Lakers, Mike Trout, long term deals, and Russell Westbrook

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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to Fox Sports Radio, Ah, We're going to Tuesday. We're

(00:23):
packed this live in La is the Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be listening, We're on iHeartRadio,
Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Joy Taylor is joining
me back today. You know, Joy, We've been in this
business a long time and when stuff leaks, there's a
reason it leaks is because people Joy wanted out. It's

(00:46):
not an accident. No, No, you're five in our business.
When people want stuff out, it gets to get out.
And if people don't want stuff out, it's amazing how
many things happen, and we're surprised by it because nobody
wants it out. So suddenly, thank you, Joyce, Suddenly all
sorts of stuffs laking leaking for the Lakers. Doc Rivers,

(01:09):
maybe the next Laker coach. That story was broken by
a series of people won Peter Vessey. This is, by
the way, no shot in the reporters. Peter's terrific Hall
of Fame. A writer. That story just now coming out,
multiple sources. Oh, it makes the Lakers look desirable, doesn't it.
The Great Doc Rivers. Another story comes out in the
last twenty four hours. Kobe Bryant bashes the young guys

(01:33):
and says, of course you trade kuz MAlonzo and Brandon
Ingram for Anthony Davis's one of the best players ever,
one of the best players in the world. Why did
these come out? Because somebody wants him out? Okay, I
live in Los Angeles. The last two weeks, this has
become an anti Laker town, anti Lebron. I've never seen

(01:55):
this team get this kind of press. It's been a
disaster words like, you know, Titanic disaster, hopeless over as
the Clippers in the same building are going to make
the playoffs. So the Lakers have a narrative problem right now.
They got a narrative problem. So they send that word

(02:18):
out about Doc Rivers. And I don't think Doc Rivers
is going to coach the Lakers, but it makes it
look like the Lakers jobs now very desirable. I mean,
Doc Rivers won titles. He's up for Coach of the Year.
He's an all time NBA guy. Oh, he leaves Steve
Ballmer and Jerry West, he'd leave a playoff team for
the Lakers. Do I think he's gonna leave the Clippers

(02:41):
for the Lakers? No, I don't, but they put a
face and a name on the coaching search. It's now
exciting people talking about Doc. Similarly, Kobe Bryant still has
a lot of juice in Los Angeles. One of his
best friends is Rob Polinka. That was his agent forever. Polinka.
There's no way Kobe would have said that to hurt

(03:03):
his friend Rob Polinka. But the Laker front office, Magic
and Polinka have gotten clawbered in the press, nationally, regionally,
locally for all those trade rumors. Not saying it's all
their fault, but it made the papers, and the sense
is it's crushed the season. So when Kobe comes out
and he has juice and he says, hey, come on,
of course you trade those guys, It's like, yeah, yeah,

(03:25):
Well Kobe's right, yeah, Like, I mean, obviously you can
blame the trade rumors, but this is called spinning. This
is why companies put out pr and they drop bad
news on Friday and give you good news on Monday
so the media can talk about it. Listen, the last
six years, the Lakers have the worst record in the NBA.
I'm not joking. Worse than the Knicks, Worse than the Sons,

(03:47):
worse than Orlando, worse than Sacramento, worse than the Hawks.
They do I'm not joking. They were swept this year,
but the next last six years. Steve Ballmer across town
with the Clippers is a billionaire Genie feels like a
really rich millionaire. The Clippers have traded their four best
players in the last three years. They're still making the playoffs.
Lakers have Lebron can't make the playoffs, roster advantage, Clippers

(04:09):
front office Jerry West against a former agent and magic advantage.
Clippers listen in their own city. It's been a bad year.
So when I see stories come out, and congratulations to
all the reporters included in this, this is not an
indictment on them. Stories leak when people want them out,

(04:32):
and this is a classic. Doc is interested in the Lakers.
Do I think Doc would leave the Clippers for the Lakers. No.
I think he has a very strong relationship with the
Clipper owner Steve Balmer. I think Doc and Jerry West
are very respectful of each other. I don't think Doc
and Lebron would work, to be honest, Doc has a
strong point of view. Doc's not going to count out anybody.

(04:54):
Doc's one of those guys that comes in your building
and he brings his own guys, sort of like Lebron.
I don't think it be a perfect fit. Lebron likes
to have a little power over his coach. Lebron is
not going to control a team and a bench or
that flight when Docks on it, I don't think it
would work. I think it's a tasty rumor. And I

(05:16):
do think Docks in his mid fifties and fifty five
year old men Notre Dame football, Yankee baseball, Laker basketball.
Those are powerful, romanticized brands. But I think what you
have with the Lakers is a massive power struggle where
Genie Buss likes the young guys, owns the team, likes

(05:37):
Luke Walton and wants growth and stability and magic, and
Rob Polinka want to win, so they go to Kobe.
They can put stuff out, and it's it's a power struggle.
And when you have power struggles, my entire life as
a reporter joys a reporter. You seize on those and
people give you messages they want to out. This last

(06:01):
couple of months, I've had more text more calls, more
people connected to Lebron and the Lakers and Magic. They
want their stuff sold to the public. So I just
think it's more than a little coincidental that docked to
the Lakers and Kobe blasting the young guys, and I
shouldn't say he's blasting the young guys wildly over the top,

(06:21):
supporting publicly Anthony Davis move is not a coincidence. So
here's a story that broke this morning. Holy Moley, Mike
Trout of the Angels is going to sign a deal
four hundred and thirty million in like twelve years and stuff.
Oh that's a lot of money. I never begrudge people

(06:42):
for making the most they can. Bryce Harper to the Phillies,
Manny Machado to the Padres, Mike Trout to the Angels.
Great players unreally really mediocre to below average rosters in
the NFL. If you overpay a guy, Kurt Cousins. You
can get rid of him any year two. In baseball,
it's twelve years of quicksand congratulations to the Padres, the

(07:06):
Phillies and the Angels. You will not be in the
playoffs anytime soon. This is why I always support NBA
stars who move. The public crushes Kevin Durant for joining
a widder, but Kevin Durant wants to be rich, but
he wants to be relevant. And Steph Curry recruited him

(07:26):
because Steph Curry likes being rich, but he likes being relevant.
One hundred and sixty two games, twelve years, losing another
series in Texas, congrats on being rich and irrelevant. This
is why I always support NBA stars. What we want
our athletes to be is care as much about winning

(07:51):
as we do as fans. Right like that means something
we get mad when our teams lose. We want our
players to be mad too. A Guys take less money
short windows because they want to win and they want
to be known as a winner. And it's not just
about the money. This is why I support Kevin Durant

(08:14):
and Steph Curry and Chris Paul and Lebron James and
guys that move. This is not an anti Mike Trout take,
but I don't think Robinson Canoe when he was a kid,
grew up saying, God, I want to be a Seattle Mariner.
He was the second baseman for the New York Yankees.
They have twenty seven World Series titles. The Mariners are

(08:37):
the third or fourth most popular team in their own city.
When he went and got the money, a couple of
years into it, he realized, I want to go back
to the city I was really into, and he goes
to New York, not the Yankees, but the Mets. But
the point being, every time people bang on these NBA players,
you should be putting your arms around them. They want

(08:58):
to go play for a winner. They want to play
in the playoffs, they want to be in the finals.
They want to be relevant. It's not just about paying
NBA guys major league guys. They're not dopes. Mike Trout
knows that contract will limit what the Angels can do
this point forward. In free agency, Albert Pooholes knew it.

(09:19):
Josh Hamilton knew it, Joey Vado knew it. Baseball guys
highest bidder. I'm in congrats, congrats, but I look at
this Mike Trout thing. If I'm the commissioner of baseball,
it's not a win for us. I would love baseball
to have four and five stars converge on one or

(09:41):
two teams, take a little less, and win a little more.
I really think that'd be great for the sport. Instead
of Machado to a bad team, Harper to the increasingly
awful Phillies, Trout resigning to the second most popular team
in Los Angeles is a good I will argue forever.

(10:03):
The Warriors may at times bore you. The Warriors frustrate you. Katie.
Joining Golden State seems a bit much, But they're not irrelevant. Okay,
Warriors are a lot of things. They're not irrelevant. Baseball
stars increasingly are two things, rich and irrelevant. Nice to

(10:29):
have you in everybody noticing. I don't know if you
paid attention to this. Something happened last night and it
was not a great thing. For a great player or
one that you like more than me, that's coming up.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays

(10:50):
in noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeart Radio app. By the way,
Mike Trout just signed a four hundred si million dollar
contracts seven years as baseball's best player. One playoff hit,
no stolen bases. I mean again, a lot of rich,
irrelevant people in America that own waste management companies. But

(11:10):
NBA guys want to make some money and they want
to be relevant, they want to win games. They care
baseball guys, give me the money, highest bidder. I'm out
nothing against Mike. He's a nice kid. He could be
in a mall in Los Angeles, though, and nobody would know,
because when you're not on the playoffs in baseball, nobody
knows who you are. And also that's why I always
support these NBA guys, well except you know Westbrook. So
by the way, last night Oklahoma City lost at home

(11:33):
to Miami. Oklahoma City was a third seed not long ago.
They are now shrinking. They're down to a six seed,
one game out of eighth place. And everybody in the
West is hot except Oklahoma City. Houston's hot. Oh, Houston's
on fired, Utah's on fire. The Clippers are on fire.

(11:55):
Houston's won nine to ten, Denver four straight, San Antonio
nine straight, Jazz seven ten, Clippers one eight of ten
Oklahoma City longest current losing streak in the NBA, four
wins last thirteen games. It coincides with the time that
Westbrook decided to shoot a lot. Westbrook got a technical
the other night, banged into Clay Thompson inexplicably got a technical.

(12:17):
He knew it would suspend him for a game, and
that game was last night and they lost. This is
on Westbrook, not able to play because he can't control himself.
Self awareness is an underrated talent. He doesn't have a
ton of it. Westbrook, Iowa suspected can play great, play

(12:37):
nice for sixty games post trading deadline, down the stretch,
intensity in the NBA increases, wins matter. He unravels, and
he's officially unraveling, and so are the thunder who now
as of this morning, would open up against the Houston

(12:58):
Rockets on the road and they're absolutely healthy and on fire.
Games now start to matter. Being available, not suspended face
of the franchise, Controlling your temper sort of matters. As
I've said, don't hate Westbrook, hate his game. I don't

(13:20):
always love Steph Curry, love his game. You are your game,
and right now Oklahoma City is the only really really
good NBA team with really good players. That is ice cold.
Who are you gonna blame? You're gonna pay the star

(13:41):
all the money. God, take a couple of hits. That's
what I've said. His DNA unravels add a little pressure
to it. But last night you're losing it home to Miami.
Come on, not good enough. Joy with the news, Turn
on the news. This is the herd Line News. It's

(14:02):
a very interesting remix to don't hate the player, hate
the game, there, Colin, I actually sometimes do hate the
player and his game. Do not hate. I don't say
you hate westers No, no, no, I like it. I
don't know him, but his game wears me out. I
don't know by the way. Stevie Francis hated his game.
They're just guys, some guys. John Wall's game dridens me crazy.

(14:24):
I love Shane Battier's game, but it was a limited game.
Rayalard was a shooter, but I loved Rayald's game. You know,
some games just like there, they're stay're just not fear esthetic.
I was not exactly. Johnny Manzille didn't love the way
played quarterback, just didn't like his game. Andrew Luck love
his game Carla Bore four. So Odell Beckham Jr. Is

(14:46):
going off the grid maybe. He wrote a lengthy message
on Instagram this morning alongside an image of this a
black box, just black. He said, PSA, I love you
all so much for the ones that follow and support,
I thank you all that I'm taking an emotional, mental,
physical vacation. I appreciate the love honestly, but at this point,
for the next couple of days, I'm going dark. I

(15:07):
won't be around. Phone is gone. With all due respect,
please don't text, call FaceTime unless it's of the utmost importance.
I really need some time to vibe and just get
away process reevaluate some of the things in my life
as much has changed for me recently. Then he recently
deleted that post and he posted this morning, which is

(15:28):
kind of weird because I don't have any problem with
this at all. By the way, he's announcing he's leaving
Instagram for two days. That's a little needy. Well, I don't.
I don't see anything about two days. But I thought
you said for days the next couple of days, so
I think couple is more of like three to five.
It didn't vary like two to five. Okay, So let
me I like him, but let me see you one

(15:49):
of those people that thinks the couple specifically means too. Well. Yeah,
like if if you and I were a couple, Yeah
I know that, But like when you're talking about taking
a couple of days like that, if you took three days,
I wouldn't be like, well, you said you were taking
a couple. Well, if I knocked on your door and
you're my neighbor, I'm liking a cake and I need
a couple of eggs, how many would you give me?
Two to three? Okay, I'd give two because a couple

(16:09):
you would just ask for three. Okay. Anyway, the point
is okay, So he said he's going away for two
days and he changed his mind. So maybe he isn't.
I don't know. But the point is I don't have
a problem with this now. He did have some interesting
comments to NFL Networks Kimberly Jones. When the trade actually happens,
he said, she spoke to him and he said, it's bittersweet,
but it is what it is. It's life. At this point,

(16:31):
I have no idea what to think. I'm trying to
process it right now now. Granted that was right after
the trade happened, but look, we talk about all the time.
We're talking about this trade because we're excited and we're
Baker Mayfield and the Browns are gonna be interesting. But
it is still a very jarring change to go from
New York City to Cleveland, Ohio and a completely different
team in space. But I'm you're more willing to support

(16:52):
the player, where like, I think people in the media
are incredibly needy when they do this. I can't take Twitter.
It's too vile. I'm signing off, bye bye. You don't
need to announce it. Yeah you did a fake quitting
of Twitter. Yeah, I do it all the time. I'm like,
I am leaving Twitter for an hour. I think people
media people are incredibly needy when you have to announce

(17:12):
you're leaving for a couple of weeks. But Twitter is
not gonna miss me if I sign off tomorrow. If
I leave Twitter, I'll just not post. I won't announce
I'm leaving Twitter. It's kind of self important. Like, I
know you guys have been wondering why I haven't posted
in a few days. I need to take some time,
But I don't think that's really what O'Dell's doing, though,
I think he's just he's just kind of saying he's

(17:34):
in a different space right now. He needs to process
everything that's happening, which I'm fine with. I'm very old
We freak out on guys when they they go overboard
and they act extra and emotional, and when they say
they need some space, we freak out too. So I'm
the win. I'm old school. You didn't have to announce
or take pictures of what you were having for lunch. Well,

(17:54):
we're in a new world now, and if you don't
take a picture of what you had for lunch and
you didn't me, that's how it works. I mean, you
got to announce every If it wasn't for relatives, I
wouldn't have announced I got married. I mean, if it
wasn't for like people being like dismayed and angry and
wanting a new blender from my mother in law, I
wouldn't have announced I got married. Like I have to
announced I'm leaving Instagram for fourteen blenders. Very crucial though.

