Flammable

eight days a week, Happy Friday, Friday Friday. This of course a spinoff of the Overnight Show, but only in the podcast format, so we can say naughty words. We can say bad words here on this podcast. Joined yet again making his way, and we're in a new studio. It must have had a little different We're in a new studio this week. May taking his way in from west of the four oh five. David Gascon is right here.

Oh you have that little that sound, crowd ping, crowd boys, crowd always finds away in what's the four oh five? Things are just a little bit different here, as I know you are aware. My um my Tomahawk steaks are are nicely cooked and commonly basted with the guitarry hockey sauce and onions in the whole nine yards. And uh yeah, I continue to bring in elite guests as we have one on deck as we speak, Yes, warming up in the on deck circle right now, So we don't have

time to get into culinary arts. I will tell you I made, I made, I have perfected the Mallard pizza, the garlic onion, bell pepper Mark Mallard pizza. It is a masterpiece. I'm thinking about opening up my own pizzeria if this radi of thing doesn't work out, and I'm just gonna get into the pizza business. Is that good? Uh? And I was gonna send you a picture, but you probably would have been so jealous you would have demanded that I make a Mallard pizza for you. So I

didn't do that. But we'll talk about that at some point over the weekend. We will get into that. But but right now, I am very excited. This is a guy who has been around. I've followed him at the Big Lead, I've I've only met him once or twice over the years. He's got a very popular podcast. Now the Straight Fire Podcast. Jason McIntyre, he's multimedia, he's it was part of the Big Lead. He sold the Big Lead. I'm sure we'll get to that at some point. He

is a hot take artists. He's he's had some viral takes on Lebron and he currently loves Luca don Chick of the Dallas Maverige. I think you'd like to have Luca's child. He loves him so much. And he's a bit of a Clipper hater, which is troubling to me. But Jason McIntyre is his name. Hot takes is his game. So welcome in, Jason. And you've got this daily podcast. I know you've been doing it a while with iHeart the Straight Fired Podcast. And how the heck is it going?

Thanks for having me? I mean you'd have to ask the Big Boss is how it's going. I rarely look at the numbers or asked for them. But it's hell of fun, man. We started back in August, and uh, you know it's it's it's fun during NFL, it's funduring NBA. We haven't got to the dog days this summer yet. Where I don't know, I guess I'm gonna have to

talk about baseball every day. Uh, you know, basically, we're trying to capture the zeitgeist and figure out what the biggest story in sports is and hit on it and have a take. Um it's it's a lot of fun. I can't recall a time I've had more fun than you know, when I started out at FS one in that's cool. And so do you have a battle plan Jason for the summer time, which is it's been called the dead zone in sports radio and sports conversation. So

are you just gonna like, do the NFL upcoming? You know, a list that kind of stuff, and what is your battle plan here? Yeah? I mean I love the NFL. It's my bread and butter. I love gambling. But I figured we could probably just argue about Jordan and Lebron every day for a month and that might work. Uh. People seem to have I mean, you know when they do give me numbers on the pod, they're like, holy cow, this Steph Curry take it just went bonkers and drove

huge numbers. I'm like, really, what do they say? Ben, You've been in radio forever. Play the hits. I'll argue with anybody you know back in when I was a kid. It's funny. One of my teachers, I think it was third grade at parent teacher night was like, you know, Jason's going to make a lawyer one day because he he loves to argue with me. And it was like third grade, and I was like, all right, I'm gonna

be a lawyer. And you know, then you look into it and you're like, oh, yeah, it's four more years of school after no shot of that. But yeah, I mean, like, listen, I love sports debate. It's fun. So, Jason, you mentioned gambling, and uh, I've heard stories a prolific gambler. Are you a chop dog type of gambler? How would you describe your gambling philosophy over the gut instinct or the team

or the player? Uh? You always want the best number. Um. And you know, when I was back at the Big Lead, like you know, I started doing a weekly NFL gambling thing and I was able through somebody I knew, to get already laying to submit gambling picks. Uh. You know, I was like betting against already laying for fun. And you know, Frankly Alread Lange was like on the Stern Show and things were going well for him, and then

they deteriorated pretty quickly. Uh. And I eventually didn't know at the end of the season if already Lang was submitting picks or it was like the middleman, you know, his guy, Um. But you know, I'll put my numbers up against anybody. My NBA Playoff numbers this year not very good. Uh, but you know, gambling is so fun. I think I got my first trip to Vegas, and

I'm like, Okay, this is amazing. Hey, Jason, I know that one of the things that I first heard you talk about when when you actually came to the network. Were there the super contests? Uh in Vegas? Most people don't know what that is. Can you explain that for the audience? Yeah, you gotta pick against the spread games every week for the entires, and anybody can every week run And I think I was like top ten twice early in the season. But sticking with it, man is brutal.

