JR SportBrief Hour 3

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the J.R. Sportbrief show on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you to everybody locked in all over North America, all my folks at work, my folks at home, my people kicking it, chilling, relaxing, whatever you're doing. Thank you for taking some time to lock in here. I'm going to be hanging out for the next two hours. This is a four-hour show. I get started every single weeknight at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

So thank you very much. Whether you're listening on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, you might be listening on the fan or the game or the zone or the ticket, whatever it is, thank you. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app, A-U-D-A-C-Y. You can stay locked in on Sirius XM Channel 158.

And if you have a smart speaker and you want to be smart, go ahead. Ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. Boom. J.R. Sportbrief show. Everybody here on CBS Sports Radio will pop up. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Sheppard. He's coming to you live from New York City. And as I mentioned, we've been here for two hours already. We've had a busy show. Right before we went to break, we talked about Odell Beckham Jr. joining the Baltimore Ravens. And let's be real here. What does either side have to lose?

Nothing. Baltimore Ravens have needed a wide receiver forever. Even when we talked about Odell being traded from the Browns, the Baltimore Ravens were a team that popped up a lot. They need a wide receiver. They haven't had anybody of his talent in years, let alone for Lamar Jackson's time in Baltimore now. And it's also been reported that Lamar Jackson was one of the folks who tried to recruit him there to Baltimore. So we'll see how things shake out with him, his contract. Speaking of Lamar, as Odell is joining the Ravens on a one-year deal, a minimum of $15 million on the high end, he can make $18 million. And let's see if either one of them can actually stay healthy for Baltimore moving forward. And we still have a few months to figure out what happens with Lamar Jackson and his contract moving forward.

So that should be fun to look into. Also, I know it may be not such a gigantic deal, but every time I hear this noise it gets me excited. Maybe I got to wait until June. Maybe got to wait until the end of the month, the NFL draft. But the WNBA had its draft tonight. And just because I like the music and I want to show some love to the WNBA, let's take a listen to the first overall pick from ESPN.

With the first pick in the 2023 WNBA draft, the Indiana Fever select Aliyah Boston, University of South Carolina. Hey, Shep, every time I hear that damn beep, is it a beep? The beep, it makes you want to just look at the tee, like something crazy is about to happen. Like somebody got traded, something important. Can we just hear that beginning part again? Okay. When that plays, doesn't it make you go, oh, snap, something important is about to happen?

It does. And I'm glad you picked up on it, because clearly your smart speaker is not. Oh, well, Shep is referring to my smart speaker. I asked my smart speaker on the way out the door today, I said, hey, what time is the WNBA draft?

And it told me, it told me flat out, so I don't have an answer. And I asked again, and it told me about the NBA draft from last year. And so, yeah, my smart speaker needs to get educated on a WNBA, like a lot of folks.

And so congratulations to Aliyah Boston as she was selected number one overall by the Indiana Fever. And so we have to wait on that. You don't have to wait too much longer. The NBA playing tournament gets started Tuesday. The regular season is done. There are no more loser ass teams. The Houston Rockets, sorry, they'll be off for months.

We got a bunch of squads hoping and praying that they can get their hands on Victor Winbenyama. Watch Winbenyama end up on the San Antonio Spurs. I will laugh out hilarious.

I'll die in laughter if that's the case. And now we move to the intermediary, NBA playing. Atlanta is going to take on Miami. We have Minnesota taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. And whoever wins these games on Tuesday, they are automatically granted a spot in the playoffs, the real playoffs. Whoever wins between Minnesota and Los Angeles, they will move on to take on the Memphis Grizzlies. And then on the Eastern Conference side, whoever decides to go ahead and win between Atlanta and Miami, they will go ahead and they'll take on the Boston Celtics. The losers of these games, they'll take on the winners from the games on Wednesday, Chicago and Toronto, Oklahoma City and New Orleans. And then they'll also have a chance, a second chance, I should say, of securing the eighth seed.

And so it's a whole lot of, I guess, mildly entertaining. We get a couple of extra games, but let's all be honest. Pelicans ain't winning nothing.

Come on now. What are the Pelicans doing? This is just a showcase for everybody to talk about how Zion is not playing basketball.

