Best of The Herd

In this Best Of The Herd, Jason McIntyre—in for Colin—looks at Game 1 of the NBA Finals with disapproval over the lack of competitiveness. But Jason has plenty of good things to say about Denver center Nikola Jokić. Plus, Jason examines the coaching change in Philadelphia with former championship-winning Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse now leading the 76ers and the change in coaching philosophy he brings with him. Jason wonders if star guard James Harden is up for the challenge of playing for Nurse. Jason also looks at how Frank Vogel fits in with the Phoenix Suns after being hired as head coach

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowherd
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Welcome to the Herd.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
It's me Jason McIntyre back in the driver's seat for
Colin Cowherd.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
I'm flying solo today, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Cow Herd, Well, you know, we took vacation in the
recent week and let's just say he had some travel
issues so he could not make it back from Iceland.
I don't know what that means, but they called an
audible this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
I got the call from the bullpen, j.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Mac, come on out, fire some more takes.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
So here I am.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
I did host a Saturday morning radio show on Fox
Sports Radio for six years, three hours by myself, so
I think I could probably handle this heavy lift from
the staff this morning needed. But yeah, when you saw
that NBA Finals game last night, holy cow, what a
disaster that was for the league. Listen, I love the
NBA as much as anybody, but let's be realistic. That

(01:13):
was a nightmare scenario for the NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Last night.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
The Denver Nuggets don't even play their best game and
they dominate and win by eleven. Now the spread was nine,
nine and a half. I told you guys yesterday on
the show, had to hammer the Nuggets a lot of
Game one evidence points to that after a seven game
series in Denver dominated the second half, they led by
as many as twenty four points.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Just an evisceration of the Miami Heat.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
It kind of left you wondering can Miami win won
much less two games in this series? And I think
it all stems really back to the man in the middle,
Nicola Jokic. He was utterly dominant. That's the only word
you could use to describe the dowe six ' ten
European who was just flashing brilliance left and right. Again

(02:00):
ans Miami, they had no answers, and you know, in
the morning meeting with the staff, I kept saying, like.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know, Jokic is just so dominantut there, you can't
stop him.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
Denver's now thirteen and three, in the postseason, they look
like not like an all time great team, but certainly
the best team in the league.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
And it all runs around mister Jokic.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
And what makes him so special, I believe is that
he is as dominant as Shaquille O'Neil was not the
best big manson Shack, but as dominant as Shack. Now,
they dominate in different ways. Shaq just overpowered you. Back
to the basket.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
I'm gonna dunk.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
Everybody knows the famous dunk on Chris Dudley where he
dunked on him, just shoves him to the ground. That
was Shack's dominance and overpowering anybody in the game. Really,
Jokic is different. He is kind of like a Jason
Bourne out there, crafty. He's gonna point out your weakness,
He's gonna hold the ball, and he's gonna pass. I mean, folks,
if you want to be bleak for the Miami Heat,

(02:55):
they were trailing by seventeen points at halftime and mister
Yokich had taken three shots.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
That's it, Like he doesn't have to score to kill you.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
He's really an evolved big man, a kind of guy
who can step out and hit the three. Hey, we're
gonna sack back on Yoki. So see if he can shoot. Yeah,
he can bang threes. We're gonna double team Yokic.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
That's fine. He's a great packer, passer the vision.

Speaker 4 (03:17):
I think Colin has compared him to our Vitas Sabonis,
one of the best passing big men ever. And Tracy
McGrady was on a Showtime podcast, What's Burning And listen
to what he said about the great Nicola Jokicic.

Speaker 5 (03:31):
Let me tell y'all something, This dude is so good man,
straight up, like, I haven't seen anything like him. Wait,
he passes. You got a seven foot seven to one
center bringing up the ball, initiating the offense. The passes

(03:51):
that he makes from one side of the courts the other,
on timing, on target, the bounce passes in between defenses.
He can't guard him on the post because he's too big.
He can't jump over a dollar bill. He rebounds. He
is amazing.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
Yeah, t Mac, my guy, huge fan of Tracy McGrady
back in the day and listening to him gas up
Jokic again. We're talking about a guy who can dominate
now offensively, he dominates defensively. He's not doing much. Shaq
obviously was a great defender, and I know nineties basketball
fans will say, oh, Shaq was a better defender, he
was a better player.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Are you sure about that? Guys? You watch Jokic in
this offense.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
He had twenty seven, fourteen and ten, made it look easy,
and he didn't even play his eight plus game. Again,
we're talking about a guy who is unguardable. At one
point that heat said, you know, we're gonna bring Cody
Zeller off the bench. We're gonna try him on Yokis
just to get him a different look. Jokic took him from
the perimeter, drove to the lane, literally went through him
for the layup and and won. And Yokich is the

(04:54):
kind of guy he doesn't have to dunk to dominate you.
I don't even know if he's had five dunks in
the postseason, but he makes it look easy. And one
of the problems I know, I know it's weird to
say this is a problem for the league is that.
And I got a great quote from the movies, Audiences
love flamboyant people who broke all the rules and paid
dearly for it.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Obviously, like a Robert Downey Junior comes to mind.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
But the first half of that quote, audiences love flamboyant people,
really applies to a lot of NBA players. We've got showmen, right,
I mean Magic Johnson one of my favorite players. Magic
and Patrick Ewing were my favorite players growing up. They
were extremely flamboyant. Ewing's thunderous dunks in Madison Square Garden,
pointing at people shot blocking, letting them know Magic Johnson

(05:37):
with the passing listen. I know Larry Bird was a
silent assassin and was a legendary trash talker, but he
was flamboyant in his own ways. Isaiah Thomas, the great
point guard. These eighties and nineties players were ultra flamboyant. Obviously,
we got to mention the great Michael Jordan and what
he could do the shrug against the Portland Trailblazers. Like

(05:57):
audiences love the flamboyant players. If you look in the
modern era right now, Kyrie Irving's not a great basketball player.
We know he's a talented one, but he is extremely
flamboyant with his layups, his finishing at the rim.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
You know this guy.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
The audiences love the Kyrie Irvings of the world. Steph
Curry's hitting from three with the shoulder shrug.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
They love that.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
The NBA's best player right now is Nicola Jokicic, who
is not flamboyant at all. And I say that's a
problem for the league because how do you market this guy?

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Like?

