May 1, 2025 • 42 mins
Rachel Nichols stops by The Herd to talk about the Lakers early playoff exit, if the Clippers should start over, and more.
Colin talks about the Giants and why Russell Wilson will be the starter next season.
The Lakers made Rudy Gobert look like Wilt Chamberlain.
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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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(00:22):
listening to Fox Sports Radio Mix. Are in trouble tonight,
Lakers are gone and OKC and Cleveland are dominating. Welcome
into the Herd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
You know, J mackaw was thinking about this. Nico Harrison
has been helling back off the Luca trade and it
(00:43):
wasn't a good Luca trade. But one of the things
he realized, when you have Luca, you have to have
rim protectors. So remember the first time Luke and Kyrie
together is all dicey, right, okay, And at the trade
deadline he's like, oh no, if you have Luke on
your team, people blow by him. And at the trade
(01:05):
deadline Nico went and got size and we were all
like wow. But he told the Lakers you can bring
Luke in, but you're giving us a d and they
Lakers thought that had a deal for Charlotte Center. So
JJ Reddick doubled down in this series, going not only
(01:26):
is Minnesota bigger, I'm gonna go small I'm not gonna
play Jackson Hayes. The Mavericks told you, if Luca is
your star, you have gotta have rim protection, because the
minute they when it was just Luke and Kyrie without
rim protection, this was not a good team. In Dallas,
they got rim protection at the deadline they drafted a
kid from Duke and you're like, oh my god, this
is a real team. So in this series, JJ Reddick's
(01:49):
kind of like, hey, I'm going small ball and I'm
sticking with it, and then I'm gonna play my old guy.
I'm not putting this series on forty year old Lebron
or undrafted Austin Reeves. This is about Luca and JJ Reddick,
and I'm you can't blame Lebron at his age for
being tired in the fourth quarter. I'm not putting and
Austin Reeves is an undrafted player. Now nos Reed is
(02:11):
undrafted too, But the truth of this is, I'm not
putting it on those guys. I'm not asking Austin Reeves
to drop twenty eight. Julius Randall was a star in
college and has made huge money Lakers and Nicks and
tee Wolves, like we've been waiting for him to pop,
but this series really came down to and eventually go
(02:34):
Bear McDaniels. Julius Randall just out playing Austin, Lebron and Luca.
I'm not putting that on Lebron. Lebron was fine for
most of the series, Randal and Gobert against Lebron and Luca.
Last night, Game five had double the rebounds, shot sixty
four percent compared to forty one percent, were plus sixteen.
(02:58):
Lebron and Luca were nineteen. That's on Luca. That's not
on Lebron. If you're going to play Lebron every minute
in the second half of Game four, I'm not crushing
Lebron because he looked exhausted at the end of last
night's game. That's not fair and it's not fair to
put it on Austin Reeves. What are we doing here?
He's undrafted. So yeah, I mean, I didn't like JJ
Reddick's coaching, and for the record, Chris Finch and his
(03:23):
staff are excellent. They're excellent, and there's a lot of
good staffs in this league. Sometimes if you're Eric Spolstra,
you can't overcome the talent disparity between you and the Calves.
That's obvious. But you're seeing bickerstaff with Detroit. I mean,
New York should win that series. Detroit staff's having a
good series, and with that we bring in Rachel Nichols
(03:45):
is joining us now live. Okay, so let's start with this.
My take is, listen, sometimes coaching matters, It really matters
in fourth quarters. This series was largely decided on Minnesota's
really good fourth quarters, was it not.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes, although you can only coach the roster you have,
and the Lakers have been very upfront about this since
they made the Luca trade. You make that trade ten
times out of ten, fifteen times out of ten.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I don't know how to make that more obvious.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
However, it did leave them at a pretty serious deficit
for the rest of this season and especially going into
the playoffs, where people can target your weaknesses.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And to me, that is what happened in this.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Series is you had a physical, big team in the
Minnesota Timberwolves, who knew that the Lakers had no interior
defense to speak of and use that to their advantage
again and again. Now did coaching play a part, Yes,
Chris Finch has been a great coach in this league.
He knows how to move Anthony edwards the way Anthony
plays the best. He knows how to get to Rudy
(04:46):
Gobar in a way that Rudy has confidence, and he
knew how to attack the Lakers. However, there's only so
much that JJ Reddick could do. And I have heard
you this morning and yesterday talking about playing all those
guys in the second half of the last game. That
was clearly a mistake. Otherwise, I didn't see a lot
of mistakes from JJ Reddick here. I saw a roster
(05:07):
that needs to get seriously fixed over the summer. But
the Lakers have been saying that. Rob Polinka's line is
it's like building a plane when it's already in the air.
That's what they've been doing for the last third of
the season in the playoffs, and now they get to
have the plane on the ground and really tinker with
it and build a roster around Luca. We'll see if
they can get that done. But that is the task
for this summer.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I think one of the things is I said earlier
the playoffs are truth serum is that first of all,
in the regular season, teams are not equally rested. If
an old team comes into town, you can just get
a tired old team and you're playing with young guys.
But you get to the playoffs and you watch Miami
play Cleveland and it's not close. And by the way,
(05:48):
you're playing the same teams and the same guys every game.
So your players, you don't get like you can't fool anybody.
They all know your pitches. So here's my concern with
the Lakers going forward, Yes, is that Cleveland's better and younger.
O Casey's better and younger. I actually think Dallas next year,
when everybody's healthy, could be really good. Denver's going nowhere
(06:08):
with Jokich. Minnesota obviously bullied the Lakers. They're younger, deeper,
with more dexterity. The Lakers, let's be totally honest about this,
may have to move off Austin Reeves. They're not moving.
They're not moving Lebron and Luca don't. They have to
build a roster Rachel. That is about Luca, and if
you do, you need rim protection, not Austin Reeves.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
No, there's two guys on that team, on that roster
right now who are safe, and that is Luca Dancic
and Lebron James. Everyone else is up for conversation. They
need an interior defensive presence, preferably someone who is a
rim running center who can finish things the way Derek
Lively is possibly both. They need three and d wings
who can take advantage of the fact offensively when Luca
(06:52):
dishes those great passes, and defensively can give them more depth.
Because right now, when they do have Luca and Austin Reeves,
they are targets, right You have targets out there. So
when you talk about the other rosters that are better
than them around the NBA, there's no question about that.
It's just a matter of do you accept that trade
knowing that your roster is going to be a little
(07:13):
bit of a mess for the rest of the season.
The answer, by the way, is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
When someone hands you Luka Dacic, the answer is yes.
And then you fix it over the summer, and we'll
have to see how good Rob Polinka is at fixing
it over the summer, he left himself assets to work with.
We're going to talk about Janis and Tatkumpo in a
little bit, and everyone's talking about possible trade options for Yannis.
(07:34):
We will see what a good job Rob Lincoln did
in holding on to assets during the Luca trade when
we see just how much Janis goes for it if
they do put him on the trading block, because it
will be a significant difference.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, I want to get to that in a second.
So I actually thought my one of my takeaways I
haven't talked about yet. The Warriors have a ton of
confidence against Houston, and I can tell because they gave
a game away last night that they absolutely believe. Listen,
we'll go home, we'll be more rested, and frankly, we
don't think Houston in half court basketball is close to us.
(08:10):
So they wave the white flag, you know, eight minutes in.
But that tells me that current is staff are like,
we're better than this team, and we're much better at home.
But the Steph Curry grabbing, clutching thumb injury, it's not illegal,
it's a reality of physical basketball. I think you should
protect your iconic players. Fewer playoff games is the way
(08:33):
to do it. You probably disagree, But what do you
make of the assertion is that basically Houston's like, well,
you just wave the white flag, so we got we
can mess around now with every possession doesn't matter. We're
going to take some possessions and bang around Steph Curry.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, look, I.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Think they would be looking to do that if it
was a tight game. And by the way, the Warriors
committed a bunch of fouls coming out of the gate.
I know Steve Kerr is very frustrated with that. I
do think that they will play better. I think everything
you just about them knowing how much better they are
than this team right now is true, and that is
always in the back of your head. But I think
that even if it had been a tight, closely contested game,
(09:09):
you would have absolutely seen Dylan Brooks taking shots at
Steph Curry's thumb because right now, it's legal. And Dylan
got up there after the game and said, I would
do the same thing if someone had Nankel injury, and
I expect someone to go with me that way. It
is legal in the NBA right now after someone takes
the shot, to be continuing to defend them and whack
on them. That is something you can do. That is
(09:29):
something I would expect after we're seeing this happen to
Steph Curry, I would expect that to change over the
summer when the competition Committee meets and they twinker with
some of the rules. But there is no question that
right now he is not doing anything quote wrong in
terms of what the NBA lays out, and you better believe,
especially a guy like Dylan Brooks, but really so many
other guys around the league will use every advantage they
(09:51):
can at this time of year, and he's using it.
Steph Curry even got up there and said the same thing.
