June 3, 2024 • 46 mins
Colin explains how the Vikings paying Justin Jefferson $140 million dollars is a smart move, Caitlin Clark not only dominates the weekend news cycle, but also is turning into the enemy of her fellow WNBA players. Jayson Tatum could launch himself into a current top 5 player in the NBA if the Celtics win, Tua Tagovailoa is looking way underweight creating concern to his overall ability to play quarterback, and another riveting Monday edition of: “Where Colin was Right & Wrong!”. Plus, NBA veteran Jamal Crawford joins the show
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhert
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, it is a Monday live in Los Angeles.
It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for megad ask part of your day.
One hour from now. Where Colin was right, where Colin
was wrong, plenty of both, Joel Klatt. In one hour,
we got a lot of things to talk about as
college football, the scheduling coming out, the TV games, the scheduling.
(00:49):
It's fantastic. Jmac. I know's it's that May June area
and we have to sit around and wait a few
days for the NBA Finals. But something happened this morning.
It's a big deal. It's happening all the time. A little.
People are worried about bubbles, tech bubble, real estate, bubble,
wide receiver bubble, well did it burst, I don't think so.
(01:12):
So it's the most money ever paid to a non
quarterback in this league, the highest non quarterback guarantee at signing.
Justin Jefferson Minnesota has signed with the Vikings, a great player,
four years, one hundred and forty four, one hundred and
forty million. It feels a little bit like an NBA contract,
the difference. He's great, not just a middling player. But
(01:35):
there are four reasons why you had to make this move,
and I defended him multiple times in the last couple
of months Justin Jefferson and I don't always defend receivers.
Number One, they have a rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy in
an offensive division. JJ McCarthy's going to need help, and
Justin Jefferson attracts double coverage. Makes you roll the coverage over,
(01:57):
We'll open up the field. Number two, The Vikings have
an offensive coach, and offensive coaches get the ball to
their playmakers very well. McVeigh and Cooper Cup, Kyle Shanahan
and Christian McCaffrey, Mike McCarthy, C D. Lamb. They have
a way of doing it. Tyreek Hill in Miami. Defensive
coaches can struggle getting the ball to the right people. Meanwhile,
(02:20):
number three is the NFC North is probably the best
offensive division in football. You're gonna be in some track meets,
You're gonna be in some firework shows. You need easy touchdowns.
They can't be twelve play drives. I like Jordan Addison,
I like Aaron Jones, but JJ McCarthy needs some over
the top seventy two yard touchdowns. He's not Mahomes, he's
(02:44):
not a veteran, he's not Stafford. He's a young kid,
and when he does play, he's gonna need some easy touchdowns.
And number four is I wouldn't have believed this seven
years ago, but the game's changed. Look at the rules.
Wide receivers, to me, were always icing on the cake,
but never the key ingredients. It's over nine of the
ten top receiving yard leaders, nine of ten made the playoffs,
(03:10):
much more than leading rushers. So are we in a
wide receiver bubble? Well, we've been in tech bubbles, and
tech companies still rule the world. We've been in housing bubbles, right,
We've been on all sorts of bubbles, stock market bubbles.
I still retain some stocks. I still have a house
lot of tech. Bubble doesn't mean what you have as bad.
(03:32):
Sometimes you overpay for things. I'm gonna be okay overpaying
a little for a quarterback, an edge rusher, and a
perimeter weapon. And my take is, look at what the
NFL is doing with its rules. It's telling you protect
wide receivers and elevate wide receivers. They're good for fantasy football,
they're good for ratings. The most explosive touchdowns for television
(03:54):
are from wide receivers, not running backs or quarterbacks. And
so I look around this and something else that's important.
There are certain things you have to overpay for. But
when you overpay for certain things, do they at least deliver?
Receivers do take away the Mike Williams deal with the Chargers.
He just got hurt, Debo, DJ Moore, Tyreek Hill, Amari Cooper,
(04:17):
Cooper Cup, Davante Adams, Terry McLaurin. They got huge deals
and they remain highly productive because the sport is telling
you they want receivers to excel. All the rules are
can't touch him. I grew up in an era where
there was a term used on every broadcast more than once.
(04:38):
Alligator arms receivers, especially fast, thin ones did not want
to go over the middle. About a decade ago, the
NFL change rules. Everybody wants to go over the middle.
That's where the eden's good, and Justin Jefferson could be
a drag route, a seam route over the top is
more than icing. In our last eight Super Bowls, six
(04:59):
quarterbacks and two receivers have been MVP. So this was
not always a position that I thought deserved to be
highly compensated. It is now for the aforementioned reasons, I
think you pay him. They did. The Vikings have historically
been a pretty shrewd franchise that just haven't been as
good as the Packers at quarterback. But this division, with
Caleb Williams and the Chicago upgrades, you're gonna be in
(05:21):
your shootouts. You're gonna be in them. And I don't
think JJ McCarthy is Caleb Williams as a talent. I
don't think he's Jared Goff as a talent. I don't
think he's Jordan Love as a talent. He's going to
need more talent on the perimeter. So I talked about
this a few weeks ago when Caitlin Clark came in.
Is that Every business needs a catalyst. And I had
(05:45):
a little podcast business called The Volume. We were doing
fine for about eight months and then we got Draymond
Green and he was our catalyst. People paid attention to us.
Every business needs a catalyst to kind of spring to pop.
It could be a tech company that needs a it
needs a product, it needs an app. Every business needs it.
So the WNBA hasn't made a lot of money, but
(06:07):
the talent, the quality of play has been elevated over
the last seven, eight nine years. They just needed a catalyst.
I mean MLS went and got Messy a catalyst. La
Galaxy went and got Beckham. So Caitlin Clark is making
people watch the sport. And now everybody's kind of freaking
out because she's getting nudged here and hard fouled there
(06:30):
and hitting the floor there, and to Kennedy Carter yesterday
banged into her. Everybody's freaking out. Where is the protection?
Oh boy, once again the media fans protecting somebody that
doesn't need protecting. When Tony Kuk Coach came from Europe
to play with the Bulls, MJ and Scottie Pippen, this
is what they did to their own teammate in practice.
(06:53):
Sports is tribal, it's intimidating, it's physical, and it's proven
those who aren't tough don't make it.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
She is.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Kennedy Carter is the Patrick Beverly of the WNBA. She's
on her third team, Feisty as hell, tough, intimidating and physical.
She is there to provoke. Like Patrick Beverley, who I
ran into the gym recently, got a chip, little anger, tough,
wouldn't want to mess with him. And that's what Kennedy
(07:26):
Carter is. The NHL, the NBA, they've always had enforcers.
They don't always have to be the biggest player on
the fourth floor. They've got to be scrappy and defiant,
sometimes bordering on unfair, physical, inappropriate. That's all that happened.
My only issue in that entire weekend, all these hard fouls.
(07:46):
I've got two issues. Number one, why didn't one of
Caitlin Clark's teammates defender? Where are your teammates? And number two,
the WNBA has done such a bad job. They knew
the Indiana Fever had the number one pick, and they
knew Caitlin Clark was going to be the number one pick.
A year ago or close to a year ago. Why
(08:08):
have they played eleven games in twenty days? Caitlin Clark's
worn out. One team, the Las Vegas ass has played
six games. Multiple teams have played seven. They've played eleven
games in twenty days. The last team that did that
in the WNBA started one to ten. Can't the WNBA
(08:29):
do a little a little to give Caitlin Clark a
couple of days rest before big games. You knew she
was going to be the number one pick almost a
year ago. So I've had a problem with the way
they've groove Caitlin Clark into the league. I've had a
problem with, Well, that's about it. I don't have a
(08:51):
problem pushing around Caitlin Clark, That's okay. She talked about
the physical play, the daunting physical play, and how she's handling.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
It definitely reminds me of my of my college Cairl
a little bit. But also, you know, I grew up
playing the basketball of the boys, so like it's always
been physical and feisty and like that's what it is.
You got to find a way to hold your own.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So it kind of reminds me of that.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
And then I grew up with Super Brothers, and you know,
things were about you know, very very physical, a lot
of blood, a lot of tears, whatever it was. So
I'm I'm definitely prepared for it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, everybody's freaking out about this. Yeah, I wish a
teamate would have stepped up. Four. I wish the WNBA
could figure out you've got a star a year out.
But this is actually kind of like the NBA. There's
a Draymond Green, a Dennis Rodman, a Bill Lamber, there's
an enforcer. Well, who do they pick on the bench? Guy? No,
(09:47):
they go pick on the star. Go ask Magic Johnson
about Dennis Rodman, you know, go ask go ask great
offensive players about Ramon Green. Draymond Green doesn't spend a
ton of time picking on the number nine player. He
goes after the star. This is sports. Caitlin Clark is
more than built for this. Be nice if she had
a teammate who stood up here. By the way, was
(10:11):
Kennedy Carter on the shove to Caitlyn Clark kind of
on the play before bumping in with Kaitlyn, It seemed
like she she tuned to you a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, after the fever.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Stores Kaitlyn Clark questions, did.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
She say anything to you? I don't know what she said.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
What you say to her and didn't say any That's enough.
