He's been dealing with injury issues for
quite some time now, and there is a strong chance
now that he may never pitch in the Bigs again,

(01:04:36):
that we might have seen the last of Steven Straws.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
So I did the math again. So with three more
guaranteed years of thirty five million a year, he will
have collected over seven years two hundred and forty five
million dollars, and assuming never pitches a game, he would
have won one game in those seven years.

Speaker 8 (01:04:54):
Do you remember the controversy that one year the Nationals
were making a playoff run and there was a pitch
count or number year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
Yeah, and they lost in the first round of the
playoffs because they sat him because he had run out
of innings. Yes, I was like, what happened here?

Speaker 4 (01:05:08):
Yeah? I could not even believe that that was a thing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
He held him out of a playoff series because they
said he'd already used up his innings during the regular season.

Speaker 8 (01:05:15):
Yeah, he did end up getting a World Series. Oh,
he was a World Series MVP. Yes, so he ended
up getting one.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
But so two hundred and forty five million dollars from
one win, the Rangers could be World Series contenders one day.

Speaker 8 (01:05:31):
They As we look at games that are going on
right now, we're leading the Mariner six to three in
the bottom of the fourth. The Cardinals and Pirates they
just got out of a rain delay and so they
are resuming things in the top of the third with
Saint Louis enjoying a one to nothing lead. The Astros
have jumped ahead of the Angels in Houston two to
one bottom of the fourth there, while we are into

(01:05:52):
the bottom of the fourth in Cincinnati where the Reds
are getting dismantled by the Brewers ten to three. Right now,
we do a few finals to get to, and of course,
coming up at seven to fifteen Eastern tom on Fox
National Television, the Dodgers will be hosting the Yankees for
that rare matchup between these two at Dodger Stadium. But
the Red Sox finish off the Rays eight to five,

(01:06:13):
five runs for Boston in the sixth inning, make that
six runs of the sixth inning, and the White Sox
winning two to one over the Tigers in a battle
of two teams under five hundred in a game that
ended in the tenth. We do know that one American
on the men's side at Roland Garris the French Open
is still going on right now in his third set

(01:06:34):
battle here with Alexander Zverev.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
That will be Francis tiafo the twelve Sea.

Speaker 8 (01:06:38):
They are into the fourth set with Tiaffo up two sets.
Excuse me, he's down two sets to one right now
and it is two all in the fourth, So something
to keep on your minds there. And then lastly, Bucky
and Steve third round of the PGA Tours Memorial Tournament
and David Lipski still clenching onto that lead. He is

(01:06:58):
seven under four the day, one under for the tournament
on eighteen right now, so just about done for his day,
one shot lead over Rory McElroy, who made a late
charge on the back nine, is one shot off the pace.
But it was a day that started with Hadeki Matsuyama
in the lead. He is on eighteen five shots off
the lead at one point and now three shots at

(01:07:19):
four under. But a day and again this could be
as Steve Hartman Special. There were back to back to
back bogies, which for U, Steve is sort of like
a double eagle.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
For you, it depends on the hole. Yeah, No, Usually
what happens based on the difficulty of a hole. I mean,
if I really butcher a hole that I feel like
I should have done well on, I'll take my medicine.
But if I post the score that in my mind
is better than what I should have scored on a hole,

(01:07:50):
then I yeah, I give myself all the credit in
the world.

Speaker 8 (01:07:53):
There was a Fox Sports radio employee, and I don't
want to name names, but I played golf with him
once and there was a par three seventy yards. He
put three t balls in the water, finished with an
eleven and told me on the scorecard to write him
down with a six.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
Oh yeah, well to see that. I have a quick
story for you. This is I was covering a golf
tournament at the Monarch Bay Resort, beautiful private club out there.
This is years ago, and we were scheduled to do
an interview with Fred Couples. It was a charity tournament
and former President Bill Clinton was there. I even got

(01:08:27):
a picture. But you know, the President, he was very nice,
by the way, but he was going to play with
Fred Couples, and because the President was late getting there,
we had to sort of scratch our interview with Couples.
We understood. I mean, Fred is such a super nice guy.
So we're sitting on this deck overlooking the course, and
all of a sudden, coming up the steps is Fred Couples.

(01:08:52):
We're like, aren't you playing with the President? And he goes, yeah,
but he started playing his own game right now. He's
just sort of kicking things around and replacing the ball
and putting down ridiculous scores. So if he's gonna have
that mentality, then yeah, I'm gonna hang out with you

(01:09:14):
guys as long as you want. I don't think he
misses me at all. So but if a president could
do it, why not.

Speaker 7 (01:09:21):
Yes, that person you're playing with, I think they should
have picked up your bar tab.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Yeah, there you go. That's his last name rhymes with
snding guard.

Speaker 7 (01:09:34):
Oh, I'm sorry. I was trying to tell a joke.
When I said what I said, I thought it was
somebody else. Never mind, all right, No one's understand what
we're talking about. No, they have no clue. I have
news for you said. That's most of what he said.
I know, but that's okay. We love it and see
if it works.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
All right, Beef, we'll talk to you about a little
bit later on one of the big stories out of
the NBA. It's been the coaching carousel here, buggy, so
let's update you again. So the Pistons Dwayne Casey out
Monty Williams, who was fired by Phoenix.

Speaker 3 (01:10:08):
This mighty big Bucks Williams.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
I mean he got the biggest contract I believe ever,
is that right for Kickbucks?

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
Big Bucks?

Speaker 1 (01:10:15):
So Phoenix didn't like him, Detroit did. The Milwaukee Bucks
replaced Mike Budenholzer, who led him to a championship a
couple of years ago, with Adrian Griffin. So give me
a guy at a first time opportunity. I'm still looking
at the Sixers swap out and I'm trying to figure
this one out. You get rid of Doc Rivers, and
I certainly have no problem with that. Nick Nurse. Okay,

(01:10:35):
So Nick Nurse's first year with Toronto, they won the
championship when he had a guy named Kawhi Leonard. Things
went predictably south with Nick Nurse after that. Meanwhile, in Phoenix,
where they fired Monty Williams, who led him to the
NBA Finals two years ago and then a year ago
he was the NBA Coach of the Year, they replaced
him with Frank Vogel, the former Pacers and Lakers coach,

(01:10:59):
Which means there's only one vacancy left and that's Toronto
firing Nick Nurse and they still need a coach. That
means that there are still doc Rivers and booten holes
are out there if you want to continue to recycle coaches.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
It's not only the recycling that I'm I'm worried about,
Like this is one thing, but for some of these coaches,
and I guess like once you get a championship, like
you have to be considered an upper echelon coach. But
to me, I don't believe Nick Nurse is an upgrade
over Doc Rivers.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
I would agree with you, And let me ask you,
this is Frank Vogel an upgrade? O OLEMANI Williams.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Another one like, man, how many jobs is Frank Vogel had? Well,
you have the Pacers job Pacers, Magic Lakers. Yeah, we
think that highly about Frank Voge that he needs to
have four head coaching tries.

