JR SportBrief Hour 2

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Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. It is the JR Sportbreeze Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I am coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Much love to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. Man, this show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific.

I might be in Atlanta, Georgia, but I'm being joined by super producer and host Ryan Hickey in New York City, and I'm being joined by you. You can always lock in and listen. Live on your local radio affiliate. I don't know what station that is, you find it. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app. That's easy. Sirius XM Channel 158. And if you got a smart speaker, just ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network.

Easy as can be. We've already had a busy show. We talked about Kirk Cousins. Spent the past two days on podcast and also today live in person with the media, letting everybody know everything is OK with me and Michael Pennix Jr.

I am OK with competition. I'm used to it. Is he going to come out and say I was frustrated, I was upset, I didn't understand? He's not going to do that. He's not going to rock the boat. He's going to cash his checks. And he's going to show up to work until Pennix takes his job. That's it.

Could happen sooner, could happen later, could not happen in a while. I have no idea. We talked about Tom Brady not happy with the roast that took place last week on Netflix. Had no idea the impact that it would have on his children. He's going to use this as a moment to become a better father. Good for him. I don't know how he didn't know this before the fact, but yeah, they made jokes about your ex-wife.

Come on, bro. You knew this was going to happen or maybe not. Tom Brady got roasted. We talked about the roasting of the Dallas Mavericks last night at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Shay Gilgus-Alexander dropping 20, excuse me, let me get it correct, dropping 34 points to tie up the series 2-2. Dallas Mavericks had a 14 point lead in the second half, squandered it.

Squandered their chance and their opportunity to go up 3-1. Shameful, pitiful. If you want to holler at me, it's simple. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. In about 20 minutes, how about this? Speaking of this young Oklahoma City Thunder team, we're going to have a chat with Andrew Schlecht.

He's the host of the Oklahoma City Dream Team podcast. Why do they get along so well? Why are they always hanging out at the interviews? Can they overcome this?

They should, right? Dallas Mavericks is a two man team. P.J. Washington has stepped up. And so we'll get into that with Andrew Schlecht in a bit. And as we continue on with the show, big news in the WNBA tonight as Kaitlyn Clark makes her debut against the Connecticut Sun. This game is going to get underway at about 7.30. There's going to be a lot of people waiting to see what Kaitlyn Clark does. We'll certainly fill you in. The NFL has started to slowly but surely feed out their schedule. We'll get into some of the matchups and games that we already know will take place ahead of the full reveal tomorrow.

So a lot to do. If you want to participate in the show, it's simple. The number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. You can find me online. I'm everywhere at JR Sportbrief. I told you last night the Mavericks choking, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder. That's not the only basketball game we got.

It was tight at some points, but it was never like, oh, what are they doing? The Boston Celtics beat the Cavs without Donovan Mitchell. Out with a Cavs strain, 109 to 102. The Celtics handled business, and the Celtics are up 3-1 against the Cavs.

Just finished the job and send them packing. And we've already got the words and we've heard this for about a year now. If Donovan Mitchell doesn't come to an agreement for an extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cavaliers will ultimately have to trade him.

Right? You don't want this guy leaving for nothing at the end of the year. You might as well get something back now while you have some leverage. And when I say now, the offseason, the trade deadline, you've got options. It's already been reported that the Los Angeles Lakers would be interested in Donovan Mitchell.

And why not, right? The man is putting up scoring numbers here in the postseason that he's just dragging the team on his back. 30 points, 29 points, 50 points. He's just dropping points like nobody's business. You know what LeBron James needs help doing? Scoring with the Lakers. Anthony Davis is no pure scorer. You can't just dump him the ball every time and say just go to work. You may have to tell Donovan Mitchell, bro, relax. Let somebody else shoot.

I'd rather have that problem than look for it. I mean, trying to count on D'Angelo Russell to be a third scorer, I mean, a fourth scorer behind Reeves, you might as well ask for water to come out of a rock. It's not happening. And so last night, despite the basketball game, the big news was that LeBron James was in attendance. What does this mean?

We have to look up at the sun, the moon, the stars. We have to connect the dots because LeBron James just can't go to a basketball game in Cleveland. There has to be a motive. There has to be a reason.

There has to be a politics involved, right? I mean, they gave this man a tribute. They said thank you for the championship in 2016. Are they begging him to come back?

