5.4.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 1

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That's point.me. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the J.R. Sportbrief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. What's today? Happy Thursday. I hope you had a terrific one. I hope the day went good. I hope the afternoon went good.

I could tell you this much. If you tune in here, the evening is going to go good. I'm going to have me a good old time. Hope you decide to hang out. If you don't, too bad for you.

Sucks. Anyway, I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Many thanks and much love to super producer and host Dave Shepherd.

He is coming to you live from New York City. We got a busy night right now. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors, they're just going back and forth in San Francisco right now. The Golden State Warriors, they lead the game. Yeah, about four minutes or so left in the first half. Last I looked, 52 to 48 Golden State. And so it's been a close one. Probably go down to the wire again. Let's see whether or not Jordan Poole is going out there just jacking up a ridiculous shot.

We will find out and we will see sooner than later. In a few minutes, we're going to talk about a coach in the NBA who was just fired a few hours ago this afternoon, Coach Bootenholzer. He was given the boot by the Milwaukee Bucks.

They said, we don't want you anymore. We'll get into more detail there. Lamar Jackson had his I don't want to call it an introductory press conference because it wasn't. But he had a press conference to talk about his new contract.

And Lamar Jackson has some ridiculous passing goals now that he has guys like Odell Beckham Jr. on the team. Aaron Rodgers continues to be out and about in New York City at I guess Madison Square Garden is his new home. We have a college baseball coach. Speaking of coaches being fired. We got a coach that's been allegedly dabbling in the gambling. And so we'll get into that as well. So Lamar Jackson, Nikola Jokic, Aaron Rodgers, we even got news on Messi. We got a busy, busy night.

And so it should be fun. Thank you to everybody locked in all over North America on the free Odyssey app. People tuned in on Sirius XM 158. Everybody on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate.

You can get the show everywhere. Smart speaker. Pat yourselves on the back. And oh yeah, by the way, congratulations to the Florida Panthers who are now up 2-0 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Florida won tonight 3-2. And yeah, for the Maple Leafs finally advancing to the second round. I mean, now you're getting smacked by the Panthers.

I guess the Panthers are feeling themselves after they knocked off the Boston Bruins. Anyway, if you want to talk to me, it's simple. The phone number here, if you don't know it by now, it's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. You can get ahold of me. I am everywhere on social media at JR Sport Brief.

It's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. If you follow me, you will have already known everything or most of the things, most of the things that we're going to talk about tonight. All right. Shep, how you feeling? You good? I'm doing well. Thanks for asking, JR. I'm in NBA heaven right now.

I got LeBron versus Steph, man. How you feeling? I'm OK. You know, I got the game on here in the studio. They're making another Transformers movie? Another one? Did you know that? No, I know an athlete didn't know who Jessica Alba was. That's my form of entertainment today. OK.

I only know who she is from one movie. Like, it's not a big deal. Right. Do they need to make more Transformers? Like, how many more robots and animals can they flip into cars?

I mean, what are we doing here? Is that the what's it called? The DeLorean?

Am I getting this right? OK. No, I don't. Got it. Yeah, no. OK, OK, OK. Sauce Gardner doesn't know Jessica Alba. You don't know a Transformer.

But where have you been for the past, I don't know, only 50 years? Yeah. Sorry for I apologize for watching good cinema.

No, it's not. The Transformers goes beyond cinema, but I digress. Anyway, as someone who's going to have plenty of time to watch Transformers and Jessica Alba and he gets to go fishing and he gets to go on vacation. He gets to do whatever the hell he wants because you don't got a job no more. His name is head coach.

Oh, let me correct myself. Former head coach, Mike Bootenholzer. He's gone. I mean, after running the Milwaukee Bucks since 2018, since winning coach of the year two damn times, since winning a championship back in 2021, they said, we don't need you anymore.

Bye. I guess it took Jimmy Butler waxing that ass for about 36, 37 points per game to say it's time to go. I guess it took Giannis Eternkupo watching Jimmy Butler light him up and saying, why am I not guarding this guy to give him the boot?

