JR SportBrief Hour 1

It's March, and that can mean only one thing. The Madness is here. Not in front of a TV on game day? Listen to every round of NCAA March Madness live from Westwood One, free in the Odyssey app. Catch all the biggest moments of the tournament.

No matter where you are. From Cinderella's. A 15 seed will head to the Elite 8. To buzzer beaters. Atkinson scores. 1.4 seconds left.

To champions. For the fourth time. A dynamic search for NCAA March Madness right here in the Odyssey app to get started. 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 on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Tuesday. I am coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. I hope you had a tremendous day. I hope you had a tremendous night. I hope you're having a great evening. Either way, I'm going to be here with you for the next four hours. Don't matter how your day has been. This is when I get started. 10 p.m. Eastern Time at 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd. I'm happy to be thrilled to be here with you.

Everybody all across North America. And so whether you're tuned in on the free Odyssey app, whether you're locked in on your local affiliate, you could be tuned in right now on Sirius XM Channel 158. Or you could be on a smart speaker. Thanks. We got a lot to do. First of all, there are few teams that are interested, not interested in Lamar Jackson. Potentially. We shared with the world yesterday that he is open to a trade and we got some teams that have opened up their yap about him.

I wouldn't say all of the news is necessarily positive. Bradley Beal is being investigated by the NBA, allegedly putting hands on a fan or at least slapping away a fan because of a of a gamble. If sports fans out here gambling against everything and they get mad at the players when they lose some money, it appears Bradley Beal might have retaliated in a postgame. Speaking of money, Shohei Ohtani is making more money in sponsorships than he will actually make on the field for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Yeah, what a dumb ass name they still have. But we'll get into that. Looks like Kevin Durant is going to be back to playing basketball tomorrow. I just left the Hawks game. Looks like the Hawks may actually hold on and beat the Cavaliers if they haven't done so already.

We got a McDonald's All-American game. Sorry, LeBron James and his son Bronny are pretty much the stars of the entire broadcast. We got a star in the NBA. He's done for the season. His name is Ben Simmons. He's been done all year. And then even outside of that, we have two gigantic stars in the NBA right now who are battling for MVP.

And even the MVP race and the conversation around it is going a little too hard right now. Either way, we got a lot to get into, a lot to discuss. Shep, how are you this evening, man? You good? I'm doing well, Jared.

Thank you for asking. Congrats on your Hawks, by the way. Great win. My Hawks?

Yeah. They ain't my Hawks, man. Don't believe that. How ain't my Hawks? They're not mine. The amount of footage you've been putting up for the Atlanta Hawks organization, J.R., I think it's fair to say they're your Hawks at this point. I'm not putting up footage. I put up the opposition. That's true.

The guy from New York, I saw that. Yeah, that's John Moran, Donovan Mitchell, everybody, man. Yeah, the Hawks, they're great people, great organization. I wouldn't call them my Hawks. Call them my Hawks when I get a paycheck, okay? Or they start winning, contrary to 2021.

No, it doesn't matter. They can be my Hawks when a paycheck comes in. Fair enough.

But until then, I love them. Great organization. Yeah, good for the Atlanta Hawks picking up a victory. I didn't win a damn thing as they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. What was the final score there? You see it in front of you? I don't see it in front of me, but I believe they won by one point.

Yeah, I think it's 118, 119, or 118. Whatever it is, Donovan Mitchell started lighting that ass up when I walked out of the arena. And congratulations to the Atlanta Hawks, which means that they'll lose to a garbage team the next time that they play.

But anyway, as we move on here, let me just get this out the way. One of the big things that takes place and actually happens over Final Four weekend, you find out who is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame later on in the year. The Basketball Hall of Fame.

And because we live in a world where nothing is private anymore, you can't wait. Woj pretty much shared with the world the inductees. And OK, we knew that they were all getting in. Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Gasol, Tony Parker, Becky Hammond. Shout outs to Becky Hammond.

