Why I’m pissed off, me/Monica McNutt, Caitlin Clark/Chennedy, Jason Kidd interview, more

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm pretty pissed off today. I'm
not going to deny it, and I will confess to
you I'm pretty pissed off for some of my colleagues,
one in particular.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I usually don't call folks out that I work with.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
There's always exceptions because sometimes they're necessary. The Stephen Asmith
Show coming your way right now.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
What's up, everybody? Welcome to the latest edition of The
Stephen A.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Smith Show, coming at you as I love to do
at the very least three days a week over the
digital airways of YouTube. I hope you all had an
absolutely positively wonderful weekend. I know that I did because
I watched my subscribers climbed over six hundred and eighty
eight thousand, and continues to climb each and every single day.
That couldn't be possible or if it wasn't for the
love and support that all of you have been giving me.
Thank you so much. I really really appreciate to keep

(01:00):
it coming, and I'm gonna keep on coming. To like it,
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(01:22):
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Speaker 2 (01:38):
And they just on YouTube, you.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Can find that you can also listen to it on iHeartRadio.
While you're at it, make sure to get a copy
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(01:59):
to hear the show and we can go from there. Look,
I'm not pissed to the point where I'm annoyed and
I'm gonna call people out their names or especially people
that I love, like the person.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
I'm about to talk about in a few minutes. But
certain things need.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
To be corrected for the record because certain people, certain
things people are just ill informed about, and the publications
that grab the headlines and try to manipulate things and
make things seem as if there's something that they're not.
I understand that some folks are desperate for clickbait. That's
how they do it. They don't care about accuracy. They
just care about talking shit and not knowing what the

(02:37):
hell they're talking about. So I'm here for it, and
that's fine because that's one of the reasons I'm in
good shape, because I don't hold stuff inside all the
time and let stuff foment an ultimately and implosion takes place,
and I'm the one that suffers because I'm unhealthy. No,
I believe, and as I've said this the family and
friends throughout my life, I believe the best form of

(02:57):
stress relief is received precation. When people stress, you stress
the hell out of them, and that's how you'll alleviate
your stress because they'll know stress is coming down the
pike and they won't want the damn trouble. So maybe
they won't bring you trouble. But I'm here for it.
I'm here for it.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
And it's regarding the subject of Caitlin Clark.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
For those of you don't know, she's a former star
at Iowa and College, played in the National Championship Game
for losing to South Carolina. She's a number one overall
pick for the w NBA Draft. She is a special talent,
to say the least, even though she's not having a
special year because the Indiana Fever is stinking up the joint.
They've got the second worst record in the league. Only
the Washington Mystics or words who are oh to eight

(03:44):
Indiana Fever are o to nine. But that's not the
story involving Caitlin Clark and all the drama that surrounds
her in this particular day. As we get started to
talk about this hot topic that is Caitlin Clark, let's
put it in its proper perspective. The Indiana Fever rookie
foul Saturday night Chicago sky guard Kennedy Carter on an

(04:05):
inbounds play. The foulers later upgraded to a flagrant one
violation after league review. The very next day, feverhead coach
Christy Side said she's been sending plays to the league
for review. When I asked about the treatment of US
star rookie to play itself and overall treatment of Clark
has had social media buzzing. We've all been buzzing about it, okay,

(04:26):
but there was another individual that was buzzing about it
for a different reason, and that's my boy, Matt Bonds
from the Old The Smoke podcast. He weighed in on
it this weekend and before I do anything, I want
to show you what he had to say.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Check out his thoughts.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Through the hot topic going on right now. Cavin Clark
says she got cheap shoted against the Sky. I mean
throughout the season she's been getting beat up, hardscreen's elbows, knockdown.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
It is what it is.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
She's not the first, she won't be the last. My
issue with my question is where the fuck are her teammates?
Where y'all at? Where are the rest of the Indiana
Fever at I've seen a couple girls smirk when she's
got knocked down, half ass to pick her up, like
y'all supposed to protect the asset, protect the star and all.
This is the team. She's the star. You always protect
your star. I was someone who protected the stars. You

(05:14):
fuck with Cole cp Blake. This goes on, it's gonna
be a problem because you got are supposed to be
a family. And you wonder why you sit at the
bottom of the league right now because y'all don't protect
each other. Man, coach, don't do shit about it. Players
don't shoot do shit about y'all should be ashamed of it.
But the rest of the league is gonna continue to
test her, and that's what they're supposed to do. And
she got his fucking job to have her back and
have each other's back.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Gotta do better, ladies.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
I want thousand percent agree with Matt Bonds every syllable
that he uttered. I don't think the coach would be
coaching the end if you've aftter this year, assuming.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
She last this year.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
I thought it was very tepid response at this time,
at this particular moment. I mean, we've sent tape to
the league, We've complained with the league. Please, we didn't
know about it. Where's the noise? You got a girl
here who's box office in Kaitlyn Clark. She is box office.
We can lament at all we want to, but the
fact of the matter is Caitlyn Claw is box office
and we got to get that out the way. And
I'll get into all of that a little bit more

(06:04):
in just a second, because it's very very important that
we point this out. She breaks, she fills seats, she
brings the cameras, she brings national publicity. It's what she
does now as a player. Let's understand this about Caitlyn Clark,
number one overall pick on pace to become the first
rookie ever the average at least fifteen points, five rebounds,
five assists, but she also leads the league with five

(06:26):
point four turnovers per game, one point three more than
any other player in the league.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
She's shooting just under.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Thirty six percent from the field and thirty percent from
three point range, which is not impressive. Of the twenty
one players averaging at least fifteen points in the game,
Clarks the third worst field goal percentage that thirty five
point seven percent.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
She also has more technical fouls with three.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Than the Indiana Fever has wins right now two with two,
which is very very bad, by the way, but understandable
because if you're losing that much, it stands. The reason
that you're a high end competitor like she is, you're
gonna get called for some technical files. She struggled with,
physical defense she's faced at the professional level, and voice
frustration with the league's officiating recently, Telly reporters quote, I
feel like I'm getting hammered and everybody is physical with me,

(07:04):
and opponents get away with things that other people don't
get away with. That's what Caitlyn Clark said. That is
what she said. Okay, but to me, it's a bigger
issue going on. And when this happened, and that girl,
Kennedy Carter pushed her in the back like that, it
was a cheap shot. It was not a basketball play.
She should have been ejected number one. Number two. There

(07:27):
should have been a fine that was incurred thereafter Number three.
Not to say that there won't be or hasn't been
at this moment in time, I don't know of one.
I know the team was fine for media availability purposes
because people weren't available to talk. I know Andrew Reese
was also going to be fine because she didn't make
herself available for the media as well. And I get
all of that as well. We understand it. We see
it for what it is. It is what it is.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
I'm saying this.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
It's important that we point this out. One of the
things that I brought up this morning and talking about
Caitlyn is that some of the players. You want to
use the word jealousy, Fine, you want to use the
word env Fine, you want to use the word resentment.
We want to play with words. That's cool, It's something,

(08:13):
and I think that some of the ladies, not all,
but some of the ladies in the WNBA are missing
the point.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
And the point is this girl right.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Here is a box office attraction and because of her
box office attraction, it's generating more eyeballs to the WNBA product,
therefore more revenue for the WNBA profit a product. Don't
you think y'all are gonna benefit from that too? Look
at the big picture. That's what I was talking about

(08:47):
when I was talking about it this morning on my
day Jo our first take on ESPN every weekday morning
from ten am to twelve nowon East to stand the time,
A rising.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Tide raises all boats.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
If Caitlyn Clark is the quote unquote savior, if she's
the Golden Girl, milk it now it's just an opinion,
albeit I believe an educated one. But this girl that
comes away from CO comes into it, comes out of
college rather who happens to be white, who's already making

(09:19):
bookoo dollars the average that the average the maximum salary
in the w NBA is two hundred and fifty thousand.
If I remember correctly, Caitlin Clark signed a twenty eight
million dollar endorsement deal. Win't nobody in a WNBA getting that.
Nobody's gotten that yet, but her. Asia Wilson is the
superstar in the NBA. In a WNBA, she's a two
time champion. This girl is the is legit, she's the

(09:42):
real deal, and those kind of endorsements and all of
that stuff ain't come her way, even though some has
come away. Vlajah Johnson out of LSU is gonna get
her bag. She already got nil deals. She's also a
hip hop artist. We're seeing women get shine. We're seeing

(10:03):
this shine elevate. It's deserving, it's long overdue, but the
fact is it's long overdue. And because it's long overdue,
it begs the question why the hell ending to arrivee earlier?
Because you didn't have Kaitlyn Clark earlier. Now, what's the
difference between hun and Diana Tarassi or Sue Bird or

(10:25):
Rihanna Stewart or somebody else, or you're in that school
or somebody y'all talk about that. The fact of the
matter is the kind of stuff that's happening and has
been happening over the last few months is.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Because of Kaitlyn Clark.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
I got some of the stats in front of me
to validate it, because you see, I bring receipts, and
I'll get to why I'm really pissed off in a
few minutes. WNBA Draft twenty twenty four drew two point
four hundred four four six million viewers to ESPN on

(11:02):
Monday night, making it the most watched draft in w
NBA history.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Who's the number one over opick?