Would he want to come back? Listen to this beautiful video courtesy of the beautiful city, the beautiful fans, the beautiful organization of the Cavs. The Princess St. Mary High School in Aquinn, Ohio, number 23, LeBron James! Yeah, LeBron James sat around and waved like a king does, right? That's what kings do.

20,000 people shouting at you, you just kind of wave, lift your hand up in the air and just say thank you. That's what happened. But it couldn't just be he went to a basketball game. There has to be additional motives. How about Brian Windhorst, who I feel has been in LeBron's, over his shoulder. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's been over LeBron's shoulder for the past, I don't know, 20 years. He was on ESPN and he said there might be some other reasons. I have been told the reason LeBron was in Cleveland was because he and Savannah were there for Mother's Day, seeing their mothers.

It coincided with it being a day later and he went. And Rich Paul, who was also at the game and represents several Cavaliers, called the Lakers and said, just so you know, LeBron is going to be coming to the game tonight so that they weren't surprised. Having said that, obviously since the end of the season, LeBron has sent several like sort of interesting messages, non-comment on the Lakers going forward, comments on podcasts and on social media about he doesn't know what to do. On draft night, they can trade three first round picks. At the trade deadline, as everybody knows, they did nothing and LeBron wasn't happy about it. So this little maneuvers to just put a little bit of doubt, I think is mostly a bit of a thing for the Lakers.

Just to remind the Lakers, by the way, just so you know, I'm still out here. OK, I think that happens naturally and I think he knows that and I think he just said, hey, I'll do this and go to the game. Nothing wrong with that. It could serve multiple purposes. Sometimes I want to go to the basketball game to watch basketball. Sometimes I want to go to the basketball game to see some friends or colleagues or co-workers.

Sometimes I just need to relax and sometimes I can do all three at one damn time. But LeBron James, anything he does is going to be documented. I think he knows that. And people are going to think whatever they want to regardless. If LeBron James showed up to the game last night and sat in a sweep, it'd be a big deal. If LeBron James sat in the front row, which he did, it became a big deal. Anything LeBron James does is going to be a big deal.

It's going to be analyzed and over-analyzed. And sometimes he doesn't help his case or cause. Sometimes I think he says too much. Like when his team was already eliminated and then he decided to go on social media to remind everybody that, hey guys, I haven't made a decision yet, don't listen to anybody else. Man, where the hell you been for the past 20 years? I mean before there was X Twitter and Facebook and all of this stuff, people were talking about you.

What makes it different now? Sometimes he seeks attention that's unnecessary. But everything that he does is going to be scrutinized. I like Brian Windhorst.

I like a lot of folks. Look at LeBron James and expect him to be back with the Los Angeles Lakers next year. I don't see another scenario or another team.

I don't see another place that works. He's going to go back to Cleveland for what and how. What are they moving him for? Donovan Mitchell?

Like what are we doing? It's more likely that they end up with Donovan Mitchell in Los Angeles than LeBron goes back to Cleveland. I don't think so.

Hickey, what do you think? A man just enjoying a game and also he's like, yeah, people are going to talk anyway, let them do it. So I don't think he's leaving the Lakers. I do think that he was like, this was not just, oh, I'm in the air. Let me go to a game.

Let me just be a fan. He knew what he was doing. He, like you said, everything LeBron does is calculated, but also everything LeBron does is publicized to where if he breathes, it's a story and we're talking about it. What does it mean?

What's going on? So he knows that where he is, what he's doing can be perceived as a signal. So I think that he is trying to, I'm about to flirt, but Brian Windhorst, I mean, who's all over TV today, I guess rightfully so when it comes to LeBron, talked to the somewhere else where he was like, the last time LeBron did this, would go to a Cavs game when he was on another team, he was with the Heat and that off season, it was during the year, he went to an in-season game when there was a, I think it was a Gauskas's jersey was retired and he said it was just there supporting his guy and then that off season was when he went back to Cleveland, left Miami. So I think he's using that as leverage to try to get what he wants this off season and also maybe at the same time try to court a guy like Donovan Mitchell, be there, be like, hey Donovan, I'm here.

