Episode Transcript
Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.
Use Ctrl + F to search
0:11
Welcome to another episode
0:13
of The Steven Asmith Show, coming at you at the very least
0:15
three times a week over the digital airwaves of
0:18
YouTube and of course iHeartRadio.
0:20
As always, I want to stop and take a moment
0:22
to show my love and appreciation to all of my followers
0:24
and subscribers. We've now eclipsed
0:27
six hundred and ninety nine thousand
0:29
subscribers. Can't thank y'all enough
0:31
for the love. Keep it coming, and I'm gonna keep on coming. And please
0:33
make sure to go to iHeartRadio to listen to the show
0:36
in your car or whatever audio device you
0:38
may have. Go to iHeart and check that out.
0:40
And by the way, if you want to continue to like and follow the show,
0:42
just click the belt and boom you
0:44
will be the latest member of the Stephen A. Smith Show
0:47
family. While you're doing that, please make sure to
0:49
not forget to pick up a copy of my New York Time's
0:51
best selling book, Straight Shooter, A Memoir
0:53
of Second Chances and First Takes, now in paperback.
0:56
So go to straight Shooter book dot com once
0:58
again at straight Shooter book dot com
1:00
to get yourself a copy. Since
1:02
I am in the studio, I'll make sure to take phone
1:04
calls before I get on out of here for the weekend,
1:07
and give some advice as well. Number the color as
1:09
always its eighty eight seven two seven fifty three
1:11
zero three. That's edited eight s A s
1:13
five three zero three. Now let me get started,
1:16
because it's got a couple of NBA
1:18
items to get into, all right, mainly
1:20
that ass kicking that we saw last night in
1:22
Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics
1:25
opened Game one and sent the message to the Dallas
1:27
Mavericks about who they are in
1:30
this championship series. The game
1:32
featured the return of Chris STAPs port Ziggis,
1:34
who came off the bench to spark Boston, scoring eighteen
1:36
of his twenty points in the first half. Jalen
1:39
Brown set the tone and led the Celtics to twenty two
1:41
points, while Jason Tatum added sixteen
1:43
points in route to a one oh seven eighty nine beat
1:45
down of the Dallas Mavericks.
1:47
Okay, here's the deal. I'm
1:50
looking at it from this perspective. I
1:52
got the Dallas Mavericks winning this series. Let
1:54
me just put myself on front street. I
1:57
swear to Lord, I wish I could change my mind right now. I'm
1:59
not gonna do it, but I damn near one two
2:01
for one reason or one reason only, Kristaps
2:03
Porzingis. Yes, Jason Tatum
2:05
said the tone he was hitting jots, he was attacking
2:08
the basket, had a spectacular dunk, had
2:10
a big tom block of Kyrie Irvin.
2:12
I get that. Jason tATu
2:14
didn't need to do much last night because the Boston Celtics
2:16
had seven different dudes that hit two or more three pointers
2:19
in this game, which was an NBA Finals
2:21
record. You don't see that up there. Sixteen
2:24
to three pointers divided by
2:26
seven different dudes that hit three pointers.
2:28
So everybody who's hitting two three pointers, we gotta
2:30
take that into consideration. It's not about that. Everything
2:34
changed the moment Kris STAPs
2:36
Porzingis came into the game through a
2:38
roar to a roaring ovation. By the
2:40
way, he's seven feet three,
2:42
y'all, so he's gonna cause problems
2:45
defensively when you're driving to the lane, Kyrie
2:47
Irvan, when you're driving to the lane, all right,
2:49
Derrek Jones, when you're driving to the lane, Pja wathed
2:51
it. Kristaphs Jozek is gonna be there
2:53
because he's seventy three. So
2:56
that's problematic in and of itself. Here's
2:59
where it gets work. Porzingis
3:02
hit threes plus he
3:04
hit twos, posting dudes
3:06
all over the place, shoving them aside
3:08
and shooting turn around jump shots and
3:11
on tip at all. When he wasn't doing that, you
3:13
know what he was doing blocking
3:16
shots and
3:18
he was helping out on defense, which caused
3:20
some problems for not only the players that I
3:22
mentioned, Buffalouka Doncik as well, And
3:25
so I look at it from that standpoint, and I
3:27
said, at the beginning of the season, before it even started,
3:29
if kristaps for Ziggis and the Boston
3:32
Celtics are healthy, they win the championship.
3:34
I picked the Maps to win this series because kristaphs
3:36
Forzingis wasn't supposed to be healthy. They
3:38
said he had an injury similar to that of Kevin
3:40
Durant, where it was a calf injury.
3:43
It was irritated, and then ultimately
3:45
he came back after weeks and Kevin Durant tore
3:47
his achilles. So I said, you know what,
3:50
he wasn't a strong lateral move to begin
3:52
with. Boston isn't the greatest pick and roll
3:54
defense to begin with. You put kristaps
3:57
Worzingis in those situations with Luke and
3:59
Kyrie be a problem. That's
4:01
how I looked at it. And then this guy
4:03
came out and showed us that the
4:06
MVP wasn't him. The MVP wasn't James the Brown,
4:08
The MVP wasn't Jason Tatum. The MVP wasn't
4:10
Derek White or Drew Holliday or anybody
4:12
else. The MVP was the Boss
4:14
of Celtics medical staff. Because this
4:16
brother looked big time. He
4:19
looked like he is one hundred percent. And
4:22
if that's the case, the
4:24
Dallas Mavericks have no chance. This
4:26
series will be over in five. They
4:29
can't beat the Boston Celtics in
4:31
a best of seven series with a healthy
4:34
Chris STAPs Porzingis. I
4:36
don't think that's possible. I
4:39
really don't. I thought he was gonna be hobbled
4:42
at the very least. That was
4:44
not the case. It
4:46
was not the case. Now let's
4:48
get to the Dallas Mavericks and most notably
4:50
the struggles of Kyrie Irving, because it's worth talking
4:52
about. Did y'all know that
4:56
Kyrie has now lost eleven straight games
4:58
to the Boss and Celtics. His
5:01
last one against his former team was just
5:03
over three years ago when
5:06
he was a Brooklyn Net and
5:08
last night, to be quite
5:10
honest with you, it just wasn't a good look. Kyrie
5:13
finished gaining one of the finals with just twelve
5:16
points, shooting six to nineteen from the floor,
5:18
zero for five from three point range,
5:21
and was a team worse minus nineteen
5:23
for the Dallas Mavericks. Look,
5:26
it's not a crime that this happened, but I
5:28
think we got to be honest about it. Kyrie
5:30
Erwin was rattled by that Boston Celtics crowd.
5:33
They booed him loudly. They was feeling
5:35
venom in his direction. And
5:38
Kyrie is not a bad guy.
5:41
We all know that. Even
5:43
though he works through a lot of things mentally
5:45
and emotionally. The fact of the matter is is
5:47
that he's a decent guy who wouldn't
5:50
mind being liked. And when
5:52
you look at the Boston Celtics fans, that will never happen
5:54
a because you're an enemy of the Boston Celtics as long
5:56
as you're wearing the opposite uniform. Just asked Draymond
5:58
Green about how they treated him two years
6:00
ago when he was playing. When he's
6:03
still with the Golden State Warriors. But when they were playing against
6:05
the Celtics in the finals, he was a bit rattled
6:07
in the first couple of games in Boston. Ultimately
6:10
overcame in and played like a damn all
6:12
star in that game six, no question
6:14
about it. But let's make sure we understand the importance
6:17
of what we're talking about here. Kyrie Irvin
6:20
is one of those dudes that will
6:23
be religiously hated by the Boston Faithful.
6:26
Why is that the case Because when you look
6:28
at Kyrie Irvin, he's
6:30
the guy that said he was staying as
6:32
long as they'd have them, and then left
6:35
like a thief in the middle of the night to join the Brooklyn
6:37
Nets. They didn't forgive him. He comes
6:39
back as a member of the Net and that's and what happens.
6:41
He steps on a leprechaun on the parque
6:44
floor. He flipped
6:46
the bird at fans. So
6:48
he knows that he was wrong, as he acknowledged
6:51
that. And it's not a crime, and we all move beyond
6:53
that. Everybody's gonna move beyond that.
6:55
But the Boston Faithful Why because
6:57
the more they blew you, the more productive,
6:59
the more unp deductive, it makes you the
7:01
more they're gonna up the ante because they want their
7:03
Celtics to win the championship. So somehow,
7:05
some way, Kyrie is gonna have to
7:07
dig within himself and
7:10
figure out how the hell or bring his a game
7:12
against the Boston Celtics because they're
7:14
going to need it. The Dallas Mavericks
7:16
are going to need it if they're going to beat the
7:19
Bosston Celtics, make no mistake about
7:21
that. Coming up, Will
7:24
Smith is out with his latest film, Bad Boys,
7:26
Ride or Die with mar Lawrence. But
7:28
it's all forgiven with Smith since the Oscar
7:30
slap of star
7:33
Chris Rock. We'll get into that. I'm
7:36
getting into that, but first,
7:38
the Lakers are meeting with Yukon head coach Danny
7:40
Hurley this weekend about taking over
7:42
in LA. Couldn't this be a good
7:45
fit. I'll get into that next
7:47
with the one and only Adrian wolj gen Eowski,
7:49
the ultimate Insider. Up
7:51
next right here, when the Steven A. Smith show
7:53
back for more in a minute.
8:03
Alright, everybody, you know what Tom. It is Tom
8:06
for Stephen as Weekly Picks. If
8:08
you're a sports fanatic like myself, then
8:10
you can't just watch the games. You
8:12
need to be a part of it all. So how do I
8:14
do that? I play Prize Picks, of course,
8:16
is what the hell I do. Prize Picks is
8:19
a skill based, real money daily fantasy sports
8:21
game where you select two, three,
8:23
or even up to six players and choose
8:25
if they'll have more or less than they're projected
8:28
in game stats. It takes less than sixty
8:30
seconds to make your picks and puts you right
8:32
in the middle of the game Tom Action
8:34
right, pick the stats of all your favorite players
8:36
Luka, Kyrie Otani or even Asia Wilson.
