June 23, 2025 • 42 mins
Colin tells you why he was right about Kevin Durant and wrong about Shedeur Sanders.
He also talks to Ric Bucher about where the Thunder ranks among the last 7 NBA champions and how KD fits with the Houston Rockets
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Here we go, hour two. It is a Monday.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We are live, and it's a hurt wherever you may
be and however you may be listening.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Thanks for making us part of your day.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
My buddy John Middlecop, part of the Volume three and
Out podcast, is joining us this week. Jane mackins, I
think he's doing a volleyball tournament in Scottsdale, down in
your home.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Oh, I'll switch spots. Yeah for warm.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's a little warm. So I don't want to be
mister buzzkill.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I know, I stay off the phone right like, but
I'm probably getting crush today because I just think we
have to be honest, and I do think Oklahoma City
is become another one of these teams where I'm kind
of left watching it thinking, yeah, yeah, I guess they're
the champ. It's roster construction, it's defense, it's depth, and
(01:13):
I just got when Halliburton got hurt last night, it
just was a gut punch. I felt so bad for him,
I felt bad for me as a consumer. Just wasn't
that interesting. So we do it every Monday. Where Colin
was right, where Colin was wrong, and here we.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Go where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I said last week, five things I trust will happen
in Game seven, and they mostly did. Oklahoma City's defense
was great, Rick Carlisle's coaching, I mean they let it
half SGA got to the free throw line. And Okc's
bench was very good. Young benches usually are at home,
so I think this game Game seven. I don't know
who would have won without Halliburton's injury, but I thought
(01:49):
it was a fairly predictable sequence of events that would
occur regardless.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Of the winner.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Where Colin was raw. I don't trust young playoff teams.
In fact, the Bubble is the only time in my
adult life where young teams flourished, and I had my
questions about Okay, see, yeah, they'll be great in the
regular season, and they ended up being a very mediocre
road playoff team, but they remained healthy. They were good
(02:18):
at home, they won the games they had to against
Indie and Denver, and so I didn't know if this
team was gonna win. I kept being told Colin, they're
gonna mow through the West. Well they didn't mow through
Indiana and they didn't mow through Denver. But I'll take
a wrong where Colin was right, Kevin Durant to the Rockets.
To me, this was the obvious fit. You know, Houston
(02:41):
didn't have to give up a second first round pick,
and now Phoenix is sort of ball centric, guard heavy.
So I don't know what it looks like for Phoenix,
but I do think he works here, and the Suns
were three and seventeen when he didn't play. He's a
get a bucket guy. He's agreeable, he can catch and
shoot it. He's got length going to give you about
sixty sixty five games, but because of the construct of
(03:04):
the Rockets roster, that's.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Going to be okay. So I like the move for.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
KD where Colin was raw Team USA. How about this
plus seven point differential? Number one in the Gold Cup
so far surprising because I think without Hoolisic and Weston McKinney,
they lack creativity in the midfield, but the highest scoring
team right now in the Gold Cup. What's interesting is
(03:29):
we don't know what we're doing in goal, which is
usually our strength as a country. They were distracted and
kind of, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Reeling before the Gold Cup.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So I am surprised as the competition ratcheted up that
they've scored and been.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
This competent where Colin was right well.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Multiple sources in an ESPN story reported around the NBA
the Lakers selling to Mark Walter was going to help
the Lakers become what I've been preaching for five years,
a big time sports brand. They're very mom and pop.
They're very Cincinnati Bengals with a much better brand, very small, insular.
(04:10):
They need a fresh set of eyes and perspective. I
think this was needed, and the ESPN article last week
had multiple sources saying they've needed to graduate to the
next level the billionaire club for several years.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Where Colin was raw well.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Shador Sanders immaturity and bad judgment. I'm selling my stock.
It's not the end of the world, and nobody's saying
it is. But when you're a fifth round marginal prospect
at quarterback, the maturity position. You can't get caught speeding
twice in a week, going over ninety miles an hour.
You just lack the judgment and self awareness for a
(04:50):
position fair or not that demands an adult and great
decision making. At twenty four years old, he's a good
quarterback prospect special He's not great. He didn't have a
huge arm. He doesn't move like Josh Allener, Lamar Jackson
or Kyler Murray. In the end, I overvalued him, overlooked
some of his maturity stumbles, and now here we are
(05:14):
where Colin was right. Dodgers Padres. We've been on this
since last year in the playoffs. This is the best
rivalry in sports. Maybe it is an unbelievable rivalry. They
met last week. We had ejections, drama, suspensions. They were
throwing at each other, the managers were bumping walk off
home runs. This is everything a rivalry should be. There's
(05:37):
a proximity geographically. Machado, the former Dodger is now a Padre.
The Padres are young and cocky, the Dodgers are winners
and more established. All the great things that make a
great sports rivalry. And that's a baseball series in June
that had the feeling of a playoff.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Series we set up last year.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
This not the Yankees and Red Sox, is must watch television.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I've talked about that Caitlyn Clark isn't part of the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
She is the moment.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Last week, Sophie Cunningham, who's been in the WNBA seven years,
sold her jerseys out in a day and the three
hundred and fifty thousand IG followers by just fouling somebody
hard in support of Caitlin Clark. Sophie Cunningham's been around
seven years, nobody paid much attention. Suddenly you can't keep
(06:35):
her jerseys on the rack because she's just defending Caitlyn Clark.
That is the definition of a transformative basketball player. Caitlyn
Clark is not part of it. She is the moment.
It is a Taylor Swift tour. I don't care who
plays before and after. I don't care about anybody else
(06:58):
on the label. It's all about Caitlin Clark, Colin Wright,
Colin Wrong, and a Monday. And with that, Rick Buker
is now saddling in. He's going to join us today
a perfect guest. So I was mister buzzkilling the opening segment,
LI soon were my goodness, I know, and listen, I'm
happy for champions. It's a small market. It's like the
Packers winning, like you feel good for him, But we
(07:21):
have seven years and this is now. Adam Silver's NBA.
If you've never seen Okac play, and I said, there's
this team. They have one elite scorer. He was awful
from three point, had three bad games. Oh, their number
two and three scores were no shows in multiple games.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Oh, and they won. Can we be honest?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Is roster construction and defense is what we'll remember this
champion as.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
No, I'll remember it as the youngest champion that we've
ever seen. So all of those warts that you mentioned
out mentioned which are legit, are a byproduct of that.
And yes, the air was taken out of it when
Tyre's Halliburton got Unfortunately, we had our expectations for a
game seven the way this series had gone back and forth.
(08:06):
But the poison maturity that they showed throughout the playoffs
in spite of their youth, impressed me. And yes, we're
just getting introduced to these guys. And let's face it,
shake Ejes Alexander for an MVP, and for I mean,
you just you.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Just look at the at the at the body of
this team, like.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
You don't have any personalities that jump out at you,
Like they just don't have those dinings you don't have,
Like I mean, Dylan Brooks would be like Ronald McDonald
on this team, you just be like he'd be me
on right, Like they don't have. They're just a bunch
of nice guys winning a championship so young that the
vast majority of them, I mean, Alex Caruzo is probably
(08:50):
the biggest personality right in terms of just kind of
presence in Ara. These guys didn't know how to open
up champagne bottles.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
That's how young they I and I'm not criticizing him
for it, but Chet Holmgren disappeared, Jada was all over
the map. Generally that would signal you're in trouble.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Well, but let's keep in mind, prior to this year,
which is what made this run such a surprise, they
had never been passed the second round. Like, this is
a team full of guys, and I felt it in
game six they got the championship jitters, they question right,
and they did in game seven as well. In spite
(09:30):
of the absence of Tyree, like there was suddenly in
the I'm like, wait a minute, could the Pacers make
a comeback in this? And here I experienced this with
the San Antonio Spurs. I believe it's part of what
happens in small markets is that it means so much
to the fans there. And look, I'm not saying that
(09:51):
the New York Knicks and the Lakers fans, but there's
their condition expect big things, right, so when things go
a little wobbly, they don't immediately go, oh, oh, are
we not going to get what we've always wanted our
entire lives. Well, there is that vibe in the building,
and teams, particularly young young teams, pick up on that.
(10:12):
I saw the San Antonio Spurs go through the same thing.
Their crowd would get so nervous that they would start
to press and there were probably some games and some
championships that they missed out on because they were affected
by that crowd. I saw the same thing with Oklahoma City.
But I am not taking anything away you. It sounds
like you are taking something away from first of all,
(10:33):
because it wasn't entertaining enough. No, for the great Colin Cowell.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
No, the hell, I mean, listen, you put it out there.
