Compare and contrast the QBs that are heading into Super Bowl LVII

J-Will from J-Will Keyshot and Max on ESPN radios.

You hear him? By the way, I said that to Max. Max didn't balk at it. I said that to Max last week.

He didn't balk at it. Oh, please, can you please get me that found so I can run it back on my show daily? Please.

You got it. We'll do that. All right, let's discuss a couple things. First, we'll leave your, the back and forth with Stephen A. maybe on the cutting room floor, but I've got some things I want to talk about LeBron for. We're going to get to Kyrie because he was just traded, and he may stay with Dallas for the next several years. He may become a free agent. Or maybe the next three months.

Or, yeah, I mean, who knows how long that's going to last. So, but I want to talk about that too, but we got to talk about LeBron because he might become the all-time leading scorer tonight, and I know that you and Keyshot and Max were talking about it today. And I think we get lost in the semantics over who the leading, who the best scorer is of all time. So I'll just open the floor, summarize LeBron as a scorer for us. So I went ahead and said this before, that I truly do believe that I think LeBron is the all-time greatest scorer the game of basketball has ever seen. Now, to me, I think semantics matter when you talk about these type of details. So let me break down for people what I actually mean. I'm not stating that LeBron's skill set is the same as Michael Jordan or Kevin Durant.

Like not granted the difference between those two physically sides and frame. Like I think those are two of the most skillful score is the game of basketball is ever seen. And obviously I get that Michael Jordan will be considered the greatest score of the game basketball has ever seen. But I think once again, the way you can describe it, I think for me watching LeBron James, which if you talk about, you know, his scoring average ranks, top three, all time for the length of time he's been in the league. And, you know, so, and when he has a higher two point conversion percentage, then look, then Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant, I think watching a guy that came into the league from his rookie year averaging 20 plus points per game and watching his skill set evolve combined with the physical attributes he brings to the game game of basketball has never seen a score like him.

Now I know you can make a case. Well, he deferred in the biggest moments and all these different things, but when it's all said and done, even if you want to counter the factoring to longevity, he's going to break the scoring record. And I don't think the game has seen a dominant player from the guard wing position like him in the history of time.

Well, I agree with a lot of that here to me, the, you know, maybe fuel for your argument. And we just saw it play out a, what, a week ago in Los Angeles against the Lakers. He didn't get to the free throw line that Jordan got to the free throw line. If you got anywhere close to Jordan and I know they, Jordan played in an era where the game was more physical, but LeBron doesn't get the benefit of the, of the doubt going to the free throw line, like some of the, the others.

And you say defer. I say he makes the right basketball play. And if he thinks somebody else has a better shot, then he's going to pass the ball. That was never a thought in Michael Jordan's mind.

And I'm not using that as a negative. Jordan always thought that he was the best option. He probably wasn't ever wrong, but LeBron has never thought that way.

I've always thought LeBron was more magic than Michael anyway, because he would rather make the pass for an easier bucket than take the shot himself, which is maybe what comes back to bite him in this. Do you think this matters to LeBron to become the all-time leading scorer in a league? Do I think it matters right now? I think he's trying to settle with the significance of it. I think that, you know, timing of when milestones occur are very meaningful for individuals. So it's, but also as a competitor in this game, it's like when somebody said, well, Jay, you know, uh, you just won, you know, you're, you, you were back to back national player of the year and you were a consensus national player of the year. I'm like, yeah, that's great. But we lost in the damn sweet 16.

Like that's bothering to me. Right. I rather win a championship and not be national player of the year. So I went back to back national championships. So I think right now for how you see LeBron, you know, being in the 11, 12 position in the Western conference, I'm not sure exactly which, which one it is specifically, but being at the bottom of the Western conference, I'm sure LeBron is, was more focused on how, how do we get Kyrie?

Okay. We can't get Kyrie here. How do we win some games? Which goes back to our conversation before AG about, you know, when he doesn't get a foul call against Boston, that's why LeBron acts that way because this dude is trying to win championships. He's trying to win games. That's all that matters to him.

