On today’s episode, Jason discusses the report that the Sacramento Kings could be looking to trade All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox ahead of next week’s NBA Trade Deadline, whether or not teams like the Houston Rockets or San Antonio Spurs should make a run at FOX, why he thinks Kellen Moore would be making a huge mistake by taking the New Orleans Saints head coaching job and his issue with the way certain members of the sports media who think they know better than the guys who actually played.
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This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
What is up straight Firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire for Wednesday, January twenty ninth. You know, it's weird. For about the last four months we've been talking NFL, NFL, NFL and now we're down to one game left and it's like, oh, we can't do NFL podcasts every day, just can't. Now we do have some NFL news we'll talk about here shortly, of course, because well there's some good stuff. We're going to focus on this big NBA potential trade that does not involve Jimmy Butler. But I just want to get something out of the way real quick first. I think I mentioned to you guys last sometime last year, was going to start creating and it was awesome for lifting, and I was feeling jacked, and it's a great feeling. You definitely loft more. You can feel it, and you know people would definitely it's noticeable because you know, you gain weight. Could you drink more water? But it's muscle and you look cut. But I gotta say, man, this is the second time I find myself having to wean off of it simply because you're going too hard lifting and then the muscle strains and now I got like this rotator cuff. It just it sucks. Now. Plus I'm getting old, which stinks, and I want to do everything.
I e.
Played basketball as much as humanly possible, and it's just it's tough. But uh, that's life. I know you guys don't really care about that, and you're like, hey, give me more bets. What do you got on college basketball? You know, I haven't done much on college basketball this week, still looking my wounds from the damn Chiefs beating the Bills. But nevertheless, I want to start with this Darren Fox story that's emerging out of Sacramento. Now, the NBA is has like a political whiff to it, okay, in that a lot of stuff is planted and you've got to kind of see through the initial news and wonder, hm, where did this come from? Why all that stuff? You've got to think about it. So, according to ESPN, Darn Fox and the Kings look to be headed for a breakup. Now here's the interesting part. In no explicit terms, does it say Darn Fox is demanding a trade, right, which sounds logical because hey, they just fired as coach Mike Brown. I had a great relationship, regardless of what everybody thinks happened. At the end, Brown and Fox were tight. And I know this season wasn't going great. But the replacement, Doug Christi, everybody knows him, Rick Fox's best friend. That's an inside joke for NBA fans. Doug Christy has taken over. They've gone what are they eleven and four since? So they're ahead of the Warriors in the West. So you know, like it's worked out fine. Here's where it gets interesting. Fox is a free agent after the twenty twenty sixth season. According to all this stuff, well not this stuff, the reports and the timing of this league is interesting, right, So d'aron Fox is set to hit the trade market. The Kings are going to be fielding offers. What's the real story. Why the hell would you trade your best player? You just fired your coach. You've been in the playoffs, I'm pretty sure the last two years, right. Yeah, they lost a tough one to the Warriors in that seven game series. They probably should have won. And I'm spacing on who let me quickly look it up who they lost to last year in the playoff. But trading your best player, Dearon Fox an all NBA player, Okay, not just any player. I mean he's third team All NBA. He's let's look at his numbers here. He is twenty five six and five, shoots forty six percent from the field, only thirty two percent from deep. But he is one of the best guys at steels. He's not an elite defensive player, but he's very good with the quickness. And it doesn't make sense why all of a sudden you would try to run off Dearreon Fox. Now the argument, the counter argument is, oh wait, Jason, you're wrong. The Kings missed the playoffs last year. They lost to the Warriors in seven, and the last time they made the playoffs before that was two thousand and seven. So it's been a minute, okay, And it's like, okay, Fox is so great, why is he only gotten into the playoff once? Jay, while he's twenty seven years old. We're talking about a historically inept I'm talking a historically inept franchise in Sacramento. The ownership is a joke. I know, the guy's made a lot of money and he's an interesting individual. I read an article in the New Yorker about him many many years ago, and you know he's an outside the box thinker, but as an NBA owner, he stinks. And you run off Mike Brown, which I didn't agree with. They weren't playing great, but whatever, and now you want to trade Dearon Fox. So something's not adding up here for me. And this is where it led me to, oh, is it possible that Dearon Fox is such a nice guy. He's already telling the Kings, hey, guys, I want out. I'm not going to force the hand, because you know that doesn't always end well for everyone, I e. The franchises. It's not a great look. Dearon Fox has a good brand, He's beloved in Sacramento, so maybe this is his way. My guess is Dearon Fox is saying, guys, I don't really see a future here. I don't see a path to success where I can win a title, and I would like you to try to trade me before I come a free agent because I'm probably not going to resign here. Okay, that's my guess as to what went down. So the Kings know as soon as somebody demands a trade, the clock ticks on how much his his value is going to go down, right, because these aren't the old days of the NBA where Hey, he wants a trade and he's going to go somewhere. This is Hey, here's my list. I want to go one of these places. I mean, that's how the NBA has been for like the last ten fifteen years. Paul George calling is sh everybody says where they want to go? Okay, So instantly the speculation is, oh, Dearon Fox wants to play in Sacramento in San Antonio with Wembin Yama. And you're like, oh, okay, are we supposed to buy that? Are they friends?
