JR SportBrief Hour 2

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. And we're coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage studios.

When you need cash out of your home in a simple way to get it, Rocket can. I'm gonna be hanging out here with you for the next three hours. I'm joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd. And I hope you, yeah you listening. Wherever you're at, I hope you're well. Are you at work? Terrific. Get that money. Are you leaving work? Good for you.

You made that money. Are you on the road for Thanksgiving? What's up? Make sure you bring me some damn food. And if you're out there just driving people around in Uber, good. You're traveling home to see your family, good. You're protecting people, good.

You're saving lives, good. Shout outs to everybody listening. Regardless of what you're doing, where you're at. I get started at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific every single weeknight. Except for this week where after tomorrow I'm gonna be minding my business, okay. So don't expect to hear me on Thanksgiving or on Friday. But I digress. I'm here with you right the hell now.

And as I mentioned, I'm here starting at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. And so we already took some time to look at some terrible NFL head coaches. Especially after that nonsense we saw from Cliff Kingsbury and his crew last night in Mexico City. As the show continues on, in a few minutes I'm gonna talk about Ben Simmons. Because he was back in Philadelphia and he actually played a basketball game. Ben Simmons didn't sit on the bench in some outlandish outfit screaming, look at me.

He actually played basketball. I'm gonna tell you the results of that game as well as hear from Ben Simmons in a few minutes. Outside of that, the Final Four, I must let you know it's going to take place in Las Vegas down the road.

And when I say down the road, several years from now. For whatever reason, there are quite a few people who are not enamored or thrilled with the fact that the Final Four is moving to Sin City. You have a bunch of NFL owners who have basically colluded to prevent NFL players from receiving guaranteed contracts.

We will talk about that. The college football rankings are back out pretty much the same as last week except for LSU is now the fifth team looking in in the Final Four and then in the world of baseball. Aaron Judge is hanging out in San Francisco and one of his teammates, Garrett Cole, maybe a former teammate, has been called out to be a cheater. And at this point, isn't everybody in baseball cheating? Mostly, right?

I have no idea. Here's the deal. If you want to holler at me, we got a phone number. Feel free to use it. It works. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Me? You bored? Are you not driving?

Can you do it safely? Feel free to text me if you want. Well, don't text me. Don't do that. You can tweet me at JRSportBrief. I'm sure someone listening has my cell phone number, but do me a favor.

Please do not text me. Anyway, as we continue on with the show, we've talked about the worst coaches in the NFL. We even talked about Ronaldo and the fact that he's going to be a free agent in that Argentina loss, messy loss in the World Cup. Well, someone who knows all about pain. And he's from Australia. Yeah, he is.

It's Ben Simmons. How about this? I said, don't text me. Hello, Sean. Nice to meet you, Sean. Always good to hear from my friends, holding it down in Phoenix, Arizona. Hey Shep, these program directors, they just think they can do whatever they want, don't they? Well, you're reading it nationally, so apparently, yes. Yeah, program directors hitting me up on the air.

Why not? Thank you, Sean. Appreciate you. You have been on nationally for two and a half years at the same time, five days a week or anything like that, you know. I don't understand what happened. In other words, he knows you're on right now and he's texting you in the middle of a live show with a nerve.

Yeah, how about that? No respect. It's like Rodney Dangerfield. But what do I care?

I'm just a guy sitting down here talking about fun stuff. Anyway, with Ben Simmons, he knows about sticking the joint up. Ben Simmons knows about quitting. Ben Simmons knows about being terrible. And he actually returned to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to play basketball. Not to show up on a basketball runway, not to sit on a bench, but to actually play ball.

And so, what were the results? The Brooklyn Nets going to Philadelphia, a nationally televised game on TNT. And the Philadelphia 76ers, they waxed the Brooklyn Nets the final score, 115 to 106.

Why am I calling that a waxing? Because there was no maxi for the Sixers. There was no James Harden for the Sixers. Joel Embiid is dealing with a foot sprain. There was no Joel Embiid for the Sixers. And Embiid is currently leading the NBA in scoring. And so, who did the Brooklyn Nets take on?

