After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Good to have you with us on what is Monday night quickly morphing into a Tuesday morning. I had gone in my neighborhood two, almost three weeks without much rain, really any rain at all. And I felt like the summer and the summer dry season was starting way too early. I was getting a little concerned because my lawn was starting to brown out.

Right before vacation on Monday of last week, so it would have been a week ago, I had to mow my lawn. And for the first time I lowered the blades. I know in springtime I've had some landscapers tell me that you're supposed to keep the blades a little higher because you do actually want the grass to grow coming out of the winter dormant season and you want it to be a little higher, get a little greener, get fuller, that type of thing. But I was tired of seeing the dandelions in my front yard. And so with Bob seeing my neighborhood and the house and the yard for the first time last weekend, I wanted to make sure that the grass looked good or as good as I could make it.

So I lowered the blades on my mower and then I started to get nervous because we didn't have any rain in the forecast for like five days. Well, don't have to worry about that anymore because Northwest New Jersey and really large portions of New Jersey and New York and this metro but other parts of the coast as well. I follow Jim Cantore on Twitter and I love the Weather Channel and seeing the area that they had colored in with the dark purples and reds and oranges to start Monday morning, meaning those parts of the country in the Northeast all the way down along the Atlantic coast that were in danger of severe weather, thunderstorms. Yeah, it really did encompass most of the 95 corridor and then out west a little bit as well. And that definitely was the case for me in my neighborhood in Jersey on Monday. I gotta say though, it's so much easier to sleep in the summertime when the thunderstorms or the thick clouds keep it dark. Now I'm not saying that I loved seeing and smelling the wildfire smoke that wafted down from Canada that drifted down from Canada or traveled from Canada.

That was two weeks ago, right? But it was so dark during the daytime, it was a lot easier to sleep. Summertime is harder to sleep during the daytime on this schedule because it's so bright out because of the angles of the sun. It's so much brighter and obviously we have more daylight so we've just come through that week with the change to summer season, meaning the longest day of the year, June 21st. Now the days are getting shorter. Is that depressing?

It might be. They get shorter a minute, a couple minutes per day until December 21st when they start getting longer again. But yeah, our daylight is waning. Huh. Well that's depressing.

I'm not sure why I brought that up. Only to say that the days are really long. And it's hard to sleep or take a nap, for me anyway, when I have a lot of light in my room. So I loved it on Monday for two reasons. We got a ton of rain, multiple rounds of thunderstorms.

We were in the red for quite a while in my neighborhood. So the first thunderstorms came through around noonish and woke me up out of a dead sleep. I was able to get back to sleep though.

The second round was about 4.35 o'clock in the afternoon. Managed to get Penny out right before that next round of thunderstorms. And then as I'm watching the end of, at this point I was listening to Westwood One, the end of the College World Series on Monday evening, we get heavy storms. So loud it felt like the clouds were parked over the top of my house.

And this is how I know they were severe and they were heavy and they were more significant than earlier. Penny actually heard the thunder. She does not hear the majority of thunder or even fireworks anymore. She used to shake. She would shake for hours because she could feel and hear the thunder long before I could. She mostly sleeps through it now. She slept through the two earlier ones. Didn't even know. But man, I think it was about 11 o'clock Eastern time when the next round came through and they were so loud and the thunder was so sharp that she heard it and woke up and actually got part of her body underneath the bed.

Not all of it. She got part of her body underneath the bed. Anyway, she was a little cowering. She was cowering. She was panting when I left. I felt bad. Weirdly enough, the storm passed through.

The cell passed through. And then as I'm leaving for work, I could see all the stars overhead. Planes are landing as I get closer to New York City. I can imagine there were a lot of planes who were ended up delayed. I know that was the case with Bob.

