June 3, 2026 • 41 mins
Colin lists his Top 10 Players in the NBA Finals
He also talks to Knicks sportswriter Frank Isola about his list and what to expect in the NBA Finals
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Here we go our two NBA Finals tonight, Frank I
sold in five minutes.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Uh been a rambunctious week. Miles Garrett to the La Rams.
Aaron Donald, is he coming out of retirement? His wild
World cop next week?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
We are all fired up.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So we always do this whenever there's an NBA final, Conference, Championship,
World Series, a massive series that everybody's talking about.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Out we get out the yellow pad.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We write down are ten best players in order, and
it gives us sort of a sense of who should
be favored in this series. I have said there's a
lot of reasons to like New York. I'm gonna take
the Spurs in six. I think they've got the best player,
home court advantage. I do think a lot of the
Knicks streak is based on a cruddy Eastern conference, but
(01:24):
they're playing out of their mind. They have a great
roster composition, and so here we go. Here's my top
ten players in the NBA Final. Number one, Okay, it's Wemby.
He's got thirty five more rebounds in twenty eight more
block shots than any other player in the postseason. Spurs
are thirty nine and six since February one, when he
just plays fifteen minutes. He changes the calculus on the
(01:47):
floor like nobody else. I don't think his offensive game
is quite refined yet or consistent, but he also helps
other players. This team leads the league in corner three.
That's because of Wemby. He's number one. Number two Jalen Brunson. Listen,
the NBA's best plus two twenty six with him on
(02:09):
the court this postseason. He is the soul, he's the heartbeat.
Is a little bit of a defensive liability, so was
Steph Curry. He hustles, and they also have players around
him that can protect him. He's one of the best
clutch players. High IQ EQ Villanova guy just perfect. I
mean he went to New York, he took less money.
(02:30):
He is your classic team first guy. Hard to dislike.
I've got him at two.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Number three. Now I like og. People think I like
him too much.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
First of all, long, physical, They may match him up
against Wemby. You know, he can have off games, but
he's a body type. I talk to people in the
NBA about this, like scouts. They're like his body type,
his ability to do a little finesse but also be physical.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He is so valuable.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
They're twenty seven and five when he gets twenty points,
so they just don't lose much. And again against San Antonio,
his dexterity, his length, his physicality will be huge. Number
four Stefan Castle leads all players and assist this pole season,
plus he's second in points for the Spurs. Now, I
(03:18):
used to think he was a real streaky shooter. I
don't think that as much now. He is hyper aggressive.
He was at you, Connie is now for the Spurs
on both ends of the floor, sometimes to a fault offensively,
but you know he's gonna rebound, he's gonna defend, he's
gonna be physical. He's just again the word dexterity. He's
(03:39):
just does so many things. Well. I've got him at four.
Carl Anthony Towns, one of the great jump shooting bigs
of all time. He hopefully for the next can pull
Wemby away from the iron again. Now he's an assist guy.
The rigidity of Tibbs. You know you kind of knew
what you had with kat Mike Brown and his staff
in that Atlanta there he said to a little point center, here,
(04:01):
take the ball away from Brunson. Don't make us as
bruntson Centric brilliant and they haven't lost since I have
cat at five. Number six would be Dylan Harper, only
non starter in my top ten. I think the kid's
gonna be amazing. I think he's unbelievable. I can't believe
he's this good, this early, the youngest player twenty years
old all time to have a twenty ten game in
(04:22):
a conference final.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Quick he can shoot a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Of young players struggle with consistency shooting, averaging thirteen points
a game shooting fifty two and a half percent in
the playoffs. Dylan Harper at six Mkale Bridges, who logs
a lot of minutes nineteen a game and sixty three
percent shooting over this last nine games. I mean they
gave up a lot to get him. I didn't think
(04:51):
he had the greatest year but again, he's a wing
defender at an elite level, not a lot. I mean,
McHale bridges is largely what the league's transition to over
the last decade. You know a three and D guy.
So McHale's Bridges at number seven. Darn Fox at eight.
He's not totally healthy. He's been a clutch Player of
(05:12):
the Year in the NBA. One year he led the
NBA in steals. He's a two time All Star. I
thought he was huge in a couple of games against
Oklahoma City. He scored fifteen points in all of them. Mattered,
so again, on a very young team. His intelligence and
maturity and ability. He's got a little bit of a
Brunson where he'll step up in big spots and take
(05:33):
that shot. Won't always make it, but he'll take it.
He's at eight. Josh Hart another guy that logs big minutes,
does a lot of little things. Deflections, hustle, plays nova.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Guy, smart, tough. For the record.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
On this team, he gets some open looks and he's
been hitting him so I always thought he'd been more
of a defensive guy. But if you leave him open,
he will burn you. Unless you're a Knicks fan and
watch every you don't understand his value to the team,
logs a lot of minutes. Josh Hard at nine and
Devin of Asel at number ten, another one of these
(06:10):
great young players for the Spurs. He often guards the
best opponent, like he guarded Aunt in that series against Minnesota.
Three pointers made again, can they have? So it's almost
weird how young the Spurs are and all of their
young players feel like you trust them to take a
big shot in a big moment.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
That is so counter to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I've watched where, you know, the playoffs, young guys shrink.
So here's my top ten, five apiece and I think
that's all we have. I think we have an incredibly
even finals. Mitchell Robinson latest word is going to play.
That matters And with that great writer Frank Isola covered
(06:57):
the NBA. He's got a show called Starting Lineup on Serah.
YESXM NBA Radio. All Right, you saw my top ten,
just fire away, you know, crush it. I want to
hear your opinion.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, your list is absolutely awful. No, it's obviously a
reasonable list. I would probably put him. Looking at it now,
I'd probably put Karl Anthony Towns third ahead of Ojan Andobi.
You make a great case, and OG's a two way player.
When he gets hurt and he doesn't play, you can
see the impact that it has on the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Forcarl Anthony Towns is such a weapon.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
His ability to spread the court open things up for
Jalen Brunson is important. And you mentioned a guy at
the end, Mitchell Robinson. I think Mitchell Robinson needs to
be in the top ten by the end of this
series for the Knicks to win because when you look
at the games that he's played against San Antonio, he's
been pretty dominant. In the NBA Cup, Colony had fifteen rebounds,
(07:52):
including ten offensive rebounds, and he makes it so when
Benyama can't just roll him around unless they're going to
play Cornett. And when benyamat the other if not at
Wimbin Yam is guarding Mitchell Robinson, he's got to stay home.
You got to put a body on him. Because the
way the Nicks kill you with Mitchell Robinson is offensive rebounds,
which a lot of time leads to those scrambled three pointers,
(08:12):
and most of the time it always seems like it's
Jalen Brunson wide open all of those plays knocking down
at three.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So you know, Karl Anthony Towns high school, college and
pro has always had a reputation incredibly skilled, one of
the great jump shooting bigs. Ever, little flaky, bad fouls
gets into weird ruts. I feel like something has happened
since the Atlanta series. Obviously has the ball in his hands,
but I mean, I think if I ask you, all
(08:40):
the years you covered Kat, we always kind of felt like, man,
he's good, but sometimes you're just not sure which one
shows up. Has he evolved this year or are the
things we worry about still very close to the surface.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I think this's a couple of things.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
I think we conveniently forget that he's now been to
three straight conference finals. He was with one in the
Innesota the last two years with the Knicks, who he's
been really successful.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Last year was an All NBA center.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I think he came into this season there was a
lot of talk about Giannison tetat Combo. I think he
looked at it as hang on a second. I wanted
a state in Minnesota. But I'm happy to be, you know,
in New York. I'm close to my dad, close to
where I grew up. Now we're having success. Now you
guys want to ship me off to Milwaukee. So I
think emotionally he was in a funk Colin, and I
also think he's the kind of guy it's easy.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
To pick on him because it.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Didn't really go back at a lot of people, So
he's an easy target. If Carl was nasty and aggressive
with the media, maybe a lot of people would think
twice about criticizing. So I think the criticism of Carl
tends to be over the top when he's.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
A terrific player.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
You know, he said it a couple of years ago,
I'm the best shooting big man in league history. He's
certainly going to be in the conversation and that's what
makes him great. He's been really successful in the last
three years.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
What do you do against Wemby? Can you throw og?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I mean, because I do think offensively, he's not refined
yet he has.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Off halves off nights.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Also think you can I mean, listen, they put Drew
Holliday Blazers. Can you can put a smaller body on
him and make him uncomfortable? What do you think the
Knicks do?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I think you hit on it with o Jan Nanobi
because he has the versatility, the size, the strength. I
thought it was a mistake that Oklahoma City made in
Game one putting Alex Cruso on him. I know that
Alex Caruso is going to compete, but he's not. He's
just not big enough to be and strong enough really
to contend with victim win Benyama. I could certainly seeing
it being og and I think the Knicks need to
(10:29):
be physical. I think if you go back to Game
five of the Western Conference Finals, when Benyama clearly frustrated
his team lost the game to not meet with the
media afterwards, I think that had a lot to do
with the way the game was being officiated. He was
sulking a little bit. But what I like about him
is that motivated him to play so well in both
Game six in Game seven.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
So the league reprimanded him, saying a right, enough of this.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
If you're going to sit down and talk, if you
have a great game, you better be the guy that
sit down after your team doesn't play well. But to
his credit, I love the way that he responded again
to me.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That's I know.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
I don't want to get too far ahead of it
myself here, but that's a little bit of that Michael
Jordan Kobe Bryant quality that he has in him, that competitiveness.