Oh, Tobias Harris. He sprained his ankle in the game. He had 24 points. De'Anthony Melton had 22 points. Shaq Milton had 16 points. George Niang had 16 points. Paul Reed had 19 points.

And I'm sure if any of these guys walked by you in the street, you'd go, who the hell is that? Maybe Tobias Harris, maybe you'd recognize him. And only because he's in commercials with Boban. So, it was the Sixers-Scrubs. And the Brooklyn Nets, oh, guess who was back? Kyrie Irving in his second game back, 23 points. Kevin Durant, this is crazy, he had a crap game. Kevin Durant only scored 20 points, 9 of 14 shooting.

That's a crap game for him. And then the man everyone wanted to see, Ben Simmons, he finished tonight with a double-double. Starting at the point guard position, 11 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds.

He was 4 of 7 from the field overall. It was only a couple of days ago, Sunday against the Memphis Grizzlies, where Ben Simmons had the best game as a Brooklyn Net, 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Well, tonight I told you Ben Simmons, he had 11 points. He had none of those points in the first half. He and the Brooklyn Nets, they basically fell asleep at the wheel. Please, you listening to me, don't do that.

Stay the hell awake. But Ben Simmons stunk in the second half just like his team. They let the 76ers run away with this. And so the Brooklyn Nets are now 8-10. The Sixers are just busted up and hurt, they're 9-8. And Ben Simmons, even when he was announced to start the game off, on TNT, I had to listen. I go, these boos are pretty weak. Listen to Ben Simmons get booed in Philly. And now tonight starts at 6-10, at 6-10 from LSU, number 10, Ben Simmons.

6-2 from Duke, number 11, Kyrie Irving. Well, that's cute. That's cute. I wish I got booed like that when I walked into the studio. It feels good to be booed.

It really does. You like what the Nets did there though, JR? What, by the Nets? Yeah, they tried to get, they tried to make, you know, Ben feel comfortable by making sure that the next guy would get equally his booed. Oh, well, what do you mean by announcing him first? By putting Ben and then Kyrie back to back. Oh, yeah.

Well, it's just spreading the wealth. I don't know how they determine, you know, the starting lineup for the opposing team, but they got Ben Simmons out the way and they should have announced him last. The boos would have went on forever. After the game, Kevin Durant spoke about Ben Simmons and his return and this is what Kevin Durant had to say. There's a lot of emotions, a lot of, you just want to play well, you know, you know, the fans are going to be involved and get excited or not get excited, but just bring their best. Did they? I mean, what did the fans in Philadelphia have to root for?

I'm sure that there were plenty of people who were back in town for Thanksgiving. They said, let's go to the Sixers game. And they had no idea because you can't that their three biggest stars were going to be out. There was no point in going to this game besides booing Ben Simmons.

And there was no juice there because the, there was no stars. The 76ers, 76ers, their role players basically beat the Nets because the Nets still don't play defense. The Nets are not physical.

They're just tall and long. At least some of them are, Durant and Claxton. And then you got Ben Simmons there as well.

Then they don't got no bullies on the team. Ben Simmons, after the game, he was asked if he expected the response to be worse than what it was. Were you expecting it to be worse? I thought it was going to be louder. Yeah. You thought it was going to be louder?

Yeah, I know. Everybody thought, well, damn, I guess Philadelphia's reputation for being hard nosed is just out the window. Where, where were the deep batteries at? Where were the obscenities? I don't know. Maybe, maybe this is a softer side of Philadelphia. You know, I talk all the time about how terrible some sports fans are, not everybody, but we got knuckleheads just all over the place. Not even in the world of sports. Fans who show up to games and think that they could just say whatever they want.

Fans who just say disgusting things to themselves, to their, their fellow fans in the arena and stadium and to the players. Not tonight. I guess Philadelphia was on its best behavior. Simmons, he was also asked about the support that Philly has shown him prior to this. He still loves the place. A moment before the game where you kind of jumped in the stands and interacted with the fans, were you surprised at kind of the affection they were showing you and did that maybe help you put you at ease a little bit going to this match? A little bit, yeah. It was just nice to see, you know, I have support in Philadelphia still and lifelong fans, you know, they do support me. So that was, that was really cool to see. You know, that's a, that's a nice feeling. You know, I think I did some things in Philadelphia that can be respected and appreciated. I don't think we all have bad times. So, you know, it was good to have moments like that.

