On today’s episode, Jason discusses the idea of Aaron Rodgers joining the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason, why the Saquon Barkley extension proves once again that the Philadelphia Eagles have the best front office in the NFL, why he believes that few players in NBA history are more overrated than Kyrie Irving and whether or not Kevin Durant still impacts winning in a major way.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire. What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Straight fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre, straight by here
for Wednesday, March the fifth. Almost forgot what day. It
was great night on the gambling front again. You gotta
follow me on ig. But Lakers first quarter cash easy, folks.
You know if you have them, been paying attention. They've
(00:31):
cashed thirteen of their last fifteen first quarter bets. They
are overwhelming people out of the gate with Luca and Lebronte.
There is not enough tape on them yet for teams
to be ready. And man, another phenomenal performance from the Lakers,
just destroying the Pelicans for much of the game. Obviously,
you know they let their guard down late. But this
(00:53):
is just a really good team. We'll get we'll get
to the NBA. I just need to get that bet
out of the way first. And how about Texas, say,
and I'm taking down yes as a five point dog,
taking down number one Auburn. Nice win. March VanNess is
nearly upon us. We'll start in the NFL, mostly because
I'm excited for Robb G's Raiders. You know Rob g
is Raiders. My Jets. It's been a rough go. However,
(01:15):
I saw quotes from Max. I don't know why I
has two xes in his name, Max, but m a
xx Crosby is excited about the potential of Aaron Rodgers. Now,
the last time Max Crosby spoke up about a personnel move,
it was keeping their head coach, and as you guys know,
it did not go well for Antonio Pierce. Max Crosby
(01:38):
pounding the table. We need to keep Pierces, we need
to get They ran him after a year. Okay, he
was the interim guy filled in admirably, and you know,
I think it was DeVante Adams and Crosby and one
other player. Rob can probably remember. It went went to
like dinner with the owner and we're like, we need
to keep Antonio Pierce. He's our guy, and then obviously
he was not their guy. So I don't know, Rob,
(02:00):
just let's get this out of the way early. As
the resident Raiders fan, do you want ar fifteen aka
Aaron Rodgers aka Toe Rogan? Do you want him quarterbacking
your Raiders next season?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
One thousand percent?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes, Oh I did not expect that.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Look, Aaron Rodgers had a mediocre season last year. Okay,
he was tied excuse me, ranked thirty first the NFL
with an adjusted QBR forty eight point one. He was
tied for twenty first in the NFL with a passer
rating of ninety point five, and he threw eleven picks,
which is only the fourth time in his career that
(02:41):
he's at double digit i iNTS. And even with all
that said, he would be leaps and bounds better than
anything the Raiders had last season and realistically could have
this upcoming season. Unless you're one of those people who
believes all this smoke coming out of the Combine that
Shador Sanders falling like a rock in the NFL draft,
(03:01):
no way, I don't believe that either.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So it comes down to, and we talked about this
a little bit yesterday. Do you believe that Sam Darnold
is the guy closer to the first fourteen games as
opposed to the last two in Minnesota? I personally don't.
Do you believe that Kirk Cousins coming off with torn
achilles and a horrible season in Atlanta is better than
(03:26):
Aaron Rodgers? I don't. If you believe that the Pittsburgh
Steelers are gonna go with Justin Fields over Russell Wilson
and all those moonballs. Again, I don't think that's happening.
I think they're gonna go with rus and it's gonna
be Fields or Rogers. In that case, give me Rogers.
We have a seventy three year old head coach. We
are not in the position to draft and develop Jackson
(03:48):
Dart or somebody like that in the second round. We
need a quarterback. And if that means and I know
this is you know, way down the line, if this
means getting Aaron Rodgers also means you can bring back
Davante Adams because there package deal.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh you think Adams would go back there?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I don't know. I've seen crazier things happening in sports. Yes, right, yeah,
the men and Lebron went back to Cleveland. All that
stuff about hey, you can't burn bridges and go back
that's got out the window because last I recall, Dan
Gilbert wrote a comic sans letter calling him a false
king and saying that they were gonna win a camp
before he ever.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Did he say false kids.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yes, it was something like it was ridiculous. So yeah,
I mean, if if Aaron Rodgers, in all seriousness, is
willing to come to the Raiders. I don't know why
you would say.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
No, yeah, no, it makes him relevant. And that's how
I felt about the Jets. I was like, could we
get Lamar Jackson? Remember Lamar Jackson was unhappy. You were
the one, mom, You were the only one who was
saying that, come to the Jets, Jets, go get Lamar Jackson,
and they weren't listening to you. I don't get it. Well,
I mean, I don't think the Ravens were ever gonna
really willing to lose Lamar Jackson. That being said, it's like,
(04:51):
come on, man, like, if we could take Lamar Jackson
as prime or old ass Aaron Rodgers, I think that's
a no brainer. And the Jets ended up Rogers after
his Darkness retreat. I don't know, are you just willing
to handle Rob all the nonsense that comes with Rogers?
Him doing podcasts, him doing radio hits where he's paid
and incentivized to say inflammatory shit and get people fired up?
(05:14):
Like do you even want that? I just it's just
a lot, Like I know this sounds real dumb, but
in the NFL, I just I don't. I don't want
all the nonsense off the court stuff that the NBA
has I love it in the NBA, but in the NFL,
I just don't think it works. I mean there's a
history of none of it working anywhere. Yeah, in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Think back to back to the Browns. Remember Baker Mayfield
and Odell like it. Just even Odell Beckham, you know,
did not work.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
In an ideal world. No, you don't want all that
stuff to happen. What I will say is this, and
I can't believe it coming full circle on this one.
Aaron Rodgers got entirely too much blame for what went
wrong with the New York Kids. Woody Johnson, He's the
guy to blame for world long the New gets. There's
a reason why the NFLPA and that report card. He
was the only owner to receive an F across the
(06:05):
board from his team because rather than be an owner,
rather than be a boss, rather than be the man
in charge, he said, I'm gonna give over the team
to Aaron Rodgers. I'm going to allow Aaron Rodgers to
overpay for Alan Lazar, to bring in Randall Cobb, to
trade a third round pick for Devonte Adams, knowing what
(06:28):
his cap number was that upcoming off season to allow
him to bring in Nathaniel Hackett, who could not coach
his wead of a brown paper bag anywhere in the NFL,
to be the offensive coordinator when we all know the
only success yeah was in Green Bay and Matt Lafleur
was calling the plays over there. He decided, our team
has been so bad for so long, we just want
(06:49):
to be relevant. Aaron Rodgers lead us to the Promised Land.
