2.2.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Seaside for details. Looks like it started at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Thank you so much to producer and host Ryan Hickey.

He's up in New York City. And thank you to everybody listening and locked in all over North America. Happy Friday. Happy almost weekend. I guess you could consider this to be the start of the weekend.

And yeah, sure. We got to wait a week and a couple of days for the Super Bowl. Got college basketball. Got the Pro Bowl games.

You got the NHL all star game. This is enough to watch. I think there's enough to occupy all of our time. We still got NBA basketball going on as well. About less than a week now away from the trade deadline.

And so we got a lot to get into. And then even with the NFL and the Pro Bowl games, we got a lot of the athletes who are who are talking. They're chatting it up with the media, especially some of the guys who have been eliminated from postseason play. I heard to a tongue of a lower talking about his contract. I see Stefan Diggs is is not openly discussing his future, but it looks like his future specifically with the Buffalo Bills is less certain. Last night, we had a lot of talk about the NBA All-Stars, the reserves.

There's a lot of talks and conversations about injuries and whatnot. And so next hour, we're going to be joined by Eddie Johnson. Eddie Johnson is going to come through and join us. Man played 17 years in the NBA. Is now a broadcaster for the Phoenix Suns. And so Eddie Johnson is going to come through.

And as a guy who scored a whole lot of points in the NBA, he never made an All-Star game. And so we'll actually have some first person perspective from someone who has seen it all and done it all. And we'll have some thoughts. A lot of news in the sports world about gambling. Jacksonville Jaguars want some stolen money back that their employee or one of their former employees helped basically steal.

We'll get into that. Isaiah Rogers probably don't know who he is. Indianapolis Colts player, former player for the Colts, I should say, punished for gambling. And he's has some thoughts as well as he is hoping to get back into the league.

Lamar Jackson expected to have a more expanded role when it comes down to the offense with the Ravens. And then we've heard more from Jim Harbaugh, the new head coach of the San Diego or excuse me, the Los Angeles Chargers, who's pretty much saying, hey, with this guy, Justin Herbert, I'm looking to go out here and win multiple championships and multiple titles. If you want to holler at me, it's real simple here. The phone number is eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. You can also find me. I am online. I'm on the Internet. I am all over the place.

That is at J.R. Sportbrief. A simple question to our super producer and host, Ryan Hickey. Ryan, how you doing, man? You good? J.R., it's a Friday.

So nothing or no other answer could possibly give the outside of doing very well. Hey, we're here. It's Friday.

That's all we want to do is just absolutely be well. And so we're going to get into all of the the NFL conversation. I do want to talk about betting and gambling, but we got to start the show off, especially on the heels of what took place yesterday. There was a lot of talk, a lot of conversation about LeBron James on the bench and Anthony Davis on the bench. And we know we're six days away from the NBA trade deadline at this point in time. And besides the snubs and some of the all star starters, LeBron James is the most important player in the NBA. LeBron James is the face of the NBA, if you dare still call him that. At almost 40 years old and LeBron James, everything he does or doesn't do, it gets people talking. It gets people hyped up. And so LeBron James not playing as the Lakers took on the Celtics yesterday.

It got a lot of people, let's say, let's say, bothered. LeBron James on the bench sitting next to Anthony Street closed Davis got a lot of people bothered. Now, somehow, some way, due to 30 plus points from Austin Reeves, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics because the Celtics were sleepwalking.

OK, the Lakers won 114 and 105. And you could really look at the Boston Celtics playing down to their competition like most people. And this shouldn't be the case if you're one of the players. You shouldn't dare think that you should just walk out onto the basketball court and have success. They thought they had an easy win. They thought that they were going to coast.

And it didn't happen that way. And LeBron James should and will be back on inaction, I should say, tomorrow night. Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. But at 39 years old, let's be real. How many games is LeBron James going to play for a Los Angeles Lakers team that right now is exactly at five hundred twenty five wins and twenty five losses? Yeah, they might have won an in-season tournament. I mean, dammit, did they peak too soon in beating those Pacers out there? I mean, let's be honest and let's think about this. Lakers are going where?

