Is Tom Thibodeau Running The Knicks Into The Ground? (Hour 3)

It is the JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you are amazing. I'll be with you for the next two hours. This is a four-hour show.

It gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. I'm an Atlanta super producer and host Ryan Hickey is holding it down in New York City. And we've had a busy show. I mean, and we talked about a lot.

I don't know how the hell we got here, but we did. Cooper Flag went down. That's the biggest star in men's college basketball. He sprained his ankle today. Don't expect to see him in any more of the ACC tournament. We don't know if we will see him next week at the start of the big tournament, the big dance, March Madness. We don't know if we'll see him.

Good luck to Cooper Flag and good luck to Duke. That man is going to get drafted number one overall. Kenny Pickett thinks he's the number one quarterback in Cleveland. What is his problem?

You got to admire the confidence though. Speaking of Cleveland, Russell Wilson was in Cleveland. Russell Wilson would be with the New York Giants tomorrow. We just talked about Aaron Rogers. People are saying that he might retire. He might quit.

We don't know. He loves the attention. Josh Allen explained why he left money on the table with the Buffalo Bills. He's like, what's five more million dollars for me?

I'm good. Give that money to somebody who can help us win. Like Joey Bosa. Joey Bosa spoke today. Said he was excited to be a member of the Buffalo Bills and didn't sound excited at all. Sounded miserable.

What a world. And then, oh yeah, we talked about the Oklahoma City Thunder. How serious is anybody going to take them in the NBA? Go to the conference finals first.

Do that. Last year they got beat by Luka Doncic and Kyrie. Now they got to worry about Luka Doncic on the Los Angeles Lakers. If LeBron James is ever healthy, that's to be determined. That's to be seen. And we have more to get into, more to discuss, more to talk about. Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals are trying to squeeze everything they can out of the guy or in exchange for the guy.

Bill Belichick is mastering the art of email. Tampa Bay Rays, can we just move them to Nashville? Sorry to people in Tampa, all 5,000 people who show up to every game, but just move them to Nashville. Nobody be the difference. Nobody would know the difference.

Nobody would know the difference. Hickey, if they put a team in Nashville, I'd be a fan of them. I would. That would be, you're talking about a road trip destination? Nashville? Well, for people to, well, we don't have a big, well, we are going to have a baseball team in Vegas. Hickey, could you imagine if New Orleans had a major league team? That'd be another one where, look, Mets are playing down there.

I'd love to make the trip. Oh my God. That'd be very fun. Fans would walk in drunk, hung over. That'd be a bad idea. I'm trying to think, what would you call it?

I don't know. What, a baseball in New Orleans? Yeah, that'd be a good idea. Well, they would have to play inside. Like they'd have to play inside. Imagine one of those getaway days at like 12 o'clock, noon on a Thursday, if you've been there for like two days already, what that crowd would be like. In Louis, what, dead? Passed out?

These are the most miserable fans. In Louisiana? Nah, they got to play inside with the air condition.

Okay. Yeah, let's play baseball at, you know, seven o'clock at night, 90 degrees outside, 95% humidity. What could go wrong? Baseball players would be outside passing out, man. Fans would be dehydrated. Man, if they had a baseball team in New Orleans, I'd be rooting for them.

Hey, good luck. I hope they get a team in Nashville. Tampa, you know, I talk some big stuff about the team no longer being in Oakland and talking about the A's. Like they did them wrong. The fans in Tampa, like they don't, nobody cares. They're all Yankee fans down there anyway.

Come on. It's still a young organization. They've only been there for 30 years, you know, young. They've been bad the majority of those years. Now the poor hurricane ripped through the city and tore the baseball stadium down. Now they got to play at the Yankees minor league facility, which is probably better than that crap hole they play in in Tropicana Field.

But, oh, anyway, we'll get into them next hour. I don't want to talk about Tampa. I like Tampa. I like Orlando.

Not really. Hate Orlando. Bunch of kids running around going to Disney. Got them alligators and stuff out there. No, thank you. I love my family in Orlando, though. Good for them. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. Hickey, you like Disney? I haven't been since high school. Good. But in the two or three times I've gone, you know, basically then and before, I liked it.