That's it. The Oklahoma City Thunder, this will be an introduction to a lot of their young players that most folks don't sit down and watch. Can Toronto give somebody a fight and be difficult?

Yeah, they can. They ain't going nowhere either. And then Chicago, what a waste of time this is. I don't even know if my friends in Chicago are excited about the playing. Cause you ain't playing for nothing.

You stretched out your season for another couple of weeks or maybe a week before you actually go on vacation. And so congratulations to the Pelicans not winning anything. Willie Green, head coach, he spoke to the media. He said, I am glad that we are competing.

I'm glad that we have something to play for at this time of year. Listen to this. Once again, it's, it speaks volumes of, you know, the guy's ability, the work that they put in, the coaching staff, you know, everybody, our whole group, just putting in a ton of work to get to this point.

Oh my God. Are all coaches, I don't want to say, no, I don't want to say are all coaches liars? Like, like are the fans really that stupid? The answer's no. These coaches sit up and they say these ridiculous things. Nobody in New Orleans believes that they're going to do anything.

They would if they had one person still there who's not playing 29 games per season. JR. Yeah. Zion.

Yeah. This is when this game comes on on Wednesday, Oklahoma City. First of all, I hope OKC just smokes New Orleans.

Not because I, shout outs to everybody on WWL. I just, I just want the bleeding to stop. I want it to get over with. It's going to be even more of a flashlight on Zion and where Zion wasn't. And that's on the court. If OKC beats them and this entire game is going to be, there's no Zion and a full explanation of OKC and its roster. And for Willie Green to just say, oh yeah, it's good to be here and playing these games, it's almost as bad as Jason Kidd the other night explaining to everybody why they're not playing. Like, these coaches are hilarious.

That was Willie Green. I want you to hear one more time, Jason Kidd, just trying to explain to everyone why the Dallas Mavericks played a couple of car salesmen and garbage men the other day. Listen to this. We were fighting for our lives and understanding this is the situation we're in. But the organization has made a decision to change. And so, you know, we have to go by that. And that's, you know, just something that happens. And so the guys that are playing, we got to go out there and put our best foot forward. And we talked about that this this afternoon. And the guys that are playing are going to go out to try to play to win. Do you agree with the decision? Yes, those are my bosses.

So, yes. Oh, man, Jason Kidd, hilarious. Yeah, let's let's hear more coaches saying ridiculous things.

How about this? I'm sure you've seen the punch from Rudy Gobert to Kyle Anderson that took place on on Sunday. And we know as a result, Rudy Gobert has suspended one game.

He is not going to play against the Los Angeles Lakers when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. And it was pretty funny listening to Chris Finch describe what took place between Rudy Gobert and Kyle Anderson here. Listen to another miserable coach.

Just just not fully tell you the truth. Chris, it obviously got really emotional there in the second quarter. What did you see in the Rudy Kyle situation? Yeah, I mean, it's very frustrating, you know, couple blown assignments.

A lot on the line tonight. You know, we're not proud of that behavior by anybody. We really haven't dug too far into the root cause of it. But guys are just frustrated. We weren't playing well. We weren't sharing the ball. We weren't, you know, we're getting beat in all the little areas.

I mean, we look sluggish like you would do on a back to back. But I think the gravity of the game made made it feel like, you know, we were in a little bit of panic mode and we, you know, just trying to get calm down there. What's the we got to look into what the root cause of it was. I mean, reportedly, the root cause was that they was just cursing each other out. Cursing out cursing out each other because of their effort or lack of effort from both of them. Rudy Gobert is like, man, I'm playing hurt.

You go do something. Kyle Anderson is calling him out his name with all type of expletives and then Rudy Gobert wants to kind of punch shove him in the chest and now he's gone. What a disaster that trade was for first round picks plus players for Rudy Gobert. You would think that Rudy Gobert got traded for, I don't know. Giannis. This is ridiculous. What a disaster that is. Anyway, speaking of miserable coaches, listen to how miserable head coach Darwin Ham is about this question.

They asked him about 20 different times in 20 different ways. Hey, Darwin, the Lakers are going to take on the Timberwolves. There is no Rudy Gobert. Do you care that there's no Rudy Gobert?

This is what Darwin Ham said. He's sick of these reporters. It's not like a business. We all focus on Lakers business and it's unfortunate situation, but I really don't have an opinion on it. We just focus on trying to be the best version of ourselves. What we got to do is not about what we planned.

