6.2.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Find out more at t-mobile.com slash C-Y. That's S-E-E-W-H-Y. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Friday.

It is the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm going to be here with you for the next four hours. I hope you had a great Friday. If you did not, let me get you closer to the weekend. Let me help you get your weekend started.

And why not? I'm in a party town. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. This is when I get started.

10 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Pacific, every single weeknight. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd. More importantly, I am being joined by you.

If there is no you, there is no show. So I appreciate you tuning in, taking some time to hang out here with us tonight. We got a guest next hour. Last night, we spoke to Wendell Carter Jr. of the Orlando Magic. He's an active player.

He's a young guy. He hasn't even reached his peak yet. Next hour, we're going to talk to a legend. We're going to talk to a basketball hall of famer, a Nuggets legend. Alex English is going to join us next hour as we take a look at what has already taken place in the NBA Finals and what is likely to take place as things continue on. So Alex English will come through and join us next hour. We will, of course, talk about the dominance of Nikola Jokic and is he finally getting the attention, the just do and respect that he deserves.

And some other news through the course of the day. Looks like Frank Vogel, yes, former Los Angeles Lakers head coach won a championship in the bubble. It appears that he is going to be heading to Phoenix. He's going to be out there coaching just Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

Yep, we'll talk about that. You want to think about people moving or teams moving, people going to new places. The Chicago Bears are going to new places. The Chicago Bears are still looking for some place to play. All my friends in Chicago, you know they want to move away from the lakefront and the place that they wanted to move, the old racetrack, it doesn't appear that that is a certainty. So the Bears looking to get away from downtown, which I think is just nuts.

We learned today that Russell Wilson said no to the Eagles, probably in his best interests. Adam Silver talked more today, or was asked I should say, about John Moran. I don't think Adam Silver is going to run around voluntarily opening up his yap about John Moran. And he pretty much said something that, well, quite a few folks have been saying for weeks now. This thing with John Moran doesn't have anything to do with breaking the law.

This situation with John Moran doesn't have a damn thing to do with his rights. It has to do with his standing as an NBA player, screwing things up for his employer. Speaking of screwing things up, I told you Javonte Tank Davis is locked up. We have an update on that.

I will share it with you. We're one night away from the beginning of the Stanley Cup Finals on TNT. Yes, you heard that correctly. TNT. Von Miller was back in Colorado and he had some words.

And so we got a real Colorado heavy show tonight. Tom Brady also had an interesting point to make about his son. So we'll take a look at what he believes his future will hold. And is Tom Brady's kid going to play football? We'll hear from Tom Brady later on in the show. And then also, we spoke to Andre Ward earlier this week, one of the best boxers, one of the most accomplished boxers of all time in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Andre Ward has a project dropping, actually drops today. And so later on at the end of the show, yeah, I want you to hear from Andre Ward.

And so Alex English next hour and then Andre Ward at the end. And we got a whole lot of me and you in between all of that. If you want to talk to me, it's simple. The phone number is 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS.

I'm online. I'm everywhere at JR Sport Brief. Shep, how are you this Friday night? We know the callers, they get real interesting on the Friday night. They do, JR. We're going to have three Hall of Famers live tonight. That's exciting, man.

How are you? Well, Alex English. Yes, Andre Ward. Andre Ward. Some guy named JR. A Hall of Famer?

Sooner than later. Yeah, listen, I'm in the mind my business, stay out the way, chill out Hall of Fame. I'm cool with that. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Thank you. Let's talk about someone who is, and this is true. This is not an exaggeration. I don't know how many people called or asked about it last night after Nikola Jokic rolled out of bed in the first game, his first game in an NBA Finals and just had a triple double. We had a lot of calls about his legacy and the Nuggets legacy and their future and the series is still going on, but all of this is legitimate.

I remember we had one caller and just specifically asked, is he the greatest big man of all time? I'm like, okay now, just let's park it. Let's stop.

