It is the JR Sportbrief 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 locked in all over North America. Happy Tuesday. I hope you had a great one. I'll be hanging out with you for the next four hours. This is when the show gets started every single weekday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific.
I am in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Ray Jarvis. Thank you to you. Yeah, you for listening.
On the highways, the byways, people delivering, people picking up, people relaxing, whatever the heck you might be doing. Thank you for hanging out. We got a lot to get into over the next four hours. It is the first night of the NBA's Western Conference Finals between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
We're going to talk about that match up later on. We're about two and a half hours away from the start. A matter of fact, we will have a guest joining us in about that time. Jonathan Van Tobel is going to join us from Vison. It covers all things NBA.
We'll have a chat with Jonathan later on in the show. We got to wait for the Knicks and Pacers tomorrow. We have some NFL news today. Oh, the push didn't get banned yet, but the NFL continues to go international. We got some big news coming up for twenty twenty eight. We'll get into that momentarily. Joe Burrow, could he be participating in twenty twenty eight as the NFL goes international?
We'll see. But Joe Burrow has some words on Trey Hendrickson. Dwayne Wade has some words for Jimmy Butler. How about that?
Kaitlyn Clark, Angel Reese. They don't have words for each other. But damn it, we got got members of the media who are just having a go at it all about those two.
And things may have gotten personal. Brett Favre's documentary came out today on Netflix. Mike Vick has some thoughts on some of the issues Brett Favre is facing.
Brett Favre is just getting beat to a pulp in the court of public opinion. We got a lot of things to discuss. If you want to be a part of the show, you can. Here's the phone number. Eight eight eight seven ten for ISN.
That's eight eight eight seven ten for ISN. You can go ahead and find me all over the Internet. I am everywhere at J.R. Sportbrief. Ray, welcome back, man. How are you? I can't complain. How you feeling, J.R.?
I'm good, man. Just ready for the basketball, ready to find out what happens with the tush push. I mean, there's a lot going on. Even I didn't even mention this. Juan Soto, we'll talk about him.
This guy's one of the most he's one of the most highest paid athletes on planet Earth. And apparently he may not be happy. So we got a lot to get into today, Ray. I'm excited. There's a lot of hurt X energy coming out of the Bronx that's spiraling into Queens.
The Western Conference Finals looks like it's going to be a classic Western matchup. I think the sports world is thriving right now. It feels like a Monday, but it's actually Tuesday. It feels like a Monday. Why does it feel like a Monday?
Top of the sports week, man. A lot of things are moving and shaking right now. Oh, OK.
I was like we did Monday yesterday. Don't push us backwards now. OK. I don't know. I don't like the time still. That's Dr.
Strange, man. OK. Yeah, we don't we don't we don't want to go back in time. We want to we want to go forward. And even though things are progressing along this week, one thing that is taking place of the NFL owners meetings, all these owners are sitting around in the cave somewhere in Minneapolis and they're trying to figure out what rules they want to adjust, what rules they want to change. We've all heard about the tush push. It could be coming to an end. And I feel like most people who care about the push just happen to be in Wisconsin.
Shout outs to everybody in Wisconsin. Are you pushing? Are you pulling?
Are you dragging? Like, let's just play some football and tell Mark Murphy to get out of his damn feelings. But outside of that, we have to wait for the owners to vote on that. Another proposal that's just sitting there ready and waiting for the NFL owners to make a decision is whether or not they want to adjust the playoff seedings. You know, we we now have seven teams that kind of pop up in the NFC, the AFC top team gets a bye. But they're trying to figure out whether or not they want to basically throw the divisions out of the window when it comes down to playoff seedings and just go straight by by record. You know, I mean, you think about a division, basically the NFC North, where you got the Minnesota Vikings and you had the lines from last year and you have a lesser opponent who ends up getting a bye and you got to play in a wild card. It de-emphasizes the division. But then when you get to the playoffs, it rewards you there.
