Harden Staying With The Sixers? (Hour 2)

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Less time shopping means more game time. Let's go. Visit Instacart.com to get free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. Alrighty, we continue our number two of our radio program. It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. What the heck is going to happen with the future of the Golden State Warriors? Bonta Hill's going to join us coming up 20 minutes from now to discuss. But first up, let's get to a little news brief right now. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. All eyes are on the Cincinnati Bengals. When are we going to find out the Joe Burrow contract extension details?

Not the rush to do it right now, but the more and more that you wait, the price only keeps on going up and up and up. Joe Burrow says he's conscious of other players needing contract extensions as well on the team. Yeah, it's definitely, you know, whenever you have guys on the team that need to be paid, that's always on your mind. You want that to be a focal point.

And so we're working to make that happen. I really wonder what the structure is going to be on that contract. Because if there's someone in the NFL right now that you kind of look at that should get that Mahomes type of deal, where you just give him 10 years right now or 12 years, whatever it is, and you just assume that it's worth it and okay, you go give him that long contract, it ends up being a bargain like the way that we look at the Mahomes deal now. Burrow is one of those players.

The only thing is, the Bengals organization always is synonymous with being like cheap and frugal. So you just wonder if they'd be willing to make a commitment like that for that many years. And what does Joe Burrow want to do? Does he want to just do a four year deal and quickly get back on the market four years from now and make even more and more money with the way that these contracts just keep on skyrocketing in price? I'll be very curious to see what Burrow does, just because every time there's a big contract given out, the conversation comes up, should the guy be like Tom Brady and should he take less? And a lot of people compare Burrow to Brady, so just naturally people go, oh, will Joe Burrow take less? Until I see someone take less, I'm going to believe that it doesn't happen, but how you structure it to help the team out is going to be something very compelling.

The key word, structure, I think you're 100% right. He's not going to take less, but Mahomes just showed you, you could still get your money and also at the same time have a team friendly deal where you have room to allow others to also get contract extensions and keep as much talent around you as you possibly can. You can't keep everyone, we saw with Tyra killing the Chiefs, but you can keep a lot of your guys under the same roof if you really blow it out years wise and still get your money that way, so kind of living in the best of both worlds situation. Well, they have to keep Jamar Chase, we know that.

Without a doubt. The big question comes down to, are you going to be able to keep T Higgins? And not only are you going to be able to keep T Higgins, is T Higgins going to want to be there? Because you sometimes get that feeling when you're a number two on a team, and that's what T Higgins is, and you get told you could be a number one wide receiver anywhere else.

It's like, okay, do you want to go be that number one guy? I don't know how much ego drives T Higgins, all of us do have an ego to some extent, but does he want to leave Cincinnati to go be that number one wide receiver? There was an article that came out today in the ringer, and right, it's Devante Adams, even though he's number one wide receiver in Green Bay, he's talking about as if he felt like he had to validate himself and go somewhere else to get out of the shadow of Aaron Rodgers, because there was this thought, I guess with some people, that Aaron Rodgers made Devante Adams, and what would Devante Adams be without Aaron Rodgers?

I don't know if that's how Devante Adams is just spinning this entire thing, but sometimes those little insecurities, those little thoughts do make you end up splitting a team, like look at Kyrie Irving, Kyrie Irving left LeBron because he wanted to go be the number one guy, and he failed miserably being the number one guy. So I don't think Jamar Chase is going anywhere, I don't think Joe Burrow is going anywhere clearly, the big question is can they find a way to keep T Higgins as well, and I think a big part of that hickey is if T Higgins is going to want to stay with the Bengals. You hear the way their GM Duke Tobin talks, he makes it seem like early on at least that they are going to do everything possible and feel confident in keeping him because he is on his last year of his deal, you would think okay maybe trade him just because you don't want to lose him for nothing, and he's basically telling you don't even call, we're not picking up.

I think that was at the scouting combine if I'm not mistaken. So he's making a strong stance at least that they feel confident, Higgins, Chase, Burrow, that trio is going nowhere anytime soon. Now the one luxury that they do have is that you can franchise tag him for two years if you wanted to. So I would think that the Joe Burrow deal does get done, and also remember Joe Burrow does have the fifth year option next year, so that's 2024, so you could if you want next year franchise tag T Higgins bare minimum. If you can't get a deal done then you can find a way to work on a trade with someone else. And obviously this, at least off season, you don't have to worry about a Jamar Chase contract extension, he's going into year number three so it's not like you're pressed where you got to get all three done in the same offseason.

