JR SportBrief Hour 1

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the JR Sport Brief show here on CBS Sports Radio. Welcome to the show. This is where I'm going to be for the next four hours, so make yourselves comfortable. I'm hanging out here with my main man, super producer and host, Dave Sheppard. More importantly, I'm hanging out here with you. And quite frankly, I don't care how you listen to the show.

I really don't. You could be locked in on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. You could be tuned in on the free Odyssey app where you can hit pause and hit rewind, all of that good stuff. You can tune in on Sirius XM Channel 158. And if you have a smart speaker, you can get locked in there as well.

Just ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. We're going to have a fun night. I don't know if we're going to have as much fun as the Kansas City Chiefs did today at their parade culminating at Union Station in downtown Kansas City.

They had a hell of a time. I'm going to try to have as much fun. We're going to talk about the parade. It's Wednesday night into Thursday morning. I'm going to deliver to you a brand new top six list.

It's what I do every single Wednesday night into Thursday morning. I'll update you on a few other things going on in the world of sports. Michael Jordan, very generous with his money, with his funds for a good cause. I'll fill you in.

I'll tell you why. Chris Paul is certainly in a good mood. The NBA is moving towards its all-star break. They actually announced some of the participants or all of the participants in the three-point contest, the dunk contest, and you might fall asleep. Things might be different than years past.

Sure, there aren't going to be any of the premier dunkers. I'm going to tell you why I might be excited to tune in on Saturday night. We didn't have a chance to touch on this as we kind of showed appreciation to DeMar Hamlin and played for you some of his interview with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America. There is an all-pro Hall of Fame caliber running back who isn't happy with DeMar Hamlin and something he decided to wear that happens to be Adrian Peterson. Calvin Ridley is trying to make his way back into the NFL.

Hopefully he's not taking advice from Pete Rose. And so we got a lot to do, a lot to get into. Shep, how are you feeling this evening? You doing good? I'm doing really well, JR. Thank you for asking and congratulations, man. I'm very happy for you.

Well, thank you. Yes, next hour we're going to spend some time talking about a project that launched today called Agents of Inclusion. It's a new podcast between myself, Special Olympics, and our good folks here at Odyssey who helps distribute CBS Sports Radio. And so it's an amazing project where we'll be able to just highlight the stories of Special Olympic athletes and it's fun.

A lot of you know I've been on tour for the past two years and now it's time to kind of kick things up just another notch. So I look forward to sharing that next hour. Thank you Shep for bringing that up, man. I appreciate it.

Oh, at least I could do, man. Absolutely. No doubt about it.

I also have to mention this. I just walked into the studio from the Atlanta Hawks game and I swear the Atlanta Hawks are trying to get Nate McMillan fired. Shep, did you see any of this game against the Knicks, the Hawks, and the Knicks? I did not, but by the likes of it, the Hawks have been back and forth all season and this was a fourth, not a back, meaning there was nothing. There was the whole game the New York Knicks led by like 20 points the whole game.

122 to 101 is the final. You know, I'm paying attention during the game and Trae Young is introduced and it's kind of paltry. I'm like, whoa, okay, okay. Trae Young checks into the game.

It's kind of nothing. You know, Julius Randall is whooping ass. R.J. Barredin, Jalen Brunson, who should be an All-Stars out there whooping ass. Obie Toppin is making threes and the Hawks just look listless. Trae Young had 19 points, 4-14. John Collins doesn't exist anymore. He only had eight points, two of eight shooting. De'Jaunte Murray was three of 12 from the field. It was, there was no juice at all. And so as we head into the All-Star break and the Hawks are now a game below 500 and I'm saying to myself, man, Trae Young, it's like the honeymoon is over with that guy. Just sucks.

But anyway. JR, I mean, he didn't forget how to coach, right? No, it's not about, it's not about Nate McMillan.

I'm not saying you're suggesting that he gets a pink slip, but what I'm saying is last time I checked, no disrespect to Lloyd Pierce. I don't, you know this, they were the 11th seed, the 11th seed when Nate McMillan took over two years ago. And they take the Bucks, the eventual defending champions, to six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Like the problem ain't Nate McMillan.

