10.4.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 2

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That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. Is that the new iPhone 15 Pro? Oh yeah, it's made with titanium and the Pro camera is epic. Just got it at T-Mobile. Nice. Yeah, and I got their Go 5G Next plan, so now I have the freedom to upgrade my phone every year. I gotta get to T-Mobile. Take charge of your upgrades at T-Mobile.com. Phone now via 24 monthly bill credits plus tax for well-qualified customers. Contact us before cancelling account to continue bill credits or credit stop-and-balance on a required finance agreement.

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It's the JR Sport Brief show here on CBS Sports Radio. Hope you had a good day. Hope you're having a good evening, a good night. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. And if you're not, let me let me try my best to turn things around for you.

No guarantees here. I can only try, damn it, okay? I'll be hanging out with you for the next three hours. It is a four-hour show. I get started every weeknight at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. If you hung out with us in the first hour of the show, great, thank you.

If you didn't, where the hell you been? You can always listen to Every Minute. You can hit rewind. You can do that on the free Audacy app. You don't miss a minute of the show. A matter of fact, you can listen to the show tomorrow if you want.

Three hours from now if you want. It's on the Audacy app. If your show is just tuning in on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, hey, thank you for tuning in. Shout outs to all the affiliates all over North America, Toronto, Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco. I mean, I can go on and on. I'm not going to play the connect the dots game here in North America. We on in a crap ton of places. Let's just put it that way. And so if you are in Pittsburgh, thank you.

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Maybe you got one at work. It's simple. Walk into your door, walk into your house and just say, hey, play CBS Sports Radio.

It's simple as that. Congratulations to all these MLB teams sweeping. This is the first time in Major League Baseball history that we had any round where every team that won swept the opposition.

The Rangers swept Tampa Bay today. They go on to face the Orioles, the twins. They swept the Blue Jays today. The twins will go on and take on the Astros. And not too long ago, the Diamondbacks tonight, they swept Milwaukee. They're going to take on the Dodgers. And about 15, 20 minutes ago, the Phillies. They beat the Marlins. The Phillies will take on the Atlanta Braves. First time in Major League Baseball history that we had a round where every team got swept. And I understand it. This is the new wild card round. It's a best two out of three.

Anybody can get it. And so, hey, let's let's see what happens. I really want to know, hey, are the Braves going to keep up the the offensive abuse against the Phillies? You know, what are the Orioles going to do?

Not expected to even be here in the postseason, let alone win 100 plus games. What are they going to do? And then those Astros. Damn it, the Astros, they they don't never move out the damn way.

What are they going to do? And it'll be a lot of fun to see Carlos Correa and the twins, who this is their first time advancing in a postseason in 21 years. What the hell is Carlos Correa going to do in a twins uniform against his old team?

Like that's the type of thing that you can't write up. It was only months ago that Carlos Correa was looking for a new contract from everybody, whether it be San Francisco or the New York Mets. And everybody said, nah, bro, we don't trust your ankle. We don't trust your foot.

We don't trust your leg. And he had to go back to Minnesota and take less money. A matter of fact, Carlos Correa, knowing that he's moving forward, he talked about his defensive mindset, helping this squad go out there and do it, not just with his bat, but with his glove. This is what Correa had to say. Everything is about October.

The mentality is different. I'm just giving everything out there, everything I have. And I'm going to keep doing that for the rest of the time that I'm here in Minnesota. I feel like the fans deserve that.

And this is just a great moment for our organization to just be able to go out there, play the way we did, and win the series against a great team. I can't wait. And not because I'm looking for malice or because I'm a jerk.

Probably I am a nicest jerk you'll ever meet. But the fact is, just for entertainment purposes, I want to see how he performs against his former team, the Astros. And I want to see how much he gets booed because he is going to get booed. Are they going to get sick of booing him? Is he going to continue swinging the bat?

I think he was three or seven between these two days. If he keeps up with a hot bat, eventually the fans will stop booing him because they're like, it doesn't matter. But that's really going to be a fun matchup. So congratulations to all the teams that have advanced past this initial wildcard round. That's the Rangers, the Twins, the Diamondbacks, and the Phillies, who are now setting themselves up for another meeting against the Atlanta Braves. And let's see if the Phillies can knock them out again. We know the Braves, not too long ago, World Series champs, they're trying to go back.