They I mean just they were an average road team
in the playoffs. Their regular season attributes were deserved, but
it largely was a young team playing with high energy
and depth, and you know his the Derrick Rose Bulls
regular seasons reward the focused and energized. Sure, they were
(10:59):
going to be a regular season juggernaut, just like I
think Houston was a great regular season team.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
But you knew they weren't going to get there.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, they didn't have enough shooting. I am not like
my take is you deserve it. I'm happy for you,
but it felt small, and they felt like the Halliburton
injury was a bit of a break because Indy was
playing and Halliburton was playing. Yeah, totally on game early.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
This would have felt different if the Boston Celtics had
been there.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
I think part of it was the yes, that's.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
True, Like, that's right.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Your apps felt from the very beginning like OKC was
supposed to win this and a lot of people thought
they would win it handled good.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
I didn't see it that way because you didn't that
the Pacers had more You did than people gave them
credit for. But so it felt and I think people
are downgrading Oklahoma Cities championship now because they're like, it
was the Indiana Pacers and you had to go to
seven games to knock them out. But I still I'm
going to look at the fact that they are so
young and their regular season record had us all expecting
(12:02):
them to get it done. I think they expected to
get it done, but they had so little experience at
this level.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
The game six in Indy when they just laid an
absolute egg was and that's when I kind of changed.
I was like sure, I said on the air after
that game, I'm like, Okay, these are good teams. Yes,
I was still holding on. I'm like, if they win
in game six at Indye blow them out and I'm like, Okay,
that's that's bad, you know for.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
A championship team. It feels like they have another step
to take.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Oh god, no quote, they'll be much better next year. Well,
home run, I don't know what I get from him offensively.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yeah, I think he I mean, I think people discount
the fact or don't take into account the fact that
he's played as little as he has, He's played one
full season.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
He missed fifty games this year.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Didn't he play one year at Gonzaga?
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Yes, ye, yes, So there's that.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
But I don't I don't know if they're going to
be back in the finals next year. I don't know
how much better they're going to be next year, because
I think we've we've automatically we looked at Denver and
Milwaukee and Boston, the last three champions, and we're like, oh,
this is the beginning of a run.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
And that hasn't been the case for any of them, right.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I got fooled by Denver. I got fooled.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I thought they were going to keep Brown in casep
and and I thought they Michael Porters, I thought always
a bit over value. By the way, So I ranked
the last seven champions one through seven. You're already smirking.
You already have the full disclosure. I've seen it ahead.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Of time, So Toronto again, I.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Must Can I just ask a questions? No, No, go ahead,
go ahead?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
How much?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
What?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
No?
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I'll ask it after you show it, because it makes sense.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So you're going to push back.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I think the Celtics have the best of I mean,
Jalen Brown was their number two player. Nobody in OKC
is as good as Jalen Brown consistently as a number two.
I mean, Tatum and Brown are better than sgs. And
I also think when Derek White, you're four, He's an
elite defender and was a very consistent one. When you
(14:07):
can go to your talent, your talent Horford off the bench, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Tree, Holiday, all of it, pure talent. Boston Celtics better
than this.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Lakers Lakers because Ad and their prime Lebron close to prime.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
What is that reaction? Who's wrong on that?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Nick Wright put this together. He had to have.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
This is is there small type on the bottom and
Nick Wright production?
Speaker 5 (14:38):
It has to.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Be Look, I agree with you at the bottom of
the list, but the fifth team should be the Los
Angeles Lakers winning in an antiseptic environment. We just talked
about the thunder. What's that that's harder? No home court,
no road. You just talked about the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Go through that.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
You have an Anthony Davis and Lebron James who can't
stay healthy through an entire season, and we're gonna take three.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Months off in the beinning.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
We're gonna basically play two half seasons and they win
a championship off of that, and you're gonna put them at.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The top of the list.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
These Boston Celtics talent wise, are much better at their
peak at that twenty twenty team Anthony Davis you said
was prime Anthony Davis. I would push back on that
a little bit, but let's say I'll go with you
on that is prime Anthony Davis better than prime Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
In No, No.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Problem was with that Nuggets team. They didn't play any defense,
a bad defensive team. The Glickers were an exceptional defensive
team and very good role players, a dominant big Lebron
antiseptic basketball.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
They were fighting COVID.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
There were just so many variables that are so unusual
that to put them number one, like I might even
let you skate if you had them.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Like third or.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Five, but you haven't.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
There's no Nick somewhere right now is going.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
You tell them Colin, well, we're good friends.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Okay, how about this.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Done?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
To this point, everybody wants to pick a winner and
a loser. Sons should have got sons now, just have
a bunch of guard guards that want the ball in
their hands. You know, it's Jalen Green, it's Bradley Beal,
It's Booker, It's like it. But if the number ten
pick can play and Jalen Green is productive, we'll see.
I do feel like if you could have told me
(16:35):
a player for Houston to grab, I would have said,
in the whole league, I would have said that guy.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It feels like a perfect fit.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's considering what they gave up, which I don't think
was a whole lot. Jalen Green got exposed in the
playoffs as not being.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Your go to guy. Dylan Brooks.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
You got to add into the equation in order to
make the numbers work, and only one first round pick.
I don't care about the second round picks. That felt
like a consolation prize. But I think you're looking at
it from the phoenix and in.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Not a complete way.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
I don't believe that Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks are
long for that team, So.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
I'm going to keep moving pieces.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
What they got was movable pieces, and I can see
a playoff team needing that last defensive firestarter type and
going to get a Dylan Brooks or a young team
that says, oh, we can get a number two pick
in Jalen Green, who's still young, and the contract is right,
Like I see those as additional first round picks. They're
(17:39):
they're in the process of dismantling the Phoenix Suns, and
this was the best deal that they could make under
the circumstances. I still think the ideal place for Kevin
Durant would have been the Denver Nuggets, and I would
have given up Jamal Murray to make that happen because
the idea of Nikolie Jokic being her orchestrator and Aaron
(17:59):
Gordon and Kevin Durant flanking him. I'm sure what the
what the Nuggets offered was Michael some package involving Michael
Porter and Peyton Watson and a pick or whatever, and
this was more attractive the Houston Houston package was. But
if I'm Kevin Durant and I have my choice between
the two, and Kevin did drive this, I mean, it's
(18:19):
why what it sounds like, it's why they had to
make the best deal possible. If I was Kevin, I
would have been looking at Denver rather than Houston.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, and they also have enough length. He didn't have
to play seventy five games, he didn't have to be.
He didn't have to be a rim protector. They got
a lot of length and a lot of You.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Don't have to be a leader.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
That's exactly doesn't have to be a leader.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
He could be a score he gets that's when he's
at his best.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Between Emaodoka and Fred van Vliet and the culture that
they have created, all he has to do is go
in and do what he likes to do, which is
to who.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So the draft is Wednesday, and uh, you know, I
think this is a very strong domestic drive. There are
people who have been following for years who say there
are twelve players who have potential in the right fit,
could be all star level players. It does sound like
one of the Rutgers kids. The kid going Harper too,
(19:12):
I think is really an interesting player. Don't know about
the bigger kid. Doesn't have assist not a playmaker, not
showing up to workouts. What are you hearing about the draft?
Do you think there'll be movement because we see this
in the NFL rick where you have weak draft. This
past draft was a weak draft. This appears to be
one of the stronger drafts in the last five years.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
And depth wise, I don't know that there are any
franchise changers. There's probably going to be one, because there
always is Cooper Flagg. But I don't think he's a
I don't think he's I think he's part of a core.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I don't think he's your number one. Wow, I don't
think he's a number one.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
You don't think he's as good as Jason Tatum.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
All the numbers that do forth in terms of exactly
where Jason Jason Tatum is a number one with the
right pieces around him, right, so he's more Can he
kind of be that?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Yeah, I can put him in the Jason.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
He's a more aggressive offensive player than Tatum and a
better defender at this point, he's Yes, I.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Would agree with that.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
He's got a little more nasty to those than Tatum does,
no question about that. I need to see how his
the level of his athleticism, because I think that what
he was able to get done.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
At Duke and at the college level is because.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Of his size and his length was such a significant advantage.
He's big, but he's going to play that three four
and you've got to be super quick and athletic to
play that in today's game. I need to see whether
his whether he has enough of that and the other
The other part that always makes it a little nervous
(20:46):
is that he already has a very refined game. His
his skills are already at a really high level. How
much better can he get in those categories?
Speaker 5 (20:57):
I think that's going to be the question.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I think he's When I watch him at Duke, my
takeaway was always, Wow, he's aggressive and he is long.