It's okay, take a deep breath. I've watched this in college,
I've watched it in pro. This is the growth of
the WNBA. It started out it couldn't make any money,
and the NBA had that problem in the seventies. And
all of a sudden, the quality of play gets better,
and as some teams start breaking even, they play in
(10:47):
some nice arenas and they get a TV contract, and
all of a sudden, the quality and the length and
the occasional European player, and all of a sudden, now
we're seeing the next level of growth. They got a catalyst,
and the league's far and they've got enforcers. The ultimate
compliment to the WNBA is I see this all the
time on the guy's side. It's okay. The ultimate respect
(11:12):
isn't pandering and placating the women's basketball. It's accepting that
sometimes it's physical, tribal, intimidating and uncomfortable. The best kind
of basketball, men or women. All right, j Mac crazy
this weekend. You know there's a thing going around. I
myself have been very fortunate genetically. My family's kind of thin, right,
(11:36):
So I'm not an ozempic person, but you know, some people,
there's the ozempic thing going on in America. People are
getting like thin, thinner, or sometimes too thin. Now, I
am in no way saying that pro athletes are taking ozempic,
although they found like remedies. It can help with addictions,
it can help with kidney long whatever.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
So, but.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I saw I've been noticing weight more on people because
of this ozempic thing. They call it ozempic face. And
so I've noticed among friends, among people I'm kind of watching,
you know, I'm seeing this ozempic thing. So I saw
something this week with an NFL player that looked radically thin.
I am not saying it's ozempic. Oh, and maybe I'm
(12:22):
overreacting to body shape and type. But I've got thoughts
on it, and I absolutely believe what I'm gonna say.
That always helps. And we'll talk about Tua's appearance coming up.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app So.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I saw something this weekend where Tua Dolphins quarterback Tua
Tungue Lamoa showed up to a promotional event and uh
look noticeably thin. He's listed at about two twenty five.
He looked to be about two hundred pounds. And this
is a pocket quarterback. It is a little alarming. He
(13:06):
looked really, really thin. So Tom Brady lost weight when
he retired, that I get, But I think Tom kept
some weight on because he was a quarterback. And so
I've said this before, like aesthetics matter. You saw last
week an organization pull a beer out of Luca's hand
in a hallway that fans couldn't see because there was
one camera off to the side. Not only do aesthetics matter,
(13:30):
it worries me. There's never been a great skinny quarterback
in league history. Mannings weren't, Farve wasn't. Brady was two thirty,
Big Ben l Way. You think Aaron Rodgers is thin, Okay,
I'm six one and a half a buck ninety four
buck ninety five ish. Aaron Rodgers is six one and
(13:52):
a half two twenty five. Aaron is thirty pounds heavier
than me. And I don't think I'm at finn I
like my quarterbacks, like my furniture, big and hard to move.
You need two or three people. If you can get
it into a hatchback by yourself, I'm not interested draft
(14:14):
somebody else. So Tua is not a hyper athletic quarterback
who wants to get faster. He's not really that mobile.
He's not big, he doesn't have a power arm. I
love Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence, but they're a bit
on the thin side. Burrow's hurt often. Trevor Lawrence last
year must have had six lower torso injuries. Philip rivers,
(14:38):
to me, that's the perfect quarterback body six five, two thirty.
He once played I think it was fourteen straight seasons
of at least sixteen games. He once played with a
torn acl It matters. Jared Goff is the only what
I would call thin quarterback in the league that I've
probably ever really I really liked in thoughts a top
(15:01):
ten quarterback. But in architecture it's called a form follows function,
and I don't understand. I understand a little with Lamar
Jackson losing weight. He's hyper mobile, perhaps wants to get faster,
although I don't see a lot of linebackers and safeties
catching him. But you know, it's it's one of those
(15:22):
things where I like big, I like sturdy, I like
can play hurt. I don't get it. It's something.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I know.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You're absolutely sure this stuff doesn't matter. But last week
the vice president, a former player of the Mavericks, walked
in and took a beer out of Luca's hand and
fans couldn't see it. I cannot believe that there wasn't
at least one Miami Dolphin that said upstairs, Wow, he
looks thin. He's already small, he's already got an average arm.
(15:55):
I don't know. It's something. It's been there's stories about it.
It's nothing. Is everything everything something I thought it was
a little interesting.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Hey Gang.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
Listen is Jay Glazer, host of Unbreakable, a mental wealth podcast,
and every week we will have on leaders from sports
entertainment like Sean McVay, Lindsay Vaughn, Michael Phelps, David Spade,
got Fiemi, and also those who can help us in
between the ears, anyone from a therapist to someone like
Ed Milett for John Gordon We've all been through some
(16:34):
sort of adversity to get to the top. We've all
used different tools. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer and
Mental Wealth podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get podcasts.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Didn't get any better than the Super Saturday on Fox.
First it's Philly's Mets from London, followed by the Belmont
Stakes live from Saratoga, and then time it's Dodgers versus
the Yankees.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Oh baby, best series of the year right there.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
All on Fox in the Fox Sports app.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Maybe the two best teams in baseball Yankees Dodgers, Yankees
doing everything right. That's my World Series. I told you
it's a good world series. You know who has the
World Series?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Eh?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Oh nice? This network?
Speaker 6 (17:19):
They gonna send us to the games.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
If it's Dodger Stadium, I'd be fun. I'm in. We
need some we need prep. We need to go to
the games for free and get very close to the action.
Speaker 6 (17:28):
Assuming I make it to football season, I don't know,
we'll see.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So it's time to have that uncomfortable conversation about Jason
Tatum of the Celtics. And by the way, everybody's saying,
man I can't believe there's a week off the finals.
This is gonna be terrible. The ratings are gonna be terrible. Well,
the NBA ratings of this playoffs as it pivots to
a more non big brand, non staff, non Lebron, non
(17:53):
KD NBA, more European NBA. They're down fifteen percent this year,
so the ratings for the finals will' pribaby down like
ten to fifteen percent. I don't think the time that
will elapse will hurt it. This is not baseball where
you're in the middle of October and November and you're
battling college football in the NFL, and you take like
five days off in between the end of a series
(18:15):
and the start of a series, you just lose people,
You lose audience, you lose eyes. That the NBA is
losing me to Netflix. I watched three Netflix shows yesterday.
The minute the final start, I'm back. I'm not sitting
around watching regular season baseball that often, so the NBA
will be fine. I don't think this will be one
of the great rated NBA finals. I don't think this gap.
(18:38):
It's not a baseball October gap. It's a June and
nobody's nutting goods on TV. It's reruns. The best stuff
on TV besides the NBA Finals is streaming stuff, and
people will move back off that for the NBA Finals.
But big brand Celtics, four stars, it'll be fine. But
Zach glows a podcaster other place, very good, big audience
(19:01):
and respected in the industry. Talking about Jason Tatum, like me,
he thinks he's a great player, excellent NBA player. But
Jason Tatum's a great player.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Like I don't get all the angles.
Speaker 7 (19:15):
I mean, I get some of the angst, Like he
settles for some bad shots now and then some of
them go in, some of them don't. He's not one
of the five best players in the NBA, but he's
something round seventh, eighth, ninth, ten to six. I mean,
that's pretty damn good. People want him to be better
than that, and he's not quite on the level of
the top four or five guys. This will now finally
be the series again where Tatum is indisputably not the
(19:37):
best player in the series. That's the other team as
the best player in the series, and so that'll be
an interesting test for both him and the Celtics.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
And that's not a small thing. Luca is better, and
Lucas considered the first or second best player. Here's the
last six, seven, eight, nine, here's the last nine NBA champions.
Last year it was best player in the league. Year
before it was Steph top four to five, then Yannis,
(20:05):
he was considered at the time the best player. Then Lebron,
he was considered a top two to three player. Kawhi, yes,
at that time he was considered maybe five, but a
top five player back to back. Years before that, it
was KD and Steph, both top five before that, Cavs
and Lebron. He was number one before that, Golden State
staff top five. So the last nine finals, you've often
(20:30):
had the one, the two at the worst, top five.
Tatum's not top five. I agree. The Spurs in twenty
fourteen had an old Duncan, a legendary coach, and Kawhi
was not top five. He was emerging fast, he was
ascending quickly, but he was not top five. That's the
(20:52):
last one to do it. But if you go then
before that, one before twenty fourteen, I'll read you the
best player on the team, Lebron, Kobe Duncan, shack dirt
you could argue the Celtics had a year, but KG
was like second or third in MVP voting and Paul
Pierce was the finals MVP. They were both great players.
(21:14):
I like Jason Tatum, but we've got a history. There's
two outliers to not having a top five player and
winning a title, the twenty fourteen Spurs and that Pistons team,
And that was as much they were huge underdogs of
the Lakers. That was about the Lakers locker room imploding, Malone,
Kobe Shack, Phil the locker room imploded. They were huge
(21:38):
favorites over Detroit. So it's pretty clear having the best
or second best player in the league, having an iconic
first ballot unbelievable, no doubt about it, all time great player.
It absolutely matters, and that's what Luca is. So again,
it was fascinating about Tatum. If you gave me the league,
(22:01):
I'm a general manager. You're a general manager, and you
say it, give me five or six guys to start
my franchise. I think Tatum's probably five or six for me.
But if you're talking just best player at any one
time on the floor, take the big shot. I'm like
Zach Lowe I've got him like seven to eight, and
(22:22):
that's where I kind of find him.
Speaker 8 (22:24):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I think he'll be the second best player in the finals.
But there will be games in this finals that Kyrie
plays better than Tatum. They'll be at least one or
two of those. Very rarely did you get to the
finals and somebody will play better than Luca, Michael Jordan
or Yokich. That's very rare. There will be a game
in this series, maybe all of them. Lucas clearly better,
(22:47):
Kyrie is two, and they'll be at least one game
Jalen Brown plays better than Tatum. That historically does not
win you the finals. Now, I like Boston. I'm picking As,
crossing my fingers on Porzingis's health. I picked him to
get to the finals. I think they're very good, maybe
(23:07):
a tad two collaborative, but I think they're so deep offensively.
I think Dallas is just going to be chasing threes
all over the court. Spread their defense out, allow them
to drive and score at the rim, get lively out
of there. I think Boston wins. I think it's a
great series. I think Lucas gonna have forty multiple times.
But there is a history the last nine finals champions.
