Best of The Herd

JMac steps in for Colin again to talk about why people are sick and tired of the Chiefs, the Luka Doncic press conference, what to expect from the Lakers and the Mavericks, plus his thoughts on the upcoming Super Bowl.

 

Guests: Albert Breer, Eddie House

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 Sports Radio 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 Cowherd
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Welcome to the Herd. Jason McIntyre in for yes a
sick Colin Cowherd again spoke to the big guy last night.
He was feeling all right and feeling better, but probably
not good enough to go today, so they went back
to the bullpen. Manager came and tapped me on the shoulder. Hey,
j Mac, it's time for the show. We need you
so I'm ready to rock and roll people. We had

(00:47):
a productive morning meeting. I'll pull back the curtain a
little bit. I am flying totally solo today as another
member of the staff went home sick. We're all battling
at folks. Well, this is what we do, you know,
long season and we're here to play. We've got some
great topics, excellent guests. I'm gonna kind of blow your
mind with an NBA take in like seven minutes. But
we've got to start, obviously with the NFL. The Super

(01:10):
Bowl week is fully upon US media Day or media Night.
Sorry was last night in New Orleans. You had a
lot of people saying interesting stuff. You guys know how
that Super Bowl media night works. It's a big scene.
I saw Pete Schrager walking around with the microphone. I
saw Jameis Winston working for Fox doing some stuff with
our digital side. It was all fun. And I did

(01:31):
see one interesting thing from Pat Mahomes that we're going
to start the show with. And I want to just
talk quickly at large dynasties. Okay, yes, I detested could
not stand the Patriots dynasty.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
You guys know that.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
I'm a Jets fan, but it wasn't just me that
didn't like the Patriots. They were disliked around the league,
fans everywhere.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Nobody liked them.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Come on, how could you like a franchise that had
an ornery coach? You know Bill Belichick? Initially people liked him,
right he got run off in Cleveland. He did make
the playoffs there, but then he got run off and
it was like, ah, Belichick. Oh, this is a great story.
Bill Belichick's back. And initially people liked the Patriots. Tom
Brady a sixth round pick coming in for the number

(02:15):
one pick that drew Bledsoe in his massive contract, and
Brady's a great underdog story. People loved the Patriots initially.
Then they got dominant. The dynasty started rolling and everybody
was out on the Patriots. I can't stand him. And
then you toss in Spygate, which was a real thing.

Speaker 5 (02:33):
Guys.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
You can look it up. You can deny.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
Oh, it was no big deal.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Look it up.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
The facts are not great in spy Gey.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Then you had to flake Gate, which was probably a
little overblown. But at that point, people were so sick
of the Patriots that they had become villains. Everybody nationwide
rooted against the Patriots.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
It was Boston against the.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
World, you know. And they kept the dynasty rolling. So
enter the Kansas City Chiefs, and last night Patrick Mahomes
was asked, hey, man, you guys kind of are the
villains now. And I'll get to that in a second,
but here's what Mahomes said, addressing the villains label to
the Chiefs.

Speaker 6 (03:08):
I don't even think it's embracing me in the Villains,
we embrace who we are, and now we believe we
play the game the right way. We believe that we
play with a lot of heart and a lot of
passion for the game, and then we win football games.
And then winning football games makes you a villain. We're
gonna go keep going out there and doing it.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Ah, now, listen, I have been vocal against the Chiefs
on this show. I'm not a huge fan of this dynasty. However,
I need to be honest with you guys. I'm gonna
keep it real. They are a likable team. Andy Reid.
Who's more likable than Andy Reid? I mean, he looks
like your neighbor. You're going on vacation. You go, hey, Andy,
how you doing, buddy? You know he's got this jolly look,

(03:45):
the big mustache. Hey, I'm going on vacation. Do you
think you could like take out my trash cans and
then bring them back in? Oh, yeah, no problem, Jay,
I got that. That's how Andy. Those are the vibes
he gives off, right, You got you've seen the memes
of like the kool Aid Man and Andy Reid. He
looks like Santa Claus, who doesn't like Andy Reid. Bill
Belichick was this curmudgeon. He was angry at the podium,

(04:07):
just unfriendly, not chatty, but wore that ratty hoodie with
the holes in it, joked about social media without trying
to be funny, never cracked a smile like Andy Reid.
Much more likable than Belichick. Now Tom Brady obviously very likable.
You know, cool guy. Ladies loved him, you wanted to
be friends with him. Same thing with Patrick Mahomes. And listen,

(04:28):
I don't follow a ton of athletes on Instagram, but
I follow Mahomes. He's a likable dude. He's got a wife,
he's got kids. He seems like a normal guy. Right,
They're actually likable, So why are they villains? And again,
I I'm not calling them villains. I just don't really
like their dominance. I'm ready for new teams. But if

(04:48):
you watch how they play, they were a fun, good
football team. Right, They've got less fun since they lost
Tyreek Hill, and they're a little less explosive. Teams started
going to the two high safeties to take away the
big plays, and then it's death by seven yard Patrick
Mahomes scrambles or Isaac Pacheco. Carrey's the reason I'm out
on them. And again, okay, this is maybe just me.

(05:09):
Is this whole referee thing they get? And again, I'm
not saying it's rigged, they do get a lot of
calls every pivotal play involving a Chiefs game. Guys, no, lie,
You're watching the play ends and you're looking around, where's
the flag? Is there a flag?

Speaker 4 (05:23):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (05:23):
No?

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Flag?

Speaker 4 (05:24):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (05:25):
It just feels like on every pivotal third or fourth
down play, somehow it goes the Chief's way. And I
know everybody wants to say, hey, they're buttoned up, and guys,
every good team is buttoned up. Okay, They've had coaching
changes like the rest of the league. At offensive coordinator,
they've had guys shuffling on the offensive line, the defense,
they've had a lot of changes. And this whole villain

(05:45):
labels interesting because I'm gonna be honest with you, if
the Eagles pull this off, as I think they will,
are the Chiefs still villains or are the only.

Speaker 4 (05:54):
Villains that they win? I just think it's good food
for thought.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
And I thought that was fascinating from Patrick Mahomes last night.
All Right, now, I want to pivot to the NBA
and this story I'm kind of sort of obsessed with.
So not to give you too much of a peak
behind the curtain, but our morning meeting, you know, they
got all these stories that are percolating. I'll throw out
an idea. People will bat around topics. Sometimes they agree,
sometimes they don't. This one, Oh man, I love this story. Okay,

(06:19):
so we all know that the player empowerment era in
the NBA has been going strong for fifteen is years.
Quick history note it didn't totally start with Lebron, although
it kind of did so Lebron if you go back
to I believe it's two thousand and six beats up
or maybe two thousand and seven beats the Detroit Pistons
in that heroic series where he just goes nuclear, takes

(06:42):
them down, gets the young Calves to the finals. He basically,
if you look at that Calves roster, he dragged like
the equivalent of my men's basketball team to the finals.
They get swept by the Spurs, but it was Lebron
against the world, and Danny Ainge in Boston saw that
and very quickly realized, ain't nobody Lebron.

Speaker 4 (07:00):
He's too good. This guy's about to take over the league.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
So the Celtics went out and got their own superteam.
They built the first super team. Let's bring on Kevin Garnett,
we got already got Piers. Let's bring on Ray Allen
and they had the superteam. They took down Lebron. So
a couple of years later, Lebron's like, shucks, Cavs can't
build me a super team. I'm gonna create my own
super team. And he did that in Miami, ushering in

(07:24):
the player empowerment era, and for about the last fifteen
years NBA players around the league, hey, you know what,
I kind of want to play with that superstar. Come
on over and a owner, I want the Max deal,
and then five minutes later, I want out of here.
The players controlled the league. They ran everything.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
It was.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
It was all players teaming up, players calling the shots.
The owners are kind of beholding to the superstars. It's
a superstar league. A funny thing happened over the weekend. Okay,
Luka Doncis got traded and the reaction was universally, who
the hell trades Luka Doncic? It can't just be because

(08:05):
the GM and Michael Finley is assistant Jim thought that
Luca was like, you know, fat and out of shape
and didn't want to grind. You gotta run that by
the owner, right, you can't just trade Luka Doncic And
it really shook up the league. And twenty four hours later,
guess what, dearon Fox he got shipped to San Antonio

(08:27):
zach Levine, who apparently wasn't gonna get traded anywhere. He
goes to Sacramento owners. It's almost like they've had it.
They've had it with the player empowerment era. And I'm
sure you guys have seen that movie Captain Phillips, right,
it has Tom Hanks as he's like, you know, the
captain of a cargo liner. It gets overtaken by Somali

(08:47):
pirates and at one point in the movie and you
could go watch this on YouTube, you know, they're like,
who's the captain and Tom Hanks is like, I'm the captain,
this is my ship. And this guy goes, no, no, no,
look me in my eyes. I'm the captain. Now I'm
the captain. It feels like the owners are looking their
star players in the eye and saying, no more player empowerment.

