Full Show: Jay Bilas discusses NCAA Basketball Tournament. CNN says Democrats are polling poorly. Final take on Lebron confrontation.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, everybody? Stephen A Smith here.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
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(00:25):
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(01:03):
That's Three Americans Live, March thirtieth at the Westbury Music
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Trust me, you'll get a kick out of itha.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
What's up everybody?

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh, I'm so excited because March is here, the madness
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Speaker 4 (02:24):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Usually have an open a monologue. I usually do, but
damn that, damn that now. Part of the reason is
because let's talking about college basketball, and I'll be damned
if I know it. I've seen only but so many games.
I might have watched ten to fifteen games this year. Okay,
I can't watch everybody, all right, I can't, So I

(02:44):
don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Everything. I'm guessing a lot. When we filling out the brackets.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
I got my brackets, y'all got your brackets.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I got my brackets. I got my brackets. Okay, I
got my practice fill out. But damn it, I don't
know everything.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Okay, I'm guessing most of the time, and I ain't
gonna do that of my listeners and my viewers. Instead,
I'm gonna bring on somebody who knows. They ain't guessing,
they know, and they gonna help me out. They're gonna
help me figure out who I should be going.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
With with these brackets.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
As this NC Double A Tournament approaches, he is a
college basketball analyst extraordinarire for the last several decades. He
is not just elite, he's a damn institution, the best
in the business, without question. He's also my colleague and
buddy that works with me at ESPN. The man, the

(03:32):
myth himself, the one and only Jay Billis is in
the house.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
What's going on big time? Are you doing?

Speaker 5 (03:37):
Man?

Speaker 1 (03:37):
How's everything?

Speaker 4 (03:39):
I'm doing all right, steven A, how are you?

Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm doing great, man. It's good to see you. It's
good to see you.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I gotta ask you this before I even get into
these brackets.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Can you talk about what this season has been like
for you.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
I'm just looking at the level of competition in this
NCAA tournament, fourteen teams coming from the SEC for Crown Light.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
I used to be about football. Now it's about basketball.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Saint John's being resurrected, Rick Bettino back in the mix
of whatever. How enjoyable has this college basketball.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Season been for you?

Speaker 4 (04:12):
It's been great.

Speaker 6 (04:14):
But you know, I tend to think every season is
great because there's always a great story or great stories,
but this one has been different in that I think
you you alluded to it, like you know, the Southeastern
Conference is the best basketball conference top to bottom relative
to the field that I've ever seen. And it doesn't
mean that there weren't better teams or that you know,

(04:36):
teams in the nineties couldn't beat Auburn or Florida. I'm
not suggesting that, but there's never been a league with
this kind of depth of power relative to the rest
of the country. And you know, I saw I did
a game with South Carolina the other day and I
was telling somebody, that's the best last place team I've
ever seen in any league. It's ridiculous how powerful that

(04:56):
league is. And I think it's shown by the fourteen
teams that got in.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
Jay.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
We've seen great college programs with at these I remember, you know,
growing up watching Hoyer Paranoia with Ewing and Michael Jackson
and Reggie Williams and the Crew. I remember Saint John's
with Walter Berry, Chris Mullen.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Mark Jackson was coming up with Willie Glass.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Was a point was a guard there to you saw
all of this stuff. Of course, Georgia Tech lead the
Weapon three LSU with Shaq Stanley Roberts and Chris Jackson
before he became a moved up duor Raoul. You're looking
at UNLV with Augman and Greg Anthony and Larry Johnson
and all of these guys. When you see the teams
in the SEC, is there anybody any of them as

(05:39):
a powerhouse that remind you?

Speaker 1 (05:41):
And let me not forget Duke? How could I forget Duke?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
With Bobby Hurley, Christ Layton and the crew, is there
anybody in the SEC that you look at as being
on that level?

Speaker 6 (05:51):
Maybe as an individual team? You know, I think Florida
like Florida's legit and with their side and athleticism, their guards.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
I mean, one of the things I think is really interesting.

Speaker 6 (06:04):
You know, you went back to the eighties and talked
about Georgetown. You know, if you compare the guards of
Florida to Georgetown's guards, these guys are bigger, stronger guards.
Back then, they weren't this athletic, and you know, they
were great players. But the game's totally different now and
and now it's even more fisical.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Like back then.

Speaker 6 (06:27):
And see if you agree with this, Steven if back
then we didn't have plagrant fouls, so when you filed somebody,
you put him into the woods, start to fight. But
generally the game's more physical now than it was back then.
Get through screens and all that stuff. I mean, it's
way harder h physically.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
But the big.

Speaker 6 (06:44):
Difference is the players now generally are younger, the best
players because the uh they're going to go to the NBA,
there's too much money.

Speaker 7 (06:51):
You know.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
If Patrick Ewing didn't go to the NBA.

Speaker 6 (06:53):
Early, Uh, there were a variety of reasons, but one
of the reasons is there.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
Wasn't enough money to pull him out.

Speaker 6 (06:59):
I mean, it be almost irresponsible if he were playing
today for him to stay in school for four years.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Let's get into these brackets right here, because I'm looking
at them. I want to start off with the South Region,
where number one overall seed Auburn and Michigan State are
the top two seeds. Any issue with that at all.
Auburn has struggled. I mean they faded, losing three of
their last four heading into the tournament for crying out loud,
But yet they were a number one seed coming out
of the South.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
How are you feeling about that, Jake?

Speaker 6 (07:27):
I think they it was perfectly appropriate that they remained
as the number one overall seed even though they lost
three out of four because.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
It's a function of who they lost through and how.

Speaker 6 (07:37):
When they lost at Texas A and M two days
after they won the SEC championship at rep Arena at Kentucky,
and my sense is they had a little bit of
a hangover, both figuratively and perhaps literally, and then they
got clipped at home by Alabama, who's really good. They
got beaten overtime in like a ninety five ninety four
game on a last second shot, and then they lost

(07:59):
in the They lost in the tournament. You know, they're
they're the real thing. I don't I don't have any
problem with that. And I do think Florida, though, is
actually actually better. It's a close call. They could play
a seven game series, uh and who knows who'd win
game one, two, three, and four. But I think if

(08:19):
it went the whole seven, I think Florida would would
win it.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Who's the toughest competition in the South Region in the estimation.

Speaker 6 (08:27):
Well, they're gonna have to get down toward toward Michigan State.
You know, I would have said Iowa State, but Iowa
State's injured. You know, they got one of their top players,
Keishon Gilbert, is is out for the season. He's been
out the last few games, but we thought he was
going to come back. They're still dangerous and there's still
a team that could reach the second weekend and maybe

(08:48):
wind up in the lead eight. But but without Gilbert,
I'm not sure they have enough firepower offensively to get
past Auburn because Auburn their guards.

Speaker 4 (08:56):
They got a core of four guards that can really
shoot it.

Speaker 7 (08:59):
You know.

Speaker 6 (08:59):
They they the four of them combined for forty percent
from three and they they combined for eighty eight percent
from the foul line. And there they're athletic, they're they're
really good. And then they've got Jenni Broome, who's the
you know, along with Cooper flag Duke is national players
a year.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Sleeper in the South region. If you had to classify one,
who would it.

Speaker 6 (09:21):
Be, I would have said Iowa State, probably Texas A
and M would be that.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (09:26):
They've got a really difficult game against Yale and they're
you know, I think everybody kind of enjoys the upset talk.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
There's the media darling right now.

Speaker 6 (09:36):
For upsets as UC San Diego because they're out of
the Big West, it's their first year and eligible for
the tournament. They've been in Division one for five years now,
and they're really really good. But you know, I'd be
surprised if they got past Michigan. But they're capable, they're
best player and I can't wait to hear Charles Barklay

(09:56):
try to say this name.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
A Nila and Niewa hate Jones And there's no way
he doesn't say a wan una or to Wea, Like,
there's no way he gets that right.

Speaker 6 (10:09):
But they've also got another guy named Hayden Gray who's
really really talented and the best, one of the best
defenders in the country.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
Leads the nation and steals. They can win.

Speaker 6 (10:17):
But but you tell me if this is wrong, like
when the media talks about a team being an upset pick,
this is our upset pick. Michigan's gonna hear that, and
uh and there you know you see San Diego is
not gonna sneak up on Michigan.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Now, let's get to the West Region. The top two
seeds are Florida and Saint John's. Florida is just a monster.
They got there too deep at every position. I saw
them trounce Alabama, uh over the weekend, and what have you?
I believe in Florida I think they're gonna win. I
think they may win the National Championship. I got them
going to go up against Duke. But I don't they

(10:52):
They're not the story to me in the West Region.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
It's Saint John's.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
I cannot believe the job that Rick Patino has done
with the Saint John's Red Storm.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
They haven't been relevant for year, they haven't.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Been in n CAA twenty miss in twenty nineteen, Uh,
they won the Big East Championship. I'm just I am
shocked at what he has done in relatively quick fashion
and Queens New York.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
How did Rick Patino pull this off?

Speaker 6 (11:20):
J billis you know Steve and I hear what you're saying.
I'm not surprised by this. The thing I'm shocked and
surprised at is he got the shot in the first place.
And you know, five years ago, if you had said
to me that Rick Patino is gonna get the Saint
John's job, I would have said, come on, man, there's
no way. You know, he was radioactive for a period

(11:42):
of time, but time heels and so and winning cleanses.

Speaker 4 (11:47):
He's one of the greatest touches of all time.

Speaker 6 (11:50):
And he's one of the truly great teachers of the
game that I've ever seen work. And so the fact
that he got really good players in there doesn't surprise me.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Uh, And it doesn't surprise me that.

Speaker 6 (12:02):
They're playing a brand of defense that rivals what he
did at Louisville.

Speaker 4 (12:06):
Like these guys are hard to score on.

Speaker 6 (12:08):
Uh, they don't shoot it great, but so what like
they shoot it well enough, and they are they got
a vibe about them. And they got three players at
key positions. Cadari Richard at the point, R J. Lewis
junior the wing, and then Zubi Edgief who used to
be at Kansas but transferred and he wasn't a big
time player, can't big time recruit, but he didn't play
a ton of Kansas and and now he's one of

(12:30):
the five best big guys in the country, one of
the five best offensive rebounders running the floors their captain.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Uh, they're they're legit.

