Latest / The Ben Maller Show / Hour 4 – Weak Sauce Recruiting

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Hour 4 – Weak Sauce Recruiting · The Ben Maller Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for listening to the Ben Maler Show podcast.
0:03
Speaker 1: It's me Ben. Be sure to catch us live every
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0:26
Speaker 2: You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh what's going on?
0:30
Speaker 2: Happy Wednesday morning to you, Happy yous. Men's national team
0:35
Speaker 2: soccer day eight pm against Bosnia Bosnia and h as
0:41
Speaker 2: I call him Herzegovina. I do feel confident in my ways.
0:45
Speaker 2: Second time I've gotten that right. I'm on a roll
0:48
Speaker 2: over here, but very exciting. A lot of people excited
0:51
Speaker 2: about Team USA. I hope they lose. I hope that
0:56
Speaker 2: this is it for them in the tournament. I don't
0:58
Speaker 2: want our best athletes playing soccer. I don't want to
1:00
Speaker 2: deep run in the tournament. I don't like the manager
1:02
Speaker 2: Mauricio Pochatino and his stupid theories about US soccer players
1:07
Speaker 2: being complacent because we don't have relegation in American sports,
1:10
Speaker 2: rewarding losers. That's so stupid, man, it's so bad. So
1:14
Speaker 2: I don't like him. I don't like him. I don't
1:16
Speaker 2: like the conversation. Could Team USA win it all?
1:19
Speaker 3: Yeah?
1:19
Speaker 2: I think they could. I'm like, uh, I don't know.
1:25
Speaker 2: Did we just I don't know, get these amazing athletes
1:28
Speaker 2: and or are we just like moderately better than what
1:32
Speaker 2: we used to be? I think it's the latter. So
1:35
Speaker 2: a team that's just moderately better. They're not winning five
1:37
Speaker 2: in a row. Sorry, sorry to be the bringer of
1:40
Speaker 2: bad news over here, but that's not happening. That's a
1:42
Speaker 2: pipe dream. Get that out of your head right now.
1:45
Speaker 2: That's what I would say. So, yeah, I am. I've
1:48
Speaker 2: turned into the wet blanket over you. I would love
1:50
Speaker 2: to say I'm like that all across the board except
1:52
Speaker 2: soccer SuperFect storm with Mauricio stupid takes about Hey, Team USA,
1:58
Speaker 2: I think they can win it all. They can't. They're
2:01
Speaker 2: just not They're not ready. They're not ready. There's nothing
2:05
Speaker 2: wrong with saying they're not ready. It doesn't mean you
2:07
Speaker 2: hate the country. Doesn't mean I hate the country. If
2:09
Speaker 2: I say the Tennessee Titans are not ready to win
2:12
Speaker 2: a championship this next season, does that mean I hate
2:15
Speaker 2: them I hate Do I hate Nashville? Do I hate
2:18
Speaker 2: the state of Tennessee. No, they're just not ready. They're
2:21
Speaker 2: just calling it like you see it does it. It's
2:23
Speaker 2: not hatred at all. TBSA has won two straight games
2:27
Speaker 2: in this World Cup for the first time since nineteen
2:30
Speaker 2: thirty and I'm gonna sit here and believe that's the
2:34
Speaker 2: squad who's gonna win it all. It's silly. It is
2:38
Speaker 2: just silly, man. I'm so sick of the conversation and
2:41
Speaker 2: the hype that there's no justification for the hype biil
2:47
Speaker 2: And you know what's funny to me, this is how
2:49
Speaker 2: it's gonna work out. My penance for all of this
2:54
Speaker 2: is a brilliant showing by Team USA on Wednesday night
2:59
Speaker 2: and I'm in for Ben Maller tomorrow night. And guess
3:03
Speaker 2: what I got to talk about to some degree, Wow,
3:06
Speaker 2: what a brilliant win by Team USA. And you're gonna
3:09
Speaker 2: know all of this is in the back of my
3:11
Speaker 2: head where I'm like, I just I still want them
3:13
Speaker 2: to freaking lose. You know, you're gonna know all of that,
3:16
Speaker 2: and it's gonna be kind of funny. So that's definitely
3:19
Speaker 2: the way it's gonna play out. They should beat Bosnia
3:22
Speaker 2: their minus two fifty favorites. That's just in regulation time,
3:26
Speaker 2: their minus seven hundred favorites. If you bet, draw no bet, right,
3:33
Speaker 2: if it's a draw after the end of regulation time
3:36
Speaker 2: a regular time I should say, then, you know, I
3:42
Speaker 2: confuse myself. I'm sorry. If you bet on Team USA,
3:49
Speaker 2: draw no bet and they end up winning the match,
3:52
Speaker 2: you would win that bet, but you would have to
3:54
Speaker 2: risk a lot to win a little. They're that heavy
3:56
Speaker 2: favorites minus seven hundred. They're huge favorites if you don't
4:00
Speaker 2: factor a draw into the equation. If they just survive
4:04
Speaker 2: and advance, right, they're moving on no matter what, either
4:09
Speaker 2: regular time, extra time, penalty kicks, whatever. If you bet,
4:14
Speaker 2: draw no bet and you lay the minus seven hundred,
4:18
Speaker 2: you're cashing that bet. That's a lot to wager for
4:21
Speaker 2: a little payout though, But they should win. The whole
4:25
Speaker 2: point of this is they should win. We'll see if
4:28
Speaker 2: they do so. I did like a comparison. I was
4:30
Speaker 2: flipping around the channels today. Soccer Insider compared Bosnia their
4:35
Speaker 2: defense to like a dime defense in football, where they
4:39
Speaker 2: have a bunch of defensive backs on the field play
4:42
Speaker 2: a little loose, kind of little prevent defense. Don't allow
4:46
Speaker 2: the bomb down the field, right like they try to
4:50
Speaker 2: keep everything in front of them, so they're gonna allow
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Speaker 2: a bunch of chances. That was the other thing I
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Speaker 2: didn't even actually I didn't intend to do this whole thing.