When he has a bad game, he's in a bad place.
Look at the way he responded and in six and
seven he was outstanding.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You know, James, I didn't love when James Dolan made
the move.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I said, why screw with it?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
But one of the things I've heard about Mike Brown,
He's worked under Popovich, He's worked under Steve Kerr, Budenholzer, Malone, Carlisle,
Mike is a very well liked He's a good listener.
He's not heavy handed. Did you like the move with
Tim because Tip's has some rigidity to him. We all
know that when the when the move was first made.
(11:46):
What was your reaction, because Dolan came down and just
said we want more collaboration, and it it was I'll
give Dolan credit, it was a big swing.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Did you like it?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
No, I didn't like it at all, because, first of all,
give a week, you know, let the loss, you know, think,
you know, take some time to take a deep breath
and go over the season. Remember their season ended on
a Saturday, and I think it was by Tuesday. Tom
was gone, they decided to make the coaching change. Remember
there's a little revision of history here. Their number one
(12:17):
choice was Jason Kidd, right, and when they didn't get
permission to talk to Jason Kidd, he ends up getting
an extension. Then they just started cold calling teams Atlanta
with Quinn Sneyder, em Audoka with the Houston Rockets, Billy
Donovan with the Chicago Bulls. They were getting involved in
everyone's business here because these teams were denying permission, which
was leading in the case of certainly Jason Kidd and
Billy Donovan to getting extensions.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So it's worked out with Mike Brown.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I thought for me when Tyre's Halliburton got hurt at
halftime right before I I'm sorry, in the first quarter
of Game seven against Oklahoma City, and it was clear
that it was an achilles.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I remember think at the time, the next thing to.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Go to the finals next year because there's no Tatum,
there's no Tyres Halliburn, and the Eastern Conference isn't good enough.
So I think it was all set up for them.
But ultimately all that matters is getting there. Mike Brown's
the coach, more power to him because he came in
there with a lot of pressure on him. You weren't
going to be able to lose in the conference finals
like they did last year, even though they hadn't been
there since nineteen ninety nine. He had or I'm sorry,
(13:14):
since two thousand. He needed to get to a finals,
and that's what they've done. I've said this since February first.
Wemby and the Spurs are thirteen and one against the East.
The Knicks is the only loss they lost in the
Gold Cup. Clearly, the Knicks match up well with San Antonio.
I didn't think the Knicks matched up particularly well with
Oklahoma City. I said before the finals, I said, I
(13:36):
think Oklahoma City creates some problems for Brunson. I think
the Knicks matchup pretty well. Here go back to the
last time they played.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
What has absolutely worked for the Knicks absolutely worked against
San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Let me just start up by saying, I love that
you got soccer on the brain. You called it the
Gold Cup, it was the NBA Cup. I'll be watching,
I'll be watching all the World Cup games on Fox'll
be all over it.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I think it has a lot to do.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
With the way that they've defended Wen Bin Yama and
the effectiveness of Mitchell Robinson. That's why what's happened here
over the past week or so with the news of
his injury, the fact that he had surgery. I know
you just said that he's going to play. We have
no idea how effective he's going to be. If it's
that fifth metacarpal. People are saying that that's a boxer fracture,
is that what they call it, then sometimes that could
(14:24):
take weeks upon weeks for it's the heal.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Now, he's not a great shooter, we know that.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
But Colin, you know, at some point tonight, whether it's
a guy you know running past him going to hit
his hand, or somebody will slap down on his hand,
we'll see what happens then.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
But that is a big part of it.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
And if I'm the New York Knicks and I go
back to covering the team when Lachrell Spiewell showed up
in training camp with a broken hand, and how upset
James Dole and the owner was and that really started
the downfall of their relationship and eventually led to free
Well being gone. I would have to think the Nick
organization is ticked off because here they're on this tremendous role.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
They've won eleven straight games.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
You get all this time off, and now Mitchell Robinson
shows up with a broken hand, and Mike Brown said
it didn't happen in the game, it didn't happen in practice.
So there you go. You got to leave it open
for everyone to try to figure out what's happened. But
he's an important part of it. And one quick thing too.
You mentioned Oklahoma City. I think the Knicks watching that
game seven, I think they were probably rooting for Oklahoma
(15:18):
City because I don't think Jayn Williams was going to play,
who was, in theory their second best player, and aj Mitchell,
who had been really their second best player or at
least second best score during the playoffs. So I think
the Knicks probably looked at it, now is the time
to get Oklahoma City.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
The Spurs.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I get the you know, youth and everything like that,
but the Spurs just come in healthier and really playing well.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Right now, Hey, I got to ask you kind of
a broad NBA question, because you know, you hear rumors
all the time in the offseason, and most are nonsense,
and maybe this is. But Tim Collacolle Comic Kaway has
been doing this for a long time. Bay Area knows
what he's doing. He said, it's not crazy. He said
they if you look at the draft slot for the Warriors,
(16:01):
the Lakers, JJ, Reddick and Luca are the future. They're
absolutely working on Austin Reeves because they're not going to
let him go like they did with Caruso and get nothing.
So Lebron now is like on the back burner, which
Lebron and Rich Paul don't like. I think privately this
new Dodger ownership, Laker ownership would like to move on,
but they don't want to do the breaking up. And
(16:23):
Tim Kawakami said, Kerr, Draymond Curry, Lebron, and remember Lebron
vacations with Draymond. He's always wanted to play with Steph Curry.
And the truth is they're eleventh pick, or they move
off a slot, they could get a die Mara, the
rim protector, the Spaniard, kind of an offensive, clever player.
(16:45):
I saw that and I thought, you know, it's a
golf stream forty minute flight back to La as family
loves La. I don't think it's crazy when you hear it.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
What do you think, ron I don't think it's I
don't think it's crazy at all. I was in it
in October. I showed up at your doorstep. They said
you had since moved. But I did hang out with
the Warriors for a couple of days and it wasn't
coming from the players, but there was a lot of
buzzer around the team that the idea of perhaps Lebron
joining the Warriors after the season, and a lot of
that has to do, especially with his relationship with Steph Curry,
(17:17):
you know, rivals. What I love about it is they
both were born at Akron, Ohio in the same hospital,
which is bonkers to actually think about something like that,
but it does make a lot of sense. I think
if you were to leave the Lakers, and I don't
know why, if I'm the Lakers, I'd want to have him.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I think he played really well.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
He did this season for what you should expect from
a guy who's forty one years old. He's not going
to play eighty two games, and they needed Luka Doncic.
I don't think it's the craziest thing that he ends
up on the Golden State Wars. It makes a lot
of sense for a lot of reasons. Obviously the relationships
and whether or not it's going to work. You know,
Oklahoma City isn't going anywhere. You have the Spurs, you know,
Denver is still really good, and you have Minnesota. It's
(17:56):
not going to be easy in the West. But it
makes a lot of sense and it's certainly a move
I could see Lebron James making.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
All right, before you go, you know your soccer as
well as anybody that covers the NBA. Certainly I France England.
You know there's a lot of lot of high luxury
picks here.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Who do you have winning?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Yeah, you know, I mean France has got so many
good players. What's interesting about England? You know they're going
to be playing a lot of games here on the
East coast where it's going to be hot. You know,
I have a lot of British friends. I keep telling
them I think England has a chance. But I'm going
to go out on a limb here. I know it's crazy.
I'm going to pick Portugal. I know Portugal won the
(18:38):
Nation's League. I think that was what a year ago.
I like their team a lot. I'll give you a
little soccer combination for tonight's game one Julian Champenny, who
plays for the Spurs, out stating role player. His father Ranford,
was a player at Saint John's in nineteen ninety six
when they won the national Championship's right.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
There they go. There's a little soccer connection for it,
and sick Darryl Moore in the six or just let
him go.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
They for Mac mcclegg to win, to play in the
same Who do you have winning?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Give me your pick.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I'd have the Spurs in six, but I don't feel
good about it at all at all.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Yeah, I got I got the Nick, I got the
Nickson six doing it hard to believe, by.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
The way, Christian Rinaldo would be playing. Let's see here,
sixth World Cup for Porches.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
They got Bruno Fernandez. You know you got the Mende
in the back. They got some Mendez. They got good
players and they's playing in the heat. Columbia Portugal in Miami.
I think is the hottest ticket for the group stage games.
Portugal Columbia. I bought that in Miami. Not bad, Frank Asolo.
