Hour 3 l Is Ant Edwards Capable Of One Day Becoming the NBA's Face?

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, East Coast, down South, Midwest. Maybe you're in New York City, where the New York Knicks are trying to stay alive and keep their season rolling. Also, that's where our producer Nico Scarlato says, maybe you're here in Atlanta, Georgia hanging out with me. Yeah, nothing exciting going on here.

Sorry. Hey, maybe you're in Indianapolis, Indiana, hoping for your Indiana Pacers to advance tonight to the NBA Finals. Maybe. Hey, maybe you're in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. Maybe you're trying to stay alive against the Edmonton Oilers.

Who else is excited? Hey, maybe you're in Florida, Southern Florida, South Florida. Maybe you're representing for the Panthers.

Happy that they've now made it to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. There's a lot of places to be happy. Maybe you're in Alaska. Maybe you're Hawaii.

Maybe you're in Canada. Be happy wherever you are. The show gets started every weekday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. We've discussed a lot. Oklahoma City advancing to the NBA Finals by knocking off Minnesota. We had a great chat with Chris McGehee. Thank you for joining us, Chris, to talk about the Thunder and what they've done, what they're up to. And damn it, now we wait a little bit of a vacation before they start the NBA Finals.

How about this? We're going to have a conversation with Chris Hine in about 15 to 20 minutes. He covers the Minnesota Timberwolves.

We'll get his thoughts on what needs to happen for them to get past the Western Conference Finals two years in and two years out. Hey, Rob Ranfred was on television this morning. Looks like Major League Baseball has an investment into softball.

Oh, yeah, they do. And then he also had some public comments about Pete Rose and the fact that he is no longer on baseball's ineligible list. So we have a whole lot more to get into as the show continues on. If you've missed a minute or a second or an hour, you can hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Thank you for listening there. Your local affiliate, Sirius XM375, and a smart speaker if you have one. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. We even heard from Patrick Mahomes earlier today. He's like, man, I ain't doing no flag football in 2028.

I'll be 33 years old. Leave that to somebody else. I don't blame him. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. You know, before we get back on the phone with Chris Hine, let's talk to Ed. Ed is calling from Maryland.

You're on the JR Sport re-show. Ed, what's up? Hey, how are you feeling, JR? I feel amazing. How do you feel?

Doing as well. I got a question for you about Anthony Edwards. And I have not seen, I mean, I've seen a lot of players, 60 years old. I've seen a lot of great players.

And I've seen him a couple of times. And I understand he doesn't have a PIP and he doesn't have the help he needs probably to do what he needs to do to see his full ability. But at his age, do you, is it fair to put him in, I'm not talking about the face and all that, but is it even fair to put him in the same conversation as great players yet? I mean, does he have the skill level? Does he see the court? Does he have the intangibles right now? What does he have that makes people want to have that conversation? In your observation of him, what does he have that makes people want to put him in that conversation?

Is he a killer? I think you can see it. I think he has to understand the next level of the game. And that's ultimately just winning.

That's it. Because the athleticism, without a shadow of a doubt, the athleticism is there. He's developed as a shooter. I mean, to be able to knock down threes at the clip that he did earlier on in the season, he fell off at the end. I mean, he's had some poor shooting games to end this series, one of seven, one of seven from downtown, but he's improved as a shooter.

He is still he doesn't turn 24 until August. He's already won an Olympic gold medal. He was out there competing with the best of the best and learning from them last year as to how they prepare guys like LeBron James going out there and stretching.

Steph Curry, how he prepares before the games. And I think it's a good thing if you want to think about his long term development, that he gets knocked on his ass. I mean, last year, last year, he took on Luca Doncic, who doesn't have his athleticism, but controls the game unlike any other. And this year he lost to a guy like Shea Gilgus Alexander, who also doesn't have his level of athleticism, but they control the game.

I think that's the last step for Anthony Edwards. Of course, you need good talent. You need better players around you to see it through. But I just think he got to a certain point and he got stumped as to how you want to control the game.

