← Straight Shooter with Stephen A.
Straight Shooter with Stephen A.
Stephen A's Quick Hitters: Stephen A congratulates "Inside the NBA" Team moving to ESPN.
00:10:04
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- [00:00]
Stephen A. Smith
Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report.
- [00:29]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:03]
Juju Watkins
All right, let's get to some quick hitters. We'll start in women's College basketball where USC sophomore Juju Watkins continues to make history. Watkins reached 1,000 career points this weekend in an 81 to 50 Trojan victory over Santa Clara. Watkins reached the mark 20 games quicker than Trojan legend Cheryl Miller and she also did it in two games fewer than Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell y'all something about juju Watkins. She's going to the WNBA sooner than later and when she gets there, she's going to be a flat out star. This girl has got it. I will remind you in the NCAA tournament as a freshman, I think one game she dropped 27. I think it was in the loss when they got eliminated in the NCAA tournament. The girl's got skills. She can flat out ball. When I think about Caitlin Clark, I think I look at her passing ability, but she's a, she's just a long range sniper. When you look at juju Wat, she's strong. She's, she's, she's bigger than the average sister. She can ball. You know, she's got a handle. She can get to the basket, she can finish at the basket. She's good in the open court. Plus she has a J. She's special. She's special. And I think that once she gets to the WNBA, she has star written all over her. So I'm so glad that, that Caitlin Clark is doing her thing in the wnba, but that she's going from college basketball because I think this college basketball season we gonna be talking about Ju Watkins a whole hell of a lot. Make no mistake about it, I actually got to find a way to get to one of their games. I promised them I would get to one of their games, USC this year. So I got to go see that. Anyway, that's all I had to say about that. Let me get to the NBA, mind you, where I want to give props. I want to take a moment and pause and give props to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs beat the Charlotte hornets last night 128 to 114, bringing their record to 15 and 0 to start the season. The Cavs are the fourth team to start 15 and 0 and are tied for the second best start to a season in NBA history. They only trail the 2015, 2016 Golden State warriors, who started the season 24. Oh, and if you remember, Steve Kerr was ill a little bit at that time and Luke Walton took over at some point and was coaching the team and what have you. But the warriors were the warriors and we get that. We didn't see this coming from Cleveland. I give props where it's due. I mean, Donovan Mitchell, I love that brother. I believe in him. But Darius Garland had a down year last year. Evan Mobley wasn't healthy. Jared Allen got hurt in the playoff before the playoffs began. Couldn't play in the playoff. I know they're a good team. I just didn't expect them to be 15 0. Here's what I would tell you about Cleveland. We thought that the Eastern Conference was a three horse race between Boston, the Knicks and a healthy Philadelphia 76 squad with Joel Embiid. But hell, Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have all already been hurt this early in the season. Nobody expects Joel Embiid to be healthy. We're praying that Paul George will stay that way. We got to add a fourth team to that and that's the Cleveland Cavaliers. Okay, I don't think Orlando's quite ready. Let Ben Curl's been hurt. Once he gets back. I get it because he's a stud and I know it. But I'm not sold on them as of yet. Cleveland, let me tell you what Atkinson has done. First of all, he's done a great job. He's paid attention to detail and stuff like that and that clearly has elevated the team where they seem to be a bit happier than they were playing under Bernie Bickerstaff. I get all of that, even though I respect her. Not, not Bernie Bickerstaff, but his son. But yeah, all I'm saying to you is this. When I think about what I'm seeing from the Cleveland Cavaliers, I got to give props where props is due. And I just want to check my notes here because I tell you something, right now, I'm looking at Cleveland right now and you've got the ball in Evan Mobley's hands even more, all right? And I think that's very, very important. And by doing so, what you're going to do is position yourself to really, really make some noise. I mean, I'm looking at them last year under J.B. bickerstaff and I'm like, okay, he, he knows what he's doing. He can coach. But there was something missing. Kenny Atkinson being there. The same Atkinson that was let go by the Brooklyn Nets. The same Atkinson that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving didn't mind walking out the door. And they should have held on to that man because he kind of knows what he's doing. Now you got a situation, you sit up there and you look at what's transpiring. I'm just at the mindset with Kenny Atkinson is the coach. Look, give him credit where credit is due. And putting the ball in Mobley's hands even more and making him more offensively assertive has really elevated them. If they could keep this up, who knows what they could do. I still think they're on the outside looking in at the big two, which is the Knicks and Boston, even though they look better than both right now. But in the best of seven series, I gotta wonder about that. But Donovan Mitchell is that dud dude. I've always believed in them. I always wanted him to be in the New York Knicks uniform. But him being in