Well let me throw one other caveat out there. If T Higgins does get franchise tag, would they give him the non-exclusive tag? I'm not saying that a team would definitely give up two first round picks, but would you at least let him try to go work out that deal somewhere else and you could either match it or if you don't want to match it you get back two first round picks for T Higgins.

Why not? If you're going to franchise tag him, at least give yourself the option where if someone wants to overpay and give you two first round picks, take it. That's what good organizations do and if anything the Raven just showed you, you can put the non-exclusive tag on, still get a deal done and have everyone be happy at the end. And here's the other part too, the Hopkins trade was such an outlier, it was just incompetence by the Houston Texans, but Devante Adams got traded for a first and a second, right? If memory serves me right with the Green Bay Packers?

Yes. And Tyree was a one and what? There was like five picks in there, it was like a one, a five, I think it was like everything but a two, it was like one, three, four, five or something like that. So you're not that far off from, like if Jalen Ramsey goes for two ones and Jamal Adams went for two ones, it wouldn't shock me with how much money teams invest now in wide receivers if a team would give up two first round picks for T Higgins, like I wouldn't be stunned by it. It would be a big price but it wouldn't stun me. I mean there's a difference between Devante Adams, Tyree Kill and T Higgins.

Oh yes. You could stomach giving up two first round picks for Tyree Kill or Devante Adams. But you're doing it based off potential, okay if he's the number one guy, the last years he had back to back 1000 yard seasons, his rookie year he was pretty damn close with 908 yards. You're going to obviously clearly believe at what, 24, 25 that he's going to be able to be that number one receiver.

You better believe it and you better be right. Let's go to Frank Reich. Frank Reich, do you miss Frank Reich by the way Hickey?

I know that you were a big Frank Reich apologist, you didn't think he deserved to be fired, you made all those excuses for Frank Reich. When you see Frank Reich in a Carolina Panthers hat, is that a little upsetting to you at all? I wouldn't say I miss him. I just thought he was a guy that yeah, it was more about the team than him but no, I don't exactly miss him or long for Frank Reich.

Yeah, all those bad first halves and not showing up in Jacksonville. Here's Frank Reich saying Andy Dandy Dalton will start team practices as QB 1. Yeah, Bryce will get a lot of reps. As we've said, when he's ready, when it's best for the team, that's when we'll look to make a transition. Right now, when we come back out one day Andy will be taking reps with the 1's, Bryce will be with the 2's. Bryce is going to get a lot of reps. Likely even get a few more than Andy, just as the new guy. And Andy, the good thing with Andy is he's logged a lot in in the last couple weeks and as a savvy veteran, he still needs to work but we'll focus on getting Bryce as the younger player. Focus on getting him as many reps as we can. Now it's a little bit of a different scenario because Bryce Young was the number one overall pick and you traded up all that draft capital to get him.

The Patriots took Mac Jones with the 15th overall pick. But when Cam was there and Mac went into camp, he wasn't given the number one reps at the start of practice. He did get some number one reps throughout practice.

That feels as if a little similar to what Frank Reich is doing now. Where it's so early, even though he's number one overall pick and everyone knows he's eventually going to start at some point this year and I think it will be week one. You want him to go out there and earn it and win over the respect and trust of that locker room.

That's the way that I just interpret that answer. He basically told you, yeah he's going to get reps, he's going to get reps but right now we're going to name Andy Dalton as the guy getting the QB one reps at the start of practice. I think it's just one of those steps in the process of winning over that locker room and becoming the guy in Carolina. You don't want to give him the keys without earning it and allow him to win it on the field and in practice but there's no doubt.

Week one was September 10th. No doubt he's going to be there as a starter. And also a little different than Kenny Pickett because he went later in the first round but I really hope that you're not throwing Andy Dalton out there for the first two or three weeks of the season as we had to sit there and watch Mitch Trubusky stink up the joint last year. But yeah, I would agree with you that you're going to see Bryce Young week one.

I think David Tepper may fire Scott Fitterer and Frank Reich on the spot if he's not starting week one. Isn't Bryce Young everything positive about him? Was like his knowledge of the game and he was right. He was the most NFL ready.

Everything, all the top positives was that he was made to start right away. Not like he needed time to marinate or learn from a veteran. This is football, tough guy, lingo, semantics. That's what this is right now. You got to earn it.