And I drank the kool aid and I was like, yeah,
you know, Rogers, it's backfiring because he doesn't really know
what he's doing and no player in football should be
giving that much power. So if he does come to
the Raiders, number one, you got Pete Carroll in town,
and Pete Carroll is, for all of his faults, is
(07:11):
a manly man, like he's looking at the guy who's
gonna be walked all over by anybody. And number two,
Aaron Rodgers, point blank period, does not have more gravita
than Tom Brady. And I don't even like Tom Brady. Yeah,
but there there is no world where Tom Brady where
Aaron Rodgers can come in and say I need X,
Y and Z if I'm gonna be your quarterback, and
(07:33):
Tom Brady's gonna give it up to him. So I
would be more open minded to the idea of Rogers
coming in still doing his McAfee hits, still doing his
bizarre ayahuasca retreats, and so on and so forth, because
I don't think ultimately it's gonna go into such a
tailspin like the way I did in New York.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That was the biggest news. Obviously, DeVante Adams released by
the Jets, and now this Aaron Rodgers chatter. So it's
it's pointing to the Raiders. I don't know. I gotta
wait to see it to believe it. The other NFL
news was Saquon Barkley. This is just what the smart
Eagles do. So they gave saquoner deal. After just one year,
they tore it up and gave him a new deal,
making him the highest paid running back in the league.
If the Eagles have taught you nothing, it's pay your
(08:13):
guys early. They pay Jalen Hurts early done, got it
out of the way, paid them a lot. But guess what,
his contract doesn't even look bad now two years later. Right,
You've got to pay your guys early. The horses. I'm
just telling you. They moved off Bradbury this week, quietly.
They moved off Darius big place Lay and guess what,
they got other bags in their club. I'm sorry, They've
(08:34):
got other clubs in their bag. They got the young
kid Mitchell, they got Cooper de Jean. They have another
young kid facing on his name. But like, they've drafted
so well that they're ready. If Josh Wett moves on,
ain't no thing. We got Nolan Smith, we drafted him.
If the linebacker, the guy who was Zach Bond, if
he moves on, he's gonna get paid by somebody. Hey,
you know what, We're good. We've got backups. They just
(08:56):
draft so well, they're so smart. I love everything about
these Eagles. Man and paying Saquon Barkley, I commend that.
By the way, how much does this have to hurt
the New York Giants. Rob did not want to pay
saque so they let him walk. He goes to the Eagles,
leads the NFL and rushing wins the Super Bowl, and
then gets a humongous contract. Like if you're the Giant,
(09:17):
if you're a Giants fan, you just got to be like,
what the hell man, how badly did we screw this up?
And I don't want to hear well, even if we
kept him, it wouldn't have worked. No, you screwed up badly,
you guys. Kind of Sequon was like, okay for a
little bit, he kept getting hurt, but he was fine.
And now he goes and he looks like, how do
they let this guy go? It's just insane. It's almost
like Luka Doncic, who's cooking with the Lakers and meanwhile
(09:40):
the Maps thought he was fat and he was doing
too much hookah and he would like to drink. And now, oh,
by the way, the Lakers they may never lose another game.
Rub I don't know, like, stop being dumb and move
don't move off stars, guys, don't don't be stupid.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, it seems pretty straightforward. And it's funny with Saquon Barkley. Now,
when I first saw the deal, my first thought was
this is going to age horribly because you know, I
don't know if people know this. Saquon Barkley led the
NFL by a wide margining yards before contact. That offensive
line was, you know, creating holes that that you and
I could run through and get three yards like that,
(10:15):
that's what they were doing there in Philadelphia. And then
you take a step back and you're like, oh, he
had over two thousand yards in sixteen games last season.
He rushed for an NFL record five and four yards
regular m postseason, breaking through All Davis a record. He
became the third player in NFL history to lead the
league in rushing and win the Super Bowl in the
(10:36):
same season. He was a Pro Bowler, first Team All
proff was the player there, all of these accolades, and
then you remember, oh, Howie Roseman says, I think they
may have been the single greatest season by a steel
player in NFL history, And you're like, oh, okay, well
that's why you pay him, because you know, at some
point the cap is the cap, and that's going to
(10:57):
be adjusted at some point. Right, Like you mentioned, you
pay a guy earlier, pam too late. You'd rather be
ahead of the curve at some point, even if that
deal does look bad four years from now when he's,
you know, touching thirty. There's something to be said about
rewarding a guy for a job well done, and few
guys did a better job this past season than Sakuon Barkley.
(11:18):
So kudos of the Eagles. Man, they're there ahead of
the game, more so than most teams in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
No, no, you're You're spot on. And now I know
there is a line to draw. Obviously the Lakers went
over it when they paid Kobe everything and they had nothing.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
But you're right.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I reward guys for a job well done. It looks good.
And guess what, every free agent around the league is
going to see that and be like, geez, look o,
they're taking care of their guys. All right, let's pivot
to the NBA real quick.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
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listen live.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I'm trying not to go to negative here. Okay, the
guy just got hurt. His season's over. He's probably not
coming back. Kyrie Irving until like January of twenty twenty six.
I'm not even kidding, Like, Kyrie's gonna be out a
while with this acl he's older, Like this is the
kind of injury that, yeah, it's gonna take a while
(12:15):
to come and you don't want to rush back from
So I was reading articles about the Dallas Mavericks being cursed.
So it's been like about a month, thirty thirty two days,
somewhere in that range of when they traded Luca, and
like everything's gone sideways. They trade Luca, Kyrie's done for
the season. You've got Ad getting hurt in his first game,
You've got a fan rebellion. It's just a total disaster. Okay.
(12:36):
Of course, when your GM trades Luca and then comes
out and says we're positioned to win down in the future,
you're like, okay, maybe, and now it's like, yeah, no,
it's not happening. And Rob got me started with this whole, Like,
you know, he has a take on Kyrie. I'll let
you guys hear his take in a little bit. But
and again, I'm not trying to be negative because the
(12:57):
guy just got hurt. But something I just gotta I
gotta talk about this because you guys know, I have
never been the hugest Kyrie fan. So he went number
one overall, goes to Cleveland, doesn't win a damn thing.
I don't think he could win thirty games when he
was by himself. Lebron comes back, they win an epic title.
Then he gets pissed that Lebron's the man, goes to Boston,
(13:19):
can't get along with Jason Tatum and company. The young guys,
get me the hell out of here, goes to Brooklyn,
drags Kevin Durant there. Kyrie has like the Sideways season
maybe two or three year run of his life. Apparently
there was some off court stuff with the next girlfriend,
and then remember COVID hit and he kind of got
(13:40):
a little wacky with burning stage in the locker room.
James Harden's like, what the hell did I get myself into?
It was just awful for Kyrie. Then he goes to Dallas,
a little older, a little wiser. Now he's got the
I don't know if his wife girlfriend lockdown. I think
he has a kid. I think, I'm not sure. And
he becomes the ideal number two to Luka Doncic and
(14:02):
they are cooking and then the mass train him and
now he's heard again, and I'm looking this up. I
guarantee you you could not answer this question. And I
tested Robin. He did not get it correctly. So all
NBA is the prestigious award basically, are you the best
at your position? Now they've kind of done away with positions.