I remember Becky Hammond with the New York Liberty. Greg Popovich. They are all getting in to the Hall of Fame. The actual announcement will take place on Saturday during the Final Four in NRG Stadium. But of course, Woj just let everybody know early. And so there we have it. There is your Hall of Fame full of legends. And the NBA season is coming to a close. OK, everybody has less than 10 games left.

And this is the time of the year where everyone thinks about. Who's the champion? What's going on with the playoffs? Who wins? Who gets the awards?

What's the future? And so far, this entire MVP race, which started off just looking like Jason Tatum was going to take over. And then Embiid just started taking over, dropping 30. And then Jokic and the Nuggets. Jokic took over. Triple double here.

Triple double there. Nuggets go on a slide. Everybody starts talking about the MVP race. And well, is Jokic, is he getting a little bit of favoritism from the media because he's white?

Or is Joel Embiid not getting respect because he's black? I mean, it's just it went into a realm of ridiculousness with Kendrick Perkins and J.J. Redick. And there was a lot of ambiguity there.

A lot of just, I would just call it garbage. You know, let's just just chalk it up for what it is. And so now that we're here at the end of the season, we were supposed to have a match up last night between Joel Embiid and Jokic. And we didn't. Joel Embiid bust that ass the last time they played about a month ago, dropping about 37 points. Yesterday, Joel Embiid did not play. He bowed out with a sore calf.

It's been bothering him for a few weeks. The schedule is tough. The Sixers have been on the road. He did not play. And as a result, the Nuggets, they beat the Sixers 116 to 111. Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists. And Joel Embiid heard about it all day long. Why didn't you play? This is a battle of the candidates for MVP.

Why are you sitting out? Joel Embiid, he couldn't he couldn't buy an excuse outside of being hurt. And that same Kendrick Perkins who ran around a couple of weeks ago talking about how the standards aren't the same or haven't been the same for a Steve Nash or a Nikola Jokic who's a two time MVP winner back to back. He had something crazy to say yesterday. He thought that Joel Embiid basically punked out here against Jokic. Jokic, listen to this. What do you think of all this? Ducking awesome. Somebody draw some man Joel Embiid is ducking that smoke today and y'all know how I feel about Joel Embiid.

But here's the thing, right? He has been on record. We know how much it means to him to win this award.

Here it is. You gave Jokic a spanking when they was down there in Philly. You have to give him an opportunity to get his lick back. You cannot sit out this game. I would have rather him sit out against the Phoenix Suns. Listen, I would have rather him get out and sit out against the Phoenix Suns.

Here's the thing, right? When it comes down to these moments in these matchups, I have a vote. And when I go and I vote and I'm looking at the MVP and who I'm going to pencil in, I'm going to remember this moment. It's only fair. Jokic showed up to work in Philly.

You have to give him his lick back. Giannis showed up in Denver. Although they got whooped, he still was available.

The series tied 1-1. You have to show up and play this game no matter what if you're Joel Embiid. And right now, from my eyes and me hearing it, it seems like he's ducking the smoke a little bit. He whooped that ass the last time they played.

He should just show up just to see if he answers him back for what? I'm not going to question anybody's injuries or health. And look, there was a game last week against the Chicago Bulls. Joel Embiid said, man, I'm not even playing in the second half of this game. I might as well rest.

What the hell am I running out here for? We just kicking their ass. This is the same Joel Embiid who basically missed the first couple of years out of his damn career because he couldn't even play. It's amazing that he can get up and down the court. I never expected his body to last like this. This is the same Joel Embiid who even this season has played in 61 out of 75 games.

Let's be real here. He is a gigantic human being. I've always looked at Joel Embiid and said to myself, how long is his body going to last?

And right now, his body is lasting. He's playing at an MVP level. He's leading the league in scoring at 33 points a damn game. What else do you want from Joel Embiid? You got James Harden now running around with Achilles. Maxie is the one handling the scoring load. There are more important things for the Sixers right now than Joel Embiid busting Jokic's ass again.

We need to chill. Jokic is now going back to back on MVPs. Jokic is averaging 25 points, 12 rebounds in just under a shade for 10 assists. He's basically averaging a triple double.