I always create her right around Thanksgiving because you know, you could stay harble every September October and then like the holidays come up, family trying orchestrate travel and you actually have to pay attention to your family a little bit and all of a sudden. Every year at Thanksgiving, I just start struggling and that usually carries over. I've never cashed. I've come close, uh usually the top fifty cash.

But as the as the super content US has expanded, UM, and now there's other sports books doing it, so there's multiple versions of it. UM. I think everybody's gonna get involved. They really, you know, this day, they've got to open it up so you don't have to be in Vegas and you can enter because I'm I mean in August, I'm gonna have to make that you know, five hour drive there, four and a half whatever, and then sign up for the contest, turn around to drive home, Like

I'm gonna have to do that in the day. I did that last year. I left it like four thirty in the morning to beat the l A traffic. UM. And it sucks, but driving through the desert in August is obviously a lot of fun. See you are You are a unique guy, and Jason, I think you are the second person ever on Ben's podcast to actually live west of the four h Fire Freeway. So I want to welcome you personally as another guy west of the four or five Crew Way. We are an elite group

of people. Ben condemns us. Uh, well, no, listen, listen. You know the landscape Jason in l A. There is the west of the four oh five, and then there's east of the four or five. That's like a point of demarcation in southern California. And I point this out to Gascon and he does not seem to embrace it.

He pushes back on it. But if you've spent any time in southern California, you know, like that's the beach communities are west of the four h five, right, most almost all of them, and then east of the four oh five is mostly the working class people. That's where the working class people live east of the four oh five. Okay, so explainant the people west of the four or five don't work well, well, no, they have less less physical jobs, right, Yeah.

The people east of the four or five are getting gunk under their fingernails and they're you know, they're getting they're back pain all the time and that kind of thing. And then it's you know, it's different west of the four oh five. It's suntane ocean, palm trees, cocktails. I mean, it's a different lifestyle west of the four oh five. Okay, you know again, I'm a newbie, so I'm not familiar

with this line of demarcation. I will say it is a different vibe east of the four oh five when you drive to the Hollywood Bowl or uh you know you go to go even going to work, uh you know, on the Fox lot. But yeah, listen, he's just like taking shots at the west of the floor oh five crowd, Like, I mean, you got to come out for summer. Dude, this is far. I can't afford it. I can't afford it. That really, jealousy would be the reason I'm doing overnight series,

JA said, I'll be overnight guy. Come on, man, I can't afford that. It's out of control here, my god, you I'm not exactly pulling in call and countered money, if you know what I mean. So I can you can certainly swing it. As a radio veteran out here in l A, I will just see this. Um. It is a different life than I grew up in. Like in the summer now we beach camp there at the beach like everyday practice. Yeah, you know, when I was growing up on the East Coast, we would make maybe

two or three trips to the beach all year. Uh and now it's like, you know, we're they're probably another week. Yeah. Where did you grow up? By the way, we're in your childhood. Where I grew up? You know, I was born in New York, hence the next and Jets fandom, and then we grew up in Northern Virginia. My dad worked at the government uh in BC, and um, you know, Northern Virginia was kind of exploding, so we were out there just you know, firmly in the middle class. We

took one or two vacations a year. Uh. You know, we saw a lot of family members. You know, I was the first one in my family born in America. My family family came from the Caribbean. So, um, I'm definitely you know, David tried to call me. I don't know if he was going unicorn, but I'm definitely unique in the in the sports media industry. Uh. Now, a lot of guys with the Caribbean background who have the last named McIntyre but are definitely not Irish. Uh So, yeah,

I have a kind of a unique in unique background. Yeah. Absolutely. You you mentioned when you talk about gambling with you being in those super contest analogies and that, and we are heading towards the golden age here. I know from talking to different people the advertising in sports media, which has already started, but once this fully matures, I mean, you've been in the business a while now too, So

what are we looking at here? For those of us that work in sports media with all the gambling money that's gonna be the sports wagering. Once California and in some of these other states that haven't yet legalized it get into it, it is gonna be the gold rush, and it's gonna be huge, is it not? It's been saying.

