Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - 5 On It: What letter grade would you give NBA All-Star Weekend?

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey discussed a variety of sports topics in the 5 On It segment.

The score. This hour is brought to you by Minards. Save big money at Menards. I got five. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score.

Number one. It's a special edition of Five on it on 104-3, The Score, with Marshall Harris, and also in the house, friend of the show. Russell Dorsey, National MLB Insider, Yahoo Sports, Insider, and analyst at MLB Network and Friday night baseball on Apple TV. We love you, Russ.

Thanks for hanging out today, man. Of course. Here's question number one. What letter grade would you give the NBA's All-Star Weekend? What letter grade? So backstage I had a grade in mind. But now that I'm thinking about it, I'm going to give it a flat C, average. Flat C.

Because even though the game itself was good, All-Star C, Saturday was not as good. And that average is out to be a C. And, you know, honestly, Friday was, you know what? C plus. C plus for the NBA for All-Star weekend. What gave it the plus for you? The plus is the fact that there were three days of action.

Only one was below average. And by the way, Damien Lillard. How is that man-winning three-point content? Like, you still need to use your legs and he's not 100% healed. It's standing still. But high-level athlete. And he's probably progressed in his recovery enough where he would be doing all these things anyway.

I guess so. You're not running up and down the floor and cutting and all that. Did you hear who's going to be in the three-point shooting contest next year? Yeah, I heard Big Wardell. Got his name called. Steph Curry back in action next year. And he was doing an interview with some of the guys on the broadcast, and they're like, oh, can you make it from here where they were stationed?

He missed the first three, and then he hit the fourth. And it was like, yeah, and it was close to the first three. Yeah, so C plus because I did enjoy yesterday, and that is the main attraction. Saturday is the drag. And I think they can figure out what to do with Saturdays in the dunk contest, specifically. Wemby ruined the skills competition last season. So they got some things that they can tweak and make it better, but C plus feels right to me. I was teetering between D plus and C minus.

because Saturday night was a real bummer. Like it really dragged the weekend down, empty seats, people weren't enthusiastic. And that's from people who I talked to who were in the arena. But the game Sunday saved it because you saw competitiveness, you saw good product, you saw people trying. And the players themselves looked like they were enjoying the experience on Sunday. And that wasn't something you were hearing about. prior to. I'm going to say C minus. I'll give it a C minus because I think the

game on Saturday was a winner. They found something in that. So if they can do that again, do you feel like this will be trending back up? But the game itself, I'm saying. Well, see, the game being as good as it was, in my opinion, last night, it was still a C minus. Like, you still have improvements to you got to do. But I think you have bought yourself time if you can continue on that trajectory with

World v. Timisa. Would you change anything about Sunday, though, specifically? I know Saturday's got revisions coming. Yeah, and I think this is a product of the Olympics, but yeah, the time is bad. Yeah, the Olympics. If you had to put that in prime time, I think you would have been very surprised with the viewership. But I don't know that the All-Star game itself was ever a nighttime thing. It was just more of a late evening.

It's like an early evening. thing. It can be seven o'clock, central, eight o'clock Eastern is probably the time it should always be. That's too late. That's too late. I have a quick follow-up question for you guys because Kauai Leonard said prior to the game yesterday, it may have been actually Saturday, but he said that he didn't understand

the format and he wants it just to go back to East versus West. Do you guys agree with Kauai or how did you feel? I heard that because LeBron voiced the same appearance. opinion of it should go back to East versus West. And I heard that from a couple of guys. The problem with that is the West is so stacked right now, it would be uncompetitive and you'd have the same problems. I don't agree with that statement necessarily.

I understand why you're saying that right in this moment. But like it used to be with when the East was loaded. But right now you have Yokit. You have Wimby. You have Luca. You have LeBron. You have Dames back over there. You have SGA.

You know what I mean? Well, Dane ain't playing in next year's All-Star game. I'm just saying of like stars who are... I got you. And Steph still on the out west. So, Devin Booker, we're on the east. What do you mean?

The East's got Josh Giddy. What are we talking about here? No, that's not the time for that. But like, even outside of, like, Janice, Joel Embed, all right, Maxie, cool. There's the big superstars are on the West right now. I think you got had a far more... Oh, Edwards is in the West.

You have a far more competitive game with what they did last night. And I think that has to be the goal. Is East versus West better than them picking teams? That's the option if you feel like the West is too stacked. I like the picking of teams. I think the picking of teams, I don't want a player picking teams. You want to coach picking teams? I don't want players doing it.

Okay. Well, they had broad. broadcasters doing it, aka former players. I like last night's version better than the recent. The problem is those old heads, they can't get their bodies back up that quick. They're going to be out of the league in two, three years anyway. Kauai's going to be out of the league in two or three years. I was thinking LeBron, Steph.

That's two guys. Those are the major ones. I guarantee you Kevin Durant will still be playing basketball in three years. I guarantee you that, and he's old. But guess what? He has an elite skill. So we'll see. Number two.