Don't?
I don't know. You see a lot of well, the Brooklyn Nets are interested guys. Why on earth would Aaron Fox want to go from the Sacramento Kings to the Brooklyn Nets. Just think about that. You want to have success and win. Why the hell would you go to the Brooklyn Nets? Ah? Why are the Nets being mentioned?
Oh?
I've got it. So I looked up how many draft picks the Nets half? So they've got four first rounders in this draft. Okay, they have their own in twenty twenty six, and they have the Knicks in twenty seven, and they have Phillies in twenty seven, and they've got multiple plenty of second round picks going forward after in the next like three years. So why are the Nets being mentioned? Well, Sacramento knows, Hey, if san Antonio wants to dearon fix, you guys got to pony up because guess what, We've got a quote unquote suitor in the Brooklyn Nets who are interested and the Nets. Fox is not gonna want to go to the Nets. He's not gonna want to sign an extension. There, are you kidding me? Now, There's no way you would do that. It's suicidal, you know, going from one losing franchise to another. Give me a break, no way. So all of this stuff is being is happening behind the scenes. My read on it is Daron Fox has told the Kings, I'm not signing back here. I'm gonna be a good soldier. I'm not gonna be Jimmy Butler. You're not gonna have to suspend me multiple times. But I'm not gonna be signing here long term. So you know, try to find a suitable trade partner. But it's not just hey, let's send him somewhere it's I want to go and play in certain places. And that's when it gets really interesting because Sham's over at ESPN, who is, you know, trying to be the new WOJE and kind of taking his spot as the insider. Schams has had this. He says that Fox has a target destination in mind ahead of twenty twenty six. Another one they know, and that's the Kings and Fox's people. The second you say Dearon Fox wants to go to the Lakers, he hasn't said that. I don't think he will. It instantly becomes okay, he's only going to the Lakers. You know, everybody else you're screwed, and the Lakers aren't gonna pay a lot because he wants to go there, and it's just an ugly scenario all around. I don't know that there's a solution to this other than keeper superstars happy and win games and build around them. And frankly, the Kings have had Dearon Fox. Now, Uh, this is his one, two, three, four or five, six, seven, eight year in the league, and folks, they've won zero playoff series with him, So maybe I'm not correct in the Dearon Fox is a stud I know he was thirt team All NBA in twenty twenty three. That was the year he finished eleventh in MVP voting. And you know Fox, I'm of the belief that you can win a lot with dearon Fox. I do believe he is a very very good player and elait point god card. I don't know where i'd rank him among point guards in the league. But think about this, Chris Paul is having a nice little year in San Antonio with Wemby. But Chris Paul doesn't have much left. Is there a world where they vision Chris Paul as like a placeholder and coming up next? You've got take a guess, Daron Fox joining forces with Wemby, That to me makes sense. But who else? Are there any other sleepers? So I was poking around looking at the standings, looking at teams. Daron Fox, of course is from wait for it, Texas, not San Antonio, but Katie Texas, which is kind of in the Houston area. So naturally the Houston Texas, Houston Texas, Houston Rockets are getting mentioned. But guess what, the Rockets are actually good. The Rockets are third, I think, yeah, they're still third in the West. They've got a point guard in Fred van Vliet, but remember he had signed that I'm sorry, the Rockets are second in the West. The Van Vliet had signed that kind of not