Let's slow down. Let's come to reality. There's a big difference between having potential. There's a big difference in being right in the middle of it.

And then there's a big difference where you max out of everything that you got. Right now, Jokic is in the middle of it. And so to have a conversation about, oh, is he the greatest big man of all time?

Let's just, let's just, let's just kill that completely right now. Is he one of the greatest big men to ever play basketball? I think the answer is yes. Am I saying that by putting him in a top two or three?

No, no, I'm not doing that. There've been plenty of great big men. You can name them in your head right now. Whether you want to say it's a Wilt or Shaq or Naqim, if you want to name 10 great big men that have ever played in the NBA or 15 of them, Jokic is one of the best bigs to have ever played. I think that's well enough.

I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say, if Nikola Jokic decided to retire tomorrow, tomorrow, not hypothetically, obviously, but if the man retired tomorrow, he'd go into the basketball hall of fame. Okay. The bar and the barrier to entry is not all that, that high.

Okay. And it's not just what you do in the NBA. It's, it's your, your, your accomplishments and contributions to the game of basketball. People hear basketball hall of fame and they automatically go towards what somebody did in the NBA.

It's just like, let's slow down. It's not the NBA basketball hall of fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. It's the basketball hall of fame. You know, there's a reason why a guy like Yao Ming can go in, although he didn't win a championship. He didn't win a ring. He played and went to a bunch of all-star games and his feet gave out on him. I wouldn't go, Hey, let's just put them in the basketball hall of fame, but it's his contributions to basketball representing China and being a trailblazer. And it's, it goes beyond what he just did on the court and what we're seeing from Jokic, given his MVPs, given his all-star games and his appearances and what he's doing now, he's finally getting the respect that he deserves.

27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds last night. All Jokic needs right now is a stamp. That's it. Just a championship, a stamp. There will be no more conversations. There will be no more debate. There will be no ands, ifs, or buts about if he's one of the greatest centers to have ever played. And all he needs is three more games. And you got to love Jokic because he's not stat hunting. He's not stat padding. He's like a basketball robot and maybe not a robot.

Maybe that's too strong, right? Robots, they don't make mistakes, right? Robots always get things correct, right? Jokic is the closest thing to it. I've never looked at a shot that Jokic took and said, oh my God, why is this idiot taking that shot? I've never looked at a pass that he's thrown and said, wait, why did he miss that guy? He's wide open in the corner.

Why is he throwing it into the paint? I've never seen Nikolai Jokic go for a, you know, a through the legs dunk and let the ball slip out of his hands. Sorry, LeBron. Jokic just plays. He plays perfectly. He's the guy that you can't beat. When Del Carter Jr. told us this last night, he even thinks he can get better.

The thing that you really got to love? He's all about the team. And last night Jokic said, our team? Oh yeah, nine days off, who cares?

Doesn't matter. We were in the right mindset to get it done. I think we did a good job.

You know, the guys were focused and how it's supposed to be and we were really focused and locked into the game. Okay. Hey Shep, how many words did he say? What are you, 20 words? More than Joe Mazzulla. Yeah, well, Joe Mazzulla, they're gonna put him in practice in the off season.

Someone who's never short on words, always expressing himself. It's Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler spoke last night after the loss of which the Miami Heat could only generate two free throw attempts, which is still sickening to me and I don't play. That's what Jimmy Butler had to say about why they suck last night. Probably because we shot a lot of jump shots myself, probably leading that pack instead of putting pressure on the rim, getting layups, getting to the free throw line. You know, when you look at it during the game, they all look like the right shots and I'm not saying that we can't as a team make those, but got to get more layups, got to get more free throws and whenever you miss and don't get back, the games get out of hand kind of quickly. We gave up too many layups, which we also can't have happen, but that's it as a whole. We got to attack the rim a lot more, myself included.