The one example somebody gave to me recently was, hey, so Adrian Woddarowski is paid by ESPN, right, what happens if Van Duel says, boy, if we can get access to everybody woad tweets out too and Instagrams two and Facebook's two. Boy, that's a lot of customers who are die hard sports fans hanging on his every word. What's just top fan Duel or draft Kings from saying or Fox bet, Hey, WHOA, We're gonna pay you ten million dollars a year. We're gonna double your salary. You now

work for us. You can still break your news, do your thing, but it's your Twitter feed sponsored by fox Beet, and now everybody who gets your feed and your news it's all through fox Beet. Why why would that not happen? Ben? No, I agree with you. I think it's it's insane. It's good for all of us. Like guys, well, we're not I'm not at level. You're more of that. I'm not listen event. There's only one would there's one schefter, you know. I don't know that Peter King is gonna bite on

this kind of thing, rapaport, you know. And then you get down the list, and then you get to like the fless celebrities like us, and they're like, oh, we can throw this guy a couple of million bucks because guess what. Ben Muller as a radio show that's everybody's known, and he's got a die hard following every night, and his podcast numbers are good. It's coming, Ben. We just

have to be patient, right, Yeah, that's the hard part. Patience. No, patience, I don't but you know, it's a little bit different of the beast. Hey, Jason, I know that obviously being a die hard Jets fan, you haven't had any kind of excitement since Venny Tista Verdi broke your heart in the a f C Championship game against the Broncos. Back, Um, are you having any kind of of I guess reminiscence about getting a guy that you guys have right now and bolting with Sam Darl Do you feel like was

Zach Wilson coming and he is a savior? All right? I gotta be honest, gas Gun, that's fake news, the Vinny test of Verdie stuff. Okay, did you forget about the Mark Sanchez era? Mark Sanchees went to two damn a f C title games back to back. Those are those were threats? Those weren't threats to me to win the Super Bowl? That the Jets that season were actually good. The last Jets game that mattered Jets stealers an FC title game. I think it was twenty four nothing at

one point, Sanchez Santonio Holmes. They storm back and the Jets they just the defense needed one stop. And yes, I've replayed this game in my head a million times. They needed one stop and Big Ben keep chewing up like four or five six yards. Levian I think it was Levian Bell. No, no, I'm sorry it wasn't Lean bell Um. But they could not get the stop, they could not get the ball back Steelers win. Um. I thought Sam Donald could get them somewhere. Man, I'm not

gonna lie. I was out front driving the Sam Donald bus. And you know I was wrong about Adam Gaze, way way wrong, embarrassingly wrong. Um. I'm hopeful that pretty boy Zach can make this happen. I've called him zac Efron multiple times, by the way, but doesn't even look like zac Efron, like he looks like he's years old. I firmly believe the Jets have something now. I like this new coach, Robert Salah. Um. I just feel like it feels like the perfect time with the Patriots sinking, I

think two was a big fraud. And um, I'm still not a hundred thousand percent sold on Josh Allen. I think the Jets come back. But yeah, and it's it's

been a wrong three decades now. You bring up the situation with with Zach Wilson and and obviously being a little wrong on on Adam Gaze, And I'm happy you did do that because Ben and I have worked with a colleague that you are are obviously close with now and that's Robert Gara, and we need I need your help because I feel like you have corrupted Bob in this way where every morning Bob has these tweets that echo straight fire. It's just like these takes. I'm thinking, like, man,

Jason's rubbing off on Bob's so much. I don't know if it's I don't know if it's me or it's Rob Parker. Because Rob Parker's takes are so damn hot these days. You know you're gonna drop your phone look at at the damn thing you gotta where of admits to hear these crazy, insane Rob Parker rants, which makes no sense, but you know he's a buddy, so he's

afraid to have me co host with him. By the way, Gascon, I know you know this, Ben, I don't know if you know, Like when Bruce starts out, Parker gets to pick who he wants is his is his co host, And there was a time when he would pick me, Oh yeah, let's bring in McIntyre. He don't pick me anymore because Lebron you name it um. But you know, listen, Rob, Rob's got some good take. Rob where that is that's pretty interesting takes. He's a little in on on the

