The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rocket vs Celtics Tonight! Yainer Diaz Signs For $4.5M

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Rocket vs Celtics Tonight! Yainer Diaz Signs For $4.5M

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 10.01 in the a.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Hello. And welcome in to a Wednesday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. He is out today. And you're saying, well, why? Was he traveling with the Rockets? No. Is he on vacation? Never. Is he relaxing on a beach? I've never heard of him ever do that in my life. He is out because today is a wonderful and historic and a special day in the Thomas household. His daughter, Carly Thomas, is going to sign her national letter of intent to play volleyball with the University of Rhode Island. Yesterday's topic for, believe it or not. Matt, about 52 minutes ago put up a tweet that says National Signing Day, humble independent school district. I believe they do it for the entire school.

I don't know if they do it for football and every single sport. So it might be a very long day for Matt at the Humble ISD signing day. But Matt is out as he is a proud popa today and saying he's already a mess. And he is going to watch his daughter sign her national letter of intent. And all the years of traveling around and taking her to volleyball and club and practices and private coaching and getting a volleyball court in his backyard and all that good stuff, it's paying off as his daughter is going to be a collegiate volleyball player at the University of Rhode Island. So Matt is out. I am here. Chris Gordy may be hanging out at some

point, maybe not. We'll find out. Adam Clanton is going to join in the one o'clock hour. Jonathan Allen is bringing us the news at noon coming up at noon. All right, I'm getting a head nod. So that's good there. We have Wednesday is a I is a, no, no, shut your bum ass up slash ain't nobody got time for that. That's coming up at 1130. And as right now, I am flying solo. If you guys want to get in, you can't. Phone lines are open. 713, 212, 5, 790 is the phone number if you'd like to get in. 713, 212, 5, 790. You 10 o'clockers, We love you. So if you want to get in, we will get you on here.

You can also send tweets to at SportsRV and communicate that way. And then you could also follow me on Instagram. I would really appreciate it. That is also at Sports RV there. So a lot of stuff to get to today. Even though it's kind of like the beginning of February, there's some interesting stuff going on. We'll get some Astro stuff in a second.

If you had not heard, James Hardin is a Cleveland Cavalier. So he has gone from traded to the nets. And was that the beginning of 2021? I think that was like January of 2021. He played a few games with the Rockets and then he went to the Nets. Then actually, now this gets muddy. He went to the 76ers and then he went to the Clippers. And now he's going to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Is he going to be the most traded Hall of Famer of all time? He's going to the Hall of Fame. He won an MVP. He's like top 10 in scoring all time. I think he's next on the list to try to come after Wilts Chamberlain at 7th on the all-time scoring list, which is crazy, by the way, that that 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder finals team

had Russell Westbrook, James Hardin, and Kevin Durant all on it. And they're all, I want to say, top 15 all-time points leaders in NBA history. I'm trying to pull it up right now. Definitely Kevin Durant is, is now chasing Michael Jordan and getting closer and closer. He's sixth.

James Hardin is, yeah, ninth. Okay, where is Russell Westbrook is in as high as I thought. So, no, he is 15th. Oh my gosh. Duran Hardin and Westbrook are all top 15 scores all time and all played on the same team. And they never won a championship. All right, but I digress. Complicated history with James Harding.

We'll get to that later on the show. But he is now a Cleveland Cavalier. and of course he was a longtime legendary Houston Rocket. They don't go one with in the Basketball Hall of Fame. They don't get a plaque with a cap or a jersey on or anything like that. But he would be Houston Rocket going into the Hall of Fame. But now he is on his fourth team in about five, six seasons. So James Hardney, Cleveland Cavalier.

Of course, as I said, we got some Astro stuff going on. Rocket's going to be in action tonight against the Boston Celtics. They are on a back-to-back. Celtics have been very good. They are one of the surprises. the league. They are on a back-to-back as they beat the Dallas Mavericks 1-10 to 100 yesterday. Rockets and Celtics coming your way. That'll be a 7 o'clock tip. Ooh, some line movement. Check that yesterday. Rockets were 5.5 point favorites, now down to 4.5 point favorites with the,

maybe that means Kevin Durant not going to be available tonight. Does Vegas know something? We don't know. That'll be something to keep an eye on. We got Rockets launch pad. I'll have that for you coming up at 6 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. It'll be a C. 7 o'clock tip, Rockets taking on the Boston Celtics, and then it'll be a back-to-back, as they'll take on the Charlotte Hornets tomorrow at home, also at 7 o'clock. And don't scoff, don't laugh. When you hear the Charlotte Hornet turn town, they're actually playing some good ball. They have won seven games in a row, including wins over the Spurs, 76ers, Magic,

who are completely terrible over that stretch. Oh, I lied. Yeah, the men, 25, 24, magic. seven game winning streak for the Hornets. They'll be in town tomorrow. Rockets taking on the Boston Celtics tonight. So as I mentioned, we got a lot of different news stories swirling around to me.

Some interesting stuff from both Dana Brown and Joe Osbata yesterday. They had the media luncheon and they do this. And yeah, a lot of it's just kind of glad-handing and schmoozing. And oh, check out our new whatever disgusting fried foods we have coming up to the ballpark that's going to give you a massive coronary come the seventh inning. come and taste that. But then, of course, the meat and potatoes of it is the general manager, Dana Brown speaking, and Joe Espada speaking. So a couple of interesting things, I think, out of that. I mean, we talked about the storylines, the outfield logjam, or lack thereof, the infield logjam that is what the Astros are going to do there,

the left-handed bat. And I want to play a couple of these audio clips that we're going to have for you guys. and we will pepper these throughout the show. But I want to start with, to me, is the first domino. When you talk about the infield and you talk about Jose Altuve coming back to second base, you talk about the outfield, and one of the things the Astros had liked to do when they first moved to the American League is move guys around in the designated hitter spot. Joe Espada says that is not in his plans. Gordon, I would like giving most of his at pass as a DH.

and I will do all everything in my power to keep him in that D.H. He will get some opportunities in left field to keep that D.H. spot open for all their players. But this is going to be competition from the get-go. We'll see where we stand there and see what we'll get most of those at bats there during the season. See, that's the big first piece of news. Because if we're talking about an infield logjam, right, and we're talking about, well, where's Esoc Pradesh going to play? And where's Christian Walker? What's going to happen?

And what's Jose El-Tuvae? Where is it going to do? a natural spot for all those guys would be like, hey, they're all in their 30s and we throw toss Carlos Corre in there. They're in their 30s plus.

Give them a DH day. And it's not a day off. Guys have described it more as like a half day where you just kind of have to do your hitting and you go out there and you get your A.Bs and you have to go out there and run. A little bit of a half day, which would be nice for a 35,

going to be 36-year-old Jose Al-Tuvae. For a Christian, or getting longer in the tooth. Carlos Corre, we know he's had a history. I mean, he's got an injury, history of back problems, and we can maybe even call him injury prone because he failed a physical with the San Francisco Giants,

and he's always wearing a back brace and something to keep an eye on. Like, yeah, give those guys a DH day. Well, not so fast, my friend, according to Joe Espada, he wants Yordon Alvarez in that designated hitter spot. I mean, you just heard the words out of his mouth. And you don't hear a whole lot of,

I don't say like calling out or straight talk or anything like that when it comes to Dana Brown and Joe Espada and speaking to the media. But, I mean, that's pretty direct. I want to have Yordon Alvarez in my designated hitter spot as much as possible. Now, if you are, I don't know, people that are in a school of thought that it's inevitable, he's going to miss a large chunk of games, which could happen. Yorndon could get hurt. We have a historic injury history of him.

but two years ago he played 144 games. So maybe he is going to be out there almost every day. If he gets hurt, then that erases that problem. If he's going to miss 35 plus games, then those are 35 plus games. You can toss Jose Altuvae in the D.H spot and whomever else. But if he's not, if he is healthy as a, what, 28, 29-year-old. Yeah, 28 right now. I'm going to turn 29 in June.

and somebody who did two years ago play 140 plus games, and you're hoping he does, it was 147 games, excuse me, 144 was in 21. But three of the last five years, he's played 130 plus games. So if that happens, it becomes four of six, then you do have to figure some things out. And I also say, you want him in the lineup every day,

whether it's a D.H spot left field or wherever, because he's the most dangerous hitter in Astros' history in terms of, of OPS Plus right now. His 163 mark is far better than Jeff Bagwell's 149 career mark, although Jeff Bagwell had a decline. Yordon Alvarez is in the heart of his prime. So we'll see whether there's numbers shake out as the years go along. But by OPS Plus, best hitter in Astros history right now is Yorda on Alvarez. You need him in that lineup every day. You want him to get his first 40 home run season, which is insane to say out loud, you can't believe he hadn't gotten 40 home

runs. A lot of that has been because he's been missing significant time every single year, it seems like. So you want him in the lineup every day. Think about how dangerous locked in Yordaunt is. You want him to be good and great,

but then what goes on with everybody else? If you can't shuffle half days in the designated hitter spot of the lineup, what does that mean for Correa, Altuve, Paratus, Walker. Pena obviously has Shortstop, lock down.

And it's kind of just, I don't know if a Joe's spot is just going to pull names out of a hat when it comes to the rest of those positions. Or is there going to be a trade made very soon or at least by the deadline for your Houston Astros? That's what we have to figure out. Okay. Still have to have to get to left-handed bat stuff. Still have to get to outfield stuff. But it is time for the first break of the show here on Sports Talk 790, The Matt Thomas show with Ross. You guys want to get in.

713-212-5-7-9. is the phone number 713-212-5-790. I think I have to, at some point later on, you're going to get mad at me. I have to defend the legacy of James Hardin and this Cleveland Cavaliers trade. We'll also talk about the Astero stuff. Rockets are going on. Super Bowl week is ramping up NFL news as well with some hires. So we got a ton of stuff to get to.

We also have, ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up coming up at 1130. and we have you at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. 10.20 a.m. here on the Sports Talk 7-90. Welcome in. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Without Matt Thomas, he is out. Chris Gordy is here hanging out.

Wearing an SEC hoodie. Oh, yeah. It's a big day. Is it? Signing day? Well, it's... I mean, isn't bigger the day that's like the early one, right? Yeah, this one. This one is kind of a dud.

It's probably 5% of the entire class signing today. Does everybody in the portal have to sign by today? How does that work? They get their own thing? No, you had a deadline to enter the portal. Now that you're in the portal, you can just take your sweet-ass time and pick your team. See, but here's the problem.

The deadline to enroll for spring classes has passed. So if you're in the portal right now and you have not picked your new school, you're basically taking a semester off because you're not in school. There are some schools. like Oregon that are on the quarter system. So like I think their class is start next week.

So if you wanted to transfer to Oregon, you could do that. It's very, it's all very sketchy. But it's, it's an interesting day because this morning, a judge in Tennessee ruled in favor of Joey Aguilar, the Tennessee quarterback that is trying to get another year of eligibility. He's coming back for his 10th year, I believe, yes. Well, so here, so here's the thing. And this is, this is kind of an interesting debate real quick. He spent a year at some like small community. community college. Then the next

two years at a community college used a red shirt inside of that, in one of those years and then went to App State, played two years at App State, and last year at Tennessee. So he's technically only played three years at the Division I level.

Yes. So the argument is, hey, he should get a fourth year at the D1 level. And this goes back to what Diego Pavia won last year. Diego Pavia played at community college. And then he got the extra year of eligibility to play at Vandy last year. It's an interesting debate on is community,

should community college count as a year of eligibility? It's not D1 football. I don't know. I would say, how about, I got a crazy rule. What if you're in school and actually pursuing a degree, then you can play? If you're pursuing a bachelor's,

you get four years. Well, most of these kids graduate. I mean, like, if you want to get a graduate degree? Because Carson Beck, then he's saying, I'm not in class. Like, if you're not in class. But that,

goes back to the old. Remember Matt Liner came back to USC and he took ballroom dancing. If you're taking ballroom dancing, you're out. Okay? I'm sorry. If you're not pursuing a degree. I think somebody told me Jaden Daniels, his last year at LSU, he was actually working on his master's. Like he started work. So like

I mean, if you go that route and get on the masters. And yeah, I mean, how many college quarterbacks are going to really pursue PhDs? Well, and especially a guy like Joe Aguilar, he's not, he has no NFL potential.

But here's the great argument they have in court. Tennessee has a $2 million an IL offer on the table for him. He has no, like no scouts are looking at them at all for the NFL. So if they say you're done with college, you have to go pro and he doesn't get drafted. His argument is I have, you're keeping me from making $2 million. Yes. It's anti-trust lawsuit. Right.

I don't know. It'll be fascinating to see. But the more I started talking out, the more I started to go, you know what, everyone should get four years at the DEB. level. I don't care how many you spend at Juco or community college and all this. I think you should get four years. Once you get the D1, the clock starts ticking. You get four years. I have a stupid question. How many years can you play intermural like flag football? As many as you want. What do you want? Right. So I mean, what's the difference? Any Van Wilder out there, you want to spend six, seven years at college, you can.

As I'm saying, as long as you're actually enrolled in pursuing a degree, like if you're in ballroom dancing or if you're not in classes at all, no, you shouldn't be on the team. if you're actually pursuing an actual degree, put them on the team. All those universities will say, as long as you're paying your money, we'll keep taking your money. You always keep staying school. I mean, I don't feel like you're going to really be able to get a PhD. I don't know. It's all a weird house of cards with the weird rules that don't make any sense and haven't made any sense since like basically the 1880.

I think it was kind of interesting too. Steve Sarkeesian spoke out on it a couple months ago and he was against it. And I believe Sark started his career at Juko or community college. He was against what? Which way? Like he was saying, no, those years count because I had to do it. And it's like, okay, but that was forever ago, Pops. Like, I don't know that Juko should count, I guess.

I don't know. Yeah, his, let's see. Yeah, he started at El Camino. Oh, El Camino. All right. Public community college in L.A. in 93 and 94. and then he spent two years at BYU.

So Sark played four years of college football, but two were at community college. Oh, just because it's the way, just because I had to do it, it means things should be worse. Okay. Let's go with that. I just think it's a different level.

You're going to mean, like, remember Cam Newton went to Blinn Community College? Yes, he did. I don't think that should count it. Blinn College National Champion. Can you imagine if we go back in time and Cam Newton goes undefeated with Auburns wins the National Championship,

wins the Heisman, and gets another year of eligibility. could come back that next year? I mean, he was going to be the number one. Well, actually, coming out of that draft, he wasn't the number one overall pick coming out, but then, of course, he eventually was the number one overall pick. But people are like,

eh, we don't know. And then he got taken number one over by the Panthers and won an MVP. I mean, even though Kim, you had an interesting career, he won an MVP. Got to a Super Bowl. Got to a Super Bowl and won an MVP. That's worthy of a number one overall pick.

But, yeah, I'm going to say Juco doesn't count. It's different football. And again, if you're pursuing a degree, I don't have an issue with it. I mean, the NCAA is just ridiculous in itself. Let the kids play. Do you know? And let him get, especially if he's going to get $2 million more dollars.

That Cam Newton draft, can you name any of the top 11 picks in that draft? Nick Fairley was in there. Nick Fairley went 13th. J.J. Watt won 11th. I can't remember outside of that. Check out this top seven. Cam Newton won, Von Miller 2. Oh, that's pretty good.

Marcel Darius 3. He had a good career. Buffalo. Marshall Darius, do you mean the guy who ripped off Colt McCoy's arm? Yes, that guy. A.J. Green went four. Yeah, A.J. Green was good.

Patrick Peterson went five. Wow. Julio Jones went six. What a draft. Alden Smith went seventh. And then Tyron Smith went ninth to the Cowboys. In between those, it picked nine and ten, Jake Locker and Blaine Gabbard. Hmm.

AFC South Stahorch. And then you go a few picks later. Robert Quinn. That directly led to the Texan success in the AFC South around Bill O'Brien era. Robert Quinn, Mike Pouncey, Ryan Kerrigan, Cam Jordan. Damn. That's a damn good draft. It's a pretty damn strong draft, for sure.

Outside of quarterbacks. Yeah. Wow. All those guys are retired. Yeah. Every one of them, right? Just about, I mean, it's a long time ago, 2011. But anyway, the college conversation, so the Aguilar thing is now going to go back.

It's him versus the NCAA. So we're going to see what happens on that. Dude, the NCAA lawyers have been taking all these Ls. All the else. Because they have no leg to stand on. You think they're sick of paying these lawyers to lose every single lawsuit that they have? And the Trinidad Champlain's case is coming up next week. The NCAA is supposed to make a final decision on him today.

It's expected he's going to get denied. And then this Ole Miss judge in Mississippi is going to rule. do that and they're going to make them eligible. All these cases are going to the local courtroom with judges that are alums of those schools going, we rule in favor of the player. You can play immediately, son. Yeah, I'm okay with rooting in favor of the player.