Speaker 3 (01:11:47):
I mean, that's why he won a championship. Like, what
can you say?

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
But in a bubble, I mean the bubble counts. I
still give them credit. They want a championship, but still well.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
You don't want to get Vogel credit. But two years
after he was thirty three and forty nine. That's the
last time we saw Frank Vogel with the Lakers. He
was thirty three and four and it wasn't all his fault.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
And I understand because we can talk about Bill Belichick
not being able to work out in Cleveland, but it
works out in New England and all those things. Yet
got it, But I don't know if any let's just
say it from a consumer, if I was a season
ticket holder from any of those teams, I don't know
if the guys who've been hired make me like, Okay,

(01:12:31):
let's reiff and let's go do this.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
All right. So when we say when Frank Vogel's last
year with the Lakers, they were thirty three and forty nine,
and the argument was, well, it wasn't all his fault. Okay,
if you're going to make that argument it wasn't all
his fault, then how much credit should he get for
them when he had championship? In other words, if his
presence wasn't the reason why they had a bad year,

(01:12:56):
then it's it's got to be equal playing ground, and
then his presence it really wasn't a big part of
them winning. If it really just comes down to having
healthy players on the court plane at a high level,
then what exactly is the coach there for is? I mean,
we've made the argument with Major League Baseball because of
all the saber metrics and everything else and lineups are

(01:13:19):
made for the managers that they have been rendered basically obsolete.
Are we at that point with NBA coaches? I mean,
even a guy like Eric Spolster with all of his success,
really is a product of Pat Riley. They have a
system in place, similar to San Antonio has a system
in place with Pop and you could say the Warriors

(01:13:40):
as well have a system in place now with Steve Kerr.
The rest of the teams are just scrambling and they're
just rotating these coaches in and out. I expecting different results.
And if even if Let's say the Phoenix Suns were
to have a breakout season and Duran can somehow stay
healthy and you know Chris Paul can squeeze out a

(01:14:02):
few more games out of his almost forty year old
body and win a championship. How much is that Frank
Vogel to get credit for that?

Speaker 2 (01:14:09):
Well, So my thing would be, if we're talking about coaches,
coach has to come in with an experts. He's have
to know he's known for something. He's coming in this
is what we need. He's gonna bring this element to
help us get over the top. And so for Frank Vogel,
who is known for defense, I don't see a team
that is a defensive oriented team or a team that

(01:14:32):
is ready to be a defensive team. Are they going
to get a bunch of young players that can play
defense around.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
You trained your guys that play defense to get durant
so defensive players.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
So I don't understand that. And then look, we can
talk about Minnie Williams and he did a good job
getting the Phoenix Uns up and going. He may be
what we call a program starter, maybe not a finisher.
Maybe can get him up to a certain level, can
get a but I mean Detroit is so I mean,
I mean they are a long ways away. I think

(01:15:06):
you have Nick Nurse.

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
Nick Nurse, look at it. If I were to choose
between Budenholzer and Nick Nurse, I would take Budenholzer all
day long. First of all, the last time I checked
Budenholzer this season led his team to the best record
in the NBA. Now, yeah, they went belly up in
this improbable run by the Miami Heat. And by the way,
the Heat seemed to have their number anyway for some reason.

(01:15:31):
It can be a lot about matchups. But Nick Nurse,
Nick Nurse, first year in Toronto had Kawhi Leonard thrown
in his lap. And how much was that Kawhi Leonard
winning a championship plus the fact that Golden State completely
fell apart in the finals physically, and how much was

(01:15:51):
that Nick Nurse.

Speaker 3 (01:15:54):
I mean, like.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
So some would say because I think Dwayne Casey did
he get fired after winning Coach of the Year.

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
Yeah, he did. In fact that that was back in
the day when they had an awards show after the season.
He got actually given the award when he had already
been fired and then hired by the Pistons.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
So my thing with Nick Nurse and the Raptors, Dwayne
Casey to me, did a lot of the groundwork, like
he can't be solely responsible for it, but Nick Nurse
got it over there. So it's just hard for me
in some of these situations, say that you get in
the level of coaching espertise that is going to put
the team over the top.

Speaker 4 (01:16:37):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
On the other side, we have two coaches still very
much alive. The last names are Spolstra em alone. What
changes will we see in Game two from both sides?
As we continue on with our coverage of the NBA Finals,
this is Fox Sports Saturday, Steve Harvin, Bucky Brooks, Fox
Sports Saturday, comeing Alive from the tairaq dot com studios.

(01:17:00):
All Right, I want to get on a different note
here for a second. We'll get back to our NBA
Finals coverage. But the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver,
says that it will be after the NBA Finals before
the league decides on what's next for Ja Morant conduct
detrimental to the league. That was the previous eight game

(01:17:23):
suspension for brandishing the gun. By the way, his friend
didn't do him many favors by exposing the fact that
he was once again brandishing a gun. Wasn't his own
camera at work, it was his friends.

Speaker 2 (01:17:38):
Thanks, but maybe maybe the friend didn't know that he
was gonna whip out his gun.

Speaker 1 (01:17:43):
Well exactly what I do you think? I mean, you know,
so what do you do now? So he would be
a second time offender like this? See, this is the
one thing that's sort of a graay area when it
comes to the relationship between the league and the players
union and how to arrive at certain punishments. He hasn't
been arrested for anything. It's under that banner of conduct

(01:18:09):
detrimental to the team, to the league. How do you
think Adam Silver is gonna handle this second offense with
Jah Morant?

Speaker 3 (01:18:18):
Uh? Fifty games?

Speaker 1 (01:18:21):
Fifty games.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
I think he's gonna come down hard and then he'll
let the union and arbitration bring the number down. But
Adam Silver is going to send a message so that
we behind the mic can't say, oh, he went soft
on him, because he went soft on him before he
went with eight games and everyone was like, oh, it's
like a lord, not even a slap on the wrist.

(01:18:42):
I mean, there's nothing and so then in less than
two months, you're right back at it having to address
a similar issue all over again. Oh no, he's gonna
hammer him, He's gonna throw it at him.

Speaker 1 (01:18:54):
What do you do with Jah Morant moving forward? If
you're the Memphis Grizzlies, I mean, he is the franchise.
He obviously has superstar potential, but he can't seem to
get his act together, and a lot of it may
be his circle of friends that continue to perpetuate a

(01:19:20):
form of behavior that is not conducive. If you're being
paid the kind of money he's being paid to be
playing in the NBA, you have a right to live
your life as you please. But that doesn't mean that
the NBA has the right to employ you.