8:39
Then sit back, watch and
8:41
chill. And if you go to Prospects dot com
8:44
right now and use promo code at say yes, you receive
8:46
a one hundred percent depositive bonus up to one
8:48
hundred dollars. That is absolutely
8:51
no joke. So go to prizepicks dot com type
8:53
of mind initials, I say yes for first time deposit match up
8:55
to one hundred dollars. Pick more, pick
8:57
less. It's that easy today.
8:59
However, I will not be selecting
9:02
any players or sports. I gotta
9:04
go off topic just for this one
9:06
time. Right, that's right, I'm selecting
9:08
either more or less than three and
9:11
a half people A day
9:13
asking more yours
9:15
truly to take a selfie?
9:19
Who the hell asked this question? Who came up with this? Are
9:21
you kidding me? Three and a half
9:23
a day? I get three
9:25
and a half requests every three hours
9:27
minimum. It's at least
9:30
twenty to thirty selfie requests
9:32
I get per day, per
9:35
day. I don't understand it. I'm
9:38
just a personality. You used to be a reporter. I
9:41
really don't get it. Can't see I
9:43
can't do that, can't
9:46
not trying to damn sure,
9:48
wasn't good enough to play professionally in terms
9:50
of basketball or anything like that. I
9:53
don't understand it. But
9:55
I am loved, so I
9:57
guess that explains it. That's why the
9:59
answer is more as in, way, way,
10:02
way more than three and a half
10:04
requests for a selfie from your
10:06
boy. But
10:08
I'm a man of the people, so it doesn't
10:11
bother me at all. Welcome
10:15
back to Steph Nate Smith Show right here over the digital
10:17
airways of YouTube. Now let's
10:20
get to the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching
10:22
search please, that is now focused
10:24
on Yukon head coach Danny Hurley.
10:27
Hurly recently won back to back NCAA
10:29
basketball championships and as a top five
10:32
team returning this season. He's reportedly
10:34
been the obsession of Lakers general
10:36
manager Rob Polinka, whom he'll meet
10:38
with this weekend along with team owner
10:40
Genie Buss. The Lakers, according
10:43
to ESPN's very own Adrian Wojnarowski,
10:45
are looking at a potential deal
10:48
that would be significant in its linked
10:50
and salary. Now, Hurley has not made
10:52
a decision about leaving Yukon, but he did
10:54
inform the university of his interest in taking
10:56
the job. Woldes will join me
10:58
momentarily, but I wanted to give my take
11:00
on this Lakers situation really, really quickly. Danny
11:03
Hurley deserves this job if he wants it. Rob
11:06
Polinka, according to the exceptional reporting
11:08
of woj, has been obsessive
11:11
in his pursuit of Danny
11:13
Hurley, and rightfully so. He's a two time
11:15
national champion. He's the best in the game right
11:17
now. We've seen other coaches
11:19
come on to the pro ranks to Brad Stevens of the
11:21
world, the John klop Parves of the world and others
11:24
and have some degree of success, including Billy Donovan.
11:26
Let's not forget him in the job that he did at the University
11:29
of Florida. I'm not gonna forget the job that
11:31
Darvin Ham did because he did go to the
11:33
Western Conference Finals his first year. He
11:35
did lose all and lose
11:37
in five games to Denver in the first round,
11:39
but both losses were to the Denver
11:42
Nuggets, led by the arguably the greatest
11:44
player in the world in Nicolajokic. So we got to
11:46
take that into consideration. How much
11:48
more could Danny Hurley do. I don't know, but
11:50
I know if anybody deserves the shot, he
11:53
does. And I'll leave it at that because
11:55
I got to get to my next guest right now, joining
11:57
me to talk more about the Lakers coaching search
12:00
is the man who broke the story for ESPN,
12:02
the man who breaks most stories
12:05
when it comes to the National Basketball Association.
12:08
I used to be an NBA inside of ladies and gentlemen.
12:10
Let me say this in all honesty, I
12:12
was never this man. My next guest,
12:14
Senior NBA inside are recognized
12:17
for breaking the news reporting on the league over the past
12:19
decade, plus one of the best in the world
12:21
hosts. He's the host of the Woes
12:24
Pod and The Woes Report, both
12:26
on YouTube by the way, Please welcome
12:28
my buddy, my partner crime on NBA Countdown,
12:31
one of the best NBA insiders
12:33
in the history of this profession, the one and
12:35
only Adrian wolj Niarowski. What's going on,
12:37
big Time? How are you, sir? How's everything? Steven
12:40
A.
12:40
I'm great, I'm great.
12:41
Good to be here with you, man, Thank you for being here. Let's
12:43
get right to it. How much
12:47
do you How big of a possibility do
12:49
you think it's going to be that Danny Hurley
12:51
is going to be the next head coach for the Los Angeles.
12:53
Lakers, Steve, There's
12:55
a real possibility, and there's
12:58
traction in these conversations
13:00
between Hurley and the Lakers.
13:02
The job is his if he wants it, and
13:05
I think that's been clear to him for
13:09
some period of time here, and it's
13:11
really just been the last few days where now he's
13:15
gonna formally meet with the Lakers.
13:17
He told Yukon that he was going to do that,
13:19
he told his players that, and
13:22
he flew to California on a
13:25
Thursday night and today's Friday,
13:28
and so he's going to meet with as you mentioned,
13:30
Rob Polenka, Genie Buss and
13:34
sit down with them and see what this could look
13:36
like. This is not done. He's
13:38
not made a decision. It's certainly
13:41
at the time that we're talking, but
13:43
he is seriously weighing this, and
13:46
the NBA has always been an ambition of
13:48
his and the kind of
13:50
job the Lakers is and what it represents
13:53
and what it means in the coaching fraternity.
13:55
You could make a case.
13:57
It might be the most pressurized,
14:01
the most famous, most storied seat,
14:03
maybe in all of coaching, and maybe
14:05
not just basketball. So I
14:07
think all of that appeals to Dan Hurley,
14:09
and he's looking hard at.
14:10
This to look to get back and to give folks
14:13
on the outside some insight to all of
14:15
this. We've heard numerous people
14:17
reporting that there were numerous candidates,
14:20
most notably our colleague at ESPN JJ
14:22
Reddick. The inside info is
14:24
that I want to let America know that when I
14:26
was thinking about that, the one and only Adrian
14:28
woljs Urowski would come over to me and say, wait a minute,
14:31
it's not quite going down that way,
14:33
stephen A. Let me hook you up with the
14:36
intel, And that's exactly what you did.
14:38
Paint a picture for what
14:41
the situation has been leading
14:43
up to Hurley being in this position. Was
14:46
it always him? Was it numerous people
14:48
like a JJ Reddick? Was it really nobody
14:50
at all? Was it really all about Dan Hurley?
14:53
Break that picture down from my audience,
14:55
please, Steven
14:57
Ay.
14:58
The other candidates who they talk to
15:00
them our viable, legitimate
15:05
coaching candidates, not just with the Lakers, but
15:07
we'll be with other teams. But Rob
15:10
Polank identified early that Dan Hurley
15:12
was the coach that he wanted to hire,
15:14
but he didn't know if he'd be able to
15:17
get him. He couldn't just spend two
15:19
three weeks pursuing Dan
15:22
Hurley and hoping to get a chance to
15:24
get down the road the way they have here
15:26
at the end.
15:28
And so he has interviewed other candidates.
15:30
And if Dan Hurley says no
15:32
to this job, then it's
15:34
going to circle back to the
15:37
JJ Reddicks, the James Barregos,
15:40
amongst some others. Sam Cassell, who's an
15:42
assistant with the Celtics, has interviewed James
15:45
Barrego. There's been different
15:49
variations of interviews in this Barray.
15:52
They did an initial wave of candidates.
15:55
While they're waiting to see if
15:57
they could make any.
15:58
Headway with Hurley.
16:00
They brought in guys, and they got to know guys
16:02
that they hadn't interviewed in the passion. Remember they just did
16:04
a coaching search a couple of years ago, so they
16:06
had met with some of these guys they
16:09
didn't. They did sort of an informal
16:11
like more of a get to know you with a bunch of guys,
16:13
including JJ Reddick, including James
16:16
Barrego. Because there
16:18
just wasn't familiarity. They brought
16:21
Barrego back for a more
16:23
of a sit down formal all day, let's
16:26
really dig into an interview. They
16:28
hadn't done that yet with JJ, and I think
16:30
they would have if the Hurley
16:32
thing didn't start to accelerate here
16:35
and again, if Dan
16:38
Hurley turns down the Lakers or they just
16:40
can't come to an agreement again,
16:42
this could come back. JJ Reddick
16:44
is a coach or a coaching candidate that
16:46
the Lakers have a lot of It had a lot of interest
16:49
in. They preferred Dan Hurley, which you
16:51
could understand. He's, you know, two
16:53
time back to back champion, he's been
16:55
coaching a long time. Uh,
16:57
there's a lot to be intrigued about with Hurle.
17:00
So you know, we've been reporting
17:02
about interviews and permission
17:04
the Lakers have gotten from other teams to talk to
17:07
candidates. But that's
17:10
as far as the Lakers are concerned. Those
17:12
were candidates that they were talking to, that they were
17:14
getting to know and moving down the road only
17:17
if they couldn't get Dan Hurley.
17:19
What exactly are the Lakers
17:21
looking for? And I only asked that question
17:23
WOJ because again, listen,
17:26
I understand why the Lakers felt the
17:28
need to make the move with Darvin Ham.
17:31
I knew Darvin hammy remember you and I were saying together,
17:33
and I knew Darvin Ham's days were numbers. When I
17:35
saw what Anthony Davis said in the aftermath
17:37
of Game two losing Game two in Denver and
17:40
was talking about how disorganized, what I was like,
17:42
Oh my lord, that's bad sign for
17:44
any coach. So I knew it then. But
17:47
what exactly are the Lakers looking
17:49
for in their next head coach?
