11.1.22 - JR SportBrief Hour 3

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Download the Odyssey app today. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I am JR. This is the JR Sport Brief show and we are coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

If you need to know what it takes for a home to fit you and your budget and your family, Rocket can. I'm gonna be hanging out here with you for the next two hours. Thank you to everybody who basically tuned in from the beginning. 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm here with super producer and hostin'.

This Sunday marathon runner, Dave Shepherd. I'm thrilled for that. We've talked about Steve Nash parting ways with the Nets. We've talked about the NFL trade deadline. We talked about the college football playoff rankings. We'll talk more about Ime Udoka. The World Series concluded and the Phillies decided to put a whoopin' on the Astros. We'll talk about that momentarily. Right before the break, we talked about the Spartans.

Not having any problem beating up on a few Wolverines in a tunnel after their loss over the weekend. Dwight Howard had some comments to make about his standing as one of the NBA's greatest players. And then today, depending on where you live, I should say Tuesday, I spent my time in Baltimore, Maryland.

The University of Maryland at the Baltimore campus. As I continue the Media for the Movement tour, just talking about inclusive health and inclusive sports. And I want to share with you some amazing conversations. We'll do that next hour. If you want to talk to me, you know how to do it. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS.

I'm on social media as well. Very, very simple. It's at JR Sport Brief. You know, here's a quick update on the World Series tonight. The Phillies. They smashed. They beat up the Astros. Seven to nothing.

I'm talking. Count them. Five home runs. You know what? Let's have some fun. The Phillies' radio network, the guy who got things started, it was Bryce Harper with a two-run bomb.

Listen to this. That swung on. Hit the right field. And the Phillies are going to lead it.

Yeah, they are. Bryce Harper has put the Phillies on top with a two-run home run. Over the out-of-town scoreboard.

Simply amazing. Harper here at home has hovered on back-to-back swings. Yeah, good for Bryce Harper. Oh, by the way, Lance McCullers, he gave up every single one of these bombs.

You want to hear another bomb? That was in the bottom of the first. This is in the second.

And the pitch to Alec Baum blasted left field deep. Alvarez back. He turns. He locks. He's scored.

It just clears. Lidov Homer here in the second for Alec Baum on a low laser just over the left field wall. It's his first Homer in the playoffs. And it's three-nothing Phillies.

Oh, well, it's the day after Halloween, or it was. Could it be a little bit of a monster match? I mean, Brandon Marsh, he needed a video review, but he got in on the action the same inning. Listen.

Swag on, hit it here. High and deep right field. Tucker drifting back to the track at the wall. He jumps, and it's off the top of the wall. Is it a Homer?

They say yes. Brandon Marsh hits one out over the out-of-town scoreboard. I guess we're going to get a replay check. The ball came back down onto the playing field, but for the moment, it's four-nothing Phillies.

Well, why don't we just keep going? What about Kyle Schwauber? His batting average sucks, but besides Aaron Judge, he hit the next biggest amount of home runs at 46.

This man decided to also take Mr. McCullers deep. This was in the fifth inning. Swag on, hit in the air. Center field. Going back on it.

It's McCormick. Back toward the wall, and it always goes on! Off the brick wall! Above the trees, a two-run center field home run for Kyle Schwauber. And the Phillies are leading it now six to nothing. If you didn't get the point yet, this was the last home run. And oh, yeah, by the way, it happened right after the last one. You just are back to back. Swag on, hit in the air, deep to left field.

It is gone! Back to back home runs! Schwauber and Hoskins!

Reese is pumping his fist, going around second base. Seven-nothing Phillies! And that was the final score.

Seven to nothing. Five home runs by the Phillies. Bryce Harper is playing out of his mind. They now take a 2-1 lead here in the World Series. They have an opportunity to go up 3-1 tomorrow in Philly. Everybody in Philly will be absolutely losing their minds. They better start greasing the polls even before then if they should win tomorrow night's game.

People are going to be hyped. I was just in Philly a few weeks ago. Damn it, I need to go back.

Well, not really. I don't...not much of a crowd or party guy. But have fun. Enjoy it. You deserve it. At least have some... Have safe fun. Stop climbing those stupid polls.

