Why I’m pissed off, me/Monica McNutt, Caitlin Clark/Chennedy, Jason Kidd interview, more

yes ladies and gentlemen I'm pretty pissed off today I'm not going to deny it and I will confess to you I'm pretty pissed off at some of my colleagues one in particular I usually don't call folks out that I work with there's always exceptions because sometimes they're necessary the Stephen A Smith show coming your way right now what's up everybody Welcome to the latest edition of the Stephen A Smith show coming at you as I love to do at the very least three days a week over the digital Airways with YouTube I hope you all had an absolutely positively wonderful weekend I know that I did because I watched my subscribers climbed over 688,000 and continues to climb each and every single day that couldn't be possible if it wasn't for the love and support that all of you have been giving me thank you so much I really really appreciate to keep it coming and I'm going keep on coming to like and continue to follow the show just click on the right hand bell in the right hand corner of the of the show and boom you'll be the newest member of the Stephen A Smith show family and please don't forget to make sure you're listening to us on iHeart radio as well uh because obviously the audience continues to grow for the first few months we didn't have a show on the audio Stratosphere but that certainly hasn't been the case over the last couple of months as us as our base continues to climb and continues to grow over on iHeart radio so make sure you click on that um and listen to that in your cars and in whatever audio devices that you may have uh so you can hear the show that way as well it ain't just on YouTube you can find it you can also listen to it on ihart radio while you're at it make sure to get a copy of my New York Times bestselling book straight shooter A Memoir of Second Chances and first takes because we never ever like you to miss out on that opportunity it's now in paperback just go to straight shooter book.com once again that's straight shooter book.com to hear the show and we can go from there look I'm not pissed to the point where I'm annoyed and I'm going to call people out their names or especially people that I love like the person I'm about to talk about in a few minutes um but certain things need to be corrected for the record because per certain people certain things people are just ill-informed about and the Publications that grab the headlines and try to manipulate things and make things seem as if there something that they're not um I understand that some folks are desperate for clickbait that's how they do it they don't care about accuracy they just care about talking [ __ ] and not knowing what the hell they're talking about so I'm here for it and that's fine because that's one of the reasons I'm in good shape because I don't hold stuff inside all the time and let stuff foment and ultimately an implosion takes place and I'm the one that suffers because I'm unhealthy no I believe and as I've said this to family and friends throughout my life I believe the best form of stress relief is reciprocation when people stress you stress the hell out of them and that's how you'll alleviate your stress because they'll know stress is coming down the pike and they won't want the damn trouble so maybe they won't bring you trouble but I'm here for it I'm here for it and it's regarding the subject of Caitlyn Clark for those of you don't know she's a former star at Iowa in college uh played in the national championship game before losing to South Carolina she's uh number one overall pick for the WNBA draft she is a special talent to say the least even though she's not having a special year because the Indiana fevera are stinking up the joint they've got the second worst record in the league only the Washington Mystics are worse are worse who are 0 and8 Indiana f are 0 and9 but that's not the story involving Caitlyn Clark and all the drama that surrounds her on this particular day as we get started to talk about this hot topic that is Caitlyn Clark let's put it in its proper perspective the Indiana Fever rookie was fouled Saturday night by sh Chicago Sky guard Kennedy Carter on an inbounds play the foul was later upgraded to a flagrant one violation after League review the very next day FIFA head coach Christy side said she's been sending plays to the league for review when asked about the treatment of a star rookie the play itself and overall treatment of Clark has had social media buzzing we've all been buzzing about it okay but there was another individual that was buzzing about it for a different reason and that's my boy Matt Bonds from the all the smoke podcast he weighed in on it this weekend and before I do anything I want to show you what he had to say check out his thoughts a Hot Topic uh going on right now Caitlyn Clark says she got cheap shotted against the sky I mean throughout the season she's been getting beat up hard screens elbows knocked down it is what it is she's not the first she won't be the last my issue and my question is where the [ __ ] are her teamm at where y'all at where the rest of the Indiana Fever at I've seen a couple girls smirk when she's got knocked down half ass to pick her up like y'all supposed to protect the asset protect the star and all this is the team she's the star you always protect your star I was someone who protected the Stars you [ __ ] with Co CP Blake list goes on I'm it's going to be a problem because you guys are supposed to be a family and you wonder why you sit at the bottom of the league right now cuz y'all don't protect each other man coach don't do [ __ ] about it players don't sh do [ __ ] about it y'all should be ashamed of it but the rest of league is to continue to test her and that's what they're supposed to do it's your guys's [ __ ] job to have her back and have each other's back got to do better ladies I 1,00% agree with Matt Bonds every syllable that he uttered I don't think the coach will be coaching the year a FIFA after this year assuming she last this year I thought it was very tepid response at this time at this particular moment I mean we've sent tape to the league we've complained with the league please we didn't know about it where's the noise you got a girl here who's box office in Caitlyn Clark she is box office we can lament it all we want to but the fact of the matter is Caitlyn Clark is box office and we got to get that out the way and I'll get into all of that a little bit more in just a second because it's very very important that we point this out she breaks she fills seats she brings the cameras she brings National publicity it's what she does now as a player let's understand this about Caitlyn Clark number one overall pick on Pace to become the first rookie ever to average at least 15 points5 rebounds five assists but she also leads the league with 5.4 turnovers per game 1.3 more than any other player in the league she's shooting just under 36% from the field and 30% from three-point range which is not impressive of the 21 players averaging at least 15 points a game Clark has the third worst field goal percentage at 35.7% she also has more technical fouls with three than the Indiana FIFA has wins right now which two with two which is very very bad by the way but understandable because if you're losing that much it stands the reason that you're highend competitor like she is you're GNA get caught for some technical fouls she's struggled with physical defense she's faced at the professional level and voiced frustration with the League's officiating recently tell a reporters quote I feel like I'm getting hammered and everybody is physical with me and opponents get away with things that other people don't get away with that's what Caitlyn Clark said that is what she said okay but to me it's a bigger issue going on and when this happened and that girl uh Kennedy Carter pushed her in the back like that it was a cheap shot it was not a basketball place she should have been ejected number one number two um there should have been a fine that was incurred there after number three not to say that there won't be or hasn't been at this moment in time I don't know of one I know the team was fine for media availability purposes because people weren't available to talk I know Angel Reese was also going to be fine because she didn't make herself available for the media as well and I get all of that as well we understand it we see it for what it is it is what it is I'm saying this it's important that we point this out one of the things that I brought up this morning and talking about Caitlyn Clark is that some of the players you want to use the word jealousy fine you want to use the word envy fine you want to use the word resentment we want to play with words that's cool it's something and I think that some of the ladies not all but some of the ladies in the WNBA are missing the point and the point is this girl right here is a box office attraction and because of her box office raction it's generating more eyeballs to the WNBA product therefore more revenue for the WNBA profit product don't you think y'all are going to benefit from that too look at the big picture that's what I was talking about when I was talking about it this morning on my day job first take on ESPN every weekday morning from 10 a.m. to 12:00 noon East Standard Time a rising tide raises all boats if Caitlyn Clark is the quote unquote savior if she's the Golden Girl milk it now it's just an opinion orbe it I believe an educated one but this girl that comes away from Co comes into Co comes out of college rather who happens to be white who's already making buku dollars the average the average the maximum salary in the WNBA is 250,000 if I remember correctly Caitlyn Clark signed a $28 million endorsement deal when nobody in the WNBA getting that nobody's gotten that yet but her Asia Wilson is the Superstar in the NBA in the WNBA she's a two-time champion this girl is the is legit she's the real deal and those kind of endorsements and all of that