Let's see if they can do it. 855-212-4CBS, as we continue on with the show, you should probably know this by now, it's Wednesday night. An hour from now, I'm going to deliver to you a new top six list. And I got to be honest, there's a lot of inspiration for tonight's top six list. And it's athletes, of course, right? Sports show. But it's athletes who happen to now also talk for a living. We have so many, so, so many athlete driven podcasts where we get wild quotes and wild stories. So from an hour from now, that's going to be the top six list. I want to talk about some of the best athlete hosted podcasts.

And one of them right now, here's a teaser, or maybe not, is Club Shayshay. Yeah, with Shannon Sharpe, hall of fame football player, physical specimen, physical freak, and now one of the most entertaining broadcasters that you can watch on TV. So much so that he was on Fox. So much so that now he's on ESPN.

So much so that he has his own show called Club Shayshay. And he sits down with professional athletes and other people. Last week, he was talking to somebody's, he had a lady, a lady on the show.

Let's just call her a lady. So he's talking to a lot of people. Today, an episode got dropped where Shannon Sharpe sat down with Marshawn Lynch. And if you know Marshawn Lynch, if you remember him, I'm sure you do. There's a lot of folks that he doesn't talk to in an organized setting.

But when he does talk, he does not hold back. And Marshawn Lynch gave us gold today in talking to Shannon Sharpe. Because Shannon Sharpe went a place where we don't typically hear Marshawn answer questions about, and that's the Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots where he didn't get the ball.

And that's scratching the surface because Shannon Sharpe asked him about, you know, hey, well, what happened? And did you ever ask Russell Wilson or Pete Carroll about what took place? And Marshawn Lynch basically said, I don't blank with either one of them. I don't mess with Pete Carroll. I don't mess with Russell Wilson. And Marshawn Lynch went on to tell a story, really.

And he said, I don't really. That's just like, hey, I don't even have Russell Wilson's phone number. Like I wanted to try and call Russell Wilson one day. I asked the equipment manager for his number and Russell Wilson called me back on a block number.

And I'm like, wow, that's crazy. I want you to listen to Marshawn Lynch. Shannon Sharpe asked him about his relationship with Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson and all of that. This is what Marshawn Lynch had to say in response. I wouldn't be the right person to speak on their relationship because I didn't, like I didn't, I didn't, you feel what I'm saying? So you didn't mess with who? I didn't with Pete.

And then, I mean, you know, Russ was like, there's a quarterback for me. Right. I mean, so it wasn't as. You didn't have no relationship. You didn't have no kind of relationship. Y'all didn't, y'all didn't like go to a, go, go to a party. Y'all didn't get together. Y'all didn't do it. Y'all didn't kick it like that. I mean, I mean, I mean.

Yeah. Marshawn Lynch just gave him a look like, no, I didn't deal with that man. And I just told you the story about the phone call. Marshawn Lynch was just like, yeah, I had a great game.

And, and, and it wasn't intended to be that way. It was supposed to be Russell's game, 500 yards passing, whatever, whatever. And he wanted to talk to him about it and say, Hey, I know the game didn't go the way. And then Russell Wilson didn't even want Marshawn to have his number.

What? Like this is the quarterback? Like how many more stories do we need about Russell Wilson to just go? If there's somebody that he's about, it's himself, man.

Like he's too into it. You're so into yourself that you can't even talk to your running back. You don't want your own teammate to have your number. And I'm sorry, this is not, you know, clocking in at work and you don't want the guy down the hallway to have your, and that is out of the realm of possibility here in the NFL, especially the quarterback who's supposed to be the tip of the spear.

He's supposed to be, and is the most important player on the squad. And we know that team Legion of boom led by the defense early on in his career, Russell Wilson was, was more of the, Hey, let's control the game type of dude. But I mean, damn Marshawn Lynch wants to talk to you and the equipment guy has to, Hey, I'll call him out.