(18:17):
It's no secret that Luke Walton's days are pretty much
numbered as the head coach of the Lakers, but their
next candidate might be in the same city. Peter Vesty
is reporting that Doc Rivers has reported mutual interest in
the job. He wrote, according to a confidant, he almost
always wanted to leash the Lakers. In conversations over the years,
Doc frequently expressed an ardent ambitions either to coach either

(18:38):
them or the Knicks before retiring. If we're no other
motivation than their worldwide brands. I don't know that I
see this happening. I wouldn't do it for multiple reasons.
One why, the Clippers are a good team that just
cleared more space to sign a big free agent next year.
And I got a great owner, a great owner completely rebranding,

(19:02):
don't I don't understand this at all. Also not happening because,
as I said before, Lebron has three more years left
on his Lakers contract. He has to win a championship here.
I don't see the Lakers moving off of Lebron James.
So who do you bring in? You have to bring
in somebody that Lebron has already worked with or is
extremely comfortable with, who he knows He's going to have
an open conversation and dialogue with. Well, Doc, probably Tylu. Yeah,

(19:27):
Doc comes with and I love Doc. I'm a huge
Doc supporter. But Doc, It'd been in the game a
long time. God is money. You're not gonna push Doc around.
Doc's don't come in and tell you what to do.
And Doc's very prole player. Players play hard for Doc.
They love Doc, but Doc barks and Doc gets after you,
and Doc has a point of view, and Talk's not
going to be pushed around. And Doc is a great

(19:49):
coach that I'm not saying any of those things are wrong.
I'm just saying there's there can't be any adjustment period
for Lebron and the Lakers. Finally, the Spurs beat the
Warriors last night. They extended their winning streak to nine
games ten games left in season. San Antonio is now
the five seat in the West. San Antonio's playoff streak
will reach twenty two in a couple of weeks, twenty
two years when the Spurs officially clinched their spots. Do

(20:12):
the Spurs worry you at all in the in this
postseason race? Well, I watched this game last night, and
San Antonio's gonna win a playoff series. I don't think
they're good enough to win a couple, but you know,
this is This is Steve Kerr after the game, lamenting
Steve Kurt press conferences this year. Joy, they're one of
two things, deffusing a Kevin Durant story or lamenting how

(20:32):
his team's not focus. That's what Steve Kerr talks about.
And Golden State knows, unlike March Madness, we have a
bad half. Your season's over even in the first round.
It's a seven game series, so it's been very hard.
When I watched this game last night, it was a classic.
It meant more for San Antonio. They played really hardy,
better defensively, and this is the NBA. I do think

(20:53):
San Antonio should be very happy with their product right now,
because they're shooting the ball well, they're playing well. They
looked last night like a really nice NBA team that
can win a playoff series. Well, I think whoever matches
up with them should be worried. Yes, every single year
we do this, we forget that the Spurs even exists,
and then all of a sudden, there in the playoffs
and they make noise. I don't think that they have
a championship level team, but they could mess some things

(21:15):
up for some people. Yeah, they show you the true
depth of the West. We've forgotten about San Antonio. They
got two all stars on the team, Aldridge de Rosen
and a Hall of Fame coach. Joy with the news. Well,
that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd Live.
By the way, I had dinner with an NFL executive
in town last night, a big shot. I'll get to
that at the top and next hour, some interesting things

(21:36):
about NFL free agency. Before we get to that. Tough
Chris Brussard, let's bring him in. Former New York Times guy,
Fox Sports Radio, iHeart Radio. All Right, my theory on
this stuff. You're a dogged reporter New York Times. I mean,
you can't work for the New York Times unless you're
a real pro. You're a pros pro. That place doesn't
just hire any old you know, loudmouth. So you've broken

(21:57):
stories before, and I've always had a theory stories are
broke when somebody wants them broken, is that they can
close doors very easily to joy you and me. So
the Lakers, the narratives bad, Luke's getting fired, Clippers are fun.
It's been a bad two weeks of press for the Lakers. Suddenly,
in a two day stretch. Oh, Doc's interested makes the
Laker job seem very desirable. Number one. Secondly, Kobe comes

(22:21):
out best friends with Raw Polinka and says, of course
you trade all the young guys. Why because Kobe still
has juice and it sort of looks like, oh, you
know the rumors. The little guy's got to get over it.
It shifts narratives positively for the front office Kobe and
Kobe's juice in La is rising. Yeah right, I mean

(22:41):
he obviously was all time great and beloved by everybody
in LA before, but seeing Lebron fail to lead them
to the playoffs, seeing all the extra stuff Lebron is brought,
people are now looking at Kobe in even higher regard
than they did before. So yeah, for him to come
out and look, I think I've did it. On this show.

(23:01):
I was told that everybody was like, oh, the Pelicans
were leaking everything. I was told the Lakers were leaking
stuff too, because they wanted people to know, oh, we're
all in on it. We people didn't think we went
all in on Paul George. People didn't think we went
all in on Kawhi. Good point. We are all in
on Anthony Davis is trying to get it done. This

(23:21):
is a great point, is that listen, the Lakers, this
is a big media market. When I used to live
out in Connecticut, there was no question that teams reacted
to wfa N radio the fan. There's no question they
were leaking stuff and reacting. In Los Angeles, this big market, trial,
balloons get pushed out. And I think your points a

(23:42):
very very good point, which is they got knocked for
being sloppy on Paul George. So the Lakers leaked a
few stories. Hey, we are going hard after everybody's available.
I think it's a great point. And now Kobe backing
it up that yeah, everybody should have been available. Why
are you ripping the Lakers for going after him? So, yeah,

(24:02):
that that's your point. What do you make of the
Doc rumor? Well, Doc, you've been hearing his name around
the lea. You hear Jason Kidd, Tylu and Doc Rivers.
I think Mark Jackson's name should be in there too,
but I don't think that's gonna happen. Yeah, I think
you'd do a good job with them, But Doc, I
agree with you, guys, I think the Clippers is just

(24:22):
a better job. Now we'll see obviously how things pan
out this summer with free agents. If the Lakers get
Anthony Davis, then now I really like that job. If
I'm Doc Rivers, So can I just sit back and
wait for free agency? If I'm I'm just gonna wait
to see who I get, who gets the better players. Yeah,
it's gonna be interesting to see how quickly the Lakers
want to move because that may play a role in

(24:44):
who you get in free agency. But Anthony Davis obviously
would be a trade. So if I'm Steve Ballmer this
morning and I read this, I'm like, I'm not rolling
the dice on us not getting Kawhi and them getting
Anthony Davis. I'm resigning doctor a contract this week. Yeah,
that could be a well, he already had the extension
that carried for a few more years. I would Again,

(25:05):
I don't buy this because I don't think going forward,
I feel better about the Clippers. No, I think the Clippers. Look,
if they get Kawhi Leonard, which most people think they will,
they immediately become the Toronto Raptors, which means you're a contender. Yeah,
because that's what they have the same type of players
around Kawhi or right now that the Raptors have around him,

(25:29):
they got some a couple of shooters, they got some dogs,
some role players that play hard, that know their role,
that aren't trying to usurp the star and all. I mean,
they would be really good. I don't know if they'll
get to you know, does KD want to play with Kawhi?
A lot of people around the league are saying, I
don't think they want to play together. Another name to
keep open. We all have associated Kyrie with New York

(25:53):
and that's with good reason. But maybe the Clippers. What
about Kyrie and Kawhi playing together? Like, if you're kay
if you don't stay in Boston and you you know,
does he want to go into that New York media market,
maybe he would look at the Clippers. You know, he
Kyrie started his own media company too. Yeah, and you

(26:13):
know it helps to be in LA if you're doing
something like that. So the bottom line is the Clippers
is I think a better job right now. And the
one guy, with all due respect to Doc, that the
Lakers should be trying to poach from the Clippers is
Jerry West. They could have had Jerry West. They didn't.
They wanted to show we could do it without Jerry.
Magic and Polica want the credit and bringing Jerry West

(26:34):
Try if you can't, you can't, but try. Yeah, the Lakers,
I was told, had an opportunity to bring Jerry West
and they passed. It's amazing. Other guys want to shine.
Now let's address something. This could get very uncomfortable for
both you enjoy. So last night, Oklahoma City loses at

(26:56):
home to Miami without Westbrook. He didn't play. Of course
they lost. Come why didn't he play? Look, I'm gonna
say this to you. I've told you he is going
to be an icon. Twenty five years from now, he
will be iconic. He's like Alan Iverson and I And
I'm admit he's never gonna win a championship by way,

(27:17):
But you know what, that just puts him in the
class of Iverson, Charles Barkley, Patrick got, charl Malone. It's stocked.
And that's all right. Oh great class. That's a great class.
It's the second class. Well that's what he's I'm just
that's what he's going to be. That's what he is.
His game is tremendous. He's a ball of energy. He's

(27:38):
gonna put up great numbers. He's gonna be a first
balla Hall of Famer, and like I said, iconic, but
he's not gonna win you a champ. The Nike swoosh
is iconic. But if the stock plumb, it's twenty eight
points tomorrow. I'm an investor, I'm selling my stock. What
does iconic mean? What that? This is not Slam magazine,
this is national relevant. You have a problem with Alan

(27:59):
Iverson's legacy. We don't talk about Iverson didn't win any titles.
We talk about Sharon is iconic, Pistol, Pete Merivitch is iconic,
and that fifty gets mccffee star. He is a crucial
part of basketball culture. Right. You cannot tell the story

(28:19):
of basketball without Alan Iverson. And guess what, you cannot
tell the story of basketball without Russell Westbrook. You cannot.
He's averaged a triple double for three straight years. Nobody
else in the history has done that. I'll tell you
the story of basketball, Nay Smith, Wilt Kareem shack Lebron,
Michael Magic, seacrest Out. I just told the story. Please,

(28:40):
I just told the story of basketball. You cannot tell
the story of basketball without Russell Westburg. I'm sorry all right.
I know it doesn't go your narrative, but it's true.
Is almost always right. Okay, let's shift to this um.
I was joking with Joy that Steve Kerr press conferences
this year. There's only two kinds. There's the everybody's happy

(29:05):
here Kevin Durant rumors not true, and the second one
is him lamenting they didn't come to play. This is
and I love the NBA, but March madness for all
of college basketball's problems, gives me urgency. Duke is significantly
better than every team. But if Zion gets in foul

(29:25):
trouble and Duke's not a great shooting team, season over,
I gotta watch that the NBA having a seven game
first and second round playoff series. I think Steve Kerr
is seeing. I think he knows that. This is why
going forward it's tough. It's impossible to get these guys.
And I'm not banging on Kevin Durant. Duke has four

(29:48):
NBA guys. If Zion gets in foul trouble, they're in
trouble because they can't shoot. They need interior points. There's
no urgency. And I think this is my only doubt
onside the dynasties is that you can sense it's palpable
the disinterest with the Warriors. I don't think they're in

(30:08):
any trouble at all, do you. No, they're still the
heavy favorite. Houston is dangerous, but they're the heavy favorite.
Let me say quickly before I answer your question. You
say Houston will meet Oklahoma City all night now in
the first round them Russell Westbrook gives Chris Paul problems. Now,
the question is how big of a role does Paul

(30:28):
have to play for them to win? Because Westbrook's athleticism
wears Paul out and gets him out of sorts. You
know who matches up poly You know who Westbrook matches
up poarly with his personality. I think Westbrook's battle is
with Westbrook. I don't think it's with an opponent. Well,
I'm just saying that would be an interesting site. I

(30:49):
would pick Houston, but that'd be an interesting series. But
to get to your point, look, there's a reason that
no team there are only three teams in NBA history
or since in the last fifty two years have won
three straight, have three PETD two and you could even
say it's two teams. Jordan did it twice and Shock
and Kobe, because it's hard you get bored once you've

(31:10):
won two straight. The third when you it's all about
May and June and you're just trying to get through
the eighty two games without getting hurt. And Jordan's last
two three peaks the last year of each three peaks,
his regular season record was the worst of the trio
in both times. So that's what you're saying is absolutely right.
And I'll tell you this too. Every Kevin Durant again,

(31:33):
everybody in the league thinks he's out of there, right
he's in New York. If not the Clippers, the Warriors
are not going away when Kevin Durant leaves. They're still
Now the league will be better because now it'll be
a few tea the Warriors will if Draymond can still
be a good player, they're gonna be right there with

(31:55):
everybody else. How do we know that if k d left,
they wouldn't move off Draymond and go get another really
high end player. If they don't, it's hard to get
that type of playmaker who also defends, you know, who
does all the little things that Draymond and Draymond and
Steph are really close steph knows what Draymond brings to
the team, even though they're different personalities. But I'm telling