But I'm just like if the NCAA, wake the hell up, you don't want all these individual cases going to these local judges that are all going to rule against you. All right. We have to take quick break on that. We got off to a college football tangent, but that's okay. That's what's going to happen with Chris Gordy,

To appreciate that. Good conversation, honestly, on the amateurism, rules and stuff like that. We'll get back to some of the Astros stuff we were talking about with Joe Spada saying he wants Yordon Alvarez in D.H. And he's going to do everything within his power to have Yordon at D.H just about every single day. What does that mean for the rest of the infield and the outfield and a surprising name, getting some reps in center field for the Astros as well? We'll talk about that. As we go along, we also have ain't nobody got time for that slash shut you. bum ass up coming at 1130. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross with you until 2 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. Welcome to the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790.

Matt Thomas is out. It is National Signing Day for the humble independent school district. And his daughter is signing to become a collegiate volleyball player on an athletic scholarship at the University of Rhode Island. Congratulations to the Thomas family. Chris Gordy is hanging out. We'll have Adam Clanton coming up at 1 o'clock, and we'll have ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up. Coming up at 1130. Phone lines open 713, 212-57-197-13, 212-5-790.

So we were talking about a little bit in the first segment about Yordon Alvarez being the DH as much as possible. Joe Espada going to do everything within his power to have Yorda on there. And Gordy, that means, I mean, you would figure Correa in his 30s, Altuve in his 30s, Christian Walker in his 30s. You want to give those guys half days, do some rotation, help with that log jam in the end field with Isok Paredes in the fold as well. But if Yordaun Alvarez is locking down that DH spot every single day and healthy, which of course is the addendum when it comes to Yoron Alvarez, if he's healthy, then that's just going to make it that much more harder to fill out the lineup and keep everybody fresh and in a rhythm. It's going to be interesting. Is that tell you this? I want to say it was either spring training last year, spring training the year before.

Joe Espato was talking to us about the Yordaun thing. And it was kind of funny. He said that he showed us like he gets messages from Yordon randomly. He'll just send him like highlights of him making catches and left field. Oh, really? And the Spott is like, okay, I get it. Yes, you've made some nice catches. But it's like, you know, it's the thing of like they've got to keep him healthy.

And so it's as much as Yordon wants to play left field every day, as much as, and I think he's actually done a decent job out there. He's not going to make the diving Jake Mariznick banging your head into the ground catch. You don't want him running into the scoreboard again. Right. But he's been pretty good at playing him off the hop. He's been pretty good of, you know, he's got speed. He can get to the ball pretty well.

And he's got a decent arm. Like, Yonan's been fine in left field when he plays. But it's just that injury history, man. You can't go another season where Yordaun only plays 50 games. Like he's got to play on 130 plus, I'd say. Yeah, it was the fewest games that he had played ever, not counting the 2020 season where, first of all, it was a shortened season,

and also he had surgery, I believe, on both of his knees. Since then, games played for Yoron Alvarez. 144, 135, 114, 14, 147, and then last year at 48 was just not where you wanted it to be. And the production wasn't there, even when he was out there. I mean, he had a couple of weeks in spurts

where he just looked like himself, but you need Yorda... If this team is going to challenge the Seattle Mariners at all, you're going to need 140 plus games of Yorda Alvarez actually being Yordaun Alvarez. Yeah, somebody I was talking to was saying, you know, all this talk of one... add a left-handed bat and wanted to add this,

want to do this, is that the most important thing for the Astros is just having Yordon Alvarez in the lineup. I think even Chandler-Rome wrote about this. All this wish list and dream it, all this, all that's fine. At the end of the day, this team to go anywhere to do whatever they're going to,

we want them to do, has to be with Yordon Alvarez in the lineup. Yeah, I mean, if you look at that lineup, like you're talking about with you get Jeremy Payne, Yorda, Arvarez, Carlos Correa, Esauk Parades, Christian Walker, Jose Al Tuvei in some capacity, maybe Cam Smith makes a leap.

It could be a very good, dangerous, lengthy lineup for the Astros. A lot of the names, of course, longer in the tooth and then their 30s and stuff like that, but there's some potential, Yanor Diaz, who just won his arbitration, who I didn't mention, and needs to have a bounce back season

at the plate as well. Yes. There's a frustrating part. There's a potential for a really good, lengthy lineup. I thought last year they should have like I even said this for the season

I thought it should have gotten more 50-50 platooning Yonair Diaz with Victor Caratini and now Victor Caratini is gone and I know they're looking for a veteran catcher out there they're still looking but the more time goes by and Dana Brown said all the right things yesterday

he's like oh we believe in Cesar Salazar and all this but like in nothing against him and he has hit you know when he's been at the big league level, but like, I need him as my third option. Like I, and now, again, like with Nove Kyrotini, you're leaning on, Yonard Dia is going to have to play even more behind the play. I just, I thought that should have been a spot. You should have went and got a good hitting catcher, backup catcher, and almost platoon

50-50 with him and Yonard Diaz. I thought Yonar Diaz catching as much as he did, the legs got tired, and the bat suffered because of it. And Setsar Salazar is out of options. right? I believe so. So that's, it was, it was great to have him as a third guy. You can option him down to AAA. If you want to carry three catchers, I'm

fine. But, it's not great. But then Salazar needs to be a good pinch hit option, you know, late in games. Like, he's got to be a bat off the bench. I just wouldn't keep, I wouldn't put a whole lot of money into the stock of the Sezar Salazar

stock. So that means what's going to happen, especially when it comes to Isok Paredes and Christian Walker. Here's what Joe Spada had to say about that yesterday. My message always been this is going to play out and let's just get to spring training and, and like go out and prepare ourselves to win, right? I don't want this to become a distraction. I think this is going to play the self out.

But right now they are, they understand where we're at and they understand that we need all of us to be together to accomplish our goal. So I want our focus just to be on that. All right, spring training and we're going to figure it out. that means like maybe let me be a trade by then I mean it's not obviously too late in the game

you can actually you have the capacity to make a trade but it continues to get later and later and later and later and later where we thought okay by now you know if you pulled me when the season ended I would have figured Jake Myers would have been moved by now if he was going to get moved

I would have figured Isak Paredes or Christian Walker would have been moved by now if they were going to get moved we're on we're on to February 4th right now it's getting kind of crazy to figure out what's going to happen and are we just going to have something going to happen in season because normally there's not a whole lot of trades happening in May and June here's the other part too I mean just for this lineup to get to where they need to go if Christian Walker can get back to some semblance of what he once was that it was second half of the season was good that would take this team a long way yeah if Jeremy

Payne it wants to have an MVP type season which you know a whole whole whole Hold on now. He's had stretches where he's looked really, really good. But, you know what I mean? Like, if he could get back to being, like, if any of these players wants to play above their head and have an awesome season, yeah. It's only going to help this team. Now, here's the problem.

Jake Myers, for his standard, had an awesome season last year. Yes, he did. The odds are he's not going to repeat that. Correct. So if his production dips, you know, Correa, he's getting long in the tooth. He's still pretty good player. But, like, does Correa start to fall into? to the Michael Brantley category of

single-sitter. Just everything's a base hit. I thought that's what sucked with this lineup down the stretch last year was that when was the pop when no Yordon in there. Like there was no pop. It was all base hit, base hit. Strikeout, pop, out fly out. You know what I mean? It was like

you couldn't get the run production. You have to wonder how sustainable it is with Jeremy Payne as well. I mean, his OPS went from 700 to 840. I mean, that is a huge leap. How much of that is an outlier? I mean, hard hit percentages went up, that's good. But his batting average balls in play went

way up. Is that sustainable? That's something that we have to wonder about if there's going to be some regression there. So if he can sustain and be where he is and even make another leap like you're talking about, that would be great. He's 27 years old, 28 now. It's not like it's going to be crazy

for somebody. That's when people are starting to hit their stride and hit their prime. But that's also somebody that I'm going to be keeping eye on. It's almost, and I feel like I said, this a million times last year to where you can kind of, you can tent the glass to see whatever color

you want to see. If you want to see Ashtros orange and blue, you can say, yeah, maybe Pena makes another leap. And Correa is great and shows well like he did. And Jose Altuve continues to drink from the fountain of youth and Yorna Alvarez is healthy and Issa Paredes is in the lineup and mashing. This could be a very, very good, formidable

lineup in the American League West. I'm always intrigued by, have you ever looked at the ESPN depth charts for teams? Sometimes, yeah. They never know. They're guessing. Normally more reliable is like fantasy websites, actually, for all these roto nerds out there. So they got Yonar Diaz-a-catcher, Christian Walker, first, Eltuvade, second, Karea, third, paying yet short. That's pretty easy, right?

No, the obvious glaring absence is Isak Paredes. They actually list Isok Paredes as the third string first baseman on this depth chart. Then your outfield, they have Zach Cole and left, Jake Myers, and center, and Haseu-Sanchez and right. So they have Zach Cole and Hes-Sanchez starting. They have Yoran Alvarez as the starting D.H. They have Cam Smith as the backup right fielder. They have Bryce Matthews as the third string center fielder. So, again, this is just a guesstimate on ESPN's part, but it's just funny to see.

If they go out there, Ross, and who they open with the Angels? I think so. Whoever is. They open at home. If Zach Cole is in left and Hazieu Sanchez isn't right, then that means both those guys had awesome. spring trainings and they are ready to set the world on fire. Well, at the very least, I mean, whoever's going to be out there, we know that they do, they have some options. That's a hundred thing too, though.

Like, one of those guys, like, what was Zach Cole, bats 310 in spring training? You know, this guy's got to start. Okay. Let's go for it. Let's do it. I'm with it. Yeah, Angels at home for a four-game set to start the season, and then it'll be the Red Sox after that.

Okay. You mentioned the outfield, and you mentioned Cam Smith. We'll get to more on that from Joe Espada, who that's a very. very interesting things to say about the reps in outfield and the split out there. We'll get to that next here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790. 1049 in the a.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Ross Vier Rea out with you. Chris Gordy with you. Matt Thomas, not with us, but that's okay.

As we continue discussing your Houston Astros. And what's going to go on and what's, what's, everything going to look like not only in spring training, but then come opening day. In terms of the infield, we've been talking about that. We've been talking about Yordon Alvarez playing a lot at the DH spot. You guys have some thoughts on that. You can get in 7-13-212-5-7-90. 7-1-3-2-5-7-90.

You can also send tweets to at SportsRV at Chris Gordi. And give you a follow on Instagram at SportsRV. I would truly appreciate that. But anyways, we were talking about the outfield. And Joe Espada, what is going on with? perhaps Cam Smith in center field. You know, we get guys like Sack Cole. Jesus Sanchez can also play left field.

We've got guys like Cam Smith. I mentioned I want to get Ken Smith an opportunity to play some center field. You know, we have Jake Myers. How can I keep all these guys healthy in the lineup that is going to be our focus there doing spring training and see how could we shape the roster with everyone can get enough, you know, everybody's getting in playing time and we can keep everyone healthy. Okay. this is all pending change and some sort of trade that could happen in the coming weeks for the Astros,

which feels like there's a lot of different candidates who could be traded and change everything. But Cam Smith in Centerfield, when I say that out loud, I mean, I guess it makes sense. It could be Jake Myers getting moved on at some point or just maybe not playing every single day. But Cam Smith, Centerfield for your Houston Astros, how does that sound? Well, it's just weird because Cam Smith is an infielder by heart. Yeah. You know, it was, he was a third, he was a third baseman.

One of the top prospects out there. Came up through the, you know, that's where he played at Florida State, right? Came up to the Cubs minor league system. And then gets the Astros and we're like, ah, damn, you know what, that's kind of a log jam here. So why don't we teach you right field? And they did that during spring training, right? They just threw him out there, only played a handful of games.

games and then opening day, they're like, you know what, you're our starting right fielder, we'll just put you out there. And he had to learn a whole new position. I just like, now it's like, you learn right field, but I can learn center field. It just, I get it's by necessity because, you know, there's, infield's positions aren't open. And so it's fine. And even Bryce Matthews told us at Fanfest. Like, he's going to take some reps in centerfield at dirtspring training.

So it's just you got a, you got no open spots here in the infield. So it's like, well, why don't we teach these guys a. position in the outfield. I'm fine with it. I mean, he's athletic enough that he can, some of those grabs he made in right field. Now, he did misplace some early on, but he made some really nice grabs up against the wall throughout the diving catches. So I think he'd be fine. And one of those things that he does, and that also you'll see, you see it more when you get to the ballpark. And I will just say in general with Jake Myers and others, when an outfielder gets a really good jump and read on a fly ball.

They do a great job of making a ball that some other outfield would be outfielder would be diving to or hustling to and they're sitting there catching it very easy, not on a dead run, but running it down, making it look easy. Cam Smith is an outfielder who does that. He has a really good ability of judging a ball off the bat and getting good jumps and as you said, speedy and all those things. those tools that he has and has shown in right field with a very big arm would play in centerfield. So getting him out there a little bit, even though the Jake Myers fan club, we don't want to hold

anybody else back, but we like our guy Jake who can cover basically left field fence to right field fence out there and run everything down. We understand Cam Smith wants to get some reps out there, but I'm worried more about about Cam Smith and what's going to happen with him at the plate. because we mentioned this, I think, yesterday on the show or maybe the day before, Cam Smith's OPS in the second half of the season, it was like $4.89 or something like that. It definitely started with a four. It was under $500, so need to get him going at the plate,

no matter where he's going to be out there in the field. Yeah, look, spring training is normally, it's a, you know, you get excited, you get hyped about three innings into the first game of spring training. I'm like, kind of, you know what, let's move on. I'm ready for the season to start. It gets boring, gets dry. This might be an exciting spring training from a standpoint of,

remember last year? Like the games when Altuve was in left, you're like, oh, I got to check this out. It was fun. I got to either listen on 790, which we will have the majority of the games. Yes, you can. Or the games of Space City Home Network carries.

But, like, this could be exciting from a standpoint of, okay, let's check out Cam Smith at Center. Let's check out Bryce Matthews and Center. Yeah, we will. And then let's see the Zach Coles on those guys. And does anybody get a red hot bat and really make it hard on Dana Brown to go, hey, I better be in the opening day lineup.

16th, 17th, and 18th of February myself and Matt Thomas. I think you're going out there too, Gordy, right? I'll be out there next week, yeah, with the first few days of pitchers and catchers reporting. So we'll get you out there, Matt Thomas and I will be out there as well. Springchering coverage, of course, we are your home for the Houston Astros. It doesn't get better anywhere else. So, I mean, it feels like there may be in years past where everything, kind of felt set. There's, everything feels up in the air

coming into this year. What I always hate about those first few days when I get there, though, it's always something like, it's always the injury thing. Like,

first day or two, there were you there, we find out, yeah, you know, Shay Wickham had a little bit of a procedure and, uh,

Hey, is he okay with playing for Korea now? And then we start with the, yeah, he should be fine for the start of, uh, no,

of the season. Yeah, we're really targeting opening day. And then it's not opening day. And then it's, those are the ones that's, Don't even say that out loud.

Those are the ones that scare me and make me nervous. Yeah, March 5th to March 17th is the World Baseball Classic. So that'll come a little bit later. So who in the Astros organization are actually playing? I believe it's Shea Wickham. Zach DeZenzo? Zach DeZenzo. Zach Zenzzo is playing for Italy.

And Jeremy Payne is playing for the Dominican Republic, I believe. As he, I mean, he grew up in America, but he was born. and his dad, of course, Geronimo, was born in Dominican, Jeremy Paine was born in the Dominican, and his dad was a major league player, ball player. So he's playing for the Dominican. I think, I don't know if,

who else outside of those three? He's playing in the WBC. Okay. No pitchers? So Matt Thomas has got a feeling that no player would play in the WBC, incorrect. Josh Hader? Josh Hater? Not America's closer? No, let him rehab.

Okay? Let him rehab. Let him rehab. Let YSukharaid his rehab as well. We don't need any of these guys out there. All right, let's go. We're worried about the Houston Astros. WBC is fun. You want to get all into it?

I mean, look, it's your choice. Jeremy Pena's young. I don't feel too bad about him going out there and doing it. Zach DeZenzo, I mean, for the opportunity to play for Italy. I think that's kind of cool. I think I read Yonner Diaz might play. Oh, is that true? Okay.

Is he Dominican Republic too? I should know this, but I'm not 100% sure. Yeah, Dominican Republic is correct. he may join Pena but yeah that's kind of it Correa and Al Tuvae will not so

all right all right we're gonna take a quick break here on you know what we have ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up coming up soon and I've been getting all this spam I'm gonna come after those people

coming up here at 1130 Chris Gordy is hanging out you guys want to get in you can phone lines open 713 2125790 is the phone number 713-21-2-5-7-90. We've been talking about Al-Astros, college football,

rockets-in-action tonight against the Celtics. James Hardin is a Cleveland Cavalier. A ton of stuff to get to on the phone lines with you and on the show with you until 2 o'clock at 7-13-212-5-7-90. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show. Hour number two of the program, beginning. Matt Thomas Show with Ross. I should say, hi, I'm the Ross part of this show. The Matt Thomas part is not here today. He is out with his daughter, Carly Thomas, signing to become a University of Rhode Island volleyball player. I guess is that going to be the headline of the news at noon coming up at noon with Jonathan Allen. It is a top sports news item of the day here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Maybe not the top, but you can put it in there. I mean, congratulations to them. Matt said he's going to get an Airbnb he's sharing with other parents out there in Rhode Island, and he's going to have me come out there and stay, and we're going to hang out and do some shows from out there. I'm pretty excited about that. I've never been to Rhode Island. I think it's been to, like, a summer or something like that.