You call him from a block number. Like what are we doing here? It doesn't just end there. We've heard these stories before, but not told like this Marshawn Lynch made it clear also to Shannon sharp, that when it came down to, you know, getting chewed out or taking responsibility, that Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll, babied them. And Hey, if you had something you want to say to Russell, don't say it to him. You only can talk to the coaches. And then they tell Russell Wilson, take a listen to this.

He wasn't holding them accountable. Sure. Yeah. I mean, spoke up, a couple of D linemen spoke up and he called up practice. We went into this little, we call it the Kumbaya room. We went in there to Kumbaya and Pete tell him like, Hey, you know, uh, nobody go and talk to Russell. Uh, if it, if, if, if anybody got something to say to Russell, come talk to me, come talk to, you know, the quarterback, but nobody go and talk to him. And that was when, where that, where that started.

Well, come on, man. And then we will come up with the stories that we get out of Denver as well from last year. He had his own office, was able to have his own staff at the Broncos facility. Sean Payton for all the crazy nonsense he's talked over the past several months, he's coming in saying, Oh, we going to put a stop to all of that. Sean Payton also saying, I need a quarterback, not a politician.

I mean, damn, is there anybody in the NFL who likes Russell Wilson? And at this point, I'm sure after the interview dropped, Russell Wilson was on the phone with five different publicists talking through this, advising him not, and he agreed because what else was he going to do? Hey, let's, let's not respond. Let's wait until we're asked, wait until you're asked about this at a press conference and just say, well, I don't have any control.

I try to be a good leader and I'm always worried about winning. I can write the script for what his response is going to be. Russell Wilson is not going to go on social media and bash Marshawn. Russell Wilson is going to post a photo tomorrow, hanging out with his family because, Hey, well, damn it. There's, there's nothing wrong with that.

That's actually a beautiful thing. Now me, myself, man, people have told me over the course of years, I have people yelling at me for an entire year here in Atlanta, because I said, Hey, you know, Russell Wilson will lack a better term and he can be real corny. People were mad at me and I'm using this not just from what I see from personal experience. I've met and interviewed Russell Wilson before. Okay. I can also tell you more often than not, Russell Wilson is one of the only athletes.

Damn it. He might be the only athlete that I have ever met that had to talk to five different publicists before he wanted to say, Oh man, can I, can I talk to JR? And like, if you, if you got to go through all that, just keep walking.

And so everything is perfectly manicured. Everything is over thought. It's like, dude, play football. Sean Payton says a lot of things that I just go, man, shut up and worry about your own team.

But in that regard, yo dude, stop being a politician. And so for years, Marshawn Lynch hasn't said anything. We've heard the rumors.

We've heard the stories. And if you don't see the facts by now, then I guess you, you just gotta be blind, man. He's a very good quarterback. I think all things considered, he is a very good person.

He's a very good human being, but when it comes to, to being a leader, I think it's clear, man. I don't think Russell Wilson is that. I think he, he thinks too much about himself and look, everybody got an ego.

Anybody with success got an ego. I mean, Russell Wilson is not Aaron Rogers, but yeah, he has an ego and it appears, and it's quite apparent that it doesn't matter if he's in the Seattle Seahawks locker room and he is handing off the ball, controlling the game. It doesn't matter if he's at the end of his tenure in Seattle.

It doesn't matter if he's at the beginning of his time with the Denver Broncos. When is Russell Wilson actually gonna be a human being? When is he going to connect with the dudes in his locker room? When are we going to stop getting the stories about Russell Wilson and preferential treatment?

When is that going to end? He's 35 years old. Is he going to have to pick up some, some gray hairs? Is this perfectly, you know, pulled back, slicked hair?

Is he going to pick up some grays in there before he, you know, lets his hair down, gets loose a little bit? And I know we got a lot of athletes. We got a lot of idiots on earth, man.

People making mistakes and terrible things happening. And for everything that Russell Wilson does, at least when it comes down to his family and, and publicly, it should be lauded. It should be appreciated.

God bless him for it. But when it comes to football, bro, live a little, be a leader, be a teammate. Well, just be some dude with a C on your head.

Just be some dude with a C on your chest that has his own office in that regard. Yeah. Yeah. Russell Wilson is just a, he's a goody two shoes. It's just that he's telling the teacher, Hey, Hey, you forgot to give us homework. Russell Wilson's staying after class. It's like, dude, you ain't part of management.

