September 16, 2020 • 39 mins
-Kawhi Leonard chose wrong in free agency and it caught up to him
-LeBron James is finally getting a break in the NBA Playoffs
-The Browns should stop waiting and just trade OBJ
-The Big Ten waited to get it right and that's what matters
-Mike McCarthy is trying too hard to sound cool
Guest: Nick Wright, FS1's First Things First
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on
Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on an interesting Wednesday,
(00:26):
live in Los Angeles, still a Lakers town. This is
the Herd wherever you may be, and however you may
be listening Fox Sports Radio right here on FS one.
Her Boy Clippers. I'm not a I'm not a huge
(00:50):
fan of the word choke. Greg Norman at the Masters
felt like a choke. That was a choke. That was
a choke. Can't lead three one have big, big leads
and wither away. Joey Taylor's joining me. Well the Miami
Heat one. You're happy. Oh, I'm having a great morning,
(01:11):
but I will not front. I also picked the Clippers
to win the championship, So you're my partner. Can't leave
you hanging out to dry. I'll take this walk of
shame with you. That was something to watch. Okay, so
this is the first time watching the NBA in my
life forty years where the young teams went to the
(01:33):
playoffs and rise Miami's young, Boston young, Denver's young Hell,
Dallas played great, a Phoenix didn't make the playoffs. They
were great. And the old teams Milwaukee was awful and
Houston was awful, and the Clippers have older stars were awful.
Only Lebron and the Lakers as an old team are
playing well. And that's probably the power of Lebron and
(01:55):
his greatness and leadership. Now, I'd think for the next
forty years that old teams will get to the playoffs
the veterans and they'll shrink and the young teams will
just flourish. No, no, no, no, Do I think the
bubble is part of kind of his help younger players. Yeah,
there's no crowds. Young players shrink in the playoffs with
a toxicity of crowds. And the old players are married,
(02:17):
they got kids. It's getting in their head. That's some
of it. But let's let's not worry about that. Why
did the Clippers lose? Okay, Kawai's overrated. Well, I saw
him be the second youngest guy to ever win a MVP.
In the finals, he beat Lebron Wade in Bosh. I
don't I don't think he's overrated. I think he's great.
(02:38):
Clippers didn't no good. They were overrated. Well, they were
twelve and one pre bubble when they were healthy, and
they gave Lebron an a D and Lebron some problems.
Let's make the complicated simple. All of our lives are
shaped by our choices. We can blame our parents, we
can blame the president. We can blame our neighbor, we
can blame our brother in law. Well, guys can blame
(03:01):
their wives. Our lives are overwhelmingly shaped by our choices.
Kawai had three choices after winning in Toronto, and I
want you to just think about these. Number one stay
in Toronto, great general manager, great head, coach, very good roster.
Two emerging stars, Ban Vleet Pascal Sayakam. There would be
(03:23):
no pressure they want a title. There's no pressure. It's
in the East, which is easier than the West. Again,
the structure, the fans, the GM, the coach, the veterans,
emerging stars, no pressure. You already want a title. He
could have chosen that he did not. His second choice was,
let's go to the Lakers, massive brand join Lebron. Anthony
(03:47):
Davis was already there. They've got there's no there's no
brand pressure. They've got. They got banners all over the place.
It's the biggest game in town. Lebron would be the star,
A d would be the two. And you could be
as you usually are, quiet, covert, nonverbal wind titles and
not and do your load management. Nobody would care. He
(04:08):
did not choose that our life is based on choices.
He chose the Clippers that have a history of losing,
basically rent the arena seemingly from the team that owns it.
It feels like even though the Lakers don't go to
a coach who has struggled in the postseason many times,
Doc Rivers, and with a teammate Paul George who has
(04:29):
a history of shrinking, and a franchise the Clippers, who
have a history of shrinking, that was the choice, and
it should be noted san Antonio Kawhi wasn't responsible for
building chemistry because they had it before he got there.
Manu Tony tim Toronto, he wasn't responsible for building chemistry.
(04:50):
They'd been number one seed the previous year, they had
good chemistry, but in Los Angeles with the Clippers, Kawhi
was to a large degree because they had to give
up some pieces to get at Paul and Kwai. He
was responsible for building this chemistry. He's not a real talker,
he's not real communicative. He's not real verbal and isn't
(05:10):
in the end of it all a chemistry issue. I
watched last night bad Shots. The Clippers didn't have a
lot of good open looks. When they did, they didn't
hit him. Denver was fast and fluid, and oh, they
just got great open looks, layups and dunks and open looks.
It's like a young team that had been playing together
(05:31):
for a while and they were confident. And the Clippers
looked kind of static, and they were tight, and they
weren't loose, and they weren't getting open shots, and when
they did, they weren't hitting them. Maybe it's just as
simple as this. Kawai had three choices and he chose
the wrong one. A franchise and the Clippers that historically shrinks.
(05:53):
A teammate in Paul George that historically shrinks, and I
am a doc Rivers fan. He's the Joe Tory of
the NBA, he's great with veteran players. Wasn't a good
series for him. It was not a good series. He
had bad second halfs and bad fourth quarters. It was
not a great series for doc. And it happens. It happens.
(06:14):
Maybe it's just that simple. I don't think Kauai is overrated.
I don't think the Clippers lack talent. I do not
believe young teams will now from this point going forward,
dominate the playoffs and the veteran All stars will all shrink.
Is there a bubble component to some of this story
of young teams flourishing? Sure? This is about choices. By
(06:35):
the way, Kyrie left Lebron, bra how to work out?
Paul George stayed in OKC. Could have chosen Lebron. How'd
that work out? Ty Lou could have coached the Lakers,
wanted more money, chose the Clippers. How that work out?
Sometimes it's as simple as this, Stay with Lebron or
(06:57):
choose Lebron. It'll all work out. He'll take all the pressure,
he'll take the big shots, he'll take the media criticism.
Lebron will just take it all. Put it on their shoulders.
Bro come on and join us. It's funny to think now,
right when I say this this morning, it's so it
sounds so easy. Lebron and A D were already there.
(07:18):
We saw what Kevin Durant did. Just go join those guys,
and he chose the Clippers, and he chose Paul George.
And that's what it looks like. Here's Paul George after
the game. I think internally, we've we've always felt this
is not a championship where bust year four us. You know,
(07:39):
we we can only get better. The longer we stayed together,
and the more we're around each other, the more chemistry
for this group get better. I think that's really the
teller to tape of the season. We just didn't have
enough time together. I kind of think it was championship
bust and if it wasn't, because Lou Williams said later
(08:02):
he thought it was, and Doc Rivers thought it was,
and Kai thought he was, and Steve Balmer thought it
was in the front office who I text off and
thought it was. Maybe this is part of the communication issues.
Paul George may not be around, like if you thought
this was a we got a lot of runway on
the tarmac. Remember this, this is a Laker town. It
(08:25):
is a Dodger town, it is a usc football town.
It's becoming an la ramtown. This is a fight. Steve
Ballmer just bought a bunch of land for a zillion
dollars to build his own arena because he's trying to
separate and create his own brand. So it's one thing
to lose, it's another to potentially watch the Lakers win
(08:49):
a title. That hurts. I mean if the Lakers were
already out and the Clippers lose, and you're like, wow, Okay,
Denver nuggets the bubble, they win a champion and ship,
now that's not what's going to happen. It's very possible.
Now the biggest roadblock for the Lakers is gone. The
Lakers win the championship. That's not going to play well
(09:12):
in the building. Paul George may not be long if
he's a we got a lot of runway here. He
didn't look at it as a one yet a lot
of people in that building, they were already online looking
at championship rings. Let me segue that this speaking of
(09:34):
Lebron James nick Wright in fifteen minutes will be obnoxious
if you want to turn go ahead, He'll I'm sure
it'll be you know whatever, if you want to deal
with watch kind of that kind of nuns and whatever.