And so Bootenholzer, by the way, two years, 16 million dollars left on his deal. Giannis made it clear after the series completed. He said, I don't think as a team we made the right adjustments or we didn't make as many adjustments as we could have against Jimmy Butler.

For me, I think this has been the worst post season ever. The Milwaukee Bucks were the one seed. The Milwaukee Bucks won 58 games. Coach Bootenholzer right now.

He joins a list that you don't want to be a part of. Coaches who've been fired after taking their team to a championship, not the finals, but actually winning the championship. Where's Frank Vogel? Not coaching the Lakers.

Where's Nick Nurse? He ain't coaching the Raptors. And I mean, Steve Kerr still has a job. But for the last three out of four, go ahead and put Bootenholzer in there as well. And let's be real, if they didn't win a championship against the Phoenix Suns, Bootenholzer wouldn't have gotten an extension.

He wouldn't have gotten love. Giannis saved his ass those couple of seasons, and we just watched them last week. Jimmy Butler is killing them. They blew these big leads. And I know, yeah, sure, Giannis was out with a back injury and he came back. But when he did come back, what the hell were they doing? And I get it.

Bootenholzer, we didn't find out until after the playoffs, after they were eliminated, his brother died in a car accident. It's absolutely terrible to even think about the thought. I have not experienced that. I can't imagine.

OK, it's terrible. When you think about the basketball, you would think that there would be momentarily or momentary distractions. OK, we don't know. But he was well enough to go out there and coach the games. And Giannis said they didn't adjust. The team said we didn't adjust. Bootenholzer said we didn't adjust. And so now he's gone.

I mean, after the elimination at the hands of the Miami Heat, Mike Bootenholzer, he talked about it himself. He said this was a disappointment. There's a ton of disappointment just when your season ends, no matter how it happens. It's a hard feeling. It's a disappointing feeling.

So I believe and trust those guys. And we all got to be better. He unfortunately isn't going to get the chance. The Milwaukee Bucks put out a statement today.

The general manager, John Horst, he said, the decision to make this change was very difficult. Bud helped our team. He helped lead our team for five incredible seasons to the Bucks' first title in 50 years and into an era of sustained success. We are grateful for the culture of winning and leadership that Bud helped create in Milwaukee.

This is an opportunity for us to refocus and re-energize our efforts as we continue building towards our next championship season. And so what do they do? They hire Nick Nurse.

Is that what they do? I mean, you got an assistant named Charles Lee. He's been in the mix for coaching jobs for the past several years. I mean, we got Darvin Ham right now, who was an assistant coach with Bootenholzer. He's coaching the Los Angeles Lakers.

And the Milwaukee Bucks, they have even more questions now going into this off season. Brook Lopez, who was in the conversation of defensive player of the year. Brook Lopez is a free agent. Played his ass off this year in a contract season, by the way. Chris Middleton, who can barely stay healthy.

You got to handle him with kid gloves, otherwise he'd be cooked. Chris Middleton can opt out. Maybe he wants a long term deal. Maybe he says, just give me my 40.

I don't know if I'm going to get a better deal. And then you have Drew Holliday, Giannis Atteracumpo. Both of these guys are eligible for long term extensions, but do they want them right now? Is it necessary for Giannis to say, I'm going to stick around, tack on four more years?

No, he probably wants to see who's going to coach the team and how they're going to move forward. And so Coach Budenholzer, done, gone. And you know what, I can't blame the Milwaukee Bucks for doing so. A hallmark for Coach Budenholzer, whether he was here in Atlanta coaching the Hawks, or whether he was up in Wisconsin in Milwaukee coaching the Bucks. It's like, what are you doing at the end of the games, dude?

Like, yeah, sure. You didn't have Giannis Atteracumpo down here in Atlanta. You had a solid squad. You had Paul Millsap. You had Al Horford. You had Jeff Teague.

You had Kyle Korver. None of these dudes are super, super, super, superstars. All stars? Yes, here or there. Super superstars?

No. Giannis is one of the top 75 players of all time. But when it came down to just switching things up just a little bit, you don't have to be, I don't know, you don't got to be Phil Jackson to go out here and try to understand, hey, maybe you should call a time out, maybe instead of having Giannis defend the inbounds pass, maybe you should have the athletic freak. Maybe you should have the guy named the Greek freak protecting the basket against, I don't know, somebody who's five inches shorter, four inches shorter, and Jimmy Butler.

