The Jaylen Brown Disrespect Is REAL!

Nate in Canada, you're live with Stephen A. What's up, Nate? How are you? >> Hey, I just got a question for you. I know being a huge Knicks fan, what do you think about Jason Tatum coming back even at 60 70%. Do you think it's a good idea for him? Because I still think the Cavs can beat him. Obviously Detroit can beat him and obviously the Knicks can beat him even with Tatum in there. So, what's your opinion on them rushing Tatum back for the playoffs? >> Well, first of all, I don't think they should rush him back. I don't think he's rushing back. Um, I would say they should move with extreme caution. This is an Achilles tear. This ain't some regular injury. This is an Achilles tear. You do not want to be in a situation where you derail him and his progress and you compromise the future. This season, the Celtics have already won. You're a top two seed in the Eastern Conference, much better than anybody expected you to be, and you have literally a leading candidate for league MVP honors in Jaylen Brown. So, you you you consider the level of success that you have combined with the fact that Jaylen Brown has ascended. Why press it? If he's ready, he's ready. But if he's not, there's no reason to push it. Now, Boston is like championships aren't guaranteed and they're they're in a good position where this year it's up for grabs and anybody can be had. And as a result, if they have an opportunity to go out there and Jason Tatum is going to facilitate and help you win or compete for a championship, you got to go for it. You got to take this into consideration, too. I would say Jason Tatum should be looking at the long term. And I'm going to tell you why. The dude is 27 years of age. Do you know he's been to five conference finals and two NBA finals? Jaylen Brown is 28. Do you know he's been to six conference finals and two NBA finals? They're both champions. And Jaylen Brown is a conference finals MVP and an NBA Finals MVP. Like if there was ever a team that could get away with saying, "We're just going to take necessary precautions and we're not going to let Jason Tatum play this year." I mean, if you could do that, why not? That's how I look at it. I'm just of the mindset that right now I can't rule anything out. I got to look at him and I got to say, I mean, Jason Tatum is a special ball player, man. And I and I have never gotten over it, nor will I ever listen, Steve Kerr not playing him in two Olympic games against Serbia. Okay, that's bad. But stuff happens. But when you go to a first team allNNBA player who is a league MVP candidate who just won a championship and you tell him before games are even played that you don't know if you going to be able to find time for him in a 40inut session. I just think that is so damn ridiculous. I can't put words into it. He's Jason Tatum. How do you not how do you look him in the face before tip off and be like, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to find time for you? And then not only that, two of his teammates and Drew Holiday and Derek White are guys who spent 82 games throughout the year deferring to him. But suddenly in Olympic competition, they're more suited for the team, but he's not. Come on, man. Come on, man. I can't believe that. And then don't get me started with Jaylen Brown. Like I was in the middle of controversy, you know, before because people were saying like, you know, I was disrespecting Jaylen Brown. And Jaylen Brown had to know his his family came up to me and thank me. I was never disrespectful to Jaylen Brown. I would never do that with that brilliant brother. One of the smartest dudes in the world. Just brilliant. Jaylen Brown. I was talking about how he wasn't liked, not by other players, but by Madison Avenue, by corporate America, because he's not a yes man. You can't come up to him with foolishness and just expect him to do stuff because you say you better have a damn good reason. You better make sense. Like he was telling me to state my source like he's wearing those t-shirts right there. I wasn't going to do that because he knows journalism and he knows better than that. But he could read between the lines, the battles that he's had with sneaker companies, the manner in which he spoke up for numerous players during the d doing d doing the social justice riots and all of that stuff years ago, combined with Nike, combined with his brilliance, combined with how outspoken he was, I was like, yo, they didn't want him representing America. Shame on them because there's no way in hell. And I love me some Drew Holiday. And I love me some Derek White, but there's no way in hell that those two dudes belong on the team ahead of Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum. And Jason Tatum is a just a nice guy. You understand that? That that just does does his best. you, Steve Kerr, particularly with the way the kind of dog that Jaylen Ta Jaylen Brown is. Could you imagine going up to him before a game and saying you don't know if you going to be able to find any minutes for him in A 40-MINUTE THAT'S WHY YOU DIDN'T BRING HIM ON THE team cuz could you have imagined he tried to pull that with Jaylen Brown? That wasn't going to