That's something else the NFL is thinking about. I mean, for all of that, you might as well be the NBA. I mean, who cares about the divisions in the NBA? It was the last time anybody looked at a division in the NBA and gave a damn.
Never. It's like, where do you fall one to eight? And now that the NBA has decided to add a little bit more excitement, I guess at the end of the regular season, now we have these playing games and now we have these playing matchups where basically the divisions are irrelevant. How do you finish one to eight?
How do you finish now? I guess one to 10. The NFL might be adopting that model. And I'm afraid if they do, they'll be telling divisions. Who gives a damn if you win the division? Like what? What does it matter?
Even though it doesn't happen all that often. So we have to wait on the tush push. We have to wait on what happens with the NFL playoff seedings. But one thing we do not have to wait on is the further expansion of the NFL as an international brand. We already know that they're going to be playing in five different countries this upcoming season, everything from or everywhere from Brazil out to Spain and Germany, the UK, obviously here in the United States of America. We have seven international games that are scheduled and Roger Goodell is like, man, we may push that to like one game a week, so get used to it. Now, at the same time, the NFL is going international in other ways. Unless you've been living underneath a rock, the twenty twenty eight Olympics are going to take place in the United States of America. Damn, it is going to take place in Los Angeles.
I mean, if you're concerned about traffic and getting around, oh, my God, I don't even want to think about it. My brain hurts with the thought. But the Olympics are going to be in L.A. And with that, the NFL is pretty much going head first into the first ever flag football competition at the Olympics in twenty twenty eight. You know, last week we mentioned we went from breakdancing not a football. And so today the NFL owners pretty much voted, saying, yes, we will allow our stars to play flag football in the Olympics in L.A. in twenty twenty eight. They have to figure out how they want to do this with the Players Association and and kind of go from there.
Good idea. The NFL wants to expand. They want a market.
They want to grow globally. Why not do it at the Olympics? And sure, it's not tackle football. We're not going to see anybody getting split in two.
Michael Parsons will not be out there destroying anybody. And by the way, there's not even a guarantee that Michael Parsons will be there because the way that the NFL owners basically voted today, allowing their players to participate in the Olympics and flag football. There is one designated player who's allowed to participate, who can go into the pool. From each team. And then there's also an international player. So let's say you got a player from Germany. Well, yeah, he can go play for Germany and then the other guy can go play, I guess, here for the United States of America.
Great. And Roger Goodell, he spoke not too long ago. He was flanked by by Justin Jefferson, who I guess he's he's gung ho to do it. We have Jalen Hurts, who's just been an ambassador and pushing this. He's been in all these commercials, encouraging NFL players playing in the Olympics and flag football.
Roger Goodell, he's the one who spoke, though, who spoke first. And he basically said, yeah, the NFL players, welcome to a global stage. I think this is news represents a great opportunity for the sport, for the NFL. It's truly the next step in making NFL football and football a global sport for men and women of all ages and all opportunities across the globe. We think that's the right thing to do. And this is a big step in accomplishing that. For our players, we think it's a tremendous opportunity for them to represent their country, to compete for a gold medal, which is the pinnacle of global sports.
He ain't lying. But we know one thing. The NFL is not it's not it's not a global sport. It's not I mean, the NFL here in the United States of America, we could send as many players as we want, as many teams, Jacksonville Jaguars 20 times a year.
We can send whatever teams we want overseas. Soccer slash football. That's the global sport. I would say basketball is right behind that as a global sport. Football, you start going to the United Kingdom and overseas and people like hand egg. Why is it called football when they throw it?
OK, I've heard it a million trillion times. OK. But why would the NFL not want to expand globally? I have no problem with it. I'd love to see, I don't know, Jalen Hurts cutting up some dude on the field from Japan. Why not? And now you think about this.
On the other hand. Who the hell is the greatest competition? Like the United States of America is going to take on who in flag football and lose.
