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Offer valid for a limited time, minimum $10 per order, excludes restaurants, additional terms and fees, or get a free meal free. Happy Monday to you. It's Monday, July 1st. It's been that way all day long.
I'm going to be with you for the next four hours. This is when the show gets started every single weekday. It's 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. So whether you're on the West Coast, the East Coast, somewhere in the middle, overseas or over a border, thank you for tuning in. Thank you to our producer for tonight, Nick Deodoro, holding it down in New York City.
And thank you again to you because if you're not here, if you're not listening, there is no show. NBA free agency. Man, it's underway. We got guys on different teams. Klay Thompson, soon to be gone from the Golden State Warriors going to the Dallas Mavericks. Chris Paul, gone to the San Antonio Spurs, throwing lobs to Victor Wenbanyama. Paul George, gone from the Los Angeles Clippers. This man has found a home with the Philadelphia 76ers. Someone who isn't going anywhere. Jason Tatum, the richest contract in NBA history. $314 million.
Jason Tatum isn't going anywhere. We got a lot to discuss, a lot to get into here over the next four hours. If you want to participate in the show, you can do so. The phone number is 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. You can find me online. I'm everywhere the internet exists. I am at JR Sport Brief. Of course, we're going to talk about all of the deals and all of the big contracts and, you know, some of the deals that haven't taken place yet. Like what the hell is going on with DeMar DeRozan? So there's so much we had a parade for the Panthers yesterday down in Florida. Unfortunately, it rained in the parade. Not a cliche.
It actually rained on their parade. And then, of course, free agency, as I mentioned, got started yesterday at 6 p.m. So we're going to talk about it all. Before I do anything, I want to ask my producer working with me this afternoon, this evening. Nick, how you doing, man? It's been a while.
You okay? Yeah, it really has been a while. Can't even remember the last time I worked with you, but it's a pleasure to be back. Well, thank you.
It's been a few years. Did you have a good weekend? Oh, yeah. Great weekend. Good. No, I'm sorry.
Go ahead. No, no, no complaints. Great weekend. You know, had some fun hanging out with friends. Yeah. Okay.
Enjoyed the most of it as I could. Good. No, no free agent contract for you, right? Nothing. No, unfortunately, not nothing yet. Still waiting.
All right. Listen, I can put in a word for a few teams and we'll see what happens. We know it's been quite, quite eventful. Klay Thompson getting a three year 50 million dollar deal from the Dallas Mavericks. We talked about this giant Jason Tatum deal that looks like the Boston Celtics as an organization, as a team is going to be up for sale. There's just so much that that went on.
But let me tell you about this one first. Klay Thompson, Dallas Mavericks, three years of 50 million dollar deal. It's going to take a multi team sign and trade to get him out to Dallas and the days of the Splash Brothers. It's done. It's over. Those four championships. They're in the rearview mirror. And who the hell goes back to Golden State?
Damn it. Well, we don't know what I mean. Who's going to replace Klay?
We don't know. They gave Pajemski all of the burn last year. He got a lot of the minutes. It's been reported that Klay Thompson, if he was going to return to Golden State, that Klay Thompson was going to have to come off of the bench.
And started days are over. But now Klay Thompson has an opportunity to go to Dallas, play right next to Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic. And all Klay Thompson has to do is just show up and shoot the basketball.
That's it. And Klay Thompson had some options here, apparently. And he chose Dallas.
I want you to take a listen to Chris Haynes from Bleacher Report. He pretty much said that Klay Thompson. Yeah, there was a possibility the Lakers were going to give him more money.
Listen to this. I was told the Lakers made a pretty compelling offer. It was around a three, four year mark somewhere along along the lines of 20 million per.
And. They didn't they didn't get they didn't get their guy and it was going to take, obviously, a sign and trade scenario, so that had nothing to do with LeBron James's decision to take less. It was going to take a sign and trade to get Klay. And it did not.
It just did not happen. I was told that it would have likely involved DeAngelo Russell being a part of a deal to get Klay. And from what I was told, the words weren't interested in bringing back DeAngelo Russell. Remember, DeAngelo had that one year stint with them a few years ago.