I mean, damn it. He had a triple double last night against the Sixers with no Joel Embiid. 25 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists. He's with Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robinson, the only dudes that we have seen in NBA history to have 10 plus games.

20 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists in a season. Jokic is amazing. If Jokic hadn't won the past two MVPs and if people were a little bit more excited to see him, Jokic would have just won the award this year.

But there was all that talk about, oh, it's not fair or he's being judged differently. I mean, he won MVP. He didn't have Michael Porter.

He didn't have Jamal Murray. Right now the Denver Nuggets are one. You look at the Sixers.

The Sixers are in third place behind the Milwaukee Bucks and then also the Celtics. Joel Embiid is great. If Joel Embiid played a few more games, I would say give Joel Embiid the award.

And we got seven more games just about to decide this for both of these squads, OK? I think Jokic should get it. I wouldn't be surprised if Embiid got it.

I think games played should count for something. Jokic, as of right now, 67 games, first place, basically averaging a triple-double. And then you have Embiid, who offensively and defensively, something that Jokic isn't doing, you got Embiid just destroying everybody. Embiid, I'd say, is a better all-around player when you look at the totality of his game.

But this is where the MVP has a different interpretation for everybody. Who's having the best season statistically? Who is leading the team? What team has a better record? What player is playing better outside of the talent that he has?

I mean, you can put the formula together and it's different for everybody. I like what Jokic is doing. I think they're two great players and in different ways they're dominating. I mean, I could see Joel Embiid block a shot on one end, he ain't no damn gazelle, but he'll get back on the other end and just go out there and kick ass. Even Jokic, so humble, so nice, so smooth, so polite. He didn't play Embiid last night. Sat out, of course, after his triple-double, his own triple-double. Nikolay Jokic was asked about Joel Embiid and Nikolay Jokic had nothing but positive and kind words.

Listen to this. I think he's a great player. I think he's going to be remembered as one of the most dominant players in the league.

So the guy's a beast and he's so talented. He can affect in many ways on the floor. He can affect the game in many ways on the floor. He can post up, he can face up, he can shoot trees, he can defend really well. He can, in some situations, guard one through five. So I think he's a really, really good player.

Yeah, give him the award then. I don't think Jokic cares. I mean, I'm sure he does, but I don't think he got two of these suckers. It'd be amazing if he won a third, but everybody would look at him and go, Where's your championship, man?

Where's your ring? Nikolay Jokic doesn't do anything but show up to work, play basketball, and leave. Where's the Jokic commercial? Where's the Jokic finals appearance? Is it coming this year?

Maybe. The West is wide open. Nikolay Jokic doesn't run around with fanfare. And even Joel Embiid, there's a whole lot more attention right now to what he does on the court than what he did years ago where he was just on Twitter. I don't know who the hell is going to get the award.

I change my mind back and forth day to day. I'm just waiting to see what the end of the season looks like. I think right now at this moment I'd go for Jokic. If Embiid comes back and plays more games, which he will, if he's out there busting ass then just give him the award.

I ain't losing sleep personally over this. Right now I'm only giving Jokic the edge because of games played. And his entire career, especially that early part, Joel Embiid cannot get through a season. And I know guys aren't playing 82 games anymore unless you're like Julius Randle and two other guys. Joel Embiid has an injury history.

Damn it, man. Can you win MVP? Can you play more than, I don't know, 70 games? Joel Embiid will not this year. They got seven games left.

He's at 61 games played. I think you got to show up to go to work, right? Don't you got to show up to win an award? Don't they say that's half the job?

I don't care what your job is. We got people listening that do all types of things. Somebody is in a hospital right now. Somebody's in the back of a restaurant.

Somebody's in their office by themselves. We got a lot of people listening in a truck. I think we all know this. Half the damn job is being available just to show up to work. If you don't show up, what are you getting in return?

A whole lot of nothing. I think that's why right now I'm giving Nikola Jokic the edge over Embiid. Even though I think if they played again, I think Embiid would cook them. Let's see who has more success in the postseason. That's coming up shortly. Either way, whoever wins the award, Jokic or Embiid, there's going to be a lot of upset folks. They'll get over it.

