May 20, 2024 • 41 mins
Colin explains why the Nuggets "dynasty" quickly came to an end before ever truly beginning following their game 7 loss to the Timberwolves
The Knicks will be fine going forward because of their culture
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
All right, it is a Monday, and there is a
lie to talk about. It's the hurt. Wherever you may
be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day, Jamak. You know, there was
a time during the basketball season that you sort of
knew who would end up in the finals, given the
Shack Kobe time. You can go back to the sixties.
(00:48):
It was Bill Russell and the Celtics every year. But
that is not this time. That was quite a serious
What a Sunday of basketball college teams would.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I'm stunned, still stunned.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I think that's the first time that's ever happened. Minnesota, Dallas, Indiana, Pacers,
Celtics of the Final four. So in the eighties and
in the nineties and in the early two thousands, in
the twenty tens, we had dynasties. We had dynasties. It
could be the Pistons, or it could be the Celtics
with Larry Bird and additional pieces. It could be MJ.
(01:23):
It could be the Spurs with Tim Duncan, Kobe and Shaq. Lakers,
there was the Magic Kareem Lakers. The Heatles got close
to being a dynasty, and then of course the Warriors
dominated a decade, getting to the finals many times, and
those days now are apparently over. Welcome to twenty nineteen
and beyond. We will have the sixth NBA champion in
(01:46):
six years now. I think the NBA has more talent
than it's ever had, especially European talent. A lot of
good bigs, but it's spread out throughout the league. What
you saw yesterday does not happen much. A defending champ
with the best player in the world at home of
evaporating in the second half, it just doesn't happen. You
(02:11):
got the best player, you got a good staff, you're
defending champs. Most of us think you have the best team.
And they just dried up Denver multiple times in this series.
Just got embarrassed. The first two games of this series.
They were pushed around they lost three or four at home,
and let's be honest, yesterday offense third quarter dried up.
(02:33):
The Tea Wolves deserve the credit. A lot of this
is the construct, the construction of the roster. It's really
good two bigs one a defender, want to score, a
dynamic emerging superstar on the wing, good bench, letticism, length,
high IQ veteran point guard. So a guy named Tim
(02:55):
Connelly built Denver's roster to a championship level, then took
a better gig with Minnesota and very intentionally built a
roster to beat the roster he built to thwart Jokic,
and in some instances he did. The te Wolves are
very intentionally built. When they came in with two bigs,
(03:18):
one all defense, the other great offense. You know, you
start looking from naz Reid on. They're really built with
a purpose. You know a lot of times you watch
NBA teams Phoenix and there's just duplication everywhere. There's not here.
I do think offensively, they probably have to look at
getting another dependable a Pippin to MJ and somebody beyond
(03:42):
him when he has those rare off shooting nights. But
the Nuggets now still a very good team. The game
went down to the wire, game went to seven, but
they have to go back to the drawing board. Gordon
didn't give them anything offensively. Jamal Murray was very very
good early, not as much. La Jokic needs help. They
need a better bench, so they'll be fine, but we
(04:05):
have to go back to the drawing board. It tells
you how well constructed the Tea Wolves are. That Ant
really played poorly offensively yesterday and they still rolled over
the champs on the road. That's about roster construction that
Ant doesn't have to And this was always the key
with Jordan's Bulls. Michael on most nights was not only
(04:28):
the best player, but would hit the big shot. But
it was when they got a packson or a cur or,
a coup coach. They got Rodman who had a specialty.
It wasn't just about Pippin. It was Phil Jackson understanding
that you need elements to a championship team, and Denver
had those last year. But with the emergence of Ant,
who is now a better player and an elite defender,
(04:50):
Denver did not have enough. So we will have the
sixth champ in sixth seasons. The eighties and the nineties
and the early two thousands are over. Of the four left, Boston, Indiana, Dallas,
and Minnesota, I feel like, based on roster construction, Minnesota
and Boston play for the championship. Here are some thoughts
(05:11):
after how hard is it just to absorb a loss
like this after going ahead by twenty? Next question, Man,
the season's over.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
That's what's hard being up twenty season's over.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
You don't understand that the season's over.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
It's hard.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Stupid ask questions.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
I think they're built to beat us in someone and
just look at the roster. They have basically two all stars,
two probably the first defensive players in the Mike Ony,
who's the most underrated player in the NBA. Probably, I mean,
I love the guy. He's so good. One team that
he They can do a little, little, literally everything. They
(05:55):
can be big small.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So congrats to the t Wolves, certainly earned. Denver is
not reeling, just beaten by a really smartly constructed team
with an emerging superstar. All right. The only people more
disappointed than nick fans that they lost in Game seven
at home to Indiana was ESPN apparently, but I get it.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
New York.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Boston is what the NBA needed it felt big. The
late John Madden used to say, some games just sound big,
you know, Packers Bears. Even if one team isn't great,
it sounds big. Nick's Celtics sounded big. But New York
fell apart. I know, I know it's an excuse. Not really.
(06:42):
It's sometimes there's an excuse dog ate my homework, and
then sometimes there's a reason, you know, the school boss
got into a wreck. I think New York's the better team.
They fell apart. Brunson, og, Julius Randall, Mitchell Robinson for
their top seven players hurt. But there's also you know,
you got Defangenzo. Now catch and shoot guy, you can't
(07:04):
get it rid of him. I think the Knicks have
a very interesting dilemma. It's a good dilemma to have.
They have a culture and they didn't forever. And I
think they have the coach who sets the culture like
he did in Chicago Tips. So that's the good news.
They were just a aimless, wandering franchise, reaching on talent,
getting stars that weren't committed beyond themselves. The New York
(07:27):
Knicks have a culture, and a lot of it is
the Villanova guys led by Jalen Brunson. But they also tough, gritty, physical,
They're not skilled enough. Milwaukee next year is better, Sixers
have cap space, they'll be better. Cleveland could make a
big deal and get better. The East isn't very good
(07:47):
and the Knicks fell apart, and that is a big
reason why they lost. They were a better team. I
thought when healthy, they just fell apart. Once og goes
down early Brunson, it just now is that Tibbs. Is
that what they'll be going out? They need depth and
they do need another highly skilled star, but you better
(08:09):
get the right one. And that's why it's a delicate balance.
For years, the Knicks were impatient. Now they're patient. For
years they had fake stars. Now they have a real one.
For years, they could have great nights, but you didn't
think there was a great soul or depth to it.
Check check they have both. Can they get a Paul
George kd probably fits, but does he emotionally? And that's
(08:32):
the challenge for the Knicks. And I think they're up
to it because I think they finally got the front
office in order. Don't screw with the culture, don't screw
with the toughness, do not take the ball out of
the hands of Jalen Brunson. But you also have to
be honest and admit Dame and Jannis both got hurt,
and Beid got hurt, Jimmy Butler got hurt, the Hole
(08:55):
East got hurt, and Boston's going nowhere at least this
year and next year they'll have a much better roster
offensively and defensively. It's a great year. Pacers probably not
quite built to beat Boston. Boston played them five times
this year and average one hundred and twenty nine points.
New York if healthy, I think could have really challenged
(09:16):
the Celtics. Maybe not beaten them, maybe, but they would
have challenged them. I don't think Indiana can. But the
key to the Knicks here get a star. Don't screw
with the culture. It's going to take patience and thought
and self awareness, and I think they have it. Here's
Brunson after.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I think we were making positive strides. We just need
to make more.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
So.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I love this group of guys that we have and
just like I said before, their mindset, our mindset as
a group was strong, and some nights when we may
have not had what people the thought was a team
capable of winning. Our mindset pushes over that hump, and
(10:02):
definitely proud of what we were able to do this
year and proud of how we fought night in, night out.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Listen. Talent skill eventually get your titles, but Heat culture
has gotten you to finals when you probably didn't have
the skill. So the Warriors had a culture. The Heat
have had it with Spolster and pat Riley forever, one
of the stronger cultures in the league. They look and
(10:26):
play differently than everybody else. Is the Knicks tweak? It
add some skill, But I would take this season despite
that loss, over any over the last twenty and not
just because you got to within the game of the
Eastern Conference finals. What you found and created and built
had been missing since pat Riley coached depth, a soul,
(10:51):
a style like you go home. You're watching Nick fans
do the heart sign on their shirt. This team was
impossible not to love. At another piece, you may love
them even more so. J mack. Our final four is interesting.
You have the two best closers, probably Luka Kyrie. The
(11:12):
best constructed roster may be Minnesota. The team we keep
waiting to hoist a trophy, Boston, but we're getting impatient
and a young, fun, offensive, high tempo team in Indiana
that feels like the fourth of four can't defend at
an elite level like the other three. Dallas now an
elite defensive team. Boston is Minnesota. Indiana's all offense, and
(11:35):
I do feel like they if they were receding this,
they would be they would be the four.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
Yeah, I think we both think Boston's decide for sure.