Cleveland with them doing what they're doing, I can't say enough about it. Got to give props where it's due. Watch out for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Watch out for the Cleveland Cavaliers. On to the next item. Let me give props to James Harden of the Los Angeles Clippers, please. He made history Sunday this weekend, becoming the NBA second all time leader in three pointers made. Harden made two threes yesterday in the Clippers 116, 105 victory against the Utah Jazz. He's now got two.975 career three pointers to move past Ray Allen's 2973. Steph Curry is the all time three point king with nearly three, 800 three pointers made from the Golden State Warriors. So good luck in trying to catch him. But that's not to take away from James Harden. James Harden during those years in Houston was one of the most magnificent offensive players we've ever seen. Absolutely, positively unstoppable. One on one. We got to remember that. And in the process of remembering all of that, we got to remember that even though he's older now, maybe having lost a step and what have you, James Harden can still ball. He can still ball. He can still make things happen. Here's where I'm going to give him the most credit, damn it. At least he shows up. At least he's on the court ready to play all the damn time. I know people want to point to him forcing his way out of Brooklyn, then forcing his way out of Philadelphia. But for the most part, throughout his career, he showed up to play, which is more than we could say for Kawhi Leonard. Because the Clippers, let's face reality. They're not going too far if all they've got to rely upon is James Harden. Paul George is gone. They should have invested in him and let Kawhi Leonard walk. But they didn't do that. And because Steve Ballmer didn't own it for the Clippers, didn't do that. All he's got is James Harden. And at least James Harden shows up to play and he can still score. So just give love where it's due. My last topic is good news for NBA fans worldwide. That's because the hit show Inside the NBA with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, the one and only Shaquille O'Neal, and of course, the incomparable Ernie Johnson is no longer a casualty of the new NBA deal. This was supposed to be the last season of Inside the NBA on tnt, but thanks to a settlement between Warner Brothers Discovery and the league office, the show will continue on ESPN, AB and ABC starting in the 2025, 2026 season. For those of you who don't know, Inside the NBA has won 21 sports Emmy awards since it started in 1989. A lot of people been asking me about this, wondering how I feel about it, wondering what it means for my future, et cetera, et cetera. Doesn't affect me at all. I've got first take. I got a lot of other things going on. Secondly, here's the biggest reason why it wouldn't affect me. All of them are my boys. Ernie Johnson is a phenomenal human being, a great host, a great man. I love him to death. Shaquille O'Neal is my brother, Kenny Smith, and I go back to my days in junior high school when his brother Vincent Smith used to train me as a basketball player. And then, of course, there's the one and only Charles Barkley himself, who I also love dearly. They're friends, and not just to me, but anybody in the NBA community. How can you not love and respect and revere these brothers? And to see that this show still scheduled to be produced in Atlanta by the TNT folks and what have you airing on ESPN and abc, to know that these brothers are gonna stay together and continue to do the NBA for years to come, I can't be more happier for them because I know that it created a lot of chaos once TNT lost its deal with the NBA. Courtesy of Amazon and others. Of course, major, major props to Commissioner Adam Silver, to President Jimmy Pitaro of ESPN, along with the President of Content, Mr. Burke Magnus, Bob Iger himself, CEO of Walt Disney, and everybody else in between. It's the right thing. It's the right thing. And so, you know, when they come to espn, I mean, they'll still be doing their thing. Again, it's their show based out of Atlanta, that will be airing probably twice a week in all likelihood. But the biggest thing is that, you know, hey, for all intent and purposes, they're teammates, not just my brothers. So I'm looking forward to watching them continuing to show their greatness as commentators covering the game of basketball. Like I said, Kenny Smith and I go back many, many years loving the death. And Shaq and Chuck speak for themselves. It's the best thing that could have happened for the NBA in the media industry. I couldn't be happier wishing them nothing but the best. Looking forward to seeing my boys on the channel that I work on, at least at the moment. Y'all, welcome aboard, fellas. Welcome aboard.
- [11:04]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up, everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal, and I'm teaming up with the king of spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs, mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [11:34]
Nate Thompson
What's up, everyone? Julius Ripps here, along with former NHL player Nate Thompson.
- [11:39]
Stephen A. Smith
We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go.
- [11:42]
Nate Thompson
The Name Energy Line with Nate and jsb.
- [11:45]
Stephen A. Smith
Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right?
- [11:50]
Nate Thompson
Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us.
- [11:54]
Stephen A. Smith
Julie is pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe.
- [11:59]
Nate Thompson
Listen to Energy Line with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.