April 4, 2024 • 36 mins
Colin compares Caitlin Clark's rise to stardom to Tim Tebow as an all-time great college athlete that has transcended their respective sport. He explains why the Bills losing Stefon Diggs might widen the gap between Buffalo and the Chiefs as the premier Super Bowl contender in the AFC. Plus, Chris Broussard from First Things First joins the show to explain why rookie Victor Wembanyama might make history by winning Defensive Player of the Year.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It's a Thursday, live in
Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and
however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Jordan Schultz filling in for Jmack, who's
back Monday. Both of us off tomorrow, jmx on Vak
with a family well deserved, Jordan. We've had a busy week.
Stepon Digg's trade was the highlight of it in the NFL.
But now we're going back into the college basketball tournament.
(00:50):
Yukon has landed the plane finally. What a mess with
the favorites of the men's and all sorts of stuff
now in sports today, We've got the Lakers now are
red hot, but aren't moving up the weft O Tawny
hits his first home run. Big Day, three weeks away
today from the NFL Draft. Today, can't wait. So let's
start with this mark. Women's NCAA Final four tickets are
(01:13):
double the price of men's. Now the men are playing
in a much bigger venue, but nonetheless that is driven
by Caitlin Clark and none other than Lebron James has
been paying attention to it.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I don't think there's, you know, no much difference between
the men and women game when it comes to college basketball.
I think the popularity comes in, there's the icons that
they have in the women's games. The IOWA was a
great team, but Caitlin Clark is the reason we tuned in.
You know, you're going to watch Purdue because of Zach Edy,
(01:48):
because he's a great player. We watched that Purdue Tennessee
game because of Zach Edy and Kanne like like. So
let's we don't let's say players depending on who they are,
would drive the attention. You know, when it comes to viewership.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
No question, Mahomes does the same in the NFL. I
cannot think. This morning, I sat down and I went
back ten years. I went back fifteen years to the
last men's college basketball player that was this popular.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Zion was big for about six months. His shoe ripped apart,
but we didn't have a slow bill. It was sort
of like internet phenom. Duke Bye Bye. Jimmer Furdett was
an oddity very briefly, but BYU was not a high
profile program and nobody thought he was going to be
great professionally. JJ Reddick very polarizing for the number one
(02:40):
program in the country, but coach k always took a
lot of oxygen out of the room. There he is.
The brand was the brand of Duke basketball. I'm trying
to think of the last time a men's college basketball
player trippled. Ratings, tripled, quadrupled ticket prices. And I go
(03:00):
back to a guy I covered. I was doing local
in Las Vegas at the time. It's Christian Laytner of Duke.
So big program, great looking, beloved, hated, tribal feelings all
over the board for him. His team beat many regarded
as the best college basketball team ever in UNLV. Remember
they came back and beat him. After the UNLV Clobnham
(03:21):
humiliated Duke in Denver, they came back the next year,
shocked the world and beat him. He had the looks
he had the game, and there were other players like,
for instance, Shack, but Shack's team didn't do anything in
the tournament, and Latner and Duke played Shack and they
were better. I had to go back thirty three years.
In fact, I was thinking this morning, why some of
(03:44):
it is? She's presently great, Caitlin Clark. She has a past,
she was great last year, and she has a future.
She'll be the number one pick in the WNBA. Past, present, future.
She's got it all and that matters. There's an arc
to it, like a good movie. Jim or Ferdett was
never going to be a great pro. Zion hasn't been
(04:05):
a great pro, and we didn't talk much about him
in high school. We didn't really care. And in Duke
it was one big year. In fact, I thought to myself,
the only recent college athlete I can even compare to
Caitlyn Clark, Well, what's the most popular college sports? Football?
Would be Tim Tebow. She is Tim Tebow. It's mostly
(04:27):
the sport, but something beyond that. She's the feisty Midwestern
underdog playing for redemption after losing to LSU last year.
Tim Tebow had a very unique game We're not sure
it was going to win at the pro level, but
he did get drafted in the first He was popular.
(04:47):
Most of it was football, but there was an intensity
with Caitlyn Clark and Tibo. There was a passion with
Caitlin Clark and Tibo. There's a relatability with Caitlin Clark
and Tebow ever, but he initially gets it with either.
But now everybody's all in. And I think that's the
last time. Christian Latner in ninety ninety one ninety two,
(05:10):
his last couple of years there, he was. I mean,
he's the only guy to make the Dream Team upset UNLV,
part of Duke Cocky, divisive, polarizing, good looking, and he
was at one of the five best college players I've
ever seen. I didn't see Luel Sindra at UCLA, but
or Bill Russell at San Francisco, but Laterner was dominant
when toe to toe with Shachan was the better player.
He was a great college player. But Nick Wright talked
(05:33):
about she is also and this helps her. She has
the same game to a large degree of our most
popular NBA player.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
She is the first person male or female that has
taken STEP's game and duplicated.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
It to her skill set.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Whether it's the kick ahead passing, whether it is the
great court vision or the impossible, it is really special
to watch. And it doesn't matter that it's women's basketball.
People love stars and great athletic events, and that crosses
any gender lines.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
There was.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Meanwhile, there was a big trade yesterday Stefan Diggs. But
it's just not a receiver going to the Texans. The
Buffalo Bills have a great history in this country of
almost winning Super Bowls and never winning Super Bowls. Jim Kelly,
Marv Levy, all those years they had to face dynasties,
and now they have to face another, the Kansas City Chiefs,
(06:38):
and they just lost easily their best skilled player, Stefan Diggs.
We've been waiting for years to figure out who is
going to be Patrick Mahomes, Foyle, Peyton Manning to Brady
Kadi went to the Warriors and beat Lebron Mickelson with
Tiger lemiue de Gretzky. Who's the foil? We've thought it's
(07:01):
gonna be Josh Allen initially, will it be Justin Herbert
in division? Herbert now has lost both of his best
receivers and so is Josh Allen. This offseason, Burrow probably
won't going to keep t Higgins and Lamar Jackson's got
one star receiver. He just can't beat Mahomes. Maybe it's
c J. Stroud with the Texans, but the Bills general
(07:24):
manager admitted yesterday Kansas City keeps winning and the Bills
today aren't necessarily as good a team.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
This is by no means the Bills given up or
trying to take a step back or anything like that.
Everything we do we're trying to win and we're going
to continue to do that. Are we better today? Probably not. Yeah,
we're It's a work in progress and we're going to
continue to work on that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, we're probably not going to be as good last
year at home, not as good. These Bills over the
last twenty four hours feel like they become the other
Bills who were really, really good, which is usually good
enough unless there's a Tiger or a Brady or a
(08:18):
Tyson in his prime or now a Mahomes. Good is
not good enough. If you told me Chargers Herbert Harbaugh, Texans,
Dimiko Ryan, c J. Stroud or Bills Josh Allen, I'd
probably say Buffalo in the next five years would finish
third of those three teams. In teams I think could
(08:39):
win a Super Bowl again. Less Miles and ed Orgeron
were good, but not when Nick Saban was in the division.
Rex Ryan was good, but not in the same division
with Bill Belichick. A lot of great golfers during Tiger's
twelve year blitz of the sport, they weren't good enough.
(09:00):
Big Ben's going to be a Hall of Famer, but
Brady's prime years when he was rolling Big Ben felt small.
Houston Rockets beat a lot of teams. Small ball couldn't
beat the Warriors. Good and very good are often enough
to hoist a trophy. They're not with a legend in
the same conference and the best player probably in the world,
(09:23):
Patrick Mahomes right down the street. And today the Bills
feel a little bit like the Bills we watched years ago,
the second best team for maybe three quarters of a
decade or a decade. All right, good stuff. Nick Nurse
is stopping by. The seventy six ers, have Joe Lmbid
(09:44):
back in their head. Coach stops by in one hour,
Peter Scheger joining us, Chris Brussard, a lot of stuff
going on, Shoe a Otani had his first home run.