Oh my gosh. If you missed this yesterday, poor Bob ruined his entire vacation, I bet. Jay, he got off the plane in Houston at 6.45 or 7, right before 7 o'clock Houston time in the morning, right? So his plane was supposed to leave 8.30 p.m. from Newark on Sunday. It got delayed to 11.45, then 12.21. I dropped him at the airport. It's delayed to 1, then 2, then 3 because they're waiting not for the plane to arrive, not for the plane to be cleaned or disembarked.

No, not for a mechanical issue. They're waiting for a crew member to show up. They were one crew member short. And by the time the crew member showed up, they had to have breaks for the other crew members. And so I know there are federal regulations. It's not a bad thing.

It's just it wreaks havoc a lot of times with schedules. But here's the funny part. Well, not funny, haha. I actually felt terrible for him. He gets off the plane just before 7 o'clock in the morning in Houston. His bag didn't make it. Stop. I swear. He's in the Newark airport from 11 o'clock at night until 3 o'clock in the morning and somehow his bag did not get on the flight. How is that possible, United? I'm in shock.

I don't believe it. Exactly. He's in the airport 4 hours ahead of time. He checked his bag. He had pre-checked his bag in terms of paying for it online. All he had to do was drop it. Somehow in 4 hours sitting at the airport, United still didn't put his bag on the flight. You had plenty of time to do it and to locate it.

More than plenty of time. Wow. Isn't that stunning? What a horrible day of travel. Oh, yeah. I know.

I felt terrible. Oh my gosh. So he gets off the airplane, can't get his bag. He's trying to rush down a baggage claim, realizes his bag is not there, has to stand in line in Houston, wait to talk to an attendant at the baggage claim counter and they can't tell him where his bag is or when it's going to show up. They think it was on a later flight but they're not really sure.

Oh, that's good. Yeah, so by the time he gets out of the airport, he's in morning rush hour traffic, right, to get home, drop his carry-on, change clothes and I'm not kidding, 10 minutes in the house has to turn around and go to work. So he's been up essentially since Sunday morning, he didn't sleep on the plane, he gets to work around 8 o'clock central time, works all day at the end of the month so it's a little busier for him, works all day, doesn't leave his office until 5 o'clock and then has to wait for his neighbors to drop off his dog, has to unpack, well not really unpack that much, his bag never showed up so he's still waiting on his bag. He's got to not take care of the dog.

Oh my gosh. He had to second take care of himself. Poor guy, he was a zombie, even text messaging was hard, he wasn't really coherent, he wasn't really making much sense so he took a bath, I shouldn't tell people that. He was so sore and just tired and worn out from the travel and no joke, he'd been up more than 24 hours, he'd been up closer to 36 hours, maybe a short nap on Sunday afternoon but had really been up almost the entire time, hadn't eaten a great meal all day. So yeah, poor guy, he got in the tub, sorry Bob, that's maybe TMI, he got in the tub and then was going to bed at 9 o'clock, which I would have been in bed by the time I got home.

The bath sounds nice. I would have been in bed at 6.30, he managed to stay up until 9 o'clock so I was praying that he get some rest and rejuvenation because it's hard to catch up and you can't scientifically catch up on sleep, it doesn't happen but poor guy, I hope he is getting a good night's sleep. Do they have any update on his bags? No, when he went to bed there was no update. They're supposed to deliver it to his house but there was no bag.

How is that possible? How do they lose, it's a direct flight, he didn't stop and he was in the airport for 4 hours before he got on the floor. So the plane was sitting there for an extra 4 hours? Well the plane was there for at least 2 hours, I don't think it was there for 4 hours, it was there for 2.

But still, anyways, it was a nightmare for Bob. And he wasn't the only one, I saw friends of mine on Facebook who were bitching about United and Newark, so apparently they had a really rough weekend at Newark. Yeah I saw some other things just on like the news and around Twitter and stuff about specifically Newark airport yesterday. Well Newark is the United hub and with not just the summer season and the summer weekend, it was also the end of pride month with the parade, huge parade in New York City. So people leaving town for that reason after being in New York and then just in general, the fact that it's Sunday afternoon and planes and flights are backed up and people trying to get into town and out of town, yeah it was a total disaster. So he may not come back, he's not scheduled to return to New Jersey until Sunday afternoon, I'm sorry Sunday, I didn't mean to say Sunday, I meant to say September, one afternoon September, late September, but he may have excuses about how he can't make it. I think he needs to go to United and go on a shopping spree for this missing luggage.

