It is the JR Sportbreeze 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.
Thank you to our producer in New York City holding down, Nico Scarlatos. And thank you to you for being tuned in. Wherever you might be, whatever you might be up to. I'll be rolling with you for the next three hours. This show gets started every weekday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific.
What do we talk about in the first hour? Oh, the NBA teams that are done. We won't hear about the Nuggets for a while until they get a new coach, a new GM and make some moves.
Maybe. I don't think there are any moves for them to make. The Boston Celtics. The biggest stories that we'll get from Boston will be Tatum's projected timetable on return and whether or not Brown is going to need surgery as well. Could the Boston Celtics really start next season without Tatum and Brown?
The answer is yes. And as we continue on with the show, we'll talk about some teams that are actually doing some winning. About this in 20 minutes, we're going to have a conversation with Andrew Schlecht from the Athletic. He covers all things Oklahoma City Thunder. They are back in the Western Conference Finals getting ready to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves starting tomorrow. We'll get into the Pacers and also the New York Knicks.
That's your Eastern Conference Finals. We'll talk about Paul Skeans and there's a lot to get into. We even got a contract still getting thrown around in the NFL. Fred Warner, three-year, $63 million contract extension, highest paid linebacker in the NFL. Nick Sirianni getting a new contract as well to stick around for a while with the Philadelphia Eagles. So we got a lot to get into, a lot to discuss. And speaking of the Eagles, again, with the tush push, like the NFL owners this week, they're going to get together in their lair, eat grapes, get fanned, I don't know, do a blood oath. And at that point, the NFL owners will decide whether or not the tush push should be banned.
We'll find out soon enough. Anyway, you want to be a part of the show, you can. You can call me up 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. You know, amongst all the basketball that we had this week, and I sat here with our producer on Friday, Ray, right before the WNBA season started. Well, it started on Friday. But the main event, the big headline opener was on Saturday when the Chicago Sky took on the Indiana Fever. You know, this is not the Super Bowl. You know, most people, I guess if you're not a real diehard, you're just like, the sky, the fever, who cares?
But it's Angel Reese on the Chicago Sky, it's Kaitlyn Clark on the Indiana Fever. And so this was a Saturday afternoon game. I was sitting around watching it because why the hell not? Indiana smacked and smoked Chicago 93 to 58. Kaitlyn Clark, what did she do? Well, she had a triple double, of course, why not? 20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. She was six of 13 from the field.
A very Kaitlyn Clark-esque game. Angel Reese, well, 12 points, 17 rebounds. And we had, well, damn it, we had her here on the show.
Lisa Leslie was here, Hall of Famer about maybe last month, two months ago. And she said that she was working with Angel Reese on some of her offense. Well, and she was five or 14 from the field. And it's like, damn, that's a lot of shots to take.
That's a lot of shots to miss. I mean, one of her bugaboos last year was missing shots closer to the basket. And so Angel Reese, even at the beginning of the season here, is catching some smoke. A reporter asked her last week, hey, Angel, you know, how do you feel about people showing up to see you? And she's like, next question.
You know, she was talking about her comments from like last year. She's like, everybody isn't just showing up to see Kaitlyn Clark. They're showing up to see me too. I'm like, OK, not really.
People might want to see you, but not to the degree that people want to see and support her. That's not the case. And so this is what I was waiting for. It's Saturday afternoon and I said it on Friday. I said, I need I need to see an elbow. I said, I need to see a hard play. I see I need to see a hard basketball play between Angel Reese and Kaitlyn Clark.
And that's exactly what we got on Saturday. Angel Reese went up for a rebound after, by the way, pushing one of Kaitlyn Clark's teammates to get the rebound. And then Kaitlyn Clark was just like, no easy baskets here. And she kind of swiped down, not in a hug or a hold, but kind of swiped down to prevent her from going up for the easy two. And Angel Reese immediately went to the ground and then popped up like she was going to go after Kaitlyn Clark and had to be stopped. Kaitlyn Clark is walking away like, what's the big deal? Nothing's going on here.
And Angel Reese just wasn't happy. Let's put it that way. And it's like, what are we doing? What's the big deal at this point in time?
