May 21, 2024 • 31 mins
3-time NBA Champion Byron Scott joins the show in studio to talk about the infusion of international talent into today's league
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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(00:22):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. I would say fell in
love with the NBA. I watched it in the seventies,
but I think the eighties and early nineties for a
lot of our viewers, the league changed. The players were
more sensational. Byron Scott was part of those great Lakers
teams Kareem and Magic. Of course, Jeff Pearlman wrote the
(00:42):
book The Three Ring Circus and then it's now been
made into an HBO Max series, and it was a
special time where teams people. It's hard to believe teams
didn't have their own planes. You guys flew commercial listen
to you would often on a six am flight out
of Seattle. You're setting next to an insurance man and
(01:05):
a mortgage broker.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
First flight out that we had to take every day
that we played.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
If we had back to backs, couldn't leave the night
after the game because we didn't have our planes at
that particular time. So yeah, we were at the airport
early in the morning, first thing smoking.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So you had the Celtics were playing a gritty style
of basketball. It was not an international league, and you
were playing a flashy style of basketball. The game wasn't
as it wasn't global quite yet, and it wasn't televised
as often, so you didn't see a lot of Boston
until you played Boston. My Sonics were up in the Kingdome, yep.
(01:42):
But back then there wasn't as much Byron, there wasn't
as much mobility. So when you face the Sixers for
six years, it was the same dudes, And I do
think that created an animosity and a physicality, like you knew,
here comes Steve mix Beguinness, Tony. I liked that game. Now.
(02:03):
I do think the NBA this year tweaked it to
be more physical. I like that, But take our audience
back to going to Philadelphia or Cleveland or Chicago and
it was the same team every year.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, it was great because, like you said, you knew
exactly what you were playing against. You knew the stop
of the type of style you were playing against. Like
you said, it was gonna be physical back in the
eighties and nineties. Anyway, I loved the fact that when
we would play Philly, we knew how good Andrew Tony was,
you know. We knew how good Doctor j and More
Cheeks and Bobby Jones was one of the best six
mans in the league coming off the bench. Going to
(02:35):
Boston you got DJ and Danny Age. So I knew
exactly who I was playing against every time we went
back there, and we knew the style that we were
playing against. We knew the type of ball we were
going to be playing against, you know. So I love
that fact about it, you know, And it did create
that animosity because we did not like them, they did
not like us. We obviously had a whole lot more
hatred for Boston because they were always in our way
(02:57):
than we did Philly. You know, we like, we kind
of like Philly because they were good guys, but we
couldn't stand the Celtics, Colin, We couldn't stand the Celtics,
you know what I mean, because they were always.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
In our way.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
And then later on we found out why when we
got to you know, no guys off the court a
little bit more. But you know, the Boston Celtic Laker
rivalry I think was one of the greatest robberries in
all the sports because of the fact that, like you
said earlier, we had that animosity towards one another and
we wanted the same things.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
That was winning championships.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
And you were the two best teams. When you look
at the NBA about ten years ago, it started getting
very international. I'm an NBA fan, so I'm an NFL,
NBA college football guy. One of my criticisms on the
NBA for a while, although I think Adam Silver has
tweaked that the aesthetic was just threes. Yeah, and it's
(03:47):
like Anthony Davis should be around the basket. I don't
need Anthony Davis shooting through it. I don't need Pascal
Siakam shooting threes get him around the basket. And I
think the league is moving back towards situational not a
mid range. But the Biggs are close for the rim.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
The international players are fascinating because they play against older
men when they're young, and they come to this country
byron and they're not distracted. They're not into shoe deals,
they don't want to move around. They come here and
want to play for their team mostly forever. Do you
worry that between AAU basketball are distracted players, they go
(04:23):
from G league to one year college, that we're losing
a little bit of the old school field. I like
European players a lot, but the league feels different than
it did twenty five thirty years ago.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, European players. You gotta look at a little bit
of history with our American players in the European players.
And I think one of the reasons that European players
have closed that gap so much on basketball, especially the
fundamental part of the calling is because if you look
at AAU players, they place three four games a day
(04:55):
for six seven days a week. They never practice. You
go to Europe is total opposite. They practice twice a
day on fundamentals. You know, very very few games, two
games maybe a week, but they got two practices, you know,
two a day's every single day, and that first day
every morning is all fundamental works. That's why you see
every big man in Europe that can handle the ball,
(05:17):
can shoot it, can pass it, you know, a lah
the joker, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's why that gap has closed so much.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So I think if we don't, if we're not careful,
you know, especially American basketball. We got to get back
to those fundamentals of playing the game of basketball.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And I think the league and I love the I
love the.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Fact that you have so many international players just in
the league, you know, because they can play.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You got to give them the credit.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And you're right, when they normally come over here, they
normally stick with one team. You know, derk Newhisky one.
You know, right.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
We're going to stay and be a buck.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
By the way, I'm not knocking our guys for mobility,
but if I visit Italy with my life, right, I'm.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
A visitor, right, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I kind of see in the neighborhoods that I kind
of had planned to stay. You know, I'm in LA
I can get in the car and go anywhere, right,
So I like where we're going. So let's talk about
the four teams. You would have done very well in
today's NBA. You were thirty seven percent three balls. You
and Larry Bird were born a little early.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
But I'll tell you a player that's fascinating is that
Luca has done something this year, and he's been scoring
since he was twelve.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, this year they said you gotta defend. Yeah, and Luca,
you can't have the ball in your hands all the time.
That is hard for a brilliant score. And when I
watch him, I'm like, okay, he's got self awareness, Like
I like that part of Luca.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Did you know instantly he was going to be this good?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
No, not even close. I mean I saw him in
Europe and I said, all right, he's good. You know
he's getting this shot off. You own these guys. It's
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Lower, you a lot of vertical play.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit slower, you know, not as tall,
you know, son, I was really wondering what he would
look like in the NBA, and it took me probably
about six months to say, Okay, this guy's pretty damn good.
You know he could score, he gets to where he
wants to go to. But I think, like you said that,
you know, his self awareness and Jay kid, you got
to give him a lot of credit for this as
well of letting Luca know that, you know what, will
(07:20):
be a much better team if you're off the ball
sometimes and if you're making the right plays and not
looking to score all the time, and if you look
at that Dallas team right now, that's exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
What you're seeing.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
You're looking at a great, willing passer, you know, a
guy who can get his shot at any time he wants,
but a guy that his teammates know now that they
that he trusts them when he makes those passes.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It does matter. That's why you see Dallas in this
position at their end of day.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You know, there was a brief time I always thought
it was overplayed. People talked about small ball, and I'm like,
are we sure small balls not just clay and stuff?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Right?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
It didn't win for anybody else, right, right? And now
the league once again it's big.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You and I were talking before the break. It was
Wilt into Kareem. Everybody had bigs, yeah, Bob Lanier, Nate Thurman.
If you didn't have a big, you were the Warriors
with you know, a Clifford Ray where you could win
a title, or the Celtics with Dave Cowens. Maybe you
could win a title, but you needed at West Unseld,
(08:21):
you needed bigs. It does feel like the small ball thing.
It was fun, but all I'm watching with Dallas now
they brought in size Minnesota size Porzingi's size. I mean
even Pascal Siaka, Miles Turner, Indiana, did you buy into
small ball? What did you make of it? It doesn't
feel like it had legs.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
No, I'm O school, you know, I'm not. You know,
you look at a lot of these teams. They talk
about your positionless basketball, you know, not putting guards or forwards,
you know, just playing. You just got players out there playing.
I still believe that you need those gritty guys. You
need those guys that's going to do the dirty work.
You need the Kirk ramp. This is like we have
back in the day, that ac greens like we have
(09:02):
back in the day. You need those guys that are
six ten, six eleven, seven footers that's gonna do all
those dirty things for you out there on the basketball court,
you know, setting the hardest screens, getting you know, getting
the rebound.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So I like the fact that we're seeing that more.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I like the fact that Dallas went out and got
some lively bodies that are long, you know, athletic, you know,
six eleven seven footers. They can get up around the rim,
they can block shots, to defend because again, it takes
a lot of pressure off their perimeter players on the
defensive end.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Luka.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
For the first time this year I've seen make efforts
on that end of the floor. And again self awareness
of understanding that if you want to get us to
a championship, or if you want to win a championship
or have an opportunity, you got to.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Play on both ends of the floor. And you see
he's bowled into that.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. The NBA My Entire
Life Byron Scott listening for a radio audi and has
been a player's league back to Spencer Heywood. Yeah, I
grew up with my Sonics and my Blazers in the
seventies it was a players league.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now you cycle through coaches more often. It is what
it is, Okay, I've never I have no envy toward
NBA players having power or money load management drives me nuts.
I'm a kid from a small town. Okay, I grew
up in a tiny town. I went to one NBA
game a year if downtown Freddie Brown and Gus Williams
weren't available, And you can say to yourself, well, but
(10:30):
it wasn't on TV when I was.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
A kid, right, right.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I hate load management.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You're not the only one I don't understand. And when
you sign a contract, you don't sign a contract that
stipulates that, Okay, out of the eighty two games in
the regular season, I'm gonna play seventy because I'm gonna
take twelve off because of load management, I need rest.
You sign a contract to play eighty two games. So
if you're just you know, hurt, you know, and you
got an opportunity where you can play, you play that game.
(10:57):
If you're injured, you don't play. I understand that, right.
So this load management bull to me is just it's
given the players way too much power to be able
to say, you know what, I need the next couple
of games off or next two games off because I'm
just I'm getting tired.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
It don't make sense to me.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Data illustrates or validates, it doesn't help you.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Your efficiency numbers don't change, but it doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, it's a load of croc you know, to be
honest with you. So that's how I feel about it.
I'm just not a big fan of load management. I'm
always been a big fan. If you're able to play,
play the game.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And for the record, wasn't there part of playing the
game that you like to show off?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah? I mean you want to entertain, you know what
I mean. You want to entertain.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You want people to come back and say, man, did
you see that that shot of that dunk or that
pass or whatever? You know, And you can't do that
if you're sitting down ten, twelve, fifteen games a year.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
The thing that I loved.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
About Kobe Bean Bryant, you know, the late great who
I loved a show big time to show.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
But he played every game that he could play.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
He didn't believe in Low's management either, you know, I
mean he played games when he was sick.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know that.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I personally the last two years asked him, maybe you should.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Sit this one out.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Nope, these people came to see maybe the last time
they ever get a chance to see me play.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So I gotta go play. And that's the type of
players you want.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, Yeah, Kobe was. Kobe was one of those players
that was almost an artist. Michael had certain moves that
he went to. He had He's going to go to
the well on about three mid ray and he was great,
best mid range player in my life. Yeah, Kobe was
more canvas as empty. I'm just gonna spill some player.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I'm just painted up whichever way it shows up.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
What is it like to coach a player who was
a top five gifted offensive player? Ever, how much do
you coach? How much do you manage? Where did you
land on that?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I landed on managing, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
This guy was in the league eighteen years, you know,
twenty at the end of it, where he had been
around and has seen everything that can be thrown at him,
has been in every situation on the basketball court, offensively
and defensively.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So to me, it wasn't me.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
It wasn't up to me to try to teach him
anything offensively or defensive. It's really just to manage, you know,
to manage his minutes, manage his body, manage his practice time,
because at that time in his age and how many
games he had played when you start including playoff games
and things of that nature, he's probably played thirteen fourteen
(13:38):
hundred games in his career, you know, So I was
really just really just trying to just manage, you know,
to make sure that Kobe Brown was able to play
every single night as much as possible. So from a
professional standpoint on teaching, he didn't need to be taught.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
He was already he was already there. It was just
really just managing everything.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
So the Celtics start Eastern Conference Finals tonight. The East
is really weak. Add in the injuries, it's been a
layup drill.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So Jason Tatum's fascinating. So I've gone to see him
play three times live. I watch a lot of Celtics games.
Obviously a very good player, yes, And I think about
this I grow up with, you know, I grew up
with more of a Jordan Kobe mindset, which is the
game is mine, get out of the way. That's not
always the easiest game to play with. Tatum is very
(14:26):
much a hey, your turn. There are times I went
and watched them in Chicago live and he was one
of the only stars that played that night. But he
was very willing if there was a if there was
a defender on him to go out to Derek White
and let him go. And I think, man, that's just
not what I grew up with. So what is the
line between, like I wish Tatum was more selfish occasionally,
(14:52):
but if you look at their net ratings offensively, it
doesn't necessarily matter. Where are you on Tatum? His personality
is mentality his game. Where are you on him?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I love Jason Tatum. I love watching him play the
game of basketball. Like you said, he's a very willing passer.
Sometimes it's just not in the player's makeup to be
that's right, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, where they're gonna
take the shot with three guys on him, they don't care,
you know, because they're also willing to take the hit.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
You know. They're willing to be the goat, you know, and.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
They're also willing to be that sacrificial lamb at times,
you know. So I love his I love his demeanor
on the basketball court. I love the way he plays
the game. But you can't make certain guys to be
the next Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant as far as their mindset,
and he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I don't think necessarily have that mindset.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I think he will take it if he has to,
you know, but if other guys are going Jaylen Brown
is going, you know, White is hitting shots, then he's
more than willing to pass the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So I don't have a problem with the way he
plays the game. I love the way he plays the game.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, I like the way they play the game is Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
They play it as a team.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yep. You suggested that maybe Lebron could be a player coach. Now,
I grew up with Lenny Wilkins, so I've seen it,
Bill Russell, Lenny will Lenny one of the all time
gentlemen in the sport.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yes, yes, right right.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
What was the feedback when you said that on a
show and then went out in La What was the
feedback you got in your phone by saying that, you know?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And I got a lot of feedback by that.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
A lot of people were saying that, you know, that's
a great idea, but it won't happen, you know. And
then I had some other people that was like, you're crazy.