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Hi Amran?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Who's the number on O pick? They say it louder,
Caitlin Clark the number one overpack. Is coincidence? Huh? Just coincidence? Huh.
Of course it's not.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
Highest rated draft in history because Caitlyn Clark. W NBA
TV ratings for this season, Ladies and gentlemen, do you
know it skyrocketed? ABC announced it had its most viewed
opening weekend double header ever, with two games combined in
the average one point five million viewers. That marks a
one hundred and forty three percent increase from a w

(11:42):
NBA double header on ABC a year ago.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Did you know that? Did you know that? Did you
know that? Well? You know it now? Le's that.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Just to throw this out there, Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever
has been involved in three now, mind you, the same
Indiana team that started out one to seven, The same
Indiana team that lost their first three or four over
four games of the season. The same Indiana Fever that
has the second worst record in WNBA basketball Right now,

(12:11):
the only team worse than them in the entire league
is the Washington Mystics, who are winless in eight games.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
The second worst.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Team in the league is the Indiana Fever, led by
Caitlyn Clark.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Did you know that?

Speaker 1 (12:25):
The Fever has been involved in three of the four
TV games that have garnered one point three million average
viewers this season entering this past weekend, These are the
most watched w NBA games.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Are you ready for this?

Speaker 1 (12:41):
In over two decades, the Indiana Fever to a nine.
By the way, Indiana is a small market in New
York City.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Ain La in Chicago. Is that Scot's not the Liberty,
It's not Sparks.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
We're talking about the Indiana Fever led by a girl
that was playing at Iowa. It's producing the most watched
WNBA games in over two decades.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
What does that tell you?

Speaker 1 (13:13):
That tells you that before Caitlyn Clark came along, it
wasn't nearly as popular. It doesn't mean it wasn't growing
in popularity over the last two to three years. But
three years ago WNBA was an afterthought a little bit
less than that. There were thoughts of this team being
defunct and going away. Nobody cared. And I don't mean

(13:38):
that literally. I mean by large and I'm gonna say
something that was very unpopular, then it'll be unpopular now.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
But I don't give a damn because it's a fact.
We're the ladies.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
The sport I'm not talking about right now. I'm talking
about in the past, when it wasn't as popular the
men have this sports. Do you know why men's sports
became exponentially more popular because of women? It was more
women watching NBA games, it was more women watching NFL games.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
That's how it became more popular.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Well, ladies, if you help the NFL get more popular,
and you help the NBA get more popular, how come
you didn't help the WNBA get more popular until recently.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
You did that.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
The men of the men, but the women rule. When
women support you, you win. Everything shows that. It happens
in sports, it happens in business, It happens in television.
When women watching you, when women are listening to you,

(14:55):
you win. Every superstar you could possibly fathom. Got it
good with the ladies. The ladies support them. I don't
care who you pick. Pick a superstar, pick a make
a superstar, and tell me where they're lacking female support.
Twenty five to fifty four demographic, eighteen to thirty four demographic.

(15:18):
The list goes on and on. When the women support you,
you win. You even win elections. You don't win elections
because the men support you. For the most part.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
From what I've been told, you win it when the
women come out and support you. Women know this. So
why was the WNBA not popular all of these years?

Speaker 1 (15:46):
So when I go on national television and I bring
up jealousy, NV resentment or whatever, I'm not saying it's
not justified. If you are a WNBA player and you
resent Caitlyn Clark.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
It makes perfect sense because she's white and she's.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
The golden girl that's considered the marketing.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Savior for the sport.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yes, they were talking about chartered flights before she ever
came along and opened her mouth.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
But shortly after Caitlyn.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Clark opened her mouth, you had chartered flights and you
ain't having in two decades. She's got that kind of influence,
that kind of power. I wasn't trying to say that
women black, white, and everything in between associated with the
WNBA should it was wrong, and shouldn't feel resentment after

(16:43):
all that hard work you put in to pound the
pavement and to be the great players that you are
and the great basketball ambassadors that you are, what you've
done for this sport. Of course you should feel resentful.
Of course you should.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
What I'm saying is, don't be blind. There's an opening exploited.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Rather than be resentful, envious, jealous, whatever word.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Is applicable, notice the opening.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Caitlyn Clark is bringing more attention when you get on
the court with her and you perform.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
And somehow, some way you'll find.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
A way to attach yourself to that level of magnetism
that she surely has.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Who knows what could be out there for you?

Speaker 1 (17:39):
And if suddenly the maximum salary goes from two hundred.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
And fifty thousand to four hundred and fifty thousand, and.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Suddenly you're on chartered jets instead of commercial flights, and
suddenly you're maximizing the potential of your in name, image
and likeness, what do you care? At the end of
the day, the rising tide lifts all both, and I'm
able to get personal about it. How many times did

(18:05):
I tell y'all when ESPN signed Pat McAfee, nobody was
happier than me. Shannon Sharp ded and he getting it shine,
Nobody's happier than me.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Ryan Clark got a new deal. Nobody's happier to me.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Troy ak Mean got a deal, Joe Buck got a deal,
Kirk Herbsheet got a deal, Tom Brady got a deal,
Tony Romo got his deal.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Because they're setting the market.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Why do you think I've had a smile on my
face all of these months because I believe it's my turn.
Has nothing to do with Disney, has nothing to do
with ESPN. It has everything to do with the industry.
If I'm an NBA player and I've just won a

(18:51):
championship and somebody who didn't win gets fifty million a
year here doing what I do, What.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Do you think I'm gonna think I'm worse? See how
simple it is.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
It's capitalism, it's marketability, it's it's taking advantage of the moment.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
That's business. Why be resentful of any of them?

Speaker 1 (19:25):
I throw out names like the mcafeees, and the Akman's
and and and all of these folks, even the Joe
Rogan's of the world and everybody else. I couldn't be though,
I couldn't be more thankful. You're setting the market. That's business.
What is wrong with people? How do you not see

(19:46):
that you didn't hurt Caitlyn Clark, You didn't chop at
her knees or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Kennedy Carter, So that's cool.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
It was a bush league player, it wasn't a basketball
play and all of this other stuff. But it at
the end of the day, all I'm saying is for
you because I saw you. I saw the reports that
you called her the B word before your shove there
in the side hip check her, but before just in
case resentment, jealousy, envy, or whatever it is is applicable,
because I don't know which one it.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Is just in case.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
All I'm saying is, hold up, ladies, there's an opportunity here.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Go for it. Let that girl shine. I'm not talking
about it on the court.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
You compete against it, you try to take her out,
try to beat the I get that part, but I'm
talking about let that girl shine market it wise, let
her get her bag, find a way to maximize off
of it, and create an opening for yourself so.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
You can get yours. That's the American way. Hell, that's
the global way.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
But for some reason, my colleague at ESPN, MSS Monica McNutt,
couldn't figured that out and took a conversation and did
something she has never done.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Before that absolutely shocked me.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
That she did today that I totally and emphatically disagreed with.
Although I do love her to death and I appreciate
the great work that she does for me on first
take on ESPN and the great work she does for
ESPN overall, I love Monica McNutt, but this is the
first real disagreement we had, and since she brought it

(21:41):
up on National television.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
I'm gonna bring it up now.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
This is myself along with her and Shannon Sharp from
Club Shayshay, getting into it on this very subject.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Watch where Monica McNutt goes. Listen to this.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Who talked about Wether's sports more the more the First Take,
Stephen ain't respectfully with your platform.

Speaker 5 (22:03):
You could have been doing this three years ago if
you wanted to.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Wow, all right, we gotta go. You got you know,
but who does more.

Speaker 5 (22:13):
I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
I do that.

Speaker 5 (22:16):
I'm talking to you about the power that you have.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Okay, I'm talking to you.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Okay, Okay, you my god, I'm talking to you.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Guys.

Speaker 5 (22:24):
Guys, guys, I really appreciate.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
You, my girl. But you've missed a lot of episodes
of First Take. You missed years ago.

Speaker 5 (22:31):
You were not talking about the at this level.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Don't do that, guys, Guys, guys, Monica job first of all,
as it pertains to what Molly said, doing a job
at that particular moment, naturally in television got to get us.
The commercial break sometimes damn the commercial break. But that's

(22:59):
the subject for another day. I'll deal with that.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Here's the bigger issue.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
You know, there's something that's going on, and a lot
of people run from it, but I'm not because I'm
not scared of these subjects. Doesn't phase me at all.
To address Monica mcnutt's point, I found it very unfortunate
that she would say that, Ladies and gentlemen, I am

(23:30):
the executive producer of First Take. You ever heard of
Monica McNutt. You have now because she's on First Take
A lot Shanello goomackay, absolutely wonderful, spectacular basketball analyst, et cetera,
et cetera, WNBA playing our own right. Ask how it's

(23:51):
been to be on first Aake? How about Andrea Carter,
who's a rising star in this business? How much do
you think First Take help that? What about Kimberly Martin?
What about Molly Carram herself? Now, I have sat back

(24:12):
for years and taken a lot of shit from people,
some who don't know what the hell they're talking about,
some who act like they don't know just because they
want to get at me. I could care less about
people getting at me. I just want you to be accurate.