And if they do lose, I'm just going to shake my head and laugh. There should be no reason they're going to play a rugby team. Was it the United States of America versus Australia? Is it is it England?
Like what are we doing? Who? Ray, who's the biggest competition to the United States of America in flag football? That's a hell of a question.
I guess for me, I would look at the teams that are strong in rugby, maybe in Australia or New Zealand, because it's up the block and around the corner for football. Maybe they could make some hay in that kind of competition. Yeah, that that's about it. And I'm but then at the same time, you think about being able to throw the foot like if we put Lamar Jackson on a flag football field and just said, bruh, just just go to work. Like, what are we saying?
It's not fair. It's it's not like what are we what are we doing? And so this is great that this is an introduction in twenty twenty eight. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of eyeballs, just like it was on breakdance. And hopefully for a better reason, it's going to be a lot of attention paid towards the NFL.
And I felt it's not stupid. And I've had the field calls for the past several years. There's one call in particular. How dare we? The NFL, which was built in the United States of America. How dare the NFL send our games over to the United Kingdom? How dare they send our games over to London?
They should keep the games here for the fans who supported the league forever. That's that's not how any smart business operates. Any business wants as many customers and eyeballs and potential business as possible. Like the name of the game in any business is scale.
How many people are going to watch, utilize, purchase and be a part of your product? And so the NFL is no different than the NBA, who currently is looking at expanding into, I guess, its own version of the EuroLeague. The NFL is no different than baseball. And sure, there's a lot of people in South America, tons of people in Asia, a far East Asia who are playing baseball from Korea to Japan. There's a reason why they go and play the games.
There's a reason why Shohei is going out there. You know, it feels like at the top every season just to make some money and grow the customer base. I mean, if you're the Dodgers, you're just like, oh, yeah, we got the Japanese market on lock. We got the Steelers going out to play in Ireland with the Rooney family, the Irish. I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. If we had an NFL player who was busting ass from Brazil, you don't think the NFL would be staging more games down in Brazil? If the NFL felt that Argentina was a hotbed and they could make money, you don't think they'd be going to Argentina instead of Brazil?
You got to follow the money. Now, here's the one concern. That anybody might have, and it's not just so much about the Olympics, it could be about any off season activity and what have you.
The chance that somebody could get hurt in a, quote unquote, meaningless game. I remember almost, I guess at this point, 10 years ago. I remember exactly what I was doing. I was in Los Angeles getting ready to see some movie premiere.
I don't know what the hell it was. And they put us on a bus and I'm trying to watch the Olympics. Team USA get ready to go play wherever. And Paul George broke his leg. I was watching on my phone that man's leg bent the wrong damn direction.
And this is like, well, damn. That might be the biggest injury that I can remember in Team USA basketball history. And I'm talking about over the past, you know, almost 40 years, 35 years since these guys were allowed to go back and participate as professionals. Somebody is always going to get hurt when an NFL team doesn't want when an NFL player doesn't want. It's for flag football to be out there making a cut. Saquon makes a cut against some guy from New Zealand, the UK, England, wherever the hell he's from. Saquon blows out his knee.
That's a possibility. NFL players are very particular about the field conditions and how the turf is and what the grass is like. I'm pretty sure in twenty twenty eight. Yeah, it's home turf.
It's in Los Angeles. There's going to be some some concessions. It's going to be some eyes looking at the field. But I just say this not to hit the fast forward button too much.
But in twenty twenty eight, there's going to be some folks complaining. This player is going, oh, he has to be careful. God forbid a guy gets hurt. Prepare yourself, because this is football. This is sport.
And just like everything else, man, you can't half ass it. You can't go out there and play flag football and go, oh, my God, this is going to be dangerous. We're going to get hurt.