17:51
Crystallize that for us,
17:54
the Lakers want to build out
17:56
a program, a way of doing
17:58
things on top to bottom
18:01
organizationally and giving the coach, giving
18:03
Hurley a lot of latitude
18:05
to do that and to partner
18:07
with Polenka the front office in
18:10
really allowing him to kind
18:12
of redefine to them of what a
18:15
Laker it would be a Laker.
18:16
Hurley player, style of play.
18:19
System, all of those
18:21
things that they think Dan Hurley
18:23
can bring and what they've seen him do at Connecticut.
18:26
You know, you look at Billy Donovan
18:28
going to Oklahoma City and listen, he inherited
18:31
a team that was ready to win a championship. Hurley
18:33
wouldn't be doing that. Quinn Snyder
18:35
in Utah took over a team that was in
18:37
the lottery, drafted Rudy go Gaubert, Donovan,
18:40
Mitchell, developed them became a
18:42
viable Western contender.
18:44
You've seen college you guys come in, the ones.
18:46
Who've had success have kind of had
18:48
a partnership with the front office to
18:51
build.
18:51
Out a way of doing things.
18:53
That's what Polenka wants to do with a Hurley he
18:56
is certainly you've seen players
18:58
just really develop at
19:00
Yukon, Donovan Klayon, the
19:02
seven footer who will be one of the top few
19:05
picks in this draft, stuff
19:07
on Castle in one year at Yukon, we
19:10
can go down the list they've had. They've gotten
19:12
guys better, they have maximized
19:14
the guys they have, and you've seen a system in place
19:17
there that has dominated
19:19
college basketball. They were, they
19:21
laughed everybody. This year they had a
19:24
they won a national championship where they outscored
19:26
their opponents in this tournament, steven A by one hundred
19:28
and forty points.
19:29
John Wooden never did that.
19:31
And so the level of dominance
19:34
is you know, has
19:36
Rob Polenka's attention, and
19:38
so what he wants is instead
19:41
of just going team year to you know, a team
19:43
team, team is again building
19:45
out a program. Can a coach who can get
19:47
Austin Reeves and Ruy Hatchamurra and Max Christy
19:50
improve those guys, drafting
19:52
well, developing those guys. But you're in LA
19:55
and you're always gonna have access to either
19:57
through trade or free agency to great
19:59
player who want to come here.
20:01
You have to have those players. You know who they are, Steven
20:03
Ang.
20:04
If you're gonna play for a championship, we
20:06
can list I don't know, one of six players,
20:08
seven eight players, you better have one of them
20:10
where you're not competing for a title.
20:12
Maybe the list is even shorter than that. So what
20:17
Plenka sees is this history
20:19
in LA of you know, Jerry Buss
20:21
had pat Riley and Genie Buss
20:24
had Phil Jackson. He
20:26
sees Dan Hurley as that next
20:28
legacy couch for the Lakers.
20:30
That's what he's banking on.
20:32
Here, That's where I was going next because
20:34
we know Lebron James is there, we know
20:36
Anthony Davis is there and a little
20:38
bit younger than Lebron James. So he's considered
20:40
the future, even though some of us wonder how much time
20:42
he has left at times because he's always
20:45
in it, even though that wasn't the past case this year when
20:47
he plays seventy six games. There's also
20:49
the Palinka Genie Bus element, the Laker
20:51
nation situation, and
20:54
you look at a coach and you hear the word development.
20:56
That's not something that's synonymous
20:58
with Laker and.
21:00
It's win now, win every year.
21:02
That's right, it's win now, win every year. So
21:04
if you're a Rob Polinka, you're a Genie
21:06
Buss. How do you answer that
21:09
question for the doubters, especially
21:11
when people wonder what role
21:14
did Lebron James have? Did he have a
21:16
role with JJ Reddick, does he have a role with Danny
21:18
Hurley being the target for Rob po Linka?
21:20
Now, how do you answer that as
21:22
the ultimate inside of it you will.
21:24
I know people want to believe Lebron
21:26
James is in the middle of these coaching searches.
21:30
And I'm going to tell you he's not.
21:32
And I know people don't necessarily want
21:34
to accept that at the surface, but
21:36
it's been the case, and it's been the case in the other
21:38
searches. Now, the first search,
21:40
Rob Polenka, did you look back
21:42
and they could have had Tylo. They
21:44
couldn't get there on a contract. They
21:46
didn't offer him enough years. I
21:49
wouldn't necessarily say enough money, but certainly
21:51
enough years. They didn't get it done. He
21:54
goes to the Clippers as an assistant Monty
21:56
Williams. They didn't get there with him. He goes
21:58
to Phoenix. They hired Frank Vogel.
22:00
I don't think there's anybody who would say, hey,
22:03
Lebron was really pining for Frank Vogel
22:05
to be his coach. I don't know that they knew each other, had a
22:07
relationship. Now they want a championship together.
22:10
Same with Darvin Ham. The search started out
22:12
in one place, Juwan Howard. Juwan
22:15
stays at Michigan and eventually finds
22:17
its way to Darvin Ham. He takes the job.
22:20
I think especially in this case where Lebron is
22:22
in his career. He's
22:25
really left it to them and Rich Paul, his agent.
22:27
They've been very consistent with this. Anthony
22:30
Davis is the one who we really need to talk
22:32
through things with about how
22:34
the new coach impacts We're talking about how
22:36
he impacts a player, is how he impacts ad
22:39
and I saw a d a few weeks ago in LA and he
22:41
and I talked about it. This was before the Hurly stuff,
22:44
but just in theoretically, Anthony
22:47
Davis would like.
22:48
To have and the team wants to have.
22:50
The organization wants to have him on
22:52
the same page with a new coach, like he wants to
22:54
know what's it going to look like, what are the actions
22:57
that your system can put me
22:59
in? And I think they're excited about
23:02
Hurley's bringing. Hurley potentially would
23:05
be bringing. I think a really sophisticated
23:07
college system. I've talked to a few NBA
23:10
head coaches who is they're preparing for the draft
23:12
or watching a lot of yukon tape because they're watching kling
23:14
In and Castle and they
23:17
didn't see it, and they're not spending a lot of
23:19
time watching regular season college basketball.
23:22
They are.
23:23
They are really taken with the kind
23:25
of actions Dan Hurley's running, how innovative
23:27
it is, and more than one of them have said to me, this
23:30
would really translate to the NBA.
23:32
It's it's not common that you see NBA
23:34
coaches looking
23:36
to take some things from our college system,
23:39
but that's gone on here in the last couple of years.
23:42
And so listen, they
23:44
want Anthony Davis to be on the
23:46
same page with this, But.
23:49
You're right, stephen A, it is going to take.
23:52
I think people need to see it to believe it.
23:53
In LA that you are taking a little
23:55
bit of a longer term approach here in
23:58
terms of a program and building
24:01
something out for the long term. And
24:03
I think people may be cynical about that until
24:06
they seed an action, because a lot of people are just gonna
24:08
say, hey, if this guy doesn't win in year
24:10
one or year two with this team, we're
24:12
gonna be on to another coach. And I think the best way
24:14
Hurley can protect himself against
24:16
that are the years on
24:18
his contract and the money, because you're.
24:20
Making it a lot harder to just fire you if
24:23
you are owed.
24:24
You know, yeah, fifty sixty,
24:27
name the number. Name the number. Listen,
24:29
you brought up the word cynical. A couple of questions more
24:31
on this subject, and that's it. Bronnie
24:33
James projections
24:35
he could be a second round pick, the
24:37
son of Lebron James. The Lakers
24:39
have the fifty fifth pick in the draft. Danny
24:42
Hurley is known as a guy that knows
24:44
how to develop talent, which is what
24:46
people are speculating. Has Lebron
24:48
James so excited, etc. What
24:51
level of credence do you
24:53
give to that?
24:55
A lot?
24:56
A lot, because if you're the Lakers right
24:58
now, I don't know that that you can say
25:00
to Lebron James, Hey, I.
25:02
Guarantee you by the end of free the
25:04
draft and free.
25:05
Agency and the building of the offseason
25:07
roster, that we have a team that's a
25:11
championship favorite. Now we
25:13
know how loaded the West is, we don't have to list
25:15
all the teams. We know Memphis is people
25:18
we keep forgetting about Memphis. You're gonna have John
25:20
Morant back and Jaron Jackson junior,
25:24
and you know, this
25:26
really talented team back in that Western
25:28
mix.
25:29
We don't have to go through all the names in the West.
25:31
It is hard to just say, hey, Lebron, we're
25:34
sure we have a championship team next year.
25:36
You're gonna try to put the best roster you can together.
25:39
But what you can't say to him is it
25:41
has been a dream of yours and an ambition
25:44
of you and presumably
25:46
Bronnie to have a chance to play together.
25:49
And what better situation if we
25:51
take Bronnie at number fifty five and
25:54
we have Dan Hurley and his development
25:57
system in place to give
25:59
Bronny the best chance he can to
26:01
develop into an NBA player. And you
26:03
know, part of what you do when you're an organization
26:06
like the Lakers, and if people say, hey, this is you
26:08
know, special treatment, this isn't well yeah,
26:10
no kidding, there's.
26:12
Special treatment all over the NBA. And I will
26:14
say this.
26:15
I saw Bronnie James a year
26:17
ago, before the hard episode that
26:19
he went through last summer that that curtailed
26:22
his freshman season.
26:23
Steven A.
26:24
He was at the I saw him in Portland,
26:26
Oregon at the Nike Hoops Summer You practice
26:28
all week with the best American players, they played the
26:30
best of the international players. He belonged
26:32
there, he fit, He was outstanding in the
26:34
practice sessions.
26:36
Go back and watch the game.
26:37
He held his own and did really well,
26:40
hit all the best players in his class.