Speaker 3 (01:19:35):
No, And so it's a tricky thing, right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
Obviously it's tricky because we you know, it's a hot
button topic when you think about gun safety and gun
controlled and all those other things. People talk about Second
Amendment right to carry all of that. But here's the thing.
When it comes to the NBA and their players, they
have a right and they have an obligation adam silver
to protect the brand. And so if one of the

(01:19:58):
faces of your league is honishing the brand in some way,
shape or form. You have to correct the behavior. And
so whether we like it or not, and whether we
say it's not fair, those things I can see where
Adam Silver would say, here's what I'm going to do,
not only just for job morant, but I'm gonna scourage
the rest of the players in the league from getting
involved in this stuff so that it begins to turnish

(01:20:21):
the brand. Because I think you understand this the long
sorted history of the perception of the National Basketball Association
and how David Stern had to really work hard to
overcome the way that people on the outside viewed the NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:20:36):
And so now that you.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
Finally got it out of that, the last thing you're
trying to do is have it go back to what
people perceive it to be. And so that's why Adam
Silver has to hammer him.

Speaker 1 (01:20:47):
Back in the day, David Stern actually was a fairly
frequent guest on our radio show back when I was
working with Michael Thompson, and when he came down with
the ruling about what you wear, it was the Allen
Ivers in the desk code. I actually asked him, and
Stern was the kind of guy you could say something
like this too. I said, Commissioner, I have a question
for you. Are you drunk with power? That's exactly what

(01:21:10):
I said on the air, and his retort, he had
an immediate retort. He said, if you mean am I
looking out for the best of the league. Yeah, that's
my job. So it'd be very interesting to see because,
let's face it, Adam Silver is a disciple of David
Stern and he can make some hard decisions. How that
plays for Jean Morant. We're gonna find out much more
on the NBA Finals and what's next for the Boston Celtics.

(01:21:34):
This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 6 (01:21:35):
listen live.

Speaker 1 (01:21:47):
Enjoying another Saturday of conversation Here on Fox Sports Saturday,
Hartman and Brooks with you, and we are broadcasting live
from the tire rack dot Com studios. Ty rack dot com.
We're gonna help get you there, and I'm at election
fast ree shipping free road heads for protection over ten
thousand recommended installers. Tyrack dot com. The Way tire buying

(01:22:07):
should be. And once again we like to acknowledge one
of our new affiliates, this one in Peoria, Illinois, Peoria's
Sports Radio one oh one point one. Welcome to the
Fox Sports Radio family. Now they're a Chicago White Sox
radio network affiliate. Their program directors Scott hecka thorn Well,
he dropped another network to flip over to Fox Sports.

(01:22:30):
Good for him, definitely good for us. Big win. So
let's welcome to our Fox Sports Radio family, Peoria's Sports
Radio one oh one point one. Love that love that
always look welcoming and new affiliates here to the Fox
Sports Radio family. Adam Kaplan, our Fox Sports Radio NFL

(01:22:50):
Insider is going to be joining us, coming up here
in about eighteen minutes. We're obviously getting ready for Game
two of the NBA Finals tomorrow between the Nuggets and
the Heat, and the Heat are going to have to
do a lot of things differently to make this a
competitive NBA Final series. Now, the fact that the Heat
are there really had as much to do with the

(01:23:11):
Celtics failure in the Eastern Conference Finals again, and this
is raising a question about the future of the Boston Celtics,
and they are relevant, like the Lakers, two franchises that
have combined for thirty four NBA titles. That's more than
half of the league's history, or somewhere along those lines,
the two dominant franchises in league history. And in consecutive

(01:23:35):
years twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen, the Celtics had the
third overall pick in the draft, and in consecutive drafts
they took Jalen Brown and they took Jason Tatum. To
all NBA players, I'm a big Jalen Brown fan. He's
I remember when he was a col has won and
done year. He talked in terms of having learned six

(01:23:56):
languages by the time he's twenty five. He's very impressed individual,
much less a basketball player. That being said, there's a
lot of buzz right now for a team and they're
six years together, have been in the Eastern Conference Finals
five times, but have only made it two of the
finals once that was a year ago, and obviously they
came up short against the Warriors. Jalen Brown's twenty six,

(01:24:19):
Jason Tatum's twenty five, these are still very young players
with a very young coach, by the way, So the
question is this, have you seen enough to convince you
that this dynamic duo is gone as far as they
can go as a pair. Or is it just a

(01:24:40):
matter of circumstance or maybe just a matter of time
before their time comes in which they reign supreme at
the top of the NBA. Because if you are going
to trade one, Jylen Brown would be the guy, with
all due respect, because Jason Tatum is the man in
the moment for the Bostons Celtics and Jalen Brown coming

(01:25:02):
off in all NBA season, obviously he's going to get
a lot in return. There's a lot of teams that
would love to have Jalen Brown on their roster. So
what do you do if you're the Boston Celtics.

Speaker 2 (01:25:15):
State, of course you stayed, of course, because you've been
I think you said five Eastern Conference Championship games finals.

Speaker 3 (01:25:22):
Yeah, finals, you've been the one final. Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:25:25):
Both of these guys are under twenty six years of age.
When you have a young crew like that, you continue
to build upon it. And so instead of saying that
it has to be either or, I would say, well,
what do we need to put around them to compliment
them in terms of how they play? To me when
you look at them, these guys are ball dominant guys,

(01:25:45):
a pat.

Speaker 3 (01:25:46):
Pad dribble dribble, dribble, drib dribble drill.

Speaker 2 (01:25:48):
But it's like a game one on one. But what
a point guard, a dominant point guard who's a pass
first point guard. Would he make the game easier for
Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum so they don't have to
work is hard to get buckets.

Speaker 3 (01:26:03):
This team is solid.

Speaker 2 (01:26:04):
And I'll say this, I'm not in love with Joe
Mozzoula in terms of like how he handles the media
because I think he makes life harder on himself when
he's so acrimonious. But man, he was put in a
tough spot right before training. Gave me his takeover. Team
doesn't have his own coaches. He was a second rogue guy.
Now he's in charge and he's trying to figure it out.

(01:26:25):
And for all of the people who I mean kind
of way in after the fact, it's a lot easier
to coach from the comfort of your living room than
when you're having to do it and you're trying to
learn how to be a head coach. I would give
them time. I would give this team some time and
see if you can add a few pieces around the two.

Speaker 3 (01:26:44):
But I wouldn't break them up.

Speaker 1 (01:26:45):
Well, I like what you said about a point guard
when you look back at their last championship team in
eight three first ballot Hall of Famers Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, KAMC. Garnett.
But there are a lot of people that believe the
most valuable player on the team was for Geen Rondo
couldn't make a free throw, but he did so many things.
And even Kendrick Perkins, who understood his role as a

(01:27:09):
big man in the middle. So those were the two
role players, but they played a huge role on a
team that featured these superstar players. And I agree with you. Now,
obviously you got Marcus Smart. You brought in Brogden, who
immediately delivered a six Man of the Year award. He
had to adjust to the idea that he was coming
off the bench, and he was able to do that.