He'll reflect on all this other stuff later. Yeah. The Lakers are in a tough spot. I know they wanted Kyrie badly. Uh, before we get to Kyrie, are the Lakers, this version of them, are they salvageable?

Here's the thing, Adam. I mean, what are they three and a half, four games between third place and like 11th place. So if, if you see that the margin for error is that slim between those positions, I just made mention every game matters. Now I'm not saying currently constructed that this team has the best odds to win a championship, but we've also seen teams get hot at the right time. Right.

Um, and, and that's all you need. So if you're LeBron, you're like, how do we stay in this race? How do I keep Anthony Davis healthy? Do we want to make a trade for Russell Westbrook by the trade deadline?

Do we want to go after a guy like a Fred Van Blee? If they're not asking for us for too much and absorb that contract, or do we want to stand pack and focus on getting Kyrie as a free agent when it comes to this off season, which you can probably make cat room to sign him as an unrestricted free agent. So I think LeBron and Rob Lincoln, Jenny bus have a lot of things that they need to focus on, um, about how they want to currently handle the construction of this team while planning for, for the future as well. Yeah. If, if they can sneak in, they're dangerous because of LeBron, but man, that roster was, I thought poorly constructed. Uh, and I don't think anybody would deny that.

All right. As for Kyrie Irving, let's deal with, I mean, my read on it all along when his, when he came out was that he doesn't really want to leave Brooklyn. He's just trying to get a contract in Brooklyn. Then, uh, Brooklyn didn't want to give him a contract. I mean, uh, that's a, that's a perfect read.

I mean, you just threaded the needle on what it was. Kyrie wanted an extension. Uh, he felt like the last attempt at an extension with a year stipulated upon the contingency of an NBA championship was erroneous, uh, decided not to counter. And that's when you saw him ask specifically for a trade.

I also put myself reasonably in a position of a guy like Joe side where I get that unprecedented things that occurred. Uh, but I think ultimately the lack of communication between Kyrie and management and ownership had left a sour taste in Joe's size mouth. And I'm actually surprised that they got the amount of assets they got in return for Kyrie, considering what the overall leaks perspective was from people I spoke to about whether they felt Kyrie could be trusted or not. I think Kyrie is a top 10 all-time NBA talent. Uh, and I want to leave that, uh, separate from player, uh, obviously teammate as well. But, um, in terms of just raw ability, I don't know that there are 10 players in the history of the game, more talented than Kyrie. I'm going to leave that segment there statement there.

We'll get to it, uh, in a second. Um, did Brooklyn somehow get better as a team without Kyrie in this trade and they're not done either. I don't think they got better. I think with Kyrie and KD, if you had happened Simmons, I think your chances of winning a championship are better. Um, I think that they were able to extract a little bit more depth and we'll see what other moves Sean Marks can bring as it relates to a value add to the table. I do think that right now, everything is centered around Kevin Durant as well as it should be. And what will Sean Marks do in order to bring into town to help Katie win a championship? Because we often talk about, Hey, well, Kyrie, this is, uh, February, March, uh, April, May, kind of like June four half month window where he has a chance to determine whether he wants to sign back with the Dallas Mavericks or whether he wants to be unrestricted free agent. That's the same with Kevin Durant. Now I know he has two more years left on his deal or three.

Um, but after this season is over, Katie is going to have to take a real look at the construction of this roster and say, do I believe in management surrounding me with the right pieces and have we made the moves that are trending in the right direction for me wanting to stay here? So even though he has years left on his deal, do not get it mistaken. Kevin Durant is all these guys, all these guys are year to year.

I think all these guys, I think all the, all these guys are year to year, right? I mean, Kevin Durant could tell, could go to Josiah and say, I want to trade tomorrow. Uh, and he could get the trade. They, I mean, I'm sure there will be teams that are willing to trade for Kevin Durant.

The Phoenix Suns were willing to trade for Kevin Durant, uh, until they couldn't trade Deandre Ayton in the off season because he had signed that offer sheet with Indiana first. Are the Mavericks, Jay Williams is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. Are the Mavericks a legit threat in the West with Luca and Kyrie or is their defense still not that great?

