The Speeding Epidemic (Hour 2)

It is. The JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Come to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody for being tuned in and locked in all over North America. I hope you're safe.

I hope you're well. I hope you are amazing. I'll be hanging out with you for the next three hours.

Well, we've been hanging out for an hour already. Where you been? The show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern. Three Pacific.

I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Ryan. Botcher. Man, we got so much more to get into. We've already talked about the fact that, well, We're now, well give or take, 90 minutes away.

from game six of the NBA Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder with an opportunity to win their first title. and send the Indiana Pacers home packing, Alongside Tyrese Halliburton and I guess his reported uh busted up leg. We'll have that chat. Matter of fact, how about this in twenty minutes?

We'll talk to James Herbert. He covers all things NBA. For CBS Sports. We'll chat with him in about 20 minutes. We heard from Andy Reid.

about his team that was back in the Super Bowl last year. But lost. Yeah, the Kansas City Chiefs. He says Rashi Rice is going to be healthy and Travis Kelsey is looking in good shape. He's lost some weight.

Who's ever said in the off season that they look fat and out of shape? The answer is nobody. Anyway, as we continue on with the show, well, we have even more to get into. Shohei Otani, he just pitched one inning a couple of days ago. He's going to be back in action on Sunday.

Last night we talked about the Los Angeles Lakers and their new owner. who bought the team to the tune of ten billion Dollars. We're going to have a great chat. with a great team from South Africa, The Sundowns The Sundowns are going to come through and have a chat with us.

Next hour. Yeah, the FIFA Club World Cup is going on. That'll be fun. A few things that took place this day in sports history. Adrian Peterson, Vikings legend, can't stay out of trouble.

Now he's getting into fights at poking games. Like they're not botcha, are they not better things to fight about than a poker game? There's not many good things to fight about in general. Oh, well, no, there's a reason to f get into a fight, but I mean, you know, Pokégame Well, yeah, of course, but gambling and high money stakes, people get a little angry.

Well, I know Adrian Peterson, some of his financial issues have been at Front Street.

So, I mean, if you're messing with that man and his money, I guess you might could have a problem. We'll give you some details on what's going on with Adrian Peterson later on in the show. It's like every couple of It's like once a year there's an issue that pops up. With Adrian Peterson. It's like one legal issue after the other.

Of course, when he played, there was that whole, uh, situation with his kids and He was allegedly hurting his kids. This goes beyond giving them a spanking. This was abuse. And now he's bro. I don't know.

And I've had Adri Adrian Peterson has been right here. with us on the Infinity Sports Network. He's joined us here on the JR Sport Reef show. Every time I've spoken to the man it seems like it's all good and Daisy's everything is good. Uh but uh on occasion there's always something that pops up when it comes down to one of the greatest running backs we have ever seen, on a football field.

So we'll talk about Adrian Peterson later on in the show. It's just bad when a former athlete just hits the skids, right? I mean, we just talked about Jason Kelsey. He was on the Internet telling everybody In an affirmative, he's like, Yeah, there's a good chance that I have CTE. There's a good chance that my brain might be deteriorating just as I live my life.

And it's something that you accept if you're an NFL player. Car accident after car accident after car accident during every single play the ball gets snapped and boom Brain shakes. You do that enough, you you are gonna have and some issues, and so it's hard when you finish up your career. not necessarily trying to understand and deal with your finances, but how you go about dealing. With your life.

And you know what? I can't even say it's just dudes at the back end of their career. Man, we got guys who've just started their careers. And this is just a human experience. Wild and crazy things What gonna happen?

Like last night, for instance. we talked about not just Shador Sanders, but also Zack Eady, the gigantic seven four, seven five man center for the Memphis Grizzlies, Both of these guys Over the past month have been popped for driving like lunatics.

Okay, we got Zack Eady from the Memphis Grizzlies, all seven foot four of him, was crammed into a Kia Sorrento, going one hundred and one miles per hour. in a fifty five mile per hour zone. He was in Indiana. This was about a month ago. And now well, He got to stand in front of the judge next week.