He's a big, big kid. That's why it makes him
a good defender. You can match up with me.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
He knows how to use his length. So yeah, no, No,
I like him as a two way player. I like, like,
if you were asking me, can he be the core
of a championship team? Based on what I've seen, sure,
I think he has all the ingredients. Can he lead
a championship team? That's what I would That's what I
need to see, And I don't know if he has
that elite athletic ability that is necessary to fit that.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Finally, I've been on this for years. The playoffs started
April fifteenth, ten days before the draft, and they just
wrapped up. Ten weeks is a long time. With a
seventy six billion dollar deal, everybody's gonna eat We don't
need seven game first rounders. We had eight achilles tears,
three in the playoffs. The game now has more spacing,
(21:55):
more movement, more herky jerky among greater athletes. Players don't
play themselves into shape. I think the NBA has to
look at these injuries and go, guys, and Baseball's done
this and they've all worked. We do not need ten
weeks of the playoffs. We do not need seven game
first rounders. You know these achilles terrrists. That's an old
(22:16):
man injury. That's a wear and tear injury.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I one, I don't know that that's the solution. I
agree with you that the wear and tear, that this
is a byproduct of the way the game is played now.
It's more athletic than ever, it's more up and down.
There is more stress. I would say that Tyrese Haliburton,
the reason that he had that injury much the same
way that KD was because they made a run to
(22:42):
the Eastern Conference finals last year and they were in
the finals this year, back to back years. The way
the game is played now, when you have players that
you rely on as much as the Pacers do in
Tyrese Haliburton in order to push the tempo, you open
yourselves up to this. I believe they have to look
at much like what OKC has done and in part
(23:04):
what Indiana has done, is that your depth and versatility
of your of your team is the answer of your
roster is the answer to being able to survive a
season and a long playoff run.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
The reason that I don't like the idea of shortening.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
It is because I do believe that grind and enduring
the season and the postseason is part of what makes
you a champion, and we would be changing the metric
in terms of how a championship team ultimately.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Paul, we don't care about the stats like that, do Le.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Honestly, I think that Lebron wants it to go to
forty minutes because he knows that they will take everybody
out of ever challenging any of his homers. So Shade, Yes,
that was Shade. This is I'm getting back to the
beginning with your Lakers.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Your Lakers take.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
You always tell me you're such a Lebron fan. It
sounds like it.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
I think the rosters. I think the rosters, that's a
whole another subject. I think the ross. They have to
accept that the rosters need to be expanded, and that
gms have to do a better job of understanding the
way the game's played. We have to do what OKAC
in Indiana did, which is we have to get into
the idea that we're going to play nine and ten
(24:18):
man rots.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
In the playoffs, which has never been de Yes.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
What I think the reason you saw the last two
teams standing was because of how they approached it.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, great stuff, Rick Buker. I love my list Lakers
number one.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
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I think it's right spot on.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
You and I have to spend all the time together.
You're hanging out with the wrong people.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours, seven
days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to
listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
Hi, this is Jay.
Speaker 7 (25:08):
I'm the producer of the Paula 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 3 (25:21):
Oh, what the hell are you doing in our studio?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Get him?
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Ignore that fool.
Speaker 8 (25:29):
Listen to the Paula and Tony Fusco Show on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
He's still moving.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Gold to have Rick bukersed off.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I Alexei Lawless last Hour, a goal keeping snaffu almost
got us in trouble the United States men's national team.
We'll talk to Alexi last hour. Here's John Middlikov with
the news.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Turn on the news. This is the herd life.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
Typically the divisional winners, they have earned the right to
open the playoffs at.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Home, regardless of the record.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Well, this offseason there was a rule change proposal that
would have taken that away, but for this season, the
playoff seating remains unchanged. Pete Carroll is one of the
famous benefactors of the seeding, and he discussed it with
his former running back Marshawn Lynch.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
I wasn't voting for that other rule. You know, I was,
I was voting for the division winning.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I just like the structure.
Speaker 8 (26:25):
You know, I'm more fashionate about it, maybe whatever, but
I like destructure, and I like the championship within the championship.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
You know, that's just part of it. Remember what we
did with it the freaking game. Nobody would ever have thought.
We said, oh, this is the worst matchup in the
history of the NFL.
Speaker 8 (26:40):
And coach I remember the whole week again, we didn't
even get it wasn't even close to get murdered.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
We want going away.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean I always kind of feel like it
all works itself out. You for years in college football,
the third best SEC team could have won the Big twelve. Yeah,
this idea that it's going to be perfectly linear and
the best teams, well, there's opposite to in sports all
the time, so it doesn't bother me. I think if
a team is a nine to eight team and they
(27:11):
end up winning a division against a thirteen and five team,
well the thirteen to five team, if they're legit, we'll
go on the road and win.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Look at last year, the Rams did not have as
good of a record as Minnesota, and they got to
host the game.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
I have no problem with that.
Speaker 8 (27:23):
When you go seven to nine, which now would be
eight and nine, I think it would probably be surprised
if we ever see a seven and ten team win
a division. But if you go eight and nine, I
don't think you should get a playoff game. I'm okay,
division winner you get.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
How about you get a playoff game because you are
a division. You don't get a home playoff game because.
Speaker 8 (27:41):
Think of what you know Seattle and it's one of
the loudest places in the league at the time, the
Marshawn Lynch run. I mean, that's the disadvantage of the Saints,
who are the defending Super Bowl chant Dome team that's.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Outdoors in the weather.
Speaker 8 (27:56):
I mean a huge advantage for the Saints is they
play in the Dome and so you got to go
out to a team that won seven to nine. That
the NFC West has come a long way, Colin. That
division used to be pretty bad when Pete Carroll first
got there.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Yeah, you know what, it does feel like that the
northern divisions right now are really powerful and once again
the AFC South and the NFC South, and it feels
like it's been a long decade long stretch that the
AFC and NFC South. Maybe it's because the SEC is
so watched and drive so much revenue. I don't know
what it is, but I do feel like the southern
(28:29):
divisions in the NFL are really weak.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
Well, I think Peyton and Luck, you know, they kind
of left Indy and Matt Ryan got old fast. I
mean they had a couple Drew Brees. I saw an
article the other day. His shoulder doesn't even work, So
I mean they had a couple of quarterbacks that both
those two divisions, and now they do not and they
are not good.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
How about this one?
Speaker 8 (28:48):
Colin a former NFL coach, he's now in college, Bill Belichick,
who's in North Carolina, but the entire offseason has revolved
around the drama surrounding his girlfriend, Jordan Hudson.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
Coming off his CB interview.
Speaker 8 (29:00):
Belichick had previously accused their crew of editing the piece
to create a quote false narrative regarding Hudson's effort to
control the conversation. Now it's being reported that Belichick believe
CBS tried to slyly set up a camera on her
set to set her up, adding that she only tried
to prevent the interview from probing into personal matters.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So he's basically saying CBS at the time, unbeknownst to him,
set up a camera that was only poised on her,
so they were looking for a gotcha moment.
Speaker 8 (29:34):
Here's what I know that North Carolina Bill Belichick. They
need the season to start. They need training camp. Wherever
they're having it, probably some in the hills the pads
and Bill with the whistle spinning that thing around. Let's
start playing some football. The football season cannot come fast enough.
The problem Instagram. We got a summer, they're traveling. How
(29:57):
about this? This is the easy one. So you and
I love college football. I mean you and you really
know it. So Lincoln Riley went heavy transfer portal. The
chemistry has never been right.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Brian Kelly LSU football factory, heavy portal never felt right.
Dion Sanders had to kind of disappointing last year that
now Clemson hasn't used it at all.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It's hurt them.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
We have multiple examples where coaches who have won a
lot of games, Lincoln and Brian Kelly and even Dion
before Colorado. Do you worry that Belichick, who doesn't know
the sport limited practice time. This is going to be
a heavy transfer portal roster, and history tells us recent history.
(30:47):
You can never by the way Miami huge transfer portal,
and it just doesn't feel like it works.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
What a lot of games with Tom Brady and I'm
pretty sure his quarterback this year is a transfer from
South All. I mean, I know we talked down upon
the acc sometimes, but Clemson was a playoff team. Florida
State's gonna have a ton to prove. Bill O'Brien had
Boston College competitive last year. It's actually, from a coaching standpoint,
not terrible. NC State had a down year. Usually they're
(31:16):
pretty solid with NFL players. North Carolina just lost their
best player down the road to Jim Harbaugh in the
running back. So I think it's gonna be tough. It's
gonna be interesting. I can't wait to watch Belichick on Saturdays.
