The Jason Smith Show with Mike HarmonOn tonight's edition of The Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Steve DeSaegher fills in for Mike Harmon ashe guys react to the overtime Eastern Conference play-in matchup for the 8th seed between the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks. Later, they react to Luka Dončić’s response to what Nico Harrison said about the trade—and how Luka broke his phone after finding out about it. Then, College Football Analyst Pete Fiutak joins the show to break down everything NFL Draft with the big event just around the corner. Tune in for all this and more on The Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon!
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Greetings, welcome inside, Happy Friday, and what a Friday it is The Jason Smith Show. Is Steve de Seger in for the WrestleMania going Mike Harmon? And I mean it was that the occasion?
Really?
Yeah, he's a wrestle Him and his brothers are asse. That's so appropriate. Odds are at least one Harmon. We'll get arrested between now and the end of the weekend. Poor Jason steels something. Remember that old Chicago fiesto No no, no, no, oh yeah, yeah, you can be right, cant that it could be yeah, could be could be some harmon fee They're still driving around that cart with all the stuff from uh yeah, from the Bears training facility. But yes, it is a happy Friday. Why well, because we got two big NBA games. I talk like, yeah, I got that, yeah, yeah, that's wine. We got big news of the NFL draft. Yeah yeah, yeah, that's fine. And we got Jacob de Grom back his first game in eight years. Happy Jacob de gram Day. He might get the loss after giving up one run in eight inningxact big day, but clearly, hey, Francisco Lindor's walk off home run for the Mets.
And looking that good right before that, I assume the closer Diaz wasn't in there because he's pitched the.
Last couple of days. So so so Brazaban comes in and gives up running the second pitch the time of game. But it doesn't matter because Lindor goes upper deck to win the game. Mets, Mets, Mets.
And the closer that wasn't there, You know, they should have just played the trumpets anyway, it was there.
Who comes in and just play the trumpets for Lindor after it's the home run, I mean, I mean, just for inspiration somebody else in the Pens trying to close it out, and there's a long run to write. That's what happened and it went off the screen, but still the met skin of victory. Yeah. Did you see that Cubs game at Wrigly today? My goodness, shikes. It was like one nothing and then like twenty one runs were scoring in the last two and a half innings. It was bottom of the seventh Grand Slam Cubs, top of the eighth Grand Slam Arizona. It was a ten run inning for Arizona in the top of the eighth and they still didn't win. Yeah, I mean a crazy, crazy game, are you you You're talking about a seven to one lead, You give up a ten run inning and still find a way to win. Like that's special, man, That's like, hey, that's special. You go back. We gave up ten runs and we still won the game.
Reminding me of the old Mike Schmidt game at Wrigley when it was blowing out that day as well. Oh, twenty three, twenty two, exactly what the houtest games in regular season history?
I mean, not quite Dave Kingman when he had three home runs against the Dodgers. Yeah, don't ask Tommy Lasoura about it.
That.
What do you think about his performance? What about his performance?
You know who asked that question, was Paul Olden, who wound up a PA announcer for the Yankees.
Yeah, he was an LA radio reporter. And after your opinion of Kingman's performance is early in his tenure as Dodger manager. They lose by an extra hitting home run when Dave Kingman hitting his third of the day. And I realize, as a person who was a radio reporter and went into many a locker room, you.
Just want to get something on tape. You just want a response. It's completely different than the columnists who walk into the manager's offense office and they have an agenda, whether my columns about the offense or my columns about the pitching and that kind of thing. So, in an art to extract some sentence out of tommylus sorta, the question was, what do you think of Kingman's performance?
Pause? You mean the guy who beat you with a third home Oh? That explative laden response was heard on local LA radio bleeped of course for many years in the future. Many that's this game reminded me of, reminded me of that game, reminded me of the twenty three, twenty two game. It was. It was great, you know, and the funny thing is when I used to talk to Keith Oltman, like when in the nineties, when when I was working with the Rend Sports Center, like that was a thing between us, like that that Tommy Lasorda rant. He used to be an anchor in LA So there were a couple of times where we would do this and just to mess around with people. Like he'd be down in the highlight room getting ready to look at highlights, and he'd be getting ready to leave, and I would say, hey, Keith, like Mark Whitten, you know whoever, Hey, Keith, what did you think of moyses and loose performance tonight? He would go his performance. You'd ask me a question like that, his performance. He would walk out and PA's would go, what did you why did you have you upset Keith? Like that, I'm like, I don't know, man, true, I just asked a quick opinion about his performance. His performance. We'd talk about his perform.
The last two innings of offense for the Cubs at Wrigley today they scored eleven runs, and the last two innings on offense for Arizona they had ten.
Yeah, holy count. Yeah, that's a fun day.
And they said in the broadcast early in the broadcast. You know, the wind's blown out today when he's.
Going to ever not blow the wind is always blowing out. But the score, as you mentioned, the score was two to one going to the bottom of the seventh and it was thirteen eleven Cubs the final over eras, I like how game of the year was trending. I'm like, for what, it's April. What do you mean game of the year in Major Okay, It's like it's like giving one Soto a negative in mid April. He it doesn't matter. Hey, Lindor hit the home run before Soto could even come up. All right, so we'll forgotten. Now speaking of performances, performances, Well, what's going on in the NBA right now? Yeah, my Mavericks, We'll get to them, because boy, it's not going well. Memphis are down twenty yeah, thirty four to fourteen with two minutes to go in the first quarter. This looks like a Cowboys game like Week nine of last year. Down thirty four to fourteen, except it's not at home in the first Yeah, but so long ways to go. But the boy Dallas really has.
John Morant is playing and playing well, and the crowd is into it, needless to say.
And I'm not gonna it's the NBA and it's you know, we're not dealing with a.
One seed here. I'm not saying it's over, but we might have our eight seed in the west over.