stuff ain't come her way even though some is has Has Come Away FASA Johnson out of LSU is gonna get her bag she already got nil deals she's also a hip-hop artist we're seeing women get shine we're seeing their shine Elevate it's deserving it's long overdue but the fact is it's long overdue and because it's long overdue it begs the question why the hell didn't it arrive earlier because you didn't have Caitlyn Clark earlier now what's the difference between her and the Diana terasi or Sue bird or or or or or Rihanna Stewart or somebody else or UNESCO or somebody y'all talk about that the fact of the matter is the kind of stuff that's happening and has been happening over the last few months is because of Caitlyn Clark I got some of the stats in front of me to validate it because you see I bring receipts and I'll get to why I'm really pissed off in a few minutes WNBA draft 2024 Drew 2.4 446 million viewers to ESPN on Monday night making it the most watched draft in WNBA history who's the number one overall pick huh Aaron who's number one overall pick say it louder Kaylin Clark the number one over coincidence huh it's just coincidence huh of course it's not highest rated draft in history because of Caitlyn clarkk um WNBA TV ratings for this season ladies and gentlemen do you know skyrocketed ABC announced it had its most viewed opening weekend double header ever with two games combined in the average 1.5 million viewers that marks a 143% increase from a WNBA double header on ABC a year ago did you know that did you know that did you know that well you know it now last that just to throw this out there Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever has been involved in three now mind you the same Indiana team that started out one and seven the same Indiana team that lost their first three of their four four games of the season the same Indiana Fever that has the second worst record in WNBA basketball right now the only team worse than them in the entire league is the Washington Mystics who are winless in eight games the second worst team in the league is the Indiana Fever led by Caitlyn Clark did you know that the fever has been involved in three of the four TV games that have gone 1.3 million average viewers this season entering this past weekend these are the most watched WNBA games are you ready for this in over two decades the Indiana F two two two and nine by the way Indiana is a small Market ain't New York City ain't La ain't Chicago it's not the sky not the Liberty it's not Sparks we're talking about the Indiana Fever led by a girl that was playing at Iowa is producing the most watched WNBA games in over two decades what does that tell you that tells you that before Caitlyn Clark came along it wasn't nearly as popular it doesn't mean it wasn't growing in popularity over the last two to three years but three years ago WNBA was an afterthought a little bit less than that there was thoughts of this team being defunct and going away nobody cared and I don't mean that literally I mean by and large and I'm G to say something that was very unpopular then it'll be unpopular now but I don't give a damn because it's a fact where are the ladies the sport I'm not talking about right now I'm talking about in the past when it wasn't as popular the men have their sports do you know why men's sports became exponentially more popular because of women it was more women watching NBA games it was more women watching NFL games that's how it became more popular well ladies if you help the NFL get more popular and you help the NBA get more popular how come you didn't help the WNBA get more popular until recently you did that the men are the men but the women rule when women support you you win everything shows that it happens in sports it happens in business it happens in television when women watching you when women are listening to you you win every superstar you could possibly fathom got it good with the ladies the ladies support them I don't care who you pick pick a superstar pick a mega Superstar and tell me where they're lacking female support 25 to 54 demographic 18 to 34 demographic the list goes on and on when the women support you you win you even win elections you don't win election is cu the men support you for Mo for the most part from what I've been told you're with it when the women come out and support you women know this so why was the WNBA not popular all of these years so when I go on national television and I bring up jealousy Envy resentment or whatever I'm not saying it's not justified if you are a WNBA player and you resent Caitlyn Clark it makes perfect sense because she's white and she's the golden girl that's considered the marketing Savior for the sport yes they were talking about chartered flights before she ever came along and opened her mouth but shortly after Caitlyn Clark opened her mouth you had chartered flights and you ain't have it in two decades she's got that kind of influence that kind of power I wasn't trying to say that women black white and everything in between associated with the WNBA shouldn't was wrong and shouldn't feel resentment after all that hard work you put in to pound the pavement and to be the great players that you are and the great basketball ambassadors that you are what you've done for this sport of course you should feel resentful of course you should what I'm saying is don't be blind there's an opening exploit it rather than be resentful envious jealous whatever word is applicable notice the opening Caitlyn Clark is bringing more attention when you get on the court with her and you perform and somehow someway you find a way to attach yourself to that level of magnetism that she surely has who knows what could be out there for you and if suddenly the maximum salary goes from 250,000 to 450,000 and suddenly you on charted Jets instead of commercial flights and suddenly you're maximizing the potential of your name image and likeness what do you care at the end of the day the rising time side lifts all boats and I'm able to get personal about it how many times did I tell y'all when ESPN signed Pat McAfee nobody was happier than me Shannon sharp did and he getting his shine nobody's happier than me Ryan Clark got a new deal nobody's happier than me Troy Aman got a deal Joe Buck got a deal Kirk herb Street got a deal Tom Brady got a deal Tony Romo got his deal because there's setting the market why do you think I've had the smile on my face all of these months because I believe it's my turn has nothing to do with Disney has nothing to do with ESPN it has everything to do with the industry if I'm an NBA player and I've just won a championship and somebody who didn't win gets 50 million a year doing what I do what do you think I'm gonna think I'm worth see how simple it is it's capitalism it's marketability it's it's taking advantage of the moment that's business why be resentful of any of them I throw out names like the mcaf and the Amman and and and and all of these folks even the Joe rogans of the world and everybody else I couldn't be I couldn't be more thankful you're setting the market that's business what is wrong with people how do you not see that you didn't hurt Caitlyn Clark you didn't chop at a knees or anything like that Kennedy Carter so that's cool it was a bush league play it wasn't a basketball play and all of this other stuff but at the end of the day all I'm saying is for you cuz I saw you I saw reports that you called to the b word before you shoved there in the side hip checked her but before just in case resentment jealousy Envy or whatever it is is applicable because I don't know which one it is just in case all I'm saying is hold up ladies There's an opportunity here go for it let that girl shine I'm not talking about on the court you compete against her you try to take her out try to beat her I get that part but I'm talking about let that girl shine marketing wise let her get her bag find a way to maximize off of it and create an opening for yourself so you can get yours that's the American way hell that's the global way but for some reason my colleague at ESPN miss Monica mcnut couldn't figure that out and took a conversation and did something she has never done before that absolutely shocked me that she did today that I totally and emphatically disagreed with although I do love her to death and I appreciate the great work that she does for me on first take on ESPN and the great work she does for ESPN overall I love Monica mcnut but this is the first real disagreement we had and since she brought it up on National Television I'm G to bring it up now this is myself along with her and Shannon Shar from Club sh Shay getting into it on this very subject watch where Monica mcnu goes listen to this who talk about women sports more more than more than first a Stephen A respectfully with your platform you could have been doing this three years ago if you wanted to wow all right we gotta go you got so did you say my who does more for than ush I'm talking to you I'm talking to you don't do that I'm talking to you about the power that you have okay I'm talking to you okay okay you're my Gody I'm talking to you got it guys guys guys I really appreciate my girl but you missed a lot of episodes first take you missed a lot Stephen three years ago you were not talking about the W at this level don't do that guys guys guys guys guys nobody was you making Sten a point Monica Monica you Mak St J first of all as it pertains to what Molly said doing a job at that particular moment naturally in television got to get us to commercial break sometimes damn the commercial break but that's a subject for another day I'll deal with that here's the bigger issue you know there's something that's going on and a lot of people run from it but I'm not because I'm not scared of these subjects doesn't phase me at all to address Monica mcnutt's point I found it very unfortunate that she would say that ladies and gentlemen I am the executive producer of first tap you ever heard of Monica mcnut you have now because she's on