Speaker 6 (12:38):
If they weren't in the same bracket as Florida, I'd
put I'd put them in the final four.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Did the nation's top rated defense. Four losses came by
combined seven points. They haven't lost the game this year
by more than three points. That's Rick Patino's team at
Saint John's.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
And when we.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Talk about a team that struggles to shoot teams who
have had success in the NC Tournament, meaning winning a
national championship of going to a Final four, two of
those teams who have shot this poorly and have made
it to the and have made it to the Final
four are Rick Betino teams in Louisville.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
I mean, I mean, you can't make this stuff up.
It's unbelievable. Jay billis stay right there, I got bills
to pay. I'll be right back with you. First to
word from our prospects before we get right back to
Jay billis.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
All right, folks, I need you all to stop what
you're doing and listen up. You know I love this time,
but y oh, my lord, is my favorite time of year.
College basketball is about to heat up. March has arrived
and with all his action about to jump off to
Steven A. Smith Show wants to make sure you take
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Speaker 1 (14:23):
Prospects, Hey, hey, run your game today.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
I'll give you my picks for the Wednesday, March nineteenth
matchup between the Xavier Musketeers and the Texas Longhorns. Joining
Me to Do It, by the Way Special Edition Joining
Me to Do It is a top Prospects partner and founder.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Of the sports content company Booket Sports. He's known as
the fade God, or, as I've called them, the guy
everyone goes against. He's been there before.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
Please welcome to one and only trent I Tea known
to the world as book it with Trent. What's going
on big time? Are you doing trend? How's everything going? Man?

Speaker 7 (14:59):
I'm great, March madness is here. Couldn't be happier. Man.
I'm so excited to sweat out some lineups on prize
picks and I can't wait to hear what you've got
for me as well.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Let's get right to it.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
First up, Arthur Kaluma of Texas have more or less
than nineteen and a half points plus rebounds plus assist.
Now I'm going with more, Trent. I'm going with more Texas.
They can put up some points. And you talk about points,
rebounds and assists.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Damn it.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
If you're playing and you can't get that's gonna combined combined.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Into three categories.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
I don't know what to say the about you, especially
during an NCAA tournament.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
That's where I'm at with it, Trent, what about you?

Speaker 7 (15:36):
I think that this game is going to be really
fast paced. I like the pick here with the more
than for Arthur. I think that the Xavier is going
to have to stop the other players like Trey Johnson
if they want to have a chance in this game.
We've got a high total in this one at one
point fifty, so there's definitely gonna be a lot of points.
And I see Arthur having a big game.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Yo, So let me ask you this question.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Man.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Let's get this out of the way first. I mean,
what's up, bro, I mean, you know, you sound as
enthusiastic as I expected you to sound.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Well you, I was expecting you to say, Steven, there,
you're absolutely right, and did go into your soliloquy as
a post to anything. I mean, I just didn't feel
in love right there, Trent. I just you, let's try
this next one.

Speaker 7 (16:16):
Of them, go ahead, you know what. To be honest
with you, I was sweating the prize picks lineup with
the Texas team the other day and they were shooting
tour dates. I forget who they were playing, but it
went to double Texas A and M double overtime. I
needed Trade Johnson points. It took them to double OT
to get me seventeen, and it was so frustrating, but
he finally got there. But yeah, this Texas team I'm

(16:38):
not too thrilled about. So that's maybe why you didn't
hear so much excitement in my voice when I'm talking
about pick.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Okay, But and I agree with you. They were a
bit better when BOMs was coaching. They got to step
up their game. They gotta be a little bit there,
a little bit above five hundreds. They got to be
better than that. So I got you, and that I
feel where you coming from. Next up, will Trey Johnson
of Texas have more or less than twenty six and
a half points plus rebounds plus assist I'm going with
more on this as well for the same damn reasons.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
What about you, Trent?

Speaker 7 (17:07):
You know what I'm gonna have to go against you here,
stephen A. Because Trade Johnson was putting up tour dates.
I've never seen someone go so cold on the floor.
I think he was six of twenty or something like that.
Took double overtime for him to get his points. For me,
I think that if Xavier is gonna want to win
this game, they're gonna need to slow down Tray Johnson,

(17:29):
which is gonna allow guys like Arthur Kaluma and Shdrick
on Texas to be able to have big games. But
I just can't get out of my mind that game
from Trade Johnson against Texas A and M and how
piss poor his shooting was that night. If that happens again.
I think Texas is gonna be in trouble. So we
do have a really high total in this game, so
it definitely could go more than but I don't know.

(17:50):
I just can't get myself to go back to trade
Johnson after selling me two different Prize Picks lineups in
the last week. Right.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
I feel you on that.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
I've just agreeing with it because I just don't think
Xavier is gonna be able to contain them.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
I really really don't.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
I think in a game like this, I think it's
gonna be a bit up Temple, They're gonna try to
slow it down. I don't think they're gonna be successful,
and that's why I feel the way.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
That I do about it. But you could be right.
We'll find out.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Let's go to Xavier's, let's go to Zach Fremantle have
more or less the twenty six and a half points
plus rebounds plus assists in this particular instance, I'm going
with less because of the things you pointed out about
Xavier and how they're not gonna have that level of
offensive activity, which is why I don't think he's gonna
be able to pull us off in this game.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
But that's just my thinking.

Speaker 7 (18:32):
What about you, I'm gonna have to disagree again, only
because this game is gonna be very fast paced, and
if Xavier is gonna have any sort of chance to
be Texas in this one, it's gonna have to come
from Zach Fremantle. I've taken him a couple of times
throughout this season. He's respected my coin. If there's anybody
on Xavier to have themselves a game against this pretty

(18:55):
weak Texas defense that gives up a lot of points,
I think it's gotta be Fremantle. But hey, you can't
have everybody go more than in the same game, so
you got to take some less nds. I don't blame
you for targeting Xavier player to go less than and
Fremantle you know who knows, maybe you get strapped.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
You've disagreed with me on this on two occasions. I
don't know about you right now. I don't know about
you last one. Finally, with Xavier's Ryan Conwell have will
he have more or less than twenty three and a
half points plus rebounds plus assist I'm going with more
on this one too. One of them got to do more.
I'm picking him instead. Conwell I'm going with more on this.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
What about you?

Speaker 7 (19:33):
You know what, I'm glad you didn't just take two
more thens and two less nds on the same team.
So I think you got to switch it up here,
you know. And if you think that Freemantle gets strapped
up by that Texas defense, someone's gonna have to put
the ball in the basket and dish it around and
grab some rebounds. So Conwell I like to pick. Uh,
you know, honestly, I'm going a little square. I think
all four of those squares you just said probably go

(19:55):
more than to be honest with you, with such a
high total in this game. Uh, but you know, see,
someone's probably gonna go less than. I hope it's Freemantle
for you.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Listen, so so do I.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
So just to recap, I'm going with more on Caluma,
more on Trey Johnson, less on Fremantle, and more on Conwell.
That's where I'm at with it, so everybody knows where
I stand. Trip before I let you get on out
of here. Selection Sunday had quite a few upsets. What
were you most surprised about?

Speaker 7 (20:22):
I was shocked that you Unsea made the tournament having
one quad well going one and twelve. How the heck
did they squeak in one in twelve?

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Good be cut cut the damn dude on the selection committee.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Bubba is his name?

Speaker 7 (20:35):
Bubba?

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Okay, Bubba cutting half letting director for North Carolina talking
about recusing himself.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Who the hell gonna believe that?

Speaker 7 (20:43):
You?

Speaker 2 (20:44):
So you accuse yourself in the meetings. But y'all ain't
go out to lunch. Y'all ain't going out to dinner.
Y'all ain't gonnaut to the breakfast. You never had a
conversation that it's North Carolina into the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Nobody's believing that, Trent, I know, I'm not.

Speaker 7 (20:56):
Hell no, No, that's some fishy, fishy activity, you and
c and the committee. I don't know how the heck
they squeaked in there. I think there was definitely other
teams more deserving. But having one quad win or quad
one win out of thirteen is ridiculous. Come on, one.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yes, it ain't who you play, is who you beat.
And I got news to you. One of the things
my favorite this is in the side. My favorite rivalry
in sports is duke North Carolina basketball. When there's a
rivalry as opposed to a beat down. And even though
the games have been relatively competitive, I'm just of the
mindset if you're Hubert Davis, somehow, some way, it can't.

(21:34):
This ain't Mike Krzyzewski, This ain't coach k you going
up against me. There's one thing to be out recruited
by him. He can't be out recruited by Josh Shaw.
I just don't know about that. That's how I feel
about it. What about you?

Speaker 7 (21:46):
Wouldn't it be so march madness to see you and
see going a little run after all this slander they're
getting forgetting in the tournament. That's true, that's true.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
That's a good point. That's good that they just don't
have it though.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
They don't have to eyes, they don't have a size
and they and Trent they can't stop you. You shoot
teams to shoot three for three against them. They can't
stop nobody. They can't stop anybody anyway. Who do you
have as a first round upset?

Speaker 7 (22:14):
First round upsets? You know, there's there's I'm a guy
who loves taking the square stuff. I'm always taking the
one in two seeds to win the first round. And
it never hits, It never hits. Uh, so I would
not be shocked if we see a Saint John's go
out and lose to Omaha. That would be ridiculous. All

(22:35):
you gonna go there, always.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
All the teams to pick, you gonna pick Saint John's.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
Were Rick Betino taking six different teams in Nancy DOAA tournament.
With those athletes, with those rough riders, we have full
court press. He gonna throw at you, particularly in the
second half.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
That's the dude, You're gonna pick the fall out in
the first round.

