July 5, 2024 • 42 mins
Jason McIntyre steps in for Colin and explains why despite the Cowboys haven't played in an NFC Championship game since 1995 they're still clearly America's Team
Could LeBron James come off the bench for U.S. team in Paris?
Guest: Sam Amick
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hello, and welcome to
The Herd.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Hope everybody had a safe, funfilled July fourth. It's me
Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowhard, my last day subven
in for the big guy. He's back next week. I
will not be here next week, so on my final
day of the week, I'm joined by Alex Curry. Alex,
how you doing? That was your July fourth?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
It was great? It was wild. I got home and
there was already a party at my house what I
get from being married to a rock star. But we
did like a cruise down the strand. It was wild
in her most of each and then it sounded like
we were hearing like firework explosions from five pm to
five am. Could you hear him from class?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Horrible nights?
Speaker 4 (01:08):
That was wild. It was wild, so much fun.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
If I'm off my game today. I'm gonna blame the
fireworks and the LA parties that were happening all night.
I tried to go to bed early, and you know,
I didn't quite work out. But I woke up this
morning to some news from my I mean my bff, right,
the former NFL MVP. I'll call him a frenemy, Cam Newton.
My goodness, Cam Newton chiming in here on the Dallas
(01:32):
Cowboys and Dak Prescott A shocking development. So obviously, listen,
we know the Cowboys have been America's team for what
going on fifty years now. I mean, they haven't been
totally dominant in the last twenty. But I've got some
good news for Cowboys fans. It's not all terrible news
off the heels of the Dak Prescott walking boot photo yesterday.
But Cam Newton decided on his podcast, you know he's
(01:54):
new to this media space, that he's declaring the Cowboys
should not be a America's team just because we're calling
them the America's team. It should be the Chiefs because
Taylor Swift is dating Travis Kelce. Oh okay. Cam had
a roundabout way of essentially saying that America's team, Like,
(02:16):
why are we doing that? And Cam has spoken, so
we should all listen. Well, Cam is kind of new
to this media thing, so I'm gonna fill you in
a little bit here, Camp. The New England Patriots were
winners for two decades. They had a dynasty with Brady
and Belichick. They want to I think Brady won seven
Super Bowls. They were never America's team. It just didn't take.
(02:37):
As a matter of fact, if you ask me, they
were hated outside of New England. People were tired of
that dynasty. So just because right now the Kansas City
Chiefs have won three Super Bowls in five years and
Travis Kelce's dating Taylor's with it doesn't make them America's team.
It's still the Cowboys, a blue blood franchise which you know,
(02:57):
dating back to the seventies, has always been on top
of the NFL. And listen, they play on Thanksgiving every year.
For a reason, the Dallas Cowboys haven't had back to
back losing seasons since two thousand and two. Folks, the
Cowboys have been really, really good. Just because they haven't
had postseason success, it doesn't mean we should strip the
(03:20):
America's team. Moniker from Dallas. All I know is when
I was a young NFL fan in the nineties and
the Cowboys were dominant, and then the Internet comes up
and you got the starter jackets. Everybody was a Cowboys fan, everyone,
not just teenage girls under thirteen who loved the Chiefs
now because of Taylor Swift. I don't know, Cam, it
(03:40):
just felt a little weird like you were trying to
I don't know, engagement farm. Perhaps. I think JJ Reddick
would be proud here in the down season in the NFL,
you're engagement farming using the Cowboys to kind of cut through.
But Cam, that's just not how it works. Dallas is
America's team. You want to go look at the NFL schedule.
Boys in the early window four times all season. Why
(04:03):
is that? Oh, it's because everybody wants their eyeballs on
the Cowboys. They're in primetime all the time, They're in
the four PM window all the time because they got
fans all over America. Hell, Cam, I don't know if
you noticed, but on July fourth, a photo emerged with
Dak Prescott in a protective walking boot, and the NFL
(04:25):
media went to deaf Con one. It was panic time,
and everybody freaked out, Oh my gosh, oh here he
is Jack Prescott a walking boot? What Trey Lance is
you're gonna be starting week one? Like people went ballistic,
they lost their minds over a photo of Dak Prescott
in a walking boot, Like, this is America's team, This
(04:47):
is what they are, Cam, And you know, we'll talk
to someone later in the show, a great guest who
actually has texted with Cam. Sorry with Dak Prescott about
the injury. It was preventative. He was going fishing. Stand down, everybody.
It's gonna be okay. But this is what comes with
the territory of America's team. I know, you know Cam
(05:08):
is not as high on Dak Prescott as I am.
And Cam is the king of hot takes and hats.
Dak Prescott right now has led the Cowboys to three
straight twelve win seasons. I think he should get paid.
Here's Greg Cosell talking about Dak Prescott as we enter
the season.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
At his core, what he is is he's an executor
and a ball distributor and he's good at it.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
Now.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Obviously, when you get into the playoffs and play better
defenses depending on who you're playing, you, you really have
to be efficient. One of the issues they have, and
they're going to have it this year, is the run game.
They do not have a running back. If you look
at what Ezekiel Elliot's tape has shown the last two years,
he's certainly not a back that can carry two hundred
(05:55):
and thirty or two hundred and forty times. And Dak
because of the style of quarterback that he is at
this point, as I said, a distributor, he needs a
complete offense. He needs a run game to be effective.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, we all do. That was from the Ross Tucker podcast,
Greg co so good stuff. He comes on this show,
as you guys know, but listen, I'm not as down
on Dak as everyone else. Obviously it's a massive season
with the McCarthy situation looming. Ceedee Lamb, Michaeh Parsons. I'm
not saying Dak Prescott is some world beater. I think
he's good. I think he's a top ten to eleven
quarterback in the league. But to try to steal the
(06:32):
Monikers a job, Dallas is no longer America's team camp. Hey,
I know you're new to this media stuff, but nice try.
It's a bit of a miss. Let's move to the NBA,
where Lebron James and all the biggest stars in the
league will descend upon Vegas for USA Basketball training camp.
They will train in Vegas this week, then they will
battle Canada, I believe next week and as a tune
(06:55):
up for the Olympics. But at training camp, you guys
can take a guess with the biggest story, he's gonna
be thirty nine year old Lebron James. And boy, what
a rough summer for Lebron Huh? I mean goodness, gracious,
the guy hand picks the lakers next head coach his
podcast buddy. Then he gets the Lakers to draft his
son in the second round to give him a big
(07:16):
fat contract. You you can it's dripping with hate, folks,
you know it's coming. And then Lebron says I'll take
less to bring in free agents. And then they don't
get anyone. Oh wow, you know the media, the ink
stained wretches who are gonna be covering this team in Vegas?
It could get ugly. A lot of these guys grew
(07:37):
up Michael Jordan's sick of fans younger in the nineties.
They love Jordan. They're not huge fans of Lebron, and
you know the media loves to build people up and
then tear them down. And it is coming, folks. Do
you see the article that dropped this morning? I don't
know if you saw it. Big question, So is Lebron
gonna come off the bench for Team USA? The pylon begins,
(08:02):
they're coming after the King, you know, the saying from
the wire, you come at the King, you best not miss.
People are now speculating should Lebron come off the bench
for Team USA? This stacked team? I mean, obviously Joel
and Beiegle start at center. Right, we got that. You
got Steph Curry is your point guard. Here's the roster
we got on FS one. Probably need Kevin Durant as
(08:24):
your stretch for okay, so that's three spots. Then you
need a lockdown wing defender. Well that's not Lebron, that's
probably Kawhi Leonard, right, he's healthy allegedly, Steve Kerr says
he's healthy. Whatever, And then you'll need like a shooting
guard to fill it up, maybe a d book Anthony Edwards.
You want to get very defensive Drew Holliday. Maybe it's
all matchup dependent. When they play France, and oh my gosh,
(08:45):
I can't wait for that game. Gobert and one Ben
Yama are working together right now as the starter for France.
That is an impenetrable back line and USA will have
to counter with Embiid and Anthony Davis probably starting. But
all of this, which is a way roundabout way of saying, shucks,
it should Lebron come off the bench, and you know
(09:06):
there's somebody sitting there stewing. Just wait, I'm gonna come
off the bench. Really, you guys are sending me to
Paris so I can come off the bench. You think,
how's Lebron gonna take that? And folks, we're at this
weird space now, and we'll get to in depth a
little shortly where once the athletes get near the end,
(09:27):
it starts to become open season on them because the
media has been, you know, ball washing these guys for
two decades and now all of a sudden, it's am
Lebron thirty nine. Now it's weird because in the eighties,
you know, Magic obviously had to retire early, Larry Bird's injuries,
he was done in his early to mid thirties. Isaiah
Thomas just up and retired before he was even thirty five.
(09:48):
Jordan quit two times by well before the age of
thirty nine. So it's like Lebron's playing at third. We
should be applauding him and excited that he's still around
and playing at such a high all NBA level, averaging
twenty five, seven and seven or whatever the numbers are.
And now you guys are trying to drive him to
the bench. Listen, we know that commanding control of a
(10:12):
team and the court and just owning everything is a
space of basically three guys in the NBA right now,
three people do it better than anyone. Anybody could score,
anybody can be a pure point guard, anybody can rebound,
but when you've got somebody who does all those Nikola Jokic,
Luka Doncic and Lebron James, they're still the three best
(10:33):
at totally controlling all the pieces on the chess board.
They've got everything, manipulating defenses. They're the three best at it.
Two of those guys they're not playing for USA obviously,
and by the way, Luka Doncic has a seismic battle
against Giannis tomorrow. One of those two teams, Greece or
Slovenia will not make the Olympics, and I'm sure their
(10:54):
NBA coach will be thrilled that they get a rest
in the summer. But other than Luka and Yokich were
I think like thirteen years twelve thirteen years Lebron's junior.