Nowhere. You got somebody in Jared Vanderbilt who is now out multiple weeks with a foot injury. Anthony Davis is dealing with a groin and an Achilles.

And LeBron James, as good as he is for his age, still dropping twenty five and seven and seven, twenty five, eight and eight. He's going to need a blow every now and then. He's going to need to sit down. He's going to need to take a break.

And so there's been conversations. LeBron James, last year of his contract, LeBron James eligible to go elsewhere. LeBron James.

As far as I'm concerned, this man does not have a no trade clause in his contract. LeBron James making 50 million dollars. The Lakers going nowhere. LeBron James could say, I want out. LeBron James could wake up and say, I want to jump ship. LeBron James could say.

It's time for me to go. I'm not I'm not doing this because let's let's be real. Why the hell else is LeBron James playing basketball right now? It's not like he needs the money. LeBron James is playing basketball to stack up the accolades. He's playing basketball to boost his resume. So when he is retired, whenever it comes a year, two, three, four years from now, that LeBron James can lay claim, without a shadow of a doubt, to being the best basketball player ever. Now, is that going to be the case? Is he going to do enough to supplant Michael Jordan? I'm not so sure.

His book isn't completely written. Is LeBron going to win another championship? Is LeBron going to play with his son? Is he going to play with two of his sons? Is he going to play 25 seasons? He could make a claim for being the best ever.

He can do that now and today. And in order to do that, you got to win another title. Steph Curry is running around with four championships.

LeBron James has four championships. You don't think LeBron James wants to move up another step, another category? It's not going to happen this year with the Lakers.

It's not a human being that they could possibly realistically add. Over the next week, before we get to the trade deadline, that's going to make a difference for this team. And so there have been rumors that LeBron James would pull the plug on his own tenure here in Los Angeles and say, I'm going to go elsewhere. I want to trade.

I want to go somewhere else. And Brian Windhorst, who he always knows this man is in LeBron James business like no other. He basically said that this offseason, they're going to be questions with the Lakers and LeBron and and what do they do with their relationship? Listen to this. I'm not implying I have any knowledge. I'm just going to make statements of facts.

So don't run with them. OK, LeBron has been a Laker for six years. He has signed three contracts.

Those are facts. LeBron has never before been in position with the Lakers to be a free agent at the end of the season. He has an option in his contract for this next season.

That's a fact. I also don't believe that he would walk away from L.A., nor do I think he wants to walk away from 50 million dollars. But he does have an option in his contract.

That's all I'll say. Yeah, well, if he's going to go. Maybe he goes in the offseason. Maybe LeBron James isn't going to pull the plug. Maybe he's going to stick around in L.A. and we know about all the things that he has in Los Angeles, starting off with a family and businesses and money and lots of money and opportunity. Would he just leave now, just in the middle of the year?

I don't I don't think so. I think that would actually be a stain on what a lot of people already find to be a questionable legacy. I mean, if we got to go back to the decision that LeBron James held in Connecticut at a boys and girls club, you know, people still look at that and go, oh, man, what a terrible way to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers. And he rectified the situation by ultimately helping them go out there and win a title. LeBron James bailing on the Los Angeles Lakers would reek of quitting. LeBron James deciding to bail on the Los Angeles Lakers would put him in the dubious category of, I don't want to say a front runner. But they'd look at him like Kevin Durant.

How the hell do you end up bailing and going somewhere? And not to say LeBron is going to, you know, say, hey, trade me to the Milwaukee Bucks, hey, trade me to the Nuggets. But people would look at LeBron and say, oh, you couldn't do it. You always try to put together teams.

And this one you bailed on. And let's remember, this is a Los Angeles Lakers team, maybe not this year specifically. That when it added Russell Westbrook because it was supposed to help out LeBron James, this is a team that has Anthony Davis playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

And let's be honest here. Has Anthony Davis really boosted the team up in a way where LeBron James can take a breather and take a blow? LeBron James is not the same player that he was five and 10 years ago.