Speaker 7 (22:51):
Saint John's. Every year we do the same thing. We
leading up to the tournament. Everything sounds impossible, like nothing's
crazy's gonna happen, and then we get to the games
and you're sitting there in Saint John's is down eight
with three minutes to go, and it's like, Okay, what
the heck is going on? So you really just got
to remember, nobody knows shit.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
You're probably right, probably right, nobody knows. It's all a
guess a game. Hey, no doubt about it. But that's
what makes it great. That's what makes the NCAA trying
to make great. Last question, what games are you looking
forward to see the most?

Speaker 7 (23:23):
I'm looking forward to that Kansas Arkansas game. You got
two coaches and Bill Self and Cal Perry squaring off
to march madness legends, you know, arguably could be a
bit washed, but this Kansas team has just been an
absolute mess all year in Arkansas. They're a scrappy team
as well, So it's gonna be really interesting to see

(23:43):
how Bill Self gets his team prepared for this game.
But just having two legendary coaches head to head in
the first round is gonna be cinema. So I'm really
excited for that one. And I think my favorite Square
On Prize pets in that game, Hunter Dickinson. He's up
for half a three pointer. He's making a three. He's
been like out from three in his last couple of games,
and they're giving us a half a three pointer for Dickinson.

(24:05):
He's splashing at home. Watch.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
I got about three games I want to throw at you,
right yeah. I'm thinking about a second round game Florida
versus Maryland. I think they'll meet in the second round.
I think that could be very interesting. Even though Florida
is the team I'm looking at it. I'm like, they
look like monsters against Alabama over the weekend. I'm thinking
about Houston Houston gonz is Houston Gonzaga because they'll end

(24:34):
up facing one another, and I mean, that's the one
to look forward to. And then of course, you know,
I got Duke Florida meet for the national title. Of
course I think it'll it's gonna come down to that.
That's what I'm hearing that bro.

Speaker 7 (24:48):
At the end of the day, you know, the two
finalists are always teams that you're expected to be there.
Walter Clayton and Florida are are a menace right now.
Walter Clayton's been cashing me on prize picks for like
three weeks straight. That dude is hooper. He is a hooper.
So shout out him for making me some money the
past two weeks. But yeah, I love Houston. I've been

(25:09):
taking them all year, but when it comes to the tournament,
I feel like they always fold.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
I could get a ratic.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
They get erratic, they get erratic, they make mistakes, and
the things that they do during the regular season, they
don't show up. I just don't get it. So that's
where I'm at with it. Look, man, I appreciate you
book it with Trent. Trent Atias right here with stephen A.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Smith on the stephen A.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Smith Show special edition of our Prospect segment. Appreciate you,
my brother, look forward to talking to you again as
this tournament progresses.

Speaker 7 (25:35):
Absolutely, stephen A Best of blocked to you on your
prize picks and let's have a great march.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
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Speaker 1 (28:04):
Welcome back to Steven A. Smith.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Stoll's still here with the one of the great great
college basketball analysts in this nation's history, to one of
only J billis my colleague at ESPN.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Let's get to the East region. Jay, We've got.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Number one seeded Duke with Alabama as a number two seed.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Your thoughts about that region.

Speaker 4 (28:21):
I think it's a great draft for Duke.

Speaker 6 (28:23):
Alabama if they were fully healthy, I think would be
a favorite to beat Duke here, and they may still
be able to do it. But one of their best players,
Grant Nelson, has been injured and he's been banged up,
unable to practice at times. I was there recently for
their game against Florida and he couldn't even practice the

(28:44):
day before the game, and he had a knee injury
in their game against Florida in the SEC Tournament. Didn't
play in the second half, and they got run out
of the gym in the second half. So I don't
want to discount what they're capable of doing. But I
just think Duke, because I think I think Cooper Flag
is going to be one hundred percent in the tournament.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
And uh, you know, it's.

Speaker 6 (29:06):
Amazing how some people were talking about, oh, do they
need to shut him down and shut him down for
the draft, And I'm like, Jesus, a sprained ankle. He
wasn't like, he wasn't like caught in a stampede, and
you know that the cattle stampede. He's going to be fine.
So I think it was smart to you know, he
won't one hundred percent for the a SEC tournament. They
didn't need him to win. That was fine, But but
they're not gonna. I can't imagine them holding him out

(29:28):
of the first game in the NCAA tournament. They want
to they want to get going and get that train
down the tracks.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
I'm glad you brought that up. Correct me if you
think I'm wrong, I'm up. I've never thought about shutting
him down. Absolutely. Now you go through this season trung
within a national championship. This is Duke we're talking about here, Okay,
I mean, you got to play if you can play.
I don't believe, however, he should play in the one
sixteen game on Friday. Now, you're duke, you just won
the ACC championship, you won the semi finals. In a

(29:56):
championship game. Without him, you can beat the sixteenth seed.
Him knows the addition to two days rest, and then
after that comes Sunday. If so, you got to let
that man play. That's my attitude. Am I wrong for
filling that way?

Speaker 6 (30:09):
No, But it would be based upon the doctor saying, hey, listen,
you know he needs more time. He could injure it
again or make it worse or something like that. You know, look,
we've all played on sprained ankles, I mean, and some
are worse than others. But if there's no structural damage,
it's not that big of a deal. And today these

(30:30):
guys get treatment like nobody's business.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
So a week should be plenty.

Speaker 6 (30:35):
But if he's capable of playing, if it were a
second round game, he plays, so play because I do
think the continuity of having him back, because you can
lose a second round game, a second round games against
an eight or nine, and they'd play either Mississippi State
or Baylor, and Mississippi State is very good, and i'd
want I'd want some reps with everybody back to their

(30:58):
normal roles before you go into a game like that.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Before I move on to the Midwest, Jay, I never
had an opportunity to ask you about this kid, Cooper Flag.
I've seen about five or six of his games. The
brother's legit. He can really really play, no doubt about
leading them in points, rebounds, assists, steals, rebound I mean,
it's ridiculous, but.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Again, his skill set.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
It's not like it's Lebron James with somebody like that
coming your way.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
But he's so skilled, he's so special.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Put into perspective watching college and covering college basketball all
of these years, the way that you have when you
look at a Cooper Flag give the world an idea
of what we're going to see on the next level.
Because he's likely going to be the number one overall
picking the upcoming NBA draft, I.

Speaker 6 (31:44):
Think Cooper Flag is going to be a combination of
Andre Kirolenko and Franz Wagner, except he's bigger and I
think he's going to be stronger. He's the best, most complete,
most competitive freshman all those put together that Duke has
ever had. And he's got all the measurables. He got

(32:07):
the size, the length, the athleticism, an unbelievable skill level.
But what really sets him apart and puts him on
the top tier of players I've ever watched in college
is his competitive level. Like everybody says they're a competitor,
but some are more competitive than others. But he's among

(32:29):
the most competitive players I've ever seen, and it's legit.
It's an everyday thing with him, and I've been blown away.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
Like I knew he was going to be good.

Speaker 6 (32:40):
I knew he was going to be the best freshman
and all that, and I thought he'd be an All American.
I didn't think he'd do this, and he keeps getting better,
and the fact that he's barely eighteen years old, he
kind of boggles your mind. Like I think Grant Hill
is the best player Duke's ever had, and I think
he proved that when he went on the NBA's first

(33:01):
seven years of the NBA were like Sandy Kopak's level.
But I nobody, nobody has done what he's done as
a freshman.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
It's not the all around stuff. The numbers, it's not close.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
I'd be remissing, neglecting to give credit to this guy too.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Your coach John Shryer. I mean this, he's this man.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Succeeded coach K and I'm looking at him right now
and he's been very impressive A and B so much
so that it's it's dwarfed, you know, it's it's it's
I don't want to, I don't want to use that word,
but North Carolina is not on Duke's level.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
It appears at this particular moment in.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Time, and you never expect that to happen, especially when
Hubert Davis had him in the final four playing for
national championship a couple of years ago. But that's what
I'm seeing from this guy right now. Your thoughts on
the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
I I agree John is built for this.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
Uh He's He's another guy that talk about a competitor.
He was a great player. He's probably the most underrated
star that Duke has ever had. You know, he scored
over two thousand points, his first team All America and
ACC Player the Year, all that stuff, and he would
have had an NBA career if he didn't have that
eye injury when he's playing for the Miami Heat. But uh,
he John is very thoughtful. He thinks everything through before

(34:17):
he does it, and he seeks out council and then
makes makes the right decision. And every button that he's
pushed since he's been there, I feel has been the
right one. And uh, he's Uh, he's the real deal.
But your point, it's an interesting point about like duke
in North Carolina like that. That to me, stephen A

(34:38):
is kind of a year to your thing because last
year North Carolina won the accre right and it's kind
of a year to your thing. But John John's gonna
be at this for a long time. And I think
he's one of those guys like he's gonna he's probably
gonna coach twenty five thirty years.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
I don't I don't know that guys are going to
go as long as they used to.

Speaker 6 (34:57):
Like it amazed me the coach k got seventy five
or seventy six, and Jim Laernego was seventy seven and
Beheim was seventy four.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
Roy Williams, that amazed me. But I could see he's
the type of coach.

Speaker 6 (35:09):
That could go to the NBA in a heartbeat because
of his demeanor, Like he's he holds everybody accountable and
does all this stuff that coaches like to talk about
about coaching hard, but he's never demeaning. He always hits
the right note, and the message to a player, even
when he gets on them, is positive, and I think

(35:31):
players respond to that in a better way than they
did when you and I were playing. He reads them
on a gut level and a heart level, not the
same way the coach did Coach K did, but there's
similarities there.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
But his demeanor is unbelievable. He's the real thing.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Not just talking to one of the best college basketball
analysts in America, but somebody who also played a duke.
He would know what thing or two about the duke program.
I'm talking about the one and only J billis right
here with Steven A. Finally, let's get to the Midwest region.
Jay Houston and Tennessee are the top two seats. Did
they get that right? Number one and number two? Do
you see anybody knocking off one? You know one, if

(36:14):
not both of them en route to a Final Four appearance.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
This is a difference.

