June 23, 2025 • 40 mins
Colin discusses the Thunder winning the NBA championship with their game 7 win over the Pacers and why despite their historic run, they shouldn’t be considered one of the all-time great teams
The NBA playoffs are too long and the injuries seem to show us that
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Ah, here we go, we are live.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
It's The Herd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
John Middlecop is going to be filled in for the
next three days. My buddy, John Middlecop got a very
popular podcast at the volume three and out former NFL scout.
You know, you're a self admitted football guy, and I
(00:49):
like football more than basketball. But I did grow up
in the seventies and the Pacific Northwest with Bill Walton
and the Blazers and the Sonics, and people always lament
the seventies NBA. John, there was no great dynasties. And
I defend him because I collect basketball cards when every
other had baseball cards. But I got to admit last
night that kind of felt like a nothing burger, did
(01:12):
it not?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It was a big win for the small markets. I
guess I.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Guess it was that a small story.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Listen, we have entered in the last seven years, a
new NBA, the champions. They're good teams. Jo Kich the
only All Star on Denver. Yeah, you can. You can
see him, Thunders, Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Bucks, Lakers, Raptors, Folks.
(01:37):
OKC has one Elite score. He had three bad games,
shot twenty four percent from three chat Hongren disappeared for
five games. J. Dubb disappeared for several and they won.
That's the champion. I'm not sure they do if Halliburton
(02:00):
remains in the game. Baseball's best teams right now are
stacked and feel like it. Attendance ratings up. The NFL's
best teams Ravens, Kansas City, Philadelphia, stacked ratings up. The
new NBA. It's like you're battling the CBA as much
as opponents. In fact, Okase is so young they could
(02:24):
potentially be significantly better over the next three years than
this season. They've got two first round picks. They're young
players like homebren who's talented but wildly uneven. You have
no idea what you're getting quarter to quarter. J Dubb
what a ceiling, but what a disappearing act. Alex Caruso
(02:45):
literally had to show okac's young players how to open
champagne bottles. America's event driven. Now it's a Tom Cruise movie,
a Taylor Swift Tour, the World Cup, the College Football Playoff,
the Super Bowl, and these NBA playoffs. I know I
tried to defend them, but last night, after that Halliburton injury,
(03:07):
it felt small. I don't want every NBA champion to
feel like the two thousand and four Chauncey Billups Pistons.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Last night, I'm watching that game because I'm a sportscaster.
I missed MJ's Bulls, Katie Steph Clay Draymond Warriors, the
heatles Hell. I missed the Duncan Manu Tony Parker Spurs.
This is not a knock on Oklahoma City. They won
due to roster construction and depth, which is not exactly
(03:39):
a great movie poster. The new NBA is the era
of accounting where you have to draft really well and
develop really well and then cross your fingers, where players
stay healthy and the last team standing was the healthiest
and maybe has the best GM and has tremendous roster construction.
(04:02):
But again, that doesn't get me to goosebumps. This felt
like a great day for Oklahoma, maybe a neat day
for Oklahoma and surrounding areas. And I know I sound
like a buzzkill. I'm not telling you how to feel.
I'm just telling you how I feel. I think Indiana
ten years from now will be the team you remember now.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Maybe OKC goes on to win six titles, seven and
they're one of the greatest dynasties ever because the new
CBA doesn't allow for star stacking, and really the gms
will be as big as the players. But when I
watched the Dodgers podres last week, it jumped off the television.
The animosity, the intensity, the stars, it was everywhere. And
(04:48):
I felt last night there's the old saying video killed
the radio star, and the new CBA has killed basketball stars.
They can't play together. So just think about this in
terms of all time great teams, OKC has one elite
score three bad games, couldn't hit three pointers. The number
(05:10):
two and three scorers really struggled. I mean, Chet Holmgren
was the invisible man for like four games in the series,
maybe five, and they won. That's why Indiana was so captivating.
Rick Carlisle, the oldest coach in the league, the most
overrated player in Halliburton. If not for the injuries, maybe
(05:31):
I feel different. And I'm happy for Oklahoma City. They
have probably the best young executive in the league in
Sam Presty. But it felt small, and when the Celtics
lost Tatum and the injuries throughout the playoffs, it just
didn't feel big and it hasn't for seven years unless
(05:51):
your team won. And here's SGA after.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
No matter what, Like, you go into every night wanting
to win and sometimes it just doesn't go your way,
and tonight could have been one of those nice but
we found a way. I'm so proud of his group.
I wouldn't have rather done it with any other group
in the world. It feels good to be a champion.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So I thought it was interesting. Earlier in the day,
the kd trade came down and people were so excited.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Here's what's funny.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
He didn't have much of a market, but we were
so excited for basketball that you know, thirty six, thirty
seven year old Kati going to Houston felt bigger than
Game seven, especially after the Haliburton injury. So Kevin Durant
to the Rockets, I said this for the last two weeks.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Why isn't there a bigger market.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I do think this could help or hinder his legacy
because KD is starting to feel a little like old
Shack and current Aaron Rodgers kind of sad. Katie to
Brooklyn was an absolute mess. Katie to Phoenix was underwhelming,
although it should be noted Phoenix was about a five
hundred team when he played three and seventeen when he didn't,
(06:58):
so he wasn't the problem in Phoenix. I think it's
going to work. This to me, is the perfect place
to go. So they have things Phoenix didn't. They have
an infrastructure that the Suns didn't. Houston has a great coach,
they just gave him an extension. They have size Phoenix doesn't.
They've got depth. He didn't have to play sixty eight
(07:22):
games a year. They've got multiple players, Cam Whitmore, Javari
Smith reed Shephard he doesn't have to be on the
floor a lot until big games in the playoffs. So
I think this is exactly what Houston needs, And strangely,
It's exactly what Kevin Durant needs. A relevant team, excellent owner,
(07:43):
one of the top five richest owners in the sport,
excellent coach, lots of depth. Shen Goon will be the
centerpiece of the offense. Aman Thompson will be the defensive stopper,
and then the team has all sorts of length around him.
So Kevin does and have to be as great defensively
as he was probably six seven years ago. I mean,
(08:05):
Houston was held under ninety points twice by the Warriors.
They can't shoot, so he's absolutely necessary. I think he's
a perfect fit. They've got all the structure and by
the way certain people, Shack was often distracted. Aaron Rodgers
clearly needs structure. That's where I've said Aaron and Katie
(08:26):
are similar. They're very good when structures already present, because
what Katie doesn't want to do is end up being
if this goes sideways A yeah, butt guy. Yeah it
was great, but he didn't win big without Steph. Yeah
he had to bounce around. He had eight different head coaches.
I mean, yeah, he was great, but when you really
(08:47):
compare him to like Lebron and Steph, you know what
is he kind of a wander. I think Kevin Durant's game,
his talent. He was the number one mid range shooter
in the league last year. Only two people in the
NBA also average twenty five a game and then hit
forty percent on threes. Your kitchen, Kevin Durant, He's still
(09:09):
an elite player. If he remains healthy for the next
two years, it will feel like the Houston Rockets stole
KD from Phoenix. If he crumples to the ground, cross
your fingers. He doesn't, then maybe Phoenix likes the assets
they got.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Here's Kevin Durant.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
Yesterday he had a part of the Houston Rockets. I'm
looking forward to it crazy, crazy last couple of weeks
when I'm glad it's over with. You know when people
could just hang your career in the balance like that
and just choose what they want to do with your
careers and nerve reckingd feeling but being able to kind
of dictate what you want to do and then being
with a team that values you. And I'm looking forward
(09:45):
to it hoving.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
People are going to hold on to that dictate what
you want to do. Did you have a hand in this?
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Most definitely yeah. I mean, they asked me where I
wanted to go some of my destinations. I gave it
to him.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Here we are, Uh yeah again.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Everybody wants to pick a side on trades, winner and loser.
If Katie remains healthy, Houston's gonna feel like they won
this trade because they only had to give up one
first round pick if he has injury issues, and the
number ten pick the Son's got in the draft hits.
Jalen Green's expensive, but he'll be productive. Dylan Brooks will
start for them, a bunch of second round picks they
(10:19):
can play around with. Then maybe it feels like Phoenix
won the deal. But I do think Kevin Durant's game
is too good to be sort of lumped into a
yeah butt guy. One of the best NBA offensive players
of my lifetime. And I started watching this sport in
nineteen seventy one seventy two, so I'm happy for him. Well,
you live in the Arizona area, he said something.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
John.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I thought it was interesting. You know, he's just got
such an interesting personality. He'll go on Twitter and talk
to people. He'll see him on the street, you go
to games, he'll talk to people, he said, yesterday, he goes,
You know, they didn't want me, so I'm glad to go.
