June 15, 2026 • 42 mins
Colin Cowherd reacts to the Knicks winning their first championship in 53 years and why this team’s improbable comebacks in the 4th quarter were a mentality instilled by their star player Jalen Brunson.
Thoughts on Team USA's huge win over Paraguay
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It is a Monday World Cup underway. The United States
men's national team. Get to that in a second. Are
they just gonna.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Breeze through their group?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may
be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
One hour from now, Colin right, Colin rowng plenty of both.
So let's let's wrap a bow around the NBA season
and what the New York's Nick did. And I think
one of the reasons they were a pretty likable team
and the ratings were so big, they weren't your classic
(01:07):
we're going to go buy stars. Virtually every move the
New York Knicks made to build this team was questioned.
I mean, obviously they fired they fired Tibbs. People weren't
sure about that. Go back and look at the columns
the Karl Anthony Trecht Towns trade. Well, they had to
give up Dante Divinceenzo. That didn't go over well Jalen
(01:28):
Brunson free agency. Most people thought, why overpaid McHale Bridges.
Remember they gave away five first round picks. I mean
I remember saying I like it that that as a
haul for McHale Bridges. I mean, og people liked it,
but he had been banged up in Toronto. You weren't
quite sure, and you put this team together and everything
(01:51):
had been questioned. And so even though you had, like
you know, Kat was a former lottery pick and Bridges
was a top ten pick, it was mostly doubted. Eye
rolled people moves trades. Even the head coach, Mike Brown.
Nobody liked it. And it created an underdog mentality. So
(02:12):
you know, the never give up Knicks is not just
a slogan, it really is their reality. A lot of
that guys, these that were doubted on this roster. Now,
did they get some breaks.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
They played three teams in the playoffs coming out of
a grueling seven game series. They stayed away from injuries,
They remained very, very healthy. They gained some momentum in
the atrocious Eastern Conference. And it should be noted san Antonio,
as I said before the series was a was a
better matchup for the Knicks than Okc. Okac had been
(02:45):
to a championship final. Okac had more depth, more experience.
All that youth really came unraveled, especially in fourth quarters
in this series. But another thing I really liked about
the Knicks is this champion and this team was about culture,
not a boring, analytic led, repetitive three point shooting contest.
(03:10):
This was about grit and it was about hard work
and culture and the Villanova guys. I mean, the NBA
regular season becomes so formulaic and so repetitive. I mean,
the Celtics a few years ago got to the finals
and the ratings weren't necessarily that great the year they
won the championship. It's just the same offense, follow the leader,
(03:34):
small ball, three point shooting. The Knicks are not that.
The Knicks are their own team. They're led by a
small guy, not a center, not a wing, an undersized guy.
You know, we thought they had defensive liabilities and instead,
I mean they were the number one defensive team in
the entire playoffs.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Is that crazy?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Better than Oklahoma City, better than Detroit, better than San Antonio.
We looked at the Knicks and we're like, I said
this all year, like if Cat and Brunson are on
the floor at the same time, you're like, I don't know. Also,
this team pivoted multiple times. They came into the playoffs
very Jalen Brunson dependent, and then they pivoted early in
(04:17):
the Atlanta series to having Cat initiate more offense, and
then the Spurs sort of figured that out, and then
they went back in the last two games of this
series late to being Jalen Brunson dependent so offensively, defensively,
they made all sorts of adjustments coaching adjustment in the offseason.
There were chemistry issues. There were reports late in the
(04:40):
regular season like defense and chemistry and the rotation, and
all of it vanished.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
So I just like the humility, I like the hard work.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I like a group of guys, I mean, even Brunson
and his dad easy to wrap your arms around that.
Here's Jalen Brunch and the MVP on winning the title.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Eleven players in NBA history have a forty five point
game in the NBA Finals and you're one of them.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
What did it take to get that done tonight, everything.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
I was just trying to go out there just just
will us to win. Wasn't focused on anything else besides
trying to win the game. Uh, getting stops, getting on
and running, just figuring out how to cut that lead
or to gain it. When we got it, really exciting moment,
moment knowing that we just we won't give up.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know, the reality of being a columnist or a
talk show host is you have a show the next
day or a column the next day. But it is
interesting those Nicks moves, all of them by at least
some of us, were panned, Like I didn't like the
TIBs move. I'm like, you just got to the conference finals.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Like like what Mike Brown's been fired multiple times. Mike
Brown was the first choice. I did like the Michale
Bridges move. But my first round picks is a ton
Jalen Brunson. Nobody thought he would be this other than
his dad, you know, Dante DiVincenzo. They lost him. I
remember when Hartenstein left, ok see. I remember being on
the air and saying, oh man, that's a big loss.
(06:15):
That is gutting. So doubted the entire time. They were
only a third seed in the East, so not all
championships looked the same. Good for the Knicks. All right,
let's talk to the United States men's national team. By now,
you know we won, but it isn't that we won. Okay,
we said Friday on the show, we think we'll win.
(06:37):
It was how we won that was the smoothest first half,
the slickest, the best aesthetic, the most creative. I mean,
until Friday, I always thought we labored to score goals
even when we won, right, we wouldn't get that many
great looks. Certainly an open play highly dependent on counter
(07:01):
attacking and set pieces and corner kicks, but the ability
to dominate possession get great looks. You know, I always
felt when I watched soccer United States, we had some athletes,
but we were sort of wooden really, where we were
a little rigid, and we'd get opportunities and we wouldn't
(07:22):
take advantage of them. And Paraguay, by the way, beat
Argentina and Brazil and qualifying, so they're more than capable.
Not a dynamic offense, but more than capable. But great athletes.
Here's what they have in common. You can go to
Mike Trout in his prime, Mookie Bets, MJ Dirk Noovinski scoring.
Great athletes make plays look easy. It's like man, and
(07:45):
that's practice and repetition and skill. And you can also
tell from our attacking style that our coach believes in us.
For years and years, everybody wanted to blame a Klinsman.
You can Burrhalter. The truth is our coaches did not
employ and attacking style because we couldn't.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
We'd get burned.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
We had to play counterattack, conservative, rock, fight, win one nothing,
set up pieces. That's not what this team is. Valerin
Ballygan is a remarkable striker and then you have Poulisic
splitting the defense has always been really playmaker and goal scorer,
(08:23):
but primarily a great point guard who needs a guy
that he can set up and depend on. Baligan had
two goals. We haven't had a multiple World Cup goal
scorer since nineteen thirty. So if you thought to yourself
watching this man, it looks smooth, it looked different, you
are right. We didn't look this creative. We weren't filled
(08:47):
with this many playmakers. I know you said and felt
and talked with friends. Man that first half that's as
good as we've looked. Your eyes aren't fooling you. Balligan
was a very good youth player, a striker, a goal scorer,
and he chose Us over England because he would have
probably been there second or third. He is our one,
(09:10):
And I mean, I just thought it was a thing
of a thing of beauty.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
It's not that we won.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It looked had you taken our jerseys off and put
on Argentina or Spain, you would have said, oh, that's
what they look like. Overwhelming Paraguay'. That's what Germany has
looked like through the years. That's what England will look
like in some of their matches. That's what Argentina has
looked like. Where you're like, oh, dominating possession man when
(09:36):
they get opportunities they Now, do you realize Polisic, how
many shots did Polistic have in that zero Who's got
zero shots on goal?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
We had four goals.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
That tells you the depth of talent, depth of talent
Alexi Lawa's Polisic.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
After I mean, I think that's the greatest half of
group play from a men's team at a World Cup
in history. Everything went right, total dominance from top to bottom, it's.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
Pretty special to watch. It's it's fun to look around
and know that there's different guys that can get can
pull off these different skills and moves and things going on.
It's great. It's great, but more, you know, than just that.
I feel like there's such a good connection between us
right now. I really liked the way even battle Agan.
I mean what you'll you know, everyone to look at
the goals, but the way he's fighting against these center backs,
(10:33):
holding up the ball, getting fouls. You know, Surge, all
these guys, Malik had a really good performance as well,
so they all deserve a lot of credit.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You know, they call it a beautiful game, but be
really honest, ours wasn't that beautiful? It wasn't we won
by rock fight, counter attack, you know one nothing cross
your fingers. We said that Friday, that was the beautiful game.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
That's what it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Looks like, the passing, the fluidity, the open play, opper
tunities seized. That's what I said in an essay about
a week ago. I think we can seize this World Cup.