Nick Rad'll be joining us in fifteen minutes, and it's
going to be bad for me. The CEA is now
opening up for Lebron. It's now Lebron James, with all
(09:54):
sorts of finals and championship experience. We'll be taking on
Denver just took the binkie out of their mouth, Miami
in Boston, by the way, the old Lakers just got
six days rest. Oh, by the way, the Clippers a
roster built to beat Lebron. Four wing defenders gone. Lebron's
(10:16):
career is actually, when you're honest about it, has been
a series of obstacles he's had to overcome. Let's talk
about him. He gets drafted by Cleveland. They're awful. Everything's bad.
Cleveland stinks. You like to get drafted by great organizations,
you know the Celtics or you know, you know Packers No.
(10:36):
Number two. He walks right into a blizzard called the
Big Three in Boston. Not great. Then he ends up
facing the Warriors dynasty. That's another obstacle. Oh, by the way,
star teammates getting hurt. Bosh was often hobbled d Wade
in Miami, Kyrie and Kevin Love get hurt. He has
to go to a finals with Matthew Dellavedova and then
he's had to deal with Flakes j R. Smith forgot
(10:58):
how to keep score of a game, and Kyrie Irving
just bailed because he's Kyrie Irving in the world is flat,
according to him. But now it's different. Seventeen years and
the CEA is opening. Now it's young teams. The Clippers
are out of the way. They got a break. Denver's
(11:19):
a bunch of babies. Now. Now Denver's gonna understand what
the big difference between, you know, the second round and
the Western Conference finals. There's a lot of difference. That's
the difference between the Sun Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
There's a big difference second round. Who was in it
last year? Who knows who remembers? We remember conference finals,
we remember finals and through all those roadblocks with Lebron,
(11:43):
the Flakes, guys don't know the score, the injuries, Kyrie,
Kevin Love, the Big Three, the bad ownership, all those roadblocks,
nine finals, three titles, and for the first time ever,
well rested. Lebron, who by the way, got hurt last year,
(12:04):
didn't play a ton COVID this year. Think about this.
COVID was actually a break for Lebron's legs. Jannis the
Eastern Rim protector. Lebron can struggle with that out. Kawhi
and the Clippers built the stop Lebron out. Anthony Davis,
who has a history of being injured, is finally healthy.
(12:24):
D Wade and Bosh, who never got hurt before. Lebron
were all banged up, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love. They got hurt.
Now It's like Anthony Davis is mister brittle. He's not hurt.
The c is opening up for Lebron opponent's health, none
(12:45):
of it in his way. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd weekdays in noon eastern nine am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart
Radio app. There are rumors and reports now that OBJ
for the Cleveland Browns is on the market. We've been
saying this now, I've been saying this since early last year.
It's better for Baker, it's better for OBJ, it's better
(13:05):
for Cleveland. This feels like a forced relationship. It's not working.
He's been their seventeen games, and in seventeen games he
had twenty three yards. It marked the fourth time in
seventeen games. Odell Beckham five years ago best receiver in football.
Fourth time he had yardage in the twenties. Six times
(13:26):
in seventeen games he's had three catches or fewer. This
guy five years ago was the best wide receiver. We
were talking about Randy Moss like it's not working. I've
said this before. Relationships can't be this hard. Amari Cooper
and Dak Prescott the minute he arrived worked. Randy Moss
and Brady the minute he arrived at work. I mean,
(13:47):
good god. Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins fifteen catches the
minute he arrived. Emmanuel Sanders and Garoppolo last year, it
worked instantly. It can't be this hard. Ripped the band
aid off. That's what Arizona did with Josh Rosen. It's
what Baltimore did with Earl Thomas. Just rip the band
aid off, take the heat for a day, rip it off. Listen,
(14:10):
the grass isn't always greener. Eli and Obj he averaged
almost seven catches a game in ninety three yards. That's
big production. Baker. He's averaging four and a half catches
in sixty yards. That's mediocre, and OBJ is not a
mediocre player. The issue here is Baker Mayfield is not
as good as everybody thinks, and OBJ can be at
(14:31):
times a little needy. That's okay, I was in my twenties.
That's Baker's just not as good as he thinks. Baker
is not good enough to be obsessed with getting one
guy the ball o. BJ's better with a better quarterback
and a better organization where he feels loved, he feels stability,
he doesn't feel chaos. He's not good in that spot.
(14:51):
The more chaos New York had, the worst he got
when he got there. Initially, with Coughlin, there was no chaos,
and he was great. But he's a kid that doesn't
work good in chaos. But you just you know, when
you got a problem, the first step in solving it
is admitting you got a problem. You got to admit
you got a problem or you can't solve it. Cleveland's
got to be like seventeen games, three catches, twenty three
(15:14):
yards Odell Beckham. It ain't working. There's a lot of
teams that need a receiver. Baltimore could probably use him.
San Francisco right now is a mess at wide receiver.
Green Bay maybe not their style, but they could use
another guy. Wouldn't you think different green Bay today if
they had Odell Beckham, I would see at all. There's
plenty of takers out there, and there's teams with the
(15:35):
Good God, the New York Jets. If you want to
go back to New York, there's there's plenty of spots
for OBJ. But you gotta just acknowledge it's it's not
supposed to be that hard. I say this all the time.
If you're in a marriage nine years and you still
have to go to therapy once a month, it shouldn't
be that much work. You should be able to sit
in the couch, watch a TV show, eat pizza, laugh
and feel great together. Can't. You can't be on a yet.
(15:55):
You can't get along only when you're in Paris on
a vacation. You got you gotta be able to sit
in the couch and laugh on a Tuesday when it's
raining outside and there's crappy television on. He sit there
a poor glass of wine talking. It works. This thing
ain't working. It's just not working. So there's all sorts
of rumors out there. And by the way, ob J,
I say this all pro athletes. Antonio Brown wanted out,
(16:17):
ob J wanted out. The grass ain't greener. Pittsburgh was
a good spot, Giants was a good spot. Listen. It's
one thing if you're Kevin Durant and can choose where
you go. But if you're not a free agent and
you're demanding to be traded, you can end up in Cleveland.
You can end up, you know, with Oakland, Antonio Brown
and OBJ. I understand guys wanting out, but if you're
(16:39):
not a free agent, you're not going to dictate where
you go. And the grass in pro sports is not
owas even Kawai, when he had a choice, may have
chosen the wrong place. Be sure to catch live editions
of the Herd Weekday said noon Easter not a Empacific.
You know, there's a point in my life I thought
I was a mentor for Nick Ride. It was a
respectful relationship. Then it took an ugly turn about a
(17:01):
year ago, and he has so much fun mocking me.
It is sometimes now it's sometimes it's testy, but I've
got to be honest. He has called this all year.
He all year nick Wright doubted the Clippers and he
and he kept saying chemistry is bad. Load Management's nonsense,
(17:22):
brought to you by Mercedes. Ben's the best or nothing.
You cannot wipe the smile off Nick Wright's face. I mean,
look at him. I mean it's ridiculous. Fix my hair.
That was God. Hey, I'm not doing great. Most days
I have I wake up and there's rainbows and birds.
Today it's a big stink ball. But you know what,
(17:46):
so let's just start with this, colin. What can I
before we even start, can I make you feel better? Okay,
let me make you feel better. Everyone thinks I'm gonna
come on here and I'm gonna hammer you. Here's the deal.
You were obviously wrong about the Lakers Nugget series. Yeah,
but so was every single prognosticator in America. You were
(18:07):
also wrong about the about the Clippers Nugget series, I
should say about the Clippers winning the title, But so
was about forty to fifty of the prognosticators in America.
You're just in a bad spot because the only person
who had the Clippers dead right all year. You gotta
talk to every week, every week. I tried to tell you.
(18:29):
I warned you. They were all the warning signs, the
docks history, Kauai being wildly overrated by folks that want
to say he could be top five all time, way
off pe, acting like he's been a great playoff performer,
or anything other than a Gatorade commercial, all of it.
I tried to warn you, my friend. But now go
ahead and you can have your show back. Well, let's
let's let's do this. Let's do let's start with this.
(18:52):
Um you know, I started my show saying we all
make choices in life. He could have stayed in Toronto
with the best GM coach, Commo in the league. He
could have gone to Lebron and ad Is it as
simple as he chose Paul George in a losing franchise.
He made a bad decision. Is it that simple? Well,
that didn't help, But I would have say, I would
say the choice that Kawhi really should have made would
(19:14):
have been to play better. That's the first choice I
would take. The line, don't be awful in the second
half of these games. You disrespect the regular season in
total all year long, so you are ramping up for
the postseason and in the first round, while your offensive
numbers were great, a twenty one year old Slovenian kid
(19:36):
was given your buckets all day long, and then in
round two and I don't know if we can show it.
I don't know if I can use some of my
graphics on your show. It's kind of rude. But Kawhi
Leonard's first half versus second half is abysmal in this series.
That's thirty percent shooting. And oh wait, there's more. How
about just the fourth quarters for the clutch closer who
(20:00):
can win another finals? MVP show me as fourth quarters
if we could. Oh, that's horrifying. Three of the seven
games in this series. Kawhi with zero fourth quarter points
last night, zero fourth quarter points, one second half field goal.
So yeah, should he Option one go go to La
(20:20):
with Lebron win titles. Sure. Option two stay in Toronto,
a team that got just as far as the Clippers
this year in the postseason and didn't suffer the embarrassment
being blown out in their Game seven round two loss.
That would have been a good one. Option three go
to the Clippers and not make them trade everything for
Paul George so you can actually get a rim protector.
Option four is the one he did. But Option four
(20:43):
was never going to end in a title. I told
you that, But it could have ended at least in
the team's first Conference finals appearance if he wasn't awful
in the second half of these games. And I just
missed it. You and the real upper tier of broadcasters
in America be on you know text chain that I'm
not included in yet. Maybe I never will be, because
(21:05):
evidently there was an embargo on Kawhi Leonard criticism, Mark Jackson,
Jeff and Gunny Mike Green last night love them all?
Were they aware Kawai was one of eleven? Should have
let the audience know. I don't know. The fact that
he melted down in the fourth quarters of these games
seems relevant for a guy I was told is the
closest thing we've seen to Jordan since Kobe. But listen,
(21:27):
what do I know. I'm just the guy that called
this all year, so who knows? Who knows? Okay, So
how about this? For years and years, the Red Sox
had as much talent as the Yankees, but there was
just they just couldn't get past it. Until you'll win it.
It's hard, is some of this, this sort of institutional
(21:47):
They've always been the shrinking franchise and they don't get
far enough. Is it fair to say, and I hate
this word, the Clippers frankly choked. Is that fair? Oh? Oh,
the second part is definitely fair. I don't know if
we can put the juju of the organization on him,
but this is arguably the single biggest gag job in
(22:12):
NBA history. So we know the three one comebacks of
the contemporary ones that you think of teams that could
win the title who blew a three one lead. At
least when KD did it with the Thunder, they were
playing an all time Warriors team. At least when the
Warriors did it to Lebron, they were playing the greatest
(22:33):
player of all time. They're playing a team who has
zero on the roster finals appearances. Only one guy has
made a conference finals. That's Paul Millsap, a coach who
got fired in Sacramento, A twenty two year old kid
in Jamal Murray nicolea Yokich who's got a lower vertical
(22:54):
leap than Joy Taylor, and I listened, he was great,
But to blow that lead and then after the game say, oh,
it was chemistry. You were up fifteen in Game five
and gagged. You were up nineteen to the second half
of Game six and gagged. And these front runners, these
front runners that all year long, if they got punched back,
(23:15):
they were like, ah, why try when you can just
wait for tomorrow. We're up seven in the second half
last night, the Nuggets going an eight oh run, and everyone,
including your patron saint of basketball, Kawhi Leonard said, this
moment's too much for me. And I want to say
one more thing on Kawai because obviously he was unbelievable
last year in the postseason. But what we are seeing
(23:38):
is this was the first playoff run in his career
where if his team underachieved, he was going to get skewered,
the exact scenario Lebron's been living in for fifteen years.
And guess what happened. The weight of expectations held him down.
Obviously at crushed way off Pee the whole time. But
(24:01):
he's not in the conversation for best Players life. Kawai
shouldn't have been anyway, but certainly now that's a rap.
It's Lebron Katie. When he gets healthy, and we'll see
what happens. With Jannis, but that story is now over
for one Kawhi Leonard for the time being. Well, Kawhi
also didn't have to create chemistry in San Antonio. An
old team had it when he arrived. He didn't have
(24:22):
to create it in Toronto. The old team had it
when he arrived. He was asked in LA to create
chemistry and he's fairly nonverbal. You do bring up Paul George.
This sounds hyperbolic, perhaps, but I now have multiple histories
of Westbrook and Paul George and Harden, and you're not
gonna trade Harden. But would you consider going the Paul
George thing? We know what it is. Why just go
(24:44):
through this again? Kawhi has got an opt out ear
coming up fairly quick. Do you move off Paul George?
Do you move off him? Well? I think what might
be more likely is they move off the coach. Everyone
loves doctor as a man. He is a great leader,
and I think he's a great person. But he has
(25:05):
authored some really really awful playoff performances which favored teams.
Let's been his playoff resume when he doesn't have Kevin
Garnett with him is a really really tough one. Six
times he's been up three one or three two and
lost a series. The problem for trading Paul George is this,
he also has that opt out. So how much value
(25:26):
does Paul George have for a team that feels like
they're only gonna get him for one year? Like if
you called up Okac and we're like, hey, can we
have those six first round picks Sga and Gallinari for
Paul George? Can we just undo that? They would laugh
you off the phone, like I don't know what Paul
George trade is available out there. And listen, the Clippers
(25:48):
are gonna have the same issues next year they had
this year. It is an odd roster. That's the thing
America refused to acknowledge, partially because of your endless propaganda.
They had a bunch of dh You had Patrick Beverley,
who is a tremendous defensive player and stinks on offense.
Lou Williams of Montrase Harold, who are tremendous offensive players
(26:10):
and stink on defense. They have no rim protection, and
they have a coach who all of a sudden, it's
game seven, early second half, and he's so anxious. It's
like Reggie Jackson go in the game even though you
haven't played in five days. So that's who they're gonna
have next year. They might lose Marcus Morris, they might
lose Montrase Harrold. They're gonna try to run it back.
(26:30):
I don't think it's good enough, and it clearly wasn't
good enough this year. Yeah, they also don't have a
true point guard. It feels like most of the time
on the floor, and you see that does matter engineering stuff. Okay,
finally a couple minutes here, Lebron's had to overcome Dan Gilbert,
the Big Three, A Dynasty, Flakey Jr. And Kyrie injuries
(26:52):
going into a final. Am I nuts, it's the sea
is finally opening up for him. A D's healthy, he's
rested because of COVID, he got time off, Kauai is gone,
Jannis is gone. Is he finally catching a break in
the postseason? Well, so here's the deal. Your points well taken. Listen, Lebron,
(27:15):
under normal NBA circumstances, has five or six rings already.
The last four NBA finals he's lost have come to
teams with four or five Hall of Fame players on them.
Like it's just been what he's been up against. Is
somewhat unpressed in it. Plus the Delavedova year, plus the
year after Kyrie when he had no help aside from
(27:37):
an injured Kevin Love. That's all well taken. I do think,
of course, the Bucks not living up to their potential
potentially helps them, and the Clippers doing exactly what I
thought they would potentially helps them. Should be noted that
in twenty twenty, like this calendar year, they beat the
Bucks before the restart, before the seasons paused, and they
(28:00):
beat the Clippers both times they played them. But we
knew this was gonna happen, right, the revisionist history of Oh,
look at the easy path Lebron had, as if folks
weren't not that I'm gonna name names, Colin Coward picking
Portland to beat them, and as if when Houston was
up one zho they weren't saying, you know, hardened Westbrook
(28:21):
three pointers, big team doesn't shoot well for the Lakers.
That could be tough. And so now the narrative will
flip because for most people, their basketball analysis starts an
end with how can I discredit Lebron James? So I
don't know if you and I'll leave on this colon
you can do those Google trends searches where it's like,
how often is something searched for? The word asterisk was
(28:44):
a big subject of conversation right when the restart was
getting going. Then when it looked like Lebron might lose,
no one disgusted it at all. Get ready for asterisk
to come back into play here in the next few days,
people like, well, doesn't really count. I mean, if Miami's
on the other side of the racket, is this a
real title? The thing is this, he was always gonna
win the title. This team was always the best team.