(24:33):
And it is highly offensive to me when somebody implies
or flat out states like Monica McNutt dig Monica McNutt
did this morning, which.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Was factually incorrect.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
I challenge anybody to find a show with sports television
that discusses women issues, that discusses the WNBA or women's
sports that highlights and profiles female analyst more than First Take.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
It's been going on for years.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
One of our producers here, this guy by the name
of Gaalen Gordon, who used to be a producer on
First Take.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
He was one of the people who spared it.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Highlighting diversity. You as an audience don't know this, but
Monica McNutt does the James Dunn and the David McKinnon's
of the world and others. He's a black man overseeing
First Take.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
My boss.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
The h N I C as they say, one of
the executives, the top three executives at ESPN overseeing First
Take is a black man by the name of Dave Roberts.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
We have black women, we have white women. Mina Comms.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Let mean, I forget to mention her, there's a female
host on my show.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Anybody trying to let go Molly Before her, it was
Kerry Champion.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Before Numbers Never lie came along with Jamail Hill she's
on first take, First take his spearheaded diversity and equity
keviny idea. How offensive it was for me to sit
there and hear Monica McNutt say that about me when

(26:43):
I'm the one who had picked our roster on first take.
Now again, we're only talking about this incident. I love
Monica McNutt. She's phenomenal, and she is a friend, and
I'm a supporter, and I'm going to remain a supporter
of us. I just disagree with that one statement because

(27:07):
I have to publicly defend the show. What she said
is blatantly false. I'm not accusing her of lying. I'm
accusing her of not knowing. Because she's not a liar,
she's an honorable person. She must not have known. The WNBA.

(27:28):
Could I have done more? Well, guess what, Monica McNutt.
I could have done less?

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Who's done more? Hell?

Speaker 1 (27:37):
A legitimate argument could be made that the WNBA wasn't
doing it for himself, for themselves, the commissioner of the
WNBA came or first take to thank us for what
we were doing for the WNBA.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Who else was doing it? Where are these people at?

Speaker 1 (28:03):
We address one issue after another after another, it's sports, fine,
it's social issues, fine, it's politics.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
It's fine, it's just the issues. Fine. The list goes
on and on. First take is the place. Who's the
executive producer, first.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Day, who hand picked every single contributed to the show,
because more than two years ago, Jimmy Patara, the president
of ESPN, Dave Roberts, an executive edited at ESPN, handed

(28:42):
that responsibility to me.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
And I didn't even ask for it. You don't believe me.
Ask them, you know their numbers.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Jimmy Pataro, Dave Roberts, Burt Magnus is not a boss
overcreated content for ESPN.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Ask him too.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
I'm in charge of content. I'm in charge of the
contributors that are on the show.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
That would be me.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
What do you mean we haven't talked about it years ago?
Years ago, you weren't resonating. Years ago, you didn't have
an audience. Years ago, you didn't have that audience because
even the women weren't supporting the WNBA. And it was
me on national television calling up the women to support

(29:32):
the NWNBA.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
I said it.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
You can find a tape, yo. We should be talking
about y'all more. But you gotta resonate more. Y'all gotta
do better in support in your own sport. The fellas
got their sports. This is y'all sport ladies. Why don't
y'all support them more? The tape is there, It's in
the archives. We ain't talking about. It's been there. It's

(29:59):
been there, and ever since, that's what we've been doing.
I recall Shaneo Gumika and Andrea Carter coming on the
show and thanking me not just for what I was
doing for them, but what I was doing for women's sports.

(30:24):
So for Monica McNutt to go on national television and
say that it is unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
I love her.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
She's a good woman and a phenomenal analyst. And I'm
not throwing any shade on her. I'm speaking out because
she put out a falsehood about me live on national
television on first take, and I'm going to clear that
record that is not true.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Could I have done more? Well?

Speaker 1 (30:59):
If you're a sport show, in a sports news show,
you gotta talk about what's percolating.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
You got to talk about what's resonating.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
You've got to pay attention to what the masters are
paying attention to, and the fact of the matter is,
they weren't paying any attention to the WNBA. So there's
but so much I could do until the WNBA did
something for itself, and in the second there was a
sliver of an opening to do something.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
More for the sport.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
I have always done something for women's basketball and women's sports, period.
Yet here we are on this particular day, and I
am sitting up here and I'm.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Google alerts it is. Let me play for you. The
headlines one headlines.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
USA Today, Monica McNutt leaves stephen A Smith speechless.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Were real talk about first takes WNBA coveres That ain't
real talk. That's the damn point. It's not real. It's false.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
But us say today you didn't brought her to pick
that up, did you? Another one ESPN's Fox News ESPN
stephen A. Smith says another NBA players jealous of Kaitlyn
Clark suggests racis a part of it.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
You're damn right.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
So people got a problem with a white girl who's
been labeled the savior even before she played a game,
after they toiled the terrain of the WNBA for years.
It's a natural reaction. It's not beneficial. It doesn't need
to be something they harness in harbor because you can
maximize the potential of what Caitlyn Clark has created. But nevertheless,

(32:38):
the resentment to some degree is real. Not tell you
I'm not backtracking from that. Here's another headline Athlon sports.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Stephen A.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Smith left speechless after w NBA opinion backlash on first take.
I'm speechless because I didn't want to go nuclear on
a wonderful, wonderful woman like Monica McNutt, who I think
was false and put out a false narrative. That's why

(33:13):
stephen A. Smith Daily Mail of course couldn't forget them.
God can't forget them.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Stephen A.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
Smith is slammed by co hosts Infurious Exchange Live on
the air, slammed or taken aback by the falsehood of
that accusation. What's the matter? That headline is too long

(33:42):
to write. Do y'all homework check the facts. First take delivers,
and we deliver because we run from nothing and we
try to support everything that comes associated with the world

(34:03):
of sports.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
I love Monica McNutt dearly and I.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Will always support her. Everybody can't be right all the time.
Everybody being can't be correct. It is by far the
most disappointing moment I ever had with her because she
didn't just say what she said about me. When you're
talking about I could do more, you're talking about first take,

(34:32):
and we've done more than most and.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
We could always do less, but we don't because we care.
And I'm gonna leave it at that.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Let me move on to Steph Curry because we gotta
get to this because former NBA All Star give her
a reenus raise some eyebrows this weekend over his comments
about the baby Face Assassin. Listen to what Gilbert Arenas
said on his podcast, Gil's Arena, saying that Curry is
not a generational talent. Here's what Arena had to say. Specifically,

(35:10):
look at this quote. Steph is not a generational talent.
Generational infers you can mimic it. Can you mimic Magic Johnson,
a six to nine point guard with vision. You can't
mimic Lebron James. It's about physical attributes. You can't mimic
Victor Wimbinyanna. Jokic is not a generational talent. Curry is
a great basketball player. Generational is something that's once every

(35:33):
twenty years. When it comes, you're like, damn I love
Gilbert Arenas, loved his podcast Brother Knows Basketball. I thought
he I think he lost his damn mind on this one.
When have you seen a shooter like Steph Curry in
our lifetime? I've been on Earth fifty six years. Gilbert

(35:55):
Arenas is in his thirties.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
I think.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Talk to shooters every When have you seen somebody like
Steph Curry off the dribble, standing still, twenty thirty, forty
fifty feet on the move, stationary, spot up, jump shot,
floaters in the lane, floaters from thirty feet.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Left side, right side, top of the key, right wing,
left wing, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
And the ability to create his own shadow, catch a shoot.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Steph Curry is the greatest shoot of God has ever created.
What do you mean, mimic? Who? Who is this person?

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Reggie Miller, Allan Houston, Ricky Piss dal Ellis Dell, Curry
is Daddy, Andrew Tony, Pete Marravitch. That's where we're gonna go,
Rick Barry, where we gonna do? What are you talking about?

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Gildreenas, what are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (36:50):
And by the way, I've seen plenty of dudes six '
nine and built like Lebron.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
They didn't have his game, but they had his body.
You can't see the wind. Beyannas of the World.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
Y'ao Ming was seven six, Sean Bradley was seven four.
They just didn't have his game. What you talking about?
They ain't seen nobody that can shoot like Steph Curry.
That is a generational talent. It's the greatest shooter God
ever created. Magic Johnson. I see plenty of dude six

(37:26):
y nine built like Magic Johnson. They ain't have his game.
Who's got Steph Curry's game?

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Who's this person? I want to meet him? Never seen them?

Speaker 1 (37:36):
I ain't never seen nobody six ' three that can
shoot like that. That has brothers depressed. When he pulls
up and they failed to block and shot from thirty
five feet from the basket, they barely look at the rim.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
They're like, damn, he got it off. It's going in.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
He's the greatest shooter God ever created. In warmups, he
runs up the stairs and shoots from the tunnel before
rusted racing into the locker room.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
That's how great he is. This is Steph Curry we
talking about so respectfully. I don't know what the hell
Gilbert Arenas is talking.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
About, but I'll listen to other people speak about it,
go ahead and play at Fellas. But Tracks Sports says
Stephan Curry is a top five NBA player of all time.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
No, he tripping on that.

Speaker 6 (38:39):
He hasn't cracked my top ten yet.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
He just hasn't.