Doesn't mean we necessarily win it, but we take advantage
of opportunities us soil and that's what it looks like.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Jamick. That was fun.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
We were texting during that thing. That was about as good.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It was the best half of soccer by the United
States men's national team ever, not just offensively, just fluidity.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
The way it looked it was absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 9 (11:25):
Yeah, the scenes in the stadium, Colin, were unbelievable. I mean,
just an absolutely electric performance. I've never heard so far
that loud for sports. On that second Ballogan goal, it
was just like, holy cow. Once you put three on
the board and a half, it wasn't like, oh, maybe
we can hold them off. It's like, oh damn, we
got a squad. We might make a run here. Colin,
(11:47):
I'm already looking at tickets for the round of thirty two.
I will let you know because we're winning the group.
By the way, on Friday against Australia, that's a lock.
We're winning that game. Hey, quarterfinals are busted. We look
like a legitimately awesome contender.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And it's also I noticed this against Germany. So let's say,
let's talk boxing. So you know when Mike Tyson's in
his prime, is that you had to be very careful,
even if you thought you had a length advantage and
an experienced advantage. You know, Larry Home and old Larry
Holmes fought him and stayed at bay for rounds and rounds,
and then Larry got greedy and Tyson knocked him out.
(12:24):
Like you paid respect to Mike by your style against Mike,
is that you always just you had to kind of
even if you had late length advantages, you always sort
of kept yourself at bay a little bit attacked, move
away from Mike, or if you did, you clenched him.
You got really close because you knew of his power.
(12:45):
Watched Germany when we tied it against Germany, and you
go back, They're not as aggressive against us, And that
is the advantage of the respect being paid. When you
are gifted, you can't cheat. You can't be overly aggressive.
When we would play before this World Cup, when we
would play a Netherlands or a Brazil, a Spain, when
(13:06):
we would play them, why weren't we super aggressive? That's
respect that they have better talent, they have better personnel,
and that's what the great players do. It's not just
that you play them, it's how you play them. How
do you formulate your game plan. You could watch our
dominant time of possession, not only against Paraguay, but also
(13:27):
the corner kick advantage and the time of possession advantage
against Germany and countries. Now watch them play us a
little bit differently, not as aggressively, because they know in
open space we can burn them.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We have that skill level.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I mean, dest was unbelievable. Pulse was unstoppable, Colin.
Speaker 9 (13:46):
Did you hear the comments the Paraguay coach made about Pochettino.
He was like, dude, we got embarrassed. Pochettino watched their
earlier meeting. I think they met in November and adjusted
everything and Paraguay was just caught flat footed.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
They had no noh.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Answers, Colin.
Speaker 9 (14:01):
It was just relentless from our offense, and like you said,
we've never seen that before.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
From the USAT, be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and noone Eastern non am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 10 (14:16):
Steve Gotts here, I have a podcast Empire. It continues
to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me
out of the house. It's called Stegts and Company Live,
which is available in podcast form right when the show
finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports.
(14:40):
A lot of phone calls.
Speaker 11 (14:41):
I love you on your show. It's one of my favorite.
Speaker 10 (14:43):
A lot of interaction, sit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
expect from Stu Gotts and Company and Stegotson Company Live.
So listen to Stu Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and re Steve gottson Company and God
Bless Football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today
(15:06):
and you can check all of those out on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, the thing about Jalen Brunson, it's interesting the Dallas
Mavericks have moved off Brunson and Luca. They don't have
much to show for it. My takeaway in the playoffs
and the league overall is the NBA season now we
look forward to a very stacked draft. Is the best
players are the international players. They've won eight straight MVPs,
(15:39):
especially the Biggs, Wemby, Jokic, Jannis Jannis. There's a lot
of rumors about where he's going. They dominate the bigs.
They're more skilled, they're more mature. I mean, we have
players like Zion and John Moranth that just can't get
their act together.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
You don't deal with a lot of that with international players.
My question now is, if you consider everything fourth quarter efficiency,
overall efficiency, leadership, durability and shot making, is Jalen Brunson
the second best domestic player?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Now?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Ant is a better defender, more athletic, similarly clutch, very efficient.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I think he's harder to coach.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I think there's some baggage with him, But I think
Ant's our best domestic player. I think of yes, GMS
thirty two, thirty of thirty would take you know, not
the Knicks, but everybody else would take Aunt. But if
you start going to the second best player, well, what
about Jalen Brown. He's not that efficient. He's not and
he's not a great clutch scorer as well. Jason Tatum.
Tatum is strangely passive, and now I have durability issues.
(16:40):
I love Kate Cunningham, but I have to admit Brunson
is a much better personal shot creator. Cunningham can create
for others. I love Cunningham. He is a big, strong body.
He's going to wear well and play for a long time.
But if I need a bucket in the fourth quarter
and I don't have a screen, I'm taking Brunson and
used to I mean Donovan Mitchell awful defender, and I
(17:02):
mean Donovan Mitchell efficiency mid fourth quarter, clutch mid. So
you start looking around, and I mean one of the
ways the Knicks made me really reevaluate basketball is look
at out unathletic. The Celtics look in their front line
compared to the Knicks og cat skill, Robinson's toughness, even
(17:26):
Josh Hart plays much bigger than he is. The Celtics
are like Tatum and Brown. They gobble the cap up
and then you're left wondering, do we got to go
get Yannis. So I just think I look at Brunson,
and we know the international players are the best in
the league. But again, what makes a good basketball player
to me durability. I've said this about Luca well, I
(17:46):
would take Luca over Brunson right well when he's available.
And at least Brunson, although not a plus defender, gives
you effort like Brunson's thick, it's hard to move him.
He gives you effort like Luca doesn't. And Luca is
less durable and less available. And you know, and again
(18:06):
we know Luke is not a domestic player, but you
start looking at the entire package. Brunson won in high school,
he won a NADDY in college. Three of the four
years he was in Dallas, the Mavericks. One he wins
a title with the Knicks. He is a winning basketball player.
I think a lot of it's just IQ. I think
he's smart. I covered his dad briefly. Dad was smart,
(18:27):
low key, chill, work hard. I mean you start looking
at people that have a Finals MVP and NCAA title
and a College Player of the Year, and not a
lot of them. Kareem Walton, MJ. Brunson. Here he is
on leading New York to a title.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Where's gonna describe it, but I'll say I put a
lot of time and effort into trying to be the
best player I can be to try and help a
team win. Just really thankful to have the organization, the
(19:04):
coaching staff, my teammates to have my back every single day.
I think that means the most to me.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
It's interesting the most fourth quarter points in the playoffs
since twenty twenty three. That's you know, that's when Brunson
joined the Knicks. Not only does Brunson have the most,
he's double half the field. I mean, look at the
people he's ahead of, Jokichen, Tatum, Sga Aunt Edwards. Yeah,
and I've always I always thought he was a very
(19:34):
good player, but you could attack him defensively, but I
thought he played pretty good defense in the playoffs. The
Knicks as a whole play had a certain fabric that
was hard to tear. They just kind of played collectively.
And remember that's getting rid of Tibbs, the defensive mastermind.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So you know, I'm Joe.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I joined the chorus of people who always like Jalen Brunson.
But I always thought, well, he's not Tatum, he's not,
he's not Ant, he's not.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
There's a lot that he is. And it's pretty clear.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Jmack with the news, No, no turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
This is the herdline news.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Because a lot of times being wrong is okay. And
it's like with Jalen Brunson, I'm wrong. He's a great guy.
Makes me happy, Like right, he's a if you're gonna
be wrong on somebody be wrong on a villanova guy
that's easily embraceable.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I'll be wrong on that all day.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
A lot of people were wrong on Brunson.
Speaker 9 (20:23):
I mean, you've seen the clips they cut up on
the internet about how bad the signing was. Like Brunts,
it out exceeded all expectations.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Yeah, all right, let's go to the World Cup.
Speaker 9 (20:31):
Hey, I don't know if you were up for this
super late on Saturday night, but Australia, one of the
biggest upsets so far in the World Cup, takes down
Turkey A to nothing in what I thought was a thriller.
Australia plays a weird brand of soccer. We'll talk about
it in a moment, but here is the game winner
in the seventy fifth minute to ice it.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Here's the call from Fox's Jackie Oatley.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Now now it's opened up a little bit for ROSSI
Australia's tip.
Speaker 11 (20:58):
End of it to.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
How Australia aren't Green and Gold heaven of the World Cup?
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Love?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Hey my bentch con met cop.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Now listen, Colin. This was a shocker.
Speaker 9 (21:15):
A lot of people had Turkey A being a major
challenge to the US and the group now it's Australia
that sets up Australia US Friday, three pm Eastern from Seattle.
Fun fact, we had tickets to that game. We were
gonna go, but something else came up so we're unable
to go. But that the ticket's very tough to get
in Seattle, Colin.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 9 (21:37):
Australia plays like a five to four to one. They
just hunkered down defensively and are like, come on, penetrate
us Turkey.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
I saw one thing.