4:59
Speaker 2: But we're talking soccer. People are excited about it, right.
5:02
Speaker 2: I did check this out where oh I took a
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Speaker 2: screen shot. Here we go. It's insane. Where you look
5:09
Speaker 2: at the difference between just shots on goal. This really
5:12
Speaker 2: stood out to me. Total shots Team USA over or
5:17
Speaker 2: under fourteen and a half, Bosnia over under eight and
5:23
Speaker 2: a half. So if Team USA is more aggressive, if
5:27
Speaker 2: just defensively, the way that Bosnia attacks everything, the way
5:31
Speaker 2: they approach everything, should lead to more shots by Team USA.
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Speaker 2: It doesn't mean everything, but I would rather be backing
5:38
Speaker 2: the team that is consistently getting more shots than their opponent.
5:42
Speaker 2: So should have more shots for Team USA, and that
5:47
Speaker 2: gives them a better chance to win. So we'll see
5:48
Speaker 2: how it shakes out on Wednesday night. A lot of
5:50
Speaker 2: people excited about it. We'll see. We'll see if Team
5:55
Speaker 2: USA wins. But if old Mauricio and his dumb theories
5:59
Speaker 2: and stupid takes takes a hike. You wouldn't see me crying.
6:04
Speaker 2: You'd actually see me applauding where I'm at On this one,
6:08
Speaker 2: I did mention. It's such a weak move, but it
6:11
Speaker 2: gets a free pass every time. Let me throw this
6:15
Speaker 2: at you. So Lebron James is now a free agent.
6:21
Speaker 2: He told the Lakers on Tuesday. Thanks for the memories,
6:25
Speaker 2: but peace out. I'm hitting free agency, not gonna play
6:29
Speaker 2: for the Lakers anymore. No moss is what Lebron says
6:34
Speaker 2: to the Purple and Gold. So he is a free agent,
6:37
Speaker 2: and it got me thinking about recruiting pitches. Right. This
6:43
Speaker 2: was something that happened on Tuesday. It was actually a
6:45
Speaker 2: fun thing. It's kind of silly, but it was fun.
6:48
Speaker 2: If you see the fun in it, you won't be
6:51
Speaker 2: so crotchety about it. Right, all these social media accounts,
6:56
Speaker 2: team after team after team could be college foot ball.
7:00
Speaker 2: They put Lebron James in an Oklahoma State uniform. It's like, Lebron,
7:05
Speaker 2: come play for us because he's a free agent right now.
7:07
Speaker 2: So it was silly, it was goofy. But you had
7:10
Speaker 2: NFL teams, you had college football teams. You got NCAA
7:15
Speaker 2: basketball team like just left and right soccer teams who
7:19
Speaker 2: are like Lebron, come play for us. You're a free
7:22
Speaker 2: agent right now. And that got me thinking about recruiting
7:27
Speaker 2: pitches right. I just want to say this, star players
7:33
Speaker 2: that recruit other star players is weak. It's weak, but
7:40
Speaker 2: for some reason it gets a free pass every single time.
7:44
Speaker 2: It blows my mind. You watch over this next week,
7:48
Speaker 2: or however long it takes, you'll have these stories of
7:51
Speaker 2: Lebron is visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers today and they're gonna
7:56
Speaker 2: give them their recruiting spiel and all this stuff. You
8:00
Speaker 2: might have Spider Mitchell in that meeting. You might have
8:02
Speaker 2: some of the prominent CALVS players in that meeting, and
8:06
Speaker 2: they're going to be pitching Lebron to join their team
8:10
Speaker 2: this week. Why was that? Why would I say that week?
8:15
Speaker 2: We'll figure think about this, right. Think about back when
8:21
Speaker 2: the Warriors were recruiting Kevin Durant and just picture what
8:28
Speaker 2: might have been said. Picture Steph Curry, who was at
8:32
Speaker 2: the meeting. All the main Warriors were at the meeting.
8:35
Speaker 2: It was Steph, it was Draymond, it was Klay Thompson.
8:40
Speaker 2: I think Iggy, I think andre Iguidala was there. All
8:43
Speaker 2: these guys were there in the Hamptons and it was
8:46
Speaker 2: just recruiting pitch after recruiting pitch. Kde was like, all right,
8:49
Speaker 2: bringing the warriors, all right, bring him in. Yep, let's go,
8:53
Speaker 2: all right, what do you got? What you got? Where
8:55
Speaker 2: are you bringing the table warriors? And then they give
8:57
Speaker 2: their spiel and all right, bring in the you know,
9:00
Speaker 2: bring the mind in here. And uh, you know. I
9:03
Speaker 2: picture him as like doctor Evil and when he there's
9:06
Speaker 2: a pitch he doesn't like, he hits the button. They
9:08
Speaker 2: go down and they're with the sharks with the laser
9:10
Speaker 2: beams attached to their heads. But picture Steph Curry, a
9:16
Speaker 2: star player, okay, star player recruiting Kevin Durant. Now at
9:23
Speaker 2: this stage, let me go back and check, because Steph
9:28
Speaker 2: Curry had a championship by that time, he had one
9:33
Speaker 2: or two MVPs and he's openly recruiting Kevin Durant. It
9:40
Speaker 2: blows my mind that no one says this is weak.