Why not? Jimmy Butler was out there brutalizing them. And so I got to be honest here, I don't feel bad that coach, Buehlenholzer, got the boot.

I'm not surprised that he got fired. And to be clear, the Milwaukee Bucks probably need to move on. And it's not because of Giannis and his injury. There's no excuse here for why they lost. They had an opportunity to win.

They squandered it. This isn't the first time that Heat beat them or surprised them in the postseason. The championship saved his ass. Giannis saved him. And Giannis put the stamp on his time as head coach of the Bucks when he said, I don't think we made the right adjustment.

Whose job is that? Coach Buehlenholzer. And there was a big conversation after the elimination last week.

And we talked about it briefly on the air last Wednesday night when they were eliminated. Giannis talking about whether or not this season was a failure. Well, I guess Bucks management.

I guess the ownership. I guess the general manager, John Horst, I guess they looked at this season and said, hey, Buehlenholzer, the season was a failure. So much that you gots to go. I'm not going to forget what Giannis said. Doesn't this run counter to what Giannis said last week? Here's the whole damn interaction.

And the whole time that Giannis speaks, think about Buehlenholzer. I'm curious for you, do you view this season as a failure? Oh my God.

OK, because I'm not that up. You asked me the same question last year, Eric. OK, do you get a promotion every year on your job? No, right? So every year you work as a failure? Yes or no?

No. Every year you work, you work towards something, towards a goal, which is to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your family, to be able, I don't know, provide the house for them or take care of your parents. You work towards a goal. It's not a failure. It's steps to success.

And if you've never, I don't want to make it personal. So there's always steps to it. You know, Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championship.

The other nine years was a failure. That's what you're telling me? No, I'm actually your question. Yes or no? OK, exactly. So why you ask me that question?

It's a wrong question. There's no failure in sports. You know, there's good days, bad days. Some days you are able to be successful, some days you're not.

Some days it's your turn, some days it's not your turn. And that's what sports is about. You don't always win. Some other people is going to win. And this year, somebody else is going to win. Similar as that, we're going to come back next year, try to be better, try to build good habits, try to play better, not have a 10-day stretch with playing bad basketball. You know, and hopefully we can win a championship. So 50 years from 1971 to 2021 that we didn't win a championship, it was 50 years of failures. No, it was not. It was steps to it. And we were able to win one.

Hopefully we can win another one. What does that say about Coach Bud, though? Why was he gone?

Why did Coach Budenholzer get fired if this season wasn't a failure? Isn't that what you judge things on? Isn't that what it is?

Isn't that how it go? And so unfortunately, yes, he doesn't have a job right now. He still has $16 million coming his way.

So don't cry for Budenholzer. You can think about his family, his issues, the passing of his brother. I certainly get it.

I understand it. This has to be a terrible time personally for him. You think about the passing of his brother, his money's still coming in. Doesn't have the job. Things can be worse.

So personally, yes, horrific things have happened to him. Professionally, welcome to the NBA, man. You know what they're not doing? They're not firing Giannis. You're not firing the superstars. You're not firing the players. You get rid of the coaches. So it doesn't matter whether your name is Frank Vogel.

Doesn't matter if you're Nick Nurse. It doesn't matter if you are Mike Budenholzer. Coaches are expendable.

And Budenholzer, his lack of adjustments and head-scratching decisions and crunch time, he found out. And I can't blame the Bucks for letting him go. All the best, whatever he does. It's 16 mil coming his way, not too shabby. He can rest. He can enjoy his time off. He can mourn, unfortunately, but he's going to have a lot of time. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Do you agree with the Milwaukee Bucks getting rid of Coach Mike Budenholzer? Do you think it was cold? Do you think it was unjustified? Do you think it was unfair?

Me? I got no problem with it. Ask Giannis. He said, we didn't make the right adjustments. That was the writing on the wall. I'm going to get to your calls on the other side.