It'd be ridiculous to think that. But he's still one of the best in the NBA. He's still one of the best decision makers. He can still go up and slam down a dunk.

You're not doing it all at the same rate. But he's still an excellent player. It's not have someone like Anthony Davis, who is still having a great season.

He is an all star. But to not have the man out there bawling out where LeBron can take a break is sad. And so I do think we will reach a point in time where LeBron might leave. You know, where does his son get drafted? You know, what are the Lakers going to do or you just stay in Los Angeles and see who they could bring in? We know that before Kyrie Irving ended up with Luka Doncic in the Dallas Mavericks that Kyrie Irving, he was campaigning openly to go to the Los Angeles Lakers. And now Kyrie Irving is pretty much stuck in Dallas. And if Kyrie couldn't get LeBron James to play in Los Angeles, he's going to try to bring him out to Dallas with him. There's no guarantees that LeBron James is going to finish his career in L.A.

But why? Why the hell would he bail now so people could start making like quit jokes? That'd be next up for LeBron James, though, at least his agent, Rich Paul, put out a message, sent the message. LeBron won't be traded and we aren't asking to be. His agent said today, according to Brian Windhorst, who put out the initial story that you just heard, that they are going to have to have or be decisions made about his future in Los Angeles, as well as just let's be real in the NBA. At the conclusion of last season, after being eliminated by the Denver Nuggets, LeBron James, who's openly said, I want to play with my son, LeBron James opened up his mouth and said, I don't I don't know what's in store for my future.

It took the man until July at the ESPYs to say, lucky for you all, I'm coming back. And I guess unlucky for LeBron James, the Lakers, they they still suck. They don't look like championship material.

You know who and what they add and change is to be seen. Is D'Angelo Russell's going to be still going to be on the squad? Are you expecting Zach Levine to come through and save the day? The Los Angeles Lakers are a mess.

They're a drama show. But let's remember the Lakers last year were on the road to absolutely nowhere. Still made the postseason, turned things around and got to the Western Conference finals. Am I expecting that this go around? No, I think they used up that luck last year. So if LeBron is to move on. Yeah, it's going to come in the off season.

And I think that is a real realistic possibility. We'll see. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We are just getting warmed up. We are just getting started. Eddie Johnson, 17 year NBA vet, current analyst on TV for the Phoenix Suns. He's going to come through and join us next hour. I want to talk about Christian McCaffrey.

It's not April Fool's Day. There's a story that ran wild about him not being able to afford a suite in Las Vegas for his family to watch him play against the Kansas City Chiefs. We've got a big old gambling issue in the NFL, especially with the Super Bowl coming up in Vegas.

Quite interesting. And so we have a lot to do, a lot to discuss. Lamar Jackson and his expanded role with the Ravens offense. John Harbaugh saying we're going to give him the keys to the castle. You have Jim who's saying, man, Justin Herbert can't wait to run with him. I want multiple Super Bowls. We got a lot to do.

You want to participate? It's eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. Congratulations. Happy Friday.

It's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. A place where friendships are forged. Football is revered and food is enjoyed. Solo Stove, the perfect flame for the big game. A peanut butter M&M's production in a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring.

But the runners up get nothing. One retired cop. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter. But you're on a roll.

The Ring of Comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl. Listen up. I won't sugarcoat it. This is the longest cold flu analogy season we've ever seen. We're not alone. We've got Instacart. Sure, you may be a coughing snot faucet who just wants mommy, but you're not giving up. Not when cold medicine, fragrant herbal teas and honey shaped like bears can be delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes. Now let's go win the sick playoffs.

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Instacart for the win. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

The J.R. Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. I got to tell you this, folks, you know, when we when we go into the break, I'm always looking at the news and trying to make sure the show's smooth or the show goes smoothly.

And so I open up my phone and Ryan, this is wow. This is totally unrelated to, you know, LeBron James. And I don't know, a few seconds.