Remember that. We can get you in LA and try to get a little two for one of, let the Lakers, you know, sweat a little, but also, hey Donovan, maybe let's make a full court press show to make this thing happen this off season. And as he should, you can, what do they say, kill two birds with one stone. He's LeBron, he's doing it all. And here's the thing, he does have the ultimate leverage, use it. There is not another player who's ever had this much leverage in the current state of the NBA. Michael Jordan, for as much as, you know, he didn't get paid and there's a reason why we ultimately had a lockout. They paid him about 33 million bucks and then Kevin Garnett got an even bigger deal and all the owners said, whoa, whoa, whoa, we got to slow this down. LeBron James is a billionaire. LeBron James, this man is, he's got the Lakers in the palm of his hand. LeBron James has been doing this for like two decades now. His leverage is ridiculous. And we may not see a player have this much leverage in a long time.

I mean, come on. I think the other player in the NBA who has the second most leverage is probably Giannis Atetokounmpo. The Milwaukee Bucks are like, please don't leave. We'll give your brother a job, okay? Outside of that, that doesn't even touch what LeBron is currently doing.

He's going to stay a Laker, I believe, and then we'll figure out what happens with his son. And by the way, I know we talked about Bronny last night. A lot of opinions.

Hickey, a lot of people have told me a lot of things. They're like, oh, well, you don't know what he's going to be. And I'm like, damn it, I'm not talking about what he's going to be.

I'm talking about what Bronny is right now and it's not good. Yes, and God bless him for having a dad that can, you know, get him a job. God bless him.

It's amazing. Good for him. But I mean, overall, sheesh. Is he good today, Hickey? Yes or no? Uh, no.

No, sir. People, I'm not making a projection about what Bronny can be. I'm not discounting the fact that he can be a good NBA player, but I know today he's not good.

And how about this? And people were utilizing his 12 straight three-pointers, Hickey, to tell me how good he was. And I'm like, he's playing versus no one. And so actually, in these numbers I have not verified, he is currently playing in a scrimmage or completed a scrimmage at the NBA Combine. Bronny had four points, four rebounds, zero assists, three turnovers, two steals, and was two of eight from the field. Hmm.

Now, if those numbers are accurate, that doesn't sound good to me. And by the way, if Bronny James came out and was, I don't know, five for five from the field, I wouldn't change my mind. I need to see it in an elongated stretch.

I'm not jumping out of a window, I'm not jumping out on a stretch. We have not, my point is we haven't seen enough performance of him to justify his current standing outside of his dad. And I hope it works out for him.

That's it. That doesn't mean he can't be good, that doesn't mean he's going to be trash, but I just know today, as an NBA player, as a prospect, he's not a good one outside of his dad. And good for him. It's the JR Sportbreeze Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.

We're going to take a break. When we come back, let's talk about, well, this guy played at an MVP level. This man is still playing at an MVP level.

His name is Shay Gilgus Alexander. He's leading the Oklahoma City Thunder. He might be leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Western Conference Finals. We'll talk about this young team, balling out, who knocked off the Mavericks last night. We'll talk about the Thunder with Andrew Schlecht of the OKC Dream Team Podcast.

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We just talked about it about 20 minutes ago. Yeah, the Oklahoma City Thunder. They tie up the series against the Mavs to all. They beat the Mavs 100 to 96, the second youngest team in the NBA. It looks like they're still surging towards a spot in the Western Conference Finals and maybe further to talk about these young thunder. Joining us right now is Andrew Schlecht, who is the host of the OKC Dream Team Podcast. Andrew, thank you for the time, man. Yeah, thanks for having me.

No problem. Look, this is a team that's capable of going to the Western Conference Finals. I wouldn't be shocked if they went to the NBA Finals. What was the expectation from the city as an overall before the season got started? Was it Western Conference Finals? I don't think people had that much faith in Sam Presti.

Yeah, I mean, I think everybody had pretty temperate expectations. You know, they won 40 games last year. They lost in the playing tournament. They won one game in New Orleans.

They lost in Minnesota. I don't think people expected them to. I think the expectation was make the playoffs and then just kind of see what happens and the most likely outcome being the second youngest team in the NBA is that you lose in the first round because young teams lose. I think kind of the blueprint of what we thought would happen is a lot like what Orlando season looks like. You know, Orlando had a really nice season. They had some good and some bad about their team and then they ultimately lose in the first round to a more experienced team. I think that's what kind of what people expected. And now the Thunder, you know, they got the first seed in the West.

