Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? Stephen A Smith here.
Speaker 2: Recently we made news because the great Bill O'Reilly announced
Speaker 2: a tour that's coming nearest to you in the very
Speaker 2: very near future. Get your tickets now for this. It's
Speaker 2: called Three Americans Live, March thirtieth at Live Nation's Flag
Speaker 2: Star at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. Don't
Speaker 2: miss the very first show as myself, Chris Crolomo, and yes,
Speaker 2: that man Bill O'Reilly take our different ideas, our different backgrounds,
Speaker 2: our different beliefs across the country to demonstrate that respectful,
Speaker 2: meaningful and even fun conversation.
Speaker 1: Those are the things that make America as great as
Speaker 1: it should be. The show will be spirited, unscripted, and
Speaker 1: all three of.
Speaker 2: Us will let it fly as we discussed the topics
Speaker 2: everyone is thinking about these days. There'll also be questions
Speaker 2: from the audience We're not running. Tickets are officially on
Speaker 2: sale now with pre sale code USA at three Americanslive
Speaker 2: dot com. VIP packages are available with the opportunity to
Speaker 2: meet and take photos with myself and both those fellas.
Speaker 2: That's Three Americans Live, March thirtieth at the Westbury Music
Speaker 2: Fair on Long Island. Additional dates in cities to be announced.
Speaker 2: Don't miss it.
Speaker 3: Trust me, you'll get a kick out of itha.
Speaker 1: What's up everybody?
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so excited because March is here, the madness
Speaker 2: of March, and say, I'm so excited. Welcome to this
Speaker 2: latest edition to the step and A Smith Show, coming
Speaker 2: at you as I love to do it at the
Speaker 2: very least three times a week over the digital airways
Speaker 2: and YouTube, and.
Speaker 1: Of course iHeartRadio. As always, I.
Speaker 2: Like to take a moment to thank my subscribers and
Speaker 2: follows the millions of downloads and have come courtesy of
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio over the last few months, of course, to one
Speaker 2: point one to three million subscribers over the digital airways
Speaker 2: of YouTube. We just keep on growing because of y'all.
Speaker 2: Thank y'all for the love and support. Can thank you enough?
Speaker 2: Keep it coming, and I'm gonna keep on coming. To
Speaker 2: be notified of our newest content, just cook the bell
Speaker 2: or obviously to get notified for our newest content, and
Speaker 2: you too shall be considered the latest member of Stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smithsial family.
Speaker 2: And while you're doing that, make sure to pick up
Speaker 2: a copy of my New York Times best selling book,
Speaker 2: Straight Shooter. A memoir of second chances in first takes
Speaker 2: now in paperback. Just go to straight shoot book dot
Speaker 2: com to get yourself a copy. Once again, straight shoot
Speaker 2: book dot com to get yourself a copy.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: Usually have an open a monologue. I usually do, but
Speaker 2: damn that, damn that now. Part of the reason is
Speaker 2: because let's talking about college basketball, and I'll be damned
Speaker 2: if I know it. I've seen only but so many games.
Speaker 2: I might have watched ten to fifteen games this year. Okay,
Speaker 2: I can't watch everybody, all right, I can't, So I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: Everything. I'm guessing a lot. When we filling out the brackets.
Speaker 2: I got my brackets, y'all got your brackets.
Speaker 1: I got my brackets. I got my brackets. Okay, I
Speaker 1: got my practice fill out. But damn it, I don't
Speaker 1: know everything.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm guessing most of the time, and I ain't
Speaker 2: gonna do that of my listeners and my viewers. Instead,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna bring on somebody who knows. They ain't guessing,
Speaker 2: they know, and they gonna help me out. They're gonna
Speaker 2: help me figure out who I should be going.
Speaker 1: With with these brackets.
Speaker 2: As this NC Double A Tournament approaches, he is a
Speaker 2: college basketball analyst extraordinarire for the last several decades. He
Speaker 2: is not just elite, he's a damn institution, the best
Speaker 2: in the business, without question. He's also my colleague and
Speaker 2: buddy that works with me at ESPN. The man, the
Speaker 2: myth himself, the one and only Jay Billis is in
Speaker 2: the house.
Speaker 1: What's going on big time? Are you doing?
Speaker 5: Man?
Speaker 1: How's everything?
Speaker 4: I'm doing all right, steven A, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, man. It's good to see you. It's
Speaker 1: good to see you.
Speaker 2: I gotta ask you this before I even get into
Speaker 2: these brackets.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about what this season has been like
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: I'm just looking at the level of competition in this
Speaker 2: NCAA tournament, fourteen teams coming from the SEC for Crown Light.
Speaker 1: I used to be about football. Now it's about basketball.
Speaker 2: Saint John's being resurrected, Rick Bettino back in the mix
Speaker 2: of whatever. How enjoyable has this college basketball.
Speaker 1: Season been for you?
Speaker 4: It's been great.
Speaker 6: But you know, I tend to think every season is
Speaker 6: great because there's always a great story or great stories,
Speaker 6: but this one has been different in that I think
Speaker 6: you you alluded to it, like you know, the Southeastern
Speaker 6: Conference is the best basketball conference top to bottom relative
Speaker 6: to the field that I've ever seen. And it doesn't
Speaker 6: mean that there weren't better teams or that you know,
Speaker 6: teams in the nineties couldn't beat Auburn or Florida. I'm
Speaker 6: not suggesting that, but there's never been a league with
Speaker 6: this kind of depth of power relative to the rest
Speaker 6: of the country. And you know, I saw I did
Speaker 6: a game with South Carolina the other day and I
Speaker 6: was telling somebody, that's the best last place team I've
Speaker 6: ever seen in any league. It's ridiculous how powerful that
Speaker 6: league is. And I think it's shown by the fourteen
Speaker 6: teams that got in.
Speaker 4: Jay.
Speaker 2: We've seen great college programs with at these I remember, you know,
Speaker 2: growing up watching Hoyer Paranoia with Ewing and Michael Jackson
Speaker 2: and Reggie Williams and the Crew. I remember Saint John's
Speaker 2: with Walter Berry, Chris Mullen.
Speaker 1: Mark Jackson was coming up with Willie Glass.
Speaker 2: Was a point was a guard there to you saw
Speaker 2: all of this stuff. Of course, Georgia Tech lead the
Speaker 2: Weapon three LSU with Shaq Stanley Roberts and Chris Jackson
Speaker 2: before he became a moved up duor Raoul. You're looking
Speaker 2: at UNLV with Augman and Greg Anthony and Larry Johnson
Speaker 2: and all of these guys. When you see the teams
Speaker 2: in the SEC, is there anybody any of them as
Speaker 2: a powerhouse that remind you?
Speaker 1: And let me not forget Duke? How could I forget Duke?
Speaker 2: With Bobby Hurley, Christ Layton and the crew, is there
Speaker 2: anybody in the SEC that you look at as being
Speaker 2: on that level?
Speaker 6: Maybe as an individual team? You know, I think Florida
Speaker 6: like Florida's legit and with their side and athleticism, their guards.
Speaker 4: I mean, one of the things I think is really interesting.
Speaker 6: You know, you went back to the eighties and talked
Speaker 6: about Georgetown. You know, if you compare the guards of
Speaker 6: Florida to Georgetown's guards, these guys are bigger, stronger guards.
Speaker 6: Back then, they weren't this athletic, and you know, they
Speaker 6: were great players. But the game's totally different now and
Speaker 6: and now it's even more fisical.
Speaker 4: Like back then.
Speaker 6: And see if you agree with this, Steven if back
Speaker 6: then we didn't have plagrant fouls, so when you filed somebody,
Speaker 6: you put him into the woods, start to fight. But
Speaker 6: generally the game's more physical now than it was back then.
Speaker 6: Get through screens and all that stuff. I mean, it's
Speaker 6: way harder h physically.
Speaker 4: But the big.
Speaker 6: Difference is the players now generally are younger, the best
Speaker 6: players because the uh they're going to go to the NBA,
Speaker 6: there's too much money.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 4: If Patrick Ewing didn't go to the NBA.
Speaker 6: Early, Uh, there were a variety of reasons, but one
Speaker 6: of the reasons is there.
Speaker 4: Wasn't enough money to pull him out.
Speaker 6: I mean, it be almost irresponsible if he were playing
Speaker 6: today for him to stay in school for four years.
Speaker 2: Let's get into these brackets right here, because I'm looking
Speaker 2: at them. I want to start off with the South Region,
Speaker 2: where number one overall seed Auburn and Michigan State are
Speaker 2: the top two seeds. Any issue with that at all.
Speaker 2: Auburn has struggled. I mean they faded, losing three of
Speaker 2: their last four heading into the tournament for crying out loud,
Speaker 2: But yet they were a number one seed coming out
Speaker 2: of the South.
Speaker 1: How are you feeling about that, Jake?
Speaker 6: I think they it was perfectly appropriate that they remained
Speaker 6: as the number one overall seed even though they lost
Speaker 6: three out of four because.
Speaker 4: It's a function of who they lost through and how.
Speaker 6: When they lost at Texas A and M two days
Speaker 6: after they won the SEC championship at rep Arena at Kentucky,
Speaker 6: and my sense is they had a little bit of
Speaker 6: a hangover, both figuratively and perhaps literally, and then they
Speaker 6: got clipped at home by Alabama, who's really good. They
Speaker 6: got beaten overtime in like a ninety five ninety four
Speaker 6: game on a last second shot, and then they lost
Speaker 6: in the They lost in the tournament. You know, they're
Speaker 6: they're the real thing. I don't I don't have any
Speaker 6: problem with that. And I do think Florida, though, is
Speaker 6: actually actually better. It's a close call. They could play
Speaker 6: a seven game series, uh and who knows who'd win
Speaker 6: game one, two, three, and four. But I think if
Speaker 6: it went the whole seven, I think Florida would would
Speaker 6: win it.
Speaker 1: Who's the toughest competition in the South Region in the estimation.
Speaker 6: Well, they're gonna have to get down toward toward Michigan State.
Speaker 6: You know, I would have said Iowa State, but Iowa
Speaker 6: State's injured. You know, they got one of their top players,
Speaker 6: Keishon Gilbert, is is out for the season. He's been
Speaker 6: out the last few games, but we thought he was
Speaker 6: going to come back. They're still dangerous and there's still
Speaker 6: a team that could reach the second weekend and maybe
Speaker 6: wind up in the lead eight. But but without Gilbert,
Speaker 6: I'm not sure they have enough firepower offensively to get
Speaker 6: past Auburn because Auburn their guards.
Speaker 4: They got a core of four guards that can really
Speaker 4: shoot it.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: They they the four of them combined for forty percent
Speaker 6: from three and they they combined for eighty eight percent
Speaker 6: from the foul line. And there they're athletic, they're they're
Speaker 6: really good. And then they've got Jenni Broome, who's the
Speaker 6: you know, along with Cooper flag Duke is national players
Speaker 6: a year.
Speaker 2: Sleeper in the South region. If you had to classify one,
Speaker 2: who would it.
Speaker 6: Be, I would have said Iowa State, probably Texas A
Speaker 6: and M would be that.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 6: They've got a really difficult game against Yale and they're
Speaker 6: you know, I think everybody kind of enjoys the upset talk.
Speaker 4: There's the media darling right now.
Speaker 6: For upsets as UC San Diego because they're out of
Speaker 6: the Big West, it's their first year and eligible for
Speaker 6: the tournament. They've been in Division one for five years now,
Speaker 6: and they're really really good. But you know, I'd be
Speaker 6: surprised if they got past Michigan. But they're capable, they're
Speaker 6: best player and I can't wait to hear Charles Barklay
Speaker 6: try to say this name.
Speaker 4: A Nila and Niewa hate Jones And there's no way
Speaker 4: he doesn't say a wan una or to Wea, Like,
Speaker 4: there's no way he gets that right.
Speaker 6: But they've also got another guy named Hayden Gray who's
Speaker 6: really really talented and the best, one of the best
Speaker 6: defenders in the country.
Speaker 4: Leads the nation and steals. They can win.
Speaker 6: But but you tell me if this is wrong, like
Speaker 6: when the media talks about a team being an upset pick,
Speaker 6: this is our upset pick. Michigan's gonna hear that, and
Speaker 6: uh and there you know you see San Diego is
Speaker 6: not gonna sneak up on Michigan.
Speaker 2: Now, let's get to the West Region. The top two
Speaker 2: seeds are Florida and Saint John's. Florida is just a monster.
Speaker 2: They got there too deep at every position. I saw
Speaker 2: them trounce Alabama, uh over the weekend, and what have you?
Speaker 2: I believe in Florida I think they're gonna win. I
Speaker 2: think they may win the National Championship. I got them
Speaker 2: going to go up against Duke. But I don't they
Speaker 2: They're not the story to me in the West Region.
Speaker 1: It's Saint John's.
Speaker 2: I cannot believe the job that Rick Patino has done
Speaker 2: with the Saint John's Red Storm.
Speaker 1: They haven't been relevant for year, they haven't.
Speaker 2: Been in n CAA twenty miss in twenty nineteen, Uh,
Speaker 2: they won the Big East Championship. I'm just I am
Speaker 2: shocked at what he has done in relatively quick fashion
Speaker 2: and Queens New York.