(09:09):
I'm running the show. This is my show.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
I'm the billionaire now and if Luka.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Doncis can get traded, shuck shucked.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
Anybody can get traded. Anybody can get traded.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
I'll get you to the big name who's starting to
percolate now in a second. But I bring up this
player empowerment stuff because one of the guys in the
morning meeting said something I just totally forgot about. So
last year, the Timberwolves go to the conference finals and
I get all these guys on social media saying, Jason
stop with the Karl Anthony Towns to New York. It's
not happening. I've been saying this for like three years.

(09:41):
We knew he wanted to go to New York. And
this guy made like a friendly bet with me on
social media. I bet you he doesn't get traded. Now,
they went to the conference finals, and I was like,
I'll just stick with my prediction. Even though they went
to the conference finals. Folks, do we forget Minnesota was
in the conference finals and just traded away their second
best player. Now why is that? Well, you could say

(10:02):
they're not a great fit, but they went to the
conference finals. It's because the owner didn't want to pay
that luxury tax that they were going to be in
for because Carl Anthony Town's a salary and Gobart and
Anthony Edwards, it's like, holy cow, they traded away Carl
Anthony Towns And that was kind of glossed over at
the time. But Dallas. The real reason that's coming out

(10:22):
that they didn't want to pay Luka doncis they traded him.
They didn't want pay him three hundred and forty five
million because it's tough to build around one guy making
that much money. As a side note, NFL owners take note, quarterbacks,
they're headed in this direction. You know what's happening. We
saw it with Dak Prescott. He got paid. How'd the
Mavericks do? Sorry, I had the cowboy the can kun

(10:44):
and cowboys as I'm told they're called. Now, how did
they do?

Speaker 5 (10:47):
So?

Speaker 3 (10:47):
Just file that away, NFL. What's happening in the NBA
is these owners are like, these salaries are out of control.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
We're not winning paying all these guys all the money.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Let's go trade Luka Doncic And I'll wrap up with
this because this is the other name that emerged here
in the last twenty four hours and that's Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant was in Brooklyn said get me the hell
out of here. I'd like to go to Phoenix. Okay, yes, yes, Kevin,
we got you. We'll let you go to Phoenix. And
Kevin Durant is now sitting in Phoenix. Wait, everybody's waiting

(11:18):
for Bradley Beale to get traded, but it doesn't look
like it's gonna happen. And as a result, Phoenix sitting
tenth in the West, they could miss the playoffs, miss
the play in and all of a sudden, we're starting
to hear Oh, everybody's calling about Kevin Durant, and you
have to if you're the young owner in Phoenix, how
do we get better? We might have to trade Kevin Durant.

(11:40):
We might have to get off our second best player,
because you know what, we can't miss the playoffs and
pay a massive luxury tax bill because of the salaries
and folks. Unbelievably, Dwayne Wade kind of sort of addressed
this this week on the Why podcast. Here's his take
on why Luca was traded.

Speaker 7 (11:57):
This was billionaire business.

Speaker 8 (11:58):
Yes, this was the top, This was this was the
last Twitter fifteen years the players have decided, right, what
we want to do. This was the owners, the governor's yep,
the billionaires, yeah, deciding what they want to do it.
So you got the top international player in LA. So
the viewership, the the ticket sales, everybody you were Spain,

(12:20):
They're all coming into LA.

Speaker 7 (12:21):
We know how this.

Speaker 8 (12:22):
So I'm looking at the business and I'm like, they
hold up, this was an amazing business decision by billionaires. Yes,
sure to say this is what I want for now
and this is what we need as a league.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
You guys remember when Otani went to the Dodgers. They
paid all of the money. It was like, oh my god,
how can they afford? This kind of worked out well,
didn't it. They won the World Series merch sale through
the roof, ticket sales spiking. They're printing money now the
Dodgers by spending money, And I wonder did the Lakers
make this move? Hey, we are set up for the future,

(12:57):
but we just got Luca, an international superstar that's going
to open a gateway to Europe for US financially. I mean,
I don't know if you guys saw the reports. The
Dallas Mavericks social media accounts were just hemorrhaging followers tens
of thousands. I saw a report hundreds of thousands of followers.
I don't know if it's official. They lost a lot
of followers because they're out on They traded Luca and

(13:20):
Dwayne Wade is totally onto something here. This was a
great business move. And coming up next here on the Herd,
I will tell you the next big NBA star on
the move. I don't think you're gonna know Kevin Durant
of the mix, but there are a couple others. Keep
an eye out. That's next year on the Herd.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern not Am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
Welcome back.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
We've got Albert Breer stopping by in about fifteen to
twenty minutes. Albert Brier, really good guy, really plugged in.
I think he's already in New Orleans at the Super Bowl.
I'm sure he'll offer us some great stuff from last
night at Super Bowl menight, which looked like a big
time party down in New Orleans. All right, let's quickly
go back to the NBA. Anthony Edwards is a young

(14:08):
ascending star. I know this is probably the first time
in the show's history we've actually mentioned the Timberwolves twice
in the first hour. But Anthony Edwards, I thought he
would be taken over the league. There's a new book
coming out on him shortly. Anthony Edwards took the Timberwolves
to the conference finals last year. It appeared to be
one of these like face of the league guys, very

(14:29):
likable individual, dunking machine scorer. Everything about Anthony Edwards is awesome,
But a weird thing starting to happen again. This Luka
Doncis trade really shook everybody up, and this idea that
nobody's safe and owners have the power and they can
move off anybody. Well, Anthony Edwards saw what happened with
Luka Doncics and he talked to the media about it

(14:50):
last night.

Speaker 7 (14:52):
They say that none of it.

Speaker 9 (14:53):
Nobody knew about the trade. Yeah, so that's crazy. At
twenty five, they traded probably the best score in the
NBA at twenty five, he didn't know about it. So
there's a lot more digging somebody got to do to
find out why you got traded, because you don't just
trade him at twenty five he just went to the finals.
You know what I'm saying, everybody three, everybody get yeah,

(15:16):
I'm scared.

Speaker 7 (15:17):
Yeah, I'm scared.

Speaker 10 (15:20):
Tim, Hey, if you're gonna trade me, let me know.

Speaker 9 (15:23):
Dog, when Luca got traded, anybody is able to trade
at that point.

Speaker 4 (15:30):
I'm scared. I like that, and that's it feels.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
It felt authentic from Anthony Edwards, like I'm sure he's joking,
ha ha ha. You know one of those deals.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
Are you looking over your shoulder a little bit?

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Listen, if you could trade Luka Doncic, why wouldn't you
trade Anthony Edwards? Now, obviously Anthony Edwards is a foundational
piece in Minnesota. I would say there's zero point zero
percent chance of him getting moved, But post Luca, maybe
you got to add like a point zero zero one chance,
which brings me. By the way Luca's meeting with the media,
I think like right now out here in LA they're
doing the press conference. We'll have sound as soon as

(16:03):
the good stuff comes out. But it got me thinking
like who else could be moved this week? What else
is happening around the league? And I touched on Kevin
Durant earlier. We got like forty eight hours left. Folks,
Kevin Durant would not surprise me at all if he
got shipped. The interesting team is the Golden State Warriors.
And I know some people are like, come on, they're
not going to do that again. Listen, the Warriors needed

(16:26):
Kevin Durant when they got him in twenty sixteen.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
I don't care. I hear so many just goofballs.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Oh they didn't need him. They won seventy three games. Hello.
They lost in the finals to Lebron and Kyrie. They
lost after being up three to win. They lost the series.
They needed Kevin Durant. And it's not like Kevin Durant
came on to the Warriors and was like, you know,
riding shotgun. He was the MVP of the Finals two
years in a row. He was the best player on

(16:53):
the best team in for my money, in NBA history.
Of course, the Warriors needed him. Well, you know who
else needs him right now? The Golden State Warriors. I'm
looking at the standings. Oh, look at that, Golden State
is eleventh in the West. Steph Curry thirty six turns
thirty seven later this year. Come on, guys, are we
really gonna waste the prime final prime years of Steph Curry.

(17:17):
We saw what he did in August at the Olympics.
For my money, that was the greatest sports moment in
twenty twenty four, Like Steph Curry putting everybody asleep with
the unbelievable finish at the Olympics.

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Spectacular.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
And now he's gonna miss the freaking playoffs? What there
are eleventh in the West. Jimmy Butler said he doesn't
want to go there because he's not gonna sign long term.
Which brings me to Kevin Durant. Why wouldn't the Warriors say, Hey,
how do we get Kevin Durant? I was reading you
guys know, Brian Winhorse covers the league, probably one of

(17:51):
the best plugged in reporters out there. He used to joke,
if you have a three team trade idea, you have
a no team trade idea, because it's so difficult to
make him work. And now he's reversed course and said, geez,
with all these new salaries. I mean, the Utah Jazz
got in on that Luka Donci's trade. They didn't even
know about it until thirty minutes before. Hey, Jazz, by

(18:12):
the way, you guys are taking this in the deal.
You don't have to do anything. You just take this. Okay,
we'll take more picks. Sure, And it's like, why couldn't
you figure out a way if you're Golden State to
pry Kevin Durant away? And now the question becomes with
Kevin Durant want to Golden Golden State and does he
have a choice. Hey, KD, you're with the Sons, they

(18:32):
are currently tenth in the West. You're going to the Warriors,
who are eleventh in the West. Why not? I mean,
if you're the owner of the Phoenix Suns and you've
got to make the playoffs and you've got to do
something you can't stand pat nobody takes Brad Beal. Why
wouldn't you move off KD and get Jimmy Butler, who's
a tougher defender, more of a leader. No disrespect, KD.
You know I'm a fan. I don't need KD.

Speaker 4 (18:54):
Coming after me.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yes, I'll tag him when I post this video that
Wes clips off. But don't come back, Katie. I still
think you can help the Warriors. I don't think y'all
will winning a title. I don't know that you'd want
to go back and play with Draymond Green, who was
kind of a jerk to you many moons ago, and
you know, sucker punch Jordan Poole and I don't know
that you want to go there. But do the Warriors

(19:17):
have anything that the heat would want? Kuminga pods like
it becomes very difficult. But if I'm a Warriors, I'm
working the phones and I'm gonna toss this other name,
two other names in there, so number one and Anthon.
You just heard Anthony Edward say nobody's safe. I'm just
gonna mention him. Yannis and Milwaukee. The Bucks currently are

(19:40):
fifth in the East. The Damian Lillard thing, we've given
it a while. I don't know that it's working. I
just don't. I don't know what the future holds for
Dame in Milwaukee. Ain't nobody taken on Dame's contract. That's
just not happening.

Speaker 10 (19:54):
You can't.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
It's like not quite Bradley be Old bad. But you know,
Dame's a better player now than Beille. But it becomes
a little owners And if you're the ownership group and
you're looking around, like geez, we don't have a path
to success. Middleton keeps getting injured do we just Hey,
we got a title with Yannest, do we just start over?
And I know it sounds stupid, but look what the

(20:14):
Mavericks just did with Luca. Now janis obviously less of
an issue fitness wise, allegedly. I'm not calling Luca fat
or anything, but that's it's become clear that Mavericks shipped
him for two reasons and out of shape and reluctance
to work as one of them. There's none of that
with Yannis. But you have to wonder, do the Bucks
consider shucks, Maybe we move on from Yannis and start

(20:37):
over and it's too late to get in the Cooper
Flag sweepstakes. But it's like, I don't know. And again,
I know you guys are listening, like, come on, they're
not trading honest. Look around the league. Towns went to
the conference finals. They shipped him, Luca went to the
finals traded like things are happening. The other name I'll
put out there, and his name has been out in

(20:58):
the past, including for the Beers, although that's not happening now,
is Trey Young. Trey Young a guy who hit this
league like something of a comet. Remember he was taking
the Hawks to the playoffs, took down the Knicks, and
MSG took down Embiid and the Sixers.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Do you guys remember that?

Speaker 10 (21:14):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (21:15):
That was yes?

Speaker 3 (21:16):
I know that Ben Simmons pass whatever and Beable was
on the court at seven turnovers game seven. I don't
want to hear it. And now the Hawks, by the way,
are ninth in the East. They lost their budding star
Jalen Johnson for the season, and if you look at
that roster, they're playing dudes that and you guys know,
I'm a big college basketball nerd. I don't know some
of these guys on their roster, and it's like they

(21:37):
might miss the playoffs. What's the point? And again, you know,
I don't know what the market is for a small
point guard like Trey Young, who really I know, he's
leading the league and assists and Barkley and Shack love him.
Now weird, the Hawks stink and they love Trey Young.
Does Trey Young have a market? I don't know, but

(21:57):
I think the Hawks have to ask themselves what are
we doing with Trey Young. We're not a playoff team anymore,
We're maybe a play in team. He's not our foundational piece.
Jalen Johnson is do we reconfigure around a guy and
just shoot for.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
The moon next year and we move on from Trey Young.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
I would keep an eye on Trey Young.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
I would keep an.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Eye on Giannis. And to go back to Jimmy Butler
real quick, we have some sound from Kevin Garnett. People
are fired up about this Butler thing because I do
believe it is kind of the end of the player
empowerment era, and Jimmy Butler's kind of, you know, thinking
he's still got power and he's got no juice and
it's like failing miserably. The heat keeps suspending him. Here's

(22:39):
Kevin Garnett on the Jimmy Butler situation.

Speaker 11 (22:42):
When you step out of being professionally, did you step
out of not you know, to your oath and holding
up your inn and the bargain or you open up
all this right here, bro, This is how non guarantees
are going to come into our league right here, for
like this, We've faught our ass off through five and
system blockouts to get to a poet is no where

(23:03):
we protect the integrity of the talent, and then that
talent has a responsibility to be professional coming here and
do your job.

Speaker 7 (23:10):
We came here, we did our jobs, you got paid
and you went home.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
You go home.

Speaker 11 (23:15):
As soon as you get opportunity to change that, you
change it.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
M Kevin Garnett very fired up about that, and listen,
I have been a huge Jimmy Butler fan essentially for
the last like ten years. His story is incredible. You know,
had a rough family upbringing, no real offers out of
high school, had to go to Juco route, ends up
at Marquette, I think to sign with Marquette, he had
to go to like a McDonald's to fax his letter

(23:41):
of intent. Like it was that kind of situation for
Butler basically does nothing and then kind of pops, you know,
falls in the draft a little bit and just works
his way up from benchwarmer in Chicago to legitimate All Star.
Ends up like just the gritty nature Jimmy Butler carrying
the Heat to the finals twice.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
I know they didn't win.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
A chip, but it's like, come on, man, Jimmy Butler
is a warrior. I love his style of play. He
doesn't take crap from anyone. You know, he's one of
these He's like a legit dog. Like if you've got
him on your team, You're gonna have a chance because
he's Jimmy Butler. You know, there are legendary stories about
him in Minnesota when he ran into issues with the
front office and he would come into practice and say,

(24:22):
I don't want to run with the starters. I'm gonna
take these four benchwarmers and we're gonna beat their ass.
And he would then go into practice and they would
win the scrimmage like this.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
Stories are out there.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
Jimmy Butler is an absolute dog, and you think everyone
would want him, but he's kind of killed his value
with these actions in Miami. He thought he had the power,
but the players kind of sort of have lost it right.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
Coming up next year on The Herd.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Luke got introduced in LA. Wait for what you hear
about his departure from Dallas. Oh Boy and Albert, We're
live from New Orleans.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone Easter not a im Pacific.

Speaker 12 (24:57):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. And of course the
iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of

(25:19):
sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends for the last twenty years and
still work together, I mean that says something, right, So
check us out. We like to get you involved too,
take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say,
I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to

(25:40):
check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern
two to four Pacific. And if you miss any of
the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you
get your podcast, and of course on social media that's
Covino and Rich.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Back here on the Herd. Albert Brier coming up in
a second. But folks, luka Doncitz met the media in
Los Angeles? Oh boy, oh wait to hear this. So
Luca is very measured. He actually looks slim. I was
expecting him to wear black to look skinnier, you know,
like because of all the jokes. But Luca just met
with the media and uh, oh boy, here's a veiled

(26:17):
shot at the MAVs front office from Luka Doncic.