I mean, they opened up the season Colin. You know
that week before the NFL season starts. Now that training
camps a little slower. In the preseason, they only played
(31:36):
three games. They open up on Monday Night football, get
it to themselves against TCU September first. How awesome is
that gonna be?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I mean, you look at the schedule now, at UFC
at UCF and Clemson back to back. Those are losable games, boy,
But it looks like an academic standing. It's like a
lot of academic powers. I've got Stanford Duke wait for
a Syrah Hues, Virginia Cal not known for football prowess.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
North Carolina playing at Cal at you know, seven o'clock
at night.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
It's gonna look a little different on television.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
But last, but not least, how about the New York
Football Giants. They've revamped their quarterback room this offseason. They've
brung in your guy, Russell Wilson, Jamis Winston, and they
traded back into the first round to get Jackson Dark,
former USC quarterback. Despite the expectation that Russ will start,
many NFL insiders believe that it's just a matter of when,
(32:34):
not if the Dark starts, and Daniel Jeremiah my guy
predicting it will happen by week seven, week seven, it
might be like week three. I mean, the pressure's on.
There's a lot of people paying attention to Bill.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Were you as a former NFL scout, were you a
Jackson Dark believer?
Speaker 8 (32:52):
I like taking guys with that type of physical characteristics,
have no problem doing it in the mid to late twenties.
But when you break down some of his production through
a lot of touchdowns against random teams, struggled a little
bit against the better teams.
Speaker 6 (33:05):
Physically gifted guy.
Speaker 8 (33:06):
You go back remember when he was at USC You
could see the physical characteristics. What a lot of games
playing for Lake a little different animal they going from
Ole Miss to New York City.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Right, Well, I also think Dave Ball and Joe Shane
are on the hot seat big dark and if you
look at their I mean, John, look at this schedule.
Just just say the quarterbacks to our audience listening on radio.
We've got to open up at Jaden Daniels, then at
Dak Prescott, Maholmes, Herbert. So my take is, if you're
all four with Russ and those are better rosters Week
(33:40):
five at New Orleans, that may be a spot.
Speaker 8 (33:43):
Well here's the key. If you're day Ball, right, you're
clearly coaching for your job. Jackson Dart was your guy.
We've seen some of those videos coming from the draft room.
Brian da Ball really loved him. You don't need to
win a lot of games, but if you show promise
like you have something there. Even if they only end
up winning six games, maybe you want to keep that
cohesion together with an offensive head coach with a young quarterback.
(34:05):
But it could get really weird, really fascinating. How Russell
Wilson getting benched by the end of September. You know,
Jamis jamis kind of like an uplifting positive vibe in
that room, whether he plays or not. But the Russell
thing they were in a weird spot was Rogers. That's
clearly not coming there. So it's I would probably bet
against the situation played out.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I think there's a I think you can make a
real argument they're playing for the number one pick when
you look at the schedule. Yeah, that's that's a team could.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
Get weird fast that division.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
John Middlecoff with the news.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Herd Line Now show, Hey o Tani did it again?
Speaker 3 (34:43):
And how good is SGA?
Speaker 6 (34:45):
Next?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noon Easter not a Empacific Saturday.
Speaker 6 (34:54):
It's Baseball Night in.
Speaker 8 (34:55):
America on Fox and two of the league's best face off.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
As Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 8 (35:00):
He's the Cubs against Jose L. Tooth and the Astros
for the Phillies take on the Braves. Check oath local
listings for the game in your area. Saturday at seven
eastern on.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Fox Time for another edition of Better Than Babe, Yes,
show Hao Tani was added again doing things nobody else
in Major League Baseball would even attempt. Yesterday, first inning,
(35:31):
Washington Nationals guests, who's on the mound for the Dodgers.
Here it is show Hao Tani. Four times he threw
a pitch at ninety eight miles an hour. He also
threw one at ninety nine. Two strikeouts, no hits, no runs.
Show Hao Tani starts the game as a pitcher, then
(35:52):
he leaves the mound and we go to show Hao
Tani as a batter.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
In the seventh.
Speaker 9 (36:02):
On the old one from Lutus, it's a fair ball,
doub one, it's into the corner. Here comes stun rushing
shot hel Tony.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Unloads the bass with a triple. Yeah, he's pretty good.
Then he came up in the eighth inning. The game
had now been broken open and with a man on
show Hal Tani comes to the plate and this is
what he does with regularity.
Speaker 10 (36:33):
Launches left center field. This boy is at the wall.
Did that go off of a fan? Oh no, that's
a that's a fan shot off of somebody's glove. Oh no,
damn hurts.
Speaker 11 (36:52):
Afterward, he was considerably better today as far as is
the stuff, the life to the fastball, the command of
his pitches, and much better. So overall, really good outing.
Got a ball up a little bit with the triple,
and then the homer, the ball was up, and you
(37:14):
know when he's going to the big part of the field.
I think he's really really good. And so today was
good and hopefully it quitets the noise a little bit
with the days that he pitches.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Yeah, gets an inning, home run, bases clearing triple. He's
pretty good, better than Babe once again. So it's interesting.
I saw this stat this morning, and you know, stats
don't lie, but they confuse. Jimmy Garoppolo has a career
passer rating higher than Tom Brady.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Okay, they can confuse.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Carmelo Anthony more career points than Tim Duncan, has a
lot of garbage points in basketball. So SGA is he's
a fourth player, just a fourth to an MVP scoring
title and finals MVP in the same season. The others
are Michael Jordan four times, Kareem and Shack. So when
(38:15):
I say Kareem, Shack, and Michael Jordan, you see power,
you see unstoppable, you see vertical, dynamic basketball. When I
say SGA, close your eyes, you see a seventeen footer
in the angle, potentially fouled in at the free throw line.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
That does not.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Mean his achievements aren't great. But I don't think he's
a great all time player. I think he's a very
good player who manipulates defenders, has worked his butt off,
is a tremendous offensive, skilled player. But there are movies
like American Beauty, Crash, and Shape of Water that want oscars.
(38:58):
If I say to you you Silence of the Lamb,
Godfather and Crash one doesn't feel like it fits. They
all want oscars. And so when I say Magic or
a Kareem or a Shack, I've said this before. He
got traded early in his career, which just doesn't happen
to iconic players. Nobody's trading Yannis early or Steph early.
(39:22):
You know, it's so it's very rare. That's not that
he's not a very, very profoundly productive player. But you
know when you watch him, if his shot is off,
he's not gonna jump over you. He's not gonna bully you.
He sort of needs a whistle. And again, I like
(39:44):
his maturity. I like how he on certain nights elevates others,
and I do think he gets to what they call
his spot with regularity. It's hard to stay in front
of him. No hand checks now in that way for
a long time. It's just hard to stay in front
of twitchy guards. So he deserves all the love. But
we're talking about SGA. I mean, I think he's he's
(40:06):
reasonable about it. You say, yeah, you've joined Michael, Shaq
and Kareem. Here's his thoughts.
Speaker 12 (40:13):
We prioritize winning. We don't. We don't prioritize anything else
in this game. We want to win, and we want
to win on the highest level. And that looks like
something new every night, every opponent, every arena, and that's
all we focused on this whole season. 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
(40:34):
proud of this group. I wouldn't rather done it with
any other group in the world. It feels good to
be a champion.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Seven different champion in seven years. They all count. But
I mean the ones we talk about are you know
Pete Carroll's Trojans, that Joe Burrow LSU team, Vinceiung at Texas.
There are certain teams that feel bigger. I've said this.
The Heatal were such a flawed basketball team. They had
(41:02):
no size, Joe al Anthony like six eight and a
half center. They didn't really have a true point. A
lot of Lebron and d Wade's games were duplicate skills.
They were an incredibly smart team, flawed, but they felt big.
The Heatles John felt big, Duncan Manu and Tony Parker,
(41:23):
Shaq and Kobe k d Stephen Clay, you were in
the barrier at the time. There are champions that feel
really big. This one doesn't necessarily feel that way.
Speaker 6 (41:31):
I'd even say small markets.
Speaker 8 (41:33):
I grew up twenty minutes away from Marco Arena where
the Kings played.
Speaker 6 (41:35):
Remember when they.
Speaker 8 (41:36):
Lost the Lakers, Floody Weber, Mike Bibbie, Doug Christie.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
I mean they were a small market team.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Like Okay, see characters personalities.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
Rick Adelman was a coach. I mean it was a
really big deal in the NBA. But yeah, things have
changed a little bit. Deserving cool for the city manytime,
a city that doesn't have other sports teams. Like Bucker
said it, it's a really big deal, but did resonate
with a lot of people. I think we'd rather see Jokic, Lebron,
Steph some of those types.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Yes, you know, it's going to be interesting because Kevin
Durant to Houston does change things. He's exactly what they need.
You know, you can you can go back and forth
on the trade. If Katie's healthy, Houston's gonna win the trade.
In the history of the NBA, Milwaukee back in like
the mid seventies traded at the time, Louell Cinder Kareem
Abdul Jabbar to the Lakers that they got a haul,
(42:23):
They got multiple players and picks, and Milwaukee was relevant
most of my childhood in the seventies and eighties, you know,
but they didn't win titles, and so generally, wherever the
best player goes Houston, they win the trade.