Yeah, but you got to blame somebody. He, if they continue playing like this, he'll get the boot. The Hawks are going to eventually have to hit the eject button. It's just a matter of who, what, and when. Somebody's going to have to go. Maybe there's someone out there over the next, and I say year and a half, willing to take on Trae Young. Nate McMillan is an easy target. You have a new general manager who's taken over in Landry Fields.

How much power he's wielding now or into the future without having to go talk to his boss, owner Tony Ressler. We'll have to see. It's just a, it's not the greatest of vibes when you check out the Hawks. They just gave up 144 points to the Hornets.

They just let the New York Knicks smack them up with 122. It's pretty embarrassing right now. There's no defense. The offense, you don't know what the offense is.

The players, there's no inspiration. They just, they look like they're going through the motions, and somebody unfortunately is going to have to pay. My apologies to all my Hawks friends who had to go and watch that and are now currently leaving. Anyway, let's talk about some winners. The Kansas City Chiefs had a parade in downtown Kansas City, and as you can probably guess, some of these dudes were drunk. Some of these dudes were drunk out of their minds. At least nobody passed out.

Nobody lost the Super Bowl trophy, the Vince Lombardi. We had a couple of close calls. Patrick Mahomes didn't fall off the top of a bus. Chris Jones almost fell off the top of a bus.

He was able to stick around and stay with us and not get injured, and it was just a wild scene in downtown Kansas City. Hey, Chef, have you ever been to downtown Kansas City? Not yet, sir, but one day. Don't, don't go. Oh, don't go? Oh, okay. Say, I mean, get some barbecue and leave. Really?

Yeah. What do you have against downtown Kansas City? I'm sorry, people are gonna hate me. I'm sorry, but it's, there's nothing in downtown Kansas City. Man, Missouri's not liking you tonight.

That's fine. I don't care. They had a good time. They don't need me. They had a good time.

They don't need me. Hey, listen to this, courtesy of KMBC. Everybody out in Kansas City was, they out there living a life. There was about a million people out there.

Listen to this. Southbound looks pretty good, but the, uh, I'm playing Johnny Rollins, your traffic reporter, but, uh, that northbound, right? Am I looking at that floor?

It looks like that's 35. And I see people walking on the highway there. Some cars are parked over there. It's like the whole city is working its way to Union Station.

People are walking on the highway? Sounds like just another day here in Atlanta. And we don't win anything. Well, let me correct myself. Braves won two seasons ago.

The Bulldogs play in Athens down the road, but congratulations to the Chiefs. They were having a good time. That place was decked out in red. If you saw any of the photos, if you saw any of the pictures, it was just a sea of red. It was nuts. The players were losing their minds as you could tell.

I mean, you had Tommy Townsend out there, the man who has to kick the football, this man, he took the Vince Lombardi trophy and chef. I'm not, I'm not that educated on, uh, like the drinking games, but I forgot what you call it. When you use something to, is it shotgun a beer? That's wrong, right? Oh man. I wish I used it as like a float.

Wow. So the Vince Lombardi trophy, he lifted it up to his mouth. He poured the beer from the top of the trophy down and drank it. Isn't he a captain?

So what is he supposed to do? Be, uh, not do that. Not, not use the Vince Lombardi trophy as like a beer drinking apparatus.

I promise you the Lombardi family right now, including the grandson who's at DC, he's not, you know, proud of, uh, Tommy Townsend this particular day. That, that I know. Yeah.

Well, uh, let's listen to the description still on KMBC. As you can see the Lombardi trophy now is, uh, appears to be something that is, uh, passed around. Yeah. You said, yeah, there's only one, isn't there, you know, drinking a beer out of a Stanley cup after, uh, after a hockey championship is one thing, but, uh, they have finally figured out how to, uh, drink a bud light, uh, using the Lombardi trophy of all things.

Yeah. There were tons of bud lights being passed around. And when he talked about the Vince Lombardi trophy being passed around, I'm like, man, it's not a, it's not something that you smoke. They were just drinking off of the damn trophy. Doesn't sound all that sanitary. When you think about all the hands that have touched it, all the fingerprints, I don't know if I want to drink off of the trophy. Tommy Townsend is going to, uh, he's going to have all of the diseases by the time tomorrow comes around.

I hope he gets a shot. Anyway, you heard about all the fans that were out there absolutely losing their minds when they were finally able to convene and stand up on the stage and 20 degree weather. Yes.