(19:44):
You have so many things here for us. I mean,
that's why we bring you on.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Good senor thanks good snor column. Frank one of the
good guys in the media. And you know what I
like about Frank for years is he he doesn't soft
pedal the local teams, James Dolan. Frank will tell you
what he thinks, and he doesn't really care. He doesn't
care one more.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Heard 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.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
So, Caleb Williams says it is a childhood dream. He
has been given the cover of Madden for Chicago Bear
to ever be given awarded that title. I still think
Caleb is very unique and rare. He is still underrated
as a number one pike at quarterback. And here's my
(20:43):
theory on it. If you go look at number one quarterbacks,
you know Trevor Lawrence, Andrew Luck, Joe Burrow, Matt Stafford,
Peyton Manning, they're very traditional so and Caleb's not. From
painting the fingernails to only six to one. He's unbelievable
off platform. Honestly, sometimes I think he's better off platform
(21:04):
than in the pocket, first nil Star, first gen Z quarterback.
So he goes five and twelve and in sports, unlike
art or music, we don't like solo acts or independent
right the garage band plays great music, it doesn't In sports.
(21:24):
Sports his order in standings. And so when Joe Burrow
is two seven and one is a rookie, or Peyton
Manning is three and thirteen, or Trevor Lawrence is four
and thirteen or Matt Staffords two and eight, people say, oh,
still project as a superstar.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Be patient. They inherited a mess.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
When Caleb went and struggled year one, well you know
he had libs a lot. Well, he's a non traditional quarterback.
And I think you know again, in music, in the arts,
in movies, unique is celebrated. Pink Floyd celebrated, the Beatles
(22:08):
celebrated Stanley Kubrick, the director celebrated.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
That's not how sports works. You know, sports is order.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
And standings and wins and losses. Music sports is more
objective than subjective. And so I think in the industry
of sports to be different is you better be successful
because people are going to push back, and you know,
you get a Super Bowl, you get a parade that's
(22:35):
about as crazy as we get.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
We got a parade.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I mean, that's about the ad Libby we accept with football.
So I think this season, and I said this at
the end of last year, I'm not sure outside of
Josh Allen, anybody has his talent in the NFL playing
that position. I think two quarterbacks in this league have
more horsepower than any other quarterbacks, Alan and Caleb. I
(22:58):
do not think mah Holmes has quite that level of horsepower.
So I do think right now he's a top five
quarterback in the league, but he is so different, had
such a bad first year, and because he plays a
non traditional style of quarterback, we struggle with that in sports.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
We're not quite sure what to.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Do with it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Here is Caleb earlier today on the Kelsey's New Heights
podcast on being on the.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Madden cover Childhood dream Man.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
I mean, honestly, Mike Vic being on a cover, a
couple of other obviously John Madden and you know John
Madden covers and all these different things. So it's gonna
go up for sure, and right next to it is
probably gonna be one of the newer trophies for me
being able to put it up right now. Other cool,
cool trophies I have and accolades I have. Like I said,
I mean dream come true, and they never had two
(23:45):
back to back.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So let's see if we can.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
That's already yeah, yeah, that's my thing.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
And my personal discussions or talks with Caleb. I like him,
and he knows he's different, he knows he's got a
different style, and he kind of laughs and leans into it.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I know his dad and they you know, they.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Understand it's it is harder to be unique in sports,
in music, celebrated art movies. It's different sports standings. First second, win, lose, objective.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
J Mack with a news, no news, this is the
headline news.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
It's get started with tonight's NBA Finals. The big matchup
to watch. It's Jalen Brunson against my guy, Steph Castle.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
I have been prattling on about Castle all season. Incredible defender.
I think he's already on the short list of one
of the best two way players in the league. We
saw him totally lock up SGA in that last round.
I mean just SGA had an awful series, uh maybe
his worst since he became a star, and Jalen Brunson
talked about just how good Castle is defensively.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
He's great.
Speaker 7 (24:58):
I think his intensity in to nacity is a special Uh.
He plays with a chip on his shoulder and he's
had that since I seen him at Yukon and the
way he's played over these first couple years of his career.
I mean, he's gonna be a great player, great defender
and plays off. It's something you have the game playing
(25:18):
for and just be smart.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I mean, Brunson is gonna get his The question is
how hard you know. Listen, They're gonna put some defensive
pressure on him too. They're gonna attack Jalen Brunson. The
way to beat the Knicks, I mean, at least nobody
in the East can do it. But the way to
go after him is to force Brunson to play defense,
force him to play on both ends, wear him out
over the course of a series. That's always been the
(25:45):
kind of the remedy to beat Like James Harden, great
offensive guards, make it Luca, make them play defense, and
as the series goes on and on and on, you
wear him out in games five, game six games. Brunson's
gonna get his points early in the series. Can you
make it really work hard on the defensive end as well,
and make it really work for his points? And I
(26:05):
think that's what San Antonio will do. I mean, they
gave Sga all sorts of problems. Sja was still good,
but he was much less consistent in that Western Conference
Finals than he had been in his playoff career up
to that point.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
Yeah, it's interesting because if you watch Sga off the ball, Colin,
he does nothing. He just stands there. They're not running
him around a gauntlet of screens. He just stands and
kind of waits for his turn. This is his offense.
It's I'm gonna be at the top of the key.
Speaker 8 (26:30):
I'm gonna do a series.
Speaker 6 (26:31):
Of moves, try to take you, and then I'm gonna
get to my mid ring spot and good draw fout.
That's not Brunson's game. Brunson off the ball is running
through screens, not like Steph Curry level. But there's gonna
be a lot of switches. I think Brunce is gonna
have a good series. I know you're all in on
the Spurs. I totally get it. I picked the Spurs
before the playoffs. I think the Knicks win the series.
They have so many weapons right now, they are playing
(26:52):
so good. They can beat you in so many ways.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Castle six to six with a six nine wingspan.
Speaker 8 (26:58):
So everybody's tripping over themselves.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Who is his NBA comp And I've been saying for
a while, I think Jimmy Butler. I think he is
an absolute dog defensively and he can get to any
shot he wants in the mid range. I mean, Castle
was one of my favorite players in the camp, but
I love Brunson.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
And how about Drew Holliday with.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Maybe a little more skilled offensively that a little bit
more not built.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Yeah, Holliday was instrumental for the Milwaukee Bucks winning them
the title. All right, let's go back to the NFL
and Justin Herbert, a great quarterback who has zero career
playoff wins. I have to preface that or people get angry. Anyways,
Herbert's working with Mike McDaniel, now the new offensive coordinator,
and he's working on his footwork, speeding up his release
because he took a ton of sacks last year.
Speaker 8 (27:43):
Here's Herbert talking about the new evolution.
Speaker 9 (27:47):
The footwork has been a little different than you know.
We really emphasized the first couple of weeks of just
getting the ball out as quick as possible, almost getting
it to a point where you know, the receivers haven't
looked back for it yet, and that just allows them
to catch the ball with you know, maximum ability to
turn up field and have time before a defender gets
(28:08):
to him.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yeah, when you say you need to make sure, you
say I don't want a playoff game? Who are these
morons that think justin Herbert's not really good?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Are there people out there I don't follow it. There's
people out there that don't. They don't Charles Barkley didn't
win a ring. Charles Barkley is one of the fifteen
best basketball players I've ever seen play.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
I mean, Charles Barkley won an MVP, he went to
the finals, like Herbert still got a proof stuff in
the postseason.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I get it.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
He's been an underdog in all these playoff games.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
It's fine, but at the same time, like we need
to see him show up now. He didn't have his
tackles last year. But what I'm most interested in is
he gets both tackles back and McDaniel. Remember with Tua,
it's like dropstep bank. There's no like holding the ball,
patting looking around.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
They also drafted the best center in the second round,
Slaughter from Florida, so they also upgraded their interior O line.
It wasn't a great interior O line draft. It was
a good tackle draft. But they went and I think
it was the second round and got the best center
in college football. So they made they this is gonna
be a different look. I can't wait to watch them play.
I think it's gonna be a fascinating offense. I mean,
(29:09):
listen to them. Made a Pro Bowl with Mike McDaniel.
He made the playoffs twice. He made a Pro Bowl
in the AFC with Allan Lamar, Burrow Maholmes.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
He made a Pro Bowl. So what's Burro gonna do? Well,
what's Herbert gonna do?
Speaker 6 (29:21):
So my the summer, you know my summer picks for
conference championship. I've got Chargers Bengals in the AFC title game.
Bengals at Bengal. Schedule is a joke. They're gonna roll.
They're gonna be very good. But you look at the Chargers.
