July 8, 2026 • 39 mins
Jason MacIntyre sits in for Colin and makes his picks for the quarterfinals and beyond in the World Cup.
Jason talks to NBA reporter Jovan Buha to talk about the free agency moves of the Los Angeles Lakers and whether they can be one of the top teams in the west with their actions. Can they afford Jonathan Kuminga? He also breaks down the end of LeBron James' tenure with the Lakers.
Jason explains why criticism about US soccer star Christian Pulisic is part of the growth of soccer in this country, and why he's drawing such heat.
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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 noone Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
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for listening to The Herd podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Here we go our number two on The Herd. It's
me Jason McIntyre in for an under the weather Colin Cowherd. Boy,
how many sick days has he taken since he moved
to Chicago. Huh, It's not that big of a deal.
I just get partnered up with Rachel Nichols and we
crush it.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
You know, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hey, the audience knows. Coward's got a big vacation coming up.
I hope Lebron holds off on his decision.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
So it's just seeing me.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we have a crazy track record.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
We do every summer. We spend a couple of weeks
with Colin on vacation. News breaks pretty much every day,
so I believe it.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So we got you on Booja coming up here shortly
to talk about the Lakers. My Lakers also my next Rachel.
Don't need to take any digs. I can like both.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I'm allowed to.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
There are no rules, no, you're not allowed to like,
especially those two teams. We're not allowed to be like, Oh,
my Lakers and my Knicks.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Who else are you adopting around the NBA? They're your
war players?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Also, Steph Curries, my guy?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
How many more teams? Thank you?
Speaker 5 (01:21):
See I've listened to you over the years. How many
more teams could you have?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Jason?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Maybe I'll adopt the Grizzlies. Just kidd, I will not
adopt the Grizzlies.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
All right, Jovan's coming up shortly, so real quick. The
World Cup is down to the quarterfinals. Today's a day off,
a breather. Tomorrow France Morocco in, which should be a
banger of a game. So we got the bracket on
the screen and the staff's like, can you you want
to pick your winners? So I gave them my quarterfinal
winners and they're.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Like, too, Chalky listen.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I like Morocco a lot. You guys know, I built
this gambling model for the World Cup on Claude. Morocco
has been a cash cow Netherlands Brazil and against Canada.
The run ends here though, against France and that loaded offense,
so we could pencil in France over Morocco.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Close game, though, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Spain over Belgium.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I know it's not a super hot take.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Belgium, by the way, lost central defensive midfielder to an
acl against the US in the first half. Spain's they're
not blowing people away with the offense, but the defense
is yet to concede a goal. I mean, it is
pretty phenomenal. I don't I haven't run the history on
these two teams yet, like when their last meeting was,
(02:31):
but Spain is definitely favored here. It's weird about two
months before the World Cup, Spain was a heavy favorite,
and then everybody bought in on France once they started
killing people. But people kind of forget Spain's under the radar. Hey,
Christoph Poulisk not showing up for the US. Where's la
mina mal? I'm in a goals pool where you draft
players who score goals, and my first round pick happen
(02:54):
to be Jamaal He He's got one goal, so I'm
not doing well in that pool, and another one one
my buddies.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
And I created Golazo.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I'm leading it with Harry Kane, but Jamal has done
nothing for Spain. I think at some point he pops.
Now let's go, let's go to the bottom of the bracket.
Argentina Switzerland. I'm gonna push Argentina through. Switzerland had the
big injury to I think his name is mom Zombie.
I probably butchered that. He's twenty years old. That guy's
a stud I thought he was their best player in
(03:22):
the group stage. Looks like he's gonna be out, so
I'm gonna pencil in Argentina.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
They've had two heartstoppers lately.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Listen, that game against Egypt was one for the ages.
And listen, they didn't look good against Cape Verde. They're
kind of an aging squad. The coaches upset after the
Cape Verdey game, tweaked the lineup, three new starters and
they were down two nothing. So it's not a lot
that they blast Switzerland here. I do think they get
to win and advance to the semifinals. I think the
(03:51):
match of the quarterfinals England Norway. Everybody's fired up about it.
I'm disappointed in my family because I'm like all right,
the US is out, guys, who are we rooting for?
And they all want Holland Earling Holland because he's this
cool Nordic machine who's very tiktoky. Okay, I'm going England.
Give me Harry Kine and dude Bellingham. I like this
(04:12):
team a lot, the grit and intestinal fortitude. They showed
it in Mexico. By the way, how cool is a
diving header? That's so money? I've never had one in
my life, but maybe I'll join an adult league and
try to get a diving header. Bellingham is a superstar.
I'm going with England, folks. I think they take down Norway.
So now let's go to the semifinals Spain France. I
(04:34):
think some people will call this the de facto World
Cup Final. I'm going with the upset. I think Spain
takes them down. Give me the Spaniards, Jamal and Company
beating France, and I think they will face Norway.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Not sorry, not Norway, duh.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
They will face England. Spain against England. England shocks MESSI
Harry Kine and England. They try to go to the
final for the first time, haven't won it since nineteen
sixty six and your World Cup champion.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Drum roll please England.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yes, the club, the team, the country that I picked
before the World Cup.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I'm sticking with, sticking to my guns. That's for you, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think England wins it all.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
They take down MESSI then take down.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Them all and there is a massive celebration in London,
which is a great city by the way.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
So there's my World Cup bracket.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Couple upsets in the semis, and hopefully we get as
good of a World Cup final as we got from
France Argentina in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Jason, my allegiance is for sale right now.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So your allegiance is for sale?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Can you just tell me? Yes, you're England.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I'm all in on England.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Yes, all right, you got under advisement.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Okay, all right, you got some time, got an hour
and a half left, All right, Let's go to jovonn Booja,
a great NBA reporter covers the Lakers extensively the Bojas
Block podcast. I know you're a big soccer guy. I
follow you on ig you know, with the European background.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Who you got in the World Cup here.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
I to be honest, I've been so locked in on
NBA free agency that I've been passively watching. My wife
is from Germany, so I was rooting for Germany and
obviously had a disappointing finish.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, all right, all right, let's get to NBA free a.
Let's start with the big rumor this Jonathan Kuminga and
the Lakers. Apparently JJ Reddick had a call with him
and they're trying to woo him. What's mysterious is here
is how can they afford him? What would they give up?
What are you hearing on Kuminga and the Lakers.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Yeah, so there is mutual interest here from the two parties.
They have had conversations throughout a free agency up to
this point.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
The Lakers can acquire him a couple of ways.
Speaker 6 (06:38):
The most straightforward way would probably be a sign in
trade with Atlanta, where the Lakers could either just take
him back if they execute their moves go above the cap.
There are some trade rules that depending on the outgoing salary,
that would impact how much they could take back, you know,
in the form of Kaminga in a deal. But they
could just do a sign and trade and him to
(07:00):
their roster. They could also do a salary dump and
trade some of their players Jared Vanderbilt, Dalton connect guys
like that to get off some money, and then just
sign him in free agency create some more cap space.
So those are like the two most straightforward ways. Technically,
they could, you know, extend the Walker Kestl trade that
has not been made official yet.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
They could loop in Atlanta and do it that way.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
So there are several ways that they can pursue and
execute a Jonathan Kaminga. Addition just going to be how
much is Atlanta willing to play ball?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
What's the cost of that?
Speaker 6 (07:34):
And then if, for example, you're dumping some guys to
you could also just sign and trade. After dumping some guys,
do you still have enough assets to send Atlanta in
a potential side in trade. So there are multiple pathways here.
But the Lakers are pursuing Jonathan Minga. They're trying to
get that starting forward that they feel like will be
that the missing piece to that starting group.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So right now Kminga's at the top of their board.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
So here's what I don't get. The Warriors could not
figure out how to use Kaminga, didn't fit in their
syste and they ship him to Atlanta. He flashed. You
could see that highlight reel got a little windy in
Atlanta when Kuminga was on the fast break. Goodness, he's athletic.
Why would the Hawks just want to move off him?
I asked somebody and they were like, I think they're
trying to clean up their books to make a run
(08:15):
at Anthony Edwards when he maybe next summer if he
hates playing with LaMelo, he comes home to Atlanta via
big trade. I don't know why would Atlanta move on
from Couminga.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
I think the big thing was the team option, where
his team option was around I think it was just
under twenty four million dollars. That's a lot of money
for him, and clearly that money is not out there
for him on the market right now, so I think
for them it was a no brainer to reject that
team option. I mean, I've heard they're still interesting and
potentially retaining him depending on the number, depending on the contract.
(08:46):
So that's a possibility where this could all be a
smoke screen or some leverage and then he ends up
just staying in Atlanta. But I think there's also the
opportunity where in Atlanta they have Jalen Johnson and I
think that will most likely relegate Jonathan Kminga to a
bench roll longer term, whereas with the Lakers he could
be the starting four and have that starting to Walker Kessler,
(09:07):
Jonathan Minga, Quentin Grimes, Austin Reeves, Luka, Doncic, and he
could be on the biggest stage of basketball right And
we've seen guys go to LA on cheap deals and
rehab their value, and I think that would be a
big selling point for Kaminga would be come to LA
playoff of Luca and Austin. Imagine the shots that you're
going to be getting, the shot quality and you know,
(09:28):
catch and shoot threes, getting out in transition.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
You could be a lob threat with Luca.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
Or Austin in the pick and roll, and we will
set you up for either staying here and signing something
longer term as long as you can prove that you
can play more consistently, or it'll set you up for
another contract with another team.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Could he be the PJ.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Washington from Dallas that the Lakers need a corner three
guy who defends the hell out of the wing.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
That's the vision that they are trying to sell him on,
and that they're hopeful that they will play out that way. Now,
I would note he has been a below average point
shooter in four of his five seasons, so you know,
and he's really regressed. If you look at his catch
and shoot numbers that they were at the highest the
first couple of years, then they have declined to below
average over the last three. So not like the perfect fit.