Speaker 6 (38:42):
I think Steph has had a phenomenal career. I mean,
obviously four championships, two league MVPs, he has a final MVP.
But if you go back in his career and if
you look at when a dramnd is out of the
lineup for the season, if you look at Klay Thompson
has missed the season or for that season. To me,
if you're that great, if you're gonna be a top

(39:04):
five and one of your guys are missing, you can't
make the playoffs. I can't put you in the top
five or top ten. I just can't. And that's just
my opinion. Greatness to me is when one of your
guys are out, you still gotta elevate your team at
least to the playoffs. Like they don't even make the playoffs.
Win Clay or Draymond is out of the lineups and

(39:24):
they haven't won a play in game at all. So
he top five no chance not.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
That makes sense when you think about guys Lebron MJ, Kareem,
Abdul Jabal, you know, the Elijah Ones of the world,
that Shaquille O'Neills of the world.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
People like that Kobe.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Of course, sure you can make an argument to push
Steph Curry out the top five. Fine, I'm not gonna
not t mac for that, because again, when Clay was
out go to State didn't resemble itself. When Draymond's been
out Go to State, they didn't resemble themselves.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
I got that part. So Steph might need.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
More as a six ' to three shooter extraordinary, but
don't tell me he ain't a generational talent. That's going
too far. I can't believe that came out of Gilbert
Aarena's his mouth. I don't agree with him on that one. Brother,
No basketball though, ain't no shade this way. Got love
for gil I'm just saying that particular take naw, I'm

(40:25):
not vibing.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
With that, bro. I gotta disagree with that. Now.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Let me take just a few seconds to make sure
everyone knows, all right, my favorite time of the year
is finally here. The NBA Finals have arrived and the
best part is Prizepects has got you covered.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
While all the big games are happening, Prospects is gonna
help you cash in, y'all.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
You see, Prospects is.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
A daily fantasy sports app where you can select two
or more of your favorite players and then pick more
or less on they're projected in game stats. But prize
Pects is not just basketball. Oh no, it has something
for every sports fan. Okay, from the MLB and the
WNBA to tennis or the NHL and everything in between.
You can pick a tany Angel Reese, Juan Soto, and
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Speaker 2 (41:10):
All in the same entry. By the way, all in
the same entry.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Okay, I make my picks to submit early, all in
less than sixty seconds, and get this, Prospects will match
your first depositive up to one hundred dollars.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
So that's right. Go to prospects dot com and use code.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
Says that's my initials of course, in case you didn't know,
for a first deposit match of up to one hundred dollars,
that's code sas. When you go to prospects dot com, pickball,
pick less.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
Guess what, it's really really really that easy.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Last topic before I get to my man, Jason Kidd,
head coach for the Dallas Mavericks.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Who's coming on to the show today.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Justin Jefferson, star wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. He
is now officially the highest paid non quarterback ever getting
to the NFL. It's a payday for him. The three
time NFL Pro Bowler just reset the receiver mark look
at this season by agreeing to a record one hundred
and forty million dollar deal to stay with the Minnesota Vikings.

(42:05):
The deal includes one hundred and ten million guaranteed, making
Jefferson the highest paid non quarterback in NFL history. Jefferson
announced the news himself on social media, saying this is
the deal he's been waiting for since he was a
little kid.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
As mentioned, the.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Deal resets the wide receiver market where Cowboys wide receiver
CD Lamb now awaits his turn. A couple of things
to get out of the way. Number one, CD Lamb,
you don't deserve what Justin Jefferson is getting. Let's get
that out of the way right now. You're a bad brother.
You deserve your bag, you deserve to get paid, but
you do not deserve what Justin Jefferson got. Uh uh,
you don't deserve his money. If you're Jamar Chase, you

(42:39):
can't make the legitimate argument that you did help Joe
Burrow get to a super Bowl. You can also make
a legitimate argument that t Higgins might not be there.
So guess what, give me the bag. But the bottom
line is this, Justin Jefferson deserves his bag, especially with
Kirk Cousin's going with you having a rookie quarterback with
the offense and its success or its resumed success being
predicated on his excellence. You damn right, he deserves his money.

(43:02):
Four years in the National Football League. Last year only
played in ten games, got hurt, still had over one
thousand yards to sue. Seasons before that, okay, eighteen hundred yards,
sixteen hundred yards. Okay, second season sixteen hundred yards, third
season eighteen hundred yards.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
The brother's phenomenal. He deserves his bag.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
I'm happy for him, but seeedee lamb, get your paper,
but I don't want to hear all my goodness. Dallas
offered me one hundred and five, so that means, you
know what is short, because Justin Jefferson got ten to
one hundred and ten guarantees so I deserve one hundred
and eleven or one hundred and fifteen.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Damn that you do not be happy we're getting a
little less.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
I'm not saying you deserve a lot less than Justin Jefferson,
but you deserve a little less. Stop that nonsense. Now
get the bag. Get the bag. You ain't number one
he is, So let's get that straight.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
All right?

Speaker 1 (43:53):
Coming up, Deontay Wilder suffers another knockout?

Speaker 2 (43:59):
Should he call it quick? I'll get into that.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
Plus, as I previously stated, Mavericks head coach, the one
and only Jason Kidd joins the show.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Stick around. iHeartRadio on the audio side YouTube on the
video side, The Stephen A. Smith Show is everywhere we
like it. Like that.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Jason Kidd up next in a minute.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Welcome back to the Stephen A.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
Smith Show right here over the digital airwaves of YouTube.
I couldn't wait to talk to my next guest. He
is a ten tom All star who led the New
Jersey Nets back in the day to back to back
NBA Finals appearances in two thousand and two in two
thousand and three. He eventually won an NBA title in
twenty eleven. After returning to Dallas who originally drafted him
back in nineteen ninety four. Now he's leading the same franchise,

(44:49):
the Dallas Mavericks, back to the NBA Finals, this time
as a head coach. He is one of the greatest
point guards in the history of the NBA. He's the
reigning champion for the Western Conference. Please welcome to one
and only Jason Kidd to the show.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
What's going on? Big Time? How are you coach? How's everything?

Speaker 4 (45:08):
I'm doing great? Stephen A.

Speaker 7 (45:09):
I'm not big time, but I'm happy that you found
the small people to come on the show.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Well, listen, we know better than that. You could be
humble all you want to.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
Dammit, you one of the greatest point guards in the
history of the game, So I'm gonna call you that.
But I got to ask you coaching all seriousness, when
you think about where you are right now, being in
the NBA Finals as a head coach, in this short stint,
just a few years you've been coaching the Dallas Mavericks,
what does this feel like for you right now?

Speaker 4 (45:34):
It's surreal.

Speaker 7 (45:35):
I mean, it's a moment that we can only dream
about and that dreams do come true. But it's just,
you know, having the opportunity to represent the Dallas Mavericks.
I was drafted as you, brought up by Dallas, won
a championship with Dallas, and now have opportunity as a
coach to win a championship. And it's just I'm very

(45:58):
honored but also just surreal to be able to have
this moment.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
When did you feel like this particular team could get
to the NBA Finals.

Speaker 7 (46:10):
I don't know if there was just one moment, you
know that we thought we can make it to the finals.
I think that was Game five against Minnesota. But before that,
I thought the team, you know, in March started to
become a team on both sides of the ball, offensively
and defensively. I thought when we made the trade and

(46:30):
got PJ and Gafford gave us depth, more athletic, being
able to play and score with both of those guys.
But again, when you talk about Luca and Kai, I thought,
you know, come March, I thought we really started to,
you know, go in the right direction on both ends
of the ball.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
You know, coach, When I look at this team right now,
I thought about last year and I thought about how
essentially y'alling make the playoffs and everybody was making so
much noise about it was something that you guys didn't
want to do in terms of participating in the play
in tournament. I looked at the team right there. There
was no gaffer, there was no PJ. Washington. Obviously Kyrie
was approaching free agency to some degree. We were looking
at all of those things, and I was wondering about

(47:11):
this franchise and.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
What success it could enjoy in the future.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
What was your mindset like at that particular moment in
time when last season ended, looking at this team, fantasizing
about this upcoming season. What were your thoughts about the
team and the immediate aftermath at the end of the
regular season last year and going into the offseason.

Speaker 7 (47:28):
Yeah, you know, at the end of last year, we
didn't play well enough to make it to the playing tournament.
We didn't qualify for the top six in the Washington
Conference to make the playoffs, and so I think with
the plan of being able to go into the lottery
to address some of the needs. I know we always

(47:51):
talk about the live but also in that first round
we were able to get Omax, who's been hurt but
also participating in our our g league. We felt we
got younger and more athletic. And then I thought with
the plan, I thought Nico did an incredible job of
addressing some of the issues that we had, you know,

(48:13):
being able to get more athletic. Uh, we were able
to get d Jones and exem and so we felt like, uh,
you know, signing Grant as a free agent, we felt
that we got better. And that understanding that to build
a championship team. Uh, you know, it takes time. It
wasn't gonna happen overnight. We did lose Brunson to New

(48:34):
York to your Knicks, and so, uh, we we had
to make some adjustments. And I thought no one panicked.
I thought, from Cuban to Nico, no one was panicking.
It was about building a championship team. And and that's
what we're doing right now.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
I'm looking at Luka Dancik right now, coach, and I
think a legitimate argument could be made that we we
First of all, it's two things. Number One, that the
best three players on a planet ar nicole A Jokic,
Giannis Ante Decumpo and Luka Doncik. And right now, with
y'all in the NBA Finals, there's a lot of talk
about Luka Doncik possibly emerging as the best player in

(49:13):
the world. One of the greatest things that I don't
think has said enough about you is what a great
talent evaluator you are and how you've surrounded yourself with
people that are great talent evaluators and great talent developers.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Could you put in your words.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
What it's like to coach Luka Doncik and what he
brings to the table, some of which we all have seen,
other things that only a keen eye like yours would
probably see.

Speaker 7 (49:42):
Yeah, when you talk about Luca, I've always said this,
you know, we never want to take anyone for granted.
He is so talented being able to score the ball,
from being able to post up off the dribble, catch
and shoot, he can make all the passes and so
to be able to have that talent and his will

(50:04):
to win, you know, even if you're down five points
with ten seconds, he believes that he can find a
way to win. And so when you're around this on
the daily as a coach, I just want to help
him make the game easy for him. And so when
we talk about not just the offensive end, but now

(50:25):
he's participating on the defensive end. He knows that teams
are going to put him in the pick and roll
and bring him up and try to wear him down.
And so you can see that he has gotten better
in each series, and we expect Boston to do the
same thing. But his competition. He loves the stage. As
the stage gets bigger, his game gets better. And that's

(50:48):
a rare thing to have when you talk about DNA,
he has it.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
Coach, how much do you think you've helped him personally?