Otherwise, that's when you do get hurt. NFL is going global, global. And unfortunately, there's probably going to be I hope not, but it's probably going to be some type of casualty somewhere down the line. That's if that's if the Olympics decides to keep flag football into the future, because there's certainly no guarantee of that. But in twenty twenty eight, we got it. The J.R. sport show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
I got you for the next three and a half hours. We're going to talk some more NFL as we got to wait on the push in the playoffs. We'll get into that and how the NFL is viewing that.
Are we going to have some changes there? I told you about Dwayne Wade going at Jimmy Butler, pretty much telling the truth, being honest about Jimmy Butler as a player, not just in Golden State, but when he was in Miami. A little more than two hours away from the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves getting at it in Game one of the NBA Western Conference Finals.
Kaitlyn Clark and Angel Reese. Man, they got people in the media going at each other right now. The media apparently is going after Juan Soto. This man can't run out the box to first base. He looks miserable.
Michael K says he never wanted to leave the Yankees. We got the Knicks and the Pacers tomorrow. We got guys showing up at WWE events like Tyrese Halliburton. Man, we got a lot to get into. You want to be a part of the show?
You can do that too. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
You're locked in. It's the JR Sport Brief Show coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. You're about two and a half hours away from the start of the Western Conference Finals between OKC and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The NFL owners had meetings today and said that we will let our players participate in the Olympics in 2028, a little bit of flag football, and we have to wait on their vote regarding the tush push as well as the NFL playoff seedings. And so while the NFL owners are sitting around having the best of lunch, I don't know what the hell. Ray, what do you think these guys are sitting around ordering for lunch?
Absolutely. Having like caviar and something that sounds very rich or a nice aged ribeye or filet mignon, some shrimp, you know, good stuff. NFL owners are not they're not like catering from, I don't know, a Chick-fil-A for lunch. No disrespect to Chick-fil-A. They're not having Chick-fil-A. Or what's the other one?
I don't know. What's that? What's the sandwich? What's the sandwich salad place?
That's a good plan. Yeah, they're not doing Panera for lunch. Maybe they mix it up. Maybe Panera's on Wednesday.
You have a little Shake Shack on Thursday. Maybe they find a way to mix and match just to keep the budgets and the bottom line right. Oh, the budgets? They got budgets?
Let them tell it. You know, sometimes they cry broke. You know that. Ah, yeah, you're right.
You're right about that. And speaking of crying broke, while those guys are sitting around having filet mignon, Chick-fil-A and Panera bread, the players are actually working. I mean, we got a bunch of rookies who are sitting around doing rookie introduction programs. We have some of these teams who have voluntary workouts right now. And one of those teams holding voluntary workouts happen to be the Cincinnati Bengals. And at this point in time, we know the storylines around the Bengals. OK, can you keep Joe Burrow upright?
That's one thing. OK, MVP candidate every single year that he's healthy. They've just paid their two big wide receivers. Think about Jamar Chase. He got himself a new contract paying him more than 40 mil a year. T Higgins is almost making 30 a year. But then you have a four time Pro Bowler and Trey Hendrickson. He hasn't gotten paid yet. This man has knocked down the quarterback 17 and a half times the past two seasons. Each season, 17 and a half sacks. The past two seasons, Trey Hendrickson wants a new deal.
He's entering into the final season or final year of a four year 60 million dollar deal. He pretty much has yelled from every mountaintop in every corner. The Bengals aren't being fair. He said the Bengals have not contacted him. They haven't spoken to his representation. Since the NFL draft about a month ago. Before the NFL draft even got here. He said that they have been poor in communication.
They haven't lived up to what they said they would do. He said he doesn't need to be the highest paid. He doesn't need to make more than 40 like Miles Garrett.
I assume you'd want to get paid commensurate to what Max Crosby got sitting at about 35 and change. But Trey Hendrickson said, I'm not I'm not trying to break the bank and whatever happens, I hope it works out for everybody, including the Bengals. What a nice guy. How often do you hear an athlete say that? I mean, if I was his agent, I wouldn't be thrilled that he was saying that. But he's he seems like a decent human being that may not be the best thing to be in the NFL.