I could think about some things or anything that Ben Simmons did do in Philadelphia that shouldn't garner any respect. And that's quitting. That's being afraid to be better. That's being soft.

That's running away from your problems. And we've heard this before, you know, Ben Simmons way out the door didn't start when Doc Rivers said, I don't know. When asked if Ben Simmons is someone who could be the point guard on a championship team.

That wasn't the start of it, but it certainly was the end. And Ben Simmons took that and decided to take his ball and go home. And along the way he got hurt and then he got traded and then he didn't play and he got hurt. And now we're just seeing him maybe, maybe round back into form. I'm sorry, but even if that happens to be all star form, I still see this Brooklyn Nets team as going absolutely nowhere.

When I say nowhere, not to a championship, maybe best case scenario, they can sneak into the playoffs. Yeah, Kyrie Irving is back. Kevin Durant is still one of the best scorers that the world has ever seen.

Rolls out of bed and says he is 25 to 30 just for the hell of it. And Ben Simmons, it looked like tonight he was on his way to a 20 point 10 rebound, six assists, seven, eight, nine assist performance. And then he had nothing in the second half, just like the Nets. Cause the Nets don't have anything. The Nets don't have heart. They don't have depth. They don't have a bench, a deep one. They don't have just goons who can go out there and rebound and block shots. The Nets are like that guy from the movie.

I know you like movies Shep. Was it the Tin Man who didn't have a heart or was it the Lion? It was the Tin Man. The Lion didn't have courage. Well, how about their combination of both? The Brooklyn Nets don't have courage.

They don't have a heart. And then one of them fools didn't have a brain, right? I wonder who you're referring to on that regard. I don't remember. Which one of the Wizard of Oz people didn't have a brain? Oh, well that was the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. But we know the individual you're talking about is from Duke and just a staff in the- No, I'm not saying nobody doesn't have a brain. Gotcha.

I'm saying the Brooklyn Nets collectively. They don't have a brain. They don't have a heart. They don't have no courage.

And they're going absolutely nowhere. I've been saying this for a while now. Kyrie Irving is back. Oh yeah, great. Yay. Steve Nash is gone. Okay. Yeah, sure.

Fine. The scapegoat is gone. It's a reason why Kevin Durant wanted to leave. And he gave it to all of us last week in an interview. He said, look at the guys that I'm playing with. He says, we're expected to win because of me. And he ain't lying.

Typically nobody will go ahead and say that out loud, but the man is telling the truth. The man told us that he wasn't a fan of how practices were run and how the team was organized. And he wanted to leave.

You think all of a sudden he changed his mind? Kyrie Irving is on an expiring contract. Ben Simmons. Okay. Yeah.

He might perform better, but there's no way in hell this is a championship team. Jay, I have a question for you. Well, hold on shut. They have no brain. They have no heart.

They have no courage. And that's even with a Kyrie Irving returning back. That's even with a Ben Simmons here who might be rounding into a form. And that's also still with one of the best scorers in the game in Kevin Durant.

If you want to look at some actual teams in the Eastern Conference, go ahead and look at the Bucks. Look at Giannis Atacumpo. Is there anything that you look at with that man and say that the team doesn't have heart? That it doesn't have brain?

That doesn't have guts? Giannis Atacumpo, this man went into the playoffs. He had fans chanting at him to shoot the ball. And he was clanking them suckers.

And he never stopped shooting. He went harder to the basket. You look at the Boston Celtics. They just had a chance to win an NBA championship. They have young emerging players that for years people said the two guards collectively will never step up. They just went to the championship and they lost. They have come back bounced back with an injured front court. They're playing better than what they did last year. One of the best offensive teams in the league leading the world in three-point shooting.