Unless it's Kendrick Perkins. He'll find something crazy to say. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We are just getting started. We're going to talk about Lamar. We're going to talk about Ben Simmons. He ain't the MVP of nothing. Least valuable player. We're going to talk about sports betting. We're going to get into Otani.

Kevin Durant is on his way back. The phone lines are open. 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief show. CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. We've been talking about the MVP race in the NBA. It really boils down to Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. Joel Embiid not playing last night. And Kendrick Perkins on ESPN throwing him under the bus saying, oh, he's ducking him even though the last time they played Embiid torched the man. And he had a calf issue so he ain't playing. They've been on the road.

No big deal. And we've got to find out who wins the MVP. Right now, Joel Embiid has played in 61 games. Jokic has played in 67 games. Dominating in two different ways. If Embiid played more, I think he'd be a no doubter. It's tough. We'll see what happens.

I'd give Jokic the edge today just because of the amount of games played. 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS. Larry is calling from South Bend. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Larry? Hey, I had the absolute privilege of attending a Pacer game a couple of weeks ago and they were playing Philadelphia.

My sister and my mom bought me these really nice tickets for my birthday. We were like seven rows back behind the basket. And so we saw the 76er big man just do his thing, man. He was just so much fun to watch. JR, he'd bring the ball up the floor. He'd hit threes, no-look passes. He was up against Miles Turner, too, who's a pretty big guy himself and had his way with everything. He was so much fun to watch that night. I was really looking forward to seeing James Harden because I don't go to NBA games.

It's been years. This was really a treat. He was just absolutely spectacular. Harden did not play that night, but the 76er big man, he just ruled the floor, man.

He was just so much fun to watch. I just wanted to throw in my two cents. Thanks. No, thank you for sharing that, Larry. I'm glad you had a terrific time. Appreciate you for calling from South Bend. And shout out to all my folks up at Notre Dame. There's no doubt there is not a player in the NBA like Joel Embiid.

Nobody. He's a big man who can operate down low. He's a big man who can take a shot on the outside.

If necessary, he can help initiate the offense. He can move. He ain't the fleetest of foot, but he can move. And the thing is, he's bigger than everybody out there. He is a giant human being. You ain't supposed to move like that at his size.

And this is what makes them both unique. If you look at Nikola Jokic, he looks like the Michelin, looks like the Michelin Man. He doesn't, he's not even, he doesn't look athletic. He is an athlete.

He ain't flying around. He ain't jumping through the gym. You know, I was watching Evan Mobley warm up today, and you can see the video.

It's on my Twitter, at JR Sport Brief. I was standing right behind Evan Mobley, and I'm saying to myself, this doesn't even make sense how tall he is. He's like seven feet tall, and he's moving like the wind. He doesn't have any weight on him.

He's just moving around. It's like he hit a gigantic growth spurt and he could still move like he was five years old. Joel Embiid would eat him for breakfast if he was down low. God bless Mobley for having quick feet and long arms. But when it comes to the laws of gravity and mass, Joel Embiid would eat him, man. And so he's amazing. But I think that same thing, his size and how he plays, is a gift and a curse. If Joel Embiid were to strictly play down low, he'd get beat up, similar to how a Shaq got beat up. And he does. I mean, last year, Joel Embiid finished the season, you might forget.

Joel Embiid finished the year with a broken face, broken orbital bone, something broken cheek and broken hands. Yeah, you would think he was being an offensive lineman. Manny is calling from Flushing. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's going on, Manny? I'm doing well, my brother. How are you doing? I'm great.

What's on your mind? Good. Jokic is my MVP, and Ben Simmons is a waste of time. Okay, why is Jokic your MVP? Because, see, because he is probably the best all-around big fan I've ever seen. He reminds me, in my opinion, he reminds me of a Wilks and a Young and a Venus Abonis. And if you don't know about Venus Abonis, please watch YouTube.

This dude was something that was beautiful, particularly in the past. And correct note, the only players in the League that assist are Nogg-Gards, Wilks, and LeBlanc. Jokic is one of the leaders in the League that assists. Yeah, you know, the cool thing is, we can sit down and watch — oh, thank you, Manny, you got the noise in the back.