You one of us, you one of us, like, what are you doing? I just want to see the dude one day, one day, I don't know, be one of 53 and not 52 plus one. Marshawn Lynch said it and Marshawn Lynch, man, this dude don't sugar coat nothing. What are your thoughts on, on this story with Russell and do you think he's, he's wound too tight?

Do you, do you think he needs to change? I mean, even this year, as bad as the Broncos are one and three, he is having individual success, but his own coach had to tell him before the season, I don't need you to be a politician, but you know what, when you got nine touchdowns, two interceptions, yeah, I guess Russell Wilson will be a 10 year old. Russell Wilson will be a Teflon here, but you best believe it. The team doesn't win. He's still going to get darts coming his way.

It's just the nature of the business. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS.

What do you think about what Marshawn had to say about Russell Wilson? I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side of the break. It's the JR sport brief show 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 brief show here with you on CBS sports radio at the top of the hour, about 40 minutes from now, 36, 40 minutes. I'm going to give you a new top six list. It's going to be about some of the best athlete hosted podcasts out right now. Man, we be getting some, I don't want to say new information. We get some interesting quotes like today.

I shared with you before the break. Marshawn Lynch basically said, yeah, Russell Wilson, no relationship there. We didn't have no relationship when we played nothing wrong with that, but he couldn't even communicate with the dude. Couldn't even get Russell Wilson's number when he played Russell Wilson, calling him on a block number or Russell Wilson. You couldn't talk to him during the season about anything.

You have to talk to the coach for the coach to relay it to Russell. That's just like what type of quarterback situation is this for a team? And we've heard all the stories about Russell Wilson with the Broncos, his own office. It's just, he just sounds detached. It doesn't matter if it's with Seattle or Denver, he just, just sounds like he's in his own space. And is that what you want from a QB?

I mean, it's one thing when you're having success, but it's like the criticism is going to continue to mount if the team continues to stink. It doesn't matter what his numbers look like. Good human being, good person, teammate. I don't think he takes time or effort. And what do I know?

I've certainly heard plenty myself that doesn't seem that he jumps feet first in with his teammates to be a leader in that way. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Cole is calling from South Carolina.

You're on the chair of Sportbreeze. Show us up, Cole. Hey, can you hear me? I hear you loud and clear.

What's up? Hey man, I think, first off, I was listening last night. You were talking about the Madagascar with the King Julian. Yes.

All hail the New York Giants. Yes. Yeah, I think the phrase was actually the New York Freaks.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was the New York Freaks. Cole. Hey, pretty sure. You've been watching Cinemax. What's going on with you, man?

No, man, but for real. I think Russell Wilson is... I don't think it's a good fit at Denver. I don't think Russell wants to fit at Denver. And frankly, I think Denver is a complete dumpster fire.

Yeah. Who do you think gets the boot first? I mean, it's not going to be Sean Payton. I mean, I understand the Walmart family, the Waltons own the team.

What the hell does anybody do with this squad? Is anybody expecting a turnaround for the season? Their defense is terrible, man. Yeah, and you know, last year, their defense wasn't that bad.

They literally could not score anything. So I don't know. I don't think it's Sean Payton. I don't think Russell Wilson will be there in 2024 season. Well, yeah, we got a ways to go between now and then.

I agree with you. Sean Payton ain't going anywhere. And thank you, Cole, for calling from South Carolina. This ain't what Sean Payton showed up for? I mean, for all the stress and all of the angst, he could have sat around on Fox, listening to terrible Terry Bradshaw jokes.

Like, who wants to show up and listen to this? Hey, Shup, what are your thoughts on what Marshawn Lynch had to say about Russell Wilson? He's got to stop cursing.

That's what I think. I think he loses the message when he has to resort to that kind of language. And he does it too much. Same thing with Patrick Beverley. Same thing with Russell Westbrook. His comments are valid and they're revealing and they're very bad for Russell Wilson.

But my first reaction, he just curses too much. Like a lot of folks. Right. Well, outside of that, what do you think about his comments? Not how he delivered them.

