Sixers To Trade James Harden (Hour 1)

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That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Stopping by an hour 20 from now from Sirius XM NBA Radio, Justin Termini, as we'll get into all the latest on the eve of NBA Free Agency. And then coming up at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, we will be joined for a little college football fix with the head coach of the Washington Huskies had a very successful year number one in Kalen DeBoer. But first up, producing this fine extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Hickey.

Here's the producer, Hot Take Hickey. So here's the big news right now. James Harden is going to be leaving the Philadelphia 76ers, but he has picked up his thirty five and six million dollar option. Thirty five point six million dollar option. So he has opted in.

They are not going to be able to get a long term deal done. And James Harden, the expectation is that he's played his last game for Philadelphia, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. When I hear that and when I first heard that, my reaction was, eh, I don't think it's a major win for James Harden.

And I also don't look at this and say, wow, the Sixers are definitely winners here. So let's start with the Sixers side of this, because what the Sixers do to me is more fascinating because let's just be real about James Harden. He's a Hall of Fame player. He has done great things in this league. But this idea that James Harden is still this ridiculous player that could go win a championship somewhere, if you still believe that, I have a bridge to sell you because James Harden, he is more focused on partying. James Harden is more focused on enjoying himself, which is fine if that's the way that you operate.

But he's one of those guys that says he wants to win a championship, but I don't actually think down deep, he puts in the work or he displays enough desire and the actions to go ahead and win a championship. And he's just not clutch. I know you could tell me, oh, but he was awesome in game one of the Easter Conference Finals and, or the second round. And he was awesome in game five as well.

Sure, you're not wrong. But what did he do in game six? What did he do in game seven?

He was horrible. So like, you look back at it, or actually correct that it was game four, which he was really good. And then the rest of the series, he was kind of a non-factor against the Boston Celtics. So you look at James Harden, he's just not that what everyone wants him to be. And wherever he goes, it's not like I'm going to look at that team drastically different.

If he goes to the Clippers, am I supposed to be doing cartwheels in the street? No, he could go join Kawhi Leonard. We'll see when Kawhi comes back, Paul George. And I don't look at that team now as this dangerous force to be reckoned with.

And we'll see if James Harden could actually stay healthy. If he goes to the Knicks, you guys know me. I like Leon Rose. I'm a fan of Leon Rose. I've known Leon Rose for a long time.

Leon Rose would have lost me on this move. I think Leon Rose has done a really good job with the Knicks. But if his move is to go trade for James Harden, I think Bobby Marks brings up a great point here where since he signed, since last year, the Bobby Marks point is that he's not extension eligible because he signed a two-year contract last offseason. So he's going to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024. So if you're trading for James Harden since he opted in and with what happened last year, you can't ink him to an extension this season. But if you're the Knicks, what is one year of James Harden going to do? You got Julius Randle, a lot of Knicks fans, probably one out. Jaylen Brunson is an absolute stud.

You got to go eventually get another star to compliment Jaylen Brunson. I don't think RJ Barrett is that. RJ Barrett is at best a number three on a championship team. But if you go bring in James Harden, I don't think that's a player that you want around this version of the New York Knicks. And if he goes back to Houston, be my guest, go enjoy the Houston strip club scene once again. I don't get why the Rockets would do that.

And that'd be a stupid move by Tillman Fertitta. And I also see some reports maybe of him going to the Suns. I know that James Harden handled himself better in Brooklyn than Kyrie Irving did. But Kevin Durant has to be the biggest moron on the planet if he's going to now double down or triple down on either Kyrie Irving or James Harden to have him be joined by one of them with the Phoenix Suns. So there's not a destination where James Harden's going to land where I'm going to say, oh, that's awesome.

