April 24, 2024 • 41 mins
Colin officially names the top NFL prospect everybody seems to love that he has serious doubts about. He believes NFL teams are still undervaluing quarterbacks as he inspects the top of the projected draft boards. Plus, NBA reporter Rachel Nichols joins the show in studio to explain why the Suns have been disappointing despite their trio of superstars including Kevin Durant
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three eastern nine am to
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go Draft e tomorrow. At this
time as Draft Day, We've got a lot to talk
about live in LA. It's the Herd. Wherever you may
be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day, jamac It's a very exciting
time on the phone working sources. Last night, several mock
(00:48):
drafts I won't present to America. I presented to myself.
I am dizzy with draft fever. I have to go
home and hydrate draft fever. Wow, and your MAVs won
last night.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's a good night for us five and one.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
With the picks.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Who's bragging?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
We're bragging. We get hammered when we're wrong, bragg when
you're right. Thank you. So I saw a story this morning.
Peyton Manning says the Broncos are very interested in JJ
McCarthy the Michigan quarterback draft again tomorrow. So I would
say about every maybe every third draft, not every draft,
but about every third draft, second draft, there is a
(01:28):
star quarterback gonna be a first round quarterback, and I
just don't get it. I mean, I have my favorites
ones I like, don't necessarily like as much, but they'll
be guys I don't get. I don't I don't get it.
T Bo, Johnny Manzell, Mitch Trubisky, Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson.
I just didn't get it. That's right in all of them.
(01:52):
Don't confuse that with Baker Mayfield. I said, that's a
starting quarterback in the NFL. Still think he's one of
the twentiest best quarterbacks on the planet. I thought he
was a bit immature. I didn't think he was ready
to be a number one picked. I didn't think he
was that talented. I thought it was a reach. Daniel Jones,
I didn't buy at all the Baker's got talent. He
wouldn't have been a guy I would have drafted number one,
but it got talent. Don't confuse it with that So
(02:14):
my quarterback this year. There's a star and I don't
get it. Is JJ McCarthy and Michigan. I think he's
Mitch Trubisky with a better college coach. He's mobile, he's
a nice kid. But his ball dies. His ball dies.
He misses easy stuff, misses too many laps. And unless
his feet are pointed in the right direction and he
(02:37):
is set and he's got time and he can look
down his receiver, he's not that accurate consistently. I just
don't see it. And again, what I just described protection,
your feeder set, you've got everything ready to deliver, you've
got space. That's Michigan. That's not the NFL. In Michigan,
(02:59):
you had perfect protection. The kid got sacked like almost never.
I think he got sacked like in thirteen fourteen games.
He got sacked like seventeen times. Once a game. He
played with the lead. He had a run game. That
is not the NFL. What are you when stuff implodes,
when you have to throw moving left, when you have
to constantly avoid. He even drew Brees, who didn't have
(03:22):
the big arm and wasn't hyper athletic or Brady constantly
moving within the pocket, constantly having to throw when you're
uncomfortable in a muddy pocket. That's not Michigan. McCarthy's not
that big. His arm is pretty average. The ringers Ben
Solac on JJ McCarthy ringer Bill Simmons thing, he said,
there are some real red flags on his profile. He said,
(03:45):
I found his accuracy to the outside really wanting, especially
to the left. His velocity starts the tail off. It's
very trubisky, That's what I see. It's very trubisky, which
is worrisome, and his mechanics start to crumble as well.
The red Flaggs don't preclude JJ from NFL success. They
make him seem a little scheme specific. And I've said this,
(04:06):
I think he works in Minnesota with Kevin O'Connell, Aaron Jones,
Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ. Hawkinson and a great left tackle.
I think he can work in Michigan. But I don't
think he's the top five guy ever. And I see
a lot of trubisky. He is my I don't see
it quarterback. I'll say it right now. I like Caleb
and Jaln Daniels. I get the traits of Drake May.
(04:29):
I think Bo Nicks works if he gets Sean Payton.
I think Pennix can work if he gets Mike McDaniel,
or maybe that Seattle situation where this college OC is
now the Seahawks OC, but the JJ one boy, it's
got to land perfect to work, in my opinion. Jordan Palmer,
who does this for a living, He's worked with Mahomes
and Allen and Burrow. His thoughts on JJ McCarthy as
(04:51):
a prospect.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Before each game at Michigan, when you know Harvos's hitting
his pads and all that stuff in pregame, they there
was an understanding that they were going to rush for
two hundred fifty yards that day. Had we seen games
where they asked him to throw it forty times and
he just completed half of them and threw two picks,
then that'd be different. That never happened, and so unfortunately,
when you're drafting anybody at the top, you have to
(05:15):
make assumptions because we don't have We can't see how
they were in the NFL different than a free agency
we can literally look at how you stack up against
NFL defenses. We can't do that in the draft. That's
why it's an imperfect science.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, I think Jordan has the same concerns I do.
I talked to an NFL scout last night. He's my
I don't quite see it. Not saying it can't work,
but it would all have to line up perfectly to
work to any degree. That's my opinion on JJ McCarthy.
So this story is kind of shocking to me. The
(05:47):
Patriots have the third pick, they are willing to move it,
and the story this morning they have not received a
serious offer for the third pick. So remember the quarterback position.
It's never been Let's start our entire discussion with this,
It's never been a more quarterback important, quarterback centric league,
(06:09):
quarterback crucial league now more than ever, can't build around
a run game. Quarterback has never been more important. And
if you get the right one Mahomes Brady, they change
a franchise. If you get a really, really great one
Lamar Jackson, he's worth up to eleven points a game.
JJ Watt at his height as the best defensive player
in the league was worth less than a point Brady
(06:30):
nineteen years as a starter in New England. This is
when initially it was a run league more than a
pass league. Seventeen playoffs Mahomes six years as a starter,
six AFC championships. There's no comparable position. I grew up
with Walter Payton and Barry Sanders, to my eyes, the
two best running backs I've ever seen in the entire league.
In twenty three total years, they made the playoffs in
(06:52):
a run league less than half the time. And yet
I still think at least half the coaches in this league,
overwhelmingly the defense coaches don't get the value of quarterback.
They don't get it. They show no urgency, they just
don't get it. It's like water, it's free medicine. If
you have a headache, they tell you drink water after
(07:14):
a race or during a race. What do they tell you?
Hydrate water. I've had doctors say first thing, they ask,
are you drinking enough water? Yet that's a society. All
we do is pound caffeine, which dehydrates us. We drink alcohol,
which dehydrates us. Literally, professional athletes during games, after games,
(07:35):
what the coaches say as they get on the plane,
hydrate water, hydrate, gatorade, water, hydrate, free medicine. Most Americans
don't drink enough. And I look at the NFL and
I think this is why a third of the coaches
get fired every league. Maybe they deserve to be fired.
The Patriots haven't received a serious offer. A third of
(07:57):
this league is awful at quarterback. Half of this league
is just not good enough at quarterback. And there's six
great ones on the planet. And I believe the two
best quarterbacks are Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams. Many like
Jayden over Caleb. I saw another story today another scout
said he's deeply concerned about the personality of Caleb. I'm
(08:20):
not he is. He's not the only scout. So if
Jaden isn't selected second, you could get the best quarterback
in this class, according to about a third of the scouts,
the best quarterback if Washington decided to take Drake May.
Now there's others that think Drake May has the best
traits of all of them. He's taller, he's bigger, he's
(08:42):
heavier than Caleb or Jaden Daniels. So getting to the
number three, I mean, and we know this to be true,
that I mean, let's look at where the best quarterbacks
in the NFL fell to. Who was the best quarterback
in last year's class. It wasn't the number one quarterback
it was the second quarterback taken. C J. Stroud, Lamar
Jackson was the fifth quarterback taken. Josh Allen was the
third quarterback taken. Tom Brady was like eighth. Patrick Mahomes
(09:07):
was second. So that third pick by New England in
a league where quarterbacks never been more important, where the
best defensive player will be worth less than half a
point in a quarterback centric league, nobody has called him
about the third pick. And again I will double down
and triple down on this because there is great disagreement
(09:32):
on Drake May and Jaden Daniels. You could be getting
the second best quarterback in this draft, and there are
a handful of scouts. If Jaden Daniels dropped to three,
you'd be getting the best. And recent history shows you
the best quarterback in the draft is not the first
one taken. Lamar was the fifth, Mahomes the second, Allen
(09:56):
the third, c J. Stroud the second. I mean, I
feel bad when people lose their jobs, but there's a
reason a third or a quarter of the NFL coaches
every year lose their job. New England hasn't received a
serious call on this. Are you kidding me? It's the
only position I mean I have friends who have coached
in the NFL and they acknowledge, Yeah, we couldn't get
(10:16):
the quarterback right. So I went to college. I just
couldn't get the quarterback right. Those are the smart guys.
Those are the guys I feel bad for. But I mean,
never forget. A third of this league right now has
a bad quarterback, and half has a quarterback that's not
good enough. It's nuts to me. It's the only position
worth over a point. And again, Lamar Jackson, if you
(10:37):
go to games he's played with the Ravens and games
he's missed, it's eleven points. Vegas thought Aaron Rodgers in
his prime was worth ten ten and a half points.