I mean, he said it two games ago. He was asked about struggling. He said, I don't view it as struggling. I just didn't get the shots up. I didn't get enough shots up.

Well, if you ask me, that's struggling like that's the next step to his game. But everything else appears to be there. OK. I mean, I mean, I'm looking for because like I said, I come from a different era and I and, you know, my nephew and a lot of younger guys say we go back and forth. And I'm like, I just don't see it. And they're like, well, you know, and they put the things in. It makes sense.

Just like you do. I just I guess coming up with some of the guys that I saw, he's twenty three years old. Think about it. And he's twenty three. Last year at this time, when he was in the Western Conference finals again, he was twenty two years old.

OK, we think we think about the guy who won a championship last year and and Tatum and Brown. These dudes, they're not. They're twenty six, twenty seven, pushing twenty eight. Like he's five years younger than these guys.

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I mean, and like you said, you can't expect too much too soon. And sometimes they hype these guys up so much that it puts unreasonable expectations on the eyes, on the eyes that are watching them.

I just think in due time for everybody, you know, you talk about things being a different era. You're completely correct, because when you have social media, look, if we didn't have computers and television screens in our back pocket, in our hands right now with cell phones, we would still be stuck to a few channels where people get their information. You get just right here on the radio.

You'd get it from TV. Most people are getting all of the information from online, even if it's regurgitated from television. And so when you have a player that you can hear about ad nauseum, a conversation doesn't stop at, you know, 10 o'clock or 6 p.m. or seven. It's just brought upon all day. And it's shared on Facebook, on Twitter, on X. And you're going to hear about Anthony Edwards all day long because everybody and their mother is going to have an opinion on him with that.

That wasn't the case. I mean, damn it. Could you imagine if Allen Iverson, he was towards the end when social media was really blowing up and exploding and he was gone. Could you imagine being back in 95 when he's coming out of Virginia and he may not have even gotten into the league. They might have kept his ass locked up if we had social media, you know, back then. Forget the tattoos and the cornrows and the hair.

He would have been caught at the casinos. So we do we do live in a different day. And you know about that because you right out there in Maryland, man, you understand. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Without a doubt, it's a different time. And so Anthony Edwards is still young. And he said it himself.

And I give him a lot of credit and I'm going to play it again in a second. Anthony, he pretty much was asked about being hurt. And he's like hurt.

Why would I be hurt in this situation? And he views it as an opportunity to grow. And he plans on doing so. So I say stay tuned. And the other thing is, Ed, we're really moving into a transition of errors in the NBA.

Let's really let's think about that. If we got to go back for the past four decades, we went from Magic and Bird. And then you had Isaiah. You moved on to Michael Jordan and Hakeem. You then moved into Kobe and LeBron. You move from LeBron and to LeBron and Kobe. Then it's LeBron and Steph and Durant.

And now we're moving into a space where those guys are leaving. And there's so much of this stupid conversation about face of the league, face of the league, face of the league. It's going to evolve because over the next three and four years, Steph Curry going to be on his ass watching the game with me. LeBron is probably going to be doing the same thing. And in some of these young guys we're talking about now, somebody, one or two of them, somebody out here is going to be grabbing the brass ring.

It might be Anthony Edwards. So we'll see. Well, it makes a lot of sense. Sometimes sometimes sometimes I think some of these OGs and I don't mean to disrespect, but some of these OGs as far as like LeBron and them need to sit their ass down and let these cats, you know, let these cats play basketball. And I would never I mean, you know, let these cats play basketball.

Let these dudes become what they were. But they played for 15 years. I mean, you played 15, 20 years and you're relevant. It's tough though. I'd say I'd say if you get LeBron definitely is still playing at a ridiculously high level.

No. Yeah, you're right. Even at 41, he's still one of the best players in the league, which is mind boggling. I mean, Chris Paul is he's no longer an all star, but he played every game last year, last season. And this man can still go out there and say, here's here's 10, 15 points and here's, you know, seven, eight assists. It's maybe 10 assists. So look, these guys are playing longer than ever.