But the Memphis crowd is chanting fire and eco. I mean, that's that's that's how that's how bad it is right now. But earlier tonight, hey, we know that the Heat are moving on into the playoffs. They'll draw the Cavaliers in the first round. As they beat the Hawks one twenty three to one fourteen. A game was a great game, goes to overtime. And let's put this in its proper perspective, because here are the Miami Heat who getting into the playoffs. This is an accomplishment for them. It's a big deal after moving on from the Jimmy Butler era and the Heat find themselves in flux. But the biggest thing for them, because playing week can be a big deal, is because they found their one. They found their franchise player. And this is who it is. It's to Tyler for three.
That's so let's come along this fifth funny ball in ten tries.
He has hurty He won twenty one fourteen. Jason Jackson on the Heat Radio Network on the call part of Tyler Heroes thirty point Night, that three clinches the game. Look, Davion Mitchell had a great game off the bench. He had four threes. He was terrific body and Mitchell with offense off Yeah, I know, yeah, I mean this is Simon Yeah yeah, five sixty two for off the bench. Yeah, that's that's just like, hey, okay, you know, well Alec Burks, hey former nick eleven minutes. But Hero has gone from he's a great young player. He's a six Man of the Year All Star for the first time this year they trade Jimmy Butler, and I know that the you know, where are they going? What are they doing? But now they know, all right, Tyler Hero is our one. He's he's our guy. He's you know, he's in the top twenty for you know, point scoring. It's going to be even higher next year when he's not sharing anything with Jimmy Butler. He can he's there franchise player. So now this is a big thing because obviously are you gonna go home very early? Yes, you're not gonna beat the Cavaliers. It's gonna be a very quick series. But this is big because I'm sold on Tyler Hero.
Now.
You know, I wasn't sure his maturity on the court. He had some issues earlier in his career. I mean, I love the bucket hat, but you know, was he going to be able to be that guy? But he's been slowly ascending since he came into the league. Boy wonder and now here he is twenty five, leads the team to a big win to get into the playoffs. He's someone that can score thirty, thirty five, forty in a game. He is now a franchise player like that, like the Heat found out something incredibly huge this week is that, Okay, whatever we do in the offseason, we moved on from Jimmy Butler. What do we do? No, No, It's built around Tyler Hero. He is our guy. He is the one that's gonna take all the big shots. He's a bit This is this is where they wanted to be. They wanted to be to identify what are we gonna do after the season, how are we gonna move? And you know, Tyler Heroes your one now he is a franchise guy. I again, I am sold on Tyler here.
And remember it wasn't that long ago where they had Duncan Robinson hitting threes and wondering, oh, maybe this is the guy that we're going to rely on for that aspect of our games. It's fair to give Miami its props like this on tonight's effort, because you know, let them celebrate for one night. You and I both agree they're probably not doing much against Cleveland in the first round, but game ones not till Sunday night. Celebrate, boys, because if there wasn't this playing tournament, you'd have been.
Home long long ago. Because the Miami.
Heat had a record of thirty seven and forty five in the regular season, forty five losses, and they're still alive.
Steve, can you talk about the Heat's performance against the Cavaliers in the first round. I think of their performer performances. Can you talk of that performance? So yeah, So as sold as I am on Tyler Hero the flip side of it here, you are the Hawks. They lose, they fall out. Look that the Heat in the Hawks the last few years have been you know, the the heritage teams of the playing round. I think the officials and the Bulls playing round. Yeah, Hawks and the Bulls especially have been the Hey, these are the official teams of the playing round, and.
They are all in the East, those teams that we're benching, so pretty much every year you can write it in at the beginning of the season in Penn these are the teams.
So they play it, you know, and it's it's a weird thing because he had a great game tonight, right, Trey Young. I did have a great game shooting, but still twenty nine and eleven nine. He's had worse, Yeah, he said, well, yeah, had more shots with fewer points. He's had games with that. Rees Chet had a horrendous night. Right, you're talking about the number one pick in the draft who's been good and he's had some games like this, but again rookie season. Yeah. Uh, Here's here's the thing is that if I'm the Hawks, right, you talk about franchise players, Trey Young is now a guy that you have seen the best of him. Right, He's twenty since only a year old of the tire for he came into the league really young, and he's only a year older than Tyler Herro But let an assist, did he not? This was a good year for Yeah? Yeah, it was good, but you've seen where your team goes with Trey Young as your franchise player, and it's not enough. It's it's it's clearly not enough. And the Hawks have to make a decision because you know, you're wasting his career or you need to move on. And the Hawks either have to go get really bold in this offseason and spend a lot of money and go get somebody to come in and be the one a for Trey Young, or move on from Trey Young, because again you've seen it, and yeah, what do they do? What was their biggest run when Trey Young was motivated to play in Madison Square Garden? Great? The Hawks beat the next couple of years ago. That great, Thanks for that. Outside of that, they're a five hundred to below five hundred team every year and they don't go anywhere. They're not going anywhere with Trey Young is there one and trying to fill in around him, And so it's like they got to get bold and go out and say, hey, if Zion's available, let's go get him, or you know Embiid is available, we got to make a trade where we have to do something bold. They need something bold. That's either build around Trey Young or say, okay, the Tray Young era has not gone as we expected and it's time to go in a different direction because you can get a lot for Trey Young. Trey Young is someone you will get a a king's ransom for someone who can light up the scoreboard. There's many teams that can use a player like him. But it needs to be something bold out of Atlanta going into next year because it sucks that they suck. You know, Atlanta is always a fun team, you know, they always have to. They've always had big scorers, right, whether it's Dominique, you're into Trey Young, like, that's kind of been their identity. They got somebody can score a lot of points. That's been Atlanta. And it sucks that this is kind of where you're at, that you're just in a team that is just you know them and the Bulls are just you know, just continuing to just go around in circles year after year.