work. That wasn't going to happen. So, all of these things matter. All of these things are important. That's just the way it is. We can slice it any way we want to, but you can't do that to somebody built like Jay, like Jaylen Brown, built of the kind of cloth he's built for. It's not going to work. TripleA Mad Dog 6 is always the number to call this 888 623 3646. Let me get to some other notes. This is involved in the NFL scouting combine. I got a problem. I got a problem on two fronts. I got a problem with my man Dan Olowski who's sitting there and saying there's not that big of a gap based on the initial tapes that he's watched between Fernando Mendoza and Tai Simpson out of Indiana and Alabama respectively. Certainly seemed like it to me when they went up against one another and and Indiana walloped them 38-3. Certainly seemed that way to me. But nevertheless, I'm looking at Mendoza because this is for the purposes of the NFL scouting combine, right? And they're talking about um you know, just some of the some some of your measurements and whatever. Measurables. Fernando Mendoza 6'4 and 3/4 236 lb 9 and 1/2 size hands 31 and 78 in arms 76 and a half 76 and 3/4 wingspan. Mendoza didn't touch but was active on the field supporting other quarterbacks which I appreciate. He didn't participate in drills. I like that because I get sick and tired of, you know, you play a college season, you put all this work in and all of this other stuff and then these damn people want to turn around and act like you supposed to just be, you know, throwing yourself out there just to make their job easier. You're an NFL scout. You're an NFL evaluator. You saw them play 11, 12, 13, 14 games. Figure it out. Figure it out. So, I was definitely down for that. That's number one. Number two, this kid Ty Simpson out of Alabama, ladies and gentlemen. He's less than he's less than 6'2. He's like 190 195 pounds. They say he put on about 15 pounds. I don't want to hear that. How were you playing? What weight were you playing at last year? You had 195 pounds. You don't need to put on a lot more girth. You're talking about Mendoza outweighing him by 40 pounds. I need to see what you going to bring to the table. They said at the NFL scouting combine 6' one and 18 inches, 211 lbs. He was 195. Put on about 15 pounds since the season ended. 9 38 in his hands, 30 and 78 in the arm, 76 and a half wingspan. Had only two poor throws and out in the rail and otherwise displayed touch time and strong ball placement. Footwork was efficient with minimal wasted movement. an older prospect with one year of starting experience. They're bringing in nusia at LSU, not feeling them. Back at Miami, not really feeling them. Drew, what all 6'5 and a quarter. Drew Drew Aller, I mean 6'5 and a quarter. It's good size. Footwork is inconsistent. Aaron outs got prototypical size and traits though remains they say remains a strong day two candidate in the 2026 NFL draft. All right, fine. I'm just looking at it right now and they're basically telling me that this draft is coming down to Mendoza or Simpson, nothing else. Am I supposed to be excited about that? I'm not going to be. I'm not going to be. And when they talk about my Pittsburgh Steelers, we so damn desperate for a quarterback. We're hoping Mr. Jerry, uh, uh, Aaron Rogers, I don't mean that insultingly. I'm just talking about he's older now. Listen, I need more than that. If I'm the Pittsburgh Steelers, if I'm the Pittsburgh Steelers, I need more than that. That ain't going to cut it. And I'm not excited about McCarthy being there either, which I already told y'all. TripleA Mad Dog 688 623 3646. More of your calls in a minute. Plus, I'm going to bring up the Dallas Cowboys and some stuff going on. Plus, there's something percolating with some athlete at USC and now he's departed from the team. It's a whole bunch of stuff going on. It's just crazy crazy weekend. Michael Jordan and NASCAR winning three straight races, making history as we speak with all of this stuff that's going on. March Madness, the the month of March has officially arrived. There's a whole bunch of stuff to get into and I'm not running from none of it. You're listening live to the Stephen A. Smith Show. SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio 8 Mad Dog 6 is always the number to call up. It's 888623 3646. More of your calls in a minute. Stick around. It's the Stephen A. Smith Show.

Stephen A. Smith goes OFF defending Jaylen Brown and calling out what he believes was blatant disrespect from USA Basketball. From questioning why Brown was left off the roster, to blasting the handling of Jayson Tatum, and taking aim at Steve Kerr, Stephen A. doesn’t hold back. He even dives into the controversy surrounding Jrue Holiday and Derrick White making the team over Brown. Was Jaylen Brown snubbed? Or is there more to the story? https://sxm.app.link/YouTubeSAS Connect with me on social media: Twitter: https://x.com/stephenasmith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephenasmith/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stephenasmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephena/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-a-smith-763b31194/