(32:16):
you what Golden State is going to be just fine.
They're gonna have a great chance to win it even
without owner GM coach star. And remember how good the
numbers even still show that they're great without Durant. Yeah,
they beat Houston and Okasee without Durant. Good stuff. Chris
Bruce Shard. I love arguing. I love being rust I'm
just not icon means nothing to me. I'm not a

(32:38):
big icon guy. I'm I like winning. I'm sorry, I'm
old school. I like winning. Would you rather be Russell
Westbrook or Robert or Robert or really, let me think
about that. Give me a better Barkley or Robert Charles
Barkley Okay, Barkley's iconic, No, Barkley's eight. Barkley's a great name,

(33:02):
a great player. But as a player, who's whose career
would you rather have? I can give you a seven names,
Alan Iverson or Robert or Robert Robert you're like or
drive a Lamborghini or a vultriving Blake Miller Mill example?
Who who? Okay, a decent player who won ring. You're like,

(33:24):
you're literally didn't Boget get a ring? Did he get
a ring? With the boy? Okay, so give me Boget
was pretty good. How about this? Would you say, Manu
Genoblia Ross what Jenobley's a Hall of Famer? Borderline great?
Individually and team gave me? He gave me Robert or
he has seven rings? Yeah, but he's not a I

(33:45):
don't think he should be in the Hall of Fame,
but some people. Steve Kerr, how about that? Not the coach? Okay?
Would you rather have the playing career of Alan Iverson
or Steve Kerr? Well, you can't say I want the
whole thing. I want Steve Kerr's life GM broadcast. We're
not talking about that. We're just talking about player. I'm
always talking about life. How about it? Okay? How about Paxson,

(34:07):
John Paxson a big final shot. You're making my point,
Russell Westbrook, you would rather be Russell Westbrook than a
role player who won a bunch your way you're giving
me Would you rather be the iPhone or an old marker?
That's not fair arguing. What what we are arguing is that, Okay,
what sounde like Alan Iverson had an incredible influence on

(34:29):
the culture, the influence and the history of basketball overstated.
No one's not. I like winning. That's why you don't
use That's why I say it. Would you rather be
Ori Kerr, Paxson, B J. Armstrong, Barkley west I would
be very proud to be Charles Barkley. I would love

(34:51):
to be Charles just the player, not not the broadcaster,
just the player. Hell I think it, yes, that one.
I don't know if I mean west Brooks is gonna
get as much love as Barkley in turns of their
playing careers. All I'm saying is that you get into
this iconic stuff. Yes, Barkley's not iconic. Barkley was just
a great player and a great like like Westbrook's iconic

(35:13):
to a stat sheet a triple double. Barkley is a personality,
a flair A brook is a is a constant motor,
He's a NonStop player, He's exciting to watch, He's a personality.
It matters he's getting into him. I mean, he's an icon.
Like that word I don't like, but it's a great word.

(35:37):
Say it with you know, most icons or icons because
they got trophies, not some you know, you gotta appreciate
the Colt buzz. Will you think of Oscar Robertson Do
you think of the one championship he won? Or the
fact that he averaged a triple double? Don't ever think
of Oscar roberts somebody brings up the name. That's what's
the first thing that comes to your mind. He avers

(35:57):
a triple double and it's just the big Oh. I
don't think anything with Oscar. Nothing against the guy. I
just don't Doctor Jay. Doctor Doctor Jay was an icon. Yeah,
but I think of his title without the title. Without
he only won one an NBA. Even without that title,
he was an icon. I see Doctor Jay as a winner,

(36:18):
not a dunk guy. I saw him is not iconic
dunk guy. I see him as a winner. I like
winners man. If you want to support stats, like one
of us on, this show's about winners back in the
second that heard, be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd week dayson noun Easter nine a Empacific. By
the way, just baseball fans cracked me up, Like every
one of these monster contracts has been a disaster. You're

(36:41):
three years into it, You're like, this is an awful deal.
I mean, Keno's already left Seattle Poolhole Steel was awful,
Josh Hamilton, They're all awful. I mean, what what business
would you ever sign anybody to a thirteen twelve year contract.
That's so stupid. I mean, Mike Trout's the best player
in baseball, never get better. He's only got one hit
in the history of his career. Seven years, five years
from now, he'll be twelve years into his sport. He'll

(37:01):
have peaked and he'll be going down. And you have
seven years left on a contract or eight years. They're
terrible contracts. You know nothing against Manny Machado, Mike Trout,
and Bryce Harper. I know Bryce is great. I mean,
they're all great players. But don't try to validate any
of these contracts. You sign a thirteen year contract for
an NFL player who's the best young player in the NFL.

(37:23):
Patrick Mahomes, not signing him to a thirteen year contract,
he gets hurt by the way. He'll probably peak in
about four years, and then you know what, is he
twenty three years old right now? I want him at
I mean this idea that thirteen year contracts are good,
they're not in any business. I wouldn't even want. I

(37:44):
wouldn't want a thirteen year contract as a radio person,
TV person. I want to be motivated. I want my
deal to come up every two or three years so
I can go. You know, on the market. What's happened
to the market is the market grown. And but baseball
people are always celebrating and trying to validate all these
awful contracts. The Angels, you know, I mean, by the way,
the Phillies and the Angels actually have some good players,

(38:06):
but that big contract. You always forget this with these
big contracts, for these sluggers like Manny Machado and Bryce
Harper are going to come into the stadium every day
feeling like they have to carry their team, because when
you're so much better than everybody else on that team,
there's an immense pressure and a lot of these guys
it messes with their head for the first year of
the deal. They they mean, Alex Rodriguez has admitted it.

(38:29):
He went to the Yankees in Texas and got all
that money, and he felt this incredible pressure to deliver
three RBIs and two hits every night in a home
run and so there's this added dimension when you sign
a four hundred, three hundred thirty million dollar contract that
you got to go to the game and you got
to play one hundred and sixty two and you and
you're robbing the fans, and all of a sudden, you

(38:49):
go in a one for twenty seven slump and it
gets into your head and everybody's saying, look how much
you make. I don't think it's good psychologically. I don't
you know, you can probably validate it financially because of
all the money in baseball, But I don't think it's
good for teams. I don't think it's good for the sport.
I don't think it's good for the player other than
just dollar bills in the bank. But I think it

(39:10):
adds a lot of pressure fans. The minute you go
in a slump, fans, you take a couple of days off,
fan go right back to your money. I don't think
it's good for the sport. And I'm not somebody that
resents money. But in Philadelphia, don't try to validate a great,
big contract because none of them have worked. I mean
none of them. John Carlos standing to the Yankees. He
was a dud last year. Poolhost canoe with the Mariners

(39:34):
I mean it's by the way, Cano didn't Canoe get
a tag for taking something, didn't Canoe get suspended. Okay,
what happened. Guy gets hurt, feels pressure, got to live
up to the contract. I mean, that's the psychology of
these massive deals. I don't think they're good for the
sport at all. I really don't. By the way, I

(39:54):
had a big dinner last night. There was an NFL
executive of note in Los Angeles last night and he
had texted me, and I had texted him, and I
got some good information on stuff, very good stuff. It's
a very big dinner. Steak and beer. You get a
lot out of your sources. Very steak and a beer.
That's what I had last night. That was it. Steak,

(40:15):
beer out and so top of next hour the NL.
I love the NFL draft. I'm a big fan of
the NFL draft. But let's be honest, all the top
teams in the league, what are you gonna get one
starter out of the draft? Maybe two? But let's be honest.
Between special teams offense and defense, you know, you got

(40:36):
like forty guys who start in the NFL. The draft
adds depth and they are crucial because it's cheaper depth,
it's young guys, and so the draft matters a lot.
And I love the draft, but for the good teams
that will make the playoffs, it maybe adds a starter,
maybe two, but probably one. And so the teams you have,
now I'm gonna talk about I'm gonna go through every

(40:58):
division in football. You're looking at your team draft or not,
I'll make predictions. Next one More Herd. The Herd streams
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within
the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on
demand whenever you like. Ah, this is the Herd, wherever

(41:19):
you may be, and however you may be listening Hour
two live in La. This is the Herd. iHeartRadio, Fox
Sports Trudio on FS one. Joy Taylor is joining me.
I guess my point And all this stuff. None of
the ten year baseball contracts of work. Now you think
the twelve and thirteen year deals will be great, Mike Trout,
Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, halfway through these contracts will
be out of their prime and you've got six and

(41:41):
seven years left to pay. You're telling me that's good business. No,
it's not terrible. Business. But you know, I'm happy for
the dude. I'm happy for Bryce, Mike and Manny, the
great players. But you're gonna be five years into this
deal for all of these guys and they're out of
their prime, and you have seven and eight years left
on contracts. Don't tell me that's a good deal. I
think it's good for baseball. I think there's enormous pressure

(42:02):
when a guy walks into a clubhouse making three hundred
fifty million bucks. You got Bryce Harbery goes in a
one for twenty seven slump or missus twenty six games
because of an injury. Philadelphia media Sports radio is gonna
eat him alive. No way, he's in Philadelphia in six years.
It'll work for a couple, but he won't be there
for thirteen years. Twelve years. Nope, not gonna happen. But

(42:22):
go ahead and argue the fact that I have all
the data on my side, which is none of these
ten year deals have been worth it. None have worked. Suddenly,
twelve year deals, thirteen year deals, they're all gonna work. No,
they're not. No, they're not all right. So Joey Taylor
is joining me him all while, you know, Mike Trout
signed a new deal four hundred million dollars. These big
deals are Goofy, Steve Burline's coming up Super Bowl champ,

(42:46):
CBS football analyst. Great guy, he'll be joining us today.
Also a Kenyan Martin cousin sal Lock. It ends on
March madness around the court. All fired up for March madness,
all fired up to watch Duke. I'm so excited for
the tournament. Yeah so am. I I just urgency. That's
why I love the tournament. Like you have a bad half,
Zion gets in foul trouble and you're you have to
watch the next thirty five minutes of basketball forty minutes.

(43:09):
I mean, it's it's I can't wait for it now.
So I had dinner last night with an executive. Big
NFL hot shot was in town. And you know when
big NFL hot shots come to Los Angeles, they they
reached me out, reach out to me for steak and beer,
and we were talking about the draft, and uh, you know,
as as this person I was talking to said, and

(43:29):
his team made the playoffs. And about a month ago
I had dinner with somebody before the free agency, and
his team was a playoff team and he said, Listen,
the draft is great, it's crucial, it's cheap labor. You
can add depth, he said, But for the really good
football teams, what's happening in the NFL now is free agency.
We've had four superstars in the NFL changed teams. I'm
not talking some linebacker from you know, Old Miss. We're

(43:50):
talking about like CJ. Moseley, Lavian Bell, Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham,
Kwan Alexander. These are these are world class football players
already in the NFL. Orady can play or dy Pro Bowlers.
So the NFL is a little bit now like the NBA,
where before I see a team play, I know who
can play. And so I said, the draft is great,

(44:13):
and the draft will add depth and maybe a starter
or two. But to the good teams, I mean, how
many guys are going to come out of college football
and just start for the Patriots offense? And not many?
Maybe one, Max, And so I thought I'll do a
prediction based on what you see now in the NFL,
which is teams the coaches are all set, the coordinators

(44:36):
are all set, and the stars are all set. Ninety
percent of the guys that are going to impact games
this year they're here. The draft is the ten percent
stuff that adds low cost labor. A handful of home
run stars, but not a lot of guys that change games.
I mean, really, who's gonna win and lose games next
year out of this draft? Maybe Kyler Murray if he

(44:56):
goes to Arizona. Maybe the second best quarterback d Wayne
Askins isn't even scheduled to start if you go to
the New York Giants. So here we go, little music.
Here are my predictions in the NFL, because I think
ninety percent of the teams and the games, this is
what you got. I would start in the NFC East.
I think Philadelphia Malik Jackson next to Fletchercox in the interior,
best defensive line in football, to Shaun Jackson to steal

(45:19):
for what they're paying him, a home run guy with
Carson Wentz. I think Dallas lost Cole Beasley and David Irving.
They bring in Jason Witton, but I think Philadelphia is
by far and away the best team in that division.
They'll win at twelve and four. Dallas will be a
wildcard team. At ten and six. I think they'll be
a lot like last year, competent, good, capable, of beating
everybody they play, but with a ceiling that's lower than Philadelphia's.

(45:44):
Washington Giants. Round out the division NFC West. I think
San Francisco is the one team that doubles their wins.
Why They added d Ford, an elite pass rusher, Quan Alexander,
one of the top athletic linebackers in football, Tevin Coleman.
They now have a one two punch at run back
in Jason Bred at corner. They went out spent some money,
but upgraded the team. Rams I think take a step back.

(46:07):
Roger Stafford, LaMarcus Joyner. Offensive lines just getting older. Todd
Gurley arthrit a story. I think Seattle and Arizona are fine,
though not special. NFC North, I think the Bears will
win it, but I do think a lot of what
Chicago did last year was Matt Naggie smoke and mirrors
hiding a little bit of what Mitched Rubisky can do.