So that that didn't play. You know, that just wasn't feasible for the Warriors. And so the Lakers right now, they are still still right now trying to identify who that player is going to be. They are seeking a star caliber player, whether that is via LeBron James sacrificing money and taking the full mid-level or a sign and trade scenario. So as of right now, the Lakers haven't done much. You know, they resigned Max Christie. Aside from that, they're still waiting.
They're waiting for that big fish. You know, the Lakers, when they make moves, they tend to make them tend to make big moves. So, so far, you know, they struck out on Klay Thompson.
Yeah. Reportedly, LeBron James gave Klay Thompson a call yesterday at the starter free agency and Klay Thompson basically said, no, thank you. Klay Thompson didn't want to go to the Los Angeles Lakers. And now he's with the Dallas Mavericks. And I got to tell you, if you're Klay Thompson, I think the best damn option for Klay would be to stay in Golden State.
The build off of his legacy. Is he expecting things to get better out in Dallas? I mean, the Mavs are good.
Yes, they just went to the NBA finals. He's certainly going to benefit of playing next to Luka Doncic and Kyrie. All he has to do is the same damn thing he did in Golden State.
Just catch the ball and shoot it. Klay Thompson is 34 years old. This man has blown out his Achilles. He's blown out his knee in consecutive years. And so what are we supposed to expect from him as he hits age 35? 36 in the last year of his contract is an option.
Let's think about this for a minute. A three year deal. 50 million dollars. The Golden State Warriors offered Klay Thompson a two year contract.
Last year. For the same amount of money. OK, Klay Thompson wants the option. He wants the years.
I guess it's a little bit of disrespect. I guess Klay Thompson feels that and show him love. Draymond Green got a new contract. Four years, 100 million dollars. Jordan Poole got a contract before they shipped him out of town after Draymond punched him.
They got a new deal. Steph Curry is the king. Steph Curry's not going anywhere unless he asks to go somewhere.
So if you're Klay Thompson after the injuries. After the shot to his own confidence. After looking at his teammates get all this bread and get this money. I guess Klay Thompson felt that he was just getting slapped in the face. And instead of staying in Golden State.
He left. I got to tell you, I don't see this as a major win for Klay. I don't think Klay is going to help them win the championship. The West is still going to be ridiculously competitive. And Klay Thompson, I don't want to say he ruined a good thing.
I hope this isn't the end of the career. Ugly look, we've seen a lot of players get to the end of their deals. Legendary franchises only wearing one jersey.
And at the end. They stink. They look out of place.
It's going to take some real getting used to. Watching Klay Thompson run up and down the court. In blue for the Mavericks. Ray Allen was able to have success. But I got to tell you, Ray Allen, this man was a better player than Klay Thompson.
You think about other guys switching teams. Some of these guys are in their prime. What of Ray Allen's teammate? Kevin Garnett? This is somebody who was in his prime. Klay Thompson is past his prime. And I want to tell you that the move is exciting.
But quite frankly, it's it's not. I hope we don't see a shell of Klay Thompson, because if the Mavericks go on to have any success. Come on now. It's going to be because of Luka Doncic and Kyrie. Yeah, Klay Thompson can chip in every now and then.
The Dallas Mavericks. Good for you. Congratulations. And good for Klay Thompson getting his money.
But this isn't exactly even. Paul George was the same age at Klay Thompson as Klay Thompson. Thirty four years old, getting a four year deal.
Two hundred and twelve million dollars. Paul George goes to the Philadelphia 76ers. He joins Tyrese Maxey, who just got a new contract himself. Joel Embiid is there. And I'm supposed to feel good. They picked up Eric Gordon.
Kelly Oubre is returning. And they look good. They look like a solid squad. But how the hell am I going to trust anybody?
How am I going to trust any team? That has Joel Embiid. How the hell am I supposed to believe in any team that's going to roll out a center who is close to the emergency room when he rolls out of bed? Paul George is also supposed to get better as he ages.