(01:27:32):
The Missoula question, I think it's fair to give him
another opportunity, I don't I don't know. I mean, my
biggest problem with the Boston Celtics, and we saw a
play out in these Eastern Conference finals. You live by
the three, you die by the three. Yeah, and if

(01:27:53):
you look at the two teams that are in the
NBA Finals, Okay, they can shoot, but Jimmy Butler is
not a three point shooter. And obviously the Nuggets operate
us are up around a center, yea. And that, to
me is the thing that is holding the Celtics back
because and we see Jason Tatum is a prime example

(01:28:16):
of this. He'll have those games where he goes off
and you're like, now, that is a star, that is
an NBA All Star, that is a guy deserving of
what he's been the last couple of years, first Team
All NBA. And then there are other games where he
can't make anything and he just disappears he does. That's
the problem. And you know, remember I was I was

(01:28:38):
making the point that Jalen Brown should remember when Tatum
was struggling. I'm looking at Brown's numbers and I'm like,
why isn't he getting to the ball more? And then
all of a sudden, Jaylen Brown couldn't make a shot.

Speaker 2 (01:28:50):
So my issue, and this is where coaching should come in.
The coach's job is to make the game easier for
the players. So you have this debate where you have
star players say no, no, you don't need a coach
and those things. But I would tell you the coach's
job is to make the game easy. So when you're

(01:29:11):
looking at Jason taylorm and Jaylen Brown struggle to get
shots from their spots, so they're having to work so
hard to get their spots their shots, the coach's job
is to come up and exit on them like, hey,
here's what we can do to make the game easy,
or let's put our system in that make it easy
so you don't have to work as hard to get
quality looks. The other thing I will say with the Celtics,

(01:29:31):
I don't mind them pulling threes because we saw when
they look they hit you with the avalanche of threes.

Speaker 3 (01:29:36):
They gonna get you about the gym.

Speaker 2 (01:29:38):
But the coach has to be able to tell them, hey, man,
we probably need to get some more paint touches, probably
need to take it to the rat game.

Speaker 3 (01:29:46):
Seven is hard. Everyone's a little tight. We started out
zero for twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:29:50):
Let's hey, let's take the next five possessions and make
sure we get shots that are in the paint, get
at least a foot in the paint before we kick it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:57):
Back out in those things.

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
And so it's a combination of playing style, this combination
of Missoula's leadership, and then do you have Mit Smeth
like the right pieces. I like Marcus Smart for what
he does for the Celtics, but I don't know if
he can run the offense as their starting point guard.
Meaning I'm not saying he has to be John Stockman,

(01:30:19):
but can he man make the game easy, what the
ball is going. So there are a few different things.
I wouldn't just put it on Jay Brown, but I
will say this Game seven, when Jason Tatum twists his ankle,
I did say, Okay, here we go. If you're the dude,
here you go. This is your moment where everyone wants.

(01:30:42):
Everybody's not necessarily built to be the lead horse.

Speaker 1 (01:30:46):
Well, exactly the point. And by the way, I get
a lot of grief from Celtic fans on social media
because they know of my allegiance to the Lakers growing
up in Los Angeles. And when they were down three
to zero and you know, all of a sudden forced
the games and I maintained, yeah, they haven't gotten to
the finish line yet, using the Jason Tatum injury as

(01:31:08):
an excuse in a game that frankly got blown out
of that game on your home court. That's not going
to make the difference. But the fact that Jylen Brown
was enabled to take the baton and take over that game,
as you just said, maybe he isn't that kind of player.
So we'll see where the Celtics go next. Pretty much

(01:31:29):
they'll have a set roster for next year, obviously looking
for very different results.

Speaker 4 (01:31:34):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:31:34):
On the other side, we're going to get back to
the National Football League. A guy that's been all over
the OTA's camps everywhere. We're going to find out his
latest venture. Adam Kaplan our Fox Sports Radio NFL Insider
will join us coming up next. I love the choice
of songs here. Of course, Shocking Blue did the original
version of Venus, but you go Banana Rama, which is

(01:31:58):
more here. Yes, m m mmmmmmm, I love Banana Rama
back in the day. Oh by the way, if you
are wondering, yes, this is Fox Sports Saturday Steve Harbin
and Bucky Brooks and we are live from the tire
Rack dot Com studios. I'm not quite sure if he
is a Banana Rama fan. We are a fan of his,

(01:32:18):
though he is our Fox Sports Radio NFL Insider, Serious
X NFL insidebers. He does it all when it comes
to the shield, mister Adam Kaplan, we missed you, Adam.
How are you today?

Speaker 4 (01:32:30):
Guys gould to talk to you. Yeah, I remember that song.
I actually remember the video Believer.

Speaker 1 (01:32:33):
Oh well, we all remember the video videos. Yeah, the
video definitely made it a far more effective song that
actually was. All right, Adam, we have so much to
catch up with you on, but I want to start
with the Raiders. I was asking Bucky about this a
little bit earlier, because you know, all of a sudden,
the news comes out about the foot surgery for Jimmy
Garoppolo and they saidenhow took his signing bonus and morphed

(01:32:55):
it into his salary. And some people are looking at
as a possibility of just being flat out released so
they're not on the hook for anything, which, by the way,
would leave him without a quarterback unless Tom Brady changes
his mind sides the return. So where do we stand
right now with the Silver and Black?

Speaker 4 (01:33:12):
No, they what happened is and this happens when you
bring a player in it's coming off an injury. I mean,
all players have to take a physical, and they they
required more work. They wanted to see exactly what's going
with that foot from last season, which the Niners, by
the way, didn't think need surgery, but the Raiders were
not comfortable with it. I remember doing some reporting many

(01:33:32):
years ago. Remember Roger Staffold, the then Rams guard, while
the Raiders were doing a big free agent deal with him,
and the Raiders had a problem with his shoulder and
they nixed the deal at the last second. Effect his
agents were there. It's crazy, and they walked away. They
were not comfortable with the situation and he went back

(01:33:53):
to the Rams. Really crazy story in here. They made
this commitment to Garoppolo for three seasons terms of a contract.
It's got a one year structure, and they redid the deal.
And the bottom line is they have relief if for
some reason, let's put it this way, they fully expect,
as I understand, he'll be ready by late your life,

(01:34:14):
not before that, to practice, but for some reason he
has to setback. They've got relief here and that's why
they did.

Speaker 3 (01:34:20):
It makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:34:22):
Another thing that I guess will eventually make sense as
a team signing DeAndre Hopkins, who are the real suitors
when it comes to the former All Pro.