They may not be playing as hard. But in LeBron, he's in a different category. This guy's played more basketball and he's going to end up playing more seasons than any human being that we've ever seen. No. Oh, he's ridiculous.

He's ridiculous. No doubt about that. I say you get as much juice out of the orange, get squeezed every drop that you can, because you never know when it's going to be done. Hey, Ed, I appreciate you. Take care, brother. You too. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. No doubt about it. Yeah, I appreciate that conversation.

It's like the NBA is really in a transition. Like I didn't even mention when Benyama hopefully going to come back from that blood clot, I assume. So we haven't heard anything.

So I assume the best and positive out of that. I didn't say anything about Yochich. Ain't nobody think about him. He's going to be one of the most dominant players that the league has ever seen from the center position. And he's not dominant in a way that Shaq was. He's not dominating like an Hakeem or Wilt or Bill Russell was. He's commanding the game as a as a point sensor if we even want to call it such a thing. But he doesn't talk. And so nobody will ever look at him and just go, oh, my God, this is his era this time.

These people basically fought against it. It's a good time to be an NBA fan. It really is. The conversation is tied and played out if you ask me about face of the league.

But when you think about the options and the players that do exist, when Benyama, Carl Anthony Towns. Oh, my God, I messed up. Hey, Nico, what a what an error that was. Right. Not that bum. He's just catching strays everywhere.

He's not that bum. Anthony Edwards, excuse me. Who else am I missing?

When Benyama, Carl Anthony, Anthony Edwards. Why didn't other names similar or is it just me? Do I have basketball dyslexia today?

Well, they both have Anthony in the name, so I think that's what what it is. Yeah, probably. There you go.

That's why they call that man cat or whatever. What are the young? Am I missing any young guys? That's it. All right. There's probably some Pacer fans out there that are pissed.

You haven't had Tyrese Halliburton. I don't think he is. No, bro. No annoying.

Captain annoying. Yes. No, no, no, no. Take up the mantle for the end. I'm thinking about who's going to carry the mantle.

I think that we got a small group there. It'll it'll evolve over the next several years. We'll see. Let's listen to that clip that I mentioned about Anthony Edwards. This is what he had to say about being eliminated. He was asked, how bad does this hurt?

And he's just like, hurt? What you talking about? This don't hurt. It's exciting.

I don't know. I don't know why people would think it would hurt. I mean, it's exciting for me. I'm 23.

I get to do it a whole bunch of times. I'm hurt more so for myself, for Mike. I came up short for Mike. Like I said, we tried last year. We couldn't get it. We tried again this year.

We'll try again next year. But hurting is a terrible word to use. I'm I'm good.

That's a terrible word. He's good. He's good.

Sounds like it. I want to see how much better. No more excuses. No more.

I didn't struggle. No, none of this crap. That's not.

You got to take the games over when they matter the most. That's it. It's the J.R. Sport Breeze 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 have a chat with someone who is very familiar and actually is very familiar. He knows this man, Anthony Edwards. We're going to talk to Chris Hine from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He's also the author of Ant, a biography that's coming out next week on Anthony Edwards. I'm going to get his thoughts on the thought process that Anthony Edwards has moving forward with this Minnesota Timberwolves team needs to do to move forward.

How disappointing this experience was overall. Chris Hine joining us on the other side. The J.R. Sport Breeze Show, Infinity Sports Network.

It is the J.R. Sport Breeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The season for the Minnesota Timberwolves is over. We saw the elimination last night at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is a second consecutive season where they have not advanced past the Western Conference finals to talk about what we saw for the Timberwolves and what we can expect going forward. Joining us right now is Chris Hine.

He covers the Timberwolves for the Star Tribune and is also the author of the upcoming book Ant, a biography of Anthony Edwards. Chris, how are you, man? It's good chatting with you. I'm good. Thanks for having me back on. Appreciate it.