What hell do you do out there? In Rhode Island? I don't know, ski. Lift your pinky up as you drink your tea and crumpets. Pretty fancy, I would imagine. A very affluent area in school, I believe. See, I'd be looking at... There's casinos.

Wow. If I'm in Rhode Island, I'd be like, what's nearby I could drive to? I think it's close to Boston. It's close to Providence. I think they're, I think it's not far from, I think, Connecticut. Oh, okay. You know what you should do?

What should I do? Foxborough is not a far drive from there. Okay. I can go hang out with Bill Belichick and Robert Kraut because they're not going to be at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Because we were there last summer. You know, we spent time in the Cape. Oh, in the Cape. Oh, in the Cape.

Oh, you are fancy. You weren't in Chappaquittic, were you? may have buried a body out there. Okay. But we drove out to Foxborough and checked out Gillette and all that. And I was talking to the people that worked there because they have like the Patriots Hall of Fame and all. And a guy was saying the unique, like we live down here and it's like, you know, four hours up to Dallas, not a bad drive. Yeah.

Over to Austin, what, three hours, four hours, whatever. You can get over there. Up there, it's like, no, it's an hour or less to go everywhere you want to go. So basically like he said they have as many season taking hold. for Patriots games in Boston as they do in Providence, Rhode Island. It's the same distance. Wow. So it's kind of interest. That's why they're the New England

Patriots, because basically people live in all those different states drive in to go to Patriots. You can ride a train everywhere, too, right? Can't you get your aim track anywhere? Then people take a boat. Like, people that live on the Cape, take them... Oh my honey, oh my gosh, we're going to be on the Cape

and we're going to take the boat to the Patriots game this weekend. If he'd like to come by, it's going to be a smashing time. Yeah, you like take a boat across Cape Cod Bay, and then... hop on a shuttle bus. Oh, indubitably. We'll stop by Tiffany and Co. and get you a new necklace.

Head over to Worcester, if you want. Hey, Worcester? Hey, get over to the Dorchester? You know Bill O'Brien grew up over there? Well, Boston College is in that area, right? Yeah, Boston College. That's where he's coach. Yeah, that's where I see Bill O'Brien out there,

having a few pops. And he's yelling, you suck too. Hey, you suck too, Bill O'Brien. Yeah. We actually, we went up to Salem. We did the whole witch thing. Oh, you did? That was cool.

How was that? They didn't toss you off a cliff, did they? No. Okay, that's good. But it is very commercialized. Like, they have fully capitalized off the witch thing up there. I imagined. They call you, well, what's, Goody is the women.

What are the men called? Proctor? Yeah, good. Well, I think it was Goody Proctor was the woman in the thing. Goody Proctor. We had to watch the Crucible in school back in the day. Arthur Miller? Yeah, Arthur Miller, of course.

Dick Daniel DeLewis is there. Calling everybody a whore. You're a whore and your mother was a whore and your sister's a whore. You said Daniel Day-Lewis? I think, wasn't he in there? I drink your milkshake. No, it wasn't that. He wasn't being Daniel Plainview in there.

The greatest actor of all time. I've abandoned my son. I've abandoned my child. What a great film, by the way. All right, but I digress. Oh, so University of Rhode Island's way down there. Like, you're almost too. I mean, you're basically in the Atlantic Ocean.

It's in Kingston. Yeah, it's not too far off the river. Oh, wow, look at that. So you're so close to the water. I mean, you could take a boat right over to Montauk and Long Island. Montauk? Isn't there a beer? Wait a minute, we can get to New York.

It's not too bad. The Hamptons aren't far away either. Oh, really? Yeah, they're going to kick me right out of the Hamptons. I don't think I'm going to be a lot in there. Somebody told me, somebody caught a picture recently of Matt Lauer. Remember how he got canceled? and he's basically blacklisted.

Apparently he just lives in the Hampton. What did Matt Lauer do? You remember that? No, I don't. Well, Google it. I stay out of the news. I swear to you. This is like a decade ago.

Oh, really? Okay, hold on, hold on. He and Kevin Spacey, you know. Matt Lauer transgressions. Let me see what this pulls up. Anyway, he was spotted out there. He just lives in the Hamptons and... He was fired in 2017.

Inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. Come on, Matt. Come on, man. He was like the face of the Today Show for a while. Oh, was this, uh, he was a, he was a, he was a, he was a, he was a, he was a, he was a, he was a something he had a button under his desk. Excuse me? Lock the door or something. I don't know.

Uh, Matt Lauer, that ain't right. Hmm. Okay. So now he's hanging out in the Hamptons. How could you afford that? Well, he's retired. I mean, he's, he's like just living in silence. Man, retire in the Hamptons.

He must have made some nice cash. Well, not retired, but like, forcibly retired. Okay. He did make very nice cash. Uh, uh, I'm. I'm looking to retire in like a Lumberton. This show takes so many twists and turns. I'm sorry.

That's how we do. This is your fault, by the way. You started bringing up Matt Lauer and Daniel Day Lewis. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 7. 90. We have the news at noon coming up at, you guessed it, noon 1130. Ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up. Chris Cordy has been hanging out.

We've been talking about a number of different things. You know what? Let's talk about it real quick. it was the actual big news of the day. James Hardin traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Can you help me out? Why did the Clippers do this?

I mean, Darius Garland is good and younger than James Harden. When he's healthy, that's a really, really good point. And they get a second round pick. And Darius Garland had apparently talked about wanting to be his own man and get away from Donovan Mitchell and all this other stuff.

So explain this to me, I guess it makes sense actually why the Clippers did it. Why did the Cleveland Cavaliers do this? what I'm trying to figure out. I think they're looking at it as we have a championship aspirations and if we can get another stud player who can fill it up and get his, create his own shot. I mean, that is with Jared Allen, Evan Mobley, James Hardin, that's a pretty damn good for some. Yeah, if you're James Hardin, I understand because this, this is what James Hardin said according to Romano Shelburne. In Cleveland, I see an opportunity to

win in the east. They got a very good team, coaching staff, all the above. So as much as I wanted to stay in L.A. and give it a go, which by the way, they'd won 16 in the last 20 games. I've never won one before. As a basketball mind, I think we have a bit better chance at it Hardin. I mean, look, we want to crush James Hardin and talk about him moving from team to team and how he's cancer and he's the worst. He's dead right. Does he have, is he going to win the NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers? Probably not. But does he have to be a lot? But does he have a have a better chance than being the nine seed with the clippers where you have to win the play in and then you get an opportunity to get your ass want by the san antonio spurs or most likely the

Oklahoma city thunder you ain't coming out of the west there's no chance so honestly i know everybody wants to crush james hardin i'm not going to do that what he's saying is makes sense the cabs are the five seed in the east right now they're tied with the raptors that team is better than the raptors so you know they're two and a half games from the two seed with the nicks they won eight of their last 10. Yeah, they're, I mean, they should be able to jump the Raptors and Celtics. At worst, be the 3C behind Detroit and the Knicks.

Damn, Detroit's really having a great year. I didn't notice that. Dude, Detroit is crushing it. They are probably going to win the East. Remember you could have Kate Cunningham and said you got Jalen Green? That's, okay. Remember you could have Victor Womenyama. Look, we love a men Thompson here in Houston, but you got him in Thompson.

Yeah. Mid Thompson's good. I mean borderline all-star first team all defense we like them in is a great pick Apollo as well The interesting part Have you seen what James Hardin's averaging this year I know he's averaging 25 points per game

He's shooting 34% from three and he's getting to the line Like 10 plus games 25 points a game is his best in his career Sits his MVP here in Houston Yeah but his shooting numbers aren't good What is he shooting like 42% But look at his last seven years in the league It's basically what he's been averaging

around 41, 42%. Yeah, I mean, in his prime, he was a 44, 45% guy, but the numbers were good because he's 3.1 assists. Yeah, he's a ball. He's still a great distributor. Everybody wants to know, ball hog. Ball hog. The guy's average close to 10 assists in his career.

You know, does he have one of the more complicated legacies of the superstar players of this last 20 years? Because he was such a polarizing figure, even at his prime. Now, we hear and he's, Houston, no. Now, first of all, there were people here in Houston that hated him. So he was even polarizing in his own town. You can't win with James Hardin, man. He sucks. He dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, and Charles Barkley making that a big meme, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, but, I mean, as far as a one-man weapon, James Hardin was incredible. The dude was dropping 60-point triple-double doubles, and then you had national basketball punits being like, eh, I'm not a big deal.

Eh, whatever. 60-point dribble double. Make, make me up when he wins a chance. He was on an insane run, the unguardable tour where he was averaging 35 points per game. And people were acting like it wasn't a big deal. I mean, go back and look what he did in those years and those numbers. They are eye-popping, especially for that era when it was kind of coming into more of the pace and space era is fully here. But it was also, that was like the, it was more grinded out basketball than it is these days. not to the extent of course that it was like the 1990s. I'm not trying to say that or the 1980s or whatever.

Well, 80s was more showtime. There was a lot of pace. But it got really slow late 1990s and then early 2000s. And then they had to loosen up some of the rules to actually get some points scored to where the San Antonio Spurs were winning championships. And everybody wanted to claw their eyes out because every game was ending up 76 to 72. So, yeah, it is a slightly different era of basketball than it was now. and James Harden was putting up crazy numbers in that era.

Okay, so let's pivot. Do the Rockets make a move before tomorrow's deadline? I don't think so. In a perfect world, you would get maybe a Kobe White and or a backup big. I don't know, Andre Drummond or any of those other names that are being floated out there, but you have so little wiggle room up against the cap. I don't expect them to do that. There was some report that the Rockets were,

did inquire about Kobe White with Chicago and see I don't know on him he's he's is he a true point guard he's averaging 18 points and 4.7 assists not great not a true point guard

but anyway it's a good you need guard help yeah but the rumor was the first thing that they were asking for was Jpari Smith and the rockets were kind of like yeah we're good Jabari Smith Jr. I know the fans hate on him all the time when he goes one for 10 on three, and I understand we're box score watchers and we're not ball watchers.

But dude, watch what he does on defense. Watch him guarding one through five and getting blocked shots and contesting shots and covering up a lot of stuff on this rocket defense. Jabari Smith Jr. does a lot. And oh, by the way, Emilio Doka likes what he provides. The other one that came out was they were interested in Tari Aeson. Now, Tari Aeson, as we know, will be, what, a restricted free agent after the this season. We know the Rockets like him. Would you be willing to take, if you

can get a Kobe White, are you willing to lose a half a season of Tar Heeson? Tari Esen, there are people talking about him being untouchable. See, this is why I don't think the moves are going to be made for the Rockets. They like the pieces. If you could just wave a magic wand and have Fred Van Vinds

lead and Stephen Adams on this team, I'm putting them comfortably number two in the West with a shot to topple the thunder. The thunder would be favorites in any seven game series. Spurs we could talk about as well. Nuggets very interesting also. But Rockets right in that mix. They're the number four seed, one game and a half behind the Spurs with what I just mentioned. Man, that sucks. Yeah. I don't know. Or do you put, not necessarily punt on this year, but you say, hey, you know what? We're going to reconfigure

next year and really go all in and push all of our chips on with possibly Kevin Durant's last real gasp as a player who's as close to his prime. I mean, he's further from his prime. He's still great. He's still a deserving All-Star. I think what you do is drag your feet

on the trade deadline and wait to see if there's any potential veteran buyouts. And you get a veteran center and potentially a point card that gets waived. Yeah. You know, something like that. I think it'll be the buyout market.

But even then you don't have a whole lot of room to pay vet minimum. So you've got to make some kind of trade. It can be Jeff Green. You've got to trade away to shed some salary. You've got to shed some salary. I think you'll see a small move. Jay Sean Tate, Jeff Green, somebody like that.

We've been seeing Jay Sean Tate a little bit more. Do you think that means kind of a trade deadline showcase? Look, let's move off from him. Yeah, I guess what I'm saying. He's been hanging around. You just need a couple million dollars of wiggle room to get into the buyout market. So you know what? I'll back off my gut feeling that there was going to be no trade made.

It's going to be a small. Dorian Finney Smith's been the one that's been popping. Oh, you need him to play better, too. I mean, he hasn't been given you much, and he's been on a minute's restriction. He's been hurt on a minute restriction and not playing well. Other than that, great season for Dorian Finney Smith. If you can make it work, though,

you flip Dorian Finney Smith and a draft pick for Kobe White. You do that? I guess. Yeah, I guess. All right, we're going to take a break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Chris Gorey's ducking out so you guys can get in if you'd like. Phone lines open. James Hardin Legacy.

We're talking about Astros, Infield, Outfield, and D.H. Spot. We're talking about Rockets Trade Deadline. What do you want to see as it is tomorrow? We can talk about and anything else you folks want to get in on 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Ain't nobody got time for that slash shut Joe bum-ass up coming up at 1130 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 11.20. In the PM here on, wait, what?

In the AM, PM would be weird. In the AM here on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas show with Ross continues. Without Matt Thomas, without Chris Gordy, it's just me. And why Jonathan Allen's hanging out here too? He'll bring us the news at noon coming up at noon. Also coming up at about 10 minutes you will have, ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up on the program.

and Adam Clanton will be joining me coming up at 1 o'clock. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm a little under the weather. And I don't know if it's allergies with this cold front or what the heck's going on. But you guys want to get in, help out for a couple minutes. I would appreciate it. 713-7190 is the phone number 7-13-213-2-1-2-5-790. So we were talking about the James Hardin trade in the last segment to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

so he was traded to the Rockets traded to the Nets traded to the Sixers traded to the Clippers and now traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers right? All those were trades Is that five trades? That's easily got to be a record for a Hall of Famer

and he's going to the Basketball Hall of Fame First of all the rules are real lax in the basketball hall of of Fame, just about everybody gets in. I mean, it's just for whatever reason, especially over the last several years. I mean, I don't think Trace McGrady played long enough to get in. There's a number of other guys that we can talk about that I felt like shouldn't have been into the basketball Hall of Fame and got in there.

No, was it a free agent contract that he signed with the 76ers? That's what I'm trying to look at. He was traded by the Sixers, but it might have been a free agent's contract who signed with the Sixers. All right, either way. It's been four or five trades for James Hardin, which certainly has to be a record for a Hall of Fame player. I know that, I mean, Kareem Abduljibbar got traded.

That was in the prime of this career. Shack got traded. We can point a guys that got traded, but as many times as James Hardin did, I don't think so. And this is for somebody who two times led the entire NBA in assists, three times

led the entire NBA in scoring, won an MVP in 2018, when the Rockets won 65 games, and should have won the NBA championship, if not for Chris Paul's hamstring falling apart into a thousand pieces in the Western Conference finals, which they went on to lose to the 2018 Warriors with Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, thought of as arguably the greatest team of all time. They could have beaten the greatest team of all time. And they didn't do it, unfortunately.

So James Hardin was championship caliber in his prime around 27, 28, 29, three-time scoring champion. But I just wonder where does he go down and where does he fit in in terms of all-time greatness? The blights on his resume. Of course, the defense is number one, which wasn't as bad as people tried to make it out to be in his Prime, YouTube videos and stuff like that. Effort was not there all the time, for sure. But he was a very good post defender, and Rockets like to play a switching defense, and the reason it worked was because James Hardin was do a good job of locking down on

the post. He was just very, very strong down low, and a barrel-chested and strong, and maybe in another life could have been like a six-foot-five short center, a la, I don't know, Chuck Hayes or what Charles Barkley was as a power forward. but he also just had some pretty good quicks, a pretty good first step. Very good stop and start. That's why the step back three came into Vogue in a large part. He didn't invent the move, but came into Vogue in a large part because of James Hardin.

What he did, change the game, isolation basketball, what he did, I mean, he was just an insane threat. When he went on that unguardable tour, averaging 36 points per game, and, oh, by the way, also averaging seven and a half assists per game. in those days. It was insane. Five turnovers a game too. But he had his time where he was one of the most dominant players

in basketball but very polarizing, traded a bunch and never won a championship. So all those things are going to hold back his long-term legacy and who he is and how he's viewed as history goes down. But just an interesting case.

Because at 36 years old, He's averaging 25 points and 8 assists a game. He's having a good year. He was third team all-NBA last year, was an all-star as well. But before that, he hadn't made an all-star in a couple of years, and he hadn't finished top five in the MVP since 2019-2020. Just an interesting weird case here for James Harden,

and part of it that he played here in Houston. And we know this, and I don't like to be a guy who's whining and complaining and crying about Houston. And we never get a fair shake from ESPN. And national media hates us. I don't think the national media hates us. But they also are going to back their guys when you play in bigger markets. And people are going to be thought of in different lights.

James Hardin would absolutely be thought of a different light if he played in New York or Los Angeles instead of Houston. But he just was a dynamic all-time. great player, going to be a Hall of Famer. Falling short of, you know, the inner circle behind the Velvet Rope top 15. He's not a Kevin Durant. He's not a Seth Curry. He's not a LeBron James as far as his contemporaries. One-time MVP, what, 10 to 12-time All-Star, something like that.