There is no big deal. Just basketball, hard play, hard foul, easy call. And Kaitlyn Clark was called for flagrant because it wasn't a necessary basketball play. And after the game, not only did Angel Reese, whether she felt it honestly or whatever the case might be, Angel Reese said it was a basketball play. And this is what Kaitlyn Clark had to say about it. Walk me through your perspective on the flagrant foul.
What was the point you were trying to make to her? It's just a good take foul. You know, either Angel gets wide open two points or, you know, we send them to the free throw line. Nothing malicious about it. It's just a good take foul.
Every basketball player knows that. Yeah. Yeah. The only problem is it was Kaitlyn Clark and Angel Reese. That's it. There was nothing else to it.
And so everybody wanted to go out and have a fit. People are attacking Angel Reese online and, and I'm just like, Oh my God. Angel Reese.
You can't, you can't dish it and then then not want to not want to respond. Like you can't have it both ways. Do I think there are times where Angel Reese is unjustifiably attacked? Yes.
Yes. And absolutely. I also think there are times where she's, she's given and said too much. Like you can't sit around on a podcast and you can't sit around and say you're being attacked and you can't, you know, when you're having a conversation, the media asking you questions in your next question and you can't have it both ways.
Now I don't know if it's a matter of youth, I guess that's part of it and lack of experience, but like you have so much more control over what you do and what you say and the response that you get. And it's just, I don't think she helps herself or helps her cause at all. Like you got fouled by Kaitlyn Clark and it was a hard basketball foul. Big deal happens in LA Fitness every day. If you're going to say after the game that it was just a basketball play, do you, did you really feel that? And if it was just a basketball play, why are you hopping up like you're going to go after Kaitlyn Clark for? Kaitlyn Clark fouled her and walked away like it was a basketball play. And Kaitlyn Clark has her own issues at times, just kind of yelling at officials.
And I think she slowed that down. She's got into the pros, but we are going to get this between Reese and Clark for years, for as long as they're playing together in the WNBA against each other, we're going to get this. And the WNBA, I don't want to say they should embrace the hate, but they should embrace the rivalry. There's a reason why this was one of the first games of the season that it took place on a Saturday afternoon on ABC for people to sit down and watch because they need to market the hell out of these two. Because let's be real, I don't care what sport league it is. Everybody's going to look for the story and the storylines and the fact that Andrew Reese is black and the fact that Kaitlyn Clark is white, you don't think that fuels things for people as well?
I mean, it's unfortunate, but that's the world that we live in. I mean, if you got to think about boxing, which is, it ain't no game. It's a sport. They have beaten the living hell out of each other. You don't play boxing.
You go out there and fight. I mean, boxing promoters for years have used race and ethnicity to book fights and make money and get people behind one guy so the other guy can beat the hell out of the other guy and, and people have pride in their backgrounds and where they're from. And this is an opportunity, not along racial lines, but this is a chance for the WNBA to market.
And I think they should continue to market. I think they did a crap job marketing this game on Saturday, because of course you want to emphasize the entire WNBA because everybody is afraid to make the WNBA solely about Kaitlyn Clark. But the next time Andrew Reese and Kaitlyn Clark on the basketball court, I think we should get more hype. I mean, where, what world will we even be in right now? If Andrew Reese never taunted Kaitlyn Clark, if she didn't hit her with the John Cena, you can't see me.
What world would we be living in? Would Kaitlyn Clark get as much attention as she has right now? Would the basketball speak for itself?
I mean, would she be on another level? I just, there's so much, I just, I wish we, we take the hate out of it and just keep it on the basketball court. Hey Nico, how did you feel about that foul?
When you saw it, it just shrugged your shoulders. They made a big deal out of nothing. Yeah. I mean, I thought it was a smart play. You don't want to just give up the two free points. I didn't think there was any negative intent by it, but I understand why Angel got as frustrated as she did because it was very aggressive on Kaitlyn's part. But how are you going to, how are you going to get frustrated like that and then afterwards say it's a basketball play? Yeah, I don't know. It seems like there's, there's something off there where I don't want to say that she like got up and caused a scene like on purpose, but like it was almost like it was like an attention thing.
I don't know. It's weird how she like went back on it afterwards, like you said. Yeah. Like, like stand on what you say. Like I would, it would've been much easier for her to go, I didn't appreciate the foul because then it's like, Hey, well, well Kaitlyn Clark said it was a basketball play to me. It looked like a basketball player, a hard foul, big whoopty do. And her response in the heat of the moment wasn't like, is she like, like, she got hacked in the head when she did it.