(14:23):
But basically, are you one of the best players in
the league or not done away with positions? But they've
kind of done away with the whole Are you a
center or power forward?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So uh, let's see. Jason Tatum has been First Team
All NBA four times. SGA has been First Team All
NBA twice. Steph Curry has been First Team All NBA.
I don't know five or six times.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Do you know how many times Kyrie.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Irving has been First Team All NBA AKA one of
the two best guards in the league. The answer is zero.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Zero?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Okay. Do you know how many times Kyrie Irving has
been first second Team All NBA. The answer is one,
Third Team All NBA twice. So he's got three All
NBA nods in his career. Okay. To put things in perspective,
Damian Lillard has seven All NBA nods. Okay, seven for
(15:23):
Dame Lillard. Devin Booker has two. Okay, he's on his
way up. Now. I know they've changed some of the rules.
You got to play a certain amount of games. I
don't think that totally matters. Essentially, we have criminally overrated
Kyrie Irving, who has not won anywhere anything except for
with Lebron Andy at one shot in Game seven.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Now, Why do we view Kyrie Irving as if he's
some kind of Alan Iverson, which is not. Alan Iverson
took a sixers ragtag team with who is it like
ken babmou tumbo? Did they have Aaron McKee? Eric snow
Eric Snowe was definitely a guard. I'm talking a ragtag
(16:07):
team arguably the worst or second worst. Lebron is the
other one with the Cavs when he was twenty two
team to the NBA Finals. Alan Iverson did that. Kyrie
Irving never could do anything remotely close to that, but
we think of him as one of the best players
of all time. I mean he is how oh Kyrie
Irving unstoppable, best handle ever he did Uncle Drew culturally.
(16:30):
I went to Instagram twenty million followers for Kyrie Irving.
Just an FYI, that's like more than twice the amount
of Patrick Mahomes, who leads the NFL. Well, actually, technically
Odell Beckham leads the NFL, but he's like I don't
even know if he's on a team right now. But
like Kyrie Irving, is a massive deal. Culturally, he did
(16:50):
a cool movie. Uncle Drew's not bad. Check it out
if you haven't seen it. I won't spoil it for
a fifteen year old movie. He's something of an iconoclast. Okay.
He feels deeply and strongly about certain things, and you're
not moving him off that position. Guys find him cool, right.
Kevin Durrett followed him to Brooklyn. People are very attracted
(17:11):
to Kyrie Irving, who's a diminutive guard with a sick handle.
I'm just gonna rattle off some names, Rob g You you
tell me who had the better career, Damian Lillard or
Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul or Kyrieerving.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Oh, Chris Paul by a lot, Russell Westbrook, Kyrierving, Russell
Westbrook by a lot, James Harden or Kyrie James Harden
by a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Right, So I'm not even gonna mention Steph Curry. Sorry,
he doesn't belong in the same sentence system. So I'll
go to the next tier of guys in his generation. Rob. Now,
this is a little harder because he also had injury roads.
But John wall who on some good Wizards teams, got
to the second round with Bradley Beal as his number two.
I will remind you Kyrie Irving never went any were
(18:00):
in the playoffs as a number one John Wall's career
or Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Oh, Kyrie Irving, it's close, It's very close.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You're probably I would probably agree with you. Kemba Walker
who was mired in Charlotte. But man was he good
in Charlotte on some some good thirty eight Wood teams aw.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Kyrie Irving. But it's much closer than you think. When
people look at the at the resumes.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I'll ask this, and I'm sure people are going to
be scoffing. Is j Max smoking crack this early in
the morning. Kyle Lowry, big butt, point guard, formidable on
a bunch of good Raptors teams that could never get
past Lebron did win a title? Uh uh, the the
title against the Warriors when they fell apart with Kd's injury.
(18:52):
Kyle Lowry or Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
When you asked me this question before we started recording,
it was most the longest. Jim Rome asked, pregnant and
pause because they're so totally different. Player in a vacuum,
Kyrie Irving is a better player, obviously, but Kyle Lowry
has that Jenna Si quad where he just kind of wins.
He affects winning in a way that Kyrie Irving, for
(19:15):
all of his talent, just does not. So when it's
like that, I'm going to lean to the guy who wins.
So give me Kyle Lowry.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah, I don't even know that. Like, is there a
case for Kyrie is a top ten point guard all time?
I don't think there is.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
If there is, it's based entirely on the way he
makes you feel.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Swag.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
He swagged like that. That's pretty much it. And this
whole conversation, this is some backlat The way this whole
thing started was I was texting you and asking you
before we started recording. I have this opinion about Kyrie Irving.
You know, I feel like it makes sense in my head.
I don't know, let me run it by you. And
my feeling was that Kyrie Irving was on that path
(19:55):
to reclamation, to the redemption story because, as you mentioned, Kyrie,
before he got to Lebron had never had a winning record.
Gets Lebron has a three year run, has a magical
shot at Game seven, and for whatever reason, decides he
needs more credit, forces his way out of town, goes
to Boston, has a very public tiff with Jalen Brown
(20:16):
and Jason Tatum because he suggests that they're young guys
and that they need to kind of know their place
in the league and the kind of thing. You know,
he only won one series when he was playing with
Boston because that first time they made them lease to
conference finals, he was hurt. He didn't play it right.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
He didn't even sit on the bench. Remember, he was
like he was gonna have surgery. And then he just
didn't show up for Game seven, which was kind of
a tell that the guy's a dick.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And then he forces his way to Brooklyn and basically
self sabotages himself. James Harden and if you want to
have this conversation, we do it another day. Completely derails
Kevin Durant's legacy with all of his you know commentary,
you know, remember the documentary they got in so much trouble,
(21:00):
got suspended, the COVID situation, YadA, YadA, YadA. He gets
to Dallas in which is basically like a salary dump.
Remember designs that I can't believe you would take Kyrie Irving,
and as you mentioned, things change in his personal life,
he matures, he's linked up with a twenty five year
old phenom, one of the greatest players of all time,
Luka Dancic, and you feel like he's on this path
(21:23):
at redemption of finally living up to the promise that
he's shown throughout his career, because just in terms of talent,
there's few guys who are more talented than Kyrie Irving.
It's always just been something else that's prevented him from
reaching the all time status that he's probably his talent
would suggest. And then now he tears his knee, so
(21:43):
to your point, he's gonna miss at least a year,
he's gonna have to ramp up when he does come back.
So realistically, you're not seeing a fully formed Kyrie Irving
back to one hundred percent until what the twenty twenty
sixth season, And at that point, he's thirty four to
thirty five years old, a small guard with a history
(22:04):
of injuries. Like at that point, the boat is gone,
it's left the dock. There's it's not realistic to expect
that Kyrie Irving is ever going to fulfill the promise
that you would expect from him. And so now what
we're gonna end up with, I believe five, ten, fifteen
(22:25):
years from now, is he is gonna be that guy
that we joke about now on social media. Hey man,
I don't know if you know, but Eddie Jones was
a bucket back in the day. Oh, the real ones,
the real ones know that Lou will in the right situation,
could have been an All star multi time. He didn't
(22:48):
get a shot. The real ones know that white Chocolate
Jason Williams was the best point guard of that era.