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 (00:26):
Here we go, hour two. It is a Monday.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We are live, and it's a hurt wherever you may
be and however you may be listening.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Thanks for making us part of your day.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
My buddy John Middlecop, part of the Volume three and
Out podcast, is joining us this week. Jane mackins, I
think he's doing a volleyball tournament in Scottsdale, down in
your home.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Oh, I'll switch spots. Yeah for warm.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's a little warm. So I don't want to be
mister buzzkill.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I know, I stay off the phone right like, but
I'm probably getting crush today because I just think we
have to be honest, and I do think Oklahoma City
is become another one of these teams where I'm kind
of left watching it thinking, yeah, yeah, I guess they're
the champ. It's roster construction, it's defense, it's depth, and
(01:13):
I just got when Halliburton got hurt last night, it
just was a gut punch. I felt so bad for him,
I felt bad for me as a consumer. Just wasn't
that interesting. So we do it every Monday. Where Colin
was right, where Colin was wrong, and here we.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Go where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I said last week, five things I trust will happen
in Game seven, and they mostly did. Oklahoma City's defense
was great, Rick Carlisle's coaching, I mean they let it
half SGA got to the free throw line. And Okc's
bench was very good. Young benches usually are at home,
so I think this game Game seven. I don't know
who would have won without Halliburton's injury, but I thought
(01:49):
it was a fairly predictable sequence of events that would
occur regardless.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Of the winner.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Where Colin was raw. I don't trust young playoff teams.
In fact, the Bubble is the only time in my
adult life where young teams flourished, and I had my
questions about Okay, see, yeah, they'll be great in the
regular season, and they ended up being a very mediocre
road playoff team, but they remained healthy. They were good
(02:18):
at home, they won the games they had to against
Indie and Denver, and so I didn't know if this
team was gonna win. I kept being told Colin, they're
gonna mow through the West. Well they didn't mow through
Indiana and they didn't mow through Denver. But I'll take
a wrong where Colin was right, Kevin Durant to the Rockets.
To me, this was the obvious fit. You know, Houston
(02:41):
didn't have to give up a second first round pick,
and now Phoenix is sort of ball centric, guard heavy.
So I don't know what it looks like for Phoenix,
but I do think he works here, and the Suns
were three and seventeen when he didn't play. He's a
get a bucket guy. He's agreeable, he can catch and
shoot it. He's got length going to give you about
sixty sixty five games, but because of the construct of
(03:04):
the Rockets roster, that's.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Going to be okay. So I like the move for.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
KD where Colin was raw Team USA. How about this
plus seven point differential? Number one in the Gold Cup
so far surprising because I think without Hoolisic and Weston McKinney,
they lack creativity in the midfield, but the highest scoring
team right now in the Gold Cup. What's interesting is
(03:29):
we don't know what we're doing in goal, which is
usually our strength as a country. They were distracted and
kind of, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Reeling before the Gold Cup.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So I am surprised as the competition ratcheted up that
they've scored and been.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
This competent where Colin was right well.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Multiple sources in an ESPN story reported around the NBA
the Lakers selling to Mark Walter was going to help
the Lakers become what I've been preaching for five years,
a big time sports brand. They're very mom and pop.
They're very Cincinnati Bengals with a much better brand, very small, insular.
(04:10):
They need a fresh set of eyes and perspective. I
think this was needed, and the ESPN article last week
had multiple sources saying they've needed to graduate to the
next level the billionaire club for several years.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Where Colin was raw well.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Shador Sanders immaturity and bad judgment. I'm selling my stock.
It's not the end of the world, and nobody's saying
it is. But when you're a fifth round marginal prospect
at quarterback, the maturity position. You can't get caught speeding
twice in a week, going over ninety miles an hour.
You just lack the judgment and self awareness for a
(04:50):
position fair or not that demands an adult and great
decision making. At twenty four years old, he's a good
quarterback prospect special He's not great. He didn't have a
huge arm. He doesn't move like Josh Allener, Lamar Jackson
or Kyler Murray. In the end, I overvalued him, overlooked
some of his maturity stumbles, and now here we are
(05:14):
where Colin was right. Dodgers Padres. We've been on this
since last year in the playoffs. This is the best
rivalry in sports. Maybe it is an unbelievable rivalry. They
met last week. We had ejections, drama, suspensions. They were
throwing at each other, the managers were bumping walk off
home runs. This is everything a rivalry should be. There's
(05:37):
a proximity geographically. Machado, the former Dodger is now a Padre.
The Padres are young and cocky, the Dodgers are winners
and more established. All the great things that make a
great sports rivalry. And that's a baseball series in June
that had the feeling of a playoff.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Series we set up last year.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
This not the Yankees and Red Sox, is must watch television.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I've talked about that Caitlyn Clark isn't part of the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
She is the moment.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Last week, Sophie Cunningham, who's been in the WNBA seven years,
sold her jerseys out in a day and the three
hundred and fifty thousand IG followers by just fouling somebody
hard in support of Caitlin Clark. Sophie Cunningham's been around
seven years, nobody paid much attention. Suddenly you can't keep
(06:35):
her jerseys on the rack because she's just defending Caitlyn Clark.
That is the definition of a transformative basketball player. Caitlyn
Clark is not part of it. She is the moment.
It is a Taylor Swift tour. I don't care who
plays before and after. I don't care about anybody else
(06:58):
on the label. It's all about Caitlin Clark, Colin Wright,
Colin Wrong, and a Monday. And with that, Rick Buker
is now saddling in. He's going to join us today
a perfect guest. So I was mister buzzkilling the opening segment,
LI soon were my goodness, I know, and listen, I'm
happy for champions. It's a small market. It's like the
Packers winning, like you feel good for him, But we
(07:21):
have seven years and this is now. Adam Silver's NBA.
If you've never seen Okac play, and I said, there's
this team. They have one elite scorer. He was awful
from three point, had three bad games. Oh, their number
two and three scores were no shows in multiple games.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Oh, and they won. Can we be honest?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Is roster construction and defense is what we'll remember this
champion as.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
No, I'll remember it as the youngest champion that we've
ever seen. So all of those warts that you mentioned
out mentioned which are legit, are a byproduct of that.
And yes, the air was taken out of it when
Tyre's Halliburton got Unfortunately, we had our expectations for a
game seven the way this series had gone back and forth.
(08:06):
But the poison maturity that they showed throughout the playoffs
in spite of their youth, impressed me. And yes, we're
just getting introduced to these guys. And let's face it,
shake Ejes Alexander for an MVP, and for I mean,
you just you.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Just look at the at the at the body of
this team, like.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
You don't have any personalities that jump out at you,
Like they just don't have those dinings you don't have,
Like I mean, Dylan Brooks would be like Ronald McDonald
on this team, you just be like he'd be me
on right, Like they don't have. They're just a bunch
of nice guys winning a championship so young that the
vast majority of them, I mean, Alex Caruzo is probably
(08:50):
the biggest personality right in terms of just kind of
presence in Ara. These guys didn't know how to open
up champagne bottles.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
That's how young they I and I'm not criticizing him
for it, but Chet Holmgren disappeared, Jada was all over
the map. Generally that would signal you're in trouble.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Well, but let's keep in mind, prior to this year,
which is what made this run such a surprise, they
had never been passed the second round. Like, this is
a team full of guys, and I felt it in
game six they got the championship jitters, they question right,
and they did in game seven as well. In spite
(09:30):
of the absence of Tyree, like there was suddenly in
the I'm like, wait a minute, could the Pacers make
a comeback in this? And here I experienced this with
the San Antonio Spurs. I believe it's part of what
happens in small markets is that it means so much
to the fans there. And look, I'm not saying that
(09:51):
the New York Knicks and the Lakers fans, but there's
their condition expect big things, right, so when things go
a little wobbly, they don't immediately go, oh, oh, are
we not going to get what we've always wanted our
entire lives. Well, there is that vibe in the building,
and teams, particularly young young teams, pick up on that.
(10:12):
I saw the San Antonio Spurs go through the same thing.
Their crowd would get so nervous that they would start
to press and there were probably some games and some
championships that they missed out on because they were affected
by that crowd. I saw the same thing with Oklahoma City.
But I am not taking anything away you. It sounds
like you are taking something away from first of all,
(10:33):
because it wasn't entertaining enough. No, for the great Colin Cowell.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
No, the hell, I mean, listen, you put it out there.
