JR SportBrief Hour 2

Fall is just around the corner and home is the center of it all. At Ashley, seasonal decorating's a breeze with their range of designs and materials. Snuggle up on a family-friendly sectional or an ultra-modern sofa. Or gather outside and enjoy the crisp, cool air with a new fire pit or conversation set. From minor refreshes to total overhauls, Ashley has the essentials to make your home fall functional and fabulous.

Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. 24 monthly bill credits plus tax for well qualified customers. Contact us before canceling account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement due.

One year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Friday night to you. I'm going to be hanging out with you for the next three hours. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Our super producer and host, Dave Shepherd. He's holding it down in New York City and we got a busy night. We've already had a busy hour because I get started at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific.

You can always listen on the free Odyssey app. Shout outs to folks tuned in on their local CBS Sports Radio affiliates. You could be in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Colorado. You could be in Vegas. You could be in Texas, Minnesota.

You could be in Vancouver, Calgary, Iowa, Chicago. Damn it. What's up, Louisiana?

WWL. I know y'all out there watching that high school football. Shout outs to you. What's up, Florida? My people in the Carolinas, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland, D.C., New Jersey.

What's up, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut and everybody in between. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. If you want to talk to me, it's simple. The phone number is here. We have paid our bills at CBS Sports Radio, so the number works. It's 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. You can also find me on the Internet. If you're a human being who likes to waste your time on social media, I am there as well.

Not necessarily wasting my time, but making money. I am at JR Sport Brief. That is at JR Sport Brief everywhere on social media. Obviously, on a Friday night here in mid-September, it's about football.

OK? We got football tomorrow. We got football on Sunday. We got Dion. Saturday is Dion Day. Sunday is the NFL Day. And we've talked about some of those matchups already.

I cannot wait to see what Zach Wilson does against the Cowboys. Remember that scene in Jurassic Park? Hey, Shep, you like Jurassic Park, right? Steven Spielberg?

I like Spielberg. That's so much Jurassic Park. What is his overrated movies? Don't disrespect Jurassic Park. Remember when they dropped the goat into the cage? No, because it's an overrated movie.

I'm starting to spoil this, you know, segment right now. You've never seen Jurassic Park? I watch good Spielberg movies. Wait, so you've never seen Jurassic Park? I did, way back in the day.

Couldn't tell you one thing about it. Other than Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Nell. Jurassic Park was an amazing movie. And the guy with the white beard. Let's be clear. You don't remember the scene where they took a goat or a cow. I think it was a goat. Right. And they lowered it into the cage.

I think it was with the raptors. No, I can tell you everything about Hook. I can tell you everything about... No, no, no. We don't care about... I didn't even ask him about that. That's besides the point. Right.

The point is, and I think there are a lot of listeners who understand and remember this. Sure. This is the tie-in, so don't tell me about no stinking Hook, okay?

Okay, okay. There was a scene in Jurassic Park where they lowered a goat into a cage and it got ripped to shreds. You didn't see it. The goat got lowered, it came back up, and all you saw was bones. Now, the New York Jets and Zach Wilson against the Dallas Cowboys, is that what that game's going to look like?

I have no idea. But if the Dallas Cowboys are going to smoke Zach Wilson the way that they smoked Daniel Jones, that's what the scene might look like. Shep, and by the way, Jurassic Park, man, it was an amazing film. You gotta watch it. Well, I see the similarities between Jurassic Park and Zach Wilson because in about a year, we're both not going to be talking about them. Oh, they keep making Jurassic Parks. Didn't they make another one this year?

I am the wrong person. You really like Jurassic Park? So you've seen Jurassic Park, but you haven't seen Good Will Hunting.

Are you serious? More people have seen Jurassic Park than Good Will Hunting. Oh, I disagree completely. No, Jurassic Park changed, what was this, 1994? Jurassic Park was a game changer for how they actually constructed a movie that had dinosaurs in it, and it didn't look like crap for the era it was created in. An amazing film, Jurassic Park was.

Funny, interesting story, all ages, made crap tons of money on merchandise. I would venture to say that Jurassic Park, let's be real here, Jurassic Park made more money than Good Will Hunting, wouldn't you say? It's a franchise, come on, bruh, come on. I mean, you talk about- The theme parks, amusement parks, there's action features.

