I know the NBA Draft is tonight, dammit. I know, I know, but that ain't what's on my mind. I'm gonna discuss it, but that ain't want my own. That ain't what's on my mind. What's on my mind. Let's do that hockey. Let's do that hockey. Y'all ain't seen me since I was at Game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals in Florida Monday night, but you're about to see me now The Steven as Smith Show coming your way. Let's roll. What's up? Everybody? Welcome to the Ladies edition of The Steven Asmith Show, coming at you as I love to do at the very least three times a week over the digital airwaves of YouTube. Just wanted to give major love to all of my followers and subscribers because we've now eclipsed seven hundred and ten thousand subscribers. We continue to climb. That can't happen without the love and support that y'all give me. Thank you so much, I really really appreciate it. Keep the love coming now so I can keep on coming. And of course I got to give love to iHeartRadio as well, because I deal with iHeart. We've now eclipsed over one point two million downloads over the last couple of months. So y'all just giving me all kinds of love and a brother appreciate hold On, I'm just touched. I'm touched by the love and support because I'm not used to seeing that from folks like that. But I love it and I appreciate it. Thank y'all so much. Okay, the like and continue to follow us and subscribe to the show. Just click the bell in the right hand corner and YouTube will be the latest member of the Stephen A. Smith Show family. A lot of things to get into as the NBA Draft rapidly approaches Tonight. By the way, I'll be on ABC Television with my partner in crime, Bob Mys, the former general manager Extraordinary for the Golden State Warriors, the four time champion. He and I will be doing the NBA Draft together for ABC, along with the one and only Kevin and Gandhi on ESPN. ABC of course look for us. They're discussing not just the first round of the draft on Wednesday night, but the draft round two Thursday night as well. That would be before the President Biden versus Donald Trump debate, not during before because Lord knows, I ain't missing that debate. I can promise you that I ain't missing that debate. Having said all of that, that's not what's on my mind at this particular moment. Let me just get this out of the way. I know that the Florida Panthers ultimately nearly blew a three zero series lead in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers, but they held on and ultimately won game seven to to one, capturing their first Stanley Cup title in their thirtieth season. By the way, just as in the side, we've now got the Florida Panthers as champions, the Miami Heat as champions, the Miami Marlins as champions. All have won championships since the Miami Dolphins last won a Super Bowl title following the nineteen seventy three season. I mean, damn, the Miami Dolphins got something in common with my New York Knicks. They went since nineteen seventy three either, my Lord, so we got to take that into consideration. But in all seriousness, major props on several levels. Number one to the Panthers defense. They put mister mcjesus himself to one and only econom McDavid held him scoreless, no points, no assist on a total of two shots on goals in Game six and seven, after he had recorded a Cup Finals record four points executive games in games four and five with three goals and five assists. So figure that out. They were able to put him on lock and key in Game seven. Major major props to Florida's defense. They were known as having an elite defense. They handled their business. Now, I openly admit I don't know anything about hockey other than the puck is black, because I don't follow the sport. But I was there Monday night, and it was one of the most exciting times that I've ever had, and I'm gonna make it my business to go to some more hockey games, or at the very least watch some more hockey games. I thought I wouldn't like the sport, when it turns out the only thing I don't like about it is that the arenas a cold is hell. Okay, you could be outside in ninety five degree weather the minute they opened the door to a hockey arena, it drops by about thirty degrees in a nanosecond. It is cold, okay, But I really really did enjoy myself. I really had a good time, all right, I was in attendance. Like I told you, they won the game. And props to Florida coach Paul maurice A twenty sixth seasons, he finally captured his first Stanley Cup championship. By the way he proved to he improved to five and zero in game sevens. So this is a guy that's proven that he could coach. He's proven that he knows how to handle his business. Florida held Edmonton to one goal after allowing six goals per game in getting out scored eighteen to five during the three game losing streak in games four through six. So a lot of stuff has to be given credit. Now here's the controversy. In a lot of people's eyes, this guy, Sergey Bobrowski, goalie for the Panthers, stopped twenty three or twenty four shots on goal. You had a whole bunch of people out there believing that he should have won a con smythe Trophy. He should have been a Consmith Trophy winner. That's what they were trying to say. That's what they were trying to say. But guess what happened. It went to Connor McDavid. Now me personally, I can't have a problem with him when you consider what the brother did, what he brought to the table. I mean, just think about this right here is com McDavid. We're talking about it. Just because I don't cover the sport, just because I don't watch it that much, does not mean I'm not gonna know my facts, because I'm a reporter by heart. And here's the bottom line. Conny McDavid forty two points eight goals a single postseason record of thirty four assists are the fourth most in a single postseason in National Hockey League history, behind only Wayne Gretzky forty seven to nineteen eighty five and forty three and nineteen ninety eight, okay, and marioltmill with forty four in nineteen ninety one. They both won the cons Miightward in those seasons as well. Here's eleven points of talking about Conny McDavid. Here's eleven points in the Stanley Cup final with two point five time the Stanley Cup record held by Wayne Gresky with thirteen and nineteen eighty eight. Okay, So we got to take that into consideration. He also became just a sixth player in NHL history to win the cons Mike Trophy after losing in the Stanley Cup finals. So you got to take that into consideration. The three wins they had in this series after