May 25, 2024 • 38 mins
Colin talks with Former Lakers HC Byron Scott about the Lakers' head coaching vacancy. Colin pits Jayson Tatum against the best players in the NBA to see where he currently lines up. Plus, the latest edition of Where Colin Was Right and Wrong.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go our two in Los Angeles.
It's the Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may
be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Jmac Sun was in town. Went out for some good food.
Watch some NBA basketball. I gotta tell you, Minnesota Denver.
(00:47):
I watched that second half mouth Ajar, I'm like, Wow,
Denver shrinks offensively. Malone not happy after picking on the
poor media. It was something watch Listen.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I know what happened Saturday, But did you watch the
fourth quarter of OKC MAP?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I think it was. I think there's an argument to
be made the second half of Dallas OKC was the
best basketball game played on this planet for a year. Unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Lakers, Nuggets went to the buzzer or whatever, but that
game was just unbelieve.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
The crowd, the offensive playmaking, it was an I was
in Los Angeles in front of a TV, but with
some friends at a restaurant in Los Angeles, OKAC in
Dallas there were gasps, it was not. Shot making was
just incredibly incredible.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You know, you and I have talked about this. The
talent in the league now, there's nothing like it. Everybody
we glamorize and romanticize the Regg Miller Pacers. He was
the only guy on that team that could shoot. I mean,
the Knicks had no pure shooters. Even John Starks wasn't
a great shooter. He was a great athlete and a
fun guy to root for. But I mean the quality
(01:59):
of marks ship and playmaking in this sport now is incredible.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I know we haven't done anything on it yet. Maybe
you will at some point. But what do you think
the vibe would be if Lebron lost to Game seven
at home? A twenty point league just wasted and then
Lebron lost Game seven and they got dusted like Jokic,
like it happened to Yokic yesterday, how.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Would Lebron be being treated today? Well, you know, it's not.
Lebron's probably watching. He's right, that's not fair. We're not
blasting Jokic.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
If any superstar blew a twenty point lead at home
in Game seven, I all be getting torn to shreds.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, I don't think. I think. I mean Jason Tatum
is defended at every corner and I've been promised to
ring for years. I think Jokic. Jokic is the reason
this thing went seven. I mean he he he is.
I mean like Gordon gave the Nuggets nothing yet MPJ
is he on the trade trademark?
Speaker 5 (02:53):
Michael Porter Jr. What happened?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
He did nothing and he makes a fortune. So to me,
you can blame you. Jokich is why it went seven.
Jokich was listen. Jokic admitted, look at their roster, I
mean the looks he said it. Look at Minnesota's roster.
It's built to beat us. He's worn forty seven minutes yesterday.
He was very good.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
But it's just like usually his superstar gets to blame
Joel Embiid Labron.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, but Joe Lmbiid doesn't have a title like Yokich.
Joe l Embiid can't win a second Eastern Conference series.
I think the media has been totally fair with Jokic. Today,
the American media is applauding the Tea Wolves, not banging
on the Nuggets. And that's exactly my take, which is,
let's give Minnesota credit. They have a hell of a team.
(03:38):
I'm not going to give Indiana credit because the Knicks
fell Apart if the Knicks didn't have the injuries, the
fact this game was close and went seven No o
g no Brunson, no Randall, no Mitchell. If you took
Halliburton alone off the Pacers, it doesn't go seven games.
Colin right, Colin wrong. On Monday, here we.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Go where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Well, the Celtics breezed into the Eastern Conference final. Listen,
the Eastern Conference is bad, and Boston may not be great,
but they're balanced. They're a top five offense, they're a
top five defense, and I mean, you know, they avoided
playing Jimmy Butler and Beid got hurt and Dame got hurt,
and so the Eastern Conference was weak. It got significantly
(04:22):
weaker due to injuries. But we said we thought it
would be gentlemen's sweeps all the way through for the Celtics.
And that's what you've seen a well rested team.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
Now where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I thought the Denver Nuggets had a chance to do
San Antonio and be a dynasty. And maybe they still could,
but they were outplayed, outsized, out flanked yesterday at home
in the second half. Jamal Murray, I mean, he had
some rough games in this series. He Jokic even got
pushed around at times. Gordon disappeared. They gotta tweak the
(04:55):
roster and find more of a bench. They only scored
thirty seven points with Jokic at home in the second half.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
So I was wrong where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, the fifth straight year, sixth straight year, the NBA
champ hasn't made it past the second round. And I've
said this reminds me of the seventies. I've said this repeatedly.
I think we have a bunch of very very good teams.
I don't think we have a Bird Celtic, a Magic Laker,
a Duncan Spur. I thought Denver could be it, but
we're gonna have a new champion. And I think it's
(05:28):
because the league is now. All these European players are
all spread out. They don't they're not nearly as willing
to join other players to go to a super team.
Europeans don't want to do that, which is cool. And
so I think we've got the seventies, a bunch of
very good teams, none that are going to be historically great.
Where Colin was raw, well, I never thought soft Indiana,
(05:51):
mentally soft Indiana could win a game seven in New York.
And yes, a lot of it was due to the injuries.
But I will give Rick Carlyle a ton of credit.
He went after his team. He questioned their toughness. He
questioned the Pacers fortitude. You do not see that in
the NBA very much. Where a coach calls out his roster,
(06:13):
calls them soft, calls them weak. This is a players
league in Carlisle, questioned them, and they played in nearly
perfect first half of basketball and some pretty good basketball
in the second half. So I didn't see it coming
this team until yesterday. I thought sort of lacked a
maturity in the mental toughness, and they showed up yesterday
(06:33):
with it. Where Colin was right, Jared Goff got appropriately
a massive extension, second highest paid quarterback annually in the league.
I've said it for years He's not flashy, he's not
hyper athletic. He can always use a good running game,
but just sitting in the pocket and throwing to open
(06:54):
receivers or throwing open receivers. Jared Goff is top five
or six in the league. Remarkable how close his numbers
are with McVeigh to Matt Stafford. He's a really good quarterback.
He's not as much fun to watch as Lamar or Mahomes.
He's not as much fun to watch his is Jalen
Hurts or Josh Allen. He not, but he's an exceptional
(07:17):
quarterback and was appropriately rewarded by a smart front office.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
Where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
I thought the NFL was gonna give Aaron Rodgers a
tough schedule because of his prickly controversial manner and the
NFL doesn't like controversy. But instead they loaded up the
Jets schedule outside of the Niners opener, with a bunch
of winnable games early to give him momentum. And what
the NFL was telling you is that they think Aaron Rodgers,
(07:47):
because of his controversy, is outside of a Patrick Mahomes
and the Dallas Cowboys, maybe the third most interesting player
in the League, so they want to get him on
TV as much as they can before the Jets, which
they tend to do. To unravel where Colin was right,
The NFL said it for years. They are attacking the NBA.
(08:08):
Christmas is on a Wednesday. They don't care Netflix. Here's
two games with star quarterbacks. They're attacking college football in December,
putting on a Saturday game against the college football playoff.
The NFL is a juggernaut, juggernaut. It is a business.
It does not mind hurting feelings, and they view everybody
(08:29):
not the NFL as a rival, even college football.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Not a surprise to us where Colin was rough.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
The story today, the Lakers are rumored to be eind
Donovan Mitchell over Trey Young. First of all, I was
told Lebron's camp likes Trey Young. I also think Donovan
Mitchell really needs the ball. A very high usage rate
in the regular season goes even higher in the postseason.
So I don't know how it works. Lebron needs the ball,
(08:59):
doesn't love to play off ball. And I also don't
see the Calves and Dan Gilbert doing the Lakers and
Lebron any favors in a trade. But the story this morning.