He was surprised that we all saw just how bad
that thumb was because he's got it wrapped all the
time when he's in public for games. But some of
the social media people and the Warriors had taken pictures
of guys going on to the team plane and they're like, oh, Steph,
we saw how bad that thumb was.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
He's like, what do you guys have the fens on me?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
And when we explain what had happened, he was like, Eh,
I love this league. There's nothing like the NBA for
all the little sort of micro detectives out there with
the internet.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So Yannis is not only they're one in nine in
their last ten playoff games, and they're not competitive in
many of them. This is a move I thought they
should have made. I think tiar A was better to
get ahead of it because with Bigs they can fall
apart and they're lucky. It didn't become enbeed where the
value just leaves. So Jannis has tremendous value. And I
(10:42):
also think when the Knicks acquired Michale Bridges for all
the first round picks, they thought it was getting them
closer to Boston. But now Tatum's exploded, Peyton Pritcher's the
best bench guy in the league, and Boston separated actually
from the Knicks. And so my take is, Okay, you
got to take a big swing here. The Knicks, we're
impatient forever. Then Dolan got into the sphere. Let the
(11:05):
basketball people run it, and they're incredibly well run. But
I think it's time to get back to the impatient
next and like this isn't close to good enough right
for the next Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I mean, look, even if they come out of the series,
and I do expect them to, I don't expect them
to be able to do much against Boston. They are
just simply outmatched. So they do need to make a
move they would like to make. The biggest move possible
is that Jani Senta Ducumpo. I doubt it only because
if Yannis does ask to get traded, if Milwaukee does
decide to trade him, there will be other teams that
(11:36):
can offer bigger packages for him. The Houston Rockets can
offer a bigger package, the San Antonio Spurs can offer
a bigger package, and most of all, the Oklahoma City
Thunder can offer the biggest package of all. So if
you have Yannis playing with Shay, the presentive MVP for
this year, if you have Yannis playing, I mean, look
Janis and Wemby, what would that be like or Yanis
(11:58):
on this young, talented Houston team. I think if trade
talk does center around Yannis, those are the teams we
will see more in the mix, which leaves a team
like the New York Knicks to try to make a
different kind of move. But there is no doubt that
they need to make one.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So I want to end with this because I think
it's and I've said this before, Kawhi is an enigma.
He's a remarkable all time talent, but he's I always
felt he's icing on a cake, but he's not the cake.
He doesn't communicate, he's nonverbal, he's not overly emotional. He
(12:34):
can be sort of aloof that's okay, But that game
against the Nuggets, that last game when Westbrook was the
tone center and Russell can be flawed, but he plays
with so much emotion that it makes you guilty as
a teammate if you don't play with that kind of hustle.
And I thought the Clippers came out flat. Harden was
a hologram and it was the moment where you needed
(12:56):
Kawhi to bark in the huddle. You needd Cowhi's leadership.
And if they lose this series, the Clippers, because I
think they're a better team and a deeper team, what
do you do with the Clippers? Ballmer's the richest owner
in the league. This a first round exit when you
have a great coach and probably a better roster. You
(13:18):
got to break up the back in a new arena,
which is the talk of the league. This could have repercussions,
could it not.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I disagree. I think they will continue to make moves
around the edges. This is just sort of the best
kind of most competitive matchup in the bracket. It's a
little bit of bad luck for both of these teams
to have drawn each other. This is the series we
all expect to go seven games. Had they matched up
the Clippers against a different team in the West, we
probably would be getting a different quote first round result,
and then we wouldn't say, oh, they failed out of
(13:45):
the first round. If they do indeed lose, I just
think this is a strong team. They've got a gretty
tough defense, They've got talented players. I expect them to
keep improving because this is a very strong front office
that continues to improve. But I wouldn't break up anything.
I think if they lose the series, you can point
a lot to Aaron Gordon's sort of very fingertippy finger
tippy finger tippy basket that done at the very end
(14:07):
of the previous game, because that is what to me
deflated the Clippers a bit. They show up in Denver,
you've got the altitude and you just sort of feel
like we did everything and they still won that last game.
So I'm very interested. I'll be at the arena tonight
to see what kind of effort, intensity and energy the
Clippers come out with. But look, the matchup is the matchup,
(14:27):
and the Nuggets are a very tough team. A lot
of those guys on that team are champions. And here's ostat.
I'll leave you with Colin. You know, we talk about
playoff Jimmy Butler all the time. He's not even in
the top three of the guys who elevate their game
for the playoffs. So when you look at career wise,
the biggest differential between regular season scoring and playoff scoring.
Number one is actually Jalen Brunson, which is impressive. But
(14:50):
the number two and three guys on that list are
Jamal Murray and nikolaie Jokic. That's who the Clippers are facing.
They are facing playoff Jamal playoff Jokic, which, by the way,
considering how good Nikol Jokich is all the time, that's
crazy that he gets that much better in the playoffs.
This is a matchup issue for the Clippers. They got
(15:10):
a quote bad draw and if they lose in the
first round, I would not rush to do anything because
this is still a very very strong team.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
When Kawhi Leonard is healthy and.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
He's healthy right, hway, the coach they fired in Denver, Malone,
he was the guy that wanted to play Westbrook. Yes,
the GM and by the way, he's been validated because
Westbrook has been unbelievable in this series, and Malone kept saying,
forget the draft picks. I need his energy, you know,
And I'll say it. I have been so critical of Westbrook.
(15:41):
I don't know where the three point shooting came from.
Like it looks different, the results are better. Westbrook has
had a great series. I mean he has been the
tone center in this series.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Oh, I agree. Look, I really like Russ. I always
think the energy he brings is really important for a
team in a locker room, and that kind of stuff
is underrated. He has a box of chocolates, though you
never know what you're going to get, and he can
make great decisions and he can make terrible decisions. So
the key is a guy like Michael Malone felt he
knew when to deploy Russ, when to withdraw him when
Russ was making those bad decisions, and he trusted that
(16:15):
process and obviously the front office did not.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
We're seeing it right now.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
When you make good decisions about when and how you
play Russ and Frankly, when Russ has a hot streak,
it goes well. There's times we've seen it not go
well with Russell Westbrook, and we'll have to see if
tonight that's any different, because it really can be hot
and cold and even within a game you can get
this awesome chocolate and then you can get that chocolate
that everyone's like, eh, I don't want that.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, Westbrook a former Clipper
year everything, come on, you're going to get his best effort.
Rachel Nichols, good scene or race, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Thanks so much, Collin.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, these games have been Yeah, the Clipper Nugget series
is it's hard to find on TV, but it's been outstanding.
And it's really interesting when you if you're the Lakers
and Rob Polinka, you have to build around Luca. You're
not building around Austin Reeves. I think you have to
move Austin Reeves because I think he has value in
the league, and I think you're not moving Lebron obviously,
So you have to build around Luca, and Nico Harrison
(17:10):
has shown you the most effective way to build around Luca,
which is rim protectors in size, and so JJ Reddick
went the opposite. He goes, we're gonna play this big
Minnesota team, We're gonna go small ball. You can't do
that with Luca. And by the way, it's I don't
think playoffs. I mean, if you go look at Pistons
and Nicks, what's decided the games? Fourth quarters? Like moments,
(17:35):
Clippers Nuggets, What's decided games fourth quarters? T Wolves like
Calves heat first quarters, Bucks Pacers first quarters, But like
the Lakers T Wolves series, go look at the numbers,
it's all fourth quarters. Well, that's why it was playing
Lebron and Luca one guy who has cardio issues and
(17:58):
another guy who is old. Playing them in the moment
may have felt right because the next game wasn't until Wednesday.
But you are now you're seeing the repercussions. Lakers Lebron
look gassed.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (18:20):
The NBA in the playoffs allows more physicality, so big
edge Minnesota having the bigger roster and the deeper roster.
That's why I picked Houston over Golden State, and my
take was that there's got some I mean, the Warriors
are small and they're old. The difference is Houston is
so bad in the half court offense. Jalen Green's talented,
(18:44):
what is he? Whereas with Minnesota, Julius Randall's been great
in the half court and Ant's aunt and then Gobert
was wilt last night. So but it's it's you know,
it's JJ Reddick said I'm going smaller and in playoff
physical basketball. To me, it backfired. J Mack with the.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
News, no turns, this is the herd line news, all right.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Haines me to do it, Colin. But we'll talk a
little more about the Wolves beating the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Now.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Listen, you just mentioned Lakers six and a half point
favorites last night.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
They were, they were favoring the series.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
The market just did not understand this upset, undervalued the
Wolves by a lot, and Anthony Edwards did a victory lap,
no literally, a victory lap around Crypto dot Com arena
after the game.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Making it by.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Three.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Go to hands and nay, good goggle, good goggle.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I wouldn't I wouldn't advise that.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Wow. That's ballsy man. I respected from Aunt.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Hey talk your trash, and everybody doubted you. No, seriously,
nobody picked Minnesota, like zero people pick Minnesota in the media.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Vegas was fooled. Draft Kings was fooled. I was fooled
a lot of NBA people, you know what.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
I attribute this to colin So Minnesota at one point
was thirty two and twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
They were a playing team after sixty games.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They weren't in the more close games than any team
in the league this.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
Year, and they finished seventeen and four. But a lot
of that happened during March Madness, which was historically great,
and we just missed it.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Started baseball season. We missed it. The Wolves going on
a tear. I will add this.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Anthony Edwards after the game called Lebron the Goat. He said,
we just beat the best player ever.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Your thoughts certainly in the qualification he means he's among
two people really Kareem Cream three Kareem Michael and Lebron,
and then very very close as Magic Johnson.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
So it's being not reported, but everybody's doing the stat
padding and they're like, this is who Aunt has beat
in his last few playoffs series, boy Yo Kitchen last year,
Lebron this year, Luca this year, KD last year, Booker
last year. He's got a good body count, right, we
got to give it props for that.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Well he I mean last night he was over eleven
on threes last night.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I don't want to hear about last night.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
He did nothing. The Wolf didn't the t Wolves have
a stretch on three pointers.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I mean they missed eighteen in a row in the
second Yeah, I mean, think about that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
The Wolves missed eighteen straight three pointers and didn't play great,
and they still and they beat the Lakers at Crypto.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
This is another stat I'm just gonna I mean, it's unfathomable.