He was just kind of stuck. Like that's you know
what I mean, Like that's where that's where we're gonna
talk about Kyrie because the reality is, when you stack
his resume up against his peers, he's not even top five.
When you stack his resume up against the all time
(23:11):
point guards at best, he's like ten to eleven, twelve.
And how many guys do we have legitimate basketball debates
about that are that far down the totem pole at
their respective positions.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
It is super fascinating how much love there is for Kyrie.
Ierving you know another guy that. I mean, he's accomplished
more so, he's not totally in that boat. But Kevin
Durant kind of falls, I think, adjacent to that immense talent,
never could totally break through then did go to the Warriors.
I had a buddy text me, oh man on there's
an asterisk by the KD titles. I was like, I don't,
(24:03):
I don't believe that, but I don't know if you
saw this rob late last night as the Suns were
coming back against the Clippers, KD had a nine game
finish with thirty four. Like Budenholzer was upset, calls time
out and Kevin Durant is coming to the bench and
he's chirping, he's not happy, and Budenholzer kind of like
not grabs his arm, but it's like, hey, KD, like
he wants to talk to him. KG just grabbed his
(24:24):
arm away, like get off me, and he was pissed.
And it's like Kevin Durant is perpetually unhappy, almost like
Kyrie Irving is he not? I mean, Kevin Durant like,
how do you know the cameras are on you all
the time? Man. I don't know if you saw that, Rob,
but it was just like the KD market. I had
(24:45):
a hot take on The Herd on Tuesday that I
think KD going to OKC after the OKC loses to
the Lakers in the conference playoffs this year, Like, please
KD return to the Promised Land, get us to the
finals again. We need to get back. You got us there.
We need They're gonna need a bucket. Maybe they give
up case On Wallace and three three future ones or whatever.
(25:06):
They got fifty million fixed in the war chest and
maybe not case On Wells. They need a forward, so
Jake Dabb whatever whatever it is. But I think Durant
could end up on OKC or Houston. Houston, by the way,
cannot win a game to save their life right now.
They're cratering. Look, they could be headed toward the play
in But I think KDI will go somewhere else next year.
And I just hope he cleans up his act because
(25:26):
what we're seeing in Phoenix is so ugly, Rob, It's ghastly.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Yeah, And you know what's funny is you're saying this
on the heels of them coming back from down nineteen
to start the fourth quarter against the Clippers, who vomited
that game away. So I guess you could say they
needed that little coach Bud kd tiff for them to
get going because Katie was great. But even with that
incredible comeback they had last night, that doesn't change the calculus.
(25:52):
The reality is, were it not for the aforementioned Kyrie
Irving knee injury, they wouldn't even make the play in
because I think we can all agree trying to make
up three and a half games with twenty games left
to go in the season is close to impossible when
you factor in how each team has played this season.
Because of that injury, I believe they're getting to the
(26:13):
playoff and then we'll see what happens. I'm not expecting
much even if they get to the actual playoffs, they're
one and done. You know, Phoenixes is not a very
good team. But I don't want to go full Kendrick Perkins,
you know. But to illustrate your point, the reporting over
the weekend was from Shaan Sharanya that the Suns are
gonna work with Katie to get a traded new contender
(26:34):
if you are a contending team, and this perk said
something like, why would I want KD because nobody has
devalued the championship more than Kevin Durant And that kind
of went over a lot of people's heads until you
realize kDa, maybe it's a cop coping mechanism on his
on his behalf, but he has made it clear on
(26:58):
numbers of occasions that it's not always about who wins
the championship. It's not always about the mythical leader of
a team. It's how committed are you to ball? How
committed are you to put it into work and develop
your skills and sharpen your craft. And that's fine if
this was a hobby of yours. I just want to
(27:20):
be as good as I possibly can be. I take
it seriously. I want to be a good basketball player.
I'm gonna work, work, work at it to be as
good as I possibly can be. And if we were
playing golf or tennis, sure, but in a team sport,
in a competitive sport like this with other people around you,
it's not just about you. It's can you elevate the
(27:43):
people around you? Can you get them to believe in something?
Bigger than themselves, and Kevin Durant, for all of his talent,
does not do that. So if you are a contending team,
a legitimate Dnian because I say we jot to Huston,
I don't think Houston is a legitimate ending team. But
why would you bring in a guy like Kevin Durant
(28:04):
unless you're guaranteed that he's only there as a hired
gun to score? And how many teams can actually be
for I mean, okay, see would be a great fit,
but how many teams can actually say we have our
leader in place or undisputed one kd you just be
a bucket getter. We'll take care of the rest. There's
not many that could realize.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I mean even Houston, I don't He would probably be
their number one in a half court.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Right, Yeah, But then is he gonna be the guy
to lead them?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
No, that's the thing. I think Fred van Vliet's their leader.
But you know, he's getting long in the tooths and
they've got a lot of young guys. I don't see
him going to Memphis with John Moran. I don't see
him going to Minnesota with Anthony Edwards. But you're right,
he can't go somewhere and expect it to be a leader,
you know. But then again, Devin Booker tried to be
a leader. I don't know if you saw this recently,
but Budenholzer was like I did. Budenoldzer was like, hey man,
(28:57):
he needs to be less vocal out there and let
the coaches talk. And Devin Booker was not happy with that.
He let it be known that I was trying to
talk out there. We need to communicate. And that's what
he's getting at, Like he's trying to be a leader.
He played along Chris Paul for alongside Chris Paul for
a couple of years. He probably saw what leadership is
like and then he tries to do it. And Budenholzer,
who's now beefing with Booker and kad in recent in
(29:20):
the last week and now I guess he's getting a
taste of what Frank Vogel was up against in Phoenix
last year. This has been a just a total shit
show of an experiment for the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah, and that's putting it lightly. You could make a
case that this team is the most disappointing team in
the NBA, and that's considering what happened in Philadelphia with Mbid,
Maxie and Paul George.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
By the way, Sixers lost again, but that should surprise nobody.
All right, that was a lengthy Wednesday podcast. It's it's
hump Day and it's also ash Wednesday. What are you
giving up for lent?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Robb Gie, I am giving up this podcast for Lent.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Oh no, so I'm flying solo.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
I mean you know that the end of the month
my leave starts. I'm gone for six weeks.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Oh that's right, I forgot about the six week leave.
Maybe we'll just have to have robb you as a
guest on every day.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Just there you go, what a buddy.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, rob g.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yes, obviously he's got now two little babies at home.