So he's going to get in the Hall of Fame. And we'll see what happens this year with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but I don't expect them to win the championship. Yeah, 11-time All-Star. James Harden. five-time first-team All-N-B-A and an MVP. Gil, in H-Town real quick here ahead of a break. What's up, Gil?

What's going on, guys? Yep. So, yes, sir. You hear me? Yeah, go ahead. Here in Houston, he was real known for his strip joint activity. I think the girls think he's an all-star, too. Yeah, I mean, you know what?

That's an added part of his legacy. think of all the young ladies that he put through nursing school. Through college, yeah. He's a philanthropist. A great one. The story around here is he spent a million dollars in one day. I don't know if that's true or not. Yeah, very giving.

Okay. Other than that, during the headlights when he's on his own, when Chris Paul went out, God, oh, my, he looked terrible. Well, he didn't make Trevor, what did Trevor Reese go? Was he like one for 13 from 3 or something like that game? Well, they went 0 for 27. And Darrell Mori sent that video of all the fouls. We want NBA, look at all these fouls you didn't call in the game.

Get all mad to everybody. They didn't help. Yeah, we might not have won the championship that year because the Codice was pretty doggone good. No, they would have beat them. I think they would have beat him. You'll never tell me that they wouldn't have beat them. They were up. They were up three to two in that series.

they could have won game six and I think they would have won game seven as well with Chris Paul. Now, of course, Golden State is the greatest team of all time. They could have came back and won two games. I can't really tell you for 100% Gil. I'm going to say. Up 3-2 also, but we still lost. Why are you going to bring that up, Gil? Now I'm going to hang up on you.

All right. No, I'm just kidding. Go ahead. No, that's it. That's all I want to say. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Yeah, there's no 100% guarantee. But the odds favor, the rock. either A, getting it done, because all the games were close, and you're going up against the greatest team of all time. A, they might have lost in game six, but I think they would have been favored in game seven and won, and they would have trounce that heat team than made the finals in 2018. Didn't the Warriors sweep them, or they won in five that year?

I can't remember. So it doesn't matter, unfortunately. And there is an alternate universe where the rockets are 2018 in, NBA champions. And James Hardin's legacy viewed slightly differently than it is now. But try to do it as much as he is. It's just, they're very unique in NBA history, the story of James Hardin. All right, quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

You guys got something you want to get off your chest. You have something that has been bothering you. Someone that's making you mad. Someone you don't like. Is it a coworker? somebody cutting you off in traffic, anything you want to unload on. You can. I, uh, not, hold on I.

I just don't get it. That is tomorrow. Ain't nobody got time for that slash, shut your bum ass up. 713, 212, 5790. 713, 212 5790. You spammers and scammers, I'm coming after you next here on 8. Nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up on the Matt Thomas show with Ross at 713, 2.12.

790. Ain't nobody getting time. Ain't nobody getting time for that. Ain't nobody getting time for that? All right. It's that time of the week where you can get something off your chest. There's somebody at work

which you run into in the hallways all the time and you want to turn around and go the other way because they're going to chit-chat your ear off. And you don't want to talk to them. And yeah, you don't care about what kind of medication their cats on and always trying to hear about that. Ain't nobody got time for that. Ain't nobody got time for that.

And in the meantime, shut your bum ass up. Shut your bum ass up, man. Whether it be in the sports world or in your day-to-day life, 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Now, I guess I can't ask you for perspective on this, Jonathan Allen. I need to talk somebody a little bit older,

but is it just me, or is it? Is this scamming stuff getting worse and worse and worse? Who are these people who are falling for these scams? I don't want to get mad at the scammers as much because if they're doing this and they're texting and tweeting and calling and stuff like that, that means people are falling for these scams. Nobody scams for their entire life and not get successful at one single scam. I'm always getting these texts and calls from scam numbers and then these people are reaching out to me. I am not a homeowner.

My mother and my father are homeowners. I always get messages asking if I'm my father or my mother, if I want to sell the house, if I want a new roof, if I need pipes fitting, if I need plumbing. No, how did my phone number get on this list to where I'm constantly getting called and texted about a new roof for a house that I don't own? Ain't nobody got time for that. And you got to think about it. This is probably the golden age for scamming, too.

I mean, I'm not going to out nobody I know. But you, Gen Z, we take advantage of people like, Matt Thomas' perfect example. We're getting half. He doesn't know how to do double authentication. So like, you know what they're going to do is going to be like, I want some money. Okay. Let's do this. Oh, let me get a fake phone, voice line.

Get my Twitter hat. And let me get your bank account. And, you know, oh, I'll got you. You know, I'll lay off this little Amazon thing that's going on. on to do a fake email and I got $3,000. Yeah, don't click the links, Matt. Come on, man. He's gotten his Twitter hack three different times, by the way.

You know what? It's on me. It's on me. I haven't set up the two-factor authentication on his phone yet. I need to settle up a Google authenticator for him. But yeah, man, obviously it's working and people are falling for it. But it's so frustrating that I'm always getting these. calls and texts for my mother.

I love my mother. She's the greatest mom in the world. Her name is Karen. I always get these texts. Hey, Karen. Hey, are you looking to sell your home? Hey, Karen. You want a new roof?

Hey, Karen, you want to... My name's not Karen. Stop calling me. I don't want to talk to you. You ever get those fake random job texts? They send you... Oh, yeah. They put you in a whole group chat,

ask for information, and try to send you to the link so they get everything else on your life. Those are the worst ones. Especially, look, if you want... If you want to try to scam an old lady out of her cash for a... I'm not calling you old mom. You're great. You're young.

You're beautiful. I'm talking about somebody else. You know what I'm saying? Old person in general out of their money. And that's kind of, you know, what? Old people getting scammed for a long time. But you're taking advantage. Okay, that's not okay either.

I'm not saying it's okay. But you're also taking advantage in this economy of people who are struggling. If I'm responding to that text, Jonathan, I've got no job. I've got no money. I've got no legacy. I'm a desperate. human being. Like, you're taking advantage of desperate people and taking their money and trying to sign

them up for these fake jobs and taking $30 for job applications. And you had this story last week. There's a guy posing as a Maryland coach and posing as a Michigan State coach. And he's contacting recruits. And he's charging them like $30 application. fees so they can look at their tape or whatever. Like you're some 17, 18 year old kid, and it's your dream to play Division I football. First of all, it ain't nobody's dream to play for the Maryland Terrapins.

I'm sorry. Okay. So if you're sending $30 to some guy who's signing up to play for the Maryland Terrapins and you're trying to scam him for $30, get a life. I mean, you're an embarrassing piece of garbage human being. And then you've got to think about it as well, too. And I know we've got some older people listening.

They, and this just happens too. They'll do that or they get your information. You say, you're like, oh, you find out to scam too late, they'll already have your IP address. They'll start sending you pictures of dead bodies and all this other stuff. So I get you. This is a really good point, good topic. This scam culture is out of control.

Ain't nobody got time for y'all. All right. What do you got, Jonathan? We got to talk about the elephant in the room. Oh. The Pro Bowl, dude. Oh, you know what? I was going to ask Gordy when he was here earlier. Did you even watch the Pro Bowl or know that the Pro Bowl happened?

I think he's coming over there. Okay. Like, dude, I didn't know it was on. I think we were watching Love Island. I go, oh, the Pro Bowl's on. Love Island? Dude, I'm looking at this. I'm like, there's no one talking about it.

This wasn't even a, there's no advertisement. There's no hype about it. There's no games. like there used to be, there's nothing there. I don't, I just, there's, ain't nobody got time for this, dude. Like, you might as well just give an award out and just say, oh, you know, all right, you got a little bad.

You get pro pro-bo selection. Yeah, it should be, like, when you get to the name to the all-pro, there's no all-pro game. So you could just be named. And you know what else? Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, that would be a good idea. Because you know what pisses me off.

It doesn't piss me. When people, when it comes to the, to Hall of Fame cases, and people are like, Eli Manning's got to be in the Hall of Fame. fame, he's a four-time pro-baller. He was only selected to the pro-bowl twice. Okay? And he led

the NFL in interceptions three times. Okay? If you let the NFL interceptions more times than you got named to the pro ball, you're not a Hall of Famer. I'm sorry. But like, so like, you, we got to make the distinction between pro-ball

selections and pro-bow appearances. And this would help. If there was no game, nobody has to back out of the game. And then you had 55 people being named Justin Fields Jonathan Justin Fields turned down the Pro Bowl I don't get to that point because I do I love Chador man you know you know big fan but dude

he's not a pro bowler where is this he started like five games this shouldn't be a replacement if the dude can't play the Pro Bowl select okay I'm pro bowler Justin Fields and he like if Justin Fields is turning you down and I was just so disappointed because I remember back in like I was 10 you know Oh, Pro Bowl. You got all these games going on. You got Peyton Manning.

Everybody, you know, doing this. Like, oh, you're like, oh, I want to see them in action. Like, yeah. Compete against each other. I don't get mad about the game where to pair people like, oh, man, I wish they played real football. No, I don't need guys tearing their ACLs and getting concussions in a game that doesn't matter after the season. After the most physically grueling season in terms of, like, massive injuries that you can have. Yeah, because they're on vacation.

You can argue, I don't know, baseball because it's six months. It's 162 games. You could argue basketball because they got the back-to-backs and all that stuff. But as far as physically and injurious games that you can play, major American American sports, it's the NFL. Not even close. Well, they did dodgeball a couple years back. That was even fun, too.

Yeah. There was no Dodgers ball this year? I don't know. I just, I turned that on. I saw Dak Press got through a legal four pass. I was like, what's going on, man? It's just a joke. And I just, I don't know.

I felt there could be something else to elevate. other than just put something on and let everybody just watch it you know it just it feels lame put it short like that yeah it's just insane ain't anybody got time for the pro bowl and it's just become a joke and i understand because as i said it's it's physical and all that stuff i'll be interested to see the NBA all-star game with the guys you do you know that's going to be like at one one team it's going to be kd and i i think lebron james and step kerry like all the old heads are playing together for like one last ride. So maybe it'll be interesting and the guys will play hard.

And then I actually do want to try to tune it. That'll be good. That's, yeah. Wimby said he's going to play hard. So we'll see. I also don't want guys getting hurt, but it's also generally, in general,

less major injury, fewer major injuries you're going to have in an NBA game than the NFL. So we'll see what goes on there. All right. We're going to take quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Without Matt Thomas. He is out because his, daughter is signing to be a collegiate athlete in volleyball at the University of Rhode Island.

Go ahead and check. You know what? Follow Matt Thomas's Instagram. This has got to be maybe one of the proudest days of his life outside of the fact of his three children being born. His daughter Carly is signing to be a volleyball player. Oh, there's Matt up on the stands. Yeah, go check out his Instagram at SportsMT. You can also follow me at SportsRV.

So he is out because it's National Signing Day for Humble ISD. You guys can get in. 713, 212, 5, 790. Anything you ain't got time for? Or you want to tell somebody to shut their bum ass up. Phone number, 713, 212, 5, 790. 713-212-5-790. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Dot Matt Thomas. Mentioned he is out. Let me go ahead and retweet this. this picture for Matt Thomas This is so cute Look I make fun of Matt Thomas a lot But he He loves his family

He's a great father to his children And he is very very proud Of his young daughter Carly Who is going to the University of Rhode Island To play volleyball And there you go Retweeted the picture So Matt is out

He'll be back Tomorrow rockets in action tonight As he will be on the call For that against the Boston Celtics and then tomorrow against the Charlotte Hornets. That should be fun. We'll have E.M.A. Adoka coming up later on this week.

It'll be either Thursday or Friday, still waiting to hear back on that. And we also have something on the works in terms of an NFL Hall of Famer later in the week here on Sports Talk 790 as well. And Matt was kind enough to forward me an email from Wayne, from an AOL email. So I'm sure Wayne is a very nice young.

man, let's just put it that way. Hey there, Matt, since I can't call, I need to tell Ross to shut his bum ass up with all this James Hardin jock writing. Ain't nobody got time for that. He was a choker here, and there's a reason he's called the scam god. Who calls him the scam god?

And all he did was look for ways to manipulate the refs and the season. No Harden love here. As I said, James Harden, not even universally beloved in his own city, He represented more than any other in his NBA career. But he's an 11-time All-Star and an MVP.

So if you want to bear your head in the sand and think he's not going to the Hall of Fame or he wasn't great while he was here, you shut your bum ass up. And you can call in. I'm right here. You can also email me, Ross at Sports790.com. If you want to send me an email, always available. And we can chop it up at SportsRV on Twitter or wherever else you want to talk. but tell me I need to shut my bum ass up for saying James Hardin's going to the Hall of Fame or an all-time great.

I don't know what I said that was completely out of pocket. They would have won the championship in 2018 if James Hardin was healthy. They would have against the greatest team of all time. They ran up against a Warriors dynasty. James Harden had some really bad playoff performances and he has an interesting legacy because of the lack of defense, big time, I mean, crazy playoff performances that were just, I mean, unconscionable. bad, like that 2017 game, or was it 16, or against the San Antonio Spurs, where he went like one of 11 from the field? Just an interesting legacy.

If you're saying, I think he's like better than Kim Ilajon or something. I don't know what I said. But anyways, I digress. Let's go to the phone lines with Jason and Katie holding longest on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. What's up, Jason? Hey, guys. Yeah, I remember watching the Pro Bowl and the 6th.

70s and 80s, and it was actually a good game. But the main reason for that, if you think about it, the winning share was like $15,000 per player. That was more than a lot of those guys got from the regular game check. So they had incentive to go out there and win. Losing share was 10,000. You got a free trip to Hawaii. I'm sure the wife's like that.

I mean, there was reasons for people to go out and play a real game back then. And there's just not that reason. I mean, I don't think they could pay a winning share enough to make it worth for any of these good guys out there to play like that today. Yeah, I don't think it would be worth it. I mean, you could offer them a million each, but then that's going to cost you what, like $40 million? What sponsor or league or whatever is going to try to shell that money out? And even then, it would be difficult. So, yeah, the money prizes kind of makes sense in, like, basketball, where it's obviously smaller, but I just don't see a reason.

And you're also, again, you're having guys risk injuries. I mean, and this is the most violent collision sport in major American sports. So why would a guy go out there and try to rip his ACL or tear an Achilles or, you know, get rack up more concussions just for a game that really doesn't matter? Yeah, I agree with you. I don't blame any of them for not going if it was a real game. Even in touch, you can get injured, but I really don't think most of the guys are interested in playing touch football. You know, I got you.

Two-hand touch, that'd be great. Why don't they play two-hand touch in the concrete like we did back in the day? You know what? I might be like, yeah. You ever hide behind the car and then spring out and try to catch a pass from behind the car, Jonathan? You probably pulled that move. Seems like something you'd try. It was the mailbox.

Yeah, okay. Oh, man, you were skinny back in the day. You're hiding behind the little mailboxes? You ever seen those brick ones? Oh, okay, the big brick one I got you. From behind the mailbox, John is streaky now. the field. Yeah, good times. Two-hand touch. And back in my day, Jonathan,

at our apartment complex, we would just go out to the parking lot every night. And whoever was there, we'd figure out what game we're going to play. We're going to play baseball. We're going to play football. This is what you did. That's what we did. That's what we can relate to. Oh, the kids were doing that these days too? That's nice.

Gen Z, but everybody else after us is. I thought we all needed to, we needed y'all to touch grass. You all are touching grass? That's good. No, no, no, no, not anymore. Okay. All right. Let's get Will and Memorial real quick here on Sports Talk 790. What's up, Will? Hey, Ross. How you doing? Doing great, man. What's up? So I'm listening to all of the noise about the trades and for the rocks and all that. Everybody's just on the Porn Guard bandwagon, porn guard bandwagon. And I've got to figure about that.

Man, to me, the perfect fit for this team would be Christmas porzingas. I mean, this guy would fit this team like nobody's business. guys almost seven foot tall he can shoot the ball and he will play defense and he will rebound. I think he's hurt is Christop's even playing? Yeah, he's hurting

coming back. He should be back next week I believe when a last Atlanta game I saw and the other thing I would like to see him get is a shooting two. I just don't see the neat great need for a point guard. I'm sorry.

But you give me a shooting two and Porzegas if I'm happy. Yeah, Porzengis, I guess, is an interesting name, Will, but he's making $30 million this year. You have to match the salaries. You have to give the Atlanta

Hawks something they would want. The Rockets would have to give away that much salary, if not more, because they are, they're coming up against a hard cap in the, as far as their salaries. Okay, do you like to, you'd like to deal with about Drummond?

Drummond could happen, I guess. Oof. He's been knocking down threes the last couple years. I like I like Christop's Porzingis. I like Andre Drummond, where Christop's Porzingis, he's hurt all the time. And, you know, Matt and I always argue about injury prone and injury history. Like when you're 7 foot 3 plus, which he is, or no, he's solicited at 7-2, yeah, I mean, you've got like bone structure issues where he's basically hurt every year.