(46:29):
I have the Bears winning the NFC North. They added Haha,
Clinton Dix, who's a very good safety. Vic Fangio. They
lost him their defensive coordinator. You can move the graphic
at any time. Bears winning the division. I think Green
Bay is second. I will give Green Bay all out
of credit. A lot of people are bailing on the
Packers excellent free agent moves. They went and got three

(46:49):
defensive starters. I have questions though about Matt Lafleur, the coach,
so I have them as a border line playoff team
in Green Bay Bears win the division. I think Minnesota
with Kirk Cousins, they are what we think they are.
Great receivers, good coach, lower ceiling in big games against

(47:09):
better quarterbacks. With Kirk Cousins, Matt Patricia's sort of a
mess in Detroit right now. I don't trust them. NFC
South New Orleans, I think they take a step back.
I think they win their division. Max Unger retired, mark
Ingram gone, those are power players to support Drew Brees.
I think they've had back to back years with wildly

(47:30):
emotional playoff losses. This division, I think is sort of
a weaker division this year. Atlanta Carolina are fine. I
don't know Cam's health. I just don't know what I
get from Cam, and I think there's people in the
building that are kind of worn out of Cam. I
don't think it's the greatest vibe in the building. They
want a little more from Cam he comes in the
least healthy he's ever been. Tampa Bay Bruce Arians rounds

(47:53):
out the bottom. Let's go to the AFC. New England's
got twelve half picks. The word out of New England
is Gronk is actually gonna stay. And by the way,
college tight ends can't block anymore because college football is
all spread out. So the fact that Gronk is now
an elite blocking tight end is not lost on people

(48:15):
around football who I've talked to. They got the best
blocking tight end in football who can actually catch. I
think the Jets had the most impactful acquisitions of any
team in the National Football League. You can't bring in
Lavian Bell, c J. Mosley. Those are star players for
the Jets. Jamison Crowder, an All Pro left guard, and

(48:36):
Adam Gasee. The Jets fight for a playoff spot. Buffalo's
close seven and nine Dolphins. I think the Dolphins are
in a total rebuild. I think they're in a rebuild.
I think they're in a complete utter rebuild. For the
number one pick. Somebody's gonna go four and twelve in
this league? Why not Miami? But I get but again,
I think they know rookie coach, bringing in Fitzpatrick, moving

(49:00):
off Tannehill. I think they're tired of eight and eight.
I think Miami's like, all right, we're in a complete
and utter rebuild with Ryan Fitzpatrick. A year for me,
long year, but you could You'll be You'll have the
number one of the number two pick next year on
the AFC West. Kansas City's not going to be as
dominant offensive lee Kareem Hunts out of town, Tyreek Hill
will be. I still think it's a great coach, a
great quarterback. There is so much I like about them.

(49:21):
Kansas City's interesting. They've had the guts in recent years
to move off people like Alex Smith. They moved off
d Ford justin Houston, Eric Barry. Those are hard and
moves to make in a small market like Kansas City.
But they've got the guts to do it because they
got Andy Reid, and they got Patrick Mahomes, they have
Travis Kelsey, they have three stars, and they're moving off
a lot of the expensive guys. I have a lot

(49:41):
of respect for that Chargers. Again, I think I think
the Chargers are good. Here's what I worry about with
the Chargers. You keep playing in this small stadium, and psychologically,
how long can you keep playing in a soccer stadium.
It's novel for a year or two, but I think
there is some fatigue them feeling like the road team
for sixteen games a year. Denver and the Raiders round out.

(50:04):
I think Flacco will be fine. They'll fight for five hundred.
I don't buy a lot of the Raiders stuff. I
think a lot of it's just been overpaying for people.
The most controversial pick I'll make today, I have Pittsburgh
still winning the division. Let's go to the AFC North.
Cleveland will be better. But Joy and I talked about
this yesterday. They finished in third last year, they had
a losing record, they got blown out four times. They

(50:24):
added ob j I like him, and Kareem Hunt by
week eight. I like him. This is still a losing
culture with a rookie head coach that I'm not sure
it's not going to be totally in golf. I think
Cleveland's better and fight for a playoff spot. I'll take
Pittsburgh's owner, their quarterback, Kevin Culbert, their general manager, and
they still have the best offensive line in that division.

(50:45):
I'll take Pittsburgh to win it, Lamar Jackson takes a
step back, Cincinnati's a mess. And finally the AFC South,
I think it'll look a lot like last year. I
think Nick Foles is going to figure out that once
he loses Doug Peterson and his great owner and his
great GM in Philadelphia, nick Foles reverts back to Nick Foles.
They round out the rear. I think the Colts. They

(51:06):
have a ton of picks, seventy five million left in
cap space. The Colts need a number two receiver. They
got Devin Funchius. They need to get an edge rusher.
They will in the draft. I hope they draft another corner.
But they were a very good team getting better. Never
forget they won nine of their last eleven. Marlon Mcamers
is a real running back. So here's how my NFL
playoff predictions would look today. And again, we've got a draft.

(51:29):
Somebody may make a splashy move and pick up two
or three great college players. But I think your division
winners in the NFC or Philly, San Francisco, Chicago in
the Saints, Cowboys, Rams in the wild card. I think
in the AFC it's Patriots, Chief Steelers, Colts, Chargers, Texans Wildcard.
I think two teams in the NFL will double their wins,
San Francisco and the Jets. And I think a couple

(51:50):
of teams obviously, I've picked a couple of teams to
take a step back, like Baltimore I think takes a
step back. And who else did I have taken a
step back? Jag, Well, they'll be the Jacks. Sore you
go Rams. I have the Rams taken a little step back.
Wild card, they'll go on the road for the playoffs.
How is that? I was like seven minutes of NFL football.

(52:13):
I had this dinner last night. Well, the Dolphins took
a step back to well, but there I will say
this about the Dolphins just they're gonna rebuild. There's like, hey,
we're gonna rebuild and be awful. I have respect for that. Well, listen,
it's not like I had big aspirations for this year. Fours.
It hurts painful, Yeah, it was almost hurtful. Very it's
not good on the eyes. By the way, Josh Rosen,

(52:38):
I've had two people I trust say they have called
the Arizona Cardinals on Josh Rosen. There is league interest
in Josh Rosen Arizona, I'm told wants more for Josh Rosen.

(52:58):
But there is there is a sent around the NFL.
I'm told people are interested in Josh Rosen of Arizona Arizona,
and I've been told this now by two people. Arizona
is aware of the interests, but is driving a hard
bargain if indeed you want him. They like Josh Rosen.

(53:18):
Arizona likes Josh Rosen. They're not giving him away. But
the story that I have learned in the last seventy
two hours is there is Josh Rosen is being discussed
by teams in this league. There are people looking at
Josh Rosen as a guy. If Arizona decides at some
point we're moving off. And the teams I've heard that

(53:42):
are interested in Rosen are all good teams. These are
good teams. These are not like say that they're They're
good teams that would use him eventually as the starter.
These are good teams that want Rosen. They think he
needs to develop. He needs to teams that are good

(54:05):
teams with an older quarterback they want Rosen to come in,
or maybe the Steelers learn could be I'm just telling
you they're giant just yes. Every team that's interested in
really can't say it. I'll to start listening. And then
there's multiple teams interested in Rosen. It is all I've

(54:28):
been told, teams with an aging veteran quarterback. It's not
like they're bringing him in Miami to start now. It's
people that think he needs to come in house, learn
how to be a leader, watch a respected leader. That's
what I'm hearing. Steve Burline's next, haven't. I haven't talked
to Steve either in a long time or never, but

(54:50):
he does it. I'm not sure if I when's the
last time Gannon I talked to a lot. I haven't
seen Steve. He does a good job, so he's going
to join us. I'm excited for that. He knows Rosen
by the way, a little connection there. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeartRadio app. Check it out. The FIFA Women's World

(55:15):
Cup Trophy is here in LA will be broadcasting the
FIFA Women's World Cup from Friday, June seventh through Sunday,
July seventh, with unprecedented coverage live from Paris. All fifty
two matches air live, including twenty two on broadcast television
more than any ever and twenty seven on FS one
be great. World Cup is my new Olympics. As a kid,
I grew up with the Olympics and soccer emerged. All

(55:37):
my kids have a kind of a flare and an
interest in soccer, and suddenly, all of a sudden, the
World Cup is my new Olympic. Steve Burline played at
Notre Dame, now a CBS broadcaster for fifteen years. He
was a pro bowler in a Super Bowl chant with
the early nineteen ninety two Dallas Cowboys. Steve is joining us,
good to see you. Yes, you do look a little
like Joe Fisman, and you've been told that a million
times right by the man himself. By the man himself,

(55:58):
Joe Fisman is always for to me is his little brother.
So yeah, there are some similarities there. I'd like to
say I'm a good looking one of the two. Absolutely,
I concur so this is strange. Last three years, Steve,
We've had almost an NBA field to NFL free agency stars,
superstars moving teams. Some of it's just the cap one
up teams have room and let's be honest, the NFL's

(56:21):
a copycat league. Philadelphia did it had success. Rams are like,
we like that we did it. They had success. And
there is a momentum in the NFL for free agency,
which I think is great. I'd like to see stars
move around. I'm a sports talk show host. Let's start
with this. Levion Bell to the Jets impact or not?
Oh yeah, big time. I mean Levion Bell going anywhere

(56:43):
was going to be a big impact for any team
because of his versatility, the things any creative offensive coach
is gonna love having a guy like Levion Bell because
of all the different things you can do, all the
matchups you can create. But for a quarterback, a young
quarterback like Sam Darnold, have the safety valve of a
guy like Levion Bell that can make the explosive plays

(57:06):
off a checkdown passes when you're in trouble. Find that
that that I guarantee you. That's what Adam Gaze is
gonna be telling Sam Darnold if you get in trouble,
if you have any doubt in your mind, twenty six
is always going to be there. Always know that he's
going to be there for you. You covered the Miami Dolphins.
You know Adam Gase. You said something to meet during
the break about Gas one of the things you liked

(57:27):
about him. Yeah, I think with an offensive coach as
creative as Adam Gaze is, and you can you can
rip him about his personality and the way he handled
the press conference in New York when they announced him
and and all that kind of stuff. I don't think
he enjoys that part of the role. But when you
talk about him and his track record of producing effective

(57:48):
offenses and putting numbers up as a quarterback, he's going
to be a guy that is going to make all quarterbacks,
I think look as good as they can possibly look.
And I think with Sam Darnold, he's gonna know that
into every game he's going to have a good game plan.
He's gonna know that his coach is going to be
able to make the adjustments during the game to give
him a chance to make plays during the course of

(58:08):
the game. The track record kind of speaks for itself,
and as a quarterback, you're always looking for that. When
you go into a game, you want to know that
you're going to be able to match up with that
defensive coach. X's and o's and you're gonna have a
chance to make some plays. And that's case, that's his reputation.
He'll get you in like Kyle Shanahan. He'll get you
into the right formations and mismatches. Then it just comes
down came the quarterback make the plays. You know, I've

(58:31):
always felt like quarterback wide receiver relationships get the headlines,
but quarterback running back relationships generally get the wins. Dak
is better with Zeke Mahomes, was better with Kareem Hunt.
Darnold will be better with Levan Bell. Antonio Brown to
the Raiders, it sounds great. My concern is, and you

(58:55):
know the Raiders, well you played for the Raiders, is
that there will be a sense that you gotta get
Antonio Brown the ball. That's easy with a running back,
that's not easy for a star receiver on the perimeter
who's being bracketed. Do you worry a little bit? O?
B J to Cleveland, Antonio Brown to Pittsburgh. The pressure

(59:17):
to get these challenging players the ball a lot well
who make it clear that they want to have the ball.
They need to have those ten plus targets every week
or they're not going to be happy. There's no doubt
about that. So it's an issue. But I think you
also have to look at the other factors involved in
Antonio Brown now coming to the Raiders with all that

(59:37):
he's been through the last couple of years of Pittsburgh,
his mentality, I think is going to be one of
just trying to be a positive influence of trying not
to draw any of that negativity toward him. He's excited
about the new opportunity he wanted out of Pittsburgh. Derek Carr,
I think is an absolutely perfect fit for dealing with
his type of personality, with that kind of diva type

(59:59):
of person reality, and I think because of that, they're
going to get along and communicate very well. Derek Carr
is going to know how to manage that relationship very well.
Having Tyrelle Williams on the other side is going to
do a lot for Antonio Brown as well. Also JJ
Nelson picking up that's not as a high profile and acquisition,
but they've got him now as the third receiver. That's
gonna allow John Gruden and his offensive staff to kind

(01:00:22):
of create matchups. You talked about the brackets that Antonio
Brown is always going to face. But there are things
you can do formation wise, personnel wise, movement wise motion
before the snap to kind of make it very difficult
for a defense to brackett a guy like Antonio Brown.
So having those other threats on the field will work
in his favor. And I think Derek Carr is a

(01:00:43):
perfect match, and I know he's very excited about having
Antonio Brown to throw it too. You're a former Raider
fourteen years in the league. Odell Beckham's a world class talent.
But the kicking that, the p and on the field thing,
there is a you have to manage Odell Beckham a
little bit, did you ever in And by the way,
some people can do it, but I don't think we
can deny. Odell Beckham can be a handful at times.
I thought Ben McAdoo at times felt engulfed by him.

