It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you're amazing. I hope you're all of the good things. Happy Friday to you.
I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. And for the last time, I'll explain why in a bit. For the last time, I'm being joined by super producer and host. His name is Ryan Hickey. He's holding it down in New York City.
And we got a lot to get into here over the next four hours. Unfortunately, due to his health issues, Greg Popovich is done as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. He's finished.
He'll still be around, I will explain. Apparently, LeBron James, known for flopping. LeBron James is dealing with a legitimate injury. I guess on the bright side, if there is such a thing, the season is over. He has all the time in the world to rehab, even though LeBron James hasn't told us whether or not he's going to return.
Yeah, we know he's coming back. Jalen Brunson lost his mind last night. Sent the Detroit Pistons season packing. They were already at home.
They didn't have to go far. Mike Trout is hurt again. Clippers and the Nuggets are going to a game seven. Trey Hendrickson, remember him? The guy looking for a contract with the Cincinnati Bengals? It looks like he just might get paid by the Bengals. What a world. How are the Bengals going to work that out?
I have no idea. Hey, we got game six between the Rockets and the Golden State Warriors tonight. We're getting closer and closer to the WNBA season.
You know what that means? Yeah, just Kaitlyn Clark. I mean, what else is there?
It's Kaitlyn Clark. Come on. What else? We're going to be joined by Colin Word Henninger. He's going to come through and join us. NBA writer for CBSSports.com, talk about all this basketball action we got going on in the world.
At the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. And this is an interesting story. I hope this never, ever, ever happens to you. I hope you never get sued for being a homewrecker.
Yeah, you heard me correctly. It's Friday. We're going to have people out here wrecking homes for the weekend. Maybe you are a homewrecker. Good for you.
Just one day, try not to get sued. Like wide receiver Steve Smith. Yeah, from the Carolina Panthers, from the Ravens. Yeah, he's getting sued for being a homewrecker. Put that on the list of things I never hope to happen to me in my life.
It don't never happen. I'm not wrecking home, so I got to worry about it. Anyway, you can find me online everywhere. 888-710-4ISN. That's the phone number.
You can find me online at JR Support Brief. Thank you for listening on the free Odyssey app. Thank you for tuning in live and local on your affiliate, wherever you might live. You got Sirius XM and Channel 375.
If you got a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. Hickey, this is bittersweet for the last time, at least for now. You never know how this world works. How the hell you feeling? You good?
I am good. Yeah, it is. It is very sad. This is the last show you and I have been working together. It's it still has not sunk in.
It's pretty crazy. Well, first of all, explain to the beautiful people, the listeners, where the hell you're going. You're not disappearing off the face of the earth and neither am I.
That is true. I'm still staying here on the Infinity Sports Network, just moving up a little bit in terms of hours and now we'll be producing starting Monday, Bill Ryder's show, Ryder the New, 10 Eastern, right here on the Infinity Sports Network. So just switching roles, which means unfortunately no more nights with you, JR. It's very sad. It is very sad.
It's very unfortunate. Working with you has been absolutely amazing for the past year and a half when I moved up to this spot. And I'm happy for you to get a time earlier in the day part. And then you're Bill Ryder. You basically went from New York to Atlanta. Now you're going from New York to L.A. How about that? Coast to coast. That's what we do here.
This guy Hickey is hitting every every corner of the country. Good stuff. And then stuff. And then also your show will continue on as well.
No, it will. Yes. Just earlier on Sunday. So instead of 10 p.m. Eastern on Sunday nights, it is now going to be 2 p.m. Eastern on Sundays. I got to figure out a new name. I'm open to suggestions because headcat night starts at two. Right.
Does not work. If you got anything, Jr., I'm open to anything creative because I don't know that it's not the same thing, is it? No, not the same thing.
I don't think at least. And I'm going to try to avoid a name that has all sorts of time in it. Because of the off chance that my show moves again. Right. I don't have to rethink of another name again. Right.
But right now I'm kind of stuck. Ryan Hickey on a Sunday. I don't know.