Anywhere in the world, you go around the world, Good Will Hunting, a lot like Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, it's going to be playing somewhere, every country, no matter what time or day. I can't tell you the last time anyone ever watched Jurassic Park. They just put out another movie. Yeah, that's how bad it is, I gotta remind everyone that they made one in 1994. No, it makes so much money, they have amusement parks for it, man. There's an amusement park called Jurassic Park?

No, but you can go to, what is it, Universal or something? Shep. That's more like Nickelodeon, though.

No, no, no, Shep, listen to me. Jurassic Park, game changer, still relevant, still relevant, but anyway, because we got a lot to do. In about, I don't know what, 10, 15 minutes we got Kareem, right? Kareem is coming up? Yeah, now that's a franchise. I thought you were going to call Kareem a dinosaur.

No, oh my God, no. So say that's disrespectful, you can't say that to Kareem. Let me tell you something, if I have- I'm going to tell him you said that, I'm going to tell him. If I have, some people call him the goat, if I have his wit, his drive, his passion for life, half of it at 75 years young. He's 70, I thought he was older than that. He was born in 47, is he 76 now? Yeah, that's right, he's 76 now because he was a rookie in 69. And remember back then, JR, he couldn't play his freshman year, he should have been the four-time national player of the year. Kareem is anti-dinosaur, 76, yep, not surprised.

I just talked about a goat in Jurassic Park, and I talked about the goat getting eaten by dinosaurs, and you just called Kareem a, called him a dinosaur. JR, just, I'm sorry, just very quickly, with Ali gone, Jim Brown gone, and you know, Jim Brown- Hank Aaron is gone. Hank Aaron is one of them. I would say Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, when I think of iconic trailblazers, not just in their respective sport, but in terms of greater society, I think of those three, and it's no accident that Kareem obviously was part of the summit. Does he hold that torch now for civil rights in this country?

OG athletes? I think the answer is yes. I think this is why he has to now be very careful about what he says and does not say. We know a couple of seasons ago, I think he was critical of LeBron James and then had to walk it back. And I think a part of it is his understanding, and he doesn't want to, who wants to be, nobody wants to be criticized.

I mean, even all these young athletes who want to run around like their you-know-what don't stink, they don't want to be criticized, let alone someone who has the standing, the reputation, the resume, the life of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And so, yeah, I thought about this as well, just from a personal perspective. And I'm not someone who goes around just like, oh my God, and I'm not introspective all that much.

I do what I need to do, I go, this was amazing, I did it, and I keep it going. And in talking to Kareem, having a conversation, I had to say to myself, damn, like me as a person, I said, damn, I have spoken, and these guys are gone now. And I feel privileged to have been able to speak to them and meet them and talk to them. I have met Kobe and spoken to Kobe on a personal level, in a public forum. I have done the same thing with Pele. I had an opportunity and I didn't speak to him personally, but I had a chance to talk to him and interview him with Hank Aaron not too far before he passed. And so I'm just saying to myself, damn, like there's so many young guys to be interviewed and there's so many athletes who have podcasts, I feel like I'm a legend hunter.

Like I want to talk to people who have substance, who have depth, who are willing to speak and talk, and I just have to pinch myself and go, damn, like wow. Ironically funny, I don't know if funny or not, somebody asked me today, they were like, hey, because The Rock popped up on TV today, The Rock was on WWE and everybody lost their mind with good reason. Somebody said, hey, did you interview The Rock?

And I go, wait a minute. Yeah, The Rock is not Hank Aaron, he's not Pele, come on, but he's in his own space, a little bit different. And I go, wait a minute, I've met a lot of these WWE guys and I've never met The Rock, ever.

Wow. I've never met The Rock. What about Chris Rock? Chris Rock, I've met Chris Rock. I've met Chris Rock at Madison Square Garden. Yeah.

I met him backstage at a Knicks game, yeah, I met Chris Rock. I don't mean to speak for you, but there's one whale that I have not... A whale? Yeah, I mean, you know... Like a whale, like a blue whale? Everyone has their whale that they couldn't quite, that they came all so close to getting but didn't. There's two that I have in mind for you. What is it?

And I believe that you will cross that box someday. His Airness. Michael Jordan? Yes.

Sure, yeah. And the guy that was supposed to be his disciple. And he plays a different sport. A disciple?