Speaker 4 (06:29):
He's great to watch. I love him, but we know
what the audience likes. You know, the casual fans. They
love dunks, they love passes, the deep threes, they like
the trash talk. I love that stuff. Jolkic is just
a killer. He is literally unstoppable. I mean, the Miami
Heat said, hey, we need a great series from Bam
out of Bayo. Hell, we'll take a great game from
Bam out of Bayo, their center who has been All

(06:50):
NBA in his career, Bam out of Bayo.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
When the Heat.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
When bab Moda Bio scores twenty points, the Heat had
been six and zero this postseason, They're like, we know what,
Jimmy Butler's gonna ge us one of the other guys,
one of the undrafted dudes. He's going to deliver if
we can get Bam twenty points, can't lose Bam Outabayo
had his best game of the playoffs, best career playoff
game with twenty six points, and I get smashed by Denver.

(07:15):
And it was never close, not for a moment. Don't
tell me it was close when they got they cut.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
It to nine.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
It was never close for a moment in the second half.
So you get everything you want from Bam out of Bayo.
He had no chance defending Jokic, and you have no
chance in the game.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Folks.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
I don't want to sound too bleak for the league.
I don't want to sound too bleak for the Miami
Heat fans. I know we've got some at this network
shout out to Joey Taylor, but I'm just I'm looking
at the numbers here, and Denver has won eleven of
the last thirteen against the Heat.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Miami has not beaten Denver since the bubble. Nikola Jokic
literally owns this team. By the way, here we go
on FS one with the Cody Zeller highlight. That was
the one minute Cody Zeller got in the game. Go
look at the box score.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Came in for one minute and Jokic just attacked him,
said send that kid back to the bench. And Cody
Zeller awesome college basketball player. But I look at this number.
Miami shot thirty three percent from deep and ordinarily you're like, oh, well,
they made thirteen threes.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
That's not bad, folks.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
A lot of garbage time baked into that first half
when Denver raced that seventeen point lead, Miami was four
of seventeen on three pointers.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
You cannot do that.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
And I know we talked about Caleb Martin and the
emergence that he had against Boston where he was arguably
there their best player with Jimmy Butler. Yeah, Caleb Martin. Well,
regression to the mean there. Caleb Martin won for seven
last night. Max Struce, the immortal Max Strus, undrafted, can
hit five threes any night of the week.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
Oh for ten.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Duncan Robinson came in, couldn't hit the broad side of
a barn. It was a brutal night shooting. And that's
what Miami fans are gonna see. Hey, hey, Jokic got
his triple double, but we've still.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Got our guys.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
They're gonna make shots, guys. I'm sorry, I hate to
break it to you. This is who the Miami Heat are.
This is what they were in the regular seat. The
twenty seventh best three point shooting team in the league,
just because they had a you know, four week out
of body experience in the playoffs where they took down
the Bucks with three point shooting and Jimmy buckets, and

(09:12):
then they were able to beat the Celtics with just
otherworldly shooting from the perimeter.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
Like that's not who they are.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
This is who they are, and they have no answer
whatsoever for Jokis. They even tried to zone and they
had a brief eleven nothing run in the fourth quarter
that I think cut the twenty one point league to ten.
And you know, the announcers, if you were listening tough,
maybe they could make this interesting. They were begging for
a close game. And then as soon as it gets
remotely close, here's Jokich on the elbow, dish Aaron Gordon dunk.

(09:41):
Here's Jokic pick and roll with Murray automatic. I'm just saying,
like I know, we gas up Jannis at Tenakumpo as
the greatest player in the league. We taught cow Herd
loves his Kevin Durant. Obviously we have Lebron James, Anthony Davis.
You guys, remember when Cowherd had Anthony Davis as the
number one player in the playoffs at one point.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Like, let's be realistic.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
If you're starting a team in the NBA right now,
you look at the age, you look at how he dominates.
Who are you taking over Jokic. I don't know how
you make it, make the case for anyone. Let's remember Shaq,
who is really the most comparison to Yokic because of
their dominance. Shack could not make free throws. He was
like fifty to fifty two percent for most of his career.

(10:23):
Even Giannis against Miami, he was hot potatoing the ball
around because he couldn't shoot free throws. I think he
missed seventeen free throws in that designing game. Tell me
the weakness of Nikola Jokic, other than maybe he's not
flamboyant enough, he's not a great interview. I mean, we're
talking about a historically great center, folks. And I don't
think the Miami he'd have any answers for him. And

(10:46):
I know the league has their issues. We'll get to
Jahn Morant later in the show. We got we got
some fun James Harden and stuff coming up. But you
want to celebrate Jokic and the problem I see is
it's a tough sell in the league for an unflamboyant
guy who who is utterly dominant. Even we've seen Patrick
Mahomes go from like quiet shy guide. He's got some personality.
They brought it out of him. Josh Allen still a

(11:08):
little reluctant. Joe Burrow's got his sly sense of humor.
I want to see a little more from Jokic on
the personality front, really market him to the league, because folks,
he ain't going anywhere, and neither are the Denver Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Be sure to catch live editions on The Herd weekdays
and Noone Easter, not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one, and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Back here on The Herd. Jason McIntyre in for Colin.
Colin should have been in today, but at a travel snaffu.
If you will, He'll be back on Monday. I don't
want to tease it too much, but we have a
couple of great guests coming up. Eddie House will be here,
Chris Brussard my guy. Maybe we'll do some sparring later
in the show. And yes, we will get to John Morant.

Speaker 6 (11:54):
A lot of.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
NFL coming up too.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
I'm actually gonna give you my favorite five bets in
Week one. Yes, I go to Vegas every summer, I
enter the season long gambling contest and I'll be dropping
some wagers. So Week one bets coming up. But first
I want to go back to the NBA.

Speaker 6 (12:10):
There was an.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Interesting coaching move this week in the league, and Nick
Nurse accepted the job in Philadelphia. And as a preamble
to where I'm going with this, I use this quote,
I think two times ago when I hosted the show.
I heard it from a philosopher on a podcast a
couple of years ago, and I'm trying to instill it
in my life. It's hard choices, easy life. Easy choices,

(12:34):
hard life. And you know, you know you don't have
to think too hard about this one if you make
the hard choices right. I'm gonna go to the gym
every day. I'm gonna stay in shape, even though I
don't want to. Man, it's a long day at work.
I'm gonna make that hard choice to go to the gym.
And I'm gonna make that hard choice to eat right
and diet, and you know I'm gonna put away that
pizza speaking as a pizza lover, I'm not gonna eat pizza.

(12:55):
I'm gonna eat the vegetables. You know, make these hard choices.
I know that doesn't sound hard, but trust me, it's
hard to say. You know what, gone out enough times
this month. I'm gonna dial it back. I want to
be productive tomorrow. You make these hard choices to stay in,
avoid some of these vices. You're gonna have an easier life.
You're gonna chances are you're gonna have a longer, productive life.
And the opposite is also true. You make the easy choices.

(13:17):
I'll take an extra out. I take an extra beverage,
adult beverage. That is, stay out till three four am,
playing video games and gallivanting. Listen, we all were in
our twenties. We all made these choices. Life's gonna get
hard on you pretty quickly. And the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
through their last two coaches, have made the easy choices.
They got players coaches Brown and then Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers,

(13:41):
especially as a players coach, I want the players to
run things. It's a players league. Doc Rivers, of course,
was a player. Players love playing for Doc Rivers. Doc
Rivers has not won a whole hell of a lot
since that Boston title fifteen years ago or whatever it was.
Doc Rivers has known for some massive playoff playmounts blown

(14:03):
three three to one leads, blew a three to two
lead this year against Boston with Game six at home,
and they got their doors blown off in game seven.
So the Sixers have been going with the easy choices players, coaches,
and finally Darryl Morey has said I've had enough. He
made the hard choice and then went with Nick Nurse

(14:25):
as their.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
New head coach.

Speaker 4 (14:26):
Now, you know, hardcore NBA fans know Nick Nurse well
from Toronto. He won a championship.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
I call it.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
I've called it for years, the luckiest NBA title ever
because of course, you know, they beat the Sixers on
that fluky Kawhi Leonard three from the corner, and then
of course, Kevin Durant plays eleven minutes in the entire
series the finals, Clay goes down. That was a lucky title.
But Nick Nurse won the championship. You can't take it
away from him. And Nick Nurse is known as a grinder.

(14:54):
He is gonna hold his players accountable. He's gonna work
them hard, all those adjectives that describe hard work, grit, resilience.
That's what Nick Nurse demands from his players. He's had
a lot of success with the wings member they got
og and Andobi, they drafted Scottie Barnes.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
They like lengthd on the perimeter.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
That was mostly during the Curry years where they looked
like you had to be flexible and be able to
switch everything on the perimeter, so he needed long wings.
He's out with that now he's going to Philadelphia where
the players have kind of run them up. Joel Embiid,
I wouldn't say he's the most in shape center in

(15:34):
the league. He won MVP, obviously, he was very good
this year. Take nothing away from Joel Embiid, but I
think we can all agree the training habits.

Speaker 6 (15:41):
Now.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
Some of that is attributed to his injury history, but
the training habits for Embiid, the guy's out of shape
a lot, a lot. And we know James Harden, who
is a very prolific basketball player, he's also a very
prolific partier.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
I mean, there are jokes about strip clubs that have.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
His roster, his jersey in the rooftop at some of
these jiggle joints in Houston. Like, he is noted for
going out and spending time after hours.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Living it up and enjoy it.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
Dude, you're a multi millionaire in the primeier life hanging
out with rappers left and right.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Like, I can't. I can't blame Harden for that.

Speaker 4 (16:18):
But if nobody's holding him accountable, well there's gonna be
a limit on his greatness, right, I mean, I mean
you could count the playoff flameouts for James Harden. You're
gonna need two hands for that one. He had many
in Houston. It was a memorable one against the Spurs.
Oh my god, it was. It was one of the
worst ones I've ever seen. He did deliver against Boston

(16:39):
twice with two late threes, two huge wins.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
And then where was he in Game six and seven?

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Like just no show. And that's the history of James Rden.
Here today, gone tomorrow. And of course Nick Nurse was
introduced this week as a Sixers coach. So what do
you think the tough Philadelphia media did well, they kind
of grilled him. So here's Nick Nurse being pressed about
James Harden in Philly this week.

Speaker 7 (17:05):
Do you want James Harden back? James Harden's a great player.
If they didn't answer the question, well, I would say
this is that James has a decision to make, and
I'd be very happy if he came back.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
Not exactly a resounding vote of confidence. I mean, he's
saying what he has to say. He's not saying it
with a smile on his face.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Listen.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
I'm no body language expert, but he's like slouched and
kind of dodgy. I don't know if I'm James Harden.
I watch that, and you know, there were rumors. I
think it was Sham Sharaniah had reported that James Harden
wanted Doc Rivers gone, and so the Sixers capitulated, thinking
they'll keep Harden. And now they bring in Nick Nurse.

(17:53):
And here's how Nick Nurse addresses the Harden stuff. Listen,
I'm not trying to knock Harden. I'm not trying to
slam and beat two great basketball players from this generation.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
You guys might forget this, but.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
Like five years ago, people were talking about James Harden
is the best scorer since Michael Jordan.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
He was doing some crazy stuff out there.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
He was an unbelievable offensive threat, but he always kind
of had those letdowns, and now you've got a player
who needs to be held accountable by his coach and folks.
My takeaway from the Nick Nurse edition and James Harden's history, again,
history doesn't always repeat itself, but it often rhymes. I
would guess James Harden is probably on his way out

(18:35):
in Philadelphia, and maybe Darryl Morey and Nick Nurse say, hey,
this what needs to happen for us to get better.
Maybe we take one step back to take two steps forward.
We get rid of guys who don't want to grind,
don't want to be held accountable, and we bring in
guys that are going to be tough and resemble our city.
You know, Philadelphia is a tough city. I lived outside

(18:57):
of Philly for about seven years with the wife and kids,
and we did go into Philly a ton.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
We still were kind.

Speaker 4 (19:04):
Of New York kids. We lived together in New York,
so we would go to New York more often than Philly.
But Philly is as a sports fan, as good as
it gets. I mean, they are tough, they hold you accountable.
You look at Ben Simmons, and they loved Ben Simmons
when they drafted him. Loved Ben Simmons big fan of his.
I am as well. Kind of reminded me of Magic

(19:25):
Johnson at times with his passing and his vision and
his triple doubles. Ben Simmons was an All NBA player
we forget. And he had that moment against the Atlanta
Hawks where he drove in Game seven and made the
pass instead of the layoup because he was afraid of
being fouled, and Philadelphia fans never forgave him. They drove
him out of that city. Someone in our morning meeting

(19:47):
joked that Philadelphia fans cracked Ben Simmons like the Liberty Bell,
and that couldn't be more spot on, because Simmons never
recovered from that.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
He instantly was like I'm done here. I went out.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
He didn't get a vote of confidence from his teammate
or his coach Embiid and Rivers at the time, and
it was just one of those moments where you're like, Wow,
Ben Simmons is not gonna happen now. He remember, he
eventually came back to practice, and I'll never forget this.
He had a phone in his pocket at practice, That's
how checked out he was. He didn't want to be there,
and you know, images from the practice. You could see
the phone lit up like he was on. It wasn't

(20:23):
just in his pocket, but he had been on it,
and it was just like, man, they got in his
head in Philadelphia, Listen the city of Rocky Balboa. I'm
not going to make jokes about batteries in Santa Claus,
but listen. Philadelphia fans are very demanding and they want
a lot. I think I think Nick Nurse fits Philadelphia perfectly.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I don't know that James Harden does.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
And I think Philadelphia's got a really interesting offseason. If
you're ranking the teams the most interesting, Philadelphia's got to
be top three, right.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Easter not a Empacific.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Welcome back to the Herd.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowhard, our number two. As
I've explained already, Cowhard had a little bit of a
travel issue.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
He will be back on Monday.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
I believe he's watching this from an airport at an
undisclosed in an undisclosed city. Good luck to you on
the road there, mister Cowherd. The big breaking news year
that happened in the last fifteen minutes. We'll talk about
it with Rick Buker. Shortly is that the Phoenix Suns
have announced well I guess they didn't announce it, but
Sham Sharania announced that the Sons are going to be

(21:35):
hiring Frank Vogel. A buddy sent me a tweet that,
like twenty minutes before they got Frank Vogel, Doc Rivers
pulled his name out of contention for the Phoenix Sun's job.
Smart timing, Doc Rivers, unless he knew what was coming
at any rate.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
I just I like Frank Vogel a lot. I try.
You guys know, I play a lot of basketball.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
I talk about the men's league, played a lot of
pickup basketball during COVID and Frank Vogel lives in my
neighborhood or lived in my neighborhood living out here in
LA and one of my neighbors, a good buddy, is
like I would see Frank Vogel out and I said,
can you invite him to our pickup game?

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Because he apparently still plays basketball.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
He's like, dude, he is the nicest guy, the most
down to earth, there's no arrogance. And he was coaching
the Lakers Okay, they ended up winning the title. In
the bubble, I'm a big Frank Vogel guy. Everybody says
nice things about him. Defensive guy. He's going into a
really toxic situation in Phoenix, and I know toxic is
a strong word, but I'll be brief here because I
got to get to an NFL list. Two things that

(22:33):
jump out Number one. Kevin Durant, my guy. You know
I like KD.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
We got a little.

Speaker 4 (22:37):
Instagram dm bromance over the years. He likes to throw
grenades at me. That's fine, but he responds. He's open
to the discourse. I can't get over Kevin Durant and
Kyrie Irving saying who needs a coach? We don't need
a coach. We could just roll the ball out and
play Kevin Durant. I respect the talent, top fifteen player
all time, no doubt. You need a coach, Buddy Deniable, Like,

(23:00):
go look at Philadelphia with Doc.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Rivers, Go look at Milwaukee with Budenholzer.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
Coaches matter, And this idea that Frank Vogel is just
gonna come in like you're not gonna teach Kevin Durant anything.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
You're not gonna teach Devin Booker anything. It's the supporting.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
Cast and playing around them and maybe playing an ounce
of defense because Denver Denver just shredded them. But this
is a tough one for Frank Vogel, and I mentioned
to Eddie House last hour. Vogels likes his room protectors
that when he had that Laker team, they had JaVale McGee,
Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis room protecting. Right now it's
the DeAndre Ayton, Jack Landale and Bismack Biambo.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
I think I don't know that's gonna cut it, and I.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Don't know that you can really move Aighton now, So
gonna get interesting. And I do wonder if this ends
or just begins the Kyrie Irving journey, perhaps to Phoenix.
Will ask Rick Buker about that shortly. But first I
came up with the staff this morning. You know, we
like a good list on this show sells well on
the internet, gets people talking. So I came up with

(24:03):
the ten most improved teams in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
We will count them down.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Number ten.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
We'll start with the Dallas Cowboys. How about them?

Speaker 4 (24:11):
Cowboys pick up Brandon Cooks in the offseason and Stefan Gilmore.
There's an argument this is a top defense, not only
in the NFL, but number one in the NFC. The
talent is there. I know they lost Zeke Elliott, it's
not a huge loss. We'll see maybe for Jerry Jones,
but not necessarily for the Cowboys. This is a really
good team. I'm not one hundred percent sold on them

(24:33):
with the Kellen Moore loss, but they are certainly improved
as a team adding Cooks and Gilmore. Number nine, the
Detroit Lions, Now, we've been hyping them for a while here.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
They had a spotty draft.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
Maybe reached a bit for the Kid Gibbs, the running
back out Obama, and of course a linebacker in the
first round that doesn't make any sense. But I love
the secondary editions. Cameron Sutton comes over. He's been rocking
Pittsburgh among other places. And CJ. Gardner Johnson remember from Philadelphia,
very good nickelback. This is I gotta say, this is
a Detroit team that's going to be improved. Jeff Akuda

(25:06):
obviously gone, but they're the favorites. Well, they're not the favorites,
but I think I would make them the favorites to
win the division over Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Number eight.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Oh yeah, Jacksonville Jaguars.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
Calvin Ridley is the sole reason they are the most
improvedless so in twenty twenty in Atlanta, thirteen hundred yards
receiving nine touchdowns. Ridley is a beast. You add him
to Trevor Lawrence ETN.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
I mean, this is a.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
Team that they kind of pushed Kansas City there in
the playoff game. I like this Jacksonville team. You know,
we'll talk about bets later in the show. It ain't
the worst bet in the world to say they win
the most games in the AFC. That division is just
absolutely futrid. Number seven. Let's go with the Denver Broncos.
What's not to love about Sean Payton. They also got

(25:54):
their offensive line added Mike McGlinchey, stole him from San
fran and Ben Powers. But you know, you could make
an argument most improved are the Broncos. Like top three,
I had him down here at seven. I do love
the Sean Payton addition, It's just the AFC is so tough.
There's still a world where this team does miss the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Number six.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
Let's go with the Baltimore ravens Lamar Jackson, they keep him.
That squabble, that marriage it was on the Rocks is
back on. They add Odell Beckham. They arguably have well
not arguably, they got the best wide receiver room, receiving
room if you throw in the tight ends that Lamar
Jackson's ever had. Now the new offensive coordinator, we'll see

(26:35):
how that works out, Todd Monkin. But I do think
from an improved standpoint, this offense has all the pieces
in place to be an eleven or twelve win team.
Number five, Let's go with the New Orleans Saints. They're
here for one reason and one reason alone. Mister Derek Carr.
What's not to love about Carr? I mean, besides the
fact that he was you know, sixteen games or fifteen

(26:55):
games under five hundred with the Raiders. But Carr is
a massive up grade over the poo poo platter of
quarterbacks they've had there since Drew Brees left. Carr, you know,
I think he could make a case to be one
of the better quarterbacks in the NFC.

Speaker 8 (27:08):
Now.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
The NFC's down on the quarterback front. It's like Jalen
Hurts and.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
Dak Prescott, like, I don't know, it's pretty bleak, but
Kirk Cousins and Derek Carr right there in contention for
number two, and I do believe Carr and the Saints
they could be a twelve thirteen win team. Vegas seems
to be a little light on them, which is a
bit of a surprise to me.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Number four.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Number four Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
You know, I do not like saying nice things about
the Dolphins as a Jets fand I'm conditioned to dislike
Miami dates back to that Dan Marino fake spike. But
we don't need to talk about that when you add
Jalen Ramsey, one of the better quarterbacks in the league.
And yes, I've called him a pile inspect on the
show and he did not like that. But Jalen Ramsey's
a game changer in a secondary. They're gonna lose Byron Jones.

(27:52):
The other quarterback is Xavier Howard, very good. They're gonna
have a good secondary. They're gonna have a really good team.
The only question is the offensive line. But from a
nim prove standpoint, Jalen Ramsey's definitely a big ad for Miami.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Number three.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
Ah, yes, here we go, Colin Special the La Chargers,
adding Kellen Moore's offensive coordinator is immensely huge to Justin Herbert.
I really do think this is a Chargers team that
finally breaks through and wins a playoff game. Remember the
hype has been there for Herbert now for two years.
They lose in the final game of the season to

(28:26):
the Raiders. Herbert was extraordinary, and they missed the playoffs.
Then they get to the playoffs. I think they led
with it like twenty seven nothing, twenty to nothing, whatever
it was on the road in Jacksonville, and then blow
the lead and lose the game. Listen, it's I can't
say that phrase. I was gonna say something that I
can't say, but it's time to put up or shut

(28:46):
up basically for the Chargers, and I think the improvement
of Kellen Moore is huge.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
I love the Chargers this year.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Number two.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
You were waiting, huh. You thought the Jets would be one.

Speaker 6 (28:56):
They're not.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
The Jets are the second most improved team in the
league besides Aaron Rodgers. They add Alan Lazard, Rogers's best buddy,
Randall Cobb love me some me, Cole Hardman quickness, a
lot of junk plays. I know they lost Barrios, which hurts.
But Nathaniel Hackett's going to be the most interesting ad.
How motivated is that dude going to be after getting

(29:18):
run out of Denver in like five minutes in one
of the pretty bleakest head coaching tenures in recent NFL memory. Honestly,
this was up there with the Urban Meyer disaster. It
was bad for Hackett. He's motivated. Him and Rodgers have
worked together previously. I think the Jets have to be
the second most improved team in the NFL. Number one. Well,

(29:41):
that leaves one team, folks, the Chicago Bears. Spend money,
make money. That's like a business adage that goes back
for many, many decades, and the Chicago Bears spent like
drunken sailors in this offseason.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
But here's the good news.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
The last two teams to spend the most in free
agency have seen an uptick of nearly four wins. The
Patriots two years ago they made the playoffs and lost
last year Jacksonville.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
This year, Chicago Bears. Here are some of the names.
They added.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
DJ Moore via trade, Dante Foreman, very good backup running
back Robert Tanyan they stole from the Packers, in the division.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
TJ. Edwards good linebacker.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
I don't love paying linebackers, but I digress Tremaine Edmunds
another linebacker, young, talented.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
This is a team that got a lot better folks.
Justin Fields has help.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Remember they got Clay Pool last year at the deadline,
so they got some depth on the outside. Chicago Bears
most improved team in the league and one of my
hottest takes for the upcoming NFL season. The Bears will
win more games this year than the Green Bay Packers
in Jordan Love, and that's gonna send Packers fans spiraling
because they got no hope going forward.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
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.

Speaker 9 (30:59):
Hey, gag this. Jay Glazer host of Unbreakable, a mental
health podcast, and each week we try to help turn
our mental health issues into mental wealth, and we dive
in with everyone from a world of sports and entertainment
like Sean McVay, Lindsey Vaughn, Michael Phelps, David Spade, Guy Fiemi,
and also those who could help us in between the
Ears anyone from a therapist to someone like Ed Milett

(31:22):
for John Gordon. So each week listen to Unbreakable with
Jay Glazer, a mental health podcast on iHeartRadio, app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get podcasts.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
I'm excited about this next guest. I've known him for years.
He has been at Fox. He was out here in
LA and you know, he needed a sparring partner, somebody
who could actually hang with him and debate NBA.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
A lot of guys could not.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
And I stepped up and I was like, all right,
you know, Broussard, let's do it. And we had a
lot of fun. Then he moved back east and now
he's doing first things first, joining the Cowhurt Global Network
is my guy, Chris Broussard. He is retired from basketball,
but the takes are still fire from Bussard.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
Chris, how you doing, my man?

Speaker 8 (32:06):
I'm great, Jay Mack. You definitely were my sparring partner.
I don't know about the that you hung with me,
but you were definitely my spar I was the Mayweather.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
You were the other guy holding up the gloves.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
Oh okay, all right, so let's get started with the
big news in the NBA today, Frank Vogel former last
scene with Lebron and Ad is going to be the
new head coach of the Phoenix Suns. You know, we
were talking during the break and it's like, is this
that good of a job? Like, I know, you got
two superstars, but it was the last job filled. Kevin
Durant's gone on publicly on record, we don't need a coach.

(32:38):
We just rolled the ball out. He said that in
Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving, you got the DeAndre Ayton questioned
looming the Chris Paul situation.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
I don't know is this a great job.

Speaker 8 (32:50):
I think it's a good job because you know, you've
got two of the best players in the world, you know,
in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Now what is around him?
That's gonna be the question. If I were at Phoenix,
I am trying to shop Chris Paul and see what
I can.

Speaker 6 (33:06):
Get for him.

Speaker 8 (33:06):
If I can ask some depth for him, you may
not be able to. You may have to bring him back.
And then DeAndre Ayton again, he's a guy that can
get you some added depth on the market if indeed
they move on from him. If not, you know, maybe
he responds well to a new voice and Frank Vogel
because he's still a good player. He's not a great center,
but he's a guy that can get you eighteen points

(33:28):
and ten rebounds with very little offense.

Speaker 6 (33:30):
Run for him.

Speaker 8 (33:30):
Maybe you run a little more offense through him or
for him, maybe Vogel will do that. But Vocal is
a good coach. I've always said this. Remember when he
was in Indiana, and I know that was three jobs ago,
right Los Angeles, Orlando, Indiana, But when he was in
Indiana with a big three of Paul George, Roy Hibbert

(33:51):
and Lance Stevenson, he was given the heatles problems in
the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
So he knows his ex'es and o's.