That makes life tough. But you know, we'll obviously miss
him badly for six weeks at the end of March.
All right, but we still got still got him for
thirty twenty five days. All right, back tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
See
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire. What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Straight fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre, straight by here
for Wednesday, March the fifth. Almost forgot what day. It
was great night on the gambling front again. You gotta
follow me on ig. But Lakers first quarter cash easy, folks.
You know if you have them, been paying attention. They've
(00:31):
cashed thirteen of their last fifteen first quarter bets. They
are overwhelming people out of the gate with Luca and Lebronte.
There is not enough tape on them yet for teams
to be ready. And man, another phenomenal performance from the Lakers,
just destroying the Pelicans for much of the game. Obviously,
you know they let their guard down late. But this
(00:53):
is just a really good team. We'll get we'll get
to the NBA. I just need to get that bet
out of the way first. And how about Texas, say,
and I'm taking down yes as a five point dog,
taking down number one Auburn. Nice win. March VanNess is
nearly upon us. We'll start in the NFL, mostly because
I'm excited for Robb G's Raiders. You know Rob g
is Raiders. My Jets. It's been a rough go. However,
(01:15):
I saw quotes from Max. I don't know why I
has two xes in his name, Max, but m a
xx Crosby is excited about the potential of Aaron Rodgers. Now,
the last time Max Crosby spoke up about a personnel move,
it was keeping their head coach, and as you guys know,
it did not go well for Antonio Pierce. Max Crosby
(01:38):
pounding the table. We need to keep Pierces, we need
to get They ran him after a year. Okay, he
was the interim guy filled in admirably, and you know,
I think it was DeVante Adams and Crosby and one
other player. Rob can probably remember. It went went to
like dinner with the owner and we're like, we need
to keep Antonio Pierce. He's our guy, and then obviously
he was not their guy. So I don't know, Rob,
(02:00):
just let's get this out of the way early. As
the resident Raiders fan, do you want ar fifteen aka
Aaron Rodgers aka Toe Rogan? Do you want him quarterbacking
your Raiders next season?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
One thousand percent?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes, Oh I did not expect that.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Look, Aaron Rodgers had a mediocre season last year. Okay,
he was tied excuse me, ranked thirty first the NFL
with an adjusted QBR forty eight point one. He was
tied for twenty first in the NFL with a passer
rating of ninety point five, and he threw eleven picks,
which is only the fourth time in his career that
(02:41):
he's at double digit i iNTS. And even with all
that said, he would be leaps and bounds better than
anything the Raiders had last season and realistically could have
this upcoming season. Unless you're one of those people who
believes all this smoke coming out of the Combine that
Shador Sanders falling like a rock in the NFL draft,
(03:01):
no way, I don't believe that either.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So it comes down to, and we talked about this
a little bit yesterday. Do you believe that Sam Darnold
is the guy closer to the first fourteen games as
opposed to the last two in Minnesota? I personally don't.
Do you believe that Kirk Cousins coming off with torn
achilles and a horrible season in Atlanta is better than
(03:26):
Aaron Rodgers? I don't. If you believe that the Pittsburgh
Steelers are gonna go with Justin Fields over Russell Wilson
and all those moonballs. Again, I don't think that's happening.
I think they're gonna go with rus and it's gonna
be Fields or Rogers. In that case, give me Rogers.
We have a seventy three year old head coach. We
are not in the position to draft and develop Jackson
(03:48):
Dart or somebody like that in the second round. We
need a quarterback. And if that means and I know
this is you know, way down the line, if this
means getting Aaron Rodgers also means you can bring back
Davante Adams because there package deal.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh you think Adams would go back there?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I don't know. I've seen crazier things happening in sports. Yes, right, yeah,
the men and Lebron went back to Cleveland. All that
stuff about hey, you can't burn bridges and go back
that's got out the window because last I recall, Dan
Gilbert wrote a comic sans letter calling him a false
king and saying that they were gonna win a camp
before he ever.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Did he say false kids.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yes, it was something like it was ridiculous. So yeah,
I mean, if if Aaron Rodgers, in all seriousness, is
willing to come to the Raiders. I don't know why
you would say.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
No, yeah, no, it makes him relevant. And that's how
I felt about the Jets. I was like, could we
get Lamar Jackson? Remember Lamar Jackson was unhappy. You were
the one, mom, You were the only one who was
saying that, come to the Jets, Jets, go get Lamar Jackson,
and they weren't listening to you. I don't get it. Well,
I mean, I don't think the Ravens were ever gonna
really willing to lose Lamar Jackson. That being said, it's like,
(04:51):
come on, man, like, if we could take Lamar Jackson
as prime or old ass Aaron Rodgers, I think that's
a no brainer. And the Jets ended up Rogers after
his Darkness retreat. I don't know, are you just willing
to handle Rob all the nonsense that comes with Rogers?
Him doing podcasts, him doing radio hits where he's paid
and incentivized to say inflammatory shit and get people fired up?
(05:14):
Like do you even want that? I just it's just
a lot, Like I know this sounds real dumb, but
in the NFL, I just I don't. I don't want
all the nonsense off the court stuff that the NBA
has I love it in the NBA, but in the NFL,
I just don't think it works. I mean there's a
history of none of it working anywhere. Yeah, in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Think back to back to the Browns. Remember Baker Mayfield
and Odell like it. Just even Odell Beckham, you know,
did not work.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
In an ideal world. No, you don't want all that
stuff to happen. What I will say is this, and
I can't believe it coming full circle on this one.
Aaron Rodgers got entirely too much blame for what went
wrong with the New York Kids. Woody Johnson, He's the
guy to blame for world long the New gets. There's
a reason why the NFLPA and that report card. He
was the only owner to receive an F across the
(06:05):
board from his team because rather than be an owner,
rather than be a boss, rather than be the man
in charge, he said, I'm gonna give over the team
to Aaron Rodgers. I'm going to allow Aaron Rodgers to
overpay for Alan Lazar, to bring in Randall Cobb, to
trade a third round pick for Devonte Adams, knowing what
(06:28):
his cap number was that upcoming off season to allow
him to bring in Nathaniel Hackett, who could not coach
his wead of a brown paper bag anywhere in the NFL,
to be the offensive coordinator when we all know the
only success yeah was in Green Bay and Matt Lafleur
was calling the plays over there. He decided, our team
has been so bad for so long, we just want
(06:49):
to be relevant. Aaron Rodgers lead us to the Promised Land.