Speaker 9 (21:45):
Turkey A had thirty shots on goal by one metric
thirty twenty in the second half because they were desperate
for the equalizer.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
I've been doing some homework here.
Speaker 9 (21:53):
Any early pick for you from you on a USA Australia.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, I think the Australia plays they know they have
certain limitations, and I think we have more overall skill
and talent, and I think this is big and I
think it played out Friday. I think playing on your
home soil gives you an energy boost and a confidence boost.
I mean, you don't want to go out in your
home soil and be passive. I thought we were super
aggressive against Paraguay. I've never seen US be that aggressive
(22:21):
against anybody. And I think a large part of that
is the confidence Pochettino has in US, and the second
part is we're at home. You know we're not going
to come out. I mean it was it was like
Connor McGregor fight. I'm not waiting for round two, like
I'm coming out and establishing I have more talent, I'm
more physical, and I think some of that it is
(22:41):
easier to.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Do that at home.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
The home crowd energizes you, and I think against Australia similarly,
will be very aggressive.
Speaker 9 (22:47):
Yeah, Australia plays like a heavy defense, similar to like
a Japan kind of similar to Paraguay. But Pochettino adjusted
against Paraguay.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
I think he'll make adjustments here.
Speaker 9 (22:58):
There are some interesting advanced stats that say, uh bet
the under as the US, Like nobody expected US to
score four goals. Nobody had Australia scoring two goals, So
I bet the under under two and a half goals,
probably on the US side, obviously, obviously. All right, let's
move to the NBA and a questionable report here from
your buddy Bill Simmons.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
He's claiming that the Celtics have made an offer for Giannis.
Speaker 9 (23:25):
No, nobody else is reporting this, But you know Simmons
is a Boston guy.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
We'll see they say Tatum's.
Speaker 9 (23:31):
Untouchable, So that would mean it would have to include
Jalen Brown. You're not getting Yiannis for like Derrick White
and White.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And Platter and yeah, I mean it would be Jason
Tatum and Yannis. And I think two things make this possible.
Number One, when they moved off of Porzingis, I thought
they lost some athletic ability in their front line. Boston
does not look athletic enough to me outside of Brown
and Tatum. It's very cap heavy, top heavy. They've got to.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Get more athletic.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
And the Jalen Brown Tatum thing, I mean they moved
off Marcus Smart. Remember this, When they moved off Marcus Smart.
They like Marcus Mart but he was taking shots away
from Tatum. Well, now Brown is taking shots away from Tatum.
At some point you look at Tatum and go Tatum
is strangely passive. And Jalen Brown's a really good player.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I mean, I wouldn't have a hard time moving off him.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I would for Jannis, but Jalen Brown is an excellent player.
But when he came out and said this year was
the most funny had and he didn't play with Tatum
and he got to run the offense.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
That's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
So a lot of times you got to see around
corners nip stuff in the bud before it gets big.
I think the Brown Tatum combo it got your title.
It's time to move on. And I don't think Milwaukee
can get anything better than Jalen Brown.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
That's a nice question.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
So you just saw the Knicks build around Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Hey, we have a weaker defensive guard.
Speaker 9 (24:50):
We need bridges next to him, we need og a
great defensive wing.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
They built around him.
Speaker 9 (24:55):
Wisely, do you think the Bucks can build around Jalen Brown,
who's going to be making like sixty one million. He's
not taking a hometown discount like Brunson.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Okay, but the reality is you'll get draft picks. That's
what you'll get. And I think their big problem is
they've taken a couple of swings. They waited too long.
Chris Middleton got old fast. Dame was a big swing,
but they had to give up Drew Holiday and I
think it works for Boston when you when I watched
the Knicks and I said this last week. In the
week before, I could not stop thinking about the Celtics,
(25:24):
who are absolutely dependent on the three. They're two stars,
don't necessarily fit together perfectly. Tatum is strangely passive, so
brown like Marcus Smart takes shots from him. And I
also thought when they lost Porzingis, say what you want
about Porzingis and his history of health issues. When he's
on the floor, he's seven one, seven to two, can
(25:46):
can shoot. Is a striking figure, is imposing like Porzingis
is a real player. He's had a kind of a troubled,
underwhelming career, but when he's on the floor, he's dangerous.
I think Jannis and Tatum you jump level with that.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Well, probably you need to round up the roster. But
let me ask you, the only.
Speaker 9 (26:04):
Other team being rumored in the mix for you, honest
is the Miami Heat. They have nobody to offer coming.
I'm sorry, Tyler, Hero is not enough for me in
a package. They don't have that many picks. Colin, I'm
telling you there's a mystery team out there. I don't
know who it is.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well, but this is not.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Adding up the date. It's the Heat or Celtics, I
don't remember.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
This is not a typical draft, Jason, this is a
great draft, So getting an extra draft pick or two
in this draft is substantial. Who's got a couple of
first round picks?
Speaker 5 (26:34):
You're both.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
That's what's interesting to me. So what that Because this
is a draft where you will get two starters and
guys that can play immediately out of this draft. The
first ten picks, first nine picks, those are all day
one starters and really good players with several potential star players.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
So I think look at.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Teams that got a couple of picks, or because next
year's draft is awful, they're saying it's like an awful draft. Now,
I think if you kind of look it, I don't
think it'll be that bad. But this year's is great.
So I mean, Yannis, when you watch wimby play, it
does enhance Jannis's market, Yeah for sure.
Speaker 9 (27:10):
All right, let's go to the final story, and it
is the NBA draft, Colin.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
It did fascinating stuff here.
Speaker 9 (27:15):
According to Shams, the NBA reporter recently this morning, he said,
Darren Peterson's only working out for one team, and that's
the Washington Wizards, who picked first. Darren Peterson will not
meet with other teams. Now, the favorite to go first
is aj Debonza, who has already met with the Wizards
and the Jazz who picked second.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Now, I don't know if that was a favorite of
the Jazz. He's a BYU guy.
Speaker 9 (27:39):
But this is interesting that Peterson's saying, I'm only working out.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
For the Wizards.
Speaker 9 (27:45):
Does somebody know something because our staff is saying Deboncea's
minus five hundred to go first. Something is going on.
I don't know if this is posturing. Listen, I told
you Darren Peterson head to head has cooked Aj debonson Now,
obviously the draft head to head shouldn't mean everything, but
I wonder if the Wizards are saying we want Peterson.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
And de Bonce against to go to Utah.
Speaker 9 (28:08):
Nothing about Carlos Boozer yet, remember the draft numbers, The
analytics guys all love Boozer. So this is, like you said,
a top heavy draft. But what do you make of
Peterson given the stiff arm to the Jazz, Grizzlies, Bulls,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I I think Peterson's got the highest ceiling. Yeah, I mean,
I think he's the most exhilarating watch. But there's concerns
I have with health and plays very much individually. De
Bonce is good, not a great shooter yet, catch and
shoot guy. He's a very good player. Is he a
take over the league guy? I don't think so. I
(28:44):
think he's a very good player that'll be an all star.
Cam Boozer is not super athletic, but I do think
he'll end up being an eighteen to ten guy and
a winning player.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Boozer will be a winning player.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I've told you the kid out of Illinois, the guard,
I think he's just Oh, I think he's just Boggler's
an intro.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
I really like him.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
I have a feeling like I could see a really
good team moving up to get him and then eventually
moving off one of their expensive guards. I think mar
the center's fascinating. Cayleb Wilson, we've talked about out of Carolina,
who is crazy springy, and I think we've seen about
sixty percent of his game.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
So there's a lot of guys to like in this draft. Totally.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Jmack with the News, Well that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
What'd you guys make of it?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Because English is his second language when Wemby said, appreciate y'all,
see you never. That did not go over well with
a lot of people. Some thoughts on Wemby, I don't
want to be too harsh. Second language, I don't know,
see you never. Maybe in France it means love you deeply.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I don't know. I just what he said it.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I'm like that was clunky and he seems like a
nice kid. I want to talk about Wemby, Colin Wright,
Colin Wrong top of the next hour.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Somebody be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noon Eastern non a em Pacific.
Speaker 9 (30:12):
The FIFA World Cup on Fox is rolling on today.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
Three more matches Belgium Egypt at three.
Speaker 9 (30:19):
Eastern on Fox, followed by Saudi Arabia, Arabia, Uruguay and
Iran New Zealand on FS one.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
So the Spurs did lead for three times longer than
the Knicks in the finals. I mean they led by
double figures in the fourth quarter twice and lost both games.