Speaker 8 (33:58):
He's just got to make sure that the these players are,
you know, in line with what he's saying. And if
he commands their respect, then you know they can be
a contender out there in the West next year.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
It's Vocal to kind of coach in your opinion, Chris,
where this makes it more or less likely that the
Sons make a move like bringing in Kyrie Irving in
some kind of swap for DeAndre Ayton.

Speaker 6 (34:21):
I wow, Kyrie, I don't.

Speaker 8 (34:24):
Know if that has anything to do with the coach,
because we've seen Kyrie have problems with all manner of coaches.
I mean, you mentioned, you mentioned Kevin Durant saying he
didn't need a coach that really was Kyrie. Kyrie was
the ring leader of that, So I don't know if
that's the deciding factor. Obviously, you want a guy who
you think can command his respect, if indeed there is

(34:46):
such a person. But it'll be interesting to see what
they do with Kyrie when you're talking about him in Phoenix.
You know what the first question is, does Durant want
to do it again? And I'm sure Durant doesn't want
to answer that question publicly, But if you're the Sons
and you're really thinking about Kyrie, you do have to
talk with Durant privately and say, hey.

Speaker 6 (35:08):
Are you willing to run this thing back?

Speaker 8 (35:10):
And you know it didn't work out in Brooklyn, and
a lot of it was Kyrie's fault, and so you
got to get Durant's blessing first.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
All right, let's do one more coaching thing before we
get to the finals. Nick Nurse and a bit of
a surprise, goes to Philadelphia. I had to take earlier
that like, finally the Sixers are doing the right thing.
They're going away from a player's coach and going more
towards someone who's gonna hold them accountable. And Nick Nurse
definitely does that. He isn't known as a demanding coach.

(35:39):
Wants the whole guy's accountable, and I don't know how
that's gonna work with James Harden. It got a little
tense in the press conference. I don't know that Nick
Nurse exactly wants Hardened there. We know Maury has a
relationship with him.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
But I'm curious your thoughts on the Philly situation.

Speaker 8 (35:54):
Well, one, I thought Nurse had a great quote which
was winning is this right?

Speaker 6 (36:01):
Is that it? Winning is the sell?

Speaker 3 (36:03):
Like?

Speaker 8 (36:03):
If do you want to win? I mean you're talking
about James Harden. If you really want to win, then
you're gonna stay here. And I think Nick Nurse and
others I'm sure in the Sixers organization are really questioning
does James Harden really want to win a championship? Cause
honestly I'm questioning that, Jay Mac, if you do, why

(36:23):
is Houston even on the table?

Speaker 3 (36:26):
Why?

Speaker 8 (36:27):
Now I've heard you know family concerns and things like that.
First of all, he's from Los Angeles. I don't know
his family dynamic, but I know he's from Los Angeles,
and you're making enough money where if I was in
his shoes, I can move my family up to Philadelphia.
So I don't like, why is Houston even a consideration
if you want to win a championship.

Speaker 6 (36:48):
So I think the Sixers need to sit down.

Speaker 8 (36:49):
I think they need to take control of the situation,
not let Harden dictate it and say, look, do you
want to go to Houston. If so, we'll look and
see if there's a sign of trade. I know you
don't like losing players for nothing, and that be tough.
He's a good player, but I'm trying to win the championship,
j Mac, and I don't know. I gotta be honest,
I've seen enough of hard and failing in the big

(37:11):
moments in the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (37:12):
Is he gonna help them get to a championship?

Speaker 8 (37:15):
Well, so'm if it's not Houston, I'm looking at what
other places might you want to go because we can
maybe do a sign and trade there.

Speaker 6 (37:22):
So if I'm Nick Nurse.

Speaker 8 (37:24):
I'm thinking maybe I want my man Fred Van Vliet
from Toronto. So yeah, hardened to me. I'm very disappointed
in him even considering Houston, Okay, because that tells me
you're not trying to win.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
Well, Okay, let me try to defend Harden with this
was a little silly. So the last two stops he
was in he wasn't the guy. He's not the guy anymore.
In Philly, he's not the guy anymore.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
In Brooklyn. He was in Houston, and.

Speaker 4 (37:49):
He got closer to the finals I thought with Houston
than he did with Philly or Brooklyn. In Houston, he
was a little younger, obviously, and Chris Paul was his sidekick.
But he pushed that loaded Warriors team, which I've called
the greatest team in NBA history KD.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Curry. He pushed them to seven. Now they came up short.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
But maybe he still thinks I can be an ALTFHA
in this league, and I can do that in Houston.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
I ain't the dude in Philly. This is in Bead's team.
Could that be an argument for James.

Speaker 8 (38:15):
No, because it's not the same Houston team and Mike
d'antoni's not the coach now.

Speaker 6 (38:19):
Emae L.

Speaker 8 (38:19):
Dokah is a very good coach, but he's not gonna
coach the style that Mike D'Antoni did. He's defense first, Like,
you're not gonna be James Harden all day, all night,
all the time.

Speaker 6 (38:31):
In Houston anymore. That's over.

Speaker 8 (38:33):
And at Harden's age, I don't think he could do
it consistently. And again that team didn't win, bottom line,
and you had Chris Paul and some other really good players.
Houston is young. I want to see Jalen Green and
some of these other young players showcase themselves. If I'm
Houston and I have James Harden, guess what I'm asking
Harden to play the same role he played in Philly.

(38:54):
Be a great distributor. He is a great distributor. He
did it in Brooklyn with Kyrie. He was phenomenal and
then he was He's solid. I thought he was an
all star level player this year in Philly.

Speaker 6 (39:06):
So he's not.

Speaker 8 (39:08):
I don't know where he's going and thinking he's gonna
get up all those shots and average thirty three points
a game. Again, I don't think Houston is even that place.
So and again he left there why because I want
to win? He left Brooklyn because Kyrie wouldn't come back,
you know, during the vaccination, and he wants to win. Well,
here you are in Philly, you got the MVP, You've

(39:29):
got other great role players. Now you got a championship coach.
I know Doc was a championship coach, but you've got
a new coach. So why not give it a shot there?
If you really want to win a championship. I think
this is surrender. I think if you're going to back
to Houston, you're like, man, I just want a ball.
I just want to get my ball put up. Some numbers,
have fun. Look, that's your choice. It's your choice to

(39:51):
live the life you want to live. But I'm just
saying it tells me you're not really interested in chasing
that championship. It's like, man, I tried. I gave it
three years. Everybody saying I gotta get a ring. I
gave it three hard years.