The average NFL games decided by four. What are we
doing here? Somebody called New England. They want to take
the call. They want to make a move. Alright, g Mac,
I'll get to Luca here in a second.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Hold on, I gotta ask. So the Patriots depth chart
at quarterback as Jacoby Brissett, Bailey Zappi, Nathan Rourke, do
the Patriots need a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Or or the Patriots are deciding what we need more
than anything is like eight starters and the only way
to get him is moving down. And you can subscribe
to that theory that we're better off just getting a roster.
There's two things they have to do. Get a quarterback
and get a roster. If you get a quarterback with
a bad roster, it increases failure. If you get a
(11:31):
great roster and then get a quarterback, it increases the potential,
albeit a year later, of success. So I think you
can make an argument both ways. Roster first, quarterback second.
And if New England scouts are like, we love Caleb
and we love Jaden and by three they're like, now,
they may not make that move until after the second pick.
It could be circumstantial. But we know now this is
(11:55):
not the seventies, eighties, nineties, or even fifteen years ago.
There was one position you got to get right, and
then nobody gets fired. Andy Reid could be looking for
another job if Mahomes doesn't land there. And he's arguably
the best coach of my lifetime. And Belichick was fired
when he lost a quarterback we considered the best coach
of our lifetime. So you can get the coach right,
and and he was like going Philly. Belichick crumbled in
(12:18):
New England. You have to get one position in the
whole franchise, right. Do you see this week who got extensions?
Brett Veet, the Chiefs, GM, Brett Veach, Andy Reid, the President.
Do you know why they all got extensions? Not because
of the owner, because of the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
So the Vikings call the Patriots, and the Patriots you
know we're good at quarterback. Would you like to come
up and get one? Viking's like, wait, we need a quarterback?
So do you Why don't you want Drake May or
j J mcgo. What do you know that we don't know?
Why would the Vikings trade up?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Well, the Vikings trade up if they believe, and there
are indicators that they may believe that Drake May is
going to fall to three, and they believe Drake May
has the best traits in the draft. Although he's not
the most refined yet. There are those that I have
talked to that believe just Jayden Daniels personality and talent
(13:13):
is the best quarterback. Not many, but some, there are
more than a few. I talked to one last night
who think Drake May's got the best traits, size, movement,
arm he got the best of them. But he's just
unrefined to that, I argued, so was Josh Mahomes Jordan Love.
There's an argument to be made unrefined, but unrefined but
great traits is the guy you want to get.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
So is it possible that the Vikings don't want to
show their hand who they like and they're waiting to
see what happens to two? Because I know you think
what Washington's taken, Daniels, the gambling odds say that we've
seen a lot of mock drafts say that. I don't.
I don't know. I wonder if the Vikings are like,
we don't know who's going to so we're not going
to trade up. It's the guy we want go second.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
No, I think that's now. I think Minnesota, I think
that's very possible. My gut is, this is what I
think Chicago's in on.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Caleb.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Washington's taken Jad and Daniels and the Patriots don't think
Drake May with their current roster, has a shot. Minnesota
thinks he needs a year of development. So I think
Minnesota likes Drake May and they're just gonna wait and
see who Washington takes. So I think if Minnesota makes
a move. That could be the team that moves. But
(14:24):
the truth is nobody's gotten. They haven't taken a serious
call yet. A third of this league is a garbage quarterback.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I think it's because Washington's such a mystery at too.
We've just and the league is doing a great job
this year of not telling people who's going second Colin.
Let's be real, nobody knows what Washington's doing it too.
They have not had any leaks at all.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
No, there's no leaks, but people inside the league know
what Washington's doing.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I'm on Drake and you're on Jaden.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Well. I just I if I know what Washington's doing,
and I believe I've been told I'm not alone. I
do not believe me. Thirty five one hundred miles from
Washington has sources that nobody else has did.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Did they tell you that for a reason? Your your sources.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Let's get Cowhurd on the sources. Their names might as
well be iron and clad.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
A lot of guys can score the basketball high school
College au g Leaguan pros to be a truly great
player generally in the history of the league. Truly great,
an all timer, you have to be elite offensively and
at least commit defensively. Tim Duncan did, Kobe did, Kareem did,
(15:42):
MJ did, Tim Duncan did. They committed both sides of
the floor. Steph Curry is a willing defender, but he's
not a dynamic athlete. He's thin, can get pushed around,
but he makes the effort. Luca, so far in the
league before this year, was just an offensive player. It's
why I've often compared him to Carmelo Anthony, who never
(16:03):
really committed the defense his entire career. Carmelo chose not
to be a great defender because all the skills he
had that made him a great offensive player, length, size,
quickness could have been used defensively. D Wade didn't have
the size the length of Carmelo Anthony. D Wade chose
(16:28):
to be a great defensive player and a productive offensive player.
It's a choice, and for the first time in his career,
Luca has made a choice to play defense, and he's
been very good this year. Last night against the Clippers
MAVs one tied the series up. Luca was exceptional. He
held people he guarded to twenty five percent shooting, and
(16:51):
he didn't guard stiffs. He was out there guarding Paul
George and Kawhi and he held them to twenty five
percent shooting. He should be a good defender. He's big,
he's thick, he's powerful, he's long. He moves well for
a size. There's no reason he's not a very good defender.
I'm not asking him to be Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan,
(17:14):
I'm not asking him to be MJ. He's not that twitchy.
But he should be a good defensive player. And offense
is about skill. Defense is about commitment and trying. And
it's why I won't give a break to James Harden,
Arcamello Anthony. They chose, despite their athletic prowess, to not
commit to the other side of the floor, and it's
(17:36):
why I don't consider them truly great, and they've never
been great. In April, May and June.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a im Pacific.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
You see, Caitlin Clark's on that big contract with Nike.
Are people okay with that?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Why would they not be?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well? People? Yeah, people are.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I know some of the WNBA players are chirping and
unhappy that they don't have you.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Ever have you ever said to yourself in the off
season of the WNBA, Oh, I want to watch the
WNBA next year. This is the first time in my
life I've thought, oh, I'm gonna watch. I want to
watch the WNB. I want to see what she plays like.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
But I think every single game she's in is gonna
be televised, which is smart. I'll definitely check it out.
We might be going to the Caitlin Clark game out
here in La Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I've never in my life before thought about the w
NBA out of season.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
That's the Caitlin Clark factor. As much as people want
to say there's other girls there are, they're they're nice,
but it's all about Kaitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah. I mean. Nike does this for a living. Nike
literally for a living, tries to find people. The deals
actually very favorable to Nike. She made almost as much
at Iowa on her nil. She signed a eight year,
twenty eight million three and a half million per year.
She was making three million at Iowa.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Is that official?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
That's what That's what the story. That's what the story is.
I mean, I don't follow Iowa nil women's basketball.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
But that's just with Nike. She's also gonna.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I'm saying, I'm saying Nike so and that was just
nil for Iowa. So, Caitlyn Clark Nike, Kaitlin Clark, I
bet you is renegotiating this deal after a year. Nothing
against the agent, but she's making basically nil money at Iowa.
She literally outsold the entire Dallas Cowboys roster.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Well, a jersey's different from a sneaker, right, Are people
gonna buy? Kitlyn?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
That's a very good that's a very good point.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I were Kaitlin Clark jersey, I don't care my daughter's
gonna get one, Like it's fine. I mean, they're all
sold out everywhere.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
But now you're talking about sneakers.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That's a little different.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
No, No, you're those are like one hundred and fifty
box or you know what's just don't shack.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Shaq was not moving sneakers. We know that, you know,
Like it's sneaker sales are totally different to jersey sales.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Have you ever bought a sneaker due to an athlete.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I'm so embarrassed to admit this. I tried the Carmelo
Anthony's after he got traded to the next terrible shoes.
That was it, one and done. I wear Damian Lillard's now.
I feel like they're the most comfortable. But did you
buy them because of Dame or you just I cycle
through and I'm a high top guy, not a low top.
I can't wear low tops because of my ankles, and.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
So you went and bought a Carmelo Anthony shoe is back.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
In the day when I was in New York and
I was like, oh, you know, geeked for Carmelo, but
they just weren't comfortable. Couldn't play him. By the way,
you can't play in Michael Jordan sneakers. You cannot. They're
just style cool sneakers. Can't play basketball. They're terrible, terrible
basketball sneakers. Everyone will backed me up on that. You know,
once West plus this sunline.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
So Michael's shoes aren't built to be worn as athletic shoes.
They're like a Chanel bag for women. You know, you're
signaling to people, Hey, I can afford Jordan's. What up.
I'd never heard that before. Is that true?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Pretty much? I mean, maybe someone will check me on
that after this, But.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, it's like a Chanel bag. It's a status symbol exactly.
A Jordan's shoe is just I had no idea you
like that? Huh. Well, I mean to be the best
seller for twenty five years in shoes and it's a
status symbol. Cool, all right. I've never had a Jordan's
shoe in my whole life. I got I've never had
(21:04):
a y I've had somebody sent me a Derek roeshoe once.
No soul joke, I kid because I care, No, I
just it did. I don't. That's not my thing. I'm
not moved to buy things based necessarily on superstar athletes.
There are there are people that will. I will buy
products based on an endorsement by somebody I trust, But
(21:28):
I'm not like a tennis shoe guy. First and secondly,
pro athletes don't move me to buy stuff because I
think pro athletes will just take the money and never care.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
What about Agassy when he was a tennis player. I
played tenn and I was a young guy. I was like,
I need the Agasy But that again.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
That's status, right. But I think athletes will always i
mean Shack's on fifty commercials. I'm Shaq would do insure
whoever pays them the most, and I don't begrudge Shack
for doing that. But athletes don't move me to to
products because they're just going to take the most money.
But there are there's been an actor or there's been
somebody that said, hey, this is really good, and I've thought, oh,
(22:03):
I'm gonna try that because they have good taste. It's
almost like when I watch a movie. I watch a
movie based on Usually the director and the top actor.
I mean Ed Norton, don Cheatle are not in bad movies.
Tom Hanks has not in a lot of bad movies.
Meryl Streep's done in bad movies. The guy who did Oppenheim,
he's not in a lot of bad money. He doesn't
(22:23):
Mike Nichols. Historically, there are there were directors that I'm like, oh,
he doesn't do he knows scripts, So I will follow.
I don't care about the producer. I will follow the
director and the lead, the protagonists, the star of the
movie all followed them. Sometimes I'll look at the writers,
but it's the same with athletes will just take the money.
But there are people out there that endorse things, and
I'm like, okay, how buy that.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
I saw the Napoleon movie with Joaquin Phoenix. Am the
fan Joaquin Phoenix. Yeah, he's amazing. And I heard people say, oh,
the movie's not that great. The movie's awesome. Napoleon, the
new one, it just came out.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
He got you into a theater.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I mean all of his movies are good. Jaquin Phoenix
is really at the top of his he tough. Five
actor in Hollywood right now has to be.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
No doesn't move me really. Yeah. I like Christopher Bail. Yeah,
I think is Christian Christian Bale. I think I haven't
seen him in a movie in over a year. Christian Bale,
I think to me is the best actor in the
world currently right now. But that doesn't mean I can't move.
But I've always had guys like Cheatle and Ed Norton
(23:23):
and Michael Keaton is a guy that doesn't make bad movies.
Michael Keaton's always in good movies. So if Michael's in
it that I know that he wouldn't you know, he's rich,
he doesn't need the money anyway. Just rambling here just
started with Caitlin Clark, who probably does need some of
the money and got it from Nike. But I think
Nike got a good deal. Live in La, It's the Hurt.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time pro bowler
Levarrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a
podcast called Up on Game?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
What is Up on Game?
Speaker 5 (23:56):
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler TJ. Hood
such Manzada and Super Bowl champion Yep, that's right, Plexico Birds.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it. Up on Game We're going to be
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
to Up on Game with me Lebar Arrington, t J.
(24:18):
Hutch Manzada, and Plexico Burds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast from.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Rachel Nichols is joining us on the show again. Last
time I had you on the show, had more people
stop me. My friends say get Rachel on the show more.
So that's what we do. Rachel. We listen to our audience.
Speaker 6 (24:38):
I appreciate that. And the checks are in the mail
Papish contributed there.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Thinks So I was not only wrong on Phoenix in
the regular season, I said I gonna end up in
the Western Conference finals, big with I was wrong in
the posts and I picked him over Minnesota, and I
watched this series and I gotta be honest, Rachel, I
don't see a ton of energy Kevin Durant scoring Booker's cook.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Are you surprised? Are people in the league surprised by this?
Speaker 6 (25:04):
No? I'm not surprised at all. I was the opposite
of you and got a ton of criticism from the
people out in the world of why don't you believe
in the Suns. They've got some of the best shooters
in the league. They do, they just don't have the
rest of the roster. And that is the problem. The
way this roster is constructed. It's not fair to those
stars because they don't have the rest of the team
around them that say Minnesota has. Minnesota is a team.
(25:26):
If you looked at Ant, he got a ton of
defensive attention last night. Wasn't able to score in Game
two the way he did in Game one, Karl Anthony
Towns got in foul trouble, wasn't able to score the
way he did in Game one. Guess what, Jade McDaniel
steps up, Mike Conley steps up. That's a team, Rudy
Gobert is. They're on defense. Defensive player of the year.
The Suns don't have that. The way this roster is constructed,
(25:47):
it is so top heavy, and even within that, there's
no true point guard. There's no ball handler. There's no
one getting these guys the ball where they need it
to be. That is not a recipe for success. They're
going to be limited going forward. And now we're going
to face questions this offseason. I mean, look by the
way I think Phoenix can win a game or two
in this series. I don't think they're winning four of
(26:07):
the next five.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, you could tell in game one. It's interesting because
they beat the Tea Wolves in three matchups regular season
by double digits. But regular season is different. You play.
I mean, I think we all know this defense has
become much more important in the playoffs. They are calling
it marginal contact. The whistles are drying up. These are
defensive teams are flourishing. The Knicks are flourishings. Phillies better offense,
(26:28):
Knicks are better defense. Cleveland's a good defensive team. Orlando's
a good defensive team. So yeah, you know, we've talked
about Kevin durant Is, and I think a lot of
it is international soccer in the NBA are very star
driven and Ronaldo can move around and you just go
get the money, and we all say it's fine, you
go get yours.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
In the NFL, like if Mahomes left to the Jets
because he had a friend who played wide receiver.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Right, we'd be much more disturbed by that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
What are you doing, Yesta, go get yours. I mean
a lot of mobility. But there is something about kd
Is that he left in the penthouse of the league
for a remodel and a reboot and neither is worked.
Does it affect his legacy?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Look, I think the mistake. There's an argument that Kevin
never should have left Golden State. I don't care what
people outside noise were saying. Right, it's a great team.
That was one of the greatest teams of all time.
Let's see what you could do. Let's maximize that to
its full potential. That was a disappointment. If you're just
a true basketball fan, getting to see how far they
could have gotten if they had stayed together would have
been really cool. I feel the same way about Jack
(27:34):
and Kobe. I would have loved to have seen them
stay together. If he wasn't going to leave, why didn't
he go to the Knicks? Man, And I know everyone
in New York you're very happy now, I get it.
But can you imagine Kevin Durant if he went to
Madison Square Garden and they were still able to build
the quality of team around him that they have built
now with that kind of good management, he'd be a hero.
(27:54):
I mean, his entire legacy would be different. The way
people thought of him would be different. You'd never buy
another meal again New York City or possibly around the country.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
That was what's interesting. He not only left the Warriors,
but he went to New York's second brand. And it's like,
that's like going to the Mets over the Yankees. And
you have a choice. If you're Garrett Cole and they
both offer you, you'd go to the Yankees.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
Yes, yes. And by the way, everyone in that fan
base was starving for a big star member. They couldn't
get Lebron. They couldn't get sowed, so they couldn't get sowned.
So if he came, the victory parade just from him
signing would have been tremendous. And then what if he
got them too a conference finals? What if he got
them to an NBA finals, forget a championship. People weren't
been just ballistically happy.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
We were talking Jay McK and I Rachel talked about
this the other day. There is something that is profound.
I remember when I first fell in love with the
NBA in the seventies and eighties, and part of the
attraction I'm a small town, rural kid, was Diane Cannon,
Jack Nicholson. That's where stars were at. I've never seen
stars at sporting events and you're like, oh, stars, they're
(28:56):
pretty good. I'm watching the Knicks games. There is no
question they feel bigger. I got I got guys from
the Sopranos, I got Ben Stiller, I Gotston Bateman. Yes,
it matters, it feels the league. It feels big. And
that's what's interesting with Kevin. It's it's one thing to
leave the great team. If Mahomes ever left, you know
(29:17):
he would go to a great coach, Hey, I want
to go with Sean Payton. I want to go with
Sean McVay like Stafford's like, I'm going to go find
the guy. It's a weird move and it has not
worked out. So Milwaukee Indiana, Yeah, this could be a
problem from the beginning. Jannie is hurt, Indiana's a tough matchup. Yeah,
Milwaukee's old. You kind of feel if Jannis is there,
(29:38):
the NBA's swallowed the whistles. They'll figure it out. But
where are we inside that organization? So let's say Jannis
comes back, is it game three? They think?
Speaker 6 (29:51):
First of all, nobody has projected when he's going to
come back. The update was from Doc Rivers, He's closer. Well,
closer could mean a lot of things, right, I mean,
I'm closer to being eighty years old. I'm not near
it yet though, So I just think we don't know.
And I have to say I'm not a doctor, I
don't even play one on TV, and I am not
(30:11):
inside the Bucks organization. I would be whatever is more
conservative than conservative about bringing Janni's back. We have seen
calf strains precede achilles injuries more than once. Kevin Durant
went through it, and when he did, he missed the
entire next year and the playoffs the following year. And
by the way, yes he has come back. He's not
quite the player he was. He's pretty close, which is very,
(30:32):
very impressive. But he is a totally different shooting style
and body type than Yani sent Tokomp. He's a completely
different player Yannis at his size, with the way he plays,
if he had to recover from an achilles tear, that's
a very very troubling scenario. And if I'm the Bucks,
this first round series, as disappointing as it is, would
not be worth it to me to rush him back
(30:53):
in any way or even do the averages, I would
be on the conservative side of conservative with him. And
if that's the case, gosh, it looks like the Pacers
would win this series. Because the real key for the
Bucks was going to be be as efficient as possible.
Make your shots so that the Pacers, who were younger
and more athletic, can't just start running around in transition
right because they're faster. And when you have Janni said
(31:15):
to Takupo, who's a two time MVP with his skill
set not there, when you don't have him drawing Devil
teams off Damian Lillard. When you don't have those easy
buckets he can get inside. You're just given the Pacers
transition opportunities. And they did a twenty three to four
run the other day in the fourth quarter. I mean,
that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
So there's always been this feeling that when Lebron came
to your franchise, you sacrificed everything to win now, and
that used to reward you with final appearances. It was
a lock in sports Nick Saban would win the sec
Lebron will get to the finals. Yes, two locks in
spors Okay and then Lebron now guarantees you're interesting, but
he doesn't guarantee anything in the playoffs, especially in the
(31:52):
much deeper West. And so when I suggested, I didn't
think it was a hot take. I said, you know,
they match up really well with Okay, and they're not
built to win the championship anyway. My concern is when
they lose to Denver again in four, the repercussions of losing,
He'll want Darvin hamout, Dilo will be gone. He'll have
questions about Austin Reeves that they're not constructed to beat Denver,
(32:16):
They're constructed to match up with them. Yeah, but Lebron
has to literally play forty minutes and play brilliant and
the team has to play perfect to win. And so
now we are a couple of weeks after that, take
right where we thought we would be. You're down love
to you probably win a game, maybe, but what are
(32:37):
the repercussions Lebron's businesses here, But now his son could
get drafted, could go elsewhere, little less loyalty. Is there
any possibility or discussion? By the way, a story leaked yesterday?
Did you notice this story leaked? Darvin ham will be back?
That was the Lakers ensuring everybody knew. Don't blame the coach.
(32:58):
We're not moving off the You know how stuff gets
out when people want it out. Yes, this is this
a border skirmish. Is if they get swept? How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 6 (33:08):
Look, I'm with you. I think the Lakers win at
least one game, maybe they win two games, but they're
not winning again four of the next five. They're not
winning this series. And they really were never set up
to win the series. To your point, And it's funny.
We used to call in the Easts. When Lebron made
it to eight finals in a row, I used to say, Oh,
it's the Lebron James Invitational, not the NBA Finals, Lebron
James Invitational. That brick wall that Lebron put up in
(33:31):
the Eastern Conference for all those years, that is what
Nikolaioka is starting to build in the West. And it
is possible that no other team while he is in
his prime, and that Denver team is constructed the way
it is, and he in the partnership that he has
with Jamal Murray and the chemistry they have towards the
end of games with the entire team, it's possible no
one's going to break through the brick wall that they're
starting to build there. But they're definitely not doing it
(33:53):
with this roster. I don't think it's just Lebron that's
having some questions about the way the organization runs. Anthony
Davis came out after the game, yes and said, there
are times we don't know what we're doing on both
ends of the floor.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
I heard that you're around the.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
What ninetieth game of the season, between the season and
the play in and the n season tournament and whatever
you got to know what you're doing on both ends
of the floor. And by the way, you're playing a
team in Denver that knows exactly what they're doing and
every moment they're on the court, and that is a
coaching thing. And it's not the first time that Ad
has said something like that, which seems like a side
swipe at Darvin Ham. I don't blame Darvinham as much
(34:29):
as Laker Nation does. Laker Nation is never happy with
the coach, but I do think that you have to
listen to the signals you're getting from the locker room,
and you're getting some pretty loud signals from Anthony.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Davis, and they immediately leak a story that Darvin Ham
is safe. So it feels like there's tension building. The
series is only two games old. The New York story's fascinating.
Speaker 6 (34:51):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
It's just great. And I know a lot of people
watch this show. You guys talk about the big markets,
but it should be noted the NFL run by a
team in Kansas City. Yes, we love stores Connecticut and
New Yukon. There's plenty of small market, smaller market success stories.
The NBA is better when New York is good. It's
just big. I was talking to a friend a couple
(35:15):
of days ago during the game, I'm like, I don't
even remember a series like this. New York has one star,
he's not playing well. The other star is missing. You're
playing a team with two stars, one who's considered a superstar,
the other is an emerging star. And New York's clearly
late in games the better team. It's contagious. You become
(35:36):
a Knicks fan watching the question being if we don't
view them as a championship team. They're not Boston or Denver.
They don't have those scoring options.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
They don't feel like they're there yet.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
That's right there is. You can see they're overachieving at
this point. You know the organization, they've been really rarely
patient in twenty years, but they have been two years.
Like really about Tibbs Jalen growth, like really well run.
(36:06):
The Knicks are a well run franchise. They are going
to make a move, yeah.
Speaker 6 (36:11):
No question. You look at what they're gonna do. And
by the way, they already kind of made a move
in by bringing in Ojan and Obi. Yes, and he's
not guaranteed to stay there, but his agent is the
son of Leon Rose, so lamb Rose or Tips is
slam Rose I think is his son, and.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
He would be a great three too. Yeah, he's a
great three potential championship team.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
And by the way, Jalen Brunson is the son right
a former Nick, so he had the inside track on that.
And Leon, I believe is his godfather. So the idea
that they knew the pieces to plug in Leon is
so connected, right, and that the team has been so
well run since he came in, since he brought.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Tibbs as long as he'd been there a few years.
Speaker 6 (36:51):
As you point out. And and by the way, I
thought there was really interesting that the athletic put out
a survey, a player survey, right, and for the third
year in a row, Tibbs was to the coach you'd
least like to play for. And I'm sure that's a
reference to all the minutes he plays guys right in
the perception he runs guys into the ground. Guess what
the guys on that New York team play for TIBs
in a way that you don't see in a lot
(37:12):
of franchises around the NBA.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
And Rachel, it is a fairly young team. He's not
asking a lot of old Now there's a you know,
Jalen is not an old player, but it's got kind
of a Villanova feel and these are young legs.
Speaker 6 (37:25):
Yeah, I mean as literal a Villanova field because some
of the guys came from there, and the idea that, yes,
they built a team with young legs on purpose. He
knows who his coaches, he knows his coach is gonna
run those guys ragged, and he's built a team that
can withstand that. And they play aggressively, they play with heart,
they play for each other. That's what you're seeing at
the end of these games in New York, and the
(37:45):
crowd feeds into it. I do expect things to be
a little bit different in Philadelphia, but I also expect
this series to somewhat go as Joel Eenbie goes. There
was a point in the fourth quarter where he's running
up the court and he actually hopped on one leg
because he just couldn't put weight on his other knee
in the way that he wanted to. He doesn't have
a lyft on a lot of his jump shots, and
I think that when you see that, even though you
(38:07):
heard him after the game say we're the better team
we're still going to win this series. It is hard
to envision him being back to one hundred percent while
this series is still going on.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yeah, there are teams. It really is funny we say
this all the time. I feel bad for sports fans
who have bad owners Washington for years. Yes, you're trapped
as a Commander fan, absolutely, Now you have new ownership
Al Davis at the end that felt trapped and there's
not much to get out of that. In the NFL
except if you hit a transcendent quarterback. And the Knicks
(38:39):
for years, I mean, James Dolan still owns it, but
they the front office was impatient. There was pressure. There
is no question. If you watch the next the last
two to three years, you're like, oh, this is a
well run franchise.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
Dolan finally got to the point where he did what
he said he was going to do for the ten
years prior, which was let the basketball people. He did
do the basketball fan.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Part of that because he was building the severe in
his maybe got bigger.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
I mean he told the New York Times, I don't
even like owning a basketball team that much. I mean,
it is pretty amazing. But maybe it was the right
combination of him having failed enough times to finally Learner's lesson,
and Leon coming around and being available and being someone
who wanted to run the team and having just such
great authority with his former life as an agent and
having such great player relationships and understanding how the game works.
(39:27):
But it's all come together, and as you said, they
still have room, they still have the assets to add someone,
and that's what's going to be really fun. And by
the way, the Lakers are going to have the assets
to add someone this summer too, So I think we'll
see another shift. But with the Knicks, as long as
it goes the fact that they're facing an injured, beat
up six or s team with Joelleenbiid, hurt Tyres, Maxy, sick,
(39:47):
et cetera. And then if they advance in Philadelphia, still
has something to say about that, right, But if New
York advances, they're facing either a young, not that experienced
Pacers team or a Milwaukee team with they possibly shaky Honis.
So it's an interesting path. You can certainly see a
path for It's possible to get to New York to
the Eastern Conference Finals, which is not what you would
(40:08):
have expected with Julius Randall.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
And over the next five years with sort of low
juice Denver, OKC, Minnesota, many of the very good teams,
Orlando or smaller markets. It feels like the Knicks are
really big. The league needs the next You'll have the Celtics,
but Denver's kind of the San Antonio Spurs. Low wattage
in terms of high profile, great construct love watching them,
(40:33):
totally respect them, but it feels like there's this opening
for the Knicks, and I've just they're impossible to watch
and not like.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
And also it's time. I know, if you're a small
market fan, I understand that feeling of man, Lakers get
everyone every year, that kind of thing. The Knicks have
had nothing good happen in so long. You can't feel like, Man,
the Knix always get everything. No, the Knicks are scrappy.
They haven't gotten everything for a very long time. It's
fun to see this.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
It was so per fig that the game winning play
was a loose ball on the floor that was so
Nicks that that, in a nutshell is the Knicks. It
wasn't a glamorous thrill. It was just balls on the floor, scrum, rugby,
go get it. Nicks came out of it, even Genzo
two threes hits, the second great ceeing you as always,
Rachel Nichols,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go Draft e tomorrow. At this
time as Draft Day, We've got a lot to talk
about live in LA. It's the Herd. Wherever you may
be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day, jamac It's a very exciting
time on the phone working sources. Last night, several mock
(00:48):
drafts I won't present to America. I presented to myself.
I am dizzy with draft fever. I have to go
home and hydrate draft fever. Wow, and your MAVs won
last night.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's a good night for us five and one.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
With the picks.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Who's bragging?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
We're bragging. We get hammered when we're wrong, bragg when
you're right. Thank you. So I saw a story this morning.
Peyton Manning says the Broncos are very interested in JJ
McCarthy the Michigan quarterback draft again tomorrow. So I would
say about every maybe every third draft, not every draft,
but about every third draft, second draft, there is a
(01:28):
star quarterback gonna be a first round quarterback, and I
just don't get it. I mean, I have my favorites
ones I like, don't necessarily like as much, but they'll
be guys I don't get. I don't I don't get it.
T Bo, Johnny Manzell, Mitch Trubisky, Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson.
I just didn't get it. That's right in all of them.
(01:52):
Don't confuse that with Baker Mayfield. I said, that's a
starting quarterback in the NFL. Still think he's one of
the twentiest best quarterbacks on the planet. I thought he
was a bit immature. I didn't think he was ready
to be a number one picked. I didn't think he
was that talented. I thought it was a reach. Daniel Jones,
I didn't buy at all the Baker's got talent. He
wouldn't have been a guy I would have drafted number one,
but it got talent. Don't confuse it with that So
(02:14):
my quarterback this year. There's a star and I don't
get it. Is JJ McCarthy and Michigan. I think he's
Mitch Trubisky with a better college coach. He's mobile, he's
a nice kid. But his ball dies. His ball dies.
He misses easy stuff, misses too many laps. And unless
his feet are pointed in the right direction and he
(02:37):
is set and he's got time and he can look
down his receiver, he's not that accurate consistently. I just
don't see it. And again, what I just described protection,
your feeder set, you've got everything ready to deliver, you've
got space. That's Michigan. That's not the NFL. In Michigan,
(02:59):
you had perfect protection. The kid got sacked like almost never.
I think he got sacked like in thirteen fourteen games.
He got sacked like seventeen times. Once a game. He
played with the lead. He had a run game. That
is not the NFL. What are you when stuff implodes,
when you have to throw moving left, when you have
to constantly avoid. He even drew Brees, who didn't have
(03:22):
the big arm and wasn't hyper athletic or Brady constantly
moving within the pocket, constantly having to throw when you're
uncomfortable in a muddy pocket. That's not Michigan. McCarthy's not
that big. His arm is pretty average. The ringers Ben
Solac on JJ McCarthy ringer Bill Simmons thing, he said,
there are some real red flags on his profile. He said,
(03:45):
I found his accuracy to the outside really wanting, especially
to the left. His velocity starts the tail off. It's
very trubisky, That's what I see. It's very trubisky, which
is worrisome, and his mechanics start to crumble as well.
The red Flaggs don't preclude JJ from NFL success. They
make him seem a little scheme specific. And I've said this,
(04:06):
I think he works in Minnesota with Kevin O'Connell, Aaron Jones,
Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ. Hawkinson and a great left tackle.
I think he can work in Michigan. But I don't
think he's the top five guy ever. And I see
a lot of trubisky. He is my I don't see
it quarterback. I'll say it right now. I like Caleb
and Jaln Daniels. I get the traits of Drake May.
(04:29):
I think Bo Nicks works if he gets Sean Payton.
I think Pennix can work if he gets Mike McDaniel,
or maybe that Seattle situation where this college OC is
now the Seahawks OC, but the JJ one boy, it's
got to land perfect to work, in my opinion. Jordan Palmer,
who does this for a living, He's worked with Mahomes
and Allen and Burrow. His thoughts on JJ McCarthy as
(04:51):
a prospect.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Before each game at Michigan, when you know Harvos's hitting
his pads and all that stuff in pregame, they there
was an understanding that they were going to rush for
two hundred fifty yards that day. Had we seen games
where they asked him to throw it forty times and
he just completed half of them and threw two picks,
then that'd be different. That never happened, and so unfortunately,
when you're drafting anybody at the top, you have to
(05:15):
make assumptions because we don't have We can't see how
they were in the NFL different than a free agency
we can literally look at how you stack up against
NFL defenses. We can't do that in the draft. That's
why it's an imperfect science.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, I think Jordan has the same concerns I do.
I talked to an NFL scout last night. He's my
I don't quite see it. Not saying it can't work,
but it would all have to line up perfectly to
work to any degree. That's my opinion on JJ McCarthy.
So this story is kind of shocking to me. The
(05:47):
Patriots have the third pick, they are willing to move it,
and the story this morning they have not received a
serious offer for the third pick. So remember the quarterback position.
It's never been Let's start our entire discussion with this,
It's never been a more quarterback important, quarterback centric league,
(06:09):
quarterback crucial league now more than ever, can't build around
a run game. Quarterback has never been more important. And
if you get the right one Mahomes Brady, they change
a franchise. If you get a really, really great one
Lamar Jackson, he's worth up to eleven points a game.
JJ Watt at his height as the best defensive player
in the league was worth less than a point Brady
(06:30):
nineteen years as a starter in New England. This is
when initially it was a run league more than a
pass league. Seventeen playoffs Mahomes six years as a starter,
six AFC championships. There's no comparable position. I grew up
with Walter Payton and Barry Sanders, to my eyes, the
two best running backs I've ever seen in the entire league.
In twenty three total years, they made the playoffs in
(06:52):
a run league less than half the time. And yet
I still think at least half the coaches in this league,
overwhelmingly the defense coaches don't get the value of quarterback.
They don't get it. They show no urgency, they just
don't get it. It's like water, it's free medicine. If
you have a headache, they tell you drink water after
(07:14):
a race or during a race. What do they tell you?
Hydrate water. I've had doctors say first thing, they ask,
are you drinking enough water? Yet that's a society. All
we do is pound caffeine, which dehydrates us. We drink alcohol,
which dehydrates us. Literally, professional athletes during games, after games,
(07:35):
what the coaches say as they get on the plane,
hydrate water, hydrate, gatorade, water, hydrate, free medicine. Most Americans
don't drink enough. And I look at the NFL and
I think this is why a third of the coaches
get fired every league. Maybe they deserve to be fired.
The Patriots haven't received a serious offer. A third of
(07:57):
this league is awful at quarterback. Half of this league
is just not good enough at quarterback. And there's six
great ones on the planet. And I believe the two
best quarterbacks are Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams. Many like
Jayden over Caleb. I saw another story today another scout
said he's deeply concerned about the personality of Caleb. I'm
(08:20):
not he is. He's not the only scout. So if
Jaden isn't selected second, you could get the best quarterback
in this class, according to about a third of the scouts,
the best quarterback if Washington decided to take Drake May.
Now there's others that think Drake May has the best
traits of all of them. He's taller, he's bigger, he's
(08:42):
heavier than Caleb or Jaden Daniels. So getting to the
number three, I mean, and we know this to be true,
that I mean, let's look at where the best quarterbacks
in the NFL fell to. Who was the best quarterback
in last year's class. It wasn't the number one quarterback
it was the second quarterback taken. C J. Stroud, Lamar
Jackson was the fifth quarterback taken. Josh Allen was the
third quarterback taken. Tom Brady was like eighth. Patrick Mahomes
(09:07):
was second. So that third pick by New England in
a league where quarterbacks never been more important, where the
best defensive player will be worth less than half a
point in a quarterback centric league, nobody has called him
about the third pick. And again I will double down
and triple down on this because there is great disagreement
(09:32):
on Drake May and Jaden Daniels. You could be getting
the second best quarterback in this draft, and there are
a handful of scouts. If Jaden Daniels dropped to three,
you'd be getting the best. And recent history shows you
the best quarterback in the draft is not the first
one taken. Lamar was the fifth, Mahomes the second, Allen
(09:56):
the third, c J. Stroud the second. I mean, I
feel bad when people lose their jobs, but there's a
reason a third or a quarter of the NFL coaches
every year lose their job. New England hasn't received a
serious call on this. Are you kidding me? It's the
only position I mean I have friends who have coached
in the NFL and they acknowledge, Yeah, we couldn't get
(10:16):
the quarterback right. So I went to college. I just
couldn't get the quarterback right. Those are the smart guys.
Those are the guys I feel bad for. But I mean,
never forget. A third of this league right now has
a bad quarterback, and half has a quarterback that's not
good enough. It's nuts to me. It's the only position
worth over a point. And again, Lamar Jackson, if you
(10:37):
go to games he's played with the Ravens and games
he's missed, it's eleven points. Vegas thought Aaron Rodgers in
his prime was worth ten ten and a half points.
The average NFL games decided by four. What are we
doing here? Somebody called New England. They want to take
the call. They want to make a move. Alright, g Mac,
I'll get to Luca here in a second.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Hold on, I gotta ask. So the Patriots depth chart
at quarterback as Jacoby Brissett, Bailey Zappi, Nathan Rourke, do
the Patriots need a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Or or the Patriots are deciding what we need more
than anything is like eight starters and the only way
to get him is moving down. And you can subscribe
to that theory that we're better off just getting a roster.
There's two things they have to do. Get a quarterback
and get a roster. If you get a quarterback with
a bad roster, it increases failure. If you get a
(11:31):
great roster and then get a quarterback, it increases the potential,
albeit a year later, of success. So I think you
can make an argument both ways. Roster first, quarterback second.
And if New England scouts are like, we love Caleb
and we love Jaden and by three they're like, now,
they may not make that move until after the second pick.
It could be circumstantial. But we know now this is
(11:55):
not the seventies, eighties, nineties, or even fifteen years ago.
There was one position you got to get right, and
then nobody gets fired. Andy Reid could be looking for
another job if Mahomes doesn't land there. And he's arguably
the best coach of my lifetime. And Belichick was fired
when he lost a quarterback we considered the best coach
of our lifetime. So you can get the coach right,
and and he was like going Philly. Belichick crumbled in
(12:18):
New England. You have to get one position in the
whole franchise, right. Do you see this week who got extensions?
Brett Veet, the Chiefs, GM, Brett Veach, Andy Reid, the President.
Do you know why they all got extensions? Not because
of the owner, because of the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
So the Vikings call the Patriots, and the Patriots you
know we're good at quarterback. Would you like to come
up and get one? Viking's like, wait, we need a quarterback?
So do you Why don't you want Drake May or
j J mcgo. What do you know that we don't know?
Why would the Vikings trade up?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Well, the Vikings trade up if they believe, and there
are indicators that they may believe that Drake May is
going to fall to three, and they believe Drake May
has the best traits in the draft. Although he's not
the most refined yet. There are those that I have
talked to that believe just Jayden Daniels personality and talent
(13:13):
is the best quarterback. Not many, but some, there are
more than a few. I talked to one last night
who think Drake May's got the best traits, size, movement,
arm he got the best of them. But he's just
unrefined to that, I argued, so was Josh Mahomes Jordan Love.
There's an argument to be made unrefined, but unrefined but
great traits is the guy you want to get.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
So is it possible that the Vikings don't want to
show their hand who they like and they're waiting to
see what happens to two? Because I know you think
what Washington's taken, Daniels, the gambling odds say that we've
seen a lot of mock drafts say that. I don't.
I don't know. I wonder if the Vikings are like,
we don't know who's going to so we're not going
to trade up. It's the guy we want go second.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
No, I think that's now. I think Minnesota, I think
that's very possible. My gut is, this is what I
think Chicago's in on.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Caleb.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Washington's taken Jad and Daniels and the Patriots don't think
Drake May with their current roster, has a shot. Minnesota
thinks he needs a year of development. So I think
Minnesota likes Drake May and they're just gonna wait and
see who Washington takes. So I think if Minnesota makes
a move. That could be the team that moves. But
(14:24):
the truth is nobody's gotten. They haven't taken a serious
call yet. A third of this league is a garbage quarterback.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I think it's because Washington's such a mystery at too.
We've just and the league is doing a great job
this year of not telling people who's going second Colin.
Let's be real, nobody knows what Washington's doing it too.
They have not had any leaks at all.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
No, there's no leaks, but people inside the league know
what Washington's doing.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I'm on Drake and you're on Jaden.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Well. I just I if I know what Washington's doing,
and I believe I've been told I'm not alone. I
do not believe me. Thirty five one hundred miles from
Washington has sources that nobody else has did.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Did they tell you that for a reason? Your your sources.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Let's get Cowhurd on the sources. Their names might as
well be iron and clad.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
A lot of guys can score the basketball high school
College au g Leaguan pros to be a truly great
player generally in the history of the league. Truly great,
an all timer, you have to be elite offensively and
at least commit defensively. Tim Duncan did, Kobe did, Kareem did,
(15:42):
MJ did, Tim Duncan did. They committed both sides of
the floor. Steph Curry is a willing defender, but he's
not a dynamic athlete. He's thin, can get pushed around,
but he makes the effort. Luca, so far in the
league before this year, was just an offensive player. It's
why I've often compared him to Carmelo Anthony, who never
(16:03):
really committed the defense his entire career. Carmelo chose not
to be a great defender because all the skills he
had that made him a great offensive player, length, size,
quickness could have been used defensively. D Wade didn't have
the size the length of Carmelo Anthony. D Wade chose
(16:28):
to be a great defensive player and a productive offensive player.
It's a choice, and for the first time in his career,
Luca has made a choice to play defense, and he's
been very good this year. Last night against the Clippers
MAVs one tied the series up. Luca was exceptional. He
held people he guarded to twenty five percent shooting, and
(16:51):
he didn't guard stiffs. He was out there guarding Paul
George and Kawhi and he held them to twenty five
percent shooting. He should be a good defender. He's big,
he's thick, he's powerful, he's long. He moves well for
a size. There's no reason he's not a very good defender.
I'm not asking him to be Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan,
(17:14):
I'm not asking him to be MJ. He's not that twitchy.
But he should be a good defensive player. And offense
is about skill. Defense is about commitment and trying. And
it's why I won't give a break to James Harden,
Arcamello Anthony. They chose, despite their athletic prowess, to not
commit to the other side of the floor, and it's
(17:36):
why I don't consider them truly great, and they've never
been great. In April, May and June.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a im Pacific.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
You see, Caitlin Clark's on that big contract with Nike.
Are people okay with that?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Why would they not be?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well? People? Yeah, people are.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I know some of the WNBA players are chirping and
unhappy that they don't have you.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Ever have you ever said to yourself in the off
season of the WNBA, Oh, I want to watch the
WNBA next year. This is the first time in my
life I've thought, oh, I'm gonna watch. I want to
watch the WNB. I want to see what she plays like.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
But I think every single game she's in is gonna
be televised, which is smart. I'll definitely check it out.
We might be going to the Caitlin Clark game out
here in La Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I've never in my life before thought about the w
NBA out of season.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
That's the Caitlin Clark factor. As much as people want
to say there's other girls there are, they're they're nice,
but it's all about Kaitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah. I mean. Nike does this for a living. Nike
literally for a living, tries to find people. The deals
actually very favorable to Nike. She made almost as much
at Iowa on her nil. She signed a eight year,
twenty eight million three and a half million per year.
She was making three million at Iowa.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Is that official?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
That's what That's what the story. That's what the story is.
I mean, I don't follow Iowa nil women's basketball.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
But that's just with Nike. She's also gonna.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I'm saying, I'm saying Nike so and that was just
nil for Iowa. So, Caitlyn Clark Nike, Kaitlin Clark, I
bet you is renegotiating this deal after a year. Nothing
against the agent, but she's making basically nil money at Iowa.
She literally outsold the entire Dallas Cowboys roster.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Well, a jersey's different from a sneaker, right, Are people
gonna buy? Kitlyn?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
That's a very good that's a very good point.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I were Kaitlin Clark jersey, I don't care my daughter's
gonna get one, Like it's fine. I mean, they're all
sold out everywhere.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
But now you're talking about sneakers.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That's a little different.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
No, No, you're those are like one hundred and fifty
box or you know what's just don't shack.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Shaq was not moving sneakers. We know that, you know,
Like it's sneaker sales are totally different to jersey sales.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Have you ever bought a sneaker due to an athlete.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I'm so embarrassed to admit this. I tried the Carmelo
Anthony's after he got traded to the next terrible shoes.
That was it, one and done. I wear Damian Lillard's now.
I feel like they're the most comfortable. But did you
buy them because of Dame or you just I cycle
through and I'm a high top guy, not a low top.
I can't wear low tops because of my ankles, and.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
So you went and bought a Carmelo Anthony shoe is back.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
In the day when I was in New York and
I was like, oh, you know, geeked for Carmelo, but
they just weren't comfortable. Couldn't play him. By the way,
you can't play in Michael Jordan sneakers. You cannot. They're
just style cool sneakers. Can't play basketball. They're terrible, terrible
basketball sneakers. Everyone will backed me up on that. You know,
once West plus this sunline.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
So Michael's shoes aren't built to be worn as athletic shoes.
They're like a Chanel bag for women. You know, you're
signaling to people, Hey, I can afford Jordan's. What up.
I'd never heard that before. Is that true?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Pretty much? I mean, maybe someone will check me on
that after this, But.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, it's like a Chanel bag. It's a status symbol exactly.
A Jordan's shoe is just I had no idea you
like that? Huh. Well, I mean to be the best
seller for twenty five years in shoes and it's a
status symbol. Cool, all right. I've never had a Jordan's
shoe in my whole life. I got I've never had
(21:04):
a y I've had somebody sent me a Derek roeshoe once.
No soul joke, I kid because I care, No, I
just it did. I don't. That's not my thing. I'm
not moved to buy things based necessarily on superstar athletes.
There are there are people that will. I will buy
products based on an endorsement by somebody I trust, But
(21:28):
I'm not like a tennis shoe guy. First and secondly,
pro athletes don't move me to buy stuff because I
think pro athletes will just take the money and never care.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
What about Agassy when he was a tennis player. I
played tenn and I was a young guy. I was like,
I need the Agasy But that again.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
That's status, right. But I think athletes will always i
mean Shack's on fifty commercials. I'm Shaq would do insure
whoever pays them the most, and I don't begrudge Shack
for doing that. But athletes don't move me to to
products because they're just going to take the most money.
But there are there's been an actor or there's been
somebody that said, hey, this is really good, and I've thought, oh,
(22:03):
I'm gonna try that because they have good taste. It's
almost like when I watch a movie. I watch a
movie based on Usually the director and the top actor.
I mean Ed Norton, don Cheatle are not in bad movies.
Tom Hanks has not in a lot of bad movies.
Meryl Streep's done in bad movies. The guy who did Oppenheim,
he's not in a lot of bad money. He doesn't
(22:23):
Mike Nichols. Historically, there are there were directors that I'm like, oh,
he doesn't do he knows scripts, So I will follow.
I don't care about the producer. I will follow the
director and the lead, the protagonists, the star of the
movie all followed them. Sometimes I'll look at the writers,
but it's the same with athletes will just take the money.
But there are people out there that endorse things, and
I'm like, okay, how buy that.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
I saw the Napoleon movie with Joaquin Phoenix. Am the
fan Joaquin Phoenix. Yeah, he's amazing. And I heard people say, oh,
the movie's not that great. The movie's awesome. Napoleon, the
new one, it just came out.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
He got you into a theater.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I mean all of his movies are good. Jaquin Phoenix
is really at the top of his he tough. Five
actor in Hollywood right now has to be.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
No doesn't move me really. Yeah. I like Christopher Bail. Yeah,
I think is Christian Christian Bale. I think I haven't
seen him in a movie in over a year. Christian Bale,
I think to me is the best actor in the
world currently right now. But that doesn't mean I can't move.
But I've always had guys like Cheatle and Ed Norton
(23:23):
and Michael Keaton is a guy that doesn't make bad movies.
Michael Keaton's always in good movies. So if Michael's in
it that I know that he wouldn't you know, he's rich,
he doesn't need the money anyway. Just rambling here just
started with Caitlin Clark, who probably does need some of
the money and got it from Nike. But I think
Nike got a good deal. Live in La, It's the Hurt.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time pro bowler
Levarrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a
podcast called Up on Game?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
What is Up on Game?
Speaker 5 (23:56):
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler TJ. Hood
such Manzada and Super Bowl champion Yep, that's right, Plexico Birds.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it. Up on Game We're going to be
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
to Up on Game with me Lebar Arrington, t J.
(24:18):
Hutch Manzada, and Plexico Burds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast from.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Rachel Nichols is joining us on the show again. Last
time I had you on the show, had more people
stop me. My friends say get Rachel on the show more.
So that's what we do. Rachel. We listen to our audience.
Speaker 6 (24:38):
I appreciate that. And the checks are in the mail
Papish contributed there.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Thinks So I was not only wrong on Phoenix in
the regular season, I said I gonna end up in
the Western Conference finals, big with I was wrong in
the posts and I picked him over Minnesota, and I
watched this series and I gotta be honest, Rachel, I
don't see a ton of energy Kevin Durant scoring Booker's cook.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Are you surprised? Are people in the league surprised by this?
Speaker 6 (25:04):
No? I'm not surprised at all. I was the opposite
of you and got a ton of criticism from the
people out in the world of why don't you believe
in the Suns. They've got some of the best shooters
in the league. They do, they just don't have the
rest of the roster. And that is the problem. The
way this roster is constructed. It's not fair to those
stars because they don't have the rest of the team
around them that say Minnesota has. Minnesota is a team.
(25:26):
If you looked at Ant, he got a ton of
defensive attention last night. Wasn't able to score in Game
two the way he did in Game one, Karl Anthony
Towns got in foul trouble, wasn't able to score the
way he did in Game one. Guess what, Jade McDaniel
steps up, Mike Conley steps up. That's a team, Rudy
Gobert is. They're on defense. Defensive player of the year.
The Suns don't have that. The way this roster is constructed,
(25:47):
it is so top heavy, and even within that, there's
no true point guard. There's no ball handler. There's no
one getting these guys the ball where they need it
to be. That is not a recipe for success. They're
going to be limited going forward. And now we're going
to face questions this offseason. I mean, look by the
way I think Phoenix can win a game or two
in this series. I don't think they're winning four of
(26:07):
the next five.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, you could tell in game one. It's interesting because
they beat the Tea Wolves in three matchups regular season
by double digits. But regular season is different. You play.
I mean, I think we all know this defense has
become much more important in the playoffs. They are calling
it marginal contact. The whistles are drying up. These are
defensive teams are flourishing. The Knicks are flourishings. Phillies better offense,
(26:28):
Knicks are better defense. Cleveland's a good defensive team. Orlando's
a good defensive team. So yeah, you know, we've talked
about Kevin durant Is, and I think a lot of
it is international soccer in the NBA are very star
driven and Ronaldo can move around and you just go
get the money, and we all say it's fine, you
go get yours.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
In the NFL, like if Mahomes left to the Jets
because he had a friend who played wide receiver.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Right, we'd be much more disturbed by that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
What are you doing, Yesta, go get yours. I mean
a lot of mobility. But there is something about kd
Is that he left in the penthouse of the league
for a remodel and a reboot and neither is worked.
Does it affect his legacy?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Look, I think the mistake. There's an argument that Kevin
never should have left Golden State. I don't care what
people outside noise were saying. Right, it's a great team.
That was one of the greatest teams of all time.
Let's see what you could do. Let's maximize that to
its full potential. That was a disappointment. If you're just
a true basketball fan, getting to see how far they
could have gotten if they had stayed together would have
been really cool. I feel the same way about Jack
(27:34):
and Kobe. I would have loved to have seen them
stay together. If he wasn't going to leave, why didn't
he go to the Knicks? Man, And I know everyone
in New York you're very happy now, I get it.
But can you imagine Kevin Durant if he went to
Madison Square Garden and they were still able to build
the quality of team around him that they have built
now with that kind of good management, he'd be a hero.
(27:54):
I mean, his entire legacy would be different. The way
people thought of him would be different. You'd never buy
another meal again New York City or possibly around the country.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
That was what's interesting. He not only left the Warriors,
but he went to New York's second brand. And it's like,
that's like going to the Mets over the Yankees. And
you have a choice. If you're Garrett Cole and they
both offer you, you'd go to the Yankees.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
Yes, yes. And by the way, everyone in that fan
base was starving for a big star member. They couldn't
get Lebron. They couldn't get sowed, so they couldn't get sowned.
So if he came, the victory parade just from him
signing would have been tremendous. And then what if he
got them too a conference finals? What if he got
them to an NBA finals, forget a championship. People weren't
been just ballistically happy.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
We were talking Jay McK and I Rachel talked about
this the other day. There is something that is profound.
I remember when I first fell in love with the
NBA in the seventies and eighties, and part of the
attraction I'm a small town, rural kid, was Diane Cannon,
Jack Nicholson. That's where stars were at. I've never seen
stars at sporting events and you're like, oh, stars, they're
(28:56):
pretty good. I'm watching the Knicks games. There is no
question they feel bigger. I got I got guys from
the Sopranos, I got Ben Stiller, I Gotston Bateman. Yes,
it matters, it feels the league. It feels big. And
that's what's interesting with Kevin. It's it's one thing to
leave the great team. If Mahomes ever left, you know
(29:17):
he would go to a great coach, Hey, I want
to go with Sean Payton. I want to go with
Sean McVay like Stafford's like, I'm going to go find
the guy. It's a weird move and it has not
worked out. So Milwaukee Indiana, Yeah, this could be a
problem from the beginning. Jannie is hurt, Indiana's a tough matchup. Yeah,
Milwaukee's old. You kind of feel if Jannis is there,
(29:38):
the NBA's swallowed the whistles. They'll figure it out. But
where are we inside that organization? So let's say Jannis
comes back, is it game three? They think?
Speaker 6 (29:51):
First of all, nobody has projected when he's going to
come back. The update was from Doc Rivers, He's closer. Well,
closer could mean a lot of things, right, I mean,
I'm closer to being eighty years old. I'm not near
it yet though, So I just think we don't know.
And I have to say I'm not a doctor, I
don't even play one on TV, and I am not
(30:11):
inside the Bucks organization. I would be whatever is more
conservative than conservative about bringing Janni's back. We have seen
calf strains precede achilles injuries more than once. Kevin Durant
went through it, and when he did, he missed the
entire next year and the playoffs the following year. And
by the way, yes he has come back. He's not
quite the player he was. He's pretty close, which is very,
(30:32):
very impressive. But he is a totally different shooting style
and body type than Yani sent Tokomp. He's a completely
different player Yannis at his size, with the way he plays,
if he had to recover from an achilles tear, that's
a very very troubling scenario. And if I'm the Bucks,
this first round series, as disappointing as it is, would
not be worth it to me to rush him back
(30:53):
in any way or even do the averages, I would
be on the conservative side of conservative with him. And
if that's the case, gosh, it looks like the Pacers
would win this series. Because the real key for the
Bucks was going to be be as efficient as possible.