being down three to zero, three goals, five assists for just eight points, and the four losses zero goals, three assists for three points. We got to take all of those things into consideration. Here's my thing when I look at conom McDavid, this is the kind of conversation that we have to start having if we're gonna be fair, if we're gonna be honest, if we're gonna be real about what we're watching, because there's no way around us. When we think about Cone McDavid. It's phenomenal and fantastic as he is, and ladies and gentlemen, he is the real deal, make no mistake about it. We also have to put him in a category most League MVP awards with no championships. Right there, you see on the full screen, no Canada, not Old Canada, no Canada. As in thirty one years since the Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup. I'm an American citizen. I don't give a damn about that. That's their issue. Not mine. Here's what my issue is. When I watch greatness and I see champions I'm paying attention and most league MVP awards without a single championship in each major pro sport. You got Karl Malone and Steve Nash with two in the NBA two league MVP awards, no championships. You got Lamar Jackson now with the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League two league MVPs, no championships. But the second person, the second highest person with league MVP awards and no championships, is now Connor McDavid. Number one is a seven time league MVP. Barry Bonds in baseball, now, I don't It's all a team sport, and I get that, but baseball is one of those things where you could be the greatest thing since sliced bread, and there's absolutely nothing you could do. I hold indivisuals less accountable for not winning in a sport of baseball than I do in any other sport. Lamar Jackson could have made a difference against Patrick Mahomes last year and in the AFC Championship game on the basketball court. Carl Malone, if you a little bit better than Michael Jordan, you might have had a championship, Steve Nash, if if if, if you know, Robert Horry doesn't hip check somebody. And in the conference finals, when you you know, when you know you were with the Sons, the Phoenix Sons with their high powered offense led by Mike D'Antoni there as the coach. You know, when you got Joe Johnson and and and and the matrix, you know, Sean Marion and and and the rest of the crep, y'all might have won a championship. Okay, So it's little things that could happen. But an individual player, an individual greatness, can somehow, some way influence things in this. In baseball, I don't want to hear that. You ever seen a situation where you got Cats back and home runs back, and RBIs doing what they do, but a pitcher comes in and stinks up the joint? Y'all ever see that happen. I've seen it happen. So I mean, if your pitcher don't show up and he ain't on his game, and he's getting the ball smacked around the ballparker out of the ballpark on him, there's nothing an infielder and outfielder, a catcher can do. There's nothing a manager could do other than take them out. There's plenty of times I've seen that happen. So I'm not gonna hold Barry Bonds accountable for not having the chip when that brother. Sure. Now, if you show up in the World Series and you play like garbage, there's a different matter. But if you show up and you do what we're accustomed to seeing you do and it just don't work out because your other teammates didn't show up, I'm not holding you accountable for that. I'm not holding Barry Bonds accountable for that. Damn that. But Conom mcdavidad Monday night, they clamped them, y'all. They clamped them, They keyed up on them, they zeroed in, they focused, they took away space, they took away time. As they say in hockey, that time and space the narroid gets the more difficult the game becomes. That's what they did to Con McDavid. And as a result, he didn't do anything. Because he didn't do anything, he went home without a championship on four actually, So that's what I wanted to say about that. Major props to him for winning. The cons might the world because the cons mighty ain't about an MVP performance during the Stanley Cup Finals. It's about what you do throughout the entire playoffs. And clearly his numbers throughout the playoffs were sensational. He was deserving of the ward. But who wants to hear his name called in a losing effort on the road in Florida? Last name, I'm there. Those people didn't give a damn about economic David. They we appreciate and respect them, but they were born because they don't want to hear that shit. They want their team won. And Rabovski stopped twenty three shots in twenty four attempts after giving up eighteen eighteen goals eighteen points in the three previous games, gave up one in game seven. That's showing up, that's delivering. Got to give credit and props where credit and props is due. Now, let me transition to the NBA Draft that's coming up, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know what to say about this draft. We are entering the draft, and listen, I'm gonna cover it, and I'm not in any way trying to imply that there's not some real, real, real talent that's gonna be out there for the NBA Draft coming up. I'm not trying to imply that at all. I'm just looking at the first round. And just for those of you who don't know, the Atlanta Hawks have the number one overall pick. Who knows what they're going to do with Trey Young. The Washington Wizards got the second pick Houston via the Brooklyn Nets. They got the third overall picks, and Antonio's got the fourth overall pick to put somebody in that can roll with wyn Bianna. The Detroit Pistons are at the fifth pick. Okay, they just let go of coach Monty Williams. Charlotte Hornets are at the sixth pick. Derrick Lee's a new head coach. Four the Charlotte Hornet's coming over from Boston as an assistant. Portland Trailblazer's seventh pick. Spurs have the fourth the eighth pick in the draft because they getting the eighth pick from Toronto, who just signed Scottie Bonds about a potential two hundred and seventy million dollar deal. Lord at Mercy Today's NBA economy. What are you talking about here? Memphis Grizzly is the ninth pick, Utah the tenth pick, Bulls at the eleventh pick, Oklahoma City Thunder at the twelfth pick, Kings at the thirteenth pick, Portland Trailblazers again at the fourteenth pick, so they got the seventh and the fourteenth pick. The Spurs have the fourth and the eighth pick in the first round. Those are lottery picks, of course. Miami and Philadelphia and the Lakers are fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. You know, I'm just looking at some of these things. The New York Knicks have the twenty fourth and twenty fifth pick in the first round, so I'm quite sure there are some interesting players. And in no way am I trying to poop poo this NBA draft. There's always good guys. But the reality of the situation is when you're looking at what you're talking about. The Hawks are projected to take this guy, Zachary Lasasure. I believe that's how you pronounce his name. Small forward out of France aged nineteen years of age, got some skills, but their big question is whether not Trey Young is going to stay or they gonna move on from him. You got this kid, Alex Sorry is a power forwards, last center from Australia. He's nineteen years of age. Okay, you got Reed Shepard, point guard, shooting guard out of Kentucky. He's also nineteen years of age. Rockets are talking about taking him Stefan Castle. He's in Another point guard out of Yukon, just won a national championship. We know what he brings to the table. I mean, you've got some talent here. And I'm looking and this kid, Dalton Necked, this small forward out of Tennessee. I watched him during the NCAA tournament. I like that kid. I like that kid. Okay, And I'm just but Donovan Clinging out of Yukon. He's projected to go number seven with Portland. I'm just looking at some of these guys. Another Kentucky dude, Rob Dillingham out of Kentucky. Cody Williams out of Colorado he can ball, and Nicole Topic out of some Adriatic league wherever the hell that is. You got Devin Carter. He's a point guard shooting guard out of Providence. There's some talent. There's some talent. Here's my issue. Very few people give a shit compared to Lebron James Son Bronnie James, and he's not even projected to be a first rounder. We're projecting whether or not he may go fifty fourth or fifty fifth in the NBA draft. Okay, And I'm just looking at it from that standpoint. The Boston Celtics have the fifty fourth pick. The Los Angeles Lakers have the fifty fifth pick. Now, let me say this to Bronnie James, wishing him nothing but the best, good kid. Parents are wonderful. I critique Lebron James basketball. You know, some of the basketball stuff, like having a podcast with JJ Reddick in the middle of the damn season where you know, Darvin Ham's on a hot seat. I don't blame JJ Reddick for that. I blame Lebron James for that, even though I think it was a fabulous podcast and all of this other stuff, which, by the way, JJ Ready, the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lake has announced, will not be taking place anymore. He will not be podcasting, he will be coaching. So the podcast is over. Okay, so be it. At the end of the day, nobody, Lebron is not to be questioned as a dad, as a parent, as a father, not at all. And so as we sit here talking about Bronnie James, they say he's athletic, they say he can defend, they say he has tremendous upside, but they question whether or not he's ready. We'll find that out. What is undoubtedly so is that all the attention is coming in his direction. He's getting more attention than any pick you can come up with, and we ain't seen that in history. And so that just speaks to the power of Lebron James. Because of Lebron James, wasn't that relevant. Neither would his son be, at least for the moment. And so that's what we've got to think about. We got to take that into consideration and we got to go from there. All right, I'm looking at and I think the legitimate question to be asked is where would be the ideal landing spot for Bronnie James. Is it with his dad, assuming his dad, who's going to exercise his rights to be a free agent, stays in LA, which he undoubtedly will, probably with a three year max deal. Is JJ Reddick the new coach the right guy to help out and teach Bronnie James what he needs to be taught. Would Bronnie James be better off in Boston with the fifty fourth pick. These are legitimate questions. These are legitimate questions. Are you ready for this? If he's worthy of being the forty first pick in the NBA Draft, I think the Philadelphia seventy six ers should look to grab Bronnie James if the Lakers, and I sincerely doubt of Bronnie James is available at number fifty five that the Lakers are not going to take him. But if somehow, some way that miracle happened, I like Bronnie James at number fifty six for the Denver Nuggets. Philly and Denver. Why do I say that, because when you have big men who are the primary offensive option, that takes pressure off the guards to be formidable offensively, and more is required of them defensively, and along with their athleticism and their effort. And with Denver having let go of Jeff Green and Bruce Brown, which I believe cost them in these past playoffs in their seven game series lost in the semi finals to the Minnesota Timberwolves, I'm of the mindset that Bronnie James going some place where the focal point of the offense is you're big, and less of it, A less of the onus is placed on the shoulders of a guard. Now he gets to go in there develop his offensive game, but still gives you effort defensively, which is his forte according to the scouts and evaluators, and I think he could benefit extremely well in that regard. That's where I'm coming from. That's all I have to say about that. In regards to Briannie James, wishing him nothing but the best, but let me move on because I wanted to get to something. In regards to Ognanoby for the New York Knicks. Now we all know that I'm a diehard New York Knicks fan, unrealistic in a lot of ways. I understand that, but damn it, that's what comes with being emotional from time to time. Ogananobe, who the Knicks were twenty six and six with in the thirty two regular season and postseason games he actually played, then declined his nineteen point nine million dollar player option with the New York Knicks for the twenty twenty four to twenty five season. As a result, he's become an unrestricted free agent and consign with any team Okay fourteen and seventeen in the games he missed. By the way, in the thirty one games he missed, that was the Knicks record without him twenty six and six in the games they played with him. Since the trade in late December, he ranked first in the NBA by holding opponents to thirty five point seven percent shooting as the closest defender. The impact on the court, however, was warded down by his lack of availability, Like I said, because he was injured and he has played in an average of fifty two games in the past four seasons, so durability has