Speaker 13 (26:21):
I'm just excited, you know, to be here to start
this new journey, journey and obviously, uh, at some point
I knew this was going to happen, but I would say,
I always take the high road, you know. I had
my amazing moments in Dollars with all my teammates, coaches
and the most important defense you know, to always supported me,

(26:43):
and it was it was an amazing.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Journey, players, coaches, fans. I knew this was gonna happen.
Oh gosh, that's delicious. So I found, you know, people
put stuff online and this this came from an article
that the Mavericks have in August or twenty three, fired
their player of health and performance coaching, and then they

(27:06):
fired two other strength coaches and a therapist. And the
common thread was all those guys were friendly with Luca.
I know this sounds losory to say as a guy,
but some guys are just cool guys. That everybody likes,
you know, and I know people are laughing in the
control room. Luca just seems like a cool guy. He's friendly,
he's funny. I don't know if you guys have seen
some of the clips that the MAVs used to put

(27:28):
out of him playing like horse or one on one, Like, everybody.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
Likes Luka doncic. Why didn't the front office like him?

Speaker 3 (27:35):
That was the issue. They fired the people that liked Luca, right,
get them out of the building. Hey, let's get some
people who Luca's not tight with. And it's like it's
just very ugly in Dallas and him knowing this was
gonna happen and saying that, oh, that is not good.
I think the clock is if it wasn't already, the
clock is ticking on Nico Harrison in Dallas. Hey, by

(27:58):
the way, if they missed the playoffs, is either GM
next year.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
Luca also talked about playing with Lebron.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
He's a little excited.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
It's just like a dream come shue, you know. I
always look up to him. Uh, and there's so many
learning There's so many things I can learn from him,
and I'm just excited, you know, just to learn everything.
You know, I get to play with him, so it's
an amazing feeling.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
Yeah, very excited. All right, let's get to Albert Breer
live from New Orleans the Monday Morning Quarterback dot Com. Brear,
what is up? You look like you're where are you
chucked in?

Speaker 14 (28:31):
Some some like I'm at the No, I'm at the
Chiefs Hotel. I'm like outside their access and I'm sure
like Dave and the guys in the studio probably aren't
happy about this, like light that's coming down on me
and washing me out a little bit, but I trust
you can help me fight through it.

Speaker 10 (28:47):
Jmax.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
Yes, yes, yes, so Chiefs. What's the vibe around the team?
You're in the hotel? Have you seen Taylor Swift? That's
gotta be the first question.

Speaker 14 (28:54):
Right, Yeah, I don't think. I don't think Taylor so
I'm staying at the Maria. Le might be wrong about that,
but I don't think she's staying at the Marriott.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
No.

Speaker 14 (29:03):
Man, Like, it's like this is a confident group, you know,
and they've been here obviously five times and six years now.

Speaker 10 (29:08):
That's unprecedented.

Speaker 14 (29:10):
You know, you can kind of feel with them where
they really know this is a business trip. They know
what to expect, and they know the ins and outs
of the week and kind of the way everything goes,
and so, you know, I think that's their advantage is
that they'll be able to take the stage without having
to deal with a lot of the unknown that another
team might, you know, whether it's the length of warm ups,

(29:31):
the length of of the the introductions, a lot of
the standing around, you know, during game day.

Speaker 10 (29:39):
The halftime show.

Speaker 14 (29:41):
They know, you know, how to prepare for every single
piece of that, which you know, I know they hope
allows them to hit the ground running on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Yeah, what do you make of this? A villain's comment
from Patrick Mahomes. You know, we don't mind being the villains,
will embrace it.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
It's weird, Albert.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
Like, I don't know that people hate them. I think
I think people hate their winning, but people like don't
dislike Andy Reid or Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 14 (30:05):
You know, Yeah, I don't think that there's a hatred
towards the individual people.

Speaker 10 (30:10):
But I do think there's a little bit of that
villain thing.

Speaker 14 (30:12):
With the way people complain about the officiating, the way
I think people have grown a little tired of them,
you know, obviously all the conversation Sean Taylor Swift, which
and the reality is like, if you count up all
the seconds that she's actually on TV during NFL games,
is it more than like the owner is.

Speaker 10 (30:29):
Of the team. I mean, I probably not.

Speaker 14 (30:32):
And I think a lot more people would like to
see Taylor Swift than some old rich guy up in
the up in the box, you know. So, And I
think there's a lot of like those sorts of elements
that have existed with every dynasty, you know, the Patriots
dealt with it.

Speaker 10 (30:45):
You're sitting there in Los Angeles.

Speaker 14 (30:47):
There are a lot of people who probably aren't happy
about Luca winding up there.

Speaker 10 (30:50):
And think there's some sort of conspiracy afoot.

Speaker 15 (30:52):
You know.

Speaker 14 (30:52):
It's just with teams like this that reach this sort
of plateau, you have that element of it and actually
think it's good that you embrace the villain role. You know,
it's really they're really right about the same point, and
they're assent and their dynasty, as the Patriots were.

Speaker 10 (31:09):
When they took on the villain role.

Speaker 14 (31:11):
And I think really things really turned for the Patriots
with Spygate, you know, and two thousand and seven was
when they went from sort of being just a really
good team that was respected into this like kind of
dark operation, you know. And I don't know the Chiefs
lover get that level of villain status, but it definitely
exists to some degree. And I think it's a smart

(31:33):
move for them all to embrace it because you know,
as long as Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are there now,
I think that'll sort of be the way that they're
lucked at.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Here's one who's under more pressure in this Super Bowl,
Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts. And is there a case
to be made for Mahomes because of the pressure of
the three people, which they've been talking about for basically
a calendar year now, whereas Jalen Hurts is like, I
throw the ball eighteen times a game, This is no
big deal. I'm carrying my briefcase. There's a business trip.

(32:03):
Is there more pressure on Mahomes?

Speaker 14 (32:06):
I don't think so. I mean, I think Mahomes. I
mean to me, I look at where the Chiefs are
and it's sort of your playing with house money, you
know what I mean? Like I and I know they
don't approach it that way, and I know there's history
on the line and everything else. But you know, I
think Mahomes has played so well in so many of
these settings that if he were to, you know, throw
an interception at the end of the game, it's not

(32:28):
going to really affect his legacy. Where if you come
into this in your jail and hurts you've had, there's
gonna be your second opportunity to get there.

Speaker 10 (32:35):
I don't think, you know, most people.

Speaker 14 (32:37):
Would view you in that top Echelona quarterbacks where Mahomes
is at the top or underneath, and you have Josh Allen,
Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, you know, And.

Speaker 10 (32:46):
So I think it's sort of for hers.

Speaker 14 (32:50):
This is an opportunity to kind of elevate your legacy,
elevate the way that you're looked at, elevate the way
your team has looked at. There's a lot on the line,
Whereas I think with the Chiefs there's problem a chance
to really burnish your legacy with the three peat. But
I think the way that history's gonna look at you
is sort of already set in stone.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
Not to get two x's and o's. But I don't
know if it was Hasselbeck or Sanchez yesterday who had
a good point, you know, left tackle had been an
issue for the Chiefs, so they moved Toney out. He's
been great, But for the Eagles you need interior blocking.
It's paramount against You know, there are two big horses,
Davis and Carter inside. Do you think the Chiefs play

(33:30):
a little musical chairs and kick Toony back inside?

Speaker 14 (33:33):
Yeah, I J Mack, I'm glad you brought that up
because I think that's one of the more underrated pieces
of this game and decisions to be made in this
game by Andy Reid and Matt Naggie and you know,
all the guys who work with the offensive line. That
left tackle spot was a revolving door for much of
the year, and it was a real problem. It's a
credit to Joe Tooney, who's been one of the NFL's

(33:54):
ultimate ironman. He's going for his fifth ring here, you know,
one two at Brady's won two with Mahomes. For him
to be able to do that and sort of stop
their revolving door and stabilize, it's been amazing. But you're
right to look at it like that. The Eagles have
good edge guys, but they don't have a great edge guy.

Speaker 10 (34:09):
And they've got Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter inside.

Speaker 14 (34:12):
Jalen Carter during the playoffs has been a true game wrecord,
like you could argue he really won that game at
the end in the divisional round against the Rams and
the Snow And so you know, if you take Toney
and leave him at left tackle, then left guard becomes
a hole and they've got the opportunity to match Jalen
Carter up and create a mismatch there, and then you've

(34:33):
got to handle that.

Speaker 10 (34:34):
So what do you feel more comfortable with.

Speaker 14 (34:36):
Do you feel more comfortable with Yanye Morris or DJ
Humphreys who has been banged up but has a lot
of experience at left tackle handling the edge guys, which
you might still be at a disadvantage there.

Speaker 10 (34:49):
But a little less so. Or do you feel like you.

Speaker 14 (34:52):
Need to put Tuney out of left tackle because that's
the mix that's worked and then just help with the
guards on the on the on the on the defensive tackles.
I think it's a it's a pivotal I think he's
a pivotal decision for the Chiefs coaches to make going
into this this game, and it'll be interesting to see
what they do and maybe it's a mix of both.
You know, maybe it's a field thing where they rotate

(35:13):
a little bit in the first quarter and then go
it's with what's working.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, I like Nolan Smith on the outside against Morris
all Dave for the Eagles.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
But let me that's the thing.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
So we saw the Buffalo Bills struggle with the toush
push badly against the Chiefs. I'm just curious, do you
think that was more about what the Chiefs were doing
or the Bills are just not very good at it?
And I don't It probably won't apply to the Eagles,
who are great at it.

Speaker 14 (35:36):
No, I think it does apply to the Eagles to
some degree where I think Steve Spagnolo his defense is
so versatile and he's able to do so many different
things with the group of guys that he has. He
he said to me last year during the playoffs that
this is the smartest group I've ever had. So this
was during last year's playoffs, and then as I talked
to him this year, he's like, and this.

Speaker 10 (35:55):
Group is even smarter than that one.

Speaker 14 (35:57):
You know, his point's been like his point, the point
he's made to me a few times is like that,
you know, He's always.

Speaker 10 (36:03):
Had smart guys.

Speaker 14 (36:04):
His defense requires having smart guys, but there always be
like a few guys out there that are kind of iffy.
The difference with these two groups he's had the last
two years is that everybody knows what they're doing and
what that allows for.

Speaker 10 (36:16):
It allows for.

Speaker 14 (36:17):
You to do different things to mess with the matchups
because you can move guys around and play them in
different spots, and they're smart enough to learn all the
different spots and the different responsibilities, which allows you to
play these situations the way that they were able.

Speaker 10 (36:29):
To play them against Buffalo.

Speaker 14 (36:31):
Now that said, I think we both know that stopping
those short yards plays against the Eagles is a totally
different kettle efficient, So I think there's a little bit
of a cascading effect here. It's stopping Saquon barklay on
first down, and then if you can get them in
second and along, that's where you got to stop Jalen
Hurts running the ball because generally that's when he runs
the ball the most, and that's where he creates those

(36:53):
third and shorts, those fourth and shorts to put them
in a position to really take advantage of being.

Speaker 10 (37:00):
The best team in short yards there is in football.

Speaker 14 (37:02):
So I think there's a really cool like element of
game within the game there where Yes, the Chiefs are
better at those things than a lot of other teams,
but they've got to.

Speaker 10 (37:13):
Be capable of staying out of them too.

Speaker 14 (37:15):
Because if you say, you say you're in four of them,
you know, over the course of the game, well it's
easier to say, like, let's stop three of those and
maybe one gets gets biased. Then it's going to be
if you've got a face eight or ten of them.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah, all right, Let's look at the NFL at large.
You're as plugged in as anybody talking texting Cooper Cup
your best guess at some landing spots, some teams perhaps
interested in Cup. And then I'm curious, it's the damage
that does to the Rams and Stafford that was his
boy on the team.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
They were tight.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
I wonder if something's a foot with the Rams that
maybe we're not aware of yet.

Speaker 14 (37:49):
Why are you talking about Stafford maybe moving or yep? Yeah,
So I would say with Cup, like just in a vacuum,
you know, things have sort of I think turned a
little bit over the last year or two to some degree,
like he and Pooka are great players, they're a little
redundant to one another, and that they're both maybe best inside.

(38:10):
Neither guy's a burner, and so you know, you know,
when you're building an offense in the way that Sean
McVay builds his offense, there's a way of doing it
where you want to kind of build their basketball team
and have all those guys do different things. And so
as great as those two guys are individually, you know,
you maybe you look at it the rams and it's like,
is it a luxury to have two of them out there?

Speaker 10 (38:32):
As for landing spots, I mean, I think, you know.

Speaker 14 (38:34):
Cooper would be great with a young quarterback, you know,
so could he be like a really good number two
for Washington, right, Like imagine him with Terry McLaurin on
the other side where he doesn't have to be the
number one, and as a security blanket for Jaden Daniels,
So maybe Jaden Daniels has to run a little bit less.
That's the sort of situation where I think it will
be ideal. The same way the Panthers a couple of

(38:55):
years ago brought in Adam Dealing to try to be like, okay,
like we want to give Bryce young, somebody that he
can count on, a smart receiver who can do everything,
then Cup can be that guy for a young quarterback.
As for Stafford, I think this was really up in
the air, Jmac. I mean that contract negotiation with strained
last year.

Speaker 10 (39:14):
It took. I mean it took the entire offseason to
get it done.

Speaker 14 (39:18):
They took all the guaranteed money out of twenty twenty five,
move money up to twenty twenty four, and created a
decision point after this year, and so by the middle
of March they got a roster bonus do then they're
gonna have to make a decision on what they want
to do with.

Speaker 10 (39:30):
Matthew Stafford going forward.

Speaker 14 (39:33):
And I know this like, if I'm a team like
the Pittsburgh Steelers, I'm at least calling right now to
see if he's available, because I don't think it's a
sure thing that he's back, in part because if he
was looking for a market correction last year on his contract,
chances are he's gonna be looking for the same sort
of market correction again this year. And I'm not sure
where the rams appetite is for that when you consider

(39:54):
what is there seven or eight or nine quarterbacks making
over fifty million dollars per year.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Right now, all right, we got a minute left. Miles Garrett.
I floated Washington and the Rams as options, just guessing.
How about you? Any any teams for Miles Garrett? Detroit, Yes,
Detroit with Hutchison, anyone else?

Speaker 10 (40:14):
I love Detroit.

Speaker 14 (40:15):
I just liked the idea of look like, they've had
so much positive momentum the last couple of years, right like,
and everything's gone so right for them the last two years,
and then they have the shocking loss of the Commanders
and they lose a half dozen coaches.

Speaker 10 (40:28):
Both their coordinators are gone.

Speaker 14 (40:29):
It sort of feels like some of the momentum has
gone the other way for them. So they have Aiden
Hutchinson coming back off the injury. They're gonna pay Aiden Hutchinson,
what better way to kind of make sure that he
has some runway and coming back off the injury and
the defense has a real strength to build off of.
Then you get Aiden Hutchinson back from injury, you'll have

(40:51):
a lame McNeil coming back from injury. And then oh,
by the way, you've got Miles Garrett out there. The
key for me with Miles Garrett is he's got to
match up with your timeline, you know what I'm saying.
So it's twenty nine years old, and you have to
be a team that's in a position where you can say,
over the next two years or so, we need to
be in position to compete for a championship, or we
risk by the time we get there, maybe this guy

(41:11):
is starting to go downhill a little bit. The Troic
is the perfect team for that, the choice right in
the championship window. They've got cap space, their rosters loaded.
There may not be five or six rookies that make
their team next year, so their draft picks are a
little bit more expendable. I love the idea of having
Aiden Hutchinson and Miles Garrett opposite each other. Maybe it's
sort of the same way Denver had Von Milburn and

(41:32):
Aging DeMarcus square on the other side about a decade ago.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
Albert Breer Monday Morning Quarterback. Great stuff, Thank you, Albert.
We are back after this one.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
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 you like.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
Any house who I think at sixty one and in
either a college or NBA game, he could get buckets.
But you guys know, I love hoops. I was trying
to show out for Paul Pierce, who's on a show
later today. He started a pickup game out here in LA.
And yes, I'm trying to crowbar my way into that
bad boy because I love hoops. And last night one
of the producers said, hey, what about a top ten

(42:11):
duo list in the NBA for tomorrow. I was like, oh, hell, yes,
I bang that bad boy out quickly. And then I
forgot a couple of people, so we had to readjust
the list. So here we go. We'll go Eddie House
in like five minutes. But first, the top ten duos
of the NBA today as of right now.