It's about how we play and putting our best foot forward. No, he's only cared about the Lakers and their business. It's like, sure, giant ass Rudy Gobert is not going to be out there.

And so, yeah, I'm still not worried about that. Someone else the Los Angeles Lakers will not have to worry about? Jaden McDaniels, who decided to punch a wall with his shooting hand and fracture it.

Outside of Rudy Gobert and his suspension, Jaden McDaniels, who would typically go out there and defend LeBron James, will also be unavailable. Congratulations to the Minnesota Timberwolves at falling apart at the most inopportune of times. Going back to Darwin Ham, he was also asked about the Lakers, less about Minnesota eventually. And he said, man, we started the season at two and ten, above 500. We're in the plan.

We're actually healthy. He said, it's a good damn thing that we got some basketball in front of us. You know, we're just looking forward to the opportunity, starting where we started at early in the year, now where we are, where we find ourselves sitting. We're excited.

The guys are ready to go. You know, we got great synergy in our locker room. Need to clean up some stuff defensively. But outside of that, I mean, we're ready to go.

Okay. Los Angeles Lakers are ready to go. Anthony Davis is going to be ready. He's ready. DeAngelo Russell is ready.

LeBron James coming back from that foot issue, and I don't know what they're shooting up in that man's foot, but LeBron James is ready. That's what LeBron had to say about the Lakers getting into the play-in. We had games that we could have won. We had games that we should have won. We had some things that didn't go our way. So to know where we are today, you know, you can be happy about that but not satisfied.

Okay. Yeah, this is what it boils down to for the Lakers, right? LeBron James came back foot issue. DeAngelo Russell been dealing with a foot. Anthony Davis, we know Anthony Davis just needs a whole damn new body. But they're going to play against the Timberwolves.

And if you look at these teams here in the play-in tournament, I can roll my eyes at some of these squads, okay? Just for Tuesday night. Yeah, let me walk you through this. Here, Atlanta's going to take on Miami. There were rumors all over the place. There's a whole story today.

It's just perfect timing, right? About how the Hawks are already thinking about potentially moving on from Trae Young should the opportunity present itself. With the Miami Heat, they're a pain in the ass. They're going to be tough.

They'll be physical. But from a scoring perspective, nobody is just shaking in their boots against Miami. I told you about Minnesota.

We got guys trying to punch each other and curse each other out. And then the Los Angeles Lakers, you could say they have experience, right? I mean, they got LeBron James. Anthony Davis, I knew it took place in a bubble.

Anthony Davis, if he's actually healthy, is a good basketball player. And if you think about the lower seeds on Wednesday, nobody think about Chicago or Toronto, Oklahoma City or the Pelicans. If you think about the play in the Los Angeles Lakers have the best chance of going into the playoffs.

And dare I say, making some noise. The Lakers have a chance to take on the Grizzlies. Are the Grizzlies in the most powerful position right now?

No. Steven Adams is apparently lost for the season. He's been lost for a long time now. We know John Marant is coming back. You think about some of their own injuries that they've dealt with throughout the course of the season as well.

They're not at full strength. Would anybody be shocked if the Lakers took on the Grizzlies and went past them? I wouldn't be. And so if you're going to sit down and watch any of these playing games, look at them all.

But Minnesota and the Lakers should be the most interesting because everything else is just a battle of the losers. I'm just being honest here. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. What are your thoughts on the plan? What team has the best chance of actually making any type of noise here in the postseason? Atlanta? Uh-uh. No. Miami? Nah. Minnesota? Hell no.

And then you have the Los Angeles Lakers here. I'm going to take your calls on the other side. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. 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 do think you're one of the best people in radio right now, hands down. I've heard everybody. You got the gift.

And I appreciate, you know, your intelligence and your honesty. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. The NBA playing, they're going to get started on Tuesday. We're going to have the Atlanta Hawks taking on the Miami Heat. We're going to have those fighting Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. And then we move a little bit further down the pecking order on Wednesday. Chicago taking on Toronto and Oklahoma City taking on the New Orleans Pelicans. And this is supposed to be entertaining, right?

Playing games. These are teams that fought to remain and play off contention. We have seed 7-10 just duking it out.

