JR SportBrief Hour 4

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Rocket can. Okay, I'm going to be hanging out here with you for one more hour. Time flies when you're having fun. I got started at 10pm Eastern Time, 7pm Pacific. I'm hanging out here with super producer and host Dave Shepherd, and I'm here with you. Shout outs to everybody holding it down, protecting people. Shout outs to everybody outside saving people. Shout outs to everybody just moving the economy along. Shout outs to everybody relaxing. Getting money.

Whatever the hell you're doing, I'm glad that you're here with me. All right, if you want to talk to me, we got a phone number. We have multiple lines. They fill up fast though. It's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. This is an amazing time in the world of sports. Pulling up on the World Series. NFL is in full swing. NBA season just got started. NHL season just got started.

It's a beautiful time to be a sports fan. And so with the start of the NBA, I decided tonight to give you a new top six list. And I looked at the best players in the league right now. The best players. Guys who are lighting it up. Someone that you would build a team around. Someone who you can count on and rely on. A good player. A great teammate.

Someone who can put the team on his back. I gave you a full explanations last hour. You can listen.

Just hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Here's a little bit of a recap. At number six, I gave you Kevin Durant. Yes, not the biggest leader. Injury prone.

Still one of the best. Number five, similar reason. LeBron James. When he plays, he's going to put up amazing numbers, but how often is he going to play?

When he's out, it takes a little bit longer to recover. And number four, I gave you the two time NBA MVP, Nikolai Jokic. And number three, I gave you someone who's the favorite to win MVP this season in Luka Doncic. At number two, I gave you the man that just won a championship in the finals MVP in Steph Curry.

And at number one, I gave you some man out of Milwaukee. His name is Giannis Atetokounmpo. He is just what you want in a basketball player. He wants to play. He wants to improve.

He has no fear. He's an awesome teammate. He makes the most out of everything that he can get.

Squeezes every drop out of it. You got to appreciate it. Selfish.

Excuse me. Selfless. So selfless and understanding of who he is and what he brings to the game and just has a different perspective. If you were to ask Giannis who the best player in the league is right now, this was his response.

He actually gave it. Do I believe that I'm one of the best players in the league and the way I help my team be great and win games, it's efficient and effective? Yeah, I do believe.

I'm mature enough, I'm old enough to understand that. Do I believe I'm the best player in the world? No. I think the best player in the world is the person that is the last man standing. You know, is the person that takes his team to the final, to the finish line and helps them win the game.

You know, win games and become champion. So that's how I view it. I believe that the best player in the world is Steph Curry.

It's still the next player. Reasonable. I can't argue with him. I think different, but I can't argue with him at all. You want to put Steph Curry number one?

There's an argument to be made there. I just love Giannis. I think everything, there's nothing bad about the guy and not him. He obviously, he's not a perfect basketball player, but he's what, he's what you would want.

Whether it be the sixth man or not the sixth, but the 12th man at the end of the bench or whether it's a superstar. Like I want him, sign me up for him. Phone lines are open or you can try. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. And we talked about quite a few guys. There's more than six great players.

There's a lot of dudes who have great potential, but I think this is the list right here. Memphis is on line one. Say again?

Memphis is on line one. Oh, I think I know who you're talking about. Well, it ain't Desmond Bain. No, not Bain. And Bain is already an excellent player. I expect, I wouldn't be surprised if we put it this way. If Desmond Bain is an all-star, maybe as soon as this year. Let's see. 855-212-4CBS.

Memphis Grizzlies beating the Knicks in overtime. Ryan is calling from Chicago. You're on the JR Sport Reef show. Hey, JR. Thanks for taking my call.

I really enjoy the show. Thank you. I think your list is really solid, but I got, I think, you know, there's spot number six that could be filled with DeMar DeRozan instead of, I think, the gentleman from the Lakers you mentioned? No. No.

I had, well, LeBron James, the gentleman. No, no, six. Six.