Yeah, you gonna, well, we know that about getting to the hole. You damn right. Y'all giving up a bunch of layups. Y'all are short. Short. Michael Porter Jr. is 6 foot 10. Nikolai Jokic is like seven feet tall. They're lying on that man. They say he's 6'11". No, that man is seven feet tall. They are a problem.

They're huge. Someone who understands that this guy or this team is a problem is Eric Spolstra. He's not going to wake up.

He's not going to make any excuses about the Miami Heat and the elevation and why they stunk, but he did say after the game, he's like, oh yeah, no, no blank. I knew this team was going to be difficult to beat. You don't expect it to be easy when you get to this final round. This is a great challenge. It's going to require more.

We'll get to work and, and, you know, see what we can do better, what we can do harder, what we can do with more effort, what we can do with more focus, et cetera. All y'all can do is just go to the basket and knock down J's. That's it? That's it? Y'all can't grow four and five inches over two or three days. Hey, Chef, have you seen the surgery to make the people grow?

They break your legs and, you know, they, they make you grow taller. Did you see that? I have not seen it because obviously that type of surgery does not exist. Oh no, it exists. Oh, you being serious?

They break your, they break your legs and I think they take a, they, they take, uh, one of the bones from, I don't know, they take a bone from somewhere in your leg and they elongate them and you can, there's a guy who grew like five, six inches. I'm not lying. Oh, I mean, does that, is that, does that last? No, I wouldn't want to try to find out. Either would I.

Well, if you hate someone, you know what you're getting them for the holidays now. Uh, a leg, leg, leg lengthening procedure. Yeah, you can check it off as a, hey, you always complained about height.

Well now here's your resolution. Uh, I don't, I don't know how it works when it's time to a run and or jump. Those might be a prohibitive things. Maybe walking is prohibitive, but uh, yeah, either way. Yeah, you can grow.

Like everybody complained. You, you, you can't grow. Is it, is it considered growing? No, right? No, that would not be considered a growing. That would be a considered failing.

That's just not, that's just not a healthy existence right there. People are getting it. People are getting, they, they're becoming taller, but the Miami Heat can't do it. If they want this surgical procedure, they could probably never play basketball again.

And uh, it doesn't happen over three days or three weeks. And so I want to say that they probably screwed. That's just my thought. In my opinion, I had a guy last night just tell me about the Miami Heat and Oh Jr. You said today, you didn't think they were going to you damn right. I didn't think they did. And I was wrong.

I don't think I'm, I feel strongly and stronger about this than anything I've ever said. That the Denver Nuggets are going to win this series. You know why? Because Nikola Jokic and there's a million reasons.

I told you they're too big. They have the best player. I think they have the second most dynamic scorer, if not the most dynamic scorer and Jamal Murray.

Let me correct myself. And then they have a coach who's just, just never satisfied. And he is playing up the underdog card better than anybody. And that's Mike Malone. And so for the Nuggets last night to have a 24 point lead and ultimately win the game by only 11 points, Mike Malone was not happy.

And he's one of the reasons I think they'll do good and win this. We're up 1-0. That's great, but we have to close games out. We're up 21 to start that fourth quarter and they open up with a quick 8-0 run. Turnover, layup. We miss a few open shots against the zone. Give up some threes. So in the finals, man, you can't pick and choose when you want to play.

We got to play much closer to 48 minutes. Mike Malone is, he's due here with these Nuggets. There's no such thing as a perfect team. I think the Nuggets can stand to have more bench depth. But I think when you look at the guys they actually play and you look at the best player and you look at the second best player and the fourth best player and the fifth best player, you look at how they play and there's no egos. I didn't hear anything about Jamal Murray punching Porter. I didn't hear anything about Jokic just trying to leave the team. They just play basketball.

And I really appreciate that. I'm glad the Nuggets are finally getting their just due. And let's see if the Heat can hang in there with them. Game two is Sunday night.

You got two nights to get ready for it. And good on Mike Malone. The head coach makes sure his guys are never, ever satisfied.