I don't I don't know. That's a dumb name. The best I got was The Hickey Show. The Hickey Show? Really original. I don't want to do Ryan Hickey Show.
I think it's too boring, too original, too black. You don't want to use your whole name? I don't think so.
No. OK. Because everyone does that. I don't I don't use my name.
Just go by the JR Sport Brief Show. And that's my name. Original to you. You're right. It is. I like that a lot. That's what I'm trying to go for. OK. OK. All right.
But I need something, you know, equivalent. Put my thinking cap on. Thank you, Jr. It should have Hickey in it, though. It should. I agree. And I'm trying to just think of like I don't want to do the Hickey experience because I'm not Joe Rogan and I'm not interesting. We have to think about things that rhyme with Hickey. Wow.
I had a few pops in my brain immediately. And let me tell you that that are OK for Sunday. All right. OK, for Sunday. You know, Hickey, a lot of times the Sunday afternoons, you know, I'm running around in my car, might be going to and from a place, might be going to and from a brewery. And so don't be surprised if at some point in time, you know, I'm just rolling around on a Sunday minding my business and I go, you know, let me just call Hickey. Let me just say, what's up? Is that OK? I'm not trying to intrude.
That would be OK. That'd be welcome, please. I'll give you the special line. So, you know, you get right to the top here. Special line?
The MVP line. I'm going to call the 888-710-4ISN line. I respect that you are just one of the people. Yeah, well, hey, I was going to say by the four people, by the people. But somebody did that already.
I think that quite a few people have done that anyway. It's good stuff. It's been a pleasure. Hickey, I'm sure at some point in time, we'll work together in some capacity and nobody dying. So that's that's a good thing, right? When you put it that way. Yeah, it could be a lot worse. Yeah, it's definitely one of us could not be here, not for a different show, but right.
The completely different reasons for death. There you go. And I'm happy that's not the case. Well, anyway, as Jimmy Butler pops up on the screen, just right in front of me, it's like there's Jimmy Butler anyway. He'll be in action later tonight as the Golden State Warriors once again try, try to eliminate the Houston Rockets. Yeah, the Rockets are tough out there, man. Good luck, especially with Steph Curry running around with that busted up thumb out there trying to hurt that man. And unfortunately, speaking of, you know, the Rockets trying to hurt Steph Curry.
It's a lot of heartbroken people in San Antonio, Texas, especially given what has taken place over the past basically several months, the NBA season. Greg Popovich is no longer the head coach. Of the San Antonio Spurs is done. You might recall earlier in the season, Greg Popovich, he he suffered a stroke.
He's been out of action. And now it's it's over. He's going to I don't want to say retire, but he is retiring. Greg Popovich is going to be president full time. Now, let's also be clear. Greg Popovich was the president.
OK, I don't care about no RC Buford's and Holt's and what have you. Greg Popovich was the president. A matter of fact, Greg Popovich is 76 years old. This man coached the San Antonio Spurs for twenty nine seasons, five championships. And when he took over, when Greg Popovich took over, he was already upstairs. He was in the front office. Nobody hired him. He fired Bob Hill, who also at one point in time coached the Magic. He fired Bob Hill and Greg Popovich gave himself the job in 1996.
And tell me, that's not sweet. Over the course of time, he's like, hey, I got David Robinson. Oh, David Robinson is hurt. I got Tim Duncan. Oh, man, the San Antonio Spurs did an amazing job over the years, adding talent. Oh, we got we got Manu Ginobili. Oh, yeah, we got we got Tony Parker. We got Kawhi Leonard.
Like they are all about culture. You know, one time they added Steven Jackson, but they and he fit in surprisingly didn't punch nobody in the face. The San Antonio Spurs knew and know how to find talent.
You want to talk about small market, you look at some of these teams that just suck, can't get out of their own way. Spurs have just done things the right way. High character individuals, superstars who work.
You want to talk about having a system. I mean, how the hell do you go from David Robinson, the admiral? OK, this man, it was in the service. Come on. Then you go to Tim Duncan.