So Rudy Gobert combined in the first four games, had
fourteen points combined, he had twenty seven last night. Combined
in the first four games, he had twenty five rebounds.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
He had twenty four last night. Just an outlier of
a game. Unbelievable stuff from Julius freakin' Randall.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I mean, that's the best playoff series of his career.
You know what's funny about him, He's one of those
guys that if there was no three pointer. I mean,
analytics turn Tristan Thompson from a valuable piece to can't
put him on the floor, right, Like, Julius Randall comes
into this league and it's morphing into a three point
(22:13):
shooting league, and you're like, what do we do with him?
Because effort great, will defend, tough guy, get you boards.
But he has worked hard, yeah, to develop some level
of a three pointer, because he could have easily just
been hey man, I'm not gonna I'm just gonna be
what I am. So give Julius Randall credit and the
(22:34):
staff in Minnesota because he was the classic five years ago.
We were all like, well, what did you pay that guy?
In the playoffs? I need guys who can at least
hit a three. You can't be ungot. That's why Russell
Westbrook's amazing. Westbrook was the guy. You're let him shoot threes.
This series has been great from three point.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Randall's like a throwback in that nineties era where power
forwards like Anthony Mason and Charles Oak were like just
rugged dudes who couldn't really score. Randa would have thrived
in that era. The fact that he's added a three
is you said, super impressive. Let's go to the NFL,
where Kyler Murray is set to become Arizona's longest tenured
(23:14):
starting quarterbacks since they moved to Arizona. Of course, the
Cardinals have not won a playoff game with Kyler Murray,
but he is putting it out there. He doesn't want
to go anywhere. He loves Arizona.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
Oh, We've only playing in one playoff game since our
guy here, which is very frustrating.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I'm still more motivated than ever.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Let's just feel to the fire going into year seven
playing in the playoffs once. I don't believe that I'm
a couch watching football type of guy.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
The fact that I haven't.
Speaker 7 (23:38):
Led us to that. I take a lot of my
shoulders to, you know, perform in the moments where you
know I needed the most. If I could play my
whole career here, finish it out here, like I'm signing
up guys like Kobe. Kobe played for one organization his
whole career, you know, Like that's that's something that I admire,
and that's something I want to do.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I actually think they have a good coach. I actually
like Arizona staff. And for the record, I thought after Seattle.
You could argue Arizona was in a short list of
the second best draft. I thought they have the last
two years they've had good drafts.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
So they've got a stacked offense, right.
Speaker 6 (24:11):
They got a great tight end, a great wide receiver,
a really good running back. Yep is the quarterback? There
the defense. They went all in on defense. In my opinion,
reading that draft, A Gannon said, listen, we've got the offense,
now we need to get the defense. And if Kyler
doesn't deliver this year, I think he's a sneaky quarterback
Colin who's like one of those what do we do
with Do we keep paying him? Do we keep it
(24:31):
more starter or do we kind of start over with
a new quarterback. You seem to like Kyler a little
more than the market.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Well, I think he. I mean, listen, every quarterback in
this league that I like has something that is great.
That's like, that's my knock on Tua? Size, arm, mobility, what's.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
The ball accuracy with Tua?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
That's a hard one.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Well, what's Kyler's greatness? Scrambling?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
He incredibly elusive, like incredibly elusive, like Russell Wilson but
in his prime, but significantly better.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yeah, how much long is that gonna hold up and
his brain?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That's a fair argument. But Josh Allen, if you go
look at all, even though Justin Herbert, who's not winning
playoff games, huge arm like historically unique six five and
a half two forty like every That's why I always
say about rock perty what do you go? Wow? And
almost every great like Jalen Hurts, say what you want.
(25:25):
The guy squat six fifty. His strength is not only redeemable,
he could be the strongest player in the league pound
for pound, Like, okay, that's something in this league.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
All right? Final story colugn oh oh.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Look my twenty twenty six NFL mock draft I posted
on Fox Sports, and yes I have arts banning at
the top. But I know you're gonna hate this because
I have so many quarterbacks going in the top twelve.
So we're gonna put on the scene here, So arts
banning one.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Listen, let me see I leave out. Just don't yell
and freak out. I know you're gonna lose your mind.
Drew Aller a layer whatever. He has not shown it,
but the.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Tools and the frame and the body and the measurements
they're there.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Okay for our radio audience. He's got Nico Iamaliava number
five to Carolina. I actually think Bryce Young is gonna
be pretty good this year. I am out of a
lot rams. Take Garrett nuss Meyer, the LSU kid. I
he's you know, I have to say it.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
You gotta read the right.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Let me tell you where you're so wrong. Caleb Balm
Downs is going somewhere in the top three three of Downs.
If this wasn't a big quarterback year, Caleb Downs could
go number one. So I lose incredible player. The highest
drafted safeties. There's two of them who went fifth overall.
I think that's about the ceiling for Downs.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
There's going to be too many quarterback needy teams. Look
at the Browns, they need a quarterback. The New York Giants,
if they fired Dable, they'll.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Need a quarterback.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
If the Jets are this bad, I don't think they
will be, they will.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Need a quarterback.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
And then you look at Carolina New Orleans next year
could be a quarterback needy draft at the top, unlike
this past year.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, I think I think you got too many quarters.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I know it happens every year. The Clemson guy's a
little further down. Go ahead, mock it. Laugh, It's fine,
no big deal.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I like the effort. You know how you talked about
me being honest a couple bout an hour.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Yes, be honestly.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
I like you look good in that dress. I like
the effort. It's a good it's quite it's quite an
effort by you. Okay, all right, j Mack with the news.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, it's you know, it's it's I've kind of moved
off the Shadoor Sanders stuff, but I you know, I
was watching a lot of NBA over the last like
three weeks. But it is really interesting on the Pittsburgh
Steelers because the Rams and the Cleveland Brown's clearly in
the first round, said we think the best quarterbacks are
(28:03):
next year. I think the Giants think that too, But
Brian Dable and Joe Shane need to win now, and
if Russell Wilson putters around, they're going to go with
Jackson Dart. So I think some of that that feels
like it's a little bit of it, although I'm sure
they would deny that. But you know, the Rams and
the Browns. They got first round picks. They're going big
(28:26):
next year. I don't know how good any of these
quarterbacks are, but I J Mack put on there. But
it's something to think about. A year ago people had
quinn Ewers in the first round, so I like to
get it Clemson now. I think arch Manning potentially will
be the best. I think Drew Aller at Penn State's interesting,
not consistent enough for me. I'm not sure he's it yet,
(28:48):
but things change. These are and I said this about
Shudearr Sanders. The hardest thing about personnel in these professional leagues.
Women girls mature sooner. In women athletics, you will see
eighth graders being offered scholarships ninth graders, and it's totally
appropriate for young girls. They've matured faster. I mean, I
(29:12):
can remember years ago. I forget the name of the
kid he was offered. A quarterback was offered a scholarship
in the eighth grade. I forget his name and don't
know where he's at. Like it was fun. I think
it was Lane Kiffen offered somebody like in the eighth grade.
You have no idea quinn Ewers was a first round
(29:35):
quarterback last year. He's the last quarterback taken of thirteen.
So I do think, like when I think Shador was
a bit immature, I thought Baker was really immature. I
thought Johnny Manziel was insanely immature. But the last time,
the first time I met Johnny Manzel, like a year ago,
he owned it. He wasn't owning it four or five
(29:56):
years ago. Johnny owned it. I think Caleb Williams grew
up a lot in Chicago. Would they very loud media,
a lot of pressure. I think Caleb Williams has had
to kind of grow up, not that he was wildly immature,
but I think Chicago, New York, big markets, Boston, you
grow up quickly because you get criticized loudly and often,
(30:17):
so you just it's these mock drafts are hard because
whereas I think a young a ninth grade softball or
basketball player, women's I mean they knew in the sixth grade,
was it Paige Becker's for Yukon. It was like people
were offering her scholarships when she was a little kid.
With guys, I think it's harder to identify, especially in football,
(30:37):
boys mature more slowly, so you know, as you're sitting
here and you make mock drafts, it's somebody's going to
pop and somebody's gonna drop. And that's just personnel with
young men. That's we. We are fronlough you know, brain scans,
whatever it is. We are hard to figure out. At
(30:58):
nineteen years old, live in a Chicago, it's the hurt.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nn am Pacific.