(01:01:06):
Shermer didn't quite know owas what to say after games.
Eli's very Eli was probably a perfect personality for him.
What do you make of Odell Beckham? Now, young guy,
young star off a broken ankle, so there's a sense
of urgency. I gotta make this happen. Freddie Kitchens Baker's
a young kid. How do you think it works. I
think it works great. I really do think it was

(01:01:28):
a huge move for the Cleveland Browns. Number One, getting
Odell Beckham Junior back with Jarvis Landry his best friend.
They played together at LSU, they have a history together.
They're going to really make each other better and push
each other the way they did in college. I know
that they're both excited about that. Another weapon for Baker
Mayfield in that offense within Joe Kup and with Chubb

(01:01:51):
at the running back, he got Jarvis lander now and
Odell Beckham Junior. That's going to be an explosive offense.
And I think Odell Beckham Junior has got a lot
of proving to do too, as far as similar to
Antonio Brown, the track record, the history, the negative press,
the negative attention that these guys have drawn, most of
itself induced because of how they handle themselves in these
different situations. But I think both of those guys are

(01:02:13):
going to go into their new situations saying I am
not going to be a negative influence. I'm gonna try
and be a positive force on this football team and
let the rest of it take care of itself. Steve,
you are an old school Notre Dame quarterbacks sit in
the pocket throw darts. That's what Josh Rosen is. The
NFL has changed. It looks like the Big twelve increasingly.
All of a sudden, Arizona is sitting here at number one,

(01:02:35):
and people are calling Arizona, I'm told, and offering not
first round picks, but a package for Josh Rosen. There
is interest around the league on Josh, I'm told, by
three quality teams with aging veteran quarterbacks. And then you
have Kyler Murray. His tape's amazing. He can run around,
he throws a beautiful ball, a little small. You run

(01:02:57):
Arizona today, you hire Cliff kings Perry. Don't you have
to consider going with Kyler Murray and starting over again.
He's kind of what you would recruit if you were,
if you were a coach. Well, he's come out and
said it. We know Klingsbury has already come out and
said that. Now the question is he going to back
up what his statement was prior to being in this situation.
So I really believe it's going to happen. I do

(01:03:19):
believe that Josh Rosen's going to be moved prior to
the draft, and I believe or maybe even on draft Day.
Who knows how it's going to work out. But I
do believe Josh Rosen deserves a chance. I think he's
still going to be a good quarterback. I mean, Tom
Brady's done pretty well for himself over the course of
his career. Is not a very mobile guy. Drew Brees
is not a runner. You can go down the list

(01:03:39):
of all these guys Matt Ryan that have had great
success in the NFL by knowing where to go with
the football, by being accurate, and by being able to
stand in there at the key moments of the game
and make plays, make the right throws that need to
be made. So I think Josh Rosen can play in
this league. He'll get another chance. He should get another chance.
As far as Kyler Murray goes, my only real concern

(01:03:59):
is size. Now that I know they measured him at
what five ten? I cannot believe that I was told
that he was closer to five eighth than he was
to five ten, But obviously they measured him, and I'm
not questioning the validity of that. But he does look small.
He does not look five And I showed video of
Russell Wilson in college Russell. Wilson did not look small.

(01:04:20):
He looks strong, compact. Some guys Russell played at two
twenty came down to two oh five for the combine
to be fast. I kind of feel like Kyler plays
at one eighty right, and he must help a little bit. Yeah,
So they don't look like the same athlete, and I
am concerned about that. But I do think he's a
first round quarterback and I love him. I think he's
I think he's got all the tools. Now, the difference is,
and you know this coming from that offense in Oklahoma,

(01:04:45):
players are running open all over the football field. It's
not the same in the NFL. You're not gonna have
guys running two or three steps ahead of the nearest defenders.
So he's gonna to stand in there and make throws
on time accurately. And I think he is an accurate guy.
So the question and as Kenny do it, can he
find the lanes to get those balls delivered on time
in and tight coverage. That's where the height becomes an

(01:05:06):
issue for me. Story broke yesterday. It was jaw dropping
to me. I have defended Ben Roethlisberger to a point.
I do think he can be passive aggressive. I've said
this about Aaron Rodgers and Big Ben. They're remarkable little
passive aggressive you've had in both instances. You know, players
former current take a few veiled shots, which is very rare.
That doesn't happen with Peyton Manning did that with Montana.

(01:05:28):
So they're great. But you know, the story came out Monday.
A Josh Harris, who's going to be on our show
by the Way in twenty Minutes, came out and said
he intentionally fumbled despite Todd Haley. I thought it was
I don't know if it's true or not, so I'm
not gonna say it's true or not. But a guy
said it, so I'm gonna have him on the show.
What do you make of that claim? Well, I mean,

(01:05:49):
we're talking about it, he said. She said, thinks I'm
sure that Ben Roethlisberger's never going to admit to something
like that. You know, it's one of those things where
it just kind of more fuel to the fire. And
I agree with what you're saying. And Ben, I think
he's had tremendous progress from a maturity standpoint since all
of his league, the motorcycle accident, the assault charges, all

(01:06:12):
that stuff. It really woke him up. And I've noticed
in meeting with him several times since doing games, I've
noticed a maturity and a presence that he's improved significantly,
but he still is what he is, and he's still
sometimes kind of puts his foot in his mouth and
doesn't step up and take that leadership role like a
quarterback should. There's a lot of talented guy Steve doesn't

(01:06:32):
mean they're leaders exactly, like we forget this. These are
twenty three year old kids. Often some are just talented.
Now you get lucky with Andrew Lucker, Russell Wilson, talented
slash leader, but you played in this league, not every
guy playing in the quarterback. I don't see Ben as
a great leader. I seem as a great player well,
and a lot of that I think has been facilitated

(01:06:53):
by the management around him and some of the things,
the comments that have been made recently by the general manager.
You know about how the kids around Ben you need
to pick it up and follow his lead. Well, you
know his lead has always not always been the best
example to follow. I don't thank you so, but but
I'm not two time super Bowl champion. You can't ever

(01:07:13):
take that away from Ben, and again I think he's
made tremendous progress, but he still does win the pressures
on when the media's in his face. He does have
a tendency to deflect instead of what I think the
true quarterback leaders do, and that's taken on the chin.
They step up and they say, you know what, I
gotta get better. We're not playing well enough. It starts
with me. We're gonna get back to work this week.

(01:07:35):
You think about Drew Brees and Tom Brady and all
these guys that consistently handle those situations. Well Ben has
not been that guy. Yeah, it's great seeing your great
meeting you, Steve Berlin. Fifteen years. I'd love to have
you back anytime. I'm right down the road in Orange County,
so happy to do it. Congrats on that Mike Trout
deal he signed for twenty seven years. I think this

(01:07:56):
morning corner, Oh my god, we love Trout out there
for sure, Yes, sir, all right, Steve Joey Taylor of
the News, No, no, this is the Herd Line News. So,
the Celtics were one game away from advancing into the
NBA Finals last season, and according to Isaiah Thomas, an
eighteenth NBA Championship banner might be hanging in TD Garden

(01:08:16):
if they hadn't traded him. Do you ever think about
what could have been like long term if you stayed. Yeah,
I probably want to challenge. Yeah, let's slow down that
little bit. That's easy to say. It's hard to win
NBA Championships with Golden States and the other bracket. Yeah,
maybe I would. Maybe I could be more on his

(01:08:37):
side of if he was, like, we would be in
the NBA Finals already, even though the facts kind of
point to otherwise. In that situation as well, they did
get Kyrie for Isaiah and he's played in Cleveland with
the Lakers and for the records. I know it felt
mean at the time, and but Boston made the right move.
You know. I supported idea Thomas in the moment because

(01:08:59):
I do feel like he he lost his payday by
playing through that hip injury. And that's why I don't
everything that happened with Kauai I completely supported, because if
Kawai felt like he was not in the right shape
to be playing, he should not risk his career and
millions and millions of guaranteed dollars for an organization to
them move off of him. Now, the Spurts would have

(01:09:20):
done that necessarily, but he is an example of why
you don't do that. Now, whether a team was going
to give him that money and then regret it, I mean,
those things happened, but I do feel like that was
a reason why I supported Isaiah. Since then, he's gone
back and forth with the public and the public eye
being embraced. They did give him a nice tribute the
other night. He's a good player that wanted a great
contract and Boston said we're not going to do it.

(01:09:41):
And it wasn't. It wasn't the best exit from Boston
considering everything that happened with him there. But I don't
agree that they would have won a championship if he
was still there. So last week, the Giants traded Odell
to the Browns, which pretty much proves the Giants are
building a new roster, but Dave Gelman says they can
still win games while they're rebuilding. We're building, the object
of this is to win as many games as possible

(01:10:04):
every year. Okay, so we're building. We were three and
thirteen when I took over. We were five and eleven
last year. Twelve of those games were a touchdown or left.
We're building, you know, I don't. I don't understand why that.
You know, that's a question, and really and truly you
can win while you're building. Look the thing about it

(01:10:29):
is is it's kind of hard to believe that you're
really trying to win when Eli is still the quarterback.
And the whole situation was benching Eli two years ago,
I thought was a disaster. I didn't think it was necessary.
They weren't going to the up and coming rookie quarterback
that they drafted. There was not a situation where it
was him being bench was going to change anything for

(01:10:51):
the season. I feel like a little bit of last
year was rather to do from that. Now. I have
no idea what the Giants are doing in a situation
is a money thing. It doesn't make sense. And I
don't have a problem with him trading O'Dell because that's
they got pieces back and they felt like they needed
to move on from him and O'Dell's going to go
on to successful career and everything's fine. But fans don't
want to just win. That shouldn't be your standard, like

(01:11:12):
we're gonna we're gonna win some games. Yeah, they don't
have a plan. You gotta show fans you're headed in
a direct and he's saying basically that fans need to
be patient and New York is just not a patient place.
Everyone knows that. Finally, we can add Blake Bortles the
list of Sean McVay believers. He signed at the Rams
last night to be the backup for Jared Goff and Bordles,

(01:11:34):
who's throwing motion has been picked apart by a lot
of people, believes that mcvagh can revive his career. Um.
I mean it's a one year contract, so it's not
something in the world. It's a good, solid backup for
for Jared Goff and he's at this point in his
career he's going to be a vagabond that signs for
one year. That's what he is. That's what he's becoming.
Just nothing against them. He made a lot of money,
but this is what he should be signing one year deal, right.

(01:11:56):
I mean, he had more than enough time in Jackson
Milt to prove that he was and good players around him.
By the way, it wasn't like you was on an
island out there enjoy with the news. Well that's the news,
and thanks for stopping by the Herd. Josh Harris is
the running back who called out Big Ben for intentionally fumbling.
I think it's a jaw dropping claim. I don't know

(01:12:18):
if it's true or not, but he's going to join
us next via Skype. That's coming up. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter
ninety Empacific men and women across America upgrading from the
tattered multipack Underwood Tommy John Tommy John dot com. Code
Heard gets you twenty percent off your first order. So
there's a story Ezekiel Elliot. It's been with the Dallas
Cowboys for three years or not paying him anything one

(01:12:39):
more year than an option year, and there's discussions in
Dallas what you should do with Zeke long term because
you're gonna have to pay him a fortune. Let me
tell you one of the secrets the smart teams in
the NFL do, and I watched it in free agency.
If I was a Dallas Cowboys today, I would sign
Ezekiel Elliott now before I have to. One of the
secrets the smart teams and they do it in the NFL.

(01:13:02):
Sign your own stars early. Take it on the chin
for a year, but by year two, three, and four
for running back, you're stealing money. Zeke is great. And
this whole thing about we pay so much attention to
quarterbacks and wide receivers A B and Derek Carr, Baker
Mayfield and O b J. But quarterback and star running

(01:13:24):
back equals wins. It just doesn't get the headlines. Drew
Brees was just padding stats in New Orleans. They got
Alvin Kamara. They're good enough to win the Super Bowl.
Patrick Mahomes with Andy Reid is one of the most
talented young quarterbacks since Brett Farve. When Kareem Hunt got hurt,
that's with Tyreek Hill, with Andy Reid, with Travis Kelsey,

(01:13:48):
with all those guys. When Kareem Hunt got hurt, his
completion percentage dropped five percent, passer rating down fifteen points,
passing yards went down forty a game, and they were
four and three without him. And that's Patrick Holmes with
great players around him, Dak without Zeke two years ago,
five touchdowns, seven picks, passer rating dropped to the mid seventies.

(01:14:09):
Andrew luck last year, last eleven games went nine and two.
Why remember he got to a bad start. Then the
Colts got red hot. Why the emergence of Marlon Mack
At the end of the year, Colts got a running game.
Marlon Mack emerged as a running back for them, and
Andrew Luck's numbers exploded. Quarterback wide receiver will always get

(01:14:31):
the headlines. Perimeter players, ob j Antonio Brand Relick track stars,
big sixty seventy yard touchdowns. Those don't produce wins. O
BJ's last sixteen games with the Giants that were four
and twelve his biggest games. His ten biggest games there
were three and seven. Running back quarterback equals wins. Mahomes

(01:14:52):
never the same last year when Mahomes left, Dak's not
the same without Zeke. Jared Goff was not nearly as
dynamic in the last seven weeks when Todd Early had
his arthritis. That just got reported. Andrew Luck popped when
Marlon Mack emerged. And by the way, the Steelers had
Antonio Brown for fifteen weeks. What they didn't had as
Lavan Bell. They missed the playoffs, all right, So if

(01:15:16):
I was Dallas and Zeke, I'd sign him early. I'd
sign him early. Second story, you know, a couple of
years ago I took my used to work for Disney,
and I took my kids to like Disney World, and
you know when you're an employee about the VIP pass
and stuff, and you got like behind the scenes look
at Disney, right. And the good news is we could

(01:15:38):
go in the roller coasters over and over and over,
didn't have to wait in lines. It was awesome. The
bad news is it doesn't feel quite as magical when
you see Goofy with his head off smoking during lunch break.
It's just a place with roller coasters. The magic wears off.
And Paul Pierce yesterday talked about Lebron James and much

(01:16:00):
like Jeff van Gundy said, well, here it is. If
the Lakers get the number one pick, what are they
gonna do? What should they do? If the Lakers Gotzi,
here we go. I will trade Lebron James. At least
he kept the real out here. I'm just you're talking

(01:16:24):
about three years left Lebron for fifteen years left of Zion.
Let's go. And here's what's interesting about it. Paul Pearson
Jeff Van Gundhi have suggested move on. Walt Frasher called
him a bad leader. Unnamed NBA executives last week said
they wouldn't trade for him. Local LA media is saying
he's disengaged for the first time in fifteen years. The

(01:16:47):
magic's gone and it's not returning. Once you see Goofy
and snow White out of their outfits smoking during lunch break,
Disneyland's still cool, but it's not as magical. And that's
the reality of where we are with Lebron James Wow
titles mortal. Don't get me wrong. They may add a player,

(01:17:12):
they're not going to add two. They may add one.
It'll be fun. But we've seen Goofy smoking, We've seen
snow White knocking down a butt light at lunch. They're
just characters now and they're mortal, and they're not magical.
And Lebron, for fifteen years, there was an armor. There
was an impenetrabile, impenetrability, there was a bulletproof vest. It

(01:17:36):
was it was magical. Like we used to say this
all the time, You could put Lebron on any team
and they get to the finals. He is on any
team and they can't make the playoffs. In fact, they
may end up as the second worst team in the
National Basketball Association, third worst, fourth, So the magic's gone.
The body armor, the superhero. It's all been exposed year.