And now you got Shador Sanders. who on Tuesday, early Tuesday morning, He was clocked, going one oh one in a sixty mile per hour zone. Like I said last night, I'm not going to tell you that I've never sped in my life, never got a speeding ticket, never said, let me see how fast my car could go. But I mean damn when you got the world at your fingertips, You would think you'd be a little bit more careful. This is the report from WKYC three about Shaddur getting pulled over for going way too fast in the suburbs of Cleveland.

How you doing? 101. Got you 101 miles an hour. That is Brown's rookie quarterback Shadur Sanders. Caught going 41 miles over the speed limit on I-71 North in Strongsville.

Police pulled him over early Tuesday morning near the Ohio Turnpike. Tonight, we have new body cam video from that traffic stop. Tuesday, 12:24 a.m., Strongsville Police running radar on I-71 North clock a Dodge Ram TRX flying by with a second car not far behind. Officers turn on lights and sirens. Both the truck and the car pull over.

How are you doing? 101. The driver browns rookie quarterback Shadur Sanders. In the other car, the driver identified as Sanders' girlfriend, Jasmine Hammond. Both expressed disbelief at the high speeds.

Yeah, I got you at 92 and I got him at 101. He said what? 92 miles an hour. Yeah. I don't remember, but I'll take your work.

Okay, all right, I appreciate it. While writing the citation, the officer doesn't appear to be a huge Browns fan. This is a younger one, not the one that got drafted, right? No, this is the one I got drafted, yeah. But in the end, no major penalty for the Browns rookie.

Sign here by the X. It's just stating that you're going to take care of the citation. If you don't, they can suspend your license. I'm going to give your girl a break, okay? Ye mean damn.

If two hundred and fifty dollars was a citation, I think Shadora could handle it. And meanwhile Zack Eady has to stand in front of the judge and deal with a misdemeanor. Oh, it's rough. It depends on where you're at. That's just the the story of life.

Ah, there's there's two things that I got.

Well, a couple of things. I'll say it again. Zac Eady is seven foot four. This man crammed into Ikea Sorrento, good for him, first of all. God bless him.

How he fit his little his little ass body. His giant ass body in there, I have no idea. And then when it comes to Shador, It stinks. This is a minor thing. I don't think it will have any major impact on whether or not he will end up the starting quarterback of the Browns or whether or not he'll get a real chance or have a real opportunity.

But the reality is there will be some individuals who will take a look at this and just go We told you so. We told you that this man wasn't trustworthy. We told you that he wasn't mature, he doesn't make good decisions, that he's not worthy of being the second quarterback selected in the draft. I mean, damn it, the guy was, what, seventh overall taken when it comes down to Q B's? His own teammate Dylan Gabriel was selected ahead of him.

This is not what you want, if you're Shador. You don't want to give people ammunition. He talked a few weeks ago, after he was drafted, about, you know, what is there to prove and what do you have to prove? He's like, I don't have anything to prove to anybody. It's just for me to go out there and in play.

and to take advantage of the opportunity that I was given.

Well This doesn't help. His dad was talking just last week to Asante Samuel saying that some of the things that people were saying about my son the fact that he wasn't prepared, he wasn't ready to play, that he was arrogant Well I guess getting a speeding ticket more than a hundred miles per hour And doesn't help. Yeah. At the end of the day, you you just gotta lay low. and I think Chadour will be fine.

He'll answer some questions about what took place and the world will go on. I think Shadora Sanders will ultimately still get his chance and his opportunity to start for the Cleveland Browns. How long and how many it is, we have no idea. But I don't think this will have any major bearing. But this is a reminder, and shout outs to everybody listening to the sound of my voice who are currently operating a vehicle.

Man, that vehicle can hurt somebody That vehicle driving that thing can alter your life. You go too fast, you drive it under impairment. Yeah, it could it could really wreck you. I'm not trying to scare you. People going home, people going to work, people making money.