Speaker 8 (31:07):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 9 (31:13):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 9 (31:21):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 8 (31:26):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 9 (31:34):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
twenty years and still work together. I mean that says something, right,
So check us out. We like to get you involved too.
Take your phone calls chop it up as they say,
I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 8 (31:49):
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, And if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covino and
Rich wherever you get your podcast, and of course on
social media that's Cabino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
So I saw a story this morning the Steeters are
waiting for Aaron Rodgers Kirk Cousins a possibility. Why now
when the Rooney said, it sounds like we're getting Aaron
is kirk Cousins of possibility? Aaron said, I'll play for
ten million. Mark me down for I'll take Aaron with
(32:31):
the Niners for ten million. Over brought Purdy for fifty six,
I suggested. A month ago, I said, if I was
Aaron Rodgers, I would not sign anywhere before the draft.
Watch what teams do? I also said a month ago.
He's from the Bay Area. He knows Kyle Shanahan's system,
(32:51):
it's Matt Lafleur's system. Mostly he doesn't have to show
up early and that system is very quarterback friendly. It's
following directions, accurately, distributing the ball, moving the pocket occasionally.
The Shanahan system is built for Aaron Rodgers. So now
(33:12):
Aaron is nobody knows, a lot of people thought he
was going to announce, you know, on the McAfee show
he was going to Pittsburgh. Nobody knows with Aaron, so
I'm not going to try to guess he may go
to the Steelers. But I'm just saying, people I heard
Big Ben say, well, why is he waiting? I'll ask
why are the Steeters now mentioning Kirk Cousins. Just pretend
(33:33):
you're Aaron Rodgers. I can play for Kyle Shanahan. I
got Christian McCaffrey behind me, John Jennings, George Kittle, Temperate Weather,
or go to a tone deaf offensive organization that pays
all their defensive players in Pittsburgh. Bruh, it's not close.
We already knew he was interested in Minnesota and they
(33:56):
don't have Christian McCaffrey in the backfield. So I'm just saying,
if I'm Aaron and he says I'll play for ten,
I'm going to the Niners now. This is speculation. I
don't know anything, but Aaron's too smart to make a
(34:17):
foolish decision. And I don't think Pittsburgh just say it
out loud, tone deaf to offense lost their left tackle,
lost Nausee Harris once again, heavy defense. Draft. Aaron's not
solving that thing. You're not solving that thing, Seattle, Arizona. Okay,
you have to get through the Rams stafford aging just
(34:40):
thrown out there. Just put me down. And I don't
think Aaron is going to play for ten. I think
the Niners are probably offer him eighteen or something, whatever
it is. But everybody keeps out, well, why isn't Aaron signing, Well,
maybe Aaron's looking around, going let's see how this brought.
Pretty thing goes. I take erin for fifth over brought
(35:01):
for full fifty one. I'm just telling you what I'm
doing for two years, I'd go with it. Okay, So
we've talked about this. The NBA would probably be better
served if the face of the league was a domestic player.
I don't think it's essential. I don't right right now,
it's kind of a They don't have the face of
(35:22):
the league, and I think there's only been four or
five in my life. I think MJ was Magic Bird, Shaq, Kobe,
Steph Lebron. It's been a half dozen. Wilt was great.
I never thought Wilt was the face of the league.
Now I'm too. I don't really remembered I saw him
in the seventies. Maybe he was. I think Russell and
the Celtics kind of were, but we didn't even know
what that meant. Face of the league back in the sixties.
It is a thing now because of MJ. But I
(35:45):
have said I think Ant and Tatum are now the
two best domestic players, and they've both been really good,
Tatum more consistently in the postseason. But there is something
to be said about wanting to be the face of
the league or having the personality for it. Now Tatum
right now is a more consistent great player than Ant.
(36:08):
Ant's great nights are better, but Tatum is more consistent.
And Ant did not play particularly well last night, whereas
Tatum plays well almost every night, certainly against Orlando. But
I want to this, just listen to this. This is Ant.
After the game.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Watch Rudy played phenomenal man.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
He played almost forty minutes a night, twelve to fifteen
from three. Yeah, we can't ask nothing at twenty four rebounds.
He was a dragon tonight.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
A dragon.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
Yeah, he was a dragon to night for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
As the kids say, he got riz, maximum riz, He's
got charisma. And then he's after the game, he's walking
outside tryp though, like that's part of it. And I
think this is just who he is. I think he's
got a personality. I think he's funny sometimes off the court,
not perfect. I think Tatum to me feels very buttoned
(37:07):
up and very adult, almost crafted. I mean Duke Celtics,
Werek Ethic, And I said this, Tatum is like exactly
what you want from a star, which is like it's
almost like Tim Duncan. But Duncan was never the face
of the league. It was the big fundamental. Tatum's incredible,
fundamental player. He didn't have a lot of riz. And
(37:30):
for the record, you thought the only cool word I
know is lit. Uncle Colin is always adding lexicon. That's
the way it works on the show, those adding things.
But there is something to be said about that. He
also said this because he didn't play particularly well last night.
But again, how many guys give you a great night?
I mean Luca. We're pointing fingers at here's Aunt talking
(37:52):
about his night last night.
Speaker 5 (37:54):
The thing about watching film is you got to be
willing to accept the bag. I think most people I
only want to watch it when it's good. So I
want to watch the games when I play bad, like
the Game of the night when I played bad, Like
what could I have done better? And I think that's
the perspective that heaving me change as far as my
playmaking and Santa Floor. I want to see what I
can do better.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Yeah. I also think it's easy to just criticize the Lakers.
Minnesota's good, great staff, the domestic face of the league,
a tough veteran who was a great matchup Julius Randall
against the Lakers. I mean, go Bear when he went
to Minnesota, didn't they? I mean, how many draft picks
(38:35):
did the Jazz get Like? He had value? He was
the defensive player of the year. I know everybody Shack
doesn't love him, but in the end, go Beart is.
I mean, it's like Zach Edy. You guys can sell
all you want about Zach Edy. It's hard to score
over Zach Edy. Go Beart has value and against a
small Laker team that doubles down and doesn't play Jackson
as he was ridiculous last night. So I think face
(38:59):
of the league is, you know, kind of a nebulous whatever.
I don't think, honestly, we ever talked about face of
the league before Michael Jordan. I don't even think we
talked about Magic and Bird being face of the league.
There was discussion that Magic and Bird had saved the league.
But I don't think I could be wrong on this,
(39:19):
but I don't think face of the league was a
term until Michael Jordan, and a lot of it was
because he had a handsome face and a stylish face,
and it was like, God, that's what you want the
guy to be, and he was so good in commercials.
So I don't think it's essential, but I do think.
I do think if you look, if you juxtapose Aunt
and Tatum, one guy feels like he's got a more
(39:40):
connectivity with young people.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Swag. I know you love that.
Speaker 6 (39:44):
Let me just ask you something real quick. So SGA
is gonna win the MVP. But you're out here saying
Aunt Edwards is the face of the league.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, it's weird.
Speaker 6 (39:52):
I actually think Ant is a more dangerous player than SGA.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Because I've got to respect the threes.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
I know he was oh for eleven last night, but
when you lead the league in three, you're unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Driving to the basket.
Speaker 6 (40:03):
Like I think he's an overall better player than SCA,
don't you.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Well, he's a more dynamic athlete. SGA is funny. He's
a combination of like six players. You know, he's got
a little Kicky Vandaway, a little well, I mean again,
better better than Alex English. But what he is, he's
a bucket and he's got that free throw angle bucket.
The way he holds the ball. Never forget this. The
Clippers are well run. They let him go like like
(40:27):
he was a late developer. When he was at Kentucky,
he wasn't considered the best prossbow. I think it was
Kevin Knox, like nobody. I mean. So he is one
of the classic and this doesn't happen a lot in
the NBA. He's a classic late developer. It is an
infrequent term in the NBA generally speaking. You know Kobe
at sixteen, Luke at fourteen, Lebron at thirteen, you kind
(40:49):
of know who the next space. So SGA is a
slow developer. Some of it is hard work. He's a
bucket is coaching. It's a great organization. There's a lot
of things that play here.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Now many people are this. You did touch on. Austin
Reeves had a brutal series. I mean he was bad.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Okay, you know who guarded him a lot.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Of the time.
Speaker 6 (41:06):
Anthony Edwards and I looked at some of the numbers
Austin Reeves during the regular seasons getting to the foul
line six seven, eight, ten times a game. He attempted
zero free throws Collin in the final two games, an
Austin Reeves was absolutely gassed.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
He had nothing left in the tank.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
He could not go At Anthony Edwards, it was shocking
to see how the Lakers kind of just wilted. They
got worned out against Aunt McDaniel's randall thing.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
I think Minnesota's staff watched JJ Reddick play starters for
the entire second half, and I think the Minnesota staff said, Fellas,
they're gonna be worn out. We're gonna go bigger on
that Gobart had nine, bigger and get more physical, and
they're gonna run out of gas. And I think that's
what you saw Lakers heading Minnesota's staff deserves a lot
(41:52):
of credit.