And I drank the kool aid and I was like, yeah,
you know, Rogers, it's backfiring because he doesn't really know
what he's doing and no player in football should be
giving that much power. So if he does come to
the Raiders, number one, you got Pete Carroll in town,
and Pete Carroll is, for all of his faults, is
(07:11):
a manly man, like he's looking at the guy who's
gonna be walked all over by anybody. And number two,
Aaron Rodgers, point blank period, does not have more gravita
than Tom Brady. And I don't even like Tom Brady. Yeah,
but there there is no world where Tom Brady where
Aaron Rodgers can come in and say I need X,
Y and Z if I'm gonna be your quarterback, and
(07:33):
Tom Brady's gonna give it up to him. So I
would be more open minded to the idea of Rogers
coming in still doing his McAfee hits, still doing his
bizarre ayahuasca retreats, and so on and so forth, because
I don't think ultimately it's gonna go into such a
tailspin like the way I did in New York.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That was the biggest news. Obviously, DeVante Adams released by
the Jets, and now this Aaron Rodgers chatter. So it's
it's pointing to the Raiders. I don't know. I gotta
wait to see it to believe it. The other NFL
news was Saquon Barkley. This is just what the smart
Eagles do. So they gave saquoner deal. After just one year,
they tore it up and gave him a new deal,
making him the highest paid running back in the league.
If the Eagles have taught you nothing, it's pay your
(08:13):
guys early. They pay Jalen Hurts early done, got it
out of the way, paid them a lot. But guess what,
his contract doesn't even look bad now two years later. Right,
You've got to pay your guys early. The horses. I'm
just telling you. They moved off Bradbury this week, quietly.
They moved off Darius big place Lay and guess what,
they got other bags in their club. I'm sorry, They've
(08:34):
got other clubs in their bag. They got the young
kid Mitchell, they got Cooper de Jean. They have another
young kid facing on his name. But like, they've drafted
so well that they're ready. If Josh Wett moves on,
ain't no thing. We got Nolan Smith, we drafted him.
If the linebacker, the guy who was Zach Bond, if
he moves on, he's gonna get paid by somebody. Hey,
you know what, We're good. We've got backups. They just
(08:56):
draft so well, they're so smart. I love everything about
these Eagles. Man and paying Saquon Barkley, I commend that.
By the way, how much does this have to hurt
the New York Giants. Rob did not want to pay
saque so they let him walk. He goes to the Eagles,
leads the NFL and rushing wins the Super Bowl, and
then gets a humongous contract. Like if you're the Giant,
(09:17):
if you're a Giants fan, you just got to be like,
what the hell man, how badly did we screw this up?
And I don't want to hear well, even if we
kept him, it wouldn't have worked. No, you screwed up badly,
you guys. Kind of Sequon was like, okay for a
little bit, he kept getting hurt, but he was fine.
And now he goes and he looks like, how do
they let this guy go? It's just insane. It's almost
like Luka Doncic, who's cooking with the Lakers and meanwhile
(09:40):
the Maps thought he was fat and he was doing
too much hookah and he would like to drink. And now, oh,
by the way, the Lakers they may never lose another game.
Rub I don't know, like, stop being dumb and move
don't move off stars, guys, don't don't be stupid.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, it seems pretty straightforward. And it's funny with Saquon Barkley. Now,
when I first saw the deal, my first thought was
this is going to age horribly because you know, I
don't know if people know this. Saquon Barkley led the
NFL by a wide margining yards before contact. That offensive
line was, you know, creating holes that that you and
I could run through and get three yards like that,
(10:15):
that's what they were doing there in Philadelphia. And then
you take a step back and you're like, oh, he
had over two thousand yards in sixteen games last season.
He rushed for an NFL record five and four yards
regular m postseason, breaking through All Davis a record. He
became the third player in NFL history to lead the
league in rushing and win the Super Bowl in the
(10:36):
same season. He was a Pro Bowler, first Team All
proff was the player there, all of these accolades, and
then you remember, oh, Howie Roseman says, I think they
may have been the single greatest season by a steel
player in NFL history, And you're like, oh, okay, well
that's why you pay him, because you know, at some
point the cap is the cap, and that's going to
(10:57):
be adjusted at some point. Right, Like you mentioned, you
pay a guy earlier, pam too late. You'd rather be
ahead of the curve at some point, even if that
deal does look bad four years from now when he's,
you know, touching thirty. There's something to be said about
rewarding a guy for a job well done, and few
guys did a better job this past season than Sakuon Barkley.
(11:18):
So kudos of the Eagles. Man, they're there ahead of
the game, more so than most teams in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
No, no, you're You're spot on. And now I know
there is a line to draw. Obviously the Lakers went
over it when they paid Kobe everything and they had nothing.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
But you're right.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I reward guys for a job well done. It looks good.
And guess what, every free agent around the league is
going to see that and be like, geez, look o,
they're taking care of their guys. All right, let's pivot
to the NBA real quick.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I'm trying not to go to negative here. Okay, the
guy just got hurt. His season's over. He's probably not
coming back. Kyrie Irving until like January of twenty twenty six.
I'm not even kidding, Like, Kyrie's gonna be out a
while with this acl he's older, Like this is the
kind of injury that, yeah, it's gonna take a while
(12:15):
to come and you don't want to rush back from
So I was reading articles about the Dallas Mavericks being cursed.
So it's been like about a month, thirty thirty two days,
somewhere in that range of when they traded Luca, and
like everything's gone sideways. They trade Luca, Kyrie's done for
the season. You've got Ad getting hurt in his first game,
You've got a fan rebellion. It's just a total disaster. Okay.
(12:36):
Of course, when your GM trades Luca and then comes
out and says we're positioned to win down in the future,
you're like, okay, maybe, and now it's like, yeah, no,
it's not happening. And Rob got me started with this whole, Like,
you know, he has a take on Kyrie. I'll let
you guys hear his take in a little bit. But
and again, I'm not trying to be negative because the
(12:57):
guy just got hurt. But something I just gotta I
gotta talk about this because you guys know, I have
never been the hugest Kyrie fan. So he went number
one overall, goes to Cleveland, doesn't win a damn thing.
I don't think he could win thirty games when he
was by himself. Lebron comes back, they win an epic title.
Then he gets pissed that Lebron's the man, goes to Boston,
(13:19):
can't get along with Jason Tatum and company. The young guys,
get me the hell out of here, goes to Brooklyn,
drags Kevin Durant there. Kyrie has like the Sideways season
maybe two or three year run of his life. Apparently
there was some off court stuff with the next girlfriend,
and then remember COVID hit and he kind of got
(13:40):
a little wacky with burning stage in the locker room.
James Harden's like, what the hell did I get myself into?
It was just awful for Kyrie. Then he goes to Dallas,
a little older, a little wiser. Now he's got the
I don't know if his wife girlfriend lockdown. I think
he has a kid. I think, I'm not sure. And
he becomes the ideal number two to Luka Doncic and
(14:02):
they are cooking and then the mass train him and
now he's heard again, and I'm looking this up. I
guarantee you you could not answer this question. And I
tested Robin. He did not get it correctly. So all
NBA is the prestigious award basically, are you the best
at your position? Now they've kind of done away with positions.