Lakers to the point where he can't see straight. You know, He's like, oh, yeah, it's the Laker, this guy. Um, so yeah, I'm working on him. Um, but I think he's gonna be all right. Because you work in multiple dimensions television, digital, and radio, what's your preferred medium? Well, that's a great question, and Ben, it goes back to your West of the four oh five. You want to live out here, you need three or four revenue streams,

which is why we working like a dog. Fox Digital TV, radio, podcast. Um. You know, each of them is different and has their pluses. The written word doesn't carry the way that used to, but man, um, it is awesome when you write something and they put the right headline on it and it just mushrooms and everybody hates your guts. Obviously, podcasting there's no rules, right, I mean, I'm I'm relatively new to this.

When I was in college, podcasting did not exist down Joe Rogan's making on a hundred million a year, so you could do whatever you want on podcasting. TV obviously is the glamorous one where you feel great. You feel that rush when the you know, the red light comes on, and um, it's super exciting. And radio, of course, UM, you really can have some good rants. I had an epic Toronto Raptors rant where I just totally can I say bad words here? And I just took a ship

on the Raptors. I was so pissed that Kauai got lucky when Durant and everybody got hurt, and I just unloaded on those guys, just a torrent of diarrhea all over the franchise and like, I got like all these death threats from these losers in Toronto, um, and I had to block of them on my Instagram and all this stuff. But um, radio, you could you get a really good lather going. Man, it feels good to just

unload on someone. Yeah, radio is just a different, different beast obviously, because you know bench show, it's like at certain times of the of the hour, you really can get after it the safe harbor space. But with that being said, who's your favorite person to work with? We're talking about Fox FS one and obviously on the digital side, because you've worked obviously with some some big that's a

load of question. Yes, that's a loaded question. I mean I think if it's if it was your least favorite to work with, that's a lot easier of a question, um, but a favorite to work with, you know, Like listen, Bruce had is a lot of fun. Coward obviously is fun. Uh. You know, on on the digital side, I've been doing some fun stuff with Jeff Schwartz. Um. You know. On on the radio side, yeah, I think I've hosted with

kind of intimidating guys. Like when you're sitting next to Steven Jackson or Matt Barnes and you know, these are big, tall, millionaires, tattered up, not looking like guys that I went to high school with or college. It can be intimidating, but man, it's fun when you start vibing with them. Uh. Karen Butler really good guy. A lot of NFL guys. Will Blackman's awesome. And I just know I backed out of the question by naming like fifteen people, who's your favorite listen?

I could throw it out there. I could go either Bob Gara or Gavin Kinsel one of the two. Oh, those guys are good dudes. Man. I will say, have you had Gavin on the pod lately? I have not. I love Gavin Gavin and Bob are always great. Gavin, I feel like it's easier to get worked up if you veer into some Clay Travis territory. Gavin will get fired up. Bob a little less easy to get worked up. Maybe if you took a shot at Kobe. But you know that's not ever smart dude, Jason. It's weird because

the dynamic behind that network. I know you're not there all the time, but it is either Laker or Dodger Town, and god forbid one of those teams loses, Like these guys won't show up to work or they'll just show up with diapers and and and obviously handkerchiefs and and it's embarrassing grown asked men right complaining about their team losing. I mean, Matt, maybe we should all get behind the Clippers.

You know, I haven't seen here's a funny thing. I haven't seen a damn word said about NBA ratings for like three days. Lakers are out. I mean, I'm not building my Knights around suns nuggets. Everybody on the East Coast is happy. I mean, you get to go to bed early. No disrespect to jazz clip paper clips, but nobody's like I gotta stay up till twelve o'clock to watch you know, kaw While Leonard and Paul George. Ben am I getting the vibe here. You're a Clippers guy.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I'm not I'm not just a Clipper guy. I'm a Clipper live dog. And by the way, you was a Jets fan, Jason, you should have empathy for the Clippers. The Clippers are essentially the Jets of the NBA. And for you to throw dirt, I saw what you said about the Mavericks against the Clip. You were all over the Mavericks. You were you were riding with Luca don

Check my man. Come on willing to say right now, Ben, Luca. If I'm starting a team anybody in the NBA, I'm going Luca Donches first. Now are you thinking? Listen, Luca, if did you watch those games later in the game, it was Tim Hardaway Jr. And other guys that were making big shots for the Mavericks where they were beating the Clippers. It was Luca was Luke was chilling at for the first three quarters of the game. Listen, and they lost to the Clippers after having a two nothing.

