May 1, 2025 • 42 mins
The Lakers season is over after a game 5 defeat to the Timberwolves and why this disappointing 1st round exit from the playoffs falls on the feet of head coach JJ Redick and Luka Doncic. He tells you why LeBron James is starting to act like Brett Favre when he tells reporters he’s not sure if he’ll play again next season and why Colin’s not buying that. Plus, NBA writer Ethan Strauss joins the show to discuss Anthony Edwards ascending to “Face of the League” status after taking down another legendary player in the playoffs in LeBron James.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to 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 Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, here we go. It is a Thursday, and a
very different Thursday than we predicted. The Lakers exit stage right,
they are How did Minnesota lose a game in this series?
It's over jmac humble tide. But you know what, we
(00:49):
always bring Chris Finch on the show that the t
Wolves coach during the season. I think next time we
call him he will be available once again. I mean
that was impressive, very very crazy winding three games for
the Lakers. Greg Okay, here we go. Simplest explanation. Chris
(01:12):
Finch and his staff worked, JJ Reddick and his staff,
and Minnesota's best players out played the lakers best players.
I mean, Austin Reeves a no show. Lebron last couple
of games looked tired and Luca's worst qualities were exposed.
(01:32):
There was a late sequence in this game with about
two forty five left. It was a late sequence where
Julius Randall blew by Luca and scored. Okay, so he
blows by Luca's right here, just blows by him and scores.
On the other end, Luca misses a layup and then
(01:53):
complains about it to the referee. And while he's complaining,
the Tea Wolves in transition ant scores on the other end.
From a two point game to ballgame. Luca daisical. And
by the way, I'm not saying the MAVs won the
trade with the Lakers. But Nico Collison slept very well
last night. Harrison, Excuse me, Nico Harrison slept very very
(02:17):
well last night. Listen Lebron in the fourth quarter of
the last two games, you saw it. He was tired.
He was gassed, two for nine from the floor. And
the Lakers in this series in the fourth quarter, they
got worked. And that was about a tired Lebron and
a coaching staff in Minnesota that pulled all the right levers.
(02:41):
The Lakers in the fourth quarter scored seventeen thirteen twenty,
nineteen sixteen, and JJ Reddick's insistence got very stubborn. His
insistence to play only five guys the entire second half
of Game four, which is bizarrely. I mean, it's historically bizarre.
(03:03):
That's the only thing I can say. I'm not a coach,
it's just historically, I've never seen it. I've never thought
it would be discussed. This is a small ball team
that was already outsized the entire series and out rebounded
the entire series. So you're the smaller or less physical team,
and you're gonna play your guys the entire second half
and one of them is in his forties. Okay, and
(03:29):
JJ Reddick before the game got very defensive about this.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Is there an assistant or someone maybe that you'll lean
on tonight maybe to try to get you know, some
other guys involved if that opportunity presitions.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Are you saying that because I'm inexperienced and that was
an inexperienced decision that I made.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Do you think I don't talk to my assistance about
substitutions every single time out?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
I just think there's a lot of coaches lean on
their assistance in those situations.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
As every single time. That's a weird assumption, bro, It's
not the moment to be the coolest, smartest guy in
the room. You went heavy small ball with the oldest
star in the league. You didn't sub him. And Lebron
looked tired in Game four of the end, and he
(04:21):
looked tired last night. Plus Minnesota, which was already a
bigger team, leaned into their size. Rudy Gobert, a defensive player,
might as well have been Wilt Chamberlain last night. He
was unstoppable. That's on coaching. And by the way, JJ,
what is Maxy Kleeber doing on the floor late? This
(04:41):
was a coaching mismatch Julius Randall and McDaniels Gobert. They
outplayed the Lakers players and the te Wolves own the
fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is not just the stars quarter,
it's the coaching quarter. This is not a complicated breakdown.
Better coach, better does decisions, a more complete roster, and
(05:02):
better fourth quarters. I mean, Lebron wasn't terrible in the fourth.
He was clearly exhausted. Probably not going to play him
in an entire second half when you're already the smaller team.
And by the way, Chris Finch and his guys, his staff,
they were already bigger. They made an adjustment to make
(05:25):
Rudy Gobert the centerpiece last night and you're playing late
Maxi Kleeber, what are we doing here? So in the playoffs,
let's be honest about it. Their truth serum. Austin Reeves,
y'all love him. But in the playoffs, when it's the
same teams playing the same guys night after night after night,
(05:49):
Austin Reeves moves into town. You're tired. You played last night?
He drops twenty two. Wow. He's undrafted, and Minnesota exposed him.
They sent their drafted better athletes at Austin Reeves and
he didn't do anything. The playoffs are truth serum, and
the truth is this Laker roster is incomplete. JJ Reddick
(06:12):
made a bad decision in Game four and got defensive
about it, and the fourth quarters t Wols players, we're
better than the Lakers stars. It's not a shot at
Lebron or even Luca, although can we now all be
honest about Luca's conditioning and defense. They're going after him regularly.
(06:34):
Here was Charles Barkley on J. J. Reddick's pushback, anger
and rigidity.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
He just is a little sensitive.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Not listen.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
One of the things that people say they never watched television.
We all lie, all jocks watched television, and he's been
getting criticized the last point outs for playing those guys,
and he just sensitive just say, hey, you know what,
if I had it, nobody everybody's afraid to say I
was wrong. All he had to do was say, hey,
you know what, I shouldn't have played those guys the
(07:06):
whole second half, and that's it.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Then it would have been over. We always consider in
America football to be the coaches sport, but you get
into the playoffs and I watched this series, and I'm
not just saying this because I don't know JJ Reddick,
I know Chris Finch a little, but there was one
coaching staff pulling all the right levers on this and Minnesota.
(07:29):
I mean that was so obvious last night. Remember we
talked about this yesterday. They were six and a half
point underdog. I'm like, are the Laker players getting taller?
Is Lebron getting younger? Like they were bigger, and they
leaned into Rudy Gobert. So they clearly as a staff
said guys, we got an edge here. Size doesn't get
smaller fast. Guys can get slower over a series. But
(07:52):
size doesn't get smaller, and they just went all in
on Gobert and he was unstoppable. Rudy Gobert, his entire
career has been stoppable, completely stoppable. Last night he was unstoppable.
I mean, Maxi Kleeber playing guys in the entire second half.
(08:16):
I'm sorry. Coaching better players, better levers, pulled better roster. Okay,
here's another thing. So I have been on this topic.
The Warriors got smoked, and I mean they waved the
white flag eight minutes ten. Good for Houston. I'm going
to be wrong on this series. Golden State is going
to go back home and probably win it. But I've
been on this forever. You don't need seven games in
(08:38):
the first round. When this league was at its most
popular with MJ, first round was five games. League was
never more popular. It's all greed. I mean, y'all told
me Florida is going to win the national championship in
a sudden death tournament in marks they did. Okay, four
number one seeds made the final. Four. Okay, you don't
need seven games to learn waters wet. So what happened
(09:01):
last night is it was an embarrassment for the NBA.
I mean, it was a white flag, raise it three
minutes into the game. The other thing that happened is Houston,
the bigger, longer, more physical team with a lot of
energy and a lot of good young players. They went
after Steph Curry's hand, or at least that's what people
are claiming, that they were grabbing him and banging on it.
(09:21):
And I got to be honest, I'm not sure it's
a bad strategy. I mean, if you know that a
team has already mailed it in, it'd be one thing.
If the game was close, you couldn't worry about that.
You'd have to worry about the game. But Houston's like, yeah,
the game's over all, right, let's leave a little bit
of a damage here, and let's grab and clush and
(09:43):
push and bang on Steph Curry. And whether they did
it purposefully or not, when you're playing games where one
team is decided, hey, let's just take the flight home
and wrap it up, you gave Houston an opportunity to
think about some things, not have to worry about game strategy,
(10:04):
to maybe make this one a little more interesting when
you go home. So this is why I've said before
first round should be three games. Well, what if blankety
blank loses? Yeah, what if they do? College basketball has
significantly inferior basketball to the NBA. Yep, March Madness gets
(10:27):
big ratings because you have to watch the games. Do
you have to watch the games? But yet the number
one seeds all show up Florida. You told me they
were going to win those Why you don't need You
don't need seven games first round, you don't need I
don't think you need five. I'd go three games into
five finals only for historical purposes. We can play seven.
(10:49):
I would have no problem with the finals being five.
But World Series, NBA Finals, it's been seven. Let's just
do it that way. But I thought this was a
bad look for the NBA. And I'm looking at stats
the morning. Is the average margin of victory in these playoffs,
and there have been great games in great series. It's
the second highest ever. There's been too many unwatchable blowout games.