(10:13):
But I think that's like the vision is, can you
be the PJ Washington? Can you be the Aaron Gordon
the Andrew Wiggins who comes in? I think those two
are good parallels because it's like they come in their
lottery picks. The are certain expectations of are those guys
going to be All stars, go to scores, but they
quickly realize with their physical gifts and their overall athleticism
(10:33):
that they can impact the game in different ways. So
you look at Gordon was the number three guy on
that Denver team in twenty twenty three. Wiggins was the
number three guy and even the number two guy at
times with that Warriors team in twenty twenty two. Could
Kaminga have a career arc like that? I think so
he just has to buy into doing the little things
and being more of a supercharged role player rather than
a star in the making. And if he shifts his mentality,
(10:56):
which is a big if. I'm not like I think
it's far from a certainty. I'm just laying out the
case here for him. If he can do that, and
it might just take another stop or whatever for him
to get to that point, I think he could have
that type of impact for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
All right, let's quickly go to the Walker Kessler deal.
So it was clearly an overpay. Everybody understands that, and
we got the snow time Lakers jokes out of the way.
Speaker 7 (11:16):
Ha ha ha.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
But if we're being real, I mean Jovann like Walker
Kesler is a baller when he's healthy. Obviously last season
scratched that. But you looked to two years ago when
you're talking about offensive rebound percentage. The other one I'm
spacing on, oh shot blocks. Defensively, Walker Kessler's is exactly
what you want. He's a hybrid. He's not as athletic
(11:40):
as Derek Lively was in Dallas, but he's probably more
athletic and a little better than Daniel Gafford was. I
don't see why this.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Movie is being panned so much.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
I think people just don't watch a lot of Utah
Jazz basketball. But I would say on the injury front,
I think his injuries have been overblown. So the shoulder
injury last year was an issue he had been dealing
with since college and had been putting off in terms
of having the surgery because it was going to be
such a long recovery process and with the Jazz still
tanking him in a contract year and him aggravating it,
(12:12):
they decided that, Okay, it's finally time to do it.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Let's clean this up and then moving forward, you'll be fine.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
So I think last year you put in its own
box to the side.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
The first three years.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
If you actually look through his game logs at the
end of each of his first three seasons, he mysteriously
stopped playing at the end of the season over the
final two or three weeks because the Jazz held him
out of games. So if you look at like on
the surface, I think it's like sixty seventy four, you know,
sixty something in fifty eight games. When you actually add
(12:42):
in the games that he missed mysteriously at the end
of the season, I think it's closer to seventy eight
seventy and sixty five. And if you say a guy's
played sixty five plus games in his first three years,
like that's pretty good health for the modern MVA. You
guys are struggling to get the seventy games. So I
think the health stuff is overblown with him, and has
partly been because Utah was tanking. But to your point,
(13:04):
last time he played in a full season, he led
the NBA an offensive rebounding, he was second in blocks,
he was in among the league leaders, and just rebounds overall,
and he's an elite finisher in the pick and roll
and around the rim.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
So I know he's not maybe as.
Speaker 6 (13:21):
Flashy of a name as a guy like Jalen duran
who's coming off an All Star All NBA season, But
to me socially factoring the cost in terms of the
actual contract, he was a no brainer addition over a
guy like Jalen Durhan because he's a much better defender.
So this is a guy I think at his peak
could be top five in the league in field goal percentage, rebounds,
and blocks. Since entering the NBA, he's allowed the second
(13:42):
lowest field goal percentage at the rim, behind only Chet Holmgren.
So this is an elite defensive anchor, rim protector who's
sort of a spid utah, kind of tucked away, no
one's really paying attention. But like he's very similar to
Rudy Gobert, he doesn't have the same all world, all
time up, Like I think he could be eighty five
to ninety percent of Gobert defensively, but I think he's
(14:04):
better offensively.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
He's got better hands, better touched around the rim.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
So this is the guy I think cot average easily
sixteen points, twelve twelve and a half rebounds, two and
a half blocks and be in that like mid sixties
field goal percentage.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So he's I think he's a stud.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
And I understand that the trade price was high, although
that's part of doing business in restricted freegency, but the
actual value, he's the tenth highest paid center, going to
be the eleventh likely after Duran, and then Wemby's going
to get his extension, So like we could be looking
at this like a year or two from now, he's
like the fifteenth highest paid center and he's given you
top ten top ten center value, and like that's a
(14:38):
great deal.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I joked to the staff this morning.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So if Anthony Davis was Nordstrom right, it is is
Walker Kessler an old Navy And they were like, no, no, no,
he's better than old Davy. He's like a Banana Republicer.
So you get like, yeah, like eighty ninety percent of
Anthony Davis.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I'll take that in a heartbeat. Now, now I'm gonna
put you on the spot defensively, let me be clear,
not not offensively. Not offensively.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yes, yes, obviously the Spurs are better than the Lakers, undeniably.
The thunder are better than the Lakers, undeniably. What are
their teams in the West right now? Are definitely better
than the Lakers?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
And if you say LaMelo Ball, this might be your last.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Appearance on the show, Like, come on, there's no way
that that team. I mean, I think that's the end
of the list in terms of definitely.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Now, I think people are overlooking Denver a bit in
terms of we'll see, So we'll see what happens with
what Cam Johnson Christian Brown do they get off of
one of those salaries to fit in Peyton Watson. I
will note that last year with Jokich, Murray and Aaron
Gordon in the lineup, they went twenty and six and
(15:43):
had a night plus nineteen net rating with those three
on the floor.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
The big caveat here is that.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Aaron Gordon can't stay healthy anymore with several lower extremity injuries.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
So that's a wild card.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
But when they were healthy and we saw some flash
remember at the end of the season, on a big
one streak, they had that statement win over the Spurs,
Yolkic was having his way with Wemby. It was like
they entered the playoffs with all this momentum and it
looked like they might be on a crash collision course
with the Thunder in the conference finals, right and maybe
getting past the Spurs. They obviously had the really disappointing,
(16:15):
you know, outcome in the first round, But no Peyton Watson,
no Aaron Gordon misposted that series. So I think if
they retain Peyton Watson, trade one of Johnson or Brown
and fill out the bench, I think you could make
a strong case they're still the third best.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Team in the West, But you can't say it definitively.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
So to your point, it's only the Thunder and Spurs
everyone else TBD.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Depending on that fun Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:39):
The Timberwls still need a starting four, and they need
more of a bench. The Rockets are interesting, but I
think we're still in a regular season context, Like I
don't trust them in the playoffs after seeing how they've
fared against the short handed Lakers. So yeah, I think
right now you can make a case for the Lakers
as high as three and I don't think that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
All right, thanks, So we've done ten minutes on the
Lakers and we haven't mentioned Lebron James. That's got to
be a first in every interview you've ever done. If
you had to pick a word to characterize his ending
where allegedly the Lakers did not offer him a contract,
is ugly, too harsh? Is it amicable? How would you
(17:18):
characterize the end of his tenure?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I mean, but between.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
But between those two, I might lean like sad or
maybe disappointing, of just just because of the history of
I think undeniably this was a successful tenure, especially by
modern NBA standards, where we've now had eight straight years
of different champions and like this notion that you're starting
to see if you just look at MEBA history, it's
(17:46):
becoming progressively more difficult to win multiple championships. During your career,
and you know, you go through like back to Russell
and then you get to Magic and Byrd and Jordan
and then now you're getting into guys like winning two
or three rings like that is a testament to their
greatness just based on how much parity there is across
the NBA right now and how difficult it.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Is to sustain winning.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Like we looked at the Thunder flash back ten months ago,
nine months ago, were looking at can the Thunder win
seventy four games and win a second title?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Now did you see?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Well you aren't, I'll give.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
You credit, but that we see, like you know, how
the rest of the season goes. So I think it's
like the Lakers winning a title with Lebron just two
years into his tenure there after being the worst team
in the league record wise over that five year span,
missing the playoffs five straight years, like that I think
means something.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
So to me, just the way that it ended.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
It was a little disappointing of you know, it felt
like it would have been nice to have him go
out as a Laker in my opinion, right and just
like it felt like you had become a Laker over
that time, and that they had eight years together, but
look like the relationship had run its course. I've been
saying I felt like it was a marriage of convenience
the last two three years. I think things were never
(19:02):
the same after the Westbrook trade. Yeah, and like that
was the do you like just the line of delineation
in terms of the pre Westbrook trade and post Westbrook
trade in terms of their relationship. The dynamic there is
never the same after that, So I'm not surprised by it.