team friendly deal, but it didn't lock the Rockets into some long term deal. And I don't know, is there a world where Dearon Fox ends up in Houston? But if you're Houston, you know, and they have a lot of pieces. You know, they got this young kid I'm and Thompson who's been filling in for uh and looking amazing. Uh. He has been everywhere. I think they've got some movable pieces. And Brooks you can easily get off Dylan Brooks, who got an altercation with Trey Young last night. Shngoon is very good. Jalen Green has kind of popped this year. But you know what I mean, if if they said, hey, we're interested in Jalen Green, you know, I think it would it would be in a heartbeat, right, the Rockets would move off of him. You got young guys like Cam Whitmore's very good. I like Tarry Easton, and you put Dearon Fox in that package. I think they got something. Guys. It just feels to me like there is a lot of talent on this Houston Rockets team that could be shipped Reed Shepherd will see. I mean, he hasn't done much yet, but the guy's very talented, and all of a sudden, it's like, oh, well, you know, maybe Houston's a landing spot, and you get a bidding war started for Dearon Fox. I uh, I'm a big fan of this guy's work. And I remember a twenty seventeen draft. I know you guys do too. That was one of the craziest top of the drafts you will ever see. Markel Fultz went first to the Sixers. Yes, that's true, Markel Fulton first. Lonzo Ball ended up going second to you guessed at the Lakers. Jason Tatum went third, Josh Jackson went fourth. Josh Jackson's been out of the league. He was awesome in Kansas. Dearon Fox went fifth, Jonathan Isaac sixth. He can't really stay healthy. Lori markn in seventh. I mean, it was just a bonkers draft. Donovan Mitchell went thirteenth, Beam Outebayo fourteenth. Like it was one of those wacky drafts where there's some huge whiffs up top and Ball got hurt. Yeah, that's that's true. But ultimately, like the markl folks pick, I mean, Philly was locked in on him. Can you imagine Jason Tatum and Philly and Fox going fifth? Just stunning stuff in that twenty seventeen draft. My guess is, dearon Fox.
Huh.
I don't know if you'll be traded by the deadline. My gut tells me this is more of an off season situation when teams can see, hey, you know, like what if OKC falls short of the of the finals, you know, or the Rockets lose in the first round, all of a sudden, do these teams that were kind of super close and thought they were there say, you know what, maybe we need one more guy now. I don't know if Fox fits with SGA in the back court. I don't know if you know, okay, see, like what do they need? Do they need a point guard? I don't know. I mean, hell, you could look at teams like in the Eastern Conference there are some kind of underwhelming teams. If you have a seventy six ers, but who were they're partying? They're not giving up Paul George. The Knicks don't need him, you know, the Milwaukee Bucks are mildly intriguing, but they have zero pieces to give up for him. So the Deer and Fox situation, to me is more interesting than Jimmy Butler, because Jimmy Butler's just I don't like how he's handling it. You guys know, I'm a huge Butler fan. I just don't like the way this is going down. It's ugly. He's been suspended again. It's just it seems like there's no end in sight, and Miami's actually starting to play a little better without him. They're up to sixth in the East. Yeah, once again the NBA, So we're looking at who in the offseason could be moved Butler Fox. I won't add Steph Curry to that list, but I continue to think that that Steph Curry if this putrid play from the Warriors keeps up, I don't see a world where Steph Curry's on the Warriors much all. Like, just get him to a good team. We need to make that happen.