I'm not trying to scare you, it's just the reality of the situation. Not everybody has $250 just to make the issue go away. Not everybody is Zach Eady.

Well, I mean, what are they gonna do? Send Zack Eady, his seven foot four, gigantic ass? They're not gonna send him back to Canada. The biggest issue for Zack Eady right now is whether or not his uh His other ankle can actually hold up to an NBA season. It's a hard knock life.

operating that vehicle, can change. Your life.

So be safe out there. And you know what, ironically, There there's no better story recently. Then Henry Ruggs. Like what are the odds that on the same day, lester day, yesterday, that we find out about Shador Sanders driver like a nut? that we find out about Zack Eady driving like a nut?

That Henry Ruggs who's been sentenced to prison Yeah, yeah, Henry Ruggs. I know it sounds crazy. This man played for the Raiders. He was sentenced in two Oh, excuse me, 2023, two seasons ago. Two years ago, not seasons for him.

I don't know if that's how you want to count prison time. He's been sentenced to three or ten years For a DUI, resulting in death. HENRY RUGGS in twenty twenty one He was drivin' through Las Vegas. He was going one hundred and fifty six miles per hour. when he crashed into a young lady twenty three years old, In her car with her With her dog.

He killed him. He crashed into him. There was a fire. They gone. They sentenced him, like I said, to three to ten years.

Like, those are the types of things when you're driving like a complete nut, you don't just alter your own life. You can alter the lives of people surrounding you. You could even kill somebody. Who wants to do that? I don't walk out of my house going to get dinner and just saying, hey, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to kill somebody today. I don't think most people do that. But you just make these mistakes and it just takes you to another level. Henry Ruggs at the time, his His uh blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit. and now he's paying for it.

Well he had an opportunity to to kinda I don't want to say come out but he was granted out a couple of days ago. and he was at an event and they allowed him to to speak. And his His speech was uh it was I almost say common. It was captured. Vincent Bon Senor, who we've had here on the Ch R Sport Reef Show.

He got the audio of Henry Ruggs. Who is serving three to ten years? He's hoping one day to make an NFL come back. Was a big deal coming out of Alabama. And right now, he's behind bars.

He was granted a temporary release just so he could provide a speech and some words of encouragement for people dealing with issues just like his. And he apologized to the family. And he said more. Take a listen to this. One that I wish I could turn back to hands of time.

Uh I I would love for them to to to meet the real Henry Rugs and not Not the one that was escaping from something. you know, I I sincerely apologize for Not only being a part of that situation, but the fact that, you know, not to take a shot at you, but the fact that my face is always in the news. My face is always in the newspaper.

So they have to constantly be reminded of the situation, be reminded of me and see. you know you know, those memories have to continue to rise because of all of the famous notoriety that I have which I never even I never asked for, I never liked. In So I would just tell them that, like I said, I deeply apologize for just being a part of that, and I wish that they could meet. the real hint rugs and not not one who was just running away from everything. Yeah.

Well, I I commend him for sharing some of his own Personal issues. I don't need to know the full details. Ain't my life. uh but he said that the things that he had to confront and He was hiding things and confronting things.

Well, one night he was out drinking, And um He took somebody's life. That's not what anybody wants. Hey, listen, if you're driving, ubering, living your life, please go out there. And be safe. I know these athletes are making millions and millions of dollars.

They're human beings, they're young athletes with a lot of money. And look, one life isn't more valuable than another. Keep that in mind as you are. just going up and down the highways, the byways and the back roads. It's the JR Sport Re Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.

We are going to take a break, and when we come back on the other side, let's talk some basketball. Not Zach Eady and his Kia Sorento. But let's talk about the NBA Finals. Let's talk about Tyrese Halliburton. Let's talk about these rumors surrounding Kevin Durant and where he may or may not go.

Let's talk about the city of Memphis. There's a lot going on in the NBA. Let's talk about Dallas and Flag and Ace Bailey. We're going to have a chat with James Herbert, who covers basketball for CBS Sports. We're going to do that on the other side.