(23:32):
It is a lot of Jokiic, Steph, Jannis Lebron, Kadi Lebron,
Steph Kdi. That's a lot of what it is, no
doubt about it. Forty five seconds left. Everybody knows who's
everybody knows the best player on the floor. I'm sorry
J Mack, but the best player on the floor in
the series is Luca.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
I'm not disputing that. I don't think anybody would argue that.
Nobody with a brain would argue Luca's not the best
player on the floor. The problem and I know Zach Lowell,
I see him around of games. Whatever he's saying, Tatum's
not a top five guy in the league, and I
think you're agreeing with you.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Coll something's not adding up here.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
First Team All NBA this year, Jason Tatum was one
of the top five first team All NBA. Last year,
Jason Tatum was one of the top five hold on
the the year before that. That's three straight seasons he's
been first team All remember, meaning one of the.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Top five All Pro and football. There are positions. He's
a forward.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
No, no, they don't do position. They didn't do him
this year. They just picked the best the two years
prior they did and he was forward. Fine, but o,
I'll give you Giannis, I'll give you Luca, I'll give
you Jokich. But after that, there's you can't tell me
because the two playoffs here is Anthony Edwards is better
than Jason Tatum.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You can't do that. You just cannot. I'm not gonna
let you.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
So find me the two other guys better than Jason Tatum. Man,
I don't want to hear Joel Embiid, and I know
Zach Loo's a big Joel Embid fan.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Sorry, Zach you, I've been pushing on Joel Embiid. We
understand the reality. He's hurt all the freaking time. Yea,
So give me the other guys better than him. In
the leap. I think Sga is a more natural scorer.
Speaker 7 (25:05):
I'll disagree.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I mean he's really good for I think Anthony Davis
gives me more dominant defensive performances plus twenty four a game.
I think there's a players that can be I think
Anthony Davis, the best defensive player in the year and
on any night, can give me the twenty six Tatum can.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Guy who doesn't talk about somebody who doesn't show up
at fourth quarters.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
My gosh, Denver Milk Carton.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
One more heard The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
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Speaker 1 (25:40):
All right, we do it every Monday. Colin right, Colin wrong.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Here we go Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
The Celtics has predicted would not only reach the NBA Finals.
I said it would be sweeps and gentlemen sweeps, and
that's exactly what happened, and they did it with that
highly productive big Chris stops porzingis part of this is
the East is the weakest it's been in forever. But
the other part is Boston is very offensively deep, They're
(26:05):
usually defensively engaged. They're an excellent team. And this was
one of the easier predictions going into the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I can remember where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
But I didn't think Luca and the MAVs would beat Minnesota.
I didn't know if they could beat Oklahoma City, and
here they are. Rookie Derek Lively has inserted himself into
this lineup and has been hugely important. I didn't think
a number one ball usage, guy who previously had been
a little difficult to play with, Kyrie Irving, temperamental, where's
(26:38):
his head at? It didn't feel like a finals team,
And I.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Was wrong where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Said last week, Justin Jefferson's on a short list of
two or three receivers, I would back up the Brinks
truck four. And this morning he got a record contract.
And this is an offensive coach who understands his value.
If you go look at wide receivers signing, it's the
big ones, Davonte Adams, Deebo, Samuel Terry, McLaurin, Cooper Cupp.
(27:06):
There's almost no busts. Offensive coaches know how to get
the ball to their playmaker. I liked the signing. We
thought it would be coming soon. Where Colin was raw,
I sort of semi dismiss JJ Reddick as the Lakers coach,
not because I don't think he's really bright, great broadcaster, podcaster,
(27:26):
but it felt like a fun story, but not like
a realistic one. But reportedly last week the Athletic saying
that he is now assembling a staff, So why wouldn't
they name a coach They're waiting for the NBA Finals
and for JJ Reddick to stop broadcasting. So I was
wrong on that.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I told you I didn't like the WNBA with Caitlin Clark.
I thought they really screwed up the schedule. Well, she's
now played eleven games in twenty days. The Las Vegas
Aces have played half that. Two other TEA teams have
played seven. Could somebody in the WNBA scheduling office figure
it out? You're giving her the toughest schedule in the
(28:08):
league defensive teams back to backs. What's going on? You
knew a year ago she was coming into the league
and probably would go in as number one. The last
time the WNBA had a team play eleven games in
twenty days, that team went one and ten. It's just
too much.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
PFF ranked its rosters last week and they had the
Chargers at twenty six, below the Saints, Titans, and Raiders.
I know they're wide receiver light, but twenty six you're
getting around New England Patriots territory. They've got a star quarterback,
a star left tackle, two star edge rushers. Twenty sixth
(28:57):
am I an la homer or what maybe I am?
Where Colin was right, the Miami Dolphins paid not only
Tyreek Hill Jalen Wattle eightya eighty five million dollars last week.
This is my belief is that they're gonna pay players,
but they're not gonna let two of manipulate them and
(29:18):
get into the fifty five sixty million a year. And
the way to do that is pay two of his weapons.
You'll have to have money for a left tackle, an
edge rusher, a top corner. So this to me is
the Dolphin sending a message, we like you, but we
think with this coach and these weapons, we can win
(29:39):
with a lot of quarterbacks, including you, but not exclusively you.
Where Colin was right Sean Peyton again last week discussing
bow Nicks, the rookie quarterback from Oregon. We thought it
was a perfect fit. Peyton and bow here's the coach.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
All three of them are doing well. You know, specifically
to Bo, he's doing really well. He's picking it up,
there's a lot that's going in. He's throwing the ball
extremely well. Where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I may beat up on New York sports teams, but
the Yankees look phenomenal. Aaron Judge is on a heater.
They lead baseball in home runs. They have the best
er in baseball. Soto and Judge are top two in ops.
New York teams tend to waste money and be poorly run.
I don't always love the John Carlos Stanton contract, but
(30:41):
this is a real team, power pitching, power hitting. They
deserve the credit where Colin was right. Matt Eberflu's echoed
sentiments that we have that Caleb Williams is actually well
suited for hard knocks by the way he played in
La linc Atley's high profile. The buzz around Caleb is
(31:04):
generating major networks to schedule games. He got four or
five national TV games. This is what we said about it.
He's gonna arrive in Chicago and it's not gonna look
or feel like Justin Fields, who was a middling prospect.
This isn't Andrew Luck. This is an Lway, this is
(31:25):
a Marino, this is a Peyton Manning. It's a whole
different ballgame. He is a franchised tilter and you are
already seeing it. Iber Flu says, we don't have any concerns.
His personality is built for hard knocked Chicago and to
be a star in the NFL, where Colin was right
where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon easternn a EM Pacific Well.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
He played in the NBA for twenty seasons, multiple time
NBA six man, one of the sharper guys. You see
him on the broadcast. He's having everybody from Doc Rivers,
the Tibbs, Larry Brown, Mike den Tony played with JJ Reddick,
all the guys in the news. Jamal Crawford's played with
all of them. Let me start with that. So JJ Reddick,
(32:13):
who I don't know. I always tell the funny story
I lost my dog in my neighborhood once and JJ
Reddick found it. So he's got a keen eye. That's
all I know about him. But I don't know I
what would be the problem for you, Jamal? Never having
coached right out of the league. There you go to coach.
Do you think it can work?
Speaker 8 (32:33):
I absolutely think it can work. I think the negative
part is just you don't know what you don't know
sitting in that seat. But I think for JJ, if
he gets the job, you build a staff of guys
who have been in that seat before, who guide you
in a way but still lets you put your you know,
your fabric and your touch on the team. He's a
brilliant basketball mind. We played together for four years and
(32:54):
we used to have the great discussions about this or that.
He's been unbelievable. It's been great to watch his media
and I think he'll be a great coach in time.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Kyrie Irving is probably in my lifetime, the best dual
hand closer for his size in the sport either hand, left,
right close. He has also been temperamental, and that's part
of his resume, and we're all a product of our resumes.
I mean, one of the reasons that teams liked you
is you were dependable. His temperament can be a tad uneven.
(33:26):
Are you surprised at all that he goes to a
very high ball usage teammate and actually is flourishing, is
playing the best basketball of his career, though he doesn't
have the ball in his hands as much as he
may other places. Does it surprise you?
Speaker 8 (33:44):
It doesn't surprise me from the standpoint that if you
look at Lebron, who is another high usage guy, not
the exact you know, replicat of Luca and how they
played with some similarities there and Kyrie thrive playing next
to Lebron and Lebron love you know, playing with I
love Rakai is that mentally, spiritually, physically like he is
(34:05):
aligned and everything he's doing right now, the bigger the moment,
the bigger the shot, the better Kyrie is. And he's
the type of guy that you don't worry about stopping him.
You worry about not being embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
And he's at playing and he's.
Speaker 8 (34:19):
Playing so great with Luca and now this maybe the
first time Kay's been on a team since he was
a young player where he's the wise vet, he's the
bigger brother, and he's leaving a great example for Luca
to follow. And you can see the respect Luca has
for him as well.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
When you sit in my chair. We have strong opinions.
I feel three hours a day, I like Boston to win.
I think they're super collaborative. I think their players are smart.
I do say though I am old school. I got
gray hair. I grew up in a time of that's wisdom.
Earn that, thank you. That's what I tell my wife.
(34:53):
It's all wisdom.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
But I grew up.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I grew up in a time with Kobe and Bird, Yes,
and Michael and Lebron to Steph, which is, there's two
minutes left, give me the ball. I'm gonna make a play.
Jason tends to be thoughtful, collaborative, and it does if
you go look at the last nine champions, they've had
a top three player, They've had to give me the
(35:17):
ball guy. Is it fair to say at times he's
a tad two collaborative and two giving and should be
a little more demanding for the ball in late spots
when the matchup servant.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
I think experience is the best teacher. And for JT.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
I really believe going through that finals right where they
had a chance but they turned the ball over at
moments Steph Curry just went ridiculous and took over the
whole finals. He's looking at that as young players saying,
you know what, if I'm ever back in this situation,
if I'm ever back in this I may do things
that tad bit different. I think that experience will benefit
him going forward. You could just tell now he just
(35:57):
doing whatever it takes to win. It may be a
big rebound and maybe the right assists and maybe slowing
six or eight tens great points because he can do
that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Obviously at the highest level, but he's in a very,
very mature place. I know for sure.
