7.7.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 4

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Thank you to everybody listening all over North America. You could be here in Georgia with me. You could be in Chicago. You could be in Vegas. You could be in California, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville. What's up, Houston, Texas? What's up, Michigan? Yeah, everybody in Michigan all over the damn place and every place else all over the country.

I'm not going to name every place. OK, look, regardless of where you're at, you can always listen on the free Odyssey app. Thank you to people tuned in on their local CBS Sports Radio affiliates. Thank you to everybody locked in on Sirius XM Channel 158. And if you have a smart speaker or your phone is smart or your car or your kitchen or whatever the hell it is.

If it listens to you late at night or listens to you in a daytime, any time of the day, just get its attention and say, hey, play CBS Sports Radio. There's so much that I have to cram into this final hour here with you. And shout outs to super producer and host Dave Shepherd coming to us, joining us live from New York City. It's Victor Win Benyama. We talked about him. We'll get to him momentarily right before the break. I was asked about the AFC and and if it's not the Chiefs, who is it?

And I know it's July, but it's a legitimate question. And then the Buffalo Bills were brought up along with the Steelers. Well, Josh Allen had some words. I want to share that with you about the state of the Bills. Josh Allen's like, yeah, man, the season is months away.

Let's relax. Also, earlier on in the show. We had Ice Cube.

Yep. Ice Cube came through and joined us here on CBS Sports Radio. He came to talk about his big three basketball league and also highlighted some issues he has with the NBA and the commissioner. And so we'll hear from Ice Cube. I want to share with you some of his comments as well this hour. And so, yeah, we got a lot to get into, a lot to discuss. I need to show Ken Griffey Jr. some love for what he's doing up in Seattle, the HBCU All-Star game.

And so we got so much to do. Let me get this out the way. Victor Win Benyama debuted. Yes, San Antonio Spurs. They beat the Hornets in a meaningless game, 76 to 68. The larger news is about Victor Win Benyama making his summer league debut.

Twenty seven minutes. He had nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and five blocks. And as big as he is, yes, he should have five blocks.

But here's the bad part. He shot two of thirteen from the field. Almost half of those shots were threes.

He was one of six from downtown. And then Victor Win Benyama even got dunked on when he spoke to ESPN after the game. After only making two of thirteen shots.

This is what he had to say about his experience. You know, we won this game, so that's 3-0 for us. And, yeah, you know, just got to get acclimated to the new style of play. You know, I haven't had the chance to practice with the summer league team, so it was really my first time with them.

And, you know, really good guys. I'm happy to be on this roster. And, yeah, I think we got one of the best young fours.

Yeah, Victor Win Benyama. Welcome to the NBA, man. Nobody cares about the score, bruh. Nobody cares.

Nobody will remember. If you suck, people will remember this, but there's plenty of time between now and the start of the season in October. Now, also having said that, to get back to the AFC conversation that we were having, I did mention to you Josh Allen. So, we had a caller basically said, hey, it's the Chiefs, and then who else? I said, it's the usual suspects, man. The Bills, the Ravens.

I'm sure there will be another team that will just pop up. Obviously, the New York Jets now have Aaron Rodgers. Just take your pick, man.

Go for it. Take your pick. But then when it comes down to Josh Allen, he reminded everybody that it's still early. That it's going to be some time until they actually play a regular season game, because he was on Busting It with the Boys, and Josh Allen was asked about just Stefan Diggs and that situation. And Josh Allen is just like, man, just everybody needs to get over it. Listen to this. I love him.

That's my guy. Like what? The media has blown this so far out of proportion, right? Like we are in rookie or mini camp. We're not playing a game for four months. He doesn't show up one day. He's still there.

You know, coach asked him to to go home. We were in talks and discussions of trying to trying to resolve some things, and it wasn't anything major. And media blew it up. They're still talking about it. Let it go. Let it go. There's there's no reason to continue talking about it. He was on the field with us the next day.