855-212-4CBS, speaking of fun. Oh, man, this is the opposite of fun. This was terrible, man. I told you I was at the University of Maryland, the Baltimore campus, this morning. And the minute that the plane landed, just looking at the news early in the morning, just looking through the news, and I go, what's this? I go, is this a joke?

And I see that take off. You might know him, you might not. Take off from the Migos, one of the biggest music groups over the last ten years, that this guy was shot in Houston. He was shot right in downtown Houston. I'm familiar with where it is.

Not too far from the House of Blues and the Toyota Center, down the block from the Convention Center. And he was shot over a game of dice. This man was 28 years old. And another musician just shot and killed over what?

Nothing? Dice? We had a guy who was sitting in Roscoe's PB&Rock. This guy got shot a month ago. People can't just sit down and have dinner. I mean, I'm not playing dice that early in the morning outside.

I'm in my bed. But I mean, damn. This took place in Houston, and it is, I don't want to say not imaginable, but I mean, damn.

It's not something that you expect to see. And so Deion Sanders, with his team, Jackson State, getting ready to take on Texas Southern this weekend, and obviously in Houston, Texas, Deion Sanders, he spoke to his team, and he basically told them, you know, on the heels of Takeoff being killed, being murdered, knowing that this was only a few days ago, he does not want to take any type of risks with his own players. This is what Deion Sanders had to say to his players.

This is courtesy of Well Off Media. Takeoff was right murdered in a dice game in Houston, where we're going. So that eliminates all y'all leaving that hotel because it ain't happening until I give you the notice. So whatever her name is, whoever she is, parents, everybody, they're going to come to the hotel to visit you because y'all ain't leaving. Sooner or later, we got to start changing our addresses, guys. That's an analogy to saying, I know we this, but we ain't that. We got to leave that behind that we once did. And that's what you guys are.

Now you guys are Jackson State's role team. You ain't no man. You're not whoever you were a year ago. You're not even who you're going to be a year from now, which is a blessing.

But you can't continuously do the things you've always done and expect to get the results. Man, I don't blame him for that. Rest in peace to Takeoff condolences to his family. I never met him, but I mean, he ain't seem to bother nobody. He was actually very quiet. He was very reserved. If you want to think about the folks in Migos, he ain't say nothing.

That man didn't say nothing. I know plenty of people who do know him or did know him, and it is just... It's tragic. Playing dice, wrong place, wrong time, absolutely terrible situation. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Greg is calling for Michigan, where we did have also a terrible event, that fight that took place over the weekend.

Now we have eight Spartans suspended. Hey, Greg, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, JR, Mr. Positive, thanks for taking my call. I got to say real quick, you and Shep are the dynamic duo if there ever was one.

Okay, thanks. This is what everyone's talking about in Michigan. This is just, there's no justification what has happened. No one should condone this, but I've got to ask you, JR, why did this happen? Is our society getting so entrenched with rivalries that we throw out civility, and we throw out common courtesy?

It's amazing to get pummeled like this with a helmet. Will there be assault charges? Because it's sports and it's entertainment, let's hope not that people's lives are destroyed. That's what they're banding about over here in Michigan.

But there has to be a message sent that this type of behavior cannot be done. It's sad. Here's the situation from what I gathered. There is a punishment.

I mean, we have one of the players from Michigan. They're already filing charges. Like, I don't care. And yeah, it's entertainment. But just because they were in the tunnel, like, you swing in a helmet? Like, why can't he press charges? They are.

I don't blame them. Right. You got to know better than that. We had a woman call up a few minutes ago. Her name was Grace. She made it very clear.

She wanted to hear more take place. I think the Spartans have handled this accordingly. They didn't try to cover up the situation. They didn't try to, oh, well, let's investigate and let's wait.

They got right to it. They suspended four guys over the weekend. They suspended four additional players today. One of them, or maybe a few of them, might be charged with assault. I think the next step is obviously to remove them from the team. Because if you can't conduct yourself as a normal-ass human being, if you can't separate the game from having to whoop somebody's ass after you lose, then you don't need to be there.

That's it. I hear you. In a perfect world, Jer, you're right. But emotions are so high. They go back and forth with little brother, little sister, whatever.

