April 17, 2024 • 40 mins
Colin believes it's time to officially call an end to the Warriors dynasty after they were eliminated from the play-in tournament and what this means for Steph Curry
He gives the truth about the Lakers who advanced into the playoffs to match up against the reigning champion Nuggets
Bill Belichick has nobody to blame but himself
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, here we go. It's a lively Wednesday, live in
Los Angeles. It's The Herd. How lucky your week, wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks
for megadass part of your day, jamac. The playoffs are here.
No more slow.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Days allowed.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
On this real estate. Only vibrant, dynamic shows going forward.
So I sat and watched five and a half hours
of NBA playing basketball last night. It was fun, sad,
melancholy for the Warriors.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It's great work.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
All good things come to an end. Trees don't grow
to the sky.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Tough morning for Big Steph Curry fans like me. No
NBA playoffs and he's got Draymond Green to blame.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, okay, sure you bet. Third time five years the
Warriors are out of the playoffs twice. It's been playing
games you know, there's very few true difference makers, outcome changers.
They lead dynasties. Steph Curry, Tom Brady. Do you remember
(01:32):
that moment Tom Brady last year in New England? He
was on the bench, imploring, yelling at wide receivers, can
somebody please just get open? It poured out Brady's frustration
with Bill Belichick's inability to draft and develop skill people.
It was no coincidence that Tom Brady left for Tampa.
(01:53):
Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, an offensive coach that was Steph
last night. The last champion standing Klay Thompson, oh for ten.
Andrew Wiggins hasn't been the same player last couple of years.
Chris Paul didn't show up, Trace Jackson Davis had to
be pulled from the floor. Last guy along with Draymond
with championship pedigree, feels like he could be part of
(02:14):
something special. That's it again, Draymond Green. I'd keep, but
Steph Curry needs somebody next to him that can score
twenty seven to twenty eight points a night minimum. He's
not going to get Luca. We know that there are
a handful of players that aren't going to Jason Tatum's
not going to be a Warrior. We know that. I
(02:36):
don't know where you go. Steph was efficient last night
forty three percent on threes. But Steph Curry last night
scored twenty two points. The rest of the starting lineup
for the Warriors scored twenty six points. It is time
for the big pivot. I'd keep Steph, I'd keep Pods,
the young kid, I'd keep Draymond, and I'd move everybody else.
(02:58):
They do not have a ton of ass. Here's what
I believe. You have to cross your fingers and root
for a couple of things, and they're very possible. The
Clippers unravel bit of a mess against the MAVs get
beaten like five games. Paul George has a player option.
Paul George played at Fresno State, Californian, loves California. Bro
(03:21):
our flight, come up north and then depending on how
the Lakers season goes, Lebron gets frustrated with d lo
I would make a call to Lebron. Lebron and it's
no secret is close with Draymond and the one player
he said he would always consider playing with without a doubt.
You could ask people close to Lebron. You may be
(03:44):
able to ask Lebron is Steph Curry. I'd call Lebron
player option, Paul George North. Those moves would allow you
to keep Moses Moody, Jonathan Kaminga, the young center from Indiana.
You could keep those. But last night, if you look
at the numbers, the Warriors starting five was outscored by
(04:07):
the Kings one oh four to forty eight. They don't
have a lot of assets. I'd keep two, maybe be
three players. I love the coach, Bob Meyers knew this
is how it was going to end. It was going
to be sad, it was going to be bumpy. It
was probably Klay Thompson's last game as a Warrior, though
(04:27):
Steve Kerr wants him. And here's the coach after.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
We've been really blessed here with some amazing players, and
you know, multiple championships and finals appearances and the highest
of highs. And this is the flip side, this is life,
this is how it works. You don't you know, you
don't get to stay on top forever. Our guys have
been fighting for so long. They're incredible competitors and warriors
(04:55):
and I couldn't be prouder of them. But you know,
we've got an off season where we've got lots to
think about.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
For sure, the trio of Clay, Draymond and Steph just
isn't as dominant as it was now. They have to
get something out of Jonathan Kaminga, they have to get
something out of Moses Moody, and so they just are
not the same dominant level team, even though the names
(05:26):
are there and you on occasion they have that look,
it's not any one person's fault.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It's father time, all right. Meanwhile, the Lakers, so I'm
one for one on my bold five bold NBA playoff predictions.
I said eventually the Warriors would not get past the
play in and the Lakers would, and they did last
night in a game against the Pelicans. They're a better
team than the Pelicans. They've shown that the last couple
(05:53):
of years. But it was a game of runs back
and forth, wild runs. The Lakers are a great doer
die team, sudden team, gotta win ten night's game. They're
a great team. Lebron is twelve out of his last
twelve twelve and oh in his last twelve do or
die games. Game seven's playing games. He's three and Ozho
in season tournament games twelve and oh they are great.
(06:15):
If the Lakers were a band, they could rock you
all night long. Once they are not built for a
world tour. There's no encore here. Ad is a very
old thirty one. You always cross your fingers on his health,
and Lebron just old. Listen. They're great playing with the kids,
but they need a nap every afternoon. You need sixteen
(06:36):
wins to be an NBA champion, and it probably would
take the Lakers twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven total
games to get there. With old Lebron and older than
his age Ad, that's not gonna happen. If you watch
that game last night, Lebron and Ad look cooked in
the fourth quarter. In fact, the Lakers got a big
(06:58):
break Zion Williamson. They could not stop that freight train.
He had forty points and then walked off the court.
I don't know what it is. He was hurt, he
didn't limp, he walked off. I don't think. I don't
think they win if Zion's days. He was unstoppable last night.
Championship teams almost always have a star, a vibrant, dynamic
(07:21):
star in their twenties. Delo can't trust him. Reeves, come on,
Ruie Nah. And now they faced Denver, and Denver is
big and they're thick and they're physical, and the games
in Denver will be in high altitude. I think the
Lakers match up with Denver. I've said that all year.
(07:42):
They match up with him physically. But to beat him
four times in fifteen sixteen games and then to go
win sixteen total games out of about twenty six it
would take to win a championship, I don't see it happening.
Here's Lebron though. Nuggets up now next.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Misters defendant champion.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
They know what it takes.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
They know how to win.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
They've been extremely dominating their home floor over the last
few years. You know, they got an NBK on their team,
they got a closer in the team, they got high
level players, IQ players. They gottah tole coach. So if
we can play is as the greatest game we can play.
They gonna plays greatest game they play. It's gonna come
out one or two possessions. You know, and ACU excusing.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Isn't basketball great when the games mean something? Warriors out
Lakers in fun last night, the playoffs officially underway and again,
everybody loves grandpa playing with the kids, but about two
thirty he needs a gin and a nap. And I
don't think the Lakers can rack up sixteen wins to
(08:47):
win an NBA championship. What say you, j Mac?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, let's not overreact to one game.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
But yeah, it's gonna be a it's gonna be a tough,
tough go if they couldn't stop Zion?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Was that the best games Ion? He's ever had? His
best big game as a play and it ended kind
of yeah, like Zion's career basically, but he was a
freight train. They couldn't stop.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Him, unstoppable. I forgot to ask about that first segment.
How does your guy, Chris Paul?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Do I know you champion that disc?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I did champion that move? He looked a little Was
he on the court last night? Did he play a little?
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Dnple coaches decision? I didn't see him on the court.
Oh he played eighteen minutes and did nothing?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Come on, Colin, Well, he was brought in to me
the top of the second unit. It's again everything has
to be on Steph's timeline. I like Kaminga, but he's
not ready to be a big time player in the playoffs?
Good last night. It was good last night, Draymond last night.
But you're not going to get him on a consistent basis.
Steph needs twenty eight and a half points a night
next to him. So how do you get that? Is
(09:45):
it Carl Anthony Towns? I don't know who it is?
Is it Iannis? Again? If the Clippers unravel, does Paul
George want to be part of this pretty easy sales
job to get a California kid up to a championship
team that wins, that wins regularly in maybe the greatest
arena in the league.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I thought maybe your buddy Darryl Morey from yesterday's show
would have said, we want Paul George this offseason because
they've got room.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
But he didn't want to go East. He he likes,
he likes California and Fresno State. Guy chose California.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah, when he demanded out of Indiana, he said, I
want to go to LA They didn't happen. One final question,
I'm looking for Draymond's next podcast to drop. Will he
admit that he's the reason that the Warriors this season
tank getting suspended?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well, actually, Draymon, you can you could argue Draymon and
Klay Thompson were actually the reason the last thirty games
they were so good. Those guys played great basketball.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Yeah, we're the only reason they're in the play in
is because Draymond suspended well for you know.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
In retrospect, it wasn't one of his great moments. Yeah,
he's going to be dropping that podcast later today.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
To hear that I'm the reason the season went sideways.