They have had now not three full seasons, but a third different season of Quinn Snyder as the head coach too, So maybe that propels them to make some sort of change because over the last four years now this is about a five hundred club. Their record this year was forty and forty two, and this is four straight years they have not won a playoff series. They do have good pieces, but kind of like Charlotte has good pieces, they're not complete yet. Charlotte has a star and they have something, but you know, I don't see that in the play Charlotte.
Is that building that you see on the corner and you go, how many years has that been under construction? It's been a decade. Oh my god, boy, when is that gonna get finished? It's still working on it. That's still working on it.
And Trey Young has been a star, a legitimate star in this league. And Atlanta also has a legitimate defensive star in Daniels this season and we'll see if he gets Defensive Player of the Year or what the votes go for that.
And I love.
Okongo from USC as a starter and he can get you the rebounds. And we mentioned they had the top draft pick last summer and Resi's that's one full year for recisa. Sure, so they do have pieces, but it's not adding up to anything at this point. And if you go back over the last four years, it's a big fat nothing.
In the postseason yeah.
And by the way, this is not a postseason game tonight. No, the NBA's definition.
The play in the play in Round should just be called purgatory, that's right. And the another one, the official song is Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath. Whoa between. Oh no, that's got to be it, because that's a it's not regular season, it's not postseason. Did the stats count for anything? Well, no, no, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
The actual postseason starts at one pm Eastern on Saturday. That's when the first round begins with the Bucks and the Pacers. And by the way, Damian Lillard, it's sounding like he might be playing a little in this series. Yeah, he's gonna be missing a fifteenth straight game on Saturday with the Blood Club. But Lillard of Milwaukee is no longer on blood thinners, which is a huge development. And he did practice yesterday and.
They've only said he's only out for Game one. That's a big thing. This is not hey, first couple of games, Noble, look at things next week. This is game one they're saying he's out for. So that's a and it looks sunny side up and he could be back for Game two.
It looks like everybody otherwise on both sides is healthy. You know, there have been questions about Giannis and Halliburton and etc. Everybody that's supposed to play. It seems like we'll be playing Game one except Lillard and we'll see as things progress next week exit.
How about a fresca Jason Smith, Steve de Sag're in for Harmon tonight? Yeah? All in on Tyler Hero, your franchise, your next great franchise player in the NBA. He is ready to be anointed. Fox Sports Radios Draft Night Live throughout the first round of the Draft next Thursday Night is brought to you by Dollar Shave Club. You're placing at everything you need to stay smooth and smell great. Visit dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft and use promo code Draft for twenty percent off your order a twenty dollars a more plus free shipping. That's dollarshaveclub dot com Slash Draft and be sure to tune into Draft Night Live next Thursday night at eight pm. Throughout the first round of the draft Jenny Taft, Jay Glazer, LeVar Arrington and former Jets GM Joe Douglas. We'll be here, which I'm a little nervous about how we're gonna cross paths, but we'll deal with that when it comes up. All throughout the first round, all the picks, all the analysis you need into our show, which continues right after the first round, is over right here on Fox Sports Radio. Again. All of it that begins next Thursday, eight pm Eastern. Throughout the first round, brought to you Shave Club. So coming up next, speaking of the NFL Draft after the news today, not only can I tell you how the first three picks are gonna go, I'll tell you exactly where shaudor Sanders is gonna wind up and who's gonna get them? Wait till I tell you that's next right here, this is Fox Sports Radio. You know, tires matter. They're the only part of your vehicle that touches the road and they're responsible for everything acceleration, breaking, steering and handling. Tread confidently with new tires from tire Reck. Whether you know exactly what you want or you're looking for expert recommendations, tire Raq makes it easy. You're gonna get fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection, and convenient installation options including mobile installation where they're in the installation to you to your home office or anywhere in between. And of course the best selection, including the full line of bridge Stone tires. And they don't just sell tires, they test them on the road on their test track. Learn how the tires you want tackle evasive maneuvers, drive and stop in the rain, or just handle your everyday commute. To tirec dot com slash sports to see their bridgetone test results, tire ratings and consumer reviews, and be sure to check out all the current special offers. That's tire rack dot com, slash Sports, tirack dot com, which is the way tire buying should be. Remember it's heaven and hell oh well, Hello, Welcome in side hour two The Jason Smith Show with Steve Desager in for Mike Harmon tonight live from the ti rack dot com studios. Tirac dot com. I help you get there an unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirac dot com is the way tire buying should be. So things, I would say a little closer with Memphis and Dallas like a little mathmatically, it is a little closer Meshis says, not quite the twenty six point lead that it was at one point, but Memphis leads Dallas sixty eight to fifty three early in the third quarter. You had ad show up and have a huge first half that I can't even say kept within shouting this and it kept them down by twenty and said down by thirty. But clearly the Mavericks staying just on the edge of contention in this game. It has been all Memphis the entire game. Memphis should win this game.
I think if we just look at the rosters before they tipped off, yes, and their home and John Moran's playing, that was the question mark all day. We saw his legitimate sprained ankle from the earlier playing game earlier this week. Memphis lost Tuesday at Golden State. He's playing. They got a great start to this game. They were up fifteen at the end of the first quarter, but it was a larger lead. It was twenty twenty two, as you say, in the first quarter against the MAVs. I don't see how the MAVs are gonna come back and take it unless Klay Thompson just goes off and has the type of game he used to have and the type of game he rarely has anymore at this point of his career. I know they're chipping away. It's down to ten, sixty eight fifty eight Grizzlies. It's early third quarter still, but I'd be prized if Dallas comes all the way back to win My Mavericks.
Though, come on, Mike, come on, don't make people.
And when you say make me look bad when you say my Mavericks, it makes it sound like he's picking him to win it.
Oklahoma City, What is no my Mavericks until like tonight, Like that's it. But as I say this, Anthony Davis has cut the lead to ten. All of a sudden, Hey, we got a ballgame here, man.
Anthony Davis has half the points for his team. Tonight he has twenty nine. The rest of the MAVs combined have twenty nine points. And again we're just starting the third quarter. Let's be realistic. Two things have occurred. It's a great comeback so far. Point number two. They're still down double digits at Memphis.