Yeah. Michael Jordan's disciple of another sport? Yeah, it's not, Kobe was amazing, but he never could quite live up to that reputation. Was this in Michael Jordan's era or after him?

Yeah, a little after him, but in terms of mentality and no-holds-barred, take... In American sports? Cut your heart out, yep, American sports, but he knows...

So it's not basketball, so it'd be football? He nose-dived in 2009. Nose-dived? Yeah, I mean... It's a what?

And to some would say oblivion, specifically rehab. He called himself a sex addict and tried to get out of it with Dad, although I don't... Tiger Woods? Correct, correct. I don't want to talk to him. Really? No, I don't want to. You would not want to talk to... Because you would ask... You would have a heart-to-heart conversation with him, but he would actually come off as genuine. Do you know how many blonde jokes I've made about Tiger Woods? Well... I don't think Tiger...

I wouldn't want to talk to Tiger Woods, and Tiger Woods probably wouldn't want to talk to me. I think he's... I think we're two completely on two different sides of planet Earth. Okay. Yeah.

Alright. And Michael Jordan, you know what? It would be cool. It'd be cool to talk to Michael Jordan. It's not a, oh my God, I need to check it off my list to talk to Michael Jordan.

It would be. Michael Jordan would probably be the last living athlete on Earth for me to say, oh my God, I spoke to this guy. I also, surprisingly, I've been around Mayweather, I've been to his gym. I know his family, I've never...

I need to just get that done. Let's get that over with. He's not as busy anymore, so... No, no, but even when he was, I have so many people that are just... He's a phone call away, and baby, that's why. But Michael Jordan, I don't know if folks with him, I know one of his former owners with Charlotte, and he's just... He doesn't talk, but then when he does, what does he...

It's not glaring, but he would be kind of, I guess, if I was collecting infinity stones of people to talk to, he would be the last. I've talked to LeBron multiple times, and Michael Jordan would probably be the last guy. But what's this guy's name? Tiger?

Tiger Woods. I'm trying to think if there's another... You talked to Wayne Gretzky? No.

Have I? No, I've never met Wayne Gretzky. Okay. Okay, that would be... Mark Messier, yes. That would be another one. Wayne Gretzky would be another one. Yeah. He comes to Atlanta, so that could be possible. Sure.

Have you ever spoken to... I'm trying to think who the transcending figure in baseball would be. There's none. Because Jeter doesn't... Are they alive? Because Jeter doesn't say anything. Right, right. Exactly. You spoke to Hank.

Is there a transcendent figure in baseball who's alive? No. Yeah. Wow. There's none.

There's none. Dion Sanders? Yeah. No. Oh, we got to make...

I saw Dion earlier this year at the Super Bowl. Okay, we got to make Dion happen this year. Oh, we could do that. Yes. We could do that.

I love that. He might be busy. Maybe after the season. We'll see.

Are you kidding me? He lives for... You want to do it during the season? He lives for this, JR. You want to do it during the season?

That'd be amazing. Let's holler at a... I got to think about it. Okay. I got to think about it. I got to think about who to get to. Sounds good.

Sounds good. Yeah, we do that. Yeah, we busy around here.

Listen, man. We busy. Yeah, you book Tiger Woods. You book it. You go find him. I'll do my best. I think I know where to find him.

Well, he's single now, so he's probably everywhere. Yeah. Let me relax, okay?

Gotcha. Hey, listen. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to hear from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the greatest basketball players to ever walk the face of the earth.

Resume ridiculous. MVPs, championships, six apiece. This is the man. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is going to join us here. 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.

It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're more than a month away from the NBA season. This might be the dog days of the summer, but right now we're being joined by a legend. No other way to say it. Six championships and six MVPs.

El Capitan, it's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem, how are you, man? You doing good? I'm doing very well. Thank you.

Thank you for taking the time to hop on. There's so much, obviously, that we want to talk with you about when it comes down to basketball with your unique perspective. But then first, we have seen you so much, even in these dog days. I've seen you on TV a lot, a lot of commercials for a good cause. Tell us what you've been working on with AFib and tell us about that.

I've seen you a lot. Well, I'm trying to raise consciousness about AFib. It's a very recently understood illness that affects people in a very negative way. You get shortness of breath and fatigue and really can't cope physically. It also inhibits your ability to breathe and just function and increases your chance for stroke by a factor of five.