9:43
Speaker 2: It's just like, it's fine, it's all good. If you're
9:46
Speaker 2: the superstar who joins a team. Oh gosh, that's that
9:51
Speaker 2: can't happen. That's insane. Kevin Durant is the weakest player
9:55
Speaker 2: ever for joining the Warriors. He got crushed, like freaking
10:01
Speaker 2: crushed for doing that, for joining the Warriors, Right, Steph
10:06
Speaker 2: Curry zero criticism whatsoever for recruiting Kevin Durant. Think about
10:12
Speaker 2: what's said in that meeting. I don't know, could it
10:15
Speaker 2: be along the lines from Steph Curry is, come on, KD,
10:20
Speaker 2: we need you, buddy, we can't do it without you,
10:23
Speaker 2: or whatever he saying. The definition of week so weak,
10:30
Speaker 2: it's never thought of as weak. It blows my mind.
10:34
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant joins the Warriors gets obliterated by the NBA world.
10:43
Speaker 2: Oh you just joined the team who beat you. You're
10:47
Speaker 2: so weak, You're supposed to go against them, not join them.
10:52
Speaker 2: All that stuff. And there's some truth to that, There
10:55
Speaker 2: is some truth to it. But how do we never
10:58
Speaker 2: flip that on its head? How do we never look
11:01
Speaker 2: at Steph Curry, a two time MVP at the time,
11:05
Speaker 2: an NBA champion at the time, and he's given his
11:09
Speaker 2: best pitch to Kevin Durant, really like, I just can't
11:17
Speaker 2: understand how no one looks at that as being weak.
11:21
Speaker 2: So watch Lebron. You know what is might also come
11:25
Speaker 2: full circle. You might have Steph Curry now pitching Lebron. Hey, man,
11:32
Speaker 2: really need you. It'd be great to get you, you know,
11:36
Speaker 2: on a He wouldn't say that, but he'd be thinking
11:39
Speaker 2: it great to get you on an affordable deal. Man,
11:41
Speaker 2: that'd be awesome. I could use some help, you know,
11:45
Speaker 2: we be looking around. Got a slim Pickens, We got
11:47
Speaker 2: old Draymon, we got old Jimmy coming off an injury,
11:51
Speaker 2: even older. Basically he got me old. But you know
11:56
Speaker 2: we could use you. You're still playing at a very
11:58
Speaker 2: high level, still a top fIF team player. Come on, Lebron,
12:01
Speaker 2: Please please, Lebron. That's not viewed as weak. It'd be
12:05
Speaker 2: viewed as week for Lebron to join the team, not weak.
12:08
Speaker 2: For Steph to recruit Lebron. That's insane to me, makes
12:12
Speaker 2: absolutely no sense whatsoever. But watch Lebron. He'll take this
12:17
Speaker 2: recruiting tour. I love that Lebron. The reports on Tuesday
12:23
Speaker 2: Lebron's in no hurry, no hurry to sign with another team. Now,
12:27
Speaker 2: part of that is because Lebron loves attention. That's part
12:32
Speaker 2: of this. He craves attention. He's one of the biggest
12:35
Speaker 2: attention worors in sports history. And I don't dislike Lebron.
12:39
Speaker 2: I'm just that's true. Lebron loves attention. Okay, there's absolutely
12:46
Speaker 2: zero chance that Lebron retires without a retirement tour. He
12:51
Speaker 2: loves the attention. He craves it. He seeks it over
12:56
Speaker 2: and over and over and over and over and over again.
12:58
Speaker 2: So the news of Lebron now he needs in no hurry
13:01
Speaker 2: to sign, of course not He's like, ooh yes, attention,
13:05
Speaker 2: ooh yes, beg me, ooh yes, yes, I love this.
13:09
Speaker 2: He's gonna drag this out. Part of it is. Part
13:11
Speaker 2: of it is for basketball reasons. Where does Jalen Brown
13:15
Speaker 2: end up? What if the Calves are able to trade
13:19
Speaker 2: for Jalen Brown, all of a sudden, the Calves look
13:22
Speaker 2: a whole lot more appealing to Lebron James. I would
13:26
Speaker 2: have to imagine, got a legitimate chance to win a championship,
13:29
Speaker 2: you go back home to Cleveland, you go back to
13:32
Speaker 2: the team you delivered a championship too. That's home. That'd
13:37
Speaker 2: be a great way to end your NBA career with
13:39
Speaker 2: a legitimate chance to win it all going home. So like,
13:44
Speaker 2: some of it is self serving, and oh beg me. Yes, attention, ah, attention,
13:48
Speaker 2: the reports. Lebron is in Cleveland today. The Calves will
13:52
Speaker 2: be making their pitch for the free agent. We still
13:55
Speaker 2: don't know where he's gonna go yet. Panel discussion. I
13:58
Speaker 2: think the Warriors, Nah, the Cavs, I think they hate it.
14:01
Speaker 2: Lebron's just like, oh yeah, more me, more me. What's
14:05
Speaker 2: on SportsCenter night?
14:06
Speaker 3: Me?
14:07
Speaker 2: What's on?
14:07
Speaker 3: Uh?
14:08
Speaker 2: What's on?
14:08
Speaker 3: Uh?
14:09
Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio tonight?
14:10
Speaker 3: Me? Ah.
14:11
Speaker 2: Yes, some of itself serving, some of it is for
14:14
Speaker 2: basketball reasons. But just keep this in mind when Lebron's
14:20
Speaker 2: going on these tours and can you imagine a meeting
14:24
Speaker 2: where Jannie Bam, come on, Lebron, join us, come back
14:30
Speaker 2: to Miami. You want two titles here, Let's try to
14:34
Speaker 2: make it three. We're in this together. Week It's weak.