Despite the success they've had throughout the course of the regular season and even here in the playoffs. Nuggets got this. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We got a busy show. Alex English, Nuggets legend, is gonna join us next hour. We're gonna hear from Andre Ward, boxing legend, later on in the show. We're gonna hear from Tom Brady. He had some comments about his son playing football. Von Miller spoke and he still sounded like he was in Denver. We got the Stanley Cup Finals starting tomorrow.

Russell Wilson said no to the Eagles. We got a lot to do. It's the JR Sport Reef Show on CBS Sports Radio.

We're just getting started. 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. So much talk about what's currently going on in the NBA Finals. There continues to be news made just across the NBA. Nick Nurse is now the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. We see Monty Williams. He gets a job. He's now gonna be out here with the Pistons making more money than Greg Popovich. And then we have another job that's filled. Today we learned that the Phoenix Suns have added Frank Vogel.

We don't know those contractual terms yet. The last time we saw Frank Vogel, he was out here coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. He was basically the fall guy because LeBron James was hurt and Anthony Davis was hurt and Russell Westbrook couldn't hit a jumper to save his life.

They didn't even make it to the play-in, let alone the playoffs. And so somebody had to get the boot and it was Frank Vogel. We know that the Lakers brought in Darvin Ham and they went to the Western Conference semi-finals.

Excuse me, finals. I don't want to shortchange LeBron. Now having said that at the same time, Darvin Ham also had a better roster to finish the year with. Frank Vogel won a championship in the bubble with the Los Angeles Patriots.

Now somebody has to get the boot right and he got the boot. Well, at least now Frank Vogel is in Phoenix. He has Devin Booker. He has Kevin Durant. He has an old Chris Paul. When's the last time you've seen Chris Paul finish a season healthy? Even when they went to the finals, and then they paid him all of that money. 38 years old, Chris Paul is right now. You got DeAndre Ayton, he's 24 years old. You don't know what the hell the deal is with him.

But I'll tell you this much. Starting with Booker, having Kevin Durant not too shabby. Frank Vogel takes over and I remember this very clearly. After the Suns were eliminated from the playoffs, Kevin Durant was asked about whether or not they got enough to to compete into the future, and this is what Kevin Durant had to say. Yeah, I mean it's hard right now to see what the future will hold for our team, but you know we got a good foundation, good infrastructure, you know we can build on and move on from this and learn from it and get better from it.

But it's a hard question to answer right now. I'm sure that you know as the summer and off season starts to progress, we'll figure that out a little bit more. Yeah, well off season is underway and Frank Vogel is in the building. Frank Vogel started with the Pacers more than a decade ago, had that team with Paul George and Roy Hibbert. Where the hell is Hibbert at? Hey Shub, you think he's still playing basketball somewhere, Roy Hibbert?

He has probably been out of the game now for seven, eight years, JR. He's playing, it's on that door when we used to do it when we were kids. You think he's playing basketball on the back of a door? Yes.

Oh that's terrible. I mean it's been a minute since he's been in the league, JR. Well I know the NBA, yes. It appears that he is currently a player development coach for the 76ers.

That's why they're out now. Maybe we could thank Roy Hibbert for the MVP award for Joel Embiid, it's possible. I guess not.

I'm sorry, I thought you were kidding. Ah, I don't, he's player development, what is he developing? Right, listen, out of those Georgetown guys, and we love Jeff Green on the show. He's the worst big guy? No, well by far, when you consider Zo, Mutombo, and Ewing, but out of those two guys, I thought Hibbert was going to be the one lasting.

I mean Jeff Green is still a rotational player on a championship team, Roy Hibbert's been out of the league for almost a decade. Go figure. Yes, it's hard to be, how tall was he? Seven one?

Something like that, seven two? Be taller. Yeah, it's hard to be that big, you've been that tall before, Shep? Been that tall on the ladder. I mean Roy Hibbert, without looking, I think he was a legitimate seven three. I think, yeah, somewhere around there. Maybe a little shorter.