So I don't know about that. I don't know what kind of injury he has. Let's see. He is still, oh, he's been out with an illness. But he was hurt earlier in the year. He's only played 17 games all year long. The Hawks are trying to tank. So that would make kind of sense.

and then I don't know if Andre Drummond is going to get me super excited either but I mean look at something they need backup big and kind of a ball handler where it's a shooting two guard like you're talking about anybody that can handle a ball somebody can help them as far as initiating offense which they can do some with Amin Thompson with Kevin Durant with Alperin Shingoon but none of those guys are true point guards so ball handling and back up big would be on the wish list but I just don't know if it's going to happen with the rockets

the way their cap situation is All right, man. Appreciate it. All right, thank you. Appreciate you, Will. All right. 713, 2125-790 is the phone number. 713-212-5-7-90.

Joan tweeting in Hardin Hall of Fame and poor playoffs. See Bagwell and Biggio playoffs. That guy is delusional. Yeah, look, if you still hate James Hardin, I mean, that's, I mean, good for you. But three-time scoring champ, two-time assist champ, 11 time All-Star, five-time first-team all-N-B-A

and an MVP. All-time great. Sorry. Argue with your mama. All right. 7-13-21-2-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90. Hour number two is in the books at The Bad Thomas Show with Ross. Our number three is coming up. We'll have Adam Clanton coming up in the next hour.

But when do we come back, all the top sports news items of the day, we call it the news at noon. That is coming your way next. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 12.03 p.m. here on Sports Talk 7.9. The Matt Thomas' Matt Thomas, Adam Clinton, joining coming up at 1 o'clock. We've been having some fun. Gordy hung out for a little bit, thanks to him. Talking some college football, talking some Astros' lineup construction, talking some NBA trade deadline. Can do us see you on hold. We'll get to you in just moments.

but right now we have to get all the top sports news items of the day. It's a segment we call The News at Noon with Jonathan Allen. What's going on, guys? All right, let's get started. You've heard all day. Clippers trade James Harden to Cleveland Cavaliers for Darrys Garland and a future second round pick. It's not really surprising because James Hardin on the topic. But I guess no one was really expecting that.

But, I mean, what do you think about that, Ross? It was a little surprising. but then the Darius Garland, James Harden stuff kind of came together. Darius Garland, two-time All-Star. So I get why the Clippers are doing it. They get a second round pick. Not bad trade it all.

As well. He's under contract for big money, not only this year, but for two more years is Darius Garland. James Hardin, is he going to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Promise Land? I don't know about that,

but he also made some public comments with Ramona Shelburne saying that he wants to win a championship. That ain't happening in the West. He knows that. Because that's one thing. People were crushing James Hardin. And I know I'm defending James Hardin and people are going to get mad at me. James Hardin is the worst.

James Hardin. Show me on the doll where James Hardin touched you. Like, relax, okay? You're going to be fine. James Hardin, I understand, hated by many in this town. But he's right. He's right. He's not winning in the country.

the West? Yeah, they won 16 out of 20 games, and the Clippers are like, how could you abandon the Clippers? Well, because they're ninth in the West, and they have no shot of getting out the West? You joined Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen, who just went off for 40 and like 15, and that you have a better shot in the East. He does. He wants to win a championship. So if you're one of those guys like, man, he doesn't have any rings, he's not a winner. He's not a champion. He's got no rings, no rings, rings, rings, rings, rings, rings, rings. when he chases a ring, when we create this ring culture, and then people go out and chase rings, we cannot be surprised, Jonathan.

I hear you. I hear you. When we base everything in sports discourse on rings and somebody goes and tries to win that ring, you can't crush them. I'm sorry, you can't have it both ways. Go ahead. I agree. It's okay, but let's go to the local nine here because we've got some good Astros news coming

here. If you haven't heard yesterday, Isacca Pradesh avoided opportunity. Sorry for going so fast for $9.35 million. And today, Yonard Diaz as well got signed for $4.5 million. Keeping these guys intact, I don't know if they're going to be trade value or whatnot. But it's very important to keep these guys in here. Isak Paredes will be interesting as far as a trade candidate. And it is interesting that the Astros lost their arbitration hearing to Yainer Diaz.

I mean, 4.5 million and 3 million is a pretty big difference. So that's pretty crazy. And the Astros lose the hearing, famously winning the hearing recently a couple years ago against Kyle Tucker. I wonder what that will mean for Yarner Diaz and long term. If they want to move him off of the catcher's position at some point, obviously he took a big step back at the plate, but a candidate to hopefully have a bounce back year

to where his numbers at the plate have gotten progressively worse every year. First season where he finished fifth in the rookie of the year voting, 846 OPS. I'll just do OPS plus, for those you don't know, 100 is average. 128. So he's 28% more than average. That's great. 116 and then down to 92.

So 8% worse than average. 128 to 116 to 92. That's not trending in the right direction. He's going C.J. Shroud on his progression at the plate. Okay. Maybe that's with more games at the plate, more wear and tear on the legs. I don't know. He's also a guy who you would love to have as a D.H.

candidate. Get him off his legs. But Jordan Alvarez is supposed to be locking down to the 8 spot. So what's that going to be mean for Yiner Diaz? I don't know. What does that mean for a log jam in the infield with Yosek Pratas, as you mentioned? I don't know. Well, on your point.

You figure some trades are going to be made at some point. Well, on your point, I mean, I have this audio as well. Dana Brown came out saying that he still wants to look for a left-handed batter too. And up for this, I'm kind of season, he doesn't know what he wants to do. And I just feel like there's a lot of things that could still be going on with this roster. Look, I mean, I won't confirm more than I. But I would say that we. are definitely in the market for left-hand bats and we're still continuing to be in that market.

We're working hard every day to see what we can add. And so if there was a left-hand bat that was available, I would say that we were in on it. And on top of all of that being said, he was asked about Farmer Valdez yesterday and he said that there was no conversations going on. And then 30 minutes ago, Ken Rosenthal comes out saying the pirates are trying to go from him. I'm trying to get that trade going. He's a free agent, yeah. A lot of things going on with Lundon-N-Byrgy. What could Astros get from that?

Nothing. They'll get a draft pick if he's signed away. So he's a free agent. They give him a qualifying offer, which he denied, I mean declined, which was like, I don't know, one year, 21 or 2 million, whatever it was. And he declines that. So now that if he gets signed away,

by another team, they will get a compensatory draft pick for that. But I don't think he's not going to factor back into here. But it'll be interesting to see where he lines where he ends up. And that is interesting. I guess the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to actually spend a little bit money. A 32-year-old starting pitcher?

Hmm. Hmm. Very interesting. All right, there's another thing we have to get to in the news at noon here, Jonathan. Oh, what's that? That would be the National Signing Day news out of humble independent school. district. Let's go. Congratulations to Carly Thomas. She has signed to play with the University of Rhode Island

as a volleyball player. She will be in the Atlantic 10 and man has promised me nights at the air and B&B. So we're going to go hang out, catch out some volleyball games and be hanging out on the Great Northeast. I might need to get a loan of some money from you, Jonathan. For me? For me? Yeah. Come on, man. You got me right. I can get you back to popcorn at the game. Those lobster rolls aren't cheap. up there, my friend. Come on now. You know, hot take. I don't like lots of rules. I know that's off topic.

All right. So Carly Thomas, the all-time Kingwood High School Kingwood Mustangs. A dog. Leaders in assist. Dude, if you got school records, like our friend Jonathan Allen. He got school records, baby. All right, put some respect

on his name. Put some respect on Carly Thomas's name. All-time Kingwood Assist leader. She was all-district, all-region, as a setter. Matt wanted to make sure that I said that she's really sassy and that their daddy-daughter dance at her wedding will be Vienna by Billy Joel.

Oh, I forgot he said that. Yes. You laughed at him. I didn't laugh. See, these are falsehoods being perpetrated. This is why I'm not a good liar. I'm very expressive.

And you can catch my initial reaction. No, you know what? I'm not even going to say anything. You're going to dig your hole deeper. I'm not digging any holes. Vienna is a good song. And if all, obviously, if it means something to both of them, that's what's

most important. So wishing the best, whenever that will be. Hopefully I will be drunk at that wedding whenever it does happen. And I will stand up and applaud and cheer when that song comes on whenever that may be. So congratulations to Carly Thomas signing with the Rhode Island Rams.

And I believe Matt Thomas will be trying out for Rodi the Ram coming up in the next season or the volleyball season. Matt Thomas? Yeah, he's going to try out for the mascot, Rodie the Ram. He was the Made Creek Ram. Whatever his name is, Mady. He was a mascot, really?

Yeah. Oh, wow. Yes. I'm not like that said. That's kind of interesting. I'm not to lie. He was a mascot for a couple years. He said it got some action in the high school, I think.

Anyways. I got last. What else you got? I got two last headlines for the Rockets. Kevin Durant is listed probable for not to the night. Sorry. Against the Celtics. And just came out national news.

The Washington Post Limates is Sports Department and reduces all overseas journalists and a large scale cuts. It seems like journalism is getting real big hits on. Didn't they get bought by Jeff Bezos? I don't know about the profitability and viability of newspapers these days. Support your local papers, folks. I do subscribe to the Houston Chronicle and the Athletic because I like to read their sports coverage, so that's why I do it.

I understand we can try to get free aggregator coverage everywhere else, so I understand the cutting of the corners. If you can afford it, I would appreciate you supporting, especially here locally. Look, I don't have an opinion. I don't read the Washington Post. I don't read the Washington Post sports coverage or anything like that. So it's just in general.

Us here, of course, on radio are thriving, especially with the I-Heart Radio app, which you can catch us for free, streaming 24-7 sports talk 790. But I do feel for our fellow media brethren who are losing their job. It's hard out there for writers and beat reporters. journalism, vitally important. Beat reporting, vitally important as well. And any kind of sports reporting and investigating in journalism,

it's important for the greater good of all of us. So to see that going away, certainly not ideal. But, yeah, we will end the news at noon on that sour note. Thank you, Jonathan, for all those news items here on Sports Talk 790 in the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Coming up at 1 o'clock, Adam Clinton will be joining. in the meantime, I am flying solo. Well, with Jonathan Allen as the co-pilot.

So he's here too, but you guys want to get in. You can get your sports takes. We've been talking about basically everything you heard about. People are getting mad at me for saying, I understand why James Hardin did what he did, and he's going to the Hall of Fame. People are, nobody's gotten mad at me about the Astro stuff. We're talking about that as far as Jordan Alvarez,

everyday designated hitter, Isok Paratus. How does he fit in the infield? Outfield, Cam Smith, getting some center field looks. That is interesting. Pro Bowl doesn't need to go away. I mean, anything you guys want to get to.

Phone lines are wide open. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90. It's following me everywhere, Jonathan. I just saw that OM Cheeseburger from Applebee's advertisement. We were talking about it. things like 2,000 calories. 110 grams of fat or whatever it was.

I bet you at least five people that were listening and went and go try to try to. I know. Oh, that sounds good. Yeah, you know what? No more free plugs for Rappelries. And they're nasty cheese dipper, cheese whiz, uh,

uh, cheese burger. That's just, that's just, I mean, gluttony is at an all-time high. We'll just leave it there. All right.

Welcome back. Hi to the Matt Thomas show with Ross here at Sports Talk 790. Adam Clinton will be joining coming up at 1 o'clock. You guys want to get in. You can. 713, 2125790 is the phone number. 713-212-790. Ken Doe in South Houston has been waiting patiently, so let's go there. What's up? Hey, what's going on, fellas? Love the show. Jolison, Ross. Hey, man. Yes, sir. Starv-all problems with the Rockers, man.

Go ahead and get the flow general. Man, go go get Chris Powell, man. Oh, Ken do. Come on, not be done with it. Is he going to bring a time machine with him, Kandu? Man, you can't forget what he know, man. The man is a ball handling genius, man. He knows how to create space.

You know, he's going to get to 15, 20 points, but he can go out there and put up and be productive, but create space and be able to move the ball around. Oscar Robertson's available, too. No, you Now you had to go back that far, no. What's John Stockton up to? No, look, look, that just makes my broader point.

I mean, I love Chris Paul. I know, well, first of all, I hated him more before he was a rocket. But when he was a rocket, he was great and coming towards the end of his prime, the point god, all that type of stuff. One of the greatest, arguably the greatest point guard of all time. But he is just far past his prime, he can do. he's 40 plus years old. He was averaging 2.9 points per game.

And the fact that nobody else has sought him out should let you know what's going on. He's just done. He's just done, unfortunately. So you're giving up on Paul, man. You're saying he watched. I don't believe it. The Clippers gave up on him.

The Spurs gave up on him. I mean, was it getting minutes? With the Spurs last year, he played all 82 games and he was playing 28 minutes a game. Oh Wow Yeah I mean for what we need

We need a like you say we need a point guard Who can hallow the rock Yeah you would be No he'd be a perfect fit of what you're saying Because I mean he's a better Fred Van Vleet right He's a ball distributor shooter Can knock down the three Underrated defender throughout history

I mean Chris Paul was a great two-way player in his prime You would love the prototypical Like I said if you get a time machine you take us back to 2018, Chris Paul, that would be an absolute dream fit for the Rockets, but just as a stage of career, it's not going to happen. Right, quick question, though. So you wouldn't get rid of Van Fleet?

For what? And that contract, just the contract itself. I mean, for somebody... I think he had... Oh, you would unload it. I mean, if you found the right fit, I would. I would, but you have to find somebody that wants to take him on. I think it's a...

I think Fred Van Vandlead has a... I think it's a player option for him, Nick. year that he can opt in which he I don't know I guess I could see it going either way I'm trying to pull up his contract I think it's 25 million player option

I mean well I mean there ain't too many out there that I feel like that you know what we need right now yeah I mean just everything got everything got messed up when he tore his ACL I mean if you had him and Stephen Adams healthy on this team I would feel really good about them finishing

number two in the West Yeah, yeah, you're right about that I just don't want them to bust up the team I got you That's the thing All right, Kandu, appreciate the making the call All right, thank you, appreciate it Yeah

It seems like we just can't have nice things When it comes to the Houston Rockets You have this great team Following the, well, the 90s dynasty Well, not dynasty, but they won back-to-back championships You think maybe it's going to work out with Charles Barkley and your big three, but everyone was too old and it didn't work out there. Then you get finally, you get the number one overall pick.

You get Yao Ming, 7 foot 5. He can drop 25 and 10. First game against Shaq. He's blocking his shots. He's making hook shots. He's looking like the next big thing. Then his legs break down every single year. You trade for Tracy McGrady.

It's going to be Yao and Tracy's going to be the new Shaq and Kobe, and they're going to be great. Trace McGready back goes all haywire. And then he has micro fracture surgery and his career is over. Even that 09 team you were going to have, hopefully a healthy Yao Ming and McGrady and Ron Artecest slash meta world peace, like as a big three. None of those guys are healthy.

And you still push the eventual champions to seven games. In the Hardin era, we don't need to go through all those underperformances. You get Hardin. Then you get Dwight Howard. and it doesn't work out. Then you get Chris Paul and it doesn't work out. And then now you get Kevin Durant

and Fred Van Vleet's hurt out for the season before you even. He even sets foot on the floor of the Toyota Center this year. Snip bit. Like what's the, like looking at the standings and everything, rockets are still in the thick of it. Yeah, they're in a good spot. But I feel like in Houston there's so much worry that

and maybe it's trauma from the other seasons. Like, you know, 2018. But like, it just doesn't make sense why there's so much anxiety around it right now. Because you're seven and a half games behind the Thunder. They set the all-time NBA record last year with the point differential of 12.9. This year, they're at 12.8. So, I mean, they're close to where they were last year in terms of in the discussion for a greatest team of all time. Now, they got pushed to seven games in the Western semis or finals.

Was it? Was it? Was sims or finals against the nuggets? I think it was the semis. and then they got pushed to seven in the NBA finals but it's it's feeling like a thunder west is the thunders to lose that's the way it's feeling now can they get better will they make some improvement in the coming days

will they make a small trade i think they're going to make a small trade which will lead to a buyout move but i ask you this okay so saturday comes around when they verse okay see yes and just hypothetical say they do win yeah they can win that game right but like does that change the perspective of houston like okay like Like even we don't have all the pieces We still can compete or is it just going to be something like

Oh, we never going to get it? It's a day-to-week thing. Like I was feeling great when they beat the Spurs on January 20th And then January 28th they lost to them And it's like, eh, what's going on here? They can't figure out this Spurs defense. So yes, things can change. They've still won five in the last six games.

They got big games coming up against the Celtics and Hornets. Then they have the Oklahoma City Thunder. It'll be a 2.30 game in Oklahoma City coming up this weekend. So things can change. It's always fluid. And I'm going to feel like the rockets don't have a puncher's chance. Could they topple the Oklahoma City Thunder? Could they have an injury and could they make it out?