Everything's earned. Easy to say this in May. Let's go to Lebron James. Conference final start tonight. Lakers going to Denver. Lebron says the Nuggets team is better than the one that they faced in the bubble. They were a great deal. They're great now.

I think Joker has gone two more years under his belt. Jamal has gone back to his regular form after the injury. And the rest of those guys are playing an exceptional basketball. They're a really, really, really good team. Lebron and Anthony Davis respond to the question if they're playing with house money already having a championship under their belt.

This vander will say nah, nah, nah, nah. We're trying to win every hand. We're trying to win every hand.

That's your expectation, our expectation inside. That's pretty stupid to ask. Hickey, are they playing with house money?

We've never seen a playing team win a playoff series before. I don't think it's the dumbest question. I wouldn't have asked it personally. I don't think any team would say, yeah, we're playing with house money. Yes, you're 100% right, it's Lebron James, Anthony Davis every year is championship or bust.

I think that answer just highlighted. It's a dumb question. No, we're not thinking that.

It's a really dumb question. The Joker says the Nuggets are in a better position to beat the Lakers than the bubble. We are more experienced probably. We have been there before. We are maybe a little bit more focused, different environments. I think we are just more experienced, playing a little bit more together. A few years ago they were first breaking up on the scene and then you had Jamal Murray take it away. Now you got Jamal Murray back?

Of course they're better. And Joker's won two MVPs since then. And he has become a star in this league.

So yeah, they're better than where they were when they went up against the Lakers in the bubble. Let's go to Steve Kerr. He says he wants Draymond Green back next season. Of course he does. If Draymond's not back, we're not a championship contender.

We know that. He's that important to winning and to who we are. So I absolutely want him back.

I would disagree with that. I think you need to recreate being a championship contender in the Bay. And I don't believe when you try to recreate that roster and add new pieces to that roster, you have to retool now that it's essential to have Draymond Green on the roster. Let's listen up.

One more from Steve Kerr. He says Draymond Green needs to regain trust after the whole punch incident. He knows that he also compromised things by what happened back in October. And so part of him coming back next year has to be about rebuilding some of that trust and respect that he's earned here for a long period of time. I'm sorry, but that's a bunch of baloney. If he felt like he needed to regain that trust, you should actually punish him.

You should have actually showed him that he did something wrong. Instead, all Bob Myers does, and we don't know if Bob's going to be here next year, and Steve Kerr does is kiss his ass. And Steve Kerr did once get punched in the face by Michael Jordan. So it's one of those things, Hickey, where that's the first time I've actually heard them be a little bit critical of Draymond from the punch.

But I think that's just lip service at this point. I just don't get what the entire year basically gone by. Without directly saying it, that's him saying it was very unhealthy this year for Jordan Poole. And we screwed up by not. And that's probably why you've seen the reduced play from Jordan Poole. But there's nothing at this point you can do to fix that. Like a year later, I don't know what, punishing Draymond Green by how could he even regain that trust or build it back up after an entire year has gone by?

We talked about this yesterday. Steph can still win a championship, clearly. Jordan Poole is so important to them winning another championship because they already made the financial commitment. I would not be opposed if they found a way to move on from Draymond or Klay Thompson and what they've done in the past was great.

But you have to move on to go get another championship and you bring in and you find a way to bring in another star to then make a new kind of big three with the Golden State Warriors. Bonta Hill does radio out in the Bay Area for 95-7. The game is going to join us on the other side. Hickey, have that audio ready because I do want to play him that answer that we just played about Steve Kerr saying that Draymond needs to regain trust after the punch and get Bonta's reaction.

But come on back with Bonta Hill. You're listening to the Zach Geld Show. That was Steve Kerr on Draymond Green. It is the Zach Geld Show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's go out to the Bay Area right now and welcome in the host of the Morning Roast on 95-7.

The game in that, of course, is Bonta Hill. Bonta, I hear that and I just go, isn't that too little, too late, Steve Kerr talking about Draymond Green? Oh my gosh.

Well, it's funny, Zach, and it's good to be on with you. All morning long today we said, how could the punch not linger into the season and we had all these callers or all these, you know, all these roasters on the YouTube chat talking about, man, get over the punch. It's over. It's over.

And then Steve Kerr comes out and says that. So, if this leagered all season long and they weren't able to quite get over it, then how the heck do you bring both of these players back in the same locker room? What is going to happen over summer? Are they going to vacation together? Go to Cancun?