And that's serious. You can die from a stroke if you have this condition. So I would really encourage everyone to visit the website NoTimeToWake.com and you can find out more about this condition and find out what you need to do so that it doesn't have to threaten you.

You've led, obviously, a very active lifestyle during the majority of your life, even active now, moving around, being an advocate. And when you talk about your own diagnosis here, were you a little shocked or surprised about it? I was shocked in that I didn't realize it was threatening me that much, but it wasn't surprising because I've been having problems. I went to a baseball game, I went to the Dodger game, and I couldn't walk any further than maybe 20, 30 yards without having to sit down and rest and get my breath back. And it was just something I didn't want to have happen. Nothing had happened to me, so I just wanted to dismiss it and hope that it was something that would pass quickly, but of course it didn't. And I'm very fortunate that my business manager made me go to the hospital and they diagnosed me and I'm doing a lot better now.

Happy to hear that. My name, Abdul Jabbar, is joining us here at the JR Sport Reef show on CBS Sports Radio. Whether you are retired and active like yourself, whether you're still an active athlete, there's so many conversations now with modern technology about the current athlete, how much they should play, how much they shouldn't play. Yesterday, we heard the whole press conference by Adam Silver implementing new rules to try to lessen load management. Why do you think we've reached the point where players were sitting out? Is it more so the players not wanting to be active because of their salaries? Is it the owners protecting the investments?

Why do you think we've reached this point? Well, you know, I can't speak for the owners or people like that. I think that the fact that we have good medical attention from, you know, on the various teams about checking out people's ability to withstand an NBA season, we have good medical information. So at times when it's not working for someone, they need to get away from the game, you know, we've seen that.

But, you know, every individual presents a different issue and, you know, it's just for people who think that they have a problem. All the medical attention that's focused on professional sports will enable them to find out what's going on fairly quickly and to protect their health, protect their life. Their life is a lot more important than being able to play a professional sport.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbaris here with us at the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. We know about your career and accomplishments in 21 years and having the scoring title for more than 30 plus. Given all of the information that's available today and the detail, would you have approached your career differently? Would you have sat out a few games?

Obviously, you would have had an elongated career, but what are your thoughts on that? That's hard to say. Who knows what physical ailments might or might not affect someone. There's no telling.

You have to live your life and find these things out as you go through life. So I think someone that has the potential to be a professional athlete will probably give it a definite attempt to make that their lifestyle. It pays well, it gives you a public persona. A lot of people do very well with that, some don't. So we have to go one step at a time and be careful because our lives are more important than just having an opportunity to play professional sports or not.

I don't think that that should be the choice. Well, Kareem, I think there's one athlete in particular in the NBA who has pretty much led that charge, and it's probably because he's not American. And that happens to be Nikola Jokic. We've seen him win a championship, we've seen him win multiple MVPs, and there's been a lot of talk over the years about the emergence of guards and it being a guard-driven league. We know you were a center and we see Embiid and Jokic. What are your thoughts on how the NBA looks like it's hedging maybe back towards the bigs?

There's always a balance. You have to be able to defend on the perimeter and you have to be able to defend on the interior. So that's not going to change. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is joining us here at the JR Sport Pre-Show on CBS Sports Radio. Nikola Jokic has made it just very clear. For him, basketball is a job, and to your point, there's so much more to life just in him being identified as a basketball player. He was criticized for a lot of that once they won the championship. Do you feel that was justified when you take a look at his perspective?

Well, that's hard to say, I mean, what are you comparing it to? What was Nikola supposed to do, become a doctor? He might not have been able to handle that burden. I think people have to find their niche in life and pursue it.

Everybody does that. I don't think Nikola is any different. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar here with us, CBS Sports Radio. One player, especially as we come up on the upcoming season, that a lot of people have paid attention to is Giannis Ietetokounmpo. Already talking about his future, I know you've looked at his game and you've said, man, you would love to have had the opportunity to play in a straight line back and forth just like him. What impresses you about Giannis and his game and his attitude towards it? Giannis decided that by teaching himself, he only could do things that made sense to him. So getting the ball off the defensive end and taking it down and trying to score with it without giving the ball up, that's a big part of his game and he does very well at it.