I think the writing was on the wall last summer
when they didn't even discuss any form of an extension
(19:23):
or a new contract. But it was a little sad
for it to go out that way, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I had a hot take that it doesn't really matter
where Lebron goes. I don't think he's putting any of
these teams over the top. Would you agree with that? Like,
if he goes to Golden State, I don't know what
it does. I think the Calves probably could use him
the most. The Philly thing doesn't make any sense at all.
Were you on, you know, the best landing spot for him?
(19:50):
And does he actually help? And I know that sounds bad.
I think Lebron is the goat. But at this age
and just jumping into a team, that's that's just not
in his DNA.
Speaker 6 (20:03):
I think you will help, I especially like especially when
we look at the contract of regardless of like, I
don't think Lebron was a fifty million dollars player anymore
the way that he was being paid as a Laker
this past season. But if Lebron's signing a minimum contract
or a taxpayer mL at six million, or the non
taxpayer mL at fifteen million, like, he's.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Far better than that. I still think, do you.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Think he's signing for three million yovan?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
No, but I mean some of the options he's looking at.
As of right now, they only have that minimum contract
to sign him. I think it's a little bit higher.
I think it's closer to four technically, but it's still like.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Cant, I think there's no way he's playing for four
million dollars when Max Strews is making fifteen mili.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
But if that's all they have to offer him like that,
that's it, right. And one thing that is a note
that's important is the Lakers have officially rescinded the rights
to Lebron James. So there'd been some speculation from people
of are they going to sign and trade him and
potentially recoup some assets.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
But then they could also sign.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Him to whatever salary they wanted and just trade him
to Team X and maybe even put Bronny in that
trade they get back like some second round picks or something,
just to get something back and to help facilitate him
to his next team at a higher salary.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well that's out the window.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Now.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
They had to recind his rights.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
They already started making some moves, so that's not happening.
So if Lebraun wherever he ends up, it's going to
be him signing as a free agent, not via sign
in trade.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
But I think essocially looking at I know your low
wrung episode, but hold on, before.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
We go to other teams rescinding his rights, why would
they do that? That's isn't that kind of a jerk
move by them, like, hey man, we could pay trade you,
but we ain't doing that.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
They had to, no, I mean, they had.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
To do that to execute their moves that they've already
started to execute. So they did the DeAndre eight in trade.
Last night, they officially signed MoMu In Quentin Grimes. So
to do those moves, they needed cap space, and with
Lebron on their cap sheet with a nearly sixty million
dollars cap hold, they were not able to do those moves. So,
like the Lakers, they're kind of in this whole holding
pattern right now where they're trying to pull off the
(22:06):
Kaminga thing. They're trying to see if they could trade
for someone else if they can't get Kaminga. But at
some point they have to start actually like you're signing
these deals and executing these moves because they're holding up
other teams. Like right now, Utah is being held up
with the Kessler deal, the Hawks are held up to
some degree with this cominga situation, so and then Lebron's
holding everybody up with his free agency. So it's like
(22:27):
there's a lot of moving parts right now, and certain
situations are being held up by a delay in terms
of decision making. So the Lakers had to do something,
and part of that was rescinding Lebron's right. So I
would not classify it as that though, I would classified
as just this this is business and they needed to
start making some of these moves with their roster.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Okay, sorry, so let's go right out real quick. We
can wrap up with your guesses on how he would
fit with the Sixers, Warriors and Caves and what.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Your best your best prediction is. So right now, it's
say that the buzz is leaning Cleveland.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
I've been more on like Golden State the last two
or three weeks because that's where I think. If Golden
State can pull off in a d trade and they
do Jimmy Butler plus a couple picks or whatever it
costs to get Anthony Davis, that to me would be
the precursor move that's indicating Lebron is coming. If they
don't do something like that, if they don't land a
big piece in just this roster, I would be surprised
(23:22):
if he goes there. So I would be carefully cognizant
of what does Golden State do. If Golden State makes
a big move, I think that could signal that Lebron
is going there. But putting them to the side, it
seems like Cleveland right now is that the leader in
the clubhouse.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
That's the one that.
Speaker 6 (23:35):
Behind the scenes most NBA people are saying they're expecting
him to go there, that there's some buzz with that,
But certainly, I mean, I think if you look at
Philly and Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Those to me are the two best fits.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
And I understand the skepticism with Philly just because of
you have three really four high usage guys embiid. I
think you could load manage with Lebron there, and he
plays forty five fifty games, you can limit his minutes.
Lebron could even loadvantage with them having those three guys
on the perimeter. Who are all iron men going to
play seventy plus games with high minutes. So I think
(24:06):
Philly like clearly needs a power forward and just needs
a little bit more talent. Lebron could be a great
fit there. Minnesota is the one where I look at
I'm like, they need a four. Lebron is a four
now at this stage of his career, and they have
the defense to protect him and sort of let him
take possessions off or be in like a lower usage
helper role where you got Gobert, you got McDaniels, you
(24:27):
got Aunt, and you got some other guys off the bench.
So it's like that to me, I think you'd be
a great fit.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Now.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Was Lebron gonna go to Minnesota? Is Lebron going to
go to Denver?
Speaker 6 (24:36):
I have a hard time seeing that, So I do
think it's probably Cleveland, Golden State, Miami Philly. Those would
be I think right now the four teams I'd be
looking at as possibilities, and I would say to me,
Cleveland right now is the most likely.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Just to back up to that Wizard's ad. Didn't the
Wizards say they're not doing an Anthony Davis trade?
Speaker 6 (24:56):
Well, yes, but I think that could be public posturing.
Like if you get two or three first round picks
offered to you from Golden State just to take on
and expiring Jimmy Butler contract. Because the other thing with
AD is he wants an extension. So if you're keeping AD,
you now have to figure out are you going to
extend him?
Speaker 3 (25:15):
What's that number?
Speaker 6 (25:15):
And if you're not interested in that, then trading him
and getting back some first round draft capital obviously makes sense.
So right now it's smokescreen season. Everyone's putting different things
out there. Teams are posturing, but I think if they
come to you with here's Jimmy Butler's expiring contract plus
two or three first, you have to strongly consider that,
especially because that's more than they gave up for Ady.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Cam Washington just say dude, you barely played basketball in
the last two seasons. We're not extending you. You've got
a contract with the season, play it out. Can't they
do that? Or would the AD just be like, I
mean that they can.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
They can. It's obviously.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
I mean, then you just see how the season goes
and you see if Ad won't wants to stay there
or not.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
But I think the risk.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Would obviously just be him being offended or slighted by that,
having a good season where he bounces back healthwise, and
then him just the partying for nothing. So I think
if they are if Golden State puts the pixel on
the table, I think Washington would have to strongly consider that.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
That that would change things. Ad, Lebron, Draymond, I don't
know if that's enough shooting on that team.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Curry, Yeah, the shooting is.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
It's also like my I look at Miami and Golden
State as trying to fit the front courts with like Lebron, Draymon, Ady, Lebron,
Jannis Bam. Love the defense with those front courts and
Lebron playing next to two really good, great defenders and
in both cases, but the shooting there with Bam and
Giannis or Draymond and Ad.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
It's pretty pretty cramped.
Speaker 6 (26:38):
So at least in Golden State you have Steph, the
greatest shooter of all time, to help you help offset
some of the spacing concerns. But from a from a
front court perspective, offensively, it would be pretty cramped spacing.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
All right. Jovan Buha, NBA reporter, great stuff as always,
He's got a YouTube page his podcast. Keep up the
good work, but.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Man appreciate it. Jaymco to see you right.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Coming up on the Herd, we have one more Lebron
topic than we're back in soccer.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Just one more Lebron.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Was he misused interesting word last year? I wonder, I
wonder where that's coming from. Rachel has all the details.
Next on the Herd.
Speaker 7 (27:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
Every day.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sports book.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
And all the best guests.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts. I know there's a small segment
of the audience. Okay, hey, we paid attention to soccer
for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Ol catch up with you in twenty thirty.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Ah, guys, it doesn't work like that.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
We're too good. Now, we're too good.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You got to pay attention. And a lot of the
criticism has centered around Christian Poolistic's failure to show up.
I mean he's taking it from all around. We saw
Carly Lloyd mak it some comments and listen, people like
Carly Lloyd. That's too harsh. No, it's actually not, guys,
Christian poulisk You know, soccer's a big deal. When Christian
(28:26):
Polistic is getting the same treatment that Patrick Mahomes gets
when he poops his pants in the Super Bowl. When
Lebron has a bad week and it gets knocked out
of the playoffs, the criticism comes. That's what we do.
We build these athletes up and you know what, when
they mess up, they get to heat. That's what happens.
That's part of the job. Like you're handsomely paid, you're
in commercials throughout the World Cup, and then you're terrible,
(28:48):
and you know, he kind of gotta say you're terrible.