first take a lot chenel gum absolutely wonderful spectacular basketball analyst etc etc WNBA player in her own right ask her how it's been to be on first dat how about Andrea Carter who's a rising star in this business how much did you think First Take help that what about Kimberly Martin what about Molly Kum herself now I have sat back for years and taking a lot of [ __ ] from people some who don't know what the hell they're talking about some who act like they don't know just because they want to get at me I could kill about people getting at me I just want you to be accurate and it is highly offensive to me when somebody implies or Flatout States like Monica mcnut did Monica mcnut did this morning which was factually incorrect I challenge anybody to find a show in sports television that discusses women issues that discusses the WNBA women sports that highlights and profiles female analyst more than first dat it's been going on for years one of my producers here is a guy by the name of gayen Gordon who used to be a producer on first take he was one of the people who spearheaded highlighting diversity um you as an audience don't know this but Monica Monica mcnut does the James Dunn and the David McKennon of the world and others he's a black man overseeing first take my boss the hnc as they say one of the executives of the top three Executives at ESPN overseeing First Take is a black man by the name of Dave Roberts we have black women we have white women Mina KS let me not forget to mention her there's a female host on my show nobody trying to let go of Molly before her it was Carri champion before Numbers Never Li came along with Jamal Hill she's on First Take first take his spearheaded diversity and Equity you have any idea how offensive it was for me to sit there and hear Monica Monica mcnut say that about me when I'm the one who hand picked our roster on first take now again we only talking about this incident I love Monica mcnut she's phenomenal and she is a a friend and I am a supporter and I'm going to remain a supporter of hers I just disagree with that one statement because I have to publicly defend the show what she said is blatantly false I'm not accusing her of lying I'm accusing her of not knowing because she's not a liar she's an honorable person she must not have known the WNBA could I have done more well guess what Monica mcnut I could have done less who's done more hell a legitimate argument could be made that the WNBA wasn't doing it for themsel for themselves the commissioner of the WNBA came on first take to thank us for what we was doing for the WNBA who else was doing it where these people at we address one issue after another after another is sports fine is social issues fine is politics it's fine it's gender issues fine the list goes on and on first take is the place who's the executive producer First Take who handpicked every single contributor to the show because more than two years ago Jimmy patara the president of ESPN Dave Roberts an executive edit at ESPN handed that responsibility to me and I didn't even ask for it you don't believe me ask them you know their numbers Jimmy pataro Dave Roberts Burke Magnus is now the boss over creative over content for ESPN ask him to I'm in charge of content I'm in charge other contributors that are on the show that would be me what do you mean we haven't talked about it years ago years ago you weren't resonating years ago you didn't have an audience years ago you didn't have that audience because even the women weren supporting the WNBA and it was me on National Television calling out the women to support the N WNBA I said it you can find a tape yo we should be talking about y'all more but you got to resonate more y'all got to do better in supporting your own sport the fellas got their Sports this is your sport ladies why don't y'all support them more the tape is there it's in the archives what are you talking about it's been there it's been there and ever since that's what we've been doing I recall chenel gum and Andrea Carter coming on the show and thanking me not just for what I was doing for them but what I was doing for women's sports so for Monica mcnut to go on national television and say that is unfortunate I love her she's a good woman and a phenomenal analyst and I'm not throwing any shade on her I'm speaking out because she put out a falsehood about me live on National Television on first take and I'm going to clear that record that is not true could I have done more well if you're a sports show and a sports news show you got to talk about what's percolating you got to talk about what's resonating you've got to pay attention to what the Masters are paying attention to and the fact of the matter is they weren't paying any attention to the WNBA so there's but so much I could do until the WNBA did something for itself and then the second there was a sliver of an opening to do something more for the sport I have always done something for women's basketball and women's sports period yet here we are on this particular day and I am sitting up here and I'm Google Alerts it is let me play for you the headlines one headlines uh USA Today Monica mcnut leaves Stephen A Smith speechless with real talk about first takes WNBA coverage that ain't real talk that's the damn point it's not real it's false but USA Today you didn't bother to pick that up did you another one ESPN's Fox News ESPN Stephen A Smith says some NBA players jealous of Caitlyn CK suggest races a part of it you're damn right some people got a problem with a white girl who's been labeled the Savior even before she played a game after they toiled the terrain of the WNBA for years it's a natural reaction it's not beneficial it doesn't need to be something they harness and harbor because you can maximize the potential of what Caitlyn Clark has created but nevertheless the resentment to some degree is real not tell I'm not backtracking from that here's another headline Athlon Sports Stephen A Smith left speechless after WNBA opinion backlash on first take I'm speechless because I didn't want to go nuclear on a wonderful wonderful woman like Monica mcnut who I think was false and put out a false narrative that's why Stephen A Smith Daily Mail of course couldn't forget them guy can't forget them Stephen A Smith is slammed by co-hosts INF Furious exchange live on the air slammed or taken aback by the falsehood of that accusation what's the matter that headline is too long to write do y'all homework check the facts First Take delivers and we deliver because we run from nothing and we try to support everything that comes associated with the World of Sports I love Monica mcnut dearly and I will always support her everybody can't be right all the time everybody can't be correct it is by far the most disappointing moment I ever had with her because she didn't just say what she said about me when you talking about I could do more you talking about First Take and we've done more than most and we could always do less but we don't because we care I'm G leave it at that let me move on to Steph Curry because we got to get to this because former NBA Allstar Gilbert Arenas raised some eyebrows this weekend and over his comments about the Babyface assassin listen to what Gilbert Arena said on his podcast gills Arena saying that Curry is not a generational Talent here's what arena had to say specifically look at this quote Steph is not a generational Talent generational infers you can mimic it can you mimic Magic Johnson a 69ine point guard with vision you can't mimic LeBron James it's about physical attributes you can't mimic Victor wiana yic is not a generation Talent Curry is a great basketball player generational is something that that's once every 20 years when it comes you're like damn I love Gilbert Arenas love his podcast brother knows basketball I thought he I think he lost his damn mind on this one when have you seen a shooter like Steph Curry In Our Lifetime I've been on Earth 56 years give arenus is in his 30s I think talk to Shooters everywhere when have you seen somebody like Steph Curry off the dribble standing still 20 30 40 50 feet on the Move stationary spot up jump shot floa is in the lane floaters from 30 feet left side right side top of the key right wi left wing it doesn't matter and the ability to create his own shadow catch a shoot Steph gury is the greatest shooter God has ever created what do you mean mimic who who is this person Reggie Miller Alan Houston Ricky piss Dale Ellis Dell Curry his daddy Andrew Tony Pete Maravich that's where we gonna go Rick Barry what we gonna do what you talking about Gil gilber Arenas what are you talking about and by the way I've seen plenty of dudes 69ine and built like LeBron they didn't have his game but they had his body you can't see the wom Yas of the world Yao Ming was 76 Shan Bradley was 74 they just didn't have his game what are you talking about I ain't see nobody that can shoot like Steph Curry that is a generational Talent the greatest shooter God ever created Magic Johnson I've seen plenty of dudes 69ine built like Magic Johnson they a have his game who's got Steph Curry's game who's this person I want to meet him never seen him I ain't never seen nobody 63 that can shoot like that that has Brothers depressed when he pulls up and they fail to block his shot from 35 feet from the basket they barely look at The Rim they're like damn he got it off is going in he's the greatest shooter God ever created in warm-ups he runs up the stairs and shoots from the tunnel before racing into the locker room that's how great he is this is Steph Curry we talking about so respectfully I don't know what the hell Gilbert Arenas is talking about but I'll listen to other people speak about it go ahead and play it fellas butt crack Sports says Stephen Curry is a top five NBA player of all time no he tripping on that he hasn't cracked my top 10 yet he just hasn't I think Steph has had a phenomenal career I mean obviously four championships two League MVPs he has a final MVP but if you go back in his career