You know, word. It was not a big deal. No, not a big deal. Now, what would he fail to actually talk about? There is the response from his own head coach like Sean McDermott made this a big deal. He made this so much of a big deal. I remember the Monday he talked about it. He basically said, I ain't going to talk about it. And then the next day he wanted to clarify what he said because he didn't say anything.

How about it's his fault. And so, yes, sure. Can the media exaggerate on things?

And I think he's more specifically referring to the local media up in western New York. Sure. Fine. You're going to challenge your coach? You're going to call out your coach for making this a bigger deal? He could have clarified all of this from day one.

And he did not. And so, yeah, we got plenty of times where coaches chastise the players in public and kind of throw them under the bus. Well, Josh Allen, let's be clear. Your own head coach didn't help matters or issues at all.

And so, yes, this is a long way of answering the question from last break. If you want to start looking at the AFC, there are problems all up and down their question marks for every team. And it's going to be fun to see how how things break down. I told you last night we got Carlton Davis cornerback on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who thinks because he plays in a crap NFC South division with rookie quarterbacks, young quarterbacks, new quarterbacks in like all of a sudden now that you don't have Tom Brady, that you're going to be better. Like, what's he smoking? And so we got all types of wild stuff going on all over the NFL. How about Robert Kraft seemingly saying that even Bill Belichick, you know, I've given Bill Belichick anything that he's asked for.

So if he didn't ask me for money, then I didn't give it and I'm never going to run out of money. It was only at the end of the season that Bill Belichick was asked. And this is another crazy story, like Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft. Every offseason, there's something new that that they beef about. Now it's it's the free agency or was the free agency. Now it's how much money he spent. This is what Bill Belichick had to say at the conclusion of the season about how much money they've spent in free agency. And Bill Belichick makes it sound like, well, we don't got no budget. Listen to this. One year is a Polaroid snapshot, but actually there are multiple years involved.

And at some point, the reconciliation has to come. So our spending in 2020, our spending in 2021 and our spending in 2022, the aggregate of that was we were 27th in the league in cash spending. So a couple of years were low. One year was high. But over a three year period, we're one of the lowest spending teams in the league. So had we averaged that out and in those three years, you would have the same numbers. So whether it's too low and one high or.

You know. To a medium or three medium or, you know. Two sort of high and one really low, whatever it is, there's an average that comes in.

So that's the three year average. We're 27th in the league in cash spending. Well, damn, maybe they need to ask Bill Belichick about numbers and salary cap instead of players. And maybe Bill Belichick will give them an answer. It's the longest response I've ever heard this guy give in a long time that didn't have to deal with special teams. Look, here's the reality. Tom Brady left and the Patriots came back down to earth.

How about that? There are 500 team since Tom Brady walked out of the door at 25 and 25. And so you just heard Bill Belichick tell everybody that they are 27th in spending. And Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, he had his own rebuttal.

He basically said, look. If he asked me for money, I'm giving it to him. And if money was a problem, then I wouldn't own the team.

I'd sell it. Basically saying that, yo, hey, Bill Belichick, if you want to spend some money, then come ask. And he's saying he hasn't asked. And so I think the reality is, is Bill Belichick getting the boot tomorrow? No, I don't think so.

But I think it's also very, very clear he's closer to the end than he is to the beginning. It's just a matter of when. And can you imagine? And I don't think it'll be the case.

I think he'll quit and leave before he's given the boot. Bill Belichick, man, it's like. No respect. We're not appreciated. And this is natural.

This is this is how things go. You can't fault it. He won't go and win forever.

He's not just going to wake up and just poof. Tom Brady left. And now Mac Jones is new Tom Brady or, you know, you look at the spurts of a of a castle or you look at a Jimmy G. Those those were those were spurts, small sample sizes in comparison to the better part of almost 20 years of Tom Brady. And so Bill Belichick give the guy a break. And yeah, OK, sure. The drafting of guys.

And let's draft the center and the free agency money. It hasn't worked out well. It's football.