By the way, I know it's already in the baseball season.
I know it's early. Oh my, the Dodgers batting order
five runs or more so. I grew up as a
(10:05):
kid that loved baseball in the seventies and about the
time I started watching TV in seventy two, seventy three,
seventy four. By that time, the Cincinnati Reds were great,
and they had like Rose and Joe Morgan and Johnny
Bench and Ken Griffy Senior, George Foster and Tony Perez.
It was just like leading off to seven in the order,
(10:25):
like Hall of famers, all great. That's what the Dodgers
look like. The difference is the Dodgers have it appears
to be significantly better talent on their starting staff. That's
around the corner as well.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (10:47):
All right, you're now entering the No bull Zone sponsored
by Credible Great Rates. None of the Bulls. Lakers remain
absolutely on fire. They beat Washington last night. They've won
eight of nine, Anthony Davis had another monster. I've said
for years, last couple of years, I've been very cool
on the Lakers. I think since about January they look
like a team that's the third best in the league
(11:09):
on any given night with Denver, Boston and the Lakers.
They already went to Boston and beat the Celtics without
a D and Lebron. You know, that felt kind of odd,
But I think they would take the Celtics seven games.
I think they're that good. And I think with a
D and Lebron in crunch time against the Celtics team
in the playoffs, in crunch time that's not always delivered,
it would be interesting. But here's how much better the
(11:31):
West is than the East. The Lakers have been on
fire for two months. Two months ago they were ninth
in the West. They've won eight of nine and mostly
been on fire for two months. There are eleven games
over five hundred. They're still ninth in the West. The
bottom of the Western Conference to me, can compete with
(11:51):
the top of the East. I mean, last night, Cleveland's
a number three seed in the East. They got beat
by twenty one by Phoenix, who's an inch above the
playing game Milwaukee's a strong number two seed in the East.
They got rolled by Memphis last night. That's not going
to make the playoffs in the West by ten. So
the Celtics and the Lakers split their series, and I
(12:14):
probably if he gave me one game, I would take
the Lakers in one game. They don't have the scoring
shooting depth, but they have Lebron, James and Ad the
best defender in that series, and on any given night,
the best offensive player. And I think a lot of
it is the duo's out West, They're endless. They just
I mean, it's Lebron and it's a D, and it's
(12:36):
k D, and it's Booker, and it's Stephen, it's Straymon,
and it's Paul George and Kawhi and it's Chet Holmgren
and it's Sga and it's Kat if he's healthy, and
and Edwards and it's Luca and Kyrie and Jamal Murray
and Jokic. And out East you have two of them,
Bam Butler and then Jalen Brown Tatum. We don't really
(13:00):
know if Dame and Giannis are going to work big
in the playoffs. Do you trust him? I think I
think Philadelphia was playing well and may regain their form.
Their head coach joins us in forty minutes. But I
mean you go like nine to ten deep. So it
just it's like that's the difference. But the Lakers have
been on fire for two months. They've won eight, up nine,
(13:22):
they can't move up. They're still a ninth, and that
really is the difference. Last night another monster night, and
you got a little runway here into the playoffs. Here's
Lebron after.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We want to continue to build chemistry, we want to
continue to play good basketball, but the whole season still
kind of weighs. Wait even you know, I know we
only got six games or six games left, five games left.
The whole season prep all out of the stuff is
totally different from the regular season. So wherever we fall
is where we fall, and wherever we got to go,
if we have to go on a road, that's fine.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So I said eight and nine, maybe it's eight to
ten for the Lakers really good basketball, but it is.
And the other thing is in the way, you know,
iron sharpens iron. What's interesting is the Celtics have had
so many blowout wins. Think about this. The Celtics have
had as many twenty plus wins against the East as
(14:14):
they have losses against the East, and you could say, oh,
you can rest your starters. Go look at the history
of sports. AFC teams Brady and New England, Flacco and
the Ravens, Mahomes and the Chiefs come out of the
tougher AFC. They're sharper SEC teams. They'd go play remember
(14:37):
you know SEC team, Oh, big twelve teams, undefeated forty
five a game, Big ten team blowing past people. A
couple of years ago, Michigan had one close game, I
think it was the year before this past year. One
close game all season Illinois and then they got upset
when they played TCU. They just weren't used to the
number of close games. Boston's got no close games, but
(15:00):
they've split with the Lakers. They can't beat Denver, and
so the Western Conference. I'm a believer in, you know,
iron sharpens iron't. I don't care how tough the division is.
When the Rams won the Super Bowl, they had to
face San Francisco twice. You know you had Russell Wilson back.
I believe with the Seahawks. Still, the division was crazy,
crazy competitive.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (15:26):
You know, years ago when I was at the other place,
they used to call it the Hot Stove League. But
it was basically the Yankees and the Red Sox and
mostly the Yankees just buying the best players. And now
people sort of complain, Well, Dodge Jerge, Garrett Coles, the
Yankeejon Soto went to the Yankees. The Mets spent a
fortune last year, so did the Podres. In fact, last
(15:49):
year money doesn't guarantee anything. The three biggest payrolls last year,
I believe, with the Mets, Podreys and Yankees, none made
the playoffs. It's not about being rich. How do you
spend the money? Game day revenue for the Jets and
the Giants and the Bears in Washington, let's just say
the Jets, the Giants, the Bears game day revenue is massive.
(16:10):
It's also massive for the Philadelphia Eagles. They know how
to spend it. New York's teams now are almost all bad.
They have huge revenue, huge cable deals, huge ticket prices,
beer prices, game day revenue.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
So what.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, the Dodgers have a lot of money, but they're
also creative. Their research and development. They just don't miss
on minor leaguers. They find discarded bullpen guys from other
teams and make them good and move them off and
get more picks for players players. So last night Sho
heeo Tani his first home run. Here it is three
(16:46):
one Studs, the only team It was my favorite team
growing up. I said this earlier that I think compares
to this team offensively is the seventy five seventy six
(17:08):
Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers right now lead baseball and virtually
everything including walks, RBIs, hits, home runs average. Their batting
average is two eighty. The league average will probably end
up closer to two fifty right now. I think it's
like two forty five. And this isn't even the time
of the year when guys hit because it's cold out.
Ball carries better in the summer. Hands are warmer. Guys
(17:29):
hit better in May, June, July, and August, so you
have to eliminate. Is this the best batting order since
nineteen seventy six, So we know the seventy six team
was not on steroids, and it's a cleaner sport now
than it's ever been. What they're gambling on I don't know,
but clean in terms of steroids. But you got to
take out ninety four to two thousand and four Cleveland Indians.
(17:50):
Manny can't count it. The Mariners where like Brett Brett
Boone became Babe Ruth. Can't count it. The night the
Texas Rangers in the mid nineties. I mean might as
well had needles in the dugout. Give me a break.
You can't count those teams. You got to go back
to the seventies and an eighties and you got to
go to this team in terms of a batting order.
And it's not just money. In fact, right now they're
(18:13):
hitting I said two to eighty, they're hitting two ninety four.
That's insane, nobody. You don't really hit well out of
the shoot in baseball, it's chili. Your hands are cold.
The ball didn't carry as well in in you know,
wetter Weather Uh hitting two ninety four and the average
today is too culture to two forty four. So I
(18:35):
think it's the best most productive freeman bets. And their
staff is deep. And again I'll go back to this,
it's not just no Yankee fans were complaining when you
were buying all the players twenty years ago. I didn't
hear anybody complaining. I didn't hear a Red Sox fan complaining.
I didn't hear a Yankee fan complaining. It's not just
that three biggest payrolls last year did not win. They're
(18:56):
more creative in LA with their money. I mean, go
look at the Mookie Betsy now. It's like they stolen.