You're locked in. You're tuned in to the JR Sport Reef Show, coast to coast, on the Infiniti Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The NBA season, it could end in a few hours or it could extend.

all the way to Sunday. Tonight, we got a game six between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. Even while the NBA Finals is going on, we have so many rumors about what superstars and where they might end up. And to have a chat about it all, what we've heard, seen, and what we can expect. Joining us right now is NBA Ryder from CBS Sports.

His name is James Herbert. James, how are you, man? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me. Absolutely.

Thank you for taking the time to join us. I fully believe that we'll see Tyrese Halliburton out on the court tonight. Even if he is the world's biggest decoy or this is the world's biggest hustle, what are your thoughts on what we can expect for the rest of the NBA Finals, whether it concludes tonight or on Sunday? Yeah, I mean, Halliburton's going to play. That's out there.

I think it's just an open question as to how effective. He'll be. I mean, what we saw throughout most of game five the other night was a guy who didn't have his normal side-to-side movement. He didn't have his normal ability to change directions. He didn't have his normal, you know, he's not like the fastest guy in the league to begin with.

Like, that's not how he operates, but he did look less explosive to me now. For all of the attention on him, and yeah, he didn't make a field goal. In the game, like I I didn't think he was out there just playing terribly. I didn't think he was like making a ton of bad decisions. He was a part of that run that they had to cut it to two in the fourth quarter.

So, I mean, from the Pacers' perspective, they're hoping that with round-the-clock treatment, the last couple of days, that he'll come into this game feeling a little better than he did late in game five and that he'll be able to be kind of the guy who he's been for them all year. Maybe it's not a 30-point night. Maybe it's not a huge scoring performance, but in terms of the guy who kind of gets them going, gets them organized, who gets their pace going, who's able to kind of set the tone for the way that they play and even just create advantages like for other people to go and attack a closeout and then make a play. Like that, I think, is what they need from him more than anything. He doesn't have to have an enormous individual game, but if he can kind of, you know, gut it out and inspire his teammates, I think they'll take it.

It seems, either way. Are they cooked? Are they cooked? The paces are done, you think? I've seen them come back from so many situations this year.

Like, I'm not going to say they're cooked. If I had to pick a winner tonight, I would pick OKC. I had Thunder and Six going into this series, and I mean, just. If we know, and we do know, like they are going to have a somewhat diminished version of Halliburton. I mean, I just don't think they have.

A whole ton of room for error going in.

So I would pick OKC, but we have seen the Pacers come up with all sorts of upsets throughout this run. We've seen them come back from huge deficits and all of that. I'm sure they'll play really hard. I'm sure they'll have the fight. And I'm hoping that we'll get a good and competitive and tight game.

Once it's tight. Down the stretch, Indiana has a track record of pulling rabbits out of their hats.

So I'm not willing to dismiss them, but going in, I wouldn't pick them to win tonight. It will be drawn by NBA Ryder, covers all things basketball for CBS Sports James Herbert. I mean, once we get through this NBA finals, whether it ends tonight or it ends on Sunday, we know that we're staring at the draft. There's so many rumors about some of the stars that might move around. Where do you think Kevin Durant might end up?

Or actually, forget that. We know the options. where is the best place that he can be? Yeah, that's a good question. Minnesota makes sense.

The problem is that, you know, the word is that he has no interest in actually being there.

So I'm not trying to, you know, force some arranged marriage and make KD unhappy. But I do think if They're given a chance to make a pitch to him. He should listen because I do think that's a pretty good basketball situation. That is a team that, you know, I mean, we've seen them get to the conference finals now the last couple of years. I think they could need, they could use.

A bit more scoring punch. They could use a guy like KD to kind of help them maybe go and actually make the finals next year. I do think that could make sense.

Now, there are a whole bunch of variables in play, right? Like, what is the package that is being sent out the other way? Like, in one version of this, it's Rudy Gobert that's kind of the headliner in terms of the players that would be going Phoenix's way. In another version, it's Julius Randles. But Randall has a player option that we don't know whether or not he will pick up.