Speaker 8 (36:09):
Kobe's amuse for him, one of his favorite players ever,
and to get these opportunities, you know, they don't come often.
He had an opportunity last year in a Game seven
where he rolls his angle the first play of the game,
where you could just tell he was going to go
off in the big night and get four or fifty.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
I think he does not let this opportunity pass him by.
Speaker 8 (36:25):
He will be aggressive, but he also do whatever it
takes that he believes to give his best team, the
best chess to win.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
I remember hearing about Luca, so I went to the
internet and I watched his European stuff and I'm like, well,
he looks a little thick, not terribly vertical. It's a
little Larry bird ish. I thought he would score, but
I didn't think it would be this. When did you
identify Jamal? When did you watch him and go, yeah,
(36:54):
this is gonna be a problem, Like he's just not stoppable.
Speaker 8 (36:58):
It's amazing because when you look at it, he's been
a pro since he's what fifteen or sixteen, so all
the information he gathered at that time. By the time
he's twenty twenty one, he's basically mastered the game of basketball.
We all talked about his pace and how he plays.
It's not just his pace, is that his pace can
make you go his pace and then only he knows
what he wants to do from there. He can slow
(37:20):
the whole game down, like he takes a picture of
the court and he's so unbothered and he's so at peace.
I make jokes about it. He plays like he's playing
with headphones on listen to smooth jazz while you're pressure
trying to bother. So at peace with his game, and
he makes the right decision and he loves the big moment.
So when you have a guy like that, he raises
(37:40):
everybody's level of play, even if he doesn't get the
stat the assisport, the gravity he pulls, the way you
have to game plan for him. And what's really special
about him is that he's not a guy like, oh,
a game or two will figure him out. It's like, no,
we just have to deal with this problem. He's a problem,
and we just hope he's awful. We hope his teammates
are making these many shots to give him less face.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
So two kind of broad basketball questions. It used to
be I can remember this twenty years ago where the
knock on European players like Tony Kukoach is they're skilled,
but they're soft. Well they're not anymore. They come with attitude.
There has been an infusion of global talent and there
(38:22):
are some really fantastic domestic players Tatum Brown and no question,
but you do see the wemby Jokish, Jannis mbid Sga
And if I said you are Lord of American basketball,
Jamal Crawford, You're twenty years of experience, You're the new
CEO of United States Basketball, what would you because you're
(38:47):
a thoughtful guy, what would you do to tweak our system?
Because it does feel Jamal fairly, they play fewer games
against older players. They come in more skilled, they're less distracted.
What would what would be your tweet? That's not that
our basketball game is bad, but it feels like it
needs a tweak domestically or am I over the top
(39:10):
on that?
Speaker 8 (39:11):
I think you're spot on and I actually coach the
Rotary Boys and Girls Club au Rotary style, were, you know,
top ten in the country And what's impressive about that is,
we're not trying to be We're trying to teach things
the right way, and I think it starts at the
grassroots level. So much of what's going on now is individualized.
It's about me. It's about what's in my bag. I
(39:31):
had a pretty good bag handling the ball. But I
think what's in your bag shouldn't be what your handles are.
What's in your bag should be, Oh, this is a
catch and shoot game.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Oh, this is a game. It's the one two dribble
pull up game. This is a game.
Speaker 8 (39:42):
I get my teammates going, that's what's in your bag.
You can go to different days, and I think for us,
we have to start making our kids play up earlier.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
That's how I grew up.
Speaker 8 (39:51):
My first trainer wasn't when I got to Michigan, I
had a rebounder. It was the guy in the park
drinking the forty in between games. Hey, you got to
cut right there. It was the old at the park.
And we need to play with that, those older guys.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
We need to play with people better than us.
Speaker 8 (40:07):
We need to continue to develop more than say hey
let's get the instant gratification at an early age. Let's
continue to work and develop and play the long game.
I think overseas they're playing the long game. They're doing
it more collectively, and I think they know how to
play basketball. If you know how to play basketball, you
can play anywhere in the world and play the right way.
We can go to open gym right now with five
guys we don't know. And if we know how to
(40:27):
play basketball, we're probably going to be successful because we
know that it's a team game. We know how to
play it at a high level, and it raises the IQ.
And if you raise the IQ for the basketball at
the grassroots level, getting to the parents, getting too these coaches,
I think that will help trigger and start a new
movement of what we need to do to get you know,
American basketball back on top in a really, really dominant way.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Not surprising, a highly thoughtful when we said this before
you came on the air, You're just one of the
real thinkers in this sport and I love it.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
So you know this.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
You played for nine teams. I remember most of them, Clippers, Knicks, Bulls, Hawks,
T Wolf's Son, Blazers, Warriors, Nets, A couple of them
are brief for twenty years. And I said this about
the Knicks and TIBs. You can't just throw anybody into
that mix. There is an almost collegiate zeal An intensity
of Villanova feel. Those guys like to be hard coached,
(41:22):
They like to play defense. Defoncenzo with a Knicks is
one of the better catch and shoot guys.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Now like that.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
He found his team, He found his Villanova. It's in
New York. He found it. You gotta be careful with
who you bring in, though, I think they need another score.
And my take is, I don't know if I need
a KD. I may need a Michale Bridges because he's
in line with their culture. Take me through your twenty years.
(41:49):
When you look at the Knicks, you had TIBs, you
have Jalen Brunson. He's a clear one. I don't want
the ball out of his hands. Could just screw it
all up with the wrong guy. Is there a guy
you think fits could? I think they're gonna move off
probably Randal and look for a more dependable postseason score,
a better fit. Is there a player that works for
(42:09):
the Knicks for you?
Speaker 8 (42:12):
Well, since you said Kevin Durant. The thing that's specially
about KG and I've always said this, Most superstar players
are only superstars when they have the ball. They don't
do the little things to cut, to move, to playoff
the guys. He actually does that perfectly. He plays off
of people the right way. He can play so many
different systems, and he can play styles that won't ruin
(42:33):
your offense. It won't hijack the offense with this fluid game, right,
So Brnston can still be bruntson. Davin Cenzo will still
get his catch and shootes. Kevin Durant is playing perfection basketball.
And what I mean by that is if he has
a child to take it. I watched one game he
had forty and you know me, I'm a gun slinger.
If I get forty, I may kick it up there.
He had forty, hang in the corner. He threw it
(42:54):
to the guy without hesitation and got a guy and
look where I thought he could have shot it.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
So he's playing perfection basketball. You're right.
Speaker 8 (43:00):
Culture is everything. Fit is everything. You don't want to
ever take away from what you're doing. You want to
add to and enhance what you're doing. So it takes
a special player that's a dynamic score that can finish that.
Michael bridges the other one. He knows those guys, he
knows respect, he knows what's expected of those guys and
how they play their culture. And he would only enhance,
you know, things of what they're doing and won't take
(43:21):
away from it. He'll feel writing in because Larry Brown
taught me. It's a long time ago since we spoke
on coaching. He said, Jamal, you got a big bugget
ice cream. You can walk down the street and the
bird pool just that much bird pool gets in the
ice cream, the whole ice cream is ruined. And that's
what you don't want.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Hey, I gotta ask you. Yeah, I'm gonna finally ask
you a Caitlin Clark question. I actually think the growth
of women's basketball that the fact that they have an
enforcer that goes after I'm like, that's it, that's what
That's what the guys do. They're physical. Kennedy Carter's the
(43:58):
pat BEV of the WN and I'm like, Kaitlyn Clark
doesn't need our protection. She's defiant. She she this is
what this is the ultimate growth of women's basketball is
that it gets chippy. I think I think it's great
and everybody's like, oh, this is a cheap shot, And
I'm like, you guys, she's tough, she can handle it.
(44:18):
What was your takeaway this weekend? People really freaked out
as if Caitlyn Clark was being attacked, And I mean, god,
you could go back to your high school days in Seattle,
your college days at Michigan. There's a there's a chippy
guy on every roster in the country.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
And and and you know that's a part of respect
as well.
Speaker 8 (44:36):
And it doesn't look good for somebody who hasn't you know,
been around the game or played the game, but they
would not, you know, be as aggressive or physical with
Kayln Clark if she wasn't that great.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
And she's gonna be great, She's gonna be way greater
she is.
Speaker 8 (44:50):
This is you know, she's two weeks into the season
and what she's done to help grow the women's game.
I interviewed the great Don Staley, you know, about a
month back, and she talked about the growth for the
game and how Kaylen Clark was right there at the
center of it. So these things right here, Jimy wouldn't
do that. She wouldn't do that if you know, Kaitlyn
didn't have her respect. So I think that's part of
(45:12):
the game, that's part of growing it. And then Kayln's
gonna look back maybe in two muchs like, h this
is nothing you guys can do to stop me, Like
there's no problem, and that's what you want because it's
gonna make her better in the long run. And it's
just now that we have more eyes on it. I
love watching the women's game, you know what. I didn't
watch much of the n C two A last year.
I watched all the women's side of things because there
was so much more interesting to me, the way they
(45:33):
were playing, the style of play, selfishness, how solid they were.
And I have a young Gallataries plan now as well,
so I'm watching that more. And I watched the men's side,
if I'm being honest, last year.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
So great to see you again, So happy for your success.
It was predictable. We knew you'd have it, and we're
really happy for you, Jamal, I really am as a now.
J Mack and I were talking about this earlier. You
where did you go to high school?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Rader beside That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
That's what I thought, which is by Seattle. You're not
far from Seattle. Who was in your league? Did you
play like the Odays?
Speaker 8 (46:06):
Who did you play oday, Garfield Franklin, Yes, all those guys,
Seattle Prep, Eastside Catholic.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
And Jamal torched all of them. Great seeing you, my man,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhert
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, it is a Monday live in Los Angeles.
It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for megad ask part of your day.
One hour from now. Where Colin was right, where Colin
was wrong, plenty of both, Joel Klatt. In one hour,
we got a lot of things to talk about as
college football, the scheduling coming out, the TV games, the scheduling.
(00:49):
It's fantastic. Jmac. I know's it's that May June area
and we have to sit around and wait a few
days for the NBA Finals. But something happened this morning.
It's a big deal. It's happening all the time. A little.
People are worried about bubbles, tech bubble, real estate, bubble,
wide receiver bubble, well did it burst, I don't think so.
(01:12):
So it's the most money ever paid to a non
quarterback in this league, the highest non quarterback guarantee at signing.
Justin Jefferson Minnesota has signed with the Vikings, a great player,
four years, one hundred and forty four, one hundred and
forty million. It feels a little bit like an NBA contract,
the difference. He's great, not just a middling player. But
(01:35):
there are four reasons why you had to make this move,
and I defended him multiple times in the last couple
of months Justin Jefferson and I don't always defend receivers.
Number One, they have a rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy in
an offensive division. JJ McCarthy's going to need help, and
Justin Jefferson attracts double coverage. Makes you roll the coverage over,
(01:57):
We'll open up the field. Number two, The Vikings have
an offensive coach, and offensive coaches get the ball to
their playmakers very well. McVeigh and Cooper Cup, Kyle Shanahan
and Christian McCaffrey, Mike McCarthy, C D. Lamb. They have
a way of doing it. Tyreek Hill in Miami. Defensive
coaches can struggle getting the ball to the right people. Meanwhile,
(02:20):
number three is the NFC North is probably the best
offensive division in football. You're gonna be in some track meets,
You're gonna be in some firework shows. You need easy touchdowns.
They can't be twelve play drives. I like Jordan Addison,
I like Aaron Jones, but JJ McCarthy needs some over
the top seventy two yard touchdowns. He's not Mahomes, he's
(02:44):
not a veteran, he's not Stafford. He's a young kid,
and when he does play, he's gonna need some easy touchdowns.
And number four is I wouldn't have believed this seven
years ago, but the game's changed. Look at the rules.
Wide receivers, to me, were always icing on the cake,
but never the key ingredients. It's over nine of the
ten top receiving yard leaders, nine of ten made the playoffs,
(03:10):
much more than leading rushers. So are we in a
wide receiver bubble? Well, we've been in tech bubbles, and
tech companies still rule the world. We've been in housing bubbles, right,
We've been on all sorts of bubbles, stock market bubbles.
I still retain some stocks. I still have a house
lot of tech. Bubble doesn't mean what you have as bad.
(03:32):
Sometimes you overpay for things. I'm gonna be okay overpaying
a little for a quarterback, an edge rusher, and a
perimeter weapon. And my take is, look at what the
NFL is doing with its rules. It's telling you protect
wide receivers and elevate wide receivers. They're good for fantasy football,
they're good for ratings. The most explosive touchdowns for television
(03:54):
are from wide receivers, not running backs or quarterbacks. And
so I look around this and something else that's important.
There are certain things you have to overpay for. But
when you overpay for certain things, do they at least deliver?
Receivers do take away the Mike Williams deal with the Chargers.
He just got hurt, Debo, DJ Moore, Tyreek Hill, Amari Cooper,
(04:17):
Cooper Cup, Davante Adams, Terry McLaurin. They got huge deals
and they remain highly productive because the sport is telling
you they want receivers to excel. All the rules are
can't touch him. I grew up in an era where
there was a term used on every broadcast more than once.
(04:38):
Alligator arms receivers, especially fast, thin ones did not want
to go over the middle. About a decade ago, the
NFL change rules. Everybody wants to go over the middle.
That's where the eden's good, and Justin Jefferson could be
a drag route, a seam route over the top is
more than icing. In our last eight Super Bowls, six
(04:59):
quarterbacks and two receivers have been MVP. So this was
not always a position that I thought deserved to be
highly compensated. It is now for the aforementioned reasons, I
think you pay him. They did. The Vikings have historically
been a pretty shrewd franchise that just haven't been as
good as the Packers at quarterback. But this division, with
Caleb Williams and the Chicago upgrades, you're gonna be in
(05:21):
your shootouts. You're gonna be in them. And I don't
think JJ McCarthy is Caleb Williams as a talent. I
don't think he's Jared Goff as a talent. I don't
think he's Jordan Love as a talent. He's going to
need more talent on the perimeter. So I talked about
this a few weeks ago when Caitlin Clark came in.
Is that Every business needs a catalyst. And I had
(05:45):
a little podcast business called The Volume. We were doing
fine for about eight months and then we got Draymond
Green and he was our catalyst. People paid attention to us.
Every business needs a catalyst to kind of spring to pop.
It could be a tech company that needs a it
needs a product, it needs an app. Every business needs it.
So the WNBA hasn't made a lot of money, but
(06:07):
the talent, the quality of play has been elevated over
the last seven, eight nine years. They just needed a catalyst.
I mean MLS went and got Messy a catalyst. La
Galaxy went and got Beckham. So Caitlin Clark is making
people watch the sport. And now everybody's kind of freaking
out because she's getting nudged here and hard fouled there
(06:30):
and hitting the floor there, and to Kennedy Carter yesterday
banged into her. Everybody's freaking out. Where is the protection?
Oh boy, once again the media fans protecting somebody that
doesn't need protecting. When Tony Kuk Coach came from Europe
to play with the Bulls, MJ and Scottie Pippen, this
is what they did to their own teammate in practice.
(06:53):
Sports is tribal, it's intimidating, it's physical, and it's proven
those who aren't tough don't make it.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
She is.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Kennedy Carter is the Patrick Beverly of the WNBA. She's
on her third team, Feisty as hell, tough, intimidating and physical.
She is there to provoke. Like Patrick Beverley, who I
ran into the gym recently, got a chip, little anger, tough,
wouldn't want to mess with him. And that's what Kennedy
(07:26):
Carter is. The NHL, the NBA, they've always had enforcers.
They don't always have to be the biggest player on
the fourth floor. They've got to be scrappy and defiant,
sometimes bordering on unfair, physical, inappropriate. That's all that happened.
My only issue in that entire weekend, all these hard fouls.
(07:46):
I've got two issues. Number one, why didn't one of
Caitlin Clark's teammates defender? Where are your teammates? And number two,
the WNBA has done such a bad job. They knew
the Indiana Fever had the number one pick, and they
knew Caitlin Clark was going to be the number one pick.
A year ago or close to a year ago. Why
(08:08):
have they played eleven games in twenty days? Caitlin Clark's
worn out. One team, the Las Vegas ass has played
six games. Multiple teams have played seven. They've played eleven
games in twenty days. The last team that did that
in the WNBA started one to ten. Can't the WNBA
(08:29):
do a little a little to give Caitlin Clark a
couple of days rest before big games. You knew she
was going to be the number one pick almost a
year ago. So I've had a problem with the way
they've groove Caitlin Clark into the league. I've had a
problem with, Well, that's about it. I don't have a
(08:51):
problem pushing around Caitlin Clark, That's okay. She talked about
the physical play, the daunting physical play, and how she's handling.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
It definitely reminds me of my of my college Cairl
a little bit. But also, you know, I grew up
playing the basketball of the boys, so like it's always
been physical and feisty and like that's what it is.
You got to find a way to hold your own.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So it kind of reminds me of that.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
And then I grew up with Super Brothers, and you know,
things were about you know, very very physical, a lot
of blood, a lot of tears, whatever it was. So
I'm I'm definitely prepared for it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, everybody's freaking out about this. Yeah, I wish a
teamate would have stepped up. Four. I wish the WNBA
could figure out you've got a star a year out.
But this is actually kind of like the NBA. There's
a Draymond Green, a Dennis Rodman, a Bill Lamber, there's
an enforcer. Well, who do they pick on the bench? Guy? No,
(09:47):
they go pick on the star. Go ask Magic Johnson
about Dennis Rodman, you know, go ask go ask great
offensive players about Ramon Green. Draymond Green doesn't spend a
ton of time picking on the number nine player. He
goes after the star. This is sports. Caitlin Clark is
more than built for this. Be nice if she had
a teammate who stood up here. By the way, was
(10:11):
Kennedy Carter on the shove to Caitlyn Clark kind of
on the play before bumping in with Kaitlyn, It seemed
like she she tuned to you a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, after the fever.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Stores Kaitlyn Clark questions, did.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
She say anything to you? I don't know what she said.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
What you say to her and didn't say any That's enough.
It's okay, take a deep breath. I've watched this in college,
I've watched it in pro. This is the growth of
the WNBA. It started out it couldn't make any money,
and the NBA had that problem in the seventies. And
all of a sudden, the quality of play gets better,
and as some teams start breaking even, they play in
(10:47):
some nice arenas and they get a TV contract, and
all of a sudden, the quality and the length and
the occasional European player, and all of a sudden, now
we're seeing the next level of growth. They got a catalyst,
and the league's far and they've got enforcers. The ultimate
compliment to the WNBA is I see this all the
time on the guy's side. It's okay. The ultimate respect
(11:12):
isn't pandering and placating the women's basketball. It's accepting that
sometimes it's physical, tribal, intimidating and uncomfortable. The best kind
of basketball, men or women. All right, j Mac crazy
this weekend. You know there's a thing going around. I
myself have been very fortunate genetically. My family's kind of thin, right,
(11:36):
So I'm not an ozempic person, but you know, some people,
there's the ozempic thing going on in America. People are
getting like thin, thinner, or sometimes too thin. Now, I
am in no way saying that pro athletes are taking ozempic,
although they found like remedies. It can help with addictions,
it can help with kidney long whatever.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
So, but.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I saw I've been noticing weight more on people because
of this ozempic thing. They call it ozempic face. And
so I've noticed among friends, among people I'm kind of watching,
you know, I'm seeing this ozempic thing. So I saw
something this week with an NFL player that looked radically thin.
I am not saying it's ozempic. Oh, and maybe I'm
(12:22):
overreacting to body shape and type. But I've got thoughts
on it, and I absolutely believe what I'm gonna say.
That always helps. And we'll talk about Tua's appearance coming up.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app So.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I saw something this weekend where Tua Dolphins quarterback Tua
Tungue Lamoa showed up to a promotional event and uh
look noticeably thin. He's listed at about two twenty five.
He looked to be about two hundred pounds. And this
is a pocket quarterback. It is a little alarming. He
(13:06):
looked really, really thin. So Tom Brady lost weight when
he retired, that I get, But I think Tom kept
some weight on because he was a quarterback. And so
I've said this before, like aesthetics matter. You saw last
week an organization pull a beer out of Luca's hand
in a hallway that fans couldn't see because there was
one camera off to the side. Not only do aesthetics matter,
(13:30):
it worries me. There's never been a great skinny quarterback
in league history. Mannings weren't, Farve wasn't. Brady was two thirty,
Big Ben l Way. You think Aaron Rodgers is thin, Okay,
I'm six one and a half a buck ninety four
buck ninety five ish. Aaron Rodgers is six one and
(13:52):
a half two twenty five. Aaron is thirty pounds heavier
than me. And I don't think I'm at finn I
like my quarterbacks, like my furniture, big and hard to move.
You need two or three people. If you can get
it into a hatchback by yourself, I'm not interested draft
(14:14):
somebody else. So Tua is not a hyper athletic quarterback
who wants to get faster. He's not really that mobile.
He's not big, he doesn't have a power arm. I
love Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence, but they're a bit
on the thin side. Burrow's hurt often. Trevor Lawrence last
year must have had six lower torso injuries. Philip rivers,
(14:38):
to me, that's the perfect quarterback body six five, two thirty.
He once played I think it was fourteen straight seasons
of at least sixteen games. He once played with a
torn acl It matters. Jared Goff is the only what
I would call thin quarterback in the league that I've
probably ever really I really liked in thoughts a top
(15:01):
ten quarterback. But in architecture it's called a form follows function,
and I don't understand. I understand a little with Lamar
Jackson losing weight. He's hyper mobile, perhaps wants to get faster,
although I don't see a lot of linebackers and safeties
catching him. But you know, it's it's one of those
(15:22):
things where I like big, I like sturdy, I like
can play hurt. I don't get it. It's something.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I know.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You're absolutely sure this stuff doesn't matter. But last week
the vice president, a former player of the Mavericks, walked
in and took a beer out of Luca's hand and
fans couldn't see it. I cannot believe that there wasn't
at least one Miami Dolphin that said upstairs, Wow, he
looks thin. He's already small, he's already got an average arm.
(15:55):
I don't know. It's something. It's been there's stories about it.
It's nothing. Is everything everything something I thought it was
a little interesting.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Hey Gang.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
Listen is Jay Glazer, host of Unbreakable, a mental wealth podcast,
and every week we will have on leaders from sports
entertainment like Sean McVay, Lindsay Vaughn, Michael Phelps, David Spade,
got Fiemi, and also those who can help us in
between the ears, anyone from a therapist to someone like
Ed Milett for John Gordon We've all been through some
(16:34):
sort of adversity to get to the top. We've all
used different tools. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer and
Mental Wealth podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get podcasts.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Didn't get any better than the Super Saturday on Fox.
First it's Philly's Mets from London, followed by the Belmont
Stakes live from Saratoga, and then time it's Dodgers versus
the Yankees.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Oh baby, best series of the year right there.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
All on Fox in the Fox Sports app.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Maybe the two best teams in baseball Yankees Dodgers, Yankees
doing everything right. That's my World Series. I told you
it's a good world series. You know who has the
World Series?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Eh?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Oh nice? This network?
Speaker 6 (17:19):
They gonna send us to the games.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
If it's Dodger Stadium, I'd be fun. I'm in. We
need some we need prep. We need to go to
the games for free and get very close to the action.
Speaker 6 (17:28):
Assuming I make it to football season, I don't know,
we'll see.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So it's time to have that uncomfortable conversation about Jason
Tatum of the Celtics. And by the way, everybody's saying,
man I can't believe there's a week off the finals.
This is gonna be terrible. The ratings are gonna be terrible. Well,
the NBA ratings of this playoffs as it pivots to
a more non big brand, non staff, non Lebron, non
(17:53):
KD NBA, more European NBA. They're down fifteen percent this year,
so the ratings for the finals will' pribaby down like
ten to fifteen percent. I don't think the time that
will elapse will hurt it. This is not baseball where
you're in the middle of October and November and you're
battling college football in the NFL, and you take like
five days off in between the end of a series
(18:15):
and the start of a series, you just lose people,
You lose audience, you lose eyes. That the NBA is
losing me to Netflix. I watched three Netflix shows yesterday.
The minute the final start, I'm back. I'm not sitting
around watching regular season baseball that often, so the NBA
will be fine. I don't think this will be one
of the great rated NBA finals. I don't think this gap.
(18:38):
It's not a baseball October gap. It's a June and
nobody's nutting goods on TV. It's reruns. The best stuff
on TV besides the NBA Finals is streaming stuff, and
people will move back off that for the NBA Finals.
But big brand Celtics, four stars, it'll be fine. But
Zach glows a podcaster other place, very good, big audience
(19:01):
and respected in the industry. Talking about Jason Tatum, like me,
he thinks he's a great player, excellent NBA player. But
Jason Tatum's a great player.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Like I don't get all the angles.
Speaker 7 (19:15):
I mean, I get some of the angst, Like he
settles for some bad shots now and then some of
them go in, some of them don't. He's not one
of the five best players in the NBA, but he's
something round seventh, eighth, ninth, ten to six. I mean,
that's pretty damn good. People want him to be better
than that, and he's not quite on the level of
the top four or five guys. This will now finally
be the series again where Tatum is indisputably not the
(19:37):
best player in the series. That's the other team as
the best player in the series, and so that'll be
an interesting test for both him and the Celtics.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
And that's not a small thing. Luca is better, and
Lucas considered the first or second best player. Here's the
last six, seven, eight, nine, here's the last nine NBA champions.
Last year it was best player in the league. Year
before it was Steph top four to five, then Yannis,
(20:05):
he was considered at the time the best player. Then Lebron,
he was considered a top two to three player. Kawhi, yes,
at that time he was considered maybe five, but a
top five player back to back. Years before that, it
was KD and Steph, both top five before that, Cavs
and Lebron. He was number one before that, Golden State
staff top five. So the last nine finals, you've often
(20:30):
had the one, the two at the worst, top five.
Tatum's not top five. I agree. The Spurs in twenty
fourteen had an old Duncan, a legendary coach, and Kawhi
was not top five. He was emerging fast, he was
ascending quickly, but he was not top five. That's the
(20:52):
last one to do it. But if you go then
before that, one before twenty fourteen, I'll read you the
best player on the team, Lebron, Kobe Duncan, shack dirt
you could argue the Celtics had a year, but KG
was like second or third in MVP voting and Paul
Pierce was the finals MVP. They were both great players.
(21:14):
I like Jason Tatum, but we've got a history. There's
two outliers to not having a top five player and
winning a title, the twenty fourteen Spurs and that Pistons team,
And that was as much they were huge underdogs of
the Lakers. That was about the Lakers locker room imploding, Malone,
Kobe Shack, Phil the locker room imploded. They were huge
(21:38):
favorites over Detroit. So it's pretty clear having the best
or second best player in the league, having an iconic
first ballot unbelievable, no doubt about it, all time great player.
It absolutely matters, and that's what Luca is. So again,
it was fascinating about Tatum. If you gave me the league,
(22:01):
I'm a general manager. You're a general manager, and you
say it, give me five or six guys to start
my franchise. I think Tatum's probably five or six for me.
But if you're talking just best player at any one
time on the floor, take the big shot. I'm like
Zach Lowe I've got him like seven to eight, and
(22:22):
that's where I kind of find him.
Speaker 8 (22:24):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I think he'll be the second best player in the finals.
But there will be games in this finals that Kyrie
plays better than Tatum. They'll be at least one or
two of those. Very rarely did you get to the
finals and somebody will play better than Luca, Michael Jordan
or Yokich. That's very rare. There will be a game
in this series, maybe all of them. Lucas clearly better,
(22:47):
Kyrie is two, and they'll be at least one game
Jalen Brown plays better than Tatum. That historically does not
win you the finals. Now, I like Boston. I'm picking As,
crossing my fingers on Porzingis's health. I picked him to
get to the finals. I think they're very good, maybe
(23:07):
a tad two collaborative, but I think they're so deep offensively.
I think Dallas is just going to be chasing threes
all over the court. Spread their defense out, allow them
to drive and score at the rim, get lively out
of there. I think Boston wins. I think it's a
great series. I think Lucas gonna have forty multiple times.
But there is a history the last nine finals champions.
(23:32):
It is a lot of Jokiic, Steph, Jannis Lebron, Kadi Lebron,
Steph Kdi. That's a lot of what it is, no
doubt about it. Forty five seconds left. Everybody knows who's
everybody knows the best player on the floor. I'm sorry
J Mack, but the best player on the floor in
the series is Luca.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
I'm not disputing that. I don't think anybody would argue that.
Nobody with a brain would argue Luca's not the best
player on the floor. The problem and I know Zach Lowell,
I see him around of games. Whatever he's saying, Tatum's
not a top five guy in the league, and I
think you're agreeing with you.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Coll something's not adding up here.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
First Team All NBA this year, Jason Tatum was one
of the top five first team All NBA. Last year,
Jason Tatum was one of the top five hold on
the the year before that. That's three straight seasons he's
been first team All remember, meaning one of the.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Top five All Pro and football. There are positions. He's
a forward.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
No, no, they don't do position. They didn't do him
this year. They just picked the best the two years
prior they did and he was forward. Fine, but o,
I'll give you Giannis, I'll give you Luca, I'll give
you Jokich. But after that, there's you can't tell me
because the two playoffs here is Anthony Edwards is better
than Jason Tatum.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You can't do that. You just cannot. I'm not gonna
let you.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
So find me the two other guys better than Jason Tatum. Man,
I don't want to hear Joel Embiid, and I know
Zach Loo's a big Joel Embid fan.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Sorry, Zach you, I've been pushing on Joel Embiid. We
understand the reality. He's hurt all the freaking time. Yea,
So give me the other guys better than him. In
the leap. I think Sga is a more natural scorer.
Speaker 7 (25:05):
I'll disagree.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I mean he's really good for I think Anthony Davis
gives me more dominant defensive performances plus twenty four a game.
I think there's a players that can be I think
Anthony Davis, the best defensive player in the year and
on any night, can give me the twenty six Tatum can.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Guy who doesn't talk about somebody who doesn't show up
at fourth quarters.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
My gosh, Denver Milk Carton.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
One more heard The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
All right, we do it every Monday. Colin right, Colin wrong.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Here we go Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
The Celtics has predicted would not only reach the NBA Finals.
I said it would be sweeps and gentlemen sweeps, and
that's exactly what happened, and they did it with that
highly productive big Chris stops porzingis part of this is
the East is the weakest it's been in forever. But
the other part is Boston is very offensively deep, They're
(26:05):
usually defensively engaged. They're an excellent team. And this was
one of the easier predictions going into the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I can remember where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
But I didn't think Luca and the MAVs would beat Minnesota.
I didn't know if they could beat Oklahoma City, and
here they are. Rookie Derek Lively has inserted himself into
this lineup and has been hugely important. I didn't think
a number one ball usage, guy who previously had been
a little difficult to play with, Kyrie Irving, temperamental, where's
(26:38):
his head at? It didn't feel like a finals team,
And I.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Was wrong where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Said last week, Justin Jefferson's on a short list of
two or three receivers, I would back up the Brinks
truck four. And this morning he got a record contract.
And this is an offensive coach who understands his value.
If you go look at wide receivers signing, it's the
big ones, Davonte Adams, Deebo, Samuel Terry, McLaurin, Cooper Cupp.
(27:06):
There's almost no busts. Offensive coaches know how to get
the ball to their playmaker. I liked the signing. We
thought it would be coming soon. Where Colin was raw,
I sort of semi dismiss JJ Reddick as the Lakers coach,
not because I don't think he's really bright, great broadcaster, podcaster,
(27:26):
but it felt like a fun story, but not like
a realistic one. But reportedly last week the Athletic saying
that he is now assembling a staff, So why wouldn't
they name a coach They're waiting for the NBA Finals
and for JJ Reddick to stop broadcasting. So I was
wrong on that.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I told you I didn't like the WNBA with Caitlin Clark.
I thought they really screwed up the schedule. Well, she's
now played eleven games in twenty days. The Las Vegas
Aces have played half that. Two other TEA teams have
played seven. Could somebody in the WNBA scheduling office figure
it out? You're giving her the toughest schedule in the
(28:08):
league defensive teams back to backs. What's going on? You
knew a year ago she was coming into the league
and probably would go in as number one. The last
time the WNBA had a team play eleven games in
twenty days, that team went one and ten. It's just
too much.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
PFF ranked its rosters last week and they had the
Chargers at twenty six, below the Saints, Titans, and Raiders.
I know they're wide receiver light, but twenty six you're
getting around New England Patriots territory. They've got a star quarterback,
a star left tackle, two star edge rushers. Twenty sixth
(28:57):
am I an la homer or what maybe I am?
Where Colin was right, the Miami Dolphins paid not only
Tyreek Hill Jalen Wattle eightya eighty five million dollars last week.
This is my belief is that they're gonna pay players,
but they're not gonna let two of manipulate them and
(29:18):
get into the fifty five sixty million a year. And
the way to do that is pay two of his weapons.
You'll have to have money for a left tackle, an
edge rusher, a top corner. So this to me is
the Dolphin sending a message, we like you, but we
think with this coach and these weapons, we can win
(29:39):
with a lot of quarterbacks, including you, but not exclusively you.
Where Colin was right Sean Peyton again last week discussing
bow Nicks, the rookie quarterback from Oregon. We thought it
was a perfect fit. Peyton and bow here's the coach.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
All three of them are doing well. You know, specifically
to Bo, he's doing really well. He's picking it up,
there's a lot that's going in. He's throwing the ball
extremely well. Where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I may beat up on New York sports teams, but
the Yankees look phenomenal. Aaron Judge is on a heater.
They lead baseball in home runs. They have the best
er in baseball. Soto and Judge are top two in ops.
New York teams tend to waste money and be poorly run.
I don't always love the John Carlos Stanton contract, but
(30:41):
this is a real team, power pitching, power hitting. They
deserve the credit where Colin was right. Matt Eberflu's echoed
sentiments that we have that Caleb Williams is actually well
suited for hard knocks by the way he played in
La linc Atley's high profile. The buzz around Caleb is
(31:04):
generating major networks to schedule games. He got four or
five national TV games. This is what we said about it.
He's gonna arrive in Chicago and it's not gonna look
or feel like Justin Fields, who was a middling prospect.
This isn't Andrew Luck. This is an Lway, this is
(31:25):
a Marino, this is a Peyton Manning. It's a whole
different ballgame. He is a franchised tilter and you are
already seeing it. Iber Flu says, we don't have any concerns.
His personality is built for hard knocked Chicago and to
be a star in the NFL, where Colin was right
where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon easternn a EM Pacific Well.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
He played in the NBA for twenty seasons, multiple time
NBA six man, one of the sharper guys. You see
him on the broadcast. He's having everybody from Doc Rivers,
the Tibbs, Larry Brown, Mike den Tony played with JJ Reddick,
all the guys in the news. Jamal Crawford's played with
all of them. Let me start with that. So JJ Reddick,
(32:13):
who I don't know. I always tell the funny story
I lost my dog in my neighborhood once and JJ
Reddick found it. So he's got a keen eye. That's
all I know about him. But I don't know I
what would be the problem for you, Jamal? Never having
coached right out of the league. There you go to coach.
Do you think it can work?
Speaker 8 (32:33):
I absolutely think it can work. I think the negative
part is just you don't know what you don't know
sitting in that seat. But I think for JJ, if
he gets the job, you build a staff of guys
who have been in that seat before, who guide you
in a way but still lets you put your you know,
your fabric and your touch on the team. He's a
brilliant basketball mind. We played together for four years and
(32:54):
we used to have the great discussions about this or that.
He's been unbelievable. It's been great to watch his media
and I think he'll be a great coach in time.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Kyrie Irving is probably in my lifetime, the best dual
hand closer for his size in the sport either hand, left,
right close. He has also been temperamental, and that's part
of his resume, and we're all a product of our resumes.
I mean, one of the reasons that teams liked you
is you were dependable. His temperament can be a tad uneven.
(33:26):
Are you surprised at all that he goes to a
very high ball usage teammate and actually is flourishing, is
playing the best basketball of his career, though he doesn't
have the ball in his hands as much as he
may other places. Does it surprise you?
Speaker 8 (33:44):
It doesn't surprise me from the standpoint that if you
look at Lebron, who is another high usage guy, not
the exact you know, replicat of Luca and how they
played with some similarities there and Kyrie thrive playing next
to Lebron and Lebron love you know, playing with I
love Rakai is that mentally, spiritually, physically like he is
(34:05):
aligned and everything he's doing right now, the bigger the moment,
the bigger the shot, the better Kyrie is. And he's
the type of guy that you don't worry about stopping him.
You worry about not being embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
And he's at playing and he's.
Speaker 8 (34:19):
Playing so great with Luca and now this maybe the
first time Kay's been on a team since he was
a young player where he's the wise vet, he's the
bigger brother, and he's leaving a great example for Luca
to follow. And you can see the respect Luca has
for him as well.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
When you sit in my chair. We have strong opinions.
I feel three hours a day, I like Boston to win.
I think they're super collaborative. I think their players are smart.
I do say though I am old school. I got
gray hair. I grew up in a time of that's wisdom.
Earn that, thank you. That's what I tell my wife.
(34:53):
It's all wisdom.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
But I grew up.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I grew up in a time with Kobe and Bird, Yes,
and Michael and Lebron to Steph, which is, there's two
minutes left, give me the ball. I'm gonna make a play.
Jason tends to be thoughtful, collaborative, and it does if
you go look at the last nine champions, they've had
a top three player, They've had to give me the
(35:17):
ball guy. Is it fair to say at times he's
a tad two collaborative and two giving and should be
a little more demanding for the ball in late spots
when the matchup servant.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
I think experience is the best teacher. And for JT.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
I really believe going through that finals right where they
had a chance but they turned the ball over at
moments Steph Curry just went ridiculous and took over the
whole finals. He's looking at that as young players saying,
you know what, if I'm ever back in this situation,
if I'm ever back in this I may do things
that tad bit different. I think that experience will benefit
him going forward. You could just tell now he just
(35:57):
doing whatever it takes to win. It may be a
big rebound and maybe the right assists and maybe slowing
six or eight tens great points because he can do
that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Obviously at the highest level, but he's in a very,
very mature place. I know for sure.
Speaker 8 (36:09):
Kobe's amuse for him, one of his favorite players ever,
and to get these opportunities, you know, they don't come often.
He had an opportunity last year in a Game seven
where he rolls his angle the first play of the game,
where you could just tell he was going to go
off in the big night and get four or fifty.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
I think he does not let this opportunity pass him by.
Speaker 8 (36:25):
He will be aggressive, but he also do whatever it
takes that he believes to give his best team, the
best chess to win.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
I remember hearing about Luca, so I went to the
internet and I watched his European stuff and I'm like, well,
he looks a little thick, not terribly vertical. It's a
little Larry bird ish. I thought he would score, but
I didn't think it would be this. When did you
identify Jamal? When did you watch him and go, yeah,
(36:54):
this is gonna be a problem, Like he's just not stoppable.
Speaker 8 (36:58):
It's amazing because when you look at it, he's been
a pro since he's what fifteen or sixteen, so all
the information he gathered at that time. By the time
he's twenty twenty one, he's basically mastered the game of basketball.
We all talked about his pace and how he plays.
It's not just his pace, is that his pace can
make you go his pace and then only he knows
what he wants to do from there. He can slow
(37:20):
the whole game down, like he takes a picture of
the court and he's so unbothered and he's so at peace.
I make jokes about it. He plays like he's playing
with headphones on listen to smooth jazz while you're pressure
trying to bother. So at peace with his game, and
he makes the right decision and he loves the big moment.
So when you have a guy like that, he raises
(37:40):
everybody's level of play, even if he doesn't get the
stat the assisport, the gravity he pulls, the way you
have to game plan for him. And what's really special
about him is that he's not a guy like, oh,
a game or two will figure him out. It's like, no,
we just have to deal with this problem. He's a problem,
and we just hope he's awful. We hope his teammates
are making these many shots to give him less face.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
So two kind of broad basketball questions. It used to
be I can remember this twenty years ago where the
knock on European players like Tony Kukoach is they're skilled,
but they're soft. Well they're not anymore. They come with attitude.
There has been an infusion of global talent and there
(38:22):
are some really fantastic domestic players Tatum Brown and no question,
but you do see the wemby Jokish, Jannis mbid Sga
And if I said you are Lord of American basketball,
Jamal Crawford, You're twenty years of experience, You're the new
CEO of United States Basketball, what would you because you're
(38:47):
a thoughtful guy, what would you do to tweak our system?
Because it does feel Jamal fairly, they play fewer games
against older players. They come in more skilled, they're less distracted.
What would what would be your tweet? That's not that
our basketball game is bad, but it feels like it
needs a tweak domestically or am I over the top
(39:10):
on that?
Speaker 8 (39:11):
I think you're spot on and I actually coach the
Rotary Boys and Girls Club au Rotary style, were, you know,
top ten in the country And what's impressive about that is,
we're not trying to be We're trying to teach things
the right way, and I think it starts at the
grassroots level. So much of what's going on now is individualized.
It's about me. It's about what's in my bag. I
(39:31):
had a pretty good bag handling the ball. But I
think what's in your bag shouldn't be what your handles are.
What's in your bag should be, Oh, this is a
catch and shoot game.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Oh, this is a game. It's the one two dribble
pull up game. This is a game.
Speaker 8 (39:42):
I get my teammates going, that's what's in your bag.
You can go to different days, and I think for us,
we have to start making our kids play up earlier.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
That's how I grew up.
Speaker 8 (39:51):
My first trainer wasn't when I got to Michigan, I
had a rebounder. It was the guy in the park
drinking the forty in between games. Hey, you got to
cut right there. It was the old at the park.
And we need to play with that, those older guys.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
We need to play with people better than us.
Speaker 8 (40:07):
We need to continue to develop more than say hey
let's get the instant gratification at an early age. Let's
continue to work and develop and play the long game.
I think overseas they're playing the long game. They're doing
it more collectively, and I think they know how to
play basketball. If you know how to play basketball, you
can play anywhere in the world and play the right way.
We can go to open gym right now with five
guys we don't know. And if we know how to
(40:27):
play basketball, we're probably going to be successful because we
know that it's a team game. We know how to
play it at a high level, and it raises the IQ.
And if you raise the IQ for the basketball at
the grassroots level, getting to the parents, getting too these coaches,
I think that will help trigger and start a new
movement of what we need to do to get you know,
American basketball back on top in a really, really dominant way.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Not surprising, a highly thoughtful when we said this before
you came on the air, You're just one of the
real thinkers in this sport and I love it.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
So you know this.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
You played for nine teams. I remember most of them, Clippers, Knicks, Bulls, Hawks,
T Wolf's Son, Blazers, Warriors, Nets, A couple of them
are brief for twenty years. And I said this about
the Knicks and TIBs. You can't just throw anybody into
that mix. There is an almost collegiate zeal An intensity
of Villanova feel. Those guys like to be hard coached,
(41:22):
They like to play defense. Defoncenzo with a Knicks is
one of the better catch and shoot guys.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Now like that.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
He found his team, He found his Villanova. It's in
New York. He found it. You gotta be careful with
who you bring in, though, I think they need another score.
And my take is, I don't know if I need
a KD. I may need a Michale Bridges because he's
in line with their culture. Take me through your twenty years.
(41:49):
When you look at the Knicks, you had TIBs, you
have Jalen Brunson. He's a clear one. I don't want
the ball out of his hands. Could just screw it
all up with the wrong guy. Is there a guy
you think fits could? I think they're gonna move off
probably Randal and look for a more dependable postseason score,
a better fit. Is there a player that works for
(42:09):
the Knicks for you?
Speaker 8 (42:12):
Well, since you said Kevin Durant. The thing that's specially
about KG and I've always said this, Most superstar players
are only superstars when they have the ball. They don't
do the little things to cut, to move, to playoff
the guys. He actually does that perfectly. He plays off
of people the right way. He can play so many
different systems, and he can play styles that won't ruin
(42:33):
your offense. It won't hijack the offense with this fluid game, right,
So Brnston can still be bruntson. Davin Cenzo will still
get his catch and shootes. Kevin Durant is playing perfection basketball.
And what I mean by that is if he has
a child to take it. I watched one game he
had forty and you know me, I'm a gun slinger.
If I get forty, I may kick it up there.
He had forty, hang in the corner. He threw it
(42:54):
to the guy without hesitation and got a guy and
look where I thought he could have shot it.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
So he's playing perfection basketball. You're right.
Speaker 8 (43:00):
Culture is everything. Fit is everything. You don't want to
ever take away from what you're doing. You want to
add to and enhance what you're doing. So it takes
a special player that's a dynamic score that can finish that.
Michael bridges the other one. He knows those guys, he
knows respect, he knows what's expected of those guys and
how they play their culture. And he would only enhance,
you know, things of what they're doing and won't take
(43:21):
away from it. He'll feel writing in because Larry Brown
taught me. It's a long time ago since we spoke
on coaching. He said, Jamal, you got a big bugget
ice cream. You can walk down the street and the
bird pool just that much bird pool gets in the
ice cream, the whole ice cream is ruined. And that's
what you don't want.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Hey, I gotta ask you. Yeah, I'm gonna finally ask
you a Caitlin Clark question. I actually think the growth
of women's basketball that the fact that they have an
enforcer that goes after I'm like, that's it, that's what
That's what the guys do. They're physical. Kennedy Carter's the
(43:58):
pat BEV of the WN and I'm like, Kaitlyn Clark
doesn't need our protection. She's defiant. She she this is
what this is the ultimate growth of women's basketball is
that it gets chippy. I think I think it's great
and everybody's like, oh, this is a cheap shot, And
I'm like, you guys, she's tough, she can handle it.
(44:18):
What was your takeaway this weekend? People really freaked out
as if Caitlyn Clark was being attacked, And I mean, god,
you could go back to your high school days in Seattle,
your college days at Michigan. There's a there's a chippy
guy on every roster in the country.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
And and and you know that's a part of respect
as well.
Speaker 8 (44:36):
And it doesn't look good for somebody who hasn't you know,
been around the game or played the game, but they
would not, you know, be as aggressive or physical with
Kayln Clark if she wasn't that great.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
And she's gonna be great, She's gonna be way greater
she is.
Speaker 8 (44:50):
This is you know, she's two weeks into the season
and what she's done to help grow the women's game.
I interviewed the great Don Staley, you know, about a
month back, and she talked about the growth for the
game and how Kaylen Clark was right there at the
center of it. So these things right here, Jimy wouldn't
do that. She wouldn't do that if you know, Kaitlyn
didn't have her respect. So I think that's part of
(45:12):
the game, that's part of growing it. And then Kayln's
gonna look back maybe in two muchs like, h this
is nothing you guys can do to stop me, Like
there's no problem, and that's what you want because it's
gonna make her better in the long run. And it's
just now that we have more eyes on it. I
love watching the women's game, you know what. I didn't
watch much of the n C two A last year.
I watched all the women's side of things because there
was so much more interesting to me, the way they
(45:33):
were playing, the style of play, selfishness, how solid they were.
And I have a young Gallataries plan now as well,
so I'm watching that more. And I watched the men's side,
if I'm being honest, last year.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
So great to see you again, So happy for your success.
It was predictable. We knew you'd have it, and we're
really happy for you, Jamal, I really am as a now.
J Mack and I were talking about this earlier. You
where did you go to high school?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Rader beside That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
That's what I thought, which is by Seattle. You're not
far from Seattle. Who was in your league? Did you
play like the Odays?
Speaker 8 (46:06):
Who did you play oday, Garfield Franklin, Yes, all those guys,
Seattle Prep, Eastside Catholic.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
And Jamal torched all of them. Great seeing you, my man,
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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