She got kind of hit on her arms and went down to the ground and popped right the hell back on up. So it went that big of an issue. And then she, she went after, I don't know if she's fallen in line because she heard what Kaitlyn said. And so what she didn't want to do is now make this a larger issue. But that comes back to the point of, if you're going to say something at any point in time, stand on it, don't run away.
Don't count, don't change. And we've heard this between the two of them before. There's no beef and we're fine and we get along and there's no issues and everything is cool. Come on. Let's just throw it all out. Let's put it all out there. I mean, damn it.
When it comes to the men's side of sports, some of these guys, they got no problem letting everybody know. I don't like you. I can't stand you. I don't like going against you. I mean, we found out about this Deion Sanders, a documentary that's coming out on Netflix, not Amazon prom, but Netflix. He had a whole beef with Andre rising.
They're, they're, they're documenting it in this new series. Okay. I mean, Scottie Pippen. We got the last dance.
You could see it in the nineties. He didn't get along with all his teammates. At one point in time, his teammates were like, man, get back in the game. You suck. What are you doing?
We need you. Whether it's teammates, whether it's the opposition. I think anybody who works together long enough with somebody, anybody in any capacity, especially in sports, you don't always get along. Like it's like any family, anybody that you're constantly with or talking to things ain't always going to be roses and daisies, but what are we not supposed to have competition in basketball? We not supposed to have competition and aggression in the WNBA sell it, embrace it from both perspectives. And so next time if angel Reese, it feels like she was hacked on a call, want to play, go out there and own it.
And you know what? I didn't expect angel Reese to be the one to get foul. I expected angel Reese to foul Caitlin Clark. Hey, and this is how basketball works.
You best believe one day it's going to happen. One day, Caitlin Clark is going to go to the basket and we might see a windup. We'll see a foul. You know what I chalk that up to not hate, just simply basketball. Everybody get over it. Maybe they don't like each other. Let them play ball. Let them figure it out on the court.
As simple as that. It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to talk about more basketball. This time we're going over to Oklahoma city because we got a new thunder team built together, put together by Sam Presti, who has made its way to the Western conference finals. There is no Durant. There is no Westbrook. There is no hard, and this team is led by who soon to be the MVP.
Shake Yogis Alexander. We're going to have a chat with Andrew Schlecht on the other side of the break. The Oklahoma city thunder, they get started tomorrow. Game one of the Western conference finals is a host of Minnesota Timberwolves.
We'll have that chat with Andrew on the other side of the break. You're locked in. It's the JR sport re-show on the infinity sports network.
It is the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. We're down to the final four teams in the NBA playoffs and the Western conference. We got that final starting tomorrow down in Oklahoma city as the Minnesota Timberwolves now take on a team that wiped out the nuggets and are back in the Western conference finals for the first time in about a decade. There is no Durant here. There is no Westbrook.
There's no hard in it is all about what we currently see in shake. Yogis Alexander, Mark Dagnold and Sam Presti is a guy who put it all together. Joining us right now to talk about this Oklahoma city thunder team, how they got here, what we can expect the rest of the way is Andrew Schlecht who covers all things Oklahoma city thunder for the athletic. Andrew, how are you?
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Absolutely.
Thank you for taking the time to come through and join us. When you think about what the Oklahoma city thunder did this season, not a shock and not surprised, pushing 70 victories. What we've seen so far, has it gone to the plan of what you thought?
I think that this has all happened a lot faster than what people, people thought. You know, the thunder had a jumpstart to their rebuild by trading for, for Shea from the Clippers and you know, truth be told, they didn't know what they were getting in Shea. I think they liked him as a player.