855-212-4CBS. Let me know your thoughts on Coach Mike Budenholzer, no longer coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. We're going to get into the NFL, always in trouble. We're going to talk about Alabama, somebody on their team, in their organization, in the university in trouble. We're going to talk about Verlander.

He stunk today. The Warriors and the Lakers, they're still going on here in game two. We got a lot to do. 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 here with you on CBS Sports Radio. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Warriors are at halftime right now. The Warriors lead 67 to 56 in game two. Klay Thompson leading the way for Golden State with 19 points. Steph Curry, at this point in time, only has eight.

We'll keep you up to date here as the Golden State Warriors attempt to tie up the series at one all. Right before we went to break, we talked about former head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, Coach Budenholzer. He's no longer the coach.

He was fired this afternoon with about two years and $16 million left on his deal. Giannis Atetokounmpo made it very clear following their elimination. I don't think as a team we made the right adjustments or we didn't make as many adjustments as we could have against Jimmy Butler.

For me, I think this has been the worst postseason ever. And Bud, Coach Bud, he got the boot. Number one seed, 58 wins. Giannis Atetokounmpo, multiple 20-point leads.

They were squandered, no timeouts, just he's gone. And personal tragedy with the loss of his brother during the postseason is they've wanted to get rid of him for a minute now. Winning the championship helped him out. The same issues that he had with the Hawks occurred here with a more talented team, and he's gone. And I do not blame the Milwaukee Bucks for getting rid of him.

When you take the emotion and the family and everything out of it and you just strictly look at the business, which the Milwaukee Bucks are, I cannot blame them at all. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Do you agree with the firing of Coach Budenholzer? Brian is calling from South Carolina. You're on the JR Sport Reef Show. Hey, JR. How you doing, sir?

Excellent, go ahead. I can relate to the coach's fire. And first of all, I'm a Celtics fan, but my brother passed away in 2020 with ALS when he was on pathway, because he had the ALS. There's no cure for it, as you probably know that, I'm sure. But my point is, JR, it does affect your thinking and your mind and stuff and what decisions that you make.

Here it is, 2023. I'm still grieving, if you will. I got over my brother's loss. In this situation, this coach was an unexpected death with his brother. And that's even worse, because you don't even expect it.

And I was expecting it with my brother. So you try to prepare for it. No matter how much you prepare for it, it's still tough. But again, business is business.

And that's just the way they do things now, unfortunately. But I can tell you from experience, from my own experience, you do not have a clear mind in what a lot of things that you're thinking during that period. And it can linger on. Everybody agrees differently. Don't get me wrong. But the Bucks had to make a decision. I don't agree with it.

I think it should have gave them another year to see what might transpire. But I promise you, if you've never experienced anything like that as far as a brother or a sister, whatever, momma did, that close to what in relation to your work, it does affect you. And I sincerely say that, JR. Well, thank you, Ryan.

I appreciate you for calling from South Carolina. I think the majority of us in any type of way, tragic, expected, we can all relate to loss. I think most of us, you live long enough, it happens. I think a lot of us probably can relate to tragedy.

And I don't agree with what you said, most of what you said. Ultimately, people do handle things differently. That said, I could think about tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. And for me personally, going to work, it's a distraction. In the world of sports, we actually hear it quite often. When you have players, I don't care what league, what team, whatever it is, you think about something terrible going on, there's such a level of concentration when you're in the midst in that moment.

It's a pleasant distraction to just go out and put 100% of your focus to somewhere else. And so I will agree with you, everybody grieves different. I'm not going to say, because I don't know, you don't know, maybe even Budenholzer doesn't know at this point in time, as he is grieving, how he was or was not affected.

To say that he absolutely was is, no, we don't know that at all. Paul is calling from Nebraska. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Paul? JR, you're the best in the game.

We both know that, so I appreciate you letting me get on here. Real quick, just a couple of things I wanted to throw at you. So three of the four last title-winning NBA coaches have been fired, kind of a disappointment. What is that truly a reflection of? And going back to the Budenholzer situation, after he left Atlanta, where did they go? They've been in a morass ever since. And to touch on the Giannis, that so-called Giannis, Giannis situation, the quotes, I love it. I mean, I don't find it as an indictment on any particular individual.

