July 3, 2025 • 51 mins
LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knox fill-in for The Herd and the Lakers bring in Deandre Ayton, but is it enough to keep LeBron in LA? Senior NFL Reporter for TheMMQB.com, Albert Breer, talks TJ Watt contract situation, Dolphins "rebuild" and shark sightings! And after all the offseason moves, the Steelers reward GM Omah Khan.
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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 and noon to three eastern nine am to
noone Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
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or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Better watch what you say, Oh yeah, make good decisions.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
It is the Herd Fox Sports Radio, LaVar Arrington, Jonas
Knox in for Colin. You can listen to this show
as always on the iHeartRadio app, and you can find
us on hundreds of affiliates all across the country as
we take you all the way up until noon Eastern
time or excuse me, at three o'clock Eastern time noon Pacific.
(01:04):
Here on FSR. So we opened up the show talking
about the feel good moment in Los Angeles with Clayton
Kershaw getting strikeout three thousand and then the reality of
waking up and realizing you're also probably a Laker fan,
which sucks, but again, you know is what it is
that being said, we now turn over to somebody else
(01:24):
in the world of football who knows a thing or
two about dysfunction. That would be none other than Nebraska
head coach Matt Ruhle, your former teammate at Penn State.
Lebar you guys are really men. Yeah, you guys are
real nice to him. In practice, I'm sure we had
a good time with Matt. Matt was a special teams guy.
He was a special situations person. Yeah, it's super, super
(01:46):
intelligent football player. Again, I credit him with a lot
of things that I learned as a freshman. How you know,
I knew how to study film to a certain degree.
I knew how to take notes to a certain agree.
In high school, I had a pretty good, good program
I had came from. But when I got to college,
I realized very quickly how much of the educational part
(02:10):
of football was involved in terms of the studying.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Being able to know what to look for, you know,
being able to break down what it is that that
the offense is doing and how you need to apply
that to you and your information in your notes. Matt,
Matt Ruhle did an excellent job of sitting with me
and us learning that. You know, my freshman year there
was his last year there, but it turns out it
translated into him being a really, really fine football coach
(02:38):
as well through through the years.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So he was talking with Greg McElroy on the Always
College Football podcast and he says that the experience in
the NFL probably makes him more ready for what the
new experience of college football is.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Like, I think the biggest certain thing you learn when
you're in the NFL it was really evaluation, you know,
like the four and collegeables like, yeah, he's are the
player's offer was taken. You get the NFL, it's all
they're all good players, you know, it's just a what's
the financial value we're put on this person and put
on this position?
Speaker 5 (03:13):
And you're in the NFL.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
You good free agency and you see teams walking away
from the lead players because of their contract situation.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
So that was Matt Ruhle talking about the contractual similarities
now all of a sudden between the NFL and in
college football, and it is it does I do wonder
if him having that time there in the league makes
him more ready for it from that standpoint to where
it's now not just your typical well do you want
(03:42):
to go recruiting now the money aspect being brought into it.
Maybe it makes those conversations and how he evaluates players
and what they can and can't do, Maybe it makes
that a little bit more I guess a little bit
more accustomed to him, just based on that time he
had in Carolina in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
I mean, I would assume that that would be the
reason why Bill Belichick went to North Carolina is that
we are stepping into a brave new world of what
the NFL represents. I mean, excuse me, what college football represents.
And you do have to figure out what the value
is on the position, you know, on the skill level,
(04:20):
on the influence. There are a lot of elements that
are now in play. I would say it's probably a
little bit more complex and a little bit more complicated
than just looking at it from the scope of what
happens in the NFL. Other than you having to figure
out how much to pay and evaluating based off of
(04:41):
what the pay would be versus evaluating if I want
to give this guy a scholarship, if we want him
to play on the field as a starter in one
of the offensive or defensive groups versus special teams. It's
just very different. I think the reason why it would
be more complex. Jonas is from the standpoint of the
(05:02):
transfer portal is what really to me makes it very interesting.
We just had the conversation too long ago, not too
long ago, about the suing. Now we have one university
sue another university based upon taking what is in Miami
took a player from Wisconsin. Wisconsin, Okay, they felt like
(05:26):
the player owed them whatever it is he owed them
based off of the contract that he signed. So until
elements like that get cleared up, where the legalities of
what's taking place at the college level and how that
works and who your you know, I bet I guess
basically who your rights belonged to. Now, yes, you do
(05:48):
have an advantage over most likely college coaches because they
don't understand most likely you know, salary caps and free
agency and how that all works. But there's still a
learning curve that's there because of the lack of structure
and the lack of established rules on what the engagements are.
(06:11):
What's a do, what's a don't?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know? What's breaking the rule, what isn't?
Speaker 5 (06:15):
There is a lot of gray area that still exists
at the college level, and I think that it makes
it very difficult for coaches and administrators like athletic directors.
You know, you're talking about twenty million dollars I believe
that they get yearly. But that's for all sports. It's
not just for one sport. So now you got to
figure out a salary cap, but you got to figure
(06:36):
out what that salary cap represents for all of your sports.
I think Penn SE has like something like eight hundred
plus student athletes in their school, So there's a lot
that has to be figured out. But now you start
to break it down by sport, and obviously you're at
you're hiring gms, You're you're hiring head of staffs that
(06:56):
that are Now you're now structuring the football program more
like proteins. And I would say that's probably where Matt
Rule is probably talking about, outside of just evaluation, having
maybe somewhat of an advantage in terms of how.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
He runs its teams.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And I would also say, based on his time in
the NFL with Carolina, at least he's got a pretty
good example of how not to do things because that
place was a complete clown show. And what he went
through at Carolina or where David Tepper brings him in,
there was some interest from the Giants, Matt Rule gets
a seven year deal from the Panthers. Then all of
(07:35):
a sudden, all the conversations, the whispers start to start
up that David Tepper is getting involved, he's meddling into things.
And Matt Rule even said before the season, before he
was fired, listen, I signed a seven year deal. I
was told by David Tepper, basically put David Tepper on
blasts like, hey, I was told by the owner that
(07:57):
I'm going to be given a significant amount of time
to get this thing sorted out. I'm working with that
understanding going into all this, and then, you know, however
long it was later than he was gone. I wonder
if Matt Ruhle goes back to college with a better
understanding of the salary cap, the structure, but also a
better understanding of whatever I do. I don't want it
(08:19):
to turn into what I came from in the NFL,
like he's got he's got to be. I would imagine
he draws from that experience of exhibit A, how things
could go sideways if you let it get out of
control above you.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Well, you know what's interesting point to that is is
that when it's the pros, people have no problem doing
coverage and scrutinizing the dysfunction of ownership or of the
front office. It almost seems as though that's what's going
to eventually take shape and take hold at the college level.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Probably.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Yeah, you've never really heard like, oh, the dysfunction of
the president of the university, ad of the university, or
all those different things. So you'd have to assume in
this brave new world of nil and how things are
being handled at the college level that if you're dealing
with a dysfunctional organization university, front office, ads, administrators, whatever
(09:19):
it may be, if you're dealing with that type of dysfunction,
I wonder will that become prevalent and will that create
more pressure on the universities and how they're not only
hiring their athletic directors, but ultimately how they're hiring the
presidents and the people that administratively are running the school.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
It's a it's almost like now that money's involved, Oh, oh,
open season on everybody. Oh like yah, now that we
know that people are getting paid, players admitted. Now that
we know all of that, everybody's going to be held
to the same standard that you've seen from a professional level.
You could play that this is an academic institution game.
All you want, you're gonna find your academy, make institution
(10:01):
ass out on the street looking.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
For a job.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
You gotta figure it out, because that is that has
been the cash cow for these universities for many, many moons.
And if you messed that up now because you don't,
you know, it's always been really easy to minimize. Even
like when I played for Joe Paterno, Joe minimized athletics,
(10:24):
He minimized athletes because it was more about being a student.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
It was more about education. It's like, who cares we
play the game, we win the game, we lose the game.
But they got class on Monday.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
They got to turn in their their their papers.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
They gotta get good grades. Like it was always about
academics us. Okay, hey, hey, I put you on the
bus that I brought your on. Get him mad anyway.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
But but here's my point. The point is is that
you cannot hide behind the moniker of this is a
place in an institution of higher learning and education.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You can't have behind it. You certainly have to have it.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
The prestige of going to a fine college and the
institution of learning higher learning is very attractive, but make
no mistake about it, you will not be in any
position as a head of school, president, of the school
board of trustees, whatever it is. You are not in
a place where you can minimize athletics and try to
(11:39):
suppress what athletics represents to the earning capacity, of what
it represents to the university and in.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Some cases to the state.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
You can't minimize it now because it is now being
turned into a very very pro like approach, and now
people are going to be in a very very quick rush,
a quick movement to try to figure out what the
solutions are, what are what are even the positions the
(12:11):
appointment of new jobs that have to be created in
order to be able to handle this. You're going to
have to have capologists. You're going to have to have gms.