Is Donovan Mitchell, not Trey Young is who the Lakers
are buying an eyeing.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Well, the Sons apparently are running it back. Booker, Durant Beal,
The Sons are gonna run the whole thing back. I
don't know why they need a point guard, they need
a bench, they need more size. But instead the GM
(09:37):
says we're not trading Durant bal or Booker why they're
massive cap hits. Beal doesn't appear to be working. Kevin
Durant reportedly not terribly happy where Colin was right. Finally,
Caitlin Clark is struggling out of the gate, and I
think it's the WNBA's fault. December tenth, the w NBA
(10:00):
had their lottery and New Indiana would have the number
one pick. Well, guess what that gave you? Eight days
to give the fever a little easier schedule. Instead, they
loaded it up with the New York Liberty in the
Connecticut Sun playoff teams excellent teams, dominating defensive teams. Now
(10:20):
Caitlin Clark is still scoring. I think she's going to
be excellent and there's nothing really to worry about. But
we've talked about this. The NFL is constantly doing favors
to networks to create storylines early in a season. Give
Jim Harbaugh a couple of soft landings to start. Caleb
(10:41):
Williams opens at home with Tennessee, doesn't face the Packers
until week eleven. To me, the WNBA, the fever or winless,
Caitlin Clark struggling. There's not that many teams in the WNBA.
Did you have to start like it was unplanned and
give them I'm a gauntlet of New York and Connecticut
(11:02):
right out of the shoot? Colin Wright, Colin Wrong on
a Monday one more heard.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
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live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I would say fell in love with the NBA. I
watched it in the seventies, but I think the eighties
and early nineties for a lot of our viewers, the
league changed. The players were more sensational. Byron Scott was
part of those great Laker teams Kareem and Magic. Of course,
Jeff Pearlman wrote the book The Three Ring Circus, and
(11:36):
then it's now been made into an HBO Max series,
and it was a special time where teams people. It's
hard to believe teams didn't have their own planes. You
guys flew commercial end. You would often on a six
am flight out of Seattle, you're setting next to an
insurance man and a mortgage broker.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
First that we had to take every day that we played.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
If we had back to backs, couldn't leave the night
after the game because we didn't have our planes at
that particular time. So yeah, we were at the airport
early in the morning, first thing smoking.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So you had the Celtics were playing a gritty style
of basketball. It was not an international league and you
were playing a flashy style of basketball. The game wasn't
as it wasn't global quite yet, and it wasn't televised
as often, so you didn't see a lot of Boston
until you played Boston. My Sonics were up in the Kingdome, yep.
(12:33):
But back then there wasn't as much Byron, there wasn't
as much mobility. So when you face the Sixers for
six years, it was the same dudes, And I do
think that created an animosity and a physicality like you
knew here comes Steve mix Beguinnis Tony. I liked that game. Now,
(12:54):
I do think the NBA this year tweaked it to
be more physical.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But take our audience back to going to Philadelphia or
Cleveland or Chicago, and it was the same team every year.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Yeah, it was great because, like you said, you knew
exactly what you were playing against. You knew the stop
of the type of style you were playing against. Like
you said, it was gonna be physical back in the
eighties and nineties. Anyway, I loved the fact that when
we would play Philly, we knew how good Andrew Tony was,
you know. We knew how good Doctor j and More
Cheeks and Bobby Jones was one of the best six
mans in the league coming off the bench. H Going
(13:26):
to Boston you got DJ and Danny Age. So I
knew exactly who I was playing against every time we
went back there, and we knew the style that we
were playing against. We knew the type of ball we
were gonna be playing against, you know. So I love
that fact about it, you know, And it did create
that animosity because we did not like them, they did
not like us. We obviously had a whole lot more
hatred for Boston because they were always in our way
(13:48):
than we did Philly. You know, we like, we kind
of liked Philly because they were good guys, but we
couldn't stand the Celtics, Colin, we couldn't stand the Celtics,
you know what I mean, because they were always in
our way and that. And then later on we found
out why when we got the you know, no guys
off the court a little bit more. But you know,
the Boston Celtic Laker rivalry I think was one of
the greatest robberries in all the sports because of the
(14:11):
fact that, like you said earlier, we had that animosity
towards one another and we wanted the same things.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
That was winning championships.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And you were the two best teams. When you look
at the NBA about ten years ago, it started getting
very international. I'm an NBA fan, so I'm an NFL,
NBA college football guy. One of my criticisms on the
NBA for a while, although I think Adam Silver has
tweaked that the aesthetic was just threes. Yeah, and it's
(14:38):
like Anthony Davis should be around the basket. I don't
need Anthony Davis shooting through it. I don't need Pascal
Siakam shooting threes get him around the basket. And I
think the league is moving back towards situational not a
mid range, but the bigs are closer to the rim.
The international players are fascinating because they play against older
men when they're young, and they come to this country
(14:59):
buyer and they're not distracted. They're not in the shoe deals,
they don't want to move around. They come here and
want to play for their team mostly forever. Do you
worry that between AAU basketball are distracted players they go
from G league to one year college, that we're losing
a little bit of the old school field. I like
(15:20):
European players a lot, but the league feels different than
it did twenty five thirty years ago.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
Yeah, European players. You gotta look at a little bit
of history with our American players in the European players,
and I think one of the reasons that European players
have closed that gap so much on basketball, especially the
fundamental part of the calling is because if you look
at AAU players, they place three four games a day
(15:47):
for six seven days a week. They never practice. You
go to Europe, it's total opposite. They practice twice a
day on fundamentals. You know, very few, very few games,
two games maybe a week, but they got two practices,
you know, two a day's every single day, and that
first day every morning is all fundamental works. That's why
you see every big man in Europe that can handle
(16:08):
the ball, can shoot it, can pass it, you know,
a lah the joker, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
That's why that gap has closed so much.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
So I think if we don't, if we're not careful,
you know, especially American basketball, we got to get back
to those fundamentals of playing the game of basketball. And
I think the league and I love the I love
the fact that you have so many international players just
in the league, you know, because they can play. You
got to give them the credit. And you're right, when
they normally come over here, they normally stick with one team,
(16:36):
you know, Dirk now Whiskey one.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
You know, right.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
We're going to stay and be a buck. Right. By
the way, I'm not knocking our guys for mobility, But
if I visit Italy with my.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Life, right, I'm a visitor, right, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I kind of see in the neighborhoods that I kind
of had planned to stay. You know, I'm in La
I can get in the car and go anywhere, right,
So I I like where we're going. So let's talk
about the four teams. You would have done very well
in today's NBA. You were thirty seven percent three balls.
You and Larry Bird were born a little early.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
But I'll tell you a player that's fascinating is that
Luca has done something this year. And he's been scoring
since he was twelve.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, this year they said you gotta defend. Yeah, and Luca,
you can't have the ball in your hands all the time.
That is hard for a brilliant score. And when I
watch him, I'm like, okay, he's got self awareness, Like
I like that part of Luca.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Did you know instantly he was going to be this good?
Speaker 6 (17:40):
No, not even close. I mean I saw him in
Europe and I said, all right, he's good. You know,
he's getting his shot off. You own these guys.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
It's a little bit lower, you know, a lot of
vertical play.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit slower, uh, you know, not
as tall, you know, So I was going to I
was really wondering what he would look like in the NBA,
And it took me probably about six months to say, Okay,
this this guy's pretty damn good. You know, he could score,
he gets to where he wants to go to. But
I think, like you said, you know, his self awareness
and Jay kid, you got to give him a lot
of credit for this as well of letting Luca know that,
(18:11):
you know what will be a much better team if
you're off the ball sometimes and if you're making the
right plays and not looking to score all the time.
And if you look at that Dallas team right now,
that's exactly what you're seeing. You're looking at a great,
willing passer. You know, a guy who can get his
shot at any time he wants, but a guy that
his teammates know now that they that he trusts them
(18:32):
when he makes those passes, it does matter. That's why
you see Dallas in this position at their end of day.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
You know, there was a brief time I always thought
it was overplayed. People talked about small ball, and I'm like,
are we sure small balls not just clay and stuff?
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It didn't win for anybody else, right, right, And now
the league once again it's bigs.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
You and I were talking before the break. It was
Wilt in the Kareem. Everybody had bigs, yea Boblinne, Nate Thurman.
If you didn't have a big, you were the Warriors
with you know, a Clifford Ray where you could win
a title, right or the Celtics with Dave Cowens. Maybe
you could win a title, but you needed at West Unseld,
(19:12):
you needed bigs. It does feel like the small ball thing.