(11:09):
And I mean wave the flag four minutes in games
which gave the Rockets a chance to go Steph hunting,
and here here with Steve Kerr.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
After players are going to do whatever they're allowed to do,
and so after every on every release, you know, Steph's
getting getting hit. But it's basically within the rules. So
this is how the league wants it right now. And
you know, I know, we got thirty coaches who all
(11:40):
think it's it's just idiotic that we allow this. So
players all over the league are just taking shots at
guys shooting hands after release because they know it's not
gonna be a foul.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, here's the other thing why I do not like
a seven game series until the final One of the
things all leagues want. I mean, if you're a Major
League Baseball if you're Rob Manfred, I want Aaron Judge
playing for the next fifteen years. I hope he's wobbling
out to the field. He's a star attraction. In the NFL,
I want Patrick Mahomes playing forever. That's why the NFL
(12:15):
doesn't let hit the quarterbacks. Keep your icons forever. You
want all your stars playing into Brady years. In the
basketball world, you want to extend Steph. The way to
extend him isn't have him play meaningless games, which your
entire staff and organization acknowledges. Let's just get back home.
I mean Stephan Butler. Stephan Butler did not have a
(12:38):
point between the two of them in the second quarter,
a decision had been made. I'm not knocking the decision
by Kurt. I'm not knocking the decision by the Warriors.
They don't have the length, the size, the dexterity, and frankly,
they don't have the youth. They can't give you a
great game and a loss. They're like saving the energy.
I would do it too. Draymond thirties, Butler thirties, Curry thirties,
(13:00):
odd the only young guy that can count on. But
I thought this was another example of what are we
doing here? No reason this should be a seven game series,
and it was. And Houston said, all right, you're gonna
mail it in. We can mess around a little. And
whether they did or not, it's not illegal, all right,
(13:20):
j Mac. By the way, for those wondering about steph
we have a picture of his thumb. It was bad
going in. It's probably worse this morning. And you know,
Steve Kerr was speaking for a lot of coaches when
he said, you know you're letting all this physicality happen again.
I am for physicality. You're against it. You know, if
you're more finesse, I'm more power.
Speaker 7 (13:41):
I'm not against it. I just think that too much
is too much? You want Curry getting hurt, you want
Tatum getting hurt. I mean, jeez, you lose Anthony Edwards
or something to a goon ish foul next round, It's like,
come on, what are we doing? I just don't love
the big time physical play.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I'm sorry, I'm not a huge right, Okay, we got
good stuff today. Rachel Nichols will have more about this
coming up. Just a fun day. The Lakers are done
and I've mostly been a Lebron defender, but oh boy,
here we go. Will he retire? Willy? Will he not?
We'll talk about that coming up.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern nn AM Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
All right, welcome back here now entering the Noble Zone
sponsored by Credible Great rates. None of the bull full record.
Just to tell you, and and I think it's fair
to say I'm not somebody that bangs on NBA coaches
a lot, but Julius Randall and Rudy Gobert last night
are out playing Lebron and Luca. That's coaching, like right,
that is coaching part of that is playing Luca and
(14:49):
Lebron in Game four the entire second half. I know
they have a couple of days off, but they also
had to fly across country or you know, Minneapolis to
La three and a half hours. You know, you get
in late, you got to shoot around the day of
the game, like like Lebron needs time off. That's why
Lebron was more effective early in this series and in
(15:10):
first halfs than late. So it's just a coaching decision
I don't agree with. But the fact that Julius Randall,
who had never been a great playoff guy, had a
tremendous series. That's Chris Finch and the staff, and it
was game one it was like, guys, they don't match
up with him. And then Rudy Gobaer looking like Wilt
Chamberlain last night. That's the best playoff game he's ever played.
(15:30):
Why that's that's matchups. That that's matchups. So I mean,
and don't we don't talk a lot of coaching. We
talk about MJ. This MJ that Michael Jordan was in
Chicago and was really good, but he won't win in
big titles and fourth quarters until Phil Jackson showed up.
Coaching matters in this sport. So listen, I've been a
(15:51):
Lebron defender. I mean ninety nine percent of the stuff.
A little bit of the too much browny kind of
manufacturing stuff there I don't love. But it's his son.
I get it. But but this is where Lebron's critics,
you know, they've always said, oh, he plays the victim,
he extends drama, and I you know whatever, he's a
superstar in America. Happens. But he was asked last night
(16:15):
if he's coming back. We all know the answer to this.
Here was here was his thoughts. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
I don't have the answer to that. Something I said
out with my family, my wife and my support group
and kind of just talk through it and see what happens.
And then they just have a conversation with myself and
how long I want to continue to play. It's a
business too, so you don't know what the roster look
like next year, besides the guys that's locked into contracts.
(16:44):
So we all, I mean, I got a lot to
think about myself, so I don't I don't know what
the roster will look like. I don't know what I'm
you know, where I stand right now.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I do as one of the ten best players. You're
coming back. This is what he said last year after
they lost to Denver. There's been a lot of comps
to Tom Brady for Lebron, and they make sense, totally
committed winning late in their career, bizarrely good for their age.
(17:16):
But this is where he's got a little Brett Farve
kind of seeking, you know, assurance drama. Please come back.
Stop Lebron against the Timberwolves, struggled in fourth quarters. He
should for his age, but he did average twenty five
and nine. That was second on the team and first
(17:39):
on the team. By the way, his last fifteen playoff games,
he's average twenty seven eight to eight, shooting fifty four percent.
He's a top ten player in the game. He looked
tired in this series. Yeah, Game four second half had
a lot to do with the last two fourth quarters. Sorry,
that's on JJ Reddick. I don't care if you ask Lebron,
(18:01):
hey man, can you play the entire second half? You
don't play Lebron the entire second half. What you saw
at the end of Game four, in the end of
Game five is Lebron basically losing his legs. Doing a
great job defensively, but he didn't have his jumper and
he didn't have quite the burst, which is totally explainable.
(18:21):
So Lebron, you're coming back. Just ask yourself this, If
Lebron announced his retirement in a week, would it not
be shocking? Of course it would. If Lebron announced in
a week he's coming back, would you be shocked? No,
And that's why we don't need the drama. We all
know the answer here. He's got another son he enjoys.
(18:43):
I mean, listen, Luca was disappointing, but you're gonna tell
me you're not gonna come back for Luca, who will
probably be in, if not great shape, better shape Lebron's
coming back.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and nowone Easter nine emphasis.
Speaker 8 (19:00):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world, We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
sports and pop culture, stories that well, other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends for the last twenty years and
still work together. I mean that says something, right, So
check us out. We like to get you involved too,
(19:35):
Take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say,
I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to
check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern
two to four Pacific, And if you miss any of
the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you
get your podcasts, and of course on social media that's
Covino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
First of all, Tom Pelasorrow was the Risch Eisen Show
yesterday and said the Niners and Brock Purtty, you're not close.
He thinks it'll get done, but he said, hey, they're
not close. And my take on that is, if brock
Purty wants fifty seven million dollars a year and his agent,
not necessarily a well known agent, want fifty seven million
a year. It should not be close. Now, do not cave.
(20:18):
He's got a year left in his contract, and there
are people like a Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen. I
will pay early. Max Crosby. Oh, you can identify certain
players after a year and a camp. Oh yeah, he's
beating all of our tackles. Yeah, he's got eleven sacks.
Let's sign them early and get a better deal. That's
not brought purty. But let's be brutally honest about here.
(20:38):
The Niners' biggest rival is in their division, the Rams.
And it felt like three or four years ago the
Niners had the edge. The Rams have passed them and
blown by them. McVeigh eight years, missed the playoff once,
and he's got a trophy. Shanahan eight years, missed the
playoffs four times. Last year was bad. No trophy. And
by the way, the rosters right now, Rams have far
(21:01):
more good, young and expensive players. And that's why that's
why you can keep Matt Stafford. So I'm looking one
of the primary reasons I think the Rams have blown
by him. The Niners pay Christian McCaffrey, Patrent Williams. I
get George Kittle. You gotta start making decisions here on
safeties and linebackers and right tackles. And you can't pay
(21:24):
every receiver. You can't pay Deebo and Ayuk right. And
so the Rams have a much better defense and they're
paying nobody on that side. They have the better quarterback.
I think they have the better coach. Arguably they have
the better offensive line. You have to use discretion on
this stuff. And I think this is a classic example
is that you know, the Rams are a little like
(21:45):
McVeigh is a little like the Godfather. It's not personal,
it's business. And they've told von Miller that, and they've
told Jalen Ramsey that, and they told Jared Goff that,
and they've told multiple people that. They told Matt Stafford
that we really like you. It's not personal. But this
(22:06):
is the number. I'm not letting brock Purty push me around.