You think? There's like something you can do, you can look up the fine print and they owe you a certain amount if they lose your luggage because it's all their fault. He left the airport 12 hours after he was supposed to be on the flight and they offered him a $15 voucher for a meal, that's it, that's all they gave him was a $15 voucher. Where can you get a meal for $15 in an airport? You can get a drink for $15.

Maybe. Bottle of water. You can get half a bottle of water.

You can get one of the many bottles of water in the airport. Maybe. At the Hudson News, yeah.

You can get a can of soda. Maybe. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. On Twitter, ALawRadio, always good to connect with you. Also on our Facebook page, we still have people every single day who ask us about our podcast, so make sure you check it out. We do post the link every weekday morning on both Twitter and Facebook. Our phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Do you know it's been a really big week? I'll call it a memorable week for one Connor McDavid. Many would say he's the best player in the NHL.

Well, he's a three-time MVP now with the heart trophy and not done. To my teammates, my second family, I truly would not be standing up here if it wasn't for each and every single one of you guys. You guys mean the world to me and I can't wait to get back to work with you guys in September. We've got unfinished business. That is so true. And even as we're talking to you about teams that have a reputation for fumbling away wins, the Oilers have definitely been part of that for a long time, so have the Maple Leafs. Now I get it, you run into other teams that are playing better, other teams that are in their groove.

And it's hard sometimes. Certainly in the Stanley Cup playoffs, there's no easy road. Just ask the Bruins.

But it's been a long time for Canadian hockey teams. Maybe Connor McDavid, maybe Leon Drysidel will be able to change that. McDavid coming off of one of the best seasons we've ever seen in hockey. Fourth active player to have 60 goals in a single season. So he had 64 total and 153 points. Not since Alex Ovechkin going back to 07-08 has a player had so many goals.

But here's the funny part. It is his third heart trophy. So 17-21 and now 23. But he actually finished one vote shy of a unanimous heart trophy.

And the one vote he did not get, he was fifth place on that ballot. Somebody's just yanking our chain. That's ridiculous.

How can you possibly say that Connor McDavid was the fifth most valuable player in the NHL this season? How? No, I'm asking you.

It's a rhetorical question, Jay, but I'm asking you. I think they should be stripped of their vote. That's just egregious. That's taking the responsibility and the honor of having that vote for the heart trophy and just washing it down the drain. That's horrible. You should have your privileges revoked. I agree.

Your responsibilities. Bruin star David Posternock finished second. And then Matthew Kuchuk of the Panthers, of course, incredible playoffs.

He was third. But congratulations to Connor McDavid. Now, the reason I tell you it was a memorable week for him, not only did he earn another heart trophy, he got engaged.

How sweet is that? So it was just a couple of days before Monday's award show. I'm not sure which day specifically.

But he actually was handing over some well-earned hardware. I got engaged. That's funny. Oh, I guess it was Thursday.

Sorry. He got engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Lauren. So congratulations to Lauren and to Connor and now to Connor and certainly to the Oilers. We have a couple other awards that will single out, including one Jim Montgomery, who has seen quite a path to redemption with the Boston Bruins. And no, it's not because he was fired previously and just led the team to its best season in franchise history, but also the best season in NHL history. There's more to the story. And you'll hear him tell it from the NHL awards that took place in Nashville on Monday night.

How about that? Glad to have you with us. Thanks for hanging out on Twitter. A Law Radio plus our Facebook page, too. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS portrait.