The competitive nature just comes out, and I guess it's really sad that it comes out to that degree and you can't separate it like you successfully said. Unbelievable. Well, it's true, Greg.

Thank you for calling for Michigan. Well, let me not even say most adults. Shep, can I say most adults? Or is that too much, right? That's fair.

Most adults know how to compose themselves in a civil manner. There are plenty—I'm not going to use that Chris Rock joke because Chris Rock got slapped in the face by Will Smith. Well, I'll reference it. Chris Rock made a joke, I don't know, 20, 25 years ago. One of my favorite jokes he ever did.

It's probably politically correct here in 2022. But he basically said everybody, or anyone, most people, a lot of people, deserve to get kind of just hit. And his response after that was, you're just not supposed to do it. Which is true.

He said, Chris Rock, that there's a reason to hit anybody. You're not supposed to do it. That's what separates adults. You got to learn how to control your emotions. And yeah, you're in school. Yeah, you're in college. These are things that you learn as a—well, you would hope you learn them as a child, that you just can't go around hitting folks. And so you know what? If you're a Spartan and you want to start swinging a helmet at somebody, then damn it, you don't need to be on the team. I don't know the full details. That did not come out yet. What's the excuse there? I don't think we'd have assault charges being filed if the guy didn't— oh, he swung first and he's going to file charges?

No, it'll work that way. 855-212-4CBS, Kenneth's caller from Michigan. What's up, Ken?

Hi, good morning. I wanted to say that situation at Michigan Stadium could have been avoided, and I think the University of Michigan is at fault because they use one tunnel. Yes. And that stadium is huge. They should have a tunnel for the visitors and one for the team. And also, Michigan taunts people. They take former players, they line up in the tunnel, and they try to intimidate the other team. And I don't say the assault was right, but Penn State complained about it a few weeks ago.

Right, saying that they should have separate or at least take turns going into the tunnel. Yeah, and also, the Big Ten, these antics are not just at Michigan Stadium, but I worked for the team. And Iowa, these guys had the locker room painted pink for the visitors. These antics needed to stop, and the Big Ten needs to assume some responsibility for it. Well, I think to a certain degree, when's the last time we've heard of one of these major incidences? I can't recall.

Well, I don't know any other team that allows both teams to come through the tunnel at the same time. Sure. But when is the last time that you remember or recall an instance like this happening anywhere? Well, it's been a situation brewing to happen. Okay. Well, thank you, Ken, for calling from Michigan. Brewing to happen is, this is the first time I recall this happening. And so maybe they will go about changing the rules, and they'd be well within their right to do so. Because if you don't act, then now you can potentially be liable for not learning from what is already taking place, and I understand that.

But I don't want to act like, oh, man, most people don't know how to behave themselves. 855-212-4CBS, Mo was calling from Brooklyn. What's up, Mo? Hey, guys. Thank you for having me on the show.

I hope you don't mind if I change the topic for a second. I want to talk about the Jets. Zach Wilson in his 18th game finally had his first 300 yards passing. And even then, he couldn't complete 50% of his passes, and he threw three interceptions. I was wondering if you think it's a good idea to have the sign Jimmy Garoppolo in free agency, you know? Play the similar style team in San Francisco, and maybe he made a Super Bowl there. Maybe he's the right fit for the Jets. No, I don't think it's time for the New York Jets to pull the plug at the end of the year on Zach Wilson. He didn't play fully last year.

This is his first year actually playing full-time. Yes, he's making plenty of knuckle-headed mistakes, but to just pull the plug on him next year is, I think, a bad idea. I believe Jimmy Garoppolo is already too risky in and of himself.

It's nice that he's staying healthy so far this season, but Zach Wilson, you have to hope. And we got more season left, okay? We got about half of a season left that he can make smarter decisions as he goes through.

The team, I don't want to say they've put him on notice, but Coach Salah has both supported him, but then at the same time said that he needs to do better, and he said so as much. So let's get through the rest of the season, see if he can improve from a game manager to someone turning the ball over, making dumb mistakes to actually moving the chains. And I still think we have time to do that before you say, oh, my, let's just bring in Garoppolo.

I don't think Garoppolo is going to make a massive difference for the New York Jets next season where you just dump someone, you select that at number two. Okay, thanks. No problem, Mom.