26:42
Well, he's yeah, I've never
26:44
seen Bronnie James play, and
26:46
I'd avoided it on purpose because
26:48
I had so many critics of Lebron
26:51
James looking to take aim at
26:53
him that I thought it was so unfair. I didn't
26:55
want to watch him until I absolutely had to, and
26:57
then he had the hot ailment at us,
27:00
so I said, it's really unfair to
27:02
judge him at this particular moment in time. So
27:04
I really really appreciate that intel.
27:07
But I guess what I'm wondering about
27:09
if this guy ends up in
27:12
LA with his dad, Well, first
27:14
of all, it should be any problem for Lebron James
27:16
to commit to a three year deal. After that, it should
27:18
be no problem whatsoever. Okay,
27:21
But you often wonder about
27:23
the level of scrutiny. So this is not an insider
27:25
question, per se. I'm asking
27:27
you, as somebody that's covered the NBA for decades,
27:30
that talks to so many players
27:32
and coaches and executives, that knows
27:34
this league inside and out, what do
27:36
you think that's gonna be like for Lebron
27:39
and Bronni if they're together in
27:41
Los Angeles. I'm just talking about
27:43
in terms of the cynicism.
27:46
That's what I'm asking about.
27:49
Listen, this is a results league and
27:51
it's a results driven profession.
27:54
You're gonna have to show value. But you're
27:56
not asking Bronni James to come in to
28:00
the league or to the Lakers
28:02
and be a rotation player. He's
28:05
like almost any other nineteen year old
28:07
twenty year old player who's a one and done, He's
28:09
going to spend a lot of time in the G League.
28:11
Their G League team is right there, same
28:14
facility as South Bay Lakers, and
28:16
so like you could see a world where let's
28:18
say the Lakers draft him and he goes through preseason
28:21
and you know, opening a week, Lebron
28:23
and Bronni play there one
28:25
or two games together, and then
28:28
you know, he comes in and it's and it's
28:30
you know, there's obviously gonna be a lot of attention and
28:32
it'll be an incredible moment. But then he's
28:34
probably back off to the G League and that's
28:37
where he's gonna play and develop.
28:39
And now, listen, who knows, maybe
28:41
he moves along quicker and he can be on an
28:43
NBA rotation.
28:45
I don't know that that's what's gonna be.
28:47
But typically if you are being drafted in the fifties
28:49
or the forties in the NBA, you're
28:51
you're starting your fight is through the G League
28:54
and getting to the NBA. If
28:56
your time may not be till you're twenty three, twenty
28:58
four years old.
28:59
But we can show you a lot of examples of
29:01
those guys.
29:01
But where he is and
29:04
where he was, I would say a year ago coming out
29:06
of high school, he was on par with a lot
29:08
of other guys who you saw, as you know,
29:10
potential role players in the league. It's
29:12
not this is not outlandish, and anyone
29:15
who shapes
29:17
it that way I think is not being fair.
29:20
He was away from the game for five months, and I'm sure
29:23
there's like not just the physical coming
29:25
back, but the mental coming back.
29:26
From what he went through. That takes some time.
29:28
So again I
29:31
do think though, so if you're the Lakers back, maybe
29:34
you can't say to Lebron we are
29:36
just positive, we have a championship team around
29:38
you.
29:38
That's not easy to do, but.
29:40
This is something we can do for you, and
29:45
Dan Hurley helps us maximize
29:47
that situation. So I do
29:50
think this is a significant factor
29:52
in Hurley's candidates.
29:54
Very last question on this subject. Mike wilboan o colleague
29:57
and NBAC count that expressed some reservation
29:59
because you're a college coach coming to the
30:01
NBA. Polink, is there what level of
30:03
real decision making
30:06
power is Danny Hurley going
30:08
to have, particularly working in concert
30:10
with Rob Polinka, if indeed he takes
30:13
the Lakers job. How do you answer that question
30:15
for us?
30:16
Yeah, Rob Polank is still going to be the decision
30:18
maker, but the fact that he's committing
30:21
to that he would be committing to Hurley, committing
30:24
the years and the money. You're saying
30:26
is I've got to make this work. How do I make
30:28
this work? I've got to find players
30:30
who fit this coach? And I
30:32
think that's part of again what putting
30:35
a program in place in Miami. When
30:37
Miami is out and you see them
30:39
bringing guys who are undrafted and guys
30:42
who have been overlooked other places, they know what a
30:44
heat player looks like, they know who can play for Eric
30:46
Spolstra, and they have a tremendous
30:48
ability in that organization to find.
30:50
Those guys develop them.
30:52
The Lakers want to be able to do that, and so there's
30:56
going to have to be a level of trust on Hurley's part
30:58
with Rob Polanka in that front office. The
31:00
head coach isn't out there evaluating
31:02
and scouting, and he may have some understanding
31:05
in the next couple drafts of a lot of these young players because
31:07
he's seen a lot of them, but you're ultimately
31:09
leaving it to your organization. So you do
31:11
have to be you have and
31:13
that's why you have to be going into this job, be
31:16
really talking about who
31:18
are the kinds of players in this kind of style
31:20
we want to play, and the skill sets that are important.
31:22
But this is an adjustment for any college
31:25
coach. And when you're in college, you're
31:27
the GM and the coach. You're not
31:29
the GM in the NBA and
31:31
there's lots of other Hurley's
31:34
going to have to adapt in a lot of ways, how
31:36
he deals with officials, how he deals
31:38
with fans, how he deals with players.
31:41
You have to understand when you're going to the NBA
31:44
and the guys who've done it well, Billy Donovan,
31:46
Brad Stevens, Quinn
31:49
Snyder and all of those guys
31:51
understand in
31:53
college, the head coach may be the star, the
31:55
players are the stars.
31:56
In the NBA. I think John cal Perry Rick
31:58
Patino harder time.
32:00
On accepting that they
32:02
weren't the star, and players aren't
32:04
going to respond to that. But I think the
32:07
head coach can be the driver of the culture,
32:09
the environment. And I
32:11
think one of Dan Hurley's great gifts, and
32:13
I think he got it from his father and
32:16
is he watched his dad
32:18
as a high school coach for a very long time.
32:20
He could coach his players very hard.
32:22
But part of why he could was they knew he cared,
32:25
They knew he was going to be there in their lives.
32:28
The relationship is different in the NBA.
32:30
It's going to be more transactional than it is
32:32
a high school coach or a college coach. But
32:34
if you are authentic, in my experience,
32:36
if you are authentic and you're not trying to be anybody
32:39
else, it doesn't matter if you were an ex player
32:41
or a non player, if you're a man or a woman, if you're
32:43
a black or white, players will
32:45
respect that you are
32:48
prepared, that you can get them better,
32:50
you can help them win, you can help them get another contract.
32:53
They don't care what you look like or sound
32:55
like. If you can help them do that,
32:57
I think Hurley fits that crime.
33:00
You know what.
33:01
He will have to adapt. He will
33:04
he will have to adjust.
33:05
He said to me one time in the past, when we're talking about
33:07
the Lakers job.
33:08
We're talking about the NBA though, he.
33:10
Said, I understand that I don't talk to my son
33:13
at twenty one years old the same way
33:15
I did when he was ten years old.
33:16
Right, I would understand that about the NBA.
33:19
But there's gonna be some trial and error with that
33:21
too.
33:21
You've leaned on your extensive experience. I
33:23
want to get a bit personal here. I've known you
33:25
for years, You've been covering the NBA for a long
33:27
time. But one of the greatest honors
33:30
of my career are the people that I've been
33:32
blessed to work with. You are one
33:34
of those people. You are the best in the business,
33:36
my man, and it's such an honor to work
33:38
with you on NBA count Down and work with you
33:40
at ESPN all the time. I want
33:42
you to remind my audience of
33:45
how long you've been covering this league
33:47
and what you've been doing where you work at
33:50
before you got to ESPN. How long
33:52
you've been doing what you've been doing for ESPN.
33:54
Talk to me, well, well, first of all, that
33:56
means a lot. Stevenda, you know how I feel about
33:59
you. I've
34:01
been at full time on the NBA.
34:05
When I went to Yahoo, I was at the Bergen Record.
34:07
I was in northern New Jersey. I was a suburban
34:09
newspaper columnist. I went to
34:11
Yahoo in two thousand and six
34:15
and I did the NBA there for ten years.
34:17
And now I'm on my I
34:20
don't know, seventh year, seventh year at
34:22
ESPN.
34:23
But you know, listen, we go back
34:25
to when I started covering the NBA, when
34:28
Byron Scott and Jason Kid were
34:30
with the Nets, and Rod Thorne Jeff Van Gundy was
34:33
the Knicks coach, and those were fun times
34:35
to cover New York sports teams. And I saw the
34:38
John Caliperi arrival
34:41
in New Jersey. Yeah, and you saw the missteps
34:43
of somebody. John in his second
34:45
year got to the playoffs and he did an outstanding job.
34:48
They got swept by the Bulls, and I think Jordan's last
34:50
stand, and I think back when it was
34:52
best of five, yep. And then in his
34:54
third year he had a bunch of injuries. He had alienated
34:56
everybody in the front office, and so the minute he
34:59
struggled, he was gonna
35:01
get fired because he hadn't built any relationships.
35:03
John didn't adapt to the NBA,
35:06
and I think Dan
35:08
Hurley potentially would
35:11
learn from some of the mistakes of those before
35:13
him. But again, I'm not gonna sit here and say,
35:15
hey, this is easy and seamless. But
35:19
he's as good of a basketball coach as I
35:21
think there is out.
35:22
There right now. But staying on you, how
35:24
much are you still enjoying what you've been doing?
35:26
I talked about the WOJ pod and everything else you're
35:28
doing. How much are you enjoying what
35:31
you're doing at such an elite level?
35:34
Listen? I love it.
35:35
This is all I've ever wanted to do, Steve, And all
35:37
I ever wanted to be was a
35:40
sports writer. I wanted to be able to be at
35:42
a newspaper where like
35:44
they would let me take overnight trips to cover
35:47
something and I could put a dateline on my story
35:49
right by those old little radio shack.