Yeah, it was fun. Too many kids. Even at the airport is a dump.

A bunch of kids. Man, I get off the plane, there's like five ladies changing a kid's diaper on the floor. I'm like, what are we doing here? Like, I just got off the plane. I just got off the plane.

I don't want to be here. And then Mickey Mouse creeped me out with his stupid blinking eyes. That's right.

That is weird. Yeah, he blinks. Hickey, he came up to me and shook my hand and then he blinked.

I was like, whoa, this is too much. Mickey Mouse is real after all. He's blinking. Did you see Mickey Mouse? He stepped onto the Orlando Magic Court the other day. Did you see that?

No. They were, for whatever reason, the lights temporarily went out at a Magic game. And so Mickey thought that this was his time to put on a show. Mickey stepped out onto the court and he had like two or three kids behind him. And then they turned the lights back on and the referee was just like, nah, man, get off the court. He's just like, nah, this ain't half time, man, get out of here. It's not Magic Kingdom, get the hell off our court.

Yeah, the basketball players were standing around like, what are you doing? And Mickey just turned right around because, you know, he can't turn his neck either. Mickey Mouse got to turn his whole body. Quickest U-turn he's ever made.

And he's like eight feet, he's like eight feet tall. I don't know. It's scary as Mickey Mouse. I hate that place. Anyway, what a what a hickey.

What am I getting into? Speaking of hate, why do people hate Tom Thibodeau of the New York Knicks so much? They hate, they drag this guy through the mud. Like he ended Derrick Rose's career. Like he made Jimmy Butler turn evil. Like Luau Deng's career ended because of Tom Thibodeau.

And it still exists today. Like Tom Thibodeau can't catch a break. The New York Knicks are once again on their way to a 50 plus win season. They just brought in Karl Anthony Towns. New York Knicks have no bench. It's not Tom Thibodeau's fault.

Everybody is hurt. Like the center that they would rely on is, I'm glad he lost some some weight. And by the way, you know, he's from Louisiana.

Maybe that's why he got so fat. Mitchell Robinson? Yeah, he's from Louisiana. Yeah. Huh? He's on that Zion diet.

But he's from there. So I mean, what can you say? Gumbo, jambalaya, whatever. Maybe crawfish. All of it.

Everything. New York Knicks are good. They're not, they're not Boston Celtics good. And I know the New York Knicks haven't beaten a team mirthadam in the NBA. Well, specifically the Celtics or the Thunder. But these are the champions. These are championship contenders. But still, Tom Thibodeau is reminded about playing OGN and OBIA million minutes and Josh Hart a million minutes and Mikel Bridges a million minutes.

And who I must remind you, the New York Knicks traded, I don't even know, four first round picks, five first round picks. Hickey, is that what they did for Bridges? Am I, am I smoking something?

Am I on an ayahuasca too? No, sirree. You are dead sober, clear minded, five first round picks. For Mikel Bridges?

For Mikel Bridges. Yes, sir. That's right. He's like the fourth best guy on the team. Yes. And maybe could be off the team as soon as the summer, possibly.

Oh my God. Anyway, the New York Knicks are rolling. We talked about Cooper Flagg and his ankle issue, ankle roll, ankle sprain early this, this show. New York Knicks point guard, all star point guard Jalen Brunson, he sprained his ankle. And so everybody else on the Knicks got to step up. Karl Anthony Towns is option one and Mikel Bridges should be two and an OGN and OB and Josh Hart and everybody else figure it out from there. But Mikel Bridges specifically, who the New York Knicks got from the Brooklyn Nets for five first round picks like he's an all star. He's not an all star. He's a two time champion at Villanova Wildcats. Mikel Bridges is a good dude, knock down some threes, play some defense. He's like the third fourth option on a championship team. He's an Ironman. This guy plays every game.

It's never hurt. And it's admirable, especially in a league where, well, we know guys like to sit out or don't play at all. Hi, Joel Embiid. Hi, Ben Simmons. And so Tom Thibodeau, the head coach of the Knicks, has forever been blasted about driving his players into the ground, not playing a bench.