No, I'm sorry. Kevin Durant was number six. Kevin Durant. Yes. Yes, Kevin Durant was number six.

I'm sorry. Yeah, I think, I think Durant puts up, you know, similar points. And frankly, I think he's a great teammate. I mean, he's showing Iota Sumo the ranks, the ropes in the NBA.

He's helping out the other rookies. I mean, sure, he's not great on defense, but I don't, I don't see it. I mean, I don't think Durant is that much better.

So, I would just quabble with the end of the list. You don't think Kevin Durant is that much better than DeMar DeRozan? Well, no. I mean, point scoring-wise, but I think, like you said, there are other qualities that you've got to consider, right?

Sure. Yeah, well, I think there's a, there's a massive difference in, yeah, we can, we can look flat at the points at what was scored and, you know, total points per se or average. Right. Well, Durant would win that, right? Well, what, by, by a point or two? But who cares? Like, to your point, 29 points, 27 points, it doesn't really matter. But here's the thing. DeMar DeRozan, as great of a scorer as he is, going to the basket, mid-range game, he's not someone who's going to destroy you. He's not someone who's a threat at the three-point line. I remember watching DeMar DeRozan in person at Madison Square Garden. It might change here, though, JR.

I'm sorry? It might change tonight because, I mean, he hit like 33. No, no, no, no, no, no, I doubt. It's one game. Can it change? Yes, it can.

But let me, let me finish my point here. I watched DeMar DeRozan a couple of years ago go into Madison Square Garden and torch the New York Knicks, destroy them in the mid-range. Is all of a sudden now at the end of his career, or not the end, but a more mature point of his career, is he going to start knocking down 30 to 40 percent of his threes? I doubt it. If he can do that, kudos to him.

I don't think so, man. Well, 30, 40 percent isn't that hard if you only take five games. Well, you know, I think he's going to have to take more than what he's done so far in his career to be effective or efficient.

He really hasn't taken any. So, uh, right. Is he one of the best? Is he an all-star? Yeah. Am I putting him as one of the top six players in the game?

No, I think we have some other guys. Right now, if you have a younger team like, I think, surrounded by younger guys, too, I mean, would you rather have Durant leading them or would you rather have DeRozan? Ryan.

I'm not asking about who the best leader is. Listen to me, Ryan. Dude, DeMar, you just said that they're only scoring the difference between one and two points a game.

Well, did you? But it's the variety and the ability to score. There is not a place on the floor that Kevin Durant cannot put up a point. Kevin Durant can get hot, hot, hot, hot, like destroy you hot, like murder, slaughter you hot. He can get hot like people we have not ever seen in NBA history. Can you say that about DeMar DeRozan?

I can't, but I can also say, you know, DeMar, is going to be in the game. You know, I can't say the same thing. Oh, okay. All right.

Well, that's because I mean, in the last second, we're also there, right? Ryan, let me tell you something. This is a lot of home. No, this is a lot of Homer ism right now.

Yeah, we can talk about availability. But even in regards to availability, DeMar DeRozan doesn't crack it. I can rip Kevin Durant off and I can throw, I don't know, some guy from NBA, I don't know, Ryan off and I can throw, I don't know, some guy from Memphis on. DeMar ain't there. I know that's your guy, it's your team. He ain't there, Ryan.

I mean, damn. Shep, he's good, Shep. He's very good. He's an all-star type good. He has his limitations.

You talked about defense, this just. DeMar DeRozan wouldn't put himself in the same sentence as Kevin Durant. Like DeMar, to your point, JR, DeMar DeRozan will be in the Naismith Hall of Fame just of what he's done on the NBA level alone.

But there are tears to this. He has never made an all-NBA first team. He has never played a single second in an NBA finals. Kevin Durant, and you heard it last night, JR, where Klay Thompson, when he was on with Barkley and Shaq, they do not win. They don't come close to winning 2017, 2018 without Kevin Durant.