Lebron is better than anyone on Team USA at manipulating defenses.
Steph Curry has the gravitational pull that you've got to
guard him on the perimeter. He'll be hitting thirty footers. Okay,
(11:16):
But like Kawhi, Leonard doesn't do this stuff Lebron does.
He's a great defender, and he's a good mid range guy. Okay,
probably great mid range but fine, whatever. Like I like
Jason Tatum a lot, he doesn't do all the things
Lebron does. Although the playmaking was kind of unlocked in
the finals, he looked great, in my opinion, led the
Celtics and assists, But you need Lebron out there. I
(11:38):
cannot envision a scenario where Lebron's coming off the bench
for this team. It would take some big kahonas from
Steve Curtisay, yeah, Lebron, we're gonna go give me the
sixth man. In Paris. I don't see a world where
that's happening. I do see a world. Yeah, Lebron's not
the shooter. Kevin Durant is right, and you want to
stretch those defenses. You know, they'll pack the paint in
(11:58):
the Olympics. With the Feebo rules, it's gonna be fascinating.
I don't see a scenario where Lebron comes off the bench,
but certainly it's got to be in play in certain
individual matchups, like I would sooner start Drew Holliday at
the two and have him defend wings, and then I'd
have Lebron in there for offense. But we'll see Steve
Kerr hash options. You look at the roster and it's
(12:20):
like this team is stacked. They're loaded, you know, bam Adebayo,
try Reese Halliburton, these are end of the bench guys
and they're like top tier dudes in the NBA. There's
a loaded team, and I just it's gonna get weird
if the media starts pushing should Lebron come off the bench?
We already saw one article this morning. I hope we
don't see anymore. So alex USA Basketball, I'm fired up
(12:43):
about it. Starts in Vegas. Are you going back to
Vegas Nations?
Speaker 6 (12:46):
No?
Speaker 4 (12:46):
No, no, not right now. But the interesting thing about
these super teams is everyone's gonna have to put their
egos aside right and do what's best for America. And
they have a great leader and Steve Kerr he's gonna
do what's best at that time. The point is, I mean,
he made a point this morning in one of the articles.
He said, if everyone else is getting better than the US,
has to find ways to do the same right. So
(13:06):
whatever it's going to take in that moment, Steve Kerr
is the right guy for the job. He is what
the most recent coach of the most recent dynasty that
we've had in the NBA. He works with superstars. I'm
confident that he'll do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It's just weird to hear is do the right thing
meaning bench Lebron or have him come.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
On to win. The right thing is to win gold.
That's all that matters. When you go to the Olympics,
you do whatever you need to do to win gold.
You gotta put egos aside. What is our best chance
to win this game right now? And that's what it
has to be.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Fun storyline for USA Training Camp. All right, coming up next, folks,
two global superstars are kind of on the struggle bus.
Is it the end of the era for our first
social media superstars in sports? That's next.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
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Speaker 3 (14:01):
All right, Well, you guys were out last night watching fireworks.
I was watching fireworks on the soccer field Argentina Ecuador
thrilling match in Copa America, and a very weird thing happened.
So Ecuador scores in stoppage time to force pks and
Leonel Messi first stop everybody, obviously, oh Messi penalty kick,
gets a lock and he hit the crossbar. If you're
(14:26):
here watching on FS one, look at this.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
It was stunning.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
At first, I thought it went right in. I was like,
wait a minute, he missed. It was one of those
shocking moments Messi, and at that point Ecuador had the momentum.
You're like, holy cow, is Argentina gonna lose? They end
up prevailing, but Messi missing the PK was pretty much
the story of the game, and it's been a weird
COOPA for Messi. Obviously the greatest player ever to play
soccer in the history of the sport. He's won everything
(14:51):
known to man. Okay, well, he was incredible in that
thrilling World Cup final against France, a memorable game. Messi's
the goat, okay, but he hasn't.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Scored in COPA.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
He's a little dinged up. And listen, he just turned
thirty seven years old. He's getting up there in age.
It's not just Messy though. Later today you're.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Gonna get you.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Guys are gonna watch Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal battle France
in the Euros and maybe this is Cristiano Ronaldo's final
euro tournament. Now, if you watch the last game they
played in in extra time, he missed a penalty kick
and broke out in tears on the field. Again, Ronaldo
(15:30):
and Messi, these are two humongous global stars missing in
key spots now they are late in their career. And
it got me thinking. So social media pretty much exploded,
and it's tough to pin down the exact day, but
somewhere in like the two thousand and seven, eight to
twenty ten range, somewhere in there you know you go,
(15:51):
YouTube really popped, Instagram, Twitter, Those were like the big
social media moments in about that that two thousand and
eight to two and ten. Range and who were the
big time stars. Lionel Messi was emerging as a superstar.
Cristiano Ronaldo same deal. He was kind of a little
more advanced at that Staye a couple of years older
(16:11):
than Messi. And then in the NBA you had Steph
Curry with Davidson, and then the Golden State Warriors you
had Kevin Durant and you had Lebron James. All these
guys are around the same age thirty five, thirty six
to thirty nine, and they emerged just as social media
was popping. They were the first iteration of social media stars.
(16:34):
It was an immersive experience. Lebron turns Taco Tuesday into
a thing. I know, taco people had talked about Taco
Tuesday before Lebron was doing it every Tuesday and yelling
Tacco Tuesday, and it became a thing and you and
your family us kind of sort of sometimes it was
a deal. Lebron did that because we were along for
(16:54):
the ride. Leonel Messi, I don't know if you guys
know this. His dog is like followed around and photographed
and a huge deal in Argentina his dog. Okay, Christiano Ronaldo.
Every summer he takes him and his hot wife and
their kids. They go on a yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean.
Some were exotic and beautiful and he's living the dream
(17:15):
and you know, the photographers are capturing it. He's putting
it on his ig. You feel like you're on vacation
with the guy. You feel close to Ronaldo and then
you maybe see the hotel they're at and you're like, ooh,
let me follow that hotel in case one day. What
I'm a baller, I'll check it out.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I mean Steph Curry, folks. You guys don't have kids
at home. I talk about this on my podcast all
the time. Steph Curry does some of the best coolest
new age workouts I've ever seen. And I'm a gonna lie,
as my son likes to say, no cap When Steph
Curry gets this little blue device that lights up and
there's five of them and you do it to improve
(17:51):
your quick touchability. Well, guess who went out and got it,
your boy, Yes, I did. I went and got it
and I'm doing drills with it during COVID with my
kids on the basketball court, and we're like copying Steph
Curry's workouts because we can. We knew nothing about Michael
Jordan back in the day. Oh he gambles, Magic Johnson.
We just did not have that same experience.
Speaker 7 (18:14):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Diego Maradona was a little different because he was, you know,
everywhere and on every newspaper and magazine. But nevertheless, we're
getting an inside look through social media at these stars.
Kevin Durant essentially bert that you the real MVP meme
where he's crying and talking about his mom, that that
stuff has never happened before in the history of sports.
(18:36):
It's now a thing, and it's just this weird moment.
And I kind of am rambling here. But when you
look at these global icons, Messi Ronaldo and these guys
have social media followings that dwarf anyone in the NFL
and Major League Baseball sid even close. They are global icons.
Steph Curry shows up in Uh Positano and everybody's stopping
(18:57):
what they're doing and oh, Curry, let me get in
the mix. Curry came to my gym, and you see
these moms going up. Oh, Steph, can I have a photo?
Of course, yes, I went and got one. I posted it.
This is years ago, but it's like, these guys are different,
and you feel, thanks to social media, like you're along
with them, and now they're all kind of sort of
coming to an end. They're still great. Curry is still
amazing player, Christiano Ronaldo is still very very good, messy awesome.
(19:21):
But it just feels a little I'm a little wistful
that the good old days are ending for these global
icons and you know, they were, they were with us
all along on social media, and I'm kind of going
to miss them when they're gone. Let's go to Alex Curry.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
With the news.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
No, no, turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
That's a good remembering the greats out there. We've talked
about this. We're in a transition period of some of
our all time superstars are at the end of their careers,
and as you said, it's been fun to kind of
watch their entire journeys and be along with it. Well,
let's start with the Lakers here, because they took a
gamble hiring JJ Reddick as their head coach with no
previous NBA code experience, and it's clear that Lebron has
(20:02):
his new coaches back, but what about the rest of
the team. Shaq said that he thinks getting the other
players to buy in is going to be one of
Reddick's toughest tests for me.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
As a player. If I didn't respect the coach, it
was easy for me to turn my one hundred percent down.
Let me explain, I'm gonna give you a hundred anyway,
but if it's a situation where I know we're not
going to go hundreds, is hard to maintain. But my
question is you have Lebron's respect, he's ticking up for you.
(20:36):
What about the other guys that that's gonna be the test.
I don't think I could play for a guy who
I just played against four or five years ago. Oh,
I don't think I can do it.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
I think the big tell is going to be how
Anthony Davis feels about all of this, right, because he's
the number two on the team, the quote future of
the team, and there were reports before the Lakers officially
hired JJ that he wasn't one hundred percent on the decision,
but Shack went on to share that he made that
example of I go one hundred percent with guys and
(21:07):
coaches like Phil Jackson, but like one of the greatest
coaches of our generation, he goes, you come in, You're
going to get a hundred percent. So, yeah, this is
going to be one of the many uphill battles for
JJ Reddick. He was just in the league a handful
of years ago, right, so is he going to get
that respect from the players of I can look at
you as my head coach opposed to appear. Another uphill
(21:31):
battle is getting the Lakers back to a championship or
bus team because that's the Lakers way, and then developing
the Lebron and Bronni relationship on the court. So there's
a lot of factors here, but I'm curious to hear
from Anthony Davis, like I think AD is going to
be the big kind of help set the tone with
Lebron for JJ and the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
It's a good point on AD. I hadn't thought about
that because AD wasn't at the press conference. I think
Lebron was there when Bronny was there. Yeah, interest to
AD will be at the Vegas camp for USA Basketball,
so maybe someone will ask him there.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Probably I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I think Ad, You're right, is probably the one to
be not concerned but curious, whereas the other guys are
all like in their twenties and they listen to Lebron. Yeah,
and they also probably watched JJ Reddick when they were
like twelve years old being an awesome shooter, one of
the top shooters in the league for I don't know,
a decade, So I wouldn't worry too much about the
young guards.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
No, it's gonna be Anthony Davis.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, but does Anthony Davis have the poll that Shack died?