Speaker 6 (40:03):
I'm done. I'm not Kevin Durant.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
You know Bucher doesn't Kevin Durant also just say I
just want a ball. I don't want to be a leader.
I just want to ball. I want to hoop.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
That's like his famous quote, I just want to hoop,
isn't that what Harden's doing well.

Speaker 8 (40:14):
But he's not saying he doesn't want to win. I mean,
what was Kevin Durant's list? Did it include some lottery teams? No,
it was Phoenix cause he knew I can.

Speaker 6 (40:24):
Go here win. I get it.

Speaker 8 (40:26):
He's not a leader by his own admission, But not
being a leader is it saying I don't want to win?

Speaker 6 (40:33):
And so I think these are completely different things.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
All right, so let's move to John Morant one more
before the finals. Sorry, that Adam Silver comments were I
don't know, just alarming, disturbing, whatever you want to say.
So basically he admitted that the NBA uncovered more evidence,
but he doesn't want to drop the news because it'll
interrupt the finals.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Well, Adam, you've done interrupted the finals?

Speaker 4 (40:53):
Their speculation or we look at fifty games full season,
like what's on the table here.

Speaker 8 (40:59):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (40:59):
He kind of embarras the lead Chris. Adam Silver is
gonna come down pretty hard. I know this is gonna
become a racial issue on social media. Everything does I
don't know. It's looking bleak for John Mornno.

Speaker 8 (41:10):
Well, I don't know. I mean, Gilbert Arena is what
he did was worse. That was ten years ago. He
got fifty games. He brought a loaded gun onto the
in the practice facility. All right, that's not I'm not
defending what Joh did. That was bad too, but this
was worse what Grena's did and he got fifty games,
all right, So I don't know that it'll.

Speaker 6 (41:30):
Be that harsh.

Speaker 8 (41:31):
Now, look what everybody's focusing on Silver saying they uncovered
other things.

Speaker 6 (41:36):
So what those other things are we don't know. But
remember when.

Speaker 8 (41:40):
Joh first got you know, had the gun on Instagram.
They're starting to be all these reports about well this
was this been going on for a while, you know,
before it got public. People were saying his behavior in
Memphis had been going on for a while. So a
lot of it may depend on what else they uncover.

(42:00):
I'm thinking more like now, I may be wrong, but
thirty games something like that, I think what my main
concern with this, and I hope this is the league's
main concern. I know they have to, you know, watch
their image and things like that, but my concern is
with John Moran's health and safety, all right, physically, because

(42:24):
this fake gangster act that he's putting on could put
you in harms way down there in Memphis or other places.

Speaker 6 (42:32):
But beyond that, his mental health as.

Speaker 8 (42:34):
Well, because he said when he first had the first
incident with the gun, he said, you know, I gotta
find a better way to deal with my stress and
you know, with my the pressure that's on me. And
then when he came back from the eight days of
counseling or whatever it was, and he said, you know,
I found a better way.

Speaker 6 (42:55):
You know, I'm in a better mental space and I've
been in years.

Speaker 8 (43:00):
And then how many people would go on Instagram and
do what he did the second time after you've been
warned by the league. I'm sure Nike talked to him
all that you had to lose. And then the last thing,
Jay Mack the instagram posts about his mom, his dad,
his baby girl, and then by and that Fort Spur

(43:22):
sparked a welfare wellness check by the police down there
in Memphis.

Speaker 6 (43:26):
That was scary.

Speaker 8 (43:28):
And I hope I'm wrong, but I gotta be honest,
I don't buy that he was just saying he's getting
off social media. You know, he sees his parents all
the time, he talks to him all the time. He
could easily tell them that and so I think Joe
really needs to get counseling, get his head straight, and
so I think a suspension will actually be good for
it because it gives him time to get himself straight,

(43:53):
get himself in order, and it hopefully would serve as
a deterrent to future incidents like this. So that's my
main concern. I don't think he's a bad guy. I
think he's very He's lost right now, and he has.

Speaker 6 (44:06):
The money to do whatever he wants.

Speaker 8 (44:08):
And when a lost person, lost person with a lot
of money, that can be trouble.

Speaker 6 (44:13):
So he's got to get himself straight, all right, Chris.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
Let's get to the NBA Finals. Kind of a beatdown
last night Denver trail for I believe thirty four seconds.
They led by double digits for almost the entire second half.
Jokic utterly dominant. Jamal Murray, my guy, Jamal Murray. A
lot of doubters on Jamal Murray. I mean, he's emerged
as one of the real clutch players in the league.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Right now.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
Build me a case for how Miami gets back in
the series. Because I saw the spreads up to nine
and a half for Game two, Nuggets overwhelming favors to
win this series.

Speaker 3 (44:43):
It's tough to make a case.

Speaker 4 (44:44):
Man.

Speaker 8 (44:45):
Yeah, Look, Denver is a better team, and I would
argue Milwaukee and Boston were the better teams, and certainly
Miami beat them. But Milwaukee and Boston were better teams,
more talented teams with flaws. Right Milwaukee, let's call it
what it is. Their best player can't shoot all right,
And as great as Johannis is, he's still arguably I
think Jokic is the best player in the world, but Janni's.

Speaker 6 (45:08):
Is right there, probably second.

Speaker 8 (45:10):
But that's a major fault in Miami's great defensively with
Eric Spostra, and they were able to come up with
schemes that bothered him, and so they that's a major
fall Plus they Milwaukee didn't have a lot of athleticism
on the wings outside of Drew Holliday. And then Boston
was just a team that wasn't well coached this year,
a team that you know, they lacked focus and they

(45:34):
often lost focus, and they don't have a playmaker to
really get Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum in the greatest situations.
This Denver team is a more talented team that doesn't
have those flaws. So Miami beat more talented teams in
the East with their heart, their grit, their toughness, a

(45:54):
great leader and starring Jimmy Butler and a great coach
and Eric Spostra. Well, now you're against another more talented
team who doesn't have those flaws that Boston and Milwaukee have.
And they got just as much heart and toughness and
grit as the Heat do. And they're at just as
well coached, all right, So they're not gonna win. The

(46:16):
Heat is going to lose this series. I'll they may
get a game or two because they don't quit and
because they execute well, and Sposa will come up.

Speaker 6 (46:26):
With some adjustments. But this is Denver series.

Speaker 8 (46:31):
They're hungry, and they got the best player in the
world and as you said saying, one of the great
clutch players in the league right now in Jamal Murray,
and a great role playing cast around those two. So yeah,
I picked them in six. It might not get pass five.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
It's tough tough to envision that. It's weird. Yokicch is
so damn good. I said earlier.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
He was as dominant as Shaquille O'Neill was at the
height of his career. Shack just bullying people. Will Yokic
can bully them down low. He could take them at
the elbow and make the right pass. He can hit threes.
He's just the evolution of the big man.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
No more.