Come on. Look, Tyrese Maxey is the best and most reliable player on the Sixers right now. But they don't stand a chance on even beating the Boston Celtics. If Joel Embiid gets to the end of the season, is running around on a bum knee or a bum ankle or with a bum hand or a bum back or busted broken face or broken face, you pick a Joel Embiid injury. The Sixers aren't doing anything. Once this guy gets hurt, congratulations. I mean, you can roll the dice and decide whether or not he's going to stay healthy. But that's that's a little too risky.
These are bigger. Our biggest free agent deal so far. Clay Thompson leaving Golden State for the Dallas Mavericks and Paul George saying goodbye to the Los Angeles Clippers and deciding that he wants to be a member of the Sixers. James Harden returns to the Clippers. He ain't going anywhere. We'll get into Chris Paul. A lot of moves.
Kentavious called. Well, Pope no longer on the Nuggets. This man decided to go to the Orlando Magic.
There are so many moves, so many things to discuss. And then, as I told you a few minutes ago, right before we got on air, one of the Boston Celtics, Jason Tatum, he just got one of the biggest deals, free agent deals. He got the biggest contract in NBA history.
He jumped in front of his own teammate. I'm going to tell you what took place. We're going to talk about all the deals and all the contracts and who went where and who's actually going to have an impact. How the Eastern Conference is going to change. The Pac-12 on the football side is done. Yes, there's some football news.
We got a lot to get into. If you want to talk to me, it's real simple. The phone number is 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. You are locked in to the J.R. Sportbrief show here on the Infinity Sports Network. You are listening to the J.R. Sportbrief. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature, whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it.
But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With AllTrails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently with offline maps and on-trail navigation. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with AllTrails. It's valid for a limited time. Minimum $10 per order. Excludes restaurants.
Additional terms and fees apply. We're here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. NBA free agency is upon us, keeping us busy. Klay Thompson has a new home with the Dallas Mavericks. You got Paul George, who's moving on from the Clippers. He's leaving home in California to go out east to the Philadelphia 76ers. We got Chris Paul throwing lobs to win Benyama. Lakers are still looking for somebody. Well, damn it, they're hoping for somebody.
There's a lot to get into. And by the way, I already told you, Jason Tatum just picked up one of the biggest contracts, the biggest contract in NBA history. Another Celtic got paid.
Somebody eventually is going to get paid because the Celtics, the team, the organization, it's actually for sale. We'll talk about that in a second. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. Tommy is calling up from Indiana. Tommy, you're on the JR Support Reshow here on the Infinity Sports Network. What's up? Hey, first off, that commercial guy just gets on my nerves telling you how much time's left and all this. Tommy, I got to tell you something. What? Every person listening to this show hears different commercials, and so you are yelling into a silo. What's on your mind about sports?
Well, I was going to talk about how Reggie Miller is my man and how Paul George is kind of annoying because he just moves there and there and there and there and there and everywhere. But he has no loyalty. None. None. Nobody these days has loyalty.
Hold on. Specifically, Tommy, when it comes down to Paul George, what makes him any different? You said Paul George has no loyalty, and then you went to other NBA players.
Well, this is Modern Free Agency, which has existed for the past almost 30, 35 years now. What makes Paul George stand out specifically? What's your question? Well, thank you, Tommy, for calling from Indiana. I don't know.
I don't know if Tommy fell off of a truck or if Tommy's education level stopped at two. To say that Paul George has no loyalty and then none of these guys have loyalty. Well, I mean, what the hell? This is this is the point of free agency. Like, where is their loyalty? This is this is professional sports. Like, what does Paul George owe?
I don't know. The Clippers for a guy who's been in the league now for the better part of almost, what, 15 seasons, it sounds crazy to say. What does Paul George owe anybody? He showed up. He went to work. He played in Indiana, played in OKC, wanted to go out to the Los Angeles Clippers and pair up with Kawhi Leonard.
That sure as hell didn't work. How was it going to work when Kawhi Leonard doesn't show up to work? And now he just signed a deal, which is well within his right, and he's 34 years old. Loyalty. I know this isn't the NFL, this is the NBA, but at any point in time, let's be real.
Let's be honest. You sign a contract when the contract is done. You can go wherever the hell that you want to go.
That's the nature of professional sports. This is not you know, we don't have indentured servants here. You don't get drafted and stay with the team forever. Them days are over.