But here's the thing, and let me let me give because this maybe the last time you know, hey, like Jack Nicholson has said in the movies, what if this is as good as it gets. This may be as good as it gets for Anthony Davis, but he was the reason that I said, Hey, Mavericks are coming out of the plane. Right. Here's just team ten seed has never come out. Mavericks are coming out because they have the most at stake this week. Clear they want to flip the narrative from the Luka Doncicch trade. And this is the way to do it, the way to and at ten. See Miami did advance to that and you know, to hit zero and say, okay, maybe we're gonna be okay when Kyrie gets back next year. Here's Anthony Davis dominating. They're not sharing the stage with anyone. The Lakers aren't playing. No, this is where ad can show up and have a couple of monster games and lead them into the Playffs don't need to win in the playoffs, just need to get into the playing round and then on maybe we can move past the Luca trade. And here he is tonight, single handedly keeping them and getting them back in this game. The starting five for Memphis is just better. I don't know how else more simply to put it better than the starting five of Dallas, or what's left of the starting five of Dallas. Remember when Derek Lively just twelve short months ago was talked about in very great terms like, oh, this is a sneaky, great addition, a third or fourth guy that can really turn a game or help you with that nine to one run to flip things. And he's doing nothing tonight and he's barely been on the court. In fact, as we mentioned in the first hour of this show, the bulk of the starters are doing nothing for Dallas. So congrats on this little run. It's gonna make the third quarter interesting. Ad A my ad look at ad go. So we'll keep you updated on this again. A huge comeback so far the third quarter for the Mavericks, My Dallas Mavericks. Meanwhile, I say they weren't, you know, sharing the spotlight this week because hey, hey, look at the mat. Hey we're feeling pretty good. Then you watch Luca play with the Lakers and you can realize, oh man, yeah, great, we don't have them. Uh luka. Doncic did an interview with ESPN today that's starting to get a lot of attention ahead of the first round series with the Minnesota Timberwolves. All we heard all week is hey can't wait to go up against Rudy Gobert. It's gonna be awesome. He loves the rivalry. Everything is great. But he answered a couple of big questions about the trade. And while Nico Harrison had his I can't even say press conference because it was we'll sit down at a table and nothing can record me. He spoke with reporters about the Doncage trade and reiterated that defense wins championships. Defense wins championships. That's why they traded Luca. Here's Luca who was asked about Nico's words and what he is saying about why they traded Luca Doncic and boy did Luca have the perfect comeback for everything he's heard or heard about why he was dealt away by the Mavericks. Here's Luca from the ESPN.
Interview general manager Nico Harrison of the Dallas Mavericks. He had this closed door, no cameras meeting with reporters. The reporter said, you didn't believe that the team that went to the finals last year with Luca as a centerpiece could contend and continue to contend for championships, and Nico Harrison said, I'll say this again. Defense wins championships.
What do you say to that man?
It is said the way he's talking right now, I never say anything bad about him, and I just want to move on here. The fans, my ex teammates, always keep it hard. It's time too for me to move on from them.
Harrison's left.
That's that's a great thing. It's just sad by the way Jason is bad. Not only was the original GM's news conference not allowed to be recorded, this could not only be recorded. There was a full orchestra in the bed. Oh yeah, we had everything going on. Yeah, we had the La Philharmonic come in andto Gustavo Dudamel came in and just was able to hey, a little lower in the audio levels in the backrooy because here he's waving the wand and everything and there was no video. It was just the audio. But okay, go ahead, you do. I'll go on camera and actually let you record this, right, So advantage Luca. But the the word is sad that he used, Yes, I mean that's the best comment. It's just sad. Now, let's be fair here for a second. Nico's done a pretty good job not saying what he could have said, or what he wanted to say or about or what the reasons were why he was dealt. Nico's done a pretty good job as a GM to take all the arrows, which again I tell you, I know that everybody's blaming Nico, but everybody's on board with the Luca trade, right, everybody. The Adelsons are on board, the Dumonts are on board. They're on board with this trade. This is not happening unless everybody wants to trade him. And it's all about the fact that, hey, here he is leading the Mavericks to the finals a year ago, and he's not healthy, he's out of shape, and he comes back out of shape and gets hurt this year. Right, the Adelsons and the Dumonts are new owners of the team. It's not Mark Cuban. Wait, we got to give this guy three hundred and fifty million dollars at the end of the summer. We're not doing it. So let's move on. Okay, Nico make a trade, and Nico Harrison made the best trade he could because he got an All NBA player in return for him and Anthony Davis, who is an All NBI. I don't know who everybody was. If you trade Luca, you gotta get a star. Nobody is trading for Luca and trading a star player back. It doesn't help them. Why am I giving you a start? No, we are getting a star because we think this is gonna help us win, and we'll give you whatever you need.
Like when there were roommates and rumors they're gonna go better Goby bad trade out of La and then he realized, oh, wait a minute, they're gonna trade all the stars back and I'm going to an empty run.