and if you look at when he Draymond is out of the lineup for the season if you look at Kay Thompson has missed a season or half of that season to me if you're that great if you're going to be a top five and one of your guys are missing you can't make the playoffs I can't put you in top five or top 10 I I I just can't and that's just my opinion greatness to me is when one of your guys are out you still got to elevate your team at least to the playoffs like they don't even make the playoffs when clay or Draymond is out of the lineups and they haven't won a play in game at all so in top five no chance now that makes sense when you think about guys LeBron MJ Kareem Abdul Jabar uh you know the Elijah of the world the Shaquille O'Neal of the world people like that Kobe of course sure you can make an argument to push Steph Curry out the top five fine I'm not going to not T-Mac for that because again when clay was out Golden State didn't resemble itself when draymond's been out Goen say didn't resemble himself I got that part so Steph might need more as a 63 shooter extraordinaire but don't tell me he ain't a generational Talent that's going too far I can't believe that came out of Gilbert Arena's mouth I don't just I don't agree with him on that one brother know basketball though ain't no shade this way got love for Gil I'm just saying that particular take nah I'm not vibing with that bro I got a disagree with that now let me take just a few seconds to make sure everyone knows all right my favorite time of the year is finally here the NBA Finals have arrived and the best part is prospects has got you covered that's right while all the big games are happening prospects is going to help you cash in y'all you see prospects is a daily fantasy sports app where you can select two or more of your favorite players and then pick more or less on their projected in-game stats but priz is not just basketball oh no it has something for every sports fan okay from the MLB and the WNBA the tennis or the NHL and everything in between you can pick aani Angel ree Juan stto and Sam Bennett all in the same entry by the way all in the same entry okay I make my picks and submit early all in less than 60 seconds and get this prize picks will match your first deposit of up to $100 so that's right go to prospects.com and use code SAS that's my initials of course in case you didn't know for a first deposit of up to $100 that's code SAS when you go to prospects.com pick more pick less guess what it's really really really that easy last topic before I get to my man Jason kid head coach for the Dallas Mavericks who's coming on to the show today um Justin Jefferson star wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings he is now officially the highest paid non-quarterback ever getting to the NFL it's a Payday for him the three-time NFL pro bowler just reset the receiver Market this season by agreeing to a record $140 million deal to stay with the Minnesota Vikings the deal includes 110 million guaranteed making Jefferson the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history Jefferson announced the news himself on social media saying this is the deal he's been waiting for since he was a little kid as mentioned the deal resets the wide receiver Market where Cowboys wide receiver CD lamb now awaits his turn couple of things to get out of the way number one CD lamb you don't deserve what Justin Jefferson is getting let get that out the way right now you're a bad brother you deserve your bag you deserve to get paid but you do not deserve what Justin Jefferson got uhuh you don't deserve his money uh if you're Jamar chase you can make the legitimate argument that you did help Joe burrow get to a Super Bowl you can also make a legitimate argument that t Higgins might not be there so guess what give me the bag but the bottom line is this Justin Jefferson deserves his bag especially with Kurt Cousins going with you having a rookie quarterback with the offense and its success or its presumed success being predicated on his Excellence you damn right he deserves his money four years in the National Football League last year he only played in 10 games got hurt still had over a thousand yards the two seasons before that okay 1,800 yards 1600 yards okay second season 1600 yards third season 1800 yards the brother's phenomenal he deserves his bag I'm happy for him but CD lamb get your paper but I don't want to hear oh my goodness Dallas offered me 105 so so that means you know what it's short because Justin Jefferson got 10 110 guaranteed so I deserve 111 or 115 damn that you do not be happy we're getting a little less I'm not saying you deserve a lot less than Justin Jefferson but you deserve a little less stop that nonsense now get the bag get the bag you ain't number one he is so let's get that straight all right coming up Deontay Wilder suffers enough another knockout should he call it quits I'll get into that plus as I previously stated Maverick's head coach the one and only Jason kid joins the show Stick Around ihart Radio on the audio Side YouTube on the video side to Stephen A Smith show is everywhere we like it like that Jason kid up next in a minute it takes a lot to run your own business and with prices rising on everything from accounting to billing and payroll and now cost much more than it used to and that's why to reduce expenses and added headaches smart businesses are graduating to netsuite by Oracle you see netsuite is the number one Cloud Financial system bringing accounting financial management inventory even HR into one platform and one source of Truth 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Dallas who originally drafted him back in 1994 now he's leading the same franchise the Dallas Mavericks back to the NBA finals this time as a head coach he is one of the greatest point guards in the history of the NBA he's the reigning Champion for the Western Conference please welcome the one and only Jason kid to the show what's going on Big Time how are you coach how's everything I'm doing great Stephen A I'm not big time but I'm I'm happy that you uh found the small people to come on the show well listen we we we know better than that you know you you can be humble all you want to damn it you're one of the greatest point guards in the history of the game so I'm G to call you that but but I got to ask you coach in all seriousness when you think about where you are right now being in the NBA Finals as a head coach in this short stint just a few years you've been coaching the Dallas Mavericks what does this feel like for you right now it's surreal I mean it's a a moment that uh we can only dream about and that dreams do come true but it's just um you know having the opportunity to uh represent the Dallas Mavericks um I was drafted as you brought up by Dallas won a championship with Dallas and now have um opportunity as a coach uh to win a championship and um it's just I'm very honored but uh also just um surreal to to be able to have this moment when did you feel like this particular team could get to the NBA finals I don't know if there was just one moment um you know that we thought we can make it to the finals I think uh that was uh game five against Minnesota but before that I I thought the team you know in March uh started to become a team uh on both sides of the ball offensively and defensively um I thought when we made the trade and got PJ and Gafford gave us depth uh more athletic um being able to play and score with both of those guys uh uh but I again when you talk about Luca and Kai I thought you know come March I thought we really started to you know go in the right direction on both ends of the ball you know coach when I look at this team right now I thought about last year and I thought about how essentially y'all didn't make the playoffs and everybody was making so much noise about it was something that you guys didn't want to do in terms of participating in the playing tournament um I looked at the team right there there was no Gafford there was no PJ Washington obviously Kyrie was approaching free agency to some degree uh we were looking at all of those things and I was wondering about this franchise and what success it could enjoy in the future what was your mindset like at that particular moment in time when last season ended looking at this team fantasizing about this upcoming season what were your thoughts about the team in the immediate aftermath of the end of the regular season last year and going into the offseason yeah you know at the end of last year um we we didn't play well enough to to make it to uh the playin tournament um we didn't qualify for the the top six uh in the Wasington conference to make the playoffs uh and so I think with the plan of being able to go into uh the lottery um to address uh some of the needs I know we always talk about di live but also in that first round we were able to get uh omx uh who's been hurt but also participating in our our g-league uh we felt we got younger and more athletic um and then I thought uh with the plan um I thought Nico did an incredible job job of addressing some of the issues that we had um you know being able to get more athletic uh we were able to get D Jones um and exom and so we felt like uh you know signing Grant as a free agent we felt that we got better um and that understanding that to build a championship team uh you know it takes time it wasn't going to happen overnight um we did lose Brunson uh to New York to your Knicks and so uh we we had to uh make some adjustments and I and I thought no one panicked I thought from Cuban to Nico uh no one was panicking it was about building a championship team and and that's what we're doing right now I'm looking at Luca donic right now coach and I think a legitimate argument could be made that we we first of all it's two things number one that the best three players on the planet are Nia yic Giannis Anon DMO and Luca donic and right now with y'all in the NBA Finals there's a lot of talk about Luca donic possibly emerging as the best player in