I don't think that was expected. You know, they beat a team that I really believe the Pelicans were the worst team in the playoffs. And so they swept them, which is the youngest team to ever sweep in the history of the league. And now they're in the 2-2 battle with Dallas and they're getting a little bit of luck because there's no Maxi Cleva. There's, you know, a Havel Luca Doncic and they're kind of being put to the test still, but they answered the call last night. Andrew Schlecht is here with us, host of the OKC Dream Team podcast. Everybody talks about Shay Gilgus-Alexander, ended up in the MVP or as an MVP finalist. What player do you think took the largest jump?

We know we see Chet, but hey, this is the first time we're really seeing him full play. Who took the biggest step? Yeah, I think a part of why the Thunder team is so good is there are a lot of guys that took big steps. I think the biggest step certainly came from Jalen Williams, who they're starting, you know, small forward or power forward, whatever position you want to call him. He bulked up over the offseason. He improved his shot making. He improved as a passer and he improved as a defender. And part of the reason they've exceeded expectations is that this is a guy who was one of the best fourth quarter scorers in the NBA this season. You know, they would sit Shay at the beginning of every fourth quarter and oftentimes the Thunder would either gain a lead or extend a lead because of JW. And so to me, he was the one that probably improved the most.

But I think you kind of got improvements throughout the roster. I think Lou Dortz, another one who just improved by his shot selection. You know, he shot, you know, around 40 percent from three this season in part because he just took the wide open in rhythm threes. In the past, he was taking a lot of off the dribble threes.

He was driving to the hoop a little bit too much. In this season, he became, you know, one of the better 3 and D players in the NBA. But I would say the most improved is JW. And don't discount Shay. Shay became a better defender. Shay became a better passer. Shay, you know, became a more solid, you know, isolation player over the offseason. So, you know, you don't go from 40 to 57 and number one in the West without improvements across the board. Well, Andrew, speaking of that improvement, it's without a doubt, you can see the camaraderie between everybody on the team.

We see it in the postgame interviews, the press conferences. Why are they so tightly wound? Is it simply because they're so similar in age? Like, why are they together all the time?

Yeah, I mean, this is really similar to the first iteration of the Thunder. Some of it is their age. You know, most of these guys are single.

Most of these guys don't have kids yet. Their lives outside of the NBA are very complicated right now, and so they can spend a lot of time together. And, you know, a lot of these guys are drafted by the Thunder. And so they all feel this kind of kinship together.

And it is by design. You know, Sam Pressley brought these guys together. They are kind of cut from a similar cloth with their competitiveness, but also their personalities.

And I think that's pretty important. When you think about how this team has been constructed, we know Shea Gilgus Alexander was traded over basically after year one by the Clippers. And Sam Pressley, for a team you mentioned that had a Durant and a Harden in Westbrook, it seemed like it would be forever until they were back to this point.

Sam Pressley, I mean, where's the credit for this man? Yeah, I mean, he had a very clear vision for what he wanted to do with this team and with this roster. He drafted guys that some people didn't have very high on their boards. You know, J-Dub was not somebody that people thought should be a lottery pick going into that draft night. You know, they targeted Chet very early on as somebody that they wanted who could kind of complete their roster.

And then obviously getting Chet and all the draft picks that he did from the Paul George trade. You know, some of it's luck and lightning in a bottle that they've caught, but it was all very intentional and meticulously put together. You know, they do all the scouting. You know, Sam Pressley's not sitting back in his easy chair today.

He's at the draft combine right now. You know, it's the constant work that they put in and the kind of the foundation that they've been laying for this franchise for 15 years that is kind of culminating in where they're at today. You know, the work was not just the draft picks. It's the kind of culture that they've set forth for this entire team and it's starting to pay dividends.

Andrew Slack, host of the Oklahoma City Dream Team podcast is joining us. Do you have this team knocking off these Mavs? I think if they can play up to their potential, which they honestly haven't even done yet, you know, they haven't shot the ball very well except for Game 1. If they can just shoot normally, I think that they'll win Game 5 and 6.

But I don't think that's guaranteed. You know, the Mavs have defended really well. The Mavs were just a few free throws away from winning that game last night. I do believe that they will win this series. They have the home court advantage basically in a three game series now going back to OKC.

So I think that they will win the series, but I do think that it's closer to 60-40 than it is like an 80-20 proposition for the Thunder. They haven't played well. They've struggled defensively in spots and they've struggled to get production from guys other than Shea and really Chet. The team outside of Shea and Chet last night shot a 15-56. They shot 26% from the field.

