May 31, 2024 • 41 mins
Luka Doncic was dominate last night against the Timberwolves
The Cowboys are dealing with more issues before the season even begins
Thoughts on the Bears being on Hard Knocks
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, it is a Friday, A very very interesting Friday
live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd. Wherever you may be,
however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Jamax Dallas Mavericks. He was on this
(00:46):
team at Christmas because he was unwrapping presents, Mavericks dancing
in his head. They are now in the NBA Finals.
Something to behold. Last night, that first, that first eight
nine minutes, Yeah, Luca was just insane.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I think I texted you some expletives about how good
Luca was. We could stop this Anthony Edwards face of
the league nonsense.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Okay, it's Luca.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, let's let's start with that. What's really scary about Dallas?
So they opened the playoffs against old experienced LA Clippers,
got rid of them. Next it was as an Underdog,
the young, talented as sending OKC thunder got rid of them.
(01:32):
And then that was the best defensive team in the league.
The biggest team in the league, Minnesota Nah got rid
of them three for three. Next out the Celtics. They
take the most threes, they make the most threes. But
so far, three different variations, the veterans, the talented kids,
and the big, intense defenders knocked them all out. The
(01:55):
Mavericks because of those moves at the trade deadline, had
been a very good team in an era of a
lot of very good teams. We'll have our six different
champion this year. But unlike the Celtics, I actually see great.
Not all the time, but I see it, And that
first half for Dallas that was all time stuff. Luca
did what he did to Phoenix a couple of years
(02:16):
ago into Game seven. And I've said this about Boston,
who watched that last night with the rest of us.
Boston's a very very high functioning team, very good collaboration
and chemistry. But I don't see great because their number
one player, Jason Tatum, sometimes drifts, he's off ball, doesn't
control the game. The MAVs have a lower floor because
(02:38):
they are dependent often on Luca. But to me I
watched last night, Dallas is a higher ceiling. Whereas the
Celtics can overcome an off Tatum night and still win
by double digits. Now, some of that is the Eastern Conference.
Dallas can't. I don't think have off Luca Knights. But
here's the thing, he's not really having any Luca is
(02:59):
the best tough shot maker I've ever seen. You'll push
back and you'll say Steph, but Steph moves so quickly.
He's so nimble and twitchy and quick. He gets lots
of open looks. What about Kobe. Kobe could jump over
you more athletic than Luca. Luca scores body on body.
Degree of difficulty is all time stuff. He can get
(03:23):
separation from time to time, but usually it's in a crowd,
bumping off somebody, leaning into somebody. A great tough shot maker.
Another advantage for Dallas is the best way to win
a championship, unless you're a dynasty and just have more
good players, is to be a slight underdog that's actually
played better competition and beaten several teams in many close games.
(03:48):
That builds confidence that is not Boston that's absolutely Dallas. Plus,
we can now stop debating something. The two best players
in this league and it's gonna be this way for
a law long time are Yo Kich and Luca. Now again,
face of the league doesn't have to be the best player.
Sometimes Tim duncan best player for years. They don't really
(04:11):
want to embrace it. But Yo Kitch and Luca are
the best players in the league. What you're watching with
Luca offensively, what you're watching with him offensively is Michael
Jordan dominance, but a much better passer. And where as
we used to complain when Lebron came into this league
and challenged mj is the greatest all time, and it
(04:33):
was a fair criticism early Lebron didn't have that killer instinct.
He passed up big shots too often. Yeah, that's not Luca.
Luca takes it as a personal affront. If a kid
thirty rows in snickers at him, he's offended by anybody
that doesn't consider him the best player on the floor.
(04:53):
So Dallas is a very good team that in spurts
of the the two teams left shows me greatness. And
what's scary is those spurts of greatness are getting longer
and more sustained and happening more frequently. And I'm not
sure who I like in the finals. Here's Kyrie after I.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Just had that utmost confidence when I was going to
sleep last night, waking up and shoot around, like I said,
and just feeling like we were gonna play one of
our best games and you didn't know how it was
gonna happen, but I felt that way. And that's the
type of confidence that you know, I felt. Majority of
this playoffs is just you know, no matter what's going
on in the beginning of the game, middle of the game,
before the game, you know, our words of affirmation and
(05:40):
positivity go a long way.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
The reason Kyrie Irving is in Dallas is because of Luca,
the truly all time great. Forced the owner's hand, forced
the GM's hand. Kobe did this in Los Angeles, and
they went and got pau Gasol. They took a big swing.
They couldn't just sit there. I mean, Dirk Novitzky's a
(06:05):
Hall of Famer, but Dirk got his title at thirty two.
Luca is twenty five. He already has more all NBA
first team selections than Steph Curry and more all time
than Dirk. He's only been in the league six years.
Luka isn't just a Hall of Famer. He feels like
(06:26):
a dynasty guy, multiple title guy. You could be a
little more patient with just a mere Hall of famer
like Dirk, a really nice guy. But Luca's got an
edge and impatience and anger and a game that even
Dirk didn't have. So they sat there. Jalen Brunson takes
(06:50):
him along with Luca to the Western Conference Finals. They
let Jalen Brunson leave right he moves to New York
and he starts crushing and now it's embarrassing, and Niko
Harrison and Mark Cuban think, Okay, this isn't this isn't Dirk. No,
this is Dirk plus jet fuel. This is Dirk playing
(07:13):
with twenty five more pounds, stronger, a little better, with
twelve red bulls in him. This is different. Luca's different.
I don't just throw out the MJ thing. This is
what MJ looked like MJ. Moore, vertical Luk of the
better passer, like the best world's best athletes can't stop him.
I mean, game's over first ten, first, one hundred and
fifty three seconds, ten points, NBA game against the best
(07:37):
defensive team in the league, and so they take a swing,
and they needed to take a swing. And when they
took it, I remember going on the air and saying,
you've gotta do something. Don't do Andrew Louck and play
the patient game, go out and get star receivers ed rushers. Okay,
you gotta take a big swing. Kyrie blew up the Celtics,
(07:59):
blew up the calves with he blew up Brooklyn and
I said, you gotta do it. You gotta take a swing,
and they did, and it's worked. I don't think it's
going to be a thirty five year marriage. This is
not going to last forever. They'll be divorce proceedings eventually.
I mean, let's be honest. In May of twenty seventeen,
Kyrie came out and said he and Lebron had the
(08:21):
kind of special relationship and trust that you could never
find in the league. In July, he requests it a trade. Okay,
So he's a very emotional guy and it may not
work forever, but bro, it's working now. And when it's
working like last night and in that first half, there's
(08:43):
nothing like.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It in the league.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
There is nothing like this in the league. And I
said it then and I'll say it again. Not every relationship.
You can date and you can marry, you can date, trade,
you can do a four to oh one. K Kyrie's
not lasting forever. It doesn't have to, but for the time,
for the moment, he's in his essence, and Dallas is
(09:06):
Hammon and here's Jason Kidd.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
After to be able to have a talented young man
like Hi who's playing at a high level, A lot
of people missed on it, but it's it's all right
because now they're writing about that that it does fit.
And but those two worked at it. It just didn't
happen overnight. And that's a beautiful thing. And so it's
(09:30):
all right to be wrong, and we're not always right,
but it's it's it's a beautiful combination, those two playoffs
of each other, and you can see that they care,
they care about one another when.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
They're talking about me or saying things about me as
a teammate.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
It's been a lot of people, you know, I don't
want it's too many people to name, but that's not
where my focus has been. It's always been on making
sure my teammates understand who I am and what I
want to accomplish with them, and being selfless in my approach,
and also realized in that. You know, everyone's going to
have a past, Everyone's going to be judged for that.
But I think putting your best foot forward and focus
(10:07):
on the future is the best place to be. You know,
all the stories and narratives are going to exist forever.
I'm sure I'll hear it too i retire.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I mean, let's be honest, he had no market. Kyrie
Irving out of Brooklyn was a hasmat spill with a jumper.
But because of that, Dallas didn't have to give hardly
anything up. We looked it up this morning. The average
cost to acquire an All Star three or four top picks,
(10:35):
pick swaps, high level players. Dallas gave up one first
rounder and two vets. That's it. They took a huge swing.
Huge swings in life don't have to pay off forever.