I think for me, if I'm the Wolves, if I could do this trade and make it so, you know, you're giving up some other stuff to upgrade from Julius Randle to Kevin Durant and you still keep the sort of shape of your team intact. I think that would be the ideal scenario. I think that would be a really, really formidable team. you are sending Gobert the other way, then It's a little bit different. It's a little trickier.

I mean, the wolves, maybe they would still do it. But I think at that point, you have to expect a pretty drastic drop in just how effective they can be on defense going forward. James Herbert is here with us on the JR Sport Reshow covers basketball for CBS Sports. I want to move over to the Los Angeles Lakers. I mean, last night we heard about the $10 billion acquisition By Walter and Guggenheim Partners from the Buzz family.

Is this really going to have an impact on how things change or how the Lakers operate or even the rest of the league? Because we know right now the NBA is not major league baseball. It's almost prohibitive to spend so much money and so much cash. Like there are rules in place.

So, what do you think this is going to mean for the Lakers? Yeah, I mean it'll have an impact but nothing like like the Dodgers sale and how they were able to just go and And spend as much as they wanted in a league with no salary cap. Like, I mean, you can see like Matt Ishpia went into Phoenix with his deep pockets and was basically like, we're going to buy talent and we're going to do it immediately. And he goes and makes a KD trade on day one, literally day one of his ownership tenure. Like, how has that worked out for the Sun?

I mean, we were just talking about where KD might end up. They have spent wildly. Um, and now everybody's expecting them to try to go and get under the second apron this summer. And that's not because suddenly Matt Ispia is like he wants to save money and he does he's not as committed as he was before. It's because he found out, and I think the team found out that the reason why there aren't teams just going out there spending as much money as humanly possible is because of the restrictions in this relatively new, not that new anymore, I guess, collective bargaining agreement.

Like there are roster building restrictions that come when you are one of the leagues. Highest spending teams. This was designed to curb the spending of teams like the Warriors and the Clippers and now the Suns to the point where. Um if you do go in with that kind of strategy, you'll end up You might have your draft pick frozen or taken away. There's all sorts of access to different exceptions that just vanish in the summer.

It makes it really, really hard to build a competitive team year after year when you're dealing with all these restrictions. It's not like the Lakers are going to come in and just be able to trade for or sign a whole bunch of superstars. That's not how this works. Where there will be a difference is the stuff that we don't really see: the size of the front office, the money that the Lakers are able to put into off-court stuff, areas that they have had to cut corners over the years because the Lakers have not been owned by some crazy conglomerate that has. Other sources of income.

This has been like an enormously successful family business, but basically a family business forever, or at least not forever, but since Jerry Buss bought the team decades ago. And that means they have not been able to make the same sort of investments in staff and operations and facilities and all of that that some other teams have.

So now the Lakers, they still will have the advantage that they have in terms of their enormous local TV deal. They'll still have the advantage that they play in a huge market and that stars want to go there and play there and they have the brand and the history of all of that. They also won't have that one disadvantage that they had vis-à-vis some of the other teams in the league, where now, They're going to have owners that are as deep-pocketed as everyone. And maybe they will go and build their own arena, build a new practice facility, hire a bunch more scouts and analytics people and all of this, and just make a bunch of investments. Like that's where we'll really see the change with the Lakers going forward.

James Herbert is here with us from CBS Sports.

Well, we know a team that you talk about the draft and being able to analyze and take a look at analytics and add staff. It seems like the Dallas Mavericks have really lucked out after trading Luka Donchich to the Lakers, and now they're going to end up with a Cooper flag by next week, it seems like. What are your thoughts on how that's going to look, given that we have no idea when Kyrie is ever going to return? And then pretty much Anthony Davis is, well, he's Anthony Davis.