Right. I think there's a lot of validity to that, what he's saying. I think he speaks the truth. I think Marshawn Lynch is an individual that speaks from the heart. I'm glad he was so open and honest with Shannon Sharpe. Like you said, when he is broached with those specific topics, the Super Bowl and the dynamics between him and Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, he is very lip shut. And I think that's actually out of respect for those guys, believe it or not, because he was a really good teammate. But I guess he really confides in Shannon Sharpe. He confines with the old heads.

Like, J.R., you know this. He's very fond of Deion Sanders. When he was not doing any interviews, Deion Sanders was the exception when Deion was a part of NFL Network. So I'm not surprised that he shared as much as he did with Shannon Sharpe.

Yeah, not at all. And Marshawn Lynch is not a choir boy. I mean, we've seen videos of this dude passed out, intoxicated, busted up in a car, and he's had his own issues. But when it comes to football, yeah, he has been lip shut. He has been quiet. Marshawn Lynch ain't running around saying anything.

You are more likely to see Marshawn Lynch in a Skittles commercial or, you know, running around and, I don't know, on a scooter making jokes. But this is the first time that I can recall ever hearing Marshawn Lynch just throw, if any type of close, just throw somebody under the bus. He's been asked about the handoff and the lack of a handoff, the pass, not getting the ball at the end of the game at the Super Bowl. He's been asked about that for years, and he leaves it alone. It's like, hey, that's what he chose to do. That's what he did.

And it's the most diplomatic advances. I mean, even for what he just said about Russell Wilson, he didn't dive deep into saying anything about Pete Carroll outside of, yeah, I don't deal with him. I don't deal with Russell. That was the coach. That was the quarterback.

And that's what it is. And a lot of us, man, we got coworkers. We got people that we work with that we don't talk to outside of the job.

That's normal as hell. But in this type of dynamic, a locker room dynamic, Shannon Sharpe, we didn't play it. There was a point where Shannon said, man, like when you're in a team, you're in the locker room, the leaders typically pull people together.

Shannon Sharpe was like, yeah, man, John Elway was coming and hanging out. And we were all just hanging out and being a team. And yeah, team is always unique. People have different personalities and somebody is more of a recluse and it's normal. It's normal.

But from the QB to be separate like that. 855-212-4CBS, Mel is calling from San Diego. You're on the JR Sportbreeze.

Show us up, Mel. Hey, JR. Yeah, thanks. Well, yeah, I've always wondered a little bit about Russell Wilson. It seemed like he was, the story about him seemed a little bit too good to be true as far as everything he did. He, you know, was, it was so hard for him to do it, but he, but he went ahead and did it. And I don't think it was so hard for him to do it. I just think he had a very high opinion of when he did things right. And like when Marshawn Lynch didn't get the ball in that Superbowl, I mean, I think that was very much a contrived thing where he did not want Marshawn Lynch. He did not want Marshawn Lynch to win that Superbowl.

He wanted to win it. And somehow Carol went along with it. I mean, I really, and I think maybe Coach Carol liked Russell Wilson a lot. And so I think so. And so they, they had their own beef when everybody else was going by that.

I mean, I just think they had a little bit of a click going there, but it didn't work. I mean, obviously, but yeah, that Superbowl is a shame. I mean, and I don't, they just didn't use Lynch enough there. That's my opinion. I'm glad he said what he said. I, I, I just don't think Wilson's as good as he thinks he is.

Anyway, that's all I had to say. Thank you, Mo, for calling from San Diego. He is a good quarterback. The man, he's 35. I'm not going to slap him into the hall of fame today.

There's a good chance that he does go in. All things considered, and this is, this is, I don't want to say admirable, but when you have so many athletes and so many opportunities to make public mistakes, Russell Wilson ain't done nothing. He hasn't done nothing. He has said nothing. He hasn't bothered anybody, but there just is an air of, I have to do it this, this way.

And it's, it seems to be a little overdone. Lucas is calling from Maryland. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey, how are you doing tonight? Thanks for taking my call. The thing about that you have to realize, and I think you do, Marshall Lynch is not going to lie and he's not going to exaggerate anything. He's not that type of person.

You can think about him however he is. So it must've been very hostile in that, in that locker room and everything that he's saying about Russell Wilson, there's probably more to the story. He's just not the type of person to really bring it up.