Speaker 1 (50:56):
I know that's not something that you want to give
yourself credit for, particularly for a god that has been
played and Pro Bowl in Europe since the time he
was thirteen or fourteen years of age. But as great
as Luca is, there does seem to be a distinct
difference between him now and or from what we've seen.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Over the last few years.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
What do you believe Jason Kidd has done to help
his game come along?

Speaker 7 (51:18):
Well, I think just calmness. You know, there's no panic.
I trust and believe in Luca. You know, even if
he misses a shot or turns it over, I truly
believe that he's going to find a way to help
us win. And you know, just understanding again, my eyes
and ears are here to help him make the game easy.

(51:40):
He sees the game as well as anyone, but again
having fun, reminding him to smile and have fun and
enjoy this because you're not guaranteed to always make it
to the finals or the Western Conference finals or you know,
win fifty games, so to enjoy this and then also
try to push, you know, to try to get him

(52:01):
to be better. We talked about that last summer, you know,
as as a team, what can we do better? I
asked him, can we play faster? He said, yes, we
got to take the ball out faster, and so he was.
He was for that, and I thought it helped his
game so that he didn't have to wrestle for forty
minutes with someone, you know, picking him up full court. Again,

(52:23):
great players want to be coached, and he's one of
those great players that wants to be coaching.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
I'm very lucky to have that.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
You were a guy when you were a player, coach
that you know, you you weren't seen talking a lot.
You performed, and you performed at a very elite level,
but you didn't have much to say at least the
scene that way for those that weren't sitting court side
or anything like that. In the case of Luka Doncik,
you could be in the upper decks.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
It don't matter.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
You see this dude talking to opponents. I mean for
him to come out there in Game five and scorch
the Minnesota Timberwolves the way that he did after struggling
in Game four with seven to twenty one shooting, for
him to turn over at the bench and talking smack
to them, for him to abuse them while talking to them,
it is not something you see too often transpire in

(53:09):
today's NBA game, at.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Least not on that level.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
How do you feel when you see Luca doing that,
because it just says to me, damn, he's busting their living,
you know what, and there's really.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Nothing they could do about it.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
He's not just beating them, he's demoralizing them, snatching their
hearts from out of their chest. That's what I saw
him doing at Game five against Minnesota. What is that
like for you as a coach and a coaching box,
seeing your player do that to their opposition.

Speaker 7 (53:34):
Yeah, you know, I think when you talk about Game
five and his talk on the floor reminded me of
Game seven and Phoenix just sit back and watch because
he's about to, you know, take us on a ride.
And you know when he came out and was shooting
the ball, you know the way that he did. You know,

(53:54):
you said, oh, well, we're gonna leave him in for
the whole game because he's just going at a high level.
And you could see he wanted to end that game
and in that series before halftime, and that's what he did.
But it's just incredible. Again, as I talked about, he's
not afraid of the stage. He's not afraid to talk either,

(54:15):
because he believes that he can back it up. But
you know, I think one that he loves to talk
to the crowd, to the players, to the officials, and
I think that really gets him going when he does that.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
I got to transition to Kyrie Irvin because we all
know that I've been critical of Kyrie Irving in the past.
I've marveled at him this year. I think he's been
nothing short of sensational. I think he's put the basketball
world on notice, reminding the world of how great he
truly is and how special he is. I also think
he's been a great leader because you can see how

(54:48):
deferential the players are to him from time to time,
even Luca in certain moments and what have you. And
it's a beautiful, beautiful thing to see. I give you
a lot of credit for that as well, because you
highlight it to a lot of us. You aren't talking
about me in this particular situation. You would talk about
some other issues that were transpiring about just overall the
negativity that was being aimed in the direction of your

(55:10):
players and of the franchise.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
I want to know when you, when you.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
You know, recall that and you think back to that,
what your mentality was like and how and did you
have any idea that it would help your team.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
As much as it ended up helping them? Because so
many people.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Have gravitated towards the positive about your team, did you
think about that at all?

Speaker 7 (55:31):
No, I think, you know, the big thing is there's
enough negative in the world. And so when we talk
about Kai, I think sometimes we uh, you know, get
stuck on a negative. But again, when you look at
his basketball, his skill set, uh, you see, his peers
will say that he's one of the you know, if
not the best pound for pound basketball player in the world.

(55:55):
His skill set is like no other. It's a beautiful
thing to watch. Again, I've said this publicly. I think
his calmness with his teammates when things can be a
little hectic or people are starting to panic a little bit,
he just brings this calmness in this confidence that people
will gravitate to. And again he delivers, and also he

(56:19):
enjoys that that positivity. And again I brought it up that,
you know, publicly, can we just look at some of
the positive things that he's doing on and off the floor.
And I thought that started snowball and started to turn
not just the team around, but also just the narrative
that we were, you know, not a negative franchise, but

(56:41):
this was a positive thing and we're living it. And
he's lived up to everything that Nico and I and
Cuban thought when we made the trade that he was
able to do. And we're gonna get We're gonna need
him in this next series to play at a high
level for us if we have any chance of winning.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
You know a thing or two about elite play as
one of the great guards in NBA history as a
small guard, is Kyrie Irving the greatest small guard we're
talking about Isaiah Thomas talk about na tiny Archibal, We're
talking about Alan Iverson, We're talking about all of these guys.
Some people, a lot of people are looking at Kyrie
Irving and calling him the greatest small guard in the
history of basketball.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
How do you feel about that?

Speaker 7 (57:19):
I think it's a great compliment those names that you
just mentioned.

Speaker 4 (57:24):
What what what? What's the small guard? Well? How tall
do you have to be? Because at my.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Six one, six to two, about six to six to
a smaller six to a.

Speaker 7 (57:36):
Smaller fifty one, I'm shrinking, So I think i'm six too.
But my stats are good enough. But I think we
talk about Kai, he's going to be right there.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
At one A.

Speaker 7 (57:48):
You know, understanding Ai again, being able to play against Ai,
and the things that he did on the floor were
at a high level. But I think Kai would be
my choice. Could be biased, but I think when you
look at Kai Ai and Isaiah Thomas, you know, these
are great individual players that knew how to score.

Speaker 4 (58:10):
They were all winners.

Speaker 7 (58:11):
But when you talk about Kai being able to finish
with both hands, it's just incredible what he does with
the ball in small spaces.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
Where do Luke and Kyrie together rank among the best
backcourts ever? And how high could a title elevate them
in your mind?

Speaker 4 (58:27):
You know, that's a great question.

Speaker 7 (58:29):
And there's I know a stan Van Gunny started this
and I thought I would say that they were, you know,
high on the list of being a tandem. I know,
Steph and Clay. There was debates of Clay, you know,
put it on the floor and get his own shot.

(58:50):
But when you're talking about the tandems of Magic and
b Scott, the tandems of Luca and Kai, Stephan and Clay,
I mean, you can't go wrong if you say one
of those are number one, because, uh, they all can
score the ball, they're all winners. And I think, uh,
this tandem here when you talk about Kayle Luca, if

(59:12):
they can get to the finish line, Uh, they're gonna
put themselves right there at the top of that list.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Coach, let's get into the series a little bit. How
are you gonna win the series? How are you gonna
beat the Boston Celtics.

Speaker 7 (59:22):
Boston's well coached and they you know when you talk
about you know they've been there before. You talk about
the tandem of Tatum and Brown, Uh, they put a
lot of pressure on your defense. And so for us, Uh,
we got to try to find a way to just
take care of the ball, get good looks. Again, we're
gonna have to try to you know, defend the three.

(59:43):
Uh they shoot, they all shoot the three. They're all lasers,
and so, uh, this is gonna be this is gonna
be a great test for our defense. And so hopefully
we can find a way to uh, you know, get
the threes down uh and take away you know, easy
easy shots for them. But again, we got to take
care of the ball and get good looks ourselves on
the offensive end.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Kristaps Porzingis, a former member of the Dallas Mavericks, is
now a member of the Boston Celtics. This you know,
a lot of news or that he's scheduled to play
and what have you. How much of a difference can
he make? I know he's coming off the calf injury.
As a calf injury, this deemed to be, you know,
similar to what Kevin Durant suffered from before ultimately tearing
his achilles once he showed up in the NBA finals.

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
So we don't know what the deal is.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
But when you look at Porzingis and what the Boston
Celtics are with him, compared to what they are without him.
Could you like decipher and and dissect that for my
viewers and listeners out there as to what it would
be like for the Dallas Mavericks going up against the
team with porzingis compared to a Boss and Celtics team
without him.