It was 20 degrees outside. The players spoke to the fans head coach, Andy Reed spoke to the fans and Andy Reed gave the fans a lot of credit. Listen, you are the kingdom and let's give it one for the world.

How about those? Good for Andy Reed. I saw Andy Reed banging on a drum.

Nobody made any fat jokes. Not that I know of and he had a good time, but we know who had the most fun today. We know who probably had the most fun. One was Travis Kelsey, who has not missed an opportunity to tell everyone that they need to fight for their right to party, which has a Shep mentioned the other day is pretty played out at this point in time. And Travis Kelsey also wanted to point out that the chiefs had doubters that that one guy said that they wouldn't even make the playoffs.

And I think that was Bart Scott before the season started, whatever it takes to get you motivated. Travis Kelsey said, yes, we proved all of our doubters, even though there was probably really only one publicly. He said, we proved them all wrong. The haters were saying that the chiefs would never make the playoffs. The haters were saying the chiefs were done.

If you knew the chiefs, we're going to win the division. Let me hear you say hell yeah. All right now. Hey Shep, he's falling off by the day. Like he's, he's running out of words.

He's over here giving what, raspberries? When you are the greatest player in the history of your position in the highest competitive league football has ever seen, he gets a pass from me. But yes, you don't get a pass from me. Use your words, man.

That's fair. You gotta make, you gotta make noises now. Was Gronk that much better though in his parade speeches? I don't remember him saying anything.

All right. Well, at least Travis Kelsey knows how to be memorable. I'm sure any of Rob Gronkowski's parade speeches included like a reference to 69 or, you know, dancing and just being a goofball. Yeah, he's danced all over women before publicly.

We know this much. Who? Rob Gronkowski? Oh yes. Oh my God. Yes. What are you keeping track? No, I'm just saying that, that when I think of tight ends and I think of celebrating, I mean, this is tame.

Okay. Tight ends, tight ends, dancing all over women, 69. Where are we at chef here?

What are we doing? I'm not, no, no, no. I'm just, I'm just saying Rob Gronkowski has gone way overboard. And so compared to Travis Kelsey just coming up with this wrestling lingo, it's, it's rather mild. You know, I've never seen Travis Kelsey be drunk like Brady though. Not Rob Gronkowski. I've never seen Gronk behave like Tom Brady.

That's a fair point. That's cause Gronk's Gronk all the, he's, he's Gronk all the time. I've never seen him drunk. I've seen him drunk all the time. I've never seen him drunk. I've never seen him drunk. I've seen Brady drunk and good for him. Tom Brady might be drunk right now. Anyway, this man, he's probably drinking water at this point. He might be asleep.

His kids might be crawling on him. It's Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes was the star of this damn parade.

Patrick Mahomes wore the WWE championship. He was walking around. Sometimes he was on the ground. Sometimes he was on the bus.

He had the Vince Lombardi trophy. He had on goggles, ski goggles, and he was just drinking Coors Light. I'm sure many of you out there have had a Coors Light. You can inhale a Coors Light. Why it is?

I have no idea. Less calories, I don't know, less carbonation. You can inhale a Coors Light and then five seconds later, it will send you to the bathroom and if you have five of these suckers, you going to be tiptoeing and woozy. Coors Light will get you a special type of twisted. Don't ask me.

I've seen some friends do it. Patrick Mahomes was down in these things like nobody's business. At one point in time, Patrick Mahomes got off the bus, went into a porta potty because it was necessary. Thank God he didn't pee off the side of the bus.

That would have been a disaster. Patrick Mahomes walked out the porta potty and he was cheered. He was cheered like the champion that he is and then he went along with the whole idea that the Chiefs were underdogs and that they were counted out before the season and so when Patrick Mahomes actually got a hold of a microphone, he pretty much said this was a rebuilding year. Is that what they were trying to say about us? This ain't no rebuilding year and if it was, we rebuilt our way straight to a title.

Listen. Before we started this season, the AFC West said we were rebuilding. I'm gonna be honest with y'all, I don't know what rebuilding means. In our rebuilding year, we're world champs. We're world champs. Hey, that's that's an aggressive Kermit the Frog there, isn't it, Shaq? Good for him. Yeah, why not?