But there you have it. Trey Hendrickson can rip apart quarterbacks and be a nice guy in negotiations. But he has somebody on his side.
And I don't know if this helps that this guy's on his side because this guy. It's one of the highest played players in the league. Period. Forget the Bengals. His name is Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow is making fifty five million dollars a season as the quarterback, the MVP candidate and college champion here. For the Bengals. He's making the same amount of money as Josh Allen and Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence. The only man making more money than those guys at fifty five million dollars apiece a year. Is Dak Prescott, who's making 60. Let's see how long that lasts whenever Lamar Jackson gets himself a new deal. And so when Joe Burrow is making fifty five and Higgins is making about 30 and Jamal Chase is making about 40. You're going to pay one of the top defensive ends in the league. You're not going to pay him 35 to 42 on the defense. Can the Bengals do all of this with the current salary gap?
And then you find out that the guy that they just drafted out of Texas and Shamar Stewart. He hasn't signed his rookie deal yet. Yeah, he's supposed to be ultimately the replacement, the cheap replacement and just contract dispute. I assume how much money he's going to get up front versus later. These contracts are pretty much slotted.
A pretty easy. So the Cincinnati Bengals once again in the bond in today, Joe Burrow put in his two cents on Trey Hendrickson's deal. Listen to this. Yeah, well, we'll see what happens with that. You know, you guys all know how I feel about Trey's a great player. I love Trey as a guy. He goes on plays well every single Sunday. He's very productive.
He's a guy that deserves to to get paid and get paid what he wants and what the market is. So, you know, like I said, we'll see what happens with that. But, you know, I love Trey and hope he's with us. OK. All right.
Yeah. Apparently the Bengals have just enough space. It's a pretty much add a big Trey Hendrickson deal while they're making this guy sweat.
I have no idea. You know, I would actually want to reward somebody who's been loyal to the team, who hasn't acted like a an entire ass or a jerk. He's not on social media saying, hey, you need to trade me. He's not openly flirting with other teams. I actually give him credit. He hasn't pulled a Brandon Iuke out here. You know, he's not flirting with the enemy on the other side of the country. He's not threatening anybody. There's no eyeball emojis. There's no nonsense.
It's just pretty straightforward. Like why the Cincinnati Bengals are one of torture. One of the well, one of the best players in the league. I don't care how old he is.
He's 30. So what? And then someone who's not acting like an ass, he just shows up and does his job. I think that sends a message to other people. And this is why the Bengals have such a crappy reputation.
It's because of things like this. When the star quarterback has to stand up and make a statement. For them to make his life easier. So he actually has a defense to work with. So he's not tasked with going out there and generating, I don't know, 40 and 50 points a game just for the Bengals to have a chance. There's a reason why people go over Bengals, the bungles, because they just can't get out of their own way.
We had Solomon Wilcox join us, used to play safety for the Bengals. He's just like, yeah, they just they just wait till the last minute. I don't know why the hell they do this. Chris Collinsworth, I mean, shoot, go ahead and ask Chris how he feels about the Bengals.
Why? Some teams don't get out their way. Well, it's the owner, it's the ownership group. And if you're the Cincinnati Bengals. And you have an owner. Who is calling the shots. And he is old as.
Let's see. How do I say this politely? Ray, is there a way for me to say this politely?
No, just say it. OK, I'm just he's old. OK, he's he's old.
He's elderly senior, you know. Well, those very nice. Yes. Yeah.
There you go. This man is almost 90 years old. God bless him.
You know, I wish him all the best and wellness and health. But when you're 90, man, and you're still the boss and you got people underneath you calling the shots and then they advise you on the shots. But then the buck still stops with you. That's that's that's tough. That's real.
That's a real tough thing. And maybe one day I'm not pushing the guy, you know, gone. But maybe one day that the Bengals will operate differently. Well, you don't have a 90 year old guy sitting at the top of the totem pole just dictating everybody how he wants things done. And I'm sure. Yes, of course, he has help. But the buck and decision making still stops with him.