And I say this all the time. You know, like
your sports, love your family, don't run onto the court
like Halliburton's dad. You know, Shadr hire an agent, right,
(22:27):
like love your family, like your sports. And this is
the way when I look at the Rams and McVeigh
and less need they like their players but they move
off Todd Gurley and Cooper Cup and Jalen Ramsey very quickly.
The Niners fall in love with players. Yeah, maybe Trent
(22:49):
Williams in his prime. Just send me the check. I'll
sign it. But you go look at the Dallas Cowboys.
They're the example here. Dallas Cowboys pay a good quarterback
a plus money and look at that roster right now.
Once you do that, you cannot whiff on draft picks.
And it looks like last year Cowboys may have whiffed
(23:12):
on a first round pick, and this year people are
saying they overdrafted another offensive lineman. You start paying your
big stars. The Niners have missed on some draft picks,
and the Rams have missed on like one interior lineman
a couple of years ago. So the Rams are drafting,
they're hitting on more draft picks, they're using more discretion
(23:32):
and they're not top heavy. And so when I hear
this story on brock Purty, people think I don't like
Brock Purtty. No, I don't like paying Brock thirty fifty
seven million. I love brock Purty at thirty one. I
like him at forty one. I'm not caving at fifty three,
So okay, the Bill Belichick Jordan Hudson's story has taken
(23:57):
an interesting turn. So I had two strong opinions on
this story. I now have three. My first opinion was
bit cringey. He's seventy plus she's twenty four. Then I
watched the CBS interview which she stepped in front of
and like a professional, said, you're not talking about our
private relationship. My second opinion was, it's still age wise,
(24:21):
a little creepy, but in college football, old Bill needs this.
He just happens to be dating it too, but he
needs this. Then another story came out, and skeletons are
starting to be unearthed and reporters are starting to report.
There was a story in the New York Post yesterday
that Jordan Hudson has amassed eight million dollars in real estate,
(24:45):
multiple homes, starting at the time she started dating Bill.
Who am I to prive? Another part of this story
is looking back at her family, who had a fishing
business that went bankrupt. Her mother moved to Cape Cod
And now I'll only say this once manages a sex
(25:07):
toy shop and museum didn't know they existed. The museum
part doesn't sound like the Smithsonian, But who am I
to be snarky? The family's a little different. It does
appear now. I'll have a third opinion, which is they
are both benefiting in multiple ways from each other. Whatevs.
(25:33):
It's gone from cringey to crucial to crypto. I don't
know what the hell I'm gonna get tomorrow. That's why
I don't invest in it. And here's the thing. She
is providing a service. Take your mind out of the gutter.
She is providing a service as his social media director.
(25:55):
And she liked to be compensated for it. That's I
think where we are. But let's go back to the
beginning and my skepticism when this happened. What was my
first opinion? Like the day it happened. Bill doesn't even
watch much college football. I can tell from his drafts.
He's terrible. Bill's an NFL guy. He's not spending saturdays
(26:15):
on the couch like his contacts, like he'd call Urban
Meyer or Nick Saban, what do you got for me?
Herm Edwards? But I never thought of him as a
college football guy. College football coaches Nick Saban may seem grumpy.
Nick Saban's funny. Nick Saban's social, Nick Saban's personal. I've
been around Nick once or twice. He lights of a room.
(26:37):
Nick is funny. He's a good storyteller. He could laugh
at himself. That's not Bill. Bill's a pro football coach,
and that's not a bad thing. But Bill never had
this like Urban Meyer. To me, he has always been
a college football coach. Urban Meyer told me years ago.
I love Urban He's a friend, he told me years ago.
And I'll watch pro football on Sunday. I watch Ohio
State game tape. Like Urban took the job, made his money.
(26:59):
He was was a college football coach. The NFL thing
didn't fit. Bill was always an NFL coach. That he
brings Mike Lombardi, who I know, he brought him over.
Lombardi's an NFL guy. And I said this when it happened.
I said, you think Bill Belichick had no patient for
Robert Kraft, He had no patience for NFL owners. You
(27:20):
think he's going to sit around and have an SID
run the show, or an athletic director or some goofy
donor or that this was always an uneven relationship. The
minute UNC gave him ten million dollars a year to
a guy who'd never coached colin college football. He has
his dad coached at Navy, but he never showed any
great inclination for it. In fact, the only reason this
(27:43):
thing makes sense is because of Nil, where Bill can
now buy players and doesn't have to hop in a
jet every fifteen minutes and recruit guys. So I do
think it potentially could work through Nil. But this was
an uneven relationship. Carolina was desperate, and Bill's like, all right,
I want ten million bucks and oh, by the way,
if I want to leave in a year, I can.
(28:04):
No other college contract is paying a guy ten large
a year plus and he can just leave whatever he
wants to do. It was always an uneven relationship, so
Bill's gonna do what he wants. And again, I do
think Jordan Hudson, I mean these stories, I don't know
what to make of it. I just they're both they're
they're both benefiting. And you know my wife doesn't you know,
you know, she's you know, I get a lot of
(28:26):
this is just inappropriate. Yeah, I get that crowd like like,
but this, you know, people get into relationships whatever. I'm
not here to judge. I do think she is providing
something that he would not tolerate having some sid chase
him around the field telling him he's got to talk
to this radio station and that it's not gonna work
(28:46):
with Bill. That's just not his personality. And that was
always my question. I'm like Mike Lombardi and Belichick, these
are NFL dudes. Remember when Charlie Weiss came to Notre
Dame and everybody was like, he's an NFL guy, he's
a little gruff. And my take was, Charlie tried. Charlie
would go on shows, Charlie played the game. If Charlie
Weiss was in the NIL era, maybe it works better.
He could just buy players. I think this model now
(29:09):
can work for NFL guys. But this stuff that's coming
out now, it's okay, I'll say it one more time.
I don't know what a sex shop slash museum is.
It doesn't sound like the Googenheim. I don't know what
it is. And here's the air thing. I don't want
(29:30):
to know what it is. I if I go to
that town, I'm not stopping for red lights. If I'm
just driving straight through that town on Cape Cod. This
thing's getting weird?
Speaker 7 (29:40):
Is it is?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Bitcoin, nobody knows what's happening tomorrow. Don't listen to anybody.
There could be six other stories cooking on this.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and newone Eastern a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
His name is Ethan Strauss, author of The Victory Machine,
The Making Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty. House of Straus
is his podcast. So I don't call out coaches a lot,
especially basketball coaches, but over the course of a seven
game series, as you know, you covered the Warriors in
the Dynasty, Steve Kerr often pulled the right levers in
the close series. And JJ Reddick's a kid. He went
(30:20):
from player, podcaster coaching the biggest brand in the sport
and he's gotten real defensive What did you make of
his game for no subs, his reaction before last night's
game and last night's game, just your thoughts on the
entire kind of moment for JJ Reddick in the last
(30:41):
forty eight seventy two hours. Yeah, it was not good.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
And I think JJ Reddick is a really smart guy
and people who've worked with him in entertainment would say
that he's a nice guy and he works well with
others who even if he comes off his smug maybe
behind the scenes he's great to work with. But this
conversation has opened up young coaches. They bring a lot
to the table. They've got energy, they've got innovation. But
(31:07):
when you're carrying George carl and some other older coaches
push back, they do have a point. I think insecurity
can be a problem with young coaches. And you know, Colin,
you might like this. This might sound weird, but I
think to win in the NBA, you have to be
willing to lose, and some of these more inexperienced coaches,
they're judged according to what just happened, and they might
(31:32):
just get tight and have to win that game right there,
play all their guys for an entire half and not
see the big picture. There's an example of this with
the Warriors series, where I think Udoka is a good
coach too, and he might win that series. But you
know what drove me crazy, Colin, is that with a
week to go in the season, the Rockets played the
Warriors and they pulled this really smart move of having
(31:54):
Shingoon guard Moody, which completely screwed up the Warriors screening
actions with Draymond really smart move. One problem the playoffs
hadn't started yet, and when they did it in that
first game won The Warriors weren't discombobulated. They ran Moody
in a bunch of screening actions and they won it.
So I think what you're seeing with some of these
younger coaches is they get a little insecure and they're
(32:16):
not willing to lose a game, and for that reason,
they can lose the series.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, and I also think even a young NFL coach
has leverage and power for a couple of years. I mean,
in the NBA, you have a bad road stretch, you
can get in trouble fast. In this league, Mark Jackson
thought he was was secure. Mark Jackson's gone and into broadcasting.