Put it, why not put your head out, right? I can dig it. That's not where Patrick Mahomes stopped. With all the success that the Kansas City Chiefs have had over the past several years, this is their their second parade. We know about the five consecutive trips to the AFC championship game. We know that Mahomes is going to be here for a long time.

Knock on wood. Mahomes punctuated his statement by letting everyone know we ain't done yet. I just want to let y'all know that this is just the beginning. We ain't done yet. We ain't done yet. So I'll make sure to hit y'all back next year and I hope the crowd's the same. Appreciate y'all.

Let's go, baby. Wow, he's been hanging out with Travis Kelce too much now. And one of the one of the iconic shots that you are likely to see here from the Kansas City Chiefs parade is Travis Kelce on the the ground on street level. Mahomes on the top of the bus and Patrick Mahomes pouring a Coors Light straight down the side of the bus not pouring on the bus but over the side of the bus into the mouth of Travis Kelce.

Go look it up if you can find it. Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs. Congratulations to their players. Congrats to the guys who contributed nothing but are still champions and good to Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Kelce.

I'm sure that they are all passed out and or are drinking right now at this moment. The Chiefs are your Super Bowl champs. Can't wait till we get to the draft and see how the Bears screw up. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here on CBS Sports Radio 855-2124 CBS. That's 855-2124 CBS. We are just getting started and speaking of the Chiefs and speaking of a champion Michael Jordan is a champion. We know that already. Why is he in the news? I'll tell you on the other side of the break here on CBS Sports Radio.

Don't move. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-2124 CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. Kansas City Chiefs had their parade today. Second of the Patrick Mahomes era.

Fans were out there about a million fans. Patrick Mahomes was drunk. Well, he wasn't drunk. He was under the influence. I don't want to label him as drunk.

He was having a good time and good for him. Got that high ankle sprain. Hurts.

Unfortunately for him, he can't play golf and now he can just relax. Why not? Who doesn't want to relax and have Bud Lights or Coors Light? I don't want no stinking Coors Light.

Don't give me no light beer. But anyway, there was another champion today in the news. This man is used to parades. He had six of them in Chicago. I'm talking about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan, MJ, is going to turn 60 years old on Friday. Yeah, the man who many still consider to be the greatest basketball player of all time.

You can put me in that category. Turns 60 on Friday and he decided to mark the occasion ahead of time by donating 10 million dollars to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that Michael Jordan has worked with dating back to 1989. In 2008, Michael Jordan was named as the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Chief, now help me out Shep, Chief Wish Ambassador. There we go. Sounds right.

It just sounds weird to say. Chief Wish Ambassador? But anyway, that's what Michael Jordan is and so Make-A-Wish Foundation is 43 years old.

He's been working with them since 1989. If you're not familiar with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, they pretty much look to grant the wishes and the dreams for children, unfortunately, who are critically ill. I believe John Cena, the actor and professional wrestler, is I think he has the record for most wishes granted, but Michael Jordan not too far behind him and not too shabby. Michael Jordan has a net worth of 1.7 billion dollars.

It works out that way for you when you can sell Jordans until you don't exist anymore. And over the past several years, Michael Jordan has been very philanthropic. He donated five million dollars to help build the National Museum of African American History in DC.

That's the new Smithsonian, if you haven't seen it, been there for, I want to say about, oh, six, seven years by now. I told you about his work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He has done work with hurricane relief.

He's done work to help feed children. He's donated money to the NAACP and so Michael Jordan, who made a lot of money in his life and his career and continues to be starting to at least publicly open up those purse strings just a little bit more. So kudos to Michael Jordan donating 10 million dollars to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That is an amount that they've never been in receipt of and that will now help grant wishes to other children.

So kudos to Michael Jordan. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Thomas is calling from San Diego. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey JR, nice to talk to you. Longtime listener, first time caller, so I really, really appreciate what you do.

Thank you. Hey, I just want to ask you, you know, the Chiefs, congratulations to them, but was there anything behind the scenes? Why did they really get rid of Tyreek Hill? Or was there something going on? I mean, he was like their best weapon and it just seems a little crazy.

Why would you get rid of your best weapon? But, you know, obviously it worked out. Yeah, it's called money, man. It's budget. You can only fit so much.