the world one of the greatest things that I don't think is said enough about you is what a great talent evaluator you are and how you've surrounded yourself with people that are great talent evaluators and great talent developers could you put in your words what it's like to coach Luca donic and what he brings to the table some of which we all have seen o other things that only a Keen Eye like yours would probably see yeah when you talk about Luca um I've always said this um you know we never want to take anyone for granted uh he is so talented uh being able to score the ball from uh being able to post up off the dribble catch and shoot uh he can make all the passes and so to be able to have that Talent um and his will to uh to win you know even if you're down uh Five Points with with 10 seconds he believes that he can find a way uh to win and so when you're around this on the daily um as a coach I just want to help him make the game easy uh for him and so uh when we talk about not not just the offensive end but now he's participating on the defensive end he knows uh that teams are going to put him in the pick and roll and and bring him up and try to wear him down and so you can see um that he has gotten better in each series and we expect Boston to do the same thing but his competition um he loves the stage as the stage gets bigger uh his game gets better um and that's that's a rare uh thing to have um when you talk about DNA he he has it coach how much do you think you've helped him personally I know that's not something that you want to give yourself credit for particularly for a guy that's been playing pro pro bowl in Europe since the time he was 13 or 14 years of age but as great as Luca is there does seem to be a distinct difference between him now and or from what we've seen over the last few years what do you believe Jason kid has done to help his game come along uh well I think just calmness you know there's no Panic I I trust and believe in in Luca um you know even if he misses a shot or turns it over I I truly believe that he's going to find a way uh to help us win and uh you know just understanding again my eyes and ears are here to to help him make the game easy uh he sees the game as well as anyone um but again having fun uh reminding him to smile and have fun and enjoy this uh because you're not guaranteed to always make it to the finals or the Western Conference Finals or you know win 50 games so to to enjoy this and then also try to push him uh you know to try to get him to be better um we talked about that last summer you know as a as a team what can we do better I asked him can we play faster he said yes we got to take the ball out faster and so uh he was he was for that and I thought it helped his game so that he didn't have to wrestle for 40 minutes uh with someone you know picking him up full court uh again great players want to be coached and he's one of those great players that wants to be coach and I'm very lucky to have that you were a guy when you were a player coach that you know you you you weren't seen talking a lot you performed and you performed at a very elite level but you didn't have much to say at least the scene that way uh for those that weren't sitting courts side or anything like that in the case of Luca donic you could be in the upper decks it don't matter you see this dude talking to opponents I mean for him to come out there in game five and Scorch the Minnesota Timberwolves the way that he did after struggling in game four with 7 to 21 shooting for him to turn over at the bench and talk and smack to them for him to abuse them while talking to them it is not something you see too often uh transpire in today's NBA game at least not on that level how do you feel when you see Luca doing that because it just says to me damn he's he's busting there living you know what and there's really nothing they can do about it he's not just beating them he's demoralizing them snatching their hearts from out of their chest that's what I saw him doing that game five against Minnesota what is that like for you as a coach in a coaching box seeing your player do that to their opposition yeah you know I think when you talk about game five and his uh his talk on the floor reminded me of of game seven in Phoenix um just sit back and watch because he's about to you know take us on a ride and uh you know when he came out and and was shooting the ball you know the way that he did you know you you said oh well we're GNA leave him in for the whole game because he's just going at a high level and uh you could see uh he wanted to end that that game and end that series before halftime and and that's what he did um but it's just incedible again as I talked about he's not afraid of the stage he's not afraid toh talk uh either because he believes that he can back it up but you know I think one that he loves to talk uh to to the crowd to the players to the officials uh and I think that really gets him going when he does that I gotta transition to Kyrie Irving because we all know that I've been critical of Kyrie Irving in the past I've marveled at him this year I think he's been nothing short of Sensational I think he's put the Bas ball World on notice reminding the world of how great he truly is and how special he is I also think he's been a great leader because you can see how differential the players are to him from time to time even Luca in certain moments and what have you and it's a beautiful beautiful thing to see I give you a lot of credit for that as well because you highlighted to a lot of us um you weren't talking about me in this particular situation you were talking about some other issues that were transpiring about just overall the negativity that was being a in the direction of your players and of the franchise I want to know when you when you you know recall that and you think back to that what your mentality was like and how and did you have any idea that it would help your team as much as it ended up helping them because so many people have gravitated towards the positive about your team did you think about that at all no I think you know the big thing is there's enough negative in in the world and so U when you talk about Kai I think uh sometimes we uh you know get stuck on on a negative but again when you look at his basketball his skill set uh you see his peers will say that he's one of the you know if not the best pound-for-pound basketball player in the world um his skill set is like no other uh it's a beautiful thing to watch uh again I've said this publicly I think his calmness uh with his teammates uh when things can be a little hectic or people are starting to panic a little bit he just brings this calmness and this confidence that people will gravitate to and uh again he delivers um and and also he he enjoys that that positivity and and again I brought it up that you know publicly can we just look at some of the positive things that he's doing on and off the floor and uh I thought that started to snowball and started to turn uh not just uh the the the the team around but also just the narrative that we were you know not a negative franchise but this was a positive thing and we're we're living it and uh he's lived up to everything that uh nio and I and Cuban thought when we made the trade that he was able to do um and we're gonna again we're going to need him in this next series to play at a high level for us if we have any chance of winning you know a thing or two about Elite play as one of the great guards in NBA history as a small guard is Kyrie Irving the greatest small Guard we're talking about Isaiah Thomas we talking about Nate tiny Arch we're talking about alen Iverson we're talking about all of these guys some people a lot of people are looking at Kyrie Irving and calling him the greatest small guard in the history of basketball how do you feel about that I think it's a great compliment uh those names that you just mentioned um what what what what's the small guard how tall do you have to be because at my age I got you I six2 six2 or smaller six2 or smaller uh fif fif 51 I'm shrinking so I think I'm 6'2 but my stats aren't good enough but I think when you talk about um Kai he's going to be right there at 1A um you know understanding AI again being able to play against Ai and the things that he did on the floor were at a high level but I think Kai would be my choice I could be biased but I think uh when you look at Kai Ai and Isaiah Thomas uh you know these are great individual players um that knew how to score they were all winners uh but when you talk about Kai being able to finish with both hands um it's just incredible what he does uh with the ball in small spaces where do Luca and Kyrie together rank among the best back courts ever and how high could a title Elevate them in your mind you know that's a great question and um there's I know a Stan Van gunny started this um and I thought I would say that they were uh you know high on the list of being a tandem um I know Steph and Clay um there was debates of uh can clay you know put it on the floor and get his own shot um but when you're talking about the tandems of magic and Beast Scott uh the tandems of Luca and Kai Stephan and Clay I mean you can't go wrong if you say one of those are number one because uh they all can score the ball they're all winners and I think uh this tandem here when you talk about Kai and Luca if they can uh get to the Finish Line uh they're going to put themselves right there at the top of that list coach let's get into the series a little bit how you gonna win this series how you gonna beat the Boston Celtics uh Boston's well coached uh and they you know when you talk about you know they've been there before uh you talk about the tandem of uh Tatum and brown uh they put a lot of pressure on your defense and so for us uh we got to try to find a way to just take care of the ball get good looks um again we're going to have to try to you know defend the three they shoot they all shoot the three they're all lasers and so uh this is going