We're going to talk about Stefan Diggs. You know, we live in a headline world like you get a story, you see a story. It's all about the headline. Right. You ready for this one, Ryan? Oh, let's hear it. Target employee sentenced to one hundred years for killing co-worker over stolen lunch. Why are you laughing? That's not funny. What are you laughing about?

I'm laughing because that can't be real. It has to be right. A hundred years because he killed or she killed their co-worker over a stolen lunch? The twenty five year old fatally stabbed his co-worker to death.

Yeah. This twenty five year old Virginia man got one hundred years in prison over stabbing and beating his fifty eight year old co-worker. That is sad that he's twenty five and his life is thrown away over some stupid lunch. But maybe his mom, maybe mom made him lunch.

I mean, I love PB&J's. I hope no one would steal it here. I don't like go to jail over it.

But do you do you think when I get an opportunity to read this story in full that they will detail what lunch was exactly stolen? Well, is there like a level? Are there levels of justification? Not for a hundred years in jail and not for killing. I know I'm not an advocate of killing beating up. We'll say confronting maybe getting physical, a push, maybe a punch.

I think we could absolutely. There's some lunches that that is worth action for. Right. I don't think there's a lunch on this planet that is you can justify going to jail for a hundred years and taking someone's life for. So I don't know, some some baked ziti that mom made is not not justification. A peanut butter jelly sandwich. Hell, no, you can't kill anybody over that.

But maybe some baked ziti. No, no, none. OK. All right.

Well, I look forward to reading that story when I get a chance. It's wild stuff. Anyway, eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. Right before we went to break, we talked about LeBron James. I don't want to say legitimate rumors, but there have been rumors and words. I've been floating around on television online that LeBron James could say, hey, I want out from the Los Angeles Lakers. We have the trade deadline, which is going to take place next Thursday. Kind of wild to say this, that next Thursday is February 8th. It's just time flies anyway. LeBron James, his agent, Rich Paul, said, hey, LeBron's not going anywhere, even though the Lakers are twenty five and twenty five, even though Anthony Davis has been dealing with an Achilles and a groin hip injury, even though LeBron James every now and then needs a rest, even though Jared Vanderbilt just went down for a couple of weeks with his own foot injury, even though Darvin Ham sometimes looks a little bit over his head. LeBron James is going nowhere.

I guess they'll try and see what change takes place. Greg is here from Michigan. Your CBS sports radio. Hey, Mr. Positive, real quick, what a gut punch.

Carl Weathers passing away while he was part of that Rocky franchise. That was unbelievable. Yeah, there is no tomorrow. Yeah, we're going to we're going to talk about that later on the show.

OK, my friend. Yes, LeBron, I'm a little bit nervous. The team won without him yesterday, obviously. Let's hope that's a fluke. You're beating the number one team, arguably, in the league.

And they did it quite convincingly. And why can't the chair why can't they bring Steph Curry over to LeBron? Is that a possibility? Well, I mean, there's a there's a there's a couple of things you got to keep in mind here. He is also under contract.

The Los Angeles. Well, this is the this is the biggest thing. Why?

Why would Steph Curry just up to decide to leave? And how are you going to make the money work? I mean, who and what? That is it. That is very pie in the sky.

It's very idealistic. But that ain't happening. I just I want LeBron to stay in L.A. and I want them I want him to be happy. I need him to win another title to cement his legacy of the goat. I think he is the goat for me.

But he just one more title. OK. Thank you for taking my call. Agents of inclusion, everybody.

And go for your dreams. Well, thank you, Greg, for calling for Michigan. Yeah, I mean, I can start throwing out names. Why don't the Lakers get this dude? This is what a lot of Laker fans do all the time. It's just like, oh, we need to trade for this dude in this dude in this. Everybody can't play on the Lakers now, right? This is not the Dodgers. You can't just throw money at everybody and say, well, you know, we'll defer your salary for the next 20 years. And then let's just go ahead and take things from there.

It doesn't don't work that way. So the Lakers, what could they do? Bring in Zach LaVine, bring in a make a smaller deal.