And good luck to Trey Hendrickson and Joe Burrow. Hey, you make him fifty five. So maybe you need to chip in a little bit.
Give him some money. I don't know. The J.R. sport show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN.
That's eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. Joe Burrow's sticking up for Trey Hendrickson. Meanwhile, I saw this this afternoon. Oh, my goodness. I know we're getting ready for the Western Conference finals in a couple of hours. We got a guy who's no longer playing right now. Well, one is going into the Hall of Fame. There is a Hall of Fame or the other guy.
I don't know. Maybe one day he'll get there. Maybe if he gets his act together. Dwayne Wade gave some very honest thoughts about Jimmy Butler, his most recent performance for the Warriors, and then what he did to the Miami Heat.
Yeah. Jimmy Butler. He didn't like hearing something from Pat Riley. I'm sure he didn't like what Dwayne Wade had to say about him today. I'm going to share that with you on the other side of the break. This is the opposite of, you know, Joe Burrow sticking up for Trey Hendrickson.
Dwayne Wade basically told Jimmy Butler, man, get your act together. We'll hear it on the other side. It's the J.R. sport show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. And right now it's time for a news flash with Rich Ackerman. It is the J.R. sport show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. This portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes, up to two million dollars in coverage with no medical exam.
Just a few health questions. You can get your free quote at check Ethos dot com. Not available in all states. Hey, right before we went to break, we heard from Joe Burrow basically sticking up for his guy, Trey Hendrickson. He says that he hopes he gets paid what he wants, what market value is, because he wants him on the Cincinnati Bengals chasing down the other team's quarterback, whether it happens to be Lamar Jackson. Well, it ain't going to be Deshaun Watson.
We know that much. Who the hell? We don't know if it's going to be Aaron Rodgers anyway. We know that Trey Hendrickson is wanted on the Cincinnati Bengals.
And why the hell not? The 17 and a half sacks the past couple of seasons. Let's see if he gets that deal.
At this point in time, I think the Bengals will nickel and dime him down to the wire, but I think they'll get it done. That was earlier today. Something else that took place earlier today was a new edition of Dwayne Wade's podcast. By the way, I had no idea that Dwayne Wade had a podcast, but who the hell doesn't have a podcast at this point in time? And so Dwayne Wade is the latest dude to get on the podcast trend. Ray, did you know Dwayne Wade had a podcast? Did you have any idea?
I did not. I know he had a separate platform that he was on when he was talking about his cancer scare, but this particular sports heavy pod was not familiar. Yeah, none.
No idea whatsoever. But Dwayne Wade does have a podcast. And even though we're getting close to the Western Conference Finals, we'll talk about that.
Matter of fact, we'll get into that a little bit in the next hour. OKC in Minnesota. Dwayne Wade took some time to talk about a player in a series that is basically done right now. That's the Golden State Warriors. They lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves. And we know that they were basically cooked from the minute that Steph Curry suffered that unfortunate hamstring strain. Like he's he's the key to everything. He's one of the most dynamic players, shooter scores that the NBA has ever seen.
And you don't have him. It's like losing your star quarterback. They were going to go out there and sink. But if you recall, back in the wintertime, going into the holidays and whatnot, Jimmy Butler started to make it very clear he no longer wanted to be a member of the Miami Heat. He was looking for his joy. He no longer had joy down in Miami.
That's a difficult thing for a human being to say. But Jimmy Butler said it. OK, he wanted to go to Phoenix. Phoenix couldn't make the move. Bradley Beal didn't want to go anywhere. Kevin Durant didn't want to move to Golden State.
So ultimately, the Golden State Warriors set up. We can't have Kevin Durant. Well, let's just bring in miserable ass Jimmy Butler.