They will start one and zero. Then it's Buffalo and
Seattle and we'll see early with two weeks under their belt,
(29:42):
how the offense looks after that. You know, Broncos Chiefs
that that's four tough games before the bye and they'll
write the ship down the stretch against you know, Dolphins steak.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Can you imagine weeks eight and nine, they half to go,
they have to play the Rams and the Texans defense
back to back.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
You're arrested out of the buy and it says so fine,
it says at Rams, but come on, that's basically a
home game. Anyways, bullish, very on Herbert final story. Colin,
it's just made me laugh. You know, Pittsburgh Steelers for
the longest time had all spend all the money on defense.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
That's all we're gonna invest in.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
And then we hear it's gonna be new now, a
offense no same as it ever was in Pittsburgh, Colin,
Nick Herbig, the linebacker a four year, one hundred million
dollar extension.
Speaker 8 (30:32):
I just want to laugh, but I'll let you take
it away.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
It's just the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
This is their DNA, right, We're gonna win with defense.
That's a I mean, Nick Herbig is a fine player.
Speaker 8 (30:43):
He's good. I'm not gonna figure you with his status.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
He's a good player.
Speaker 8 (30:46):
Pressures he's good. Yeah, but this is all they do.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
This is I mean, don't I don't I have I
told you this.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
They'll be fine with Aaron Rodgers going forward, ownership, front
office questions at quarterback.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I do not like the future of the Steelers. I don't.
I don't. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I mean, doesn't let me, let me, doesn't Joey Porter Junior,
he hasn't gotten paid.
Speaker 8 (31:18):
He's angling for a deal.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
The Steelers currently without Porter have the highest, the most
expensive defense in the NFL.
Speaker 8 (31:24):
Heading in the next.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Season, it'll be a sixth straight year.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
I don't think that's a winning formula. And people will say, well, wait,
what about the Texans time out?
Speaker 8 (31:31):
Time out?
Speaker 6 (31:32):
The Texans are all young studs now herbid's only twenty four.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, and the Texans defense is miles better.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Than the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yes, I mean the Rams struggled to get first downs
last year against the Tech. Texans defense was next level.
It's one of the best defenses since the Legs of
the Boom. It was Steelers.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
Sillons from their playoff game where Rogers it's just annihilated.
I just I don't think this is a winning strategy.
I'm not gonna listen. I gotta dial down the hot takes.
It's Wednesday, Gotta save him for tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Next Colin.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
I'm telling you right now, if you looked at the rosters,
the Jets are the Steelers. I'm taking the Jets roster
in a heartbeat, heartbeat, and you can have Aaron Rodgers,
that's fine, but the Jets have a better.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Younger nuke credit. I like the Steelers roster. I just
don't like where they spend their money. Well, there you go.
Came back with the news.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line news.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
There is a lessoned, a lesson to be learned from
the Knicks, and you can bang on California all you want.
They had a big primaries yesterday, but I'll tell you
who likes La next and the Herd.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Sunday, the UFL playoffs kickoff. It's time to crown a champion.
Two semi final games Sunday, d C versus Orlando at
three on ABC and Louisville Saint Louis at six pm
Eastern on Fox.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
So when James Dolan got rid of Tibbs, he put
it out there. His quote was, I want somebody that's
more flexible and more collaborative. I didn't like the move
at the time, but one thing, and it's a clear
shot at Tibbs. Whereas Mike Brown is seen as a
better listener works well with others, Tibbs was viewed as
(33:29):
more rigid, and I'm going to tell you in my life,
you can go back to Woody Hayes in Ohio State.
Rigid and inflexible does not age well. You know, Bobby
Knight was considered the best half court basketball coach. Ever,
he would not participate in the one and done. Go
look at his last three years at Texas Tech very average.
(33:52):
You can go look at Debo Dabo Sweeney, who I
like a lot. He doesn't want to participate at any
level with a transfer portal or the NI. Clemson can
no longer beat elite teams. I think they were seven
and six last year. A Bill Belichick, as he got older,
I'm only gonna coach certain guys.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Belichick got fired four and thirteen last year. Nick Saban
was principled, he was never inflexible. Coach k Rick Pattino
again flexible, but principal. Principal, principled is you know a
(34:35):
set of guiding.
Speaker 8 (34:38):
Rules.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
You can look at it and think like, I'm not
gonna do that because that that is not one of
my guiding norms or guiding rules. I like principal people.
Rigid isn't principle. Rigid is I'm not going to involve.
I'm not gonna do one and done well it's legal.
I'm not gonna do ni I well, it's legal.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
I'm not going to do transfer portal.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And in my life, I can tell you integrity or
principles age well. Inflexibility does not age well. And TIBs,
you know, let's just run the offense through Jalen Brunson.
I mean they and you know Jalen Brunson year after
year looked worn down by the end of the year.
(35:23):
And I think TIB's a really good coach, but it
was that isolation offense. Brunson's a smaller player, usage rate
is through the roof, and Mike Brown's like, we're gonna
make some moves and it's worked. So here's Mike Brown's
coached everywhere. Pop Carlisle, Steve Kerr. He talks about his
evolution as a coach.
Speaker 10 (35:45):
It's one of the many things that I married from
Pop and Uh and Steve. You know, Steve was really
good at trying to play a lot of different guys.
If you can kind of control a minute during the
regular season, it helps them during the postseason. And you know,
so from what from people telling me that, I believe it,
(36:07):
and that's what I tried to do.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
So you know, New York has called the city that
never sleeps. Tibbs was the coach that never subbed, and
at some point it just kind of wore everybody out.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And I think Tibbs is a good coach.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
But I'm telling you can go back to Belichick and
Bobby Knights, and you can go to baseball managers. You
gotta don't confuse principles with rigidity. It's like people that
confuse morals with ethics.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Morals. Your morals aren't mine, mine aren't yours.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
That's personal ethics is you know, standards at a company.
Ethical standards at a company that that can include many people.
Morals is about me and you. Yours aren't mine, Mine
aren't yours. But we can all be under an umbrella
with the same ethical standards at a company. Remember what
(36:56):
Rick Patino came on this show, and you know Rick
Patino now is aging. Rick's like, you got to embrace
the new stuff.
Speaker 11 (37:03):
I think I can adjust to just about anything because
you have to adjust today. You see it all the time.
All the sports change. The coaches that don't want to
change get out, and I wasn't ready to get up.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Yeah, it's in my life.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
There's almost a golden rule when you meet people who
are like late sixties, early mid seventies, and they're happy
and they look great. They're never rigid. They're almost flexible people.
You know, they're kind of you know, life's one big wave.
Ride the wave. Don't fight it, right because cultures and
(37:46):
realities and reasons and they just all change.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Sports is crazy.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
It used to be a three point shot could get
you benched. Now teams shoot forty five at night. Oh
I was thinking about this. I'm gonna throw this out there.
Yesterday they had primaries elections in California. And everybody always
beats up on California and I lived there for nine years.
The people, the food, the weather, the options, there's so
(38:14):
many things to do in California. There are some things
that drive me crazy. The train to nowhere. The Palisades
fire don't get me. You know, I think politicians in
general underserve their voters. I don't think there's a lot
of great pod There's not a single politician right now
in the country that speaks for me.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I wish there were. There's not so, but it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Miles Garrett all excited to go to LA, and lebron
chose La, and Stafford loves La, and Aaron Donald didn't
leave La. And you know what you find out about California.
You know who does like it? Like sedentary people who
are old and grumpy may not like it. Pro athletes
do and they like it a lot, and they train
there and they live there, and they retire there. Well,
(38:58):
they're rich. Yes, I hear about all the time, billionaires
leaving California. When SpaceX goes public in Manhattan Beach alone,
three new billionaires, fifty new millionaires.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
They create them as.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Quick as they leave. They create new ones. And California.
When I just look at the coaches Harbaugh, I want
to go to California.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Harbaugh could have gone to a.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Lot of places. He chose California. But the taxes they're high.
I will admit they're high. I live in Chicago, they're
high here too. A lot of the cool places globally
they got high taxes because I've got a lot.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Of people and a lot of options.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
But I you know, I look back at all this
stuff all the time, and all I hear is you
got to be careful of what you're hearing, what you're reading,
what the algorithms are jamming down all. I look at
California and I look at all these teams. Is there
a city in America right now that's got more great
coaches and more great players and more stars than Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I know that taxes.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I lived there for nine years. The taxes are a lot.
But I put this up the other day about the
top ten athletes in Los Angeles, and there are people
that will make like all star teams that didn't make
the list show. Hey, Luca, Lebron, Stafford Milkie Bets. When
Lebron and you and I have discussed Lebron, what do
we always say, Is he willing to leave California because.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
His family loves it? Well, he's rich. Guess what.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
There's a lot of people that aren't rich that love
California and they're never going to leave. I always told
my kids, you didn't grow up in California. I said,
the advantage is you will at some point. It'll be
easier to leave California if you grow up there.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
With that weather. It's such a.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Great place for active people, hiking, beaches, biking trails, gyms,
everywhere options. I mean, if you're active, there's nowhere like
it in America. I mean Otani, Luca, Garrett, Lebron. I mean,
the three biggest star ours in the world right now
in sports are arguably Otani, Luke and Lebron. They're all
(41:06):
in LA and they chose it. They wanted it, they
like it, they embrace it. They don't want to leave it.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Here we go our two NBA Finals tonight, Frank I
sold in five minutes.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Uh been a rambunctious week. Miles Garrett to the La Rams.