I think they probably thought of him as a, as a high level starter, but the fact that he turned into the MVP of the NBA and a guy that leads the league in scoring, I don't think anybody could have really projected that. And then in the 22 draft, you know, they got lucky and got the number two pick, but they also got in the same Clippers trade in the, in the Paul George trade, the number 12 pick that became Jalen Williams. And that along with getting shame, that draft where you draft Chet and Jalen in the same draft really made this team. And then they really hit all the right notes, you know, around the margins to, you know, they picked up Lou Dort as an undrafted free agent. They drafted case and Wallace in the lottery. They trade, you know, lottery pick Josh giddy for Alice Caruso, who was, uh, just essential for them against Denver. And then they brought in their best free agent acquisition ever and Isaiah Hartenstein. And they have done just a really good job around the margins, you know, making this team, but it really all starts with acquiring Shea and then what they did in the 22 draft. Well, Andrew, when you take a look at the guy constructing the roster and Sam Presti, it seems like deja vu all over again. This man had three MVPs on the team, ultimate hall of famers in Westbrook and hardening Durant.
And you see what's going on right now. How does Sam Presti keep doing this? Is it the scouting department that he's working with? Is he that shrewd talent evaluator?
How does he keep doing this? Yeah, I, he is clearly one of the best talent evaluators to ever do it because you think about where he selected these guys to like you, you have your obvious ones. Like Kevin Durant was a no brainer. That was actually one of the first things that he ever did was draft Kevin Durant when he was hired by the Sonics to be the general manager. It was right before the draft. And so it was basically like, it's going to be Odin or Durant. And he got lucky that they took Odin and Durant fell into his lap. But when you think about the other guys, Russell Westbrook was the fourth pick in the draft and a guy that a lot of people said it was a reach to take him that high.
And you go do a redraft of that current draft. He may go number one, uh, same with James Harden. James Harden was probably thought to be a top five pick. There were a lot of other players in that draft that people thought the thunder should get. And he took James Harden who became, I mean, he's going to be a hall of famer and MVP. And then you look at this current roster, you know, Shay was, you know, a late lottery pick.
He wasn't some guy that people thought was the MBA. Uh, Jalen Williams, who an all star in his third year was the 12th pick. And even at 12, I remember on draft and I have to be like, wow, I can thunder really reached for what people thought would be a role player in the NBA. And so this guy I think will be a perennial all star guy that, you know, is super versatile. And then Chet Holmgren was another one where people knew Chet, you know, we've known about Chet, you know, since he was probably a sophomore in high school because of how phenomenal he is.
And so like, that's kind of like the Kevin Durant one where it's like you, you just kind of hope that guy falls in your lap. But yeah, I think that Sam, one thing that Sam has really hit on, especially, uh, as he continues to do the job is he just finds great people and he finds great competitors. And I think that's one thing that you can see as a through line with all of the guys that he picks is that they are all, I have really high character and that they all are hyper competitive. And I think that when you combine those two, one, you can have like a really great defensive team, which they have. I think they have one of the best defensive teams in the history of the league, but then you got, you have this unselfishness that exists with this group too, because they have a lot of good players and on a night to night basis, you're not guaranteed to play, you know, 20 minutes a night for a lot of these guys.
And so I think the high character, the high motor, um, stuff is, is real with this team. And I think you kind of have to play that way to play for Mark Dagnold at this point. Andrew Schlecht is here with us from the athletic covers, all things, Oklahoma city thunder. You talk about coach Dagnold. This is someone who won coach of the year a couple of seasons ago. He's still a novice.
I don't even think he's on the other side of 40 yet. He doesn't get a lot of national attention. How has he helped put and steer this whole team together? Mark, the way when people ask me about Mark, I think that he is one of the smartest people that I've ever talked to. And with that, he also is one of the more personable people I've ever talked to, which is a really unique combination. You know, in life, you, when you talk about like some of the smartest people, you know, sometimes they don't have like the people skills, you know, that, that a lot of people have. And then the inverse too, like some people have great people skills.
Maybe they're not like the most brilliant people you've ever met. Mark is like a unique combination. And I think that Presti zeroed in on that early, you know, Mark didn't play college basketball. He never was a head coach of anything until he was the head coach of the blue.
And so Presti has taken all these risks on him specifically, and he bet on the person from the beginning and he got him from Florida before he's hired Billy Donovan. He hired Mark Dagnall to be the head coach of the blue. And Mark, Mark, I mean, he, he basically was going to be a professor at the university of Florida and he packed up everything and moved to Oklahoma city and became the coach of this G league team at the time.