Absolutely. Just right now where I am, I feel like the team could be better with Fran Van Vleet, with Stephen Adams, and we'll see what happens via the trade market and the buyout market coming up in the next couple of weeks. That's where I am with it right now. So we'll see how that goes. But right now, in the West, they are the four seed, only a game and a half ahead of the San Antonio Spurs. If you change, yeah,

that would have been... Game and a half behind you mean? I'm sorry, what did I say? Game a half behind. Sorry. Only a half game behind the Nuggets for the three spot. I've been saying all season they're going to finish top three. I'm going to stick with that, even with all the injuries they've been suffering and the tough matchups coming up. But they need

the trade deadline. Not the trade deadline. They need the All-Star break to come up. Get some rest. Get everybody refreshed. I'm happy Operation Goon Gund did make the All-Star game. Really? blessing in disguise. Doesn't have to go out there and play on his bum ankle. And he went out there and had a great game against the Indiana

Pacers with 39 points. So hopefully he can keep that going. Rockets have five more games ahead of the All-Star break. Boston and Charlotte at home coming up to tonight and tomorrow on the road for Oklahoma City and then a couple of games at home against the LA Clippers who are in the ninth spot in the West. All right, quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. We are guaranteed humans here on Sports Talk 790.

None of that AI clap trap. By the way, stop sending the AI videos on Instagram, folks. You can follow me there. I do appreciate it. But at SportsRV on the IG. But this AI stuff, it's only getting worse. But you want some guaranteed human. You want the best sports talk in Houston.

You come right here. Sports Talk 7. Phone lines open at 713. 212.1.790. 713. 212-5-790. You can also send a tweet to at SportsRV. Let's see.

You got a couple of them earlier. We were talking about going to Rhode Island and staying out there with Matt Thomas. And as he's out with his daughter, shout out to the Rhode Island Rams. Shout out to Carly Thomas. It's signing day. She's going to be on scholarship. with Rhode Island. Yon Easy saying they're going to get their upside down pineapple on sharing that Airbnb.

Okay, well, I don't want to be any part of that. Oh, can I Google real quick? How do you disinfect a hot tub? Can we put extra chlorine in the hot tub? But, you know, I have sensitive skin, Jonathan. If it's too much chlorine, I'm going to get itchy. I'm going to get a rash. So I don't want to do that.

I'm not getting the naughty tub of love, okay? I know. That's not happening in Rhode Island. I'm not going to be a part of any of that. No one's judging you. No one's judging you. No one's judging. My name is Paul. That's between y'all. Okay. I will go out to go check out some New Haven, Connecticut pizza. We'll go to Boston and get a lobster roll while you guys do your thing. I'll come home and I'll just go sneak out the back door.

Wait a minute. What? That sounds bad. And then I'm just going to go to sleep. Okay. Don't involve me in your lewd love parties without. upside down pineapples. Hashtag M.T. showing off his girlish figure. All right. Thank you for that. Another tweet coming in, Bob, from Sugarland. You know what, Bob? This is going to like.

And I'm going to do, yeah, okay, weekdays. Weekdays, 10 a.m. 2 p.m. on Sports Talk 790. This is a great tweet right here from Bob and Sugarland. Local Houston radio is thriving because Ross fixes all of Matt's messups and all his jokes are hilarious. Let's go. That's what I'm talking about, Bob. Appreciate you. All right.

713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90. We've been talking about a lot of different stuff as the day has gone along with James Hardin. Now a Cleveland Cavalier traded at least four different times now as an all-timer. Some people in Houston still hate him as evidenced by the hate emails that I got from one of our listeners. That's okay. I understand whatever. bottom line is dude is going to the Hall of Fame.

We've been also talking about some college football, some eligibility stuff, Tennessee, or I think it was NCAA losing another lawsuit. How many more lawsuits? Have they changed lawyers? Who are they using for their lawsuits? Like, when are they going to figure that out that things aren't going their way? I love that this House of Cards. Now, we'll see what happens as far as the fallout. But I love that this ridiculous House of Cards that the NCAA has been for years

exploiting players and making billions off of them and not even allowing them to make money off their nameage and likeness, those chickens are coming home to roost. And now Tennessee is won a victory. As I can't remember the name of the quarterback, they're trying to have come back for another year of eligibility. I just thought too. I think he lost, actually.

They lost, but they're going to appeal or something like that. So it doesn't matter. Tennessee, NCAA, I should say, losing all these lawsuits, that makes me happy. And then, of course, we're reacting to some of the things said, by Joe Espada and Dana Brown yesterday. Played some of the audio earlier so we can bring it to you right now. Let's go ahead and start with what to me, the first domino of all this.

We've been talking about what's going to happen in the outfield? Well, maybe you're going to play some left field. What's going to happen in the infield? Well, if Joseo Tube is not playing left, he's going to play second, and Isok Paredes, and you want to shuffle these guys around a DH. The first things first, the first, the first domino to fall in terms of how the Astros and how we want to think about them constructing their lineup on a data day basis is with Joe Espada

wanting Jordon Alvarez to be a designated hitter. Jordan, I would like to give him most of his at-bats as a DH, and I will do all everything in my power to keep him in that DH spot. He will get some opportunities in left field to keep that DH spot open

for other players, but this is going to be competition from the get-go. We'll see where we stand there and see what we'll get most of those out-bats there during the season. Yeah, so in theory, look, Carlos Correa older, Al Tuva, older, Christian Walker, older. You'd like them get off their feet for a half day here and there.

Yonner Diaz, not the greatest catcher at the backstop of all time. You'd like to get him off his legs here and there and get him at the D.A. spot. It was a nice luxury to have with Victor Keratini here last year. And you don't want Yoran to be hurt, but he only played 48 games last year. And that's opening up the D8 spot for the rest of those games on the schedule. And even then it felt like there there was sometimes a bit of a log jamming, especially now with Isaac Paredes back into the fold, healthy,

what's going to happen in the infield? Joe Spina says, no, no, no. We're not going to shuffle around a bunch of infielders and move a bunch of guys in the D.H spot, which is a nice luxury to have. They want Yordon at the D.H spot to keep him healthy and fresh-legged all season long and not have him going out there

and having to make a bunch of the plays in the field. And I understand. The counter argument of that is, hey, last couple times he got hurt he was on the base paths sliding in a second he got hurt sliding on can we get can we wipe down the home plate at dyken park to start the games this year how do you slide on first base and he's he's gliding on it like he's on a slip and slide like he's at the ice capades and hurting his ankle like can we not can we wipe down first base that's that's plan number one every game no matter where you are i know the water's fresh

and they just like to keep the wet dirt in the infield. Let's wipe down home plate. So Yordon doesn't get these freak accidents. And you have to wonder yourself, how much of these are freak accidents? Or how much is it? He's just fragile. I don't think he is. I mean, he's a big freaking strong dude.

But you've had him hurt in the field also, legging out fly balls and running into the scoreboard out there and left field at Diken Park. And it's a concern. and he is one of the most dangerous hitters on the planet. You want him out there as much as possible. He has a storied history of getting injured. So you want to limit his exposure to that.

So I understand why the Astros want to keep him. And Joe Spada says he's going to do everything in his power to keep Jordan Alvarez at the D.H. spot as much as possible. So with that, okay. Now we're trying to move Jose Al-Tuvae back. to second base. What does that mean for Isak Paredes and Christian Walker and everyone else in the infield? My message always been this is going to play out and let's just get to spring training and and like go out and prepare ourselves to to win, right? I don't want this to become a distraction.

I think this is going to play the self out. But right now they are, they understand where we're at and they all understand that we need all of us to be together to accomplish our goal. So I want our focus is to be on that. That's interesting. Everything's going to play itself out. Everything's going to be okay. Obviously, Joe knows things that we don't know. Is Joe saying that because it's going to be a situation where there's a trade,

and he's aware of potential trades that are in the works? he's like you guys keep asking me about this I can't tell you we're going to trade somebody but we're going to trade somebody is he trying to let us read the tea leaves there Jonathan or is he or is he just saying it's going to work itself out do I have a tinfoil hat on when he says

let's listen to this one more time he it's going to work itself out guys stop asking me about this my message always been this is going to play out and let's just get to spring training and and like go out and prepare ourselves to to win, right?

I don't want this to become a distraction. I think this is going to play the self out. But right now, they are, they understand where we're at, and they understand that we need all of us to be together to accomplish our goal. So I want our focus just to be, to be on that.

Or is he saying, no, it's going to be fine. There could be injuries, something else is going to work. It's going to work itself out. I feel like work itself out can go so many. That's what I'm saying. Is he saying like, Spot is the best out of interview anything that that can

just make it so vague and you have to like keep guessing what he's got to read the teeth like he's very good at that he's like guys there's going to be a trade stop asking me about this or is he saying ah you know what we're going to figure it out injuries crop up you know we at one point last year all of Altovae Parades

and Jeremy Payne got hurt for a little while Carlos Correa is longer in the tooth those guys aren't all going to play 150 games so it's going to work itself out is that what he's he's saying saying or is there possible some trades coming up? Who is to say? Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. All right. Send a tweet to Ad Sports RV if you guys want to talk about that. You can also give me a phone call.

713-212-5-790 is the phone number. We're going to take a quick break here. Coming up in our number four of the show, we will have Adam Clanton joining the program and you guys can get into. We're talking, as I said, Astros, Rockets in Action tonight. We've got other college football stuff. getting to James Harden trade as well. Will Janus be traded by the deadline tomorrow? Anything you guys want to get to 713, 212, 570?

713-212-5-790. Long on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Matt is out. He will be back tomorrow. He will be on the call tonight. As your Houston Rockets take on the Boston Celtics, 6 o'clock. It'll be the Rockets launch pad.

I forget he was doing it, but very handsome, talented Wonderful and very humble human being, I believe, on 6 o'clock to do the Rockets launch pad. Who's that? I can't remember. I can't remember all those other things, though. I would love to meet this guy. Yeah, he sounds amazing, doesn't he? Coming up at 6 o'clock, and then tomorrow I will be on the pre-imposed game as well at 6 o'clock. Rockets taking on the Charlotte Hornets.

Don't laugh. He won six, no, seven games in a row now have the Charlotte Hornets, including victories over the Sixers, Spurs, and Magic over that. span. So watch out for them fighting Charlotte Hornets coming into town tomorrow and then tonight against the Boston Celtics. And then Saturday, the big one, it'll be 2.30 p.m. start rockets on the road on ABC taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder. So some big games coming up for the Houston Rockets. Phone lines open at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. So we've been talking about what's going to happen in It feels like, you know, some years past, as I said, feels like the roster's pretty set, not a lot of stuff.

One year, I think we were talking about like, hey, what's the bullpen pecking order going to be for the Astros? As other things fall into place as you set your hierarchy of needs, you get to talk about like the minutia of building the roster. It's not minutia for the Astros this year. Who is going to get the most starts at second base and first base and third base for that. matter. Ideally, Joe Espada says the most start starts at the designated hitter is going to be Yordon Alvarez.

If I had you venture a guess right now, who's getting the most left field starts? Towards and by now in the end of the year. Jose L. Tuve, probably not. Zach Cole, some lightning in a bottle at the end of last year, but how sustainable is that?

You like Cam Smith and right field. Hesu Sanchez has played some left field. How much longer is he going to be on the squad. I don't know. Bryce Matthews, how does he fit as far as a puzzle piece for the lineup coming up?

There are a lot of question marks in terms of the infield and the outfield. Rotation, I think, is going to be okay. Bullpen, I think is going to be okay. But certainly some question marks. And apparently, according to Joe Spada, there's going to be some outfielders moving all around the place, including a little bit of

Cam Smith and center field. And my computer's frozen. This is great. You know, we get guys like Zach Paul. Jesus Sanchez can also play left field. We've got guys at Ken Smith. I mentioned that I want to get Ken Smith

an opportunity to play some center field. You know, we have Jake Myers. How can I keep all these guys healthy in the lineup? That is going to be our focus there doing spring training and see how could we shape the roster with everyone can get enough, you know, everybody's game playing time, and we can keep everyone healthy. There you go.

So certainly something to figure out. something he didn't go with the Oh we got some breaking nose Okay that's one I don't know Is it another one Okay two I literally just saw this

I was about to mention it but I think Go ahead no no no I just No no no Jonathan Let's go The Dallas Maverts are trading 10 time NBA All Star Anthony Davis Jaden Hardy DeAngelo Russell

Dante Xxon Yes Washington Wizards for Chris Millil AJ Johnson, Malachi Brandon. Oh my, Marvin Bagley, the third, two first round picks and three second rounders. Tells ESPN from Shams, Ronia. That's what we do. That's a massive trade.

Wow. Okay, hold on. I got to pick up the pieces from all this again. So going to the Wizards. Wizards are making moves. They traded for Trey Young. Now they're going for Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, DeAngelo,

Russell, Dante Exum, for Chris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malachi, Branham, Marvin Bagley, the third. Couple of first round picks and three second round picks. Woo! Okay. So, go ahead. I'm just asking, is Dallas just going for the restructure? Yeah, they're going for the rebuild. I mean, they're going to try to rebuild around Cooper Flag.

They got a couple of first round picks. Cooper Flags look up. like the real deal. I mean, Chris Middleton, he's older. What kind of deal? Chris Middleton, I don't think, is much of a piece. Let me pull up, yeah, he's averaging 10 points a game. He's 34 years old.

So I don't think that. That is much coming back. I guess I got to pull up this whole damn Washington Wizards roster. Forgive me for not being, knowing the too deep of the Washington Wizards. Wow. Okay. Marvin Bagley's just been a bench piece. Chris Middleton's been okay.

Malachi Branham, same thing. AJ Johnson, same thing. So that's just kind of roster fill, I think. Trying to get some money matched. It's more for the couple of first round picks. Interesting. Anthony Davis, to me, doesn't have great value anyways. I mean, the dudes, again, I always rail against, like, the injury-prone label,

but especially when it's somebody who's, like, seven-foot. and gets hurt every year. Anthony Davis, nicknamed streetclothes by inside the NBA. It's been hurt a lot. He's on the court. He's a great player. He's had some good games against the Rockets. But far often, too often hurt.

So interesting. Interesting. That's kind of a big trade. Trade deadline tomorrow. At which point, will Janice Sintacumpo, the next big domino to fall. Minnesota has been the rumored top landing spot, Golden State, Miami also in the mix. But Anthony Davis, speaking of complicated histories, NBA champion always hurt,

historic all-time run with Kentucky as the NCAA champion, a dominant, dominant team that Kentucky squad, back in the day and now he is a Dallas Maverick how many times Anthony Davis been an all-star 10-time All-Star

three-time block champion NBA champion in the bubble with the Lakers begged his way out of New Orleans got to Los Angeles won a championship there and now at

32 years old About to be 35 in March. I thought, excuse me, 33 in March. Wow. Crazy. All right, we're going to take a quick break on that note. So, I mean, not earth-shattering news here in Houston necessarily, but Anthony Davis moving from Dallas to Washington,

certainly big national news. Sham Shirania first to trade that one. He calls it an NBA trade deadline week stunner. Clearly the Wizards have completed their deconstruction phase and are now moving toward Young and Davis leading a rising Young Corps. Washington turned its previous Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma trades

into Young Davis and five pick swaps. Oh man, look at Sham Shirani. He's laying it on thick. The Wizards are acquiring a future Hall of Fame big man in Davis. One of the top 75 greatest players. Anthony Davis was named to the 75 and 75. Okay, I mean like Sham is saying it, probably.

To the young core of trade, Add to the core of Tray Young, Alex Har, Kai Shan George, Trey Johnson, and Balaw Culibale. Interesting. Interesting trade. All right. Yes, he was number 53, by the way. Oh, they rated them?

Oh, ESPN ranked them. But he was, I don't think the NBA ranked them. But anyways, okay, so yeah, he was in there. Okay, all right. My bad. No, my guy. You know what? Anthony Davis family saying, shut your bum ass up.

Put some respect on Anthony Davis's name, and I'll do that. All right, quick break here. the Matt Thomas show with Ross. You guys want to tweet in you can at Sports RV. Shout out to Damien for sending that tweet along. Appreciate you. Got some tweets to read from a couple of other you guys. As I mentioned, we got NBA trade deadline stuff happening.

We can talk about that. We have Astros topics. Anything you want to get to. Adam Klan coming up next at 1 o'clock. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90. This is the Matt Thomas show. with Ross.

Number four of the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 7. Hello and welcome in. Ross Villarreal with you until 2 o'clock here on a sports talk 790, at which point we'll hand it off to Adam Wexler and Adam Clinton. They are the A team. Adam Clanton will be joining me shortly and Matt Thomas will be joining the show back tomorrow. If you have not heard, he is out. as it is national signing day for his little baby girl. She's grown up.

And, well, she is signing with the in the Umbl ISD signing day ceremony to be, or I guess she already did sign, to play for the University of Rhode Island and their volleyball squad. Congratulations. Well, to everybody in the Umbal ISD and to the Thomas family. as there is a proud Papa who will be back on the show tomorrow and he will be on the call tonight for the Houston Rockets taking on the Boston Celtics. That'll be a 7 o'clock start here on Sports Talk 790.

And we also have another trade in the NBA. Now, this is, I don't even know if we go one breaking news. Did you see this, Jonathan? No, no, no. And just go one breaking news sounder. It's fine. Philadelphia 76ers are trading guard Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It does involve the Rockets.