Speaker 7 (01:00:44):
Yeah, when you talk about with him, KP is another
weapon where you talk about offensively, he his range is
extremely deep. He shoots to three at a high percentage.
He can post up with the switch. Again, a lot
of people defensively won't talk about his defense, but again
he's one that will change or block shot, So you

(01:01:05):
got to account for him. And so with him on
the floor, it just makes him that much better and deeper.
And so if he's healthy and able to go again,
he puts a lot of pressure on our defense with
his ability to pop and shoot the three and then
also being able to put it on the floor and
be able to pass, but also to be able to
get to the rim. And so for us, it's gonna,

(01:01:28):
you know, again put a lot of pressure on our
defense without him that you know, Horford and those guys
are going to have to play you know, more minutes.
But as you can see, in this last series, they
played without him and they played well.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
You know, I look at you guys right now, and
I think about you know, this has been a debate
about the X factor is Gaffard's been tremendous as far
as I'm so has lively. I'm praying he doesn't get
knocked upside the back of his head for a third
time he's gotten there. He got hit twice, first when
the knee by call Anthony Towns, and then you know,
and then another hit. I'm just praying he doesn't get
hit in the back of his head again. I want
him healthy and ready to roll, of course, but I

(01:02:02):
gotta tell you, I'm thinking PJ. Washington is the key
to this series. This brother in his corner threes. You
can't leave him open. He did really well against OKC
in the semifinals, not so much in the conference finals,
but he's still a big time threat. I went on
the air this morning to declared the PJ Washington hits
his threes, Dallas wins the championship. I know it's not
that simplistic. I know it's far more complicated than that,

(01:02:25):
but how much of a plus would it be for
you if PJ shooting from three looks the way he
looked against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference
semifinal series.

Speaker 7 (01:02:36):
Yeah, I think when you talk about PJ, you know,
being able to knock down the three that corner three
because of Luca and Kai, you know, getting double teams.
PJ has been great since the trade for us, not
just offensively but defensively. This young man plays the game
the right way. He never complains, He goes out there

(01:02:56):
and does his job at a high level. And so
we're gonna need him to score the ball again. We
believe we'll be able to get some open looks, but
also for his ability to put the ball on the
floor and get to the basket. It's something that we're
gonna need in this series. And Uh, again, if he's
knocking down those threes, that definitely helps our offense.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
Who are you concerned most about on Boston? Is it Tatum?
Is it Jalen Brown? I know it's both of them
to some degree, But is there somebody that you concerned
that you're more concerned about than the other?

Speaker 7 (01:03:23):
Well, I'm concerned about both of those highly. When you
talk about Tatum and Brown, Uh, they put a lot
of pressure on your defense, being able to score and
then also being able to find the open guy.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:03:34):
The other gentleman that you know we're all concerned about
here in Dallas is White. When you talk about his
ability to shoot the three. Uh, you know, again, he's
one that a lot of times goes under the radar.
But when he's able to knock down threes and he
gets a lot of looks at him, Uh, it takes
their offense to another level. So again, Uh, they got

(01:03:56):
a lot of lasers out there. We got to be
able to guard the three. But White is one that
we are concerned about.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Coach a couple more questions before I'll let you get
on out of here, and thanks again for your time
to one of the lorde Jason Kidd, head coach for
the Dallas Mavericks right here on the Steven A.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
You know, on a personal level, you're coached in Brooklyn
in the twenty thirteen twenty fourteen season. I wanted you
to be the head coach of the Knicks, but we
won't go there. You're left there, and then you went
to Milwaukee for four years. I still wanted you to
the Knick. You didn't go there, and then I ended
up being an assistant coach with the Lakers. I wanted
you to win the New York knixt that and they
didn't come get you there. It pissed me off even more.

(01:04:29):
And now here you are in the last three years
in Dallas, and you've been through a lot throughout your
coaching career in terms of your movement and what have you.
What level of validation, if any at all, is this
for you in terms of player development and in terms
of player relations, coaching players, God in them, et cetera,
et cetera.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
How are you feeling.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
About you at this stage and point in your career,
considering all that you've been through and now validating it
all with what you've accomplished.

Speaker 7 (01:05:00):
Yeah, I think one, I'm excited about the opportunity. I
think when you talk about those stops we have improved
in each spot you or that I've been able to coach.
When we talk about Brooklyn, you know, being able to
win Game seven as a rookie coach there, losing to
the Heat in that next series, going to Milwaukee who

(01:05:22):
only had won twelve or thirteen games a year before
and ended up winning forty one, and then being able
to be around Giannis and feel like I, you know,
helped there with his development a little bit, but he
did the work, but you know, I felt that I
could help him get to the next level. And then
being able to go to La and learn from Frank

(01:05:44):
Bogo to understand uh and then being able to win
a championship with Lebron and ad in that group, it
was it was you know, that was not an easy
championship in the bubble, but it was a lot of fun.
And as a coach, I got to learn a lot
from Frank and then here to be able to you know,
come my first year in Dallas and get to the

(01:06:05):
Western Conference uh you know finals and lose to Golden
State and the World champs. We felt like we were
going in the right direction. We lost a young player
to your knicks, Bronson, but to be around Bronson and
Luca that first year was a lot of fun. And
then to you know, be able to get Kai and

(01:06:26):
now be back in the Western Conference finals and win there,
and then now to take a step forward to get
to the finals and see what happens. But as a coach,
you're always trying to get better, and I've had the
opportunity to do that in different places, and I'm happy
to be here in Dallas and hopefully, you know, as
a player, I've won a championship, and hopefully as a

(01:06:47):
head coach I can win a championship. But I've won
a championship as a coach and so you know, as
an assistant coach, but now hopefully I can win one
as a head coach.

Speaker 1 (01:06:57):
Coach, Man, I know you got to run your busy.
Thank you so much for your time, man, I really
really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Man, good luck. I'll see you in a couple of days. Obviously,
working for ABC.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
I'll be covering the NBA Finals, so I'll definitely see
you in a couple of days. Man, thank you so much. Man,
you take care of yourself for right now. I'll see
you in a couple of days.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
Thank you Stephen for having me the.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
One and only Jason Kidd right here on the Steven A.
Smith Show. Listen. I wasn't exaggerating. I wanted that man
to be the coach of the next few years. He
knows that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
I mean, it's ridiculous that the New York Knicks pass
up and then we got Tom Thibodeaux. Now, so I
mean we can't complain about that because the man is
proving to be a hell of a coach. He did
a hell of a job this year. But I'm a
huge Jason Kid fan. I ain't apologizing him for that.
For a damn soul, that man can coach. And I'm
not there yet. I haven't made by decision yet. I
still got a couple of days. But I'm leaning towards

(01:07:40):
Dallas winning this series. And i know Bosson has been
the best team in basketball all year long. But what
I'm seeing from Luken, what I'm seeing from Kyrie, and
what I'm thinking about what I'm seeing, Ah, I don't
know what I'm gonna do yet.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
It's a Pickham series. To me, it go either way.
I'm very very nervous about it. It's gonna be a thriller, though,
make no mistake about it. I can't wait to be there.
I think it's one of the best NBA Finals series,
if not the best NBA Final series in the last
decade plus.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
I really mean that, I really really mean that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
Maybe Miami San Antonio one, not the second one, the
first one, maybe that was better. Maybe maybe all right,
Boston La No doubt Kobe and the Crew against KG
and Pierce and Ray Allen and Rondo in two thousand
and eight and then again in twenty ten. Okay, I
get that, But since twenty ten, I'm not sure that

(01:08:39):
any series has been as compelling as this one coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
Y'all, KD was gonna Golden State. We knew they were
gonna win.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
Now, if you want to go with Steph Curry and
those boys when Lebron and them came back from a
three to one.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
Deficit, you go right ahead.

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
But if it wasn't for that stimulus package handed to
Lebron by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for trading suspended rather
you know Draymond Green because he got issued that additional
tech and then he had accumulated enough text where he
ultimately had to sit out Game five. And then in
that same game five, Andrew Bogan and Andre Eagle Dollar
got hurt, which is what propelled Cleveland to be able

(01:09:17):
to come back from a three to one definition. They
were supposed to win that at five. Remember go to
Stay won that game four in Cleveland, and we're going
back to the Oracle in Oakland.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
To close out game five.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
If Draymond Green had played that game, they had won,
So ask how I look at it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
I'm not sold.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
I think this series between the Boss and Celtics and
the Dallas Mavericks is the most compelling NBA Finals series
in the last fourteen years outside of Miami San Antonio.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Part one.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
That's just me. That's just me coming up. I'm talking
about the UFC and boxing where there were two upsets
this weekend. Actually neither was really an upset if you
really really think about it. We're just upset that it happened,
But it wasn't it upset. See the difference. I'll get
into that and more.

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
Up next day. Right there, you watch it Stephen A.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
Smith Show and listening to it as well, right here
over the digital airwaves of YouTube and I Heart Radio
back on the Morning Minute. Welcome back to Steven ex
Smith Show right here with the digital airwaves of YouTube.
Can't thanks the one and only Jason Kidd, head coach
for the Dallas Mavericks, the reigning defending Western Conference champion

(01:10:28):
Dallas Mavericks, so much for coming on to the show.
Really really appreciate his time to man as a very
very busy man. Needless to say, but let me transition
before I get on out of here, to a couple
of subjects that I wanted to tackle, mainly a couple
of things. Number one was the UFC fight that took
place this Saturday night where islam Man Kajev beat Dustin Poorier.

(01:10:48):
I got to get into some boxing and of course
the UFC because those are the things that got my
attention right now, and this is where I wanted to start, Okay,
so bear with me. He defeated Dustin Poorier in a
thrilling five round went to retain his lightweight title. Late
in the fifth round, Markashev got Poorier in a chokehold
that forced him to tap out. Now some are calling
for Markashev to take on Connor McGregor. That's the subject

(01:11:12):
they're all focusing on. Here's where I'm at with it.
Damn that I have.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
No interest in that shit whatsoever, and neither should you.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
Dana White, my man, Please, whatever you do, do not
have that fight. We don't want to see it. First
things first, Connor MacGregor needs to get back Michael Channle.
We get past Michael Chandler. I think he'll clip him personally.
But Connor McGregor can get chipped, he can get clipped.
Chandler can punch now okay, and the brother has the
potential to win big fights. He can lose him too.