Speaker 4 (01:34:31):
Yeah, he wants to be with a good team. And
here's the thing, we have to understand who this player is.
He's not Odell Beckham junior. Dale Beckham Junior. We know
about the injuries, but talking to people who are at
the workout that he had before he signed his deal
with the Ravens, it's pretty good workout. He you know,
he can get downfield. That's not Hopkins. Hopkins is a
possession receiver, so he's a certain type of guy in

(01:34:55):
terms of catching the football and separation all that, and
now we've had the draft, there's just not the mark
that he's looking for. He remember now he was set
for a salary not guaranteed, over nineteen million. If he
gets even half that, he would be lucky. At this point,
he doesn't have the leverage that Beckham Junior had before
the draft. So it's just I'm a little surprised. Now.

(01:35:16):
I know he changed agency. Change agency, didn't have one.
He had one years ago with the Texans. Then he
did the Cardinals deal on his own with an advisor.
Did a pretty good job, by the way, and then
he got an agent. But that shouldn't stop him. But
the league is really telling him, look, you don't run
as well as he used to. You remember, he's been
injured a little bit the last two seasons. He had

(01:35:36):
the suspension. He's thirty one years old next week, and
teams are clearly saying, you've got maybe two years left
in him. They're not going to overpay for him. I mean,
if he gets ten million a year, I'd be surprised. Now, again,
he's a posession of receiver. He's a number two or
number three receiver. He's really not a number one at
this point.

Speaker 1 (01:35:52):
Yeah, and a lot of people were just a week ago,
we were talking about teams like the Bills, the Chiefs,
the Jets, the Ravens, you know, teams that i've are
Super Bowl contenders, and that at this point of his career,
you know, he just wants to latch onto a team
like that. And then all of a sudden this week
entered Deshaun Watson, his teammate in Houston, and they obviously

(01:36:13):
had a magic He's not the same receiver we were
speculating Bucky and I about, you know, if Deshaun Watson
has his heart set on getting d Hop and I'm
the Browns, Well fine, we have a fully guaranteed contract.
We'll have to restructure some of that, defer some of
that money to open up some room. But would DeAndre

(01:36:33):
Hopkins joining the Cleveland Browns raise their bar in terms
of a true contender in twenty twenty three?

Speaker 4 (01:36:41):
Well, what help? Their issues aren't so much offense they've got.
They added Elijah Moore from the Jats, so they really
are high on. They added Marquis Goodwin, who's a de threat,
Cedric Tillman in this draft. They feel pretty good from
talking to people there about their receiver corps, David and Joke,
who's been a leader at tight end. They don't really
need add Hopkins. I mean, he's again it's got the
chemistry as you're talking about with Watson, no doubt about it.

(01:37:03):
They were terrific together. But they're also looking to develop
their younger receivers like Donovan Peoples, Jones was on the
final years deal, and I just mentioned Tilman and David
Bell by the way, who was a third round pick
last year. So it just doesn't make a lot of
sense to me. The one thing though, I will tell you,
this offense is going to change a little bit. They're
going to throw the ball more than they usually do
with Kevin Stephanski being the head coach, because you don't

(01:37:24):
pay Watson what they're paying to keep running the football
with Nick Chubb, and the feeling is there that Watson's
could take a big step and having a full offseason
with the football team.

Speaker 3 (01:37:33):
Okay, So Adam, explain to me this.

Speaker 2 (01:37:35):
Ty Bowles was talking about the quarterback situation and you
got Kyle Trask and Baker Mayfield down to duking it
out and then you see some of the videos that
come out. How confident are they in either one of
these quarterbacks as their potential QB one.

Speaker 4 (01:37:49):
I was talking to Rashad White, there's a second running
back there this week, and you know, I asked him,
I said, hey, could you break down kind of what
you see from both guys? And he taught. We talked
about Trask first and he's been now with Trask for
two seasons. This is the second year together with him,
and look, Trask is a guy if you look at
his skill set. To be a Secon round pick, you've

(01:38:10):
got to have skill. I mean, you're not going to
be like drafted that high without having the ability to
get things done. And he's got a big arm. He
doesn't move very well, although White said he's got he's
actually mima little bit. He's moving better now, which I
thought was interesting. But again this is in OTAs. It's
not a great situation Mayfield. Look, I know this. The

(01:38:30):
talk at the combine was they were going to pursue Mayfield.
I was pretty certain of that, and they did that.
But it's not a great situation. But the good thing
is they've got a terrific receiver corps, the very high
on second year ten M Kate Otton, who will take
over as a starter. So the skill the skill position
players are really good. It's just the quarterback situation. Bucky's
not until somebody shows that they could be a consistant player.

(01:38:51):
I would expect both guys to start this year, and
then the question is who could be the lead dog.
That'll sort itself out in training camp. But there is
a transition here, no Brady, Remember there's a change with
Byron Leftwich no longer there, and Dave Canalis, who came
over from Seattle's there. He's calling the place for the
first time. So it's really an interesting situation and it's
certainly a changing of the guard here, all.

Speaker 1 (01:39:12):
Right, I'm really curious to find out your take on this.
All reports are as a Dalvin Cook has played his
last game as a Viking, and Miami has been talked
about as a possible destination, and he's even talked that
the Vikings may release him. He still hasn't clerated his
twenty eighth birthday, and he's coming off a season which
he started seventeen consecutive games, four st eight years of

(01:39:35):
at least eleven hundred yards rushing. Why are the Vikings
so anxious to get rid of Dalvin Cook?

Speaker 4 (01:39:40):
Well, okay, he's turned into twenty eight in August, which
means your twenty eight NFL years. He's coming off shoulder surgery,
he's had any problems in his career. There's a center
around the league that he's another guy at running back.
Maybe maybe he's got two years left in him. They
also do not think he's worth his ten point four
million dollar salary, which only two million of us fully
guaranteed right now, and his cap number is over fourteen million,

(01:40:03):
so they're going to want to lower that, and they
also are looking potentially to get well, it's not potential,
they want to get Justin Jefferson's extension done, which is
going to be massive. So that's part of this situation.
And now the other thing is interesting. They guaranteed almost
all of Alexander Madison's contract. He's making seven million over

(01:40:26):
the next two seasons. They guaranteed six point three million
of it. That's a lot for a backup running back.
And it's almost like they knew something. But I remember
talking to the Vikings about this. It's not like they
don't want to cook back. They just they have a
number in mind and he's not willing to take it.
Won't He probably won't be with team now. I don't
get the sense of Miami right now with trade for him.

(01:40:47):
I'm not saying they wouldn't change their mind on it.
It's just a situation where Miami just drafted a running
back a Shane in the third round. They have Jeff
Wilson who fits this scheme or he mostered it's more
of a really good special teams player could fill in
it running back. One more guy, but they're not looking
to pay a lot of money, and that's that's the
challenge here.