Aaron Donald, is he coming out of retirement? His wild
World cop next week?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
We are all fired up.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So we always do this whenever there's an NBA final, Conference, Championship,
World Series, a massive series that everybody's talking about.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Out we get out the yellow pad.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We write down are ten best players in order, and
it gives us sort of a sense of who should
be favored in this series. I have said there's a
lot of reasons to like New York. I'm gonna take
the Spurs in six. I think they've got the best player,
home court advantage. I do think a lot of the
Knicks streak is based on a cruddy Eastern conference, but
(01:24):
they're playing out of their mind. They have a great
roster composition, and so here we go. Here's my top
ten players in the NBA Final. Number one, Okay, it's Wemby.
He's got thirty five more rebounds in twenty eight more
block shots than any other player in the postseason. Spurs
are thirty nine and six since February one, when he
just plays fifteen minutes. He changes the calculus on the
(01:47):
floor like nobody else. I don't think his offensive game
is quite refined yet or consistent, but he also helps
other players. This team leads the league in corner three.
That's because of Wemby. He's number one. Number two Jalen Brunson. Listen,
the NBA's best plus two twenty six with him on
(02:09):
the court this postseason. He is the soul, he's the heartbeat.
Is a little bit of a defensive liability, so was
Steph Curry. He hustles, and they also have players around
him that can protect him. He's one of the best
clutch players. High IQ EQ Villanova guy just perfect. I
mean he went to New York, he took less money.
(02:30):
He is your classic team first guy. Hard to dislike.
I've got him at two.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Number three. Now I like og. People think I like
him too much.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
First of all, long, physical, They may match him up
against Wemby. You know, he can have off games, but
he's a body type. I talk to people in the
NBA about this, like scouts. They're like his body type,
his ability to do a little finesse but also be physical.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He is so valuable.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
They're twenty seven and five when he gets twenty points,
so they just don't lose much. And again against San Antonio,
his dexterity, his length, his physicality will be huge. Number
four Stefan Castle leads all players and assist this pole season,
plus he's second in points for the Spurs. Now, I
(03:18):
used to think he was a real streaky shooter. I
don't think that as much now. He is hyper aggressive.
He was at you, Connie is now for the Spurs
on both ends of the floor, sometimes to a fault offensively,
but you know he's gonna rebound, he's gonna defend, he's
gonna be physical. He's just again the word dexterity. He's
(03:39):
just does so many things. Well. I've got him at four.
Carl Anthony Towns, one of the great jump shooting bigs
of all time. He hopefully for the next can pull
Wemby away from the iron again. Now he's an assist guy.
The rigidity of Tibbs. You know you kind of knew
what you had with kat Mike Brown and his staff
in that Atlanta there he said to a little point center, here,
(04:01):
take the ball away from Brunson. Don't make us as
bruntson Centric brilliant and they haven't lost since I have
cat at five. Number six would be Dylan Harper, only
non starter in my top ten. I think the kid's
gonna be amazing. I think he's unbelievable. I can't believe
he's this good, this early, the youngest player twenty years
old all time to have a twenty ten game in
(04:22):
a conference final.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Quick he can shoot a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Of young players struggle with consistency shooting, averaging thirteen points
a game shooting fifty two and a half percent in
the playoffs. Dylan Harper at six Mkale Bridges, who logs
a lot of minutes nineteen a game and sixty three
percent shooting over this last nine games. I mean they
gave up a lot to get him. I didn't think
(04:51):
he had the greatest year but again, he's a wing
defender at an elite level, not a lot. I mean,
McHale bridges is largely what the league's transition to over
the last decade. You know a three and D guy.
So McHale's Bridges at number seven. Darn Fox at eight.
He's not totally healthy. He's been a clutch Player of
(05:12):
the Year in the NBA. One year he led the
NBA in steals. He's a two time All Star. I
thought he was huge in a couple of games against
Oklahoma City. He scored fifteen points in all of them. Mattered,
so again, on a very young team. His intelligence and
maturity and ability. He's got a little bit of a
Brunson where he'll step up in big spots and take
(05:33):
that shot. Won't always make it, but he'll take it.
He's at eight. Josh Hart another guy that logs big minutes,
does a lot of little things. Deflections, hustle, plays nova.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Guy, smart, tough. For the record.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
On this team, he gets some open looks and he's
been hitting him so I always thought he'd been more
of a defensive guy. But if you leave him open,
he will burn you. Unless you're a Knicks fan and
watch every you don't understand his value to the team,
logs a lot of minutes. Josh Hard at nine and
Devin of Asel at number ten, another one of these
(06:10):
great young players for the Spurs. He often guards the
best opponent, like he guarded Aunt in that series against Minnesota.
Three pointers made again, can they have? So it's almost
weird how young the Spurs are and all of their
young players feel like you trust them to take a
big shot in a big moment.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
That is so counter to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I've watched where, you know, the playoffs, young guys shrink.
So here's my top ten, five apiece and I think
that's all we have. I think we have an incredibly
even finals. Mitchell Robinson latest word is going to play.
That matters And with that great writer Frank Isola covered
(06:57):
the NBA. He's got a show called Starting Lineup on Serah.
YESXM NBA Radio. All Right, you saw my top ten,
just fire away, you know, crush it. I want to
hear your opinion.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, your list is absolutely awful. No, it's obviously a
reasonable list. I would probably put him. Looking at it now,
I'd probably put Karl Anthony Towns third ahead of Ojan Andobi.
You make a great case, and OG's a two way player.
When he gets hurt and he doesn't play, you can
see the impact that it has on the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Forcarl Anthony Towns is such a weapon.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
His ability to spread the court open things up for
Jalen Brunson is important. And you mentioned a guy at
the end, Mitchell Robinson. I think Mitchell Robinson needs to
be in the top ten by the end of this
series for the Knicks to win because when you look
at the games that he's played against San Antonio, he's
been pretty dominant. In the NBA Cup, Colony had fifteen rebounds,
(07:52):
including ten offensive rebounds, and he makes it so when
Benyama can't just roll him around unless they're going to
play Cornett. And when benyamat the other if not at
Wimbin Yam is guarding Mitchell Robinson, he's got to stay home.
You got to put a body on him. Because the
way the Nicks kill you with Mitchell Robinson is offensive rebounds,
which a lot of time leads to those scrambled three pointers,
(08:12):
and most of the time it always seems like it's
Jalen Brunson wide open all of those plays knocking down
at three.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So you know, Karl Anthony Towns high school, college and
pro has always had a reputation incredibly skilled, one of
the great jump shooting bigs. Ever, little flaky, bad fouls
gets into weird ruts. I feel like something has happened
since the Atlanta series. Obviously has the ball in his hands,
but I mean, I think if I ask you, all
(08:40):
the years you covered Kat, we always kind of felt like, man,
he's good, but sometimes you're just not sure which one
shows up. Has he evolved this year or are the
things we worry about still very close to the surface.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I think this's a couple of things.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
I think we conveniently forget that he's now been to
three straight conference finals. He was with one in the
Innesota the last two years with the Knicks, who he's
been really successful.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Last year was an All NBA center.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I think he came into this season there was a
lot of talk about Giannison tetat Combo. I think he
looked at it as hang on a second. I wanted
a state in Minnesota. But I'm happy to be, you know,
in New York. I'm close to my dad, close to
where I grew up. Now we're having success. Now you
guys want to ship me off to Milwaukee. So I
think emotionally he was in a funk Colin, and I
also think he's the kind of guy it's easy.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
To pick on him because it.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Didn't really go back at a lot of people, So
he's an easy target. If Carl was nasty and aggressive
with the media, maybe a lot of people would think
twice about criticizing. So I think the criticism of Carl
tends to be over the top when he's.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
A terrific player.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
You know, he said it a couple of years ago,
I'm the best shooting big man in league history. He's
certainly going to be in the conversation and that's what
makes him great. He's been really successful in the last
three years.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
What do you do against Wemby? Can you throw og?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I mean, because I do think offensively, he's not refined
yet he has.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Off halves off nights.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Also think you can I mean, listen, they put Drew
Holliday Blazers. Can you can put a smaller body on
him and make him uncomfortable? What do you think the
Knicks do?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I think you hit on it with o Jan Nanobi
because he has the versatility, the size, the strength. I
thought it was a mistake that Oklahoma City made in
Game one putting Alex Cruso on him. I know that
Alex Caruso is going to compete, but he's not. He's
just not big enough to be and strong enough really
to contend with victim win Benyama. I could certainly seeing
it being og and I think the Knicks need to
(10:29):
be physical. I think if you go back to Game
five of the Western Conference Finals, when Benyama clearly frustrated
his team lost the game to not meet with the
media afterwards, I think that had a lot to do
with the way the game was being officiated. He was
sulking a little bit. But what I like about him
is that motivated him to play so well in both
Game six in Game seven.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
So the league reprimanded him, saying a right, enough of this.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
If you're going to sit down and talk, if you
have a great game, you better be the guy that
sit down after your team doesn't play well. But to
his credit, I love the way that he responded again
to me.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That's I know.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
I don't want to get too far ahead of it
myself here, but that's a little bit of that Michael
Jordan Kobe Bryant quality that he has in him, that competitiveness.