But that's something that has to do with his instincts and the talent that he has physically that he's able to do that. But telling the big guys that you guys can't dribble, give the ball to the guards and go down instead of the offense, that's basically the way the game has been played for so many decades. And that might change a little bit now. Do you continue to see more of an evolution? We see big dudes are handling the ball more and obviously with LeBron being 6'9 and running point and we saw this with Magic Johnson when you played with Magic. Do you feel that we are moving towards a space of positionless basketball? Everybody is 6'8 and has a similar skill set? No, I don't think it's going to be like that.

But there are going to be differences. There'll be some little guys that can come out and shoot but can't play anywhere near the basket. And there are little guys that have that challenge. There are big guys that can handle the ball and do what someone like Giannis does, but not every big guy can do that. You know you're seeing big guys trying to handle the ball and it's either a turnover or they give up a steal. So you know you have to take everybody's talent and incentives in the game, you have to take that into consideration and try to let everybody play at the top of their game and eliminate the things that create turnovers and enable the other team to have advantages. If you work it like that, you can have a very effective team and win championships.

That's possible. It's the JR Sportbreeze Show here on CBS Sports Radio. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joining us. You talk about the evolution of the game. You are a Lakers legend. We know about the history of the Lakers. We hear about it now even so with LeBron James.

There's television shows and programs that are made about it. The NBA is a huge business and we even hear the stories. Players go to LA and get trapped in the dramatization of winning time. What are the real trappings of playing in Los Angeles and being that Lakers star? I don't think it's any different for being in Los Angeles than any of the other NBA teams. If you can go out there and do the things that enable your team to win, you're going to make it. You're going to be a star.

And if you can't, you're not going to last too long. It doesn't matter where you're playing. When you sit down and watch the game right now, the current style of play and how it's done, is there any element that you enjoy, any element that you would love to see different? No, I'm enjoying the game as it is now because all of a sudden now there's a balance between scoring inside and scoring outside. You got guys that can hit the three-pointer and you got guys that are better off at attacking the hoop and getting the right mixture of guys and putting them in a winning situation is what every team wants to do. So it takes a team, the general manager and the coach really have to figure out how well guys can work together. As we start to wrap up here with the legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, you have always been known not just for your work on the court, but also being an advocate for human rights.

Just being a good human overall, thinking about things outside of basketball. There've been a lot of conversations, especially earlier this week, surrounding unions and the NFL and injuries. We saw Aaron Rodgers go down and you hear a lot about the strength of the NFL and its PA and why they're not able to play on grass.

What are your thoughts on the strength of a union and these constant negotiations that take place every five to seven years? What advice would you give to the NFL PA in regards to even just getting a surface that they would want to play on? I know so little about that. I'm not going to volunteer any advice to the NFL. That's such a tough game.

Guys get hurt permanently in that game. So I don't know enough about it to give them any suggestions. I've enjoyed NFL football for a long time. But as far as telling them how to market their product and protect their players, I couldn't tell them anything about that because I don't know enough about it. In a general sense, Kareem, when you look at sports, there's so many rules that have been changed over the past 15, 20 years that gear towards offense, whether it's the NFL, the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, for instance, speeding up the game. Do you think, and we know change is necessary, but is it too much change and too soon where it's just like, hey, let's hands off on the defense a little bit?

Jeez, I don't know. There should be a balance. The offense and defense should be evenly matched and let it go from there because that's how dominant teams achieve what they achieve because even though they're evenly matched, they're able to figure out a winning strategy that is consistent and they are consistently winning.

And that's why they are at the top. Look at the Lakers during the 1980s. We were able to be consistent and keep a team on the court that did all the things, offense and defensively. That's what all the teams really want, and they all try to get the players that can create that situation on the court, and I think that's what the fans want to see, you know, how smart their front office is and how good their coaching staff is. Well, Kareem, you mentioned the Lakers.

Final question for you. We see LeBron James going into another season. We see the emergence scoring-wise of an Austin Reeves and an Anthony Davis.

What are your thoughts? What's your preview for this upcoming Lakers season? Well, I know the Lakers are going to be contenders if they're healthy, but that's the big if.

It's hard to get through the season without having a key injury, but if they can stay healthy, I'm sure they'll be contenders, but they're not the only ones out there. Because I haven't watched any of the other teams as closely as I've watched the Lakers, I can't give you any of my great predictions, but it'll be an interesting season for sure because there's always new talent coming in. We have this young man from France waiting to see what he can do. In fact, I'm going to be over in the Middle East promoting a game that he'll be playing. I'm really curious to see what he can do on the court.