And someone who used to play for the New York Knicks and actually works right down the road for me. Well, that happens to be Channing Fry at NBA TV. Channing has not been shy in criticizing Tom Thibodeau for playing his starters, you know, 35 and 36 and 37, 38, 39 and 40 minutes.

Channing Fry says he needs to give him a break. This is what he said on NBA TV. There's no way you can go dumb hard for 40 minutes every single night in a game. And that's why it's frustrating because the Knicks have all the talent in the world. And that's why every year it's a repeat thing of, oh, man, the Knicks are really good. Oh, hamstring knee, hamstring foot, hamstring, hamstring, knees, knees. Man, they must have a deal with a doctor. Every team has a doctor, right? But have the Knicks really suffered all that many injuries like, like under Tom Thibodeau?

I don't think they've, they've really been hurt. I mean, Jalen Brunson just sprained his ankle. Like last year, Julius Randle, yeah, he plays a lot. He, he busted out his shoulder.

He fell out the air. Mitchell Robinson is, he'd be perennially hurt wherever he is. I know Josh Hart talks about having a bad knee, but yeah, he plays him a lot. What, what are the other options for the Knicks to lose? And specifically when it comes to McHale Bridges, last night, he had a big game. 33 points ended up hitting the game winning three as the New York Knicks were taken on the Portland Trailblazers. In overtime, he played 41 minutes. The game before that, 34. Losing to the Clippers, 43. Losing to the Lakers, 43 in overtime. Losing to Golden State, 36. Beating Miami, 28.

33, 41, 28, 29, 44, 43, 29, 34. That's not, I don't like crazy. He's averaging 36 minutes a game.

Not all that nuts just over the past month. And so for whatever reason, McHale Bridges decided to share with the media yesterday before the game that he asked Tom Thibodeau to give us a break on the minutes like the New York Knicks traded this guy and gave up traded for this guy. They gave up five first round picks and he's asking to play less basketball. I thought his claim to fame was that he plays every single game.

He must have had a chat with Anthony Richardson from the Colts. He wants to play less. Who do the Knicks have on the bench besides Deuce McBride that makes a difference?

I think the answer is nobody. Landry Shamet, is he still even relevant? It's kind of crazy because Tom Thibodeau, he was asked about this yesterday. He was asked about playing his players a lot of minutes and he basically said, well, damn it, if the best guy on the other team is on the court, what am I supposed to do?

Put out a bum? Jalen plays 35 minutes. That's he's in the top 20. I think he's 20th or 21st in minutes played. Kat is a primary scorer. He plays less than Jalen.

So he's like 25th in the league in average minutes. Your wings play more, right? So they're matched up with primary scorers. So the way it works is if Jason Tatum is in the game, he's going to be the way it works is if Jason Tatum is in the game and Jalen Brown is in the game, OG will be in the game and McHale will be in the game. When those guys go out, they go out.

When they come back, they come back. You try to keep the matchups. When you look at the league, all those guys are playing 36, 37 minutes, whether it's Durant, Tatum, Brown, the wings are going to play more. So they're primary wing defenders.

So that's the way it works. I think I agree with Tom Thibodeau and I don't agree with everything that he does, but I think he gets a bad rap dating back to Derrick Rose. And I think Derrick Rose, the way he played basketball. And then also we learned the way that he took care of his body early on, like he was a ticking time bomb. Like I, I do not remember ever seeing a basketball player as herky jerky and explosive and powerfully explosive like Derrick Rose. Allen Arvison was explosive. Allen Arvison was quick. He was here. He was there. He was, he didn't have the power that Derrick Rose had.

He didn't have the lift. He didn't have the explosion young Allen Arvison yet. Allen Arvison took a beating throughout the course of his career. But I feel like a lot of this started when Derrick Rose blew out his knee and then he deteriorated and he blew out his knee again.

And he had to deal with the foot. I feel like Tom Thibodeau caught a bad rap from there. And that at this point, it sounds crazy.

I think he just really sounds crazy. That was more than a decade ago. That was almost, almost 15 years ago.