And you've alluded to this too. They go back to back to back if Kevin Durant doesn't go down in game five. Kevin Durant has six times all-NBA first team. He was four time all-NBA first team by the time he was 25 years old. These are very different levels of tears between Kevin Durant and DeMar DeRozan.

It's not close. Even for this season, man, I mean, he's talking about availability. Well, even if DeMar does go play, he's healthy, he's sturdy. But he's not setting anybody over the edge. He did surprise a lot of people last year.

He did have a little bit of a renaissance. I don't think people expected that because DeMar was an MVP candidate. Early. I would say even middle of the season, but then he faded fast.

Yeah, it's tough. I ain't talking about all-stars, man. I'm talking about the best of the best. He ain't there. 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. Let's go to Toronto, Canada and talk to Alan. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. I'm going with Joel Embiid.

I do have a case in this matter, Your Honour. Five time all-star, four time all-NBA team, three time member of the all-defensive team. And just last year he won the scoring title and the first seven footer since Shaq O'Neal in the 2000 to win a scoring title. And the first center since Moses Malone in 1982 to average over 30 points a game. And all right, he had an injury last year and he missed the first two games against Miami. But he recovered. He played the last three games. And he scored a stunning 40 points just two years ago against Atlanta. So I'm replacing him over LeBron James. Past performance, LeBron James. The present realities, the momentum is with Embiid. So I'm putting him number five instead of James. Okay. You have a case in this matter, Your Honour. No, reasonable.

Thank you, Alan, for calling from Toronto. I mean, I thought about Embiid over Durant. That's pretty much, that was a thought process I went through over the past 24 hours and thinking about this. It's like, well, okay, who plays? If you have to think about it, think about it.

Embiid was relatively healthy last season, playing in almost 70 games. It was tough. I can't argue with that. Ray is calling from Georgia. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

What's going on, JR? Man, I love your list. I would take LeBron off myself and I would probably put Devin Booker there.

And I would say the best player I'm going with Steph Curry. And just so you remember me, man, Carson Wentz. He's Wentz down again. Oh, no. What a terrible pun and joke that was, Ray. Thank you for bringing some awfulness to the show. You're more than welcome, man.

Thank you, Ray, for calling from Georgia. Yeah, I like, I like Devin Booker. I want to see Devin Booker just like really be a closer, a finish, a closeout guy. There were certain people that were going, oh, man, he's like Kobe and he's like this and like that. Well, we know we've had one Kobe.

We know Kobe modeled this game after another guy. Let's see Devin Booker be a closer, a finisher. I didn't see that last year.

That's something that I'd love to see consistently out of him, especially in gigantic moments. Was he hurt? I don't know.

Maybe he was, but I think there's some, some consistency. Is he going to go and drop 50 and 60 and 70 points? Damn it.

I don't know. Go drop 81 like Kobe too. Consistency 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Lewis here from Rochester. Hey there. Love your show, buddy.

Thank you. I'd love, I would like to say that the only weakness you have in your show is your collars. No, it's not a, it's not a weakness. Well, some of them, some of them.

No, see, this is, this is the part about show construction. Even, even someone who says something crazy, it makes you think. It makes you, it makes you go, wow, that sucked.

It was great. It made you have an opinion. And as long as people have opinions, it's like art. You like art? Yeah, I do like art.

Yes. And art is subjective. You might look, you might look at a painting and you might look at it and say, that sucks.

You might look at it and says, that's great. But as long as you watch, you pay attention, you listen, and you have an opinion and a thought and an emotion. That's what matters, Lou. Which is why I like your show because you're a little deep thinker, a little bit there. Well, I'm surface level. I hit my head a few times and here I am, but go ahead Lou.

What's up? But as far as the NBA, I don't even, I'll be honest, I'm not a big NBA fan. I don't watch the NBA, but the way you characterize Giannis at the end, if I was Jim Rome, I would wreck you on that one because you did a great job of explaining why you, in fact, you, you got me so interested in Giannis now that I will watch him probably next game he plays just to watch him because of what you said about him.