(01:11:44):
He's a bit wild and Poorier pointed that out. And
now Connor will measure him, time them, clip him.

Speaker 2 (01:11:49):
Put him to sleep. We all know that's possible.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
But when it comes to Makchev, this is a protoj
of the great have been in the Omega meta off.
Remember that guy that went into the octagon against Connor McGregor.
Remember the guy that mauled Connor McGregor for the better
part of their four round match that he won by
submission when Connor tapped out.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
Remember that Connor is a striker. If you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
Putting Connor McGregor back into octagon against a striker like
Michael Chandler, I'm good with that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
I'm good with that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
Because he could hit, He could get hit, but he
could also hit. He could get clip but he could
also clip you. So that's where I'm at with it.
But if you're talking about Connor McGregor getting into that
octagon with a monster like Marcus Jeff who only has
one loss in his career. Okay, the brother's a monster.
He's the Krem Dela Krem. He's elite, he's number one

(01:12:43):
in the world right now, and he's a grappler. He's
not looking to stand toe to toe with you and
swing punches. That's not what he's looking to do. What
he's looking to do is to take you down. What
he's willing to do is to grapple you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
What he's willing to use was get you into a
choke code. He's in the fifth round.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
I mean, there were several times when he tried to
go after the great Dustin Poria, because Portia is a
bad brother. He might be the greatest fighter to have
never won a championship. I mean, we gotta take that
into consideration. But let me tell you something right now,
he's a strike himself. He can do other things, but
he's a striker himself. The Brother Special and Marx Jeff
just went after them and tried to get him to

(01:13:23):
the ground and did it a couple of times, but
ultimately Dustin Pooria got out of it. You know how
he got caught Dustin Porrier in the fifth round. He
went after this ankle. He went after this ankle you
that there. You looking for a knockout. You looking to
really really grapple, but you're not anticipating or expecting them
to grab your ankles. I understand his UFC, understand that MMA,

(01:13:44):
I understand that comes with the fight game. I get
all of that. But mark Chev's not trying to box you.
He's trying to win. And if that means submitting you, if.

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
That means.

Speaker 1 (01:13:58):
Choking you out, so be it. He ain't trying to
stand up and fight you. That's the worst possible matchup
for a guy like Connor McGregor, who doesn't want to
grapple at all.

Speaker 2 (01:14:11):
Connor grapples for the soul express purpose.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
Of getting out of you trying to submit him so
he can get back up on his feet and knock
you out. That's the only reason Connor is trying to
grapple you. Connor rolls in that octagon looking to swing.
He throws kicks sometimes and I get hold of that,
but essentially he's looking to swing.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
He wants to clip you and knock you out.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
It's what made him popular, it's what got him in
the ring and got him over one hundred million dollars
against Floyd Money. Mayweather He is not trying to grapple
with anybody. It's not trying to do it. I don't
give a damn what you saw in that new movie
with Jay Gallen Hall.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
He's not trying to do it. He's not.

Speaker 1 (01:14:56):
He's trying to knock you out. He's trying to clip you.
That's who Connor McGregor is. And this guy Mark Chevy's
not gonna capitulate. He's not gonna fall in line just
to appease the crowd and to be entertaining like Justin
Gatgee did in his last fight that he got knocked
out in the last second against. He's not trying to

(01:15:16):
do that. He's not trying to do that because Michael
Shell don't care about that. He's old school, he's of
a different discipline. He ain't looking for the fan fear.
He's a product of Omega met Off. These brothers are
serious on another level about this stuff. If you are

(01:15:40):
Connor McGregor, that's not a fight you should take. That's
not a fight you should want at all. And if
you are the fans, that's the last thing you should
want to see because you don't want to see Connor
McGregor grappling you want to see him in a fight
like he's about to have with Michael Chandler or assuming
there's no mishaps or any postponements or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
That's what you want to see.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
It is the last thing you should want to see
Connor McGregor against any grappler, any grappler, especially when is elite.
It's Markaschef. You don't want to see that. Do not
give us that fight, UFC, Do not give us that
fight there in the white. Do not give us that
fight Markaschef. Do not give us that fight down, Connor McGregor.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
Don't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:22):
No, no, no, no no. That is not a fight
we want to see. Because two seconds in Markachev is
gonna try to get Condor McGregor to the ground and
he's either gonna submit him or Connor McGregor is gonna
ward him off by sitting on his ass and holding
on and trying to figure out how to get away,

(01:16:43):
how to get up off the campus and get back
to being on his feet and swinging blows.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
That's not what we want to see.

Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
Don't give it to us, please, pretty please, do not
give it to us. Now, let me move on to
this other subject because it's important and that's involved in
the sport of boxing and former heavyweight champion of the
world Deontay Wilder, who got KO this week. Yes, there
was another fight Saturday night. It also ended with the

(01:17:14):
fifth round KO and that unfortunately happened to Wilder. In Rio,
Saudi Arabia, Wilder took on heavyweight I don't even know
how to pronounce his name, Zielee Zang. That's how it
looks out of it that I think is Zelee lent Zang.
His record is twenty seven too and one with twenty
two knockouts. By the way, Zango outweighed Wilder boy more
than sixty eight pounds, scored the biggest win of his

(01:17:37):
career and might have effectively ended the former heavyweight champions career.
China Zang, who's forty one years of age, connected with
a perfectly timed counter right hook that spun Wilder in
a daze. He then followed with another right that sent
Wilder to the canvas. Wilder somehow got to his feet
before the count of ten, but his legs were n't steady,
and the referee wisely waved off the fight at one

(01:17:59):
Poin fifty one of round five.

Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
It's time for Deontay Wilder to retire. It's over.

Speaker 1 (01:18:09):
The brothers got about eight kids. Deontay Wilder is a
good man with a nuclear right hand. He had to
cut the right hand that puts most people to sleep.
But it's two things that I'm gonna hold against Deontay Wilder.

(01:18:33):
One is that he can't box. He's a puncher. He's
six seven, He's standing straight up this very little to
no head movement whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
He does not evade.

Speaker 1 (01:18:46):
Punches, and he relies completely on his right hand. He
barely throws a jab. This particular fight, he tried to
throw the jab, but he barely has thrown jabs throughout
his entire career. Relied on the straight right or the
check left hook. That's what Deontay Wilder has done. He's

(01:19:09):
not a good boxer. He's an elite puncher. And that's
not a shame. That's no shame. George Foreman wasn't an
elite boxer. Ronald Lyle wasn't an elite boxer. Ernie Shavers
wasn't an elite boxer. Not when you compare him to
Alley or Larry Holmes or a Vander Holyfield Lennox Lewis

(01:19:33):
was a good boxer, not a great boxer. Mike Tyson
and his Hey they was a great boxer and puncher.

Speaker 2 (01:19:38):
We get that. Mike Tyson Iron Mike was on another level.
We get that.

Speaker 1 (01:19:43):
But for the most part, the power punchers. Remember the
Mike Weavers of the world back in the day, Mike Weavers,
Ernie Shavers, Ronald Lyle, ron Lyle, George Foreman, Joe Fraser,
Ken Norton. They weren't great boxers. They were great punchers.

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
But you give credit where credit is due.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
And I don't want Deontay Wilder or his fans or
even critics to take this the wrong way. I'm not
insulting him. I love Deontay Wilder, but he was never
and nor will ever be known as a great boxer.
That wasn't his thing. He couldn't avoid punches. He's a
puncher and he warded you off with his nuclear right

(01:20:28):
hand that can put anybody to sleep. But he was
never an elite boxer. So that's the point number one
that I want to hold against him. Here's point number two.

Speaker 2 (01:20:42):
Stupidity.

Speaker 1 (01:20:45):
Now we can blame it on pride, we can blame
it on arrogance and ego. As far as this particular
fight go, we could blame it on looking for the
money fight or whatever. Deontay Wilder blew it. He got
into the ring Saturday night with a dude sixty eight

(01:21:05):
pounds heavier than them, Ladies and gentlemen. It was breaking
news when Ryan Garcia committed to coming in to the
weigh in three pounds heavier than Devin Haty. Three pounds
we saw in the pre fight commentary, you understand with

(01:21:29):
Sean Porter and Clarissa Shield, who did an excellent job.

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
Both of them did an excellent job.

Speaker 1 (01:21:34):
We talked about We heard them talking about three pounds
make a difference.

Speaker 2 (01:21:38):
This guy, Deontay.

Speaker 1 (01:21:39):
Wilder is coming into the fight sixty eight pounds lighter
than Zang. I don't give a damn that he's forty one.
He's sixty eight pounds heavier.

Speaker 2 (01:21:49):
What are you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:21:52):
And by the way, his career was ruined when he
went into a fight in the trilogy against Tyson Fury
thirty eight pounds lighter because Tyson Fury was so heavier
than them. Remember I told y'all that story with the
press conference, the initial press conference when Tyson Fury flew
across the ocean and promote the fight, and he fought

(01:22:13):
Deontay Wallda.

Speaker 2 (01:22:14):
Remember that, and he said in a press conference.

Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
When Deontay Wada was wearing his headphones and didn't want
to answer any questions from the media, and he.