Speaker 1: How did Rick Patino pull this off?
Speaker 6: J billis you know Steve and I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 6: I'm not surprised by this. The thing I'm shocked and
Speaker 6: surprised at is he got the shot in the first place.
Speaker 6: And you know, five years ago, if you had said
Speaker 6: to me that Rick Patino is gonna get the Saint
Speaker 6: John's job, I would have said, come on, man, there's
Speaker 6: no way. You know, he was radioactive for a period
Speaker 6: of time, but time heels and so and winning cleanses.
Speaker 4: He's one of the greatest touches of all time.
Speaker 6: And he's one of the truly great teachers of the
Speaker 6: game that I've ever seen work. And so the fact
Speaker 6: that he got really good players in there doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 4: Uh, And it doesn't surprise me that.
Speaker 6: They're playing a brand of defense that rivals what he
Speaker 6: did at Louisville.
Speaker 4: Like these guys are hard to score on.
Speaker 6: Uh, they don't shoot it great, but so what like
Speaker 6: they shoot it well enough, and they are they got
Speaker 6: a vibe about them. And they got three players at
Speaker 6: key positions. Cadari Richard at the point, R J. Lewis
Speaker 6: junior the wing, and then Zubi Edgief who used to
Speaker 6: be at Kansas but transferred and he wasn't a big
Speaker 6: time player, can't big time recruit, but he didn't play
Speaker 6: a ton of Kansas and and now he's one of
Speaker 6: the five best big guys in the country, one of
Speaker 6: the five best offensive rebounders running the floors their captain.
Speaker 4: Uh, they're they're legit.
Speaker 6: If they weren't in the same bracket as Florida, I'd
Speaker 6: put I'd put them in the final four.
Speaker 2: Did the nation's top rated defense. Four losses came by
Speaker 2: combined seven points. They haven't lost the game this year
Speaker 2: by more than three points. That's Rick Patino's team at
Speaker 2: Saint John's.
Speaker 1: And when we.
Speaker 2: Talk about a team that struggles to shoot teams who
Speaker 2: have had success in the NC Tournament, meaning winning a
Speaker 2: national championship of going to a Final four, two of
Speaker 2: those teams who have shot this poorly and have made
Speaker 2: it to the and have made it to the Final
Speaker 2: four are Rick Betino teams in Louisville.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, you can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. Jay billis stay right there, I got bills
Speaker 1: to pay. I'll be right back with you. First to
Speaker 1: word from our prospects before we get right back to
Speaker 1: Jay billis.
Speaker 2: All right, folks, I need you all to stop what
Speaker 2: you're doing and listen up. You know I love this time,
Speaker 2: but y oh, my lord, is my favorite time of year.
Speaker 2: College basketball is about to heat up. March has arrived
Speaker 2: and with all his action about to jump off to
Speaker 2: Steven A. Smith Show wants to make sure you take
Speaker 2: advantage of it all. That's why we partnered with Prize Picks,
Speaker 2: the best place to win cash while watching sports.
Speaker 1: The app is easy to use. Just pick more or
Speaker 1: less than a few player stats.
Speaker 2: And you too could win up to one thousand times
Speaker 2: your cash on a single lineup.
Speaker 1: Prospects also just dropped a free pick or been star.
Speaker 2: Johnny Brooms Points projection is ninety nine percent.
Speaker 1: Off and will cash with a single point scored.
Speaker 2: Don't forget to lock it in for your college basketball
Speaker 2: lineup this week.
Speaker 1: Best of All Prospects will give you fifty dollars when
Speaker 1: you play your first five dollar lineup.
Speaker 2: When the lose, you'll get fifty bucks for playing. Use
Speaker 2: promo code essay yes and download the app now again.
Speaker 2: Download the app and use code essay has to get
Speaker 2: fifty dollars instantly after your first five dollar lineup.
Speaker 1: Prospects, Hey, hey, run your game today.
Speaker 2: I'll give you my picks for the Wednesday, March nineteenth
Speaker 2: matchup between the Xavier Musketeers and the Texas Longhorns. Joining
Speaker 2: Me to Do It, by the Way Special Edition Joining
Speaker 2: Me to Do It is a top Prospects partner and founder.
Speaker 1: Of the sports content company Booket Sports. He's known as
Speaker 1: the fade God, or, as I've called them, the guy
Speaker 1: everyone goes against. He's been there before.
Speaker 2: Please welcome to one and only trent I Tea known
Speaker 2: to the world as book it with Trent. What's going
Speaker 2: on big time? Are you doing trend? How's everything going? Man?
Speaker 7: I'm great, March madness is here. Couldn't be happier. Man.
Speaker 7: I'm so excited to sweat out some lineups on prize
Speaker 7: picks and I can't wait to hear what you've got
Speaker 7: for me as well.
Speaker 1: Let's get right to it.
Speaker 2: First up, Arthur Kaluma of Texas have more or less
Speaker 2: than nineteen and a half points plus rebounds plus assist.
Speaker 2: Now I'm going with more, Trent. I'm going with more Texas.
Speaker 2: They can put up some points. And you talk about points,
Speaker 2: rebounds and assists.
Speaker 1: Damn it.
Speaker 2: If you're playing and you can't get that's gonna combined combined.
Speaker 1: Into three categories.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to say the about you, especially
Speaker 2: during an NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1: That's where I'm at with it, Trent, what about you?
Speaker 7: I think that this game is going to be really
Speaker 7: fast paced. I like the pick here with the more
Speaker 7: than for Arthur. I think that the Xavier is going
Speaker 7: to have to stop the other players like Trey Johnson
Speaker 7: if they want to have a chance in this game.
Speaker 7: We've got a high total in this one at one
Speaker 7: point fifty, so there's definitely gonna be a lot of points.
Speaker 7: And I see Arthur having a big game.
Speaker 1: Yo, So let me ask you this question.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: Let's get this out of the way first. I mean,
Speaker 1: what's up, bro, I mean, you know, you sound as
Speaker 1: enthusiastic as I expected you to sound.
Speaker 2: Well you, I was expecting you to say, Steven, there,
Speaker 2: you're absolutely right, and did go into your soliloquy as
Speaker 2: a post to anything. I mean, I just didn't feel
Speaker 2: in love right there, Trent. I just you, let's try
Speaker 2: this next one.
Speaker 7: Of them, go ahead, you know what. To be honest
Speaker 7: with you, I was sweating the prize picks lineup with
Speaker 7: the Texas team the other day and they were shooting
Speaker 7: tour dates. I forget who they were playing, but it
Speaker 7: went to double Texas A and M double overtime. I
Speaker 7: needed Trade Johnson points. It took them to double OT
Speaker 7: to get me seventeen, and it was so frustrating, but
Speaker 7: he finally got there. But yeah, this Texas team I'm
Speaker 7: not too thrilled about. So that's maybe why you didn't
Speaker 7: hear so much excitement in my voice when I'm talking
Speaker 7: about pick.
Speaker 2: Okay, But and I agree with you. They were a
Speaker 2: bit better when BOMs was coaching. They got to step
Speaker 2: up their game. They gotta be a little bit there,
Speaker 2: a little bit above five hundreds. They got to be
Speaker 2: better than that. So I got you, and that I
Speaker 2: feel where you coming from. Next up, will Trey Johnson
Speaker 2: of Texas have more or less than twenty six and
Speaker 2: a half points plus rebounds plus assist I'm going with
Speaker 2: more on this as well for the same damn reasons.
Speaker 1: What about you, Trent?
Speaker 7: You know what I'm gonna have to go against you here,
Speaker 7: stephen A. Because Trade Johnson was putting up tour dates.
Speaker 7: I've never seen someone go so cold on the floor.
Speaker 7: I think he was six of twenty or something like that.
Speaker 7: Took double overtime for him to get his points. For me,
Speaker 7: I think that if Xavier is gonna want to win
Speaker 7: this game, they're gonna need to slow down Tray Johnson,
Speaker 7: which is gonna allow guys like Arthur Kaluma and Shdrick
Speaker 7: on Texas to be able to have big games. But
Speaker 7: I just can't get out of my mind that game
Speaker 7: from Trade Johnson against Texas A and M and how
Speaker 7: piss poor his shooting was that night. If that happens again.
Speaker 7: I think Texas is gonna be in trouble. So we
Speaker 7: do have a really high total in this game, so
Speaker 7: it definitely could go more than but I don't know.
Speaker 7: I just can't get myself to go back to trade
Speaker 7: Johnson after selling me two different Prize Picks lineups in
Speaker 7: the last week. Right.
Speaker 1: I feel you on that.
Speaker 2: I've just agreeing with it because I just don't think
Speaker 2: Xavier is gonna be able to contain them.
Speaker 1: I really really don't.
Speaker 2: I think in a game like this, I think it's
Speaker 2: gonna be a bit up Temple, They're gonna try to
Speaker 2: slow it down. I don't think they're gonna be successful,
Speaker 2: and that's why I feel the way.
Speaker 1: That I do about it. But you could be right.
Speaker 1: We'll find out.
Speaker 2: Let's go to Xavier's, let's go to Zach Fremantle have
Speaker 2: more or less the twenty six and a half points
Speaker 2: plus rebounds plus assists in this particular instance, I'm going
Speaker 2: with less because of the things you pointed out about
Speaker 2: Xavier and how they're not gonna have that level of
Speaker 2: offensive activity, which is why I don't think he's gonna
Speaker 2: be able to pull us off in this game.
Speaker 1: But that's just my thinking.
Speaker 7: What about you, I'm gonna have to disagree again, only
Speaker 7: because this game is gonna be very fast paced, and
Speaker 7: if Xavier is gonna have any sort of chance to
Speaker 7: be Texas in this one, it's gonna have to come
Speaker 7: from Zach Fremantle. I've taken him a couple of times
Speaker 7: throughout this season. He's respected my coin. If there's anybody
Speaker 7: on Xavier to have themselves a game against this pretty
Speaker 7: weak Texas defense that gives up a lot of points,
Speaker 7: I think it's gotta be Fremantle. But hey, you can't
Speaker 7: have everybody go more than in the same game, so
Speaker 7: you got to take some less nds. I don't blame
Speaker 7: you for targeting Xavier player to go less than and
Speaker 7: Fremantle you know who knows, maybe you get strapped.
Speaker 2: You've disagreed with me on this on two occasions. I
Speaker 2: don't know about you right now. I don't know about
Speaker 2: you last one. Finally, with Xavier's Ryan Conwell have will
Speaker 2: he have more or less than twenty three and a
Speaker 2: half points plus rebounds plus assist I'm going with more
Speaker 2: on this one too. One of them got to do more.
Speaker 2: I'm picking him instead. Conwell I'm going with more on this.
Speaker 1: What about you?
Speaker 7: You know what, I'm glad you didn't just take two
Speaker 7: more thens and two less nds on the same team.
Speaker 7: So I think you got to switch it up here,
Speaker 7: you know. And if you think that Freemantle gets strapped
Speaker 7: up by that Texas defense, someone's gonna have to put
Speaker 7: the ball in the basket and dish it around and
Speaker 7: grab some rebounds. So Conwell I like to pick. Uh,
Speaker 7: you know, honestly, I'm going a little square. I think
Speaker 7: all four of those squares you just said probably go
Speaker 7: more than to be honest with you, with such a
Speaker 7: high total in this game. Uh, but you know, see,
Speaker 7: someone's probably gonna go less than. I hope it's Freemantle
Speaker 7: for you.
Speaker 1: Listen, so so do I.
Speaker 2: So just to recap, I'm going with more on Caluma,
Speaker 2: more on Trey Johnson, less on Fremantle, and more on Conwell.
Speaker 2: That's where I'm at with it, so everybody knows where
Speaker 2: I stand. Trip before I let you get on out
Speaker 2: of here. Selection Sunday had quite a few upsets. What
Speaker 2: were you most surprised about?
Speaker 7: I was shocked that you Unsea made the tournament having
Speaker 7: one quad well going one and twelve. How the heck
Speaker 7: did they squeak in one in twelve?
Speaker 2: Good be cut cut the damn dude on the selection committee.
Speaker 1: Bubba is his name?
Speaker 7: Bubba?
Speaker 2: Okay, Bubba cutting half letting director for North Carolina talking
Speaker 2: about recusing himself.
Speaker 1: Who the hell gonna believe that?
Speaker 7: You?
Speaker 2: So you accuse yourself in the meetings. But y'all ain't
Speaker 2: go out to lunch. Y'all ain't going out to dinner.
Speaker 2: Y'all ain't gonnaut to the breakfast. You never had a
Speaker 2: conversation that it's North Carolina into the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1: Nobody's believing that, Trent, I know, I'm not.
Speaker 7: Hell no, No, that's some fishy, fishy activity, you and
Speaker 7: c and the committee. I don't know how the heck
Speaker 7: they squeaked in there. I think there was definitely other
Speaker 7: teams more deserving. But having one quad win or quad
Speaker 7: one win out of thirteen is ridiculous. Come on, one.
Speaker 2: Yes, it ain't who you play, is who you beat.