Well, if you want to, well, thank you. If you want to learn more about Giannis, I haven't even seen this yet. And I know it's not a, a full accurate depiction of his life and his upbringing.

Disney on Disney Plus, there's actually a film about Giannis. He's Nigerian background, parents from Nigeria. They grew up in Greece. He was selling knickknacks and watches and nonsense on the streets of Greece.

You know, not necessarily wanted as an African immigrant in Greece. And he was basically picked up to go ahead and play basketball and he's become one of the best basketball players on earth. So yes, a very interesting story. But honestly, that's what I like about you. You point out the facts, the character facts, even more than the talent facts. Not that he's not talented, obviously. Well, you know, I love the fact that you brought up his character. Well, I think that's, I think that's a part of, of being a great player and being a great teammate.

You know, I, I give you a different example and thank you Lou for calling from Rochester. You know, there's certain players, like if Dennis Rodman wasn't completely nuts, would he be the player that he was? I'm not sure he would be. Like he had to have been nuts to be who he was and to do what he did. Undersized power forward, defending giants out there, also grabbing more rebounds. He had to have been nuts, right? Character matters, or sometimes it doesn't. I think in the case of Giannis, a big part of who he is, is his perspective on life and what he believes and what he has seen in life and what he's experienced.

It's not a shock he's having this type of success. 855-212-4CBS. Jeff is calling up from Jacksonville. You're on the JR Sport Reef show. Okay, am I on? Yeah, you're live.

Go ahead. Well, you just made me want to change my whole setup because Dennis Rodman was cool as hell, by the way. I used to go to his house when we surfed in Newport Beach and he let all the surfer kids come in. His arms went across the whole couch. He could reach all the way to the end. But anyways, to get back... Whoa, whoa, whoa.

There's no anyways after saying that. Yeah, go ahead. You hung out with Dennis Rodman as a child. I was 17-18, surf for Volcom and we had a Volcom team house and yeah, we'd all go down to Rodman's and it was pretty nuts. He didn't do anything too crazy, but he would definitely be dressed up weird.

He lived on the first street on the beach. Oh, okay. I don't know if... This wasn't like visiting Neverland Ranch now, was it? For us as a kid, in a way it was. It was like, you know, he was... Because the bulls were awesome, you know, like everyone loved him. You're right about the character though. He was a trip, but he always had chicks there. So, we always were just kind of going for the chicks and trying to get his vodka.

Oh, I'm sure as a 17 or 18-year-old, yeah, but the statute of limitations I'm sure has passed by, but what else you got? He pretended to not notice. So, for one, as what we're talking about here, I like Jason Tatum and I like that if he got a little more dog in him, as they say, I think he would be one of the best players, but that was funny when that other dude brought up Trevor Lawrence for no reason, but I think Trevor Lawrence needs to cut his hair like Herbert did and when he cuts his hair off and starts running for first down like Bortles did, then this guy will start being talked about, but until he gets that toughness, that's... I'm not even kidding. I hope Trevor hears this. He needs to cut his damn hair, period. I'm out. Spoken from Jeff from Jacksonville. He wants his quarterback to cut his hair. Sure, fine. Yeah, Tatum is one of the best players in the NBA without a shadow of a doubt and there's certainly an expectation coming off of an NBA Finals appearance where he was the best player on the Celtics.

My apologies, Mr. Brown. I know you dropped 35 points and you're always worried about being traded. There's more of an upside with Tatum and I just want to see some more. Like, he could be one of the top six players for 2022. Damn it, Jason Tatum could go out there and win MVP.

I think one of the things that would slow him down is his teammate. If Brown is out there having an amazing season again, they might potentially split some of the votes and so I expect a very big year. I want to see more. I do. If I think about the players that I have here on the list, I'm certainly talking about for this season.