Oh, that's just a wonderful move. And now expect James Harden to win his first NBA championship. But on the other side of it, you look at the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers in an Eastern Conference right now that after the Kristaps Porzingis trade, I would say Boston is the favorite. Milwaukee's in a bizarre spot, you would think, even though he just opted out, that Chris Middleton's going to be back.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has won a championship before, but last year was an ugly end in the fashion that it did go down for the Milwaukee Bucks losing the Miami Heat in the first round. So they'll be really good. They could be great. They could get back to the NBA finals. But I think this is a big year for the Milwaukee Bucks. The Miami Heat, I think they have shown their apex with this core of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo just getting to the NBA finals. They need to add Damian Lillard in order to go win a championship and go get those final four wins in the NBA finals. But you look around at the State of the Eastern Conference, it's open.

It's right there for the taking. And what the Sixers have failed to do, and I know Joel Embiid did not play great in the postseason, he was just terrible in the final, in the last quarter of game six in Philadelphia up against the Celtics. And then he was a complete no-show in that game seven in the second round. So there's criticism to go around for Joel Embiid.

And I've said this for years that Joel Embiid escaped a lot of that criticism, not only because he's their best player, but there was a lot of other valid excuses. But you look at the construction of the Sixers, what makes this one so difficult, even though I've been very critical of James Harden and don't believe he's a championship player, I don't know what the Sixers are going to get back for James Harden. And even without knowing what they're going to get back, I can almost guarantee you, it's not going to be a player where you go, okay, that's the finisher, that's the closer that the Sixers need.

And now the Sixers are not only going to get to the NBA finals, they're going to go out there and they're going to hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy. Because I saw this from Jake Fisher, that the Clippers and Sixers have been in contact this week, league sources told Yahoo Sports, where LA talk about the Clippers among wide-ranging talks on Marcus Morris and Norman Powell as the return in a potential James Harden or even a Tobias Harris trade. So if you're getting back Marcus Morris and Norman Powell, they're solid players. But what the Sixers are missing is a closer and a number two piece to compliment Joel Embiid in the postseason. And Embiid has to show up on his own, that goes without being said, but there was a lot of years where you were waiting for that second piece to kind of play that Jamal Murray role and take over in the fourth quarter of those big postseason games. And the Sixers have failed to surround Joel Embiid with that person. So even though James Harden isn't that person, I just don't have a lot of confidence that the Sixers are going to be able to find that right next guy. And you also look at the timeline, Joel Embiid is under contract, even though he loves Philadelphia for the next three seasons, then he has a player option in 2026, 2027. Does anyone think the Sixers are going to be able to find that guy? Unless Tyrese Maxey, who I like, starts balling out consistently and ends up growing up right in front of our eyes to be ready to be that number two piece.

And I don't know if his ceiling is that. So if you're a Sixers fan, I think you're happy because James Harden is gone and you didn't have Daryl Morey in just stupid fashion and a blind loyalty type of fashion, give James Harden a four-year extension. But I don't think it would have been the worst thing in the world to give Harden at the time if he opted out like a two or three-year extension on a short term and just maybe load up the money there. Because Embiid does like Harden and maybe Joel Embiid doesn't look at this and says, okay, now I'm really starting to doubt the organization because most likely they're going to head into this year without having a guy that Joel Embiid could at least look at and say, okay, that's the number two dominant piece. Because even though Hickey didn't view James Harden that way and I didn't view James Harden that way, Joel Embiid clearly did view James Harden that way. And that's the tricky part when you're trusting the evaluations in an era of player empowerment on the player. Because like we've talked about this all the time, like Aaron Rodgers, who wanted more power in Green Bay, the guys that he was upset that got showed the door in Green Bay didn't really do Jack once they left the Green Bay Packers. So sometimes players aren't the best evaluators of talent. If that was the case, like Michael Jordan would have been the greatest owner of all time, right?

And we know that's the farthest thing from the truth. So I look at this move today, long story short, it's not a bad day for Philadelphia. And I think this is ironic coming for me because of how much I slammed James Harden over the years and trashed him. But I don't think this is a great day either. The analogy that I'll use is it's almost as if James Harden drove the car into a dead end and there was nowhere to go forward.