(29:06):
They showed it throughout the regular season and they've shown
it throughout the postseason. I think the Nuggets are good
be an interesting matchup. The Lakers will clearly beat him,
and if the Heat might beat the Celtics. But I
hope the Celtics win because Lebron the one thing he's
never done is sweep a team in the finals, and
he'd do that to Boston. So you're right, ring number
four on deck. That was happening anyway. He just got
(29:28):
there a little differently than a lot of people expect.
Remember when I was your mentor remember those days, it
was a respectful relationship. Yeah, you used to have better takes.
All right, buddy, what do you want from it? You
see a joy? See as well? By Nick. By the way,
I can touch the net and I'm five foot two,
(29:49):
so no more disrespect to my alright, alright, Nick? One
more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeart Radio app. Search
her to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
One of the things I've always felt my job, whether
I'm right or wrong, is to add perspective. That's what
(30:10):
we work on for two hours, trying to offer perspective. Unfortunately,
many in the media use a different p word, often panic.
The Big Ten's going to play football, and there's all
sorts of panic from members of the media instead of
offering perspective. It's going to probably be bumpy for all
(30:31):
of college football because the players are on campuses. There's
a lot of different ways to face COVID as a league.
UFC renteded Island Hockey in the NBA went into a bubble.
Baseball and the NFL are in a highly regulated non bubble.
(30:51):
They've all worked. This is a story about the Big
Ten that spent weeks and months trying to get their
medical protocols right, and this morning they think they've got
it right. Not perfect, not flawless, but the most right
we've seen. It can be bumpy. Three Big Twelve games
(31:14):
were canceled last week. Virginia Virginia Tech was postponed. This
is going to be bumpy. You're on a college campus.
But the media should spend less time instilling panic and
more offering perspective. Here's mine, the Big Twelve, the Big
Ten excuse me, wanted to get it right, not be
(31:34):
first or be right. They now get their testing on Friday,
They get the results fifteen minutes later. They feel the
most comfortable they have felt yet with it. The losers
in the battle against COVID in sports are the panic drivers.
There's a lot of different ways to go at it.
(31:55):
Rent an island, go into a bubble, a highly regulated
non bubble. Some of this in college football is about resources.
I called two athletic directors two months ago, one from
a major school and one from a small school, and
the small school athletic director told me, we don't have
(32:17):
six million dollars a year to make this work. The
big school athletic director told me it'll be rough, but
we do have six million dollars to get through a
football season A lot of the times with COVID, and
we're seeing this all throughout America. More affluent Americans, they
have a second home. It's not multigenerational living. They've got
(32:38):
more space. Resources help a lot in this. And for
the major college football powers, I think it's much easier
than it is for some of the smaller, lower budget
schools in major conferences. And that's why I think it's
going to be a little bit bumpy here. But I'm
not going to throw panic out. I don't think this
is the worst day in the history of the Big Ten.
(32:59):
I think Jerry Dusky topped it by a mile. My
takeaway is, I'm not sure how it looks. Joy and
I have said this from the beginning. We felt all
even the bubbles have worked, but they're hard on players.
I watched videos yesterday of little boys seeing their dad
for the first time in months and they both break down.
(33:19):
This is hard. It's hard for teachers, it's hard for
college students. It's hard for parents. It's hard for schools,
it's hard for leagues. It's hard for universities. This is hard.
Twenty twenties a pain in the arts, this is hard.
A lot of people are comfortable in habits now you
can't have them. So it's just this is difficult. But
(33:40):
my job is to offer perspective. The Big Ten didn't
want to be first. It's a very academic leaning conference.
There's a lot of academics and presidents that push back
and push back and push back. But the parents and
the coaches and the players they were willing to play,
go out there, potentially play other teams who have a
(34:01):
player with COVID. That was their choice. And I'm for
I feel this way in America, if you want to
send your kids to school, do it. If you don't, don't.
If you want to send your college kid to college,
do if you don't, don't. There are choices we all
make with this. But you know my feeling this morning,
the Big Ten didn't want to be first. They wanted
to get it as close to right as they can,
(34:22):
and they feel this morning we're as close to right
as we can. But by the way, if we end
up with Bama, Oklahoma, Clemson in Ohio State New Year's Day,
who the hell cares? How we got here. If that's
what it looks like in January, and I'm not saying
it's going to there's gonna be bumps and obstacles and cancelations.
If that's what it looks like on New Year's Day,
(34:42):
then and you all took different paths to get there,
and it was bumpy for all of you, it'll feel
somewhat normal, and isn't that we're all seeking. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio app. All right, first thing you can
do when you age is try to act young. You
(35:02):
want to age gracefully. Right, you don't want to wear
skinny jeans when you're sixty because as a guy, you've
got no butt and it looks ridiculous. You don't want
to wear a s medium a two tight shirt when
you're sixty. It's all kay to age gracefully. Were a
parrot Dockers collared shirt. It's all good. I mean, there's
a lot of advantages to being, you know, sixty five
years old. You got a little money. Finally, you're you know,
(35:24):
you moved out from your parents' house. You got control
of your life. You know, it's got grandkids, The dogs
still love you. You don't want to try to pretend
you're young. I don't want to overreact to this. But
Mike McCarthy got booted in Green Bay, and you know
the word was he was a little old school football.
Is he now wearing a smedium T shirt? Because I'm
(35:46):
listening to him after the game and he's trying to
change his brand and show everybody how much he loves analytics.
Remember the Peter King article about a year ago. Let
me read this, the Peter King article where he started
dropping all this analytical stuff and you're like, Brah, you're
wearing a medium T shirt. You're old. Get over it,
he said. On the Peter King article, there was a
(36:06):
flow chart for his proposed fourteen person football technology department.
The top analytics lieutenants will be coordinators of database management,
a coordinator of football analytics, a coordinator of mathematical innovation.
Oh good hell Anyway, that was the Peter King article.
It was clear he was trying to change his brand.
(36:27):
I'm not outdated, I'm not Jurassic. After the Rams game,
he dropped a couple of these this week, and it
sounds like he's trying too hard to sound like mister analytical.
We have a grading index that we put a lot
of time into and so we're closer than you may
(36:49):
think we are. I've never heard Belichick talk about a
grading index. Okay, here's the second one though. When you
get the third down breakdowns just by the you know,
the down a distant categories based on where the rams
were and where we where we were. As far as
the attempts, you know that, you know they they performed
(37:11):
us in efficiency of normal D and D, D and D. Okay,
I'm not trying to overreact. There's another gem here. It
is the thing I'm most you know, most impressed with
is you know, the fact that we came out in
our first live action and want to turnover ratio. Turnover
(37:33):
Battle is what everybody in the history of the world
called it um. I don't know, maybe maybe I'm overreacting,
but Sean McVay is creative. It is multiple and has
variable schemes and motions. You watched the game Sunday night,
You and I both watched it, right, It wasn't like
Sean McVay was doing clever stuff. This is his offense.
(37:53):
It's all misdirection. That's that is Sean mcvay's offense. It's multiple,
it's variable, it's massive motions. It's stuff that you don't
see a lot of our teams do. That's Matt Naggie
in Chicago. That's Kyle Shanahan. Like when you watch the Rams,
this is not trying to be clever. This is Sean
mcvah in the Rams offensive DNA. Everything's got to wiggle,
(38:15):
everything's got a different look. Everything's misdirection. That is not
Mike McCarthy. And I understand him wanting to change his
brand and be a little more current, But am I
I'm not trying to be mean here, But doesn't it
sound like he's trying a little too hard to sound current?
Turnover ratio D and D talking to Peter King about
(38:40):
his analytics and coordinator of mathematical Innovations. I don't know.
Sometimes you just gotta grow a beard. There'll be a
little gray in there, and you just you know what.
My dogs like me, My TV works. It's okay. By
the way, Ron Rivera's old school. Ron Rivera is old school.
(39:03):
He lost his job. He had four suitors within a day,
Mike McCarthy lost his sat in the basement for a year.