Go well, watch together? I don't know. I'm Jordan Poole. I want to get the heck out of here. I'm Draymond Green. I'm thinking, well, I don't know if I can yell at him anymore.

I don't have that voice. So, it's just, it's really surprising to me. And the question I keep coming back to is, how do you bring both these guys back in the locker room? Has Draymond Green run his course? He's a four-time champ.

I get it. Eleven years, he's going to say, well, he's going to get his jersey retired. He may even get a damn statue. But at some point, it's enough. Enough is enough.

Enough is enough. There's bigger problems than that, just with the Jordan Poole thing. But this is the Lakers series in itself. We're used to Draymond Green barking, hard fouls, physical basketball. Against the Lakers, a lot of water fans are saying, boy, we didn't see much of that. We saw him helping up Anthony Davis, helping up LeBron James, laughing with LeBron James.

What happened to the Saginaw Savage? What happened to the Saginasy from Draymond Green? So, a lot of people are down on Draymond Green right now in the Bay Area, despite him helping the team or this organization win four championships in the last nine years. This may be caught up in the moment, Bonta Hill, but I feel like Draymond would rather play with the Lakers next year than Golden State. Well, the Lakers probably won't want him. I mean, think about LeBron James.

Yeah, wouldn't it make sense? He wants shooters. I mean, the Lakers literally, whether it's Anthony Davis or LeBron James, said, Draymond, you can go ahead and shoot it from the top of the key. We are not going to guard you. Heck, you can even take a 10-foot jumper.

We're still not going to guard you. So, LeBron James will say, yeah, we're buddies, but I've got my guy. I'm not going to a guy who won't shoot the basketball. Listen, in the Sacramento Kings series, what flipped it was Draymond Green going to the bench, and the Warriors playing a one-big lineup. So, Draymond going to the bench, and I know he got all these headlines about his humility or whatnot. It was their right choice whether Draymond Green was in on it or not. They needed to go to a one-big lineup with Kavon Looney, who, by the way, in that game that Draymond was just spinning in the Kings series, game number three, Looney dropped nine assists. So, how valuable is Draymond Green to this organization? I give Steve Kerr saying we're not a championship caliber team without Draymond Green, but I don't know. I don't know if you got other pieces because the NBA's played so wide open now with five out, everybody on the three-point line.

You need threats. You can maybe get away with four on five, which the Nuggets get away with, with Aaron Gordon, but you can't play three off five. And what I mean by that is having Looney and Draymond in the lineup or GP2 or Draymond in the lineup, you're basically playing two-dodge shooters.

That's not going to fly in today's NBA. And I'm not saying it's an easy decision because I get a lot of teams struggle. Do you pay a player based off past production, or is it for what you think he's going to do in the future?

And sometimes it's a mixture of both, but the past actions could end up winning out. There's no doubt in my mind, Jordan Poole is more critical to the Warriors winning another championship with Steph Curry than it is Draymond Green going into the future. Well, it certainly feels like it, and we don't even know about that now after what happened this season. I mean, Jordan Poole averaged eight points a game in that Lakers series, shot 34% and another 25 for the three-point line. I mean, he was an absolute shell of himself.

So I get it. He wants to start. His start bid splits. I mean, he averaged 25 a game when he started this season. He averaged 15, we had to ride the pines and wait for others to check in before him. So, uh, Jordan Poole is one of the few guys on his team that can get to the free throw line.

He could blow by his man, he could create for others, but he just felt a little, it just, the whole, the entire vibe, the way he played, that was basically a microcosm of the team. Not knowing when he's going to play, having his role changed weekly. Oh, hey, this game, we need you to be a facilitator. Wait, this game, we need you to be a scorer. Wait, this game, we need you to start next to Steph. Oh wait, Steph's hurt. So you've got to start next to Kawhi. Oh wait, you're going to come off.

You're not going to start and you're going to play with all these different combinations. I mean, he really, from the punch to the season, he had a lot on this play today. And actually, I genuinely feel bad now.

It's tough for me to feel bad for a million years back, but I mean, I kind of feel for Jordan Poole after what he went through this season. Well, yeah, if we were coworkers and I punched you in the face and management did nothing to me, I wouldn't expect you to perform at your best because just naturally as a human being, Bonta, it's tough to move on from what occurred. Yeah, no, if we did a radio show together, you'd punch me and our show would be over. Straight up. I'd be in jail.