I have no idea. LeBron James put up his tweet after the Hawks lost earlier this week. And LeBron is just basically here's an hourglass. No words, no details. So we have no idea what's going on with him.

But according to his agent, Rich Paul, LeBron is going nowhere. Now, I must say this. There's an NFL player who spoke. He's out at the Pro Bowl games.

All these stars are there. It's Stefan Diggs. Stefan Diggs has no idea what he's going to do. And he is still under contract with the Buffalo Bills.

But let's remember this. Last year, the Buffalo Bills season ends. Stefan Diggs is throwing and pitching a fit with Josh Allen. This year, we all know what took place a couple of weeks ago.

The Kansas City Chiefs eliminate the Buffalo Bills again. Stefan Diggs has to go home. And let's just say his season ended with a whimper against Kansas City at three receptions for 21 yards. And so here we are in another offseason with Stefan Diggs and his future kind of just floating around. He's 30 years old. We don't know what his future is, but I can tell you this. Stefan Diggs is signed through 2027. Brandon Bean, the general manager, basically said he's still a number one receiver and he's not going anywhere. He says he's our guy. Well, Stefan Diggs spoke to the NFL Network today. And let's just say there was less certainty with everything Stefan Diggs had to say. He was asked, hey, are you going to be a member of the Buffalo Bills next season?

And this is what Diggs told the NFL Network. Where do you think you'll be? Do you think you'll be a bill next season?

I don't know. I mean, I feel like with the money and all that type of stuff, I can't control none of that. I kind of put my hat on. Like I said, it's a long offseason in front of me. As far as I would the future, I don't have any surprises for you right now.

But for me, I don't think I'm going to still beat me with that. You don't know? Well, you're under contract. So what are you going to blame them? You saying that the Buffalo Bills want to move you? I mean, the last time I looked, Stefan Diggs' brother, Trayvon from the Dallas Cowboys, as he pops up on social media here and there and goes like, free my brother.

Like he needs to go. And they've said multiple times, well, what I say doesn't have anything. Yeah, sure. Yeah, right. Now, having said that, I told you last year there was a whole explosion. With Josh Allen on the sidelines at the beginning of this past season, as these guys went into training camp as the season was getting started, they're just going back and forth. Everybody has to go. Oh, yeah, we're good.

And Josh Allen and and Stefan Diggs. Everybody's cool. It's Kumbaya. We love each other. We go to lunch.

They have to go through the whole thing. Sean McDermott is making good. Like, what are we doing here?

Stefan Diggs was also asked about his relationship with Josh Allen. This is what he said. I kind of touched on that multiple times. You know what I'm saying? I'm kind of like at this point where I am, I kind of let everybody feel how they feel.

You know what I'm saying? It's not an opinion based business. It's a money based business and a number based business. So for me, I try to leave the person out of it. It's my personal relationship and my personal relationship. It's for the people outside of a relationship to kind of speculate or kind of draw conclusions or kind of figure it out as they go.

But people that's involved between the two people or anybody else involved are the people that know. Ryan, what the heck are they planning? What is that? Young Jeezy in the background?

What is that? It was blasting. The Pro Bowlers are at least dancing, I guess. Oh, man. It's like, hey, let's sit down and do an interview with the Pro Bowlers.

What do we want to have as the background? I don't know. Let's just find Jeezy records. I mean, damn. Anyway, Stefan Diggs is he's right. It is a money business.

And yeah, you can have a personal relationship with anybody. It may not be best for business. Well, look, man, Stefan Diggs apparently has been angling in the most political way possible. He's been angling to get out of Buffalo. And yeah, he certainly needs help with the Buffalo Bills. Who's their next best pass catching option that you really look at and go, oh, man, this guy can break the game open. They don't have one. And so it's easy to key in on Stefan Diggs.

So I can certainly understand his frustration. The past two years at the end of this season, he's just kind of he's waned. He's faded in the Buffalo Bills. Let's let's be real. They go to the playoffs to get whooped.