Most certainly. Not the ending that I think people in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities, Minnesota wanted to see. Are you surprised at how they were handled by the Oklahoma City Thunder?

Not really. I guess I thought maybe the series would go six or seven, but I did think in the end, Oklahoma City's defense just grinds you down, whether it's over the course of a game or over the course of a series. I think just how physical they are, just how handsy and the way they move you off your spot, the way they won't let you drive into the lane. All of it was just a bad matchup overall for the Wolves, especially because the Wolves are a team that likes to get downhill. And I think guys like Lou Dort, Kacen Wallace, they don't let you drive on them.

They're very good at keeping you in front of them. And that was just the recipe for a disaster against the Wolves team that tried to break the lane and then get its offense going from there. Chris, we saw that the Timberwolves weren't able to do that. I mean, even Anthony Edwards lamented the fact that they pretty much closed all of his driving lanes, forcing him to shoot. I mean, in the last two games, he was two of 14 from deep. And then we heard from him afterwards that he's just like, I have to figure out how to be better. What are your thoughts on some of the comments that he's made about not struggling, but planning to work harder?

You know him better than a lot of others. Yeah, it's been an interesting postseason to see the reaction that he's been getting because I think in some ways, like Game 4, there was such a reaction to his Game 4 performance. And if you know the arc of Anthony Edwards' career with the Timberwolves, you know that especially in that second half, that was not a bad game by Anthony Edwards.

On the first half, when he only took two shots in that game, yes, I think there needed to be a way for him to get more involved scoring-wise in that game. But in the second half, he was making things happen for his teammates. The Timberwolves put up 126 points on the top-rated defense in the league in that game. And it was in large part because of the attention and the plays that Anthony Edwards was making against that defense. So when he says he wasn't struggling, I believe him because that's what the team has been preaching to him for five years.

Use the attention, make the right play, and let the chips fall where they made from there. They did not lose Game 4 because Anthony Edwards played a bad game. And the series was essentially decided in that game. They lost Game 4 because they allowed 128 points. Their defense let them down in that game more than anything, I think. So it's been an interesting thing to see if somebody that follows Anthony Edwards' career up close versus what the national perception tends to be.

Game 4, I don't think it was as bad as people made it out to be. And Chris Hahn is here with us, covers the Timberwolves for the Star Tribune. When you think about what the team can do moving forward, you talk about his teammates and what can be adjusted.

You know, Nas Reed can opt out. The same thing with Julius Randle, who they acquired last year for Carl Anthony Towns. What could this team do to take the next step?

Good question. You know, there's some young talent on the team that Chris Finch said probably has to play more next season. Guys like Rob Dillingham, Terence Shannon, who got some run in the Thunder Series, Jalen Clark. You know, I think when you have young talent like that, you don't quite know what the potential is there. Rob Dillingham, they drafted him in the top 10 last year, traded up to get him.

You know, that's somebody that is supposed to be a big part of their future. And, you know, it was an up and down year for him. He's a rookie point guard and an NBA out-of-contending team. Not always easy in that situation to crack the rotation the way you could if you were on a team that was rebuilding. So it'll be a very interesting year for Rob Dillingham and his development as Mike Conley, you know, will turn 38 next season.

You know, 20-year-old Rob Dillingham at that point should be taking the keys to the car at that point. And maybe Mike Conley, you know, becomes more of a bench player. They have to manage his minutes. Mike Conley still very much, I think, has stuff left in the tank, but Rob Dillingham is a point guard of the future.

And I think they have to start, you know, maybe turning the page on that one. Hey, Chris, forgive me if this comes across as a little flippant. But Rudy Gobert, he's what he is, right? He's never going to learn anything down low? Like, this is it for Rudy Gobert, you know? Your words, not mine.