So here is here the landon Donovan comments who played
to them earlier. They're very harsh, but again this is
the truth. He didn't have a great World Cup.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
Guys, he is who he is at this point, right,
and we want him to be more because we see
the time I've been on here talking about seeing him
in person against Bosniam, like the way he moves in
the way, but that was an easy game. He came
out of a World Cup knockout game at home with
(29:19):
his leg still intact. Because I'm saying this to you, Tim,
and you know it, because you played with me. You
would have had to drag me off the field and
I would have punched the doctor in the face and said,
you're not taking me off the field. Put whatever you
need to put in me, and I'm just staying on
the field.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
So there's criticism coming from everywhere, and again Bulisic is
gonna have to own it. He would admit he did
not play great and he was injured. Bruce Arena actually
had a slightly more realistic take on Pulisic yesterday.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Here it is Christian's a good player, but he's not
in the class of these elite players in the world
right now, like we've seen with the the play of
Messi and Holland and Kane and others. And for whatever reason,
he's dealt with a couple of injuries this season with
this club team. He suffered an injury in preparation for
(30:12):
the World Cups, and it's been difficult and he had
to leave the game early.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
But you know, it's not about one player.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
It never is.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
You win as a team, you lose as a team.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
But Politic was just so bad on the ball.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
You didn't see any grit any like motivation.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
First place. I went to the game in Santa Clara,
and you know, we're beating Bosnia, and Policic is you know,
winning balls on the sideline and getting the crowd fired up.
There was leadership there, but we were playing for an advantage.
We were leading. The second we got down. Shoulders slumped
a lot of quizzical looks. Nobody really taking that leadership baton.
(30:51):
We're gonna have to find that person. I don't know
who it is.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I don't know if he's on the roster yet.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Maybe it's a young sixteen year old Sullivan who's really dynamic.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Go look up his highlights, kid, it's special. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I don't know, but I'm just saying USA Soccer, they're
not down. They had a really bad game, and let's
not kill them. Okay, let's not crush the whole World
Cup because we had.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
A really bad ninety minutes. All right?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Coming up next year on The Herd, was Lebron misused
in Los Angeles last season?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Take a guess where that's coming from.
Speaker 7 (31:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone East. They're not a Empacific, No, no.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Turn on the news.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
This is the Herd line news.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
Well, Jason, you remember back last week when Lebron only
had just beautiful, nice things to say and his social
media farewell to the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Well, his agent Rich Paul not pretending.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Everything over there was puppies and rainbows, and the latest
episode of his podcast, Rich discuss James's role on the
Lakers last season.
Speaker 10 (31:52):
Take a listen to him and Max Kellerman here, the
team would have functioned better had they had Luca dribbled
a little less, Lebron been playing point more, and.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I got the feeling like, I know this is Luca's team.
I'm not trying to step on any toes when I
felt like he needed to assert himself a little more.
He has such a profile, respect for the game and
everything that it entails. Obviously, I'm not the third option.
We can we know that no day. But if this
(32:25):
is what I'm being asked to do, I'm going to
do that.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
I want to point out that initially, what Rich said
to Max's comment.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Was you're not wrong. You're not wrong.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
Lucas should dribble less and Lebron should have had the
ball more.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
I mean, what do you make of all that?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Yeah, if I'm Philly or Golden State, I'm playing that.
I'm playing that video in my room before I make
a decision. Because if he's saying he's clearly not a
third option, what's he going to be in Philly, what's
he going to be in Golden State? I mean, if
Jimmy Butler's healthy, let's say they don't trade Fredy Jammy
(33:03):
Butler needs the ball. Steph Curry is still Steph Curry
and Lebron, so like, are we going to playing that game?
That's why I think Rachel Cleveland makes the most sense.
Speaker 5 (33:12):
I mean, look, if we've talked about this, what for
the last six months, what's Lebron going to do at
the end of this past season? And I kept saying,
I think everyone who's talking about money is missing role.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
And I feel very vindicated by his comment because that
is really what it came down to.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
He doesn't want to be the guy scraping for loose balls.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
On the floor, and he shouldn't be.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
He's Lebron James and he shouldn't be the one who
may be possibly taken.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Off the court.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
If you had Austin and Luca and Lebron and you
have to defend at the end of an NBA playoff game,
an elite NBA playoff game against an elite team, you
can see them taking him.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Off the court.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
He shouldn't have to do that at the level he
is playing at.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
So I do think that that is going to be
a big question as he goes around other teams, or
rather as Rich Paul goes around to other teams, but
there's also for another team it might be okay, whereas
for the Lakers, your team, it might be like, well,
this is disrespectful, haven't identitied?
Speaker 9 (34:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Well, Rich Paul also was floating the Knicks. He would
have come off the bench behind Josh Hart. Okay, Yeah,
and Josh Hart.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Does what screeps for loose walls.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Like Rich Paul. This guy, he's a calculating one. How
about how about it, Rachel? He starts a podcast six
months ago. It should have been very obvious that lebron
knew probably six months ago.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Oh this is a rap.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
You're just learning that Rich Paul is one of the
best stations out there.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Well, I don't know that one of the best. He's
certainly calculating. I mean he's about all those.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Guys cient like lebron where you don't most of the
time have to negotiate over money. Right, He's just been
max max Max, And even in this one, they're not
really negotiating over money, trying to squeeze every dollar out
of whatever team he goes to. That's already made clear. Right,
So if you don't have to squeeze every dollar out,
your entire thing is leveraging and position, and he has.
(34:57):
Rich Paul has helped Lebron do that better than any
other player I have seen in recent years. Every time
this guy is a free agent or even possible to
be a free agent, it is an absolute circus because
everybody wants him, and you have to create that kind
of demand.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
That is what rich Paul has been doing here.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I mean, he's been the best player in the league
at all those This is the interesting one.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Rachel. Will you still.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Say that if he doesn't get something good here? I mean,
Jovann was talking like it.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
There's a chance he played.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
For four million dollars again, I see that say this
for one hundredth times.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
I don't think it's about the money. I just don't.
Speaker 5 (35:31):
And he's got a good opportunity to say, look how
magnanimous I am to any.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Team I go to. I'm doing and words.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
Let's talk about Nikolai Okic and his contract. By the way,
he said he is not going to sign an extension
with the Nuggets this off season. He is opting instead
to hold off until next summer. Now, he did affirm
in these comments he made them overseas that he is desired.
He wants to stay in number, he wants to finish
his career there.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
But I got to.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
Tell you, Jason, by holding off not signing an extension
this summer, two things happen. First, he will get more
money by waiting a year later because he will be
eligible to sign. Instead of a four year deal, it'll
be a five year deal at more money. So that's
the first thing. And then second of all, puts a
little bit more pressure right on that Nuggets front office.
(36:23):
We saw Lebron do this over and over when he
was in Cleveland the second time.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Do you think that's a strategy. You think he's going
to get more out of the front office or ownership.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
That's an interesting one. I don't know how his game ages.
Obviously he's a great passer versus to read roll. Ba's
going to be interesting four years or five. And then
what is he going to have around him? Since they
won the title, Rachel, all they've done is lose guys
every year they have.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
I mean, look, I actually have the guys, look get
up this morning. They've been near the second aprin for
three of the four seasons since that title. That doesn't
mean they've spent that money well and made the best
decisions about who to keep and who to let go.
But yeah, I think it's kind of fascinating, and he will,
by this strategy, end up with about eighty million extra dollars, which,
as we know, will buy a lot of horses, Jason,
(37:07):
So I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
He is fine.
Speaker 5 (37:09):
I really want to get to this last topic though,
because it's an NFL topic, and it's something you and
I have been disagreeing.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
On since the spring.
Speaker 5 (37:16):
Fernando Mendoza just dipping his toes, of course, into his
pro career in Las Vegas, and reports have indicated that.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
He's been going through the typical rookie.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Growing pains at OTAs timing issues plays under center. Remember
you didn't really play under center prior to this, not
in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
So he's acknowledging he has room to grow. Listen to him.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
Talking on Max Crosby's with Max Crosby here.
Speaker 11 (37:40):
When studying outward goals, I believe it's always better to
lean on mentors and coaches and people that know more
than how I do. At that point, I get with them,
we talk about my goals. Hey, this is where we
want to be. The Starry training camp past OTAs. We've
talked about that we have a June plan, in July
plan than Hey, this is where we want to be
(38:00):
at the end of training camp, and this is where
we want to be in preseason, and really just trying
to exceed. My job is trying to exceed those exceed
those mile markers every single day.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
He's not complaining. Jason, you were complaining. Since I him,
you have been like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
This guy should be the number one starter. You're still
banging that drum.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, it's weird. That looked like a zoom I had
with my financial advisor life.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
I hesitated for injuring it podcast. I guess it's a podcast.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah, I'm of the belief you got to play and
why he's your franchise guy. What are you doing playing,
Kirk Cousins. This is a guy who started multiple years
in college. Mendoza is not some spring chicken who played
one year like Zach.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
What was it, Zach the guy on the Jets.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I'm spacing on his name, but Zach Wilson, he had
one year. He probably should have said. Mendoza has been
a multi year starter in college. He's ready.
Speaker 5 (38:59):
Patrick Mahomes Brady Aaron Rodgers, Steve Young. Any of those
guys sitting one year hurt them.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
I think they were key moments. He pieces the team's
going to a super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
It's fine for him to sit and learn for as
long as he needs to.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
He will be fine. He's not eighty. You're like, oh,
he's no spring chicken. He'll be just fine.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
If he has to sit behind a really good quarterback
in a system he's super comfortable with, and whenever the
coaching staff says he's ready, he's ready. And if it's
game five, it's game five. But it's not till next season,
it's okay, Jason. He'll be just fine and the team
might actually be better for it.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Seven wins with Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
And no, oh my gosh, we got a goal this
year is not to win the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
They're not winning the super Bowl. The goal is to
develop Mendoza.