They've been long gone. Hey, go ahead and ask someone who just signed a contract extension. That being Jason Tatum.
Minutes before I got on air, Jason Tatum and nothing or something that was not a shock to anybody. Jason Tatum agreed to a deal, a contract extension, the biggest one in NBA history, five years. Three hundred and fifteen million dollars. Let me say that again. A five year contract extension.
Three hundred and fifteen million dollars. Jason Tatum just came off of a championship. This man is turning 27 years old, just turned 27 years old, five time All-Star already in 2018.
This guy was a rookie going at LeBron James like it was just he's been in the league forever. And when you think about his accomplishments already in the league. This man has put up points at a ridiculous pace. He's been to the playoffs and has put up more points than anybody ever.
More points than anybody ever. By the time you reach age 27, more points than Kobe Bryant, more points than LeBron James. And I got a feeling that Jason Tatum, whatever that next contract looks like, is going to be even bigger because he will still be in his prime in his early 30s. And so to think about the the prior biggest deal in NBA history, Jason Tatum, he jumped right the hell in front of Jaylen Brown, who last year signed his extension, putting him in front.
Five years, three hundred and four million dollars. And so I get it. At this point in time, Tatum and Brown is everything is all buddy, buddy. Tatum wins. Or excuse me, Jaylen Brown wins MVP and and Jason Tatum is all, you know, rainbows and lollipops. And this is everybody's MVP. This is your MVP. We share MVP. We get that breakup.
Tatum and Brown. Oh, they won a championship. Oh, that's all good and fun. But we've reached a point now where, come on, now there's there's naturally. Competition like naturally, they try to outdo each other. I don't know anybody in a competitive space who's good at what they do, who just shows up and just concedes to the next guy. Yes, professional sports. And yes, it's teamwork. And yet these two guys have to get along or at least they're supposed to get along.
They did it enough to win a championship. But you don't want to tell me. That Brown and oh, yeah, I guess when you make three hundred and four million dollars, you're not necessarily worried about the guy making 10 million dollars more than you. But this is this has got to be a little dig and a little point to have to say. We know who's better. We know who's better. This is Jason Tatum.
Why does everybody have to beat around the bush? Jaylen Brown has gotten better. There's certain elements of his game that have gotten better.
You didn't have to listen to jokes about his dribbling this past season. But Tatum is the man. And now he will be paid accordingly. Three hundred and fifteen million dollars. This is the most money ever handed out to an NBA player. It belongs to Tatum.
That's the world that we live in right now. And so when you think about some of these big moves and contracts that have been given out, Tatum didn't have to go anywhere. Five year, three hundred fourteen million dollar extension told you about Paul George, four years, two hundred and twelve million dollars. Tyrese Maxey, five years, two hundred and four. James Harden going back for two years and 70 mil.
And then Chris Paul is like, hey, I'll take a one year deal to throw lobs to Wimby. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven is eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Dave is here from Tampa. Dave, you're on the J.R. sport ratio.
Go ahead. J.R., the great players in today's game. How Paul George. I just recently J.R. made Kawhi. I considered him one of the best players I've ever seen. And ever since I've done that, he does a play. But there's so many great players.
I've been you know, I'm 65 years old and I've watched the game since the early 70s. I think today's players are just as good. A little good. Kyrie, the joker and John Moran. I just looked at what John Moran stance stats are.
Twenty five points, six rebounds, eight assists. This kid is a new thing as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. Well, it'd be nice if John Moran could actually play and not not get into trouble.
I think that's something that we have to certainly keep in mind. He's good. But what's he been doing? The man, I feel what John Moran more recently is out here playing with guns. He comes back, he blows out his shoulder. And now we got to wait for him to return. Like, I think you very easily could say he's the future. Let's be real. I mean, you got another younger guy and Anthony Edwards, who's really burst onto the scene, especially this past season. And I would say that that Anthony Edwards is I think more people are enamored with him over John Moran. Now, if you want to take a look at the Memphis Grizzlies, they should be good.