Sometimes you got to get a little lucky to go out there and have success. And so things are already nutty here in the NFL. And yes, I get it. It's going to be about two weeks where we really start moving towards training camps and we should get ready. Hey, Shep, you ready for more Aaron Rodgers? No.

OK, let's see. You ready for the Chargers to find a way to choke? No, I like Herbert. Well, not him. I said the Chargers.

Yeah, they always find a way to choke. But obviously most people are excited for Rogers. I'm just sick. I'm sick of Rogers the way you're sick of Tom Brady. Me?

Yeah. I can't be sick. He's retired.

Well, but I'm saying it. But at the end, you were ready to see him go. Yeah, I'm glad he's home.

I'm ready to see Aaron Rodgers go home. Exactly. Exactly. Or dating apparently Kim Kardashian. That's the latest rumor.

Oh, my God. Yeah. You don't believe that. No, no.

But I wouldn't. You know what? Listen, if you want to be relevant, that's the way to do it these days, right? Tom, for who?

Who needs relevancy? Tom Brady or Kardashian? Well, he is taking the year off. And so he's never had this kind of low spotlight. I think Tom Brady to be with Kim Kardashian would be a downgrade. I would agree.

How many? Chris Humphries? Lamar Odom? Am I missing a basketball player? Lamar was Khloe.

Oh, sorry. Reggie, RJ. Reggie who? Reggie Bush. Oh, that's right. Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush.

Right. RJ. And this is the early days of Kim's fame. Remember RJ, the musical artist? Oh, Ray J. Ray J, excuse me. Ray J, yes. Oh, with the sexting.

Yes, I didn't want to go that far with that. But yes. And then there was Pete Davidson. Kanye West.

Kanye West obviously was the longest one. Yeah. And there were more people before Ray J, right? I would assume.

Well, considering Kim was in her mid 20s at that point. Yeah. I mean. Oh, whoa. Did you just say, whoa, whoa. I can't say what I was going to say. What? No, I can't say it.

What I said, I said what I was going to say, then I'd get I mean, I'd have a man. Well, what did I say? That was so bad. What did I say?

That was so bad. The way you know. Not that you said. Gotcha. You said that she was in her 20s. And so I was going to insinuate that you were saying that she was busy. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, she's been busy.

Yes. Well, she was married before Ray J. Was she married? She was married before. I don't know about that.

Yes. I thought Chris was her first husband. Humphries. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

This is Kanye West is like husband number three. Yeah, right. How many were we can Google?

What did we Google? No, you know, Applebee's. You're right.

She was I just I didn't realize she was married at 20. I never knew that. Oh, wow. There you go.

The more you know. So, yes, she's been anyway. Well, how the hell did we get here? We talk about rebounds. Well, we know we were talking about basically you asked me if I was excited to see Aaron Rodgers. And I think the truth of the matter is, unless you were a Jets fan, you are sick of Aaron Rodgers. Everyone's sick of Aaron Rodgers, except for Jets fans, because he's the only hope they've had a quarterback in the last five years. You don't think people there's some people in Wisconsin who miss him or will miss.

No. And that's surprising, considering obviously Mr. Love is not exactly a proven commodity, but they'd still rather get rid of the headache that is Aaron Rodgers than, you know, take it. They'd rather take a gamble on a no name, which is which is what Jordan Love is. Let's be real. I think it's I think it's 80 20. I say I think it's 80 80 percent of people in Wisconsin were ready for this dude to bounce. And I think there's 20 percent who were just ready for him to stay. And it's incredible because this guy again, I mean, I obviously he faltered at the end of last year. And, you know, he had that four game win streak, obviously, but then faltered completely to the Lions.

But still, this is a guy that's two of the last times there has been a regular season MVP he's won it. And yet the Packers could not say bye to him fast enough. Well, he's going to be on the Jets now and this sounds like a marriage made in hell unless it works out and maybe it will just thinking about the New York Jets and in a championship like Vince Lombardi.