So you should have just, instead of finding a way out of the dead end and let's just say you couldn't reverse, you should have just left the car and parked it and kept it there and maybe go like try to upgrade the tires or something and give them like a two year extension. That's really where I was at with James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers. Because I don't think this move, even though they won't win a championship with James Harden, him getting traded somewhere is going to put them anywhere closer. So it is confusing.

It is actually a weird topic because you go, okay, sure. It's good that the Sixers aren't giving James Harden a four year extension, but what's the other domino that's going to fall that elicits that response of, all right, here they come. Clap your hands, everybody. Philadelphia, the 76ers. One, two, three, four, five, sixers.

Ten, nine, eight, 76ers. And that move's just not coming. We've been talking about that move for five years, whether it was Markelle Foltz, whether it was Ben Simmons, James Harden.

And that domino just never falls. And we've talked about this before, Hickey, and feel free to chime in. It was one of those like damned if you do, damned if you don't type of moments where it's idiotic if you gave James Harden a four year extension. But if you just trade him now, what are you bringing in where it's not going to agitate Joel Embiid and maybe in show and be closer and closer to saying the words that would make every Sixer fan cringe and I want out and it's time for me to get traded? I think this is a good day for Sixer fans. Sixes organization, the front office, Nick Nurse. You're moving off of James Harden and you're getting something back in return.

Now what that is, we don't know, obviously. I'm assuming it's not going to be anywhere near the secondary piece you need to win a championship. So that's not what I'm saying. But I think at this point, anything that contributes to winning right now in return for James Harden is a win. But are they going to win anything right now that most likely the Sixers are going to get into the second round to the playoffs this year. And I have a tough time seeing them go into his seventh game. They're going to regress this year. The Philadelphia 76ers this year without James Harden, even though I don't love James Harden, they will regress this year. Now I'm not saying if they kept him there, he would take the big step forward and they would find a way to get to a conference final. But I don't see how the Sixers are going to get better with James Harden not there for the interim is the point that I'm making. Well, I think now you open up a spot where you give maybe Tyrese Maxey more responsibility to see if he can grow into that role.

And I know this is more of a long shot, so I'm not saying this is plan A or likely. Oh, wait, hold on. Are you about to go down a road that I think you would never travel down? Are you about to advocate for someone that is referred to as a star to maybe go join the Philadelphia 76ers? Are you?

I mean, if you hold on. OK, Dave Miller, I was about to have a heart attack on the air, folks. I thought you were going to say Kyrie Irving for. Oh, no, no, no, no. James Harden over Kyrie Irving. I don't have neither, but I would have said, Hickey, what are you smoking and what are you drinking?

No, no, that would be right. If I ever said that and I'm talking about Kyrie in a positive way, contributing to winning, fire me on the spot because I am definitely drinking or under the influence or just not right. Hey, at least Kyrie Irving has once had a pretty big damn shot in his career. We all know that in the NBA finals. That was an enormous shot, something James Harden could never do. I'll take James Harden over Kyrie right now.

That's that's for sure. But if you're Dame or if you're the Sixers, you don't have a lot. Yes, but in that, you know, depending on where he gets traded to, can you use a piece or two in that hard and trade to reroute to send to Portland and maybe make that trade happen? Or does Dame look at the Sixers, even though it's really mostly been Miami and the nets of the two teams talked about with that point guard opening? Does he feel more comfortable if Portland sitting back there this time tomorrow making no free agent moves? It's more likely.

I'm not saying it's more likely used to sound like a Norman Powell to kind of match it. Right. Then it was, let's say, 10 hours, two hours ago before we knew that hard and was basically going to be traded. You're not wrong. And I think the dream for a lot of Sixers fans is Damian Lillard.

And they kind of viewed it as unrealistic because here's where it always just comes to a to a halt. If you are Portland and Dame Lillard doesn't have a no trade clause, only one player in the NBA does. So take that for what it's worth. It was Bradley Beal. And look, he basically went to the Phoenix Suns for for absolutely nothing in terms of what the Wizards got back.