And remember the big knock on sheck from Kobe Alex
was that Kobe was like, you're never in shape, You're
never trying, you could be the best player.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
They were both like two superstars who wanted to be
the biggest superstar. So they butt heads there. But this
is Lebron an AD's team, still, right, That's why they
gave Ad the big contract. So it's is Ad going
to buy in as much as Lebron? And when if
he does, can he lead by example to all the
other guys on the.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Team if you want to get really sinister, Not that
I do. AD wanted James Barrego, who didn't get a
head coaching job because he knew him from prior years.
What if the Lakers got Reddick for like a good
one or two years and they know A D is
not gonna love him and Ad will want out, and
then they just pressed the entire reset button with no
(23:20):
stars and start over and you move Ad out. I
mean that's a little wrong.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
So what we've seen from the Lakers, they haven't had
a coach since Phil Jackson, lasts longer than three seasons.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
So it's I would predict JJ Reddick lasts longer than Ad.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
WHOA, Yeah, I don't okay.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I mean, how's Ad gonna age given his injuries history?
And just like is he is he at thirty five
going to be as good as he was last year?
I don't think so. Like Lebron aging is fine, Yeah,
I don't know that AD's going to age the way
like look at some of these other centers shack at
thirty five, go look them on.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
So there's a lot of questions around the Lakers, and
a good chunk of them are centering around a D
right now. Yeah, yeah, so it's gonna be interesting. Let's
move to the NFL where c J. Stroud made a
statement in his rookie season, leaving the Texans in his
second season, and wide receiver Tank Dell is confident that
Stroud is on the track to be one of the
top quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 7 (24:13):
For sure.
Speaker 8 (24:13):
Feel like CJ got the opportunity to be the best
quarterback in the league. Not me J saying it because
who he is to me, but just like what I'm
seeing him do every each and every week, I feel
like CJ got to just keep doing what he's doing
to bridge the gap between him and my homes man,
because he's not gonna lie my home special man. It's
for sure gonna be a lot of work to get
(24:34):
have to be put in with seven. But I just
feel like if he just keep doing what he doing,
he on the right path.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I mean, even yesterday when we were talking about our
top tier quarterbacks, I had CJ. Stroud in like my
top third tier. Yeah, there's a handful of the tier threes,
but I mean this is after year one, He's the
reigning offensive rookie of the Year. Now, sophomore seasons are
very tough, right, this is going to be kind of
(25:03):
the big next step for CJ. Because you're not a
surprise team anymore. Everybody knows you're great, won the division.
You're gonna have a target on your back. Can you
continue doing this?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Now?
Speaker 4 (25:14):
They did pick up some solid offensive weapons. They got
Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon. So, I I.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Mean, I like him picking up for his quarterback. Obviously,
I think he could be the best. I would hope,
you know, if the staff here they get questions from
the media Jason McIntyre, how about Well, I think he
can be the best. Host up your guy. You want
to keep it up for your guy.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
But even when like yesterday I talked about this, Patrick
Mahomes was talking about what quarterbacks when you're not playing,
are you watching? He said Burrow Lamar Allen and c J. Stroud. Yeah,
so he is a top guy. Even in the top
guy's minds.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
He was tremendous. I could say this. Nobody saw him
doing that as a nobody. I don't care who's the
big CJ. Straft and nobody saw him being that good
with those receivers. He didn't even have a great group
of receivers, which is incredible. Yeah, he is amazing.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Now, Kimys this year, I don't.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I mean same, No, he should be better adding digs
unless Diggs is a headache. Schedule is a little tougher, ye,
but yeah, CJ. Stroud no signs of slowing down.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It was Bryce Young.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Number one easily when AFC South again Stroud too.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Bryce Young has only room for improvement. Yeah, and I
think Stroud has room for improvement. Right, you could get
he could be better.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
He was excellent, won a playoff game against the Browns.
Maybe a little further.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Joe Flacca was really horrendous there, but Stroud was.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Good comeback player of the year off the couch.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Yes, indeed that was incredible.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Okay to the NFC North, the Vikings moved on from
Kirk Cousins and drafted JJ McCarthy to be their quarterback
of the future. He's battling with Sam Darnold right now.
May not start right away, but teammates are already seeing
the potential New Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman, who was Zach
Wilson and c J. Stroud during their rookie campaigns, and
McCarthy came in eager to learn and has shown he's
(27:08):
a leader now. Cashman also said he thinks that JJ
is going to be a great player for a long time.
Speaker 9 (27:14):
Now.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
The good thing about JJ is he's coming from a
great coach in Jim Harbaugh. He is a winner. He
know what it takes to win and succeed. He's coming
in to a pretty solid setup. Olney as one of
the one of the greatest receivers in Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
In the league.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
He is set up to succeed. But again, like he
doesn't have to start week one. They also have Sam
Darnold competing for the job. Do you see him starting
week one?
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
It sounds like no. But by the way, what's what's
gonna be a great player? Why not just say he's
a great player? Is he not that good right now?
But he's good.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Any transition from college to the pros is going to
take a moment to learn the playbook. Get used to
NFL sized guys coming at you. We even saw Caleb Williams.
They were saying, you know all the reports that came
out in mini camp is he's a little slow, a
little behind. It's like, yeah, give these guys a beat.
They're learning a completely new system in a new league.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yeah, I like McCarthy, you got a good coach, Like
you said, good Web. Jordan Addison's also out there as
a receiver. They're gonna be They're gonna be solid. Six
seven wins. I just I don't know that it's gonna
happen this year. That being said, a lot of people
have doubted McCarthy his entire time in Michigan, and all
he kept doing is win.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Yeah. They're in a tough division though, Lions Packers.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, that makes it tears.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
With Caleb Williams, like a lot of pressure there.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Well, you could also argue there's really no pressure. Especially
if Donald starts. It's like, Okay, we drafted him, but
we're a year away. We're just gonna trot out Darnold
for the first time.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah, he's just paid, justin Jefferson, the biggest contract for
a wide receiver. Like, he's gonna want to win. They're
gonna want to win.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
The whole Mahomes sitting has ruined the idea of oh
we should just sit a year. Look look at what
it did for Patrick Mahomes, Like, let's settle down. There's
also quarterbacks who have sat.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Also, Jordan loves he sat, He sat alongside and came
out had a great but first official starting season, and
now he's lining up to get a big payday.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean I'd like to see McCarthy play. Actually,
the best way to get better is to play, and
I can get better sitting on the bench, So I'd
like to see him play. Yeah, I'm rooting for Alex.
Hurry with the news.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
All right, could Lebron actually come off the bench for
Team USA? We'll ask a writer next.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern a em Pacific.
Speaker 9 (29:41):
Hey, it's Ben hosting The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller
with me and a lot to have you join us
on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's
name is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a
spin off of it Ben Maler show, a Colt hit
overnights on FSR.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Why should you listen?
Speaker 9 (29:57):
Picture if you will a world will? We chat with
captains of Ben in media, sports and more every week
explore some amazing facts about human nature and more.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Listen to the Fifth Hour with.
Speaker 9 (30:07):
Ben Maler on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your podcasts and a.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Good guess he's covered the NBA for a long time.
Sam Amck of The Athletic Big Piece this week on
Clay Thompson picking the MAVs over the Lakers. It hurt.
It hurts, Sam, How are you?
Speaker 7 (30:25):
I would go to j Mac, thank you for having me, sir.
You know I'm here for you and your feeling.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Let's talk about Yeah. You know, listen when Lebron said
he'd take less than the max, I thought there was
a hope that the Lakers could could add somebody like
like a Klay Thompson, and ultimately Clay made the decision
taking the MAVs. You could argue the Lakers dodgeabullet, but
I'm curious the thought process on the MAVs. Talk me
through it.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Yeah, I mean the obvious basketball stuff is another guy
to stretched the floor with Luca and Kyrie championship pedigree.
You know we kind of saw and I'm be a
sucker for this stuff. The way that Kyrie did bring
a different mentality to that group as the only guy
who had won a championship on that Mavericks roster. This
(31:10):
to me, now, adding a guy who's won four, who
was part of a fantastic dynasty and who's got a
lot of motivation now because he doesn't feel great about
the way the Warriors kind of sent him out. You know,
I think it'll be a good fit. Defensively, the question
is can Clay recapture some of what he used to have,
you know, before those two devastating injuries. But you know,
they're just trying to add to what they had from
(31:31):
before and build off what they did on that finals run.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Do you have the MAVs as the best team in
the West right now? I know Minnesota brings back. Basically,
everyone had a good draft, OKC had a just a
bonker summer, adding Caruso Hartenstein, how do you shape up
the top of the West?
Speaker 7 (31:48):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, my mind went to OKC first,
which is counterintuitive for me because last year I was
one of the people that was really slow to believe
that they could really make an impact. But you had Hardenstein,
Caruso is a fantastic two way player, obviously an elite defender.
I love what they did. We can't forget about the Nuggets,
even though they had a pretty tough summer, losing KCP
(32:09):
and then Minnesota. I think it's all about Anthony Edwards
and does that ascension continue, does he figure out the
nuances of superstardom that I think kind of tricked him
up late in the postseason last year. The West is
obviously pretty stacked.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah, let's go to the East and Paul George real quick.