And so it feels good when you win and you can kind of talk about all the things that went well. But there's a very real case that this didn't go the Thunder's way last night and you look to the supporting cast. You look to everybody other than Shea and it didn't go very well. So coming back to OKC tomorrow night, they're really going to need their supporting cast to step up and make some shots. Well Andrew, regardless of whether they are eliminated in a couple of days or maybe they play until next month and win a championship, this is a team, this is a roster that's not going anywhere. What are some areas that they can improve in?

What are some assets that they have? What are some potential adjustments they could make to even get better next season? Yeah, I think that they'll try to improve through the draft. I think that something that they're missing is kind of a bigger forward. You see them defending the likes of P.J.

Washington with Shea and with Jalen Williams. And those guys are good defenders in their own right, but they don't really have a 6'8, 6'9 forward that can move his feet. And they do have one kind of waiting in the wings in Usman Jang who played in the G League.

He was the G League Finals MVP. He's a nice player. I am a little skeptical if he can contribute as soon as next season, but I can see them fulfilling some of this through the draft. They have a ton of cap space heading into the summer. They're usually not a free agent destination, but they do have that. And then they have a plethora of draft picks. They have the 12th pick in this upcoming draft. They have multiple picks in the 2025 draft. They're well set up to get what they need, and I think this is step one.

I think people can kind of get caught up in this fun run that they're having now and forget that this is step one of kind of figuring out what they've got and figuring out who is long for this team and who's not. And I do think that eventually they're going to have to pick up a bigger power forward type player that can play next to Chet that can defend multiple positions. Kind of like Aaron Gordon does for Denver. That kind of player to complete their roster. And so I look for them to try to do that in the draft, and if they're not able to do that, I would see them do it via trade because they do have a lot of assets and they do have players that are desirable for other teams. Well, Andrew, did you just also say they have another big man who was just G-League Finals MVP?

They have another giant that they're stashing around? Yeah, he's a forward. He's 6'11", and he's really skilled. He's really struggled with physicality, though, and he did better with that in the G-League this year. I mean, he was picked 11th in the draft two years ago, so this is a guy that has some pedigree.

Out of France, he played overseas in what would have been his college freshman season, and his draft looked really young. And so he was always thought of as a project, and I think there is some belief in him to come over and to give him a shot. But when you're this good, it is tough to have projects on your team.

It is tough to develop projects. You need those developmental years and developmental minutes in order to get better in the NBA, or else you can kind of get left behind. And so we've seen that with a lot of different teams. You know, Golden State has had some success stories, but they've also had some guys that really, you know, James Wiseman, maybe he didn't work for anybody, but he certainly wasn't going to work for the Warriors because what he needed was reps. He needed time on the court, and he was too much of a project for them to develop, and so I think Jang is somebody that kind of, if he doesn't have a really good summer, he's somebody that could also get lost in the shuffle because they just don't have developmental minutes to give guys 10, 15, 20 minutes with somebody who's just not very good. Yeah, well, they've shuffled him around. He could work.

They don't necessarily need him. We see where this team is going, and Sam Presti has done an excellent job. Hey, Andrew, tell everybody where they could follow you in the OKC Dream Team podcast.

Yeah, you can go find me on Twitter at AndrewKSchlecht, and then you can go follow all my work at The Athletic, and you can go find The Dream Team show at Patreon.com slash OKC Dream Team. Appreciate you, man. Enjoy the rest of the ride, okay?

Alright, appreciate it. Thank you. That being Andrew Schlecht, you are locked into the JR Sportbree show here on the Infinity Sports Network. Kaitlyn Clark getting ready to suit up, getting ready for tip-off in her first professional game for the Indiana Fever.

We'll talk about Kaitlyn Clark in a few minutes. Also, the New York Knicks getting ready to hop into action in about 30 minutes from now. They don't look as hot as OKC does right now. The Knicks are looking pretty burnt out.

And Josh Hart, the man who plays all the minutes? He's saying leave the coach alone. Leave him out of this. We'll talk about all of this in a bit. Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-Track all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai. There's joy in every journey. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

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Because doors were meant to be opened. Visit fidelity.com slash wealth. Investment minimum supply. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC. Member NYSE SIPC. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. The JR Sport Brief show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you to Andrew Schlecht for joining us in the last break as we talked about these Oklahoma City Thunder. As a matter of fact, the Defensive Player of the Week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly serves the armed forces, DOD, veterans and their families. Their members are their mission.