How did people in your hometown, Phoenix, how did they
view Katie and the whole KD.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Beal experiment.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
Yeah, I think the Suns have just been a disaster
and people are tuned out. I think the expectations when
they traded for him were pretty high. I mean, you
get a Kevin Durant the same thing with Brooklyn. You're
expecting we're gonna compete for the championship. Last year wasn't
even close. Now, not all his fault. The owner's a
little crazy. I mean, you know, Draydon for Bradley Beal
absolutely backfired. I actually think this situation Houston feels three
(11:25):
or four years a little too late. I mean, he's
thirty seven, Colin, he's he kind got in the NBA
when he was nineteen years old, so he a lot
of wear and tear on this body. If he would
have got there, like when he moved to Brooklyn, a
situation like this, who.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Knows, I don't know. It's had a lot of injuries lately.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Come yeah, No, he's playing about sixty sixty five games
and the good news is they have a lot of
length in Houston and a lot of young guys, so
he does not have to be you know, it's pretty
clear they're going to keep him around for the playoffs. Yeah,
they got him. I mean they got to the playoffs
without him, and they Jalen Green is not a defined player.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
He's too expensive.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I think it will pay off for sure late, but
you cross your on health because with KD you know what,
with the Warriors, that is now a thing in his career.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Are you confident that he's going to be there for
more than a year and a half at this point.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I kind of a traveling circus a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I do think I've heard for years NBA players like Houston.
They like living there, no state tax, middle of the country.
My take is this is where he ends it, and
I think it's a pretty good spot because I do
think they have a defensive culture. He's not the defender
he used to be, but they have a defensive culture
and they have the length and quickness Amend Thompson, so
(12:29):
they won't need they really need him to grab it
and shoot it. They shot fewer three pointers than anybody
in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
They had two games with the Warriors under.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Ninety points like he is exactly what they need, and
they don't need him to be multiple in roles.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Bro catch it, shoot it, score hit threes.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
That's all we need, and I think that's what he
provides totally.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 7 (13:01):
I'm the producer of the Pauli and Tony Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they asked you to listen to
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Speaker 2 (13:14):
Oh wha, what the hell are you doing in our studio?
Get him, PAULI, Ignore that fool.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Listen to the Paula and Tony Fusco Show on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
He's still moving.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It's great to be back, John Middlecoff joining me today.
Don't forget in the forty minutes from now, where Colin
was right where Colin was wrong. Rick Buker, Alexi Lawless
stops by. He's all fired up, so listen. I'm like you,
I've sat around all day. I thought, okay, you don't
get many game sevens. I thought the Indiana Pacers were
an amazing story. It's one of the craziest playoff runs.
(13:52):
They were underdogs to Milwaukee. They were supposed to get
rolled by Cleveland. They weren't gonna beat the Knicks. They
even sold game one of the finals in Okac. It's
just you don't get stuff like this. And then Tyrese Halliburton,
this incredibly likable guy and is kind of crazy dad.
Sometimes he was along for the ride and then he
(14:13):
gets hurt and you're like, oh, you can't beat Okac
with one ball handler and just TJ McConnell.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
But last night was a real gut punch. It was
hard to stomach.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And this was the eighth achilles tear this year in
the NBA, most ever, and the third in the playoffs,
most ever. The NBA is on notice shorten the playoffs.
They started two weeks before the draft the NFL draft.
The NBA is faster, there's more spacing, there's way more movement.
(14:48):
Players are just moving more. It's twitchier. When you can
see his achilles flop. Oh, it's gutting. An Achilles tear
used to be what old guys did at fifty eight
playing handball. It was an old guy injury. It wasn't
for twenty year olds. That tells you everything. And baseball,
for the record, has made multiple tweaks in the.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Last three years.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
The sport has greatly benefited the NFL tweaks in season.
We love the NFL. The NBA has never been a
stubborn league. Move off seven game playoff series until you
get to the finals.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
MJ.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
The most popular to the league ever was five games
in the first round. Maybe you can do conference finals
at seven. But the NBA just got a seventy six
billion dollar TV deal. The billionaires are gonna be okay
without another home game. Everybody's gonna eat. Adam's gonna eat
(15:46):
the owners are gonna eat, the players, the coaches. Seven
to eight figures everywhere these early round seven games. When
you look at these injuries, the achilles injury, it's a
wear and tear injury. You're just fatigued, you're tired, you're
pushing it. Like they always say, you know, you tear
the achilles on the last ski run of the day,
(16:08):
or as you get older, you're an old guy and
you're pushing it. That's where this usually happens. So next year,
think about this. Two of the most captivating players that
we argue about, Jason Tatum of the Celtics won't play
next year, and now Tyree's Haliburton because the lateness of
this injury, probably will not play next year. You're gonna
tell me the Eastern Conference I don't get Tatum and
(16:29):
I don't get Haliburton.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
You think that's good for the league?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I was thinking watching this injury, I'm thinking, you know
who really benefited in the East this year, Orlando and
the Knicks by getting knocked out earlier, they'll have a
healthy roster.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So I just look at this.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
College basketball in March gets bigger ratings than the NBA
often gets in the playoffs. Why urgency make the games matter.
I'm not asking for one and done, But when you're
seeing eight injuries in three tears over a course of
a season, these are the worlds, are the world's best athletes.
They're in incredible shape. Very few of these guys play
(17:05):
themselves into shape. They come in finely tuned, and the
NBA should not be a war of attrition once again,
think about this, the NBA Playoffs. The playing tournament started
April fifteenth. Okay, fourth of July is around the corner.
These things are too long. It doesn't take ten weeks
(17:27):
to realize. Yeah, that team that dominated the regular season
also ended up winning the NBA Championship. If a team
can win in five, they're good enough. If you're losing
in five, you're not good enough. And so I think
Rick Carlisle highly emotional after. I think on a more
(17:48):
personal level, but on a level for all of us,
you kind of felt like, oh, you felt a little
cheated yesterday. The Ola Garks and the billionaires have a
seventy six billion dollar or contract coming. They can give
a couple of games back. Here's Rick Carlisle.
Speaker 8 (18:04):
After what happened with tyresee is uh, it's just all
of our hearts dropped, but he will be back. He
authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the
history of the NBA, with dramatic play after dramatic play.
(18:28):
It was just something that no one's ever seen.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Uh, and and nobody wants to see again. How it
ended again. The NBA and most of these leagues. You know,
we always thought baseball was the stuffy sport, unwilling to change.
And Rob Manfred has stepped up and made change after change,
and they've all worked. Baseball is much easier to watch
two hour, thirty five minute games. The game flies by.
(18:56):
It's really made baseball. It's given it a bit of
a renaissance. And I say that as a guy that
for about fifteen years stopped talking baseball. It was too slow.
None of the kids in my house wanted to watch baseball.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It was soccer.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's not the case anymore. The games are faster. The
NBA needs to act quickly succinctly shave playoff games. We
don't need ten weeks. Here's John Middlekoff with the news.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
No, no turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
Well, Colin, Caleb Williams, and Ben Johnson head into their
first season together, with obviously Ben coming over from the
Lions this offseason. Speaking at the Fanatics Fest yesterday, Caleb
was up there with Peyton and Eli. He discussed how
that his relationship with his new head coach has grown
this offseason.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's been awesome. Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
He uses some choice words every day towards me.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
He's tough.
Speaker 8 (19:51):
I loove him, He's awesome. It's been great Bay around
and we hang out in his office and just you know,
we have watched some times things like that, and just
you know, O this bonding relationship to be able to
you know, last a while.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I think it's interesting because I and you and I
have talked about this privately and on our podcast, is
that offensive coaches in this league are better with old lines.
If you look at the highest rated O lines the
last ten, seven eight years, most are offensive coaches.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
If you look at some of the worst.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Old lines, it's often New York Giants excluded defensive coaches McVeigh,
Andy Reid. They can fix offensive lines quickly. The Steelers
have been trying to rework theirs for years. The first
thing Ben Johnson did is fix the interior O line.
And I thought, regardless of what happens this year, and
regardless of Caleb Williams, is good enough. Ben came from
(20:45):
Detroit and went Joe Tooney Drew Dolman, the Rams guard.