Make your shots so that the Pacers, who were younger
and more athletic, can't just start running around in transition
right because they're faster. And when you have Janni said
(31:15):
to Takupo, who's a two time MVP with his skill
set not there, when you don't have him drawing Devil
teams off Damian Lillard. When you don't have those easy
buckets he can get inside. You're just given the Pacers
transition opportunities. And they did a twenty three to four
run the other day in the fourth quarter. I mean,
that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
So there's always been this feeling that when Lebron came
to your franchise, you sacrificed everything to win now, and
that used to reward you with final appearances. It was
a lock in sports Nick Saban would win the sec
Lebron will get to the finals. Yes, two locks in
spors Okay and then Lebron now guarantees you're interesting, but
he doesn't guarantee anything in the playoffs, especially in the
(31:52):
much deeper West. And so when I suggested, I didn't
think it was a hot take. I said, you know,
they match up really well with Okay, and they're not
built to win the championship anyway. My concern is when
they lose to Denver again in four, the repercussions of losing,
He'll want Darvin hamout, Dilo will be gone. He'll have
questions about Austin Reeves that they're not constructed to beat Denver,
(32:16):
They're constructed to match up with them. Yeah, but Lebron
has to literally play forty minutes and play brilliant and
the team has to play perfect to win. And so
now we are a couple of weeks after that, take
right where we thought we would be. You're down love
to you probably win a game, maybe, but what are
(32:37):
the repercussions Lebron's businesses here, But now his son could
get drafted, could go elsewhere, little less loyalty. Is there
any possibility or discussion? By the way, a story leaked yesterday?
Did you notice this story leaked? Darvin ham will be back?
That was the Lakers ensuring everybody knew. Don't blame the coach.
(32:58):
We're not moving off the You know how stuff gets
out when people want it out. Yes, this is this
a border skirmish. Is if they get swept? How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 6 (33:08):
Look, I'm with you. I think the Lakers win at
least one game, maybe they win two games, but they're
not winning again four of the next five. They're not
winning this series. And they really were never set up
to win the series. To your point, And it's funny.
We used to call in the Easts. When Lebron made
it to eight finals in a row, I used to say, Oh,
it's the Lebron James Invitational, not the NBA Finals, Lebron
James Invitational. That brick wall that Lebron put up in
(33:31):
the Eastern Conference for all those years, that is what
Nikolaioka is starting to build in the West. And it
is possible that no other team while he is in
his prime, and that Denver team is constructed the way
it is, and he in the partnership that he has
with Jamal Murray and the chemistry they have towards the
end of games with the entire team, it's possible no
one's going to break through the brick wall that they're
starting to build there. But they're definitely not doing it
(33:53):
with this roster. I don't think it's just Lebron that's
having some questions about the way the organization runs. Anthony
Davis came out after the game, yes and said, there
are times we don't know what we're doing on both
ends of the floor.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
I heard that you're around the.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
What ninetieth game of the season, between the season and
the play in and the n season tournament and whatever
you got to know what you're doing on both ends
of the floor. And by the way, you're playing a
team in Denver that knows exactly what they're doing and
every moment they're on the court, and that is a
coaching thing. And it's not the first time that Ad
has said something like that, which seems like a side
swipe at Darvin Ham. I don't blame Darvinham as much
(34:29):
as Laker Nation does. Laker Nation is never happy with
the coach, but I do think that you have to
listen to the signals you're getting from the locker room,
and you're getting some pretty loud signals from Anthony.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Davis, and they immediately leak a story that Darvin Ham
is safe. So it feels like there's tension building. The
series is only two games old. The New York story's fascinating.
Speaker 6 (34:51):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
It's just great. And I know a lot of people
watch this show. You guys talk about the big markets,
but it should be noted the NFL run by a
team in Kansas City. Yes, we love stores Connecticut and
New Yukon. There's plenty of small market, smaller market success stories.
The NBA is better when New York is good. It's
just big. I was talking to a friend a couple
(35:15):
of days ago during the game, I'm like, I don't
even remember a series like this. New York has one star,
he's not playing well. The other star is missing. You're
playing a team with two stars, one who's considered a superstar,
the other is an emerging star. And New York's clearly
late in games the better team. It's contagious. You become
(35:36):
a Knicks fan watching the question being if we don't
view them as a championship team. They're not Boston or Denver.
They don't have those scoring options.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
They don't feel like they're there yet.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
That's right there is. You can see they're overachieving at
this point. You know the organization, they've been really rarely
patient in twenty years, but they have been two years.
Like really about Tibbs Jalen growth, like really well run.
(36:06):
The Knicks are a well run franchise. They are going
to make a move, yeah.
Speaker 6 (36:11):
No question. You look at what they're gonna do. And
by the way, they already kind of made a move
in by bringing in Ojan and Obi. Yes, and he's
not guaranteed to stay there, but his agent is the
son of Leon Rose, so lamb Rose or Tips is
slam Rose I think is his son, and.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
He would be a great three too. Yeah, he's a
great three potential championship team.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
And by the way, Jalen Brunson is the son right
a former Nick, so he had the inside track on that.
And Leon, I believe is his godfather. So the idea
that they knew the pieces to plug in Leon is
so connected, right, and that the team has been so
well run since he came in, since he brought.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Tibbs as long as he'd been there a few years.
Speaker 6 (36:51):
As you point out. And and by the way, I
thought there was really interesting that the athletic put out
a survey, a player survey, right, and for the third
year in a row, Tibbs was to the coach you'd
least like to play for. And I'm sure that's a
reference to all the minutes he plays guys right in
the perception he runs guys into the ground. Guess what
the guys on that New York team play for TIBs
in a way that you don't see in a lot
(37:12):
of franchises around the NBA.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
And Rachel, it is a fairly young team. He's not
asking a lot of old Now there's a you know,
Jalen is not an old player, but it's got kind
of a Villanova feel and these are young legs.
Speaker 6 (37:25):
Yeah, I mean as literal a Villanova field because some
of the guys came from there, and the idea that, yes,
they built a team with young legs on purpose. He
knows who his coaches, he knows his coach is gonna
run those guys ragged, and he's built a team that
can withstand that. And they play aggressively, they play with heart,
they play for each other. That's what you're seeing at
the end of these games in New York, and the
(37:45):
crowd feeds into it. I do expect things to be
a little bit different in Philadelphia, but I also expect
this series to somewhat go as Joel Eenbie goes. There
was a point in the fourth quarter where he's running
up the court and he actually hopped on one leg
because he just couldn't put weight on his other knee
in the way that he wanted to. He doesn't have
a lyft on a lot of his jump shots, and
I think that when you see that, even though you
(38:07):
heard him after the game say we're the better team
we're still going to win this series. It is hard
to envision him being back to one hundred percent while
this series is still going on.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yeah, there are teams. It really is funny we say
this all the time. I feel bad for sports fans
who have bad owners Washington for years. Yes, you're trapped
as a Commander fan, absolutely, Now you have new ownership
Al Davis at the end that felt trapped and there's
not much to get out of that. In the NFL
except if you hit a transcendent quarterback. And the Knicks
(38:39):
for years, I mean, James Dolan still owns it, but
they the front office was impatient. There was pressure. There
is no question. If you watch the next the last
two to three years, you're like, oh, this is a
well run franchise.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
Dolan finally got to the point where he did what
he said he was going to do for the ten
years prior, which was let the basketball people. He did
do the basketball fan.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Part of that because he was building the severe in
his maybe got bigger.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
I mean he told the New York Times, I don't
even like owning a basketball team that much. I mean,
it is pretty amazing. But maybe it was the right
combination of him having failed enough times to finally Learner's lesson,
and Leon coming around and being available and being someone
who wanted to run the team and having just such
great authority with his former life as an agent and
having such great player relationships and understanding how the game works.
(39:27):
But it's all come together, and as you said, they
still have room, they still have the assets to add someone,
and that's what's going to be really fun. And by
the way, the Lakers are going to have the assets
to add someone this summer too, So I think we'll
see another shift. But with the Knicks, as long as
it goes the fact that they're facing an injured, beat
up six or s team with Joelleenbiid, hurt Tyres, Maxy, sick,
(39:47):
et cetera. And then if they advance in Philadelphia, still
has something to say about that, right, But if New
York advances, they're facing either a young, not that experienced
Pacers team or a Milwaukee team with they possibly shaky Honis.
So it's an interesting path. You can certainly see a
path for It's possible to get to New York to
the Eastern Conference Finals, which is not what you would
(40:08):
have expected with Julius Randall.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
And over the next five years with sort of low
juice Denver, OKC, Minnesota, many of the very good teams,
Orlando or smaller markets. It feels like the Knicks are
really big. The league needs the next You'll have the Celtics,
but Denver's kind of the San Antonio Spurs. Low wattage
in terms of high profile, great construct love watching them,
(40:33):
totally respect them, but it feels like there's this opening
for the Knicks, and I've just they're impossible to watch
and not like.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
And also it's time. I know, if you're a small
market fan, I understand that feeling of man, Lakers get
everyone every year, that kind of thing. The Knicks have
had nothing good happen in so long. You can't feel like, Man,
the Knix always get everything. No, the Knicks are scrappy.
They haven't gotten everything for a very long time. It's
fun to see this.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
It was so per fig that the game winning play
was a loose ball on the floor that was so
Nicks that that, in a nutshell is the Knicks. It
wasn't a glamorous thrill. It was just balls on the floor, scrum, rugby,
go get it. Nicks came out of it, even Genzo
two threes hits, the second great ceeing you as always,
Rachel Nichols,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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