They want to do nothing but play basketball. His nickname was the big fundamental. You bring on Kawhi Leonard from San Diego State. Nobody even heard the guy speak and he's busting ass. And now you're with Victor Wabunyama. All he wants to do is he turns his phone off at night and reads books.
God bless him. We need more human beings like that. How the hell do the Spurs end up with all of these players like this? They know how to attract talent and they get them in the draft. Come on now. But they know what they want.
They know what, how they want to put things together. And so whether or not you hated Greg Popovich for some of those nasty, mean interviews. Whether you appreciated him, I love them. Hickey, I got a I got a Tim Duncan jersey in my house right now.
I don't know what year it's from. It may be from like 1999, 2000, just because I liked the fact that Tim Duncan showed up and just got the job done. I like the Spurs.
I like Greg Popovich. I appreciate how they ran and how he's oversaw overseeing the organization for the past 30 plus years, man. They were essentially like the early version of the Patriots. Grumpy coach, players that just did their job. They had, you know, their own kind of culture built in, not many big time personalities, at least in the heyday of both of those franchises. And just one consistently had guys every year that were consistent as hell.
Yeah. Yeah, they they just and they're still rolling. And it's like as the Patriots dynasty went to crap because Belichick got on Brady's nerves and Brady was sick of it. There was no contingency plan.
There was nothing after that. And unfortunately for Greg Popovich, he didn't get a chance to coach, you know, Victor, when Benyama all the way through a few years into his career, he got all of last year. The beginning of this year, unfortunately, is when he suffered the stroke and Mitch Johnson took over was now the full time head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
Like they got a plan. He is seven foot four. Unfortunately, his season ended with blood clots and he had a blood clot in his arm. It'd be nice if Popovich were to see this through, but at least for the Spurs and him and their fans, they got one Benyama. And even though Greg Popovich is no longer going to be on the bench, he's still president. Derek White, who's played in his career with the San Antonio Spurs, he was there. I mean, now he's on the Celtics winning championships.
Derek White talked about the impact that Popovich had on his career. High school like that. I got a chance to go to the league where I was in high school. I was like, let me try to get to college.
And so it's just kind of a little different story, I guess. But I mean, he just kept pushing me and just knew he saw something in me that I didn't see myself. And obviously my first year I was in the G League, which allowed me to figure out the NBA game.
And then it's from there, just continue to push me and just add that confidence. I mean, I used to be in the middle room. He'd walk in and just say, you belong and walk out. So just little things like that, which is cool to hear from the greatest coach of all time. Yeah, now look at what Derek White is doing, a key part, a champion. They call him underrated. He's one of the best guards in the league. And he's just like, I just do my thing on the Celtics. Like, Greg Popovich is the man. I appreciate Greg Popovich because he was never afraid to speak his mind. You know, he was just, and yeah, he hated talking to the media. He didn't like the end game. I gotta talk to Craig Sager, was making fun of his suits and he didn't like that stuff. Greg Popovich, another military man, he was never afraid to speak his mind and stand up for what was right.
I appreciate that about Greg Popovich. And I don't know his current health status. We know he suffered a stroke. I think about a week, two weeks ago, he had some type of another medical emergency at a restaurant. We heard that he's okay after that. We may not hear him speak again. I don't know. We may not see him publicly.
It's certainly not going to be on the same frequency. You could turn on the television. There's Greg Popovich, you know, before the game, you talk to Greg Popovich, after Greg Popovich, pre-season, after. Greg Popovich, you don't gotta you don't gotta talk to anybody anymore.
And so most certainly his time in the forefront is going to go into the back. But for the better part of 25 years, 25 plus years, almost 30 years. Yeah, damn it, 30 years, Greg Popovich has been a key figure at the forefront of the NBA and he's done an amazing job. Five championships, hall of fame players, Robinson and Duncan, I guess soon to be when Benyama, Ginobili, Tony Parker.