Speaker 2: And I got news to you. One of the things
Speaker 2: my favorite this is in the side. My favorite rivalry
Speaker 2: in sports is duke North Carolina basketball. When there's a
Speaker 2: rivalry as opposed to a beat down. And even though
Speaker 2: the games have been relatively competitive, I'm just of the
Speaker 2: mindset if you're Hubert Davis, somehow, some way, it can't.
Speaker 2: This ain't Mike Krzyzewski, This ain't coach k you going
Speaker 2: up against me. There's one thing to be out recruited
Speaker 2: by him. He can't be out recruited by Josh Shaw.
Speaker 2: I just don't know about that. That's how I feel
Speaker 2: about it. What about you?
Speaker 7: Wouldn't it be so march madness to see you and
Speaker 7: see going a little run after all this slander they're
Speaker 7: getting forgetting in the tournament. That's true, that's true.
Speaker 1: That's a good point. That's good that they just don't
Speaker 1: have it though.
Speaker 2: They don't have to eyes, they don't have a size
Speaker 2: and they and Trent they can't stop you. You shoot
Speaker 2: teams to shoot three for three against them. They can't
Speaker 2: stop nobody. They can't stop anybody anyway. Who do you
Speaker 2: have as a first round upset?
Speaker 7: First round upsets? You know, there's there's I'm a guy
Speaker 7: who loves taking the square stuff. I'm always taking the
Speaker 7: one in two seeds to win the first round. And
Speaker 7: it never hits, It never hits. Uh, so I would
Speaker 7: not be shocked if we see a Saint John's go
Speaker 7: out and lose to Omaha. That would be ridiculous. All
Speaker 7: you gonna go there, always.
Speaker 1: All the teams to pick, you gonna pick Saint John's.
Speaker 2: Were Rick Betino taking six different teams in Nancy DOAA tournament.
Speaker 2: With those athletes, with those rough riders, we have full
Speaker 2: court press. He gonna throw at you, particularly in the
Speaker 2: second half.
Speaker 1: That's the dude, You're gonna pick the fall out in
Speaker 1: the first round.
Speaker 7: Saint John's. Every year we do the same thing. We
Speaker 7: leading up to the tournament. Everything sounds impossible, like nothing's
Speaker 7: crazy's gonna happen, and then we get to the games
Speaker 7: and you're sitting there in Saint John's is down eight
Speaker 7: with three minutes to go, and it's like, Okay, what
Speaker 7: the heck is going on? So you really just got
Speaker 7: to remember, nobody knows shit.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 2: You're probably right, probably right, nobody knows. It's all a
Speaker 2: guess a game. Hey, no doubt about it. But that's
Speaker 2: what makes it great. That's what makes the NCAA trying
Speaker 2: to make great. Last question, what games are you looking
Speaker 2: forward to see the most?
Speaker 7: I'm looking forward to that Kansas Arkansas game. You got
Speaker 7: two coaches and Bill Self and Cal Perry squaring off
Speaker 7: to march madness legends, you know, arguably could be a
Speaker 7: bit washed, but this Kansas team has just been an
Speaker 7: absolute mess all year in Arkansas. They're a scrappy team
Speaker 7: as well, So it's gonna be really interesting to see
Speaker 7: how Bill Self gets his team prepared for this game.
Speaker 7: But just having two legendary coaches head to head in
Speaker 7: the first round is gonna be cinema. So I'm really
Speaker 7: excited for that one. And I think my favorite Square
Speaker 7: On Prize pets in that game, Hunter Dickinson. He's up
Speaker 7: for half a three pointer. He's making a three. He's
Speaker 7: been like out from three in his last couple of games,
Speaker 7: and they're giving us a half a three pointer for Dickinson.
Speaker 7: He's splashing at home. Watch.
Speaker 2: I got about three games I want to throw at you,
Speaker 2: right yeah. I'm thinking about a second round game Florida
Speaker 2: versus Maryland. I think they'll meet in the second round.
Speaker 2: I think that could be very interesting. Even though Florida
Speaker 2: is the team I'm looking at it. I'm like, they
Speaker 2: look like monsters against Alabama over the weekend. I'm thinking
Speaker 2: about Houston Houston gonz is Houston Gonzaga because they'll end
Speaker 2: up facing one another, and I mean, that's the one
Speaker 2: to look forward to. And then of course, you know,
Speaker 2: I got Duke Florida meet for the national title. Of
Speaker 2: course I think it'll it's gonna come down to that.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm hearing that bro.
Speaker 7: At the end of the day, you know, the two
Speaker 7: finalists are always teams that you're expected to be there.
Speaker 7: Walter Clayton and Florida are are a menace right now.
Speaker 7: Walter Clayton's been cashing me on prize picks for like
Speaker 7: three weeks straight. That dude is hooper. He is a hooper.
Speaker 7: So shout out him for making me some money the
Speaker 7: past two weeks. But yeah, I love Houston. I've been
Speaker 7: taking them all year, but when it comes to the tournament,
Speaker 7: I feel like they always fold.
Speaker 1: I could get a ratic.
Speaker 2: They get erratic, they get erratic, they make mistakes, and
Speaker 2: the things that they do during the regular season, they
Speaker 2: don't show up. I just don't get it. So that's
Speaker 2: where I'm at with it. Look, man, I appreciate you
Speaker 2: book it with Trent. Trent Atias right here with stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith on the stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith Show special edition of our Prospect segment. Appreciate you,
Speaker 2: my brother, look forward to talking to you again as
Speaker 2: this tournament progresses.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, stephen A Best of blocked to you on your
Speaker 7: prize picks and let's have a great march.
Speaker 2: This message is being brought to you by Cola Guard,
Speaker 2: a non invasive colon cancer screening test. Listen, guys, we
Speaker 2: need to talk about colon cancer screening for a second.
Speaker 2: And you know I'm a straight shooter, so I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna sugarcoat this. Colon cancer is considered the most preventable,
Speaker 2: yet at least prevented cancer. It's the second leading cause
Speaker 2: of cancer related deaths in the United States, and it's
Speaker 2: on a rise in people under fifty. But the good
Speaker 2: news is that when caught at early stages, colon cancer
Speaker 2: is survivable in ninety percent of people. So screening and
Speaker 2: early detection are key to reducing overall colon cancer deaths.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure a lot of you guys are hearing
Speaker 2: this and thinking you can tune me out because you're.
Speaker 1: Not in your fifties yet. But guess what.
Speaker 2: The American Cancer Society recommends that if you are at
Speaker 2: average risk, you begin screening for colon cancer at age
Speaker 2: forty five, and.
Speaker 1: A great way to do that is with the color
Speaker 1: Guard Test.
Speaker 2: It's delivered right to your door, and it allows you
Speaker 2: to collect a sample comfortably at home on your own schedule.
Speaker 2: We're talking about a screening with zero downtime that's both
Speaker 2: convenient and affordable.
Speaker 1: Most ensured patients pay zero dollars.
Speaker 2: The color Guard test allows you to feel more in
Speaker 2: control of your colon cancer screening and do it on
Speaker 2: your own schedule with none of the prep time off
Speaker 2: on an invasive procedure that is required of a colonoscopy.
Speaker 2: So if you're forty five or older and at average risk,
Speaker 2: ask your healthcare provider about.
Speaker 1: Screening for colon cancer with the color Guard Test.
Speaker 2: You can also request a color Guard prescription today at
Speaker 2: color guard dot com, slash podcast.
Speaker 1: The color Guard test.
Speaker 2: Is intended to screen adults forty five and older at
Speaker 2: average risk for coorectal cancer. Do not use a color
Speaker 2: Guard test if you have had autonomas, have inflammatory bowel disease,
Speaker 2: and certain hereditary syndromes, or personal or family history of
Speaker 2: colorectal cancer. The color Gard test is not a replacement
Speaker 2: for colonoscopies and high risk patients. Color Gard test performance
Speaker 2: in adults ages forty five to forty nine is estimated
Speaker 2: based on a large clinical study of patients fifty and older.
Speaker 2: False positives and false negatives can occur. Color Guard is
Speaker 2: available by prescription only.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Steven A. Smith.
Speaker 2: Stoll's still here with the one of the great great
Speaker 2: college basketball analysts in this nation's history, to one of
Speaker 2: only J billis my colleague at ESPN.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the East region. Jay, We've got.
Speaker 2: Number one seeded Duke with Alabama as a number two seed.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts about that region.
Speaker 4: I think it's a great draft for Duke.
Speaker 6: Alabama if they were fully healthy, I think would be
Speaker 6: a favorite to beat Duke here, and they may still
Speaker 6: be able to do it. But one of their best players,
Speaker 6: Grant Nelson, has been injured and he's been banged up,
Speaker 6: unable to practice at times. I was there recently for
Speaker 6: their game against Florida and he couldn't even practice the
Speaker 6: day before the game, and he had a knee injury
Speaker 6: in their game against Florida in the SEC Tournament. Didn't
Speaker 6: play in the second half, and they got run out
Speaker 6: of the gym in the second half. So I don't
Speaker 6: want to discount what they're capable of doing. But I
Speaker 6: just think Duke, because I think I think Cooper Flag
Speaker 6: is going to be one hundred percent in the tournament.
Speaker 4: And uh, you know, it's.
Speaker 6: Amazing how some people were talking about, oh, do they
Speaker 6: need to shut him down and shut him down for
Speaker 6: the draft, And I'm like, Jesus, a sprained ankle. He
Speaker 6: wasn't like, he wasn't like caught in a stampede, and
Speaker 6: you know that the cattle stampede. He's going to be fine.
Speaker 6: So I think it was smart to you know, he
Speaker 6: won't one hundred percent for the a SEC tournament. They
Speaker 6: didn't need him to win. That was fine, But but
Speaker 6: they're not gonna. I can't imagine them holding him out
Speaker 6: of the first game in the NCAA tournament. They want
Speaker 6: to they want to get going and get that train
Speaker 6: down the tracks.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought that up. Correct me if you
Speaker 2: think I'm wrong, I'm up. I've never thought about shutting
Speaker 2: him down. Absolutely. Now you go through this season trung
Speaker 2: within a national championship. This is Duke we're talking about here, Okay,
Speaker 2: I mean, you got to play if you can play.
Speaker 2: I don't believe, however, he should play in the one
Speaker 2: sixteen game on Friday. Now, you're duke, you just won
Speaker 2: the ACC championship, you won the semi finals. In a
Speaker 2: championship game. Without him, you can beat the sixteenth seed.
Speaker 2: Him knows the addition to two days rest, and then
Speaker 2: after that comes Sunday. If so, you got to let
Speaker 2: that man play. That's my attitude. Am I wrong for
Speaker 2: filling that way?
Speaker 6: No, But it would be based upon the doctor saying, hey, listen,
Speaker 6: you know he needs more time. He could injure it
Speaker 6: again or make it worse or something like that. You know, look,
Speaker 6: we've all played on sprained ankles, I mean, and some
Speaker 6: are worse than others. But if there's no structural damage,
Speaker 6: it's not that big of a deal. And today these
Speaker 6: guys get treatment like nobody's business.
Speaker 4: So a week should be plenty.
Speaker 6: But if he's capable of playing, if it were a
Speaker 6: second round game, he plays, so play because I do
Speaker 6: think the continuity of having him back, because you can
Speaker 6: lose a second round game, a second round games against
Speaker 6: an eight or nine, and they'd play either Mississippi State
Speaker 6: or Baylor, and Mississippi State is very good, and i'd
Speaker 6: want I'd want some reps with everybody back to their
Speaker 6: normal roles before you go into a game like that.
Speaker 2: Before I move on to the Midwest, Jay, I never
Speaker 2: had an opportunity to ask you about this kid, Cooper Flag.
Speaker 2: I've seen about five or six of his games. The
Speaker 2: brother's legit. He can really really play, no doubt about
Speaker 2: leading them in points, rebounds, assists, steals, rebound I mean,
Speaker 2: it's ridiculous, but.
Speaker 1: Again, his skill set.
Speaker 2: It's not like it's Lebron James with somebody like that
Speaker 2: coming your way.
Speaker 1: But he's so skilled, he's so special.
Speaker 2: Put into perspective watching college and covering college basketball all
Speaker 2: of these years, the way that you have when you
Speaker 2: look at a Cooper Flag give the world an idea
Speaker 2: of what we're going to see on the next level.
Speaker 2: Because he's likely going to be the number one overall
Speaker 2: picking the upcoming NBA draft, I.
Speaker 6: Think Cooper Flag is going to be a combination of
Speaker 6: Andre Kirolenko and Franz Wagner, except he's bigger and I
Speaker 6: think he's going to be stronger. He's the best, most complete,
Speaker 6: most competitive freshman all those put together that Duke has
Speaker 6: ever had. And he's got all the measurables. He got
Speaker 6: the size, the length, the athleticism, an unbelievable skill level.
Speaker 6: But what really sets him apart and puts him on
Speaker 6: the top tier of players I've ever watched in college
Speaker 6: is his competitive level. Like everybody says they're a competitor,
Speaker 6: but some are more competitive than others. But he's among
Speaker 6: the most competitive players I've ever seen, and it's legit.
Speaker 6: It's an everyday thing with him, and I've been blown away.
Speaker 4: Like I knew he was going to be good.