not been his thing, and that's something that I'm sure the New York Knicks have to take into consideration. He's an All NBA defender, to make no mistake about it, and he deserves a significant pay increase. I'm not going to question that. The issues how much. That's what the issue is. You know, the Knicks have been meticulous and structuring. You know their finances. No player is earning more than thirty million dollars next season. Julius Randall has the highest cap hit at twenty nine million dollars. So the New York Knicks clearly know what they're doing. They've got a plan. Give leon Rose, give Worldwide West, William Wesley, give Gershan Rojas and others some credit. They deserve it. Okay, but ann Anobe, he could be the first. Is Ananobe worth over thirty million dollars? Yes he is? Yes he is. If he's gonna be on the basketball court the way he defends the guts, he shows et cetera, as feisty as the New York Knicks is, and he fits right in with their culture, Yes he is. The question is where the New York Knicks try to jord the line and the sand Financially got teams like Detroit, Orlando, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and Utah all projected to have at least thirty million in room if og Nnobi was on Oklahoma City Lord. But then again, Lou Dort, I mean, because you're mad at him and Lou Dort on the court with Shae Gilgess, Alexander defending my God, and when Anthony Edwards a way, what you've seen him doing with Kyrie and Luke, and what they're capable of doing with Paul George, assuming these stays in La with Kawhi Leonard and what they're capable of doing with KD. Beale and Booker for the time being in Phoenix and what they're capable of doing, I must confess Oklahoma City Thunder should consider og Ananobe. I would say so, but I hope the New York Knicks keep him. Here's the other thing that I will say. I do think that the New York Knicks is great as Jalen Brunson has been. As phenomenal as he has been, I must say this, I think Jalen Brunson should not be the number one option. I don't mean he shouldn't be the number one option as if he doesn't deserve it. I mean, if you're the New York Knicks and you really trying to make some noise, particularly in the Eastern Conference, against the team the quality of the bosson Celtics that have Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown as cornerstones of their franchise. If you are the New York Knicks, my position is Jalen Brunson shouldn't be that number one option. You should have a number one option better than Jalen Brunson, or you should go out and get a sniper. Now, Paul George is big time and plays on both ends of the court. I personally think he should leave the Clippers because I don't think that he should be relying on Kawhi Leonnard. But Kawhi Lennon is his boy. Kawhi Lendons is the one that got him from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles by hijacking and blackmailing the Los Angeles Clippers franchise by threatening them to take his services to the Lakers if they didn't builk everything to get Paul George. Okay, So I understand that, and he has a loyalty to Kawhi Lenntt, the perpetually injured Kawhi Lennett, who's never gonna have a healthy or postseason as far as I'm concerned, I just don't believe it. I got to see it to believe it. If I'm Paul George, I think about moving on Philadelphia or New York. You could say Philadelphia is the better option, but that's imagining that Joel Embiid is going to be healthy along with Tyreese MAXI you would be right, But since Joel and BID's health is never a reliable commodity to have at your disposal, I would tell you, poor Georgia and New York would be just fine too. But let me tell you what. I don't want to rule out Klay Thompson. I don't know what the hell is wrong with some of you people. Now I know that Klay Thompson is Klay Thompson. He struggled this year. Okay shot like forty percent from the field, thirty nine percent from three point range. That was a career low shooting. You know, averagecoring seventeen points a game. I get all that I was a career low. But I just told you that Klay Thompson average seventeen points on thirty nine percent shooting from three point range. You know how many people in the league can do that? You know, you know that ninety five percent of the NBA cannot do that. Right, this Klay Thompson we talked about. This is a four time champion. It's what the greatest shooters in the history of the NBA. We're talking about here? The hell is wrong with y'all? This is Klay Thompson. And by the way, did you know that after the All Star Break, Klay Thompson shot forty five percent for the field and forty two percent for the three point range, An average twenty a game after the All Star break, keep sleeping on that brother. You want to you don't want them no more, Golden State, Let that brother come to New York City and watch what I do. I'll throw a party. Jalen Brunson, Dante DiVincenzo, Josh Harten. Those boys got somebody like Klay Thompson to spell for them, or they spell for him, and you kicking it out to that brother to give him open shots. I bet my money on Klay Thompson, that brother special. I don't know if Golden State's gonna lose him or not. I don't know if he wants to leave. But Klay Thompson, just a little nugget of information. You want your money right? Did you know that the taxes in New York, the income taxes are hovering around close to nine percent. Did you know that in the state of California it's at fourteen point four Do you know that if those representatives, those legislators in legislators and legislators right in California, do you know if they had their brothers, it would elevate to sixteen point eight percent? Did you know you? Did you know that I want to keep your money. I'm not saying New York is their ideal option, because there are states when no state income taxes, But New York is a hell of a lot better option than California. I'm just saying, Clay, I'm just saying, moving on, I got some other stuff to get into. We can act like you don't want to talk about a debate, but damn it, you need to. This debate coming up with former President Donald Trump versus current President Joe Biden is this Thursday night in Atlanta, Georgia. You're better pay attention, y'all. Now it's gonna be hosted and conducted by some folks I believe for CNN. Uh, they'll have their questions. I got some questions that I want them to ask. What could that possibly be? Stick around your boy, Stephen are tell you in a minute, you're listening to the Steven A. Smith Show right here over iHeartRadio, and