How great is Luca? Come on and entree too? Well, you know, listen, I felt Luca he was like questionable for Game seven because his back was hurting from carrying the damn franchise for the first few quarters of every game. I think thirty five, ten and seven against Kawai and Paul George wore the best wing defenders in the league. Just what quarter he got? He got tired? Like, I mean, sorry that boban And and Chris STAPs porzingis who like

who who'd rather hang out at the local bar. He'd rather hang out at a watering hole than he would in the paint, whereas seven foot guys should be. And I was complaining, like Luca, donte you know I'm all about that guy right now. I mean, you get how about this, Ben, If you swapped Kauai and Luca and you put Kauai on the on the MAVs, what's that series four old Clippers? Well, Kauai didn't show up for a couple of games too. I mean that's be I I mean Kauai he played very well at the end.

There were a couple of games Kauai was kind of going through the motions too. It's that's by the way porzingis he was at the ballet Jason. You're supposed to appreciate a man that but wait, hold up, Ben, who are you taking over Luca to start a team in the NBA? Age obviously matters salary a little bit less. So well, I'm not only worried about about ten years or something. I think the problem people making sports is they're concerned about, you know, what's gonna happen. Luca might

stink in five years. You don't know. I mean, these guys just you don't know that. You know, you can't assume that Luca is gonna continue down down the path that he has right now. And and it was Trey Young has has led a team further than Luca in the playoffs. I wouldn't pick Trey Young per se. But if if winning is the goal, I can get anybody to put up stats. That's you know. Following the NBA,

there were guys on bad teams. I remember years ago, when I started covering the NBA in the nineties, there were guys I covered the Clippers. They were horrible, and there were guys who were putting up great stats, empty stats because the team was terrible and all that. And then you know, listen, I'm not in fully in love with Luca. The stat domination is great and all that, but I gotta I gotta see more. Now, more importantly, you are. You are Also, why did Luca slander? Then

I'm not I'm not gonna stand for that. I mean, listen, I don't follow a ton of athletes on on the Graham, but I follow Luca. Dontage, man, I like this guy. He is so talented. So when you you you were covering the NBA eight, I'm sure you saw it. In the eighties and nineties, Mike, we all realized Michael Jordan didn't win jack Squat until Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson showed up. Michael Jordan was putting a monster numbers in the eighties and getting his butt kicked by the bad boys,

and everybody's like, oh, he doesn't have help. Well, how could we're not saying the same thing about Luca Now, I mean Lucas kicking the ball to Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleiber. You wouldn't know him if he delivered door dash to your house tomorrow. I mean, like, has no help whatsoever. I mean again, Magic Johnson came into the NBA. He's dishing to uh, Norm Nixon, Kareem abdul Jabbar. Oh, let's just grab James Worthy like Magic had the perfect setup,

like Luca Dontage. I know I've gassed him up too much. Go ahead, trash him now, No, trash him. I'm just saying, Yeah, for every Michael Jordan's there's ten other guys that had great stats and never never took it to the next level. Jordan did. And I you know this idea that it was all because of Pippen. If Pippen hadn't been there, who's to say somebody else wouldn't have come along. It would have helped out. Uh, you know Jordan, And you're

a Knicks fan. Christops Porzingis was like God's gift to the Knicks when he was in New York, right, No, he loved him. They wanted to. They wanted to give him a statue and a ticker tape parade in New York because he they did. I mean, they loved Porzingis and now another st Actually, but I did want to mention here and I know you are even though you're a Knicks fan, you are a huge Lebron James guy. Am I am I correcting that you have you a

watch pool idic about Lebron. I mean, wax poetic, maybe strong, but I think undeniably like I can appreciate his greatness. I was never a Michael Jordan's guy, but I appreciated. Man, this guy's a killer. Larry Bird Okay, I born in New York. I automatically hate all New England teams. I do not like Larry Bird. He's awesome. Larry Bird's a killer. I don't really like Tom Brady. But man, that guy's freaking good. He's just a winner. He's clutch. Um. I