Speaker 6: I knew he was going to be the best freshman
Speaker 6: and all that, and I thought he'd be an All American.
Speaker 6: I didn't think he'd do this, and he keeps getting better,
Speaker 6: and the fact that he's barely eighteen years old, he
Speaker 6: kind of boggles your mind. Like I think Grant Hill
Speaker 6: is the best player Duke's ever had, and I think
Speaker 6: he proved that when he went on the NBA's first
Speaker 6: seven years of the NBA were like Sandy Kopak's level.
Speaker 6: But I nobody, nobody has done what he's done as
Speaker 6: a freshman.
Speaker 4: It's not the all around stuff. The numbers, it's not close.
Speaker 2: I'd be remissing, neglecting to give credit to this guy too.
Speaker 1: Your coach John Shryer. I mean this, he's this man.
Speaker 2: Succeeded coach K and I'm looking at him right now
Speaker 2: and he's been very impressive A and B so much
Speaker 2: so that it's it's dwarfed, you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 2: I don't want to, I don't want to use that word,
Speaker 2: but North Carolina is not on Duke's level.
Speaker 1: It appears at this particular moment in.
Speaker 2: Time, and you never expect that to happen, especially when
Speaker 2: Hubert Davis had him in the final four playing for
Speaker 2: national championship a couple of years ago. But that's what
Speaker 2: I'm seeing from this guy right now. Your thoughts on
Speaker 2: the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils.
Speaker 4: I I agree John is built for this.
Speaker 6: Uh He's He's another guy that talk about a competitor.
Speaker 6: He was a great player. He's probably the most underrated
Speaker 6: star that Duke has ever had. You know, he scored
Speaker 6: over two thousand points, his first team All America and
Speaker 6: ACC Player the Year, all that stuff, and he would
Speaker 6: have had an NBA career if he didn't have that
Speaker 6: eye injury when he's playing for the Miami Heat. But uh,
Speaker 6: he John is very thoughtful. He thinks everything through before
Speaker 6: he does it, and he seeks out council and then
Speaker 6: makes makes the right decision. And every button that he's
Speaker 6: pushed since he's been there, I feel has been the
Speaker 6: right one. And uh, he's Uh, he's the real deal.
Speaker 6: But your point, it's an interesting point about like duke
Speaker 6: in North Carolina like that. That to me, stephen A
Speaker 6: is kind of a year to your thing because last
Speaker 6: year North Carolina won the accre right and it's kind
Speaker 6: of a year to your thing. But John John's gonna
Speaker 6: be at this for a long time. And I think
Speaker 6: he's one of those guys like he's gonna he's probably
Speaker 6: gonna coach twenty five thirty years.
Speaker 4: I don't I don't know that guys are going to
Speaker 4: go as long as they used to.
Speaker 6: Like it amazed me the coach k got seventy five
Speaker 6: or seventy six, and Jim Laernego was seventy seven and
Speaker 6: Beheim was seventy four.
Speaker 4: Roy Williams, that amazed me. But I could see he's
Speaker 4: the type of coach.
Speaker 6: That could go to the NBA in a heartbeat because
Speaker 6: of his demeanor, Like he's he holds everybody accountable and
Speaker 6: does all this stuff that coaches like to talk about
Speaker 6: about coaching hard, but he's never demeaning. He always hits
Speaker 6: the right note, and the message to a player, even
Speaker 6: when he gets on them, is positive, and I think
Speaker 6: players respond to that in a better way than they
Speaker 6: did when you and I were playing. He reads them
Speaker 6: on a gut level and a heart level, not the
Speaker 6: same way the coach did Coach K did, but there's
Speaker 6: similarities there.
Speaker 4: But his demeanor is unbelievable. He's the real thing.
Speaker 2: Not just talking to one of the best college basketball
Speaker 2: analysts in America, but somebody who also played a duke.
Speaker 2: He would know what thing or two about the duke program.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the one and only J billis right
Speaker 2: here with Steven A. Finally, let's get to the Midwest region.
Speaker 2: Jay Houston and Tennessee are the top two seats. Did
Speaker 2: they get that right? Number one and number two? Do
Speaker 2: you see anybody knocking off one? You know one, if
Speaker 2: not both of them en route to a Final Four appearance.
Speaker 4: This is a difference.
Speaker 6: Houston team steven a than we saw the last few years.
Speaker 6: They're the same in their ability to defend rebound. Like
Speaker 6: I've been saying this ever since Calvin Sampson got to Houston.
Speaker 6: They lead the nation every year playing hard. That's just
Speaker 6: their default position. They don't know anything else, and they
Speaker 6: wear teams down that way. But this year they score
Speaker 6: at a higher level, so they shoot about forty percent
Speaker 6: for free as a team. Jay Cror and Emmanuel Sharp
Speaker 6: and great shooters. They brought in a transfer Milos Uzan
Speaker 6: from Oklahoma. Like Oklahoma lost some really good players of
Speaker 6: Tega away at Kentucky and milos Uzan. Now it's Houston.
Speaker 6: But they still do the dirty work stuff. They don't
Speaker 6: get stuck offensively. They're not gonna They're not gonna be
Speaker 6: stuck in a game where they have to hold the
Speaker 6: other team to fifty five in order to win, and
Speaker 6: they could do that. Like I think they would have
Speaker 6: been in the Final four last year if Jamal shed
Speaker 6: wasn't hurt in the first half of that game against Duke,
Speaker 6: I think they would have beaten Duke.
Speaker 4: I think they would have beaten NC State. I think
Speaker 4: they would have been in the Final four.
Speaker 6: But this year, like I think, I think they would
Speaker 6: beat Tennessee. Tennessee's better than they've been too. Like Rick
Speaker 6: Barnes has run into some He's a great coach, It's
Speaker 6: ridiculous how good he is. Yes he is, but he's
Speaker 6: run into some circumstances like this year with the Southeastern Conference,
Speaker 6: he gets to the final and they got to play Florida,
Speaker 6: and Florida is a different cut of cat now, and
Speaker 6: then last year they're there.
Speaker 4: Last year they had.
Speaker 6: Dalton connect Now with the Lakers, as you know, and
Speaker 6: he was like the ro Hobbs of college basketball, giving.
Speaker 4: Them scoring they hadn't had. And they run into Zach
Speaker 4: Edian Purdue in the Elite eight.
Speaker 6: You know, kind of the only team that I thought
Speaker 6: out of the Elite eight teams that they couldn't beat.
Speaker 4: And otherwise they were Final four team last year.
Speaker 6: So their draw I think is a little bit better
Speaker 6: this year because I think they can beat Houston, but
Speaker 6: it's gonna be a whale of game if it gets
Speaker 6: to one versus two.
Speaker 2: Before I let you get on out of here, Jay,
Speaker 2: I'd be remissing, neglecting to bring this up new story
Speaker 2: all over the place right now, West Virginia Governor Patrick
Speaker 2: Morrissey has taken the social media and national news networks
Speaker 2: to voice his displeasure with the NC DOUBLEA after West
Speaker 2: Virginia's men's basketball team was left out of the NC
Speaker 2: DOUBLEA tournament.
Speaker 1: He's threatening lawsuits for crowd out loud.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, there's a whole bunch of people lamenting North Carolina
Speaker 2: getting into the tournament, obviously, and they will one and
Speaker 2: twelve versus squad one teams or Q one teams. Your
Speaker 2: thoughts about that whole storyline North Carolina and West Virginia
Speaker 2: governor threatened and lawsuits because West Virginia was left out
Speaker 2: of the NC DOUBLEA tournament. Nobody will break it down
Speaker 2: better than you j give it to us. Shift thoughts.
Speaker 6: First of all, Steven A. Ten years ago or so,
Speaker 6: I probably would have lost my mind over this whole thing.
Speaker 6: But I've learned over the years that the tournament selection
Speaker 6: committee hardly ever does anything at the end of the
Speaker 6: line that I.
Speaker 4: Agree with completely.
Speaker 6: So do I agree that North Carolina should have made
Speaker 6: the field relative to a couple of the teams that
Speaker 6: got left out?
Speaker 4: No, I mean I would have taken one of the
Speaker 4: other teams that we're talking about here.
Speaker 6: You know, I thought Texas should have been in, but
Speaker 6: I thought North Carolina was going to be on the
Speaker 6: outside looking in. But was it this egregious thing that
Speaker 6: adults who were in positions of power should be threatening
Speaker 6: lawsuits over. I mean, you tell me if this resonates
Speaker 6: with you, but because I know you'll remember it better
Speaker 6: than I do. But in nineteen eighty five, during the
Speaker 6: NBA Lottery, back then, they used to reach in and
Speaker 6: pick out an envelope with the team's logo on. Patrick
Speaker 6: Ewing was the big, big prize coming out of Georgetown.
Speaker 6: And after the New York Knicks won the you remember
Speaker 6: Dave de Busher being there and all that.
Speaker 4: After they won the.
Speaker 6: Lottery, the story publicly, you know, the narrative was it
Speaker 6: was a fix that the NBA had kept the envelope
Speaker 6: of the Knicks in a freezer and it was colder,
Speaker 6: so they knew that's the one they needed to pick.
Speaker 4: And I remember David Stern.
Speaker 6: Being asked about at one time and he very you know,
Speaker 6: you know, you knew Stern better than I did, and
Speaker 6: Stern could be a handful, but he was.
Speaker 4: Very thoughtful man. And he said, he said he said,
Speaker 4: that didn't happen.
Speaker 6: I'll explain to you what happened, blah blah blah, and
Speaker 6: he went through it. And then he said, and by
Speaker 6: the way, if we had done something like that, it
Speaker 6: would be a federal crime. Do you think we would
Speaker 6: risk a federal crime for that? And I'm kind of
Speaker 6: thinking the same thing here with the governor of West
Speaker 6: Virginia acting like somebody took a piece of candy from
Speaker 6: him when he was six years old over a selection
Speaker 6: over like you know, these teams. You know, if you
Speaker 6: want to be in the field, win more. If you
Speaker 6: leave it into the hands of a committee, you're you're
Speaker 6: you're likely to have something like this happen. But threatening
Speaker 6: lawsuits over whether a team plays in the n I
Speaker 6: t or the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 4: I'm not down with that. That's just that's not adult
Speaker 4: behaving them.
Speaker 7: I view.
Speaker 1: Totally totally agree with you. It's petty. It's nonsense.
Speaker 2: Now, I don't agree with their decision of putting North
Speaker 2: Carolina in just like you do. But in the end,
Speaker 2: when I remember it on a women's side, you've got
Speaker 2: the coach a UFC Gottlieb, who's obviously doing a great
Speaker 2: job complaining that they'd a fourth number one seed. Well,
Speaker 2: if you had beat UCLA in the conference championship game
Speaker 2: like you did in the regular season instead of losing
Speaker 2: in them come conference championship time, that might not have happened.
Speaker 2: And maybe just maybe you're complaining because you're in the
Speaker 2: same bracket as you con with Gino Oriema. And that's
Speaker 2: what's a real complaining the way to go in terms
Speaker 2: of showing confidence of your team.
Speaker 1: I ain't get that, Jay, I get that well.
Speaker 6: But but I'm I'm good with the complaining part because
Speaker 6: that's you know, sort of that's what you and I
Speaker 6: do in a way that comes with it complain away,
Speaker 6: Like we we should complain about it. We should discuss
Speaker 6: is this is the right thing or do we need
Speaker 6: a better criteria to use or all that's all good stuff.
Speaker 6: We should do that and we can be as loud
Speaker 6: as we want to. You know, when government officials are
Speaker 6: getting involved in this, So who's going to want this
Speaker 6: job next time? You know, who's going to sign up
Speaker 6: to be chairman of the selection committee? When they got
Speaker 6: to worry about some governor you know, getting his undies
Speaker 6: in a bunch and and uh, and getting his Attorney
Speaker 6: general out there coming after you.
Speaker 4: It's just it's so silly. I just don't understand it. Uh.
Speaker 6: You know, the adults in the room got to stand
Speaker 6: up and say hey, stop it like behave yourself.
Speaker 2: I noticed from personal experience, you've always been the adult
Speaker 2: in the room, even when you don't think you've been.
Speaker 1: You've always been the adult in the room. You've helped
Speaker 1: me grow over the years. I love you, man. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you so much.
Speaker 2: Man, thing you and I'm definitely gonna catch you during
Speaker 2: the NCAA tournament. My last question Florida and Duke is
Speaker 2: for me. With Florida winning the national championship, who you got?
Speaker 4: I got the same thing.
Speaker 6: I've got Florida winning it, which is probably the death
Speaker 6: knell for the Gators' chances.
Speaker 2: Same here, That's exactly what I'm thinking. Everybody I know
Speaker 2: is picking Florida. I guess that means they're gonna lose.
Speaker 2: J billis love you, man. Thank you so much for
Speaker 2: your time, man. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Love you too, brother. Thanks for having me all right.
Speaker 2: The one and only J billis right here with Steve
Speaker 2: and Asheet. That's how I know college basketball. I listened
Speaker 2: to Jay billis the hell I do?
Speaker 1: He said? What did he say?