I'm not just all pegging it on, oh man, past performance, but we've seen enough of a body of work even from Luka Doncic to say this man can carry a team by himself. Let Tatum step into that space. I'm ready to see it. 855-212-4CBS. That's the JR Sport Brief show. We're going to take a break. I'll get some more of your calls on the other side. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you, man. We love you down here in Texas, okay?

JR. Hey, how you doing, man? I love your show. Love the topic. Thank you. I'll be listening again in the future. This is a great show.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're taking a look at the top players in the NBA for the 2022 season. As we go into the year, who's the best in the game?

Who isn't? I got Giannis Atetokounmpo at number one. We actually played a clip from Giannis Atetokounmpo addressing this. Giannis says that Steph Curry is number one because he just won the championship. I got Luka Doncic at number three. I think he's basically a walking basketball team all by himself.

I think it's one of the problems that the Mavericks have had trying to find him help. And then we had a bunch of older, more injury-prone guys at the end of the list, but they still hold their own. Kevin Durant at six, LeBron James at five. I had the reigning two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic at number four. And if you missed the full explanations as to why these gentlemen are on the list, check out last hour.

On the free Odyssey app, I gave you a full explanation. And then there was Joel Embiid, who I went back and forth with in regards to having him or not having him on the list in place of Kevin Durant. Joel Embiid could go out and win the NBA MVP.

He had an amazing season last year. I just wait for Joel Embiid to fall apart. You know, is he going to come back and give you another 70 games?

That would really be a success. Damn it, he could be the centerpiece on a team. He's one of the top players in the league. But I really had to say to myself, all things considered, him and Kevin Durant will probably play the same amount of games.

I think he'll have to do more, him being Mr. Durant. And if I have to think about them individually and both, it was a tough decision. I went back and forth. I put Durant on the list. I've seen more.

I've seen more for longer. I trust him. It's not a lifetime achievement award.

Durant is still one of the best in the league right now today. Like him, love him, leader, whatever the case might be, he's still there. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Let's go to Atlanta, Georgia and talk to Tony. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. All right. Thank you, JR. I appreciate it. Man, it's a tough, it's tough, man. I ain't gonna lie.

It's real tough. I'm gonna say at number six for me, it's gonna be LeBron this year. At five, I'm gonna say Durant. Four, I'm gonna go with Steph. Nah, I'm gonna go with Kyrie at four. Three, I'm gonna give it to Trey. Well, Tony, we got a lot of people on the line, so I appreciate you sharing your six, but we don't have time for all of that. It already sounds kind of wild that you have Kyrie on the list and you've put Trey Young at number three.

I mean, what are we doing? Yeah, Trey. Just look up how many times Trey Young made history in the NBA. Two, I'm gonna give it to my boy.

Nah, no, no, I'm not. No, Tony, forget two and number one. Trey Young has done what now? Just look at how many times Trey Young has made history in the NBA. So why is Trey Young the third best player in the entire NBA right now? Because Trey Young is a leader on the court. He's a leader off the court and he has made history in the NBA. He's averaged 25 points since he's been in the league. But he's not operating in a sieve against five other players. There are approximately 450 guys in the league, and if I have to look at all of them, I think there are some that are more accomplished than Trey Young.

Well, I beg the different, JR. I think, you know, he's getting a little older. Lebron is older.

Okay, forget them. What about somebody like Luka Doncic? What about him? Well, I don't feel like Luka's gonna make my list because he hasn't really accomplished nothing besides scoring, but he hasn't really led his team. He did the same thing Trey Young did. He took a team to the Western Conference Finals. That's true, but what I'm saying is Trey Young has made history in the NBA over 20 times. He's on the list with Jordan.

Many lists without Jordan. Oh my God. What are we doing?

We just talking about scoring? Trey Young is absolutely amazing. I've watched him since he got drafted with my own two eyes.

Sitting courtside, sitting up high in a suite. I've spoken to Trey Young. I've talked to his dad.

I've seen what he's done. Trey Young is great. If you want to wave Trey Young pom-poms, you can. I love Trey Young.