They I mean just they were an average road team
in the playoffs. Their regular season attributes were deserved, but
it largely was a young team playing with high energy
and depth, and you know his the Derrick Rose Bulls
regular seasons reward the focused and energized. Sure, they were
(10:59):
going to be a regular season juggernaut, just like I
think Houston was a great regular season team.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
But you knew they weren't going to get there.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, they didn't have enough shooting. I am not like
my take is you deserve it. I'm happy for you,
but it felt small, and they felt like the Halliburton
injury was a bit of a break because Indy was
playing and Halliburton was playing. Yeah, totally on game early.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
This would have felt different if the Boston Celtics had
been there.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
I think part of it was the yes, that's.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
True, Like, that's right.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Your apps felt from the very beginning like OKC was
supposed to win this and a lot of people thought
they would win it handled good.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
I didn't see it that way because you didn't that
the Pacers had more You did than people gave them
credit for. But so it felt and I think people
are downgrading Oklahoma Cities championship now because they're like, it
was the Indiana Pacers and you had to go to
seven games to knock them out. But I still I'm
going to look at the fact that they are so
young and their regular season record had us all expecting
(12:02):
them to get it done. I think they expected to
get it done, but they had so little experience at
this level.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
The game six in Indy when they just laid an
absolute egg was and that's when I kind of changed.
I was like sure, I said on the air after
that game, I'm like, Okay, these are good teams. Yes,
I was still holding on. I'm like, if they win
in game six at Indye blow them out and I'm like, Okay,
that's that's bad, you know for.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
A championship team. It feels like they have another step
to take.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Oh god, no quote, they'll be much better next year. Well,
home run, I don't know what I get from him offensively.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yeah, I think he I mean, I think people discount
the fact or don't take into account the fact that
he's played as little as he has, He's played one
full season.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
He missed fifty games this year.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Didn't he play one year at Gonzaga?
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Yes, ye, yes, So there's that.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
But I don't I don't know if they're going to
be back in the finals next year. I don't know
how much better they're going to be next year, because
I think we've we've automatically we looked at Denver and
Milwaukee and Boston, the last three champions, and we're like, oh,
this is the beginning of a run.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
And that hasn't been the case for any of them, right.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I got fooled by Denver. I got fooled.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I thought they were going to keep Brown in casep
and and I thought they Michael Porters, I thought always
a bit over value. By the way, So I ranked
the last seven champions one through seven. You're already smirking.
You already have the full disclosure. I've seen it ahead.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Of time, So Toronto again, I.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Must Can I just ask a questions? No, No, go ahead,
go ahead?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
How much?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
What?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
No?
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I'll ask it after you show it, because it makes sense.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So you're going to push back.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I think the Celtics have the best of I mean,
Jalen Brown was their number two player. Nobody in OKC
is as good as Jalen Brown consistently as a number two.
I mean, Tatum and Brown are better than sgs. And
I also think when Derek White, you're four, He's an
elite defender and was a very consistent one. When you
(14:07):
can go to your talent, your talent Horford off the bench, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Tree, Holiday, all of it, pure talent. Boston Celtics better
than this.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Lakers Lakers because Ad and their prime Lebron close to prime.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
What is that reaction? Who's wrong on that?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Nick Wright put this together. He had to have.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
This is is there small type on the bottom and
Nick Wright production?
Speaker 5 (14:38):
It has to.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Be Look, I agree with you at the bottom of
the list, but the fifth team should be the Los
Angeles Lakers winning in an antiseptic environment. We just talked
about the thunder. What's that that's harder? No home court,
no road. You just talked about the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Go through that.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
You have an Anthony Davis and Lebron James who can't
stay healthy through an entire season, and we're gonna take three.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Months off in the beinning.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
We're gonna basically play two half seasons and they win
a championship off of that, and you're gonna put them at.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The top of the list.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
These Boston Celtics talent wise, are much better at their
peak at that twenty twenty team Anthony Davis you said
was prime Anthony Davis. I would push back on that
a little bit, but let's say I'll go with you
on that is prime Anthony Davis better than prime Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
In No, No.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Problem was with that Nuggets team. They didn't play any defense,
a bad defensive team. The Glickers were an exceptional defensive
team and very good role players, a dominant big Lebron
antiseptic basketball.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
They were fighting COVID.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
There were just so many variables that are so unusual
that to put them number one, like I might even
let you skate if you had them.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Like third or.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Five, but you haven't.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
There's no Nick somewhere right now is going.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
You tell them Colin, well, we're good friends.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Okay, how about this.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Done?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
To this point, everybody wants to pick a winner and
a loser. Sons should have got sons now, just have
a bunch of guard guards that want the ball in
their hands. You know, it's Jalen Green, it's Bradley Beal,
It's Booker, It's like it. But if the number ten
pick can play and Jalen Green is productive, we'll see.
I do feel like if you could have told me
(16:35):
a player for Houston to grab, I would have said,
in the whole league, I would have said that guy.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It feels like a perfect fit.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's considering what they gave up, which I don't think
was a whole lot. Jalen Green got exposed in the
playoffs as not being.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Your go to guy. Dylan Brooks.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
You got to add into the equation in order to
make the numbers work, and only one first round pick.
I don't care about the second round picks. That felt
like a consolation prize. But I think you're looking at
it from the phoenix and in.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Not a complete way.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
I don't believe that Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks are
long for that team, So.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
I'm going to keep moving pieces.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
What they got was movable pieces, and I can see
a playoff team needing that last defensive firestarter type and
going to get a Dylan Brooks or a young team
that says, oh, we can get a number two pick
in Jalen Green, who's still young, and the contract is right,
Like I see those as additional first round picks. They're
(17:39):
they're in the process of dismantling the Phoenix Suns, and
this was the best deal that they could make under
the circumstances. I still think the ideal place for Kevin
Durant would have been the Denver Nuggets, and I would
have given up Jamal Murray to make that happen because
the idea of Nikolie Jokic being her orchestrator and Aaron
(17:59):
Gordon and Kevin Durant flanking him. I'm sure what the
what the Nuggets offered was Michael some package involving Michael
Porter and Peyton Watson and a pick or whatever, and
this was more attractive the Houston Houston package was. But
if I'm Kevin Durant and I have my choice between
the two, and Kevin did drive this, I mean, it's
(18:19):
why what it sounds like, it's why they had to
make the best deal possible. If I was Kevin, I
would have been looking at Denver rather than Houston.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, and they also have enough length. He didn't have
to play seventy five games, he didn't have to be.
He didn't have to be a rim protector. They got
a lot of length and a lot of You.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Don't have to be a leader.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
That's exactly doesn't have to be a leader.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
He could be a score he gets that's when he's
at his best.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Between Emaodoka and Fred van Vliet and the culture that
they have created, all he has to do is go
in and do what he likes to do, which is
to who.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So the draft is Wednesday, and uh, you know, I
think this is a very strong domestic drive. There are
people who have been following for years who say there
are twelve players who have potential in the right fit,
could be all star level players. It does sound like
one of the Rutgers kids. The kid going Harper too,
(19:12):
I think is really an interesting player. Don't know about
the bigger kid. Doesn't have assist not a playmaker, not
showing up to workouts. What are you hearing about the draft?
Do you think there'll be movement because we see this
in the NFL rick where you have weak draft. This
past draft was a weak draft. This appears to be
one of the stronger drafts in the last five years.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
And depth wise, I don't know that there are any
franchise changers. There's probably going to be one, because there
always is Cooper Flagg. But I don't think he's a
I don't think he's I think he's part of a core.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I don't think he's your number one. Wow, I don't
think he's a number one.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
You don't think he's as good as Jason Tatum.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
All the numbers that do forth in terms of exactly
where Jason Jason Tatum is a number one with the
right pieces around him, right, so he's more Can he
kind of be that?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Yeah, I can put him in the Jason.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
He's a more aggressive offensive player than Tatum and a
better defender at this point, he's Yes, I.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Would agree with that.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
He's got a little more nasty to those than Tatum does,
no question about that. I need to see how his
the level of his athleticism, because I think that what
he was able to get done.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
At Duke and at the college level is because.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Of his size and his length was such a significant advantage.
He's big, but he's going to play that three four
and you've got to be super quick and athletic to
play that in today's game. I need to see whether
his whether he has enough of that and the other
The other part that always makes it a little nervous
(20:46):
is that he already has a very refined game. His
his skills are already at a really high level. How
much better can he get in those categories?
Speaker 5 (20:57):
I think that's going to be the question.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I think he's When I watch him at Duke, my
takeaway was always, Wow, he's aggressive and he is long.