Speaker 4 (42:28):
Now.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
Listen, some people got left out, and don't be upset.
There's a lot of movement in the league. I know
one pairing people are gonna be ticked off about. But
let's get started. Number ten, top ten duos in the league.
I'm going with one Benyama and de Aaron Fox site unseen.
We haven't even seen them once together. Listen, if you
have any NBA list right now, you must have one

(42:51):
bin Yama. He's a transformative player. He's a unicorn, he
is a plastic man. Whatever you want to call him.
He's awesome. He's shooting one legged threes. Did you guys
see that? So now you pair him with a great
point guard, like dearon Fox? How do you stop that
pick and roll? Now it's weird. I'm a big deeron
Fox guy, but there is like a negative connotation around
his name. You think he's awesome. He's averaging what twenty

(43:13):
four and twenty five points per game four the last
five years, and then you look up and you're like, oh,
he hasn't won a playoff series all NBA once. How
good is deeron Fox? I think we're about to find
out because he's gonna play with one Bin Yamba. So
that's number ten, number nine Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley.
I don't think that's gonna roll off the tongue of

(43:34):
everybody when you guys watch this list. But they are
right now number one in the East with a bullet
And the only reason they're not higher is because I
had some pushback in my own head when I was like, so,
who's Donovan Mitchell's wing man? Is it Darius Garland who's
having a fantastic season. Is it Jared Allen. I went
with Mobley because he is on the come up man,
This kid looks good. They finally unlocked playing MOBILEI next

(43:56):
to Alan, Mobley's doubt developed something of a three point
shots are a real threat. I don't get the whiff
that this is like smoking mirrors. This is a hungry team.
Donovan Mitchell's a stud. I think Mobley and Mitchell are
are the ninth best duo in the NBA. All right,
let's get to number eight. Another one sight unseen Kyrie

(44:17):
and Ad. Now this is a tricky one because you
know both of them are getting up there in age.
Both are great, proven number twos. Right, Ad was the
number two, second best player to Lebron for many years
in LA. They want a title. Kyrie not a great
one as we saw in Boston and wherever he was
after a Brooklyn he was like the guy who got

(44:39):
that team is not a one. Now you put him
next to Luca, Oh, Kyrie different player, He's under control,
and now you wonder who's the alpha in that locker room.
I think that's the big question for Dallas because again
I'm not bashing Kyrie, but history says he ain't an
Alpha can Ad be that guy. Is he extra motivated
because the Lakers shipped him. I think they're gonna be

(45:01):
a great duo, will work together. That pick and roll
is gonna be fierce. So Kyrie and Ad Number eight.
Number seven, bit of a surprise entrant here Jahn Morant,
John Morant and Jared Jackson junior Memphis Grizzlies. They're up
to number two in the West, and Jared Jackson's having
off ridiculously good year, twenty three points a game. He's
been out of this world. We know John Morant now

(45:23):
under control, cleaned up, is off the court stuff, he's
been tremendous. I mean, you look at this pairing. John
Morant one of ten players in the league averaging twenty
and seven this season. I know people go, oh, what
if they won. Listen, they've had some playoff experience. I
would not be shocked if the Grizzlies were in the
conference finals. They look very, very good. All right, let's

(45:43):
get to number six. I wanted to make a case
for them higher. They're my guys Brunson and Kat in
New York. They it's only been half a season really
working together. But Kat seems in a great spot because
there's no pressure on him whatsoever. They've got a great
team where Josh Hart does all the dirty work. Gosh,
I love Josh Hart. Michal Bridges really a three and

(46:05):
D guy, and then Kat just slides in and they're
not asking too much from him. It's like, play a
little bit of defense. You don't have to be a
rim protector, just like try on defense. Kat historically has
not been a great defender, and now you get a
lot of open threes because Jalen Brunson is the man.
I like this duo a lot. I wanted to make
him higher than six. It's just tough when you see
these top five let's get to number five top duos

(46:28):
in the NBA. A lot of pushback from one of
the guys, SGA and Chet. Now I know j Dubb.
Some people are like, how can you not put Jay
Dubb on there? Guys, he's a nice player, but Chet
Holmgren is clearly the guy if they're gonna go to
the finals. Here's SGA dropping somebody on the Bucks last night.
I mean, Sga, he's really really good.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
I know.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
I call him a free throw merchant, and it pisses
off all these thunder fans. Well, I should say, not
all these thunder fans, like the seventeen thunder fans there
are They hate when I say that Sga is really,
really good. I still have some reservations about Okace in
the playoffs. We'll see, but I like chet Holmger more
than a lot of people. We're just seeing a little
of him because of the injury. I expect big things

(47:10):
from chet and Okac this year. All right, let's get
to number four. This one you guys are gonna hate
because they have not worked well. Jannis and Dame. It's
been about a calendar year. It's not really working. So
why the hell are they four?

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Well?

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Because Jannis is unbelievable. I mean, it's almost like Jokich
is so good, Lucas so good. SGA's on the come up.
We're forgetting. Jannis is automatic, folks. The numbers for Yannis.
This is the highest scoring duo in the NBA at
fifty six points per game. The chemistry doc rivers all
that stuff's not there yet. But man, if they keep
Jannis and yes, if you missed a segment earlier, last

(47:47):
hour I would not be shocked if something, you know,
Jannis becomes available somehow. But right now they is a
deadly duo. I don't know about the Bucks in the postseason,
if that makes any sense. Yannis and Dame number four. Now,
I know we haven't hit on a certain pairing yet.
And you guys are where are they? Where are they?

Speaker 10 (48:05):
Here?

Speaker 3 (48:05):
They are Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. Now, this is
a Boston team that's stacked. Porzingis right. You got Drew Holliday,
I mean, Derek White. Yeah, this team is just so
loaded in Boston. But for me, Tatum. You guys know,
I've got a big, big Chason Tatum man crush. I
would he would get my MVP voter for We're today.

(48:26):
I know everybody's say sga or yo kitch. I just
think Tatum has been unbelievable. He's an excellent basketball player.
Jalen Brown, I know it's a little Lebron Wade ish
and they duplicate each other, but I've got them as
the third best duo.

Speaker 4 (48:38):
Number two.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
This one should be obvious. They've done a lot together
Jokich and Murray. It is a really formidable duo, especially
in the playoffs. Yokich, the Dowe European is just still unstoppable.
And Jamal Murray, Jamal playoff Murray is a thing. I know,
He's still never been an NBA All Star, has it,

(49:00):
I'm sorry, has it played in an All Star game.
Murray is just an excellent player, can create his own
shot clutch, as Lakers fans very much know. Yeah, Jamal
Murray and Jokic, without a doubt, to me, the second
best duo in the league.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
And here we go.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
Number one with a bullet Lebron and Luca. Yeah, oh
you know it. You cannot wait. The best player in
the NBA for me, Luka, Doncic and Lebron the ageless
wonder at forty. I don't think people real he put
up a triple double in MSG against the formidable Knicks
and he didn't have a d I mean, look at
the guy. He's flying through the lane. Lebron is still

(49:37):
the man. Wait till Luca comes back from this CAF strain.
I've got Luca and Lebron number one. Now, did Harden
and Kawhi got bumped? Okay, because you know, we don't
know if Kawhi is going to show up next week
They're playing great right now, but we don't know what's
up with Kawhi and I know people are gonna be
upset about KD and Booker. I'll take it up with
the Suns fans later. But now we got my main man,

(50:01):
Eddie House joining the show. Eddie House, one of the
real good shooters from his era, basketball analyst for Fox
Sports Radio. Eddie, how we do with my man?

Speaker 7 (50:13):
I'm doing good.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
How you feeling, man, I'm excellent. There's a lot to
talk about, Eddie, and your Celtics sitting pretty. They're doing great.
Second in the East. They're fine. But what just happened
over the weekend with Luca at traded for ad I
need to know where you were when this went down
in your immediate reaction.

Speaker 15 (50:33):
My immediate reaction was at first, I thought like I
was thinking, like Dallas won is trade.

Speaker 7 (50:40):
I thought Dallas want to trade, you know, because.