Why not? He's going to be an improvement over what we currently have and that he was. And I guess he also found his joy because the Golden State Warriors decided to give him a two year one hundred and twenty one million dollar contract extension. Something that the Miami Heat was not willing to give him, something Pat Riley basically said last season. He's like, listen, man, Jimmy Butler, don't do talking if you ain't out there playing. And we got this playoff Jimmy thing where he took the Miami Heat to the NBA finals against the Lakers in the bubble.
They went to the NBA finals a couple of seasons ago and lost to the Denver Nuggets. Like Jimmy Butler is a bad man in the postseason when he plays. He has had some amazing performances, but he's now 35 years old. He's had a history of injuries. And when he has played and balled out, he's played hard as hell.
And in other instances, he's just disappeared. After Steph Curry went down. Jimmy Butler, just in the last two games for the Golden State Warriors facing elimination. He only scored 31 points in both games combined. He also only took 20 shots in both games. OK, fine.
I get it. You got Pajemski going out there almost dropping 30. We know Draymond Green is not a scorer.
Kumenga was getting you more than 20 per. But your playoff, Jimmy, you were the one who had last year with the Miami Heat saying, oh, if I was playing or we would beat this team and this team and this team. Well, you had an opportunity to show and prove it this year when Steph Curry went down and nobody's expecting you to turn into Michael Jordan. But damn, bro, show up and do something. And so today, Dwayne Wade on his podcast pretty much said the same thing.
You getting paid too much money to not go out there and produce. Listen to this. I think the thing with Jimmy is I just I didn't like I didn't like his the way he just approached the game. Like I know Jimmy is a pass first guy. I know he's about getting his teammates to ball and want to see them shine. But it's a point where you're getting 60. This ain't working.
You got to go. He won't look at the basket. And I've seen this before. I've seen it in a heat jersey. And so, you know, in a sense, like when Pat come out, I say, we want to get your attention is not always because of injury.
Sometimes I need to see what you're going to do in every moment, not just in one moment. We saw Jimmy in a in a bubble. He was he was a dog. I saw Jimmy in another finals, too, against Denver Nuggets.
And he did the exact same thing he did the other night. He did not look at the basket. Dwayne Wade is somebody who played. With Jimmy Butler, they had one crossover intersection year as Dwayne Wade was winding down his crystal, kind of crazy to think that Dwayne Wade is not playing. I guess his contemporaries or LeBron's contemporaries have been pretty much all retired. Like I look at Dwayne Wade and I go, why is he not out there on the court?
I know he had the ragged knees for the majority of his career, all that fallen he did on the floor. But Ray, every time I hear about Dwayne Wade, this guy has a statue. He still looks like he can go out there and play. Well, that that's a beautiful thing about Dwayne Wade. He can look the part. He's still physically fit, puts on the outfits. He's fresh to death.
The shades are on. But boy, once you get beneath the casing, he's broken up. Those knees are beat up. I know he's had some other issues in the past that he had a foot problem late in his career.
But absolutely, those knees completely worn out. You also got to remember, he spent a lot of time in college. I think he did three years at Marquette before he came to the league. He's not one of these one and done guys that didn't have so much tread. So once he got to the league, he had to maximize each and every minute before he retired. Yeah, he was balling out early. He had to learn how to not fall on a damn floor.
I don't think he ever learned. Yeah, I think later on he did, because that guy, his knees paid the price early. And then forget his knees, man, he had that that kidney cancer scare that he just revealed not too long ago. So he still looks good. Carmelo still looks good. And LeBron James is still out there balling like it's like there's no tomorrow. Chris Bosh has been long gone with with unfortunately his own blood clot that he had in his leg. NBA said, no, thank you, bro.
You can't play anymore. And so Dwayne Wade, I mean, if there is if there is ever any player qualified to talk about Jimmy Butler, it's it's way like he suited up for the Miami Heat. OK, he has his three titles. He has his finals MVP. He's a 13 time All-Star.