You know, it'd be all bad. So poor Jordan Poole, man, I mean, he was a show and then he's got to go online. That's the worst part about social media. You know, these kids are on social media and there's cartoons of him getting punched by Jerry Montgomery.

There's the NBA 2K7 meme or the 2K2 meme with him with a black eye in his player profile. I'm like, geez, Louise, this guy can't get away from it. Not to mention the TMZ video.

I probably has over 50 million views now. I mean, it was a tough ride for Jordan Poole. And again, I keep going back to how can you possibly bring these two back in the same locker room? How would Jordan Poole want to change the scenery? He's got his bag. He's going to make twenty seven million next year. He goes from three and a half, four million to twenty seven.

Maybe he just says, dude, I want to change the scenery. I can't play in the same locker room with this guy. So it's going to be very interesting to see how the Warriors move in the next few weeks. Well, I got two questions off that. Is Bob Meyers going to be back next year? And then based off how you view that answer, who do you think it's more likely that's back on this Warriors team next year?

Is it Draymond Green or Jordan Poole? Well, the Bob Meyers question is very interesting. I mean, we don't know. We honestly don't know.

I feel like he's very conflicted. I've heard rumors about him. You know, maybe, you know, the Clippers job may become open at some point. There's a few jobs, a few teams that want him out there.

I don't know. I know he's from the Bay Area. He's a really good dude. We love him out here. He's humble. He's kept this thing together. He's one of those major voices in that locker room. But right now, I would say it's 50 50.

I think the guy may be leading Bob. That is, maybe leading towards just taking a break and taking a step back for a second. I mean, this dynasty run. Think about it, starting back when they first made the playoffs in 2012, 2013. You go through that saga. You win the first championship.

You lose in 2016. Draymond gets a spinner for game five. You watch game five with Draymond Green in the suite at the Oakland A's game. By the way, they had over 2,000 people in the stands that day. Go figure.

And then you go through the Kevin Durant saga and then you go through punch game. I mean, it's just been a lot for Bob. So I don't know if he's going to be back. I honestly believe it's a 50 50 call. If you ask me today and it can change in an hour, I would lead that he's not coming back. As far as Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, sounds like they're going to bring Draymond Green back. Draymond Green obviously has the opt-in option. He can opt out and become a free agent or he can opt in for the 27 million. And by the talks to Steve Kerr, by the talks to everybody in the organization, it sounds like Draymond Green is going to be back. So what does that mean for Jordan Poole? If they keep Jordan Poole and Draymond Green, that tax bill, they're going to be paying basically 500 million dollars for a roster that could get past the second round.

Joe Lincoln's been on record saying, I don't want to see the bill get up to 500 million dollars. Well, that's what we're playing with here. If you keep the same roster. So I might guess if I had to pick one, it'd be Jordan Poole moving on because of the nostalgia and because of the championship. So Draymond Green has helped win. And of course, it's that number 30 guy, Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. He watched Draymond Green here.

Draymond Green is not going anywhere. And that's also another part of this conversation when you talk about the emotions of Bob Myers. That's why I think he's going to depart this offseason because you have to know down deep him knowing this roster and these guys better than anybody that you have to break up this core to go win another championship. And I don't think Bob has it in him to break up this core with all the memories that they've built.

Oh, it's great. It's a very fair point. It's a very fair point because if you do break it up, there's fans split down the middle. There's a lot of fans out here in the Bay Area that are down on Jordan Poole and want them out of here, which is a surprise because just a year ago, we're all having pool parties and throwing suntan lotion on our nose and saying, oh, we can't get enough of Jordan Poole. Mr. Money Time. And now because of what Draymond has accomplished here, all the awards, the All-Stars, the accolades, he is one of the trusted agents.

He's a main man here in the Bay Area. So whoever has to make that decision will be ridiculed right now. Joe Lake of the older who's fitted all this money and important amount of money, right?

I mean, that's what we want from our donors. We want our owners to spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, and he's done that. And yet he still gets crucified out here because of the youngsters and some of the decisions that have been made with the youngsters here. So it's a fair point that Bob probably doesn't want to be tasked with that. It's a hard decision. I mean, Bill was in it back in the day where he would get rid of guys a year too early. The giants, the giants were Brendan Crawford and Brent Buster Posey.

A lot of us felt like they held onto that trio too long and they went through some dark times from 2017, 18, 19, and 2020. So it could be a fair point. That could be the sticky point there that Bob says, you know what, I'm going to walk away from this. Do what you want to do, Joe. If you need to break it up, break it up.