He's like, I got to protect this guy's feet. And
so you know, as somebody you are a scout in
this league. I don't know if Caleb Willi will be
a star, but that that initial move in free agency
by Ben Johnson told me he's got because that's what
(21:08):
McVeigh did in LA with Goff left tackle, fix the
interior a line. So I actually have a lot of
confidence in a team that I shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, I mean this was a head coach.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
How often do we see now guys that get at
these opportunities not jump immediately.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
We just saw Liam Cohen. Ben Johnson was kind of
the opposite of that.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
He waited he I mean, remember he kind of hung
up the phone as Washington was flying to him. Turns
out that was a pretty good job. I think the
key for a lot of these young offensive coaches. Remember
when McVeigh got to the Rams, Kyle got to the Niners,
run the ball, even Lafleur when he got to the Packers,
they started Aaron, You're not just going to carry us
on your back. Kayleb's been used to that. That's how
he played with USC. It's not going to work in
(21:49):
the NFL that way. So I think they got to
get him under control. The roster's pretty good. The problem though,
Colin Division. The schedule is not easy. Side good luck
to these two.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Yeah, I mean we I said this last year.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Minnesota ended up having a great year, but I said
if Minnesota finished in fourth place, it would be the
most dynamic fourth place team you'll ever see. I kind
of feel like Chicago doesn't have Detroit roster.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
They don't have the continuity and the momentum of green Bay.
And do they have the coach of Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You know, I feel like if I said to you
today ten and seven, would you take that in Yes,
you would take it.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
If you're a Bears fan or Ben Johnson or kaylet can.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
This is the hard part about this job. No Dallas
winnderstand why. It's a tough job. But they have won
a lot since winning the Super Bowl. They just haven't
won that often in the playoffs, but they've been in
the playffs life.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
This Bear's team, beside the Erlacker run now for about
fifteen has been not very good. And obviously, you know
Aaron Rodgers, Minnesota has had a lot of good teams
over that time. Now, Detroit, I would say Detroit healthy
second best roster in the NFC behind Philadelphia. So it's
just it's diffic and the pressure. I mean, you're there
a lot now that that market. It's it's a football town.
(23:05):
The expectations and the results don't exactly match up.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So's tough job for these too.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
No listen, since May, there's two topics in Chicago now,
the Cubs and the Bears. Like that is the topic.
Everybody is interested. So but you know those Caleb said
this when he went there. Chicago cares about sports. It's
fun to be in those markets.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
For sure. This is a cool story. Sean McVeigh and
the Rams.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
They made an unusual decision this offseason, holding their mandatory
mini camp in Maui. Players were encouraged to bring their
families with them, and McVeigh talked about what it meant
for the team's bun.
Speaker 9 (23:41):
It's about connection and being able to get some time.
It's cool to be able to you know, really, for me,
meet a lot of these guys families that maybe I
haven't met quite yet, or see their wives or girlfriends
or their.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Kids, and so that's been a really cool thing so far.
Speaker 9 (23:55):
This is about being able to get some good quality
time with each other and then being able to use
the platform that we're blessed with to be able to
give back to a community that went through some similar
things that we can all understand and kind of empathize with.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's really remarkable. This feels a little different than a
previous coach we dealt with.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
Do you think that Lombardy, Parcels or Belichick would have
taken this team to Honolulu and play a little golf?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I don't.
Speaker 6 (24:21):
I don't know this to me, screams though twenty twenty five,
it's got it all. NFL a business deal with nowI tourism.
You know, very player family, senters McVeigh. Young kind of
has a collegiate feel to him. I mean I saw
pictures of you know, Whitworth's along for the trip, DeVante Adams,
They're playing golf.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Everyone's wife went.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You know.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
The NFL is a little different than you know, definitely
the one I grew up in the nineties and even
the two thousands. It's very player centric. It's not the NBA,
but it's it's a different version of you know, management.
They control everything you got to give it and they
have a young team Colin and the expectations are pretty high.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So a lot of good vibes right now. Mcde well.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
And I also think you've asked the players to play
another game. You're probably going to ask them to play
an eighteenth game, and you're now asking teams to regularly
play overseas, and the league's never had more revenue. So
to me, you know, we've all had bosses. When the
bosses are making a lot of money, I'm always okay
with it. Spread the wealth a little bit, and so
(25:22):
I think in the you know, John, the other thing
with all the new cbas there's just less hitting it practice,
and I think there were certain cliches.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
We've always grown up with that.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
But the more and more you read about studies, they're like,
if kids don't start hitting till they're thirteen or fourteen
for football, they're.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Going to be just fine.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
And you don't need you don't need a ton of
hitting in these ota in mini camp.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Do you remember when the CBA changed, I think in
twenty eleven.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yeah, Harbaugh and Pete Carroll got in a little trouble
in the offseason because they were being a little too
aggressive on defense.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Those days are done.
Speaker 6 (25:56):
The off season is really about hanging out, being with
your crew, go into hockey and basketball games and you know,
getting to know your new team because we.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Have so much turnover now in the NFL.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
YEP, agree, Okay, this one's interesting because your guy Sam
Darnold is now in Seattle after an incredible season with
the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
It did not end very well.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
Remember the Vikings went fourteen to two and looking to
win the division, but ended up losing their final game
and they got completely outplayed by the Rams in that
wildcard game in Arizona.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Donald has been open about how.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
He played too close, how he played to close out
the season, saying, we laid an egg as an offense.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You know, here's the thing though, let me defend them.
So they lost in Detroit, right, that was one of
the games, biggest game in Detroit probably at okay ye,
that was my argument, John I said, guys, this is
the biggest game in Detroit. You were not winning that game. Now,
it was uglier than you want. You were not winning
that game. It's also a division rival. Those are hard games,
(26:57):
and the Rams game again because it's back to back,
is easy to pick on. But by the end of
last year, Jared Verse was becoming a top five defensive
player in the league. That Ram defense, because of its youth,
from week three to week fifteen was a different defense.
This team had Philadelphia beat in Philadelphia. So Darnold goes
(27:20):
to Detroit and he didn't play well. And then that
Rams team in the snow is the only team in
the playoffs where you felt, oh, Philadelphia is in trouble.
We have to give some credit to the Lions and
the Rams. They are Those were tough spots for that
offensive line in Minnesota.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
And I think if Kevin O'Connell could get a redo,
you know, I think there are two different versions. You
and I talk a lot about this about the young crew,
the Laflores, obviously, Kyle. They like to run the ball
Arthur Smith up up in Pittsburgh, Kevin, and rightfully so,
because it worked most of the year, throw that ball, baby,
well when it's not working well. Who's the offensive coordinator
in Seattle Kubiak?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Where's Kubak come from?
Speaker 6 (27:59):
Shannon?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
He's basically a Shanahan family member.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
They're gonna try to run the ball slow down the
game because when you get in positions when you're down
a couple scores. How many quarterbacks Josh Allen Patch Mahomes,
Matt Stafford. Still there's only a couple guys who can
really carry you in that environment.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, I agree. I think Johnolan's gonna play well.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
I think their team pretty good on paper, you know,
I mean, they got a lot of good young talent.
People will act like Seattle because they haven't been the
playoffs last couple of years. They're not winning four or
five games. They won ten games last year. Colum we
just said the Bears would sign up for ten and seven.
Seattle went ten and seven. So it shows you the
NFC was a little top heavy, but it was actually
pretty deep last year.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
They don't have the.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
Quarterbacks, but they have a lot of good teams, a
lot of good coaches. I'm pretty high on Seattle coming
into this season.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Well, if JJ McCarthy hits, so you have a Caleb,
you have a Jaden, you have a JJ McCarthy Pennix.
The reason the AFC separated from the NFC they hit
on quarterbacks. Yeah, like three years in a row they
hit on all their quarterbacks. If this quarterback class is
as good as that, like Herbert Joe Burrow to a one,
We're gonna look up at the end of this year go.
The gap between the AFC and the NFC, especially with
(29:03):
the rebirth of Darnald and Baker, it's pretty close.
Speaker 6 (29:07):
A lot of good coaches in the NFC, a lot
of young offensive hot shots. I think Mike McDonald if
he was an offensive guy, we would talk about him
like McVeigh or Kyle. So Dan Campbell's turned into, you know,
the version of the Hardball Brother. He's like the third
Harrorball Brother. So really really good coaching. I think in
the NFC they might not have the quarterback star power,
but the high end coaching is pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
John Middlecoff with the news.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herd Line News.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Bryson, Keepka, Rom, Phil and DJ, some of the biggest
names in golf are headed for the Texas Shootout and
Live Golf Dallas. Catch coverage of around one Friday at
two pm Eastern and around two Saturday at three point.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Thirty all one f By the way, Chicago's getting a tournament.
People are already talking about it up there, so they
got big stars, so you know, I. As I started
the show today, I was thinking, I don't want to
be mister negative oka see, because I'm really impressed with
Sam Presty. The fans there, it's their first title since
they've moved. They thought they were going to get one
with k D and Harden and Russell Westbrook and they
(30:21):
didn't and it's heartbreaking. So I was happy for him
last night, but I just thought, once Halliburton got hurt,
I'm like, Okay, this is a really forgettable final. This
is the worst and it's not their fault. They deserve it.