No, no, no, no, no, I don't want to do that. This this is how trades like this are made. They got the best player, the best individual player they could in Anthony Davis, right, and they got picks and they freed up money. So yeah, But so Nico has done a pretty good job of not saying anything. But and it's hard because they've been getting all the criticism that you could possibly imagine. So here's Nico who agrees to finally talk to reporters and still doesn't say anything other than defense wins championships. Do you have a which which now you know why Nico doesn't talk to the press a lot because Nico's not good at it. Like, all he's got to say is, hey, we love the defensive dominance of Anthony Davis. We know we felt this trade was gonna be big for us, and so we made it. And you can be criticized about it, but then you can say something without sounding stupid, like, oh, defense, what does that mean? What do you mean? Luca doesn't play defense, doesn't do that. I mean, Luca doesn't play defense. But like, he's just not good at talking to the reporters, So I get why he doesn't talk. But it's been a pretty good time for him. Actually, just hey, I'm gonna just say the bare minimum, and Luca at the same time has been filled with a lot of class not saying anything about the trade. You've not there's not been any back and forth about why I've even today I was here, we would we'll probably get that in the off season. We'll get to here's behind what was going on, Here's behind what was going on. But the reason we haven't gotten more stories out of Dallas is because Luca has not said anything. And boy, if Dallas just says bad things about Luca, that's just gonna upset the fan base even more, and Luca could have gone on says I just want to move on. The fan base is not gonna hear that right now. They're not gonna hear Oh hey, Luca too much, drinking, too much, too much, hookah. Whatever it was. We didn't know if we could sign him. This was all about. They didn't know if they wanted to give him three hundred and fifty million dollars. That's all this was for. And now you can argue yes or no, but that's why the trade was made. So all of that, I get you want to be angry at somebody, and Nico's taking all the arrows. He's been as close to class as you can. Luca has been all class all the way. But when you hear him say it's just sad, it's like, I just feel bad for the Mavericks, Like there's still no matter what they can't get out from under this trade and anything else coming from it at all.
You mentioned what a future contract for Luca in Dallas would be. I don't think you can underestimate how that was a part of this whole thing coming down. Because the NBA, in order to keep things competitive, be it small market or major market teams purposely wanting to be different than Baseball, which is a no salary cap league. The NBA has rules that you can essentially go over the cap. You can go extra to pay and re sign your own star. They love that because then, like years ago, Glenn Robinson could potentially stay in the same market even though it wasn't New York, Chicago or la et cetera, and so Luka Tonsich would have been eligible to stay in Dallas, eligible for what's called a supermax contract, which he's no longer eligible for he has left Dallas. That contract would have been, as you say, five years and almost three hundred and fifty million dollars on the extension. I think if you had asked Dallas, do you want to keep him for the next few years at similar money, similar what we've been paying him similar years, I think they I think they would have gone through that door. But when you have the supermac's contract this summer facing you, you really really have to taste stock as a front office and an ownership group and saying, are we going to be married to this guy, because that's what the super contract would mean. And their answer was no, We're divorcing. Now we're trading and getting in this case.
Davis.
By the way, Davis is still playing well for Dallas tonight. It's thirty one points now mid third quarter, still a ten point Memphis lead. Seventy eight, sixty.
Eight, eighty ady eighty.
Now.
The other big thing that Lucas said was he was asked, do you want to stay with the Lakers, and he said, yeah, yeah, like this is where I want to stay. This is where I want to stay long term. And obviously, hey, being there a cup, being here a couple of months, he sees what it's like to you put on as you know, as Kobe Bryant once said when he came on with us at Fox Sports Radio, once you put on that purple and gold armor, it's really hard to go someplace else. And same thing here he is. Now he sees how much the town loves him, and he sees the future with him in the number two market in the country. I'm telling you, man, this is they've they've found a way. And Rob Polinka got a contract extension today, which I don't think is any coincidence. Like he's found a way to make big trades when the Lakers have needed them, whether it was ad for the first time win a title, Luka Doncic. Now it really has been the last few months have really been something. But going forward, I'm telling you, I'm bullish on both of the futures of the Lakers and the Mavericks. I'm bullish on Luca because if he wasn't going to do the things that the Mavericks wanted him to do. Sometimes when you get pushed out and a change of scenery and you go someplace else, well, now I know I got to straighten up and fly right because my conditioning is going to be front and center, and they I want to sign a big contract and being in shape is gonna be there. Now, I gotta I gotta be more accountable because this is a new team and new people. I have to impress. Whereas with the Mavericks it was I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want to And yeah, this is not a new thing with the Mavericks and Luca where they weren't thrilled with him and off the court and being in shape and staying healthy. So yeah, for the Mavericks to make a move, I get it, and I get that their future is a solid one. Too, because they're gonna add another player in the offseason. They're gonna add another star, whether it's Trey Young, Joel Embiid, there's gonna be a lot of stars available they will add because they're not paying Luca three hundred and fifty million dollars, so they have the money. They're gonna add a third star. And then when Kyrie gets back, it's Kyrie ad And look at the Mavericks, the Lakers and the Mavericks. I'll tell you this. Next year you have a Bowl prediction. They will both be top four teams in the West. Next year, either way, they'll be top.
The Lakers have no negotiations needed this summer for Luka donsig because he was traded without his contract expiring. It's Dallas that made this decision to move him now in advance of, oh, we're not.
Going to pay that down the road.
No.
So A, he's not going to get a Supermax deal from the Lakers. B. He's gonna get whatever money was in his current deal he signed a few years ago with Dallas. And what he can do is opt out in a year and then maybe sign something shorter term, not five years, and wait till he's a ten year vested veteran, and then he can get the type of salary that takes up a third of your salary cap. He's Luka doncic. He's not gonna be hurting for cash. He's gonna have ridiculous nine figure contracts down the line. But the Lakers are not facing right now. What Dallas decided.
Right now, Oh it's hard to not do. Well, Wow, you just lost over one hundred million dollars in this trade was potentially yeah, brillion dollars. What I'm telling you, sunny side up, you hot take both Lakers and the Mavericks top four teams in the West next year, and that assumes health. Sure, sure, well, you always used to say that about the Lakers.
Now we're gonna to say that about Dallas because Kyrie injury, ad injury. That's I mean, that will be kind of like when I said last hour, you mean Super Bowl champion Kenny Picken. That's gotta always be attached to the name of this team in this case is assuming they're healthy.