In most cases, three out of the last four years by the Kansas City Chiefs. Stefan Diggs, would I be shocked when he's moved? No, I wouldn't. Would I be surprised if he's still with the Bills? No, I wouldn't.

But I just know this. I can't give him I would not give him one more year, one more season with the Bills. Because they're not going anywhere and it's going to come a point in time where it's not worth it. Why do you want to have a guy on the team who doesn't want to be there?

I mean, you can be a little bit more direct with your questions. Hey, you're going to be with the Bills next year. I don't know.

But I want to be. I didn't get any of that. We just got it was it's a business. It's Josh Allen is figuring out who he's going to throw the ball to and we're going to get the same old questions and the same responses if he's around at the beginning of next year. Yeah, our relationship is good. Our relationship is fine. We worked out what we need to work out.

And now let's go win. Buffalo Bills are starting to seem like a broken record. At least the Ravens are saying that they're going to keep changing things.

We'll talk about that later on in the show. Stefan Diggs still trying to prove to everybody even at 30 years old that he's still a star. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS.

That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Speaking of stars, we know the NBA All-Star reserves were announced yesterday and we had two first time All-Stars go out there onto the court and light it up. We're going to talk about it on the other side.

It's always great to have new blood, new faces and new personalities. We're going to talk about Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Maxey. We're going to keep things rolling from there and talk about load management and some of this media criticism that just a lot of the athletes have received. And then next hour joining us as well is Eddie Johnson.

It's the JR Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. And now another episode of Dr. Harry Balzac, underwear therapist. Doc, I'm sweating the small stuff. I can't sit still. I feel like I'm in such a pinch.

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Our time is up. But remember, 20% off your first order at tommyjohn.com slash victory. Tommyjohn.com slash victory.

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This is also news. We just talked about Stéphane Diggs on the other side of the break. Well, he's not going to be at the Super Bowl so he can do this. He can stream the NFL on Westwood One for free. Sponsored by AutoZone. All season long you can listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on the Odyssey app. Get in the Zone AutoZone. AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the Zone AutoZone restrictions.

They do apply. Yeah, we have no idea where Stéphane Diggs is going to be. I mean, he's at the Pro Bowl games right now. He doesn't know if he's going to be a Buffalo Bill next season.

You know, paint me a news story. I feel like we went through this last year. But I do want to mention two young men in the NBA that know exactly where they're going to be in a few weeks. And that is Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Maxey. These are two individuals who yesterday, about 24 hours ago exactly, were voted on to the All-Star Game to represent the Eastern Conference. The first time for the 27-year-old Jalen Brunson.

The first time for the 23-year-old Tyrese Maxey. It's a hop, a skip and a jump to go from Philadelphia to New York. And they are now going to be hopping and skipping and jumping for joy on their way to Indianapolis on February 18th. And this is kind of bittersweet for both guys because they play with two other All-Stars. But unfortunately, they're hurt. In the case of Jalen Brunson.

How about this? Julius Randle is an All-Star. There is no Julius Randle because he dislocated his shoulder.

He will not be participating in the All-Star Game. And so Jalen Brunson, who's been on a ridiculous tear as of late, dropping 30 points a game like it's nothing. Last night, he pushed it a little bit further. Jalen Brunson said, hey, I got 40 points as the New York Knicks beat the Pacers.

109 to 105 in New York, Madison Square Garden. Jalen Brunson, you could make an argument that he deserves to start in the All-Star Game over someone like Damian Lillard, who, yes, he's still getting settled up in Milwaukee. But Jalen Brunson has just taken a blowtorch to the NBA. And so hours after finding out that he is a first time All-Star and then putting up 40 points to help validate himself and his whole existence as an All-Star. Jalen Brunson was on the floor, on the court at Madison Square Garden, and he was pretty much asked to describe this feeling and dropping 40 and being an All-Star and the short guy, the little engine that could.

And this is what Jalen Brunson had to say. Listen to this interaction. The night started with you being named to your first All-Star Game. Just talk about the journey you've been on and how it has reached this point now where you're on the garden floor hearing MVP chants and you're going to the All-Star Game. I mean. I got nothing to say.