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Take advantage of exceptional decent finance offers today. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. I guess the words that come to mind right now is disappointment confusion and then I would say the other part is if you start looking at the season it was an honor to coach that group.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The voice of Jim Montgomery who ends up as the twenty twenty three Jack Adams award winner NHL coach of the year but the disappointment that ejection after the Bruins were an early exit a first round exit despite a game seven in Boston against the Florida Panthers. They end up bowing out early and they had this historic season more wins more points than any other team in NHL history but it did not translate into the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's kind of hard sometimes right for those who win awards and certainly the individual awards are combinations of not just a year of work a year of blood sweat tears your time your effort your dedication your commitment but decades of it in many cases.

So for Jim Montgomery maybe bittersweet because they don't achieve their goal of winning a Stanley Cup but the Bruins coach does receive this individual honor which for him represents redemption. If you listen to my show on a regular basis you know that I love the redemption story. It's one of my favorite themes in sports and really one of my favorite themes using that same word for human society human culture would say American culture to be sure. As much as we watch train wrecks right as much as we will allow those videos and photos and stories to go viral that portray people in a bad light a negative light after poor choices.

This is just the way our news cycle is in our society. We're drawn to the train wrecks. We're drawn to the disasters. We're drawn to the scandalous. More so than the good news the positive the light.

The fluffy. Also the the joyful I think animals are good for that though. I'm telling you my Facebook feed is still nothing but elephants.

I started watching a few elephant videos baby elephant videos and that's all I get now that in Star Wars photos, which is just fine with me. If that's what social media is good for then I guess the algorithm has figured me out. But let's be fair, we're drawn to the negative headlines, especially when somebody screwed up. And so I love the redemption stories. Because as much as we'll gossip and we'll share social media posts and we'll gawk. We'll criticize. Also as a society, we move on pretty quickly.

And many, many people. I am glad this is the case. Earn second, third, fourth chances. It depends on you know what the issue is, of course. But definitely in sports. On very rare occasions, does a mistake, a poor choice, a bad decision, ruin a guy's career?

Usually athletes and coaches will have a, if they're good at what they do, will have another opportunity elsewhere. And that was the case with Jim Montgomery, who shared his personal perspective at the NHL awards in Nashville on Monday night. Three and a half years ago, the Dallas Stars terminated my contract because of my struggles with alcohol. And I had to change my actions and behaviors. And that's when my new team, the most important team in my life has really is what leads to the success that I live daily right now. To change your actions and thank you. And for those who struggle out there, you can change. You can affect change within yourself.

And it doesn't happen alone. You need a team. You need a community. And I'm lucky for friends like Baz, Murph, Super Dave, Sully, the East and West Coast Weapons, Strange Brew. I cannot, I'm forgetting a few rammer zingers, people who have helped me daily overcome this and I cannot do it without my family. We've got my 91 year old mom sitting at home watching in the living room Montreal right now. Love you, Dorothy. My three, thank you, my three sisters and brother and their extended families, my St. Louis family, my four wonderful kids, JP, Colin, Ava and Olivia. And I'm eternally grateful for my beautiful wife who has stuck around around this guy through the ups and downs. And I cannot tell you how much I appreciate and love you. I'm very appreciative for both teams that I'm lucky to be a part of that helped me on a daily basis.

Thank you. Again, congratulations to Jim Montgomery, but more than the 65 wins and what was it, the 135 points for the Bruins this season, which are both NHL records. Best season in hockey history. More than that, it was a wake up call for him to get fired in late 2019. And for those of you who remember, the Stars let him go for unprofessionalism, right?

And they kind of held it up as, hey, this is against what we believe, what we have as values and standards in this organization. And so Montgomery admitted it was a wake up call for him and that he started attending a residential program for alcohol abuse. And the reason he singles out the St. Louis Blues in his acceptance speech is because they hired him as an assistant in September of 2020. Now, of course, 2020 was a complete and total aberration. But at that point, we didn't have an NBA champ or a Stanley Cup champion. And they went into October, if I remember correctly, those championships. But the Blues gave him the chance to start his comeback to begin his redemption story.