never loved Lebron with the heatles um. I just the story that he can go to any franchise and instantly they're in the finals is pretty much something that we haven't ever seen before in sports. Like winning a title awesome, but he won, and then he leaves and he gets back to the finals. Then he goes to l A and wins another championship, Like have we ever seen this? A guy go to three different places, be the driving

force behind it everywhere and winning championships like it's unheard of. Practically, I'm kind of in awe of his greatness, and yes, I have him as the greatest player of all time. I'm at Michael Jordan guy, So I'm not I've not been swayed by Lebron James. But with the Lakers, and you will admit that he is a declining star with the Lakers. He's been there three years. The first year

they got to the lottery, he got hurt. The second year, to me, that Bubble championship, I don't put a lot of stock in that because of what happened with the with not traveling in no home court road situation, So I don't put a lot of stock in that. And then this past year he got hurt again. So he's been in l a three years. He's had injuries, and two of them first round playoff exit and also a lottery appearance for the Lakers. That's you know, that's not

to me, that's not over the top amazing. And if you look at the age, if you look at the cops Jason, then you know it's it's gonna be kind of more like when Kobe was at the end and he was you know, he had lost it, and Kobe got hurt a lot, and the Lakers were terrible. Like to me, Lebron's declining entity at this point, and the Lakers seemed to they seemed to be convinced that he's just gonna be the same Lebron, you know, the way he was four years ago, next year in the year after.

I I don't see that happening about you. Naturally, he's gonna be declined in his age. But it's funny because what he's doing now. Michael Jordan had already quit twice. He bailed on the NBA twice because he couldn't take it. Like he wins three titles, goes to the finals three years in a row. Michael Jordan's like, oh, I got over time, exhausted, Like he went on last dance and said that three straight trips to the finals and you're exhausted.

Lebron went eighth straight and he never never quit. Now now, yes, his body's breaking down. He's thirty six. But I just want to remind people after Game three, I was actually a Game three at Staples. Lakers are up to one in that series. Nobody, not one soul said Phoenix has this series, They're gonna be fine. Lebron and A D

are clicking. A D had thirty four in Game two and thirty four and Game three like they were gonna probably roll in five or six over Phoenix, and then he D goes down and it's like, well, there goes the season. Uh So, I mean, I don't think anybody expected Lebron to be able to carry you know, Dennis Shrewder and k c P and Mr unreliable Kyle Kuzba.

I sit by the way Beniel like this, I said on an undisputed that Kyle Kuzma, it's about as reliable as the WiFi in my basement, and like apparently it got back to him and he was ticked off because I know some people kind of need the Lakers. Cacusa didn't show. Jake Crowner made six damn three pointers in Game six. Cocus would made like four in the series, I think three or four in the series, like Kuzma

doesn't deliver. Nobody expected Lebron to carry that corpse past the Suns, who had the second best record in the league. Right Well, Lebron, though he said it himself. He was gonna put on his shoulders. He implied the shoulders were made to carry the Lakers, and he didn't do that. But yeah, the Lakers say that as opposed to we're gonna get her asses kicked, like Chris Paul and Devin Booker. You know, well, well, no, you could be like Kawhile

Letard and not say anything. Kauai. You know when the Clipper, when the Clippers fell behind too nothing into the matters, he didn't really say like, we're gonna come back and win the series. He just like, you know, he just doesn't. He's like a robot, are you well. I like him as a player, but he's you know, as for what we do, Jason, this is not good. Kauai is not radio friendly, he's not podcast friendly. Lebron is very I'll

give Lebron credit. He I have on a slow day, Jason, over the years here at night, you know, I'll just go to Lebron. He'll still He'll say something crazy, stupid, whatever, and I can get a segment out of it. So I would like to thank Lebron for that. But Kyle Kuzma, they were listen, they you saw us, They were leaving

Kuzma open. I mean he had he had some great takes where our shots where he was like open, he didn't make them, and the Lakers left Jake Crowd as you mentioned, he was making him, you know, he didn't make He didn't make him early in the series, but by the end of it he was knocking down. That's a good it's a good point. Early in the series they had a d back there, right, and so the rotations are easier when you got Anthony Davis on the back line. And then listen, Cameron Payne was blowing by