When he has a bad game, he's in a bad place.
Look at the way he responded and in six and
seven he was outstanding.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You know, James, I didn't love when James Dolan made
the move.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I said, why screw with it?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
But one of the things I've heard about Mike Brown,
He's worked under Popovich, He's worked under Steve Kerr, Budenholzer, Malone, Carlisle,
Mike is a very well liked He's a good listener.
He's not heavy handed. Did you like the move with
Tim because Tip's has some rigidity to him. We all
know that when the when the move was first made.
(11:46):
What was your reaction, because Dolan came down and just
said we want more collaboration, and it it was I'll
give Dolan credit, it was a big swing.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Did you like it?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
No, I didn't like it at all, because, first of all,
give a week, you know, let the loss, you know, think,
you know, take some time to take a deep breath
and go over the season. Remember their season ended on
a Saturday, and I think it was by Tuesday. Tom
was gone, they decided to make the coaching change. Remember
there's a little revision of history here. Their number one
(12:17):
choice was Jason Kidd, right, and when they didn't get
permission to talk to Jason Kidd, he ends up getting
an extension. Then they just started cold calling teams Atlanta
with Quinn Sneyder, em Audoka with the Houston Rockets, Billy
Donovan with the Chicago Bulls. They were getting involved in
everyone's business here because these teams were denying permission, which
was leading in the case of certainly Jason Kidd and
Billy Donovan to getting extensions.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So it's worked out with Mike Brown.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I thought for me when Tyre's Halliburton got hurt at
halftime right before I I'm sorry, in the first quarter
of Game seven against Oklahoma City, and it was clear
that it was an achilles.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I remember think at the time, the next thing to.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Go to the finals next year because there's no Tatum,
there's no Tyres Halliburn, and the Eastern Conference isn't good enough.
So I think it was all set up for them.
But ultimately all that matters is getting there. Mike Brown's
the coach, more power to him because he came in
there with a lot of pressure on him. You weren't
going to be able to lose in the conference finals
like they did last year, even though they hadn't been
there since nineteen ninety nine. He had or I'm sorry,
(13:14):
since two thousand. He needed to get to a finals,
and that's what they've done. I've said this since February first.
Wemby and the Spurs are thirteen and one against the East.
The Knicks is the only loss they lost in the
Gold Cup. Clearly, the Knicks match up well with San Antonio.
I didn't think the Knicks matched up particularly well with
Oklahoma City. I said before the finals, I said, I
(13:36):
think Oklahoma City creates some problems for Brunson. I think
the Knicks matchup pretty well. Here go back to the
last time they played.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
What has absolutely worked for the Knicks absolutely worked against
San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Let me just start up by saying, I love that
you got soccer on the brain. You called it the
Gold Cup, it was the NBA Cup. I'll be watching,
I'll be watching all the World Cup games on Fox'll
be all over it.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I think it has a lot to do.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
With the way that they've defended Wen Bin Yama and
the effectiveness of Mitchell Robinson. That's why what's happened here
over the past week or so with the news of
his injury, the fact that he had surgery. I know
you just said that he's going to play. We have
no idea how effective he's going to be. If it's
that fifth metacarpal. People are saying that that's a boxer fracture,
is that what they call it, then sometimes that could
(14:24):
take weeks upon weeks for it's the heal.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Now, he's not a great shooter, we know that.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
But Colin, you know, at some point tonight, whether it's
a guy you know running past him going to hit
his hand, or somebody will slap down on his hand,
we'll see what happens then.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
But that is a big part of it.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
And if I'm the New York Knicks and I go
back to covering the team when Lachrell Spiewell showed up
in training camp with a broken hand, and how upset
James Dole and the owner was and that really started
the downfall of their relationship and eventually led to free
Well being gone. I would have to think the Nick
organization is ticked off because here they're on this tremendous role.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
They've won eleven straight games.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
You get all this time off, and now Mitchell Robinson
shows up with a broken hand, and Mike Brown said
it didn't happen in the game, it didn't happen in practice.
So there you go. You got to leave it open
for everyone to try to figure out what's happened. But
he's an important part of it. And one quick thing too.
You mentioned Oklahoma City. I think the Knicks watching that
game seven, I think they were probably rooting for Oklahoma
(15:18):
City because I don't think Jayn Williams was going to play,
who was, in theory their second best player, and aj Mitchell,
who had been really their second best player or at
least second best score during the playoffs. So I think
the Knicks probably looked at it, now is the time
to get Oklahoma City.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
The Spurs.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I get the you know, youth and everything like that,
but the Spurs just come in healthier and really playing well.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Right now, Hey, I got to ask you kind of
a broad NBA question, because you know, you hear rumors
all the time in the offseason, and most are nonsense,
and maybe this is. But Tim Collacolle Comic Kaway has
been doing this for a long time. Bay Area knows
what he's doing. He said, it's not crazy. He said
they if you look at the draft slot for the Warriors,
(16:01):
the Lakers, JJ, Reddick and Luca are the future. They're
absolutely working on Austin Reeves because they're not going to
let him go like they did with Caruso and get nothing.
So Lebron now is like on the back burner, which
Lebron and Rich Paul don't like. I think privately this
new Dodger ownership, Laker ownership would like to move on,
but they don't want to do the breaking up. And
(16:23):
Tim Kawakami said, Kerr, Draymond Curry, Lebron, and remember Lebron
vacations with Draymond. He's always wanted to play with Steph Curry.
And the truth is they're eleventh pick, or they move
off a slot, they could get a die Mara, the
rim protector, the Spaniard, kind of an offensive, clever player.
(16:45):
I saw that and I thought, you know, it's a
golf stream forty minute flight back to La as family
loves La. I don't think it's crazy when you hear it.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
What do you think, ron I don't think it's I
don't think it's crazy at all. I was in it
in October. I showed up at your doorstep. They said
you had since moved. But I did hang out with
the Warriors for a couple of days and it wasn't
coming from the players, but there was a lot of
buzzer around the team that the idea of perhaps Lebron
joining the Warriors after the season, and a lot of
that has to do, especially with his relationship with Steph Curry,
(17:17):
you know, rivals. What I love about it is they
both were born at Akron, Ohio in the same hospital,
which is bonkers to actually think about something like that,
but it does make a lot of sense. I think
if you were to leave the Lakers, and I don't
know why, if I'm the Lakers, I'd want to have him.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I think he played really well.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
He did this season for what you should expect from
a guy who's forty one years old. He's not going
to play eighty two games, and they needed Luka Doncic.
I don't think it's the craziest thing that he ends
up on the Golden State Wars. It makes a lot
of sense for a lot of reasons. Obviously the relationships
and whether or not it's going to work. You know,
Oklahoma City isn't going anywhere. You have the Spurs, you know,
Denver is still really good, and you have Minnesota. It's
(17:56):
not going to be easy in the West. But it
makes a lot of sense and it's certainly a move
I could see Lebron James making.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
All right, before you go, you know your soccer as
well as anybody that covers the NBA. Certainly I France England.
You know there's a lot of lot of high luxury
picks here.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Who do you have winning?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Yeah, you know, I mean France has got so many
good players. What's interesting about England? You know they're going
to be playing a lot of games here on the
East coast where it's going to be hot. You know,
I have a lot of British friends. I keep telling
them I think England has a chance. But I'm going
to go out on a limb here. I know it's crazy.
I'm going to pick Portugal. I know Portugal won the
(18:38):
Nation's League. I think that was what a year ago.
I like their team a lot. I'll give you a
little soccer combination for tonight's game one Julian Champenny, who
plays for the Spurs, out stating role player. His father Ranford,
was a player at Saint John's in nineteen ninety six
when they won the national Championship's right.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
There they go. There's a little soccer connection for it,
and sick Darryl Moore in the six or just let
him go.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
They for Mac mcclegg to win, to play in the
same Who do you have winning?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Give me your pick.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I'd have the Spurs in six, but I don't feel
good about it at all at all.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Yeah, I got I got the Nick, I got the
Nickson six doing it hard to believe, by.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
The way, Christian Rinaldo would be playing. Let's see here,
sixth World Cup for Porches.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
They got Bruno Fernandez. You know you got the Mende
in the back. They got some Mendez. They got good
players and they's playing in the heat. Columbia Portugal in Miami.
I think is the hottest ticket for the group stage games.
Portugal Columbia. I bought that in Miami. Not bad, Frank Asolo.