I want to talk about Warriors because it actually sent
a signal to me when they raised the white flag
(32:42):
second quarter or late first against the Rockets. What it
was telling you is we're better, We'll go home. You
don't give up a game in the series unless you
feel like we're going to wrap up the series. But
the physicality and Steph Curry's injury is fascinating. Kurt Took
shot at the officials. You covered this league for a
(33:03):
long time. I love the physicality. I don't think there's
much of a downside to it. Do you curse? Sounds
like he thinks there is. It's a balance.
Speaker 9 (33:15):
I love the physicality too. I think people don't like
when it's one hundred and forty to one hundred and thirty.
I think there's a blatonic ideal of an NBA game.
I think they want it to be around one hundred,
and they'll say they want the rest swallowing the whistle.
But at a certain point, when there are no rules,
you got problems. There is that injury in Game two,
that Jimmy Butler injury, And whenever something bad happens, people
(33:38):
play the blame game. They go, oh, was Aman Thompson
shoving him? Or did Draymond shove Amen Thompson. I didn't
think anybody was at fault. I think if you look
at that play, what you saw, what you saw was
guys rebounding when there are no rules, and they can't
trust that the rules are going to be called. And
you can't trust that when you box somebody out he
(33:58):
won't go over your back, and you wouldn't want to
go on the freeway if the night before they painted
over all the lane lines, that's what you're seeing. You're
seeing guys trying to get through the rebounding scrum like
a defensive tackle, just throwing their body at the situation.
And it's a situation where nobody perhaps is playing dirty,
(34:19):
but in that kind of chaos when you can't trust
that the rules are going to be called, they're gonna
use their bodies in ways that are not safe and
guys are gonna get hurt. So I think what fans want,
they want an absence of bs. They don't want James
Harden flinging his head back and throwing his arms up
and going to the free throw line. And that's what
you got to get out of the game. But you
(34:40):
can't just do this stuff the NBA has been doing
where one month they call no fouls, the next month
they turn fouls back on. They got to have it
be consistent so people know what to do and what
not to do and the system is in balance.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
This next topic, this is really built for you. I
don't think the league needs a face of it, but
if you do have a face of it, it probably helps.
If it's a domestic star. Not essential, but probably helps.
We all know the NFL plays by its own galaxy
and rules. Everybody else is struggling with regular season ratings.
Everybody else probably needs a face of the league. The
(35:14):
NFL doesn't. Ratings were fine when Brady and Manning left.
I think Ants it because, as the kids say, and
my staff was shocked, he's got riz okay, like he
leans into it. Do you think he could be the
face of the league. And do they need it?
Speaker 9 (35:33):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (35:33):
Yeah, they.
Speaker 9 (35:35):
I don't know if they need it, but it makes
them better. And Ants just got that thing. He's got charisma,
He's got an authenticity to him. He does some things
off the floor that people don't like, but he's got
that magical quality where you just forgive it and you
don't care because in his presence, he's an entertainer and
you just like you like to see what he's going
(35:55):
to do next, and you feel like he gets the
big things about the sport right.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
So I think he be that guy.
Speaker 9 (36:01):
I also think Luca. I know it's hard to say
in the aftermath of that defeat, where people are sharing
memes of him looking like James Corden in a Laker
Jersey because of how he's playing defense. But Luca can
be even though he's from Eastern Europe. It feels like
he can be a big star just because of the
shock of his storyline and him being taken out of
(36:21):
Dallas and now he's on the biggest brand and they're
building the team around him, and we see him cry
when he comes back to Dallas. We get a sense
of his personality. That situation in la is one where
he could be the big American sports star who's not
American if it goes right. But that Laker situation right
now a little precarious, a little high variance.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
We'll just have to wait and see. So I mean,
at least for a week. Nico Harrison, if not validated,
gets a little bit of a reprieve because I think
now again, I don't think JJ Reddick did any favors.
Have a guy with conditioning questions and an old guy
(37:03):
playing every minute, that's just weird. But I said, when
I remember when I said this, I said, Lakers won
the trade. But Luca is a much better Carmelo Anthony.
There have been a handful of very few, but a
handful of stars. James Harden, Mellow Luca. They don't plan
the defensive end, and none of them decided eight years
(37:23):
in I'm going to be a great defensive That's something
like you're either into or you're not. MJ. Kobe, it
could be Kareem most Bird wasn't a great defender, nor
is Steph, but they put forth an effort. Can you
watch this series with Luca and say, Okay, I get
(37:45):
why Nico moved off him. He just didn't get close
to enough. Did it validate at least taking the call
and discussing a trade.
Speaker 9 (37:55):
I think it validated validated that. I think it will
always be a bad trade because they didn't get enough.
And if you're dealing with somebody like that, you've got
to build for the future in a Sam prest esque way.
When Sam Presty traded stars, he got a bunch of
picks to build for the future.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Nico with the win.
Speaker 9 (38:13):
Now, I don't think it made sense, But I do
think we suppressed some issues with Luca and suppress some
criticism of him as a media collective, because we wanted
to hammer home how bad a trade that was and
that God has almost locked into a take. We all
had the same take. Ninety percent of us had the
same take. This was a crazy bad trade, and because
(38:33):
we were always looking for validation of that take, we
weren't saying some stuff. We weren't going they don't have
a center. Yeah, they got great names on the marquee.
The roster doesn't make sense. And by the way, it's
crazy that the professional athlete isn't in shape. I mean,
this is something that's expected of everybody in the sport.
He looks like he's in worse shape than the coach
and the GM and you live with it because he's
(38:57):
a prodigy and he's a genius and he's incredible. But
there was this absence of criticism, this assumption it should
all work out. And now you've got a situation in
la I think they're doing the right thing. Run it back,
bring Lebron back. That's what it sounds like. Add some centers.
But it's almost a little it's a little bit of tension.
So people were watching, they noticed that Luca and Lebron
(39:18):
aren't really talking to each other in the court. It's
a little like Shaq and Kobe, except this time the
older superstar is the guy who's very goaler in and
keeping himself in tiptop shape and the young superstar is
the guy getting out of shape and not taking things
as seriously as you might want him to. And so
that's a tricky situation. If he doesn't lock in, it's
(39:41):
not going to be like Dallas or everybody's just happy
to have him there. I think the Lakers fans at
a certain point and the pressure is going to be
a broader conversation of this continues and he's not doing
everything he can do to win them a championship.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
It's called the House of Strauss. I think it's also
interesting is that if you go look at Nico Harrison
when they first made the move for Kyrie and Luca,
initially it was they couldn't stop anybody because they're both
poor defenders. The trade deadline, Nico went and got size
(40:17):
and it literally transformed the team. So they told you
how you have to build around Luca and JJ Reddick
in this series went small ball, which to me is
I mean, that's a big part of this series was
Minnesota wins, they fly to LA and they decided to
(40:38):
go even bigger against the Lakers. So I think Nico,
for all the criticism he gets, he gave the Lakers
an idea of if lucas your star, if that if
that deal comes down with Charlotte in their center, we
may be having a different discussion today. Did not Nico
tell you how to build a team. He just gave
Luca way too cheaply.
Speaker 9 (41:00):
Oh yeah, now he showed them the blueprint, and it's
have big defensive centers who are great rim runners and
can catch a lob on the other side, because Luke
is great at throwing that lob. The issue maybe is
just does this all fit together. It's almost like people
are very captivated with this three of a great thing
with playmakers and shot creators in Luca, Lebron, and Austin Reeves.
(41:25):
But I like Austin Reeves a lot. I kind of
wonder if this is a situation, not saying these are
exactly similar teams, but there have been these situations like
in Portland where looking back, the Blazers should have made
a choice between Lillard and mccollumn and traded one of
those guys for the sake of roster balance. I kind
(41:45):
of feel that way about Reeves because I don't think
you can get rid of Lebron, even if he's forty
years old just because of his capital in the league.
Reeves is somebody where for the sake of roster balance,
you might have to start shopping around in order to
fill it out.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I totally agree with that. By the way, in the playoffs,
which have always been truth serum, he got exposed. He
could not get to the free throw line. All right,
Ethan Strauss, It's called House of Strauss substack as well.
It's great stuff. One of my favorite, if not my
favorite listen when I go out for long walks. As
always Ethan, it's great. See anybody, thanks for having me?
(42:23):
Colin all right, one of my favorite exercise podcasts, and
that's when I listened to him. Ethan Strauss. Yeah, I
mean they the MAVs kind of gave you a roadmap.
You have Luca get Rin runners, he'll get a maleey oops,
and they're Julius Randall late in that or in that
game two forty five to go, Julius Randall blows by him.
(42:43):
You got a center that's not a basket. And then,
by the way, Lucas, stop complaining about stuff with two
minutes left in games, get back on defense. What are
you doing
Thanks for listening to 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 Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, here we go. It is a Thursday, and a
very different Thursday than we predicted. The Lakers exit stage right,
they are How did Minnesota lose a game in this series?
It's over jmac humble tide. But you know what, we
(00:49):
always bring Chris Finch on the show that the t
Wolves coach during the season. I think next time we
call him he will be available once again. I mean
that was impressive, very very crazy winding three games for
the Lakers. Greg Okay, here we go. Simplest explanation. Chris
(01:12):
Finch and his staff worked, JJ Reddick and his staff,
and Minnesota's best players out played the lakers best players.
I mean, Austin Reeves a no show. Lebron last couple
of games looked tired and Luca's worst qualities were exposed.
(01:32):
There was a late sequence in this game with about
two forty five left. It was a late sequence where
Julius Randall blew by Luca and scored. Okay, so he
blows by Luca's right here, just blows by him and scores.
On the other end, Luca misses a layup and then
(01:53):
complains about it to the referee. And while he's complaining,
the Tea Wolves in transition ant scores on the other end.
From a two point game to ballgame. Luca daisical. And
by the way, I'm not saying the MAVs won the
trade with the Lakers. But Nico Collison slept very well
last night. Harrison, Excuse me, Nico Harrison slept very very
(02:17):
well last night. Listen Lebron in the fourth quarter of
the last two games, you saw it. He was tired.
He was gassed, two for nine from the floor. And
the Lakers in this series in the fourth quarter, they
got worked. And that was about a tired Lebron and
a coaching staff in Minnesota that pulled all the right levers.
(02:41):
The Lakers in the fourth quarter scored seventeen thirteen twenty,
nineteen sixteen, and JJ Reddick's insistence got very stubborn. His
insistence to play only five guys the entire second half
of Game four, which is bizarrely. I mean, it's historically bizarre.
(03:03):
That's the only thing I can say. I'm not a coach,
it's just historically, I've never seen it. I've never thought
it would be discussed. This is a small ball team
that was already outsized the entire series and out rebounded
the entire series. So you're the smaller or less physical team,
and you're gonna play your guys the entire second half
and one of them is in his forties. Okay, and
(03:29):
JJ Reddick before the game got very defensive about this.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Is there an assistant or someone maybe that you'll lean
on tonight maybe to try to get you know, some
other guys involved if that opportunity presitions.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Are you saying that because I'm inexperienced and that was
an inexperienced decision that I made.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Do you think I don't talk to my assistance about
substitutions every single time out?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
I just think there's a lot of coaches lean on
their assistance in those situations.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
As every single time. That's a weird assumption, bro, It's
not the moment to be the coolest, smartest guy in
the room. You went heavy small ball with the oldest
star in the league. You didn't sub him. And Lebron
looked tired in Game four of the end, and he
(04:21):
looked tired last night. Plus Minnesota, which was already a
bigger team, leaned into their size. Rudy Gobert, a defensive player,
might as well have been Wilt Chamberlain last night. He
was unstoppable. That's on coaching. And by the way, JJ,
what is Maxy Kleeber doing on the floor late? This
(04:41):
was a coaching mismatch Julius Randall and McDaniels Gobert. They
outplayed the Lakers players and the te Wolves own the
fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is not just the stars quarter,
it's the coaching quarter. This is not a complicated breakdown.
Better coach, better does decisions, a more complete roster, and
(05:02):
better fourth quarters. I mean, Lebron wasn't terrible in the fourth.
He was clearly exhausted. Probably not going to play him
in an entire second half when you're already the smaller team.
And by the way, Chris Finch and his guys, his staff,
they were already bigger. They made an adjustment to make
(05:25):
Rudy Gobert the centerpiece last night and you're playing late
Maxi Kleeber, what are we doing here? So in the playoffs,
let's be honest about it. Their truth serum. Austin Reeves,
y'all love him. But in the playoffs, when it's the
same teams playing the same guys night after night after night,
(05:49):
Austin Reeves moves into town. You're tired. You played last night?
He drops twenty two. Wow. He's undrafted, and Minnesota exposed him.
They sent their drafted better athletes at Austin Reeves and
he didn't do anything. The playoffs are truth serum, and
the truth is this Laker roster is incomplete. JJ Reddick
(06:12):
made a bad decision in Game four and got defensive
about it, and the fourth quarters t Wols players, we're
better than the Lakers stars. It's not a shot at
Lebron or even Luca, although can we now all be
honest about Luca's conditioning and defense. They're going after him regularly.
(06:34):
Here was Charles Barkley on J. J. Reddick's pushback, anger
and rigidity.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
He just is a little sensitive.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Not listen.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
One of the things that people say they never watched television.
We all lie, all jocks watched television, and he's been
getting criticized the last point outs for playing those guys,
and he just sensitive just say, hey, you know what,
if I had it, nobody everybody's afraid to say I
was wrong. All he had to do was say, hey,
you know what, I shouldn't have played those guys the
(07:06):
whole second half, and that's it.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Then it would have been over. We always consider in
America football to be the coaches sport, but you get
into the playoffs and I watched this series, and I'm
not just saying this because I don't know JJ Reddick,
I know Chris Finch a little, but there was one
coaching staff pulling all the right levers on this and Minnesota.
(07:29):
I mean that was so obvious last night. Remember we
talked about this yesterday. They were six and a half
point underdog. I'm like, are the Laker players getting taller?
Is Lebron getting younger? Like they were bigger, and they
leaned into Rudy Gobert. So they clearly as a staff
said guys, we got an edge here. Size doesn't get
smaller fast. Guys can get slower over a series. But
(07:52):
size doesn't get smaller, and they just went all in
on Gobert and he was unstoppable. Rudy Gobert, his entire
career has been stoppable, completely stoppable. Last night he was unstoppable.
I mean, Maxi Kleeber playing guys in the entire second half.
(08:16):
I'm sorry. Coaching better players, better levers, pulled better roster. Okay,
here's another thing. So I have been on this topic.
The Warriors got smoked, and I mean they waved the
white flag eight minutes ten. Good for Houston. I'm going
to be wrong on this series. Golden State is going
to go back home and probably win it. But I've
been on this forever. You don't need seven games in
(08:38):
the first round. When this league was at its most
popular with MJ, first round was five games. League was
never more popular. It's all greed. I mean, y'all told
me Florida is going to win the national championship in
a sudden death tournament in marks they did. Okay, four
number one seeds made the final. Four. Okay, you don't
need seven games to learn waters wet. So what happened
(09:01):
last night is it was an embarrassment for the NBA.
I mean, it was a white flag, raise it three
minutes into the game. The other thing that happened is Houston,
the bigger, longer, more physical team with a lot of
energy and a lot of good young players. They went
after Steph Curry's hand, or at least that's what people
are claiming, that they were grabbing him and banging on it.
(09:21):
And I got to be honest, I'm not sure it's
a bad strategy. I mean, if you know that a
team has already mailed it in, it'd be one thing.
If the game was close, you couldn't worry about that.
You'd have to worry about the game. But Houston's like, yeah,
the game's over all, right, let's leave a little bit
of a damage here, and let's grab and clush and
(09:43):
push and bang on Steph Curry. And whether they did
it purposefully or not, when you're playing games where one
team is decided, hey, let's just take the flight home
and wrap it up, you gave Houston an opportunity to
think about some things, not have to worry about game strategy,
(10:04):
to maybe make this one a little more interesting when
you go home. So this is why I've said before
first round should be three games. Well, what if blankety
blank loses? Yeah, what if they do? College basketball has
significantly inferior basketball to the NBA. Yep, March Madness gets
(10:27):
big ratings because you have to watch the games. Do
you have to watch the games? But yet the number
one seeds all show up Florida. You told me they
were going to win those Why you don't need You
don't need seven games first round, you don't need I
don't think you need five. I'd go three games into
five finals only for historical purposes. We can play seven.
(10:49):
I would have no problem with the finals being five.
But World Series, NBA Finals, it's been seven. Let's just
do it that way. But I thought this was a
bad look for the NBA. And I'm looking at stats
the morning. Is the average margin of victory in these playoffs,
and there have been great games in great series. It's
the second highest ever. There's been too many unwatchable blowout games.
(11:09):
And I mean wave the flag four minutes in games
which gave the Rockets a chance to go Steph hunting,
and here here with Steve Kerr.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
After players are going to do whatever they're allowed to do,
and so after every on every release, you know, Steph's
getting getting hit. But it's basically within the rules. So
this is how the league wants it right now. And
you know, I know, we got thirty coaches who all
(11:40):
think it's it's just idiotic that we allow this. So
players all over the league are just taking shots at
guys shooting hands after release because they know it's not
gonna be a foul.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, here's the other thing why I do not like
a seven game series until the final One of the
things all leagues want. I mean, if you're a Major
League Baseball if you're Rob Manfred, I want Aaron Judge
playing for the next fifteen years. I hope he's wobbling
out to the field. He's a star attraction. In the NFL,
I want Patrick Mahomes playing forever. That's why the NFL
(12:15):
doesn't let hit the quarterbacks. Keep your icons forever. You
want all your stars playing into Brady years. In the
basketball world, you want to extend Steph. The way to
extend him isn't have him play meaningless games, which your
entire staff and organization acknowledges. Let's just get back home.
I mean Stephan Butler. Stephan Butler did not have a
(12:38):
point between the two of them in the second quarter,
a decision had been made. I'm not knocking the decision
by Kurt. I'm not knocking the decision by the Warriors.
They don't have the length, the size, the dexterity, and frankly,
they don't have the youth. They can't give you a
great game and a loss. They're like saving the energy.
I would do it too. Draymond thirties, Butler thirties, Curry thirties,
(13:00):
odd the only young guy that can count on. But
I thought this was another example of what are we
doing here? No reason this should be a seven game series,
and it was. And Houston said, all right, you're gonna
mail it in. We can mess around a little. And
whether they did or not, it's not illegal, all right,
(13:20):
j Mac. By the way, for those wondering about steph
we have a picture of his thumb. It was bad
going in. It's probably worse this morning. And you know,
Steve Kerr was speaking for a lot of coaches when
he said, you know you're letting all this physicality happen again.
I am for physicality. You're against it. You know, if
you're more finesse, I'm more power.
Speaker 7 (13:41):
I'm not against it. I just think that too much
is too much? You want Curry getting hurt, you want
Tatum getting hurt. I mean, jeez, you lose Anthony Edwards
or something to a goon ish foul next round, It's like,
come on, what are we doing? I just don't love
the big time physical play.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I'm sorry, I'm not a huge right, Okay, we got
good stuff today. Rachel Nichols will have more about this
coming up. Just a fun day. The Lakers are done
and I've mostly been a Lebron defender, but oh boy,
here we go. Will he retire? Willy? Will he not?
We'll talk about that coming up.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern nn AM Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
All right, welcome back here now entering the Noble Zone
sponsored by Credible Great rates. None of the bull full record.
Just to tell you, and and I think it's fair
to say I'm not somebody that bangs on NBA coaches
a lot, but Julius Randall and Rudy Gobert last night
are out playing Lebron and Luca. That's coaching, like right,
that is coaching part of that is playing Luca and
(14:49):
Lebron in Game four the entire second half. I know
they have a couple of days off, but they also
had to fly across country or you know, Minneapolis to
La three and a half hours. You know, you get
in late, you got to shoot around the day of
the game, like like Lebron needs time off. That's why
Lebron was more effective early in this series and in
(15:10):
first halfs than late. So it's just a coaching decision
I don't agree with. But the fact that Julius Randall,
who had never been a great playoff guy, had a
tremendous series. That's Chris Finch and the staff, and it
was game one it was like, guys, they don't match
up with him. And then Rudy Gobaer looking like Wilt
Chamberlain last night. That's the best playoff game he's ever played.
(15:30):
Why that's that's matchups. That that's matchups. So I mean,
and don't we don't talk a lot of coaching. We
talk about MJ. This MJ that Michael Jordan was in
Chicago and was really good, but he won't win in
big titles and fourth quarters until Phil Jackson showed up.
Coaching matters in this sport. So listen, I've been a
(15:51):
Lebron defender. I mean ninety nine percent of the stuff.
A little bit of the too much browny kind of
manufacturing stuff there I don't love. But it's his son.
I get it. But but this is where Lebron's critics,
you know, they've always said, oh, he plays the victim,
he extends drama, and I you know whatever, he's a
superstar in America. Happens. But he was asked last night
(16:15):
if he's coming back. We all know the answer to this.
Here was here was his thoughts. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
I don't have the answer to that. Something I said
out with my family, my wife and my support group
and kind of just talk through it and see what happens.
And then they just have a conversation with myself and
how long I want to continue to play. It's a
business too, so you don't know what the roster look
like next year, besides the guys that's locked into contracts.
(16:44):
So we all, I mean, I got a lot to
think about myself, so I don't I don't know what
the roster will look like. I don't know what I'm
you know, where I stand right now.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I do as one of the ten best players. You're
coming back. This is what he said last year after
they lost to Denver. There's been a lot of comps
to Tom Brady for Lebron, and they make sense, totally
committed winning late in their career, bizarrely good for their age.
(17:16):
But this is where he's got a little Brett Farve
kind of seeking, you know, assurance drama. Please come back.
Stop Lebron against the Timberwolves, struggled in fourth quarters. He
should for his age, but he did average twenty five
and nine. That was second on the team and first
(17:39):
on the team. By the way, his last fifteen playoff games,
he's average twenty seven eight to eight, shooting fifty four percent.
He's a top ten player in the game. He looked
tired in this series. Yeah, Game four second half had
a lot to do with the last two fourth quarters. Sorry,
that's on JJ Reddick. I don't care if you ask Lebron,
(18:01):
hey man, can you play the entire second half? You
don't play Lebron the entire second half. What you saw
at the end of Game four, in the end of
Game five is Lebron basically losing his legs. Doing a
great job defensively, but he didn't have his jumper and
he didn't have quite the burst, which is totally explainable.
(18:21):
So Lebron, you're coming back. Just ask yourself this, If
Lebron announced his retirement in a week, would it not
be shocking? Of course it would. If Lebron announced in
a week he's coming back, would you be shocked? No,
And that's why we don't need the drama. We all
know the answer here. He's got another son he enjoys.
(18:43):
I mean, listen, Luca was disappointing, but you're gonna tell
me you're not gonna come back for Luca, who will
probably be in, if not great shape, better shape Lebron's
coming back.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and nowone Easter nine emphasis.
Speaker 8 (19:00):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world, We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
sports and pop culture, stories that well, other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends for the last twenty years and
still work together. I mean that says something, right, So
check us out. We like to get you involved too,
(19:35):
Take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say,
I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to
check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern
two to four Pacific, And if you miss any of
the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you
get your podcasts, and of course on social media that's
Covino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
First of all, Tom Pelasorrow was the Risch Eisen Show
yesterday and said the Niners and Brock Purtty, you're not close.
He thinks it'll get done, but he said, hey, they're
not close. And my take on that is, if brock
Purty wants fifty seven million dollars a year and his agent,
not necessarily a well known agent, want fifty seven million
a year. It should not be close. Now, do not cave.
(20:18):
He's got a year left in his contract, and there
are people like a Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen. I
will pay early. Max Crosby. Oh, you can identify certain
players after a year and a camp. Oh yeah, he's
beating all of our tackles. Yeah, he's got eleven sacks.
Let's sign them early and get a better deal. That's
not brought purty. But let's be brutally honest about here.
(20:38):
The Niners' biggest rival is in their division, the Rams.
And it felt like three or four years ago the
Niners had the edge. The Rams have passed them and
blown by them. McVeigh eight years, missed the playoff once,
and he's got a trophy. Shanahan eight years, missed the
playoffs four times. Last year was bad. No trophy. And
by the way, the rosters right now, Rams have far
(21:01):
more good, young and expensive players. And that's why that's
why you can keep Matt Stafford. So I'm looking one
of the primary reasons I think the Rams have blown
by him. The Niners pay Christian McCaffrey, Patrent Williams. I
get George Kittle. You gotta start making decisions here on
safeties and linebackers and right tackles. And you can't pay
(21:24):
every receiver. You can't pay Deebo and Ayuk right. And
so the Rams have a much better defense and they're
paying nobody on that side. They have the better quarterback.
I think they have the better coach. Arguably they have
the better offensive line. You have to use discretion on
this stuff. And I think this is a classic example
is that you know, the Rams are a little like
(21:45):
McVeigh is a little like the Godfather. It's not personal,
it's business. And they've told von Miller that, and they've
told Jalen Ramsey that, and they told Jared Goff that,
and they've told multiple people that. They told Matt Stafford
that we really like you. It's not personal. But this
(22:06):
is the number. I'm not letting brock Purty push me around.
And I say this all the time. You know, like
your sports, love your family, don't run onto the court
like Halliburton's dad. You know, Shadr hire an agent, right,
(22:27):
like love your family, like your sports. And this is
the way when I look at the Rams and McVeigh
and less need they like their players but they move
off Todd Gurley and Cooper Cup and Jalen Ramsey very quickly.
The Niners fall in love with players. Yeah, maybe Trent
(22:49):
Williams in his prime. Just send me the check. I'll
sign it. But you go look at the Dallas Cowboys.
They're the example here. Dallas Cowboys pay a good quarterback
a plus money and look at that roster right now.
Once you do that, you cannot whiff on draft picks.
And it looks like last year Cowboys may have whiffed
(23:12):
on a first round pick, and this year people are
saying they overdrafted another offensive lineman. You start paying your
big stars. The Niners have missed on some draft picks,
and the Rams have missed on like one interior lineman
a couple of years ago. So the Rams are drafting,
they're hitting on more draft picks, they're using more discretion
(23:32):
and they're not top heavy. And so when I hear
this story on brock Purty, people think I don't like
Brock Purtty. No, I don't like paying Brock thirty fifty
seven million. I love brock Purty at thirty one. I
like him at forty one. I'm not caving at fifty three,
So okay, the Bill Belichick Jordan Hudson's story has taken
(23:57):
an interesting turn. So I had two strong opinions on
this story. I now have three. My first opinion was
bit cringey. He's seventy plus she's twenty four. Then I
watched the CBS interview which she stepped in front of
and like a professional, said, you're not talking about our
private relationship. My second opinion was, it's still age wise,
(24:21):
a little creepy, but in college football, old Bill needs this.
He just happens to be dating it too, but he
needs this. Then another story came out, and skeletons are
starting to be unearthed and reporters are starting to report.
There was a story in the New York Post yesterday
that Jordan Hudson has amassed eight million dollars in real estate,
(24:45):
multiple homes, starting at the time she started dating Bill.
Who am I to prive? Another part of this story
is looking back at her family, who had a fishing
business that went bankrupt. Her mother moved to Cape Cod
And now I'll only say this once manages a sex
(25:07):
toy shop and museum didn't know they existed. The museum
part doesn't sound like the Smithsonian, But who am I
to be snarky? The family's a little different. It does
appear now. I'll have a third opinion, which is they
are both benefiting in multiple ways from each other. Whatevs.
(25:33):
It's gone from cringey to crucial to crypto. I don't
know what the hell I'm gonna get tomorrow. That's why
I don't invest in it. And here's the thing. She
is providing a service. Take your mind out of the gutter.
She is providing a service as his social media director.
(25:55):
And she liked to be compensated for it. That's I
think where we are. But let's go back to the
beginning and my skepticism when this happened. What was my
first opinion? Like the day it happened. Bill doesn't even
watch much college football. I can tell from his drafts.
He's terrible. Bill's an NFL guy. He's not spending saturdays
(26:15):
on the couch like his contacts, like he'd call Urban
Meyer or Nick Saban, what do you got for me?
Herm Edwards? But I never thought of him as a
college football guy. College football coaches Nick Saban may seem grumpy.
Nick Saban's funny. Nick Saban's social, Nick Saban's personal. I've
been around Nick once or twice. He lights of a room.
(26:37):
Nick is funny. He's a good storyteller. He could laugh
at himself. That's not Bill. Bill's a pro football coach,
and that's not a bad thing. But Bill never had
this like Urban Meyer. To me, he has always been
a college football coach. Urban Meyer told me years ago.
I love Urban He's a friend, he told me years ago.
And I'll watch pro football on Sunday. I watch Ohio
State game tape. Like Urban took the job, made his money.
(26:59):
He was was a college football coach. The NFL thing
didn't fit. Bill was always an NFL coach. That he
brings Mike Lombardi, who I know, he brought him over.
Lombardi's an NFL guy. And I said this when it happened.
I said, you think Bill Belichick had no patient for
Robert Kraft, He had no patience for NFL owners. You
(27:20):
think he's going to sit around and have an SID
run the show, or an athletic director or some goofy
donor or that this was always an uneven relationship. The
minute UNC gave him ten million dollars a year to
a guy who'd never coached colin college football. He has
his dad coached at Navy, but he never showed any
great inclination for it. In fact, the only reason this
(27:43):
thing makes sense is because of Nil, where Bill can
now buy players and doesn't have to hop in a
jet every fifteen minutes and recruit guys. So I do
think it potentially could work through Nil. But this was
an uneven relationship. Carolina was desperate, and Bill's like, all right,
I want ten million bucks and oh, by the way,
if I want to leave in a year, I can.
(28:04):
No other college contract is paying a guy ten large
a year plus and he can just leave whatever he
wants to do. It was always an uneven relationship, so
Bill's gonna do what he wants. And again, I do
think Jordan Hudson, I mean these stories, I don't know
what to make of it. I just they're both they're
they're both benefiting. And you know my wife doesn't you know,
you know, she's you know, I get a lot of
(28:26):
this is just inappropriate. Yeah, I get that crowd like like,
but this, you know, people get into relationships whatever. I'm
not here to judge. I do think she is providing
something that he would not tolerate having some sid chase
him around the field telling him he's got to talk
to this radio station and that it's not gonna work
(28:46):
with Bill. That's just not his personality. And that was
always my question. I'm like Mike Lombardi and Belichick, these
are NFL dudes. Remember when Charlie Weiss came to Notre
Dame and everybody was like, he's an NFL guy, he's
a little gruff. And my take was, Charlie tried. Charlie
would go on shows, Charlie played the game. If Charlie
Weiss was in the NIL era, maybe it works better.
He could just buy players. I think this model now
(29:09):
can work for NFL guys. But this stuff that's coming
out now, it's okay, I'll say it one more time.
I don't know what a sex shop slash museum is.
It doesn't sound like the Googenheim. I don't know what
it is. And here's the air thing. I don't want
(29:30):
to know what it is. I if I go to
that town, I'm not stopping for red lights. If I'm
just driving straight through that town on Cape Cod. This
thing's getting weird?
Speaker 7 (29:40):
Is it is?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Bitcoin, nobody knows what's happening tomorrow. Don't listen to anybody.
There could be six other stories cooking on this.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and newone Eastern a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
His name is Ethan Strauss, author of The Victory Machine,
The Making Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty. House of Straus
is his podcast. So I don't call out coaches a lot,
especially basketball coaches, but over the course of a seven
game series, as you know, you covered the Warriors in
the Dynasty, Steve Kerr often pulled the right levers in
the close series. And JJ Reddick's a kid. He went
(30:20):
from player, podcaster coaching the biggest brand in the sport
and he's gotten real defensive What did you make of
his game for no subs, his reaction before last night's
game and last night's game, just your thoughts on the
entire kind of moment for JJ Reddick in the last
(30:41):
forty eight seventy two hours. Yeah, it was not good.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
And I think JJ Reddick is a really smart guy
and people who've worked with him in entertainment would say
that he's a nice guy and he works well with
others who even if he comes off his smug maybe
behind the scenes he's great to work with. But this
conversation has opened up young coaches. They bring a lot
to the table. They've got energy, they've got innovation. But
(31:07):
when you're carrying George carl and some other older coaches
push back, they do have a point. I think insecurity
can be a problem with young coaches. And you know, Colin,
you might like this. This might sound weird, but I
think to win in the NBA, you have to be
willing to lose, and some of these more inexperienced coaches,
they're judged according to what just happened, and they might
(31:32):
just get tight and have to win that game right there,
play all their guys for an entire half and not
see the big picture. There's an example of this with
the Warriors series, where I think Udoka is a good
coach too, and he might win that series. But you
know what drove me crazy, Colin, is that with a
week to go in the season, the Rockets played the
Warriors and they pulled this really smart move of having
(31:54):
Shingoon guard Moody, which completely screwed up the Warriors screening
actions with Draymond really smart move. One problem the playoffs
hadn't started yet, and when they did it in that
first game won The Warriors weren't discombobulated. They ran Moody
in a bunch of screening actions and they won it.
So I think what you're seeing with some of these
younger coaches is they get a little insecure and they're
(32:16):
not willing to lose a game, and for that reason,
they can lose the series.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, and I also think even a young NFL coach
has leverage and power for a couple of years. I mean,
in the NBA, you have a bad road stretch, you
can get in trouble fast. In this league, Mark Jackson
thought he was was secure. Mark Jackson's gone and into broadcasting.
I want to talk about Warriors because it actually sent
a signal to me when they raised the white flag
(32:42):
second quarter or late first against the Rockets. What it
was telling you is we're better, We'll go home. You
don't give up a game in the series unless you
feel like we're going to wrap up the series. But
the physicality and Steph Curry's injury is fascinating. Kurt Took
shot at the officials. You covered this league for a
(33:03):
long time. I love the physicality. I don't think there's
much of a downside to it. Do you curse? Sounds
like he thinks there is. It's a balance.
Speaker 9 (33:15):
I love the physicality too. I think people don't like
when it's one hundred and forty to one hundred and thirty.
I think there's a blatonic ideal of an NBA game.
I think they want it to be around one hundred,
and they'll say they want the rest swallowing the whistle.
But at a certain point, when there are no rules,
you got problems. There is that injury in Game two,
that Jimmy Butler injury, And whenever something bad happens, people
(33:38):
play the blame game. They go, oh, was Aman Thompson
shoving him? Or did Draymond shove Amen Thompson. I didn't
think anybody was at fault. I think if you look
at that play, what you saw, what you saw was
guys rebounding when there are no rules, and they can't
trust that the rules are going to be called. And
you can't trust that when you box somebody out he
(33:58):
won't go over your back, and you wouldn't want to
go on the freeway if the night before they painted
over all the lane lines, that's what you're seeing. You're
seeing guys trying to get through the rebounding scrum like
a defensive tackle, just throwing their body at the situation.
And it's a situation where nobody perhaps is playing dirty,
(34:19):
but in that kind of chaos when you can't trust
that the rules are going to be called, they're gonna
use their bodies in ways that are not safe and
guys are gonna get hurt. So I think what fans want,
they want an absence of bs. They don't want James
Harden flinging his head back and throwing his arms up
and going to the free throw line. And that's what
you got to get out of the game. But you
(34:40):
can't just do this stuff the NBA has been doing
where one month they call no fouls, the next month
they turn fouls back on. They got to have it
be consistent so people know what to do and what
not to do and the system is in balance.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
This next topic, this is really built for you. I
don't think the league needs a face of it, but
if you do have a face of it, it probably helps.
If it's a domestic star. Not essential, but probably helps.
We all know the NFL plays by its own galaxy
and rules. Everybody else is struggling with regular season ratings.
Everybody else probably needs a face of the league. The
(35:14):
NFL doesn't. Ratings were fine when Brady and Manning left.
I think Ants it because, as the kids say, and
my staff was shocked, he's got riz okay, like he
leans into it. Do you think he could be the
face of the league. And do they need it?
Speaker 9 (35:33):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (35:33):
Yeah, they.
Speaker 9 (35:35):
I don't know if they need it, but it makes
them better. And Ants just got that thing. He's got charisma,
He's got an authenticity to him. He does some things
off the floor that people don't like, but he's got
that magical quality where you just forgive it and you
don't care because in his presence, he's an entertainer and
you just like you like to see what he's going
(35:55):
to do next, and you feel like he gets the
big things about the sport right.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
So I think he be that guy.
Speaker 9 (36:01):
I also think Luca. I know it's hard to say
in the aftermath of that defeat, where people are sharing
memes of him looking like James Corden in a Laker
Jersey because of how he's playing defense. But Luca can
be even though he's from Eastern Europe. It feels like
he can be a big star just because of the
shock of his storyline and him being taken out of
(36:21):
Dallas and now he's on the biggest brand and they're
building the team around him, and we see him cry
when he comes back to Dallas. We get a sense
of his personality. That situation in la is one where
he could be the big American sports star who's not
American if it goes right. But that Laker situation right
now a little precarious, a little high variance.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
We'll just have to wait and see. So I mean,
at least for a week. Nico Harrison, if not validated,
gets a little bit of a reprieve because I think
now again, I don't think JJ Reddick did any favors.
Have a guy with conditioning questions and an old guy
(37:03):
playing every minute, that's just weird. But I said, when
I remember when I said this, I said, Lakers won
the trade. But Luca is a much better Carmelo Anthony.
There have been a handful of very few, but a
handful of stars. James Harden, Mellow Luca. They don't plan
the defensive end, and none of them decided eight years
(37:23):
in I'm going to be a great defensive That's something
like you're either into or you're not. MJ. Kobe, it
could be Kareem most Bird wasn't a great defender, nor
is Steph, but they put forth an effort. Can you
watch this series with Luca and say, Okay, I get
(37:45):
why Nico moved off him. He just didn't get close
to enough. Did it validate at least taking the call
and discussing a trade.
Speaker 9 (37:55):
I think it validated validated that. I think it will
always be a bad trade because they didn't get enough.
And if you're dealing with somebody like that, you've got
to build for the future in a Sam prest esque way.
When Sam Presty traded stars, he got a bunch of
picks to build for the future.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Nico with the win.
Speaker 9 (38:13):
Now, I don't think it made sense, But I do
think we suppressed some issues with Luca and suppress some
criticism of him as a media collective, because we wanted
to hammer home how bad a trade that was and
that God has almost locked into a take. We all
had the same take. Ninety percent of us had the
same take. This was a crazy bad trade, and because
(38:33):
we were always looking for validation of that take, we
weren't saying some stuff. We weren't going they don't have
a center. Yeah, they got great names on the marquee.
The roster doesn't make sense. And by the way, it's
crazy that the professional athlete isn't in shape. I mean,
this is something that's expected of everybody in the sport.
He looks like he's in worse shape than the coach
and the GM and you live with it because he's
(38:57):
a prodigy and he's a genius and he's incredible. But
there was this absence of criticism, this assumption it should
all work out. And now you've got a situation in
la I think they're doing the right thing. Run it back,
bring Lebron back. That's what it sounds like. Add some centers.
But it's almost a little it's a little bit of tension.
So people were watching, they noticed that Luca and Lebron
(39:18):
aren't really talking to each other in the court. It's
a little like Shaq and Kobe, except this time the
older superstar is the guy who's very goaler in and
keeping himself in tiptop shape and the young superstar is
the guy getting out of shape and not taking things
as seriously as you might want him to. And so
that's a tricky situation. If he doesn't lock in, it's
(39:41):
not going to be like Dallas or everybody's just happy
to have him there. I think the Lakers fans at
a certain point and the pressure is going to be
a broader conversation of this continues and he's not doing
everything he can do to win them a championship.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
It's called the House of Strauss. I think it's also
interesting is that if you go look at Nico Harrison
when they first made the move for Kyrie and Luca,
initially it was they couldn't stop anybody because they're both
poor defenders. The trade deadline, Nico went and got size
(40:17):
and it literally transformed the team. So they told you
how you have to build around Luca and JJ Reddick
in this series went small ball, which to me is
I mean, that's a big part of this series was
Minnesota wins, they fly to LA and they decided to
(40:38):
go even bigger against the Lakers. So I think Nico,
for all the criticism he gets, he gave the Lakers
an idea of if lucas your star, if that if
that deal comes down with Charlotte in their center, we
may be having a different discussion today. Did not Nico
tell you how to build a team. He just gave
Luca way too cheaply.
Speaker 9 (41:00):
Oh yeah, now he showed them the blueprint, and it's
have big defensive centers who are great rim runners and
can catch a lob on the other side, because Luke
is great at throwing that lob. The issue maybe is
just does this all fit together. It's almost like people
are very captivated with this three of a great thing
with playmakers and shot creators in Luca, Lebron, and Austin Reeves.
(41:25):
But I like Austin Reeves a lot. I kind of
wonder if this is a situation, not saying these are
exactly similar teams, but there have been these situations like
in Portland where looking back, the Blazers should have made
a choice between Lillard and mccollumn and traded one of
those guys for the sake of roster balance. I kind
(41:45):
of feel that way about Reeves because I don't think
you can get rid of Lebron, even if he's forty
years old just because of his capital in the league.
Reeves is somebody where for the sake of roster balance,
you might have to start shopping around in order to
fill it out.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I totally agree with that. By the way, in the playoffs,
which have always been truth serum, he got exposed. He
could not get to the free throw line. All right,
Ethan Strauss, It's called House of Strauss substack as well.
It's great stuff. One of my favorite, if not my
favorite listen when I go out for long walks. As
always Ethan, it's great. See anybody, thanks for having me?
(42:23):
Colin all right, one of my favorite exercise podcasts, and
that's when I listened to him. Ethan Strauss. Yeah, I
mean they the MAVs kind of gave you a roadmap.
You have Luca get Rin runners, he'll get a maleey oops,
and they're Julius Randall late in that or in that
game two forty five to go, Julius Randall blows by him.
(42:43):
You got a center that's not a basket. And then,
by the way, Lucas, stop complaining about stuff with two
minutes left in games, get back on defense. What are
you doing
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!