(14:23):
But basically, are you one of the best players in
the league or not done away with positions? But they've
kind of done away with the whole Are you a
center or power forward?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So uh, let's see. Jason Tatum has been First Team
All NBA four times. SGA has been First Team All
NBA twice. Steph Curry has been First Team All NBA.
I don't know five or six times.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Do you know how many times Kyrie.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Irving has been First Team All NBA AKA one of
the two best guards in the league. The answer is zero.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Zero?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Okay. Do you know how many times Kyrie Irving has
been first second Team All NBA. The answer is one,
Third Team All NBA twice. So he's got three All
NBA nods in his career. Okay. To put things in perspective,
Damian Lillard has seven All NBA nods. Okay, seven for
(15:23):
Dame Lillard. Devin Booker has two. Okay, he's on his
way up. Now. I know they've changed some of the rules.
You got to play a certain amount of games. I
don't think that totally matters. Essentially, we have criminally overrated
Kyrie Irving, who has not won anywhere anything except for
with Lebron Andy at one shot in Game seven.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Now, Why do we view Kyrie Irving as if he's
some kind of Alan Iverson, which is not. Alan Iverson
took a sixers ragtag team with who is it like
ken babmou tumbo? Did they have Aaron McKee? Eric snow
Eric Snowe was definitely a guard. I'm talking a ragtag
(16:07):
team arguably the worst or second worst. Lebron is the
other one with the Cavs when he was twenty two
team to the NBA Finals. Alan Iverson did that. Kyrie
Irving never could do anything remotely close to that, but
we think of him as one of the best players
of all time. I mean he is how oh Kyrie
Irving unstoppable, best handle ever he did Uncle Drew culturally.
(16:30):
I went to Instagram twenty million followers for Kyrie Irving.
Just an FYI, that's like more than twice the amount
of Patrick Mahomes, who leads the NFL. Well, actually, technically
Odell Beckham leads the NFL, but he's like I don't
even know if he's on a team right now. But
like Kyrie Irving, is a massive deal. Culturally, he did
(16:50):
a cool movie. Uncle Drew's not bad. Check it out
if you haven't seen it. I won't spoil it for
a fifteen year old movie. He's something of an iconoclast. Okay.
He feels deeply and strongly about certain things, and you're
not moving him off that position. Guys find him cool, right.
Kevin Durrett followed him to Brooklyn. People are very attracted
(17:11):
to Kyrie Irving, who's a diminutive guard with a sick handle.
I'm just gonna rattle off some names, Rob g You you
tell me who had the better career, Damian Lillard or
Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul or Kyrieerving.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Oh, Chris Paul by a lot, Russell Westbrook, Kyrierving, Russell
Westbrook by a lot, James Harden or Kyrie James Harden
by a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Right, So I'm not even gonna mention Steph Curry. Sorry,
he doesn't belong in the same sentence system. So I'll
go to the next tier of guys in his generation. Rob. Now,
this is a little harder because he also had injury roads.
But John wall who on some good Wizards teams, got
to the second round with Bradley Beal as his number two.
I will remind you Kyrie Irving never went any were
(18:00):
in the playoffs as a number one John Wall's career
or Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Oh, Kyrie Irving, it's close, It's very close.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You're probably I would probably agree with you. Kemba Walker
who was mired in Charlotte. But man was he good
in Charlotte on some some good thirty eight Wood teams aw.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Kyrie Irving. But it's much closer than you think. When
people look at the at the resumes.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I'll ask this, and I'm sure people are going to
be scoffing. Is j Max smoking crack this early in
the morning. Kyle Lowry, big butt, point guard, formidable on
a bunch of good Raptors teams that could never get
past Lebron did win a title? Uh uh, the the
title against the Warriors when they fell apart with Kd's injury.
(18:52):
Kyle Lowry or Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
When you asked me this question before we started recording,
it was most the longest. Jim Rome asked, pregnant and
pause because they're so totally different. Player in a vacuum,
Kyrie Irving is a better player, obviously, but Kyle Lowry
has that Jenna Si quad where he just kind of wins.
He affects winning in a way that Kyrie Irving, for
(19:15):
all of his talent, just does not. So when it's
like that, I'm going to lean to the guy who wins.
So give me Kyle Lowry.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah, I don't even know that. Like, is there a
case for Kyrie is a top ten point guard all time?
I don't think there is.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
If there is, it's based entirely on the way he
makes you feel.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Swag.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
He swagged like that. That's pretty much it. And this
whole conversation, this is some backlat The way this whole
thing started was I was texting you and asking you
before we started recording. I have this opinion about Kyrie Irving.
You know, I feel like it makes sense in my head.
I don't know, let me run it by you. And
my feeling was that Kyrie Irving was on that path
(19:55):
to reclamation, to the redemption story because, as you mentioned, Kyrie,
before he got to Lebron had never had a winning record.
Gets Lebron has a three year run, has a magical
shot at Game seven, and for whatever reason, decides he
needs more credit, forces his way out of town, goes
to Boston, has a very public tiff with Jalen Brown
(20:16):
and Jason Tatum because he suggests that they're young guys
and that they need to kind of know their place
in the league and the kind of thing. You know,
he only won one series when he was playing with
Boston because that first time they made them lease to
conference finals, he was hurt. He didn't play it right.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
He didn't even sit on the bench. Remember, he was
like he was gonna have surgery. And then he just
didn't show up for Game seven, which was kind of
a tell that the guy's a dick.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And then he forces his way to Brooklyn and basically
self sabotages himself. James Harden and if you want to
have this conversation, we do it another day. Completely derails
Kevin Durant's legacy with all of his you know commentary,
you know, remember the documentary they got in so much trouble,
(21:00):
got suspended, the COVID situation, YadA, YadA, YadA. He gets
to Dallas in which is basically like a salary dump.
Remember designs that I can't believe you would take Kyrie Irving,
and as you mentioned, things change in his personal life,
he matures, he's linked up with a twenty five year
old phenom, one of the greatest players of all time,
Luka Dancic, and you feel like he's on this path
(21:23):
at redemption of finally living up to the promise that
he's shown throughout his career, because just in terms of talent,
there's few guys who are more talented than Kyrie Irving.
It's always just been something else that's prevented him from
reaching the all time status that he's probably his talent
would suggest. And then now he tears his knee, so
(21:43):
to your point, he's gonna miss at least a year,
he's gonna have to ramp up when he does come back.
So realistically, you're not seeing a fully formed Kyrie Irving
back to one hundred percent until what the twenty twenty
sixth season, And at that point, he's thirty four to
thirty five years old, a small guard with a history
(22:04):
of injuries. Like at that point, the boat is gone,
it's left the dock. There's it's not realistic to expect
that Kyrie Irving is ever going to fulfill the promise
that you would expect from him. And so now what
we're gonna end up with, I believe five, ten, fifteen
(22:25):
years from now, is he is gonna be that guy
that we joke about now on social media. Hey man,
I don't know if you know, but Eddie Jones was
a bucket back in the day. Oh, the real ones,
the real ones know that Lou will in the right situation,
could have been an All star multi time. He didn't
(22:48):
get a shot. The real ones know that white Chocolate
Jason Williams was the best point guard of that era.