They have to pay off now, especially if you don't
surrender much to get them. J Mack, we are going
(10:58):
to have I think we're going to have an all
time final. This is gonna be one of those I
remember old enough to remember when Jordan met the Utah
Jazz in the finals the first time, and the feeling
was I remember this being reported Utah is a small market,
nobody will watch, and it is I think it remains
the highest rated NBA Finals ever. You had the small
(11:22):
market guys against the legend the dynasty. You had Utah
was a physical team that gave Michael trouble. Michael could
struggle at times. Against them. You had controversial plays and
calls and star power. And this finals may not be
a Lakers, you know, Nicks. It may not be the Heat,
but it is four stars, three domestic, the hottest player
(11:48):
on the planet, the team we keep thinking is supposed
to win the big brand. To me, this is a
great final. If you go best ten players in this final,
you're getting to eight or nine, and then your start,
you're like, you're getting to eight and you're like Drew
Holliday in this stuff, like this is your first four
players are all Hall of famers. Yeah, your first four
(12:09):
Hall of famers. You're getting to five and you're like, okay,
poor zingis wait wait, Derek White, Drew Holiday. Derek White's
making nineteen large a year next year and would be
a two on most teams he could be the sixth
best player in this series.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
We oh, Derek Lively makes your top ten. Luca tried
to hand him the MVP.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Trophy last night, Like, hey, that kid, how about that
as a as a rookie out of college basketball, It's
not like he came out in the old days a
junior or senior. You got one year of college at Duke,
walked in in pressure, high leverage situations. Awesome. I mean,
if you're Dallas, you're Nico, you take a swing on
Kyrie trade deadline, then this becomes the rookie out of Duke.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And to your point about always getting off stuff that
doesn't work. Remember last summer they got Grant Williams. That's
from Boston. Grant Williams at like six or seven threes
in a game seven against the Bucks.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, great pick up, great pickup, Gant? Was it working?
Trade deadline?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Let's get about it here, let's go rerouted. And that
goes to your theory about if it's.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Not worry if something works, double down. If it doesn't,
don't fall in love with your idea. Just get off it.
Grant Williams didn't work, Just get off that.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Do you want to guess the spread for game one.
If you haven't lost a right right, don't tell me,
don't tell me, don't tell me. Oh my god, I
would not Boston has been I like Dallas to win
game one.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Wow, Okay, well, I think they're underdogs. I would say
Boston favored by three and a half.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
It's six and a half.
Speaker 7 (13:30):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I love Dallas. I love Dallas. Okay, I mean Dallas
is I mean even the Minnesota series had multiple really
intense close games.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Did lose Game one against the paper Clips and OKAC.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
But they're not the same team. They're playing with the
level of conference.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I say Boston's more like Minnesota or OKAC.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I don't think they're like either. I think they're like
the Warriors. They're very three reliant, and now without porzingis
one hundred percent healthy, they're a smaller team.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Well just should be back, right.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Well, if you don't play at all and then you
enter a finals against the Dallas team that's playing defense
like it hasn't played forever, this is not the kind
of series that you can just merge onto the freeway
and you're just doing eighty like everybody else. This is
a this is an all timer way. I watched that
last night, and I'm like, there are I never see
great with Boston. I see incredibly fluid, collaborative chemistry, very good,
(14:22):
could win. Like Dallas has these spurts. You're like, yeah,
that's this stuff is way up. But I think Boston
feels like the Warriors, but without the confidence. They play
like the Warriors without Porzingis. They're small like the war
but they don't have that attedude. They don't got Draymond,
Steph Clay, especially KD. They don't have that vibe, that feel,
(14:46):
that confidence.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Yeah, that's a that's a good comparison.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Dallas doesn't feel like Dallas is.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Just they're flexible. They could be any We can match
up with Bigs. We got wings, we got guards. I'll
be with you. Actually, if Horford play, if Porzingis doesn't play,
I'll take Dallas in game one.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yeah, because you can hide Luca on Al Horford.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Well, you're gonna pick and roll Boston to death without
porzing or Horfor will get crushed. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app oh.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It is great to have you in on a Friday.
We've had a good week. Rachel Nichols will be joining
us top of next hour. Listen. Minnesota beat Denver this
year and then the Game seven and look great and
took the game over late. So let's not freak out
about Minnesota. Love the way they're constructed, tweaking, not a rebuild.
(15:40):
Here was aunt alf the loss.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
I've never played this deep into a basketball season, so
now I know, like, okay, in order for me to
be able to be dombin it and and the third
round and if we get past the where it's coming
final to go to the finals, I got a train
like I'm I'm gonna go to the playoffs. So I
wish we could still play. I wish we was going
back to Dallas the Game six, but those guys came
(16:06):
out and they competed at a high level, and like
I said, man be.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Shout out to them.
Speaker 8 (16:11):
But it's super fun and I'm looking forward to being
back riding this situation next year.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
So Minnesota needs a tweet. Mike Conley's getting old at
point guard. He's been great, but you got to draft somebody,
get somebody behind him. Karl Anthony Towns. The t Wolves
were plus forty nine when Kat was off the floor.
I've said this for years about him. He commits the
strangest fouls. He's super talented, but emotionally production little hot
and cold. You got to get a more dependable number
(16:37):
two score. It could be a Michale Bridges who maybe
not have as much talent, but they need to be
more consistent offensively and not as reliant. I mean, even
the MAVs have Luca dropping thirty six, but they can
have Kyrie dropping thirty six. I mean, Kyrie's got his issues,
but he played defense this year and you know kind
of what you're getting offensively every night. But Kat, you don't.
(16:58):
I've said he's a little bit like Rashid Wallace, who
I covered. Wildly talented but hot and cold on nights.
You don't expect that he could drop forty on nights
you needed he could drop seventeen and get a tee.
So I think this is a tweak team. When the
Celtics lost to the Warriors in the finals a few
years ago and blow it up, they brought the band back.
It's just a series of tweaking and tweaking Rudy Gobert
(17:21):
can defend most people. He can't defend Luca. Okay, that's
okay again, Conley, I like, get somebody behind him. I
would tweak it. I don't think you have to, but okay,
sees getting better. Denver is the favorite to win. Dallas
is playing with a confidence potentially of a champion. But
(17:43):
don't forget you just lost to a red hot team
with a player that's putting up Michael Jordan performances. It happens.
It happens all the time. We see number one seeds
lose to number eight seeds in March Madness. It happens.
Teams get hot, they play with confidence. There's just Dallas
right now on fire. So I don't think you have
(18:06):
to make any big changes in Minnesota coach Roster construct
size lot. I like, by the way Aunt went from
nineteen as a rookie of game to twenty one to
twenty five in an All Star, to twenty six now
in an All Star. He's a better defender than last year.
He's a better playmaker, he's a more efficient player. So
my guess is he gonna land at about twenty seven
(18:26):
points a game, twenty eight points a game and an
elite two way player who is more efficient. That's going
to be what aunt Land's at and wildly spectacular, the
dunk king in the league, which I think will propel
him and Wemby to potential faces of the league. Maybe
not Luke of the score, maybe not as vast a
(18:46):
repertoire as Jokic, but a great player, an excellent construct, tweak,
don't tear anything down, Jmack with a news heard on the.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
News, this is the herd line news.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I'm largely with you. Yeah, they got a great team,
great roster.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
However, that's easy for us to say the owner is
going to look at the luxury tax bill, which could
be anywhere from twenty five to seventy five million dollars,
and say, hey, Bud, you hit the second apron. You
got to write a check to the NBA. Let's just
say for forty million dollars. Is the owner going to
want to do that on because there's one way to
(19:23):
get off giving a forty million dollar check, that's dump
Karl Anthony Towns Yeah, and sheds out. So it's a
fascinating situation on folding. They got a good team, but
if they bring this team back or they getting by Dallas. No, no,
I don't think they're getting by Denver.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
They were down twenty on the road in Game seven
like so.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
But but again it's not like Kat isn't a productive player.
There are teams that could use him. Yeah, I mean,
Phoenix could use a big that can score and take
the load off that. And by the way, you could
argue that you know, Nicks, Jalen brun Diggs could use
him till There's a lot of places Cat fits and
I like him as a player. I've used a Rashid
(20:03):
Wallace comp Rashid was a tremendous player. But when you're
plus forty eight, when he's off the floor, it gives
you an idea about the future of the team.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, all right, let's get started with Pittsburgh Steelers and
Russell Wilson. He's expected to start for the Steelers this season,
but they will have some competition in that quarterback room,
justin Fields. Now in Pittsburgh, we discussed how Fields will
not be returning kicks this season, however, but he could
be used in a slash role as a playmaker, something
(20:34):
Russ believes would strike.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Fear into some defenses. Now you know.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
The slash role was popularized by Cordel Stewart back in
the day.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
He was a young guy.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
They were like, oh, we'll put him, We'll put him
in the slot, and then we'll put it in the
backfield and we'll put him on third and short tricks plays,
gadget stuff. I don't know that that's the move for
Justin Fields.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Like, I'm surprised Russ would be on board with this.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
This is one of those situations that we just have
to watch it. If Russ comes out and is clicking,
then you figure it out. I don't think you commit
to doing anything with Justin Fields. I think you figure
out Russell Wilson and let it play out. You start
winning games, things solve themselves. Problems disappear when you start
(21:19):
winning games because Justin Fields, if they go on a
four game heater doesn't want to disrupt the locker room,
and Russell, if they're on a four game heater is
playing well, and so things have a way of solving
themselves if you win. So if Mike Tomlin wins, he
will not be on the hot seat. Russell's feeling good,
and then you make it into games where you're winning
comfortably and justin fields get stamps. But I'm not committing
(21:42):
to anything. I want deniability across the board. If I
run the.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Steelers, how about like a red zone package for fields?