Speaker 2 (01:22:23):
Said about Deontay Wader.

Speaker 1 (01:22:24):
Quote, he said, I can say this to y'all because
he's an idiot.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
He's not going to do anything about it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
And he went on to say, I'm gonna come in
abrout thirty five to forty pounds heavier. He said, he
can't box, so he's gonna be right there for me
to hit. But even when I miss, I'm just going
to lean on him.

Speaker 2 (01:22:45):
He said.

Speaker 1 (01:22:45):
As a result, I'm gonna take away his legs. And
when I take away his legs, by the fourth or
fifth round, he's gonna be done and he's gonna be
target practice for me.

Speaker 2 (01:23:00):
He said.

Speaker 1 (01:23:00):
And you're wondering why I'm telling you this, he said,
because he's an idiot. He's too stupid to do anything
about it. That's what he said. Now, maybe I'm paraphrasing
a word here or there, but I'm telling you that
was the crux of what Tyson Fury said, and lo
and behold he went in the ring, and that's exactly
what happened. Now, in fairness to Deontay Walda, Deontay Wada

(01:23:22):
looked done in the third round of that fight, turned
around and clipped Tyson Fury dropped him in the fourth,
not once but twice, but still ended up getting beat
up every round but that one before getting knocked out
in the eleventh. So now here you go, and you
fast forward, and you end up losing four of your

(01:23:44):
last five fights, getting knocked out in three of your
last four fights, and you going into the ring knowing
what that zapped out of you, and you're gonna go
on in the ring.

Speaker 2 (01:23:54):
With somebody sixty eight pounds heavi it in you. What's
wrong with you?

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
Come on, y'all. That's just not smart. That's just not smart.
And that's what I wanted to say about Deontay Wilder.
You did damage to yourself by going into the ring
with dudes that were so much heavier than you, and
they drained everything out of you. And now you don't

(01:24:20):
have it anymore. There's no way you'll beat Tyson Fury.
There's no way you'll beat you sick. There's no way
you'll beat Anthony Joshua.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
It's over. I'm sorry, Deontay Wilder. I love you, but
it's over.

Speaker 4 (01:24:35):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
Before we get on out of here for today, I
gotta get to y'all tweets because it's so important for y'all.
And I see the streets. I gotta put my glasses
on because the damn print is so small, but I'm
gonna do it anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:24:43):
Okay, let's go to some of.

Speaker 1 (01:24:44):
The tweets right here at I will route you tweets
me stephen A.

Speaker 2 (01:24:51):
Why do you act like your opinion isn't ever wrong?

Speaker 1 (01:24:58):
That would seem to be the case, like with somebody
like your ignorant ass. Did you see me in the
news last week apologizing? Did you hear what I said
about Kyrie Irving? Did you say what I said about
Kenny Smith? Didn't you hear what I've said in the past,
whether it's be about a Kwame Brown, a Glenn big
Dog Robinson or Draymond Green or anybody else?

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
What are you talking about? You see, you can't just
talk at your ass.

Speaker 1 (01:25:28):
You actually have to know what you're talking about that
is factually incorrect. What you just tweeted me on X
do your homework google me. It's not hard to find.
I know I'm not always right, but I can understand
why you think that way, because that's a roundabout way
of saying I am usually right, and considering the fact

(01:25:49):
that I give about fifteen takes a day, seventy five
takes a week, about thirty three hundred a year on
average minimum, that I've done it over fifty thousand times
over the last decade, and it's rare that I'm wrong.
I can understand why you would say such a thing.
But that's just you feeling like I'm almost never wrong.
That's not me saying it. There's a difference. Wake up,

(01:26:13):
wake up. Next tweet at l Maxe Underscore Swag. Right,
stephen A. Who's making your starting five out of the
team Fortress two characters? Okay, that's pyro Engineer, spy, heavy uh, sniper, Soldier, Scout, Demoman,

(01:26:33):
demo Man, demo man.

Speaker 2 (01:26:35):
And medic. Hmm. Interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:26:38):
Okay, First of things, first, we're gonna go with heavy
Man because it need a big man in the middle,
So we're gonna go with that.

Speaker 2 (01:26:42):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:26:42):
It's my starting five, right, so we're gonna go with
heavy man, We're gonna go with heavier, right. We're definitely
gonna go with sniper because we're gonna assume that somebody's
sniper is a long range marksman. Right, so I need
a Steph Curry. Right, So we definitely gonna go with heavy,
and we're gonna go with sniper.

Speaker 2 (01:26:55):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:26:56):
We want a soldier because we want a warrior. We
want somebody that's a rough rider. We want somebody that
could go out there and handle business. Okay, it ain't
scared of anything. You want somebody that want you want
to be in a foxhole with somebody named soldier.

Speaker 2 (01:27:13):
That applies. So we got heavy, we got sniper, we
got soldier. All right. Now here's where it gets interested.

Speaker 1 (01:27:20):
You got Pyro, you got scout, you got demo man,
you got spy. I get that. But you know the
last two i'm gonna go with. I'm gonna go with
medic and I'm gonna go with engineer. Here's why I'm
gonna do that. If you're an engineer, right, you're technically efficient,
one would argue, So I'm gonna go with that. And

(01:27:42):
then when we talk about medic, well, that means you
have the ability to be precise and to dissect stuff
like a surgeon. I need that too, So I got
medic I got engineer. All right, I got heavy, I
got sniper, and I got soldier. I think that's a
pretty good start in five. By the way, some woman
named Miranda just texts me. She said, at Miranda rhinart ri,

(01:28:09):
I N E R T right, stephen A, what do
you think about the male loneliness epidemic? I need your
take on the state of male friendship culture.

Speaker 2 (01:28:21):
Hm. You know what I would say, Miranda.

Speaker 1 (01:28:26):
It's not a lack of friends, because fellas usually have friends.

Speaker 2 (01:28:32):
It's that pre we're preoccupied.

Speaker 1 (01:28:35):
Now when you have a family. Hell, if you don't
have a family, but you got a woman. The phraseology
whether it's your woman is your girlfriend and your lead whatever,
happy wife, happy life. See, the priority is to please
her because you want to be pleased by her. Usually
there's nothing that pleases you more than a woman. So
you gotta get that out the way. How do you

(01:28:56):
get that out the way?

Speaker 2 (01:28:57):
Okay? What happens is this? All right?

Speaker 1 (01:29:01):
It's one of those situations where you got that going on,
but you're also preoccupied as a man handling business and
taking care of responsibilities. And because we're not the emotional creatures,
that is not a negative. That is a positive towards women.
Because we're not the emotional creatures that you are. What

(01:29:21):
happens is is that we always feel we can see
the fellas some other time. We always feel we got
some other time to hang with the fellas. We're about
handling business, and usually when we want to handle business,
it's because we want our lady the benefits from it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:37):
That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:29:38):
And a combination of those two things have you push
your friends to the wayside because you're assuming they'll always
be there. Some of my friends I don't see more
than once a year, but I know they're my boys.
I don't have to hang out with them. This ain't
Sex in the City, you ain't. This ain't a Megan
Good show with the Harlem Girls and stuff like that.
Y'all fratnizing with one another.

Speaker 2 (01:30:00):
You understand.

Speaker 1 (01:30:01):
This ain't one of them movies or one of them
shows like that. This ain't the you know, the Golden
Girls for the senior citizens. This ain't the younger Sisters
and stuff like that. This ain't living single back in
the day or nothing like that the fellas. Look, man,
we catch you when we catch you.

Speaker 3 (01:30:18):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:30:18):
I love you, know my boy, but shit, I'm busy.
I got stuff to do. I catch you later. Those
are fellas, And that's why you might think there's an
issue with the friendship and how there's a male friendship
epidemic of loneliness or whatever. But if you're a dude
and you got a honey in your life and you

(01:30:39):
got boys that you love, trust me.

Speaker 2 (01:30:43):
You ain't lonely.

Speaker 1 (01:30:44):
Just trust me on that. That's not a concern that
you have. So I don't believe there's some loneliness epidemic.
You'll have to show me the data on that in
order for me to believe you, because I ain't feeling
that last tweet at Harry Underscore Wiltshire will s h
Ei rights better duo Burt and Ernie or Kyrie and Luca.
You know what I would have said, Burt and Ernie.

(01:31:07):
But after watching Kyrie and Luca over the last month
and fantasizing about them potentially winning an NBA championship in
the next two weeks, I'm gonna go with Kyrie and Luca.
If ever, there was a time not to go against
those two in.

Speaker 2 (01:31:23):
Favor of Bert and Ernie. It would be Now. That's
it for the day's edition of The Steven A. Smith Show.
Hope y'all enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:33):
I'll be back in a couple of days, thanks again
to the one and only Jason Kidd, head coach for
the Dallas Mavericks, coming on the show. Looking forward to
watching him and his team performing against the Boston Celtics
in the NBA Finals. It's gonna be epic, y'all. It's
gonna be epic, and I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (01:31:47):
Stick around. There's a lot to see with the Steven A.

Speaker 1 (01:31:50):
Smith Show right here over the digital airways of YouTube
and over the audio stratus field with iHeartRadio. Make sure
you click in, tune in, and get a feel for
what we're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:32:00):
We're up to.

Speaker 1 (01:32:00):
We'll be back to you in a couple of days
on the eve of Game one of the NBA Finals
Thursday night. That means we'll be at you Wednesday. Until then,
I'm out, y'all. Signing off to stephen A saying goodbye,
Peace of love,

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Host

Stephen A. Smith

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