April 10, 2024 • 34 mins
Colin believes the Warriors are sending a clear message about this star player's future as they look to continue their dynasty. He defends Caleb Williams from all the criticism he's been receiving during the NFL draft process. Plus, UConn head coach Dan Hurley joins the show to talk about becoming the first team in 17 years to win back-to-back National Championships in men's basketball
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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):
Oh here we go. It is a Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
We're live.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Jmack and I went to the Warriors Lakers game last night. Now,
my binoculars can't see that far away. I was very
close to the Lakers huddle, mesmerized by the brilliance of
Lebron James Ad sat out. I'll tell you what, Between
(00:52):
the Lakers not shooting well and the Warriors shooting well,
it was not a night for Ad to take off
the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Can you even take away a lot from this game?
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Though?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
The Warriors I think set a record.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It was like the greatest.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Three point shu to night in the history of the sport.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
According to some of the stats.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I don't know what to take away from no ad
though is bleak for the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, here's what I took away from it. So Clay
Thompson wants to stay with the Warriors, but Orlando is
gonna pay him a lot of money. A young team
that needs a shooter, the question is how much can
you pay him? Well, Joe Lacub, the owner, through the years,
has kept his guys together, but Clay Thompson has looked
(01:35):
in playoff action like he's washed. It's looked like it.
But if you notice, sometimes coaches send messages upstairs to
the owner, not verbal messages, more subtle messages. And I
watched that game last night. Not a lot you can
take out of it. A D is not there. Warriors
(01:57):
were crazy hitting threes. But it feels like Steve Kerr
and his staff are running more of the offense through
Clay Thompson, are getting Klay Thompson more minutes, are getting
Klay Thompson more shots, and they're saying to the owner,
Joe Lacob, we need him. He's part of our soul.
The Warriors don't have any size, so they have to
(02:19):
shoot well to win. Draymond five for five in the
first half on three, Steph never missed one. Last night,
Pods was three for three. And the Warriors are not
a good team if they don't hit threes sixteen and
thirty one. They're a great team twenty eight and four
when they shoot over forty percent. And Klay Thompson is
part of that. And they drafted a kid out of
(02:39):
Santa Clara Pods, and he's got more energy than Clay,
but he's not as refined as Clay, and he hasn't
put on all the hours with Draymon in Clay And
I'm watching last night And if you look at the
numbers for Klay Thompson over the last three months, his
usage rate up each month, points up each month, minutes
(03:01):
up each month. Why is he getting all these opportunities?
Why was he on a Draymond Green podcast. I think
the staff is sending a message kaminga all their young bigs.
They trade those guys tomorrow for a legitimate big time center.
They trade all of them. The core of this franchise
(03:22):
is Steph, Draymond, Clay and Pods and at times he's
look washed. But they don't have any answers they can't
beat a Denver if Ad plays last night, it's a
different ball game. But at their core, Draymond, Steph and
Clay are so good together, create so many shots together.
(03:43):
This is who they are for the time being, and
everybody on this team has to be ready to play
on Steph's timeline and Draymond's timeline, and Clay can do it.
Nothing against Jonathan Kaminga, but when you watch him live,
he doesn't have a finishing package. He's two or three
years away. He's not on Staff's timeline. He still needs
(04:03):
two full seasons to really be a dominant player inside.
He's just athletic, long and twitchy. So I'm watching that
game last night and I don't know what you can
take away from it, But what I did is the
Warriors would give away all their length to get one
legitimate big. It's why I believe they're gonna go after
Giannis or a Karl Anthony Towns or whoever. But they
(04:27):
are getting that ball to Clay. They're running offense through Clay.
He's getting more minute, his usage rate is up, and
there's a reason for it because this at their core,
this is what they are. They shoot well, they win
they shoot poorly. They don't and Clay more often than
not shoots well. Here with Steve Kerr after.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
We made you know, a million threes and so the
ball was going in, everybody got going and to shoot whatever, sixty.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Three percent from three, that's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
We always try to shoot the lights out.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
Doesn't always happen.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Now as far as the Lakers go, Anthony Davis didn't play.
And so Anthony Davis, whenever you have a great player,
I used to call, you know, Lebron was the great eraser.
The Miami Heat went to the finals four straight years.
They had no size, they were a bad rebounding team,
no true center, they didn't have a true point guard.
(05:27):
Lebron just sort of erased all your issues. He still does,
by the way. But on the Lakers now, the one
player that really has become their best eraser isn't Lebron,
it's Anthony Davis. And when Anthony is out, man, do
you see the limitations with this roster? So Lebron's on
his eighth or ninth coach in his career based on
(05:49):
to the account, interim guys are not eighth or ninth.
And I don't know if he loves Darvin Ham. Darvin
Ham's a defensive coach. He has weird rotations. I mean,
if you don't have Anthony Davis and then you put
Austin Reeves and Lebron the same time on the bench,
who's shooting, who's creating shots? What do you doing? Defensive coach?
So part of Darvin Ham's rotations aren't great, but let's
be fair, this organization is playing catch up since the
(06:12):
Westbrook move didn't work and they moved off Russell Westbrook.
It didn't work, and they got length and they got
some shooting, but they didn't get any shot creators. Austin
Reeves is okay but limited athletically, and D'Angelo Russell sits
around waiting for you to get him the ball in
a good spot. He's not elevating others. Lebron James last night,
(06:36):
year twenty one, when Anthony Davis is out, is still
by a wide margin. The best shot creator either his
own or a teammate on the floor, and it's not close.
That's why when Darvin Ham without ad takes him out
and Austin Reeves at the same time, it's a head
(06:57):
scratching moment. But this is really the key to this organization. Now,
for years and years, even in the bubble, it was
Lebron's team. They wanted to hand the baton to Ad
the following year, but he came into camp out of shape.
But when you watch the Lakers last night, when AD's
not there, he's the one that covers up the holes.
(07:18):
So why did the Warriors have such a great shooting
night Because Laker defenders, knowing they don't have Ad protecting
the rim, sag off their shooters and it's wide open
practice jumpers for the Warriors. AD plays, you're more aggressive defensively.
Warriors don't get the open looks if they beat their
(07:40):
man off the dribble, AD snuffs them at the ten.
So it is no longer Lebron. AD is their eraser.
He changes their entire defensive mindset. Lebron doesn't have to
be solely the shot creator. You can just dump it
down load to Ad. He'll get stuff off the glass
or create his own shot. But I mean, it's pretty obvious,
(08:05):
and Draymond Green spotted it. You take a d out
all the holes, all the realities. Every roster has realities
in this league, including Denver Boston's about the only roster
in the league that is deep talented and there's no
holes in it. Boston doesn't really have a hole. Denver's
got a hole. It's called their bench. But you take
(08:25):
a d out man, can you see the holes on
this Laker roster? And Draymond talked about it after.