Should be good. They've decided to bring in Zach Edie, drafting him out of Purdue. You think about still having Desmond Bang, who's a great shooter. I think he's an underrated player. You think about having Jaron Jackson Jr. still on the Memphis Grizzlies. Marcus Smart is still there as well. Yeah, there's there's no reason why John Moran shouldn't garner much more attention this upcoming season. And for good reasons. Not for nonsense off the court.
And not for injury. And so, yeah, the Memphis Grizzlies, if you want to take a look at next season. Yeah, there hasn't been this this big free agent addition to the Memphis Grizzlies, and nobody kicking and screaming about some moves that they've made because, quite frankly, it's been pretty quiet. But the Memphis Grizzlies should be back in contention next season for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. They haven't had to go out here and sign anybody. They just drafted a seven foot four dude.
The name is Zach Edie. Yeah, the NBA is full of young talent. The older guys are getting paid. It's just ridiculous money. Would I have given Paul George this money if I were the Sixers?
Answers? No, I wouldn't. But I understand their logic in saying we just need a guy to help push us over the edge. I mean, if I have to think about Tobias Harris, who's on his way to the Detroit Pistons or Paul George. I know there's a lot of jokes about Paul George and his performance in the playoffs and in Pandemic P. We've been through it. We've seen it.
We understand it. He's still better than Tobias Harris. I think a traffic cone at this point in time is better than Tobias Harris. And at least Tobias Harris goes up to Detroit. And, you know, I think he'll tell the young guys, you know, where to get good food. I mean, come on now.
This man stunk. Two year contract. Fifty million dollars for Tobias Harris to waltz up to Detroit.
And good luck to him. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven is eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven amongst the Celtics. I told you about Jason Tatum's contract. Five years, three hundred and fifteen million dollars. Derek White got paid as well. And he really deserves it after breaking his face in Game five of the NBA Finals.
Derek White, four years, one hundred and twenty five million dollars. He's not going anywhere. And then the Celtics. We learned today that the Boston Celtics are actually up for sale. Why the hell are the owners going to get rid of the team now?
Why are they deciding to exit? We'll talk about that on the other side. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Also, the New York Knicks are rival of the Boston Celtics.
The New York Knicks lose a big piece. We'll get into it on the other side of the break. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief.
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Auto Trader is eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. We get to the top of the hour. I want to talk about the Los Angeles Lakers. They are just. I don't want to say they're running in place. Where's the big move for the Lakers?
Where is it? LeBron James decides to get his son drafted. Good for him. He wants to bring in his own coach and J.J. Redick.
Good for him. But what about the players that are actually going to matter? On a basketball court. We'll get into that at the top of the hour because free agency is here. Lakers haven't signed anybody yet. I got one good idea as to who they should sign.
We'll get there at the top of the hour. Right before we went to break, outside of telling you about this gigantic deal bestowed upon Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics, five years, three hundred and fifteen million dollars as his contract extension. I also told you that the Boston Celtics are.
For sale. Yeah. The team that just won the NBA championship. The team that just.
Well, we'll be hoisting band number 18 with Grossback, who's basically on the team for for more than 20 years at this point in time. He's getting out the game. He's in the process of selling a majority stake. Of the Boston Celtics.
Now, why would you decide to do this when you're here at the top? Well, damn it. When you're handing out all these contracts, you're paying Tatum and Brown more than 600 million bucks. Just gave Derek White one hundred and twenty five million dollars. And you bought the team more than 20 years ago for only 360 mil.
Let's think about this for a second. We got franchises, sports franchises right now. Things are going for billions and multiples and not a couple, not one or two on the Phoenix Suns.
Matt Ishbia went and snatched his team up for about four billion dollars. And so if I am with Grossback and I bought the Celtics in 2002 for 360. And you mean to tell me 20 years later, I can flip the Celtics?
Come on. Now, the Celtics are one of the most storied franchises, not just in the NBA, but sports. They're a legacy franchise here in the United States and in North America. We're talking about the Lakers and Celtics and Bulls and Knicks and Yankees and and Cowboys like these are the big dogs. You want to tell me that the Boston Celtics are not going to sell for, I don't know, five billion dollars.