I think it was, there were the D league, the developmental league and he, um, you know, since then has just rose to the top. And when Billy Donovan decided to go to the bulls, I started poking around and thought, man, I think Mark has a good chance to do it. And so like Mark is a developmental story for the thunder and you know, Mark will even tell you like he was kind of raised by the thunder. Um, but yeah, he tactically he's brilliant. And then if you think about relationally, all the guys really respect him, they respect his basketball knowledge.
Um, and it goes to show like you, you don't have to play this game at a high level to know a lot about it. And Mark has one of the more unique stories in the NBA, as far as the head coach goes, you know, a lot of these guys have either played in the NBA or they have a dad that was a head coach or they've like been around the game for a long time. You know, Mark is really unique in a lot of ways. And I think that he has had to work really hard to become who he is today and he's put in the work and you know, he's seen the fruit from it right now. Yeah.
Andrew, final question for you. We got the West final starting tomorrow. What do you expect to happen in this matchup between the wolves and the thunder? Yeah, this is a tough matchup for the thunder. You know, the wolves have played OKC really well over the past couple of years. They have good long defenders on the perimeter that can defend Shay. Well, I also have Rudy go bear who can defend the rim well.
And then you have this superstar and Anthony Edwards. Uh, this is going to be a battle between like two juggernauts in the West. The Timberwolves were in the West finals last year and you know, the Thunder have gotten there for the first time this year. The Thunder are favored in this one. I think if you just kind of stack the two teams up against each other, I think that you, you do favor OKC, but I think this, I think we're in for another long series for the Thunder. You know, I think that it's probably fair to pick the Thunder and six or seven in this series.
And I think that's kind of the direction this one is going. I think that they're going to trade blows. I think they've got Chris benches are great, another great coach in the league. And so I think that this is going to be a fun chess match between two really good teams. But ultimately I think it's the Thunder's time and I think they'll prevail and move on to the finals for the first time since 2012.
Different different era, same GM putting everything together. Hey Andrew, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you in all of your work with the athletic? Yeah, you can follow me on Twitter at Andrew K select. Would love for people to check out the athletic NBA daily. It's a it's a daily podcast that you'll be in your podcast feed every morning. You know, we publish at 6 a.m. Eastern Time and it's a short 20 minute podcast that just kind of catches you up on everything that happened on the night before.
So we'd love for people to go listen to that. All right. Awesome. Hey Andrew, thank you so much for catching on down the line, okay?
Sounds good. Thanks for having me. No doubt about it. Enjoy the series. It's the JR Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to get ready to take a break. And on the other side, I'm going to give you my thoughts on what we can expect between the Oklahoma City Thunder as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves.
This is a time right now. You think about the teams, the final four teams that are left. You have the New York Knicks who last won a championship in 1973. You think about the Pacers and the NBA, no championship there. The Thunder, no title.
Minnesota Timberwolves, no title, no championship. We've entered into a different era in the NBA. And to have the Oklahoma City Thunder here again with a different iteration of the team. Duran and Westbrook are elsewhere. James Harden still kicking elsewhere in Los Angeles. If you're a Thunder fan, it must feel like you just hit the lottery every time you're down.
A lot of teams that wish they were in this position. It's the JR Sportbreeze show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll talk some more hoops on the other side. I told you about Fred Warner getting a new deal and there's a rumor about Skeens getting moved. There's a lot going on in sports. It is the JR Sportbreeze show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Andrew Schlecht for joining us in the last break from the athletic.
He came on through and talked about the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is a young team. Sam Presti just continues to find, I guess the best way you can sum it up is Diamonds in the Rough.
Guys who you don't necessarily have to draft at number one overall. But then the sum of their parts is just a championship contender. I don't think anybody would be surprised if the Oklahoma City Thunder end up winning the NBA Championship this year.
Yeah, what a surprise. A team that won 68 games winning the title. They very well might be the favorites.
I'm actually, I'm calling them the favorites here. Let's see what they do against the Minnesota Timberwolves. That game gets started. That series I should say gets started tomorrow.
We'll talk more about that series as we continue on with the show. This portion of this show is brought to you by Ethos Life. The easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes. Up to $2 million in coverage with no medical exam.
Just a few health questions. You can get your free quote at checkethos.com. Not available in all states. Man, that's that's how you build a team. Like we got some cheapskate owners they don't want to spend or they're impatient.