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna go with what he said. That's
Speaker 2: how I do it. That's how I do it. Coming
Speaker 2: up on The Steven A. Smith Show, Dwayne Wade and
Speaker 2: Carmelo Anthony way In on Lebron James approaching me at
Speaker 2: the Lakers game. They ain't the only ones, but they're
Speaker 2: the latest ones. But first, what's going on with the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party. A new CNN poll shows favorability for the
Speaker 2: Democrats has dropped to an all time love. I wonder
Speaker 2: where y'all heard that before. I'll get into it next
Speaker 2: right here on the Steven Nate Smith Show. All right, everybody,
Speaker 2: listen up With all the big time sports action that's
Speaker 2: happening each and every day, The Stephen Nate Smith Show
Speaker 2: wants to make sure you are taking advantage of it all.
Speaker 1: That's why we've.
Speaker 2: Partnered with the Prize Picks, the best place to win
Speaker 2: cash while watching sports. The app is really easy to use.
Speaker 2: To make a lineup. All you have to do is
Speaker 2: pick more or less on a few player stats. Choose
Speaker 2: from any of your favorite players, Luka, Doncic, Jimmy Butler
Speaker 2: and zach Lavine all in the same entry.
Speaker 1: Then sit back and watch. The list is absolutely endless.
Speaker 2: You can play Prizepects in over forty states, including California
Speaker 2: and Texas. Best of all, Prospects will give you fifty
Speaker 2: dollars when you play your first five dollars.
Speaker 1: Lineup wanna lose, You'll get fifty bucks.
Speaker 2: Just use promo code says and download Prozpects right now again,
Speaker 2: download the app and use code sas to get fifty
Speaker 2: dollars instantly after your first five dollars lineup Prize Picks,
Speaker 2: run your game.
Speaker 1: Welcoing back to Steven A.
Speaker 2: Spisshow want to get into politics and the headlines I've
Speaker 2: seen this week and from Washington about the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2: There's a new CNN poll that shows the party's favorability
Speaker 2: among Americans has dropped to a record low. The poll
Speaker 2: was conducted for CNN via web and telephone on THESRS
Speaker 2: Opinion Panel. That's a nationally representative panel of US adults
Speaker 2: ages eighteen or older, recruited using probability based sampling techniques.
Speaker 2: To be clear, they are an independent research company, not
Speaker 2: right or left. So here's what the poll revealed. Many
Speaker 2: people in the Democratic Party are saying that leadership should
Speaker 2: do more to stand up to President Trump. It shows
Speaker 2: that Democrats and Democratic aligned in dependents say fifty seven
Speaker 2: to forty two percent that Democrats should mainly work to
Speaker 2: stop the Republican agenda rather than working with the GOP
Speaker 2: majority to get some Democratic idea is into legislation.
Speaker 1: The survey was.
Speaker 2: Taken days before ten Democratic senators, including Senate Minority Leader
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer, voted with Republicans to advance a GOP authored
Speaker 2: spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The survey also
Speaker 2: revealed that Democratic aligned adults say fifty two to forty
Speaker 2: eight percent that the leadership of the Democratic Party is
Speaker 2: currently taking the party in the wrong direction. There's another
Speaker 2: shift from eight years ago, when views on the same
Speaker 2: metric were largely positive. And finally, the poll revealed that
Speaker 2: among the American public overall, the Democratic Party's favorability rating
Speaker 2: stands at just twenty nine percent. That's a record low
Speaker 2: in CNN's polling dating back to nineteen ninety two, and
Speaker 2: a drop of twenty points since January twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: when Trump left his first term. Under the shadow of
Speaker 2: the January sixth attack on the Capitol.
Speaker 1: Okay again.
Speaker 2: The poll was conducted for CNN by an independent research company.
Speaker 2: The surveys were obtained on March sixth through the ninth,
Speaker 2: before the spending bill occurred. First of all, that's the
Speaker 2: problem with producers and editors. That's too damn long, too
Speaker 2: much information. Okay, yes, they say I gotta read that
Speaker 2: to you or whatever, but damn it, I hope you
Speaker 2: didn't fall asleep on that because that's.
Speaker 1: Not the subject. That's not the point. Here's the point.
Speaker 2: The strategy's not gonna work. Are you listening to me, Michael,
Speaker 2: you're listening to me, Sherry. It's not gonna work because
Speaker 2: it's still not touching on what's.
Speaker 1: Really, really, really the issue. All of that stuff that
Speaker 1: I just read. I know what y'all saying.
Speaker 2: It's mumbo jumble, it's facts, it's accurate, it's.
Speaker 1: Something you needed to hear. But you really don't give
Speaker 1: a shit.
Speaker 2: What you really care about is what you're gonna do
Speaker 2: to reclaim the White House, what you're gonna.
Speaker 1: Do to reclaim seats in the House and the Senate.
Speaker 2: I got a story to tell the Democratic Party.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for this?
Speaker 2: Rather than telling us what we should vote against. Maybe
Speaker 2: you should present us with options of what to vote for.
Speaker 1: Just a thought. I mean, my god, it you okay
Speaker 1: Michael with me suggesting that? Are you okay with me?
Speaker 1: Sherry suggesting that Rashwan Galen and.
Speaker 2: All of a bunch of leftists that's under my umbrella
Speaker 2: trying to act like they're independence when they're full of it.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about my whole damn staff. I can say
Speaker 1: it with love and affection because.
Speaker 2: I don't mind. I'm a centrist. I think my man
Speaker 2: Rashaan is a centrist. The rest of these damn people
Speaker 2: working for me. I mean, what left wing party are
Speaker 2: you associated with? I mean, you gotta believe this stuff.
Speaker 2: You gotta listen to it to hear it. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: say it again. Rather than come to them, to come
Speaker 2: to folks with what to vote against, how about telling us.
Speaker 1: What we should vote for?
Speaker 2: Because you see, I'm no fan of Chuck Schumer. I'm
Speaker 2: a fan of Chuck Schumer, but he wasn't wrong here.
Speaker 2: Didn't you know that when a government shut down takes place,
Speaker 2: whatever party supports the government shut down is who gets blamed.
Speaker 2: It don't even matter how right you are, you could
Speaker 2: have very salient points. You don't like Trump and now
Speaker 2: cutting USA PROGRAMDI programs. You don't like what they're suggesting.
Speaker 2: You don't approve of his position with the war in Ukraine.
Speaker 2: You don't approve of him schmoozing with Vladimir Putin in Russia.
Speaker 1: You're wondering, where was all of this talk about in
Speaker 1: inflation in the economy? What if you're really really done
Speaker 1: to address it. You got a thirty seven trillion dollar budget.
Speaker 2: Which he contributed to, By the way, because he spent
Speaker 2: a lot of money when he was president number forty five.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like it was that the Democrats spending.
Speaker 1: It was him too. And you're talking about holding them
Speaker 1: accountable for all of that. Fair. Fair.
Speaker 2: You're talking about him and the immigration policy, and you're
Speaker 2: talking about targeting criminals.
Speaker 1: But we're talking about.
Speaker 2: A ten year old that I just finished asking bought
Speaker 2: us our Tom Homan about the other day, that was
Speaker 2: being deported back to Mexico even though she's US citizen.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah blah blah. All of these things you
Speaker 1: want to point to. I'm not even saying you might
Speaker 1: not be right.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is if you're the Democrats, it ain't
Speaker 2: gonna work for you. You know why, because you're done messed
Speaker 2: up and your objective should be recapturing a trust that
Speaker 2: you're once had from folks on the left. In order
Speaker 2: to do that, you're gonna have to be aligned and
Speaker 2: unified and started preaching about what's important to the American
Speaker 2: people instead of what you'll think the American.
Speaker 1: People should find important. See the difference.
Speaker 2: Will you try that again, Michael, want to try that
Speaker 2: against Sherry. I'm just saying, you gotta be about preaching
Speaker 2: about what's important to the American people and what they
Speaker 2: care about instead of telling them.
Speaker 1: What they should care about. You know why you can't.
Speaker 2: Make that argument anymore because you had your chance. You
Speaker 2: had President Biden up in that office. You knew he
Speaker 2: wasn't the same. You knew there was shrinkage that kicked
Speaker 2: in mentally. You knew that people were talking about him
Speaker 2: being incapacitated.
Speaker 1: This before the debate on June twenty seventh.
Speaker 8: You knew it.
Speaker 1: You knew it, and it got you on camera.
Speaker 2: Chant for four more years for a dude that was
Speaker 2: approaching eighty two years of age. That would have been
Speaker 2: in office and thought he was eighty six, assumed he
Speaker 2: got there. You didn't even think he was gonna make it,
Speaker 2: And God bless him, I hope he does. But what
Speaker 2: you did was say, let's just get him through the
Speaker 2: election because the rest of us is running the government anyway.
Speaker 2: The trust of the American people were compromised. I'm a
Speaker 2: black man. You know how many times I get tied
Speaker 2: of this.
Speaker 1: Not being mentioned.
Speaker 2: How racism and things pertinent to a community that makes
Speaker 2: up thirteen and a half percent of.
Speaker 1: Our population was shoved to the wayside.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't even for the LGBTQ plus community as
Speaker 2: a whole. You were focusing on transgender rights more so
Speaker 2: than you were focusing on black people. You took him
Speaker 2: for granted. The Hispanics with the borders, do you know
Speaker 2: that I know more Hispanic folks that wanted closed borders
Speaker 2: more than one in open borders.
Speaker 1: Leat Tinos in this country.
Speaker 2: Let Tina's in this country had a problem with illegal
Speaker 2: immigrants more than some of the American citizens because they
Speaker 2: said they have to stand in the line. Who the
Speaker 2: hell are they not to have to stand in line?
Speaker 2: But you ignored that too. The economy stupid. Remember what
Speaker 2: James Carville said in nineteen ninety two when Clinton was
Speaker 2: running for the presidency.
Speaker 1: It's the economy stupid. Remember that. Well, we preaching about
Speaker 1: that now. We weren't even acting like inflation was an
Speaker 1: issue until they've slapped us all in the face.
Speaker 2: Oh, there's no border crisis, not at all. Remember Vice
Speaker 2: President Kamala Harris.
Speaker 8: On the view.
Speaker 1: Here's there anything.
Speaker 2: About President Biden's administration that you would do differently? I
Speaker 2: really can't think of anything, really, ladies and gentlemen. That's
Speaker 2: why she can't run for president in twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 2: She has no chance. She has to run for the governor.
Speaker 1: Sea to California. She can't run for the presidency.
Speaker 2: Say oh, this announcement that's coming this summer, please not
Speaker 2: wasting your time.
Speaker 1: You can announce it now. It's got to be the
Speaker 1: governor's position.
Speaker 2: Or nothing, because you can't run for the presidency of
Speaker 2: the United States if you Kamala Harris. Because they're going
Speaker 2: to reair that interview and it just shows that there
Speaker 2: was a collective deceit being pushed forward to the American public.
Speaker 1: And after all of.
Speaker 2: That backdrop and after the embarrassment of the Democratic Party
Speaker 2: with Trump's speech to both Houses of Congress the other day,
Speaker 2: where people holding signs and they're making videos with twenty
Speaker 2: two people echoing the same verbiage clearly toned down, and
Speaker 2: they got the nerve to be dancing, some of them
Speaker 2: with their non dancing air selves on video, trying to
Speaker 2: appeal to folks. No, they were beyond their lane and
Speaker 2: trying to do that.
Speaker 1: After all of that.
Speaker 2: You're gonna let the government shut down? You would have
Speaker 2: played right into Donald Trump's hands. Even with Elon Musk
Speaker 2: scaring the living daylights out of more than half the
Speaker 2: American population with what the hell he gonna do next?
Speaker 2: What cuts is he going to suggest that Trump is
Speaker 2: going to okay? How many programs are gonna be slashed,
Speaker 2: how many bodies are gonna fall, how many federal workers
Speaker 2: are gonna be.
Speaker 1: Without a job. Even with all of that, the.
Speaker 2: Democrats still don't have the cachet and the leverage to
Speaker 2: shut down the government. If Schuman deserves credit for nothing,
Speaker 2: and I'll be damned if I want to give him
Speaker 2: credit for much, we gotta give him credit for that.
Speaker 1: He knew better.
Speaker 2: You can't shut down the government him and none other colleagues.
Speaker 2: But if I have votes to path a budget to
Speaker 2: fund the government through September.
Speaker 1: Thirtyeth it had to happen because you're a House divided.
Speaker 2: The GOP stood together and they pushed forth a budget
Speaker 2: and it was going to go through. And if the
Speaker 2: Democrats hadn't supported it and the government happened to shut
Speaker 2: it down, jobs would have been lost, wages would have
Speaker 2: been lost, programs would have been slashed, and the Democrats
Speaker 2: and their lack of togetherness would have been the blame.
Speaker 2: Why Because the GOP is aligned under Trump. There's nobody
Speaker 2: aligned with the Democrats because you don't have leadership.
Speaker 1: Minority House Leader.
Speaker 2: Hakim Jeffries evidently is not aligned with Senate Minority Leader
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer, AOC Alexandria A Cassio Cortez representative out of
Speaker 2: New York.
Speaker 1: What is she talking about? Schuman needs to be replaced.
Speaker 2: You got representative Algree won't even let anybody, won't even
Speaker 2: let Trump speak, and he has to get booted out
Speaker 2: during the speech and ultimately censured. I like Jasmine Crockett,
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to having on this show.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the fervor and the fight in AOC. She's
Speaker 1: welcomed on this show, but the Democrats are not together.
Speaker 1: You have no cachet.
Speaker 2: And to be furious at Schumer is not paying attention
Speaker 2: to what's going on. If we're being honest, if we're
Speaker 2: being honest, you're not paying attention to what's going on.
Speaker 2: This is an article that was written Michael Sherry.
Speaker 1: This is for y'all. This is for y'all. I'm just
Speaker 1: looking at all of this right now.
Speaker 2: This is a story in the Washington Post dated February second.
Speaker 2: Democrats are in trouble and a provocative analysis offers ideas
Speaker 2: to repair the party.
Speaker 1: And in the.
Speaker 2: Article, it's talking about the polling and how unpopular they are.
Speaker 2: This more than a month ago, aren't you. There's more
Speaker 2: than a month ago. And I'm trying to find a
Speaker 2: graph here, and it says if Democrats are serious about
Speaker 2: addressing their problems, they face a period of vigorous debate
Speaker 2: and self reflection akin to what they experienced after losing
Speaker 2: three consecutive presidential elections.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen eighties, member both Reagan two terms and
Speaker 1: then hw Bush as a star. Two veterans of that.
Speaker 2: Period, William Galston and Elaine Comark have offered an assessment
Speaker 2: of the state of the party, to be published Sunday
Speaker 2: by the centrist.
Speaker 1: Group Third Way.
Speaker 2: An advanced copy was made available to The Washington Post
Speaker 2: at the time. I want to read these couple of graphs,
Speaker 2: especially to my left wing guy Michael here.
Speaker 1: Okay, and Sherry, you'll be lord here. Let me read
Speaker 1: this to y'all. Just help y'all out for.
Speaker 2: Those Democrats who think a rapid response to war Room,
Speaker 2: a massive get out the vote efforts will restore the
Speaker 2: party to its previous highs. The authors provide a bracing
Speaker 2: and provocative analysis quote. This renewal involves more than communications,
Speaker 2: organization and mobilization. They write, it will require a party
Speaker 2: to ask itself hard questions about the reasons for its
Speaker 2: dwindling support among groups. It has long taken for granted
Speaker 2: to reflect on declining public confidence and government as a
Speaker 2: vehicle of progress, and the think anew about its policy
Speaker 2: agenda in an era of rapid change at home and
Speaker 2: abroad end quote. The fracturing of the Democratic Coalition represents
Speaker 2: a major challenge. Though the decline and working class support
Speaker 2: for Democrats started decades ago, the Trump era has accelerated
Speaker 2: it and expanded it beyond white working class voters to
Speaker 2: working class, Hispanic and black voters, particularly men. So what
Speaker 2: is this article saying. What are the experts saying working
Speaker 2: class voters? The numbers were dissipating within the Democratic Party
Speaker 2: from white that work in class voters, but now it's
Speaker 2: sifted to Hispanic and black working class voters.
Speaker 1: Especially men.
Speaker 2: So you don't have working class voters the way you
Speaker 2: used to, and you don't have men the way that
Speaker 2: you used to in white, Hispanics and blacks. You have
Speaker 2: no party. You're just a bunch of individual parts claiming
Speaker 2: to be Democrats. You're not a party. You're fragmented, you're weak,
Speaker 2: and the only way you can get yourself together is
Speaker 2: to be strong. That's one thing. But take it from me.
Speaker 1: I'm a novice at this, and even I know this.
Speaker 2: You have to reclaim being for the working class. When
Speaker 2: I say reclaim the working class does it doesn't mean money,
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean bathrooms.
Speaker 1: Shared by both genders. It doesn't mean that stuff.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean pronouncing the right the proper nouns and
Speaker 2: pronouns doesn't mean that stuff.
Speaker 1: Working class. Back to James Carville, it's the economy, stupid.
Speaker 1: It's about dollars and cents, it's about money in people's pocket,
Speaker 1: it's about the cost to live in. Everything starts there.
Speaker 1: What the Democrats need to do is refocus.
Speaker 2: On proclaiming yourself as the better party for the economy.
Speaker 2: Make sure that your policies are better when it comes
Speaker 2: to employing folks and putting money in the pockets of
Speaker 2: the American citizens better than them.
Speaker 1: You pull that off.
Speaker 2: Without all of that other stuff on the fringes, and
Speaker 2: you get back to being sent to left.
Speaker 1: You can reclaim one of the Houses of Congress in
Speaker 1: the midterms.
Speaker 2: You'd have a chance in twenty twenty eight. But if
Speaker 2: you keep being at the mercy of the extreme left,
Speaker 2: which Chuck Schumann in this case refused to do with
Speaker 2: the whole bill, oh spending bill of budget making sure
Speaker 2: that the government didn't shut down. If you ignore that
Speaker 2: and go far left, it's not an election or another
Speaker 2: election you're gonna lose. You're gonna lose the country. The
Speaker 2: Democratic Party will cease to exist by the year twenty
Speaker 2: twenty eight, if not the year twenty twenty six. Unless
Speaker 2: y'all get y'all act together, we all got stuff we want,
Speaker 2: and there's certain things that we can't be deprived of.
Speaker 2: I will remind you President Obama deported more people than
Speaker 2: Donald Trump. He just didn't brag about it. There are
Speaker 2: certain things that you can want and you can get
Speaker 2: away with wanning if you ain't sticking out your chain
Speaker 2: proclaiming that as your battle cry, so using that to
Speaker 2: supplant other things that should be a priority. If you
Speaker 2: prioritize appropriately on behalf of the American people, you'd be
Speaker 2: surprised what else you could get away with if you
Speaker 2: made sure you handle business first, prioritize appropriately, show yourself
Speaker 2: to be the better party than the others by what
Speaker 2: you have to offer instead of decrying what they are offering.
Speaker 2: And you might have a chance. If you don't, you're dead.
Speaker 2: You're done. And in case you haven't noticed, you're pretty
Speaker 2: damn close to that right now anyway, regardless of what
Speaker 2: you want to think about how close this election was
Speaker 2: in your mind.
Speaker 1: Get your shit together, Get it together coming up.
Speaker 2: Dwayne Wade and come Elo Anthony share their thoughts on
Speaker 2: Lebron James and yours. Truly, I didn't want to visit
Speaker 2: this subject again, but they did so why not.
Speaker 1: But obviously that's not before I'll have my nephew on
Speaker 1: the on the show. He's in the house. He's not
Speaker 1: feeling loved, he said, what happened to nephew tism?
Speaker 2: He forgot that he was on just the other day.
Speaker 2: Selective amnesia is what I call him. But he'll be
Speaker 2: here too, so don't touch that doll.
Speaker 1: More to steven A Smith show in a minute. What's up, everybody?
Speaker 1: Steven A Smith here.
Speaker 2: Recently we made news because the great Bill O'Reilly announced
Speaker 2: a tour that's coming nearest to you in the very
Speaker 2: very near future. Get your tickets now for this. It's
Speaker 2: called Three Americans Live March thirtieth at Live Nation's Flag
Speaker 2: Star at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island.
Speaker 1: Don't miss the very first show.
Speaker 2: Myself, Chris Croomo, and yes, that man Bill O'Reilly take
Speaker 2: our different ideas, a different backgrounds, our different beliefs across
Speaker 2: the country to demonstrate that respectful, meaningful and even fun conversation.
Speaker 2: Those are the things that make America as great as
Speaker 2: it should be. The show will be spirited, unscripted, and
Speaker 2: all three of us will let it fly as we
Speaker 2: discuss the topics everyone is thinking about these days. There'll
Speaker 2: also be questions from the audience we're not running. Tickets
Speaker 2: are officially on sale now with pre sale code USA
Speaker 2: at Three Americans Live dot Com. VIP packages are available
Speaker 2: with the opportunity to meet and take photos with myself
Speaker 2: and both those fellas that Three Americans Live March thirtieth
Speaker 2: at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. Additional dates
Speaker 2: in cities to be announced. Don't miss it. Trust me,
Speaker 2: you'll get a kick out of it.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Steven A. Smith Show.
Speaker 2: Right here over to digit It was YouTube and of
Speaker 2: course iHeart radio. Listen, ladies and gentlemen. You love him.
Speaker 2: You like having them on the show. I don't know why.
Speaker 2: I guess you like seeing him get on his uncle's
Speaker 2: last damn nerves.
Speaker 1: My nephew Josh is in the house.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I thought he was coming on
Speaker 2: to talk about the n C Double A Tournament.
Speaker 1: The next thing you know, I see this brother. He's
Speaker 1: sitting in my seat at my desk. Is that cheese, dudes?
Speaker 1: Is the depretator chips? Is that what you're doing?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I was snacking. He was taking forever with your with
Speaker 5: your take. It's Saint Patrick's Day?
Speaker 8: Where you're green at?
Speaker 1: Why I got that? Why do I look irish?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 8: I got to expose us again?
Speaker 1: Where's your hood?
Speaker 7: Hood?
Speaker 1: Where's your green at? Just because you got Irish swag?
Speaker 1: That's black?
Speaker 8: But still I'm still celebrating on holiday. Do you know?
Speaker 5: Do you know where your grandmother's from?
Speaker 1: I'm away of.
Speaker 8: Josh, right, you know the world is not She's iron.
Speaker 2: Josh, Josh, did you just that really is grandma? Grandmammy
Speaker 2: is from Saint Thomas. But your grandma is from Saint Thomas.
Speaker 2: But her her mother was from is Irish? Okay, but
Speaker 2: that's neither here. There My point to you, Josh is
Speaker 2: did you just pop a bottle?
Speaker 5: I did, because I really I really celebrate these type
Speaker 5: of holidays, not so much Valentine's Day, but Saint Patrick's
Speaker 5: Day is one of my favorites.
Speaker 8: But what are we talking about today?
Speaker 1: We were supposed to be talking about the n C
Speaker 1: double ave the commercial break. You said that wasn't on
Speaker 1: your mind.
Speaker 5: That's that's not what's on my mind. And don't hush
Speaker 5: me over there. Stephen A is not here. This is
Speaker 5: my desk today anyway.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I wanted to.
Speaker 5: I wanted to talk about a few of my my
Speaker 5: laws because the women were getting at me, like you're
Speaker 5: not holding guys accountable and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, you know what what women and what
Speaker 2: were they getting on you about?
Speaker 1: What were you talking about.
Speaker 8: In the comments?
Speaker 5: You know, I scaped them to see where I can
Speaker 5: get better, and they were saying, I don't really hold
Speaker 5: men accountable. So I came today to come with a
Speaker 5: few laws that will have us you know.
Speaker 8: That'll weather some feathers on our side of the things.
Speaker 8: You interested?
Speaker 1: Do you care whether I'm interested or not? I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think you do.
Speaker 8: I really don't. Let me get started, and remember what
Speaker 8: I said.
Speaker 5: If you're gonna interrupt me, make sure it counts all right, ladies, I.
Speaker 8: Know we come off as know it all sometimes.
Speaker 5: You know, sometimes you'll just want to be heard and
Speaker 5: we're trying to come with a solution. The problem we
Speaker 5: want to be heard is we don't really want to
Speaker 5: hear it. So anyway, while in a relationship, depending on
Speaker 5: the dynamic, under regular circumstances, a man must take his
Speaker 5: woman on one date per month.
Speaker 1: You agree with that, I think that's still being cheap.
Speaker 2: Think that, unless you're unemployed, you could do more than
Speaker 2: one a month.
Speaker 8: Wait, why you mentioned it cheap. I ain't say he.
Speaker 1: Had to pay because I think it's that he just.
Speaker 5: Got to go with her. What I ain't saying he
Speaker 5: got to pay it, he just gotta go.
Speaker 1: Stop. Stop stop.
Speaker 2: You said a man has to take his woman out
Speaker 2: on the date at least once a month.
Speaker 1: Did you not say that? Say the word take?
Speaker 8: Yeah, you gotta drive, you know what I mean? I
Speaker 8: do not say you don't have to.
Speaker 5: Hey, so women say all they want is for us
Speaker 5: to communicate. So if there's a case where she feels
Speaker 5: like you're not communicating, she can find you. How do
Speaker 5: you feel about that?
Speaker 2: I need you to repeat that because these don't sound
Speaker 2: like laws.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure out what's the law. What's the law?
Speaker 5: The law is to communicate, honestly, So when she asks you,
Speaker 5: do I look fat in his dress?
Speaker 8: You're supposed to communicate.
Speaker 1: What what? According to your law? What is the answer
Speaker 1: to that question supposed to be?
Speaker 5: I mean, they don't really ask you that unless they're
Speaker 5: already busting out the seams.
Speaker 8: So we done.
Speaker 5: We're done with the making you feel good. If you
Speaker 5: fat going to the gym, that's sick.
Speaker 8: And if you need.
Speaker 2: That, that's some ignorant nonsense. First of all, everybody to
Speaker 2: each his own. You got some dudes that's happy with
Speaker 2: a woman that's one hundred pounds. You got some some
Speaker 2: dudes like like Uncle Pooley. That that I mean, you
Speaker 2: got to be a minimum to fifty. And then you
Speaker 2: got people like me who just likes voluptuousness. You understand
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. I don't mind thickness at all. Now,
Speaker 2: that's not different, that's not the same as fat, But
Speaker 2: there are there's somebody for everybody.
Speaker 5: Don't be disrespect I'm and they don't have that. They
Speaker 5: don't ask do I look fat in this? Unless they
Speaker 5: don't want to look fat in that? And guess what,
Speaker 5: nine times out of ten they be looking fat in at.
Speaker 8: Last little You.
Speaker 2: Know what, I can't even front that that that that
Speaker 2: that is accurate. You didn't have to say it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: but don't you care that? Does the kora matter to you?
Speaker 2: The sensibility matters to you? I mean, don't you care?
Speaker 8: Honesty?
Speaker 7: First?
Speaker 8: Last?
Speaker 2: Really, so you're the most honest dude of the world.
Speaker 2: You're a paragon of honesty.
Speaker 8: Huh, I try. It's about intent for me. Lastly, for
Speaker 8: the men.
Speaker 5: If I'm on the train and there's a bunch of
Speaker 5: available seats and you sit on the one next to me,
Speaker 5: you're getting a fine same ballpark, different city. If I'm
Speaker 5: peeing at a stall and you decide to pee at
Speaker 5: the stall next to me and there's other available stalls,
Speaker 5: I'm stall on you, and then you're going to jail.
Speaker 8: How you feel about that?
Speaker 2: So if you're sitting on a train, somebody's not allowed
Speaker 2: to sit right next.
Speaker 5: To you if there's other seats available, No, And I
Speaker 5: might just sneeze just to spress some germs, because why
Speaker 5: you're so close to me?
Speaker 2: So so so what if she's what if she's fine
Speaker 2: and you like what you're looking at, she wants to
Speaker 2: come sitting right next to you?
Speaker 8: These are these? These are for men. She can sit
Speaker 8: right next to me.
Speaker 1: Lord for men? Oh you're talking about laws for men
Speaker 1: specifically for men?
Speaker 8: Yes, Oh my god, so you missed the whole.
Speaker 1: I just don't know what you lost.
Speaker 8: For men.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not going front. I don't want some
Speaker 2: dude like if I'm sitting by myself. You a dude,
Speaker 2: what you come sit right up next to me?
Speaker 1: I get that? And you would you to act like
Speaker 1: that if you just get up and moves, if.
Speaker 5: Be happening and you still got me on the train
Speaker 5: and so you already know. But anyway, I've been working
Speaker 5: on this animation.
Speaker 1: It's because you don't know how to drive.
Speaker 7: That's what animation you do.
Speaker 8: Let me tell your car I've you've been working on.
Speaker 5: I've been working on an animation where pretty much I
Speaker 5: take the best cuts from your voice interviews and stuff
Speaker 5: like that, and uh make fun out of it. I'm
Speaker 5: gonna start putting it on my YouTube as well and
Speaker 5: your Instagram later on today put it.
Speaker 2: You don't put nothing on your page first without my
Speaker 2: approval about me.
Speaker 1: I'll sue you. You don't do that. You put it
Speaker 1: on my page first. You're trying to build your fight.
Speaker 2: You're trying to ride this gravy train to build your
Speaker 2: own subscribers.
Speaker 1: But you're supposed to be building mind first.
Speaker 8: I got that's what you supposed to doing it.
Speaker 5: I got an animator.
Speaker 1: And by the way, guess what my argument is to
Speaker 1: support that up? You ready, we rich?
Speaker 8: We rich?
Speaker 1: If you got a page I got, Paige, you got
Speaker 1: the animation? It come on my page? We rich, right,
Speaker 1: we right? What's our contract? Right, Hobby?
Speaker 2: So how is it that you just doing something but you.
Speaker 1: Ain't put it on my page?
Speaker 2: I mean, who the hell are you to take content
Speaker 2: and put it on your page?
Speaker 8: I have to get permission from the animator.
Speaker 5: His name is Flash, and here he said he ain't
Speaker 5: get paid yet, so I sent them an arm.
Speaker 2: That's your problem. I didn't hire him. And there's only
Speaker 2: one Flash, and that's Dwayne Wade.
Speaker 5: Dwayne Wade, begone, begone, you champion, the Hall.
Speaker 2: Of Famer, one of the greatest off guards in the
Speaker 2: history of basketball.
Speaker 1: That dude, suddenly you don't know who he is, just.
Speaker 5: Like I'm Josh Smith and the other Josh Smith is obsolete. Flash,
Speaker 5: there's a new Flashit animated, y'all, don't hear about him?
Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Are you ready for this?
Speaker 1: I'm ready? Guess how you just heard your Guess how
Speaker 1: you just heard yourself.
Speaker 2: I just got a text last week saying, Yo, I
Speaker 2: love your nephew on your show.
Speaker 1: Guess who that was?
Speaker 8: Who was it?
Speaker 1: D Wade? And you just dissed them? You just turned
Speaker 1: them against you. Bounce, Get the hell out of here.
Speaker 2: That's right, you just you're messed up your turn d
Speaker 2: way to get you. He ain't gonna follow you. He
Speaker 2: ain't trying to follow you. Get your own damn page,
Speaker 2: and stop eating up all my cheese dudies.
Speaker 1: Get out of here.
Speaker 2: Look y'all, let me transition to a serious topic, because
Speaker 2: I want to put an end once and for all
Speaker 2: to this discussion about yours truly and Lebron James.
Speaker 1: The light of what.
Speaker 2: Happened last week, the way any way to came Melo Anthony,
Speaker 2: both of whom know Lebron's very well, weighed in on
Speaker 2: the situation between me and Lebron when Lebron rolled up
Speaker 2: on me court side last week of the Lakers game.
Speaker 2: They weighed in on the situation on Mello's podcast seven
Speaker 2: PM in Brooklyn. Check out what the fellas had to say.
Speaker 2: Please check it.
Speaker 1: Look at this.
Speaker 9: It's dual size once again. You know, I think you
Speaker 9: understand both sides, if you're that person who wants to
Speaker 9: understand both sides. I told him, as a father, I'm
Speaker 9: walking up on you, right, I get it because I'm
Speaker 9: like that too, Like I'm at you, of course, but
Speaker 9: also you know what I told him, I said, And
Speaker 9: I thing, we've never seen Lebron do that, like even
Speaker 9: we've never seen like Lebron don't even go back at
Speaker 9: players that found him too hard on the court. We've
Speaker 9: never seen him be like he's always been just even
Speaker 9: killed and level headed in every aspect of you. Sometimes
Speaker 9: you want him to jump, sometimes you want him to go,
Speaker 9: and he won't. And so to watch him, to watch
Speaker 9: the clip and watch him on that bench and see
Speaker 9: Steven Ay over there, he was just he couldn't take it.
Speaker 9: He couldn't take it. I mean, not that he could
Speaker 9: not stand there.
Speaker 7: They got the membo though, Steve coming to that, he
Speaker 7: comes to the game tonight.
Speaker 9: Because he knew because he saw him and if he
Speaker 9: saw him at one up, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: It just it was burning them.
Speaker 9: But you know I told him, I said, you know, Steven,
Speaker 9: I think the one thing is and first of all,
Speaker 9: I take it that that's a sign of respect that
Speaker 9: Lebron did that to you. You know what I mean,
Speaker 9: I know he understands that, and that's what him I saying.
Speaker 7: And that's the thing.
Speaker 9: Your your microphone is the loudest, your platform is the biggest.
Speaker 1: And also you're a black man.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and I said, you know what I mean, So
Speaker 9: you got to understand, you know where he's coming from
Speaker 9: with that if he even approached you, because yes, the
Speaker 9: Skip Bayless of the world and all these guys have
Speaker 9: said things about him his entire career, and he's been
Speaker 9: above it.
Speaker 10: There is a fine line of I am a father,
Speaker 10: but you can't separate the fact that he is your
Speaker 10: teammate as well, you know what I'm saying, and he's
Speaker 10: in this league to be critique critique. I just think
Speaker 10: this has been a build up. We're talking twenty two
Speaker 10: years like this ain't got nothing to do with Bronnie.
Speaker 10: It's just the fact that Bronnie is a part of
Speaker 10: the conversation now. And he also got to protect his
Speaker 10: See you get what I'm saying, y'all. You gotta protect
Speaker 10: the kingdom no matter how old it is. He's Bronnie,
Speaker 10: that's my dad. So Broun got to protect that. But
Speaker 10: there's also energy with that with those two and that
Speaker 10: those crews just as from.
Speaker 1: Over the years of just build up, y'all. This ain't
Speaker 1: no love relationship that we talked. This ain't noship that
Speaker 1: we talking about.
Speaker 9: Then have a friendship, right, So this is this is.
Speaker 10: It is what it is in the sense, right, just
Speaker 10: just Stephen doing what he's supposed to do the years,
Speaker 10: Bronni doing Bron doing what he doing over the years,
Speaker 10: and this is what happens. Some shit might get mister strued.
Speaker 10: I might not like what you say.
Speaker 7: I might not with you. I ain't gonna deal with you.
Speaker 10: But the fact that I think the energy is because
Speaker 10: we're dealing with two Juggernauts in their respective feels, right,
Speaker 10: Bron being who he is, Stephen a being who he is.
Speaker 10: A lot of people don't know that history between those two.
Speaker 10: The only thing people know is what Steven. They may say,
Speaker 10: what he may not say. Bron has never spoken on
Speaker 10: any situation with Stevin Nate. So if I'm sitting there
Speaker 10: for twenty plus years and I'm just taking all of
Speaker 10: this information and all the shit that you've said to
Speaker 10: me is about me over the years, now my son
Speaker 10: is the trigger.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna drop the mic or all of this right now,
Speaker 2: once and for all. We're gonna put this shit to bed.
Speaker 2: I want to think d Wayne Wade and Carmel Anthony
Speaker 2: for saying what they said. Some of the details were missed, like,
Speaker 2: for example, he didn't see me, you know, warm up,
Speaker 2: because I didn't get there until a few minutes into
Speaker 2: the first quarter. But when you sit in courtside, they
Speaker 2: kind of know who's gonna be there, and I'm quite
Speaker 2: sure he was alerted I.
Speaker 1: Was gonna be there. But that's neither here nor there.
Speaker 2: D Wade told one thousand percent truth when he said
Speaker 2: what he texts me and has said to me.
Speaker 1: Because we do have a relationship. I love that brother.
Speaker 2: That's my dog, and I feel the same way about
Speaker 2: Carmelo Anthony.
Speaker 1: We all go back years and I love them both.
Speaker 2: So I really appreciated the conversation that they had, and
Speaker 2: I appreciate the perspective that they both provided because for
Speaker 2: the most part, it was pretty spot on. A couple
Speaker 2: of things that need to be noted. Like Mello said,
Speaker 2: it's been stewing for you years. See what I've gotten
Speaker 2: pissed about with this particular subject is that too many
Speaker 2: people are not touching on the truth Mellow and d
Speaker 2: Wade did. Me and Lebron don't have a relationship. Lebron
Speaker 2: don't mess with me, and I don't mess with him.
Speaker 1: I respect the hell out of him.
Speaker 2: He's number two on the list all time, and I
Speaker 2: didn't always feel this way about him. There are times
Speaker 2: I didn't like how he treated black media. I'm not
Speaker 2: talking about myself because I'm on a certain level, and
Speaker 2: I watched how others got treated and I didn't like that.
Speaker 2: But it didn't take away from his unquestionable greatness, his
Speaker 2: deified status that he has earned as one of the
Speaker 2: top two or three greatest players in the history of basketball,
Speaker 2: and I never deviate from that.
Speaker 1: Always been conne to his family.
Speaker 2: I think his wife is the first lady of the
Speaker 2: NBA class personified. I think his mom is an absolutely
Speaker 2: wonderful woman. I don't have to talk to Randy much.
Speaker 2: That's a good brother. Rich Paul and me are pretty
Speaker 2: damn cool. Riches good people, So I'm cool with mav
Speaker 2: as well and various other people, But me and Lebron
Speaker 2: we don't roll like that Hei and BA. He ain't
Speaker 2: had much use for me, and I damn sure don't
Speaker 2: have much use for him. And that shit was cemented
Speaker 2: when he did what he did the other day because
Speaker 2: you rolled up on me knowing that I wouldn't have
Speaker 2: a chance to respond unless I was willing to make
Speaker 2: a scene, which was at court side while the national
Speaker 2: televisions were rolling on the day that my new contract
Speaker 2: have been announced to the world.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't stop me from being fair. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna stop me from doing my job.
Speaker 2: My issue, which is why I appreciate it where Mello went,
Speaker 2: because Melo put it where the goats can get it.
Speaker 2: We don't have that kind of relationship, So what the
Speaker 2: hell you use your son for. I'm shitting on your son.
Speaker 2: That's not true, Bronnie James. That is not true to
Speaker 2: the James family and all your close confidence and loved ones.
Speaker 1: That is not true. I have video.
Speaker 2: Documentation with me refusing to cover Brownie, never watching him
Speaker 2: out of.
Speaker 1: Respect for the family.
Speaker 2: Because if stephen A rolls into a gym or an
Speaker 2: arena and I see him, everyone's gonna ask for my
Speaker 2: critique of him. And I have been on the record
Speaker 2: publicly stating that's not fair to that kid because his
Speaker 2: father is one of the greatest ever and they're gonna
Speaker 2: judge him harshly, and I didn't want to be a
Speaker 2: part of it. I can look into the camera and
Speaker 2: look at Bronnie James and say, factually, that is not correct.
Speaker 1: I have not been shitting on that kid at all.
Speaker 2: That is factually incorrect. Now, d Wade says, when you
Speaker 2: were talking about him, but you really no, I really wasn't.
Speaker 2: The reason I say that is because, as Rich Paul
Speaker 2: pointed out what he said, I could have contextualized it better.
Speaker 2: It's not foreign to me that a second round pick
Speaker 2: will come into the NBA and it's not ready yet,
Speaker 2: and they'll just work hard, going to G league, come
Speaker 2: back and forth and they'll get better, just like Kenyan
Speaker 2: Martin told me his son did when I was on
Speaker 2: Gilsarina last week. So that's not foreign to me. I
Speaker 2: wasn't talking about him. I was talking about his father.
Speaker 2: And why was I talking about his father because not me,
Speaker 2: but the media, some publicly, many privately, literally labeled it
Speaker 2: parental abuse that he would say, my son is better
Speaker 2: than some.
Speaker 1: Of these dudes in the league.
Speaker 2: Right now, you want me draft my son. It ain't
Speaker 2: even about the money at this point. I want to
Speaker 2: play in the league with my son for the year.
Speaker 2: You did that. That was lebron James. That was not
Speaker 2: stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith. I did not do that. So when he came
Speaker 1: up to me, claiming, you shitting.
Speaker 2: On my son, you shitting on myself, I didn't know
Speaker 2: what he was talking about, because I'm the.
Speaker 1: One person who didn't.
Speaker 2: I told January twenty ninth, and even then I don't
Speaker 2: believe I did it. I pointed out how his start
Speaker 2: was very, very bad, but his performance in the G
Speaker 2: League was good. Let him go there and get himself better,
Speaker 2: because you, as the dad, put him in this microscopic
Speaker 2: spotlight and you're going.
Speaker 1: To subject them their stuff.
Speaker 2: That's going to be too much, That's all I was saying.
Speaker 2: So we got the Draymond greenstut out there with his damn.
Speaker 1: Podcast for some reason suddenly forgetting my character and who
Speaker 1: I am, and he's talking about y'all. It was weaker
Speaker 1: stephen A to say that if.
Speaker 2: Lebron was weak, or to bring it up as a
Speaker 2: father and oh, by the way, where I'm from, we
Speaker 2: put hands on you. You sure you should be saying that,
Speaker 2: dreamond you sure? I mean you sure that's the words
Speaker 2: you want to use. We should be putting hands with somebody.
Speaker 2: Has that not worked against you? Jordan Poole Nurkic, Rudy Gobi.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just asking. I'm just asking, is that
Speaker 2: the smartest thing for you to say, particularly when you
Speaker 2: want to be in this business when it's all over?
Speaker 1: Is that the smartest thing for you to say? But
Speaker 1: you go ahead, bro, God bless you.
Speaker 2: I understand where you're rolling now and how you're rolling.
Speaker 1: It's cool.
Speaker 2: I got nothing bad to say about Draymond. I still
Speaker 2: got love for Draymond. My point in all of this
Speaker 2: is I would never call out somebody as a father
Speaker 2: for stuff that's going on in the privacy of your
Speaker 2: life and your home. But I covered the NBA and
Speaker 2: what I was talking about when it came to fatherhood
Speaker 2: was what we were seeing on an NBA basketball court.
Speaker 1: That's my job. That's my job.
Speaker 2: I'm supposed to ignore that while he's wearing a Lakers uniform,
Speaker 2: while he's getting money that most people wouldn't get that
Speaker 2: he deserves.
Speaker 1: Because of Lebron, because Lebron is underpaid.
Speaker 2: I'm supposed to ignore all of this while you're in
Speaker 2: the purple and gold, while you're win an NBA uniform,
Speaker 2: while you're receiving an NBA check. When I covered the NBA.
Speaker 2: That's where I disagreed with Dwayne Wade when he said
Speaker 2: I'm coming at you. I'm like, ah, because of Dwayne
Speaker 2: Wade that I know would have picked up when I
Speaker 2: was talking about d Wade, not his son. Lebron tried
Speaker 2: to say I was talking about his son when he
Speaker 2: knew good and damn well, I was talking about him.
Speaker 1: We sit here today, it's a week later, and I'm
Speaker 1: not going to talk about this anymore. But let me
Speaker 1: say this to y'all. It's a week later.
Speaker 2: I'm not backing up from a word I said.
Speaker 1: I was right.
Speaker 2: I was doing my job, and in the process of
Speaker 2: doing my job, I wasn't doing my job when I
Speaker 2: didn't talk about.
Speaker 1: Him all of those years. I cover basketball. I don't
Speaker 1: just cover the NBA.
Speaker 2: I am a sports broadcaster, which means that it was
Speaker 2: perfectly within my right to go to Sierra Canyon and
Speaker 2: cover him, to go to USC and cover him, to
Speaker 2: go to the G League if I wanted to and
Speaker 2: cover him, because I cover sports. To get on me
Speaker 2: otherwise is to get on me for doing my job.
Speaker 2: So that's where a dream on is wrong.
Speaker 1: Me talking about father.
Speaker 2: Why did I mention father because you said, my son
Speaker 2: is better to some.
Speaker 1: Of the dudes in the league right now before he
Speaker 1: got here, and.
Speaker 2: You said you want me draft my son at this point,
Speaker 2: it ain't about the money. I just want to play
Speaker 2: with him for a year. That's what you said, Which
Speaker 2: is why a whole bunch of people who ain't Stephen A. Smith,
Speaker 2: who don't have my microphone, who don't have my platform,
Speaker 2: was talking about him behind his back and talking about
Speaker 2: Lebron and what he was doing as a father who
Speaker 2: happens to be the greatest attraction in the game today.
Speaker 2: Mellow's right. This wasn't about Bronnie. This was an excuse
Speaker 2: that Lebron was looking for to get at me, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, would not have been a problem. We
Speaker 2: could have met in the back. We could have had
Speaker 2: a man a man conversation where I had an opportunity
Speaker 2: to respond and point to him about what he did
Speaker 2: to put his son in this microscopic spotlight that I
Speaker 2: personally have tried to avoid for three years. But he
Speaker 2: didn't give me that opportunity, just like he didn't give
Speaker 2: me the opportunity when the shop was on HBO and
Speaker 2: MAV came up to me and Rich came up to
Speaker 2: me and they said, Yo, we want you on a shop.
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, we want you on a shop with Lebron.
Speaker 2: It'll be box office. I said, name the time and
Speaker 2: place I show up. I only got one condition.
Speaker 1: Nothing gets edited out. Nothing. Let me go. He's so right,
Speaker 1: he's so righteous. Let's do it his.
Speaker 2: Show, not mine. Don't come on first saying I ain't
Speaker 2: helping his ratings. Don't come on this YouTube shorts pocket. Nah,
Speaker 2: I ain't helping this numbers. I come on your show.
Speaker 2: We know her to help numbers. At the very least,
Speaker 2: we know I could do that. Nobody was hiding crickets.
Speaker 2: Never heard from them since. And I know that ain't
Speaker 2: there for because I know Mavill put me on the heartbeat,
Speaker 2: Rich Paul and the rest of the crew.
Speaker 1: All of them in a heartbeat.
Speaker 2: I'd show up by my damn self, or I show
Speaker 2: up with my own boys, and we could all bring
Speaker 2: facts to the table. But I was never taken up
Speaker 2: on that offer. You see, I don't run and hide.
Speaker 2: If I'm wrong, I'll say i'm wrong. If I'm right,
Speaker 2: I'm right. I was never shitting on Brownie James. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't do that to the James family. I was talking
Speaker 2: about one person and one person only. We may never
Speaker 2: speak in life again. I'm fine with it. I get
Speaker 2: paid to talk about folks, not to them. I cover
Speaker 2: the league, you play, I watch, dissect, analyze, and broadcast.
Speaker 2: We ain't got to communicate. We damn sure don't have
Speaker 2: to say hello to each other. We don't have to
Speaker 2: do none of that. We don't get along. And there's
Speaker 2: a multitude of reasons why. I've alluded to some of them,
Speaker 2: but we know what the biggest reason is.
Speaker 1: I ain't Shay in the shop.
Speaker 2: It ain't goat status this way. My goat is Michael Jordan.
Speaker 2: Thirty five thousand points, eclipse in Kareem Abdujabal with over
Speaker 2: thirty eight thousand, ultimately forty thousand, now fifty thousand, another
Speaker 2: All Star appearance, another fifty point game. Whatever, ain't my goat?
Speaker 2: I watched the game. I'm a student of the game.
Speaker 2: I know a goat when I see one, and he
Speaker 2: is a goat of this generation. But all time, it's
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: That's who the hell it is. That's the goat you see.
Speaker 1: Kobe came into the game with a heart.
Speaker 2: Lebron developed one.
Speaker 1: First several years.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like that because he was scared to get
Speaker 2: through the free throw line. He was never scared of
Speaker 2: an opponent. I would never disrespect greatness of Lebron James
Speaker 2: like that. He was scared to get to the free
Speaker 2: throw line. That's where the fallaway jumpers came from. That
Speaker 2: was where the hesitancy to get to go to the
Speaker 2: hole came from. Anything that could finally lend himself towards
Speaker 2: going to the free throw line, he wasn't trying to do.
Speaker 1: But there's this thing about heart that you got to
Speaker 1: pay attention to.
Speaker 2: You see, when you lack a speck of it at
Speaker 2: any point, particularly back.
Speaker 1: In the day, there would be impediments and roadblocks to
Speaker 1: prevent you.
Speaker 2: From getting it. Why do I call Michael Jordan the
Speaker 2: goat over Lebron James because at his very best, compared
Speaker 2: to Lebron at his very best, I'm going mj all
Speaker 2: day every day.
Speaker 1: But here's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2: It was Scottie Pippen, with the Migraine and others associated
Speaker 2: with Lebron, with Michael Jordan, that prevented him from climbing
Speaker 2: that ladder over the Detroit Pistons until a third or
Speaker 2: fourth or fifth try. Whenever it was, it wasn't because
Speaker 2: of mj And I'm telling you here right now, as
Speaker 2: God as my witness, Lebron as great and phenomenal as
Speaker 2: he is. If he were playing in that era, as
Speaker 2: I've said on many occasions, and he gone against Michael Jordan,
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan would have tried to snatch his heart right
Speaker 2: out of his chest before he ever arrived to Miami
Speaker 2: to learn to win with d Wade and with pat Riley.
Speaker 1: That's my proclamation.
Speaker 2: I said it before and I'll say it again. That's
Speaker 2: why Michael Jordan is my goat. It's just a basketball
Speaker 2: opinion me. It's clearly a lot more to Lebron James
Speaker 2: choking in the finals against the Dallas Mavericks in twenty eleven.
Speaker 2: Fine us getting in an argument about something in black media,
Speaker 2: and fine. The only consistent blemish I've placed against Lebron
Speaker 2: James is that he is not the greatest of all time.
Speaker 2: That's the frustration that's been brewing up more so than
Speaker 2: anything else. Bring up, Bronnie, if you want to, Bronnie James,
Speaker 2: I'm going to do my job, same energy you mess up,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna mention it. You succeed, I'm gonna be there
Speaker 2: celebrating it. That's what happens in the pros. You got
Speaker 2: nothing to worry about with me. All the best to you.
Speaker 2: I wish you nothing but the best. You're a great
Speaker 2: kid who I believe is gonna be in the NBA someday,
Speaker 2: sooner than later. On a regular consistent basis to the
Speaker 2: James family, my apologies for all that is happening. To
Speaker 2: the Draymond Greens world. I'm sad I hurt your friend
Speaker 2: or I upset your friend, Bro. Evidently that matters a
Speaker 2: lot to you. My bad to the basketball world. I'm
Speaker 2: stephen A. Smith, demmit, and I'm gonna cover the sport
Speaker 2: the way I cover the sport. Ain't nobody changing me
Speaker 2: on that. I'm gonna give it to you how you
Speaker 2: deserve it, good, bad, or in different and that includes
Speaker 2: Lebron James. Ain't nobody changing. This was not about Bronni.
Speaker 2: This was about Lebron. He did all of it this
Speaker 2: with his words and his proclamations and his assertions. Hey
Speaker 2: also did it.
Speaker 1: To show that.
Speaker 2: It really does hurt him not to be the goat
Speaker 2: Oh well, that's it for this edition to the Stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith Show.
Speaker 2: You feel how you want to feel. I feel how
Speaker 2: I want to feel. I am going to do my
Speaker 2: damn job. That's the way it is.
Speaker 1: Y'all. Have a nice day. Until next time, Peace of love.