I punched out Jordan Poole. I'm the reason the dynasty
is over.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Well, he's also a reason they have a trophy room,
a substantial trophy room.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Welcome back, It is great to have you in. Chris
Mannix on Peter Scheger today. I love once the playoffs start.
I love the NBA playoffs. So here, according to reporters,
one I know, the other two I trust, Don Van Notta,
Junior Seth Wickersham, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN are reporting.
Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons, when he was
(11:35):
going to hire a coach, spoke twice with Robert Kraft,
bill Belichick's former boss owner of the Patriots. They spoke twice,
and during those conversations, Kraft acknowledged he felt betrayed by Belichick.
At the end, they were not trying to sink him,
but they weren't gonna send him a lifeline and get
(11:56):
him hired. They were brutally candid about Bill Belichick. So,
first of all, Belichick ruled with an iron fist and
was never terribly collaborative. If you're seeking a great job
referral after twenty years of keeping your thumb on people,
good luck. It's the basic physics. For every action, there's
(12:17):
a reaction. Belichick was secretive, controlling, waved off the scouting
department last eight to nine drafts. That's why New England's
were so awful. There's a reason Brady's adored and Bills not.
He even alienated the greatest player in league history. So again,
(12:39):
you can lead in several different ways, but it will
not end well for people like the late Bobby Knight
or maybe Build Belichick. When you rule with an iron fist,
when you know being nice and collaborative isn't difficult, and
it never really goes out of style. And oh, by
(13:00):
the way players talk to players, they keep it real.
Coaches talked to coaches. Owners also talked to owners. When
Bill was difficult with craft, did he not have the
self awareness the wherewith all of think you know, this
could come back to bite me in the arse. Really, again,
(13:22):
being nice and a little cooperative is not that difficult.
Never goes out of style. And again, look at the
Patriots last eight drafts. This is just my theory, but
the last eight New England drafts were inept embarrassing. And
yet Nick Cassario leaves New England, goes to Houston and
he's been unbelievable in personnel moves. How is that possible?
(13:44):
He was in New England because Bill waved him off
and wouldn't listen enough. So football is a team sport.
You know, Bill didn't ingratiate himself to the crafts enough,
Brady enough. At the end. He was a bit of
a tyrant. And even for Julius Caesar, you'll get stabbed
in the back at to Bill. That's that's the way
(14:07):
it works. Did Bill. Never, when you lead and you
have all the power and you keep your thumb on people,
once the winning drives up don't be shocked if there's
a little resentment. I don't feel sorry for Belichick. Reap
what you saw J Mack with a.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
News this is the herd line news.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Or talk about raising the level of discourse in sports.
You open the show with melancholy and now a Julius
Caesar reference.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Goodness, anytime you can work brutus into the show. I
mean it's a little Latin.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Do you mean more a you uh, watching five hours
of hoops and knocking back a couple Gen and Tonics
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
You Let's start with the Cowboys. Guys colling this team man,
So obviously.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
They made the silly declaration they'd be all in this offseason,
but so far, the biggest splashes have been quarterback Jordan
Lewis and linebacker Eric Kendricks, and an appearance on Dallas
local radio Stephen Jones is still addressing the all in claim.
Speaker 9 (15:10):
When we're all said and done, we max out our
salary cap every year, and we will have done that,
and you know what comes with having a good roster,
which we do, and you know we also are looking
towards signing our own guys. It doesn't mean it happens overnight,
but when you're wanting to sign players like Dak and
Micah and CD, then you know that certainly you have
(15:34):
to hold money back if you want to have a
realistic chance at signing those guys.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, you know, I understand the Cowboys are a big
brand and people talk about them a lot, but is
everybody ready for a reality check that we have seen
the best of the Dallas Cowboys with Dak. You broke
into the league. They have the best oldline for about
six years, six seven years, and Zeke was in his prime,
(16:02):
and the Amari Cooper team was pretty interesting and McCarthy
over McDaniel gives him a little extra juice and energy.
We have seen the best of this team. They do
not have the cap space they're going to pay Dak.
You can't have a top five quarterback salary and win
Super Bowls unless you have mahomes. So just everybody bemoans
(16:23):
the last seven eight years with Dak. That was the
best of it. Just like Tony Romo. Everybody used to
lament Tony Romo. You didn't appreciate the good years. By
the end of it, Tony Romo was so beat up
because the old line was so bad for most of
his tenure, that you didn't appreciate Tony Romo when he
was running around, making plays and doing great things. By
(16:45):
the end the last year and a half, Tony was
just he didn't get Dak's offensive line. And we can
bemoan Dak, but you've seen the best of it. The
free Dak for several years, then the overpaid Dak but
still pieces around him going forward. What happens when they
have to move off Mica or they pay Dak and
(17:05):
C d Lamb. So, yeah, no more Tyron Smith left
tackle to protect. You're not gonna get a left tackle
that good again, that's over. Tyron Smith is a once
in a franchise left tackle. No franchise in NFL history
has two Tyron Smith's left tackle. You get one of those? Ever,
you get one like Aaron Donald, Lawrence Taylor, Giants, Phoebe
(17:26):
Dah's great, there are no more Lawrence Taylor's New England
will never get another Brady Rams will never get another
Aaron Donald. You're never gonna gonna get another Tyron Smith
at left tackle. Like that's the top five. Ever, those
days are over.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I think this is kind of an ownership Colin.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, yeah, it's such times.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
By the way, if the Niners ownership come out and
talked about the Ayuk situation, zero, why are the Cowboys
owners going on radio? Because they want to hear their voice.
They want to be out in the media. You know,
there's an easy brief saying that sums up the Cowboys.
Do more, say less, stop talking, give an interview, stuff talking,
and stop putting pressure on your team saying, if you're
(18:03):
a quarterback in New York on podcast, maybe a little
less talking.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's a different story.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Well to do that, we're not talking about that.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I leads out on my watch. Next up, let's go
to the draft. Very interesting scenario and folding in Washington.
So they have the number two pick and according to
Albert Breer, Washington hosted Jaden McDaniel or sorry Jaden Daniels,
Drake May, JJ McCarthy, Michael Pennox, and sixteen other.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Prospects at the same time this week.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
They started yesterday, they went to Top Golf as a group,
and now they're going to do it today at the facility.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
This is kind of interesting. I like what Adam Peters
is doing, right.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
He had done something like this in San Francisco, where
he's bringing in a group to try to see how
things go, how guys work together or against each other.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
I don't hate this strategy. I think it's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Anytime you go to top golf, it's a good decision.
There's no losers in that equation.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yeah, but you go to top golf and you're going
with a guy who you're competing against to go higher
in the draft, you're looking over your shoulder.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
But what if that guy gets to go to somebody like, uh,
you know, a better operation. One of those guys gets
to go to Sean Payton, one of them gets to
go to the commanders. So I mean it it depends
on where you land.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Well, Cliff Kingsbury is I think, well, well liked among youngers,
a very good play caller. Yeah yeah, I think this
is it. I think Washington is the spot you will well.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You would this are you? And I said, I mean,
there's there's certain things we know to be true. The
most talked about draft picks gonna be Kayleb Williams. But
the Bears only right now have like four draft picks.
The Chargers want to move down, and if they do,
they have a chance to win the draft because of
Harbaugh's understanding of college personnel. So my guess is there's
(19:44):
two or three teams like Arizona's got a lot of picks.
We're gonna love their draft, The Chargers hardball, We're gonna
love their draft. The Bears are gonna get talked about
a lot. The Commanders have made a massive executive ownership
coaching shift. If Jaden Daniels is as good as I think,
(20:04):
by Commander's stock for the next decade, they will not
get the publicity because the Bears quarterback selection will trump
everything and hardbass selection and is gonna get massive news.
But the winner in this draft may end up being
just keep your eye. The Commanders have some nice defensive pieces,
(20:26):
excellent wide receivers, winnable division with Dak now about to
get with Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
The bag.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Jalen just got it. Dak's gonna get another, and they're
gonna have a quarterback on that rookie contract. By the way,
Daniel Jones overpaid, Dak probably overpaid Jalen Hurts highly paid.
One team in that division is gonna have a quarterback
in a rookie contract, the Washington Commanders, and they're gonna
load up for the next four years around Jaden Daniels,
(20:55):
that's gonna be the team to watch.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
You're very high on him.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
I'm less high this idea that like all the four
quarterbacks could be in a setting, right and Washington's looking
for little things that One of the good stories I
heard from Sanchez is that, you know, he would go
to the combine and all the quarterbacks are hanging out,
and you know the kind of the alpha kind of
emerges from the crew, who's like the cool guy and
add more more just gravitation.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
People want to be around him. He's telling funny jokes.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
He's a big dude, And I wonder of these four quarterbacks,
who that guy is where they're like, hey, we're going
for a ride, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Look, Caleb Williams. Is that guy?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Well he's not in this group though, I'm separate.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
So now it's like May McCarthy, Daniels or Pennix and
I don't know if any of those guys.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Are well is that good Will Levis would be that
guy in last year's draft? What does that mean? I
don't need I don't need it if you were a quarterback.