You did. Listen, I think Chris Finch coming out of last night said, you know, the team has to try to use Rudy a little more effectively on offense. Throw more lobs at the basket. But at the same time, he's been playing with Ant and Jayden McDaniel, Zoz Reed, guys like this. It's been three years now and, you know, they haven't really figured out how to use Rudy effectively in terms of scoring.

So I don't know what the future holds there in terms of maximizing that. Listen, anytime Rudy Gobert is on the floor, your defense is going to have a certain acumen. And I think where Rudy's value is and was for the team this season was in his consistency and his approach, which quite frankly was lacking from some of the younger players at times. If you go back over the last six weeks of the season, Rudy Gobert spearheaded them some nights against lesser opponents and games that they probably could have lost if Rudy Gobert hadn't put up like, you know, 15 and 15 or 20 and 15 numbers like that. So his value is, you know, consistency and defense. And of course, the regular season when you get in the playoffs, obviously it's a different it's a different thing. Matchups come into play.

More of the quality of opponents are better. And as you saw his numbers in minutes and it defluxulated times. Hey, Chris, as we start to wrap things up, you wrote the book coming out and a biography of Anthony Edwards last night. He said that that experience did not hurt. I know he's dealt with a lot in his life. What's what's the real what does that really mean that this didn't of course, it doesn't feel good. What what do you think he meant by that? And what can we expect from this team next year?

You know, I think I think you look at it from both ends of the perspective here. You know, he's 23 years old. He's been to two conference finals.

Not a lot of people to say that. But at the same time, sitting next to him at the podium was Mike Connelly, who's 37 years old and has been to three conference files in his career. Two of them being the last two years. Nothing is a given in the NBA.

Right. And I I think it's easy maybe for for and to not have the perspective of a Mike Connelly to take for granted the fact that you might make it back to the conference finals. Like that, you know, that's not something that could easily happen. You got to work to get there and you got to have the right things happen to you as a team. You have to have injury left. You have to have all this all this stuff happen.

Just get to this point. That's what makes it hard. You know, each of the last two seasons, I think they thought, you know, they had a shot at least getting to the finals. You know, last year against Dallas, they thought they should have won that series this year against the Thunder.

I think coming into it, they thought they could put up a really good fight with them. It turned out not to be true in both cases. So, you know, I hear his I hear his disappointment. But, you know, I think at the same time, he's always just had a positive outlook on life as well. That's just how we abuse things. But at the same time, you have to be careful because, you know, there's no guarantee you'll be back in this spot.

Not a guarantee. Well, Chris, thank you so much for the time. I know it's been a busy day, a busy month. I know you got a book that you got it out as well. Please tell everybody where they can keep up with you. Get their hands on Ant. Fill us in.

Yeah. At Christopher Hein on X slash Twitter. Ant is available for preorder everywhere. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, wherever. And your independent bookstores should have it as well.

I have a link on my Twitter page where you can go and try to find your preferred retailer. I really appreciate the support. And thanks for having me on to plug it. And no doubt about it, Chris. Appreciate the time. Hopefully you get a downtime this summer. Just a little bit, OK? I'm going to try. No doubt about it.

Thank you so much. That Chris Hein from the Star Tribune also has out the book called Ant, a biography of Anthony Edwards. There's going to be a lot of interest in Ant-Man as this offseason moves forward, as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves. Things are not going to get any easier in the Western Conference. You think about all the young teams that are out there, all the potential moves that we could have of this upcoming offseason. As Chris said, there is no guarantee that Anthony Edwards is going to wake up next year and it'll be May.

And that he's staring at another. Forget NBA finals, just a Western Conference finals. Things may not get easier.

They actually may get tougher before they get better. I thank you again to Chris Hein. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, right now, the New York Knicks like the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. New York Knicks.

They got their backs up against the wall. If the New York Knicks lose this game tonight, their season is done. When we come back on the other side of the break, I want to tell you about a team that season is done. I want you to hear from Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred. He had some words today.