It was fun, but all I'm watching with Dallas now
they brought in size Minnesota, size, Porzingis size, I mean
even Pascal Siaka, Miles Turner Indiana. Did you buy into
small ball? What did you make of it? It doesn't
feel like it had legs.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
No, I'm O school, you know I'm not. You know
you look at a lot of these teams. They talk
about your position this basketball, you know, not putting guards
or forwards, you know, just playing. You just got players
out there playing. I still believe that you need those
gritty guys. You need those guys that's gonna do the
dirty work. You need the Kirk Rampis is like we
have back in the day, to ac greens like we
(19:53):
have back in the day. You need those guys that
are six ten, six eleven seven footers. That's gonna do
all those dirty things for you out there on the
basketball court, you know, setting the hard screens, getting you know,
getting the rebound. So I like the fact that we're
seeing that more. I like the fact that Dallas went
out and got some lively bodies that are long, you know, athletic,
(20:14):
you know.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Six eleven seven footers.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
They can get up around the rim, they can block shots,
to defend because again, it takes a lot of pressure
off of their perimeter players on the defensive end. Luka,
for the first time this year, I've seen make efforts
on that end of the floor. And again self awareness
of understanding that if you want to get us to
a championship, or if you want to win a championship
or have an opportunity, you.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Got to play on both ends of the floor. And
you see he's bowled into that.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The NBA, my entire life Byron scot listening for our
radio audience, has been a player's league. Back to Spencer Heywood. Yeah,
I grew up with my Sonics and my Blazers in
the seventies. It was a players league. Yeah, Now you
cycle through coaches more often. It is what it is. Okay,
I've never I have no envy toward NBA players having
power or money. Load management drives me nuts. I'm a
(21:02):
kid from a small town. Okay, I grew up in
a tiny town. I went to one NBA Game of
Year if Downtown Freddie Brown and Gus Williams weren't available.
And you can say to yourself, well, but it wasn't
on TV when.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
I was a kid, right right.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I hate load management.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
You're not the only one I don't understand. And when
you sign a contract, you don't sign a contract that
stipulates that. Okay, out of the eighty two games in
the regular season, I'm gonna play seventy because I'm gonna
take twelve off because of load management. I need rest.
You sign a contract to play eighty two games. So
if you're just you know, hurt, you know, and you
got an opportunity where you can play, you play that game.
(21:39):
If you're injured, you don't play. I understand that, right.
So this load management bull to me, is just it's
given the players way too much power to be able
to say, you know what, I need the next couple
of games off or next two games off because I'm
just I'm getting tired.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
It don't make sense to me.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Data illustrates or validates, it doesn't help you.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Your efficiency numbers don't change when.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
Yeah, it's a it's a loaded croc, you know, to
be honest with you. So that's how I feel about it.
I'm just not a big fan of load management. I'm
always been a big fan. If you're able to play
play the game.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
And for the record, wasn't there part of playing the
game that you like to show off?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
I mean you want to entertain, you know what I mean.
You want to entertain.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
You want people to come back and say, man, did
you see that that shot of that dunk or that
pass or whatever? You know, And you can't do that
if you're sitting down ten twelve, fifteen games a year.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
You know, the thing that I loved.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
About Kobe Bean Bryant, you know, the late great who
I loved, was a show big times, a showman. But
he played every game that he could play. He didn't
believe in loads management either, you know, I mean he
played games when he was sick. You know that, I
personally the last two years asked him maybe you should
sit this one out. Nope, these people came to see
(22:58):
might be the last time they ever get chance to
see me play, So I gotta go play.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
And that's the type of players you want.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, Yeah, Kobe was. Kobe was one of those players
that was almost an artist. Michael had certain moves that
he went to. He had He's going to go to
the well on about three mid and he was great,
best mid range player in my life. Yeah, Kobe was
more canvas as empty. I'm just gonna spill some players.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
I'm just painted up whichever way it shows up.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
What is it like to coach a player who was
a top five gifted offensive player? Ever, how much do
you coach? How much do you manage? Where did you
land on that?
Speaker 5 (23:38):
I landed on managing? You know what I mean?
Speaker 6 (23:43):
This guy was in the league eighteen years, you know,
twenty at the end of it, where he had been
around and has seen everything that can be thrown at him,
has been in every situation on the basketball court, offensively
and defensively.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
So to me, it wasn't me.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
It was up to me to try to teach him
anything offensively or defensive.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
It is really just to manage.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
You know, to manage his minutes, manage his body, manage
his practice time because at that time in his age
and how many games he had played when you start
including playoff games and things of that nature, He's probably
played thirteen fourteen hundred games in his career, you know.
So I was really just really just trying to just manage,
you know, to make sure that Kobe Brown was able
(24:27):
to play every single night as much as possible. So
from a professional standpoint on teaching, he didn't need to
be taught. He was already he was already there. It
was just really just managing everything.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So the Celtics start Eastern Conference Finals tonight. The East
is really weak. Add in the injuries, it's been a
lab drill.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So Jason Tatum's fascinating. So I've gone to see him
play three times live. I watch a lot of Celtics games.
Obviously a very good player, yes, And I think about
this I grow up with, you know, they grow up
with more of a Jordan Kobe mindset, which is the
game is mine, get out of the way. That's not
always the easiest game to play with, right. Tatum is
(25:08):
very much a hey, your turn. There are times I
went and watched them in Chicago live and he was
one of the only stars that played that night. But
he was very willing if there was a if there
was a defender on him, to go out to Derek
White and let him go. And I think, man, that's
just not what I grew up with. So what is
the line between? Like I wish Tatum was more selfish occasionally,
(25:34):
but if you look at their net ratings offensively, it
doesn't necessarily matter. Where are you on Tatum? His personality
is mentality is game. Where are you on him?
Speaker 6 (25:43):
I love Jason Tatum. I love watching him play the
game of basketball. Like you said, he's a very willing passer.
Sometimes it's just not in a player's makeup to be
that's right, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, where they're going
to take the shot with three guys on him, they
don't care, you know, because they're also willing to take
the hit, you know.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
They're willing to be goat, you.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
Know, and they're also willing to be that sacrificial lamb
at times, you know. So I love his I love
his demeanor on the basketball court. I love the way
he plays the game. But you can't make certain guys
to be the next Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant as far
as their mindset, and he doesn't. I don't think necessarily
have that mindset. I think he will take it if
he has to, you know. But if other guys are
(26:22):
going Jayalen Brown is going, you know, White is hitting shots,
then he's more than willing to pass the ball. So
I don't have a problem with the way he plays
the game. I love the way he plays the game.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I like the way they play the game is.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
Yeah, they play it as a team. Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
You suggested that maybe Lebron could be a player coach. Now,
I grew up with Lenny Wilkins, so I've seen it.
Doug Bill Russell, Lenny Wilkins, Lenny one of the all
time gentlemen in the sport.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Yes, yes, right here right.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
What was the feedback when you said that on a
show and then went out in LA. What was the
feedback you got in your phone by saying.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
That, you know? And I got a lot of feedback
by that.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
A lot of people were saying that, you know, that's
a great idea, but it won't happen, you know. And
then I had some other people that was like, you're crazy.
You know, what do you talk about? He shouldn't be
the coach?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
And was it tongue in a little bit? Was a
poke at Lebron about you know you don't like any
of them, you do it.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
It was a little bit of a poke, but like
you said, it was a little bit of fun but
seriousness as well.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
But I'm the best option to you.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
I like Sam Cassell and I love Mark Jackson.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Mark Jackson, I think is a guy who deserves another
opportunity to coach in this league. Don't know why he's
been sort of blackball from this league for so many years.
If it's not Mark Jackson. I love Sam Cassell because
number one, he's had nothing but experience, you know, on
that bench as a lifelong assistant coach, and everywhere he's
been has done well, you know, the organization has done well.
I think he deserves an opportunity. The name that and
(27:49):
I'm sure Coling you heard his name a bunch as
well as JJ Riddick.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
JJ.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
The only thing I have that I would say that
I have against him coming in right off the streets
to be the electorate head coach.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
She has no experience he's never coached.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
When you got your first job, right, and everybody bails
wat my first time on the air, we're all bailing
water a little with a new job, right. What is
the hardest thing for a guy that's never been a
head coach goes to a head coach in your first
two months, maybe your first two weeks. What is the
thing where you go, Damn, this is tougher than I thought.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
When you have to make every single decision, you know,
it's not a suggestion anymore.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
As an assistant coach a coach.