And then last year, or well, yes, last year, but beginning of this past season, he was hired to replace Bruce Cassidy in Boston, who incidentally ended up winning the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights. I mostly appreciate public figures when they will give you insight into their journey and their path and struggles. And I think a lot of times because of the platform that athletes and coaches and general managers maintain, certainly celebrities, entertainers, that too. But for the purposes of sports, we're talking about those who we hear and see on a regular basis.

They're recognizable, in some cases, household names. When they choose to share their struggles, when they choose to open up about what they've been through, especially in a situation like this, where there is redemption, where there is not only a light at the end of the tunnel, but there's a return to what Jim loves, to sobriety, to effectiveness, to health, to wholeness, to joy, to peace, I'm sure. All of those things can inspire someone who's going through a similar struggle right now.

It's one reason why I choose to share my own path. And I choose to talk about some of the struggles and disappointments and failures that I faced as a female in sports radio because there are others. And it doesn't have to be a female, but there are others who are facing similar challenges, either in the media industry or in their own career paths. I also will, when I have the opportunity, share my personal struggles, my family background that had such an adverse impact on me, what I went through as a child.

And then being single as a female until, you know, most of my friends are married and have kids and I kept waiting, I've been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. And those are all things that have been unique to my path and my experience, and they've been hard. But they've also made me who I am today. And by sharing our struggles, I think a lot of times as humans, we can encourage and support and inspire other people. We keep them to ourselves. Well, people maybe can't relate to us as much or maybe don't realize that they can relate. Yeah, connections are so important. So I appreciate Jim opening up and I am positive that there were people who heard his message and his vulnerability.

Tonight in Nashville, and it was exactly what they needed in that moment. Hey, if he can get clean and start over, so can I. If he can fail and fall flat on his face and lose a job that he desperately loved and yet not give up, not go away. But can go to rehab and get clean and get back to a career and win or be successful in his career, then I can, too. And so I love that it's one of the reasons why athletes, I think, now are speaking out more and more about mental health, too, because, A, it's not as taboo anymore.

But B, there's a lot of Americans that struggle with mental health, just like there are a ton of Americans who struggle with alcohol addiction or other addictions. So good for Jim. An unconventional path. But one that has made him stronger and no doubt.

A better husband, father and coach. On Twitter, A Law Radio will hear more as we go through this edition of the show. Only 90 minutes in. I feel like we've been here for a lot longer than that. We've done the majority of our show so far on college baseball and the NHL.

What are the chances that we've lost listeners over the past 90 minutes? All right. We'll get you a little bit of baseball. We got not hoops. Oh, yeah, we do have some hoops, actually.

Maybe we'll do hoops on the back end. And we want to get to some QB news because, A, we have a corporate sponsor and B, there's some good stuff out there in terms of QB news. It's weird. You wouldn't think so. But food for thought.

We call it QB news. You call it water cooler conversation. Do people still get around the water cooler? I know our water cooler.

I run into people every now and then, even though our hours are offbeat, I still run into Eddie every now water cooler or Al. I don't know how many people go to work anymore. Not our bosses. If they've got a contractor coming or they had to blow their nose once. Most of the people here just don't have gas in the car, might as well stay home. It is a major inconvenience to go get it. You've got to understand. Yeah, whatever. We come to work, though.

We're pretty proud of the fact that we don't skip work. Although, coming up, I have a medical procedure in August. And because I have to go under anesthesia, I haven't done this since I was a senior in college and I had my wisdom teeth out. That was the last time I was under any type of anesthesia.

I've had localized numbness for a dental procedure, but this is actually under, completely under and out anesthesia. It terrifies me. I've never been. Does it?

It really does. You didn't have your wisdom teeth out? Nope. Will you ever or are they fine?