You know, what do you talk about? He shouldn't be
the coach?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And was it tongue in a little bit? Was a
poke at Lebron about you know, you don't like any
of them, you do it?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It was a little bit of a poke, but like
you said, it was a little bit of fun but
seriousness as well.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
But I'm the best option to you.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
I like Sam Cassell and I love Mark Jackson.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Mark Jackson, I think is a guy who deserves another
opportunity to coach in this league. Don't know why he's
been sort of blackball from this league for so many years.
If it's not Mark Jackson. I love Sam Cassell because
number one, he's had nothing but experience, you know, on
that bench as a lifelong assistant coach, and everywhere he's
been has done well. You know, the organization has done well.
I think he deserves an opportunity. The name that and
(17:07):
I'm sure Coling you heard his name is a bunch
as well as JJ Riddick JJ. The only thing I
have that I would say that I have against him
coming in right off the streets to beat the electorate
head coach.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
He has no experience, he's never coach.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
When you got your first job, right and everybody bails
wat my first time on the air, we're all bailing
water a little with a new.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Job, right.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
What is the hardest thing for a guy that's never
been a head coach goes to a head coach in
your first two months, maybe your first two weeks. What
is the thing where you go, Damn, this is tougher
than I thought.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
When you have to make every single decision, you know,
it's not a suggestion anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
As an assistant coach a coach.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
You know, I think we could you know, you know,
let's read the side pick and rolls well as the
head coach. You know, your word is bond. You know,
whatever you say goes, you know, so understanding that everything
kind of falls on you. Sometimes could be overwhelming, you know.
And I think again, for a guy that's never coached,
I just look at Steve Nash, great player, Hall of Famer,
(18:11):
never coach in his life.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
He goes to Brooklyn, doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
You know, he couldn't get out of there fast.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
No, no, I and I really truly think if you
have a year or two on the bench, you know
that that gained experience will help you so much in
your next you know, head coaching are getting a head
coach in position somewhere else or wherever it may be.
But going in there cold Turkey, it's a whole lot
tougher than you think.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Well, and also part of Steve Kerr's success has been
a very good group of assistants behind him that is
also a strength of the new Boston coach. They updated,
they upgraded the staff. Spose always had very strong assistance
behind us. Yes, sometimes when you're the new guy, you're
just trying to tread water. You can't build a staff yet.
That that's hard. Yeah, And Sean McVay for the Rams,
(18:57):
is much better staff builder. It was always good. Yeah,
his staffs now are better than they were his first year. Yeah,
like that's that takes taking the staff absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But Steve Kerr the one thing that I will say
it is a little bit different than him when he
he jumped out from being you know, doing games to
the coaching coaching ranks. He was in the front office, yes, okay,
so he had a chance to be around the organization
of coaches and players all that time. So it wasn't
like he was jumping in cold Turkey. He had been
in situations where he was making decisions on draft picks
(19:29):
and coaches and things of that nature. So it's a
totally different situation of coming from where Steve Kerr came from,
which was the front office, than coming from the booth
and just taking over as a head coach.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
You look fantastic, Well, thank you. I'm not even going
to guess.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Your age, but I'm older than you. Let's just put
it that way.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Man, you are His wife is a nurse and a nutritionist.
Obviously it's blueberries in the morning and fish at night,
because dude, you are playing weight.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You pretty much guessed that too.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
That's pretty good. Fish at night A lot sub it too? Great?
Great seeing coach always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Byron Scott will take a break herd line next to her.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern n a Empacific.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Pollie Fosco here with Tony Fuscott, you know, as the
host of the number one rated Paully and Tony Fusco show.
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day,
piles of it. In fact, Tony, why don't you open
up one of those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Hey, listen to this.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports takes the dumbest and
most terribly not that. Wait, why open this other one?
Dear Paulie and Tony, you suck more than anyone. Wait,
try this one. Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are
the absolute best there you go, coming up with the
stupidest take.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Forget it.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Just listen to the Polly and Tony Fusco Show on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, School, NBA Talk with Byron Scott. Here's j Mack
with the news. No, no, heard on the news. This
is the herd Line News all right.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
So the NFL's international presence continues to grow. Hell, and
they are really trying to get this game global. Five
games taking place this season in South Paulo, London, and Munich.
Quite to a recent report, the league is eyeing Australia
for a potential RAMS regular season game in either twenty
twenty five or twenty twenty six. Obviously big fourteen hour
(21:25):
time difference. I've never been to Australia, even though we
own a basketball team over there. I haven't been to Australia,
New Zealand, not that area, have you?
Speaker 1 (21:33):
No? I about six seven years ago I had a
discussion with a prominent Australian and I said, oh, I've
always wanted to go there, And he goes, where do
you live? And I said, Manhattan Beach. He goes, yeah,
it's the same weather he goes go over to London. No,
it's it's pretty remarkable. I'll go there over the next
(21:55):
five years. Okay, great spot.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Obviously, you know, the culture there is very similar to America.
Len language barrier.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
That's massive.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
What's the NFL doing with this whole like international global
We got well first of all, Whereas other leagues, hockey, baseball,
in the NBA, their players are international, so they don't
need to do that because those players are wildly popular
in their home countries.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The NFL's players are all domestic, so the only way
to create fandom is to take the game overseas. Basketball
doesn't have to. They love the NBA because so many
of our stars are from Lithuania or other parts of
the world. So the NFL looks at it and says,
the globalization is a go ass Netflix, how do you
(22:45):
go from popular to global? It changes everything? Even Netflix
found out we've tapped out in our domestic audience. Let's
go international. So the NFL is like, hey, we've we've
kind of tapped out here, like we've we dominate America.
How do we up our merchandising thirty percent? How do
we increase ticket sales? You know, contracts with Sky Sports overseas,
(23:10):
and so when you don't get players internationally, you have
to go and play some games internationally. And I've had
somebody go to the Germany games. They said they were fantastic, Like,
certainly I would love to go watch. I would go.
I would love to go watch an NFL game in
Germany or Australia.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Love it.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
Just you know, Netflix is a decent example, but like
that's easy. Just slap some subtitles on it and anyone can.
Speaker 7 (23:35):
Relate to movies.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
And if it's just tough with this the rules, first down,
fourth down, like I just it's going to be a
tough sell to well.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Most Americans still don't understand offsides in soccer or hockey.