Speaker 6 (28:30):
You know, I think we could you know, you know,
let's let's read the side, pick and rolls well as
the head coach.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
You know, your word is bond.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
You know, whatever you say goes, you know, so understanding
that everything kind of falls on you.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Sometimes could be overwhelming, you know.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
And I think again, for a guy that's never coached,
I just look at Steve Nash, great player, Hall of Famer,
never coach in his life.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
He goes to Brooklyn. Doesn't work.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
You know, I couldn't get out of there fast, No, no,
I And I really truly think if you have a
year or two on the bench, you know that that
gained experience will help you so much in your next
you know, head coaching or getting a head coaching position
somewhere else or wherever it may be. But going in
there cold Turkey, it's a whole lot tougher than you think.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Well, and also part of Steve Kerr's success has been
a very good group of assistants behind him. That is
also a strength of the new Boston coach. They updated,
they upgraded the staff. Spose always had very strong assistance
behind us. Yes, sometimes when you're the new guy, you're
just trying to tread water. You can't build a staff yet.
That that's hard. Yeah, And Sean McVay for the Rams,
(29:39):
is much better staff builder. It was always a good coach. Yeah,
his staffs now are better than they were his first year. Yeah,
like that's that takes taking a staff, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
But Steve Kerr the one thing that I would say
it is a little bit different than him when he
he jumped out from being you know, doing games to
the coaching coaching ranks. He was in the front off yes, okay,
so he had a chance to be around the organization
of coaches and players all that time. So it wasn't
like he was jumping in cold Turkey. He had been
in situations where he was making decisions on draft picks
(30:11):
and coaches and things of that nature. So it's a
totally different situation of coming from where Steve Kirk came from,
which was the front office, than coming from the booth
and just taking.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Over as a head coach. You look fantastic, Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I'm not even going to guess your age, but I'm
older than you.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Let's just put it that way. Man.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
You are His wife is a nurse and a nutritionist.
Obviously it's blueberries in the morning and fish at night,
because dude, you are playing weight.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
You pretty much guessed that too. That's pretty good. That's
pretty good. Are fish at night? Lots of it too? Great,
great Stehen coach, always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Byron Scott, will take a break heard line next to her.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern nin a im Pacific.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Bali Fosco here with Tony Fuscott. You know, as the
host of the number one rated Polly and Tony Fusco show.
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Piles of it.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Hey, listen to this. Dear Paulie and TONI, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terribly not Wait one, dear
Paulie in TONI, you suck more than anyone. Wait, Dear
Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best. There
you go coming up with the stupidest take forget.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Fusco show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So you love Jason Tatum. I like him a lot.
This is not Tatum. Hey, we're gonna play a game
called Tatum or Tate Out? So fourth quarter? Who would
I want in the big spot? And I will give
you data and see if you can refuse this. You're
ready to go.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
You give me the player and I'll give you Tatum
or Tate out. Jason Tatum or Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
This is one of the tougher ones. But all go
Anthony Edwards because what I saw fifty four percent from
three point range in the fourth quarter this postseason. So
he can be a bit of a streaky shooter, but
he has been best in the biggest spots. Fourth quarter,
reshooting fifty seven percent and fifty four from three. I'm
(32:21):
gonna give him a slight edge over Tatum. Tatum or
shake Gilgess Alexander. Now, this isn't a hard one. Sga
is a more aggressive offensive player, and the data shows
you he's plus twenty eight in the postseason fourth quarter,
his highest plus minus of any quarter, so he is
(32:41):
more reliable. Tatum has his worst plus minus minus twenty
three in the fourth quarter this postseason. So literally they're opposites,
all right, Jason Tatum or Luca Dantee Luca Okay, let
let's he is. I think it's fair to say he
is the world's best shot maker right now, that's fair
(33:06):
to say. All right, look at sorry, Jason Tatum or
Jalen Brunson. Jalen Brunson as a fourth quarter player. Brunson
leading scorer in the fourth quarter this postseason and not
surrounded by a lot of outs. Everybody in the world
knows Brunson's getting the ball. There's no there's no Jalen Brown,
there's no Derek White in the corner. It's a it's
(33:29):
a cobble together lineup with a defensive coach and Brunson
leads the fourth quarter in scoring he did when he
was still playing me Tatum or Kyrie Irvy. Now, I
think Kyrie is the best closer of his generation, both hands.
Now he can go a little sideways, but so can Tatum.
Last night, not a pointer or a field goal in
nine minutes in the fourth quarter. Also, Kyrie has his
(33:52):
fewest turnovers in the postseason, and this matters because he
has the ball a lot. So Kyrie and Halliburton's usually
pretty good at this wasn't last night. Halliburton's a low
turnover guy. Last night was a mess, big spot for
the team. But Kyrie has been very efficient late and
no turnovers.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Jason Tatum wore the Lakers new build around guy Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Jason Tatum, I would take Anthony Davis. I believe he
is such a strident defender. He is such a key
defender against Biggs that I think Ad sometimes feels worn
down in the fourth quarter. He had his lowest scoring
average three and a half points and his lowest field
goal percentage thirty six percent in the fourth quarter of
(34:34):
this postseason. So the data tells you Ady gets worn down,
and offensively he takes a step back late.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
All right, Tatum Moore, fifty seven year old Lebron James
one possession.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
It's not close. I take Lebron. Lebron led the NBA
in fourth quarterbaskets this year. Now you can knock him
for not Owa's being there. He sort of regressed badly
on defense. He's doing more podcasting than defending these days.
But we were a fourth quarter bucket. Lebron's fantastic. He
is a great closer, right, Tatum or Steph Curry? Well,
(35:06):
Steph Curry won He didn't play in the big playoffs,
but he won Clutch Time Player of the Year in
the NBA. Yeah, so you didn't argue with that. The
Luca and Curry, you're not even arguing Tatum or Devin Booker. Well,
I would say Tatum because Booker is no longer the
number one scoring option for the Suns, Katie is, So
I think that's I think Tatum's more of a go
to guy for the night fourth So then Tatum or Durant.
(35:30):
Durant is still in that Luca class is one of
the world's best shot makers, especially late in the clock. Katie,
I've got my issues with him sometimes. I think he's
a bit of a wanderer, but Kad was the leading
scorer in the fourth quarter in NBA playoff history behind
I'm gonna read this, third leading scorer in the fourth
quarter in NBA playoff history behind. MJ is one of
(35:53):
the players he's behind. Yeah, Tatum ranks fifty to ninth
in fourth quarter scoring average at NBA playoff History's Jason
Tatum or Jamal Murray. Well, I think Jamal. I think
we saw it in the postseason. Jamal is not as
good as Tatum, but in terms of a big shot
maker late, Murray had his highest field goal percentage in
(36:16):
the fourth quarter of this postseason. So whereas Ad gets
worn down, Jamal Murray with Jokic carrying the load, often
has a lot of gas left in the tank and
is a very good shot maker late. I don't think
that's a reach. I think that's especially late game shot making.
Tatum or Nicola jokicch Well, I'm gonna go with the
(36:36):
best player in the world, and then Tatum or Jalen
Brown come on, Tatum. Yeah, Brent Brown averages its few
as points assists, but I also think Brown is an
energy guy that plays on the defensive end. Sometimes these
guys that really give you a defensive effort, like Lebron,
by the way, led the NBA and fourth quarter buckets.
Lebron doesn't he doesn't use a lot of his energy
(36:57):
on the defensive side. I would say Braun tends to
be sort of he's got his foot off the pedal.
He's saving energy for the fourth which is not a
bad It's actually very smart as you age as a player.
Pick your spots. Mj was great at that, pick your spots.
Bird was great at that. So again Jason over ad,
Tatum over Booker, Tatum over Brown. But the numbers, now,
(37:20):
the one that people will push back on could be
Anthony Edwards because what do I know one, but he is.
The numbers tell you a story that he was at
his best field going three points. So I'm gonna go
with the data. Like I saw a story this morning.
Everybody's like, the economy is terrible, and then they go
back and they look at unemployment and they look at
(37:41):
all the the GDP and everybody's like, well, it's not
really terrible. The data said, it's not terrible. We have inflation.
But I'm these data is telling me, these are the
right choices? Are you? Which one of all these bothers
you the most.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
I'll let our next guest handle this, because I mean, Colin,
you take like seventy five guys over Jason Tatum and
the clutch.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Let me realize here, Come on, he's a top five
player in the league. He's an All NBA guy. I
can't do this. Did you watch that nine minutes where
he didn't well.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
I watched the overtime when he won the game for them,
didn't get to overtime without Jamis Feller, brown lucky shot.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yes, all right,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go our two in Los Angeles.