Yeah, Dallas could make her run that type of thing. Jason Smith Steve Desager live from the tire rack dot Com studios, telling hot take but watch out telling you I love the Mavericks for next year and maybe the rest of this game. And they're down fifteen. But coming up, you know it was great Steve until you decided to say all that stuff. Maybe you're a jinx just stealing cool facts. We're at the newest desk here. Coming up next, we get into the NFL Draft and take a look at what we could see less than a week from tonight. Pete Futech college football insider, and Adalys tells us where he sees the quarterbacks going. Who's gonna get the best one? How good is Abdul Carter's he really gonna go third? Travis Hunter really not gonna play both sides of the foot? All that more? Next right here, this is Fox Sports Radio. Dollar Shave Club exists to keep grooming costs down and smooth levels high. They cut out the middleman to help you get the best possible products for the best possible prices. They've been bringing smooth shaves and helpful grooming products since twenty twelve. Whatever you're shaving, wherever on your body, Dollar Shave Club's been thoughtfully developing the products that your skin and hair will love. You want to check out some of their member favorites. Shave butter translucent so you can see where you're shaving, formulated to be hydrated for glide and ease. Four and six blade razors. The four blade great for those with thicker hair. The Diamond grip handle whatever blade you choose, their super grippy handle engineer to help prevent slips, which, hey, you know is the most important thing about shaving. They make even more awesome stuff to keep yourself clean, fresh, and smelling amazing from hair to toe. Visit dollarshaveclub dot com slash draft. Use the promo code Draft for twenty percent off your order of twenty dollars or more plus free shipping. That's dollar shaveclub dot com slash Draft promo code is Draft for twenty percent off your order of twenty dollars or more plus free shipping.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app Fox.
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show. Steve de Sagarin from Mike Harmon calm the chaos with the shipping software that delivers. Use code Sports for a free trial at shipstation dot com. At shipstation dot com code Sports, and be sure to tune in a Draft Night Live next Thursday, eight pm Eastern. Throughout the first round of the draft. Jay Glazer, LeVar Arrington, Jenny Taff, former Jets, GM, Joe Douglas have picked by pickpredictions and reactions to every first round pick that of course goes into our show which follows right after here on Fox Sports Radio next Thursday, eight pm Eastern, throughout the first round of the draft, brought to you by Shipstation. So speaking of that first round of the draft and beyond, joining us now on the hotline. Nobody better to preview what we're gonna see in less than a week. College Football Insider Extraordinary. The website is college Footballnews dot com, your one stop shopping for everything college football. He's on Twitter at Pete feud Tech. It is proud Wisconsin alum Pete feutech Pete. What's happening, man, I'm doing this fine.
I'll crowdsource this year. Is there less of a buzz this year for some reason? Last year you had the court. It was gonna be Caleb, it was gonna be Drake May it was gonna be Jade Daniels dead bone, like you ever have monster quarterbacks. It was just it was just jumping last year. This year it's kind of like, right, I guess Cam Moore goes to Tennessee Titans or something. Okay, fine, it just doesn't seem like there's that lift this year like there was last year.
Or is that just me?
No, no, because now it's it's all become about the quarterbacks. Think about the recent drafts in the last ten years where we saw four or five quarterbacks going in the first round who were all allegedly going to be good. Those all the hot drafts. I mean, we've become about the first round. Hey when it's not a great quarterback draft, Okay, yeah, it's kind of it's kind of the draft, and so that's kind of where we've been for the last few weeks.
And last year they hit. It is last year and two years ago, where the only times that they've ever hit. If you ever want to just look at the wasteland, a first round draft picks a quarterback over the last like ever, it is amazing how many interesting names are on there. Like I remember arguing over Jake Walker you know, like, oh, speaking of great Titans history, and I'm like, you know, blame Gabberts. And you know, there's just so many names on there that are just like, oh my gosh, that really really didn't work and everyone was so hot on them. But now it seems like people have figured it out better. I think the science of finding a real quarterback actually works a little bit better now.
Well. I tried to make Kyle McCord happen, but I can only do so much pet as I can only do.
Well, let's go, you got your Syracuse guy's gonna step up. Now you gotta try coming out.
Oh you know, no excited, no excited as hell. Man. If the Jets can get Kyle mccordy'll be happy. But when it comes, when it comes to the draft, right, like I think the last three days, I think, now we know how the first three picks are going to go. Tennessee will go with cam Ward one, Brown's will go Travis Hunter two, Giants with Abdual Carter. Three agree or disagree, maybe.
Flip that around. I will still argue I don't get the Travis Hunter thing. I mean, like, what is he going to be?
He's not going to be a.
Corner and a wide receiver, So like he's either going to be one and kind of dabble on the other or flip that around. So like, is he really worth more than a duel carter at the at the number two? As a corner, Eh, he's good. I mean as a receiver in this class, yes, because it's a bad class of wide receivers. But all right, maybe a little more explosive stuff on Diggs, which it's bad, to be sure, But is that worth the number two? I think that it's kind of a shiny object pick because you can do so much of them. He's such a general generational, freakish talent and good guy. You want him on your team and stuff. But I'm just not sold it at the two. That's a little bit rich.
Well, Pete, I'm Steve, and I must say I'm going off the board with this question.
I'll say it in advance.
I'm glad you mentioned the Jake Locker name because it references what I'm going to talk about that people argue about, for example, top send selections, assuming they will hit cam Ward. Was he not a essentially zero star prospect out of high school? Can you discuss a step back being a college football writer. A step back, not the draft coming into college, the amount of pub or lack of pub that people get and what it's worth exactly.