It's really a great motivating series of quotes to think about how to move on to the next thing. As related to that, everybody's got one big problem in their life that you could never guess by looking at them. They're working on it. They're dealing with it.

That doesn't give anybody any excuses, but it's there. And Budenholzer going from Atlanta to Milwaukee. In Atlanta, you're in Atlanta. You've heard it.

You've heard rumors. I am in Atlanta, and I don't think Budenholzer being gone is any indication on what this Hawks team currently is or what they've become. He already had a limited roster.

The team needed a reset. I don't think Budenholzer has anything to do, good or bad, negative or in between, with the current state of the Hawks at all. My last point is, when's the last time you ever heard of an NBA coaching tree?

We hear about it in the NFL all the time, and we can look at the Parcells tree, et cetera. Is there an NBA coaching tree anymore, Jair? I'll hang up and listen out there.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Paul, for calling from Nebraska. Well, I mean, even as it relates to Coach Budenholzer, he was an assistant for the better part of, it felt like, 15 years with Coach Greg Popovich. We can even look at someone currently coaching right now with Steve Kerr. Steve Kerr, obviously, spending time as a player in the Spurs organization. I told you about Darvin Ham, currently coaching right now, opposite Steve Kerr with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He was a member of the Milwaukee Bucks staff, so we can obviously tie him directly to Coach Budenholzer. Why are there so many conversations about NFL and coaching trees? Because there's a million damn coaches in the NFL. Offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams guy, this, you got the head coach here, assistant coach, you got a quarterbacks coach, this coach wipes the guy's ass. I mean, there's so many coaches. Like, you're bound to have dudes who just bounce up, they bounce down, defensive coordinator, assistant. Ask Bill Belichick, what the hell his guys do.

Bill Belichick had an entire, you know, situation last year between Patricia and then going into Judge. Who does this and who does that? You know, Zach Gelb told us last week on one of the draft shows that we did, Thursday or Friday, he said, I'm up at one of the practices.

He says, I'm looking at, I don't know which one it was, Joe Judge over Patricia's shoulder. Hey man, you should do this and okay, we'll do that. And like, what, what are we doing here? And so who cares about coaching trees?

Like folks got to get a job somehow, right? And now how it works, I'm gonna hire my best friend and now he does this and this guy's gonna, you know, take my clothes to the dry cleaners and you could be my coach cause you kiss my ass. There you go, coaching trees.

It's the JR sport reef show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. A coaching tree did not say Boudin Holzer. And a matter of fact, speaking of the NFL, how is the NFL in trouble again? There are more investigations going on into the NFL.

It's hiring practices, who they hire, who they don't hire, where they hire them. I'm gonna fill you in. I'll keep the phone lines open.

We got a lot to do. 855-212-4CBS. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. You have credit for your profession. You are one of the rare radio personalities that actually balances facts with whatever college you call me with. I'm also a caller for Pearland, Texas. So Pearland, Texas loves you. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS.

It is the JR sport reef show on CBS Sports Radio. Man, I gotta tell you, I feel like a few minutes ago we were just in halftime and the Lakers and Warriors were pretty close and not right now. The Golden State Warriors have kind of blown things up here. About four minutes gone in the third quarter. Golden State leads 82 to 64. Oh, how fast things can change. Let's see if any of the Los Angeles Lakers can get hot and get them back into this game.

Plenty of time still in front of us. Before we went to break, we talked about the firing of head coach Mike Budenholzer from the Milwaukee Bucks. And then for whatever reason, I was asked about, you know, coaching trees. How come nobody talks about coaching trees in the NBA like they do in the NFL? I said, man, there's a million coaches in the NFL. And so as a result, I gotta tell you about the NFL, unfortunately, in the news again. And we'll get into Lamar Jackson. He spoke today because of his brand new contract that he just received from the Baltimore Ravens.

And so we'll get into that. This is the news that the NFL does not want. We know that you got a jerk like Daniel Snyder who is selling the team. Can't get rid of him fast enough. We know about Brian Flores and his lawsuit about hiring practices.