I don't know. He's bounced around the league now a
few times, and everywhere he goes it's like, oh, Paul
George makes some instant contenders and then it doesn't really materialize.
I mean, heck, we even saw Bradley Beal go to
the Suns and I thought they would go to the
finals and it was like, didn't quite work. Damian Lillard
last summer to the Bucks. Oh, the Bucks favorite in
(32:45):
the East. It feels like that model's kind of dead,
the three star model.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
I hear you. I mean you took the words right
out of my mouth not to say it won't work.
I think at minimum, it's going to take some time.
And that's what we learned this past season. You look
at not little apples to Oranges, but Minnesota and the
way that the Ruder Gobert trade took two years to
kind of bake and figure out and for the t
Wolves to be better the MAVs with Kyrie, we were
(33:10):
ready to kind of cut the cord on that after
the first season with them together. The Suns maybe can
figure it out this year. The Bucks maybe, But if
you look at Philly, I think the takeaway, if you're
going to use that logic, is that it might take
a little while. First of all, they got an entire
roster to build out. They still have a lot of
work to do. All that being said, for me, jmac
(33:30):
I was giving a big time thumbs up on that
move because Daryl Morey had put himself in a position
where it was kind of an all or nothing proposition.
It was a high stakes situation where if they didn't
get Paul, then you've got thirty year old Joel Embiid
yet again looking around wondering who is You know, co
stars are going to be Tyree Snaxy's amazing, but they
needed more so for them, I think it was a
(33:53):
fantastic move, all.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Right, Sam, this is a tough one. Yesterday I did
my top ten players in the NBA right now, and
you know, we had Eddie House on and he was
apoplectic that I left Jalen Brown off the list, and
I had Jason Tatum in there. Here's my top ten currently.
Obviously people did not like Yokic second, but there seems
to be a lot of consternation that Kevin Durant was
(34:15):
left off. His agent went on the Instagram and was like, unhappy.
Just nonsense. I'm just curious my top ten. Obviously you're
I'm a big boy. I can take it. You love it,
you hate it? Who am I missing? No?
Speaker 7 (34:29):
I mean the KD one is tough, you know, Lebron.
I really feel like we need to kind of look
at the film and really break down. His numbers were
incredible last year. We got to make sure that we're not,
you know, rating him as damn he's good for a
thirty nine year old, you know what I mean, Like
he's he's to get on this list, you have to
be the best and the best, and I don't know
if he's above KD at this point up at the top,
(34:51):
j MAG, I think that that that's probably still got
Joker number one fair. I know he didn't get the
job done in the playoffs, but Luca and some of
those moments in the finals where we got reminded that
he still has a lot of growth on the defensive
side and the leadership side and the composer side. That's
gonna I think, you know, take him out of that
top spot for me Giannis. As a quick side note,
(35:13):
I think is going to be on fire this season
from a motivation standpoint, because we've all kind of forgotten
who he is. You know, we can go all the
way through the Tatum one's tricky. I mean, I voted
Jalen Brown for Finals MVP for obvious reasons, and you
kind of saw after he got Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
Why even with the title, we're probably not gonna stop debating,
(35:34):
you know, the two j's.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Yeah, hm kd over Lebron. That might be the spiciest
take I've heard this week, which is.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Hear you, brother?
Speaker 7 (35:44):
I mean he quick context to me. Late last season
not amazing for Kevin defensively. The Sun's coaching staff absolutely
raved about the fact that for most of that year,
you know, he was one of the only guys on
their squad trying to fill and gas play multip positions,
guard some of the best wings. I like the way
that he tried to make that thing happen last year
(36:06):
and I think that took away a little bit from
what he does, you know, his transcendent offensive talent. But
you know, Kevin is still a force.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Let me drill down on that for a second. So
Kevin Duran's still a force, Sam, He's he everywhere he's been,
he's had stacked teams. I mean even going back to
early Okase with Russ and Harden, they went to the finals.
I know Presty screwed up by trading Harden, but he
goes to the Warriors are loaded. He goes to the
Brooklyn Nets, They're stacked. Can't win, get me out of here.
(36:34):
I don't know. Has he is his brand a little damaged,
if you will, with fans and media for a leaving
the Warriors and b not winning outside of the chips
with the Warriors.
Speaker 7 (36:46):
No, I think that's fair. I think you know, I
know he kind of bristles at the word legacy, but
that's a big part of the conversation. And this Sun's
chapter is really important for him because you know, it
seems like they're definitely going to run it back and
give this thing another shot. And I think he needs
to the idea that he might have raised his hand
again and said let me try a new spot. If
(37:06):
he had done that, then, you know, I think that
that legacy gets battered even more when it comes to
him being a mercenary and a guy that as an
individual talent was incredible. Now, I always do want to
make sure, because I cover those Warriors teams really closely,
that when we talk about him, we cannot act like
he was a cherry on top of that Warriors team.
(37:27):
You know what I mean? He was, you know, the
best player for most of his time there, and a
guy who got the best of Lebron multiple times in
the finals. That was a special chapter for him, and
you know, it's his life and he gets to choose
what to do with it. Obviously, a lot of folks,
I think you and I both included, think that if
you would have kept it going with the Warriors would
be probably a better story.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yeah, totally one thousand percent agree. Like the damage he
could have done with that Golden State team, keeping that
team together. But listen, he had the injury, and I
there was clearly something with him and Draymond. You covered
the team closely. If you had to add d point Blake,
why did you leave the Warriors? Is there a way
to sum it up succinctly.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
Yeah, I think it's it's a very human thing, I think, honestly,
and I definitely I don't want to speak for Kevin,
but you know, you did not get the sense that
he was enjoying himself by the end. And you had
the friction with Draymond, who's an incredibly intense personality and
a guy whose leadership style is is you know, is
kind of one of one and not always in a
good way. You had the NonStop comparisons to Steph Curry
(38:29):
and a Warriors fan base that it did actually grew
up down in the Bay like it did kind of
feel like it didn't matter what Kevin did. You know,
he was still going to have a massive gap between
the love from that fan base for Steph and the
way they saw Kevin, you know. And then you got
the coaching staff that had more history with Stephan they
did Kevin. There's a lot of layers to it, I think,
you know, going to the office every day, and even
(38:51):
if you had rings and it had success, he obviously
wasn't feeling fulfilled to the point where he wanted it
to go ahead and sign a new deal. To me,
that's probably the crux of it.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I think that's very well said. We could wrap up
with this. So USA basketball training camp is now happening
in Vegas, there'll be taking on Canada soon, and one
of your colleagues at the Athletic wrote a piece on
should or could Lebron come off the bench, theorizing that
it's like embiding Courier starting Kawhi on the wing, KD
(39:22):
is your stretch for and then you know Aunt or
Booker whoever at shooting guard, and then Lebron's coming off
the bench. I'm just curious, is there any scenario where
you think Lebron actually comes off the bench for Team USA.
Speaker 7 (39:35):
I mean, I'll say this because Joe, like you mentioned,
as a colleague and a friend and a guy who
is very tapped in with Musa and having not I
did look at the piece, haven't read the whole thing yet.
You know, I feel confidence in that if Joe's writing
the whole piece about it, he's getting very good, reliable
insight that it's you know, probable that it might end
up happening. You know, I think, listen, he's been covering
(39:56):
that team for multiple years. I'll see him a few
days out here in Vegas at Team USA camp. If
nothing else, J Mack, He's given the rest of us
in the media something to have these guys talk about
on day one when when camp begins.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
I love it. Yeah, no, no, that's interesting. What if,
like Steve Kerr, is floating this as a test balloon
through through Joe to just see how the public reacts,
how the media, how Lebron reacts out. Is he going
to show up angry? I don't know that that's a
great point of how the sausage gets made instead of
just thrusting it on Lebron. Hey, let's float this through
the media, see what the reaction is.
Speaker 7 (40:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Is that too sinister of me to think that?
Speaker 7 (40:33):
Not at all? No, that's really not man. I just
as a media guy being honest with you. And to
add more context there, you know, Joe covered Lebron in
Cleveland and it's got really good relationships on that side
of the Ledger as well. So if you know, I
haven't talked to Joe about a story, I will probably
have a funny laugh about it with him later. But
but yeah, like I think, you know, it's pretty for
(40:54):
me easy to see kind of you know where what
kind of direction this comes from.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
I guess yeah, do you expect piling on Lebron? So, Hey, Lebron,
you got to pick your coach, who was your podcast partner,
you got to pick your son fifty fifth, you said
you'd take less than the max, and then nobody wanted
to come play with you. And now you're coming off
the bench. You add all that together and I don't know.
Maybe he can use it as fuel and motivation, but
is there something else happening here?
Speaker 7 (41:18):
No, to me, I don't feel like that's where Lebron's at,
to be honest, I think he's waking up every morning
feeling great about where his game is at and his
part in the Lakers program. To me, the most interesting
part of their offseason is this kind of you know,
mixed emotions experience for Lebron when it comes to the
happiness of having the Lakers franchise take your son. You know,
(41:40):
the frustration, in my opinion, and their inability to go
get something done trade wise that makes it serious impact.
Maybe internally maybe I think, you know, disagreement about the
way that the ownership in front office sees the roster
compared to Lebron and Ad. It's just it's been a
lot this summer for the Lakers. But for Lebron's part,
(42:00):
I think he's doing just fine.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, all right, Sam Amic The Athletic, Great stuff, read
him on The Athletic. Sam a good luck cover in
Vegas and talk.
Speaker 8 (42:08):
To you soon.
Speaker 7 (42:10):
Thank you, Jason, appreciate it all right, great.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Stuff, thought provoking stuff. Love that all right. Coming up next,
something I've never done in all my days, filling in
for Cowherd Super Bowl Tiers. I had four in the
top tier and I had to add a team up top.