He either loved the sport of you don't. I'm not
some soccer denizen, but I love the World Cup. I
love it. And one of the reasons I love the
World Cup is because it's been here in the States
and it feels like ours at times. And so what
they're trying to say is, hey Germany, you're a part
(24:05):
of this. Hey London, Hey Australia, Hey Mexico, you're part
of this. Our players are from the States, but our
product will reach out to you.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
You know what, I love to see put a chip
in the football so we don't have to like get
a chain link crew to go out and measure whether
or not they got the first down on fourth and inches.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Like that might help us a little bit. Like there's
a couple of refinements they could do here.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Well, I'll tell you that there are things that I
look at with sports and go can you believe I mean, listen,
people smoked on planes in nineteen eighty nine, Like there
are things in society we have made. I know everybody
complains about. Now we have made some incredible advancements. Football
still needs to figure out how to eliminate that chain
gang and put a chip in a football. It seems
(24:48):
like the next step fairly easy.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Next up, NBA rumors are rampant about Donovan Mitchell's future
with the Cavs. Cleveland's trying to work hard to lock
him up on an extension. A lot of talks about
Mint trades. According to reports, don't expect the Lakers to
land to him, as owner Dan Gilbert would never trade
him to La.
Speaker 7 (25:08):
You know we had that two weeks ago. Everybody I
was this is what's interesting.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
The athletic reports the Houston Rockets a team. Remember I
tried to tell you about him in the preseason. They're
interested in the Mitchell situation and are monitoring what's going
on there.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
If I'm not a Mi Mitchell, I don't want to
go West. It's a bloodbath. It's just too brutal.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
But Houston is interested. They got some pieces collar. I
know it's like a ten deep league in the West,
but Houston is close. Remember they were fighting the Warriors
for that final playing spot. We might do headlines tomorrow.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
With an interesting Donovan Mitchell destination, because that's.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
What I did.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
Final story is Caitlin Clark in the WNBA. She got
hurt last night and the second quarter turned an ankle.
Here it is if you're watching on FS one. Looked
pretty gnarly at the time, but she left, didn't return
in the second quarter, and was able to come back
in the second half, finished with seventeen points five assists.
Speaker 7 (26:01):
The Fevers supposed star player before Clark, they played.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
They were pretty scrappy.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
We have to lay up in the closing seconds before
it's overtime.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I know there was a scrap pretty scrappy effort though
I've never watched this much w NBA.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
I took my daughter and her friends to a movie yesterday.
I got out in the first thing I looked up
was WNBA scores. Yep, to see what happened with the
fever game like that. That's never happened in my life before.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
And I wanted to see how Clark did. They're now
zero to four. They're out here to play.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
They play, but they've been scrappier, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
And they're playing tough teams. They're playing the La Sparks
on Friday.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
They moved that game from the Pyramid in Long Beach
to Crypto. I think it would be a near sellout
if not, as she's not crazy seen there. Yeah, it
does have a Taylor Swift feel like you would when
Taylor Swift was in LA. I think she had six
or seven concerts. Everywhere you went out in town during
that seven eight nine days, every restaurant you would go
(26:56):
to there would be half the restaurant would be people
dressed up going to a Taylor Swift concert in forty
five minutes. And I feel the same there. They're these
certain cultural changes. Tiger Wood's golf, like I couldn't wait
for Sunday afternoon on a Friday. I'm like, oh, I
gotta keep Sunday afternoon open for Tiger. I do find
myself she has this magnetic appeal. I find myself checking
(27:18):
scores and just seeing how she's doing.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
I haven't looked at the ratings. I know you're a
ratings guy. You're looking.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
How have the numbers been for Clark and the other
I'm sure they're way up good whatever they were last year.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, Well, it's funny the NBA numbers year to year
down well, although Anthony Edwards in Game seven Nugget Wolves
did a massive number, which they're happy with. Yeah, but
a lot of that's because there's no Lebron, no Staff,
no Katie. A lot of these stars that we've watched
the last ten twelve years, none of them are around.
So it takes the audience a couple of years to
(27:49):
get adjusted and fall in love with ant And you know,
if the Celtics win, the numbers will be good. But
it's you know, the NBA is always going to be fine.
But what we're doing, it's almost like the NFL had
this period, one of the rare years the NFL ratings
went down years ago. Was when and I don't remember
the exact year, but it was like Steve Young retired,
Naateman retired, and there was like this transition period for
like two years where there was all these new quarterbacks
(28:11):
and we didn't really know who they were. And I
feel like the NBA is going through an adjustment period
where it's a lot of these European guys and Ant
and they're not quite If Jah Morant and Zion would
have been the stars we predicted with Ant, it would
feel different, but it's like European guys. Minnesota is a
new story.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Ok.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
See Indiana. We just we don't know the players. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
By the way, we're talking about the West being brutal
next year, we're not even mentioning the Pelicans with Zion.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
Imagine if he's healthy and John Morant and the Grizzlies,
John Morant's gonna be back.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah. I'm never gonna trust that thing.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
Never gonna trust what the Grizzlies are, Jamran thing.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
That ship is sale rit Well. First of all, OK,
see Dallas, Minnesota. You know you think Denver's not coming back,
Denver's coming back. You gotta have grown ups I'm not
into the worrying about if you your personal life together.
I just don't have time for that stuff.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
Well, hopefully he gets his act together, Like hope John Ran.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Jokich will show up and have his act together. I
don't care about it.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
I'm not the biggest Jamran fan. I feel like you're
being a little critical of him. This is a big
time star in the league.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I'm not denying his talent, but I just don't have time,
Okay for wasted time.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
How's that?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I just came up with a new brilliance.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
I don't have time for wasted time or wasted time.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
That it needs to be on a postage stamp or
something a hallmarker.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
Put that on your TikTok, my TikTok.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Jmack with the news, Well that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the herd line Sush Sushi Tuesday at
the Calf today. I'm already getting fired up for it.
All right, Celtics tonight, what do we got? I go
one twenty three one thirteen Celtics comfortable. Indiana does not
(29:54):
make teams uncomfortable, And the only way you're gonna beat
Boston is push him around. Don't get them off their spots.
Otherwise they'll just jack up threes, get into a they
get into a nice I mean, when your fifth best
offensive player is Derek White, you're really good offensively.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
They were five hundred against your Denvers and Minnesota's and
your OKC and your Lakers. But they they're just a
different class.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
I'll go like one to nineteen one oh two or something.
I mean, listen, Pacers. I think they're gonna come out
fresh and fired up. They just won the series, but
they'll they'll fail pretty quickly. Celtics are just too deep, man,
They've got so many weapons. Imagine Indiana.
Speaker 7 (30:32):
Hey, we got to stop Jalen Brunson, period. Nobody else
you have to worry about. Now, it's like.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Tatum Brown, well, I mean holiday, Derek White. Porzingis isn't
playing early, and my guess is the Celtics just don't
play him until Indiana wins a game. Like if if
Boston rolls in the first two games, why would you
play Porzingis game three? Just let him rest.
Speaker 7 (30:52):
Yeah, remember the ogn and Obi. They kind of forced
him back and that was bad at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
In game seven.
Speaker 7 (30:57):
Don't don't force him back. Same for the finals against Dallas.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Yeah, because you're gonna need him. You're gonna need you're
gonna need big minutes against Minnesota. I'm not gonna root
against Alice. That's no fun to root against people. All Right,
We're done Byron Scott Nike, right, thanks so much. We'll
see you tomorrow.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noone Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR you're
(00:22):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. I would say fell in
love with the NBA. I watched it in the seventies,
but I think the eighties and early nineties for a
lot of our viewers, the league changed. The players were
more sensational. Byron Scott was part of those great Lakers
teams Kareem and Magic. Of course, Jeff Pearlman wrote the
(00:42):
book The Three Ring Circus and then it's now been
made into an HBO Max series, and it was a
special time where teams people. It's hard to believe teams
didn't have their own planes. You guys flew commercial listen
to you would often on a six am flight out
of Seattle. You're setting next to an insurance man and
(01:05):
a mortgage broker.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
First flight out that we had to take every day
that we played.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
If we had back to backs, couldn't leave the night
after the game because we didn't have our planes at
that particular time. So yeah, we were at the airport
early in the morning, first thing smoking.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So you had the Celtics were playing a gritty style
of basketball. It was not an international league, and you
were playing a flashy style of basketball. The game wasn't
as it wasn't global quite yet, and it wasn't televised
as often, so you didn't see a lot of Boston
until you played Boston. My Sonics were up in the Kingdome, yep.
(01:42):
But back then there wasn't as much Byron, there wasn't
as much mobility. So when you face the Sixers for
six years, it was the same dudes, And I do
think that created an animosity and a physicality, like you knew,
here comes Steve mix Beguinness, Tony. I liked that game. Now.
(02:03):
I do think the NBA this year tweaked it to
be more physical. I like that, But take our audience
back to going to Philadelphia or Cleveland or Chicago and
it was the same team every year.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, it was great because, like you said, you knew
exactly what you were playing against. You knew the stop
of the type of style you were playing against. Like
you said, it was gonna be physical back in the
eighties and nineties. Anyway, I loved the fact that when
we would play Philly, we knew how good Andrew Tony was,
you know. We knew how good Doctor j and More
Cheeks and Bobby Jones was one of the best six
mans in the league coming off the bench. Going to
(02:35):
Boston you got DJ and Danny Age. So I knew
exactly who I was playing against every time we went
back there, and we knew the style that we were
playing against. We knew the type of ball we were
going to be playing against, you know. So I love
that fact about it, you know, And it did create
that animosity because we did not like them, they did
not like us. We obviously had a whole lot more
hatred for Boston because they were always in our way
(02:57):
than we did Philly. You know, we like, we kind
of like Philly because they were good guys, but we
couldn't stand the Celtics, Colin, We couldn't stand the Celtics,
you know what I mean, because they were always.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
In our way.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
And then later on we found out why when we
got to you know, no guys off the court a
little bit more. But you know, the Boston Celtic Laker
rivalry I think was one of the greatest robberries in
all the sports because of the fact that, like you
said earlier, we had that animosity towards one another and
we wanted the same things.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
That was winning championships.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
And you were the two best teams. When you look
at the NBA about ten years ago, it started getting
very international. I'm an NBA fan, so I'm an NFL,
NBA college football guy. One of my criticisms on the
NBA for a while, although I think Adam Silver has
tweaked that the aesthetic was just threes. Yeah, and it's
(03:47):
like Anthony Davis should be around the basket. I don't
need Anthony Davis shooting through it. I don't need Pascal
Siakam shooting threes get him around the basket. And I
think the league is moving back towards situational not a
mid range. But the Biggs are close for the rim.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
The international players are fascinating because they play against older
men when they're young, and they come to this country
byron and they're not distracted. They're not into shoe deals,
they don't want to move around. They come here and
want to play for their team mostly forever. Do you
worry that between AAU basketball are distracted players, they go
(04:23):
from G league to one year college, that we're losing
a little bit of the old school field. I like
European players a lot, but the league feels different than
it did twenty five thirty years ago.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, European players. You gotta look at a little bit
of history with our American players in the European players.
And I think one of the reasons that European players
have closed that gap so much on basketball, especially the
fundamental part of the calling is because if you look
at AAU players, they place three four games a day
(04:55):
for six seven days a week. They never practice. You
go to Europe is total opposite. They practice twice a
day on fundamentals. You know, very very few games, two
games maybe a week, but they got two practices, you know,
two a day's every single day, and that first day
every morning is all fundamental works. That's why you see
every big man in Europe that can handle the ball,
(05:17):
can shoot it, can pass it, you know, a lah
the joker, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's why that gap has closed so much.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So I think if we don't, if we're not careful,
you know, especially American basketball. We got to get back
to those fundamentals of playing the game of basketball.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And I think the league and I love the I
love the.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Fact that you have so many international players just in
the league, you know, because they can play.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You got to give them the credit.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And you're right, when they normally come over here, they
normally stick with one team. You know, derk Newhisky one.
You know, right.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
We're going to stay and be a buck.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
By the way, I'm not knocking our guys for mobility,
but if I visit Italy with my life, right, I'm.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
A visitor, right, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I kind of see in the neighborhoods that I kind
of had planned to stay. You know, I'm in LA
I can get in the car and go anywhere, right,
So I like where we're going. So let's talk about
the four teams. You would have done very well in
today's NBA. You were thirty seven percent three balls. You
and Larry Bird were born a little early.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
But I'll tell you a player that's fascinating is that
Luca has done something this year, and he's been scoring
since he was twelve.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, this year they said you gotta defend. Yeah, and Luca,
you can't have the ball in your hands all the time.
That is hard for a brilliant score. And when I
watch him, I'm like, okay, he's got self awareness, Like
I like that part of Luca.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Did you know instantly he was going to be this good?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
No, not even close. I mean I saw him in
Europe and I said, all right, he's good. You know
he's getting this shot off. You own these guys. It's
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Lower, you a lot of vertical play.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit slower, you know, not as tall,
you know, son, I was really wondering what he would
look like in the NBA, and it took me probably
about six months to say, Okay, this guy's pretty damn good.
You know he could score, he gets to where he
wants to go to. But I think, like you said that,
you know, his self awareness and Jay kid, you got
to give him a lot of credit for this as
well of letting Luca know that, you know what, will
(07:20):
be a much better team if you're off the ball
sometimes and if you're making the right plays and not
looking to score all the time, and if you look
at that Dallas team right now, that's exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
What you're seeing.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
You're looking at a great, willing passer, you know, a
guy who can get his shot at any time he wants,
but a guy that his teammates know now that they
that he trusts them when he makes those passes.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It does matter. That's why you see Dallas in this
position at their end of day.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You know, there was a brief time I always thought
it was overplayed. People talked about small ball, and I'm like,
are we sure small balls not just clay and stuff?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Right?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
It didn't win for anybody else, right, right? And now
the league once again it's big.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You and I were talking before the break. It was
Wilt into Kareem. Everybody had bigs, yeah, Bob Lanier, Nate Thurman.
If you didn't have a big, you were the Warriors
with you know, a Clifford Ray where you could win
a title, or the Celtics with Dave Cowens. Maybe you
could win a title, but you needed at West Unseld,
(08:21):
you needed bigs. It does feel like the small ball thing.
It was fun, but all I'm watching with Dallas now
they brought in size Minnesota size Porzingi's size. I mean
even Pascal Siaka, Miles Turner, Indiana, did you buy into
small ball? What did you make of it? It doesn't
feel like it had legs.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
No, I'm O school, you know, I'm not. You know,
you look at a lot of these teams. They talk
about your positionless basketball, you know, not putting guards or forwards,
you know, just playing. You just got players out there playing.
I still believe that you need those gritty guys. You
need those guys that's going to do the dirty work.
You need the Kirk ramp. This is like we have
back in the day, that ac greens like we have
(09:02):
back in the day. You need those guys that are
six ten, six eleven, seven footers that's gonna do all
those dirty things for you out there on the basketball court,
you know, setting the hardest screens, getting you know, getting
the rebound.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So I like the fact that we're seeing that more.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I like the fact that Dallas went out and got
some lively bodies that are long, you know, athletic, you know,
six eleven seven footers. They can get up around the rim,
they can block shots, to defend because again, it takes
a lot of pressure off their perimeter players on the
defensive end.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Luka.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
For the first time this year I've seen make efforts
on that end of the floor. And again self awareness
of understanding that if you want to get us to
a championship, or if you want to win a championship
or have an opportunity, you got to.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Play on both ends of the floor. And you see
he's bowled into that.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. The NBA My Entire
Life Byron Scott listening for a radio audi and has
been a player's league back to Spencer Heywood. Yeah, I
grew up with my Sonics and my Blazers in the
seventies it was a players league.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now you cycle through coaches more often. It is what
it is, Okay, I've never I have no envy toward
NBA players having power or money load management drives me nuts.
I'm a kid from a small town. Okay, I grew
up in a tiny town. I went to one NBA
game a year if downtown Freddie Brown and Gus Williams
weren't available, And you can say to yourself, well, but
(10:30):
it wasn't on TV when I was.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
A kid, right, right.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I hate load management.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You're not the only one I don't understand. And when
you sign a contract, you don't sign a contract that
stipulates that, Okay, out of the eighty two games in
the regular season, I'm gonna play seventy because I'm gonna
take twelve off because of load management, I need rest.
You sign a contract to play eighty two games. So
if you're just you know, hurt, you know, and you
got an opportunity where you can play, you play that game.
(10:57):
If you're injured, you don't play. I understand that, right.
So this load management bull to me is just it's
given the players way too much power to be able
to say, you know what, I need the next couple
of games off or next two games off because I'm
just I'm getting tired.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
It don't make sense to me.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Data illustrates or validates, it doesn't help you.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Your efficiency numbers don't change, but it doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, it's a load of croc you know, to be
honest with you. So that's how I feel about it.
I'm just not a big fan of load management. I'm
always been a big fan. If you're able to play,
play the game.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And for the record, wasn't there part of playing the
game that you like to show off?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah? I mean you want to entertain, you know what
I mean. You want to entertain.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You want people to come back and say, man, did
you see that that shot of that dunk or that
pass or whatever? You know, And you can't do that
if you're sitting down ten, twelve, fifteen games a year.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
The thing that I loved.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
About Kobe Bean Bryant, you know, the late great who
I loved a show big time to show.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
But he played every game that he could play.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
He didn't believe in Low's management either, you know, I
mean he played games when he was sick.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know that.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I personally the last two years asked him, maybe you should.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Sit this one out.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Nope, these people came to see maybe the last time
they ever get a chance to see me play.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So I gotta go play. And that's the type of
players you want.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, Yeah, Kobe was. Kobe was one of those players
that was almost an artist. Michael had certain moves that
he went to. He had He's going to go to
the well on about three mid ray and he was great,
best mid range player in my life. Yeah, Kobe was
more canvas as empty. I'm just gonna spill some player.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I'm just painted up whichever way it shows up.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
What is it like to coach a player who was
a top five gifted offensive player? Ever, how much do
you coach? How much do you manage? Where did you
land on that?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I landed on managing, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
This guy was in the league eighteen years, you know,
twenty at the end of it, where he had been
around and has seen everything that can be thrown at him,
has been in every situation on the basketball court, offensively
and defensively.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So to me, it wasn't me.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
It wasn't up to me to try to teach him
anything offensively or defensive. It's really just to manage, you know,
to manage his minutes, manage his body, manage his practice time,
because at that time in his age and how many
games he had played when you start including playoff games
and things of that nature, he's probably played thirteen fourteen
(13:38):
hundred games in his career, you know, So I was
really just really just trying to just manage, you know,
to make sure that Kobe Brown was able to play
every single night as much as possible. So from a
professional standpoint on teaching, he didn't need to be taught.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
He was already he was already there. It was just
really just managing everything.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
So the Celtics start Eastern Conference Finals tonight. The East
is really weak. Add in the injuries, it's been a
layup drill.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So Jason Tatum's fascinating. So I've gone to see him
play three times live. I watch a lot of Celtics games.
Obviously a very good player, yes, And I think about
this I grow up with, you know, I grew up
with more of a Jordan Kobe mindset, which is the
game is mine, get out of the way. That's not
always the easiest game to play with. Tatum is very
(14:26):
much a hey, your turn. There are times I went
and watched them in Chicago live and he was one
of the only stars that played that night. But he
was very willing if there was a if there was
a defender on him to go out to Derek White
and let him go. And I think, man, that's just
not what I grew up with. So what is the
line between, like I wish Tatum was more selfish occasionally,
(14:52):
but if you look at their net ratings offensively, it
doesn't necessarily matter. Where are you on Tatum? His personality
is mentality his game. Where are you on him?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I love Jason Tatum. I love watching him play the
game of basketball. Like you said, he's a very willing passer.
Sometimes it's just not in the player's makeup to be
that's right, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, where they're gonna
take the shot with three guys on him, they don't care,
you know, because they're also willing to take the hit.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
You know. They're willing to be the goat, you know, and.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
They're also willing to be that sacrificial lamb at times,
you know. So I love his I love his demeanor
on the basketball court. I love the way he plays
the game. But you can't make certain guys to be
the next Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant as far as their mindset,
and he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I don't think necessarily have that mindset.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I think he will take it if he has to,
you know, but if other guys are going Jaylen Brown
is going, you know, White is hitting shots, then he's
more than willing to pass the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So I don't have a problem with the way he
plays the game. I love the way he plays the game.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, I like the way they play the game is Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
They play it as a team.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yep. You suggested that maybe Lebron could be a player coach. Now,
I grew up with Lenny Wilkins, so I've seen it,
Bill Russell, Lenny will Lenny one of the all time
gentlemen in the sport.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yes, yes, right right.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
What was the feedback when you said that on a
show and then went out in La What was the
feedback you got in your phone by saying that, you know?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And I got a lot of feedback by that.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
A lot of people were saying that, you know, that's
a great idea, but it won't happen, you know. And
then I had some other people that was like, you're crazy.
You know, what do you talk about? He shouldn't be
the coach?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And was it tongue in a little bit? Was a
poke at Lebron about you know, you don't like any
of them, you do it?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It was a little bit of a poke, but like
you said, it was a little bit of fun but
seriousness as well.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
But I'm the best option to you.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
I like Sam Cassell and I love Mark Jackson.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Mark Jackson, I think is a guy who deserves another
opportunity to coach in this league. Don't know why he's
been sort of blackball from this league for so many years.
If it's not Mark Jackson. I love Sam Cassell because
number one, he's had nothing but experience, you know, on
that bench as a lifelong assistant coach, and everywhere he's
been has done well. You know, the organization has done well.
I think he deserves an opportunity. The name that and
(17:07):
I'm sure Coling you heard his name is a bunch
as well as JJ Riddick JJ. The only thing I
have that I would say that I have against him
coming in right off the streets to beat the electorate
head coach.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
He has no experience, he's never coach.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
When you got your first job, right and everybody bails
wat my first time on the air, we're all bailing
water a little with a new.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Job, right.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
What is the hardest thing for a guy that's never
been a head coach goes to a head coach in
your first two months, maybe your first two weeks. What
is the thing where you go, Damn, this is tougher
than I thought.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
When you have to make every single decision, you know,
it's not a suggestion anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
As an assistant coach a coach.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
You know, I think we could you know, you know,
let's read the side pick and rolls well as the
head coach. You know, your word is bond. You know,
whatever you say goes, you know, so understanding that everything
kind of falls on you. Sometimes could be overwhelming, you know.
And I think again, for a guy that's never coached,
I just look at Steve Nash, great player, Hall of Famer,
(18:11):
never coach in his life.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
He goes to Brooklyn, doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
You know, he couldn't get out of there fast.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
No, no, I and I really truly think if you
have a year or two on the bench, you know
that that gained experience will help you so much in
your next you know, head coaching are getting a head
coach in position somewhere else or wherever it may be.
But going in there cold Turkey, it's a whole lot
tougher than you think.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Well, and also part of Steve Kerr's success has been
a very good group of assistants behind him that is
also a strength of the new Boston coach. They updated,
they upgraded the staff. Spose always had very strong assistance
behind us. Yes, sometimes when you're the new guy, you're
just trying to tread water. You can't build a staff yet.
That that's hard. Yeah, And Sean McVay for the Rams,
(18:57):
is much better staff builder. It was always good. Yeah,
his staffs now are better than they were his first year. Yeah,
like that's that takes taking the staff absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But Steve Kerr the one thing that I will say
it is a little bit different than him when he
he jumped out from being you know, doing games to
the coaching coaching ranks. He was in the front office, yes, okay,
so he had a chance to be around the organization
of coaches and players all that time. So it wasn't
like he was jumping in cold Turkey. He had been
in situations where he was making decisions on draft picks
(19:29):
and coaches and things of that nature. So it's a
totally different situation of coming from where Steve Kerr came from,
which was the front office, than coming from the booth
and just taking over as a head coach.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
You look fantastic, Well, thank you. I'm not even going
to guess.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Your age, but I'm older than you. Let's just put
it that way.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Man, you are His wife is a nurse and a nutritionist.
Obviously it's blueberries in the morning and fish at night,
because dude, you are playing weight.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You pretty much guessed that too.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
That's pretty good. Fish at night A lot sub it too? Great?
Great seeing coach always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Byron Scott will take a break herd line next to her.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern n a Empacific.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Pollie Fosco here with Tony Fuscott, you know, as the
host of the number one rated Paully and Tony Fusco show.
We get tons and tons of fan mail every day,
piles of it. In fact, Tony, why don't you open
up one of those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Hey, listen to this.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports takes the dumbest and
most terribly not that. Wait, why open this other one?
Dear Paulie and Tony, you suck more than anyone. Wait,
try this one. Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are
the absolute best there you go, coming up with the
stupidest take.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Forget it.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Just listen to the Polly and Tony Fusco Show on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, School, NBA Talk with Byron Scott. Here's j Mack
with the news. No, no, heard on the news. This
is the herd Line News all right.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
So the NFL's international presence continues to grow. Hell, and
they are really trying to get this game global. Five
games taking place this season in South Paulo, London, and Munich.
Quite to a recent report, the league is eyeing Australia
for a potential RAMS regular season game in either twenty
twenty five or twenty twenty six. Obviously big fourteen hour
(21:25):
time difference. I've never been to Australia, even though we
own a basketball team over there. I haven't been to Australia,
New Zealand, not that area, have you?
Speaker 1 (21:33):
No? I about six seven years ago I had a
discussion with a prominent Australian and I said, oh, I've
always wanted to go there, And he goes, where do
you live? And I said, Manhattan Beach. He goes, yeah,
it's the same weather he goes go over to London. No,
it's it's pretty remarkable. I'll go there over the next
(21:55):
five years. Okay, great spot.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Obviously, you know, the culture there is very similar to America.
Len language barrier.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
That's massive.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
What's the NFL doing with this whole like international global
We got well first of all, Whereas other leagues, hockey, baseball,
in the NBA, their players are international, so they don't
need to do that because those players are wildly popular
in their home countries.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The NFL's players are all domestic, so the only way
to create fandom is to take the game overseas. Basketball
doesn't have to. They love the NBA because so many
of our stars are from Lithuania or other parts of
the world. So the NFL looks at it and says,
the globalization is a go ass Netflix, how do you
(22:45):
go from popular to global? It changes everything? Even Netflix
found out we've tapped out in our domestic audience. Let's
go international. So the NFL is like, hey, we've we've
kind of tapped out here, like we've we dominate America.
How do we up our merchandising thirty percent? How do
we increase ticket sales? You know, contracts with Sky Sports overseas,
(23:10):
and so when you don't get players internationally, you have
to go and play some games internationally. And I've had
somebody go to the Germany games. They said they were fantastic, Like,
certainly I would love to go watch. I would go.
I would love to go watch an NFL game in
Germany or Australia.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Love it.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
Just you know, Netflix is a decent example, but like
that's easy. Just slap some subtitles on it and anyone can.
Speaker 7 (23:35):
Relate to movies.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
And if it's just tough with this the rules, first down,
fourth down, like I just it's going to be a
tough sell to well.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Most Americans still don't understand offsides in soccer or hockey.
He either loved the sport of you don't. I'm not
some soccer denizen, but I love the World Cup. I
love it. And one of the reasons I love the
World Cup is because it's been here in the States
and it feels like ours at times. And so what
they're trying to say is, hey Germany, you're a part
(24:05):
of this. Hey London, Hey Australia, Hey Mexico, you're part
of this. Our players are from the States, but our
product will reach out to you.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
You know what, I love to see put a chip
in the football so we don't have to like get
a chain link crew to go out and measure whether
or not they got the first down on fourth and inches.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Like that might help us a little bit. Like there's
a couple of refinements they could do here.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Well, I'll tell you that there are things that I
look at with sports and go can you believe I mean, listen,
people smoked on planes in nineteen eighty nine, Like there
are things in society we have made. I know everybody
complains about. Now we have made some incredible advancements. Football
still needs to figure out how to eliminate that chain
gang and put a chip in a football. It seems
(24:48):
like the next step fairly easy.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Next up, NBA rumors are rampant about Donovan Mitchell's future
with the Cavs. Cleveland's trying to work hard to lock
him up on an extension. A lot of talks about
Mint trades. According to reports, don't expect the Lakers to
land to him, as owner Dan Gilbert would never trade
him to La.
Speaker 7 (25:08):
You know we had that two weeks ago. Everybody I
was this is what's interesting.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
The athletic reports the Houston Rockets a team. Remember I
tried to tell you about him in the preseason. They're
interested in the Mitchell situation and are monitoring what's going
on there.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
If I'm not a Mi Mitchell, I don't want to
go West. It's a bloodbath. It's just too brutal.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
But Houston is interested. They got some pieces collar. I
know it's like a ten deep league in the West,
but Houston is close. Remember they were fighting the Warriors
for that final playing spot. We might do headlines tomorrow.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
With an interesting Donovan Mitchell destination, because that's.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
What I did.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
Final story is Caitlin Clark in the WNBA. She got
hurt last night and the second quarter turned an ankle.
Here it is if you're watching on FS one. Looked
pretty gnarly at the time, but she left, didn't return
in the second quarter, and was able to come back
in the second half, finished with seventeen points five assists.
Speaker 7 (26:01):
The Fevers supposed star player before Clark, they played.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
They were pretty scrappy.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
We have to lay up in the closing seconds before
it's overtime.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I know there was a scrap pretty scrappy effort though
I've never watched this much w NBA.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
I took my daughter and her friends to a movie yesterday.
I got out in the first thing I looked up
was WNBA scores. Yep, to see what happened with the
fever game like that. That's never happened in my life before.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
And I wanted to see how Clark did. They're now
zero to four. They're out here to play.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
They play, but they've been scrappier, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
And they're playing tough teams. They're playing the La Sparks
on Friday.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
They moved that game from the Pyramid in Long Beach
to Crypto. I think it would be a near sellout
if not, as she's not crazy seen there. Yeah, it
does have a Taylor Swift feel like you would when
Taylor Swift was in LA. I think she had six
or seven concerts. Everywhere you went out in town during
that seven eight nine days, every restaurant you would go
(26:56):
to there would be half the restaurant would be people
dressed up going to a Taylor Swift concert in forty
five minutes. And I feel the same there. They're these
certain cultural changes. Tiger Wood's golf, like I couldn't wait
for Sunday afternoon on a Friday. I'm like, oh, I
gotta keep Sunday afternoon open for Tiger. I do find
myself she has this magnetic appeal. I find myself checking
(27:18):
scores and just seeing how she's doing.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
I haven't looked at the ratings. I know you're a
ratings guy. You're looking.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
How have the numbers been for Clark and the other
I'm sure they're way up good whatever they were last year.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, Well, it's funny the NBA numbers year to year
down well, although Anthony Edwards in Game seven Nugget Wolves
did a massive number, which they're happy with. Yeah, but
a lot of that's because there's no Lebron, no Staff,
no Katie. A lot of these stars that we've watched
the last ten twelve years, none of them are around.
So it takes the audience a couple of years to
(27:49):
get adjusted and fall in love with ant And you know,
if the Celtics win, the numbers will be good. But
it's you know, the NBA is always going to be fine.
But what we're doing, it's almost like the NFL had
this period, one of the rare years the NFL ratings
went down years ago. Was when and I don't remember
the exact year, but it was like Steve Young retired,
Naateman retired, and there was like this transition period for
like two years where there was all these new quarterbacks
(28:11):
and we didn't really know who they were. And I
feel like the NBA is going through an adjustment period
where it's a lot of these European guys and Ant
and they're not quite If Jah Morant and Zion would
have been the stars we predicted with Ant, it would
feel different, but it's like European guys. Minnesota is a
new story.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Ok.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
See Indiana. We just we don't know the players. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
By the way, we're talking about the West being brutal
next year, we're not even mentioning the Pelicans with Zion.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
Imagine if he's healthy and John Morant and the Grizzlies,
John Morant's gonna be back.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah. I'm never gonna trust that thing.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
Never gonna trust what the Grizzlies are, Jamran thing.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
That ship is sale rit Well. First of all, OK,
see Dallas, Minnesota. You know you think Denver's not coming back,
Denver's coming back. You gotta have grown ups I'm not
into the worrying about if you your personal life together.
I just don't have time for that stuff.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
Well, hopefully he gets his act together, Like hope John Ran.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Jokich will show up and have his act together. I
don't care about it.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
I'm not the biggest Jamran fan. I feel like you're
being a little critical of him. This is a big
time star in the league.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I'm not denying his talent, but I just don't have time,
Okay for wasted time.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
How's that?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I just came up with a new brilliance.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
I don't have time for wasted time or wasted time.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
That it needs to be on a postage stamp or
something a hallmarker.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
Put that on your TikTok, my TikTok.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Jmack with the news, Well that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the herd line Sush Sushi Tuesday at
the Calf today. I'm already getting fired up for it.
All right, Celtics tonight, what do we got? I go
one twenty three one thirteen Celtics comfortable. Indiana does not
(29:54):
make teams uncomfortable, And the only way you're gonna beat
Boston is push him around. Don't get them off their spots.
Otherwise they'll just jack up threes, get into a they
get into a nice I mean, when your fifth best
offensive player is Derek White, you're really good offensively.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
They were five hundred against your Denvers and Minnesota's and
your OKC and your Lakers. But they they're just a
different class.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
I'll go like one to nineteen one oh two or something.
I mean, listen, Pacers. I think they're gonna come out
fresh and fired up. They just won the series, but
they'll they'll fail pretty quickly. Celtics are just too deep, man,
They've got so many weapons. Imagine Indiana.
Speaker 7 (30:32):
Hey, we got to stop Jalen Brunson, period. Nobody else
you have to worry about. Now, it's like.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Tatum Brown, well, I mean holiday, Derek White. Porzingis isn't
playing early, and my guess is the Celtics just don't
play him until Indiana wins a game. Like if if
Boston rolls in the first two games, why would you
play Porzingis game three? Just let him rest.
Speaker 7 (30:52):
Yeah, remember the ogn and Obi. They kind of forced
him back and that was bad at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
In game seven.
Speaker 7 (30:57):
Don't don't force him back. Same for the finals against Dallas.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Yeah, because you're gonna need him. You're gonna need you're
gonna need big minutes against Minnesota. I'm not gonna root
against Alice. That's no fun to root against people. All Right,
We're done Byron Scott Nike, right, thanks so much. We'll
see you tomorrow.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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