to be this be a great test for our defense and so hopefully uh we can find a way to uh you know get the threes down uh and take away you know easy easy shots for them but again we got to take care of the ball and get good looks ourselves on the offensive end Chris dport zus a former member of the Dallas Mavericks is now a member of the Boston Celtics this you know a lot of news that he scheduled to play and what have you how much of a difference can he make I know he's coming off the calf injury is a calf injury that's deemed to be cons you know similar to what Kevin Durant suffered from before ultimately tearing his Achilles once he showed up in the NBA Finals so we don't know what the deal is but when you look at porzingis and what the Boston Celtics are with Him compared to what they are without him could you like decipher and and and and dissect that for my viewers and listeners out there as to what it would be like for the Dallas Mavericks going up against a team with porzingis compared to a Boston Celtics Team without him yeah when you talk about with him KP is another uh weapon where you talk about offensively he his range is extremely deep he shoots the three uh at a high percentage uh he can post up uh with the switch again uh a lot of people defensively won't talk about his defense uh but again he's one that will change or block shots so you got to account for him and so with him on on the floor it just makes him that much better uh and deeper and so uh if he's healthy and able to go uh again he puts a lot of pressure on our defense uh with his ability to pop and shoot the three and then also being able to put it on the floor uh and be able to pass but also to be able to get to the rim and so uh for us it's going to you know again put a lot of pressure on our defense uh without him uh that you know Horford and those guys are going to have to play you know more minutes but uh as you can see in this last series they play played without him and uh they played well you know I look at you guys right now and I think about you know there's been the debate about the X factors gafford's been tremendous as far as I'm concerned so has Lively I'm praying he doesn't get knocked upside the back of his head for a third time he's got he got hit twice first with the knee by Carl Anthony towns and then you know and then another hit I'm just praying he doesn't get hit in the back of his head again I want him healthy and ready to roll of course but I I got to tell you I'm thinking PJ Washington is the key to this series this brother in his Corner three you can't leave him open he did really well against OKC in the semi-finals not so much in the Conference Finals but he's still a big time threat I went on the air this morning declared if PJ Washington hits his threes Dallas wins the championship I know it's not that simplistic I know it's far more complicated than that but how much of a plus would it be for you if PJ shooting from three looks the way he looked against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semi-final Series yeah I think when you talk about PJ uh you know being able to knock down the three uh that corner three um because of Luca and Kai you know getting double teamed uh PJ's been great since the trade for us not just offensively but defensively uh this young man plays the game the right way he never complains uh he goes out there and does his job at a high level and and so we're going to need him to score the ball um again we we believe we'll be able to get some open looks but also for his ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket is something something that we're going to need in this series and uh again if he's knocking down those threes that definitely helps our offense who are you concerned most about on Boston is it Tatum is it Jaylen Brown I know it's both of them to some degree but is there somebody that you concerned you more concerned about than the other well I'm concerned about both of those highly when you talk about Tatum and brown uh they put a lot of pressure on your defense being able to score and then also being able to find the open guy uh the other gentlemen that you know we're all concerned about here and in is white um when you talk about his ability to shoot the three uh you know again he's one that a lot of times goes under the radar but when he's able to knock down threes and he he gets a lot of looks at them uh it takes their offense to another level so again uh they got a lot of lasers out there we got to be able to guard three but white is one that we are concerned about Coach a couple more questions before I let you get on out of here and thanks again for your time the Wonder know Jason kid head coach for the Dallas Mavericks right here on this show you know on a personal level you're coached in Brooklyn in the 2013 2014 season I wanted you to be the head coach of the Knicks but we won't go there you left there and then you went to Milwaukee for four years I still wanted you to the Knicks you didn't go there and then ended up being an assistant coach with the Lakers I wanted you with the New York Nick then they didn't come get you there it pissed me off even more and now here you are the last three years in in Dallas and you've been through a lot throughout your coaching career in terms of your mov M and what have you what level of validation if any at all is this for you in terms of Player Development and in terms of player relations coaching players guiding them etc etc how are you feeling about you at this stage and point in your career considering all that you've been through and now validating it all with what you've accomplished yeah I think um one I'm I'm excited about the opportunity I think uh when you talk about those stops uh we have improved uh in each spot you know that I've been able to coach when we talk about Brooklyn um you know being able to win game seven as a rookie coach there uh losing to to the heat uh in that next series uh going to Milwaukee who only had won 12 or 13 games the year before and ended up winning 41 uh and then being able to be around Giannis and and feel like I you know helped there uh with his development um a little bit but he did the work but you know felt that I could help him get to the next level um and then being able to go to uh LA and learn from Frank BOGO to to understand uh and then being able to win a championship with LeBron and ad um in that group it was a it was you know that was not an easy championship in the bubble uh but it was a lot of fun and as a coach I got to learn a lot from Frank and then here to be able to uh you know come my first year um in Dallas and get to the Western Conference uh you know finals and lose to Golden State and and the world Champs uh we felt like we were going in the right direction uh we lost a young player two your Knicks Brunson but to to be around Bronson and Luca that first year was a lot of fun and then to you know be able to get Kai and uh now be back in the Western Conference finals and and win there and then now to take a step forward to get to the finals um and see what happens but as a coach you're always trying to get better um and I've had the opportunity to do that in different places and I'm happy to be here in Dallas and hopefully uh you know as a player I've won a championship and hopefully as a head coach I can win a championship but I've won a championship as a coach and so um you know as a assistant coach but now hopefully I can win one as a head coach Coach man I know you got to run you busy thank you so much for your time man I really really appreciate it man good luck I'll see you in a couple of days obviously working for ABC I'll be covering the NBA Finals so I'll definitely see you in a couple of days man thank you so much man you take care of yourself all right and I'll see you in a couple of days thank you Stephen for having me the one and only Jason kid right here on the Stephen A Smith show listen I wasn't exaggerating I wanted that man to be the coach of the Knicks for years he knows that I mean it's ridiculous that the New York Knicks passed up them we got Tom thibo now so I mean we can't complain about that because the man is proven to be a hell of a coach he did a hell of a job this year but I'm a huge Jason kid fan I ain't apologizing for that for a damn soul that man can coach and I'm not I'm not there yet I haven't made my decision yet I still got a couple of days but I'm leaning towards Dallas winning this series and I know Boston has been the best team in basketball all year long but what I'm seeing from Luc and what I'm seeing from Kyrie and what I'm thinking about what I'm seeing I don't know what I'm gonna do yet I don't know it's a pick them series to me it go either way I'm very very nervous about it it's G to be a thriller though make no mistake about it I can't wait to be there I think it's one of the best NBA Finals series if not the best NBA final Series in the last decade plus I really mean that I really really mean that maybe Miami San Antonio won not the second one the first one maybe that was better maybe maybe all right Boston La no doubt Kobe and and the crew against kg and Pierce and Ray Allen and Rondo in 2008 and then again in 2010 okay I get that but since 2010 I'm not sure that any Series has been as compelling as this one coming up yo KD was on Golden State we knew they were gonna win now if you want to go with Steph Curry and those boys when LeBron and them came back from a 3-1 deficit you go right ahead but if it wasn't for that stimulus package handed to LeBron James by NBA Commissioner Adam Sila for trading suspending rather you know Draymond Green because he got issu that additional Tex and then he had accumulated enough tax where he ultimately had to sit out game five and then that same game five Andrew Bogan and Andre Iguodala got hurt which is what propelled Cleveland to be able to come back from a 3-1 deficit they were supposed to win that in five remember go to say won that game four in Cleveland and we're going back to the Oracle in Oakland to