Speaker 7 (08:32):
It's different when it's Ad out there because you know
that covers he covered up so many mistakes or you
know you can find with things to him, so it's
totally different. Look when he's not on the floor.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, by the way, we were both of that game
last night. It is interesting to watch this Warrior team
for them to pivot to a championship team because they're
not a championship team. Now, they're going to play their
way in hopefully to the playoffs, but championship team. I
don't think the Lakers are either, but I think they're
closer because of their size and the matchup better with Denver.
(09:06):
But if you're gonna pivot to a championship team, it's
pretty obvious to me the four guys you'd have to keep, Steph, Clay,
Pods and Draymond. You can move off your bigs and
get another big. Wiggins is really not part of the fabric.
He can give you nights occasionally, but I was struck
last night, and I've noticed it over the last two months,
(09:27):
the usage rate of Clay, the minutes for Clay, the
shots for Clay. It feels like to me, Kerr is
making He's making sure the guy's upstair nose because they're
the one that cut the check. They're gonna have to
overpay Clay relative to his current status. They're not gonna
pay Orlando money, but Kerr is trying to nudge him
into the You gotta pay some money because this is
(09:48):
who we are. For the record, have you noticed how
good the Warriors now are as a road team. That's
another thing Steve Kerr realizes is that Clay's maturity on
the road. They got Jordan pooled out. Last year, the
Warriors were the worst road team outside of Houston in
the league. They're now one of the best road teams
in the league. Why. That's another thing Kerr is saying.
(10:11):
Remember Kerr defended Draymond after the punch. Because Kerr knows
Kerr is defending Clay Thompson in the last couple of months.
He didn't have to say it. He's showing it by
his coaching. This team now is a great road team.
Why Steph Clay, Draymond the soul Pods, by the way,
is a very good player. He's got great energy, but
(10:33):
he just needs more reps. He needs another year or two.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I don't I would be careful to read too much
into an early April victory.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
When the Lakers were missing well regular season and Sunday.
Here's the problem.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
What happens if you go to the play in and
you're the Warriors and you lose. AD's there and the
Warriors lose and the season's over, they don't get to
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Then what then is this? Keep four guys still in play?
I don't I think you have to. I don't like that.
You're not competing for a title. If Kaminga is is
somebody you're relying.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
On, You're not competing for a title of Clay and
Draymond and Pods and Curry or your big four.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
You could make a pivot. I mean, you put Yannis
on this team with those four.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
You're not keeping Pods. If you're bringing Yanas, I mean,
come on, you gotta give up something.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You're giving up Kaminga. You're giving up. You're giving up
all your draft gays.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Come on, Bucks, aren't takens kaminga in a poo poo
platter for yannas. Come on, man, I don't know the
Darvin Ham stuff. I think you might have buried the lead.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
There is Lebron gonna be on his tenth coach. Guys
got to the chance of Darvan Ham's back next year.
Let's just go seventy back or yeah he's real guy.
Everybody bangs on Darvin Ham.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Well, wait a minute, hold on pull Reaves and Lebron
and the Warriors going to fifteen to three.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Running the game. The game was over in the first half.
The Lakers were not winning that game. And then four
or five in the third quarter. Yeah, and then the
next time down they were down nine. I mean that
game was never in doubt.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I don't know Darvin am is wearing thin on me now.
I'm not going to overreact, no, Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Don't you notice though, that people talk about rotations a
lot fans in media do when you have holes in
your team and you want him to just play Lebron
the whole game. Lebron's in your twenty one, you have
to give him rest. He was the first guy off,
by the way, he was the first guy in the
first quarter that checked out.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Ye, he's coming off the illness, the flu, you know,
over the weekend, and I'm feeling good, little head cold.
You guys are all who were you more worried about
heading into the play in, the Warriors or the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
The Warriors, I'm not worried about. They just have realities
due to their lack of size. Kaminga's not a polished player.
He has no finishing package at the rim.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
He's just about TJD last night bouncy.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He's fine, but again he's not finishing at the rim.
These are kids. Jokich isn't a kid, Karl Anthony Town's
Rudy Gobert, these aren't kids. They're gonna get oh some bonus,
and you know you're not. Those Clippers are all old guys.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
It's weird to think one of those two teams we
saw last night is going to be not in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Well, I was thinking about this my takeaway last night
on the NBA. How good are the Western Conference playoffs
going to be tough? Thank god Embiid came back, or
the Celtics may just sweep their way to the finals.
At least they could push them back a little.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I think the Celtics may be looking at a twelve
and zero in the Eastern.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Honestly, it's that bleak.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
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Speaker 1 (13:41):
As we near the draft in a couple of weeks,
we've officially hit the point of the draft where we
are finding flaws that I'm not sure exist. Caleb Williams
will go number one. The USC quarterback will go to
the Chicago Bears. We all know that Greg McElroy, a friend,
I know him, I like him, but was critical of
Caleb Williams a couple of days ago, saying he'd never
(14:01):
faced any real adversity. Caleb Williams fired back, listing five
or six different things he had faced at his USC
career in Oklahoma career, illustrating some of the adversity he
has faced. I like Greg McElroy, but I will say this.
Did he watch usse's offensive line the last two years?
Its nickname was adversity? There was only one way the
(14:25):
last two years to win at USC shootout. They allowed
forty nine points to COL. I don't even know how
that's possible. In the PAC twelve, the truth was the
roster was sixty five percent seventy percent transfers. He didn't
know half these players. USC's defense was not only bad,
it was the one hundred and twenty first ranked out
(14:48):
of one hundred and thirty three in Division one. It
was the worst total defense and the worst scoring defense
in USC school history. Caleb Williams felt like the mom
who has four kids, the husband leaves her, won't pay
child support, She gets three jobs, and now all of
a sudden, people say, you know, she's been a little
moody lately. Why she always so tired? I don't know circumstances.
(15:14):
If you watch Caleb Williams the last two years, bad
offensive lines, average running back, tight end, wide receiver talent
outside of maybe Brendan Rice and Jordan Addison. An atrocious defense,
the worst in school history. As the PAC twelve last
year may have been as good as it's been for
(15:35):
twenty years. I don't know what qualifies as adversity, but
the idea that Kayleb Williams came to USC and it
went just as planned. That's actually the opposite of what happened.
It was really good for about eight or nine games,
and then went sideways fast due to a lack of personnel,
coaching on the defensive side, and just chaos within the program.
(15:59):
Let's not pretend that doesn't exist. Exists. There's enough flaws
out there for the young players. Johnny Manziel was on
Skip Show this morning and talked about Caleb's transition and
his style from college to the NFL.
Speaker 8 (16:13):
You can't play the same college game forever. As anybody
comes to the NFL. It doesn't matter if it's Lamar
or Kyler, any of these guys who come in who
are really good on the unscripted side of things. You know,
he's going to have to come into a system and
play within a system. What I hope for Caleb is
that he gets somewhere that unlocks all of this, somewhere
that can bring this side out in him, because these
(16:34):
are plays that you can't teach, you can't coach, and
that are just natural to who he is as a
football player.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, but he has essentially had to overcome coaching defense circumstances.