Not taking, right? Until everybody in the NBA tanks. Until we end up with a bunch of teams that feel like first place losers. And if I have to look at every team remaining here in the play-in, I'm looking at the Los Angeles Lakers and I'm going, they are the best of the bunch.

They have the most experience. We know that they took on Miami a couple of seasons ago in that bubble. But all things considered, Atlanta ain't going nowhere. Miami can put up a good fight against anybody, but they don't have the offensive firepower. Minnesota, yeah, good young story, but they fighting their way out of the season. And don't even get me started on Chicago, OKC, New Orleans ain't moving a damn thing without Zion out there. They can put up a fight.

Nothing too exciting there. So the Lakers got the best chance shot and opportunity. They're going to have a chance to win tomorrow's game against Minnesota.

They can take on the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. There is no Brandon Clark. There is no, no, no Giants. Shep, what is the Giants name? Steven Adams. There's no Steven Adams. The Lakers, they, they, they, I don't want to call it easy street because a strong gust of wind can ruin, you know, their entire postseason.

But I feel confident in the Lakers here going into the playoffs. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. Let's go to New Orleans and let's talk to Brian. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Brian? Hey, Joe.

Thanks for taking my call. Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head with the playing games. I mean, I think it's interesting that LeBron, the one who initially said whoever came up with the playing games needs to be fired is himself in a playing game for to continue his season. But New Orleans is probably the most frustrating team because at the beginning of the year when everybody was healthy, everything seemed to be clicking.

It looked like, you know, they weren't going to be a championship contender, but they were going to make some waves in the playoffs for sure. And then, you know, Zion does what Zion does. It just like hurt and deals with a hamstring injury for what seems like an eternity. And then Willie Green's out here acting like everything's just fine. That's like they're just happy to be in the playing game.

It's like, no, man, that's not it. That's not that's not the goal to play in the playing game. The goal is to try and win a championship. And I don't know how many more number one overall picks New Orleans can get to just try and keep pieces and stay competitive. It's like the Cleveland Cavaliers when they got like four or five years of straight of number one overall pick is frustrating. Anthony Davis couldn't stay healthy. Zion can't stay healthy. And you talked about it the other day and is looking like, damn, should we have drafted Zion? Probably should have won with John Moran. The Grizzlies are looking a hell of a lot better out there right now.

Well, let me ask you this, Brian. And I get out to New Orleans quite a bit throughout the course of the year. And my feeling is people kind of just like this is a little bit of a shrug of the shoulders when it comes down to the availability of Zion. What's the current vibe in New Orleans about Zion, the Pelicans? It's an eye roll, right? People are waiting on Saints training camp, correct? Am I wrong?

Oh, yeah. I mean, they're looking at the draft, really, about what they're going to do. And Derek Carr is all the buzz. And now it seems like everybody just kind of like you said, the shrug of the shoulders because Zion when he first got in is like they were just kind of babying him and making sure that he was good to go. And then the next year he doesn't play at all. And then this year he's supposed to be good to go.

And he's dealing with the hamstring injury for like four, four months now. So it's, yeah, it's kind of just a shrug of the shoulders like, oh, well, here we are again. Yeah, it's sad. Hey, Brian, good luck. Maybe Derek Carr will work out for you, OK?

Yeah, I'm going to shrug my shoulders at that one, too, but he's definitely better than anyone else out there. Appreciate you. Hi. Take care. Thank you.

Yeah. I mean, what do you what can you do? You can be you can be excited to see your team go, oh, my God, what are we going to do? I can't believe we're here.

Where's the real excitement? This is this is like saying, well, you guys didn't make the varsity team. So let's play some junior varsity squads and see if you can make it up to the bigs.

I mean, this is what this is. Let's talk to somebody from right here in Georgia. Let's talk to Danny.

Danny, you're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up? Hey, J.R., how you doing, man? Very well. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. You know, I want to I want your opinion on the Hawks.

I was listening earlier. I think you mentioned it that, you know, we had two very bald dominant guard. They're basically kind of the same type of player, except I believe Dijonte might be a little younger than Trey. You know, considering Trey's contract coming up and, you know, you already have the type of player you're looking for Trey in Dijonte Murray. You know, when you say ultimately, you know, the best for the Hawks is to considering trading Trey Young for somebody in return or some picks to build around DJ like that. You know, I'm saying, well, there's a there's a couple of things that I would I wouldn't necessarily agree on. So Trey Young is younger than Dijonte Murray.