That doesn't even sound like it goes together. But hey, get ready, folks. And in about a couple of weeks, we'll be talking about Saquon Barkley and his contract. We're going to get into to a tongue of Aloha and whether or not he can last the season. We'll look at the charges and when and how they choke. A Derek Carr is going to be doing God knows what in New Orleans with the Saints here in Atlanta.

People are going to be asking me about Ritter when I walk down the street. Hey, NFL is coming back soon. Training camps. Let's give it some time. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

We're going to take a break when we come back. If you missed our interview with Ice Cube, you can listen to the full thing by hitting rewind on the Free Odyssey app. But I want to share with you some of his comments. He had some interesting ones about the Big Three, his issues with the NBA. He had another point about potential Saudi investment into a competitor here in the NBA. And Ice Cube even had some thoughts on relocation of teams in North American sports.

We're going to hear from Ice Cube on the other side of the break. The JR Sport Brief Show CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're such a man of the people. You take more calls than any sports personality I've ever known. And to take words out of your mouth, pardon me, we appreciate you, man. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, congratulations to the New York Mets. They still stink, but they've won six straight games. They just beat another disappointing team, the Padres, 7-5 out in Southern California. So two disappointing teams run into each other, and what happens? The New York Mets, they walk away with another victory.

Good on them. No way in hell I think that they're going to catch the Atlanta Braves. The Braves just look like the best team in baseball right now.

They beat the Rays tonight, 2-2-1. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. We've had a full show. We just talked some football.

I was asked about the AFC. There was obviously the debut of Victor Wenbanyama in the Las Vegas Summer League tonight. And then we also had Ice Cube join us two hours ago. Ice Cube came through. He talked about the Big Three Basketball League, which has been in operation since 2017.

And he talked about the success. They're going to have their final game, their championship game, out in London this summer. And they basically have a party everywhere that they go. They've got plenty of NBA legends.

It's a fun event to check out. Now, what Ice Cube did share a couple of weeks ago is that he's felt that he's gotten some brushback from the NBA. That they aren't necessarily working with him or allowing him to just work.

But they're actually slowing him down in some respects when it comes to TV distributors and sponsors. That there are some threats being made. That if you work with the Big Three, then you can't work with us, etc. And so I asked Ice Cube about his issues with the NBA.

And this is what Ice Cube had to tell us. The biggest one is the NBA has a bylaw that states that no one who owns an NBA team can invest in a competing league. You know, the Big Three is great. And so we got some of the best players that ever played a game playing three on three. But no way, shape or form are we competing with the NBA. So they need to cut that out. They're making billions of dollars every year and we're trying to get over the hump.

So no way, shape or form are we competition. So we want Adam Silver, Mark Tatum to drop that clause when it comes to us, because they're not they're not doing it to the basketball league. TBT, NBA investors or NBA owners can invest in that. Now, NBA owners can invest in slam ball. They can invest in pickleball. They can invest in the NFL team, Major League Baseball. And the only thing that they can invest in is the Big Three.

Now, he's he's looking for them to move out the way. Ice Cube saying, hey, our three on three basketball league is not a competitor to the NBA, so they should relax. But Ice Cube did bring up a potential competitor to the NBA, potential competitor.

And this is what he had to say about the Saudis getting involved in basketball here in the USA. What the NBA really should be worried about is it's a lot of foreign money and just put together that live golf tournament. And I heard that they're thinking about putting the NBA back together. Now, they put the NBA back together and offer big time NBA players those crazy numbers. NBA has a real problem on their hands.

So I think they should be worried about that more than the Big Three. Well, we know Ice Cube is a huge sports fan. I've been watching this guy walk around with a Raiders hat on for the better part of his life.

He's big into basketball, football, et cetera. And knowing that he's grown up and watched the NBA. It's just like, OK, you soured on it a little bit based on your experience. But would you be open to working with them given the current challenges that you feel?

That's what Ice Cube had to say. I do want to work with him. You know, the only reason we're. They look us look at us as competition is because they're not working with us. We work together. We could you know, we can do things in concert and we can do things that made sense for. NBA, WNBA, G League, Big Three, FIBA, three on three, FIBA five on five.