14:41
Speaker 2: I don't know how it's never talked about as a
14:43
Speaker 2: week move. We only focus on the superstar joining the
14:49
Speaker 2: top team. We never focus on the superstar recruiting the superstar.
14:58
Speaker 2: The recruitment is a week move, all so, all day,
15:01
Speaker 2: textbook week, and we never say that, we never call
15:07
Speaker 2: it out. We don't even have an ounce of criticism none.
15:12
Speaker 2: It's all good. Hey, he joined your team. I just
15:18
Speaker 2: forget about the fact that you were like kneeling down,
15:22
Speaker 2: like please please, you know you're genuineflecting in front of Lebron.
15:27
Speaker 2: It's like the Waynes World thing. We're not worthy, We're
15:31
Speaker 2: not worthy. That's what they're doing. That's the recruiting pitch.
15:35
Speaker 2: How is that strong? It's crazy to me, blows my mind,
15:39
Speaker 2: really does. But it happens time and time again. It'll
15:42
Speaker 2: happen this offseason. Just watch. Might be Stephan again, might
15:48
Speaker 2: be Steph again in the same meeting room, maybe with
15:51
Speaker 2: the same exact pitch he gave the KD thinking it's
15:54
Speaker 2: good luck. Come on man, like divided we fall, but
16:00
Speaker 2: together we stand. Whatever his pitches, Lebron, Ah, Man, it's
16:06
Speaker 2: crazy crazy to me that it's not even considered slightly weak.
16:12
Speaker 2: It's the definition of week. If you're a star player,
16:17
Speaker 2: and you're really that guy, you shouldn't have to recruit
16:21
Speaker 2: another star player to be viable contenders, to be relevant, right,
16:29
Speaker 2: But hey, man, the star players recruit star players all
16:31
Speaker 2: the time. They're gonna keep doing it because there's absolutely
16:35
Speaker 2: no pushback, there're no drawbacks. You like, think about this,
16:40
Speaker 2: Steph Curry isn't dumb to do this smart move. You're
16:44
Speaker 2: getting no flak, and if you land Lebron and win big,
16:49
Speaker 2: you get praised while Lebron gets criticized for joining your team.
16:53
Speaker 2: It's a win all across the board. Why wouldn't you
16:56
Speaker 2: do it? You just have me raising my hand like,
16:59
Speaker 2: am I the only one that sees this is week?
17:00
Speaker 2: It's totally a week move. Why does anybody say it's
17:03
Speaker 2: a week move? It's crazy? But yeah, until somebody does
17:07
Speaker 2: say that, or the the masses are saying this, the
17:11
Speaker 2: star players are going to recruit star players to join
17:14
Speaker 2: their team because the star player who's already in place
17:19
Speaker 2: is not going to get any any pushback. Wild to
17:23
Speaker 2: me eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, here's your
17:25
Speaker 2: phone number. I did see that our guy hollerin James,
17:29
Speaker 2: he dropped. There's my question. Did hollerin James wake up
17:33
Speaker 2: and be like, oh oh, why is the phone off
17:35
Speaker 2: the hook? Let me take care of that click you know?
17:39
Speaker 2: Or does it just time out at a certain time
17:41
Speaker 2: the elbow the dial or I have so many questions
17:46
Speaker 2: on this. We need it's gonna sound creepy, but we
17:50
Speaker 2: need a camera on holler in James at all times,
17:54
Speaker 2: so I can have these questions answered, you know what
17:58
Speaker 2: I mean, like what happened? Did you? Did you let
18:01
Speaker 2: him go? Brienna that that could be the other possibility?
18:03
Speaker 2: Were you like all right enough hollow in James? No,
18:06
Speaker 2: I just I left him there.
18:07
Speaker 4: I just left him there, just holding and and he
18:10
Speaker 4: just like dropped in that.
18:11
Speaker 2: So how right? Do you have a curious mind? Do
18:13
Speaker 2: you want? How did this happen? I do not, I'll
18:16
Speaker 2: be honest.
18:17
Speaker 4: No, I'm sure he just like hit his head and
18:20
Speaker 4: it just kind of hit the little dial.
18:21
Speaker 2: He wasn't gone, but uh so okay, so he was
18:25
Speaker 2: so leads to another cause he was when he fell asleep.
18:28
Speaker 2: Was he resting with the phone you like kind of
18:31
Speaker 2: you know how you have the phone on your on
18:34
Speaker 2: your ear and your shoulder and you just kind of, uh,
18:37
Speaker 2: you kind of fall asleep. Is that where it was
18:39
Speaker 2: the whole time? That sounds right? I think?
18:42
Speaker 4: So, I don't know, yeah, or like it's just like
18:47
Speaker 4: the side of his head just kind of like his
18:48
Speaker 4: little chin just hit the little red button and he
18:51
Speaker 4: went bye bye.
18:54
Speaker 2: We'll never know. Well if I if I catch up
18:57
Speaker 2: with hollering James, sometime soon, I'll ask him a whole breakdown,
19:01
Speaker 2: you know, like what's the what's the sleeping position? Like,
19:04
Speaker 2: Holleren James, do you know do you have the phone
19:06
Speaker 2: pressed on your ear? What's going on here? I'm curious.
19:09
Speaker 2: I would love to know. All right, we'll get to
19:11
Speaker 2: the militia right around the corner eight seven, seven ninety
19:13
Speaker 2: nine on Fox. One guy made the previous guy look
19:24
Speaker 2: so much better, so much better. I want to share
19:28
Speaker 2: that story with you. Right around the corner. I'm probably
19:30
Speaker 2: no in for Big Ben Meller. Hang with us right
19:33
Speaker 2: here on Fox Sports Radio.