It's a 2026 Rockets first round pick and three second round picks. So a first rounder in three seconds for Jared McCain who had a few splash games for the 76ers last year but hasn't been doing nearly as much this year. I don't know. We'll go to our resident Jared McCain and NBA and Philadelphia 76ers expert

Adam Clinton momentarily here on the fourth hour of the show. But there you go. Jared McCain, Averaged, finished seventh in the rookie of the year voting last year. He only played 23 games, average 15 points per game. This year down to 6.6 points per game. Not getting a whole lot of opportunities. So I don't know exactly how much he's going to fit into the pieces with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But the Rockets pick that was going to the Thunder now is going to the Philadelphia 76ers, along with three first-round picks. So there's your trade deadline news there. Phone lines open at 713-212-790. you would like to get in 713, 212, 5790. Shams's phone is working overtime at this point. The big news was Adam Clinton's favorite son and favorite rocket of all time. James Hardin being traded away to the Cleveland Cavaliers. And then now Anthony Davis moving to the Washington Wizards.

And we'll see what happens as far as some big names. The biggest name of them all still looms. And we'll see if he's traded by tomorrow. That would be Janice Sintacumpo. All the whispers are the latest. can we not have him come to the Western Conference, please. If Janus becomes a Minnesota timber, wolf is what we're going to go with. That would just be horrible.

Wolves a game and a half behind the Rockets. They are in the seventh spot right now. Rockets in the four seed. Keep Janice in the east. At least Anthony Davis got shipped out, but that doesn't seem like a big deal. James Harden got shipped out, but that is, I mean, at least some of the power. If Anthony Davis and James Harder, at least some of the power, if Anthony Davis and James Harder, at least some of the power balance is going back to the east.

But if Yannis comes back, I mean, that's, that's ridiculous. But when's Yonah's going to play this year? I don't know, he's got a calf injury. How severe is it? What's the grading on it? Is it a grade two? If he plays too soon, it could be worse. You know what I mean? Yeah, no. Like, calf injuries and the NBA

turn into Achilles tears. Yes. It's happened with Halliburton. It happened with Kevin Durant, but those are really the big examples. There are some doctors who say they're not sure how much of a tie there is. By the way, you're burying the lead on all these deals. What's that? That first rounder that

went from the Rockets to the Thunder. That's back in Darrell Mori's possession. He's the one that traded that picture. Yeah, I did say that. Oh, I didn't hear that part. I was busy on packing and being late. That's fine. You know, that's how I wrote. You're actually early from... Oh, I almost texted you and said, oh, it was a good run, but I'm not going to be on time today. That's okay. You get like three in a row strung together.

As a person who myself is lacking in punctuality, I don't know. I have zero room to ever get mad at anybody from being late. have more uncommon than people would think in certain areas of our lives. That's for the podcast. By the way, first rounders of any kind given up for Anthony Davis is hysterical. How about two of them? Proves that the Wizards are the Wizards. I mean, again, if you're Dallas and you've got two first round picks, now whose first

round picks are they? Are they the Wizards first round picks? I think so. Is it just the two teams? I can't keep track of all this stuff. players, so I thought for sure it would be more than one team involved, but I guess that's not the case. The fact that Dallas

was able to turn Anthony Davis into first round picks from anywhere, let alone multiple. Yeah, but it's like too far, if, well, if a covorsity, the always if is with Anthony Davis, if he's healthy, and if Tray Young's healthy, and they have some young players, I mean, they'll probably be like in the 20s.

They're not going to cost them much of anything anyways. Okay, Anthony Davis wasn't healthy for the team that just traded him, and they've got a terrible record, despite having Cooper flag. Yeah. Poor guy. What makes you think that this... Poor guy knows.

Street clothes. What makes you think that this season's going to be... Or, you know, next season's going to be the season where the Wizards are finally going to matter in the NBA for the first time since John Wall's prime. John Wall and Bradley Bill and the boys. Like the first... Or if you've got to go back to like Elvin Hayes and the Washington Bullets in like 78.

How was the last time they won a championship? Yeah. So... Chris Weber didn't do anything for him. No. Rod Strickland didn't do anything for him. Who's the greatest wizard of the last 30 years? John Wall?

Last 30 years? Probably. I mean, it's a long list of a bunch of stat-patting losers. Bradley Beal, John Wall, one, two. Does that sound very inspiring? Who's three? I'm being serious. Couldn't even tell you. The Wizards are the NBA Siberia.

They're a Wasteland. Who is the most? It's got to be the Wizards, right? like as far as Utah Jazz have been up there the last 20 years like nondescript zero pop or fun. Wizards are there in a major city.

Yeah, but you don't look at D.C. is its own little Kings. Yeah, but the last 30 years that includes the early 2000s when they were robbed of a championship by 10 Donahey. And ironically, they actually employed Chris Weber too.

That's the weird thing. Chris Weber went to the Wizards, had Joanne Howard with him, and they just nothing ever clicked for that squad. That was the 90s, though. That was like the mid-90s. It was a different time.

It was. Well, now they've got Tray Young and Anthony Davis, so everything's going to be okay. And by the way, I saw a report just walking into the building that kind of jives with what... Did I tell you at the Gaylon Friday night,

I go up to Rafael Stone, and I said, all right, you ready for next week? You all rested up? That was joking with him. It was totally not a serious formal conversation. In fact, I never, like, I was walking by him and basically saying this as I kept walking. And he's like, I hope everybody's ready because I'm not doing anything. Now, he was like laughing as he said it.

But that's what I read on the way in. They're looking more and more like they're going to stand pat. I feel like there could be a small move to make some salary wiggle room like Jeff Green or Jay Chantate. This person specifically said nothing, including Kobe White, which we've heard his name tied to him, nothing is going to happen. I think a salary dump so that you can add somebody in the market. That's what you're going to see. What did you think about the Andre Drummond rumors? I know he wouldn't be playing a ton of minutes, but...

He's been knocking down threes, right? Yeah, I guess. Three-point sniper Andre Drummond? Yeah. When did you think you would ever say that? I just know that that wouldn't be the worst move. He's shooting 37% from three. Why is he taking them?

It's only 1.3 again. He needs to be down underneath the basket getting those offensive rebounds like Stephen. Well, it couldn't be worse than I'm in Thompson. At 3, so. 37%'s not that bad. Like, if Min Thompson even had a 25% better jump shot. Wait a second. Andre Drummond's only 32?

See? I would have thought he was like 40. That's what, see, okay, are you with me that when... He's been in the league since 2013. When the Rockets got Stephen Adams, did you not think he was way older than he was? I thought he was a little bit older. Like, I thought he was mid-30s. Yeah, was he 32, 33 as well?

He's gonna turn 32. Yeah. He's not even 32 yet, I don't believe. Yeah, he was from the James Hardin Pound. right? Next time he plays with the Rockets he'll be 32 unfortunately. The James Hardin to the Rockets pick was Stephen Adams. Mm-hmm. Wasn't Sir Jabaka, because that was

James Hardin's money. Yes, it was. But yeah. Did you know, I was talking about this earlier in the show? Three of the top 15 scores all time right now, Kevin Durant, James Hardin, and Russell Westbrook? Russell Westbrook's a top 15 score all time? How? He can't shoot. On the same team.

Are you serious right now? Yes. Russell Westbrook is top 15 all time ever How many is he ahead of Hakeem Zazka's gonna make me sad He's he's two points behind him I think Oh my gosh that is disgusting I think he's literally he needs like two points to pass Hakeem And no Pedro there is no reference to boogie knights yet

Just wait I just got here Yeah 26,944 needs two points to pass Akeem Heem We got to pass Elvin Haves We got to injure him. You got to hit him with a crowbar in the knee. Whatever it takes.

Where's Jeff Galooly and that guy, Sean Eckhart? Well, I don't. To take out him like they did Nancy Kerrig. Prison? Well, probably out of prison, but maybe back in for some sort of crimes. I think Eckhart's dead. He was very unhealthy. Kevin Durant's sixth all-time scoring. James Harden, ninth, Russell Westbrook, 15th.

They were all three on the same team and didn't win a championship. It went to one finals. I have way more of a problem with him about to pass Hakeem. That's just blasphemous. He can't even shoot. It's a different league. It sucks. It's pace and pace.

Yeah. All right. Well, I'm not happy. You want to go points per possession. I'm sure Hakeem's got it. Let's go with that. I mean, Hakeem's MVP was legit, at least. As was Russell Westbrook's based on the voting.

And when he was as the sixth seed with his team, he won a championship. Didn't get beaten by the guy that should have won the MVP that year, James Hardin. The naysayers would say, Hakeem only won it because Jordan didn't play. Yeah, move those goalposts. You're the same people that call LeBron the goat, you morons? You morons? Well, he is the goat score. Nobody's ever catching.

Okay, I'm going to say nobody's ever catching him, but nobody's ever catching him. I can't wait until he bows out of the All-Star game at the last second. I can't wait for that. Yeah, that's what he did last year. He's a terrible person. Okay. He is. He's a terrible herb.

Yeah, he's been in, uh, let's see. Remember that time that he, he was in jail for embezzling money and then our domestic violence and all these other. What a terrible person. You'll wait. Be careful with what you're saying. He's made some political statements. he likes to drink wine.

What a horrible guy. I think it's going to get... Oh, he's the worst. I think you'll see. I think you're a whiner. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, with Adam Clanton. I'm already getting tweets about O.J. and Boogie Nights. Ross, you're going to read that?

Wait until we come back to me. We know Adam Clanton is already in the building when those are happening. So we'll take quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Adam, thank you for hanging out. He's here with us until 2 o'clock, especially now because I'm losing my voice because I have a cold and I got to do pre and post, but that's fine. No rest for the weary. Easiest job in the world.

Take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross with you until 2 o'clock. 120. 120 at the PM here on Sports Talk 790. Rosvier, we are with you? Adam Clinton with you. Matt Thomas is not with us. Well, okay, he didn't die. That's out of dark.

Jeez. He's just not here. You'll be back tomorrow. Okay. Come 10 a.m. On the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 7. 7.9. Who's calling the game tonight?

Matt. So his signing day doesn't last all night. So he's flying back as we speak? No, he's not flying anywhere. He was at an Umbal ISD signing day. Oh, I see. For some reason, I thought he went to Rhode Island. I don't know why I had that in my head.

Oh, that'd be interesting. I don't know why I thought that. He's calling the game via Zoom. Like, I thought it was some sort of campus visit slash commit combo. It's Umbal ISD's signing national signing day. Letter of Intent, everybody's signing. I don't know how many people are signing. You should get out of there after your daughter signs, right?

And go home? Yeah. National sign. I forgot that it was the beginning of February. So back when I worked at Channel 2, five lifetimes ago, this was a big deal. Like, we would, it would be the most exhausting day on the calendar for, like, months because we would be going. So, like, the HISD signing day was always held at that place over on the northwest side, not far from where we're sitting. Delmar Fieldhouse.

Okay. And they renovated it. All the kids in HISD would meet there to commit. in one place. So it was good for media because you could interview all the kids right there. But you were driving, like if there was a five-star recruit in, I don't know, Pearland, where you were going from Pariland. It was just you were on the road all day long interviewing a bunch of high school kids that her dreams were coming true.

It was cool, but it was exhausting for us. That sounds exhausting. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. I'm not looking for something. And now you just come in here and talk sports. Now I don't work at all. Not even a little.

That's good. We're proud of it. It's not a job. I'm doing a great job. It's not working. I said it. I said it's not a real job either. It's not work. We know we have a trade job. You want a Rockets Radio Network tonight? I am. Okay. That's nice.

Don't. I'm not going to the arena because I'm sick. I'm not feeling well. So why are you here if you're sick? Because Matt's already out? What else am I going to do? What if you can't. Let's say I call Chris Gordy at 8 a.m. Why can't Jonathan handle the show? They don't pay me. Yeah. I love it. I love. Listen to that capitalist in there. You pay me what I'm worth if you want the work done.

What would happen? Oh, I don't know, man. Colin Coward for three hours? You'd have Chris Gordy hosting. Ooh. Wow. That was kind of mean. No, I wouldn't want to wish that on anybody.

I don't want to do four-hour solo. It's not easy. Unless you're like Jim Romer and you just repeat yourself for four hours straight. That's true. You guys one hour over, over and over. Well, and to fill time, you just give the 1-800 number. Yes. So that's what you would do.

All right, so we got Jim Rome. We need to make a bingo card for when you come in here. Well, I can't know. Somebody's already tweeting about OJ. Now, Jonathan, you said you watched the YouTube and you saw OJ Simpson's son did it, right? I'll just tell you the theory that's been in my head since I watched that. It was like a two-hour theory video. Okay, do you know that one of the preeminent experts on the case literally in America is Adam Clinton?

He is obsessed with the OJ Simpson case. I know. That's why I brought it up. I was like, Adam Clinton. Adam Clinton. Who killed Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson? Orenthall James Simpson. Okay.

May he rest? wherever it is. Jonathan was also buying into the YouTube that Wilt didn't score 100 but then we found the radio call and now he's back, you're back on the side of truth, right? Well, he scored over 100. It just wasn't on the court. Well, we're talking about it on the court too.

Oh, okay. He was quite the... Are you still skeptical? I'm just... I'm on the fence now. The radio call was made up. The thousands of eyewitnesses made it up. You never know. AI.

It's like in the national... archives. If I can see Jackie Robinson hitting the home run and I just know he didn't do it? Just saying just saying. There's not video of him playing with, I don't know, the Kansas City monarchs or whatever. I thought I was the conspiracy guy.

Did you read the tweet about OJ yet? Ross, you should tell Clinton about Jonathan's OJ conspiracy theory from last week that he doesn't think OJ committed the murders based on a YouTube video he saw. So basically you read it. So I'll let you guys talk about that. Well, I mean, is this an old YouTube video or relatively new?

I've heard the theory before that the son did it. Jason. That's the theory I went a whole week just listening out to his videos and it was saying like how he was there and helped his son do it because it was like a father-son bonding experience? How do you explain

it's just say for the sake of argument you wanted to go with that theory and I'm curious if the YouTube video explain this. How do you explain three strands of DNA for three different type of people, Ron, Nicole, and OJ. And that's the only blood they found on the scene.

I just don't know how it would be Jason. That's my only thing. That's the only thing. And the main hole in it is because there's so much corrupted evidence. We don't know what was actually there. And OJ was already, if OJ was there,

he could have cleaned it up or whatever the case we'd. That's the only speculation in the hole. We don't have to actually happen. The reason that case went the way it did is like 95% because of the incompetence of the LAP in a million different ways. They say that even in classes today, when they teach forensic science, here's what not to do. Here's what not to do because this is what happened in the OJ case.

The Dennis Fungi collecting the DNA, the Mark Furman tapes, obviously. Covering her up with a sheet. Yeah, all of that stuff. Well, you know, we didn't want anybody to, yeah, but that's what? Like, come on, man. But DNA was super, super new during that time. But still, having said all that, the amount of evidence, even if you want to, but all it takes is reasonable doubt

and that's what that team did. I guess you can have some reasonable doubt. You know, I can ask my grandpa because he was a firefighter over the LAX when I was moved for 30 years. So I got to ask him what he thinks about it and like what went down because he, I know he knows a lot of police officers. You know, I do think that OJ dropped the murder weapon in a trash bin at L.A.X

when he flew out to Chicago that night. I do think that happened. I think that's why they've never recovered the murder weapon. And then the Louis Vuitton bag that, that Kim Kardashian's dad had. What happened with that bag? So Robert Kardashian took it and then you never saw it again. How did you let this happen, Ross?

I didn't do it. Your listeners did. I know. But the thing is, if he left, what was the point of him leaving knowing his DNAs all over the same? Jonathan, in your heart of hearts, you have a mortgage you got to pay. You got to bet your mortgage on who did it. Who do you think killed those two people? It ain't Jason. Come on.

You know. You know. Your life depends on it. There's a gun to your head. And the only way you keep that bullet from going off is if you give the right answer. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, when you put it in those terms, it's pretty easy. Like, I get it, reasonable doubt and all that.

And that's why he was acquitted. But come on. All right. Time for a break here. Already? We're going to talk some Astros in the next segment. No boogie nights. You're going to get Cato Caelin on next segment?

No OJ. My good personal friend, Cato. None of that in the next segment. What about boogie nights? I just said no boogie nights. Literally five seconds ago. I just wanted to see if you... Okay.

All right, we're going to take a quick break here. I'm sick, but I'm not that sick. We're sick. We're going to take a break here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Adam Kleins hanging out till 2 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. 133 in the PM here on Sports Talk 790. Rosby, we're out with you for a couple of more. segments alongside Adam Klan before handing it off to he and this other guy named Adam.

They call themselves the A team. And then at 6 o'clock, I'll be with you on the Rockets Launchpad. Getting you ready for the Rockets and the Boston Celtics coming up here on 790. Matt Thomas will be on the call at 7 o'clock, even though he is not on this show. That's fine. He'll also be on the call tomorrow. Rockets on a back-to-back ticking on the Charlotte Hornets who are on a seven games. win streak. They are catching the Celtics on a

back-to-back. They just played the Dallas Mavericks and beat them 110 to 100 yesterday. And then now the Dallas Mavericks have traded. Anthony, also known as Street Clothes Davis, to the Washington Wizards. And that Luca Donchage Hall is looking pretty sad

at this point. What an utter disaster that trade was for Dallas. But you know what? Because the NBA gifted them the number one pick, maybe under the table. We don't know. I don't know. I will say probably not.