So sometimes these guys come from it. I remember, let's take it even a whole other level from now first of pack to your cam Ward thing. He kind of made it through the whole the trial and tribulations at Incarnate Word, he played in this offense where he just threw a million times. It was a statistical superstar. And then he went to the perfect type of offense for that Washington State grew up, and then at Miami looked the part. So uh, he just he's experienced, veteran guy who knows how to play the position, because you know, when when you get four or five years into this thing, you get mature guys who can step up and fly right away. But like to your point, I mean, remember Joe Burrow was just a guy, you know, he was He was just okay. And then even when he was coming out after those monster season, it's like, okay, yeah, he's gonna probably be number one, just to the quarterback. But he also had one of the greatest receiving cores of all time. To throw to, so okay, but he stepped up. He was not going to be a first round draft pick. He was gonna be like a fourth dish before his monster year. Remember Cam Newton was nowhere to be seen on the radar and then he all of a sudden became the No. One guy. So it's a it's an inexact science all the way around. In general, my rule of thumb is just assume the quarterback's not going to work, because again, if you go by the numbers, it's not, and then go from there and see if you can hopefully find something. But look, who are the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now? You know they had the trade up to get Mahomes so he was a ten. You know Josh Allen when I believe seventh Jalen Hurt for the second rounder, Lamar Jackson is at the end of the first round. You know, you don't have a whole lot of number one, two, three picks.
That really crushed Pete feutech College Football Insider with US Jason Smith, Steve de seger In from Mike Harmon. All right, so Pete, first of all, I want to say, do you have your tickets? Where are you sitting tomorrow for the jersey retirement ceremony of Travis Hunter and Shudor Sanders.
I there will be no Sanders Flander here. Literally, if im here, there is a there is a Dion Sanders jersey from about twenty five sacting more than Matt gotd thirty years ago. I he was like my favorite player ever. So Plus the fun sack is Dion.
You know, he's his.
Little statements today, Well, jersey retired everywhere I've been, Well, if it turns out no, he hasn't. He's never had his jersey retired. But look here, here's where we stand on this. If you are a Heisman Trophy winner, you should automatically go to the College Football Hall of Fame. No, you know, trial period. That means you're one of the greatest players of all time. And if you want to get your jersey retired, fine. I think the whole thing's kind of stilly and should happen. But okay, I will buy Travis Hunter getting his jersey retired. Now. I am a Shudur Sanders believer. I think he is the best quarterback in this draft and he should not be having that number two retired at all because like, again, what did he win? He had a couple of nice games, but absolutely face planted in the Bowl. They didn't get to a big couch championship. I'm not exactly sure why Shader is getting his jersey retired out of than Dad making it happen for him.
It's forty degrees for that tomorrow. Yeah, it's gonna beat it doesn't matter, doesn't matter. No, he's getting his jersey retired. Be it's embarrassing for Dion and Shadour if you're retiring another player's jersey that's not his son. So hey, I got it. We're going to retire the jersey. That's exactly why it's happening.
Thank you. But I figures now if you retire his number two jersey, indeed, are you?
Dion figures?
Sure?
All right? So if I said to you, Pete, give me the give me your top four quarterbacks in order, top four quarterbacks in the draft that you like the most, what you've seen in college, everything you've seen, what they put on tape. Who would be your top four? Obviously Shador Sanders number one. Where do you go after that? Yeah?
As I said before, I Shudur Manning, he's number one overall. It's just it's they're looking for reasons not to like him. But on the field, he's the best of the bunch. Ward is good. I'll put him number two. I really do kind of like Quinn Ewarts as a as a just a just a solid starter. He's not gonna be anything special, but I think he's going to be one of those guys who could just step in and and just start for you and be just fine. And I kind of I kind of like you guy. I kind of like Kyle. I kind of think I am not really buying into the Jackson Dark thing. And that's the scuttle button. He's the number two guy off the board a lot of parts of the system there. I'm still, you know, enjoying the Matt Corral era when everyone's trying to think you was the number one overall pick.
Uh.
So I'm not quite buying into Jackson Dark at all. But remember sometimes if you get look at the history of the quarterbacks being taken the NFL Draft, sometimes the answer is just none of the above. There's guys who you Okay, fine, you're gonna you need a quarterback in Tennessee, go for it. Take camp. If you need a quarterback somewhere in there. It takes your door, maybe even take your Jackson Dart, take a flyer. I'm not the biggest fan Jalen Milroe, a pro, loved him in college, but just don't think it's gonna quite work. But again, Kenny Pickett, you know those types of drafts, Sometimes the answer just is nah, It's just it's not there.
Which brings me to the guy I'm most intrigued to see in the Thursday night first round, the Boise State running back Ashton Genty. Does he go as high as say the Raiders in the top ten? Does he miss the top ten entirely?
What do you think for gent I think.
The feeling is yes, the feeling is that he is. The Raiders desperately need running back if he had to go there, the Broncos desperately need a running back. I still don't buy that you need the position. I know that you know Derrick Henry this year and Saequon Barkley and all that, but they also traded for him, like, let someone else develop your running back. At this point, you don't really need to take a running back from that early. Marion Hampton from North Carolina is not terribly far behind. I like Kujan Jenkins jud Kindo out of Ohio State. There are very good backs in this draft, and as always, you don't really need those guys, especially this year where what did we see in the Super Bowl. Yeah, Barkley's great. Barkley certainly had an epic year, but it was that pass rush that just destroyed everyone when it was time for the Eagles to shine. And the edge rushers are the stars of this draft. There are so many good edge rushers. Those are those guys are gonna be flying off the board in the first round.
He's on Twitter at pete feu Tech. That is at petefeu Tech college footballnews dot com. You're one stop shopping for everything college football. You up for a couple of hits with us next week pre end post draft.
You good.
I will do whatever you tell me to do.
Be careful. Just keep pumping up Kyle McCord. You couldn't get him an extra year at Syracuse. Keep pumping them up for the draft, that's all.
And to me, by the way, I'm really quick. I think there's gonna be some ruling that says, yes, you can be around college forever. Now agreed. They're gonna take away the five year limits. So yeah, you can might get Kyle Accord back.
Great. Oh man, it's a little bit too late, Pete. It's a little too late.
Yeah, maybe it's eligibility left.
Thanks a bunch, Bundy. We'll talk to you next week. I went to the guy with college like that way. But how long have you been on campus? My seventh year? Oh yeah, what what huh? I've been in this school for seven years now. I'm no dummy. You just want to don't want to begin adult life? No, I just want to stay in school. Man. I want to have a Thursday night meeting nights at the bar where pictures of beer are two fifty and we talk about life. Two hots and a cat and you got a student union building and freepool and ping pong. I'm working on my PhD. And what well we got table tennis over here, We got this. I just want to like go to the Thursday pig every Thursday and hanging out. Yeah, how old are you?