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 noone 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. Thanks
for listening to The Herd podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Here we go our number two on The Herd. It's
me Jason McIntyre in for an under the weather Colin Cowherd. Boy,
how many sick days has he taken since he moved
to Chicago. Huh, It's not that big of a deal.
I just get partnered up with Rachel Nichols and we
crush it.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
You know, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hey, the audience knows. Coward's got a big vacation coming up.
I hope Lebron holds off on his decision.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
So it's just seeing me.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we have a crazy track record.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
We do every summer. We spend a couple of weeks
with Colin on vacation. News breaks pretty much every day,
so I believe it.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So we got you on Booja coming up here shortly
to talk about the Lakers. My Lakers also my next Rachel.
Don't need to take any digs. I can like both.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I'm allowed to.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
There are no rules, no, you're not allowed to like,
especially those two teams. We're not allowed to be like, Oh,
my Lakers and my Knicks.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Who else are you adopting around the NBA? They're your
war players?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Also, Steph Curries, my guy?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
How many more teams? Thank you?
Speaker 5 (01:21):
See I've listened to you over the years. How many
more teams could you have?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Jason?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Maybe I'll adopt the Grizzlies. Just kidd, I will not
adopt the Grizzlies.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
All right, Jovan's coming up shortly, so real quick. The
World Cup is down to the quarterfinals. Today's a day off,
a breather. Tomorrow France Morocco in, which should be a
banger of a game. So we got the bracket on
the screen and the staff's like, can you you want
to pick your winners? So I gave them my quarterfinal
winners and they're.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Like, too, Chalky listen.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I like Morocco a lot. You guys know, I built
this gambling model for the World Cup on Claude. Morocco
has been a cash cow Netherlands Brazil and against Canada.
The run ends here though, against France and that loaded offense,
so we could pencil in France over Morocco.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Close game, though, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Spain over Belgium.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I know it's not a super hot take.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Belgium, by the way, lost central defensive midfielder to an
acl against the US in the first half. Spain's they're
not blowing people away with the offense, but the defense
is yet to concede a goal. I mean, it is
pretty phenomenal. I don't I haven't run the history on
these two teams yet, like when their last meeting was,
(02:31):
but Spain is definitely favored here. It's weird about two
months before the World Cup, Spain was a heavy favorite,
and then everybody bought in on France once they started
killing people. But people kind of forget Spain's under the radar. Hey,
Christoph Poulisk not showing up for the US. Where's la
mina mal? I'm in a goals pool where you draft
players who score goals, and my first round pick happen
(02:54):
to be Jamaal He He's got one goal, so I'm
not doing well in that pool, and another one one
my buddies.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
And I created Golazo.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I'm leading it with Harry Kane, but Jamal has done
nothing for Spain. I think at some point he pops.
Now let's go, let's go to the bottom of the bracket.
Argentina Switzerland. I'm gonna push Argentina through. Switzerland had the
big injury to I think his name is mom Zombie.
I probably butchered that. He's twenty years old. That guy's
a stud I thought he was their best player in
(03:22):
the group stage. Looks like he's gonna be out, so
I'm gonna pencil in Argentina.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
They've had two heartstoppers lately.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Listen, that game against Egypt was one for the ages.
And listen, they didn't look good against Cape Verde. They're
kind of an aging squad. The coaches upset after the
Cape Verdey game, tweaked the lineup, three new starters and
they were down two nothing. So it's not a lot
that they blast Switzerland here. I do think they get
to win and advance to the semifinals. I think the
(03:51):
match of the quarterfinals England Norway. Everybody's fired up about it.
I'm disappointed in my family because I'm like all right,
the US is out, guys, who are we rooting for?
And they all want Holland Earling Holland because he's this
cool Nordic machine who's very tiktoky. Okay, I'm going England.
Give me Harry Kine and dude Bellingham. I like this
(04:12):
team a lot, the grit and intestinal fortitude. They showed
it in Mexico. By the way, how cool is a
diving header? That's so money? I've never had one in
my life, but maybe I'll join an adult league and
try to get a diving header. Bellingham is a superstar.
I'm going with England, folks. I think they take down Norway.
So now let's go to the semifinals Spain France. I
(04:34):
think some people will call this the de facto World
Cup Final. I'm going with the upset. I think Spain
takes them down. Give me the Spaniards, Jamal and Company
beating France, and I think they will face Norway.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Not sorry, not Norway, duh.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
They will face England. Spain against England. England shocks MESSI
Harry Kine and England. They try to go to the
final for the first time, haven't won it since nineteen
sixty six and your World Cup champion.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Drum roll please England.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yes, the club, the team, the country that I picked
before the World Cup.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I'm sticking with, sticking to my guns. That's for you, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think England wins it all.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
They take down MESSI then take down.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Them all and there is a massive celebration in London,
which is a great city by the way.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
So there's my World Cup bracket.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Couple upsets in the semis, and hopefully we get as
good of a World Cup final as we got from
France Argentina in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Jason, my allegiance is for sale right now.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So your allegiance is for sale?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Can you just tell me? Yes, you're England.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I'm all in on England.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Yes, all right, you got under advisement.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Okay, all right, you got some time, got an hour
and a half left, All right, Let's go to jovonn Booja,
a great NBA reporter covers the Lakers extensively the Bojas
Block podcast. I know you're a big soccer guy. I
follow you on ig you know, with the European background.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Who you got in the World Cup here.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
I to be honest, I've been so locked in on
NBA free agency that I've been passively watching. My wife
is from Germany, so I was rooting for Germany and
obviously had a disappointing finish.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, all right, all right, let's get to NBA free a.
Let's start with the big rumor this Jonathan Kuminga and
the Lakers. Apparently JJ Reddick had a call with him
and they're trying to woo him. What's mysterious is here
is how can they afford him? What would they give up?
What are you hearing on Kuminga and the Lakers.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Yeah, so there is mutual interest here from the two parties.
They have had conversations throughout a free agency up to
this point.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
The Lakers can acquire him a couple of ways.
Speaker 6 (06:38):
The most straightforward way would probably be a sign in
trade with Atlanta, where the Lakers could either just take
him back if they execute their moves go above the cap.
There are some trade rules that depending on the outgoing salary,
that would impact how much they could take back, you know,
in the form of Kaminga in a deal. But they
could just do a sign and trade and him to
(07:00):
their roster. They could also do a salary dump and
trade some of their players Jared Vanderbilt, Dalton connect guys
like that to get off some money, and then just
sign him in free agency create some more cap space.
So those are like the two most straightforward ways. Technically,
they could, you know, extend the Walker Kestl trade that
has not been made official yet.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
They could loop in Atlanta and do it that way.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
So there are several ways that they can pursue and
execute a Jonathan Kaminga. Addition just going to be how
much is Atlanta willing to play ball?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
What's the cost of that?
Speaker 6 (07:34):
And then if, for example, you're dumping some guys to
you could also just sign and trade. After dumping some guys,
do you still have enough assets to send Atlanta in
a potential side in trade. So there are multiple pathways here.
But the Lakers are pursuing Jonathan Minga. They're trying to
get that starting forward that they feel like will be
that the missing piece to that starting group.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So right now Kminga's at the top of their board.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
So here's what I don't get. The Warriors could not
figure out how to use Kaminga, didn't fit in their
syste and they ship him to Atlanta. He flashed. You
could see that highlight reel got a little windy in
Atlanta when Kuminga was on the fast break. Goodness, he's athletic.
Why would the Hawks just want to move off him?
I asked somebody and they were like, I think they're
trying to clean up their books to make a run
(08:15):
at Anthony Edwards when he maybe next summer if he
hates playing with LaMelo, he comes home to Atlanta via
big trade. I don't know why would Atlanta move on
from Couminga.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
I think the big thing was the team option, where
his team option was around I think it was just
under twenty four million dollars. That's a lot of money
for him, and clearly that money is not out there
for him on the market right now, so I think
for them it was a no brainer to reject that
team option. I mean, I've heard they're still interesting and
potentially retaining him depending on the number, depending on the contract.
(08:46):
So that's a possibility where this could all be a
smoke screen or some leverage and then he ends up
just staying in Atlanta. But I think there's also the
opportunity where in Atlanta they have Jalen Johnson and I
think that will most likely relegate Jonathan Kminga to a
bench roll longer term, whereas with the Lakers he could
be the starting four and have that starting to Walker Kessler,
(09:07):
Jonathan Minga, Quentin Grimes, Austin Reeves, Luka, Doncic, and he
could be on the biggest stage of basketball right And
we've seen guys go to LA on cheap deals and
rehab their value, and I think that would be a
big selling point for Kaminga would be come to LA
playoff of Luca and Austin. Imagine the shots that you're
going to be getting, the shot quality and you know,
(09:28):
catch and shoot threes, getting out in transition.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
You could be a lob threat with Luca.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
Or Austin in the pick and roll, and we will
set you up for either staying here and signing something
longer term as long as you can prove that you
can play more consistently, or it'll set you up for
another contract with another team.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Could he be the PJ.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Washington from Dallas that the Lakers need a corner three
guy who defends the hell out of the wing.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
That's the vision that they are trying to sell him on,
and that they're hopeful that they will play out that way. Now,
I would note he has been a below average point
shooter in four of his five seasons, so you know,
and he's really regressed. If you look at his catch
and shoot numbers that they were at the highest the
first couple of years, then they have declined to below
average over the last three. So not like the perfect fit.