I'm actually thrilled. I went to the game tonight and I was thrilled to watch Trey Young get a little bit of help from DeJounte Murray. It's like, wow, someone else is bringing the basketball up the court. This is going to be amazing for Trey Young. I saw someone bring the ball up court, kick it out to Trey Young, and all Trey Young had to do was shoot it.

Beautiful. He's amazing. He's an all-star. He's probably, if he stays healthy, going to go into the Hall of Fame.

He might be a leader. He might be a top player in the league. He is a top player in the league. Is he in the top six? Will this be the year that he proves it?

Maybe, maybe not. Am I prepared to say Trey Young, this moment, this second, is the third best player in the league? The entire league?

No. Let him prove it this year. We're just going to talk about his accomplishments and ignore the accomplishments of everybody else. He's made history 20 times. Okay.

What? Scoring? Scoring? I can look at lots of numbers and stats and say, oh, well, this guy did this and this guy did that.

Does it lead to winning? Shep, what do you think about what he just said and the fact that he's looking at him and I ask him about Luca and he's just, oh, well, Trey made history 20 times. Trey Young is on the list with Jordan.

I'm like, well, damn. And then Kyrie Irving, what are we doing? Everything was invalidated with Kyrie.

I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Look, the reality, JR, is, I mean, honestly, Tony lost me when he said all Luca does is shoot. And you know this? Luca Dánchez is 23 years old. He is already, already top 10 in career, career, triple doubles.

30, 10 and 10. Easy. Easy. What more do you need to know about Luca in terms of being an all around player? Now what I will say, and you hit on him, you hit on the physical component of Luca Dánchez. What he needs to do to truly, in my opinion, as great as he is offensively, he has got to be consistent on both sides of the ball. Steph Curry is not going to be confused with individuals like Joe Dumars or, you know, City Moncrief, but Steph Curry is a serviceable defender and won't hurt you on defense. Luca hurts the Mavericks consistently on defense if he's going to be elite, but no one, maybe outside of Atlanta, is taking Trey Young over Luca Dánchez.

That's facts. Listen, we had Tracy McGrady, we had Tracy McGrady on the show and we'll get Tracy back soon. We had Tracy McGrady on the show a couple of months ago and I asked Tracy McGrady and we had this conversation on the air. You look at Luca Dánchez, you look at another emerging point guard, someone in John Moran, who you choosing?

Hey, I'm going to take the bigger guy who is less athletic, who just bludgeons you to death using his brain, his skills, without having to jump through the gym. That's Luca Dánchez, man. Trey's amazing.

It's like going into, if you played basketball, you know it. There's always a guy jumping through the gym and he's fast and he's quick and his dribble is ridiculous and there's always the guy who can get you every single time with two steps, two moves, a counter move and makes it look oh so smooth. That's Luca Dánchez. He's a bad dude. I love Trey Young.

Absolutely love him. He's the third best player in the NBA right now. I don't think Trey would tell you that. Gave him some truth, Sarum. I don't think he would tell you that. He's not top, Trey's not top ten.

Well? Because you got to go Ja. You got to go Ja over Trey.

You got to go, I mean, I know Tatum had a, he had an abysmal NBA finals, but Tatum is a better player than Trey Young right now. All the way around, I'd say so, yes. Right, so that's, and Bede's better, right? Yes, I would say that. So that's nine. I don't know about Morant.

They'd be, I'd put them in kind of the same. Really? I mean, Morant was a top five finisher in the MVP vote. When has Trey ever come close to finishing top five in MVP?

Well, it's not so much the MVP vote, but I'm thinking about them as players and what they do and what they bring to the team. You know, Trey Young had a, he didn't have a bad start. He's had an amazing start to his career. A lot of the negativity that's been associated with him has been because of the success of Luka Doncic. And then you look at, at, at Ja Morant, you look at the athleticism, you think about the winning, and I think he has a team constructed perfectly around him. I don't think Trey has had that yet. Is he perfect?