But I was saying, is we're we have entered a
new NBA. This is the seventh different champion in seven years,
and a lot of it's because it's Adam Silver's NBA.
(30:42):
So David Stern took the league over from Larry O'Brien
and they they needed big markets to flourish. The league
wasn't doing well financially. The finals were on tape delay.
I mean seriously, playoff series run a tape delay. The
league was a mess, and so David Stern leaned into
stars and big markets and had no oh problem with dynasties.
But Adam Silver inherited the league where the ratings were
(31:05):
down post Jordan, but the league was making a lot
of money. It was culturally relevant, and there were a
bunch of dynasty after dynasty after dynasty, and a lot
of the market owners were complaining that it's very pro
Laker Pro, Celtic Pro, Miami Pro, big market. So Adam Silver,
it takes a commissioner five or six years to create
their own league, and I think this is the league
(31:28):
he wants. I'm not sure it's going to be popular,
but it's a league that's collaborative. You can't stack stars,
and we're seeing it in real time the last seven years.
Oklahoma City excellent defensively, but basically one elite score and
he didn't even shoot particularly well, especially from three, and
they still won. So I said, I took the last
(31:48):
seven champions. Let's rank him in order of how where
they rank in this seven year stretch. I think of
the seven champions, I would put the as number seven.
It was very Kawhi Leonard dependent. It was Fred van
Vliet and Kyle Lowry and Danny Green and Serge Ibaka.
(32:10):
It wasn't a great team. I mean they went six
plus games in each of the three rounds. They got
very fortunate on a bounce against Philadelphia. Again, happy for them,
a one and done. That is the weakest champion in
the last seven years. I don't mean to beat upon
the Thunder, but I think they're the sixth rated team. Listen,
they have one offensive player. It's mostly depth and roster construction.
(32:34):
Their second and third best scorers like Chet Holmgren and
j Dubb disappeared in games and they still won. And also,
are we sure they would have won a Halliburton played
great team defense, but I thought they had the second
best coach in the finals. Their best shooter shot twenty
four percent from three. They're going to be noticeably better
(32:57):
the next three years than this year. Number five, I'd
played the Milwaukee Bucks again, a team that had to
come back from multiple two deficits to win. Now it
was Chris Middleton in his prime, Drew Holiday in his prime,
a Yannis emerging as a superstar a previous year or two.
(33:18):
So again they felt like defensively the best team in
the league, but they fell behind in multiple playoff series
and were in trouble and had to go multiple games.
I would put them at number five, number four of
the Warriors. It was the end of the run, end
of the dynasty. Now they got a really good final
from Andrew Wiggins. Jordan Poole was a good role player,
(33:39):
but Steph Clay and Draymond passed their prime. It was
the last legs of a dynasty. I thought they were done.
Remember when they flew cross country back to Boston. I
think they trailed in the series like two to one.
I thought they were done. I thought they were toast,
and then they went to Boston and Tatum and Brown
they just weren't quite ready yet to seize it. I
would put the Warriors of the last seven champions at
(34:00):
number four. I would put the Nuggets at number three.
They're a little like OKC. You got one great star.
The difference is Jokich is the best player in the world.
They also were dominant in the conference finals and the finals.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
They lost only one game. I got fooled by this team.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I thought they had a long run, but then they
started losing really valuable pieces like Brown and KCP. I
put Denver number three. The best overall roster of the
last seven is Boston. The question is what was Tatum
Brown won the Conference MVP and the finals MVP dominant
season sixty four and eighteen, did not lose more than
(34:41):
one game in any series, and I think one through
ten in the last seven years, this is actually the
best roster. You could say all you want about OKC,
but Jalen Brown is better than any number two player
for Oklahoma City. And Derek White, I mean everybody. He
was our number four or five starter. You knew you
were get great defense in threes from Derek White in
(35:02):
every game. So this is the best collection of talent
in the last seven years. But I think the best
team was the Lakers AD in his prime, Lebron playing
like he was in his prime, Alex Caruso. You just
didn't know who Alex Caruso was yet. He was a
great defensive player KCP who's always been a big shot.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Maker in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
They had the best record in the West before the
league shut down with COVID, so they don't get a
lot of credit. But as the other old veteran teams crumpled,
they had Lebron ad and really really, really good role players. Again,
you just didn't know. I didn't know much about Alex Caruso.
We find out now he's a pretty solid player. So
(35:43):
that's where I would rank the teams. Again, if Jason
Tatum was a more decisive big game star, I'd have
no problem putting the Celtics above the Lakers because I
thought one through nine the roster is better. I mean,
I mean, when you can go you know, the twenty
twenty four Celtics. Just look at how good Derek White
(36:04):
is at an NBA player. He was off an option
number four. But I don't think even that the Lakers
are an all time great Laker team. I would say
the Showtime Lakers are much better. The Shaq and Kobe
Lakers are better. The Kobe Gasol Lakers, to me, are
better than this Lakers championship team in the Bubble.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
I would agree.
Speaker 6 (36:22):
And the Warriors team, remember Jordan Poole played a pretty
big role Steph Miss some time. Remember Steph Miss some games.
I think Jordan Poole was starting. So yeah, I mean
it's we have some great individual players over the last
seven years, but the teams. But this is kind of
the nature of Adam Silver, right. All these players moved,
not stop. This is in the nineties where guys are
on the same team. Reggie Miller played for the Pacers
(36:42):
for what eighteen years? Those days are done? Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
So I started reading on the flight to LA yesterday afternoon,
I started reading Caitlin Clark book by Christine Brennan, and
I just wanted to know, like the rest of you,
ninety percent of us, me and you. We started watching
her her junior year, her last couple of years at Iowa,
right we oh man, she shoots three. She looks like
(37:06):
Steph Curry. But when you read this book, Christine Brennan
really holds the WA accountable, and she says the league
was simply not prepared for and didn't do their homework.
So the NBA has I think through the years in
the NFL, they kind of know when a star is
coming and they often soften up the schedule. The WNBA
(37:26):
did not do that for Connecticut, having them play New
York and Connecticut early. But this book talks about a
specific moment Caitlin's sophomore year. Sophomore, she goes on the
road to face Michigan, a twenty and two team. She
dropped forty six points, ten assists, played every minute. It
(37:47):
was her third forty point game of her sophomore year,
and in the book. It details how people are that
were at the game realized, oh, she's doing things we
have never seen a woman's basketball player do forty six points,
tenn assists played every minute. There's also stories and I
(38:10):
don't expect the NWNBA to have information when she was
in seventh and eighth grade, but one of the fascinating
stories as she was down when she was like in
the seventh or eighth grade, she was down eleven points
with a minute seven left. Caitlin Clark won on a
thirteen nothing run to win in like the seventh or
eighth grade. But one of the criticisms I've had with
the WNBA is it is your job to know and
(38:32):
identify stars before they're at your doorstep. You gotta see
him coming up the driveway. And when you read this book,
I think Christine really holds them accountable and the WNBA
is pushed back.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
But her shooting.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Distance multiple forty point game, you don't get a lot
of forty point games, forty five point games from college
men's basketball players, like you just don't see that. So
she's dropping forty six as a sophomore. People that are
at the game are talking about her passings. Actually better
than her shooting. She's a revolutionary player. So I think
(39:07):
the book really dies sects some of the lack of
preparation or awareness and you know you can just like Also,
Christine Brennan holds women's basketball accountable for not putting her
on the Olympic team where they didn't have a lot
of great perimeter shooters and she was emerging as a
noteworthy player when they were making those tryouts. So Christine
(39:31):
Brennan last week on the Herd on Caitlyn's impact to
the WNBA.
Speaker 10 (39:36):
This athlete, Caitlyn Clark is so important to the financial
future of the WNBA at the time. By the way,
as you know that the CBA, the Collective Barnaining Agreement
is open and will be being negotiated, all of these
things that we would see arenas having to be games
being moved to bigger arenas, and that we'd be talking
about a female athlete. Never in my lifetime did I
(39:57):
think I would see that. And I think that's what
makes this so remarkable and so different from another phenom
coming into a sport.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
The book is called on her Game. It really breaks
down how all the signs were there not as a
junior not as a senior. They were in the Big ten.
On display late sophomore season. She was doing things, making
passes and taking shots from areas women did not shoot from,
(40:29):
and the people that were in attendance at these games,
especially the one in an arbor, were awe struck by
what they saw, and word was traveling really fast. John,
we're going to our number two. Colin right, Colin wrong.