I think I have to get them, but yeah. I've never had any surgeries or anything. That's the only surgery I've ever had. I have had a tube stuck down my throat, but I was completely awake for that. And as I say, I've had a couple of just minor dental things, not even as much as a root canal, in which they gave me a shot for localized anesthetic. But I haven't been under, as in completely under and out, since my senior year in college, so I don't know if I'm nervous or not. Maybe the closer it gets, I will be.

But I don't think. My dog just went under anesthesia earlier this year, so if she can do it, I can do it. My mom went under anesthesia for her foot surgery last Thursday, so if she can do it, I can do it. People like it.

People like it? I've heard people have a phenomenal sleep when they say it's the greatest sleep they ever had. And they just have an incredibly rested sleep, dream amazingly and wake up, and then they feel better because it's over. Well, I have to do it for a medical procedure. I have to get a ride to the hospital, then a ride home from the hospital. That's not easy.

I've got to find some friends. And then I have to work from home that night for this reason. The doctor said, 12 hours after you're under anesthesia, you're not allowed to drive. He does not want me driving.

Now, he said to me, if you're going to, don't tell me. But I thought, maybe one time I'll work from home, just so that I'm not behind the wheel. Because at that hour, I really don't have anyone that can bring me to work. It'd be, I just can't ask anyone to drive me to New York City and then wait for me and drive me home. So, yeah, I'm going to have to work from home that one night in August. The fact you're having a medical procedure and working the night, I think, puts you above a lot of people.

Above? Well, that's kind of a weird word. Just, maybe, gives you a different perspective. Yeah. But I, what am I to do, take a sick day? Yeah.

Huh. Well, I do have to take a sick day the night before. I'm using my air quotations because I have to be at the hospital pretty early. So, I can't work the night before. So, maybe that's the sick day.

I should be able to work the night after. I hope. Wait, should I? I don't know.

I don't know either. Will the anesthesia affect me that much that I can't work overnight the night after? I should be alright, right? I don't know.

It's totally fine. I, maybe not. I wonder if the show will be loopy.

Also, I wonder if I'm going to be on pain meds. I don't, I don't think so. I don't think for this particular procedure.

It's not like I'm having anything cut out of me. Well, at least not that I know of. I guess they can find something. Hopefully not.

It's more of an exploratory kind of probe thing. So, I don't believe that I'm having anything cut out. But I guess if I was, I'd really have to take a sick day. Yeah, there shouldn't be any, like, trauma. Nah, I'm tougher than that.

No, there shouldn't be any trauma. How do you know? I don't.

I'm just, I said there shouldn't be. I don't know. How do you know though? You should say that if you don't know.

So, yeah. Hmm. I'm not sure about that. Maybe I won't be working that night. I guess we'll figure out how I, how I feel. It's in August though. It'll be fine.

We'll just, who knows. Cross that bridge. I mean, definitely no point in telling the manager now because he'll forget by that anyway. And this is what happens every time I take time off.

It happened last week too. I submit my time off email very clear with the days that I need. And I submitted my summer time off request.

And it's not really a request. I don't have to ask. I just say these are the days I'm taking off.

I did it in April. And last week, before we started the week, literally Sunday night. We see the schedule come out and I'm on the schedule for the entire week. It happens every time. The manager, he either doesn't put the days on the schedule or doesn't give a crap.

And so it always falls on Jay. Oh hey, Amy's not working the rest of this week. Yeah.

Oh okay, I'll get someone to fill in. That's the response. Even though I asked in April. Too much notice. It's on you. Too much notice.

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But isn't that what you'd expect from the ultimate electric driving machine? Take advantage of exceptional lease and finance offers today. This is after hours with Amy Lauren. I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but I have to think about what happened in the NBA finals. And then I have to think back to what happened in the Eastern Conference finals. I know it was a rematch between the Heat and the Celtics.

Oh no, I remember. Heat were up 3-0. They lose the next three games to Boston.