You can learn more at NavyFederal.org. This man got it done on offense and defense when the Thunder beat the Mavericks 196 last night. SGA blocked 2 shots, had 2 steals, grabbed 8 rebounds, dropped 34 points as OKC tied up the series at 2-all. Congratulations to Kaitlyn Clark and I guess all her other teammates.

They're playing basketball. They're in Connecticut. The Fever are taking on the Sun. This is the debut of Kaitlyn Clark. I believe I saw a note about how 10,000 folks are in attendance in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun to witness this and this is a sellout.

Right now the Fever lead 7, or excuse me, it's pretty close, the Sun lead 8-7. Kaitlyn Clark is different in the pros. She's an excellent passer. She's passing the ball. I mean it's hard to watch and narrate and all this stuff while I'm on the air, but I've seen her have some set passes here. Obviously not going to dominate the game like she did in college. That part may take some time.

It also takes stretches of time and so an adjustment for all. Kaitlyn Clark in the WNBA as a pro. Hickey, I don't think we can expect to see her in the Big 3. I think she's where she's going to be. Yeah, I don't think she needs that paycheck from the Big 3 either.

I think Nike has got her covered, amongst others. Yeah, 28-0 and yeah, Kaitlyn Clark is going to be A-OK. And how about this, Hickey, you just shared this with me in the break. We talked about Bronny James and yesterday we got his combine stats, the numbers, and today Bronny James spoke. Hickey, who the hell did he talk to? The media. The media at the combine. Wow.

Wow. This has to be, is this not the first time that he's ever spoken to the media? He didn't speak at USC, did he? That's a great question. I guess not, I mean he barely played, so right, like in the college controls who speak, so you would think there's no real reason to talk to Bronny James because he's, what was he playing, 20 minutes a game, scoring 6 points?

5. My apologies, 5 points, you're probably right, this is, yeah, I can't remember another time even hearing his voice. With good reason, there has always been a concerted effort and good on the James family. As he grew up and both him and his brothers, they played ball. They've kind of kept the media, they've done an excellent job of just letting them grow up. Yeah, they're playing basketball publicly. You can imagine the interview requests who people want to talk to Bronny and Bryce and you don't hear them talk to the media. This is the first time I think I'm ever hearing from Bronny James. Let's take a listen.

He was asked, you know, what do you want to tell people that don't think you deserve to be in the draft? Listen to this. There's nothing I can say, to be honest. I just, you know, I obviously see everything that has been thrown my way. But, you know, I just got to shrug it off and all the work that I've put in over this, I don't know, many years, you know, I just feel like I need to believe in myself in everything. They haven't seen what I've been through or anything like that. So, yeah, I just continue to believe in myself and keep putting in the work. When you go into these interviews with these executives, they know about your family, but what do you want them to know about you, the person? That I'm a genuine person. I've gotten a lot of lessons and stuff from my mom, my dad, but also just like putting that Bronny James narrative out there more instead of, you know, just being LeBron James.

I think that's really important for me. And that happens in time. Good on him. It sounds like he got his head.

At least it works. I appreciate that in due time and that is what he said comes at work. We don't know what happened. The guy had a cardiac arrest. OK, they didn't know if he was going to be able to play basketball.

They had to worry about his life first. And he got cleared and he played for USC. And now he's going to have this chance and this opportunity to kind of take the next step into the NBA. And so good luck to him on the pathway and good luck to him on the way. I appreciate what he said.

Yeah, you got to forge your own path. Let's see what you can do. Are you going to grow? Are you going to take advantage of everything that you have in front of you, the resources that you have, your resources, one of the greatest basketball players to ever play.

To even have this conversation is absolutely amazing. I want to see Bronny and LeBron on the court. And I'd love to see it because Bronny is worthy of being out there. And I don't think they'll give him a chance if he's not.

I don't think they're just going to throw you out there just because. Bronny is going to have to go out there and earn those minutes, even if it has to start in the G League. So many questions between now and June and July and free agency and LeBron and this and that. The first time I've heard Bronny James.

Wild, wild stuff. And speaking of minutes, the New York Knicks, the Indiana Pacers, they are set and scheduled to be in action. And about 15 minutes from now, the New York Knicks absolutely got destroyed against the Indiana Pacers this past Sunday, a Mother's Day massacre.