He had a little explanation as to why Pete Rose was taken off of the ineligible list. So we're going to talk some hoops. We'll get into some baseball as well. Of course, we'll keep you up to date with all the basketball. It is the J.R. sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Chris Hein for joining us in the last break. Covers the Timberwolves for the Star Tribune. He came through and we had a chat about what could be in store for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards and just the organization as a whole. And Chris made it very clear, you know, if you're Anthony Edwards, you might be 23 years old. Don't take for granted the fact that you went to the Western Conference Finals.

There's no guarantee that this is in front of you just in every upcoming season. Good luck in that regard. Make sure you go get his book as well. Ant, an autobiography of Anthony Edwards written by Chris Hein. 888-710-4ISN.

That's 888-710-4ISN. We also heard right as we went into the break. Thank you so much to our News Flash as well from Rich Ackerman. The New York Knicks, they are leading right now against the Indiana Pacers, not by a lot. The score is now 34 to 32. Jalen Brunson just went to the bench. This guy's been hot 14 points here in the first half. Carl Anthony Towns, who is questionable heading into this game. He has 12 points for the New York Knicks.

He is five of seven. And so that knee has certainly responded in a good way for the New York Knicks. Meanwhile, for the Indiana Pacers, Tyrese Halliburton right now, only two points. Pascal Siakam leading the way for the Indiana Pacers. Kyle Siakam with eight points.

A little less than eight minutes to go here in this one. The Knicks now lead 37 to 32, 39 to 32. We'll keep you up to date as this game continues on. I do want to let you know that there is a team that was already eliminated in the NBA postseason. That happens to be the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is a squad that won 64 games. The Oklahoma City Thunder, they went out there and won 68. The Cleveland Cavaliers, they promptly swept the Miami Heat. Not a big deal because, I mean, who the hell was playing out there? We're going to trust Tyler Herro.

The answer is no. And then they lost to the Pacers 1-4. And you could say Darius Garland was hurt. At one point in time, Mobley didn't play and he was the defensive player of the year.

We can go through all of that. But Darius Garland has been hurt off and on throughout the course of his career. A couple of seasons ago, when the New York Knicks eliminated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the postseason, Jared Allen said that the lights were too bright, that the team was inexperienced. Jared Allen is limited offensively.

Darius Garland is rather small. As a matter of fact, his general manager pretty much said that he needs to get bigger, needs to get in the gym and get stronger. There's a report out right now from Chris Fador, who covers all things Cleveland Cavaliers for Cleveland.com.

And we've had Chris here on the show. He said the Cleveland Cavaliers are more willing to entertain trades for Jared Allen and Darius Garland. He says he thinks the two untouchables are Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. And I like and I have been getting the sense that the Cavs would be more willing to entertain and consider possibilities for Jared Allen and Darius Garland than they have been in the past.

And why the hell not? Like Jared Allen, you got a shot blocking big man and he's versatile. He can knock down shots, he can play offense, he can play defense, he can actually move. Jared Allen is limited.

I think you can you can roll out your team. It's nice to have him there. I'd be more interested, in all honesty, in moving Darius Garland for a larger big. I mean, you think about what they did by bringing in DeAndre Hunter from here in Atlanta with the Hawks.

That's certainly added. But Darius Garland is I would not trust him. It's one thing to have a gigantic frontcourt, but then their backcourt with both Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland is just ridiculously undersized. I want you to listen to this.

This is Cavs president Kobe Altman a couple of weeks ago. He said that they have a strong core. Listen, I love our foundation.

I love I love our core. You know, our starting lineup is the average age is twenty six point eight. You know, we have two all stars that are twenty five and twenty three respectively. And they're going through it. They're going through these experiences. They're going through these battles.

And we're sustainable in a lot of ways. Yeah, but anybody can be got there's some redundancies in the roster. And I think when you have Donovan Mitchell back there, you want to have somebody else. You want to have a larger guard who can knock down the shots.