Come on, man. Kawhi Leonard, another all of Famer. You couldn't ask for a better coaching career than what Greg Popovich gave and what he got in return, what he heralded, what he helped cultivate. It's always about the talent, but somebody has to bring in the talent and somebody has to make sure that it all works together.
Together. All the best to Greg Popovich. No longer head coach, now president.
And now that I showed a lot of love to the man. Let's listen to Greg Popovich annihilate the media. This is what we want. From being in this position against the Hornets two years ago. What? Think about the Hornets two years ago? You're in a similar position.
No, I won't think about that at all. These guys are grown men. They don't need me to say, now, remember the Hornets fellas. We've got to really pull it together for game three. Maybe I'll talk about the gipper.
If I'm going to talk about the Hornets. Okay. What do you want?
I'm so tired of this. What went wrong for you guys tonight? What went wrong for us? Yeah.
This afternoon. Sorry. I lost my they played better than we did.
Like not wearing their Jersey when they're coming out to play. How frustrating is it for you to keep composure in that moment? How hard is your serious? Anybody else got a question that makes any sense?
Anybody got a question that makes any sense? Yeah. Sometimes you just got to soak in what you got while you have it. Nothing lasts forever. And those experiences, I know a lot of those reporters, they're going to remember forever, but we won't have any more of that. No more coach Popovich ripping apart the media, no more end game interviews, no more preseason availability about the roster intermittent. If that from Greg Popovich, hey, all the best to him as he now sits upstairs and consults.
And we know those jobs could be kind of touch and go. I don't think Greg Popovich is going to be out there punching the clock. He's going to oversee and give his thoughts as best as he can as to what's going on with the Spurs.
We still don't know his full health status. All the best to Greg Popovich. And thank you so much for being one of the more entertaining and accomplished figures that we've had here in sports over the past 30 years. All the best sitting upstairs in the big boy room. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on the infinity sports network. It's Friday. We got a lot to get into.
I told you about that. I'm going to talk about Mike Trout hurt again. We have the Rockets and the Golden State Warriors tonight. The Rockets are trying to push a game seven.
The Warriors are trying to end it. We're going to have a chat with Colin Ward Henninger. He's coming through to join us to talk some NBA basketball courtesy of CBS Steve Smith. This man is getting sued for being a home wrecker.
Stay away from that man. Caitlin Clark back in the news. I'm going to tell you why the WNBA season is getting ready to start. Trey Hendrickson, is he about to get a big deal from the Cincinnati Bengals? We'll talk about Jalen Brunson lighting it up, helping the New York Knicks advance. Matter of fact, he might as well be the New York Knicks. The Clippers and Nuggets are going to a game seven. And yeah, Greg Popovich, he might be done with the Spurs, at least from a coaching capacity. LeBron James this season is done.
And maybe it's for the better. LeBron James dealing with an issue that we found out about today. Matter of fact, I'll tell you what it is on the other side of the break.
Happy Friday. We're just getting started. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief.
It is the J.R. Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Greg Popovich done. He's finished. Unfortunately, he had a stroke at the beginning of the season. And now he's no longer the head coach after 29 seasons. His time is up with the San Antonio Spurs. He's now the president, which he was before he fired the coach and hired himself as the coach. Isn't that kind of crazy?
That's it. I don't think a lot of people know that, like he was the president. He fired the coach and took over.
And he basically took over a team that was just going to, you know, run the league and be one of the top teams over the past 30 years. That's kind of nuts. It really is.
And it's a power play. That's one of those, it better work. Right.
Because if not, you are going to have egg on your face. And I mean, I don't think it's extreme to say if you if this doesn't work, you're probably not getting another job again, at least in any terms of a front office or a coaching job. Yeah, it worked out for him better than anybody else I know. It worked out for him. Wow. Wild stuff.
All the best to Greg Popovich. Hey, also, by the way, you want to call me? You can. It's Friday at some point later on in the show. We'll get to the Friday funny. Not now. Not now.
