Anthony Davis, Lakers-Pelicans, and free agency

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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(00:29):
waite wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
We're live fun Monday morning, iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, and
wherever else we land, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. Yeah. I was

(00:50):
gonna go on vacation, but I scheduled my VACA for
Tuesday because I thought about a couple of weeks ago,
I thought Anthony Davis d Toronto's better than I thought
series could go seven. So I'm gonna schedule my VACA
for Tuesday, so vacations can wait. Father's Day. I hope

(01:12):
you had a great Father's Day. Yesterday I watched five
hours of golf and was on Twitter with Anthony Davis thoughts.
So the Lakers have reached the deal to get Anthony Davis,
who won the trade. That's what we want to know,
right Well, the Pelicans got three draft picks, two draft swaps,
two starters, a bench guy, six total players, two drafts

(01:35):
swaps for Anthony Davis. Feels lopsided New Orleans. But even
with the Pelicans, I could give you several narratives a
Pelicans look at all those pieces, Zion plus Lonzo equals
highlight film. Six players for one guy, what a future?

(01:55):
Or B Lonzo Ball doesn't want to be there and
he brandon Ingram can't stay healthy. Draft picks are nineteen
year olds. Do you watch the finals? Not a lot
of those. There was one young guy in the whole
finals that mattered, Fred Van Vliet, and he went to
college for a bunch of years, so he came into
the League of man Lakers. This morning we got a

(02:19):
d we won. I could have several narratives there A.
Now you have the best star combo in the NBA,
Lebron plus Anthony Davis, both healthy, both rested. Also, this
is big for me. Got to keep Kyle Kuzma paying
him nothing for two years, which allows you to go
get another big guy. And Vegas has your title favorite

(02:44):
or B two stars and we've only got five guys
on the roster, right now and Lebraun plus a great
big is going to be good. But he and Bosch
had issues. He and Kevin Love had some issues. We
always want instant analysis, a grade. Who won? But what

(03:08):
both the Pelicans and the Lakers really did. They chose
a direction, That's what they did. The Pelicans, it's a
football city run by football people until David Griffith got there,
can sell hope, future optimism, that's good enough. And the
Lakers kids took over for Dad. Kind of rudderless once again, contenders. Listen,

(03:32):
the Pelicans chose a direction, hope, we're not just a
football city. That's what they need and can sell in
that city, and they delivered it. And the Lakers, you know,
kids aren't as good as Dad. Stock prices, reeling standards
are higher. A lot of options in Los Angeles, nfls

(03:55):
now in town. We need to be important today and
dispel all this notion we are rudderless. Check check both teams.
You can talk about draft picks, but you know why
they're excited in New Orleans Zion he's a star. And
you know why they're excited in Los Angeles because they
have a d and Lebron two stars. I don't want

(04:18):
to hear about draft picks, folks. If you take Zion out,
the Pelicans got a bunch of questions. Lonzo Ingram can't
stay healthy, Josh Hart, somewhat bench guy, A bunch of
draft picks. If you took Zion out, the next three
years for the Pelicans looks like one of those edible arrangements. Ooh,

(04:40):
cantlope on a stick. I've always wanted that Zion's the
key to everything. He's the son everything. You'll rotate around it.
Brandon Ingram blood cut lot issue. And the Lakers privately
told people about Brandon Ingram a year ago. They'd come
to terms with not really an alpha, great at anything,

(05:01):
good at some things. Can't stay healthy, Josh Hart, total ceiling, Lonzo.
He's missed like sixty games and a number four pick
in a draft with three absolutes. But what I can
say definitively is both teams chose a direction hope and optimism.

(05:21):
In New Orleans, win now and contend in Los Angeles.
Neither team this morning, neither franchise this morning feels rudderless,
and that's a win for both teams. Now, let me
shift to multiple angles on this Let's start with this one.
Reading the headline, Lakers making Kembo Walker top target after

(05:46):
the eight deal. Kemba's not as gifted as Kyrie, but
he would be considered a third star. You also hear
Jimmy Butler, you hear Kyrie. Let me talk about this
land a third star thing, because the Lakers this morning
now have a choice. Land Kemba, go after Jimmy Land,

(06:07):
you know, a third guy, Wait to land the big fish,
or take the twenty twenty five million and land a
bunch of heavy veterans. Trevor Reza, Danny Green, JJ Reddick,
Patrick Beverley's out there. That's the option I believe in.

(06:27):
Sprinkle the infield, get a bench, get veterans. Do you
watch the finals? Not a lot of babies in that,
not a lot of teenagers in that. Those are men.
Twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty thirty one, Marc Gas, Saul
Sir Jibodka, Steph Curry, Draymond Green. I mean it was
it was grown ups. Fill their roster out with reliable

(06:49):
B and B minus guys because those guys in May
and June, you're not teaching them how to play basketball.
Jamal Crawford Brooks Lopez again, he green Listen. Lebron's always
understood very few players are at his level physically. He
gets that. But what drives Lebron nuts, and this is

(07:10):
when he puts his head down and sometimes gets discouraged
and seems distracted, is when you're not at his intellectual level.
And there's not a nineteen twenty twenty one year old
in America on his intellectual basketball level. There isn't Lonzo's smart.
He's not there, and so veterans motivated to get a ring.

(07:31):
JJ Reddick, Rudy Gay, Darren Collison's a name out there.
And let's be honest about the third star under Lebron.
They always feel left out because Lebron's ball centric. Chris
Bosh felt like a Valet Kevin Love luggage carrier. They
always feel like underutilized their agents in their ear, you're

(07:54):
not a three year old one, They're lucky to have you.
Lebron's a ball dominator. In fact, the only third guy
I would really consider as Clay Thompson, and that's mostly
because of his personality. He's perfect. But if I can
get a JJ Reddick, case Seth Curry, a Danny Green
at George Hill, high IQ shooters plus Lebron. I'm not

(08:18):
a big believer in go top heavy. With a third star,
you'll have no bench. Lebron now is not twenty seven. Okay,
He's not giving you forty two minutes tonight. He's not interested, frankly,
to play a ton of minutes on the defensive end.
He's not giving you eighty two games. He's gonna give
you seventy. So the bench matters. Depth matters. When your

(08:39):
superstar is gonna be thirty five next year and he's
still great, you're not getting forty minutes. You're not getting
eighty two games. Go find a Mark Gasol, Go fill
out the roster with intellectual equals. He respects. You got
your two stars. We have a history here. Lebron works

(08:59):
well with smart guys shooters and another star. You add
a third, there's always the guy feeling undervalued, underutilized. Bosh
Love Hall of Famers kind of felt like valets had
to marginalize themselves their games got don't and Kenma Walker
is a good guy, Like he's a good guy, but

(09:20):
you get Kenma Walker. You got no bench. And for
the record, a D's not giving you eighty two games either,
he's probably giving you sixty nine seventy. All right. A
lot of angles on this, A lot of angles on this.
Fred van Vleet will join us today. By the way,
Toronto Raptors are NBA champs. We continue to show love
to Canada. Last year I vacation there. This year I

(09:42):
talk about the Raptors, Doug Gottlieb, Chris Brussard, all sorts
of stuff coming up next. The most interesting player in
this draft is not Anthony Davis. There's another component to
this draft, Lonzo Ball, and it is got There's a
lot of certainties in this draft. He is. You might

(10:05):
as well what was the Riddler put a question mark
on Lonzo Ball? Because I got a lot of questions
about that going forward within a year. I'm not sure
he's gonna be a Pelican. I'll explain that coming up.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio

(10:26):
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(10:49):
bunch of different draft picks and players and Josh Hard
off the bench and the Star, Anthony Davis and Brandon Ingram,
Lonzo Ball go to New Orleans. You ever noticed this?
Go with your instincts on this. You can tell right
away when a marriage is not a long term relationship.
None of you thought Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra would

(11:12):
last forever. None of you. None of you felt Lisa
Marie Pressley and Nicholas Cage was gonna last forever. Wasn't
even Nicholas Cage knew? See what I can get out
of this? It's not gonna last long. Kim Kardashian and
power Forward Chris Humphries did that, say? Joanna Woodward and
Paul Newman, Katie Perry, Russell Brand, Taylor Swift and anybody

(11:37):
Lyle love at Julia Roberts. You can tell that stuff's
not lasting forever. Lonzo with the Pelicans feel short term
to me. It's got two years left an he'd never
been out of LA. When did Lonzo and LaVar Ball
ever say before this move? God, I would love to

(11:57):
play in New Orleans. Never they didn't visit two Lane
on a recruiting trip. La kid born in bread b.
Lonzo's missed the last thirty five games of last year.
In his NBA career, he's played ninety nine, He's missed
sixty five and even when he plays, he's rarely one

(12:20):
hundred percent healthy. Those wickets aren't great. See you want
LaVar ball hanging around this organization. The Pelicans now are
optimistic and fun and Zion and Lonzo is not going
to be the star here. Drew Holliday's the best player,
Zion's the most magnetic player. You think Lonzo and LaVar,

(12:41):
especially LaVar, are gonna be happy him being the third
most talked about guy. And frankly, most people in the NBA,
like Ingram is a town over Lonzo. He could get
lost in this and LaVar is a lot of static.
There's also something to remember. The NBA Draft is only
two rounds, and they mostly there's a lot of exceptions.

(13:01):
They mostly run out of players by about fifteen over
the last thirty years. You get two All stars a
draft two two and a half. Then you get about
eight guys who sign a third NBA contract that can
really play. Then there's just a bunch of dudes. Okay,
So you in the NBA draft, you just draft who
you think can make the league. You don't get picky.
You got a forward already, the forwards the best available guy.

(13:24):
You take a forward. You know, it says not like
the NFL, where the Patriots needed a pass rusher. They
need a corner, they need a wide receiver. They went
out and got that receiver Arizona State that probably wasn't
the highest ranked player, but they needed a wide receiver.
So you can be a little picky. You can tell
the press, oh, we just draft for value. You needed

(13:44):
a receiver. You went and got a receiver. And Belichick
hates drafting receivers, but there's some need here in the NBA.
You just pick a guy you think can make the
league because not many guys make the league. And right
now after the trade, Pelicans have the number four pick
and the fourth best player is Darius Garland, easily the
best guard out of Vanderbilt can play. Now, there's not

(14:08):
a lot of video on him, like Kyrie Irving, didn't
play a lot of college games, but he's great. So
you draft him because you don't get tricky on this. Well,
we have Drew Holiday, we have Lonzo. We don't really
need a guard. Take a guy who think's going to
be the fourth best basketball player available in the draft
Berry d if it was another forward, you take Zion

(14:30):
and you take another forward. You just do it and
you figure it out later. So I don't think. I
think you get Darius Garland, who could be potentially very
good Southern kid. Comfortable there, You got Drew Holiday, you
play him nine twelve minutes opening year. Lonzo's undoubtedly going
to get hurt. He starts fifteen, and then in a

(14:51):
year you move Lonzo. If he's not happy, you're not happy.
You got your guard. But you got to be very
careful in the NBA. You gotta be careful. Don't try
to outthink the room. Who at number four is the
best talent available, regardless of your need draft him, and
a lot of people think it's Darius Garland from Vanderbilt

(15:13):
and he's a guard. So I did. Lonzo doesn't feel
like New Orleans. It's I would be very interested in
one year. Now. If Lonzo has a very good year,
becomes a nice trade piece, then you have Garland. You
got Drew, you got Zion, you got Ingram. Maybe now
you can move him four a big Now, now you've

(15:33):
got a good team. Now I can be a little
choosier in a trade. Trades are to fill spots. Drafts
are to just get dudes who can play and stick.
So I don't think. I just don't feel of all
the players, Lonzo is the one to keep your eye on.
I don't. It doesn't feel like this feels much more Kardashian.
Chris Humphries to me than Tom And you know, Rita Hanks,

(15:55):
You know that doesn't feel like it's gonna last for
forty years. It just doesn't. It just does not to me.
Veteran news man John Goulay, No, no, this is the
herd Line News. So immediately after the Raptors won the
NBA title, the focus kind of shifted to if they
could keep Kawhi Leonard in Canada or not. And on Sunday,

(16:19):
their guard in front of the show, Fred van Vleet,
spoke to reporters, but he said it's out of their hands.
But he came here and do what he was supposed
to do. So he brought this city of championship, and
you know I think he's earned his freedom in his
career to do what he wants to do, and we'll
all respect him and you know, admire him. And if
he's on another team and we just had to kick
his ass next year, but hopefully he'll be back. What

(16:43):
are the odds that the Raptors can keep Kawai? I
don't know. I you know, I'm reading all this stuff
to I write a story this morning. Oh, Kawhi's going
to the Lakers. It's like I've said this from the beginning.
I don't buy any of the reports on Kawai. I
don't think anybody knows. And if you do, I'm not
gonna go and try to scoop it. You tell me
and I'll retweet your tweet because I don't. I don't know,

(17:04):
and I eat and talk. Well. That brings me to
my next story. According to former Lebron teammate Damon Jones,
there is a quote strong possibility that Kawhi Leonard could
become a Laker next season. That would be a pretty
big departure because we kind of thought it's either stay
in Toronto or go to the Clippers. This also brings
into play the timing of the Anthony Davis trade right

(17:26):
without going into too much detail. If the trade happens
on July sixth, which reportedly at will, the Lakers actually
do not have a max slot available. There's kind of
closer to twenty three or twenty four million. If the
trade gets put on hold until July thirtieth, they would
have a max slot available. Do not ask a follow
up to me on that one, because I have no
explanation as to why that is. Yeah, but they don't

(17:48):
have it unless it was brokered in the deal. Do
we know if it was all right? That would be
either we would have to that would have to have
been agreed to by the Pelicans, or the Pelicans would
want to They would have to do the Lakers a
favor and say we'll wait to do the trade. If
I'm Pelicans, I'm not gonna help you get Kauhi. We're
in the same conference, right, that's your problem. Yeah, forgetting
all of that. Do you actually think Kawhi to the

(18:08):
Lakers is possible? It doesn't. It doesn't know. You can't
read him, but it doesn't feel right. It doesn't know.
And again, so now he's not only going to give
up a guaranteed year of income, he's gonna take a
bargain price like I just don't. Again, I don't help
and join two other superstars. And first of all, if
he was there again, you'd have no bench, and Kawhi

(18:31):
is gonna take twenty off and Lebron fifteen and you'd
be a very good playoff team. You don't only get
two on average per night. You'd be a good playoff team.
You'd probably you know you're gonna be in the finals.
We'll see what happens. Yeah, I mean again, if you
could make it happen. I'm not a big believer in
getting a third star because I don't buy Kawhi's coming here.
But if you told me sprinkle the infield or get Kauai,

(18:54):
the NBA history tells you get the star. Well. Also,
if if he's looking to win a title immediate, which
the Lakers would be doing, if you teamed up with
Lebron and a d he could just staying Toronto for
another year. Remember they have the same team coming back
next season. He could just say, you know what, let's
try to win two in a row and then I'll
look at free agency. There's no rush. And finally, despite

(19:15):
a big push from two time US Open champion Brooks Kepka.
Gary Woodland held on to win the US Open at
Pebble Beach yesterday. Tiger had an interesting day. He struggled
early on the easy holes and then was on fire
on all the holes you're supposed to struggle with. I
watched five hours at five and a half hours of that,
never moved off the couch at so much Father's Day.

(19:35):
It's my day, right. You know, you've often criticized people
who spend that much time actually golfing, and you spent
five and a half hours watching other people. Go yeah,
I mean, I don't. I get. The thing is, not
only did I watch golf, but I watched US Open golf.
I watch the most beautiful course on the West Coast,
and I also watched it when everybody felt like by
Friday they had a shot. So I think everything sort

(19:57):
of lined up for me to sit and watch five.
Woodland a nice guy, you know, he's not big personality,
affordedly like the nicest guy on the tour. I don't
know if you saw all the A lot of the
other golfers stayed on the eighteenth hole to like congratulate
him when he was done Spiff and some of those guys.
I actually thought even though he won by three strokes,
it was an interesting final round because he kept making

(20:20):
mistakes and then he would recover from How about that
chip putt? How about that was the shot of the tournament. Wow,
I didn't I mean, I didn't know you could chip
it from the green. Apparently you can do. That was
a great crazy shot. Yeah, that's the news. Veteran newsman
John Goula, Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping

(20:41):
the Herdline News. Oh it is great to have you
in here today. It really is. It is so much fun. Yeah, listen,
I'm gonna have a game later next hour called Vaca
or stay. Because the staff this morning said, as we
were prepping for the show, said how many stories would
have kept you from your vacation? And they get They're
gonna give you about ten and we'll see what they are.

(21:04):
I heard one of them. It's actually pretty funny. I
wouldn't have stayed for a lot of stories. But I
think when you have the Laker brand, free agency's huge.
Anthony Davis is the top five six player in the league.
It's the lebron thing. And you know my brand is
you know, connected somewhat the Lebron, the Lakers. I talk
a lot about him, so you know, it's it's one

(21:24):
of those things where I kind of felt like, today's
a day where you gotta be in. There's too much
going on, and you go for it. You just go
for it. I think it's one of those days you
have to go for it. Chris Bruce or it will
be joining us. I'll get a thumbs up from our
crew when he's available, and we'll go from there. I
will say this in regards to brooks Kepka, this is

(21:45):
one thing I'll say yesterday at the US Open. That
guy is effortless, and not all great athletes are effortless.
Steph Curry. I can see struggle. Bryce Harper, I see
a struggle. Lebron. I can see him lose confidence seventeen
years in into his jumper. Brooks Kepka, man, it's like Gretzky,

(22:05):
like he's just skating around having fun. Wyron's work, putter works,
Fairway woods tee. Everything works with that guy, and it's
just you don't see the struggle. Everything works, and it's
not that way with all the great ones. There's about
seven of them. Gretzky just was skating around smarter than everybody,
and the puck just always ended up in the right spot.
It looked like Wayne was just skating on a Sunday

(22:29):
by himself, and then you put a bunch of NHL
guys around him. Some guys MJ had this. It's just effortless.
It's just easy kept because that guy. I mean, it's
of something to behold, all right. Chris Brussard, Fox Sports
rodio with Rob Parker every day, the odd couple, you know,
the feeling this morning Lakers gave up too much? What

(22:50):
did you make of that that thought? Well, look, I
definitely think it was a good deal for the Lakers.
I think it was a good deal for both. This
is not a cop out. You know, people want you
to pay decide, But I do think both teams got
what they needed. The Lakers are obviously aren't win now
Mold with Lebron, so they got a d not to
mention these young and he'll be there much longer than

(23:12):
Lebron at the centerpiece. And obviously New Orleans got a ton.
To answer your question, I do, though, think the Lakers
gave up too much like they did. I think Obviously
Kuzma was a sticking point, but I may have said
it on your show last week instead of Kuzm, I
thought it would end up being hard and you know,

(23:34):
still the number four pick they got, you know, New
Orleans got the three players they wanted, Ingram, Heart and
Ball the number four pick, I think that would have
been enough to throw into two future first round picks.
That's what I think takes it over top. And when
the fact was the Lakers had the leverage or some

(23:55):
you know had the leverage, and I don't think they
had to give up as much because Ball often obviously
wasn't going to break the bank and give up all
their young assets on the chance, you know that he
would stay after one year. So I think that being
that they were in the driver receipt, the Lakers did
give up a little too much. Yeah, I mean they

(24:15):
gave up every draft pick for years, which I'm not
a big fan of. Though I don't think draft picks
end up in the NBA Finals. I kind of agree
with you on that. I'm here and now Kemba and
Kyrie to the Lakers. I would make the argument the
third star with Lebron has always felt left out Bosh,
Kevin Love. I'd make the argument, now you got your

(24:36):
great big Lebron's the ball handler and the score, and
now sprinkle the infield Patrick Beverley, Darren Collison, JJ Reddick,
get some depth, get veterans, get smart guys. I don't
necessarily like the idea of getting a third really good
player who may not feel utilized or happy, and then

(24:57):
you have zero bench and you got a bunch of
young guys that'll drive Lebron crazy, you know, either starting
or at the end of the bench, or first or
second off the bench. That's a great point. And it's
not just the third star with Lebron, Philly left out
that generally, that's a lot of NBA history. Remember when
it was Kobe Shock and Glenn Wright. Glenn Rights was

(25:19):
a great player, he was a star, and they won
a championship, but he didn't like it. He was the
third wheel, didn't get a ton of shots, that didn't
he averaged fifteen points that year. He wanted out, So
the third wheel and left. That's where like Klay Thompson
in Golden State, because he's such a catching shoot guy
that he could just he doesn't have to have the

(25:41):
ball very much at all to give you twenty points.
It can work with him, It could work with a
Magic Johnson because Magic is always looking the past and
get the other two stars the ball and make them
scores before himself. So that without that, that's why like Kyrie,
for instance, if Kyrie were the type of point guard

(26:01):
that was gonna set guys up yea, then it will work.
But no, he's gonna be wanting to get his and
saying with Kimba, So I do agree with you. There's
one superstar out there that I would if I could
get him, I would get him and then I wouldn't
even worry about the rest of the rafter. That's Kawhi. Yeah,
if I could get Kauai. And somebody told me last

(26:24):
week that if a D goes to the Lakers, Kawai
will seriously consider going there. That's a little hard for
me to believe, but this person was a bit plugged in,
so I just put it out there. But if I
could get Kauai with a D and Lebron, I think
it's over. I mean period, They're awesome defensively, Lebron is

(26:46):
essentially your point guard Kawhi. In addition to all he
does is also a very good three point shooter. Like
it's over, so I would go for him outside of
that now when I turned Kyrie down, probably not if
he really wants to go. I still don't think he
goes there. But I'm with you. I'm looking at a
guy like Patrick Beverly, I'm you mentioned Darren Collinson, Bogan By, Danovitch,

(27:12):
Brooke low Fans, Marcus Morris, like I'm looking at those
have got Seth Curry. Seth Curry can shoot him. And
I know Damian Little like playing with Seth Curry because
he stretches the floor in Portland. I mean that is
big time nowadays. So I do agree, you got two
major superstars go out unless you get Kauhi and pack

(27:37):
good players around them. You know, Chris Um, you know,
we know there's three really good players in this draft.
We know Barrett's gonna score a ton, Zion John Morant
the fourth best player in this draft, and there will be.
But there's no real conclusion among all general managers. I
could make an argument what I read and here is

(27:59):
Darry Garlands probably your surest success story. Can shoot, didn't
play a ton in college like Kyrie, but can really ball.
If I'm the Pelicans. You can't get you can't worry
about needs. Get a guy who's gonna be a really
good player, you draft him, and then, frankly, Lonzo Ball

(28:20):
doesn't feel like a Pelican for life. Lonzo's the odd
piece here for me. He's I don't think he's gonna
be happy. I think they'd get worn out if LaVar
starts talking. What do you make of the Lonzo ball
fit in New Orleans? Well, you mentioned Garland, and there
there's Kobe White from North Carolina. There cam Brattish, you

(28:40):
know who obviously was a teammate was Ion, So that
that's fourth figure right now. It's all over who it
could be. As far as linzough, I do know that
the Pelicans like him a lot. Alvin Gentry likely we
know Alvin Gentry is a very good offensive coach, my question,
and they liked so they picture him pushing the ball,

(29:02):
playing up tempo and getting you know, Diane Williams and
Ali up sensoul and so forth. So I do like
Linzo with all those offensive pieces as a ball mover.
Here's the question I have about Linzo with Alvin Gentry's offense.
Alvin Gentry is a Mike D'Antoni disciple to some degree offensively,

(29:26):
and then Tony typically has ball dominant point guard Steve
Nash as great as he was with ball dominant James Hardness.
Jeremy Lynn, who excelled under Dan, Tony canceled the ball
a lot, and they were high, you know, high picking roll.
That's not Linzo's game. Linzo likes to get it out

(29:46):
of his hands quickly. So I'm not saying Gentry can't
figure something out to work with that. But that's the
one thing I questioned, is Linzo the type of point
guard for an aw the Gentry type office rising On
Rondo was great under Gentry and led him to the
second round of the playoffs. Rondo dribbles the ball a lot,

(30:08):
so all of that is not what Linso does. That's
what concerns me. But I know right now, everything I've
been told is they're they're in on Linso. So I
think they're gonna give him a real chance to be
the guy here. By the way, I thought Kyle Kuzma
I was told privately, Lakers think he's a grown up
leadership skills, not paying him anything, and understands his value

(30:31):
in the league without a big ego. I thought Kuzma
was an essential piece to keep, and I was told
about a year ago, maybe maybe less than a year ago,
nine months ago, the Lakers thought Brandon Ingram had a
higher ceiling than Kuzma, but that they didn't feel like
Brandon had a lot of alpha, and they kind of
feel Kuzma does and will play big in big spots,

(30:53):
i e. The playoffs. So I my intel was maybe
maybe Ingram's more talented, but I got injuries, no alpha.
What your thoughts about keeping Kuzman all this, because I
do think they're paying him nothing for two years. There's
value here? Yeah, I mean I thought that was a
good movie. If push came to shove, I think they
would have given up Kuzman. Heart would have remained with

(31:15):
the Lakers, and maybe those draft picks don't go. But you,
as you say, you still need other offensive guys who
can be productive and Kuzman. Kuzman showed last year in
addition to the other strength that he can play in
the clutch, like he's not afraid to take the big shot,
not at all the big shot. Ye. So I do

(31:35):
like that about it. And the other thing Ingram, who
did show greatness or potential greatness at times, you know,
especially after the All Star break. I still question would
he have been He and Volved would not have probably
reached their potential with Lebron because both of them are

(31:56):
particularly Leblondo can't shoot. Ingram is good with the ball
all in his hands, and of course that's Lebron's role.
It reminds me of Julius Randall. Everybody's ratemn Oh Julius.
You saw what he did without Lebron, as you, Yeah,
he wouldn't have done that next to Lebron because Lebron
would add the ball and Randall wouldn't have had that
room to shine. It's similar with Ingram, whereas Kuzma can

(32:20):
play off the ball better and so I think he's
a better fit with Lebron. Chris Good, talking to you.
Odd couple later today, Rob Parker, who for the record,
did predict Raptors in six. They're having their parade today.
He did, Chris Good talking to you all right, Golins
coming up next. The Lakers went back to a formula

(32:41):
and you can go back to George Mike and this
is what they've done forever, not just a star, but
certain stars that's coming up, plus Colin right, Colin wrong,
Top of the Hour, just starting here, Fred Van Vleet,
Doug Gottlie, Bill Oorum covers the Lakers for The Athletic.
My thoughts on the US Open two It's the Hurt.
You're to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and

(33:02):
noon Easter nine am Pacific Yankees Battle Rays and our
Discovered card key matchup with a Discover at Miles card.
They matched the miles you earn at the end of
your first year at thirty thousand, become sixty. Discover at miles,
discover dot com, Slash travel to learn more, Discover match
for new card members only if you go back. Lakers

(33:23):
are favored to win the title, according to Vegas. That's
not my opinion. That's what Vegas is saying right now.
I would not make the Lakers a favorite to win
the title because it's lebron A d Kuzma and nobody
else on the roster. I don't feel the Lakers are
the best team in the NBA this morning. I think
Ambide Simmons, Tobias Harris, JJ Reddick and Jimmy Butler's better.
I think Milwaukee's core of six seven guys. I like

(33:45):
her better. I think Toronto. If Kawhi State is better,
I think Golden State. Frankly, even though Clay will be
out until March, I think Clay Staff, Looney, Draymond, Steve Kerr, Livingston,
Iggy's better. I don't think the Lakers are the best
team in the NBA this morning, I don't. I think
keeping Kuzma mattered much more to me than apparently anybody

(34:09):
else on Twitter. He's free for two years, he's a
grown up, he's got alpha, he plays seventy games, he
likes defense. Players like him. He's versatile, he's long, a
smart there's I like him a lot. People thought he
was an end table in a furniture sale. Nobody cared.
But I think lebron A d and Josh Hart this

(34:30):
morning feels good, but not close to a title. I
think Kuzma gets you into a group of about seven.
But I would not make the Lakers a favorite yet.
They got to fill the roster out and if you
don't get a bunch of Patrick Beverley's, and I think
those guys have valued then I wouldn't make them the favorite.
But I will say the Lakers have a formula, and

(34:53):
it kind of goes back to Jerry Weston Wilt. The
Lakers don't have a history of tiny point guards. It's
not a Laker thing. What they get is a great
ball handler score with the best big man, Jerry Weston Wilt.
Now you had Gail Goodrich, but Jerry west was a

(35:14):
scoring guard with the best big man in the league.
And then you had Magic Johnson who was a big
ball handler who could score with Kareem. And then you
had Kobe who wasn't the point but was often the
ball handler in the triangle with Shack. And then you
had Kobe with Gassol, a big ball handler, scorer, distributes,

(35:35):
but scores and a big man. Now you got Lebron,
the best big ball handler score in the league. He
is Kawhi is not the ball handler, he's not. Lebron's
the best big ball handler slash distributor score in the
league and Ads arguably the best big man. It's very
formulaic for the Lakers. AD. Now you can say best

(35:57):
big man Jannis. You don't want him near a free
throw late and bead. Lot of a lot of big injuries,
scary injuries, not like a d that gets a back
spasm or soreness and beads had stuff break or the
joker in Denver, Sorry Dad, body great, but he's not
a d defensively. So the Laker blueprint print is big

(36:19):
ball handler Kobe Magic, Lebron West that can score, and
a great big Mike and Wilt Kareem Shack. They kind
of went back and reinvented their history. The Knicks, by
the way, are doing that too. Talk a big game
Land Nobody. They're reverting back to their last two decades
of history. But that's what the Lakers do. It's their thing,

(36:44):
you know. Draft picks. It's it's not that I'm anti
draft pick. And the Pelicans got a bunch of draft picks. Okay, awesome,
and some gms are really good. At our Cbufrid at
San Antonio would find guys twenty seven thirty third second
round draft picks give you viability, hope, and a sense

(37:07):
of optimism. And that's a big thing for New Orleans.
But if you watch the finals, one young guy played
a lot and mattered Fred van Vliet and he went
to college for several years. It was a bunch of
twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty and thirty one year olds
and the one guy, the one quote, young guy, Fred
Van Vliet stayed in college, undrafted grinder, grown up. So

(37:30):
I mean, that's why Kyle Kuzma came to the Lakers.
Kyle Kuzma was at Utah for three years, so the
time he came to the Lakers, they felt he was
the best leader. By the way, they also felt Josh Hart,
who stayed at Villanova for three or four years, he
had leadership qualities. They thought Lonzo was talented but not
ready to lead. And they never thought ingram One and

(37:52):
Dunner had leadership qualities. This was the knock on D'Angelo
Russell for the Lakers. One and Dunner immature. So you know,
you look around, you're gonna have all these draft picks.
The Celtics have been winning trades for years and collecting
draft picks. One of them, Jason Tatum, feels like a
potential star one and he's not there yet. Collecting draft

(38:15):
picks and I didn't listen for New Orleans. That's all
they got because ad didn't want to be there. That's
all they've got. But collecting draft picks feels like collecting
Star Wars memorabilia that you put in your closet and
you're absolutely sure it's gonna be worth a fortune, But Chewbacca,
it never really is. It's just never worth what you
thought it was gonna be worth. And remember about the

(38:36):
NBA Draft, it's not the NFL draft. You get about
two stars, two all stars a draft. That's it twenty thirteen,
Jana Soladipot twenty fourteen and bead missed a couple of years.
The Joker twenty sixteen, one Ben Simmons and half you
hate him. So you know of the Pelicans five picks

(38:58):
or swaps, one's guarantee Zion after that, I'll Zion will
be a star. After that, you're rolling the dice because
that's And also, now the draft gives you nineteen year
olds it used to give you. Patrick Ewing and Tim Duncan.
Chris Paul been playing college basketball for multiple years in
the ACC against other third and fourth year men, So

(39:24):
you know Tim Duncan walked into the league. Patrick Ewing,
they had developed games, they played against other twenty two
year old pros. They were ready day one in the NBA, physically, mentally,
ready to go. You played in the biggest East, you
were ready to go. Those games were like NBA games.
Those games outrated regular season NBA games. It was nothing

(39:44):
but NBA guys on the floor. Now a nineteen year
old comes in the NBA, he's maybe in his conference,
played against one max two NBA guys. So a lot
of these these draft picks, those cats will have no
impact in big games in the NBA. I mean, if
you go look at the last number four pick in

(40:08):
the last decade, one number four pick Chris stops Porzingis
has been a dude and he can't stay healthy and
has some personal issues. I mean, mostly by the number
four pick in the current draft. It used to be
different again, you got man. Now you're getting kids, meaning
scouts don't see a ton of them, meaning you're rolling
the dice big on these number four picks. Here's some

(40:29):
other fours in the last decade. Cody Zeller, Josh Jackson,
Dragon Bender, cool Name, Wesley Johnson, Aaron Gordon, dunk Guy,
Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson. That's your fourth pick in the draft.
That's it. So draft picks A hour, two decks, one

(40:49):
more herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like. Ah,
here we go in a Monday hour two live in
Los Angeles. This is the Herd. Wherever you may be

(41:14):
in however you may be listening. My vacation on hold
for a day leaving tomorrow. Of course I'm here. Come
on later in the hour, vaca or stay? What other
stories would have kept me in town? Every Monday we

(41:36):
do something called Colin was right, Colin was wrong, and
stories that develop over the last seven to ten days
where I've had a strong opinion and I either whipped
or was spot on. So here we go where Colin
was right. The Celtics never a real player in the
Anthony Davis trade. I contend they leak stuff to make

(41:59):
make it worse for the Lakers and make the Lakers
give more picks because Danny Ainge hates the Lakers. The
sticking point was trading Jason Tatum, which we said would
always be the deal breaker. Danny Ainge, according to two reports,
was willing to trade Jason Tatum, but didn't want to
include anything with Jason Tatum, just a straight swap. And

(42:20):
Anthony Davis right now is a much better player than
Jason Tatum, who, for the record, I love, so I
wouldn't give up Jason Tatum either. I contend next year
the Celtics are gonna win fifty five games and be
in the Eastern Conference Finals. I actually think Kyrie heard him,
so I wouldn't have made the deal either, because he
was a randal. And I don't think Anthony Davis truly rich.
Paul told you his agent, you're I'm gonna stay there,

(42:40):
but I never bought they were you know, I never
bought this thing, and now it's all a bunch of
post trade comments never close where Colin was wrong. One
day after the Warriors lost the Finals, did Kevin Durant
sit back, reflect come to his senses? Now he already

(43:01):
met with Kyrie Irving? Really, I don't get the move
money less roster Nick's awful owner in New York weirdo.
I don't get it. The Warriors showed Kevin Durant at
every opportunity they loved him, and I also think this
Finals reshaped the narrative that they ab so lutely need him.

(43:23):
There's no question now Steph's not gonna win it without KD.
He needs help I mean, god Vegas has the Warriors
at like six fifth best odds to win the championship.
They wouldn't if Kde came back. So but he apparently
at least emotionally interviewing Kyrie already moved on. Where Colin
was right. Never understood how so many smart NBA media

(43:46):
types keep falling for the regular season stories. The NBA
regular season is a dress rehearsal. It's the driving range
of golf. Milwaukee number one regular season, most double digit
wins in league history, couldn't even win the East without
Lebron Denver number two regular season, couldn't win a second series.

(44:07):
James Harden thirty six a game. They all tech looked
exhausted by the end. Folks, regular season is a different
sport than the NBA playoffs. Guys like Draymond Green are
seven point seven rebound guys and then transform into key
starters in the playoffs. Kawhi Leonard completely shifts gears in

(44:31):
the postseason. Don't fall for mister January. It never works.
Where Colin was wrong. Congrats to the baby dinosaurs. I
never envisioned Fred van Vleet would be hitting the key
shots in this NBA Finals I'm not gonna lie I
whift on that one. I didn't think Kevin, Durant, Clay
and Cavon Looney would all get hurt. My bad. I

(44:53):
couldn't predict that. I've never seen a finals like that
where one team physically fell apart. I've never seen anything
like it. Seriously, I've never seen anything like it. And
I thought Warriors in six and it was the Raptors
in six where Colin was right. Well, the Oakland Raiders
wanted hard knocks a business decision and they got it. Listen,

(45:17):
we sat all along. The Raiders are trying to sell
season tickets in Vegas now that the Golden Knights are there.
Vegas has a professional franchise and they want to sell
forty thousand season tickets. So they're being active and aggressive
and noisy. This is a game plan. Antonio Brown acquisition
made no sense. If you looked at what they've done
with Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper, it made no sense

(45:39):
at all. Why not just keep Amari Cooper in. Khalil
Mack not the noisy guy. But John Gruden's got a
ten year deal. He and owner Marked Davis in cahoots
have come to terms with let's sell tickets for a
couple of years. You're safe here, I'm not buying you out,
and then we'll worry about winning years three on. But
we got to sell tickets, so Hard Knocks was a

(46:00):
business decision, and to me that's always been the first
two years to the Raiders, where Colin was raw ratings
way way up in the US Open. Now Brooks Kepka
I thought was actually interesting yesterday. I don't think he
has a big personality, but his last six majors, a
second of first, a second of first, thirty ninth in

(46:20):
the first. He's the first player to shoot under seventy
four straight rounds and not win the US Open. Again,
I don't think he's a captivating personality, but I think
his game is unbelievable. There's no visible flaws, and he's
kind of have a fascinating personality in that at major
at non majors, he barely cares. At majors, he's all in.

(46:43):
He's not gonna give you a lot verbally. But I
did think yesterday Kepka, with a chance to win a third,
move the ratings up like fort they got a five
point two. That's a big number. Now now some of
it is pebble Beach is a painting. I mean I
sat there and watched five and a half hours. It
wasn't because of Brooks keep cut until probably the last

(47:03):
ninety minutes. But he had some ability yesterday to move
the needle, and I think he did where Colin was right.
Lebron's a win now player. We predicted this trade last week.
We said it would happen, and it would happen fast.
That's why I scheduled a flight on Tuesday. I had

(47:23):
a feeling this puppy was gonna come down either Sunday, Saturday,
or Friday. The Pelicans wanted the Lakers number four pick
because that's the best pick out of all this for them,
is this number four pick. Most of those picks are swaps.
There's only one top ten or top eight guaranteed. So
this was a trade that you could really I mean,

(47:43):
I think all of us saw it coming, but I
felt it was going to happen forty eight hours, and
it did where Colin was raw. Lonzo Paul's Laker career
ended up being a bunch of nothing. A forty four
percent free throw shooter, ten points a game, thirty eight
percent from the field and never ever healthy, A loud dad,
some bad rap songs, talented, but never popped. You know,

(48:05):
he's a little too quiet and a little too passive,
And for my liking, I did think before he got
hurt last year he was more aggressive attacking the basket
and finishing at the rim. And I really like that, Lonzo.
He gave me about ten games of that, and there
are elements of his game I love. I still think
he's long, he's got incredible vision. I think he's a

(48:26):
good teammate. I think guys like him. David Griffin likes
him a lot, but I thought in the first two
years he would pop. He just frankly, he misses one
out of three games or more. He's hurt, and even
when he plays, he's not one hundred percent where Colin
was right. Well, we predicted last week the Golden State Dynasty.
They would lose Game six to Toronto and they would

(48:48):
lose their last game at Oracle and the dynasty would
feel like it's over. And Vegas has them as the
sixth best title odds. I think they're going to be
a really, really, really good version of Portland, a great
back court, a couple of decent wings or a big
but not intimidating, not scary. These dynasties tend to last

(49:08):
five years. The San Francisco Giants dynasty reminds me of
the Warriors. Five years, three titles, and then there's this
sense that you know what we owe all these guys
the maximount we can pay them. You do and you
get old and you have no bullpen and you have
no bench and you're really really top heavy, and that
feels like what they're gonna be. Kadi's probably gone and

(49:30):
plays not planned till March, coming off a major injury.
It feels at least now it's on hold. Where Colin
was right. We told you Baker Mayfield would get pushback
when he criticized running back Duke Johnson. Who wants a
new team. Don't mess with another guy's money, Tom Brady,
Russell Wilson, Andrew Locke, Drew Brees, be pro teammate, swallow

(49:57):
your opinion. Several teammates approached Baker Mayfield. Not the end
of the world, but Baker, you don't have to win
the moment. Sometimes again, I'll say it, Talent never dispute it.
Maturity often due quarterback is not just about you can
throw the ball and hit a twenty six yard out?
Are you a twelve year personality? The bore four, Russell Wilson,

(50:24):
Lucke Brady. It's why I like Jared Goff. He hides
he's not worried about his brand. He's worrying about being
in a good teammate and winning. It's why I like
Sam Darnold. That's why I like Andrew Locke. It's why
I like Russell Wilson. You don't have to win every argument,
and when you're twenty three and twenty four, you gotta
find the right personality, not just the right talent. Jay

(50:45):
Cutler at the talent. I never liked his personality. Philip
Rivers had less talent. I liked his personality. Colin Wright
Colin wrong on a Monday, So nice step, you know,
I just had a fantastic Whole Foods burrito. What a breakfast.

(51:05):
This is a life of luxury. Fred van Vleet. Later
in the hour, and coming up next, Bill Orem covers
the Lakers for the athletic smart guy right around the corner.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio

(51:25):
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. I will say this,
I'm watching the parade in Toronto and there's a million
and a half people there. Short term, it may not
help the ratings, but long term, you know, when the
Dallas Maverick shock everybody, or the Pistons beat the Lakers,
or the Raptors beat the Dynasty, it's hope. I remember

(51:46):
when I was a kid, Georgia Tech won a national
title in football. It was like, whoa where did that
come from? You know that's BYU won a national championship
in college football. You're like, right now, it doesn't feel
like anybody outside of Bama, Clemson or maybe Georgia can
win a national title. As much as we say the
NFL is lobsided, this is big. A Canadian team with

(52:09):
one star just won the NBA championship and it is
a beautiful, beautiful day. Fred van Vleet's supposed to join US.
I don't know how he's going to join US. I
don't know how I can hear himself. Think what phone
is strong enough that he'll hear me over a million
and a half people. Well, I came off vacation for
one day because this story broke and ironically, Bill Orum,

(52:31):
Laker insider for the Athletics, been on paternity leave and
this is his first day back. So we'll just try
to cobble this together. We're kind of distracted. Let's start
with this Bill. They gave up a bunch of picks,
three players, in your opinion, give up a little too much. Yeah,
it's a lot. I mean it's immediate with everything, right,

(52:52):
is everything except for Kyle Kuzma. But at this point
I have a hard sol we lose him. We got
you there, Do we have Bill Orum? I think we
just lost him. We'll try it again. We'll call it
Bill Orum one more time. It's really a scene in Toronto.

(53:14):
It's really crazy. It's a beautiful city and it's a gorgeous, gorgeous,
seventy five degree day in Toronto. They don't get too
many of these days. There's summers like Vancouver, pretty short,
but unbelievable. It's really a scene. It is really a scene.
Good for them, good for the Raptors, good for the NBA.

(53:34):
Next year, it's gonna be very interesting. Parodies never worked
in this league, but you're gonna have about six teams
Milwaukee Lakers, Golden State, you know, throwing Portland, Boston, you
know Denver. I think Denver's you know, it's funny. Nobody's
talking about Denver. Denver is the joker who's great and
a bunch of kids, they're all getting better. Denver is

(53:56):
just you know, it's funny. I didn't buy Denver this year,
but the Denver Nuggets next year with playoff experience. Oh god, yeah,
it was funny. The other day somebody said, who do
you like in the West, And I said, well, I
can tell you who nobody's paying attention to in the West. Denver.
They were a tough out this year. Now they didn't.
They lost at home several times, and they weren't a team.

(54:17):
They weren't a team that had lost much during the
regular season. So let's go back to Bill Orem of
the Athletic Lakers. Guy, let's let's start again with this.
Lakers gave up a lot. Your overall take on did
they give up too much? Bill? I mean, yeah, probably
you'd rather you know that you didn't have to include
all those picks or you know, I mean, the players
had to happen mathematically, but you would like to hang

(54:38):
onto some of those picks, maybe because it does sort
of cripple your ability to rebuild the draft long term.
But the reality is the Lakers had to make this deal.
They had to go get Anthony Davis kind of no
matter what the price was. It was the only way
they could control their own destiny this summer. Otherwise they
very much were running the risk of, you know, going
into free agency, trying to pitch the free agents on

(55:00):
playing with Lebron and these young guys who just had
a catastrophic season, and hey, you're in La also, and
that wasn't looking very promising. It didn't seem like there
was going to be a very robust market. Now, not
only do you have Anthony Davis, you've been able to
change the narrative around the team going into I guess
June thirtieth. Now with those free agents, I don't know,

(55:20):
you know, it's going to change the way Kawhi Leonard
ultimately you know, makes his decision or Tiree Irving. But
all those free agents now have to look at the
Lakers at least differently than they did. They have to
have a different conversation with their agents than they're having previously.
So in that sense, I think the Lakers did what
they had to do, which was just get the deal done.
There's some pain involved. They gave away some players who

(55:42):
you know, they obviously, you know, invested a lot in
I mean, there were entire seasons devoted to being bad
enough to ensure they got the picks that turned into
those players. Lakers fans have invested a lot of energy
into teams that were bad so they could get good
through these young players. And you know, they've now served
their purpose in terms of leading to Anthony Davis in

(56:04):
a trade. And you know, I think, you know, it'll
be interesting to see how we talk about this trade,
you know, seven, eight, ten years down the road. But
the thing that occurs to me is this trade had
to happen. This trade is not the move that is
going to be on trial if things go to hour
for the Lakers. Eventually, it's going to be the decision
to sign Lebron James in the first place, because if
you didn't have Lebron, you would not trade your entire

(56:26):
young core for anyone player, even Anthony Davis, as unique
and skilled and wonderful as he is, you wouldn't do that.
You wouldn't trade away your whole team for one guy.
But because you have a Lebron there, because you understand
he's gonna turn thirty five this year, and because of
all that comes with employing that man, they had to
make this trade. And so that's the move. That's the

(56:46):
decision point where they kind of changed their courses. Of
course their future now. Listen, if Kawi wanted to come,
I'd certainly say let's go with it. Kawhi, Lebron a d.
But if I can't get Kauai, my takeaway is, I
don't think Karee's a perfect fit with these two, or
Kemba's worth the money. I think you now go out
and get JJ Reddick, Patrick, Beverley, brook Lopez. I think

(57:08):
you get depth, a bench high IQ veterans that Lebron can.
I mean, I think you have your team, You've got
your two stars, you have a good young player, you're
not paying any now. I think you go get three
to four veterans who want to be part of an
IT team. Um that's my takeaway. I I don't think
a third star generally works. You get a lot of pushback.

(57:29):
Kyrie didn't like being a number two guys. He's not
gonna like being a number three guy, would you go
after another star? Would you sprinkle the infield? I mean
I think if I think, I think if it's Kawhi
or Tyree, they have to pull the trigger. The skill
level is just too high with those guys, UM not
not to have the chance to have you know, the best,
the best, you know, true core in the league. I

(57:49):
think it's in terms of a Big three UM, but
the reality and beyond that, I agree it falls off
pretty quickly and you run the risk of things being UM.
You know, is Jimmy Butler Is Jimmy Butler a guy
who would would respond well to that situation because kemba
Walker as good as what you'd be committing to UM financially.

(58:09):
But the thing that I do worry about with this
team is what kind of contracts are you going to
be getting the JJ Reddick Brook Lopez type guys at
I mean, is it all one year deals? Are you
running a team that you know going the next summer
you're having to completely retool again. That's been one of
the lakers big issues is a complete lack of coninuity UM,
you know throughout the organization and the roster. So are

(58:32):
they going to be able to get some guys who
they know can be part of their future for at
least this this run with Lebron in a d um
you know, presumably at least at least three years, and
so you can get a couple of guys on on
multi year deals to kind of really start to see
what this is going to look like, you know, for
for several years. I don't you know, I was joking
earlier that you see certain relationships, you know, Nicholas Cage

(58:54):
and Elvis Presley's daughter, and you're like, that's not gonna
last forever. That's that's not going to be Paul Newman
and Joanna Woodward. And then you know, I look at
Lonzo on the Pelicans and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's
not that's not lasting forever. You know, loud Dad can't
stay healthy, Darius Garland could be the best player available

(59:14):
at the number four pick, and I think in the
NBA you just take best player available so they'll have
another guard. Lonzo Pelicans doesn't feel like a twelve year
marriage to me, Ingram, I can see Zion, I can
see what say you on the Lonzo Pelican fit. Yeah,
I think Lonzo's a pretty critical just juncture in his career.
He's going into year three, He's played about fifty games.

(59:37):
First two years. You know, the dad had kind of
disappeared for a while, but now he's obviously back back
in the mix with um, you know, Lonzo being on
the move and and I think, you know, this is
a chance for Lonzo. Really last year I thought he
really kind of established himself as you know, a more
independent figure. And even even before he distanced himself in

(59:57):
Big baller brand and obviously had the financial issue with
his family's financial manager, but the fact that you know,
he became a father, I really thought he stepped out
of his dad's shadow a little bit last year. And
I think, you know, going back to when he was drafted,
I thought a situation like New Orleans, Milwaukee, something like
that would have been much better for him. Get away
from home, get away from that spotlight. But it does

(01:00:19):
seem like I think, I think you have a good
point that he's getting into a situation where he just
is maybe going to be the odd man out. But
I do think the chance for him to go play
basketball out of the spotlight, without the huge expectations of
Los Angeles in a small market with a good young,
fast core around him. I think he pairs well with
Drew Holiday. That's a pretty good defensive backcourt, you know,

(01:00:42):
maybe the best defensive backcourt in the league, I would.
I'm curious to see how it can work out, but
it does. He does have to deliver on the hype
and all the extracurricular stuff that has always come with him. Well.
First of all, thank you for coming, opportunity leave and
congratulations to you and your family. Bill Hey, thanks very much,
Colin appreciate it all right. Bill Orum, great writer, the athletic.

(01:01:03):
We love having him on the show. Covers the Lakers,
and he's going to go back and join his family,
which is amazing. They have a new little person in
their life, and I got a bunch of older people
in my life. Veteran newsman John Gouley, No, no, this
is the herd Line News. So after the Anthony Davis

(01:01:26):
Lakers trade was announced, it only took about ten seconds
for someone to find LaVar Ball and put a microphone
in front of him to get his thoughts on the deal.
He shockingly he did not think the Lakers made a
good decision. But I got sais I guarantee like I
see again, it would be the worst move. The Lakers
have a dude and made life and they'll never win

(01:01:47):
another championship guarantee. Clearly a little upset that his son
is now in New Orleans instead of the Lakers, which
was always what he wanted. Do you think there's a
chance the Lakers regret including a Lonzo in this deal
long term? Um? I think they would have rather kept him.
I think it was I would have I don't mind

(01:02:10):
giving up the draft picks. I would have, but I
was adamant about Kuzma, and I would have loved to
have kept I'll tell you, you know, Josh Hart can shoot,
So even keeping Josh Hart, i'd have Kuzma and Josh
Hart Cannet a jumper. Um, you know, I I don't think.
I think they knew they were gonna have to give
up one of the forwards. And I think they knew
they had to give up Lonzo. And when I had

(01:02:31):
LaVar on two weeks ago, I said, this deal's note
happening without your son. They're not gonna take both forwards
because Zion's a forward. They don't need two more forwards.
So and then when I said it to him, he
said they'd never trade my son, and it's like LaVar,
this is an easy one. They don't have a point
guard because Drew Holliday, although he may not want to
hear this is a better too than a one. And
he's great, but this was kind of an obvious you know,

(01:02:52):
I think it was painful. He's going to have some
pretty big highlights throughout the year, I would say, because
he's gonna have a few alleys as I that are
going to make people regret to trade. But that doesn't
mean long term he's a good thing necessarily. So this
morning a piece came out on ESPN about the layers
of dysfunction with the Rockets. Among the many issues, one

(01:03:13):
of them is some tension between James Harden and Chris Paul. Yeah,
Chris Paul has had problems with teammates before. He's just
he doesn't let things go. He's very focused and he
wants to win, but he doesn't kind of allow for
a lot of things to get by. He apparently always
tries to coach Harden. Boy. Harden is basically watched Chris
Paul a road physically basically thinks he should just shut

(01:03:35):
up and watch as opposed to telling him what to do.
Daryl Morey was on Sports Talk seven ninety in Houston
and address some questions about Chris Paul in the dynamic
with James Harden. Does Chris Paul want to be traded now?
He doesn't want to be traded, you know, they there's
been a lot of reports to how they had tension.
It's a really bit It's been odd to me because

(01:03:57):
you know, really two high level competitors, they're gonna have
They're gonna have tension on the bench. I mean it's
gonna happen, and it probably happened, you know, thirty forty
times last year where where the team on the bench
is having a heated discussion about how to beat the
other team. Um. I don't know why. I think it's
because obviously the situation magnified game six or last game

(01:04:21):
of the season. Maybe that's where maybe that's where this
comes from. But it was really surprising to see. It's
really surprising to see all the noise about that. I
never have a problem Brady barks at an offensive coordinator
when a game's going on. Whistle blows, whistleblows to end it.
I never I don't have a problem with guys chirping
at each other. That's sports. What I'm bothered by is

(01:04:43):
team playing, team functions. Your girlfriend, Mike, you know, that
stuff worries me. I never get caught up in you
chirped during games. You're you're you know, Brady. I've seen
Peyton Manning bark of a guy Jeff Saturday that does that.
That is called old sports. I think Paul and Harden
are fine. I think the bigger issue there Chris Paul's legs.

(01:05:05):
Yeah he looked shot. Yeah it was. Is it over
for them? I mean you go back about thirteen months, right,
and they look like they were the only team that
could have thrown the Warriors, and now the Lakers are
way better. Clippers could end up getting Kauai he Maury
said today he wants to bring in another star, not
trade Chris Paul. But how they don't have any assets

(01:05:26):
or cap space to really do anything. Are they done?
I think they're gonna be one of the eight teams
with a chance, but I put them on the lower
rung of the eights. Gotcha. And finally, Aaron Rodgers might
already be having issues with his new head coach, Matt mcfloor.
What yes, specifically his offense and his inability to change it.

(01:05:47):
Apparently Lafloor's system does not allow much freedom for the
quarterback to change things at the line of scrimmage. Oh boy,
Aaron Rodgers told Mike Silver event of all that work, quote,
I don't think you want me to turn off eleven years.
There's stuff that not many people in the league can
do at the line. That's not a humble brag. That's
just a fact. First of all, that's just straight up bragging.

(01:06:07):
I's a humble bragge. So we're not through June and
Rogers is already unhappy with the new head coach. And
I think more alarming to me, he's already vocal to
the media about it. I mean, he's telling Mike Silver,
and him and Silver are close. I understand that there's
a cow connection there. Considering he was criticized for being
passive aggressive with the last head coach, He's already passive

(01:06:30):
aggressively taking shots at the new offense. It's June, they
haven't played anything yet. This is like Baker Mayfield. This
is what he's gonna be. He's got to win the moment.
Aaron Rodgers can be passive aggressive he's gonna take shots
and he's verbal. I just think it's who they are.
I think I think here a quarterback DNA is identified
very early Andrew Lucke first year, You're like, Oh, he

(01:06:53):
memorizes the playbooks and he always takes the blame for everything,
and that's always going to be for the rest of
his career. Brady is completely willful, very coachable, and ridiculously
determined and that's why he's been for the last eighteen years.
Veteran newsman John Gooley, Well, that's the news and the
herdline news all right now. Now, is VanVleet joining us

(01:07:17):
next segment? I would say it's unlikely, considering they're still
on floats, unless he's calling live from a float, which
would be cool but probably tough to hear him. By
the way, this Kyrie Irving thing, I don't think Kyrie
irving to the Lakers works at all. And I'll just
give you my opinion. Let's just let's just do word
association with Kyrie distracted, injuries, weak locker room guy, poor defender. Well,

(01:07:45):
what is Lebron now in his seventeenth year? A little distracted,
no longer plays elite defense, hurt last year. What's Anthony
Davis little injury prone? Three guys injuries. I don't think
it works. I think you if you're going to get

(01:08:05):
a guy, get a guy that's the opposite. Kyrie Irving
is distracted, Lebron's a little distracted, Kemba locker never missus starts,
never distracted, Kawhi Leonard missus starts, but never distracted. If
you're gonna go for a third star, Kyrie is not
the guy for me. Lebron Kyrie and Anthony Davis says

(01:08:29):
a lot of distractions and a lot of miss starts,
and two guys that don't want to play defense. You're
just duplicating what you have. You got to give me
some diversity if you're gonna go for a third star.
Kemba great locker room and never hurt, less talented but
never hurt, great locker room. Jimmy Butler plays real defense,

(01:08:55):
Kawhi Leonard real defense. Lebron's no longer committed on the
defense of end of the floor, he's not, and Kyrie's
never been committed there now. Anthony Davis is, but you
know again, you got to remember Kyrie and I don't
think this. I would I would tell him this. He's
high maintenance. Listen, he struggled being the number two guy.

(01:09:18):
You think he's gonna be okay being a third. Kimba
has got no maintenance. If you have Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma,
Kemba Walker, those three guys, you got no maintenance. Lebron
could be your maintenance guy. But if you have two
guys that are high maintenance, you're done. Kuzman's got no maintenance,

(01:09:38):
ad no maintenance, doesn't talk much. Kemba Walker, you know.
But Kyrie is more of what Lebron is there. They're
strangely have some similarities now distracted injuries and have kind
of made up their mind. They're gonna give you offense.
They're not really committed on the defensive end. So I

(01:09:59):
don't like Kyrie at all. And again, it's just like
anything else. When you build a roster, you can't have
all pass rushers and a bad mic linebacker, no free
safety and no defensive tackle. That's what the Chargers had
the last two years. You gotta stop people up the middle.
You got you got a draft or fine stuff in
a trade. You don't have. Not duplicate stuff you do

(01:10:22):
unless it's just more great shooters. But even the Warriors
now have all these great shooters, they don't have a
lot of girth, they don't have a lot of big
Katie's gone, they won't resign. Boogie Looney got hurt. They
don't have a lot of size. They got the word.
They had three of the world's best shooters, but they's
you know, you don't have to you don't need I mean,
Toronto just won a championship. Who's their elite shooter? Mid

(01:10:46):
range Kawhi Danny Green won Elite three shooter. So I'm
not on the Kyrie thing at all. I'm down on
the Kyrie thing coming up next? Vey k or stay?
What stories like this one would get me back on
a vacation and thoughts on Brooks KPKA Also Doug Gottlieb.

(01:11:09):
Today It's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays and nun Easter nine am Pacific.
Great to have you in. It is a Monday, Yes
I was. I'm not, you know, not a hero or anything,
but I'm sure many of you have done this. You've
had a vacation plan, then something big at work happens,
and then you think you know what, this is a
day I can't miss, And you know, I just kind

(01:11:30):
of thought today I can. I booked a flight for
Tuesday for my vacation because I told my bosses a
couple of weeks ago, either we're gonna get a Game
seven of the Finals, I think this thing's gonna go
long with and I think, or we're gonna have a
Laker a d trade. And I because that one I
knew was going to happen before the draft, and I said,
what happens if it happens on Saturday morning, Well there
you go. So we thought we'd play a little game today.

(01:11:54):
When Colin heard about the Lakers trade, he decided to
postpone his vacation just so he could come to work today.
Thanks a ton, Anthony Davis. Anyway, we wanted to know
what else would have to happen to get Kylin to
postpone his vacation again and totally ruin our day off.
This is BAKA or stay all right? So I will

(01:12:15):
read you the scenario and you will let me know
if this would make you cancel a vacation or not.
All right, Credible reports come out that any big free
agent will sign with the Lakers, So Kyrie, Jimmy Butler,
Kawi or Anthony Davis. I think I think I see
the LA radio ratings. I do well in the Lakers season.

(01:12:37):
My brand is somewhat title Lebron and the Lakers. So
I would stay. Sorry, I would stay. I'd make you
all work. Credible reports come out that Kawhi Leonard will
sign with the Clippers again. He would be the only star.
It's the second Veggas team in Los Angeles. Kawhi is
not I would say it doesn't have a ton of magnetism,

(01:12:58):
So I think I would go on BAKA. Credible reports
come out that Kevin Durant will sign with the mix.
I'll come back to that one. I'll come back. I'm
not sure. Let me think about that. I don't have
a I don't have a sound effect for ye. Well,
we'll come back to that one, okay. The Rockets trade

(01:13:20):
Chris Paul. I don't think he's a difference maker now
I did a year ago, um and I don't think
he has the magnetism of a James Harden. I think
I would go on BACA. Staff would be very happy. Yeah,
oh you'll like this one. The Thunder trade Russell Westbrook.

(01:13:43):
Um again, he's first round and done. Um. I think
I am tied to him a little bit. Yeah, but
I think I could. I think I could do that
on Twitter. I think I could be on Twitter for
an hour. I think I'd go on vacation. That feels
like you would call in as a guest. Yeah to
year show from the Beat, But I'd still fly to

(01:14:05):
Utah and go Waterski. Wait a second, Russell Westbrook, would
you get us in here for a show? I get
you in here? Wouldn't get mean? No, I'm shocked. I
think the world would demand you come in to do
a show for that. That is, so he gets he
gets traded to Brooklyn. My audience doesn't care, I think. Oh,
I think your audience on that subject, Russell Westbrook, they care,

(01:14:27):
no doubt, Russell Westbrook. I I'm sorry, but I think
you've got to call everybody and cancel that vacation. Let
me think about that. Let's let's slow down on that one,
all right. How about the Cowboys give Dak Prescott a
massive contract extension. Well, I mean it's off season and
we all think he's getting it, so it's fairly predictable.
I'd go on vacation. I mean, it's an offseason. It's

(01:14:50):
a contract that somebody signed a piece of paper. It's
not you know that if that number per year starts
with a three, I'm not showing up for work the
next day. But that's just in protest. Like the Anthony
Davis things. Fascinating. They could add another one, Like now
you're talking about numbers because we gotta because this is
the first big move of what could be seven in
the league. So I think you'd come back for a
big Laker move and a big Laker contract. You don't

(01:15:12):
come back for a cowboy contract in June. Okay, this
would be a big one. Tom Brady retired. Oh god, yes,
I'm staying absolutely sorry. Yeah, that's come on. You need
to ask that question. Tom Brady retires in June. I
would cancel the whole vacation, say, Jackson, you can swim

(01:15:32):
in the backyard. I mean, I'm not that'd be two days,
wouldn't it that you'd have to be here for that.
You might need to take some time off to breathe
if that happens, no question. All right. After a wild
night out, Baker Mayfield gets arrested. Oh come on, that's
an easy one. I'm staying. Yeah, that's also a reaction
of his fans. Uh. Yeah, I mean, I think, for

(01:15:55):
better or worse, he reacts to stuff I say, and
I feel strongly about it, and I hope that never happens.
But come on, if that happened my Twitter, Instagram, that
stuff would just my Facebook would explode. You know, he
got the second highest most watched piece of video on
my Facebook last year, which had over three hundred million views.
He had the second most watched individual piece of tape,

(01:16:17):
which was me and him arguing or interviewing or whatever
you call it. So so let's go back. I'm gonna
go back. You wanna go back to the Durant one
and the other one? Yeah, credible reports come out that
Kevin Durant will sign with the Knicks. I don't think
i'd come back. He's not gonna He's not gonna play

(01:16:37):
next year. Again, it's a piece I would agree if
he was gonna play, I think, or if he was
going to join up with someone in play, I think
it'd be bigger news. But the fact that he's out
for the year, it's just a little bit dull. Yeah,
And what's the other one. What was the well Westbrook.
Westbrook was the one that you got some disagreement from
the staff on you really think that people, I mean
I know people it would want my opinion. I couldn't

(01:16:59):
just tweet it. I mean, let's say he gets traded.
I think it depends where he's traded the then I
come and do the show. If he's traded to Memphis, yeah,
I just don't think if he's traded to a team
like he could be combustible. Like let's say you traded
him to Boston, you'd be like, oh god no, or Milwaukee,

(01:17:20):
or you'd be like, oh that doesn't no, don't know,
that doesn't or like Houston and then you got hardened.
Chris Paul Westbrook. I think there's a handful of I
would come in to work for it. Yeah, you know,
Sam here, Colin. I just I'm sorry, but I think
Westbrook has tied so much to you and to your
brand that even hearing you say that that it doesn't matter,
I think would shock people all over the place. To

(01:17:41):
do an entire show, I think you could. I just
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, guys, I think we're coming in
for Westbrook. I think I'd even make that call. All right,
stay or Vaca. Um. Yeah. Let me just say this again.
I watched a ton of US Open yesterday and I've
said with Brooks keepco he didn't get me to it
TV yesterday. I got to a TV because Tiger played well.

(01:18:04):
Kepka was good. It was close at the top. Yeah,
three man race. And I think, frankly, Pebble Beach is
my favorite golf course in the world. Saint Andrew's and
Pebble Beach. They just feel different. They look different to
me that the two greatest golf courses. I'm not saying
too toughest because I don't think Pebble Beach when it's
not windy. This weekend wasn't windy, so you know, a
lot of made pots, a lot of made chips. I

(01:18:26):
don't think these like you know, beach courses when there's
no wind. I don't think they're terribly difficult. I don't
think it's a terribly long course, like like a Pinehurst.
But I will say about Kepka, he's got a Michael Jordan, Ronaldo,
Brady Gretzky feeder feel. To him. It seems effortless. I mean,
it just looks effortless. Everything works for him. He gets

(01:18:46):
out of trouble, easy off the t easy greens. And
by the way, that's not all stars are not like that. Lebron.
I see Lebron struggle. I saw Lebron early struggle with
his jumper. Then I saw Lebron middle of his career
struggle with his low post game. I've seen him lose
confidence multiple times in his career, in fact, recently with

(01:19:08):
his three point shot. It never feels effortless with Lebron.
He's just the NBA's biggest, strongest freight train Steph Curry again,
he's small. I'm seeing him work at it. I'm seeing
him crash to the floor. I see him shift gears.
Bryce Harper, I see struggle, but Keepka is smooth man.

(01:19:31):
He can hit every shot he gets out of trouble.
I don't see nerves. There's what I would call like
an ease of greatness. Big Ben's great, but still struggles
with precision. Peyton Manning outsmarted you at the line of scrimmage.
You could see his work ethic, but it was never elegant.

(01:19:51):
It was just Peyton Manning was amazing. Randy Moss is
effortless I mean Randy rolls out of bed, could catch
it one handed, sideline deep. I mean Randy Moss rolled
out of bed and was a superstar wide receiver and
it was effortless running, catching, gliding. He went to New England,
figured out the playbook in about a week. They just

(01:20:14):
figured it out. Football was just Gretzky Randy Moss. I mean,
Randy Moss would catch the ball without effort. Now, Russell
Westbrook is great, but it never looks easy. I mean,
you can see the oil spitting from the engine. I mean,
you see you. It is never easy. Cam Newton still
they're working on his mechanics. Dustin Johnson PGA. It always

(01:20:38):
feels like you're not that far off from an utter implosion.
But Brooks kepka US Open sixty nine, sixty nine, sixty eight,
sixty eight, very tiger esque, and he's the bar. And again,
I never thought the game was easy for McEnroe. I
thought he grinded it out or me Connors Fetter good

(01:21:03):
on grass, good hardcourt, good at the net, nice serve baseline.
It's just, you know, backhand maybe wasn't great early in
his career. Now it is. It's just easy and they're
not and not all great players. Westbrook's a great player.
It never looks easy. It's I can see his time

(01:21:24):
in the gym. I can see Peyton Manning's work ethic Brady,
it's just effortless. Our three Doug Gottlie, one more heard.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week within the iHeartRadio app, Search Herd to listen
live or on demand whenever you like our three, Here

(01:21:45):
we go. This is the Herd wherever you may be. However,
like I gotta get it right for the whole week.
I'm sorry, go go, I'm sorry. I've not I'm done,
i'd say I Doug Gottlie going to join me to
thanks so much to make this part of your day.
I used to do that radio app and Fox Sports
Radio and Fox Sports one. You don't do that anymore,

(01:22:07):
Well I do. I'm on iHeartRadio today, I'm on Fox
Sports Radio and a bunch of apps and stuff. Yeah,
it used to be apps were just Brussels sprouts, and
now it's blooming onion, big app, blooming onion. Doug Gottlie,
Fox Sports Radio. All right, let's start hour three with
the dugger because he's got to show after mine one
hour from now, which is in a different studio but
on Fox Sports Radio. All right, the question, you know,

(01:22:28):
first of all, everybody says it's kind of you know,
who won. I don't really care because you know, you
can never really tell. But I think a real question
is did the Lakers give up too much? Yeah? I guess,
I mean, yeah, I don't there were some I thought
they could have held a firmer line and of a
couple of other things. Yeah, I'll give you an example.

(01:22:48):
We're all and rightfully kind of poo pooing this fourth
pick because the top heavy top three draft. Right. Yeah, um,
I was told that there was a workout with Darius Garland,
who could be the number four pick, vanny point guard. Yeah,
that that that he was as impressive as anybody that
the Lakers have seen workout since Donovan Mitchell, and before

(01:23:09):
Donovan Mitchell, like when when they drafted Lonzo Ball. The
collective group that was with the Lakers then thought that
one they liked Daron Fox better, and they thought that
Donovan Mitchell was the best play best guard that they
saw magic and and and Rob Paulinka decided to draft
Lonzo ball, but the Garland's Garland was that impressive. He's

(01:23:30):
a Damian Lillard type player. He is a score. He's
only nineteen and he only played a couple of games
this year because of meniscal tear. But they saw him like, man,
this is a hell of a player. So because of
the timeline of what they can and can't do with
the salary cap, and they might not like I would have,
why not hold on to that fourth pick if you're
gonna go with way all those picks. Um, Look, they

(01:23:52):
had to trade. Ingram was gonna go anyway. Yes, they
they they grew to like Ingram. They never loved Ingram.
He's got an injury issue and he's a mid rain shooter.
He's like a poor man's poor man's version of Kevin Durant.
And he's the only guy remaining that wasn't drafted since
Rob took over, right, so he was gonna go. Josh Hart,

(01:24:13):
they kind of fell out of love with he hit
his ceiling last year. Yes, he's not a starter. He's
a backup player, good culture guy. Got a little sensitive
at certain times when he wasn't playing well and didn't
have as many minutes. And then Lonzo Ball was the
prize get of this trade. Yeah, they really like Lonzo.
Lonzo fits with Lebron. Lonzo's dynamic, defensively rebounding guard, great athleticism,

(01:24:35):
and this will be a summer which he should should
really improve. And I think that's one of the reasons
the Pelicans wanted this done earlier rather than later. It's
they could get Lonzo in there and begin working with him,
integrating him into what they want to do. But I
joked earlier Julia roberts LYA love it. You knew instantly
that's not gonna last. This doesn't feel Pelicans. Lonzo does

(01:24:57):
not feel like the Hanks marriage. It doesn't I feel
like Twell, look, I'm gonna disagree from from this standpoint.
Drew a Holiday, tremendous defensive player, a very good passing
two guard. You can play some point play a Lonzo Ball,
tremendous passer, defensive player right brandon Ingram, long and agile
and can defend a bunch of positions. And Zion Williamson,

(01:25:19):
who can be a Swiss army knife defensively, like they
should be very dynamic, but you hit, you hit the
nail on the head of the difference in knowing who
you are. The Lakers believe. Lakers people are like, well,
they're given away all these picks. Lakers believe like, look,
if they start winning again and it becomes showtime again, yeah,
they'll be able to get back to picking who they

(01:25:40):
want to come to Patrick Beverley, JJ Reddick. Maybe yeah,
Well we'll get to that in a second. But I'm
talking about in the long term future. After Lebron. People
are like, what happens after Lebron, Well, after Lebron, they'll
do what they've always done, which is pick who they want,
who wants to come in LA, and they'll come to LA.
That's what they've always done, right. Whereas the Pelicans, the
secret New Orleans is they know that whether it's a
Lonzo Ball or Holiday's next deal, it's really hard to

(01:26:02):
get somebody to stay in New Orleans and sign another contract.
It just is. So you have to have younger you
have to have younger players. But to answer the question
who won the who won the trade? Anthony Davis is
inarguably one of the top ten players in the league,
arguably one of the five best players in the league,
and there's discussions going into last year that he might
be the best all around player in the league. Yeah,
Lakers won the trade. They got the best player. It's

(01:26:23):
not even well and something you just pointed out, which
and I think this is something. It's like when Harbaugh
goes to Michigan, harbaughta Michigan's bigger than Harbata Perdue. Lakers
now are an IT team, branding tickets. I mean, they
were off TV the last even with Lebron, it was
like they weren't a sexy TV play. It's like they

(01:26:45):
are now for the next three to four years, they're
gonna be the IT team. And IT teams tend to
get guys like JJ Reddick and you know Patrick Beverley,
who wills, Trevor Ariza who kind of want to be
part of it and chase the right, Rudy Gay. Well,
you bring up JJ Reddick as a great, great one
because bjs. JJ was overpaid the last two years right
to Phil salary, made a lot of money, made a

(01:27:06):
ton of money. So now like, look, did you want
to come back and and be the Kyle Corver to
this team? You can. I think they're gonna go after
I think Kimba's the guy that they would want the
most um, why don't you like himba? Oh, it's not
that I don't like him, But here's my thing. I
would take Kawhi as a third. But if once you
go to Takeawai, yeah, done right, But I wouldn't take Kyrie.

(01:27:28):
Here's my thing, not all. First of all, Kyrie struggled
to be a second guy. Good luck being a third. Well, look,
I mean, look the idea. I mean, look, we haven't
even gotten into Frank Vogel is gonna coach This team
is gonna be interesting, like he's he's coached. Paul George
and Roy Hibbert were his two biggest names. But isn't
he pretty good with Biggs? No? Yes, but there are

(01:27:49):
no Biggs anymore. Like again, it's coaching. There's nothing wrong
with coaching Lebron and coaching Anthony Davis like he can coach.
It's the managing all the other stuff, right, because we
know Anthony Davis end of the day is going to
be playing outside that three point line and Lebron's going
to be having the basket? Like can Anthony Davis accept
the Chris Bosh role at times? Right? How how do

(01:28:10):
you manage those egos? That's what it becomes about with
Lebron um. So we haven't even we don't even know
how that works, let alone the rest of the coaching
staff is going to be kind of fascinating. But look,
Kemba Walker is a dynamic competitor. He is He is
a walking kind of bucket score and Lebron likes and
respects him, and he has a good work relationship with

(01:28:30):
several other people on the Lakers staff. No, not the
maintenance level of Kyrie. You know, Kyrie's one of those
guys that's that's fair, that's pretty intelligent, but thinks he's brilliant,
and so he tries to outsmart the room and kind
of annoys people. I think if they don't get Kemba,
then they go to the Hey, let's go get a
Darren Collison um and then a JJ. Just spread the

(01:28:51):
money around, get a shooter and a quality point guard
that can shoot as well. I think, so, you know,
let's just let's just I think I don't think the
Lakers are the best in the league because they only
have five guys in the roster and they need another shooter.
But I do think kuz Met Lebron Anthony Davis put
you in the group of six seven. So I'll just
throw these teams out that I think that that ore
will be at some point next year. We'll watch a weekend,

(01:29:14):
a game a moment and think, oh, they could win it. Lakers, Milwaukee,
um Clippers if they get Kauai, Boston for a minute,
Houston on the bottom end, and I'll throw Denver in
there because they're young and I think Denver's pretty interesting. Yeah,
I think there's about those six teams. Feel like we'll

(01:29:34):
watch them next year and think, you know, if they
stay healthy. Well, we're also burying the lead. Rome. Rome
burned down to the ground last week, right, I mean,
that's that's what happened, you know, the like just just
like it was in ancient Rome. The Golden State Warriors
were incredible dynasty and it had a chance to continue on.

(01:29:55):
It had a chance and it still may reform itself,
much like the Bulls did. Like people forget that the
Bulls the first incarnation had Jordan and Pippin and Horace Grant,
and it had Bison delay there for a while. He
didn't he didn't play. It had Paxson and then bj
Armstrong was the starting point guard the third year, right

(01:30:15):
and Paxson hit the big shot against Phoenix. The second
incarnation had Dennis Rodman. You know, it had Luke Longley
as opposed to Bill Wennington and Bill Cartwright in the
first one. You know, so the other parts changed, but
the two superstars remain the same. But Kevin Durant being
hurt being out for a year and Clay Thompson being
out probably for a year before he's back right, Like

(01:30:36):
he could play next year, but he's not going to
be right until two years from now. It changed the
whole league, Yes, changed the whole league. And so now
the Lakers like, wait, we have the two best players
in the West. Houston still has What do they do
with Chris Paul He's getting older night younger. What do
they do with Clint Capella? They can't play him late
in games? The Clippers are still maybe we'll get Kauhi.

(01:30:58):
And even if they do, if you don't, Patrick Beverley,
and you do have Kawhi, do you have the same
culture you had previously? Are you actually good enough? I do?
I know what the rest of their roster is going
to look like. I don't do. I think they spent
a lot of capital to get him. I do. But
you got two superstars, one in his you know, in
his athletic prime, the other one coming out of his

(01:31:19):
athletic prime. And Lebron James, who's had the most time
off he will have had, so you'll probably get the
best version of him. I mean, I think we're exactly
where we thought we would be. It was just the
path of getting to from last year to this year.
We all thought he was going to be a Laker.
We all thought they were gonna have to trade a
bunch And the only thing difference was they didn't trade
Kyle Kuzman, which most people thought they would have to
give up to get him. You know, it's interesting, Doug,

(01:31:40):
it used to be I'm older than you. I remember
when when you got a Duncan or a Ewing or
a Lightner, they had not only were like twenty two,
but they'd played against NBA guys in the ACC or
the Big East, and those environments back then were rabid.
In fact, I could argue a big college basketball Saturday
was as bigger, bigger than most NBA. Sure, And so

(01:32:03):
now you get nineteen year olds. I watched the finals
and Fred VanVleet is the only young guy and by
the way, he's not known. He played a lot of
college basketball. Yeah, And why the Lakers like Kuzma is
he played three years in college. Josh Hart, they liked
his maturity, played three four years in college. I don't
really mind giving up a bunch of draft picks because

(01:32:25):
what they are now is not what they were in
nineteen ninety one. They're just kids. And I don't think
kids win in the playoffs. No, they don't. The kids
don't win in the playoffs, but you do. You have to.
You have to backfill with some with some some youth
for the regular season, right, that has to kind of
carry you on for the regular season. And they need
to have, you know, some some depth. I mean, what
killed the Golden State Warriors really was they just they

(01:32:46):
didn't have a lot of depth, and so their starters
had to play extended minutes. And I don't believe like
you're going to hear people say that, well, you know,
because KD played twelve straight minutes. He tours achilles tend
in his achilles ten was probably torn partially before he
went on the floor, right, and then it fully popped
when he made that one move. That's not why he
tores to kill his tenant. But the idea was, Remember

(01:33:08):
they had to play the Clippers six games, and they
got they got worn down physically because they didn't have
as good a bench as they used to have. We've
seen baseball pitchers. You don't get a third Verlanders an outlier, yes,
but the third time he asked Kershaw to throw two fifty,
they're not the same guy, correct, So I'm with I
agree with you. There were no kids that played in
that playoffs, none, None of them helped you. And so

(01:33:31):
in order to win, if you want win the championship,
now you gotta do with grown ass men, right veterans
that who know who they are, know what their role is.
You give it to them in a set spot. They
know where their spots on on the floor, and they
make shots and they don't blow defensive assignments. And so
I think, look, JR. Smith's gonna get bought out. He's
you know, don't be surprised if he ends up being
potentially a laker because they can get him on the cheap.

(01:33:52):
And I saw something on Twitter day it was pretty funny,
like what if Kemba Walker gets one hundred million dollars
to appear in space jam and only ten million dollars,
only ten million dollars to play for the Lakers. That's funny, right,
it would be really it would be really funny. But
I will you come out of it going like okay,
Normally I would say trade most of the house except
the kitchen sink in Kyle Kuzma to get Anthony Davis.

(01:34:13):
That's a questionable trade. But what did they give up?
Josh Hart rotation, Guy Brandon Ingram a starter but they
weren't in love with and doesn't fit with Lebron. And
they give up Lonzo who's gonna be really, really good
but is a bit of a pain in the ass.
And if that's what you have to give up to
get Anthony Davis, you got Anthony Davis, you got Lebron James,
you got Kyle Kuzma, and you still have a big
salary cap spot or two. You got a chance to

(01:34:36):
win the NBA Championship. Because there are no perfect players,
even Lebron. I saw him struggle with his when he
broke into the league shooting a three. Then his down
low game exposed in the Dallas series, and even now
he'll lose confidence on that jumper. It's It's not like Kobe,
where Kobe just shoot his way out of it. Sometimes
Lebron moves away from the three. But it took Kobe

(01:34:56):
a while to learn how to play with others to win.
It wasn't util they got Phil Jackson that he unders
figured out how to win basketball game. So let's talk
Anthony Davis. He's not a perfect player. I'll tell you
what I here's my overview of him. He is the
only big I trusted the free throw line light. You
can pick and roll him. Defensively, he can defend. He's
got good feet. Um, he's had a lot of soreness,
back spasms, no breaks, not a not an alpha, but

(01:35:20):
Lebron is Um, he's a really good player. I do
worry when I look at the games played, I think
to myself, it's a lot of soreness. He was choosing
not to play. I could he play in LA if
he felt like he could win? Like, what's his reputation
in the league on playing hurt. I'm gonna look. I

(01:35:41):
think he's a guy that's been dinged up and banged
a little bit. But I also think that everybody's a copycat,
and they see Kawhi Leonard resting was at twenty two
games this year, and they're like, we're gonna do that.
It's gonna be load load management city. So I would
I would expect regular season. It's funny you started the
column was right, column was wrong. Yeah, and you said
that the regular seat. What you say, regular season is
the is the driving range of golf. Yes, but you

(01:36:03):
actually bought the the you bought. You bought into The
Warriors were better without KD because of the regular season
numbers without KD as opposed to the regulars. Just you
know those are they are powerful numbers, just like the
seventy three wins. Well, it was a powerful number that
people get like they were the best team ever. Like, no,
they just went for it when other teams were load
managing back then. Yeah. Well, I think one of the

(01:36:26):
things we said going into the finals was Toronto is
long and Durant I know his offense is great. Yeah,
Kevin's not a terrible defender and he's long. Like that
one quarter he was on the floor, Gasol went from
a strength to a liability. You're like, oh, Mark's gotta
go out and guard him. Now it's a problem. Well
that's that's there's two parts to it that I think
sometimes people miss on and you just nailed it is

(01:36:48):
when Durant's on the floor, it allows them to play
small and still defend the rim right right to do
both and um and it completely changed that they had
to take you know, Marcus All off the floor and
you take Marcus on the floor. Is just it's different
that all of a sudden becomes and now you have
with Serge Ibaka and even Sir Jebacca can struggle to

(01:37:10):
guard out on the floor. He's a shop blocker and
yes he can catch and shoot, but it's not like
he's crazy agile off the dribble. So it changed the
whole matchups of the series. The other part in the
real indictment of the Warriors was when Steph Curry is
not out on the floor, you're gonna have You're gonna
have you know, Quinn Cook who was you know, Quinn
Cook is not as good as Fred van Vleet in

(01:37:32):
terms of knocking down shots and understanding his role. So
the bench of the Warriors really got exposed. Look, I
think today you sit here in Vegas is telling you
the Lakers are a favorite. Some of it it's because
of Anthony Davis in respect he has. Some of it
is because the rest of the league sees that the
Warriors are going to be down for at least a
year and may take more than that, more than that
to recover. What's Anthony Davis's reputation. He does everything really well. Yes,

(01:37:55):
I don't know if he's not a great shooters, ball
spins kind of sideways, but he's become a decent three
point shooter. But outside of that, you know, he grew
up as a guard and then grew into this incredible body.
He can defend positions one through five. Yeah, he's a
good defender. Oh, it's it's a great match for Lebron
because Lebron is not nearly the defender he used to be, right,
and like the criticism at times of Anthony Davis in

(01:38:20):
the playoffs was there were times in which you could
take him away and he would disappear. And that's okay
with Lebron because Lebron's gonna dominate the basketball and get
him open shots. I think it should be a good fit.
I'm not sure it's a perfect fit because he's not
really a catch and shoot Chris Boss jump shooter, but
he's a spectacular talent that can really help you at
both ends of the floor, and as we've seen from Kawhi,

(01:38:40):
both ends of the floor players Lebron, you mentioned KDN,
even Janis who lacks the jump shot. But you got
to be able to play both ends to be considered
one of the top five players in the game. Not many,
not many bigs all time you trust at the line
with four minutes left and Anthony's I think he's almost
an eighty percent free throw shooter. Did you hear the
status a crazy status all aside? Did you see this stat?

(01:39:01):
Steph Curry swishes eighty four percent of his free throws.
Vin that it's it's I'm not saying, makes you know.
And I've heard so many, so many people like, well,
he's oh of nine in NBA Finals games. I think
it's a little bit of indictment of the shots he takes.
He continue, he takes deep three point shots to supposed
Lebron's boot to get to the rim. But to anyone

(01:39:22):
who says like, well, he's not clutched like I saw
him against Houston make eight straight free throws and none
of them touched the rim to win that series, right,
So I eventually look Steph is going to need help.
He does need got somebody that plays both ends. He's
an incredible player, but I've never the eighty four percent
of free throws that don't hit the rim is the
craziest stat I've ever heard in about Yeah, it is funny.

(01:39:43):
I've said before. We let Doug Gottlieb go. He's got
a show after ours here in forty minutes, forty five minutes.
It is interesting about Kawhi, So Kevin Dury. I don't
understand Kevin Durant going to New York, less money, lousy roster,
Koki owner. I don't get it. There is this Oh,
but if he can win in New York, he'll change
the narrative. What's funny he is Kawhi just won in Toronto.
Would no other star. We don't think he's better Michael Jordan.

(01:40:08):
It's like, we think Kawhi is great, but I bet
you by next year we're not calling him the best
player in the league. Like, did Kawhi winning without a
star massively change the narrative on him? I think it did. You. Yeah,
I used to come on your show and say he
was the third best player in the NBA, and now
if I said, considering Kevin Rant towards to kill his tendon,
so we don't know what he'll be like. When I
think Kevin Drown actually has the best chance to be

(01:40:29):
close to himself because I don't think though he's explosive
for a seven footer, that's not like totally his game.
So I think he can get back to being close
to But if Kevin Rant's not healthy, And we both agreed,
Lebron James is not what he used to be because
of sixteen years a well, and he also Lebron kind
of acknowledged I'm not going to play much on the
defensive end, right But even when Lebron even at his best,
like Kawhi Leonard, probably the best player in the league,

(01:40:51):
and I we'd never had that discussion before ever, did we?
So it did. It did change. And when you you
win a championship in San Antonio then you go to Toronto.
Who was it helped out by Lebron not being the East, sure? Sure?
And was it helped out by a very fortunate role
of a three point shot in the corner against the
seventy six ers. Sure, but he made that shot. He
made all the plays and look he didn't score a

(01:41:12):
point in the fourth quarter of the deciding what game
six until point nine seconds to go. So but he
was the MVP because he defends the both ends. He's
a great player. I don't think he's I mean, like
now with Kadi hurt, yeah, kind of by default he
becomes the best parent league. But we never had that
discussion before. Look, the whole Kad thing was a search
for respect and then he finally got it and now

(01:41:35):
he's gonna leave. In a weird way, the injury not
playing got him the respect, which is, oh god, they
really do miss him here. That combined with they're playing
the Clippers the first two games and people are like, hey,
how come you're not score people missed at the end
of the season. He was trying to move the ball,
he wasn't shooting that much, he wasn't playing that many minutes.
And then the first two games and the Clippers and
they're like, hey, dude, how come you're not scoring all

(01:41:56):
the time. He's like, oh, you want to score all
the time. Okay, I'll score all the time. And then
he was like the death Star. They pressed the button
and loaded up and it's like bam, bam, bam bam, bam,
be like, oh oh yeah, he can score anytime he wants. Yeah,
Doug gottlie the dog are a good see. Anyboddy enjoy
whitewater rafting. Make sure you wear you know, protective clothing.
I am very can. We can't have it like that
would be a major news story. Something happened to Colin

(01:42:17):
Cowherd whitewater rafting in Utah. I don't know how this.
Doug Gottlieb, be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. By
the way, I watched a ton of us open this weekend,
and uh, congrats for the people at Fox did a

(01:42:38):
great job today. Great great job. I'm just reading a
couple of things here. I want to make sure I
get it right. Okay, okay, good stuff from Doug Gottlieb Today,
Bill Orum, Chris Brussard stopped by. We thought we may
get Fred van Vleet, but it looks like the massive

(01:43:03):
parade of one point five million people. Most of those
raptors are jammed in that thing and they're not going anywhere.
They are packed. Yeah, I swear to God, other than
an old couple from Ottawa, the entire country today is
at the parade. What's the population of Canada thirty eight million.

(01:43:23):
They've got a million and a half people, So that
would be the equivalent in America of having thirty million
people or something at a parade. Look at that. Look
at the jets flying over Toronto. Well, yeah, Colin Samuel,
I read this earlier. There are a million and a
half to two million people at this today. Yeah, there
were one million at the Warrior's last parade, and then

(01:43:44):
of course everyone thought that was a massive crowd and
it was. But Toronto is crushing that number right now.
They've got to fly over beautiful. Veteran newsman John Goulay
no herd Line News Colin. Yesterday, before the US Open,

(01:44:05):
the US women's national team beat Chile three nothing, Yes,
all three goals in the first half. I can't say
if all of the teams super closely, but they certainly
may have started their B squad a little bit. A
few of the more popular names didn't get the start.
They also did something I thought was kind of funny.
After the Carly Lloyd's goal, they kind of celebrated with

(01:44:27):
a little golf clap. Did you see that? I did
see that. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit of
a nod to all the criticism they got for celebrating
their last win too much. They play Sweden on Thursday
at three Eastern, which it's a pretty big game from
what I understand of women's soccer. It's kind of amazing

(01:44:47):
to me that our team is so good they can
start their backups and beat another pretty good team three nothing. Hey,
by the way, David Spade just texted me. Can I
ask you a question? I listened to you on my
Serious app. Haven't been able to find you the last week.
Is something going on I don't know about. I believe

(01:45:09):
they've been having some of the World Cup games on
our normal Serious channel. It's not broken, it's just they're
airing what's on FS one. Hey, you don't screw with
David Spade. David Spade's a friend of the show. So
I'm I'm gonna get ahold of David all right. So
that's why because we put on Serious X and we
put the soccer on. Correct, You know that Spade comes

(01:45:32):
to us for all his best material. Oh yeah, by
the way, David get us on iHeart Yeah, iHeartRadio app
to her channel. There you go, right, Speaking of the
Fred van Vliet, who, judging from what we can see
of the parade, will not be joining us unless he
calls from a crowd of a million and a half people,
which probably not great cell reception. Right after the Raptors win,

(01:45:56):
a lot of the focus became about them keeping Kawhi Leonard. Yesterday,
Fred van Vleet spoke to reporters and said it is
out of the Raptors hands, but he came here and
do what he's supposed to do. So he brought this
city a championship, and you know, I think he's earned
his freedom in his career to do what he wants
to do. And we'll all respect him, and you know,
I admire him. And if he's on another team and

(01:46:17):
we just have to kick his ass next year, but
hopefully he'll be back now. There's also a report circulating
from Damon Jones, who used to be a cavalier with
Lebron James, that Kawhi is now very interested in the Lakers. Davis,
are you buying that he is a Laker? It feels
like Clippers or Raptors, right, But how would the nation Mary.