I mean, there are differences. Uh, we'll see what other moves Nico Harrison, uh, the GM of the Mavericks makes, uh, to kind of add, cause whenever you lose Dodo, uh, you know, Dorian Phinney-Smith, you lose Spencer Dinwiddie, you lose a lot of that, those wing defenders. But I will say this, the game of basketball has kind of moved into this realm for certain teams where yeah, you might be lacking on a defensive end, but you can counter that Adam with a high scoring punch. And you tell me a back court in the NBA that has a chance to be more lethal and a team that leads the league in isolations, other than Luca and Kyrie, they are going to be a problem when you get to the fourth quarter, because schematically you can't run doubles or you can't blitz Luca anymore.

And they still do have pieces. If they're all healthy of guys that can space the floor, knock down shots. So with Tim Hardaway Jr. with Maxie Cleaver, Cleaver, there are guys that can shoot.

So they might just try to outscore you. And you know, with Jason Kidd, the leader at the helm here, um, I played with Jason Kidd. I've seen Jason Kidd to buy some plays as a player on the floor with the personnel we had that I've never seen coaches drop in real time.

So I like their chances in the Western Conference that feels wide open, even though I would still say teams like Denver have a better shot, teams like, you know, I still would like Golden State when they get there, um, and other teams at the top of the Western Conference. Yeah, like, then Jokic is just ridiculous. So, um, It's stupid.

It is. And I like the Kings because I like Sabonis, who is, to me, baby Jokic. His numbers are just slightly below Jokic in all categories. But he is also a very sneaky stat sheet stuffer, as our old friend Hubie Brown likes to say.

Man, I grew up with Hubie Brown as the head coach of the Knicks, and I loved Hubie Brown. All right, I got two more things for J. Will, and we're running out of time. And frankly, we ran out of time about five minutes ago.

Real, real quick. I saw the exchange with you and Stephen A. I don't know if you want to address this. If you want to just move on, we'll move on. I kind of feel like Kyrie is the lightning rod for these types of conversations because he makes himself easily a target. But at the end of the day, he's an incredible player.

And if you have him, you have a chance to win. And maybe he just draws that out of people because he sort of makes you angry because he's not always available. And there's always something else going on with Kyrie. I'll say this as it relates to Stephen A.

You're the only show that I will address this on or at all, Adam. So it shows our trust level is that I'm fine with any criticism that Stephen has a Kyrie Irving, as long as it does not pass the boundary of where it feels personal. And for me, I think there are certain things as relates to being a former player, critiquing my performance on the court saying, but I also feel like sometimes what's occurred is where there's been this completion of who Kyrie is personally, as opposed to who Kyrie is as a basketball player, as much as we try to unpack that media doesn't pick up on that as it relates to headlines, just the attacks become the polarizing statements. And the attacks are what people get known for as it relates to Kyrie. And then Kyrie has to fend off those personal attacks. Now I'm not saying that they're absolving Kyrie of his accountability. I hold Kyrie's feet to the fire as well.

Now, those things don't go viral with me more of the defense, but I'm also allowed to defend Kyrie in certain ways and aspects of the human being. So I think we're both very passionate about it and conversations get heated, but I often try to tell people too, Adam, like this isn't scripted. Nobody's handing me a script and saying, okay, Jay, now you're going to first take it.

Here's your talking points. No, like this is, this is locker room barbershop, like talk. And sometimes in the barbershop, you may end up wanting to slap somebody or somebody may end up wanting to slap you. But when I come back to the barbershop, that's still my dude.

And that's who Stephen A, that's still my guy. We just argue and it's real and it's cool and it's fine. Everybody's good and we're still going to do our job. Yeah.

And look, if the, if the clips go viral, the clips go viral, everybody wins. Jay Williams from JWill, Keyshawn and Max, ESPN radio every morning here on this, on this radio station and others. I appreciate your time, my friend best of the fam. We'll talk to you next week.