It's the Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may
be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Jmac Sun was in town. Went out for some good food.
Watch some NBA basketball. I gotta tell you, Minnesota Denver.
(00:47):
I watched that second half mouth Ajar, I'm like, Wow,
Denver shrinks offensively. Malone not happy after picking on the
poor media. It was something watch Listen.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I know what happened Saturday, But did you watch the
fourth quarter of OKC MAP?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I think it was. I think there's an argument to
be made the second half of Dallas OKC was the
best basketball game played on this planet for a year. Unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Lakers, Nuggets went to the buzzer or whatever, but that
game was just unbelieve.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
The crowd, the offensive playmaking, it was an I was
in Los Angeles in front of a TV, but with
some friends at a restaurant in Los Angeles, OKAC in
Dallas there were gasps, it was not. Shot making was
just incredibly incredible.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You know, you and I have talked about this. The
talent in the league now, there's nothing like it. Everybody
we glamorize and romanticize the Regg Miller Pacers. He was
the only guy on that team that could shoot. I mean,
the Knicks had no pure shooters. Even John Starks wasn't
a great shooter. He was a great athlete and a
fun guy to root for. But I mean the quality
(01:59):
of marks ship and playmaking in this sport now is incredible.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I know we haven't done anything on it yet. Maybe
you will at some point. But what do you think
the vibe would be if Lebron lost to Game seven
at home? A twenty point league just wasted and then
Lebron lost Game seven and they got dusted like Jokic,
like it happened to Yokic yesterday, how.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Would Lebron be being treated today? Well, you know, it's not.
Lebron's probably watching. He's right, that's not fair. We're not
blasting Jokic.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
If any superstar blew a twenty point lead at home
in Game seven, I all be getting torn to shreds.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, I don't think. I think. I mean Jason Tatum
is defended at every corner and I've been promised to
ring for years. I think Jokic. Jokic is the reason
this thing went seven. I mean he he he is.
I mean like Gordon gave the Nuggets nothing yet MPJ
is he on the trade trademark?
Speaker 5 (02:53):
Michael Porter Jr. What happened?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
He did nothing and he makes a fortune. So to me,
you can blame you. Jokich is why it went seven.
Jokich was listen. Jokic admitted, look at their roster, I
mean the looks he said it. Look at Minnesota's roster.
It's built to beat us. He's worn forty seven minutes yesterday.
He was very good.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
But it's just like usually his superstar gets to blame
Joel Embiid Labron.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, but Joe Lmbiid doesn't have a title like Yokich.
Joe l Embiid can't win a second Eastern Conference series.
I think the media has been totally fair with Jokic. Today,
the American media is applauding the Tea Wolves, not banging
on the Nuggets. And that's exactly my take, which is,
let's give Minnesota credit. They have a hell of a team.
(03:38):
I'm not going to give Indiana credit because the Knicks
fell Apart if the Knicks didn't have the injuries, the
fact this game was close and went seven No o
g no Brunson, no Randall, no Mitchell. If you took
Halliburton alone off the Pacers, it doesn't go seven games.
Colin right, Colin wrong. On Monday, here we.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Go where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Well, the Celtics breezed into the Eastern Conference final. Listen,
the Eastern Conference is bad, and Boston may not be great,
but they're balanced. They're a top five offense, they're a
top five defense, and I mean, you know, they avoided
playing Jimmy Butler and Beid got hurt and Dame got hurt,
and so the Eastern Conference was weak. It got significantly
(04:22):
weaker due to injuries. But we said we thought it
would be gentlemen's sweeps all the way through for the Celtics.
And that's what you've seen a well rested team.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
Now where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I thought the Denver Nuggets had a chance to do
San Antonio and be a dynasty. And maybe they still could,
but they were outplayed, outsized, out flanked yesterday at home
in the second half. Jamal Murray, I mean, he had
some rough games in this series. He Jokic even got
pushed around at times. Gordon disappeared. They gotta tweak the
(04:55):
roster and find more of a bench. They only scored
thirty seven points with Jokic at home in the second half.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
So I was wrong where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, the fifth straight year, sixth straight year, the NBA
champ hasn't made it past the second round. And I've
said this reminds me of the seventies. I've said this repeatedly.
I think we have a bunch of very very good teams.
I don't think we have a Bird Celtic, a Magic Laker,
a Duncan Spur. I thought Denver could be it, but
we're gonna have a new champion. And I think it's
(05:28):
because the league is now. All these European players are
all spread out. They don't they're not nearly as willing
to join other players to go to a super team.
Europeans don't want to do that, which is cool. And
so I think we've got the seventies, a bunch of
very good teams, none that are going to be historically great.
Where Colin was raw, well, I never thought soft Indiana,
(05:51):
mentally soft Indiana could win a game seven in New York.
And yes, a lot of it was due to the injuries.
But I will give Rick Carlyle a ton of credit.
He went after his team. He questioned their toughness. He
questioned the Pacers fortitude. You do not see that in
the NBA very much. Where a coach calls out his roster,
(06:13):
calls them soft, calls them weak. This is a players
league in Carlisle, questioned them, and they played in nearly
perfect first half of basketball and some pretty good basketball
in the second half. So I didn't see it coming
this team until yesterday. I thought sort of lacked a
maturity in the mental toughness, and they showed up yesterday
(06:33):
with it. Where Colin was right, Jared Goff got appropriately
a massive extension, second highest paid quarterback annually in the league.
I've said it for years He's not flashy, he's not
hyper athletic. He can always use a good running game,
but just sitting in the pocket and throwing to open
(06:54):
receivers or throwing open receivers. Jared Goff is top five
or six in the league. Remarkable how close his numbers
are with McVeigh to Matt Stafford. He's a really good quarterback.
He's not as much fun to watch as Lamar or Mahomes.
He's not as much fun to watch his is Jalen
Hurts or Josh Allen. He not, but he's an exceptional
(07:17):
quarterback and was appropriately rewarded by a smart front office.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
Where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
I thought the NFL was gonna give Aaron Rodgers a
tough schedule because of his prickly controversial manner and the
NFL doesn't like controversy. But instead they loaded up the
Jets schedule outside of the Niners opener, with a bunch
of winnable games early to give him momentum. And what
the NFL was telling you is that they think Aaron Rodgers,
(07:47):
because of his controversy, is outside of a Patrick Mahomes
and the Dallas Cowboys, maybe the third most interesting player
in the League, so they want to get him on
TV as much as they can before the Jets, which
they tend to do. To unravel where Colin was right,
The NFL said it for years. They are attacking the NBA.
(08:08):
Christmas is on a Wednesday. They don't care Netflix. Here's
two games with star quarterbacks. They're attacking college football in December,
putting on a Saturday game against the college football playoff.
The NFL is a juggernaut, juggernaut. It is a business.
It does not mind hurting feelings, and they view everybody
(08:29):
not the NFL as a rival, even college football.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Not a surprise to us where Colin was rough.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
The story today, the Lakers are rumored to be eind
Donovan Mitchell over Trey Young. First of all, I was
told Lebron's camp likes Trey Young. I also think Donovan
Mitchell really needs the ball. A very high usage rate
in the regular season goes even higher in the postseason.
So I don't know how it works. Lebron needs the ball,
(08:59):
doesn't love to play off ball. And I also don't
see the Calves and Dan Gilbert doing the Lakers and
Lebron any favors in a trade. But the story this morning.
Is Donovan Mitchell, not Trey Young is who the Lakers
are buying an eyeing.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Well, the Sons apparently are running it back. Booker, Durant Beal,
The Sons are gonna run the whole thing back. I
don't know why they need a point guard, they need
a bench, they need more size. But instead the GM
(09:37):
says we're not trading Durant bal or Booker why they're
massive cap hits. Beal doesn't appear to be working. Kevin
Durant reportedly not terribly happy where Colin was right. Finally,
Caitlin Clark is struggling out of the gate, and I
think it's the WNBA's fault. December tenth, the w NBA
(10:00):
had their lottery and New Indiana would have the number
one pick. Well, guess what that gave you? Eight days
to give the fever a little easier schedule. Instead, they
loaded it up with the New York Liberty in the
Connecticut Sun playoff teams excellent teams, dominating defensive teams. Now
(10:20):
Caitlin Clark is still scoring. I think she's going to
be excellent and there's nothing really to worry about. But
we've talked about this. The NFL is constantly doing favors
to networks to create storylines early in a season. Give
Jim Harbaugh a couple of soft landings to start. Caleb
(10:41):
Williams opens at home with Tennessee, doesn't face the Packers
until week eleven. To me, the WNBA, the fever or winless,
Caitlin Clark struggling. There's not that many teams in the WNBA.