That's a hell of a flip. Three hundred and sixty, twenty years later, boom, five bill. That's my prediction. The Phoenix Suns are going to sell for four. I mean, there might be a a big old bid, but so many billionaires on Earth. But there's enough.
Wouldn't shock me at all to see maybe they maybe they go for six. And if you have the Celtics or Celtics fan, there'd be one thing I'd be concerned about. As continuity. Like, I get it. Yeah, fine.
Great. You got Tatum and Brown locked up. But who's to say that the next owner who comes in is not just a. A jackass.
Or cheapskate. Look, as long as Brad Stevens is running the organization. I think they're fine. But there's no guarantee that Brad Stevens is going to be running the organization. One of the whenever the new owner comes in, these things aren't guaranteed.
And a lot of cases, somebody buys something. And they want to bring in their own people. Their people.
Their person. May not be Brad Stevens. And so if I'm a Celtics fan, yeah, I'm thrilled. I'm happy. I'm loving the championship.
I'm loving championship number 18. But there's there's no guarantee that whoever the hell comes on afterwards is going to have the same enthusiasm or be willing to spend the same amount of money. In due time, you can't stress things that you can't necessarily do anything about. But that would be a concern, because I think if you look across the world, the professional sports. All owners aren't aren't built the same. Some are spending some cheap skates and some are just jackasses. Let's be real.
You don't have to look any further than I don't know. The athletics soon to formally be of Oakland. Jeff Fisher, their owner, he's just a.
Lack of a better term, he's a numbskull. Like he ripped the team out of Oakland. Now he's he's moving them out to Vegas and he got a stop in Sacramento.
And it's just a mess. Good luck to the Boston Celtics. At least you got one more championship. Then the Los Angeles Lakers, that's something that Magic Johnson has not forgotten. The Celtics are going to keep on rolling, especially returning pretty much the same exact roster from last season. And, you know, nothing new there for somebody like Chris Staps Porzingis as well. He's going to miss the start of the season with that surgery to the lower part of his leg. And he'll come back, block a couple of shots, get hurt again and hope he's there for the postseason. So they don't don't cry for the Boston Celtics.
But if you do want to cry. Cry for the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks.
For as great as they've done over the past week, as great as they've done over the past several years, when it comes to the books and bringing in talent. You got a guy like Jalen Brunson only making twenty five million dollars a year, a four year contract. How about his his sensor that was holding it down for him in the playoffs? Is now making more money annually than he is. Isaiah Hartenstein was a double.
I want to call him a double double machine. He might be that out of OKC is eight points. In eight rebounds a game, killing it on the offensive glass for the New York Knicks, Isaiah Hartenstein is now going to do this for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a three year contract.
Eighty seven million dollars. And this is a big loss for the New York Knicks. They got to go out and they have to find a center who's just going crash the boards and be long and seven feet tall and not be a scrub or stiff. Isaiah Hartenstein can play. And so now he plays for a Thunder team that was really lacking size last year.
And yeah, we can start thinking about. Well, if I want to start thinking about Chet Holmgren, he might be tall. He also doesn't weigh. I don't even know how much the guy weighs. Hey, Nick, how heavy you think that guy is?
He's about 72. He looks like he weighs 100 pounds around there. Chet Holmgren is there's a pushover. He belongs on the wing. And so now having somebody like Hartenstein on the team, along with Dord and Che Gilgus Alexander, they've already gotten Giddy the hell up on out of there. They sent Giddy up to the Chicago Bulls. If there's one thing the Thunder needed, they needed they needed the size. And they got that now in Isaiah Hartenstein. I mean, even somebody like Jalen Williams, as big as he plays in a big guy at all, man, is as big as a guard.
Six, four, six, five, you know, playing the forward position. So Isaiah Hartenstein moves on and the New York Knicks have to figure out who is going to fill that hole at the center position. You think about the Knicks and what they've been able to do.
Yeah. You add in someone like Mikel Bridges. You also have OG and an OB signed to his own contract in excess of 200 million dollars. Jalen Brunson is still there. Julius Randall is still there.
But when you think about the center position, who the hell is trusting Mitchell Robinson to do anything? There are some players in the world of sports. They got big deals. They got big contracts.