Lebron like he was in cement shoes. And it's a lot more difficult to play defense if you're Lebron or k c P or any of these guys when you don't have Anthony Davis back there. Look over your shoulder and Andre Drummond, who you know, struggles to tie his shoes and chew gum at the same time, Like it's just a different animal. And the Lakers they got deep panted um. I'm hopeful that they can come back next year. Just I will say in the bubble, fully healthy Lakers,

role fully healthy against the Sun's up to one. Laquers were good. I don't necessarily think the sky is falling, but they can't weather another twenty games without Lebron. I say, you're gonna have to start the load managing. And remember Michael Jordan was retired by thirty seven. I mean, he came back when he was thirty nine as a fossil with the Washington Wizards in my backyard, and he couldn't

even drag that team to the playoffs, you know. So, um, I just think the hay giography over Jordan is a bit much. Ben. You go online and these guys act like Michael Jordan never missed a damn shot. How soon we forget that Donald Royal of the Orlando Magic picked his pocket and went in for a dunk. And when the Orlando Magic you're laugh at Gascon this happened. It's on YouTube. We scrugged this away. Oh, because he had

played baseball. He only came back for twenty games. Okay, you know Donald Royle picked his pocket and dunked, and the Magic knocked the Bulls out of the playoffs. But somehow that doesn't count against George. But I think to be fair though, Jason, you would agree, especially with the Jordan's and Lebron talk is that most people only worried about the contemporaries. They lose, they lose their nature of an argument because they don't have that kind of roll

decks of content. Like you could talk to Brussard about basketball and he'll start picking guys off. You know, Oscar Robertson, obviously, Creme Al dul Jabbar, Jerry West. These guys from yesteryear are guys that put up monster numbers and they played in a different era. You put them in today's game with obviously the rough housing that's not that was permitted back then. Now it is not. These guys would be lighting people up. I mean Jerry West point in an

era with no three point line. Okay, let me ask you this. Uh, and you meant you referenced. I'm a big Knicks fan. What is Patrick Ewing in today's NBA? Yeah, I mean he would be getting lit up. He would be played off the floor. Uh. He doesn't have the mobility of Gobert. And that's tough because you say that to a guy like Hussar and you get defensive Well, Patrick Ewing would have been shooting threes and that's that's accurate.

He would have been shooting. You know, some of these guys like, I mean, you want to go back to those Celtics when they won fifty titles in a row with Bill Russell, Like, well, they're nine teams in the league, you know, you you find those highlights the black and white, and it's like a bunch of white guys. You know, no disrespect, But what does Zach Lavine doing in the nineteen sixties? Is he's averaging fifty a game? I mean, is he putting a fIF sixty game? I'll tell you

right now. Ain't nobody in the nineteen sixties could check Zach Lavine to save their life. But and he's not even a top fifteen player in the league right now. Not to be fair, though, what would happen with guys like David Robinson and Hakeem Elijah On. I mean, those are guys that played a host game is a true big So what would happen to them in today's game? We don't have many guys like Robinson. Well, the only thing is Youing was more lumbering. He was really good

defensively early in his career with the box. But I think a larger one would be Okay, I don't know if he would be um like Rudy Gobert, but he can at least score. I'll say this about Yoki and the Nuggets. If you watch that game this week, it's like they're not even looking inside. They're just like, oh, we'd rather have Austin Rivers jack threes and composo. It's like, if you at least go inside, you can get automatic points.

With a larger one, the defense has to probably help a little bit, and those threes for Jay Crowder or whoever on the Suns or Nuggets are a little bit easier. Um, I think. I mean, I would guess a larger one would be better than DeAndre Ayton right uh, and probably better than Rudy Gobert. I mean, the game has just changed so much. But I'll answer the question since Ben

did not. If I had to start a team now, I would take Kevin Durant over Luca Don ten times at a ten times, like there's no there's no ifs ands or butts about it, Like there's no question in my mind. And Kawhi Leonard Kawhi Leonard is a two way player. Luka Don is an offensive threat. That is it. You can't get stopped from Luca don Chech. He doesn't mean, but if you're building a team, you build somebody with on the back line. They could get those blocks the

way Anthony Davis does. I'll just say this. You know a lot of people are like, oh, James Hard not James Harden, Kevin Durant is amazing. Well yeah, no, ships your lock. You know, Kevin Durant is amazing. That being said Gascon, think back to is okay see dives Okay. Yes, he could get a lot of wins. He could often get to the finals. They were never able to win a chip. Now I know what you're gonna say, Well,

Luca hasn't won a series. I totally get that. I don't know if Durant had by twenty two, he might have. I think it went to the finals at four. But um, yeah, Kevin Durant is certainly up there. Uh. My thing with Luca, I know he makes everyone better? Does Kevin Durant make anyone else better? Well? And the thing about the rant we used to kill him right with Oklahoma City. It couldn't get over the hump, and he that reputation, and then he went to Golden State obviously and changed it.