And Jason Tatum looks like an MVP. Look at the Brooklyn Nets. A bunch of dudes who are scared. A bunch of dudes who are quitting. And where the hell does this equate to any type of championship? When you got a guy or you have a team as a collective that is scared, has no courage, has no heart, and has no brain.

They didn't make a Wizard of the Oz 2 as far as I know. But if you needed to make one, go ahead and look at the Brooklyn Nets. Quite simply, they ain't got no guts and they're two steps away from being blown the hell up. This is not gonna work. I don't care how much Ben Simmons improves. And even tonight in Philadelphia they basically allowed him into the building and showered him with light booze.

They can do better next time. The Brooklyn Nets are going absolutely nowhere. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to hear from Shep on the other side.

I'm going to get your calls as well. The Brooklyn Nets. No heart. No brain. No courage. They're about to get blown up.

Do you think they have any type of chance in hell? I say no. It doesn't matter what Simmons is doing. It's the JR It's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. 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 really enjoy your show. I try to listen every night. It's a great show. What's good, JR. Glad to be on the call with you, man. I love the show.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Ben Simmons goes back to Philadelphia. And the Sixers went out their biggest stars. They lose to the Brooklyn Nets.

Well, excuse me, I said this the wrong way. The Brooklyn Nets lose in Philly. 115-106. The Sixers won without their stars. No Maxey. No Embiid.

No Harden. And Ben Simmons showed up. He got booed. He thought the boos would have been worse than what they were.

I did too. He ends up with 11 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds. He had nine of those 11 points in the first half. Kevin Durant has 20. Kyrie Irving has 23 points. And then the only dude who's getting buckets off the bench is Seth Curry. He has 14 points. And it's just miserable. The Brooklyn Nets are 8-10.

Even with Durant and Irving and Simmons, they're not going anywhere. It's real simple. Have you ever had a job where maybe you have this job right now? Maybe you're sitting next to one of these people at work right now. I don't know. Maybe you can see one of these people down the hall or down the line.

I don't know. But you go to work and you got to sit around people that you cannot stand. People that you know are going through the motions. People that are making your job more difficult because they suck at their job.

I know a lot of people listening to me right now can relate. Look at the Brooklyn Nets stars. Look at them. Kevin Durant is good at what he does. He made it very clear in the offseason. He don't want to be there. Kyrie Irving. Oh my God. Does he have enough feet to put in his mouth?

This man is just trying to make it day by day without causing a controversy. And Ben Simmons, I mean the team up until the past three days had to look at him and go, whoa, did the Monstar suck away his talent? Like where is he?

Is he a head case? And then they don't have depth. This is a team going nowhere.

No guts, no glory, no heart, no brain, whatever it is. They don't have it. 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to get to your calls. I'm going to talk to super producer and host Dave Shepherd. And then I want to tell you in the next break, I want to talk to you about the final four because it's been announced for my whole life. It's been announced for my whole life. For my friends in Vegas, the final four basketball tournament is coming.

And some people aren't thrilled about that. 855-212-4CBS. Ben is calling from Charlotte. You're on CBS sports radio. Hey man, how you doing?

I'm very well. Ben, what's on your mind? Hey, Ben. No, I don't know where Ben went. Yeah, I'm here, Ben. Where the hell are you at? Where are you? I'm in Charlotte, man. I know that, but talk, speak. Sure. Yeah, talk.

What's up? I could not agree with you more. I'm driving home from work and I just, your words just echo everything I think about professional basketball.

Obviously in the heart of Duke and Carolina and basketball country down here. And it is just pathetic to see these teams that, you know, they think they're going to be a super team by paying one person or two people X amount of dollars. And then there's nothing left in the coffer for the rest of the team. And it's a team sport. You know, it's a team sport. It's a team sport. You know, football is a team sport.

You pay a quarterback, 52% of your salary cap, the rest of your team's going to suck. Same with the NBA. And I don't understand how sports fans just, we all grew up looking at people that tried hard and gave it everything they had, be it the Pistons or the Bulls or, you know, the Bears or, you know, the Bears or anything. It's a team sport. It's a mindset. Like I'm 44 years old. And I couldn't tell you the last time I watched the wizard of Oz, probably when I was eight or something, but when you have people that have no brain, have no courage and have no heart, and then you expect them to be winners on any professional level, it ain't going to happen.