(01:46:38):
When Kad joined the Warriors, people were very mad. If
Kawhi and Anthony Davis joined Lebron. Oh, they'd be seething,
wouldn't they They'd just be the nation would just come
on glued. But again, this league has always been better
when it's got a dynasty. So and that thing would
last about three years. And for three years you'd have
a dynasty, and then that would take all off. And

(01:47:01):
I mean that's well, the Lakers would be the bad
guy again, and we like, we like Lebron as the
bad guy. Was fun when he went to Miami. I
think Lebron has the bad guy with the Lakers. I
think it'd be amazing. So my wife doesn't watch sports.
And yesterday so I said to my wife yesterday, I'm
gonna go work tomorrow. She's like, well, I don't understand.
And I said, well, Anthony Davis signed with the Lakers.
You gotta work. And my stepdaughter Lexi doesn't like sports,

(01:47:22):
and she's like, mom, every one of my friends is
talking about it. He has to work. Some like, honey,
listen over there. I gotta But it was surrounded by
non sports, not nobody my son, you know, skis didn't
like sport. Nobody likes sports in my house except me.
I have to fight must tired of you talking about
yesterday Father's Day. I'm like, hey, take care of the

(01:47:42):
guy here. I'm watching golf for five hours. That's all
I did. Was great. And finally some big baseball news
over the weekend involving your childhood favorite team, the Mariners.
Seattle Mariners completely giving up at this point, they traded
the American League home run hitter, our leader, Edwin and
Carnacion who the Yankees, for cash and a picture called

(01:48:02):
Juan then swear to God, double checked that didn't believe it,
but Juan then there's a lot of puns. We get
have fun with that. By the way, is that the
same Encarnacione who's seventy is didn't be played with Detroit
seventy thirty six? Either way, how old? That's the same
God he's been playing for like he's been around a

(01:48:23):
long time. I was surprised as well. He twenty one
home runs the season in sixty five games. Get this,
he has eighteen career home runs at Yankee Stadium. That's
the second most he has at any park that's not
his home. Stadium. He has the most home runs in
is Fenway. So I'm gonna bet the Yankees new all
of them been playing forever. So now the Yankees have

(01:48:46):
the ALE home run leader. They have Gary Sanchez who's
among the ALE home run leaders. And I believe in
the next week or two they are getting Aaron Judge
and John Carlos Stanton back into the lineup. I think
they'd walk off. They would walk back that John Carlos
Stanton contract today if they could, because they have. I
never understood that deal they had him. It's called Aaron

(01:49:07):
Judge and he's for free, so I'm not painting him
anything like I never understood John Carlos Stanton. They had
kind of a friendly I mean, like Aaron Judge is
beloved in New York. He's the next guy. Why would
you go pay for the duplication of it? What are
they cash strapped a salary cap? I know, I just
I think they if you asked him today as they
could just say, we'll do a mulligan on that and

(01:49:29):
we'll just just now it's considering some of the other
deals that have been sigh and sends them. Is that
really that bad? At least he can dates for the
rest of his life. Well, it's like the Lakers, Like like,
if you're the Yankees, you can do a mulligan on
Jacobe Elsberry, who you paid to watch. The Lakers were
dysfunctional for the last year. When you're a big brand,
you can make a bunch of mistake. Alabama made a
bunch of mistakes and they finally got the coach right.

(01:49:51):
I mean, USC Paul Hackett, big mistake, Pete Carroll boom
in an hour later. You're like the school of note
in the country. It these big brands. Apple, we talked
about that ninety days from bankruptcy, get the right guy
and run the world. Google's had a zillion whipped products.
The big brands bounce back really fast. Veteran newsman John Goulay, Well,

(01:50:16):
that's the news, and thanks for stopping the herdline news.
I can't believe Incarnacione. I remember when he now look
it up, he played for Detroit, Right, that feels like
it was in the early nineties. He's been around forever.
Raptors Championship Parade. Good stuff today built orm from the

(01:50:36):
athletic Chris Brussard, Doug Gottlie the Dugger will be on
Fox Sports Radio after this show. Yeah, I mean, you know,
I really believe everybody's looking for a winner. And my
takeaway on this trade is both teams picked the direction
worry less about who won and be happy that. In
New Orleans they chose the direction of optimism, hope in

(01:50:59):
the future. That's good enough. Their standards are lower. The
Lakers chose a direction. We want to be discussed relevant
and in the title conversation, that's what both teams did.
They chose a direction. The Pelicans in a football centric city,
Saints LSU football SEC territory, high school football is big there.

(01:51:19):
They want to sell Hope, Zion, the four pick, Lonzo Brandon,
talented Lakers picks for the future. That's good enough for them.
They're not going to be entitled contention for three years,
but you can sell that there and it's big. You're
trying to sell season tickets to a city the generally
doesn't buy them and doesn't watch them on TV. And
the Lakers they want to get back in the discussion.

(01:51:40):
And now they have two of the top five six players,
maybe two of the top four players in the NBA.
They are I like they kept Kuzma. He's cheap for
the next two years. He plays defense. He played three
years of college, so he's a grown up. I would
have loved to have kept a couple of those draft picks,
but their draft picks. NBA draft gives you two stars,

(01:52:00):
two all stars a draft. That's it. Half the NFL
is undrafted. Half that's Think about this. The NFL has
seven rounds and half the league starting now playing is undrafted.
NBA's got two rounds and they run out of players
by about fourteen, so there there's not a ton of talent.

(01:52:22):
So draft picks. To me, the Pelicans best draft picks
are going to be this year. The one in the
four probably end up being your best players, unless you
find it Kauhi, which you may, but that's a complete
and utter aberration. Who are the best players Lebron's ever
played with? Is Anthony Davis? The best player Lebron's ever

(01:52:43):
played with? Wrap up the show best for Last Next,
be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific. Good ye have you?
In wrapping it up? I'll be on VAK starting in
about fifteen twenty minutes. What will you saying, John, unless
another trade, it happens, Yeah, I know, if Kawhi becomes
a Laker, I'll have to you know, we'll figure that

(01:53:03):
out what it happens. But it's been great to be
here on Fox Sports Radio. Congratulations to Fox Sports for
the Women's World Cup and the US Open. Coverage this
weekend was just fantastic. And I thought this morning, I thought,
you know, so here comes Anthony Davis, and I thought,
you know, Lebron's career now spans a decade and a half.
He played he was a young guy with all that

(01:53:24):
energy in Cleveland, and then he made everybody mad, and
he went to Miami to join stars and win veterans,
and then he came back to Cleveland and he, you know,
kind of engineers a trade to get Wiggins out, Kevin
Love in, and now he's on his fourth team Cleveland twice,
Miami and the Lakers. And I thought, you know, let's
look at the ten best players Lebron's played with. Now

(01:53:47):
I'm not talking about their career when they played with Lebron.
Who are the ten best Lebron teammates when he was
in that town Cleveland the first time, Miami back to
Klee n and now the Lakers. Here we go. Number ten.
I'm gonna go Kyle Kuzma. Last two years, he's averaged

(01:54:07):
seventeen and a half points and six rebounds. He's available.
He came into the league with three years of college experience.
He's a grown up, and he's an efficient player. He
shoots forty five percent from the floor. I think Kuzma's underrated.
I think he's the tenth best player Lebron's ever played with.
Number nine Jr. Smith gets a slight edge because he

(01:54:30):
was such a lethal three point shooter and helped Lebron
win that title in twenty sixteen, where Kuzma hasn't helped
him win anything. Jr. Shot over thirty eight percent from
threes on that title team in twenty sixteen. Number nine,
Number eight ray Allen also added all the three point
shooting and a title in twenty thirteen. But I think

(01:54:53):
he got ray Allen's moxie. One of the smarter players
in the league, and again shot forty percent from three
point line with the heat, and again he had championship
pedigree out of Boston. Where j R. Smith ow was
a little Kouki, a little nutty. Ray Allen is dependable

(01:55:14):
number seven. I think a lot of us forget how
good zodrunas Ilgoscis was, and he played the most games
of anybody with Lebron on the Cavs and the Heat.
He was a thirteen seven guy, one of the great
energy guys in the NBA. He was Lebron's best teammate
that first run in Cleveland. As zodrounas Ilgoscis played a
ton with him. Lebron liked him, a great energy, and

(01:55:37):
he gave you thirteen and seven number six. Well, I
would put Rich Paul his agent. He founded Clutch Sports,
engineered the Anthony Davis trade. Small not a great defender,
but Rich Paul you can't deny now the Anthony Davis
trade engineering. That is kind of rebooting Lebron seemingly pause

(01:56:00):
career Number five Kevin Love. Never forget the fourteen rebounds
in Game seven in that title. Went over the Warriors
three years ago, and again he was somewhat marginalized. But
Kevin had a great career in Minnesota, which probably that
alone got him near the Hall of Fame. Now he's
hurt for Shara Hall of Famer, and he averaged seventeen

(01:56:21):
and ten with Lebron number four. This will be lower
on the list for me because I think Kyrie Irving's
a flake now that the only teammates to both score
forty plus in a Finals game, and he had that
clutch three in Game seven three years ago. But let's
be honest, Kyrie's career before and after Lebron has been

(01:56:44):
a lot of men, and so I like Kyrie, but
I've always felt Lebroun has absolutely elevated Kyrie Irving's career.
Number three, Whereas Chris Bosh's career was great before Lebron.
He was a high cool All American, a college All American,
and an All Star, and I Toronto was a decent

(01:57:05):
team with him, and he won two titles. With Lebron,
He's an eleven time All Star. So and by the way,
his days with a heat were seventeen and seven and
a half seventeen point seven and a half rebounds. Now again,
I think he's a better pure talent than Kevin Love.
That's why I have him above Kevin Love. And I
think he had more of a career college and pro

(01:57:26):
without Lebron. He was gonna be a ten time All
Star without Lebron. James and would get to the playoffs
without Lebron. James Number two, I think it's Anthony Davis.
I think he's the modern big. We haven't seen him
play together, but he does everything well. He runs the court,
he can put it on the deck. He's not a
great three shooter, but can hit one or two a game.

(01:57:47):
He's gonna he's average twenty four and eleven. He'll average
twenty four, twenty five and twelve. He's the modern big.
You trust him at the free throw line, can hit
an occasional three. He can defend anybody on the pick
and roll. You don't have to You don't have to
worry about him defending if you've got the two man game.
And I think number one number one. I think people

(01:58:10):
forget how great Dwayne Wade was. I'm not talking about
his career even with Lebron. With Lebron, Twenty two points
a game, fifty one from the floor, two titles, and
he allowed Lebron to come to the heat and start
the dynasty. His IQ and the ability to say, you know,
it's my city, but this will be Lebron's team was

(01:58:32):
really redeemable. Kyrie couldn't do that. Kyrie struggle with that,
And that's the difference between Wade. Wade has a physical
toughness and a mental toughness that Kyrie Irving does not have.
Kyrie's just sick talented, but Dwayne Wade's ability. This is
really the emotional and mental discipline that makes Wade an

(01:58:55):
all time great top twenty player. Kyrie's like, ah, I
don't want to be the second guy. Dwayne Wade's like,
I own the city I'm in. I'm secure enough to
step back. Let Lebron still my city, but it's Lebron's team.
And and I'll tell you the last couple of years,
Wade struggled back to back to play well. Those first

(01:59:18):
two years, Dwayne Wade was filthy good. Those teams were
a highlight reel waiting to happen. So I think now
I think Anthony Davis could surpass Dwayne Wade number one
all time. But to me, Dwayne's the best player he's
ever played with. Good to have you in. I love
that old NBA music. That's a that's like NBC NBA.

(01:59:41):
Like twenty years ago, John Tesh wrote that I think
I've seen John Tesh perform hold on, No, I've seen
the other piano guy. Name the other piano guy. Aren't
you an actor? Sam? You run in those circles? Not
Billy Joel. He's more piano than he is a singer.

(02:00:02):
His last name starts with an S. I swear to
god he's He's like John Tesh. Bruce Hornsby, Yeah, Hornsby
does not start with an US. Pretty sure. Bruce Hornsby. Yeah.
I saw Bruce Hornsby in a wine uh in Oregon,

(02:00:28):
drinking wine in a what would you call it? You
would call it in a vineyard? Vineyard. Yeah, I don't
know why words are so hard for me today. Yeah,
I watched Bruce Hornsby in a considering your profession. Yeah,
words are kind of words today are tough for me.
I'm already, I'm already waterskin. So I saw Bruce Hornsby
in Oregon, will Emmett Valley h performing doing his thing.

(02:00:51):
It was very enjoyable. It was nice that John Tesh
has got a little of that right Red Rock Canyon.
You know a lot of that thing going on. You
guys don't get Bruce Hornsby. Hornsby, I love. That's just
the way it is. Of course, that's just the way
it is. Sam, of course, is a natural performer. Sam

(02:01:12):
Sam as a former actor. I kid you not. We
have a comedy writer an actor here, no doubt. Gole,
what's your second talent? I don't even know if I
have a first talent. Now that that is self loathing
at its very best. Facial hair, by the way, you
look fantastic. So the Raptors Championship Parade, tip of the

(02:01:34):
cap to the peeps up north. It's great. They got
this giant bus Mark Gasol. You know, you see a
seven footer during an NBA game and you're like, he's
a seven foot He's just a big guy. Then you
see Mark Gasol standing on the second floor of a
bus and he's like giant. You're like, oh, yeah, he's
a seven footman. He is a big, big dude. All right,

(02:01:56):
So glad I came in today. We had business to do.
I'll hope you enjoy avoid it. You know. Next week
I'm gonna just be off, maybe tweet text a little.
I'm gonna watch the draft, have some thoughts on that,
and uh, I don't think we're gonna get another big
trade for a few days. We'll see you. Thanks for
joining us. It's been the hurt,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Anthony Davis, Lakers-Pelicans, and free agency