Use his legs more. Russ not as elusive as he
wants was. Would you be on board with that or
is that the kind of thing that Russell Wilson gets
ticked off at. Well, I got us to the red zone,
now you're pulling me out a way.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I first, I want to see Russell Wilson has an
inability to score in the red zone. If Russell was
zero for eight in the red zone through three games,
then I would broach it. But if Russell's fine in
the red zone, they have two good running backs upgrade
to their offensive line. I don't think they're going to
struggle in the red zone. I think between the twenties
(22:19):
does the offense work. I don't think Pittsburgh's gonna steal
being physical. They're not going to struggle being physical at
the eight yard line. I don't worry about that. Russell's
still elusive, more so than the average quarterback. But there
are things in life. Sometimes you know management doesn't give
you an answer. They don't want to give you an answer.
They want deniability, and so I think this, I don't
want to commit to anything. Russell's the starter. We'll see
(22:42):
how it plays.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Out next up.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Sticking in that division, Lamar Jackson made headlines this offseason
after dropping some weight.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Uh, he's coming off the MVP season.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
If you remember last year, he was kind of like
not with the team, waiting for his big money contract and.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
He got it. Well, guess what.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Lamar has only attended one of five OTA sessions as
far this offseason, something John Harbaugh addressed yesterday.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
And I listen closely to this.
Speaker 9 (23:08):
It's this time of year, you know, it's it's a
voluntary time. It's really not something that we comment on.
We can't and that's just the time of year it is.
So I can't speak for anybody that's out here. You know,
I pretty much know the different reasons guys aren't here
most of the time, but not always, you know, But
nobody's required to tell you exactly what's going on, either
expectation you might be here next week, or is that's
(23:28):
kind of like a wait and see situation. Sure, yeah,
it's just not something I really I'm able to comment
on it. You know, So.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
I don't know, and we'll see what happens. The media
has a right to ask the questions, but the people
being asked the questions have a right to be vague.
And that's exactly how you handle it. They're not going
to talk about it, Okay, I would do John Harbaugh
be like the time of the year. We don't. It's
not mandatory. Wanted to show up, great.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
It's tough to find out how many years Brady showed
up for OTAs. Maybe we can ask him he shows
up in the studio. I gotta tell you the leadership column.
Come Ona, Lamar Jackson. You got paid, you got your
wide receiver room.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
You got everything you wanted.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
You're the MVP of the league, and you're not showing
up for four or five twos.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
You had all off season, broke to travel and do
whatever the heck you wanted. You can't show up for
five sessions.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Well, I would prefer he shows up, but I'm.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Not crushing the guy.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
I'm just saying, like, come on, dude, you're the franchise,
you're the face of the franchise.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Could you show up for optional ots? Is that too
big of an ask?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
No, that's fair. I think the OTAs you want to
get a look at the young guys. I think it's
important for offensive lines.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Do you know who the young guys want to get
a look at, Lamar Jackson, the leader of the team.
I'm sure they want to meet him. That's not I
don't know about the way he's answering. That was just like,
I can't really comment.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
That's like a I got handed to poop berger.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I got to eat this thing now, Like, geez, thanks
for not showing up Lamar, because, by the way, nobody's
getting on Mark Andrews case.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
If he doesn't show up on cares like.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Patrick Mahomes, you're not showing up for OTAs well. Okay,
you're coming off a super Bowl. You know, maybe we'll
give you an.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Excuse there, but.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
It's it's fair selling by regular raven staff.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Hot take a strong take right in the middle.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Right the middle, Lukeworb takes. That's what the audience loves.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Final story, MAVs blown out the Timberwolves last night. Just
a bloodbath. Luka Doncic was phenomenal. I'm sure you saw
a fan showed up with a handkerchief. An older gentleman, Luca,
you're crying, here's your handkerchief. And Luca scored and said,
who's crying now? Mf or right in his face. It
was awesome. Oh my, you could hear it that the
cameras were right on Luca. Anyways, Boston is favorite in
(25:36):
the finals minus two twenty five to win the series.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I think Dallas, whether they win or not, Dallas is
the side. Dallas is the bat. Sure. Oh boy, they're
playing well, playing six.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
It was six, it's down to six and a half.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Listen, some of us may have gotten the MAVs at
plus eight fifty five to win the West.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Some of us, mind have I don't know about this series.
This is a tough one. I almost want to watch
Game one.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Sometimes you want to go to a fight. Can I
bet after round two?
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, it's a hard series. It's Boston's very reliant on
the three, Dallas is reliant on Luca. They both play
good defense. But I will say this, Dallas gets to
be the dog. Dallas has had tougher games, they're more
battle tested.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
This is their third straight series opening without home courting.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
But they also get a great layoff. I mean, the
next two days I mean, if if you're the Mavericks,
you're just like dude two days. I don't want to
see it near a facility. Get out of here and
rest and hyde right.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Here's the other thing about the Boston defensive guys.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Luca's gone through Paul George, who's a top tier wing defender,
Lou Dort one of the best defensive guards in the league,
and Jade McDaniel's a second team All defensive guy. Nobody
has stopped Luka Dongeon. Are we to believe that Derek
White and Jaclen Brown suddenly you're going to stop Luk? No,
you don't stop Brian Russell.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Gave made Michael Jordan work harder for it.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
That guy never made an All Defensive team in his life.
But okay, let's hype him up the sorry sorry, take
a jab.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
There, and then nobody's gonna stop Luca. Can you make
his degree of difficult? Can you have him shoot forty
four percent not fifty two? But he's gonna get his points.
I think it's just I still am amazed that Lively
is as good as a rookie. I just nineteen twenty
year old kid, and everything's working for Dallas. It is
everything except the Cowboys is working in Stars are winning.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
The full season numbers suggest Boston's side, But if you
look since the trade.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Deadline, like, I don't care what happened before that.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
To Dallas, they're an amazing defensive team, and Luca just
manipulates the offense, gets in the lane and just tosses
alley oops and they're just dunking everything. Did you see
the alley oop numbers in the postseason? They got like
fifty more than any other team. Luca leaves the playoffs
in points, rebounds, and assist. Yeah, I don't know how
you go against Dallas here. And I feel bad because
(27:59):
you know, Tatum is my guy and.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I root for him.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
If if they don't win this series, it's gonna look
kind of bad for Tatum.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Like, well, it's not necessarily bad for him. What do
you mean they're Yeah, I mean, I just I think
let's let it play out. But I think it's I
think Jokich and Luca are clearly, clearly the best two
basketball players in the world. Clearly we can start at three,
(28:25):
and then Tatum can be an argument of about seven guys.
But I would say Yannis when he's healthy, is three.
But let's let it play out again. If Tatum is
great and loses in seven because Luca averages thirty nine points,
that's different.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
That's different obviously.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
But if Tatum disappears in a crucial Game six at home,
then you go back to the Warriors final and say,
you know we're you're the guy you want the Max.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Give me a coach. Who's the coaching advantage here, Missoula
or Jason Kidd?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Kid? Okay, Missoula's got a good staff, but I'd say kid.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Who's a pressure on individual player wise in the series?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Tatum?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Right, So some things not lining up great.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Well, but who gets home court advantage? Who gets Game seven?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Does what is home court of VNS really mean?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Not much? I mean, Dallas can win anywhere, and Boston
isn't great at home exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
I don't know, man, I'm worried about the Celtics. Not
that I should. I'm not a se It's.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Gonna be it's gonna be an all timer, it's gonna
be an all time series.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
It should be really good.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Luxury SUVs now come with a luxury of choice. Mercedes
Benz has electric gas and plug in hybrid offerings. Go
to mbusa dot com slash special offers.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific Two.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right
into the NBA grape Fine.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
All happening in only one place. This League Uncut, the
new NBA podcast with Me Chris.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Haynes and me Mark Stein join us.
Speaker 10 (30:07):
As we team up to expound on everything we're covering
Hearing and Chason.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
These falled Knight in America on Fox as the Cardinals
take on Breitztart for an NL East leading Phillies or
the Reds, Battle of the Cabs or Angels Mirrors That
all begins at seven Eastern on Fox. Check to the
game in your area.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
And hopefully nobody goes over thirty four. AnyWho ah uh
Micah Parsons of the Cowboys like Lamar Jackson has been
absent from the OTAs and head coach Mike McCarthy not
overjoyed with it.
Speaker 11 (30:57):
I think anytime you have a chance to, you know,
to be thee it's it's it's a it's an opportunity
to improve, whether it's in the mental realm, the physical realm.