He had no words. I can't imagine, you know, Madison Square Garden, I don't think it's just some marketing talk. It's branded as the world's most famous arena. And I could say for a dude who's been in a lot of arenas, the vibe in Madison Square Garden is different. You walk into Madison Square Garden and the vibe is is a show. It's showtime. It's like, hey, you are you are here on Broadway and you're expecting something big to happen. It's not a time that I've never gone into Madison Square Garden and felt that that I'm looking for an event. And from a basketball perspective, that's been true.

The stars want to go into the garden. They want to shine, whether it's a Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or Reggie Miller, certainly taking his time to torment the New York Knicks. And it's nice that the Knicks have a star. They have an all star that people respect.

It's not a jackass that goes. He plays. He's an underdog.

He's undersized. And he still goes out there and just gives everybody the business. So congratulations to Jalen Brunson making his first All-Star team. This man was a champion two times over at Villanova, and now he's having a chance and an opportunity to prove everybody in the NBA. Man, I'm a star here, too. Thank God the Dallas Mavericks didn't want him because now he is flourishing with his own team with the Knicks.

Speaking of flourishing, this guy. Well, the team might be his in the future. Tyrese Maxey right on down the road from New York, get on the Amtrak 90 minute drive and boom, you're in Philly. Tyrese Maxey, after being drafted in 2020, is finally an All-Star. He helped punctuate his choice or his selection as well last night as Philadelphia beat Utah and Utah.

In Utah, the final score, 127 to 124. Tyrese Maxey took it to another level. He dropped 51 points.

This is a few hours after we all found out. That Joel Embiid has a torn meniscus in his knee. We don't know if he's going to be out a month, a couple of weeks or the rest of the season. And so Tyrese Maxey, let's be real, he's the next guy up.

He is the All-Star and Tyrese Maxey is dropping 26 points a game like it is absolutely nothing. He spoke to TNT after the victory, after he scored 51 points, and he talked about his mindset after learning Joel Embiid is hurt. Honestly, you know, when I found out Joel wouldn't be playing, you know, I knew what happened to him. I was about to sit again on my ankle, not 100%. I was like, man, I'm not leaving my team out there. I got to go out there. We got to compete, get one dub, at least on this road trip.

Hey Ryan, is that load management at its finest? Like my ankle was bothering me, so I was going to sit down, but then I was still able to go out there and score 51. Not bad. Imagine you had a 100% ankle? I mean, 70? 80? He'd have 80 points on a good ankle, right?

Probably. Geez, what could have been? Yeah, Tyrese Maxey didn't want to leave his teammates hanging out there. He continued on TNT, and he talked about dropping the 51 points, and he's like, man, the All-Star game, 51 points, this is awesome. It's been a great night. I mean, it's been wonderful. It's funny, I'm trying to watch the selection or whatever, and I can't even, my mom and Joel, they keep Facetiming me.

I can't even watch the selection. I don't even know if they said my name or not, but it's been great, man. We fought. We had a hard trip, man. I had injuries. Joel had injuries.

A lot of guys was out, but we were able to finish it off with one dub. I guess pretty normal for him. It would be rather interesting to get a Facetime call from Joel Embiid. It's like, oh, hey, hey, there he is, Joel Embiid. How about that?

I don't know what the hell he'd say, but there you have it. Congratulations to two All-Stars, Jalen Brunson and also Tyrese Maxey. Now, here's the bad news.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. The New York Knicks, for the rest of the regular season, they don't have enough to win anything. I know they're on the streak right now and they're hot as fish grease. They don't have enough. And I could say the same thing for the Philadelphia 76ers. It doesn't matter if Joel Embiid comes back. It doesn't matter if Joel Embiid is out for the rest of the year. They don't have enough. You know, maybe if Tobias Harris on a more consistent basis could be a whole hell of a lot more aggressive.

I think that would be the only driving factor. But the New York Knicks and then also the Philadelphia 76ers, they're nice stories here in the regular season. I don't know if they have enough to win it big in a postseason.