Rick Bucker stops byes the hurt
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Ah, here we go, we are live.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
It's The Herd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
John Middlecop is going to be filled in for the
next three days. My buddy, John Middlecop got a very
popular podcast at the volume three and out former NFL scout.
You know, you're a self admitted football guy, and I
(00:49):
like football more than basketball. But I did grow up
in the seventies and the Pacific Northwest with Bill Walton
and the Blazers and the Sonics, and people always lament
the seventies NBA. John, there was no great dynasties. And
I defend him because I collect basketball cards when every
other had baseball cards. But I got to admit last
night that kind of felt like a nothing burger, did
(01:12):
it not?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It was a big win for the small markets. I
guess I.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Guess it was that a small story.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Listen, we have entered in the last seven years, a
new NBA, the champions. They're good teams. Jo Kich the
only All Star on Denver. Yeah, you can. You can
see him, Thunders, Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Bucks, Lakers, Raptors, Folks.
(01:37):
OKC has one Elite score. He had three bad games,
shot twenty four percent from three chat Hongren disappeared for
five games. J. Dubb disappeared for several and they won.
That's the champion. I'm not sure they do if Halliburton
(02:00):
remains in the game. Baseball's best teams right now are
stacked and feel like it. Attendance ratings up. The NFL's
best teams Ravens, Kansas City, Philadelphia, stacked ratings up. The
new NBA. It's like you're battling the CBA as much
as opponents. In fact, Okase is so young they could
(02:24):
potentially be significantly better over the next three years than
this season. They've got two first round picks. They're young
players like homebren who's talented but wildly uneven. You have
no idea what you're getting quarter to quarter. J Dubb
what a ceiling, but what a disappearing act. Alex Caruso
(02:45):
literally had to show okac's young players how to open
champagne bottles. America's event driven. Now it's a Tom Cruise movie,
a Taylor Swift Tour, the World Cup, the College Football Playoff,
the Super Bowl, and these NBA playoffs. I know I
tried to defend them, but last night, after that Halliburton injury,
(03:07):
it felt small. I don't want every NBA champion to
feel like the two thousand and four Chauncey Billups Pistons.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Last night, I'm watching that game because I'm a sportscaster.
I missed MJ's Bulls, Katie Steph Clay Draymond Warriors, the
heatles Hell. I missed the Duncan Manu Tony Parker Spurs.
This is not a knock on Oklahoma City. They won
due to roster construction and depth, which is not exactly
(03:39):
a great movie poster. The new NBA is the era
of accounting where you have to draft really well and
develop really well and then cross your fingers, where players
stay healthy and the last team standing was the healthiest
and maybe has the best GM and has tremendous roster construction.
(04:02):
But again, that doesn't get me to goosebumps. This felt
like a great day for Oklahoma, maybe a neat day
for Oklahoma and surrounding areas. And I know I sound
like a buzzkill. I'm not telling you how to feel.
I'm just telling you how I feel. I think Indiana
ten years from now will be the team you remember now.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Maybe OKC goes on to win six titles, seven and
they're one of the greatest dynasties ever because the new
CBA doesn't allow for star stacking, and really the gms
will be as big as the players. But when I
watched the Dodgers podres last week, it jumped off the television.
The animosity, the intensity, the stars, it was everywhere. And
(04:48):
I felt last night there's the old saying video killed
the radio star, and the new CBA has killed basketball stars.
They can't play together. So just think about this in
terms of all time great teams, OKC has one elite
score three bad games, couldn't hit three pointers. The number
(05:10):
two and three scorers really struggled. I mean, Chet Holmgren
was the invisible man for like four games in the series,
maybe five, and they won. That's why Indiana was so captivating.
Rick Carlisle, the oldest coach in the league, the most
overrated player in Halliburton. If not for the injuries, maybe
(05:31):
I feel different. And I'm happy for Oklahoma City. They
have probably the best young executive in the league in
Sam Presty. But it felt small, and when the Celtics
lost Tatum and the injuries throughout the playoffs, it just
didn't feel big and it hasn't for seven years unless
(05:51):
your team won. And here's SGA after.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
No matter what, Like, you go into every night wanting
to win and sometimes it just doesn't go your way,
and tonight could have been one of those nice but
we found a way. I'm so proud of his group.
I wouldn't have rather done it with any other group
in the world. It feels good to be a champion.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So I thought it was interesting. Earlier in the day,
the kd trade came down and people were so excited.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Here's what's funny.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
He didn't have much of a market, but we were
so excited for basketball that you know, thirty six, thirty
seven year old Kati going to Houston felt bigger than
Game seven, especially after the Haliburton injury. So Kevin Durant
to the Rockets, I said this for the last two weeks.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Why isn't there a bigger market.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I do think this could help or hinder his legacy
because KD is starting to feel a little like old
Shack and current Aaron Rodgers kind of sad. Katie to
Brooklyn was an absolute mess. Katie to Phoenix was underwhelming,
although it should be noted Phoenix was about a five
hundred team when he played three and seventeen when he didn't,
(06:58):
so he wasn't the problem in Phoenix. I think it's
going to work. This to me, is the perfect place
to go. So they have things Phoenix didn't. They have
an infrastructure that the Suns didn't. Houston has a great coach,
they just gave him an extension. They have size Phoenix doesn't.
They've got depth. He didn't have to play sixty eight
(07:22):
games a year. They've got multiple players, Cam Whitmore, Javari
Smith reed Shephard he doesn't have to be on the
floor a lot until big games in the playoffs. So
I think this is exactly what Houston needs, And strangely,
It's exactly what Kevin Durant needs. A relevant team, excellent owner,
(07:43):
one of the top five richest owners in the sport,
excellent coach, lots of depth. Shen Goon will be the
centerpiece of the offense. Aman Thompson will be the defensive stopper,
and then the team has all sorts of length around him.
So Kevin does and have to be as great defensively
as he was probably six seven years ago. I mean,
(08:05):
Houston was held under ninety points twice by the Warriors.
They can't shoot, so he's absolutely necessary. I think he's
a perfect fit. They've got all the structure and by
the way certain people, Shack was often distracted. Aaron Rodgers
clearly needs structure. That's where I've said Aaron and Katie
(08:26):
are similar. They're very good when structures already present, because
what Katie doesn't want to do is end up being
if this goes sideways A yeah, butt guy. Yeah it
was great, but he didn't win big without Steph. Yeah
he had to bounce around. He had eight different head coaches.
I mean, yeah, he was great, but when you really
(08:47):
compare him to like Lebron and Steph, you know what
is he kind of a wander. I think Kevin Durant's game,
his talent. He was the number one mid range shooter
in the league last year. Only two people in the
NBA also average twenty five a game and then hit
forty percent on threes. Your kitchen, Kevin Durant, He's still
(09:09):
an elite player. If he remains healthy for the next
two years, it will feel like the Houston Rockets stole
KD from Phoenix. If he crumples to the ground, cross
your fingers. He doesn't, then maybe Phoenix likes the assets
they got.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Here's Kevin Durant.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
Yesterday he had a part of the Houston Rockets. I'm
looking forward to it crazy, crazy last couple of weeks
when I'm glad it's over with. You know when people
could just hang your career in the balance like that
and just choose what they want to do with your
careers and nerve reckingd feeling but being able to kind
of dictate what you want to do and then being
with a team that values you. And I'm looking forward
(09:45):
to it hoving.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
People are going to hold on to that dictate what
you want to do. Did you have a hand in this?
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Most definitely yeah. I mean, they asked me where I
wanted to go some of my destinations. I gave it
to him.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Here we are, Uh yeah again.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Everybody wants to pick a side on trades, winner and loser.
If Katie remains healthy, Houston's gonna feel like they won
this trade because they only had to give up one
first round pick if he has injury issues, and the
number ten pick the Son's got in the draft hits.
Jalen Green's expensive, but he'll be productive. Dylan Brooks will
start for them, a bunch of second round picks they
(10:19):
can play around with. Then maybe it feels like Phoenix
won the deal. But I do think Kevin Durant's game
is too good to be sort of lumped into a
yeah butt guy. One of the best NBA offensive players
of my lifetime. And I started watching this sport in
nineteen seventy one seventy two, so I'm happy for him. Well,
you live in the Arizona area, he said something.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
John.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I thought it was interesting. You know, he's just got
such an interesting personality. He'll go on Twitter and talk
to people. He'll see him on the street, you go
to games, he'll talk to people, he said, yesterday, he goes,
You know, they didn't want me, so I'm glad to go.