Speaker 6 (36:18):
Houston team steven a than we saw the last few years.
They're the same in their ability to defend rebound. Like
I've been saying this ever since Calvin Sampson got to Houston.
They lead the nation every year playing hard. That's just
their default position. They don't know anything else, and they
wear teams down that way. But this year they score

(36:39):
at a higher level, so they shoot about forty percent
for free as a team. Jay Cror and Emmanuel Sharp
and great shooters. They brought in a transfer Milos Uzan
from Oklahoma. Like Oklahoma lost some really good players of
Tega away at Kentucky and milos Uzan. Now it's Houston.
But they still do the dirty work stuff. They don't

(37:00):
get stuck offensively. They're not gonna They're not gonna be
stuck in a game where they have to hold the
other team to fifty five in order to win, and
they could do that. Like I think they would have
been in the Final four last year if Jamal shed
wasn't hurt in the first half of that game against Duke,
I think they would have beaten Duke.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
I think they would have beaten NC State. I think
they would have been in the Final four.

Speaker 6 (37:18):
But this year, like I think, I think they would
beat Tennessee. Tennessee's better than they've been too. Like Rick
Barnes has run into some He's a great coach, It's
ridiculous how good he is. Yes he is, but he's
run into some circumstances like this year with the Southeastern Conference,
he gets to the final and they got to play Florida,
and Florida is a different cut of cat now, and

(37:41):
then last year they're there.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
Last year they had.

Speaker 6 (37:43):
Dalton connect Now with the Lakers, as you know, and
he was like the ro Hobbs of college basketball, giving.

Speaker 4 (37:49):
Them scoring they hadn't had. And they run into Zach
Edian Purdue in the Elite eight.

Speaker 6 (37:53):
You know, kind of the only team that I thought
out of the Elite eight teams that they couldn't beat.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
And otherwise they were Final four team last year.

Speaker 6 (38:01):
So their draw I think is a little bit better
this year because I think they can beat Houston, but
it's gonna be a whale of game if it gets
to one versus two.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
Before I let you get on out of here, Jay,
I'd be remissing, neglecting to bring this up new story
all over the place right now, West Virginia Governor Patrick
Morrissey has taken the social media and national news networks
to voice his displeasure with the NC DOUBLEA after West
Virginia's men's basketball team was left out of the NC
DOUBLEA tournament.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
He's threatening lawsuits for crowd out loud.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Meanwhile, there's a whole bunch of people lamenting North Carolina
getting into the tournament, obviously, and they will one and
twelve versus squad one teams or Q one teams. Your
thoughts about that whole storyline North Carolina and West Virginia
governor threatened and lawsuits because West Virginia was left out
of the NC DOUBLEA tournament. Nobody will break it down

(38:55):
better than you j give it to us. Shift thoughts.

Speaker 6 (38:58):
First of all, Steven A. Ten years ago or so,
I probably would have lost my mind over this whole thing.
But I've learned over the years that the tournament selection
committee hardly ever does anything at the end of the
line that I.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
Agree with completely.

Speaker 6 (39:13):
So do I agree that North Carolina should have made
the field relative to a couple of the teams that
got left out?

Speaker 4 (39:20):
No, I mean I would have taken one of the
other teams that we're talking about here.

Speaker 6 (39:25):
You know, I thought Texas should have been in, but
I thought North Carolina was going to be on the
outside looking in. But was it this egregious thing that
adults who were in positions of power should be threatening
lawsuits over. I mean, you tell me if this resonates
with you, but because I know you'll remember it better
than I do. But in nineteen eighty five, during the

(39:46):
NBA Lottery, back then, they used to reach in and
pick out an envelope with the team's logo on. Patrick
Ewing was the big, big prize coming out of Georgetown.
And after the New York Knicks won the you remember
Dave de Busher being there and all that.

Speaker 4 (40:03):
After they won the.

Speaker 6 (40:03):
Lottery, the story publicly, you know, the narrative was it
was a fix that the NBA had kept the envelope
of the Knicks in a freezer and it was colder,
so they knew that's the one they needed to pick.

Speaker 4 (40:21):
And I remember David Stern.

Speaker 6 (40:22):
Being asked about at one time and he very you know,
you know, you knew Stern better than I did, and
Stern could be a handful, but he was.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
Very thoughtful man. And he said, he said he said,
that didn't happen.

Speaker 6 (40:36):
I'll explain to you what happened, blah blah blah, and
he went through it. And then he said, and by
the way, if we had done something like that, it
would be a federal crime. Do you think we would
risk a federal crime for that? And I'm kind of
thinking the same thing here with the governor of West
Virginia acting like somebody took a piece of candy from

(40:58):
him when he was six years old over a selection
over like you know, these teams. You know, if you
want to be in the field, win more. If you
leave it into the hands of a committee, you're you're
you're likely to have something like this happen. But threatening
lawsuits over whether a team plays in the n I
t or the NCAA Tournament.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
I'm not down with that. That's just that's not adult
behaving them.

Speaker 7 (41:23):
I view.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Totally totally agree with you. It's petty. It's nonsense.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
Now, I don't agree with their decision of putting North
Carolina in just like you do. But in the end,
when I remember it on a women's side, you've got
the coach a UFC Gottlieb, who's obviously doing a great
job complaining that they'd a fourth number one seed. Well,
if you had beat UCLA in the conference championship game
like you did in the regular season instead of losing

(41:48):
in them come conference championship time, that might not have happened.
And maybe just maybe you're complaining because you're in the
same bracket as you con with Gino Oriema. And that's
what's a real complaining the way to go in terms
of showing confidence of your team.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
I ain't get that, Jay, I get that well.

Speaker 6 (42:05):
But but I'm I'm good with the complaining part because
that's you know, sort of that's what you and I
do in a way that comes with it complain away,
Like we we should complain about it. We should discuss
is this is the right thing or do we need
a better criteria to use or all that's all good stuff.
We should do that and we can be as loud
as we want to. You know, when government officials are

(42:25):
getting involved in this, So who's going to want this
job next time? You know, who's going to sign up
to be chairman of the selection committee? When they got
to worry about some governor you know, getting his undies
in a bunch and and uh, and getting his Attorney
general out there coming after you.

Speaker 4 (42:40):
It's just it's so silly. I just don't understand it. Uh.

Speaker 6 (42:44):
You know, the adults in the room got to stand
up and say hey, stop it like behave yourself.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
I noticed from personal experience, you've always been the adult
in the room, even when you don't think you've been.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
You've always been the adult in the room. You've helped
me grow over the years. I love you, man. I
appreciate you so much.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Man, thing you and I'm definitely gonna catch you during
the NCAA tournament. My last question Florida and Duke is
for me. With Florida winning the national championship, who you got?

Speaker 4 (43:10):
I got the same thing.

Speaker 6 (43:11):
I've got Florida winning it, which is probably the death
knell for the Gators' chances.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Same here, That's exactly what I'm thinking. Everybody I know
is picking Florida. I guess that means they're gonna lose.
J billis love you, man. Thank you so much for
your time, man. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
Love you too, brother. Thanks for having me all right.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
The one and only J billis right here with Steve
and Asheet. That's how I know college basketball. I listened
to Jay billis the hell I do?

Speaker 1 (43:33):
He said? What did he say?

Speaker 2 (43:35):
I think I'm gonna go with what he said. That's
how I do it. That's how I do it. Coming
up on The Steven A. Smith Show, Dwayne Wade and
Carmelo Anthony way In on Lebron James approaching me at
the Lakers game. They ain't the only ones, but they're
the latest ones. But first, what's going on with the
Democratic Party. A new CNN poll shows favorability for the
Democrats has dropped to an all time love. I wonder

(44:00):
where y'all heard that before. I'll get into it next
right here on the Steven Nate Smith Show. All right, everybody,
listen up With all the big time sports action that's
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Speaker 1 (45:04):
Welcoing back to Steven A.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Spisshow want to get into politics and the headlines I've
seen this week and from Washington about the Democratic Party.
There's a new CNN poll that shows the party's favorability
among Americans has dropped to a record low. The poll
was conducted for CNN via web and telephone on THESRS
Opinion Panel. That's a nationally representative panel of US adults

(45:26):
ages eighteen or older, recruited using probability based sampling techniques.
To be clear, they are an independent research company, not
right or left. So here's what the poll revealed. Many
people in the Democratic Party are saying that leadership should
do more to stand up to President Trump. It shows

(45:48):
that Democrats and Democratic aligned in dependents say fifty seven
to forty two percent that Democrats should mainly work to
stop the Republican agenda rather than working with the GOP
majority to get some Democratic idea is into legislation.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
The survey was.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Taken days before ten Democratic senators, including Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer, voted with Republicans to advance a GOP authored
spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The survey also
revealed that Democratic aligned adults say fifty two to forty
eight percent that the leadership of the Democratic Party is

(46:24):
currently taking the party in the wrong direction. There's another
shift from eight years ago, when views on the same
metric were largely positive. And finally, the poll revealed that
among the American public overall, the Democratic Party's favorability rating
stands at just twenty nine percent. That's a record low
in CNN's polling dating back to nineteen ninety two, and

(46:45):
a drop of twenty points since January twenty twenty one,
when Trump left his first term. Under the shadow of
the January sixth attack on the Capitol.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Okay again.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
The poll was conducted for CNN by an independent research company.
The surveys were obtained on March sixth through the ninth,
before the spending bill occurred. First of all, that's the
problem with producers and editors. That's too damn long, too
much information. Okay, yes, they say I gotta read that
to you or whatever, but damn it, I hope you
didn't fall asleep on that because that's.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Not the subject. That's not the point. Here's the point.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
The strategy's not gonna work. Are you listening to me, Michael,
you're listening to me, Sherry. It's not gonna work because
it's still not touching on what's.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Really, really, really the issue. All of that stuff that
I just read. I know what y'all saying.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
It's mumbo jumble, it's facts, it's accurate, it's.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Something you needed to hear. But you really don't give
a shit.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
What you really care about is what you're gonna do
to reclaim the White House, what you're gonna.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
Do to reclaim seats in the House and the Senate.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
I got a story to tell the Democratic Party.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Are you ready for this?