Damn. Hey, Chef, did I say too much? It sounded like you had to think about what I said. But actually, I think we might have Salah talking about his support, or lack thereof, of Wilson if you want to hear it. Sure, let's hear it. I've got full confidence in Zach.

We all do. It's not like he hasn't had bad games before, and he stepped up and has followed it with good days. So the way he preps and the way he practices and the questions he asks, we've got faith that he'll continue to find ways to get better. Hey, look, the New York Jets are five and three. The running game took them there before Breece Hall went down. The defense has been good. It's been better.

And now you need the quarterback to actually play like a good one and not force ridiculous, mind-numbing mistakes. Clarence is calling for Mississippi. What's up, Clarence? Hey, JR, you're doing a favor. Well, thank you.

What do you want to talk about? Like LeBron James in Los Angeles, Texas, apart. LeBron James has destroyed his team, man. He got all them players. None. They in the Delta.

They all going to run LeBron James off right now. And thanks for taking my call. Thank you. Oh, my goodness. Excuse me. Hey, Shep, go ahead. I'm choking. Go ahead.

Say something. I mean, obviously, we're choked up by Clarence. He delivers it and doesn't hold back. I will say, LeBron James is an individual that has dipped a little bit, but he's still the Lakers best player. You don't point the finger at LeBron James.

You point the finger at Rob Polinka, that hid behind magic, that has hid behind the buses for far too long and made Frank Vogel the scapegoat, and rightfully so, the blame should fall squarely on Kobe Bryant, the late, great Kobe Bryant's former agent. Oh, thank you, Shep. You're welcome, sir. No, I'm good. I'm okay now. Thank you, Clarence, for calling for Mississippi.

I'm going to hold back. Oh, he does. He's like, hey, LeBron James has helped turn us into a dumpster fire. He also won them a championship last time, I remember, which no one ever brings up anymore, and everyone says it's a shortened season. It's a bubble.

You know what? It's an NBA championship nonetheless. No one ever gives them credit for that. There were no fans, and there was a bubble, and they had no parade. It cheapened the experience for the Lakers fans, and I didn't want a real one, and it ain't coming right now.

Number two behind the Yankees list, do you agree on that? Most entitled sports fans we have going? Are Lakers spoiled? The fans? Laker fans spoiled? Yes. Like Yankee fans? Are Lakers fans spoiled? Yes, I don't know if in the same...

So maybe the answer is yeah. Number two behind the Yankees, it's a different type of entitlement. You know, just because of the locale and the cachet and the city, the attractiveness of it. The Lakers are the glamour franchise. There's a realistic and I think a normal expectation for them to compete. It's a desirable place.

It really is. 855-212-4CBS is speaking of LA. There's a former Los Angeles Laker. Hmm.

He was actually on that bubble team. He wants something that Aretha asked for. Respect. His name is Dwight Howard.

He sat down with Shannon Sharp. He says he is not getting enough of it. I'll share that with you on the other side. We'll talk more NFL. We'll talk NBA.

We'll talk World Series. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Wow. It's exciting talking to you, Mr. JR. You are clear, concise, accurate and honest. I love listening to you.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. It's been a very busy night. We've talked about Michigan State versus Michigan. We've been beating the hell out of each other in tunnels, or at least the Spartans beating up on a couple of the Wolverines. We've talked about the World Series as the Phillies now have a 2-1 lead after a 7-0 beatdown in Philadelphia tonight against the Strohs. We've talked about the Brooklyn Nets. We've talked about the NFL trade deadline.

It has been a very, very busy day, a very busy night. Right before the break, we had Clarence from Mississippi Hall. And he's just out of nowhere, I guess. We have to talk about LeBron James, right?

It's necessary. He blamed LeBron James for everything going on and going wrong with the Los Angeles Lakers right now. And it's actually pretty funny, because we recently had a Los Angeles Laker who helped LeBron win a championship in that bubble. His name is Dwight Howard. He spoke.

He talked to Shannon Sharp, Club Ché Ché. Dwight Howard, as you probably know, is not actively on an NBA roster. There's no guarantee that he will ever be back on an NBA roster. He turns 37 next month.