You're gonna have to You're going to have to have
scouts like and they already have scouts.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Mia Michael Lombardi's Michael Lombardi's Belichick's GM.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
College. There's a lot there. There's a lot. There is
a lot here, and hearing what Matt Ruhle has to say,
it's just the tip of the iceberg. In terms of
all of the conversations that are going to continue to
come up and become like, what what are the main
topics of conversations as it applies to this new world
(12:52):
of what sports represent at the college level.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Do you mean to tell me as we sit here
right now on the th of July twenty twenty five,
that the term student athlete is still longer means the
same thing?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
No, it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
It doesn't because you don't have to everybody that understands
going to college and playing the game that was a
that was a politically correct way of expressing what you
were as a scholarship player.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You had to say it, I am a student athlete.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
And while it is still not a pay for play
model in college, it is still not pay for play.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
The one term.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
That they have to get used to, and it's going
to have to be embraced, and it's going to lead
to a whole lot of different things, organizing unions and
having union reps, and maybe it leads to collective bargaining
agreements and all kinds of stuff like that is employee
is employee, And that's what's going to be interesting. How
(13:59):
quick quickly does the college level get to the place
where it is comfortable saying that these are employees. Meaning
if they are employees, you're talking about retirement, you're talking
about insurance, you're taking all the things that come along
(14:20):
with being an employee. They are going to have to
figure for and they're going to have to have the
resources and the funds to put towards those things. Once
it becomes a real thing that college athletes are not
student athletes just student athletes. They are students, They are athletes,
(14:41):
and they are employees. Once you get those three put
together and the understanding of that is really realized, realized
to speak for a living, Once the realization of that
comes to fruition, there is going to be so many
people lawyer, you know, financial planners, you name it. There's
(15:04):
going to be so there's even private private family offices, investors,
major investors. They are now looking at the college space
the same way that they're looking at the pro space.
There are people that are actually trying to purchase the
rights of the school. It's outside of the lear fields
and the playflies and stuff like that. There are actually
(15:26):
private equity groups that are trying to purchase schools. In
other words, what it is that the sports represents. They're
trying to purchase the rights to that so that they
can use that as a place to place their money.
This is a very deep rabbit hole that has been created,
and I.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Don't see the bottom of it. I don't see the
bottom of it just yet. It's still just black. It's
just darkness.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
You don't see the bottom, like, oh, there's the floor
of this nil there's the floor of this new new
college college world. You don't see it. There's still so
much more to be defined. I mean, what does that
look like for liability? You know, what type of lawsuits
are going to come from? You know the athletes that
are playing, Like, what type of rights do they have?
(16:13):
How does this impact Title nine? Like with women's involvement
and them having fair opportunity to be treated equally. How
do all of these things happen? Do you stay with
the NCAA. How strong does the NCAA stay. There are
a lot of different conversations, a lot of different lanes,
a lot of different roads where all of these things
have to be discussed and have to be flushed out
(16:33):
and established, and it isn't going to be anytime soon.
And these athletes are tasked with trying to navigate it
as athletes to a new space, and so are the coaches,
and so are the administrators of these schools.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
It's the Herd.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Here Fox Sports Radio, LeVar Arrington, Jonas Knox in for Colin.
Coming up next here on the show. Could we be
on the brink of a major trade in the NFL.
We'll get the answer to that for you right here on.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
FSR one More heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Hi, this is Jay.
Speaker 7 (17:12):
I'm the producer of the Pauli and Toni Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they asked you to listen to
the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen
to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who
have the dumbest takes on sports imaginable. Don't listen to
the show so it can get camped.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Who wha, what what the hell are you doing our
studio get him PAULI, Ignore that fool.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Listen to the Pauline Toni Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He's still moving.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
It's a herd here Fox Sports Radio. LeVar Arrington Jonas
Knox in for Colin. You can hear us weekday morning
six am Eastern Time, three o'clock Pacific here on many
of these Fox Sports Radio affiliates, normally alongside Brady Quinn.
Brady Quinn is not with us here, so when LeVar
(18:09):
and I fill in and it's just him and I
do in the show, we'd like to refer to ourselves as.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Black and Drack.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Don't get nervous. I don't get nervous. It's because it's
because I'm It's because I'm pale and I'm dark. So
welcome in do the debut edition of Black and Drack
here in for Calling and Company on the Herd.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
What up sticks? Good morning, well, good afternoon, to say
good good noon to some people. Yeah, it's very interesting.
Good morning to you, Good morning to everyone out here.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
It is very interesting seeing the light of day, seeing
actual human beings walking by the studio, seeing energy.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Running through your body because you're fully awake. I don't
even need this coffee.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
It's just a proper I've already had to cups before
I left the house.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Of sleep.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
So, first off, want to say congratulations Clayton Kershaw. Three
thousand strikeouts. It was quite the scene at Dodger Stadium. Yeah,
no kidding, a lot of throwing, lots of scenes last
night at Dodger Stadium. Clayton Kershaw gets strikeout three thousand
against the White Sox. The Dodgers were trailing. He did
not look great, probably probably the worst he's looked since
(19:30):
he's come back from the injury and the rehabb and
all that. But nonetheless, it was about the moment in
the career of Clayton Kershaw. He gets strikeout number three
thousand and then they go on to walk it off
in the ninth because Freddie Freeman does it again. So
it was quite the scene there for the La Dodgers
at Dodger Stadium. Dodger fans were thrilled. Now from one
(19:51):
fan base and one organization that is legitimate championship contenders
and defending world champion to another team in town that
is not. Oh jeezes and gentleman to Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Oh yeah, take your pick.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Yeah, hey, talk about different balls in the which one
you want to catch?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Man? There's still some up in the air. You chose
to catch the Lakers on you.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
You want to talk about a wild turn of events.
It's like the movie when Steven Seagal was in a
coma and he wakes up after eight years and he's like,
what the hell happened about?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Did everything change?
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I woke up this morning and all of a sudden,
I like rubbed my eyes and I'm looking around, going, oh, so,
DeAndre Ayden's the lynchpin to a championship contender.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Okay, I had no idea. This is news to me,
but apparently he is.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
I'm in on that, DeAndre Aiden. Yeah, I'm in on that.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Which of the forty games, or better yet, which of
the forty two games he missed last year was your favorite?
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Because I don't know. I kind of like the.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
This whole thing is bananas. Came out bananas.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
But apparently all of that stuff is like, you can't
measure the amount of games missed anymore in the NBA.
That that the the idea of a disgruntal player, an
unhappy organization. The politics that play a part in missing
games as a pro NBA player is very real. So
(21:32):
I don't look at the amount of games that he
missed last year and say he can't be the guy
that that we've seen him be when he was in Phoenix.
I say, I look at a guy that was in
a situation that didn't work out for him and didn't
work out for the organization, and now he's going somewhere else,
and that's probably why you didn't see a lot of
(21:52):
him this past season.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And the problem I have with this is that this
is the third stop now for DeAndre Aiden. He was
in Phoenix, he goes to Portland. Now he's with the Lakers,
and a lot of people don't like Portland. Though.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Oh I listen, I hear what I mean.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Like, I'm not going to hold Portland against Sorry Portland,
but I'm just not going to hold Portland against Aiden.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I'm not. Now.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
The reason why I would say that there should be
cause for concern is that there was reported issues in Phoenix,
you know, work ethleic, tardiness, all the things that come
along with it, attitude. Are you talking about Luca? Are
you talking about DeAndre? Talking about DeAndre? Oh, okay, Luca's
already been fat chamed enough. We're not gonna go okay.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
I mean, I was just making sure that we understood
that maybe the Lakers are feeling like they're well versed
in those type of guys.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Nico Harrison was like Joe Clark, Joe Clark in the
movie talking to that kid who's overweight. It's some slovenly
sloppy boy. Jump smoke crack. Don't Nico Harrison jump, challenging
Luca to jump off the building?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
You want to jump? No, no, I want to play
for the Lakers. I'm sorry, I want to play for
the Lakers. I don't want to do it anymore.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
So Nico Harrison was busy fat shaming Luca. DeAndre Ayton
was in Portland, and according to it's not fat he does,
don't work hard.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I guess, don't you thank you?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
That was Nico Harrison live on the on the top
of a building, ready to throw Luca.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
That is not how Luca's losing the white people. So
it is not what we're insinuating.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
So DeAndre Ayton, according to an article from The New
York Times that he there were veterans were kind of
fed up with him. He would show late, you would
miss team planes or be tardy to team planes. Shit
like the just your typical not really all that invested.
Some people kind of viewed him as a bit of
a clown there and it did not work and he
(24:01):
was bought.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Out, and so now he's a member of the LA Lakers.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Now I would say this it's an upgrade, right, It
is an upgrade at the center position. But it's an
upgrade much like sushi at a liquor store when you're hungry.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
It's food.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
I just don't know if that's the kind of food
you want, or if that's the kind of food that
you would go that's exactly what's going to get me
through the rest of my day.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I'm just skeptical.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I still look at this team and I go they
are at best fourth fifth in the conference. And considering
the upgrade Houston made, what Okase just did. You've got
Denver coming back Minnesota, you think we'll take the next step.
I just I don't know how this does anything different
for the Lakers next year.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I think it does if the leadership quality is there
for DeAndre Aiden and the scenarios that you are mentioning don't.
I don't feel as though a can't get right because
those are can't get right actions. If you feel as
though coming into the scenario you have a good hold
of understanding through your conversations with Aiden that those are
(25:15):
things you can manage. I honestly believe as a player,
when DeAndre Aiden is playing the game, he can be
one of the more elite bigs in the game. And
if you were to ask anybody who knows basketball and
has paid attention to the Lakers, they've needed a big man.
They needed a legitimate big man. And as we continue
(25:38):
down this road of preparing for post Lebron James era
in LA, I think this is a good move. Now,
let me add this to it, because I got this
from my guy Cuffs, the legend by the way some
dudes show put up Cuffs.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
He comes along with us on Saturdays when we do
up on games.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
And he did call Andre Aiden going to the Lakers,
by the way before it happened in previous shows. And
this is the latest that he's come up with. And
I think that this is pretty spot on and on
par for what could possibly take place with everybody getting
what they want. I think the Lakers want to move
(26:18):
on from Lebron James. I think Lebron James is okay
with moving on from the Lakers if it serves his purpose.
Which is one he's trying to get another championship, or
two to try to catch up with MJ and Kobe,
and three to make sure that his son's career isn't
(26:41):
cut short. What would be the best solution to that, Well,
let's talk about it. If you put all of the
elements together and you say, okay, what makes this work
for Lebron James in this scenario, it would be most
likely to go to an organization that's still would approve
(27:02):
of having him, would embrace having him, would support having him,
which would lead to possibly him being able to package
that up with bringing his son with him. There's the
possibility of that unless within the buyout or the leaving
of LA they would make sure they take care of
Brownie James in the event that he were to leave here.
(27:23):
Those two elements, right, But it would also be for
him to go to a place where he a has
a chance to win in the championship, be be with
somebody that he's familiar with. If the New York Knicks
hire Brown, right, if they hire Mike Brown. There is
a relationship of respect and admiration between Lebron James and
(27:46):
Mike Brown. They have history together, They go back to
when Lebron James first time in Cleveland he was with them,
they had a ton of great success. Mike Brown is
a very well respected coach. If he were indeed and
in fact the coach that ended up being named the
head coach of the New York Knickerbockers, is there a
possibility as close as that New York Knicks team is
(28:11):
to competing for an NBA title? Would that be the
move Mike Brown falls into place boom first domino falls down?
Is Lebron James the next domino in that? In that
series of dominoes to fall? Does he end up in
New York? Great market? He goes from one major media
market to the other major the two bohemos, he goes
(28:34):
to the other one. And we know that Lebron James
has made a career of going to organizations that are
close to winning championships or I have already won one.
This Knicks team is close to a championship. It would
be a familiar person in Brown. He would be able
to integrate and get in there in an easy manner,
(28:56):
a less stressful manner, and make a difference team that
was probably a Lebron James away from being able to
make it at least to the championship round, Well, it
gets him closer for sure, because the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Is wide open. Well, there you go.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
It's wide open because of all the injuries. And look,
I've said it before on Fox Sports Radio. I believe
Cleveland's in an advantageous spot because for a team that's
running to injury bad luck the past couple of years,
everybody else ran into it this year and maybe Cleveland
just by default becomes the healthiest team. And if Mike
(29:31):
Brown does you know his finalize and that's the reports
we're hearing that he's going to be the coach of
the Knicks. Yeah, if you're Lebron, and this is all
about you getting to another NBA finals, to have another shot,
the easier path of the East by far, because in
the Western Conference it ain't happening right now.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Now, doesn't that bring you back to the conversation. It
was just out there.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Everybody was throwing this out there, ring chasing, ring chasing culture,
ring chasing culture, as if Lebron James was the creator
of ring chasing co He's not, by the way, I
don't think people should try to downgrade him that way,
but ring chasing culture. If Lebron James were to leave
and to go to a team like the New York Knicks',
(30:14):
that does this now begin to be the idea of
You couldn't get it done in Cleveland, so you had
to go to Miami.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
You eventually got it done in Miami, and then you go.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
Back and then you get it in Cleveland. Then you
can't get it done in Cleveland anymore. So now you
go and build a super team and you are able
to get a bubble. A bubble championship in La La
seems to have run its course. Now if you go
to New York looking at what they got in Bruntson,
looking at what they got in if they're going to
(30:48):
keep Towns, which you would assume that they're going to
keep Karl Anthony Towns, you go join a team that
actually is set and built to make a run for
the championship. What does this do to Lebron james legacy,
Because in all due respect, Lebron James has had to
(31:11):
go chase the rings elsewhere. It has never been bring
the rings to him. And when you look at Kobe,
they brought the rings to Kobe. When you look at MJ.
They brought the rings to MJ. They didn't go somewhere
else to go get it done with somebody else's main players,
and you integrated and maybe became the main player. They
(31:31):
didn't do that with Steph Curry, didn't do that. The
rings have come to where they are. Lebron James is
widely considered arguably the greatest basketball player of all time,
and yet may be the maybe the only one in
the category of having to go chase the rings elsewhere.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
First, I think it's pretty disrespectful to list off the
accomplishments of Lebron James and not include in season title.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Oh that's my bet, that's rude, my bet, my bet,
and enter that champions of the end season tournament.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Now, I've heard from people that the ring he got
in the bubble wasn't actually a ring, It was a
gold COVID mask. Again, I don't know, and I'm not
trying to spend negative Yeah, I'm not trying to spread
any sort of negativity out there, but I just think
he is what he is at this point, and what if.
I don't think that there's anything that he could do
(32:30):
to either jump above Jordan or move off anybody else's list,
like you feel about Lebron, how you feel about him,
and if this is all about I want to go
chase another championship, It's going to come down to him
looking at the landscape of the Western Conference and trying
to figure out is that the best way to do it?
Me personally, I don't think it is. I think there's
(32:51):
way too many obstacles in the way and way too
many better teams. I think if he's going to do it,
it's going to be out East. I just don't know,
depending on what they're going to ask in return. If
the Knicks look at that and go, is it really
worth one year potentially of Lebron and everything that comes
along with He took his option, He took his option,
(33:12):
and he's getting older. What exactly are you going to
ask for and trying to get a hold of Lebron James?
Speaker 3 (33:20):
And if that value is.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
So high that it is a scoff at it and
turn and walk away from it, then why are you
getting rid of them? If his value to you is
still that high, why are you getting rid of him?
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Look, I think if you're the Lakers and you're planning
on moving on with him, moving on from him after
a year.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Just do it now?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Do it now?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, Like I make it, make it doable. I'm with you.
Speaker 5 (33:47):
Don't don't try. Don't try to rob the whole hen house.
If you know your intentions are to get him out
of there, if you want to get him out, then
make it a doable situation.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Make it a doable deal. And for what it's worth,
if you felt like you got dupe by bringing in.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
His child, you could get a two for one er Yo, daddy, Yo,
daddy did this. Now you got to go right along
with him? What's about a way? How do you handle that? Like,
if Bronnie James has to go because his daddy left,
how will the media handle that? That's a whole other
(34:26):
conversation in itself.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
God, what do you You will find out a lot
about lebron James's reputation in town if they traded him
and then immediately after trading him they made Bronnie the
custodian like that would be you'd find a hell of
a lot about wasn't looking for that plot twist, but
that was the hell of a twist. And all of
a sudden they're like, hey, here's a mop and a bucket.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
He could say he's an employee of the LA Lakers.
I mean, I mean all the perks if he gets
to sit on the bench. But he's cleaning toilets and
cleaning floors during the week, making sure there's no dust
on the floor for practice, He's still considered to be
an employee of the LA Lakers.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Yeah, the whole thing is a bit bizarre, but nonetheless
it is the Herd. Here on Fox Sports Radio, LeVar
Arrington Jonas knox In for Colin, as we take you
all the way up until three o'clock Eastern time, noon Pacific.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Up next here on the Herd.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Though, there's one team in the NFL that feels great
about everything going into next year, but maybe they shouldn't
find out why right here on FSR.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
It's a Herd Fox Sports Radio, LaVar Arrington, Jonas knox
In for Colin. Now you normally hear LaVar and I
alongside Brady Quinn weekday morning, six am Eastern time, three
o'clock Pacific on something called two pros and a Cup
of Joe, which you can hear on many of these
Fox Sports radio affiliates. But a couple of things have changed. One,
(36:17):
we're in this time slot to Brady Quinn's not with
us and so whoa, it's sure, that's clear, Well not
with us today.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
And I didn't do anything to Brady Quinn, So y'all
stop writing in his mother loved What did LeVar do
to him?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Like?
Speaker 5 (36:30):
Like what, Like, I'm going to be valid towards him,
y'all need to stop that.
Speaker 7 (36:35):
Man.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
But if q hasn't made it a point to tell
y'all why he's not on hair right on, that's not
on me or Jonas, you take that up with him.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Hey, dead man.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
Walking, you gonna hit them with that.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
But Brady's out with us today. So when it's just
LeVar and I something called black and draft. I'm black, yeah,
and I'm very pale, and uh LeVar things I look
like draft hire Yeah. So with that said, we are
off and running here. In hour three of the program,
(37:18):
we opened up the show talking about the decision by
the Los Angeles Lakers. Well, first, we started off with
a positive note. Clayton Kershaw had strike out three thousand. Congratulations.
It looked a little looked a little suspect there for
a while. He was getting lit up early, and then
he ended up finding his on the one hundredth pitch.
(37:38):
He ended up throwing his three thousandth strikeout, and the
Dodgers came back to beat the White Sox, who are awful.
Came back to beat the White Sox on a Freddie
Freeman walk off in the ninth. So an amazing night
at Dodgers Stadium. Also Max Mounts he was injured on
a slide, so that not great. And now we see
what that could could do for the Dodgers, how they
(37:59):
have that impact their movement at the trade deadline, et cetera,
et cetera. So kind of a wild night at Dodger Stadium, ballnall,
a historic night for Clayton Kershaw, and then apparently a
historic knight for the Los Angeles Lakers, who are all
of a sudden NBA title contenders again because DeAndre Ayton.
Because DeAndre Ayton means that the Los Angeles Lakers and
(38:19):
now all of a sudden catapulted themselves up towards up
towards the Effer echelon of the National Basketball Association because
they went out and signed DeAndre Ayton. And look, I
I'm just saying, I feel like we've got enough evidence
here to have at least a little bit better read
(38:42):
on the DeAndre Ayton NBA experience to know, not exactly
what everybody expected when he was taking number one overall
in the draft, but apparently for the Lakers, this might
make a lot of sense for them, and at least
it's an upgrade. I'm still not sold that it brings
him any closer to a title, especially in the Western
Conference with that gauntlet in front of him.
Speaker 5 (39:03):
It's a it's a fair conclusion to come to. It's
a fair assessment to have. But nonetheless, the LA Lakers
need help on the interior with their bigs and and
Guidon does or excuse me.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
What is it? Aiden Aiden? Aiden?
Speaker 5 (39:21):
Yeah, DeAndre he he. I think he fills that that void.
I really do. He has elite big ability. He could
take a guy outside, he can dribble, he's a good rebounder,
he can score. It wasn't the most productive of years
for him in Portland, but again I'm not I'm not
(39:43):
gonna judge him off of Portland because I just the
things that I've heard about players in Portland, like with
the whole whose buddy that just went to Milwaukee Bucks
was his name, Damian Lillard, Dame Lillard, Right, we just
heard about how that kind of went north or went
(40:04):
south and never came back. A lot of people have
had a lot of complaints about Portland. So I'm not
going to hold DeAndre Ayden accountable all the way accountable
for it not being more in Portland than what it
ended up being. But this is an opportunity for him
(40:25):
to go to an amazing market. He gets a two
year deal, So if he plays really well and he
plays at a high level, you got to assume that
he's going to be rewarded, and so I think this
is a great opportunity for him. I think it's also
a great opportunity for the La Lakers to continue what
(40:46):
would perceivably be moves that make them stronger and build
more around what they're going to do in the future
with Luka Doncic than what it would look like having
Lebron James on this roster. Out from one team, the Lakers,
to another team, the Knicks. I mean, you know, pick
(41:10):
a side show any side show everybody, here we go.
The New York Knicks are hiring Mike Brown as their
head coach. Now two time Coach of the Year winner.
I spent years with two of the more stable and
successful organizations in the league, San Antonio and Golden State.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
You look at the move, you look at the higher
you go. Okay, makes a lot of sense, like the
hiring of Mike Brown. But why did it take so long?
What was like? I feel like this is a move
that could have been done shortly after the season, pretty quickly,
and ever it would be like, all right, at least
there's a clear understanding, clear direction. Instead, they just couldn't
(41:48):
help themselves. They had to turn it into a circus.
They could not stop themselves. They had to scratch the itch.
It turned into what it turned into. They were rejected
as they tried to interview everybody wasn't Don State.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
There was a moment in time where they were going
to interview Don Staley for the job.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And who Staley? Just so, what are we doing here.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
In terms of optics? What are you in terms of
the New York Knicks? Would that had been how you
think that would have been received? And let's just say
for the sake of saying they ended up hiring Don
Staley as the head coach of the New York Knicks.
How do you think that would hit? Do you think
that the sports world is ready for that type of
(42:35):
a hire. I think that that would be an intriguing
conversation to delve into and to talk about, because she
is a fine basketball coach. She knows how to motivate,
she knows how to relate, she understands the game. She's
got a great mental disposition of mentality. The biggest concern
(42:58):
and the biggest question to me would be does that
translate to two men? And that would would be my Like,
nobody has a problem when there's a male coach coaching
a w NBA team, But how would that be accepted?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
The first woman to be an.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
NBA hey coach and it being of the New York Knicks, historic,
historic franchise, how would that be perceived?
Speaker 4 (43:25):
I just like they're trying to spin it as well.
We gave a very thorough effort in looking at me,
and that's crazy, that's what they want. I mean, you
know we were we were thorough about the entire process.
Like now you were looking to grab headlines let's just
let's be honest. You were looking to grab headlines. Otherwise,
Mike Mike Brown was the only guy that interviewed multiple times,
(43:46):
the only one. Like everything was a headline grabbing, Like
Don Staley, you had all the other names that came
out of Jay Wright's name was out, all these names
popped up, you know, Uh, Danny Hurley's name was starting.
Like all of these names that were out there, Email Doka,
all of these guys. It was never gonna happen. They
(44:09):
just wanted to grab headlines. They wanted to get talked about.
They wanted everybody to talk about. It's like, right, when
you think they're at least past all that, then you
see them celebrate getting past the second round, and you go, oh,
it's still the Nickel and Dime Nicks. Okay, at least
now we know all right, at least now we know.
Like for a second there you thought that they were
(44:29):
back and a legitimate organization, and then you see the
way they celebrate and the way they handled this whole thing.
They're like, oh yeah, same well Nicks, Nickel and Dime.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
I think the Don Stay conversation is an interesting conversation.
I think another interesting topic line we discussed in hour
one of the show is the idea that Mike Brown
has a relationship with Lebron James. A lot of people
are having the conversations that the time in LA has
has started to wind down quicker and that looking to possibly,
(45:02):
you know, be in a different market could possibly take
place for Lebron if he doesn't want to step away
from the game. He accepted his contract extension from the Lakers,
meaning that it doesn't seem like he has any intentions
of not playing in next season. Mike Brown coached him
his first first stint in Cleveland. They had great success together.
(45:23):
They didn't win it all, but they got very close,
made it to the finals. And I think now the
rumor mil will be out there and this is something
that again I gotta get credit to my man cuffs
the legend because I can't take it as for me.
But is there the possibility that now that Mike Brown
has taken the job in New York, that is the
(45:45):
first domino to fall and Lebron James being the next
domino to fall, coming to New York and becoming a
nick It would not be surprising if that were something
that place. Knowing that this New York Knicks team is
very close. That's the reason why they win a different direction,
(46:07):
which makes no sense to me that you would go
in a different direction because you're so close to winning
an NBA title. Weird, But they're so close to an
NBA title and maybe they're one player away. I think
they realized that they were probably one player away from
being that next level, being able to get through to
the finals and possibly had the opportunity, the chance to
(46:28):
be able to win the finals. Is Lebron James the
next domino in line to fall to end up as
a New York Knick.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
What if the Knicks said, Lebron will trade for you,
but you can't bring Bronny.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
He's got to stay back, do you think again?
Speaker 5 (46:45):
I think there's two ways of looking at the Bronnie
James situation. And you gave an interesting plot twist and
our one. But I'll say there's two ways. One with
JJ Reddick, I do believe that that Lebron James plays
a intricate role in him getting the gig. Whether people
want to say he didn't or he did, Whether people
(47:06):
want to debate it or they don't, I don't care.
They got JJ Reddick and I believe that Lebron James's
influence is the reason why they then reward him with
drafting his son in the draft and bringing him to
the team. They kept him on the team and he
maintained his position. If they can ensure Lebron James that
(47:28):
Brownie is okay as a as an LA Laker, then
I don't think he would have an issue. I don't
think he would have an issue with leaving Brownie behind
in LA considering that his family's here right His little
sister's still here, Bryce, the little brother's still here. Mom
(47:50):
would probably still be here. So Lebron going to New York,
I don't think that that would be a deal breaker.
They didn't want to take Bronnie with him, But I
do think it would be an interesting conversation if Bronnie
James did, in fact go with Lebron James, if he
were to, in fact go to New York to play
for it to Nick and you know.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
The honest thing of the truth about all this, and
people listening right now on the blowtorch Am five to
seventy LA Sports, you know this as a fact, and
you can push back on it all you want people
are kind of tired of Lebron out here. They're kind
of tired of It's run its course. We're good, Like,
if he wants to move on, you can move on,
and fine, we got Luca. That was the real concern
(48:33):
what was going to happen afterwards, because the thought was
it was going to be Anthony Davis who was going
to be here after Lebron left. And then as we've
learned to find out, you couldn't depend on Anthony Davis
because of the injuries and all that, and you just
didn't know what you were going to get. At least
now you've got in shape, in his peak, at his
full potential, Luca's a top five player in the NBA.
(48:57):
And if your Laker fans, I think you look at
it and go, if you want to go, that's fine.
Well whenever we can get back in return, and then
we just try and work towards the future. Because I
don't know that anybody is honestly looking at this team
as currently constructed and saying, oh, yeah, I take them
against Oka, see Houston, Denver, Minnesota, et cetera. So if
(49:18):
you're the Lakers, yeah, it would make sense if you're
gonna do it. Do it now, get something in return,
and New York might be the spot to go to.
All I will say is if he waves his no
tray clubs and a.
Speaker 5 (49:28):
Slight and a slight pushback, because I think your points
are well found it, I would say, in a slight pushback,
adding DeAndre Eighten eighten, how you say Ayten Ayden, adding
him and his his ability hate him, adding him to
your roster and having that down low presence if he
(49:51):
can get back to form that he had in Uh,
that he had in Phoenix. I just really I believe
if you have Lebron James on this roster, him, Ayden,
and Luca and and Ed fill in the blanks however
you like to fill in the blanks, I think that's
(50:12):
a big three. As Reeves, I mean if he wants
to stay. Yeah, if Austin Reeves wants to stay, I
mean yes, I really believe they could be a very
very talented team that would take us.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
One problem with Austin Reeves, if he wants to stay,
he looks is that what it is?
Speaker 5 (50:33):
No?
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Didn't he wasn't he like, didn't he not sign his extensions?
Speaker 4 (50:39):
I think they offered him a deal, but he's gonna
wait and try and cash in for more next day.
Speaker 5 (50:43):
I'm just saying, like he didn't sign the deal, you know,
I just you know, to me, I think that if
you did one more year with Lebron James, it wouldn't hurt.
But I think the whole conversation on the ring chasing,
you know, is Lebron James or ring chaser?
Speaker 3 (51:00):
And why should the answer be no?
Speaker 5 (51:03):
Lebron James is basically held in the balance of being
the greatest of all time based upon the count of
rings he has. So if he's ring chasing, who cares? Okay,
you're going to ring chase in New York? Is there
a problem there? I don't know. I think he has
a better chance of trying to win in New York
(51:25):
right now today than what he would hear in LA
with the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
I agree. Easier path in the East, easier path
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio and noon to three eastern nine am to
noone 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 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Better watch what you say, Oh yeah, make good decisions.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
It is the Herd Fox Sports Radio, LaVar Arrington, Jonas
Knox in for Colin. You can listen to this show
as always on the iHeartRadio app, and you can find
us on hundreds of affiliates all across the country as
we take you all the way up until noon Eastern
time or excuse me, at three o'clock Eastern time noon Pacific.
(01:04):
Here on FSR. So we opened up the show talking
about the feel good moment in Los Angeles with Clayton
Kershaw getting strikeout three thousand and then the reality of
waking up and realizing you're also probably a Laker fan,
which sucks, but again, you know is what it is
that being said, we now turn over to somebody else
(01:24):
in the world of football who knows a thing or
two about dysfunction. That would be none other than Nebraska
head coach Matt Ruhle, your former teammate at Penn State.
Lebar you guys are really men. Yeah, you guys are
real nice to him. In practice, I'm sure we had
a good time with Matt. Matt was a special teams guy.
He was a special situations person. Yeah, it's super, super
(01:46):
intelligent football player. Again, I credit him with a lot
of things that I learned as a freshman. How you know,
I knew how to study film to a certain degree.
I knew how to take notes to a certain agree.
In high school, I had a pretty good, good program
I had came from. But when I got to college,
I realized very quickly how much of the educational part
(02:10):
of football was involved in terms of the studying.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Being able to know what to look for, you know,
being able to break down what it is that that
the offense is doing and how you need to apply
that to you and your information in your notes. Matt,
Matt Ruhle did an excellent job of sitting with me
and us learning that. You know, my freshman year there
was his last year there, but it turns out it
translated into him being a really, really fine football coach
(02:38):
as well through through the years.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So he was talking with Greg McElroy on the Always
College Football podcast and he says that the experience in
the NFL probably makes him more ready for what the
new experience of college football is.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Like, I think the biggest certain thing you learn when
you're in the NFL it was really evaluation, you know,
like the four and collegeables like, yeah, he's are the
player's offer was taken. You get the NFL, it's all
they're all good players, you know, it's just a what's
the financial value we're put on this person and put
on this position?
Speaker 5 (03:13):
And you're in the NFL.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
You good free agency and you see teams walking away
from the lead players because of their contract situation.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
So that was Matt Ruhle talking about the contractual similarities
now all of a sudden between the NFL and in
college football, and it is it does I do wonder
if him having that time there in the league makes
him more ready for it from that standpoint to where
it's now not just your typical well do you want
(03:42):
to go recruiting now the money aspect being brought into it.
Maybe it makes those conversations and how he evaluates players
and what they can and can't do, Maybe it makes
that a little bit more I guess a little bit
more accustomed to him, just based on that time he
had in Carolina in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
I mean, I would assume that that would be the
reason why Bill Belichick went to North Carolina is that
we are stepping into a brave new world of what
the NFL represents. I mean, excuse me, what college football represents.
And you do have to figure out what the value
is on the position, you know, on the skill level,
(04:20):
on the influence. There are a lot of elements that
are now in play. I would say it's probably a
little bit more complex and a little bit more complicated
than just looking at it from the scope of what
happens in the NFL. Other than you having to figure
out how much to pay and evaluating based off of
(04:41):
what the pay would be versus evaluating if I want
to give this guy a scholarship, if we want him
to play on the field as a starter in one
of the offensive or defensive groups versus special teams. It's
just very different. I think the reason why it would
be more complex. Jonas is from the standpoint of the
(05:02):
transfer portal is what really to me makes it very interesting.
We just had the conversation too long ago, not too
long ago, about the suing. Now we have one university
sue another university based upon taking what is in Miami
took a player from Wisconsin. Wisconsin, Okay, they felt like
(05:26):
the player owed them whatever it is he owed them
based off of the contract that he signed. So until
elements like that get cleared up, where the legalities of
what's taking place at the college level and how that
works and who your you know, I bet I guess
basically who your rights belonged to. Now, yes, you do
(05:48):
have an advantage over most likely college coaches because they
don't understand most likely you know, salary caps and free
agency and how that all works. But there's still a
learning curve that's there because of the lack of structure
and the lack of established rules on what the engagements are.
(06:11):
What's a do, what's a don't?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know? What's breaking the rule, what isn't?
Speaker 5 (06:15):
There is a lot of gray area that still exists
at the college level, and I think that it makes
it very difficult for coaches and administrators like athletic directors.
You know, you're talking about twenty million dollars I believe
that they get yearly. But that's for all sports. It's
not just for one sport. So now you got to
figure out a salary cap, but you got to figure
(06:36):
out what that salary cap represents for all of your sports.
I think Penn SE has like something like eight hundred
plus student athletes in their school, So there's a lot
that has to be figured out. But now you start
to break it down by sport, and obviously you're at
you're hiring gms, You're you're hiring head of staffs that
(06:56):
that are Now you're now structuring the football program more
like proteins. And I would say that's probably where Matt
Rule is probably talking about, outside of just evaluation, having
maybe somewhat of an advantage in terms of how.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
He runs its teams.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And I would also say, based on his time in
the NFL with Carolina, at least he's got a pretty
good example of how not to do things because that
place was a complete clown show. And what he went
through at Carolina or where David Tepper brings him in,
there was some interest from the Giants, Matt Rule gets
a seven year deal from the Panthers. Then all of
(07:35):
a sudden, all the conversations, the whispers start to start
up that David Tepper is getting involved, he's meddling into things.
And Matt Rule even said before the season, before he
was fired, listen, I signed a seven year deal. I
was told by David Tepper, basically put David Tepper on
blasts like, hey, I was told by the owner that
(07:57):
I'm going to be given a significant amount of time
to get this thing sorted out. I'm working with that
understanding going into all this, and then, you know, however
long it was later than he was gone. I wonder
if Matt Ruhle goes back to college with a better
understanding of the salary cap, the structure, but also a
better understanding of whatever I do. I don't want it
(08:19):
to turn into what I came from in the NFL,
like he's got he's got to be. I would imagine
he draws from that experience of exhibit A, how things
could go sideways if you let it get out of
control above you.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Well, you know what's interesting point to that is is
that when it's the pros, people have no problem doing
coverage and scrutinizing the dysfunction of ownership or of the
front office. It almost seems as though that's what's going
to eventually take shape and take hold at the college level.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Probably.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Yeah, you've never really heard like, oh, the dysfunction of
the president of the university, ad of the university, or
all those different things. So you'd have to assume in
this brave new world of nil and how things are
being handled at the college level that if you're dealing
with a dysfunctional organization university, front office, ads, administrators, whatever
(09:19):
it may be, if you're dealing with that type of dysfunction,
I wonder will that become prevalent and will that create
more pressure on the universities and how they're not only
hiring their athletic directors, but ultimately how they're hiring the
presidents and the people that administratively are running the school.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
It's a it's almost like now that money's involved, Oh, oh,
open season on everybody. Oh like yah, now that we
know that people are getting paid, players admitted. Now that
we know all of that, everybody's going to be held
to the same standard that you've seen from a professional level.
You could play that this is an academic institution game.
All you want, you're gonna find your academy, make institution
(10:01):
ass out on the street looking.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
For a job.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
You gotta figure it out, because that is that has
been the cash cow for these universities for many, many moons.
And if you messed that up now because you don't,
you know, it's always been really easy to minimize. Even
like when I played for Joe Paterno, Joe minimized athletics,
(10:24):
He minimized athletes because it was more about being a student.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
It was more about education. It's like, who cares we
play the game, we win the game, we lose the game.
But they got class on Monday.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
They got to turn in their their their papers.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
They gotta get good grades. Like it was always about
academics us. Okay, hey, hey, I put you on the
bus that I brought your on. Get him mad anyway.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
But but here's my point. The point is is that
you cannot hide behind the moniker of this is a
place in an institution of higher learning and education.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You can't have behind it. You certainly have to have it.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
The prestige of going to a fine college and the
institution of learning higher learning is very attractive, but make
no mistake about it, you will not be in any
position as a head of school, president, of the school
board of trustees, whatever it is. You are not in
a place where you can minimize athletics and try to
(11:39):
suppress what athletics represents to the earning capacity, of what
it represents to the university and in.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Some cases to the state.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
You can't minimize it now because it is now being
turned into a very very pro like approach, and now
people are going to be in a very very quick rush,
a quick movement to try to figure out what the
solutions are, what are what are even the positions the
(12:11):
appointment of new jobs that have to be created in
order to be able to handle this. You're going to
have to have capologists. You're going to have to have gms.
You're gonna have to You're going to have to have
scouts like and they already have scouts.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Mia Michael Lombardi's Michael Lombardi's Belichick's GM.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
College. There's a lot there. There's a lot. There is
a lot here, and hearing what Matt Ruhle has to say,
it's just the tip of the iceberg. In terms of
all of the conversations that are going to continue to
come up and become like, what what are the main
topics of conversations as it applies to this new world
(12:52):
of what sports represent at the college level.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Do you mean to tell me as we sit here
right now on the th of July twenty twenty five,
that the term student athlete is still longer means the
same thing?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
No, it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
It doesn't because you don't have to everybody that understands
going to college and playing the game that was a
that was a politically correct way of expressing what you
were as a scholarship player.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You had to say it, I am a student athlete.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
And while it is still not a pay for play
model in college, it is still not pay for play.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
The one term.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
That they have to get used to, and it's going
to have to be embraced, and it's going to lead
to a whole lot of different things, organizing unions and
having union reps, and maybe it leads to collective bargaining
agreements and all kinds of stuff like that is employee
is employee, And that's what's going to be interesting. How
(13:59):
quick quickly does the college level get to the place
where it is comfortable saying that these are employees. Meaning
if they are employees, you're talking about retirement, you're talking
about insurance, you're taking all the things that come along
(14:20):
with being an employee. They are going to have to
figure for and they're going to have to have the
resources and the funds to put towards those things. Once
it becomes a real thing that college athletes are not
student athletes just student athletes. They are students, They are athletes,
(14:41):
and they are employees. Once you get those three put
together and the understanding of that is really realized, realized
to speak for a living, Once the realization of that
comes to fruition, there is going to be so many
people lawyer, you know, financial planners, you name it. There's
(15:04):
going to be so there's even private private family offices, investors,
major investors. They are now looking at the college space
the same way that they're looking at the pro space.
There are people that are actually trying to purchase the
rights of the school. It's outside of the lear fields
and the playflies and stuff like that. There are actually
(15:26):
private equity groups that are trying to purchase schools. In
other words, what it is that the sports represents. They're
trying to purchase the rights to that so that they
can use that as a place to place their money.
This is a very deep rabbit hole that has been created,
and I.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Don't see the bottom of it. I don't see the
bottom of it just yet. It's still just black. It's
just darkness.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
You don't see the bottom, like, oh, there's the floor
of this nil there's the floor of this new new
college college world. You don't see it. There's still so
much more to be defined. I mean, what does that
look like for liability? You know, what type of lawsuits
are going to come from? You know the athletes that
are playing, Like, what type of rights do they have?
(16:13):
How does this impact Title nine? Like with women's involvement
and them having fair opportunity to be treated equally. How
do all of these things happen? Do you stay with
the NCAA. How strong does the NCAA stay. There are
a lot of different conversations, a lot of different lanes,
a lot of different roads where all of these things
have to be discussed and have to be flushed out
(16:33):
and established, and it isn't going to be anytime soon.
And these athletes are tasked with trying to navigate it
as athletes to a new space, and so are the coaches,
and so are the administrators of these schools.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
It's the Herd.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Here Fox Sports Radio, LeVar Arrington, Jonas Knox in for Colin.
Coming up next here on the show. Could we be
on the brink of a major trade in the NFL.
We'll get the answer to that for you right here on.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
FSR one More heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Hi, this is Jay.
Speaker 7 (17:12):
I'm the producer of the Pauli and Toni Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they asked you to listen to
the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen
to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who
have the dumbest takes on sports imaginable. Don't listen to
the show so it can get camped.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Who wha, what what the hell are you doing our
studio get him PAULI, Ignore that fool.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Listen to the Pauline Toni Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He's still moving.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
It's a herd here Fox Sports Radio. LeVar Arrington Jonas
Knox in for Colin. You can hear us weekday morning
six am Eastern Time, three o'clock Pacific here on many
of these Fox Sports Radio affiliates, normally alongside Brady Quinn.
Brady Quinn is not with us here, so when LeVar
(18:09):
and I fill in and it's just him and I
do in the show, we'd like to refer to ourselves as.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Black and Drack.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Don't get nervous. I don't get nervous. It's because it's
because I'm It's because I'm pale and I'm dark. So
welcome in do the debut edition of Black and Drack
here in for Calling and Company on the Herd.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
What up sticks? Good morning, well, good afternoon, to say
good good noon to some people. Yeah, it's very interesting.
Good morning to you, Good morning to everyone out here.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
It is very interesting seeing the light of day, seeing
actual human beings walking by the studio, seeing energy.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Running through your body because you're fully awake. I don't
even need this coffee.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
It's just a proper I've already had to cups before
I left the house.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Of sleep.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
So, first off, want to say congratulations Clayton Kershaw. Three
thousand strikeouts. It was quite the scene at Dodger Stadium. Yeah,
no kidding, a lot of throwing, lots of scenes last
night at Dodger Stadium. Clayton Kershaw gets strikeout three thousand
against the White Sox. The Dodgers were trailing. He did
not look great, probably probably the worst he's looked since
(19:30):
he's come back from the injury and the rehabb and
all that. But nonetheless, it was about the moment in
the career of Clayton Kershaw. He gets strikeout number three
thousand and then they go on to walk it off
in the ninth because Freddie Freeman does it again. So
it was quite the scene there for the La Dodgers
at Dodger Stadium. Dodger fans were thrilled. Now from one
(19:51):
fan base and one organization that is legitimate championship contenders
and defending world champion to another team in town that
is not. Oh jeezes and gentleman to Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Oh yeah, take your pick.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Yeah, hey, talk about different balls in the which one
you want to catch?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Man? There's still some up in the air. You chose
to catch the Lakers on you.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
You want to talk about a wild turn of events.
It's like the movie when Steven Seagal was in a
coma and he wakes up after eight years and he's like,
what the hell happened about?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Did everything change?
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I woke up this morning and all of a sudden,
I like rubbed my eyes and I'm looking around, going, oh, so,
DeAndre Ayden's the lynchpin to a championship contender.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Okay, I had no idea. This is news to me,
but apparently he is.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
I'm in on that, DeAndre Aiden. Yeah, I'm in on that.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Which of the forty games, or better yet, which of
the forty two games he missed last year was your favorite?
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Because I don't know. I kind of like the.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
This whole thing is bananas. Came out bananas.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
But apparently all of that stuff is like, you can't
measure the amount of games missed anymore in the NBA.
That that the the idea of a disgruntal player, an
unhappy organization. The politics that play a part in missing
games as a pro NBA player is very real. So
(21:32):
I don't look at the amount of games that he
missed last year and say he can't be the guy
that that we've seen him be when he was in Phoenix.
I say, I look at a guy that was in
a situation that didn't work out for him and didn't
work out for the organization, and now he's going somewhere else,
and that's probably why you didn't see a lot of
(21:52):
him this past season.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And the problem I have with this is that this
is the third stop now for DeAndre Aiden. He was
in Phoenix, he goes to Portland. Now he's with the Lakers,
and a lot of people don't like Portland. Though.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Oh I listen, I hear what I mean.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Like, I'm not going to hold Portland against Sorry Portland,
but I'm just not going to hold Portland against Aiden.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I'm not. Now.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
The reason why I would say that there should be
cause for concern is that there was reported issues in Phoenix,
you know, work ethleic, tardiness, all the things that come
along with it, attitude. Are you talking about Luca? Are
you talking about DeAndre? Talking about DeAndre? Oh, okay, Luca's
already been fat chamed enough. We're not gonna go okay.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
I mean, I was just making sure that we understood
that maybe the Lakers are feeling like they're well versed
in those type of guys.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Nico Harrison was like Joe Clark, Joe Clark in the
movie talking to that kid who's overweight. It's some slovenly
sloppy boy. Jump smoke crack. Don't Nico Harrison jump, challenging
Luca to jump off the building?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
You want to jump? No, no, I want to play
for the Lakers. I'm sorry, I want to play for
the Lakers. I don't want to do it anymore.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
So Nico Harrison was busy fat shaming Luca. DeAndre Ayton
was in Portland, and according to it's not fat he does,
don't work hard.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I guess, don't you thank you?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
That was Nico Harrison live on the on the top
of a building, ready to throw Luca.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
That is not how Luca's losing the white people. So
it is not what we're insinuating.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
So DeAndre Ayton, according to an article from The New
York Times that he there were veterans were kind of
fed up with him. He would show late, you would
miss team planes or be tardy to team planes. Shit
like the just your typical not really all that invested.
Some people kind of viewed him as a bit of
a clown there and it did not work and he
(24:01):
was bought.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Out, and so now he's a member of the LA Lakers.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Now I would say this it's an upgrade, right, It
is an upgrade at the center position. But it's an
upgrade much like sushi at a liquor store when you're hungry.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
It's food.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
I just don't know if that's the kind of food
you want, or if that's the kind of food that
you would go that's exactly what's going to get me
through the rest of my day.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I'm just skeptical.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I still look at this team and I go they
are at best fourth fifth in the conference. And considering
the upgrade Houston made, what Okase just did. You've got
Denver coming back Minnesota, you think we'll take the next step.
I just I don't know how this does anything different
for the Lakers next year.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I think it does if the leadership quality is there
for DeAndre Aiden and the scenarios that you are mentioning don't.
I don't feel as though a can't get right because
those are can't get right actions. If you feel as
though coming into the scenario you have a good hold
of understanding through your conversations with Aiden that those are
(25:15):
things you can manage. I honestly believe as a player,
when DeAndre Aiden is playing the game, he can be
one of the more elite bigs in the game. And
if you were to ask anybody who knows basketball and
has paid attention to the Lakers, they've needed a big man.
They needed a legitimate big man. And as we continue
(25:38):
down this road of preparing for post Lebron James era
in LA, I think this is a good move. Now,
let me add this to it, because I got this
from my guy Cuffs, the legend by the way some
dudes show put up Cuffs.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
He comes along with us on Saturdays when we do
up on games.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
And he did call Andre Aiden going to the Lakers,
by the way before it happened in previous shows. And
this is the latest that he's come up with. And
I think that this is pretty spot on and on
par for what could possibly take place with everybody getting
what they want. I think the Lakers want to move
(26:18):
on from Lebron James. I think Lebron James is okay
with moving on from the Lakers if it serves his purpose.
Which is one he's trying to get another championship, or
two to try to catch up with MJ and Kobe,
and three to make sure that his son's career isn't
(26:41):
cut short. What would be the best solution to that, Well,
let's talk about it. If you put all of the
elements together and you say, okay, what makes this work
for Lebron James in this scenario, it would be most
likely to go to an organization that's still would approve
(27:02):
of having him, would embrace having him, would support having him,
which would lead to possibly him being able to package
that up with bringing his son with him. There's the
possibility of that unless within the buyout or the leaving
of LA they would make sure they take care of
Brownie James in the event that he were to leave here.
(27:23):
Those two elements, right, But it would also be for
him to go to a place where he a has
a chance to win in the championship, be be with
somebody that he's familiar with. If the New York Knicks
hire Brown, right, if they hire Mike Brown. There is
a relationship of respect and admiration between Lebron James and
(27:46):
Mike Brown. They have history together, They go back to
when Lebron James first time in Cleveland he was with them,
they had a ton of great success. Mike Brown is
a very well respected coach. If he were indeed and
in fact the coach that ended up being named the
head coach of the New York Knickerbockers, is there a
possibility as close as that New York Knicks team is
(28:11):
to competing for an NBA title? Would that be the
move Mike Brown falls into place boom first domino falls down?
Is Lebron James the next domino in that? In that
series of dominoes to fall? Does he end up in
New York? Great market? He goes from one major media
market to the other major the two bohemos, he goes
(28:34):
to the other one. And we know that Lebron James
has made a career of going to organizations that are
close to winning championships or I have already won one.
This Knicks team is close to a championship. It would
be a familiar person in Brown. He would be able
to integrate and get in there in an easy manner,
(28:56):
a less stressful manner, and make a difference team that
was probably a Lebron James away from being able to
make it at least to the championship round, Well, it
gets him closer for sure, because the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Is wide open. Well, there you go.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
It's wide open because of all the injuries. And look,
I've said it before on Fox Sports Radio. I believe
Cleveland's in an advantageous spot because for a team that's
running to injury bad luck the past couple of years,
everybody else ran into it this year and maybe Cleveland
just by default becomes the healthiest team. And if Mike
(29:31):
Brown does you know his finalize and that's the reports
we're hearing that he's going to be the coach of
the Knicks. Yeah, if you're Lebron, and this is all
about you getting to another NBA finals, to have another shot,
the easier path of the East by far, because in
the Western Conference it ain't happening right now.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Now, doesn't that bring you back to the conversation. It
was just out there.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Everybody was throwing this out there, ring chasing, ring chasing culture,
ring chasing culture, as if Lebron James was the creator
of ring chasing co He's not, by the way, I
don't think people should try to downgrade him that way,
but ring chasing culture. If Lebron James were to leave
and to go to a team like the New York Knicks',
(30:14):
that does this now begin to be the idea of
You couldn't get it done in Cleveland, so you had
to go to Miami.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
You eventually got it done in Miami, and then you go.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
Back and then you get it in Cleveland. Then you
can't get it done in Cleveland anymore. So now you
go and build a super team and you are able
to get a bubble. A bubble championship in La La
seems to have run its course. Now if you go
to New York looking at what they got in Bruntson,
looking at what they got in if they're going to
(30:48):
keep Towns, which you would assume that they're going to
keep Karl Anthony Towns, you go join a team that
actually is set and built to make a run for
the championship. What does this do to Lebron james legacy,
Because in all due respect, Lebron James has had to
(31:11):
go chase the rings elsewhere. It has never been bring
the rings to him. And when you look at Kobe,
they brought the rings to Kobe. When you look at MJ.
They brought the rings to MJ. They didn't go somewhere
else to go get it done with somebody else's main players,
and you integrated and maybe became the main player. They
(31:31):
didn't do that with Steph Curry, didn't do that. The
rings have come to where they are. Lebron James is
widely considered arguably the greatest basketball player of all time,
and yet may be the maybe the only one in
the category of having to go chase the rings elsewhere.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
First, I think it's pretty disrespectful to list off the
accomplishments of Lebron James and not include in season title.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Oh that's my bet, that's rude, my bet, my bet,
and enter that champions of the end season tournament.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Now, I've heard from people that the ring he got
in the bubble wasn't actually a ring, It was a
gold COVID mask. Again, I don't know, and I'm not
trying to spend negative Yeah, I'm not trying to spread
any sort of negativity out there, but I just think
he is what he is at this point, and what if.
I don't think that there's anything that he could do
(32:30):
to either jump above Jordan or move off anybody else's list,
like you feel about Lebron, how you feel about him,
and if this is all about I want to go
chase another championship, It's going to come down to him
looking at the landscape of the Western Conference and trying
to figure out is that the best way to do it?
Me personally, I don't think it is. I think there's
(32:51):
way too many obstacles in the way and way too
many better teams. I think if he's going to do it,
it's going to be out East. I just don't know,
depending on what they're going to ask in return. If
the Knicks look at that and go, is it really
worth one year potentially of Lebron and everything that comes
along with He took his option, He took his option,
(33:12):
and he's getting older. What exactly are you going to
ask for and trying to get a hold of Lebron James?
Speaker 3 (33:20):
And if that value is.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
So high that it is a scoff at it and
turn and walk away from it, then why are you
getting rid of them? If his value to you is
still that high, why are you getting rid of him?
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Look, I think if you're the Lakers and you're planning
on moving on with him, moving on from him after
a year.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Just do it now?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Do it now?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, Like I make it, make it doable. I'm with you.
Speaker 5 (33:47):
Don't don't try. Don't try to rob the whole hen house.
If you know your intentions are to get him out
of there, if you want to get him out, then
make it a doable situation.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Make it a doable deal. And for what it's worth,
if you felt like you got dupe by bringing in.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
His child, you could get a two for one er Yo, daddy, Yo,
daddy did this. Now you got to go right along
with him? What's about a way? How do you handle that? Like,
if Bronnie James has to go because his daddy left,
how will the media handle that? That's a whole other
(34:26):
conversation in itself.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
God, what do you You will find out a lot
about lebron James's reputation in town if they traded him
and then immediately after trading him they made Bronnie the
custodian like that would be you'd find a hell of
a lot about wasn't looking for that plot twist, but
that was the hell of a twist. And all of
a sudden they're like, hey, here's a mop and a bucket.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
He could say he's an employee of the LA Lakers.
I mean, I mean all the perks if he gets
to sit on the bench. But he's cleaning toilets and
cleaning floors during the week, making sure there's no dust
on the floor for practice, He's still considered to be
an employee of the LA Lakers.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Yeah, the whole thing is a bit bizarre, but nonetheless
it is the Herd. Here on Fox Sports Radio, LeVar
Arrington Jonas knox In for Colin, as we take you
all the way up until three o'clock Eastern time, noon Pacific.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Up next here on the Herd.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Though, there's one team in the NFL that feels great
about everything going into next year, but maybe they shouldn't
find out why right here on FSR.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
It's a Herd Fox Sports Radio, LaVar Arrington, Jonas knox
In for Colin. Now you normally hear LaVar and I
alongside Brady Quinn weekday morning, six am Eastern time, three
o'clock Pacific on something called two pros and a Cup
of Joe, which you can hear on many of these
Fox Sports radio affiliates. But a couple of things have changed. One,
(36:17):
we're in this time slot to Brady Quinn's not with
us and so whoa, it's sure, that's clear, Well not
with us today.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
And I didn't do anything to Brady Quinn, So y'all
stop writing in his mother loved What did LeVar do
to him?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Like?
Speaker 5 (36:30):
Like what, Like, I'm going to be valid towards him,
y'all need to stop that.
Speaker 7 (36:35):
Man.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
But if q hasn't made it a point to tell
y'all why he's not on hair right on, that's not
on me or Jonas, you take that up with him.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Hey, dead man.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
Walking, you gonna hit them with that.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
But Brady's out with us today. So when it's just
LeVar and I something called black and draft. I'm black, yeah,
and I'm very pale, and uh LeVar things I look
like draft hire Yeah. So with that said, we are
off and running here. In hour three of the program,
(37:18):
we opened up the show talking about the decision by
the Los Angeles Lakers. Well, first, we started off with
a positive note. Clayton Kershaw had strike out three thousand. Congratulations.
It looked a little looked a little suspect there for
a while. He was getting lit up early, and then
he ended up finding his on the one hundredth pitch.
(37:38):
He ended up throwing his three thousandth strikeout, and the
Dodgers came back to beat the White Sox, who are awful.
Came back to beat the White Sox on a Freddie
Freeman walk off in the ninth. So an amazing night
at Dodgers Stadium. Also Max Mounts he was injured on
a slide, so that not great. And now we see
what that could could do for the Dodgers, how they
(37:59):
have that impact their movement at the trade deadline, et cetera,
et cetera. So kind of a wild night at Dodger Stadium, ballnall,
a historic night for Clayton Kershaw, and then apparently a
historic knight for the Los Angeles Lakers, who are all
of a sudden NBA title contenders again because DeAndre Ayton.
Because DeAndre Ayton means that the Los Angeles Lakers and
(38:19):
now all of a sudden catapulted themselves up towards up
towards the Effer echelon of the National Basketball Association because
they went out and signed DeAndre Ayton. And look, I
I'm just saying, I feel like we've got enough evidence
here to have at least a little bit better read
(38:42):
on the DeAndre Ayton NBA experience to know, not exactly
what everybody expected when he was taking number one overall
in the draft, but apparently for the Lakers, this might
make a lot of sense for them, and at least
it's an upgrade. I'm still not sold that it brings
him any closer to a title, especially in the Western
Conference with that gauntlet in front of him.