(19:44):
You have so many things here for us. I mean,
that's why we bring you on.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Good senor thanks good snor column. Frank one of the
good guys in the media. And you know what I
like about Frank for years is he he doesn't soft
pedal the local teams, James Dolan. Frank will tell you
what he thinks, and he doesn't really care. He doesn't
care one more.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Heard 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.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
So, Caleb Williams says it is a childhood dream. He
has been given the cover of Madden for Chicago Bear
to ever be given awarded that title. I still think
Caleb is very unique and rare. He is still underrated
as a number one pike at quarterback. And here's my
(20:43):
theory on it. If you go look at number one quarterbacks,
you know Trevor Lawrence, Andrew Luck, Joe Burrow, Matt Stafford,
Peyton Manning, they're very traditional so and Caleb's not. From
painting the fingernails to only six to one. He's unbelievable
off platform. Honestly, sometimes I think he's better off platform
(21:04):
than in the pocket, first nil Star, first gen Z quarterback.
So he goes five and twelve and in sports, unlike
art or music, we don't like solo acts or independent
right the garage band plays great music, it doesn't In sports.
(21:24):
Sports his order in standings. And so when Joe Burrow
is two seven and one is a rookie, or Peyton
Manning is three and thirteen, or Trevor Lawrence is four
and thirteen or Matt Staffords two and eight, people say, oh,
still project as a superstar.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Be patient. They inherited a mess.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
When Caleb went and struggled year one, well you know
he had libs a lot. Well, he's a non traditional quarterback.
And I think you know again, in music, in the arts,
in movies, unique is celebrated. Pink Floyd celebrated, the Beatles
(22:08):
celebrated Stanley Kubrick, the director celebrated.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
That's not how sports works. You know, sports is order.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
And standings and wins and losses. Music sports is more
objective than subjective. And so I think in the industry
of sports to be different is you better be successful
because people are going to push back, and you know,
you get a Super Bowl, you get a parade that's
(22:35):
about as crazy as we get.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
We got a parade.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I mean, that's about the ad Libby we accept with football.
So I think this season, and I said this at
the end of last year, I'm not sure outside of
Josh Allen, anybody has his talent in the NFL playing
that position. I think two quarterbacks in this league have
more horsepower than any other quarterbacks, Alan and Caleb. I
(22:58):
do not think mah Holmes has quite that level of horsepower.
So I do think right now he's a top five
quarterback in the league, but he is so different, had
such a bad first year, and because he plays a
non traditional style of quarterback, we struggle with that in sports.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
We're not quite sure what to.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Do with it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Here is Caleb earlier today on the Kelsey's New Heights
podcast on being on the.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Madden cover Childhood dream Man.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
I mean, honestly, Mike Vic being on a cover, a
couple of other obviously John Madden and you know John
Madden covers and all these different things. So it's gonna
go up for sure, and right next to it is
probably gonna be one of the newer trophies for me
being able to put it up right now. Other cool,
cool trophies I have and accolades I have. Like I said,
I mean dream come true, and they never had two
(23:45):
back to back.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So let's see if we can.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
That's already yeah, yeah, that's my thing.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
And my personal discussions or talks with Caleb. I like him,
and he knows he's different, he knows he's got a
different style, and he kind of laughs and leans into it.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I know his dad and they you know, they.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Understand it's it is harder to be unique in sports,
in music, celebrated art movies. It's different sports standings. First second, win, lose, objective.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
J Mack with a news, no news, this is the
headline news.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
It's get started with tonight's NBA Finals. The big matchup
to watch. It's Jalen Brunson against my guy, Steph Castle.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
I have been prattling on about Castle all season. Incredible defender.
I think he's already on the short list of one
of the best two way players in the league. We
saw him totally lock up SGA in that last round.
I mean just SGA had an awful series, uh maybe
his worst since he became a star, and Jalen Brunson
talked about just how good Castle is defensively.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
He's great.
Speaker 7 (24:58):
I think his intensity in to nacity is a special Uh.
He plays with a chip on his shoulder and he's
had that since I seen him at Yukon and the
way he's played over these first couple years of his career.
I mean, he's gonna be a great player, great defender
and plays off. It's something you have the game playing
(25:18):
for and just be smart.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I mean, Brunson is gonna get his The question is
how hard you know. Listen, They're gonna put some defensive
pressure on him too. They're gonna attack Jalen Brunson. The
way to beat the Knicks, I mean, at least nobody
in the East can do it. But the way to
go after him is to force Brunson to play defense,
force him to play on both ends, wear him out
over the course of a series. That's always been the
(25:45):
kind of the remedy to beat Like James Harden, great
offensive guards, make it Luca, make them play defense, and
as the series goes on and on and on, you
wear him out in games five, game six games. Brunson's
gonna get his points early in the series. Can you
make it really work hard on the defensive end as well,
and make it really work for his points? And I
(26:05):
think that's what San Antonio will do. I mean, they
gave Sga all sorts of problems. Sja was still good,
but he was much less consistent in that Western Conference
Finals than he had been in his playoff career up
to that point.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
Yeah, it's interesting because if you watch Sga off the ball, Colin,
he does nothing. He just stands there. They're not running
him around a gauntlet of screens. He just stands and
kind of waits for his turn. This is his offense.
It's I'm gonna be at the top of the key.
Speaker 8 (26:30):
I'm gonna do a series.
Speaker 6 (26:31):
Of moves, try to take you, and then I'm gonna
get to my mid ring spot and good draw fout.
That's not Brunson's game. Brunson off the ball is running
through screens, not like Steph Curry level. But there's gonna
be a lot of switches. I think Brunce is gonna
have a good series. I know you're all in on
the Spurs. I totally get it. I picked the Spurs
before the playoffs. I think the Knicks win the series.
They have so many weapons right now, they are playing
(26:52):
so good. They can beat you in so many ways.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Castle six to six with a six nine wingspan.
Speaker 8 (26:58):
So everybody's tripping over themselves.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Who is his NBA comp And I've been saying for
a while, I think Jimmy Butler. I think he is
an absolute dog defensively and he can get to any
shot he wants in the mid range. I mean, Castle
was one of my favorite players in the camp, but
I love Brunson.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
And how about Drew Holliday with.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Maybe a little more skilled offensively that a little bit
more not built.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Yeah, Holliday was instrumental for the Milwaukee Bucks winning them
the title. All right, let's go back to the NFL
and Justin Herbert, a great quarterback who has zero career
playoff wins. I have to preface that or people get angry. Anyways,
Herbert's working with Mike McDaniel, now the new offensive coordinator,
and he's working on his footwork, speeding up his release
because he took a ton of sacks last year.
Speaker 8 (27:43):
Here's Herbert talking about the new evolution.
Speaker 9 (27:47):
The footwork has been a little different than you know.
We really emphasized the first couple of weeks of just
getting the ball out as quick as possible, almost getting
it to a point where you know, the receivers haven't
looked back for it yet, and that just allows them
to catch the ball with you know, maximum ability to
turn up field and have time before a defender gets
(28:08):
to him.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yeah, when you say you need to make sure, you
say I don't want a playoff game? Who are these
morons that think justin Herbert's not really good?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Are there people out there I don't follow it. There's
people out there that don't. They don't Charles Barkley didn't
win a ring. Charles Barkley is one of the fifteen
best basketball players I've ever seen play.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
I mean, Charles Barkley won an MVP, he went to
the finals, like Herbert still got a proof stuff in
the postseason.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I get it.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
He's been an underdog in all these playoff games.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
It's fine, but at the same time, like we need
to see him show up now. He didn't have his
tackles last year. But what I'm most interested in is
he gets both tackles back and McDaniel. Remember with Tua,
it's like dropstep bank. There's no like holding the ball,
patting looking around.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
They also drafted the best center in the second round,
Slaughter from Florida, so they also upgraded their interior O line.
It wasn't a great interior O line draft. It was
a good tackle draft. But they went and I think
it was the second round and got the best center
in college football. So they made they this is gonna
be a different look. I can't wait to watch them play.
I think it's gonna be a fascinating offense. I mean,
(29:09):
listen to them. Made a Pro Bowl with Mike McDaniel.
He made the playoffs twice. He made a Pro Bowl
in the AFC with Allan Lamar, Burrow Maholmes.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
He made a Pro Bowl. So what's Burro gonna do? Well,
what's Herbert gonna do?
Speaker 6 (29:21):
So my the summer, you know my summer picks for
conference championship. I've got Chargers Bengals in the AFC title game.
Bengals at Bengal. Schedule is a joke. They're gonna roll.
They're gonna be very good. But you look at the Chargers.