I know it's been a long time. LeBron James is still playing, but Dwight Howard was selected number one overall in 2004. Almost eight years in Orlando, he got to the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant wasn't too fond of him right out of the gate, thinking that he wasn't committed to winning, was more interested in being in L.A. And then we saw him bounce around. And then he goes into the bubble, and he helps the Lakers win a championship. Obviously not as the centerpiece, but there was a time where he was the centerpiece on a hot shooting magic team, where all he had to do was play defense and rebound and kick it out to shooters.

Not too bad. And so all things considered, Dwight Howard, I believe, is a Hall of Famer. What did not take place was Dwight Howard making the NBA's top 75 list. And he spoke to Shannon Sharp on Club Shayshay. And this is Shannon Sharp asking him about that.

This is Howard's response. You should have been one of the 75 best players in NBA history. Are you surprised you're not? And when you got, when you didn't hear your name called, what did you feel? I'm very surprised that I was put on the list. When I saw that I wasn't on the list, I was really upset. And I really was just wanting to say, like, you know, I don't even want to play basketball no more. Like, what am I playing for? I did all this stuff.

I've accomplished all these things. I felt like I've been a great ambassador for the NBA and the game globally. And I feel like that was just like a disrespect, like total disrespect. And, you know, even what you just said about, you know, people saying, like, how could someone say I didn't take the game serious when the stuff that you're mentioning, three-time defensive player of the year, I had to take defense serious enough to want to win it three times in a row. Correct. And I actually should have won it four times in a row.

The last year I didn't win it because I asked for a trade, and the media went on this whirlwind about me wanting to leave Orlando. Right. The first person who won was third team all defense that year. Right. And I was first team. So that don't even make any sense.

No, Chef. What did he just say that didn't make sense? Well, we all know there's no third all-NBA defense.

It's first and second team. So, I mean, Dwight's wrong on that. But to your point, he does get some disrespect by the media because we expected so much from him because he did follow in the year after LeBron James came into the NBA. Yeah, the thing is he, I don't want to say he's a victim of his own success, his personality over the years. And this happens when you're in a public limelight, like people change.

I've talked about this plenty of times when it comes down to Kevin Durant. And you know what? People should change as you get older. Is it going to be for the better? Is it going to be for the worse? Do you become more jaded? Do you become more open? Everybody changes.

I remember when Dwight Howard was drafted into the NBA, he was very young, obviously, straight out of high school. He touted his Christian values. And then over time, oh man, I don't even know how many kids he has now out of wedlock. We've seen his behavior, his demeanor change.

It's a lot of joking. He's not the same dude. And you wouldn't expect him to be the same guy. At 18, 19, now that he is at 37 years old, he is an affable guy.

He's a funny guy. He can also be a complex individual. And I just think over the course of his career, especially after Orlando, he started to rub people the wrong way.

And I think in most cases in life, as we probably know, your reputation can precede you. And that's what it is here with Dwight Howard. There's no reason that he's not on the NBA top 75 outside of his personality. And rubbing folks the wrong way, not just the media, teammates, players, fan bases. The fact that he bounced around so many years didn't help his case. The Stan Van Gundy, oh, he wants to be gone, but here he comes over his shoulders. That was awkward.

Yeah, yeah, buddy, buddy. He has a lot of those missteps. He Bryant calling him soft didn't help his case. So, yeah, this man has a gold medal. He uptake a team to the finals. As a role player, he actually won a championship. Defensive player of the year, rebounding titles, blocks leaders, he's had a long enough career. He should be there. But sometimes, I think there should be a lesson for a lot of folks.

It's like you just got to shut up and go to work. Yeah, you know, Jared, the individual that I think even has more gripe of not being in the association. You know where I'm going with this. It's his teammate last season. How he's not in the NBA is beyond me. Carmelo.

Yeah. We should try to get him. I'm dead serious about this, JR. We should, between you and I, we should try to get him on this show. Carmelo Anthony deserves to be heard from, even more so than Dwight Howard, who is already, you know, very disrespected. Yeah, I know Carmelo's assistant.

I'll hit her up. Yeah, he'd be great, man. Kyan might play in the NBA soon, too.