And I know Damian Lillard at a different level than Bradley Beal. But if I am running the Portland Trail Blazers, which they are not a good organization, so maybe logic doesn't apply to them. But if I a logical sane human being for the most part was running Portland, I'm not trading Dame to Philadelphia unless they are willing to give Tyrese Maxey up in that deal. And if you're the Sixers at this point, I think with Embiid aging and that window closing, I don't think that's a bad move whatsoever. And again, if you're Philly, you move off of Harden, I don't think all of a sudden, let's say moving Harden and Maxey, obviously different trades to get basically Dame at the end of the day back in your building. I think you are right now going and looking a lot better about your future and a lot better about getting to the Easter Conference Finals than you are, again, a few hours ago when you had Harden and Embiid on your team as the dynamic duo. And also, here's the other thing.

I'll just throw this out there. Did I put too much of an emphasis on the day where Joel Embiid finally says that he wants out of Philadelphia? Because the reason why I'll ask that question, Hickey, now thinking about it more, does anyone think he's signed another contract extension in Philadelphia?

I know he loves the Sixers. And if they offer him some crazy deal, there's a lot of incentives for you to stay with the team. But if you're Embiid, don't you got to kind of go through, you're there for three more years if you want to stay.

And then after that, you're opting out when that player option comes up in 2026, 2027. I really don't know if the Sixers are really able to do anything in these next three years that will actually put Joel Embiid in a position to win a championship, even with all the star movement and all the star players that get tossed around the league. And when it comes to him and the big fear of him demanding a trade, what legs does he have to actually stand on? I get he just won the MVP, but also in the two biggest games of his career up to this point, he no-showed and was actually a net negative.

He was terrible. But teams would want Joel Embiid. I'm not saying they wouldn't, but I'm saying- Like Jimmy Butler would much rather play with Joel Embiid than Bam Adebayo, even though Bam played well this postseason.

No, I'm not saying there's no suitors. I'm saying if Embiid goes to the Sixers and says, I want out of here, I think they could quickly turn around and say, well, you haven't done anything to help us. You want to get mad at us for not getting you that second piece that can truly come through in the playoffs. Ben Simmons, James Harden, the list goes on. We can also point the finger at you and say, well, we're at home, chance to go to the Eastern Conference Finals and you sucked.

And then in game seven, you were an embarrassment. So it's like, who are you to come and try to request a trade and blame us for your problems when you had it and you couldn't do anything with it. But if he doesn't want to be there and you would officially be rebuilding if Joel Embiid leads, because that was the only thing really successful to come out of the process, you've got to get as much draft capital back to set up the next rebuild for Philadelphia.

And that's the case. Fine. I think at that point, then you want to blow it up completely in this Harden trade or this trade demand, whatever you want to, however you want to phrase it, if the Sixers doing it, if Harden is doing it, if it's both that are kind of initiating this and they're mutually agreeing that we need to part ways and that forces Embiid to want to trade. Fine.

Fine. And it's not that big of an issue. That's not going to come this year. I think the earliest that would happen would be at the end of this upcoming basketball season, because once again, I have zero confidence in the Sixers, even though I'm not a fan of James Harden being better this upcoming season in the interim without James Harden. That's why it's one of those situations where, yeah, it would have been complete Jackassery to give James Harden a four year contract extension. But with him now no longer being there and maybe getting one of the Morris twins and then Powell, it's like, eh, you're not going to find a way to improve that team.

If anything, you're going to regress. And that's unfortunate because the Sixers window is open now in an Eastern conference that's not that strong. And time and time again, they just do nothing to get it right to make sure that their NBA finals are or check that not even NBA finals. How much is the Eastern Conference finals? Because they've been stuck in the second round for years, for years, for years, as they would say in Sandlot, which I did here on the Maggie and Perloff show. I like Sandlot.

I guess Andrew Perloff doesn't. The Sixers have been stuck, though, in the second round for ever, for ever. All right. We got to take a break. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Kevin Durant is potentially crazy.