Maybe it's just if it's not natural, it's not who
you are. Ron Rivera's old school. Did you watch that
game Sunday? Did you see their second half? You don't
have to be a tech wizard. You don't have to
be Silicon Valley tech smart to be able to motivate
(39:26):
young alpha males. But this feels like a little too
desperate for me.
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on
Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on an interesting Wednesday,
(00:26):
live in Los Angeles, still a Lakers town. This is
the Herd wherever you may be, and however you may
be listening Fox Sports Radio right here on FS one.
Her Boy Clippers. I'm not a I'm not a huge
(00:50):
fan of the word choke. Greg Norman at the Masters
felt like a choke. That was a choke. That was
a choke. Can't lead three one have big, big leads
and wither away. Joey Taylor's joining me. Well the Miami
Heat one. You're happy. Oh, I'm having a great morning,
(01:11):
but I will not front. I also picked the Clippers
to win the championship, So you're my partner. Can't leave
you hanging out to dry. I'll take this walk of
shame with you. That was something to watch. Okay, so
this is the first time watching the NBA in my
life forty years where the young teams went to the
(01:33):
playoffs and rise Miami's young, Boston young, Denver's young Hell,
Dallas played great, a Phoenix didn't make the playoffs. They
were great. And the old teams Milwaukee was awful and
Houston was awful, and the Clippers have older stars were awful.
Only Lebron and the Lakers as an old team are
playing well. And that's probably the power of Lebron and
(01:55):
his greatness and leadership. Now, I'd think for the next
forty years that old teams will get to the playoffs
the veterans and they'll shrink and the young teams will
just flourish. No, no, no, no, Do I think the
bubble is part of kind of his help younger players. Yeah,
there's no crowds. Young players shrink in the playoffs with
a toxicity of crowds. And the old players are married,
(02:17):
they got kids. It's getting in their head. That's some
of it. But let's let's not worry about that. Why
did the Clippers lose? Okay, Kawai's overrated. Well, I saw
him be the second youngest guy to ever win a MVP.
In the finals, he beat Lebron Wade in Bosh. I
don't I don't think he's overrated. I think he's great.
(02:38):
Clippers didn't no good. They were overrated. Well, they were
twelve and one pre bubble when they were healthy, and
they gave Lebron an a D and Lebron some problems.
Let's make the complicated simple. All of our lives are
shaped by our choices. We can blame our parents, we
can blame the president. We can blame our neighbor, we
can blame our brother in law. Well, guys can blame
(03:01):
their wives. Our lives are overwhelmingly shaped by our choices.
Kawai had three choices after winning in Toronto, and I
want you to just think about these. Number one stay
in Toronto, great general manager, great head, coach, very good roster.
Two emerging stars, Ban Vleet Pascal Sayakam. There would be
(03:23):
no pressure they want a title. There's no pressure. It's
in the East, which is easier than the West. Again,
the structure, the fans, the GM, the coach, the veterans,
emerging stars, no pressure. You already want a title. He
could have chosen that he did not. His second choice was,
let's go to the Lakers, massive brand join Lebron. Anthony
(03:47):
Davis was already there. They've got there's no there's no
brand pressure. They've got. They got banners all over the place.
It's the biggest game in town. Lebron would be the star,
A d would be the two. And you could be
as you usually are, quiet, covert, nonverbal wind titles and
not and do your load management. Nobody would care. He
(04:08):
did not choose that our life is based on choices.
He chose the Clippers that have a history of losing,
basically rent the arena seemingly from the team that owns it.
It feels like even though the Lakers don't go to
a coach who has struggled in the postseason many times,
Doc Rivers, and with a teammate Paul George who has
(04:29):
a history of shrinking, and a franchise the Clippers, who
have a history of shrinking, that was the choice, and
it should be noted san Antonio Kawhi wasn't responsible for
building chemistry because they had it before he got there.
Manu Tony tim Toronto, he wasn't responsible for building chemistry.
(04:50):
They'd been number one seed the previous year, they had
good chemistry, but in Los Angeles with the Clippers, Kawhi
was to a large degree because they had to give
up some pieces to get at Paul and Kwai. He
was responsible for building this chemistry. He's not a real talker,
he's not real communicative. He's not real verbal and isn't
(05:10):
in the end of it all a chemistry issue. I
watched last night bad Shots. The Clippers didn't have a
lot of good open looks. When they did, they didn't
hit him. Denver was fast and fluid, and oh, they
just got great open looks, layups and dunks and open looks.
It's like a young team that had been playing together
(05:31):
for a while and they were confident. And the Clippers
looked kind of static, and they were tight, and they
weren't loose, and they weren't getting open shots, and when
they did, they weren't hitting them. Maybe it's just as
simple as this. Kawai had three choices and he chose
the wrong one. A franchise and the Clippers that historically shrinks.
(05:53):
A teammate in Paul George that historically shrinks, and I
am a doc Rivers fan. He's the Joe Tory of
the NBA, he's great with veteran players. Wasn't a good
series for him. It was not a good series. He
had bad second halfs and bad fourth quarters. It was
not a great series for doc. And it happens. It happens.
(06:14):
Maybe it's just that simple. I don't think Kauai is overrated.
I don't think the Clippers lack talent. I do not
believe young teams will now from this point going forward,
dominate the playoffs and the veteran All stars will all shrink.
Is there a bubble component to some of this story
of young teams flourishing? Sure? This is about choices. By
(06:35):
the way, Kyrie left Lebron, bra how to work out?
Paul George stayed in OKC. Could have chosen Lebron. How'd
that work out? Ty Lou could have coached the Lakers,
wanted more money, chose the Clippers. How that work out?
Sometimes it's as simple as this, Stay with Lebron or
(06:57):
choose Lebron. It'll all work out. He'll take all the pressure,
he'll take the big shots, he'll take the media criticism.
Lebron will just take it all. Put it on their shoulders.
Bro come on and join us. It's funny to think now,
right when I say this this morning, it's so it
sounds so easy. Lebron and A D were already there.
(07:18):
We saw what Kevin Durant did. Just go join those guys,
and he chose the Clippers, and he chose Paul George.
And that's what it looks like. Here's Paul George after
the game. I think internally, we've we've always felt this
is not a championship where bust year four us. You know,
(07:39):
we we can only get better. The longer we stayed together,
and the more we're around each other, the more chemistry
for this group get better. I think that's really the
teller to tape of the season. We just didn't have
enough time together. I kind of think it was championship
bust and if it wasn't, because Lou Williams said later
(08:02):
he thought it was, and Doc Rivers thought it was,
and Kai thought he was, and Steve Balmer thought it
was in the front office who I text off and
thought it was. Maybe this is part of the communication issues.
Paul George may not be around, like if you thought
this was a we got a lot of runway on
the tarmac. Remember this, this is a Laker town. It
(08:25):
is a Dodger town, it is a usc football town.
It's becoming an la ramtown. This is a fight. Steve
Ballmer just bought a bunch of land for a zillion
dollars to build his own arena because he's trying to
separate and create his own brand. So it's one thing
to lose, it's another to potentially watch the Lakers win
(08:49):
a title. That hurts. I mean if the Lakers were
already out and the Clippers lose, and you're like, wow, Okay,
Denver nuggets the bubble, they win a champion and ship,
now that's not what's going to happen. It's very possible.
Now the biggest roadblock for the Lakers is gone. The
Lakers win the championship. That's not going to play well
(09:12):
in the building. Paul George may not be long if
he's a we got a lot of runway here. He
didn't look at it as a one yet a lot
of people in that building, they were already online looking
at championship rings. Let me segue that this speaking of
(09:34):
Lebron James nick Wright in fifteen minutes will be obnoxious
if you want to turn go ahead, He'll I'm sure
it'll be you know whatever, if you want to deal
with watch kind of that kind of nuns and whatever.
Nick Rad'll be joining us in fifteen minutes, and it's
going to be bad for me. The CEA is now
opening up for Lebron. It's now Lebron James, with all
(09:54):
sorts of finals and championship experience. We'll be taking on
Denver just took the binkie out of their mouth, Miami
in Boston, by the way, the old Lakers just got
six days rest. Oh, by the way, the Clippers a
roster built to beat Lebron. Four wing defenders gone. Lebron's
(10:16):
career is actually, when you're honest about it, has been
a series of obstacles he's had to overcome. Let's talk
about him. He gets drafted by Cleveland. They're awful. Everything's bad.
Cleveland stinks. You like to get drafted by great organizations,
you know the Celtics or you know, you know Packers No.
(10:36):
Number two. He walks right into a blizzard called the
Big Three in Boston. Not great. Then he ends up
facing the Warriors dynasty. That's another obstacle. Oh, by the way,
star teammates getting hurt. Bosh was often hobbled d Wade
in Miami, Kyrie and Kevin Love get hurt. He has
to go to a finals with Matthew Dellavedova and then
he's had to deal with Flakes j R. Smith forgot
(10:58):
how to keep score of a game, and Kyrie Irving
just bailed because he's Kyrie Irving in the world is flat,
according to him. But now it's different. Seventeen years and
the CEA is opening. Now it's young teams. The Clippers
are out of the way. They got a break. Denver's
(11:19):
a bunch of babies. Now. Now Denver's gonna understand what
the big difference between, you know, the second round and
the Western Conference finals. There's a lot of difference. That's
the difference between the Sun Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
There's a big difference second round. Who was in it
last year? Who knows who remembers? We remember conference finals,
we remember finals and through all those roadblocks with Lebron,
(11:43):
the Flakes, guys don't know the score, the injuries, Kyrie,
Kevin Love, the Big Three, the bad ownership, all those roadblocks,
nine finals, three titles, and for the first time ever,
well rested. Lebron, who by the way, got hurt last year,
(12:04):
didn't play a ton COVID this year. Think about this.
COVID was actually a break for Lebron's legs. Jannis the
Eastern Rim protector. Lebron can struggle with that out. Kawhi
and the Clippers built the stop Lebron out. Anthony Davis,
who has a history of being injured, is finally healthy.
(12:24):
D Wade and Bosh, who never got hurt before. Lebron
were all banged up, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love. They got hurt.
Now It's like Anthony Davis is mister brittle. He's not hurt.
The c is opening up for Lebron opponent's health, none
(12:45):
of it in his way. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd weekdays in noon eastern nine am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart
Radio app. There are rumors and reports now that OBJ
for the Cleveland Browns is on the market. We've been
saying this now, I've been saying this since early last year.
It's better for Baker, it's better for OBJ, it's better
(13:05):
for Cleveland. This feels like a forced relationship. It's not working.
He's been their seventeen games, and in seventeen games he
had twenty three yards. It marked the fourth time in
seventeen games. Odell Beckham five years ago best receiver in football.
Fourth time he had yardage in the twenties. Six times
(13:26):
in seventeen games he's had three catches or fewer. This
guy five years ago was the best wide receiver. We
were talking about Randy Moss like it's not working. I've
said this before. Relationships can't be this hard. Amari Cooper
and Dak Prescott the minute he arrived worked. Randy Moss
and Brady the minute he arrived at work. I mean,
(13:47):
good god. Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins fifteen catches the
minute he arrived. Emmanuel Sanders and Garoppolo last year, it
worked instantly. It can't be this hard. Ripped the band
aid off. That's what Arizona did with Josh Rosen. It's
what Baltimore did with Earl Thomas. Just rip the band
aid off, take the heat for a day, rip it off. Listen,
(14:10):
the grass isn't always greener. Eli and Obj he averaged
almost seven catches a game in ninety three yards. That's
big production. Baker. He's averaging four and a half catches
in sixty yards. That's mediocre, and OBJ is not a
mediocre player. The issue here is Baker Mayfield is not
as good as everybody thinks, and OBJ can be at
(14:31):
times a little needy. That's okay, I was in my twenties.
That's Baker's just not as good as he thinks. Baker
is not good enough to be obsessed with getting one
guy the ball o. BJ's better with a better quarterback
and a better organization where he feels loved, he feels stability,
he doesn't feel chaos. He's not good in that spot.
(14:51):
The more chaos New York had, the worst he got
when he got there. Initially, with Coughlin, there was no chaos,
and he was great. But he's a kid that doesn't
work good in chaos. But you just you know, when
you got a problem, the first step in solving it
is admitting you got a problem. You got to admit
you got a problem or you can't solve it. Cleveland's
got to be like seventeen games, three catches, twenty three
(15:14):
yards Odell Beckham. It ain't working. There's a lot of
teams that need a receiver. Baltimore could probably use him.
San Francisco right now is a mess at wide receiver.
Green Bay maybe not their style, but they could use
another guy. Wouldn't you think different green Bay today if
they had Odell Beckham, I would see at all. There's
plenty of takers out there, and there's teams with the
(15:35):
Good God, the New York Jets. If you want to
go back to New York, there's there's plenty of spots
for OBJ. But you gotta just acknowledge it's it's not
supposed to be that hard. I say this all the time.
If you're in a marriage nine years and you still
have to go to therapy once a month, it shouldn't
be that much work. You should be able to sit
in the couch, watch a TV show, eat pizza, laugh
and feel great together. Can't. You can't be on a yet.
(15:55):
You can't get along only when you're in Paris on
a vacation. You got you gotta be able to sit
in the couch and laugh on a Tuesday when it's
raining outside and there's crappy television on. He sit there
a poor glass of wine talking. It works. This thing
ain't working. It's just not working. So there's all sorts
of rumors out there. And by the way, ob J,
I say this all pro athletes. Antonio Brown wanted out,
(16:17):
ob J wanted out. The grass ain't greener. Pittsburgh was
a good spot, Giants was a good spot. Listen. It's
one thing if you're Kevin Durant and can choose where
you go. But if you're not a free agent and
you're demanding to be traded, you can end up in Cleveland.
You can end up, you know, with Oakland, Antonio Brown
and OBJ. I understand guys wanting out, but if you're
(16:39):
not a free agent, you're not going to dictate where
you go. And the grass in pro sports is not
owas even Kawai, when he had a choice, may have
chosen the wrong place. Be sure to catch live editions
of the Herd Weekday said noon Easter not a Empacific.
You know, there's a point in my life I thought
I was a mentor for Nick Ride. It was a
respectful relationship. Then it took an ugly turn about a
(17:01):
year ago, and he has so much fun mocking me.
It is sometimes now it's sometimes it's testy, but I've
got to be honest. He has called this all year.
He all year nick Wright doubted the Clippers and he
and he kept saying chemistry is bad. Load Management's nonsense,
(17:22):
brought to you by Mercedes. Ben's the best or nothing.
You cannot wipe the smile off Nick Wright's face. I mean,
look at him. I mean it's ridiculous. Fix my hair.
That was God. Hey, I'm not doing great. Most days
I have I wake up and there's rainbows and birds.
Today it's a big stink ball. But you know what,
(17:46):
so let's just start with this, colin. What can I
before we even start, can I make you feel better? Okay,
let me make you feel better. Everyone thinks I'm gonna
come on here and I'm gonna hammer you. Here's the deal.
You were obviously wrong about the Lakers Nugget series. Yeah,
but so was every single prognosticator in America. You were
(18:07):
also wrong about the about the Clippers Nugget series, I
should say about the Clippers winning the title, But so
was about forty to fifty of the prognosticators in America.
You're just in a bad spot because the only person
who had the Clippers dead right all year. You gotta
talk to every week, every week. I tried to tell you.
(18:29):
I warned you. They were all the warning signs, the
docks history, Kauai being wildly overrated by folks that want
to say he could be top five all time, way
off pe, acting like he's been a great playoff performer,
or anything other than a Gatorade commercial, all of it.
I tried to warn you, my friend. But now go
ahead and you can have your show back. Well, let's
let's let's do this. Let's do let's start with this.
(18:52):
Um you know, I started my show saying we all
make choices in life. He could have stayed in Toronto
with the best GM coach, Commo in the league. He
could have gone to Lebron and ad Is it as
simple as he chose Paul George in a losing franchise.
He made a bad decision. Is it that simple? Well,
that didn't help, But I would have say, I would
say the choice that Kawhi really should have made would
(19:14):
have been to play better. That's the first choice I
would take. The line, don't be awful in the second
half of these games. You disrespect the regular season in
total all year long, so you are ramping up for
the postseason and in the first round, while your offensive
numbers were great, a twenty one year old Slovenian kid
(19:36):
was given your buckets all day long, and then in
round two and I don't know if we can show it.