OK. On the other end of the spectrum, they are they're not they're not the same in any type of way. Trey Young is a he's he can do anything with the basketball. He is a scorer. He's a facilitator. He just led the NBA and assists by by I think almost 70 to 80 assists this past season. Like he's going to have the ball in his hands and they brought into Dijonte Murray to bring in an additional ball handler.

But then at the same time, Trey Young isn't necessarily moving around a whole hell of a lot when he doesn't have the ball in his hands. Here's something else. I see enough of the Hawks. I go to enough of the games.

Even when they're not here, I'm watching enough of them. Dijonte Murray is not a scorer by trade. He's going to have explosive games where he's dropping 40 or he's dropping 30 plus.

But then there's some other games with Dijonte Murray. He may kind of drift into the background a little bit. He's always going to play hard, but he's it's not in him to just just give you 25 to 30 consistently. You're going to have some nights where it's like, hey, here's 15 points and everybody goes, well, what do we trade for him to bring him in? And so this is what it boils down to when the Hawks are actually competitive again into the future. Yeah, one of these two dudes is not going to be here and it is more it is more likely that Trey Young is gone.

There are a lot of reasons as to that. He's on another head coach and Quinn Snyder. Quinn Snyder is not going anywhere. You think about the contract that he has?

Yeah, people feel, you know, I don't want to say wishy-washy about him, but he's not as endearing as he was when he first got here. And so it's going to come a point in time. I think where Trey Young is moved, whether it's this season or in the future, I'm not sure. And the Dijonte Murray at the same time, he's going to be due for a contract as well.

So the Hawks, I don't want to say they may be spinning their wheels, but I think that's the case. Okay, awesome. I appreciate that.

No problem, Danny. Thank you for calling from Georgia. Let's go to Napa, California and talk to Andre. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Andre?

What's up, JR? So you talking a lot about the Lakers, man. You know, after the All-Star break, I guess they've been playing pretty good, but I mean, are we really trying to pump the Lakers that much? I mean, I'm just like, can you elaborate a little bit about why you think they're going to play so well, especially saying that they could give the Grizzlies a hassle, you know what I'm saying? Like, what are the Lakers really doing? Like, if you could elaborate on that a little bit, because I'd love to know, because my Kings, man, they, you know, they've had problems with the Grizzlies and now you saying that the Lakers are going to handle them.

So if you could just elaborate on that. Well, that's why, that's why I said it, it pretty much, well, I didn't go further than the Memphis Grizzlies. I don't see the loss and this, this would be a nice disaster. It'll be an amazing story. If the Minnesota Timberwolves can beat the Los Angeles Lakers and advance into the playoffs automatically tomorrow, that'd be a hell of a shock. If that's what I'm going to sit here and talk about tomorrow night, given the fact that the Lakers are still going to have another chance on opportunity if they lose tomorrow, good for them, taking on OKC in New Orleans, they, they should beat them. So the Lakers got two opportunities here. So I'm going to go on the assumption the Lakers will take on Memphis, knowing that there is no Brandon Clark, that there is no Steven Adams. They should play a competitive series, but I would think the Lakers, if I put them up against the Grizzlies right now, I would go ahead and take them. Here's the thing in the West. It's wide the hell open. I don't think there's one team in the Western conference who has a ridiculous leg up on anybody else.

This is what I do know. The Lakers, they got some, they got some vets with championship experience. The Golden State Warriors are far and above the Kings when it comes down to experience. And then you have Phoenix who we have never seen play more than a few games. If you think about their stars right now, they probably are the most talented team and they got that nuclear weapon in Kevin Durant. But we know there's injury concerns. Is anybody really threatened by Denver?

And so I put it to you this way. I know you're a Kings fan. Let's see what the Kings can do. I wouldn't put them in that, that upper echelon to go to the NBA finals.

Not at all. But I think every series that we will see here in the first round, when we get out of the play in the West, everything is going to be a whole lot of fun. So I'd stay tuned and enjoy that. I agree with you with that, man, especially the North Cal battle. You know, the Kings have the upper hand this season, but you're talking about the last year's champion.