Speaker 15 (50:43):
They were getting somebody that they're making a push right now.
I don't think that the Lakers roster is constructed to
make a push for the conference finals. I don't think
that that's how that roster is constructed. So many defensive deficiencies,
so many holes on the defensive side of the ball.
In the one place too could plug those holes was
on the front line with Ad blocking shots and being

(51:04):
there rebounding the basketball. Now they're going to have an
issue with that. You know, you're gonna be leaning on
Jackson Hayes. But then you also got Austin Reeds, who
doesn't really play great defense.

Speaker 7 (51:13):
You got Luca we all.

Speaker 15 (51:15):
Know documented that he doesn't play great defense. And Lebron's
defense has been declining, even though he has put possessions together,
but for the most part, it's been declining.

Speaker 7 (51:25):
So I looked at it and I was like, well,
Dallas won because they got.

Speaker 15 (51:28):
Ad for three more years. And then on top of
the three years, you know, you got Kyrie over there.
They got two big men that are solid, lively, he's
going to be coming back.

Speaker 7 (51:38):
And then also on top of.

Speaker 15 (51:39):
That, Ad is going to be happening because he's gonna
be able to play the four. So I looked at
it in the short term, and then when I started
rethinking about it in the long term, I think the
Lakers won as well.

Speaker 7 (51:50):
You know, so in short short term, Dallas long term.

Speaker 15 (51:53):
Lakers because they can replace Lebron James with Luka Danchets,
which they always have a super are.

Speaker 7 (52:00):
They've never been a team without a superstar.

Speaker 15 (52:02):
I don't know how long it's been that they haven't
had somebody over there that was a star player. So
I think both of the teams won. Is just about
what side of the fence that you wan on on
the winning side, because Luca could be there for ten
years if they don't win the championship?

Speaker 7 (52:17):
Did they win that trade?

Speaker 15 (52:19):
If Ad and Kyrie is able to go to the
conference finals, I would think that you would look at
it and say.

Speaker 7 (52:25):
Oh, okay, they kind of won that trade.

Speaker 15 (52:27):
And if they're able to attract some free agents over
there and try to do something again next year.

Speaker 7 (52:32):
So okay, That's where I'm at with it.

Speaker 3 (52:34):
Don't get me too worked up. Anie. First of all,
over under one and a half titles for Luca with
the Lakers.

Speaker 7 (52:43):
I'm going under Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
Celtics fan says, under, okay, fair enough. Let me just
quickly ask you on Dallas, what's your concern level with
Kyrie Irving now going back into the role as the
number one guy. We saw him in Boston, did not
want to work with the young kids we saw him
in Brooklyn. Bringing kd there did not work at all,
total disaster. Now he cleaned up his act a little

(53:08):
bit in Dallas, but that was as a clear number
two to Luca. Now you look around the Dallas huddle,
who's the leader on that team? And if it's Kyrie. Listen,
we've seen him as the number one. It has not
gone well historically.

Speaker 7 (53:22):
Can I ask you a question, please? Right now? Where
are you at? Are you? Are you the number one?

Speaker 15 (53:28):
You in the driver seat right now, right because Colin's
not there, right? But then any other time you're the
number two, right, And it's all about growth, right. And
what we can say is that we have seen Kyrie
grow over these years, and we could look back and say, man, damn,
you know, he messed up the time in Boston. Boston's
fans really don't like it because of what.

Speaker 7 (53:50):
He did over there. Brooklyn they feel the same way.

Speaker 15 (53:53):
But in Dallas, I feel like the Dallas fans love
what he's doing. You know, he went to the NBA
Finals with him. I don't think that Eveland fans hate Kyrie.
I think it's just the little a couple spots that
he had a couple of blips in the map to
where on the radar, excuse me.

Speaker 7 (54:08):
Where you look at it.

Speaker 15 (54:08):
He's like, Okay, yeah he could have been he could
have had on it better. But he was young, and
I think he's mature, you know what I'm saying. And
when you have kids, you know this, Jay Mac, when
you have kids, you have you mature in a different way.
You go from just thinking about yourself to also thinking
about like, Okay, I got to make sure I'm good.
So they're good, that's the main thing. And I think

(54:29):
that he's learned from that, so I'm not worried. I'm
not worried. I think they have a good run. I
think their roster right now constructed, is better than the
roster in LA to make a run into playoffs.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Now.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
I don't totally disagree with that. Here's my thing. The
maps are actually built Eddie to really play against Okac
well and against Denver. This Max Christie. He's not getting
talked about, but since he went into the starting lineup,
the Lakers are fifteen and eight. I'm not saying he's
a lockdown defender, but he's long, he's twitchy. I think
he could capably defend SGA and you've got the bigs.

Speaker 5 (55:03):
We know.

Speaker 3 (55:04):
Okay, C's weakness are the bigs. If Dallas is healthy,
I think you're probably right. In the postseason, they can
make a run.

Speaker 15 (55:12):
That's all I'm trying to say. So at the end,
what are we playing for. We're planning to get to
the playoffs. And I have a little conspiracy theory. Okay,
we just think about this, all right. So Ad waved
his eight percent a trade kicker, you know about six
million dollars? Okay, cool? Him and Rich Paul, they're all

(55:34):
clutch sports. Lebron clutch sports. Maybe they know something that
maybe they tipped it to the organization to where, hey,
we gotta we got to start trying to figure out
who's going to replace Lebron. Lebron might not be there.
Here's my conspiracy theory. Lebron possibly ends up in Dallas
next year.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
So that's kind of spicy because he is still tight
with Kyrie. They've talked about being partners. You got me there.

Speaker 15 (56:09):
Once the trade happened, I started thinking like, oh, this
could be a move for him to slide over there.

Speaker 7 (56:14):
He plays.

Speaker 15 (56:15):
Think about they still have Klayton Thompson over there, They'll
have Kyrie over there.

Speaker 7 (56:18):
They'll have Anthony Davis. Lebron doesn't need the money.

Speaker 15 (56:21):
So he could play on a h he's not gonna
get short changed now, but he's not gonna get a
max deal or anything like that.

Speaker 7 (56:27):
And they had the money to give a max deal
to Luka Dacic. Now they look like, oh, we could
give Lebron.

Speaker 15 (56:34):
Oh okay, so now they can put something together and
then you could piece the ancillary players around that, that
that core of players right there, and they make a
run for one or two years, because that's probably all
that's gonna be really left for for that type of run.
But that was just something that I that I came
up with in my head.

Speaker 7 (56:51):
I was like, man, that's kind of son.

Speaker 6 (56:55):
He did.

Speaker 7 (56:55):
He didn't get that trade kicker.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Yeah, so does he bring.

Speaker 7 (57:02):
I don't know about all that well.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
I mean, I don't know if Lebron's gone. I don't
know if Bronni's still on the roster. Crazy stat from
our team here, Dalton connect is twenty four, Lucas twenty five.
Like that to me is kind of mind blowing. Stuff
like that. That's how young Luca is and totally dominant.
I am curious with you. You said the Lakers always
magically end up with superstars, and you're not wrong, Magic Jabbar, Shaq,

(57:26):
Kobe on down the list. Are you one of these
guys who thinks maybe the league likes that? You know, way, Look,
we got Los Angeles, we need a good team. The
team in New York is finally good. Chicago's been down
for two decades. We meet like Unlike the NFL, the
NBA needs the big markets to have good teams. Are
you alluding to something there?

Speaker 15 (57:48):
No, I'm not saying that because think about it. Okay, see,
he's not a big market. They got a damn good team,
and they got a superstar over there as Shay gild
just Alexander Kay Cunningham. Detroit is not a huge market,
but they got a solid team over there, and that
damn good player in k Cunningham. But the Lakers, it's
just the Lakers.

Speaker 7 (58:07):
It's the way that the Lakers operate business.

Speaker 15 (58:10):
They constantly have I mean, come on, you're you're in Hollywood,
you know you're in LA You're in Tinseltown. You have
to have stars because that brings stars to the game,
That brings people to the game. Think about this and
you say, La, Well, well, damn Ant, the Clippers anti
Clippers in Las.

Speaker 7 (58:31):
It ain't the same. It ain't the same.

Speaker 15 (58:33):
You have to have stars when you're with the Lakers.
It's just the way that it's been since I can remember.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
So there's some stories starting to emerge that in the
Dallas locker room that Luca, despite being well liked, the
front office didn't like him, maybe because of his work habits,
his diet habits. I'm just curious, did you ever in
your time in Boston or anywhere else, Miami, wherever, did
you experience like just seeing front office being unhappy with
guys like out of shape or not being in condition

(59:01):
that were stars and the front office like being really
ticked off at them.