35:52
No one is more surprised than I am of
35:54
how this is all turned out. It's the only
35:57
job I ever wanted as a kid. It's the only profession
36:00
I've ever wanted to be a part of. And
36:04
I still love, like every
36:06
day. You know this, Steve, And every day this job
36:08
is different. Every day there's something
36:11
coming down the road that's a little bit different, and
36:13
I still love working at it.
36:15
I've loved covering the NBA. I love dealing
36:18
with the players.
36:19
I love dealing with the coaches and the
36:21
gms and the agents, and
36:24
I love all the people around it.
36:26
They're great.
36:27
There are lots of great characters and storylines
36:30
to cover. People have a tremendous appetite.
36:32
I think I always tell people my job
36:35
really changed in twenty ten
36:37
when Lebron and Chris Bosh went to Miami.
36:40
That changed this job fundamentally because
36:43
because free agency became
36:47
such a different beast, and then all of a sudden,
36:49
teams clearing cap space, all the little
36:52
deals around the
36:54
NBA that were going to lead to the big deals, there
36:56
was such an appetite in those Chris
36:58
Paul wants out of New Orleans, Carmelo
37:00
Anthony once out of Denver.
37:02
Player empowerments coming.
37:04
Players are starting to move the pieces around
37:06
the chessboard and it became a
37:08
different game to cover. The game
37:10
within the game became its own industry,
37:13
and for me, that
37:16
recognizing that then that
37:18
there was just this tremendous appetite
37:20
in all of that.
37:23
Changed my career.
37:24
I like steven A, you and I both
37:26
started as our goal. I think when we both
37:28
started was what was the big job in
37:30
our profession. You wanted to be in a big
37:32
city newspaper columnist. We grew up idolizing
37:35
the guys in New York. You and I we grew up reading
37:37
Lupica and Harvey Araton and all
37:40
those guys, Mark Kriegel, and you wanted
37:42
to be them. And then the business started changing, and it
37:44
kind of moved towards specialization, and then you took
37:46
it to a place none of
37:48
us ever imagined. But I
37:51
would just say, like, no one's been luckier
37:53
than me and this profession. There was nothing
37:55
about my background or how I grew up.
37:58
My dad worked in a fact for
38:01
thirty years about a mile and a half
38:03
from ESPN and Bristol.
38:06
You know, he worked in a factory bar
38:08
bearings plant, and his.
38:10
Second job was working the cash register
38:12
at a liquor store. Or he worked
38:14
second job at a shoe store with a
38:16
friend of his for a friend of his. And
38:19
so there was nothing about my background that would
38:21
ever ever suggested that I
38:24
could do this, And I had so many great mentors
38:26
and people along the way.
38:27
You kept giving me opportunities.
38:29
So I hope I can do this for as long as
38:32
they'll have me, because I
38:35
know when I stopped doing it, I'll miss it because it's again,
38:37
it's the only life I've ever really wanted.
38:38
How much has social media
38:41
changed the job for you,
38:44
whether it be in a good way or
38:46
a bad way.
38:49
It changed it in a good way. When I was
38:51
I remember being at Yahoo. Remember the first big
38:54
story I felt I broke. It was
38:56
pre Twitter. It was Greg Odin's knee.
38:58
Injury, unfortunately in Portland.
39:01
In Portland, and I got word one day that
39:03
he had it was the knee fracture.
39:05
It was right early in his rookie year, and then
39:07
he was going to be out for the season.
39:08
And I confirmed the story. I mean
39:11
think I confirmed the story. I wrote the story.
39:13
I put it on Y'aho's website, and
39:15
I'm waiting for someone to see it and notice it, Like,
39:17
unless you're refreshing the site, you're probably
39:19
not seeing it. But there wasn't Twitter,
39:21
and or at least I wasn't on Twitter,
39:24
and and to think of
39:26
how it's gone from that, literally waiting for
39:28
the ap like an hour after I posted it to acknowledge
39:31
it was there. Two
39:34
you're now putting that out in a moment right
39:36
in social media. And so the twenty
39:38
four to seven nature of the job, social media
39:41
has impacted that.
39:45
That certainly changed it.
39:46
And so if you were breaking news, I always
39:48
felt early on when I started
39:50
covering the NBA on a full time basis, how
39:52
do I get Jerry West and Donnie Walsh
39:55
and Arn Tellum.
39:56
Who is the big agent?
39:57
Then how do you get any of those guys to return
40:00
and your calls or know who you are? What I found early
40:02
was if you broke news, they started noticing
40:04
it, and so you'd break
40:06
news and you'd break a little bit of chicken in the egg.
40:08
How can I break news if I don't know these guys? And
40:10
then how you know?
40:11
So?
40:11
But you did over time, and so
40:15
social media started to change it because there was this immediate
40:17
scoreboard of what was everybody
40:20
saw right away the stories, and
40:22
that changed it. But you
40:24
know, I think, certainly, yeah, there's a downside
40:26
to everything, But for me, I
40:30
have nothing to complain about. I've been No
40:32
one's been luckier in this profession than me, and
40:35
I know how hard it.
40:36
Is to make a living in this business. And I
40:38
see what's.
40:39
Happening in our industry now, like people
40:41
that I came up in the business with, you came up in the business
40:43
with Steven, who are so talented
40:46
and so gifted and have done such incredible
40:48
work. And I do think there's fewer good
40:50
jobs out there, fewer platforms
40:52
right than when we were coming up. And
40:55
so again I just acknowledged
40:57
that I've been like incredibly fortunate
41:00
to do this and to do it at ESPN,
41:02
and to work with people like you and Michael Wilbond
41:05
and Adam Schefter. You
41:07
know, I get inspired the inspired
41:09
being around the best of the best. That
41:11
inspires me every day because you better raise
41:13
your level at our place or
41:15
you're gonna you're gonna be out
41:17
of you stand out
41:20
out of place if you're not, you
41:22
know, trying to really do this at.
41:23
A high level. I'll close by saying this by
41:25
revealing to my audience something that you may
41:28
not have even known from us. You
41:30
know, at ESPN, if
41:33
it's football is Adam Schefter, if
41:35
it's basketball, it's you. They've
41:37
come to people like myself, Will
41:40
Bond and various others years ago, and
41:42
they said, we want to make sure no matter what it
41:44
is, you know most of the time. Obviously everybody's
41:47
got their sources. You guys have been around for ages. But
41:49
if we want to make sure on
41:52
certain stories that you don't say anything
41:54
until it goes through Woes or until it goes
41:56
through Adam Schefter and all of us
41:59
said, absolutely, we
42:01
know a lad. These are the
42:03
dudes. Adrian woljs Darowski
42:06
is definitely one of them, the absolute best
42:08
in the business.
42:09
Man.
42:09
I'm proud of you. I'm happy for you. I really thank you for
42:11
being on the show before I let you go.
42:14
When do you expect a decision on Danny Hurley for the Lakers.
42:18
I think it's gonna be relatively soon, steven
42:20
A, whether that's Saturday, Sunday,
42:22
Monday, I don't think this goes very
42:24
far into next week.
42:26
I'med to have you on the show, buddy, looking forward to seeing
42:28
you Sunday in Boston. By the way, my
42:30
prediction for the MAVs didn't look too damn good
42:33
last night. I didn't know Presica
42:35
was gonna be healthy. I
42:37
didn't know Presiicas was gonna look like that Woch,
42:40
I'm thinking he can't do this. He's got a
42:42
KD injury for crying out loud. He
42:44
was awesome, I said, damn. I'd have never
42:47
picked the MAVs if I knew he was if he was
42:49
healthy. I didn't expect that, Woch.
42:52
Well, listen, I think this is still gonna be a
42:54
long series. You've seen Dallas
42:56
punchback in
42:59
the playoffs when they they've watched, they've looked not good.
43:01
In Game one. I think I
43:03
think Kyrie and Luke could come back, and the
43:06
Game two is down to the wire.
43:07
I don't see another blowout.
43:08
Appreciate you, my man, to my audience out there,
43:10
my sister Carmen loves me. She actually
43:12
loves him more, loves him more, love anything
43:15
for woes. You take it easy, buddy, Thank you so
43:17
much. Man.
43:18
Take it right, Bud, Appreciate it.
43:20
Yeah. Yeah, let's get to the
43:22
w NBA. Okay, where
43:25
it's time to put some weekly sean on the star players
43:27
in the league. With Steven A's w
43:30
NBA Player of the Week
43:32
down Hona go to the Las Vegas as a superstar.
43:35
Asia Wilson. You know I got a soft spot for that girl.
43:37
She came through for me in the Celebrity All Star
43:40
Game on ESPN a few years back in Chicago,
43:42
when the NBA collaborated with Mike Wilbond
43:44
to rig stuff against me. She was the only one that showed
43:47
up. She's the only one that showed up. I always loved that girl,
43:49
But anyway, I digress. On
43:51
Wednesday Night, this woman
43:53
dropped thirty six points, twelve rebounds,
43:56
and six steals to help
43:58
the Aces beat the Dallas Wings ninety five up to eighty
44:00
one. Wilson became the first player in
44:02
WNBA history to have at least thirty
44:04
five points, ten rebounds, and five
44:07
steals in a game. She's
44:09
also the first player with at least thirty five
44:11
points and five steals in multiple
44:14
games. And this year she also
44:16
became a New York
44:18
Times best selling author. I
44:21
would know a little sign about that. By the way,
44:23
I too, am one. Welcome to the
44:25
family, Asian, welcome to the family. Anyway,
44:28
She released her first book and it
44:30
was entitled Dear Black Girls. Obviously,
44:32
if you know anything about Asia Wilson, you know that she's
44:34
philanthropic. You know that she's very conscientious.