Speaker 6 (41:53):
Chris Finch is the man, no doubt about it, and
Rudy Gobert had had a podium.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Game, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Damn it is. The show's got the rigs. I gotta
be honest.
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. You're
(00:22):
listening to Fox Sports Radio Mix. Are in trouble tonight,
Lakers are gone and OKC and Cleveland are dominating. Welcome
into the Herd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
You know, J mackaw was thinking about this. Nico Harrison
has been helling back off the Luca trade and it
(00:43):
wasn't a good Luca trade. But one of the things
he realized, when you have Luca, you have to have
rim protectors. So remember the first time Luke and Kyrie
together is all dicey, right, okay, And at the trade
deadline he's like, oh no, if you have Luke on
your team, people blow by him. And at the trade
(01:05):
deadline Nico went and got size and we were all
like wow. But he told the Lakers you can bring
Luke in, but you're giving us a d and they
Lakers thought that had a deal for Charlotte Center. So
JJ Reddick doubled down in this series, going not only
(01:26):
is Minnesota bigger, I'm gonna go small I'm not gonna
play Jackson Hayes. The Mavericks told you, if Luca is
your star, you have gotta have rim protection, because the
minute they when it was just Luke and Kyrie without
rim protection, this was not a good team. In Dallas,
they got rim protection at the deadline they drafted a
kid from Duke and you're like, oh my god, this
is a real team. So in this series, JJ Reddick's
(01:49):
kind of like, hey, I'm going small ball and I'm
sticking with it, and then I'm gonna play my old guy.
I'm not putting this series on forty year old Lebron
or undrafted Austin Reeves. This is about Luca and JJ Reddick,
and I'm you can't blame Lebron at his age for
being tired in the fourth quarter. I'm not putting and
Austin Reeves is an undrafted player. Now nos Reed is
(02:11):
undrafted too, But the truth of this is, I'm not
putting it on those guys. I'm not asking Austin Reeves
to drop twenty eight. Julius Randall was a star in
college and has made huge money Lakers and Nicks and
tee Wolves, like we've been waiting for him to pop,
but this series really came down to and eventually go
(02:34):
Bear McDaniels. Julius Randall just out playing Austin, Lebron and Luca.
I'm not putting that on Lebron. Lebron was fine for
most of the series, Randal and Gobert against Lebron and Luca.
Last night, Game five had double the rebounds, shot sixty
four percent compared to forty one percent, were plus sixteen.
(02:58):
Lebron and Luca were nineteen. That's on Luca. That's not
on Lebron. If you're going to play Lebron every minute
in the second half of Game four, I'm not crushing
Lebron because he looked exhausted at the end of last
night's game. That's not fair and it's not fair to
put it on Austin Reeves. What are we doing here?
He's undrafted. So yeah, I mean, I didn't like JJ
Reddick's coaching, and for the record, Chris Finch and his
(03:23):
staff are excellent. They're excellent, and there's a lot of
good staffs in this league. Sometimes if you're Eric Spolstra,
you can't overcome the talent disparity between you and the Calves.
That's obvious. But you're seeing bickerstaff with Detroit. I mean,
New York should win that series. Detroit staff's having a
good series, and with that we bring in Rachel Nichols
(03:45):
is joining us now live. Okay, so let's start with this.
My take is, listen, sometimes coaching matters, It really matters
in fourth quarters. This series was largely decided on Minnesota's
really good fourth quarters, was it not.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes, although you can only coach the roster you have,
and the Lakers have been very upfront about this since
they made the Luca trade. You make that trade ten
times out of ten, fifteen times out of ten.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I don't know how to make that more obvious.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
However, it did leave them at a pretty serious deficit
for the rest of this season and especially going into
the playoffs, where people can target your weaknesses.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And to me, that is what happened in this.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Series is you had a physical, big team in the
Minnesota Timberwolves, who knew that the Lakers had no interior
defense to speak of and use that to their advantage
again and again. Now did coaching play a part, Yes,
Chris Finch has been a great coach in this league.
He knows how to move Anthony edwards the way Anthony
plays the best. He knows how to get to Rudy
(04:46):
Gobar in a way that Rudy has confidence, and he
knew how to attack the Lakers. However, there's only so
much that JJ Reddick could do. And I have heard
you this morning and yesterday talking about playing all those
guys in the second half of the last game. That
was clearly a mistake. Otherwise, I didn't see a lot
of mistakes from JJ Reddick here. I saw a roster
(05:07):
that needs to get seriously fixed over the summer. But
the Lakers have been saying that. Rob Polinka's line is
it's like building a plane when it's already in the air.
That's what they've been doing for the last third of
the season in the playoffs, and now they get to
have the plane on the ground and really tinker with
it and build a roster around Luca. We'll see if
they can get that done. But that is the task
for this summer.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I think one of the things is I said earlier
the playoffs are truth serum is that first of all,
in the regular season, teams are not equally rested. If
an old team comes into town, you can just get
a tired old team and you're playing with young guys.
But you get to the playoffs and you watch Miami
play Cleveland and it's not close. And by the way,
(05:48):
you're playing the same teams and the same guys every game.
So your players, you don't get like you can't fool anybody.
They all know your pitches. So here's my concern with
the Lakers going forward, Yes, is that Cleveland's better and younger.
O Casey's better and younger. I actually think Dallas next year,
when everybody's healthy, could be really good. Denver's going nowhere
(06:08):
with Jokich. Minnesota obviously bullied the Lakers. They're younger, deeper,
with more dexterity. The Lakers, let's be totally honest about this,
may have to move off Austin Reeves. They're not moving.
They're not moving Lebron and Luca don't. They have to
build a roster Rachel. That is about Luca, and if
you do, you need rim protection, not Austin Reeves.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
No, there's two guys on that team, on that roster
right now who are safe, and that is Luca Dancic
and Lebron James. Everyone else is up for conversation. They
need an interior defensive presence, preferably someone who is a
rim running center who can finish things the way Derek
Lively is possibly both. They need three and d wings
who can take advantage of the fact offensively when Luca
(06:52):
dishes those great passes, and defensively can give them more depth.
Because right now, when they do have Luca and Austin Reeves,
they are targets, right You have targets out there. So
when you talk about the other rosters that are better
than them around the NBA, there's no question about that.
It's just a matter of do you accept that trade
knowing that your roster is going to be a little
(07:13):
bit of a mess for the rest of the season.
The answer, by the way, is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
When someone hands you Luka Dacic, the answer is yes.
And then you fix it over the summer, and we'll
have to see how good Rob Polinka is at fixing
it over the summer, he left himself assets to work with.
We're going to talk about Janis and Tatkumpo in a
little bit, and everyone's talking about possible trade options for Yannis.
(07:34):
We will see what a good job Rob Lincoln did
in holding on to assets during the Luca trade when
we see just how much Janis goes for it if
they do put him on the trading block, because it
will be a significant difference.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, I want to get to that in a second.
So I actually thought my one of my takeaways I
haven't talked about yet. The Warriors have a ton of
confidence against Houston, and I can tell because they gave
a game away last night that they absolutely believe. Listen,
we'll go home, we'll be more rested, and frankly, we
don't think Houston in half court basketball is close to us.
(08:10):
So they wave the white flag, you know, eight minutes in.
But that tells me that current is staff are like,
we're better than this team, and we're much better at home.
But the Steph Curry grabbing, clutching thumb injury, it's not illegal,
it's a reality of physical basketball. I think you should
protect your iconic players. Fewer playoff games is the way
(08:33):
to do it. You probably disagree, But what do you
make of the assertion is that basically Houston's like, well,
you just wave the white flag, so we got we
can mess around now with every possession doesn't matter. We're
going to take some possessions and bang around Steph Curry.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, look, I.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Think they would be looking to do that if it
was a tight game. And by the way, the Warriors
committed a bunch of fouls coming out of the gate.
I know Steve Kerr is very frustrated with that. I
do think that they will play better. I think everything
you just about them knowing how much better they are
than this team right now is true, and that is
always in the back of your head. But I think
that even if it had been a tight, closely contested game,
(09:09):
you would have absolutely seen Dylan Brooks taking shots at
Steph Curry's thumb because right now, it's legal. And Dylan
got up there after the game and said, I would
do the same thing if someone had Nankel injury, and
I expect someone to go with me that way. It
is legal in the NBA right now after someone takes
the shot, to be continuing to defend them and whack
on them. That is something you can do. That is
(09:29):
something I would expect after we're seeing this happen to
Steph Curry, I would expect that to change over the
summer when the competition Committee meets and they twinker with
some of the rules. But there is no question that
right now he is not doing anything quote wrong in
terms of what the NBA lays out, and you better believe,
especially a guy like Dylan Brooks, but really so many
other guys around the league will use every advantage they
(09:51):
can at this time of year, and he's using it.
Steph Curry even got up there and said the same thing.