It's just not going to happen. Your analogy was spot on. And I just felt the need to call. You have hit the nail on the head for so many professional athletes. Well, thank you, Ben.

I appreciate you for calling from Charlotte. The one thing I won't agree with is the money and that you can put together these teams and they won't work. Look, sometimes it does work. Some teams are willing to pay the salary cap and the tax, and some teams got no problem fitting the bill. The Brooklyn Nets, it didn't work. They're a disaster. At one point in time, they did have depth.

They did have young players and they traded them away. 855-2124 CBS. Derek is here from Washington. You're on the JR Sport Reshow. What's up, D? Hey, JR. How are you doing, man?

Very well. I appreciate listening to you. I'm kind of exhausted listening to this NBA story and the stories about these teams would like the Nets and you're spot on with Antetokounmpo and how he has heart and the other teams. I believe the biggest failure for the Nets, for example, is as a former player, they don't have a complete team, number one, because all the facets of the game are rebounding, defense. It's fun to watch Durant score. Simmons can't shoot the two-pointers, three-pointers, whatever. Kyrie is doing his thing.

Joe Harris is doing his thing. You listed all the players that can actually fantasy game score. However, the Nets are not built to win. That's the biggest problem with this particular team because when they lose to a team without Joel Embiid, who would have dominated them on the inside, the Nets have no presence inside. There's a lot of different elements that prevent this team from having a heartbeat on the team because they don't have anything, the intangibles for rebounding and defending.

You're right. You're 100% and you're a basketball aficionado. I listen to you quite often.

I listen to you talk about the players, the teams, and this team is lacking too many components to help them win. Thank you again. I appreciate you taking me in for this particular call and I hope you have a great evening. You as well, Derek. Thank you for calling from DC. Let's go to Atlanta and talk to Johnny. Go ahead, Johnny. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

What's going on, JR? I just call him because it's funny how the Boston Celtics is giving L's to Brooklyn, that they got Jason Tatum from Brooklyn because they wanted Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. And then on top of that, they were going to sign Kyrie to this big old deal.

Then guess what? Brooklyn's like, nah, come to Brooklyn. That's a win for Boston. And then on top of that, they tried to get the coach. I think that was more so Kyrie Irving's own doing, so I don't want to give the Celtics that much credit. I think everybody had their due or share of Kyrie in Boston. Yeah, but he promised, he said he was going to resign with them. And then he said, Kyrie's like, hey, come to Brooklyn.

Okay. And then on top of that, they swept them in the playoffs. So Boston's just serving L's to Brooklyn like, hey, we got one of the greatest players, going to be one of the greatest players ever from y'all. Yeah. The unfortunate thing is, Johnny, and thank you for calling from Atlanta, that actually spans two different general managers and two different owners from the Brooklyn Nets. We're talking about Billy King and Prokhorov, and then we're moving on to now Sean Marks and Joe Tsai.

And so it really spans the gamut. Gary from Vancouver, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Hi, JR. By the way, just wanted to let you know something.

I would listen to you all day. You make sense. You know what you're talking about. I was just telling your producer that I was watching the game tonight or this afternoon, and I tell you something, the Nets have no heart, no guts. They have a bunch of stars that are out there. They don't do, like Durant could, he could average 36 points, but he's just playing out there like it's a street basketball game.

It doesn't matter to him. But then you get the 76ers. They don't have Embiid, and I've watched him last game and a couple of games before that.

59 points. This guy is a star, and he's not out there, but who is the rest of the team? Team, not star team. JR, I'd just like to thank you, thank your producer for letting me come on. I enjoy your show.

I want to hear your comments. Thank you, guys. Bye-bye.

Thank you so much, Gary, for calling from Vancouver. Listen, bro, you said it. You said it. I said it.

No guts, no glory. I mean, for a team that represents Brooklyn, New York, they don't represent no damn Brooklyn, New York. How many professional athletes actually represent the city that they play in? Where they put it on and say, I'm going to embody this and represent the team. These guys are representing themselves. There's so much damn money out there.