(01:18:00):
It doesn't mean Goofy and Snow White and Lebron. It
still works. Lebron's twenty eight, eight and eight guy, But
you can't deny this. It's not the same like this
year exposed stuff. It's not the same. And the qualities
of Lebron. Like when Michael Jordan moved to the Wizards,

(01:18:21):
he was still really good, but he wasn't bulletproof, like
he lost the armor. He couldn't finish in first or
second in his division, forget the conference, he couldn't make
the playoffs. And Kobe in the end with all those
players he scored sixty was still great, but they were awful.

(01:18:42):
And that's where we're at with Lebron. They're gonna reboot
this and they're going to add a player. It's gonna
be Anthony Davis, and they're gonna be more interesting. But
you know, you see a Disney character having a smoke break,
it's hard to convince your twelve year olds really it's
a Goofy likes nicotine. It doesn't work. It just you know,

(01:19:04):
believe me, I was there. It just it's and yeah, yeah,
snow White's got an addiction. It's not pretty kids. But
you know, but by the way, my kids still like
going there. They still like the rides, they still like
the log flume, they still love the food. It's not
like it's not like, well, won't watch Lebron and it
won't be entertaining, it will be it just magical. No,

(01:19:26):
it's not magical. We moved out of the magical stage.
And that's okay. By the way, did I tell you
I had dinner with a key NFL executive Joy last night?
Do you know I picked up the check? I know
you should should I because I was the one looking
for information. So if you're the one seeking something from

(01:19:47):
the dinner, you should pick up the tab. Is that
how it works? Because I kind of wanted Roger Goodell
to pay for it, so so I was I was
trying to secure information for the show, right, So so
how do you do you go into the dinner with
that in the forefront? Or you just went as yourself?
And then people should just assume that if I had

(01:20:08):
a goofy mask on, what do you mean did I
go as myself? I mean everyone knows you are you
pick up your phone every day and say, like, someone
just text me and this is what they text me.
You don't ever say who? Right? No? I went, No,
I went because I like this person. But he's also
a valuable resource full of brilliant knowledge. Right, so he

(01:20:28):
knew that you were going to use some of that
that brilliant knowledge for the show. Well I'm not sure. Okay,
Well then yeah, you're right. We actually invited each other.
Greg said, who invited who? So if if he would
have invited me, should he have paid? Is that how
it works? Yeah? I think that's fair. I think he didn't.
I split it. You know, I'm very giving. Hour three

(01:20:48):
is coming up. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week within the
iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand
whenever you like our three. Here we go. This is
the Herd, wherever you may be and however you may
be listening live in La I Heart Radio Fox Fox

(01:21:09):
Radio FS one. I gotta read this joy Cold and
flu season, try vic synex nasals prey twelve hours. When
congestion strikes. Out of the winter now kind of moving
into the spring. A lot of colds out there and
Flues stuff. Cousin Sal is coming up at the end
of the show, New Show, lock it in here, and

(01:21:31):
he's gonna come in. I'm very excited for the tournament.
I make nope joy and I are a more NBA
fan than college fan. But there is something incredibly magical
about the bracket. I love watching the tournament. Do you
let you love watching it? It's so much. It's so
much five million games at once, and I just love urgency.
So yeah, it's and the feeling that there will be

(01:21:51):
an upset and you're getting to see players that you
don't normally get to watch on the highest level, and
you really get to watch a lot of the future
of the NBA. So yeah, it's great. So Duke should
win Best Players A cousin seal, Kenyon Martin former number
one overall pick Kenyon Martin and all the Doc Rivers rumors,
Cousin Sal again going to be here. But pretty interesting
Lakers story that I woke up to this morning, So

(01:22:14):
I'm gonna start there. Suddenly all sorts of stuffs leaking
for the Lakers, Doc Rivers, maybe the next Laker coach.
That story was broken by a series of people won
Peter Vessey. This is, by the way, no shot on
the reporters. Peter's terrific Hall of Fame a writer. That
story just now coming out, multiple sources. Oh, it makes

(01:22:35):
the Lakers look desirable, doesn't it. The great Doc Rivers.
Another story comes out in the last twenty four hours.
Kobe Bryant bashes the young guys and says, of course
your trade kuz MAlonzo and brandon Ingram for Anthony Davis.
It's one of the best players ever, one of the
best players in the world. Why did these come out

(01:22:56):
because somebody wants him out? Okay, I live in Los Angeles.
The last two weeks, this has become an anti Laker town,
anti Lebron. I've never seen this team get this kind
of press. It's been a disaster words like, you know,
Titanic disaster, hopeless over as the Clippers in the same

(01:23:19):
building are going to make the playoffs. The Lakers have
a narrative problem right now. They got a narrative problem,
so they send that word out about Doc Rivers. And
I don't think Doc Rivers is going to coach the Lakers,
but it makes it look like the Lakers jobs now
very desirable. I mean Doc Rivers won titles, He's up

(01:23:39):
for Coach of the Year. He's an all time NBA guy. Oh,
he'd leaves Steve Ballmer and Jerry Wast He'd leave a
playoff team for the Lakers. Do I think he's gonna
leave the Clippers for the Lakers? No, I don't, but
they put a face and a name on the coaching search.

(01:24:00):
It's now exciting people talking about Doc. Similarly, Kobe Bryant
still has a lot of juice in Los Angeles. One
of his best friends is Rob Polinka. That was his
agent forever. Polinka. There's no way Kobe would have said
that to hurt his friend Rob Polinka. But the Laker
front office, Magic and Polinka have gotten Claubert in the

(01:24:21):
press nationally, regionally, locally for all those trade rumors. Not
saying it's all their fault, but it made the papers,
and the sense is it's crushed the season. So when
Kobe comes out and he has juice and he says, hey,
come on, of course you trade those guys, It's like, yeah, yeah,
Well Kobe's right, yeah, Like I mean, obviously you can
blame the trade rumors, but this is called spinning. This

(01:24:44):
is why companies put out pr and they drop bad
news on Friday and give you good news on Monday
so the media can talk about it. Listen, the last
six years, the Lakers have the worst record in the NBA.
I'm not joking. Worse than the Knicks, Worse than the Sons,
were aston Orlando, worse than Sacramento, worse than the Hawks.
They do I'm not joking. They were swept this year,

(01:25:06):
but the next last six years. Steve Balmer across town
with the Clippers is a billionaire. Genie feels like a
really rich millionaire. The Clippers have traded their four best
players in the last three years. They're still making the playoffs.
Lakers have Lebron can't make the playoffs, roster advantaged Clippers
front office Jerry West against a former agent and magic
advantage Clippers. Listen in their own city. It's been a

(01:25:28):
bad year. So when I see stories come out, and
congratulations to all the reporters included in this. This is
not an indictment on them. Stories leak when people want
them out, and this is a classic. Doc is interested
in the Lakers. Do I think Doc would leave the

(01:25:50):
Clippers for the Lakers. No, I think he has a
very strong relationship with the Clipper owner Steve Balmer. I
think Doc and Jerry West are very respectful of each other.
I don't think Doc and Lebron would work, to be honest,
Doc has a strong point of view. Doc's not going
to count out anybody. Doc's one of those guys that
comes in your building and he brings his own guys,
sort of like Lebron. I don't think it would be

(01:26:12):
a perfect fit. Lebron likes to have a little power
over his coach. Lebron is not going to control a
team and a bench or that flight when Doc's on it.
I don't think it would work. I think it's a
tasty rumor. And I do think Doc's in his mid
fifties and fifty five year old men. Notre Dame football,

(01:26:34):
Yankee baseball, Laker basketball. Those are powerful, romanticized brands. But
I think what you have with the Lakers is a
massive power struggle where Genie Buss likes the young guys,
owns the team, likes Luke Walton and wants growth and
stability and magic and Rob Polinka want to win, so

(01:26:56):
they go to Kobe. They can put stuff out and
it's It's a power struggle. And when you have power
struggles my entire life as a reporter joys a reporter.
You seize on those and people give you messages they
want out. This last couple of months, I've had more
text more calls, more people can connected to Lebron and

(01:27:18):
the Lakers and Magic. They want their stuff sold to
the public. So I just think it's more than a
little coincidental that docked the Lakers and Kobe blasting the
young guys, and I shouldn't say he's blasting the young
guys wildly over the top, supporting publicly Anthony Davis move
is not a coincidence. By the way, stuff yesterday that

(01:27:43):
was happening in New York on Eli manning the franchise
is speaking of you know, Lakers Giants, these big iconic franchises,
that the Giants are kind of melting down with Eli.
You know my takeaway on it. Dave Gelman came out
and he said, as Joy played the bite earlier, you
know we're rebuilding and you don't have to lose. Here's

(01:28:03):
the thing about Eli. I mean, you can go look
at the league average and Eli's numbers. Eli is not
always terrible but if you look at completion percentage, passing yards,
a game passer rating, and ted interception ratio, and I'll
put it on the screen for our FS one audience,
he's literally at the league average. He is on all
of those. He is like the completion percentage in the league.

(01:28:23):
Eli's at sixty three point The league average is sixty
three point one. He's not atrocious, but he's mostly a
shadow of himself, and he's very expensive. Here's the thing
about the New York Giants, and I'm surprised by this.
If you look, I'm a big believer and go to history,
what has history told you. NFL teams that have moved
off popular aging quarterbacks have always been rewarded. Kansas City

(01:28:49):
had Alex Smith and was winning, was going to the playoffs.
Alex Smith was winning enough games to go to the playoffs.
They moved off him. Gutsy moved for a kid from
Texas Tech. It paid off. The Cowboys moved off wildly
popular Tony Romo for DAK. They've won the division two
of three years. Baltimore Flacco Super Bowl MVP gone lamar

(01:29:13):
in Oh he No, I got better? Peyton Manning to
Andrew Luck Now Peyton. Manning had a couple good years,
But what would they be today if they still had Peyton?
They would be awful because he's retired. That worked far
gone Roger's inn. That worked. Find me the veteran quarterback

(01:29:36):
passed his prime in aging that a team moved off
of and it was a failure. There's not a lot
of examples in most instances when you move off the
veteran quarterback, even a guy like Flacco, Super Bowl MVP
Alex Smith gets you the playoffs. Far still the best

(01:29:56):
arm in football when he retired, I mean he was
still there was no Cam Newton. He still the best
arm in football. Joe Montana, Steve Young. Find me the
examples of moving off an aging veteran quarterback past his prime,
replacing him with a talented young guy and it just
blows up. It almost never does. That's why I said,

(01:30:18):
you draft Sam Darnold last year, you sit him on
the bench all year, and reports start emerging in New
York Darnald looks great at practice. Sam Darnold is amazing.
Giants go five and eleven, move him out of town.
You draft Sam Darnold, sit him, You make sure the

(01:30:40):
reporters start leaking stories. Darnald is unbelievable. You play Sam
in preseason, you play Samon situations to excel. He looks good.
You get the narrative. Then you lose with Eli and
you say we love you, bye bye, and maybe Eli
goes moves down to Louisiana, backs up Breeze Saint's hometown. Whatever.
The whole point is, look at history. History tells you

(01:31:04):
how stuff works. You move off the veteran guy you
almost always you almost always do. Okay, there's very I mean,
you're sure you could find me one. But the Eagles
moved off Donovan McNabb and they won some games, and
now they're as good as anybody in the NFC. You
can move off the icons. It's okay, far McNabb, Peyton Manning,

(01:31:25):
Joe Montana I said before, had they moved off Brady
a year ago. To Garoppolo, you probably don't win the
Super Bowl. You probably don't, but you wouldn't have known
that at the time. But you didn't won games, and
you'd have been fine. You want to move off earlier
than later in this sport, like almost oway's earlier than later.