Speaker 15 (59:06):
No, because most of the guys I played with, pretty
much all of the star superstar players I played with,
held everybody else accountable by what they did, how they
came in.

Speaker 7 (59:15):
And it never happened in Miami.

Speaker 15 (59:16):
Because you got weight and body fat check every week,
you know where it was Monday Tuesday went every single week.
You got weight and body fat. You had to be
a certain weight in body fat. If you weren't, then
you were doing extra running, You were doing extra things
that you had to do to make sure you got
to that weight and that body percent body fat percentage.
But as far as like that's the thing I think

(59:39):
if you allow your superstar player, and I think the
upper management I don't think that this. I think it's
the owners. The new ownership is like, hey, we're not
going to allow this to happen, because the thing about
it is you can't have your star player come in
out of shape everybody else in shape and you don't

(01:00:00):
hold him accountable. That kind of that fractures a locker room.
But when you have a superstar player like a Kevin
Garnett that comes in and when you walk into the
gym right practice is in about an hour you come,
you get there an hour before he's already on the
court in the full fledh sweat. It makes you start
kicking in like, oh, I got to get here a
little earlier so I can put in this work. Well,

(01:00:22):
if Luca's coming in and I don't know this for
a fact, I don't know at all, but if he's
coming in out of shape, I know that he's been
coming in out of shape.

Speaker 7 (01:00:29):
That's documented.

Speaker 15 (01:00:30):
But if he comes in with twelve minutes left before practice,
is starting then.

Speaker 7 (01:00:35):
I mean that you know that sets a different type.

Speaker 15 (01:00:37):
Of standard, like what kind of leadership are you having,
what kind of leadership are you out there presenting?

Speaker 7 (01:00:43):
And how can you be the leader?

Speaker 15 (01:00:44):
We know that you're really good on the court, but
it's other things that you have to do to set
precedent for the rest of the team.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
Yeah, all right, let me last one on the Lakers.
Do you think they're done making moves because there's a
lot of speculation, Hey, we don't need Austin Reeves. We've
got enough ball handle who don't really defend. We need
a center. We got to go get a room protector
and Nick Claxton, a Miles Turner, and they package the
pick they have left Reeves, Ruy, whatever the package is,

(01:01:11):
to go get somebody. You think they get a room protector.

Speaker 15 (01:01:15):
I don't think they're done, Dylan. They definitely have to
go get somebody. There's some rem protect them because they
have so.

Speaker 7 (01:01:21):
Many holes on the defense.

Speaker 15 (01:01:23):
You know, Luca's not gonna play great defense, Austin Reeve's
not gonna play great defense. And also, excuse me, Lebron
is up and down with his defense, possession of possession.
Sometime you've quartered a quarter a half to half. But
what I believe is that they're.

Speaker 7 (01:01:40):
Gonna go out there trying to find somebody.

Speaker 15 (01:01:42):
And like you said, if it's a Knicks Claxton or
Miles Turner, I really think Miles Turner would be a
good fit for him because he can kind of stretch
the floor a little bit, and he could protect the rim,
he remounts the basketball. He's a younger guy. Nick Claxton
is a younger guy too. But if they do that,
does that move the needle? And to me, that doesn't
move the needle, that doesn't make them all of a

(01:02:03):
sudden be like, oh yeah, they're contenders. They're gonna have
to make another big time deal for a big time player.
No disrespect to those guys that I'm talking about, because
they all can hoop, you know what I mean.

Speaker 7 (01:02:14):
I'm not disrespecting nobody in the league like that.

Speaker 15 (01:02:16):
But they're going to have to get somebody that could
do what Athone Davis does and that's twenty seven and twelve.
And maybe you get a couple of guys that are
able to put that together to make it work. But
what I'm looking at right now, they rostered that ain't it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
Yeah, let me ask jim you've spent time in Miami.
What the hell is Jimmy Butler's problem? Like he was
such a good soldier, got them the two finals. It's
all falling a part. He's getting suspended. He doesn't want
to go to Golden State. He only wants to go
to Phoenix. I love Jimmy Butler. I don't know what's happening. Man,
how do you think this ends?

Speaker 15 (01:02:51):
It's not gonna end good for him, as That's how
I'm feeling. Knowing Pat Robby and knowing the business of basketball.
When you start, you know, Pat Roddy's the godfather, so
people are going to lend they hear more to him
than they.

Speaker 7 (01:03:05):
Will listen to Jimmy Butler's agent. Okay, or what's going on?

Speaker 15 (01:03:09):
And the one thing I can say is that this
has kind of been a pattern with Jimmy. You know,
in every place that he's been to he has usually
left disgrundled and upset. He got upset at something. But
I think the main thing is that when Pat said
he didn't want to trade him, it wasn't the fact
that he was trying to tell him you can't go nowhere.
I think it was like, no, we want you here.

(01:03:31):
We're not going to trade you because we want you here.
We signed you. You got another deal. I want to say,
it's fifty one or fifty three million dollars for next
year that he could opt into. Okay, we didn't give
you extension because we don't see it, and okay, and
that's fine, But they gave you a great deal.

Speaker 7 (01:03:47):
You're about to play for fifty million dollars. And I'm
not counting.

Speaker 15 (01:03:50):
Nobody pockets looking at nobody pockets or counting nobody money.
But what I'm saying is that you have an obligation
when you are under contract. And I don't know if
you watched any of the heat. When he came back
from suspension, he took a one legged three point shot
from the corner that he never takes ever. You never
seen Jimmy Butler ever take a shot like that. Then

(01:04:11):
he threw the ball on the entry pass straight out
of bounds, and then he did had lackluster effort getting
back on defense. So now it's showing me you don't
really want to be here, and you're a detriment to
what we're trying to do. The culture that we have,
So I don't think that he helped himself, you know,
in the way that he handled this.

Speaker 7 (01:04:31):
Can Jimmy Butler still help a team, Yes he can.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
So we'll wrap up with this Eddie. So Luca got traded,
and Anthony Edwards was like, man, I'm scared. Nobody's safe.
If Luca can get traded, maybe I'm next. Obviously, we
don't think Anthony Edwards is getting traded. But I floated
two names. Let's start with Kevin Durant in Phoenix. The
Sons are like tenth in the West. Jimmy Butler wants

(01:04:55):
to be there. You can't trade Bill. Maybe Kevin Durant
get shipped. And the other one. I've been on this
for a while. You know, I'm a Steph Curry guy.
They're eleventh in the West. They can't pull off a
trade for anybody. At some point, do the words say
we got to reboot and trade Steph Curry so we
can at least maximize his final years. I mean, Keaddy,
you saw at the Olympics he was dominant and now

(01:05:16):
he's only eleventh place team in the West.

Speaker 4 (01:05:17):
The league can't have that.

Speaker 15 (01:05:20):
Yeah, you can't trade Steph Curry. Man, that's a guy
is I feel.

Speaker 7 (01:05:25):
That he should.

Speaker 15 (01:05:26):
He's one of those guys should be a lifer with
that team from where he came from to where they
were at when he got there, to where he put
him and where they're at right now. And his and
his status as a basketball player and not only a
basketball player but a pillar of the community as well.
Does a lot of work out there in the Bay Area,
whether it be in Oakland, whether it be in San

(01:05:47):
Francisco or anywhere else in the Bay Area. He does
a lot of work of philanthropists work. And to me,
you can't trade him and for Jimmy Butler. No, And
if you try again, Jimmy Butler, now think about what
you have on your team. You got two guys. You
have a Draymond Green that you know could be unstable
with times and does great for the team. He's perfect

(01:06:11):
for what they try to do. Then you got Jimmy Butler,
who could be you know, a wild card at times
as well. So I don't think Steph plays well with that.
I think Steph just loves to go out and play
hoop and when it's all the other distractions like that's
going on right now, I think that that's where it
kind of does bothering. And I know Steph is getting

(01:06:31):
a little older, but now he has to be a
Golden State warrior for life, all right, unless he doesn't
want to be.

Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
Well, that's the Is there a way to politically pull
that off? I don We'll see, all right, Eddie House,
great stuff, keep up the good work, and you know,
hope everything's well with your Your kids who are awesome
basketball players.

Speaker 7 (01:06:48):
Appreciate it. Man, take care