They find bullpen guys from other teams that have been discarded.
When they bring guys up from the miners, they almost
always hit. So it's it's they they play and spend
like a big market team. They draft and develop like
(19:18):
a small market team. And it's like, uh, you know,
it'd be like a big action movie winning an Oscar
and being popular but also winning for Best Screenplay. Like
it's all of the above. It's big, it's rich, it's
really smart and thoughtful, and uh yeah to ninety four
(19:38):
that that's uh and this again, I'm not counting that
ninety four to two thousand and four where you know
it may it started with Kenseko ken Caminiti. It went
on and that started with hitters, and then it was
pitchers and it was like, you know, the Balco stuff
I'm not counting anything. For ten years, a lot of
guys had insane years. The numbers popped. I'm not, you know,
(19:59):
pointing too many fingers here, but none of that stuff's
gonna count. We're just not gonna count that stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Brady Anderson fifty homers that one.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, And it was weird because I always felt that
was a bit pre like movie was. It was right
on the precipice.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
It was very very early, but it was.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I mean, I saw a lot of guys. My Mariner
team had guys having career years, and it's like, Okay,
I can be honest about it, but it's just sort
of like we have to be honest about Like the
John Wooden era in college basketball, well, they had a
booster that was buying the best players. Like it's legendarily
known now every Bobby Knight, for all his vulnerabilities flaws,
the late Bobby Knight, Bobby Knight never paid for players.
(20:39):
You didn't have to like Bobby Knight. Not my cup
of tea, not a fan at all. Thought he was
a hypocrite, you know, but Bobby didn't pay for players.
The John Wooden teams paid for players, all right. That's Okay, whatever,
we can talk about it, but you gotta be honest
about baseball. The steroid stuff is much more monitored. It's
not happening now. And this Dodger team, it's not just
the money, it's they spend it very effectively. They're the
(21:02):
innovators on this. They just signed in the catcher contract.
Now they push that money all of the future as well.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
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Speaker 7 (21:12):
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Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
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Speaker 1 (21:43):
So it's interesting Brew has been talking about this and
I talked about it earlier today, is that this past
week we had the most viewed women's basketball game of
all time. You had to go back to Cheryl Miller
in eighty three. She was virtual, you know, she, like
Caitlin Clark was iconic. Cheryl Miller would I think she
once scored one hundred points in a high school game.
Just an incredible player. And Caitlin Clark has these amazing
(22:06):
offensive qualities that it looks otherworldly. And Chris Brussard Bruce
joining us live and it was funny because you know,
there's been a lot of heat and I think one
of the reasons this game was so big LSU in
Iowa is because they played last year and it was
a rematch. I mean, there's a reason brew about ninety
percent of the money in Hollywood is on remakes, and
(22:28):
you know in series right, like it's The Avengers, people anticipate,
And so I thought a lot of it was just
we know these girls, they're great, a little trash talk
and we got to watch them again. But Angel Reese
kind of took the brunt of it. And what was
your basic takeaway on a lot of the hate stuff
she dealt with.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
Yeah, I mean you've heard people say, well, hey, she's
brought it on herself with all the trash talk and
how she acts and things like that. But remember this
started when she talked trash to Caitlyn Clark, and people
jumped on her about it, But Caitlyn Clark had been
talking just as much trash. Kaitlyn Clark has an attitude
out there on the court as well, and nobody said
(23:11):
anything about her. So Angel Reese is right about that.
I think there was some racism there, maybe some classism there,
and so she's right about that. But also Colin, the
more popular the women's game gets, the more types of
things like this are gonna happen. The players who are
more popular are also gonna be more scrutinized. They're gonna
(23:31):
be criticized, They're gonna have haters. Lebron James the best
player in the world right now or you know, has been,
and he is the most criticized player in the NBA, and.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
So that comes with it.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
So as the women's game grows, they are going to
have to have thick skin because they're gonna be haters
out there.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I mean, boxing was at its biggest with the very
polarizing Muhammad Ali, and then it got really popular again
with the polarize Mike Tyson. UFC exploded with the very
polarizing Connor McGregor. Is that if you look at the
history of sports, you know, Michael Jordan was rare. Almost
(24:11):
everybody was. Everybody like Michael, but except Pistons fans. You know,
Celtics and Pistons fans don't like anybody. But generally speaking,
generally speaking popularity, I mean presidents. Nobody likes commissioners. Nobody
likes presidents. It's funny because I look at Jordan as
(24:33):
really beloved. Michael was the coolest player. I think Mahomes
has a little bit of that. He's fun, He's got
a flawed family, He's quirky, you know, catch up with
his steak. I do think Mahomes, this is my interpretation,
is hard to dislike, but that mostly stars are polarizing.
(24:54):
Am I wrong? What's your take on that? No?
Speaker 6 (24:56):
I think you're right.
Speaker 8 (24:57):
I mean, look look at the guy before Mahomes, Tom Brady, Right,
you got those that love him, and granted there were
the scandals with spy game and things like that, but
you have those that love him and those that hate him.
Mahomes isn't I wouldn't say he's to Jordan. You're right,
I mean Jordan, it was strangely unique. How essentially everyone
(25:18):
loved him. Yeah, except the fans of you know, like
you've mentioned the Pistons, maybe some Knicks fans, but even
a lot of Knicks fans still loved him. I think
some of it may have been because his game was
so graceful. Yeah, I think it was the best looking
game we've ever seen in basketball. Mahons obviously has that
in football, that unique, graceful, good looking game.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
And he is too.
Speaker 8 (25:42):
He's somewhat like Jordan and that he's generally beloved, but
he's got more haters than Mike, but less than i'd
say fewer than a Tom Brady. So yeah, in general, though,
I think your point is well taken.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
You know, Lebron said and one of the things I've
said yesterday about Lebron, there was this report by Sean's
that he's going to retire in a couple of years.
Probably that's the time table. And I said, you can
say what you want about him. He's talked about politics,
he's talked about race. Jordan didn't, so therefore he's more
polarizing against the time we live in whatever. But the
one thing I always loved about Lebron is he took
the right shots. He made the right basketball play. He
(26:14):
loved the game, and he treated the game with respect.
It wasn't about him. It was about the best shot,
the best moment, and it didn't always have to come
through him. And he was criticized for years for that,
and I never bought into that. But he also made
a point yesterday on a podcast with JJ Reddick. He said,
you know, I can tell if this guys going to
make it in this league if he can take hard
(26:35):
coaching and criticism from veterans and doesn't talk back and
just like bring it on. I want to get better.
And I have said brew and I could be wrong
on this that one of the things I liked about
college basketball and Tom Izzo and coach k and European basketball,
the academies. You play against older players, you get barked
at by coaches, you learn to get coached hard. I
(26:59):
do worry sometimes about like the G League and about
guys like college football, you get coached hard, saban hardball.
Do you worry sometimes that are domestic player au basketball,
It's not about getting coached hard, It's about getting buckets, right.
Do you worry about that?
Speaker 6 (27:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 8 (27:21):
And I think we're we're seeing the results of that now, look,
it looks like Nicolea. Jokicic is going to win the
MVP again, right, But if he there was a moment
maybe a week or two ago, and then the last
week where it looked like Luka Doncicz was really making
that surge, or if it wasn't Luca, it was gonna
be Sga Gilders, Alexander Alexander.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
What are all three of those guys are international?
Speaker 8 (27:45):
We haven't had an American MVP, says James hard And
I think it was twenty eighteen, and so it's not
you can't even just say, well, Yannis and Jokic and
Mbiid are hogging them up because the next was gonna
be an international guy as.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Well, and here comes.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
So we've already hit the point where we are not
producing the best players in the world anymore.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
We are not. We gotta look at the way we're
doing it.