So what do you think that's going to look like? Is Jason Kidd even going to be his coach? What are your thoughts there? I kind of think Kidd will be the coach because I feel like the Knicks thing would have been done already if that was going to happen. But as far as what it's going to look like on the court, I mean, I think there's a lot of questions that the front office is going to have to answer the summer because just throwing Cooper flag onto that roster and running it back would make for a really, really weird team.

I mean, like basically all five of their best players are either power forwards or centers. That doesn't make any sense. They need people that can actually, you know, make plays from the perimeter. They need some guards on the team. They need to balance out this roster.

I imagine we will see some sort of movement. Maybe it's Daniel Gafford that goes. Maybe they even look into seeing what Derek Lively's trade value is on the market. I think Flag's best of the four. I think PJ Washington's best of the four.

I don't agree with Anthony Davis that he's best of the four, but they have seemingly committed to playing him there. Um, so yeah, I mean, it's it's a really weird roster right now. Um, if it were me, I would probably trade AD and completely start over, build this thing around Cooper Flag. Um, but there's no indication that that's what they're going to do.

So, um, let's see what else they do in the summer.

Well, no, absolutely. And you mentioned the New York Knicks and their ongoing disaster. You would think after getting rid of Tom Thibodeau, they would have some type of indication as to what they would do next. What is the most likeliest of outcomes? We heard about Taylor Jenkins, and we heard about them taking a look at Mike Brown.

What the heck do you think is going on with the Knicks? Or is that too impossible to even think about?

Okay. We can think about it, we can speculate, but I don't know what they're going to do. Those are the two names that have come out as far as. Guys that they're planning to interview, um, but you know, maybe they'll go and um look at some other people who are assistant coaches elsewhere, maybe they'll look at you know guys in the college ranks. I don't know.

I think it's a tough one, it's tough to figure out. um what they are going to prioritize because Um, all the reporting so far indicates that they're trying to kind of poach a bunch of. Opposing teams had coaches, which is a difficult thing to do in the NBA. It rarely happens. And it just became sort of a joke quickly that they were getting denied permission to interview.

All of these potential coaching candidates for them.

So, I like, I'm curious to see. Um where they land, I think. you know I wouldn't want to just assume that they're going to mess this up just because it's gotten off to an awkward start. It does like kind of feel like a disaster now, but I caution against just like. Actually, looking at it like this is a disaster and they will fail because you know, all that matters is they make the right hire.

It's not necessarily they make the right hire on everybody else's timeline. I remember you know, this is years ago now, but I remember everybody criticizing the Sixers right when Sam Hinke got there. Um, about like, how can you not have a coach in place by the draft? This is so important. How can you not have a coach at the beginning of free agency?

And they took like months and months to hire Brett Brown. But then Brett Brown had like a pretty long tenure there, was quite popular in Philadelphia. And everybody forgot that it took them, you know, the better part of an offseason to settle on who was going to be their coach. I think if New York makes a great hire and if they have a good year next year, then nobody will care that they tried to interview Jason Kidd and Ime Udoka and all these people. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean well eventually they gotta they gotta get the guys on the court right. And we'll see from there. I mean, given the Knicks' history over the past thirty or so years, I don't know if I'd be all of that that confident. We gotta wait and see. Hey, James, thank you so much for the time.

Hopefully, we get some more basketball passed tonight. Please tell everybody where they can follow you and all of your work with CBS Sports. Yeah, all my stuff just goes up on cbsports.com in the NBA section. Thanks so much for having me.

So, no doubt, James, thank you for joining us. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, Coach to Coast, on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back, you know what? We're going to talk some more basketball because there's a guy that maybe you've heard of, or maybe you haven't.

He's not even in the NBA, and he is in the news. His name is Ace Bailey. We'll talk about him. We'll talk about some football. We have so much more to do here on the Infinity Sports Network.

But right now, it is time for a news flash. Here he is. It's Rich Ackerman. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. This portion of the show is sponsored by Hyundai.

The all-new all-electric Hyundai Ionic Nine. Space for up to seven. Range. for miles. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.