You want to guess who that team was? Take a
wild crazy guess. That's next year. At hour number two
on The Herd
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hello, and welcome to
The Herd.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Hope everybody had a safe, funfilled July fourth. It's me
Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowhard, my last day subven
in for the big guy. He's back next week. I
will not be here next week, so on my final
day of the week, I'm joined by Alex Curry. Alex,
how you doing? That was your July fourth?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
It was great? It was wild. I got home and
there was already a party at my house what I
get from being married to a rock star. But we
did like a cruise down the strand. It was wild
in her most of each and then it sounded like
we were hearing like firework explosions from five pm to
five am. Could you hear him from class?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Horrible nights?
Speaker 4 (01:08):
That was wild. It was wild, so much fun.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
If I'm off my game today. I'm gonna blame the
fireworks and the LA parties that were happening all night.
I tried to go to bed early, and you know,
I didn't quite work out. But I woke up this
morning to some news from my I mean my bff, right,
the former NFL MVP. I'll call him a frenemy, Cam Newton.
My goodness, Cam Newton chiming in here on the Dallas
(01:32):
Cowboys and Dak Prescott A shocking development. So obviously, listen,
we know the Cowboys have been America's team for what
going on fifty years now. I mean, they haven't been
totally dominant in the last twenty. But I've got some
good news for Cowboys fans. It's not all terrible news
off the heels of the Dak Prescott walking boot photo yesterday.
But Cam Newton decided on his podcast, you know he's
(01:54):
new to this media space, that he's declaring the Cowboys
should not be a America's team just because we're calling
them the America's team. It should be the Chiefs because
Taylor Swift is dating Travis Kelce. Oh okay. Cam had
a roundabout way of essentially saying that America's team, Like,
(02:16):
why are we doing that? And Cam has spoken, so
we should all listen. Well, Cam is kind of new
to this media thing, so I'm gonna fill you in
a little bit here, Camp. The New England Patriots were
winners for two decades. They had a dynasty with Brady
and Belichick. They want to I think Brady won seven
Super Bowls. They were never America's team. It just didn't take.
(02:37):
As a matter of fact, if you ask me, they
were hated outside of New England. People were tired of
that dynasty. So just because right now the Kansas City
Chiefs have won three Super Bowls in five years and
Travis Kelce's dating Taylor's with it doesn't make them America's team.
It's still the Cowboys, a blue blood franchise which you know,
(02:57):
dating back to the seventies, has always been on top
of the NFL. And listen, they play on Thanksgiving every year.
For a reason, the Dallas Cowboys haven't had back to
back losing seasons since two thousand and two. Folks, the
Cowboys have been really, really good. Just because they haven't
had postseason success, it doesn't mean we should strip the
(03:20):
America's team. Moniker from Dallas. All I know is when
I was a young NFL fan in the nineties and
the Cowboys were dominant, and then the Internet comes up
and you got the starter jackets. Everybody was a Cowboys fan, everyone,
not just teenage girls under thirteen who loved the Chiefs
now because of Taylor Swift. I don't know, Cam, it
(03:40):
just felt a little weird like you were trying to
I don't know, engagement farm. Perhaps. I think JJ Reddick
would be proud here in the down season in the NFL,
you're engagement farming using the Cowboys to kind of cut through.
But Cam, that's just not how it works. Dallas is
America's team. You want to go look at the NFL schedule.
Boys in the early window four times all season. Why
(04:03):
is that? Oh, it's because everybody wants their eyeballs on
the Cowboys. They're in primetime all the time, They're in
the four PM window all the time because they got
fans all over America. Hell, Cam, I don't know if
you noticed, but on July fourth, a photo emerged with
Dak Prescott in a protective walking boot, and the NFL
(04:25):
media went to deaf Con one. It was panic time,
and everybody freaked out, Oh my gosh, oh here he
is Jack Prescott a walking boot? What Trey Lance is
you're gonna be starting week one? Like people went ballistic,
they lost their minds over a photo of Dak Prescott
in a walking boot, Like, this is America's team, This
(04:47):
is what they are, Cam, And you know, we'll talk
to someone later in the show, a great guest who
actually has texted with Cam. Sorry with Dak Prescott about
the injury. It was preventative. He was going fishing. Stand down, everybody.
It's gonna be okay. But this is what comes with
the territory of America's team. I know, you know Cam
(05:08):
is not as high on Dak Prescott as I am.
And Cam is the king of hot takes and hats.
Dak Prescott right now has led the Cowboys to three
straight twelve win seasons. I think he should get paid.
Here's Greg Cosell talking about Dak Prescott as we enter
the season.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
At his core, what he is is he's an executor
and a ball distributor and he's good at it.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
Now.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Obviously, when you get into the playoffs and play better
defenses depending on who you're playing, you, you really have
to be efficient. One of the issues they have, and
they're going to have it this year, is the run game.
They do not have a running back. If you look
at what Ezekiel Elliot's tape has shown the last two years,
he's certainly not a back that can carry two hundred
(05:55):
and thirty or two hundred and forty times. And Dak
because of the style of quarterback that he is at
this point, as I said, a distributor, he needs a
complete offense. He needs a run game to be effective.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, we all do. That was from the Ross Tucker podcast,
Greg co so good stuff. He comes on this show,
as you guys know, but listen, I'm not as down
on Dak as everyone else. Obviously it's a massive season
with the McCarthy situation looming. Ceedee Lamb, Michaeh Parsons. I'm
not saying Dak Prescott is some world beater. I think
he's good. I think he's a top ten to eleven
quarterback in the league. But to try to steal the
(06:32):
Monikers a job, Dallas is no longer America's team camp. Hey,
I know you're new to this media stuff, but nice try.
It's a bit of a miss. Let's move to the NBA,
where Lebron James and all the biggest stars in the
league will descend upon Vegas for USA Basketball training camp.
They will train in Vegas this week, then they will
battle Canada, I believe next week and as a tune
(06:55):
up for the Olympics. But at training camp, you guys
can take a guess with the biggest story, he's gonna
be thirty nine year old Lebron James. And boy, what
a rough summer for Lebron Huh? I mean goodness, gracious,
the guy hand picks the lakers next head coach his
podcast buddy. Then he gets the Lakers to draft his
son in the second round to give him a big
(07:16):
fat contract. You you can it's dripping with hate, folks,
you know it's coming. And then Lebron says I'll take
less to bring in free agents. And then they don't
get anyone. Oh wow, you know the media, the ink
stained wretches who are gonna be covering this team in Vegas?
It could get ugly. A lot of these guys grew
(07:37):
up Michael Jordan's sick of fans younger in the nineties.
They love Jordan. They're not huge fans of Lebron, and
you know the media loves to build people up and
then tear them down. And it is coming, folks. Do
you see the article that dropped this morning? I don't
know if you saw it. Big question, So is Lebron
gonna come off the bench for Team USA? The pylon begins,
(08:02):
they're coming after the King, you know, the saying from
the wire, you come at the King, you best not miss.
People are now speculating should Lebron come off the bench
for Team USA? This stacked team? I mean, obviously Joel
and Beiegle start at center. Right, we got that. You
got Steph Curry is your point guard. Here's the roster
we got on FS one. Probably need Kevin Durant as
(08:24):
your stretch for okay, so that's three spots. Then you
need a lockdown wing defender. Well that's not Lebron, that's
probably Kawhi Leonard, right, he's healthy allegedly, Steve Kerr says
he's healthy. Whatever, And then you'll need like a shooting
guard to fill it up, maybe a d book Anthony Edwards.
You want to get very defensive Drew Holliday. Maybe it's
all matchup dependent. When they play France, and oh my gosh,
(08:45):
I can't wait for that game. Gobert and one Ben
Yama are working together right now as the starter for France.
That is an impenetrable back line and USA will have
to counter with Embiid and Anthony Davis probably starting. But
all of this, which is a way roundabout way of saying, shucks,
it should Lebron come off the bench, and you know
(09:06):
there's somebody sitting there stewing. Just wait, I'm gonna come
off the bench. Really, you guys are sending me to
Paris so I can come off the bench. You think,
how's Lebron gonna take that? And folks, we're at this
weird space now, and we'll get to in depth a
little shortly where once the athletes get near the end,
(09:27):
it starts to become open season on them because the
media has been, you know, ball washing these guys for
two decades and now all of a sudden, it's am
Lebron thirty nine. Now it's weird because in the eighties,
you know, Magic obviously had to retire early, Larry Bird's injuries,
he was done in his early to mid thirties. Isaiah
Thomas just up and retired before he was even thirty five.
(09:48):
Jordan quit two times by well before the age of
thirty nine. So it's like Lebron's playing at third. We
should be applauding him and excited that he's still around
and playing at such a high all NBA level, averaging
twenty five, seven and seven or whatever the numbers are.
And now you guys are trying to drive him to
the bench. Listen, we know that commanding control of a
(10:12):
team and the court and just owning everything is a
space of basically three guys in the NBA right now,
three people do it better than anyone. Anybody could score,
anybody can be a pure point guard, anybody can rebound,
but when you've got somebody who does all those Nikola Jokic,
Luka Doncic and Lebron James, they're still the three best
(10:33):
at totally controlling all the pieces on the chess board.
They've got everything, manipulating defenses. They're the three best at it.
Two of those guys they're not playing for USA obviously,
and by the way, Luka Doncic has a seismic battle
against Giannis tomorrow. One of those two teams, Greece or
Slovenia will not make the Olympics, and I'm sure their
(10:54):
NBA coach will be thrilled that they get a rest
in the summer. But other than Luka and Yokich were
I think like thirteen years twelve thirteen years Lebron's junior.
Lebron is better than anyone on Team USA at manipulating defenses.