Seven foot five, running around and handling the ball like a guard. Did you think that we would see the NBA develop into this space or it's something you couldn't even think about 30 and 40 years ago? Well, 30 and 40 years ago, you couldn't think about it.

You better not think about it. I mean, can you see Will Chamberlain trying to bring the ball on court? I couldn't. I couldn't see me bringing the ball on court on a regular basis. There are certain things that you can do and you can't do. So that's what makes the game interesting and guys that can overcome the tendency to say little guys can't play on the front court and big guys can't play on the back court. Well, every now and then that doesn't happen. You got big guys that can handle it and do incredible things with it and little guys that can go inside and consistently get things done.

You brought it up and so I'm going to finish on this. The emergence and change of basketball, we see it internationally as well. Team USA just losing and we see that, yes, the lines have been blurred.

It's not USA and then everybody else. What are your thoughts on the response to Team USA basketball when they lose? It's almost like they get laughed at now regardless of who they send out there. Well, I remember a couple of years ago the Greek team won the gold medal at the Olympics and everybody was wondering, who are those guys? Well, they've been practicing.

That's who those guys are and we got to keep practicing and keep pushing the game and making it evolve. I think that that's a great incentive for everybody, for the teams that want to see us knocked off and for American basketball. It's a wonderful situation and when does the season start?

Come on. Thanks so much to Kareem for joining us here on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break and when we come back on the other side, I want to talk about some of Kareem's comments, specifically about the USA basketball thing. Giannis just had some words about no allowance and then we also heard some word about Damian Lillard moving.

Not to Miami. I'll explain on the other side of the break. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR, I would like to say you are the most level headed and coolest sports radio host in the world, man. I love listening to your show. I always get off around this time of night.

Always love to hear your takes. You're always a really cool customer, man. I appreciate your show, bro. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. He said I'm level headed. He did. And you're the coolest in the world.

In the world. I wish I could say I was different. I'm not any different off the air. I'm not. I really, I just, I go to the gym, I exercise, I work, I hang out with my family and I do some more work.

And then I eat and I have a glass of whiskey and I go about my life. That's it. That's it. Nothing else. Not too cool.

Just pretty normal like everybody else. Just hanging out. Anyway, a big thank you to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for joining us in that last break.

A legend, legendary, legendary. Said the Lakers. He expects them to be contenders if they're healthy, of course, yeah. Pointing at you, Anthony Davis. And then you, old man LeBron James. So Lakers will always be interesting.

Said he could never imagine the way that, the way the game has evolved. Just consistently big dudes bringing the ball up the court. Jokic being a point guard. Giannis going from coast to coast. Kareem talked about Team USA basketball. Said well we all know that the playing field has been leveled and they got some work to do.

Yeah, they really do. And speaking of that, Shep, you heard what Giannis said? I mean Giannis has been telling everybody, I feel like for weeks now, if the Bucks don't contend I'm going to leave. Okay Giannis, we get it. But Giannis also chimed in on this whole USA basketball world champions thing.

I'm like, isn't he kind of late on this? Do you hear what he said, Shep? I did. You're actually the one who pointed this club out to me. How could I not remember? He was on, what is it, Believe, one of those Believe podcasts, right?

Yeah, 48 I believe is the show. Yeah, listen to Nigerian Greek man Giannis Atetokounmpo tell everybody that he agrees with Noah Lyles about being a world champ. Listen to this. I wanted to back him up so bad, you know, and he received so much backlash for saying the obvious, but I think some people don't understand it. I think it's, I don't know, maybe it's like, sorry, I cannot say this politely, maybe it's just like an arrogance thing, you know, like, I don't think in any other sport you are called the world champions, you know, like in soccer, which is way bigger than the NBA, more popular than the NBA.

When they win the Champions League, they say the UEFA Champions League, you know, champions or whatever the case may be, they don't say the world champion, you know, when they win the World Cup, they play against the USA team, they play against the teams around the world, you know, countries around the world, then they say the, you know, the world champs. Here we go again with this crap. He said that this week. Giannis, you should have said this a month ago, or however long it was. I mean, first of all, what Noah Lyles said was just so, so broad, it was broad. Like he competes obviously in international competition as a singles athlete, and he was referring out of nowhere, unsolicited, to a club sport, like a team sport, a club sport being the NBA, a league, right? And as for what Giannis said, yeah, you can win the Champions League, they don't call themselves the world champions, and we get that.