Speaker 8 (28:09):
Let me quickly say this about Lebron and what he
said about the young players, because there's an interesting story
and I won't say the player's name, but there was
a highly touted player grey in high school, grat in college,
a top draft pick in the NBA, and right after
he was drafted.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
He bumped into Lebron at a.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
Club that offseason and Lebron, you know, Lebron is great guy,
nice to everybody. And Lebron was like, hey man, you ready,
you know, kind of playfully, and the dude.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
Was like are you ready? Like seriously, like are you
ready for me?
Speaker 8 (28:45):
Like the attitude of I'm not about to listen to
a veteran tell me you know anything about what I
need to learn to excel at the next level. And
Lebron had that attitude. He went to Cleveland, He's like,
it's Ricky Davis's team. As silly as that was, he
was deferring to the veterans. And this player didn't do
that with Lebron. And this player is not even in
(29:07):
the league anymore. That didn't reach his potential. So yeah,
I mean, now, I'm sure that that's a lot of
what Lebron's saying, but Colin, you are absolutely right in
America now, and AU is a big part of it
because if you're a star player as a teenager, then
your AAU coach can't jump on you for not defending.
(29:30):
He can't jump on you for taking a bad shot
or dominating the ball or not getting back on defense
because if he does, you'll go play for somebody else.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
And so, as a fifteen year old kid, if.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
You're great in America, now you're a celebrity already. You
probably got hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of followers
on Instagram. You might be making some money through nil
or something like that, and you are a celebrity, and
you may think you've.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Already made it.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
Whereas in in Slovenia or somewhere in Europe, if you're
fifteen years old and great, you are playing against grown men.
They're beating you up in practice. You're not playing a
light in games. You're being humbled and just working hard
on your game. And we are now seeing it it.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
I don't want to.
Speaker 8 (30:20):
Say it's too late, but we do need to change
the way we're doing things here so we can start,
you know, producing the type of players that they are
around the world.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, I mean the Warriors, Dynasty, Steph Draymond Clay, lots
of college Wiseman came in with all this talent. Siya
didn't work. Kaminga has been a slow built by the way,
the spurs man who oversees Tony Parker in France Tim
Duncan a lot of years. David Robbers. Yeah, so, I
(30:50):
mean you start looking at the dynasties. Now you look
at Lebron he's an outlier, but d Wade and Marquette,
Shane Battier, Ray Allen when they went down there in Forth,
Georgia te Chris Bosh.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
A lot of these guys are coached to be caught.
You know, college football coaching is not about coddling, it's
about developing. And I think I think our AAU system. Again,
I think it was well put by you. Sometimes it's
just like, oh, don't don't offend the fifteen year old,
he'll bail. I'd want to ask you about Zach zach
Edy because last year I watched him and it was like,
(31:32):
I don't think he moves well and I don't think
he's a great finisher. And this year I watch him
and I'm like, oh, he's way better at the rim.
And that guy works hard because he's like a better player.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Now.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Nick Nurse was on an hour ago. He's like no
I had him, he competes. I think Zach Edy in
this tournament has moved up spots on the draft board.
I really think it's helped him. What's your thoughts on
What are you hearing?
Speaker 8 (31:54):
Yeah, I mean it's helped me and depends. There are
people in the league with different views on him. Yeah,
and you see that even in a lot of these
mock drafts, some people have him low lottery low first round,
some even in the second round. Colin, it's a he
is having a tremendous run. This is an NCAA tournament
(32:15):
run that we haven't seen. I mean you look at
the numbers. We haven't seen them since the sixties with
leu Al Sinder and Elvin Hayes and guys like that.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
But I don't think I think he will have an
NBA career.
Speaker 8 (32:28):
Don't get me wrong. I think he should have an
NBA career. I think he'll be drafted. I think a
team will give him a shot, and I think he
will be able to get some spot minutes here and there.
Speaker 6 (32:39):
I don't think he in.
Speaker 8 (32:40):
Today's game, which is so spread out, I don't see
him as a guy playing consistent minutes like thirty five
minutes as a starter on an NBA team. Guy, I'll
point to Luca Garza at Iowa. He was six to eleven,
not seven four, but dominated college basketball. You know, one
the Player of the Year awards, put up twenty four
(33:03):
points and nine rebounds a game.
Speaker 6 (33:05):
And now he was a second round draft pick.
Speaker 8 (33:07):
Now he's playing for Minnesota on the bitch doesn't play much.
But that is just the difference now between the college
game and the pro game. And you are seeing more
bigs like Edie or somewhat close to Edie in college.
But I don't think that's going to translate to the
next level.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Well, I mean go look in the NBA. Wemby is
also like close to seven foot four, and look at
his game, and we'll show highlights of Wemby. I mean
that game is that home grew? Oh with those guys,
it doesn't. I've never seen anything like it. Could Wemby win?
This has never happened. Could Wemby is a rookie win?
Defensive Player of the Year. Draymond Green said on his
podcast two days ago, He's like, I'm wrong, that's the
(33:47):
best defensive player in the year. You can't done. You
can there's no way to prepare for him. What do
you make of Wemby?
Speaker 6 (33:53):
Yeah, yeah, I'm a voter.
Speaker 8 (33:56):
And two weeks ago I was like, I'm looking at
Rudy go bear, who could win.
Speaker 6 (34:00):
His fourth straight.
Speaker 8 (34:02):
And the only thing though, as I watched Wimby, the
only thing I can hold against him is the Spurs
defensive rating. But it's not his fault. His defensive rating
is second in the league to Rudy Gobert individually. But
here check this out. Colin Victor winbin Yama has blocked
(34:23):
five or more shots in twenty two games this season.
Rudy Gobert has done it three times. See so, and
here's the thing, and what what NBA people look for
from biggs are can you guard block to block right
in the inside? Can you defensive rebound? And can you
(34:44):
guard the screen and roll? Now, go bear. Even in
Anthony Davis, they do two of those, block to block,
they rebound, They don't guard the screen and roll. Well,
the pop man Wimby actually does.
Speaker 6 (34:56):
He can guard all three.
Speaker 8 (34:58):
That's why he is top twenty I believe in the
league or near there in steals.
Speaker 6 (35:04):
And so he guards at all three levels.
Speaker 8 (35:07):
For a big and then he block shots unlike somebody
anybody else in.
Speaker 6 (35:11):
The league right now.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
So I'm I'm leaning I wasn't a week or two ago,
but seeing in block nine shots against Denver and ford
on Jokic, Yeah, I'm leaning Wimby now. And I think
Colin next year, I think I think he's gonna have
a great summer where he gets stronger. He's gonna be
even more confident because now he knows, oh, I can
(35:33):
dominate in this league. I think next year he is
gonna come back terrorizing the NBA well.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
And I also think brew it brings up a great point.
I've been bothered deeply by load management. And your point's
an interesting one that just the individual game Wemby against Jokisch,
when the Stars play and Matt could change your vote.
And that's why I think you have to give not
only fans your when people are voting for this stuff,
(36:02):
I'm gonna look at those games Jason Tatum is playing
Lebron or playing him beat or Butler. So I think
that's a great point that if that's the game that
decides it for you, to me, that's very legitimate. Yo
Kitsch is the best player. Wemby blocks four of his shots.
If it's razor thin, why shouldn't that count?
Speaker 8 (36:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Right?
Speaker 8 (36:25):
And you know, Gobert is on the number one defense
in the league and he's the anchor. But they also
have like three or four other very good defenders. Anthony
Edwards is a pitbull on the perimeter defensively, Karl Anthony Towns,
Kyle Anders. They got some good defenders. Wimby doesn't have
that around him. So yeah, I'm leaning Wimby. I didn't
(36:47):
think I would, but he's gonna be Rookie the Year
and he might get my Defensive Player of the Year vote.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
All right, that's good stuff, hey, brew, First things first,
after our show, Buddy Good Senior,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It's a Thursday, live in
Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and
however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Jordan Schultz filling in for Jmack, who's
back Monday. Both of us off tomorrow, jmx on Vak
with a family well deserved, Jordan. We've had a busy week.
Stepon Digg's trade was the highlight of it in the NFL.
But now we're going back into the college basketball tournament.
(00:50):
Yukon has landed the plane finally. What a mess with
the favorites of the men's and all sorts of stuff
now in sports today, We've got the Lakers now are
red hot, but aren't moving up the weft O Tawny
hits his first home run. Big Day, three weeks away
today from the NFL Draft. Today, can't wait. So let's
start with this mark. Women's NCAA Final four tickets are
(01:13):
double the price of men's. Now the men are playing
in a much bigger venue, but nonetheless that is driven
by Caitlin Clark and none other than Lebron James has
been paying attention to it.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I don't think there's, you know, no much difference between
the men and women game when it comes to college basketball.
I think the popularity comes in, there's the icons that
they have in the women's games. The IOWA was a
great team, but Caitlin Clark is the reason we tuned in.
You know, you're going to watch Purdue because of Zach Edy,
(01:48):
because he's a great player. We watched that Purdue Tennessee
game because of Zach Edy and Kanne like like. So
let's we don't let's say players depending on who they are,
would drive the attention. You know, when it comes to viewership.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
No question, Mahomes does the same in the NFL. I
cannot think. This morning, I sat down and I went
back ten years. I went back fifteen years to the
last men's college basketball player that was this popular.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Zion was big for about six months. His shoe ripped apart,
but we didn't have a slow bill. It was sort
of like internet phenom. Duke Bye Bye. Jimmer Furdett was
an oddity very briefly, but BYU was not a high
profile program and nobody thought he was going to be
great professionally. JJ Reddick very polarizing for the number one
(02:40):
program in the country, but coach k always took a
lot of oxygen out of the room. There he is.
The brand was the brand of Duke basketball. I'm trying
to think of the last time a men's college basketball
player trippled. Ratings, tripled, quadrupled ticket prices. And I go
(03:00):
back to a guy I covered. I was doing local
in Las Vegas at the time. It's Christian Laytner of Duke.
So big program, great looking, beloved, hated, tribal feelings all
over the board for him. His team beat many regarded
as the best college basketball team ever in UNLV. Remember
they came back and beat him. After the UNLV Clobnham
(03:21):
humiliated Duke in Denver, they came back the next year,
shocked the world and beat him. He had the looks
he had the game, and there were other players like,
for instance, Shack, but Shack's team didn't do anything in
the tournament, and Latner and Duke played Shack and they
were better. I had to go back thirty three years.
In fact, I was thinking this morning, why some of
(03:44):
it is? She's presently great, Caitlin Clark. She has a past,
she was great last year, and she has a future.
She'll be the number one pick in the WNBA. Past, present, future.
She's got it all and that matters. There's an arc
to it, like a good movie. Jim or Ferdett was
never going to be a great pro. Zion hasn't been
(04:05):
a great pro, and we didn't talk much about him
in high school. We didn't really care. And in Duke
it was one big year. In fact, I thought to myself,
the only recent college athlete I can even compare to
Caitlyn Clark, Well, what's the most popular college sports? Football?
Would be Tim Tebow. She is Tim Tebow. It's mostly
(04:27):
the sport, but something beyond that. She's the feisty Midwestern
underdog playing for redemption after losing to LSU last year.
Tim Tebow had a very unique game We're not sure
it was going to win at the pro level, but
he did get drafted in the first He was popular.
(04:47):
Most of it was football, but there was an intensity
with Caitlyn Clark and Tibo. There was a passion with
Caitlin Clark and Tibo. There's a relatability with Caitlin Clark
and Tebow ever, but he initially gets it with either.
But now everybody's all in. And I think that's the
last time. Christian Latner in ninety ninety one ninety two,
(05:10):
his last couple of years there, he was. I mean,
he's the only guy to make the Dream Team upset UNLV,
part of Duke Cocky, divisive, polarizing, good looking, and he
was at one of the five best college players I've
ever seen. I didn't see Luel Sindra at UCLA, but
or Bill Russell at San Francisco, but Laterner was dominant
when toe to toe with Shachan was the better player.
He was a great college player. But Nick Wright talked
(05:33):
about she is also and this helps her. She has
the same game to a large degree of our most
popular NBA player.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
She is the first person male or female that has
taken STEP's game and duplicated.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
It to her skill set.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Whether it's the kick ahead passing, whether it is the
great court vision or the impossible, it is really special
to watch. And it doesn't matter that it's women's basketball.
People love stars and great athletic events, and that crosses
any gender lines.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
There was.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Meanwhile, there was a big trade yesterday Stefan Diggs. But
it's just not a receiver going to the Texans. The
Buffalo Bills have a great history in this country of
almost winning Super Bowls and never winning Super Bowls. Jim Kelly,
Marv Levy, all those years they had to face dynasties,
and now they have to face another, the Kansas City Chiefs,
(06:38):
and they just lost easily their best skilled player, Stefan Diggs.
We've been waiting for years to figure out who is
going to be Patrick Mahomes, Foyle, Peyton Manning to Brady
Kadi went to the Warriors and beat Lebron Mickelson with
Tiger lemiue de Gretzky. Who's the foil? We've thought it's
(07:01):
gonna be Josh Allen initially, will it be Justin Herbert
in division? Herbert now has lost both of his best
receivers and so is Josh Allen. This offseason, Burrow probably
won't going to keep t Higgins and Lamar Jackson's got
one star receiver. He just can't beat Mahomes. Maybe it's
c J. Stroud with the Texans, but the Bills general
(07:24):
manager admitted yesterday Kansas City keeps winning and the Bills
today aren't necessarily as good a team.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
This is by no means the Bills given up or
trying to take a step back or anything like that.
Everything we do we're trying to win and we're going
to continue to do that. Are we better today? Probably not. Yeah,
we're It's a work in progress and we're going to
continue to work on that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, we're probably not going to be as good last
year at home, not as good. These Bills over the
last twenty four hours feel like they become the other
Bills who were really, really good, which is usually good
enough unless there's a Tiger or a Brady or a
(08:18):
Tyson in his prime or now a Mahomes. Good is
not good enough. If you told me Chargers Herbert Harbaugh, Texans,
Dimiko Ryan, c J. Stroud or Bills Josh Allen, I'd
probably say Buffalo in the next five years would finish
third of those three teams. In teams I think could
(08:39):
win a Super Bowl again. Less Miles and ed Orgeron
were good, but not when Nick Saban was in the division.
Rex Ryan was good, but not in the same division
with Bill Belichick. A lot of great golfers during Tiger's
twelve year blitz of the sport, they weren't good enough.
(09:00):
Big Ben's going to be a Hall of Famer, but
Brady's prime years when he was rolling Big Ben felt small.
Houston Rockets beat a lot of teams. Small ball couldn't
beat the Warriors. Good and very good are often enough
to hoist a trophy. They're not with a legend in
the same conference and the best player probably in the world,
(09:23):
Patrick Mahomes right down the street. And today the Bills
feel a little bit like the Bills we watched years ago,
the second best team for maybe three quarters of a
decade or a decade. All right, good stuff. Nick Nurse
is stopping by. The seventy six ers, have Joe Lmbid
(09:44):
back in their head. Coach stops by in one hour,
Peter Scheger joining us, Chris Brussard, a lot of stuff
going on, Shoe a Otani had his first home run.
By the way, I know it's already in the baseball season.
I know it's early. Oh my, the Dodgers batting order
five runs or more so. I grew up as a
(10:05):
kid that loved baseball in the seventies and about the
time I started watching TV in seventy two, seventy three,
seventy four. By that time, the Cincinnati Reds were great,
and they had like Rose and Joe Morgan and Johnny
Bench and Ken Griffy Senior, George Foster and Tony Perez.
It was just like leading off to seven in the order,
(10:25):
like Hall of famers, all great. That's what the Dodgers
look like. The difference is the Dodgers have it appears
to be significantly better talent on their starting staff. That's
around the corner as well.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neonon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio apps.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
All right, you're now entering the No bull Zone sponsored
by Credible Great Rates. None of the Bulls. Lakers remain
absolutely on fire. They beat Washington last night. They've won
eight of nine, Anthony Davis had another monster. I've said
for years, last couple of years, I've been very cool
on the Lakers. I think since about January they look
like a team that's the third best in the league
(11:09):
on any given night with Denver, Boston and the Lakers.
They already went to Boston and beat the Celtics without
a D and Lebron. You know, that felt kind of odd,
But I think they would take the Celtics seven games.
I think they're that good. And I think with a
D and Lebron in crunch time against the Celtics team
in the playoffs, in crunch time that's not always delivered,
it would be interesting. But here's how much better the
(11:31):
West is than the East. The Lakers have been on
fire for two months. Two months ago they were ninth
in the West. They've won eight of nine and mostly
been on fire for two months. There are eleven games
over five hundred. They're still ninth in the West. The
bottom of the Western Conference to me, can compete with
(11:51):
the top of the East. I mean, last night, Cleveland's
a number three seed in the East. They got beat
by twenty one by Phoenix, who's an inch above the
playing game Milwaukee's a strong number two seed in the East.
They got rolled by Memphis last night. That's not going
to make the playoffs in the West by ten. So
the Celtics and the Lakers split their series, and I
(12:14):
probably if he gave me one game, I would take
the Lakers in one game. They don't have the scoring
shooting depth, but they have Lebron, James and Ad the
best defender in that series, and on any given night,
the best offensive player. And I think a lot of
it is the duo's out West, They're endless. They just
I mean, it's Lebron and it's a D, and it's
(12:36):
k D, and it's Booker, and it's Stephen, it's Straymon,
and it's Paul George and Kawhi and it's Chet Holmgren
and it's Sga and it's Kat if he's healthy, and
and Edwards and it's Luca and Kyrie and Jamal Murray
and Jokic. And out East you have two of them,
Bam Butler and then Jalen Brown Tatum. We don't really
(13:00):
know if Dame and Giannis are going to work big
in the playoffs. Do you trust him? I think I
think Philadelphia was playing well and may regain their form.
Their head coach joins us in forty minutes. But I
mean you go like nine to ten deep. So it
just it's like that's the difference. But the Lakers have
been on fire for two months. They've won eight, up nine,
(13:22):
they can't move up. They're still a ninth, and that
really is the difference. Last night another monster night, and
you got a little runway here into the playoffs. Here's
Lebron after.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We want to continue to build chemistry, we want to
continue to play good basketball, but the whole season still
kind of weighs. Wait even you know, I know we
only got six games or six games left, five games left.
The whole season prep all out of the stuff is
totally different from the regular season. So wherever we fall
is where we fall, and wherever we got to go,
if we have to go on a road, that's fine.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So I said eight and nine, maybe it's eight to
ten for the Lakers really good basketball, but it is.
And the other thing is in the way, you know,
iron sharpens iron. What's interesting is the Celtics have had
so many blowout wins. Think about this. The Celtics have
had as many twenty plus wins against the East as
(14:14):
they have losses against the East, and you could say, oh,
you can rest your starters. Go look at the history
of sports. AFC teams Brady and New England, Flacco and
the Ravens, Mahomes and the Chiefs come out of the
tougher AFC. They're sharper SEC teams. They'd go play remember
(14:37):
you know SEC team, Oh, big twelve teams, undefeated forty
five a game, Big ten team blowing past people. A
couple of years ago, Michigan had one close game, I
think it was the year before this past year. One
close game all season Illinois and then they got upset
when they played TCU. They just weren't used to the
number of close games. Boston's got no close games, but
(15:00):
they've split with the Lakers. They can't beat Denver, and
so the Western Conference. I'm a believer in, you know,
iron sharpens iron't. I don't care how tough the division is.
When the Rams won the Super Bowl, they had to
face San Francisco twice. You know you had Russell Wilson back.
I believe with the Seahawks. Still, the division was crazy,
crazy competitive.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and noon Easter, not a im Pacific.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
You know, years ago when I was at the other place,
they used to call it the Hot Stove League. But
it was basically the Yankees and the Red Sox and
mostly the Yankees just buying the best players. And now
people sort of complain, Well, Dodge Jerge, Garrett Coles, the
Yankeejon Soto went to the Yankees. The Mets spent a
fortune last year, so did the Podres. In fact, last
(15:49):
year money doesn't guarantee anything. The three biggest payrolls last year,
I believe, with the Mets, Podreys and Yankees, none made
the playoffs. It's not about being rich. How do you
spend the money? Game day revenue for the Jets and
the Giants and the Bears in Washington, let's just say
the Jets, the Giants, the Bears game day revenue is massive.
(16:10):
It's also massive for the Philadelphia Eagles. They know how
to spend it. New York's teams now are almost all bad.
They have huge revenue, huge cable deals, huge ticket prices,
beer prices, game day revenue.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
So what.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, the Dodgers have a lot of money, but they're
also creative. Their research and development. They just don't miss
on minor leaguers. They find discarded bullpen guys from other
teams and make them good and move them off and
get more picks for players players. So last night Sho
heeo Tani his first home run. Here it is three
(16:46):
one Studs, the only team It was my favorite team
growing up. I said this earlier that I think compares
to this team offensively is the seventy five seventy six
(17:08):
Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers right now lead baseball and virtually
everything including walks, RBIs, hits, home runs average. Their batting
average is two eighty. The league average will probably end
up closer to two fifty right now. I think it's
like two forty five. And this isn't even the time
of the year when guys hit because it's cold out.
Ball carries better in the summer. Hands are warmer. Guys
(17:29):
hit better in May, June, July, and August, so you
have to eliminate. Is this the best batting order since
nineteen seventy six, So we know the seventy six team
was not on steroids, and it's a cleaner sport now
than it's ever been. What they're gambling on I don't know,
but clean in terms of steroids. But you got to
take out ninety four to two thousand and four Cleveland Indians.
(17:50):
Manny can't count it. The Mariners where like Brett Brett
Boone became Babe Ruth. Can't count it. The night the
Texas Rangers in the mid nineties. I mean might as
well had needles in the dugout. Give me a break.
You can't count those teams. You got to go back
to the seventies and an eighties and you got to
go to this team in terms of a batting order.
And it's not just money. In fact, right now they're
(18:13):
hitting I said two to eighty, they're hitting two ninety four.
That's insane, nobody. You don't really hit well out of
the shoot in baseball, it's chili. Your hands are cold.
The ball didn't carry as well in in you know,
wetter Weather Uh hitting two ninety four and the average
today is too culture to two forty four. So I
(18:35):
think it's the best most productive freeman bets. And their
staff is deep. And again I'll go back to this,
it's not just no Yankee fans were complaining when you
were buying all the players twenty years ago. I didn't
hear anybody complaining. I didn't hear a Red Sox fan complaining.
I didn't hear a Yankee fan complaining. It's not just
that three biggest payrolls last year did not win. They're
(18:56):
more creative in LA with their money. I mean, go
look at the Mookie Betsy now. It's like they stolen.
They find bullpen guys from other teams that have been discarded.
When they bring guys up from the miners, they almost
always hit. So it's it's they they play and spend
like a big market team. They draft and develop like
(19:18):
a small market team. And it's like, uh, you know,
it'd be like a big action movie winning an Oscar
and being popular but also winning for Best Screenplay. Like
it's all of the above. It's big, it's rich, it's
really smart and thoughtful, and uh yeah to ninety four
(19:38):
that that's uh and this again, I'm not counting that
ninety four to two thousand and four where you know
it may it started with Kenseko ken Caminiti. It went
on and that started with hitters, and then it was
pitchers and it was like, you know, the Balco stuff
I'm not counting anything. For ten years, a lot of
guys had insane years. The numbers popped. I'm not, you know,
(19:59):
pointing too many fingers here, but none of that stuff's
gonna count. We're just not gonna count that stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Brady Anderson fifty homers that one.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, And it was weird because I always felt that
was a bit pre like movie was. It was right
on the precipice.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
It was very very early, but it was.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I mean, I saw a lot of guys. My Mariner
team had guys having career years, and it's like, Okay,
I can be honest about it, but it's just sort
of like we have to be honest about Like the
John Wooden era in college basketball, well, they had a
booster that was buying the best players. Like it's legendarily
known now every Bobby Knight, for all his vulnerabilities flaws,
the late Bobby Knight, Bobby Knight never paid for players.
(20:39):
You didn't have to like Bobby Knight. Not my cup
of tea, not a fan at all. Thought he was
a hypocrite, you know, but Bobby didn't pay for players.
The John Wooden teams paid for players, all right. That's Okay, whatever,
we can talk about it, but you gotta be honest
about baseball. The steroid stuff is much more monitored. It's
not happening now. And this Dodger team, it's not just
the money, it's they spend it very effectively. They're the
(21:02):
innovators on this. They just signed in the catcher contract.
Now they push that money all of the future as well.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter nine em Pacific.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Hey it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
baseball talk, featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport.
Whether you believe in analytics or the eye test, We've
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(21:34):
so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the
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Speaker 1 (21:43):
So it's interesting Brew has been talking about this and
I talked about it earlier today, is that this past
week we had the most viewed women's basketball game of
all time. You had to go back to Cheryl Miller
in eighty three. She was virtual, you know, she, like
Caitlin Clark was iconic. Cheryl Miller would I think she
once scored one hundred points in a high school game.
Just an incredible player. And Caitlin Clark has these amazing
(22:06):
offensive qualities that it looks otherworldly. And Chris Brussard Bruce
joining us live and it was funny because you know,
there's been a lot of heat and I think one
of the reasons this game was so big LSU in
Iowa is because they played last year and it was
a rematch. I mean, there's a reason brew about ninety
percent of the money in Hollywood is on remakes, and
(22:28):
you know in series right, like it's The Avengers, people anticipate,
And so I thought a lot of it was just
we know these girls, they're great, a little trash talk
and we got to watch them again. But Angel Reese
kind of took the brunt of it. And what was
your basic takeaway on a lot of the hate stuff
she dealt with.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
Yeah, I mean you've heard people say, well, hey, she's
brought it on herself with all the trash talk and
how she acts and things like that. But remember this
started when she talked trash to Caitlyn Clark, and people
jumped on her about it, But Caitlyn Clark had been
talking just as much trash. Kaitlyn Clark has an attitude
out there on the court as well, and nobody said
(23:11):
anything about her. So Angel Reese is right about that.
I think there was some racism there, maybe some classism there,
and so she's right about that. But also Colin, the
more popular the women's game gets, the more types of
things like this are gonna happen. The players who are
more popular are also gonna be more scrutinized. They're gonna
(23:31):
be criticized, They're gonna have haters. Lebron James the best
player in the world right now or you know, has been,
and he is the most criticized player in the NBA, and.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
So that comes with it.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
So as the women's game grows, they are going to
have to have thick skin because they're gonna be haters
out there.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I mean, boxing was at its biggest with the very
polarizing Muhammad Ali, and then it got really popular again
with the polarize Mike Tyson. UFC exploded with the very
polarizing Connor McGregor. Is that if you look at the
history of sports, you know, Michael Jordan was rare. Almost
(24:11):
everybody was. Everybody like Michael, but except Pistons fans. You know,
Celtics and Pistons fans don't like anybody. But generally speaking,
generally speaking popularity, I mean presidents. Nobody likes commissioners. Nobody
likes presidents. It's funny because I look at Jordan as
(24:33):
really beloved. Michael was the coolest player. I think Mahomes
has a little bit of that. He's fun, He's got
a flawed family, He's quirky, you know, catch up with
his steak. I do think Mahomes, this is my interpretation,
is hard to dislike, but that mostly stars are polarizing.
(24:54):
Am I wrong? What's your take on that? No?
Speaker 6 (24:56):
I think you're right.
Speaker 8 (24:57):
I mean, look look at the guy before Mahomes, Tom Brady, Right,
you got those that love him, and granted there were
the scandals with spy game and things like that, but
you have those that love him and those that hate him.
Mahomes isn't I wouldn't say he's to Jordan. You're right,
I mean Jordan, it was strangely unique. How essentially everyone
(25:18):
loved him. Yeah, except the fans of you know, like
you've mentioned the Pistons, maybe some Knicks fans, but even
a lot of Knicks fans still loved him. I think
some of it may have been because his game was
so graceful. Yeah, I think it was the best looking
game we've ever seen in basketball. Mahons obviously has that
in football, that unique, graceful, good looking game.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
And he is too.
Speaker 8 (25:42):
He's somewhat like Jordan and that he's generally beloved, but
he's got more haters than Mike, but less than i'd
say fewer than a Tom Brady. So yeah, in general, though,
I think your point is well taken.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
You know, Lebron said and one of the things I've
said yesterday about Lebron, there was this report by Sean's
that he's going to retire in a couple of years.
Probably that's the time table. And I said, you can
say what you want about him. He's talked about politics,
he's talked about race. Jordan didn't, so therefore he's more
polarizing against the time we live in whatever. But the
one thing I always loved about Lebron is he took
the right shots. He made the right basketball play. He
(26:14):
loved the game, and he treated the game with respect.
It wasn't about him. It was about the best shot,
the best moment, and it didn't always have to come
through him. And he was criticized for years for that,
and I never bought into that. But he also made
a point yesterday on a podcast with JJ Reddick. He said,
you know, I can tell if this guys going to
make it in this league if he can take hard
(26:35):
coaching and criticism from veterans and doesn't talk back and
just like bring it on. I want to get better.
And I have said brew and I could be wrong
on this that one of the things I liked about
college basketball and Tom Izzo and coach k and European basketball,
the academies. You play against older players, you get barked
at by coaches, you learn to get coached hard. I
(26:59):
do worry sometimes about like the G League and about
guys like college football, you get coached hard, saban hardball.
Do you worry sometimes that are domestic player au basketball,
It's not about getting coached hard, It's about getting buckets, right.
Do you worry about that?
Speaker 6 (27:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 8 (27:21):
And I think we're we're seeing the results of that now, look,
it looks like Nicolea. Jokicic is going to win the
MVP again, right, But if he there was a moment
maybe a week or two ago, and then the last
week where it looked like Luka Doncicz was really making
that surge, or if it wasn't Luca, it was gonna
be Sga Gilders, Alexander Alexander.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
What are all three of those guys are international?
Speaker 8 (27:45):
We haven't had an American MVP, says James hard And
I think it was twenty eighteen, and so it's not
you can't even just say, well, Yannis and Jokic and
Mbiid are hogging them up because the next was gonna
be an international guy as.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Well, and here comes.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
So we've already hit the point where we are not
producing the best players in the world anymore.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
We are not. We gotta look at the way we're
doing it.
Speaker 8 (28:09):
Let me quickly say this about Lebron and what he
said about the young players, because there's an interesting story
and I won't say the player's name, but there was
a highly touted player grey in high school, grat in college,
a top draft pick in the NBA, and right after
he was drafted.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
He bumped into Lebron at a.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
Club that offseason and Lebron, you know, Lebron is great guy,
nice to everybody. And Lebron was like, hey man, you ready,
you know, kind of playfully, and the dude.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
Was like are you ready? Like seriously, like are you
ready for me?
Speaker 8 (28:45):
Like the attitude of I'm not about to listen to
a veteran tell me you know anything about what I
need to learn to excel at the next level. And
Lebron had that attitude. He went to Cleveland, He's like,
it's Ricky Davis's team. As silly as that was, he
was deferring to the veterans. And this player didn't do
that with Lebron. And this player is not even in
(29:07):
the league anymore. That didn't reach his potential. So yeah,
I mean, now, I'm sure that that's a lot of
what Lebron's saying, but Colin, you are absolutely right in
America now, and AU is a big part of it
because if you're a star player as a teenager, then
your AAU coach can't jump on you for not defending.
(29:30):
He can't jump on you for taking a bad shot
or dominating the ball or not getting back on defense
because if he does, you'll go play for somebody else.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
And so, as a fifteen year old kid, if.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
You're great in America, now you're a celebrity already. You
probably got hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of followers
on Instagram. You might be making some money through nil
or something like that, and you are a celebrity, and
you may think you've.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Already made it.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
Whereas in in Slovenia or somewhere in Europe, if you're
fifteen years old and great, you are playing against grown men.
They're beating you up in practice. You're not playing a
light in games. You're being humbled and just working hard
on your game. And we are now seeing it it.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
I don't want to.
Speaker 8 (30:20):
Say it's too late, but we do need to change
the way we're doing things here so we can start,
you know, producing the type of players that they are
around the world.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, I mean the Warriors, Dynasty, Steph Draymond Clay, lots
of college Wiseman came in with all this talent. Siya
didn't work. Kaminga has been a slow built by the way,
the spurs man who oversees Tony Parker in France Tim
Duncan a lot of years. David Robbers. Yeah, so, I
(30:50):
mean you start looking at the dynasties. Now you look
at Lebron he's an outlier, but d Wade and Marquette,
Shane Battier, Ray Allen when they went down there in Forth,
Georgia te Chris Bosh.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
A lot of these guys are coached to be caught.
You know, college football coaching is not about coddling, it's
about developing. And I think I think our AAU system. Again,
I think it was well put by you. Sometimes it's
just like, oh, don't don't offend the fifteen year old,
he'll bail. I'd want to ask you about Zach zach
Edy because last year I watched him and it was like,
(31:32):
I don't think he moves well and I don't think
he's a great finisher. And this year I watch him
and I'm like, oh, he's way better at the rim.
And that guy works hard because he's like a better player.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Now.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Nick Nurse was on an hour ago. He's like no
I had him, he competes. I think Zach Edy in
this tournament has moved up spots on the draft board.
I really think it's helped him. What's your thoughts on
What are you hearing?
Speaker 8 (31:54):
Yeah, I mean it's helped me and depends. There are
people in the league with different views on him. Yeah,
and you see that even in a lot of these
mock drafts, some people have him low lottery low first round,
some even in the second round. Colin, it's a he
is having a tremendous run. This is an NCAA tournament
(32:15):
run that we haven't seen. I mean you look at
the numbers. We haven't seen them since the sixties with
leu Al Sinder and Elvin Hayes and guys like that.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
But I don't think I think he will have an
NBA career.
Speaker 8 (32:28):
Don't get me wrong. I think he should have an
NBA career. I think he'll be drafted. I think a
team will give him a shot, and I think he
will be able to get some spot minutes here and there.
Speaker 6 (32:39):
I don't think he in.
Speaker 8 (32:40):
Today's game, which is so spread out, I don't see
him as a guy playing consistent minutes like thirty five
minutes as a starter on an NBA team. Guy, I'll
point to Luca Garza at Iowa. He was six to eleven,
not seven four, but dominated college basketball. You know, one
the Player of the Year awards, put up twenty four
(33:03):
points and nine rebounds a game.
Speaker 6 (33:05):
And now he was a second round draft pick.
Speaker 8 (33:07):
Now he's playing for Minnesota on the bitch doesn't play much.
But that is just the difference now between the college
game and the pro game. And you are seeing more
bigs like Edie or somewhat close to Edie in college.
But I don't think that's going to translate to the
next level.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Well, I mean go look in the NBA. Wemby is
also like close to seven foot four, and look at
his game, and we'll show highlights of Wemby. I mean
that game is that home grew? Oh with those guys,
it doesn't. I've never seen anything like it. Could Wemby win?
This has never happened. Could Wemby is a rookie win?
Defensive Player of the Year. Draymond Green said on his
podcast two days ago, He's like, I'm wrong, that's the
(33:47):
best defensive player in the year. You can't done. You
can there's no way to prepare for him. What do
you make of Wemby?
Speaker 6 (33:53):
Yeah, yeah, I'm a voter.
Speaker 8 (33:56):
And two weeks ago I was like, I'm looking at
Rudy go bear, who could win.
Speaker 6 (34:00):
His fourth straight.
Speaker 8 (34:02):
And the only thing though, as I watched Wimby, the
only thing I can hold against him is the Spurs
defensive rating. But it's not his fault. His defensive rating
is second in the league to Rudy Gobert individually. But
here check this out. Colin Victor winbin Yama has blocked
(34:23):
five or more shots in twenty two games this season.
Rudy Gobert has done it three times. See so, and
here's the thing, and what what NBA people look for
from biggs are can you guard block to block right
in the inside? Can you defensive rebound? And can you
(34:44):
guard the screen and roll? Now, go bear. Even in
Anthony Davis, they do two of those, block to block,
they rebound, They don't guard the screen and roll. Well,
the pop man Wimby actually does.
Speaker 6 (34:56):
He can guard all three.
Speaker 8 (34:58):
That's why he is top twenty I believe in the
league or near there in steals.
Speaker 6 (35:04):
And so he guards at all three levels.
Speaker 8 (35:07):
For a big and then he block shots unlike somebody
anybody else in.
Speaker 6 (35:11):
The league right now.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
So I'm I'm leaning I wasn't a week or two ago,
but seeing in block nine shots against Denver and ford
on Jokic, Yeah, I'm leaning Wimby now. And I think
Colin next year, I think I think he's gonna have
a great summer where he gets stronger. He's gonna be
even more confident because now he knows, oh, I can
(35:33):
dominate in this league. I think next year he is
gonna come back terrorizing the NBA well.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
And I also think brew it brings up a great point.
I've been bothered deeply by load management. And your point's
an interesting one that just the individual game Wemby against Jokisch,
when the Stars play and Matt could change your vote.
And that's why I think you have to give not
only fans your when people are voting for this stuff,
(36:02):
I'm gonna look at those games Jason Tatum is playing
Lebron or playing him beat or Butler. So I think
that's a great point that if that's the game that
decides it for you, to me, that's very legitimate. Yo
Kitsch is the best player. Wemby blocks four of his shots.
If it's razor thin, why shouldn't that count?
Speaker 8 (36:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Right?
Speaker 8 (36:25):
And you know, Gobert is on the number one defense
in the league and he's the anchor. But they also
have like three or four other very good defenders. Anthony
Edwards is a pitbull on the perimeter defensively, Karl Anthony Towns,
Kyle Anders. They got some good defenders. Wimby doesn't have
that around him. So yeah, I'm leaning Wimby. I didn't
(36:47):
think I would, but he's gonna be Rookie the Year
and he might get my Defensive Player of the Year vote.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
All right, that's good stuff, hey, brew, First things first,
after our show, Buddy Good Senior,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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