close out game five if Draymond Green had played that game they' have won so that's how I look at it I'm not sold I think this series between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks is the most compelling NBA final Series in the last 14 years outside of Miami San Antonio part one that's just me that's just me coming up I'm talking about the UFC and boxing where there were two upsets this weekend actually neither was really an upset if you really really think about it we're just upset that it happened but it wasn't an upset see the difference I'll get into that and more up next they right there you watching the Stephen A Smith show and listening to it as well right here over the digital Airwaves of YouTube and iHeart Radio back for more in a minute welcome back to the Stephen Smith show right here over the digital Airwaves of YouTube can thanks the one and only Jason kid head coach for the Dallas Mavericks the reigning defending Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks so much for coming on to the show really really appreciate his time the man is a very very busy man needless to say but let me transition before I get on out of here to a couple of subjects that I wanted to tackle mainly uh a couple of things number one was the UFC fight that took place this Saturday night uh where Islam maev uh beat Dustin porier um I got to get into some boxing and of course the UFC uh because those are the things that got my attention right now and this is where I wanted to start okay so bear with me he defeated Dustin pory in a thrilling five round win to retain his lightweight title late in the fifth round makev got porier in a choke hoold that forced him to tap out now some are calling for makev to take on Conor McGregor that's the subject they all focusing on here's where I'm at with it damn that I have no interest in that [ __ ] whatsoever and neither should you Dana White my man please whatever you do do not have that fight we don't want to see it first things first Conor McGregor needs to get back Michael CH get past Michael Chandler I think he'll clip him personally but Conor McGregor can get chipped he could get clipped Chandler can punch now okay and and and the brother has the potential to win big fights he can lose them too he's a bit wild and poier pointed that out and Alor will measure him time him clip him put him to sleep we all know that's possible but when it comes to moev this is a Proto of the great khabib Nega Med off remember that guy that went into the Octagon against Conor McGregor remember the guy that mauled Conor McGregor for the better part of their fourr round match match that he won by submission when Connor tapped out remember that Connor is a striker if you talking about putting Conor McGregor back in the Octagon against a striker like Michael Chandler I'm good with that I'm good with that because he could hit he could get hit but he could also hit he could get clipped but he could also clip you so that's where I'm at with it but if you talking about Conor McGregor getting into that octagon with a monster like Mev who only has one loss on his career okay the brother's a monster he's the creme Dela CRM he's Elite he's number one in the world right now and he's a Grappler he's not looking to stand toe-to-toe with you and swing punches that's not what he's looking to do what he's looking to do is to take you down what he's willing to do is to Grapple you what he's willing to you is get you into a choke Cod he attack and the fifth round I mean there was several times when he tried to go after the great Dustin porier CU porier is a bad brother he might be the greatest figh to have never won a championship I mean we got to take that into consideration but let me tell you something right now he's a strike himself he can do other things but he's a striker himself the brother Special M je just went after him and tried to get him to the ground and did it a couple of times but ultimately Dustin porier got out of it you know how he got caught Dustin porier in the fifth round he went after his ankle he went after his ankle you that there you looking for a knockout you're looking to really really grapple but you're not anticipating or expecting them to grab your ankles I understand this UFC I understand this MMA I understand that comes with the fight game I get all of that but M CH is not trying to to box you he's trying to win and if that means submitting you if that means choking you out so be it he ain't trying to stand up and fight you that's the worst possible matchup for a guy like Conor McGregor who doesn't want to Grapple at all Connor grapples for the sole Express purpose of getting out of you trying to submit him so he can get back up on his feet and knock you out that's the only reason Conor is trying to Grapple you Connor roll in that octagon looking to swing he throws kicks sometimes and I get all of that but essentially he's looking to swing he wants to clip you and knock you out it's what made him popular it's what got him in the ring and got him over 100 million against Floyd Money Mayweather he is not trying to Grapple with anybody it's not trying to do it I don't give a damn what you saw in that new movie with J Gallen Hall he's not trying to do it he's not he's trying to knock you out he's trying to clip you that's who Conor McGregor is and this guy Mich he's not going to capitulate he's not going to fall in line just to appease the crowd and to be entertaining like Justin gatei did in his last fight that he got knocked out in the last second against he's not trying to do that he's not trying to do that because M don't care about that he's old school he's of a different discipline he ain't looking for the fan faar he's a product of n Mega off these brothers are serious on another level about their stuff if you are Conor McGregor that's not a fight you should take that's not a fight you should want at all and if you are the fans that's the last thing you should want to see because you don't want to see Conor McGregor grappling you want to see him in a fight like he's about to have with Michael Chandler assuming there's no mishaps or any postponements or anything like that that's what you want to see it is the last thing you should want to see Conor McGregor against any Grappler any Grappler especially one is Elite makev you don't want to see that do not give us that fight UFC do not give us that fight Dana White do not give us that fight Mev do not give us that fight Don Conor McGregor don't do it no no no no no that is not a fight we want to see because two seconds in M Chev is gonna try to get Conor McGregor to the ground and he's either going to submit him or Conor McGregor is going to Ward him off by by sitting on his ass and holding on and trying to figure out how to get away how to get up off the campas and get back to being on his feet and Swinging blows that's not what we want to see don't give it to us please pretty please do not give it to us now let me move on to this other subject because it's important and that's involving the sport of boxing and former heavyweight champion of the world Deontay Wilder who got KO week yes there was another fight Saturday night it also ended with the fifth round KO and that unfortunately happened to to Wilder in Riad Saudi Arabia Wilder took on heavyweight I don't even know how to pronounce his name zely Zang that's how it looks out of there I think it's zely Zang his record is 27211 with 22 Knockouts by way zangu outweighed Wilder by more than 68 pounds scored the biggest win of his career and might have affect effectively ended the former heavyweight Champion's career China Zang who's 41 years of age connected with a perfectly timed counterright hook that spun Wilder in the days he Then followed with another right that sent Wilder to the canvas Wilder somehow got to his feet before the count of 10 but his legs wenen steady and the referee wisely waved off the fight at 151 of round five it's time for Deontay Wilder to retire it's over the brother's got about eight kids Deontay Wilder is a good man with a nuclear right hand he had the kind of right hand that puts most people to sleep but it's two things that I'm going to hold against Deontay Wilder one is that he can't box he's a puncher he's 67 he's standing straight up there's very little to no head movement whatsoever he does not evade punches and he relies completely on his right hand he barely throws a jab this particular fight he tried to throw the jab but he barely has thrown Jabs throughout his entire career he's relied on the straight right or the check left hook that's what Deontay Wilder has done he's not a good boxer he's an elite puncher and that's not a shame that's no shame George Foreman wasn't an elite boxer Ronald Lyall wasn't an elite boxer Ernie Shavers wasn't an elite boxer not when you compare him to Ali or Larry Holmes or V Holyfield Lennox Lewis was a good boxer not a great boxer Mike Tyson in his Heyday was a great boxer and puncher we get that Mike Tyson Iron Mike was on another level we get that but for the most part the power punchers remember the Mike Weavers of the world back in the day Mike Weavers Ernie Shavers Ronald ly Ron Lyall uh George Foreman Joe Fraser Ken Norton they weren't great boxers they were great punchers but you give credit where credit is due and I don't want Deontay Wilder or his fans or even critics to take this the wrong way I'm not insulting him I love Deontay Wilder but he was never and nor will ever be known as a great boxer that wasn't his thing he couldn't avoid punches he's a puncher and he warded you off with his nuclear right hand that can put anybody to sleep but he was never an elite boxer so that's the point number one that I want to hold again them here's Point number two stupidity now we can blame it on Pride we can blame it on arrogance and ego as far as this particular fight go we can blame it on looking for the money fight or whatever Deontay Wilder blew it he got into the ring Saturday night with a dude 68 lbs heavier than him ladies and gentlemen