But at some point, we'll get to the Friday funny. Maybe when we talk about Steve Smith getting sued for being a home wrecker, allegedly. Here's the phone number 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Greg Popovich, not the only person done. LeBron James, this season is over.
We know that. Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves series finished at four to one. LeBron James, it was one moment in the game.
He was kind of hip checked by Dante DiVincenzo. He kind of hit LeBron James with one of these hard screens and kind of stonewalled him and LeBron James went down to the ground. LeBron James is 6'9", however much he weighs 250, 60, 70, who knows?
I don't know. Dante DiVincenzo can't be more than, I don't know, what is he, 6'4", 6'5"? Whatever it is, LeBron James is bigger than him. LeBron James, 6'4", 200 pounds. LeBron James could whoop his ass. We know LeBron James isn't on the flop. He was on the ground holding his side and everybody's looking around like, come on, LeBron, get your ass up. And he got up and he played after he walked it off a little bit. Come to find out, LeBron James has an MCL sprain in his knee. LeBron James was not flopping. LeBron James has an injury that if he were playing basketball, it would take about a month to recover from. Damn.
Well, maybe it's as well to be, right? Not the injury. But if he was going to have a sprained MCL, then this season was over anyway, so might as well get rid of him.
All the best to LeBron James. Hickey, I feel kind of bad. Everybody was making fun of him on the floor. Like, come on, man. This is like when Joe Mazzulla told Jason Tatum to get up and this man really had a sprained wrist, had to miss a game because of it. And Joe Mazzulla didn't apologize.
He didn't care. And people just killed LeBron James for flopping. The guy was legitimately hurt for once. And then I saw people even postgame, there's a video of him liking, you know, the battles of crypto.com arena, like legitimately limping. And people are like, oh, look at this guy. Showman, you know, like season's over now, some LeBron's hurt. The hate he gets at times is so bizarre. Like how, like I get sometimes he does it to himself, but like in this situation, what are we doing?
What are we doing? Well, he did look like he was flopping. Did he not on the ground? He looked like it was an over exaggeration, but just because how big he is.
You are not wrong. When they showed the replay, myself was kind of questioning where did he exactly get hurt? You know, didn't look that bad of a collision. He's a big man. Right.
But now he's got a legitimate excuse. Yes. Wow.
Good luck. He's 40. Do you think one day he's going to just fall off a cliff? No. Right. He will never, he won't average less than 20 for however much longer he plays.
Agreed. Because he's never going to skip any steps. So he's not going to play and just be, okay, I'm not going to train half the year or I'm going to play, but I'm going to, you know, not do what I normally do.
So I think you're right in that sense. Like as long as he plays, however long it's going to be, he's going to continue to do the process or go through the process. So it's not going to allow him to just average five points a game on like 20%. He's not going to be a bum ever.
Yeah. We're getting, I think we getting two more years out of him. Minimum.
Minimum. Like at this point, you might as well keep going. He's going to do next year. Do you think he's going to do next year and proclaim it to be his last? You think he's going to go on that Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter type farewell tour? Not, he's not doing that.
Oh, I think he absolutely, what? Well, I'm saying he will, but not this up. I'm saying he's not going to wake up in September, October. He's not going to show up to work and go, well, guys, you know, I'm back. This is going to be it.
He's not doing that. I mean, I would agree in the sense of whenever he decides, you know, he's got to, you know, from the press conference that he just had, I got to think about my future. Whenever he makes that decision, I think we'll get an answer by June, like of that year. Hey, this is going to be it. So he's going to have all the off season, all going into the season, the entire season to get showered, right?
So with praise. Right. I think that that comes next year after the 2025-26 season, he'll wait. You know, this is this is my my expectation. This is my prediction on LeBron. He's going to come back and play this season, right? He's going to opt into that 50 mil. I guess at that point, he'll be a free agent the following year. His son will get drafted. The other one, Bryce will get drafted in June. And then I think at that point in time, and I don't know, maybe LeBron wants to not suck the life out of his son getting into the league.