I don't think there are certain stats that sound more
impressive than they are, like in the NFL, to say, well,
(30:49):
our quarterback have passed for the most yards, so you
trailed a lot late in games is what you're telling me, right,
you know? Or completion percentage for a quarterback, Well, our
guy completed six. See your quarterback then throw the ball
down the field. He doesn't throw people open. It's a
lot of underneath stuff. The edit thing with the NBA stuff, well, leads,
(31:10):
we led for a lot of this game.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Leads evaporate now in minutes. It's like a boxer talking
about winning the punch stats, who knocked down?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Who? Like?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
There are things that I think do matter in the NFL.
Time of possession generally tells you your offensive line is
controlling their defensive line. Time of possession can really matter.
Most good teams have a strong time of possession. Most
teams are very good on third down. But the whole
thing about well, the Spurs led.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
For a lot of this series.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
These are long games, young, youthful team. Our only question
about san Antonio in the whole series was their youth
and decision making. What did we say before the series?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You knew this.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Nicks are a great fourth quarter team. You do not
want to be tied. If you're san Antonio with your
youth in the fourth quarter, that is not o winning formula,
you got to have big leads against the Knicks. They
are the best fourth quarter team and they got tons
of experience.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So here Wemby said.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
This, and to a lot of Nick fans and a
lot of fans, this was a little off putting.
Speaker 11 (32:25):
One of many things I learned is the margin of
error is very very thin. Our domination stints are absolute.
We absolutely, absolutely dominated for most of the series. But
our errors, our mistakes are punished so hard that we
(32:49):
can't have ups and downs like this so so much.
You know, the ups are okay, the downs, it's is
the reason we lost again.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I don't want to hear about your punch percentage. I
don't want to hear about that. If the other guy
knocks you down three times, he won the fight. Even
in soccer, time of possession matters, but I don't care
about it if they're scoring quickly, which a lot of
great players and great teams do.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
In the final two minutes of this series, Wemby hit
one basket Jalen Brunson seventeen points over fifty percent field
goal rate.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
One was dominant, one was a no show.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Here's the other question about Wemby and he was my MVP.
I think he's the greatest defensive shot alter ever, not
even close. But there's so much physicality now allowed in
the NBA finals. I mean, the games are really go
to the first quarter of Game one, you could have
(34:03):
blown the whistle thirty five times.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
It was brutal.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
In fact, you could argue the officials really at times
were less responsible than they should have been. In the
fourth quarter they really a couple of times. Even announcers noted, guys,
you're shirking your responsibilities.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You have to call some of these fouls. It's brutal.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
But if you look right now, go to the last
eight NBA champs, how many are led by centers. And
Yannis isn't the center. He's got the ball in his
hands too much. He's more of a wing player. He's
a forward. Tim Duncan was a big. You know, Yannis
is long, but he's ball centric. The only center to
(34:46):
win a title in the last eight years a team
led by a center is Jokic. And again, Jokic isn't
your classic back to the basket big like in Achem
or a Ewing or a Shack or a Moses Malone.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
That's not what he is.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
He has the ball in his hands, he's facing the basket,
high pick and rolls, shooting jumpers, offensive hub, great distributor.
So Wemby is never going to be that, and it
kind of runs counter to what we like our bigs
to be. One of the reasons Shaq is so beloved.
He was so powerful, the dominating backboard, breaking dunks.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
That's not what Wemby is.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
He is going to face the basket, high pick and
rolls a lot of threes. One of our last eight
NBA champs is led by a center, and he's an international,
non traditional center. In Jokic, I covered Sabonis, he was
a center much less athletic because we got an old
r Vidas Sabonis in Portland. When I covered him, he
(35:41):
was old and didn't move particularly well, but he was
the best passer on the team. Sabonis was he was
the best three point shooter on the team. I'm not kidding.
So it was like I didn't even look at him.
And now he matched up with Shack pretty well. And
because he was slow footed, he was kind of a
classic center. But Wemby's never going to be that guy
of established the low block, the NBA is almost officiating
(36:05):
as if they don't want that. They want a wing guard,
ball handler league. That's the way it feels like it's
officiated the forceful player, the forceful big.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
And I'd argue this.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
The game is so fast now that older Shack would
not have been as dominant. I'm not sure if young Shack,
Orlando Shack could have kept up with his pace. But
this pace right now is not built for slow footed,
heavy back to the basket bigs. That's not the NBA now.
The pacing is incredible. It's why Gallay's soft tissue engine injuries.
(36:40):
So I don't think Wemby's ever gonna quite be what
we're used to or what we want.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Necessarily.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
He is a finesse player, and you could see it
throughout this series with the officiating. He just could not
get his spot. He could not solidify consistently his spot.
Nicks just pushed him out of the way. So I
was thinking about this with the United States men's national team,
and we've got Alexi Lawless coming up in a couple
of hours. Brian Scalabrini, those are Jannis rumors to the
(37:08):
Celtics are out there. We put so much emphasis on
Christian Polistic on not only being our setup guy, our playmaker,
but our goal scorer. And he's been able to do
it and when he scores, we win. But we need
him to do both. I think the thing that really
jumped out to me, and I'm sure Jason has pointed
this out. Balligan really is a difference maker. So he
(37:33):
played as a youth for England and US and he
was up. Nigeria wanted him, England wanted him, he chose
US he would be our number one striker. And what's
that mean? He's our goal scorer. He really is a
natural goal scorer. Polisic can score goals, but he's actually
(37:53):
if you look at Polisic style, he's a creator. And
so we got sixteen shots in the game, Polistic had
none of them and we scored four goals. So that's
really the difference to me. Even if you go over
to ac Milan, if you really look at what I
mean the numbers, he had the second most assists in
the Italian league over the last three years. He had
(38:15):
a scoring drought, he didn't have an assist or set
up or playmaking drought. So Polisic has always been able
to score because we've needed it so greatly from him.
But Baleran, now this adds a dimension. This is our
cleanup hitter. This is our striker that we've never truly had. Again,
Clinton Dempsey could score. Polisic can score, but it doesn't
(38:39):
feel like it's his natural inclination. He's a great setup guy.
I always said this about Magic Johnson. Magic could give
you forty two in the finals. But Magic's what was
his career average, eighteen nineteen points. Magic needed worthy to
seal the break, he needed Kareem at the low post
(39:00):
could score, but he was never a great jump shooter.
He could finish on the break, but if you made
the game a half court game, Magic wasn't as valuable. Yeah,
he was eighteen nineteen a game as a score. Kareem
for the longest time was the all time scoring leader.
So it's like policit can But I to me, my
takeaway Friday is, oh, this is this is a different
(39:24):
and a perfect ideal setup for Policic. Here's the coach
po Chattino on US fan support, Friday was.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
A great match. Was amazing for our funds to see
how to watch this type of game. And today I
seen I am so proud, and we are so proud,
(39:52):
all because I seen we are winning a lot of
funds adding funds in the in America.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
You know, I hear this a lot from American sports fans.
I heard it this morning and he said, I wish
our best athletes played soccer. Actually, if you did cone
drills and vertical jumping. Our American teams have always been athletic.
That's never been our issue. We were skilled, not as much.
I mean, if if soccer was a long drive contest,
(40:24):
we'd be fine.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
It was our putting and chipping that wasn't very good.
It's it's been the lack of skill on ball skill.
But we've always been athletic. We've always had guys. Dempsey
was super athletic. I'm never worried about that. Josie Altador
was I always thought was kind of stiff. He wasn't
a fluid athletes, a big, strong athlete. Our goalies have
always been hyper athletic, Tim Howard, So that's not it.
(40:49):
You know, people say, well, what off our NBA guys
played soccer? Well, I mean, I mean when I was
a kid, I always thought much more athletic people fought.
I always think like, how many great heavyweights have we had?
How many great tennis players? When I was a kid,
I always felt we had more, you know it, ebbs
and flows. But I don't think by any stretch we're unathletic.
(41:14):
When I watch, I don't see that. I think, actually,
our speed is way above average. I think we're a
team that can really move that. That's not what I
worry about. We're not old, you know, brittle, unathletic. I
don't believe that at all.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Okay, Mac, I'm so into this stuff now.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
I just turned on the TV this weekend and it
didn't matter who was on.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Germany scored seven goals. They look dominant.
Speaker 5 (41:41):
Over under for that game was four and a half.
Speaker 9 (41:43):
But the Sweden game last night, Sweden's offense looked remarkable.
Morocco Brazil was a phenomenal affair.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Is if Messi is the greatest soccer player ever? Is
he a great athlete?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
He's small?