He was surprised that we all saw just how bad
that thumb was because he's got it wrapped all the
time when he's in public for games. But some of
the social media people and the Warriors had taken pictures
of guys going on to the team plane and they're like, oh, Steph,
we saw how bad that thumb was.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
He's like, what do you guys have the fens on me?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
And when we explain what had happened, he was like, Eh,
I love this league. There's nothing like the NBA for
all the little sort of micro detectives out there with
the internet.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So Yannis is not only they're one in nine in
their last ten playoff games, and they're not competitive in
many of them. This is a move I thought they
should have made. I think tiar A was better to
get ahead of it because with Bigs they can fall
apart and they're lucky. It didn't become enbeed where the
value just leaves. So Jannis has tremendous value. And I
(10:42):
also think when the Knicks acquired Michale Bridges for all
the first round picks, they thought it was getting them
closer to Boston. But now Tatum's exploded, Peyton Pritcher's the
best bench guy in the league, and Boston separated actually
from the Knicks. And so my take is, Okay, you
got to take a big swing here. The Knicks, we're
impatient forever. Then Dolan got into the sphere. Let the
(11:05):
basketball people run it, and they're incredibly well run. But
I think it's time to get back to the impatient
next and like this isn't close to good enough right
for the next Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I mean, look, even if they come out of the series,
and I do expect them to, I don't expect them
to be able to do much against Boston. They are
just simply outmatched. So they do need to make a
move they would like to make. The biggest move possible
is that Jani Senta Ducumpo. I doubt it only because
if Yannis does ask to get traded, if Milwaukee does
decide to trade him, there will be other teams that
(11:36):
can offer bigger packages for him. The Houston Rockets can
offer a bigger package, the San Antonio Spurs can offer
a bigger package, and most of all, the Oklahoma City
Thunder can offer the biggest package of all. So if
you have Yannis playing with Shay, the presentive MVP for
this year, if you have Yannis playing, I mean, look
Janis and Wemby, what would that be like or Yanis
(11:58):
on this young, talented Houston team. I think if trade
talk does center around Yannis, those are the teams we
will see more in the mix, which leaves a team
like the New York Knicks to try to make a
different kind of move. But there is no doubt that
they need to make one.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So I want to end with this because I think
it's and I've said this before, Kawhi is an enigma.
He's a remarkable all time talent, but he's I always
felt he's icing on a cake, but he's not the cake.
He doesn't communicate, he's nonverbal, he's not overly emotional. He
(12:34):
can be sort of aloof that's okay, But that game
against the Nuggets, that last game when Westbrook was the
tone center and Russell can be flawed, but he plays
with so much emotion that it makes you guilty as
a teammate if you don't play with that kind of hustle.
And I thought the Clippers came out flat. Harden was
a hologram and it was the moment where you needed
(12:56):
Kawhi to bark in the huddle. You needd Cowhi's leadership.
And if they lose this series, the Clippers, because I
think they're a better team and a deeper team, what
do you do with the Clippers? Ballmer's the richest owner
in the league. This a first round exit when you
have a great coach and probably a better roster. You
(13:18):
got to break up the back in a new arena,
which is the talk of the league. This could have repercussions,
could it not.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I disagree. I think they will continue to make moves
around the edges. This is just sort of the best
kind of most competitive matchup in the bracket. It's a
little bit of bad luck for both of these teams
to have drawn each other. This is the series we
all expect to go seven games. Had they matched up
the Clippers against a different team in the West, we
probably would be getting a different quote first round result,
and then we wouldn't say, oh, they failed out of
(13:45):
the first round. If they do indeed lose, I just
think this is a strong team. They've got a gretty
tough defense, They've got talented players. I expect them to
keep improving because this is a very strong front office
that continues to improve. But I wouldn't break up anything.
I think if they lose the series, you can point
a lot to Aaron Gordon's sort of very fingertippy finger
tippy finger tippy basket that done at the very end
(14:07):
of the previous game, because that is what to me
deflated the Clippers a bit. They show up in Denver,
you've got the altitude and you just sort of feel
like we did everything and they still won that last game.
So I'm very interested. I'll be at the arena tonight
to see what kind of effort, intensity and energy the
Clippers come out with. But look, the matchup is the matchup,
(14:27):
and the Nuggets are a very tough team. A lot
of those guys on that team are champions. And here's ostat.
I'll leave you with Colin. You know, we talk about
playoff Jimmy Butler all the time. He's not even in
the top three of the guys who elevate their game
for the playoffs. So when you look at career wise,
the biggest differential between regular season scoring and playoff scoring.
Number one is actually Jalen Brunson, which is impressive. But
(14:50):
the number two and three guys on that list are
Jamal Murray and nikolaie Jokic. That's who the Clippers are facing.
They are facing playoff Jamal playoff Jokic, which, by the way,
considering how good Nikol Jokich is all the time, that's
crazy that he gets that much better in the playoffs.
This is a matchup issue for the Clippers. They got
(15:10):
a quote bad draw and if they lose in the
first round, I would not rush to do anything because
this is still a very very strong team.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
When Kawhi Leonard is healthy and.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
He's healthy right, hway, the coach they fired in Denver, Malone,
he was the guy that wanted to play Westbrook. Yes,
the GM and by the way, he's been validated because
Westbrook has been unbelievable in this series, and Malone kept saying,
forget the draft picks. I need his energy, you know,
And I'll say it. I have been so critical of Westbrook.
(15:41):
I don't know where the three point shooting came from.
Like it looks different, the results are better. Westbrook has
had a great series. I mean he has been the
tone center in this series.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Oh, I agree. Look, I really like Russ. I always
think the energy he brings is really important for a
team in a locker room, and that kind of stuff
is underrated. He has a box of chocolates, though you
never know what you're going to get, and he can
make great decisions and he can make terrible decisions. So
the key is a guy like Michael Malone felt he
knew when to deploy Russ, when to withdraw him when
Russ was making those bad decisions, and he trusted that
(16:15):
process and obviously the front office did not.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
We're seeing it right now.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
When you make good decisions about when and how you
play Russ and Frankly, when Russ has a hot streak,
it goes well. There's times we've seen it not go
well with Russell Westbrook, and we'll have to see if
tonight that's any different, because it really can be hot
and cold and even within a game you can get
this awesome chocolate and then you can get that chocolate
that everyone's like, eh, I don't want that.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, Westbrook a former Clipper
year everything, come on, you're going to get his best effort.
Rachel Nichols, good scene or race, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Thanks so much, Collin.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, these games have been Yeah, the Clipper Nugget series
is it's hard to find on TV, but it's been outstanding.
And it's really interesting when you if you're the Lakers
and Rob Polinka, you have to build around Luca. You're
not building around Austin Reeves. I think you have to
move Austin Reeves because I think he has value in
the league, and I think you're not moving Lebron obviously,
So you have to build around Luca, and Nico Harrison
(17:10):
has shown you the most effective way to build around Luca,
which is rim protectors in size, and so JJ Reddick
went the opposite. He goes, we're gonna play this big
Minnesota team, We're gonna go small ball. You can't do
that with Luca. And by the way, it's I don't
think playoffs. I mean, if you go look at Pistons
and Nicks, what's decided the games? Fourth quarters? Like moments,
(17:35):
Clippers Nuggets, What's decided games fourth quarters? T Wolves like
Calves heat first quarters, Bucks Pacers first quarters, But like
the Lakers T Wolves series, go look at the numbers,
it's all fourth quarters. Well, that's why it was playing
Lebron and Luca one guy who has cardio issues and
(17:58):
another guy who is old. Playing them in the moment
may have felt right because the next game wasn't until Wednesday.
But you are now you're seeing the repercussions. Lakers Lebron
look gassed.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in neon Eastern a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
The NBA in the playoffs allows more physicality, so big
edge Minnesota having the bigger roster and the deeper roster.
That's why I picked Houston over Golden State, and my
take was that there's got some I mean, the Warriors
are small and they're old. The difference is Houston is
so bad in the half court offense. Jalen Green's talented,
(18:44):
what is he? Whereas with Minnesota, Julius Randall's been great
in the half court and Ant's aunt and then Gobert
was wilt last night. So but it's it's you know,
it's JJ Reddick said I'm going smaller and in playoff
physical basketball. To me, it backfired. J Mack with the.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
News, no turns, this is the herd line news, all right.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Haines me to do it, Colin. But we'll talk a
little more about the Wolves beating the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Now.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Listen, you just mentioned Lakers six and a half point
favorites last night.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
They were, they were favoring the series.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
The market just did not understand this upset, undervalued the
Wolves by a lot, and Anthony Edwards did a victory lap,
no literally, a victory lap around Crypto dot Com arena
after the game.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Making it by.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Three.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Go to hands and nay, good goggle, good goggle.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I wouldn't I wouldn't advise that.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Wow. That's ballsy man. I respected from Aunt.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Hey talk your trash, and everybody doubted you. No, seriously,
nobody picked Minnesota, like zero people pick Minnesota in the media.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Vegas was fooled. Draft Kings was fooled. I was fooled
a lot of NBA people, you know what.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
I attribute this to colin So Minnesota at one point
was thirty two and twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
They were a playing team after sixty games.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They weren't in the more close games than any team
in the league this.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
Year, and they finished seventeen and four. But a lot
of that happened during March Madness, which was historically great,
and we just missed it.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Started baseball season. We missed it. The Wolves going on
a tear. I will add this.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Anthony Edwards after the game called Lebron the Goat. He said,
we just beat the best player ever.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Your thoughts certainly in the qualification he means he's among
two people really Kareem Cream three Kareem Michael and Lebron,
and then very very close as Magic Johnson.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
So it's being not reported, but everybody's doing the stat
padding and they're like, this is who Aunt has beat
in his last few playoffs series, boy Yo Kitchen last year,
Lebron this year, Luca this year, KD last year, Booker
last year. He's got a good body count, right, we
got to give it props for that.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Well he I mean last night he was over eleven
on threes last night.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I don't want to hear about last night.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
He did nothing. The Wolf didn't the t Wolves have
a stretch on three pointers.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I mean they missed eighteen in a row in the
second Yeah, I mean, think about that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
The Wolves missed eighteen straight three pointers and didn't play great,
and they still and they beat the Lakers at Crypto.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
This is another stat I'm just gonna I mean, it's unfathomable.