I don't know. But whenever he does call it quits, you are right. He's going to give runway so he could be showered.
And there's articles. It's not going to be, hey, the league is getting ready to start a training camp. He's going to milk it.
Hickey, there'll be a New York Times article and in July and August People magazine interviews, he he will he will give himself three months to do press before he even shows up to work. So and what are they going to do to what the final game of the season or the first game of the season will take place in Cleveland and the last game will take place in or you only can go once, right? Would you it have to be the final game or the first game of the season? I think you'd want the first game of the season because I'm assuming if you're both LeBron and the Lakers, you want his last regular season game to be at home, right?
I don't know. I know we start in Cleveland where he's from, but yeah, send the Cavs, send the Cavs to Cleveland. Let that be there one time there. And he opens up the season in Cleveland.
Wow. That that year is going to be a while. That farewell tour is going to be nuts, Hickey. It's going to be crazy.
What are the tick? What are the ticket sales going to look like when it comes to the Garden already high? When it comes to Atlanta, they you they have to announce it just for not just for him, for the money. Yeah, the ticket prices will be through the roof.
That's going to be a crazy ticket. You see the thing about Michael Jordan when he retired, he just he just quit, right? You didn't you didn't know. And then he came back. He was still in his prime in his early 30s. And then when he came back again, he was old, older, still getting 20 a game.
But wow, it is. I can't remember anybody who's going to kind of do this. He's like, OK, Mariano Rivera retiring, who cares?
OK, he's shutting the door on other people. I don't think anybody in Minnesota gives a damn, right? Did Derek, did people care and Derek Jeter's last year didn't feel like it?
I think outside of New York, like nobody cares. I think people can't. Yeah, I probably agree.
Not many people are Derek Jeter did not transcend baseball the way LeBron transcends. Correct. Correct.
You're right. This is this is going to be like a tour, like Beyonce's on tour, like Taylor Swift is on tour. Kendrick Lamar right now is on tour. LeBron James is going to be on tour.
Forty one dates all over the United States of America and Canada. Hickey, it wouldn't shock me if they said, LeBron, you got to go play in Paris, bro. We're going to send you to one of those international games, make him play when Benyama out there is something I don't know, especially now that they're doing like those preseason trips. I mean, you're right. Like it's you talk about it. There is I there's no shot. Any of us thought that he was retiring anyway when he made that cryptic, you know, two days ago. But two days ago. But now when you're talking about the business, there's no way the M.A.
would say, yeah, we're allowing you to hang it up. No, you got to sell the T-shirts. And it is this good. The Lakers are going to wear a patch. You think they wear a patch for him this final season? I hope not.
That feels a little cringe. It's too much. Do you have a problem when opposing teams give him gifts? That's what I think that's more customary in baseball. I hope we don't have that in basketball. Like here's a piece of the hardwood from your 50 point game here and, you know, in Memphis three years ago. I hope not, man.
I hope not. Like that's more traditional in baseball. You know, there's so much pomp and circumstance, not as much in basketball. Maybe he gets a video.
But even let's say LeBron is in Orlando. What are they going to show a video of? A video of him kicking their ass? Like, I don't know about that. I hope not.
Because you're right. Every like we saw Derek, that was probably the most prominent like retirement tour. And like everywhere he went, he got some sort of gift and like there's like some sort of highlight.
It's so I hate it. It's so weird of like, hey, thanks for kicking our ass for 15 years. Here's a rocking chair. Here's a piece of the wall.
And here's a highlight video. What are we doing? And what does he do with that crap? You think he wants it? It's a good point.
I would want I think that'd be pretty cool. You think Derek Jeter has this all he has stuff from all 30 teams or 29 teams. What?
I don't know where you put it. Exactly. Like he walks into his house. He the trainer says, hey, I'm gonna ship this to your house.
And what does he do? He puts it in storage. He's like, I don't want this crap in my house. A lot of athletes have like a memorabilia room. He probably has a memorabilia house with a lot of that stuff.