How did people in your hometown, Phoenix, how did they
view Katie and the whole KD.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Beal experiment.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
Yeah, I think the Suns have just been a disaster
and people are tuned out. I think the expectations when
they traded for him were pretty high. I mean, you
get a Kevin Durant the same thing with Brooklyn. You're
expecting we're gonna compete for the championship. Last year wasn't
even close. Now, not all his fault. The owner's a
little crazy. I mean, you know, Draydon for Bradley Beal
absolutely backfired. I actually think this situation Houston feels three
(11:25):
or four years a little too late. I mean, he's
thirty seven, Colin, he's he kind got in the NBA
when he was nineteen years old, so he a lot
of wear and tear on this body. If he would
have got there, like when he moved to Brooklyn, a
situation like this, who.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Knows, I don't know. It's had a lot of injuries lately.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Come yeah, No, he's playing about sixty sixty five games
and the good news is they have a lot of
length in Houston and a lot of young guys, so
he does not have to be you know, it's pretty
clear they're going to keep him around for the playoffs. Yeah,
they got him. I mean they got to the playoffs
without him, and they Jalen Green is not a defined player.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
He's too expensive.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I think it will pay off for sure late, but
you cross your on health because with KD you know what,
with the Warriors, that is now a thing in his career.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Are you confident that he's going to be there for
more than a year and a half at this point.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I kind of a traveling circus a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I do think I've heard for years NBA players like Houston.
They like living there, no state tax, middle of the country.
My take is this is where he ends it, and
I think it's a pretty good spot because I do
think they have a defensive culture. He's not the defender
he used to be, but they have a defensive culture
and they have the length and quickness Amend Thompson, so
(12:29):
they won't need they really need him to grab it
and shoot it. They shot fewer three pointers than anybody
in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
They had two games with the Warriors under.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Ninety points like he is exactly what they need, and
they don't need him to be multiple in roles.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Bro catch it, shoot it, score hit threes.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
That's all we need, and I think that's what he
provides totally.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and newon Easter non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Hi, this is Jay.
Speaker 7 (13:01):
I'm the producer of the Pauli and Tony Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they asked you to listen to
the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen
to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who
have the dumbest takes on sports imaginable. Don't listen to
the show so it can get Camps.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Oh wha, what the hell are you doing in our studio?
Get him, PAULI, Ignore that fool.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Listen to the Paula and Tony Fusco Show on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
He's still moving.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It's great to be back, John Middlecoff joining me today.
Don't forget in the forty minutes from now, where Colin
was right where Colin was wrong. Rick Buker, Alexi Lawless
stops by. He's all fired up, so listen. I'm like you,
I've sat around all day. I thought, okay, you don't
get many game sevens. I thought the Indiana Pacers were
an amazing story. It's one of the craziest playoff runs.
(13:52):
They were underdogs to Milwaukee. They were supposed to get
rolled by Cleveland. They weren't gonna beat the Knicks. They
even sold game one of the finals in Okac. It's
just you don't get stuff like this. And then Tyrese Halliburton,
this incredibly likable guy and is kind of crazy dad.
Sometimes he was along for the ride and then he
(14:13):
gets hurt and you're like, oh, you can't beat Okac
with one ball handler and just TJ McConnell.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
But last night was a real gut punch. It was
hard to stomach.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And this was the eighth achilles tear this year in
the NBA, most ever, and the third in the playoffs,
most ever. The NBA is on notice shorten the playoffs.
They started two weeks before the draft the NFL draft.
The NBA is faster, there's more spacing, there's way more movement.
(14:48):
Players are just moving more. It's twitchier. When you can
see his achilles flop. Oh, it's gutting. An Achilles tear
used to be what old guys did at fifty eight
playing handball. It was an old guy injury. It wasn't
for twenty year olds. That tells you everything. And baseball,
for the record, has made multiple tweaks in the.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Last three years.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
The sport has greatly benefited the NFL tweaks in season.
We love the NFL. The NBA has never been a
stubborn league. Move off seven game playoff series until you
get to the finals.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
MJ.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
The most popular to the league ever was five games
in the first round. Maybe you can do conference finals
at seven. But the NBA just got a seventy six
billion dollar TV deal. The billionaires are gonna be okay
without another home game. Everybody's gonna eat. Adam's gonna eat
(15:46):
the owners are gonna eat, the players, the coaches. Seven
to eight figures everywhere these early round seven games. When
you look at these injuries, the achilles injury, it's a
wear and tear injury. You're just fatigued, you're tired, you're
pushing it. Like they always say, you know, you tear
the achilles on the last ski run of the day,
(16:08):
or as you get older, you're an old guy and
you're pushing it. That's where this usually happens. So next year,
think about this. Two of the most captivating players that
we argue about, Jason Tatum of the Celtics won't play
next year, and now Tyree's Haliburton because the lateness of
this injury, probably will not play next year. You're gonna
tell me the Eastern Conference I don't get Tatum and
(16:29):
I don't get Haliburton.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
You think that's good for the league?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I was thinking watching this injury, I'm thinking, you know
who really benefited in the East this year, Orlando and
the Knicks by getting knocked out earlier, they'll have a
healthy roster.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So I just look at this.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
College basketball in March gets bigger ratings than the NBA
often gets in the playoffs. Why urgency make the games matter.
I'm not asking for one and done, But when you're
seeing eight injuries in three tears over a course of
a season, these are the worlds, are the world's best athletes.
They're in incredible shape. Very few of these guys play
(17:05):
themselves into shape. They come in finely tuned, and the
NBA should not be a war of attrition once again,
think about this, the NBA Playoffs. The playing tournament started
April fifteenth. Okay, fourth of July is around the corner.
These things are too long. It doesn't take ten weeks
(17:27):
to realize. Yeah, that team that dominated the regular season
also ended up winning the NBA Championship. If a team
can win in five, they're good enough. If you're losing
in five, you're not good enough. And so I think
Rick Carlisle highly emotional after. I think on a more
(17:48):
personal level, but on a level for all of us,
you kind of felt like, oh, you felt a little
cheated yesterday. The Ola Garks and the billionaires have a
seventy six billion dollar or contract coming. They can give
a couple of games back. Here's Rick Carlisle.
Speaker 8 (18:04):
After what happened with tyresee is uh, it's just all
of our hearts dropped, but he will be back. He
authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the
history of the NBA, with dramatic play after dramatic play.
(18:28):
It was just something that no one's ever seen.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Uh, and and nobody wants to see again. How it
ended again. The NBA and most of these leagues. You know,
we always thought baseball was the stuffy sport, unwilling to change.
And Rob Manfred has stepped up and made change after change,
and they've all worked. Baseball is much easier to watch
two hour, thirty five minute games. The game flies by.
(18:56):
It's really made baseball. It's given it a bit of
a renaissance. And I say that as a guy that
for about fifteen years stopped talking baseball. It was too slow.
None of the kids in my house wanted to watch baseball.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It was soccer.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's not the case anymore. The games are faster. The
NBA needs to act quickly succinctly shave playoff games. We
don't need ten weeks. Here's John Middlekoff with the news.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
No, no turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
Well, Colin, Caleb Williams, and Ben Johnson head into their
first season together, with obviously Ben coming over from the
Lions this offseason. Speaking at the Fanatics Fest yesterday, Caleb
was up there with Peyton and Eli. He discussed how
that his relationship with his new head coach has grown
this offseason.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's been awesome. Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
He uses some choice words every day towards me.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
He's tough.
Speaker 8 (19:51):
I loove him, He's awesome. It's been great Bay around
and we hang out in his office and just you know,
we have watched some times things like that, and just
you know, O this bonding relationship to be able to
you know, last a while.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I think it's interesting because I and you and I
have talked about this privately and on our podcast, is
that offensive coaches in this league are better with old lines.
If you look at the highest rated O lines the
last ten, seven eight years, most are offensive coaches.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
If you look at some of the worst.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Old lines, it's often New York Giants excluded defensive coaches McVeigh,
Andy Reid. They can fix offensive lines quickly. The Steelers
have been trying to rework theirs for years. The first
thing Ben Johnson did is fix the interior O line.
And I thought, regardless of what happens this year, and
regardless of Caleb Williams, is good enough. Ben came from
(20:45):
Detroit and went Joe Tooney Drew Dolman, the Rams guard.