They will start one and zero. Then it's Buffalo and
Seattle and we'll see early with two weeks under their belt,
(29:42):
how the offense looks after that. You know, Broncos Chiefs
that that's four tough games before the bye and they'll
write the ship down the stretch against you know, Dolphins steak.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Can you imagine weeks eight and nine, they half to go,
they have to play the Rams and the Texans defense
back to back.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
You're arrested out of the buy and it says so fine,
it says at Rams, but come on, that's basically a
home game. Anyways, bullish, very on Herbert final story. Colin,
it's just made me laugh. You know, Pittsburgh Steelers for
the longest time had all spend all the money on defense.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
That's all we're gonna invest in.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
And then we hear it's gonna be new now, a
offense no same as it ever was in Pittsburgh, Colin,
Nick Herbig, the linebacker a four year, one hundred million
dollar extension.
Speaker 8 (30:32):
I just want to laugh, but I'll let you take
it away.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
It's just the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
This is their DNA, right, We're gonna win with defense.
That's a I mean, Nick Herbig is a fine player.
Speaker 8 (30:43):
He's good. I'm not gonna figure you with his status.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
He's a good player.
Speaker 8 (30:46):
Pressures he's good. Yeah, but this is all they do.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
This is I mean, don't I don't I have I
told you this.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
They'll be fine with Aaron Rodgers going forward, ownership, front
office questions at quarterback.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I do not like the future of the Steelers. I don't.
I don't. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I mean, doesn't let me, let me, doesn't Joey Porter Junior,
he hasn't gotten paid.
Speaker 8 (31:18):
He's angling for a deal.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
The Steelers currently without Porter have the highest, the most
expensive defense in the NFL.
Speaker 8 (31:24):
Heading in the next.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Season, it'll be a sixth straight year.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
I don't think that's a winning formula. And people will say, well, wait,
what about the Texans time out?
Speaker 8 (31:31):
Time out?
Speaker 6 (31:32):
The Texans are all young studs now herbid's only twenty four.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, and the Texans defense is miles better.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Than the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yes, I mean the Rams struggled to get first downs
last year against the Tech. Texans defense was next level.
It's one of the best defenses since the Legs of
the Boom. It was Steelers.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
Sillons from their playoff game where Rogers it's just annihilated.
I just I don't think this is a winning strategy.
I'm not gonna listen. I gotta dial down the hot takes.
It's Wednesday, Gotta save him for tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Next Colin.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
I'm telling you right now, if you looked at the rosters,
the Jets are the Steelers. I'm taking the Jets roster
in a heartbeat, heartbeat, and you can have Aaron Rodgers,
that's fine, but the Jets have a better.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Younger nuke credit. I like the Steelers roster. I just
don't like where they spend their money. Well, there you go.
Came back with the news.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line news.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
There is a lessoned, a lesson to be learned from
the Knicks, and you can bang on California all you want.
They had a big primaries yesterday, but I'll tell you
who likes La next and the Herd.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Sunday, the UFL playoffs kickoff. It's time to crown a champion.
Two semi final games Sunday, d C versus Orlando at
three on ABC and Louisville Saint Louis at six pm
Eastern on Fox.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
So when James Dolan got rid of Tibbs, he put
it out there. His quote was, I want somebody that's
more flexible and more collaborative. I didn't like the move
at the time, but one thing, and it's a clear
shot at Tibbs. Whereas Mike Brown is seen as a
better listener works well with others, Tibbs was viewed as
(33:29):
more rigid, and I'm going to tell you in my life,
you can go back to Woody Hayes in Ohio State.
Rigid and inflexible does not age well. You know, Bobby
Knight was considered the best half court basketball coach. Ever,
he would not participate in the one and done. Go
look at his last three years at Texas Tech very average.
(33:52):
You can go look at Debo Dabo Sweeney, who I
like a lot. He doesn't want to participate at any
level with a transfer portal or the NI. Clemson can
no longer beat elite teams. I think they were seven
and six last year. A Bill Belichick, as he got older,
I'm only gonna coach certain guys.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Belichick got fired four and thirteen last year. Nick Saban
was principled, he was never inflexible. Coach k Rick Pattino
again flexible, but principal. Principal, principled is you know a
(34:35):
set of guiding.
Speaker 8 (34:38):
Rules.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
You can look at it and think like, I'm not
gonna do that because that that is not one of
my guiding norms or guiding rules. I like principal people.
Rigid isn't principle. Rigid is I'm not going to involve.
I'm not gonna do one and done well it's legal.
I'm not gonna do ni I well, it's legal.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
I'm not going to do transfer portal.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And in my life, I can tell you integrity or
principles age well. Inflexibility does not age well. And TIBs,
you know, let's just run the offense through Jalen Brunson.
I mean they and you know Jalen Brunson year after
year looked worn down by the end of the year.
(35:23):
And I think TIB's a really good coach, but it
was that isolation offense. Brunson's a smaller player, usage rate
is through the roof, and Mike Brown's like, we're gonna
make some moves and it's worked. So here's Mike Brown's
coached everywhere. Pop Carlisle, Steve Kerr. He talks about his
evolution as a coach.
Speaker 10 (35:45):
It's one of the many things that I married from
Pop and Uh and Steve. You know, Steve was really
good at trying to play a lot of different guys.
If you can kind of control a minute during the
regular season, it helps them during the postseason. And you know,
so from what from people telling me that, I believe it,
(36:07):
and that's what I tried to do.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
So you know, New York has called the city that
never sleeps. Tibbs was the coach that never subbed, and
at some point it just kind of wore everybody out.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And I think Tibbs is a good coach.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
But I'm telling you can go back to Belichick and
Bobby Knights, and you can go to baseball managers. You
gotta don't confuse principles with rigidity. It's like people that
confuse morals with ethics.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Morals. Your morals aren't mine, mine aren't yours.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
That's personal ethics is you know, standards at a company.
Ethical standards at a company that that can include many people.
Morals is about me and you. Yours aren't mine, Mine
aren't yours. But we can all be under an umbrella
with the same ethical standards at a company. Remember what
(36:56):
Rick Patino came on this show, and you know Rick
Patino now is aging. Rick's like, you got to embrace
the new stuff.
Speaker 11 (37:03):
I think I can adjust to just about anything because
you have to adjust today. You see it all the time.
All the sports change. The coaches that don't want to
change get out, and I wasn't ready to get up.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Yeah, it's in my life.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
There's almost a golden rule when you meet people who
are like late sixties, early mid seventies, and they're happy
and they look great. They're never rigid. They're almost flexible people.
You know, they're kind of you know, life's one big wave.
Ride the wave. Don't fight it, right because cultures and
(37:46):
realities and reasons and they just all change.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Sports is crazy.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
It used to be a three point shot could get
you benched. Now teams shoot forty five at night. Oh
I was thinking about this. I'm gonna throw this out there.
Yesterday they had primaries elections in California. And everybody always
beats up on California and I lived there for nine years.
The people, the food, the weather, the options, there's so
(38:14):
many things to do in California. There are some things
that drive me crazy. The train to nowhere. The Palisades
fire don't get me. You know, I think politicians in
general underserve their voters. I don't think there's a lot
of great pod There's not a single politician right now
in the country that speaks for me.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I wish there were. There's not so, but it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Miles Garrett all excited to go to LA, and lebron
chose La, and Stafford loves La, and Aaron Donald didn't
leave La. And you know what you find out about California.
You know who does like it? Like sedentary people who
are old and grumpy may not like it. Pro athletes
do and they like it a lot, and they train
there and they live there, and they retire there. Well,
(38:58):
they're rich. Yes, I hear about all the time, billionaires
leaving California. When SpaceX goes public in Manhattan Beach alone,
three new billionaires, fifty new millionaires.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
They create them as.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Quick as they leave. They create new ones. And California.
When I just look at the coaches Harbaugh, I want
to go to California.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Harbaugh could have gone to a.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Lot of places. He chose California. But the taxes they're high.
I will admit they're high. I live in Chicago, they're
high here too. A lot of the cool places globally
they got high taxes because I've got a lot.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Of people and a lot of options.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
But I you know, I look back at all this
stuff all the time, and all I hear is you
got to be careful of what you're hearing, what you're reading,
what the algorithms are jamming down all. I look at
California and I look at all these teams. Is there
a city in America right now that's got more great
coaches and more great players and more stars than Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I know that taxes.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I lived there for nine years. The taxes are a lot.
But I put this up the other day about the
top ten athletes in Los Angeles, and there are people
that will make like all star teams that didn't make
the list show. Hey, Luca, Lebron, Stafford Milkie Bets. When
Lebron and you and I have discussed Lebron, what do
we always say, Is he willing to leave California because.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
His family loves it? Well, he's rich. Guess what.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
There's a lot of people that aren't rich that love
California and they're never going to leave. I always told
my kids, you didn't grow up in California. I said,
the advantage is you will at some point. It'll be
easier to leave California if you grow up there.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
With that weather. It's such a.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Great place for active people, hiking, beaches, biking trails, gyms,
everywhere options. I mean, if you're active, there's nowhere like
it in America. I mean Otani, Luca, Garrett, Lebron. I mean,
the three biggest star ours in the world right now
in sports are arguably Otani, Luke and Lebron. They're all
(41:06):
in LA and they chose it. They wanted it, they
like it, they embrace it. They don't want to leave it.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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