I don't know if there's a choo-choo train or what. The cool thing is, we got Sabonis Kidd playing right now. His dad was better.

I don't care what his boy is doing right now. Kidd's pretty good. 855-2124, CBS. Kane is here from Washington. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Kane? How you doing tonight, gentlemen? We're good. Go ahead.

All right. My MVP has got to be Embiid. Embiid is a — that's a cold-blooded brother. If Embiid would stay healthy for at least 85 to 95 percent of the decisions that he wins, we're talking about Embiid being one of the top five big men in the NBA history.

I mean, that can't be stopped. And your boy, Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons. I'm somebody who plays sports. And I know it's crucial. I don't like to say — I don't like to say when players give up, but Ben Simmons is the equivalent of salt.

Millions of dollars. And if you can't play a sport that somebody might have hurt your feelings, get him away from the entire game of basketball. He's actually disgusting.

Oh, wow. OK. Well, thank you, Kane. Kane is — Kane is disgusted by Ben Simmons. We're going to talk about Ben Simmons at the top of the hour.

We'll do that in about 30 minutes. But I do agree with his point. I don't know if Joel Embiid will ever make it through, you know, 70-plus games. It's not — it's impossible. I don't think — I don't think it can happen. His body would just spontaneously combust.

This is tough, man. He ain't built for it. Maybe if he — maybe if he played down low.

I don't know. He plays hard. I got to be honest. He — he has done more in his career right now than I thought he would. I thought that there was a fear that he would just be broken all the damn time. And he lost some weight. He's moving around better. He's always going to be hurt here or there. But I give him credit. He's maxing out with his talent. For a long time, he just seemed kind of chill, trying to figure out what I'd do with Ben Simmons. Is it Ben's team?

Is it mine? Who's running the show? Well, we see how that ended up. We see where Joel Embiid is. We see where Ben Simmons is. And to be honest, I don't know where Ben Simmons is. I know where he is not. And that's playing basketball.

For what seems like, on a consistent level, I don't know. What do I know? The third year? I feel like we haven't seen this guy. The second year?

It's a disaster. We're going to get into Ben Simmons at the top of the hour. But since we're having this MVP conversation, we're going to take a break. And when we come back, I want to talk about a former NFL MVP. Because we've had a lot of owners, coaches talk about Lamar Jackson and whether or not they would add him or not.

It's a little bit more complicated. Even here in Atlanta, Falcons owner Arthur Blank, he had some words about Lamar. I'll share that plus some others on the other side of the break. 855-212-4CBS is the number if you want to talk to me. JR, every time I get into an Uber, I always turn the Uber drivers onto your show. We talk about sports.

Tell them how awesome you are. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show. Oh my God. Don't worry. Everything is fine, people. Don't worry about it. I'm here in the studio. I'm watching the McDonald's All-American game.

And I remember seeing this in the past. Not that it matters to anybody, but here. The West team is beating the East 83 to 77 with a minute left. Who cares, right?

Sure. It's McDonald's All-American game. I know Bronny James, LeBron's boy, is running up and down the court. They showed Peja Stojakovic in the crowd. And I said to myself, Peja's kid is playing?

And the answer is yes. For my Sacramento Kings fans out there, Peja Stojakovic has one of the best prospects in the country. What a shock, right? I'm sure his son was shooting NBA 3s when he fell out of the womb. Damn. I need to look at their whole entire roster and see who else might be out there.

These guys are flying around like they have lost their minds. 855-212-4CBS. We've been talking about NBA MVP. We're going to talk about Lamar Jackson. He's actually someone who won an MVP in the NFL. I'm going to go ahead and talk to Shep and I'm going to get to the line. Hey Shep, what's on your mind? What do you think about the MVP?

Well, Jarrah, it's really fascinating. When you talk about Joel Embiid and his size, so you made a great point. The most games he's ever played in his entire career is 68 in one season. The guy I think of when I really consider Joel Embiid and his dominance in his era is Shaq. Shaq was the same height, but he weighed 40 pounds more. Jarrah, do you realize that Shaquille O'Neal, seven different times in his career, played 73 games or more?