You can YouTube some of this stuff I think he
had won maybe two bad halbs at USC in two years,
and that was about it.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
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Speaker 9 (17:00):
Hey, we're Covino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 9 (17:05):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
To, and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blubber lime me.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Well you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 9 (17:24):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 9 (17:41):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out Over Promised. And also uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
There you go, over Promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Covino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, a podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Luca's game is not scintillating. He's just a great shooter,
but he slides. He doesn't really jump. It's just it's
all elbows and leaning back and jump shot. I don't
think he's not to me like like Michael was. The
two players in my lifetime that you could not take
your eyes off of were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
Magic Johnson was so fun and different, and I mean
(18:25):
every fast break felt wild. Every fast break Magic and
Michael were met. Larry Bird was great, could be clever,
but it wasn't magical. Lebron is great, It's not always magical.
He's just a force of talent. Uh. Shack was a
lot of fun. You couldn't take your eyes off Shack.
Luca's just a score.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So the two best players in the league, Jokis and
Luca are not boring.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I love because of his passing. I love Jokic's game,
but they're not scintillating. Tim Duncan was great. He didn't
jump off the screen. He was just great. Karl Malone's game,
John Stockton's game. You can be great and not fascinating.
The Alabama Crimson Tide dynasty was not fascinating. It was
just powerful usc the Miami Heat that was Kansas City
(19:13):
Chiefs with Mahomes and Andy Reid's play calling that is dynamic.
And so Luke is just great. Not every great player.
I can't take my eyes.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Off Lucas second in the league and assists nine point
eight per game.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
When you have the ball in your hands the entire game,
you get assists. Stephan Marbury got a lot of assists.
Westbrook a brutal NBA playoffs for you.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
If you keep knocking down Luca and Jason Tatum, because
I think they're gonna meet in the finals, I'm going
to go Boston Dallas.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
That's my in the finals.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, and if that happens, you're gonna be just so disappointed.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
No, you don't love those guys, like no, no, no, no,
Because I'm getting I'm getting offensive stars. I'm getting Kyrie,
Luca Tatum. Poor Zingis. By the way, I read a
story on poor Zingis this morning. It's a fascinating story.
So poor Zingis, Remember he bounced around, Nobody liked him,
and then all of a sudden, basically, you know, Dallas
moved off him, and they figured out something about Porzingis.
(20:04):
The more he dribbled down low, the worse. The longer
he dribbled, the more dribbles they count that stuff, the
worse the possession was. So Porzingis went to his trainers
and his basketball guys and reshaped his game. He stopped
dribbling as much down low. He took out about fifty
percent of his game and rebooted his game. And the
(20:25):
Celtics noticed in DC. Nobody else paid attention, but Boston's
like he's a different player. He's rebooted his game, and
a lot of people struggle to adapt. You know, Mello
used to say, my game is my game. It's like
Mello hit threes and Mellow stubbornly like, my game is
my game. So Porzingis just rebooted it and went to
analytics and his basketball people and took out a lot
(20:46):
of things he was doing that were the antithesis of
They didn't elevate his game, they stopped it was he
wasn't efficient. And now you watch Porzingis and you're like, okay,
this is the Unicorn, like he is really a good
player adapt or die right. Well, I mean I like
stories like that. I like that Porzingis had money, he
was famous, and he went out there and just said, hey, man,
(21:10):
I want to By the way, this is one of
the things Lebron was willing to do. Lebron was willing.
I remember Lebron early was a freight train, but he
didn't wasn't much of a shooter. And then Lebron kind
of figured it out before he went to Miami. He
started shooting more and more and more threes and staying
away from the box. He wanted to be out on
the break defend. He moved his game outside more regularly,
(21:32):
and he was ahead of the league. Now, he was
never going to be Steph the shooter or Luca the shooter,
but Lebron was ahead of the league. The Porzingis is
fascinating because he was always talented. He was like the
first Unicorn. He was like Chet Holmgren and Wenby before
those guys, but then all of a sudden, he kind
of bounced around the league and nobody liked him and
he wasn't good, And now you watch him and you're like,
he's the third best player on that team. He is
(21:53):
a two on almost every team in the league, and
on a couple he's a one. If he's on Washington,
he was what is he on Boston? Probably a three? Well,
what's Dalen Brown? A two? So Drew Holidays a four?
That's why they're a championship team. Wow, Well that's why Boston.
I mean, Derek White's a five. Derek averages sixteen a game.
(22:14):
I think they So Boston's the deepest team in the league.
By fall, they got like three to two a's basically,
I mean Tatum's a one, Brown's a two, Porzingis is
a great three, and Drew Holliday is a three A
or a four, And Derek White's the best five by
far in the league. That's why Boston's going to be
in the final easily.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
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Speaker 1 (22:37):
Connecticut's one of the deepest teams. I think they're starting
five four guys average double figures in almost a fifth.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You know, last year they bounced around a little in
the regular season, then vanquished everybody in the tournament. This year,
I had said, because I watch a lot of NFL
and college football and then college basketball, I move into
in February and March, and I had said, I watched
Yukon three times and my prediction. J Mack pushed back,
he said, I'm mister, I said, you COM's the best
team I saw, easily the only team I thought that
(23:04):
could kind of compete with a maybe Carolina, not on
talent but on age. But college basketball I thought had
a very good year men's and women's. I thought the games,
NBA players, excellent coaching, and none better right now than
Dan Hurley is joining us for the second time. Lucky
for us. You know, my favorite part this is funny
(23:24):
because you deal with sometimes you got to be a salesman,
sometimes you gotta be a coach, but you're always a husband.
And I love your quote because my wife runs my life,
and you're like, guys, my wife's gonna have a say
in this. So like when in your life, when you're
coaching the sport asks a lot of you. Have you
(23:47):
ever come home after a game and your wife's like,
settle down, You're because you're an intense guy, or does
your wife stay out of that stuff? But I'm gonna
bring it up because you brought up your wife and
your relationship and being a coach's wife. Is it hard sometimes?
Do you think for for Dan Hurley's lovely wife.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Yeah, Colin, it's it's hard for her on so many levels.
Right my you know, my intensity, my energy, my passionate overflows.
You know, she's she's gotta Your family reads, Uh, they
read the social media. You know that they hear the comments. Uh,
(24:28):
you know from people that think at times I act
like a monster or or an animal. She she picks
her spots. At times, she has said to me, you
know you, I think you've gone too far, you know,
this time either with an official or maybe with a
fan or.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Just overall just what everything I'm bringing to the table? Uh?
Speaker 5 (24:53):
She In fact, after after year seven as a high
school coach, I got offered the job at Narris College,
which would have been you know, an opportunity earlier to
get into the business, which would have been you know,
four or five times when I was making at the
time as a high school coach, but she wouldn't let
me take the job. So I stayed two years longer
(25:16):
at Saint Bennix and then eventually got the job at Wagner.
So yea, yeah, I mean she does everything for me.