Did you have to start like it was unplanned and
give them I'm a gauntlet of New York and Connecticut
(11:02):
right out of the shoot? Colin Wright, Colin Wrong on
a Monday one more heard.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
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 1 (11:16):
I would say fell in love with the NBA. I
watched it in the seventies, but I think the eighties
and early nineties for a lot of our viewers, the
league changed. The players were more sensational. Byron Scott was
part of those great Laker teams Kareem and Magic. Of course,
Jeff Pearlman wrote the book The Three Ring Circus, and
(11:36):
then it's now been made into an HBO Max series,
and it was a special time where teams people. It's
hard to believe teams didn't have their own planes. You
guys flew commercial end. You would often on a six
am flight out of Seattle, you're setting next to an
insurance man and a mortgage broker.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
First that we had to take every day that we played.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
If we had back to backs, couldn't leave the night
after the game because we didn't have our planes at
that particular time. So yeah, we were at the airport
early in the morning, first thing smoking.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So you had the Celtics were playing a gritty style
of basketball. It was not an international league and you
were playing a flashy style of basketball. The game wasn't
as it wasn't global quite yet, and it wasn't televised
as often, so you didn't see a lot of Boston
until you played Boston. My Sonics were up in the Kingdome, yep.
(12:33):
But back then there wasn't as much Byron, there wasn't
as much mobility. So when you face the Sixers for
six years, it was the same dudes, And I do
think that created an animosity and a physicality like you
knew here comes Steve mix Beguinnis Tony. I liked that game. Now,
(12:54):
I do think the NBA this year tweaked it to
be more physical.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But take our audience back to going to Philadelphia or
Cleveland or Chicago, and it was the same team every year.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Yeah, it was great because, like you said, you knew
exactly what you were playing against. You knew the stop
of the type of style you were playing against. Like
you said, it was gonna be physical back in the
eighties and nineties. Anyway, I loved the fact that when
we would play Philly, we knew how good Andrew Tony was,
you know. We knew how good Doctor j and More
Cheeks and Bobby Jones was one of the best six
mans in the league coming off the bench. H Going
(13:26):
to Boston you got DJ and Danny Age. So I
knew exactly who I was playing against every time we
went back there, and we knew the style that we
were playing against. We knew the type of ball we
were gonna be playing against, you know. So I love
that fact about it, you know, And it did create
that animosity because we did not like them, they did
not like us. We obviously had a whole lot more
hatred for Boston because they were always in our way
(13:48):
than we did Philly. You know, we like, we kind
of liked Philly because they were good guys, but we
couldn't stand the Celtics, Colin, we couldn't stand the Celtics,
you know what I mean, because they were always in
our way and that. And then later on we found
out why when we got the you know, no guys
off the court a little bit more. But you know,
the Boston Celtic Laker rivalry I think was one of
the greatest robberries in all the sports because of the
(14:11):
fact that, like you said earlier, we had that animosity
towards one another and we wanted the same things.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
That was winning championships.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And you were the two best teams. When you look
at the NBA about ten years ago, it started getting
very international. I'm an NBA fan, so I'm an NFL,
NBA college football guy. One of my criticisms on the
NBA for a while, although I think Adam Silver has
tweaked that the aesthetic was just threes. Yeah, and it's
(14:38):
like Anthony Davis should be around the basket. I don't
need Anthony Davis shooting through it. I don't need Pascal
Siakam shooting threes get him around the basket. And I
think the league is moving back towards situational not a
mid range, but the bigs are closer to the rim.
The international players are fascinating because they play against older
men when they're young, and they come to this country
(14:59):
buyer and they're not distracted. They're not in the shoe deals,
they don't want to move around. They come here and
want to play for their team mostly forever. Do you
worry that between AAU basketball are distracted players they go
from G league to one year college, that we're losing
a little bit of the old school field. I like
(15:20):
European players a lot, but the league feels different than
it did twenty five thirty years ago.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
Yeah, European players. You gotta look at a little bit
of history with our American players in the European players,
and I think one of the reasons that European players
have closed that gap so much on basketball, especially the
fundamental part of the calling is because if you look
at AAU players, they place three four games a day
(15:47):
for six seven days a week. They never practice. You
go to Europe, it's total opposite. They practice twice a
day on fundamentals. You know, very few, very few games,
two games maybe a week, but they got two practices,
you know, two a day's every single day, and that
first day every morning is all fundamental works. That's why
you see every big man in Europe that can handle
(16:08):
the ball, can shoot it, can pass it, you know,
a lah the joker, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
That's why that gap has closed so much.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
So I think if we don't, if we're not careful,
you know, especially American basketball, we got to get back
to those fundamentals of playing the game of basketball. And
I think the league and I love the I love
the fact that you have so many international players just
in the league, you know, because they can play. You
got to give them the credit. And you're right, when
they normally come over here, they normally stick with one team,
(16:36):
you know, Dirk now Whiskey one.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
You know, right.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
We're going to stay and be a buck. Right. By
the way, I'm not knocking our guys for mobility, But
if I visit Italy with my.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Life, right, I'm a visitor, right, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I kind of see in the neighborhoods that I kind
of had planned to stay. You know, I'm in La
I can get in the car and go anywhere, right,
So I I like where we're going. So let's talk
about the four teams. You would have done very well
in today's NBA. You were thirty seven percent three balls.
You and Larry Bird were born a little early.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
But I'll tell you a player that's fascinating is that
Luca has done something this year. And he's been scoring
since he was twelve.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, this year they said you gotta defend. Yeah, and Luca,
you can't have the ball in your hands all the time.
That is hard for a brilliant score. And when I
watch him, I'm like, okay, he's got self awareness, Like
I like that part of Luca.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Did you know instantly he was going to be this good?
Speaker 6 (17:40):
No, not even close. I mean I saw him in
Europe and I said, all right, he's good. You know,
he's getting his shot off. You own these guys.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
It's a little bit lower, you know, a lot of
vertical play.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit slower, uh, you know, not
as tall, you know, So I was going to I
was really wondering what he would look like in the NBA,
And it took me probably about six months to say, Okay,
this this guy's pretty damn good. You know, he could score,
he gets to where he wants to go to. But
I think, like you said, you know, his self awareness
and Jay kid, you got to give him a lot
of credit for this as well of letting Luca know that,
(18:11):
you know what will be a much better team if
you're off the ball sometimes and if you're making the
right plays and not looking to score all the time.
And if you look at that Dallas team right now,
that's exactly what you're seeing. You're looking at a great,
willing passer. You know, a guy who can get his
shot at any time he wants, but a guy that
his teammates know now that they that he trusts them
(18:32):
when he makes those passes, it does matter. That's why
you see Dallas in this position at their end of day.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
You know, there was a brief time I always thought
it was overplayed. People talked about small ball, and I'm like,
are we sure small balls not just clay and stuff?
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It didn't win for anybody else, right, right, And now
the league once again it's bigs.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
You and I were talking before the break. It was
Wilt in the Kareem. Everybody had bigs, yea Boblinne, Nate Thurman.
If you didn't have a big, you were the Warriors
with you know, a Clifford Ray where you could win
a title, right or the Celtics with Dave Cowens. Maybe
you could win a title, but you needed at West Unseld,
(19:12):
you needed bigs. It does feel like the small ball thing.