He was just kind of stuck. Like that's you know
what I mean, Like that's where that's where we're gonna
talk about Kyrie because the reality is, when you stack
his resume up against his peers, he's not even top five.
When you stack his resume up against the all time
(23:11):
point guards at best, he's like ten to eleven, twelve.
And how many guys do we have legitimate basketball debates
about that are that far down the totem pole at
their respective positions.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
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Speaker 2 (23:40):
It is super fascinating how much love there is for Kyrie.
Ierving you know another guy that. I mean, he's accomplished
more so, he's not totally in that boat. But Kevin
Durant kind of falls, I think, adjacent to that immense talent,
never could totally break through then did go to the Warriors.
I had a buddy text me, oh man on there's
an asterisk by the KD titles. I was like, I don't,
(24:03):
I don't believe that, but I don't know if you
saw this rob late last night as the Suns were
coming back against the Clippers, KD had a nine game
finish with thirty four. Like Budenholzer was upset, calls time
out and Kevin Durant is coming to the bench and
he's chirping, he's not happy, and Budenholzer kind of like
not grabs his arm, but it's like, hey, KD, like
he wants to talk to him. KG just grabbed his
(24:24):
arm away, like get off me, and he was pissed.
And it's like Kevin Durant is perpetually unhappy, almost like
Kyrie Irving is he not? I mean, Kevin Durant like,
how do you know the cameras are on you all
the time? Man. I don't know if you saw that, Rob,
but it was just like the KD market. I had
(24:45):
a hot take on The Herd on Tuesday that I
think KD going to OKC after the OKC loses to
the Lakers in the conference playoffs this year, Like, please
KD return to the Promised Land, get us to the
finals again. We need to get back. You got us there.
We need They're gonna need a bucket. Maybe they give
up case On Wallace and three three future ones or whatever.
(25:06):
They got fifty million fixed in the war chest and
maybe not case On Wells. They need a forward, so
Jake Dabb whatever whatever it is. But I think Durant
could end up on OKC or Houston. Houston, by the way,
cannot win a game to save their life right now.
They're cratering. Look, they could be headed toward the play
in But I think KDI will go somewhere else next year.
And I just hope he cleans up his act because
(25:26):
what we're seeing in Phoenix is so ugly, Rob, It's ghastly.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Yeah, And you know what's funny is you're saying this
on the heels of them coming back from down nineteen
to start the fourth quarter against the Clippers, who vomited
that game away. So I guess you could say they
needed that little coach Bud kd tiff for them to
get going because Katie was great. But even with that
incredible comeback they had last night, that doesn't change the calculus.
(25:52):
The reality is, were it not for the aforementioned Kyrie
Irving knee injury, they wouldn't even make the play in
because I think we can all agree trying to make
up three and a half games with twenty games left
to go in the season is close to impossible when
you factor in how each team has played this season.
Because of that injury, I believe they're getting to the
(26:13):
playoff and then we'll see what happens. I'm not expecting
much even if they get to the actual playoffs, they're
one and done. You know, Phoenixes is not a very
good team. But I don't want to go full Kendrick Perkins,
you know. But to illustrate your point, the reporting over
the weekend was from Shaan Sharanya that the Suns are
gonna work with Katie to get a traded new contender
(26:34):
if you are a contending team, and this perk said
something like, why would I want KD because nobody has
devalued the championship more than Kevin Durant And that kind
of went over a lot of people's heads until you
realize kDa, maybe it's a cop coping mechanism on his
on his behalf, but he has made it clear on
(26:58):
numbers of occasions that it's not always about who wins
the championship. It's not always about the mythical leader of
a team. It's how committed are you to ball? How
committed are you to put it into work and develop
your skills and sharpen your craft. And that's fine if
this was a hobby of yours. I just want to
(27:20):
be as good as I possibly can be. I take
it seriously. I want to be a good basketball player.
I'm gonna work, work, work at it to be as
good as I possibly can be. And if we were
playing golf or tennis, sure, but in a team sport,
in a competitive sport like this with other people around you,
it's not just about you. It's can you elevate the
(27:43):
people around you? Can you get them to believe in something?
Bigger than themselves, and Kevin Durant, for all of his talent,
does not do that. So if you are a contending team,
a legitimate Dnian because I say we jot to Huston,
I don't think Houston is a legitimate ending team. But
why would you bring in a guy like Kevin Durant
(28:04):
unless you're guaranteed that he's only there as a hired
gun to score? And how many teams can actually be
for I mean, okay, see would be a great fit,
but how many teams can actually say we have our
leader in place or undisputed one kd you just be
a bucket getter. We'll take care of the rest. There's
not many that could realize.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I mean even Houston, I don't He would probably be
their number one in a half court.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Right, Yeah, But then is he gonna be the guy
to lead them?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
No, that's the thing. I think Fred van Vliet's their leader.
But you know, he's getting long in the tooths and
they've got a lot of young guys. I don't see
him going to Memphis with John Moran. I don't see
him going to Minnesota with Anthony Edwards. But you're right,
he can't go somewhere and expect it to be a leader,
you know. But then again, Devin Booker tried to be
a leader. I don't know if you saw this recently,
but Budenholzer was like I did. Budenoldzer was like, hey man,
(28:57):
he needs to be less vocal out there and let
the coaches talk. And Devin Booker was not happy with that.
He let it be known that I was trying to
talk out there. We need to communicate. And that's what
he's getting at, Like he's trying to be a leader.
He played along Chris Paul for alongside Chris Paul for
a couple of years. He probably saw what leadership is
like and then he tries to do it. And Budenholzer,
who's now beefing with Booker and kad in recent in
(29:20):
the last week and now I guess he's getting a
taste of what Frank Vogel was up against in Phoenix
last year. This has been a just a total shit
show of an experiment for the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah, and that's putting it lightly. You could make a
case that this team is the most disappointing team in
the NBA, and that's considering what happened in Philadelphia with Mbid,
Maxie and Paul George.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
By the way, Sixers lost again, but that should surprise nobody.
All right, that was a lengthy Wednesday podcast. It's it's
hump Day and it's also ash Wednesday. What are you
giving up for lent?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Robb Gie, I am giving up this podcast for Lent.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Oh no, so I'm flying solo.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
I mean you know that the end of the month
my leave starts. I'm gone for six weeks.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Oh that's right, I forgot about the six week leave.
Maybe we'll just have to have robb you as a
guest on every day.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Just there you go, what a buddy.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, rob g.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yes, obviously he's got now two little babies at home.
That makes life tough. But you know, we'll obviously miss
him badly for six weeks at the end of March.
All right, but we still got still got him for
thirty twenty five days. All right, back tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
See
Host
Jason McIntyre
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