19:35
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Speaker 2: Big Ben Malor. The excitement of the FIFA World Cup
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Speaker 2: Cup live. Alrighty, you know the drill team USA eight BM,
20:37
Speaker 2: Eastern Fox TV, Fox one take it on Bosnia, nh Herzegovina.
20:45
Speaker 2: I've conquered my demons. I can say it now. All right,
20:51
Speaker 2: we'll get to militia here momentarily. Let me pay something
20:54
Speaker 2: off here, because I got a couple of things to
20:56
Speaker 2: pay off. One is Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi Leonard. I have
21:00
Speaker 2: talked about this before, but it's a different angle. So
21:03
Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard has been traded to the Toronto Raptors. He's
21:07
Speaker 2: going back to the Raptors won a championship there. I
21:11
Speaker 2: would argue not to get sidetracked. One of the biggest
21:14
Speaker 2: luck championships of all time. I everyone want to be
21:17
Speaker 2: honest about this. The Warriors had Kevin Durant on a
21:20
Speaker 2: seventy three win team. Now listen, let me not get
21:24
Speaker 2: things twisted here. Sore clear. They were not a seventy
21:28
Speaker 2: three win team with KD on the squad, right, They
21:33
Speaker 2: were a seventy three win team before they landed KD.
21:37
Speaker 2: But they lost to the Cavs, blew a three to
21:39
Speaker 2: one lead, got Kevin Durant. All right, Just I know
21:43
Speaker 2: how people, is this idiot thinks of Kevin Durant and
21:46
Speaker 2: they once, no, it's before they had I know that,
21:48
Speaker 2: I know. But they added Kevin Durant to a seventy
21:52
Speaker 2: three win team. They waltzed to two straight championships. And
21:58
Speaker 2: then they were facing the Raptors, and Kevin Durant, who
22:02
Speaker 2: had a calf issue, only played twelve minutes of that
22:06
Speaker 2: entire series, and they blew out his achilles while he
22:10
Speaker 2: was given the Raptors buckets, given him buckets in those
22:16
Speaker 2: twelve minutes, and then he was done. That's all. He
22:19
Speaker 2: played twelve minutes in the finals. Klay Thompson got hurt,
22:23
Speaker 2: tore his ACL in that same series, missed Game three.
22:28
Speaker 2: They were the walking wounded. It was insane. The Raptors
22:32
Speaker 2: absolutely lucked their way into a championship that season. Don't
22:35
Speaker 2: let anybody lie to you. Otherwise, if the Warriors were
22:39
Speaker 2: close to full strength, close Raptors aren't coming close to
22:44
Speaker 2: winning a championship. But that's ancient history. Kawhi want to
22:48
Speaker 2: ring give them props going back to Toronto. Now, the trade
22:52
Speaker 2: here is what's interesting to me, because the Clippers got
22:56
Speaker 2: a pretty good haul. They got brandon Ingram, Grady Dick,
23:02
Speaker 2: and the draft picks mean a lot. Two unprotected first
23:05
Speaker 2: round picks, one unprotected first round pick swap, and two
23:09
Speaker 2: second round picks. That's pretty good haul for Kawhi Leonard
23:14
Speaker 2: not to get two side tracked. But while I'm thinking,
23:16
Speaker 2: I'm gonna forget if I don't say this, but Jahn
23:19
Speaker 2: Morant was also traded from the Grizzlies to the Blazers,
23:24
Speaker 2: and Jahn Morant at one time looked like he was
23:28
Speaker 2: going to be an NBA superstar. He had playmaking ability,
23:33
Speaker 2: highlight real plays, this like attacking the bucket style. He
23:40
Speaker 2: was big time, you know, just a draw. He was
23:44
Speaker 2: box office. And then he started getting hurt, Then he
23:48
Speaker 2: started getting suspended, and they started making stupid decisions. And
23:53
Speaker 2: then the last three years he's played seventy nine games.
23:59
Speaker 2: That's not even a an entire NBA season. You know,
24:03
Speaker 2: he hasn't played an entire NBA season over a three
24:08
Speaker 2: year span. He hasn't played eighty two games over three years, right,
24:14
Speaker 2: so he's missed a bunch of time due to mostly injuries,
24:18
Speaker 2: some suspension, you know, that sort of thing. But at
24:21
Speaker 2: one time, John Morant looked like he was going to
24:22
Speaker 2: be a superstar and looked like if the Grizzlies were
24:26
Speaker 2: to trade him, they would get a haul similar to
24:29
Speaker 2: what the Raptors just gave up to get Kawhi Leonard back.