And he could just see that by his facial expression. I didn't really, you said you interviewed Russell Wilson before. I really didn't know all this stuff was going on until like the last couple of years. I didn't know that he was that type of player really, to be honest with you. Well, I mean, we can go back to, to years ago when Richard Sherman and Cam Chancellor and all of those dudes, Legion of Boom, uh, were, were still out there, Earl Thomas, like you, you would, you would hear the whispers and hear the stories about how there was a lack of accountability.

And it was just like a little bit, it's, it's teacher's pet and it's like, okay, yeah, sure, whatever it happens. And in every walk of life, somebody's the favorite, somebody gets preferential treatment, but that doesn't always flow in professional sports, man. That, that doesn't flow in sports at all.

I don't care if it's high school, but especially the higher the stakes get, and now you got money involved. So that has always really been public, but we ain't never got no, no hardcore stories like this. And so matched up with, and thank you, Lucas, for calling from Maryland, matched up with the, the, the reports from Sean Payton and the old reports. It's like, Hey, is, is he too far gone to change around his reputation?

He's always been so concerned about his reputation and how he's viewed. Does it even matter at this point? Like, I don't know how many more years we have left of, of Russell Wilson for him to turn things around.

I got, I got no idea. I mean, the deal that he just signed last year with the Broncos, it ends after the 2028 season. I'm sure he's going to stick around and get all that money. I don't know. Is it going to be with Denver?

I don't think so. Not at the rate they're going. It looks like Sean Payton is going to be in charge of a rebuild and man, if it's a rebuild, is Russell Wilson going to be leading it? The Broncos are a very curious story. Just bought by the Waltons. All this money thrown at Russell Wilson.

They bring in Sean Payton and the way they look, they, they a long way from competing. That's, that's just the facts. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. You know, people can say whatever they want about Russell Wilson. Doesn't come across as a bad guy, just overly manicured when it comes down to his, his public persona.

Now, having said that, if you want the complete opposite, look at the Philadelphia 76ers. Look at James Harden. That guy has gone scorched earth when he's opened up his mouth and he actually showed up to work today. I'm going to get some more of your calls. We're going to talk about James Harden after calling the GM a liar.

He showed up to work. I'll tell you how that went. I'll get to your calls.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, how you doing, man? I listen to you every night on the way home from work. I appreciate what you're doing, man.

You're a bad mamma jamma. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. At the top of the hour, I'm going to share with you a new top six list. I'm going to take a look at some of the best athlete-driven podcasts in the world of sports right now. Before we went to break, we did talk about an appearance by Marshawn Lynch on an athlete-driven podcast.

That's Club Shayshay with Shannon Sharpe. And we talked about Russell Wilson as a teammate and who he is and who he is not. And I think we're real clear on what type of teammate this next guy is. It's James Harden.

We know the story. The man has demanded or asked or requested a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. He has publicly talked about general manager Daryl Morey being a liar, talking about how he was going to look to trade him. I think him referring to him as a liar is probably more to do with this contract that he did not receive. And so he was away from the Philadelphia 76ers.

He did not participate in Media Day. The 76ers are practicing at Colorado State. While they're there, they actually connected with Deion Sanders. And so the deal was, what's going on with James Harden? He doesn't want to be on the Sixers. Is he going to show up?

Is he going to make life difficult? If you remember when the time was kind of dwindling at the end with the Houston Rockets, James Harden was not shy. Very clear after a loss saying that, hey, my teammates aren't good enough for us to win. The Rockets had no choice but to trade him. Send him out to Brooklyn. The guy goes to Brooklyn.

He's not happy with what's going on with Kyrie and didn't like the atmosphere. Goes to Philly. Says he always wanted to be in Philly.

I assume with Daryl Morey, who by the way, was his biggest advocate. And so now that's done. And now he wants out. There's a new head coach in Nick Nurse. Doc Rivers is gone. And James Harden showed up to work. He appeared at practice. He didn't address his teammates.

He didn't talk to the media. He just went and he practiced. And so Nick Nurse, the new head coach of the Sixers, spoke to the media. And this is what he had to say about James Harden actually showing up to work and earning his money.