And similar to the Boston Bruins, the Celtics then fall in a game seven on their own court. Okay, phew. Sometimes once I get past an event, it's done.

It's in the memory bank and the drawer gets closed and stuffed and I can't get it open again. I was just telling Jay that in honor of NBA Free Agency, which starts at the end of this week and will run hot and heavy through July 4th weekend. That's how it is.

It's one of the reasons I always work July 4th. Just one of the reasons. But we always have so much news in the NBA and money flying around like fistfuls of money flying around the NBA. So as free agency is about to begin, I said to Jay, let's put together an open, you know, a piece of production that highlights the Denver Nuggets run to their first NBA Finals and then their first NBA Championship.

But it took me a second to remember who they played. We're some greedy bastards, baby. We're some greedy bastards. We're getting another one. We're going to make Mike Malone the star of the show. But obviously the Nuggets beat the Heat in the NBA Finals and the Heat were the ones that ousted the Celtics. The Celtics were in the news for something completely different last week. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at sports news or keeping up with what was happening in the industry. In fact, I spent far more time last week with Bob following the submersible story, the Titan submersible that had gone down to see the Titanic and they were searching for it and it was running out of air theoretically. Yeah, that was what we watched on the news.

We watched very little TV, but we were watching the press conference live when the U.S. Coast Guard was revealing what their investigation had uncovered in the debris field and what that meant for the submersible and the five people that were on board. So I really didn't watch any sports news at all. But I did happen to see that Marcus Smart was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Memphis Grizzlies.

And I was anxious to hear what Brad Stevens had to say about it. Now, Kristaps Porzingis, this is a three team trade, right? Kristaps Porzingis ends up with the Celtics, comes from the Washington Wizards. So it's Wizards, it's Grizzlies, and it's Celtics. And the major pieces of this are Marcus Smart and Kristaps Porzingis. But also Celtics got rid of a guy who was injured for most of the time last year, Danilo Gallinari.

So that was another piece that moved. It's clear that Brad Stevens is trying to shake up the roster to fix what they were missing, essentially. And so what about Kristaps Porzingis helps them find balance in Boston?

You've heard me talk about our playing big, playing long. Kristaps can play with any combination of our players. He can play with Rob. He can play with Al.

He can play as the standalone five. He has just gotten better and better and better. And you see what he was doing this year. And I thought in the games that we played against him, in the games that I watched with the most intent against other teams, I thought he just had really taken another step, too. He was already good, but he just took another step. And he can play defensively the way we want to. He's a deterrent at the rim. And he's a super skilled basketball player.

We didn't post a ton this year. But to be able to throw the ball in the post and just shoot over a switch and do it so efficiently and effectively is a big deal, let alone be able to play behind the line and shoot the ball or drive it or those type of things. So he brings a lot to our team.

As I told him when he got here, we were 25 and 57 the year before. And the greatest legacy that you can leave right is to be someplace and it's better off because you were there. And I think that everybody here feels that way.

Thought of so fondly here for any number of reasons. Obviously everybody loved the way that he plays and how hard he plays, but also his work in the community. We're all really grateful to have had Marcus in our life for as long as we've had.

And we're sad to see him go, but know that he's going to have a huge impact on that really good Memphis team. Wanted to make sure we got in the part about Marcus Smart. The first Brad Stevens seeking balance, the length and the reach of Chris stops, not to mention a rim protector. It'll help with rebounding plus the post. They need to work the post more. And how many times did I say that during the playoffs when they were misfiring on three after three after three and couldn't hit from deep?

What you need to do is go inside. So Chris stops for Zingis will give them that balance. But then, of course, Marcus Smart, a longtime Boston Celtic. And I always say he played with hearts and smarts, defensive stalwart, a leader, tenacious, tough. They're going to miss him in Boston.

I know that was hard for Stevens. It's after hours. CBS Sports Radio. Today.