That's crazy. 2011, right? Yeah.

How do we get here? 2025, damn. Derrick Rose just retired.

What, last year he retired? Yes. Yeah.

Last year was it. Wow. What do you think? Does Tom Thibodeau get a bad rap or is he killing his guys?

Is it fair to say both can be true? I think so. He don't got nobody to play and he could lay off a little bit, give somebody else a chance, but then he'd lose. Right. Like how he explained it.

I think that philosophy, I have no problem with it. Look, the best guys are on the court. I'm putting my best guys in the court, essentially. And to your point, yeah, the Knicks bench is not exactly deep and loaded. Like you said, if we're looking at Landry Shemit playing 25 minutes a night, that's not exactly a winning proposition for the, for the Knicks. The thing I guess I will say though, if your players are saying, look, could you play us? We're tired. Play us a little bit less.

Like I do, like you have to listen to them. Whether you agree with it or not, don't you have to cater your style to what works best for your players. And if your players in 2025, like I'll show you, operate it at their best in the regular season, 35 minutes per game, I think you have to switch it up a little bit. And lose, right? Just lose.

I mean, not lose, like maybe chance the loss a little bit more than you normally would by playing your stars, let's say 40 minutes. Well, we, we've all seen the games and they're pitiful looking games where you got a decent lead or you feel good and you want to tell your stars to go down, Hey man, sit down and have a blow. And then the next thing, you know, these scrubs are getting ran off of the court. And then the next thing, you know, the coach walks over and he's calling like, it's an exaggeration.

He can't physically do this. He's like calling eight guys off of the bench to sub into the game because the scrubs can't do the job. I get that.

Like I said, we've seen it a lot. I do think he has a propensity to leave his starters in too long for bloods when they're up by 25 with like 30 seconds left. Okay, maybe we can pull the plug.

I don't think he does that quick enough. Reasonable. I agree with that. Yes. He played play, play the game a chance, right? Right. But for a guy that like, you know, he's been doing it a while. He obviously has a certain style. Like, don't you have to, don't you owe it to your players to be the best coach you can by still kind of tweaking your style to what works for them.

Yeah. But why, why does Mikel bridges got to say this publicly? Why does he got to tell the coach, Hey man, I asked to play less. Like why, who does that?

I hate to kind of phrase it this way, but like, maybe he was the one that was dumb enough to say the quiet part out loud. Oh boy. I'm sure they're all thinking it. Why are we playing so much? Why are we playing so much?

You're looking around the league. I mean, Tibbs was ready with the numbers. I'm sure they had their numbers ready as well.

Just like, Hey, look, these are what these like, these guys aren't dumb. Like who comes off that bench? Miles McBride and campaign and sham it. Yep. These guys are barely in the NBA, like campaign.

LeBron James. Do you remember when LeBron yelled that campaign was like, yo, you wasn't even in the NBA last year. Do you remember that? No. When was this? A couple of years ago.

Damn. LeBron yelled at him. It was just like, yo, bro, you wasn't even in the league last year. Chill out. You're barely in the league.

Landry. Sham it is barely on the next wasn't didn't he get sent to the G league for being hurt? He did. Although he's back now and today's his birthday.

So happy birthday. Good for him. How do you notice the Knicks are playing or something right now? No, I saw it on Twitter.

I think today. Oh good. The Knicks will probably cut him in like three more weeks.

They got PJ Tucker on a 10 day. There is some depth for you. Another 40 year old. He didn't even play in the NBA last year.

They are precious to Chua. He's he's on a team. Why? Because he's big and he's from New York. He's from Harlem or something. That's it. And they are thin at at at the bigs. Yeah. So if you had Tom Thibodeau, like who wants to play these bums? Like they they should go play at the Rucker, not at Madison Square Garden. Come on now.

Have you ever heard of Arielle Huck Portey? Yeah, he got hurt, right? It's backup center. He blew out his knee.

I think you're right. But he was playing a good amount of minutes. Tom Thibodeau is going to have to start pulling dudes out of the crowd. Hey, Fat Joe, how many minutes you got it? I need you at power forward. How many minutes can you get? I mean, Fat Joe is giving you what? One seconds. One run up the court.