The final score, 121 to 89. There's been a lot of conversations about Coach Tibbs and and what Tom Thibodeau was doing with his players, running them into the absolute ground. OK, people are looking at the injuries to folks like OG Ananobi, who basically has been hurt his whole damn career, comes over to the Knicks, is already hurt with an elbow. Now he's hurt with a hamstring. Somehow that's Thib's fault. Jalen Brunson, who's had to carry the offensive load without Julius Rand who got hurt, not because he's playing too many minutes, because he fell on his shoulder. Somehow that's Thib's fault. Mitchell Robinson, who's been hurt since he came into the league, and now he's also a little bit heavier of a guy. His ankle is hurt, I guess, because of Thib's, even though he never plays, and also because Joel Embiid pulled on his leg. Bogdanovich, he just became a Knick.

He got a broken foot. I guess that's Tom Thibodeau's fault. I mean, Tom Thibodeau is still getting blamed for that, what, Derek Rose blowing out his knee? I mean, the way Derek Rose played, how explosive and herky-jerky he was, I don't know how he was going to last. And so Josh Hart, who throughout the playoffs has been playing just 43, 48, 48, 46, 53, the man has not sat down.

He played 24 minutes in that blowout. Josh Hart was sick and tired of this entire narrative that Tom Thibodeau is running his players into the ground. Listen to what Josh Hart had to say. You expect ignorance when people have no idea what goes on in this building.

People love to have a narrative or a label and they love to run with it. None of those guys are here watching us practice. None of those guys are watching what we do. At the end of the day, settled year of my career, I probably had, probably the more off days I've probably had, a lot of the years, we don't go contact and practice.

But everyone thinks we do three hour practices of scrimmaging. So it's just, it's idiotic to put that on him and he's not going to say anything about it. He's going to take it on the chin and keep it moving. But at the end of the day, people are going to say things for clicks. People are going to say things that make them feel like, you know, they stuck it to them or they made something. But at the end of the day, if they're not in the building or they're not in that locker room, whatever they say, it doesn't mean anything. Wow. He's defending Coach Thibodeau. And I agree. I mean, the Knicks, nobody practices.

That's just as an aside. These guys ain't balling out. Like, what is, what do they, Hickey, what do you think? Tom Thibodeau is putting these guys in chains after the game, after practice and saying, hey, you got to, you got to lift weights. Like this is, I think some of the criticism is justified, but I think it is way overblown. Half the NBA, we complain about the players not participating. And here you have a team that actually plays hard. These guys want to play. Like people can't have it both ways. The stars don't play. The stars don't get out there and run. And then on the other end of things, man, it's just, well, they don't play enough or he plays them too hard.

It's crazy, man. You hit the nail on the head. You're a hundred percent right. People want it both ways and complain for, is it to complain?

Is it to, I don't know why people do it, but you're right. Like for all the load management stuff and stars not playing, the Knicks players play all the time. And I don't think you can really say the injuries and how they've happened are because they're on the floor all the time. It just, injuries happen. Injury prone players, you know, are in the league. Unfortunately, they do get hurt. But I mean, like if Jalen Brunson Jr played 10 less minutes in this postseason, is his foot still hurt? I'd probably say yes. You know, is Bogdanovic getting hurt and getting run over if you played 10 less minutes in the regular season?

Yes, it happens. People just want someone to blame when you can't, you know, when you have a situation that is essentially blameless with injuries, you always got to have a full guy. Yeah, look, it's always easy to blame the coach. The Knicks have a good coach. I mean, if you want to beat him down over offense or what have you, he's a winning coach. He was winning with the Bulls. He ruffled feathers with Minnesota because I think those guys were lazy. And now he's here with the Knicks and he's actually coaching a team that actually wants to play basketball. And a bunch of guys have gotten hurt and it's his fault because one guy fell out of the air, another guy who just got to the team broke his foot and another guy is always hurt.

And so it's his fault. Yeah, sure. Hey, good luck to the New York Knicks. They're going to take on the Pacers in about 10 to 15 minutes. Whoever wins this game, they're going to go up 3-2 in the series. The New York Knicks trying to bounce back from that ass whooping that they took on Sunday as they lost 121 to 89.

That was ugly. Madison Square Garden is going to try to push these injured Knicks through to pick up a victory. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Speaking of New York City, we got an NFL schedule tease.

It involves New York City or one of the teams. You're locked into the J.R. sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network. I'll fill you in.

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