Speaker 3 (01:41:06):
And you have the Timman.

Speaker 2 (01:41:06):
It seems like there's a trend amongst quarterbacks to kind
of get in great shape.

Speaker 3 (01:41:12):
And lean up and fill out and those things. And
I'm looking at Miami.

Speaker 2 (01:41:15):
I'm looking at to a type of a lowe and
he looks like a different body type than the one
that we're seeing.

Speaker 3 (01:41:22):
What are you hearing about tua is progress down in Miami.

Speaker 4 (01:41:24):
Yeah, he actually has bulked up that. It's true. This
is something that he hopes will help him stay healthy.
But is explain to me. The thing is the reason
why he gets hurt, including according to the people I've
spoken with, he seems to hold on the ball a
little bit too long. He doesn't see the rush always.
I mean, you could, he could put on twenty pounds

(01:41:44):
of muscle, but it's not gonna stop him from being
from getting hurt if you don't see the rush and
he needs to get rid of the ball faster. This offen,
this old school West Coast offense that Mike mcdander runs,
it does. I mean the reason why, too, when healthy
played well is because he when he gets the football
is like a point guard. But when he holds on
to it, he takes too much contact. That's why it's

(01:42:05):
been hurting. They have a pretty good by the way,
They've got a pretty good backup in Mike White, who
did a good job for the Jets.

Speaker 1 (01:42:10):
All right, I want to get back to the Raiders
for a moment here, and ownership of this franchise. It's
a franchise I know a little bit about. The Davis
family owns less than fifty percent of the team. Mark
Davis's hold on ownership is precarious at best because his
mom's still alive. As long as his mom's still alive

(01:42:30):
and she's in her nineties now, they're able to hold
on to the team. There was a lot of hanky
panky before mister Davis passed away to ensure the Davis
family still had controlling interest in the team. And now
we have Tom Brady, who, to most Raider fans, is
about as hated as any player in the history of
the NFL. You know, my attitude is, if I were

(01:42:53):
a Raider fan, is I don't want this guy in
our organization. There's a lot of people have money. He
doesn't have as much money as some other people. Are
concerned until this guy comes clean and admits that he
fumbled the ball and there was no you know, hanky panky.
Why would I want this guy associated with the team.
So I want to get your sense of the Brady

(01:43:15):
buying into ownership and what that actually means in the
future as to who will ultimately own certainly one of
the most marketable names in terms of franchise value in
the National Football League.

Speaker 4 (01:43:30):
Let's look at the latter. It would only first of all,
Brady would only have a very minor part of ownership.
Let's go to the real store here. I don't know
if you're aware of this, but my reporting back in
twenty twenty they were going to sign Brady, I mean,
this was going to happen, and then Brady. There were
some things they didn't want to do with Brady wants,
some other things there, and they just they couldn't come

(01:43:51):
to an agreement. In fact, they were pretty steap fast.
He was going to be their guy. Mark Davis, by
the way, was really the one sort of driving the
train there and it just didn't happen. But the fact
of matter, and by the way, it sounded like Dark
Car didn't know about it. Dark Carr was aware of it.
But the bottom line is when you look at the situation,
people have talked about the raid for years. Mark Dave
was always needing money, always needing money. They're the team

(01:44:14):
that doesn't have a ton of money, but it's never
stopped them from paying big contracts and so forth, just
like Mark's dad did, Al Davis in his the latter
of years. I don't know if you know this, they
did some of the contracts which I mean would be
turned out to be some of the worst in NFL history. Yeah,
Javon Walker and one of them I could, I mean
went off time for this, but I could give you
five or six where you'd shake your head. You cannot

(01:44:35):
believe that I'll did these deals. But they've looked. They don't.
They've never not paid people. That's never been in terms
of contracts for players. The other stuff is another story.

Speaker 1 (01:44:44):
Yeah, well, we'll see how this all plays out, all right. Well, Adam,
by the way, are you making any rounds with the OTAs.

Speaker 4 (01:44:52):
Yeah, I'm gonna go to the Eagles next week, probably
the Ravens, probably the Ravens. But what I will be
doing when we speak in July and August, you know,
I'm big on these joint practices. I'm probably gonna see
combined ten of them. Boy, Like, it seems like half
the league already has announce that they're practicing with each other,
which is great. That's able to see two teams at
once is a pretty good thing.

Speaker 1 (01:45:12):
Oh, I love those I saw years ago a scrimmage
between the Chargers and the Cardinals. They got far more
work done in that than any Kakamami preseason game. Believe me,
because you you know, you say all right, this is
what we're working on, and then return the other team says, fine,
well that's what this is what we want to work on.
It's far more productive. Adam, you're the absolute best. We'll

(01:45:33):
check in with you next week. Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:45:35):
Eric, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:45:35):
Adam Kaplan are Fox Sports Radio, NFL insider. It's allly
good stuff. Yeah, the Davis family is He's right. I mean,
the Davis family has never had a lot of money,
and again they own less than fifty percent of the team,
so it's a precarious situation. The fact that missus Davis

(01:45:56):
got bless her is still around, that's crazy. I mean,
and I was working for this team forty years ago.
She was coming off a very serious stroke and we
were very worried about her future.

Speaker 3 (01:46:08):
She's still going, still hanging.

Speaker 1 (01:46:10):
Carol Davis, absolutely amazing. Let's find out what's trending right
now speaking about a man, just a man, you know,
a man in general, you know a man that that
guy looking over there, and I'm like realizing, that's exactly
what you are, man.

Speaker 4 (01:46:28):
Right, that's amazing, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:46:30):
So we do have as you were talking to Adam,
from one NFL insider to another, and one who is
employed by ESPN is reporting that there is a new
contract extension in order for Buffalo Bill's defensive tackle Ed Oliver.
Four years, sixty eight million dollars is the extension and
the finer details including forty five million dollars guaranteed. Still

(01:46:52):
has one year remaining on his prior contract, so he
technically has five years on a contract now for a
Buffalo as they bring on some extra cash for him. Meanwhile,
Washington Nationals right hander Steven Strasberg reportedly is facing severe
nerve damage and it has become so severe that there
really is a just glimmer of hope that he'll ever

(01:47:15):
pitch in another Major League Baseball game. That's as dire
as it gets as far as his longevity and his
hopes of playing in the BIGS, but as far as
Major League Baseball is concerned, the Rangers are just taking
a crowbar out here on the Mariners fifteen to three
bottom of the seventh, Corey Seeger, three RBI, Angels, and

(01:47:36):
Astros are into.

Speaker 4 (01:47:37):
The seventh inning. The Stros are leading seven to five.