I think you want to maintain your depth with someone like Ty Jerome and then also Hunter. I wouldn't be surprised if if Mr. Garland got moved, especially given his issues with durability over the past couple of seasons. And when I think about Jared Allen, he'd be perfect on the team like the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that needs a big man. They don't need him to go out there and score.

No different than Cleveland. But he's he's a liability on offense. He needs somebody like Luca Doncic, who's a big point guard. He needs LeBron James, who's a gigantic point guard who can go out there and set him up. Go ahead.

Go out there. Please protect the paint. Grab grab the rebounds. Do the dirty work and we'll get you your offense just by opening up the basketball court. I think Cleveland will be a team that that will go through some type of change. I think Jared Allen would fit perfectly with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Nico, what do you think? Would Jared Allen be a fit out there? Yeah, I could see it. I mean, there's a lot of question marks with that team, too.

So I don't know exactly what the what the return would be there, but I could see it working out. I don't know. He made three. And it's been reported. Shoms actually said this NBA offseason might be the craziest ever. Now, just thinking about years off the top of my head, the big three forming in Miami, that was a massive season. The year that Kevin Durant decided to go over and join the Golden State Warriors, that was a wild season because the salary cap pretty much exploded and opened up for every single team.

And so to think that this could be the craziest ever, we might have some some multi-team trades that go down. That doesn't include what might happen with Kevin Durant this offseason. We have no idea if Giannis Atteracumpo is going to stick around in Milwaukee. I would think if I'm just using my common sense that if it comes down to winning a championship, he's going to find a better long term and short term opportunity outside of Milwaukee. And so I think he'd be good. And Darius Garland, if you have to move Jared Allen or Darius Garland in order to keep the team as a contender.

I mean, they damn it, they won 64 games. But to take the next step to be a postseason contender, who would you want to move if you had to? I think that Garland is better than Allen. So if you're asking who I'd rather keep, I'd rather keep Darius Garland. Wow.

Wow. You don't find him to be redundant with that? They both. Well, I can't even say they're redundant. Donovan Mitchell is like Darius Garland, but better. OK. And then if you look at Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, look at Jared Allen, I just go, well, Mobley can do everything that he can do, but then Allen can't do everything that he can.

They're sucking up space on the floor. I'd rather have a little bit more diversity in the entire team. Yeah, that's a good point. I'm just looking at it on the level of Garland's two years younger. And it makes me think that he has the more potential to see a higher upside or have a higher ceiling than Jared Allen. I think we already know what Jared Allen is. I don't know if we've seen the full potential of Garland yet.

I don't think so either. I think he can get bigger and stronger. And hopefully that leads to him being more healthy. But I think if you're the Cleveland Cavaliers and you look at the team, the roster that you have right now, Donovan Mitchell is undersized in his own right. And I'd look at it as, hey, he is the better player. I can move him and I can get something in return that can actually net me a championship, a better position to net a championship as opposed to waiting on Darius Garland to, I don't know, put on five or six, seven pounds of muscle and evolve. It's like the Cavaliers.

They have to compete like everybody else. But running the same team and running the same roster back, you ain't going to grow. And then even moving Jared Allen, that's you get a bigger return than Garland.

It'd have to be a big flimflam. Jared Allen is going to block a shot. He's going to have a nice afro. He's going to grab a rebound and then he's just going to take up space on on offense.

It's hard to see them. And there's a reason why, you know, Cleveland ran him out of the building and it all didn't just have to do with injuries. The New York Knicks lead the Pacers right now, 45 to 34, about five and a half minutes to go here in the first half of the game. We'll keep you up to date on everything going on as things continue.

This is going on right now. Live, of course, the Knicks trying to stay alive against these Indiana Pacers earlier this morning. Rob Manfred. Yeah, everybody's favorite commissioner. Rob Manfred was on CBS mornings and I had to flip around like, why the hell is he here? And then we learned one of the reasons was Major League Baseball is going to be investing. It's a softball. Yeah, you heard me correct.