Well, damn. I mean, we got a lot of NBA kids in the league right now. Right. We got Kenyon. Kenyon Martin's kid is playing one of the Rockets. Yep. LeBron wants two of his kids playing.

Oh, they'll be there. Who else is, Scotty Pippen, is this kid on a pro roster? Is he on a roster or is he in a G League? He was on, he was doing things for the Lakers.

I'm pretty sure he made, I mean, we know about, we know about GP2 and the defense that he gave the Warriors and now what he is. His ass is old. I'm talking about some of the... Oh, the younger guys. The younger guy.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. Like, so Tim Hardaway obviously doesn't count because he's been in the NBA for a while now. Oh, his old ass playing with the Mavericks.

He ain't nobody thinking about him. There's a lot of those guys, yeah. Yeah, it looks like Scotty Pippen is up on the Lakers. He's on a two-way contract. So right now it looks like he's playing for South Bay. But, yeah, we got a lot of young guys.

This is always the case. Wild situation. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to get to your calls on the other side of the break. I do want to talk to you about the Brooklyn Nets and their situation which continues to evolve.

We got a lot, a lot to do. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. J.R., it's always a pleasure to hear you because you know your product. We really do a great job by not distorting what the callers are saying. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. We have a lot of callers who have been waiting very patiently to get on the air.

I want to try to get on as many people as possible. I want you to hear from Bryce Harper at the top of the hour as the Phillies have now taken a 2-1 lead in the World Series. Next hour as well, I want to talk about Ime Udoka. We opened up the show talking about Steve Nash and his, I guess we can call it a mutual parting of ways from the Brooklyn Nets. Well, it appears that Ime Udoka is expected to be the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

It's not official yet, but we have read reports that it may come as soon as Wednesday, so we have to stay tuned on that. I do want to discuss that. We know he was suspended by the Boston Celtics for basically having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. So let's get on some of your calls, and then as well, I want to talk to you next hour about my amazing trip in Baltimore on Tuesday, the University of Maryland. 855-212-4CBS. Clifton is here from Baltimore. You're on the J.R.

Sport Brief Show. Yes, but good evening. First of all, well, good morning, everyone. J.R., let me just start to say this.

I look forward to the time in which you come across the airways because you are a hell of a media personality. And then when you're off, Shep steps up and takes the reins from your position. So you guys are not Batman and Robin. You are two individual superheroes. Nevertheless, I'd just like to say this on how an adult should conduct themselves or how I conduct myself, J.R., is I analyze the situation. I say, how much would that cost me? And what I mean about that is bail money, lawyer money, incarceration.

Nothing is worth time away from your family. But to speak on the Lakers, I am a huge LeBron James fan, but I don't like how they tried to use Russell Westbrook as the scapegoat of last season because LeBron shouldn't be bringing the ball up court. Give the ball to Westbrook.

No, he's not Paul Pierce. He can't shoot the lights out, but allow him to try to run the offense. And then to speak on Dwight Howard, he fit into the narrative of what Kobe Bryant said he was soft because he should not have left the Lakers and should have stayed and proved to Kobe Bryant that I am Superman. I am a hell of a post player. And he took his ball and he ran like a spoiled only child who wasn't picked to play the game of basketball. Yeah, he didn't he didn't do himself any favors. And thank you so much, Clifton, for calling from Baltimore.

Appreciate the con words as well. Yeah, I'd prefer to be the bad guy. Shep can be the superhero.

I'll be a bad guy. But anyway, I don't know if I agree with the let Russell Westbrook bring the ball up the court. Have you seen some of the decisions that he's made over the course of his career? I don't need him jacking up dumb shots. I don't need him, you know, hunting stats. I don't need him passing the ball to the backboard.

But I don't know. We don't need that in an ideal world. It would be great. I think that's why LeBron James wanted Russell Westbrook. But when you think about some of his decision making, it is just terrible.

Waiting for that disaster to add another chapter as well. Craig is calling from Miami on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, thanks for taking my call.

First time caller. I just wanted to say I'm a huge NBA fan. And something dawned on me the other day when Kyrie was giving his press conference and got into that very adversarial confrontation with Porter. And it dawned on me that, you know, he's not a dumb guy. This is an educated, intelligent person. He's very cognizant of what he's saying. He knows how to articulate a point.