There's a lot of cool synergy that can happen. OK, he's not completely shut the door now. The NBA was aware of the Big Three before its formation. And so they've had this discussion and the NBA basically said, oh, no, we got to own it. And they just said, well, no, you're not going to own it.

We can work together. And so Ice Cube and his team, they went ahead and informed the Big Three. And now they're they're looking at the NBA is as a blockade to what they're doing. And so if you haven't seen a Big Three game, if it comes to your town, comes to your city, I would suggest you go ahead and check it out. It's a real fun environment, a real fun atmosphere, real loose, real relaxed.

I've had the benefit of seeing them here in Atlanta a few years ago when they were really getting things warmed up. And I don't think there's anything wrong with with more options. He said he started the Big Three just so people have some some summer options for basketball when the regular season is over. And I briefly mentioned to you, you know, Ice Cube's allegiance to the Raiders. And I was real interested in his thoughts on on teams relocating. We know the Raiders bounced around and now they have finally stopped in Vegas.

I don't think they'll be moving from there anytime soon. I know he's from California, not Oakland, but L.A. And so we see another team getting ready to leave Oakland in the athletics. And so I asked Ice Cube on his thoughts on just teams moving all over the place.

That's what he said. I think, you know, it's double edged sword. It's great for the city that's gaining teams. But it's sad for the city that has lost the team. I've lost football teams, you know, I've gained them and lost. So, you know, I understand the feeling when a team packs up and leaves two teams left L.A. at the same time, same year. The Rams and the Raiders.

So it hurts. But at the end of the day, you know, what you're going to root for, you know, you're not going to root for the Giants. You're not going to root for the 49ers, so you're going to root for the Raiders, even if they're in Vegas. And now you've got a reason to take a nice trip out to Vegas. It's not so far away and it's not such a bad town.

So because of Vegas, I think the California teams can live with that. OK. All right. Yeah, I guess a little bit of a trip is not like rolling around your backyard.

But I think for the better part of a lot of people in America who can do it. Yeah. Making a trip to Vegas to see your team play, whether it's the opposition or the home team, not not not too shabby. So thank you once again to Ice Cube for joining us earlier on in the show. If you missed a whole full interview, you can go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. And if you want to know when the big three is getting close to your town, your city, go ahead and check out big three dot com.

Thank you again to Ice Cube for coming through and joining us. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. Before we roll out, I know Victor when Benyama has been the big news for the NBA tonight. The NBA is actually going to have an announcement on on on Saturday evening about a new venture that they're starting. And so I want to give you a quick update on that before we roll out.

The phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. You are listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I'm at work doing security and I look to your show every night. And I am new to your show, but I absolutely love it. It's awesome. This is the best sports talk radio show on the air for sure.

For none. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. We are basically moving into what is going to be the deadest part and deadest portion of the sports calendar this upcoming week. It's not going to be no NFL.

There will be no NBA, no NHL. Major League Baseball is getting ready to pull up on its all star game this upcoming Tuesday up in Seattle. MLS is going to have its all star game.

It's up in D.C. It's it's busy. But not regulation busy, not regular season busy.

And so this is a I can't say it's the dog days of summer ain't late, but it's just it's a quiet time even with everything going on. But having said that, we're still getting some announcements. We're still trying to get some progression of the NBA. Tomorrow night is going to share with everybody details on this new in-season tournament. You know, NBA trying to spice things up. They're trying to split everything where teams are kind of split up into groups and you play against each other.

And then you bring it down to single elimination play, almost like a World Cup scenario during the season. And the NBA has promised to share with everyone more details on this tomorrow night. And so we're going to have more information sooner than later. But it was only about a month ago that Charles Barkley and commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, they sat down with each other on TV pregame and they were on NBA TV. And Charles Barkley was trying to understand this as well. Listen to his questions. Listen to Adam Silver's answers and understand this. We'll have clarity by tomorrow night.