It's even more of an embarrassment. When you think about Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn, New York is a blue collar borough. It is a blue collar town. It is a city of immigrants, people who've had to come in and families and generations bust they ass to make a living. And the Brooklyn Nets can't even give the people there, the fans that they have from formerly New Jersey and in Brooklyn, they can't give them nothing. They're giving them a bunch of quit.

That's embarrassing. I mean, the Knicks will always have New York City, but this is just an embarrassment. The Brooklyn Nets, it's like, it's like the sands of time.

It's like sooner than later, that last grain is going to fall and it's over. That's the Brooklyn Nets. Shep, what's on your mind, my man? Well, no, I mean, think JR, the thing that I just really had an issue with is with Kevin Durant mentioning what fell short in terms of what happened in terms of what the Nets did not do for him. In the same context, in the same interview and conversation and dialogue, did he mention that he left Jason Tatum wide open for the game-winning layup in game one? How about game two when he shot 23% from the floor? How about game three when he only chose to shoot 11 times? How game four when he missed 18 shots? By the way, JR, haven't even mentioned the overtime, which was a complete dud.

Yes, we talk about the toenail being on the line all the time. How about the fact that he got blocked by Brook Lopez multiple times and couldn't find his way to the basket if a beach ball belongs in an ocean? Kevin Durant has done so wrong by this team in terms of how great he is and how short he has come up in the biggest moments. Was there any conversation about him putting a target on Steve Nash's back the second he said to Joseph Tsai, I don't buy into your coach and your general manager? Was any of that brought up into this equation? Yeah, I think what you said about basketball is irrelevant. What the latter part of what you said is much more important because he's had plenty of times.

And you know what? He has handled this and in many cases in the wrong way. At least he's being honest.

And that's also not the greatest of things. This is just a piss poor team. There's no other way to say it. He doesn't want to be there. He should be gone. Kyrie Irving, he don't want to be there.

I think that's clear. He should be gone. And Ben Simmons, he don't know what he wants.

He should be gone. This is a disaster of a team that had or appeared to have a lot of potential in the summer of 2019. And they've gone through multiple iterations here. And they're going absolutely nowhere. The only thing the Brooklyn Nets can count on is some of these other teams hoping to pick apart the bones, thinking that they can, you know, save or salvage one of these players in a situation that might be beneficial for them.

It is just real ugly. And Shep, as you pointed out, Durant is certainly culpable in many a ways. And I think they go beyond basketball. It's just a terrible situation.

It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS. Speaking of a potentially terrible situation, when we come back from break, I'm going to let you know about the Final Four. What the hell is going on with the Final Four here in November?

Well, we learned that in a few years, it's going to be in Vegas. Big deal? Small deal?

Or no deal? You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, JR. Man, I'm good. I'm so excited to be on your show. I listen to you every night on my way home from work.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. You know, we've been talking about how bad the Brooklyn Nets are and Simmons telling you that they're going absolutely nowhere. Something that shouldn't be a shock or surprise to anyone. But congratulations to the Sacramento Kings. They have won seven consecutive games for the first time since Win Shep.

2004. Yeah, tonight they beat the Memphis Grizzlies 113 to 109. John Marant dealing with an ankle injury. He came back tonight. He had 34 points.

No problems there. But the Sacramento Kings with this victory, they improved to 10 and 6. De'Aaron Fox, maybe he'll make an All-Star team this year. 32 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists. Demontas Sabonis, 9 points, 13 rebounds. And then Harrison Barnes, you don't hear about him too much.

Really haven't heard about him since leaving Golden State. 26 points, 4 of 8 from downtown. And so the Sacramento Kings, they might make the playoffs this year. I'm happy for them right now. I'm still not overall high on the team. They don't have anybody to consistently protect the rim while they are number one in scoring in the NBA right now.

Yes, you heard that correctly. The Sacramento Kings are first in scoring. They're still also one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. And I would not be shocked or surprised if we continue on throughout this year. And the Sacramento Kings, they become a little bit closer to being even. They're certainly on a run right now.