One offensive set. Can Fat Joe run up the court? I know he's not as fat as he used to be, but. Let me tell you, if he's down in the paint on offense and the defense gets a rebound, I ain't trusting him to get back. He's not getting back. He's putting his hand up and getting a subbed out.

I love Fat Joe. I don't think he can jump, run or move. OK, trying to have like a hockey line change where he just runs off the court. Someone else comes on for him. Fat Joe may. He can't run anywhere.

Let's just put it that way. OK, Tracy Morgan, can he get some burn here? I know he was in that car accident. Remember with Walmart? That was a huge accident.

Yeah, I mean, I almost died. What do you make himself? Another 50 mil? Now he's back courtside doing well.

We're in a giant chain. Was the car accident that bad or did he just want the 50 mil? I mean, he's an actor, so I guess he could sell it. Bruh, I'm not I'm not asking for no car accident with a Walmart truck, but if something had to hit me.

Damn. He was hit by a smart car, though, at that point. Walmart with Tracy Morgan. Let's see how much he got.

And shout out to everybody in the room. We got people driving Walmart cars right now safely. Oh, you got to be kidding me. No, the long winded case between Walmart and Tracy Morgan has finally settled with Walmart insurers paying him an estimated 90 million dollars. Wait a second. What kind of accident are you getting and where you are alive and getting 90 million dollars?

How is that possible? The ruling and I don't know if this has been appealed, I doubt it. The ruling stated that Walmart has an obligation to pay Tracy Morgan 90 million dollars. Are they arguing because he couldn't work, that he lost wages? I mean, is he making 90 million dollars in like two years? I don't know.

Is he even acting at that point? Walmart settles with Tracy Morgan for estimated 90 mil. That's OK. My God, that's a settlement. Imagine I went to court.

Hickey, I'm going to we're going to take a break. OK, what do you do on the street? Walmart delivery just happened to be right in the drive by the order. I'm going downstairs. I'm looking for the Amazon truck, OK? Oh, good. If you if you are in Atlanta and you drive an Amazon truck, meet me on a corner of 14th and Peachtree.

I'll be downstairs in five minutes. Damn. Tracy Morgan, he got 90 mil. Hickey, he looks fine, bro. He is fine. They show him the big screen. He's more than OK. He can see he can speak.

He can walk 90 mil. That is it. I mean, it was what like it was touchy, right? Touch and go for a little bit. I don't know. Hickey, I don't.

But to have that near death experience, then come out on the other side, 90 million dollars richer. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze show on the Infinity Sports Network. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. If you call, Hickey might be here. I might be downstairs playing in traffic. We'll take a break.

When we come back, either Hickey or I will talk about another coach who gets on everybody's nerves and it appears that he has an assistant. You're locked into the J.R. Sportbreeze show. Please drive safe listening to the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbreeze. It is the J.R. Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. What a day. Every day is a day. What a show.

Hickey, we've talked about a lot of stuff today. I can't believe it. Tracy Morgan, Batman, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Kenny Pickett even got time. Today will probably be the last day we talk about Kenny Pickett for, I don't know, until next year? Until he doesn't play?

I don't know. Until he wins the job in mid-August when they say, Kenny Pickett, week one starter in Cleveland. We know that ain't never going to happen, right?

That will never happen. Yeah, Kenny Pickett will get a mention when somebody else takes that job that he thinks is his. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. Speaking of jobs, Bill Belichick has a new job. We know he's the head coach of North Carolina football. I know it sounds weird to say, but Bill Belichick is bringing a lot of attention back to North Carolina football. Historically, they're known for basketball. Basketball ain't doing all that good right now. They got to take on Duke tomorrow.

Let's see if they can actually beat Duke with no Cooper flag. But just like everybody else starting a new job, you got that introductory period. They sent an email, hey, so-and-so has joined the company. You got to sit in meetings. You got all these new people. It's like the first day of school.

You start a new job. Who the hell are these people? I don't like these people. They send emails, so many emails.