He probably does. Multiple rooms needed. And what does he have? Like four kids or something now? Three kids? He's got a decent amount.
Yeah. Keep his hands full. He doesn't want to look at all that crap in his house.
Come on now. So what would LeBron do then if he actually gets gifts? I mean, you talk about needing an extra house or two with all that. He can leave it in a Cleveland house.
Okay. I don't even know if he still has a house out there, but I'm sure he does something. Just just leave it in Cleveland. Why not? Well, look at that stuff in your nice L.A. house.
I'm sure the I promise school has some extra space, you know, extra closets. Put it in the front. Right. Let's put it in the front.
Inspire the children. I don't know. It's the J.R. Sportbree show on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. LeBron James dealing with a knee injury. We're going to take a break.
When we come back, I'm going to get to your phone calls. I want to tell you about an active athlete like he's currently in season. He's another.
I don't even know if I can call him a legend. Mike Trout is hurt again. I'm going to explain what the hell is going on with him on the other side of the break.
Speaking of L.A., we got the Clippers and Nuggets. They're getting ready to go seven based on what happened last night. We got a lot to get into. You are listening to the J.R. Sportbree. It is the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We talked about Greg Popovich stepping down full time as this head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
He's going to stick around as president following his health issues. We talked about LeBron James. LeBron James, he suffered an MCL in the final game of the season or the Lakers final game of the season. He doesn't have to play basketball again until October. So I guess good for him.
And then speaking of people hurting Los Angeles. What a shocker. Mike Trout is hurt again.
Oh, you got to be kidding me. Mike Trout is hurt again. This man is currently on the injured list.
The Angels put him there. He has a bone bruise in his left knee. That is the same knee that he tore the meniscus in. Mike Trout, it's his knee. It's his broken hand. It's his back issue. He has a they said he has some type of narrowing of his spine. He needs to do constant maintenance on his back. It's his calf. It's his torn thumb ligament. Mike Trout can't catch a break. He's 33 years old. He's right smack pretty much. Well, I guess a little past the middle of this 12 year $426 million contract that he got. This deal is not over until 2030. Just Mike Trout is 33 years old and he was supposed to be like the LeBron James of baseball.
He just he couldn't stay healthy. It's pretty damn amazing. It sucks. He's batting 179 with nine home runs and 18 RBI. You would assume the batting average would go up if he played, but.
It stinks. Ron Washington, his manager of the Angels from back in March. He said the Angels he said if Mike Trout ain't playing, we suck.
He didn't say that, but listen to what he did say. It's paramount. I mean, we can't do anything without Mike and I want him to feel bad. We can't do anything without him. And so his focus right now and his intent is 100% sold on the Los Angeles Angels. I just want him to lead through his performance and lead with his presence.
And when he's not performing, his presence is just as important as his, you know, production. The currently 12 and 18. This season that is last in the American League West, OK? They gonna get worse without Mike Trout. And Hickey, what's going on with Rendon? He's on vacation again, right?
He started his vacation long ago and said I'll see you maybe in 2026. Oh my God, what a set. They should have moved them to Vegas and just. Left the A's in Oakland and move the Angels to Las Vegas. Just.
This miserable situation for them and their fans. 888-710-4ISN. 888-710-4ISN. Dave is here from Tampa. You're on the JR Sport Reshow.