of course you're watching the Stephen A. Smith Show over the digital airways of YouTube. Back with more in a minute. All right, everybody, you know what Tom It is is Tom for stephen A's Weekly Picks. If you're a sports fanatic like me, then you can't just watch the games. You need to be a part of it all. So how do I do that? I played Prize Picks. Of course, Prize Pects in case you didn't know, it's a skill based, real money daily fantasy sports game where you select two, three, even up to six players and choose if they will have more or less than they're projected in game stats. It takes less than sixty seconds to make your picks and put you right in the middle of the game time action. So pick the stats of all your favorite players, oh, Toni, Caitlyn Clark, even Christiano Ronaldo. Okay, And if you go to prospects dot com right now and use promo code sas, you receive a one hundred percent deposit bonus up to one hundred dollars. That ain't no joke. So go to Prospects dot com. Type in my initials says for a first coun deposit match up to one hundred dollars, Pick more, pick less. It's really that easy today. However, I will not be selecting any players or sports. I want to go off topic, all right, that's right. I'm selecting either more or less than fourteen and a half flights taken per month. That's what y'all asking me. That's what you're asking me. Contrary to popular belief, do you know what the numbers less? Now? Once upon the topic, it was more. When I was a beat writer for the Philadelphia seventy six ers, when I was covering the NBA for the Philadelphia Inquiring newspaper. All of those years, I was on the road over two hundred and twenty days per year, so I was always in the air. I was always flying all over the damn place. It was wild. But as I've grown, as I've aged beautifully, I might add, as I have been accumulating more time in television studios, as I've flown across country, I've actually flown less. Because if you've flying from New York to LA like I do a lot, or back from LA to New York like I do a lot because I'm by coastal, guess what, you ain't going to these places for one or two days. You stand a little while, because those are some long ass flights. So guess what the numbers at about ten? That would be less than fourteen and a half. That is what I do. I'm usually with more on a lot of these topics. Every now and then less can actually be better. Welcome back to Steph Nick Smischel right here over the digital airways of YouTube, and of course iHeartRadio. Switching to politics because that is something that affects their lives, of every single American citizens, So or something we should pay attention to sports of games, we can always choose to turn that on and off. We can't turn off our lives, you know what I'm saying. Politics do matter. Unfortunately, by the way, anyway, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump was set to face off tomorrow night in the first presidential debate of the cycle. The debate will be hosted at CNN's Atlanta studios at nine pm Eastern Eastern Standard time. It's the first debate between a sitting president and a former president and is one of only two scheduled debates in the twenty twenty four race as of now. The next is slated for September tenth. The debate settings are a departure from previous election years, just so you know. Traditionally held by the non partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which has overseen presidential debate since nineteen eighty eight. The Biden campaign said the president would not participate in debates sponsored by the Commission due to what it said was an unwillingness to enforce the rules. During the twenty twenty debate. If you remember and those debates in twenty twenty, Donald Trump interrupted Biden, according to reports, at least seventy times. This time around, microphones will be muted when somebody is talking and the other is listening. Of course, they'll have, you know, two minutes to give an answer to the questions from one of the moderators, which is scheduled to be Jake Tapper and Data Bash from CNN. You'll have one minute for your rebuttal, and then after that you'll get an additional minute to come back and piggyback off of the rebuttal statements that were made against you, and Bash and Tapper will use their discretion to decide if any further dialogue will be allowed on that particular subject. It gets interesting to me from the CNN standpoint in this one way, I'm not trying to judge or sit here and be judging jury against the CNN network. I don't do that to my colleagues. But the bottom line is we are talking about a presidential debate. And it is the fourth of STATEUM, we have an obligation make sure that we are as objective as we possibly can be. So it can't be one of those situations where Bash and Tapper come across as being biased. When the CNN network has been accused, primarily by Donald Trump over the years, for being fake news and for having a bias in favor of liberals as opposed to conservatives, this is what some of them say. I will say this to you. Say what you want about Fox News collectively an overall. Even though I'm a Neil Kvoodo fan, I can tell you that right now, I'm a big time Nilkavodo fan. I think that he's very Brett Baher. I'm another fan of his. Watch his interview when he sat down with Donald Trump, and he picked the part what Donald Trump said and how he insulted an abundance of cabinet members that he had that he had initially hired. I find them to be very credible. And I thought the job that Sean Hannity did with the debate between California Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, I think it was up to snuff and I believe that Tappa and Bash will be up to snuff and they'll be up for the challenge this Thursday night tomorrow night. So let me just get that out of the way. I just think it's important to mention. Here's the other thing. When you're talking about Donald Trump and you're talking about Joe Biden, and you're talking about what we are looking for in this debate. Oh, here's the question. What are we looking for? Let's call it what it is, one less than the other. We're looking for stability, We're looking for cogency. Trump has sounded a little bit out there. I know. We get on Joe Biden for mumbling and bumbling and all that stuff. He's eighty one years of age. He looks at times, the way he walks, and how unstable he appears. Definitely appears to be the case at times. Sometimes when he drifts off a little bit and he starts mumbling. We just don't see him to be as sharp as he once was. Okay, but he's still our president, and a lot of people believe that he's doing an outstanding job. If you're a leftist, if you're a liberal, you think he's doing a great job. You're a conservative, you think he's doing a terrible job. In the case of Donald Trump, he's seventy eight years of age, not eighty one, like Joe Biden approaching thirty two years of age, but seventy eight. But there have been times where Donald Trump has sounded a bit wild, a bit out there, to say the least, even though he definitely seems more energetic than Joe Biden his way, it gets tricky if you're Donald Trump. You can't go out there Thursday night and Joe Biden looks more together than you. He can't look more cogent, he can't look more stable. More importantly, he can't mumble less than you, Donald Trump. That cannot happen. One could easily argue that the kind of pressure that Donald Trump is under right now is more pressure than he has ever been on on a debate stage, because he's a former president and he's trying to get back into the White House. And as a result, you have been leaning on Joe Biden being this god awful president. Well, what stats will you have to back that up? Are you gonna lean on the economy. You're certainly gonna lean on the borders. Even Andrew Cuomo went on Real Time with Bill Maher along with Bill Maher lamenting the lack of a plan that Joe Biden and his administration and the Liberals had as it pertained to our borders, having open borders with no plan whatsoever to take care of the folks that you that you let into the country. Now, that to me is an is the easiest fight that Donald Trump is going to have on his hands. The economy is another matter, okay, international relations, global relations, geopolitical stuff, that's another matter we shall see. But the border is his issue that he should lean on. And outside of that, it's really really about cogency and togetherness and how a stute and sharp you truly truly are compared here too, Joe Biden, because you made that an issue for Joe Biden. So if you go out there looking less stable or just as bad as you pretend Joe Biden would look, how's that gonna make you look? If you're Joe Biden. I hate bringing this up about the age, about the togetherness, about the cold. You see, I voted for the man, I'm gonna vote for him again, But I tell you this, that don't mean I got to be happy about it. And that's one of the things that pisses me off about the liberals. You know, you can sit up there and say, I'm gona vote for this person. They want you to be happy about it. You want me to get your George forman smile. No, look at this. Oh wait, so things are so great? Really? You sure about that? Our borders are not an issue. Folks coming into the country illegally are not an issue. Illegal immigrants given being given prepaid credit cards, that's not an issue. New York okay, And fifty three million dollars to spend. That ain't an this shoe. Violence in the streets of America, that's not an issue. People getting arrested for assault, people getting arrested for robbery, people getting arrested for all types of stuff and getting out of jail the same day. That ain't in this shoe. Some of the more prominent blue states in the country looking to raise taxes at every turn, primarily New York. I'm I'm primarily California, in New Jersey, if not New York. That ain't in this shoe. So all things are not bad, all things are not perfect. Each side has an argument to make. It comes down to two relatively unpopular candidate. Me personally, I wish Michelle Obama was running me personally, I would root for Gavin Newsom if he wasn't the governor of California living around fourteen point four percent of state income taxes and folks trying to elevate it above sixteen percent. He can't win a general election in my opinion, with those kind of stats that are being thrown out there. But he looks damn good in those blue suits, I tell you that much. He looks very presidential, but he ain't running. Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States, clearly being held back by the Biden administration. But what have you done to really stand out and step out to be a candidate in the event that Biden wouldn't be in this position, which some people have speculated about. These are questions. I'm not making any accusations. I'm saying all of that stuff is on the line, because if Biden shows up Thursday night and he is an unmitigated disaster, you're gonna have people clamoring for him to step aside for the betterment of the party in the country and to let somebody like a Kamala Harris or another candidate step in and go up against Donald Trump themselves. That's what you're going to see transpire. That's what you're gonna see. So it's incredibly important that President Joe Biden show up Thursday night and he is as sharp as attack. He is as sharp as he was the night he gave the State of the Union addressed months ago, at least in the odds of some of the liberals and what they were saying, he's got to show up and he's got to upstage former President Donald Trump. I will give Joe Biden credit. Everybody knows that when you're the incumbent, you're a president, and you engage in a debate, you have very little to gain and an awful lot to lose. So why is he taking this? You know why he's taking this, I'm gonna tell you, and I'm just guessing. I think Joe Biden is supremely confident that he knows the issues a hell of a lot better than former President Donald Trump. He knows the issues, he can articulate his position on the issues, and his belief is. All I have to do is show that I'm sprite, that I'm coging that I'm up for the challenge of doing four more years of this. That's what Joe Biden is saying. That's how he's feeling. Because you got to remember when Donald Trump was asked to prep for a presidential debate in twenty twenty. Remember he was being prepped to some degree by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Do y'all remember that. I do, and I remember when he was being prepped. According to the reports, he says, Trump, I know how to do this. I'm already the president. But that was after he walked into the meeting and said, what the f am I doing here? I'm reading from an article in the Washington Post as we speak. Christy, who was running the exercise, gave him a list of his predecessors who had coasted on similar self confidence as they ran for a cercaind term only the belly flop in their first debates. Christy recounted the episode in his twent one book, Republican Rescue and Then, if you remember, Donald Trump got shellacked in the first debate. He interrupted Joe Biden at every turn when Christy specifically advised them shut up, be quiet, let Joe Biden speak. He quote in the book Christy's parting admonition to Trump was let Biden talk, He'll hang himself. And Trump wouldn't listen, And according to a Washington postcount had interrupted Biden more than seventy times. So now there's no audience to feed off of. You're not gonna be interrupted by cheers and booze, You're not gonna be interrupted by noise. You're gonna be muted when it's not your turn to talk. So you have no choice but to listen to the other party, and they have no choice but to listen to you. And it's gonna be a debate, and it could be on the pertinent issues. The war in Ukraine between Ukraine and Russia. There'sraelly Palestinian conflict that's still ongoing, and the lives that have been lost since that time, intentionally, accidentally and otherwise. You got all of that going on, pro Palestinian supporters, pro Israeli supporters. They got to comment on that. They got to speak on the economy, They got to speak on national security, they got to speak on our borders, they got to speak on crime and safety in this country. They got to speak on all of that and all of us need to be watching because, in case you haven't noticed, our lives have been profoundly impacted more than we ever imagined. We got shit to deal with, and this is where it starts, by deciphering who's going to be the better person for presidency of the United States from the year twenty twenty five for four years. I can't wait for the debate. I think all of y'all should be on top of your p's and q's looking at this. To me, it ain't even coming down to the issues because we know where both stand. It's about who looks sharper. We assumed it would be Trump because of all the fumbles we've seen from Joe Biden. Uh, let's see what Trump does Thursday night in Atlanta, Georgia. That's all I got to say about that. Coming up, Will Smith is set to perform on a big stage this weekend. I'll tell you where next up, and of course I'll get to my tweets as well. So stick around. You're watching the Stephen A. Smith Show right here over the digital areas of YouTube, and you're listening to the Stephen A. Smith Show on iHeart Radio. Back on more in a minute. Everyone knows out live and breathe sports and that I have to be part of all the big games. But how do I do that? Exactly? I use Prospects of course, the largest fantasy sports platform and all of the land with over three million members. Or you do is select to or more players from your favorite sport the WNBA, MLB, tennis, golf, even boxing a right, and then choose more or less on their projected in game stats. And not only fills my need for the big time action, but it's incredibly easy to play. It takes just sixty seconds to make your picks. So if you're like me and know everything in the world of sports and pick correctly, you'll have a chance to win some major major league money. And get this, Prospects will match your first depositive up to one hundred dollars. That's right. Go to Prospects dot com and use code sas for a first depositive match of up to one hundred dollars. You heard me, that is code sas When you go to Prospects dot com pickball, pick less. It's really really that easy. Welcome back to Steven A. Spishaw right here with the digital airways of YouTube and of course I heart radio. Let's get to the world of pop culture and entertainment. This Sunday, June thirtieth, Oscar and Grammy winning superstar Will Smith is set to hit the stage at the twenty twenty four BET Awards. We'll he'll debut a new song, his first solo material in over five years. The special performance will take place during the live telecast, which will be hosted by the phenomenal actress that is Taraji b Henson. Will Smith, we know how I felt about what happened. We also know how I felt, primarily about how it affected black folks himself, Will Packer, first African American producer in the history of the Oscars, and of course Antoine Fuqua, who Will Smith did emancipation with in both him, Will Smith and Antoine fuck as far as I'm concerned, should have won an Oscar for that. And if the incident with Chris Rock had not happened, who knows. But the reality is I'm gonna be sincere or I took for what I said upon reflection just a couple of weeks ago, when Bad Boys came out hit theaters and obviously was highly successful. Will Smith is one of the great ones, not just the great actors, not just the most accomplished individuals, but great people. This is what I've heard from numerous people who have known him over the years. He's a special brother who's done a lot of special things for a lot of people, especially people within our own community. And one hiccup doesn't define a man for the rest of his life. So be it fair enough. And Will Smith going out there and performing on the BT Awards, all right, if that's cool. I hope the music is fly. I hope he does his thing. I hope he's doing what he has to do. It's clearly an effort to re ingratiate himself with our community. I got news for you, he doesn't really need to. Everybody showed up for the movies. I can tell you that much. Bad Boys was a pretty damn good movie. It really really was. It really really was. And I'm gonna tell you something as well, and I don't want to veer too much of a subject. I'm gonna say this, Will Smith doesn't have to do Bad Boys. So Will Smith doesn't have to do a lot of things because he's accomplished that much in his life and in his career, and when I see him on Bad Boys, and I don't know anything about mar and Lawrence other than the fact he's one of the greatest comedians who's ever lived. He does phenomenal work. He's still funny as hell. And my gratitude and love is always towards mar and Lawrence, because I still watch episodes of Marin every night. Every night. He's just that hysterical. Because you talk about a person that we owe so much to as a society, this guy is so funny. He he's provided so much laughter, and along the way he has stood tall and taken issues to help black comedians, to help Black Hollywood and all of this stuff I mean, and I remember, you know, listen with Mark Lawrence and some of his challenges. I don't know this as fact, but I've been told that if folks had their drouthers, they would have had Will Smith do Bad Boys with somebody else other than Mark Lawrence. And it was stopped in a nanosecond because even though Mark Lawrence is the one that originally brought Will Smith on, Will Smith is the star who has ascended over the years, and he's the one that has that kind of cachet and He's the one that made it very very clear. Ain't no way of hell we're doing anything without my man, Marty, Ma Mark Lawrence. You talk about somebody to love and revere because all the laughter and the giggles and everything else that he's brought to our lives, it's that Mark Lawrence. Anybody who got that kind of love for Mark and Lawrence is good with me. So I wish Will Smith to left the but the best which number up. I hope he turns it out and he gets the love and support that he clearly craves. I hope he gets. I'll be watching and tell you that much. I will damn sure it'll be watching. By the way, moving on to my last subject for the show. Before I go on to my tweets, let me tell y'all what the hell is going on? See? This world is crazy. Some of y'all out there don't know what y'all doing. I mean, y'all need to pray because you know you desperate. When I bring up this next subject, this last subject, did you know people are apparently now buying or trying to buy their way into heaven. I don't mean this facetiously or indirectly I'm serious. There are people actually doing this. Here's the story. The pastor of a Christian church in Mexico is going viral for selling plots of land in heaven for one hundred dollars per square meter. The pastor claims that he spoke to God twenty seventeen and God himself authorized him to sell the plots. A brochure circulating online features details on how to purchase plots with payment options or Get this payment options that include Visa, master Card, Google Pay, American Express, Apple Pay. Purchases can also pay in installments on a payment plan. The church is said to have made thousands of dollars on the purchases. Few questions. Number one, the pastor, if God authorized you to sell the land in heaven, why the hell ain't you there? I mean, who wants to stay on earth? Let let's do this in this proper perspective. Who the hell wants to stay on earth? If I know that I'm going to heaven. That's number one, let's get that out the way. Number two, sell sell. What good is a man who profits the whole world but loses his own soul? But this is what God told you to do? Huh? Profit off of people who are trying to buy their way into heaven. Everybody knows God focuses on your works, your deeds, your actions. What's a part of your spirit and your soul, not what you can buy. If that's the case, every billionaire you can think of is on their way to heaven. Number three Google, Apple, amex, Viser, MasterCard. How are you allowing this? How are you allowing this? Now? Usually I don't cuss when I'm talking about religion, but I think it's acropois here. How are you allowing this shit? How are you allowing somebody to use your commodity, your entity, whatever it is, to sell something like this. You got to be kidding me. That's how desperate are And if you're willing to buy, you know what that says. I'd rather buy it that way. I don't have to put it into work. I don't have to conduct myself like a decent human being. All I have to do is open my wallet right here and come out of pocket. All right. I kill somebody, I assault somebody, I insult somebody, I denigrate somebody, I lie somebody, I'm a line and slammer somebody. I do any of these things here's some money. Yeah, here's some money here. You to take it. You take it right now? Okay, then I can go to heaven. Really, that's what we're doing. That's what we're doing. It's kind of funny to people, and I understand that until you realize how sick and demented it truly is. It's a damn Shane, it really really is. Let me go to the tweets before I get on out of here for today. All right. I appreciate y'all tuning into the show. I only got one tweet I'm gonna read today because I'm really not enamorated with too many of these that I've seen, to be quite honest with you, but somebody sent me in a tweet at the Packer Yacker, right, steven A, how was your experience watching hockey in person? Have your feelings towards the sport changed? Would you watch again? First of all, my feelings have drastically changed. I had a great, great time in Game seven. The environment, the excitement, no joke. I'm watching guys. I'm watching them turn over the puck, I'm watching them force the issue, I'm watching the physicality, I'm watching the speed. I mean Connor McDavid watching him skate, even though Game seven wasn't his shining moment, wasn't his shiningest moment. With shining moment, I must confess watching him skate is a little bit different than watching everybody else. His brother something else. Make no mistake about it. He that kind of dude him on skates. He just seem to move faster than most people. So my feelings have changed about the sport. So I like it a lot. I damn sure, I'm gonna watch it more, watch it again, develop and elevate my understanding of the sport. The experience was great, but I also had the luxury of being in the booth with the commissioner of the National Hockey League, Gary Batman, and I was in there with my brother Charles Barkley as well, So I had a lot of fun chilling in the booth. I got to give credit where credit is due in that regard. When you got that kind of company, when you're in that kind in the presence of those kind of folks that were class personified and treated us fantastic, it's easy to want to go back, I'll say that. But I enjoyed the sport it's faster than I thought it was, as more exciting than I thought it was. The climate is big time, no question about it. I actually had a better time there than I had watching the finals of the NBA. But that wasn't because I love hockey moretan I loved my basketball. It was because this was a Game seven, a highly competitive series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers. It was not Boston beating down the Dallas Mavericks. That would contribute to the excitement or dilute from it, depending on which angle you take. That's it for the day's edition. I gotta get on out of here. I gotta get ready to do the NBA Draft tonight on ABC Television with my man, Bob Myes and Kevin n GANDHI appreciate y'all tuning into the show. I'll be back in a couple of days. Make sure to look for me, make sure to holler at me, and remember you boy, got nothing of love for you. I'm having a beautiful life. I'm wishing nothing but the same for you. Until next time, everybody, Peace of love. Thanks for the love and support, and keep those subscribers now having elevated above seven and ten thousand, keep it climbing. iHeartRadio, keep those downloads climbing as well. Appreciate y'all, and I'll see you soon. Peace of love,