it was breaking news when Ryan Garcia committed to coming in to the weighin three pounds heavier than Devin Haney three pounds we saw in the pre-fight commentary you understand w w with Shawn Porter and Clarissa Shield who did an excellent job both of them did an excellent job we talked about we heard them talking about three pounds make a this guy Deontay Wilder is coming into the fight 68 pounds lighter than Zang I don't give a damn that he's 41 he's 68 pounds heavier what are you doing and by the way his career was ruined when he went into a fight in the trilogy against Tyson Fury 38 pounds lighter because Tyson Fury was so heavier than him remember I told y'all that story with the press conference the initial press conference when Tyson Fury flew across the ocean to promote the fight and he fought Deontay Wilder remember that and he said in a press conference when Deontay Wilder was wearing his headphones and didn't want to answer any questions from the media and he said about Deontay Wilder quote he said I can say this to y'all because he's an idiot he's not going to do anything about it and he went on to say I'm going to come in about 35 to 40 pounds heavier he said he can't box so he's is going to be right there for me to hit but even when I miss I'm just going to lean on him he said as a result I'm going to take away his legs and when I take away his legs by the fourth or fifth round he's going to be done and he's going to be target practice for me he said and you're wondering why I'm telling you this he said because he's an idiot he's too stupid to do anything about it that's what he said now maybe I'm paraphrasing a word here or there but I'm telling you that was the Crux of what Tyson Fury said and lo and behold he went in the ring and that's exactly what happened now In fairness to to Deontay Wilder Deontay Wilder looked done in the third round of that fight turned around and clipped Tyson Fury dropped him in the fourth not once but twice but still ended up getting beat up every round but that one before getting knocked out in the 11th so now here you go and you fast forward and you end up losing four of your last five fights get knocked out in three of your last four fights and you going into the ring knowing what that Zapped out of you and you gonna go in the ring with somebody 68 pounds heavier than you what's wrong with you come on y'all that's just not smart that's just not smart and that's why what I wanted to say about Deontay Wilder you did damage to yourself by going into the ring with dudes that were so much heavier than you and they drained everything out of you and now you don't have it anymore there's no way you'll beat Tyson Fury there's no way you'll beat usyk there's no way you'll beat Anthony Joshua it's over I'm sorry Deontay Wilder I love you but it's over now before we get on out of here for today I got to get to y'all tweets because it's so important for y'all that I see TW I got to put my glasses on because the damn print is so small but I'm going to do it anyway okay let's go to some of the tweets right here at I will route you tweets me Stephen A why do you act like your opinion isn't ever wrong um that would seem to be the case like with somebody like your ignorant ass didn't you see me in the news last week apologizing didn't you hear what I said about Kyrie Irving didn't you hear what I said about Kenny Smith didn't you hear what I've said in the past whether this be about a quame brown or Glenn Big Dog Robinson or Draymond Green or or anybody else what are you talking about you see you can't just talk out your ass you actually have to know what you're talking about that is factually incorrect what you just tweeted me on X do your homework Google me it's not hard to find I know I'm not always right but I can understand why you think that way because that's a roundabout way of saying I am usually right and considering the fact that I give about 15 takes a day 75 takes a week about 3,300 a year on average minimum that I've done it over 50,000 times over the last decade and it's rare that I'm wrong I can understand why you would say such a thing but that's just you feeling like I'm almost never wrong that's not me saying it there's a difference wake up wake up next tweet at El maxor swag right Stephen A who's making your starting five out of the Team Fortress 2 characters okay that's pyro engineer spy heavy uh sniper Soldier Scout uh Demoman demo Demoman and medic H interesting thing okay first of things first we going to go with heavy man CU I need a big man in the middle so we going to go with that right it's my starting five right so we going to go with heavy man we going to go with with with heavy all right we definitely gonna go with sniper because we gonna assume that somebody that's sniper is a long range Marksman all right so I need a Steph Curry right so we definitely going to go with heavy and we GNA go with sniper right we want a soldier because we want a warrior we want somebody that's a Rough Rider we want somebody that's could go out there and handle business okay and ain't scared of anything you want somebody that want you want to be in a foxhole with somebody named soldier that applies so we got heavy we got sniper we got Soldier all right now here's where it gets interesting you got pyro you got Scout you got demo man you got spy I get that but you know the last two I'm going to go with I'm going to go with medic and I'm going to go with engineer here's why I'm GNA do that if you're an engineer right you're technically efficient one would argue so I'm G to go with that and then when we talk about medic well that means you have the ability to be precise and to dissect stuff like a surgeon I need that too so I got medic I got engineer all right I got heavy I got sniper and I got Soldier I think that's a pretty good starting five by the way some woman named Miranda just text me she at mirand Miranda reinart re i n r t WR Stephen A what do you think about the male loneliness epidemic I need your take on the state of male friendship culture H you know what I would say Miranda it's not a lack of friends CA fellas usually have friends is that pre we we're preoccupied now when you have a family hell if you don't have a family but you got a woman the phraseology whether it's your woman it's your girlfriend it's your lady whatever happy wife happy life see the priority is to please her because you want to be pleased by her usually there's nothing that pleases you more than a woman so you got to get that out the way after you get that out the way okay what happens is this all right it's one of those situations where you got that going on but you're also preoccupied as a man handling business and taking care of responsibilities and because we're not the emotional creatures that is not a negative that is a positive towards women because we're not the emotional creatures that you are what happens is is that we always feel we could see the fellas some other time we always feel we got some other time to hang with the fellas we're about handling business and usually when we want to handle business is because we want our lady to reap the benefits from it that's what it is and a combination of those two things have you pushing your friends to the Wayside because you're assuming they'll always be there some of my friends I don't see more than once a year but I know they're my boys I don't have to hang out with them this ain't Sex in the City you ain't this ain't um Megan Good Show with the Harlem girls and stuff like that y'all frizzing with one another you understand this ain't one of them movies one of them shows like that this ain't the you know the Golden Girl girls for the for the senior citizens this ain't the younger sisters and stuff like that this ain't Living Single back in the day or nothing like that the fellas look man we catch you when we catch you you know I love you you know my boy but [ __ ] I'm busy I got stuff to do I catch you later those are fellas and that's why you might think there's an issue with the friendship and how there's a male friendship epidemic of loneliness or whatever but if you a dude and you got a honey in your life and you got boys that you love trust me you ain't lonely just trust me on that that's not a concern that you have so I don't believe there's some loneliness epidemic you'll have to show me the data on that in order for me to believe you because I ain't feeling that last tweet Harry Wilshire w l LS h e r right better Duo Bert and Ernie or Kyrie and Luca you know what I would have said Bert and Ernie but after watching Kyrie and Luca over the last month and fantasizing about them potentially winning a NBA Championship in the next two weeks I'mma go with Kyrie and Luca if ever there was a time not to go against those two in favor of Bert and Ernie it would be now that's it for today's edition of the Stephen A Smith show hope y'all enjoyed it I'll be back in a couple of days thanks again to the one and only Jason kid head coach for the Dallas Mavericks coming on the show looking forward to watching him and his team performing against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals it's going to be epic y'all it's going to be epic and I can't wait stick around there's a lot to see with the Stephen A Smith show right here over the digital Airways of YouTube and over the audio Stratosphere with iHeart Radio make sure you click in tune in and get a feel for what we're doing and what we're up to we'll be back to you in a couple of days on the eve of game one of the NBA finals Thursday night that means we'll be at you Wednesday until then I'm out y'all signing off this is Stephen A saying goodbye peace and love

Channel: Stephen A. Smith

Views: 421,781

Keywords: Stephen A. Smith, Stephen A, Stephen A. Smith Podcast, Know MERCY, NO MERCY, FIRST TAKE, ESPN First Take, NBA Countdown, Podcast, Motivation, Inspiration, Stephen A. Smith Cowboys, stephen a smith, stephen a. smith

Id: bZLVPe3K604

Length: 93min 34sec (5614 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2024