You learn who the jerks are at work, start to learn and understand why people at work don't smile, get to the new place. Why these people don't smile? Why are they so miserable? Bill Belichick is typically always miserable. And who knew that Bill Belichick, Hickey, are you surprised that Bill Belichick knows how to use email?

A little bit, yeah. Figured he didn't have the time for it. Bill Belichick uses email, he does. And we learn this today. When one of Bill Belichick's emails went viral and went public, because, of course, it's email. Anything can go public, even if it's meant to be private. Go ahead, Nazca Gruden. Anyway, Bill Belichick sent an email last December that is finally going viral.

It's about social media content. Someone in the organization at North Carolina named Robbie. And Bill Belichick sent this to Robbie. And the email reads as follows. Robbie, thank you for the email. I'm including Jordan on this email, so she can also keep up with our postings for social media. Can you include her on anything you send to me?

Thank you. BB stands for Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick asking North Carolina staff to copy his girlfriend on every email that they sent to him. Reasonable, right?

It makes all the sense in the world. Like, I don't, is she an assistant? I don't think so. But he's 72, right? 73.

She's 23-ish, four-ish, right? She knows how to work email. Bill Belichick is going to be coaching. If Bill Belichick misses an email, she can remind him about it at dinner at nighttime, right? And they sit down at the table and she can remind Bill Belichick, you know, do you want me to answer it, Bill?

Are you going to answer it? It's reasonable. I mean, Bill Belichick to me comes across as someone who's hated every element of technology, but now he has a young girlfriend. I'm starting to feel sad about this. Like, is she ever going to leave Bill Belichick? Is she going to break Bill Belichick's heart? What happens to his emails if she leaves him? I just, there's so many questions here. Bill Belichick is going to have her looking at all the emails because back in January, Bill Belichick said he was excited. Not about emails, but about recruiting. Yeah, he likes young people.

Listen to this. Yeah, it's been great. It's been great to get out on the road, see some of the great high school coaches and programs, players.

Still got a lot more to hit, but, you know, it's been fun connecting with, you know, so many people, some new, some old, but it's been a great process and there's a lot of really good kids out there. It's been fun to see him. Yeah, good for him. He sounded happier.

I guess as the months progress, Bill Belichick will sound more miserable as time goes on. Picky, I'm really starting to feel bad for him. For him? Why?

I feel like he's being taken for a ride. By who? By her. Why do you say that? I don't know. The possibility exists. I don't know. I have nothing to judge by.

Just history. The possibility exists that one day she just says, I'm done with this. And then Bill Belichick has a broken heart and she moves on. Absolutely. There's, there's, I mean, do you think that this is going to be Bill's final partner? It might be. Every day it might be. Well, fair.

Very, very fair. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if they break up eventually. What is he going to, who's going to answer his email? That's part of the problem.

You know, when you're relying on someone else. Who's he going to hang out on the beach with and play mermaid? Wanted.

Mermaid on the beach. Whoa. Yeah. We don't want to see those. Could you imagine Bill Belichick putting out, remember Craigslist is Craigslist still exists.

Oh, that's still around. I'm pretty sure you buy a couch from your neighbor. Craig's I'm a look up Craigslist in a break. Good luck. Let me know what you find on there.

I don't know if I should do it on the work computer. I don't know. I'll look up Craigslist. Find a lot of things on there. Oh, you can find a lot of things on Craigslist.

It gotta be like 20 years old at this point, maybe older. Better than Indeed when it comes to finding a job. Indeed or Craigslist? Yeah. Oh, that's right. They used to have job.

Hickey, you right. I used to try to find production assistance on Craigslist in 2008. Okay. Good times. It's 2025. That's the last time I was on Craigslist, 2008.

Trying to hire interns. Wow. Yeah, I know. I bet you Bill Belichick had a profile on Craigslist. I don't know. I don't think it's time for that. He's coaching Tom Brady, the Super Bowl's at that point. That's I think you just focus on that and nothing else.

Anything with technology. I feel like it's just out of his wheelhouse. You know, I hope I hope this doesn't go bad. You know, people were making fun of. Did you see people make unfun of how Belichick walked the other day to the basketball game when he was tuned up?

Excuse me. That's why he was walking. Yeah, he's I thought he was, you know, had a few hops before the game. He had the suit on. Right. And he was walking in the back with his girlfriend.

Yeah. And people were saying like, why is Bill Belichick walking like that? I assume the video I saw that he was like just half in the bag. No, people were saying that he's old. He needs people like he needs a hip replacement. Damn, people are saying that, you know, he's a he's an older man hanging out with that younger woman. So, you know, he's worn out a little. She's a little tired on Twitter. Just ruthless.

They are. There was everything from he got worn out. So he needs a hip replacement. Those Twitter doctors, don't you love them on the Twitter? Doctors are crazy. You saw them about Cooper Flagg today. Oh, my God. They're all out.

All of a sudden, everyone's a lot of time. These doctors say, oh, he has a high ankle sprain. Oh, he has a low ankle sprain. That's a mid ankle sprain. Here's some here's some other news.

I don't know if this is good for the students of North Carolina. Lawrence Taylor was with he was with Bill Belichick at that basketball game. Did you see that?

No, I missed it. He was a lot on campus. Lawrence Taylor was at the basketball game. He was.

Oh, boy. He was inside the arena watching the basketball game. He looked very nice. He was just very nice. I think he had the patented earring in. Had his shades on.

He was very well dressed. I guess he can't go to a college. I don't know.

I know he can't go to high school, but I guess he can go to a college. Oh, they introduced him to see him right here at center court. Yeah. Oh, you do. Nice. Yeah.

Like video now. Wow. Wait. They need to listen when they start football season. He did tell him, listen, bro, you do not need to be here. Just stay in Florida.

Don't go nowhere. We don't just come for this basketball game. And once a year is fine. But I just hope Lawrence Taylor stays out of trouble.

Maybe Bill Belichick will help keep him in check once a year is fine enough. It's the J.R. sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break.

We come back on the other side. I want to talk about another legend. His name is LeBron James. Why is LeBron in the news?

Because like Lawrence Taylor, LeBron James might be gone for a while. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief. It is the J.R. Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. Right before we went to break, we talked about Bill Belichick finding a new life in college. Yeah, he's at UNC. His girlfriend is helping him check his emails. And I hope she's around for a very long time. Let's put it that way.

855-212-4227. Speaking of another legend, the Los Angeles Lakers are currently in Milwaukee taking on the Bucks. There is no LeBron James. The Bucks currently lead at halftime 71 to 63. Luka Doncic is having to do all the work for the Lakers at halftime right now.

He has 29 points and seven rebounds. Yeah, there's no LeBron. LeBron is out with that groin strain and what they said would be a couple days, a week. LeBron said he wasn't worried about it. But now on Tuesday, Rich Paul, his coworker, his agent, partner, his friend, he was on the Pat McAfee show and he was just like, there's no timetable on LeBron James returning. Listen to this. I won't put a timetable on it. I'll let LeBron decide what's to be done there.

He has he has a great trainer and medical staff with the Lakers and Mike Mansees leads that for him. And so, you know, I'll I'll just be lockstep with those guys. Yeah. Hickey, I told you his vacation, man.

That's it. There's nothing wrong with his groin vacation. So you're not concerned about the news today?

No. Of him going back to L.A.? What was he going to do? Go to Milwaukee?

That was the plan. He's going to finish up the road trip. Bro, why would this man go back to Milwaukee to do what? Sit on the bench? Work out with the team? I mean, if he's working out or two away, I mean, you guys think that he's moving around? I like Wisconsin.

OK, I like beer and I like cheese. Who's going up there for vacation? He's on vacation. He left New York and he went back to L.A. Why make a stop in between? Yeah, and go to Miami.

Come on. He's part of the team. No, he's not going to go back to L.A. just because you don't want to.

He's LeBron. He's hurt on vacation. Do you think this time next week will he be back? If he wants to. Oh, so now it's up to him. It's it's always been up to him. Yeah.

You just heard Rich Boy, of course, is up there. Well, LeBron does what he wants. I'm just waiting on an episode of the barbershop. Does he still do that?

I don't know, actually. I mean, it's only an offseason venture. I'm waiting on a new episode so he could curse out Stephen A. Smith. OK, well, Stephen A. I mean, he's one of plenty of material or, you know, spinning the wheel there to piss him off.

This man went from Gilbert Arenas to Sean Hannity like he's really called rings right there. He's sitting there. That's what I said. He's going to Sesame Street next. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, good.

LeBron will be back when he feels like it. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Rob is calling from Connecticut. You're on the J.R. sport show. What's up, Rob?

Yeah, the smooth criminal. What's going on, buddy? How are you doing tonight?

I'm excellent. What's up? Did you take your walk today? Is it nice in Atlanta? Oh, it's beautiful.

It's like 75 degrees today. Yeah. Yeah. I want to make sure you got that walking, you know. Well, thank you. I did.

Thank you so much. I want to call up to say you guys are killing it tonight. You got me crying over here.

Stephen A. Smith on the Sesame Street show. I'm looking forward to that one. You guys were talking about selling air yesterday. I came up with a good idea.

I want to get in on this one. You know, that air from Magic City. Whoa. Hickey, hold on a sec.

Hickey, what? I like it. No, what? You don't like it.

Ass ass. Come on. I can't sell that.

Well, we can have like, you know, like adult adult the adult section. You can't you can't sell those smells. What?

Why not? Now, I will admit many, many, many years ago. Oh, boy. There's someone I knew who he was selling.

Rob, I get back to you in a second. I had to push you a time out. There's somebody I knew. He was from he's a guy from Europe. He was selling perfume that smelled like. Yeah, like what, J.R.? Well, what would you say it smelled like?

It was the sense. Did it did it sell? Not of a man. Let's put it that way.

Was it a big seller or no? I don't know. It's the opposite sex, the scent. And he sold it.

I'm like, bruh, this smells like what he's like his smell. Oh, whoa. OK. All right. OK. All right. Thank you, Rob, for calling from Connecticut. Here you go again.

Change the subject, Rob. Go ahead quickly. I'm back. All right. Cool. No, that's cool. And then you're talking about Robin Banks. I want to kind of get in on that one, you know, and you know, I'm glad you make it back up to the studio. I guess you didn't get hit by a car or anything.

So you have to make that money that way. I didn't see the Amazon. Seriously, I'm enjoying your show. You're always a great, great host.

And I actually my fiancee enjoyed you. She always look forward to the show. Does she have a sister?

No, she does not. OK. All right. Keep going. Aren't you married? Not today, but go ahead.

Not actually. You know, it's nice to see that Josh Allen got paid and what he's doing is a generous thing. Not taking that extra five million. And one of the things I wanted to say was that I I wouldn't mind taking Cooper Cup.

What do you think? Cooper Cup on the bills. We just got rid of Amari Cooper. He's going to Denver and we got rid of Matt Collins, too.

So Mac is going to be nice. Yeah, he would. But here's the difference. You think about Amari Cooper. He's a deep threat.

Cooper Cup is is not a deep threat. You know, he's barely gets down a field. And Amari Cooper, did he have I don't think he officially left. He's still a free agent, man. I don't think he went about Denver. I think he's going to Denver.

But this kid, Josh Palmer, supposedly is. Yeah, he's what I did. We'll see what happens. He looks like he already has to spread the ball around enough. Ain't nobody excite me up in Buffalo. Cooper Cup would be nice, but he ain't breaking up. You know, he ain't no downfield super threat. But right.

Then my other idea was and my my fiance didn't like it. We trade. We trade James Cook to Cincinnati. Nah, nah, nah, nah. Just no bro. No, don't don't do that.

But Henry Trey Hendrickson for one and two and and we get Hendrick. No, Rob. No, don't do that. I got to hit the brake. Rob, good talking to you, man. Hey, always a pleasure.

No doubt. It's the JR sport. We show the Infinity Sports Network. Get some more of your calls and we'll talk more football on the other side. Don't move.