They're in good shape all of a sudden. Again, anybody's stupid enough to give you multiple first round picks for Anthony Davis. That's just, there's nothing you can do about that. If teams want to run their teams poorly, their organizations poorly, and it benefits the team that did that very thing by trading Luca to the Lakers, I don't know what to tell you. But you know what? At least, see, the Lakers with Luka, aren't going to really be able to kind of move forward with that era until they get out from under that albatross this year.

LeBron's got to go. Is this in this trade deadline? No, no, no, I just mean after this season. Like, it's pretty, I think it's, you're hearing the rumblings, you're seeing it, they're going to part ways. They did enough. I mean, yeah, they wanted to do right by him and all that, like they did with Kobe at the end of his career,

give him overpay him and all that stuff. But I believe some of the stuff that was out there talking about Jeannie Bus, LeBron's not, I'm not saying Kobe was easy to deal with, but nobody's going to ever confuse Kobe with LeBron as far as mentality approaching the game on both ends, all that. I mean, the guy shot a free throw on a torn Achilles. LeBron's never doing that. They'll have a wheelchair out there for him and fanning him with pawn leaves, hand feeding him grapes and saying, are you okay?

Like, they're just not the same guy. Well, he's got to have some kind of competitive drive. You're playing in his 22nd year or whatever. Or something else. What? I'm just. I don't think. LeBron,

Hater number one. Okay, go ahead. Absolutely. I've got plenty of ammunition to do so. And so do a lot of other people. 18-year-old, called the chosen one as a high schooler, has never been involved in any major scandal, has never been arrested,

has been under a pressure cooker for 25 years at this point. And your biggest complaint is he said some off-based stuff about China? No, I didn't even say anything about the stuff about China. The whole NBA is a hypocrite about China. China. If you want to get it down. Look, they're not great. They're not our friends.

Believe me. LeBron is hardly by himself when it comes to China. Okay. I just don't. I think the guy's one of the biggest fakes ever in the history of professional sports. Biggest fakes ever. Everything about that guy's insincere and non-genuine and it's fine. I think he's doing pretty good for me.

I'm not sitting here. He's been in a fish bowl for 25 years. So what? Wait, is that supposed to impress me that he's a public figure? I'm just saying, no, no, that he's a public figure since a teenager. No, like people sweat under pressure and the bright lights and all that. Honestly, the amount. He never raped a woman in Colorado.

That's true. That's true. Hey, listen, this is why when I see all these memes about Kobe and- He never got in a big gambling scandal and possibly got his father murdered. He never quit at the height of his powers. He never at the height of his powers. I made three straight finals. I'm so tired.

I'm going to retire at the peak of my career. It's time to play baseball. I'm going to be a Birmingham baron because I can't handle being in a pressure cooker and being a world star. He never did that. No one ever... I'm just saying.

Michael never said he couldn't handle being a pressure cooker. Look at the last dance. I was exhausted. Yeah, he had never left to play for. I had been wanting to come back twice. Three times. For the challenge? Oh, for the challenge.

He had nothing else to prove. He retired three times. And then he won three more championships. LeBron James didn't retire three times. So? And he never paid off a woman for rape. I mean, I'm just saying, I think he's doing pretty good. Well, Michael didn't do that.

You have to keep track of who you're talking about here. Listen, again, you want to get a meme about the examples. Listen, this is why when all these little memes come out about Kobe Bryant and, oh, it's January 26. We remember him. What a great father. I'm like, yeah, but he kind of raped that girl in Colorado. You know, you just want to kind of like sweep that under the rug. That's why I don't share that stuff on social media.

I do happen to think he probably, you know, we never know these people, right? We never know any of these guys. And a lot of times you don't want to. You just think you do. I think at the end of Kobe's life as a man and, you know, learning for mistakes and all that kind of stuff and doing good, like doing good things for the people around him in the game of basketball and particularly girls basketball. and I don't know if his motivation were having to do with that. I don't know. I don't know either.

But I do think that he was in a better place mentally and his standing in society than he definitely was in 2003 when all that was going down. He was throwing Shaq under the bus on top of it. Remember that? The cops are interviewing him and he's like ratting out Shaq for cheating on his wife. And it was like, dude, you're in enough trouble and he already hated you. This is probably not going to help the situation. I never heard about LeBron James snitching on his teammates. Just because you haven't heard about LeBron doing anything doesn't mean he's like a saint.

I'm not saying he's a saint. You are putting a halo on him. I did not put a halo on him. You're comparing other guys to prop him up. Who's been in a fish bowl, like I said, for a long time. Michael Jordan, biggest a-hole ever in professional sports, by all accounts. I never said he was the nicest guy. I didn't either.

But I'm telling you right now, if you're going to give me a choice between those two, who I want to go to war with, in an NBA game. Okay. It's not LeBron. That's cool. Nobody's afraid of LeBron like they were of Mike. Nobody's afraid of LeBron? No, nobody's afraid of LeBron. Nobody's like, oh, man, I got to go up against LeBron.

Nobody does that. Are you serious right now? Absolutely. Not the way they do about Michael. Where he has some sort of aura where it's like he hadn't even hit the floor yet and they're afraid. The 73 and nine Golden State Warriors thought LeBron wasn't very good or intimidating or. They had a 3-1 lead on him. I mean, yeah.

And then what happened? is nobody Kairi Irving You're going to tell me there's not an NBA coach Kairi Irving happened There's not an NBA coach or player that thinks That is that Let me ask you this

You're scared of going up against LeBron You're an NBA observer You're not a casual okay Anytime the Rockets No I'm not Anytime the Rockets have played LeBron On any of his teams over the years You've never once been like

Oh this is gonna be like you didn't They always like when they were talented I'm not talking about the years where they were just crap I mean, James Harden handled him that year. It was a foregone conclusion that 2018 was the de facto NBA championship

in the Western Conference finals. But LeBron was at the peak of his powers. Why is that? Because the Rockets and the Warriors were going to kick his ass up and down the floor in the final. Yes, they were. Because they were better teams. You would have never said that about Michael.

Ever. Michael? What do you mean? Well, you're trying to talk about... Like when he wasn't the Wizards? Or early in his Bull's career when he didn't win? His Bulls career. The Wizards, that doesn't count. That's like Rocky 5. It never happened.

That's what I'm saying. You make these mental gymnastics, these hoops that everybody's got to jump over. What gym gymnastics are I making? Penalized for making the finals more. I didn't penalize him for making the finals. Rather than. Yeah, in the awesome Eastern Conference where it was so hard to come out. Hey, Derek Rose was an MVP in those Chicago Bulls teams were good.

Derek Rose is the best you're going to do. You had 60 win Pacers teams in those times. Yeah, they were getting fat off the crappy conference. dude, the West was stacked. Yes, the West was stacked. You have 60 wins in the West. That means more than 60 wins in the East. Every time during that time.

Go back and look at the standings. I'm not going to hear that from you. The East was trash. You know exactly what you're talking about. That's okay. I know exactly what I'm talking about. Go look at the standings. You just said that the did he time? Throw the film on, bro.

Yeah. All right. Well, Michael Jordan needed Scott and Pippet. Making the finals out of the Eastern Conference nine times was so impressive back then. It was impressive. Absolutely. No. It was not impressive at all. Making the finals nine times in a row.

Not as impressive as it would have been if he was on a West team. No, just say this. That's all I'm saying. No, I just want to hear you say this. Making the finals nine times in a row is not impressive. Not out of that Eastern Conference compared to the West, which is what I just said. Okay. We'll take a break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790.

Okay, look it up. I will. 713, 2.12. 5790, I guess is the phone number. A 7132. LeBron parties with Diddy often just saying, yeah, look, something might come out. I'm trying to see that, dude. I'm not saying it.

I'm just saying, I wouldn't be sitting here saying, oh, I mean, he's never been caught up on this and this and this. I haven't heard anything. Okay, if it comes out, Diddy had a whole trial with discovery? Right. By what? What?

When do we have a trial? Did he have a trial? He did. Yeah, that's why he's in prison right now. Diddy had a whole trial with discovery. I figure maybe we would have heard something by then. There's lots of names that were attached to it. Did you watch the documentary?

No, I did not watch the documentary. You really should watch the documentary. Why? That's nasty. Of course it's nasty, but you should really watch it. It's history. And now G.J. is upset because I took up for Harden. I'm not crapping on MJ.

Look, MJ. Yeah, you are. You actually are. We're just making arguments. We're two friends talking right now. You're either crapping on MJ or you're... LeBron. One or the other.

Oh, why do you? I don't care. You can say whatever I'm doing. I'm just making an argument. Well, technically... Technically, they're saying it. Not making the finals nine times, not impressive. We'll talk about that more here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross on Sports Talk 790. That's very rude.

Matt Thomas has the meanest liners about him ever. I think they're softening up over the years. That's an old one. You know, we need to get rid of anyone that says Matt Thomas show and it doesn't say with Ross on it. Yeah, but if you can be mean to Matt, don't you like that? That's like your side hobby. No, I'm not mean to Matt. Okay.

Are you serious? I'm nice to Matt every day. Every day. Every day I bite my tongue. What do you want to say, Jada? Go ahead. No, no. I just feel like with all these New Year's resolutions and no one's sticking up with it.

Well, it's February 4th, the New Year's resolutions. It's over. I swear to you on the Bible and the Quran and the whatever the Buddhists are using and the Torah and every, the whatever, the whatever. appendage, spaghetti monster, whatever you want me to swear on. I will swear on it. Every day, every day I hold back. Oh, I believe that.

But two things can be true. Okay? You can be mean to Matt and be holding back. No, we're not being mean. We're teasing. He teases me. I tease him. It's the tenor of the show.

Do you guys still play the thing at the beginning of Friday shows where it's like innuendo sound bites and stuff? Yeah, thanks for listening. Well, it's been a while. That's okay. It's fine. Well, listen, I'll be honest with you. Once you guys started at 10 a.m.,

it really screwed up my schedule. That's okay. It screwed up much. That makes two of us. Yeah, well, when you guys started at noon. I'm a natural night owl, man. Now I've got to get up two hours earlier every day. It's not easy for me.

I don't know why. It's my whole family. No, I'm nocturnal, too. Do you still play video games primarily at night? No, I had to quit. I had to quit because I was playing at like 4 a.m. I had to quit chess. You know when that stopped for me?

I have addictive traits. okay, I got problems. All right. Trying to fix it. Trying to get better, 2026. The minute Carson started kindergarten, which meant we had to walk out the door at 7.20 to get him there on time. No more GTA.

That's about the time that my, it's not that I stopped, but the 2 a.m. stuff did not happen. That's okay, because I don't think I'm going to be on my deathbed saying, man, I wish I played more video games. No, but it really is like a, I think. I've been transitioning to like reading and try to read more books and do other stuff to kind of calm my brain. so I can go to sleep. Yeah.

What are you going to go to the old folks home next week? No, I don't, dude, I highly recommend this. I highly, look, I got old, bro. We both did. I'm in my 40s now. I will highly recommend. Jonathan, you're young. I'm going to tell you this.

You don't have to listen to me, but eventually, hopefully you do. Reading every night, just 20 to 30 minutes, it will change your brain chemistry. It's so much better. You're asleep easier? Okay, good. Are you reading from a book? Yeah. Or from a screen?

My book. Okay. Physical books. I like physical books. The blue light thing is real. Yes. They say it's not good for you to consume it right before you go to sleep. Like it interrupts your REM sleep and all that.

I don't know. Yeah, absolutely. I'm sleeping better. I'm more relaxed. It's, yes. Are you taking brisk walks? I'm trying to. Are you shoveling metamusell down your throat now?

I'm doing all that stuff, man. I'm trying to get better, man. Can I give this way? I'm trying to be better than I was yesterday. I walk in yesterday and he's eating oatmeal. Who me? Yeah. Yeah.

And I'm like, we really are old now. It's high fiber too. What's up? But I walk in and I say... Get it from Kroger for like $1.50. Why does it smell like bubble gum in here? And you go, well, it's got a fruit to it. It's got some fruit in there.

I smell great in here. In the last 12 months, I'm down 33 pounds. You've lost 33 pounds in the last year? Ooh, good for you. Yeah, great for me. This time I'm going to keep it. I've always been a fluctuator or a yo-yoer, but no. Do your joints feel better?

Absolutely. My knees... You know it would make them feel even more better. My knees in my back. It's carrying 33 pounds a lot. Imagine putting a 30-pound backpack on your back all day long. And then imagine you get to take that off. Some people put those on to go exercise.

No, I do that. I do that to go. I have a weight vest and I have a back because I like to go hiking, as you know. You should also call QC. So it's like practicing for hiking. I have a backpack and I put all my gear in there and then I go walk on a Memorial Park or wherever. There's no. I'd like somewhere with elevation in Houston.

Oh, there's no of that here. Exactly. It's all flat. It's like Kansas here. So I can't really replicate that. But there's the hills with the overpasses now. You can go back and forth on those in Memorial Memorial. Now, I will say this, of all the people I work with, Ross takes the most environmentally friendly, healthy for you vacations.

Well, I'm hiking under the stars. Oh, it's so peaceful. The rest of us are like, ah, we're going to this commercial, you know, setting. Look, I like Vegas, too, but I got to get in nature. But I grew up like camping with my family and I was a Boy Scout. Like, I love camping. I wondered where you got that from. The peaceful and the serenity of being out in nature.

that air is good to breathe too. Oh, Mountain air. You get that high mountain air. You get that high mountain air. And you can feel it energizing you as you hits your lungs. Well, it's not carbon monoxide. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Go get some fresh air.

Go get some fresh air. And not on the West Loop. And this has been Ross's Leisvidice. This is a good TED talk we're having. I mean, I'm just trying. I don't think I'm any authority. I'm not really somebody to give advice. I'm just telling you what's been helping me.

Do you remember some of the finals? This guy wants to yell at you real quick, so I want to get him in. Let's get LJ. LJ New Zealand. He's back, baby. He called from another country. What's going on? I'm back home.

Yep, but I still listen. I'm on my way to work. And first, I just want to give you, Ross, a pat on the back for having to deal with those verbal gymnastics and hoops you've got to deal with. So a pat on the back. The next thing is, you know, dealing with Skip Clanton is, you know. Hey, shut your bum ass up, LJ. Shit your bum ass.

I'm coming there. I'm coming there. So not be impressed with LeBron James is one thing. Like to not be impressed by the nine in a row and all the stuff he'd done, to not be impressed by that is one thing, okay? Who wouldn't be? I don't know. But to not be is one thing.

But the disdain that you have for LeBron James, to be honest, I question something about you because you really won't come out and say it, but I don't know. So to think about it is, why you really hate LeBron James? Say what? I don't know.

What are my not coming out? What am I not coming out and saying? I don't know. No, you called and said that. You tell me what you're insinuating, LJ. What? The question is, I don't know. Why would a man not like the man?

No, no, no, no, no, no. You said, you said, I'm not going to come out and say it. So what am I not coming out and saying? What, that's what the question is. You're not saying it because you don't, you don't call on his life. He wins. No, no, no, he wins. Like, there's nothing about to do that.

What are you even said? He's got a losing record in the finals. Championships? Uh-huh. Championships. What do you mean? You don't count the times you go. You count how many and you win.

Right. Michael went six times. He was six for six. No, no, no. No, he was. That's actually a fact. He was. Six for six.

You should look it up. Yes. Okay. Okay, that's fine. But you're, I want to go back to what you're insinuating that I wouldn't say. You just, you called in to say it, but you won't say it. You're the one not saying it. Why don't you say what you think?

No, what I call. What I think? I think you're skip planning is what I think. What does that mean? And what I think is, what that means is you're just trying to just say this stuff, then you might not even mean it. Like, I don't even know. Use your words. Come on.

I'm using my words. Not really. You just say the stuff you say is BS. I can't say the words. Well, the stuff you say is BS. So there you're at it. It's like, there we go. We got a little.

Why don't you call the A team and let's finish this. Oh, yeah. Call back, baby. We got to end the show. I'm sorry, Kyle. I kick your ass twice. I really. Just, Kyle wants to know what he said bed on when he goes back is or no.

Right now? Yeah, because it's a gold tomorrow. Oh, I like the Seahawks minus four and a half. I also like the under 45 and a half. Nice. That's all I got right now. All right, Kyle, appreciate you. That's a cowardly call from L.J., by the way.

And you know why, LJ. Call back. Clanton wants you to call back. So we have to end the show. We have to end the show. Thanks to Adam Clay. I hate people to call like that. I mean, we played the whole big old card.

Caller yelled at Clinton. We talked about OJ. We talked about Michael Jordan. We didn't get Tupac, unfortunately. Why don't you have callers yelling at Wex? when he fills it. That'll be the next time here on the Mad Thomas show with Ross. I'll talk to you guys at 6 o'clock on the ad.

Wait, not Astros on deck. Rocket's Launchpad coming up here. Sports Talk 790. Stay tuned for the A team. Don't go anywhere.