It's like anything else. If you think about the contract that Tyreek Hill got, a four-year deal, 120 million dollars. You basically got the same production from two wide receivers, Juju Smith-Schuster and Marquess Valdez-Scantling, and you didn't have to pay 30 million dollars to make it happen, you know? Wow, I never thought of it like that.

Yeah, that's excellent, yeah. It's all a money game, Thomas. Tyreek Hill wanted his money. He's playing in Florida. He don't have to worry about the taxes out there. And now he gets to be on the receiving end of passes from Tua Tonga Veloa, if two is healthy enough to play.

But it's a hard knock life. And you think about the benefits of Patrick Mahomes and his contract and how it's going to age. Patrick Mahomes has a deal that basically pays him 45 million dollars annually. He's going to walk out, all things considered, at the end of 10 years with a 450 million to 500 million dollar windfall. That's what he's going to get.

And that's going to be a discount. We're entering into a world here where it's been reported already that Jalen Hurts is going to make 45 to 50. Joe Burrow is going to make 45 to 50. Herbert will make the same amount.

You can go ahead and look at Lamar Jackson. Is it going to be in Baltimore? Will it be elsewhere? He's going to be in for that. And so as we continue on here over the next bunch of years, Patrick Mahomes, and this is what people love to say about Tom Brady, right? People love to say how much Tom Brady took a discount to help his team. Well, Tom Brady was the best damn player in the whole league. Patrick Mahomes is the same dude. He signed his contract and it is allowing the Kansas City Chiefs flexibility into the future.

They didn't need Tyreek Hill now, did they? 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. Lucious, one of the best callers on sports talk radio, period, anywhere. He's calling from California.

You're on the JR sport reef show. What's up, Lucious? How's it going, JR? Going very well.

What's going on? Yeah, I just have a controversial opinion on the Chiefs and I'm wondering what you think. So given what we saw in the Super Bowl and including the past five years, I would go as far to say that the dynamic trio of Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, and Andy Reid is actually better than the trio of Brady, Belichick, and Gronk. You know, with the Chiefs, I feel that Mahomes and Kelce have a way of connecting play after play that is just a level above that of Brady and Gronk. And then with Andy Reid, I think he understands Mahomes better than any coach has understood a quarterback in NFL history. And with the Patriots, while they have the much longer and more impressive track record, I think that their trio probably needed more pieces around it to be great. So this, you know, might be a little early to say this bit of an aggressive take, but yeah, what do you think on that? So help me out here. It's just, I want to be clear. You believe the current trio of Patrick Mahomes, Kelce, and Andy Reid is better than what we saw with Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Belichick? Yes, that's it.

I want to think about that, Lucius. That's a tough one, because you have two of the best tight ends ever. You have two of the best quarterbacks ever.

You have two of the best coaches ever. And what are you grading that on specifically? Are we looking at accomplishments? Because we know if that's the case, that's going to lean towards the Patriots right now. Are you looking at talent?

Like, what are you judging that on? Yeah, I think when it's all said and done, the Chiefs trio will be more accomplished in terms of championships, wins. I just think that Kelce and Mahomes have a way that they can connect when things go wrong. And then with the Patriots, I think more things around them needed to be right for Brady, Belichick, and Gronk to thrive in their environment.

Well, let's see how that goes. I'm not going to agree on that because Travis Kelce is already 33 years old. Patrick Mahomes is 27. If Travis Kelce was a little younger, because he's been relatively healthy, Travis Kelce does not miss games like Rob Gronkowski missed games. Rob Gronkowski was just beat to a pulp throughout the course of his career. That's one of the reasons why he's not playing anymore right now. And so I would maybe agree with you if we were able to see Kelce and Mahomes continue to play. Realistically, do they have two more years together?

Is it three? You know, I'm just not confident in that. But that's an excellent point, Luscious. Thank you, man. Yeah, thanks. Have a good night.

You as well. Yeah, I never thought about these guys as a trio. We know Kelce is great and Rob Gronkowski is great. They both had the benefit of being on the receiving end of passes from two of the best quarterbacks that you're probably seeing in your life. And the coaches aren't too shabby as well. Maybe we can still get them out there for a three on three game of basketball, and they can settle things easier.