Listen to this interaction. Kind of like what they do in European soccer. And so those games will count both for the regular season and for this in-season tournament. And then the four teams that are still standing will come together and will go to a neutral site.

We haven't designated that site yet. And then they'll play for a separate trophy. And it'll be a new tradition.

It'll probably take a little bit while to get it going. But, you know, I think what you guys know in this league, it's a long season to play for one championship at the end, and it's not going to replace the Larry O'Brien trophy. But it's our hope that just like in college, there's a lot of, you know, there's a Thanksgiving tournament or a holiday tournament. And guys who play in those tournaments, they care about winning.

It's not a replacement for the NCAA tournament, but it's to give a little bit something more special, a little bit more incentive around those games. So these are the weaker teams or the better teams? Every team is competing. Every team is competing.

Well, okay, so we already got the low management issue, okay? Why would I risk, if I'm one of the teams who's trying to win the Larry O'Brien trophy, why would I – what's in it for me to play in that tournament? We're already having a hard time getting these guys to play. It's an absolutely fair question. We've talked to players a lot about it.

First of all, all of the games except for the – well, the games also count towards the regular season. Okay. Because you have the same incentive to care about your record and the prize money and it's significant. So there's a financial incentive too to compete. Okay.

Okay. Well, the NBA is going to have a special edition on ESPN tomorrow night. ESPN's NBA Today, 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time, will find out even more details about what the NBA is calling the end-season tournament. Now, I got to be honest, they couldn't be more creative than that. The end-season tournament. Hey, Shep, you like that name?

I've heard better. They released a logo for it. End-season tournament, okay. All right, quite creative. I'm real interested in hearing what this is and we'll find out more information. And obviously we'll share it with you here on Monday night and we'll have a full discussion around it. So let's see what the NBA comes up with.

A separately and an aside, as an aside, tonight I told you that it's crazy. The Major League Baseball All-Star break is basically upon us. You know, Sunday we're going to move into the celebrity game and a home run derby. On Monday, the All-Star game on Tuesday.

Well, this is Seattle, right? We got a legend in Ken Griffey Jr. who wanted to get everything set up early. He wanted to have the first event for All-Star Weekend or the All-Star Festivities. And he started off, Ken Griffey Jr. did, by helping to host tonight the HBCU Swingman All-Star Classic. It's the first major event for All-Star game festivities. We're talking about 17 historically black colleges and universities with 50 players selected to play.

The American League team beat the National League team 4-3 tonight. And Ken Griffey Jr. wanted to really move forward and help promote just black participation in baseball. And he wanted to highlight these young athletes.

And if you aren't already aware, the participation has just been dwindling over the years. When Ken Griffey Jr. and his dad played with the Mariners in 1991, 18% of players in the majors at that time were black. Right now, about 6% of players on opening day rosters were black. And so Ken Griffey Jr., he, like a lot of other folks, are trying to make baseball more accessible and open to people everywhere, regardless of where you come from. And Ken Griffey Jr., he spoke to MLB Network about this, as well as King 5 in Seattle picked it up. Take a listen to Ken Griffey Jr. as to why this was important to him to have this HBCU All-Star Classic.

You know, not everybody goes to a Power Five conference. Not everybody can afford to pay the $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year to play baseball. It gives an opportunity for these guys to be seen. Plus, they want to continue their baseball career like everybody else. And this is an opportunity for these guys to be out there on a big stage, to have some fun with some guys who played the game at a high level and learn some things. Yeah, the numbers are crazy.

I mean, there's so much money and opportunity and ease and less cost to get involved in other sports. This is nuts. I've heard this before.

Last year's World Series was the first since 1950 that didn't have a U.S.-born black player on either roster, which is just crazy in 2023. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Let's get to some of your calls before we roll out. Let's go to Connor. Connor's calling from California. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, Joe. Thanks for taking my call. I love your show.