Steph Curry has the gravitational pull that you've got to
guard him on the perimeter. He'll be hitting thirty footers. Okay,
(11:16):
But like Kawhi, Leonard doesn't do this stuff Lebron does.
He's a great defender, and he's a good mid range guy. Okay,
probably great mid range but fine, whatever. Like I like
Jason Tatum a lot, he doesn't do all the things
Lebron does. Although the playmaking was kind of unlocked in
the finals, he looked great, in my opinion, led the
Celtics and assists, But you need Lebron out there. I
(11:38):
cannot envision a scenario where Lebron's coming off the bench
for this team. It would take some big kahonas from
Steve Curtisay, yeah, Lebron, we're gonna go give me the
sixth man. In Paris. I don't see a world where
that's happening. I do see a world. Yeah, Lebron's not
the shooter. Kevin Durant is right, and you want to
stretch those defenses. You know, they'll pack the paint in
(11:58):
the Olympics. With the Feebo rules, it's gonna be fascinating.
I don't see a scenario where Lebron comes off the bench,
but certainly it's got to be in play in certain
individual matchups, like I would sooner start Drew Holliday at
the two and have him defend wings, and then I'd
have Lebron in there for offense. But we'll see Steve
Kerr hash options. You look at the roster and it's
(12:20):
like this team is stacked. They're loaded, you know, bam Adebayo,
try Reese Halliburton, these are end of the bench guys
and they're like top tier dudes in the NBA. There's
a loaded team, and I just it's gonna get weird
if the media starts pushing should Lebron come off the bench?
We already saw one article this morning. I hope we
don't see anymore. So alex USA Basketball, I'm fired up
(12:43):
about it. Starts in Vegas. Are you going back to
Vegas Nations?
Speaker 6 (12:46):
No?
Speaker 4 (12:46):
No, no, not right now. But the interesting thing about
these super teams is everyone's gonna have to put their
egos aside right and do what's best for America. And
they have a great leader and Steve Kerr he's gonna
do what's best at that time. The point is, I mean,
he made a point this morning in one of the articles.
He said, if everyone else is getting better than the US,
has to find ways to do the same right. So
(13:06):
whatever it's going to take in that moment, Steve Kerr
is the right guy for the job. He is what
the most recent coach of the most recent dynasty that
we've had in the NBA. He works with superstars. I'm
confident that he'll do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It's just weird to hear is do the right thing
meaning bench Lebron or have him come.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
On to win. The right thing is to win gold.
That's all that matters. When you go to the Olympics,
you do whatever you need to do to win gold.
You gotta put egos aside. What is our best chance
to win this game right now? And that's what it
has to be.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Fun storyline for USA Training Camp. All right, coming up next, folks,
two global superstars are kind of on the struggle bus.
Is it the end of the era for our first
social media superstars in sports? That's next.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and neon Eastern non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radios and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
All right, Well, you guys were out last night watching fireworks.
I was watching fireworks on the soccer field Argentina Ecuador
thrilling match in Copa America, and a very weird thing happened.
So Ecuador scores in stoppage time to force pks and
Leonel Messi first stop everybody, obviously, oh Messi penalty kick,
gets a lock and he hit the crossbar. If you're
(14:26):
here watching on FS one, look at this.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
It was stunning.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
At first, I thought it went right in. I was like,
wait a minute, he missed. It was one of those
shocking moments Messi, and at that point Ecuador had the momentum.
You're like, holy cow, is Argentina gonna lose? They end
up prevailing, but Messi missing the PK was pretty much
the story of the game, and it's been a weird
COOPA for Messi. Obviously the greatest player ever to play
soccer in the history of the sport. He's won everything
(14:51):
known to man. Okay, well, he was incredible in that
thrilling World Cup final against France, a memorable game. Messi's
the goat, okay, but he hasn't.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Scored in COPA.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
He's a little dinged up. And listen, he just turned
thirty seven years old. He's getting up there in age.
It's not just Messy though. Later today you're.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Gonna get you.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Guys are gonna watch Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal battle France
in the Euros and maybe this is Cristiano Ronaldo's final
euro tournament. Now, if you watch the last game they
played in in extra time, he missed a penalty kick
and broke out in tears on the field. Again, Ronaldo
(15:30):
and Messi, these are two humongous global stars missing in
key spots now they are late in their career. And
it got me thinking. So social media pretty much exploded,
and it's tough to pin down the exact day, but
somewhere in like the two thousand and seven, eight to
twenty ten range, somewhere in there you know you go,
(15:51):
YouTube really popped, Instagram, Twitter, Those were like the big
social media moments in about that that two thousand and
eight to two and ten. Range and who were the
big time stars. Lionel Messi was emerging as a superstar.
Cristiano Ronaldo same deal. He was kind of a little
more advanced at that Staye a couple of years older
(16:11):
than Messi. And then in the NBA you had Steph
Curry with Davidson, and then the Golden State Warriors you
had Kevin Durant and you had Lebron James. All these
guys are around the same age thirty five, thirty six
to thirty nine, and they emerged just as social media
was popping. They were the first iteration of social media stars.
(16:34):
It was an immersive experience. Lebron turns Taco Tuesday into
a thing. I know, taco people had talked about Taco
Tuesday before Lebron was doing it every Tuesday and yelling
Tacco Tuesday, and it became a thing and you and
your family us kind of sort of sometimes it was
a deal. Lebron did that because we were along for
(16:54):
the ride. Leonel Messi, I don't know if you guys
know this. His dog is like followed around and photographed
and a huge deal in Argentina his dog. Okay, Christiano Ronaldo.
Every summer he takes him and his hot wife and
their kids. They go on a yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean.
Some were exotic and beautiful and he's living the dream
(17:15):
and you know, the photographers are capturing it. He's putting
it on his ig. You feel like you're on vacation
with the guy. You feel close to Ronaldo and then
you maybe see the hotel they're at and you're like, ooh,
let me follow that hotel in case one day. What
I'm a baller, I'll check it out.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I mean Steph Curry, folks. You guys don't have kids
at home. I talk about this on my podcast all
the time. Steph Curry does some of the best coolest
new age workouts I've ever seen. And I'm a gonna lie,
as my son likes to say, no cap When Steph
Curry gets this little blue device that lights up and
there's five of them and you do it to improve
(17:51):
your quick touchability. Well, guess who went out and got it,
your boy, Yes, I did. I went and got it
and I'm doing drills with it during COVID with my
kids on the basketball court, and we're like copying Steph
Curry's workouts because we can. We knew nothing about Michael
Jordan back in the day. Oh he gambles, Magic Johnson.
We just did not have that same experience.
Speaker 7 (18:14):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Diego Maradona was a little different because he was, you know,
everywhere and on every newspaper and magazine. But nevertheless, we're
getting an inside look through social media at these stars.
Kevin Durant essentially bert that you the real MVP meme
where he's crying and talking about his mom, that that
stuff has never happened before in the history of sports.
(18:36):
It's now a thing, and it's just this weird moment.
And I kind of am rambling here. But when you
look at these global icons, Messi Ronaldo and these guys
have social media followings that dwarf anyone in the NFL
and Major League Baseball sid even close. They are global icons.
Steph Curry shows up in Uh Positano and everybody's stopping
(18:57):
what they're doing and oh, Curry, let me get in
the mix. Curry came to my gym, and you see
these moms going up. Oh, Steph, can I have a photo?
Of course, yes, I went and got one. I posted it.
This is years ago, but it's like, these guys are different,
and you feel, thanks to social media, like you're along
with them, and now they're all kind of sort of
coming to an end. They're still great. Curry is still
amazing player, Christiano Ronaldo is still very very good, messy awesome.
(19:21):
But it just feels a little I'm a little wistful
that the good old days are ending for these global
icons and you know, they were, they were with us
all along on social media, and I'm kind of going
to miss them when they're gone. Let's go to Alex Curry.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
With the news.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
No, no, turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
That's a good remembering the greats out there. We've talked
about this. We're in a transition period of some of
our all time superstars are at the end of their careers,
and as you said, it's been fun to kind of
watch their entire journeys and be along with it. Well,
let's start with the Lakers here, because they took a
gamble hiring JJ Reddick as their head coach with no
previous NBA code experience, and it's clear that Lebron has
(20:02):
his new coaches back, but what about the rest of
the team. Shaq said that he thinks getting the other
players to buy in is going to be one of
Reddick's toughest tests for me.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
As a player. If I didn't respect the coach, it
was easy for me to turn my one hundred percent down.
Let me explain, I'm gonna give you a hundred anyway,
but if it's a situation where I know we're not
going to go hundreds, is hard to maintain. But my
question is you have Lebron's respect, he's ticking up for you.
(20:36):
What about the other guys that that's gonna be the test.
I don't think I could play for a guy who
I just played against four or five years ago. Oh,
I don't think I can do it.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
I think the big tell is going to be how
Anthony Davis feels about all of this, right, because he's
the number two on the team, the quote future of
the team, and there were reports before the Lakers officially
hired JJ that he wasn't one hundred percent on the decision,
but Shack went on to share that he made that
example of I go one hundred percent with guys and
(21:07):
coaches like Phil Jackson, but like one of the greatest
coaches of our generation, he goes, you come in, You're
going to get a hundred percent. So, yeah, this is
going to be one of the many uphill battles for
JJ Reddick. He was just in the league a handful
of years ago, right, so is he going to get
that respect from the players of I can look at
you as my head coach opposed to appear. Another uphill
(21:31):
battle is getting the Lakers back to a championship or
bus team because that's the Lakers way, and then developing
the Lebron and Bronni relationship on the court. So there's
a lot of factors here, but I'm curious to hear
from Anthony Davis, like I think AD is going to
be the big kind of help set the tone with
Lebron for JJ and the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
It's a good point on AD. I hadn't thought about
that because AD wasn't at the press conference. I think
Lebron was there when Bronny was there. Yeah, interest to
AD will be at the Vegas camp for USA Basketball,
so maybe someone will ask him there.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Probably I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I think Ad, You're right, is probably the one to
be not concerned but curious, whereas the other guys are
all like in their twenties and they listen to Lebron. Yeah,
and they also probably watched JJ Reddick when they were
like twelve years old being an awesome shooter, one of
the top shooters in the league for I don't know,
a decade, So I wouldn't worry too much about the
young guards.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
No, it's gonna be Anthony Davis.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, but does Anthony Davis have the poll that Shack died?
And remember the big knock on sheck from Kobe Alex
was that Kobe was like, you're never in shape, You're
never trying, you could be the best player.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
They were both like two superstars who wanted to be
the biggest superstar. So they butt heads there. But this
is Lebron an AD's team, still, right, That's why they
gave Ad the big contract. So it's is Ad going
to buy in as much as Lebron? And when if
he does, can he lead by example to all the
other guys on the.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Team if you want to get really sinister, Not that
I do. AD wanted James Barrego, who didn't get a
head coaching job because he knew him from prior years.
What if the Lakers got Reddick for like a good
one or two years and they know A D is
not gonna love him and Ad will want out, and
then they just pressed the entire reset button with no
(23:20):
stars and start over and you move Ad out. I
mean that's a little wrong.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
So what we've seen from the Lakers, they haven't had
a coach since Phil Jackson, lasts longer than three seasons.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
So it's I would predict JJ Reddick lasts longer than Ad.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
WHOA, Yeah, I don't okay.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I mean, how's Ad gonna age given his injuries history?
And just like is he is he at thirty five
going to be as good as he was last year?
I don't think so. Like Lebron aging is fine, Yeah,
I don't know that AD's going to age the way
like look at some of these other centers shack at
thirty five, go look them on.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
So there's a lot of questions around the Lakers, and
a good chunk of them are centering around a D
right now. Yeah, yeah, so it's gonna be interesting. Let's
move to the NFL where c J. Stroud made a
statement in his rookie season, leaving the Texans in his
second season, and wide receiver Tank Dell is confident that
Stroud is on the track to be one of the
top quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 7 (24:13):
For sure.
Speaker 8 (24:13):
Feel like CJ got the opportunity to be the best
quarterback in the league. Not me J saying it because
who he is to me, but just like what I'm
seeing him do every each and every week, I feel
like CJ got to just keep doing what he's doing
to bridge the gap between him and my homes man,
because he's not gonna lie my home special man. It's
for sure gonna be a lot of work to get
(24:34):
have to be put in with seven. But I just
feel like if he just keep doing what he doing,
he on the right path.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I mean, even yesterday when we were talking about our
top tier quarterbacks, I had CJ. Stroud in like my
top third tier. Yeah, there's a handful of the tier threes,
but I mean this is after year one, He's the
reigning offensive rookie of the Year. Now, sophomore seasons are
very tough, right, this is going to be kind of
(25:03):
the big next step for CJ. Because you're not a
surprise team anymore. Everybody knows you're great, won the division.
You're gonna have a target on your back. Can you
continue doing this?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Now?
Speaker 4 (25:14):
They did pick up some solid offensive weapons. They got
Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon. So, I I.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Mean, I like him picking up for his quarterback. Obviously,
I think he could be the best. I would hope,
you know, if the staff here they get questions from
the media Jason McIntyre, how about Well, I think he
can be the best. Host up your guy. You want
to keep it up for your guy.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
But even when like yesterday I talked about this, Patrick
Mahomes was talking about what quarterbacks when you're not playing,
are you watching? He said Burrow Lamar Allen and c J. Stroud. Yeah,
so he is a top guy. Even in the top
guy's minds.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
He was tremendous. I could say this. Nobody saw him
doing that as a nobody. I don't care who's the
big CJ. Straft and nobody saw him being that good
with those receivers. He didn't even have a great group
of receivers, which is incredible. Yeah, he is amazing.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Now, Kimys this year, I don't.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I mean same, No, he should be better adding digs
unless Diggs is a headache. Schedule is a little tougher, ye,
but yeah, CJ. Stroud no signs of slowing down.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It was Bryce Young.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Number one easily when AFC South again Stroud too.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Bryce Young has only room for improvement. Yeah, and I
think Stroud has room for improvement. Right, you could get
he could be better.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
He was excellent, won a playoff game against the Browns.
Maybe a little further.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Joe Flacca was really horrendous there, but Stroud was.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Good comeback player of the year off the couch.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Yes, indeed that was incredible.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Okay to the NFC North, the Vikings moved on from
Kirk Cousins and drafted JJ McCarthy to be their quarterback
of the future. He's battling with Sam Darnold right now.
May not start right away, but teammates are already seeing
the potential New Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman, who was Zach
Wilson and c J. Stroud during their rookie campaigns, and
McCarthy came in eager to learn and has shown he's
(27:08):
a leader now. Cashman also said he thinks that JJ
is going to be a great player for a long time.
Speaker 9 (27:14):
Now.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
The good thing about JJ is he's coming from a
great coach in Jim Harbaugh. He is a winner. He
know what it takes to win and succeed. He's coming
in to a pretty solid setup. Olney as one of
the one of the greatest receivers in Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
In the league.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
He is set up to succeed. But again, like he
doesn't have to start week one. They also have Sam
Darnold competing for the job. Do you see him starting
week one?
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
It sounds like no. But by the way, what's what's
gonna be a great player? Why not just say he's
a great player? Is he not that good right now?
But he's good.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Any transition from college to the pros is going to
take a moment to learn the playbook. Get used to
NFL sized guys coming at you. We even saw Caleb Williams.
They were saying, you know all the reports that came
out in mini camp is he's a little slow, a
little behind. It's like, yeah, give these guys a beat.
They're learning a completely new system in a new league.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yeah, I like McCarthy, you got a good coach, Like
you said, good Web. Jordan Addison's also out there as
a receiver. They're gonna be They're gonna be solid. Six
seven wins. I just I don't know that it's gonna
happen this year. That being said, a lot of people
have doubted McCarthy his entire time in Michigan, and all
he kept doing is win.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Yeah. They're in a tough division though, Lions Packers.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, that makes it tears.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
With Caleb Williams, like a lot of pressure there.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Well, you could also argue there's really no pressure. Especially
if Donald starts. It's like, Okay, we drafted him, but
we're a year away. We're just gonna trot out Darnold
for the first time.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah, he's just paid, justin Jefferson, the biggest contract for
a wide receiver. Like, he's gonna want to win. They're
gonna want to win.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
The whole Mahomes sitting has ruined the idea of oh
we should just sit a year. Look look at what
it did for Patrick Mahomes, Like, let's settle down. There's
also quarterbacks who have sat.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Also, Jordan loves he sat, He sat alongside and came
out had a great but first official starting season, and
now he's lining up to get a big payday.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean I'd like to see McCarthy play. Actually,
the best way to get better is to play, and
I can get better sitting on the bench, So I'd
like to see him play. Yeah, I'm rooting for Alex.
Hurry with the news.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
All right, could Lebron actually come off the bench for
Team USA? We'll ask a writer next.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern a em Pacific.
Speaker 9 (29:41):
Hey, it's Ben hosting The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller
with me and a lot to have you join us
on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's
name is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a
spin off of it Ben Maler show, a Colt hit
overnights on FSR.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Why should you listen?
Speaker 9 (29:57):
Picture if you will a world will? We chat with
captains of Ben in media, sports and more every week
explore some amazing facts about human nature and more.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Listen to the Fifth Hour with.
Speaker 9 (30:07):
Ben Maler on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your podcasts and a.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Good guess he's covered the NBA for a long time.
Sam Amck of The Athletic Big Piece this week on
Clay Thompson picking the MAVs over the Lakers. It hurt.
It hurts, Sam, How are you?
Speaker 7 (30:25):
I would go to j Mac, thank you for having me, sir.
You know I'm here for you and your feeling.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Let's talk about Yeah. You know, listen when Lebron said
he'd take less than the max, I thought there was
a hope that the Lakers could could add somebody like
like a Klay Thompson, and ultimately Clay made the decision
taking the MAVs. You could argue the Lakers dodgeabullet, but
I'm curious the thought process on the MAVs. Talk me
through it.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Yeah, I mean the obvious basketball stuff is another guy
to stretched the floor with Luca and Kyrie championship pedigree.
You know we kind of saw and I'm be a
sucker for this stuff. The way that Kyrie did bring
a different mentality to that group as the only guy
who had won a championship on that Mavericks roster. This
(31:10):
to me, now, adding a guy who's won four, who
was part of a fantastic dynasty and who's got a
lot of motivation now because he doesn't feel great about
the way the Warriors kind of sent him out. You know,
I think it'll be a good fit. Defensively, the question
is can Clay recapture some of what he used to have,
you know, before those two devastating injuries. But you know,
they're just trying to add to what they had from
(31:31):
before and build off what they did on that finals run.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Do you have the MAVs as the best team in
the West right now? I know Minnesota brings back. Basically,
everyone had a good draft, OKC had a just a
bonker summer, adding Caruso Hartenstein, how do you shape up
the top of the West?
Speaker 7 (31:48):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, my mind went to OKC first,
which is counterintuitive for me because last year I was
one of the people that was really slow to believe
that they could really make an impact. But you had Hardenstein,
Caruso is a fantastic two way player, obviously an elite defender.
I love what they did. We can't forget about the Nuggets,
even though they had a pretty tough summer, losing KCP
(32:09):
and then Minnesota. I think it's all about Anthony Edwards
and does that ascension continue, does he figure out the
nuances of superstardom that I think kind of tricked him
up late in the postseason last year. The West is
obviously pretty stacked.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah, let's go to the East and Paul George real quick.