They just go through management like it's nothing. And then you got Oklahoma City where if you're a fan of the Thunder, it's like you hit the jackpot. You you would think, hey, we had Kevin Durant and we had Westbrook and we went to the finals one year and we even had James Harden. Those are three Hall of Famers, MVPs. They were all young on one team. And they ultimately, well, Presty did. He said, hey, I got to get I got to get Harden out of here.
And he held on to Sergi Baca. Didn't necessarily net them a championship. The last time we saw the Thunder in a Western Conference Finals was in 2016. And then at that point, Kevin Durant said, I'm out. And he left. And we saw what he did with the Golden State Warriors joining a stacked team that defeated them in the postseason. And ultimately going out there and winning two championships, that was just let's just say not fair.
But it happened. And now to know that you got another young team competing that has nothing to do with that prior squad. It's a jackpot.
But you have to invest in young talent, which makes me think. Like I heard one of the craziest things today. You thought Luka Doncic getting traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.
You thought that was nuts? Today, it was reported via Jeff Passan from ESPN. Does great work and coverage with with all things MLB. He said that there's a possibility that the Pittsburgh Pirates with this point in time have one of the most loyal fan bases in sports, especially given how awful they've been in recent memory every year. It's like, are you guys going to go out there and crack 60 wins? Are you going to lose 100 games?
Are you going to crack 500? Like this is what life is like if you're a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates. And so now you have Paul Skeans, who's been electric since the day he came out of college. I mean, he pitched yesterday. The Pirates lost one to nothing. The guy went out there, gave up one run over eight innings, struck out nine guys. He was the number one overall pick in twenty twenty three. He was fast tracked to the majors. He's already been an All-Star, started the All-Star game. And there's a rumor out that the Pirates might move on from. Are you kidding me? Like, why do you have to torture the fan base in such a way? I want you to take a listen. This is a this is a clip from Jeff Passan basically saying that, yes, there's a possibility that Paul Skeans could get moved by the Pirates.
Answer this on Pat McAfee. The Pirates, including 2025, have five years of club control before he reaches free agency. If they believe that they have absolutely no chance of signing him, then they should trade him. And you can make the argument that they should trade him now. I'm not going to, because I think the Pirates, with some of the players that they have coming up, they would have a chance to win if they were to go out and actually bring in some offensive players and sign some free agents. But the truth is, like there are teams that already are going to ask about Paul Skeans at the trade deadline this year. And I don't anticipate that he's going to be moved.
But there's a real argument to be made that the best thing for the Pittsburgh Pirates would be to move Paul Skeans when he has his most value. It's like it's a depressing reality. Already?
Already? Like, what are they hoping that he doesn't have to have Tommy John and now he's a depressed asset? Jeff Passan said it himself. With the way Major League Baseball is currently set up for rookies to come in, and we know in baseball, man, this is the long game. You don't get that big deal. They have you under club control for a long time. This man isn't eligible to be a free agent until 2030. Yes, that is five more years from now. And there's already conversations being set in. Sure, teams are going to call. Everybody gets a call. It doesn't mean you have to respond and answer and nice and kind.
You don't have to. Why would they do such a thing? Why would you trade away the one beacon of light that you actually have on the team? The Pirates stink every year. And as I just told you, the guy pitched eight innings yesterday, struck out nine, gave up one run and they still lost. OK, the Pittsburgh Pirates so far this year.
They have 15 wins and 32 losses. Like that's that's not doing anything. But what the hell you trading away Paul Skeans for? Why would you even entertain it? Like, I don't know, maybe it's less to do with what Paul Skeans and trying to trade him away and bring back more assets. Why don't the pirates just stop being cheap? Why don't they actually invest into the team? Like, why buy?
And I get it. You got enough money or you've owned a team long enough and you just let it sit around and it's an asset that just continues to appreciate. This ain't your car that you bought and it's already lost value from the minute that you left the property. OK, sports franchises just go up and up and up in valuation. We talked about the Boston Celtics, man. This is a team that just got sold for six billion dollars. Six billion dollars.
OK, pirates ain't moving for that much. But Bob Nutting to think that this man all of a sudden missed the newspaper business, that all of a sudden he would just, you know, dump the team and he'd make six bill. No, but he can sit on this team. And he can make money.