And that's what I think is funny about this, bon
Nix is fat. Like bon Nicks and Pennis are interesting,
They're gonna drop, meaning they're probably gonna go to better teams.
Wouldn't you want to go to Denver with Peyton or
Miami with McDaniel or Seattle now with great wide receivers.
What's funny about that? And I think about this. Teams
(22:00):
always want to bring the players in to sort of
manipulate the players and watch the players. But if I
was a player going to Washington and thought dan Quinn
got fired once, I mean Cliff Kingsbury, I like him,
but I don't know. The old line's bad, there's no
run game. I think I'd step back and let the
other guys be Alvin impressive and dropped to Sean Payton
(22:21):
dropped to Mike McDaniels.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That's fair.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
One of the good stories that I remember reading about
Deshaun Watson when he was going on.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Recruiting trips and he would like go.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
I think he went to Clemson on a recruiting trip
and everybody went to sit next to him, like they
want to hang out with him. And other trips you
hear about quarterbacks and they go to the cafeteria and
like they're on a recruiting trip. They're like kind of
hanging by themselves. They're not ingratiating themselves with the team
because there may be a little nervous high school kids.
But you want that guy who people want to be around.
And I just don't know enough about Daniels. He had
(22:51):
that Arizona State thing where he was like, okay, he
wasn't the.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Can let's be fair.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I know that was like three years ago.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
As Herm Edwards a defensive coach. They had no players.
I mean, come on, they had the eighth best roster
in that conference. I watched him play at Arizona State.
I thought he was excellent. I watched him as a
true freshman. I said it on the air when he
went to LSU. LSU just got a great quarterback. I
got nothing but pushback from Arizona State fans and LSU fans.
(23:18):
I said, I watched him. He was very good at
Arizona State.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Speaking of I'm curious if you give Drake may the
star receivers and Neighbors and Thomas who are first round picks,
if you give them to Drake may how good is
Drake Maylee.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Well, we don't know that we don't know that. I mean,
LSU's had great receivers forever. Only Joe Burrow was unbelievable.
There's a reason Joe Burrow's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Michael Pennix had two guys who are going to be
drafted early rounds?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
How many did Drake May?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I just thought, what is your point?
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Well, I just think people are undervaluing Drake.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
May because he played at North Carolina in like a
weekly Say.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Listen, if you have a chance to go second in
the draft, who's undervaluable. He's not Caleb Williams as a prospect.
So if he goes two or three, he hasn't been undervalued.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
We're just saying there's a huge difference going Washington the
Cliff or New England.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Well, that's the but there's not a big difference going
second or third. You're making the case that he's being undervalued.
He's undervalued if he goes twenty eight, No, But if
he goes third, it's like, well, Jadeen Daniels moves better
than him and was a much more accurate thrower of
the football consistently, So I would take Jaden Daniels over
Drake May. Even though Drake May's got the physical traits.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I like, okay, fair enough, final story. Let's go back
to Zion. Williamson man, this is this is sad.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
So he put up forty eleven and five assists last night,
totally took over in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Lebron couldn't stop him. A d could not stop him.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
And then he had a drive late where he puts
in his floater lands and just comes up lane and
then he's like, there's what it was to watch him.
There's a one report that it was a hamstring injury.
I didn't see him.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Grab the back of his legs.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I couldn't figure it out.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So is it a foot? Is it in me?
Speaker 7 (24:56):
You know?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
It's funny. Before the game, Barkley was critical of him
in the pregame show, saying he needs to go out
and score forty. I don't want to hear any excuses.
Go get forty, and he did.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I'll go get a forty piece. Here's coach Willie Green
on Zion right now.
Speaker 10 (25:10):
We know his left leg soreness, and he's gonna get
some imaging on it tomorrow and we'll figure out more.
That's the report that I got back. I haven't talked
to him more anything like that. But we'll see how
we feel. We'll see what happens tomorrow when we get
the results back. It was tough to see him go down.
You know, we're all praying and hoping that he's okay.
(25:32):
But he was battling, he was going and the team
was right there with him, So it's tough. We'll see
what happens and we'll go from there.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
So I don't think they got a chance against the
Kings without Zion.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
No.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Oh, by the way, Brandon Ingram benched in the fourth quarter.
He was I don't know if he's still hurt.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
CJ.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
McCollum was abysmal. Without Zion, they got no shot.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, I mean Sacramento everybody loved last year. They got
beaten seven by the Way Warriors. I don't know. I
think it's a pretty good suit. We'll see, we'll see
it's a pretty good suit.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
I know you're not gonna do a lot more on
the Kings because I like the Beam. But the guy
that watched there is Keegan Murray.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah. No, he's a very good young player.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
He's a good American player, by the way, a very
fundamentally sound hitting the three.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
No flash in his game. No Kyrie layup package, no
just lockdown defender, great defender, good players.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I see, you know what? They remind me of a
poor man Celtics. So like Tatum's better than Daron, Jalen
Brown's better than Sabonis. I think the Celtics have two
A players and B plus players jew Holiday porzingis. I
think the Kings have one A player, Daron Fox, and
then everybody else is a B player. Now is Keegan
Murray a B plus player?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
He is?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
He becoming that There's certainly an argument to be made
people like Sabonis, but I feel like they're kind of
like Boston in the West, where I think they have
an excellent starting five. I really liked him. I just
think Boston's got a little better player across the board,
and Boston doesn't have a tie yet. So it's not
that I don't like Sacramento. I again, Boston's got two stars,
they have one, and I think poor zingis Drew Holiday,
(27:07):
I take over Keegan Murray and simonas at this point,
Harrison Barnes, Derek White. So it's not that I don't
like Sacramento. I watched them all last night. I watched
them last year. I watched them five, six, seven times
this year. I like them. I don't see them as
championship caliber.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
By the way, one final word on Zion when he's
dominating the Lakers, did you get the idea to him?
How is he not in consideration for Team USA basketball?
Why wouldn't he be on the team. I mean, he
looked unstoppable against a defensive Player of the Year candidate
and Anthony Davis, Like, I thought Zion should have got
Team USA.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
When he gets a matchup, when he gets a matchup
advantage and he's coming into the lane, do you see
Lebron take the charge from him?
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Now?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Lebron is six eight and a half two fifty. He
folded like a deck chair when Zion hit him. I
mean it was like it was like a dog run
over napkin holder at full speed. Just the stuff flying everywhere.
And I'm like Zion's he can be the truth. Physically,
there is nothing like him. He is just bulldoze Lebron javes.
(28:09):
Lebron took two charges last night in year twenty whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It showed in the fourth quarter when he was one
of eight shooting, he was cooked.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well that's the.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
News, and thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I got some stuff to do. Lie, you don't want
to talk about that Aaron Rodgers podcast appearance. The media
gets so mad. I always find this funny. Whenever Aaron does, like,
you know, one of his conspiracy theories things, the media
gets frustrated. But you got to remember something. Aaron is single,
never married, no kids, doesn't connect with his family. I've
(28:43):
been told he since presidents back, He's got nobody to
call him out in his crap. I'm not joking. He's
got nobody to call him ou in his crap. He's rich, single,
never married, no kids. My wife would call me out.
I mean I'd get a phone call. And just so
that's the first thing. The second thing is everybody, your
neighbor's got conspira theories. People always had them, but the
only people that knew were family members. You'd have to
(29:04):
hear them on Thanksgiving, your Christmas. Now you have IG,
you have Twitter, you have x, you have TikTok, you
have podcasts, so you hear everybody's conspiracy theories. So the
media is always banging on Aaron for his conspiracy theories.
And my take is you do get your neighbors the
same guy. It used to be if you had a
conspiracy theory outside of family, maybe maybe in the neighborhood,
you'd be like, yeah, bob's a little crazy. He thinks
(29:26):
he thinks men didn't land on the moon. It was
shot in Hollywood. There'd always be that guy, but.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
He didn't have a platform.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
He didn't have a platform. Now all the conspiracy people
have platforms. They've always existed. And by the way, there
are conspiracies that are true right there there there, And
I'm not a conspiracy theory guy at all, but you know,
there was the It was a theory that cigarettes were
really bad for you, and all the executives for years knew.