The question is who wins Minnesota Dallas. You don't have
to give away your pick this early.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Will say tough series.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Those trade deadline moves by Dallas. If they don't make those,
this is a blowout. Those Now they've got size PJ. Washington.
Now they have a little depth, they have a front line.
It's an interesting series and they have Minnesota can struggle
at times offensively. Dallas has two great fourth quarter closers.
So if Dallas, if Dallas can keep games close, you
(12:11):
know you like their chances with Luke and Kyrie down
the stretch.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
Let me ask to put a bowl in the next season.
You just said you love the philosophy. We talked about it.
They're hard nos they played great, but do they have
to tweak it a little bit? Colin because Thibodeau grinds
his dudes into dust. And we've seen it before. He
was in Chicago, played Luel Dang like every minute of
every game, and like at twenty eight, Dang.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Was cooked, his career was over.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I don't want to see that with Brunson. This next team.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
I think they have to tell tibodauh hey, Paul George
ain't gonna want to come here and play forty minutes ago.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Kd's not gonna want to come here, right.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Remember, if they didn't face all the injuries, the minutes
would have been more evenly distributed. A lot of this
as two of their bigs, Randall and Mitchell Robinson. Now
then Og gets hurt, so some of this was circumstantial.
They're big, a lot of bigs, a lot of bullies
got hurt for them. You also have draft picks. I
would love to see them make some moves on Randall, Bogdanovich.
(13:08):
They can do this, right, they can move it. They
have cat flexibility or workable contracts. They have draft picks.
I think they need more depth. I don't think. I
don't think they have to swing and hit a home
run with their star. People would look at KD. Paul
George would be a really good fit, and he's a
willing defender.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
He'd get to leave the West, which is loaded beyond belief,
and come the East to Paul George.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
It does. And the other thing about Paul is, you know,
whoever you bring into the Knicks does not have to
be the soul of it. When the Warriors brought in KD,
they had leaders. Yeah, they had a culture, just come
and hit shots. The Knicks aren't the Warriors, but similarly
the coach de vincenzo Og Brunson, Josh Hart, they've got
(13:59):
the culture and the toughness and the leadership. What they're
looking for is another catch and shoot guy on the
wing that Brunson doesn't have to carry the offensive load.
Brunson has proven he's a one and can carry the load.
But small guys ask to do that generally your hardens.
Steph Curry. You know, people will say what about Steph Curry,
(14:20):
But Steph Curry had clay then they brought in k D.
So he didn't really have this year. He had to
carry it and couldn't. So it's like New York has
to bring in somebody. But they're not asking somebody to
come in and be the foundation, the soul, the leader,
the talker. They don't need any of that. They need
twenty three a night from the wing and a guy
(14:42):
that's willing to defend. You can't have a finesse guy
that's not willing to defend. It will not work in
this culture. I mean, Luca defended this year. Most guys
want to win. Most guys are I mean Kad and
his prime was a willing defender. Lebron and his prime
was a great defender. Most guys are be sure.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
The live editions of The Herd weekdays and neon Easter
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Speaker 1 (15:08):
So the emerging star in the NBA who did not
have a good offensive day yesterday is Aunt Edwards. Ant
for short average twenty eight game, fifty percent, shooting thirty
seven percent from three good plus minus. He's a remarkably
dynamic player, but this year he got more refined. He
still has some ups and downs. By the way, I know,
there's video proof Michael Jordan did too. It's okay if
(15:30):
you average twenty eight a game in his series you're
a really good player. But one of the things, a
couple of things I really like about Aunt is he
has self awareness. He knew yesterday this was not his night,
so we decided to play defense at a high level.
And the other thing is winning is his priority. So
many young basketball players in this country confused being a
(15:53):
star with being a winner. Tom Brady was both Mahomes
is both Mahomes and Brady will a lot of star
quarterbacks that may not get that. Ant was having a really,
really bad shooting day and then he had a really
really great game because he committed to the other end
of the floor. And there are stars that have never
done that. And the NBA has always done a great
(16:14):
job to develop and market and promote stars, often through apparel,
and I applaud them for that. But sometimes those stars
get a lot of money in fame early and they
lose a sense of priorities. Jaw Morant Zion, just to
name a couple Ant hasn't. He's about winning basketball games,
(16:36):
highly competitive, wants to guard the other team's best player,
has an off shooting night, and says, all right, I
can do other things. By the way. Mahomes two Super
Bowls against the Niners. Four touchdowns, three picks. Hasn't been great,
but he's made big runs or big plays to hoist
a trophy. And that's what I like about Aunt. He's
(16:58):
gonna get his points. I'm not worried about that. I mean,
you can just see him pick Jamal Murray. He's a
superb athlete. But they's if somebody told me years ago
in the NBA, it's not about getting a star. You
get the wrong star, they'll set you back. It's about
getting the right star and the right stars. Like a Duncan,
like an MJ, like a magic They're not satisfied. They're
(17:22):
never content, and they're about winning, not their shoe deal,
not their brand. And Minnesota held Denver under one hundred points.
That's what they averaged in the four wins. That's insane.
Yoki Murray, Porter k C B and Ant was a
huge part of that, and here he is after.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
There's more ways to win a basketball game when you
just not when you're just not an offensive player. Man,
I'm not one dimension or I'm not just a guy
who can score. I'm a guy who can go whoever
they best guard is, I can go lock him down.
So I feel like I did that on Jamal in
the fourth quarter, and that's what in the third quarter
and fourth quarter, and that's what turned.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
The game around.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Absolutely did hard to dislike the Knicks, impossible to dislike
in my opinion and priorities. There is a difference between
star and a winner, and stars eventually win the great ones.
But there's a lot of a lot of guys that
are more into the brand and that's just not Ant's thing.
(18:20):
And it's great to see j Mack with a news.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
This is the Herdline news.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
All right, my man, We'll start with the Celtics Pacers
in the Eastern Conference Finals, Indiana stunning Game seven blowout
of the My mix, Boston's going to continue to be
without kristaffs porzingis for at least games one and two
of the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Why not rest him if you can for the whole series?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I mean probably the game plan.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I mean between Derek White, Tatum, Holiday, and Brown Al
Horford against a team that doesn't play defense. I mean,
Boston scored at will against Indiana and the games they met,
you don't need to play them.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
The only question is, you know, what are they going
to do to defend Sam because he he went off.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
No, he's good. He's good. He was good in Toronto,
he's good here.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
He's a good player.
Speaker 6 (19:07):
I guess you could put brown on him, like, I mean,
giving up a little size. But they they've got matchup abilities.
I'm I'm not that worried about them playing without porzinga singer.
Miles Turner wants to shoot threes.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Now, Halliburton was great yesterday and and Siakam's good. They've
got two star players, and then they've got some length
Miles Turner. But there's limitations to this roster. You know,
they're not a team that showed a great deal of
mental strength until Game seven, when they had one of
the best halves of offensive basketball. Now, again, this is
not a shot at the Pacers. A lot of this
was the Knicks had no size and everybody was worn down.
(19:40):
The wheels came off the next I think we were
all surprised that just you kind of like felt in
the second half of the last game, You're like, the
Knicks are just running out of fuel, They're on empty.
But I don't think it's a particularly good matchup for Indiana,
I really do. I mean, here's Boston, well rested, ready
to go. Dominated the regular season top five offensive defense
team against an Indiana team that is like when you
(20:02):
watch TV and can notice, Wow, that team gives up
easy looks almost every time down the floor. Indiana just
does not put pressure on you. You can get great looks.
Boston as a tremendous offensive team on most nights, I
think they fly through it.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Indiana was basically, oh, we got to stop Brunton and
there was like no one else to worry about it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
And even in Game seven it was reasonably close.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Third quarter.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I think they cut it to like five bucks.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, Like I was sitting, I'm like, no, there's no
way they can win.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
And then Indiana put in TJ. McConnell and it was
game over. It's not gonna work against Boston. I'm not
putting down the pace. Is this the reality? So series
starts tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
If we seeded teams, I would go, I mean, I'll
say this, I would go Minnesota one, Boston to Dallas three,
Indiana four. I mean the way they beat the way
they beat Minnesota, or the way they beat Denver, holding
them on average to under one hundred points in their
four wins, that it wasn't just beating then. It was
(21:00):
like taking the best player in the league in that
offense and shutting it down.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
For the thing, the one thing that's been underplayed is
the familiarity they had.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
They built that Denver team. Okay, they knew the flaws.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
The coaching staff was with all of them like it
was a unique situation. It was almost like they built
this Minnesota team to match up with Denver and it
was mission accomplished.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
We beat him this year.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
I don't know that that applies to Dallas. But Celtic
sweep or a gentleman sweep.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Well, I mean Indiana at home is good, so they'll win.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
They almost lost Game three to the Knicks and they
were down oh two.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
It was like just again TI game thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Indiana should be happy they won. They showed mental toughness,
They had a great first half. But some of this
stuff styles make fights. This is not a great matchup
for Indiana. They cannot make stops and Boston's not only
a significantly better defensive team, they're a better offensive team.