They got a statue of the dude outside. He supplanted Alonzo Mourning as the Miami Heat's most important player in their franchise history. He is, for all intents and purposes, Mr. Miami Heat. So he knows the expectations of Pat Riley. He also knows what it means to be a winner.
He also knows what it takes to to take a team to the finals. I mean, before LeBron James even woke up and decided to join the Miami Heat. Dwayne Wade was the leader there. Shaquille O'Neal basically said, oh, crap, I screwed up with Kobe.
Let me just let this guy take over and I'll try to do my best. Like Dwayne Wade got the job done. And unfortunately, Jimmy Butler had some solid teams as he went to the finals.
I don't think he had enough help. I've never looked at Jimmy Butler. I don't think anybody has at the same level of a of a LeBron or Wade or Carmelo. He's an all star, a very good player. How he's going to age as he continues up past 35, especially with his own injury history.
I have no idea. And so I know Jimmy Butler didn't like what Pat Riley said. And I know I know Jimmy Butler and Dwayne Wade. They've exchanged pleasantries. I'm sure they're not great friends after what we just heard.
Maybe they weren't great friends before. Well, I kind of take issue with Dwayne Wade doing that because maybe he is speaking from a place of truth. But it feels kind of like Heat guy.
He's holding his NBA Finals MVP trophy as he's talking about it. And it seems like he put on his Heat superhero outfit and decided to take one final side swipe at Jimmy Butler. Again, at the top of the episode, I mentioned hurt X energy. This has given hurt X energy to me.
The guys in Golden State. Granted, you didn't like the way you perform, but this this felt like a side swipe to me. The truth hurts.
It might be a side swipe. It's it's a fact. I mean, he heard this basically from Pat. He's been called the Pat. Riley called him out last year. Shut up.
Like, bro, like you doing all this talking, but you ain't doing a plan. OK. And then the guy had to talk about how, you know, he lost his joy. Why?
Because you didn't get paid. And God bless him. I mean, if you can go out there and get one hundred and twenty million dollars from somebody and all you got to do is say, I don't want to be here anymore than than great. The NBA has a great ecosystem for players to strong on their ways into some cash. So I don't knock Jimmy Butler for doing that. He did what he had to do to go out there and get his money.
But when you do all of that and I'm saying from last year to this year, like you do have to back it up. It's one thing to do all that talking and yapping is you gots to back it up. And Dwayne Wade, he went and told the truth. And I don't know, it's not going to be the last time people have been saying this for years.
You hurt, bro. It's crazy when you think about Jimmy Butler's entire career. This was no highly heralded dude. This guy had the ball out himself coming out of Tomball, Texas, being homeless and sleeping in cars and couches and couchsurfing. So what he is today is absolutely amazing.
He has a wide variety of interests. But when it comes to basketball, man, we talked about how you got some players in the NFL. I talked about Brandon Iup, Deebo Samuels, this guy's trying to bully their way out of situations. Jimmy Butler bullied himself into a check and whatever criticism comes his way. I'll say that Jimmy Butler deserves all of it because you had the time to shine.
You did it. It's also what happens when everybody has a podcast. Dwayne Wade certainly putting in his two cents. Speaking of podcasts and people beefing and sideswiping each other. Oh, my goodness.
Ryan Clark and Robert Griffin, the third. These dudes are going at it. And this seems like there is no tomorrow. Hope they're done.
We'll get into that in a little while. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN.
That's eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. I don't think he will watch, but Jimmy Butler, he can watch the Western Conference Finals tonight. Just like me and you or listen to it, Timberwolves and Thunder and a little more than 90 minutes from now, we have so much more to get into. A matter of fact, when we come back on the other side, let's talk about OKC in Minnesota.
We got two cousins getting ready to go at it. We got teams that have never won a championship. We got a team that hasn't been to the finals. We got a lot to get into. Let's talk some basketball on the other side. The teams that are actually going to play. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-05-20 22:32:48 / 2025-05-20 22:49:28 / 17