24:34
Speaker 2: So the Clippers get this pretty good haul. Meanwhile, the
24:38
Speaker 2: Grizzlies for trading John Morant, they get Jeremy Grant and
24:41
Speaker 2: Chris Murray and zero draft picks. No draft picks. And
24:48
Speaker 2: by the way, the Blazers got a million dollars in
24:51
Speaker 2: the deal. They got money in the deal. Also, not
24:54
Speaker 2: the Grizzlies. So John Morant, when he burst out of
24:58
Speaker 2: the scene number two overall, I was like, man, this
25:02
Speaker 2: John Morant guy, he is fearless attacking the rack, highlight
25:08
Speaker 2: style ability, right, like just unbelievable. And then you give
25:13
Speaker 2: it some time, you're like, yeah, you really can't shoot
25:15
Speaker 2: and he can't stay out of trouble and he can't
25:18
Speaker 2: stay healthy. That's a lot of he can't Like those
25:21
Speaker 2: are adding up right here. And the Grizzlies get Jeremy
25:25
Speaker 2: Grant and Chris Murray unreal. But the Clippers back to them,
25:29
Speaker 2: they trade Kawhi Leonard, they get brandon Ingram Grady Dick,
25:34
Speaker 2: two unprotected first round picks, one unprotected first round pick,
25:38
Speaker 2: swap two second round picks. That's a good haul. It's
25:40
Speaker 2: a really good haul. I bring this up because we
25:44
Speaker 2: still don't know what the resolution is with this whole
25:47
Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard getting paid under the table thing, you know,
25:51
Speaker 2: the Clippers circumventing the salary cap. Big no, no, big
25:56
Speaker 2: no no. In the NBA, there have been teams that
25:59
Speaker 2: have gotten crushed for this. The Minnesota Timberwolves got crushed
26:02
Speaker 2: for doing this for Joe Smith losing draft pick Scalore,
26:06
Speaker 2: first round pick Scalore. We still don't have a resolution
26:10
Speaker 2: with the Clippers doing this with Kawhi. The NBA is
26:14
Speaker 2: currently conducting an active investigation. When will the current activation
26:21
Speaker 2: current investigation be concluded, When will it be over? When
26:26
Speaker 2: will we have some sort of judgment on this? So
26:31
Speaker 2: it's a secret. Twenty eight million dollar endorsement deal. That's
26:36
Speaker 2: that's what Pablo Torre's podcast uncovered. We got receipts galore.
26:42
Speaker 2: The Clippers were paying Kawhi under the table for a
26:46
Speaker 2: quote unquote wink wink, nudge nudge endorsement deal where Kawhi Man,
26:54
Speaker 2: I don't know how he mustered the energy to do this.
26:59
Speaker 2: He didn't have to show up up for anything, nothing,
27:03
Speaker 2: No photo shoots, no like commercials, no, no, no, all right,
27:09
Speaker 2: You're gonna be at this booth at this mall for nothing, nothing,
27:15
Speaker 2: twenty eight million dollars on top just a little just
27:17
Speaker 2: a little like extra incentive Kawhi to sign with the Clippers.
27:21
Speaker 2: What do you say, Oh, you will sign? Great, awesome.
27:25
Speaker 2: We're supposed to have a resolution. Meanwhile we don't, and
27:28
Speaker 2: Kawhi just got traded for a really good haul in return.
27:31
Speaker 2: How can this be last thing I'll say on this
27:35
Speaker 2: is it makes me think of the former commissioner David Stern.
27:40
Speaker 2: I don't know how many times I have said, while
27:45
Speaker 2: Adam Silver has been the current commissioner of the NBA,
27:49
Speaker 2: I've said, man if David Stern was still commissioner, dot
27:53
Speaker 2: dot dot. As another installment of that if David Stern
27:58
Speaker 2: we're still commissioner, there's no way we won wouldn't have
28:04
Speaker 2: a ruling on this whole Kawhi Leonard getting paid under
28:07
Speaker 2: the table thing. Two, we wouldn't have Kawhi getting traded
28:12
Speaker 2: for a pretty good haul while not having a resolution
28:17
Speaker 2: to this getting paid under the table thing. I can't
28:21
Speaker 2: believe this is the situation we have. I shouldn't be
28:25
Speaker 2: dumbfounded because it's Adam Silver, and Adam Silver, even though
28:29
Speaker 2: he's smart, he doesn't do anything. He is so calculated.
28:35
Speaker 2: He's calculated to a fault. He's like, well, we got
28:38
Speaker 2: to think about this. We got to think about the
28:40
Speaker 2: president over here. We gotta dot ies, we got to
28:42
Speaker 2: cross teams. We got to think about where does this lead?
28:45
Speaker 2: What about the future. If we hammer the Clippers and
28:48
Speaker 2: we might have to hammer this team, we might have
28:49
Speaker 2: to hammer that team. You know, let's just think about
28:53
Speaker 2: it and do nothing. That's Adam Silver. Let's think about
28:57
Speaker 2: it a lot and do nothing. That's where we are
29:01
Speaker 2: right now. We've got Kauai traded already, we still don't know.
29:05
Speaker 2: They're still investigating. NBA is still conducting an investigation, still investigating,
29:14
Speaker 2: and what are you doing, pick Alane, come to a
29:20
Speaker 2: judgment rule on something. Give us direction, man, good lord,
29:27
Speaker 2: you're supposed to be driving the ship. Adam Silver is
29:30
Speaker 2: just over here like a hard left, ah, hard right.
29:34
Speaker 2: Where are we going? Man, I don't know. I don't know.
29:42
Speaker 2: That's where we are. If David Stern we're still commissioner,
29:47
Speaker 2: there's no way this would have gone down the same
29:50
Speaker 2: way the Clippers would have gotten hammered. How do I know?
29:55
Speaker 2: Because it happened with Joe Smith and the Timberwolves. I
29:59
Speaker 2: got to bring it. I'll look it up real fast
30:01
Speaker 2: and i'll give it to you in just a couple
30:03
Speaker 2: of minutes. But the Timberwolves spent they lost multiple first
30:07
Speaker 2: round picks. It was crazy, and we still don't have
30:12
Speaker 2: a ruling on this. They got fined a franchise record
30:15
Speaker 2: three point five million dollars, stripped the team of five
30:19
Speaker 2: first round draft picks. Unbelievable. Meanwhile, and I would love
30:27
Speaker 2: to know what Joe Smith got paid under the table.