I mean Derek White is He's good? Yeah, I mean
(21:57):
when Derek White's your number four or five scoring option,
Indiana's Introth.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Does this remind you of the Hawks?
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Remember with Trey Young, they stunned the Sixers in Game seven,
get to the conference finals, Boston dispatches them, and Hawks
have not been back. Right, this feels like a charmed
road for Indiana. Yes it was, and yes you know.
Next up, let's go to the Phoenix Suns column. We
keep talking about trading Kevin Durant. You seem to want
again book Booker out of town. We know Bill has
(22:24):
the no trade. Well after their playoff exit, James Jones,
the GM of the Suns, is shutting down the narrative,
saying those guys aren't going anywhere. Speaking of their big three,
those guys are part of the solution, They're part of
the answer. Now we've crunched the numbers and the Sun's
big three their cap hit.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Are you ready for this?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Durant fifty one mil, Bill fifty mil, Booker forty nine mil.
I think you have to make a move, highest combined
cap hit of any trio in the league.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
And they need three things. They need a true point guard.
Bill not it, Booker's not it. They need more of
a bench, and they could use more size. I mean,
when you you don't think Denver's going to be coming back.
You think Denver's just gonna wilt away. Minnesota's here. You
look at the size now of Dallas because of those
two trade deadline moves. Yeah, those teams are big, by
the way, the Lakers are big. They'll make moves. So
(23:19):
you know, I look at this and I think, you
know it's it's it's okay to take big swings and
miss It's okay. I mean in the NFL, I mean
you you. I mean Washington one year drafted RG three
and Kirk Cousins one missed, one didn't and they were
still for a few years with Kirk viable. So it's
(23:39):
like to me, it's okay. It took big swings. But
like if you look at the cap hits, the duplication
of what they do and their needs, why run it back?
Speaker 6 (23:48):
The only question is if you're Butenholzer, are you taking
this job? If Kevin Durant's not going to be there,
like he probably got assurances like I'm not taking this
if I'm not getting Kadi.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
How do we know that Budenholzer didn't sit with the
owner and the owner said, what would you do to
change things? That's Drake, and he would say, yeah, I
would move this piece. Like I think Booker is a
very good player, he hasn't proven to be the kind
of guy that can lead a foundational piece to lead
a franchise. They were no good before Chris Paul got there,
and Booker was great. So I think I think Booker's
(24:19):
a great two I don't know. I just I watched
the way Minnesota is constructed, and they have all the pieces,
and what I see with Phoenix is like one piece
mid range shooters, Like you need a point, Go find
your Mike Conley, Go find your nas Reed, go get
a bench.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
Well, so it's funny you mentioned Booker and Anthony Edwards
colin two months ago. If we said Booker Anthony Edwards,
it's Booker probably universally, I don't think it's even close. Now,
Anthony Edwards just looks like a vastly superior play.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
No, No, he's a he's a much better athlete.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
His defense on Jamal Murray totally to like shooting or yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
No, and and I mean I think the question and
his aunt greater than Jason Tatum, and Tatum's clearly better
than Booker. Is a two way player, and I think
the answer is yes. I think the mentality is there
any Luca.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
I mean, at this point, you're putting Ant like top one.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, I think I think Luca Is could end up
if he played for twenty years as the league's second
leading scorer all time. Luca is a different player than
Ant aunt Ant is more Jordan. Luca is just more.
He's like Dirk with girth. He's just gonna score for
twenty years.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, huh, all right, final story Buffalo Bills. Let's get
to the NFL.
Speaker 6 (25:34):
A lot of questions. Remember they dumped a bunch of
veterans on that defense. Some offensive line issues. Stefan Diggs
got traded. Well, New Dolphin safety Jordan Poyer. You may
remember him from Buffalo. He was one of the cast offs.
He is raving about Josh Allen at a charity softball
game in Buffalo.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
And allowed to grow as a person as a player, Teams, coaches,
every man.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
I love that other moment of it. Sorry, but you
got the best quarterback in the league.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, what's he supposed to say? Mahomes is the best quarterback.
This guy behind me is number two. Kind of trapped,
aren't you?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You don't have to say the best.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
You can say the toughest, smartest, grittiest, coolest.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Yeah, he's at best.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
For all the sellers on the Buffalo Bills, I will
remind you you sold all your stock on the Rams,
and we said, if you have a good coach and
a great quarterback in a pass rush in this league
and just like a good weapon, you'll be fine. Buffalo's fine.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
You're sure about that right now?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Buffalo is going to win ten eleven, twelve, thirteen games.
They're fine.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
They're fine, ten eleven twelve Okay, I'm losing counter And
how many starters they lost on defense?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
And those were very expensive good players. How do you
know they didn't replace them with great young talent in
the draft. They lost a lot of good players. You know,
Stemon Diggs was a very good player. I don't think
he's Devonte Adams or Jamar Chase. They lost good player.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Phill's going to the season.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
Here's their top three receivers, Khalil Shaker, Keyon Coleman the rookie,
and Curtis Samuel coming behind them mvs. Drop King, we
know him, and then Chase Claypool. Oh my god, what
a disaster. This might be the worst receiving core in
the league.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Find me a worse one.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
How about James Cook at running back, Kim cad and
Dawson Knox at tighter a better offensive line than the
years before. Yeah, I think they're gonna be just fine.
I think that receiving corps. If Chase Claypool is your
five eurokay.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Chase Capook could be out of the league in six months.
I'm not even kidding, Colin.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Josh Allen's gonna have to turn into like Superman, William
and every superhero ever to carry this team to eleven wins.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Chamack with the news.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Colin right, Colin wrong, top of Next Hour. You know,
I've been on this for a few years that I
think the NFL has pivoted to an offensive league. That
does not mean that you have to be You can
be bad defensively. I thought the Chiefs defense really won
the Super Bowl. Mahomes hoist the trophy, but it was
the defense and spags that really carried them through most
(28:30):
of the regular season. You can't be terrible atrocious defensively.
You have to be at least situationally good, you have
to have a pass rush. And I say that because
in the NBA they're taking a little bit of a
hand from the NFL in terms of defense and what
the league has become. And it's interesting and we'll talk
(28:51):
about that next. When you travel, do security concerns back
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Speaker 2 (29:12):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and newone Eastern a Empacific.
Speaker 9 (29:16):
Paulli Foosco here with Tony Fusco, you know, as the
host of the number one rated paul and Toni Fusco show.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day,
piles of it.
Speaker 6 (29:26):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 9 (29:29):
Hey, listen to this, Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terribly not that wait, why
open this other one? Deea Pauli in Toni you suck
more than anyone. Wait, try this one, Dear Paulie and Tony,
you guys are the absolute best.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
There you go, coming up with the stupidest take. Forget it.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
Just listen to the Polly and Tony Fusco Show on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah,
catch an al Central showdown as the Detroit take on
the Kansas City Royals and all against tonight at seven
thirty eastern ons one.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
So the four teams left Jmax think about this, Minnesota
best defensive team in the league, exhibited that, shutting down
the Nuggets multiple times four times in the series, Boston
top five defensive team, and Dallas, which because of two
moves at the trade deadline, is now an excellent defensive team.
(30:28):
So ten of the top eleven scorers in the NBA
had been eliminated, Lebron's out, Mitchell Donovan, Mitchell, Dame Booker,
and beat Ten of the top eleven scores are out.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
It may not produce great television ratings, but it's producing,
in my opinion, great intense playoff basketball. So a lot
of television ratings are based on market size and star
power and ants, not quite there yet to be as
known across the country as he is. Maybe in the
midwestern Minnesota that'll just keep growing. But I would say
(31:08):
what you learn about the NFL is you got to
have a star quarterback and hopefully an offensive coach that helps,
but you got to be at least able to stop
people in big spots. The Kansas City Chiefs, as I
said earlier, won a championship mostly led by their defense.
If you go to Patrick Mahomes and his first year
as a starter, he had fifty touchdowns and they didn't
(31:30):
win the Super Bowl. The following year he had twenty
six and they did okay, So he had half the
touchdown passes and they won the Super Bowl. So the
Pacers really, in my opinion, have no shot to win
the championship. I think they have two really really good players,
they have a good coach, they have a nice bench,
they play with tempo. But you're talking about three elite
(31:51):
defensive teams who can also score, and one really nice
offensive team that doesn't play a lick at defense. Even yesterday,
the game was really more about the Knicks getting hurt
and the Pacers on fire offensively in the first half.
That really was the story of the game. So I
think the worst basketball game that is played all season
(32:13):
in professional basketball is the All Star Game. Unwatchable. To me,
the NBA All Star Game is completely unwatchable, a garbage,
hot mess, awful. Nobody defends. I think these playoff games
are incredible. I think they're intense, they're grueling, there's bodies
on the floor. Anytime you allow physicality, it gets chippier.
(32:33):
Chippy basketball can be fun. The other thing is defense
is more reliable than offense because defense is mostly about
effort and toughness, and you can bring that to the
arena every night. Offense is finicky. Even great offensive players
and struggled yesterday, Booker can have bad nights. Luca had
a six for twenty, Kyrie disappeared for a couple of
(32:55):
playoff games. So even the greatest offensive players, believe it
or not, Jordan and Byrd had really bad offensive playoff games.
Byrd never lost his toughness or his ability to get
on the floor for a loose ball. And so three
of these four teams, it's sustainable. To me, toughness, grit,
and defense is sustainable. I've said this about Jordan's Bulls teams.
(33:17):
I think all things considered, they would beat the Warriors
team with even the Durant team. Now there's different rules
in different eras, but the Bulls were one of the great,
if not the greatest defensive team I ever saw, based
on all ball defense and length and toughness and coaching.
And the Warriors were good in spots but had holes
mostly Steph. So I think the defense in the NBA,
(33:40):
it's very clear that, you know, the All Star Game
the last couple of years has been totally embarrassing to
the league. They're embarrassed by it, and so they have
made around the All Star Game this year and that
ridiculous you know, shoot fest, just garbage basketball, three point shooting, dunking.
The league was embarrassed and started tweaking the rules in
(34:02):
terms of physicality, and they let the league get more
physical and the league got better and the games are great.
You're not gonna see the results necessarily in the ratings,
because again, Minnesota's not a huge brand. Denver isn't a
huge brand. Okay, Sees not a huge brand. Pacers are okay,
but it's basically the Celtics and cross your fingers on ratings.
I don't think it'll rate particularly well. But I'll argue
(34:25):
with anybody about the quality of basketball, and I think
it's been substantially better than in recent years. It's not
chippy and ugly offensively like the Pacers Nicks back in
the Reggie Miller days. That was a lot of overrated basketball.
This is chippy with great offensive skill all over the floor.
(34:45):
So the European players have added length and skill and maturity,
and so the game is gifted offensively. But there's just
so many big guys that can run intofen right now.
You don't need a handcheck. There's just great athleticism all
over the league. So I find the games highly entertaining,
but ratings are a byproduct of a lot of things
(35:06):
at its three non brands here left.
Speaker 6 (35:09):
By the way, you're stat about the scores being out
as crazy, I'll try to one up you. So of
the fifteen highest paid players in the NBA, only one
is left, and his name is Rudy Gobert, a defensive player.
It feels like we're going through a weird shift now,
Colin in the league. I can't put my finger on it,
but something's going on. Whether it's the new luxury tax,
(35:29):
second Apron stuff. They're trying to wipe out super teams,
and people are overpaying for offense. They don't have much
else on some of these superstar teams.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, I also think what happens when a league gets
smarter and harder to build a super team? Who wins
the smarter front offices? So Minnesota really smart front office? Denver, Boston,
Brad Stevens. I mean Indiana's put together, get Siakam. I
think the Lakers have sometimes felt like they take some swings,
(36:02):
but they're just cycling through coaches now kind of controlled
by Lebron So I think whenever, like baseball, when baseball
get got very analytical, it punishes teams like the Mets
that have a lot of money, but we never think
they're brilliantly constructed. The Braves keep winning, the Dodgers keep winning,
like the well run teams have flourished in the analytics era.
(36:27):
If they're willing to pony up some dough but money alone.
Padres have money and the Mets have money, it's not
gonna do it. By the way, we're getting into a
more analytic NFL over the last five to six years.
Who's bad? Both New York franchises. We don't view them
as very well run. Who remains excellent Green Bay McVeigh,
(36:51):
Shanahan and the Reid. So when the league gets more analytical,
I think all sports are getting smarter, and it's rewarding smart.
It's punishing people that rely on money. It's okay to
have money. The Dodgers have money, but Andrew Friedman is
one of the sharpest guys in the sport. Okay, Atlanta's
(37:14):
got a ton of money. They've always had a tremendous
since John Scherhold's tremendous minor league system. So you need
some money. But the New York football teams have reached
taken big switch. I mean, we've said this about the
Knicks the last two years, and I think James Dolan,
who could be a medaling owner because he built the
(37:35):
Sphere in Vegas. For the last two to three years,
James Dolan has spent a lot of time in Vegas
on this wonderful, wonderful music sphere, right, it's one of
the most amazing things in the world. He stayed away
from basketball and they brought in people to run basketball.
So you get the Knicks brand and the Knicks money
(37:56):
and their capital and you get really a smart, no meddling,
non distracted front office. And so I think when you
start looking at basketball right now, Dallas made really aggressive
moves at the deadline, really smart moves paid off. Minnesota
has Denver's former GM. Denver is still Oklahoma City with
(38:17):
Sam Presty, one of the smartest guys in the sport. So,
by the way, that's why I give Golden State. I
think Golden State will figure it out. Phoenix just brought
in a rich guy and it didn't work. So money
is wonderful, but you should have the millionaire next door
mindset analytics is creating. There's always been a have and
have nots in sports between the rich and the big
(38:40):
markets and the small markets. That's always existed. Now because
of analytics, in all these sports, there is a gap
between the intellectual hals and the big wallets or the
sloppy have knots, And some of those sloppies are in
medium to small markets.
Speaker 6 (38:56):
It's almost like the NFL with the quarterback situation that
you've been talking about. Just because the last quarterback that
got a deal made fifty three mil, that doesn't mean too.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Was getting fifth.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
That doesn't mean DA's doing that. And I bring this
up because Clay Thompson is going to be an interesting
test case. Somebody's just gonna throw dumb money at him
and pay him thirty five mili and he ain't a
thirty five million dollar guy.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Somebody smart would say, Clay, we'd love to have you
for fifteen to twenty million.
Speaker 6 (39:20):
Yeah, and he's gonna turn up his nose and go
for somebody chasing big money, which I don't have any
I think that's smart by him, but a team that
does that's probably going to be on the dumb side. Right.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah, I think you said the league is pivoting. One
of the pivots is obvious. European players are now the
best players in the league. We are our AAU system
is fundamentally hurting the growth of our young players. Tatum
and ant Booker feel like outliers, great domestic players, and
this draft has more excellent European players. The best players,
(39:50):
probably a European top two guys probably are going to
be from France. Right, So that's the first thing we're seeing.
We are seeing explosion, a globalization of basketball. The best
players now Europeans because their system is better than our
au crappy system, which is about getting the bag and
Tony tracksuit coach and in a million games garbage. The
second thing we're seeing emerging the league is more skilled
(40:13):
because it's more Europeans. So these guys come in having
played with older players. The bigs can shoot, they can
stretch the floor. And I think the third thing is
the analytic nature of basketball is rewarding the smartest people
in the game. And so I think and you're seeing it.
I mean, we always worried in this league. Oh, big
market Minnesota, Denver, okc Indiana were the big markets. I mean,
(40:36):
Boston is it. But Boston's also well run. They've been
stealing draft picks from people forever. So it's these teams
that are left. They all have one thing in common.
They're really well run. They're smart teams that made smart moves.
Dallas made big trade deadline move. Everybody thought that Nix
and the Lakers should Dallas did, and you literally have
(40:59):
a different team. They don't look like the Mavericks in
December because they're not the Mavericks in They.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
All four of their games against Minnesota were before the
trade deadline, so Minnesota hasn't seen the PJ. Washington, Daniel Gafford,
they haven't seen this version of Dallas.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
I think it's gonna be a great series.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I actually the staff knows this more than anything in sports.
My favorite part of sports, this is why I love
the NFL Draft, is the cultural changes. We can break
down games all you want. Any dummy can break down
a game on a Monday, But to look at sports
beyond on the macro level thirty thousand feet, there are
real changes. They happened in baseball about eight to ten
(41:38):
years ago. They're happening in basketball now for the last
three and all the smart dudes are being rewarded Minnesota, OKC, Indiana,
and Boston. They're being rewarded our two Colin right, wrong, 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
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
All right, it is a Monday, and there is a
lie to talk about. It's the hurt. Wherever you may
be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day, Jamak. You know, there was
a time during the basketball season that you sort of
knew who would end up in the finals, given the
Shack Kobe time. You can go back to the sixties.
(00:48):
It was Bill Russell and the Celtics every year. But
that is not this time. That was quite a serious
What a Sunday of basketball college teams would.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I'm stunned, still stunned.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I think that's the first time that's ever happened. Minnesota, Dallas, Indiana, Pacers,
Celtics of the Final four. So in the eighties and
in the nineties and in the early two thousands, in
the twenty tens, we had dynasties. We had dynasties. It
could be the Pistons, or it could be the Celtics
with Larry Bird and additional pieces. It could be MJ.
(01:23):
It could be the Spurs with Tim Duncan, Kobe and Shaq. Lakers,
there was the Magic Kareem Lakers. The Heatles got close
to being a dynasty, and then of course the Warriors
dominated a decade, getting to the finals many times, and
those days now are apparently over. Welcome to twenty nineteen
and beyond. We will have the sixth NBA champion in
(01:46):
six years now. I think the NBA has more talent
than it's ever had, especially European talent. A lot of
good bigs, but it's spread out throughout the league. What
you saw yesterday does not happen much. A defending champ
with the best player in the world at home of
evaporating in the second half, it just doesn't happen. You
(02:11):
got the best player, you got a good staff, you're
defending champs. Most of us think you have the best team.
And they just dried up Denver multiple times in this series.
Just got embarrassed. The first two games of this series.
They were pushed around they lost three or four at home,
and let's be honest, yesterday offense third quarter dried up.
(02:33):
The Tea Wolves deserve the credit. A lot of this
is the construct, the construction of the roster. It's really
good two bigs one a defender, want to score, a
dynamic emerging superstar on the wing, good bench, letticism, length,
high IQ veteran point guard. So a guy named Tim
(02:55):
Connelly built Denver's roster to a championship level, then took
a better gig with Minnesota and very intentionally built a
roster to beat the roster he built to thwart Jokic,
and in some instances he did. The te Wolves are
very intentionally built. When they came in with two bigs,
(03:18):
one all defense, the other great offense. You know, you
start looking from naz Reid on. They're really built with
a purpose. You know a lot of times you watch
NBA teams Phoenix and there's just duplication everywhere. There's not here.
I do think offensively, they probably have to look at
getting another dependable a Pippin to MJ and somebody beyond
(03:42):
him when he has those rare off shooting nights. But
the Nuggets now still a very good team. The game
went down to the wire, game went to seven, but
they have to go back to the drawing board. Gordon
didn't give them anything offensively. Jamal Murray was very very
good early, not as much. La Jokic needs help. They
need a better bench, so they'll be fine, but we
(04:05):
have to go back to the drawing board. It tells
you how well constructed the Tea Wolves are. That Ant
really played poorly offensively yesterday and they still rolled over
the champs on the road. That's about roster construction that
Ant doesn't have to And this was always the key
with Jordan's Bulls. Michael on most nights was not only
(04:28):
the best player, but would hit the big shot. But
it was when they got a packson or a cur or,
a coup coach. They got Rodman who had a specialty.
It wasn't just about Pippin. It was Phil Jackson understanding
that you need elements to a championship team, and Denver
had those last year. But with the emergence of Ant,
who is now a better player and an elite defender,
(04:50):
Denver did not have enough. So we will have the
sixth champ in sixth seasons. The eighties and the nineties
and the early two thousands are over. Of the four left, Boston, Indiana, Dallas,
and Minnesota, I feel like, based on roster construction, Minnesota
and Boston play for the championship. Here are some thoughts
(05:11):
after how hard is it just to absorb a loss
like this after going ahead by twenty? Next question, Man,
the season's over.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
That's what's hard being up twenty season's over.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
You don't understand that the season's over.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
It's hard.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Stupid ask questions.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
I think they're built to beat us in someone and
just look at the roster. They have basically two all stars,
two probably the first defensive players in the Mike Ony,
who's the most underrated player in the NBA. Probably, I mean,
I love the guy. He's so good. One team that
he They can do a little, little, literally everything. They
(05:55):
can be big small.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So congrats to the t Wolves, certainly earned. Denver is
not reeling, just beaten by a really smartly constructed team
with an emerging superstar. All right. The only people more
disappointed than nick fans that they lost in Game seven
at home to Indiana was ESPN apparently, but I get it.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
New York.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Boston is what the NBA needed it felt big. The
late John Madden used to say, some games just sound big,
you know, Packers Bears. Even if one team isn't great,
it sounds big. Nick's Celtics sounded big. But New York
fell apart. I know, I know it's an excuse. Not really.
(06:42):
It's sometimes there's an excuse dog ate my homework, and
then sometimes there's a reason, you know, the school boss
got into a wreck. I think New York's the better team.
They fell apart. Brunson, og, Julius Randall, Mitchell Robinson for
their top seven players hurt. But there's also you know,
you got Defangenzo. Now catch and shoot guy, you can't
(07:04):
get it rid of him. I think the Knicks have
a very interesting dilemma. It's a good dilemma to have.
They have a culture and they didn't forever. And I
think they have the coach who sets the culture like
he did in Chicago Tips. So that's the good news.
They were just a aimless, wandering franchise, reaching on talent,
getting stars that weren't committed beyond themselves. The New York
(07:27):
Knicks have a culture, and a lot of it is
the Villanova guys led by Jalen Brunson. But they also tough, gritty, physical,
They're not skilled enough. Milwaukee next year is better, Sixers
have cap space, they'll be better. Cleveland could make a
big deal and get better. The East isn't very good
(07:47):
and the Knicks fell apart, and that is a big
reason why they lost. They were a better team. I
thought when healthy, they just fell apart. Once og goes
down early Brunson, it just now is that Tibbs. Is
that what they'll be going out? They need depth and
they do need another highly skilled star, but you better
(08:09):
get the right one. And that's why it's a delicate balance.
For years, the Knicks were impatient. Now they're patient. For
years they had fake stars. Now they have a real one.
For years, they could have great nights, but you didn't
think there was a great soul or depth to it.
Check check they have both. Can they get a Paul
George kd probably fits, but does he emotionally? And that's
(08:32):
the challenge for the Knicks. And I think they're up
to it because I think they finally got the front
office in order. Don't screw with the culture, don't screw
with the toughness, do not take the ball out of
the hands of Jalen Brunson. But you also have to
be honest and admit Dame and Jannis both got hurt,
and Beid got hurt, Jimmy Butler got hurt, the Hole
(08:55):
East got hurt, and Boston's going nowhere at least this
year and next year they'll have a much better roster
offensively and defensively. It's a great year. Pacers probably not
quite built to beat Boston. Boston played them five times
this year and average one hundred and twenty nine points.
New York if healthy, I think could have really challenged
(09:16):
the Celtics. Maybe not beaten them, maybe, but they would
have challenged them. I don't think Indiana can. But the
key to the Knicks here get a star. Don't screw
with the culture. It's going to take patience and thought
and self awareness, and I think they have it. Here's
Brunson after.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I think we were making positive strides. We just need
to make more.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
So.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I love this group of guys that we have and
just like I said before, their mindset, our mindset as
a group was strong, and some nights when we may
have not had what people the thought was a team
capable of winning. Our mindset pushes over that hump, and
(10:02):
definitely proud of what we were able to do this
year and proud of how we fought night in, night out.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Listen. Talent skill eventually get your titles, but Heat culture
has gotten you to finals when you probably didn't have
the skill. So the Warriors had a culture. The Heat
have had it with Spolster and pat Riley forever, one
of the stronger cultures in the league. They look and
(10:26):
play differently than everybody else. Is the Knicks tweak? It
add some skill, But I would take this season despite
that loss, over any over the last twenty and not
just because you got to within the game of the
Eastern Conference finals. What you found and created and built
had been missing since pat Riley coached depth, a soul,
(10:51):
a style like you go home. You're watching Nick fans
do the heart sign on their shirt. This team was
impossible not to love. At another piece, you may love
them even more so. J mack. Our final four is interesting.
You have the two best closers, probably Luka Kyrie. The
(11:12):
best constructed roster may be Minnesota. The team we keep
waiting to hoist a trophy, Boston, but we're getting impatient
and a young, fun, offensive, high tempo team in Indiana
that feels like the fourth of four can't defend at
an elite level like the other three. Dallas now an
elite defensive team. Boston is Minnesota. Indiana's all offense, and
(11:35):
I do feel like they if they were receding this,
they would be they would be the four.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
Yeah, I think we both think Boston's decide for sure.
The question is who wins Minnesota Dallas. You don't have
to give away your pick this early.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Will say tough series.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Those trade deadline moves by Dallas. If they don't make those,
this is a blowout. Those Now they've got size PJ. Washington.
Now they have a little depth, they have a front line.
It's an interesting series and they have Minnesota can struggle
at times offensively. Dallas has two great fourth quarter closers.
So if Dallas, if Dallas can keep games close, you
(12:11):
know you like their chances with Luke and Kyrie down
the stretch.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
Let me ask to put a bowl in the next season.
You just said you love the philosophy. We talked about it.
They're hard nos they played great, but do they have
to tweak it a little bit? Colin because Thibodeau grinds
his dudes into dust. And we've seen it before. He
was in Chicago, played Luel Dang like every minute of
every game, and like at twenty eight, Dang.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Was cooked, his career was over.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I don't want to see that with Brunson. This next team.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
I think they have to tell tibodauh hey, Paul George
ain't gonna want to come here and play forty minutes ago.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Kd's not gonna want to come here, right.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Remember, if they didn't face all the injuries, the minutes
would have been more evenly distributed. A lot of this
as two of their bigs, Randall and Mitchell Robinson. Now
then Og gets hurt, so some of this was circumstantial.
They're big, a lot of bigs, a lot of bullies
got hurt for them. You also have draft picks. I
would love to see them make some moves on Randall, Bogdanovich.
(13:08):
They can do this, right, they can move it. They
have cat flexibility or workable contracts. They have draft picks.
I think they need more depth. I don't think. I
don't think they have to swing and hit a home
run with their star. People would look at KD. Paul
George would be a really good fit, and he's a
willing defender.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
He'd get to leave the West, which is loaded beyond belief,
and come the East to Paul George.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
It does. And the other thing about Paul is, you know,
whoever you bring into the Knicks does not have to
be the soul of it. When the Warriors brought in KD,
they had leaders. Yeah, they had a culture, just come
and hit shots. The Knicks aren't the Warriors, but similarly
the coach de vincenzo Og Brunson, Josh Hart, they've got
(13:59):
the culture and the toughness and the leadership. What they're
looking for is another catch and shoot guy on the
wing that Brunson doesn't have to carry the offensive load.
Brunson has proven he's a one and can carry the load.
But small guys ask to do that generally your hardens.
Steph Curry. You know, people will say what about Steph Curry,
(14:20):
But Steph Curry had clay then they brought in k D.
So he didn't really have this year. He had to
carry it and couldn't. So it's like New York has
to bring in somebody. But they're not asking somebody to
come in and be the foundation, the soul, the leader,
the talker. They don't need any of that. They need
twenty three a night from the wing and a guy
(14:42):
that's willing to defend. You can't have a finesse guy
that's not willing to defend. It will not work in
this culture. I mean, Luca defended this year. Most guys
want to win. Most guys are I mean Kad and
his prime was a willing defender. Lebron and his prime
was a great defender. Most guys are be sure.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
The live editions of The Herd weekdays and neon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So the emerging star in the NBA who did not
have a good offensive day yesterday is Aunt Edwards. Ant
for short average twenty eight game, fifty percent, shooting thirty
seven percent from three good plus minus. He's a remarkably
dynamic player, but this year he got more refined. He
still has some ups and downs. By the way, I know,
there's video proof Michael Jordan did too. It's okay if
(15:30):
you average twenty eight a game in his series you're
a really good player. But one of the things, a
couple of things I really like about Aunt is he
has self awareness. He knew yesterday this was not his night,
so we decided to play defense at a high level.
And the other thing is winning is his priority. So
many young basketball players in this country confused being a
(15:53):
star with being a winner. Tom Brady was both Mahomes
is both Mahomes and Brady will a lot of star
quarterbacks that may not get that. Ant was having a really,
really bad shooting day and then he had a really
really great game because he committed to the other end
of the floor. And there are stars that have never
done that. And the NBA has always done a great
(16:14):
job to develop and market and promote stars, often through apparel,
and I applaud them for that. But sometimes those stars
get a lot of money in fame early and they
lose a sense of priorities. Jaw Morant Zion, just to
name a couple Ant hasn't. He's about winning basketball games,
(16:36):
highly competitive, wants to guard the other team's best player,
has an off shooting night, and says, all right, I
can do other things. By the way. Mahomes two Super
Bowls against the Niners. Four touchdowns, three picks. Hasn't been great,
but he's made big runs or big plays to hoist
a trophy. And that's what I like about Aunt. He's
(16:58):
gonna get his points. I'm not worried about that. I mean,
you can just see him pick Jamal Murray. He's a
superb athlete. But they's if somebody told me years ago
in the NBA, it's not about getting a star. You
get the wrong star, they'll set you back. It's about
getting the right star and the right stars. Like a Duncan,
like an MJ, like a magic They're not satisfied. They're
(17:22):
never content, and they're about winning, not their shoe deal,
not their brand. And Minnesota held Denver under one hundred points.
That's what they averaged in the four wins. That's insane.
Yoki Murray, Porter k C B and Ant was a
huge part of that, and here he is after.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
There's more ways to win a basketball game when you
just not when you're just not an offensive player. Man,
I'm not one dimension or I'm not just a guy
who can score. I'm a guy who can go whoever
they best guard is, I can go lock him down.
So I feel like I did that on Jamal in
the fourth quarter, and that's what in the third quarter
and fourth quarter, and that's what turned.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
The game around.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Absolutely did hard to dislike the Knicks, impossible to dislike
in my opinion and priorities. There is a difference between
star and a winner, and stars eventually win the great ones.
But there's a lot of a lot of guys that
are more into the brand and that's just not Ant's thing.
(18:20):
And it's great to see j Mack with a news.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
This is the Herdline news.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
All right, my man, We'll start with the Celtics Pacers
in the Eastern Conference Finals, Indiana stunning Game seven blowout
of the My mix, Boston's going to continue to be
without kristaffs porzingis for at least games one and two
of the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Why not rest him if you can for the whole series?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I mean probably the game plan.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I mean between Derek White, Tatum, Holiday, and Brown Al
Horford against a team that doesn't play defense. I mean,
Boston scored at will against Indiana and the games they met,
you don't need to play them.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
The only question is, you know, what are they going
to do to defend Sam because he he went off.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
No, he's good. He's good. He was good in Toronto,
he's good here.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
He's a good player.
Speaker 6 (19:07):
I guess you could put brown on him, like, I mean,
giving up a little size. But they they've got matchup abilities.
I'm I'm not that worried about them playing without porzinga singer.
Miles Turner wants to shoot threes.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Now, Halliburton was great yesterday and and Siakam's good. They've
got two star players, and then they've got some length
Miles Turner. But there's limitations to this roster. You know,
they're not a team that showed a great deal of
mental strength until Game seven, when they had one of
the best halves of offensive basketball. Now, again, this is
not a shot at the Pacers. A lot of this
was the Knicks had no size and everybody was worn down.
(19:40):
The wheels came off the next I think we were
all surprised that just you kind of like felt in
the second half of the last game, You're like, the
Knicks are just running out of fuel, They're on empty.
But I don't think it's a particularly good matchup for Indiana,
I really do. I mean, here's Boston, well rested, ready
to go. Dominated the regular season top five offensive defense
team against an Indiana team that is like when you
(20:02):
watch TV and can notice, Wow, that team gives up
easy looks almost every time down the floor. Indiana just
does not put pressure on you. You can get great looks.
Boston as a tremendous offensive team on most nights, I
think they fly through it.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Indiana was basically, oh, we got to stop Brunton and
there was like no one else to worry about it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
And even in Game seven it was reasonably close.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Third quarter.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I think they cut it to like five bucks.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, Like I was sitting, I'm like, no, there's no
way they can win.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
And then Indiana put in TJ. McConnell and it was
game over. It's not gonna work against Boston. I'm not
putting down the pace. Is this the reality? So series
starts tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
If we seeded teams, I would go, I mean, I'll
say this, I would go Minnesota one, Boston to Dallas three,
Indiana four. I mean the way they beat the way
they beat Minnesota, or the way they beat Denver, holding
them on average to under one hundred points in their
four wins, that it wasn't just beating then. It was
(21:00):
like taking the best player in the league in that
offense and shutting it down.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
For the thing, the one thing that's been underplayed is
the familiarity they had.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
They built that Denver team. Okay, they knew the flaws.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
The coaching staff was with all of them like it
was a unique situation. It was almost like they built
this Minnesota team to match up with Denver and it
was mission accomplished.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
We beat him this year.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
I don't know that that applies to Dallas. But Celtic
sweep or a gentleman sweep.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Well, I mean Indiana at home is good, so they'll win.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
They almost lost Game three to the Knicks and they
were down oh two.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
It was like just again TI game thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Indiana should be happy they won. They showed mental toughness,
They had a great first half. But some of this
stuff styles make fights. This is not a great matchup
for Indiana. They cannot make stops and Boston's not only
a significantly better defensive team, they're a better offensive team.
I mean Derek White is He's good? Yeah, I mean
(21:57):
when Derek White's your number four or five scoring option,
Indiana's Introth.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Does this remind you of the Hawks?
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Remember with Trey Young, they stunned the Sixers in Game seven,
get to the conference finals, Boston dispatches them, and Hawks
have not been back. Right, this feels like a charmed
road for Indiana. Yes it was, and yes you know.
Next up, let's go to the Phoenix Suns column. We
keep talking about trading Kevin Durant. You seem to want
again book Booker out of town. We know Bill has
(22:24):
the no trade. Well after their playoff exit, James Jones,
the GM of the Suns, is shutting down the narrative,
saying those guys aren't going anywhere. Speaking of their big three,
those guys are part of the solution, They're part of
the answer. Now we've crunched the numbers and the Sun's
big three their cap hit.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Are you ready for this?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Durant fifty one mil, Bill fifty mil, Booker forty nine mil.
I think you have to make a move, highest combined
cap hit of any trio in the league.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
And they need three things. They need a true point guard.
Bill not it, Booker's not it. They need more of
a bench, and they could use more size. I mean,
when you you don't think Denver's going to be coming back.
You think Denver's just gonna wilt away. Minnesota's here. You
look at the size now of Dallas because of those
two trade deadline moves. Yeah, those teams are big, by
the way, the Lakers are big. They'll make moves. So
(23:19):
you know, I look at this and I think, you
know it's it's it's okay to take big swings and
miss It's okay. I mean in the NFL, I mean
you you. I mean Washington one year drafted RG three
and Kirk Cousins one missed, one didn't and they were
still for a few years with Kirk viable. So it's
(23:39):
like to me, it's okay. It took big swings. But
like if you look at the cap hits, the duplication
of what they do and their needs, why run it back?
Speaker 6 (23:48):
The only question is if you're Butenholzer, are you taking
this job? If Kevin Durant's not going to be there,
like he probably got assurances like I'm not taking this
if I'm not getting Kadi.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
How do we know that Budenholzer didn't sit with the
owner and the owner said, what would you do to
change things? That's Drake, and he would say, yeah, I
would move this piece. Like I think Booker is a
very good player, he hasn't proven to be the kind
of guy that can lead a foundational piece to lead
a franchise. They were no good before Chris Paul got there,
and Booker was great. So I think I think Booker's
(24:19):
a great two I don't know. I just I watched
the way Minnesota is constructed, and they have all the pieces,
and what I see with Phoenix is like one piece
mid range shooters, Like you need a point, Go find
your Mike Conley, Go find your nas Reed, go get
a bench.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
Well, so it's funny you mentioned Booker and Anthony Edwards
colin two months ago. If we said Booker Anthony Edwards,
it's Booker probably universally, I don't think it's even close. Now,
Anthony Edwards just looks like a vastly superior play.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
No, No, he's a he's a much better athlete.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
His defense on Jamal Murray totally to like shooting or yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
No, and and I mean I think the question and
his aunt greater than Jason Tatum, and Tatum's clearly better
than Booker. Is a two way player, and I think
the answer is yes. I think the mentality is there
any Luca.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
I mean, at this point, you're putting Ant like top one.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, I think I think Luca Is could end up
if he played for twenty years as the league's second
leading scorer all time. Luca is a different player than
Ant aunt Ant is more Jordan. Luca is just more.
He's like Dirk with girth. He's just gonna score for
twenty years.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, huh, all right, final story Buffalo Bills. Let's get
to the NFL.
Speaker 6 (25:34):
A lot of questions. Remember they dumped a bunch of
veterans on that defense. Some offensive line issues. Stefan Diggs
got traded. Well, New Dolphin safety Jordan Poyer. You may
remember him from Buffalo. He was one of the cast offs.
He is raving about Josh Allen at a charity softball
game in Buffalo.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
And allowed to grow as a person as a player, Teams, coaches,
every man.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
I love that other moment of it. Sorry, but you
got the best quarterback in the league.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, what's he supposed to say? Mahomes is the best quarterback.
This guy behind me is number two. Kind of trapped,
aren't you?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You don't have to say the best.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
You can say the toughest, smartest, grittiest, coolest.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Yeah, he's at best.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
For all the sellers on the Buffalo Bills, I will
remind you you sold all your stock on the Rams,
and we said, if you have a good coach and
a great quarterback in a pass rush in this league
and just like a good weapon, you'll be fine. Buffalo's fine.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
You're sure about that right now?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Buffalo is going to win ten eleven, twelve, thirteen games.
They're fine.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
They're fine, ten eleven twelve Okay, I'm losing counter And
how many starters they lost on defense?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
And those were very expensive good players. How do you
know they didn't replace them with great young talent in
the draft. They lost a lot of good players. You know,
Stemon Diggs was a very good player. I don't think
he's Devonte Adams or Jamar Chase. They lost good player.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Phill's going to the season.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
Here's their top three receivers, Khalil Shaker, Keyon Coleman the rookie,
and Curtis Samuel coming behind them mvs. Drop King, we
know him, and then Chase Claypool. Oh my god, what
a disaster. This might be the worst receiving core in
the league.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Find me a worse one.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
How about James Cook at running back, Kim cad and
Dawson Knox at tighter a better offensive line than the
years before. Yeah, I think they're gonna be just fine.
I think that receiving corps. If Chase Claypool is your
five eurokay.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Chase Capook could be out of the league in six months.
I'm not even kidding, Colin.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Josh Allen's gonna have to turn into like Superman, William
and every superhero ever to carry this team to eleven wins.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Chamack with the news.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Colin right, Colin wrong, top of Next Hour. You know,
I've been on this for a few years that I
think the NFL has pivoted to an offensive league. That
does not mean that you have to be You can
be bad defensively. I thought the Chiefs defense really won
the Super Bowl. Mahomes hoist the trophy, but it was
the defense and spags that really carried them through most
(28:30):
of the regular season. You can't be terrible atrocious defensively.
You have to be at least situationally good, you have
to have a pass rush. And I say that because
in the NBA they're taking a little bit of a
hand from the NFL in terms of defense and what
the league has become. And it's interesting and we'll talk
(28:51):
about that next. When you travel, do security concerns back
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Speaker 2 (29:12):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and newone Eastern a Empacific.
Speaker 9 (29:16):
Paulli Foosco here with Tony Fusco, you know, as the
host of the number one rated paul and Toni Fusco show.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day,
piles of it.
Speaker 6 (29:26):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 9 (29:29):
Hey, listen to this, Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terribly not that wait, why
open this other one? Deea Pauli in Toni you suck
more than anyone. Wait, try this one, Dear Paulie and Tony,
you guys are the absolute best.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
There you go, coming up with the stupidest take. Forget it.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
Just listen to the Polly and Tony Fusco Show on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah,
catch an al Central showdown as the Detroit take on
the Kansas City Royals and all against tonight at seven
thirty eastern ons one.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
So the four teams left Jmax think about this, Minnesota
best defensive team in the league, exhibited that, shutting down
the Nuggets multiple times four times in the series, Boston
top five defensive team, and Dallas, which because of two
moves at the trade deadline, is now an excellent defensive team.
(30:28):
So ten of the top eleven scorers in the NBA
had been eliminated, Lebron's out, Mitchell Donovan, Mitchell, Dame Booker,
and beat Ten of the top eleven scores are out.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
It may not produce great television ratings, but it's producing,
in my opinion, great intense playoff basketball. So a lot
of television ratings are based on market size and star
power and ants, not quite there yet to be as
known across the country as he is. Maybe in the
midwestern Minnesota that'll just keep growing. But I would say
(31:08):
what you learn about the NFL is you got to
have a star quarterback and hopefully an offensive coach that helps,
but you got to be at least able to stop
people in big spots. The Kansas City Chiefs, as I
said earlier, won a championship mostly led by their defense.
If you go to Patrick Mahomes and his first year
as a starter, he had fifty touchdowns and they didn't
(31:30):
win the Super Bowl. The following year he had twenty
six and they did okay, So he had half the
touchdown passes and they won the Super Bowl. So the
Pacers really, in my opinion, have no shot to win
the championship. I think they have two really really good players,
they have a good coach, they have a nice bench,
they play with tempo. But you're talking about three elite
(31:51):
defensive teams who can also score, and one really nice
offensive team that doesn't play a lick at defense. Even yesterday,
the game was really more about the Knicks getting hurt
and the Pacers on fire offensively in the first half.
That really was the story of the game. So I
think the worst basketball game that is played all season
(32:13):
in professional basketball is the All Star Game. Unwatchable. To me,
the NBA All Star Game is completely unwatchable, a garbage,
hot mess, awful. Nobody defends. I think these playoff games
are incredible. I think they're intense, they're grueling, there's bodies
on the floor. Anytime you allow physicality, it gets chippier.
(32:33):
Chippy basketball can be fun. The other thing is defense
is more reliable than offense because defense is mostly about
effort and toughness, and you can bring that to the
arena every night. Offense is finicky. Even great offensive players
and struggled yesterday, Booker can have bad nights. Luca had
a six for twenty, Kyrie disappeared for a couple of
(32:55):
playoff games. So even the greatest offensive players, believe it
or not, Jordan and Byrd had really bad offensive playoff games.
Byrd never lost his toughness or his ability to get
on the floor for a loose ball. And so three
of these four teams, it's sustainable. To me, toughness, grit,
and defense is sustainable. I've said this about Jordan's Bulls teams.
(33:17):
I think all things considered, they would beat the Warriors
team with even the Durant team. Now there's different rules
in different eras, but the Bulls were one of the great,
if not the greatest defensive team I ever saw, based
on all ball defense and length and toughness and coaching.
And the Warriors were good in spots but had holes
mostly Steph. So I think the defense in the NBA,
(33:40):
it's very clear that, you know, the All Star Game
the last couple of years has been totally embarrassing to
the league. They're embarrassed by it, and so they have
made around the All Star Game this year and that
ridiculous you know, shoot fest, just garbage basketball, three point shooting, dunking.
The league was embarrassed and started tweaking the rules in
(34:02):
terms of physicality, and they let the league get more
physical and the league got better and the games are great.
You're not gonna see the results necessarily in the ratings,
because again, Minnesota's not a huge brand. Denver isn't a
huge brand. Okay, Sees not a huge brand. Pacers are okay,
but it's basically the Celtics and cross your fingers on ratings.
I don't think it'll rate particularly well. But I'll argue
(34:25):
with anybody about the quality of basketball, and I think
it's been substantially better than in recent years. It's not
chippy and ugly offensively like the Pacers Nicks back in
the Reggie Miller days. That was a lot of overrated basketball.
This is chippy with great offensive skill all over the floor.
(34:45):
So the European players have added length and skill and maturity,
and so the game is gifted offensively. But there's just
so many big guys that can run intofen right now.
You don't need a handcheck. There's just great athleticism all
over the league. So I find the games highly entertaining,
but ratings are a byproduct of a lot of things
(35:06):
at its three non brands here left.
Speaker 6 (35:09):
By the way, you're stat about the scores being out
as crazy, I'll try to one up you. So of
the fifteen highest paid players in the NBA, only one
is left, and his name is Rudy Gobert, a defensive player.
It feels like we're going through a weird shift now,
Colin in the league. I can't put my finger on it,
but something's going on. Whether it's the new luxury tax,
(35:29):
second Apron stuff. They're trying to wipe out super teams,
and people are overpaying for offense. They don't have much
else on some of these superstar teams.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, I also think what happens when a league gets
smarter and harder to build a super team? Who wins
the smarter front offices? So Minnesota really smart front office? Denver, Boston,
Brad Stevens. I mean Indiana's put together, get Siakam. I
think the Lakers have sometimes felt like they take some swings,
(36:02):
but they're just cycling through coaches now kind of controlled
by Lebron So I think whenever, like baseball, when baseball
get got very analytical, it punishes teams like the Mets
that have a lot of money, but we never think
they're brilliantly constructed. The Braves keep winning, the Dodgers keep winning,
like the well run teams have flourished in the analytics era.
(36:27):
If they're willing to pony up some dough but money alone.
Padres have money and the Mets have money, it's not
gonna do it. By the way, we're getting into a
more analytic NFL over the last five to six years.
Who's bad? Both New York franchises. We don't view them
as very well run. Who remains excellent Green Bay McVeigh,
(36:51):
Shanahan and the Reid. So when the league gets more analytical,
I think all sports are getting smarter, and it's rewarding smart.
It's punishing people that rely on money. It's okay to
have money. The Dodgers have money, but Andrew Friedman is
one of the sharpest guys in the sport. Okay, Atlanta's
(37:14):
got a ton of money. They've always had a tremendous
since John Scherhold's tremendous minor league system. So you need
some money. But the New York football teams have reached
taken big switch. I mean, we've said this about the
Knicks the last two years, and I think James Dolan,
who could be a medaling owner because he built the
(37:35):
Sphere in Vegas. For the last two to three years,
James Dolan has spent a lot of time in Vegas
on this wonderful, wonderful music sphere, right, it's one of
the most amazing things in the world. He stayed away
from basketball and they brought in people to run basketball.
So you get the Knicks brand and the Knicks money
(37:56):
and their capital and you get really a smart, no meddling,
non distracted front office. And so I think when you
start looking at basketball right now, Dallas made really aggressive
moves at the deadline, really smart moves paid off. Minnesota
has Denver's former GM. Denver is still Oklahoma City with
(38:17):
Sam Presty, one of the smartest guys in the sport. So,
by the way, that's why I give Golden State. I
think Golden State will figure it out. Phoenix just brought
in a rich guy and it didn't work. So money
is wonderful, but you should have the millionaire next door
mindset analytics is creating. There's always been a have and
have nots in sports between the rich and the big
(38:40):
markets and the small markets. That's always existed. Now because
of analytics, in all these sports, there is a gap
between the intellectual hals and the big wallets or the
sloppy have knots, And some of those sloppies are in
medium to small markets.
Speaker 6 (38:56):
It's almost like the NFL with the quarterback situation that
you've been talking about. Just because the last quarterback that
got a deal made fifty three mil, that doesn't mean too.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Was getting fifth.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
That doesn't mean DA's doing that. And I bring this
up because Clay Thompson is going to be an interesting
test case. Somebody's just gonna throw dumb money at him
and pay him thirty five mili and he ain't a
thirty five million dollar guy.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Somebody smart would say, Clay, we'd love to have you
for fifteen to twenty million.
Speaker 6 (39:20):
Yeah, and he's gonna turn up his nose and go
for somebody chasing big money, which I don't have any
I think that's smart by him, but a team that
does that's probably going to be on the dumb side. Right.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah, I think you said the league is pivoting. One
of the pivots is obvious. European players are now the
best players in the league. We are our AAU system
is fundamentally hurting the growth of our young players. Tatum
and ant Booker feel like outliers, great domestic players, and
this draft has more excellent European players. The best players,
(39:50):
probably a European top two guys probably are going to
be from France. Right, So that's the first thing we're seeing.
We are seeing explosion, a globalization of basketball. The best
players now Europeans because their system is better than our
au crappy system, which is about getting the bag and
Tony tracksuit coach and in a million games garbage. The
second thing we're seeing emerging the league is more skilled
(40:13):
because it's more Europeans. So these guys come in having
played with older players. The bigs can shoot, they can
stretch the floor. And I think the third thing is
the analytic nature of basketball is rewarding the smartest people
in the game. And so I think and you're seeing it.
I mean, we always worried in this league. Oh, big
market Minnesota, Denver, okc Indiana were the big markets. I mean,
(40:36):
Boston is it. But Boston's also well run. They've been
stealing draft picks from people forever. So it's these teams
that are left. They all have one thing in common.
They're really well run. They're smart teams that made smart moves.
Dallas made big trade deadline move. Everybody thought that Nix
and the Lakers should Dallas did, and you literally have
(40:59):
a different team. They don't look like the Mavericks in
December because they're not the Mavericks in They.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
All four of their games against Minnesota were before the
trade deadline, so Minnesota hasn't seen the PJ. Washington, Daniel Gafford,
they haven't seen this version of Dallas.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
I think it's gonna be a great series.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I actually the staff knows this more than anything in sports.
My favorite part of sports, this is why I love
the NFL Draft, is the cultural changes. We can break
down games all you want. Any dummy can break down
a game on a Monday, But to look at sports
beyond on the macro level thirty thousand feet, there are
real changes. They happened in baseball about eight to ten
(41:38):
years ago. They're happening in basketball now for the last
three and all the smart dudes are being rewarded Minnesota, OKC, Indiana,
and Boston. They're being rewarded our two Colin right, wrong, next,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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