(10:13):
But I think that's like the vision is, can you
be the PJ Washington? Can you be the Aaron Gordon
the Andrew Wiggins who comes in? I think those two
are good parallels because it's like they come in their
lottery picks. The are certain expectations of are those guys
going to be All stars, go to scores, but they
quickly realize with their physical gifts and their overall athleticism
(10:33):
that they can impact the game in different ways. So
you look at Gordon was the number three guy on
that Denver team in twenty twenty three. Wiggins was the
number three guy and even the number two guy at
times with that Warriors team in twenty twenty two. Could
Kaminga have a career arc like that? I think so
he just has to buy into doing the little things
and being more of a supercharged role player rather than
a star in the making. And if he shifts his mentality,
(10:56):
which is a big if. I'm not like I think
it's far from a certainty. I'm just laying out the
case here for him. If he can do that, and
it might just take another stop or whatever for him
to get to that point, I think he could have
that type of impact for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
All right, let's quickly go to the Walker Kessler deal.
So it was clearly an overpay. Everybody understands that, and
we got the snow time Lakers jokes out of the way.
Speaker 7 (11:16):
Ha ha ha.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
But if we're being real, I mean Jovann like Walker
Kesler is a baller when he's healthy. Obviously last season
scratched that. But you looked to two years ago when
you're talking about offensive rebound percentage. The other one I'm
spacing on, oh shot blocks. Defensively, Walker Kessler's is exactly
what you want. He's a hybrid. He's not as athletic
(11:40):
as Derek Lively was in Dallas, but he's probably more
athletic and a little better than Daniel Gafford was. I
don't see why this.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Movie is being panned so much.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
I think people just don't watch a lot of Utah
Jazz basketball. But I would say on the injury front,
I think his injuries have been overblown. So the shoulder
injury last year was an issue he had been dealing
with since college and had been putting off in terms
of having the surgery because it was going to be
such a long recovery process and with the Jazz still
tanking him in a contract year and him aggravating it,
(12:12):
they decided that, Okay, it's finally time to do it.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Let's clean this up and then moving forward, you'll be fine.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
So I think last year you put in its own
box to the side.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
The first three years.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
If you actually look through his game logs at the
end of each of his first three seasons, he mysteriously
stopped playing at the end of the season over the
final two or three weeks because the Jazz held him
out of games. So if you look at like on
the surface, I think it's like sixty seventy four, you know,
sixty something in fifty eight games. When you actually add
(12:42):
in the games that he missed mysteriously at the end
of the season, I think it's closer to seventy eight
seventy and sixty five. And if you say a guy's
played sixty five plus games in his first three years,
like that's pretty good health for the modern MVA. You
guys are struggling to get the seventy games. So I
think the health stuff is overblown with him, and has
partly been because Utah was tanking. But to your point,
(13:04):
last time he played in a full season, he led
the NBA an offensive rebounding, he was second in blocks,
he was in among the league leaders, and just rebounds overall,
and he's an elite finisher in the pick and roll
and around the rim.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
So I know he's not maybe as.
Speaker 6 (13:21):
Flashy of a name as a guy like Jalen duran
who's coming off an All Star All NBA season, But
to me socially factoring the cost in terms of the
actual contract, he was a no brainer addition over a
guy like Jalen Durhan because he's a much better defender.
So this is a guy I think at his peak
could be top five in the league in field goal percentage, rebounds,
and blocks. Since entering the NBA, he's allowed the second
(13:42):
lowest field goal percentage at the rim, behind only Chet Holmgren.
So this is an elite defensive anchor, rim protector who's
sort of a spid utah, kind of tucked away, no
one's really paying attention. But like he's very similar to
Rudy Gobert, he doesn't have the same all world, all
time up, Like I think he could be eighty five
to ninety percent of Gobert defensively, but I think he's
(14:04):
better offensively.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
He's got better hands, better touched around the rim.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
So this is the guy I think cot average easily
sixteen points, twelve twelve and a half rebounds, two and
a half blocks and be in that like mid sixties
field goal percentage.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So he's I think he's a stud.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
And I understand that the trade price was high, although
that's part of doing business in restricted freegency, but the
actual value, he's the tenth highest paid center, going to
be the eleventh likely after Duran, and then Wemby's going
to get his extension, So like we could be looking
at this like a year or two from now, he's
like the fifteenth highest paid center and he's given you
top ten top ten center value, and like that's a
(14:38):
great deal.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I joked to the staff this morning.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So if Anthony Davis was Nordstrom right, it is is
Walker Kessler an old Navy And they were like, no, no, no,
he's better than old Davy. He's like a Banana Republicer.
So you get like, yeah, like eighty ninety percent of
Anthony Davis.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I'll take that in a heartbeat. Now, now I'm gonna
put you on the spot defensively, let me be clear,
not not offensively. Not offensively.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yes, yes, obviously the Spurs are better than the Lakers, undeniably.
The thunder are better than the Lakers, undeniably. What are
their teams in the West right now? Are definitely better
than the Lakers?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
And if you say LaMelo Ball, this might be your last.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Appearance on the show, Like, come on, there's no way
that that team. I mean, I think that's the end
of the list in terms of definitely.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Now, I think people are overlooking Denver a bit in
terms of we'll see, So we'll see what happens with
what Cam Johnson Christian Brown do they get off of
one of those salaries to fit in Peyton Watson. I
will note that last year with Jokich, Murray and Aaron
Gordon in the lineup, they went twenty and six and
(15:43):
had a night plus nineteen net rating with those three
on the floor.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
The big caveat here is that.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Aaron Gordon can't stay healthy anymore with several lower extremity injuries.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
So that's a wild card.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
But when they were healthy and we saw some flash
remember at the end of the season, on a big
one streak, they had that statement win over the Spurs,
Yolkic was having his way with Wemby. It was like
they entered the playoffs with all this momentum and it
looked like they might be on a crash collision course
with the Thunder in the conference finals, right and maybe
getting past the Spurs. They obviously had the really disappointing,
(16:15):
you know, outcome in the first round, But no Peyton Watson,
no Aaron Gordon misposted that series. So I think if
they retain Peyton Watson, trade one of Johnson or Brown
and fill out the bench, I think you could make
a strong case they're still the third best.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Team in the West, But you can't say it definitively.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
So to your point, it's only the Thunder and Spurs
everyone else TBD.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Depending on that fun Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:39):
The Timberwls still need a starting four, and they need
more of a bench. The Rockets are interesting, but I
think we're still in a regular season context, Like I
don't trust them in the playoffs after seeing how they've
fared against the short handed Lakers. So yeah, I think
right now you can make a case for the Lakers
as high as three and I don't think that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
All right, thanks, So we've done ten minutes on the
Lakers and we haven't mentioned Lebron James. That's got to
be a first in every interview you've ever done. If
you had to pick a word to characterize his ending
where allegedly the Lakers did not offer him a contract,
is ugly, too harsh? Is it amicable? How would you
(17:18):
characterize the end of his tenure?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I mean, but between.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
But between those two, I might lean like sad or
maybe disappointing, of just just because of the history of
I think undeniably this was a successful tenure, especially by
modern NBA standards, where we've now had eight straight years
of different champions and like this notion that you're starting
to see if you just look at MEBA history, it's
(17:46):
becoming progressively more difficult to win multiple championships. During your career,
and you know, you go through like back to Russell
and then you get to Magic and Byrd and Jordan
and then now you're getting into guys like winning two
or three rings like that is a testament to their
greatness just based on how much parity there is across
the NBA right now and how difficult it.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Is to sustain winning.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Like we looked at the Thunder flash back ten months ago,
nine months ago, were looking at can the Thunder win
seventy four games and win a second title?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Now did you see?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Well you aren't, I'll give.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
You credit, but that we see, like you know, how
the rest of the season goes. So I think it's
like the Lakers winning a title with Lebron just two
years into his tenure there after being the worst team
in the league record wise over that five year span,
missing the playoffs five straight years, like that I think
means something.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
So to me, just the way that it ended.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
It was a little disappointing of you know, it felt
like it would have been nice to have him go
out as a Laker in my opinion, right and just
like it felt like you had become a Laker over
that time, and that they had eight years together, but
look like the relationship had run its course. I've been
saying I felt like it was a marriage of convenience
the last two three years. I think things were never
(19:02):
the same after the Westbrook trade. Yeah, and like that
was the do you like just the line of delineation
in terms of the pre Westbrook trade and post Westbrook
trade in terms of their relationship. The dynamic there is
never the same after that, So I'm not surprised by it.
I think the writing was on the wall last summer
when they didn't even discuss any form of an extension
(19:23):
or a new contract. But it was a little sad
for it to go out that way, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I had a hot take that it doesn't really matter
where Lebron goes. I don't think he's putting any of
these teams over the top. Would you agree with that? Like,
if he goes to Golden State, I don't know what
it does. I think the Calves probably could use him
the most. The Philly thing doesn't make any sense at all.