Let's think about this. After 7 consecutive wins, that means they started the season off at 3 and 6. Right now they're 10 and 6. I'm really expecting them to go on another run, like a losing streak.

I'm expecting them to pretty much end the season close to 500, but that should still be good enough for the Sacramento Kings to potentially still make the postseason, something that they haven't done since when, Shep? 2006 it's been? 2004.

2004. Weber JR was a member of the Sacramento Kings then. Was he? Was he? I thought that was, I think he was gone. No, it was Mike Bibby was there.

I think C. Webb might've been gone at that point. Do you know why I remember? Because I remember that was the Garnett year. When Garnett finally broke through with Minnesota in 2004 and they got out of the first round for the first time. In the West Finals. Yes, and they beat Sacramento in game 7 in the conference semifinals. And I remember the shot off the backboard Garnett hit. It was probably the best game of his 21 year career. This was the 2004 season. Yep, your Webb was there. Did he, how many, what did he play?

Let's see. Oh yeah, he ain't played too much. Right, right. Well, it was for context. But yes, C. Webb was not the 2000, 2001 version when they got robbed by certain refs in the 2001 Western Conference Finals versus the Lakers.

Yeah. Yeah, Chris Weber, he played 23 games, but that was pretty much the end of that scenario. And so good luck to the Kings. No playoffs since 2004. There's a legitimate chance I think that they might be able to, you know, sneak back in this year.

God bless them if they do. 855-212 for CBS. 855-212 for CBS. Richards here from Chicago. You're on the JR Sportbreeze show. Hey, JR. Good evening. Good evening to you.

What's up? I wanted to point out something that I think I'm probably typical of the apathy around the NBA in terms of just fans. I looked this up and this, this kind of surprised me, but I wanted to take a look at the, the payroll rank versus the attendance rank, because I think that tells you a little bit about who's turning off the fans regardless of the payroll. And I thought what was really interesting is the number one team in attendance and their 10th and payroll are the 76ers.

So they're coming out. I think they have, they have every home game has been a sellout this year and their 10th and payroll, but here's, here's something that really tells me and probably you too. And you pointed this out the Clippers. I'll point out the Clippers, the Nets who are dead and, and the Bulls as a comparative, the Clippers are second in payroll and, and the NBA, the, the Nets are third and get this, the Clippers are 15th in attendance and Brooklyn 16th out of 30 teams. And the Bulls are 15 in payroll right in the middle.

And they're third in attendance. Oh, well, how, well, help me out here. And then I, I do have a point I want to make. I believe I have a point. What is your point? Well, I think it's starting to wear when you take a look at a fan that looks at these overpaid prima donnas.

Okay. So I think I have your point, but I think I have my point to make. I think that's inaccurate because the teams that you just pointed out hilariously all represent different circumstances. The Los Angeles Clippers are the littlest brother to the Los Angeles Lakers. And so I would not look at payroll as any, as any type of indicator for fan interest in Los Angeles when the Lakers play in the same building. In the case of the Brooklyn Nets, yes, all three of their stars are a massive pain in the ass. The New York Knicks dominate the market. The Brooklyn Nets, even in New Jersey are pretty much nomadic from the time that they actually played in Long Island. For the past 10 years, the Brooklyn Nets have been trying to establish a fan base, not just for right now in Brooklyn, but into the future. And when you talk about the Chicago Bulls, I mean, it doesn't matter if you want to take it back to the stadium, the arena, or whether you want to look at the United Center right now for the past, I don't know, 20, 25 years, the Chicago Bulls have been known to sell out that place. They are a flag bearer for the NBA. So I wouldn't say that that salary and attendance is commensurate when you're using examples of gigantic markets that have multiple teams that are trying to pretty much establish their footing.

I don't think there's any type of correlation. Sports across the board. The NFL is just on its way up from a three-year downswing in attendance prior to COVID. We'll talk more about attendance when we come back. I'll talk about the Final Four. We got NFL speaking the salary. We got teams that don't want to pay, guys. I got a lot to tell you here on CBS Sports Radio.