Speaker 8 (01:47:40):
They got an Alex Bregman grand slam, Brewers double digits,
ten runs for them, six for the Reds.

Speaker 4 (01:47:46):
Top of the eighth.

Speaker 8 (01:47:48):
There, Mets and Blue Jays all square at one in
the bottom of the seventh completed games. The Red Sox
win Game one of a doubleheader eight to five against
the Rays. Excuse me, six runs scored on that sixth
inning for the Red Sox, White Sox and Tigers went
into the tenth inning and Chicago won that two to one.

(01:48:08):
All three of those runs were scored via a wild pitch,
So what a game that must have been. And the
Phillies find a way to beat the Nationals four to two.
We do know that Game two of the NBA Finals
is tomorrow night and both teams heat head coach and
of course the Denver Nuggets head coach and Michael Malone.

(01:48:28):
But on the heat side their head coach, Eric Spolster
talk to the media today. Nothing new as far as
what he said about Tyler here on the chances that
he could play tomorrow dealing with that right hand injury.
Spolster adding that more will be known on Hero status
by tomorrow as far as whether Hero can play or not.
In golf, we do know that the third round of

(01:48:51):
the Memorial Tournament has wrapped up and we've got a
two way tie for first with one round to go.
Rory McElroy all the way up there, shooting up to
the died up there with David Lipski, and so it's
actually a three way tie for first including those two,
but Bucky and Steve. Rory McElroy making some noise here

(01:49:11):
with a thirty five on his back side and would
love to get himself another win here on the PGA circuit.

Speaker 1 (01:49:19):
Well, as you know, the family are two weeks away
from the US Open, which will be played at the
La country Club that nobody in La know exists unless
you're actually a member of that country club. It's I've
literally been asked by people like where he is the
LA country Club? I go, have you ever driven on
Wilshire Boulevard? But like, yeah, all the time, I said,

(01:49:39):
then you have literally driven by it every time you're
on Wilster Boulevard. Well, some people confuse it for Wilshire
Country Club, right, which is not that far away. It's
I put it this way, it's a course that has
never been used for tournament golf.

Speaker 6 (01:49:54):
Really.

Speaker 1 (01:49:54):
I mean, I guess the Walker Cup, which is like
sort of the amateur version of the Ryder Cup up
posted a few years ago. It hosted the what was
the LA Open back in the thirties and forties, But
it's not a tournament golf course. So we when you
talk about a course where we have no clue. It's
a beautiful course, but it's there's no history there at

(01:50:17):
all when it comes to tournament golf.

Speaker 8 (01:50:20):
The parking situation over there is going to be, my madness,
what they're saying now. There are going to be some
big outlets malls where they're encouraging everybody to park there
and then shuttle on site. Because if you have a
ticket to getting an opportunity to parking spot on site,
you have to be very prestigious. And unfortunately Steveyerry, none

(01:50:42):
of us, wait, none of us rate that high.

Speaker 1 (01:50:44):
None of us are even in the ballpark. We're not
even good enough to park the car as much as
park Park our car. All right, bfnn, thank you very much.
Once again, we're coming alive from the tire rack dot
Com studios. This just in Michael, do not call me
Mike alone, head coach of the Denver Nuggets. I told

(01:51:04):
our players today, don't read the paper, don't listen to
the folks on the radio and TV saying that this
series is over and that we've done something, because we
haven't done a damn thing.

Speaker 8 (01:51:17):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:51:17):
Malone is really hammering his team for what he called
their atrocious defense. Quote. I don't think we played well
in Game one. I watched the tape. They were five
of sixteen on wide open threes. As I told our
players this morning, the fact that they got sixteen wide
open threes is problematic. If you think that Max Truce

(01:51:37):
is going to go zero for nine again, or Duncan
Robinson is going to go one for five, you're wrong.
So Malone's taking a different tack. Yes, Edgy, you know
I saw prior to Game one he talked about the
fact with his team that the heated won game one
of each series against the Knicks, against the Bucks, against

(01:51:59):
the Celtic on road, on the road to jump and
get that home court advantage, and he's like, not on
our court. Okay, so they got game one. When you
have a coach that is constantly bringing up the negative
and I know this is this is not It's not
exclusive to Malone Belichick. Does a lot of guys do

(01:52:22):
you know you win a game fifteen or nothing? All
they can do is Nick pick on. How does that
translate to a player? I mean, you come off the court,
you're feeling good, you won a big games, the first
you know, finals game in franchise history. It wasn't right.
They were really threatened in Game one, and then your
coach is all over you saying, yeah, we played terrible.

Speaker 3 (01:52:44):
That's the time that you do it.

Speaker 2 (01:52:45):
So you can be the hardest on your team after
they've had a little success, right. And the reason why
you want to be hard on him in this situation
is because this, like the last twenty four to thirty
six hours, we've heard, oh it's over, it's only a
mere fury until it's a four game sweep. It's out
of here. It's a mismatch of epic proportions. There's no
way the Miami he can slow down that. So if

(01:53:08):
that is playing on repeat, throughout the locker room and
the facility, and whenever they go home, the players naturally
have a tendency to let up. And so what Mike
Malone is trying to do is no, no, no, no, no,
don't be tricked. When you look at the tape, they
missed a lot of wide open shots and if they
knock those shots down, guys, we can be in trouble.

(01:53:29):
And so he is doing a good job of holding
them accountable for some of the mistakes that they made. Now,
I will give him credit whenever they've been in a
downturn or they lost, he's the first one to build
him back up. And so it has to be that
delicate balance of Hey, I can go hard, an't you,
but I also can be your biggest support and advocate
when things aren't going their way. But to be honest,

(01:53:52):
there haven't been many things that haven't gone the Nuggets way.
So what I want to see what happens if things
don't go their way, if they do happen to drop
Game two, because they've been on easy street throughout the postseason,
whereas the Heat has had to kind of grind and
make their way through from playing all the way. I
just want to see how do the Nuggets handle a

(01:54:14):
little adversity they could come their way.

Speaker 1 (01:54:16):
Well, again, I'm looking at my star players and Jokic
Emery both had twenty five points, double digit assist last
time teammates did that, and an NBA Finals game was
magic and worthy. So it's been a while, so think so.
But I mean, my point is is there is a
certain maturity factor in those two guys that to me,

(01:54:37):
prevents the idea that both would have an off night.
To me, both would have to have an off night
both both for the Heat to get there. Now, the
Tyler hero situation, I mean, I don't know if this
is real. If you know Sposer just throwing it out there,
he might play. I'm sure Malone is. You know, he's
working out, and we're talking about a guy that can

(01:54:57):
put up twenty on you very easily knocked down threes
and and certainly changed the dynamic. But my point for
the Nuggets is is that what we are doing defensively
is taking away the easy basket. In other words, for
the Heat to stay in that game, they had to
knock down threes and they weren't able to do that.