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Of course he's a great athlete.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Well again, he's a great soccer player. When I was
a kid growing up, they used to have this wide
world of sports, used to have they put all these
athletes together, and I'll talk about it next hour.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It is a Monday World Cup underway. The United States
men's national team. Get to that in a second. Are
they just gonna.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Breeze through their group?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may
be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
One hour from now, Colin right, Colin rowng plenty of both.
So let's let's wrap a bow around the NBA season
and what the New York's Nick did. And I think
one of the reasons they were a pretty likable team
and the ratings were so big, they weren't your classic
(01:07):
we're going to go buy stars. Virtually every move the
New York Knicks made to build this team was questioned.
I mean, obviously they fired they fired Tibbs. People weren't
sure about that. Go back and look at the columns
the Karl Anthony Trecht Towns trade. Well, they had to
give up Dante Divinceenzo. That didn't go over well Jalen
(01:28):
Brunson free agency. Most people thought, why overpaid McHale Bridges.
Remember they gave away five first round picks. I mean
I remember saying I like it that that as a
haul for McHale Bridges. I mean, og people liked it,
but he had been banged up in Toronto. You weren't
quite sure, and you put this team together and everything
(01:51):
had been questioned. And so even though you had, like
you know, Kat was a former lottery pick and Bridges
was a top ten pick, it was mostly doubted. Eye
rolled people moves trades. Even the head coach, Mike Brown.
Nobody liked it. And it created an underdog mentality. So
(02:12):
you know, the never give up Knicks is not just
a slogan, it really is their reality. A lot of
that guys, these that were doubted on this roster. Now,
did they get some breaks.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
They played three teams in the playoffs coming out of
a grueling seven game series. They stayed away from injuries,
They remained very, very healthy. They gained some momentum in
the atrocious Eastern Conference. And it should be noted san Antonio,
as I said before the series was a was a
better matchup for the Knicks than Okc. Okac had been
(02:45):
to a championship final. Okac had more depth, more experience.
All that youth really came unraveled, especially in fourth quarters
in this series. But another thing I really liked about
the Knicks is this champion and this team was about culture,
not a boring, analytic led, repetitive three point shooting contest.
(03:10):
This was about grit and it was about hard work
and culture and the Villanova guys. I mean, the NBA
regular season becomes so formulaic and so repetitive. I mean,
the Celtics a few years ago got to the finals
and the ratings weren't necessarily that great the year they
won the championship. It's just the same offense, follow the leader,
(03:34):
small ball, three point shooting. The Knicks are not that.
The Knicks are their own team. They're led by a
small guy, not a center, not a wing, an undersized guy.
You know, we thought they had defensive liabilities and instead,
I mean they were the number one defensive team in
the entire playoffs.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Is that crazy?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Better than Oklahoma City, better than Detroit, better than San Antonio.
We looked at the Knicks and we're like, I said
this all year, like if Cat and Brunson are on
the floor at the same time, you're like, I don't know. Also,
this team pivoted multiple times. They came into the playoffs
very Jalen Brunson dependent, and then they pivoted early in
(04:17):
the Atlanta series to having Cat initiate more offense, and
then the Spurs sort of figured that out, and then
they went back in the last two games of this
series late to being Jalen Brunson dependent so offensively, defensively,
they made all sorts of adjustments coaching adjustment in the offseason.
There were chemistry issues. There were reports late in the
(04:40):
regular season like defense and chemistry and the rotation, and
all of it vanished.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
So I just like the humility, I like the hard work.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I like a group of guys, I mean, even Brunson
and his dad easy to wrap your arms around that.
Here's Jalen Brunch and the MVP on winning the title.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Eleven players in NBA history have a forty five point
game in the NBA Finals and you're one of them.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
What did it take to get that done tonight, everything.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
I was just trying to go out there just just
will us to win. Wasn't focused on anything else besides
trying to win the game. Uh, getting stops, getting on
and running, just figuring out how to cut that lead
or to gain it. When we got it, really exciting moment,
moment knowing that we just we won't give up.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know, the reality of being a columnist or a
talk show host is you have a show the next
day or a column the next day. But it is
interesting those Nicks moves, all of them by at least
some of us, were panned, Like I didn't like the
TIBs move. I'm like, you just got to the conference finals.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Like like what Mike Brown's been fired multiple times. Mike
Brown was the first choice. I did like the Michale
Bridges move. But my first round picks is a ton
Jalen Brunson. Nobody thought he would be this other than
his dad, you know, Dante DiVincenzo. They lost him. I
remember when Hartenstein left, ok see. I remember being on
the air and saying, oh man, that's a big loss.
(06:15):
That is gutting. So doubted the entire time. They were
only a third seed in the East, so not all
championships looked the same. Good for the Knicks. All right,
let's talk to the United States men's national team. By now,
you know we won, but it isn't that we won. Okay,
we said Friday on the show, we think we'll win.
(06:37):
It was how we won that was the smoothest first half,
the slickest, the best aesthetic, the most creative. I mean,
until Friday, I always thought we labored to score goals
even when we won, right, we wouldn't get that many
great looks. Certainly an open play highly dependent on counter
(07:01):
attacking and set pieces and corner kicks, but the ability
to dominate possession get great looks. You know, I always
felt when I watched soccer United States, we had some athletes,
but we were sort of wooden really, where we were
a little rigid, and we'd get opportunities and we wouldn't
(07:22):
take advantage of them. And Paraguay, by the way, beat
Argentina and Brazil and qualifying, so they're more than capable.
Not a dynamic offense, but more than capable. But great athletes.
Here's what they have in common. You can go to
Mike Trout in his prime, Mookie Bets, MJ Dirk Noovinski scoring.
Great athletes make plays look easy. It's like man, and
(07:45):
that's practice and repetition and skill. And you can also
tell from our attacking style that our coach believes in us.
For years and years, everybody wanted to blame a Klinsman.
You can Burrhalter. The truth is our coaches did not
employ and attacking style because we couldn't.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
We'd get burned.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
We had to play counterattack, conservative, rock, fight, win one nothing,
set up pieces. That's not what this team is. Valerin
Ballygan is a remarkable striker and then you have Poulisic
splitting the defense has always been really playmaker and goal scorer,
(08:23):
but primarily a great point guard who needs a guy
that he can set up and depend on. Baligan had
two goals. We haven't had a multiple World Cup goal
scorer since nineteen thirty. So if you thought to yourself
watching this man, it looks smooth, it looked different, you
are right. We didn't look this creative. We weren't filled
(08:47):
with this many playmakers. I know you said and felt
and talked with friends. Man that first half that's as
good as we've looked. Your eyes aren't fooling you. Balligan
was a very good youth player, a striker, a goal scorer,
and he chose Us over England because he would have
probably been there second or third. He is our one,
(09:10):
And I mean, I just thought it was a thing
of a thing of beauty.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
It's not that we won.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It looked had you taken our jerseys off and put
on Argentina or Spain, you would have said, oh, that's
what they look like. Overwhelming Paraguay'. That's what Germany has
looked like through the years. That's what England will look
like in some of their matches. That's what Argentina has
looked like. Where you're like, oh, dominating possession man when
(09:36):
they get opportunities they Now, do you realize Polisic, how
many shots did Polistic have in that zero Who's got
zero shots on goal?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
We had four goals.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
That tells you the depth of talent, depth of talent
Alexi Lawa's Polisic.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
After I mean, I think that's the greatest half of
group play from a men's team at a World Cup
in history. Everything went right, total dominance from top to bottom, it's.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
Pretty special to watch. It's it's fun to look around
and know that there's different guys that can get can
pull off these different skills and moves and things going on.
It's great. It's great, but more, you know, than just that.
I feel like there's such a good connection between us
right now. I really liked the way even battle Agan.
I mean what you'll you know, everyone to look at
the goals, but the way he's fighting against these center backs,
(10:33):
holding up the ball, getting fouls. You know, Surge, all
these guys, Malik had a really good performance as well,
so they all deserve a lot of credit.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You know, they call it a beautiful game, but be
really honest, ours wasn't that beautiful? It wasn't we won
by rock fight, counter attack, you know one nothing cross
your fingers. We said that Friday, that was the beautiful game.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
That's what it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Looks like, the passing, the fluidity, the open play, opper
tunities seized. That's what I said in an essay about
a week ago. I think we can seize this World Cup.