So John, obviously James is in attendance today. How did the games go with him? Yeah, it was good. We had a really good practice. I always get day one, everybody's always super excited. Day two, you're always a little leery, but it was probably a little bit more intense and energy out there today than yesterday, believe it or not.

Both really good. And of course, James was out there and participating and did a good job. Did he have four participants all throughout? He did just about all of it. Yeah, we're still ramping up a few guys, right?

But yeah, he was just about everything. Okay, let's see how long this lasts. I mean, is James Harden going to be traded to the Clippers? Is there going to be another team that gets involved? Is James Harden ultimately going to throw a fit? Is he going to play with the Sixers at the start of the season in about four, three weeks from now?

We have no idea. Damian Lillard got moved. He got traded. And what happens with James Harden is the next domino to fall.

And that's if he even continues to show up to work. And that's not the only thing that that we found out today about James Harden, that he showed up to work. There was a rumor today, if you want to call it that, from Stephen A. Smith on ESPN. He basically said that James Harden has nobody to blame but himself when it comes down to his current contractual situation.

Take a listen to this. James Harden actually talked, this is what I'm told. I haven't confirmed it with James Harden.

This is what I was told. He actually talked himself out of a max deal because he went in there talking about how he wanted to return to being that scoring champion. And he made you doker and they were like, nah, we ain't trying to have that here.

We building something a little bit different. Had he come in there and said the right things, they would have gave him the max contact. They would have gave him a max four year deal.

He talked himself out of his own max deal. And he's referring to the Houston Rockets. We heard that for a while too, that James Harden, and why the Rockets would even want him for any reason is beyond me. I mean, you got Jalen Green.

I don't think we're going to see Porter for a long time after the domestic violence issue that took place in New York. But why do you want to take the ball out of the hands of your emerging young guard? I mean, why do you want to put James Harden on the team at all?

Whether you thought he was going to be a facilitator or what, like that made no sense. And so the Houston Rockets should consider themselves blessed if this is to be the case, either way, that James Harden is not on the team. To be honest, where the hell is he working out? What team would he actually fit on?

I know a lot of people have talked about Miami and I guess he's going to go to Miami and not go to the strip club, but where would he be a benefit? He's not the scorer that he used to be. He was never a ridiculous athlete. His athleticism has diminished. He's been ran into the ground.

God bless him. He is one player who didn't subscribe to load management and I've had this conversation. Tracy McGrady joined us here and we talked about this. Tracy McGrady said that James Harden is a lot like me, like he just played and played and played.

He carried the load and now he's paying for it with the injuries and the hamstrings and he doesn't have it like he used to. Are you going to get some of those big outbursts? 40 points? 35 points? Yeah.

Few and far in between. Let's see what happens with James Harden. I don't think he's going to stick it out with the Sixers for the whole year.

Let's see what happens. Oh yeah, by the way, this is the anti James Harden. This is someone who's actually a good teammate. People like him.

He's not going to throw anybody under the bus. His name is Drew Holiday. He is the latest member of the Boston Celtics. He was introduced and spoke to the media today and he talked about knowing that being a Celtic, man, the support is ridiculous. Take a listen to Drew Holiday. They're a bit crazy.

I'm not gonna lie to you. They get rowdy. They get in your face. Definitely one of the best six men in the league, if not the best. I love the aggression.

I love the environment. I think they care more about hard work on defense and getting loose balls and stuff like that over maybe windmill dunks and things of that nature. But again, that's the type of guy I am. I'm 10 toes to the ground and I'm going to push and grind as hard as I can. So the fans are literally insane and I'm proud to be a part of that coming in this year. Yeah, he'll fit in. That'll be a nice, I don't even know, a quartet.

I don't know what the hell. Poor Zingus if he's healthy and Brown and Tatum. Now you're throwing Drew Holiday in there? It's going to be fun. Let's see where any of these angry superstars get moved.

I'm sure by the time we get to February, James Harden won't be the only angry star. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. It's a Wednesday night.

That means on the other side of the break, I'm going to deliver to you a new top six list. Travis Kelce spoke today. Shannon Sharpe has this podcast. So many athlete podcasts. Are they good?

Are they bad? I'm going to give you a top six list of the best athlete driven podcasts. We got more to do.

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