Anyway, if me and you wanted to get there, you'd have to break both of our legs and stack us up. But he was on that team with Vogel, and then he, unfortunately, I don't think too many people remember this, Frank Vogel did coach the Orlando Magic, and then he coached the Los Angeles Lakers to a title. And so, we don't know how much money Frank Vogel is going to get with the Phoenix Suns, but I'll tell you this, if he doesn't win with Booker and Durant, he going to get fired again.

They're just going, they're going to send him more money, and they're going to tell him to go away, and just take a hike. Because it's a hard knock life here in the NBA. Nick Nurse wins a championship, the boot. Doc Rivers wins a championship, okay, not recently, but the boot. Monty Williams helped turn around the Suns, they gave him the boot. Frank Vogel won with the Lakers in the bubble, and his team sucks not because of him, but because of the roster construction, he gets the boot.

Doc Rivers said it, doesn't matter who you are, what you've accomplished, nobody is safe. You going to get the boot. And if I'm being honest here right now, it's too early to predict what the Suns round out their roster with, unless there's a major, major, major trade or event that takes place. I don't know if it's going to take a year, or two, or three, I think less than that. I don't think Frank Vogel is in Phoenix for a long time. See what they do with the roster, that's what's going to be more important. It's less about Coach Vogel. What's more important is who they serve.

It's who they surround Durant and Booker with. Good luck to Frank Vogel, them checks are going to cash. You going to get the blame at the end of the day.

Sorry. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to get to your calls on the other side of the break, and speaking of getting the boot, the Chicago Bears aren't getting the boot, from the lakefront, from Soldier Field.

The Chicago Bears are putting on their boots, and they're just trying to walk away. I'm going to explain on the other side, the phone lines are open, it's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio 855-212-4CBS. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I just want to say thank you for being on this show and giving me some good content every time I leave my girlfriend's house. Give me some time to chill, relax and listen to some good sports news.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Yeah man, well that's why I'm here. I'm here so when you leave your girlfriend's house... I was going to say leave your wife's house, but that doesn't make sense. If you leave your mistress's house or wherever you're leaving, I'm here hanging out with you.

I got nothing to do with it though, that's all your business. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to tell you about the Chicago Bears and their potential new home. We're going to have Alex English, Nuggets legend. He's going to join us next hour, so we got a lot to do. Let's hit the phone lines. Let's start off with Bruce.

He is calling from Chicago. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up, Bruce? Hey JR, how you doing my friend? I'm very well. What's on your mind?

Well, you know, I hear you... I just turned on the channel over here and I was listening about, you know, Kenneth Durant. You know, Kenneth Durant.

I have a legitimate question. How many more chances does Kevin Durant get with these championship teams? I mean, I'm kind of tired of seeing him getting shot after shot, shot after shot. Like, you know, and then... What do you mean by that? You're tired of Kevin Durant getting shot after shot.

What do you mean? I mean, this is like his third, this is like his third, this is like his third team, third or fourth team now that he's trying to win a championship with. Well, he was drafted by Oklahoma City. He then decided to go to the Golden State Warriors. He then signed with Brooklyn. And then this, just a couple of months ago, he was traded from Brooklyn to the Phoenix Suns. So you could say three teams.

He had no say in going to OKC or Seattle. I'm just kind of like, I'm just tired of... You know, I mean, I know you have a whole new generation of other basketball players coming out, but I hope to see something new. I actually like this series with the Nuggets and the Nuggets and the Heat. It's good to see some other teams in there for a change rather than seeing the same, the same, same teams up in there trying to get a playoff spot. I mean, I look, but I want to see different teams fight. OK, well, we got different teams.

But I'll tell you this, Bruce, and thank you so much for calling from Chicago. I'm not going to get tired of watching Kevin Durant. He's one of the most exciting players that any human being has ever seen pick up a basketball. It's hard to believe that Kevin Durant is going to be 35 years old in September.