So Rudy Gobert combined in the first four games, had
fourteen points combined, he had twenty seven last night. Combined
in the first four games, he had twenty five rebounds.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
He had twenty four last night. Just an outlier of
a game. Unbelievable stuff from Julius freakin' Randall.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I mean, that's the best playoff series of his career.
You know what's funny about him, He's one of those
guys that if there was no three pointer. I mean,
analytics turn Tristan Thompson from a valuable piece to can't
put him on the floor, right, Like, Julius Randall comes
into this league and it's morphing into a three point
(22:13):
shooting league, and you're like, what do we do with him?
Because effort great, will defend, tough guy, get you boards.
But he has worked hard, yeah, to develop some level
of a three pointer, because he could have easily just
been hey man, I'm not gonna I'm just gonna be
what I am. So give Julius Randall credit and the
(22:34):
staff in Minnesota because he was the classic five years ago.
We were all like, well, what did you pay that guy?
In the playoffs? I need guys who can at least
hit a three. You can't be ungot. That's why Russell
Westbrook's amazing. Westbrook was the guy. You're let him shoot threes.
This series has been great from three point.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Randall's like a throwback in that nineties era where power
forwards like Anthony Mason and Charles Oak were like just
rugged dudes who couldn't really score. Randa would have thrived
in that era. The fact that he's added a three
is you said, super impressive. Let's go to the NFL,
where Kyler Murray is set to become Arizona's longest tenured
(23:14):
starting quarterbacks since they moved to Arizona. Of course, the
Cardinals have not won a playoff game with Kyler Murray,
but he is putting it out there. He doesn't want
to go anywhere. He loves Arizona.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
Oh, We've only playing in one playoff game since our
guy here, which is very frustrating.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I'm still more motivated than ever.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Let's just feel to the fire going into year seven
playing in the playoffs once. I don't believe that I'm
a couch watching football type of guy.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
The fact that I haven't.
Speaker 7 (23:38):
Led us to that. I take a lot of my
shoulders to, you know, perform in the moments where you
know I needed the most. If I could play my
whole career here, finish it out here, like I'm signing
up guys like Kobe. Kobe played for one organization his
whole career, you know, Like that's that's something that I admire,
and that's something I want to do.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I actually think they have a good coach. I actually
like Arizona staff. And for the record, I thought after Seattle.
You could argue Arizona was in a short list of
the second best draft. I thought they have the last
two years they've had good drafts.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
So they've got a stacked offense, right.
Speaker 6 (24:11):
They got a great tight end, a great wide receiver,
a really good running back. Yep is the quarterback? There
the defense. They went all in on defense. In my opinion,
reading that draft, A Gannon said, listen, we've got the offense,
now we need to get the defense. And if Kyler
doesn't deliver this year, I think he's a sneaky quarterback
Colin who's like one of those what do we do
with Do we keep paying him? Do we keep it
(24:31):
more starter or do we kind of start over with
a new quarterback. You seem to like Kyler a little
more than the market.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Well, I think he. I mean, listen, every quarterback in
this league that I like has something that is great.
That's like, that's my knock on Tua? Size, arm, mobility, what's.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
The ball accuracy with Tua?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
That's a hard one.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Well, what's Kyler's greatness? Scrambling?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
He incredibly elusive, like incredibly elusive, like Russell Wilson but
in his prime, but significantly better.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yeah, how much long is that gonna hold up and
his brain?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That's a fair argument. But Josh Allen, if you go
look at all, even though Justin Herbert, who's not winning
playoff games, huge arm like historically unique six five and
a half two forty like every That's why I always
say about rock perty what do you go? Wow? And
almost every great like Jalen Hurts, say what you want.
(25:25):
The guy squat six fifty. His strength is not only redeemable,
he could be the strongest player in the league pound
for pound, Like, okay, that's something in this league.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
All right? Final story colugn oh oh.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Look my twenty twenty six NFL mock draft I posted
on Fox Sports, and yes I have arts banning at
the top. But I know you're gonna hate this because
I have so many quarterbacks going in the top twelve.
So we're gonna put on the scene here, So arts
banning one.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Listen, let me see I leave out. Just don't yell
and freak out. I know you're gonna lose your mind.
Drew Aller a layer whatever. He has not shown it,
but the.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Tools and the frame and the body and the measurements
they're there.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Okay for our radio audience. He's got Nico Iamaliava number
five to Carolina. I actually think Bryce Young is gonna
be pretty good this year. I am out of a
lot rams. Take Garrett nuss Meyer, the LSU kid. I
he's you know, I have to say it.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
You gotta read the right.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Let me tell you where you're so wrong. Caleb Balm
Downs is going somewhere in the top three three of Downs.
If this wasn't a big quarterback year, Caleb Downs could
go number one. So I lose incredible player. The highest
drafted safeties. There's two of them who went fifth overall.
I think that's about the ceiling for Downs.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
There's going to be too many quarterback needy teams. Look
at the Browns, they need a quarterback. The New York Giants,
if they fired Dable, they'll.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Need a quarterback.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
If the Jets are this bad, I don't think they
will be, they will.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Need a quarterback.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
And then you look at Carolina New Orleans next year
could be a quarterback needy draft at the top, unlike
this past year.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, I think I think you got too many quarters.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I know it happens every year. The Clemson guy's a
little further down. Go ahead, mock it. Laugh, It's fine,
no big deal.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I like the effort. You know how you talked about
me being honest a couple bout an hour.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Yes, be honestly.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
I like you look good in that dress. I like
the effort. It's a good it's quite it's quite an
effort by you. Okay, all right, j Mack with the news.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, it's you know, it's it's I've kind of moved
off the Shadoor Sanders stuff, but I you know, I
was watching a lot of NBA over the last like
three weeks. But it is really interesting on the Pittsburgh
Steelers because the Rams and the Cleveland Brown's clearly in
the first round, said we think the best quarterbacks are
(28:03):
next year. I think the Giants think that too, But
Brian Dable and Joe Shane need to win now, and
if Russell Wilson putters around, they're going to go with
Jackson Dart. So I think some of that that feels
like it's a little bit of it, although I'm sure
they would deny that. But you know, the Rams and
the Browns. They got first round picks. They're going big
(28:26):
next year. I don't know how good any of these
quarterbacks are, but I J Mack put on there. But
it's something to think about. A year ago people had
quinn Ewers in the first round, so I like to
get it Clemson now. I think arch Manning potentially will
be the best. I think Drew Aller at Penn State's interesting,
not consistent enough for me. I'm not sure he's it yet,
(28:48):
but things change. These are and I said this about
Shudearr Sanders. The hardest thing about personnel in these professional leagues.
Women girls mature sooner. In women athletics, you will see
eighth graders being offered scholarships ninth graders, and it's totally
appropriate for young girls. They've matured faster. I mean, I
(29:12):
can remember years ago. I forget the name of the
kid he was offered. A quarterback was offered a scholarship
in the eighth grade. I forget his name and don't
know where he's at. Like it was fun. I think
it was Lane Kiffen offered somebody like in the eighth grade.
You have no idea quinn Ewers was a first round
(29:35):
quarterback last year. He's the last quarterback taken of thirteen.
So I do think, like when I think Shador was
a bit immature, I thought Baker was really immature. I
thought Johnny Manziel was insanely immature. But the last time,
the first time I met Johnny Manzel, like a year ago,
he owned it. He wasn't owning it four or five
(29:56):
years ago. Johnny owned it. I think Caleb Williams grew
up a lot in Chicago. Would they very loud media,
a lot of pressure. I think Caleb Williams has had
to kind of grow up, not that he was wildly immature,
but I think Chicago, New York, big markets, Boston, you
grow up quickly because you get criticized loudly and often,
(30:17):
so you just it's these mock drafts are hard because
whereas I think a young a ninth grade softball or
basketball player, women's I mean they knew in the sixth grade,
was it Paige Becker's for Yukon. It was like people
were offering her scholarships when she was a little kid.
With guys, I think it's harder to identify, especially in football,
(30:37):
boys mature more slowly, so you know, as you're sitting
here and you make mock drafts, it's somebody's going to
pop and somebody's gonna drop. And that's just personnel with
young men. That's we. We are fronlough you know, brain scans,
whatever it is. We are hard to figure out. At
(30:58):
nineteen years old, live in a Chicago, it's the hurt.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nn am Pacific.