And I don't want that blood on my hands. I love Klay Thompson. Let me preface it that way, Bonta Hill, but him moving forward as a player, what is he going to be the next few years?

What is he going to be next year? Cause it's a shame. I, you know, the injuries definitely play a factor, you know, he still could be a very good player in this league, but you just don't, you're not intimidated by Klay like you once were. You know, it was a really sad series against the LA Lakers. I mean the last four games, he averaged one 11 points a game. He shot 25, 24% and three, I think he was like eight of 30 David LA, or maybe the last three games could have a book. It wasn't good. It was not good. But he did that game too.

And that was about it. Um, as a player, I still think he will as a third or fourth option to the offense. If he's a starter, I still think he will put pressure on defense is because of the way he shoot.

Let's not forget. He led the league at threes this year with 301. Um, he had a great month of January, the month of February or two of his best three months of his career when he was asked to carry the team, but a shot selection, I mean, think about the end of game for us, like, Klay, what are you doing?

What are you doing? Um, if his IQ, his ball handling has never been worse, so we can't create off the dribble. I mean, the dribbles worse.

I may, we may have better handles at clay tops. Don't go that far. No, yeah, I'm a big fella in the paint. That's about it. Yeah. Yeah. I throw elbows dribble.

Yeah. Clay, clay will cross me over. So if you don't know what I'm saying, there you go, there you go.

You stop it. I just, uh, uh, no, no clay could be a fourth option to the office. Look, the league is all about three foot shooting. He could still do that at a high, high level. He can't guard in the perimeter like he used to.

Um, he's not 28 years old. The injuries have taken a lot out of them. Steve curve mentioned today that he wants him to come into better shape in the training camp.

And I get it. Clay Thompson didn't want to work out last summer because of what happened to previous summers. You know, shared his ACL or excuse me, in a final chair today, CEO, but in a summer run with the day of the draft, he chairs his Achilles, like he didn't want to go through it.

So I get all that. He needs to be the fourth option into the office and defensively, he, he's no longer guarded the air Fox. He's, he's no longer got guarded Donovan Mitchell's and Jamal Burys. He has to guard bigger guys, maybe in the post, maybe on the perimeter, but he was not the same guy with that said, he could still give you 18, 19 and game, but he just needs to be the third or fourth option in the office. He could no longer be the second guy.

Bonta Hill. Last thing I'll ask you, what do you say to people that believe that this warrior's dynasty is finally done and over with? I asked him and Stephen Curry is still on the team.

That's what I asked him. There's number 30 still on the team. If you're not watch Stephen Curry dropped 50 in the game seven in Sacramento, then we not want to drop a magnificent triple double because the LA Lakers and like his efficiency was down in that series, but who else was shooting?

Who else had anything going? I mean, you think about all the ball pressure he faced in both series against the Kings and the Lakers face intruder and Fox and Davion Mitchell and, and, and also reads that time to Jared Vanderbilt garden, have 94 feet and did the way he had to expand his energy on defense. The thing with the Lakers, a deal abroad got the rest on defense. Curry was basically played every single second and due to the lack of trust into the bench players, he had to play heavier minutes.

He was in the forties, a lot of these games here in the playoffs. So as long as Steph is there, you still have a top five, top 10 player in this league. The dynasty is not over until he sets us over. So Steph will be fine. The warriors will be fine. They'll figure out a way to retool.

We just don't know who's going to be back, but I do. I do believe the windows still open consider, look at the Western conference. The Lakers are a 17. They may bounce to different dockets.

Nobody's afraid of the different dockets. Phoenix is a mess. The Clippers are a mess. The Memphis Grizzlies are a joke.

They can't keep their franchise player from keeping a firearm with his pants or whatnot. You know what I'm saying? So the Kings are still young, they're there, they're coming, but the West is wide open for the foreseeable future.

So I, I, this window's not closed whatsoever as long as number 30 is played at the level he's at. I think your best argument honestly is what happened a year ago. They didn't play great and they were still able to win a championship. There you go.

There you go. So I, I, I mean, they're fine as long as Steph Curry's played at this level. Andrew Wiggins is still a dominant player. I know he missed 25 straight games, but you saw them in the playoffs. Man, before that rib and jury, 25, seven and five, a two way guy, they have pieces to make another run. I like Looney as a five, um, maybe not for 30 minutes a game, but 20 to 25, he rebounded his ass off.