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All right, let me do a couple of minutes here on the NFL. We'll start with some news and listen, I'm not going to go after this guy, but I do need some to just clear up some stuff he put online. We'll do that at the end. But first of all, interestingly, Mike McCarthy has decided to focus on the twenty twenty six hiring cycle and we'll not coach this season, sources tell the NFL network. And then they know McCarthy's made the playoffs twelve of eighteen years and he's expected to be a strong candidate a year from now. Now, that to me is very telling that you know what that says is the Saints want Kellen Moore. They don't want Mike McCarthy, which is fine. I don't know what they're personally seeing in Kellen Moore. I get that everybody gets a chance, Hey man, everybody wants a crack at being a head coach. And you know, Kellen Moore, I'm gonna quickly look at his resume because there was a moment where Kellen Moore was a super hot name as a coach. First of all, he was an incredible quarterback at Boise State. I was a huge fan I thought he could be I thought he could be a decent pro. And then he was on the Lions and the Cowboys. So he was the Cowboys offensive coordinator for a couple of good years, and then it sounds like maybe he was too much of a threat to McCarthy and he got run off. So he lands with the Chargers and everybody was all excited, Oh Kellen Moore and Herbert all this is great, and Kellen Moore was not very good. So then he goes to the Eagles. He's been there one season. He essentially got the keys to a really, really, really nice sports car. Okay, I have not seen anything dramatically impressive from Kellen Moore this season. They are a heavy run team. The second they don't have Aj Brown, they get destroyed by Tampa. We know pretty much for sure that Nick Sirianni was on the hot seat for half the season. Okay, and we're looking at a really ugly scenario where he's getting credit that he doesn't deserve. And I say that's ugly because now he's gonna be a head coach of the Saints. And I don't want to say it's like fool's gold or anything, but I mean, if we're being honest, guys, what is Kellen Moore done special with the Philadelphia Eagles this season? I have not seen it. I don't see dynamic stuff, and I feel bad because we all want a shot, right, everybody. This is the most popular question I get anytime I you know, I'm talking to friends or whatever. Dude jays, so, what's next? Do you want your own show? Everybody asked me that, well, do you want your own show? What do you want? Like? What's next? After the hurt? And it's funny because obviously I think about this stuff and I have plenty of times. I've talked about it with the wife, and you know, like, what do you want? Could I go to another network and get a show? Could I convince Fox? Hey, you guys make a show for me? You know whatever, Like it's it's the next logical step or question for me that a lot of people have asked. And part of me also looks at it as well, you know, you can't just get a show, right, You got to get the right show because most sports shows, let's be real, most of the new ones fail. It's very difficult to just come out of nowhere. And boom pop is extremely difficult. The shows that have popped historically have involved guys who have been in sports media for a long time and have like a built in audience because you've been on radio and TV or whatever for fifteen twenty thirty years. Okay, So taking all that into account, enter Kellen Moore, who's been obviously wanting You know, he's still on the young ish side, thirty six years old, but he wants clearly to be a head coach, as would anyone. You know, we all want to be head coach. And I just I see this Saints job opening up, and I'm like, Okay, he's going to the Saints. They've gotten Derek Carr, who said he's not taking any pay cuts. You've got a offensive machine that includes Olave who's been concussed a bunch, Kamara who's got a lot of tread on his tires.
And.
Like, offensive line's not great, defense is fading. Sure, the division stinks, but can you The real question is can you win in New Orleans if you're Kellen Moore? And that's the same question I ask myself about I'm getting a show. Can it succeed? Obviously I think I can make it successful, But I'm also like a reasonable human being. You have to have the right people around you. You got to have the right time slot, you have the right network, the right executives backing you. It's not as easy as like, hey, your show has a chance. A lot of factors at play, just like this Helen Moore situation. And I feel pretty confident right now guy saying Kellen Moore is not gonna work in New Orleans. And I think McCarthy was actually pretty wise to avoid this. I think he kind of dodged a bullet. Now this is where it gets interesting. I just did a list of where could McCarthy go next year for this robust market. So I have long shot jobs that could be open, and don't get mad, but number one is Buffalo. If McDermott somehow flops, they lose in the first round, whatever, maybe there's a scenario where Buffalo becomes open. Unlikely, but maybe. And the other one is Detroit. We have seen and I know everybody loves Dame Campbell, but he loses both coordinators, and we have seen plenty, trust me, plenty of coaches lose both coordinators and instantly there is a massive drop off. And I look at this situation in uh Detroit, and I say, oh boy, well they lost a brutal one to the forty nine ers, and I mean brutal two years ago, and then they lose to Washington. You know there's gonna be pullback. They they're not winning. You know, they're not going fourteen and three or whatever. That's just not happening. Guys, what if they win ten games and they'll lose in the first round, like I doubt Campbell would get run off. But there's a world where it's like, maybe we move on because there's a great candidate out there. I don't know if McCarthy's that great of a candidate. And then the more likely jobs that I think could be open are Miami, which you know McDaniel. I like McDaniel, but I don't know what the future holds in Miami. Things do not look great for McDaniel in Miami. They just don't have a lot of guys healthy. Tyreek Hill wants out. We'll see. I have the Cincinnati Bengals. If Zach Taylor somehow screws up again, you got to figure he's toast. Keeps losing coordinators or getting them fired. Cleveland Brown's job could be open. We'll see what happens with Stefanski and Shadoor Cam or whoever their quarterback is. New York Giants don't know if they'll get a quarterback that one will be fascinating. But Day bolls on his last legs there for sure. They've got to win this season. You've got Tampa Bay with Bulls. There was some scuttle but about Bulls this offseason, it didn't happen. And then Arizona. But I don't know how good of a job that is, so like, is McCarthy clamoring for any of those jobs? Like, I don't see it. Like now, the quarterbacks there are decent, obviously, Joe Burrow's phenomenal, but you know, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray to a tongue by Loa. I don't know, guys, it just doesn't seem like there's anything out there that's just like, oh my gosh, gotta have it, got to have it. And so I guess in closing, my thoughts would be I think McCarthy dodged a bullet here, and I think Kellen Moore is gonna end up diving on the grenade because he's so excited to be a head coach and it's not going to go well.