44:37
You know that she's about uplifting a bunch
44:39
of people, but especially young
44:42
black ladies in this society
44:45
that we're living in today. A message like that, the
44:47
kind of message that she conveys, the kind of example
44:49
that she sets, I cannot say enough
44:51
about it. Have you ever seen this woman play? Asia
44:53
Wilson is the truth face of the WNBA. Caitlin
44:56
Clark could potentially be that
44:58
one day, and obviously she's been boxed
45:00
office. But Asia Wilson is the one
45:02
with the credentials. She's the one that steps on the
45:04
court and delivers championships. Are back
45:07
to back, champion, favorite to three
45:09
p for crying out loud. She gets on
45:11
the court and she annihilates competition. She
45:13
is clearly the superstar that
45:15
exists within the WNBA.
45:18
She sets a shining example. And
45:20
no matter what smile you see her wearing,
45:23
no matter what outfit you see her walking
45:25
into the arenas with or whatever, when
45:27
this young lady steps on the basketball
45:30
court, she is all business and
45:32
she takes no prisoners. There's
45:34
a tweet right up here, right now. This
45:36
was courtesy of the one and only Lebron James.
45:39
Quote the absolute best
45:41
when an abundance of exclamation points.
45:43
Because she is. She is the
45:46
true gold standard in
45:48
the WNBA. Asia
45:51
Wilson, She's that big time. Congratulations
45:54
continued success moving forward.
45:57
By the way, speaking of the WNBA,
45:59
staying with that, don't forget to check out too Eastern Conference
46:01
powerhouses meeting up this Saturday.
46:03
That's when he undefeated Connecticut Sun hosts
46:06
the nine and two New York Liberty led by
46:08
Brianna Stewart. The Sun aimed
46:10
to build on their nine game winning streak
46:13
and the New York Liberty have won five
46:15
games in a row. So make sure y'all check
46:17
that out before I get on out of here. For this particular segment,
46:19
Let's switch to some softball, Okay,
46:22
because now let's quickly turn our attention to that because
46:24
it's necessary. Because the Oklahoma Sooners
46:26
beat the top seed of Texas Longhorns for a
46:28
record fourth straight nc
46:31
Double A softball title. The
46:34
Sooners won their eighth title
46:36
overall all under coach
46:38
Patty Gasso and moved into a
46:40
tower with Arizona for the second most
46:42
World Series championships, trailing
46:45
only UCLA. Oklahoma
46:47
senior class finished with as many national
46:50
titles that would be four as NCUBA
46:52
tournament losses, which was four
46:55
forty one and four over
46:57
the course of their career. What was their record
46:59
in that over these last four years.
47:02
I think their record was somewhere like two hundred
47:04
and thirty five and fifteen. That's
47:06
what we're talking about. Women talking about
47:08
the softball team at the University of Alfahomer.
47:12
This girl's a big time Congratulations
47:14
ladies. You know I was out there and I'm
47:16
trying to swing softball.
47:21
I struck out twice. I
47:23
struck our twice. I'll leave
47:25
it at that. Where to go, y'all?
47:28
Where to go? Coming up? There's
47:30
a new bad boy film out. Will
47:33
it do as well as the last ones? It's
47:36
all forgiven with mister will
47:39
Smith since the slap, should
47:42
it be forgiven? I'll
47:44
get into all of that and a little bit more
47:47
up next. Don't go anywhere. You're watching the
47:49
step Nina Smith Show. Be right back. Let
47:55
me take just a few seconds to make sure everyone
47:57
knows, all right, my favorite time of the
48:00
year is finally here. The NBA
48:02
Finals have arrived, and the best part
48:04
is Prospects has got you covered. That's right.
48:06
While all the big games are happening, Prospects
48:09
is gonna help you cash in y'all. You see,
48:12
Prospects is a daily fantasy sports app
48:14
where you can select two or more of your favorite players
48:16
and then pick more or less on their projected in game
48:18
stats. But Prospects is not just
48:21
basketball, oh no, it has something for
48:23
every sports fan, Okay, from the MLB
48:25
and the WNBA to tennis or the NHL and
48:27
everything in between. You can pick a Tani
48:30
Angel Reese, Juan Soto, and Sam
48:32
Bennett all in the same entry.
48:34
By the way, all in the same entry. Okay, I
48:36
make my picks and submit early, all in less than
48:38
sixty seconds. And get this, Prospects
48:40
will match your first depositive up to one hundred
48:42
dollars. So that's right. Go to prospects dot
48:44
com and use code says that's my
48:47
initials of course, in case you didn't know, for
48:49
a first deposit match of up to one hundred
48:51
dollars, that's code sas. When you go to prospects
48:53
dot com, pick more, pick less.
48:56
Guess what. It's really
48:58
really, really that easy.
49:02
Welcome back to the Steph Ni Smithshow right here over the digital
49:05
airwaves of YouTube. Before
49:07
I get to my next subject, a
49:09
subject that I really really want
49:11
to talk about for a second, especially
49:14
with the black community. I want
49:16
to show y'all a few of the pictures I've
49:18
been blessed and fortunate enough to be a part
49:20
of over the years. This
49:22
is me with the great Aaron Judge
49:25
right here, before I embarrassed
49:28
myself internationally by throwing
49:30
out that awful first pitch. Yes, I can
49:32
suck it up. This is me
49:35
at a Big Three tournament game in
49:37
Philadelphia. The one and only
49:40
ll cool j to my right, the
49:42
one and only Ice Q, co founder
49:44
of the Big Three to my left.
49:47
Right here the great Denzel
49:50
Washington and yours truly
49:53
when we went out to an event together and we hung
49:55
out one evening. Still love that brother, the greatest actor
49:57
I've ever known. Me with
49:59
the great Lebron James the basketball
50:01
court before a Lakers game. My man
50:04
Snoop Dog at a game
50:06
I think this one was in Golden State. Me
50:09
with the great Aaron Rodgers. He is a bad
50:12
man. This was at a Warriors game during
50:14
the NBA Finals. You see
50:17
the one and only Floyd Money Mayweather behind
50:19
me. But all
50:21
of these pictures that I've taken throughout the years,
50:24
one of, if not
50:29
one of the greatest photos I've ever taken?
50:32
Was this right here? This
50:37
is me with the one and only
50:39
Will Smith while
50:41
he was promoting his movie Concussion
50:45
many years ago. I
50:48
bring that up because I wanted to
50:50
get to the latest installment of the Bad
50:52
Boys franchise, Bad Boys,
50:55
Ride or Die, which debuted
50:58
Wednesday. It's
51:01
the second best reviewed film
51:04
after Bad Boys for Life. That's what they're
51:06
telling me. It's also the biggest
51:08
film for Will Smith since his infamous
51:11
twenty twenty two Oscar slap
51:14
of the great comedian himself, the one and only
51:16
Chris Rock. Pre sales for
51:18
Rid to Die are behind that
51:20
of Bad Boys for Life, of course, which
51:23
at a franchised high opening of one hundred
51:25
and one million worldwide back in early
51:27
two thousand and twenty. Domestic
51:30
projections for Riad to Die well add
51:32
fifty million, but that reportedly
51:35
similared to forty million. Could
51:38
the lack of pre sales be
51:41
because people have not
51:43
forgiven Will Smith for
51:46
that that slap
51:48
right there? How
51:51
much you wanna make a better does And
51:54
this is why I wanted to have this discussion with y'all,
51:57
because I wanna emphasize that right
52:00
now. As we see Will
52:02
Smith and Martin Lawrence on the
52:04
circuit promoting this new film.
52:08
Once upon a time, you couldn't find a bigger fan
52:10
of Will Smith than me Mark Lawrence.
52:14
You can't find a bigger fan of Mark Lawrence than me, Ladies
52:17
and gentlemen, In all likelihood, I'm gonna go see
52:19
Bad Boys, Rod or Die
52:22
because I'm such a huge Martin Lawrence fan.
52:25
And believe it or not, I still will never stop
52:27
being a Will Smith fan. I'm
52:31
not surprised at all that
52:33
pre sales have simmered.
52:36
It wouldn't surprised me at all if it ultimately plummeted
52:39
once all is said and done. And
52:42
you know why I feel that way, ladies and gentlemen, because
52:45
I think that I'm speaking
52:47
not for everybody, not for most,
52:50
but at the very least millions of people
52:52
out there. When
52:54
I say what I'm about to say, I'm
52:57
not nearly as interested as seeing
53:00
Will Smith in the movies
53:03
than I am of seeing him doing
53:06
an actual sit down interview
53:08
with somebody to
53:10
explain why
53:13
he did what he did. Now,
53:16
I want to emphasize this. Will
53:19
Smith apologized
53:21
just days after that infamous
53:24
slap on March twenty seven, two thousand
53:26
and twenty two, at the Oscars
53:29
in writing. Then
53:31
he went on his social media platform
53:34
I believe it was Instagram four
53:36
months later, at which
53:39
time he apologized again to Chris
53:41
Rock articulated that he
53:43
reached out to Chris Rocks people and
53:45
Chris Rocks and was told that
53:47
Chris Rock wasn't ready to sit down with him.
53:49
That's not what he wanted to do. And
53:52
if you don't believe me, there here
53:55
for yourself.
53:56
I've reached out to
53:58
Chris and
54:00
the message that came back is
54:03
that he's not ready to talk,
54:05
and when he is, he will
54:08
reach out. So
54:13
Will I will say to you, Chris,
54:18
I apologize
54:21
to you. My behavior
54:24
was unacceptable, and
54:28
I'm here whenever you're ready
54:30
to talk fair.
54:31
Enough normally
54:34
under certain circumstances
54:36
such as this. It's egregious
54:38
as this was, as much
54:40
as Will Smith deserved to get his ass
54:42
kicked for what he did, being
54:46
a bully somebody that's sixty pounds at
54:48
least heavier than Chris Rock.
54:50
I don't think he would have done this to Mike Tyson.