I don't know if I can use some of my
graphics on your show. It's kind of rude. But Kawhi
Leonard's first half versus second half is abysmal in this series.
That's thirty percent shooting. And oh wait, there's more. How
about just the fourth quarters for the clutch closer who
(20:00):
can win another finals? MVP show me as fourth quarters
if we could. Oh, that's horrifying. Three of the seven
games in this series. Kawhi with zero fourth quarter points
last night, zero fourth quarter points, one second half field goal.
So yeah, should he Option one go go to La
(20:20):
with Lebron win titles. Sure. Option two stay in Toronto,
a team that got just as far as the Clippers
this year in the postseason and didn't suffer the embarrassment
being blown out in their Game seven round two loss.
That would have been a good one. Option three go
to the Clippers and not make them trade everything for
Paul George so you can actually get a rim protector.
Option four is the one he did. But Option four
(20:43):
was never going to end in a title. I told
you that, But it could have ended at least in
the team's first Conference finals appearance if he wasn't awful
in the second half of these games. And I just
missed it. You and the real upper tier of broadcasters
in America be on you know text chain that I'm
not included in yet. Maybe I never will be, because
(21:05):
evidently there was an embargo on Kawhi Leonard criticism, Mark Jackson,
Jeff and Gunny Mike Green last night love them all?
Were they aware Kawai was one of eleven? Should have
let the audience know. I don't know. The fact that
he melted down in the fourth quarters of these games
seems relevant for a guy I was told is the
closest thing we've seen to Jordan since Kobe. But listen,
(21:27):
what do I know. I'm just the guy that called
this all year, so who knows? Who knows? Okay, So
how about this? For years and years, the Red Sox
had as much talent as the Yankees, but there was
just they just couldn't get past it. Until you'll win it.
It's hard, is some of this, this sort of institutional
(21:47):
They've always been the shrinking franchise and they don't get
far enough. Is it fair to say, and I hate
this word, the Clippers frankly choked. Is that fair? Oh? Oh,
the second part is definitely fair. I don't know if
we can put the juju of the organization on him,
but this is arguably the single biggest gag job in
(22:12):
NBA history. So we know the three one comebacks of
the contemporary ones that you think of teams that could
win the title who blew a three one lead. At
least when KD did it with the Thunder, they were
playing an all time Warriors team. At least when the
Warriors did it to Lebron, they were playing the greatest
(22:33):
player of all time. They're playing a team who has
zero on the roster finals appearances. Only one guy has
made a conference finals. That's Paul Millsap, a coach who
got fired in Sacramento, A twenty two year old kid
in Jamal Murray nicolea Yokich who's got a lower vertical
(22:54):
leap than Joy Taylor, and I listened, he was great,
But to blow that lead and then after the game say, oh,
it was chemistry. You were up fifteen in Game five
and gagged. You were up nineteen to the second half
of Game six and gagged. And these front runners, these
front runners that all year long, if they got punched back,
(23:15):
they were like, ah, why try when you can just
wait for tomorrow. We're up seven in the second half
last night, the Nuggets going an eight oh run, and everyone,
including your patron saint of basketball, Kawhi Leonard said, this
moment's too much for me. And I want to say
one more thing on Kawai because obviously he was unbelievable
last year in the postseason. But what we are seeing
(23:38):
is this was the first playoff run in his career
where if his team underachieved, he was going to get skewered,
the exact scenario Lebron's been living in for fifteen years.
And guess what happened. The weight of expectations held him down.
Obviously at crushed way off Pee the whole time. But
(24:01):
he's not in the conversation for best Players life. Kawai
shouldn't have been anyway, but certainly now that's a rap.
It's Lebron Katie. When he gets healthy, and we'll see
what happens. With Jannis, but that story is now over
for one Kawhi Leonard for the time being. Well, Kawhi
also didn't have to create chemistry in San Antonio. An
old team had it when he arrived. He didn't have
(24:22):
to create it in Toronto. The old team had it
when he arrived. He was asked in LA to create
chemistry and he's fairly nonverbal. You do bring up Paul George.
This sounds hyperbolic, perhaps, but I now have multiple histories
of Westbrook and Paul George and Harden, and you're not
gonna trade Harden. But would you consider going the Paul
George thing? We know what it is. Why just go
(24:44):
through this again? Kawhi has got an opt out ear
coming up fairly quick. Do you move off Paul George?
Do you move off him? Well? I think what might
be more likely is they move off the coach. Everyone
loves doctor as a man. He is a great leader,
and I think he's a great person. But he has
(25:05):
authored some really really awful playoff performances which favored teams.
Let's been his playoff resume when he doesn't have Kevin
Garnett with him is a really really tough one. Six
times he's been up three one or three two and
lost a series. The problem for trading Paul George is this,
he also has that opt out. So how much value
(25:26):
does Paul George have for a team that feels like
they're only gonna get him for one year? Like if
you called up Okac and we're like, hey, can we
have those six first round picks Sga and Gallinari for
Paul George? Can we just undo that? They would laugh
you off the phone, like I don't know what Paul
George trade is available out there. And listen, the Clippers
(25:48):
are gonna have the same issues next year they had
this year. It is an odd roster. That's the thing
America refused to acknowledge, partially because of your endless propaganda.
They had a bunch of dh You had Patrick Beverley,
who is a tremendous defensive player and stinks on offense.
Lou Williams of Montrase Harold, who are tremendous offensive players
(26:10):
and stink on defense. They have no rim protection, and
they have a coach who all of a sudden, it's
game seven, early second half, and he's so anxious. It's
like Reggie Jackson go in the game even though you
haven't played in five days. So that's who they're gonna
have next year. They might lose Marcus Morris, they might
lose Montrase Harrold. They're gonna try to run it back.
(26:30):
I don't think it's good enough, and it clearly wasn't
good enough this year. Yeah, they also don't have a
true point guard. It feels like most of the time
on the floor, and you see that does matter engineering stuff. Okay,
finally a couple minutes here, Lebron's had to overcome Dan Gilbert,
the Big Three, A Dynasty, Flakey Jr. And Kyrie injuries
(26:52):
going into a final. Am I nuts, it's the sea
is finally opening up for him. A D's healthy, he's
rested because of COVID, he got time off, Kauai is gone,
Jannis is gone. Is he finally catching a break in
the postseason? Well, so here's the deal. Your points well taken. Listen, Lebron,
(27:15):
under normal NBA circumstances, has five or six rings already.
The last four NBA finals he's lost have come to
teams with four or five Hall of Fame players on them.
Like it's just been what he's been up against. Is
somewhat unpressed in it. Plus the Delavedova year, plus the
year after Kyrie when he had no help aside from
(27:37):
an injured Kevin Love. That's all well taken. I do think,
of course, the Bucks not living up to their potential
potentially helps them, and the Clippers doing exactly what I
thought they would potentially helps them. Should be noted that
in twenty twenty, like this calendar year, they beat the
Bucks before the restart, before the seasons paused, and they
(28:00):
beat the Clippers both times they played them. But we
knew this was gonna happen, right, the revisionist history of Oh,
look at the easy path Lebron had, as if folks
weren't not that I'm gonna name names, Colin Coward picking
Portland to beat them, and as if when Houston was
up one zho they weren't saying, you know, hardened Westbrook
(28:21):
three pointers, big team doesn't shoot well for the Lakers.
That could be tough. And so now the narrative will
flip because for most people, their basketball analysis starts an
end with how can I discredit Lebron James? So I
don't know if you and I'll leave on this colon
you can do those Google trends searches where it's like,
how often is something searched for? The word asterisk was
(28:44):
a big subject of conversation right when the restart was
getting going. Then when it looked like Lebron might lose,
no one disgusted it at all. Get ready for asterisk
to come back into play here in the next few days,
people like, well, doesn't really count. I mean, if Miami's
on the other side of the racket, is this a
real title? The thing is this, he was always gonna
win the title. This team was always the best team.