Doesn't mean we necessarily win it, but we take advantage
of opportunities us soil and that's what it looks like.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Jamick. That was fun.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
We were texting during that thing. That was about as good.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It was the best half of soccer by the United
States men's national team ever, not just offensively, just fluidity.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
The way it looked it was absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 9 (11:25):
Yeah, the scenes in the stadium, Colin, were unbelievable. I mean,
just an absolutely electric performance. I've never heard so far
that loud for sports. On that second Ballogan goal, it
was just like, holy cow. Once you put three on
the board and a half, it wasn't like, oh, maybe
we can hold them off. It's like, oh damn, we
got a squad. We might make a run here. Colin,
(11:47):
I'm already looking at tickets for the round of thirty two.
I will let you know because we're winning the group.
By the way, on Friday against Australia, that's a lock.
We're winning that game. Hey, quarterfinals are busted. We look
like a legitimately awesome contender.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And it's also I noticed this against Germany. So let's say,
let's talk boxing. So you know when Mike Tyson's in
his prime, is that you had to be very careful,
even if you thought you had a length advantage and
an experienced advantage. You know, Larry Home and old Larry
Holmes fought him and stayed at bay for rounds and rounds,
and then Larry got greedy and Tyson knocked him out.
(12:24):
Like you paid respect to Mike by your style against Mike,
is that you always just you had to kind of
even if you had late length advantages, you always sort
of kept yourself at bay a little bit attacked, move
away from Mike, or if you did, you clenched him.
You got really close because you knew of his power.
(12:45):
Watched Germany when we tied it against Germany, and you
go back, They're not as aggressive against us, And that
is the advantage of the respect being paid. When you
are gifted, you can't cheat. You can't be overly aggressive.
When we would play before this World Cup, when we
would play a Netherlands or a Brazil, a Spain, when
(13:06):
we would play them, why weren't we super aggressive? That's
respect that they have better talent, they have better personnel,
and that's what the great players do. It's not just
that you play them, it's how you play them. How
do you formulate your game plan. You could watch our
dominant time of possession, not only against Paraguay, but also
(13:27):
the corner kick advantage and the time of possession advantage
against Germany and countries. Now watch them play us a
little bit differently, not as aggressively, because they know in
open space we can burn them.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We have that skill level.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I mean, dest was unbelievable. Pulse was unstoppable, Colin.
Speaker 9 (13:46):
Did you hear the comments the Paraguay coach made about Pochettino.
He was like, dude, we got embarrassed. Pochettino watched their
earlier meeting. I think they met in November and adjusted
everything and Paraguay was just caught flat footed.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
They had no noh.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Answers, Colin.
Speaker 9 (14:01):
It was just relentless from our offense, and like you said,
we've never seen that before.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
From the USAT, be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and noone Eastern non am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 10 (14:16):
Steve Gotts here, I have a podcast Empire. It continues
to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me
out of the house. It's called Stegts and Company Live,
which is available in podcast form right when the show
finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports.
(14:40):
A lot of phone calls.
Speaker 11 (14:41):
I love you on your show. It's one of my favorite.
Speaker 10 (14:43):
A lot of interaction, sit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
expect from Stu Gotts and Company and Stegotson Company Live.
So listen to Stu Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and re Steve gottson Company and God
Bless Football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today
(15:06):
and you can check all of those out on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, the thing about Jalen Brunson, it's interesting the Dallas
Mavericks have moved off Brunson and Luca. They don't have
much to show for it. My takeaway in the playoffs
and the league overall is the NBA season now we
look forward to a very stacked draft. Is the best
players are the international players. They've won eight straight MVPs,
(15:39):
especially the Biggs, Wemby, Jokic, Jannis Jannis. There's a lot
of rumors about where he's going. They dominate the bigs.
They're more skilled, they're more mature. I mean, we have
players like Zion and John Moranth that just can't get
their act together.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
You don't deal with a lot of that with international players.
My question now is, if you consider everything fourth quarter efficiency,
overall efficiency, leadership, durability and shot making, is Jalen Brunson
the second best domestic player?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Now?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Ant is a better defender, more athletic, similarly clutch, very efficient.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I think he's harder to coach.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I think there's some baggage with him, But I think
Ant's our best domestic player. I think of yes, GMS
thirty two, thirty of thirty would take you know, not
the Knicks, but everybody else would take Aunt. But if
you start going to the second best player, well, what
about Jalen Brown. He's not that efficient. He's not and
he's not a great clutch scorer as well. Jason Tatum.
Tatum is strangely passive, and now I have durability issues.
(16:40):
I love Kate Cunningham, but I have to admit Brunson
is a much better personal shot creator. Cunningham can create
for others. I love Cunningham. He is a big, strong body.
He's going to wear well and play for a long time.
But if I need a bucket in the fourth quarter
and I don't have a screen, I'm taking Brunson and
used to I mean Donovan Mitchell awful defender, and I
(17:02):
mean Donovan Mitchell efficiency mid fourth quarter, clutch mid. So
you start looking around, and I mean one of the
ways the Knicks made me really reevaluate basketball is look
at out unathletic. The Celtics look in their front line
compared to the Knicks og cat skill, Robinson's toughness, even
(17:26):
Josh Hart plays much bigger than he is. The Celtics
are like Tatum and Brown. They gobble the cap up
and then you're left wondering, do we got to go
get Yannis. So I just think I look at Brunson,
and we know the international players are the best in
the league. But again, what makes a good basketball player
to me durability. I've said this about Luca well, I
(17:46):
would take Luca over Brunson right well when he's available.
And at least Brunson, although not a plus defender, gives
you effort like Brunson's thick, it's hard to move him.
He gives you effort like Luca doesn't. And Luca is
less durable and less available. And you know, and again
(18:06):
we know Luke is not a domestic player, but you
start looking at the entire package. Brunson won in high school,
he won a NADDY in college. Three of the four
years he was in Dallas, the Mavericks. One he wins
a title with the Knicks. He is a winning basketball player.
I think a lot of it's just IQ. I think
he's smart. I covered his dad briefly. Dad was smart,
(18:27):
low key, chill, work hard. I mean you start looking
at people that have a Finals MVP and NCAA title
and a College Player of the Year, and not a
lot of them. Kareem Walton, MJ. Brunson. Here he is
on leading New York to a title.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Where's gonna describe it, but I'll say I put a
lot of time and effort into trying to be the
best player I can be to try and help a
team win. Just really thankful to have the organization, the
(19:04):
coaching staff, my teammates to have my back every single day.
I think that means the most to me.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
It's interesting the most fourth quarter points in the playoffs
since twenty twenty three. That's you know, that's when Brunson
joined the Knicks. Not only does Brunson have the most,
he's double half the field. I mean, look at the
people he's ahead of, Jokichen, Tatum, Sga Aunt Edwards. Yeah,
and I've always I always thought he was a very
(19:34):
good player, but you could attack him defensively, but I
thought he played pretty good defense in the playoffs. The
Knicks as a whole play had a certain fabric that
was hard to tear. They just kind of played collectively.
And remember that's getting rid of Tibbs, the defensive mastermind.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So you know, I'm Joe.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I joined the chorus of people who always like Jalen Brunson.
But I always thought, well, he's not Tatum, he's not,
he's not Ant, he's not.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
There's a lot that he is. And it's pretty clear.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Jmack with the news, No, no turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
This is the herdline news.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Because a lot of times being wrong is okay. And
it's like with Jalen Brunson, I'm wrong. He's a great guy.
Makes me happy, Like right, he's a if you're gonna
be wrong on somebody be wrong on a villanova guy
that's easily embraceable.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I'll be wrong on that all day.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
A lot of people were wrong on Brunson.
Speaker 9 (20:23):
I mean, you've seen the clips they cut up on
the internet about how bad the signing was. Like Brunts,
it out exceeded all expectations.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Yeah, all right, let's go to the World Cup.
Speaker 9 (20:31):
Hey, I don't know if you were up for this
super late on Saturday night, but Australia, one of the
biggest upsets so far in the World Cup, takes down
Turkey A to nothing in what I thought was a thriller.
Australia plays a weird brand of soccer. We'll talk about
it in a moment, but here is the game winner
in the seventy fifth minute to ice it.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Here's the call from Fox's Jackie Oatley.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Now now it's opened up a little bit for ROSSI
Australia's tip.
Speaker 11 (20:58):
End of it to.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
How Australia aren't Green and Gold heaven of the World Cup?
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Love?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Hey my bentch con met cop.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Now listen, Colin. This was a shocker.
Speaker 9 (21:15):
A lot of people had Turkey A being a major
challenge to the US and the group now it's Australia
that sets up Australia US Friday, three pm Eastern from Seattle.
Fun fact, we had tickets to that game. We were
gonna go, but something else came up so we're unable
to go. But that the ticket's very tough to get
in Seattle, Colin.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 9 (21:37):
Australia plays like a five to four to one. They
just hunkered down defensively and are like, come on, penetrate
us Turkey.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
I saw one thing.
Speaker 9 (21:45):
Turkey A had thirty shots on goal by one metric
thirty twenty in the second half because they were desperate
for the equalizer.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
I've been doing some homework here.
Speaker 9 (21:53):
Any early pick for you from you on a USA Australia.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, I think the Australia plays they know they have
certain limitations, and I think we have more overall skill
and talent, and I think this is big and I
think it played out Friday. I think playing on your
home soil gives you an energy boost and a confidence boost.
I mean, you don't want to go out in your
home soil and be passive. I thought we were super
aggressive against Paraguay. I've never seen US be that aggressive
(22:21):
against anybody. And I think a large part of that
is the confidence Pochettino has in US, and the second
part is we're at home. You know we're not going
to come out. I mean it was it was like
Connor McGregor fight. I'm not waiting for round two, like
I'm coming out and establishing I have more talent, I'm
more physical, and I think some of that it is
(22:41):
easier to.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Do that at home.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
The home crowd energizes you, and I think against Australia similarly,
will be very aggressive.
Speaker 9 (22:47):
Yeah, Australia plays like a heavy defense, similar to like
a Japan kind of similar to Paraguay. But Pochettino adjusted
against Paraguay.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
I think he'll make adjustments here.
Speaker 9 (22:58):
There are some interesting advanced stats that say, uh bet
the under as the US, Like nobody expected US to
score four goals. Nobody had Australia scoring two goals, So
I bet the under under two and a half goals,
probably on the US side, obviously, obviously. All right, let's
move to the NBA and a questionable report here from
your buddy Bill Simmons.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
He's claiming that the Celtics have made an offer for Giannis.
Speaker 9 (23:25):
No, nobody else is reporting this, But you know Simmons
is a Boston guy.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
We'll see they say Tatum's.
Speaker 9 (23:31):
Untouchable, So that would mean it would have to include
Jalen Brown. You're not getting Yiannis for like Derrick White
and White.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And Platter and yeah, I mean it would be Jason
Tatum and Yannis. And I think two things make this possible.
Number One, when they moved off of Porzingis, I thought
they lost some athletic ability in their front line. Boston
does not look athletic enough to me outside of Brown
and Tatum. It's very cap heavy, top heavy. They've got to.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Get more athletic.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
And the Jalen Brown Tatum thing, I mean they moved
off Marcus Smart. Remember this, When they moved off Marcus Smart.
They like Marcus Mart but he was taking shots away
from Tatum. Well, now Brown is taking shots away from Tatum.
At some point you look at Tatum and go Tatum
is strangely passive. And Jalen Brown's a really good player.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I mean, I wouldn't have a hard time moving off him.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I would for Jannis, but Jalen Brown is an excellent player.
But when he came out and said this year was
the most funny had and he didn't play with Tatum
and he got to run the offense.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
That's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
So a lot of times you got to see around
corners nip stuff in the bud before it gets big.
I think the Brown Tatum combo it got your title.
It's time to move on. And I don't think Milwaukee
can get anything better than Jalen Brown.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
That's a nice question.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
So you just saw the Knicks build around Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Hey, we have a weaker defensive guard.
Speaker 9 (24:50):
We need bridges next to him, we need og a
great defensive wing.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
They built around him.
Speaker 9 (24:55):
Wisely, do you think the Bucks can build around Jalen Brown,
who's going to be making like sixty one million. He's
not taking a hometown discount like Brunson.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Okay, but the reality is you'll get draft picks. That's
what you'll get. And I think their big problem is
they've taken a couple of swings. They waited too long.
Chris Middleton got old fast. Dame was a big swing,
but they had to give up Drew Holiday and I
think it works for Boston when you when I watched
the Knicks and I said this last week. In the
week before, I could not stop thinking about the Celtics,
(25:24):
who are absolutely dependent on the three. They're two stars,
don't necessarily fit together perfectly. Tatum is strangely passive, so
brown like Marcus Smart takes shots from him. And I
also thought when they lost Porzingis, say what you want
about Porzingis and his history of health issues. When he's
on the floor, he's seven one, seven to two, can
(25:46):
can shoot. Is a striking figure, is imposing like Porzingis
is a real player. He's had a kind of a troubled,
underwhelming career, but when he's on the floor, he's dangerous.
I think Jannis and Tatum you jump level with that.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Well, probably you need to round up the roster. But
let me ask you, the only.
Speaker 9 (26:04):
Other team being rumored in the mix for you, honest
is the Miami Heat. They have nobody to offer coming.
I'm sorry, Tyler, Hero is not enough for me in
a package. They don't have that many picks. Colin, I'm
telling you there's a mystery team out there. I don't
know who it is.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well, but this is not.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Adding up the date. It's the Heat or Celtics, I
don't remember.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
This is not a typical draft, Jason, this is a
great draft, So getting an extra draft pick or two
in this draft is substantial. Who's got a couple of
first round picks?
Speaker 5 (26:34):
You're both.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
That's what's interesting to me. So what that Because this
is a draft where you will get two starters and
guys that can play immediately out of this draft. The
first ten picks, first nine picks, those are all day
one starters and really good players with several potential star players.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
So I think look at.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Teams that got a couple of picks, or because next
year's draft is awful, they're saying it's like an awful draft. Now,
I think if you kind of look it, I don't
think it'll be that bad. But this year's is great.
So I mean, Yannis, when you watch wimby play, it
does enhance Jannis's market, Yeah for sure.
Speaker 9 (27:10):
All right, let's go to the final story, and it
is the NBA draft, Colin.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
It did fascinating stuff here.
Speaker 9 (27:15):
According to Shams, the NBA reporter recently this morning, he said,
Darren Peterson's only working out for one team, and that's
the Washington Wizards, who picked first. Darren Peterson will not
meet with other teams. Now, the favorite to go first
is aj Debonza, who has already met with the Wizards
and the Jazz who picked second.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Now, I don't know if that was a favorite of
the Jazz. He's a BYU guy.
Speaker 9 (27:39):
But this is interesting that Peterson's saying, I'm only working out.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
For the Wizards.
Speaker 9 (27:45):
Does somebody know something because our staff is saying Deboncea's
minus five hundred to go first. Something is going on.
I don't know if this is posturing. Listen, I told
you Darren Peterson head to head has cooked Aj debonson Now,
obviously the draft head to head shouldn't mean everything, but
I wonder if the Wizards are saying we want Peterson.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
And de Bonce against to go to Utah.
Speaker 9 (28:08):
Nothing about Carlos Boozer yet, remember the draft numbers, The
analytics guys all love Boozer. So this is, like you said,
a top heavy draft. But what do you make of
Peterson given the stiff arm to the Jazz, Grizzlies, Bulls,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I I think Peterson's got the highest ceiling. Yeah, I mean,
I think he's the most exhilarating watch. But there's concerns
I have with health and plays very much individually. De
Bonce is good, not a great shooter yet, catch and
shoot guy. He's a very good player. Is he a
take over the league guy? I don't think so. I
(28:44):
think he's a very good player that'll be an all star.
Cam Boozer is not super athletic, but I do think
he'll end up being an eighteen to ten guy and
a winning player.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Boozer will be a winning player.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I've told you the kid out of Illinois, the guard,
I think he's just Oh, I think he's just Boggler's
an intro.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
I really like him.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
I have a feeling like I could see a really
good team moving up to get him and then eventually
moving off one of their expensive guards. I think mar
the center's fascinating. Cayleb Wilson, we've talked about out of Carolina,
who is crazy springy, and I think we've seen about
sixty percent of his game.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
So there's a lot of guys to like in this draft. Totally.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Jmack with the News, Well that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
What'd you guys make of it?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Because English is his second language when Wemby said, appreciate y'all,
see you never. That did not go over well with
a lot of people. Some thoughts on Wemby, I don't
want to be too harsh. Second language, I don't know,
see you never. Maybe in France it means love you deeply.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I don't know. I just what he said it.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I'm like that was clunky and he seems like a
nice kid. I want to talk about Wemby, Colin Wright,
Colin Wrong top of the next hour.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Somebody be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noon Eastern non a em Pacific.
Speaker 9 (30:12):
The FIFA World Cup on Fox is rolling on today.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
Three more matches Belgium Egypt at three.
Speaker 9 (30:19):
Eastern on Fox, followed by Saudi Arabia, Arabia, Uruguay and
Iran New Zealand on FS one.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
So the Spurs did lead for three times longer than
the Knicks in the finals. I mean they led by
double figures in the fourth quarter twice and lost both games.