I would take Mahomes, Kelce, and then, you know, let's go ahead and put Andy Reid down low in the paint. Block everybody out. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Speaking of blocking people out, do my eyes deceive me? Well, they don't. That was Rob Gronkowski in a Subway commercial. But then I just saw Shep LeBron James is playing basketball tonight? Yeah. He decided to play? He doesn't right before the All-Star game and then plays in the All-Star game.

That's why. Oh, so he had to check a box so he could play an All-Star game. Correct.

Wow. The Lakers are playing basketball. LeBron James is back.

Did he mention his record tonight? I know. You see Zion? Zion's on the court. Look at that. No, Zion is not playing. Well, he's not playing, but he's on the court. That's a sight for sore eyes.

Wow. You know what? We're going to take a break. When we come back, yeah, Zion wearing his nice brown trousers and varsity jacket. We're going to talk about these guys, these guys being LeBron and Zion on the other side of the break. I want to tell you about the great things that I'm doing, what I launched with Special Olympics. We're going to get into more angry NFL players, not ones that are drunk.

We got a lot to do. It's the JR Sport Reshow 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. Thinking about you personally, I think you're terrific. I really do. I'm a devotee of sports radio, 70 years old, all over the country.

I've listened to a lot of them. You're right up there. You really do a great job.

I appreciate you. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. The Los Angeles Lakers are playing basketball, hosting the New Orleans Pelicans right now in Los Angeles. LeBron James is playing basketball. They were in the second quarter, just got underway. Lakers lead 38 to 30. LeBron has three points in eight minutes. Not going for any records tonight.

We know he broke the scoring record. When was that last week, Shep? Tuesday, right? Correct. It was against the Pelicans.

No one saw that coming. Yeah. OKC, Tuesday. Yeah. We thought it was going to be Thursday with the Bucks, but he did it all in one night.

Yeah. Then he didn't play against the Bucks. And then he didn't play on, I don't know, Friday or Saturday or Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or any day that the Lakers played since LeBron broke that record. LeBron didn't play. And he's been dealing with a foot issue pretty much after he scored the bucket to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer. LeBron James was just kind of stretching out his foot, and he ain't played too much to end that game at all. And so, as Shep mentioned, the NBA All-Star game is going to take place on Sunday.

It's wild how time flies. We're going straight from the Super Bowl. A week later is the NBA All-Star game. And I guess LeBron needed to just make do. He's making a short appearance before flying out to Utah. And I don't think we'll see LeBron.

Well, we have to. He's going to have to be there for the All-Star practice on Saturday. And I'm sure he'll stick around for the game and then he'll leave and go on vacation. And I can't knock him. If I was LeBron James, I'd be on a private jet going on vacation as well. I was mentioning he may not show up until the game, of which he is obviously a captain, because All-Star Saturday night has devolved into...

I don't even know what. I'm actually more excited about the three-point contest than I am about the actual slam dunk contest. Let me know if any of these individuals excite you. K.J. Martin from the Houston Rockets. Mac McClung, who's not even really in the NBA.

He's like a G League, D League guy for the Sixers. Trey Murphy from the Pelicans. Jericho Sims from the New York Knicks. I saw Jericho Sims play tonight in the State Farm Arena. When I left the arena, Jericho Sims had zero points.

He's good, but he ain't... The NBA dunk contest used to have stars. Like, the biggest star in the damn league was in the dunk contest.

Michael Jordan was in the dunk contest. I'm not saying that we need to just force LeBron into it. I think it was apparent from his younger years that he didn't want to be involved. I guess he was afraid to lose. Didn't see, you know, any any game if he went out there and lost. And so, I don't think we'll ever see him. Maybe in his final season, he'll go, ah yeah, whatever. It don't matter now.

And maybe he'll do it then. Mac McClung is not an NBA. He's not an NBA. He can jump out the gym, but what the hell is this guy doing in the dunk contest? Like for all of this, let's just grab some of the dunkers from the street. Let's get some of these dudes from, you know, these slam dunk contests that Sprite has. K.J. Martin? Trey Murphy? Casual basketball fans never heard of any of these guys. And so, I'm... The dunk contest just...

