A born and bred New Yorker, comedian Sam Morril may be frivolous when it comes to many things, but when it comes to his New York Knicks, he doesn’t mess around. He’s a stand-up comic and a Knicks fan, in that order. You can often find the 37-year-old Morril at Madison Square Garden rooting on Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle when he isn’t on the road, touring.
You can also find him on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz needling ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.
Morril, who recently appeared on Le Batard’s South Beach Sessions podcast, now serves as the show’s New York Knicks correspondent, offering a different perspective than the overzealous amount of Miami Heat talk.
Morril has experience discussing sports on various platforms. He co-hosted the Games with Names podcast with Julian Edelman, although Edelman has taken the lead due to scheduling constraints and relocation to the West Coast for his Fox Sports gig. Morril also co-hosted the basketball podcast Pod Don’t Lie w/ Stav and Sam with comedian Stavros Halkias, but they haven’t released an episode since May 31, 2022.
It’s no secret that Morril is a huge basketball enthusiast. However, he doesn’t appreciate the First Take host, who he feels pretends to be a Knicks fan, at all.
So, how Morril feels about Smith shouldn’t surprise anyone who remotely follows the comedian.
He took the opportunity to take another shot at Smith during a discussion surrounding Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein.
“He is,” Morril said in response to Le Batard’s claim that a lot of people would laugh at the idea that the 25-year-old is the difference maker against the Boston Celtics. “Because matchups are everything. And as much as I love Mitchell Robinson, I think the [Kristaps Porziņģis] matchup is a little difficult. Much love to KP, another former Knick, who I think we wish things ended differently, obviously.
“But, I think Hartenstein defensively — like if you watch basketball — that’s why I know Stephen A. Smith doesn’t watch basketball when he goes, ‘Some guy named Hartenstein.’ Shut up, Stephen A. Watch an actual game before you discredit the blue-collar work ethic of the great Isaiah Hartenstein, who has been the glue this year. And I can only hope that we can find the money to re-sign him.”
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It didn’t take long for Le Batard to ask Morril about his distaste for Smith’s Knicks analysis.
“He’s a curse to the franchise,” the comedian said. “Stop rooting for us. I don’t want you on our side. Anytime he calls a game, we lose. Go away!”
That’s when the Le Batard Show panned to Smith talking about the Milwaukee Bucks-New York Knicks matchup on Christmas Day. Smith said on NBA Countdown that he respectively disagreed with his colleague, Kendrick Perkins, picking the Knicks to win a game in which they won 129-122.
“And we all know how I feel about the Knicks, but they’re 26th in defensive efficiency rating. Mitchell Robinson is out, Jericho Sims is out, so I got to deal with some dude named Hartenstein… He never gives you — he never shortchanges you with effort; I’m not trying to be disrespectful.”
“Yeah, you are disrespectful. Some guy? This dude’s an NBA player,” responded Morril. “I have to listen to some guy named Stephen A. Smith who doesn’t know what the **** he’s talking about. Like, how could ESPN get any worse? I’m just like, dude, replace him with [Richard Jefferson] or [JJ Redick] or someone who knows what they’re talking about. And thank God for Kendrick Perkins, who’s become a surprising ally to Knicks Twitter and the Knicks fanbase.
“I never thought I’d find the day where I loved Kendrick Perkins, but this guy finally gives us props. TNT, I love those guys, but they won’t give the Knicks props; they won’t give Jalen Brunson props. I don’t know what Kenny Smith has against New York being a New York guy, but get over it, dude. We’re here. No one wants us in the playoffs; we just gotta get healthy.”
Whether it’s Smith or some of his producers, we know that he hears what’s said about him on the Le Batard Show, so it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see him respond to Morril on his The Stephen A. Smith Show at some point.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.