I don't think there are certain stats that sound more
impressive than they are, like in the NFL, to say, well,
(30:49):
our quarterback have passed for the most yards, so you
trailed a lot late in games is what you're telling me, right,
you know? Or completion percentage for a quarterback, Well, our
guy completed six. See your quarterback then throw the ball
down the field. He doesn't throw people open. It's a
lot of underneath stuff. The edit thing with the NBA stuff, well, leads,
(31:10):
we led for a lot of this game.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Leads evaporate now in minutes. It's like a boxer talking
about winning the punch stats, who knocked down?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Who? Like?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
There are things that I think do matter in the NFL.
Time of possession generally tells you your offensive line is
controlling their defensive line. Time of possession can really matter.
Most good teams have a strong time of possession. Most
teams are very good on third down. But the whole
thing about well, the Spurs led.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
For a lot of this series.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
These are long games, young, youthful team. Our only question
about san Antonio in the whole series was their youth
and decision making. What did we say before the series?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You knew this.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Nicks are a great fourth quarter team. You do not
want to be tied. If you're san Antonio with your
youth in the fourth quarter, that is not o winning formula,
you got to have big leads against the Knicks. They
are the best fourth quarter team and they got tons
of experience.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So here Wemby said.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
This, and to a lot of Nick fans and a
lot of fans, this was a little off putting.
Speaker 11 (32:25):
One of many things I learned is the margin of
error is very very thin. Our domination stints are absolute.
We absolutely, absolutely dominated for most of the series. But
our errors, our mistakes are punished so hard that we
(32:49):
can't have ups and downs like this so so much.
You know, the ups are okay, the downs, it's is
the reason we lost again.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I don't want to hear about your punch percentage. I
don't want to hear about that. If the other guy
knocks you down three times, he won the fight. Even
in soccer, time of possession matters, but I don't care
about it if they're scoring quickly, which a lot of
great players and great teams do.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
In the final two minutes of this series, Wemby hit
one basket Jalen Brunson seventeen points over fifty percent field
goal rate.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
One was dominant, one was a no show.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Here's the other question about Wemby and he was my MVP.
I think he's the greatest defensive shot alter ever, not
even close. But there's so much physicality now allowed in
the NBA finals. I mean, the games are really go
to the first quarter of Game one, you could have
(34:03):
blown the whistle thirty five times.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
It was brutal.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
In fact, you could argue the officials really at times
were less responsible than they should have been. In the
fourth quarter they really a couple of times. Even announcers noted, guys,
you're shirking your responsibilities.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You have to call some of these fouls. It's brutal.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
But if you look right now, go to the last
eight NBA champs, how many are led by centers. And
Yannis isn't the center. He's got the ball in his
hands too much. He's more of a wing player. He's
a forward. Tim Duncan was a big. You know, Yannis
is long, but he's ball centric. The only center to
(34:46):
win a title in the last eight years a team
led by a center is Jokic. And again, Jokic isn't
your classic back to the basket big like in Achem
or a Ewing or a Shack or a Moses Malone.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
That's not what he is.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
He has the ball in his hands, he's facing the basket,
high pick and rolls, shooting jumpers, offensive hub, great distributor.
So Wemby is never going to be that, and it
kind of runs counter to what we like our bigs
to be. One of the reasons Shaq is so beloved.
He was so powerful, the dominating backboard, breaking dunks.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
That's not what Wemby is.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
He is going to face the basket, high pick and
rolls a lot of threes. One of our last eight
NBA champs is led by a center, and he's an international,
non traditional center. In Jokic, I covered Sabonis, he was
a center much less athletic because we got an old
r Vidas Sabonis in Portland. When I covered him, he
(35:41):
was old and didn't move particularly well, but he was
the best passer on the team. Sabonis was he was
the best three point shooter on the team. I'm not kidding.
So it was like I didn't even look at him.
And now he matched up with Shack pretty well. And
because he was slow footed, he was kind of a
classic center. But Wemby's never going to be that guy
of established the low block, the NBA is almost officiating
(36:05):
as if they don't want that. They want a wing guard,
ball handler league. That's the way it feels like it's
officiated the forceful player, the forceful big.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
And I'd argue this.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
The game is so fast now that older Shack would
not have been as dominant. I'm not sure if young Shack,
Orlando Shack could have kept up with his pace. But
this pace right now is not built for slow footed,
heavy back to the basket bigs. That's not the NBA now.
The pacing is incredible. It's why Gallay's soft tissue engine injuries.
(36:40):
So I don't think Wemby's ever gonna quite be what
we're used to or what we want.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Necessarily.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
He is a finesse player, and you could see it
throughout this series with the officiating. He just could not
get his spot. He could not solidify consistently his spot.
Nicks just pushed him out of the way. So I
was thinking about this with the United States men's national team,
and we've got Alexi Lawless coming up in a couple
of hours. Brian Scalabrini, those are Jannis rumors to the
(37:08):
Celtics are out there. We put so much emphasis on
Christian Polistic on not only being our setup guy, our playmaker,
but our goal scorer. And he's been able to do
it and when he scores, we win. But we need
him to do both. I think the thing that really
jumped out to me, and I'm sure Jason has pointed
this out. Balligan really is a difference maker. So he
(37:33):
played as a youth for England and US and he
was up. Nigeria wanted him, England wanted him, he chose
US he would be our number one striker. And what's
that mean? He's our goal scorer. He really is a
natural goal scorer. Polisic can score goals, but he's actually
(37:53):
if you look at Polisic style, he's a creator. And
so we got sixteen shots in the game, Polistic had
none of them and we scored four goals. So that's
really the difference to me. Even if you go over
to ac Milan, if you really look at what I
mean the numbers, he had the second most assists in
the Italian league over the last three years. He had
(38:15):
a scoring drought, he didn't have an assist or set
up or playmaking drought. So Polisic has always been able
to score because we've needed it so greatly from him.
But Baleran, now this adds a dimension. This is our
cleanup hitter. This is our striker that we've never truly had. Again,
Clinton Dempsey could score. Polisic can score, but it doesn't
(38:39):
feel like it's his natural inclination. He's a great setup guy.
I always said this about Magic Johnson. Magic could give
you forty two in the finals. But Magic's what was
his career average, eighteen nineteen points. Magic needed worthy to
seal the break, he needed Kareem at the low post
(39:00):
could score, but he was never a great jump shooter.
He could finish on the break, but if you made
the game a half court game, Magic wasn't as valuable. Yeah,
he was eighteen nineteen a game as a score. Kareem
for the longest time was the all time scoring leader.
So it's like policit can But I to me, my
takeaway Friday is, oh, this is this is a different
(39:24):
and a perfect ideal setup for Policic. Here's the coach
po Chattino on US fan support, Friday was.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
A great match. Was amazing for our funds to see
how to watch this type of game. And today I
seen I am so proud, and we are so proud,
(39:52):
all because I seen we are winning a lot of
funds adding funds in the in America.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
You know, I hear this a lot from American sports fans.
I heard it this morning and he said, I wish
our best athletes played soccer. Actually, if you did cone
drills and vertical jumping. Our American teams have always been athletic.
That's never been our issue. We were skilled, not as much.
I mean, if if soccer was a long drive contest,
(40:24):
we'd be fine.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
It was our putting and chipping that wasn't very good.
It's it's been the lack of skill on ball skill.
But we've always been athletic. We've always had guys. Dempsey
was super athletic. I'm never worried about that. Josie Altador
was I always thought was kind of stiff. He wasn't
a fluid athletes, a big, strong athlete. Our goalies have
always been hyper athletic, Tim Howard, So that's not it.
(40:49):
You know, people say, well, what off our NBA guys
played soccer? Well, I mean, I mean when I was
a kid, I always thought much more athletic people fought.
I always think like, how many great heavyweights have we had?
How many great tennis players? When I was a kid,
I always felt we had more, you know it, ebbs
and flows. But I don't think by any stretch we're unathletic.
(41:14):
When I watch, I don't see that. I think, actually,
our speed is way above average. I think we're a
team that can really move that. That's not what I
worry about. We're not old, you know, brittle, unathletic. I
don't believe that at all.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Okay, Mac, I'm so into this stuff now.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
I just turned on the TV this weekend and it
didn't matter who was on.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Germany scored seven goals. They look dominant.
Speaker 5 (41:41):
Over under for that game was four and a half.
Speaker 9 (41:43):
But the Sweden game last night, Sweden's offense looked remarkable.
Morocco Brazil was a phenomenal affair.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Is if Messi is the greatest soccer player ever? Is
he a great athlete?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
He's small?
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Of course he's a great athlete.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Well again, he's a great soccer player. When I was
a kid growing up, they used to have this wide
world of sports, used to have they put all these
athletes together, and I'll talk about it next hour.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.