30:31
Speaker 2: I guarantee it was no twenty eight million dollars. It's
30:33
Speaker 2: a different time. This is back in two thousand, right,
30:36
Speaker 2: But Kawhi Leonard gets paid twenty eight million dollars under
30:40
Speaker 2: the table. We're still investigating, We're still gathering information, not
30:46
Speaker 2: ruling anything. Brutal, just brutal. We got Roger in Nevata
30:52
Speaker 2: wants to check in. What's going on, Roger, You're on
30:53
Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio.
30:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, good evening. Mark'sud said, good morning. Just a couple
30:59
Speaker 5: of quick comments. Number One, Lebron James would just bloody retire.
31:04
Speaker 5: He's a has been. He's going to play hurt for
31:07
Speaker 5: most of the season. He's going to be a detriment
31:09
Speaker 5: to any team he now goes to.
31:11
Speaker 2: I completely disagree with you, Roger. I'll let you keep going.
31:14
Speaker 2: But he played at He's a top fifteen player last season.
31:17
Speaker 2: He wasn't injured all last season. He played it. He
31:19
Speaker 2: was great last season. Why would you say that?
31:21
Speaker 5: But look how much time he spent on the bench
31:24
Speaker 5: last season.
31:26
Speaker 2: He had the sciatica. I don't know was a siatica
31:30
Speaker 2: thing at the beginning. He's not the walking wounded all year.
31:33
Speaker 2: He had an issue at the beginning of the season.
31:35
Speaker 2: He was actually I think that he was a guy
31:39
Speaker 2: that was in the ice tub bath all the time
31:41
Speaker 2: at all.
31:42
Speaker 5: But I think it was a good thing that the
31:44
Speaker 5: Lakers got rid of me. I think it's the best
31:46
Speaker 5: move he did.
31:47
Speaker 2: He got rid of them. They didn't get rid of him.
31:49
Speaker 2: He's a free agent, right, Oh that's right.
31:53
Speaker 5: I said he was a free agent. Well, anyway, now
31:55
Speaker 5: on the soccer, there's only one way that the US
32:00
Speaker 5: is going to lose tomorrow or this morning or this
32:03
Speaker 5: afternoon's game is if they're overconfident. That's what's gonna think
32:07
Speaker 5: them should they make it into the sweet sixteen. There's
32:10
Speaker 5: only two teams I think that will stop the US.
32:14
Speaker 5: That's France and Argentina. If either one of those two
32:19
Speaker 5: teams get eliminated, which not very likely but it could happen,
32:25
Speaker 5: that's the only two teams that will really be a
32:27
Speaker 5: threat to the US getting into the semifinals. And I'll
32:32
Speaker 5: take your your view on that off the air.
32:37
Speaker 2: Okay, Roger, I appreciate you, buddy. Okay, I'm trying to
32:44
Speaker 2: be nice. I'm trying to be Christian, you know what
32:46
Speaker 2: I mean. Like he's making it hard. What would Jesus do?
32:54
Speaker 5: Yeah?
32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, WWJD. I need a bracelet like the old school thing.
33:00
Speaker 2: How would Jesus handle this call with? You know? Here,
33:03
Speaker 2: here's the first thing. The United States is not good
33:08
Speaker 2: in men's soccer. Let's just start with that. So this
33:12
Speaker 2: idea of the only way Team USA loses to Bosnia.
33:16
Speaker 2: The only way is if they're over confident, not like
33:21
Speaker 2: they could just get beat that that's off the table.
33:24
Speaker 2: They're so good. The only way is if they're over confident. Again,
33:30
Speaker 2: we suck in men's soccer. We've never been good. We've
33:36
Speaker 2: always been bad. Like Tmusa won two games. I keep
33:40
Speaker 2: repeating the stack because it's so good. Team USA won
33:43
Speaker 2: two games, two games consecutively in the World Cup for
33:47
Speaker 2: the first time this year since nineteen thirty. Okay, you
33:52
Speaker 2: realize what the record is in the knockout stage, one
33:57
Speaker 2: hero and seven. What we're working with all time in
34:03
Speaker 2: the knockout stage. The one is like one victory and
34:08
Speaker 2: what we have and the only teams that could get
34:11
Speaker 2: on and away I think he said, France and Argentina.
34:15
Speaker 2: That's it. Everything else, Yeah, it's rap City man, Brazil,
34:21
Speaker 2: please England, Funny, Let's see who else could give us
34:25
Speaker 2: a tussle. Portugal has been Spain, get real, Belgium no way,
34:35
Speaker 2: you know we got this sun lock Mexico with their
34:39
Speaker 2: four clean sheets. Silly, silly, Australia. We already beat them. Columbia, Columbia,
34:50
Speaker 2: get out. He We're a Team USA. Here 's roar.
34:54
Speaker 2: So if we don't have France or Argentina, it's a
34:58
Speaker 2: rap baby. We've only won two straight games for the
35:02
Speaker 2: second time. We're gonna win five in a row. That's
35:06
Speaker 2: what we're gonna do because we're Team USA, long decorated
35:11
Speaker 2: history of just triumph after triumph in the World Cup.
35:16
Speaker 2: It's ridiculous, man. It's look, man, it's not the New
35:21
Speaker 2: England Patriots we're talking about here, and they're championships.
35:25
Speaker 1: You know.
35:25
Speaker 2: We're not talking about Tom Brady at quarterback or who
35:29
Speaker 2: are some of the more decora We're not talking Celtics
35:31
Speaker 2: or Lakers here, right, We're talking about US men's national soccer.
35:37
Speaker 2: We're freaking awful. That's what our history's been. So to
35:41
Speaker 2: make it sound like we're just gonna waltz, We're gonna
35:44
Speaker 2: do a dosey dough through the World Cup field, it's like,
35:48
Speaker 2: what are you watching? What are you thinking?
35:52
Speaker 3: Hey?