But we have limited time left, JA and I must bring up the big lead. You are. You were known as the guy you you helped create the domination that was the Big League, and you sold it. I am immensely jealous. I had a website, my own, my own name on it, and I did pretty well. I had a pretty good following, and I made some deals with Yahoo and Fox Sports. I never I never made the big like the big money, and and many people have have said, why didn't you? I'm a bad businessman. You

are a smart businessman, Jason, you know you are. You kind of walked me through the mindset of me, because that had to be, I would say, a tough decision. You obviously did very well financially. But what led you to finally move on from from the Big League? Uh? Well, you mean sell it or at the end about to sell it, and then obviously eventually you left. It's it's so funny this idea that like I made all this money.

First of all, that's not totally true. Like, yes, it was mentioned in the New York Times seven figures got it, okay, But it's not like I cleared uh twenty million bucks or the volume or anything like that. Like, come on, um, not the volume hasn't sold, but you know they're getting tons of money, and Clay Travis did well. Um listen. It was very fortuitous. It was at a good time. Like everybody talks about disruptors right now, like Airbnb is

disrupting the hotel industry. Well, my website kind of disrupted newspapers at the time. And you know, we weren't stealing all their uh readership, but we were stealing enough that it mattered. We had a young audience and this company had approached me. It was like, hey, we want to rent you with the option to buy. So we'll rent you for a year and if we see the numbers in the income and blah blah blah, we'll buy you.

And I was like all right, uh. And it's funny because when I had that, two gentlemen in sports media came to me and we're like, hey, don't do that deal, do one with us. And it was Dan Lebottard and Jason Whitlock. And they were friends at the time. I don't know the friends anymore. I mean I think I've told this story and like they were like, hey, hey, hold off on selling. And I was like, seeing the numbers these guys were telling me, uh, and I'm like, yeah, I got the wife and we got a kid on

the way. Sorry guys, And of course they were not thrilled about that. Uh. Selling it was was a good feeling. Uh but again, like then you know you're a grinder like I am. Like you sell it and then you go to bed and you wake up just like everybody else. You put on your socks. I don't sleep with socks. You know, you put on your socks, you brush your teeth,

you go downstairs, just like, all right, what's next? Like I'm not the kind of guy who's gonna sit there and do like a massive victory lab because I sold the website, Like all right, you gotta keep grinding away, like it's weird in this industry. Ben I I'm I'm almost certain, uh knowing a little about you that I know, Like you're never like, alright, that was an amazing show. Let me kick back and relax. It just doesn't work like that. You know, You've always got to keep going.

You want forward momentum. I'm personally never satisfied. My wife thinks it's a little bit unhealthy, but like, I'm sorry, I just I'm not in the mood to like give up like I'm trying to. I'm trying. I'm not trying to get like gascon and work out and become monster. But I like sports. You know, I just don't know that there's an endgame for me. Now. Maybe when I'm like sixty something, I'll chill and want to retire, but

like I'm feeling in my prime. Uh, and I'm just gonna keep working, whether it's website, digital, podcast, TV, ready whatever, Like I got time, and what are the other options? What am I gonna do? Like none of my friends are retired. You know, I can't play golf every day. I'm not great at golf, but it's also boring as shit. Um and like you can only play tennis so many times a week, you know, I do pick up basketball. Like if you had no job, like it wouldn't be

that great. You'd probably be unhealthy. You play video games, you know, you probably start hitting on with then everywhere. Like I just like working, and uh, I really just end up going to continue to uh try to kick ass. Yeah, well you're you're doing a great job. I thank you for coming on the podcast. I think we're wired the same way. You just want to keep working. I don't look back and listen to the show, and I just move on to the next thing. So anyways, straight fire.

You can hear that every day, five days a week. Yes, early in the morning, drops early in the morning. People can listen to it on the way to work. And thank you, Jason, Yeah, thank you. And hey, congrats on you know, building a massive audience. Man, you're I mean, you do huge numbers. They tell me at Fox like

your numbers are massive, So congrats man, thank you. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.