Speaker 2 (48:01):
Rather than telling us what we should vote against. Maybe
you should present us with options of what to vote for.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Just a thought. I mean, my god, it you okay
Michael with me suggesting that? Are you okay with me?
Sherry suggesting that Rashwan Galen and.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
All of a bunch of leftists that's under my umbrella
trying to act like they're independence when they're full of it.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
I'm talking about my whole damn staff. I can say
it with love and affection because.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
I don't mind. I'm a centrist. I think my man
Rashaan is a centrist. The rest of these damn people
working for me. I mean, what left wing party are
you associated with? I mean, you gotta believe this stuff.
You gotta listen to it to hear it. I'm gonna
say it again. Rather than come to them, to come

(48:53):
to folks with what to vote against, how about telling us.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
What we should vote for?

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Because you see, I'm no fan of Chuck Schumer. I'm
a fan of Chuck Schumer, but he wasn't wrong here.
Didn't you know that when a government shut down takes place,
whatever party supports the government shut down is who gets blamed.
It don't even matter how right you are, you could

(49:20):
have very salient points. You don't like Trump and now
cutting USA PROGRAMDI programs. You don't like what they're suggesting.
You don't approve of his position with the war in Ukraine.
You don't approve of him schmoozing with Vladimir Putin in Russia.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
You're wondering, where was all of this talk about in
inflation in the economy? What if you're really really done
to address it. You got a thirty seven trillion dollar budget.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Which he contributed to, By the way, because he spent
a lot of money when he was president number forty five.
It wasn't like it was that the Democrats spending.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
It was him too. And you're talking about holding them
accountable for all of that. Fair. Fair.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
You're talking about him and the immigration policy, and you're
talking about targeting criminals.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
But we're talking about.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
A ten year old that I just finished asking bought
us our Tom Homan about the other day, that was
being deported back to Mexico even though she's US citizen.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
Blah blah blah blah blah. All of these things you
want to point to. I'm not even saying you might
not be right.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
What I'm saying is if you're the Democrats, it ain't
gonna work for you. You know why, because you're done messed
up and your objective should be recapturing a trust that
you're once had from folks on the left. In order
to do that, you're gonna have to be aligned and

(50:59):
unified and started preaching about what's important to the American
people instead of what you'll think the American.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
People should find important. See the difference.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
Will you try that again, Michael, want to try that
against Sherry. I'm just saying, you gotta be about preaching
about what's important to the American people and what they
care about instead of telling them.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
What they should care about. You know why you can't.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Make that argument anymore because you had your chance. You
had President Biden up in that office. You knew he
wasn't the same. You knew there was shrinkage that kicked
in mentally. You knew that people were talking about him
being incapacitated.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
This before the debate on June twenty seventh.

Speaker 8 (51:49):
You knew it.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
You knew it, and it got you on camera.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Chant for four more years for a dude that was
approaching eighty two years of age. That would have been
in office and thought he was eighty six, assumed he
got there. You didn't even think he was gonna make it,
And God bless him, I hope he does. But what
you did was say, let's just get him through the
election because the rest of us is running the government anyway.

(52:13):
The trust of the American people were compromised. I'm a
black man. You know how many times I get tied
of this.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Not being mentioned.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
How racism and things pertinent to a community that makes
up thirteen and a half percent of.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Our population was shoved to the wayside.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
And it wasn't even for the LGBTQ plus community as
a whole. You were focusing on transgender rights more so
than you were focusing on black people. You took him
for granted. The Hispanics with the borders, do you know
that I know more Hispanic folks that wanted closed borders
more than one in open borders.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Leat Tinos in this country.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Let Tina's in this country had a problem with illegal
immigrants more than some of the American citizens because they
said they have to stand in the line. Who the
hell are they not to have to stand in line?
But you ignored that too. The economy stupid. Remember what
James Carville said in nineteen ninety two when Clinton was

(53:25):
running for the presidency.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
It's the economy stupid. Remember that. Well, we preaching about
that now. We weren't even acting like inflation was an
issue until they've slapped us all in the face.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
Oh, there's no border crisis, not at all. Remember Vice
President Kamala Harris.

Speaker 8 (53:45):
On the view.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
Here's there anything.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
About President Biden's administration that you would do differently? I
really can't think of anything, really, ladies and gentlemen. That's
why she can't run for president in twenty twenty eight.
She has no chance. She has to run for the governor.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
Sea to California. She can't run for the presidency.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Say oh, this announcement that's coming this summer, please not
wasting your time.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
You can announce it now. It's got to be the
governor's position.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Or nothing, because you can't run for the presidency of
the United States if you Kamala Harris. Because they're going
to reair that interview and it just shows that there
was a collective deceit being pushed forward to the American public.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
And after all of.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
That backdrop and after the embarrassment of the Democratic Party
with Trump's speech to both Houses of Congress the other day,
where people holding signs and they're making videos with twenty
two people echoing the same verbiage clearly toned down, and
they got the nerve to be dancing, some of them
with their non dancing air selves on video, trying to

(54:58):
appeal to folks. No, they were beyond their lane and
trying to do that.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
After all of that.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
You're gonna let the government shut down? You would have
played right into Donald Trump's hands. Even with Elon Musk
scaring the living daylights out of more than half the
American population with what the hell he gonna do next?
What cuts is he going to suggest that Trump is
going to okay? How many programs are gonna be slashed,

(55:31):
how many bodies are gonna fall, how many federal workers
are gonna be.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Without a job. Even with all of that, the.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Democrats still don't have the cachet and the leverage to
shut down the government. If Schuman deserves credit for nothing,
and I'll be damned if I want to give him
credit for much, we gotta give him credit for that.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
He knew better.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
You can't shut down the government him and none other colleagues.
But if I have votes to path a budget to
fund the government through September.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Thirtyeth it had to happen because you're a House divided.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
The GOP stood together and they pushed forth a budget
and it was going to go through. And if the
Democrats hadn't supported it and the government happened to shut
it down, jobs would have been lost, wages would have
been lost, programs would have been slashed, and the Democrats

(56:46):
and their lack of togetherness would have been the blame.
Why Because the GOP is aligned under Trump. There's nobody
aligned with the Democrats because you don't have leadership.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Minority House Leader.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Hakim Jeffries evidently is not aligned with Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer, AOC Alexandria A Cassio Cortez representative out of
New York.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
What is she talking about? Schuman needs to be replaced.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
You got representative Algree won't even let anybody, won't even
let Trump speak, and he has to get booted out
during the speech and ultimately censured. I like Jasmine Crockett,
I'm looking forward to having on this show.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
I appreciate the fervor and the fight in AOC. She's
welcomed on this show, but the Democrats are not together.
You have no cachet.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
And to be furious at Schumer is not paying attention
to what's going on. If we're being honest, if we're
being honest, you're not paying attention to what's going on.
This is an article that was written Michael Sherry.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
This is for y'all. This is for y'all. I'm just
looking at all of this right now.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
This is a story in the Washington Post dated February second.
Democrats are in trouble and a provocative analysis offers ideas
to repair the party.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
And in the.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Article, it's talking about the polling and how unpopular they are.
This more than a month ago, aren't you. There's more
than a month ago. And I'm trying to find a
graph here, and it says if Democrats are serious about
addressing their problems, they face a period of vigorous debate
and self reflection akin to what they experienced after losing
three consecutive presidential elections.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
In the nineteen eighties, member both Reagan two terms and
then hw Bush as a star. Two veterans of that.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Period, William Galston and Elaine Comark have offered an assessment
of the state of the party, to be published Sunday
by the centrist.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Group Third Way.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
An advanced copy was made available to The Washington Post
at the time. I want to read these couple of graphs,
especially to my left wing guy Michael here.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Okay, and Sherry, you'll be lord here. Let me read
this to y'all. Just help y'all out for.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Those Democrats who think a rapid response to war Room,
a massive get out the vote efforts will restore the
party to its previous highs. The authors provide a bracing
and provocative analysis quote. This renewal involves more than communications,
organization and mobilization. They write, it will require a party
to ask itself hard questions about the reasons for its
dwindling support among groups. It has long taken for granted

(59:50):
to reflect on declining public confidence and government as a
vehicle of progress, and the think anew about its policy
agenda in an era of rapid change at home and
abroad end quote. The fracturing of the Democratic Coalition represents
a major challenge. Though the decline and working class support
for Democrats started decades ago, the Trump era has accelerated
it and expanded it beyond white working class voters to

(01:00:12):
working class, Hispanic and black voters, particularly men. So what
is this article saying. What are the experts saying working
class voters? The numbers were dissipating within the Democratic Party
from white that work in class voters, but now it's
sifted to Hispanic and black working class voters.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
Especially men.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
So you don't have working class voters the way you
used to, and you don't have men the way that
you used to in white, Hispanics and blacks. You have
no party. You're just a bunch of individual parts claiming
to be Democrats. You're not a party. You're fragmented, you're weak,

(01:00:56):
and the only way you can get yourself together is
to be strong. That's one thing. But take it from me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
I'm a novice at this, and even I know this.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
You have to reclaim being for the working class. When
I say reclaim the working class does it doesn't mean money,
It doesn't mean bathrooms.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
Shared by both genders. It doesn't mean that stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
It doesn't mean pronouncing the right the proper nouns and
pronouns doesn't mean that stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Working class. Back to James Carville, it's the economy, stupid.
It's about dollars and cents, it's about money in people's pocket,
it's about the cost to live in. Everything starts there.

(01:02:01):
What the Democrats need to do is refocus.