I was like, why the hell is he here? Major League Baseball is investing in Athletes Unlimited Softball League. This league gets started.

Well, next month. Let's listen to Rob Manfred talk about that and then we can listen to him talk about Pete Rose. I think it's a moment in time for us. We've been very engaged in the softball space as part of our youth participation programs and the growing popularity of women's sports motivated us to look around. We looked at startups. We looked at making an investment and we thought AUSL was a great fit for us. Yeah, look, he's hoping that and then by the way, the women's World Series is going on right now.

It's a pretty cool watch. I was catching up with some of it some of it over the weekend. This is they're hoping for a Kaitlyn Clark moment and wouldn't any sports league look for Kaitlyn Clark moment and good luck to Kaitlyn Clark and her recovery so that WNBA can start making some money. Even outside of that, Rob Manfred, he had some words about the reinstatement of Pete Rose. We know that Pete Rose passed away last year. It was only a few weeks ago that Rob Manfred removed him from the ineligible list as it relates to Major League Baseball activity. But Rob Manfred wanted to make clear that, hey, him not going into the Hall of Fame didn't have anything to do with me or Major League Baseball. It had to deal with a deal that he made years ago. Listen to Rob Manfred give you three reasons why Pete Rose is now eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Look, I would say three things. Number one, our permanently ineligible list is effectively a ban on working in the game just as a matter of logic. There's no reason to have a person who has passed away still on that list. Number two, Pete Rose is a part of the history of our game. Every other player, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, has been considered by the Hall of Fame and they've made a decision. I saw no reason to leave Pete Rose out there as one of one.

No consideration. And then last, I think what people don't realize is Pete Rose wasn't disciplined by Commissioner Giamatti. He entered into a settlement agreement with the league. At the time they entered into that settlement, he went on the permanently ineligible list knowing that the rules allowed the Hall of Fame to consider him. Commissioner Giamatti went out, had a press conference the day of the settlement, and he was asked about the Hall of Fame. And he said this settlement should have nothing to do with the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame should consider Pete Rose under its existing rules.

So I see the decision as baseball living up to the deal that they originally made. Oh, man. Oh, boy. He knows how to give an explanation, doesn't he? He could have just said, hey, him not being in the Hall of Fame doesn't have anything to do with us.

It's simple as that. I mean, we went through this for years. I mean, we heard from Pete Rose prior to his passing. Pete Rose told everybody, hey, what good does it do for Cooperstown to put me in a Hall of Fame after I've passed? Like that doesn't do anything for me.

And how does that celebrate me and my accomplishments alongside my family? And the answer is, well, maybe for his family, it does for Pete Rose, who's no longer here with us. It does it.

It does it. This is almost like Rob Manfred didn't say anything crazy. I'm not going to put this in the same category of him calling the World Series trophy pieces.

Nico, am I am I going to do that? Did he really call it a piece of scrap metal or am I making that up? Did he call it a piece of tin scrap metal? That man really said that about the trophy. I mean, I'm speechless.

Yeah, I'm not joking. That's what the man said about his own trophy. OK, whatever.

He's not the most eloquent when it comes to words. He could have just said, hey, if he goes into the Hall of Fame, I'm going to have nothing to do with it. And I know that's the way that Rob Manfred would want it, because, hey, if I'm laissez faire, if I'm hands off.

There's less people are going to criticize me. Nature of the game is kind of what the NCAA has done with college sports. They're like, oh, the kids got to get paid now.

The student athletes have to get paid. Now, get somebody else to do it. We don't want anything to do with any of that.

That's how a lot of people live their life. Hands off. Do better.

It's the J.R. sport brie show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I think one day Pete Rose will get in. It may be a long time from now. Maybe a couple of cycles.

I think one day he's going to get in the New York Knicks and the Pacers are still at it. I'll give you that score on the other side of the break. I'll also give you an update on what's going on on the ice between Edmonton and the Dallas Stars. We've got a lot to do before we roll out. It's the J.R. sport brie show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.