He does not get enough credit for his ability, given his size and his body frame, to consistently stay on the court for as many games as he did. Think about that, J.R. But here's the issue I have. How many MVPs does Shaq have regular season? Oh, zero. No, one. One.

Now what about that famous teammate of his? How many regular season MVPs does he have? Well, we know Kobe Bryant also has one and people can complain about Steve Nash taking two of them. Sure.

Absolutely. And many people will argue Steve Nash, his best season actually came that year after he won the MVP when they gave it to Dirk. Now, you cannot have an NBA, J.R. You can't have this where Shaq and Kobe combined for two MVP awards in the regular season, and Nikola Jokic, who has never for one second been the best player on planet Earth, nor even led his team to an NBA finals, and Shaq and Kobe combined have nine NBA championships and two regular season MVPs to speak about it, and Nikola Jokic will somehow end up with three more than both those guys combined? You can't do it, J.R. The award is going to lose all credibility if he gets number three. No, it won't. I mean, we can already make the point that it's already tied.

So, I mean, what does it matter? I mean, you've got two guys who you just mentioned. They're already tied with Jokic. Jokic has two. He's gone back to back, and you made the point about Shaq and Kobe. We can make the flat point that if that's the case, it's already lost credibility and that it will lose more. This is the thing about the MVP award year after year after year, and this has been made in different ways, and some of the arguments made around it have been just absolutely ridiculous and poorly articulated via Kendrick Perkins, I'd say, for the most part.

It's up for interpretation. That's it. It's a story award. It's the same reason that Steve Nash pocketed it over Kobe Bryant. It's the same reason that Shaq didn't have it more. It's story driven.

That's it. I don't think people will wake up two, three, four years from now and care too much. A, let's see how the rest of the season goes, and I agree with you. Is it going to look out of sorts for Jokic to have three straight MVPs? It most certainly will, but I don't think that the award would ultimately lose credibility.

We could say that it already has. A lot of players who have already taken the position of, oh man, it's not fair. You have former players.

Oh, man. Well, the criteria. Giannis Aetetokounmpo basically said, oh, yeah, man, well, I feel like the criteria changes every year.

No, it does not. Criteria doesn't change every year. But what each individual writer decides who they vote for and why, that does change. But it's not like everybody goes, oh, well, this year we're going to go with the point. So this year we're going to go with this. Like, you got a bunch of people coming together and they're making their choice. And that is up for interpretation.

But I'm not going to say the criteria is changing. 855-212-4CBS. We got Dusty. He's calling from Wisconsin.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Dusty? Hey, JR. How's it going? How are you? I guess I'm calling from Wisconsin.

You can kind of figure out why I'm calling. Not really. So you got the MVP race between two guys only, huh? Yes. Yes, correct.

So when you figure out an MVP, you kind of go by how many points they can put up, how many rebounds they can grab, how many assists they can dish out, and how well the team does during the regular season, right? No, not me. No. What do you got?

What do I got? I look at who's absolutely killing and absolutely who's showing up to work. Okay. Well, why isn't Giannis in your MVP running? Because Giannis hasn't even played 60 games in a season that's almost over. He's not that far behind the other guys.

No, well, not too far. I just told you about a guy named Joel Embiid who's only played 61 games. And one of the main reasons that I would look at Jokic to probably win the award is because he's played in 67. And even if he plays more than that, he can move into 70. I mean, you asked me.

I gave you an answer. I mean, telling me that he ain't that much too far behind doesn't make too strong of a point for me when he's in the 50s. Well, he's only got two games behind Embiid, but I'm looking at the stats here. Giannis is leading in points per 36. He's leading in rebounds per 36. He's second to Jokic in assists per 36. Well, I mean, I can I and you can manipulate numbers in any way. I mean, if we want to look at 36 minutes per game, why would that be different than looking at the full average minutes per game? I mean, we can make an argument either way. What I'm telling you is and what consensus I would I would say most people will tell you is that Giannis hasn't played enough games. That's it. I mean, I can look at numbers and go, oh, when Giannis did this, he did this or Giannis did that.