54:52
I don't think he would have done this to Jamie Foxx. I
54:54
don't think he would have done this to Snoop Dogg. Or
54:57
fifty cents of somebody like that. He knew who
54:59
he was doing it too, and
55:02
that's the personification of a bully, And in
55:04
my opinion, he deserved to get his ask kicked because of
55:06
that back then. But
55:11
it's not just about Chris
55:13
Rock. See
55:15
as upset as I am and still
55:17
remain to that degree, that's because Chris
55:19
Rock is my friend and I know him.
55:22
But that ain't the only reason. The
55:25
biggest issue that I have a problem
55:27
with. And I'm not saying that advocating
55:30
any kind of violence like Will Smith deserves
55:32
that now that all of this time has passed,
55:36
but at the very least, the black
55:38
community especially
55:42
deserves seeing Will
55:44
Smith sit down. I don't care if it's
55:46
with the Breakfast Club. I
55:49
don't care if it's with Oprah, because
55:52
you know it ain't gonna be me right, You're
55:54
gonna sit down with me because some questions
55:56
are gonna get asked. Okay, but
55:58
I don't care who's swift.
56:02
You gotta provide an explanation
56:05
as to why that happened. It
56:07
can't be that you went to therapy and you
56:09
learn the era of your ways or you've addressed
56:12
some of the demons that were plaguing
56:14
you mentally and emotionally and spiritually.
56:16
That's not good enough. And
56:19
even though we weren't the ones that were slapped
56:21
literally, ladies and
56:23
gentlemen figuratively, the black community
56:26
was slapped. Will
56:30
Packer, a big
56:32
time producer who happens to
56:34
be black, was
56:37
also the first black
56:40
individual ever
56:42
assigned to oversee the Oscars.
56:45
It was a live event, his biggest
56:47
live event of his career, nationally
56:49
televised on ABC, reaching
56:52
over two hundred territories
56:55
worldwide. According to numerous reports,
56:58
When Will Smith did what he did, that
57:02
didn't just hurt Chris Rock. It
57:05
hurt Will Packer's production. That
57:08
became the story rather than
57:11
the extraordinary excellence his
57:14
production talents exhibited for
57:16
the world to see.
57:21
And instead of us talking about that, we
57:23
were talking about this. So
57:26
it wasn't just Chris Rock, it
57:29
was also Will Packer. It
57:31
was also every black
57:33
producer that's out there that's
57:35
aching for an opportunity to get this shot
57:38
at producing a program
57:41
like the Academy Awards. That's
57:45
what Will Smith did thereafter.
57:50
Did you see in the movie Emancipation, Will
57:54
Smith was sensational.
58:00
Smith could
58:03
have won an Oscar for that. Who
58:06
is standing next to Will Smith. That's
58:09
a black director, that's
58:11
a black producer. His
58:14
name is Antoine Fuquah, one
58:18
of the best in the world. You
58:21
ever see Olympus is Fallen? You
58:23
ever see Training Day? You
58:26
ever seen Antoine Fisher, You ever seen the
58:28
Equalizer movies with Denzel Washington.
58:32
I can't even tell y'all about
58:35
the movie that's coming out on
58:37
Michael Jackson. Oh
58:40
my lord, that's
58:42
Antoine Fuquah, one
58:45
of the best, one of the planet.
58:49
He might have won an Oscar, but
58:52
Will Smith did what he did, and
58:55
that movie came out or I believe he was on
58:57
Apple the
59:00
next year or so. Residue
59:03
from the infamous slat still
59:06
permeating through in the mind's, hearts
59:08
and souls of so many people in
59:10
Hollywood, but especially the black community.
59:14
Black excellence, it's
59:17
all over the place. Ladies and gentlemen. Black
59:21
folks don't play in
59:23
front of the camera, behind the camera, producers,
59:26
directors, writers,
59:31
talent everywhere, all
59:33
over the place. It
59:37
was on the verge
59:40
of getting exponentially more noticed.
59:45
And then Will Smith did that, and
59:49
all of a sudden that became something
59:52
that was attached to so many instead
59:55
of their excellence. Antoine
59:59
foo Well is
1:00:02
incredible, Will Packer
1:00:05
is incredible. The staffs
1:00:08
they have working for them that they've assembled
1:00:10
are incredible. Will
1:00:14
Smith thought about none of that when he did what he
1:00:16
did. He
1:00:19
didn't think about the fact that Denzel Washington
1:00:21
was just a few feet away from him and had to talk to
1:00:23
him and get him calm down because he was screaming,
1:00:25
keep my wife name out of f and mouth.
1:00:29
Tyler Perry was right there. Black
1:00:35
excellence all over the place, either
1:00:39
indirectly connected, directly
1:00:42
connected, or
1:00:46
inevitably attached and
1:00:49
tarnished by
1:00:51
Will Smith's actions. When
1:00:55
we use the word forgivable or
1:00:58
forgiveness, that's for Chris to
1:01:00
deal with. This is his call. He
1:01:02
could have had the man arrested that night and insisted
1:01:05
to the LAPD that that not be the
1:01:07
case. Could have pressed charges thereafter
1:01:09
and insisted on not doing that to Will
1:01:12
Smith, not making the incident
1:01:14
any bigger than what it was. Yes, he came out with his
1:01:16
own flip the next fix got about twenty million
1:01:18
for after tacking. He probably walked on with about
1:01:20
six. But
1:01:25
Chris Rock is damaged. In
1:01:28
the day and age of mental illness
1:01:31
or traumatic incidences that affects
1:01:33
one mind and psyche and what have you. Yeah,
1:01:36
you might see him at Knicks games. Yeah,
1:01:39
you might see him still going about the business of
1:01:41
performing on tour, doing his job or
1:01:43
handling his business. Chris
1:01:46
Rock will never get over that. Ever.
1:01:52
Will Smith apologized. I'm
1:01:56
not saying he even has to apologize.
1:02:00
I'm saying that while I watch him and Martin Lawrence
1:02:02
promoting this movie, and
1:02:05
I'm quite sure the reason he hasn't addressed
1:02:07
it is because the studios
1:02:09
don't want him to, and there's an obligation
1:02:12
that you have with them all fear.
1:02:14
I get it. But
1:02:17
somewhere along
1:02:19
the way
1:02:22
he has to sit down and
1:02:25
talk to the black community. You can see all the white people
1:02:27
around Will Smith all you want to. Black
1:02:31
folks have loved
1:02:33
and revered this man for
1:02:35
decades. He
1:02:38
was the closest thing to perfection, as
1:02:40
his friend Charlie Mack once told me, for
1:02:43
decades. Everybody
1:02:46
makes a mistake. This is not hatred.
1:02:49
I love Will Smith still, but
1:02:52
you got to have a conversation as
1:02:57
to why you did that, and
1:03:00
when you're apologizing, and when you're
1:03:02
getting emotional, and when you're thinking about
1:03:05
all the lives or the people that you've
1:03:07
affected. It's
1:03:09
primarily us as black people who
1:03:11
have loved and supported you and
1:03:15
watched you go
1:03:17
on an international
1:03:19
stage and slap one
1:03:22
of us in the face and
1:03:26
tarnished an historic event for
1:03:29
one of the great black producers
1:03:31
of modern times. And Will Packer possibly
1:03:34
costing yourself and Antoine
1:03:36
Fuqul and Oscar for emancipation
1:03:39
along the way.
1:03:44
I'm not gonna say what you did to the comedic community.
1:03:47
Hell, Jim Carey spoke about that, along with various
1:03:49
others. We know you wouldn't have smacked Ricky Gervais,
1:03:53
Bill Maher, Bill
1:03:57
Burr or a host of others. We
1:03:59
know you have done that. No
1:04:03
apology necessary. I'm
1:04:06
just saying a
1:04:09
lot of folks ain't get over that. A
1:04:12
lot of folks find it hard to just go to
1:04:14
the movies to watch you. I'm
1:04:17
one of those people, and
1:04:20
I never missed a Will Smith movie,
1:04:24
Hitch Concussion, all the
1:04:26
Bad Boys movie from the first one that y'all
1:04:28
were, Gabrielle Union, who by the way, should
1:04:30
have been in three and four, by the way,
1:04:35
along with a host of other things. I
1:04:38
am legend Independence
1:04:42
Day, Men in Black one, two
1:04:44
and three,
1:04:46
Will Smith You're phenomenal, phenomenal
1:04:51
talent, phenomenal actor, phenomenal
1:04:54
individual. You lost
1:04:56
your way one night. We
1:05:01
need to hear that from you. I'm
1:05:05
sorry. That's what
1:05:07
I need to do before I look
1:05:09
forward to seeing your movies again
1:05:11
more than seeing the sit down. Let
1:05:14
me go to the calls to get on out
1:05:16
of here for the
1:05:18
weekend because I got a lot of stuff to do with the NBA
1:05:20
Finals and beyond. So that's the
1:05:22
way that's gonna go. Number
1:05:24
the call up is always eighty eight seven two seven
1:05:27
five three zero three. That's eighty eight s
1:05:29
as fifty three zero three.
1:05:32
Let's go to Ernesto in Houston.
1:05:34
You're live with Steven A. What's up, ernest Tho?
1:05:35
How are you, hey,
1:05:37
Stephen? Pretty good? My question
1:05:40
is for the upcoming NFL season, how
1:05:42
do you project the Houston Texans
1:05:46
not only in the AFC, but do
1:05:49
you see them as like a top five team?
1:05:50
And I don't know if I'm gonna go hold let me talk. I don't
1:05:52
know if I'm going to go as far as top five or nests
1:05:55
though I've got them as one of the top three teams in
1:05:57
the AFC. I'm going with Kansas
1:05:59
City. I'm going with Baltimore, and then
1:06:01
after that, I think it's up for grabs between
1:06:03
them, Cincinnati, Miami,
1:06:06
the Jets, Buffalo. I'll even
1:06:09
throw Cleveland and the Pittsburgh Steelers in
1:06:11
the mix. That's how I got him. And of
1:06:13
course we can't ignore the
1:06:16
AFC West and what's transpiring
1:06:18
they're right now, particularly with the San Diego
1:06:20
the Los Angeles charges. I'm sorry now that they got Jim
1:06:23
Harbaugh as a coach. So that's where I'm
1:06:25
at with it. The Houston Texas are in the
1:06:27
mix. You got CJ. Stroud, you got
1:06:29
Stefan Diggs there. Now, you got the
1:06:31
weapons that you have available. There's
1:06:33
no question that they could make some noise.