Speaker 5 (39:03):
It's a it's a fair conclusion to come to. It's
a fair assessment to have. But nonetheless, the LA Lakers
need help on the interior with their bigs and and
Guidon does or excuse me.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
What is it? Aiden Aiden? Aiden?
Speaker 5 (39:21):
Yeah, DeAndre he he. I think he fills that that void.
I really do. He has elite big ability. He could
take a guy outside, he can dribble, he's a good rebounder,
he can score. It wasn't the most productive of years
for him in Portland, but again I'm not I'm not
(39:43):
gonna judge him off of Portland because I just the
things that I've heard about players in Portland, like with
the whole whose buddy that just went to Milwaukee Bucks
was his name, Damian Lillard, Dame Lillard, Right, we just
heard about how that kind of went north or went
(40:04):
south and never came back. A lot of people have
had a lot of complaints about Portland. So I'm not
going to hold DeAndre Ayden accountable all the way accountable
for it not being more in Portland than what it
ended up being. But this is an opportunity for him
(40:25):
to go to an amazing market. He gets a two
year deal, So if he plays really well and he
plays at a high level, you got to assume that
he's going to be rewarded, and so I think this
is a great opportunity for him. I think it's also
a great opportunity for the La Lakers to continue what
(40:46):
would perceivably be moves that make them stronger and build
more around what they're going to do in the future
with Luka Doncic than what it would look like having
Lebron James on this roster. Out from one team, the Lakers,
to another team, the Knicks. I mean, you know, pick
(41:10):
a side show any side show everybody, here we go.
The New York Knicks are hiring Mike Brown as their
head coach. Now two time Coach of the Year winner.
I spent years with two of the more stable and
successful organizations in the league, San Antonio and Golden State.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
You look at the move, you look at the higher
you go. Okay, makes a lot of sense, like the
hiring of Mike Brown. But why did it take so long?
What was like? I feel like this is a move
that could have been done shortly after the season, pretty quickly,
and ever it would be like, all right, at least
there's a clear understanding, clear direction. Instead, they just couldn't
(41:48):
help themselves. They had to turn it into a circus.
They could not stop themselves. They had to scratch the itch.
It turned into what it turned into. They were rejected
as they tried to interview everybody wasn't Don State.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
There was a moment in time where they were going
to interview Don Staley for the job.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And who Staley? Just so, what are we doing here.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
In terms of optics? What are you in terms of
the New York Knicks? Would that had been how you
think that would have been received? And let's just say
for the sake of saying they ended up hiring Don
Staley as the head coach of the New York Knicks.
How do you think that would hit? Do you think
that the sports world is ready for that type of
(42:35):
a hire. I think that that would be an intriguing
conversation to delve into and to talk about, because she
is a fine basketball coach. She knows how to motivate,
she knows how to relate, she understands the game. She's
got a great mental disposition of mentality. The biggest concern
(42:58):
and the biggest question to me would be does that
translate to two men? And that would would be my Like,
nobody has a problem when there's a male coach coaching
a w NBA team, But how would that be accepted?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
The first woman to be an.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
NBA hey coach and it being of the New York Knicks, historic,
historic franchise, how would that be perceived?
Speaker 4 (43:25):
I just like they're trying to spin it as well.
We gave a very thorough effort in looking at me,
and that's crazy, that's what they want. I mean, you
know we were we were thorough about the entire process.
Like now you were looking to grab headlines let's just
let's be honest. You were looking to grab headlines. Otherwise,
Mike Mike Brown was the only guy that interviewed multiple times,
(43:46):
the only one. Like everything was a headline grabbing, Like
Don Staley, you had all the other names that came
out of Jay Wright's name was out, all these names
popped up, you know, Uh, Danny Hurley's name was starting.
Like all of these names that were out there, Email Doka,
all of these guys. It was never gonna happen. They
(44:09):
just wanted to grab headlines. They wanted to get talked about.
They wanted everybody to talk about. It's like, right, when
you think they're at least past all that, then you
see them celebrate getting past the second round, and you go, oh,
it's still the Nickel and Dime Nicks. Okay, at least
now we know all right, at least now we know.
Like for a second there you thought that they were
(44:29):
back and a legitimate organization, and then you see the
way they celebrate and the way they handled this whole thing.
They're like, oh yeah, same well Nicks, Nickel and Dime.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
I think the Don Stay conversation is an interesting conversation.
I think another interesting topic line we discussed in hour
one of the show is the idea that Mike Brown
has a relationship with Lebron James. A lot of people
are having the conversations that the time in LA has
has started to wind down quicker and that looking to possibly,
(45:02):
you know, be in a different market could possibly take
place for Lebron if he doesn't want to step away
from the game. He accepted his contract extension from the Lakers,
meaning that it doesn't seem like he has any intentions
of not playing in next season. Mike Brown coached him
his first first stint in Cleveland. They had great success together.
(45:23):
They didn't win it all, but they got very close,
made it to the finals. And I think now the
rumor mil will be out there and this is something
that again I gotta get credit to my man cuffs
the legend because I can't take it as for me.
But is there the possibility that now that Mike Brown
has taken the job in New York, that is the
(45:45):
first domino to fall and Lebron James being the next
domino to fall, coming to New York and becoming a
nick It would not be surprising if that were something
that place. Knowing that this New York Knicks team is
very close. That's the reason why they win a different direction,
(46:07):
which makes no sense to me that you would go
in a different direction because you're so close to winning
an NBA title. Weird, But they're so close to an
NBA title and maybe they're one player away. I think
they realized that they were probably one player away from
being that next level, being able to get through to
the finals and possibly had the opportunity, the chance to
(46:28):
be able to win the finals. Is Lebron James the
next domino in line to fall to end up as
a New York Knick.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
What if the Knicks said, Lebron will trade for you,
but you can't bring Bronny.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
He's got to stay back, do you think again?
Speaker 5 (46:45):
I think there's two ways of looking at the Bronnie
James situation. And you gave an interesting plot twist and
our one. But I'll say there's two ways. One with
JJ Reddick, I do believe that that Lebron James plays
a intricate role in him getting the gig. Whether people
want to say he didn't or he did, Whether people
(47:06):
want to debate it or they don't, I don't care.
They got JJ Reddick and I believe that Lebron James's
influence is the reason why they then reward him with
drafting his son in the draft and bringing him to
the team. They kept him on the team and he
maintained his position. If they can ensure Lebron James that
(47:28):
Brownie is okay as a as an LA Laker, then
I don't think he would have an issue. I don't
think he would have an issue with leaving Brownie behind
in LA considering that his family's here right His little
sister's still here, Bryce, the little brother's still here. Mom
(47:50):
would probably still be here. So Lebron going to New York,
I don't think that that would be a deal breaker.
They didn't want to take Bronnie with him, But I
do think it would be an interesting conversation if Bronnie
James did, in fact go with Lebron James, if he
were to, in fact go to New York to play
for it to Nick and you know.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
The honest thing of the truth about all this, and
people listening right now on the blowtorch Am five to
seventy LA Sports, you know this as a fact, and
you can push back on it all you want people
are kind of tired of Lebron out here. They're kind
of tired of It's run its course. We're good, Like,
if he wants to move on, you can move on,
and fine, we got Luca. That was the real concern
(48:33):
what was going to happen afterwards, because the thought was
it was going to be Anthony Davis who was going
to be here after Lebron left. And then as we've
learned to find out, you couldn't depend on Anthony Davis
because of the injuries and all that, and you just
didn't know what you were going to get. At least
now you've got in shape, in his peak, at his
full potential, Luca's a top five player in the NBA.
(48:57):
And if your Laker fans, I think you look at
it and go, if you want to go, that's fine.
Well whenever we can get back in return, and then
we just try and work towards the future. Because I
don't know that anybody is honestly looking at this team
as currently constructed and saying, oh, yeah, I take them
against Oka, see Houston, Denver, Minnesota, et cetera. So if
(49:18):
you're the Lakers, yeah, it would make sense if you're
gonna do it. Do it now, get something in return,
and New York might be the spot to go to.
All I will say is if he waves his no
tray clubs and a.
Speaker 5 (49:28):
Slight and a slight pushback, because I think your points
are well found it, I would say, in a slight pushback,
adding DeAndre Eighten eighten, how you say Ayten Ayden, adding
him and his his ability hate him, adding him to
your roster and having that down low presence if he
(49:51):
can get back to form that he had in Uh,
that he had in Phoenix. I just really I believe
if you have Lebron James on this roster, him, Ayden,
and Luca and and Ed fill in the blanks however
you like to fill in the blanks, I think that's
(50:12):
a big three. As Reeves, I mean if he wants
to stay. Yeah, if Austin Reeves wants to stay, I
mean yes, I really believe they could be a very
very talented team that would take us.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
One problem with Austin Reeves, if he wants to stay,
he looks is that what it is?
Speaker 5 (50:33):
No?
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Didn't he wasn't he like, didn't he not sign his extensions?
Speaker 4 (50:39):
I think they offered him a deal, but he's gonna
wait and try and cash in for more next day.
Speaker 5 (50:43):
I'm just saying, like he didn't sign the deal, you know,
I just you know, to me, I think that if
you did one more year with Lebron James, it wouldn't hurt.
But I think the whole conversation on the ring chasing,
you know, is Lebron James or ring chaser?
Speaker 3 (51:00):
And why should the answer be no?
Speaker 5 (51:03):
Lebron James is basically held in the balance of being
the greatest of all time based upon the count of
rings he has. So if he's ring chasing, who cares? Okay,
you're going to ring chase in New York? Is there
a problem there? I don't know. I think he has
a better chance of trying to win in New York
(51:25):
right now today than what he would hear in LA
with the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
I agree. Easier path in the East, easier path
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Jason McIntyre
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