But they can never show up to work. Mitchell Robinson falls into that category. This man is seven feet tall, 26 years old, came to the New York Knicks big as a string bean. And now he looks like he's he's eaten a lot and not just, I don't know, rice and broccoli and chicken.
This man is from New Orleans. It looks like he's eating like Zion. And he's always hurt. Mitchell Robinson, over the past several seasons, this past year, he played 31 games. The year before that, he played 59.
He played 72 the year before that, which is just a mighty aberration. And Mitchell Robinson, when he plays, is actually very good. Blocking a shot again.
Doesn't need the score, can't score the ball. But he's always out. And so the New York Knicks, as great as they've gotten on the wing, they got to find some help because it's not a matter of of if, but when Mitchell Robinson goes down. And when you take a look at the Eastern Conference right now, the Boston Celtics are at the top of the heap. The Philadelphia 76ers have now added Paul George. The New York Knicks bring in Mikel Bridges. You think about some of these other teams going absolutely nowhere, like the Bulls, you can throw them out. We talked about the Orlando Magic.
They were able to add Kentavious Caldwell Pope. And so the Eastern Conference is good. Now, do the New York Knicks still kind of fall into that that second place in the East?
Do they still fall into that second phase? I would say yes, because I'm not going to trust another injured fellow. And Joel Embiid, if you think about the Eastern Conference, how much you really expecting for the Milwaukee Bucks to bounce back? They're getting older. You know, Damian Lillard, I guess he's actually going to be in shape. Giannis will be good to go and healthy. I'd be interested to see what moves can be made or not made around some of the other aging stars.
You think about a Brook Lopez been around forever. The Cleveland Cavaliers expected to finally do something different. They've added in Kenny Atkinson, but they still have the same roster and a Donovan Mitchell. You think about what's going to happen with the Mobley on Allen.
We still have so much to really get into as we continue to build out some of these rosters. A matter of fact, earlier today, Kenny Atkinson was introduced as the new head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. And I want you to hear from Kenny Atkinson because he, well, pretty much he's like, hey, here I am.
And then he had to answer some questions. I want you to listen to Kenny Atkinson talk about what have the Cavs done and what he has to work with. This is what Kenny Atkinson said. There's a lot of good things in place. There's a you know, some some really great, great basketball is a great basketball identity in place, a great defensive identity. So we're going to have to figure out where we went in on the margins.
You know, what are the margins? Where can we get better? Where can they get better with some of the talent that they have out there playing? Come on. Now, this is not this team is pretty redundant.
Kenny Atkinson continued on. He talked about how great it feels to get this next opportunity to coach. Listen to this.
I just pinch how lucky I am. Right. Not to disparage any other program or any other experience I was involved in. But I kind of knew visualize like like watching what with Kobe and his group has done and how they've taken off here.
And again, knowing knowing a lot of the players that are here. I I'm just extremely lucky that, you know, kind of the time and place of all this is happening. I know I know what a great opportunity is. So very lucky.
It was lucky. And he's referring to Kobe Altman, who happens to be the GM. He's running the show out in Cleveland for the Cavaliers. And Kenny Atkinson is a good coach. And I like how he references Tom in Brooklyn because he had to deal with Kevin Durant, basically giving him the boot before Kevin Durant was even eligible to play for the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell.
OK, we're going to watch these two short guys go at it again. And then you got Evan Mobley and Jared Allen and Jared Allen is somebody else every now and then he's hurt. And Evan Mobley, when is he going to get a chance and an opportunity to actually go out there and develop the East is interesting. The Boston Celtics are the top of the heap. The New York Knicks are probably right behind them, followed by Philadelphia. I haven't even got started on the young Indiana Pacers who are still trying to grow the young Orlando Magic, who've added a contagious Caldwell Pope, the Miami Heat.
I guess they're still going to be good. And that's pretty much the best of it is sort of best that there is in the East. New York Knicks still got a shot. Now the Knicks just have to go out there and find the center.
Isaiah Hartenstein, now a member of the Thunder, the J.R. sport. We show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. We come back on the other side. What the hell of the lake has done in free agency? The answer so far? Nothing. We'll talk about it on the other side. The J.R. sport.
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