Speaker 4 (47:04):
You don't think a big guys is like stepping out
to the perimeter and hitting threes.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
That's like the new center. I am just curious.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
It's weird, like we've done this, like Ojiannis is the
best player in the world and Joel Embiid.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Is the MVP.

Speaker 4 (47:17):
Chris, if you're starting a team right now, age matters,
Are you taking anybody over yokich.

Speaker 6 (47:24):
Uh No, he's only twenty eight.

Speaker 8 (47:28):
He's gonna play a long time, hasn't really had injury problems.

Speaker 6 (47:33):
I think he's the best player in the world. He's
a point center.

Speaker 8 (47:36):
Remember when Scottie Pippen and back Paul Pressey guys that
were kind of those first point forwards.

Speaker 6 (47:42):
Well, he's a point center.

Speaker 8 (47:44):
And as you said, look, defensively, we know he's not great,
but because of his size, he's immense and his smarts,
he's not a liability. Now He's not you know, mbad
or Anthony Davis or Yannis defensively, but he's not a
liability because of his size and his intelligence. But offensively
he does it all. There's nothing he can't do. He

(48:07):
can shoot the three. He will back you down when
the situation calls for and go old school and post
you up or you know, jump hook on you.

Speaker 6 (48:16):
He'll hit the mid rang shot.

Speaker 8 (48:18):
He's a tremendous passive, best passing big man ever. And
he's a great rebounder. Like and he's unselfish. I don't
know what more you want from an offensive player. And so, uh,
this is his time and now it's up to the
rest of the league to figure out, Okay, how can
we combat the Denver Nuggets, because right now I think
they're the team to be.

Speaker 4 (48:38):
Yeah, it feels like Chris word of an inflection point.
I think that's the word in the league where the
most dominant players, the best, most complete players are Yokichiannis
and Doncic.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
What do they have in common?

Speaker 4 (48:51):
They didn't play basketball here growing up, and you know,
talking about who's the who's.

Speaker 8 (48:57):
The next who's the next guy? The number one big
about the next guy?

Speaker 4 (49:01):
And then in twenty twenty four, if you want to
look ahead to that draft, because I do drafts for
Fox Sports. Uh, three of the top five guys are European.
Something's going on in this league right now, Chris, where
you gotta have all the tools in your box. And
it seems like even though Joannis can't shoot free throws,
the Europeans have it and the young guys don't. I mean,
you mentioned Jalen Green in passing about Houston earlier.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
I like him. He can give you twenty a night.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
But yeah, so what you know, he's not changing anything
about the game. Jordan Poole, who I love, He ain't
changed anything about the game. It just feels like we're
in this weird moment where AAU basket.

Speaker 8 (49:37):
The international players are better, the internet, the ultra elite.
We still got great American players, Yes, Jahn Moran, we
talked about early, Jason Tatum, Donovan Image, I mean, Stephen Lebron. Well,
those are older guys, but even younger guys, we got
some great American ones, Zion.

Speaker 6 (49:52):
If he could stay healthy.

Speaker 8 (49:53):
But the elite of the elite among the younger players
are all international, essentially. And here's what's happening. Look in America,
our sports is tied to education, right, so you play
your high school league, you play your college basketball, and
over there it's not. And so at fourteen fifteen, if

(50:15):
you're good, you essentially you become pro and you're getting
beat up by grown men. You're getting coached hard. You're
not the superstar at fifteen. Okay, you're humble, and you
see that with the international stars as well, and you're
learning the right way and you're focusing on basketball. I'm
sure they probably get tutoring or something like that, but

(50:36):
you're focusing on basketball.

Speaker 6 (50:38):
That's not the case here, and I think the AAU.

Speaker 8 (50:41):
Look, let's face it, if you're an AAU coach, it's
hard to jump on your player for not playing defense,
your star player, or for taking bad shots, or for
not sharing the basketball, because you'll just go to another
AAU team and our young stars at fifteen sixteen, if
you're really all that, yes that's what. You're a celebrity

(51:01):
on social media. You got millions of followers, so you
think you all that.

Speaker 6 (51:06):
And you're a sophomore in high school. All right, So
that's the difference.

Speaker 8 (51:11):
You see, these dudes over there are getting worked and
getting taught the right way, and they're working on their skills.
We play AAU games all weekend, Right, you're not working
on your skills.

Speaker 6 (51:22):
And furthermore, our players work on they work hard.

Speaker 8 (51:25):
I'm not the American players work hard, but they work
hard on what they want to the handle the three
point shot. But you gotta work hard at everything to
get everything.

Speaker 6 (51:36):
In your toolbox.

Speaker 8 (51:37):
And I'll say this for mb and these are international guys,
but Embiid and Yannis they got to improved.

Speaker 9 (51:43):
Right.

Speaker 8 (51:43):
They had some unceremonious exits from the playoffs this year. Right,
watch Yokic. I've been saying this about mb for years.
These guys they add the post game that Jokic has.

Speaker 6 (51:56):
He doesn't use.

Speaker 8 (51:57):
It all the time, the days of shock a Jawaan
whoever posting up on the block for forty minutes or over.

Speaker 6 (52:03):
I'm fine with that, But when.

Speaker 8 (52:05):
The situation calls for it, Jay Mac, what does Yokish do?

Speaker 6 (52:09):
He backs you down. He backs you down.

Speaker 8 (52:11):
All that in his bag, the three, the mid range,
the passing, and he goes old school and backs you down.

Speaker 6 (52:18):
Mbad and Yannis need to learn that.

Speaker 8 (52:21):
They there's no reason they can't work on that this
offseason and come back with that in their toolbox. Just
win the situation calls for it.

Speaker 6 (52:30):
MB's a great mid range shooter.

Speaker 8 (52:32):
Continue to do that, but add the back down to
your game, and same with Yannis.

Speaker 6 (52:38):
Add that to you.

Speaker 8 (52:39):
He'll probably never be a great jump shooter, but if
you add that to your game a little post play,
that'll serve him very well.

Speaker 4 (52:46):
Did you just remind me of the days I used
to wind you up and you would just go off?
That was a good little rant there, Chris. I like
how I like what I did? I was the yolkis there?
You were the Aaron Gordon slamming it home, Chris Bussard.
First thing first, right after this show, Chris, enjoy the
weekend and continued success.

Speaker 6 (53:03):
My man, all right, brother.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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