(01:31:46):
So sometimes the Giants just wear me out. On some
of this stuff. They're so fear based, Like, stop trying
to validate what ELI is. I just showed it to you.
He's the league average and you're paying him, you know,
twenty six million bucks. He's average. You don't want to
be average when you're going up against Carson Wentz. You
don't want to be average, going up against Sean McVay.
You don't want to be average, going up against Brady

(01:32:07):
and Ben and Deshaun Watson, and you don't want to
be average. It's all he is. Stop trying to validate
keeping Eli and not drafting Sam Darnold. Coming up next,
Kenyon Martin thinks Paul Pierce is out of his gourd
trading Lebron. That's up next. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart

(01:32:29):
Radio app. Welcome back butcher Box. If you haven't tried
the delicious, high quality meat butcherbox dot com Slash Herd
free ground beef for the life of your subscription twenty
bucks off. So I'm bringing in Kenyan Martin. By the way,
kam Art, listen to this. I read this. I saw
this this morning. You're the last American born college senior

(01:32:50):
to be drafted number one because everybody leaves now to
and you would leave now, I would have to why.
I probably wouldn't be read as a fresh I't I
wasn't ready as a freshman yea or sophomore, Like I
feel like I couldn't. I play it hard. I was
athletic and gifted, but I had to work on my
offensive game. So that's why I stayed around college like

(01:33:12):
and it benefited me, Like I went from averaging three
points as a freshman to nineteen as a senior. What
about Zion? Would you leave or stay? I'm out of there.
Like all the hype and all the things that's surrounding
basketball nowadays, it doesn't get more better than that. He's
gonna go no more, no matter who, because it's at
this day and age, it's about putting bodies in the seats,

(01:33:34):
and people want to see him play. So you wouldn't
stick around if you're a Zion, No, not at all.
You can. There's no need to right now because it's on.
They're gonna pick holes in this game. The longer you
stay in college, no matter how gifted you are right now,
it tells you to leave because they're gonna just pick
holes in your game. This everything that you can't do
like this, say, if he doesn't develop into a good shooter, well,

(01:33:55):
I'm saying within the next three years, the NBA is
gonna say, all right, we're done with you. But if
you're in college, they just, oh, well, he can't shoot.
He hasn't got better, so his draft stock will fall.
What do you think about his game? I like him.
He's aggressive, he imposed his will on people. I need
to see more because right now you just have this
twenty five game analysis that you have to go on

(01:34:19):
right now. I just need to see more. But I
like his energy. I like how he approached the game.
I like his his attitude, how he speaks about his teammates.
Hey wants to be there with them. And and in fact,
he could have shut it down. He could have easily
shut it down and listen to critics, listen to people.
But he's a competitor and he imposed it and he
approves that every time he steps on the front. From

(01:34:40):
what I've seen, by the way you you made a
comparison during the break, people forget there were Skinny Shock
and then La Shack. He's got. When Shock broke into
the league, you were there, Yeah, he was dominant, like
like he was. Shock would get the rebound and push it.
And I'm saying the Orlando clips, Like he said, so
you cover the magic. So I'm saying them clips of
him and Orlando getting the ball off the rim, push

(01:35:01):
the floor. Yeah, making passes and making plays on the break.
Look at Zion Zion just six six that might be
a knock. I'm saying that might somebody might have a
knock on that that he's six six six seven, however
tall he is, but he plays big, play plays beyond
his size. Um still has body. I'm saying, baby fat
on him. Man to him, you get to the league,

(01:35:21):
you really start eating and pay attention to your diet
and like, so he's gonna staying out. He might grow somewhere.
He's only eighteen eighteen years old, so he might grow somewhere.
You never know, you know, Charles Barkley is only about
six four and a half. Yeah, and he dominated the league.
Man then posed his will at a time where basketball
was more physical. So we'll see Man, but he's gifted

(01:35:41):
as they come. Um, not too many people can jump
off each foot and attack the rim in that manner.
You know. Uh, he moves without the ball too, Yeah,
which gives him an advantage. But now he has a
motor man that you you can't teach that. You can't
coach that. So you can help him become a better shooter.
But that's what something he can work cat getting up
a thousand shots today. You know I'm saying things like that.

(01:36:03):
You know, he can get better at that. But you
can't teach people out of play hard or that mode
or that will to want to go out and compete.
You can't teach that. Well, you've told me this before.
Not everybody loves a game, not at all. Like Lebron
coming comes into the league. You're like, Oh, this kid
loves the game. He loves the game of basketball. Zion
loves the game of basketball. So his upside is tremendous.
So I'm excited for him. Man. Hopefully that it translated

(01:36:25):
and then the Skies a limit for him with a
lot of work. All right, big rumor in the NBA
run it this morning, so it has to be true.
Doc Rivers rumored potentially headed to the Lakers. Would you
do it if you were a Doc would you do it?
If he was the Lakers? Would you do it if
you were the Lakers? I like Doc is good, coach, good, motivated,

(01:36:46):
a great person. But what has Doc done with the
talent that he's had besides the one Celtics team and
you got potentially four Hall of Famers, great defense, his
mind and tips. You thought he underachieved a little with
the talent that he's had. I'm just saying, if I'm

(01:37:08):
the Layers, i just don't see the need for Doc rivers.
What I'm saying, So you'd go tight Lou, you'd go
kiss the other way. I'm I'm not saying those I
got great relationship with those guys, but I'm explore other options.
So maybe a new face. So you never know. I
just do you think Doc you know his personality? Do
you think Doc and Lebron work? Because Doc's not gonna

(01:37:30):
get push around, dog, gonna do it his way. So
so with that aspect work, you know, I don't know.
So so it's so it's a lot to go into that,
but I just don't I don't see. I think it's
just moving furniture. To be honest with you, I'm saying,
I think you're just moving the chair here and moving
the table and calling a new look. And I'm saying, like, hey,
I got a new apartment. Like no, you just moving

(01:37:50):
furniture around. I'm saying, you added the chandelier like na,
that's like, that's just But Doc's great, motivated, good people person.
I get all that. Yea, So maybe they're looking at
that aspect. Maybe he can develop the young guys, but
you're trying to ship the young guys. So so what
is it. I'm saying, what are you doing here? You
know what I'm saying, what is the plan? If that
is the choice? Like, what is the plan there? I

(01:38:12):
like that? Moving to furniture. Paul Pierce, he was a
very good player. He's out of the league. Now he's
a broadcaster. I was talking, Uh, somethink it's nonsense. Others
may buy into it, but it's increasingly we're hearing stuff
like this. Here's Paul Pierce. If the Lakers get the
number one pick, what are they gonna do? What should
they do? If the Lakers got there, gonna take Zion?

(01:38:34):
But here we go. I would trade Lebron James at
least out here. I'm just you're talking about three years
left Lebron for fifteen years left of Zion. Let's go.
Will you make of that? Paul out his mind? Man Like,

(01:38:56):
just like Paul I, you just give people sometime to think, man,
and you overthink. And this is when of those situations
are overthinking, Like why would if you you need a
Lebron James with a Zion Williamson like Lebron can make
Zion better? No question? Attribute is what passing Lebron James

(01:39:19):
like he wants to get off the ball Zi as
an athlete likes to run, get out on the wing. Hey,
here you go, young fellow, go do your thing. I
get in a half quest, but I'm gonna help you
get better and transition and all that. No, it's absurd
man to think that you would trade Lebron James if
you had the number one pick unless you get in
some who as you're gonna let you get in, Katie,
I think that all is back for that pick, multiple

(01:39:40):
teams involved, and Paul is out of his mind. Well,
I will say this Lebron and Zion. I actually think
I didn't think this was a great year for Lebron
as a leader. I thought he was a little distracted
this year at going on, going on a lot of projects,
and then the injury happened. Year it's a bad Yeah,
so it's there's But actually, if you told me there's

(01:40:03):
an NBA star that will play with Zion for the
first three years in his career, I'd probably pick Lebron. Yeah, definitely,
Why wouldn't you? A smart guy knows the league. Here's
how to grow up. I've been came in with the
same height, like like, dude, he would be a great
Like Kawhi Leonard doesn't talk, Kyrie's a little flaky, Kevin
Durant's a little odd steph or Lebron would be perfect

(01:40:26):
for Yeah, so so why not I just yeah, or
going to a situation where you got a Greg Popas
as your coach, like, but happen, that's not gonna happen.
So but now, I just think it'll be the right
fit if if the Lakers were somehow to get the
number one pick. But they're not gonna get the number
one pick. So all right, here we go. Now it's

(01:40:48):
time to get uncomfortable. Uh, everybody I bring on in
the NBA, I'm the bad guy because I'm critical that
I've said this, Westbrook's a talent, but he's on hinged
and when you get into the playoffs, composure, self awareness,
you know, control your emotions. These are close games, the

(01:41:09):
best coaches, the best players. So Westbrook has a technical
the other night, loses it against Clay Thompson, who's not
an easy guy to like, get suspended because it's a
sixteen technical. They lose last night at home. They're one
game out of the eighth spot. That was a big lot.
Now they played Toronto back to back games. Would you

(01:41:31):
at least acknowledge that composure is a part of basketball
and that Westbrook at times is unhinged. I'm glad you
started with one keywords you use in your first ding.
What playoffs? Right? Okay? I would bet money the same situation.
He could be at that technical threshold whatever it is

(01:41:53):
for the playoffs, right, and he would react different. You
think he knew he was doing this to make a point, Yeah,
to make a point, like he didn't get the tech
because he hit Clay. He got the tech because of
what he said to the ref called a bleeping fire
and said it again. That's what got him to tech.
You know what I'm saying, so you think he's got
more control than I do. Yeah, I do. He's like

(01:42:14):
people don't get like he's smarter than what people give
him credit for. I'm not No, I'm not saying it's
not intelligent. So that's a smart thing. Yeah, So that situation,
I think he knew what it was. And then the
fact that he was kicking himself after the game, trust me, Like, man,
I'm saying, I got to deal with this, and then
they turned around and lose to the Miami Heat. It's

(01:42:37):
now he's even more kicking himself. I'm saying, like he's
he's mad at himself, trust me. Like I didn't be
in the situation where, Man, I ain't get suspended, but
like I got kicked out of the game, probably need again,
whatever the case may be, and I'm mad at myself.
Trust he's mad at himself for the whole situation of
putting himself in that situation. And then you got to
answer the questions and then your team messed around and
lose and now you said you won game out of
eighth like so so now it's a lot of implications

(01:43:00):
at that suspension other than you just getting suspended. Trust me,
he regrets it, but you would rather have him that
way than not. I like the kno part. Now you
can't like the knock part. I don't like the unhinged part.
You have to he wouldn't be the same Russell rust
brook Well James Hardened is more saying not the same

(01:43:20):
kind of It's a different approach, right, I'm saying I
wouldn't have been the same, but I was without that edge,
Like I wouldn't have been in the league if I
hadn't had that edge. My talent wasn't enough just to
get me there. His talent not just enough to get him,
but you got had it. It's something other like it's
intangibles that come with that talent. Did you ever play

(01:43:41):
with a guy that was on the edge and sometimes
the edge heard him? You know, I covered on the
edge more on the team, No, two of us wouldn't
work on the same Teamsheed Wall two two of me
on the edge, now, that wouldn't work. So that's just
on enough room for one Canyon one, Russ one, Rashid one,

(01:44:01):
Dennis Rodman one, Draymond Green on the team where they
got two Now like Boogie, well, there's only one room.
It's on the team like room for one of us
on each team, I think. And so when you were
going through these things and getting teased, were you aware
of it or was it I lost a little control.
Sometimes I'm aware of it, and you're making a statement

(01:44:22):
all right, like I didn't did stuff too like like
I feel like I got filed on one end, right
and like they didn't call it. So the person who
filed me got the ball another end. So I'll make
it blatant what a foul is and look at the
rev to you that that's the foul. That's not that,
but but it might be a hard foul with a
result in the tech. What I'm saying, like that's a fact.

(01:44:45):
I'm making a statement. That's not a great statement. It's
a great for me at the time. It's an immaculate
statement because you understand what I'm doing, what I'm saying
to you at that time, what I'm saying, like, so
you blew that call another end, it might have been
a touch fire, Okay, I get it, but it was
a fire. I just said, Kenyon, Well I was a coach.
I'd just said fewer statements. Give me fifteens what I

(01:45:07):
would have told you, what sit you down and leave me. Yeah,
that's what you'd told me. What straight up? Man? Leave
me alone. Man, you're very tough to coach. Straight on
he used to get along with. But if I'm about
to listen, if I'm making a statement, and I'm I'm
doing my job each and every night, listen, when the
night that I didn't show up, I didn't do my job. Now,

(01:45:28):
you always played hard. I did my job each and
every time I stepped on the floor. I knew the
game plan. I was gonna bring it each and every night.
So like easy to coach, I don't have problem with
one coach who not saying his name. He doesn't marrit
me saying his name again. One coach evan life. Everybody
else's playing basketball since I've been nine years old. One

(01:45:51):
coach on one coach had that that I had a
problem with. So what does that tell you? Most like
your statements and the way I played game of basketball.
It ain't bout my statement. This is to what I
can do for you with in that ninety four fifty
is what ken you can do for you. I ain't
get it. Ain't gotta like me. That's fine. I might
not like you. I would have sat you down a

(01:46:12):
few times. I made my statement, and then you would
have had another problem to deal with. And that's management,
because listen, and that's management. Though it's about wins and
loss that I can't make a statement as a coach
and you and you lose it. I Kenny, and I'm
gonna make a statement. After your statement, come sitting next
to me, and you lose it. Whatever. Yeah, sometimes you
gotta make a statement. Yeah, okay, me too, Kate mark

(01:46:37):
the news. Now this is the herd line. You are
not confrontational an that I would say, Kenyan, please, would
you come sitting next time? And he's doing statements, I
want to do statement. Yeah all right. So coming into
the Sea the season post Kawai trade, a lot of

(01:46:57):
people thought this person would be struggling this season. They
beat the Warriors last night, Pop and the Spurs clinched
their twenty second straight season with a winning record nine
straight wins. Yes, the last time the Spurs didn't have
a winning record was ninety seven, which led them to
drafting Tim Duncan with the number one. I always wonder
like when you're Greg Popovich, obviously the best years and

(01:47:18):
when you win a title, but there's got to be
something pretty cool for pop I lose Kawai, I've got
to kind of reboot my franchise. Is when a coach
goes like I've heard coaches say this. Jerry Tarkanian once
told me this. He said, you guys always in the
media think my favorite teams are my best teams. He goes,
my favorite teams are my teams where my guys play

(01:47:38):
hard and I get every bit of energy out of
every player. It's not just my best teams. For Popovich,
we buried this team this year. This kind of feel
great for him, Like Kawi went to Toronto and they
kept demor like now they got something back. But what
I'm saying like the moreno slouch, multi ye all star