I can do that all day if I wanted to. He hasn't played enough. You're saying two games more what Embiid played and he's in the running?

I told you. Well, the answer is yes. What I'm telling you for this season, Giannis, are you betting on this? Do you really think Giannis is going to win MVP?

Do you think it's going to happen? I don't I don't know if he will, but I think he should be in the running. I don't think well, he was. He was. I think there was a period in time where he was in the running and then he hasn't played a lot recently.

I just saw you heard the conversation I just had with Shep, right? Yeah. This award is given out based on the ebbs and the flow of a season.

OK, at the beginning of the year, you could easily look at Jason Tatum and say, oh, man, he's in the lead for the MVP. Oh, my God, this team is on a winning streak. Oh, my God.

This one is on a losing streak. I'm what I'm telling you is very, very simple. You say you don't know. You're not sure.

I am highly sure. I am almost certain because of the amount of games that he has missed. The amount of games that he has missed here in the stretch run. The finality of the season.

It's like going out with a whimper, man. It's a regular season award. But we know the world is a what have you done for me lately? Lately, he hasn't been as active. And in its totality, he hasn't played as many games. I get where you're coming from, but it's just the points like Jokic is only putting up 26 points. Let me tell you something, man.

Now, that's dusty. I've been watching basketball for a very long time. I've been talking to people in the NBA for a very long time. I just left an NBA game. OK, I looking at points and telling me about per 36 and all of that, I can look at numbers all day. That's not the end all be all of basketball. Every point that you make, I can easily bring it back to you. You understand what I'm saying?

But let it sink in. He hasn't played enough games. That's it. If you want to go 48 minutes, 36 minutes off the bench, starting with what?

That's fine. He hasn't played enough games. If Giannis wanted to go out and win MVP award, come back to me when Giannis goes out and averages 50. OK, so then you got you pretty much have Jokic as your lock. I didn't say that because indeed might miss a few games here.

And then you honest, I mentioned that. And I said, we have to see what happens the rest of the year. We'll see what happens. It's going to be one of the two of them. The fact that this man has already won the MVP. The fact that he's already won another MVP also doesn't bode well for his chances. But the largest issue here.

Help say it with me, Dusty. Why? Why don't I believe he'll win it? And this is why I also believe there will be other individuals that will not vote for him.

What is the reason? Because he missed a few extra games compared to Embiid. No, no, no.

That's not what I said, because he did not play enough games. Hey, Dusty, what are you more interested in? This man winning a stupid MVP or winning another championship?

I'd rather see him win a championship, which I believe they will this year. Well, there you go. Please come to the world of totality of the NBA as opposed to Homerism. Thank you, Dusty, for calling from Wisconsin. I'm just just can I be can I be real about it? What is it?

How good does it sound? Say, hey, we got we got eighty two games here. How many games did the the MVP play?

I don't know. He played he played about sixty four games. There are other guys who are more deserving.

Come on. Jokic is going to move into 70 plus games played. Oh, well, there's just a few extra games. I don't know if Embiid is winning it. I don't know if Jokic is going to win it.

I said I go back and forth. We have to see how the season ends. I would give it to Jokic based on the amount of games that he's playing. More so than Joel Embiid.

That's it. Not about a few extra games. I mean, we complain all the damn time they don't play anymore. They don't play as hard as they used to. Nobody shows up.

Nobody's committed. Oh, Joel Embiid just sat down. Oh, this guy's ankle hurts and this guy's arm. Can we reward people who show up? It's not because Giannis is some punk and Giannis doesn't want to play and Giannis just picks up knickknack injuries, too, man. Can we get guys that just play?

Am I on another planet? It's like handing out a Lifetime Achievement Award for someone who just didn't have a lifetime of work. It's the same damn thing about these stupid ass silver medals. You might remember that conversation from last week. First place loser.

Well, show up to work first. We'll talk about Lamar Jackson. He's a real MVP. He won one CBS Sports radio double.