Speaker 8 (31:07):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 9 (31:13):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 9 (31:21):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 8 (31:26):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
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Speaker 9 (31:34):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
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So check us out. We like to get you involved too.
Take your phone calls chop it up as they say,
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Speaker 8 (31:49):
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
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Speaker 1 (32:05):
So I saw a story this morning the Steeters are
waiting for Aaron Rodgers Kirk Cousins a possibility. Why now
when the Rooney said, it sounds like we're getting Aaron
is kirk Cousins of possibility? Aaron said, I'll play for
ten million. Mark me down for I'll take Aaron with
(32:31):
the Niners for ten million. Over brought Purdy for fifty six,
I suggested. A month ago, I said, if I was
Aaron Rodgers, I would not sign anywhere before the draft.
Watch what teams do? I also said a month ago.
He's from the Bay Area. He knows Kyle Shanahan's system,
(32:51):
it's Matt Lafleur's system. Mostly he doesn't have to show
up early and that system is very quarterback friendly. It's
following directions, accurately, distributing the ball, moving the pocket occasionally.
The Shanahan system is built for Aaron Rodgers. So now
(33:12):
Aaron is nobody knows, a lot of people thought he
was going to announce, you know, on the McAfee show
he was going to Pittsburgh. Nobody knows with Aaron, so
I'm not going to try to guess he may go
to the Steelers. But I'm just saying, people I heard
Big Ben say, well, why is he waiting? I'll ask
why are the Steeters now mentioning Kirk Cousins. Just pretend
(33:33):
you're Aaron Rodgers. I can play for Kyle Shanahan. I
got Christian McCaffrey behind me, John Jennings, George Kittle, Temperate Weather,
or go to a tone deaf offensive organization that pays
all their defensive players in Pittsburgh. Bruh, it's not close.
We already knew he was interested in Minnesota and they
(33:56):
don't have Christian McCaffrey in the backfield. So I'm just saying,
if I'm Aaron and he says I'll play for ten,
I'm going to the Niners now. This is speculation. I
don't know anything, but Aaron's too smart to make a
(34:17):
foolish decision. And I don't think Pittsburgh just say it
out loud, tone deaf to offense lost their left tackle,
lost Nausee Harris once again, heavy defense. Draft. Aaron's not
solving that thing. You're not solving that thing, Seattle, Arizona. Okay,
you have to get through the Rams stafford aging just
(34:40):
thrown out there. Just put me down. And I don't
think Aaron is going to play for ten. I think
the Niners are probably offer him eighteen or something, whatever
it is. But everybody keeps out, well, why isn't Aaron signing, Well,
maybe Aaron's looking around, going let's see how this brought.
Pretty thing goes. I take erin for fifth over brought
(35:01):
for full fifty one. I'm just telling you what I'm
doing for two years, I'd go with it. Okay, So
we've talked about this. The NBA would probably be better
served if the face of the league was a domestic player.
I don't think it's essential. I don't right right now,
it's kind of a They don't have the face of
(35:22):
the league, and I think there's only been four or
five in my life. I think MJ was Magic Bird, Shaq, Kobe,
Steph Lebron. It's been a half dozen. Wilt was great.
I never thought Wilt was the face of the league.
Now I'm too. I don't really remembered I saw him
in the seventies. Maybe he was. I think Russell and
the Celtics kind of were, but we didn't even know
what that meant. Face of the league back in the sixties.
It is a thing now because of MJ. But I
(35:45):
have said I think Ant and Tatum are now the
two best domestic players, and they've both been really good,
Tatum more consistently in the postseason. But there is something
to be said about wanting to be the face of
the league or having the personality for it. Now Tatum
right now is a more consistent great player than Ant.
(36:08):
Ant's great nights are better, but Tatum is more consistent.
And Ant did not play particularly well last night, whereas
Tatum plays well almost every night, certainly against Orlando. But
I want to this, just listen to this. This is Ant.
After the game.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Watch Rudy played phenomenal man.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
He played almost forty minutes a night, twelve to fifteen
from three. Yeah, we can't ask nothing at twenty four rebounds.
He was a dragon tonight.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
A dragon.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
Yeah, he was a dragon to night for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
As the kids say, he got riz, maximum riz, He's
got charisma. And then he's after the game, he's walking
outside tryp though, like that's part of it. And I
think this is just who he is. I think he's
got a personality. I think he's funny sometimes off the court,
not perfect. I think Tatum to me feels very buttoned
(37:07):
up and very adult, almost crafted. I mean Duke Celtics,
Werek Ethic, And I said this, Tatum is like exactly
what you want from a star, which is like it's
almost like Tim Duncan. But Duncan was never the face
of the league. It was the big fundamental. Tatum's incredible,
fundamental player. He didn't have a lot of riz. And
(37:30):
for the record, you thought the only cool word I
know is lit. Uncle Colin is always adding lexicon. That's
the way it works on the show, those adding things.
But there is something to be said about that. He
also said this because he didn't play particularly well last night.
But again, how many guys give you a great night?
I mean Luca. We're pointing fingers at here's Aunt talking
(37:52):
about his night last night.
Speaker 5 (37:54):
The thing about watching film is you got to be
willing to accept the bag. I think most people I
only want to watch it when it's good. So I
want to watch the games when I play bad, like
the Game of the night when I played bad, Like
what could I have done better? And I think that's
the perspective that heaving me change as far as my
playmaking and Santa Floor. I want to see what I
can do better.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Yeah. I also think it's easy to just criticize the Lakers.
Minnesota's good, great staff, the domestic face of the league,
a tough veteran who was a great matchup Julius Randall
against the Lakers. I mean, go Bear when he went
to Minnesota, didn't they? I mean, how many draft picks
(38:35):
did the Jazz get Like? He had value? He was
the defensive player of the year. I know everybody Shack
doesn't love him, but in the end, go Beart is.
I mean, it's like Zach Edy. You guys can sell
all you want about Zach Edy. It's hard to score
over Zach Edy. Go Beart has value and against a
small Laker team that doubles down and doesn't play Jackson
as he was ridiculous last night. So I think face
(38:59):
of the league is, you know, kind of a nebulous whatever.
I don't think, honestly, we ever talked about face of
the league before Michael Jordan. I don't even think we
talked about Magic and Bird being face of the league.
There was discussion that Magic and Bird had saved the league.
But I don't think I could be wrong on this,
(39:19):
but I don't think face of the league was a
term until Michael Jordan, and a lot of it was
because he had a handsome face and a stylish face,
and it was like, God, that's what you want the
guy to be, and he was so good in commercials.
So I don't think it's essential, but I do think.
I do think if you look, if you juxtapose Aunt
and Tatum, one guy feels like he's got a more
(39:40):
connectivity with young people.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Swag. I know you love that.
Speaker 6 (39:44):
Let me just ask you something real quick. So SGA
is gonna win the MVP. But you're out here saying
Aunt Edwards is the face of the league.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, it's weird.
Speaker 6 (39:52):
I actually think Ant is a more dangerous player than SGA.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Because I've got to respect the threes.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
I know he was oh for eleven last night, but
when you lead the league in three, you're unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Driving to the basket.
Speaker 6 (40:03):
Like I think he's an overall better player than SCA,
don't you.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Well, he's a more dynamic athlete. SGA is funny. He's
a combination of like six players. You know, he's got
a little Kicky Vandaway, a little well, I mean again,
better better than Alex English. But what he is, he's
a bucket and he's got that free throw angle bucket.
The way he holds the ball. Never forget this. The
Clippers are well run. They let him go like like
(40:27):
he was a late developer. When he was at Kentucky,
he wasn't considered the best prossbow. I think it was
Kevin Knox, like nobody. I mean. So he is one
of the classic and this doesn't happen a lot in
the NBA. He's a classic late developer. It is an
infrequent term in the NBA generally speaking. You know Kobe
at sixteen, Luke at fourteen, Lebron at thirteen, you kind
(40:49):
of know who the next space. So SGA is a
slow developer. Some of it is hard work. He's a
bucket is coaching. It's a great organization. There's a lot
of things that play here.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Now many people are this. You did touch on. Austin
Reeves had a brutal series. I mean he was bad.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Okay, you know who guarded him a lot.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Of the time.
Speaker 6 (41:06):
Anthony Edwards and I looked at some of the numbers
Austin Reeves during the regular seasons getting to the foul
line six seven, eight, ten times a game. He attempted
zero free throws Collin in the final two games, an
Austin Reeves was absolutely gassed.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
He had nothing left in the tank.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
He could not go At Anthony Edwards, it was shocking
to see how the Lakers kind of just wilted. They
got worned out against Aunt McDaniel's randall thing.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
I think Minnesota's staff watched JJ Reddick play starters for
the entire second half, and I think the Minnesota staff said, Fellas,
they're gonna be worn out. We're gonna go bigger on
that Gobart had nine, bigger and get more physical, and
they're gonna run out of gas. And I think that's
what you saw Lakers heading Minnesota's staff deserves a lot
(41:52):
of credit.
Speaker 6 (41:53):
Chris Finch is the man, no doubt about it, and
Rudy Gobert had had a podium.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Game, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Damn it is. The show's got the rigs. I gotta
be honest.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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