He's going to be 35 years old. Kevin Durant has been in the NBA for now going on 15 years. He started off with the Supersonics.

Do you remember that? He was on the last year of the Seattle or the Supersonics being in Seattle. Kevin Durant is the bridge. I'm going to be sad when he's done and he's gone, because it feels like that the time just flew by. Was it the injuries here over the past few seasons?

Maybe, possibly so. Achilles injuries and knee injuries. Between Brooklyn and Phoenix, he basically played half a season. He only played eight regular season games with the Phoenix Suns this year. And then we know that the Denver Nuggets, they got them the hell up on out of the playoffs. And so at least for Kevin Durant, he's a very smart basketball player.

I mentioned this maybe last night, two nights ago. When it comes down to efficiency and playing the game at a particular scope and not going too nuts or crazy. Kevin Durant, he's efficient as hell.

Mid-range game is proper. Every now and then, there's some more isolation and dribbling than you will see with Jokic, but the guy can do it. He's a seven-foot tall shooting guard, which is nice. And so that's the reason I'm not going to get tired of looking at Kevin Durant, because I've never seen anybody, anybody his size move the way that he does. And I'm going to be sad when he's gone. Ridiculously fun to watch.

855-2124 CBS, Chris is calling from California. How are you tonight, man? Happy weekend. I'm good.

Go ahead, please. Hey, I'm actually in Little Saigon tonight, but in the South Sac area. I was up at City Party, liquor.

Now I'm outside Sunrise Chinese Restaurant. Brothers, you got a lot of fans up here, man. There's like six cars surrounding me right after I pulled in here to call you, and everybody's blasting your show. It's totally insane.

It's all these Asian women. I'm like, what's going on here, man? Anyway, it's crazy. So, who are you?

I'm Kevin Durant. It's crazy. So, hello? Yeah. Do you have anything relevant to say, Chris?

Go ahead. Yeah, actually, you know, I wanted to comment on, you know, I, as you probably heard, I picked Denver in five. I said, ain't no job Denver in five, but got some bad news earlier, JR. Was very lucky and privileged to see my three grandkids today.

And Clary, I mean, she's Indonesian. Had four words to say, heat and six hero. Well, let's see if Tolly Hero can come back. Hey, shop, I heard Tolly Hero may try to come back as soon as Sunday. Have you heard the same thing? You know, the thing I heard last night was what you reiterated was game three, because I think if you are the heat, you don't bring him back in game two. Although I understand they want that to be an adjustment period.

So by the time he does play at home for the first time in more than a month, he's acclimated. But JR, he's not going to make a significant difference because when you look at what Caleb Martin has done in lieu of him, he's been what Tyler Hero was at Tyler Hero's apex. No, I think it, well, it has, it has been reported initially. What I said last night was, was game three. But we've also now heard that game two is a possibility. And I would happen to agree with you and not because Caleb Martin has, has taken his spot.

What do you have last night? Two, three points Caleb Martin did? Well, that's, but I'm, but I mean, we're, we're, we're, the Caleb Martin we're talking about is obviously the guy we saw in game seven. The guy that you can make a legitimate argument should have won the Larry Bird trophy over, you know, Jimmy Butler in that Eastern Conference Finals. But the, the, the fact is he's probably more of in the middle. He balled out against a team that was just out there. That's just, they were just playing.

The Boston Celtics ain't really have no aim. And regardless of how you feel about Caleb Martin, you're going to be trying to cram Tyler Hero in and it's, I agree with you. I don't think it's going to make a difference. Is he going to play defense? No. Is he going to grow a couple of inches?

No. No, all we know for Tyler Hero is for him to go out there and get buckets and get shots. And will it alleviate some of the pressure off of Jimmy Butler? I can't even say that because all Tyler Hero does is shoot. He doesn't do anything else. And so I would be, I'd be shocked or surprised if the addition of Tyler Hero is going to make any difference. What is he going to do? Give you 15, 16, 17 points? So he can try to play on Sunday night. He can come back and play on Wednesday.