Well, things have continued to just be up in that regards. You have the state attorney generals of New York, Tish James and not Florida, but California, Rob Banta. They have issued subpoenas to the NFL and its executives as part of an examination into the workplace culture at the league's corporate offices in both states. League office primarily operating out of Park Avenue a few blocks away from Grand Central Terminal. And then in Los Angeles in California, the league has an office.

They have a beautiful facility, a studio and an office right across the street from the brand new SoFi Stadium, more so in Inglewood to be specific. And this isn't anything new. We've heard about this in the NFL for years.

This specifically has to deal with women, women feeling safe, hiring practices, et cetera, being able to express themselves. And Tish James said, no person should ever have to endure harassment, discrimination or objectification in the workplace. Banta said he and James have serious concerns about the NFL's role in creating an extremely hostile and detrimental work environment. To be clear, this isn't about any specific team.

This is not about Daniel Snyder. This is not about Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. This is about the NFL and its league office. And can anybody really be surprised when you think about a lot of the allegations that we've always heard, not just in the NFL, but how about in the world, the world of entertainment?

Things like this unfortunately run rampant. And so let's see what these attorney generals in New York and California find. What they find, I'm not gonna be too surprised. I'm expecting the worst. What else is new?

This is the NFL. And we also know it operates as a boys club. So well, at least an old boys club. Let's see what happens there.

And speaking of people behaving badly, Shep, we know gambling is just all over the damn place. Did you hear about the Alabama baseball coach who just got the boot? I did.

Yeah, I saw it this morning. That's rather unfortunate. I guess they're taking Georgia a little bit out of the hot water there.

Oh my God. What did Georgia do to you? Well, I mean, we know about what happened with obviously the guy that went number nine overall.

To be honest with you, he should have been one or two, but reckless driving will do that to you. And so Georgia has been under the microscope. And so I feel like Alabama saying, wait, look at us. Let's really make the SEC look bad here.

Oh, well, if you're not familiar with the story and don't take my word for it, don't take Shep's word for it. Alabama baseball, they got rid of their manager, Brad Bohannon. Listen to this clip. Shout outs to everybody out in Alabama, courtesy of WKRG. This is the bad news, people.

Listen. First on five and new at noon, Alabama baseball coach, Brad Bohannon has been fired after six seasons. It ended with a sports betting scandal. An announcement from the university's athletic department said Bohannon violated the standards, duties and responsibilities expected of university employees. The announcement also named Jason Jackson as interim head coach. The firing comes soon after an announcement from the Ohio Casino Control Commission, which issued an emergency order prohibiting wagers on Alabama baseball, citing suspicious activity.

So here's the deal, folks. Alabama and LSU played in a baseball game this past Friday. This past Friday, okay, the Ohio, you just heard her. The Ohio Casino Control Commission said we don't need anybody betting on this crap.

And then you have a company based in Las Vegas called U.S. Integrity. They found out that somebody was in Vegas, or excuse me, they were in Cincinnati at a BetMGM sports book at Great American Ballpark, home of the Reds. Somebody was placing a bet that Alabama was going to get smacked, okay, that LSU was gonna win. And they found out that the guy who was there at the sports book betting was in direct communication with Brad Bohannon, the manager of Alabama. Alabama basically pulled its starting pitcher an hour before the contest was gonna start, before the game on Friday. They took the starter out, they put another dude in there who nobody knew, and the alarm bells went off. And they found out that Brad Bohannon was obviously involved with this individual who was in Cincinnati placing a bet. And I think I said this maybe for the past month or two months, it's inevitable, it's going to happen.

It's going to be a big name at certain point or one point in time, and the world is going to go into the toilet. It's one thing right now to look at Jamison Williams from the Lions, right, and go, oh, well, he's suspended for six games because he bet on college games at the team facility. It's a no-go for the NFL. Don't bet, don't put money down. Keep that away from the facility and bet your ass, do not bet on the NFL. That's it. And so Jamison Williams suspended for six games.

We saw Calvin Ridley, he got the boot for the entire year when he was still a member of the Falcons. You have a head coach, you have a manager of a college baseball team who's in direct communication with a dude putting down a wager, and he's telling them, yeah, we're going to do whatever we can do to lose this game. So put some money on it for me. Like, what are we doing? Wait until it happens again at the big league level. Why, because he's a college baseball coach. You know, he needs more money. A multi, multi, multimillionaire in the professional ranks is not going to do this. Clock is ticking, folks. It's going to happen, and it'll probably happen sooner than later. I mean, these are multiple weeks, back-to-back weeks.