(29:54):
We found out cigarettes are really bad for you. So
there have been a few that have been but you know,
man didn't land on moon. That's cuckoo for Cocopusta.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
The root of this is not everybody should have a platform,
because now you're putting all this nonsense out there and
it's just cluttering the Internet, and you know what's going
to rise at the top.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
We usually CEOs, public officials don't go on platforms to
tell you conspiracy theories. You know, the president of American
Airlines probably going to stay off the Internet even if
he believes something. But Aaron's different again, never married, no kids,
nobody in a family to call him out. He's not
a CEO. He's kind of a you know. I mean,
(30:30):
he's got his money, and he's rich, and he's single,
and and and so when he comes out, the media
is always like, this guy's crazy. You better be comfortable
with conspiracy theories because over half of America, or roughly half,
thinks the election was right.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
And that's that's the problem.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
You've got carnival barkers like Elon Musk saying twenty four
to seven, and guess what they're signaling to their tribe.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Hey, I really know the truth.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Conspiracy theories start with this sentence. I do my own homework, hopefully,
but I'm saying is this has existed my entire life.
Nobody had platforms. If you would have been a conspiracy
theorist fifty years ago and sent a letter to the
local newspaper, they wouldn't have published it in the letters
to the editor. They would have been like Bob Za Kook,
(31:14):
throw it out. Now he goes on TikTok or ig
or his podcast or Up and says it twitter x
whatever it's called, and you have it. So the idea
that Aaron is in a small group of conspiracy theorists.
It's an industry. Conspiracy theorists are, this is an industry
now that makes lots of money.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Can we just blame the Internet for all this? No?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I mean the Internet, it's like everything else. There's a
new ad.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I got paid things to the Internet with the website.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Listen. It's there's a good and bad to everything, this idea.
There's a church in America does a lot of good things.
Church in America, Catholic Church. We've had scandals. There is
no perfect place. Family. I love my family. They also
drive me nuts, right Like everybody says that during the holidays.
So you know, I mean it's just outside of the internet.
(32:01):
Is there's a lot of vile stuff on there. There's
terrible racism, there's trolling and just awful to women. But
there are amazing things happening that I can literally go
on Amazon yesterday and order four things. I ordered a book,
I ordered some stuff from my espresso machine, and it's here,
like I feel, swear to God, it's here six hours later.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
But like when you're.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Rooting for a team like the Jets, I mean, I'll
take Jared Goff at a heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Let's just do that.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Swallow right now, Rogers for goof Please, Well God, I'm
sure God's not gonna say stupid stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
This and whatever this is part. Green Bay is laughing
at all that they are.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
They're getting a brief.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Green Bay is howling at this stuff. But that's you know,
you knew it. When you're a desperate franchise. You knew
this is what you were getting.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Bob, I guess it's all good.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Aeron. My original take was the media just attacks Aaron
when he does this. I look at it his content,
and I also look at it as this is your neighbor.
He just didn't have a podcast. Half of this country thing.
It's the election rig I mean, you'd be amazed. And
it's just not crazy people, it's people you work with.
Just most people don't go online and talk about are
(33:10):
you trying to signal to me people you work with?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Are you trying to say something here? Geez, where were
you on January sixth?
Speaker 1 (33:17):
It's my birthday. I was home. It is.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern AM Pacific two.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right
into the NBA Grape.
Speaker 8 (33:30):
Five, all happening in only one place. This League Uncut,
the new NBA podcast with Me, Chris.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Haynes and me Mark Stein join us as.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
We team up to expound on everything we're covering Hearing
and Chason.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Speaker 8 (33:49):
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
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Speaker 4 (33:54):
The United Football League continues with hard hitting action as
the Michigans battle the San Antonio Brahmas or the DC
Defenders take on the Birmingham Stallions. Check local listings for
the game in your area.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So this is pretty amazing. Michael Ruben owns runs founded
a company called Fanatics. Caitlin Clark, number one pick to
the Indiana Fever. Her Indiana Fever jerseys, according to the
CEO of Fanatics, sold more on draft night than any
(34:34):
player in any sport in the company's history, like more
than Brady, more than Mahomes more So, that tells you
Caitlin Clark's drawing power. I'll say it again. Her jersey
sold more on draft night, not after a championship, on
Draft night, more than any player in any sport in
(34:56):
the company's history. Fanatics tells everything. So Caitlin Clark. It's
a movement, and that movement is to support not only Caitlin,
but women's sports and women's basketball. You know, I've watched
my entire life men get rich and famous and worshiped
and awarded for being good at sports, not always terribly grateful.
(35:17):
There is something that feels good about supporting Caitlin Clark,
and when you buy a jersey, you want to be
part of something. It makes you feel something. And I
think it's that. It's not her religion. It's not her Instagram,
it's not edited, it's not her attitude, it's not her personality.
It's wholesome. It's her game. It's great, and she's grateful.
(35:41):
It's authentic, unedited. It feels cool. It's a little like
Taylor Swift. You know, Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark really
high expectations and they never let you down. They're unifiers,
they're not dividers. And in a world where politicians are
making big promise, so she makes none. She just delivers
(36:02):
every time and it's better like a Taylor Swift concert
than you ever would have guessed. And so the w
NBA draft television ratings came out yesterday. I mean, I'm
looking at this graph. It's like it's insane ten times
higher than previous drafts in the WNBA. And here's Caitlin
Clark now a member of the Fever.
Speaker 11 (36:25):
I'm super happy to be here. Thank you, the Fever,
the Pacers. This is a dream come true. At times,
like it doesn't feel real. It's like the biggest thing.
I feel like I'm kind of stuck in a dream
at times.
Speaker 6 (36:35):
But I don't know.
Speaker 11 (36:36):
I think the biggest thing, like I try to remember,
is like how grateful I am to have this opportunity.
And you know, there's so many people that would kill
to be in my shoes. When things seem like they're
long and they're tired, and I have to do this
and I have to do that, I just try to
remind myself of how grateful I am, and like I
get these opportunities. You know, I'm lucky to have these moments.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Great and grateful are really powerful. We were talking about
this yesterday. You know, I think about who was really
really popular in like the sixties and the seventies, eighties,
and it comes from all directions. I remember, J Max's
not gonna like this. There's a late pitcher named Mark
(37:17):
Fidrich Detroit Tigers. He was a very quirky personality. He
had all these weird mannerisms on the man. I think
he's passed away, but he got really popular. And then
they're sort of like Jeremy Lynn who got popular for
a month, but we really didn't think it would last long.
His game wasn't good enough. Tim Tebow was wildly popular
for about two years. It was his religion, not his game.
(37:40):
I think one of the things with Caitlin Clark is
it's just her game. It's I mean, nice enough personality.
It's not a religion thing, it's not an ig thing.
She's not selling us anything. She's really really great, really grateful,
and I you know, I think those are really powerful
mechanisms for popularity. But a lot of the people that
have gotten popular, like a Jeremy Lynn won't last the
(38:01):
game's not good enough. Or t Bow at the NFL,
his game's not good enough. Mark Fiderick's the late great
pitcher he was quirky, but you know, his game didn't endure.
I don't know WNBA talent well enough to project how
good she's going to be at the next level. I'm
gonna make a guess she'll be the best shooter in
(38:22):
the league. You know jim Or Furdett was a great
shooter in college. Didn't translate that. I could have guessed
I think she'll be a dominant score very quickly, but
I have I mean, that would be my guess. I mean,
if you can shoot from where she shoots from and
handle the ball like she handles the ball. I mean,
you know, t bow was popular, but it was a
religion thing, and the truth was Tim couldn't make certain
(38:45):
throws up the field, slow release, didn't have the arm.
I don't know how great she's gonna be. I mean,
what's the projection. Is she going to be the best
player in the league soon? Does she project as that
the best scorer? But I do think, you know, middle
of it. I've said this before with Patrick Mahomes and
Brett Farvre. There is some value to me in being
(39:08):
right in the middle of the country. The Midwest is
seen as important, but often flyover country don't get the
attention of the coasts. I do think if she played,
you know, maybe for Saint John's or something, it wouldn't
be as embraceable. It's cool that it's Iowa. It's cool
that she's like, you know, an underdog, even though she's great.
(39:29):
Is the projection she's going to be great. I have
no idea with WNBA draft prospects.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Yeah, I mean, what maybe MVP candidate in two years?
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Like, I think that's reasonable, right.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Well, I mean, listen, it is in the NBA. I mean,
you run out of players by about the eleventh pick,
and even sometimes the great players like a Yo Kitch
is a second rounder and develops into it. I she's
fourth right now, Okay, I was just told this. She
is fourth in the MVP odds. Now, again, it should
(40:03):
be noted unlike men's college basketball, she's played for a
long time, so she comes in with a lot of experience.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
She's gonna have to adapt to a more physical pro game.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
But the biggest thing that I think people are missing
is she was playing with like mostly just regular college
basketball players that I she wasn't with a stacked Yukon
team or South Carolina where it's all future pros. Once
she gets around all pros, I don't see why she
won't dominate the game, leave the league in assists and yeah,
it's I.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Think if you can handle the ball like that and
shoot like that at any level, you're gonna score. And
if you score, you've got tremendous value in basketball. All Right,
our one is down. We're just starting what to do
with Clay Thompson and the Warriors. Where does he go?
Speaker 3 (40:43):
What do they do?
Speaker 1 (40:43):
That's next.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, here we go. It's a lively Wednesday, live in
Los Angeles. It's The Herd. How lucky your week, wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks
for megadass part of your day, jamac. The playoffs are here.
No more slow.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Days allowed.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
On this real estate. Only vibrant, dynamic shows going forward.
So I sat and watched five and a half hours
of NBA playing basketball last night. It was fun, sad,
melancholy for the Warriors.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It's great work.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
All good things come to an end. Trees don't grow
to the sky.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Tough morning for Big Steph Curry fans like me. No
NBA playoffs and he's got Draymond Green to blame.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, okay, sure you bet. Third time five years the
Warriors are out of the playoffs twice. It's been playing
games you know, there's very few true difference makers, outcome changers.
They lead dynasties. Steph Curry, Tom Brady. Do you remember
(01:32):
that moment Tom Brady last year in New England? He
was on the bench, imploring, yelling at wide receivers, can
somebody please just get open? It poured out Brady's frustration
with Bill Belichick's inability to draft and develop skill people.
It was no coincidence that Tom Brady left for Tampa.
(01:53):
Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, an offensive coach that was Steph
last night. The last champion standing Klay Thompson, oh for ten.
Andrew Wiggins hasn't been the same player last couple of years.
Chris Paul didn't show up, Trace Jackson Davis had to
be pulled from the floor. Last guy along with Draymond
with championship pedigree, feels like he could be part of
(02:14):
something special. That's it again, Draymond Green. I'd keep, but
Steph Curry needs somebody next to him that can score
twenty seven to twenty eight points a night minimum. He's
not going to get Luca. We know that there are
a handful of players that aren't going to Jason Tatum's
not going to be a Warrior. We know that. I
(02:36):
don't know where you go. Steph was efficient last night
forty three percent on threes. But Steph Curry last night
scored twenty two points. The rest of the starting lineup
for the Warriors scored twenty six points. It is time
for the big pivot. I'd keep Steph, I'd keep Pods,
the young kid, I'd keep Draymond, and I'd move everybody else.
(02:58):
They do not have a ton of ass. Here's what
I believe. You have to cross your fingers and root
for a couple of things, and they're very possible. The
Clippers unravel bit of a mess against the MAVs get
beaten like five games. Paul George has a player option.
Paul George played at Fresno State, Californian, loves California. Bro
(03:21):
our flight, come up north and then depending on how
the Lakers season goes, Lebron gets frustrated with d lo
I would make a call to Lebron. Lebron and it's
no secret is close with Draymond and the one player
he said he would always consider playing with without a doubt.
You could ask people close to Lebron. You may be
(03:44):
able to ask Lebron is Steph Curry. I'd call Lebron
player option, Paul George North. Those moves would allow you
to keep Moses Moody, Jonathan Kaminga, the young center from Indiana.
You could keep those. But last night, if you look
at the numbers, the Warriors starting five was outscored by
(04:07):
the Kings one oh four to forty eight. They don't
have a lot of assets. I'd keep two, maybe be
three players. I love the coach, Bob Meyers knew this
is how it was going to end. It was going
to be sad, it was going to be bumpy. It
was probably Klay Thompson's last game as a Warrior, though
(04:27):
Steve Kerr wants him. And here's the coach after.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
We've been really blessed here with some amazing players, and
you know, multiple championships and finals appearances and the highest
of highs. And this is the flip side, this is life,
this is how it works. You don't you know, you
don't get to stay on top forever. Our guys have
been fighting for so long. They're incredible competitors and warriors
(04:55):
and I couldn't be prouder of them. But you know,
we've got an off season where we've got lots to
think about.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
For sure, the trio of Clay, Draymond and Steph just
isn't as dominant as it was now. They have to
get something out of Jonathan Kaminga, they have to get
something out of Moses Moody, and so they just are
not the same dominant level team, even though the names
(05:26):
are there and you on occasion they have that look,
it's not any one person's fault.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It's father time, all right. Meanwhile, the Lakers, so I'm
one for one on my bold five bold NBA playoff predictions.
I said eventually the Warriors would not get past the
play in and the Lakers would, and they did last
night in a game against the Pelicans. They're a better
team than the Pelicans. They've shown that the last couple
(05:53):
of years. But it was a game of runs back
and forth, wild runs. The Lakers are a great doer
die team, sudden team, gotta win ten night's game. They're
a great team. Lebron is twelve out of his last
twelve twelve and oh in his last twelve do or
die games. Game seven's playing games. He's three and Ozho
in season tournament games twelve and oh they are great.
(06:15):
If the Lakers were a band, they could rock you
all night long. Once they are not built for a
world tour. There's no encore here. Ad is a very
old thirty one. You always cross your fingers on his health,
and Lebron just old. Listen. They're great playing with the kids,
but they need a nap every afternoon. You need sixteen
(06:36):
wins to be an NBA champion, and it probably would
take the Lakers twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven total
games to get there. With old Lebron and older than
his age Ad, that's not gonna happen. If you watch
that game last night, Lebron and Ad look cooked in
the fourth quarter. In fact, the Lakers got a big
(06:58):
break Zion Williamson. They could not stop that freight train.
He had forty points and then walked off the court.
I don't know what it is. He was hurt, he
didn't limp, he walked off. I don't think. I don't
think they win if Zion's days. He was unstoppable last night.
Championship teams almost always have a star, a vibrant, dynamic
(07:21):
star in their twenties. Delo can't trust him. Reeves, come on,
Ruie Nah. And now they faced Denver, and Denver is
big and they're thick and they're physical, and the games
in Denver will be in high altitude. I think the
Lakers match up with Denver. I've said that all year.
(07:42):
They match up with him physically. But to beat him
four times in fifteen sixteen games and then to go
win sixteen total games out of about twenty six it
would take to win a championship, I don't see it happening.
Here's Lebron though. Nuggets up now next.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Misters defendant champion.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
They know what it takes.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
They know how to win.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
They've been extremely dominating their home floor over the last
few years. You know, they got an NBK on their team,
they got a closer in the team, they got high
level players, IQ players. They gottah tole coach. So if
we can play is as the greatest game we can play.
They gonna plays greatest game they play. It's gonna come
out one or two possessions. You know, and ACU excusing.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Isn't basketball great when the games mean something? Warriors out
Lakers in fun last night, the playoffs officially underway and again,
everybody loves grandpa playing with the kids, but about two
thirty he needs a gin and a nap. And I
don't think the Lakers can rack up sixteen wins to
(08:47):
win an NBA championship. What say you, j Mac?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, let's not overreact to one game.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
But yeah, it's gonna be a it's gonna be a tough,
tough go if they couldn't stop Zion?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Was that the best games Ion? He's ever had? His
best big game as a play and it ended kind
of yeah, like Zion's career basically, but he was a
freight train. They couldn't stop.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Him, unstoppable. I forgot to ask about that first segment.
How does your guy, Chris Paul?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Do I know you champion that disc?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I did champion that move? He looked a little Was
he on the court last night? Did he play a little?
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Dnple coaches decision? I didn't see him on the court.
Oh he played eighteen minutes and did nothing?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Come on, Colin, Well, he was brought in to me
the top of the second unit. It's again everything has
to be on Steph's timeline. I like Kaminga, but he's
not ready to be a big time player in the playoffs?
Good last night. It was good last night, Draymond last night.
But you're not going to get him on a consistent basis.
Steph needs twenty eight and a half points a night
next to him. So how do you get that? Is
(09:45):
it Carl Anthony Towns? I don't know who it is?
Is it Iannis? Again? If the Clippers unravel, does Paul
George want to be part of this pretty easy sales
job to get a California kid up to a championship
team that wins, that wins regularly in maybe the greatest
arena in the league.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I thought maybe your buddy Darryl Morey from yesterday's show
would have said, we want Paul George this offseason because
they've got room.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
But he didn't want to go East. He he likes,
he likes California and Fresno State. Guy chose California.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah, when he demanded out of Indiana, he said, I
want to go to LA They didn't happen. One final question,
I'm looking for Draymond's next podcast to drop. Will he
admit that he's the reason that the Warriors this season
tank getting suspended?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well, actually, Draymon, you can you could argue Draymon and
Klay Thompson were actually the reason the last thirty games
they were so good. Those guys played great basketball.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Yeah, we're the only reason they're in the play in
is because Draymond suspended well for you know.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
In retrospect, it wasn't one of his great moments. Yeah,
he's going to be dropping that podcast later today.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
To hear that I'm the reason the season went sideways.
I punched out Jordan Poole. I'm the reason the dynasty
is over.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Well, he's also a reason they have a trophy room,
a substantial trophy room.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Welcome back, It is great to have you in. Chris
Mannix on Peter Scheger today. I love once the playoffs start.
I love the NBA playoffs. So here, according to reporters,
one I know, the other two I trust, Don Van Notta,
Junior Seth Wickersham, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN are reporting.
Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons, when he was
(11:35):
going to hire a coach, spoke twice with Robert Kraft,
bill Belichick's former boss owner of the Patriots. They spoke twice,
and during those conversations, Kraft acknowledged he felt betrayed by Belichick.
At the end, they were not trying to sink him,
but they weren't gonna send him a lifeline and get
(11:56):
him hired. They were brutally candid about Bill Belichick. So,
first of all, Belichick ruled with an iron fist and
was never terribly collaborative. If you're seeking a great job
referral after twenty years of keeping your thumb on people,
good luck. It's the basic physics. For every action, there's
(12:17):
a reaction. Belichick was secretive, controlling, waved off the scouting
department last eight to nine drafts. That's why New England's
were so awful. There's a reason Brady's adored and Bills not.
He even alienated the greatest player in league history. So again,
(12:39):
you can lead in several different ways, but it will
not end well for people like the late Bobby Knight
or maybe Build Belichick. When you rule with an iron fist,
when you know being nice and collaborative isn't difficult, and
it never really goes out of style. And oh, by
(13:00):
the way players talk to players, they keep it real.
Coaches talked to coaches. Owners also talked to owners. When
Bill was difficult with craft, did he not have the
self awareness the wherewith all of think you know, this
could come back to bite me in the arse. Really, again,
(13:22):
being nice and a little cooperative is not that difficult.
Never goes out of style. And again, look at the
Patriots last eight drafts. This is just my theory, but
the last eight New England drafts were inept embarrassing. And
yet Nick Cassario leaves New England, goes to Houston and
he's been unbelievable in personnel moves. How is that possible?
(13:44):
He was in New England because Bill waved him off
and wouldn't listen enough. So football is a team sport.
You know, Bill didn't ingratiate himself to the crafts enough,
Brady enough. At the end. He was a bit of
a tyrant. And even for Julius Caesar, you'll get stabbed
in the back at to Bill. That's that's the way
(14:07):
it works. Did Bill. Never, when you lead and you
have all the power and you keep your thumb on people,
once the winning drives up don't be shocked if there's
a little resentment. I don't feel sorry for Belichick. Reap
what you saw J Mack with a.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
News this is the herd line news.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Or talk about raising the level of discourse in sports.
You open the show with melancholy and now a Julius
Caesar reference.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Goodness, anytime you can work brutus into the show. I
mean it's a little Latin.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Do you mean more a you uh, watching five hours
of hoops and knocking back a couple Gen and Tonics
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
You Let's start with the Cowboys. Guys colling this team man,
So obviously.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
They made the silly declaration they'd be all in this offseason,
but so far, the biggest splashes have been quarterback Jordan
Lewis and linebacker Eric Kendricks, and an appearance on Dallas
local radio Stephen Jones is still addressing the all in claim.
Speaker 9 (15:10):
When we're all said and done, we max out our
salary cap every year, and we will have done that,
and you know what comes with having a good roster,
which we do, and you know we also are looking
towards signing our own guys. It doesn't mean it happens overnight,
but when you're wanting to sign players like Dak and
Micah and CD, then you know that certainly you have
(15:34):
to hold money back if you want to have a
realistic chance at signing those guys.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, you know, I understand the Cowboys are a big
brand and people talk about them a lot, but is
everybody ready for a reality check that we have seen
the best of the Dallas Cowboys with Dak. You broke
into the league. They have the best oldline for about
six years, six seven years, and Zeke was in his prime,
(16:02):
and the Amari Cooper team was pretty interesting and McCarthy
over McDaniel gives him a little extra juice and energy.
We have seen the best of this team. They do
not have the cap space they're going to pay Dak.
You can't have a top five quarterback salary and win
Super Bowls unless you have mahomes. So just everybody bemoans
(16:23):
the last seven eight years with Dak. That was the
best of it. Just like Tony Romo. Everybody used to
lament Tony Romo. You didn't appreciate the good years. By
the end of it, Tony Romo was so beat up
because the old line was so bad for most of
his tenure, that you didn't appreciate Tony Romo when he
was running around, making plays and doing great things. By
(16:45):
the end the last year and a half, Tony was
just he didn't get Dak's offensive line. And we can
bemoan Dak, but you've seen the best of it. The
free Dak for several years, then the overpaid Dak but
still pieces around him going forward. What happens when they
have to move off Mica or they pay Dak and
(17:05):
C d Lamb. So, yeah, no more Tyron Smith left
tackle to protect. You're not gonna get a left tackle
that good again, that's over. Tyron Smith is a once
in a franchise left tackle. No franchise in NFL history
has two Tyron Smith's left tackle. You get one of those? Ever,
you get one like Aaron Donald, Lawrence Taylor, Giants, Phoebe
(17:26):
Dah's great, there are no more Lawrence Taylor's New England
will never get another Brady Rams will never get another
Aaron Donald. You're never gonna gonna get another Tyron Smith
at left tackle. Like that's the top five. Ever, those
days are over.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I think this is kind of an ownership Colin.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, yeah, it's such times.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
By the way, if the Niners ownership come out and
talked about the Ayuk situation, zero, why are the Cowboys
owners going on radio? Because they want to hear their voice.
They want to be out in the media. You know,
there's an easy brief saying that sums up the Cowboys.
Do more, say less, stop talking, give an interview, stuff talking,
and stop putting pressure on your team saying, if you're
(18:03):
a quarterback in New York on podcast, maybe a little
less talking.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's a different story.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Well to do that, we're not talking about that.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I leads out on my watch. Next up, let's go
to the draft. Very interesting scenario and folding in Washington.
So they have the number two pick and according to
Albert Breer, Washington hosted Jaden McDaniel or sorry Jaden Daniels,
Drake May, JJ McCarthy, Michael Pennox, and sixteen other.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Prospects at the same time this week.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
They started yesterday, they went to Top Golf as a group,
and now they're going to do it today at the facility.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
This is kind of interesting. I like what Adam Peters
is doing, right.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
He had done something like this in San Francisco, where
he's bringing in a group to try to see how
things go, how guys work together or against each other.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
I don't hate this strategy. I think it's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Anytime you go to top golf, it's a good decision.
There's no losers in that equation.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yeah, but you go to top golf and you're going
with a guy who you're competing against to go higher
in the draft, you're looking over your shoulder.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
But what if that guy gets to go to somebody like, uh,
you know, a better operation. One of those guys gets
to go to Sean Payton, one of them gets to
go to the commanders. So I mean it it depends
on where you land.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Well, Cliff Kingsbury is I think, well, well liked among youngers,
a very good play caller. Yeah yeah, I think this
is it. I think Washington is the spot you will well.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You would this are you? And I said, I mean,
there's there's certain things we know to be true. The
most talked about draft picks gonna be Kayleb Williams. But
the Bears only right now have like four draft picks.
The Chargers want to move down, and if they do,
they have a chance to win the draft because of
Harbaugh's understanding of college personnel. So my guess is there's
(19:44):
two or three teams like Arizona's got a lot of picks.
We're gonna love their draft, The Chargers hardball, We're gonna
love their draft. The Bears are gonna get talked about
a lot. The Commanders have made a massive executive ownership
coaching shift. If Jaden Daniels is as good as I think,
(20:04):
by Commander's stock for the next decade, they will not
get the publicity because the Bears quarterback selection will trump
everything and hardbass selection and is gonna get massive news.
But the winner in this draft may end up being
just keep your eye. The Commanders have some nice defensive pieces,
(20:26):
excellent wide receivers, winnable division with Dak now about to
get with Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
The bag.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Jalen just got it. Dak's gonna get another, and they're
gonna have a quarterback on that rookie contract. By the way,
Daniel Jones overpaid, Dak probably overpaid Jalen Hurts highly paid.
One team in that division is gonna have a quarterback
in a rookie contract, the Washington Commanders, and they're gonna
load up for the next four years around Jaden Daniels,
(20:55):
that's gonna be the team to watch.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
You're very high on him.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
I'm less high this idea that like all the four
quarterbacks could be in a setting, right and Washington's looking
for little things that One of the good stories I
heard from Sanchez is that, you know, he would go
to the combine and all the quarterbacks are hanging out,
and you know the kind of the alpha kind of
emerges from the crew, who's like the cool guy and
add more more just gravitation.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
People want to be around him. He's telling funny jokes.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
He's a big dude, And I wonder of these four quarterbacks,
who that guy is where they're like, hey, we're going
for a ride, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Look, Caleb Williams. Is that guy?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Well he's not in this group though, I'm separate.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
So now it's like May McCarthy, Daniels or Pennix and
I don't know if any of those guys.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Are well is that good Will Levis would be that
guy in last year's draft? What does that mean? I
don't need I don't need it if you were a quarterback.
And that's what I think is funny about this, bon
Nix is fat. Like bon Nicks and Pennis are interesting,
They're gonna drop, meaning they're probably gonna go to better teams.
Wouldn't you want to go to Denver with Peyton or
Miami with McDaniel or Seattle now with great wide receivers.
What's funny about that? And I think about this. Teams
(22:00):
always want to bring the players in to sort of
manipulate the players and watch the players. But if I
was a player going to Washington and thought dan Quinn
got fired once, I mean Cliff Kingsbury, I like him,
but I don't know. The old line's bad, there's no
run game. I think I'd step back and let the
other guys be Alvin impressive and dropped to Sean Payton
(22:21):
dropped to Mike McDaniels.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That's fair.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
One of the good stories that I remember reading about
Deshaun Watson when he was going on.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Recruiting trips and he would like go.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
I think he went to Clemson on a recruiting trip
and everybody went to sit next to him, like they
want to hang out with him. And other trips you
hear about quarterbacks and they go to the cafeteria and
like they're on a recruiting trip. They're like kind of
hanging by themselves. They're not ingratiating themselves with the team
because there may be a little nervous high school kids.
But you want that guy who people want to be around.
And I just don't know enough about Daniels. He had
(22:51):
that Arizona State thing where he was like, okay, he
wasn't the.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Can let's be fair.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I know that was like three years ago.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
As Herm Edwards a defensive coach. They had no players.
I mean, come on, they had the eighth best roster
in that conference. I watched him play at Arizona State.
I thought he was excellent. I watched him as a
true freshman. I said it on the air when he
went to LSU. LSU just got a great quarterback. I
got nothing but pushback from Arizona State fans and LSU fans.
(23:18):
I said, I watched him. He was very good at
Arizona State.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Speaking of I'm curious if you give Drake may the
star receivers and Neighbors and Thomas who are first round picks,
if you give them to Drake may how good is
Drake Maylee.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Well, we don't know that we don't know that. I mean,
LSU's had great receivers forever. Only Joe Burrow was unbelievable.
There's a reason Joe Burrow's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Michael Pennix had two guys who are going to be
drafted early rounds?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
How many did Drake May?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I just thought, what is your point?
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Well, I just think people are undervaluing Drake.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
May because he played at North Carolina in like a
weekly Say.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Listen, if you have a chance to go second in
the draft, who's undervaluable. He's not Caleb Williams as a prospect.
So if he goes two or three, he hasn't been undervalued.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
We're just saying there's a huge difference going Washington the
Cliff or New England.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Well, that's the but there's not a big difference going
second or third. You're making the case that he's being undervalued.
He's undervalued if he goes twenty eight, No, But if
he goes third, it's like, well, Jadeen Daniels moves better
than him and was a much more accurate thrower of
the football consistently, So I would take Jaden Daniels over
Drake May. Even though Drake May's got the physical traits.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I like, okay, fair enough, final story. Let's go back
to Zion. Williamson man, this is this is sad.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
So he put up forty eleven and five assists last night,
totally took over in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Lebron couldn't stop him. A d could not stop him.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
And then he had a drive late where he puts
in his floater lands and just comes up lane and
then he's like, there's what it was to watch him.
There's a one report that it was a hamstring injury.
I didn't see him.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Grab the back of his legs.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I couldn't figure it out.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So is it a foot? Is it in me?
Speaker 7 (24:56):
You know?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
It's funny. Before the game, Barkley was critical of him
in the pregame show, saying he needs to go out
and score forty. I don't want to hear any excuses.
Go get forty, and he did.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I'll go get a forty piece. Here's coach Willie Green
on Zion right now.
Speaker 10 (25:10):
We know his left leg soreness, and he's gonna get
some imaging on it tomorrow and we'll figure out more.
That's the report that I got back. I haven't talked
to him more anything like that. But we'll see how
we feel. We'll see what happens tomorrow when we get
the results back. It was tough to see him go down.
You know, we're all praying and hoping that he's okay.
(25:32):
But he was battling, he was going and the team
was right there with him, So it's tough. We'll see
what happens and we'll go from there.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
So I don't think they got a chance against the
Kings without Zion.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
No.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Oh, by the way, Brandon Ingram benched in the fourth quarter.
He was I don't know if he's still hurt.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
CJ.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
McCollum was abysmal. Without Zion, they got no shot.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, I mean Sacramento everybody loved last year. They got
beaten seven by the Way Warriors. I don't know. I
think it's a pretty good suit. We'll see, we'll see
it's a pretty good suit.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
I know you're not gonna do a lot more on
the Kings because I like the Beam. But the guy
that watched there is Keegan Murray.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah. No, he's a very good young player.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
He's a good American player, by the way, a very
fundamentally sound hitting the three.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
No flash in his game. No Kyrie layup package, no
just lockdown defender, great defender, good players.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I see, you know what? They remind me of a
poor man Celtics. So like Tatum's better than Daron, Jalen
Brown's better than Sabonis. I think the Celtics have two
A players and B plus players jew Holiday porzingis. I
think the Kings have one A player, Daron Fox, and
then everybody else is a B player. Now is Keegan
Murray a B plus player?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
He is?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
He becoming that There's certainly an argument to be made
people like Sabonis, but I feel like they're kind of
like Boston in the West, where I think they have
an excellent starting five. I really liked him. I just
think Boston's got a little better player across the board,
and Boston doesn't have a tie yet. So it's not
that I don't like Sacramento. I again, Boston's got two stars,
they have one, and I think poor zingis Drew Holiday,
(27:07):
I take over Keegan Murray and simonas at this point,
Harrison Barnes, Derek White. So it's not that I don't
like Sacramento. I watched them all last night. I watched
them last year. I watched them five, six, seven times
this year. I like them. I don't see them as
championship caliber.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
By the way, one final word on Zion when he's
dominating the Lakers, did you get the idea to him?
How is he not in consideration for Team USA basketball?
Why wouldn't he be on the team. I mean, he
looked unstoppable against a defensive Player of the Year candidate
and Anthony Davis, Like, I thought Zion should have got
Team USA.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
When he gets a matchup, when he gets a matchup
advantage and he's coming into the lane, do you see
Lebron take the charge from him?
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Now?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Lebron is six eight and a half two fifty. He
folded like a deck chair when Zion hit him. I
mean it was like it was like a dog run
over napkin holder at full speed. Just the stuff flying everywhere.
And I'm like Zion's he can be the truth. Physically,
there is nothing like him. He is just bulldoze Lebron javes.
(28:09):
Lebron took two charges last night in year twenty whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It showed in the fourth quarter when he was one
of eight shooting, he was cooked.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well that's the.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
News, and thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I got some stuff to do. Lie, you don't want
to talk about that Aaron Rodgers podcast appearance. The media
gets so mad. I always find this funny. Whenever Aaron does, like,
you know, one of his conspiracy theories things, the media
gets frustrated. But you got to remember something. Aaron is single,
never married, no kids, doesn't connect with his family. I've
(28:43):
been told he since presidents back, He's got nobody to
call him out in his crap. I'm not joking. He's
got nobody to call him ou in his crap. He's rich, single,
never married, no kids. My wife would call me out.
I mean I'd get a phone call. And just so
that's the first thing. The second thing is everybody, your
neighbor's got conspira theories. People always had them, but the
only people that knew were family members. You'd have to
(29:04):
hear them on Thanksgiving, your Christmas. Now you have IG,
you have Twitter, you have x, you have TikTok, you
have podcasts, so you hear everybody's conspiracy theories. So the
media is always banging on Aaron for his conspiracy theories.
And my take is you do get your neighbors the
same guy. It used to be if you had a
conspiracy theory outside of family, maybe maybe in the neighborhood,
you'd be like, yeah, bob's a little crazy. He thinks
(29:26):
he thinks men didn't land on the moon. It was
shot in Hollywood. There'd always be that guy, but.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
He didn't have a platform.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
He didn't have a platform. Now all the conspiracy people
have platforms. They've always existed. And by the way, there
are conspiracies that are true right there there there, And
I'm not a conspiracy theory guy at all, but you know,
there was the It was a theory that cigarettes were
really bad for you, and all the executives for years knew.
(29:54):
We found out cigarettes are really bad for you. So
there have been a few that have been but you know,
man didn't land on moon. That's cuckoo for Cocopusta.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
The root of this is not everybody should have a platform,
because now you're putting all this nonsense out there and
it's just cluttering the Internet, and you know what's going
to rise at the top.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
We usually CEOs, public officials don't go on platforms to
tell you conspiracy theories. You know, the president of American
Airlines probably going to stay off the Internet even if
he believes something. But Aaron's different again, never married, no kids,
nobody in a family to call him out. He's not
a CEO. He's kind of a you know. I mean,
(30:30):
he's got his money, and he's rich, and he's single,
and and and so when he comes out, the media
is always like, this guy's crazy. You better be comfortable
with conspiracy theories because over half of America, or roughly half,
thinks the election was right.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
And that's that's the problem.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
You've got carnival barkers like Elon Musk saying twenty four
to seven, and guess what they're signaling to their tribe.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Hey, I really know the truth.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Conspiracy theories start with this sentence. I do my own homework, hopefully,
but I'm saying is this has existed my entire life.
Nobody had platforms. If you would have been a conspiracy
theorist fifty years ago and sent a letter to the
local newspaper, they wouldn't have published it in the letters
to the editor. They would have been like Bob Za Kook,
(31:14):
throw it out. Now he goes on TikTok or ig
or his podcast or Up and says it twitter x
whatever it's called, and you have it. So the idea
that Aaron is in a small group of conspiracy theorists.
It's an industry. Conspiracy theorists are, this is an industry
now that makes lots of money.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Can we just blame the Internet for all this? No?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I mean the Internet, it's like everything else. There's a
new ad.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I got paid things to the Internet with the website.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Listen. It's there's a good and bad to everything, this idea.
There's a church in America does a lot of good things.
Church in America, Catholic Church. We've had scandals. There is
no perfect place. Family. I love my family. They also
drive me nuts, right Like everybody says that during the holidays.
So you know, I mean it's just outside of the internet.
(32:01):
Is there's a lot of vile stuff on there. There's
terrible racism, there's trolling and just awful to women. But
there are amazing things happening that I can literally go
on Amazon yesterday and order four things. I ordered a book,
I ordered some stuff from my espresso machine, and it's here,
like I feel, swear to God, it's here six hours later.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
But like when you're.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Rooting for a team like the Jets, I mean, I'll
take Jared Goff at a heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Let's just do that.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Swallow right now, Rogers for goof Please, Well God, I'm
sure God's not gonna say stupid stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
This and whatever this is part. Green Bay is laughing
at all that they are.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
They're getting a brief.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Green Bay is howling at this stuff. But that's you know,
you knew it. When you're a desperate franchise. You knew
this is what you were getting.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Bob, I guess it's all good.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Aeron. My original take was the media just attacks Aaron
when he does this. I look at it his content,
and I also look at it as this is your neighbor.
He just didn't have a podcast. Half of this country thing.
It's the election rig I mean, you'd be amazed. And
it's just not crazy people, it's people you work with.
Just most people don't go online and talk about are
(33:10):
you trying to signal to me people you work with?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Are you trying to say something here? Geez, where were
you on January sixth?
Speaker 1 (33:17):
It's my birthday. I was home. It is.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern AM Pacific two.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right
into the NBA Grape.
Speaker 8 (33:30):
Five, all happening in only one place. This League Uncut,
the new NBA podcast with Me, Chris.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Haynes and me Mark Stein join us as.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
We team up to expound on everything we're covering Hearing
and Chason.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Speaker 8 (33:49):
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcast fox.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
The United Football League continues with hard hitting action as
the Michigans battle the San Antonio Brahmas or the DC
Defenders take on the Birmingham Stallions. Check local listings for
the game in your area.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So this is pretty amazing. Michael Ruben owns runs founded
a company called Fanatics. Caitlin Clark, number one pick to
the Indiana Fever. Her Indiana Fever jerseys, according to the
CEO of Fanatics, sold more on draft night than any
(34:34):
player in any sport in the company's history, like more
than Brady, more than Mahomes more So, that tells you
Caitlin Clark's drawing power. I'll say it again. Her jersey
sold more on draft night, not after a championship, on
Draft night, more than any player in any sport in
(34:56):
the company's history. Fanatics tells everything. So Caitlin Clark. It's
a movement, and that movement is to support not only Caitlin,
but women's sports and women's basketball. You know, I've watched
my entire life men get rich and famous and worshiped
and awarded for being good at sports, not always terribly grateful.
(35:17):
There is something that feels good about supporting Caitlin Clark,
and when you buy a jersey, you want to be
part of something. It makes you feel something. And I
think it's that. It's not her religion. It's not her Instagram,
it's not edited, it's not her attitude, it's not her personality.
It's wholesome. It's her game. It's great, and she's grateful.
(35:41):
It's authentic, unedited. It feels cool. It's a little like
Taylor Swift. You know, Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark really
high expectations and they never let you down. They're unifiers,
they're not dividers. And in a world where politicians are
making big promise, so she makes none. She just delivers
(36:02):
every time and it's better like a Taylor Swift concert
than you ever would have guessed. And so the w
NBA draft television ratings came out yesterday. I mean, I'm
looking at this graph. It's like it's insane ten times
higher than previous drafts in the WNBA. And here's Caitlin
Clark now a member of the Fever.
Speaker 11 (36:25):
I'm super happy to be here. Thank you, the Fever,
the Pacers. This is a dream come true. At times,
like it doesn't feel real. It's like the biggest thing.
I feel like I'm kind of stuck in a dream
at times.
Speaker 6 (36:35):
But I don't know.
Speaker 11 (36:36):
I think the biggest thing, like I try to remember,
is like how grateful I am to have this opportunity.
And you know, there's so many people that would kill
to be in my shoes. When things seem like they're
long and they're tired, and I have to do this
and I have to do that, I just try to
remind myself of how grateful I am, and like I
get these opportunities. You know, I'm lucky to have these moments.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Great and grateful are really powerful. We were talking about
this yesterday. You know, I think about who was really
really popular in like the sixties and the seventies, eighties,
and it comes from all directions. I remember, J Max's
not gonna like this. There's a late pitcher named Mark
(37:17):
Fidrich Detroit Tigers. He was a very quirky personality. He
had all these weird mannerisms on the man. I think
he's passed away, but he got really popular. And then
they're sort of like Jeremy Lynn who got popular for
a month, but we really didn't think it would last long.
His game wasn't good enough. Tim Tebow was wildly popular
for about two years. It was his religion, not his game.
(37:40):
I think one of the things with Caitlin Clark is
it's just her game. It's I mean, nice enough personality.
It's not a religion thing, it's not an ig thing.
She's not selling us anything. She's really really great, really grateful,
and I you know, I think those are really powerful
mechanisms for popularity. But a lot of the people that
have gotten popular, like a Jeremy Lynn won't last the
(38:01):
game's not good enough. Or t Bow at the NFL,
his game's not good enough. Mark Fiderick's the late great
pitcher he was quirky, but you know, his game didn't endure.
I don't know WNBA talent well enough to project how
good she's going to be at the next level. I'm
gonna make a guess she'll be the best shooter in
(38:22):
the league. You know jim Or Furdett was a great
shooter in college. Didn't translate that. I could have guessed
I think she'll be a dominant score very quickly, but
I have I mean, that would be my guess. I mean,
if you can shoot from where she shoots from and
handle the ball like she handles the ball. I mean,
you know, t bow was popular, but it was a
religion thing, and the truth was Tim couldn't make certain
(38:45):
throws up the field, slow release, didn't have the arm.
I don't know how great she's gonna be. I mean,
what's the projection. Is she going to be the best
player in the league soon? Does she project as that
the best scorer? But I do think, you know, middle
of it. I've said this before with Patrick Mahomes and
Brett Farvre. There is some value to me in being
(39:08):
right in the middle of the country. The Midwest is
seen as important, but often flyover country don't get the
attention of the coasts. I do think if she played,
you know, maybe for Saint John's or something, it wouldn't
be as embraceable. It's cool that it's Iowa. It's cool
that she's like, you know, an underdog, even though she's great.
(39:29):
Is the projection she's going to be great. I have
no idea with WNBA draft prospects.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Yeah, I mean, what maybe MVP candidate in two years?
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Like, I think that's reasonable, right.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Well, I mean, listen, it is in the NBA. I mean,
you run out of players by about the eleventh pick,
and even sometimes the great players like a Yo Kitch
is a second rounder and develops into it. I she's
fourth right now, Okay, I was just told this. She
is fourth in the MVP odds. Now, again, it should
(40:03):
be noted unlike men's college basketball, she's played for a
long time, so she comes in with a lot of experience.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
She's gonna have to adapt to a more physical pro game.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
But the biggest thing that I think people are missing
is she was playing with like mostly just regular college
basketball players that I she wasn't with a stacked Yukon
team or South Carolina where it's all future pros. Once
she gets around all pros, I don't see why she
won't dominate the game, leave the league in assists and yeah,
it's I.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Think if you can handle the ball like that and
shoot like that at any level, you're gonna score. And
if you score, you've got tremendous value in basketball. All Right,
our one is down. We're just starting what to do
with Clay Thompson and the Warriors. Where does he go?
Speaker 3 (40:43):
What do they do?
Speaker 1 (40:43):
That's next.
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