35:53
Speaker 2: Maybe Team USA I just the planets a line and
35:57
Speaker 2: it's a run for the ages. It's a nick like
36:00
Speaker 2: run for the ages. Lightning in a bottle, perfect storm maybe,
36:05
Speaker 2: but to make it sound like, oh Man, France or Argentina,
36:09
Speaker 2: that's all we have to worry about. We're only going
36:11
Speaker 2: to lose to Bosnia if we're overconfident. Like that's why
36:15
Speaker 2: people hate the United States. It's the over confidence. And
36:21
Speaker 2: it's just like, how can you even say that? That's
36:24
Speaker 2: literally that's like the Tennessee Titans this next season saying,
36:30
Speaker 2: you know, only the Chiefs and m I'll say, only
36:38
Speaker 2: the Chiefs and the Lions could get in our way.
36:44
Speaker 2: That's it. Otherwise we're good. You guys, you were three
36:49
Speaker 2: and fourteen last season. I know, but I'm I'm just
36:53
Speaker 2: calling it only the Chiefs, only the Lions. They're only
36:56
Speaker 2: the ones that can trip us up. We're only gonna
36:59
Speaker 2: lose if we're confident. What I think Jesus would have
37:06
Speaker 2: handled that better? I gotta be honest, be honest with Yeah,
37:10
Speaker 2: I'm trying, though, I'm trying. Hey, upgrade your FIFA World
37:13
Speaker 2: Cup twenty twenty six. Set up build it like Beckham
37:16
Speaker 2: from living room to lawn with the home Depot and
37:19
Speaker 2: take the fast free delivery. Assist the Home Depot. Official
37:24
Speaker 2: FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six supporter subject to availability.
37:28
Speaker 2: All right, come it up next. We close it down
37:30
Speaker 2: in style. I'm normally a harsh grader as you can
37:33
Speaker 2: as you can tell, but not when it comes to
37:36
Speaker 2: this athlete. I'll give you some details coming up and
37:39
Speaker 2: a Malard Militia staple as we get on out of here.
37:43
Speaker 2: I'm Brian no In for Big Ben Malor. Hang with
37:45
Speaker 2: us right here on Fox Sports Radio. It is Fox
37:48
Speaker 2: Sports Radio. I'm Brian no In for Big Ben Malor.
37:51
Speaker 2: For over forty years, tirekt has been helping customers find
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Speaker 2: the way tire buying should be. So I'm normally a
38:06
Speaker 2: harsh grader, but uh not when it comes to Serena Williams.
38:11
Speaker 2: I'll tell you why. So Serena Williams lost a first
38:14
Speaker 2: round match at Wimbledon. This was on Tuesday against Maya Joint.
38:19
Speaker 2: So Maya's just starting out her tennis career. Basically he's
38:23
Speaker 2: been around for a little bit, but she's just trying
38:25
Speaker 2: to get better, right, trying to improve her record. She's
38:27
Speaker 2: not one of the top you know, tennis players on
38:31
Speaker 2: tour or anything like that. She's twenty four years younger
38:36
Speaker 2: than Serena Williams. She's young. She's twenty years old right.
38:41
Speaker 2: Been battling some injuries, but she's doing what she can.
38:44
Speaker 2: And Serena lost to this girl in the first round.
38:48
Speaker 2: Serena Williams is an all time legend. She hasn't played tennis,
38:53
Speaker 2: she hadn't played singles in over four years. And there's
38:58
Speaker 2: a three set match. She didn't win it. She was
39:01
Speaker 2: rusty and understandably so, and she ran out of gas.
39:05
Speaker 2: But Serena Williams has had two children. She had her
39:09
Speaker 2: second daughter at forty one years old. She's forty four now,
39:17
Speaker 2: and she hadn't blayed in the last four years. That's
39:20
Speaker 2: amazing that she was even out there. So I didn't
39:24
Speaker 2: think that she represented herself poorly at all. And I
39:28
Speaker 2: know it's a first round exit, but goodness, I think
39:30
Speaker 2: you got to take a few things into account here,
39:32
Speaker 2: like being forty four, being out of singles tennis for
39:35
Speaker 2: four years, having a child at forty one. That's one
39:39
Speaker 2: thing guys can't relate to, you know, like we can
39:42
Speaker 2: relate to if you played a sport, especially at a
39:44
Speaker 2: high level, you can understand how difficult it is to
39:48
Speaker 2: just pick that sport up after a four year layoff.
39:51
Speaker 2: We can't relate to having a kid like I have
39:55
Speaker 2: no earthly idea what that's like, but I would imagine
39:59
Speaker 2: it's not wal in the park and Serena got out there.
40:02
Speaker 2: Props to her, so I wouldn't be harsh grading her whatsoever.
40:06
Speaker 2: We got Marcel and Brooklyn our staple. Marcel, what's up?
40:11
Speaker 2: Good morning sir, You're on Fox Sports Radio.
40:13
Speaker 3: Oh, Brian, no filly in for my dude, Ben Maller.
40:18
Speaker 3: I hope you'll be here in Brooklyn instead for meet
40:21
Speaker 3: and greet.
40:22
Speaker 2: I would love that, Marcel. That'd be fantastic, buddy.
40:25
Speaker 3: And of course the lovely and talented my friend Brianna.
40:30
Speaker 3: Good morning. Some quick TeV picked before wrap things up,
40:35
Speaker 3: if you please.
40:38
Speaker 2: You're going to be watching the US men's national team tonight.
40:42
Speaker 3: Oh, I'll take the mixed match it is. How about you?
40:48
Speaker 2: I think I was right. I think I got it right.
40:49
Speaker 2: I'm gonna count that as a win.