Hammer's going to drop eventually. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Mark is calling from Ohio. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show, what's up, Mark? Hello, how are you doing tonight?

Excellent, how are you? Good. I just wanted to comment on the Milwaukee Bucks coach. And he may have deserved to be fired.

I don't follow it that closely, Milwaukee that closely. But should the Boston Bruins fire their coach? Did the Bruins fire their coach? No. I mean, should they?

They had the best record of all time. Oh, no, they did give him the boot. No, they did.

Bruce Cassidy, they gave him the boot. Oh, I didn't know that. Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

He still has his job. Yeah. So should they? I mean, that's your opinion.

Well, I think the circumstances are vastly different. I mean, you can look at one individual season. And I think coach Boudin Holzer, he has a history here that dates back 10 years of blowing big games and opportunities. Oh, but he won a championship, right? Yes, he won a championship. And they wanted to give him the boot before he even won that championship. Oh, okay. I didn't know all that. And then the comment about the gambling, isn't it true that, help me recall this, did some NBA referees get caught with that about 10 years ago?

Yes, that was Tim Donahue, and the NBA found him to be a rogue official, and he pretty much stopped the entire investigation following that. And so- Yeah, so I'll, yeah, I agree with you. I don't know what Sparta will be, but you'll see some officials, umpires, something down there, it's gonna happen. I would go further than that and say that there's gonna be an actual player.

It can be management, it could be anybody. Oh, absolutely. It's gonna happen. Yeah, it's just human nature. It's been going on forever.

Yeah, people want that luck. The guy in Cincinnati wasn't Pete Rose, was it? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't go there, did I?

Hey, oh, listen, Pete Rose just wants to get back into baseball, leave him alone. Hey, thank you, Mark. Thank you.

Appreciate you, no doubt about it. Hey, Shupp, what's the deal with the coach? Cassidy was fired. Who's the dude now?

No, you're 100% right. I mean, the dude now, obviously, and you know this, is Jim Montgomery. Jim Montgomery was let go, and I believe he coached the Kings, and he was dealing with all kinds of off-the-ice issues, and so he got his life in order. But you don't fire a guy who wins the most in league history, has the most points in league history, goes to game seven, and it's his first season there.

You just don't do that. Yeah, Bud has five years in Atlanta. Right. He had five years in Milwaukee. He was awful in his last year in Atlanta, JR. He was horrendous. Yeah, well, there were a lot of folks who didn't particularly care for him here, and then when you got Giannis telling you that we should have made adjustments, Giannis came out of his own mouth and pretty much said, hey, I wish, I wish I guarded Jimmy Butler more, but yeah, I'm a professional, and out of respect, I'm gonna defer to our head coach.

I'm like, well, okay. Well, is this supposed to be the next evolution of Giannis? He's in a new phase of his career, okay?

He's already multiple time MVP, finals MVP, top 75. I don't know who's gonna coach the Milwaukee Bucks next, but I would think that whoever comes in, Giannis is going to be consulted, and I would think when you actually get the brass tacks and you take a look at who is there as the coach, hey, Giannis, bruh, it's gonna be your job. Next time to say, I'm guarding this guy. It's not deferring to the coach.

It's saying, I'm out on the floor. This is what you want me to do, but this is what I want to do. This is what I need to do as the leader of the team. I think if anybody has learned anything in this scenario, in this situation, if you needed a reminder, players make the games move forward. Players have the power. Giannis didn't have to stand on a mountain and say, fire coach Bündenholzer, but Giannis said enough by saying they didn't make an adjustments, or any adjustments, or enough adjustments, and Bündenholzer is gone.

Not bad to leave with 16 mil though. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-2124, CBS. We come back from the break. I'll give you an update on the Los Angeles Lakers and the Warriors, and then I want to talk about what Giannis said about failure.

I get, did Bud fail? Get into it, don't move. Get some damn sleep.

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