The lawyers are fine. They'll figure out a way to retool. And then one thing about Joe Lake of having an owner like that, which I don't get what somebody said on why they really cool. Joe Lake of is that he will do whatever it takes to spin and win games. That's his priority. Number one is to win basketball games and he would do everything. We call him, we call him the modern day, Eddie DeBartolo with Eddie DeBartolo was running the 49ers. He did whatever it took to get star players to get big day players to try to win super balls.

So Joe Lake will continue to try that the wires would be fine, but no doubt. There's a very interesting off season coming up for these guys and I'll be here to see who's out, who's in, who's out, who gets traded because it should be a lot of movement with his basketball team. That summer. Bonta Hill does a great job hosting the morning roast on 95, seven, the game always enjoy when he joins us. Bonta. Thanks so much. You be well.

All right. He will come on back. And when we do return, we'll talk about the future of James Harden and we inch closer and closer to finding out who's going to get the number one overall pick to get Victor when Benyama as the NBA draft lottery does come your way in about 20 minutes or so.

And the reason why I say or so, cause they usually drag this thing out, but the TV part of the program is supposed to start at 8 PM Eastern, 5 PM Pacific. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show, Zach Gelb show, CBS sports radio, doc rivers out with the one, two, three, four, five Sixers, 10, nine, eight 76ers. What's the future for James Harden?

That's the question. And there's a lot of reports about James Harden. I still can't get over the lingering reports about midway through the season and then throughout of James Harden winding back up in Houston, which with how ugly it was with how that ended with him in H-town. And then you get Brian Geltziel who's covered the NBA for a long time tweeting out yesterday with free agency pending for James Harding. I'm hearing there is another team prominently on his radar. In addition to Houston, that team, the Phoenix Suns, and then clearly you have the theory today, doc rivers, and we know James Harden, it's been documented.

They did not get along. And you see one of the names of the candidates for the Sixers to replace doc rivers is Mike D'Antoni, someone that has a long history and a good relationship with James Harden. So I would imagine it's, those are the three teams that are going to enter the mix and the sweepstakes, if you want to call them that, I don't think the reward is all that great anymore, bringing in James Harden.

And I'm trying to figure out which one is the most likely as Hickey. Like I don't believe that he winds up in Houston. I know where there's smoke, there has to be a fire and there's been a lot of smoke with him going back to Houston. But if I'm the Rockets, I know they have a young roster, we'll see what happens tonight with the draft lottery. They just brought an email to coach that team. I don't think it makes sense to bring in a player like James Harden, who I think it's safe to say Hickey, when you have a lot of younger players on that roster is not this great role model. If one of doc rivers biggest gripes with them was his lack of commitment and how much going out and all these trips that he goes on and, and all the partying that he does and with how it ended in Houston and how much he just dribbles, dribbles, dribbles. It's like, do you really want to bring that in when you're trying to turn this team around and you have a lot of young players on the roster? That wouldn't make sense to me. I could see why he would want to go back maybe because he wants to just be back in the area and he doesn't really care, I guess, about winning a championship for going back to Houston.

But from a Rockets standpoint, I don't get why you would bring him back. I would absolutely agree. It makes no sense. I think is a disagree.

But I will. I guess the reasoning is that it seems like Tillman Fertitta did not want to trade James harder when he traded them in was a 2020 right or 2021, whatever was and kind of open the door of Hey, when you leave, basically the doors always open for you to come back. And you see that the Rockets ever since they traded them and even those what eight games he was there when he was mailing it in to say the least.

They were terrible. Look, I'm not saying this is right, I'm just saying I think there's some heartstrings being pulled and it's more of a motion of, hey, not only is James harder coming back, we're going to then go back to the old days when we were competing for championships. I think that is still the thoughts. Because as last time you saw him there, that was where the team was compared to realizing in 2023 that old James Harden, the MVP James Harden, first of all, was long gone. And second of all, sure, you're in the mix, but never really close to winning a championship because anytime you needed James Harden to come through, he felt I actually believe the sun's part. I have a tough time envisioning the Rockets, but I can see the sun's and I don't think it's crazy because you have a young aggressive owner, Matt ish Bia, who's trying to make a mark on this league.