I'm a one trick ponty man.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
This is all. I'm really good.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
But you know, Dan, one of the things you come
from a legendary family is I was talking with somebody
about this yesterday, Nick, right, my buddy. We were talking about, like,
like to be great at certain things, you got to
be assessed. I mean, if you want to be a
great singer, you can't put it in a nine to five.
If you want to be a great coach, it's not
nine to five. I mean it's five to nine at minimum.
(25:52):
And there is a fine line. You're coaching. I love,
but here's the most important thing. Players like it. And
what's the communication like with your players when you're on
them and you love them, do you let them come
back at you? What's that? What's that relationship like with
your players?
Speaker 6 (26:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Uh, you know, Colin, it's uh, you're right, I mean,
you're you're to be You're to be elite or to
be championship level, you've got to pour every part of yourself.
Uh you know into your position. You have to absolutely
obsess over every detail of your program.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
And if it's not functioning at a championship level, you know,
you're you're you're melting down over from the marketing, the
branding to the execution of his own offensive play. And
in my relationship my players is it's it's it's pretty simple.
You know, behind closed doors in training, in practice, I
(26:54):
push these guys to extreme levels. Uh you know, I
stress them out absolutely to the act to develop their skills,
uh and to have the habits embedded so deeply, uh
so that they don't have to raise their level when
they show up on game night. We could take exactly
what we're doing in training because it's so intense and
we don't have to raise our level when when the
(27:15):
lights come on.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
And uh, you know, any type.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Of negative emotion that I have on game night, it's
directed at pretty much solely officials.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Uh. You know, on gamelight, I become like a cornerman
for a.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Boxer, where where you're trying to create as much confidence
for individuals in the group on game night, that's where
you see me. I become much more like a cheerleader,
high fives, chest bumps, you know, freeze to the dome
until Carmelo retire. And now I'm just kind of going
up in the air with it. So yeah, man, you're
your your your position. I obsess over over everyone's performance,
(27:52):
and we spend so much time with our players that
there's a there's a mutual connection that you could sense
on game night.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
With the way we show up.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So Donovan Klingon's gonna be a good NBA or he's
got real athletic skills, he's a big and yet Zach
Edy ends with thirty seven. Get your bigs into foul trouble.
You acknowledged on our show if Zach Edy can't play
in the league, there's something wrong with the league. And
in your game, you basically your game plan was all right,
he's gonna score. That's what Mark Fu said, like, I
(28:22):
don't know what to do, but you said, and Jay
Wright pointed this out very early, you know, like, hey,
he basically said, we're going to cover their guards. They're
not beating us on threes. Have you ever had a
game plan when you looked at film on a player
and just said, yeah, we're not going to stop that,
even with an NBA guy on him, We're not going
to stop that. I mean much. That was respectful to
(28:44):
Zach Edie to me, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
And Kamani Young and Luke Murray. They prepare a team
and incredibly well and you're usually i'd say, going into
like ninety five percent of games, Colin, you're trying to
take away the other team's best player, right or the
other team, Yeah, the other team's biggest weapon. But just
in studying produce season, it's just that you're what you
(29:10):
were going to open up yourself to Wash. You know,
he's going to score one on one a lot. The size,
the skill, the strength, the experience. He was going to
get his anyway. But then once you start doubling and
bringing help and digging the ball out that now you
open things up for the others, uh to now put
them over the top with the production. So uh, you know,
(29:33):
the mindset was, you know, as long as we could
keep clinging out of foul trouble, you know, just blanket
the three point line and basically make them one dimensional.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Was there an epiphany a moment because you had some
transfers that were very valuable Newton Spencer. And you know,
I always say in college basketball, I refuse to watch
it until January because the teams aren't right. I could watch.
I remember years ago watching Kansas in like November. They
were terrible, and I watch them eight weeks later and
I'm like, oh, they could win the title. So like
you're I can't even figure you guys. Then all of
(30:05):
a sudden, you get to February and you're like, Okay,
was there a moment this year a half where you
were talking to an assistant you wouldn't tell the players,
you're telling your wife, an assistant. You're driving home and
you're like, yeah, I'm not sure if anybody's gonna beat us?
Did you? Was there a moment for you this year?
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Probably not until until late I would say, really losing
the game to Creighton, and then and then responding the
way we did to finish the Big East regular season,
and then and then you know, winning the Big East Tournament.
I think at that point, you know, you realize kind
of what you had. I think as a coach, you know,
calling you're you're always looking for vulnerabilities, blind spots, you know, weaknesses,
(30:49):
you never feel like you're good enough. You know, you
always feel insecure about your team, and you you're always
kind of picking away at it and.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Trying to find the ways to make yourself less vulnerable.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
But the way we closed it out there and in
the Big East Tournament, then you felt this enormous, enormous
sense of pressure after MSG in the Big East Tournament
because you knew what you had. You knew anything less
than winning the national championship with the group would feel
like disappointment when you stood in front of the group,
(31:25):
and the day of the game, I just couldn't I
couldn't get out of my mind how horrible it would
have felt like if like the black and yellow confetti
would have rained on our team's head as we were
walking off the court for it to lost that game,
because you knew we just we had a special team.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, Dan Hurley, Yukon basketball coach. Listen, you're gonna get
your phone. I don't even know who represents you. You've
I said this yesterday. You feel like Yukon, But you
don't want schools to take advantage of that. Right, You've
got a big market. If you wanted to leave is
would you ever have to what happens if somebody comes
(32:04):
up and just brings up a Brinks truck and then
you have to go to your boss and say, Okay,
they gave me a zillion dollars, I like what I make.
Where are you on that? Because Dan, for the next
five years, you're gonna get fifty offers? How do you
how do you kind of reconcile with the fact that
you love where you're at, but you may have somebody
double what you're worth. Where are you on that? What
do you do with that?
Speaker 6 (32:26):
Yeah, it's it's flattering.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
I've come a long way since being a high school
coach fifteen years ago, and you know, havn't had to
kind of work my way up the ladder in the
business as a coach the way coaches did it, you know,
back a long time ago. You know, it's certainly flattering.
But I've got a long career of turning down jobs
(32:53):
or more money to stay in places that you know
that I was happy and that fit me and that
you know, provide me the resources throughout that level achieve
the things you want to achieve. And I mean right
now and you can you know, my relationship with the
don and what the place means to us.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
You know, the opportunity to go for for for a
three peat.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Right now is us It's the only thing that is
obviously on anyone's mind here.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
So I just can't see that being a thing.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Hey Man, appreciate you on the show. You do it
the right way. I said this the other day. It's
just serious people. As you said, go to a serious place.
I love your style, I love your passion, I love
your intensity, and h way to go congratulate. Give yourself
a weekend off, take pit the phone off. You don't
have to recruit. Just go have a nice weekend down
(33:51):
at the old say Brook or something and chill out.
Is that okay?
Speaker 6 (33:55):
No, Man, I'm like, this is like Star trek Man.
They want to be in the portal. I guess they
just pour you. I'm in the portal now like everybody else.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
And uh, one of our biggest motivators to not lose.
Uh you know, uh they brought me back in so
uh yeah, may Man and the may
Speaker 1 (34:13):
All right, good luck Dan, Thanks man,
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 Sports Radio 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):
Oh here we go. It is a Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
We're live.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Jmack and I went to the Warriors Lakers game last night. Now,
my binoculars can't see that far away. I was very
close to the Lakers huddle, mesmerized by the brilliance of
Lebron James Ad sat out. I'll tell you what, Between
(00:52):
the Lakers not shooting well and the Warriors shooting well,
it was not a night for Ad to take off
the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Can you even take away a lot from this game?
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Though?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
The Warriors I think set a record.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It was like the greatest.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Three point shu to night in the history of the sport.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
According to some of the stats.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I don't know what to take away from no ad
though is bleak for the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, here's what I took away from it. So Clay
Thompson wants to stay with the Warriors, but Orlando is
gonna pay him a lot of money. A young team
that needs a shooter, the question is how much can
you pay him? Well, Joe Lacub, the owner, through the years,
has kept his guys together, but Clay Thompson has looked
(01:35):
in playoff action like he's washed. It's looked like it.
But if you notice, sometimes coaches send messages upstairs to
the owner, not verbal messages, more subtle messages. And I
watched that game last night. Not a lot you can
take out of it. A D is not there. Warriors
(01:57):
were crazy hitting threes. But it feels like Steve Kerr
and his staff are running more of the offense through
Clay Thompson, are getting Klay Thompson more minutes, are getting
Klay Thompson more shots, and they're saying to the owner,
Joe Lacob, we need him. He's part of our soul.
The Warriors don't have any size, so they have to
(02:19):
shoot well to win. Draymond five for five in the
first half on three, Steph never missed one. Last night,
Pods was three for three. And the Warriors are not
a good team if they don't hit threes sixteen and
thirty one. They're a great team twenty eight and four
when they shoot over forty percent. And Klay Thompson is
part of that. And they drafted a kid out of
(02:39):
Santa Clara Pods, and he's got more energy than Clay,
but he's not as refined as Clay, and he hasn't
put on all the hours with Draymon in Clay And
I'm watching last night And if you look at the
numbers for Klay Thompson over the last three months, his
usage rate up each month, points up each month, minutes
(03:01):
up each month. Why is he getting all these opportunities?
Why was he on a Draymond Green podcast. I think
the staff is sending a message kaminga all their young bigs.
They trade those guys tomorrow for a legitimate big time center.
They trade all of them. The core of this franchise
(03:22):
is Steph, Draymond, Clay and Pods and at times he's
look washed. But they don't have any answers they can't
beat a Denver if Ad plays last night, it's a
different ball game. But at their core, Draymond, Steph and
Clay are so good together, create so many shots together.
(03:43):
This is who they are for the time being, and
everybody on this team has to be ready to play
on Steph's timeline and Draymond's timeline, and Clay can do it.
Nothing against Jonathan Kaminga, but when you watch him live,
he doesn't have a finishing package. He's two or three
years away. He's not on Staff's timeline. He still needs
(04:03):
two full seasons to really be a dominant player inside.
He's just athletic, long and twitchy. So I'm watching that
game last night and I don't know what you can
take away from it, But what I did is the
Warriors would give away all their length to get one
legitimate big. It's why I believe they're gonna go after
Giannis or a Karl Anthony Towns or whoever. But they
(04:27):
are getting that ball to Clay. They're running offense through Clay.
He's getting more minute, his usage rate is up, and
there's a reason for it because this at their core,
this is what they are. They shoot well, they win
they shoot poorly. They don't and Clay more often than
not shoots well. Here with Steve Kerr after.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
We made you know, a million threes and so the
ball was going in, everybody got going and to shoot whatever, sixty.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Three percent from three, that's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
We always try to shoot the lights out.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
Doesn't always happen.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Now as far as the Lakers go, Anthony Davis didn't play.
And so Anthony Davis, whenever you have a great player,
I used to call, you know, Lebron was the great eraser.
The Miami Heat went to the finals four straight years.
They had no size, they were a bad rebounding team,
no true center, they didn't have a true point guard.
(05:27):
Lebron just sort of erased all your issues. He still does,
by the way. But on the Lakers now, the one
player that really has become their best eraser isn't Lebron,
it's Anthony Davis. And when Anthony is out, man, do
you see the limitations with this roster? So Lebron's on
his eighth or ninth coach in his career based on
(05:49):
to the account, interim guys are not eighth or ninth.
And I don't know if he loves Darvin Ham. Darvin
Ham's a defensive coach. He has weird rotations. I mean,
if you don't have Anthony Davis and then you put
Austin Reeves and Lebron the same time on the bench,
who's shooting, who's creating shots? What do you doing? Defensive coach?
So part of Darvin Ham's rotations aren't great, but let's
be fair, this organization is playing catch up since the
(06:12):
Westbrook move didn't work and they moved off Russell Westbrook.
It didn't work, and they got length and they got
some shooting, but they didn't get any shot creators. Austin
Reeves is okay but limited athletically, and D'Angelo Russell sits
around waiting for you to get him the ball in
a good spot. He's not elevating others. Lebron James last night,
(06:36):
year twenty one, when Anthony Davis is out, is still
by a wide margin. The best shot creator either his
own or a teammate on the floor, and it's not close.
That's why when Darvin Ham without ad takes him out
and Austin Reeves at the same time, it's a head
(06:57):
scratching moment. But this is really the key to this organization. Now,
for years and years, even in the bubble, it was
Lebron's team. They wanted to hand the baton to Ad
the following year, but he came into camp out of shape.
But when you watch the Lakers last night, when AD's
not there, he's the one that covers up the holes.
(07:18):
So why did the Warriors have such a great shooting
night Because Laker defenders, knowing they don't have Ad protecting
the rim, sag off their shooters and it's wide open
practice jumpers for the Warriors. AD plays, you're more aggressive defensively.
Warriors don't get the open looks if they beat their
(07:40):
man off the dribble, AD snuffs them at the ten.
So it is no longer Lebron. AD is their eraser.
He changes their entire defensive mindset. Lebron doesn't have to
be solely the shot creator. You can just dump it
down load to Ad. He'll get stuff off the glass
or create his own shot. But I mean, it's pretty obvious,
(08:05):
and Draymond Green spotted it. You take a d out
all the holes, all the realities. Every roster has realities
in this league, including Denver Boston's about the only roster
in the league that is deep talented and there's no
holes in it. Boston doesn't really have a hole. Denver's
got a hole. It's called their bench. But you take
(08:25):
a d out man, can you see the holes on
this Laker roster? And Draymond talked about it after.
Speaker 7 (08:32):
It's different when it's Ad out there because you know
that covers he covered up so many mistakes or you
know you can find with things to him, so it's
totally different. Look when he's not on the floor.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, by the way, we were both of that game
last night. It is interesting to watch this Warrior team
for them to pivot to a championship team because they're
not a championship team. Now, they're going to play their
way in hopefully to the playoffs, but championship team. I
don't think the Lakers are either, but I think they're
closer because of their size and the matchup better with Denver.
(09:06):
But if you're gonna pivot to a championship team, it's
pretty obvious to me the four guys you'd have to keep, Steph, Clay,
Pods and Draymond. You can move off your bigs and
get another big. Wiggins is really not part of the fabric.
He can give you nights occasionally, but I was struck
last night, and I've noticed it over the last two months,
(09:27):
the usage rate of Clay, the minutes for Clay, the
shots for Clay. It feels like to me, Kerr is
making He's making sure the guy's upstair nose because they're
the one that cut the check. They're gonna have to
overpay Clay relative to his current status. They're not gonna
pay Orlando money, but Kerr is trying to nudge him
into the You gotta pay some money because this is
(09:48):
who we are. For the record, have you noticed how
good the Warriors now are as a road team. That's
another thing Steve Kerr realizes is that Clay's maturity on
the road. They got Jordan pooled out. Last year, the
Warriors were the worst road team outside of Houston in
the league. They're now one of the best road teams
in the league. Why. That's another thing Kerr is saying.
(10:11):
Remember Kerr defended Draymond after the punch. Because Kerr knows
Kerr is defending Clay Thompson in the last couple of months.
He didn't have to say it. He's showing it by
his coaching. This team now is a great road team.
Why Steph Clay, Draymond the soul Pods, by the way,
is a very good player. He's got great energy, but
(10:33):
he just needs more reps. He needs another year or two.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I don't I would be careful to read too much
into an early April victory.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
When the Lakers were missing well regular season and Sunday.
Here's the problem.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
What happens if you go to the play in and
you're the Warriors and you lose. AD's there and the
Warriors lose and the season's over, they don't get to
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Then what then is this? Keep four guys still in play?
I don't I think you have to. I don't like that.
You're not competing for a title. If Kaminga is is
somebody you're relying.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
On, You're not competing for a title of Clay and
Draymond and Pods and Curry or your big four.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
You could make a pivot. I mean, you put Yannis
on this team with those four.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
You're not keeping Pods. If you're bringing Yanas, I mean,
come on, you gotta give up something.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You're giving up Kaminga. You're giving up. You're giving up
all your draft gays.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Come on, Bucks, aren't takens kaminga in a poo poo
platter for yannas. Come on, man, I don't know the
Darvin Ham stuff. I think you might have buried the lead.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
There is Lebron gonna be on his tenth coach. Guys
got to the chance of Darvan Ham's back next year.
Let's just go seventy back or yeah he's real guy.
Everybody bangs on Darvin Ham.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Well, wait a minute, hold on pull Reaves and Lebron
and the Warriors going to fifteen to three.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Running the game. The game was over in the first half.
The Lakers were not winning that game. And then four
or five in the third quarter. Yeah, and then the
next time down they were down nine. I mean that
game was never in doubt.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I don't know Darvin am is wearing thin on me now.
I'm not going to overreact, no, Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Don't you notice though, that people talk about rotations a
lot fans in media do when you have holes in
your team and you want him to just play Lebron
the whole game. Lebron's in your twenty one, you have
to give him rest. He was the first guy off,
by the way, he was the first guy in the
first quarter that checked out.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Ye, he's coming off the illness, the flu, you know,
over the weekend, and I'm feeling good, little head cold.
You guys are all who were you more worried about
heading into the play in, the Warriors or the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
The Warriors, I'm not worried about. They just have realities
due to their lack of size. Kaminga's not a polished player.
He has no finishing package at the rim.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
He's just about TJD last night bouncy.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He's fine, but again he's not finishing at the rim.
These are kids. Jokich isn't a kid, Karl Anthony Town's
Rudy Gobert, these aren't kids. They're gonna get oh some bonus,
and you know you're not. Those Clippers are all old guys.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
It's weird to think one of those two teams we
saw last night is going to be not in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Well, I was thinking about this my takeaway last night
on the NBA. How good are the Western Conference playoffs
going to be tough? Thank god Embiid came back, or
the Celtics may just sweep their way to the finals.
At least they could push them back a little.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I think the Celtics may be looking at a twelve
and zero in the Eastern.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Honestly, it's that bleak.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
As we near the draft in a couple of weeks,
we've officially hit the point of the draft where we
are finding flaws that I'm not sure exist. Caleb Williams
will go number one. The USC quarterback will go to
the Chicago Bears. We all know that Greg McElroy, a friend,
I know him, I like him, but was critical of
Caleb Williams a couple of days ago, saying he'd never
(14:01):
faced any real adversity. Caleb Williams fired back, listing five
or six different things he had faced at his USC
career in Oklahoma career, illustrating some of the adversity he
has faced. I like Greg McElroy, but I will say this.
Did he watch usse's offensive line the last two years?
Its nickname was adversity? There was only one way the
(14:25):
last two years to win at USC shootout. They allowed
forty nine points to COL. I don't even know how
that's possible. In the PAC twelve, the truth was the
roster was sixty five percent seventy percent transfers. He didn't
know half these players. USC's defense was not only bad,
it was the one hundred and twenty first ranked out
(14:48):
of one hundred and thirty three in Division one. It
was the worst total defense and the worst scoring defense
in USC school history. Caleb Williams felt like the mom
who has four kids, the husband leaves her, won't pay
child support, She gets three jobs, and now all of
a sudden, people say, you know, she's been a little
moody lately. Why she always so tired? I don't know circumstances.
(15:14):
If you watch Caleb Williams the last two years, bad
offensive lines, average running back, tight end, wide receiver talent
outside of maybe Brendan Rice and Jordan Addison. An atrocious defense,
the worst in school history. As the PAC twelve last
year may have been as good as it's been for
(15:35):
twenty years. I don't know what qualifies as adversity, but
the idea that Kayleb Williams came to USC and it
went just as planned. That's actually the opposite of what happened.
It was really good for about eight or nine games,
and then went sideways fast due to a lack of personnel,
coaching on the defensive side, and just chaos within the program.
(15:59):
Let's not pretend that doesn't exist. Exists. There's enough flaws
out there for the young players. Johnny Manziel was on
Skip Show this morning and talked about Caleb's transition and
his style from college to the NFL.
Speaker 8 (16:13):
You can't play the same college game forever. As anybody
comes to the NFL. It doesn't matter if it's Lamar
or Kyler, any of these guys who come in who
are really good on the unscripted side of things. You know,
he's going to have to come into a system and
play within a system. What I hope for Caleb is
that he gets somewhere that unlocks all of this, somewhere
that can bring this side out in him, because these
(16:34):
are plays that you can't teach, you can't coach, and
that are just natural to who he is as a
football player.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, but he has essentially had to overcome coaching defense circumstances.
You can YouTube some of this stuff I think he
had won maybe two bad halbs at USC in two years,
and that was about it.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
Hey, we're Covino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 9 (17:05):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
To, and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blubber lime me.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Well you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 9 (17:24):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 9 (17:41):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out Over Promised. And also uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
There you go, over Promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Covino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, a podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Luca's game is not scintillating. He's just a great shooter,
but he slides. He doesn't really jump. It's just it's
all elbows and leaning back and jump shot. I don't
think he's not to me like like Michael was. The
two players in my lifetime that you could not take
your eyes off of were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
Magic Johnson was so fun and different, and I mean
(18:25):
every fast break felt wild. Every fast break Magic and
Michael were met. Larry Bird was great, could be clever,
but it wasn't magical. Lebron is great, It's not always magical.
He's just a force of talent. Uh. Shack was a
lot of fun. You couldn't take your eyes off Shack.
Luca's just a score.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So the two best players in the league, Jokis and
Luca are not boring.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I love because of his passing. I love Jokic's game,
but they're not scintillating. Tim Duncan was great. He didn't
jump off the screen. He was just great. Karl Malone's game,
John Stockton's game. You can be great and not fascinating.
The Alabama Crimson Tide dynasty was not fascinating. It was
just powerful usc the Miami Heat that was Kansas City
(19:13):
Chiefs with Mahomes and Andy Reid's play calling that is dynamic.
And so Luke is just great. Not every great player.
I can't take my eyes.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Off Lucas second in the league and assists nine point
eight per game.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
When you have the ball in your hands the entire game,
you get assists. Stephan Marbury got a lot of assists.
Westbrook a brutal NBA playoffs for you.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
If you keep knocking down Luca and Jason Tatum, because
I think they're gonna meet in the finals, I'm going
to go Boston Dallas.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
That's my in the finals.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, and if that happens, you're gonna be just so disappointed.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
No, you don't love those guys, like no, no, no, no,
Because I'm getting I'm getting offensive stars. I'm getting Kyrie,
Luca Tatum. Poor Zingis. By the way, I read a
story on poor Zingis this morning. It's a fascinating story.
So poor Zingis, Remember he bounced around, Nobody liked him,
and then all of a sudden, basically, you know, Dallas
moved off him, and they figured out something about Porzingis.
(20:04):
The more he dribbled down low, the worse. The longer
he dribbled, the more dribbles they count that stuff, the
worse the possession was. So Porzingis went to his trainers
and his basketball guys and reshaped his game. He stopped
dribbling as much down low. He took out about fifty
percent of his game and rebooted his game. And the
(20:25):
Celtics noticed in DC. Nobody else paid attention, but Boston's
like he's a different player. He's rebooted his game, and
a lot of people struggle to adapt. You know, Mello
used to say, my game is my game. It's like
Mello hit threes and Mellow stubbornly like, my game is
my game. So Porzingis just rebooted it and went to
analytics and his basketball people and took out a lot
(20:46):
of things he was doing that were the antithesis of
They didn't elevate his game, they stopped it was he
wasn't efficient. And now you watch Porzingis and you're like, okay,
this is the Unicorn, like he is really a good
player adapt or die right. Well, I mean I like
stories like that. I like that Porzingis had money, he
was famous, and he went out there and just said, hey, man,
(21:10):
I want to By the way, this is one of
the things Lebron was willing to do. Lebron was willing.
I remember Lebron early was a freight train, but he
didn't wasn't much of a shooter. And then Lebron kind
of figured it out before he went to Miami. He
started shooting more and more and more threes and staying
away from the box. He wanted to be out on
the break defend. He moved his game outside more regularly,
(21:32):
and he was ahead of the league. Now, he was
never going to be Steph the shooter or Luca the shooter,
but Lebron was ahead of the league. The Porzingis is
fascinating because he was always talented. He was like the
first Unicorn. He was like Chet Holmgren and Wenby before
those guys, but then all of a sudden, he kind
of bounced around the league and nobody liked him and
he wasn't good, And now you watch him and you're like,
he's the third best player on that team. He is
(21:53):
a two on almost every team in the league, and
on a couple he's a one. If he's on Washington,
he was what is he on Boston? Probably a three? Well,
what's Dalen Brown? A two? So Drew Holidays a four?
That's why they're a championship team. Wow, Well that's why Boston.
I mean, Derek White's a five. Derek averages sixteen a game.
(22:14):
I think they So Boston's the deepest team in the league.
By fall, they got like three to two a's basically,
I mean Tatum's a one, Brown's a two, Porzingis is
a great three, and Drew Holliday is a three A
or a four, And Derek White's the best five by
far in the league. That's why Boston's going to be
in the final easily.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a Empacific.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Connecticut's one of the deepest teams. I think they're starting
five four guys average double figures in almost a fifth.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You know, last year they bounced around a little in
the regular season, then vanquished everybody in the tournament. This year,
I had said, because I watch a lot of NFL
and college football and then college basketball, I move into
in February and March, and I had said, I watched
Yukon three times and my prediction. J Mack pushed back,
he said, I'm mister, I said, you COM's the best
team I saw, easily the only team I thought that
(23:04):
could kind of compete with a maybe Carolina, not on
talent but on age. But college basketball I thought had
a very good year men's and women's. I thought the games,
NBA players, excellent coaching, and none better right now than
Dan Hurley is joining us for the second time. Lucky
for us. You know, my favorite part this is funny
(23:24):
because you deal with sometimes you got to be a salesman,
sometimes you gotta be a coach, but you're always a husband.
And I love your quote because my wife runs my life,
and you're like, guys, my wife's gonna have a say
in this. So like when in your life, when you're
coaching the sport asks a lot of you. Have you
(23:47):
ever come home after a game and your wife's like,
settle down, You're because you're an intense guy, or does
your wife stay out of that stuff? But I'm gonna
bring it up because you brought up your wife and
your relationship and being a coach's wife. Is it hard sometimes?
Do you think for for Dan Hurley's lovely wife.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Yeah, Colin, it's it's hard for her on so many levels.
Right my you know, my intensity, my energy, my passionate overflows.
You know, she's she's gotta Your family reads, Uh, they
read the social media. You know that they hear the comments. Uh,
(24:28):
you know from people that think at times I act
like a monster or or an animal. She she picks
her spots. At times, she has said to me, you
know you, I think you've gone too far, you know,
this time either with an official or maybe with a
fan or.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Just overall just what everything I'm bringing to the table? Uh?
Speaker 5 (24:53):
She In fact, after after year seven as a high
school coach, I got offered the job at Narris College,
which would have been you know, an opportunity earlier to
get into the business, which would have been you know,
four or five times when I was making at the
time as a high school coach, but she wouldn't let
me take the job. So I stayed two years longer
(25:16):
at Saint Bennix and then eventually got the job at Wagner.
So yea, yeah, I mean she does everything for me.
I'm a one trick ponty man.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
This is all. I'm really good.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
But you know, Dan, one of the things you come
from a legendary family is I was talking with somebody
about this yesterday, Nick, right, my buddy. We were talking about, like,
like to be great at certain things, you got to
be assessed. I mean, if you want to be a
great singer, you can't put it in a nine to five.
If you want to be a great coach, it's not
nine to five. I mean it's five to nine at minimum.
(25:52):
And there is a fine line. You're coaching. I love,
but here's the most important thing. Players like it. And
what's the communication like with your players when you're on
them and you love them, do you let them come
back at you? What's that? What's that relationship like with
your players?
Speaker 6 (26:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Uh, you know, Colin, it's uh, you're right, I mean,
you're you're to be You're to be elite or to
be championship level, you've got to pour every part of yourself.
Uh you know into your position. You have to absolutely
obsess over every detail of your program.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
And if it's not functioning at a championship level, you know,
you're you're you're melting down over from the marketing, the
branding to the execution of his own offensive play. And
in my relationship my players is it's it's it's pretty simple.
You know, behind closed doors in training, in practice, I
(26:54):
push these guys to extreme levels. Uh you know, I
stress them out absolutely to the act to develop their skills,
uh and to have the habits embedded so deeply, uh
so that they don't have to raise their level when
they show up on game night. We could take exactly
what we're doing in training because it's so intense and
we don't have to raise our level when when the
(27:15):
lights come on.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
And uh, you know, any type.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Of negative emotion that I have on game night, it's
directed at pretty much solely officials.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Uh. You know, on gamelight, I become like a cornerman
for a.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Boxer, where where you're trying to create as much confidence
for individuals in the group on game night, that's where
you see me. I become much more like a cheerleader,
high fives, chest bumps, you know, freeze to the dome
until Carmelo retire. And now I'm just kind of going
up in the air with it. So yeah, man, you're
your your your position. I obsess over over everyone's performance,
(27:52):
and we spend so much time with our players that
there's a there's a mutual connection that you could sense
on game night.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
With the way we show up.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So Donovan Klingon's gonna be a good NBA or he's
got real athletic skills, he's a big and yet Zach
Edy ends with thirty seven. Get your bigs into foul trouble.
You acknowledged on our show if Zach Edy can't play
in the league, there's something wrong with the league. And
in your game, you basically your game plan was all right,
he's gonna score. That's what Mark Fu said, like, I
(28:22):
don't know what to do, but you said, and Jay
Wright pointed this out very early, you know, like, hey,
he basically said, we're going to cover their guards. They're
not beating us on threes. Have you ever had a
game plan when you looked at film on a player
and just said, yeah, we're not going to stop that,
even with an NBA guy on him, We're not going
to stop that. I mean much. That was respectful to
(28:44):
Zach Edie to me, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
And Kamani Young and Luke Murray. They prepare a team
and incredibly well and you're usually i'd say, going into
like ninety five percent of games, Colin, you're trying to
take away the other team's best player, right or the
other team, Yeah, the other team's biggest weapon. But just
in studying produce season, it's just that you're what you
(29:10):
were going to open up yourself to Wash. You know,
he's going to score one on one a lot. The size,
the skill, the strength, the experience. He was going to
get his anyway. But then once you start doubling and
bringing help and digging the ball out that now you
open things up for the others, uh to now put
them over the top with the production. So uh, you know,
(29:33):
the mindset was, you know, as long as we could
keep clinging out of foul trouble, you know, just blanket
the three point line and basically make them one dimensional.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Was there an epiphany a moment because you had some
transfers that were very valuable Newton Spencer. And you know,
I always say in college basketball, I refuse to watch
it until January because the teams aren't right. I could watch.
I remember years ago watching Kansas in like November. They
were terrible, and I watch them eight weeks later and
I'm like, oh, they could win the title. So like
you're I can't even figure you guys. Then all of
(30:05):
a sudden, you get to February and you're like, Okay,
was there a moment this year a half where you
were talking to an assistant you wouldn't tell the players,
you're telling your wife, an assistant. You're driving home and
you're like, yeah, I'm not sure if anybody's gonna beat us?
Did you? Was there a moment for you this year?
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Probably not until until late I would say, really losing
the game to Creighton, and then and then responding the
way we did to finish the Big East regular season,
and then and then you know, winning the Big East Tournament.
I think at that point, you know, you realize kind
of what you had. I think as a coach, you know,
calling you're you're always looking for vulnerabilities, blind spots, you know, weaknesses,
(30:49):
you never feel like you're good enough. You know, you
always feel insecure about your team, and you you're always
kind of picking away at it and.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Trying to find the ways to make yourself less vulnerable.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
But the way we closed it out there and in
the Big East Tournament, then you felt this enormous, enormous
sense of pressure after MSG in the Big East Tournament
because you knew what you had. You knew anything less
than winning the national championship with the group would feel
like disappointment when you stood in front of the group,
(31:25):
and the day of the game, I just couldn't I
couldn't get out of my mind how horrible it would
have felt like if like the black and yellow confetti
would have rained on our team's head as we were
walking off the court for it to lost that game,
because you knew we just we had a special team.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, Dan Hurley, Yukon basketball coach. Listen, you're gonna get
your phone. I don't even know who represents you. You've
I said this yesterday. You feel like Yukon, But you
don't want schools to take advantage of that. Right, You've
got a big market. If you wanted to leave is
would you ever have to what happens if somebody comes
(32:04):
up and just brings up a Brinks truck and then
you have to go to your boss and say, Okay,
they gave me a zillion dollars, I like what I make.
Where are you on that? Because Dan, for the next
five years, you're gonna get fifty offers? How do you
how do you kind of reconcile with the fact that
you love where you're at, but you may have somebody
double what you're worth. Where are you on that? What
do you do with that?
Speaker 6 (32:26):
Yeah, it's it's flattering.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
I've come a long way since being a high school
coach fifteen years ago, and you know, havn't had to
kind of work my way up the ladder in the
business as a coach the way coaches did it, you know,
back a long time ago. You know, it's certainly flattering.
But I've got a long career of turning down jobs
(32:53):
or more money to stay in places that you know
that I was happy and that fit me and that
you know, provide me the resources throughout that level achieve
the things you want to achieve. And I mean right
now and you can you know, my relationship with the
don and what the place means to us.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
You know, the opportunity to go for for for a
three peat.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Right now is us It's the only thing that is
obviously on anyone's mind here.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
So I just can't see that being a thing.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Hey Man, appreciate you on the show. You do it
the right way. I said this the other day. It's
just serious people. As you said, go to a serious place.
I love your style, I love your passion, I love
your intensity, and h way to go congratulate. Give yourself
a weekend off, take pit the phone off. You don't
have to recruit. Just go have a nice weekend down
(33:51):
at the old say Brook or something and chill out.
Is that okay?
Speaker 6 (33:55):
No, Man, I'm like, this is like Star trek Man.
They want to be in the portal. I guess they
just pour you. I'm in the portal now like everybody else.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
And uh, one of our biggest motivators to not lose.
Uh you know, uh they brought me back in so
uh yeah, may Man and the may
Speaker 1 (34:13):
All right, good luck Dan, Thanks man,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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