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You know what I just thought about, Hickey? If James Harden does a wind up in L.A. with the Clippers, you will have a group of guys that can't stand Doc Rivers. James Harden could not stand Doc Rivers because Doc Rivers just wanted him to show up to work and be held accountable. And if he's going to go out partying and going to every strip club, he thought he needed better energy in the facility. And also when Doc Rivers got let go in Los Angeles with the Clippers, there was a lot of critical things being said about Paul George and also Kawhi Leonard for similar reasons where Doc Rivers was actually in the right.

I think on all three. Say what you want about Doc as a coach and how he's overrated, where he was just trying to hold the star players accountable. And you know this in this day and age of the NBA, Hickey, when a coach gets into it with the player or a coach is actually in the right trying to hold the player accountable to get the best version out of that player, that coach is always sent packing because the team 9.9 times out of 10 is going to go with the player of the coach. Maybe that's what the Clippers have been missing this entire time. Like that's why Paul George and Kawhi Leonard have been unable to stay healthy in the postseason. Now you put James Harden in there, those three can kind of rally together and have their rallying cry be screw Doc Rivers. All of a sudden we're talking about like an 80 win Clippers team the regular season. Kawhi plays 75 games. They run through the west, win the title, all kind of motivated to show Doc Rivers that he was wrong, they were right, and we just see maybe one of the best teams ever next year with that three-headed monster.

That would be a very unlikeable team if I'm being honest with you. You have James Harden who's more focused about going to strip clubs than he is going to to show up in the basketball games. I like Kawhi Leonard but there's always something with his injuries when he's hurt, it turns into a dramatic situation and a very like secretive situation too. And then Paul George, I know he did a good job a few years ago when Kawhi was hurt and finally stepping up, but for the most part he's been disappointing when he's put into a role in the postseason. That's like a team that all three of those guys, I know Kawhi has won two Finals MVPs, he's been associated with greatness.

The three of those guys kind of like all deserve each other. Where I don't see the Eagles on that team and then also the lack of health on that team finding a way for that to actually work. It's weird in terms of likeability, I still like Kawhi even though yes he's very mysterious when it comes to injuries. I have no ill will towards Paul George.

And legit injuries, like I'm not saying any of those guys you want to be like bleep them, but just the mesh of all three of those guys together, it's like you smell a stench that that's not gonna work. Well, I would agree. In all reality and all seriousness, yes, I don't think that- Wait, you weren't being serious a few moments ago when you were saying that we're gonna be the best team ever? You like to joke that I sometimes make a hot take or two.

Me saying them going 80 and two was tongue in cheek, we'll say. Not a hot take, not endorsed by Ryan Hickey. Coming up tomorrow in Hickey Shower, why the Clippers will be the greatest team ever? If they get James Harden, lock it up folks, 80 wins, NBA championship. I think if I'm Ty Lue, I would just fax in my resignation right now. I would go elsewhere. I wouldn't want to be coaching this team.

I'm really surprised that didn't happen. With all the jobs that were open this offseason, I'm surprised Ty Lue did not find a way to orchestrate his departure even though he's under contract from Los Angeles Clippers. We talked about the definition of insanity with the Sixers and running it back with Harden and Beed not working. I would agree in the sense that you holding out or Lue holding out hope that Kawhi and PG will be healthy come playoff time is at this point the definition of insanity.

By the way, you want to talk about insanity? If Kevin Durant is just being more than a good friend here and giving a courtesy kind of interview to Kyrie Irving with the Suns, he's out of his mind and he may be the most insane person on the planet if he doubles, triples, quadrupled down wherever we're at with Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving screwed you over every step of the way in Brooklyn. You could tell me, oh, it was Steve Nash's fault. You brought in Steve Nash. You could tell me, oh, it's Sean Marks.

You praise Sean Marks for his culture. Kevin Durant called all the shots in Brooklyn and Kyrie Irving, who is a friend of his, and they teamed up together to go in a title in Brooklyn, Brooklyn basically gave him the middle finger every way. And I really do believe Kevin Durant never had it in him to tell Kyrie Irving that he was no longer wanted with the Brooklyn Nets. And if Kyrie didn't try to voice his frustration or work his way out of Brooklyn, then Durant probably still would have been there because he was waiting for things to blow up with Kyrie Irving for then him to eventually depart.

But you have got rid of Kyrie Irving. And I don't know how it worked from a salary standpoint, but if we're sitting down, there won't be an introductory press conference to guarantee that because Kyrie, the last thing he wants to do is talk to the media. But if Kyrie Irving winds up with the Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant is an idiot. And that's a report right there from Chris Haynes that Kyrie Irving will meet with the Suns coming up in free agency that starts tomorrow. That would be the most weak and gutless thing Kevin Durant has ever done.

I know people talk about, oh, well, he couldn't beat the Warriors, so then he joined them. If he goes back to the well of the craziness of Kyrie Irving, well, then Kevin Durant, you're crazy and you're insane. You got rid of Kyrie Irving. You got away from Kyrie Irving. You now have Devin Booker. They traded for Bradley Beal. We'll see what happens with DeAndre Aiden.

I don't know where that relationship is at. I know Monty Williams now out of a job. But you can't go back into business with Kyrie Irving, who I saw one insider was saying, oh, Kyrie just wants a long-term home now. That's translation for he wants the most amount of years on his contract so he can get the money and then be a disaster. Because ever since that guy has left the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I used to love Kyrie Irving. I used to have a Kyrie Irving t-shirt, an Uncle Drew t-shirt. I used to be a big fan of Kyrie. But ever since he's left the Cleveland Cavaliers, he's been a massive disappointment and he's been a royal headache and pain in the ass. So Kevin Durant, you already went through the Kyrie Irving experience and it blew up in your face.

Do not, under any circumstance, actually give the OK for Kyrie Irving to have anything more than just a meeting with the Suns. Because if he joins the Suns, it would be like if I went to the blackjack tables at a casino tonight. And I took out $4,000, right? And let's say I lost all that money. You should get up and walk away and just take your L. But if I go back to the casino or my ATM and say, you know what, I'm gonna actually now take out $8,000, win my $4,000 back and then use more money to gamble on in the future and then I lose all that other money.

It's like, how stupid can you be? Learn your lesson. So do not go back to the ATM machine, Kevin Durant.

You already lost your $4,000. Don't go take out like $8,000 more dollars or $4,000 more dollars, whatever math you want to use, because that would be the dumbest thing Kevin Durant could do, Hickey. I actually, there comes a point where if you can't be honest with your friend, then you're just a bad friend. It's time for Kevin Durant to be honest with Kyrie Irving and saying, you screwed me in Brooklyn. I don't want to do business with you moving forward. You need to separate business and friendship. That's what Kevin Durant needs to do.

I truly don't, I have no explanation. It's not like he's on the nets and no one's there. It's not like he's on the Suns and it's just Devin Booker, let's just get another explosive star.

You have three guys already on your team. And this guy in Kyrie is truly a cancer everywhere he goes since leaving Cleveland. And you really think now, fool me once, shame on me with Brooklyn, fool me twice, now it's gonna work out?

After now working out in Boston, Brooklyn, and going horrendously in the half season, he was there in Dallas. You really think now pairing you and Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and now adding Kyrie Irving is going to work? I've still not defended. I like Kevin Durant.

I truly want to see him win. But if you like, there's no defending. There's nothing I can say that could make this work.

And if they do sign Kyrie, you know me, I like the Suns, hard out on the Suns, hard out. So I'm gonna bring COVID into this conversation. We haven't talked about COVID in a long time.

Yeah, now we're talking. So this could be pretty controversial, but a buddy of mine was supposed to have a barbecue on Sunday for 4th of July weekend. He came down with COVID last night and he told all my friends, hey COVID, still trying to get everyone together on Sunday though.

I think I'll be good in time. And everyone's like, dude, what are you talking about? You just got COVID. I don't want to be anywhere near you. That would be the definition of Kevin Durant knowing that Kyrie Irving has, you know, has COVID and saying, hey, come on over. I want to hang out with you. I want to invite you to my barbecue. That's the way that I'll compare it to, Hickey. Forget the Blackjack analogy.

I will go to, it's like having COVID and inviting someone over and then your friend being dumb enough to come on over and hang out with you. I truly just don't understand it. I truly do not understand if you're Kevin Durant, why you would even entertain this. Again, financially, he might get bailed out because it may be impossible to do. And that honestly is honestly sad that you're going to need financials to bail out this horrendous decision.

But the fact that you're going back to the well again and you think it's going to change is very scary, very scary. And it's not like you don't have anything in Phoenix right now. You got Devin Booker, you got Bradley Beal, you got some pieces there. You don't need Kyrie Irving. Like you said, it'd be one thing if you were the only person that was the only avenue that you had to travel to.

But the fact that you have other pieces there, this makes no sense. I think this is just a courtesy interview. So this is Kevin Durant once again, just saying, I tried, I tried to be a good friend, but we just can't find the way to make it work.

It wasn't a fit. And that's the amazing part. Like Durant eventually has to just tell Kyrie to lose the number. And that doesn't want to associate. That's the thing.

I mean, he's so, he punches back on Twitter and sometimes corn and Jason McIntyre may crosses the line. I get it. This happens a lot.

You're online tough guy and in person, you're very nice. So I can understand that. But it's like, use the Twitter persona then use that same energy for Kyrie. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one before I could even listen to what you're saying, but continue. Well, just see, you see what happened?

Yeah. Send some nasty things. Like I'm just saying like, like if Jason McIntyre came out to me, I think I'd be a jerk back to him as well. Like, yeah, guys, like if you want to act that way on social media, bring that same energy for Kyrie.

Just say no, you have it in you clearly. And I get it. Everyone's a keyboard warrior, but just don't have to be even mean. Just tell Kyrie two letters and oh, you know, you know how we do this. Like, oh, if this guy played in this era, could he play in an era into the future? Like a guy that played in the seventies or eighties, could he play in today's game? And according to Dennis Rodman, he doesn't think Larry Bird could play in today's game.

And that's like the dumbest thing I've ever heard. But in this case, it's almost like Kevin Durant as great as he's been in this era would have been better in the eighties and in the nineties where there was no social media. Cause you're not wrong in terms of the insecurities that he shows in social media that I do think played a big role in why he left the Golden State Warriors in the first place. And look, yes, but if you're I mean, this is his entire problem.

He lets too many people influence him, but figure out one person in this case in Kyrie to influence your decision making and try to bring them on to use your word you said before you're a fool. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So Hickey, a happy birthday to you. Hickey celebrated his 29th birthday over the weekend. And I've been waiting for a package to be delivered so I could present Hickey his birthday gift for this upcoming year.

And a hickster, I have your birthday gift in my hand right now. I will show it to you in just a second. So don't look just yet, but I do think I realized how my credit card got hacked because I was reviewing the charges where earlier in the week, my credit card got hacked and someone placed the $1,200 order for an iPhone. And I eventually figure that out, got the money back, canceled the card, all that stuff. I only made one purchase before someone got my credit card and ended up purchasing an iPhone and it was your birthday gift. So I think you are responsible or my generosity towards you is responsible in somehow some way getting my credit card hacked.

What websites are you going to that is very insecure that allows the hacker to steal your information? Are you getting me? I don't want to guess. No, this is a very nice gift and it's actually from a reputable company. I'll leave the company off the air. A Max Scherzer jersey from China to make fun of me for still believing in the Mets.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is a nice gift. A custom Mets jersey that says 2023 chumps. I have got you a lot of nice gifts here. I got you a Quinn and Nelson jersey. I got you a Russell Wilson jersey. I got you a bunch of boxes of pasta too. So you could have some dinner each and every night. I've done pretty well in terms of giving you gifts.

So the fact that you think I would troll you in a moment like this, that's something I would not do here. Hickey. So here you go. And I say a Rogers Jersey.

Well, hopefully a nice little parlay tip in there too. I'm just kidding in my hands. You could look, I have a very nice black t-shirt. Thanks. It is a black or gray t-shirt and I'm showing you the back.

Okay. I'm looking at the back saying this is a nice blank black t-shirt. Thanks. On the front is a man wearing the number five, looking like he's going to throw a nice incomplete pass, but it's a cartoon version.

And I got you a little AR time Colts and I think it's supposed to be like air time Colts, but here you go. That is pretty nice. Okay. I take back what I, what I said before. That is very nice.

Thank you, Zach. And you know why I'm doing this? Cause I'm sick and tired of you wearing like only five t-shirts to work.

So I'm hoping that this goes into the rotation. I have enough. Well, you wear the same.

I love the movie miracle. I love it. And obviously associated with the 1980 USA hockey team, but how many times are I going to see Hickey walking with this miracle on ice shirt that you're wearing today? I wonder if you have any other clothes. I feel like I wear, you know, spread my clothes selection out. You wear that at least once a week, at least once a week. And I got a lot of, I'm a big blue guy, red and blue go very well together with the white shoes.

Actually. I'm very patriotic today, but I really do think that this is a nice t-shirt. I like that. That's I like that.

Thank you. But you know what the problem is now I buy one Colts shirt and then also the Colts Jersey that I got you all over my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Anytime I open up a browser page, the, the, the ads are all Indianapolis Colts. And then the company I bought it from now thinks I'm a Colts fan. So like, Oh, thank you for your great Colts purchase.

Here's some other things you may like. So I got some problems here. Now I got too much Colts propaganda being pushed my way. I'm talking about enough time from six to 10 PM Eastern, but I can't even go home and rest my brain without the Indianapolis Colts popping up out of nowhere.

That is my dream. The Colts on your brain, 24 seven, you can't escape. So I'm sick and tired of everyone saying, Oh, it's ridiculous. So the NFL makes all this money off of gambling. And then it's so hypocritical that they suspend Isaiah Rogers for a year.

And we know that the culture released him today. I was surprised that the Colts did release him, but there are rules in businesses that yes, the people making the rules, they may go find a way to profit off those companies. But if they tell you can't gamble, you can't gamble. So it's, it's we, I know we talked about that yesterday, but it's kind of like crazy that we're at this point where everyone's saying, Oh, it's ridiculous that players can't gamble.

You fear compromising the integrity of the game, but in this case, more of the details came out today via ESPN. So you did have the player, Isaiah Rogers, a lot of his fans, a friend supposedly were encouraging him to bet because they lived in Florida and they wanted him to, in Indianapolis to be able to place the bets. And most of these bets are the 25 to $50 range and legal sports bets were not available in Florida for this past football season. The largest wager that they play that they place was a thousand dollars. And it was a prop bet on the over, under on rushing yards by a Colts running back, which one. So I'm assuming that was a Jonathan Taylor bet, even though he wasn't always healthy. So maybe it wasn't. I don't know. Cause like you look, he bet on most of the bets he made were 25 to $50.

They put a thousand dollars on this one. That might've been one where he's in meetings. Oh, JT is not that healthy this week. He looked at the quarterback room and that's a guy that was going up against the second and third string quarterbacks in practice. He was like, oh, that guy's playing. He sucks. They're going to be running the football a lot.

Cause this guy literally can't throw the football. I'm going to go in and let him here and say, well, they were reporting. He won the bet. I think Isaiah Rogers and his friends knew that was a lock. Was there a big week for a Colts running back that was not Jonathan Taylor this past year? Hickey. I got to look it up. Nothing that, you know, Deon Jackson maybe had like 80 yards, one game.

So maybe they over probably could have been like just 30, 35. I'm sure Vegas did not give Deon Jackson the respect he deserves. All righty. This is that Gelb show on CBS sports radio real quickly. Were you surprised that Isaiah Rogers was cut today? I was not too much.

No. And that is I was something like the Colts, like he's kind of, he wasn't a great player. Maybe just kind of move on. I don't think they could trust him. Get rid of the distraction, even though he's out for a year and I kind of thought they'd welcome back a year from now, assuming that he clears everything and gets reinstated by the league.