1:06:36
We'll see. Definitely appreciate it.
1:06:38
Yeah, no problem.
1:06:40
Thanks living men taking on us. Sid James
1:06:42
in Fargo, North Dakota. Elive
1:06:44
of Steven A. What's up man? How are you.
1:06:47
Hey?
1:06:48
Stephen?
1:06:48
So the Timberwolves captured a lot of interest
1:06:50
and excitement with their playoff front and
1:06:53
ultimately fell short, which was disappointing.
1:06:56
Is the bigger disappointment, though, that they failed
1:06:58
to win the title. With all these bizarre subplots,
1:07:01
the owner is trying to sell the team a month before a
1:07:03
title run to a New York baseball player
1:07:06
who blows it up. No coach
1:07:08
gets his leg cut off on the sideline.
1:07:10
No. Now, First of all, respectfully,
1:07:12
we wish Chris Finch nothing but the best. We
1:07:14
hope that he heals one hundred. But
1:07:17
he wasn't dead. He hurt his knee,
1:07:19
he was still at the game. He was walking around
1:07:21
with crutches. He wasn't dead. So
1:07:24
again, let's not act like the dude had a heart attack
1:07:26
or something like that. Okay, he got his knee hurt
1:07:28
when Mike Conley Jr. Ran into
1:07:30
him, we understand that. But he was still there even though
1:07:32
somebody else was on the sidelines. He was behind the
1:07:34
bench, but he was still coaching. In
1:07:37
terms of ownership, ownership had been going on for a
1:07:39
long time. Glenn Taylor foolishly valued
1:07:41
his franchise in the immediate aftermath
1:07:43
of COVID at one point five billion, when
1:07:45
with Anthony Edwards ascending now
1:07:48
clearly their situation where they're worth
1:07:50
double the amount, And that's probably why he wants
1:07:52
to get out of this deal. I don't think he will. I
1:07:54
think Alex Rodriguez and Mark Lurie signed
1:07:56
an ironclad deal to get sixty
1:07:58
percent of the franchise. I've already paid for
1:08:00
forty percent of the franchise, which was six
1:08:02
hundred million. They owed another three hundred million.
1:08:05
They tried to act like they didn't make it in time, but
1:08:07
from what I was told, they had the money for the
1:08:09
deadline, but Glen Tilla didn't want it
1:08:11
because he wants to maintain majority control
1:08:13
of the franchise because there's a bundance of people
1:08:15
in Minnesota that don't want him giving up that franchise.
1:08:18
They want him to keep it for as long as he's
1:08:20
alive, even though he's in his eighties. So I
1:08:22
don't think that that's a situation that
1:08:25
tainted their run in any way. I
1:08:27
think the problem is is that
1:08:29
Anthony Edwards is a superstar
1:08:32
this Brother's box office. I believe he
1:08:34
is the air appearent. He is coming here is something
1:08:36
special. Can they keep the pieces
1:08:38
around him or elevate the pieces around and remains
1:08:40
to be seen. But the biggest mistake that
1:08:42
was made is that he opened his mouth and he talked to Kyrie
1:08:45
Irving, I want him. I'm going
1:08:47
now. If you said to Kyrie Irvan, I'm gonna drop forty
1:08:49
on you. That's different because Anthony Edwys
1:08:51
can score on anybody. But when you sit up
1:08:53
there and say I want you, I'm
1:08:55
guarding you to Kyrie
1:08:57
Irvin, that was
1:09:00
a colossal mistake. Kyrie
1:09:02
Irvis started off that series with momentum. Luka
1:09:04
Dancik finished and that's why they're in the
1:09:06
finals and in Minnesota, Timberwolves
1:09:08
a home. It's that simple. All
1:09:11
right, let's go to Katie.
1:09:13
You live with Steven A. What's up, Katie? How are you?
1:09:16
Hi, Steven, I'm good.
1:09:17
How are you all right? How's everything going? Talk
1:09:20
to me? Pretty good?
1:09:20
Pretty good?
1:09:22
Talk to me. I'm listening.
1:09:23
You're live on you go ahead. So I'm
1:09:26
from Chicago, but I'm currently in Raykovic
1:09:29
Iceland, and you'd be shocked
1:09:31
to find out in Raykovic Caitlin Clark
1:09:33
is the talk of the town.
1:09:34
I'm not shocking by that.
1:09:37
I mean, I didn't know they'd paid attention to girl
1:09:39
basketball over here, but I'm super excited about it.
1:09:42
I used to play against her in Angel reeson AAU
1:09:44
and I feel like, you know, all the
1:09:46
focus is on Caitlin Clark right now,
1:09:49
and my girl Angel Reese from Chicago is not getting
1:09:51
enough love. What do you think about the rivalry
1:09:53
between them and do you think too much focus
1:09:55
is on Kaitlyn Clark.
1:09:56
Andrew Reese is a terrific talent that I
1:09:59
think is gonna do really, really good in her
1:10:01
WNBA career, at
1:10:03
least on the collegiate level and in all likelihood
1:10:05
on the WNBA career level. She's
1:10:07
not the player that Caitlyn Clark
1:10:09
is. She can't shoot from the logo,
1:10:12
she can't pull up from the parking lot. She
1:10:14
don't have that kind of ball handling skills
1:10:16
and the sizzle will go along with her game. Andrew
1:10:19
Reese is a big body in terms
1:10:21
of, you know, being a female basketball
1:10:23
player. She will rebound, she will defend, she
1:10:25
will average a double double, she
1:10:28
will come up with winning
1:10:30
elements to contribute to a winning Formula
1:10:32
fourteen. But she's
1:10:34
box office because she waved her hands
1:10:37
in front of her face to mimic Caitlyn
1:10:39
Clark while she was beating her down
1:10:42
in the NCAA tournament en route to
1:10:44
LSU winning a national championship.
1:10:46
And then we saw how they
1:10:48
would be revisited and they'd have
1:10:50
a rematch before Kitlyn Clark
1:10:52
and Iowa exacted their
1:10:55
revenge on Andrew Reese and
1:10:57
LSU. So that's what we're talking about
1:10:59
here, that's what transfired. But
1:11:01
it's all a byproduct of the stardom
1:11:03
that comes associated with Caitlyn Clark.
1:11:06
Caitlyn Clark is believed
1:11:08
to be the Steph Curry of women's basketball.
1:11:11
Now. Sabrina Unescu and others
1:11:13
may have something to say about that when all is said and
1:11:15
done, because they've got a resume and a reputation
1:11:19
that is warranted in terms
1:11:21
of them being worthy of more consideration than Kaitlyn
1:11:23
Clark. But Kate and Clark, this is her first year in there,
1:11:25
and if the Indiana Fever get her a better coach
1:11:27
and get better talent around her, who knows
1:11:29
what she's going to be able to do. And
1:11:32
Neil looking at that, and she's clearly box
1:11:34
office. They walk through the turnstiles
1:11:36
to see her. They're not saying that about
1:11:38
Angel reshit. She's not the only reason
1:11:41
they watch the WNBA. The Las Vegas Ace
1:11:43
is led by Asia Wilson, who's the
1:11:45
real face of the WNBA. That
1:11:47
has a lot to do with it. But Caitlyn
1:11:49
Clark is a transcendent
1:11:52
figure that has generated
1:11:54
profound interest in the WNBA,
1:11:56
And as I've said on many occasions, it's nothing
1:11:59
to complain about milk it. I
1:12:01
mean, I shouldn't say anything, because nothing,
1:12:03
because there are players that
1:12:05
came before her that pounded that pavement black
1:12:08
and white, the Diana t Rossi's, the Sue
1:12:10
Birds of the World beyond the Stewards of the World, and that
1:12:12
Schools of the World kandas Parkers of the World least,
1:12:14
the Leslie's of the world, Sheryl
1:12:16
Swooped, Cynthia Cooper. I mean, the
1:12:18
list just goes on and on and on of
1:12:20
so many great players that came before
1:12:23
Caitlyn Clark, but they weren't able to
1:12:25
take the pop yar labrity of the
1:12:27
WNBA to this level. It's
1:12:30
a different time and if Caitlyn
1:12:32
Clark garners that kind of support,
1:12:35
While it's fair to lament
1:12:37
the fact that it should not have come to this for
1:12:40
the WNBA to receive this support,
1:12:43
if you're getting it, focused on the
1:12:45
fact that you're getting it, and use
1:12:47
Caitlyn Clark to milk whatever
1:12:49
you can in terms of cachet, popularity,
1:12:52
etc. To get what you want. Out
1:12:54
of it, because a rising tide can
1:12:56
truly raise all boats.
1:13:00
Gotta get on out of here. That's it for this edition of
1:13:02
the Steven Nate Smith Show. I hope you all enjoyed the show. I gotta
1:13:05
get on out of here. I have a wonderful weekend. I gotta
1:13:07
get set to cover Game two of the NBA Finals
1:13:09
in Boston. Boston's up one to o with
1:13:11
Porzigis looking the way he looks at that continues.
1:13:13
I can't see the Maps winning this series, even
1:13:15
though I picked the Maps to win a six cause I assume
1:13:18
that Porzigers will not be as healthy.
1:13:20
But my god, it's something to behold.
1:13:23
Dallas Maveris have to be ready for Game two Sunday
1:13:25
night. If they not. If they are not,
1:13:28
they're in a world of trouble. We'll
1:13:30
revisit that conversation, that portion of the conversation
1:13:33
on Monday. Until then, this is Stephen
1:13:35
a signing off peace of love. Everybody, have
1:13:37
a blessed and wonderful weekend. God
1:13:39
bless
Podchaser is the ultimate destination for podcast data, search, and discovery. Learn More