And I can't help but think, and maybe this is just speculation on my part. But it dawned on me that given his ability to try to do bare minimum and get time off when he's not locked in it, it seems to me that maybe he's maybe trying to push the envelope or maybe the provocateur in this weird back-of-the-milligan way that, as a ploy, maybe to get some sort of suspension or to get some time off or let go, something. I just feel like he does not care that much about playing basketball at this point or stage in his career. And I think that his behavior over the past couple of years, actually his whole career has demonstrated that. And I just think that maybe he's just kind of, you know, hey, let them do what they will with him. I don't know.

No, I hear you. And thank you, Craig, for calling from Miami. Yes, Kyrie Irving is smart. He is articulate.

Am I going to push it to where he's now smarter than everybody? No, I think that's where he errs in a lot of ways. Because a lot of his points, he doesn't articulate in the best way possible. He doesn't. Over the years, he said a lot of things that he's had to, A, walk back, that he's had to apologize for, that when he's been pressed about issues, he doesn't respond. I mean, just a couple of days ago, he sat in front of the media.

You talk about that back-and-forth that he had with the reporter from ESPN. And on one side of his mouth, he's just like, oh, yeah. Like, I have big influence.

I have a huge audience. And on the other hand, he's saying to himself, well, you guys create this power for me. It's like, how can you say that you have it?

But then it's created by which one is it? You want to be a regular guy or do you have it? And so he's so smart that there is a battle in his own damn brain, I feel. And obviously, from his comments, he said this plenty of times. Basketball is not the most important thing.

He wants to be a regular guy. He's not, though. And so you have to be careful and cognizant of what you say. He may not care, but he's been a jackass in that regard more often than not. That's why right now, he's not talking to the media. Sean Marks, the general manager, today addressing everything that took place with Steve Nash, he actually talked about that. He said it's time to let things simmer down when it comes to Kyrie. That's why he's not speaking to the media at this moment. Listen. We don't want to cause, you know, more fuss right now, more interaction with people, like let's let him simmer down and let's let this whole, I guess, let the cooler minds prevail. I don't want to get into who and how and when these conversations are happening, they're ongoing.

I think at the right point and the right time. I mean, you know, Kyrie can address these for himself and our group will as well. Simmer down. It's like a whole fire going on you. Simmer down. 855-212-4CBS. Burt is here from Alabama. Go ahead, Burt. Hey, how are you doing today, Jay? Good. Go ahead. Hey, four things real fast. The Eagles, man. Four things? Burt, four things real fast? Help me out here.

Give me two. I'm a New York Giants fan. But if you see that Eagles schedule, man, I think they really got a chance to go undefeated this season.

Oh, my God. That's what you think. That's what you're thinking about whether or not the Eagles are going to go undefeated. Hey, if you look at that schedule, who, if they're playing the way they're playing, like, who do I see beating them? The second thing is...

Wait, we'll hold it before you get to the second thing. They still have to go out there and play the games. They still play in the NFC East.

These teams typically kind of punch each other around. They have the Dallas Cowboys the day before Christmas. They have two games with the Giants. Green Bay, as much as a dumpster fire that they've been lacking talent this year around Rogers.

I mean, I can't say, oh, my God, I'd be surprised if they lose a game. But what's your second point? Go ahead.

Second point. Do you think if the season keeps going the way it's going for Geno Smith and that Pete Carroll is going to get some credit for being a quarterback guru? I don't know if quarterback guru is the word, man. This man is already a Hall of Fame coach. Like Pete Carroll, people will look at what he's done and what he hasn't done, like not giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch.

This is not going to do anything but reaffirm who he is that he can win. I mean, for right now, Pete Carroll is right. When it comes down to what you have and don't have with Russell Wilson, Russell wants to throw the ball. I want to run the ball. Well, who's winning and who's losing right now?

It's a short and small sample size. Russell is not having success in Denver. And Pete Carroll, he's having success up in Seattle with Geno.

Who looks right? Pete. I'm not going to call him a quarterback guru all of a sudden.

He wanted to take the ball out of Russell's hands. It's the JR Sport Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. When we come back, we're going to talk about Ime Udoka. Is it time?

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