It's a long year training camp is really the heightened
you know focus for all that. But yeah, it's definitely
an opportunity that's been missed. I mean, at the end
of the day, everybody has a responsibility. I mean, this
is this is our jobs. Obviously we have this period
(31:18):
of time to do football activity. I want to say unfortunately,
but you know, ninety eight percent of our football team's
been here, you know, one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
The downside to being a Dallas Cowboy is that you
get more attention than you often earn. This is a
franchise that hasn't been to the NFC Championship in I
lost count twenty five plus years. Attention doesn't make a
very good player great or a good player very good.
Dak is good. He's paid like he's great. That's a problem.
(31:51):
We have a salary cap. Ceedee Lamb and Micah Parsons
want to be paid top of the League. In my opinion,
Micah Parsons is not TJ. Watt Nora, is he Miles Garrett?
And I don't think he's Nick Bosa. I don't. In fact,
I think I have questions if he's Aiden Hutchison.
Speaker 11 (32:10):
Now.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Aiden Hudgson from Detroit had eleven and a half sacks,
Micah had fourteen. Micah did get two and a half
against Carolina and two against the Jets offensive line. But
in the big game Micah against the Packers at home
in the playoffs vanished, blocked, disappeared, no sacks, only one
(32:33):
quarterback hit. Meanwhile, Aiden Hutchison with the Lions led the
NFL in playoff sacks with three. Sorry, but October sacks
mean more than September October sacks. Nick Bosa for the
Niners led the entire NFL playoffs in quarterback pressures and hits.
Hutchison led them in sacks in one game against Green Bay.
(32:59):
Micah Parson, as a favorite, vanished so very on brand
for Micah Parsons and the Cowboys when it mattered, they
didn't do anything. So you know, again, it does matter
where do you get your sacks. If you're a if
you're a number one receiver. I do need some catches
(33:19):
against a really good secondary. So if you're getting if
you're getting four and a half, five or fourteen sacks
off Carolina and the Jets and then you vanish against
Green Bay. Yeah, it's different because I watch Bosa, I
watched TJ Watt, I watch Miles Garrett, I watch Aiden
Hutchison in their biggest games, take them over and be
(33:41):
very difficult to block. But that's sort of the deal
in Dallas. Big brand players who are good, think they're
very good, very good, think they should be top of
the league, and I just don't. I thought this was interesting, So, uh,
hard Knocks for most of the last ten years has
(34:02):
been a hard pass for me. The Rex Ryan Jet
stuff was interesting, gobbling up em and M's trash talking,
a lot of swearing. Outside of that, you're trying to
sell me something I'm not interested in. But the Chicago
Bears and Caleb Williams will be this year's HBO's Hard Knocks,
and I'm into it. I think this one's good. I
(34:24):
think there's a lot of things going on. I think
you have a lot of ingredients and you've got to
figure out if all the ingredients Mesh, the defensive coach,
the prodigy out of USC, Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, DeAndre Swift,
Cole Comet. You have a defensive culture and a surplus
of offensive talent, and I think this is really really interesting.
(34:47):
The Bears are due for rebirth. Sorry, but it's time
to pivot off celebrating Mike Ditka and the eighty five defense.
It's time to join the party. So I looked up
this this this morning. The Chicago Bears have been outside
of the top twenty okay, outside of the top twenty
(35:09):
in offensive yards nine of the last ten years. They
have been a gas guzzler on a freeway next to
electric vehicles. They're out of place. They are Jurassic. They
don't feel like they're of this age. And I think
Caleb Williams is going to change that. I think they'll
be an up the field, vertical, athletic, good on third down.
(35:33):
One of the things I always said about justin fields,
if you've got the right quarterback, you can play with
a lead, you can play from behind, you can play
on the road. The Bears underfields were awful in the
fourth quarter. There was one way to win, get a
lead and hold on for dear life. I do not
think that's what we'll have, so Hard Knocks has been
(35:55):
a hard pass for me. I think they're going to
be a vertical, clever team. I think he got the
young star with pressure, the big city, the defensive coach.
This defense in the last six seven weeks was top
rated defense in the NFL. So it does appear that
they're pivoting to the twenty first century in Chicago, a
city I love. It feels like the Bears. This is
(36:16):
a hard knock you can get your arms around. The
last good Hard Knocks was Rex Ryan and the Jets,
and you know that story was good for a couple
of years and then you know it. You know, Rex
does what Rex does and where's everybody out? But very
exciting times. MICHAEH. Parsons isn't showing up, Lamar Jackson isn't
showing up, and the Bears will be showing up on
(36:36):
HBO's Hard Knocks. Rachel Nichols Next hour. So as I
was watching the game last night, j Beck is a
big Mavericks fan. You know what you forget because these
series last soul one. The NBA is actually a very
good job. Whereas baseball last forever, and then the playoffs
are done in a heartbeat. That's not the way to
do it. What you want to do is have a
(36:57):
long playoff, and people can complain about that. But the
NBA they milk two months out of their playoffs. In fact,
we don't have the first game until next week like
they milk. And there have been a lot of sweeps
and gentlemen sweeps, which is not great for the company
that has the rights. They're scrambling now hoping for a
game seven. But I will say watching that last night,
(37:17):
is that there are things about the NBA that are true.
They've got they have what baseball doesn't. They have great pace,
lots of stars, and their stars always have the ball.
Baseball's got a slower pace. There's not many stars that
are recognizable. And you're show hey o Tani Dhing, you're
on the camera for five minutes of a two hour,
(37:37):
fifty five minute game, Luca Tatum, Brown, Kyrie. You know
they're playing forty two minutes. They have the ball in
their hands just like a quarterback in the NFL. So
there's a lot about the NBA to like. The European
thing is I'm watching thinking Yo Kitchen and Luca are
easily the two best players in the game, and they're
they're kind of ground grounded players. They're not real vertical.
(37:58):
But I got to tell you, when I watch it,
I think it's fascinating. I think it's a lot of angles,
body on body, clever passing, smart basketball, not as reliant
on jumping over people, which can be fun as well.
But I do think the league is pivoting to a
bit more grounded league with higher skilled players. So you know,
(38:18):
I mean, when Jah Morant came into this league, John
Morant's old school, he's flying through the air, wild dunks,
but kind of inefficient. This basketball is efficient, highly skilled,
remarkable passing, unbelievable shooting. The European fusion of our basketball
(38:42):
and the European version it used to be ten years ago.
The knock on Europeans were they were soft and they
hurt it. And so Luke is not soft, Yokich isn't soft.
The European players now have higher skill level than our
college guys do because they play against older players at
an earlier age in the academies, so they have a
higher skill level and they come in now tough and
(39:02):
physical and trash talking, and it's something to way. I mean,
if I said to you, top five players in the league,
Luca Jannis, feel like the top three in the league,
who is for I mean I I would say, just
from a scoring perspective, Sga is really special. He is
hard to stop Sga or Tatum. I would take Sga
as a pure score I think he's gettle more dog
(39:25):
in him.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Also, by the way, he's playing four team Canada this
summer in the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
So though I would say Jokic Luca, I think janis.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
A lot of people like him. Bead you, I I'm not, that's.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Not you and I you got to deliver at some
point in your career in big games. You gotta do that.
That's part of the NBA is what you do in
May and June, and so you get to I think
the three is established. The fourth best player. I think
sg a well.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
People want to lean on Kevin Durant and Lebron's no,
I don't know, Steph Currie top five and also those
players holistically or a bit needier.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
You know, Lebron's running through coaches, Kd's the ultimate don't
want to lead, just want to score. Luca wants the
whole thing, Yo Kich wants the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
To your point about the Europeans, there was a story
a little while back about when Porzingis was with the Mavericks.
The Mavericks went to them with all these analytics and
they're like, hey, we can't.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
Post you up, bro, but post uff don't work.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
They're not working for you. And he's like, I want
to post up. Porzingis didn't want to fall in life anyway.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
They get rid of him.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
He goes to Boston. Hey, here are the real analytics Forzingis.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
You shoot threes.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
That's what we want from you. You don't see Porzingis
posting up in Boston. Try He's shooting threes pace in space.
So he's like getting with the program now. And I
think there's a bigger story here. NBA is now heavily analytics,
and Europeans they're dominating the league.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
Should Americans be worried? Is this going to be a
turn off? I don't. I think that's all overblown a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
No.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I think it will be cyclical. Like Europeans were soft,
they're no longer soft. I think the American players who
tend to be a bit more to distracted, a bit
more coddled in our AAU system. Come in not hard coach,
didn't don't have the hard college coach and high school coach.
It's coddling in the AAU. Too many games, none of
them matter, friends with everybody. Uh, you don't kind of
(41:15):
grow that competitive spirit. You get your shoes, you get
your stuff, you got your game, got your handles. But
there's like it takes Jalen Green, that kid everybody thought
was gonna be the next great player, and it takes
him like until year two until you're like, Okay, he
plays winning basketball. He includes others. So I think it's cyclical.
I think I think American players, you know, are going
to watch and read and listen and and be coachable
(41:36):
and it'll be fine. But we are watching a major
pivot in the NBA, and uh, it's it's fascinating. Hour
two next
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, it is a Friday, A very very interesting Friday
live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd. Wherever you may be,
however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Jamax Dallas Mavericks. He was on this
(00:46):
team at Christmas because he was unwrapping presents, Mavericks dancing
in his head. They are now in the NBA Finals.
Something to behold. Last night, that first, that first eight
nine minutes, Yeah, Luca was just insane.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I think I texted you some expletives about how good
Luca was. We could stop this Anthony Edwards face of
the league nonsense.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Okay, it's Luca.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, let's let's start with that. What's really scary about Dallas?
So they opened the playoffs against old experienced LA Clippers,
got rid of them. Next it was as an Underdog,
the young, talented as sending OKC thunder got rid of them.
(01:32):
And then that was the best defensive team in the league.
The biggest team in the league, Minnesota Nah got rid
of them three for three. Next out the Celtics. They
take the most threes, they make the most threes. But
so far, three different variations, the veterans, the talented kids,
and the big, intense defenders knocked them all out. The
(01:55):
Mavericks because of those moves at the trade deadline, had
been a very good team in an era of a
lot of very good teams. We'll have our six different
champion this year. But unlike the Celtics, I actually see great.
Not all the time, but I see it, And that
first half for Dallas that was all time stuff. Luca
did what he did to Phoenix a couple of years
(02:16):
ago into Game seven. And I've said this about Boston,
who watched that last night with the rest of us.
Boston's a very very high functioning team, very good collaboration
and chemistry. But I don't see great because their number
one player, Jason Tatum, sometimes drifts, he's off ball, doesn't
control the game. The MAVs have a lower floor because
(02:38):
they are dependent often on Luca. But to me I
watched last night, Dallas is a higher ceiling. Whereas the
Celtics can overcome an off Tatum night and still win
by double digits. Now, some of that is the Eastern Conference.
Dallas can't. I don't think have off Luca Knights. But
here's the thing, he's not really having any Luca is
(02:59):
the best tough shot maker I've ever seen. You'll push
back and you'll say Steph, but Steph moves so quickly.
He's so nimble and twitchy and quick. He gets lots
of open looks. What about Kobe. Kobe could jump over
you more athletic than Luca. Luca scores body on body.
Degree of difficulty is all time stuff. He can get
(03:23):
separation from time to time, but usually it's in a crowd,
bumping off somebody, leaning into somebody. A great tough shot maker.
Another advantage for Dallas is the best way to win
a championship, unless you're a dynasty and just have more
good players, is to be a slight underdog that's actually
played better competition and beaten several teams in many close games.
(03:48):
That builds confidence that is not Boston that's absolutely Dallas. Plus,
we can now stop debating something. The two best players
in this league and it's gonna be this way for
a law long time are Yo Kich and Luca. Now again,
face of the league doesn't have to be the best player.
Sometimes Tim duncan best player for years. They don't really
(04:11):
want to embrace it. But Yo Kitch and Luca are
the best players in the league. What you're watching with
Luca offensively, what you're watching with him offensively is Michael
Jordan dominance, but a much better passer. And where as
we used to complain when Lebron came into this league
and challenged mj is the greatest all time, and it
(04:33):
was a fair criticism early Lebron didn't have that killer instinct.
He passed up big shots too often. Yeah, that's not Luca.
Luca takes it as a personal affront. If a kid
thirty rows in snickers at him, he's offended by anybody
that doesn't consider him the best player on the floor.
(04:53):
So Dallas is a very good team that in spurts
of the the two teams left shows me greatness. And
what's scary is those spurts of greatness are getting longer
and more sustained and happening more frequently. And I'm not
sure who I like in the finals. Here's Kyrie after I.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Just had that utmost confidence when I was going to
sleep last night, waking up and shoot around, like I said,
and just feeling like we were gonna play one of
our best games and you didn't know how it was
gonna happen, but I felt that way. And that's the
type of confidence that you know, I felt. Majority of
this playoffs is just you know, no matter what's going
on in the beginning of the game, middle of the game,
before the game, you know, our words of affirmation and
(05:40):
positivity go a long way.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
The reason Kyrie Irving is in Dallas is because of Luca,
the truly all time great. Forced the owner's hand, forced
the GM's hand. Kobe did this in Los Angeles, and
they went and got pau Gasol. They took a big swing.
They couldn't just sit there. I mean, Dirk Novitzky's a
(06:05):
Hall of Famer, but Dirk got his title at thirty two.
Luca is twenty five. He already has more all NBA
first team selections than Steph Curry and more all time
than Dirk. He's only been in the league six years.
Luka isn't just a Hall of Famer. He feels like
(06:26):
a dynasty guy, multiple title guy. You could be a
little more patient with just a mere Hall of famer
like Dirk, a really nice guy. But Luca's got an
edge and impatience and anger and a game that even
Dirk didn't have. So they sat there. Jalen Brunson takes
(06:50):
him along with Luca to the Western Conference Finals. They
let Jalen Brunson leave right he moves to New York
and he starts crushing and now it's embarrassing, and Niko
Harrison and Mark Cuban think, Okay, this isn't this isn't Dirk. No,
this is Dirk plus jet fuel. This is Dirk playing
(07:13):
with twenty five more pounds, stronger, a little better, with
twelve red bulls in him. This is different. Luca's different.
I don't just throw out the MJ thing. This is
what MJ looked like MJ. Moore, vertical Luk of the
better passer, like the best world's best athletes can't stop him.
I mean, game's over first ten, first, one hundred and
fifty three seconds, ten points, NBA game against the best
(07:37):
defensive team in the league, and so they take a swing,
and they needed to take a swing. And when they
took it, I remember going on the air and saying,
you've gotta do something. Don't do Andrew Louck and play
the patient game, go out and get star receivers ed rushers. Okay,
you gotta take a big swing. Kyrie blew up the Celtics,
(07:59):
blew up the calves with he blew up Brooklyn and
I said, you gotta do it. You gotta take a swing,
and they did, and it's worked. I don't think it's
going to be a thirty five year marriage. This is
not going to last forever. They'll be divorce proceedings eventually.
I mean, let's be honest. In May of twenty seventeen,
Kyrie came out and said he and Lebron had the
(08:21):
kind of special relationship and trust that you could never
find in the league. In July, he requests it a trade. Okay,
So he's a very emotional guy and it may not
work forever, but bro, it's working now. And when it's
working like last night and in that first half, there's
(08:43):
nothing like.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It in the league.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
There is nothing like this in the league. And I
said it then and I'll say it again. Not every relationship.
You can date and you can marry, you can date, trade,
you can do a four to oh one. K Kyrie's
not lasting forever. It doesn't have to, but for the time,
for the moment, he's in his essence, and Dallas is
(09:06):
Hammon and here's Jason Kidd.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
After to be able to have a talented young man
like Hi who's playing at a high level, A lot
of people missed on it, but it's it's all right
because now they're writing about that that it does fit.
And but those two worked at it. It just didn't
happen overnight. And that's a beautiful thing. And so it's
(09:30):
all right to be wrong, and we're not always right,
but it's it's it's a beautiful combination, those two playoffs
of each other, and you can see that they care,
they care about one another when.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
They're talking about me or saying things about me as
a teammate.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
It's been a lot of people, you know, I don't
want it's too many people to name, but that's not
where my focus has been. It's always been on making
sure my teammates understand who I am and what I
want to accomplish with them, and being selfless in my approach,
and also realized in that. You know, everyone's going to
have a past, Everyone's going to be judged for that.
But I think putting your best foot forward and focus
(10:07):
on the future is the best place to be. You know,
all the stories and narratives are going to exist forever.
I'm sure I'll hear it too i retire.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I mean, let's be honest, he had no market. Kyrie
Irving out of Brooklyn was a hasmat spill with a jumper.
But because of that, Dallas didn't have to give hardly
anything up. We looked it up this morning. The average
cost to acquire an All Star three or four top picks,
(10:35):
pick swaps, high level players. Dallas gave up one first
rounder and two vets. That's it. They took a huge swing.
Huge swings in life don't have to pay off forever.
They have to pay off now, especially if you don't
surrender much to get them. J Mack, we are going
(10:58):
to have I think we're going to have an all
time final. This is gonna be one of those I
remember old enough to remember when Jordan met the Utah
Jazz in the finals the first time, and the feeling
was I remember this being reported Utah is a small market,
nobody will watch, and it is I think it remains
the highest rated NBA Finals ever. You had the small
(11:22):
market guys against the legend the dynasty. You had Utah
was a physical team that gave Michael trouble. Michael could
struggle at times. Against them. You had controversial plays and
calls and star power. And this finals may not be
a Lakers, you know, Nicks. It may not be the Heat,
but it is four stars, three domestic, the hottest player
(11:48):
on the planet, the team we keep thinking is supposed
to win the big brand. To me, this is a
great final. If you go best ten players in this final,
you're getting to eight or nine, and then your start,
you're like, you're getting to eight and you're like Drew
Holliday in this stuff, like this is your first four
players are all Hall of famers. Yeah, your first four
(12:09):
Hall of famers. You're getting to five and you're like, okay,
poor zingis wait wait, Derek White, Drew Holiday. Derek White's
making nineteen large a year next year and would be
a two on most teams he could be the sixth
best player in this series.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
We oh, Derek Lively makes your top ten. Luca tried
to hand him the MVP.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Trophy last night, Like, hey, that kid, how about that
as a as a rookie out of college basketball, It's
not like he came out in the old days a
junior or senior. You got one year of college at Duke,
walked in in pressure, high leverage situations. Awesome. I mean,
if you're Dallas, you're Nico, you take a swing on
Kyrie trade deadline, then this becomes the rookie out of Duke.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And to your point about always getting off stuff that
doesn't work. Remember last summer they got Grant Williams. That's
from Boston. Grant Williams at like six or seven threes
in a game seven against the Bucks.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, great pick up, great pickup, Gant? Was it working?
Trade deadline?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Let's get about it here, let's go rerouted. And that
goes to your theory about if it's.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Not worry if something works, double down. If it doesn't,
don't fall in love with your idea. Just get off it.
Grant Williams didn't work, Just get off that.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Do you want to guess the spread for game one.
If you haven't lost a right right, don't tell me,
don't tell me, don't tell me. Oh my god, I
would not Boston has been I like Dallas to win
game one.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Wow, Okay, well, I think they're underdogs. I would say
Boston favored by three and a half.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
It's six and a half.
Speaker 7 (13:30):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I love Dallas. I love Dallas. Okay, I mean Dallas
is I mean even the Minnesota series had multiple really
intense close games.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Did lose Game one against the paper Clips and OKAC.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
But they're not the same team. They're playing with the
level of conference.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I say Boston's more like Minnesota or OKAC.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I don't think they're like either. I think they're like
the Warriors. They're very three reliant, and now without porzingis
one hundred percent healthy, they're a smaller team.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Well just should be back, right.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Well, if you don't play at all and then you
enter a finals against the Dallas team that's playing defense
like it hasn't played forever, this is not the kind
of series that you can just merge onto the freeway
and you're just doing eighty like everybody else. This is
a this is an all timer way. I watched that
last night, and I'm like, there are I never see
great with Boston. I see incredibly fluid, collaborative chemistry, very good,
(14:22):
could win. Like Dallas has these spurts. You're like, yeah,
that's this stuff is way up. But I think Boston
feels like the Warriors, but without the confidence. They play
like the Warriors without Porzingis. They're small like the war
but they don't have that attedude. They don't got Draymond,
Steph Clay, especially KD. They don't have that vibe, that feel,
(14:46):
that confidence.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Yeah, that's a that's a good comparison.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Dallas doesn't feel like Dallas is.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Just they're flexible. They could be any We can match
up with Bigs. We got wings, we got guards. I'll
be with you. Actually, if Horford play, if Porzingis doesn't play,
I'll take Dallas in game one.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yeah, because you can hide Luca on Al Horford.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Well, you're gonna pick and roll Boston to death without
porzing or Horfor will get crushed. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app oh.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It is great to have you in on a Friday.
We've had a good week. Rachel Nichols will be joining
us top of next hour. Listen. Minnesota beat Denver this
year and then the Game seven and look great and
took the game over late. So let's not freak out
about Minnesota. Love the way they're constructed, tweaking, not a rebuild.
(15:40):
Here was aunt alf the loss.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
I've never played this deep into a basketball season, so
now I know, like, okay, in order for me to
be able to be dombin it and and the third
round and if we get past the where it's coming
final to go to the finals, I got a train
like I'm I'm gonna go to the playoffs. So I
wish we could still play. I wish we was going
back to Dallas the Game six, but those guys came
(16:06):
out and they competed at a high level, and like
I said, man be.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Shout out to them.
Speaker 8 (16:11):
But it's super fun and I'm looking forward to being
back riding this situation next year.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
So Minnesota needs a tweet. Mike Conley's getting old at
point guard. He's been great, but you got to draft somebody,
get somebody behind him. Karl Anthony Towns. The t Wolves
were plus forty nine when Kat was off the floor.
I've said this for years about him. He commits the
strangest fouls. He's super talented, but emotionally production little hot
and cold. You got to get a more dependable number
(16:37):
two score. It could be a Michale Bridges who maybe
not have as much talent, but they need to be
more consistent offensively and not as reliant. I mean, even
the MAVs have Luca dropping thirty six, but they can
have Kyrie dropping thirty six. I mean, Kyrie's got his issues,
but he played defense this year and you know kind
of what you're getting offensively every night. But Kat, you don't.
(16:58):
I've said he's a little bit like Rashid Wallace, who
I covered. Wildly talented but hot and cold on nights.
You don't expect that he could drop forty on nights
you needed he could drop seventeen and get a tee.
So I think this is a tweak team. When the
Celtics lost to the Warriors in the finals a few
years ago and blow it up, they brought the band back.
It's just a series of tweaking and tweaking Rudy Gobert
(17:21):
can defend most people. He can't defend Luca. Okay, that's
okay again, Conley, I like, get somebody behind him. I
would tweak it. I don't think you have to, but okay,
sees getting better. Denver is the favorite to win. Dallas
is playing with a confidence potentially of a champion. But
(17:43):
don't forget you just lost to a red hot team
with a player that's putting up Michael Jordan performances. It happens.
It happens all the time. We see number one seeds
lose to number eight seeds in March Madness. It happens.
Teams get hot, they play with confidence. There's just Dallas
right now on fire. So I don't think you have
(18:06):
to make any big changes in Minnesota coach Roster construct
size lot. I like, by the way Aunt went from
nineteen as a rookie of game to twenty one to
twenty five in an All Star, to twenty six now
in an All Star. He's a better defender than last year.
He's a better playmaker, he's a more efficient player. So
my guess is he gonna land at about twenty seven
(18:26):
points a game, twenty eight points a game and an
elite two way player who is more efficient. That's going
to be what aunt Land's at and wildly spectacular, the
dunk king in the league, which I think will propel
him and Wemby to potential faces of the league. Maybe
not Luke of the score, maybe not as vast a
(18:46):
repertoire as Jokic, but a great player, an excellent construct, tweak,
don't tear anything down, Jmack with a news heard on the.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
News, this is the herd line news.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I'm largely with you. Yeah, they got a great team,
great roster.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
However, that's easy for us to say the owner is
going to look at the luxury tax bill, which could
be anywhere from twenty five to seventy five million dollars,
and say, hey, Bud, you hit the second apron. You
got to write a check to the NBA. Let's just
say for forty million dollars. Is the owner going to
want to do that on because there's one way to
(19:23):
get off giving a forty million dollar check, that's dump
Karl Anthony Towns Yeah, and sheds out. So it's a
fascinating situation on folding. They got a good team, but
if they bring this team back or they getting by Dallas. No, no,
I don't think they're getting by Denver.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
They were down twenty on the road in Game seven
like so.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
But but again it's not like Kat isn't a productive player.
There are teams that could use him. Yeah, I mean,
Phoenix could use a big that can score and take
the load off that. And by the way, you could
argue that you know, Nicks, Jalen brun Diggs could use
him till There's a lot of places Cat fits and
I like him as a player. I've used a Rashid
(20:03):
Wallace comp Rashid was a tremendous player. But when you're
plus forty eight, when he's off the floor, it gives
you an idea about the future of the team.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, all right, let's get started with Pittsburgh Steelers and
Russell Wilson. He's expected to start for the Steelers this season,
but they will have some competition in that quarterback room,
justin Fields. Now in Pittsburgh, we discussed how Fields will
not be returning kicks this season, however, but he could
be used in a slash role as a playmaker, something
(20:34):
Russ believes would strike.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Fear into some defenses. Now you know.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
The slash role was popularized by Cordel Stewart back in
the day.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
He was a young guy.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
They were like, oh, we'll put him, We'll put him
in the slot, and then we'll put it in the
backfield and we'll put him on third and short tricks plays,
gadget stuff. I don't know that that's the move for
Justin Fields.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Like, I'm surprised Russ would be on board with this.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
This is one of those situations that we just have
to watch it. If Russ comes out and is clicking,
then you figure it out. I don't think you commit
to doing anything with Justin Fields. I think you figure
out Russell Wilson and let it play out. You start
winning games, things solve themselves. Problems disappear when you start
(21:19):
winning games because Justin Fields, if they go on a
four game heater doesn't want to disrupt the locker room,
and Russell, if they're on a four game heater is
playing well, and so things have a way of solving
themselves if you win. So if Mike Tomlin wins, he
will not be on the hot seat. Russell's feeling good,
and then you make it into games where you're winning
comfortably and justin fields get stamps. But I'm not committing
(21:42):
to anything. I want deniability across the board. If I
run the.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Steelers, how about like a red zone package for fields?
Use his legs more. Russ not as elusive as he
wants was. Would you be on board with that or
is that the kind of thing that Russell Wilson gets
ticked off at. Well, I got us to the red zone,
now you're pulling me out a way.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I first, I want to see Russell Wilson has an
inability to score in the red zone. If Russell was
zero for eight in the red zone through three games,
then I would broach it. But if Russell's fine in
the red zone, they have two good running backs upgrade
to their offensive line. I don't think they're going to
struggle in the red zone. I think between the twenties
(22:19):
does the offense work. I don't think Pittsburgh's gonna steal
being physical. They're not going to struggle being physical at
the eight yard line. I don't worry about that. Russell's
still elusive, more so than the average quarterback. But there
are things in life. Sometimes you know management doesn't give
you an answer. They don't want to give you an answer.
They want deniability, and so I think this, I don't
want to commit to anything. Russell's the starter. We'll see
(22:42):
how it plays.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Out next up.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Sticking in that division, Lamar Jackson made headlines this offseason
after dropping some weight.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Uh, he's coming off the MVP season.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
If you remember last year, he was kind of like
not with the team, waiting for his big money contract and.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
He got it. Well, guess what.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Lamar has only attended one of five OTA sessions as
far this offseason, something John Harbaugh addressed yesterday.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
And I listen closely to this.
Speaker 9 (23:08):
It's this time of year, you know, it's it's a
voluntary time. It's really not something that we comment on.
We can't and that's just the time of year it is.
So I can't speak for anybody that's out here. You know,
I pretty much know the different reasons guys aren't here
most of the time, but not always, you know, But
nobody's required to tell you exactly what's going on, either
expectation you might be here next week, or is that's
(23:28):
kind of like a wait and see situation. Sure, yeah,
it's just not something I really I'm able to comment
on it. You know, So.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
I don't know, and we'll see what happens. The media
has a right to ask the questions, but the people
being asked the questions have a right to be vague.
And that's exactly how you handle it. They're not going
to talk about it, Okay, I would do John Harbaugh
be like the time of the year. We don't. It's
not mandatory. Wanted to show up, great.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
It's tough to find out how many years Brady showed
up for OTAs. Maybe we can ask him he shows
up in the studio. I gotta tell you the leadership column.
Come Ona, Lamar Jackson. You got paid, you got your
wide receiver room.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
You got everything you wanted.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
You're the MVP of the league, and you're not showing
up for four or five twos.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
You had all off season, broke to travel and do
whatever the heck you wanted. You can't show up for
five sessions.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Well, I would prefer he shows up, but I'm.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Not crushing the guy.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
I'm just saying, like, come on, dude, you're the franchise,
you're the face of the franchise.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Could you show up for optional ots? Is that too
big of an ask?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
No, that's fair. I think the OTAs you want to
get a look at the young guys. I think it's
important for offensive lines.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Do you know who the young guys want to get
a look at, Lamar Jackson, the leader of the team.
I'm sure they want to meet him. That's not I
don't know about the way he's answering. That was just like,
I can't really comment.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
That's like a I got handed to poop berger.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I got to eat this thing now, Like, geez, thanks
for not showing up Lamar, because, by the way, nobody's
getting on Mark Andrews case.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
If he doesn't show up on cares like.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Patrick Mahomes, you're not showing up for OTAs well. Okay,
you're coming off a super Bowl. You know, maybe we'll
give you an.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Excuse there, but.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
It's it's fair selling by regular raven staff.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Hot take a strong take right in the middle.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Right the middle, Lukeworb takes. That's what the audience loves.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Final story, MAVs blown out the Timberwolves last night. Just
a bloodbath. Luka Doncic was phenomenal. I'm sure you saw
a fan showed up with a handkerchief. An older gentleman, Luca,
you're crying, here's your handkerchief. And Luca scored and said,
who's crying now? Mf or right in his face. It
was awesome. Oh my, you could hear it that the
cameras were right on Luca. Anyways, Boston is favorite in
(25:36):
the finals minus two twenty five to win the series.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I think Dallas, whether they win or not, Dallas is
the side. Dallas is the bat. Sure. Oh boy, they're
playing well, playing six.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
It was six, it's down to six and a half.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Listen, some of us may have gotten the MAVs at
plus eight fifty five to win the West.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Some of us, mind have I don't know about this series.
This is a tough one. I almost want to watch
Game one.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Sometimes you want to go to a fight. Can I
bet after round two?
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, it's a hard series. It's Boston's very reliant on
the three, Dallas is reliant on Luca. They both play
good defense. But I will say this, Dallas gets to
be the dog. Dallas has had tougher games, they're more
battle tested.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
This is their third straight series opening without home courting.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
But they also get a great layoff. I mean, the
next two days I mean, if if you're the Mavericks,
you're just like dude two days. I don't want to
see it near a facility. Get out of here and
rest and hyde right.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Here's the other thing about the Boston defensive guys.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Luca's gone through Paul George, who's a top tier wing defender,
Lou Dort one of the best defensive guards in the league,
and Jade McDaniel's a second team All defensive guy. Nobody
has stopped Luka Dongeon. Are we to believe that Derek
White and Jaclen Brown suddenly you're going to stop Luk? No,
you don't stop Brian Russell.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Gave made Michael Jordan work harder for it.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
That guy never made an All Defensive team in his life.
But okay, let's hype him up the sorry sorry, take
a jab.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
There, and then nobody's gonna stop Luca. Can you make
his degree of difficult? Can you have him shoot forty
four percent not fifty two? But he's gonna get his points.
I think it's just I still am amazed that Lively
is as good as a rookie. I just nineteen twenty
year old kid, and everything's working for Dallas. It is
everything except the Cowboys is working in Stars are winning.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
The full season numbers suggest Boston's side, But if you
look since the trade.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Deadline, like, I don't care what happened before that.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
To Dallas, they're an amazing defensive team, and Luca just
manipulates the offense, gets in the lane and just tosses
alley oops and they're just dunking everything. Did you see
the alley oop numbers in the postseason? They got like
fifty more than any other team. Luca leaves the playoffs
in points, rebounds, and assist. Yeah, I don't know how
you go against Dallas here. And I feel bad because
(27:59):
you know, Tatum is my guy and.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I root for him.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
If if they don't win this series, it's gonna look
kind of bad for Tatum.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Like, well, it's not necessarily bad for him. What do
you mean they're Yeah, I mean, I just I think
let's let it play out. But I think it's I
think Jokich and Luca are clearly, clearly the best two
basketball players in the world. Clearly we can start at three,
(28:25):
and then Tatum can be an argument of about seven guys.
But I would say Yannis when he's healthy, is three.
But let's let it play out again. If Tatum is
great and loses in seven because Luca averages thirty nine points,
that's different.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
That's different obviously.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
But if Tatum disappears in a crucial Game six at home,
then you go back to the Warriors final and say,
you know we're you're the guy you want the Max.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Give me a coach. Who's the coaching advantage here, Missoula
or Jason Kidd?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Kid? Okay, Missoula's got a good staff, but I'd say kid.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Who's a pressure on individual player wise in the series?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Tatum?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Right, So some things not lining up great.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Well, but who gets home court advantage? Who gets Game seven?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Does what is home court of VNS really mean?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Not much? I mean, Dallas can win anywhere, and Boston
isn't great at home exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
I don't know, man, I'm worried about the Celtics. Not
that I should. I'm not a se It's.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Gonna be it's gonna be an all timer, it's gonna
be an all time series.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
It should be really good.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Luxury SUVs now come with a luxury of choice. Mercedes
Benz has electric gas and plug in hybrid offerings. Go
to mbusa dot com slash special offers.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific Two.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right
into the NBA grape Fine.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
All happening in only one place. This League Uncut, the
new NBA podcast with Me Chris.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Haynes and me Mark Stein join us.
Speaker 10 (30:07):
As we team up to expound on everything we're covering
Hearing and Chason.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
These falled Knight in America on Fox as the Cardinals
take on Breitztart for an NL East leading Phillies or
the Reds, Battle of the Cabs or Angels Mirrors That
all begins at seven Eastern on Fox. Check to the
game in your area.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
And hopefully nobody goes over thirty four. AnyWho ah uh
Micah Parsons of the Cowboys like Lamar Jackson has been
absent from the OTAs and head coach Mike McCarthy not
overjoyed with it.
Speaker 11 (30:57):
I think anytime you have a chance to, you know,
to be thee it's it's it's a it's an opportunity
to improve, whether it's in the mental realm, the physical realm.
It's a long year training camp is really the heightened
you know focus for all that. But yeah, it's definitely
an opportunity that's been missed. I mean, at the end
of the day, everybody has a responsibility. I mean, this
is this is our jobs. Obviously we have this period
(31:18):
of time to do football activity. I want to say unfortunately,
but you know, ninety eight percent of our football team's
been here, you know, one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
The downside to being a Dallas Cowboy is that you
get more attention than you often earn. This is a
franchise that hasn't been to the NFC Championship in I
lost count twenty five plus years. Attention doesn't make a
very good player great or a good player very good.
Dak is good. He's paid like he's great. That's a problem.
(31:51):
We have a salary cap. Ceedee Lamb and Micah Parsons
want to be paid top of the League. In my opinion,
Micah Parsons is not TJ. Watt Nora, is he Miles Garrett?
And I don't think he's Nick Bosa. I don't. In fact,
I think I have questions if he's Aiden Hutchison.
Speaker 11 (32:10):
Now.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Aiden Hudgson from Detroit had eleven and a half sacks,
Micah had fourteen. Micah did get two and a half
against Carolina and two against the Jets offensive line. But
in the big game Micah against the Packers at home
in the playoffs vanished, blocked, disappeared, no sacks, only one
(32:33):
quarterback hit. Meanwhile, Aiden Hutchison with the Lions led the
NFL in playoff sacks with three. Sorry, but October sacks
mean more than September October sacks. Nick Bosa for the
Niners led the entire NFL playoffs in quarterback pressures and hits.
Hutchison led them in sacks in one game against Green Bay.
(32:59):
Micah Parson, as a favorite, vanished so very on brand
for Micah Parsons and the Cowboys when it mattered, they
didn't do anything. So you know, again, it does matter
where do you get your sacks. If you're a if
you're a number one receiver. I do need some catches
(33:19):
against a really good secondary. So if you're getting if
you're getting four and a half, five or fourteen sacks
off Carolina and the Jets and then you vanish against
Green Bay. Yeah, it's different because I watch Bosa, I
watched TJ Watt, I watch Miles Garrett, I watch Aiden
Hutchison in their biggest games, take them over and be
(33:41):
very difficult to block. But that's sort of the deal
in Dallas. Big brand players who are good, think they're
very good, very good, think they should be top of
the league, and I just don't. I thought this was interesting, So, uh,
hard Knocks for most of the last ten years has
(34:02):
been a hard pass for me. The Rex Ryan Jet
stuff was interesting, gobbling up em and M's trash talking,
a lot of swearing. Outside of that, you're trying to
sell me something I'm not interested in. But the Chicago
Bears and Caleb Williams will be this year's HBO's Hard Knocks,
and I'm into it. I think this one's good. I
(34:24):
think there's a lot of things going on. I think
you have a lot of ingredients and you've got to
figure out if all the ingredients Mesh, the defensive coach,
the prodigy out of USC, Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, DeAndre Swift,
Cole Comet. You have a defensive culture and a surplus
of offensive talent, and I think this is really really interesting.
(34:47):
The Bears are due for rebirth. Sorry, but it's time
to pivot off celebrating Mike Ditka and the eighty five defense.
It's time to join the party. So I looked up
this this this morning. The Chicago Bears have been outside
of the top twenty okay, outside of the top twenty
(35:09):
in offensive yards nine of the last ten years. They
have been a gas guzzler on a freeway next to
electric vehicles. They're out of place. They are Jurassic. They
don't feel like they're of this age. And I think
Caleb Williams is going to change that. I think they'll
be an up the field, vertical, athletic, good on third down.
(35:33):
One of the things I always said about justin fields,
if you've got the right quarterback, you can play with
a lead, you can play from behind, you can play
on the road. The Bears underfields were awful in the
fourth quarter. There was one way to win, get a
lead and hold on for dear life. I do not
think that's what we'll have, so Hard Knocks has been
(35:55):
a hard pass for me. I think they're going to
be a vertical, clever team. I think he got the
young star with pressure, the big city, the defensive coach.
This defense in the last six seven weeks was top
rated defense in the NFL. So it does appear that
they're pivoting to the twenty first century in Chicago, a
city I love. It feels like the Bears. This is
(36:16):
a hard knock you can get your arms around. The
last good Hard Knocks was Rex Ryan and the Jets,
and you know that story was good for a couple
of years and then you know it. You know, Rex
does what Rex does and where's everybody out? But very
exciting times. MICHAEH. Parsons isn't showing up, Lamar Jackson isn't
showing up, and the Bears will be showing up on
(36:36):
HBO's Hard Knocks. Rachel Nichols Next hour. So as I
was watching the game last night, j Beck is a
big Mavericks fan. You know what you forget because these
series last soul one. The NBA is actually a very
good job. Whereas baseball last forever, and then the playoffs
are done in a heartbeat. That's not the way to
do it. What you want to do is have a
(36:57):
long playoff, and people can complain about that. But the
NBA they milk two months out of their playoffs. In fact,
we don't have the first game until next week like
they milk. And there have been a lot of sweeps
and gentlemen sweeps, which is not great for the company
that has the rights. They're scrambling now hoping for a
game seven. But I will say watching that last night,
(37:17):
is that there are things about the NBA that are true.
They've got they have what baseball doesn't. They have great pace,
lots of stars, and their stars always have the ball.
Baseball's got a slower pace. There's not many stars that
are recognizable. And you're show hey o Tani Dhing, you're
on the camera for five minutes of a two hour,
(37:37):
fifty five minute game, Luca Tatum, Brown, Kyrie. You know
they're playing forty two minutes. They have the ball in
their hands just like a quarterback in the NFL. So
there's a lot about the NBA to like. The European
thing is I'm watching thinking Yo Kitchen and Luca are
easily the two best players in the game, and they're
they're kind of ground grounded players. They're not real vertical.
(37:58):
But I got to tell you, when I watch it,
I think it's fascinating. I think it's a lot of angles,
body on body, clever passing, smart basketball, not as reliant
on jumping over people, which can be fun as well.
But I do think the league is pivoting to a
bit more grounded league with higher skilled players. So you know,
(38:18):
I mean, when Jah Morant came into this league, John
Morant's old school, he's flying through the air, wild dunks,
but kind of inefficient. This basketball is efficient, highly skilled,
remarkable passing, unbelievable shooting. The European fusion of our basketball
(38:42):
and the European version it used to be ten years ago.
The knock on Europeans were they were soft and they
hurt it. And so Luke is not soft, Yokich isn't soft.
The European players now have higher skill level than our
college guys do because they play against older players at
an earlier age in the academies, so they have a
higher skill level and they come in now tough and
(39:02):
physical and trash talking, and it's something to way. I mean,
if I said to you, top five players in the league,
Luca Jannis, feel like the top three in the league,
who is for I mean I I would say, just
from a scoring perspective, Sga is really special. He is
hard to stop Sga or Tatum. I would take Sga
as a pure score I think he's gettle more dog
(39:25):
in him.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Also, by the way, he's playing four team Canada this
summer in the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
So though I would say Jokic Luca, I think janis.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
A lot of people like him. Bead you, I I'm not, that's.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Not you and I you got to deliver at some
point in your career in big games. You gotta do that.
That's part of the NBA is what you do in
May and June, and so you get to I think
the three is established. The fourth best player. I think
sg a well.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
People want to lean on Kevin Durant and Lebron's no,
I don't know, Steph Currie top five and also those
players holistically or a bit needier.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
You know, Lebron's running through coaches, Kd's the ultimate don't
want to lead, just want to score. Luca wants the
whole thing, Yo Kich wants the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
To your point about the Europeans, there was a story
a little while back about when Porzingis was with the Mavericks.
The Mavericks went to them with all these analytics and
they're like, hey, we can't.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
Post you up, bro, but post uff don't work.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
They're not working for you. And he's like, I want
to post up. Porzingis didn't want to fall in life anyway.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
They get rid of him.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
He goes to Boston. Hey, here are the real analytics Forzingis.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
You shoot threes.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
That's what we want from you. You don't see Porzingis
posting up in Boston. Try He's shooting threes pace in space.
So he's like getting with the program now. And I
think there's a bigger story here. NBA is now heavily analytics,
and Europeans they're dominating the league.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
Should Americans be worried? Is this going to be a
turn off? I don't. I think that's all overblown a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
No.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I think it will be cyclical. Like Europeans were soft,
they're no longer soft. I think the American players who
tend to be a bit more to distracted, a bit
more coddled in our AAU system. Come in not hard coach,
didn't don't have the hard college coach and high school coach.
It's coddling in the AAU. Too many games, none of
them matter, friends with everybody. Uh, you don't kind of
(41:15):
grow that competitive spirit. You get your shoes, you get
your stuff, you got your game, got your handles. But
there's like it takes Jalen Green, that kid everybody thought
was gonna be the next great player, and it takes
him like until year two until you're like, Okay, he
plays winning basketball. He includes others. So I think it's cyclical.
I think I think American players, you know, are going
to watch and read and listen and and be coachable
(41:36):
and it'll be fine. But we are watching a major
pivot in the NBA, and uh, it's it's fascinating. Hour
two next
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.