He's a big, big kid. That's why it makes him
a good defender. You can match up with me.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
He knows how to use his length. So yeah, no, No,
I like him as a two way player. I like, like,
if you were asking me, can he be the core
of a championship team? Based on what I've seen, sure,
I think he has all the ingredients. Can he lead
a championship team? That's what I would That's what I
need to see, And I don't know if he has
that elite athletic ability that is necessary to fit that.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Finally, I've been on this for years. The playoffs started
April fifteenth, ten days before the draft, and they just
wrapped up. Ten weeks is a long time. With a
seventy six billion dollar deal, everybody's gonna eat We don't
need seven game first rounders. We had eight achilles tears,
three in the playoffs. The game now has more spacing,
(21:55):
more movement, more herky jerky among greater athletes. Players don't
play themselves into shape. I think the NBA has to
look at these injuries and go, guys, and Baseball's done
this and they've all worked. We do not need ten
weeks of the playoffs. We do not need seven game
first rounders. You know these achilles terrrists. That's an old
(22:16):
man injury. That's a wear and tear injury.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I one, I don't know that that's the solution. I
agree with you that the wear and tear, that this
is a byproduct of the way the game is played now.
It's more athletic than ever, it's more up and down.
There is more stress. I would say that Tyrese Haliburton,
the reason that he had that injury much the same
way that KD was because they made a run to
(22:42):
the Eastern Conference finals last year and they were in
the finals this year, back to back years. The way
the game is played now, when you have players that
you rely on as much as the Pacers do in
Tyrese Haliburton in order to push the tempo, you open
yourselves up to this. I believe they have to look
at much like what OKC has done and in part
(23:04):
what Indiana has done, is that your depth and versatility
of your of your team is the answer of your
roster is the answer to being able to survive a
season and a long playoff run.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
The reason that I don't like the idea of shortening.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
It is because I do believe that grind and enduring
the season and the postseason is part of what makes
you a champion, and we would be changing the metric
in terms of how a championship team ultimately.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Paul, we don't care about the stats like that, do Le.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Honestly, I think that Lebron wants it to go to
forty minutes because he knows that they will take everybody
out of ever challenging any of his homers. So Shade, Yes,
that was Shade. This is I'm getting back to the
beginning with your Lakers.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Your Lakers take.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
You always tell me you're such a Lebron fan. It
sounds like it.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
I think the rosters. I think the rosters, that's a
whole another subject. I think the ross. They have to
accept that the rosters need to be expanded, and that
gms have to do a better job of understanding the
way the game's played. We have to do what OKAC
in Indiana did, which is we have to get into
the idea that we're going to play nine and ten
(24:18):
man rots.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
In the playoffs, which has never been de Yes.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
What I think the reason you saw the last two
teams standing was because of how they approached it.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, great stuff, Rick Buker. I love my list Lakers
number one.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
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Speaker 3 (24:40):
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Speaker 3 (24:46):
I think it's right spot on.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
You and I have to spend all the time together.
You're hanging out with the wrong people.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours, seven
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Speaker 6 (25:06):
Hi, this is Jay.
Speaker 7 (25:08):
I'm the producer of the Paula 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 3 (25:21):
Oh, what the hell are you doing in our studio?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Get him?
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Ignore that fool.
Speaker 8 (25:29):
Listen to the Paula and Tony Fusco Show on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
He's still moving.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Gold to have Rick bukersed off.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I Alexei Lawless last Hour, a goal keeping snaffu almost
got us in trouble the United States men's national team.
We'll talk to Alexi last hour. Here's John Middlikov with
the news.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Turn on the news. This is the herd life.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
Typically the divisional winners, they have earned the right to
open the playoffs at.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Home, regardless of the record.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Well, this offseason there was a rule change proposal that
would have taken that away, but for this season, the
playoff seating remains unchanged. Pete Carroll is one of the
famous benefactors of the seeding, and he discussed it with
his former running back Marshawn Lynch.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
I wasn't voting for that other rule. You know, I was,
I was voting for the division winning.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I just like the structure.
Speaker 8 (26:25):
You know, I'm more fashionate about it, maybe whatever, but
I like destructure, and I like the championship within the championship.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
You know, that's just part of it. Remember what we
did with it the freaking game. Nobody would ever have thought.
We said, oh, this is the worst matchup in the
history of the NFL.
Speaker 8 (26:40):
And coach I remember the whole week again, we didn't
even get it wasn't even close to get murdered.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
We want going away.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean I always kind of feel like it
all works itself out. You for years in college football,
the third best SEC team could have won the Big twelve. Yeah,
this idea that it's going to be perfectly linear and
the best teams, well, there's opposite to in sports all
the time, so it doesn't bother me. I think if
a team is a nine to eight team and they
(27:11):
end up winning a division against a thirteen and five team,
well the thirteen to five team, if they're legit, we'll
go on the road and win.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Look at last year, the Rams did not have as
good of a record as Minnesota, and they got to
host the game.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
I have no problem with that.
Speaker 8 (27:23):
When you go seven to nine, which now would be
eight and nine, I think it would probably be surprised
if we ever see a seven and ten team win
a division. But if you go eight and nine, I
don't think you should get a playoff game. I'm okay,
division winner you get.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
How about you get a playoff game because you are
a division. You don't get a home playoff game because.
Speaker 8 (27:41):
Think of what you know Seattle and it's one of
the loudest places in the league at the time, the
Marshawn Lynch run. I mean, that's the disadvantage of the Saints,
who are the defending Super Bowl chant Dome team that's.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Outdoors in the weather.
Speaker 8 (27:56):
I mean a huge advantage for the Saints is they
play in the Dome and so you got to go
out to a team that won seven to nine. That
the NFC West has come a long way, Colin. That
division used to be pretty bad when Pete Carroll first
got there.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Yeah, you know what, it does feel like that the
northern divisions right now are really powerful and once again
the AFC South and the NFC South, and it feels
like it's been a long decade long stretch that the
AFC and NFC South. Maybe it's because the SEC is
so watched and drive so much revenue. I don't know
what it is, but I do feel like the southern
(28:29):
divisions in the NFL are really weak.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
Well, I think Peyton and Luck, you know, they kind
of left Indy and Matt Ryan got old fast. I
mean they had a couple Drew Brees. I saw an
article the other day. His shoulder doesn't even work, So
I mean they had a couple of quarterbacks that both
those two divisions, and now they do not and they
are not good.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
How about this one?
Speaker 8 (28:48):
Colin a former NFL coach, he's now in college, Bill Belichick,
who's in North Carolina, but the entire offseason has revolved
around the drama surrounding his girlfriend, Jordan Hudson.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
Coming off his CB interview.
Speaker 8 (29:00):
Belichick had previously accused their crew of editing the piece
to create a quote false narrative regarding Hudson's effort to
control the conversation. Now it's being reported that Belichick believe
CBS tried to slyly set up a camera on her
set to set her up, adding that she only tried
to prevent the interview from probing into personal matters.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So he's basically saying CBS at the time, unbeknownst to him,
set up a camera that was only poised on her,
so they were looking for a gotcha moment.
Speaker 8 (29:34):
Here's what I know that North Carolina Bill Belichick. They
need the season to start. They need training camp. Wherever
they're having it, probably some in the hills the pads
and Bill with the whistle spinning that thing around. Let's
start playing some football. The football season cannot come fast enough.
The problem Instagram. We got a summer, they're traveling. How
(29:57):
about this? This is the easy one. So you and
I love college football. I mean you and you really
know it. So Lincoln Riley went heavy transfer portal. The
chemistry has never been right.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Brian Kelly LSU football factory, heavy portal never felt right.
Dion Sanders had to kind of disappointing last year that
now Clemson hasn't used it at all.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It's hurt them.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
We have multiple examples where coaches who have won a
lot of games, Lincoln and Brian Kelly and even Dion
before Colorado. Do you worry that Belichick, who doesn't know
the sport limited practice time. This is going to be
a heavy transfer portal roster, and history tells us recent history.
(30:47):
You can never by the way Miami huge transfer portal,
and it just doesn't feel like it works.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
What a lot of games with Tom Brady and I'm
pretty sure his quarterback this year is a transfer from
South All. I mean, I know we talked down upon
the acc sometimes, but Clemson was a playoff team. Florida
State's gonna have a ton to prove. Bill O'Brien had
Boston College competitive last year. It's actually, from a coaching standpoint,
not terrible. NC State had a down year. Usually they're
(31:16):
pretty solid with NFL players. North Carolina just lost their
best player down the road to Jim Harbaugh in the
running back. So I think it's gonna be tough. It's
gonna be interesting. I can't wait to watch Belichick on Saturdays.