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
On proclaiming yourself as the better party for the economy.
Make sure that your policies are better when it comes
to employing folks and putting money in the pockets of
the American citizens better than them.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
You pull that off.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Without all of that other stuff on the fringes, and
you get back to being sent to left.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
You can reclaim one of the Houses of Congress in
the midterms.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
You'd have a chance in twenty twenty eight. But if
you keep being at the mercy of the extreme left,
which Chuck Schumann in this case refused to do with
the whole bill, oh spending bill of budget making sure
that the government didn't shut down. If you ignore that

(01:03:16):
and go far left, it's not an election or another
election you're gonna lose. You're gonna lose the country. The
Democratic Party will cease to exist by the year twenty
twenty eight, if not the year twenty twenty six. Unless
y'all get y'all act together, we all got stuff we want,

(01:03:44):
and there's certain things that we can't be deprived of.
I will remind you President Obama deported more people than
Donald Trump. He just didn't brag about it. There are
certain things that you can want and you can get
away with wanning if you ain't sticking out your chain
proclaiming that as your battle cry, so using that to

(01:04:04):
supplant other things that should be a priority. If you
prioritize appropriately on behalf of the American people, you'd be
surprised what else you could get away with if you
made sure you handle business first, prioritize appropriately, show yourself

(01:04:25):
to be the better party than the others by what
you have to offer instead of decrying what they are offering.
And you might have a chance. If you don't, you're dead.
You're done. And in case you haven't noticed, you're pretty
damn close to that right now anyway, regardless of what
you want to think about how close this election was

(01:04:47):
in your mind.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
Get your shit together, Get it together coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
Dwayne Wade and come Elo Anthony share their thoughts on
Lebron James and yours. Truly, I didn't want to visit
this subject again, but they did so why not.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
But obviously that's not before I'll have my nephew on
the on the show. He's in the house. He's not
feeling loved, he said, what happened to nephew tism?

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
He forgot that he was on just the other day.
Selective amnesia is what I call him. But he'll be
here too, so don't touch that doll.

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
More to steven A Smith show in a minute. What's up, everybody?
Steven A Smith here.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Recently we made news because the great Bill O'Reilly announced
a tour that's coming nearest to you in the very
very near future. Get your tickets now for this. It's
called Three Americans Live March thirtieth at Live Nation's Flag
Star at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Don't miss the very first show.

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
Myself, Chris Croomo, and yes, that man Bill O'Reilly take
our different ideas, a different backgrounds, our different beliefs across
the country to demonstrate that respectful, meaningful and even fun conversation.
Those are the things that make America as great as
it should be. The show will be spirited, unscripted, and
all three of us will let it fly as we

(01:06:20):
discuss the topics everyone is thinking about these days. There'll
also be questions from the audience we're not running. Tickets
are officially on sale now with pre sale code USA
at Three Americans Live dot Com. VIP packages are available
with the opportunity to meet and take photos with myself
and both those fellas that Three Americans Live March thirtieth

(01:06:43):
at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. Additional dates
in cities to be announced. Don't miss it. Trust me,
you'll get a kick out of it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:57):
Welcome back to the Steven A. Smith Show.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
Right here over to digit It was YouTube and of
course iHeart radio. Listen, ladies and gentlemen. You love him.
You like having them on the show. I don't know why.
I guess you like seeing him get on his uncle's
last damn nerves.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
My nephew Josh is in the house.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
I mean, you know, I thought he was coming on
to talk about the n C Double A Tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
The next thing you know, I see this brother. He's
sitting in my seat at my desk. Is that cheese, dudes?
Is the depretator chips? Is that what you're doing?

Speaker 7 (01:07:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:07:29):
I was snacking. He was taking forever with your with
your take. It's Saint Patrick's Day?

Speaker 8 (01:07:33):
Where you're green at?

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
Why I got that? Why do I look irish?

Speaker 7 (01:07:40):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (01:07:41):
I got to expose us again?

Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
Where's your hood?

Speaker 7 (01:07:43):
Hood?

Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
Where's your green at? Just because you got Irish swag?
That's black?

Speaker 8 (01:07:49):
But still I'm still celebrating on holiday. Do you know?

Speaker 5 (01:07:51):
Do you know where your grandmother's from?

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
I'm away of.

Speaker 8 (01:07:56):
Josh, right, you know the world is not She's iron.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Josh, Josh, did you just that really is grandma? Grandmammy
is from Saint Thomas. But your grandma is from Saint Thomas.
But her her mother was from is Irish? Okay, but
that's neither here. There My point to you, Josh is
did you just pop a bottle?

Speaker 5 (01:08:16):
I did, because I really I really celebrate these type
of holidays, not so much Valentine's Day, but Saint Patrick's
Day is one of my favorites.

Speaker 8 (01:08:27):
But what are we talking about today?

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
We were supposed to be talking about the n C
double ave the commercial break. You said that wasn't on
your mind.

Speaker 5 (01:08:37):
That's that's not what's on my mind. And don't hush
me over there. Stephen A is not here. This is
my desk today anyway.

Speaker 8 (01:08:43):
Yeah, I wanted to.

Speaker 5 (01:08:44):
I wanted to talk about a few of my my
laws because the women were getting at me, like you're
not holding guys accountable and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
So I'm like, you know what what women and what
were they getting on you about?

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
What were you talking about.

Speaker 8 (01:08:58):
In the comments?

Speaker 5 (01:08:59):
You know, I scaped them to see where I can
get better, and they were saying, I don't really hold
men accountable. So I came today to come with a
few laws that will have us you know.

Speaker 8 (01:09:10):
That'll weather some feathers on our side of the things.
You interested?

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Do you care whether I'm interested or not? I don't.
I don't think you do.

Speaker 8 (01:09:21):
I really don't. Let me get started, and remember what
I said.

Speaker 5 (01:09:24):
If you're gonna interrupt me, make sure it counts all right, ladies, I.

Speaker 8 (01:09:30):
Know we come off as know it all sometimes.

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
You know, sometimes you'll just want to be heard and
we're trying to come with a solution. The problem we
want to be heard is we don't really want to
hear it. So anyway, while in a relationship, depending on
the dynamic, under regular circumstances, a man must take his
woman on one date per month.

Speaker 1 (01:09:54):
You agree with that, I think that's still being cheap.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
Think that, unless you're unemployed, you could do more than
one a month.

Speaker 8 (01:10:03):
Wait, why you mentioned it cheap. I ain't say he.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
Had to pay because I think it's that he just.

Speaker 5 (01:10:08):
Got to go with her. What I ain't saying he
got to pay it, he just gotta go.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Stop. Stop stop.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
You said a man has to take his woman out
on the date at least once a month.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Did you not say that? Say the word take?

Speaker 8 (01:10:25):
Yeah, you gotta drive, you know what I mean? I
do not say you don't have to.

Speaker 5 (01:10:30):
Hey, so women say all they want is for us
to communicate. So if there's a case where she feels
like you're not communicating, she can find you. How do
you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
I need you to repeat that because these don't sound
like laws.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
I'm trying to figure out what's the law. What's the law?

Speaker 5 (01:10:52):
The law is to communicate, honestly, So when she asks you,
do I look fat in his dress?

Speaker 8 (01:11:03):
You're supposed to communicate.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
What what? According to your law? What is the answer
to that question supposed to be?

Speaker 5 (01:11:12):
I mean, they don't really ask you that unless they're
already busting out the seams.

Speaker 8 (01:11:16):
So we done.

Speaker 5 (01:11:19):
We're done with the making you feel good. If you
fat going to the gym, that's sick.

Speaker 8 (01:11:24):
And if you need.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
That, that's some ignorant nonsense. First of all, everybody to
each his own. You got some dudes that's happy with
a woman that's one hundred pounds. You got some some
dudes like like Uncle Pooley. That that I mean, you
got to be a minimum to fifty. And then you
got people like me who just likes voluptuousness. You understand

(01:11:49):
what I'm saying. I don't mind thickness at all. Now,
that's not different, that's not the same as fat, But
there are there's somebody for everybody.

Speaker 5 (01:11:57):
Don't be disrespect I'm and they don't have that. They
don't ask do I look fat in this? Unless they
don't want to look fat in that? And guess what,
nine times out of ten they be looking fat in at.

Speaker 8 (01:12:11):
Last little You.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
Know what, I can't even front that that that that
that is accurate. You didn't have to say it. Yeah, yeah,
but don't you care that? Does the kora matter to you?
The sensibility matters to you? I mean, don't you care?

Speaker 8 (01:12:27):
Honesty?

Speaker 7 (01:12:28):
First?

Speaker 8 (01:12:30):
Last?

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
Really, so you're the most honest dude of the world.
You're a paragon of honesty.

Speaker 8 (01:12:33):
Huh, I try. It's about intent for me. Lastly, for
the men.

Speaker 5 (01:12:40):
If I'm on the train and there's a bunch of
available seats and you sit on the one next to me,
you're getting a fine same ballpark, different city. If I'm
peeing at a stall and you decide to pee at
the stall next to me and there's other available stalls,
I'm stall on you, and then you're going to jail.

Speaker 8 (01:13:03):
How you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
So if you're sitting on a train, somebody's not allowed
to sit right next.

Speaker 5 (01:13:08):
To you if there's other seats available, No, And I
might just sneeze just to spress some germs, because why
you're so close to me?

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
So so so what if she's what if she's fine
and you like what you're looking at, she wants to
come sitting right next to you?

Speaker 8 (01:13:22):
These are these? These are for men. She can sit
right next to me.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
Lord for men? Oh you're talking about laws for men
specifically for men?

Speaker 8 (01:13:30):
Yes, Oh my god, so you missed the whole.

Speaker 1 (01:13:36):
I just don't know what you lost.

Speaker 8 (01:13:38):
For men.

Speaker 2 (01:13:40):
You know, I'm not going front. I don't want some
dude like if I'm sitting by myself. You a dude,
what you come sit right up next to me?

Speaker 1 (01:13:46):
I get that? And you would you to act like
that if you just get up and moves, if.

Speaker 5 (01:13:50):
Be happening and you still got me on the train
and so you already know. But anyway, I've been working
on this animation.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
It's because you don't know how to drive.

Speaker 7 (01:13:58):
That's what animation you do.

Speaker 8 (01:14:00):
Let me tell your car I've you've been working on.

Speaker 5 (01:14:03):
I've been working on an animation where pretty much I
take the best cuts from your voice interviews and stuff
like that, and uh make fun out of it. I'm
gonna start putting it on my YouTube as well and
your Instagram later on today put it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
You don't put nothing on your page first without my
approval about me.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
I'll sue you. You don't do that. You put it
on my page first. You're trying to build your fight.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
You're trying to ride this gravy train to build your
own subscribers.

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
But you're supposed to be building mind first.

Speaker 8 (01:14:33):
I got that's what you supposed to doing it.