Speaker 4 (01:55:16):
I think the.

Speaker 3 (01:55:19):
Size as a major factor.

Speaker 2 (01:55:21):
So this will be the game I feel they will
finally get a chance to see Eric s Bolster make
some adjustments.

Speaker 1 (01:55:28):
All right, I'm calling you, mister Miami Heat, because you
have an allegiance to this organization. So on the other side,
Bucky Brooks speaking from the heart, is it possible, Is
it possible that his team not wishful thinking? Is there
a strategy that will deliver a w on the road
against a Nuggets team that has not lost a home
game throughout these entire playoffs. We'll have that answer coming up.

(01:55:50):
This is Fox Sports Saturday to one pitch. Swinging a
high fly deep left center field back and looking is Dickerson.

Speaker 4 (01:55:58):
He's out of room.

Speaker 1 (01:55:59):
It's into the Phillies bullpen.

Speaker 8 (01:56:02):
Jt Realmuto with his fourth home run of the season
and he puts the Phillies back in front.

Speaker 1 (01:56:10):
That's ninety four point one. Wip the Phillies a radio network,
Phillies trying to get off the mat, Gonna win on
the road against the Nationals today, the defending National League champs,
still six games below five hundred. By the way, that's
our Progressive Play of the Day, brought to you by
Progressive insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a

(01:56:31):
multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, bote A, TV,
and more all your protection one place bundle than save
at Progressive dot Com. Once again, Fox Sports Saturday, Steve
Hartman and Bucky Brooks. We are live from the tire
Rack dot Com studios. We do not do this show alone.
We have a mass of talent on the other side

(01:56:52):
manning the board. Wait, Iowa Sam earlier, and then Alex
jumps in here. I don't know how Alex ended up
back on the weekends here. It just it's always great
to see you. It just unexpected. We thought you had
graduated from this level. So apparently I'm like a souvenir
here now. I just keeps showing up to remind us
of how great it is. I feel the same way

(01:57:12):
every once in a while. Of course. Uh well, Brian
Family was here earlier doing all the updates for us.
Be Fenn was great as always, and then of course
our brilliant producer Brandon uh whose padres continue to circle
the drain.

Speaker 3 (01:57:26):
I mean, it's just awful.

Speaker 1 (01:57:30):
Two to one yesterday the Cubs two to one yesterday,
One Yeah, to the Cubs at home, to a guy
who gives up, who has an ERA of eight.

Speaker 3 (01:57:37):
Yeah, it all started with de Meme on the scoreboard.

Speaker 1 (01:57:40):
Yeah, it didn't help. Didn't help, didn't help. And then
Tati's doing the bat toss at Yankee Stadium, you know,
doing that, you know, and I got no problem with that,
But then you ended up losing back to back games
of the Yankees.

Speaker 3 (01:57:51):
How you do anything? So, how you do everything? You
want them to flip the bath but then see it's.

Speaker 1 (01:57:56):
Just how you got to get on a run. Well, yeah,
there's a lot of problems with this giant. I mean,
I'm just curious because you know, obviously I was down
there for a long time, and Preller has been their
general manager. It's very similar to the Telesco situation with
the Chargers, where at some point you got to say,
how is this guy still in charge? How's Preller still

(01:58:18):
the guy after ten years? You know, and they've had
two playoff runs and they spent a bowtload of money
to assemble a seemingly unmatched lineup. Well, is not working.
The product has to perform well. Again, if I'm ownership,
because they have great ownership, because ownership in San Diego

(01:58:41):
has said we'll spend the money even though we are
deemed a small market team. They have you know, by
the way, every small market team hates the pod Rays
because they've proven there is no such thing as a
small market team. There's a small spending team, and they've
spent like they're the Dodgers and the Yankees, and they're
getting no return on their dollar, at least at this point.
All right, Bucky, I've given you plenty of time to

(01:59:03):
think this thing out. Mm hmm uh. How how far
back does your allegiance to the Miami Heat go?

Speaker 2 (01:59:11):
This is go way for I mean, it goes back
as far as when I've been ahead coach at Grenada Hills.
Because you look at teams and programs that you admire,
guys who you kind of think do it the right way.
So it kind of goes back to that, I will
say when I look at this situation, because the one
thing you want all your teams to do is you
want them to exhibit toughness. You want them to play hard,
so they do that. The problem is the Denver Nuggets

(01:59:33):
also do it, but they're more talented. So this is
going to be one where Eric suppose is gonna have
to be in his bag. Some of the things that
they did against the Boston Celts could probably help them.
Maybe pick up a little of the pressure early in
the back court, burn up some of that shot clock,
then fall back in the zone, make them take rough shots.
They're gonna have to go and put their foot in

(01:59:53):
the pain and be committed to try and get close shots,
layups and files. The size is so intimidating. Jimmy Butler though,
those guys and I want to get in and get.

Speaker 3 (02:00:01):
Their shot blocks.

Speaker 2 (02:00:01):
So they're gonna have to challenge the Nuggets in a
different way, maybe play with a little more pace. It
can be done, but they're gonna have to They're gonna
have to play great. They're gonna have to play well.

Speaker 1 (02:00:09):
One thing about Sporlzer throughout this playoff run by the
Heat as an eight sea making it to the finals
is even when they lose, he's laughing. I mean every
time I'm looking up at him, whether it's post game
after a loss, even after that seemingly devastating home loss
in Game six that everyone said, well they can't lose
Game six at home. They'll never be able to go
back to Boston. They win a Game seven. He was

(02:00:30):
joking about it. I mean, you know, and he saw,
you know, White come back with that follow he goes,
you understand a course that that ball bounces anywhere two
inches in any other direction because he didn't put the
ball back and he volleyball set it in. That's all
the time he had. So it was a perfect and
he and he laughed it off and he didn't commiser.

(02:00:52):
Rady just said, look, we'll come back game seven, and
they came back in a big way. So now I'm
not I'm not discounting this Miami Heat team. But this
team rolls with Jimmy Butler. I mean, and Butler needs
to have a monster game.

Speaker 3 (02:01:07):
He has to show up. He has to have more
of an impact.

Speaker 2 (02:01:10):
I don't mean it doesn't mean thirty points, but he
has to be very, very involved in the action.

Speaker 1 (02:01:15):
By the way, I don't know if there's another game
because to see Wednesday, I mean, this series is going
to drag on for a while.

Speaker 3 (02:01:20):
So we love it.

Speaker 4 (02:01:22):
We love it.

Speaker 1 (02:01:24):
Alright, Hey don't go anywhere, folks, keep it right here.
This is Fox Sports Radio.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Steve Hartman and Bucky Brooks discuss Nikola Jokic’s playoff dominance, the Celtic’s future and more!