And so I hope in the case of Jalen Brunson that he has more All-Star games in front of him. I hope that he's able to team up with with somebody else, in addition to Julius Randle, that that can help them win a championship. But they're good teams. They ain't good enough to win a title.

And also the 76ers with no Joel Embiid. You can expect their record to just start to fall and go backwards in the other direction. They now have a record of 30 and 17.

And I expect some of those losses to start piling up faster than they can go out there and get victories. Ryan, what are your thoughts on what this Eastern Conference looks like? We know we got the Bucks are sitting around pretty. You also have the Celtics. And I think the Knicks and these Sixers have taken a hit here. Now I am a Knicks fan, I will say.

So some may say biased. But I think the Knicks have a chance here. Sixers, if Embiid is still hurt, no. But it's like you look at the rest of the East, the Celtics. Look, it's one game but you lose to a LeBron and a D-less Lakers team yesterday. And that's been a team the Celtics too that have underachieved for all the talent they have in the postseason over previous years. Bucks are still trying to figure chemistry issues out and it's not like Doc Rivers is the best coach come playoff time. I think this East is wide open for the first time. I mean, we got to go back a while here. I know last year the Heat went to the finals.

So, I mean, you could say that was open then, I guess. But this to me, like going into the postseason with the way it's playing out right now, this feels wide open. You think the New York Knicks can win a championship this year? Not a championship. I think they can win the East. I think there's absolutely a chance they can go to the finals. I don't think it's I don't think it's ludicrous to say.

I don't think it's pie in the sky or like you're on drugs get tested. I think like this version of this version with the way Jalen Brunson is playing with the way the defense is playing, getting multiple contributions. Obviously, they're going to need Julius Randall back healthy. But I mean, you look around again, like are the Celtics head and shoulders above everybody else? The Bucks are talent wise, but they've not put it together. I mean, they just lost to the Blazers the other day. Yeah, it's nuts.

It's wild that we could even have this conversation. The New York Knicks have won nine straight games. They are right now today. They are third in the Eastern Conference. They're only a game and a half behind the Milwaukee Bucks for being in the number two seed. This it's not out of the realm of possibility. I think the Knicks would need a little bit of help when I say a little bit of help. And this is what happens.

Like somebody have to get hurt. I mean, if I'm if I'm looking at a seven game series. You know, am I going to choose the Knicks over Boston? Probably not. Am I going to take the Knicks over Milwaukee?

I think that'd be closer, but probably not. The Knicks can beat Milwaukee. I feel I feel OK about that. Not saying that I choose them, but Boston, I think they they got too much ammo. I think there's too much firepower.

I think there's there's too much depth. And for the Boston Celtics, if I got to look at a key to their team, he's somebody else who can be injury prone. And that's that's a seven foot three dude from Latvia.

And that's Kristaps Porzingis. But it's it's even weird to not in the Detroit Lions type of way. But it is odd to discuss the New York Knicks. And the Eastern Conference finals to say that they could go to the finals.

Hey, Ryan, if that happened. People be outside Madison Square Garden's losing their mind. It be more than nutty. Oh, what the some of the videos after, you know, wins in the playoffs. I mean, I hope the garden and they go to the finals. I hope the garden's going to be in one piece to host a finals game. Yeah, they'll be outside ripping that thing up.

And what is what's that stupid thing? They're building outside in the front. The new building has the entryway. Yeah, it got an awning to it. The building in front of the garden. It's just a little face. Love.

That's all. You know, it's been under the construction for years now. Very long time. Eventually. Maybe before I dial, it'll finally be finished. Maybe before both of us die, they'll move Madison Square Garden.

That's true. Thinking about it all. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio when we come back on the other side of the break. Joel Embiid, he's done. Sixers might be done. Well, he's being criticized for it.

Going to discuss some of the criticisms of Mr. Embiid and load management here on CBS Sports Radio. A peanut butter M&M's production in a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring. But the runners up get nothing. One retired cop. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter.

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