And I don't know how you make it work with the luxury tax and all that stuff. You have Durant, you have Devin Booker, but I'm just talking about not necessarily dollars and cents, but if it makes sense from a basketball standpoint, we know James Harden has a good relationship with Kevin Durant. The reason why that ended in Brooklyn wasn't because of him being annoyed with Kevin Durant, it was because he was annoyed with Kyrie Irving. So I could see when you need more depth on that team and you need more offensive production and Chris Paul, there's reports maybe he's going to wind up with the Los Angeles Clippers or he's going to get dealt or he's going to go somewhere else this off season.

You know, DeAndre Aiden is not going to be back on this team as well. If you need a quick guy to bring in who could still be productive and gets along with KD, I could absolutely see James Harden with an aggressive owner, Matt ish Bia, KD kind of given it his blessing winding up with the Phoenix Suns. He barely played in Brooklyn to his credit when the three were healthy, they actually played pretty well.

And I also think this was lost on it. When he first got to Brooklyn, he was a good teammate. He listened and he let Kyrie do whatever he wanted and eventually to James Harden's credit, he realized that Kyrie just was not committed and was a little cuckoo. And settled into the role of a pass first point guard, which he would then adopt to go into Phoenix where it would be the Devin Booker and Kevin Durant show in terms of the two guys taking the most shots and not needing James Harden to put up a big game like the Sixers needed him to do in game six or game seven and him not following through.

At this point, any team that has a championship in mind, I have waved the white flag in terms of trusting James Harden, even as a third option. But he's not a finisher. That makes sense.

To come in and help him out. But he's not a finisher there. That's why Durant and Booker are obviously the two guys that you would go to in a crucial spot. That's why I wouldn't have a problem and actually would expect it to be Phoenix, but it may come down to also this. These reports are the Rockets, I think maybe like maybe the Rockets are interested. It doesn't make sense to me.

So maybe I'm separating what will happen and what should happen. The Suns, that report was pretty clear that it was James Harden who was interested. We don't know if the Suns for sure are actually going to be interested. All it said was the free agency pending for James Harden hearing there is another team probably on his on on his radar. In addition to Houston, that team is the Phoenix Suns.

That's coming from his side, his camp. I would think the Suns are interested, but we don't know with all certainty. So let's say the Suns aren't interested in Hickey. He may end up still getting his way where he gets all this money. And even though he doesn't go to Houston or the Suns, he still gets paid.

And he still in some way has control. Because you know, Daryl Morey is going to be begging to get James Harden back because he has no other plan. And watch, you'll have D'Antoni, Harden and Morey all in Philadelphia. And if that's the case, if I'm Joel Embiid, process out, I'm done, peace. But I kind of feel as if it's going to result the other way that if they don't get Harden back then Embiid's going to request a trade. And as we talked about yesterday, I don't think that's the end of the world if you're a Sixers fan because as great as Joel Embiid can be, you're not winning a championship with him because he only has two to three more years left probably of a championship window in Philadelphia.

They've been stuck in this second round for a while. And I don't see and I don't trust Daryl Morey making the moves with what we've seen the last few years and also what he did in Houston to get this team over the hump and get them to where they want to go. Listen, if you're down more, maybe you're rooting for Joel Embiid to request a trade, trade him down, get Clint Capella back up and let's really, again, run the Rockets back here. Now you got your center, you got Harden, you got D'Antoni, you got Tucker, you got... Chris Paul could be available this summer.

Come on. Even though Chris Paul and Harden at the end didn't see eye to eye with all those stories about the poker games, Russell Westbrook could be available as well this summer. Let's just put like three different generations of Rockets teams in the last like five years that all failed. Put them all together in Philly. You know what Daryl Morey deserves? You trade Harden and you get Westbrook, Harden and Chris Paul, all three of them.

Right now like a four guard, one center set. I would feel terrible for the great fans of Philadelphia because they deserve better. But you're not going to win with Daryl Morey.

It's just not going to happen. But probably the most likely destination for James Harden is staying in Philly and Mike D'Antoni will be his coach. And if that's the case, I'll projectile vomit because that would be sickening.

It would be gross hickey. That would be... But tell me I'm wrong. I do not think they'll hire Mike D'Antoni. Okay. But do you think James Harden most likely will be back in Philadelphia next year?

I will say yes. That's a problem. So and then you can easily say, well, if you don't bring back Harden, what happens? It's a fair point. But if your goal is to win a championship with Embiid, you got to get Harden out the building because even though Harden was great in games one and game four, he was checked out in game six and then also game seven as well. This is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a time out when we come on back. We are inching closer and closer to the victor when Benyama sweepstakes, aka the draft lottery.