He's like, I got to protect this guy's feet. And
so you know, as somebody you are a scout in
this league. I don't know if Caleb Willi will be
a star, but that that initial move in free agency
by Ben Johnson told me he's got because that's what
(21:08):
McVeigh did in LA with Goff left tackle, fix the
interior a line. So I actually have a lot of
confidence in a team that I shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, I mean this was a head coach.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
How often do we see now guys that get at
these opportunities not jump immediately.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
We just saw Liam Cohen. Ben Johnson was kind of
the opposite of that.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
He waited he I mean, remember he kind of hung
up the phone as Washington was flying to him. Turns
out that was a pretty good job. I think the
key for a lot of these young offensive coaches. Remember
when McVeigh got to the Rams, Kyle got to the Niners,
run the ball, even Lafleur when he got to the Packers,
they started Aaron, You're not just going to carry us
on your back. Kayleb's been used to that. That's how
he played with USC. It's not going to work in
(21:49):
the NFL that way. So I think they got to
get him under control. The roster's pretty good. The problem though,
Colin Division. The schedule is not easy. Side good luck
to these two.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Yeah, I mean we I said this last year.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Minnesota ended up having a great year, but I said
if Minnesota finished in fourth place, it would be the
most dynamic fourth place team you'll ever see. I kind
of feel like Chicago doesn't have Detroit roster.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
They don't have the continuity and the momentum of green Bay.
And do they have the coach of Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You know, I feel like if I said to you
today ten and seven, would you take that in Yes,
you would take it.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
If you're a Bears fan or Ben Johnson or kaylet can.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
This is the hard part about this job. No Dallas
winnderstand why. It's a tough job. But they have won
a lot since winning the Super Bowl. They just haven't
won that often in the playoffs, but they've been in
the playffs life.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
This Bear's team, beside the Erlacker run now for about
fifteen has been not very good. And obviously, you know
Aaron Rodgers, Minnesota has had a lot of good teams
over that time. Now, Detroit, I would say Detroit healthy
second best roster in the NFC behind Philadelphia. So it's
just it's diffic and the pressure. I mean, you're there
a lot now that that market. It's it's a football town.
(23:05):
The expectations and the results don't exactly match up.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So's tough job for these too.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
No listen, since May, there's two topics in Chicago now,
the Cubs and the Bears. Like that is the topic.
Everybody is interested. So but you know those Caleb said
this when he went there. Chicago cares about sports. It's
fun to be in those markets.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
For sure. This is a cool story. Sean McVeigh and
the Rams.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
They made an unusual decision this offseason, holding their mandatory
mini camp in Maui. Players were encouraged to bring their
families with them, and McVeigh talked about what it meant
for the team's bun.
Speaker 9 (23:41):
It's about connection and being able to get some time.
It's cool to be able to you know, really, for me,
meet a lot of these guys families that maybe I
haven't met quite yet, or see their wives or girlfriends
or their.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Kids, and so that's been a really cool thing so far.
Speaker 9 (23:55):
This is about being able to get some good quality
time with each other and then being able to use
the platform that we're blessed with to be able to
give back to a community that went through some similar
things that we can all understand and kind of empathize with.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's really remarkable. This feels a little different than a
previous coach we dealt with.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
Do you think that Lombardy, Parcels or Belichick would have
taken this team to Honolulu and play a little golf?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I don't.
Speaker 6 (24:21):
I don't know this to me, screams though twenty twenty five,
it's got it all. NFL a business deal with nowI tourism.
You know, very player family, senters McVeigh. Young kind of
has a collegiate feel to him. I mean I saw
pictures of you know, Whitworth's along for the trip, DeVante Adams,
They're playing golf.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Everyone's wife went.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You know.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
The NFL is a little different than you know, definitely
the one I grew up in the nineties and even
the two thousands. It's very player centric. It's not the NBA,
but it's it's a different version of you know, management.
They control everything you got to give it and they
have a young team Colin and the expectations are pretty high.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So a lot of good vibes right now. Mcde well.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
And I also think you've asked the players to play
another game. You're probably going to ask them to play
an eighteenth game, and you're now asking teams to regularly
play overseas, and the league's never had more revenue. So
to me, you know, we've all had bosses. When the
bosses are making a lot of money, I'm always okay
with it. Spread the wealth a little bit, and so
(25:22):
I think in the you know, John, the other thing
with all the new cbas there's just less hitting it practice,
and I think there were certain cliches.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
We've always grown up with that.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
But the more and more you read about studies, they're like,
if kids don't start hitting till they're thirteen or fourteen
for football, they're.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Going to be just fine.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
And you don't need you don't need a ton of
hitting in these ota in mini camp.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Do you remember when the CBA changed, I think in
twenty eleven.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yeah, Harbaugh and Pete Carroll got in a little trouble
in the offseason because they were being a little too
aggressive on defense.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Those days are done.
Speaker 6 (25:56):
The off season is really about hanging out, being with
your crew, go into hockey and basketball games and you know,
getting to know your new team because we.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Have so much turnover now in the NFL.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
YEP, agree, Okay, this one's interesting because your guy Sam
Darnold is now in Seattle after an incredible season with
the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
It did not end very well.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
Remember the Vikings went fourteen to two and looking to
win the division, but ended up losing their final game
and they got completely outplayed by the Rams in that
wildcard game in Arizona.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Donald has been open about how.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
He played too close, how he played to close out
the season, saying, we laid an egg as an offense.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You know, here's the thing though, let me defend them.
So they lost in Detroit, right, that was one of
the games, biggest game in Detroit probably at okay ye,
that was my argument, John I said, guys, this is
the biggest game in Detroit. You were not winning that game. Now,
it was uglier than you want. You were not winning
that game. It's also a division rival. Those are hard games,
(26:57):
and the Rams game again because it's back to back,
is easy to pick on. But by the end of
last year, Jared Verse was becoming a top five defensive
player in the league. That Ram defense, because of its youth,
from week three to week fifteen was a different defense.
This team had Philadelphia beat in Philadelphia. So Darnold goes
(27:20):
to Detroit and he didn't play well. And then that
Rams team in the snow is the only team in
the playoffs where you felt, oh, Philadelphia is in trouble.
We have to give some credit to the Lions and
the Rams. They are Those were tough spots for that
offensive line in Minnesota.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
And I think if Kevin O'Connell could get a redo,
you know, I think there are two different versions. You
and I talk a lot about this about the young crew,
the Laflores, obviously, Kyle. They like to run the ball
Arthur Smith up up in Pittsburgh, Kevin, and rightfully so,
because it worked most of the year, throw that ball, baby,
well when it's not working well. Who's the offensive coordinator
in Seattle Kubiak?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Where's Kubak come from?
Speaker 6 (27:59):
Shannon?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
He's basically a Shanahan family member.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
They're gonna try to run the ball slow down the
game because when you get in positions when you're down
a couple scores. How many quarterbacks Josh Allen Patch Mahomes,
Matt Stafford. Still there's only a couple guys who can
really carry you in that environment.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, I agree. I think Johnolan's gonna play well.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
I think their team pretty good on paper, you know,
I mean, they got a lot of good young talent.
People will act like Seattle because they haven't been the
playoffs last couple of years. They're not winning four or
five games. They won ten games last year. Colum we
just said the Bears would sign up for ten and seven.
Seattle went ten and seven. So it shows you the
NFC was a little top heavy, but it was actually
pretty deep last year.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
They don't have the.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
Quarterbacks, but they have a lot of good teams, a
lot of good coaches. I'm pretty high on Seattle coming
into this season.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Well, if JJ McCarthy hits, so you have a Caleb,
you have a Jaden, you have a JJ McCarthy Pennix.
The reason the AFC separated from the NFC they hit
on quarterbacks. Yeah, like three years in a row they
hit on all their quarterbacks. If this quarterback class is
as good as that, like Herbert Joe Burrow to a one,
We're gonna look up at the end of this year go.
The gap between the AFC and the NFC, especially with
(29:03):
the rebirth of Darnald and Baker, it's pretty close.
Speaker 6 (29:07):
A lot of good coaches in the NFC, a lot
of young offensive hot shots. I think Mike McDonald if
he was an offensive guy, we would talk about him
like McVeigh or Kyle. So Dan Campbell's turned into, you know,
the version of the Hardball Brother. He's like the third
Harrorball Brother. So really really good coaching. I think in
the NFC they might not have the quarterback star power,
but the high end coaching is pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
John Middlecoff with the news.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herd Line News.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Bryson, Keepka, Rom, Phil and DJ, some of the biggest
names in golf are headed for the Texas Shootout and
Live Golf Dallas. Catch coverage of around one Friday at
two pm Eastern and around two Saturday at three point.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Thirty all one f By the way, Chicago's getting a tournament.
People are already talking about it up there, so they
got big stars, so you know, I. As I started
the show today, I was thinking, I don't want to
be mister negative oka see, because I'm really impressed with
Sam Presty. The fans there, it's their first title since
they've moved. They thought they were going to get one
with k D and Harden and Russell Westbrook and they
(30:21):
didn't and it's heartbreaking. So I was happy for him
last night, but I just thought, once Halliburton got hurt,
I'm like, Okay, this is a really forgettable final. This
is the worst and it's not their fault. They deserve it.