I mean, they opened up the season Colin. You know
that week before the NFL season starts. Now that training
camps a little slower. In the preseason, they only played
(31:36):
three games. They open up on Monday Night football, get
it to themselves against TCU September first. How awesome is
that gonna be?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I mean, you look at the schedule now, at UFC
at UCF and Clemson back to back. Those are losable games, boy,
But it looks like an academic standing. It's like a
lot of academic powers. I've got Stanford Duke wait for
a Syrah Hues, Virginia Cal not known for football prowess.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
North Carolina playing at Cal at you know, seven o'clock
at night.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
It's gonna look a little different on television.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
But last, but not least, how about the New York
Football Giants. They've revamped their quarterback room this offseason. They've
brung in your guy, Russell Wilson, Jamis Winston, and they
traded back into the first round to get Jackson Dark,
former USC quarterback. Despite the expectation that Russ will start,
many NFL insiders believe that it's just a matter of when,
(32:34):
not if the Dark starts, and Daniel Jeremiah my guy
predicting it will happen by week seven, week seven, it
might be like week three. I mean, the pressure's on.
There's a lot of people paying attention to Bill.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Were you as a former NFL scout, were you a
Jackson Dark believer?
Speaker 8 (32:52):
I like taking guys with that type of physical characteristics,
have no problem doing it in the mid to late twenties.
But when you break down some of his production through
a lot of touchdowns against random teams, struggled a little
bit against the better teams.
Speaker 6 (33:05):
Physically gifted guy.
Speaker 8 (33:06):
You go back remember when he was at USC You
could see the physical characteristics. What a lot of games
playing for Lake a little different animal they going from
Ole Miss to New York City.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Right, Well, I also think Dave Ball and Joe Shane
are on the hot seat big dark and if you
look at their I mean, John, look at this schedule.
Just just say the quarterbacks to our audience listening on radio.
We've got to open up at Jaden Daniels, then at
Dak Prescott, Maholmes, Herbert. So my take is, if you're
all four with Russ and those are better rosters Week
(33:40):
five at New Orleans, that may be a spot.
Speaker 8 (33:43):
Well here's the key. If you're day Ball, right, you're
clearly coaching for your job. Jackson Dart was your guy.
We've seen some of those videos coming from the draft room.
Brian da Ball really loved him. You don't need to
win a lot of games, but if you show promise
like you have something there. Even if they only end
up winning six games, maybe you want to keep that
cohesion together with an offensive head coach with a young quarterback.
(34:05):
But it could get really weird, really fascinating. How Russell
Wilson getting benched by the end of September. You know,
Jamis jamis kind of like an uplifting positive vibe in
that room, whether he plays or not. But the Russell
thing they were in a weird spot was Rogers. That's
clearly not coming there. So it's I would probably bet
against the situation played out.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I think there's a I think you can make a
real argument they're playing for the number one pick when
you look at the schedule. Yeah, that's that's a team could.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
Get weird fast that division.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
John Middlecoff with the news.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Herd Line Now show, Hey o Tani did it again?
Speaker 3 (34:43):
And how good is SGA?
Speaker 6 (34:45):
Next?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noon Easter not a Empacific Saturday.
Speaker 6 (34:54):
It's Baseball Night in.
Speaker 8 (34:55):
America on Fox and two of the league's best face off.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
As Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 8 (35:00):
He's the Cubs against Jose L. Tooth and the Astros
for the Phillies take on the Braves. Check oath local
listings for the game in your area. Saturday at seven
eastern on.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Fox Time for another edition of Better Than Babe, Yes,
show Hao Tani was added again doing things nobody else
in Major League Baseball would even attempt. Yesterday, first inning,
(35:31):
Washington Nationals guests, who's on the mound for the Dodgers.
Here it is show Hao Tani. Four times he threw
a pitch at ninety eight miles an hour. He also
threw one at ninety nine. Two strikeouts, no hits, no runs.
Show Hao Tani starts the game as a pitcher, then
(35:52):
he leaves the mound and we go to show Hao
Tani as a batter.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
In the seventh.
Speaker 9 (36:02):
On the old one from Lutus, it's a fair ball,
doub one, it's into the corner. Here comes stun rushing
shot hel Tony.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Unloads the bass with a triple. Yeah, he's pretty good.
Then he came up in the eighth inning. The game
had now been broken open and with a man on
show Hal Tani comes to the plate and this is
what he does with regularity.
Speaker 10 (36:33):
Launches left center field. This boy is at the wall.
Did that go off of a fan? Oh no, that's
a that's a fan shot off of somebody's glove. Oh no,
damn hurts.
Speaker 11 (36:52):
Afterward, he was considerably better today as far as is
the stuff, the life to the fastball, the command of
his pitches, and much better. So overall, really good outing.
Got a ball up a little bit with the triple,
and then the homer, the ball was up, and you
(37:14):
know when he's going to the big part of the field.
I think he's really really good. And so today was
good and hopefully it quitets the noise a little bit
with the days that he pitches.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Yeah, gets an inning, home run, bases clearing triple. He's
pretty good, better than Babe once again. So it's interesting.
I saw this stat this morning, and you know, stats
don't lie, but they confuse. Jimmy Garoppolo has a career
passer rating higher than Tom Brady.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Okay, they can confuse.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Carmelo Anthony more career points than Tim Duncan, has a
lot of garbage points in basketball. So SGA is he's
a fourth player, just a fourth to an MVP scoring
title and finals MVP in the same season. The others
are Michael Jordan four times, Kareem and Shack. So when
(38:15):
I say Kareem, Shack, and Michael Jordan, you see power,
you see unstoppable, you see vertical, dynamic basketball. When I
say SGA, close your eyes, you see a seventeen footer
in the angle, potentially fouled in at the free throw line.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
That does not.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Mean his achievements aren't great. But I don't think he's
a great all time player. I think he's a very
good player who manipulates defenders, has worked his butt off,
is a tremendous offensive, skilled player. But there are movies
like American Beauty, Crash, and Shape of Water that want oscars.
(38:58):
If I say to you you Silence of the Lamb,
Godfather and Crash one doesn't feel like it fits. They
all want oscars. And so when I say Magic or
a Kareem or a Shack, I've said this before. He
got traded early in his career, which just doesn't happen
to iconic players. Nobody's trading Yannis early or Steph early.
(39:22):
You know, it's so it's very rare. That's not that
he's not a very, very profoundly productive player. But you
know when you watch him, if his shot is off,
he's not gonna jump over you. He's not gonna bully you.
He sort of needs a whistle. And again, I like
(39:44):
his maturity. I like how he on certain nights elevates others,
and I do think he gets to what they call
his spot with regularity. It's hard to stay in front
of him. No hand checks now in that way for
a long time. It's just hard to stay in front
of twitchy guards. So he deserves all the love. But
we're talking about SGA. I mean, I think he's he's
(40:06):
reasonable about it. You say, yeah, you've joined Michael, Shaq
and Kareem. Here's his thoughts.
Speaker 12 (40:13):
We prioritize winning. We don't. We don't prioritize anything else
in this game. We want to win, and we want
to win on the highest level. And that looks like
something new every night, every opponent, every arena, and that's
all we focused on this whole season. 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
(40:34):
proud of this group. I wouldn't rather done it with
any other group in the world. It feels good to
be a champion.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Seven different champion in seven years. They all count. But
I mean the ones we talk about are you know
Pete Carroll's Trojans, that Joe Burrow LSU team, Vinceiung at Texas.
There are certain teams that feel bigger. I've said this.
The Heatal were such a flawed basketball team. They had
(41:02):
no size, Joe al Anthony like six eight and a
half center. They didn't really have a true point. A
lot of Lebron and d Wade's games were duplicate skills.
They were an incredibly smart team, flawed, but they felt big.
The Heatles John felt big, Duncan Manu and Tony Parker,
(41:23):
Shaq and Kobe k d Stephen Clay, you were in
the barrier at the time. There are champions that feel
really big. This one doesn't necessarily feel that way.
Speaker 6 (41:31):
I'd even say small markets.
Speaker 8 (41:33):
I grew up twenty minutes away from Marco Arena where
the Kings played.
Speaker 6 (41:35):
Remember when they.
Speaker 8 (41:36):
Lost the Lakers, Floody Weber, Mike Bibbie, Doug Christie.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
I mean they were a small market team.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Like Okay, see characters personalities.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
Rick Adelman was a coach. I mean it was a
really big deal in the NBA. But yeah, things have
changed a little bit. Deserving cool for the city manytime,
a city that doesn't have other sports teams. Like Bucker
said it, it's a really big deal, but did resonate
with a lot of people. I think we'd rather see Jokic, Lebron,
Steph some of those types.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Yes, you know, it's going to be interesting because Kevin
Durant to Houston does change things. He's exactly what they need.
You know, you can you can go back and forth
on the trade. If Katie's healthy, Houston's gonna win the trade.
In the history of the NBA, Milwaukee back in like
the mid seventies traded at the time, Louell Cinder Kareem
Abdul Jabbar to the Lakers that they got a haul,
(42:23):
They got multiple players and picks, and Milwaukee was relevant
most of my childhood in the seventies and eighties, you know,
but they didn't win titles, and so generally, wherever the
best player goes Houston, they win the trade.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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