(29:06):
They showed it throughout the regular season and they've shown
it throughout the postseason. I think the Nuggets are good
be an interesting matchup. The Lakers will clearly beat him,
and if the Heat might beat the Celtics. But I
hope the Celtics win because Lebron the one thing he's
never done is sweep a team in the finals, and
he'd do that to Boston. So you're right, ring number
four on deck. That was happening anyway. He just got
(29:28):
there a little differently than a lot of people expect.
Remember when I was your mentor remember those days, it
was a respectful relationship. Yeah, you used to have better takes.
All right, buddy, what do you want from it? You
see a joy? See as well? By Nick. By the way,
I can touch the net and I'm five foot two,
(29:49):
so no more disrespect to my alright, alright, Nick? One
more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeart Radio app. Search
her to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
One of the things I've always felt my job, whether
I'm right or wrong, is to add perspective. That's what
(30:10):
we work on for two hours, trying to offer perspective. Unfortunately,
many in the media use a different p word, often panic.
The Big Ten's going to play football, and there's all
sorts of panic from members of the media instead of
offering perspective. It's going to probably be bumpy for all
(30:31):
of college football because the players are on campuses. There's
a lot of different ways to face COVID as a league.
UFC renteded Island Hockey in the NBA went into a bubble.
Baseball and the NFL are in a highly regulated non bubble.
(30:51):
They've all worked. This is a story about the Big
Ten that spent weeks and months trying to get their
medical protocols right, and this morning they think they've got
it right. Not perfect, not flawless, but the most right
we've seen. It can be bumpy. Three Big Twelve games
(31:14):
were canceled last week. Virginia Virginia Tech was postponed. This
is going to be bumpy. You're on a college campus.
But the media should spend less time instilling panic and
more offering perspective. Here's mine, the Big Twelve, the Big
Ten excuse me, wanted to get it right, not be
(31:34):
first or be right. They now get their testing on Friday,
They get the results fifteen minutes later. They feel the
most comfortable they have felt yet with it. The losers
in the battle against COVID in sports are the panic drivers.
There's a lot of different ways to go at it.
(31:55):
Rent an island, go into a bubble, a highly regulated
non bubble. Some of this in college football is about resources.
I called two athletic directors two months ago, one from
a major school and one from a small school, and
the small school athletic director told me, we don't have
(32:17):
six million dollars a year to make this work. The
big school athletic director told me it'll be rough, but
we do have six million dollars to get through a
football season A lot of the times with COVID, and
we're seeing this all throughout America. More affluent Americans, they
have a second home. It's not multigenerational living. They've got
(32:38):
more space. Resources help a lot in this. And for
the major college football powers, I think it's much easier
than it is for some of the smaller, lower budget
schools in major conferences. And that's why I think it's
going to be a little bit bumpy here. But I'm
not going to throw panic out. I don't think this
is the worst day in the history of the Big Ten.
(32:59):
I think Jerry Dusky topped it by a mile. My
takeaway is, I'm not sure how it looks. Joy and
I have said this from the beginning. We felt all
even the bubbles have worked, but they're hard on players.
I watched videos yesterday of little boys seeing their dad
for the first time in months and they both break down.
(33:19):
This is hard. It's hard for teachers, it's hard for
college students. It's hard for parents. It's hard for schools,
it's hard for leagues. It's hard for universities. This is hard.
Twenty twenties a pain in the arts, this is hard.
A lot of people are comfortable in habits now you
can't have them. So it's just this is difficult. But
(33:40):
my job is to offer perspective. The Big Ten didn't
want to be first. It's a very academic leaning conference.
There's a lot of academics and presidents that push back
and push back and push back. But the parents and
the coaches and the players they were willing to play,
go out there, potentially play other teams who have a
(34:01):
player with COVID. That was their choice. And I'm for
I feel this way in America, if you want to
send your kids to school, do it. If you don't, don't.
If you want to send your college kid to college,
do if you don't, don't. There are choices we all
make with this. But you know my feeling this morning,
the Big Ten didn't want to be first. They wanted
to get it as close to right as they can,
(34:22):
and they feel this morning we're as close to right
as we can. But by the way, if we end
up with Bama, Oklahoma, Clemson in Ohio State New Year's Day,
who the hell cares? How we got here. If that's
what it looks like in January, and I'm not saying
it's going to there's gonna be bumps and obstacles and cancelations.
If that's what it looks like on New Year's Day,
(34:42):
then and you all took different paths to get there,
and it was bumpy for all of you, it'll feel
somewhat normal, and isn't that we're all seeking. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio app. All right, first thing you can
do when you age is try to act young. You
(35:02):
want to age gracefully. Right, you don't want to wear
skinny jeans when you're sixty because as a guy, you've
got no butt and it looks ridiculous. You don't want
to wear a s medium a two tight shirt when
you're sixty. It's all kay to age gracefully. Were a
parrot Dockers collared shirt. It's all good. I mean, there's
a lot of advantages to being, you know, sixty five
years old. You got a little money. Finally, you're you know,
(35:24):
you moved out from your parents' house. You got control
of your life. You know, it's got grandkids, The dogs
still love you. You don't want to try to pretend
you're young. I don't want to overreact to this. But
Mike McCarthy got booted in Green Bay, and you know
the word was he was a little old school football.
Is he now wearing a smedium T shirt? Because I'm
(35:46):
listening to him after the game and he's trying to
change his brand and show everybody how much he loves analytics.
Remember the Peter King article about a year ago. Let
me read this, the Peter King article where he started
dropping all this analytical stuff and you're like, Brah, you're
wearing a medium T shirt. You're old. Get over it,
he said. On the Peter King article, there was a
(36:06):
flow chart for his proposed fourteen person football technology department.
The top analytics lieutenants will be coordinators of database management,
a coordinator of football analytics, a coordinator of mathematical innovation.
Oh good hell Anyway, that was the Peter King article.
It was clear he was trying to change his brand.
(36:27):
I'm not outdated, I'm not Jurassic. After the Rams game,
he dropped a couple of these this week, and it
sounds like he's trying too hard to sound like mister analytical.
We have a grading index that we put a lot
of time into and so we're closer than you may
(36:49):
think we are. I've never heard Belichick talk about a
grading index. Okay, here's the second one though. When you
get the third down breakdowns just by the you know,
the down a distant categories based on where the rams
were and where we where we were. As far as
the attempts, you know that, you know they they performed
(37:11):
us in efficiency of normal D and D, D and D. Okay,
I'm not trying to overreact. There's another gem here. It
is the thing I'm most you know, most impressed with
is you know, the fact that we came out in
our first live action and want to turnover ratio. Turnover
(37:33):
Battle is what everybody in the history of the world
called it um. I don't know, maybe maybe I'm overreacting,
but Sean McVay is creative. It is multiple and has
variable schemes and motions. You watched the game Sunday night,
You and I both watched it, right, It wasn't like
Sean McVay was doing clever stuff. This is his offense.
(37:53):
It's all misdirection. That's that is Sean mcvay's offense. It's multiple,
it's variable, it's massive motions. It's stuff that you don't
see a lot of our teams do. That's Matt Naggie
in Chicago. That's Kyle Shanahan. Like when you watch the Rams,
this is not trying to be clever. This is Sean
mcvah in the Rams offensive DNA. Everything's got to wiggle,
(38:15):
everything's got a different look. Everything's misdirection. That is not
Mike McCarthy. And I understand him wanting to change his
brand and be a little more current, But am I
I'm not trying to be mean here, But doesn't it
sound like he's trying a little too hard to sound current?
Turnover ratio D and D talking to Peter King about
(38:40):
his analytics and coordinator of mathematical Innovations. I don't know.
Sometimes you just gotta grow a beard. There'll be a
little gray in there, and you just you know what.
My dogs like me, My TV works. It's okay. By
the way, Ron Rivera's old school. Ron Rivera is old school.
(39:03):
He lost his job. He had four suitors within a day,
Mike McCarthy lost his sat in the basement for a year.
Maybe it's just if it's not natural, it's not who
you are. Ron Rivera's old school. Did you watch that
game Sunday? Did you see their second half? You don't
have to be a tech wizard. You don't have to
be Silicon Valley tech smart to be able to motivate
(39:26):
young alpha males. But this feels like a little too
desperate for me.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.