But I was saying, is we're we have entered a
new NBA. This is the seventh different champion in seven years,
and a lot of it's because it's Adam Silver's NBA.
(30:42):
So David Stern took the league over from Larry O'Brien
and they they needed big markets to flourish. The league
wasn't doing well financially. The finals were on tape delay.
I mean seriously, playoff series run a tape delay. The
league was a mess, and so David Stern leaned into
stars and big markets and had no oh problem with dynasties.
But Adam Silver inherited the league where the ratings were
(31:05):
down post Jordan, but the league was making a lot
of money. It was culturally relevant, and there were a
bunch of dynasty after dynasty after dynasty, and a lot
of the market owners were complaining that it's very pro
Laker Pro, Celtic Pro, Miami Pro, big market. So Adam Silver,
it takes a commissioner five or six years to create
their own league, and I think this is the league
(31:28):
he wants. I'm not sure it's going to be popular,
but it's a league that's collaborative. You can't stack stars,
and we're seeing it in real time the last seven years.
Oklahoma City excellent defensively, but basically one elite score and
he didn't even shoot particularly well, especially from three, and
they still won. So I said, I took the last
(31:48):
seven champions. Let's rank him in order of how where
they rank in this seven year stretch. I think of
the seven champions, I would put the as number seven.
It was very Kawhi Leonard dependent. It was Fred van
Vliet and Kyle Lowry and Danny Green and Serge Ibaka.
(32:10):
It wasn't a great team. I mean they went six
plus games in each of the three rounds. They got
very fortunate on a bounce against Philadelphia. Again, happy for them,
a one and done. That is the weakest champion in
the last seven years. I don't mean to beat upon
the Thunder, but I think they're the sixth rated team. Listen,
they have one offensive player. It's mostly depth and roster construction.
(32:34):
Their second and third best scorers like Chet Holmgren and
j Dubb disappeared in games and they still won. And also,
are we sure they would have won a Halliburton played
great team defense, but I thought they had the second
best coach in the finals. Their best shooter shot twenty
four percent from three. They're going to be noticeably better
(32:57):
the next three years than this year. Number five, I'd
played the Milwaukee Bucks again, a team that had to
come back from multiple two deficits to win. Now it
was Chris Middleton in his prime, Drew Holiday in his prime,
a Yannis emerging as a superstar a previous year or two.
(33:18):
So again they felt like defensively the best team in
the league, but they fell behind in multiple playoff series
and were in trouble and had to go multiple games.
I would put them at number five, number four of
the Warriors. It was the end of the run, end
of the dynasty. Now they got a really good final
from Andrew Wiggins. Jordan Poole was a good role player,
(33:39):
but Steph Clay and Draymond passed their prime. It was
the last legs of a dynasty. I thought they were done.
Remember when they flew cross country back to Boston. I
think they trailed in the series like two to one.
I thought they were done. I thought they were toast,
and then they went to Boston and Tatum and Brown
they just weren't quite ready yet to seize it. I
would put the Warriors of the last seven champions at
(34:00):
number four. I would put the Nuggets at number three.
They're a little like OKC. You got one great star.
The difference is Jokich is the best player in the world.
They also were dominant in the conference finals and the finals.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
They lost only one game. I got fooled by this team.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I thought they had a long run, but then they
started losing really valuable pieces like Brown and KCP. I
put Denver number three. The best overall roster of the
last seven is Boston. The question is what was Tatum
Brown won the Conference MVP and the finals MVP dominant
season sixty four and eighteen, did not lose more than
(34:41):
one game in any series, and I think one through
ten in the last seven years, this is actually the
best roster. You could say all you want about OKC,
but Jalen Brown is better than any number two player
for Oklahoma City. And Derek White, I mean everybody. He
was our number four or five starter. You knew you
were get great defense in threes from Derek White in
(35:02):
every game. So this is the best collection of talent
in the last seven years. But I think the best
team was the Lakers AD in his prime, Lebron playing
like he was in his prime, Alex Caruso. You just
didn't know who Alex Caruso was yet. He was a
great defensive player KCP who's always been a big shot.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Maker in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
They had the best record in the West before the
league shut down with COVID, so they don't get a
lot of credit. But as the other old veteran teams crumpled,
they had Lebron ad and really really, really good role players. Again,
you just didn't know. I didn't know much about Alex Caruso.
We find out now he's a pretty solid player. So
(35:43):
that's where I would rank the teams. Again, if Jason
Tatum was a more decisive big game star, I'd have
no problem putting the Celtics above the Lakers because I
thought one through nine the roster is better. I mean,
I mean, when you can go you know, the twenty
twenty four Celtics. Just look at how good Derek White
(36:04):
is at an NBA player. He was off an option
number four. But I don't think even that the Lakers
are an all time great Laker team. I would say
the Showtime Lakers are much better. The Shaq and Kobe
Lakers are better. The Kobe Gasol Lakers, to me, are
better than this Lakers championship team in the Bubble.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
I would agree.
Speaker 6 (36:22):
And the Warriors team, remember Jordan Poole played a pretty
big role Steph Miss some time. Remember Steph Miss some games.
I think Jordan Poole was starting. So yeah, I mean
it's we have some great individual players over the last
seven years, but the teams. But this is kind of
the nature of Adam Silver, right. All these players moved,
not stop. This is in the nineties where guys are
on the same team. Reggie Miller played for the Pacers
(36:42):
for what eighteen years? Those days are done? Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
So I started reading on the flight to LA yesterday afternoon,
I started reading Caitlin Clark book by Christine Brennan, and
I just wanted to know, like the rest of you,
ninety percent of us, me and you. We started watching
her her junior year, her last couple of years at Iowa,
right we oh man, she shoots three. She looks like
(37:06):
Steph Curry. But when you read this book, Christine Brennan
really holds the WA accountable, and she says the league
was simply not prepared for and didn't do their homework.
So the NBA has I think through the years in
the NFL, they kind of know when a star is
coming and they often soften up the schedule. The WNBA
(37:26):
did not do that for Connecticut, having them play New
York and Connecticut early. But this book talks about a
specific moment Caitlin's sophomore year. Sophomore, she goes on the
road to face Michigan, a twenty and two team. She
dropped forty six points, ten assists, played every minute. It
(37:47):
was her third forty point game of her sophomore year,
and in the book. It details how people are that
were at the game realized, oh, she's doing things we
have never seen a woman's basketball player do forty six points,
tenn assists played every minute. There's also stories and I
(38:10):
don't expect the NWNBA to have information when she was
in seventh and eighth grade, but one of the fascinating
stories as she was down when she was like in
the seventh or eighth grade, she was down eleven points
with a minute seven left. Caitlin Clark won on a
thirteen nothing run to win in like the seventh or
eighth grade. But one of the criticisms I've had with
the WNBA is it is your job to know and
(38:32):
identify stars before they're at your doorstep. You gotta see
him coming up the driveway. And when you read this book,
I think Christine really holds them accountable and the WNBA
is pushed back.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
But her shooting.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Distance multiple forty point game, you don't get a lot
of forty point games, forty five point games from college
men's basketball players, like you just don't see that. So
she's dropping forty six as a sophomore. People that are
at the game are talking about her passings. Actually better
than her shooting. She's a revolutionary player. So I think
(39:07):
the book really dies sects some of the lack of
preparation or awareness and you know you can just like Also,
Christine Brennan holds women's basketball accountable for not putting her
on the Olympic team where they didn't have a lot
of great perimeter shooters and she was emerging as a
noteworthy player when they were making those tryouts. So Christine
(39:31):
Brennan last week on the Herd on Caitlyn's impact to
the WNBA.
Speaker 10 (39:36):
This athlete, Caitlyn Clark is so important to the financial
future of the WNBA at the time. By the way,
as you know that the CBA, the Collective Barnaining Agreement
is open and will be being negotiated, all of these
things that we would see arenas having to be games
being moved to bigger arenas, and that we'd be talking
about a female athlete. Never in my lifetime did I
(39:57):
think I would see that. And I think that's what
makes this so remarkable and so different from another phenom
coming into a sport.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
The book is called on her Game. It really breaks
down how all the signs were there not as a
junior not as a senior. They were in the Big ten.
On display late sophomore season. She was doing things, making
passes and taking shots from areas women did not shoot from,
(40:29):
and the people that were in attendance at these games,
especially the one in an arbor, were awe struck by
what they saw, and word was traveling really fast. John,
we're going to our number two. Colin right, Colin wrong.
Rick Bucker stops byes the hurt
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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