If you want to call me, you can always call me. Here's the phone number: 8887104ISN. That's 888-710-10. For ISN. Thank you so much to James Herbert for joining us from CBS Sports covers and writes all things NBA basketball related for CBS Sports.

And I mean, at this point, we are about an hour away from game six of the NBA Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder have an opportunity to eliminate the Indiana Pacers, and we just got to wait a little while for that. When less the Pacers Strike back. Even though Cyrese Halliburton is running around, With a busted-up leg. And so, of course, when that game tips off, we'll keep you up to date as it gets on and rolling.

Now, before we continue on rolling with the show. You know, w with James, we just talked about quite a few established NBA stars, future Hall of Famers, the big teams, uh, you know, what the Knicks do with their head coaching search, what happens with Kevin Durant, uh whether or not Jay Gilgas Alexander walks away with the championship. These are all individuals who are already in the league. We know who they are? They have resumes.

We just have to wait and see. What happens next? There is one particular NBA prospect. We have no idea. What's coming next for him?

His name? It's ace. Barely. and I guess over the next few weeks you should familiarize yourself with Ace Bailey. He's coming out of Ruggers.

He played one season. He averaged seventeen point seven rebounds. He's an athletic freak. He's 6'10. He can dribble.

He can shoot. He can do quote-unquote. all of the things.

Now, from a records basketball standpoint, damn it, they they didn't even make it to the tournament last year, so as a basketball squad, not even anything worth talking about. And he had a running mate with him, who's also a top or highly regarded prospect, and Ron Harper Junior is Ron Harper's son. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to even figure or understand that. And so you put two stars on the team in New Jersey, and they stink. One I'm pretty sure they were all looking out for themselves, and so Ace Bailey and Ron Harper Jr.

There too the most highly touted prospects in this draft. We know Cooper flag is number one. He's going to end up being a Dallas Maverick. The San Antonio Spurs selected number two. The Philadelphia Seventy Six is number three, the Hornets are four, Utah is five, the Washington is six, the Pelicans are seven, Brooklyn is eight, And so When it comes to Ace Bailey, Word has started to trickle out.

as one of the top prospects behind Cooper flag, that he's not working out for a lot of teams. That he's refusing to show up. That he's just like, nah, I don't need to show you who and what I am. And I would assume it's because he has some, uh, you know, Solid information. that he doesn't need to work out because there are a couple of teams that want him early In the draft.

And so, as a result, there are rumors going around right now that one of the top prospects, not named Cooper Flagg, is just falling on NBA draft boards because he is refusing to show up, interview, or work out. I want you to take a listen to this. This is from ESPN Jonathan Gavoni. The draft starts with Philadelphia. Who do they take?

Vijay Edgecombe or Ace Bailey? Ace Bailey was three for a while. He slid all the way to six in our latest mock draft. NBA teams are a little bit perplexed about his pre-draft process. He's the only player who is yet to conduct a single workout to this point.

He has not visited any NBA team facilities. Ace Bailey's Camp is adamant in conversations that he's a top three player in this draft and they're looking for a clear pathway to start on both with minutes and opportunity.

Now, Bailey's Camp seems to feel confident that if Philadelphia, where he's working out later this week, or Charlotte at four, decide to pass on him, then Washington, New Orleans, Brooklyn, who are six, seven, and eight, somebody's going to trade up to get him. A lot of uncertainty about how this is all going to play out. No one really knows how it's going to end up and where Bailey would pick. That's going to be one of the biggest storylines I'm going to be tracking on draft night. Yeah, m much to do.

About nothing. Like this guy ain't falling all that damn like fault or where?

Well, from three to four, from four to five, like there ain't no fall here. They obviously he feels confident, his family does, his representation. They feel confident about where he's going to end up in the draft. Like this is old hat. This is same old, same old.

I mean, we had Kobe Bryant drafted by Charlotte, and it was pretty apparent, hey, I ain't staying in Charlotte, I'm not going there. We had an NFL quarterback, and he was not at the top of the hill coming out of old miss. His name was Eli Manning. Eli Manning and his family basically said Hey, you San Diego. Don't draft Eli.