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I will close with something I saw had ten million views online and I'm stunned by it. So, you guys know next gen stats. We talk about it all the time. And of course the final play the Buffalo Bills had where Allen missed k Kincaid missed the Josh Allen pass over the middle and dropped it. One of these writers was, I followed this guy, but I didn't. I don't know his history or anything. He just occasionally has decent content. So this gentleman named Benjamin Solac apparently was at the Ringer and now he's at ESPN, and he at the end of the game pulled up the next gen stats, you know those dots where they show like where players are going, and he wrote, no idea why Josh did not throw the orbit to Shakir. That was the play where the similar Ohio State play where Jeremiah Smith came into the backfield and then it was a fake. And then he went straight out and easy touchdown in the National Championship against utter Day bit play, he wrote, They've called that exact route against the Chiefs on fourth down before got to go to ten here and everybody on planet Earth jumped down this guy's throat, like you clearly have never played sports to watch dots and say, oh my gosh, how did you not make this? First of all, it was an amazing blitz by Spagnolo coming off the edge was the all pro McDuffie, and they did not block it well the bills, and yes, Shakir was opened. But and again this is coming from somebody who plays a lot of sports, Like it's super bang bang, it's incredibly put boom boom, Like this stuff happens so quick. And when you see those two free runners basically come in untouched, Alan was not thinking, let me throw across my body when I can't really see the other half of the field to Shakir. Now he was open. But the idea that you no idea why you didn't throw it to him, It just it came off a little clunky. I saw tons of players piling on this guy, and this is one of the problems, Like I don't know Ben Solack. Maybe he was a quarterback or cornerback somewhere. I have no idea, but it does strike me as odd that you've got all these young guys in the media who are just looking at the numbers, which is fine. Numbers for gambling is huge. But what I it's the criticism of the guys who are actually playing sports in the arena when you're looking at dots on a screen and like, that's just that's really not how sports are done. Guys. Again, I've never played it down a football in my life outside of backyard football, but this idea that it like Josh Allen could have made that play. Yes, I understand he's paid forty five million dollars now, Dalton Kincaid's also paid handsomely. He's got to catch that. Mark Andrews is paid handsomely. He's got to catch that. Like the It just it struck me as a little tone deaf that he would put that out there, and players all around the league replied, like, bro that you just have no clue, And I felt a little bad for the guy. I don't know if he's been on social media since he was besieged, understandably, so like that play was not on Josh Allen under any circumstances. It just wasn't. And the idea that we're looking at dots and being like, how did you miss that open? Guy? Go play pick up basketball and tell me how easy it is to hit a wide open mid ring shot. Go play soccer and tell me how easy it is. Oh, he meant that was a perfect cross. How do you not finish that? Sports are tough, guys, And I'm not making excuses for Alan or Shakir or anybody, but it is very, very difficult to play sports, and at the high level these guys are at man and I've watched that play probably two dozen times, and it's a killer. The kinkid drop part of it is to me, way, way way bigger of a story than Shakir being opened and not getting the pass. So I don't know, I just wanted to put that out there. I'm sure you guys will hate that breakdown, and I'm like flexing because what I do play sports and this guy clearly hasn't. Whatever. I just I found it interesting and I thought i'd wrap with that. All right, have a good one back tomorrow. See you then,