No, hell no. There's defense. There's the lack of it. There's people talk about the size and the apathy to defense, et cetera. I think overall, they're finally trying to get the right squad around him.

I'm surprised that there's a name that has not been mentioned yet, but when you talk about the biggest games, he can literally put a team on his back. Well, let's. Okay.

Because there's someone else that I would take in a second. I think you were too over Trey Young and he plays, okay, I won't say where, but he plays close to Atlanta. Let's put it that way. Let's talk about that on the other side of the break. The phone lines are open 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to get to more of your calls.

Shep is going to share with you somebody else he'd take over Trey Young. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. I love your show. Every week I'll work about 60 hours a week. Every week I get off of work at about midnight and I tune into your show. I love your show. I listen to you every night going home from work and I appreciate you, man. I listen to you on my drive home from work and I appreciate you being you and being fresh, man. Thank you. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS.

It is the JR sport brief show and we're getting ready to come to the end of the JR sport brief show. So I'm going to try to get as many calls in as possible. Before we do that, Shep, you had mentioned another player. We're talking about the top six guys in the league right now. For me, I have Giannis Atetokounmpo at number one. You can easily drop Steph Curry in there as number one. We were talking about some of the other guards, Yajama Rance, the Luca Donciches. I had him at number three. One of our callers wanted to put Trey Young as the third best guy in the entire NBA right now.

I don't know how you do that. And Shep, you had mentioned someone else right before the break. Go ahead and drop that name.

Yeah, but just very quickly. I mean, if we're talking regular season, I would not. But if it comes down to a player that I trust more than anybody else in the biggest of moments, it is... Well, that's a good one too. To me, it's Jimmy Butler. To this day, JR, I have never seen someone go toe to toe in multiple finals games, even Kawhi Leonard, like I have with Jimmy Butler and LeBron.

I've never seen it before. And to me, remember, he gives you both sides of the basketball court. That's special. Yeah. No, he plays his ass off. In postseason play, yeah, we've seen it.

Absolutely. All things considered, I probably still want to grab Trey. I know it sounds crazy because we've seen more of a body of work from Jimmy Butler. I think Trey at this point is right there with him or over him, but we can't argue that. Jimmy Butler is absolutely amazing for what he's doing. I wonder how his game or how he's going to continue to move forward as he gets a little older. Let's get to a lot of these calls before we have to shut the hell up.

855-2124 CBS. Larry's calling from Ohio. Hey, how's it going, JR? Very well.

The player, like you mentioned, might fall apart. It's definitely Joel. I mean, uh, first size, I mean, three-point range, block shots, rebound, run the floor.

Uh, he's definitely one of the best. But, uh, right here, JR, by the Cavs, you don't mind what we have, the core we have here, the person we're missing here in Cleveland, a small forward position. I'll take LeBron back where I'll take Kevin Durant from the wing.

I'm sure. Well, look, man, I think if you hold on and be patient for a little while, I think Cleveland will be just fine with the talent that they have. And by the way, in a few years, if they need to flip somebody for someone big, they might, they might get rid of some of that young talent. They, they're looking good.

Cleveland is going to be awesome. Zach is calling from Michigan. You're on the JR sport brief show. What's going on, JR? Nothing much.

Go ahead. So I'm, I'm shipping out LeBron and I'm putting there, uh, Durant five and four, six for 2022. I got to go with quite Leonard. He, he's not a problem in the locker room. He's a leader. He's a scorer. He's a defender. He's clutch. He's everything you need. And he's proven it over and over again.

Um, I mean, last year, injury prone, I get it this year. Let's see, though, man, if I'm going to build a team, if I'm going to build a team, I want to build a run quite. Okay. Well, let's see if he, uh, plays basketball. Ernie is calling from North Carolina. You're on CBS sports radio. Hey, JR. Hey, go ahead, Ernie, quickly.