'Cause he ain't goin'. What did they do? They drafted him and they sent him to the New York Giants. I'm not concerned about this guy. I've watched Ace Bareleep.

I've seen highlights. Maybe I see him in the background once or twice. I'm not going to tell you I've seen this dude play a lot of games, but I can look at numbers. I can look at what he does. I can look at his frame, 6'10, moving around, shooting threes, playing basketball.

I can look at his family who have both played. His mom and dad played college basketball. His aunt was in the WNBA. These are not people foreign to basketball. These are not people saying, oh my God, well, let's just do this.

Like, they have experience. They understand the gang. They understand the politics associated with the game. When it comes to the draught, Like, why do I want to work out for somebody if I feel highly confident that somebody's going to grab me? This is not a Shaddor Sanders situation.

Well, I think I'm good, and if you don't draft me, then you screwing up your organiza like this is not that. This is what we see with top prospects. If I can help utilize what I have shown you to help dictate where I want to go, Then so be it. I will take the risk, And I'll let the chips fall where they may. Sean Shirania was on Pat McAfee and he talked about this situation as well.

Listen. For all we know, there might be a promise in place for him. Clearly, it might not be Philadelphia at three.

So, yeah, he was supposed to go into Philadelphia today. Visit with them all day today and tomorrow, Frid be and Friday. He had a full-on session for him. He was supposed to be in Philly. I'm looking at the information I have.

The 19th and the 20th, he was supposed to be in Philly. They had all of his flight arrangements set. They had dinner for him set. They had breakfast for him set. They had A workout session from set.

They had everything arranged for him, and he essentially bailed two days prior to the visit. Yesterday, he canceled, from my understanding. And so the Sixers don't quite know what to make of it. I think people around the league don't really know what to make of it. To my knowledge, he hasn't gone in and visited with the team.

So yeah, it is unheard of to an extent for a player. He's the only U.S.-based player not to go visit a team. And we're, what are we, six days away from the NBA draft?

So yeah, it is uncommon. But I don't want to throw shade quite yet. There might be a method to the madness for him. But this is a player that I think between three. In eight, I could see him going.

Ye you you never know. And if they're comfortable going three to eight, then then so be it. Like, you have no idea. We discussed this yesterday when it comes down to Lamar Jackson. This guy was beat up in the court of public opinion.

You don't have an agent. You're screwing up your money.

Well, This guy got $52 million a year. Over the past several years ten quarterbacks have jumped him, and now he's sitting around telling uh vague jokes about how he's about to be the highest paid quarterback in the entire game. Like it's one thing to have all the uh outward optics, it's another thing. to actually get things done. Behind the scenes.

I'm not going to judge Ace Bailey either. Like if people are looking at his talent And they're like, oh man, it's undeniable. I got to have them, then they will go ahead. and they'll get 'em. Draft boards.

How many people are doing mock drafts? How many people have done mock drafts in the NFL, NBA, and how much of it has worked out? Shador Sanders, oh, well, is second highest rated quarterback.

Well, damn it, he wasn't drafted that way. He had the weight. forever So, everybody can sit around and play Monday morning quarterback. Everybody can sit around with a thought process on who they think is going to get drafted and where. It may not be reality, I would be surprised if Ace Bailey falls out of the top ten.

What's up, three to eight? And I think he'd feel very comfortable. He, his camp, his lawyers, his agent, I would say they feel very comfortable about where he's going to get drafted. I wouldn't say this is a big deal. At all.

Let's see where he ends up next week. Yeah, the NBA draft is going to be here sooner than later. Damn time flies. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break.

When we come back, I want to take a deeper dive. into what took place yesterday with the Los Angeles Lakers. They got a new ownership group. They got money. Is it going to hurt the NBA?

Is it going to help the NBA? And speaking of LA, We're going to get more showheys sooner than later. I'll explain. It's the JR Sport Reef Show Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network.