(01:47:59):
like such. So Papa great coach. He gonna makes you
get the best out of his guys each and every
time he step on the floor. So yeah, I'm not
going to end up. I mean, they may the West
is very game, the game, how those how the standings
are moving around. Yeah, well, but I mean the Spurs
are also a very quiet team in general. Last year
they weren't with right. So I mean as far as

(01:48:22):
like the media burying them, it felt like they were
going to be struggling more than they are, Like, and
they quietly do this every single year. Yeah, But as
much as we talk about watching the playoffs or what
the league is gonna be like without Lebron James, what's
the thing you gonna be like without Pop? It's going
to be strange, right, Like, we never really think about it.
He's just so consistent. Seventy two I think, right, he's

(01:48:43):
seven years. I'm obviously not talking about Pop retiring or
anything like that, but it's just like, isn't that It's
never really a conversation, and they're they're so consistent. So
Luke Walton's days are likely numbered with the Lakers, and
their next candidate might be in the same city. Peter
Westy is reporting that Doc Rivers has reported mutual interest
in the job. He wrote to a confidant he almost
always has wanted to lease the Lakers, and conversations over

(01:49:04):
the year's Doc frequently expressed an ardent ambition to coach
either them or the Knicks before retiring, if for no
other motivation than they are worldwide brands. When we were
just discussing this with Kenyan, I don't understand this is
it possible, And again, this is not an attack on
Peter Vessey. I'm not invalidating his story, But is it

(01:49:26):
possible Doc's looking for a raise in an extension or
something this would get it? Right? I'm not. I'm not
saying that's true. It's it's a mutually sometimes again, stuff
leaks when somebody wants it leaks, right. Is it possible?
I mean sure, I'm sure it's possible. I don't, I don't.
I don't know why the Lakers would be interested in
Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers is a great coach, but there

(01:49:51):
can't be any transition period or adjustment period with whatever
coach they bring in with Lebron. It has to be seamless,
which is why it's either got to be a former
Lebron guy or someone that Lebron has a very very
close relationship with. I don't know what his relationship is
with Doc Rivers, but I imagine since he's coaching the
Clippers and they're having some success this year, even after
moving off was arguably the best player and Tobias Harris,

(01:50:15):
what is what's going to happen there? Like, it has
to be seamless. It's we watched what happened with Lebron
and the Lakers this year. It's it's win now time,
So I don't I just don't see how this makes sense.
And finally, Odell claims he's going off the grid. He
wrote a lengthy message on Instagram this morning within image
of a just black box. He said, PSA, I love

(01:50:36):
you all so much. For the ones that follow in support,
I thank you all for that. I'm taking an emotional, mental,
physical vacation. I appreciate the love honestly, but at this moment,
for the next couple of days, I'm going dark. I
won't be around phone was gone. With all due respect,
Please don't text, call, face time unless it's utmost importance.
I really need some time to vibe and just get
away process we evaluate some of the things in my life.
As much has changed for me recently, seems I'm going

(01:50:57):
to announce for two days, I'm off Instagram. Just go Yeah.
I mean, I think everyone I don't know. I mean,
I don't know how often Adel post, but I think
everyone would probably just assume that he's taking a little
vacation if he just didn't post for two days. Yeah,
but maybe he just really needs a break. I don't know.
I sympathize with players when they're traded in general. Now

(01:51:19):
this is while we're all talking about it, like it's
oh Adels who Cleveland, He's gonna be the Baker playing
with Jarvis and you know they were great other great
offensive pieces and exciting. It might not be that necessarily
throw down. We haven't really heard from him. All we've
heard from him is immediately when the trade happened that
he's still processing it. He is moving from New York
to Cleveland's that's quite a move. It's his whole life

(01:51:40):
is being uprooted. Now. No one's shedding any tears from
my understand, but there is a personal transition that's going
on there, and I don't think that as fans and
the media, we take enough time to know that. I
get it, but it feels very Hollywood needy. Hollywood people
always announced their leaving Twitter, and I'm always like I'm
with you on that, like it's will pay, Everything's gonna
be all right, you're not on social media for a

(01:52:01):
few days. But I do think bigger picture, this is
what he's alluding to, that there is a lot of
things changing and this is the space that he's taking
like whether you need to if you can announce, if
you could announce you're leaving Twitter for two days, If
I announced I'm leaving Twitter for thirty minutes, is that needing? Like,
what's the what's the line of I think if you

(01:52:21):
are going to be significantly absent from social media for
a few months there you can make that announcement, like
when Lebron always goes dark during the playoffs, like that,
I take an announcement, you know, it's time to lock
down for the playoffs. Love y'all, I love you guys.
Not going to be around two days though, you know
that to me is makes sense. But I'm also not
criticizing him because I really think that's what's going on.

(01:52:43):
All right, joy with the news. Well that's the news,
and thanks for stopping by. By the way, my new
Year's resolution, I didn't announce it at the time, but
my New Year's resolution was to cut down my phone time.
And I have a thing on my phone which tells
me that I'm reducing it. So every week I get
an announcement, You're down, this, this, this, this, I have

(01:53:03):
been down I would say ten straight weeks. I'm down
to like a minute or an hour fourteen a day.
And I say that all for Big Jay journalism. Well,
I know when I do it. When I get home,
I work out, sometimes, shower up, grab something to eat,
and that's when I'll spend an hour on my phone
reading kind of like you know, the columnists I want

(01:53:26):
to read and getting stuff in my head before I
go pick up my son, go, you know, do whatever.
So I'm down to an hour fourteen a day. No,
it's not terrible. I was. I was at almost at
four to start the year. I should have mentioned. Odell
does have twelve point eight million followers on Instagram, so
that's a lot. There's maybe a few people that want
to know where he is. But coming up next, Cousin

(01:53:47):
Sal on the tournament. He bets for a living. He's
a professional better he'll tell you who he's betting on.
He's also a comedian, so he's a funny professional better.
Most are angry and isolated loner. He's the opposite of that,
so he's very rare. Cousin Sal's coming up. Be sure
to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays in Noun
Easter ninety Empacific. Today we're doing bets for last cousin

(01:54:12):
Sal who is it should be noted, a professional gambler.
I asked him off the air a couple of minutes ago,
do you bet every day of your life? And you said, oh, absolutely, yeah,
I have to. I have to. And I you asked
me what I do best at what I'm scouting the
college wrestling lines this year this week for the tournament.
I'm not joking, Joy, Yeah, he said he bets lacrosse
and college wrestling. Not a joke, Joy, I take Iowa

(01:54:35):
in college wrestling always. It doesn't matter. They're gonna pin
and they're gonna win all their matches. I love coming
on here. This I've tweeted. This is like when Lavernon
Scherler used to visit Happy Days, but with a little
less making out. I hope, I don't know right. That
went way over every millennium's head and totally landed for
Thank you. You've got a bet the house contest on
Lock it In. Now. You've done this before I did.

(01:54:57):
I did this two years ago. I am wagering while
I'm wagering, but you could fill out a bracket on
Fox sports dot Com. Marco's Pizza is sponsoring it. Yeah,
the best bracket gets ten thousand dollars. If you fill
out a perfect bracket, you get my house. And I
did this, like you said, two years ago, and I
almost got divorced. But then through therapy, the therapist actually
said it brought us closer. So here I am. We're

(01:55:19):
doing it again, so you will get your house, which is,
by the way, in a beach community not far from
where I live in Los Angeles' by the way, some
of it's luck. Warren Buffett has done something similar to this.
Let's talk for a second about like like Duke four
NBA players. Yeah, clearly the most transformative college player in
you know, since like Latner or Shack or whatever, odds

(01:55:44):
Duke should win, right, I think? So what the Zion's
most amazing talent is getting people to root for Duke?
He has the ability. It is like and you know
it's wrong, but it's like when the eclipse comes out
and you're like, I shouldn't look at it, but I
have to. I know it's morally wrong and it's gonna
blind me. But here we are looking at Zion. Okay,
so joy, are we doing a game here called what

(01:56:04):
are the odds? Yes? We are all right, we're doing.
Here we go. Here's how it's gonna work. I'm gonna
tell you about something crazy that could potentially happen in sports,
and you tell me the odds of how likely you
think it is what happens. So, what are the odds
of Lebron getting traded in the off season? South? Oh? Man?
I mean it just it can't happen. But I'm gonna
put it at fifty to one odds only because these

(01:56:26):
players they wake up unhappy. He might just say, I
don't like the way my keen was prepared in LA.
I want to be traded fifty to one. Yeah, you're
again the expert. I would say one hundred to one.
I think culturally it would be hard to do because
it would be acknowledging if your Magic Johnson. Remember Magic
gave himself two years, right, You'd basically be acknowledging that

(01:56:47):
your first plan whiffed. I think that's hard for people
of magnitude and stature like Lebron. What's the next one?
I'm gonna put that in impossible. What are the odds
of any team but Duke winning the men's NCAA tournament?
So all right, So Duke is like plus two twenty
five plus two fifties. So tell the audience what that means.
So that means if you put a dollar down, you'll
win two two dollars and fifty cents on Duke right now.

(01:57:10):
If you get it at a shop, it at the
best place. So if you're going against Duke, you probably
have to put four and a half dollars down to
win a dollar. I think Duke's a fairly secure pick. Yeah,
you know, without Zion, I think they're three and three
with him. They've got two losses. One was bizarre, one
was the Gonzaga when they went hero ball late in
the game. I think they're an overwhelming pick. I do.

(01:57:33):
I will tell you Carolina matches up with them surprisingly well, yeah,
that's who they want to avoid. But those two teams,
and I think like three or four others are the
only ones who could really put together the stretch of
six wins. All right, what's another one? What are the
odds of Baker and O'Dell winning a Super Bowl for Cleveland,
not just this season, but any season? What would you wow? Well,
this season, I mean, they are the betting darlings. Everybody

(01:57:55):
loves Cleveland, which is weird. Because they were a square pick.
There were I'm sorry they were a sharp pick before that.
They're about fifteen to one to win the Super Bowl
this year. So if you go over there, let's say
this is a four or five year plan, I say
eight or nine. I met ten to one. I would say, wow, Okay,
so I have a theory. I would say fifty to one.
And here's why the last twenty years. Think about who's

(01:58:18):
won the Super Bowl. Yeah, either the last name is Belichick,
a hardball, Sean Payton, an Andy Reid, disciple, Tony Dungee.
You're seeing a plan here. Sure, we get caught up
on quarterbacks. When is the Freddie Kitchens as their coach?

(01:58:39):
To win the Super Bowl? You have to win Sean Payton, Belichick,
Pete Carroll, Mike Tomlin, Tony Dungee or somebody close to
Andy Reid or a hardball. I don't. I think they
have very little chance because I think end of the
year they're gonna face in the AFC a Belichick, a
Tomlin and Andy Reid and an emerging Frank Reich as

(01:58:59):
a good coach. I'd say fifty. Maybe they need they
need to get one of those guys. The Kitchens might
be on a short least one or two years. I
think you're probably right. All right, What are the odds
of the Dolphins winning their division with their new quarterback?
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Oh fitz Magic, Oh man. I would say
something like fifty to one. What do I have it at?
I think fifty to one. I don't know. He can't

(01:59:21):
do it, right, that's a well at upside is a
seven or eight win season, right? My takeaway if Brady
doesn't get hit enough, if the old line for the
Patriots was a year to year proposition, Tom gets hurt,
he's out, then you got a real shot. But you
have a first year quarterback. Brady never gets hit. Brady's
a three step get it out to Edelman. I think

(01:59:42):
it's fifty to seventy five to One's probably where I go.
Would you get them four wins this year? Yeah? I
think they're a four win team. Yeah. I want to
ask you about a couple of things about this. So
lock it In is going to Vegas? Right, So, for
years and years I knew you as a friend to
Bill Simmons and then a friend to Jimmy Kimmel cousin.
Actually you're a cousin to Jimmy Kimmel and before now

(02:00:06):
you have to explain them. We only have a minute
or so. You were a gambling degenerate. Sure related to Kimmel. Right, then,
how did you get into comedy and that stuff? Uh?
You know what? I always just Jimmy did. Uh he
was he was fired from seven different cities in ten
years on the radio. And I would always do like,
uh bits parts and I would do impersonations and stuff

(02:00:26):
like that, and he said, why don't you come out
to Hollywood and you can get a writing job and
from there, you know, it helped me pay for my
terrible gambling problem. So that was nice. So who do
you have in your final four? I have a Duke
Kentucky per Due, and I'm going Nevada. The last six
years there's been a seven seed or higher in the
final four, So that's that's my Nevada's got Eric Musselman

(02:00:47):
as a coach. Yes, really smart, really intense, that pretty
good size that I didn't watch a ton of them.
When you go home tonight, will you just watch a
random college wrestling match? No? I might. I might go
on YouTube and do some investment. You do that? Yeah,
of course. Yeah, you bet every day. Yeah, I'm betting
my house. How stupid is that that really is? Yeah,

(02:01:09):
you're taking it to a different thing. I'm gonna move
in with you. You have fourteen rooms, right, Yeah, that
was my final question. Where the odds of someone moving
in your guest room after someone takes it out? By
the way, we are we have we have a theater downstairs. Yeah,
I mean it's six seats. Let's not go crazy. It's
not college wrestling finals on. We don't do YouTube. We
only watched like Super Bowls and Big Ten Champions. Okay,

(02:01:31):
Lock it in live from Vegas tomorrow through Friday here
on FS one. It's cousin sal That was our bets
for last watch lock it In. Great show, great chemistry, Clay, Travis,
Rachel and Todd. Todd is gambler, but I think more sensical.
Not a shot at you. No, no, no, I understand
Todd's coming out of his basement for the first time

(02:01:51):
in eleven years to join us. You're good, We'll see
you tomorrow. There

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