It was fun, but all I'm watching with Dallas now
they brought in size Minnesota, size, Porzingis size, I mean
even Pascal Siaka, Miles Turner Indiana. Did you buy into
small ball? What did you make of it? It doesn't
feel like it had legs.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
No, I'm O school, you know I'm not. You know
you look at a lot of these teams. They talk
about your position this basketball, you know, not putting guards
or forwards, you know, just playing. You just got players
out there playing. I still believe that you need those
gritty guys. You need those guys that's gonna do the
dirty work. You need the Kirk Rampis is like we
have back in the day, to ac greens like we
(19:53):
have back in the day. You need those guys that
are six ten, six eleven seven footers. That's gonna do
all those dirty things for you out there on the
basketball court, you know, setting the hard screens, getting you know,
getting the rebound. So I like the fact that we're
seeing that more. I like the fact that Dallas went
out and got some lively bodies that are long, you know, athletic,
(20:14):
you know.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Six eleven seven footers.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
They can get up around the rim, they can block shots,
to defend because again, it takes a lot of pressure
off of their perimeter players on the defensive end. Luka,
for the first time this year, I've seen make efforts
on that end of the floor. And again self awareness
of understanding that if you want to get us to
a championship, or if you want to win a championship
or have an opportunity, you.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Got to play on both ends of the floor. And
you see he's bowled into that.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The NBA, my entire life Byron scot listening for our
radio audience, has been a player's league. Back to Spencer Heywood. Yeah,
I grew up with my Sonics and my Blazers in
the seventies. It was a players league. Yeah, Now you
cycle through coaches more often. It is what it is. Okay,
I've never I have no envy toward NBA players having
power or money. Load management drives me nuts. I'm a
(21:02):
kid from a small town. Okay, I grew up in
a tiny town. I went to one NBA Game of
Year if Downtown Freddie Brown and Gus Williams weren't available.
And you can say to yourself, well, but it wasn't
on TV when.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
I was a kid, right right.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I hate load management.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
You're not the only one I don't understand. And when
you sign a contract, you don't sign a contract that
stipulates that. Okay, out of the eighty two games in
the regular season, I'm gonna play seventy because I'm gonna
take twelve off because of load management. I need rest.
You sign a contract to play eighty two games. So
if you're just you know, hurt, you know, and you
got an opportunity where you can play, you play that game.
(21:39):
If you're injured, you don't play. I understand that, right.
So this load management bull to me, is just it's
given the players way too much power to be able
to say, you know what, I need the next couple
of games off or next two games off because I'm
just I'm getting tired.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
It don't make sense to me.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Data illustrates or validates, it doesn't help you.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Your efficiency numbers don't change when.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
Yeah, it's a it's a loaded croc, you know, to
be honest with you. So that's how I feel about it.
I'm just not a big fan of load management. I'm
always been a big fan. If you're able to play
play the game.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
And for the record, wasn't there part of playing the
game that you like to show off?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
I mean you want to entertain, you know what I mean.
You want to entertain.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
You want people to come back and say, man, did
you see that that shot of that dunk or that
pass or whatever? You know, And you can't do that
if you're sitting down ten twelve, fifteen games a year.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
You know, the thing that I loved.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
About Kobe Bean Bryant, you know, the late great who
I loved, was a show big times, a showman. But
he played every game that he could play. He didn't
believe in loads management either, you know, I mean he
played games when he was sick. You know that, I
personally the last two years asked him maybe you should
sit this one out. Nope, these people came to see
(22:58):
might be the last time they ever get chance to
see me play, So I gotta go play.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
And that's the type of players you want.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, Yeah, Kobe was. Kobe was one of those players
that was almost an artist. Michael had certain moves that
he went to. He had He's going to go to
the well on about three mid and he was great,
best mid range player in my life. Yeah, Kobe was
more canvas as empty. I'm just gonna spill some players.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
I'm just painted up whichever way it shows up.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
What is it like to coach a player who was
a top five gifted offensive player? Ever, how much do
you coach? How much do you manage? Where did you
land on that?
Speaker 5 (23:38):
I landed on managing? You know what I mean?
Speaker 6 (23:43):
This guy was in the league eighteen years, you know,
twenty at the end of it, where he had been
around and has seen everything that can be thrown at him,
has been in every situation on the basketball court, offensively
and defensively.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
So to me, it wasn't me.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
It was up to me to try to teach him
anything offensively or defensive.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
It is really just to manage.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
You know, to manage his minutes, manage his body, manage
his practice time because at that time in his age
and how many games he had played when you start
including playoff games and things of that nature, He's probably
played thirteen fourteen hundred games in his career, you know.
So I was really just really just trying to just manage,
you know, to make sure that Kobe Brown was able
(24:27):
to play every single night as much as possible. So
from a professional standpoint on teaching, he didn't need to
be taught. He was already he was already there. It
was just really just managing everything.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So the Celtics start Eastern Conference Finals tonight. The East
is really weak. Add in the injuries, it's been a
lab drill.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So Jason Tatum's fascinating. So I've gone to see him
play three times live. I watch a lot of Celtics games.
Obviously a very good player, yes, And I think about
this I grow up with, you know, they grow up
with more of a Jordan Kobe mindset, which is the
game is mine, get out of the way. That's not
always the easiest game to play with, right. Tatum is
(25:08):
very much a hey, your turn. There are times I
went and watched them in Chicago live and he was
one of the only stars that played that night. But
he was very willing if there was a if there
was a defender on him, to go out to Derek
White and let him go. And I think, man, that's
just not what I grew up with. So what is
the line between? Like I wish Tatum was more selfish occasionally,
(25:34):
but if you look at their net ratings offensively, it
doesn't necessarily matter. Where are you on Tatum? His personality
is mentality is game. Where are you on him?
Speaker 6 (25:43):
I love Jason Tatum. I love watching him play the
game of basketball. Like you said, he's a very willing passer.
Sometimes it's just not in a player's makeup to be
that's right, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, where they're going
to take the shot with three guys on him, they
don't care, you know, because they're also willing to take
the hit, you know.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
They're willing to be goat, you.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
Know, and they're also willing to be that sacrificial lamb
at times, you know. So I love his I love
his demeanor on the basketball court. I love the way
he plays the game. But you can't make certain guys
to be the next Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant as far
as their mindset, and he doesn't. I don't think necessarily
have that mindset. I think he will take it if
he has to, you know. But if other guys are
(26:22):
going Jayalen Brown is going, you know, White is hitting shots,
then he's more than willing to pass the ball. So
I don't have a problem with the way he plays
the game. I love the way he plays the game.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I like the way they play the game is.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
Yeah, they play it as a team. Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
You suggested that maybe Lebron could be a player coach. Now,
I grew up with Lenny Wilkins, so I've seen it.
Doug Bill Russell, Lenny Wilkins, Lenny one of the all
time gentlemen in the sport.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Yes, yes, right here right.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
What was the feedback when you said that on a
show and then went out in LA. What was the
feedback you got in your phone by saying.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
That, you know? And I got a lot of feedback
by that.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
A lot of people were saying that, you know, that's
a great idea, but it won't happen, you know. And
then I had some other people that was like, you're crazy.
You know, what do you talk about? He shouldn't be
the coach?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
And was it tongue in a little bit? Was a
poke at Lebron about you know you don't like any
of them, you do it.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
It was a little bit of a poke, but like
you said, it was a little bit of fun but
seriousness as well.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
But I'm the best option to you.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
I like Sam Cassell and I love Mark Jackson.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Mark Jackson, I think is a guy who deserves another
opportunity to coach in this league. Don't know why he's
been sort of blackball from this league for so many years.
If it's not Mark Jackson. I love Sam Cassell because
number one, he's had nothing but experience, you know, on
that bench as a lifelong assistant coach, and everywhere he's
been has done well, you know, the organization has done well.
I think he deserves an opportunity. The name that and
(27:49):
I'm sure Coling you heard his name a bunch as
well as JJ Riddick.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
JJ.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
The only thing I have that I would say that
I have against him coming in right off the streets
to be the electorate head coach.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
She has no experience he's never coached.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
When you got your first job, right, and everybody bails
wat my first time on the air, we're all bailing
water a little with a new job, right. What is
the hardest thing for a guy that's never been a
head coach goes to a head coach in your first
two months, maybe your first two weeks. What is the
thing where you go, Damn, this is tougher than I thought.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
When you have to make every single decision, you know,
it's not a suggestion anymore.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
As an assistant coach a coach.