Were you on, you know, the best landing spot for him?
(19:50):
And does he actually help? And I know that sounds bad.
I think Lebron is the goat. But at this age
and just jumping into a team, that's that's just not
in his DNA.
Speaker 6 (20:03):
I think you will help, I especially like especially when
we look at the contract of regardless of like, I
don't think Lebron was a fifty million dollars player anymore
the way that he was being paid as a Laker
this past season. But if Lebron's signing a minimum contract
or a taxpayer mL at six million, or the non
taxpayer mL at fifteen million, like, he's.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Far better than that. I still think, do you.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Think he's signing for three million yovan?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
No, but I mean some of the options he's looking at.
As of right now, they only have that minimum contract
to sign him. I think it's a little bit higher.
I think it's closer to four technically, but it's still like.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Cant, I think there's no way he's playing for four
million dollars when Max Strews is making fifteen mili.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
But if that's all they have to offer him like that,
that's it, right. And one thing that is a note
that's important is the Lakers have officially rescinded the rights
to Lebron James. So there'd been some speculation from people
of are they going to sign and trade him and
potentially recoup some assets.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
But then they could also sign.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Him to whatever salary they wanted and just trade him
to Team X and maybe even put Bronny in that
trade they get back like some second round picks or something,
just to get something back and to help facilitate him
to his next team at a higher salary.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well that's out the window.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Now.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
They had to recind his rights.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
They already started making some moves, so that's not happening.
So if Lebraun wherever he ends up, it's going to
be him signing as a free agent, not via sign
in trade.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
But I think essocially looking at I know your low
wrung episode, but hold on, before.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
We go to other teams rescinding his rights, why would
they do that? That's isn't that kind of a jerk
move by them, like, hey man, we could pay trade you,
but we ain't doing that.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
They had to, no, I mean, they had.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
To do that to execute their moves that they've already
started to execute. So they did the DeAndre eight in trade.
Last night, they officially signed MoMu In Quentin Grimes. So
to do those moves, they needed cap space, and with
Lebron on their cap sheet with a nearly sixty million
dollars cap hold, they were not able to do those moves. So,
like the Lakers, they're kind of in this whole holding
pattern right now where they're trying to pull off the
(22:06):
Kaminga thing. They're trying to see if they could trade
for someone else if they can't get Kaminga. But at
some point they have to start actually like you're signing
these deals and executing these moves because they're holding up
other teams. Like right now, Utah is being held up
with the Kessler deal, the Hawks are held up to
some degree with this cominga situation, so and then Lebron's
holding everybody up with his free agency. So it's like
(22:27):
there's a lot of moving parts right now, and certain
situations are being held up by a delay in terms
of decision making. So the Lakers had to do something,
and part of that was rescinding Lebron's right. So I
would not classify it as that though, I would classified
as just this this is business and they needed to
start making some of these moves with their roster.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Okay, sorry, so let's go right out real quick. We
can wrap up with your guesses on how he would
fit with the Sixers, Warriors and Caves and what.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Your best your best prediction is. So right now, it's
say that the buzz is leaning Cleveland.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
I've been more on like Golden State the last two
or three weeks because that's where I think. If Golden
State can pull off in a d trade and they
do Jimmy Butler plus a couple picks or whatever it
costs to get Anthony Davis, that to me would be
the precursor move that's indicating Lebron is coming. If they
don't do something like that, if they don't land a
big piece in just this roster, I would be surprised
(23:22):
if he goes there. So I would be carefully cognizant
of what does Golden State do. If Golden State makes
a big move, I think that could signal that Lebron
is going there. But putting them to the side, it
seems like Cleveland right now is that the leader in
the clubhouse.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
That's the one that.
Speaker 6 (23:35):
Behind the scenes most NBA people are saying they're expecting
him to go there, that there's some buzz with that,
But certainly, I mean, I think if you look at
Philly and Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Those to me are the two best fits.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
And I understand the skepticism with Philly just because of
you have three really four high usage guys embiid. I
think you could load manage with Lebron there, and he
plays forty five fifty games, you can limit his minutes.
Lebron could even loadvantage with them having those three guys
on the perimeter. Who are all iron men going to
play seventy plus games with high minutes. So I think
(24:06):
Philly like clearly needs a power forward and just needs
a little bit more talent. Lebron could be a great
fit there. Minnesota is the one where I look at
I'm like, they need a four. Lebron is a four
now at this stage of his career, and they have
the defense to protect him and sort of let him
take possessions off or be in like a lower usage
helper role where you got Gobert, you got McDaniels, you
(24:27):
got Aunt, and you got some other guys off the bench.
So it's like that to me, I think you'd be
a great fit.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Now.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Was Lebron gonna go to Minnesota? Is Lebron going to
go to Denver?
Speaker 6 (24:36):
I have a hard time seeing that, So I do
think it's probably Cleveland, Golden State, Miami Philly. Those would
be I think right now the four teams I'd be
looking at as possibilities, and I would say to me,
Cleveland right now is the most likely.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Just to back up to that Wizard's ad. Didn't the
Wizards say they're not doing an Anthony Davis trade?
Speaker 6 (24:56):
Well, yes, but I think that could be public posturing.
Like if you get two or three first round picks
offered to you from Golden State just to take on
and expiring Jimmy Butler contract. Because the other thing with
AD is he wants an extension. So if you're keeping AD,
you now have to figure out are you going to
extend him?
Speaker 3 (25:15):
What's that number?
Speaker 6 (25:15):
And if you're not interested in that, then trading him
and getting back some first round draft capital obviously makes sense.
So right now it's smokescreen season. Everyone's putting different things
out there. Teams are posturing, but I think if they
come to you with here's Jimmy Butler's expiring contract plus
two or three first, you have to strongly consider that,
especially because that's more than they gave up for Ady.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Cam Washington just say dude, you barely played basketball in
the last two seasons. We're not extending you. You've got
a contract with the season, play it out. Can't they
do that? Or would the AD just be like, I
mean that they can.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
They can. It's obviously.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
I mean, then you just see how the season goes
and you see if Ad won't wants to stay there
or not.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
But I think the risk.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Would obviously just be him being offended or slighted by that,
having a good season where he bounces back healthwise, and
then him just the partying for nothing. So I think
if they are if Golden State puts the pixel on
the table, I think Washington would have to strongly consider that.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
That that would change things. Ad, Lebron, Draymond, I don't
know if that's enough shooting on that team.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Curry, Yeah, the shooting is.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
It's also like my I look at Miami and Golden
State as trying to fit the front courts with like Lebron, Draymon, Ady, Lebron,
Jannis Bam. Love the defense with those front courts and
Lebron playing next to two really good, great defenders and
in both cases, but the shooting there with Bam and
Giannis or Draymond and Ad.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
It's pretty pretty cramped.
Speaker 6 (26:38):
So at least in Golden State you have Steph, the
greatest shooter of all time, to help you help offset
some of the spacing concerns. But from a from a
front court perspective, offensively, it would be pretty cramped spacing.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
All right. Jovan Buha, NBA reporter, great stuff as always,
He's got a YouTube page his podcast. Keep up the
good work, but.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Man appreciate it. Jaymco to see you right.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Coming up on the Herd, we have one more Lebron
topic than we're back in soccer.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Just one more Lebron.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Was he misused interesting word last year? I wonder, I
wonder where that's coming from. Rachel has all the details.
Next on the Herd.
Speaker 7 (27:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
Every day.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sports book.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
And all the best guests.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts. I know there's a small segment
of the audience. Okay, hey, we paid attention to soccer
for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Ol catch up with you in twenty thirty.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Ah, guys, it doesn't work like that.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
We're too good. Now, we're too good.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You got to pay attention. And a lot of the
criticism has centered around Christian Poolistic's failure to show up.
I mean he's taking it from all around. We saw
Carly Lloyd mak it some comments and listen, people like
Carly Lloyd. That's too harsh. No, it's actually not, guys,
Christian poulisk You know, soccer's a big deal. When Christian
(28:26):
Polistic is getting the same treatment that Patrick Mahomes gets
when he poops his pants in the Super Bowl. When
Lebron has a bad week and it gets knocked out
of the playoffs, the criticism comes. That's what we do.
We build these athletes up and you know what, when
they mess up, they get to heat. That's what happens.
That's part of the job. Like you're handsomely paid, you're
in commercials throughout the World Cup, and then you're terrible,
(28:48):
and you know, he kind of gotta say you're terrible.
So here is here the landon Donovan comments who played
to them earlier. They're very harsh, but again this is
the truth. He didn't have a great World Cup.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
Guys, he is who he is at this point, right,
and we want him to be more because we see
the time I've been on here talking about seeing him
in person against Bosniam, like the way he moves in
the way, but that was an easy game. He came
out of a World Cup knockout game at home with
(29:19):
his leg still intact. Because I'm saying this to you, Tim,
and you know it, because you played with me. You
would have had to drag me off the field and
I would have punched the doctor in the face and said,
you're not taking me off the field. Put whatever you
need to put in me, and I'm just staying on
the field.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
So there's criticism coming from everywhere, and again Bulisic is
gonna have to own it. He would admit he did
not play great and he was injured. Bruce Arena actually
had a slightly more realistic take on Pulisic yesterday.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Here it is Christian's a good player, but he's not
in the class of these elite players in the world
right now, like we've seen with the the play of
Messi and Holland and Kane and others. And for whatever reason,
he's dealt with a couple of injuries this season with
this club team. He suffered an injury in preparation for
(30:12):
the World Cups, and it's been difficult and he had
to leave the game early.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
But you know, it's not about one player.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
It never is.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
You win as a team, you lose as a team.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
But Politic was just so bad on the ball.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
You didn't see any grit any like motivation.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
First place. I went to the game in Santa Clara,
and you know, we're beating Bosnia, and Policic is you know,
winning balls on the sideline and getting the crowd fired up.
There was leadership there, but we were playing for an advantage.
We were leading. The second we got down. Shoulders slumped
a lot of quizzical looks. Nobody really taking that leadership baton.
(30:51):
We're gonna have to find that person. I don't know
who it is.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I don't know if he's on the roster yet.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Maybe it's a young sixteen year old Sullivan who's really dynamic.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Go look up his highlights, kid, it's special. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I don't know, but I'm just saying USA Soccer, they're
not down. They had a really bad game, and let's
not kill them. Okay, let's not crush the whole World
Cup because we had.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
A really bad ninety minutes. All right?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Coming up next year on The Herd, was Lebron misused
in Los Angeles last season?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Take a guess where that's coming from.
Speaker 7 (31:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone East. They're not a Empacific, No, no.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Turn on the news.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
This is the Herd line news.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
Well, Jason, you remember back last week when Lebron only
had just beautiful, nice things to say and his social
media farewell to the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Well, his agent Rich Paul not pretending.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Everything over there was puppies and rainbows, and the latest
episode of his podcast, Rich discuss James's role on the
Lakers last season.
Speaker 10 (31:52):
Take a listen to him and Max Kellerman here, the
team would have functioned better had they had Luca dribbled
a little less, Lebron been playing point more, and.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I got the feeling like, I know this is Luca's team.
I'm not trying to step on any toes when I
felt like he needed to assert himself a little more.
He has such a profile, respect for the game and
everything that it entails. Obviously, I'm not the third option.
We can we know that no day. But if this
(32:25):
is what I'm being asked to do, I'm going to
do that.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
I want to point out that initially, what Rich said
to Max's comment.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Was you're not wrong. You're not wrong.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
Lucas should dribble less and Lebron should have had the
ball more.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
I mean, what do you make of all that?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Yeah, if I'm Philly or Golden State, I'm playing that.
I'm playing that video in my room before I make
a decision. Because if he's saying he's clearly not a
third option, what's he going to be in Philly, what's
he going to be in Golden State? I mean, if
Jimmy Butler's healthy, let's say they don't trade Fredy Jammy
(33:03):
Butler needs the ball. Steph Curry is still Steph Curry
and Lebron, so like, are we going to playing that game?
That's why I think Rachel Cleveland makes the most sense.
Speaker 5 (33:12):
I mean, look, if we've talked about this, what for
the last six months, what's Lebron going to do at
the end of this past season? And I kept saying,
I think everyone who's talking about money is missing role.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
And I feel very vindicated by his comment because that
is really what it came down to.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
He doesn't want to be the guy scraping for loose balls.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
On the floor, and he shouldn't be.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
He's Lebron James and he shouldn't be the one who
may be possibly taken.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Off the court.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
If you had Austin and Luca and Lebron and you
have to defend at the end of an NBA playoff game,
an elite NBA playoff game against an elite team, you
can see them taking him.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Off the court.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
He shouldn't have to do that at the level he
is playing at.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
So I do think that that is going to be
a big question as he goes around other teams, or
rather as Rich Paul goes around to other teams, but
there's also for another team it might be okay, whereas
for the Lakers, your team, it might be like, well,
this is disrespectful, haven't identitied?
Speaker 9 (34:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Well, Rich Paul also was floating the Knicks. He would
have come off the bench behind Josh Hart. Okay, Yeah,
and Josh Hart.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Does what screeps for loose walls.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Like Rich Paul. This guy, he's a calculating one. How
about how about it, Rachel? He starts a podcast six
months ago. It should have been very obvious that lebron
knew probably six months ago.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Oh this is a rap.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
You're just learning that Rich Paul is one of the
best stations out there.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Well, I don't know that one of the best. He's
certainly calculating. I mean he's about all those.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Guys cient like lebron where you don't most of the
time have to negotiate over money. Right, He's just been
max max Max, And even in this one, they're not
really negotiating over money, trying to squeeze every dollar out
of whatever team he goes to. That's already made clear. Right,
So if you don't have to squeeze every dollar out,
your entire thing is leveraging and position, and he has.
(34:57):
Rich Paul has helped Lebron do that better than any
other player I have seen in recent years. Every time
this guy is a free agent or even possible to
be a free agent, it is an absolute circus because
everybody wants him, and you have to create that kind
of demand.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
That is what rich Paul has been doing here.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I mean, he's been the best player in the league
at all those This is the interesting one.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Rachel. Will you still.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Say that if he doesn't get something good here? I mean,
Jovann was talking like it.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
There's a chance he played.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
For four million dollars again, I see that say this
for one hundredth times.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
I don't think it's about the money. I just don't.
Speaker 5 (35:31):
And he's got a good opportunity to say, look how
magnanimous I am to any.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Team I go to. I'm doing and words.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
Let's talk about Nikolai Okic and his contract. By the way,
he said he is not going to sign an extension
with the Nuggets this off season. He is opting instead
to hold off until next summer. Now, he did affirm
in these comments he made them overseas that he is desired.
He wants to stay in number, he wants to finish
his career there.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
But I got to.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
Tell you, Jason, by holding off not signing an extension
this summer, two things happen. First, he will get more
money by waiting a year later because he will be
eligible to sign. Instead of a four year deal, it'll
be a five year deal at more money. So that's
the first thing. And then second of all, puts a
little bit more pressure right on that Nuggets front office.
(36:23):
We saw Lebron do this over and over when he
was in Cleveland the second time.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Do you think that's a strategy. You think he's going
to get more out of the front office or ownership.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
That's an interesting one. I don't know how his game ages.
Obviously he's a great passer versus to read roll. Ba's
going to be interesting four years or five. And then
what is he going to have around him? Since they
won the title, Rachel, all they've done is lose guys
every year they have.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
I mean, look, I actually have the guys, look get
up this morning. They've been near the second aprin for
three of the four seasons since that title. That doesn't
mean they've spent that money well and made the best
decisions about who to keep and who to let go.
But yeah, I think it's kind of fascinating, and he will,
by this strategy, end up with about eighty million extra dollars, which,
as we know, will buy a lot of horses, Jason,
(37:07):
So I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
He is fine.
Speaker 5 (37:09):
I really want to get to this last topic though,
because it's an NFL topic, and it's something you and
I have been disagreeing.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
On since the spring.
Speaker 5 (37:16):
Fernando Mendoza just dipping his toes, of course, into his
pro career in Las Vegas, and reports have indicated that.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
He's been going through the typical rookie.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Growing pains at OTAs timing issues plays under center. Remember
you didn't really play under center prior to this, not
in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
So he's acknowledging he has room to grow. Listen to him.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
Talking on Max Crosby's with Max Crosby here.
Speaker 11 (37:40):
When studying outward goals, I believe it's always better to
lean on mentors and coaches and people that know more
than how I do. At that point, I get with them,
we talk about my goals. Hey, this is where we
want to be. The Starry training camp past OTAs. We've
talked about that we have a June plan, in July
plan than Hey, this is where we want to be
(38:00):
at the end of training camp, and this is where
we want to be in preseason, and really just trying
to exceed. My job is trying to exceed those exceed
those mile markers every single day.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
He's not complaining. Jason, you were complaining. Since I him,
you have been like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
This guy should be the number one starter. You're still
banging that drum.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, it's weird. That looked like a zoom I had
with my financial advisor life.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
I hesitated for injuring it podcast. I guess it's a podcast.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah, I'm of the belief you got to play and
why he's your franchise guy. What are you doing playing,
Kirk Cousins. This is a guy who started multiple years
in college. Mendoza is not some spring chicken who played
one year like Zach.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
What was it, Zach the guy on the Jets.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I'm spacing on his name, but Zach Wilson, he had
one year. He probably should have said. Mendoza has been
a multi year starter in college. He's ready.
Speaker 5 (38:59):
Patrick Mahomes Brady Aaron Rodgers, Steve Young. Any of those
guys sitting one year hurt them.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
I think they were key moments. He pieces the team's
going to a super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
It's fine for him to sit and learn for as
long as he needs to.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
He will be fine. He's not eighty. You're like, oh,
he's no spring chicken. He'll be just fine.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
If he has to sit behind a really good quarterback
in a system he's super comfortable with, and whenever the
coaching staff says he's ready, he's ready. And if it's
game five, it's game five. But it's not till next season,
it's okay, Jason. He'll be just fine and the team
might actually be better for it.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Seven wins with Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
And no, oh my gosh, we got a goal this
year is not to win the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
They're not winning the super Bowl. The goal is to
develop Mendoza.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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