So it doesn't go out of the way. I mean, it's going to be exciting out of the way. Yeah. And it doesn't, it doesn't matter what took place in the regular season. We know a lot of it is having to do with injury and guys coming back and, and Klay Thompson working his way in and Steph Curry going down and his instances with no Wiggins.

I mean, we can go on and on and on. Enjoy the playoffs. I'll put it to you that way.

We got a lot of opportunity and the West should be a whole hell of a lot of fun. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Going to go ahead and get more of your calls on the board. And you know what this there's been so much hype around the NBA and the playoffs and people punching each other and even the college basketball side on the women and men's that did anybody notice that like hockey's going on? Anybody care? Anybody see the Bruins? Anybody realize we just had a, a college championship crowd in hockey?

Did you, I'm going to tell you about it on the other side. I'm going to get some more of your calls. 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. Long time listening. First time caller love your show. I like how you spit the truth. I love your show. I got a great show. You're the bomb diggity man.

Thank you. Call in now at 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. It's the JR sport ratio on CBS sports radio.

I know we've been talking about the NBA playing games and talking about how I believe the Los Angeles Lakers have the best chance to do anything out of every team competing in the play in games between Tuesday and Wednesday night. And speaking of Los Angeles, I see cliff Kingsbury, cliff Kingsbury. It looks like he has a new job. He's going to be working with USC and their quarterbacks. I don't know what the role is. I don't know what the numbers are, but he's going to be a, uh, I guess a quarterback's coach or assistant.

No, no full title here. Uh, we'll find out exactly what it is in the coming weeks. And this is supposed to be, was supposed to be cliff Kingsbury's bread and butter, right? He worked with Patrick Mahomes and Johnny Manziel. And now I guess he's going to go down and try to work some, some magic with Caleb Williams, get him all set for the NFL. We know things did not work out with Kyler Murray in the Arizona Cardinals.

It was still mind boggling to me how last off season cliff Kingsbury got himself a contract extension. And after one season, one season after they paid him and after they paid Kyler Murray, they basically, they quit. They quit. They said, we don't want them here anymore. And they fired him. It was one of the dumbest contract extensions that I have ever seen in my life.

And now he's going to be back in college trying to help quarterbacks on their way. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. It's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 C B S. Vince is calling from Southern California. You're on CBS sports radio. Go ahead, Vince.

Well, hi Jay. Our great show as usual. Hey, when you mentioned the Lakers, you forgot to mention the spark plug they've had in the last third of the season here. Austin rivers is a walk on basically came in last year as a walk on and is now a starter for the Lakers. And the last 10 games, he's been averaging 18 points and six assists. And the guy has really helped the team. He stabilized the team amazingly enough, getting the ball to a D down low and a D to me is the star of that team.

Cause he's really played well when he's not hurt. And one thing I can say about the bronze Vince, hold on Vince, hold on Vince. If Austin Reeves was so important, you wouldn't have called him Austin rivers. Oh, I got Austin Reeves. Yeah. Yeah. No, you called him rivers. You called him doc son, but I understand, but you, you, you kind of took the words out of my mouth. He's the, I don't want to, he's not the least important part.

Okay. He is valuable, but we know what the pecking order looks like on the Los Angeles Lakers. If Anthony Davis is playing like crap or if he's injured, they ain't going nowhere. And then we also know LeBron is the dude who has to drive the whole ship. And so Austin Reeves is ridiculously valuable. I think we've seen a lot of that and, and you know, when LeBron was out. Um, so I can't disagree with you there, but yeah, Austin Reeves a little bit lower in the pecking water. But I think the key to the Lakers progress in the playoffs is that LeBron does not dribble the ball at mid court for 15 seconds of the shot clock that if he will pass the ball more, I think the Lakers can move on and actually make some noise. Okay. Well thank you Vince for calling from Southern California.

Uh, I would be less concerned with LeBron dribbling the ball with who is available out there for him to pass it to. Greg is calling from Sac town. You're on CBS sports radio. What's up Greg? Hey Jr. First time caller, long time listener.