Speaker 6 (28:30):
You know, I think we could you know, you know,
let's let's read the side, pick and rolls well as
the head coach.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
You know, your word is bond.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
You know, whatever you say goes, you know, so understanding
that everything kind of falls on you.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Sometimes could be overwhelming, you know.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
And I think again, for a guy that's never coached,
I just look at Steve Nash, great player, Hall of Famer,
never coach in his life.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
He goes to Brooklyn. Doesn't work.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
You know, I couldn't get out of there fast, No, no,
I And I really truly think if you have a
year or two on the bench, you know that that
gained experience will help you so much in your next
you know, head coaching or getting a head coaching position
somewhere else or wherever it may be. But going in
there cold Turkey, it's a whole lot tougher than you think.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Well, and also part of Steve Kerr's success has been
a very good group of assistants behind him. That is
also a strength of the new Boston coach. They updated,
they upgraded the staff. Spose always had very strong assistance
behind us. Yes, sometimes when you're the new guy, you're
just trying to tread water. You can't build a staff yet.
That that's hard. Yeah, And Sean McVay for the Rams,
(29:39):
is much better staff builder. It was always a good coach. Yeah,
his staffs now are better than they were his first year. Yeah,
like that's that takes taking a staff, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
But Steve Kerr the one thing that I would say
it is a little bit different than him when he
he jumped out from being you know, doing games to
the coaching coaching ranks. He was in the front off yes, okay,
so he had a chance to be around the organization
of coaches and players all that time. So it wasn't
like he was jumping in cold Turkey. He had been
in situations where he was making decisions on draft picks
(30:11):
and coaches and things of that nature. So it's a
totally different situation of coming from where Steve Kirk came from,
which was the front office, than coming from the booth
and just taking.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Over as a head coach. You look fantastic, Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I'm not even going to guess your age, but I'm
older than you.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Let's just put it that way. Man.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
You are His wife is a nurse and a nutritionist.
Obviously it's blueberries in the morning and fish at night,
because dude, you are playing weight.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
You pretty much guessed that too. That's pretty good. That's
pretty good. Are fish at night? Lots of it too? Great,
great Stehen coach, always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Byron Scott, will take a break heard line next to her.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern nin a im Pacific.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Bali Fosco here with Tony Fuscott. You know, as the
host of the number one rated Polly and Tony Fusco show.
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Piles of it.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Hey, listen to this. Dear Paulie and TONI, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terribly not Wait one, dear
Paulie in TONI, you suck more than anyone. Wait, Dear
Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best. There
you go coming up with the stupidest take forget.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Fusco show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So you love Jason Tatum. I like him a lot.
This is not Tatum. Hey, we're gonna play a game
called Tatum or Tate Out? So fourth quarter? Who would
I want in the big spot? And I will give
you data and see if you can refuse this. You're
ready to go.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
You give me the player and I'll give you Tatum
or Tate out. Jason Tatum or Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
This is one of the tougher ones. But all go
Anthony Edwards because what I saw fifty four percent from
three point range in the fourth quarter this postseason. So
he can be a bit of a streaky shooter, but
he has been best in the biggest spots. Fourth quarter,
reshooting fifty seven percent and fifty four from three. I'm
(32:21):
gonna give him a slight edge over Tatum. Tatum or
shake Gilgess Alexander. Now, this isn't a hard one. Sga
is a more aggressive offensive player, and the data shows
you he's plus twenty eight in the postseason fourth quarter,
his highest plus minus of any quarter, so he is
(32:41):
more reliable. Tatum has his worst plus minus minus twenty
three in the fourth quarter this postseason. So literally they're opposites,
all right, Jason Tatum or Luca Dantee Luca Okay, let
let's he is. I think it's fair to say he
is the world's best shot maker right now, that's fair
(33:06):
to say. All right, look at sorry, Jason Tatum or
Jalen Brunson. Jalen Brunson as a fourth quarter player. Brunson
leading scorer in the fourth quarter this postseason and not
surrounded by a lot of outs. Everybody in the world
knows Brunson's getting the ball. There's no there's no Jalen Brown,
there's no Derek White in the corner. It's a it's
(33:29):
a cobble together lineup with a defensive coach and Brunson
leads the fourth quarter in scoring he did when he
was still playing me Tatum or Kyrie Irvy. Now, I
think Kyrie is the best closer of his generation, both hands.
Now he can go a little sideways, but so can Tatum.
Last night, not a pointer or a field goal in
nine minutes in the fourth quarter. Also, Kyrie has his
(33:52):
fewest turnovers in the postseason, and this matters because he
has the ball a lot. So Kyrie and Halliburton's usually
pretty good at this wasn't last night. Halliburton's a low
turnover guy. Last night was a mess, big spot for
the team. But Kyrie has been very efficient late and
no turnovers.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Jason Tatum wore the Lakers new build around guy Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Jason Tatum, I would take Anthony Davis. I believe he
is such a strident defender. He is such a key
defender against Biggs that I think Ad sometimes feels worn
down in the fourth quarter. He had his lowest scoring
average three and a half points and his lowest field
goal percentage thirty six percent in the fourth quarter of
(34:34):
this postseason. So the data tells you Ady gets worn down,
and offensively he takes a step back late.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
All right, Tatum Moore, fifty seven year old Lebron James
one possession.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
It's not close. I take Lebron. Lebron led the NBA
in fourth quarterbaskets this year. Now you can knock him
for not Owa's being there. He sort of regressed badly
on defense. He's doing more podcasting than defending these days.
But we were a fourth quarter bucket. Lebron's fantastic. He
is a great closer, right, Tatum or Steph Curry? Well,
(35:06):
Steph Curry won He didn't play in the big playoffs,
but he won Clutch Time Player of the Year in
the NBA. Yeah, so you didn't argue with that. The
Luca and Curry, you're not even arguing Tatum or Devin Booker. Well,
I would say Tatum because Booker is no longer the
number one scoring option for the Suns, Katie is, So
I think that's I think Tatum's more of a go
to guy for the night fourth So then Tatum or Durant.
(35:30):
Durant is still in that Luca class is one of
the world's best shot makers, especially late in the clock. Katie,
I've got my issues with him sometimes. I think he's
a bit of a wanderer, but Kad was the leading
scorer in the fourth quarter in NBA playoff history behind
I'm gonna read this, third leading scorer in the fourth
quarter in NBA playoff history behind. MJ is one of
(35:53):
the players he's behind. Yeah, Tatum ranks fifty to ninth
in fourth quarter scoring average at NBA playoff History's Jason
Tatum or Jamal Murray. Well, I think Jamal. I think
we saw it in the postseason. Jamal is not as
good as Tatum, but in terms of a big shot
maker late, Murray had his highest field goal percentage in
(36:16):
the fourth quarter of this postseason. So whereas Ad gets
worn down, Jamal Murray with Jokic carrying the load, often
has a lot of gas left in the tank and
is a very good shot maker late. I don't think
that's a reach. I think that's especially late game shot making.
Tatum or Nicola jokicch Well, I'm gonna go with the
(36:36):
best player in the world, and then Tatum or Jalen
Brown come on, Tatum. Yeah, Brent Brown averages its few
as points assists, but I also think Brown is an
energy guy that plays on the defensive end. Sometimes these
guys that really give you a defensive effort, like Lebron,
by the way, led the NBA and fourth quarter buckets.
Lebron doesn't he doesn't use a lot of his energy
(36:57):
on the defensive side. I would say Braun tends to
be sort of he's got his foot off the pedal.
He's saving energy for the fourth which is not a
bad It's actually very smart as you age as a player.
Pick your spots. Mj was great at that, pick your spots.
Bird was great at that. So again Jason over ad,
Tatum over Booker, Tatum over Brown. But the numbers, now,
(37:20):
the one that people will push back on could be
Anthony Edwards because what do I know one, but he is.
The numbers tell you a story that he was at
his best field going three points. So I'm gonna go
with the data. Like I saw a story this morning.
Everybody's like, the economy is terrible, and then they go
back and they look at unemployment and they look at
(37:41):
all the the GDP and everybody's like, well, it's not
really terrible. The data said, it's not terrible. We have inflation.
But I'm these data is telling me, these are the
right choices? Are you? Which one of all these bothers
you the most.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
I'll let our next guest handle this, because I mean, Colin,
you take like seventy five guys over Jason Tatum and
the clutch.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Let me realize here, Come on, he's a top five
player in the league. He's an All NBA guy. I
can't do this. Did you watch that nine minutes where
he didn't well.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
I watched the overtime when he won the game for them,
didn't get to overtime without Jamis Feller, brown lucky shot.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yes, all right,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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