I think the series is pretty much going to be decided before we even get there. 855-212-4CBS. Brian is calling from Oregon. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show.

Hey, JR. I was just listening to the conversation about Kevin Durant. You know, he's a top 10 player in the league, but he's a coach killer. He thinks he doesn't need a coach. And everywhere he goes, the coach gets fired. And the good decision he made to go to Golden State, he won two championships.

And that's it for his career. Yeah, I would, I would, I would go against any, any idea that he is a, a coach killer. You're correct in the fact that he has now played for basically a different head coach for the past several seasons, the past several years.

And that has to do more so with, with his movement. You know, I don't, I don't know Kevin Durant personally. I haven't spoken to the guy in years, but I can tell you this. He just plays basketball.

He is not someone who, who gets involved in politics. I think if you take a look at what was said between Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving a few seasons ago, where they basically railed about Nash and it was going to be collaborative. That was more so Kyrie Irving and, and just Durant going, yeah, we're all going to have input, but I would, I would kind of bristle at the fact that he is a coach killer. Durant is- Well, I've heard reports of the last coach for the Suns, which he's a hell of a coach. And he had say in him leaving for more than a year. No, no, no, no, Matt, Matt Ishbia came in and didn't have the greatest relationship with relationships with Monty Williams. It is, it is very hard, but it is very hard for me to believe based on my experience and what I know and what I've seen that he would run around and say, I don't want this guy here.

I'm telling you that from personal experience. You know, when I think about coach killers in the NBA, I think about dudes like James Harden who blatantly quit on teams. And to think about people being coach killers right now, Kevin Durant is not a diva. Kevin Durant is just someone who shows up, plays ball, doesn't want to be bothered with anything else.

And that's it. He's not someone who would walk into a room and says, this guy has to go unless the guy was complete garbage. And so I just want to tell you, I would, I don't think that's the case at all.

That's fair enough. But can I say something for him being a top 10 player in the league? How come he doesn't have more to show for his career than the championships with Golden State? Well, I think part of it, when you look at where he was in Oklahoma City, they had a very young roster. And let's go back and think about the two players that he had on the team with him.

Oh, I know. Russell Westbrook and James Harden. And so if we have to go back and change the course of history, you know, could they have developed into winning a title or two? Possibly. I can't blame the man for saying, I want out. You know, people can say, oh my God, he went to the team that beat him and he went to Golden State. I think if you want to identify a larger mistake and I can't knock him for that, for not wanting to be there anymore, it was for leaving the Warriors. And so in the case of Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant was going to be damned if he did or damned if he did not. Whatever he did, he was going to be damned. But why didn't he stay and win more championships though?

The damned did not. Brian, Brian, have you ever have you ever had the opportunity to make a ton of money and just go wherever you want? No, I have not. So I can tell you, when you play something or you participate in something in the highest level, what you on the outside might perceive to be success might not be the same for someone else. You might get sick of being in a particular place.

You might want a new challenge. And so that's why I say from the minute that Kevin Durant, and thank you for calling from Oregon, from the minute that Kevin Durant decided to leave Oklahoma City, it didn't matter where he went or what he did. He's going to be criticized. He was more heavily criticized because he went to the team that just beat him. He went to a team that was primed to keep on winning championships and didn't necessarily need his help.

And you know what? On the opposite end, I will always respect him for as much as he would go on Twitter and have a burner account. I respect him for doing it because it's not easy to be the snake in the punching bag. And it's been so much said about what he did as opposed to the type of player he is and was. And that is absolutely phenomenal when you're at the level of a Kevin Durant. Hey, you can call your shots and he has it hasn't worked out for him. And that's certainly something that maybe he does regret or will regret, but I'm not going to look at the guy. He's a coach killer and he's this guy. He's one of the best basketball players ever.

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