What's more likely the Cubs winning more than 95 games or the White Sox losing less than 95 games? So do the Cubs win 95 plus games or do the White Sox lose 95 or fewer games? Less than 94 or fewer. 94 or fewer? The Cubs won 92 games last year, right? And they added Bregman, they added pitching. I will say the Cubs because of their,

now because I'm thinking about the rest of the National League and the rest of the National League is still pretty. I'm going to say the White Sox lose fewer than 95 games. Okay. It's more likely because I think the Dodgers are still the Dodgers, the Padres are still pretty good, the Phillies are good, the Mets are going to be good. All these teams, if they're healthy.

going to be better. I just want to point out all the teams you just named. I also think the none of them play in the Central. I think the Pirates are going to be a better team. I think the Brewers are going to do what they do and just find a way to win 85 games. Reds are still talented.

Yeah. I think the National League is going to beat up on each other. Because the National League is that superior to the American League. I think the National League is just that good right now. To your point, I don't think the White Sox are losing 95 games. because I think the rest of the AL Central is questionable, and they just are going to have an easier schedule.

And the Cubs are going to have a real – I mean, they can get to 95 games, but that's going to mean they're a really good team. I don't want people to hear me and think, like, I don't believe in what the – I thought the Cubs had a really solid offseason, and I think the Cubs are a good team. I think the Cubs are one of the best five teams in the National League. I just think it says more about the growth that I thought the White Sox made from the end of last season in the beginning of this year, and the fact that their division is also not great beyond the Tigers.

They're going to play spoiler come September. Mark it down. He says they are the 2026 version of the 2025 Miami Marlins. 79 wins. We will see if that comes. Well, if they went 79 games, they're losing a whole lot less than 95. I'm just saying that should be their target, which would put us at less than 95. Okay.

Number three. It's five on it on 104. Three. The score with Marshall Harris and Russell. Dorsey. Here is question number three. Hey, the South Side added a slugger which leads us to this question. What's more likely? A Cubs player

leading the city in home runs or a White Sox player leading the city in home runs. Ooh, I love this question. I like this one a lot. And so you start looking at the names, right? And you start thinking about it and you're like, okay,

Moone? I mean, I think he's going to hit 40 home runs, but is 40 even enough? That's crazy. And so I start to think about Colson Montgomery and what he did in limited time now obviously Because like here's the thing with the Cubs Like they have really good hitters They don't have a guy that hit for like huge power

But I could see Michael Bush being that guy He did hit for it He hit and he was platooning basically Yeah And so if he gets some more ABs against left-handed pitching I guarantee you it's going to be a left-handed bat That finishes with the most home runs on either team It is definitely between

Michael Bush and Colson Montgomery probably. So those are our two options. I'm going to say, I'm going to say it's a first time Japanese player. Oh my gosh, you're putting so much pressure on my man. Wait, am I putting pressure on him? Yeah. 40 homer.

It would be the most homers by a player in his first year coming from Japan. That would be more than Shohei, who's the best player. maybe we've ever seen. How do you get his first year? It was like 27. I like Munatakami to hit the most. And it might not even be 40,

but like you said, there's not a whole bunch of guys who can hit 40 homeruns on either of these two teams. So, I say, my dark horse, it's either,

one way or another, it's going to be a Japanese player. It's either going to be Murakami. He hit 22 homers his first year. He didn't hit over 30 until 20, 21 when he hit 46. How old is he? When he hit the 46?

He was... What age year was that for him? 26. 26. You know what? All right. You've convinced me. It's not Marikami. It's Sizuki. Interesting. So I thought about Seya because I was talking about... We were talking about it earlier.

He goes on those stretches. And as a right-handed hitter, a lot easier to hit the ball out of the yard at a Wrigley. You know, he's playing a lot of games in Milwaukee. If he plays in right field every day. So it was either for me is going to be Michael Bush, Seya, or Colson Montgomery. I think all of them hit more than 30.

I think the winner is ultimately Michael Bush. I think Michael Bush hits 35 home runs this year. Okay. I think more than one player in this city will hit 35 home runs this year. But you like that list of like Colson, Bush, and Seya all hitting over 30? I do.

I don't like your disrespect of Merkami, but hey. I'm trying to, I've covered baseball for a long time and watched it. It's really hard to get 30 homers in the big leagues, especially in your first season when you've never seen big leagues starting pitching. You're right. You're absolutely right. And when your hole is back to ball skills. Hey man, that bidet going to have everything flowing.