I don't know. He's bounced around the league now a
few times, and everywhere he goes it's like, oh, Paul
George makes some instant contenders and then it doesn't really materialize.
I mean, heck, we even saw Bradley Beal go to
the Suns and I thought they would go to the
finals and it was like, didn't quite work. Damian Lillard
last summer to the Bucks. Oh, the Bucks favorite in
(32:45):
the East. It feels like that model's kind of dead,
the three star model.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
I hear you. I mean you took the words right
out of my mouth not to say it won't work.
I think at minimum, it's going to take some time.
And that's what we learned this past season. You look
at not little apples to Oranges, but Minnesota and the
way that the Ruder Gobert trade took two years to
kind of bake and figure out and for the t
Wolves to be better the MAVs with Kyrie, we were
(33:10):
ready to kind of cut the cord on that after
the first season with them together. The Suns maybe can
figure it out this year. The Bucks maybe, But if
you look at Philly, I think the takeaway, if you're
going to use that logic, is that it might take
a little while. First of all, they got an entire
roster to build out. They still have a lot of
work to do. All that being said, for me, jmac
(33:30):
I was giving a big time thumbs up on that
move because Daryl Morey had put himself in a position
where it was kind of an all or nothing proposition.
It was a high stakes situation where if they didn't
get Paul, then you've got thirty year old Joel Embiid
yet again looking around wondering who is You know, co
stars are going to be Tyree Snaxy's amazing, but they
needed more so for them, I think it was a
(33:53):
fantastic move, all.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Right, Sam, this is a tough one. Yesterday I did
my top ten players in the NBA right now, and
you know, we had Eddie House on and he was
apoplectic that I left Jalen Brown off the list, and
I had Jason Tatum in there. Here's my top ten currently.
Obviously people did not like Yokic second, but there seems
to be a lot of consternation that Kevin Durant was
(34:15):
left off. His agent went on the Instagram and was like, unhappy.
Just nonsense. I'm just curious my top ten. Obviously you're
I'm a big boy. I can take it. You love it,
you hate it? Who am I missing? No?
Speaker 7 (34:29):
I mean the KD one is tough, you know, Lebron.
I really feel like we need to kind of look
at the film and really break down. His numbers were
incredible last year. We got to make sure that we're not,
you know, rating him as damn he's good for a
thirty nine year old, you know what I mean, Like
he's he's to get on this list, you have to
be the best and the best, and I don't know
if he's above KD at this point up at the top,
(34:51):
j MAG, I think that that that's probably still got
Joker number one fair. I know he didn't get the
job done in the playoffs, but Luca and some of
those moments in the finals where we got reminded that
he still has a lot of growth on the defensive
side and the leadership side and the composer side. That's
gonna I think, you know, take him out of that
top spot for me Giannis. As a quick side note,
(35:13):
I think is going to be on fire this season
from a motivation standpoint, because we've all kind of forgotten
who he is. You know, we can go all the
way through the Tatum one's tricky. I mean, I voted
Jalen Brown for Finals MVP for obvious reasons, and you
kind of saw after he got Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
Why even with the title, we're probably not gonna stop debating,
(35:34):
you know, the two j's.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Yeah, hm kd over Lebron. That might be the spiciest
take I've heard this week, which is.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Hear you, brother?
Speaker 7 (35:44):
I mean he quick context to me. Late last season
not amazing for Kevin defensively. The Sun's coaching staff absolutely
raved about the fact that for most of that year,
you know, he was one of the only guys on
their squad trying to fill and gas play multip positions,
guard some of the best wings. I like the way
that he tried to make that thing happen last year
(36:06):
and I think that took away a little bit from
what he does, you know, his transcendent offensive talent. But
you know, Kevin is still a force.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Let me drill down on that for a second. So
Kevin Duran's still a force, Sam, He's he everywhere he's been,
he's had stacked teams. I mean even going back to
early Okase with Russ and Harden, they went to the finals.
I know Presty screwed up by trading Harden, but he
goes to the Warriors are loaded. He goes to the
Brooklyn Nets, They're stacked. Can't win, get me out of here.
(36:34):
I don't know. Has he is his brand a little damaged,
if you will, with fans and media for a leaving
the Warriors and b not winning outside of the chips
with the Warriors.
Speaker 7 (36:46):
No, I think that's fair. I think you know, I
know he kind of bristles at the word legacy, but
that's a big part of the conversation. And this Sun's
chapter is really important for him because you know, it
seems like they're definitely going to run it back and
give this thing another shot. And I think he needs
to the idea that he might have raised his hand
again and said let me try a new spot. If
(37:06):
he had done that, then, you know, I think that
that legacy gets battered even more when it comes to
him being a mercenary and a guy that as an
individual talent was incredible. Now, I always do want to
make sure, because I cover those Warriors teams really closely,
that when we talk about him, we cannot act like
he was a cherry on top of that Warriors team.
(37:27):
You know what I mean? He was, you know, the
best player for most of his time there, and a
guy who got the best of Lebron multiple times in
the finals. That was a special chapter for him, and
you know, it's his life and he gets to choose
what to do with it. Obviously, a lot of folks,
I think you and I both included, think that if
you would have kept it going with the Warriors would
be probably a better story.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yeah, totally one thousand percent agree. Like the damage he
could have done with that Golden State team, keeping that
team together. But listen, he had the injury, and I
there was clearly something with him and Draymond. You covered
the team closely. If you had to add d point Blake,
why did you leave the Warriors? Is there a way
to sum it up succinctly.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
Yeah, I think it's it's a very human thing, I think, honestly,
and I definitely I don't want to speak for Kevin,
but you know, you did not get the sense that
he was enjoying himself by the end. And you had
the friction with Draymond, who's an incredibly intense personality and
a guy whose leadership style is is you know, is
kind of one of one and not always in a
good way. You had the NonStop comparisons to Steph Curry
(38:29):
and a Warriors fan base that it did actually grew
up down in the Bay like it did kind of
feel like it didn't matter what Kevin did. You know,
he was still going to have a massive gap between
the love from that fan base for Steph and the
way they saw Kevin, you know. And then you got
the coaching staff that had more history with Stephan they
did Kevin. There's a lot of layers to it, I think,
you know, going to the office every day, and even
(38:51):
if you had rings and it had success, he obviously
wasn't feeling fulfilled to the point where he wanted it
to go ahead and sign a new deal. To me,
that's probably the crux of it.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I think that's very well said. We could wrap up
with this. So USA basketball training camp is now happening
in Vegas, there'll be taking on Canada soon, and one
of your colleagues at the Athletic wrote a piece on
should or could Lebron come off the bench, theorizing that
it's like embiding Courier starting Kawhi on the wing, KD
(39:22):
is your stretch for and then you know Aunt or
Booker whoever at shooting guard, and then Lebron's coming off
the bench. I'm just curious, is there any scenario where
you think Lebron actually comes off the bench for Team USA.
Speaker 7 (39:35):
I mean, I'll say this because Joe, like you mentioned,
as a colleague and a friend and a guy who
is very tapped in with Musa and having not I
did look at the piece, haven't read the whole thing yet.
You know, I feel confidence in that if Joe's writing
the whole piece about it, he's getting very good, reliable
insight that it's you know, probable that it might end
up happening. You know, I think, listen, he's been covering
(39:56):
that team for multiple years. I'll see him a few
days out here in Vegas at Team USA camp. If
nothing else, J Mack, He's given the rest of us
in the media something to have these guys talk about
on day one when when camp begins.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
I love it. Yeah, no, no, that's interesting. What if,
like Steve Kerr, is floating this as a test balloon
through through Joe to just see how the public reacts,
how the media, how Lebron reacts out. Is he going
to show up angry? I don't know that that's a
great point of how the sausage gets made instead of
just thrusting it on Lebron. Hey, let's float this through
the media, see what the reaction is.
Speaker 7 (40:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Is that too sinister of me to think that?
Speaker 7 (40:33):
Not at all? No, that's really not man. I just
as a media guy being honest with you. And to
add more context there, you know, Joe covered Lebron in
Cleveland and it's got really good relationships on that side
of the Ledger as well. So if you know, I
haven't talked to Joe about a story, I will probably
have a funny laugh about it with him later. But
but yeah, like I think, you know, it's pretty for
(40:54):
me easy to see kind of you know where what
kind of direction this comes from.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
I guess yeah, do you expect piling on Lebron? So, Hey, Lebron,
you got to pick your coach, who was your podcast partner,
you got to pick your son fifty fifth, you said
you'd take less than the max, and then nobody wanted
to come play with you. And now you're coming off
the bench. You add all that together and I don't know.
Maybe he can use it as fuel and motivation, but
is there something else happening here?
Speaker 7 (41:18):
No, to me, I don't feel like that's where Lebron's at,
to be honest, I think he's waking up every morning
feeling great about where his game is at and his
part in the Lakers program. To me, the most interesting
part of their offseason is this kind of you know,
mixed emotions experience for Lebron when it comes to the
happiness of having the Lakers franchise take your son. You know,
(41:40):
the frustration, in my opinion, and their inability to go
get something done trade wise that makes it serious impact.
Maybe internally maybe I think, you know, disagreement about the
way that the ownership in front office sees the roster
compared to Lebron and Ad. It's just it's been a
lot this summer for the Lakers. But for Lebron's part,
(42:00):
I think he's doing just fine.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, all right, Sam Amic The Athletic, Great stuff, read
him on The Athletic. Sam a good luck cover in
Vegas and talk.
Speaker 8 (42:08):
To you soon.
Speaker 7 (42:10):
Thank you, Jason, appreciate it all right, great.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Stuff, thought provoking stuff. Love that all right. Coming up next,
something I've never done in all my days, filling in
for Cowherd Super Bowl Tiers. I had four in the
top tier and I had to add a team up top.
You want to guess who that team was? Take a
wild crazy guess. That's next year. At hour number two
on The Herd
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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