What's up, Dave? Hey JR, I've been watching the NBA since the 72 Knicks and you know I like to think I know a lot about basketball and I can remember like yesterday when I was aware of Popovich being the general manager and I remember him coming in front of the television set and say hey I'm I'm now going to become the head coach and I was laughing at the guy telling myself you know as an older guy I've never seen general managers announced they're going to be the coach and he ends up being one of the best coaches of all time. Yeah yeah no ironic yeah that's what I mentioned it's it's a crazy situation he fired Bob Hill he made himself the coach and he says I'm the captain now and he's been one of the best captains over the past 30 years in any sport. Well the players that he had in front of him the way he managed Ginobili and Parker did Kawhi win a championship with them? Kawhi yes Kawhi Leonard won a championship with him. I could remember yeah well that's what I'm saying how he manages people man yeah well I know it seems like a blur I mean his his career seems like a blur because here I went from making fun of him to just totally admiring the guy. Yeah nah he was awesome he's going to be missed his personality and he's he's definitely going to be missed in that one well thank you Dave for calling from Tampa he'll be missed yeah Kawhi Leonard damn Kawhi been around I'm like yeah I know Kawhi was on that team on it damn. Hickey how the hell Hickey how does this make Kawhi been around since 2011 does it feel that long no no it does not that's actually wow he's been and Hickey how about this he he will be 34 next month he'll be 34 next month Kawhi Leonard has been around since 2011 where did 14 years ago is Hickey is this all because of the pandemic did the pandemic just just I feel like it just lopped off four to five years from everybody's life no I think it's just his injury history like he played the one year the last year with the Spurs he played nine games I mean this ended up hiding from them at one point so that he like that year's a race because you don't see him with the Clippers up until really this year included this year actually it's always been something where he's missed a large chunk 30 40 50 games with some sort of injury so it's like it's 14 years but in reality when you break down the games it's probably been close to like 10 or 9 like I feel like that's why it feels like it's so much longer than it is because he's been in the league I've been playing invisible he's the opposite of LeBron huh exactly right LeBron James has pretty much played almost 26 seasons of basketball Kawhi Leonard has been around for 14 years has probably played the equivalent of what you said 10 you think I would guess 10 I gotta look it up here see if I can get the total you know well let's actually do the the math on that how many games how many career games and then if you divide that what about 14 and we see how many or 82 I guess 82 and see how many years it equals it's played 733 regular season games I guess right mm-hmm so that's the equivalent of yeah nine seasons yeah he's played the equivalent of nine seasons he's been around for 14 years he's the anti-lebron that's that's what he is I don't even think it's even worth it to put in his playoff games I don't think it's gonna make too much of a difference wow and then unlike Joel Embiid at least he's hurt a lot but he has a big mouth so you hear him Kawhi is as quiet as a church mouse so when he's not there he is literally invisible Kawhi doesn't say anything and how about this with the Clippers they beat the Nuggets last night 111 to 105 in LA and so they're gonna have a game seven on Sunday that's gonna be a lot of fun it just sucks that one of these guys is gonna go is it Kawhi and James Harden is it Nikola Jokic who's gonna be done Kawhi had 27 points 10 rebounds last night James Harden woke back up he had 28 points Norman Powell had 24 and so they got the job done at home and Kawhi Leonard always excited he says game seven is gonna be a new animal we could have the confidence to know that we have one like you said but you know this is it's gonna be a different game like I said we got to come out aggressive in the first quarter and hold them make sure they don't get a big lead on us oh man he doesn't get excited about nothing Jamal Murray he only had 21 points last night after having 40 points last night after having 43 in the last game and Jamal Murray said this is what we got to do going into game seven it's a positive mindset towards your teammates and and a loose feeling for yourself individually I think those are very key but one guy can have a really good game you can still lose a game seven so everybody's got to bring it emotionally mentally and physically spiritually I think if we do that we'll be a good place oh hickey spiritually too emotionally physically and spiritually okay you need the basketball gods on your side right JR yeah yeah I guess who are they who are the basketball guys great question how many are there I don't know Dr. James Naismith is he one of them I don't know you would think the founder of the sport should be one hovering over John Wooden is he there I don't know right is it basketball is it pro basketball is it like legends from high school coaching all bad all basketball I guess I don't know I had a great cry does every team have a god I don't know we gotta ask Jamal Murray he's Canadian maybe they do it differently up there I don't know anyway and shout outs to Canada I love you it's the JR sport brief show on the infinity sports network we're gonna take a break when we come back we're gonna talk about someone you know the Clippers played last night yeah the Knicks played as well too and Jalen Brunson every game he makes people pay more and more attention that guy's a killer well get into it it's the JR support me show don't move