Speaker 5 (01:14:35):
I got an animator.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
And by the way, guess what my argument is to
support that up? You ready, we rich?

Speaker 8 (01:14:44):
We rich?

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
If you got a page I got, Paige, you got
the animation? It come on my page? We rich, right,
we right? What's our contract? Right, Hobby?

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
So how is it that you just doing something but you.

Speaker 1 (01:14:57):
Ain't put it on my page?

Speaker 2 (01:14:59):
I mean, who the hell are you to take content
and put it on your page?

Speaker 8 (01:15:02):
I have to get permission from the animator.

Speaker 5 (01:15:04):
His name is Flash, and here he said he ain't
get paid yet, so I sent them an arm.

Speaker 2 (01:15:10):
That's your problem. I didn't hire him. And there's only
one Flash, and that's Dwayne Wade.

Speaker 5 (01:15:15):
Dwayne Wade, begone, begone, you champion, the Hall.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
Of Famer, one of the greatest off guards in the
history of basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
That dude, suddenly you don't know who he is, just.

Speaker 5 (01:15:27):
Like I'm Josh Smith and the other Josh Smith is obsolete. Flash,
there's a new Flashit animated, y'all, don't hear about him?

Speaker 1 (01:15:33):
Are you ready for this? Are you ready for this?
I'm ready? Guess how you just heard your Guess how
you just heard yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
I just got a text last week saying, Yo, I
love your nephew on your show.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
Guess who that was?

Speaker 8 (01:15:47):
Who was it?

Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
D Wade? And you just dissed them? You just turned
them against you. Bounce, Get the hell out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:15:59):
That's right, you just you're messed up your turn d
way to get you. He ain't gonna follow you. He
ain't trying to follow you. Get your own damn page,
and stop eating up all my cheese dudies.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
Get out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:16:13):
Look y'all, let me transition to a serious topic, because
I want to put an end once and for all
to this discussion about yours truly and Lebron James.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
The light of what.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
Happened last week, the way any way to came Melo Anthony,
both of whom know Lebron's very well, weighed in on
the situation between me and Lebron when Lebron rolled up
on me court side last week of the Lakers game.
They weighed in on the situation on Mello's podcast seven
PM in Brooklyn. Check out what the fellas had to say.
Please check it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
Look at this.

Speaker 9 (01:16:43):
It's dual size once again. You know, I think you
understand both sides, if you're that person who wants to
understand both sides. I told him, as a father, I'm
walking up on you, right, I get it because I'm
like that too, Like I'm at you, of course, but
also you know what I told him, I said, And
I thing, we've never seen Lebron do that, like even

(01:17:03):
we've never seen like Lebron don't even go back at
players that found him too hard on the court. We've
never seen him be like he's always been just even
killed and level headed in every aspect of you. Sometimes
you want him to jump, sometimes you want him to go,
and he won't. And so to watch him, to watch
the clip and watch him on that bench and see
Steven Ay over there, he was just he couldn't take it.
He couldn't take it. I mean, not that he could

(01:17:25):
not stand there.

Speaker 7 (01:17:26):
They got the membo though, Steve coming to that, he
comes to the game tonight.

Speaker 9 (01:17:29):
Because he knew because he saw him and if he
saw him at one up, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:17:33):
It just it was burning them.

Speaker 9 (01:17:34):
But you know I told him, I said, you know, Steven,
I think the one thing is and first of all,
I take it that that's a sign of respect that
Lebron did that to you. You know what I mean,
I know he understands that, and that's what him I saying.

Speaker 7 (01:17:45):
And that's the thing.

Speaker 9 (01:17:46):
Your your microphone is the loudest, your platform is the biggest.

Speaker 1 (01:17:50):
And also you're a black man.

Speaker 9 (01:17:52):
Yeah, and I said, you know what I mean, So
you got to understand, you know where he's coming from
with that if he even approached you, because yes, the
Skip Bayless of the world and all these guys have
said things about him his entire career, and he's been
above it.

Speaker 10 (01:18:04):
There is a fine line of I am a father,
but you can't separate the fact that he is your
teammate as well, you know what I'm saying, and he's
in this league to be critique critique. I just think
this has been a build up. We're talking twenty two
years like this ain't got nothing to do with Bronnie.

(01:18:25):
It's just the fact that Bronnie is a part of
the conversation now. And he also got to protect his
See you get what I'm saying, y'all. You gotta protect
the kingdom no matter how old it is. He's Bronnie,
that's my dad. So Broun got to protect that. But
there's also energy with that with those two and that
those crews just as from.

Speaker 1 (01:18:45):
Over the years of just build up, y'all. This ain't
no love relationship that we talked. This ain't noship that
we talking about.

Speaker 9 (01:18:52):
Then have a friendship, right, So this is this is.

Speaker 10 (01:18:55):
It is what it is in the sense, right, just
just Stephen doing what he's supposed to do the years,
Bronni doing Bron doing what he doing over the years,
and this is what happens. Some shit might get mister strued.
I might not like what you say.

Speaker 7 (01:19:08):
I might not with you. I ain't gonna deal with you.

Speaker 10 (01:19:10):
But the fact that I think the energy is because
we're dealing with two Juggernauts in their respective feels, right,
Bron being who he is, Stephen a being who he is.
A lot of people don't know that history between those two.
The only thing people know is what Steven. They may say,
what he may not say. Bron has never spoken on

(01:19:32):
any situation with Stevin Nate. So if I'm sitting there
for twenty plus years and I'm just taking all of
this information and all the shit that you've said to
me is about me over the years, now my son
is the trigger.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
I'm gonna drop the mic or all of this right now,
once and for all. We're gonna put this shit to bed.
I want to think d Wayne Wade and Carmel Anthony
for saying what they said. Some of the details were missed, like,

(01:20:07):
for example, he didn't see me, you know, warm up,
because I didn't get there until a few minutes into
the first quarter. But when you sit in courtside, they
kind of know who's gonna be there, and I'm quite
sure he was alerted I.

Speaker 1 (01:20:19):
Was gonna be there. But that's neither here nor there.

Speaker 2 (01:20:23):
D Wade told one thousand percent truth when he said
what he texts me and has said to me.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
Because we do have a relationship. I love that brother.

Speaker 2 (01:20:32):
That's my dog, and I feel the same way about
Carmelo Anthony.

Speaker 1 (01:20:36):
We all go back years and I love them both.

Speaker 2 (01:20:43):
So I really appreciated the conversation that they had, and
I appreciate the perspective that they both provided because for
the most part, it was pretty spot on. A couple
of things that need to be noted. Like Mello said,
it's been stewing for you years. See what I've gotten
pissed about with this particular subject is that too many

(01:21:07):
people are not touching on the truth Mellow and d
Wade did. Me and Lebron don't have a relationship. Lebron
don't mess with me, and I don't mess with him.

Speaker 1 (01:21:20):
I respect the hell out of him.

Speaker 2 (01:21:22):
He's number two on the list all time, and I
didn't always feel this way about him. There are times
I didn't like how he treated black media. I'm not
talking about myself because I'm on a certain level, and
I watched how others got treated and I didn't like that.
But it didn't take away from his unquestionable greatness, his

(01:21:47):
deified status that he has earned as one of the
top two or three greatest players in the history of basketball,
and I never deviate from that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:59):
Always been conne to his family.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
I think his wife is the first lady of the
NBA class personified. I think his mom is an absolutely
wonderful woman. I don't have to talk to Randy much.
That's a good brother. Rich Paul and me are pretty
damn cool. Riches good people, So I'm cool with mav
as well and various other people, But me and Lebron

(01:22:29):
we don't roll like that Hei and BA. He ain't
had much use for me, and I damn sure don't
have much use for him. And that shit was cemented
when he did what he did the other day because
you rolled up on me knowing that I wouldn't have
a chance to respond unless I was willing to make

(01:22:52):
a scene, which was at court side while the national
televisions were rolling on the day that my new contract
have been announced to the world.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
But it doesn't stop me from being fair. It's not
gonna stop me from doing my job.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
My issue, which is why I appreciate it where Mello went,
because Melo put it where the goats can get it.
We don't have that kind of relationship, So what the
hell you use your son for. I'm shitting on your son.
That's not true, Bronnie James. That is not true to

(01:23:33):
the James family and all your close confidence and loved ones.

Speaker 1 (01:23:37):
That is not true. I have video.

Speaker 2 (01:23:41):
Documentation with me refusing to cover Brownie, never watching him
out of.

Speaker 1 (01:23:49):
Respect for the family.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
Because if stephen A rolls into a gym or an
arena and I see him, everyone's gonna ask for my
critique of him. And I have been on the record
publicly stating that's not fair to that kid because his
father is one of the greatest ever and they're gonna
judge him harshly, and I didn't want to be a
part of it. I can look into the camera and

(01:24:14):
look at Bronnie James and say, factually, that is not correct.

Speaker 1 (01:24:18):
I have not been shitting on that kid at all.

Speaker 2 (01:24:23):
That is factually incorrect. Now, d Wade says, when you
were talking about him, but you really no, I really wasn't.
The reason I say that is because, as Rich Paul
pointed out what he said, I could have contextualized it better.
It's not foreign to me that a second round pick
will come into the NBA and it's not ready yet,
and they'll just work hard, going to G league, come

(01:24:44):
back and forth and they'll get better, just like Kenyan
Martin told me his son did when I was on
Gilsarina last week. So that's not foreign to me. I
wasn't talking about him. I was talking about his father.
And why was I talking about his father because not me,

(01:25:05):
but the media, some publicly, many privately, literally labeled it
parental abuse that he would say, my son is better
than some.

Speaker 1 (01:25:18):
Of these dudes in the league.

Speaker 2 (01:25:19):
Right now, you want me draft my son. It ain't
even about the money at this point. I want to
play in the league with my son for the year.
You did that. That was lebron James. That was not
stephen A.

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
Smith. I did not do that. So when he came
up to me, claiming, you shitting.

Speaker 2 (01:25:40):
On my son, you shitting on myself, I didn't know
what he was talking about, because I'm the.