This team could win, it could win 100 games, it could lose 100 games. He is still going to make money if and whenever he decides to go out there and sell. He's been the whole owner of the team, the principal owner since 2007.
All right. You don't think this man has made a pretty penny just by sitting on this team for almost 20 years right now? This is the worst part about professional sports. It is one guy who owns the team, sometimes two and then you have the minority owners. But there's one guy who owns the team and makes the decisions whether or not it's going to hurt the fans or whether it's going to help them. And pirate fans are just they go so hard for the pirates. At one point in time, Bob Nutting basically said if the fans showed up, then I'd invest into the team.
And if the fans came and spent money, then I'd put that money right back into the team. Well, damn it, it feels crazy. This is like almost a decade ago. The pirates were close to it. They were winning 90 plus games. They were going to the postseason.
Nobody's going to be confused and tell you that, oh, my God, they were competing for World Series, but they were getting to the playoffs. And you want to know what Bob Nutting did? Nothing. He didn't reinvest into the team like he said he would.
He stopped paying. And the fans, well, they stopped coming. They still show up in droves for a loser ass team and franchise. But they still go out there and get the job done.
Fans do their part. Bob Nutting doesn't do his. And to think about Paul Skeans, even the thought of him moving on before 2030. I know he's a pitcher. I know pitchers, their arms fall off and then next thing you know, he doesn't have value.
Don't entertain it. Like he's the attraction. Like he's the reason that somebody wakes up and goes, oh, Skeans is on the mound today. I think I can make it to the stadium. Let me just go watch him pitch. Why would you remove a gate attraction? I don't expect that same way passing said I don't expect Paul Skeans to get moved.
But why are they having this conversation? When he doesn't hit free agency for another five years is just is beyond me. Nico, you think you think he'll get moved before he's closer to free agency?
I think it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard to consider trading him anywhere near, you know, prior to twenty twenty eight at least. Yeah, well, you think about it for what? Why you build the team around it.
But, you know, that's it's the classic loser's mentality. Like we have to trade away an asset to get other guys back to help us out. So ultimately, we don't have to pay this guy.
And maybe if you were actually a winning franchise, maybe Skeans would want to stick around. Then at the same time, you think about some of the cash and the money that we have getting thrown around here in Major League Baseball, the pirates are already in the space of. Well, damn it, I don't I don't want to pay him thirty million dollars a year. I don't want to pay him thirty five. And why would you if you just think about the books, why are you going to pay this guy thirty five plus million dollars a year?
Who the hell knows where the market is going to be in another five? But why would I pay one of the best pitchers in baseball top dollar to still be a loser? Like, if you got to think about that five years from now, like you really are a loser, you build a team around him and then you try to win. And then if you win and you feel like he's not around and you need to trade him, then you go ahead and do so. But I just feel real bad for some fans across sports whose teams and owners just never give them a solid chance consistently. The pirates in that space. Man, the Browns can't get out of the way with Haslam.
I see Chidora Sanders. He went out signed his rookie contract today. There's just some teams that can't get out of their own way. And for the pirates, I just I feel bad. You know, Jerry Jones is one thing.
At least the Cowboys can elicit false hope, some type of hope out of their fan base. Jerry's going to spend. Jerry just got George Pickens. We got the highest paid quarterback. We just paid C.D. Lamb. We got a top edge rusher. Our owner is just a little nutty.
You look crazy. At least every now and then, it's like, hey, I got 10, 12 games for you and then a loss. But we got some teams like the Pirates, they haven't seen the postseason since 2015. Man, we got a team like the New York Jets. The New York Jets haven't been to the playoffs since what, 2013, 2011, 2010. This is 15 years. Like what are we doing here? The Sacramento Kings just made it back to the postseason.
They were gone for, I think, 13 years. There's some teams that just can't get out of their way with ownership. We got a lot of fans in their fan bases. They just deserve better.
Even a thought of trading Paul Skeans is a slap in the face of Pirates fans. You can't make some of this stuff up. It's the JR Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. When we come back, we're going to talk about another struggling, sad fan base. They can't act like they've been there before and not acting crazy. It's the New York Knicks and their fans. We'll talk some basketball on the other side. It's the JR Sportbreeze show, the Infinity Sports Network.