I love you. I'm not going to hold this performance against him. I think, you know, coming down from a completely different country into the hellish place we call the United States, I'm just kidding. But the United States is a pretty...

It's a lot different than France in a lot of ways. And I think transitioning from that environment into the United States can be very pressuring on him and not even two weeks. I think you said that two weeks here and he's already had something insane happen.

Yeah, the whole Britney Spears thing. Well, I think we might have been able to learn this so far and we got to see if it matters or if it comes true. And thank you, Connor, for calling from Cali. He is... There's an awareness about him. If you've listened to any of his interviews and he came over here a couple of weeks ago prior to the draft and he did a media tour, whether it's speaking with Good Morning America or sitting down with J.J. Redick, he sat down and he's very aware of who he is and what's going on around him, what's expected of him. But he has a just, I don't want to say a worldly perspective, but he has a good perspective on life and how basketball fits into it as to, you know, the other way around. It's similar to what we heard from Nikola Jokic, where he's just like, yeah, basketball is my job, but there are more important things to life. Now, I don't think that's Victor Winbenyama's thought process, but he certainly has just a big picture view on things. So I think he's he's OK in that regard. And then also tonight, after the game, Victor Winbenyama sat down in his own press conference and he basically said, yeah, I was out there on the court tonight. So I know what I was doing.

He admitted it. And so there's there's plenty of time for him to to kind of get situated and do some learning and actually, you know, have quality time with the Spurs. He has months and months to figure this out. This entire season is going to be a learning process.

And so I'm interested to see how he develops from the beginning of the year to the end and just how he holds up. Eight, five, five, two, one, two, four CBS. Paul is calling from Rhode Island.

You're on the JR sport ratio. What's up, Paul? Thank you, Jay.

Welcome back. I grasped that interview with Ice Cube. And the best thing he said before I get to my topic was that the tickets are cheap and regular families can go to it. Forget about this Champions League NBA thing that they're trying to do.

How much are the tickets? Big money. That's one getting back to Belichick and Kraft, Mr. Kraft. And I will say Mr. Kraft and Belichick. They're not going anywhere. They're just going to move over. OK, he's going to go upstairs and oversee the Patriots network. Probably Jonathan will take over and probably Mayo, the coach for Tennessee, will come over.

Yeah, yeah. Listen, he had many interviews, but maybe Raybo will come over. But Brian is going to take over. Go ahead. Well, I think we're towards the end, so I want to respond to you.

Thank you, Paul, for calling from Rhode Island. When Bill Belichick is done in New England as head coach, I don't think he's just going to, quote unquote, sit upstairs. He already oversees everything related to football. We saw the disaster that last season was offensively and trying to identify who was actually going to run the offense. We heard all of the nonsense and the frustrations from Mac Jones.

And so we've been through that. When Belichick is done, I don't think he's just going to, you know, be the overseer of the entire organization. I think he's just going to be done. And I think with him and Robert Kraft, man, we're moving on. What, are they going to stick together for 30 years?

You don't think something comes where Bill Belichick is like, I just want to sit on a yacht? I think that might come sooner than later. Let's see. Hey, Shep, it's good to be back, even though it's been two days. Great to have you back, even though it's been two days.

How about that? I'll be back again, Monday, 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific, all next week. We'll talk about this in-season tournament, the home run derby. We got a lot to do. The J.R.R. sport brief show here on CBS Sports Radio, it's a wrap. If you missed a minute, you missed the Ice Cube interview, you can always hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. But you know what? I'm done here on CBS Sports Radio, but don't move.

Ryan Hickey, he's coming up next. You all have a good weekend, and thank you, Shep. Thank you. Mountain Dew Zero Sugar asks, Ever wonder what it would be like to live in an alternate universe? Well, friends, welcome to the alternate universe of Mountain Dew Zero Sugar. Because even though it says zero sugar right there on the bottle, when you crack one open and try it, the taste is nothing less than outrageously delicious. Hey, transport yourself to an alternate universe with Mountain Dew Zero Sugar.

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