Speaker 1 (01:25:44):
One person who didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
I told January twenty ninth, and even then I don't
believe I did it. I pointed out how his start
was very, very bad, but his performance in the G
League was good. Let him go there and get himself better,
because you, as the dad, put him in this microscopic

(01:26:08):
spotlight and you're going.

Speaker 1 (01:26:10):
To subject them their stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:26:12):
That's going to be too much, That's all I was saying.
So we got the Draymond greenstut out there with his damn.

Speaker 1 (01:26:22):
Podcast for some reason suddenly forgetting my character and who
I am, and he's talking about y'all. It was weaker
stephen A to say that if.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
Lebron was weak, or to bring it up as a
father and oh, by the way, where I'm from, we
put hands on you. You sure you should be saying that,
dreamond you sure? I mean you sure that's the words
you want to use. We should be putting hands with somebody.
Has that not worked against you? Jordan Poole Nurkic, Rudy Gobi.
I mean, I'm just asking. I'm just asking, is that

(01:26:58):
the smartest thing for you to say, particularly when you
want to be in this business when it's all over?

Speaker 1 (01:27:04):
Is that the smartest thing for you to say? But
you go ahead, bro, God bless you.

Speaker 2 (01:27:09):
I understand where you're rolling now and how you're rolling.

Speaker 1 (01:27:12):
It's cool.

Speaker 2 (01:27:13):
I got nothing bad to say about Draymond. I still
got love for Draymond. My point in all of this
is I would never call out somebody as a father
for stuff that's going on in the privacy of your
life and your home. But I covered the NBA and

(01:27:38):
what I was talking about when it came to fatherhood
was what we were seeing on an NBA basketball court.

Speaker 1 (01:27:49):
That's my job. That's my job.

Speaker 2 (01:27:55):
I'm supposed to ignore that while he's wearing a Lakers uniform,
while he's getting money that most people wouldn't get that
he deserves.

Speaker 1 (01:28:07):
Because of Lebron, because Lebron is underpaid.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
I'm supposed to ignore all of this while you're in
the purple and gold, while you're win an NBA uniform,
while you're receiving an NBA check. When I covered the NBA.
That's where I disagreed with Dwayne Wade when he said
I'm coming at you. I'm like, ah, because of Dwayne

(01:28:31):
Wade that I know would have picked up when I
was talking about d Wade, not his son. Lebron tried
to say I was talking about his son when he
knew good and damn well, I was talking about him.

Speaker 1 (01:28:48):
We sit here today, it's a week later, and I'm
not going to talk about this anymore. But let me
say this to y'all. It's a week later.

Speaker 2 (01:29:01):
I'm not backing up from a word I said.

Speaker 1 (01:29:06):
I was right.

Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
I was doing my job, and in the process of
doing my job, I wasn't doing my job when I
didn't talk about.

Speaker 1 (01:29:21):
Him all of those years. I cover basketball. I don't
just cover the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:29:29):
I am a sports broadcaster, which means that it was
perfectly within my right to go to Sierra Canyon and
cover him, to go to USC and cover him, to
go to the G League if I wanted to and
cover him, because I cover sports. To get on me
otherwise is to get on me for doing my job.

(01:29:56):
So that's where a dream on is wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:30:00):
Me talking about father.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Why did I mention father because you said, my son
is better to some.

Speaker 1 (01:30:09):
Of the dudes in the league right now before he
got here, and.

Speaker 2 (01:30:13):
You said you want me draft my son at this point,
it ain't about the money. I just want to play
with him for a year. That's what you said, Which
is why a whole bunch of people who ain't Stephen A. Smith,
who don't have my microphone, who don't have my platform,

(01:30:33):
was talking about him behind his back and talking about
Lebron and what he was doing as a father who
happens to be the greatest attraction in the game today.
Mellow's right. This wasn't about Bronnie. This was an excuse

(01:30:59):
that Lebron was looking for to get at me, which,
by the way, would not have been a problem. We
could have met in the back. We could have had
a man a man conversation where I had an opportunity
to respond and point to him about what he did
to put his son in this microscopic spotlight that I

(01:31:21):
personally have tried to avoid for three years. But he
didn't give me that opportunity, just like he didn't give
me the opportunity when the shop was on HBO and
MAV came up to me and Rich came up to
me and they said, Yo, we want you on a shop.

(01:31:43):
Hell yeah, we want you on a shop with Lebron.
It'll be box office. I said, name the time and
place I show up. I only got one condition.

Speaker 1 (01:31:52):
Nothing gets edited out. Nothing. Let me go. He's so right,
he's so righteous. Let's do it his.

Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
Show, not mine. Don't come on first saying I ain't
helping his ratings. Don't come on this YouTube shorts pocket. Nah,
I ain't helping this numbers. I come on your show.
We know her to help numbers. At the very least,
we know I could do that. Nobody was hiding crickets.
Never heard from them since. And I know that ain't
there for because I know Mavill put me on the heartbeat,

(01:32:28):
Rich Paul and the rest of the crew.

Speaker 1 (01:32:32):
All of them in a heartbeat.

Speaker 2 (01:32:35):
I'd show up by my damn self, or I show
up with my own boys, and we could all bring
facts to the table. But I was never taken up
on that offer. You see, I don't run and hide.
If I'm wrong, I'll say i'm wrong. If I'm right,

(01:32:59):
I'm right. I was never shitting on Brownie James. I
wouldn't do that to the James family. I was talking
about one person and one person only. We may never
speak in life again. I'm fine with it. I get

(01:33:26):
paid to talk about folks, not to them. I cover
the league, you play, I watch, dissect, analyze, and broadcast.
We ain't got to communicate. We damn sure don't have
to say hello to each other. We don't have to
do none of that. We don't get along. And there's

(01:33:52):
a multitude of reasons why. I've alluded to some of them,
but we know what the biggest reason is.

Speaker 1 (01:34:01):
I ain't Shay in the shop.

Speaker 2 (01:34:04):
It ain't goat status this way. My goat is Michael Jordan.
Thirty five thousand points, eclipse in Kareem Abdujabal with over
thirty eight thousand, ultimately forty thousand, now fifty thousand, another
All Star appearance, another fifty point game. Whatever, ain't my goat?

(01:34:29):
I watched the game. I'm a student of the game.
I know a goat when I see one, and he
is a goat of this generation. But all time, it's
Michael Jordan.

Speaker 1 (01:34:45):
That's who the hell it is. That's the goat you see.
Kobe came into the game with a heart.

Speaker 2 (01:34:55):
Lebron developed one.

Speaker 1 (01:34:59):
First several years.

Speaker 2 (01:35:00):
It wasn't like that because he was scared to get
through the free throw line. He was never scared of
an opponent. I would never disrespect greatness of Lebron James
like that. He was scared to get to the free
throw line. That's where the fallaway jumpers came from. That
was where the hesitancy to get to go to the
hole came from. Anything that could finally lend himself towards
going to the free throw line, he wasn't trying to do.

Speaker 1 (01:35:23):
But there's this thing about heart that you got to
pay attention to.

Speaker 2 (01:35:27):
You see, when you lack a speck of it at
any point, particularly back.

Speaker 1 (01:35:34):
In the day, there would be impediments and roadblocks to
prevent you.

Speaker 2 (01:35:41):
From getting it. Why do I call Michael Jordan the
goat over Lebron James because at his very best, compared
to Lebron at his very best, I'm going mj all
day every day.

Speaker 1 (01:35:54):
But here's the biggest thing.

Speaker 2 (01:35:59):
It was Scottie Pippen, with the Migraine and others associated
with Lebron, with Michael Jordan, that prevented him from climbing
that ladder over the Detroit Pistons until a third or
fourth or fifth try. Whenever it was, it wasn't because
of mj And I'm telling you here right now, as

(01:36:22):
God as my witness, Lebron as great and phenomenal as
he is. If he were playing in that era, as
I've said on many occasions, and he gone against Michael Jordan,
Michael Jordan would have tried to snatch his heart right
out of his chest before he ever arrived to Miami

(01:36:42):
to learn to win with d Wade and with pat Riley.

Speaker 1 (01:36:46):
That's my proclamation.

Speaker 2 (01:36:50):
I said it before and I'll say it again. That's
why Michael Jordan is my goat. It's just a basketball
opinion me. It's clearly a lot more to Lebron James
choking in the finals against the Dallas Mavericks in twenty eleven.

(01:37:13):
Fine us getting in an argument about something in black media,
and fine. The only consistent blemish I've placed against Lebron
James is that he is not the greatest of all time.

(01:37:35):
That's the frustration that's been brewing up more so than
anything else. Bring up, Bronnie, if you want to, Bronnie James,
I'm going to do my job, same energy you mess up,
I'm gonna mention it. You succeed, I'm gonna be there

(01:37:57):
celebrating it. That's what happens in the pros. You got
nothing to worry about with me. All the best to you.
I wish you nothing but the best. You're a great
kid who I believe is gonna be in the NBA someday,
sooner than later. On a regular consistent basis to the
James family, my apologies for all that is happening. To

(01:38:21):
the Draymond Greens world. I'm sad I hurt your friend
or I upset your friend, Bro. Evidently that matters a
lot to you. My bad to the basketball world. I'm
stephen A. Smith, demmit, and I'm gonna cover the sport
the way I cover the sport. Ain't nobody changing me
on that. I'm gonna give it to you how you

(01:38:44):
deserve it, good, bad, or in different and that includes
Lebron James. Ain't nobody changing. This was not about Bronni.
This was about Lebron. He did all of it this
with his words and his proclamations and his assertions. Hey

(01:39:07):
also did it.

Speaker 1 (01:39:14):
To show that.

Speaker 2 (01:39:18):
It really does hurt him not to be the goat
Oh well, that's it for this edition to the Stephen A.

Speaker 1 (01:39:27):
Smith Show.

Speaker 2 (01:39:28):
You feel how you want to feel. I feel how
I want to feel. I am going to do my
damn job. That's the way it is.

Speaker 1 (01:39:41):
Y'all. Have a nice day. Until next time, Peace of love.

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Episode Transcript

Host

Stephen A. Smith

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