Quickly. I'm sorry. I, I just agree with everything that you say. You're number one is number one, you know, is the British say spot on. Well, listen, man, if I go, uh, you know, jumping into the ocean, don't follow me now. I may take you somewhere you don't need to be.

No, but you got to listen to your, uh, you know, when you hear the truth, you hear the truth. And I think you said it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ernie. I appreciate you, my man. He said, you said it. I got to be right now, man. Everything I say is not right. Don't go by that. Robert is calling from Charlotte. What's going on there?

I'm good. Uh, to my mind, it's Steph Curry for what he does to the defense. I mean, he just doesn't give you a break.

And the fact that he plays on the ball and off the ball and he just has to, he, what you, what you're doing, you rolling something up, what you're doing? I mean, crackers. Oh, you're eat, wait a minute. You're not on the air with me eating damn crackers.

No, I put them down. Come on. Robert, are you the guy who picks the phone up and talks to your friend while you're, I don't know, like, like scraping ice? You're that guy, right? Are you the guy that talks to your friends on the phone and you're like banging a nail into the wall? Like, is that you? No, I'm not that handy. You're the guy who called the national radio show and you're moving around crackers while you're on the phone?

Hey man, I work hard. Yeah, but save that for the other 24 hours. You're not going to be on a radio, Robert. I got, I put them down, but to me, like, Robert, I get it.

It's too late now though. I got to leave. Remember that for next time.

I'm going to remember that guy. You're the crackers guy. National radio show. I'm not eating the crackers, but I just got my hand in the box.

Hands in the box. Let me keep it moving. Nick is calling Nick is calling from Reno.

You're on CBS sports radio. Hey, JR, man. I think you hit it all across the board. Um, all six. The only thing I would, I would move, uh, Kevin Durant down.

Okay. On the list. When I look at your list and, uh, who would you put in place? Who would you put in place of Durant? Uh, you know, I like JD, man. You got the three best closers in the game on there with, uh, Curry, Durant and Luca.

You know, they just slice you up in the game. I think, you know, honestly, I put TD down and move Steve Curry back a little bit, but I think you hit it on the money all the way across the board, bro. All right. Thank you, Nick.

The Stephen Curry. Okay. At least he wasn't eating like pretzels Rick from Chicago. Go ahead. You literally have 15 seconds. This is rich for Rick. Who are you? I'm rich. Then you go ahead. Rich, go ahead. I'll be fast because I'm always up against the break.

You know, you're not. Yeah. First of all, real quick. You and chef are the best. Oh my goodness. Rich you're wasting your time. All right, here we go.

Uh, MB would be my MVP from last year. Okay. Well, there you have it. I love your rich, but I mean, I'm telling you, I know, but I'm telling him we have to go and he's given us a preamble. I love you, rich.

I love you. But the music is going to play any second now. And I got to shut the hell up.

I would have let you continue on, or I would have if you just, you got to it. Shep is amazing. I'm just along for the damn ride. Hey Shep, thank you for an amazing night. Okay, bro. I'll see you Monday, my friend.

Oh, yes, sir. We'll see you on Monday. Thank you Shep. Jack Stern will join us the rest of the week.

Shep is going to be absolutely amazing. You're amazing for listening. Okay. We'll be back tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow. 10 PM. Eastern time, seven Pacific. Don't move here on CBS sports radio.

Amy Lawrence is up next. Have a good night. I love you too. Some fans gear up for game day, but some fans follow their team every day. That's why the locked on podcast network has a daily podcast for your favorite NBA team.

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Every trade, every overtime win, every game. Our local experts cover the biggest stories around your team every day. Search locked on plus your favorite NBA team on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. The locked on podcast network, your team, every day. Some fans gear up for game day, but some fans follow their team every day. That's why the locked on podcast network has a daily podcast for your favorite NBA team. Every trade, every overtime win, every game. Our local experts cover the biggest stories around your team every day. Search locked on plus your favorite NBA team on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. The locked on podcast network, your team, every day.