All right. Number four. Michael Jordan's racing team won the Daytona 500 when Tyler Reddick took the checkered flag Sunday. I can't even believe it. Yeah, I mean, it was so so gratifying. I mean, we had four guys that were really fighting that was helping each other out. I mean, you never know how these races is going to end, right? It's like you just try to survive and, you know, I thought Riley did an unbelievable job by pushing at the end. You know, that shows you what teamwork can really, really do. I mean, he doesn't get enough credit. He won't get enough credit, but we feel

the love. We understand exactly what he did. And I mean, we just hung in there all day. I mean, Great strategy by the team, and we gave ourselves a chance at the end. And look, I'm ecstatic. I mean, I don't even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won't even know. It's the goat himself, Michael Jordan, Fox Sports. What did you make of MJ's insights to championships? You know what was crazy about this?

Is I was reading about it, and I was like, oh, let me Google Daytona 500. the fact that a two-time Expended Series champion, Tyler Reddick, who was actually behind the wheel, had to take a backseat to Michael Jordan, who's just the team owner, is crazy work. The Daytona 500, for those of you who are not in the know, who are not, maybe gear heads who maybe weren't raised within a couple of hours drive of Talladega, like Iowa. was the Daytona 500 is the Super Bowl of racing.

I know it's funny, but racing starts with their biggest race first in the season. That's how they kick things off. And Michael Jordan won this as an owner, not as a driver, but who do you want to hear from first? You want to hear from MJ. And congratulations to Tyler Reddick, by the way. But Michael Jordan letting you know, I wear a size 13 ring and I know my wrist, and I know my rings I got plenty. I got plenty of rings.

I just think it's almost a moment in time and that Michael Jordan's so excited as owner of a racing team in a way he never could be from the basketball team, the Charlotte Hornets, Bobcats, whatever you want to call him, that he used to own. And it went opposite of the NBA All-Star game. So listen, his name is Michael Jordan. He is who he is. He is who he is. so that he's going to always get attention, especially when his team ended up winning. But I don't think this is necessarily the first time an owner of a racing team has gotten attention.

In this way, either. Hall of Fame, head coach Joe Gibbs, Super Bowl champion, and the legendary owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. Like, it's, it was, there was a point where kids were born who only knew Joe Gibbs

from the NASCAR side. not the football side. That could never happen to Michael Jordan, by the way. No, but I'm just saying, like, Joe Gibbs is in the Football Hall of Fame and then had his career as a legendary owner in NASCAR. So, like, we've seen it before. I get your point about, like, the dude that drove didn't even get the same publicity. But, like, hey, man, is what it is.

Those are the brakes. No pun intended. Number five. So 104-3, the score. Last question here on five. How much attention? are you paying to the Winter Olympics? Do I have to be honest about this?

Oh, honesty, please, yes. I'll let Russell go first. So here's the thing. In my youth, I was big on the Olympics, both summer and winter. This year, I haven't been as locked in. I will say I have always enjoyed speed skating. I think that's one of the coolest of the winter sports. Curling also pretty sick, which we have on here in the studio.

Not a ton outside of those. The only thing I know about what's happened in the Winter Olympics are things that I have read. And I saw the highlight of Lindsey Vaughn. I unfortunately saw that. The low light. The low light, yeah. Tough way to end to an Olympic run. No, no.

I will start now paying attention to more Olympic stuff, I think. Like the ice hockey finals for both the men and women, I'll be into that. anytime an American's getting a lot of pub on social media, I'll try to tune in and see what's going on. I just, it's just the way it works out right now, it's not a part of my day to day. Gotta get ready for this radio show.

I'm out here calling games. I'm over at the seven. It's just not a part of my. So like I want to pay more attention to it. I just haven't been enthralled with it like I have been in Olympics past. Okay. That's all. Yeah, I mean,

we are in like just super. Bowl hangover period right now still. So it's, it's, it's not on my radar either, honestly. And I need to, I do like curling. Curling's the one for me. So I got to get on it. That's the one that's been on my TV the most is curling. Usually it's just become background on my TV at this point.

And there was drama in curling, right? People were saying that people were lying about cheating or something like that. I don't know the details because, again, I haven't been paying as much attention. Oh, was it like, I forgot who, which country it was, but like, yeah, like what? They kind of had their finger touching the stone is what they call it. Yes. And was the part of the cheating is because he used a little oomph to push it a little extra. Is that what they're calling it for?

Yeah. So it's the Canada men's curling team. They got hit with a second cheating accusation. Sweden was on them. They were watching. They were like, I got footage of you. No, I got footage of you. It's one of those crazy situations.

But yeah, look, shout out to the Winter Olympics. And shout out to all the people who are world class at their sport and get to that final stage where even if you don't win, right, you finish 20th. In the world? In the world? For the career? Same vibes. In the career?

Same vibes. Like, congratulations to all the Olympics, in the Olympians, excuse me, all of their support staff because people don't get rich becoming Olympians. They just survive and get to race another day, as they say. So that's it. Okay, coming up next. Let's shift gears. Let's go to the Bulls and basketball in general.

But really the Bulls, because I think I have a friend, an ally, if you will, in my take on the Chicago Bulls. Elias Schuster, publisher for Bulls on SI, joins us next. It's Russell Dorsey. I'm Marshall Harris. And this is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 to score.