And you talked about how soccer is bigger than basketball, absolutely, global, everywhere plays it, all over the world. But there's nothing, there's not another competitive league to the NBA, man. And so, I mean, we had people talking about Team USA basketball versus the Nuggets, and like, come on, if you're strictly going to talk about league to league, forget international competition. The Denver Nuggets are the best team in the NBA.

There is no such thing as another competitive league if you want to go to the Spanish league, or you want to start looking at German basketball with Spanish, Italian, come on, the NBA is tops. If we did a club championship, could a team beat the NBA squads, yeah, they could, yeah, maybe like one game every now and then, but in a seven game series, it's not even worth it for the Nuggets to go play other club teams, it's not. So let them be world champs, and if you want, what does he want to say? Noah Lyle should have been clearer, he should have said, hey, why are we calling the Nuggets world champs? They should be whoever wins the FIBA basketball or the Olympics, look, Team USA doesn't even give a damn about anything outside of the Olympics, they don't. So I mean, Noah Lyle needs to write a book on it, okay? And I don't care what Giannis plays or where he comes from or Greece, is there American arrogance in many things, yes, yes there is, but if we're going to talk about basketball on a club level, ain't nobody touching the NBA, that's just facts, the best team in the NBA is the best basketball team on earth.

If we want to talk about international competition, and you think that that team should be the best team on earth, then that's a different conversation. Noah Lyle's come back and be clearer, damn it, we need to talk to Noah Lyle's here. Hey, Shep, we need to get him on, we need to find him, is he still in like Turkey or something? I don't know.

He's probably running his feet and running his mouth somewhere. Anyway. Not wrong.

What's not wrong? What he said, he's got legitimate points. He wasn't clear on what he said, man, there's no clarity there.

It's very broad what he said, it can go in so many different directions, I've heard so many different arguments, which is why I tried to break it down. There's club competition as it relates to a team, and there's international competition. Are we going to call the best international basketball team, the best team in the world? It's different than club. I mean, it's two different conversations, it really is. It's wild. People are just throwing darts at each other right now. You think it was, you think it was Deion Sanders?

Possibly could be. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Ready. We're going to take a break. Speaking of Deion, Colorado, Colorado State. It's the hugest matchup in college football history. It goes down tomorrow night in Boulder.

Everybody is there. The Rock. Yes, Dwayne The Rock Johnson has even showed up to check out this game, and Deion Sanders is catching flack from everybody for his style, for his attitude. Is Deion changing the game? Are the other coaches afraid of Deion and his influence? We're going to talk about it on the other side of the break.

It's the JR sport brief show, CBS Sports Radio. Facts are facts, like how contributing to employees financial security makes them want to work harder for their company. In fact, according to a 2023 study by principle, 87% of employers say that better employee financial security means employees are more engaged and productive at work. The fact of the matter is that employees want to feel financially secure in their future. So consider this, principle helps you invest in your employees by providing customized benefits and retirement plans to help keep your employees more engaged and productive. When you take care of your team, they take care of business. That's a fact. Learn how principle can help you find the right benefits and retirement plan for your team at principle.com slash benefits products and services offered by member companies of the principal financial group, Des Moines, Iowa.

For important information, visit principle.com slash disclosures. Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale with everything you do for other people on one side and everything you do for yourself on the other side. If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you. And therapy is a great place to start. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. BetterHelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. I'm here to tell you about pom pom at home where comfort meets elegance. Pom pom at home is offering 20% off site wide for a limited time. See why so many of the top designers use pom poms luxury easy care bedding.

They have created a timeless, beautiful coastal living look that incorporates subtle tones and natural fibers offering a unique touch. Create your dream bed now. Get 20% off sheets, debays, throws, and more right now at pom pom at home.com. Easy to use, easy to love luxury bedding.

Just enter code pom pom at checkout. No one wants to get sidelined by COVID-19, including me. I've got my work, my family.

I want to be able to keep my plans. I'm getting this season's COVID-19 shot. It helps protect against COVID-19, which can cause severe illness and hospitalization. Learn about eligibility and schedule your COVID-19 shot on the CDC site vaccines.gov. Sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech.