Field Day For Justin (Hour 2)

Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside, defense number 69. It's Onsides, Offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. Alright Hicks, start what do you got for me? Alright Zach, let's go back to the NFL running back.

The topic that's been very popular in recent weeks. One running back that did not get a contract extension nine days ago with the franchise tag deadline was Raiders running back Josh Jacobs. And since he did not get the franchise or since he did not sign a shirt to the franchise tag, he can skip all the training camp without getting fined.

And seemingly that's what he's planning on doing. Earlier this week NFL networks Tom Palacios reported that the NFL's leading rusher from last season was seen boarding a flight leaving Las Vegas and he doesn't plan to return anytime soon. Onsides or offsides, Josh Jacobs will miss week number one. Which is a Sunday afternoon game on CBS, 4.25 PM Eastern at Mile High up against the Denver Broncos where they chant Incomplete.

By the way, side note here before I answer your question. Isn't that one of the dumbest chants ever in the history of sports? The incomplete chant when there's an incomplete chant pass with the opposition going up against the Broncos defense.

I think that's so lame. For years I had no clue what they were chanting. I would always hear it and I'm like, what the heck are they saying? And then someone said, oh, they chant incomplete.

That's so stupid. It reminds me of a college atmosphere, so I like it. I back NFL stadiums need more of that college atmosphere in them. I credit Denver for bringing that. So you're telling me if James Franklin said to Penn State fans, 108,000 people in that stadium, however many fans there is, that we want all you crazy Penn State fans to chant incomplete. Incomplete!

After every incomplete pass you'll be on board with that. That's so lame. We have the We Are chant, we got Zombie Nation. We got plenty of chants already that we're in sync with.

We'll need another one. You know it's lame. By you saying that, you know it's lame. I'm like, there's no, like, in the NFL it's different than college.

That's my perception. So I think in the NFL it's cool. College football you have plenty of choreographed chants in the crowd anyway. You don't need an incomplete chant where the NFL really lacks that area.

I don't think so. I think you go to an NFL game, sure. It's not like going to a Clemson football game or an LSU football game just because the stadiums are bigger and you have ever in the parking lot just getting drunk as a skunk all throughout the day and the tailgating scene.

And you look at the NFL, it's a little bit more classier, let's just say at times, at times, than a college football game. But I don't think you need someone doing some fugazi chant and some weak chant. Just get up on your seat and scream defense or make some noise.

I don't need, I mean, Incomplete! If we're going to get on lame chants, defense is pretty lame. Defense is a traditional great chant. Defense! Defense! Defense!

That's good! Incomplete! Incomplete! Ugh, so stupid!

Losers! What, what intimidates a quarterback more you think? Incomplete or defense?

Defense, because I at least know what they're saying. Incomplete, you can't even recognize it. I didn't know what it was for 10 years. Big third down pass. You remember that pass did not, you know, was not completed because the crowd is chanting in your head. Yeah.

In-com-plete! Yeah. In unison. There's some things you say that I know you don't believe.

No, I'm being dead serious. If it's one or the other, incomplete or defense, I'm taking incomplete every single time. So then Penn State should do it this year. Oh, but we have too many chants already as there are.

I've got plenty, they don't need another one. Oh, stop that because you know it's a loser thing. Josh Jacobs will miss week one. There's got to be some running back to take a stance. Saquon Barkley tried to do that and then, yeah, I'll go there for training camp because I want to be a good team guy. I don't think he's a bad team guy if he sat out because I think Josh Jacobs right now should sit out all of training camp. But when it comes to week one, I don't see why you would because Nick Chubb has already said it.

We know there's nothing we could do. Saquon by showing up to training camp knows there's really nothing he could do. So for Josh Jacobs, yeah, sit out all training camp. Don't, I know that a lot does not go on in these training camps anyway, but don't expose yourself to any potential injury and then go get the full amount of the 10 plus million dollars that you're going to get.

Don't miss a game check because what are you going to actually gain from this? And we saw Le'Veon Bell sit out an entire season and he even regrets it now. He's talked about that in the last two weeks. So Josh Jacobs will miss week one. Maybe he's the one running back to take a stance, but I think he'll be there up against the Denver Broncos because it doesn't make sense for him to lose out on some money. So I will go offside on that one.

Where are you at on that? Because I know from the start you said you believe Saquon Barkley would be there week one and Josh Jacobs would as well. We've both been correct so far in Saquon Barkley. I am doubling down that Josh Jacobs will be there. Do you have any skepticism when it comes to Josh Jacobs?

Not at all because only negative things can happen if he doesn't show up. And I think it's Amir Abdullah I believe is his now backup slash now starter. You can correct me if I'm wrong on that, but if he balls out his 100 yards, again, Josh Jacobs is doing nothing to help himself. So unfortunately, the way the position is valued and looked at, teams don't care if you're there. And if you're not, we're going to the next guy and usually the next guy's played well. Now that's usually with a top notch offensive line and someone that is decent in the backfield after that. I'm not saying like who's Amir White out of Georgia can't have a good game or two. Or Amir Abdullah can't have a good game or two. Brandon Bolden can't have a good game or two. But Josh Jacobs was elite at the position last year with nearly 1700 yards on the ground. They're not going to come close on a bad football team to even with a running back by committee and that's the nature of the sport to even come close to getting the production they need for the Raiders to just be average this year with how much they do rely on Josh Jacobs. And they don't seem to care because if they cared, they would have paid him and they don't seem to really feel the consequences or doubt that he'll be able to produce what he did last year, which is why they were in the situation we are now, which is why most running backs when they try to get paid or in the situations they're in, usually teams giving them the cold shoulder. So yes or no.

Yes and no. I agree that I don't think Josh McDaniel's values paying an individual running back because of where he comes from in New England. But the other part, I don't, I'm not saying that they don't believe in him and I'm not saying the Giants don't believe in Saquon Barkley either, but both know that ultimately it makes too much sense for them to get that player on the cheap and not commit to long term. And you tag them this year for $10 million and there's nothing they could do with and you could tag them again the year after that, even though the price does go up. So I think it's both organizations understanding that the running back position, the shelf life is short and there's no alternative for these backs. And if they want to miss out on $10 million of salary, you're never going to make that back. And I think they learned that from Le'Veon Bell.

That's what I meant. Like, can you do it two years, three years, four years and are like, we're going to pay you to do it. Most teams have doubted and most teams so far have been right. Speaking of getting paid, oh boy, Justin Herbert, the latest quarterback to cash in yesterday signed a five year $262.5 million dollar deal. A million dollar deal now on a yearly average is the highest paid player in NFL history. Now that he got paid, the attention does turn to winning the big one for the former Oregon Duck who, like Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, plenty of other quarterbacks in the league as well are in search of their first Super Bowl championship. On sides or off sides, Justin Herbert will be the next quarterback to win a ring that currently does not have one.

That's offside. For this year, this actually may be my Super Bowl pick. This is not finalized, but I'm going to say Eagles, Bengals right now would be my Super Bowl pick. And that means one of Joe Burrow or Jalen Hurts to win a Super Bowl and they don't have a ring yet. And both those teams have been close. Two years ago, Bengals got to the Super Bowl and they lost to the Rams. Last year, they got to the AFC title game, lost to the Chiefs. Last year, we know the Eagles got to a Super Bowl and this NFC stinks this year. You have the 49ers and then try to find another contender in the NFC.

It is tough to do. So I will bank on Burrow and Hurts, one of those guys prevailing this year. And that's not me doubting Kansas City.

Kansas City could easily go back-to-back and win the Super Bowl once again, but I don't like picking back-to-back Super Bowl champions because the last time we've seen a team go back-to-back was the Patriots back in Super Bowl 38 and Super Bowl 39 when they did so. Travis Kelce may be a winner on the field, but simply lost a big one off the field. Recently, Kele Trav tried to shoot his shot with Taylor Swift. And as you'll hear here in a second, did I really go well, courtesy of the new Heights podcast? I know you went to the Taylor Swift concert.

How was it? Yeah. Well, I was disappointed that she doesn't talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings. So I was a little butthurt. I didn't get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her. You made her a bracelet? Yeah. If you're up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.

Not right now. Your number's in 87 or your phone number? You know which one. She doesn't meet anybody, or at least she didn't want to meet me.

So I took a personal. She probably just hasn't gotten over the Super Bowl yet. She's a big Eagles fan.

Maybe she just made something up and just didn't want to talk to you. Damn it. Stiff arms by T-Swift. So real quickly, before you ask me the question, that's not a loss for Travis Kelce. Here's why. The fact that Travis Kelce can go into a concert and legitimately think that I'll have a position to give Taylor Swift one of these bracelets and it not be something that is a crazy thought. For example, if that was you or I going into the show and saying, oh, I'm going to find Taylor Swift, give her a bracelet and see if she calls me.

Unrealistic. But Travis Kelce is a star. Travis Kelce, right, is an NFL legend.

He's a guy that a lot of people know. If he ended up getting the same room as Taylor Swift in a meet and greet before VIP room, something like that, he had a chance to give her that bracelet and there's a chance she calls him back. So I don't think there's anything wrong right there. I don't say that's a loss for Travis Kelce because he had an actual idea and a thought that was realistic where he could shoot a shot with Taylor Swift. And if you don't take that, then you're a loser. So I like that by Travis Kelce. I respect that.

Try to shoot a shot, as you heard, seemingly rejected. So onsides or offsides, Taylor Swift should give Travis Kelce a call, I guess, when she's allowed to talk. So maybe after the tour, it's like feels like forever.

So maybe three years from now. But she could date me. I don't need to hear her talk at all. I mean, like, you don't need to acknowledge me. You don't need to think I even exist. If you want to date me and your Taylor Swift, I'm all in. You need to go silence because you're on a tour. I'm all good. What? Low standards you got.

It's Taylor Swift. You don't have to like me. You don't got to talk to me. You don't got to look at me.

You don't got to be around me. If she's dating you, she likes you. And there's going to be certain things happening. It's Taylor Swift. Well, she's not talking to you. I don't know if anything else is happening.

Because she's on vocal rest. That's okay. That's why. Come on. Listen a little bit what Travis Kelce was saying. Well, you were just basically saying, Taylor Swift, you don't have to even acknowledge me or look at me.

So I was just saying, like, is it one of those long distance relationships where she's on the road, you're dating Taylor Swift, but it's like you get none of the benefits of dating Taylor Swift. I think you'll get the benefits. I'm not signing a prenup, though. I'll tell you that. I'm there for the cash. There's no doubt about going for the marriage. Wow.

Multiple reasons. You're moving fast here. Yeah, absolutely. Got a ring picked out. You know what her ring size is? Actually, the ring gets passed down in the family, so we're good.

Wow. I'm the only son in the family, you know, out of all the brothers. What happened if you had a brother got a fight over it? I don't know who chooses. Oh, let's be real.

I'm the favorite child in the family, so it'd be me. All right, there you go. So there you go. I talked to my grandmother today.

She goes, hello, my favorite grandchild when she answers the phone. I'm just saying. The ball is in your court, it sounds like here. Uh, Taylor Swift should give Travis Kelce a call. Absolutely. Now, I don't think this was true, but remember there were rumors. Was it Austin Reeves? Yes. That they were like in Nebraska somewhere or something like that. They were allegedly seen together.

Yeah. And then like, and then Austin Reeves brothers came out and he goes, yeah, that's not true whatsoever, but that's hilarious. I think Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce would be a really good couple. Like Travis Kelce is a good looking guy. He's successful.

I think when you're Taylor Swift, you need to date someone that's also successful because they can understand your lifestyle a little bit. He's a mega star. He has a great personality. Good looking dude. Absolutely.

Taylor Swift should give Travis Kelce a call. Keep up. I don't know. Keep up with him.

What do you mean? He's a partier. He's a life of the party. A lot of energy.

She doesn't scream. Let's go out to the club after a big chiefs win. Let's go to Vegas in the off season and let's just rip it up. Well, to be fair, we know what the professional persona is of Travis Kelce. Sometimes the way that people portray themselves, we don't know what happens behind closed doors. We don't.

We don't know everything about these guys. I think Travis Kelce is a charming, wonderful human being. If I was Taylor Swift, absolutely. I would give him a call and say, well, you know, at least go out for a date.

What's the worst thing that happened? Okay. Like a charcuterie board and some wine. And I think that'd be a nice little date for Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. That's a good power couple too. When they inevitably break up, I'm excited to hear the song. Maybe she'll root against the chiefs. Maybe she'll go do it.

Probably. Maybe she goes sing at the stadium. Do the song at Arrowhead.

Probably get booed, I would hope, by the fans. You know, you think you, I mean, look, if you're a chiefs fan and you got to think aside, if you're a Swiftie, I'm sorry. You got to drop the Swiftie love and you got to take on your guy here. Well, the only thing is if you're Taylor Swift, the reason why you may not do it is then you may have to sit next to Brittany Mahomes in the luxury box when you're watching the game. That could be a problem. If I'm Taylor, I think you got enough money. You can buy probably your own suite.

Nah, but you, you want to be, just try to fit in like everybody else. You know, Brittany's going to be like, Oh, come to the luxury box. You don't watch the game with us. We're rooting on Pat and Travis.

And then I would have the Randy Jackson voiceover. Yeah. That's a no for me, dog. That is a fair reason to not date Travis. Sorry, Travis. Nothing against you. Literally something against you. I just can't sit there eight or nine home games a year.

Plus a few playoff games next to the quarterback's wife. It's not you. It's Brittany. And like Britney Spears comes walking out of somewhere. I think there went the Yama. Can I get a photo? Oh wait, no, not that Britney Spears, Brittany Mahomes. All right, next one. Go ahead. Jerry Jones.

How about this? It was more toned down than normal to start a training camp this year. The Cowboys owner, as we know, who's not been shy about talking about his desire to win another super bowl. Didn't use those two words instead opting to say multiple times he believes this team is a quote contender and quote on sides or off sides.

You agree, Jerry Jones, that the Dallas Cowboys this year are a Super Bowl contender. Now, I haven't heard the audio, but just going back to the Taylor Swift conversation I just saw on Twitter, Stephen A. Smith, who he does the show. I think this is still through Odyssey, our parent company, the Stephen A. Smith show where first take Stephen A. Smith and then what Stephen A. Smith does on this show are two totally different people. And Stephen A. Smith just has a tweet out there and there's some video that I can't hear, but on the caption it says, I'm a booty leg and hit man to the core. I want to look up to a woman and respect admiration, et cetera.

Not physically. That's me. Now I read, I listened to Stephen A's book and maybe we'll get this audio and play it for you later, but I listened to his book and he talked about how he wants to do late night television and that's a big goal of his.

That's clearly what this show is. It's him showing that he could do multiple different things, talking about love life, politics, anything that's on his mind, but it's two totally different Stephen A. Smiths. And I like this version of Stephen A. Smith.

I like the other version of Stephen A. Smith. I'm a Stephen A. Smith fan, but you asked me the Cowboys are a Super Bowl contender. No, because they could go far into the playoffs, but I don't buy that they're going to get to a Super Bowl because their defense has played great the last two years and their quarterback has failed him in the big spot. I think that's the definition of a quarterback who got paid. Like he's a great quarterback, got paid to elevate the team, but in reality, he's just a good quarterback. And when it's a big moment, he's going to come up small. So you asked me, the Cowboys are a Super Bowl contender.

I will say off side. And did you listen to Stephen A. Smith? Do you know, I saw, do you see what sparked it? No, he's like a hotline or like, I guess like a voicemail someone called, Hey, I'm five, four.

I'm interested in dating taller woman. What's your advice? Some guy, some guy called him last week and he was like, I haven't had sex in 19 years. And he was like, what? And then the kid said that he was 19 years old. So he goes, so you really only struggled for three to four years is what you're telling me. Cause he's like, you didn't have those urges when you were 12 or 13.

So it's only been a struggle for three to four years. I thought that was great. I find enough of Stephen A. Smith on the Cowboys. I am all in on Stephen, a dating advice, what woman he likes, how to get, you know, how to charm a woman. I am in more of that. Well, how about you do this?

Can we come up with a hot take hickey bit here? Can you find out what the number is for this hotline and just keep on asking bizarre questions and you don't have to use your real name and just see if they'll ever answer one of the questions on the show. I think we should try to do that.

The number's right in the clip. Easy access. You know what you're going to do each and every week? Each and every week, you're going to call that hotline and you're going to leave a message with a topic for question for Stephen A. Smith until he answers your question. I think that'd be awesome. All right. I got our, I already got a good first question here. I think. Okay.

I'll save it for the, for the hotline though. Finally Celtic star Jalen Brown made NBA history this week, cashing in on the biggest contract ever given out. The deal is five years, $304 million. And this is possible because last year Brown was a second team, all NBA player and his seven year career in Boston has made two all star teams on sides or off sides. Jalen Brown is worth the money he's being paid. So you're worth what someone's going to pay you. So that would be like an easy answer on sides, but I'm going offside here just because when you tell me five years, 340, $304 million, I expect like an all time great player. I know that's not always going to be the case, but he's not even a one on a championship team.

So I don't think that's worth it. I will go offside on that. And it's Zach Gelb show on CBS sports radio coming on back. Tracy McGrady is going to join us in 20 minutes from now. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It is Zach Gelb show on CBS sports radio. So I I've been watching the show, uh, the quarterback, right? Where you have Patrick Mahomes on Netflix who got followed around all last season. You also had a Kirk cousins and Marcus Mariota, who's very boring and I'm just waiting for the eventual storm out, but I haven't got that far yet.

And this got renewed for a second season. Now they're going to pick new quarter backs or so you think. Now, last week, a lot of people were saying, Oh, this is going to replace hard knocks because the teams don't want to do hard knocks.

And you saw the jets, right? Rogers said they had to force it down our throat for us to do hard knocks. Well, it seems like a lot of these quarterbacks don't want to do it. And for the most part, you got a star Mahomes, you get a second tier quarterback in Kirk cousins, and then a veteran who was at crossroads that has popularity in the past, going back to his days as an Oregon duck, where he won a Heisman trophy in, um, in Marcus Mariota.

So that's pretty damn good that you got those three guys, you got the best quarterback in the sport right now, a guy that's a second tier, and then a guy that has had a big following and is a big name at times, but now is at a bad part of his career. But moving forward into this year, it doesn't seem like a lot of people want to do this where so far to a tongue of eye, Loa said, he's turned it down. Sam Howell said he has turned it down. Jalen hurts has turned it down. Justin Fields and Matthew Stafford.

Now going through those hickey, and I get it. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to do it too. I could understand why, because if the health isn't in his favor and you talk about concussions, I wouldn't want to put myself in that situation. Sam Howell, I think this would be great for Sam Howell. You may be a guy that's not going to get a starting job after this year.

Go get the publicity right now. Jalen Hurts, that doesn't fit who Jalen Hurts is because he's more reserved and he doesn't like to show a lot and he's someone that uses everything for motivation. So I'm not surprised by Jalen Hurts. I am surprised though by Justin Fields and Matthew Stafford. I'm not all that surprised.

I hope everything's all right with his wife, but unfortunately there's been some health problems in the past, so I know his wife does a podcast, but maybe you don't want that to become a story, even though his wife is very open about talking about it. But the two quarterbacks that stand out to me that we just talked about, Tua Sam Howell, Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields and Matthew Stafford, I'm kind of looking at Sam Howell and Justin Fields and saying, yeah, if you were asked by Peyton Manning to do this, you probably should do it. I don't see why you wouldn't do it if you're Justin Fields or Sam Howell here, Hickey. I guess to defend Justin Fields, he did participate in a show QB1, which was following him around senior of high school before he got to Georgia. So you kind of already done something like that and maybe, I mean, I watched the show, I thought it was great, but maybe you just kind of one of those things where you do it once and now the appeal is not there anymore.

Sam Howell, I got nothing for you. Maybe he's worried that he's like, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know in terms of not being in the league this year. Well, I guess it's this year anyway, so it doesn't really matter. So you may as well take the money while you could get it.

You're going to get paid to do this. And it's, I mean, like for Kirk Cousins, for example, we know how the year ends in disappointment and it's not like he was outstandingly great this past year, but I think he's very likable because of his personality off the field. So it's like your likability for Sam Howell is dependent upon how you play this year. It's what do you like off the field and people gravitate towards that more than the wins and losses you have this year.

I don't see the downside in doing this. Like Mahomes, right? People like to see behind the scenes with Mahomes. It's been fine. Kirk Cousins, who's someone that a lot of people have crushed in the past. I don't know about you, for the most part, it's been pretty positive.

Marcus Mariota, what do you get? You stormed off and people just say, oh, you're boring. So I don't, I don't think there's ever going to be intense criticism by doing this where, okay, like let's say Sam Howell gets benched in week five.

Yeah, it's embarrassing. Yeah, it's something where you get kind of viewed as a joke, but if you don't have the confidence that you're going to make it through the season as a starter, that's why you're not going to do it. Then I don't want you as my quarterback to be fair. And I'm not saying that that's why Sam Howell didn't do it, but that's really all I could think of.

I don't think there's a downside to doing this unless there's something going on behind the scenes, which we're not all privy to, that is going on personally that you don't want broadcasted to the public. And if that's the case with Justin Fields or Sam Howell, then I take back everything that I said. But if it's just, oh, I don't want to do it, I think that's pretty lame from those two quarterbacks. And also with Justin Fields, did you see the NFL top 100 list that they're slowly revealing? How the heck is Justin Fields ranked significantly better as a quarterback on this list that's voted by the players? And sometimes these players do these lists very quickly. You don't get every player in the league that does this. But how does any NFL player right now tell you that Justin Fields, who was great running the ball last year, he has to improve as a passer, but I don't think he's as bad as what people say. But how can anyone right now say that Justin Fields is a better quarterback than Trevor Lawrence and a better football player than Trevor Lawrence? Especially when these lists are mostly last year going to this year. It's not like a career achievement award.

It's just really last year coming off into this year, how do you view each player going into 2023 specifically? I got nothing for you. I truly don't. I don't understand. I get he feels that is way more of a dual threat and was tremendous on the ground last year.

I get that. But also led to one Bears win in the last 15 or whatever it was like they were brutal with him running the way he was the playoffs. Right. What a playoff game, had a great comeback and got the Jaguars into the playoffs on the last game of the regular season. Justin Fields was 86 86 and Trevor Lawrence was 96.

Yeah, that makes no sense. I'll ask you this and I want to see Justin Fields succeed. I was a fan of Justin Fields coming out of college. I know you were as well, but he's talking about throwing for 4000 yards. It's never been done before by Chicago Bears player.

He's now also right. Not that he's done this, but the NFL players are hyping up Justin Fields now saying he's better than Trevor Lawrence. I wonder how we're going to be talking about Justin Fields at the end of the year. Cause I do feel like a lot of things, whether they're from him or from other people are being said and everything that I've heard so far, like the 4,000 yards passing, you ran for a thousand last year. And if you, and you only threw for 2200 or whatever, you're probably not going to double your passing yards this year.

And I get it. Your offense line has made some improvements. You have DJ Moore now.

Chase Claypool will see if he can get things figured up upstairs, but he's your number two wide receiver and number three wide receiver. Like you have a better team, but I don't think you're going to jump into being this incredible player this year and this great player, which that's the expectations he's setting for himself. And also what you're kind of hearing from NFL players and his peers, I kind of feel like he's getting set up to have a letdown of it of a year. I'm not saying he plays horribly, but where it's not as great as what we think it's going to be. I personally like to go about it as under deliver over perform, right? Where you don't really give a lot or make expectations high and then you blow by them.

I'm with you in the sense that look, it feels eclipses it great. I love, I love a good quarterback and a good player that can kind of talk to talk and then back it up and walk the walk. Pick the Grizzlies or John Moran and talk about how great you are. And Hey, we're going to break the bear single season passing record this year. I'm going to do it 4,000 yards, no problem. And put all these things out there and then go for a flop, not meet it, struggle, barely improve it. Like I said, you're only setting yourself up for more criticism and more doubt compared to if you just were kind of quiet and let your play to the talking.

Even if he had a similar year but wasn't doing any talking, it still lessens a lot of the criticism or maybe lessens a little bit of the attention he would get. T Mac, Tracy McGrady will join us next. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. We continue this Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS sports radio. Make sure you check out a new docu series bonded by ball inside the OBL and it comes out on showtime Friday. And the man that runs one's basketball league is the seven time all star, the hall of Famer.

And that, of course, is Tracy McGrady. T Mac, great to see you again. How you been? Doing well, man. Good to be on your platform. Thank you for having me. Well, thank you so much. I remember when you joined us a year ago in our New York City studios and you were telling us about the league.

I see it on social media all the time. Just give us an update how the league's been going. Yeah, the league is going well. So we just completed our four part documentary series with Showtime.

That is actually airing this Friday, July 28th on Showtime platform and Paramount Plus. This is highlighting one on one basketball through my lens and really telling the stories of some of the guys that participated in the OBL season. It was our proof of concept season. We got some great feedback about it and I'm excited for you guys to see what we, you know, we put together with Showtime.

It's remarkable. What has been being a part of this league really taught you when you start to reflect and try to make it better moving forward? Yeah, there's a lot of guys out here that, you know, just want an opportunity, man. That's what it really has taught me. They just want an opportunity to really showcase their ability.

They got a lot of love and play with a lot of passion for this game of basketball and I'm the one to give it to them. This is why this platform is created. A lot of guys was extremely grateful for having this platform.

It changed some of their lives and that's what it's really all about. And I see people sitting on the throne. That's what, that's what I love the most. I think that's the best social media platform when you get the guys in the big chair.

Be the king for the day, baby, for sure. No doubt. What's your end vision with this, Tracy McGrady? So my vision is for us to really identify what our structure is going to be in North America. Once we identify that, then to have a league running simultaneously in various countries, right? So have those leagues, they identify who's their, their greatest player in, and then we'll come together and form a world cup to create and identify who's the world's greatest one-on-one basketball player.

That is the overall goal for what we want to build. If you could use the NBA, and I'll throw this fun question at you, Tracy McGrady, right now and take two active players and put them up against one another one-on-one, who would your two players be? Uh, Kevin Durant and who definitely would be KD. And I think the other will probably be Devin Booker. Oh, on the same team too. That would be fun.

That would get maybe a little contentious in the gym. Yeah. Cause I appreciate both of their skillset, which is, uh, is, is pretty unique and elite. Mine would be, and a lot of it's because I haven't seen much of him, right? He's a rookie. I've only really seen much of the summer league is Victor. When Binyama with how much of an athletic freak he is going up against the Greek freak and Giannis Antetokounmpa, I think that would be fun. I think it will be, um, I think Giannis will overpower and, uh, give him a few years, put on some weight might be a different story, but I think right now he's too light. So you know, this spurs a little bit and that's been one of the criticisms and Victor, when Binyama was there at the draft and he said, uh, I'm not going to bulk up.

That's not something that he's intending on doing. What could you kind of expect the early returns? You're one with pop for Victor. Um, I think the kid is going to have a, a solid season. I think he probably will win defensive player of the year. Um, probably as a rookie, I think he has the potential to do that. He's seven.

The kid is seven five. He's long, he's athletic. Um, I think, you know, when it comes down to it, he needs to put on a few sides. I don't know why they don't want to put any weight on, but I think putting 10 or 15 pounds on him of muscle will help him out tremendously.

I don't think it has sold him down at all. Um, but I, I expect him to be rookie of the year, Tracy McGrady here with us. Once again, the docu series comes out via Showtime on Friday, bonded by ball inside the OBL talking about the ones basketball league. Before we get back to the NBA, I know you had a big baseball background. You've said before growing up, people knew you more as a baseball player compared to a basketball player. If you never went down the road of going to the NBA and being a basketball player, how do you think we'd be talking about your right now as a baseball player? Uh, I think it would have been a great conversation of me playing major league baseball, you know, as a pitcher. Um, I had the potential, the talent was there, um, just needed, you know, some, some coaching, uh, the right, right coaching around me and anything was possible. You know, like I said, the talent was definitely there.

It was just a matter of, you know, me having the right, um, you know, coaches and the right structure around me to pursue that, that career. Talking to the hall of fame or T-back Tracy McGrady here on CBS sports radio. I saw what you said the other day about James Harden.

I absolutely agree with you. I have no heck, no clue what the heck he's doing. I think he's going to stay in Philly because it looks like no one else really wants him right now. And I wonder how that situation is going to go down when he doesn't want to be there and he'll probably still be there.

Game one. Yeah. That's going to be a tough pill for him to swallow. If he's trying to get out, you know, of that situation.

And then there's no, no, no, no takers for him. Um, you gotta go back. Gotta go in that locker room, not trying to leave those guys. It's like now do they accept you back in the locker room?

Do they, uh, question your ability of being there with them? Like it's, it's a lot of questions that needs to be answered. And James is the only one that can really answer those.

And then maybe his teammates may know why he wants to get out. We don't know about it. It can't be basketball. It can't be because you're on a championship continuing team.

So it's gotta be something deeper that we don't know about. And hopefully his teammates understand where he's coming from. And my biggest fear if I'm running the Sixers is when does Joel Embiid, I know he's kind of threw it out there a few weeks ago and then said, Oh, he was just trolling, but he's got a few more years left on the contract.

I wonder when he wants to get on out of there and try to force his way out to go be at a better position to win a championship. Yeah, that they lose your LMB. They're really in trouble. That has set them back. Um, you know, they got to continue to put the pieces around and keep that kid happy. You know, that's your MVP.

You can't, you can't allow him to walk away. Do you think, uh, Damian Lillard, Tracy McGrady eventually winds up in, in port, uh, in Miami to leave in Portland? I don't know, Zach.

I really don't know. Uh, for Dame's sake, I hope it happens. You know, I'm a Dame fan. I think what he's done important in the last 11 years is just being a great ambassador on and off the basketball court, represented them well. Um, he doesn't have that many years left to play at the level that he's been playing at.

I hope he gets the opportunity to play for a championship and that being in mind, I hope it happens. I saw what Paul Pierce said with you and Rachel Nichols. And I compare Paul Pierce kinda to like my uncle Freddy, where you just say wild things and we all just accept it and go, all right, yeah, sure.

But whatever, uncle Freddy, whatever Paul Pierce has to say, Miami, not getting out in a first round though, if they have Damian Lillard, what the heck was Paul talking about? Oh, Paul had to be trolling that day. It was early in the morning. We were out in Los Vegas as you see, we both had on shades.

It was an early morning for us. He was trolling. There's no way he really truly believed that.

And let's be real. He hates the Miami heat that has to step from that too. Yes, he does. As you can see his fuel is few with a D Wade is just continuously going on. So before we let you run, we'll talk about one's basketball league once again in just a second, but talking about Paul's, uh, team that he's most well known for the Celtics, they give Jalen Brown that monster $304 million contract. That's always great for a player, but you being a former player and knowing the type of player Jalen Brown is, what did you think about that when you saw it yesterday? I actually think it's well deserved. Jalen put up, you know, huge numbers, his team, um, you know, it was very successful not to work where they wanted to be.

I don't think, you know, they met their goals, but they've been successful over the years and he's been a huge, you know, contributed to that. Um, well-deserved is just, it's where the money is now, man, it's, it's, it's a lot of money going around, but it's top heavy for those top tier guys. And then the bottom guys, you know, you look at what Westbrook signed for. He's not no $2 million a year player, you know what I'm saying?

So it's, I'm happy for him, get it. And then before we let you run, if people haven't checked out one's basketball league yet, just what could they expect and, and why do you want people to, to give it a try? Yeah, I think, you know, everybody can't play in, in the NBA, right? You know, you only have 450, uh, players each year in the NBA. Everybody can't be on the G league roster. Um, but there are, you know, guys out here of talent that you don't know about that you should know about. They have a unique skill set and one-on-one basketball.

They're competitors. I think, uh, the platform that we created with OBL is a platform where you will love to sit for two and a half hours of watching great competitive basketball of some guys that you should know about in their skill set. So teaming up with a Showtime to do a four point, a four part docu-series is really highlighting one-on-one and highlighting, uh, the guys that participated in one-on-one and their unique skill set and their, their stories off the basketball court as well. So it's great. You should, you guys should check it out again, dropping this Friday, July 28th on Showtime and, uh, Paramount plus really do appreciate the time. Always great to catch up with you. Thanks for doing this. Thank you. Appreciate you Zach.