I hope it's good. I mean, even a few years ago, we had Zach Lavine. Zach Lavine is an all-star. We had Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon is not an all-star, but he's a he's a solid player. A known player in the NBA. Now, we got to watch Trey Murphy.

I may fall asleep by then. Here, listen to the participants in the three-point contest. And these are names. I'm interested in this. And they can shoot.

I'm interested in this. And they can shoot. Damian Lillard. Jason Tatum. Kevin Huerter. Somebody who the Hawks should have kept and now he's a king. Congratulations to the Sacramento Kings. You have Tyler Hero. Tyrese Halliburton. Buddy Heald. He's knocking down like 42% of his threes.

Anthony Simon. So, you got two Blazers between Simons and Lillard. And then you have a first-time all-star and this is great for him.

He gets to light it up on both nights should he choose. Lori Markinen is going to be in a three-point contest for the Utah Jazz. I am more excited about the three-point contest than I am about the dunk contest. I mean, how much longer are we going to take before they flip-flop the quote-unquote main event? Put the three-point contest on at the end and put the dunk contest on before that. It's ridiculous.

And then we have a different version of the skills challenge. Remember these dudes used to run around and pass the ball through hoops and dribble around stationary objects and take threes and layups. Well, now we got three teams. Giannis Atetokounmpo and his brothers. One of his brothers isn't even in the NBA. Alex plays for the Wisconsin herd.

I didn't even know they existed. You have the Jazz, obviously, because the game is taking place in Utah. Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, they'll be your favorites. And they just got a bunch of rookies out there because they said we need a third team.

Paulo Barquero, Jaden Ivey, and Jabari Smith. So this will be interesting. It will be fun. This will be something to watch on a Saturday night.

But we know that the life has been sucked out of this. Shephard, are you going to sit down and watch this on Saturday, All-Star Saturday night? J.R., I'll watch the three-point participants for sure. I mean, you talk about Damian Lillard, who's one of the five greatest three-point shooters in the history of the sport.

I would say that he's going to be great. I would rather watch Damian Lillard dunk than the four guys that you mentioned. And I'm not being sarcastic when I say that. They couldn't find any stars? I mean, I get it. Well, my brain is, maybe my brain has already fallen asleep from the dunk contest. Who's the Jon Morant? You couldn't get Jon Morant in here? I mean, Jon Morant has a dunk contest, it seems trying to ruin everyone's career.

They can't convince him to go in the dunk contest? Right. Anthony Antman Edwards, I agree with you, J.R. And listen, Jon Morant is a star. Some would argue a superstar, but he's not even the NBA elite. Anthony Edwards certainly is not the NBA elite.

He can't participate. You're right. Yeah. Maybe these dudes just think they're too cool, right? Is that what it is?

Are they too cool for school? But see, but here's the thing. And you mentioned it at the beginning part of the segment. When you talk about the great dunk contest, Michael Jordan was an MVP when he was competing in the dunk contest. Vince Carter was along with Kobe at the time, Grant Hill, not even an all-star, he was the headliner of the all-star game, him and Kobe.

At that time in 2000, they were the headliners. Yeah, out in Oakland. That was Oakland, wasn't it Oakland? I believe so. It was 2000 when Isaiah Thomas leaped over the stanchion and gave him dap what you're not supposed to do with the judge.

That's what we need. And people can clown on Dwight Howard all they want, J.R. He's a star. He's a Hall of Famer. He was the best center in the NBA by a mile.

Apologies to Amari, but he was the best center in the NBA and he was continuously in the dunk contest every single year. I don't get it. It's embarrassing.

They're too cool for school, man. We've stepped into a world where the three-point, and it was a point in time, three-point contest was hot. I believe, and maybe we'll be surprised. I don't want to see no stupid gimmicks. The three-point contest, it holds more interest for me now. Without question. Than the dunk contest.

Without question. I would say you could be a casual NBA fan. You could be a fan in Oklahoma City. You could be a fan in San Antonio. You could love the Timberwolves.

I bet most people don't know who the hell Jericho Sims is. Just take the guys from the three-point contest and put them in the dunk contest and it's going to be better. I would take that.

Kevin Herder can dunk. Let's open up the phone lines. 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. What do you think about All-Stars Saturday night? Three-point contest? More than a dunk contest? We'll get to your calls on the other side and more here on CBS Sports Radio.