Thanks for a great show. Um, I just want to sound off about the Kings, Monty McNair, what he's done with this team, the quality guys we have, the year we've had and you know, facing the warriors is not going to be an easy task. Um, and it's really the worst case scenario for us. Um, obviously we end up with a lot of the, the Bay area guys coming up and filling the stadium. But if you told me we were going to get them in the first round and be in third, I'd take it all day.

So we're on like house money at this point. And I just feel like if herder monk Murray go off, we're going to be good. Uh, and my two questions to you are, what do you think we need to do to win? And Jr, I cannot for the life of me understand why the Clippers wanted to beat Phoenix and not come to Sac town and have that series take place. Why in the world would you want to go up against Phoenix and Durant seven and Oh, why didn't they throw that game like Dallas through their season?

You, you, you kinda took the answer out of my mouth. I don't, maybe they don't want to get docked a potential draft pick like Dallas is there. Dallas is about to get their asses whooped by the NBA.

I'm, I'm, I'm looking out for that sooner than later. And if you are the Los Angeles Clippers, what are you, what are you looking forward to? I would be excited here about the Clippers. If Paul George was there with no rage, with no Paul George, I'm sorry.

I got no interest. I'm looking at this series as being a difficult one for Phoenix, but even in difficulty, this is like a warmup. The Phoenix Suns haven't really played together all that much. They're going to have an opportunity to have some adversity, but still become acclimated.

Let me put it to you this way. These guys on the Suns, when I say these guys, I'm referring to Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Kevin Durant. They are some of the smartest basketball players in the league. If you look at Durant and Chris Paul, they've been some of the smartest basketball players that we've seen in the NBA just over the past 20 years in their all-time greats. I got no concerns over Phoenix. Can they get punched in the mouth?

Yes. But the Clippers should be a speed bump. And when it comes down to what can Sacramento do to beat the Warriors? Nothing, man.

I'm sorry. I think, I think the Golden State Warriors, this is the type of series where they would have to go out there and beat themselves. It'd have to come down to injury. I can see the Sacramento Kings putting up a damn good fight. But I think when you get into those tough moments, I think the Golden State Warriors are going to rely on the experience. And I think they're going to take care of business. Do I think they're going to walk over them? No, but I don't, I don't see Sacramento coming out on top here. It'd be a, it'd be a joy and throw a parade if you feel like it, if they beat them, but I don't see it.

All right. So we get a couple purple beams lit up, but you take the Warriors and I think you're right. I know it's a tough match, but we stayed healthy all year. And I do know that the Warriors have struggled with that. I think Wiggins coming back will actually be a little bit tricky, just getting in the rotation.

And we may be able to take advantage of that, but JR, thank you very much for your insight as always. Well, thank you, Greg, for calling from Sacramento. Man, that beam, that beam, is this just going to be a permanent for everything with the Sacramento Kings? Light the beam.

Somebody called up earlier in the show and they took it a step further. What did they, Shep, do you remember what the gentleman said? There was something about the beam, Scottie McBean.

What did he say? I think more along the lines of Scottie McBean, but JR, just remember, and I know you know this, but like Mike Brown knows that team front and back, left and right. He was the head coach of that team when Kerr was out. Harrison Barnes knows that team really well.

Herders got some chops, playoff experience when he went to the Eastern Conference Finals. Like, people are sleeping on this Kings team, man. Like, I mean, they're going to give the Warriors a battle.

This is going six or seven. I'm not surprised if they don't win this series, by the way. Who? Sacramento. You're not surprised if they don't win? No, I would be, don't be surprised, don't be astonished, don't be taken back if the Sacramento Kings, and they have earned that surname at this point, beat the Golden State Warriors in a playoff series. Like, that shouldn't be shocking. Yeah, no, it shouldn't be astounding.

Right. Shocking? Yeah, I call it a little shocking. I wouldn't be bowled over if they won.

I believe it's going to be close, but I'm going to take Golden State. And I'm not all that concerned with a Mike Brown. Please, you're giving Kevin Herder too much credit here. I think he's an underrated NBA player, but I'd slow down on Eastern Conference Finals experience with the Atlanta Hawks. It's never like he was someone who's featured.

Here's the thing. Sacramento, for everything that you just said, find me some more players here. If the Golden State Warriors lose this series, it's because they lost it. I didn't mention the three best players. I've never heard of Fox.

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