I'm thirty four years old that I'm working on my thesis. Yes, it takes a long time. I just don't know what it is and if it's a post college college you know, I remember going, and I there was never a thought where I said, if I could stay five years, I would stay. Forgot about the money first of all. But like all my friends are graduating, Why would I want to stay? Why would I want to stay at college another year?
Why didn't you start life? Yeah, I'm the only male member of my family that's done college in four years. Every other male member has done college in five years or more, even my extended family, Pam's family. Of the relatives now that are alive now, rather I'm the only one. I'm like four years. Man, Hey, listen, you talk to me. You want advice, I'll tell you about four years. Well, it's not going to be four minutes for the Dallas. I didn't go to half my classes and I went to about have my buddy. College is still a good It was so cold, though, Steve was Yeah, that is a different thing. It was so cold because you went to Colorado. No, no Syracuse. Speaking of cold, Sorry, the Dallas Mavericks.
Go ahead, cold shooting, go ahead, roll the music. Because the Dallas MAVs season might be ending tonight at Memphis under nine minutes to go in the play in Tournament.
The NBA is held this week.
Grazley's leading one three eighty eight against the MAVs, even though Anthony Davis has thirty eight points and nine rebounds again thirty eight for him, fifty for the rest of the team combined, including a couple of starters, have combined a zero for seven so far PJ. Washington and Derek Livelu So not looking good for the MAVs, who, let's be honest, we're a sub five hundred team anyway. John Morandi is playing despite the sprained ankle earlier this week. Eighteen points for him in twenty six minutes on the court for Memphis. Tonight's winner goes to Oklahoma City for Game one of a best of seven on Sunday. Miami goes to Cleveland in the East for a Game one on Sunday night. In overtime, the Heat eliminated the Hawks in Atlanta one twenty three one fourteen, Tyler Hero with thirty points, Trey Young in defeat twenty nine points eleven assists. The playoffs first round starts Saturday. There are some games tomorrow, including Indiana against the Bucks, who won eight straight. Their Game one will start the NBA postseason schedule. Officially Saturday, one pm Eastern Time. Clippers will be playing tomorrow. Lakers will be playing tomorrow. In fact, the Lakers today gave general manager Rob Polenka an extension. He's now also president of basketball operations. In the first round in the West, Lakers versus Minnesota starts Saturday night. Stanley Cup playoffs begin with a couple of games on Saturday. We were talking about NFL sixteen pro prospects are due to be attending the NFL Draft in Green Bay Thursday. You can hear our coverage for the entire first round Thursday, and as usual, Jason comes on right as soon as the first round concludes. It's a great, great night here. Quarterbacks cam Ward and Jalen Milroe are still due to be in attendance or a minder. NASCAR's Cup Series is off this Sunday for Easter, and it'll be on Fox TV the next Sunday. The baseball Washington at Colorado rained out. They'll play a doubleheader on Sunday. Rockies have a three to fifteen record. They've lost six in a row. There's one late game tonight in Anaheim. The Angels, who've lost four in a row, are still shutting out the Giants two nothing top of the eighth, even though the Giants starter Tonight Logan Webb had twelve strikeouts in his six innings of work. The Mets won on a solo homer bottom of the ninth by Francisco Door, five to four over Saint Louis. The Cards had just homered in the top of the ninth at Boston Trevor Story two three run homers. Since the Red Sox beat the White Sox ten three, the White Sox are zho and seven on the road, Atlanta scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to win six to four over Minnesota and Braves dh Marcelo's son A returned after hip inflammation this week.
He had a walk and a run scored.
The Dodgers won three to nothing at Texas and a great Pictures duel Yoshinobu Yamamoto over Jacob de Grom Tommy Edmund a lead off homer. In fact, he had three hits. The rest of the Dodgers went two for twenty six. Still get the w and Shoeo Tani is back in la on paternity leave. His wife is expecting their first child. By the way, Boston's Alex Bregman returned tonight after a brief paternity leave. He had a couple walks couple runs scored in that Red Sox win. Houston beat San Diego six to four, cam Smith two homers. Milwaukee eventually closed out the A's five to three, Christian Yelich with three RBIs And today at Wrigley what a final three innings This week was Cubs thirteen eleven over Arizona. The Diamondbacks scored ten times in the top of the eighth and then allowed six runs in the bottom of the eighth and lost. Updating the basketball, it is one, eight eighty eight, Memphis up by twenty at home and Ad is.
On the sideline stretching. He's grimacing in pain. They're looking at his right leg and they're only down twenty with seven and a half beats to go. Twenty of time. Yeah, I'm sure the season will continue for you. Thank you, Steve. Coming up next, Hey, great stuff from Pete fu Tech. As always, we're gonna celebrate the NFL Draft being a week away the best way we know how. It is fun on a positivity Friday, play the best NFL Draft game you will ever hear on the radio's next right here Jason Smith Steve de seger in for Harmon. This is Fox. Is your business struggling to balance your workforce with production demands in a variable economy, Balancing your spending while maintaining the necessary team can be very tricky. Time to try something new. Express Employment Professionals provide contract workers to flex up for peak seasons without having to raise your core workforce headcomp Visit expresspros dot com today, and businesses that use Express have ranked it best of staffing for five consecutive years. If your HR team is frustrated with keeping up with changing government regulations for hiring, including leave policies, wages, and overtime, working with Express can help you stay informed and save your time, whether you're looking for contract workers or a new team member. Their streamlined hiring process is more efficient than hiring on your own. Visit expresspros dot com today. With more than eight hundred and sixty locally owned offices, you'll get the hiring support and you need at expresspros dot com dots expresspros dot com.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific
